Question: What is the principle of mutual guarantee, and what is its role in the balance of things that you are talking about?

Answer: Mutual guarantee is the principle which operates at all levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and should also be carried out at the human level in the connection between us. Studying nature, we see that all its elements are linked by one rule regarded as a “guarantee.” After all, if one part stops caring about the other, the organism will die. Everything is mutually connected, exists in homeostasis, reciprocal relationship, and exchanges nutrients and information.

As in our body, the heart, lungs,  kidneys, and all of its organs are servicing the entire organism. No organ works for itself; they are all bound together. Each of them serves the others, not itself; it takes from the body as much as is necessary for it to work for the benefit of the entire body. Other than this, it does not require anything.

How many calories,how much  information, and what certain abilities do I get? Just as much as is necessary in order for me to use all that I have to bestow to the organism in a special, form inherent to me so that I give to it what it needs. All that enters me is multiplied by my ability to render special service throughout the body, and this is what I bring out of myself. As to me, I do not keep anything for myself and only use everything to carry out my mission with respect to the entire system.

But what do I get out of it? After we start to live at this level in total harmony, in a perfect integral form, each of us earns the right to belong on a higher degree, a completely different level of existence. Then we reach a state where we do not simply dwell in a biological, protein body, but also feel the emotions and mind of the human degree.

Why is it so? In animals, the body works naturally, in the instinctive connection between them, in balance with nature. It’s because at the still, vegetative, and animate levels everything acts according to homeostasis.

But if a person enters the same integral picture of still, vegetative, and animate degrees in a harmonious, integrated form as well, he does so against his will, by doing a lot of searching, experiments, and self-analysis. He raises himself to the integral level and takes his mind and senses along. And then he studies this system from above since he attains it. After all, without attaining it, he cannot exist as an integral part, along with all other people.

Then I step out of myself and begin to experience this very system. I do not view myself apart from the others, but perceive us all as one, and this is the highest system called “Adam” or “Man,” identical to omnipotent nature. Thus, we rise to this level, not each of us individually, but all of us together in our common system. We can see how bound we are and reveal a new dimension called “Human.”

But today we have not reached the human degree since we are governed by our ego, programmed in us by nature. Hence, we are viewed as animals. Today, we cannot be regarded as humans since we don’t have anything authentically our own. We live and act instinctively, inside ourselves, within our desire to enjoy.

But when we go against our wishes and build our relationship, the mutual guarantee, we then rise to the level of the integral system, omnipotent nature. Whereas today, we act below this level.
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From the talk about a new book 7/11/2011

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The period of preparation is called the period of “sins and transgressions.” You can object and say: How was it a transgression if I had no understanding or knowledge of anything?

Yes, you didn’t know but you acted. And even though you tried to follow the instructions of Kabbalah, you studied and were in a group, you did it all for your own sake. This is why unknowingly, you carried out the actions in the group and studies egoistically, instead of performing them for the sake of bestowal. You tried to use your friends and Kabbalah for your own sake, and these sins are called either “intentional transgressions” or “unintentional mistakes, negligence.”

Later, when we rise to a spiritual degree and acquire the strength to act for the sake of bestowal, we correct these sins. At first we correct the “mistakes,” and by doing so we rise to the degree of Bina, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, trepidation. And then we correct the “transgressions” for bestowal and acquire the degree of love, absolute faith.

Where do the transgressions and negligence which we correct for bestowal and love on the degree of Bina and Keter come from? They were once saved in our egoistic desires, as it is written: “The beast will swallow and spew out.” And this is how we have collected a number of transgressions that we can now correct.

But a person who doesn’t enter the group and doesn’t begin to study to attain the goal with whatever intention he is capable of, doesn’t commit “transgressions” or make “mistakes.” He has nothing to correct at all; he lacks the “evil inclination.”

This “egoistic inclination” that Kabbalah speaks about is a special quality. We form it while in the group, when we study, when we aspire to bestow (Lishma), when we are certain that we currently exist in egoism (Lo Lishma), and when we commit horrible transgressions by wanting to attain spirituality for our own sake and to reap rewards in all the worlds.

This is how we accumulate transgressions and mistakes within us. And until we gather a full measure of them over the “400 years of the Egyptian bondage,” we are unable to escape them and begin correction.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, ”The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: But the role of Israel toward the world resembles the role of our holy fathers toward the Israeli nation….

If it were not for our forefathers, there would be no nation of Israel, meaning the group who yearns for the Creator and correction. In the same way, we now have to take care of the world because without our help, people will not be able to correct themselves. Their desires are not capable of ascending by themselves, and people cannot even think about correction for the sake of bestowal.

Today, we see this in the work of scientists and prominent experts in various fields. They write correct things about the world, but they cannot utter a word about the solution. They have no aspiration “straight to the Creator,” no spiritual spark. Thus, they do not realize that this is the only possibility. They are helpless before the need for correction; they have no means for it.

Therefore, they avoid answers in their search and discussions. They cannot see further down the road; they only see what is happening. They understand the necessity to create an integral world, and they stop there. Consequently, their reasoning is vague. It ends in nothing or falls back on completely unrealistic proposals.

I do not reproach them. This is not a sign of their limitations. It’s just that without the addition of a spiritual spark to human desires in our world, people cannot see the future, the only development possible.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, ”The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Principles for the Week

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Question: What is the reason for the fact that when we read The Book of Zohar and keep a very tangible intention, it suddenly disappears, and we understand that it has disappeared only once we remember about it?

Answer: That’s obvious! This is given to us so we would demand the sensation. We are unable to keep two thoughts in our mind. What can be better than attuning myself correctly before reading The Book of Zohar, together with the friends, in a circle, and inside of it desiring to reveal what we are reading?

However, what happens is that I attune myself and start reading, and suddenly I become immersed in the text slightly more deeply. Then I no longer use it as “Segula” – the special quality of the Light, wishing to reveal it in the connection between us. Instead, I switch my attention to the text itself, aspiring to understand it and to attain it, the way I read regular books, wishing to find out what they’re talking about. I don’t perceive what is written there as something that happens inside of me, between us, inside of us, but as something that exists outside of me. I immediately shift to the external picture.

After that, all kinds of alien thoughts come to me and I start “traveling” in these fantasies and calculations.

This happens until a person sees that he is unable to come out of this and it deprives him of the right approach where he would literally be able to “latch on by the teeth” in order to hold on to the right attitude to the reading.

What should he do? Eventually he reaches a demand that he needs the sensation—not to get to know the text or hear it, but to enter this picture, to attain it. He wants this to happen, for this picture to become clear to him. Just as he is in this earthly reality now, so he has to find himself inside of that spiritual reality.

Therefore, this entire confusion, all of these states have to bring us to such despair that we will desire only the sensation, while clearly realizing that we are incapable of anything on our own, even of keeping the intention. But nevertheless, we will clearly discern exactly what we do need.

Then, on one hand you understand that there is nothing you could do and there’s no point even in opening up the book. You reach total despair. But on the other hand, you know that you are unable to leave this path because your entire life is in it. And then, you receive it….

This point is truly critical because from it, you can enter the spiritual world. And that is what really happens.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, The Zohar

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In Malchut of the world of Infinity, in the creature created by the Creator, different desires are distributed over five levels of coarseness (Aviut). Further, these levels manifest into five worlds. Each world consists of five Partzufim, and each Partzuf consists of five Sefirot.

Therefore, in the integrated Partzuf of Malchut of Infinity, there are ten Sefirot of HBD-HGT-NHY (Hochma, Bina, Daat; Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet; Netzah, Hod, Yesod). They are divided according to their proximity to or distance from either Keter or Malchut.

In other words, they are sequenced along that line. In terms of achieving the quality of bestowal, the Sefirot of Malchut of Infinity are in a linear relationship. They are closer either to Keter’s desire to give or Malchut’s desire to receive.

Consequently, Malchut’s desires stand in different places in a general sequence of correction. After all, correction is always done from the easiest to the hardest. First, we correct the lighter elements. Then, those elements help us fix the heavier elements.

Those parts of Malchut of Infinity that come to correction first are regarded as Israel, “straight to the Creator” (Yashar El). They have the necessary inclination or tendency. They are transparent, so to speak, while other desires are coarser. In other words, in Malchut of Infinity, the elements related to HBD emerge first, followed by the elements related to HGT, and after that, the elements related to NHY.

As we know, the elements of HBD and HGT are regarded as “forefathers” and “sons,” respectively. They refer to the area from the Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) down to Chazeh. HBD is the Rosh (head) of the Partzuf, and HGT is the “head of the body.” However, the body itself relates to the area TNHY (Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, and Yesod).

Certain souls awaken to correction at certain times. The first souls corrected are regarded as the “forefathers”: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The souls corrected during the periods of entering and exiting Egypt are regarded as the “sons.” Over the course of the Egyptian exile, Jacob died. In other words, the phase regarded as “Jacob” had ended, which resulted in the transition between the phases.

The phase of the “sons” was completed during the destruction of the First and the Second Temples, when the forefathers’ descendants fell to the level “of the nations of the world” and joined them. This fusion was taking place over the course of four exiles, but mainly during the last one. Now, upon its completion, NHY (the ending part of the common Partzuf of Malchut of Infinity) can begin its correction since by now, the integration of the HBD-HGT parts into it, which was accomplished via the breaking, has finished.

Today, we are standing at the end of this integration and at the beginning of the correction of NHY, the ending part of all the levels. Our corrections move slowly, according to the coarseness of the degree at which we are. We need many devices to have ourselves corrected.

Our forefathers had a different approach. They could correct themselves even without working in “the Torah and the commandments” because they were at the root level of desire. All they had to do was cancel themselves, while “the Torah and the commandments” implies working with the desire to receive and drawing the Light that Reforms.

Later on, their sons received the method of “the Torah and the commandments,” but it was still based on the level of our forefathers. We, however, are disconnected from it today, and we are beginning the realization of the enormous, authentic egoistic desire.

However, at our TNHY degree, in the final stage of completion of the integral Partzuf which is divided into three parts, each 2000 years long, as Baal HaSulam explains in “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” even here, there is a local division into HBD-HGT-NHY. NHY, in turn, also divides into three parts that retain the same correction sequence from easy to difficult.

Therefore, when the vessels (desires) come out of the breaking and begin the correction process, it starts with souls that are drawn to spirituality. They are the ones regarded as “Israel.” After all, in exile, everyone is separated from the Light. Therefore, those of the community who first awaken to the discovery of the Creator are called “Israel.” They constitute a group designated to guide all of humanity.

This group, in the current stage, is a group of “forefathers” in the NHY who act for the benefit of the community. Abraham wanted to correct all of ancient Babylon. We, too, have to act this way and acknowledge the responsibility that rests upon us.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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After the Tzimtzum (Restriction), when Malchut (the 4th phase, Behina Dalet) decides that it must reach similarity with the Creator, it starts checking itself to see which parts and levels it consists of. That’s how it divides itself into the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot, until it fully realizes itself as a vessel that descends into this world.

Every time it gets to know itself more, it hides itself by the same amount. That’s how we get to this world, the lowest and the darkest of the worlds, meaning the most hidden from us. And from here, from this darkness, we start to reveal desires and the Light in order to ascend back.

Malchut has two desires: to become similar and adhere to the root, but at the same time to stay independent and self-reliant. And independence is only possible when there is resistance. That’s why this action is called “mating while striking” (Zivug de Haka’a).

The desire to reach the root means mating (Zivug). And the strike (Haka’a) results from the desire to preserve one’s independence, not to fill oneself with the Light for one’s own sake, but only in order to bestow. Then, it is considered to be bestowal rather than reception.

We need to identify ourselves with Malchut of Infinity as we are its parts. This means that we need to want to act just like it, to give pleasure to the Host just like He wants to bestow pleasure upon us. We should never forget about Malchut of Infinity because we are included in this point and exist in it permanently.

No matter where I am (alone, in the group, or during dissemination), I’m always in the point of Malchut of Infinity, which has decided to be a giver, like the guest in relation to the Host. That’s why no matter what we do, we have to adhere to this point. And all of our actions are in order to please Him, just like He pleases us.

But how do I know that He’s giving me pleasure? There, in this point, Malchut has revealed this. And as I aspire towards it, I will include myself in it and reveal this too.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: How do we build concealment in the period of preparation, and how do we conceal the Creator if we don’t even sense Him?

Answer: I’ll answer briefly: This entire work is done only with the friends, in the group. Friends are also concealed from us, and none of us knows the true degree of another. The group, in its true form, is also concealed from us, as is the teacher.

Our task is to build the concealment, that is, to finally begin to clarify that I perceive everything to the extent of my lack of correction. Therefore, I need to make corrections to my ego and picture everyone as the greatest of their generation, existing in a state that’s beyond me. I must attain a state where I have tremendous respect for concealment, wishing for it to turn into my attitude toward everyone else.

It is on this screen of concealment that I must build a new picture of the world, and this whole picture will be drawn or molded from the importance that I impart to each phenomenon. If I do this, then gradually, I’ll begin to work against my ego and learn to perceive the spiritual world, that is, to draw the picture of the spiritual world. After all, it doesn’t exist outside of me, but only within.
[48820]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, Shamati #174

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Question: If I try to direct the world toward the goal of creation, could you say that I give the guarantee for the people? Is there a unilateral guarantee?

Answer: Yes, you move people forward. They cannot show reciprocity in return yet. Nevertheless, this is progress, and it is very important.

We should understand that our mission is to advance the world, and our progress depends on its steps. Of course, this dependency is not direct, but moving the world forward requires serious effort. We don’t do this at the expense of our inner efforts; however, we will not be able to develop internally without making a contribution to the development of the world.

Everything is arranged in the form of an integral system. I, the group, the world, and the Creator have to be a single complex. This is why now we need to take care of everybody. As Baal HaSulam writes, the entire world is one family and nothing can be done. Focusing on a narrow range, remaining in one niche, we will not achieve the desired result.

On the other hand, in going out into the world, we have to be cautious because we can lose our principles and slide into a purely psychological approach of “Let’s be close to each other, let’s be friends.” No, it will not work. As in Russia or in Israeli Kibbutzim (communities), it will be a connection devoid of internal force.

A connection requires the force that unites us, the upper Light. You have to address the world with Baal HaSulam’s materials, not necessarily with the texts, but with these messages, with these principles. Gradually, little by little, you have to explain to people that this comes from the science of Kabbalah.

The path is long, but you should be clear on this by now. You have to be immersed in the method, saturated with it. If you do not constantly study Kabbalistic materials, if you do not absorb it, digging deeper and deeper, you will feed people only nice words, New Age or mysticism. You, yourself, won’t notice how you will slide down.

If a person does not dedicate a few hours a day to serious studies in a serious group, if he does not work on this in the morning and in the evening, he loses his path. Religions, beliefs, mystical traditions, and the like stem from this. Everything came from Kabbalah.

Moreover, our egoism, our world call for concessions, saying: “It does not cost you anything. Add a little here. Change a little there. You may miss something, but you will reach people.” No, you will not reach people. You will come to them without your strengths and without a spiritual force, already corrupted.

This is a very big problem. That is why when a teacher leaves, good, strong groups lose their way, lose strength and wither.
[48812]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: We are now in something like an interim period, idle time, between conventions. How can we strengthen the mutual guarantee to move forward?

Answer: You need constant work. What is the difference whether we hold a convention now or not? A person does not know when he gains the required measure of effort. He has to yearn every new day in his life in anticipation of the moment when he will able to perform bestowal to friends, and through them, to the entire world, and through it, to the Creator.

I have to analyze my inner states, what my thoughts and intentions are, to what extent during the day I try to reveal the goal, whether my heart is imbued with this aspiration, whether it wakes up, whether I can commit myself to this, and whether I can hold this thought against the background of all other actions, whatever I do. From this, I can see how much I have moved forward.

We have only one possibility to reach the spiritual world: by constantly working on our desires and increasingly bringing them closer to the feeling and our understanding of bestowal. Changes should happen within us, in our desires. Therefore, every moment that is dedicated to this advances us along the path.

Then, everything depends on the person. In his opinion, what kind of movement forward should it be: individual or worldwide? If he wants to reach the goal of creation, this movement is possible only on a global scale. Everything below this benchmark does not work nowadays.

In the past, the group or the teacher was enough, but today, we are tied into the whole world. The one whose actions, day after day, move our world group and the entire world toward correction at least in some way can see that this stimulates him and his own progress. In essence, individual progress is an investment into others.

Besides, you should try every day to add some quality to what you give to others in your correspondence, blogs, and internet projects. We can bestow to friends only when we merge with them, when we understand them, rather than try to foist onto them something that we like. In addressing people, we should hand out, disseminate, that which is as close to them as possible. We should “clothe” in them.

Love is when I take the other person’s desire and fill it according to what he or she wants. Otherwise, we will not be able to approach anybody.
[48817]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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