Question: What is the difference in intentions when we are learning from The Book of Zohar or the The Study of the Ten Sefirot?

Answer: In principle, there aren’t any. The two books were written from the level of GAR of the world of Atzilut. These two languages simply complete each other and help us in that way.

If we read books that were written only in the language of the Midrash, then it’s not clear to us as to what to attribute to them. One person might be caught in isolated details and would search for meaning in them, another would try to draw parallels, and so forth.

Therefore, in order to establish, to stabilize us with the right approach and not turn The Book of Zohar into what has been done with the Torah where everyone finds what he likes: psychology, sociology, history, law, and so on, Baal HaSulam inserted a kind of “physics” or “mechanics” of mutual spiritual activities into our learning. Thanks to this we know what he was really speaking about. His books describe a spiritual system of concepts methodically, and even though I am not there emotionally yet, I can already basically imagine the essence: the ten Sefirot, the relationship between them, their actions with regard to the upper Light found above them, how they identify with it and are filled by it.

So from the start, I can hold to the right direction without running away; after that, I can begin to clarify why the author writes like this, conveying emotions like these, using words like these of our world. Baal HaSulam communicates the upper system to me where everything is determined according to the nature of things found in the lower system, where I see the nature of the still, the vegetative, the animate nature, and humans in all their diversity and richness and all the mutual connections between them. My feelings are derived from the world in which I am found, but simultaneously Baal HaSulam describes the upper world for me: “See how it is constructed.” And so without choosing to do so, I begin to receive some kind of stimulation, begin to connect seemingly separate details, and so I advance forward.

There are many things hidden there that we do not know. When we begin to become a little more sensitive, even subconsciously, with slightly greater feeling, we receive an illumination that develops us…
[103880]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/13, The Zohar

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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: What is the meaning of the phrase, “Everything that has to be collected is as if it is already collected”?

Answer: This says that everything lies in front of you from the start. All the things that you are about to discover already exist. When a person is born, he gradually discovers new things for himself, and it seems to him that they haven’t existed before. This is how it feels. But actually, everything already exists; we only need to prepare our Kelim (desires), and the corresponding limits of the universe will be immediately revealed in them.

In general, for the entire reality lying in front of us it’s necessary only to add the intention to bestow, the Light of Hassadim, and to that degree we discover the perfect reality. We lack only this.

And therefore I don’t intend to correct the present corrupted reality. I intend to add the attribute of faith, the attribute of bestowal, to my relationship to everything. This is correction—faith above reason.

Accordingly, I don’t need to correct myself from within, I simply need to exit myself to the outside and connect with what is there. Everything is already in front of you, the problem is that you are not there, outside of yourself. It’s necessary to carry out this action, going outside of yourself, and then this reality will become yours. Today, you aren’t ready yet to reveal it, but it exists. You only need to “put on your glasses” in order to see it.

We build the spiritual Kli above the will to receive, above impurity. “Pharaoh” does not disappear anywhere, the will to receive remains, and moreover, it remains in its brutal form, and at the end the “stony heart” is added to it. But we need to rise above it, to go over it.

I protect the impurity (Klipa) that covers my will to receive; similarly, the peel protects the fruit until ripens fully. Otherwise, the fruit will rot, and I will not attain my completed correction. I construct my entire relationship to reality while the peel protects my will to receive: “Don’t just disappear for me. My hatred, jealousy, cruelty, laziness, all these things remain, I need you.” It’s as if I wrap my egoistic characteristics in some package, and I exit from them to the outside. And on the contrary, if they disappeared, I would be left with nothing, and I would have nothing upon which to build myself.

Question: So how does a person go outside of himself?

Answer: For this it’s necessary to reach total helplessness. Then a kind of hole in the heart will open for you, in which you feel that you can go outside—and you will ask for this. But in the meantime you haven’t reached true prayer, you haven’t been “pushed” enough to find the Creator.

Question: How does a person reach true prayer in order to get help?

Answer: This happens only after he loses hope completely, but he still stands on the path. It’s necessary to reach a state of recognition of evil on one hand, the greatness of the goal on the other, and to maintain this gap.

First, I feel bad because I am in the egoistic state. This state is an unbearable evil for me. But the problem is not that it’s bad for me. I have to cancel my “self” and want this to be bad for me because I am not ready to bestow to the Creator. Thus, the evil manifests opposite the love of the Creator. And second, I recognize the greatness of the goal, which for me is goodness.

When I hold these two extremes, I reach the true prayer, a request for correction.

The goal is so great in my eyes that I can’t abandon it. And all the time my concern is that the greatness will only grow more. Ultimately, I hold onto two extremes: the greatness of the goal and the evil of my present state.

There must be pressure here from the group that gives me awareness that the greatness of the goal is namely to bring contentment to the Creator. And then I begin to think of how to flee from my present bad state, which is bad specifically because I am far from the goal.

These are the conditions that need to form within me. For this I have everything: the group, the Creator, the sources…. But the awareness of the importance of the goal is the key to everything (1), it is prior to all the other conditions. I need to be focused on the goal, and within all states to look only at it, to adhere only to it. And then, as a result, I truly need a group, a teacher, the studies, and dissemination.

After all, “the end of an action is in its initial thought.” The goal obligates me to everything. By aspiring to the goal, I understand that I can’t manage without the environment because I will reach the goal specifically among the friends. I know that I can’t do without the teacher because he holds me together with the group on the path and brings the Light that fills us. I understand that I can’t do without books because with their help I learn the spiritual system and arouse myself. When I study, it’s as if I am in that system, and I summon from there the Light that Reforms. And finally, I realize that I can’t manage without dissemination since the group is a small part of the collective vessel of humanity which I also need to be concerned about.

Everything derives from realizing the importance of the goal. I interpret to myself the final state in which I, the group, and the teacher are joined with all humanity such that the entire spiritual system comes to life among us. Its Lights will fill and tie us with one another into a single Malchut of the world of Infinity. And in it, we will reveal the One who has formed it, the Root that has produced the four phases of the Direct Light. And this is the Creator.
[102673]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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Question: How can we express our gratitude to the Creator?

Answer: Only by wanting His revelation, by that we bring Him contentment.

These words may sound banal, not fully understood, and artificial, but on the whole, it is the only way to explain it using the language of this world. In fact, it is a very high level and we will begin to understand the meaning of these words only when the Creator is revealed.

How can we bring the Creator, the upper force that manages everything, contentment if we run around like bugs on this planet bumping into one another? Do we want Him or not? Does our mood change according to this? Does He suffer or enjoy as a result (the suffering or pleasure of the Shechina -Divinity)? We don’t understand all this, we don’t even understand ourselves.

In fact, all of humanity are upper creatures, not in the way we see it in our egoistic attributes, but in the way we really exist on the level of the general connection, in full adhesion with the Creator. On that level we are totally equal and identical to Him.

So we have to imagine this level, to act it, and everyone should see himself and his friends as worthy of this level. This should raise us.
[103860]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Question: I would like to ask about a situation that can occur in a group regarding the dissemination and teaching of integral education.

Suppose there is a group of five people who have accepted the group charter and are trying to keep it, exhibiting love, etc., and there is me, a solid, educated, clever person who has graduated from courses of integral teaching and integral education and who can already teach others. I don’t have time to be incorporated in the group; I want to disseminate, but the group doesn’t support me. It turns out that they are holding me back. What should we do in such a case?

Answer: The point is that before the general global crisis started I didn’t speak about integral education at all. Baal HaSulam writes a lot about this and talks about this issue very seriously. He emphasizes that the revelation of the Creator cannot occur if the world doesn’t yearn for it, both the part of humanity that has the point in the heart and the part in which the point in the heart has not yet awakened. So everything depends on dissemination. I also saw how in the beginning my students didn’t quite grasp this idea, but I pressured them, and eventually they understand that first of all, we have no choice and that it is essential, and secondly, that it is true.

What would I do in your place? There are many groups around the world and some understand that we must disseminate and some don’t. The same thing happens in each group where there are some people who understand this point and some who don’t. In any case, the members of the group have to live in peace and allow those who want to disseminate and who acknowledge how necessary it is to do so. Those who still don’t understand should wait until they understand; they will see that all the groups are dealing with it and will eventually feel not only that they are interested in it, but also the need to disseminate.

The point is that when you begin to work for the general public, you feel great energy; you feel the meaning of life. It’s like becoming parents, since when we have children, we feel a new urge for life: You don’t live only for yourself anymore but for them. So, a group that deals with dissemination is always more lively. It turns out that first of all dissemination is important for the group itself. Let’s hope that everyone will gradually understand this.
[103569]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: People in whom the point in the heart has been revealed have freewill, while 99% of people feel depressed. It turns out that we are one big family that has a goal in life, and therefore we are happy.

Answer: Of course we are one big family since only one vessel, one desire, was created initially. Then it was shattered to billions of individual desires. So there are seven billion people in the world today. Now we have to reconnect, but this time by our collective efforts. This, of course, happens under the influence of the upper Light, since we can’t do it by ourselves. The Light does everything, but we have to take this whole system through the integral connection, which means to become one unique whole again.

What’s going on here? First, we were one unique whole. Then under the influence of the upper Light, we began to feel egoistically repulsed by one another, and our vessel was shattered.

This means that the Light has inserted its opposite attribute into us, and now there are gaps between us, emotional distances: I can’t stand the other and he and I can’t live together, why? It’s because the Light has inserted an ego in us, the resistance between us, the darkness.

If we annul this opposite attribute now, by demanding that the Light influence us, then it will illuminate for us again, but according to our desire to rise above the ego now. So it turns out that if before the Light illuminated us on the level of the Light of Nefesh, which is a very faint Light, now it illuminates on the level of the Light of Yechida for us, which is a great eternal Light.

This is all our gain. In other words, the repulsion that we feel, all the gaps and the spaces between us, have to be filled with the Light.
[103561]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: Essentially, what can we do to specifically help the European groups unite?

Answer: To help with the unification of the European groups we need to be united with them: to connect with them, to push them, to help them, and to participate together with them in their unification. We’re not to stand on the side and watch: “What is happening there in Europe?” but rather to participate in this effort to unify. We need to be aware of what’s going on in all the European groups, to live with them.

We are not just creating a European group at this convention; we are creating the general world group. We need to feel that all of us are one body. Otherwise, we can’t advance. We’ll be in the same state all the time, dispersing and gathering again somewhat, and this will continue for years. We don’t have time for this. We need to unite and work together so much that we’ll see and feel each other as we do now in this convention.

We require one dissemination center for integral education and one management for the entire European group. The center of the world group is found with us. And then we’ll begin to consolidate them all into one united group.
[103678]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 3

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Question: Many women from all over Europe came to the convention. Could it be that they don’t push us, men, actively and strongly enough to act?

Answer: You shouldn’t expect others to do your work. Of course, we have to support the women and allow them to pressure the men, but you shouldn’t sit idly and wait: “When will they put pressure on me?” It isn’t the same as it is at home with your wife, where you don’t move unless she “kills” you with her nagging.

Here it’s different; here we do have to concede. They push you to fulfill the goal of life, and you should help them in that and listen to them. But don’t think that it’s only their responsibility; it’s also your concern.

The women’s concern is not only to push the men; they are also busy with their spiritual work. We don’t see, don’t feel it because they do it quietly, a bit submissively. But if we look at their level of knowledge, progress, and loyalty, women are on a level that isn’t any lower than the men’s, and many women are much closer to attainment than most men.

Don’t be misled by the fact that they are seemingly quiet and are thus not that special. They have great knowledge and great powers. If you give them a chance to be a bit more active, you will see of what they are capable.
[103675]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 3

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Question: If we look at ourselves through the eyes of the physical world, we see how weak we are economically, socially, and politically. We lack the required position in the world. Based on this, how can we disseminate something?

Answer: I don’t know what kind of position there should be in the world when someone wants to disseminate something. Go to the Internet and you will see that this is an integral system in which you can do what you want. It was created specifically for dissemination.

Everything depends upon you. If you try to correctly offer your method wholeheartedly, according to what people want to hear from you, they will hear you. It’s up to us only to learn how to do this. No position is required to do this.

In 1995, I opened a web page for Kabbalah and then began to disseminate without asking permission from anyone. I published my first three books in 1983 while I was still with Rabash when I didn’t have any students at all. I regularly appeared on radio programs through which a multitude of people reached us. As of today, we have two television channels and we print newspapers for all the holidays. Therefore no special position is required here.
[103556]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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