Question: How do we learn to attract the Light to correct us?

Answer: The difference between our state and the spiritual degrees is that even while living in a lie, in egoism, we can attract Light towards us from there. You cannot do this on a spiritual degree because everything obeys simple laws there: You are already inside the system and you receive only what you are entitled to according to your place and state.

But we get concessions in our world. And even though we think that it is cruel to us, it is very gentle with us. In it, we are like infants, who can scream and falsely demand things that they are not entitled to, and receive them even though it is a lie.

This is the entire meaning of existence of our world. I do not wish to connect with my friends when I am in my normal, regular egoism. But I hug them, sit with them, I try to connect and attain unity. And even though all of this is built on absolute egoism and there is nothing here but it, it is like child’s play in a sand box or with Legos, which he uses to learn. As a result of my efforts, I suddenly acquire a mind, proper perception, and sensation, I begin to grow, I acquire a certain understanding and definitions.

But mainly, my games become much closer to reality, and little by little, I learn to connect with others, cancel myself out, yield, study, read primary sources, and attract Light. And then I suddenly begin to feel the importance of bestowal and I believe that there is really something in it.

The external world is also helping us in this with its crisis and suffering because it is already hard to envy when you see the state that regular egoists of this world are in. This world is really a find for us. All the other degrees already are a system; only this world is a unique place. This is why the entire freedom of choice is revealed specifically on this lowest degree. Our work lies in always making this choice in the dark.

And then we will have another job: analyzing the quality of connection, when we constantly are raising our spiritual “qualifications,” adding details as we are revealing the wealth of the manifestation of the King, His revelation. But no one will give us concessions any more, as it is now.

This is why this period of preparation is so long, exhausting, and just drags on, because later we will use the entire degree of this world for the rest of the ladder. This is exactly why we can correct the entire 125 degrees only by living in this world. And even on the very last degree, I must first feel like I am in my lowest state possible, the state of a “market merchant.”

I am not speaking about the physical world, a certain special reality, which is becoming established in my brain. I must feel like I am completely separated from others in it, but at the same time attract Light with different, false efforts to connect.

And I will also need this corporeal degree, even when on high degrees in the World of Atzilut. Without it I will not be able to correct the actual point of creation, “created out of nothing” (Yesh Mi Ain). It is impossible to unite with the Creator without adding to every degree from the separation you have experienced between this world and all the worlds.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The mere fact that a person studies according to the method of the integral education changes him in such a way that his paradigm and his feelings change the world he lives in, and he feels the world as a totally different place. We can say that by creating an imaginary world for a person, we change his natural, psychological, internal parameters. On the whole, today we develop in an absolutely beastly manner and we see that we can’t go on existing this way. This means that we can change the world only by our perception, and this is what we are doing.

Here we already begin to feel that a real, deep internal change is taking place in a person, and we can see how he changes internally and the whole world becomes different. Life is basically a feeling of something that doesn’t really exist; it’s simply how you feel it.

So we have to constantly perform very serious psychological work, in workshops, making acquaintances, in our feelings, in the definitions: What does reality mean, relatively and objectively, what is society, who am I, and what is the status that we should hold on to since everything is constantly changing and is very vague? Suddenly the world and I become something that is indefinite, dependent, and where you can lead a person in every direction that you want: Where will we be?

We must have this feeling because on the one hand it relates to the options a person has. On the other hand, these feelings should be free, and a person must feel that he can change the world and himself and tie himself to others. Others will also perceive this world that is actually a tiny image that froze in our imagination, in our impression, and can be changed.

The main thing is to depict the right picture for a person and what it should be: a full exit from himself outwards and the feeling of the only force of nature, which is the force of bestowal and love, of goodness and mutual cooperation. When we stabilize this image, this feeling, in a person’s mind and the society supports it, we begin to change fearlessly, and there will actually be an internal transition from the egoistic perception of reality (into me), to the external perception (from me).
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From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12</span

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Shamati #8: “What Is the Difference Between A Shade of Kedusha and A Shade of Sitra Achra”: It is written (Song of Songs, 2), “Until the day breathes, and the shadows flee away.” We must understand what are shadows in the work. The thing is that when one does not feel His Providence, that He leads the world in a manner of “Good that doeth good”…

The Creator’s governance is absolutely good. This is the attainment we have to reach. The Creator is unchanging and we are not waiting for Him to change in any way. It is written, “I did not change Myself.” One who is eternally good and does good cannot become different. He is absolute and His bestowal is constant. The upper Light is at absolute rest and fills everything.

However, we reveal the One who is good and does good by changing our perception so that we go from negative infinity, from a reality that appears worse than death, to positive infinity, the greatest good, and then regardless of our own sensations, above them, to feel that everything is good. That is the kind of screen (Masach) and perception that we must acquire.

In the egoistic desire we will feel the worst possible states, which we cannot even imagine, and still, above our desires we will correct ourselves so as to understand and to feel that this is the best possible thing. That is the kind of difference that must open up between our sensations within the desire and what we will reveal consciously.

The Creator does not change. He just constantly sends us states that become more difficult and unpleasant, both for the animate body and for the soul, so that above them we would form the opposite perception, permeated with bestowal and love. By carrying out bestowal, precisely above all of the heaviness I reveal the Creator’s good will and come to identify myself with Him.

Thus, a person reveals spiritual life only on the background of difficult and bad circumstances. Otherwise he can’t tear away from our world and enter spirituality.

Today this process is taking on global proportions. That’s because until now we developed in regular egoism – first linearly, and over the last 200 years, exponentially. However, egoism still did not connect us with one another into a global, integral whole. But today the whole world is a group – one that is disconnected, broken, and in need of correction.

This group divides into two parts:
– The “99 percent,” which becomes more and more interconnected and interdependent with each passing day, and more constrained in their lives. This is expressed differently everywhere, and the tendency itself emerged only recently, yet it is developing at a high rate.
– The group within this society, being the “one percent.” The inner group is differentiated by its desire to attain the secret of development: why does it occur and for what purpose? What is happening to us? What is the reason for the current process? How can we control it, or at least go along with it?

That is where we come to the notion of a “shadow,” which makes a person’s life difficult and hurls upon him as a burden that becomes more and more heavy, depriving him of interest in the usual pleasures. Likewise, a person wishing to advance spiritually feels heaviness in his understanding and consciousness and has a difficult time remembering the importance of the path and the goal. All of this happens so we would understand that we have to take the reins into our own hands, and that all the difficulties are evoked by the evil inclination, which the Creator made. The upper Light constantly brings us new problems and greater heaviness so we would see the “shadow” in this and ascend above it.

The thing is that when one does not feel His Providence, that He leads the world in a manner of “Good that doeth good,” it is regarded as a shadow that hides the sun. In other words, as the corporeal shadow that hides the sun does not change the sun in any way, and the sun shines in its fullest power, so one who does not feel the existence of His Providence does not induce any change Above.

The Creator’s attitude to us remains the same, absolutely kind, and it is only our sensation that undergoes a change so we would rise above doubts and questions, continually accepting the Creator’s governance as 100% goodness. When we complete one ascent, we are sent a greater shadow, meaning greater heaviness, confusion, doubts, and thorns among friends. But no matter what the Creator arranges between us, we must collect ourselves and understand that everything comes from Him. There is no one besides Him. And therefore, at every moment we have to realize His goodness.

If we do not complete the current moment with the sensation of the One who is good and does good, then we do not advance since we did not overcome the current degree yet. Therefore, in every state we must first experience bad sensations, confusion, and lack of energy to come to the lesson, a loss of interest in the path and in unifying in the group. This happens constantly, and if we do not concentrate at every moment, then the focus immediately disappears. That’s because our egoistic desire works non-stop, like a counter with wheels that are always moving. It constantly “thickens” our desire so we sink deeper into the life of our world.

As a result, if we do not support the connection, if we do not help one another, if we do not “cling on with our nails,” then we disperse in every direction. The groups falls apart and suddenly we cannot find anything from its foundations. That is the meaning of “shadow” – freedom from past obligations, lack of sensitivity, which suddenly seeps through between us like a thick fog, immersing everything into darkness. This shadow conceals the goal from us, the importance of unification and the spiritual path.

In the end, all shadows – external and internal, private and general, come in order for us to make efforts, to work in spite of them and above them to reveal involvement, unification, connection, and eventually – the Creator, the One who is good and does good. Even if we do not clearly see the Creator and His governance, yet by means of an analysis with our feelings and mind we will nevertheless reach this sensation. This is the completion of the current level where we correct the evil inclination, which the Creator gave to us.

The evil inclination surfaces only between people who want to unite, who intend to correct the breaking. It does not become revealed to the masses, the “99 percent.” They do not have the evil inclination. They are not planning to unite with one another in order to correct the spiritual breaking. Only we go through this correction, attaching them to us.
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From the lesson in Brazil on 5/3/12, Shamati #8

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If I could peep out of my small envelope and see where I am in this global world, how I treat all of humanity, which as one soul goes through different changes, by approaching its perfect state, I would perceive my life a little differently. I wouldn’t look at my personal life, at a life that is as small as an ant’s life, that shouldn’t be taken into account at all.

If you are included in the great global process together with others, you will feel that you are in the infinite flow of life. In the meantime we should learn what to do in order to feel the eternity of nature and to be included in it. Then from this height you will be able to solve all your personal problems.

But if we try to fix them on the ordinary corporeal level, we will not be able to solve anything. The evidence for that are all the futile attempts to correct the current situation taken by governments. There is no other means to correct our personal state, except for integral education and upbringing.

Therefore, a woman who feels miserable today since she couldn’t find a partner with whom to build a family and have children should understand that this is how nature wants to compel her to be included in the whole world as a woman.

As a result of being included in the world, which is the result of the integral education, she begins to understand the connections she should have with others. She begins to feel how good this connection in mutuality with the whole world is.

Then she will meet the right man and they will begin to learn how they can support one another mutually, in order to rise to the spiritual level and to become one, although they can still be different and stay each in their own ego.

The moment the personal perception changes, everything will immediately work out. They will want to be more strongly connected and to have children, so that the mutual connection can be implemented spiritually. This spirit will oblige them to build a family.
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From a “Talk About a New Life” #19, 2/02/12

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It’s said: “Every action leaves a mark.” Our advancement happens due to the Returning Light. It impacts us to the degree to which our desires are ready to accept It. Thus, their structure is gradually clarified.

The structure of a desire that is equivalent to the Light is in fact a connection through which we eventually start sensing the Light. It’s a permanent construction that constantly expands. Together it includes four (4) stages of HaVaYaH; that’s why it’s called the “revelation of the Creator’s names.” Numerous combinations of desires denote qualities of the Light. Within our desires we perceive the Light as if we’ve placed a screen before It; that is how we recognize what the Light is.

If we look through the tinted glass, we see that the Light acquires the color of the glass. This is how we get to know that the Light can have various colors. We need special tools to discover a new phenomenon. We also have to use additional remedies that will allow us to determine some qualities that are a part of the phenomenon that was just discovered.

This is what our work is about. The difference between regular scientific research and spiritual practice is that material scientific exploration involves using an external device, whereas in the spiritual search we use ourselves as a tool. We alter ourselves and try to apply the actions of creation to us to the extent of the level we have attained.

We do not develop our old properties, but rather reveal new ones; that’s why our work is called “spiritual.” Our effort should be oriented towards forming new properties that are similar to the Creator’s qualities; this is how we reveal His personality.

In the material realm, we tend to acquire practical knowledge about what’s going on around us and who we are. For that purpose we widen our existing natural characteristics through the development of science and technological progress. This is a basic difference: When we achieve a final stage of development on this plane, we will eventually see that we haven’t gotten anywhere. Moreover, we see that we have reached a dead-end. Our growth led us only to enormous egoism; we managed to reveal our evil nature to the extent that it became unbearable.

We have fallen to the very bottom of jealousy, ambition, hatred, and all sorts of evil conditions that we go through in relation to our neighbors. Previously, we at least had the illusion that we would get kinder and build a better society for everybody. At this time, we see that only fear of punishment stops us from using others selfishly and unsparingly.

The difference is that while working spiritually, we discover new properties, thus we get closer to the Creator; whereas when we work materialistically, we only get to explore the tangible nature of this realm. However, at this material plane, as well as during our elevation from here to the Creator, we still go through the same four stages of HaVaYaH, as it is said “I, HaVaYaH, do not change Myself.” This is why every action of ours brings us closer to the goal.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/12, Shamati #190

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We’ve always believed that the love of friends, the group, and dissemination are kids’ games, that we are obliged to deal with them. Many of us still think: “This is about the upper world, while we have to deal with some sort of dissemination. Why should I offer this to people? What do I need this for?”

But gradually, under the influence of the upper Light, in our consciousness, the recognition of what is happening changes in us. Only after several years does a person begin to understand that the implementation of the method is fulfilled only in his connection with others, that the spiritual world isn’t somewhere over the ocean, or somewhere else, but that it is here. You just have to change yourself and your internal perception—now you want everything for yourself, but you have to reach the opposite state, to exit yourself, and instead of inward, aim outward.

The recognition that everything depends on your internal attitude towards the world is a very meaningful change over. It really takes the Light a long time to influence us.

Every lesson, every addition, is another tiny portion of the Surrounding Light that influences us from a distance bringing us closer.

There are great changes taking place all the time. But there are so many that it takes several years.

In the past it took many years, let’s say 20 years. Today it can be limited to several years. It may very well be that when the masses reach it, even by just a little, by yearning and making efforts in this direction, it will take less time.

Still it is a changeover in consciousness, in our recognition, since you don’t think in terms of time and distance any more as if the upper world is somewhere far away. You already understand that it is here, and it is simply your attitude towards it and the way you think that create it.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations Of The Integral Society” 4/08/12

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Question: Considering the fact that everyone lives in different time zones and everyone has different time constraints, is there a possibility for a certain platform to exist one day, where there will always be a seminar going on so people could connect to it when it is convenient for them? Or does a seminar need to begin and end within a certain framework?

Answer: I think that all this can be saved on some kind of a storage medium, and people can enter through the Internet and study in any form convenient to them: alone or as a group.

Of course it is best to study as a group. It is best to study when you are free from any disturbances, etc. But in general, it does not matter. You are gradually entering a virtual force, which you are not yet able to perceive. This work is psychological.

Baal HaSulam writes that this is the continuation of materialistic psychology, but this psychology is of our next level of development, which works with desires and intentions, the things that our corporeal psychology also works with. There is nothing mysterious or mystical about this. We must develop these qualities in us! And nothing else.

There are many people in the world, for example the Bedouins in Israel, who can feel nature very well and are able to tell what is happening 50-100 kilometers from them by reading the tiniest signs; they do not even know how they do it. They feel the Earth, or can tell what is happening in the world according to the behavior of an animal.

We once possessed these feelings too. But they have simply disappeared in us since we have stopped using them. And now we are developing new senses. When you start attending a music school, you gradually develop pitch, musical memory, etc. If you do not develop these things, you remain an amateur. You can develop anything.

Basically, this rudimentary organ exists in us. We simply must develop it. And Kabbalah tells us how to develop the perception of the upper force. We were developing normally in our world, while we did not need it. But now we have reached a state when we do not see a solution without it. We must reveal it.

Imagine when the entire program of nature, all the knowledge, all the qualities, everything passes through you, and you see and feel all of this—then what kind of problems or crises could there be?! Instead of seeing all this as disturbances, you see it as help, birthing contractions, which help you to be born. You are being pushed to the next level. This is what I see in the world instead of a crisis.

And once the people see it, they will go forward with joy and gratitude!
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From the Vlinius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 2

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Man, by nature, doesn’t want to simply live out his life but wants to understand it: What drives him, through what program, and to what purpose does it lead? And this is why he studies life, or in other words, studies Nature.

I dwell in the world and am exposed to the influence of various factors. However, how I am being governed is unknown to me. A little child is driven by internal impulses, and we can clearly see how the innate nature brings him into motion. But in adults this is less apparent

The thing is that you can only research something if you’re at least one step above it. Then it’s as if I “absorb” the object of investigation into myself, perform an analysis and synthesis, and draw conclusions. This is possible because my rational and emotional perception is higher than the object of my study.

But what if I’m inside Nature, which works on me and is the source of my thoughts and desires? In this case I don’t know what will happen to me in the next moment, how my life will unfold, what will happen with the world in which I depend on everyone. There is information here that I cannot bring into my reason, into my sensation.

How can I keep all this under control? After all, I’m totally confused; I’m not drawing from life all the good that could be extracted. We see this firsthand in humanity, which doesn’t know why it lives, how, or for what. Even prominent, intelligent people ultimately end up following along their own rut.

Thus, we can only truly examine our life on the condition that we’ll be above it. But how can this be done? Here we need some means of ascent above our nature. Then, while still remaining as me, I will, at the same time, look at myself from above, from the side of universal Nature, from that realm where all the thoughts and desires are generated.

There are such people in the world who truly feel what will happen tomorrow or even in a few years. Today, scientists are also acknowledging the presence of a certain informational layer in our reality. Within it, the fates of each of us and of the world as a whole are laid down, the entire program by which we develop. However, we’re unable to establish a connection with it on our own, and this is why even the immediate future is unknown to us. And most importantly, we don’t know how to act correctly today in order to secure this future.

In past generations, we weren’t particularly drawn to knowing the “program layer.” Life wasn’t so complicated and confusing yet, so it was quite sufficient for us as it was. It is written: For with much wisdom comes much sorrow….” Today, however, by turning a blind eye to what is happening, we don’t temper our suffering, but on the contrary, we strengthen it. I have a problem: I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and the day after, how to behave so that everything would go right—and yet, knowing this is absolutely necessary in our days.

The course of development has brought us to this stage at which we must reveal the program of life. Without it, we’re facing the threat of dangers and a lot of suffering. And anyway, we have sufficiently matured and developed to such an extent that this question gnaws at us and calls for our intervention in the program. In the end, we’re simply obligated to reveal all of Nature, ascending towards the informational layer integrated within it. Only then will we make decisions and deal with problems according to the acquired knowledge and we’ll secure a good continuation of the path.
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From the Lecture in Colombia 4/29/12, “Group and Spiritual Development”

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When we look at this world, we don’t understand the connection between us and the spiritual world. In other words, we don’t understand the connection between the situation we are in now and the real state in which we are in connection and adhesion with the upper force. It all depends on the right definitions, which means our correct interpretation of what we are feeling in our hearts and what we understand in our minds, and in understanding the reality we are in.

If we imagine our reality correctly and constantly try to develop it and to stabilize it as much as we can, to build it and to carefully correct as much as we understand, our work will be more persistent and we will gradually advance in one direction.

This work includes many elements, which eventually make up one state. At the moment they seem to be unrelated to each other, very distant from one another. How can we see the connection between the perception of reality and the love of others? How can we connect our study of the wisdom of Kabbalah with the group? How can we tie the correction of this world with our ascent up the spiritual ladder?

These things seem very different. A person assumes that if they are connected in some way, then it is an indirect connection. So all our work is to stabilize the right picture inside us.

First we have to discover that the current perception of reality is wrong and to see that it is flawed, contrary to, and the opposite of the actual reality and to constantly try to correct and to improve it. This is how a person can see that the two descriptions can coexist in him: the real image of reality and the feeling of this world.

Of course it involves a duality and double vision, but gradually a person gets used to it. This evokes him to change and to improve himself so that the two images will connect and intersect as in a gun sight, and will make up one picture.

This is how we have to work. It isn’t simple because we cannot imagine the spiritual world that is totally made of forces. We are not physical bodies either, but a force or an attribute, or a desire and a mind, qualities and essences.

But we have to at least imagine it within a force field, waves, and directions of a force that are aimed from one end to another. This description, however, is also incorrect, because the spiritual world is made only from qualities and not from physical forces that we imagine. But this will at least be an advanced perception.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What exactly is our work in unity?

Answer: I have to yearn for a connection with the text that we study, to want that everything it says to be fulfilled in my connection with the general vessel, with the whole desire. I want to discover all the phenomena The Zohar talks about in my connection with the group.

The Zohar talks about the still, vegetative, and animate levels of the desire, nothing more. So there, it speaks about the sages, land, trees, animals, and donkeys—everything applies to the four phases of desire. We shouldn’t be distracted from this internal meaning and imagine an external picture.

Even if it “diverts” us, we have to hold on to the internality as hard as we can, and we always keep this struggle inside us with mixed success. The main thing is to try, which means that you are performing corrections and raising the internality over the externality, raising it higher and higher.

These are the greatest corrections, which only we can perform as the lowest level of the system. Until now no one could do that, not even the great Kabbalists of the past. We, in our generation, perform this most important work by raising the internality over the externality at the base of the system.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, The Zohar

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