Question: What more can I do if I feel I’m unable to ask for correction or to inspire my friends?

Answer: Every morning you wake up to go to work in order to sustain your living. You don’t question whether to go or not because you understand that without working you can’t survive.

Why do you question the spiritual work or think that you can get by without it?

The state where you think that you can live without working for spirituality and feel too lazy to put in any effort, thinking that you’ll advance anyway, is given to you purposefully because therein lies your freedom of will.

In your corporeal life, you can’t be lazy because no one will give you free bread. You are forced to earn a living and put in the effort. Don’t you think that the same principle applies to your spiritual life?

You work eight hours a day in order to sustain your corporeal body, but how many hours did you spend working for your soul in order to fulfill it and provide it with spiritual food?

If you don’t do this, then you’ll remain on the level of your corporeal body. If you don’t know what to do, it is said: “Do all that’s in your power!”
[65045]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/12, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Question: What should I cling to during the reading of The Book of Zohar, to the group, the Creator, or Rabbi Shimon?

Answer: There is no Rabbi Shimon, no Creator, no group, no Light—nothing. There is an inner impression of a person who is divided into such terms.

I do not know what exists outside of me. I just know that there is something called “I,” and I do not know what it is. And this “I” is impressed by something. I do not know what impresses it either.

Thus, I am in a certain state called “my reality.” I need to investigate this reality now: Who I am and what do I feel? The science of Kabbalah talks about this: how to reveal this state.

We begin from here. This is called to “grasp the meaning of life.” We are talking not about our life on earth for several decades, but about attaining the very essence of reality in which I and what I feel are namely this presence in my first realization: “I” and “feel.”

The entire science of Kabbalah is intended for a person to reveal the true reality—what happens to you when you get a sense of what it is, what this imaginary world that you see presents, and in general, the entire reality, life and death, good and bad impressions.

Why do they come? In order for you to begin to form yourself: who you are, what you feel, how and so on—until you begin to discover the point of stability from which you will be able to watch and start to organize the whole reality. This is what the science of Kabbalah is.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, The Zohar

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Question: Behavioral psychology speaks of a so-called “triangle of mutual understanding.” Two of its angles represent communication and empathy, and the third is a shared reality. In the integral upbringing, communication is conducted in a circle. From the point of view of behavioral psychology, it is assumed that in the process of growing mutual understanding, empathy increases too. Now a question arises: Is a shared reality that very integrality?

Answer: We must exist within it. Not inside ourselves, but outside of the self, within this shared reality that we create because this is precisely what objective reality is. Everything that exists inside of me is subjective, that is to say, pure lies. I lie to myself about building my own self. That world is absolutely unreal, invented by me.

Sometimes I am talking to someone and wonder about how differently we perceive the world. I am speaking about one thing, and he sees a completely different picture and talks about something else. And he is absolutely sincere, just like me, because each of us is coming from our own sensations.

Thus, it is necessary to rise higher, into the common desire, the common mind, the common heart and brain, and to observe the world from within the collective image of man that represents the totality of all of us. Then we will see the world as entirely different: not individualized, not distorted by our intrinsic, inner qualities.

If as many people as possible would gather into the common system of “man” (the joint image of man), then naturally, we will see a completely different picture of the world, universe, and ourselves. And it will be enormously different from what we see today. After all, the picture of the world depends on subjective perception, and psychologists know this very well.

We only need to show that if you take your inner desires and properties and compare them to others, that is, to the emerging collective image of man as a single whole, then from within it you will start to observe a truly different world.

You rise above yourself and distance yourself from your body, from your personal qualities so much that the body is no longer important to you. As we see from experience, it is very likely that it will start to be perceived as something foreign, like an animal that exists near you. When you enter that collective image of man, you see your body existing on an animate level. And the generalized image of man belongs to the human level.
[64446]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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Question: There is a person’s inner psychological world, but there is also a more external, social level that includes a family and interactions with loved ones. If a person exists within this integral system, does he perceive everyone as if they are his loved ones?

Answer: The sensation of “animal closeness,” the so-called closeness of blood kinship, completely disappears. All people become equally close. And with that we erase absolutely all boundaries.

I am not talking about parents and their children—those ties are very tight, but even they already manifest differently. We literally observe that in our experience.

We see that in today’s world the basic natural connections are breaking down; they are no longer as tight as they were before. Parents give their children away for other families to raise, abandon them. Children leave their parents too soon, they don’t feel a special connection with them. The connection between generations is disappearing.

It is as if nature itself pushes us toward this state from within so we would perceive everyone the same way. Naturally, our upbringing elevates a person above the animal connection.

By “animal connection” I mean a physical one. After all, by birth we belong to the animate degree. And the human level is a collective, generalized level in which we unite in a single desire and mutual ascent above our innate qualities.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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People who have spiritual attainment know the laws of the universe and understand the nature of the masses. They not only have knowledge, but also experience of their own development, which also began from the lower, inanimate level. They have gone through inner corrections and have learned empathy, concessions, love. They have acquired the necessary “toolkit” to take care of the masses. They always act for the good of the people rather than for their own benefit because they live in a different, spiritual nature.

Question: What is their care for the world aimed at?

Answer: They want to “raise a lad in his own way.” In his own way, but to raise him, meaning to gradually cause him to advance by means of studying, explanations, and examples rather than by suffering. These sages carry out the main work, attracting the Light, while the masses receive the benefit from it.

Today the masses suffer: some are left without jobs, some are hungry, some have bad health, problems with their families, children, and so on. In the meantime, the sages attract the Light that reforms and teach people on a simple, accessible level, enabling the Light to flow to the masses and correct them.

As a result, people receive the Lights of Nefesh and Ruach, while the Lights of Neshama, Haya, and Yechida remain with the sages at their higher degrees, according to the reverse order of the Lights and vessels.

Thus, the masses receive fulfillment which precisely corresponds to their desires. People want good children, well-being in their families, a sure pension, health, activities, a good household, a pleasant vacation, safety, etc. They don’t have desires of a different level, and they don’t need them either.

Only later, as part of the general process, will the masses begin to join the sages, and then a mutual inclusion will occur. But again, it will be passive on the masses’ end.

Thus, the great ones descend for the sake of serving the people, but they don’t descend on the inside. Precisely their high degree allows them to pull the masses up, level by level.

Question: Doesn’t this entail a danger of unwillingly causing harm?

Answer: Can a loving mother harm her baby? After all, we don’t attach a policeman to every mother. This is a mother’s nature: to take care of the baby. And the mom doesn’t just take care of the baby, but is imbued by his desires. So can she harm him? All her thoughts are focused on what will give him pleasure, what will benefit him. What formula, temperature in the room, water bottle—a mother does not disconnect from this wave of love even for a moment.

Similarly, the upper one does not have his own desires. He receives desires from the lower one and works on them. Love obligates him to do what is good for the one he loves. I can love either him or myself. If I love the neighbor, then I ascend above self-love, and then I use everything I have to serve him, leaving only the necessities for myself.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/12, “The Freedom”

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Question: The idea of self-fulfillment isn’t prominent enough in our message. When a person hears about connection, he is afraid to lose his “self”.…

Answer: On the contrary, today a person is enslaved to the modern destructive environment, and on this background, we offer very sensible things: Let’s work according to every individual’s abilities and provide every person with the normal basic necessities. Then we will not have to waste our resources on wars, conflicts, and credit bubbles. Besides, we will finally have some free time.

It is true that there is a problem here: What are we going to do with the spare time we will suddenly have? How will we fulfill ourselves?

But just a minute, how exactly do we fulfill ourselves today? Is it at work where we grind away ten hours a day for the landlord? On the contrary, when a person has free time, he will be able to finally reach self-fulfillment and to fulfill the human in him.

Today, because of the distorted habits we’ve acquired, we don’t know what to do with our spare time. We are simply programmed like robots: After working for many hours sitting in front of the computer, we come back home and sit down…in front of another computer. Look at how cunningly society has implanted the program of slavery in us. I eat what everyone eats, I sleep when everyone sleeps, I do what everyone does, and this is—my “free” life.

Do you think that there is no life without filling the egoistic desires? How can you get up in the morning and not chase another portion of pleasure?

But who told you that you wouldn’t be able to do that in the new society? Run, do whatever you feel like, just don’t use your ego.

The moment we understand that the ego is destructive and that it leads us to ruin, to a collision with nature—what will we have left? We will only have to balance it.

Today it is burning in you in the wrong way. You get up in the morning and you think about how you will “fix” others today, how you will use them in your favor. But you can use your desire differently, without hurting anyone. If you don’t intend to harm others, if you think positively—it isn’t egoism in its present form anymore.

Here we come to the communist view. The Soviet Union gave communism a bad name; they used it as a cover up for its unsuccessful attempt to build a new society. Still, communism in its true meaning is the best and most advanced social structure.

“But what will I do with my communist freedom,” you ask? “What will I ten hours a day?” By this you already admit that now you are a slave. After all, only a slave doesn’t know what to do if the master doesn’t tell him anything.

We actually want you to have all this free time, so that you will be able to create the human form in you. And you are saying: “I don’t want to! What is this is self-fulfillment? I understand if you tell me to run to work in the morning”—and so the merry-go-round of work days and evenings in front of the screen go by, until life is over. This is understood. You have gotten used to this slavery.

But a free society will intentionally leave you with spare time and tell you: “Give your body all that it needs and beyond that—build the human in you.”

The term “human” is love of others, and you don’t want to raise that in you. During all the time that you could devote to that—you are busy destroying the world. After all, beyond the basic necessities, most of our resources are spent on ammunition and other destructive “toys.”

Marx, the founder of communism, understood this. He was a true scholar, an economist, and he had a deep understanding of the system. We, unfortunately, don’t understand him. Eventually, however, even the bad example of the Soviet Union will help us acknowledge the good in it. People are beginning to understand now that the whole story of the “victory of capitalism” is not that simple.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, “The Freedom”

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Question: Where does the freedom of will lie?

Answer: A person in our world has no free will. He is born in an already completed state and develops the innate qualities with which he was born and which he did not choose himself under the influence of the environment. Neither his inner parameters nor the external ones that influence him are not chosen by him, and that is why there is no freedom in that.

The freedom exists only in selecting a specific environment so that it would shape me to be the way that I want to be. I choose my environment in accordance with the kind of individual that I wish to become.

There is a problem here too: On what basis do I think that precisely this environment suits me and not another? Basically, there are still many more internal clarifications here until a person develops fully and understand what he needs. In principle, one understands it in his heart, he senses it: Where exactly is my freedom of will. And this isn’t easy. But we must bring practically every single person to this state.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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Question: I know from experience that a person is prepared to study if you explain to him why that’s needed. So why does he need a course on the evolution of egoism?

Answer: From this course he will learn not only the beginning, but also the end of this whole chain. He will feel himself existing within it. He will see where all of this is headed. On the basis of that he could make correct decisions regarding all his personal states.

Comment: Let’s say I learn how the planets got formed. How is this related to my life?

Answer: It’s a part of an overall worldview that slightly raises a person above his animal part. When he turns to look back a few billion years, and when he looks forward to tens or maybe even hundreds of years ahead, he begins to see this practically endless axis of time within which he exists at this moment—a small, weak, and dependent element. And from here a question arises in him: “Who am I?”

When he sees his pitiful condition upon this axis, it will be possible to start raising him above it into a new state where he will feel: “All of this is below me, I can be in control of it all, I am actually on a higher level and can exit the boundaries of time, space, and history.” This is the beginning of that enlightenment that will appear within him.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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Question: Is it possible to give the notion of religion a modern definition? After all, soccer and basketball today captivate people the same way.

Answer: No, that is not really religion after all. “Religion” is something that answers my questions about the meaning of life, about reward and punishment.

Suppose I live a regular life of seventy years from birth until death. Besides that, I ask questions about the cause and the outcome of my life, about my destiny. In other words, I wish to attain that what exists above me, something that cannot be revealed through regular sensations.

Soccer does not answer these questions. It only allows me to fill my seventy-year existence with something, along with other pleasures from food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge. However, I wish to rise above these things.

I understand that they are summoned to confuse and “deafen” me. I do not wish to go any deeper into this mire than my life’s necessities require. No matter what, I only use food, sex, family, money, respect, knowledge, envy, and passions in order to reveal the essence.

This is the kind of attitude that I must develop toward life. What should be important to me are cause, destiny, and consequence, not what lies beneath them.

Naturally, today we fulfill ourselves with corporeal pleasures in that segment between birth and death. This is why mass media shapes social opinion, even though who are they, in essence? What do they understand? We see the results of their actions with our own eyes. However, the public does not care who shapes their opinions. Let soccer do it.

Still, at least this is the lesser of the evils. Mass media lulls the masses and feeds them substitute goods. For example, the Internet is a real sedative with plenty of benefits. People would lose their minds without it, not being able to apply themselves. A person pounds the keyboard, chatting with virtual friends, and searches for nonsense on the net while the clock is ticking, and death comes nearer. Just imagine what we would do today without the Internet.

However, when a person rises to the level of questions about the meaning of life, he begins to research what this life is for. He wants to know why he started researching, why he is living, why he was given an opportunity for an analysis, who set this up, and what will the result be like. The person is not just curious; he is searching for purpose. All of this falls under the notion of “religion.”

This does not refer to philosophy or fantasies, but to the highest evaluation of our lives, an evaluation that takes place in vessels above our body. It is these vessels that we must develop, new vessels where it is really possible to study cause, destiny, and consequence.

All of this is programmed in me from the beginning. I am only given a small spark that I blow up to open myself up. How do I do that? I do it through a united environment, the group, which will drag me up from this world with its influence.

When I am among my friends, I gradually grow new vessels inside that are different from anything that I experience in our world. They do not stand against it; the world stays as it was. My animal body with its five senses does not change.

At the same time, I develop in a spiritual environment and manifest five new senses together with my friends. They are called KHB-ZON in the language of Kabbalah. I discover “religion” in them: the upper force as the origin, its program, and the purpose of this program.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Question: As part of the integral upbringing there will be a course in integral economy. What will it be about?

Answer: Today it’s clear to experts that we have to come to normal, healthy, balanced consumption, when each receives what he is entitled to and not more than that. We mustn’t allow luxuries on nature’s account and waste natural resources and its treasures.

Balance is the understanding of what a person needs in his world. Otherwise there will be a catastrophe and we, having no choice, will follow the same direction but in a bad way, without the understanding of what is going on.

If we follow this way, we should expect many disasters and wars that will bring us nowhere. They will only compel us to get wiser and to understand that we have to move over to the good side, in order to advance not by sufferings, but by connection and mutual guarantee, meaning by the reason. Actually, throughout history we’ve advanced by sufferings. Did it make us wiser in any way? Do we know how to advance? This means that it’s a long and very hard way.

On the other hand, following the good way, we use education and this is totally different. Thanks to education, you begin to understand what’s going on, you acquire tools that you can use, see how to act, and discover the laws of nature. Of course, the wisdom of Kabbalah should be part of this, otherwise where will we get the knowledge? Only the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about an integral world, and the integral world is the upper world.

We’ve ended development on the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. Then there is a borderline that separates us from the level of man. Everything below it belongs to reception and everything above it belongs to bestowal.

You don’t reach bestowal through sufferings. The difference between the animate level and that of man is in our consciousness, realization.

A person should understand where he is, meaning in which world, which system; he has to realize what nature is and then to reach the level of man. The difference between the animate in you and the man in you is in your consciousness, in your feeling and your mind. You have to acquire this addition.

Now we’re still part of the animate world, and we’re even more corrupt since everything we do harms us. Our whole life is made of different attempts to control each other and to harm one another. Thus we destroy ourselves, our health, all our lives, and the whole world.

From the side we seem rather strange, and only if we know the result of our development, will we be able to agree with the intermediate phases that we have to go through. So our consciousness separates man from beast. It says: “Know the God of thy father and worship Him.” We have to know the Creator, nature. This is the whole difference.

In his article “This Is for Judah,” Baal HaSulam wrote: “Thus, after all the inquiries and scrutiny, we find that the only need in man’s wishes, which does not exist in the whole of the animate species, is the awakening towards Godly Dvekut (adhesion). Only the human species is ready for it, and none other. It follows that the whole issue of presence in the human species is in that preparation imprinted in him to crave His work, and in that, he is superior to the beast.”

This is the only difference. In every other way, even if we differ from the animate world, it is only in the negative sense. What clever creature would ruin its home, as we do with our planet? What sensible creature would create such an economic system as we did? As for today, we have safes full of bills that have no backing. So today, in order to be saved from the troubles, we only need realization, change of consciousness.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/2011, “The Freedom”

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