Question: Do you suppose that we already have the possibility of bringing everything to the center of the group and solving all our questions there?

Answer: If you are thinking of advancing spiritually, meaning toward the characteristic of bestowal, then you simply have no other choice. The center of the group is the point of departure for a channel that leads us by way of all the worlds to world of Infinity. Nothing else is given to us.

The center of the group is a place in which we balance each other. Everyone is different, but all are equal. All help each other even though all are different. In that, we completely nullify ourselves and absorb the desires of the others in order to realize them. Afterward, we present one complete and unified desire, and in this manner enter into this conduit through which we rise to the world of Infinity.

Question: Is it possible to bring material questions to the center of the group?

Answer: It is possible for a group to come with all kinds of material questions and to try to solve them with your friends. In every case, this will be much closer to the truth than what you would decide by yourself.

If all of your friends would be on a particular spiritual level, mutually balanced (this is talking about a group that is more or less correct), then in such a manner, you will be able to solve the problems in your lives.
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Question: Can we create a practical device based on the workshops that will help us after we disperse and go back to our homes?

Answer: I have already spoken about this practical device. Continue to hold yourself in that state in which we hold ourselves during the conventions.

It is necessary to try that the journey back home does not influence us. Nothing more is necessary, and even if the journey back is influential, we hold onto the connection. So then you cannot imagine how much our opposition will elevate us.

We need to hold onto that rope that raises us up during that later time when the environment—the entire world with its thoughts, deficiencies, and goals—pulls us back. Therefore, we need to hold more strongly to the group that is going forward so that those thoughts that pull us down will not tear us from it. Imagine a picture like this. Even if we hold onto a position for a short time, in spite of it all, we rise higher.

Precisely now, this movement forward will be realized in those people who will hold onto the group. I performed some work on you, and now it is your turn to work. Connect yourselves to the “fueling station,” and you will be filled with inspiration. Now, with the help of this inspiration that you received in potential, you need to realize it at least a little. Otherwise, it will dissolve with negative consequences.
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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69: When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the nations of the World.

So everything depends on preferring internality to externality. These two parts are essential in the Torah, in our actions, in our intention, in our desire, in everything. We should always distinguish between what is more internal and what is more external and prefer one to the other.

Thus a person focuses himself on the right goal and advances. In fact there is nothing else we should do but to prefer internality to externality all the time, to clarify what is internality and what is externality, and to prefer one to the other.

A person is like a dipole, or like the needle of a compass. I prefer that the needle would constantly point at spirituality as a result of placing it on top of corporeality. Whatever is closer to bestowal, to the internality of the group, to the internality of the world, to concentrating my efforts, should always be above anything corporeal. This clarification is actually the only thing I am required to do at any given moment, and nothing but that.

Question: How is the thought of creation integrated in this division into internality and externality?

Answer: How could the thought of creation be fulfilled if we didn’t have the freewill to prefer internality to externality? This is how we fulfill it.

The thought of creation is to do good to His created beings, to bring man to the Creator’s level so that he will be independent and will also resemble the Creator. This is already two opposites: How can you be independent and at the same time resemble the Creator? This is a paradox. So we always work in faith above reason, in bestowal above receiving.

The externality is close to my ego, it is my life; I want that my self-love, my desire to receive, will always be full and that it will feel good. I want to feel good and comfortable in it, that everything would be nice and peaceful. The internality is bestowal: It’s worrying about others, adhesion to the society and the teacher, and through them, adhesion to the Creator.

If I don’t prefer one to the other, how will I choose? How can I form myself? This is all my work. Without this I will not be able to form myself in any way.

When a person wants to acquire a form, he summons the Light that Reforms and it does the work. But without a person’s yearning there is no independence and there is no attainment of the Creator since there is no vessel, there is no desire.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: I cannot do anything when I see hatred, pretense, and fraud in the way the friends behave.

Answer: Of course. Nobody is perfect. We are all spiritually defected. We all want to be corrected. When we ascend even a bit towards the Creator from this state, our actions are very desirable to Him.

It’s absolutely natural that I see that the friends are also as filthy as I am in their thoughts, in their feelings, in their evil plans, and in the different negative urges that they have. If I correct all that, I immediately fall into these defects over and over again. At least we acknowledge the fact that we are in one great sewage hole and that all our flawed thoughts and desires are our initial state.

Your tears are wonderful tears of the recognition of our state. It already indicates that the Upper Light influences you and helps you understand where you are in relation to it. It’s already the recognition of evil and not just some low level, but a state from which you can advance and leap forward.

So we have to turn these tears into tears of joy and to thank the Creator for giving you this recognition of your state and such support! You are not isolated on some Finnish farm weeping over your fate.

You are in a big group that provides you with support. You have a whole healthy system and you know that you are part of it, how it operates on you, and how you should use it in order to reach the center, the absolute balance. You have all that! So your tears are just the beginning, only the recognition of your state. I would even say that you are crying over yourselves. You should at least attribute it to yourselves and shed tears of joy since you understand who is managing you, and whose path you are following. It will come. Hold on to us and everything will be all right.
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Question: You say that there are no disturbances that cannot be overcome. So why are there cases where disturbances remain in spite of everything?

Answer: The only reason is a weak preliminary connection with the teacher, the group, and the sources.

There are no disturbances that cannot be overcome. A thought or desire is always sent to us like this; it is possible to overcome it. The next level appears before us and it is possible to approach it either by the way of sufferings (Beito – “in its time”) or in a good way (Achishena – I will hasten it”). If we go by the way of sufferings, then they surround us to such a degree that we are ready to overcome the obstacle that is placed before us by any means. But for this, we pay with time and blood.

If we go in the good way, then we rapidly overcome the disturbance because we are connected with the friends, the books, and the teacher from the start, and we know that the disturbance comes from the Creator. We can hold onto this thought like a bulldog and not let go for even a moment: “At least hold on for a little longer, another second, and then another!”

Don’t think about what lies ahead of us! A good athlete knows he has a second to hold on, then another second, and after that another; only in this case will he have the strength. And someone who thinks ahead isn’t psychologically strong enough. We only have the strength if we think about the present moment and we concentrate the time, the place, and the effort, all of the circumstances into one point.

It is not the disturbance itself, not its form, or circumstances; nothing depends on us, only the connection with the center of the group.
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Question: So that our request for spirituality will be right, we need to include in it the connection, the mutual nullification of one towards the other, as well as the entire world towards to which we convey our connection. What, above all, do we need to focus on, is it on our internal attack?

Answer: No attack is necessary. We always need to strengthen ourselves together, for the system we are in is integral and eternal.

We need to live in a state of unity, and then we will understand that we are within this volume all the time, that we are eternal and perfect! And all the rest is disjointed, damaged, and dying; it detaches us from eternity, from the perfect coupling between us. Try to imagine for yourselves where eternity and wholeness are, where our existence is, and why they are different, and you will see that these are two parallel planes. It’s not worthwhile to fall into the lower plane.

Question: But if I am not in attack all the time, then apparently I fall.

Answer: But don’t attack. It’s not necessary to attack the Klipot (impure forces), it’s simply necessary to understand that they come for your proper development. You can call this an attack if this is easier for you.

After this, you begin to love the Klipot, to bless the bad as well as the good, because all this is necessary for your advancement forward. And even more than this, all of these disturbances are the engine for our advancement.

Question: It follows that we push ourselves because of the disturbances.

Answer: Certainly! For this is all of our material! It’s revealed to you more and more. Imagine that your intellect and your desire are becoming many times larger, and if you use them correctly, then accordingly the powers in you grow as well. And that is how you grow.

In our world a child grows because he accepts and digests nourishment. This very complicated process is also built upon the problems of processing what is completely unnatural for him.
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Question: During the three conventions that have passed, and in particular after them, there is a hatred of the Creator, the friends, and the “point in the heart” that is revealed. How should one work with this hatred?

Answer: If possible, don’t work with the hatred itself in any form. The more that you “chew” on all the negative characteristics and emotions that appear within you, the more you will be linked to them. You will exist more within them, and you will be nourished by the impure forces (Klipot). Therefore you shouldn’t remain in these states.

I understand that they are like leeches; they cling onto a person from all directions and suck his blood. But in every way possible you must rise above states like these with an inner yearning for the friends, for the Creator. It’s forbidden in any circumstance to remain with the Klipot. This will begin to fill you with a completely different fulfillment, the opposite of the Creator, from which it will be very difficult to depart afterwards, because you will begin to get used to it.

We are compelled to do something! The moment feelings like these appear, we must struggle with them. Begin to play, to sing, to read something from our materials, to become involved with spiritual work in any form, only don’t remain in a state that is the opposite of the approach, don’t become distant from Him.

In no way should you begin to dig into whatever hatred appears, where it comes from, and for what. Even in the end, this will bring you to something good; in spite of it all, there is no need for these thoughts. They are given to you as disturbances, so begin to work against them, meaning leave them at rest. If you are in some kind of connection with the forces of impurity, with these thoughts, even if inside yourself you begin to curse them and seemingly don’t love them, but you are with them all the time, you are feeding them, and they live from this action.

Question: How is it possible to help a friend leave a state like this?

Answer: Drag him to a group, arrange a feast for him, but don’t sit and complain about his fate—sing, learn, do something together. Help the friend, in other words, don’t leave him with negative thoughts, rather with all your power pull him out of them. This is the only way.

But if he is against this, you are not obliged to remain together with him; rather, it’s necessary to show him prominently that if he doesn’t want your help, you will abandon him. You don’t have to “die” together with him.
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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee):“One sinner destroyeth much good.” This is because it has already been explained (Item 20) that the impression that comes to a person when engaging in Mitzvot between man and God is completely the same as the impression he gets when engaging in Mitzvot between man and man. He is obliged to perform all the Mitzvot Lishma (for Her name), without any hope for self-love, meaning that no light or hope returns to him through his trouble in the form of reward or honor, etc. Here, in this exalted point, the love of the Creator and the love of his friend unite and actually become one (see Item 15). Thus he affects a certain measure of advancement on the ladder of love for others in all the people of the world in general.

Thus we see how accurate these conditions are: bestowal, nature, the Creator who demands that we go through the phases of the evolution of our ego until we totally drown in it, filled with the egoistic evil on all four levels. In addition, the shattering that began in our roots should be fully completed and we should begin to discover its outcomes.

If a person really wants to advance in spirituality, which means towards bestowal, he begins to gradually and very slowly discover that these conditions are very difficult, practically impossible, and of course unbearable. It is because a person must perform continuous actions, use every opportunity he gets, and look for additional actions of bestowal upon others, out of love of others. At the same time, a person should feel happy and elated despite his feeling when he actually lacks everything!

We should understand that this is actually called spirituality: receiving no reward but acting only for the sake of others. If it were for the sake of the Creator, then one could agree to do something since He is great and rules everything.

It is respectable to be connected to Him, to be close to Him, and to bestow upon Him. But when we speak about bestowal upon others and not the Creator, which means upon any person in this world whom I need to delight, to make feel good, and please by my efforts, it seems as an impossible mission.

At this point we realize that only the Surrounding Light can do this, can bring about such a change, and that this action is essential because I have nothing and I cannot escape it. This is really the goal of creation and the justice of the upper, and I need the Creator’s help because without Him I cannot do anything.

Eventually I agree and understand that this is the upper justice and that this is the way it has to be, despite the fact that I am totally against it. I am ready to constantly ask for the upper force to come and correct and change me so I will seemingly cease to exist and will only serve all humanity, both my enemies and my loved ones.

There shouldn’t be any difference in my attitude towards the lowliest and the worst person in the world and my attitude towards the Creator. Only when I attain absolute love for the created beings will I reach the love of the Creator. After all, the Creator has to be revealed among everyone.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/14

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Question: One student may think that he is close to the teacher but may not be close and it can also be the other way around; one may think that he is far from the teacher but in fact is close to him. How can we measure that?

Answer: We don’t measure this according to what a student thinks but according to the opportunities that he had to subdue himself against his will and to the efforts he made in doing so. Closeness, just like other things, is measured according to the effort that is made above our ego.

We can only measure things by our ego. Measure is determined by how much do I have: how I can take my desires and weigh them like weights on a scale.

Everything depends on self-annulment. Don’t expect to reach some tough static system that has been stabilized once and already exists. The work we have to do is continuous, constant, according to three states: submission, differentiation, and sweetening, which is the constant work of the lower with regard to the upper, of a person with regard to the group, of a group with regard to the teacher.

Question: Is it true that if a person fails to connect to his teacher when the teacher is alive, it will be very difficult for him to do so afterward?

Answer: I don’t think it’s even possible to do so afterward. Try to connect to Baal HaSulam now or to any other great Kabbalist! This world was created in order to enable us to reach a corporeal connection, so that we will be able to perceive the upper in some way. If we have no corporeal contact with the upper, how can you hold on to Him? Now there is the seemingly corporeal form of the teacher before you, some corporeal representation with which you can come in contact. You can already connect to this image, bestow upon him, and serve him. Thus, you acquire a place by him according to your efforts. It says that if the groom is a great man and he receives a ring as a present from his bride, it’s as if he has given it to her. If you really want to serve and to bestow, you feel that you receive. The same relations should be among the friends, and each one should feel this way with regards to the others.

Question: When do I connect to the teacher, is it before transcending the Machsom (barrier) or afterward?

Answer: You will not transcend the Machsom if you don’t annul yourself before the teacher. We are here in order to establish a system that will take on a form above the Machsom. If this system isn’t made of the relations that are necessary above the Machsom, how can you transcend it? You don’t transcend the border to the spiritual world by marching along, but by the connections between us, by overcoming the Machsom that separates us.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”

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The group must be a means for ascent, for reaching the small state (absolute bestowal), for attaining the importance of the goal. To be in a group does not mean that one is just found in the company of a hundred people. A group is a system in which you want to be in the right line, following the point of choice.

Before the choice, this is not yet a group, but simply a collection of people, like the crowd that left Egypt that still hadn’t transformed into a people but was just a mass. Only after they received the Torah, entered into mutual guarantee, then it is said about them: “Today you have become my people.”

After the ego is discovered and Mount Sinai (“Sin” – hatred) was found between all of them, thoughts that were tearing apart those who had gathered at the bottom of the mountain, only then does the person feel a need for the group.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/14

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