Question: We have been working for many years on the direct responses of Aviut (thickness) by perceiving them as true, and there are struggles among the friends in the groups as to this truth when decisions are made about the way the group should advance, the priority of one’s personal advancement etc.

But we don’t examine and clarify things by that and don’t understand how important it is and to what extent it’s impossible to advance towards the goal without clarifying the state; the Reshimot (spiritual genes). Thus years are wasted on what we could do within months.

Answer: On one hand, you are right, of course. On the other hand, the thought that you could advance in months is unrealistic. The first steps take a very long time.

It’s like the evolution of nature: After our world was created by the force of the Big Bang, still nature evolved for 15 billion years, plant life evolved for a billion and half years, animals evolved less than a billion years, and man for about 200-300 thousand years.

According to the levels of natural evolution, we are now on the still level of spiritual evolution, and it is the longest. These phases go by very quickly and I would even call them “temporary.” A person quickly begins to feel and understand, and everything immediately becomes clear. Clarifications, examinations, merging different states and switching take place very fast.

In the past we used panel instruments and today we use computers that count billions of actions per second. I remember that when I was a student we put together computers and we took into account the distance between the wires. Even then we realized that the distance between the wires affects the speed. Today everything takes place in one body, one block, which means that everything speeds up.

So the role of the global group is to overcome our first level of consciousness! It is very important!
[113159]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

Related Material:
Don’t Be Ashamed To Play
Being Born In Spirituality Without A Cesarean Section
Man’s Birthday

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam writes that there is only one soul, only one desire that was created. Spirituality is not divided into parts, therefore it is found completely in each one of us and all together.

“In each one of us” means that if I can include myself in everyone, then I discover the collective soul, which is to say not only those billions who are living now, but also those who have not yet been born and will be born in the future. This is not the picture we imagine.

In other words, this is one volume, one soul, one substance. It’s revealed to us only to that extent that we can properly exist and on the level of intensity that we can interact.

In accordance with that the properties of each person are determined,  and every particle in each one of us. There are people who are characterized by dissemination, meaning contact with large numbers of people, and there are those who are the opposite, they are characterized by connection with a narrow circle of people but with a high level of intensity of connection with them. That is, it’s according to quality or according to quantity; in each of us there is both this and that according to the characteristics of his soul.

For instance, the heart, while it’s clearly involved in its narrowly focused work, connects to a multitude of organs. Whereas, other systems, like the blood vessels, the lymph system, the nervous system, and others, on the other hand, extend everywhere, reaching every part of the body. Our connections are also like this. It’s possible to see this in regard to that for which the person yearns. I see this in regard to my students, for example, how much they are more or less able to find themselves (as far as I can see).

But generally there is no significance to this, because the Light apparently puts us where we are. There is nothing new, we only hasten our development by attracting the Surrounding Light. On the other hand, it will advance us anyway according to the plan of Nature. But this program is found only on the level of the Light of Nefesh (from the word “Nefesha”), which means the inanimate state.

That is, the Light pushes us all the time and we flee from it because this pressure is perceived as negative; we are always developing in this way. But this kind of development is not good because it can lead to great natural disasters, wars, and the like. And if we don’t do anything, then this is all ahead of us.

Conversely, if we invite the hastening of the Upper Light, its increased illumination upon ourselves, then we will advance more rapidly.

Baal HaSulam in “Letter 13,” writes about work in a group: You should know that there are many sparks of holiness in each one in the group [among our friends], when you assemble all the sparks of holiness into one place [into one desire], as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have [that is, attain] a very high level of holiness for a while, from the light of life [the level of bestowal].
[112771]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

Related Material:
Many Sparks, One Soul
Everybody Is Equal In Spiritual Work
The Forbidden Fruit: The Second Failed Attempt

Filed under: Adam-The Common Soul, Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How can I move to the right line if the ego resists it?

Answer: The right line doesn’t exist without resistance. How can a person be on a spiritual line if it isn’t in resistance to the ego? A spiritual state is always against the ego, in resistance to it, and in constant inner tension, constant overcoming.

But if you convey this inner tension through the group, it turns into sweetness, lightness, and hovering instead of heaviness and darkness.
[113153]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

Related Material:
Working With The Right Line
Begin Always With The Right
The Middle Line Is The Straight Road To The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Does the influence of the surrounding forces on us depend upon the code of the Reshimot?

Answer: The influence of the forces surrounding us is dependent upon many factors.

The most essential factor is that when you are already in the group it basically determines what happens to you.

Not one person in spiritual development is there on a personal path because all of us are like gears linked to each other, and therefore, there is no thought that I have some kind of unique path, or what happens to me depends only on me; this depends upon everyone.

From this we must understand what kind of power there is in a group, what kind of power exists in our unity, how much each one of us can influence the fate of the friends.
[113262]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

Related Material:
How To Turn Destiny To Face You
Underground Water That Changes The World
Choose Who You Prefer to Be: A Sinner Or A Righteous

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How is the Torah that stands for the collective sum of all of us different from the Creator that stands for the general connection? These two concepts seem the same to me.

Answer: In one of his letters Baal HaSulam says that we have to advance according to the rule of “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.” What’s more, in every state, the first has to be equal to the second and to the third. It’s only under this condition that a person can advance correctly.

1=2=3, this is the condition for the spiritual advancement.

The first term “Israel,” Yashar -El (straight to the Creator) is every friend who yearns for the Creator. The second term is already the group, working in unity. The third term is the revelation of the Creator in our unity.
[113070]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

Related Material:
In The Center Of An Equilateral Triangle
Knowing What To Ask And From Whom
We Need A New Start

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: How do we actually advance in “faith above reason?”

Answer: Although we got to know that we were advancing during the convention, we also received another great addition. Now we not only believe in the teacher and in our correct advancement, but we also understand that in addition to that now we have to advance in greater “faith above reason.” This means that thanks to the message we received, we can advance in greater faith now.

If we advance correctly we will encounter greater problems as the ego will pull us more strongly backward and we will still have to advance above it and against it. “Faith above reason” means faith against reason.

How can we advance against reason? When we advance in spirituality, every level annuls the previous level according to the spiritual law of “negating the negative.” Each time we grow, we become wiser and more clever and our knowledge on the next level is opposite from the knowledge on the previous level.

Every Partzuf is made of ten Sefirot, from Keter to Malchut. Malchut of the upper becomes Keter of the lower, which means that it changes its attributes to the opposite attributes. However, when we ascend, Keter of the lower becomes Malchut of the upper, and thus also becomes the opposite.

Malchut is the attribute of receiving and Keter is the attribute of bestowal. So each time we ascend, we need to turn the receiving into bestowal, to “faith above reason.” When you ascend to the next ten levels, since your Keter has become Malchut, it’s as if you negate all your previous knowledge and all the ten Sefirot you had on the previous level become the opposite and are incorrect in the next state.

It’s like speaking to a child who sees things from his level, while you see it totally differently. The reasons and the actions are different, although you see the same outcome.

“Faith above reason” is faith against reason. It always negates the previous reason and you should advance against it, which means above it. I have the previous knowledge and still I advance according to faith.

When Rabash explained to me what “faith above reason” is he gave me the following example: Suppose a friend has borrowed a thousand dollars from another friend and wants to give back the money. When he gives him back the money, it turns out that there is one dollar less in the envelope. He asks whether the friend has returned all the money and his friend tells him that he did. Does he begin to think who is right now? No. If the friend says that it’s a thousand dollars, I accept it as a thousand dollars. This means that I don’t believe what I see, since now I have my friend’s eyes instead of my own eyes. I don’t believe my feelings and what I know; I advance in “faith above reason.”

What my friend tells me means the external vessels, the external attributes are more important to me, and I accept it as more accurate information that is clearer and more correct than mine. So if the group decides something, I immediately accept it and although it’s clear to me that there is less than a thousand dollars here, I accept it as a thousand. It’s a substitute for me. On the whole this seems totally illogical and unrealistic, and it is indeed so.

Baal HaSulam says that certain people may seem wicked and others righteous according to their attributes and then we see them in the opposite manner, certain people seem rich and others poor and then we see them oppositely, certain people seem clever and others foolish and then the opposite. Everything depends on us. In the spiritual world we change the picture completely by changing our attributes. The bodies and the connections between them are revealed in a totally different manner.

So “faith above reason” is the means by which we advance and ascend the spiritual ladder. We cannot do it otherwise! ”Faith above reason” is faith opposite from what we knew previously. If we don’t have faith against what we knew before, we would never rise from one Partzuf (state) to the second, the third, and so on. This is how the transition takes place.

If we were given the message and felt that we are on the right track during the last convention and that our teacher guides us correctly, although we didn’t really believe that, we have a problem now. So where is our faith? How can we close our eyes and disregard what we know? If we don’t, we will advance egoistically. For the first time we are given a real chance to conquer our next level in an attack “above reason.”
[112963]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

Related Material:
An Operation In “Faith Above Reason”
Rising Above Reason
How To Measure Faith Above Reason

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: “Now that we have learned all the above, we can understand an unclear phrase in “Masechet Avot” (Chapter 3, Item 16). It reads as follows: “He (Rabbi Akiva) would say, ‘All is in deposit, and a fortress spreads over all of life. The store is open and the shopkeeper sells by deferred payment, the book is open and the hand writes. And all who wish to borrow may come and borrow, and the collectors return regularly, day-by-day, and collect from a person knowingly and unknowingly. And they have what to rely on, and the judgment is true, and all is ready for the feast.’”

Question: What is “true judgment?”

Answer: Judgment is according to the relations of the Lights and the vessels. There is a law that although the Light (+) and the vessel (-) are opposite from one another and there is a huge gap between them that is divided into 125 degrees, the vessel still has to move with its attributes towards the Light through all these levels. This is the first principle—equivalence of form.

We were given 6000 years in which we can go by two paths in order to reach equivalence of form.

In addition, humanity is divided into two groups:

• Israel (GE) – that yearn to reach the Creator by themselves.
• The nations of the world (AHP) who were not given this yearning.

Thus there are rules that are not determined by us. In this world, we don’t choose anything; all our desires are managed from above. The Light comes and evokes a certain deficiency in the desire and leaves us no choice but to try to fulfill it. Why? We are not asked.

The desire comes first and the mind and the different accounts are the outcome. They are the means that allow us to escape the sufferings since a deficiency that is not fulfilled and sufferings are actually the same thing. Only later do we acquire deficiencies that are felt as pleasures thanks to the yearning for love.

This development can be compared with the roller that is moving on us from behind and forces us to run forward. This is the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) of the first type (OM I), general, shining on everyone, protecting and advancing everyone in a mandatory way. We think that the world is ruled by politicians, the elite, etc., but in fact, as it is written, “The hearts of ministers and king’s are in the hands of the Creator.”

But in addition, there is the Surrounding Light of the second type (OM II). This is our Light; it applies to those who have the point in the heart (•). It affects us, moves us forward, makes us get up to study at 3 in the morning in order to change ourselves, to help humanity, etc.

The law operates here too since we were not asked whether we wanted to be awakened or not. In The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 4, Baal HaSulam says: “The Creator Himself puts one’s hand on the good fate.”

Which means that He brings a person to choose the environment and says: “‘Choose for yourself a good part in My land.’ He places him on the good part and tells him: ‘Choose this for yourself.’”

You will strengthen the Surrounding Light by incorporating in the group. This is already the very personal Light that a person can provoke by himself thus creating the beginning of his connection with the Creator.

So when I make great efforts in the group, I begin to establish the relationship with Him only in the group, since it cannot be done outside the group. Only here can I connect with the source of the Light. This means that it isn’t about the Light or the changes that it evokes, not even about the group, and certainly not about me. The only important thing is that it ties me to the source, to the Creator. Everything else is just the means.

And so if I build a chain, I do all that is required: I evoke the Light, incorporate in the group, and annul myself before the friends. The most important thing is to constantly develop and to strengthen my connection with the source of the Light. Thus I work with the private Surrounding Light according to the private arrangement that is in accordance with the group and the general global development.

Question: Does that mean that I have to totally justify the judgment and understand that it is right?

Answer: There is no judgment from above. The Creator brings you to the group and tells you “Choose for yourself.” In other words, grow stronger in it, work with the friends, and continue to advance.

He “places your hand on the good part,” so do you choose it or not? If you don’t, then to the same extent that you ignore your role, you immediately summon trouble upon yourself. Not only is your personal incompleteness taken into account here, but also the negative outcome that will affect everyone. All this returns to you like a boomerang and begins to pressure you. So it isn’t the Creator who sends us all the problems. Only love stems from Him. You discover this later.

So why did you feel so bad? Because you didn’t fulfill your role towards yourself and towards others and so you felt the outcome of your failures. Because of your lack of understanding, you thought that it stems from Him, but in fact it is you who caused your own troubles by yourself. When you eventually see that, you don’t have any complaints to the Creator.
[111061]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Creditors
The Language Of Communicating With The Creator
There Are No Free Meals

Filed under: Group Work, Israel, Nations of the World, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

If enemies surround me – my heart will not fear!

If they raise a war against me – I rely on the Creator!
(From a Shabbat song)

The main thing is to see that this war is between the two parts of the universe. On one side, there is the entire human ego, the egoism in me. On the other side, there is a group, a society, through which I receive help from the Creator.

If the force of evil is awakened in me: It deprives me of strength, confuses and misleads me; my point in the heart feels that the war is inflamed with my evil. Then, I quickly run for help to the group and to the Creator that is concealed within it, the force of bestowal, and thus become armed against evil, and I rise in war against my egoism.

Shamati, Article 42: Reception of the Kingdom of Heaven must be unconditional surrender.

However, when one says that he is willing to take upon himself the work on condition that there will be a shape of white, meaning that the day will shine for him, and he does not agree if the work appears to him in a black form, this person has no place in the King’s Hall. This is because those who wish to work in order to bestow are admitted into the King’s Hall, and when one works in order to bestow, he does not mind what he feels during the work.

Rather, even in a state where one sees a shape of black, one is not impressed by it, but he only wants the Creator to give him strength to be able to overcome all the obstacles. It means that one does not ask of the Creator to give him a shape of white, but to give him the strength to overcome all the concealments.

First, my own evil is awakened, “help against me” (1). Then I have no other choice but to turn to the group within which the force of the Light, the force of the Creator (2) is hidden. Due to this, I correct my evil (3) and transform black darkness into the white Light.

It all depends on the person. Actually, there is neither black nor white—a person turns black into white and white into black.
[113287]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/13

Related Material:
The Group Makes You A Hero
How To Win In The Struggle With Yourself?
From Where Does One Take The Desire To Rise Up From The Sofa?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

My thoughts and my desires are actually not mine. Where does the real me begin? It is in the group that enables you to develop and nurture your desire seriously in a focused, practical manner. Here, I have the tools, the means that allow me to process and change the matter of my desire. By working on the desire with the help of my friends, I fulfill my only free choice.

However, if I don’t want that, there will be new troubles and afflictions, and eventually I will want it.

Question: Does that mean that I suffer until I give in?

Answer: Giving in is not the problem. The point is that I begin to understand that I should change my desire so that it will be like the Creator’s and that it is worthwhile. I am attracted to the same values and the right goal, and begin to enjoy it.

Then, there is a new phase, “That it is a pity that I do it trying to avoid the sufferings and to enjoy the Creator’s delight. I want to bestow totally, to love to the fullest, although I feel no response from the Creator.”

This is the spiritual path along which I change the egoistic values and discover, time after time, the limits of my freedom, my true level. As it is written, “You are called Adam [human], and not the nations of the world.” “You” refers to those who yearn to reach the Creator, which means to make their desire like His. Then, they are called Israel, which means Yashar El (straight to the Creator).

However, if I don’t want to resemble Him, I remain on the animal level in which all the changes, including the scientific technological progress, all are derived from Him and cannot be changed. Here, I am not independent. A person becomes independent when he becomes similar to the Creator.
[112563]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
My Self Is Actually Not Mine
Where Is My True Self?
We Need A New Point Of Unity

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Every level summarizes and incorporates everything that takes place within it. We constantly are learning from ourselves about the states and characteristics through which we pass, which gradually accumulate, and after this, like a gauge, reach a stage where zero becomes one, and after that, again reach a stage where one becomes two, and so on. That is also how it is with us.

However, when the number one or two appears in me, it appears as a negative sum of all the previous negative discoveries above which I can rise, and I now rise above all of them together, and the first positive level is created for me.

Therefore, we must understand that the Creator is never revealed to us in a good way. He forces us to change, and then we feel Him, which is to say, our own corrected states will be felt by us as characteristics of the Creator.

Therefore, we don’t need to look somewhere else, rather only within us, clarifying where the characteristics are that are operating against connection that were created as a result of the shattering of the collective soul. We discover them and rise above them all the time. That is how we advance. This is to say, love covers over all unintentional mistakes and all crimes, and we advance according to this principle.

Now, when we are found in a good atmosphere like this, lacking mutual concern, first and foremost, we must make a “heavenly firmament” above us, such an environment, such a dome, that will hold all of us in constant awareness that we need to discover within us the opposition to connection and surmount it all the time.

If this doesn’t appear in us, this is a sign that we don’t yearn for connection, but when we truly yearn for it we immediately feel the opposition. This is because in spirituality there is no stopping. Immediately, all kinds of disturbances will be added to us as stages of advancement.

Many of the source texts talk about how the Kabbalists felt mutual hatred for each other. In The Book of Zohar it is said that the students of Rabbi Shimon felt such a mutual hatred that they were ready to burn each other to ashes, a fire of hatred burned among them.

Apparently, they had nothing about which to dispute. All of them were poor and lived in a small cave. About what did they feel hatred? It was because they wanted to get close to each other to correct their nature and discover with this the characteristic of bestowal and love, the Creator.

Therefore, the great power of the environment, the group, a constant reminder that if the group works correctly, then all the oppositions that appear among us are our only means for spiritual ascent.

From bricks like these, the corrected characteristics, the soul is built. The characteristics of rejection are the shattered parts of the temple of the soul. By connecting them, we rebuild this Kli, vessel, our collective soul.

We make an effort to connect and eventually discover the evil in each of us: We don’t want to connect. Along with this, we need to feel the pressure of the group so that we won’t flee from the hostility and hatred that appears in us about some of the friends or all of them. Under pressure from the group we begin to yearn for connection in opposition to the force of separation. Therefore, the pressure of the group must be strong.

Through yearning for connection, we begin to understand that, not only do we require the pressure of the group here, but also a higher power, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and so three compulsory components appear: ourselves, the group, and the Surrounding Light. Through them, this problem is solved and we connect.

The next time, it is the same thing. That is, the conditions for connection transform into a start. So, after connecting, again we need to search for an even greater reason to connect, and again, we get rejection and descend, over which we rise again, and go forward. We all are going through a process like this.
[112514]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day One” 7/12/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
The Creator Pushes, While The Environment Catches Me
The Path To Goodness: Step By Step
The Last Variable In The Equation

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →