Question: Why despite knowing the basic Kabbalah principle “if you want to change the world, you should start changing yourself” a person still wants to start changing the world? How can he save himself from this?

Answer: When you connect yourself with the world you see that in reality this is one and the same system, and therefore there is nothing to change here. Only your attitude towards the world changes everything. The upper Light, the upper energy starts flowing through you into the rest and you will see how everything changes.

I am confident that after a successful convention, we will see how much the entire country and everything that exists there will suddenly receive some spiritual rise. Many problems will simply go away, will disappear from people’s sensation. Instead the people will receive the support of the upper energy and everything will begin to unfold in a much simpler and better way, especially for those people who will be participating in the convention together with us.

This will become obvious. At least all problems that were in the past will be seen as smaller, easier, and much less important.
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From the Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 69: From the above we can thoroughly understand that the Torah, too, contains internality and externality, as does the entire world. Therefore, one who engages in the Torah has these two degrees, as well. When one increases one’s toil in the internality of the Torah and its secrets, to that extent, one makes the virtue of the internality of the world—which are Israel—soar high above the externality of the world, which are the Nations of the World.

A person in our world is attracted to a wisdom, to a source, to a filling that suits his nature. Everyone has his priorities: special colors, special sounds, or a special lifestyle. We acquire many of these preferences from our family. On the whole people are different and still there are certain types of characters in this spectrum.

A person can be interested in science or music, he can be calm or active, closed or outgoing, inclined to physical work or mental activity, to express himself one way or another; these are all the results of our diversity. A person chooses a suitable occupation and the means to succeed in life according to his nature.

We too are not different. Each of us has followed his own path until he decided to change his priorities at a certain point and to deal with something else. It happened because our nature changed.

For the same reason there are those who yearn for the external Torah: They study the sources and the main thing for them is to know what they say. They don’t go into the internality; they don’t try to penetrate an unfamiliar world, they don’t follow the clues that lead to the Creator, to His actions, to His revelation. No, a person reads the text and doesn’t want to imagine something higher than this world. When Kabbalists speak about a “theft” they understand that someone stole something. The egoistic desires that steal the fruit of my work remain “out of the picture.” They interpret “damage,” as actual physical damage. “Trees,” “rocks,” “the Temple,” are all concrete objects in our world.

There are those who cannot stand such a superficial approach and are attracted to the internal essence.

Eventually, everyone chooses what he wants to deal with on one level or another, on a corporeal level or on a more internal level, and the depth of the level can also differ. On the whole the external Torah is really opposite from the internal Torah.

Therefore, it is impossible to judge a person’s greatness by his attraction to the wisdom of Kabbalah. He simply feels more comfortable here; it belongs to him. In the same way people who like to draw feel comfortable in a drawing class. The internal attraction does not depend on the person himself. Accordingly, there are people who are attracted to the external Torah and it is because they are made that way.

This is why our message is different: No matter what a person is attracted to, we still explain what he should do by rising above his natural inclination. Actually Baal HaSulam emphasizes here that it is a person’s obligation to be above his natural inclination, which creates a balance between his internality and his externality.

Question: How can I be sure that I am developing my internality and not my externality?

Answer: I feel it when I begin to be considerate of others. Only I can know it. On the outside everything may remain the same. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Hidden Torah”…
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/8/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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From Baal HaSulam’s Letter No. 38: But the most important is the labor, to wish to toil in His work. This is because the ordinary work does not count at all, but only the bits that are beyond the ordinary, which are called “labor.” It is like a person who needs a pound of bread for satiation—his whole meal is not considered a satiating meal, except for the last bit of the pound. That bit, for all its smallness, makes the meal satiating. Similarly, from each work, the Creator draws only the surplus beyond the ordinary, and they will become the Kelim (vessels) for the reception of the Upper Light. You should realize this very well!

We don’t notice that every action of ours is divided into HaVaYaH, into four phases: the entire process, any and every fragment of it, every single movement, even the smallest one.

Eventually, a person gets to realize that he is incapable of anything on his own and that only the upper Light can act and only the Creator is able to perform the action. The Creator reveals Himself and starts acting only to the extent that a person clears the room for Him, for the state that is called “None else besides Him.” If a person doesn’t come to this kind of result, it means that he hasn’t concluded his action.

Our work is to blow away the concealment and allow the space for the King, so that He rules over everything. It happens only at the end of each effort, and by that a person sees that it is the only thing he needs to learn.

Hence, it means that a person hasn’t come to the end of his exertion, nor has he achieved the goal, since he failed to clear the room for the Creator and implore Him to reveal Himself in the point of his utmost exertion, which one tries to resolve on one’s own.

It’s important to develop sensitivity and a “touch” in order to tell whether we have managed to complete our actions each time, that is, whether we have compelled the Creator to reveal Himself to us even more and whether we succeeded to make a little more room for Him—for the property of bestowal that takes over certain qualities of ours.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/12

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Question: If I were to regard my partner as a mirror where you see your faults, then this will keep bringing me back to myself. Thus, instead of developing a connection with my partner, will this exercise then only focus on me?

Answer: But instead of hiding in my own shell, I must rise above all this. Let’s start everything from the beginning, from point zero. I look at my wife and see a number of faults. Now I begin to apply all these faults to myself because it’s written that: “Every person judges to the extent of his own corruption.”

For this reason I get back to myself and say that all these flaws are in me. If I were perfect I would not see any of this. If I loved my wife, I would not see any faults in her! It’s like a mother in relation to her child who does not see anything bad in him. This is the way natural motherly love works, blinding you. And even when the mother notices certain faults in her child, she loves them and considers them to be cute.

In other words, primarily, I begin to understand that all the faults I see in my spouse are in me and the reason I see them is because of my lack of love for her. This is why I must raise myself to a level where I stop seeing faults in her, like a mother and her favorite child. This is called, rising above your egoism.

With the help of my spouse, I have performed certain measurements in me and have evaluated the level that I am at and the height to which I must ascend to rise above myself. It turns out that I have a partner who helps me rise above my nature. Imagine the treasure I have at home; this is a real treasure!

For now I have only risen above my ego by using my partner as a mirror. Now I am moving on. I have risen above myself and I no longer work with my desires and qualities. In this neutral state, I try to feel, examine, and understand desires, qualities, aspirations, and the goals of another person, for example, my spouse’s. I try to accept them as something that matters most to me and live to fulfill them.

I feel that if we were to mutually act this way, from both sides, then our life would be beautiful. The problem is that I am unable to remain in this state. It’s very difficult and requires a lot of effort. I am able to keep it up for a few minutes, but then I drop it and require support. It’s simply impossible to constantly remain in this state, this awful pressure.

It’s very easy to be egoistically thinking about yourself as nature constantly provides us with fuel for this. There’s a constant egoistic engine incessantly spinning in us, working from morning till night and even while we sleep. And this requires enormous strength, inhuman efforts, which I am simply incapable of. So what do I do?

This is the way we reach the next decision. The first decision was to rise above my egoism. The second one is to accept my partner’s egoism instead of my own. Then I see that I am unable to remain in this state and I need an environment and support. The environment serves as the source of power and significance, which essentially is the same thing. In other words, it must provide me with the sensation of the incredible importance of this work above my egoism and for the benefit of my neighbor. It’s able to give this to me. And then, I will feel even freer when taking care of my neighbor than when I was taking care of myself. It’s as if I have nothing to worry about, this is the kind of freedom and peace that I feel.

First of all, all my problems and hardships disappear because I have risen above my nature. I feel like I live in a world full of kindness. I only care for my neighbor, free of worrying about myself, like a bird, soaring in the sky. This is the way I will feel, if others give me energy, importance, and aspiration.
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From a “A New Life” 7/12/12

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Question: How can we preserve the state of joy when you feel that ego puts pressure on you?

Answer: Any state, the left and the right ones, are manifested in you under the influence of the Light.

If any state is manifested not under the influence of the Light, as in an ordinary person, there is nothing you can do. And if under the influence of the Light, then you should be in joy, even if you feel below everything, unsuccessful, etc. Nonetheless, this is a manifestation of evil, the expression of your ego that rises at the next level and which will give you new attainments.

That is why, we should receive the bad state with no less joy than the good one (in the senses); that is, they must be equal to you. When negative characteristics and feelings rise in me: evil, anger, all sorts of descents, some bad evaluations, a sense of anticipation immediately emerges in me: “Now, I begin to ascend above this. This will be the next degree.”

Due to this, I should feel this state, but not “dwell” on it. I should feel it a little, but only in order to implement it in the right direction. Then, when I feel it, there is joy in me. It is like an athlete, overcoming an obstacle, who believes that he can handle it, and this leads him forward. The left line—a sense of evil, descent, weakness—is in fact the most productive.
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From a Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

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I am a connecting link between all of my friends. And every one of us serves the same purpose. This is one n-dimensional system, in other words, this system is infinite.

I am included in every one of the billions of people with both, my Galgalta ve Eynaim and my AHP. And every one of them is also included in everyone else. This system is called Malchut of the World of Infinity. It is a very simple system. You simply begin to live in it when you enter it with your senses.

You become a conductor between everyone from above downward and from below upward. And the same happens to everyone: They connect with everyone else through you.

So what is left there for you? Only to neutralize yourself so you could continue to exist in this system this way.

Neutralizing yourself means to include yourself in everyone else above your egoism. Just make an enormous effort to include yourself. However, these efforts will be light and easy because an enormous amount of people get together, and in general, all of them have been sufficiently prepared during the seminars, and they understand how to create it and make it happen.

We have come to a point where we can realize it precisely and easily and reach such a critical mass, a power of desire and aspiration that “self ignition” will take place and the upper Light will manifest itself. We can do this!
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From a Virtual Lesson 7/29/12

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Question: How can I better understand that the world depends on me, and how can the group feel that everything depends on it?

Answer: The easiest way is to remember that there is no world outside myself. It is only because of the shattering that I imagine that everything around me is not me. As Baal HaSulam says, there is only one soul in the world. In the real state of Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity) we are all connected and there are no barriers between us. No one is isolated, we are in perfect mutual connection and everyone feels only the others and not himself. This is the real picture and we have to reach it independently since today we see it in its opposite form.

In the last, fourth phase of the Direct Light the created being feels that the Creator loves him and that He does everything for him in absolute love without any self-calculations. On the other hand, the created being feels the opposite feeling of the self that is accompanied by such great impatience and suffering that he is ready to do anything in order not to feel that.

After the restriction the created being discovers that he can attain the same thing and reach an equivalence of form with the Creator. Then he decides to find a place where he can be independent. He has detached himself from Malchut of Ein Sof, but has not become independent yet and has continued his search—how to break free of the Light and still acquire its power in order to change himself and become like it.

Then comes the descent from phase one to phase two until our current level. Today only the spark is evoked in us, some vague knowledge, and from this moment it is only by our exertion that we can attain the two forces: the desire to receive and desire to bestow so that they will dwell in us. Then we will be able to manage ourselves and bring ourselves to the initial adhesion by ourselves.

Before the Light, the Creator who created this state provided our full adhesion. Now on the way to Malchut of Ein Sof, I climb the levels of adhesion by my own efforts, by my self recognition, by my self feeling. I determine my state and thus attain infinite adhesion which I feel 620 times more strongly than before because I have done this work by myself; I understood by myself; I felt; I have acquired; I have earned it. This will be the final third state.

I follow this path by attaching to myself all the parts that seem like strangers, that are hateful, distant and opposite from me. I attach them to the absolute love among us and by that return from our world to the word of Ein Sof.

Today we don’t hate the external world, but we are indifferent to it. Later on, however, we will discover such sources of hatred that are called a “shell” against the Holiness, against bestowal. We will encounter things that we cannot even look at, that we will find hard to hear. Imagine that someone destroys something that is important and dear to you and now by rising above that feeling you have to love him and thank him. Is that possible?

Compared to those terrible states it is as if we are in a “kindergarten” today. We are not “playing” with the real discernments yet…

So before the correction, everything is revealed in its opposite form. Therefore the world, which today simply seems distant and detached from us is actually the parts of the general vessel, of the one soul.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/7/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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The upper can help the lower under the condition that the lower is trying to unite with the upper. But it is impossible to unite alone with the upper because adhesion means that you wish to bring the corrupted vessel of bestowal to Him for Him to correct it, because we are corrupted.

But when do I feel this way?—When I wish to unite with someone and am incapable of it. Then I take this broken vessel and say to the upper: “Correct it!” He corrects it, and then I acquire a whole vessel with a certain degree of bestowal. I perform an action in it—actual connection in a corrected vessel—and then I attain a spiritual degree.

In other words, I had a small broken glass. I asked the upper one to fix it and He corrected it; in other words, He has given me strength to glue this glass together to make it whole. Now I can fill this glass by performing an act of bestowal, and I will fill it. This means that I have reached the level of Nefesh de-Nefesh of the World of Assiya.

And once again I turn to my friends, the group, and once again I analyze my lack of desire to continue to advance, I analyze how broken my vessel is. And once again I ask the upper one to correct it. But I must give Him something to correct. Otherwise, what will I bring to Him, what is my request? I must come and cry about the broken vessel, like a small child comes and cries over a broken cup. And then the upper one will correct it, and once again I fill the corrected vessel with the bestowal I desired and I attain the next spiritual degree, Ruach de-Nefesh of the World of Assiya. In this way I ascend the 125 degrees.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/7/12, The Zohar

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The only thing we have to attain is that “there is none else besides Him.” This is attained only by the oppositeness, by what is called “help against.” The Creator sends us different interruptions, which seem to come from different forces, which are strange and opposite to the Creator and by chance. It seems that the interruptions are random: the force of impurity, Pharaoh, this whole world. We think that these foreign sources are the cause of all our problems.

But we have to overcome this feeling and constantly hold on to the thought that we have to reveal the Creator in everything that happens. If we see Him in every incident in this world, we begin to see the source in them, the Creator’s way and His attitude. Thus the Creator teaches us by showing us who He is in very secret cunning ways.

The Creator is playing with us when He conceals and reveals Himself alternately again and again. When He is concealed, we feel this concealment as unpleasant events in this life. But we have to discover that it’s merely a puppet show and that it’s all managed by a great director. Only the puppets seem real: the still, vegetative, and animate nature and the people living in this world. It seems that they are alive and that they can move by themselves, that they have free will and that they act independently. But if we look at this world as a lifeless wrapping and that only the upper force gives it life, we’ll get closer to the revelation of the Creator.

This work isn’t simple and is only possible by overcoming the difficulties. In order to do that we need the support of the friends, the mutual guarantee that doesn’t let a person forget about this work and which constantly keeps him in the thought of “there is none else besides Him.”

When a person feels weakness and despair, he has to understand that these feelings were also sent by the Creator, who is playing with him now. A person must immediately start a dialog with Him and begin the inner clarifications, which are more straightforward as we are facing the Creator directly. All these efforts eventually bring a person to the “gate of tears.” This means that although he is controlled by many other desires, somewhere in their center a desire to overcome himself and reach the love and the fear of the Creator appears for a brief moment. The Creator is revealed among all the foreign thoughts and situations that actually conceal Him.

A person has to do his best to see the Creator’s force in every imaginary form of life, which seems real and independent to him, and to understand why the Creator did this. In order to do so, he has to examine what is going on and to discover all this. After all, the Creator has only one intention: to be revealed to a person.

Thanks to these efforts, a person learns about the nature of the Creator’s attitude towards him, as he knows Him from His actions. The Creator hides through concealment and it’s as if He is playing with a person in order to teach him how he should also conceal and reveal himself. When the Creator is revealed, a person has to conceal himself so that he wouldn’t think that he has reached this revelation by himself. So he has to cover himself with a Masach (screen).

When the Creator is concealed a person has to yearn to discover Him. Thus in the mutual work as each takes a step forward and then a step backwards, it’s as if they are dancing a tango together, as they create concealment and revelation, once on the side of the Creator and once on the side of the created being; they build a stable Masach between them.

A person’s ego is hidden behind the Masach while he, the desires in his heart, rise above the ego, above the Masach and are revealed before the Creator. Then the Creator can also be revealed in the same way before a person.

The moment this happens, the gates of tears open up, after a person understands this game, accepts it, and is happy as he sees the great importance of the One with whom he is in contact. Then a person can accept all the events in life gladly, no matter how difficult they are and how confusing they may be. After all, it is thanks to them that he manages to build up a great account of all his efforts, penny by penny.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/3/12

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Baal HaSulam, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before:” Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator. This is because indeed, “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of Him.
A person has an opportunity to be in connection with the upper force, with the Light that advances us, either directly according to the likeness to Him, or in the opposite form according to the discrepancy, and, of course, both these approaches can be combined in some way. It is not necessarily one direction or the opposite to it, that is, either zero or 180 degrees, but we are always under the influence of the Light, and we have no freedom of choice in this. The Light always affects us. What depends on us is only to choose whether His face is turned toward us or the opposite side is.

Kabbalists tell us about this because we are able to influence this. After all, there are plenty of very important systems operating in the spiritual worlds about which they do not say a word to us because we cannot establish any communication with them. These systems affect us only from one side, and that is why nothing is told about them.

Of all the great systems, Kabbalists reveal to us a small fragment through which we can change our destiny. They do not tell us anything about the part where we can do nothing with ourselves.

That is why, if Baal HaSulam writes that the Creator embraces us behind and before, this means that we do have the opportunity to feel the Creator, not on the opposite side, but to reveal His face, and it will change our destiny the entire 180 degrees. To do this, all the time we need to seek the revelation of Shechina—the power of love and bestowal that we are trying to reveal according to the similarity of our properties to It.

However, the opposite side is disclosed when we act according to our own conditions, our egoistic properties. If, in all these situations, we are not trying to achieve congruence with upper management, to reveal His face, then His opposite side is revealed to us.

This determines how we will feel upper management. If the opposite side is turned to us, then in the dark, we think that we are able to do something ourselves. We believe that we operate and manage ourselves, but, for some reason, we do not succeed.

When upper management is turned toward us, we reveal the other side: that the Creator acts in everything. We discover this if we are not going to change anything except ourselves. We want to turn ourselves toward the Creator.

However, finding that He acts in everything, we also reveal that He is kind and does good and that is why we are pleased to see that all our actions come from Him. This is the essence of open management that is always good. Hidden control is always felt as pain and suffering.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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