Question: When something bad happens to me, let’s suppose that my car breaks down, I say that it comes from the Creator. When something good happens, for example, I came to a convention, I also say it is from the Creator. However, between these bad and good states, there is an ordinary, neutral life that I cannot link with the Creator. How can I see that the Creator is in everything, always and everywhere?

Answer: When we are experiencing intense feelings, no matter whether they are bad or good, then, of course, we can begin to more easily connect ourselves, our good or bad states, with the Creator.

Of course, we always are yearning for what is good. However, in general, we must seek the state in which we are closer to the Creator, and how we feel, good or bad, should not matter. As a rule, the Creator awakens us when we are in bad states, and then we demand Him.

It is very difficult for us to be in neutral states! I am inclined to lie down on a sofa. I stare up to the ceiling, and do not want to think or do anything. I am overcome by despair and emptiness, and there could be many such minutes, hours, and days.

Only the group can help us and give us a good shake. In principle, this is the work in dissemination and responsibilities in the group.

Just think. If a man did not get married, did not have children, and were not responsible for his family, children, and home, he would just lie on a sofa. This is a man’s nature, his normal condition. So first, there is a need for a woman who will get him going, saying “Get to work! I have children to feed and expenses to keep up with,” and a man feels responsibility. Secondly, life, itself, forces him.

Learn from life! What should we do to make it force us to work in the group and actively participate in it, because, based on all this, we would develop a desire for further activities. We need to be organized.

What would you do if the entire group were in a descent? Let’s suppose that you have a small group of five to ten people, and everyone is in the same state. Who can raise them up if there is no other group around, if there is no connection with them, not even one? Even if the group members have some dissemination responsibilities, they would always find an excuse, saying “I am sick” or “Let’s do it later.” That is to say, we must be connected.

As it is written, “the prisoner cannot free himself from prison.” Only others can. So, you can get out of neutral states only with the help of others.

Take this into account and establish connections between each other. Organize a good European team to make a constant survey on what is going on in every group, how it is acting, how it is working, what plans the group has, and so on.

Create a website for a united European group. Based on this, you will see how quickly you develop. This is the only problem! One group, even the best one, cannot do anything and advance.

If, today, the Creator has already given us this global framework, we must be connected with everyone. That is why I ask all the world groups to make our unity worldwide. Then, we will make a huge leap forward. This is the only thing we lack to reveal the Creator.

Our neutral states should teach us that we must stop this. We need all the parts of the world Kli (vessel) to be ready to help you always and get you out of these states.
[103672]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Question: When something happens in a group, the group attempts to solve its particular problems by itself instead of turning to other groups and screaming, “Help us!” Does someone need to suggest turning to get help or does the entire group need to decide that we really do have a problem and the time has come to scream so that they will hear us?

Answer: In our group in Israel, the same thing happens. I feel that when one friend or another falls, wait a day or two to see if the others respond to this or not. If not, I suggest they tell all the others. That is, there must be constant examination and there is no getting around it.

And the group has no right to remain silent in circumstances like these since this would be harmful to all the rest.

I shouldn’t hide my non-participation in something, my detachment from the spiritual path, from the search, from the tension, from the progress forward. I cannot be silent about this because in doing so I will cause people to fail.

It is like a group of soldiers who go out on an offensive and suddenly one of them is not ready to move forward. Others are depending on him. What will happen if he doesn’t carry out his mission? They will all be killed; nothing will succeed. Therefore, in order not to undermine the group, he must tell them that there is something that is not okay with him, perhaps that his leg or his hand is not working correctly.

Also, if an entire group falls, this undermines other groups. We cannot think only about ourselves. If we think like this, we are saying that mutual guarantee doesn’t exist, that there is no mutual obligation. So, in general, there will be nothing! Think well about this.
[103865]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Question: In the time between the Arava convention and the European convention, the friends in the group worked very hard and on the whole have experienced many descents. What can we do so that the friends won’t “fall?”

Answer: We need only one thing to help the friends not to “fall”: to strengthen the connection with the Creator; the friends from other groups should remind you about this. When a group works correctly, it becomes one whole. An individual, however, cannot do anything. So, there are many groups that have to help one another. Only in the connection between them will the Creator be revealed.

Groups should work as a single organism, just like a body operates. Can the kidneys, the heart, the lungs, and other bodily organs be healthy if there is no communication between them? It can’t happen! There must also be an organ that manages all the activities just like in a body the brain (Brain) does.

It operates all the groups and they give it “feedback.” Thus there is a constant cyclic mutual activity of all the organs.

If the body’s activity is not circulating, there is no balance between the organs, and then the body is ill. Even if all the organs are healthy and only one part is ill, it will lead to the imbalance of the whole body. Therefore, there must be a mutual connection.

We have already reached this point. Now in order to connect and to advance correctly without any obstacles, everyone has to be connected, and we need the mutual interconnected support of all the groups, one system of studying and disseminating.
[103804]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Question: Can we measure the desire of the group?

Answer: Yes, if it’s really a group, meaning that it has a formed system in which you see the ten Sefirot. After all, a real group is something that exists on its own, a spiritual mechanism, a spiritual structure, a spiritual body.

Question: What stands between us and such a group now?

Answer: A lack of connection. We need to establish a correct relationship between us that is infused with dedication, unity, and support. We need to feel that there is no alternative, that this is our duty; otherwise, we will not achieve the property of bestowal and will not bring contentment to the Creator through the friends and teacher. We will not advance without connection, we will not be able to save the world, and will not be able to delight the Creator.

Moreover, without strengthening our mutual connection, we bring damage, like someone who drills a hole in a common boat. Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace,” that society punishes theft, but if a person does not add his efforts, there is no punishment. Meanwhile, he who “prays,” does so for himself and he damages society. After all, the real prayer can be produced only by a community of people who want to bring contentment to the Creator by mutual bestowal.

Alone, none of us is capable because I do not have that “place,” that desire, from which I could address Him. There is no Creator without the unity of created beings who want to mutually bestow upon each other, thus giving Him a “place” to be revealed between them and to enjoy. Once and for all I have to understand that I have no “place” to be filled, no force that will help me to bestow; there is nothing. Everything is only in the connection between us.
[102759]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/3/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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In the News (from DailyMail):“Being a volunteer is good for the heart as well as the soul, claim researchers.

“A new study shows even at a young age, people who volunteer have healthier cardiovascular systems that could stave off heart disease.

“The study found improvements in several measurements of heart health among volunteers after just 10 weeks of taking part in community programmes. …

“The study involved 106 teenagers from an urban, inner-city Vancouver high school who were split into two groups – a group that volunteered regularly for 10 weeks and a group that was wait-listed for volunteer activities. …

“The researchers measured the students’ body mass index (BMI), inflammation levels – which affect heart health – and cholesterol scores before and after the study.

“They also assessed the students’ self-esteem, mental health, mood, and empathy, says a report published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics… .

“The volunteer group of students spent one hour per week working with elementary school children in after-school programs in their neighbourhood.

“After 10 weeks they had lower levels of inflammation and cholesterol and lower BMIs than the students who were wait-listed.”

My Comment: Since nature is interconnected, then nothing harmful can be in strengthening connections; on the contrary, it is only useful and promotes natural beauty.
[103020]

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Question: Does a combination of people in the integral circle form a new force, integrality, meaning people’s minds and feelings are combined together?

Answer: They are not simply combined together, but, rather, the mind and feelings are mutually complemented. Therefore, they form a new, physical, integral force. This is not just a sum, but rather, a sum of all common efforts to rise above oneself to connect with others; that is, it is a spiritual force.

Spiritual means “apart from egoism” because everyone must rise in order to begin connecting with others.

All our small efforts accumulate together. Then, from our connection, we begin to sense something new. It’s very good, kind, pleasant, and safe.

Let’s say that ten people sit in the circle. However, during the discussion, they form not just a combination of the ten people, but it’s multiplied by an infinite number. This is because, when I annul myself in order to connect with one and another one and a third one, and they, in turn, do the same, in this way, each of us receives the integral desire. Then, with this integral desire, we, again, “enter” one another in one experience, and, in this way, we form a multiplicity of multiplication. It is as if we pull ourselves by our hair from our world into the spiritual world.
[101930]
From KabTV’s program, “Professional Secrets,” 2/10/13

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Question: What allows the power of thought to help a person transcend his own nature? Why is the potential of the collective thought stronger than our nature?

Answer: We exist in nature on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and nothing more than that. Our desires are usually focused on food, sex, family, money, respect, domination, and knowledge. This is our nature.

On the other hand, I receive power from the environment that is on a higher level, on a spiritual level. If a collective thought dominates my environment, it will influence me by 100%.

Today we discover such phenomena: thoughts that wander around the world and pass from one person to another like viruses. They don’t simply “float in the air,” but are actually part of a connecting network that we don’t feel yet, although it ties us together very strongly.

Earlier, during the first stages of our evolution, the connection between us was weak and now its influence is revealed more strongly.

As a result, we now need electronic communication: cell phones, text messages, e-mails, video conferences, social networks… we haven’t quite penetrated the network, we haven’t actually reached it, but we already respond to its signals and are attracted to mutual communication. This is the root of modern technological communication.

Soon, however, we will leave all that since this network will prove its ineffectiveness. After all there is no point in external communication, in empty talk, “Hi, what’s up…” Our desire grows and the general network that connects us is increasingly revealed and at a certain point we will want higher quality communication. Then people will leave what they are so addicted to now. They will start to communicate only when they need to, and will give up all the “electronic babble” in search for a new channel that is above the ordinary discourse. They will yearn for an inner connection.

So if we influence each other correctly, we can already use the network between us now. After all, the souls are shattered with respect to themselves, but not in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), and that is what we yearn for. So what’s the problem? Malchut is concealed from us by many Masachim (screens), but that doesn’t mean that we are not in it. The more we awaken the general network, the more we can operate it.

This is what we do through mutual guarantee. Therefore we need it for our correction. It is as if we are asked, “Are you ready to use the network that connects all of us for the sake of bestowal in a clear, correct, and appropriate manner?” This approach is generally called “mutual guarantee.”

Today people are closer to the recognition of this network than ever before. They are close to participating in it actively and consciously, so that they can resemble the Creator. After all, the “Creator” is the surrounding network that is filled with the infinite connection; this is how the Creator is revealed to us.

If I want to discover this network in advance, I “awaken the dawn” by myself, by trying to add exertion and feeling an increasingly greater responsibility towards the world, towards all of reality, including the Creator. If I am not ready and do not aspire to advance, then the network that is revealed “catches” me by surprise. This is the difference between the “path of the Torah” and the “path of suffering.”

Generally speaking, this whole network—with the different types of connections, with all the Lights, and all the details of perception and all the stages of revelation—is called “Torah.” By our mutual guarantee we activate it and encourage a greater revelation and this affects everyone.
[102669]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Question: We had an exercise yesterday in which we tried to relate to everything as a “dialog with the Creator.” After all, He is the one who is sending us all these states and we have to respond to them correctly. How can we “grow stronger” in implementing this approach without settling for a couple of attempts a day? How can we deepen this insight so that it will run through our whole life?

Answer: A person cannot always evoke himself by himself. He needs an external “stimulus.” The best external stimulus is the group. This is why we speak about mutual guarantee.

In the framework of mutual guarantee it’s not enough to guard the other so that he won’t make a hole in the boat; it isn’t enough to guard the other so that he won’t have evil thoughts; in addition to that, we have to make sure that he has good thoughts. If we all keep the mutual connection and the common yearning for the goal, no one will have evil thoughts but only good thoughts.

Then, of course the evil thoughts will begin to awaken at a very rapid pace, but they will immediately fall onto the right ground: It will be clear to a person that it’s an interruption, “help against,” that is meant to evoke him and to tighten the connection with the friends and through them with the Creator. Then everyone will be able to easily process even millions of similar thoughts a day, and within a few days he will fulfill the whole level of this world.

Everyone worries about everyone else. Everyone is connected in one mission, in one common goal. I feel that I have to think about the goal for the sake of the others. I want everyone to yearn for it; I can’t leave the connection with the goal and with the Creator since if I do, I would betray my friends and would turn into a criminal, a cheat, a thief, who steals the spiritual world from others and who nullifies their exertion along the spiritual path. What’s more, I steal from the Creator; I deprive Him of pleasure since I hold the group back and don’t allow Him to give the friends what they yearn for. I am the one responsible for that.

This is what everyone should think. After all, there is no “little bit” in spirituality: If someone doesn’t work to the fullest, everyone suffers. So think carefully about what you do and about what worries you during the day.

Other than that, there are times when you admit, “Now I can’t think about the friends. I have to rest, take a nap, or be distracted by something else at least mentally.” These breaks are external to the adhesion to the group and the Creator and later you will not feel a need for them.

But in the meantime they are necessary, and so at a certain point you say to yourself, “I will take a break and rest from everyone.” You may fall into an “animal” state for half an hour or an hour, but you decide for how long; you decide not to think about what’s important for a while. Then you will feel the “foreign” thoughts about spirituality…
[102520]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/12/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Rabbi Akiva tells us about that, “All is in deposit.” This means that everything that God had placed in Creation and given to people, He did not give to them licentiously, but secured Himself with collateral. And should you wonder what collateral He was given?

He responds to that by saying: “and a fortress spreads over all of life.” This means that the Creator has cleverly devised a wonderful fortress and spread it over all of humanity, so no one will escape. All the living must be caught in that fortress and necessarily accept His work, until they attain their sublime goal. This is the collateral by which the Creator secured Himself, to guarantee that no harm would come to the deed of Creation.

“All is in deposit” means that whether I want to or not, I will have to pay my “debt” to the Creator. I was given life not because I asked for it and without my consent, and still I have to pay the debt. It doesn’t matter that I didn’t ask for it. If I received life, I have to pay for it, and I can only pay by attaining the goal of creation.

We see that the sufferings we have been through throughout history are gradually becoming more “spiritual” and “virtual,” and detached from reality. Today many people don’t want to live although they have everything. Once a person was happy if he had half a kilo of bread a day and was satisfied with that, but about fifty years ago the “shopping” era began. Today it is coming to an end and not because of a shortage of money but because people lack the desire to shop. This is the problem—the desire is changing. Even if you offer a person a million dollars, it will not spur him like before; he doesn’t want anything anymore.

This is the natural inclination of our evolution that brings us to ask about the meaning of life. So what is left of life if not food, shopping, and recreation? There is nothing else that we can enjoy. It isn’t by chance that football and all sorts of distractions other are being promoted so much these days. This is the policy: to provide people with “tranquilizers” and other nonsense to give them something to fill their inner emptiness with. Otherwise, they would express their rage in the streets instead of in the stadiums.

A person who feels empty asks himself more and more: “Why was I given a life that I didn’t ask for, why am I being forced to do something that I don’t want to?” Why? He feels as if his hands and feet are chained.

This is why we need integral education today. Thanks to it people will understand that everyone is connected and that we depend on one another and that by using this integral connection correctly, we will be able to solve all our problems.

Good relations are generally the key to our success in every aspect. We could have machines replace physical work in every field and provide everything we need. But we don’t want that since it isn’t clear what a person would enjoy then. Even now, most people already have everything they could imagine except for a deficiency. A person is absolutely full, so what’s next? He can either kill himself or start killing others otherwise he won’t feel any pleasure.

We enjoy only when pleasure fills a deficiency. But the pleasure immediately neutralizes itself. So how can we prevent this? We have to constantly renew the desire.

This is exactly what the world leaders tried to achieve by building a modern economy and inserting new desires into people and satisfying them. But this is impossible, since our corporeal desire is changing in quality and eventually doesn’t want anything on the previous level. To chase our own tail in order to buy a new washing machine and a new television every year and to change the wall paper…? How much longer can we take that? A person suddenly discovers that his desires are gone.

Thus a whole philosophy of evolution has come to an end. It wasn’t just a way of making money but a way of making people happy. At the top people thought about getting richer providing all the basic necessities and keeping them in a close circuit so that people would buy light bulbs that burn out after a short while, printers with an integrated chip that stops working after a while, and other low quality products. They continued to supply incentives so that people will feel it is worthwhile to work, to live, and to buy. They continued to renew the deficiencies since without a deficiency that receives pleasure, there is no feeling of happiness.

They were right about that. It was indeed a time of prosperity in the West. The Americans saw that their new philosophy justified itself and everyone followed them happily. But in the meantime the desire grew, not only in quantity but also in quality, so a person doesn’t need all that anymore. He doesn’t see any point in investing his whole life in that. In the past people bought things without any advertising, but today more than half the cost of a product is due to advertising costs. On the other hand, in countries that are more economically developed, depression, suicide, and drug abuse are becoming more prevalent.

So where are we headed? A person cannot go on living without feeling happy, excitement, and the “ecstasy” that is felt when the deficiency meets the pleasure. But they immediately neutralize one another if there is no Masach (screen) between them. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is about, the wisdom of how to receive correctly, since without a Masach, a person discovers only darkness.

If the decision makers were a bit wiser, they would accept that. But in the meantime, we are in the middle of the process, so in any case there is no other choice. The deficiency has to be in contact with the pleasure, but only if it doesn’t stop. Otherwise, it isn’t worth it. We are ready to renew only our animal deficiencies over and over again, but anything that is beyond that is questionable. So what we see on almost every TV channel today is mainly cooking programs or sex, because people are so narrow minded…

We hope that we will manage to explain the need for a Masach between the deficiency and the pleasure. Then the infinite pleasure will give us a feeling of eternal life.
[102338]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/13, “The Peace”

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In the News (from CNN): “Global warming has propelled Earth’s climate from one of its coldest decades since the last ice age to one of its hottest – in just one century.

“A heat spike like this has never happened before, at least not in the last 11,300 years, said climatologist Shaun Marcott, who worked on a new study on global temperatures going back that far.

“If any period in time had a sustained temperature change similar to what we have today, we would have certainly seen that in our record,” he said. It is a good indicator of just how fast man-made climate change has progressed.

“A century is a very short period of time for such a spike. …

“If not for man-made influences, the Earth would be in a very cold phase right now and getting even colder, according the joint study by Oregon State University and Harvard University. Marcott was the lead author of the report on its results.

“To boot, the range of temperatures from cold to hot produced since the industrial revolution began are about the same as the 11,000 years before it, said Candace Major from the National Science Foundation, ‘but this change has happened a lot more quickly.’

My Comment: The cause for all the changes is to encourage people to correct themselves. But a person arrives at this decision only when, after many misfortunes and sufferings, he finally becomes convinced that there is no other way—he has to change himself. How much and what kind of suffering we have to go through to accept this decision is unknown.

Everyone who understands the necessity of following the laws of nature, to become similar to it, and to become connected by the good ties of mutual guarantee should make every effort to disseminate the knowledge about it. By these actions we will definitely bring the correct decision closer and reduce suffering.
[102689]

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