Question: The world group contains a great desire that we can work with, but how do we penetrate within?

Answer: We are still lacking mutual guarantee. That’s the problem. Everyone has a desire, but we still don’t feel total interconnection, when any hole in the common boat sinks it to the bottom. Obviously, the Creator is helping us with it since we can’t plug all the holes ourselves. It is written: “Turn to Me, and I will repay.” However, later on, He will pass this work down do us, and we will repay Him the debt.

Hence, we lack the sensation of interdependency, the necessity to care for everyone. I am supposed to feel concerned and worried about everyone staying unified, as a mother cares for her children’s health and well-being. Caring in a person’s heart will help others and return to him amplified manifold.

After all, the group is a very powerful amplifier. In response to my caring, the friends envelop me in it. The more I contribute to the group, the more the group enhances my attitude and returns it to me manifold. I aim my thoughts at the friends yet again, adding my contribution to what I have received from them.

How do I work on this desire? I fall half way. The Creator trips me, and all of the sudden, having the group back me up with such a wonderful and powerful desire, I start ignoring my wealth. After all, I received such a burning inspiration from the friends that there is no more room for my personal effort. Where am I then, if everything comes from them?

Therefore, in order for me to put my share in, I am given a descent. Out of necessity, I start climbing up as if I am trying to get out of a hole; I fall and keep climbing up again until I reach the surface. Once more, I put forth my effort into the friends.

It’s hard to keep trying since it’s all gone as if I hadn’t gotten anything from them in the first place. What has caused this “reboot?” The point is that I have ascended to a new degree. Now I start at a zero on it, but it’s the zero degree of the new level, a higher one than my previous state.

Obviously, it is first presented to me as an even greater darkness. There are even more obstacles and egoism at this new level since I rose higher, to my more powerful, uncorrected desires. Thus, I continue on my spiritual path.
[41137]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Working in the group, I receive from it a strong desire. I crave to break free from egoism, but what can I do? Desire in itself is capable of nothing. Even more than that, such a desire, however powerful, is selfish.

I don’t want bestowal per se, but the profit that it promises. That means that I am under the yoke of Pharaoh. I have a very strong desire to give within the desire to receive: I’m looking forward to profit from bestowal.

As a consequence, the discrepancy, the gap, the polarity, the conflict of interest, inside of me is growing. I want to bestow in order to fill my egoistic desire. After all, bestowal makes me eternal, perfect, boundless, unfettered, immune to any crisis. Forget about tsunamis and stock market crashes; everything is wonderful! Who wouldn’t want it? My ego wants it, voraciously.

Yet, it’s incapable of it. Then the upper force comes and breaks through my "black hole," allowing me to escape. In fact, although you can describe it as an escape, by and large, I am not running anywhere. I stay in the same place, but suddenly, I feel myself free from egoism, from the desire to receive. That’s it.

Suddenly, it turns out that the black hole no longer contains the light inside; it becomes transparent. Everything flows through it now, and it channels all sorts of influences from other dimensions, which I call by different names: the Light of Nefesh, the Light of Ruach, and so on. Thus, we advance.

What’s essential for us is to cross the boundary, to begin the renewal (Hidush). In Hebrew, it’s called Rosh Hódesh, the beginning of the month. Our renewal is to attain our first attribute of bestowal with the help of the upper force.

To do it, however, we need to invite action from the upper force, and for that, we first need to unite. Let it be an egoistic unity; it doesn’t matter whether it’s successful or not. Only when we build the right environment, the wind of spiritual change will blow among us.
[41143]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/2011, Writings of Rabash

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A beginner is prone to fighting with obstacles and trying to move them out of the way. He is unable to connect to the Creator through these obstacles yet and can’t see that all that is happening in his life comes from Him.

That is why he pushes the obstacles out of the way in his egoism and gets angry at others, while wanting to make a nice, easy life for himself, as it is customary among all those people in the world who don’t yet feel the connection with the Creator. These are the initial steps in our work.

But after a person has exerted effort in order to enter the group, connect with the teacher and the books, the Light starts affecting him stronger. And even though he doesn’t feel it, he does see how he changes internally. In fact, he starts noticing his connection with the governing force, the cause of all that is going on around, the force that exists somewhere in nature, inside of him, and evokes his desires and thoughts.

There is some inner governing factor in him, and a person begins to establish a connection with it, while trying to understand why He is doing all this, for what purpose, and how he is supposed to respond to it? A person lives for a very long time until he arrives at the sensation that everything around is triggered by some internal causes instilled by the Creator. And then, he understands that he must put quite an effort into the group, dissemination, and studying, in order to pass through this stage of concealment sooner.

And when he no longer forgets that everything comes from the internal force that awakens and guides him through, his work becomes more conscious, precise, and practical. Thereby, he gradually accumulates the necessary desire to reveal Him, who arranges the world around us, so that this hidden connection is finally revealed.

But there is more work after this, which continues till the very end of correction by way of obstacles. The only question is: How quickly will a person begin to recognize and use them as help to achieve a connection, adhesion, with the Creator?

After all, the Light illuminates our uncorrected desire, revealing its deeper and more inner layers with each new degree. This is the only thing that causes us to feel pain. But pain is the symptom of a disease, the unfolding egoism, corruption! Only then do we receive an opportunity to correct and sentence ourselves and the world to a scale of merit.

Therefore, it is necessary to work on oneself in order to justify any states that we start feeling deeper, stronger, and more irritating. The more a person advances, bigger and deeper obstacles are presented to him, and the more powerful the blows are. But at the same time, he begins to understand what is going on, even though the righteous one also falls and becomes a “sinner” so he may rise and become righteous yet again.
[42359]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Kabbalists advise us to practice in our little “game room,” in the “bubble” of this world, until we figure out that nothing works. Who will give us a sensation of it? It is the upper force residing outside of our perception, beyond our world.

That’s what “trips” us. That’s what leads us to failure instead of success. Why? It’s in order to vex, to awaken us. The Creator flirts with us so that we start to want Him even more and develop, to the best of our ability, a real need for bestowal that lies outside of our nature.

While forming this desire to step out of the familiar, egoistic corner, we begin to realize how small and finite it is. It’s similar to a black hole that doesn’t allow the light to break free due to the impassable force of gravity. We, too, reside in a “black hole,” unable to get out. On the other hand, we can cultivate the need to break free, “to desire without a desire.” That, we can do.

How so? That is because if we arrange it correctly, the group binds everyone. This is how it is in daily life. Everywhere I go, all sorts of things are offered to me that I would never choose to want. I’m told that headache pills are what I really need, but what if I feel good, and everything is okay in my life? Then I am told, “How come? You lack the most essential things! Look, your neighbor has already bought them. We have an assortment you won’t believe!”

Indeed, I have never thought of such pleasures, but I am relentlessly pushed to try them and see for myself. In other words, they form a desire in me, aimed at what I have no desire for. So it is, over and over again. Such is the impact of society.

We, too, should create an advertising agency of the spiritual world that would constantly work on us, forming a need for what we don’t need. In this agency, my work should be based on knowing that thereby, by way of external actions, I work on myself.

It doesn’t matter that I want to manipulate myself into buying the spiritual product. I put this desire through the group, through their desires, and it returns to me in an unrecognizable form. As a result, I become inspired and, literally out of necessity, strive toward spiritual fulfillment.

What is passed through the others is no longer mine. My initial message became saturated by the friends’ desire, and now the entire group gets hooked on this lie: “You know, it’s so cool there, in spirituality! Compared to our world, it’s like heaven on earth!”

They brainwash me with messages they don’t believe. They want to sell me a product and make a profit on being the advertisers for it, while I take their words seriously and exert great effort to purchase the spiritual world for myself.
[41149]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Question: What do we need in order for the system called “Zohar” to bring us to unification?

Answer: We need to have more intention, desire. The Zohar is the integral system of all of reality. But why is it called “Zohar”? And why do we have to open a specific book, read a specific text that is written by a specific person, and listen to specific words?

This general system of reality is designed to be connected to us through the great Kabbalists who are the mediators in creating a tie between this system and us and who express this connection in words and sentences.

I read this Book and understand nothing. I might as well read it backwards. The point is that I desire to connect with them, these Kabbalists that passed on their writings to me, because they wanted me to connect to them, these souls, their unity, and to come to them with this unity as well.

How will I know that I am connecting with them? If I unite with my group, my aim is definitely correct: to unify with these great souls, enter the same global, integral system, become its indispensable part, and to aspire to it at least in some small degree. This is precisely what we need.

One person is thinking about it, another not so much, and the other sometimes. But in general, if we strive to be as one whole, everyone’s individual aspirations will unite as one.
[42171]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2011, The Book of Zohar

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We should disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world much more actively so that people, influenced by common thought and collective desire, would understand it sooner. After all, attainment, understanding, and thoughts move from one to another. Thereby, we can hasten our development by way of the environment and buy a lot of time.

Thanks to our common effort and mutual assistance which is regarded as a “guarantee,” we will reach the point when we will demand change. The upper force will be revealed, and with its help, we will rise above egoism, exit “Egypt.”

This is how it will be for the Kabbalistic group as well as all of humanity. If the upper force does not unfold in the world, if there is no chance to reform ourselves with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we will switch to the path of correction accompanied by tremendous suffering, including world wars.

The Creator hates egoistic bodies and is willing to do anything in order to break our ego, including the most dramatic events that have already happened in history. Man faces two paths of correction for egoistic desire: the path of the Light (Achishena, hastening time) and the path of natural progression by suffering (Beito, “in its time”).

We either will have to experience how much hate nature, the Creator, is dropping on our egoistic desire, or we will develop the same kind of irreconcilable hate toward our egoistic nature on our own, within ourselves.

We need to reach the state of a “cry,” after which the Creator, the Light, will reveal itself and reform our intention from egoistic to altruistic. Until this state has been reached, we need to come to the conclusion that there isn’t a worse state than this, and we are not going to stay in our ego another moment. The question is, though, how we will come to this state: by suffering the blows or by scrutiny.

The result, however, is only one: I do not agree to tolerate my ego any longer, and I hate it more than anything in the world: “I’d rather be dead than living this kind of life.” If I feel through to the depth of my egoism like this, the Light will start working on me.

Everything takes place according to the laws of nature. I can’t just maker a louder cry and draw the Light thereby. We are faced with a strict law, the upper Light, and undergo specific states, stage by stage, when the Light starts working according to the order of the spiritual degrees, the Lights and desires that unfold in them.

Therefore, it’s pointless to sit and wait until it happens on its own. It never will. Before anything else, we need a desire for correction, total hate for our egoism. We will definitely come to it, either by way of pain or by way of the Light, one or the other. Then, the Creator will reveal Himself and reform us.

There was a time when only the few chosen ones were capable of such a correction, but today the entire group, even the entire world in general will go through it. Yet, we must pass through the same degrees and the same states.

However, when there are many people, they can assist and support each other and come to a collective revelation. Because all of them are connected, everything that one person feels and understands is passed on to the other. Thus, thanks to the guarantee, one can very quickly reach general understanding and experience, and decide that we have to rise above egoism.
[42214]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/2011, Shamati No. 19

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

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Question: Is it so that a woman can attune herself to the Creator only through the men’s group?

Answer: Absolutely not! A woman also must personally attune herself to the Creator! This movement through the men’s group is necessary only to bring us all onto this degree. But tuning to the Creator is still an individual process.

How can a woman not be connected with the Creator?! We are moving ahead together: Men cannot advance without the women’s desire, while women cannot advance toward the Creator without the men’s effort. All of this must go together, just as together, we bear children.

Movement is birth at each new stage, when we beget the next state. A woman cannot be a sole parent and neither can a man. They must be together to create a family and take care of the common family circle, after which they produce new states.

But both men and women have a personal relationship with the Creator, while movement can only occur in the group. I attune myself to the Creator individually. But how do I receive fulfillment? I get it through the group.

The impact of the environment both on the men and the women is crucial. And a woman cannot advance if she doesn’t receive the influence of the environment, albeit that of the men’s rather than the women’s.
[41978]
From the Virtual Lesson in Russian, Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/21/2011

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 34 “The Profit of a Land”: Every form points to another [opposite spiritual] form. Thus, all the descents where one feels that he has come to separation [from the others and within them, from unification with the Creator] are an opportunity to discern between something and its opposite.

In other words, one should learn the benefits of the ascents from the descents. Otherwise, one would be unable to appreciate the importance of being brought near from Above, and the ascents that he is given…[as it is said:] “As far as Light excelleth darkness.”

After all, only from separation can we appreciate unity between us and esteem the attainment of our unity as the attainment of the Creator, of the upper force. We have to try to give the correct definitions: Separation between us is a descent, while unity between us is an ascent. Separation, meaning a state of descent should bring us the sensation of the absence of Light, whereas an ascent should be felt as the presence of the upper Light, the Light of bestowal and love.

We have to correctly interpret the spiritual properties, the spiritual definitions. Then we will gradually get used to them and will begin to see the upper spiritual value in the words so hateful for us today: “unity,” “love,” and “adhesion.”

Only then can one assess and regard the matter of adhesion, by which the delight and pleasure in the Thought of Creation can be acquired, being “His desire to do good to His creations.”
[41832]
From Lesson 8, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Question: How can we awaken to the connection with the upper one faster every time?

Answer: You need to be aware of and gratefully accept what is taking place with you. And it all depends on the thoughts and desires of the environment. If you are talking about my personal participation in hastening the work, it lies in my engagement in the environment that constantly supplies the “fuel” to me so I may advance.

It allows me to keep a constant connection with the upper force and to realize that it doesn’t really matter how I feel in my egoistic desire about everything I receive from it: good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. Clearly, the most unpleasant things are the most authentic since I reside in my egoism and use it to verify and evaluate how pleased or displeased I am. I must be willing to accept everything that is occurring with me, as it is said: “Even when a sharp sword is raised over you, don’t despair in His kindness.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter what I feel; what matters is that I don’t lose the desire for the Creator. After all, “there is none else besides Him, the good that does good,” while separating from Him is the most terrible misfortune that can ever happen in my life. I don’t care about anything else; I only want to make sure I haven’t withdrawn from Him, and this is what I use to verify everything all the time.

And even after I have managed to grasp the connection with Him, despite the difficulties and problems, I keep trying to see all the obstacles and hardships as grounds for our connection. After all, this is the point from which I can come to it.

This means that I am already in the right state and only have an incorrect view of it due to my being flawed. Thus I work until I fully justify this entire state and experience great joy. But what matters the most is that regardless of what great fear, worry, problems, and troubles I am experiencing, I still don’t abandon the thought of the Creator. In this point of my connection with Him, which I am holding on to, I start building my state correctly.

This proves that the Creator is waking a person up with every opportunity the latter presents to Him. These fortunate chances are deliberately unpleasant for a person so that a person may reverse and seek only them.

This will demonstrate that I am rising above my ego, over my feeling bad, toward adhesion. And then I won’t view this situation as unpleasant, but rather as a condition that led to our oneness. I will feel that it includes in itself all the preparation and prerequisites, which woke me up and gave me determination, all the components of this exalted state.

Besides, is there any other way to reach the first point of contact with the Creator while rising from one’s egoism?
[41943]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19

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