Question: Connection is attained by the total annulment of each individual to complete zero. But what is the difference between this and ordinary psychology?

Answer: The difference is very simple: before whom do we annul ourselves? I annul myself before the others and they annul themselves before me, and what’s next? This is the condition only to reveal the force of the Light.

The self-annulment of everyone before everyone else creates a neutral spot in the center of the circle in which no egoistic forces operate. It is the spot of our mutual general desire, since there we connect and neutralize our ego. We establish the new reality in this spot, a new space in which we discover the upper force.

All our desires are focused on the center of the circle in which there is the force of the desire, connection, self-annulment, unity, and mutual guarantee. On the one hand, it is said that there is no empty space and that there is always a certain quality, a certain force. But here in the center, there is nothing.

A place is called desire. Here our collective desire is concentrated, but it is as if it is annulled, since none of us wants to use his own desire, and only wants to bestow upon others. Thus we create a special new place in a different dimension, on a different height.

We start from Malchut, and then Zeir Anpin, Bina, Hochma, until we reach Keter, the tip of Yod. This means that out of ten efforts that we made (Yod means the number 10 in Hebrew), we reach the tip of Yod, in which the Creator is revealed. This is the essence of the center of the group, in which we build a new space, a new dimension with special attributes by our efforts and our annulment. This is where the upper force can be revealed.

So only after the shattering and the correction do we receive a means, a vessel, in which the Creator is revealed. Otherwise it is impossible to reveal Him since we don’t have a sensor to detect Him, no natural sense to feel Him. He appears only when we stabilize Him this way: We are all egoists, but we want to rise above our ego and annul ourselves before everyone else. We want all that in order to resemble the Creator; we want to acquire His form and His attributes in order to resemble Him.

Thus we create a new state in the center of the group called a womb, Shechina. Only by our mutual annulment can we create the new space with the new attributes in a new dimension that didn’t exist before in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity). This place for the revelation of the Creator appears only now thanks to our efforts.
[124657]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/02/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
The Responsibility We Feel For One Another
In Preparation For The Arrival Of The Long-Awaited Guest
A “Raspberry Sphere”- An Embryo Of Unity

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

All we need is to follow the condition of the mutual guarantee between us. From the moment we start observing it and to the extent of our compliance with it, we begin approaching the goal. All 125 steps of the spiritual ladder, from the world of Assiya to the world of Infinity, are the levels of our mutual guarantee, of our increasingly stronger connection with each other.

Our entrance to the first step, the first spiritual level, depends entirely on our achieving mutual guarantee as at Mount Sinai. The Giving of the Torah comes from Above, and the mutual guarantee must come from below, from us. Then, the “awakening from Above” and the “awakening from below” occur together, and the Creator and creation start getting closer together. The Creator approaches His creations and the creation moves towards the Creator until they merge into one that is called the state of Final Correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Therefore, our task is to attain mutual guarantee. If we want the Light that Reforms, i.e., the Torah to impact us, we have to know that It manifests Itself only to the degree of the mutual guarantee among us.

Until we start creating internal pressure to become a part of each other, to connect and reach the mutual guarantee, the Light won’t start influencing or correcting us. The Light modifies only our desire to connect and reach the state of mutual guarantee to the extent we pursue it.

All we need is to try to push. It is called a “prayer,” a desire, a demand, a request to reach a special connection that is called “mutual guarantee.” The more we want to be closer to each other, the stronger we will feel that we are unable to attain unity.

The Light impacts us with Its opposite side: It gives us an initial desire, a chance that is called “placing our hand on the good fate and directing us to take it.” It gives us the tools: a teacher, books, and pulls us to connect.

At the same time, the Light repulses us from each other by creating a tension between us. On one hand, we are told that we have to connect; even though it is not attractive to us, we have to play as if we try to unite. Only if a group comprehends this principle and understands that this step is essential, can it advance.

It takes time. Sometimes it takes years to regard this condition as a serious prerequisite. It is the hardest condition since it is opposite to our nature. If we assemble around the notion of “mutual guarantee,” it means that we finally have caught the end of a thread, the end point of a beam that is spread from the world of Infinity to this world.

We are beginning to realize that only through our connection and to the degree of our reaching mutual guarantee can we stretch to a spiritual vessel in which we will eventually reveal the upper world, eternity, and the Creator. All of these things reveal to us here and now, in this life.
[124356]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/13, Preparation for the Convention

Related Material:
The Union Of The Points In The Heart
The Conditions Of Mutual Guarantee
Union And Mutual Guarantee

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Teacher - No Comments →

If a person doesn’t have persistent spiritual yearning, doesn’t aspire to the Creator but simply tries to be saved from suffering, then, from the start, it is not worthwhile to tell him about the evil inclination, about the ego. We must first  engage him in activities that develop and expand his absorptive Kli, his perception, understanding, feeling and capacity for inquiry.

It is as if he were expanded from within, and some kind of empty space is created there that begins to be filled with all kinds of new observations and definitions: the group, me, and all our relationships.

Then, there is something to talk about. The person is included in this picture, within the general plan, and already begins to work. If you just explain to him about the nature of our ego theoretically, then the person will be bored and dry up. He must first feel in his heart, and after that, this passes to the brain. The brain is a good addition to the heart that serves it. It is said that “the heart understands.” Otherwise, the learning remains like a dry, abstract theory.

But it is possible to teach about phenomena that will be discovered later on condition that we are equipped with mutual Arvut, and Arvut is possible not only among Kabbalists, but also among regular people as, for example, in an army or among mountain climbers, and certainly this is not spiritual Arvut yet, but this is somewhat like it.

Don’t we become guarantors with each other through the bank, or through an insurance or pension plan? Everyone in the nation is a guarantor for everyone else to some extent. These systems already exist in order to prepare us for entry into Arvut.

We once lived in a cave like one big family, and later this family began to scatter. Its parts lost the connection between them and didn’t feel close. Therefore, another social connection was inserted and added between them. This is also Arvut, only it isn’t on the same level as it is with Kabbalists. However, it also serves the advancement and correction of the world.

People are in connection with each other, even though it is egoistic. Everyone in the world is a servant of the Creator whether they want this or not. We came out of a natural, instinctive, familial, connection between us, but instead we created a new linkage: commerce, reciprocal services. Some people are ill and others are doctors. Some need shoes, and others work as shoemakers, and so forth. This is as it is written, “Go and make a living from one another.”

The livelihood through which we are linked with each other is a correction of the shattering. I repair shoes for you, and you sew clothes for me. We already are found in Arvut with this, even though this is to a small degree. Through the thousands of years of the evolution of its shattering, humanity is approaching a threshold where it must consciously enter into Arvut. However, before this, we already have advanced and approached Arvut on the still, vegetative, and animate levels.

This shows the greatness of this concept. We are only in Arvut all the time, and we build and measure ourselves according to this, consciously or not.
[124500]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/01/14, Lesson on the Topic: Preparation for the Convention

Related Material:
The Conditions Of Mutual Guarantee
A Banknote In Terms Of Mutual Guarantee
Mutual Guarantee Is A Response To Nature’s Challenge

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Education, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

There is a constant struggle in the group: to be together or not to be together. One member can be in a state of ascent and another in a state of descent, and one mutually influences the other. But we have to keep connected and to tighten and strengthen this connection no matter what, despite all the obstacles, whether internal or external, which make up the “flesh” of the next level.

The external obstacles come from people who are close to us or distant from us and from the whole world. On the whole, it comes from everything that happens on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and humans. All this operates on us as our external vessels, and it all belongs to us.

In order to adhere to our point in the heart, we take off our attires, the flesh, our individual characteristics and leave only the bare points in the heart, ignoring anything else, and thus adhere to one another. But then we to regain the forms that we previously rejected as well: this whole world.

There is no other choice. This is our vessel and we have to use it. At the end of correction, the whole world, the whole universe, everything that I see, feel, and perceive will become one body. All this returns to me in the form of different obstacles and I have to connect despite the interferences.

In a state of descent, which means concealment, the friends seem rude and coarse, and I have no desire to connect to them. In a state of ascent, which means revelation, they seem like perfect righteous and I want to hug them and not let go. Then I fall into concealment again and feel scared: What kind of a group have I fallen into? I have to escape it as soon as possible.

Thus I constantly ascend and descend. I see it this way through my attributes from inside my vessels. The movement between the ascents and descents determines my upper level. If I accept the ascents and descents equally, and don’t care about the state I am in, as long as I am adhered, connected, in mutual guarantee, trying to hold on as much as I can both during the ascent and the descent, my efforts build the next level in this amplitude.

When I want to remain connected to the friends during the ascent and the descent, it’s a state called yearning, or stiffening, since I really want to connect. When we complete the measure of our effort and overcome all the obstacles, the action of the Light takes place in the final phase that fulfills the connection between us and tightens our mutual guarantee.

Here we have to take the matter of distance into account: There is a reason for going out to work and for getting confused. All the actions in this world are very special. We should understand and realize that mutual guarantee is the point of connection from which we already find ourselves on the same ladder that comes from and rises to the world of Infinity.

We strip ourselves of everything by our mutual efforts and leave only the points in the heart and begin to connect. Now we are trying to do that above all the obstacles, when we are together, and especially when we draw away from one another and feel that we are dispersed all over, separated by the distance and the lack of connection.

We have to do our best to overcome all these interferences. So we gather in conventions and special events in order to feel what it means to be together when there is no distance between us. We seem to be testing to what extent the physical distance operates on us and how we can establish the condition that doesn’t cause any changes in our feeling and in the mutual connection between us.
[124446]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/13, Lesson on the Topic: Preparation for the Convention

Related Material:
Mutual Guarantee Of A Good Mood
The Difference Between Spiritual And Corporeal Egoism
The Conditions Of Mutual Guarantee

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The way to exit the crisis (our ego), which means the method of the integral education is made of nine phases, stations, or lessons.

Phase one: Introduction to the concept of mutual guarantee by which we understand that unity is a wonderful thing.

Phase two: Overcoming the resistance of the ego with the help of a strong environment,

Phase three: Clarifying the center of the group, the “raspberry ball.”

The center of the group isn’t just a positive attitude towards the friends and the readiness to help one another. The raspberry sphere or ball means that I totally stop relating to others personally. This means that we seem to be free of our external attires, of our skin, of the body, of the bones, of all the inner innate characteristics, leaving only the spark, the Reshimo (spiritual reminiscence). Only the Reshimo is left of each of us, which means the inner spirituality of each one, his yearning for connection.

I don’t see faces anymore. If I see them, I have to work on myself so that I will not see anything. My friends are their determination and their effort to reach connection. This is the only spiritual part, the broken Reshimo that is revealed and the efforts of the friend, to reach connection, which means to bring it back to the corrected state despite this Reshimo.

So we don’t see any faces now, no personal characters, no gender, no behaviors or habits that people may have. If I still identify the differences in the relations of the friends towards one another, then it isn’t a group. In the group everyone is equal, which means that I don’t see any difference between them. All the friends seem like Reshimot and efforts to reach connection.

This is where the third lesson of the raspberry ball begins. It ends when everyone connects into one concept, rising above themselves, reaching connection and discovering in it the solution that no one had before. This is called the upper “all inclusive.” It is already a step forward in which Keter of the lower becomes Malchut of an upper level.

This state is called the raspberry ball in which all the sparks, the Reshimot, have melted and merged like drops of water that connect into one big drop.

I saw a report from a space station once where there was no gravity and where there was a leak. The astronaut placed a bucket there and when he shook the liquid out, it fell out like one huge cosmic drop, half a meter in radius, which was held together by the surface tension and the forces of the mutual molecular cooperation that connects all the molecules.

We should see the same thing in our raspberry ball. We find ourselves in space by nullifying all our forces and by building one ball of unity. Of course, we have to constantly support it, since there are interferences that constantly come along with regard to the unity. We struggle for our unity, since we want to go on living because our raspberry ball is the beginning of the spiritual ladder.
[124588]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/02/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
The Crimson Point Of Love
A “Raspberry Sphere”- An Embryo Of Unity
At The Entrance To The Tunnel

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We start to build the image of a human being in the “raspberry ball” and we don’t stop. This is our correction. The center of the group, which is established by our exertion and our mutual participation and is called mutual guarantee, becomes the ultimate point on the spiritual ladder by which we begin to climb.

The moment we become stronger, we will be able to understand and to do more. Then we will be given more opportunities to perform the corporeal and the spiritual work in humanity, which means to be “light for the nations of the world.”

The most difficult thing is to attain this endpoint on the ladder from which we start our spiritual ascent. This is the point where the struggle occurs. From every level we fall down to the state of “Shimon from the marketplace,” which means to the corporeal level, to the animate level, and from this point we have to be born.

This state is not opposite the spiritual ascent, which is a beneficial state, the state of Pharaoh, which gives you a feeling of slavery and redemption. Rather it’s a fall to such depths that we feel totally disconnected from the right and the left lines, from the goodness and from evil, and deteriorate all the way to the bottom of the ladder.

This is the state we always begin from, and so we return to the notion of the raspberry ball, of the unity of the group. We can ascend to the highest level and still fall below the raspberry sphere and have to rise back to it.

This is our first point of unity that will always exist in any state, even in the highest state. From the raspberry sphere we will enter the state of Ibur (conception) and the state of Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (mind).

Question: How can we imagine the raspberry ball?

Answer: The only thing we should know is that it refers to being together, in mutual guarantee, the condition for receiving the Torah, which means to summon the Light that Reforms in order to become as one man in one heart. This means that we should always want and demand it, and the Light will come.
[124592]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/02/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
The Sparks That Float
A Crimson Sphere Will Light Up The World
The Crimson Spark Of Love

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - 1 Comment →

Question: Why can’t I hold on to the feeling of unity, to the “raspberry ball,” it keeps disappearing?

Answer: It doesn’t matter if it disappears. We should look at the benefit of our actions and if I can add effort I am happier that it is lost than if I have it, because what I already have is mine. If I stall even for a second in the state that I have achieved, it begins to rot.

The moment I begin to enjoy my state, I should understand that it’s an egoistic pleasure. If I enjoy the change of states, the derivative, which means not the speed but the acceleration, the increasing speed of the changes, then it’s the right pleasure. If I simply enjoy the state itself, then it’s already a shell.

Just like in physics, a body that moves at a constant speed which may be very high is considered to be standing still, and with regard to me, it isn’t moving. It can be considered to be moving only if its speed changes. So if your speed constantly grows, you can be glad, and it’s a good joy. It’s called “joy of a Mitzvah,” since you are constantly adding, which means that you are raising more and more desires to correction.

What’s more, you mustn’t enjoy in a constant state. You should advance like an old man who is bent, constantly looking for a deficiency in order to accelerate his speed.

Question: How can we hold the raspberry ball?

Answer: The raspberry ball can be held only by the group’s effort and with the help of the Upper Force. We must constantly play with this ball, like dough when baking matzah, which you cannot stop kneading even for a second, until you put it in the oven. It cannot be kneaded longer than 18 minutes: the nine Sefirot of the Direct and the nine Sefirot of the Reflected Light, and then immediately in the oven!
[124666]

From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
Let’s Redouble Our Efforts Now!
Strengthening Unity Or Hindering It?
The Sparks That Float

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: What is the difference between the concept of mutual guarantee and the raspberry sphere?

Answer: You can define the first state of unity in a dozen ways. The idea of this analogy simply occurred to me at a certain point. I wanted to express the special feeling of warmth that everyone feels which is pleasant and illuminating in itself.

Mutual guarantee is the connection between the broken vessels that connect above the breaking as they understand that we must be connected. The strength of the connection, the need for it, its vitality and the responsibility we feel for one another is called mutual guarantee. This shows to what extent I am responsible for others and feel them inside me as myself.

Mutual guarantee is an inner state of connection that takes into account all the conditions: how we connect, with what vessels, on what level of Aviut (thickness). It refers to the vessel that is about to connect. It’s because of the separation between these parts and their connection, the growth of the left line and the right line, one in contrast to the other, that we put together the concept called mutual guarantee.

In the mutual guarantee, that is our spiritual vessel, we begin to receive the Light that Reforms and see that we are corrected. Then our mutual guarantee is corrupted again and we have to correct it once more. Everything is included in this concept. Baal HaSulam wrote two articles: “The Giving of the Torah,” since we have no way to correct ourselves without the upper force, and the article that followed it “Mutual Guarantee,” which explains how we operate and manage the upper force in order to ascend to the goal of creation.
[124663]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
In Preparation For The Arrival Of The Long-Awaited Guest
The Crimson Point Of Love
The Sparks That Float

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We are just trying to figure out all the components of the concept of mutual guarantee. The guarantor of this guarantee is the Creator, the Upper Force. And this force should be manifested in every action: at its beginning, in the middle, and at the end. The Creator is very “jealous,” and if we forget Him, He immediately abandons us, and we fall right away since all our progress occurs only because of Him.

What is the difference? After all, the Creator supports all of nature: the still, vegetative, and animate levels. But there we do not have to participate in our relationship with Him consciously. But on our human degree of development, we have to be  directed to the Creator all the time. Otherwise, what kind of man is Adam if he does not dream to become like (Domeh) the Creator?

Thus, we need to worry about the missing component in our advancement: about the Creator! We may not immediately succeed and at first we will have the feeling that we lack something to maintain our unity. Indeed, we always start with the revelation of our breaking. But the Creator must be at the beginning and at the end of any action, and in its every moment.

He should connect us like the force of guarantee, the correcting force, the example that we want to see before us, the reference system. I see Him in all the friends and inside the raspberry ball: the point of our unity. I understand that it is He who realizes our connection and unity. I see only Him-Him-Him!

In essence, what do we work with friends for? We work together on the revelation of the Creator between us! He is the most important, honorable guest, we wait for Him, getting ready for His arrival! We prepare such a connection between ourselves, such expectation and hopes so He will come!
[124660]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/14, Lesson on the Topic: “9 Steps”

Related Material:
The Important Link In The Chain
The Responsibility We Feel For One Another
I Want To Go On!

Filed under: Conventions, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We need patience and time in order to understand the concept of integral education. We began to talk about it three years ago and during that time some people have left us, others still don’t understand it, and there are those who don’t want to hear or know anything about it. We hardly hear what it is about. I hope that at least during the month we have left before the convention I will be able to break this resistance.

It is the “iron wall” that Baal HaSulam speaks of! The wisdom of Kabbalah is integral education, but we don’t want to accept that. People express their objection to the idea of integral education and leave the groups and cannot understand our work with the public. This is natural, since we are fighting against the main egoistic principle of the whole world.

So give us time to advance a little. Let’s hope that there will be a breakthrough in a month and the idea that the change depends only on mutual guarantee will be imprinted in everyone. This is what we are discussing now: The means for spiritual change is mutual guarantee. Do you want this change? Go ahead. But I warn you that if this is what you are coming for, bring money—a banknote of mutual guarantee. If your banknote is valuable in terms of mutual guarantee, you will receive everything.
[124329]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/13, Lesson on the Topic: Preparation for the Convention

Related Material:
Integral Education And Information – This Is A Continuation Of Kabbalah
Mutual Guarantee Of A Good Mood
The Same Method But A Different Approach

Filed under: Conventions, Dissemination, Education, Group Work, Integral Upbringing, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →