Question: How is it possible to be in the same state that we felt during the work in the workshop every moment?

Answer: What is a workshop? During the workshop I enter a certain state of communication, in an environment that helps me begin to clarify and analyze myself with great intensity. Thus within a short time during the workshop, I can go through numerous states by my being integrated within the others, within their feelings, and they within me. It could be that I am not able to express it in words, but all of this happens in me in frays. I can be in the same conditions by myself on the street, and be mentally in contact with the others. You must try. I have no other advice.

Question: Does a factor of support exist here?

Answer: The factor of support is essential. Like in ballet, if your partner releases you, you will fall. Thus support is everything. Without a group, you are like a ballerina who is dropped.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/23/12

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Question: Is it important to match people in the integral education groups according to their properties?

Answer: I wouldn’t say we should match people according to their properties. After all, the characteristics can be completely different, and no qualifications matter there.

What matters is the so-called “threshold attitude,” the preparation to what we are doing. Someone may have already taken certain courses, undergone some integral superposition with others, while another may not know what we are talking about. He was brought from outside and wonders, trying to catch his breath: “What are the rest of the people doing here?” This should not happen: They will simply not understand one another. People should be approximately at the same level according to their integral preparation.

The integral experience should be similar.

We should know beforehand that in the group of twelve people there are, say, five who are more or less prepared and who feel and know already what’s going on. And then they include all the rest within themselves as though they enclose them and take them together with them. Then the joint work begins.
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From the talk on the integral upbringing, 03.04.2012

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Question: By our attaining the next level in the convention, the work in the group will become deeper and stronger, but together with that, what will happen to the dissemination for the 99%?

Answer: We need to be involved with dissemination. Those in the group who are of the opinion that they can disseminate need to be involved in it. They can create games, write materials, and be involved in it. This means that people in the group need to divide their commitments, each one needs to execute a certain job in order to serve the 99%. There are people who can go out to the public.

In many cases women are preferred over men: They don’t invite antagonism, don’t cause worry or suspicion, and don’t cause many problems.

I think that all of those who can should be given an opportunity to participate in the dissemination. You shouldn’t force a person who is afraid or if he doesn’t have an inner foundation to go out to the public, if he is not able to place himself correctly. Teaching is nevertheless a talent, and a person must have it. Of course, it’s possible to learn, but also for that one needs some preliminary basis.

Clarify who in the group is really able to deal with dissemination and invest in them. And whoever isn’t, don’t. Don’t force them. They can assist, arrange things, and serve, which is also a big and essential job that isn’t less valuable than other work. You need to seriously relate to those opportunities that you have and not restrain them.
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From “A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/23/12

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Question: Where should I start the true demand to bestow? How is it possible to defeat the avid sinner inside me?

Answer: We don’t have a true demand for bestowal, and we cannot have one either unless the Light influences us. When the Light comes, you will be surprised and wonder: Is this the attribute of bestowal? It will be in contrast to everything you have thought.

It is a totally new thing and a person living in our reality has no preparation or premonitions as to what it is like. When a person has this delicate feeling, he begins to act, even unconsciously, in order to get closer to it. He begins to attach all his life, everything that he has been through, to this goal only, to attaining a drop of adhesion with the upper.

For the first time he has an inner inclination for something that is distant and from that moment on he begins to develop.

It is impossible to express this feeling in words, but a person cannot wake up if the upper Light doesn’t wake him. A person who has already tasted it knows what it is about, but as long as you haven’t experienced it yourself, you will not understand.

So it is impossible to ask for true bestowal unless you have attained this attribute. But thanks to this game, we advance when a person fills all the necessary requirements. Not knowing in advance how to do it, an inner awakening takes place, and it is as if a spark of Light is kindled and a person begins to feel that there is something that is different from this world, which is bestowal.

We just have to play the best that we can, everything that is in our power. I am sure that we are approaching this revelation, but everyone should ask himself at what speed.
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From a Talk about Inner Work 9/30/12

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Question: How does a Kabbalist who is in the spiritual world feel time?

Answer: Time doesn’t exist for a Kabbalist. Even for an ordinary person time is a conditioned perception. Time is a feeling in the egoistic desire that draws the axis of time from one point in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

The more distant you are from the world of Ein Sof, the more distant you are from the zero point of time. The deeper you sink into the desire to receive, the lower you descend down the ladder of the worlds and the more you stretch time. This means that the number of actions you have to perform in order to reach the point of Ein Sof stabilize the concept of time for you.

In your current state, you don’t make such calculations of the number of actions you perform. It is unclear and hidden from you since the vessel and the Light do not operate in you according to your desire. If the process isn’t according to your desire, it is concealed from you.

But the moment you begin to manage it yourself, you will understand what you are doing and then you will manage time. This is why it says: “Israel is above the stars and the constellations,” above the concept of time in its yearning Yashar—El (straight to the Creator).

In the meantime, however, you are not in this state, but under the domination of your ego, and so you don’t determine time, but it is time that determines your fate. So sometimes it seems that the day passes quickly, like one moment and sometimes each moment “lingers” for so long that it is hard to wait for it to end.

This is especially felt during the study. Notice that sometimes during the study of the The Study of the Ten Sefirot you fall asleep at a beginning of a word and wake up at its end and it seems like eternity. You wanted to sleep so much, which means that this time is so dear to you that it is very important for you to disconnect and to nap even for a moment.

The minimal distance that we keep on the road is stretched into a very long one because of our ego and according to how much you enjoy it. It is like Faust said: “Stop, Moment! You are so lovely!’”

In fact, a big strong ego stops time, just as Pharaoh wanted, so that even the corporeal body will be eternal, and so he was embalmed.

So unless we begin to control our desire, time will control us by slowing down or accelerating. In order to rise above time, we have to control our desire to receive. Time, motion, and location are the three parameters by which the desire to receive is revealed to us and by which it controls us.
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From a Talk about Inner Work 9/30/12

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Question: Should we speak about the crisis, about existing problems, and about negative things when we establish the perception of the social system that is scientifically based, or should we speak only about things that positively influence society?

Answer: On the whole, yes. But we assume that society feels the need to move to the other state.

According to the law of development we see that currently there are certain features and negative attributes in the system that do not allow it to go on functioning positively and to provide itself with everything that it needs. It suddenly discovers that what it needs most slips away and so it needs a change.

So there must be a negative factor here. We simply shouldn’t make it three times greater than it is and bring it to extremes, but on the whole it has to be felt in the system as something that summons a new revolutionary approach.

We also notice this in plants and in animals, in the development of every organism. We move from one state to another only when we are forced to do so because the previous state or the current state seem flawed or that it came to an end and cannot continue to fill us with knowledge, food, or with everything that we need.

In any case, the movement can only be by negating the current state and moving on to a better state.

We don’t develop negative states; we don’t live in negativity. There are societies in which people constantly experience their negative states. We don’t pay attention to them.

Our only motion is forward, only toward the positive side. It isn’t an escape from the previous negative state, but highlighting the positive future state and moving toward it.

We want people to understand that something bright, good, pleasant, and warm is waiting for them ahead, and we want to attract them to it.
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From KabTV’s “Integral World: Formula of an Integral Society” 7/1/12

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Question: When the Creator is revealed to a doctor, what will the doctor discover?

Answer: In other words, if a doctor wants to help people, will the science of Kabbalah help him to find causes of ailments, prevent diseases, and identify new possibilities for healing? No, the doctor will understand better the relationship of health issues and their complexity, but, in general, I cannot say that he will achieve any particular success. On the contrary, he will be the same as other doctors.

The Creator does not change the original action (Maase Beresheet). Many Kabbalists were involved in healing, at least partially or at the professional level, for example, the Rambam (Maimonides). This tendency can be explained by the fact that they knew the general order of things. Yet, they did not “see through” each patient and did not do “miracle cures.”

There is one problem: When a Kabbalist sees the world in which people suffer from ailments, is he able to heal them or should he ask the Creator? Should he, perhaps, encourage them to ask to be healed or to understand the root reason of the illness and pray for a correction that will cure, including the physical ailment?

You are looking for a special, spiritual medicine that will allow the curing of everyone and, thus, get around the Creator as if He sends evil and you bring good. However, more complex relationships are hidden here, and another work is revealed. In the end, a doctor will remain a doctor, and spiritual attainment will barely affect his profession.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: It isn’t enough just to know that everything comes to me from the Creator. After all, in such a case, I may be enjoying this “picture,” without asking any questions. On the other hand, if I have a question, I overcome all the obstacles since I look for an answer.

Answer: That’s right. A person must check himself constantly.

Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article, “Concealment and Disclosure of the Face of the Creator”: One prays and gives charity for one’s troubles, but is not answered whatsoever…

A person checks himself and sees that he doesn’t succeed in anything. However, he is still connected to the Creator since otherwise he wouldn’t pray to Him and give charity.

And precisely when one stops praying for one’s troubles, one is answered. Whenever he overcomes, believes in Providence, and betters his deeds, luck turns away from him and he mercilessly falls back.

A person can make serious inquiries, try to do everything the right way, and see the opposite results. This state is called “double concealment.”

And when he denies and begins to worsen his deeds, he becomes very successful and is greatly relieved. One does not find one’s sustenance in proper manners.

A person can advance in devious ways and be around successful criminals. Then, the good environment seems like a poor, stupid, deprived environment.

When Providence arranges things in this manner for a person, it is called “concealment within concealment.”

However, he understands this and is aware of what is going on. So, after all the inquiries and the attempts, a person, himself, determines clearly and accurately which concealment he is in with regard to the Creator: whether it is a single concealment or a double concealment.

We must do that every minute and in every situation. It is possible. Baal HaSulam gives us clear instructions as to how to arrive to the real state, to the real connection with the Creator.

When Providence arranges things in this manner for a person, it is called “concealment within concealment.” This is because then one collapses under one’s weight and cannot continue to strengthen the belief that one’s pains come from the Creator for some hidden reason. Finally, one fails, becomes heretic, and says that the Creator is not watching over His creations whatsoever.

This isn’t even double concealment since the Creator is totally absent from the picture of the world.

And all that transpires, transpires by fate and by blind nature. This is not seeing even the back.

Therefore, the moment I wake up, I immediately begin to check myself and the state I am in. Clearly, one can say a couple of blessings automatically or sing a song, but, on the whole, the scale should not be the tunes or the blessings other people have composed, but my own.

Thus, I gradually understand that, eventually, everything depends on the influence of the environment. Then, I discover that I must submit myself to the environment because this is what pulls me forward through the double concealment and the single concealment toward the revelation of the Creator. Only self-submission before the group brings me the Light that Reforms.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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No matter what happens in my life, I must understand that it all comes from the upper force that undoubtedly controls everything. But so far it isn’t revealed to me that way, but in concealment, and so I suffer.
The Creator is good and benevolent, but He is revealed to me after going through a “filter” that turns all the good into something bad and unpleasant. I call the thickness of this “filter” “single concealment.” In addition, the Creator can place another “filter” and send me to a “double concealment,” which is much worse.

So how can I get rid of the veil that turns the goodness of the Creator into evil? To do this I ask: “Correct me! But not so that I will get rid of the unpleasant feelings, on the contrary, they help me, and spur me. Without them I wouldn’t even think about something else. They focus me on You, on the source of something that seems bad. Therefore, I am asking for help in order not to feel that something bad stems from You.

I don’t want to be behind the “filter,” but in front of it, in direct contact with you. Not in order to feel good, but in order to know you better. I want to bless you, but now because I have no choice, I curse you. My body screams because of that; “I feel bad and I curse the source of evil. But You gave me the feeling that the evil stems from You. You are playing with me by using hints, half revealed and half concealed. But I don’t want to curse You anymore.”

Question: Where is the group here? I can also ask for all that without the group.

Answer: Try. If you start, you will be confused and you will discover that the true plea is only possible in the group. There you are protected from making mistakes; there you really turn to the Creator for correction despite your good and evil desires. Eventually the group allows you to see clearly what to ask for, what it is that you actually want and whom it is that you actually turn to. That’s the whole idea.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Why don’t I keep the Creator in mind at all times?

Answer: You don’t remember the Creator because you don’t need Him. When you need someone, you keep thinking about them. Our ego easily does this.

Question: To what extent should it break me to make me actually remember Him? No matter what I do, nothing at all helps.

Answer: That’s not true. There is always a chance to add efforts to unite or to take care of friends in the group. I am talking about internal exertions here, the ones that do not depend on how busy one is or how much physical energy one has. Here is a sensitivity: We need to constantly try not to distance ourselves from the friends, keeping them in mind and disclosing our own future through them.

Question: At the congress we had an environment conducive to our internal work. We were given a taste from Above and now all that is left is for us to imprint it in our minds.

Answer: Isn’t it enough to wake you up?

Question: No, not at all, since we succumb to our desires.

Answer: Really? Now, you still remember the state you were in and feel a little sorry that it is gone. So, can you make yourself take certain actions? Can’t you obligate each other to enter into a union and begin mutual guarantee?

What will happen if you don’t? You should try. Then, you’ll see that you are helpless and will realize that you need the Creator to be your partner.

Demand Him! It was only after Moses reached the bottom that the Creator told him, “Let’s go to Pharaoh.”

Moses grew up in the Pharaoh’s house, was brought up there, he was a beloved prince; he was very successful through his strong egoism.

Now, he wants something opposite to it. He acts as if he doesn’t even know his grandfather and approaches him as if they were complete strangers, “We have nothing in common. You are the Pharaoh, and I relate to you as the Pharaoh, not as my grandfather.”

Question: But, the desire rejects such an approach. Even if we realize that we require a third factor, the desire won’t let us appeal to it.

Answer: Make a few more efforts, and you’ll discover that you really need the Creator. At this point, you don’t feel a necessity for Him; you don’t believe that He is capable of helping you, that He exists and has governance over everything there is, that He arranges everything in your life, that He hardened the heart of Pharaoh. You don’t connect one with the other.

Question: How can we fill this gap when our mind understands, but our desire still strives for a completely different thing?

Answer: Only your experience with this work with persistency and consistency will help you. If you are desperate, it is ready to go; if you can afford to sit and do nothing—primarily in your mind and heart—turn to your friends for help. Find someone who is still alive and hot, those who are ready to come to the rescue. Seek your guiding point, Moses, who is connected to the Creator.

Nothing can be done; it’s impossible to go against desires. However, we have to mobilize such a force and means which seem to support the desire, but in the way of turning into its opposite.

Question: How do we do that? Theoretically, it is very clear, but in reality?

Answer: There is not enough clarity. We must continue to work to destroy our desire, to break the desire. Why would we even want to break a wall? When bashing against the wall, you will suddenly become smarter, and you will understand how to approach the Creator and ask Him to help you.

Rest assured that He will destroy the resistance, although, at this point, you are not referring to Him, nor do you understand how important it is, even though you apply certain efforts to unite with your friends. So far, your losses are not big enough to make you scream to Him.

Instead, you step aside as if you have poorly invested a hundred dollars, and even though you are not happy about your loss, you still are ready to lose this much money. What would you feel if you had invested everything you have, all your property? Then, you wouldn’t be able to step back and would do everything in your power to regain success.

It’s not about quantity, but quality. Suddenly, after you knocked on your friends’ hearts and made every possible effort to connect with them, you find out that you cannot continue your exertions any longer. And yet you go on more and more, and when it’s really unnerving, in this very point, you reveal the Creator: “Now I demand for Him to connect us. I already feel the overall system and the evil inclination, mutual hatred. And there I want to reveal the Creator. I can see Him; he arranges it all, it is He who deliberately hardened the heart of Pharaoh. And now I will oblige Him to act.”

Even if you understand what I’ve just said, you still won’t be able to oblige Him right away. It’s essential that you line up your desires and intentions in a more or less correct order. The Creator wishes you good, doesn’t He? However, He needs a complete vessel full of corrected desires.

Question: Does it mean that I just have to keep hitting the same point over and over again?

Answer: It’s not that simple, the point that you are pursuing constantly varies. Each time it’s a little bit different, more profound, more interconnected with all the other points. After all, you are constantly advancing.

Question: What do I do with the harm that I bring to my friends while I pursue my path?

Answer: You only bring good to them since you try adding something that is above your desires to the unity. So, why do you call it harm?

Question: It’s because, in my thoughts, I don’t take care of my friends continuously throughout the day.

Answer: It happens this way because the Creator intentionally brings up all sorts of obstacles on your way. It’s He who hardens your heart, the Pharaoh’s heart, although you still apply effort on top of it, like Moses who disagrees with the Pharaoh. It’s your effort, whereas the hardening of the group’s heart comes from the Creator. So, why are you upset? Everything is fine!

Question: I know that I must give my friends much more, but I can’t.

Answer: Everything—including the Pharaoh (the evil inclination), hatred among friends, and the group with the potential to love in the future—is the Creator. He presents Himself in various shapes to attract you and make you connect with Him.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/25/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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