When people were closer to nature, they felt nature in such a form that looks almost mystical to us. But actually real phenomena of nature were revealed to them. For example, tribes in the Amazon feel the forest much better than we do; they smell its scents from miles away; they read signs and traces, and they can decipher all kinds of sounds.

After all, they don’t have anything else. A man lives in it; his life depends on it, and that’s why he increasingly develops his connection with the environment. According to the flight of the birds, according to the blowing of the wind, he knows many things. He connects together all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and perceives it as one.

But we are the opposite. We shield ourselves from the environment. We close doors and windows just not to see the urban cacophony and not to hear the noise of the cars. As a result, we are blocking our vessels of perception. We are isolating ourselves from life and from the universe.

Question: But people often confuse between closeness to nature and something supernatural.

Answer: All of these are feelings, sensations, that we can develop in ourselves. There are people that can hold your hand and tell who you are and what your plans are. There are those that can predict the future; they read thoughts. These are natural sensations that we lost in the path of the development of civilization, and they are not some kind of “extrasensory perception.” Nature installed in man much sharper senses than the current feelings. And it leaves no doubt that there are no miracles.
[96789]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/12, “Body and Soul” 

Related Material:
Aiming Into The Future
Getting Acquainted With The Universal Mind
Contact With The Future

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: Can the Creator interfere in the action of the laws of nature?

Answer: He Himself determined these immutable laws. “He gave a law and it can not be surpassed,” and therefore, actually everything was done because “The end of the action is incorporated in the initial thought.” The final state is already contained in the moment He decided to create the creation. And only for us this perfection still needs to be revealed, in all the negatives and all the positives. It is revealed only in our perceptions and actually nothing is changing except this revelation in us.

And therefore the laws are determined as all the stages in the path. We are going through all of them, but are able to move in different rates or different beats and to feel different tastes: bitter or sweet. In this is the whole difference: I can progress in a sweet and fast way or in a bitter and long path. The stages are predetermined, but on the sweet path they are changing quickly and in the bitter path they are lengthening. It depends on our attitude, in our effort. In principle, the world was created for this, that we will change our attitude toward the progress, in order for us to transfer from the long and bitter path to the sweet and fast path, according to the manner we are rising above the ego.

And here is where the whole problem lies. After all, I want what seems to my ego as sweet and fast. But instead of this, I choose the opposite, bestowal, that is desirable in the eyes of the Creator. I agree with Him, with His long and bitter way, and then this way suddenly becomes sweet and quick. “Click,” and everything thing changes.
[96759]
From 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/12, “The Peace”

Related Material:
The Burden Of The Efforts You Haven’t Made
The Taste Of Spirituality Is In The Feeling Of Gratitude
Ascent But Not Escape

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What are the components of the force that affects the unity of friends?

Answer: The total sum of the spiritual force is made up of our aspirations for the next higher state. Each one individually has no spiritual force, but if we annul ourselves relative to others and begin to connect between ourselves, our connection forms the field, the network, in which the Creator is manifested.

Each of us is just a point, not even a vector. A vector appears when we mutually connect with each other.

The force that unites us is the upper Light, the manifestation of the Creator.

There is nothing but the Creator and what He has created—our egoistic desires. The manifestations of the Creator in relation to us are called the Light, and they have the other side, the direct side, Hassadim, Hochma, various NRNHY, fractions of the Light, its modifications.

By trying to unite among ourselves to reveal the properties of the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love, we draw, according to our efforts, His closeness to us, not by His command and desire, but by ours!

The law, similar to the effect of a magnetic field, functions here: I strive to connect with my friend, wish that the Creator is revealed between us, and thus I bring about the attraction of the Creator towards us. This is an absolute law, and nothing depends on Him; He does not decide anything. He establishes one law, and this law is carried out because the law of nature or the Creator is one and the same. That is why, as soon as we strive to get closer to each other, our closeness with the Creator appears immediately. This desire gradually brings us closer, revealing a mutual force between us, as if feeding it.

Similarly, a child’s development occurs in our world; he makes an effort and receives energy and knowledge; he puts effort again, and again gains energy with new knowledge. Thus, we get a regular flow to the extent of our mutual movement towards each other and in overcoming egoistic interferences.

The Creator purposefully created egoism in us, which is constantly growing and changing in us in various forms, shapes, kinds, not only in size but also in quality. Moreover, He does all this in such cunning ways that we forget that everything comes from Him and begin to assign this to our friends, ourselves, our environment. But in reality, He spins all this.

It all depends only on our reaction to discover that it is Him, not forgetting about this, supporting each other, and constantly trying to get closer to each other.
[96867]
From a Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

Related Material:
The “Left Line” In The Group
Spiritual Advancement
Obligate The Creator To Help Us

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Q&A, Unity - 1 Comment →

Question: How can we hold love, which is sometimes manifested between us? How do we prevent falling into egoism?

Answer: It is possible to hold love only by mutual guarantee. To do this, you can organize a kind of duty.

In the 16^th century in Padua, Italy, there was a great Kabbalistic group of Ramchal from which notes and diaries of spiritual work remain. The members of the group wrote a schedule for themselves: Suppose now, for a few hours, I support everyone, think of everyone, then you, then he does, and so on, because in our daily lives, everyone has to work, give time to his family or some other activities where he cannot be in the right thoughts about the group. A person has to sleep, to rest, etc. That is why they agreed to keep themselves in the right intention in this way 24 hours a day.

We can do it even more easily because we can arrange a similar relay around the globe, passing it according to time zones; now, the group in this time zone holds the intention, then the next one, and so on. The ocean is not a barrier for us because all the groups of the world will constantly take care of everyone and raise MAN. I am ready to participate in this with everyone. Let’s make it so that each group could be on watch.
[96861]
From a Virtual Lesson 12/23/12

Related Material:
Unbreakable Cycle
Internal Changes: High Frequency Range
What Is Missing To Make A Breakthrough

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Love, Mutual Guarantee, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

The Creator has set immutable laws. If we don’t know how to use them correctly, we feel bad, and if we know, we feel good.

The main point here is to understand that the laws of nature don’t change in all its levels. If this seems to us the opposite, it is because the conditions are changing and the same laws are revealed to us in a different way.

In space, for example, gravity “suddenly” disappears. Have the laws changed? No. If you return to the initial conditions you will discover them again.

Question: But if the Creator has already created us and set clear laws; why do we have to change? Why do we have to work for Him?

Answer: Under the current conditions, you work in order to profit for your own benefit and not for Him.

Question: But we still study the wisdom of Kabbalah. So why is our path full of thorns? It seems as if there is nowhere we can step.

Answer: It is because you have become more sensitive. A small child doesn’t know how to be careful. An ordinary person doesn’t have too many inhibitions. But a clever person already knows the possible outcomes of different actions. So it turns out that you have become more clever and more sensitive. About that, it is said: “He who adds knowledge adds pain.”

You can, of course, lead a simple, modest life without any questions and claims, work in some mechanical job that doesn’t require any mental efforts. But if you want to be “in,” if you want to advance, to develop, you will undoubtedly encounter problems and pressures. There is nothing new here.

Question: But I am an ordinary person, I am not looking for problems. And if there are problems, where is the reward?

Answer: If no pressure were put on you, you wouldn’t be asking about the reward, right? Now you have started to think and you are right.

Well a simple logical answer should be that the “pressure” must be the reward itself. If I make efforts along the spiritual path and to the same extent I receive blows, it means that this is my reward. It really does seem that way, and it requires an unbiased examination, an investigation.

If, for example, I am going through all kinds of tests with different medical instruments: They scan me with different rays and discover numerous problems. There is a phenomenon that is very common among students who study medicine; they discover they suffer from all the diseases they are studying.

So what is the reward for the study? What can we tell them?

– It will pass, everything will be fine.

– What do you mean it’s fine, if it’s time to hop onto the operating table?!

This is the feeling they experience.

Question: But still, will there be some relief along the way?

Answer: It will be when you feel the parental love in the blows. We should understand that the flaws are revealed to us, that’s all. How can we overcome them? How can we see not a problem in them but salvation?

First, it is a good thing that the place of the flaw was revealed to me—after all, the Creator has created the evil inclination.

Now I feel the necessity of the wisdom of Kabbalah as a means of correction. I can use this method only if I am connected to the group, to the study, if I enter the group as deeply as I can.

Then I discover that all the unpleasant “surprises” are revealed only in order to speed up my work. They are like calls to complete the necessary efforts. After all, the incomplete efforts leave a very strong feeling of bitterness.

Baal HaSulam talks about it in Letter 19: “The strong passion that is incomplete leaves great sorrow behind it, to the extent of one’s passion.” In such a case a person has to finish what he has started as fast as he can. Otherwise he is called “a fool who is sitting idly eating his own flesh.” Here the breakthrough is very important and it depends on our unity.
[96762]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/12, “The Peace”

Related Material:
One Good Turn Deserves Another
The Taste Of Spirituality Is In The Feeling Of Gratitude
Ascent But Not Escape

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A, Suffering - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”: When we first receive the present, we still do not refer to the giver of the gift as one who loves us, all the more so if the giver of the present is important and the receiver is not equal to him.

However, the repetitive giving and the perseverance will make even the most important person seem like a true, equal lover. This is because the law of love does not apply between great and small, as two real lovers must feel equal.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes about love, but where is this love? There are only sufferings and disasters everywhere. Only a few days ago 26 people were killed in a school in the US…

Answer: Has anyone promised you that such things won’t happen in our world? Everything that you see here is taking place inside your egoistic desire. Rise to another desire, rise to the next level, and you will see that everything is different. You will rise to the second floor.

Now you see reality through your ego, which by definition cannot be anything good. Although I sometimes feel something positive, it is in fact bad too, but in the meantime I don’t identify it and accept it as good. We are all in a desire to receive, which is not even real, but “animal.” So, in fact there can be nothing good in our world.

So what do you expect? That things will proceed differently? We are immersed in an ego that is opposite from the Light and therefore there can only be disasters here.

But in order to allow you to rest in between them so that you will at least be able to relax, to calm your nerves, notice the details, and perceive something, then in this world, the lowest level, man lives literally by mercy and not only in pain, despite his nature.

Why? Because he has another destiny, a goal. If it weren’t for the destiny and the future goal, our world would be immersed in the darkness of endless sufferings and pain from morning to night, day after day. This is the nature of the egoistic intention which is opposite from the Light.

A slight illumination still penetrates this world, but only in order to allow us to exist here for a while and to start rising. In every other sense, the Light and the desire to receive are totally opposite from one another. It is to such an extent that we cannot even imagine.

If there were really great sufferings here, we would have no chance to rise above them and to at least think about something. In the meantime, we are being held above an ocean of pain, but if we don’t use the time we were given correctly, the Lights will disappear and we will fall into great sufferings that will “launder” us well, until we cry out for help. Then we will be given a break, and we will be examined to see whether the “shaking” was enough or not.

By the way, with regard to the Jewish people, one “shaking” is usually not enough. Go out to the street and talk to people, they feel that everything is fine. They have already forgotten about the missiles and have not learned anything from last fall.

Question: What about us, those who study Kabbalah?

Answer: You are twice as stubborn. All the others at least don’t know what it is about, but you are truly stubborn. What have you done with what you have heard during the lessons?

Our problem is the shattering. Our correction is the connection. What have you done for the unity of all of creation? First, do you help our friends all over the world to connect? Do you help them be a greater, more special force that wants to rise above the ego and connect the whole world in order to build a place for the revelation of the Creator and to bring Him contentment? When He is revealed, He enjoys more and more, and then we too enjoy what we have done for Him. This is called an equivalence of form. So what else should you know? Only to work for unity and connection, for mutual guarantee, for the integral education.

But you come to the lesson, listen, and then go your way. In this case, the ordinary person on the street is a greater righteous than you. Since he doesn’t disrespect what is important, he simply doesn’t know about it. Much less is demanded of him than of you.

We have to be really fearful. Time passes and there is much more that we can do. We really must feel responsible not for ourselves but for the group, for the world. After all, the disrespect is a result of everyone thinking only about himself and being resigned to fate in advance. Don’t think about what will happen to you; think about the fact that you are responsible for everyone. Then you will have a different attitude. In the meantime we don’t feel the responsibility that chokes us and motivates us. The ego is destroying us…
[96711]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Crisis Teaches Us To Consume The Necessary
Unnecessary Sufferings
The World Is Suffering Because Of Me

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A, Suffering, Unity, World - 1 Comment →

Question: A prayer, this is what my heart cries. You often give an example of the ten Kabbalists who felt hatred before they discovered love. Actually, at the moment, their prayer was to erase each other, and instead of it love was revealed. How is that possible?

Answer: That wasn’t their prayer. The Creator arranged that. In The Book of the Zohar, it is said that each time, before mutual work, the authors of The Book felt that the hatred helped one another. They had to concentrate together on the intention, to rise above that hatred, to discover the love within them, and within this new level to write The Book. It was constantly this way.

To them, millions of different reasons appeared to separate them from the connection, from the group, not to mention that the hatred at these levels is a terrible trap that is placed there by the Creator.

Question: I understand that with me it isn’t the same hatred. But if, when I feel strong hostility toward a friend, do I need to catch myself in this, stop, and try to rise above the hostility, to understand that the Creator is giving it to me?

Answer: From the beginning, one needs to determine where it is in you, to recognize that it is not you. You are a cog mechanism, in which certain data was now planted, and you feel it within you, and thus you think that it is yours. Where does this implant come from? From the Creator. He implants in you this data so that you will change into its opposite and create a connection with Him so that He will be revealed specifically in the group, specifically in hatred, in alienation.

If the group is indifferent, then it is very difficult to work with it. You need to finish this stage as fast as possible. The hatred gives a kind of awakening, and the state of indifference is, as if, rather foggy. Start working on building the connection between us, and you will see serious forces of rejection.
[96551]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

Related Material:
Being Forced To Love
The Flame Of Love Above Seething Hatred
It Won’t Help Us To Play Love

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Love, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Recently, I’ve been visiting at the hospital frequently and I notice that some patients lack a basic drive for life. People do not cling to life. What has happened to this basic desire?

Answer: It disappears in sick people, and the elderly, and the young. This is the natural course of evolution: The egoistic desire is growing, not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively.

We still judge by quantity; we strive to a greater scale, greater luxury, but in the meantime, the quality changes. And suddenly we discover that development requires something higher, values that do not exist in our world. There are new requests in me, and my environment cannot give me answers to them. It turns out that I have nothing to do here, there is nothing to look for, nothing to live for, nothing to enjoy because I do not just seek pleasure, but want to discover something more essential.

But wait, what essence is there? People themselves do not know what they want.

This is because our world has nothing more to offer them. And then the defense mechanisms of the body push many, especially the younger generation, to all kinds of whims and follies, as well as to suicide, drugs, terrorism, and anything negative. They are looking for something, but cannot find anything. Today, a new egoistic desire is manifested, which sees a wall in front itself: “What have I come to? The world is lifeless. Why am I here?”

People whose mind and feelings have not been yet developed enough become economists, lawyers; in short, they look for success in life. They are still attracted by something, enticed by some benefit. But those who have evolved a bit more can no longer find anything worthwhile for themselves. They initially have no taste for life, and this produces much more serious phenomena than we see on the surface. After all, the media and Internet save many people from suicide. The general opinion makes everyone participate in these “games,” distractions from the main question. But soon, this will end; in six months or a year, the wave will subside, and we will see how media resources and virtual reality lose their popularity.

And then a problem will emerge: how to occupy people? By that time, the number of unemployed will increase; the scale of deprivation will grow. A person will have nowhere to go, even the means that used to be before will disappear…

Question: It is known that the statistics of depression and emptiness are increasing. Where will people get a new desire that will lead them on the spiritual path?

Answer: In fact, it is impossible without the “Light” from above. Of course, we will not be able to awaken them if we do not get the Light for us and for them, according to the principle “the first-born takes double.” Only in this way, will we be able to show them the way, to show them a spark of the Light, which is enough for everyone. In the end, it is our duty.

And if not, the only alternative is a world war. People would feel that that would be better than to continue to live as before. No one will oppose a war. On the contrary, in this month, many looked forward to the end of the world, hoping for at least some diversity. “It hasn’t come yet? Well, let’s wait for the next one…” People will embrace a war, albeit unconsciously…
[96793]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/12, “Body and Soul”

Related Material:
Everything Is Against Us
When There Is No Vitality
The Mind Doesn’t Give Instructions To The Ego

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Depression, Egoism, Inner Work, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: How do we reach collective exertion?

Answer: This is all the work in the group. Without a collective effort, without our connection, we cannot attain vessels of bestowal.

We don’t have desires to bestow; there are only desires to receive! In the desire to receive, there is a point in the heart. So how can I build a desire to receive from it? I have to be incorporated in the right environment, with the initial bud of bestowal, the point in the heart.

I accept this environment as if it is my “point in the heart.” The group is thousands of points in the heart, a billion times bigger than my one point! If there is only one star in my heart, then the environment is like all the stars in the sky. I want to connect them, and by that I build my GE. Otherwise there is nowhere I can get vessels of bestowal.

These GE already belong to the next level with regard to my desires to receive (like phases three and four) and are intended to adhere to AHP of the upper.

By being incorporated in the environment, I build the desires to bestow (GE), and if I am not incorporated, then they don’t exist in me. Then I can say that my desires to receive are my AHP, and to the same extent I am incorporated in the group. If I have brothers in it (my family: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), with whom I am in a conflict now, then to the same extent I am in Egypt.

My whole path is determined by how I am incorporated in the group: First it is Babylon, then the Land of Canaan with all the adventures there, until I find myself in Egypt, right in it. This whole inclination takes place in the group, together with everyone else.

“Brothers go down to Egypt,” means that the desire to receive that separates them grows and they turn it to in order to bestow, which means that the children of Israel multiply in Egypt. During the first seven years, their number grows, and then come the seven years of famine, which is the time to start the correction.

They carry on in the same direction, but now they see that Egypt enslaves them and doesn’t let them attain a higher level. This is called that “a new king arose in Egypt.” But in fact, the same work in the group continues and as a result the states that are described in the Torah are revealed.

This whole story is fulfilled only in a person’s connection to the group. It is in the connection that everything the Torah tells us about is revealed. The Torah tells us only about a person’s connection with the Creator in order to bring Him contentment. There is not a word in it about anything else.
[96622]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/25/12, “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Related Material:
In Memory Of The Exodus From Egypt
The World Will Disappear And The Group Will Remain
What Is Darkness For The Ego Is Light For Me

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Group Work, My Similarity to the Creator, Q&A, Unity - No Comments →

Question: What will make me love the other? Why should I love him?

Answer: First, we are not speaking about love for someone close to you, not about your beloved, but rather about someone who is totally “neutral” towards you to begin with. Then we begin to connect because of a common spiritual goal that cannot be attained without a mutual connection.

On the way to reaching the goal, you feel mutual aversion, until it becomes real hatred. You work on this hatred by feeling the “hardening of the heart” each time, by sometimes evoking love and then hating one another again. You experience constant ascents and descents and what is more, you mainly feel aversion and hatred.

You are constantly trying to enter the “niche” of indifference that allows you at least to keep the external framework, although it doesn’t lead to anything. This is the worst state, the “dead” state, when the friends don’t decide to get close to one another because they are afraid to discover hatred. But without hate it is impossible to advance towards love, and only the indifference remains.

Eventually you decide that you understand that there is no other choice: “I have to close my eyes no matter what and decide to go for love.”

Question: But what forces and motivates me?

Answer: You want to attain the goal. This desire forces you and motivates you if you are not deceiving yourself, of course. If you are deceiving yourself, you are simply wasting your time. So do some soul searching: Do you want to attain the goal, which means the Creator, the attribute of bestowal? If you do, then the friends and group have been prepared for you, invest in them. And if you don’t, then go home.

We mustn’t give in to routine, and you mustn’t accept the fact that tomorrow and the day after tomorrow will all be just like today. What do you expect? The upper Light is in a state of absolute rest, and it is only by our desires, in our vessels, that we can change reality. Nothing will happen if we don’t act. Israel has no “fortune.” Whoever follows the path of Yashar—El (straight to the Creator) is actually building his own “fortune,” the Light that drips and pours from Above.
[96704]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
Who Is My “Neighbor”?
Commandment To Love
I, The Others, The Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Love, Q&A - No Comments →