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: The people of Israel were afraid to leap into the Red Sea (Yam Suf – Final Sea) until Nachshon decided to do this. It seems that it was not easy to do.

Answer: This truly wasn’t easy. We see that difficulties appear in all stages of the spiritual process. Always there are those who were ready to turn back. Our ego is so multi-layered that it is not immediately possible to abandon it, to go away from it, or at least to establish that it is bad.

It is difficult for a person to nullify himself before others. If I don’t act first, this says that I would prefer for someone else to do it. Would this be a desire for love and unity? It is true that at that moment the matter was still not clear. And we see that after that the “golden calf” and many other problems were to appear.

Question: What does “Nachshon’s leap” represent?

Answer: In a person there is a characteristic that represents proceeding with faith above reason: “My death is better for me than my life.” So, the person leaps into the sea, what will be will be. Certainly this is not talking about our present state. The action that is called “Nachshon’s leap” requires preparation.

It is required in order to pass to the next stage, but are we prepared to carry it out? In the meantime, we are far from realizing it, even though this moment rapidly approaches. There is no doubt that we are found in the stages of redemption. In the connection of hearts is the idea of peace and wholeness; in this is our salvation, this needs to come as an alternative to the current situation in Egypt. Therefore all of our work, learning, and dissemination are directed towards connection and unity. Only with the help of connection and a good mutual relationship can we be saved.
[103820]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: Did the people of Israel ever know that they were under the dominion of the ego?

Answer: Certainly. The group of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons knew. The people of Israel carried out great spiritual work throughout all of these generations beginning from Abraham when they left Babylon and entered Egypt.

Today it’s not only the people of Israel, but rather the entire world also, that are beginning to discover that they are in Egypt.

But this is does not mean that the world is going backward. It makes no difference what happened before, for in the Torah there is no concept of “before” or “after.” Today the world comprehends that it’s found under the yoke of the ego, which is destroying us, leading to an abyss and destruction. The entire world already feels this. The “seven years of plenty” have ended, during which the ego played in our favor.

We wanted to prosper in a consumer society, and we constantly increased the rate of growth. From year to year we celebrated success, but today everything is finished. The descent has begun; everything is vanishing. Even though the leaders and the bankers try with all their might to hold on to the past, from day to day the condition becomes more severe. People understand that the problem is in the person.

Further progress in the desire to acquire and to be successful has become impossible because the desire itself has changed. Fashion has become repulsive to us; we have become tired of annoying advertising that calls upon us to buy unnecessary things. Durable goods, such as refrigerators, air conditioners and televisions, break down quickly because manufacturers benefit from our buying new products, allowing them to profit at our expense. Through this we are drawn into an endless cycle of work, and so we work 10 to 15 hours per day.

Gradually it’s becoming clear that this approach to life is unacceptable. Our ego is destroying us and when we understand this, we will feel that we are in Egypt, in the service of the ego. But this is not yet everything. The feeling that the ego is destroying me and doesn’t let me live is not enough. I need to think about how to rise above it and to organize my life in a different form, not in reception, but in bestowal and in connection to other people. Since this connection is being revealed today throughout the world, I must be included in it, otherwise I will be found in conflict with natural development.

Through connection with other people in the world and becoming a unified integral system, I become included in it and begin to exist within it harmoniously. Otherwise, I will be lost and will endure all kinds of blows.

But how can I leave the ego and connect well with people? Through my desire for this, I begin to feel how much it stops me, pulls me backwards. And here the struggle between me and my ego begins. I become like Moses, my ego becomes like Pharaoh, and we begin to struggle over the outcome.
[103657]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: If the Light influences a person according to the root of his soul, where is my participation in this process and how do I determine its pace?

Answer: The Light that Reforms illuminates according to the state of the general system in which we are all integrally connected. We are all mutually incorporated in one another, and so I can’t be disconnected from my generation, from time, place, and the general state. My state depends on others and their state depends upon me.

Besides, I can also advance individually, but my individual advancement is being incorporated in everyone. This means that I can’t think only about myself. It’s impossible in the framework of this system, and by that I will not help myself. If I pray only for myself, I cause myself harm, no matter how good my prayer may be. If it doesn’t go through the group, it causes my soul harm.

So we should always remember that this is a general system in which we are all connected, all tied to and dependent on each other. Our work is namely to reveal this system.

My individual effort is focused on the revelation of the general. I don’t reveal the place I am in, I reveal where the others are, the society. I don’t discover myself, but rather the system in which my “self” disappears.

I on the next level am the one who feels his “self” less and who feels the society more. On a higher level there is a lesser feeling of my “self” and a greater feeling of the society.

So how can I pray for myself? In the next state, on the next level, it will not be me anymore! The society on the next level is “me.” The current “self” disappears in the general system, and the system becomes me. This is actually what I feel and perceive as myself. I see it as my soul.

There is the point of my egoistic “self,” and from it there are circles that spread as each time the circle and the society get bigger: society 1, society 2, and society 3. If I annul myself to some extent, I perceive the first one. Then I annul myself a bit more, and I perceive the second one; I continue to annul myself and I perceive the third one. These phases are called Ibur (gestation), Yenika (suckling), and Mochin (mind).

So who am I? I am what I identify with. If I am incorporated in the first society, then this will be my “self”; if I am incorporated in the second society, then this society will be me; and if I am incorporated in the third society, all this will be me. My current self disappears. This means that each time I build myself above my ego, above the Masach (screen), by faith above reason.
[103426]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/20/13, “Matan Torah (The Giving of Torah)”

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Question: How can we unite if within us we are beat and in total darkness? After all, the desire to receive destroys everything. How can we raise a prayer, a request to the Creator, if internally there is only hatred? What can we do about that? I agree that I have to be in a group, but in France it is quite complicated…

Answer: We are at a stage in human evolution where things are only starting. We are the pioneers, the avant-garde, marching before everyone else. It is of course very difficult. We can find people around us who think like us and who understand that we must somehow solve the problems but don’t know how. It takes time.

The question is whether we actually need people who think like us to be physically close to us. I have many students all over the world who work with us and help one another in dissemination. When we work together, it connects us. Thus we build a group, a community.

You may live in France, in a place where there may not be any of our students, and you may still be connected to us. You don’t have to be in direct contact with other people. It is of course important, but it is also possible to manage without it.

There is, for example, a guy in Switzerland who develops successfully without a group. A wonderful student! Ask him to share his experience with you; he is a role model for many.
[103553]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: The children are our future and the world’s future. They work on connection by playing games, but sometimes they get tired of the connection games and say, “That’s it, enough! We want someone to finally win.” What can we do in situations like this?

Answer: It is a problem when someone in the group wants to win. It means that the game isn’t managed correctly. Of course, both grownups and children always wish to win. It is a psychological urge that exists in each of us to some extent. However, education is about teaching a child gradually to think that it is impossible to win alone but only together, and then a habit becomes a second nature.

This is psychology. This is how many groups around the world are trained, such as divers, athletes, and so on. It is psychological training. When a person understands that, even if he succeeds in something, it is still thanks to the group. So, this is something that must be learned. We can teach this to kids so that they will think, feel, and behave that way.

There is even a tragic example of a submarine that was sinking and half the crew could have saved themselves, but the other half could not. So, the first half refused to leave the submarine, and eventually they all died. They felt that they were so connected that they could not leave their friends!

This example shows to what extent the preparation for connection—for the feeling of “we” without which there is no “I”—is developed in a person.
[103550]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: Even Ezra said that the generation that came out of Egypt felt the burden of slavery and lost its spirit. And that is why it could not fight against its master before the new generation of the desert grew up, the generation that did not know exile and thus its spirit was not broken. In what generation are we today?

Answer: We are in Egypt, under the dominance of our egoism, and first of all, we must rise above it. One thing is to become free from a foreign power, and another thing is to fight against it. They flee Egypt, instead of fighting the Egyptians. After all, this whole path through the Red Sea is completely a flight. We have no strength to fight our egoism; we need just to run away from it and rise. Only hatred for our egoism raises and separates us from our ego.

And then, there is a stage when we begin to correct this egoism. We do not return to Egypt to do that; we took the vessels from there and now begin to connect them to ourselves and correct all these desires, which we have risen above.

The first stage of correcting desires is called the generation of the desert when we correct these desires from reception to bestowal. And then there follows the generation of the conquerors of the land of Israel, which is called reception for the sake of bestowal.

Among the people of Israel, there are forces that can go ahead and lead the rest, similar to Moses, who brought the people out of Egypt. There are people with spiritual attainment who have already risen above egoism and have connected with other souls. They understand the entire process, know what to do in the given moment, and have to lead the others.

We are talking about people who study Kabbalah because it is impossible to return to the Source without the Light that Reforms. And this Light can be drawn only by studying Kabbalah, which is designed for this.

There are such people! We are able to move forward and pull a lot of people who are watching our TV programs, studying with us through the television or the Internet, studying in our courses, attending lectures, and thus they advance. That is why they have a real chance to become free with us, to rise above their egoism and feel what is called freedom, what it means to be a Jew, which is to be united with others (Yechud).

They will learn what it means to be in the land of Israel, that is, in the desire for the Creator (Yashar-El), for bestowal and love for others. In this way, we can succeed in all the spheres of our material life and eliminate all the problems around us.

The main thing is the spirit of unity. If we had related to the entire people of Israel with such a feeling of community as to our family members, sitting together with us at the festive table, if we had embraced everyone, this would have been most of the efforts that we need to make to come out of Egypt.
[103598]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: The Night of Passover Seder” 3/4/13

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Question: How can we remain in a state called “one family” during the convention in Germany? How do we tell the difference between this kind of “family” and the regular family, which is one of our animate needs?

Answer: We named the next European Congress a “family convention.” We think that the time has come and that the knowledge that we have accumulated and the circumstances which we are in allow us to build one unified family that will be comprised of all our groups—one big Kli (vessel.) As Baal HaSulam writes, the entire world is one family, and today we have to become as one family.

In other words, all our groups and our friends who do not have groups, wherever they are, have to make themselves sense the rest of the Kli on a regular basis and totally depend on each other. This kind of connection really exists and we have no other way but to gradually reveal it. It’s our primary task.

Secondly, we have to maintain a good connection, never criticize each other, but rather get closer with others. We have to find a common denominator and mutual grounds: common desires and intentions, feel complete mutual interdependence. It’s as if we are at home with our families and have no doubts that we depend on each other. This is the least we can do now.

At the same time, we don’t have to know all of our friends by names. We simply have to sense that they are inside us and that we are one joined entity. Then, while working on self-correction, we, at the same time, help others and feel everything through ourselves and try to correct, fulfill, and shape others spiritually. Each of us has to act this way in respect to others.

It’s vital. By working so, we will jump ahead and will approach the ultimate level of the universe in which we all exist and which is yet hidden from us by our personal egoistic properties. We have to rise above ourselves at least a little and accept the fact that others are equal to us if not higher, bigger, or more important than us. If we manage to act so, we will break the wall that is called the “Machsom.”
[103162]
From the Virtual Lesson 3/17/13

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Question: What does it mean to address the Creator?

Answer: To address the Creator means to demand from the inner forces of the world that hold and control it to be clearly manifested in us. We have to know this force, be in contact with it, and to act with its help. That is why we ask, demand, it to be revealed.

It does not matter to the Creator how you address Him. You can curse Him, just do not leave!
[103681]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Question: I work in an artistic workshop where I help people with mental and emotional problems, with depression, and all sorts of social problems to come out of their seclusion through art. I don’t understand the difference between integral education and social work. What is the difference between them?

Answer: The difference is that in the case of integral education, you transmit the Light through yourself to others. You organize them so that they will transform into a spiritual Kli (vessel). After all, you have a point in the heart and therefore, you work with them through yourself. You receive their desires and problems and arrange them such that something is added in you and for this addition you can receive the Light.

This is not social work, but spiritual work. This is the difference between them.

You work in order to attract the upper Light to organize all humanity into one whole, into one unified system called “Adam” so that in this system the upper Light, the higher state, will be revealed. This is not some kind of relaxation instead of a pill. Rather, it is specifically the elevation of humanity to the next level of existence.

We are not engaged in relaxing people even though we may say this to them. But we understand that it is impossible to do anything on the level they are at, except raise them to a spiritual level.

All of our attempts to resolve some of the problems in this world, charity, or help for various population strata are to no avail. Nothing is fixed with this, and it only gets worse. There are many investigators of this subject; and it is completely clear that all of the problems are derived only from our not correcting ourselves and instead, becoming involved in this kind of social work.

I am not saying that this work is not required or that it is harmful. If it is possible now to help a person in some concrete manner, it is necessary to help. However, together with this, one must not forget that we don’t attain anything with this. Therefore, it is possible to be involved temporarily with social work as long as we haven’t yet begun the widespread dissemination of integral education.

Question: Do these two types of work conflict with each other, and is it possible to unite them?

Answer: It is possible to unite them but only to the degree that you understand that with this, you are providing only temporary relief to a person’s condition. If your actions are connected to real correction, then this is meaningful.
[103572]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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