Question: Today the crisis has reached all corners of the world and no one sees a solution to it. Why don’t we examine the economic system analogously to our system of upbringing, and offer it to the world?

Answer: We can provide a wonderful description of the economy in the period of the final correction: a balanced society, consumption within the boundaries of reasonable necessity, conservation of nature and man, the sole development of projects that save time and energy and benefit people’s health…. All of this is logical and is easy to put in writing if you are not writing about egoistic gratification, but basic necessity, the harmony between us and nature.

But how can we transition to this stage? How can we explain it to the modern tycoons who are essentially the ones to decide the fate of the world? They manipulate governments which in turn manipulate people. So how can we present this final goal to them? How can we tell them about the phases on the path to it? They will ask: “What will be left for us?” And what will we tell them in response?

“You will receive exactly the same amount as a regular housewife, and your billions will be returned to nature’s needs in order to fix the mess you have made by proliferating excessive consumption in the world. And beyond that you will enjoy internally, spiritually. You will no longer be ‘the top roosters in the pen,’ proudly parading around the perches. You will mature and this will cease giving you pleasure.” You will be fulfilled by the attainment of a higher level.” On the contrary, it will evoke scorn.

Will you be able to explain all of that to a tycoon so he will be enticed by the idea of eternal, perfect life, so he will want to enter the eternity of nature itself, join it, and reveal a higher level of existence in it?… “You will live there like a respectable tycoon. Even when your animate body dies, it is not really you at all. After all, you will become Human in the true, spiritual sense….”

This works only for refined individuals, yet others just might understand it right away. That is why today we are disseminating the force of mutual guarantee to the whole world, and we are not addressing the tycoons, but the people. “It’s worthwhile for us to get closer to one another so life gets better.” And in the meantime, with a view to the future, we inject Light into people, the force of unity. Once they are filled by this force, they begin to understand more and to agree with us, seeing real benefit in the mutual guarantee. That is how they advance.

The path to the heart is not through the mind. You can’t get your mind around this because the mind’s level corresponds to the level of the desire it serves. The mind can never rise above the desire. Deceived by illusions, we might look down on our animate being, but the mind seems like the pinnacle of creation to us. Yet in reality our mind is even lower than the animate desire, being a mere servant of it.

Therefore, the only opportunity we have is to change people’s desires, which can change only under the influence of the Light. This is what we have to provide for them. Your logical conclusions alone won’t help. People will not understand you and will think that you are simply an idiot or a mystic, or in the best case, a great guy dreaming about peace and love on the planet.

There is only one solution: to unite among ourselves and to give people the force of unity. Only this will raise them to a new level of understanding, perception, and agreement with us. Moreover, later, once they agree, they will see that it’s worthwhile for them to follow us because they can’t understand our message fully. By acquiring the force of unity, they will rise to a level where it will become clear that they have to hold on to us, as it is written in the Torah: They will “grab onto your clothes,” meaning the garment, the external vessels, and will say, “Take us there!”

Obviously, you are right in that we do have to talk a little about the economy, upbringing, and the world of the future so as not to push people away at the initial stage. But the most important thing is to transmit the force of unity to them. This is dissemination. In the Introduction to Panim Meirot UMasbirot, Baal HaSulam writes that when the sons of Israel become filled with this force of unity, it will spill from them to everyone else. We have to be ready to receive this force and then it really will spill over to people, who will be receptive to the influence of the Light of Hassadim, giving themselves over to it wholeheartedly.
[56659]
From the lesson on 10/24/11

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Question: What is cancellation before the teacher?

Answer: It is cancellation relative to what the teacher explains, the message that he conveys. You may be able to discover this in a book, but he conveys this to you in a more lively manner. Theoretically, you can study without a teacher, but this is extremely difficult. You still have to awaken the soul that precedes you in the hierarchy, but if it is not next to you in some material embodiment, this is much more difficult.

The teacher is a whole system, rather than a “person.” This is a system that transmits the method, teaching, the Light to you, produces difficulties and problems in you, and works on you and your friends. This is the job of a guide who cares about the group and awakens in them desires and spiritual needs, who confuses and thus stimulates them to come to the solution sooner. But he should not rob them of the freedom of choice and turn them into blind admirers or hasidim; this is the most important.

The teacher should reveal himself before you and present himself in a way that you would not obey him fully and disappear before him. He should leave you room for your own efforts, keeping you in constant doubts about him, in the feeling of rejection, disregard, and darkness. Otherwise, it would be just worship, and you will not have a request to the Creator.

The teacher opens you to knowledge, but does not reveal himself. He shows you just the opposite to give you the opportunity to ask the Creator.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Is the understanding that we are part of the general integral system and should make every effort to take care of it considered the first step into the spiritual world?

Answer: Yes, it is. As much as possible, we should disseminate the knowledge of it and the inner basis, the support for this view. In other words, working with people, we employ two channels: on the one side, studies and information, and on the other, education and upbringing.

A person should know the system in which he or she exists. Similarly, children should be taught about the laws of the country and the work of various government agencies. The most important thing for a child is to understand in what world he lives. Thus, humanity should be collectively taught integral laws, to bring it closer to the real case.

Then people will understand the principle of the global system in which we find ourselves and will be able to accept the new principles that we should adopt. Their implementation should be desirable to me so that I happily agree to the impact of the environment that will “operate” on me. I am ready for anesthesia in order to wake up refreshed again and again. Time after time, I will discover the new forces of bestowal in me, and thus, I will be included in the integral world.

Alone, I am not capable of anything. The only thing that I can do is to want to be cured, like a patient who is admitted to a hospital to be healed. He doesn’t know the healing process, and everything else except for his consent doesn’t depend on him. So, I turn to the environment to help me, ready to trust it: “Produce changes in me.”

In principle, this is my job. It is not difficult. I need only not to waste myself on those areas in which I will not succeed on my own. There is no need to enter the system, where strict laws act. I have no chance to learn its gears. Only one thing is required of me: to want and to give the environment an opportunity to bring me into motion so that my gear starts turning as necessary. More precisely, my mind and feelings should coincide with its rotation because it turns correctly. I only reveal what is already there.
[56235]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Question: I googled this question: “Why do married Orthodox Jewish women cover their hair?” This is what I found:

“According to The Zohar and Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, the woman is considered Malchut, or the “vessel.” The man is considered Zeir Unpin, or the “drawer of Light and energy.” When a Jewish man and woman marry, their Neshamot (souls) become one and they create a complete system. Universally speaking, the man draws the light down from the universe, and the woman is the vessel in which this Light goes—for her, her husband, and any children they have together.

How does she manage this energy? Through her hair. A woman’s hair on her head (and a man’s hair on his beard and certain parts of his head) act as conduits for this Light and energy. By covering the hair on her head a woman is managing this energy, containing it, and essentially “saving” it for her family. When she does not cover her hair, this energy can escape or become unmanageable bringing challenges to her and her family.”

Is this something that exists in authentic Kabbalah, and if it does, can you please explain what it actually means? Does a woman need to cover her hair? And if so, where can I read about this in the texts?

I thought that we shouldn’t associate our true self with our body because it was just matter? So what’s the reason for these “weird” rules about dead skin cells?

Answer: Unfortunately, the books are written by people uneducated in Kabbalah, and that is why they understand Kabbalistic texts literary, as if they talk about people in our world, and not the souls. It refers only to the desire, the only thing that was created, and its correction by way of the screen or intention.
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Question: Isn’t it possible that the global, integral system is egoistic? Why does globalization reveal to us specifically the system of bestowal?

Answer: If we depend on each other, we can’t help but to be considerate of each other. And egoism is namely my indifference to everyone but myself. Today I discover that I exist in a system of cogwheels, and my negative influence over others comes back to me. Therefore, I must consider the interests of others as my own.

This is mutual bestowal—a very simple, egoistic altruism. We don’t speak with people about faith above reason, but we use facts from this world: “You see it for yourself that all of us are dependent on each other. In the general mechanism, all evil indeed returns like a boomerang. This implies that there is no other choice, and everyone must influence in a positive way in order to receive positive feedback.” What isn’t clear here? What’s more, if we are in danger, the connection between us becomes even closer.

From this we reach an obvious conclusion: Our ego disturbs us. If we were connected above our ego, absolutely and in a nice way, then the system would be ideal. We would reach a state where we would never receive anything negative from any place. All the cogwheels would turn as they should: I relate positively to everyone, with all my soul, and in response, I receive only good from them.

So, does it mean that we need to reach some unrealistic situation where everyone goes around with good desires for each other, like ants in an anthill? After all, they work together instinctively. Must we connect in this way against our ego? Is that possible? It seems that this will happen only on condition that the crisis, which in the meantime gets worse, will oblige us to reach specifically this: a mutual, complete connection in spite of all our hatred, envy, and rejection. But from where will we get this strength?

Let’s begin the advancement to a state of connection between us, let’s sign a “declaration of intentions” that we, nevertheless, want to be connected to some extent. Let us first sweeten the situation a little.

If this is the case, we will need to think of how we need to operate systems of connection between us: education, matrimony, social relationships, relations to nature, and especially the financial-economic system. We must reach a certain degree of social justice, of a balanced economy and to decrease the gap between different sectors of society. We will need to consider others as we do ourselves at least a little bit.

Let’s say, I will always give a part of what I take for myself to others. Let’s say everyone would pay a tithe, and then afterwards the money from the tithe would be divided between everyone, according to their situation. This won’t be like Social Security, which at times grants allowances regardless of one’s real income. No, we would all pay and then divide it according to the income of each and every one so as to somehow bridge social gaps between us.

Every big thing is done in stages, and it needs to start with realistic, simple steps, to be followed, of course, by additional ones.
[56226]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Question: Our New York group went to Wall Street today to feel the mood and the desires of the demonstrators. What we heard from them was very similar to our message. We sang together our song “Who Wants Change?” How can we convey the idea of mutual guarantee to them?

Answer: There is a lot of work before you now. First you have to build a website and give its address to the protesters. It should be on this site and not on the street that you start a big, true debate about the relevant issues. You should lead people to the virtual court, in which they will discuss the issues related to our message.

The processes in the U.S. are accelerating, and we have to organize the preliminary stages of our work as soon as possible. There is no doubt that we are actually starting to work globally now. Each group will operate at its own pace, according to the local conditions, but in the next few months, we will eventually all be part of this.

As a result, we will understand, feel, and connect to the internal, spiritual system. We already begin to see it as the end result of the process: the ascent to the last degree, the revelation of the Creator to the created beings, the revelation of the attribute of bestowal, the system of bestowal in which we participate in practice. The people perform external actions in it, and we join them with internal actions. It is all before us.
[56232]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Question: How do you see The Study of the Ten Sefirot? To me, it seems like something totally abstract. How could someone write it?

Answer: You are right. When I first came to Kabbalah and saw that it uses incomprehensible terms to describe some unclear interrelationships between who knows what, I didn’t understand what kind of wisdom, belief system, or religion it is. It was simply very strange, just like reading about something that is totally unfamiliar, just like finding a diary of total strangers.

Then, for a long while, I read and studied it by heart and tried to make sense of it. Thanks to the close relationship with my teacher and my dissemination activities, I began to understand that by studying the totally unfamiliar ties between unfamiliar objects, I evoke their influence upon me. By the way, this is quite ordinary in our world: We begin to deal with something that is totally unfamiliar to us, we learn about it, and it becomes clear to us.

After several years of studying, the same thing happened to me: I began to feel much more clearly that I exist in some network of connections between people. They were certainly not among the bodies, but rather among their essences, among their desires and their thoughts. Everyone is part of this network: those who lived in this world, are living in it now, and haven’t been born into it yet, and they exist there as equals, regardless of their physical bodies.

Everything I learned in the wisdom of Kabbalah turned into the explanation of these ties, from the strongest to the most broken ones. It explained the conditions under which these ties improve, what the quality of the ties depends on, the limitations on our deeds, and more. This perception was very theoretical, in the form of the network of connections between the “self” of every individual. By the way, I wrote about this network created by the upper force, upon which all the worlds including ours rest, in my first Kabbalah book in 1983.

The more you exert yourself so that the network between your “self” and everyone else’s “self” is revealed, the stronger is the influence of this network that you evoke upon yourself (the Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms, the Light of the Torah), and this network, the mutual connections of all of creation, becomes clearer and clearer to you. Thus, our world grows pale in contrast to the upper network of forces that determines everything.

Afterwards, it becomes quite clear which of your efforts (desires) evoke certain reactions in the network. Thus a conscious movement begins (conscious actions) through the correct inclusion (bestowal) in the network.

By attaining this network (the spiritual world, these ties), we begin to attain the entire development of our world: to draw closer towards this network and reveal the self (the Creator) in it. We begin to understand the reasons for the global crisis and its solution in order to hasten our inclusion in the network—in the upper world, in the attributes of love and bestowal that reign there.
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Question: What helps a person nullify himself?

Answer: Most importantly, a person shouldn’t be too self-confident and self-reliant because all of his desires, strength, and thoughts, all that there is within him is always opposite to bestowal and to the upper one. A person’s main weakness is his mind because it prevents him from overcoming his ego and nullifying himself. There is noting else but this.

Our desires to receive are not suitable for the spiritual world. You can only nullify them before the upper one. Thanks to this annulment, you will obtain His desires.

Within the desires of the upper one you begin to nullify yourself in relation to others and thereby obtain all of their desires. On the account of bestowing to them, you connect the whole Malchut of the world of Infinity to yourself.

One might ask: “When do I finally start receiving?” However, there is no such thing as receiving in the spiritual world. Reception does not exist there, only bestowal! Even when you receive, it essentially happens in the form of bestowal. In spiritual reality, the form of reception simply does not exist.

It’s just as in our world we only know how to receive and don’t understand what bestowal is. Each moment of my life I think of, live in, and subsist only on reception. Whereas in the spiritual reality, there is only bestowal and no reception. Even when you receive, you don’t make any calculations, but think only about how much you can turn this into bestowal.

In the spiritual world the word “receiving” has a completely different meaning than in our world. In our world I know I will receive pleasure and it will remain in me. I am the final stop of this pleasure. However, in spirituality I simply pass the pleasure on.
[56218]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/2011, “Pticha”

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Question: What does “merging with the group” feel like? How and where do we sense this?

Answer: Imagine that you are not looking at people, but rather at the internal configuration of connection that exists between them, at the force that works between them. You are trying to penetrate through them into this force and connect with it. When you reveal this force between them, you indeed reveal the Creator there.

This common force that connects them all is the Light or the Creator. You have to reach it. Your egoistic attitude towards yourself, your rejection of the environment, distances you from this force, from the Creator. As soon as you break this outer layer, you connect with the Creator. He always exists within the group.
[56081]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 9/25/2011

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Question: Man got used to exploiting the environment for his own benefit. Even when we speak about social justice, many see it as an opportunity to grab something for themselves.…

Answer: Therefore, education must come before anything else, as the first necessary condition. Man needs to be brought up differently and should be taught about the system we live in.

For instance, we are familiar with the realities of our world. I know what a bank is, what work is, what a medical clinic is; I know about pension funds, social security, roads, traffic lights, police, and the government. But a baby doesn’t know all that yet, and so we teach him how to live in this world.

In exact same manner we now have to teach humanity how to live in the new, integral world. The egoistic mechanisms will gradually stop working. We will soon see that the power of receiving doesn’t lead to anything. We see that even people who have a lot of money don’t know what will happen with the economy in the near future. Soon they will find out that they have a lot of power, but they can’t do anything. Everything disappears, everything is lost, everything breaks down, falls apart, and stops working. No system will work except for the system of bestowal, which we will have to establish.

Question: This may happen in a year or two, but I have problems now….

Answer: So start acting now. Do you want to have a good life? Pay for it with bestowal upon others. This is your work, which is called “the Creator’s work.” We are about to see a world in which we will not be able to provide for ourselves by using the power of egoism, but only by the power of bestowal. If you bestow upon others, upon society, you will be able to receive food, clothing, and other necessities from society. But it won’t happen if you don’t bestow. This is because the new world is dominated by the altruistic power.

Question: How will people shift to the new paradigm?

Answer: By the blows. It was Pharaoh who brought the children of Israel to the Creator. Haman caused the Jews to finally escape the Babylonian exile and return to the Land of Israel, and the King supported him. It is impossible to advance if the ego isn’t revealed to us as the evil force, as our enemy.

Eventually, nature’s blows and the positive influence from our part, circulation, will bring about the change. People cannot change instantly and agree with us. Their desire is opposite to bestowal. The principle of “love thy neighbor” seems childish to them. They don’t understand yet that it the basis for everything, that it is the correction of the soul. The evil of their egoism hasn’t been revealed to them yet.

They will be able to feel it after many blows, until Pharaoh will finally admit: “I’m sinful, and the Creator is righteous.” He didn’t think so before. But then you will realize that everything is because of you, because you are corrupted, not the surrounding nature, or a neighbor, or anybody else. Then you will feel the need for correction, and it will come. In your search for a method, you will find us and ask us to teach you.

But we don’t want you to suffer and so we disseminate the method in advance, although it spurs hatred in you. This is how we help the world.
[56040]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/2011, “The Nation”

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