Question: Do I have to correct the desires that unfold in my relationships with other people today, such as wealth, power, and knowledge?

Answer: No, you don’t. You don’t consider these desires. Why should you? Leave them. After all, they appear in every person individually in a unique combination, while you must correct your attitude to others as a whole, without breaking it into parts.

Treat your desires simplistically. First of all, you must reach the degree of pure bestowal: “What you hate, do not do to your friend,” meaning don’t take pleasure in the suffering of another.

At any rate, whether I am aware of it or not, I always prefer to look down on others. If a person is lower than me, I rejoice, and if I am lower than him or her, I suffer. Thus, my priority is to reach a degree where I stop comparing others to myself. I don’t wish to measure them against what I am.

When I gain such an attitude, the world takes a very different form in my eyes. It is as if I tear off one veil, take one filter off my perception—and open wide a new world. I suddenly get to see others as having no connection to me, to my ego. I eliminate any personal benefit, any interest.

I don’t measure a person by how he or she looks, what they wear, or how they act. I don’t look at them at all. I have neutralized all our relations. The world is full of opportunities. What kind of opportunities? I don’t know just yet. In fact, I don’t need anything. I simply exist along with the others and don’t do anything to them which I, myself, would hate.

It is a very, very transparent, pure spiritual degree since it unfolds above all the material desires of a person. On the outside, it is absolutely undetectable, yet you see the world very differently now.

It is difficult to describe its contours. Are people suffering in your eyes? Are they all righteous, or do you still sort them into good and bad? It is very complicated to explain the inner picture that appears in a person when he or she takes the egoistic filter off.

However, one way or the other, you are faced with a totally different reality, another type of relationship between people. After all, everybody judges by his or her own flaws, whereas you have rid yourself of it and see the world undistorted by the false egoistic mirror.
[45912]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: The last three conventions in Italy, Spain, and Moscow were special. What should the group do now?

Answer: The end of the convention means that now you have to rise to the level of this convention in your “everyday” state. We seemed to have pulled ourselves up onto the bar, and now we have to stand on our feet on it.

In other words, we put a ladder to the next step and climbed to the top. Here is my current state:

We exerted efforts during the convention and have barely made it there. And now, we have to stand up on this rung—all together.

This is our everyday work until the next convention. As soon as we stand upright, as soon as we master this step, we will be ready for it.

We should not hold it automatically, simply putting a check mark on a date in a month or two. Maybe, it will mature in a week or two, or on the contrary, in half a year; it all depends on how quickly we realize and master the potential for our ascent to the top. Everybody has to master it within himself.

When I was at the convention, the entire ascent was embodied for me in our world group. I united with the friends and through this unity rose higher.

However, it happened under the influence of communication, the society, the external environment. I felt ready to merge with them, to be together with them. At least, there were minutes like this and perhaps even hours.

Now, not being under the influence of the friends, I must do this within myself: rise from my knees and stand on my feet. This is a serious and painstaking work when I feel that the charge I received from the friends lives in me, helps me with my group and the world group in dissemination and in studies, and all the time gives me energy so that I act together with them.

The unity that took place there, at the convention, under the external influence, must be mirrored in my realization.

[45687]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/16/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The crisis is coming over the world, and people feel it, they feel that things are getting worse for them. And indeed, it will not get better unless we begin to correct it through harmony with the Creator or the surrounding Nature, which is the same thing.

This is why we need to look for people who will respond to our call; we need to disseminate, “throw information around,” and to better utilize the Internet as a medium. The Internet is practically our only opportunity to be everywhere for free. First, we need to bring ourselves in order, but on the other hand, when you start organizing others, you also organize yourself.

The first thing we need for our work is inner unity, and of course the most important aspect of our work is circulation. The crisis clearly shows us that we need to care more for others than ourselves. We will reach the goal faster going down the most reliable avenue if we disseminate Kabbalah. Through the nearing crisis, the Creator is showing us that we do not have time for ourselves. We only have time for the world: By organizing it, we will organize and correct ourselves.

The global crisis became obvious only a few years ago. For a long time, ecologists have been screaming that we are in trouble, but it was specifically the economic crisis that put us into a panic. Why the economic crisis? Because it reflects the egoistic connections between people: When these connections become global and integrated, it becomes a problem.

What is economics? It is a display, an expression of our egoistic connection: the amount each one of us wants but is unable to make and only does with what economic, egoistic bonds and relations according to the principle of “I for you and you for me” permit. Economics is pure egoism in its clear, harsh, real form. And when it suddenly enters a global and integrated state, we discover that this state is completely opposite to it.

We can negotiate anything, even atomic weapons—out of fear. But we are basically incapable of negotiating economics: Everyone is pulling the blanket over to their side. How else can it be?

This is our main problem. The economy is already manifesting in the world as a global, integrated, interconnected, mutually binding system, and people are not yet ready for it.

This is the greatest discord that can exist in our world, the greatest, acute demonstration of our nonconformity with the system which is now manifesting before us. We got caught in a net, an analog matrix, where all the parts depend on each other. We are incorporated in it against our will; we are bound inside it by the old ties of egoistic economy as before, and we have no way to escape. This is nature challenging us and clearly showing us: “Guys, time’s up.”

We need to move forward on our own and alleviate this state and bring humanity into complete accordance with this matrix through explanations, education, and so on. If we do not move in this direction even in the slightest way to the extent of our abilities, then the crisis draws closer.

The matrix has its own program of getting closer to us, and as a result, even greater contradictions happen in the world to the point of revolutions, wars, different cataclysms, and so on. The awakening of one volcano causes serious consequences on a global scale. What if  20-30 volcanoes erupt? We are hostages of the unknown, we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder—our Earth with titanic forces bubbling inside. We need to understand this and not provoke Nature’s harsh attitude towards us. Yet on the contrary, we disturb its balance and not just in ecological sense.

This is why all our groups, everyone studying with us must disseminate. Nature itself obligates us towards it. This is the only way for us to break ahead and approach the global matrix.
[45695]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/14/2011, Shamati #4

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

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Question: How can we explain to people why love is necessary?

Answer: You can love to eat fish for lunch, you can love your little son, or you can love your neighbor or the Creator. The same words designate completely different notions.

Is it worthwhile to praise love for the neighbor to a person who loves fish? How can you describe to him the pleasure from bestowal? What will he understand? That he has to give his fish to someone else? Is this love?

What does it mean to love the neighbor? It has a completely different meaning. Loving the neighbor means attaching his desire to yourself and working with your desire in order to fulfill his desire. Then we both meld together into one whole, where I fulfill him and he becomes fulfilled. In what does he become fulfilled? In his desire. His desire in relation to mine is like Malchut in relation to Zeir Anpin. I am like the Creator, and he—the creation. That is what my work is.

Thus, “love” is the relationship between the Creator and creation. Only this is love—the creation’s attitude to the Creator. If I can build this kind of attitude to others, or in other words, if I acquire the quality of the Creator, the quality of bestowal, and by means of it I relate to the neighbor’s desire just like the Creator does, it turns out that the Creator is inside of me, and I make the necessary action in relation to the neighbor. This means that I love the neighbor.

We don’t have the right to use the word “love” in any other sense, context, or case. Otherwise we will confuse it with our “love of fish.”

We are talking about the extent to which the Creator, the quality of bestowal, dresses into me. First of all we have to carry out the principle, “Do not do to another what you yourself hate.” That is how I become neutral. After that, I have to acquire his desire instead of my own. Another person’s desire becomes more important for me and therefore he becomes higher than me. I am ready to do everything for him, just like I would for my sick child in our world. I am entirely “short-circuited” on his desire; it is what makes me act.

That is exactly why I am similar to the Creator, like Zeir Anpin who receives a request from Malchut. The more another person’s desire is able to activate me to bestow, the higher I am than him. This is love. Do you see how different this is from our current notions?

The more I can bestow to another person, the more I provide him with the Light of correction. After all, there is mutual guarantee between us. I do not fill his egoistic desire, but I reveal inside of him the desire to be in one system with me so the Shechina would reign between us. So what should I provide for him? I give him my support of the mutual guarantee, which he also provides for me by revealing it in his desire. This is love.

No one is indulging the other’s egoism. I don’t reveal the egoistic desire in the other person, but the desire for mutual support in order to reveal the Creator in the relationship between us. The Creator cannot be revealed in any individual or just in my attitude to another person, unless it’s fortified by the same attitude from him. Love does not work in one direction. It is a two way street. It requires a connecting net through which impulses of bestowal are flowing, a net permeated by feelings of love, relationships of mutual guarantee and mutuality by which we strengthen one another.

In the meantime, egoism remains below, without making any calculations to fulfill it. After all, we rise above it, connected by our mutual intention for the sake of bestowal. And when it reaches a specific level of unity, creating a net above us, then we reveal the Creator, the mutual quality of bestowal and love between us.
[45908]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: What does it mean for the force of the receiver to submit to the force of the giver? Does this mean that I must raise men above myself?

Answer: Every one of us must raise the others above himself or herself. I do the same in relation to the group, the environment: I lower myself as much as possible and become lower than them (-), but on the other hand, I try to receive from them as much greatness of the goal, the group, and the Creator (+) as I can.

I will not be able to receive from the group without lowering myself. Only a small one can receive from the big one. Thus, I lower myself in order to take in their desires, thoughts, aspirations, and the greatness of the ultimate goal. Thus I enrich myself. To the extent of my ability to receive the entire plus from them and make it mine, it will determine my aspiration to advance. But if I do not receive this plus from the group, I have nothing to advance with.

I always receive the desire to aspire forward only from the environment. This is because I am but a preset point, and there is nothing else in it; it is only given to me in order to work with the environment. My entire spiritual vessel (Kli), my entire soul, is what I receive from the environment; it does not exist in me.

And if I do not receive anything from the environment, if I walk around with my nose up and have no desire to hear anything from them, these additional desires cannot appear in me, and I will not have a soul, a place to reveal the Creator. This is very important.

The same pertains to the feminine and masculine parts. The masculine and feminine parts must be tuned to one another. We must lower ourselves in relation to the other part in order to hear and perceive their desires, and then we will receive their aspiration from them. In other words, we must listen to one another and lower ourselves in order to receive the greatness of the goal and the desire from the opposite group.

How do you raise the men above yourself? You simply need to show the men’s group that you exalt them, that you look forward to their achievements, that you believe that they will be able to pick a star from the sky, that you believe in them. Inspire them, and then they will be capable of anything! Be just like a mother who always tells her little child how big, strong, capable, and smart he is and thereby boosts his positive growth. This is necessary for the men because they really depend on women’s approval.
[45630]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Kabbalists of all times have studied humanity’s problems and analyzed what separates us from the global, locked, cosmic, harmonious picture: “What makes the human nature so unique? What specific properties does it have? How can these qualities be reformed? What motivates such transformation?”

Kabbalah explains how we should go through these cyclical changes internally, assisting one another according to a certain principle, a particular algorithm, in order to gradually come to greater equivalence with nature, to dive deeper within to discern the qualities that oppose it, and to correct them by following a specific sequence.

Moreover, a person isn’t supposed to make any corrections in himself or herself. We need to correct the connection between us, and only then will we achieve harmony.

At this point, another peculiar detail arises: Basically, I must accept myself exactly the way I am. A great number of people spend time psychoanalyzing themselves: “I’m good for nothing, lazy, greedy, jealous, and so on.” Leave your specifics alone; it doesn’t bother us. All of it will fall into place if you begin aiming at good connection with others: inter-relations, mutual understanding, and interdependence.

If I start analyzing, experiencing, and building our relationships correctly, I will suddenly discover (which is truly remarkable) that all qualities exist within me: the most disgusting and terrifying, such that I am ashamed to admit them even to myself. And I’ll suddenly see that I need them, require them, in order to receive from and give to the others and in this way to be an integral part in this enormous, closed organism.

It turns out that all our desires, such as theft, deceit, envy, hatred, rejection, and taking advantage of others, all these internal impulses we were born with are absolutely necessary to us. Therefore, don’t even think about undertaking such self-correction! It is a big mistake I see our world group making more often than not.

All you need to work on is our interconnection. Don’t criticize a person’s flaws: He or she has none! The flaw lies solely in the connection between us and nowhere else!

This is what we call “guarantee,” a property that the wisdom of Kabbalah so strongly focuses on. When we start studying, we begin to establish a connection between us, and this intention has to precede every endeavor: mutual contact, mutual responsibility to be connected with each other, and the need to discover this inner connection among us.

Parallel to this, we study Kabbalistic texts. We don’t know what is happening to us while we are studying them, and neither do we know what they describe. We simply read about our future corrected states described by Kabbalists. In a similar manner, a little child instinctively picks up a toy because nature pushes him to play and grow. So do we play with each other in the group, as if in this way we are building a correct model.

But as a result, while we are reading about it, we as though draw the higher state upon ourselves, like a child who is playing with a toy car, construction set, or a puzzle. We intentionally give him all kinds of tasks in the form of a game, while he earnestly strives to solve them as his nature dictates him.

So should we motivate ourselves and inspire each other, by being each other’s example and talking about how important it is. In the end, everybody should get stimulated by the others, by their enthusiasm, by their intention to draw closer, unite, and be in internal, well-coordinated harmony.
[45605]
From the 5th lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/11/2011

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Nature instinctively, firmly, and automatically supports the system of reciprocity, interconnection, assistance, harmony, globalization, and integration, sustaining life thereby. Thus we say that the upper force is the force of love. Yet, the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature have one “little” additional element: man, human society, that doesn’t wish to follow this law. It is intentionally created so as to evolve randomly, pushed by its egoism.

Imagine a gigantic system where one part, which is the most advanced, efficient, and fragile, doesn’t work in sync, in harmony, with the rest of it. Therefore, this entire system gradually reaches a state of complete imbalance. This is what we are beginning to finally realize. Humanity has become a cancerous tumor consuming everything outside itself, breaking the equilibrium, and naturally causing a corresponding feedback.

How then do we achieve harmony? After all, otherwise we will destroy the whole organism. This is becoming obvious. It doesn’t take a prophet to see where the things are headed.

That is exactly what the wisdom of Kabbalah describes: how we must reform ourselves by studying the laws of integral nature. Don’t get into mysticism and start studying astral phenomena; all we have to do is learn the laws of the closed, global, integral systems which are also called analog networks known to us from engineering. There is an enormous amount of scientific, mathematically accurate material which informs us how closed systems support their internal balance.

We have to study ourselves as the elements inadequate to this system in our actions, desires, and thoughts. And if we honestly wish to achieve some kind of normal existence, even at the level of the corporeal world (not to mention what else we unveil when we enter homeostasis with nature), then we bring ourselves to overall harmony.

Today, it may seem a bit unnecessary and unpleasant, but nevertheless, nature is already pushing, forcing, and demanding from us the internal efforts and actions aimed at transforming ourselves. After all, to be aligned with surrounding nature means to consider it and not to simply consume and drain it. How and in what sense can we change ourselves? The section where Kabbalah discusses this is entitled “Mutual Guarantee.”

Guarantee is our mutual agreement (not only pertaining to ourselves but to all of nature) to reach absolutely complete mutual understanding and total balance. In terms of Kabbalah, it is Malchut of the world of Infinity or, in other words, a common, mutual property of love and bestowal.

To obtain the “property of love” means to take into consideration the needs of another as my own. This is exactly how all parts of our organism interact at the biological level. And nature pushes us to reach the same degree in our social interactions by way of social unification with one another. It can force us to do so by causing suffering. If, however, we start moving in that direction, we will be transformed quickly, comfortably, and easily. And this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is offering to us to learn.
[45610]
From the 5th lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/11/2011

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Question: Many friends exerted themselves a lot before the Moscow convention. The importance of the goal was high. What did we lack? What should we, as a group, realize now at the new level?

Answer: In other words, you would like to say that the convention was not successful because we did not reveal in ourselves the property of bestowal. However, we could not achieve it in one go. It is impossible. A child cannot skip a few years of his growth.

Development is a sequential, step-by-step process. Not having realized a certain Reshimo (informational record), you cannot start realizing the next one. You simply will not have the tools in the mind and feelings to develop further.

We have done a great job; we advanced in our perception powerfully and intensively. And now, after the convention, we will go through the process of realizing it—perhaps not altogether pleasantly, but necessary.

Practically, the work that such a convention performs in you is equivalent to half a year of intensive studies. How many people who attended the convention study normally so intensely? We “propelled” them and those who were with us around the world at least six months forward. Such gatherings are very effective, and I am in favor of organizing them as often as possible. I am ready to give all I have got for it.

Naturally, after the convention, the stage of realization comes: “What have we achieved?” Here, a person should proceed to analyze the entire method with the help of articles and studies. He has to re-evaluate it again.

After the convention, many people begin to analyze the method of Kabbalah in general: “What for? Why? How? Is it correct or not? Is it a tale or a real method of my transformation in accordance with general Nature?” These are very useful, necessary, and essential processes that must occur in each of us.

Kabbalah makes you a human, not a robot, not a “half-believer” or mystic, but a researcher. Exploring yourself, you perceive the world and the Creator because all of it is within you. The entire process in based on self-knowledge because a person exists and nothing more.

Each of us has a sense of his “Self” and his world. Now, I feel you, the hall where we are, the planet, the Universe, and all of it happens within me; this picture has been created within me. How can it be changed? How can it be investigated? Is it truly like this? Or is this world presented to us as ethereal, transient, and changing? I perceive everything through the changes of my own properties.

That is why it is impossible to skip developmental stages. I must form them within myself. I have to be my own judge, researcher, and analyst. Essentially, I have to become the Creator of myself. Kabbalah develops in you the need to understand absolutely everything, who and what you are, and to create out of yourself an absolute, perfect form that will be called “the Creator.”

This is long and hard work, but namely it is intended for every human being. Do not think that someone living in a jungle is incapable of such work. He will be included in it because he will have a Kli, desire, shared with others, common thoughts and feelings. Whatever he lacks he will obtain from others.

Had we not evolved under the influence of our environment, we would have remained little “animals.” It is namely the environment that develops us and gives us the missing qualities, desires, intentions. Thus, there is no person in the world whose environment would not include the entire humanity. Anyone can reach the level of anyone of us, no matter how primitive he is.

The entire process of self-knowledge and creating in oneself the highest property should proceed in this manner, step by step. On one hand, this process is individual because a person raises himself, and on the other, it is seemingly a group process. However, in reality, there is neither group nor humanity, but only your immediate part rejected by your egoism and perceived by you as alien.

When you work on yourself, wishing to gradually bring this part closer to you, to accept it as your own, you work against your innate egoism. And you turn it into the force of connection instead of the force of rejection of the seemingly “external” part, of humanity.
[45620]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/16/2011, Writings of Rabash

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

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