Starting now and going forward, we need to advance independently. And here a very interesting point is revealed. Up to a certain moment, I felt that I was completely influencing my students. During that time I taught my students according to the same system that our spiritual fathers learned.

But lately it is revealed that without support, without connection, without general mutual work, I can no longer teach them. For this, the students’ efforts, their assistance, and mutual work are required. All of this is essential. If from their side, there is a desire, a deficiency, then I can speak and explain in an approachable way. If there is an effort, then accordingly we can advance forward. This means that here an exact process of correction is taking place. We have arrived at this point.

It turns out that we are dependent on each other. Thus I turn to the entire world group since I am not able to do anything alone. If in the past I pushed you and could do something, now everything is closed. The general desire transforms into being truly mutual, and unity and connection are revealed in it.

This is not yet our attainment since in the meantime everything is taking place without any connection to our desire. But we must understand that it’s only through the general mutual effort, both yours and mine, that we will be able to advance forward. There will appear before us new opportunities to express our ideas, new explanations, and although the system remains the same since everything comes from the Light and the Kli, a new form of submission and recognition will appear, its sensation.

Thus, I very much request for you to be more active, to participate more in everything, to connect to the lessons. The general advancement depends only on our mutual actions! Let’s solve this problem together since acts of correction are possible only through our efforts that are aimed at taking charge of our ego and rising above it through an opposite attribute. If there is no effort, then there is no correction.

Under no circumstances should one annul the ego. We must rise above it. Suppressing the ego means not allowing it to command us, but together with it to feel it, live with it, and rise above it in our actions. This work must be aimed only at my worldwide group and at the Creator.
[98080]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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Question: Whom should I aspire to bring contentment to: the group or the Creator?

Answer: You cannot bring contentment to the Creator without bringing contentment to the group. This is a necessary condition. Otherwise you will be deceiving yourself that you are aspiring to bestowal when in reality you care about your own pocket rather than about the benefit of others.

Imagine it so that you can please the Creator only on the condition that you bring contentment to His children, who in fact are the group. You cannot do anything for Him since all of His desires are focused only on the creature.
[98257]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/13, TES

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Question: Some people are in great inner tension during the convention; others are joyful and going along with the flow. What should be our correct state?

Answer: Both are correct, and it is necessary to join these two states so with all your strength and great tension to try to go with the flow, to stay as close as possible to the center, and move together with it. We need to be included in the flow of the convention like two liquids that are mixed together.

But for this, I need to apply efforts, of course, because every moment I must feel that I move. I cannot go towards the goal without this movement, I must keep the same direction all the time, like a rocket which constantly adjusts its trajectory: alternately, once the force of reception, then the force of bestowal, the force of reception, then force of bestowal.

I keep balance between the two, without erasing any of them; I do not lose the awareness of my desire (Aviut), but connect all this together and advance.

There are people who naturally integrate into the general flow because their desire is lighter in comparison to others. No one is to blame or to be praised; everyone has his own natural character. And there are people with more severe, internal tension who cannot go with the general flow, and it takes them great efforts.

The first ones, who easily merge with the environment, add inspiration to everyone. And the second, for whom it is difficult to be with others, add effort. It turns out that there is the Reshimo from the screen and from the desire (Reshimo de Hitlabshut and Reshimo de Aviut), and thus general connection occurs.
[98226]
From the Arava Convention 1/17/13, Lesson

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 53, “The Matter of Limitation”: The matter of limitation is to limit the state one is in and not want Gadlut (Greatness). Instead, one wants to remain in one’s present state forever, and this is called eternal Dvekut (Adhesion). Regardless of the measure of Gadlut that one has, even if one has the smallest Katnut (Smallness), if it shines forever it is considered having been imparted eternal Dvekut.

However, one who wants more Gadlut, it is considered luxury. And this is the meaning of “any sorrow will be surplus” meaning that sadness comes to a person because he wants luxuries. This is what it means that when Israel came to receive the Torah, Moses brought forth the people to the bottom of the mountain, as it is written, “and they stood at the nether part of the mount.”

A mount (Hebrew: Har) means thoughts (Hebrew: Hirhurim)). Moses led them to the end of the thought and the understanding and the reason, the lowest degree there is. Only then, when they agreed to such a state, to walk in it without any wavering and motion, but to remain in that state as if they had the greatest Gadlut, and to be happy for it, this is the meaning of, “Serve the Lord with gladness.”

We have to constantly keep ourselves in a minimal state. It is the most desirable state; this is pure bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, the constant state. Then if I am thrown off in the negative direction, to the “minus,” by the addition of more ego, I have to add Gadlut (greatness) in the opposite direction, the importance of the Creator, “plus.” This is how I advance.

Thus, I fill every descent and feeling of lowliness, which I must feel with the recognition of the one who gives it to me, where it comes from, and whom I have to reach an equivalence of form with. In that case I will constantly return to the constant state and constantly advance along the shortest straight line, no more and no less. I don’t need any luxuries, not even a shirt, like the righteous (Hafetz Hesed) living in the forest. Thus, I advance, and nothing can throw me off track.

It is the same when I feel Gadlut and am thrown towards the “plus”; I don’t take this into account. The important thing is to constantly yearn for a constant state, and although it is constant, I still advance under the external influence and go up the ladder from level zero to the 125^th level. But I don’t ask for anything for myself, except for staying in a constant state.

I am ready to remain in the same state I am in and I don’t even need the revelation or anything above that. To the same extent that I give up the revelation and refuse to accept it, I discover the spiritual world in the same vessels, so there is the opposite outcome, as it always happens in our work since everything is built above the vessels of receiving.

Of course, everything is done by the Light that Reforms. Without the Light nothing will happen, and it is only the Light that performs all the changes and the corrections. We should never feel sorry that we don’t have them, but we should feel sorry only about “where is the Light that can correct us.” If we feel that we don’t have corrections, it is good; it is already the revelation of what we lack. In that case the Surrounding Light will come, the Light that Reforms, and correct us.
[98096]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/13

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What is the prayer of many? First of all, we understand that the movement forward is a movement towards each other, to feeling others like oneself. This is achieved by connecting common yearning. We need to unite our points in the hearts in a single aspiration, relate them to the Creator, desire Him to correct them to raise above our egoism in order that it remains below, and the points in the hearts exit it, rise and form the property of bestowal.

The property of bestowal can only be common, not individual. It’s manifested only in the connection with others, through the so-called “crimson ball,” a feeling of warmth between us. And all this is recorded according to the statement “the book is open and the hand writes” because in addition to our personal debt, a general account is also written. One can pay for the other and even more than that.

This means that the group can take responsibility for the weak, pull him towards itself, heal, soothe, and approve. Just as in our world, in the spiritual world there are different gradations of human, and the group can pay for him. But later, he has to pay back. This is the system of complete interdependence like in the family: small children grow up and begin to help the elderly; everyone does his part, and everything is divided equally.

So, the calculation is carried out only through the common treasury, and nothing is accepted from an individual, the Creator does not make any transactions with you. Even with the world, He makes calculations only through humanity, through the entire mass of people, through one collective desire. He influences this desire. He is in it.

The common desire is divided among all of humanity and the people aspiring for the Creator with whom He makes His own calculations. He does special actions with them in order to pull them towards Himself, to guide and drive them towards the goal. As for humanity, the Creator is pushing it forward for the time being, causing an awareness of confusion in it and gradually pulling it towards us. Part of humanity diffuses and enters our area, joins us, and the 90% remains. This is a huge amount, and it stays unchanged because the part that leads everyone forward must be strong in quality, and the rest in quantity.

Thus, we need to pray, ask for the strength to lead, to help, to shape that huge mass. The responsibility for this lies with us; we have to ask for everyone. This is the basis for a prayer.

The Creator created the desire to enjoy. This is the desire of 90% of humanity. And our desire in this mass, meaning of those who yearn for the Creator, is artificial, not belonging to this world. Now it appears in us, and we want to get somewhere. The property of the Creator is manifested in us and that’s why we are drawn back to Him, to our source. Others also have the points in the hearts due to the mixing, the breaking of the vessels, but they are hidden deeply. We were awakened just in order to pull them to us and correct them; otherwise, we would have never felt the movement towards the next state.

That is why our prayer should be for all of humanity, for having the force, skill, and knowledge of connection with the Creator in order to draw all of humanity towards us and correct it, thereby bringing Him pleasure. The task of the Creator is to be revealed in the desires of humanity, to fulfill their desire. This is on one hand.

On the other hand, we are called the head, meaning that we are aware and understand; we are associates, assistants, of the Creator. We realize His goal. He wants to be revealed in humanity because it has real huge desires, not like ours because we’re not the greatest egoists. Of course, egoism is growing in us as well as all kinds of understandings of its estimations since we have duality, and we move forward, but the biggest egoism will be revealed in all mankind.

This is immense universal egoism! The whole universe is a huge mass of inanimate matter, which we don’t feel or know, including dark matter, all that we do not see, and it is an analog of the egoism that exists in humanity. They are both inanimate matter.

That’s why the correct prayer rises only through the group and only for humanity! I ask the Creator to help me as part of the group to correct all of humanity so that He can be revealed in it. Thus, by my participation in this, together with the group, I bring Him pleasure, the realization of His plan.

Why is this so difficult to express? It’s because it refers to the property of bestowal that we can’t yet describe properly. We depict everything by means of our egoistic language: I ask the Creator to give me the strength to correct others so that He is revealed in them seemingly to receive pleasure. We have no other possibility to express all this, so the prayer should be like that.

In the meantime, we take a loan, and gradually, especially in the group, make a clear calculation how much we can begin to return what we have taken from the store: for each given day, for the lesson, for the gathering of friends, for the convention, for everything! What do we give? What do we return? Do we correctly realize that excitement, that possibility that we get every time?
[98070]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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Our advancement in the last 2,000 years of exile was of a different character. The nation of Israel gradually lost the spiritual level of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) that they had, became more and more mixed with the “nations of the world,” and descended to the corporeal level. In Kabbalah this process is called the “descent of generations.” We talk about descending along the steps of our world from the state in which there is still a certain illumination from spirituality, until the very bottom where it is dark.

These are the laws of nature: Everything depends on the relation between the upper Light and the Reshimot (spiritual genes) below. Today when the descent has ended and the ascension is before us, we then determine these relations when we change the coefficient in the set formula; in other words, when we insert the connecting link, the measure of the equivalence of form, between the Reshimot and the Light.

During exile, we could not do this; thus everything happened in its time. It is not by chance that the Kabbalists knew and wrote about the time when this period would need to end. The Reshimot descended lower and lower, deeper and deeper within the egoistic desire, and it became “coarser” to the extent of “burdening of the heart”.

However, today the descent is over, and we see that according to the surrounding world: All the areas of life are on the brink of bankruptcy. Family, education, culture, finance, business, and even religion‑everything today is penetrated with unrestrained and acute egoism.

Thus, we went through 2,000 years of very hard work. The world advanced and Israel descended from its spiritual degree, and here, when the world is collapsing under the blows of the crisis, they stand “face to face.” The correct connection, the correct combination between the “nations of the world” and Israel has been created. And now it is possible to begin the ascent. The present state is desirable and highly productive.
[97929]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

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Question: It says: “I awaken the dawn and it isn’t the dawn that awakens me.” Is there a certain sequence of internal events that allow me to awaken the dawn as quickly as possible without any delays and to establish the connection with the group and with the Creator?

Answer: We can only hasten time and the desire to become Adam (human).

According to scientific data, the universe is 15 billion years old. Humankind has developed for hundreds of thousands of years, and it is only in the last 30,000 years that we have begun to approach the true level of Adam. This evolutionary process takes time.

As people grow older they suddenly feel that everything is so temporary, “Life has gone by and I haven’t even noticed…” This is our corporeal existence: it goes on and suddenly you feel that you are old and that you are about to “leave the scene.”

In spirituality it is different. In spirituality you know and feel how many discernments you have been through, how the world has advanced and what people have learned by approaching spirituality.

There were long periods of “delays” in history. The last exile lasted for 2000 years, and the great sorrow is that the process seemed to be halted from Above. People suffered simply because there were not allowed to advance towards the goal, they burned and yearned for it, but there was only darkness in response.

Now, however, the opposite is true: I am given everything from Above, even more than I can absorb, but the trouble is that I don’t need it; I actually want other things and suffer because I don’t have them.

We find ourselves in the middle, in the “section” between exile and redemption, as the attitude from Above has changed. Today things have been “opened” for us from Above, all the doors are open and the food is actually brought to our mouth, and all we have to do is to open our mouth like nestlings, but we don’t want to…

In order to awaken the dawn, we have to start by “mechanical” actions. It is because during the spiritual descent a person is “dead,” still. So start moving, organize a clear and accurate daily schedule and make sure that you follow it carefully. Look for different things to hold onto, take upon yourself different tasks that cannot be avoided…

There are many hours of powerlessness ahead. In such case, I for example, begin to work on articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash. It is a kind of “hobby.” I correct them, delete commas, change words and phrases, and put them in a simpler language, etc. By this mechanical work we try to get back on track. It is because in the current descent we have nothing internal left, and we can only make external efforts. We need mutual guarantee, support from the friends, and a rigid schedule is necessary.

In any case, the exit from the descent depends on our efforts. Therefore it says that Israel hasten time. The Light comes from Above, of course, but we awaken it.

On the whole, we are advancing at an extraordinary speed these days, and I really have great hopes regarding the Arava convention that will be held this weekend. You will see. It will be much more qualitative than the previous conventions and we will feel discernments that we can organize and compare with each other.

An inclination, tension, readiness and the ability to stay “fit” and navigate ourselves internally is building up in each of us, as if we are holding a steering wheel in our hands. A person actually has to feel, to discover this “steering wheel” inside him: The road is opening before us and internally a person constantly stabilizes himself on the road and stays off the shoulders of the road.

We are so close to that, so close to this mutual control when I know how to behave with the Creator, and then I can actually “drive” by myself…
[97935]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13, Writings of Rabash 

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Duality makes our work very difficult. I tried to explain yesterday at the “One Global Women” convention that on one hand, women need to prepare a collective, huge desire to pass it to the men for their work. They must be sure that their desire rules the world, controls the men, and starts the process of correction.

But on the other hand, in order to do it with the right attitude aimed at bestowal, they also need to know that at the moment they reach the correct desire, they will feel in it that everything is corrected and the men are complete righteous, not needing any correction.

It was difficult to explain these two seemingly incompatible opposites, but I still tried to make them clear and to bring this idea to the workshop.

Baal HaSulam writes in his letter (No.41): “Spiritual attainment is based on two opposite forms that are immediately revealed in man: one is from the part of the body and one is from the part of the soul,” that is, the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. The desire to receive is called the body, and the desire to bestow—the soul, and that is why a person experiences this dichotomy.

“Due to his nature, a man is not able to simultaneously analyze the body and soul as two parallel concepts and tries to tie them together in one concept. And therefore, it is difficult for him to attain spirituality as two opposites that cannot be combined into one object.”

Indeed, we sometimes feel that we are just torn apart and do not know what to do with ourselves. The heart contradicts the mind, and the mind does not agree with the heart; such conflicting thoughts and feelings are overcoming him that it is impossible to tie them together into any stable picture.

“It is like the story of Abraham, who was told that all his offspring will come of Isaac, but now the Creator ordered him to sacrifice him. And of course, nothing is changed in reality on the side of the Creator, and these contradictions are formed only on the side of the receiver. And that is why Abraham rejoiced …”

All our sufferings stem from the feeling of two opposite things that we cannot combine. The basis of any discomfort is an insoluble contradiction between two incompatible opposites. And you have to accept them in this conflicting form and be glad that we can rise above them and continue until they merge. In fact, this is the entire correction.

Indeed, one may ask: what do you need to correct? “Existence from existence” (Yesh Mi Yesh) and “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ain—to be able to glue them together: the Creator and the creature. This is the basis of correction, of all our work. That is why this work consists of little by little, by tiny portions, gradually getting used to accepting, understanding, feeling, and being glad that we carry out this work to connect two opposites.
[97920]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/13

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Question: How can the right intention be achieved?

Answer: For the right intention, first of all you have to tie yourself to the whole world, which is an outcome of the Creator’s actions. Through this world, the Creator shows you His actions, so that through the right relation to the world you will be able to draw near Him.

Suppose, I am the owner of a big farm where I own land and horses. And I take you to work on this farm because I see that you treat me well and will be a loyal worker or even a loyal slave. It turns out that I check you not according to your attitude towards me, but towards my property, according to how you treat my house, fields, and gardens, meaning “my world.”

In the same way we also come, and thanks to the desire given to us from Above, we want to become the Creator’s workers. As long as this desire hasn’t awakened in us, we live like the horses on this farm. And those whom the Creator gives this desire become workers on the farm. And there are different workers: There are loyal workers who are totally devoted to the Creator like slaves, and there are workers that are not so loyal.

The Creator finds the person in whom the point in the heart was awakened that wants to adhere to the Creator, but he cannot be raised instantly to a minister’s position. Therefore, He gives the person all sorts of opportunities, smaller jobs, through which he very slowly ascends. Precisely such an opportunity is given to us now: By the actions that we perform on ourselves, we can show the Creator how much we want to draw near Him, to adhere to, and live with Him in one thought and intention, in one action.
[97845]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, The Zohar 

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