A person doesn’t have the power to aspire to correct his egoism, but being around people who aspire to correct themselves, if these people are pleasant to him, then he receives from them the force to overcome his egoism and becomes imbued with their desires, aspiration, and the power of spirit. But thanks to his attitude to and respect for these people, he gets new desires and aspirations.
[79428]
From Baal HaSulam, Shamati #99

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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” is the most important article of all articles written by Baal HaSulam because it talks about the principles, the roots, of our work. It explains why people of Israel were created both in history and in the overall process of development, why a transition link is important to transfer the method of correction from the Creator to the creatures, and why this methodology should come through a special group that separated from the rest of mankind in ancient Babylon in the times of destruction, which it symbolizes.

It was from there that a group that, after a long time required for preparation of humanity and themselves, passes the method of correction to the whole world. Baal HaSulam also explains the relationships of this group with the world and what processes both sides should go through, and that, in essence, is all our history.

And the main thing in this history is the current situation. We have reached the so-called beginning of the final stage and must now implement the method of correction. Besides, it is not enough to implement the method on us by overcoming rejection, rising above our egoism, uniting among ourselves, and revealing the Light of the Creator in this unity.

It is also necessary to bring Light to all nations of the world, by that we realize the methodology. We must bring people to the level of which it is told: “For they shall all know me from the smallest to the greatest.” And then everyone will reveal and know the Creator, each according to his vessels, desires. And by uniting and revealing a single Light together, the Creator will become revealed in the common vessel.

This is what the article “The Arvut” tells us. Different vectors can be drawn out of it to understand responsibilities put onto us that are mirrored in history, education, culture, and world events. Hence, it becomes clear why the world should have to go through all sorts of epochs and processes, striving for freedom, wealth, power, fame, and science. We understand why, as the result of this egoistic development, the world should plunge into a crisis, what is happening today, and what still has to be revealed before the world realizes the need of a fundamental, not just an external, correction.

After all, it is not about the natural environment and external systems that bring order, but in ourselves, among us, in relationships among us that we must adopt a new system connecting people. And in order to do that, we need to change our natures. Egoists can no longer give us a solution to the current situation. It will change only if we change ourselves. Then we will transform our network of relationships—and thereby change the world.

All of this together is a consequence of the foundation described by Baal HaSulam in the article “The Arvut.”
[79664]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/3/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: At what age can a child participate in a workshop together with the grownups? Is it worthwhile to create separate circles for the children?

Answer: Men, women, and children can sit together in one space, but each in a separate circle. The children don’t need to make noise and disturb the others. It is worthwhile that there be an instructor with them. And it’s not important if you discuss workshop questions with the children or the grownups. The instructor will not lose anything if he sits between the children. Of course, the boys and girls need to sit in separate circles.

With respect to age, I think that it depends on the preparation of the child. We can sit our children in a circle for discussion at the age of 12 and maybe earlier with instructors. And from age 12 onward, it is possible to already have them sit without an instructor.

It is desirable that the boys be in the same space as the men, and will see how their discussion progresses and will imitate the grownups. For the women, like the men, it is the same. There needs to be discussion leaders for the circles and instructors for the girls.
[79127]
From the Virtual Lesson 5/20/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Question: How long should a workshop last, because a moment comes when there is no more strength.

Answer: At the last workshop, I felt that the central group warmed up and approached a general movement of beginning to work on unity only after 50 minutes. This is the lack of preparation and hope that I will create something.

I cannot create anything. I only suggest a topic, nudge, and tune everyone like a musical instrument, but you have to play it yourself. However, you cannot set up quickly and start playing.

To do this, it’s necessary to disconnect from oneself, come together, imagine everyone compressed into one tight space, and then walk a bit away, fill the vacant space with love so as to remain completely united, and start the discussion through this unity.

Here, there was no unity, no preparation for the workshop before the beginning of the discussion, although we talked about that not too long ago. However, everyone left for the break, and the break erased everything. In general, the community was not ready!

People should go to the workshop as to a special event. They should understand how to prepare for it and how to be included in it. They have to worry about every minute, if it should pass without unity through which they discuss and begin to feel what they talk about.
[79601]
From the Virtual Lesson 5/27/12, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah”

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Some of our groups find it hard to tie the wisdom of Kabbalah with mutual guarantee. People who have come to study Kabbalah don’t really want to learn about mutual guarantee and of course don’t want to disseminate the message of mutual guarantee to the world.

Actually I understand them. When I came to Rabash at the age of 33, I was a scientist by character and in my previous occupation. Before I came to Israel, from the age of 6 to the age of 28, I studied and read scientific literature all the time. This also stemmed from a deficiency to discover the Creator, the force that manages everything.

At Rabash’s, I heard about “love thy friend as thyself.” In Russia this principle was distorted in favor of the elite and it was very unpleasant for me to hear it because behind the words about love there were the greatest swindlers and thieves who did the exact opposite and exploited others for their own good. It was very hard to get used to the idea that this principle is the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah because it’s supposed to speak about the secrets of creation, and suddenly it speaks about the old stuff.

Then I started learning about the inner system: It turns out that the shattered desire to receive has become egoistic, and in order to return to the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), we should correct our ego. This means that we should bring inside and closer to us that which seems distant, to turn what seems as hated into beloved. Despite our current desire, despite the pride, the passions, the respect, you should step on yourself and reject your ego more and more by getting closer to people that you hate. Thus you climb the steps of the spiritual ladder.

Only after I understood the way, I stopped shuddering when I heard words about love. It took me about two to three years and it wasn’t easy at all compared to the strong repulsion I felt at the beginning. But the fact that I learned the system and its laws helped me, just like a doctor who looks at the results of tests or at an x-ray. Then I understood where these words were taken from; I understood that these words have nothing to do with human aspects or with being good and living in brotherhood. It’s about the source of all our conflicts, about the basis of our nature, which we, having no choice, must fulfill. This is what convinced me.

Therefore, we should explain to all our friends in Israel and abroad so that they’ll understand that dissemination to all those who want to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah and the wider dissemination of mutual guarantee to the whole world is what Tikkun (correction) means. If in the past a Kabbalist could correct himself by himself or with the help of a teacher, today it’s impossible.

It isn’t I who says this, Baal HaSulam writes about the fact that we have to do this. So you can’t reach internal correction if you don’t establish a group. For the group to start living and to advance in the right direction, you have to be connected to the whole world and to disseminate with all your might the idea about the essence of the current problems and their solutions to the whole world. First, dissemination should be done in Israel because the people of Israel should become the source of the system for the whole world.

Thus the circles are created: Around you there is the group, around the group there is Israel, and around Israel there is the whole world. If you don’t take this system into account you won’t succeed and you will not draw the Light that Reforms. You must encircle everything to a certain extent. This stems from the shattering of the vessels and from the necessary correction of the whole ladder from the vital period about which Baal HaSulam writes. People who don’t want to fulfill that simply don’t want to hear what our spiritual teacher says.
[79524]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/01/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: How much do I have to pay the Creator for my correction, as if I pay a surgeon for an operation? What is the work that I have to do?

Answer: All you need to do is to connect; in our world there is nothing but connection. This work is very simple. You pay with your exertion; you have to connect with everyone and love everyone in order to transcend from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator. Try to attain the greatest rule of the Torah: “Love thy friend as thyself,” the rule that includes everything, and then you will be filled with the Torah, with the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity).

It seems so simple, but this is the hardest thing for us. You can spin around this point for along time, like a dog chasing its tail, and find that it isn’t in your power to achieve connection. You’ll find many excuses; you’ll postpone it until tomorrow and suggest different conditions.

A person doesn’t attain connection by himself; he has to yearn for it and act for it. Suppose I hug you although I don’t feel that I like you. It’s for this reason that I chose you because I feel how much my desire to receive hates this action. Then it’s the gap between the action and the desire that draws the Light and brings me a new desire.

It’s common knowledge that people adopt children and invest so much in them until they begin to love them as if they were their biological children. If a person marries a woman who has a child, he must invest in the child with more efforts than with his own child. This is because if it were my child, he would naturally feel that I am his father, but another child doesn’t see me as his father and I also know that he isn’t my child, and so I have to invest in him many more powers. I’m afraid that he may disrespect me or may hate me because he’s a stranger to me.

But thanks to the fact that I invest in him more than in anything, I begin to love him more than my own child in whom I don’t invest so much. Everything is determined by the efforts made; therefore, there is nothing else you can do but invest your powers.
[79509]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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We grow only with the help of the environment, like children who take examples from adults. To the extent that I appreciate my environment, it will serve as an example for me. If I see those around me as ordinary people, no better than me, what can I learn from them?

If I work on myself, on my ego, in order to raise the friends, I see them as the Creator’s emissaries. After all, besides a person there is only the Creator, as it says: “There is none else besides Him.” In such an environment I can grow.

I grow precisely with the understanding that there is no one else besides the Creator. I constantly have to see myself in contact with the Creator, and as a result, to check which attributes and thoughts separate me from Him in “words” and especially in “deeds.”

This is woven and becomes a request, a prayer, because a person begins to fear disconnecting from the thought and from this feeling that may be the very first, and very weak feeling of connection with the Creator. If I manage to feel the fine thread that ties me with the Creator, I have to be careful that it doesn’t break or disappear. No interruption can negate the recognition that I have that I am tied to the Creator by this fine thread.

This fear begins to live in me, and so I accept all the troubles and problems that arise in my extraneous thoughts, desires, and confusion, I take as a “helpmate.” I see that the Creator sends me all this in order to let me overcome the obstacles and to strengthen our connection.

I cannot overcome any obstacles by myself, and I must ask the Creator to help me. Then the Creator gives me power, and instead of one thread that ties us together, there are already two!

Then another obstacle comes along and thanks to it, I receive a third thread. Thus, gradually, the threads are woven together and become a thick rope that strongly ties me to the Creator.

I shouldn’t ask that “all the evils that are revealed should die,” which means that all the obstacles should disappear. Otherwise, how would I build my connection with the Creator? I have to ask that the evil be “reformed” and turned to the Creator, which means to use these obstacles, and as I rise above them, to strengthen my contact with the Creator.

If I am constantly careful to preserve and strengthen the thread that ties us together, it gradually becomes a pipe through which flows the energy of life.

At first I receive the power of life only from the feeling of my connection, but later I begin to learn its character, its different faces, its different forms. I accumulate experience: Which obstacles did I face, how did I overcome them, thanks to which request, how did the Creator arrange these obstacles in order to make them the threads that tie us together? So I learn how the Creator treats me as I turn the negative states into positive ones.

I work on this contrast of black and white: Once, I see the Creator’s angry face on the background of some disturbance, and once, His kind and loving eyes. So I begin to know Him according to these two looks, like a father who sometimes turns to his son with a loving, smiling face and sometimes looks strict, and in this way teaches him.

I constantly strengthen the connection between us, and the levels of this connection determine the levels of the spiritual ladder. At first the connection is very weak, just in order to hold on to him like an embryo in his mother’s womb. But later, a person begins to be more active, a state called Yenika (feeding). Then he becomes an “adult,” which means that he knows how to use this connection consciously; he evokes it more or less and through it receives the Light for a certain goal.

All this depends on how strongly a person holds on to the group that provides him with support, constantly learning. Then a connection is formed from the hair of these tiny threads that are created by his endless efforts not to allow this connection to break even for a moment, which brings a person to revelation. But all the work begins from the reverent fear that a person’s connection with the Creator may be cut off.
[79358]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/12, Shamati #61

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It is very important in which way we fall asleep in the evening, and even more so, how we wake up in the morning, how we trained ourselves to get up. Even a short wakeful time left before the morning lesson should be used in the most effective way in order to awaken the heart. It happens thanks to a single, common desire shared by everyone, one topic, or one song that helps all of us to aspire to one center together.

Such preparation for the lesson is necessary so that everyone will approach it in full readiness, as one.

The readiness is tested by your desire, aspiration to attain something new both in your heart and mind. To obtain a sensation of being the one who bestows, a person has to agree  to pursue the property of bestowal with all of his devotion and to refuse any profits of reception. He has to “warm himself up” a little and feel the difference between his desirable state and the real one, to sharpen his perception and readiness to grasp the deepest details.

It is very important to prepare yourself before the lesson this way. Otherwise you will be listening and will hear nothing, as if you are just beginning to wake up. And this is a great loss. A person who happened to be unprepared as if wasn’t at the lesson.

From Above, only the preparation is taken into account for us since this is where we put forth our efforts. If I am sitting and waking up at the expense of the lesson itself, then it happens not because of my personal efforts, but thanks to the environment. Such preparation is no longer attributed to my account, and hence it’s better for me to do it myself.
[78872]
From the Preparation for the Lesson 4/23/2012 

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Question: When I want to pass an exam or find a job, I automatically get a passionate “prayer,” a powerful craving for the desired result. Why doesn’t this happen on the path towards the Creator?

Answer: Putting it differently, when will you finally get a real reason for turning to the Creator?

Say, something very unpleasant happened to you. For example, someone has dealt you a serious insult, so much so that you’re ready to disappear on the spot just to prevent others from finding out. At the same time, there’s nothing you can do about it. And it is here in a completely hopeless state that you receive “a gift from above”; you begin to feel that there is none else besides Him and that the Creator sent this to you for a specific purpose; you only need to turn to Him and ask that it wouldn’t be happening.

You turn to Him with this request and suddenly feel shame: “What do I want? To avoid misfortune? Or to be with the Creator? Let the fear and shame remain if only through that I would maintain a connection with Him.”

This is how we move forward: We need the fear, which we cannot handle, coming from our egoistic desires, and then we will truly have a need for the Creator.

Are you ready for that? Do you want this to happen? Without any reservations or concessions?

Question: So there’s no way of escaping disturbances?

Answer: Join a group, and together with the friends you’ll fly forward like a rocket. Because then, instead of shame and other “animal” troubles, you’ll receive other disturbances caused by the inability to love your friends and unite with them. You exert efforts but aren’t able to achieve that.

Either way, disturbances are necessary since you won’t turn to the Creator as long as you see even the tiniest possibility of correcting yourself some other way. Only complete helplessness gives rise to your request to Him. And this means that you need to grow your desire, striving for unity and elevating it above all the others. Then you’ll discover that you can achieve anything except for that. And the gap between the desired and reality will evoke a cry to the Creator.

Question: What exactly needs to happen in a group so that the situation would reach the necessary escalation?

Answer: Exert all possible efforts and obligate the group to influence you. This is precisely what we call “mutual guarantee.”
[79340]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee):” With this collective responsibility, each member of the nation was liberated from worrying about the needs of his own body and could keep the commandment, “Love thy friend as thyself” in the fullest measure, and give all that he had to any needy person.

This means that we will receive such a great pleasure in our feeling that in our corporeal life we will not need anything but what is necessary for our existence, just as animals have no need for cookies, but only for the natural food that is enough for them. If our desires, which are not on the animal level, will stop confusing us and will rise to the “Human” level, we will get rid of all the surpluses that only pollute the earth and will leave only what we need for our basic necessities in the corporeal life.

By the connection with others we reach the fulfillment on the “human” level, similar to the Creator. Then, of course you don’t think about self-enjoyment except for what is necessary. We discover the Creator in the connection with others and so of course we give all our powers for the needs of others. This is why it says: “I reside within my people.”

Since he no longer cared for the existence of his own body, as he knew for certain that he was surrounded by six hundred thousand loyal lovers, who were standing ready to provide for him.

It is the supportive society that raises the importance of the connection in my eyes and provides a sense of security that I will not lack any of the basic necessities, which allows a person to care for everyone.

Later, this will also disappear and I will receive everything thanks to the unity with the society; I won’t have to see the system that provides proof for the love and concern of those around me. The love I feel for them will fill all my vessels.
[79445]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)“

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