When a person is worthy of spiritual advancement for the benefit of the common system of souls, the Light guides him forward toward self-realization. This way, one is brought to the group, and he has to believe that the group was given to him from Above.

From that moment on, a person has the freedom of choice to establish himself among the friends. Establishing oneself in the group begets several positive points:

1. The person abandons selfishness. The Light grows the person, raises him above egoism, and returns him to the Source so he would incorporate himself into the common network and reveal the Creator there.

We need to understand that now we are also interconnected in a single network. However, we are unable to feel it since we are overly grounded. We lack purity and fine sensibility in order to be able to see the system where we also exist at this moment.

According to The Zohar, our eyes are directed inward, and we do not see the actual reality and do not understand where we are. Moreover, we even despise this fine sensibility. We reject it and do not allow ourselves become even a tiny bit more sensitive toward the connection between us. However, the connection is present within. We only need to be attentive and look, and we will reveal it. Then, due to this revelation, we will begin to receive the Light that Reforms.

In reality, it is not the Light that comes toward us, but we go toward the Light. A person becomes closer to the Light to the extent of his gravitation toward the system of connection between the friends. This is because the common system is constant and perfect, but it manifests gradually, according to the extent of our sensitivity toward the Light. The Light is constant, and we only need the desires that are directed toward it.

2. The group allows one to resist the external environment. Now, he can save himself from the power of the surrounding world which influences every person with its desires, thoughts, and goals. A person enters the group, incorporates himself in it, wishes to submit to it, and he receives different kind of thoughts, desires, and goals from it, ridding himself of the external dictate.

3. A person receives the strength of the entire group, and now he also begins to represent the strength of its common soul. Naturally, this gives him a much greater aspiration toward the Light than the one that has brought him to the group.

Through this powerful impulse toward the Light and correction, a person evokes the Light’s influence over him, and the Light raises him from the egoistic intention, Lo Lishma (not for Her Name) toward the altruistic intention, Lishma (for Her Name).
[25422]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/10, “The Need for Love of Friends”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work - 1 Comment →

I discover unity by acting directly and indirectly. Acting directly, I care for the friends, assist them, make coffee and tea for them, serve them. In other words, I unite with them. This is customary in the corporeal world: We become close with people by giving them presents.

As to the spiritual actions, I must see my friends as the greatest people of our generation. They are bound as one, but I am outside of their bond and bow my head to become a single whole with them. I especially yearn for this correction while I study.

As a result of my efforts – internal and external, in deed and in intention – the illumination from the Upper degree that I see as corrected comes to me. I visualize that at that level we are all one and, together, we discover the Light among us, in accordance with the equivalence of form.

My work is now to renounce myself and evoke the influence of the Upper One. The key is not to interfere but only to connect. This period is called “three days of attachment of the semen to the uterus.” All I need to do is get absorbed inside it, deeper and deeper, constantly cancelling myself above egoism in order not to become an alien object inside the Upper One. Otherwise, poisoning will occur.

“The Upper One” is not some abstract notion but the friends. They look worse and worse in my eyes, and I must consistently resist this view by way of faith above reason. It seems that the outside world offers me a beautiful environment comprised of clever, healthy, positive people who know how to have a good time. And here, I find the opposite; I am irritated by the stupid talks and hypocrisy. But I work harder and harder so that in each state, I could find uniqueness and greatness in my friends.

The conception period is a lengthy process, and its goal is renouncement of self. I am in the mother’s womb, that is, in a unique group, among the friends with whom I have to unify and through whom I have to receive the help from Above. The state of embryo is a transition phase. An ascent to the first spiritual degree is the most difficult.

But how can that be? After all, I am told that correction is done from light to heavy. And still, Baal HaSulam writes in his article “One Law”: “The main moment of heaviness in serving the Creator is the first bonding.”

There is no other choice because we are talking about the shift of paradigm, attitude, and perception of reality. Numerous parameters shift in a person, and he starts seeing the world in a radically new way.
[25663]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/10, “Which Degree Should One Achieve so He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”

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

Filed under: Group Work - No Comments →

All souls root in one creature, one soul of Adam HaRishon. All of the events unfold in it. The soul was divided into multiple parts upon introduction of the will to receive into it, which is opposed to unity. The breaking is necessary for correction, and otherwise, it was impossible to break the soul into pieces.

Following the example of the king who transferred his treasure overseas by handing a coin to each of his couriers to assure success of the delivery, the soul of Adam HaRishon also gets corrected (transitions from the corporeal world into the spiritual one) part by part.

Breaking into parts is regarded as a “sin” although in truth, nobody sinned. In fact, a force aimed at receiving entered the collective soul in order to saturate each of its parts and separate it from the others. From that moment onward, each soul’s work lies in overcoming this force and reattaching its part of the common treasure to the unified interconnection.

In relation to me, all other parts are complete, and their seemingly broken and corrupted state is the effect of my own flaw. This is how a person should view the world, not fantasizing but inwardly working on himself. In that case, his outlook will change, and he will see that the surrounding world is filled with perfection and only he is corrupted.

Thereby, a person gets to know the initial breaking of the unified soul. By correcting himself, he returns to its parts as Adam, meaning that he acquires the collective intention toward all parts, all “transgressions,” and toward the entire force of detachment that penetrated the system and cracked it into 600 000 souls.

The correction is performed from light to heavy, according to the unfolding of the Aviut (coarseness, thickness) of the given part or, in other words, according to resentment it feels toward the others. After all, no matter how high a person ascends, the evil inclination rules over him anyway. However, a person is always given the exact measure he is able to correct. We need to realize free will by way of unifying with the group.
[25674]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/10, “Which Degree Should One Achieve so He Will Not Have to Reincarnate?”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Group Work, Inner Work - No Comments →

Question: What kind of work do the people attending the upcoming Convention have to do? What is our role in the unification of the global world so that we may become the people through whom the wisdom will pour onto the nations of the world?

Answer: This work is exemplified by the law that governs the existence of any living organism. Suppose that receptors of the nervous system are placed throughout the body. In the same manner, the vascular, lymphatic, and other systems spread through the entire organism. Likewise, people from all over the world are arriving to the Convention. On one hand, they all belong to one system, the system of Israel. On the other, they all live in different countries located in various corners of the globe and seem to belong to diverse, alien nations.

Each place where they reside is affected by various spiritual forces. The entire globe and each of its parts is affected by a certain Upper Force “responsible” for the continent, country, or nation. Therefore, a person who is part of the system of Israel and is arriving from some other country or place in the world is, in a way, our representative in the collective system.

Let’s take, for instance, the nervous system whose receptors exist in the leg, arm, chest, and stomach areas. And now, these parts of ours (as it were) that are located in different countries are arriving, and we unite together. It turns out that, together, we awaken our collective system, for instance, the nervous system of the collective soul called Adam. And then, through our friends living in various places in the world, we, together, awaken the whole world.

We see that after our conventions, awakenings occur in previously unheard of places, and people whom we have never heard about start joining us. Each of them is a force able to awaken billions of people. After all, in spirituality, if the contact is made, the Light immediately reaches the organ wherein this soul belongs.

Thus, we observe that our collective soul expands throughout the entire world and exists in all humanity. And the response of this collective soul clothed in all humanity is amazing. We begin to feel that this is, indeed, the integral global mankind, for the first time beginning to understand that we all depend on each other.

Thus, by means of such gatherings, when we unify together with our friends (the integrated system of Israel in the whole world), we thereby revive the entire system of individual souls that are mutually connected not by the egoistic principle, but by the principle of Isra-El (aspiring directly for the Creator).

This is what is called the correct, internal circulation of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the whole world. Uniting, we thereby fulfill our role as Israel in relation to all nations of the world. Thanks to that, we will be finally graced with unity and the Creator will dwell in the assembly of our souls.
[25643]
From Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Israel and the Nations of the World” 10/26/10

Filed under: Collective Soul, Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Leading up to the Convention it appears that some people that were aspiring toward the goal a moment ago suddenly fall back just as we reach the decisive point. How can we use this state in order to grow, and not to run away?

Answer: This is correct. The entrance into the spiritual world is preceded by labor pains. On the hand there is an internal pressure, on the other, an external barrier. And so it is until these forces bring you to the moment of truth.

At the last moment nobody wants to leave Egypt. This is why the escape transpires in haste, darkness, and fear, under pressure of negative forces. This state is depicted by an ancient metaphor, where a serpent sneaks up to a doe, bites her, and then it gives birth.[25530]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/1/10, “And the Children Racketed Within Her”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Be Prepared To Escape
Laitman.com Post: The Door Is Always Open
Laitman.com Post: Everything Depends On The Person’s Desire

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - No Comments →

The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (When the Pharaoh Sent),” Item 297: When the Temple was built, the Creator was crowned in that crown and sat in His throne, Malchut. And from the time when the Temple was destroyed, the Creator does not decorate his crown, and the delight the light of Bina, is hidden.

There is no time in spirituality, and it’s just a matter of degrees, meaning the extent to which we can move from one degree to another, passing along the layers of spirituality. Therefore, the future, the present, or the past, today, tomorrow, or yesterday, the time of the destruction of the Temple or other times, all of that is just an expression of our place on the same ladder of spiritual rungs. It can be compared to us watching a film and moving our glance from the past to the present and to the future.

The difference between all these states is determined by our ability to identify ourselves with the network of connection between us. The strength of our link to the network determines our position on the ladder, that is, what kind of our connection we can reveal.

Degrees of connections inside the common network are, in essence, the degrees of revelation of the Upper World and the Creator.
[25555]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/1/10, The Zohar

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Perception, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: Will the Convention be our exodus from the egoistic Egypt?

Answer: We must be certain that we will, undoubtedly! We are gathering at the Convention, connect together, and realize how paramount it is despite the fact that we may not be attracted to bestowal to the friend and to the Creator.

The condition of exodus is feeding on Matzot (unleavened bread, bread of affliction) specifically in the rich, successful, prosperous Egypt, dripping fat. Exile starts at the moment when you feel it. Return from exile is not a change of residence, but the exit to the revelation of the Creator, discovering the property of bestowal that starts illuminating…in you, in the same very Egypt where you used to be.

Therefore, right now, before breaking free, we must get to feel how we lack spiritual freedom. Then, we will come to the revelation of the Creator and the Upper world, the property of bestowal, in our desire.

Everything takes place within one and the same desire, not by way of moving from one place to another. The very same Eretz Goshen (Land of Goshen), which used to be the most prosperous in Egypt, turns into the Sinai Desert for us.

In the spiritual world, there is no space; everything occurs within the will to receive that undergoes all these states: Eretz Canaan, the descent into Egypt, the good and the bad Egypt (seven years of plenty and seven years of famine), the fleeing from Egypt to the Sinai Desert and, through it, to the promised land. All of this occurs in one place, the will to receive, depending solely on our experiences in it.

When in 40 years we reach the rung of Bina in this desire, then in this desert we find the land of Israel (“flowing with milk and honey”) and the completely corrected state. It all occurs in one place called the central point of Malchut of the World of Infinity. The only thing that changes is how we relate to the desire and evaluate it.

To the extent that we will be willing to include into Malchut the properties of the first nine Sefirot, accordingly, Malchut will receive all kinds of attributes, from the worst to the very best. Everything depends solely on Malchut, our desire to absorb the properties of the Upper One and become identical to Him. Everything takes place solely within the desire of a person.
[25445]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/10, “This is for Judah”

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

Rabash, Shlavey ha Sulam, 1985, Article 19, “Come to Pharaoh”: It is written: “Come to Pharaoh.” In other words, let us go together since I am coming with you in order to change your nature. And I only wish that you ask Me to help you change the nature and reform it from the will to receive to the will to bestow.

Our egoistic desire is small, and we haven’t realized yet the degree of our evil and lowliness. On the contrary, we think that we are quite good. The truth can be found only in the Light. When a person is awakened from Above, he starts seeking the purpose of his life, something beside the “beastly” existence in the body.

Then, with the help of the books and environment, he gradually discovers changes in himself. He is led out of the ordinary state of existence, and he advances while receiving various and frequently radical impressions.

Finally, he gets to realize that it has to do with a change in his nature. This understanding gains his focus starting with the moment when he begins to realize that his state is not as it is supposed to be.

For many years, a person may be listening to this and not hear it within. But the moment comes when he feels that he is the key and it is necessary to change his essence. At this point, the Torah or the method of correction of egoism tells a person about himself. Then, the person focuses on himself. He doesn’t wish to correct others and doesn’t’ get distracted by anything external. His attention acquires a reverse vector, and the person starts gazing inward.

Now he can use the method in practice. He already has a connection with it whereas previously he was connected only with general wisdom. It is written: “Trust the wisdom among the nations, and don’t trust the Torah among the nations.” The “nations” involve those who do not yet wish to correct themselves. And, contrary to that, a Jew (“Yehudi”) is a person who, regardless of his genetic background, has realized that he needs to achieve oneness (Yehud), the similarity of qualities or bestowal.

Having focused on himself, a person sees that until he changes, there is nothing to expect since all changes start within. Then he remembers that he had read about it in the Kabbalistiic texts before. From now on, he is connected with the method. It becomes dear to him for he feels that he depends on the source called the Torah, the texts, the teacher, and the group.

Only then does the person understand what these words mean: “Come to Pharaoh.”
[24141]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/10, “Come to Pharaoh”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Our Main Trump Card
Laitman.com Post: The Light Of Your Desires
Laitman.com Post: Everything Depends On The Person’s Desire

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

Filed under: Group Work - No Comments →