Question: What do we need in order to explain to the world the cogwheel principle?

Answer: We all depend on each other one hundred percent. In different areas, it manifests in various degrees; however, any percentage except one hundred is a lie. Even if only one percent is visible, it means that the rest of the 99% are hidden inside.

One way or the other, our interdependence is absolute, even if it appears to the contrary. Wherever you look, we are linked with iron chains of mutual connection, and there is nowhere to run from it.

The more clearly it manifests, the louder humanity will cry. In truth, it means that you depend on your foes and rivals, on each and on all, and you don’t know what to do with it.

As in a family, a husband and wife discover hate between them and total dependence on each other. We are all inseparable; there is no place to go. Here is our small apartment, our children, our refrigerator, our assets. And on top of all this, we hate each other to death, and we even can’t die.

Such an unbearable predicament must be somehow softened, soothed. After all, this is what we call the birth of a new world, contractions before Messiah’s arrival.

We shouldn’t hope that, having realized what is happening, the world will know how to act. In the Writings of the Last Generation, Baal HaSulam writes that people will never understand it, and never will a foe agree with a foe. Hence, we see the importance of the circulation of Kabbalah and our unification as a model for all humanity.
[30806]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
The Virtual State Of Kabbalah
The Danger Of Head-On Opposition To Nature
Cherish The Moment

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

Question: Correction occurs within us, and the message expands from us. Today is the Unity Day, and on January 28, 2011 there will be conventions in Berlin and San Francisco. In the light of all this, what is our duty?

Answer: We have to discover that we are the cogwheels connected into a single mechanism called the “Worldwide Bnei Baruch Movement,” and that we are about to link with the whole world. Imagine how powerful our engine must be in order to “spin” everybody in one direction, with one intention, one pulling force, and in order for us to be able to connect the whole world to this “spinning momentum,” the movement toward oneness.

The force must be such that additional load wouldn’t stop us, but rather would add more power to it. And this is what we are aiming to achieve.
[30809]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
Always Renew The Intention
The Convention Will Revive Our Collective Soul

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

Question: What is my responsibility for the world? If during the day I haven’t succeeded in something, does it reflect on the world?

Answer: It certainly does. After all, you are a “cogwheel” in the common mechanism of creation. The Creator created the system where everyone is an egoist. This system is divided for you into 125 degrees or spiritual states: from complete separation from the others to an increasingly closer and tighter link of your cogwheel with the others, until all of you become one whole.

Besides, this is how it looks only to you; in reality, there aren’t multiple people but only Adam HaRishon. You are affected by the same laws that work on everybody else. Your will to receive (desire) is simply greater than that of the others. They are satisfied with “trifles,” while you wish to “consume” the spiritual world as well.

The point in the heart is not bestowal yet. On the contrary, the most “restless” desire of pleasures unfolds namely in spirituality. And only then, when this abyss opens up, a person is prepared for transformation.
[30819]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
Nowhere To Hide
If Something Is Wrong, It Is My Fault
Why Wait For The Blows?

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

Question: It is written: “Do not trust yourself until the day you die.” Then what does Arvut (mutual guarantee) mean if I can’t trust myself or the friends?

Answer: Obviously, I cannot trust myself. But this doesn’t refer to the friends. The group is not an assembly of people that just came to the lesson. The group is their inner unity between the souls.

The Creator created desire (the will to receive pleasure, Kli) regarded as “the world of Infinity,” where the souls reside. These souls are mutually connected into one collective system, one soul, filled with the Light of Infinity.

But this system is blocked from you by the concealing screen, a filter, through which you see it somewhat corrupted or broken. Within, it is perfect and filled with the Light of Infinity, but presently you see it as distorted. Further on, behind the next filter, it seems even more corrupted to you.

In total, from the first state, the world of Infinity, to the last one, our corporeal world, there are 125 such degrees or filters, concealments from the state of Infinity. Therefore, you look at the group with your corporeal vision and think: “Who are they, anyway? I am not lower than them! Are they really unified? No, they aren’t. Do they really wish to unite? No, they don’t. Do they truly understand something? Give me Rabbi Shimon’s group; there, I will agree to be a baby in their arms! And these… Who are they to me?..”

But this is incorrect. Everything is determined by your attitude to the friends. If a person “penetrates” through them, wishing to connect, not with what these corporeal bodies, which are in concealment, represent and understand, but rather treats them as the group that resides in Infinity in complete union, then the job is done: He adheres to this perfect state.

So could Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma not be without his beginner disciples. Do they desire spirituality in any small degree? That is enough for him to enter the spiritual state through them, where they are all one, as one man with one heart, although they themselves are not aware of it yet.

This is called the environment, the group. However, I myself reside in the place where I can imagine myself. Then, I visualize myself against the ideal, perfect environment from which I can receive anything. And only through it do I gain the strength.

Therefore, the group is not a physical assembly of men, but rather my inner spiritual property.
[30748]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “Perfection in Life”

Related Material:
The Mind Of The Group
One Wisdom For All
If Something Is Wrong, It Is My Fault

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Q&A - 2 Comments →

Question: If the souls manage to unite, the Creator is revealed in their mutual connection. Who creates this connection, we or the Light?

Answer: We never do anything. Everything is done solely by the Light. It broke desires (Kelim) and it reforms them. We must only express our willingness to raise MAN (Mayin Nukvin, female waters) and ask the Light to correct our connection and get revealed between us, fulfill us. It will do all that is needed.

We don’t need anything but the plea, like a baby who is constantly crying and demanding. This is our entire work. There is nothing easier: demand, beg, cry! Oblige Him!

This is what is called “my sons defeated Me.” We pressure Him, demand from Him, and that’s all He expects from us. This is how the entire upper system works: It expects only a plea from below since all that Bina (the Upper Mother) yearns is to “feed” the souls, fill them with the Light.
[30751]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “Perfection in Life”

Related Material:
An Inseparable Pair: The Light And Desire
Bitter Medicine Instead Of Sweet Lies
The Elusive Key Component

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

Question: Has the world already entered the period of Egyptian plagues, or do they still lie ahead?

Answer: They lie ahead. And yet, we shouldn’t compare previous stages of development with those that await us. In truth, the material nature of our path gets gradually replaced by the spiritual one.

Try telling your ancestors who lived a few centuries ago that you have everything yet are not satisfied with life. To them, you live a fabulous life. In your home, there is a device in the wall that makes water run when you turn it on. You have a button that when pressed, makes the light shine brighter than day. And you have a screen that shows you a full view of the entire world.

People would simply not understand what you lack. And you, amidst all this abundance, don’t know what to do with yourself. The rich interior of your home and your world signifies how empty you are within.

Therefore, Egyptian plagues are not corporeal but internal troubles. Time after time, you discover the lack of inner fulfillment; each blow reaches deeper and deeper into a complex, multi-layered desire. However, these plagues take place very quickly, penetrating a person’s inner feelings. On the outside everything stays calm; one does not need to be ill or physically suffer.

Of course, if we don’t take advantage of the Light, the plagues will arrive in the form of corporeal misfortunes. The principle is simple: If we advance ourselves and the world in the spiritual direction, the plagues will be taking more of a spiritual form. If we fail and the world doesn’t choose spirituality, it will experience them in a material form.

In the Writings of The Last Generation, Baal HaSulam writes that there may even be world wars, followed by enormous suffering. But we must try to undergo these blows internally. The Torah and the method of Kabbalah provide man with an opportunity to make the entire analysis very quickly by completing it internally, without involving the corporeal world.
[30701]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “Perfection in Life”

Related Material:
Faster Than Time
Appeal Directly To A Person
An Opportunity To Bring Goodness Into Our World

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

Question: Why are Egyptian plagues necessary if a person has already chosen the spiritual path?

Answer: Are you sure he has? In an instant, he will be attracted by something else. Is it possible to rely on one’s desire? With only a slight push, without thought, he will begin chasing new bait.

Our sages say: “Do not trust yourself until the day you die.” Do not trust yourself until you have undergone the ten Egyptian plagues and decided that you must get out of Egypt. Do not trust until the Pharaoh within you will not hear: “Let My people go so they may serve Me!” Do not trust until you have risen above your desire.

Until then, a person is a machine controlled by the desire from within and by the pleasure outside. From the description of the Torah, we see how much one has to go through.

In the beginning, Jacob’s sons resist Joseph, who collects (Osef) them together for a special job. In Egypt, seven years of plenty give way to seven years of famine. Then the Pharaoh’s oppression begins, followed by plagues, that is, disasters running over egoism. Only then does a person stop identifying with egoism, breaks away from it, and builds a screen.

The plagues disconnect us from our desire, and we get a chance to look at it from aside. In fact, a person naturally withdraws from what makes him suffer. But before the Egyptian plagues arrive, he doesn’t yet feel that his desire and he himself are not the same thing.

It is not just about the troubles being implied. It is written: “Come to Pharaoh.” The Creator appears next to you and says: “Side with Me rather than with your desire, and together we will go to Pharaoh.” You step out of your desire and rise above it, and this is what the exodus from Egypt is all about: time after time, plague after plague, until all ten Sefirot have been worked out.

I can’t break away from egoism until I realize that it is evil. Only then can I start breaking free from its embrace and more clearly see how alien, evil, and opposite it is to me. And I finally come to a complete darkness, the darkness of Egypt.

Desire no longer appeals to me. How do I live now? I have turned myself off, renounced everything I used to be and lived by, all qualities, ideas, and desires. Rising up, I look at it all and don’t understand what I should do now. This is the threshold of breaking free, fleeing from Egypt in the night.

After this, we acquire the power of the Torah and begin consistently working with the lights, correcting the desire. And then, into our intention, we receive the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), clothed in the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). In other words, we enter the land of Israel.
[30707]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “Perfection in Life”

Related Material:
An Inseparable Pair: The Light and Desire
Egyptian Plagues Without External Disasters

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

Question: Can we say that renewal is an indication of a person’s advancement? And if he isn’t renewed, then he doesn’t advance?

Answer: Of course! A new sky is a new degree of Bina, bestowal, and a new earth is desire, Malchut. A new firmanent is a new screen. That is how a person evaluates himself. After all, we cannot measure efforts. We evaluate ourselves only by the speed of the renewal of Reshimot (informational data).

It is written that at every moment Nukva (Malchut of the world of Atzilut) becomes a virgin again, meaning a new desire or Kli. This determines the speed of your advancement. A new Reshimo becomes revealed every time, a new Kli or desire, and you have to start correcting it and advancing.
[30888]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Do Not Torment Yourself In Vain
The Timer Keeps Ticking

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

Question: I haven’t realized all my material desires yet, but I have already come to Kabbalah. What does it mean?

Answer: It isn’t a problem, continue [with your studies]. As the Torah states, and as Baal HaSulam explains in the “Introduction to TES,” a person need not abstain. Our path is not the one of deprivation; we advance only by way of the Light that Reforms. By working in the group and arranging the intention correctly during the studies, we draw the Light, and it reforms us.

Our body has nothing to do with it; there is no need to torment and deprive it, or submit life to strict limitations. The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t demand of a person anything but to study with intention. Everything will work out, despite our evil, inclinations, lust, and irrelevant thoughts. Let the Light work it out and do your best not to stand in its way.

When we feel “smart,” we tend to act independently, inventing artificial restrictions, as if we know what is good or bad for spiritual attainment. It is a completely incorrect approach. If we give the mind absolute power, nothing will be achieved. In truth, your mind always derives from egoism, the corrupted desire. How can it unilaterally define the next step of its correction?

Hence, we only arrange correct conditions for the Light to work on us. This is what the method is all about. Nothing else is needed. Don’t interfere with the Light; on the contrary, assist it to the best of your ability to affect you.

Use anything that evokes the Light’s influence: the group, unification, gatherings of friends, dissemination, the studies, events, and meetings. After all, the Light pours only on the unity of souls from where it departed during the breaking and whereto it returns if the souls make an effort to reunite.

First and foremost, you should be doing inner work on the background of external actions, with all the fibers of your soul, and keep trying to unite with the friends, anticipating the Light that will come and unify us for certain. This is the source of correction.

In our world, there are no other means, neither inside nor outside of a person. Only this will allow you to reform yourself and the entire world that is sinking into a global crisis.

Today, everything we have achieved in thousands of years begins falling apart, demonstrating to us that the Kli (vessel) is an empty desire which we have to do something about. Nowadays, emptiness has become the common fate.

Therefore, we need to reveal the correct method which is based on unity. We need to find the place of the breaking and draw the Light that Reforms, that is, that unifies us and brings us back to the collective soul. Only the Upper Light that appears in our unity will endow us with the sensation of an authentic life.
[30710]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/10, “Perfection in Life”

Related Material:
There Is Nothing Easier!
Exile From Intention
Kabbalah Moments: The Reforming Light

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

Question: When you are “being stewed in the same juice” with the group, you start feeling hate toward the friends. How do I apply a “spiritual mind” to this specific point in order to rise above hate? What exactly should I do?

Answer: You wish to find a solution to the issue at the level where you are and don’t understand that the problem emerged in order to drag you to another place. Do you wish to resolve it or get rid of it? You have to move yourself to another place until you discover hate and resentment once more, and you will have to move yourself from that point as well.

In the end, in order to rid ourselves of hate, we have to correct our mutual connection each time. Sometimes, it can be done with the help of a shared meal, a joint action, some artificial change, and, at other times, by studying together; or, perhaps, time will accomplish this.

However, the most reliable means is a prayer. When you are in a state of inspiration, when you feel hate and simultaneously realize that you must rise above it, try to write a prayer, and let the group read it every day as an act of unity. It will work.
[26012]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10., “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

Related Material:
Difficult Work Based On A Simple Principle
Unified By Love Or Hate
Love Is Mutual Inclusion

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