Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

A Group Is A Purifying Force

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we constantly focus on love and bestowal?

Answer: We can focus on love and bestowal only in the right environment, which is our salvation. We cannot even imagine how effective and unique this help is, it is like a tuning fork in which we can tune every attribute, every string of the soul.

On one hand, there are attributes of bestowal buried deep inside all the particles of the general soul thanks to the shattering. On the other hand, there are those who receive an awakening of this attribute of bestowal and are ready to start working with it and to connect to one another. The readiness to connect and unite turns their society into a spiritual mechanism in which anyone who wants to purify and strengthen himself in the right direction can do so.

But this society has to constantly clarify and look for what else can be improved. This is what continuous group work is; everyone works on the connection with others.

The whole egoistic collective is replaced by one unified society and then this one united attribute of love and bestowal, which everyone is dissolved into, a giant unit that is made of many, becomes a purifying force because the Upper Light goes through it. It resembles the Creator and is in equivalence of form with Him, with His force, with His unclear presence, and later with His clear presence that goes precisely through this system called a group.

Now its representatives who are the carriers of the force of the whole group can go out to the public and work with everyone on connection.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/11/13

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There Is Nothing To Be Ashamed Of

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do I rob the group of the opportunity to unite around my problem and solve it if I have a certain problem and I feel ashamed to bring it to the group?

Answer: Shame is pride, ego, and perhaps even narcissism, but there is nothing we can do about it. It passes gradually.

Animals don’t feel shame. A cow standing in the field eating grass is not ashamed of anything. So why should a person feel ashamed of being a donkey standing in the field and doing what his body demands?

It isn’t by chance that it says: “Go to the craftsman who made me.” He gave me the desire to receive and I have to be ashamed that I had an opportunity to correct it and didn’t do so.

I am ashamed of the unfulfilled corrections, but I don’t need to be ashamed of the corrected and the corrupt natural forms since both belong to the Creator, while the human being in me is the middle part, the shell of Noga, the third middle part of Tifferet. This is the place where my freewill is. It’s there that I need to feel ashamed and to worry as to whether I have fulfilled myself correctly.

So I don’t understand people who cannot or who will not tell the friends in the group about what happens to them, especially when it can damage the whole group. We should be very careful here, since by delaying the advancement of the friends, by “saving” on their account, I delay myself much more.

It isn’t worth it. What have we got to hide? After all, everything comes from Above and we are not responsible for it. There is none else besides Him. We only have to unite more and to find the opportunity to correct the situation. There will be many more such states and they will end only at the end of correction.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Good Boy Follows His Parents’ Example

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, “The Matter of Suckling and Conception”: Therefore the first phase of God’s work is the phase of conception, Ibur, which means that a person annuls his self and enters the mother’s womb in a state of conception.

This means that he annuls the self love called Malchut, which is originally called the desire to receive in order to receive, and enters the phase of the vessels of bestowal that is called the phase of Bina.

A person restricts himself by the Light that Reforms and begins to work from a state of an embryo. All the fillings come as a result of our work against our ego. It is the effort of overcoming the troubles, the problems, and the confusions that we go through that is actually the filling of our spiritual vessel.

The Creator is good and benevolent. We have to work in order to become a human being, Adam, which means the one who resembles (Domeh – from the same root in Hebrew) the Creator. But we have to follow the Creator’s example in order to resemble Him, like a mother who tells her children: “You should be nice to one another; why do you keep quarrelling and fighting all the time?” This means that we have to follow mother and father’s example according to the way they treat us.

There is no one else we can take an example from but them. There are no good children to begin with and we can only follow the example of the grownups, of the parents. We have to treat one another in the same loving way they treat us. Then each of us will be called Adam, he who resembles the Creator. It’s very simple, and this is all we have to do.

If the Creator is good and benevolent to the wicked and to the good and treats everyone with absolute love, we should also reach the state in which we treat all the created beings with love. What about the attainment of the Creator, the attainment of the spiritual levels, the attainment of the upper worlds? All this is revealed among us.

We begin to work with the world, with people, starting from those who are close to us to those most distant, since the corrections is from the easiest to the most difficult. Then, the more we expand this circle, which means our vessel, and the more deeply we engage in these relations by overcoming an increasingly greater and crueler ego, we discover an increasingly more sublime work. Thus we advance through the phases of Aviut (thickness) of the root phase, phase one, two, three, and four and discover the Light of NRNHY.
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From the preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/14

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Private And Common Salvation

Dr. Michael LaitmanHow can we free ourselves of the impulse to pray for our own selves, asking for things egoistically, being unhappy with our past selves, and blaming ourselves for things in the past? After all, when we do this, we blame the Creator.

All the things that have happened to us in the past had to happen, the Creator made it happen. And this is why when we are unhappy with our past, we blame Him for putting us in those situations.

When we only concentrate on the group, this concentration helps us free ourselves of our incorrect attitude towards the past, the present, praying for ourselves, in our name, for our sake. This is the only way we can bring ourselves to have the right intention. And in this way, when we are inside this net, we stay close to the system and do not pull it in the opposite direction. When we concentrate on the prayer of many and constantly remain in this state, it saves us personally and helps the entire system move forward due to us.

How can we always have this aspiration, be in it as soon as we open our eyes in the morning? Just this! Otherwise, any thoughts of ours, any movements in our desires and mind will be negative and will distance us from the goal.

If we advance this way, we will certainly have descents and negative impulses, but only so we could fill them with a greater movement forward. In other words, if I will constantly advance by praying for others, by advancing them, then all the negative impulses will only be directed towards my further advancement and understanding of the direction in which I need to go and how I am to move.

This will determine the style and form of my movement. Then the Creator will be helping me: a little to the left, a little to the right, think about another, wish this and that, etc. If I am advancing correctly, I will definitely begin to feel His instructions.
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From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5

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The Book Of Zohar – This Is Our Tree Of Life

Dr. Michael Laitman“The Zohar was to be concealed in the future… until the last generation would come in the end of days, when it then would be revealed.”—Rabbi Isaiah HaLevi Horowitz, the Holy Shlah.

Many Kabbalists spoke about the nullification of the ban on studying the wisdom of Kabbalah: The great Kabbalist of the Middle Ages, Avraham Azulai, as well as the Ari and all the Kabbalists linked with him: the Ramak, the Ramchal, Rabbi Hayim Vital. The Ari was the Kabbalist who made a break with the entire process of the exile and ended it. And from him onward, the Era of the Messiah began.

But this was to be a complete period that would develop gradually according to the levels of 0-1-2-3, and in our day we are already entering into the last level 4, which belongs to the Era of the Messiah. Therefore the whole world is in fall, while Kabbalah is beginning to be revealed more and more.

Until the time of the Ari, The Book of Zohar was concealed. It was revealed a bit by Rabbi Moshe de Leon, but only through the Ari have we merited to see what is written in it. And therefore we count the Era of the Messiah from the days of the Ari onward.

“Messiah” means that through our work to draw (Limshoh) the Light that Reforms we can make an “Itaruta de Letata” (arousal from below), expressing our desire that will raise us on all the levels and will attract the Light to us that will correct the relationships between us. Then we will feel that we are no longer in this world; instead we have truly entered into a higher world. All this is clarified through the connection between us. If this connection is integrated, transforming correctly, then accordingly we begin to feel ourselves in the upper world and rise higher and higher through the 125 levels.

“And because in the future Israel will taste from the Tree of Life, which is this Book of Zohar, they will leave the exile with mercy.” The Book of Zohar, “Naso,” section 90.

If we are seriously and diligently involved with The Book of Zohar, then certainly we will leave the exile with mercy. And if not, then it will happen as it is written: “I will place over you a king like Haman and against your will he will return you to reform.” In other words, we have a possibility of going out of exile in a good way, by the way of Torah, through the Light that Reforms, which is uniquely designed for correction of the evil inclination. If we know how to be involved with The Book of Zohar correctly, then we will summon the Light that Reforms onto ourselves and we will leave the exile, meaning the causeless hatred and the temporary feeling of a miserable existence in this world. Everything will be changed according to the connection between us.

We can make the same change through the way of suffering, which is truly a very difficult and long way. But through the Light that we summon, we advance on a very short, easy and pleasant way.
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From the World Zohar Week “World Zohar Convention,” Day One 2/04/14, Lesson 1

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A Person Growing In The Womb Of Mother Bina

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we establish the group like a womb for our spiritual embryo, should certain friends stand out in it?

Answer: No, there cannot be anyone who stands out or who is different or unequal either in the embryo or in the group. Everyone has to be equal. It’s actually by our differences that we establish one general whole vessel: one embryo and one womb. By connecting with regard to the greatness of the attribute of bestowal, we establish one womb. It’s in the connection and the recognition of the lowliness of our nature that we establish one embryo.

No one can stand out among the others, although there are parts that stand out in the embryo, since it has a human form, and the womb also has its own form. But these forms are created as a result of the sum of the connection between all of us, where everything disappears and everyone takes on the form of bestowal.

Besides, the embryo is in the “waters of the womb,” which separates him from the walls of the womb. The womb is not adhered directly to the embryo, and doesn’t give its form to the embryo. The womb is Bina, which is a whole form and not a human form. But if the embryo totally wraps himself with Hassadim, he receives such bestowal from the womb that it turns him into a human being, and gives him the form of a human being, Adam, which resembles the Creator (Domeh, which has the same root in Hebrew).
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Teach The World To Be An Embryo Inside Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Sometimes you accent the importance of the group and sometimes the importance of dissemination. How do we understand this correctly to actually enter the “Light”?

Answer: Every person needs to receive nourishment from the upper, and together they must internalize this power they have received in order to grow. This is the next step after building a womb and an embryo; our further advancement takes place inside this internal and external system: the upper and the lower system.

In order to do this, we constantly need to look for the faults in us, our ability to add something else for the growth of our womb and our state of the embryo; in other words, we must lower ourselves. If we are ready for this and we want the Upper One to be as big as possible, if we look for ways to make Him grow, we awaken bad, corrupt desires in us, which awaken in the form of a protest. This way we advance by accelerating time, “by awakening the dawn.”

We turn into an old man who walks bent over and keeps making sure he has not dropped anything. And so we begin to advance our state by uncovering the faults, which we use to build and expand the higher degree. The womb becomes bigger, and now our embryo can grow bigger in it. The appeal comes from below, from the lower one, while the growth, the stages of development manifest from above, through the power of the Upper One. This is how we construct ourselves.

And once we complete the nine month of prenatal development, we are born into the spiritual world, we go through the stages of the small state, reach the big state, and become ready to birth others and be to them as the upper is to the lower. We need to be in this state in relation to the world and teach the world to be an embryo inside us.

Question: Is the Machsom the line where we compare our qualities to the womb and learn to feed the others?

Answer: A spiritual embryo is a state above the Machsom. If I am able to connect with others and create with them a single body with the help of the Upper Light, which influences us and unites us into a single whole, then I am already above the Machsom. At this point we are already able to bestow on the minimal level, and this can only be done in the spiritual world, above the Machsom. The Machsom is the borderline, which determines whether I am still in the state of egoistic reception or whether I already possess a certain degree of bestowal.

The Machsom is a kind of restriction where I cover myself to a minimal degree. And the stages of greater restriction and bestowal are built on top of this.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A Ladder To A Summit Filled Abundantly

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, Section 58: And I have named that commentary The Sulam (Ladder) to show that the purpose of my commentary is as the role of any ladder: if you have an attic filled abundantly, then all you need is a ladder to reach it. And then, all the bounty in the world will be in your hands.

We begin our work with the construction of a group of ten people who want to become one in it. If we transform these ten people into one, then we begin to discover a higher power within them.

After we finish this work, we begin to organize a more external circle. We must include all of these people with us to be able to connect again into a complete oneness.

With the connection of the first level, we discover the Ohr (Light) haNefesh. And by attaining connection in a more external circle we discover Ohr haRuach. But this Ohr HaRuach is discovered in the more internal circle, while the Ohr haNefesh passes to the outer circle.

If we are ready to connect an even more external circle with us, then in the more external circle, we disclose Nefesh, and in a more internal circle we disclose Ruach, and in the innermost circle we disclose Neshama. (Suppose that there were 10 people in the first circle, in the second there are 100 people and in the third 1000 people). And so on, to Haya and Yechida. It follows that our advancement depends upon expanding the external circles.

Baal HaSulam called his commentary “The Ladder” because the more that we move and advance forward and include more and more new friends with us, thanks to this, we rise up the ladder and strengthen the connection between us more and more.

In this way we transform into a greater Kli in which all of the Light of NRNHY are revealed in our Kelim: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut. And then there is one Light and one Kli connected together into a single whole and we reach adherence with the goal of creation.

Each one of these five levels, five circles, is divided into another five and another five, meaning that the Ohr NRNHY de NRNHY de NRNHY emerges, and in total 125 levels emerge. Therefore Baal HaSulam, making his commentary on the entire Zohar, on its entire height up to the completion of correction, explains how to rise to every spiritual level through connection of all the Kelim that will be discovered. Therefore he called his commentary, “The Ladder”.
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From the World Zohar Week “World Zohar Convention,” Day One 2/04/14, Lesson 1

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At The Apex Of The Changes

Dr. Michael LaitmanBefore our world was created, the spiritual Kli was created, and now in our world, it is up to us to restore it, to connect it anew from the shattered parts. These parts are us, and the shattering is in the mutual rejection between us. Parts of the Kelim, meaning us, receive an awakening from above, and, in this form, we ask ourselves questions about the meaning of life.

The meaning of life is found above our lives because we don’t ask about this in the framework of this life. We think only how to get along better in life, and, when we begin to ask, “What is the reason for living,” this is already a question beyond the limits of our world. This is already a question directed at the source of our existence, at the Creator.

In general, all of humanity is in a movement toward unity, but in a most unpleasant way and not with the greatest speed. All of us have advanced in such a form and reached this moment where our development has brought us to the finish line where all of us must begin to connect.

There is a group, all whom received the awakening from above, and it is up to us to realize the method of correction in ourselves, to connect with the Creator minimally. This is because connection with the Creator is possible only to the degree that we accept shortcomings from the entire world.

We receive the usual shortcomings from the entire world; in other words, all six shortcomings that Baal HaSulam enumerated, desires that are relevant to a person, to his body, which are food, sex, and family, and in addition to this, there are desires that are related to the connection of the person with society directed toward money, respect and information.

All six desires are active in every person in our world, but they are discovered in each one differently, and in each one of them, there are a multitude of different components, smaller desires.

All of human development first was directed toward developing desires related to food, sex, and family in humans, leading them to the growth of desires for money, honor, and knowledge so that they would pass through them and discover lack of fulfillment in them. Yet, in the meantime, it is difficult to say that all of humanity is found in such a condition.

Food, sex, and family are corporeal desires that don’t require any correction, in principle. However, in the higher desires for wealth, honor, and knowledge, a greater ego is discovered within humanity. Also, this ego is generally only preliminary, required so that a lack of true fulfillment would be discovered in it as well. This is the crisis. The lack of true fulfillment is the feeling of the crisis.

Therefore, we now are in a stage where humanity is passing through different crisis phenomena, and these crisis phenomena change all the time. Some of them have more of an influence on the economy, others on ethics, and part of them on politics and on the family. In general, there will be many and varied crises, and, accordingly, we must understand how we need to work with people.

In principle, the method is the same method, but the approach to people must be according to their needs. In other words, for every civilization, for every culture that exists in the world today, there must be a unique approach. Therefore, desires are developed in different nations, in different people and areas, according to the place in which we must work.

Look, for example, at how Latin America leaped with a desire to realize spirituality and how much Europe lags behind it. There is no singular approach. We don’t know why it happens this way.

Accordingly, it is up to us to be sensitive to the pulse all the time, to see where to invest more efforts, where there is a greater need, an opportunity for more exposure. The world is in a global connection. Yet, nevertheless, many changes are taking place in all the different parts of the world.

Therefore, it is up to us to concentrate on a place where there is a need for correction, for spirituality, for inner change, or, as Baal HaSulam writes in the Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, where the question: “What is the reason for my life?” “How can I be fulfilled?” exists; when a question like this appears, people already are prepared for us to turn to them.

As we already have said, this question can expand into different areas, beginning with everyday problems in life to higher, more psychological, more internal problems. Therefore, this places a difficult problem before us.

The idea is that we cannot connect to the Creator if we don’t function as a conduit for His connection, for His bestowal, for His control of the entire world in order to pull all of humanity after us. You see, the entire system is undergoing a shattering only to be able to begin to feel the Creator through this shattering so that we will rise to His level. That is how the entire problem of His relationship with the creatures will be discovered and resolved. The “good and benevolent” is expressed in the creatures rising to His level and becoming like Him. This means everyone together, without exception.

In this way, it is up to us to have our hand on the pulse; and, besides this, it is up to us to be very sensitive to all changes, no matter how small. We now also are found in the higher world, in the world of Infinity (Olam Ein Sof), surrounded and penetrated with the Ohr Ein Sof, with the light of the Creator. There is no difference between our place now and in the future. Nothing changes except our feeling, our senses. The sensitivity is changed. It is up to us to develop and discover it in order to feel the Light. We are found within it, and nothing exists outside of it. So, all of the changes take place within us, and there is no need to travel anywhere. It is necessary only to work all the time on increasing sensitivity to the upper Light within us. This is our goal.

The problem is that, without movement, matter doesn’t exist. Matter exists only in constant motion, in change. Theoretically, if the movement were to stop, everything would disappear immediately. We see this with the atoms, with the elementary particles from which the atoms are composed. If we want to feel the upper world, we must increase our sensitivity to the changes that are taking place in us. Sometimes, it seems to a person that nothing is changing, that everything has frozen, has stopped, that there is no movement. The feeling that life has frozen is intended to show us that we must increase our sensitivity to all movement, and all the movements take place within desire.

At the moment that we begin to be integrated within a group that requires us to concentrate on the Creator through the connection between us, we immediately receive a countless number of changes at every moment. You will begin to feel that every second is an infinite unit of time, from beginning to end. During that second, we pass through a multitude of changes. This sensitivity to change is what we must discover.

I hope that the mutual integration between us through which all of us together are passing—among all of the various continents, civilizations and cultures—will embed in us the fundamentals of greater sensitivity to changes, and, inside of us at every moment, we will begin to feel tremendous changes in desire, direction, emotion, and perception. All the time, more and more, we will examine and direct them at every moment toward the Creator through the group, and, in this way, we very quickly will move the rest of the required way for the first discovery of the Creator.

Discovery of the Creator takes place specifically within these incessant changes because permanence or fixation doesn’t exist. The moment that you stop, everything disappears!

Therefore, the incessant changes guarantee that we are feeling the upper world, feeling the Creator. In our world, our feeling can be something permanent, but, in spirituality, this cannot be. Therefore, come, and let’s remember well that this condition can be fulfilled only if I am linked through the group, locked all the time on the Creator.

So, how do we raise sensitivity to the spirituality in which we are found? If I go out of myself and try to listen to what the friend says, suddenly I find myself in an empty void within the friend. So, within this empty void, how can I feel all kinds of changes and movements so that I will enter into his inner desires directed toward the Creator so that we will yearn for Him together?

We discover and attain the Creator to the degree that we are sensitive to Him; in other words, when the surrounding expanse is revealed to us and we try to feel its characteristics, the changes in it, its vibrations in regard to us, or more correctly, our vibrations in regard to it, our changes in regard to the characteristic of bestowal and love.

Our entire world was given to us in order to direct ourselves toward a particular wave, toward the characteristic of bestowal and love, like in a radio receiver. In the beginning, a rough, approximate tuning is made between the friends. As we continue, we connect to greater and greater external circles of our world, and, as a result of this, we direct ourselves more and more precisely, emotionally discover more of the characteristic of bestowal and love, and in such a form, we begin to feel the Creator more and more clearly.

For our entire world, all of the creatures, the fragmentation and the corrections are required only in order to direct ourselves toward feeling the characteristic of bestowal and love, the Creator, and as long as all of humanity has not entered into this system of mutual feeling—of mutual vibrations, of the tuning of the self—we cannot discover the Creator at all, not any person in the world.

The Kabbalists carried out great work in the past, but they reached a very limited range of attainment because humanity was not at all ready to begin to feel this yet.

However, as of today, we already have been able to determine that humanity is ready to integrate into clarifications of feelings of mutual bestowal and love and from them, to become aware of the Creator. In other words, today, the general rule, “From the love of man to the love of the Creator,” is being actively realized specifically by tuning into a high sensitivity to bestowal, to mutual connection, mutual integration according to the principle, “That which you hate, do not do to your friend,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Our mutual tuning leads us toward the Creator, and, through gradual expansion of our circle of sensitivity, to all of humanity, in this way, we discover the Creator within this new sense of bestowal and love.

That is how the general rule of “From the love of man to the love of the Creator” is realized, but it is specifically through feelings, through increased sensitivity.
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From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day One 2/2/14, Workshop 4

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Sandpaper On Egoism – Balm On The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanEach of us once was a fetus in his or her mother’s womb. Our mothers nurtured us and as a result we developed. Imagine a state when you are there, inside. How does one feel while being in the fetal state?

The fetal state is analogous to our current stage of development. The breakthrough to spirituality is completely parallel to the stages a fetus goes through while it grows. The opposing forces (bestowal and receiving) descended from spirituality and ensure our evolution.

In The Study of the Ten Sefirot there are about a thousand pages that explain how spirituality can be attained. The book describes the descent of both forces into this world. Stages of descent are similar to the way we come to and then develop in this world.

So, what are the ways of advancement?

A group serves the “womb” for us; we have to take the best possible care of it. Our advancement should be conscientious and this is the difference in spiritual progress, spiritual growth from any other kind of advancement.

In this world, a fetus never worries about the place that ensures its birth and further growth. A fetus advances unconsciously. The same applies to humanity, its advancement is mindless; we are driven forward by forces, incentives, properties, desires, “chances.” etc.

We are the ones who have to create a suitable environment for our growth, the surroundings that will ensure our advancement. Our progress completely depends on the development of our environment. If we don’t elevate the group, if we don’t unite, connect, or enhance the collection and unity of friends, we won’t advance.

In his writings, Baal HaSulam mentioned that regrettably there were cases in the history of humanity when the “fetus” appeared stillborn. It happened solely because a group stopped caring for their unity.

At each step, we have to enhance our connection. When we manage to boost the unity among us, we rise and go through a new state, a new day, until we complete the entire nine months of our development. Then, we are born. The process of birth in this world happens in complete agreement with spiritual laws. This explains why those who are aware of spiritual laws also realize what’s going on in this material realm.

Thus, the development of the group, we should always choose over our personal progress, since only through the group can we “pull” ourselves up. This is the way we ascend: We trigger the influence of the Upper Light on us, demanding from It and appealing to It, begging and praying that It raises, unites, and connects us. Our connection activates the surrounding force, the mother’s womb, in which we are conceived. We call it Malchut or Shechina. This is where we turn into a man.

There are two opposing forces that reciprocally interact, the force of receiving and the power of bestowal. They have to come in balance with each other. Each time, when the equilibrium between these two forces is reached, it gives rise to an ascent. Then, we strive to a new state of balance, thus rising again. This is how we progress and are born. In fact, we ourselves grow.

The problem is that we have to relate to both developing forces positively, with joy. They are not always very pleasant; both of them work as “sandpaper” on our egoism and trigger numerous troubles and problems. We should always keep in mind that everything is organized by the Creator and only by Him. The Creator has enumerable methods to “bother” us; every moment He sends something to each of us separately and to all of us together.

We should accept His “treatment” and accept the states we go through in our material lives as blessing and a lot of luck. We have to realize that everything that happens to us is just the way He treats us and leads us. We should connect everything that happens to us with the notions “There is none else besides Him” and “He is the absolute good that does good.” No doubt that we perceive our lives contrary to His unconditional benevolence since we regard His influence through our egoism. As soon as we unite, His guidance will transform in the “absolute good”—truly!

Sometimes we happen to feel a spark of complete benevolence during our group gatherings or while we are engaged in collective actions that aim at enhancing of our unity. On other occasions, this state emerges on a personal, independent basis. The latter is not as desirable as when the group “digests” the Creator’s impact jointly.

The effects we receive mostly are not enjoyable. They become satisfying only when we correctly connect them with ourselves, thus reaching the middle line between the right and left lines (between good and bad states), when we pursue spiritual advancement by means of connecting with others.

All we have to do is just properly understand and accept the upper influence and correctly assess it. Our job is to constantly analyze and refer to the same notion over and over again; i.e., anything that happens to us, inside us, in our hearts and thoughts, desires and inspirations, everything that ever happens to us is done solely by the Upper Light.

Why does it work this way? – Because our job is to connect with our friends and pray that the Upper Light elevates us to the next state, to the property of bestowal.

We should tune ourselves in a way that we won’t miss an opportunity to ascend. Very rarely do we realize that everything that goes on with and in us comes from the Creator and that He is the one who sends all situations to us only because He wants to make us plea to Him in order to transform our “troubles” into a positive advancement. Each moment of our time, all our existence, is a permanent appeal to us from Above, a call to rise to Him. Our job is to tune ourselves up so that we won’t miss this chance.

The main prerequisite to it is to “lift our hearts to the Creator’s path.” Constantly, each one of us separately and all of us together should make our relationships with Him much more sensitive. If we manage to do so, we’ll start understanding what He is telling us. He talks to us exclusively through sensations that emerge in us; whereas we respond to Him through our reactions to sensations that we receive from Him. It happens over and over again: we receive a new sensation from Him and react to it, etc.

This is how we advance, like children who learn by reacting to stimuli. It’s not important if a child’s reaction is good or bad, right or wrong, this is the way children grow. We advance the same way.
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From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day One 2/02/14, Workshop 2

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