Question: If the group has someone with an addiction and he has fallen from the general process, what efforts does it have to make in order to be in partnership with the Creator and to overcome our enemy, the ego?

Answer: The Creator doesn’t respond to a person’s individual requests. He actually does respond but not really in the person’s favor, since the person doesn’t give Him a chance to be revealed.

Suppose, I cry out now that I expect the Creator to be revealed to me. I have books and everything that I need! I lock myself in a room and begin to think, to shout, and to suffer.

Will the Creator be revealed to me? No. Why not? Where is the resistance that we build between us? Where is the enemy? He is gone. Where is the place in which He should be revealed?

The Creator should be revealed in the resistance, in the ego, in the fact that I cannot connect with the friends and ask for His help. Only then is He revealed!

But if I think about myself and only mumble: “Well, reveal Yourself to me,” then it will lead to nothing. Why should He reveal Himself?

“I want to rise to you…” what does it mean to rise to Him? It means to become equal to Him, to be close to Him in my attributes. What does it mean to be close to Him in my attributes? One unique and special. This means that the more we connect, the closer we are to Him, and so He is revealed in us.

There are seven billion people in the world. When we begin to rise, then in the next level we will feel that we are like one billion and then like one million, and then as one hundred people, and finally as one. This is the ladder upon which we ascend to the Creator.

But if I cry out: “Raise me, reveal Yourself to me!” Then, how can He reveal Himself? There is nothing in you; you are but a point. Only our world can be felt in a point.

Today, His condition is that you can succeed only if you begin to connect and at the same time worry about the whole world. See what a crisis He has put the world into. This is what Baal HaSulam writes about. Only by thinking about the whole world do we gradually begin to rise.

On every level humanity will feel that it is becoming smaller, more compact, and its members will feel closer to one another like in a group, until we all become one. Only when we become one, will we be equal to the Creator.

So we have no other choice but to start connecting in order to reveal Him and to see that we cannot do it by ourselves,

How many times have we read the passage from The Zohar about Rabbi Shimon’s students who were great sages and were on the level of Arich Anpin of Atzilut, the highest level of attainment, which is the revelation of the Creator, the feeling of the upper world. See how they hated one another so intensely that they were ready to kill each other when they started writing The Book of Zohar.

We have to reach such states in which we demand that the Creator be present so that He will connect us. But the relations between us are cold: I don’t really feel like it; I am in a bad mood… we haven’t even reached the feeling of hatred yet.
[103862]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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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: What does “revelation of the Creator” mean?

Answer: The Creator (Bore) means: “Come and see” (Bo-re) which means revelation.

How can we approach Him? We can do it solely through convergence. Let’s say, we have ten different people. If we gradually build one man out of all of them (as one man with one heart), we come to a point when we become one whole. Then, we reveal the Creator; “Re” stands for “revelation.”

In other words, the Creator discloses Himself in one general Kli (vessel), in His new property. We are the ones who “create” the Creator. We are the ones who “build” Him out of ten, twenty, a thousand different points. It doesn’t really matter how many points are involved in one joint whole.

Let’s say, there is a structure that consists of forty people; this structure is called “as one.” It is the Creator. In other words, by uniting a multiplicity into “one,” it gives us a sensation of the Creator. We feel the Creator only in this form, that’s why He is called “Bo-Re.”

We can feel it only inside our properties. Currently, we sense the world within our egoistic qualities. However, if we manage to change our isolated, shattered, and destroyed qualities and make them integral and united, we’d be able to sense “the Integral,” the unity, which is called “the Creator.”

Question: Do we disclose the Creator to the 99%?

Answer: We reveal the Creator in order to please everybody who is outside us. The Creator can be discovered only in the property of bestowal, that’s why we work to enhance connections among us and boost the importance of our unity by making it higher than our egoism.

When we rise above and exit outside ourselves, we unite into one common spiritual body that is named a “Partzuf.”

This is the exact place where we reveal the unity that is called “the Creator.”
[103502]
From the European Convention 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: It’s already absolutely clear to us that there is the Creator behind a friend’s spiritual desire. But that thought constantly escapes to the side. You think, “I give and give, when am I going to get something out of this?” On the other hand, the game is rigged, and all the states were prearranged: the taking of Moses out of the river, Nachshon leaping into the water, the taking of the last stone from the Tower of Babel…Apparently there is some kind of leverage that makes it possible for us to be accommodated to a state. You once said that it’s possible to learn for years and make an effort to connect, but there is luck to everything. What is “luck” in spirituality and how does one get it?

Answer: Luck comes to a person on condition that he is ready to participate in the “game.” It’s as if I go to a casino, and there on zero, on the red…I don’t give up, I believe in luck and really insist: luck must come. I involve my associates, friends, and my teacher, that they will direct us more precisely. We must include the wise Kabbalists who have brought us to this path. They already ran the game well, correctly, sensibly, and effectively. In addition, we involve the Creator: If we do everything right, then we can receive help from Him and get a “good luck sign” from Him. It be reached only in this way.

Our luck is that we were already chosen for a special role: to lead the world to correction. If we accept this “card” and are ready to play it, we already have something in our hand. On the other hand, we must also take the second “card,” meaning the group and the teacher, with whom together we arrange the general rules of the game.

And if we organize everything correctly, then we have someone to play with, with the upper force, with the Creator. And then luck comes: The upper Light “drips” on us in drops. It doesn’t flow, rather it drips, and even though these drops descend intermittently, ultimately they correct and connect us, shape us in a form such that the Creator will be revealed among us.

This is called “luck.” To be lucky means to be ready to work, receiving the drops of Light and not being desperate in the intervals between them, being in a negative and a positive state, in the dark and in the Light, and correcting ourselves so that the trickle of “luck” will become a strong current.

Here everything depends on desires, on our Kelim. “Luck” comes to person if he is ready to accept these drops without complaint and to continue on the path, while the interruptions between have not let them become “mighty waters.” Not everyone is ready to stand in this. Someone who is ready, he has “luck”…

Question: In other words, not everyone is able to nullify himself?

Answer: Indeed, not everyone. As it is written, “A thousand enter a room, and one comes out to teach.” As is understood, this is not talking about one person in a thousand. Generally, attaining the method is already a big step forward. In the words of Baal HaSulam, even if people come in contact with the method even once, their reward is very great, and they are raised and separated from the rest of humanity.

And in spite of all this, many fall on the way. Upon what does this depend? On that same “luck”…

Question: But everything that is in me is formed by the Creator. Where is the turning point, where the one who is working is not Him, rather it’s me?

Answer: The turning point is in this: The person needs to pass from his relationship to the Creator and the studies, from himself to his friends. This is the point. If he is prepared to bend himself, and not be broken, if he is ready to persist and not abandon the path while discovering true hatred, then he attains great changes.

In general people break at this point: They are ready for everything, except to nullify themselves towards the friends. Calculations begin, excuses: family, children, daily life, spiritual pride…in brief there are many problems, but this is precisely the test, the Creator can’t help here.

One way or another, the result is not known from the start, the fate of the person is not recorded from the start. Will he be ready to bend himself? It’s necessary to work to be absolutely nullified to the teacher and the group. It’s specifically here that “luck” is needed…
[103748]
From the Talk during a Festive Meal 3/27/13

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Question: As a rule, the people of Israel were hated and expelled from various countries. However it’s the contrary in Egypt, the people of Israel seemed to be pulled into it.

Answer: We were driven from country to country as long as we didn’t have the desire to exit egoism. After all, we get free only when we want to get out of it in order to unite. That’s why during the entire period of exile, we just collected, added, and accumulated misery and misfortunes.

Today we have reached such a state that we just must realize ourselves, meaning to unite. This is the action that is necessary for the ascent above egoism. Then we will come to freedom, to the land of Israel. Today, we can’t imagine the state where you don’t depend on anyone, are not afraid of anyone, nothing oppresses you, and you feel freedom in the full sense of the word.
[103823]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: There is a resemblance between Moses and the state of the Israeli nation today. Moses doesn’t feel secure with regard to the Israeli nation or to Pharaoh, although he is in contact with the Creator. The current state of the Israeli nation is also quite insecure.

Answer: It doesn’t matter. If there is a specific direction, if we understand that we have no choice, then despite the conditions that force us to escape from Egypt and to jump into the Red Sea, we do what we have to do.

Question: But you say that the modern Israeli nation doesn’t feel that it’s in Egypt. Perhaps a certain force should appear or someone who can explain things and start this process?

Answer: This is exactly what we are trying to do. Our group, our organization, wants to show the whole nation of Israel that there is a way to be saved. Let’s change our life! After all, things are constantly getting worse; the world is becoming more and more hostile, and the Israeli society is disintegrated and divided. Our security is in an increasingly growing danger.

But the blows that we feel don’t come upon the “nation of Israel,” but upon “Egypt,” upon our ego, since we don’t want to exit it. Israel in us, the desire to bestow that wants to come out of exile and to ascend, doesn’t feel the blows. When we are in the ego, it feels the pain, but the moment we leave it, we become disconnected from the “plagues.”

Question: What should we do in order to stop falling into the ego?

Answer: The only thing we should do is to unite. We have the method of connecting for the whole nation of Israel, and it’s the means to be free of all our troubles.
[103732]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: Is there an exodus from Egypt by force?

Answer: Of course, everything happens forcefully. Without the Creator’s “plagues” and without the pressure from Pharaoh we wouldn’t come out of Egypt. As it says, it’s actually Pharaoh who brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator, when He provided the unbearable conditions for them. Did He think that they wouldn’t run from Him, but that they would actually love Him?

If Pharaoh operated on the Creator’s side, as the Creator’s force, if the Creator didn’t force the ego to be the source of all our troubles, we wouldn’t try to break free from it. The Creator creates the difficulties for us so that we, while wanting to exit our ego, will become like Him. Therefore it says that Pharaoh brought the children of Israel closer to our Father in Heaven. The Creator always operates in concealment.

When the people of Israel escape from Egypt, Pharaoh follows them and surrounds them sending them into the sea. The chase helps the people of Israel advance in the right direction. Even when you escape the ego, you are not totally free from it unless you jump into the Red Sea. Then all of Pharaoh’s army that has been chasing you drowns in it.

Jumping into the Red Sea is the final phase in the process of the exit from exile. The name the Red Sea, Yam Suf (Suf-Sof – meaning end in Hebrew) actually indicates that that you have reached the end of Egypt. Then Pharaoh returns but in another form; it isn’t Pharaoh anymore, but Amalek and other foes.
[103730]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: The world is portrayed to us as it is now through our senses. But as we advance spiritually, it gradually dissolves. How does this happen?

Answer: It’s very simple. To date many scientific articles have been written on this subject.

We feel everything within us. The upper Light constructs these feelings in us. The physical or spiritual waves (it makes no difference what they are called since they all have the same nature) perform certain actions upon us, and we sense them. It follows that everything that we feel depends upon our Kelim (vessels), our senses.

If our senses are on the most minimal level, in them we feel different ranges, objects, and events, which we call our world. But if the senses are expanded, instead of these volumes we begin to feel additional ranges that engulf the present ones. Ultimately everything dissolves, everything disappears into the waves.

Baal HaSulam presents a very simple example. If we cool water, it transforms into ice, which is to say that from a liquid state it passes to a solid state. If we heat water, it evaporates; it transforms into vapor, into a mist. But this is the same entity that was once in a liquid or solid state and now has transformed into a gaseous state. That is, everything changes relative to us.

If we had other senses, then, for example, we might feel the air as if it were concrete, like an insurmountable obstacle. It follows that it is our senses that portray the world as it is for us.

Read what scientists have written about the perception of reality. After Einstein there was Everett and other great physicists who have written that everything is perceived relative to the observer, and this has been proven experimentally.

Therefore, if our senses change, even matter becomes something else. It is only a wave of light. Whereas we need to be involved with the aspiration for the Creator, for this force, since its discovery is what makes all the changes in us.
[103811]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Question: What does it mean to ask for connection with the Creator when in a difficult state, instead of trying to overcome the difficult state on one’s own?

Answer: Wisdom comes only with experience. We need to feel darkness many times, and then light, and again darkness and light. That is, we need to go through many unpleasant and pleasant sensations where I feel bad or good for all sorts of spiritual and material reasons, and I can do nothing about it.

Thousands of these experiences should change in me until I begin to realize that my perception depends upon my assessment, on the importance that I attach to the spiritual properties of connection, love, and my relationship to the others. I already start to guess what is hidden in this darkness and to feel it. I don’t just feel good or bad, but good and bad because of my relation to the group, because I don’t consider it important or don’t treat friends well.

There are many steps on this path, many small stages, not yet spiritual, but psychological barriers that must be overcome. And then comes the understanding that waking up out of the darkness, I start thinking about the screen, about the time when I can be above these feelings.

We have to go through the good and bad feelings, through day and night, until the end of correction. Although everyone goes through this in his own way, in the end, I begin to feel the need to rise above these feelings. I no longer want to depend on them and be their slave, but I want to be protected against them with a shield.

Let various internal impressions arise in me, but they should not affect my attitude toward the friends, toward the spiritual path, toward the importance of the goal and the Creator. I want to be independent in that from my egoistic desire and its sorrows. This requirement is being born in me: I want to be above the suffering of egoism, similar to the behavior of a true man in this world who bravely stands his ground, and nothing can shake him, no outside influence.

From this moment, I have a direct connection with the Creator because I begin to demand from Him. So far, I have asked for only good feelings, nice states, sweet fulfillment, that is, I demanded for my egoism. Now, I demand to raise me above my egoistic desire, and this the correct requirement for the Creator. I want to relate to the Master equally well, in the same direction, while remaining above emotions, above the sorrows of my ego. This is called the “anti-egoistic screen” (Masach).

Of course, these screens have a number of levels and features, but the work with the Light starts from this first screen. I want to restrict my desire to enjoy. And naturally, I feel everything that happens in it and the worry in myself. But all these emotions, cooking in my stomach, do not affect my vision, heart, and mind. There is a partition (Parsa) between them, which I feel as a diaphragm inside my body. Under this partition, in the “stomach” something is cooked and happens, but I want to identify myself with what is above this diaphragm: with the lungs, heart and brain.
[103829]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/13

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