If we start advancing the right way and become integrally connected with one another and with all parts of the universe, then we will start understanding the world on a new level. We will ascend above this tiny world that we now perceive in our ego, where each person perceives individually, and we will begin revealing a new world—one that is eternal and perfect. We will feel it on a level called “Human,” instead of perceiving the world only on the animate level through our bodies.

I will begin perceiving myself on the level of the integral existence, connected with everyone by a single consciousness, one thought, common thinking, one desire and sensation. Then I will perceive everything happening to my animate body as a level beneath myself and my new consciousness.

Now, while existing on the level of the animate body, I do not feel pain from things taking place on the still or animate levels, such as when cutting my hair and nails. Likewise, when I ascend to the human level and enter the common, global level of thought, desire, and awareness, I won’t feel how this animate body lives or dies because I will perceive myself in a higher dimension.

We are now at the transition between these two levels and it is not simple at all. Yet, the more we begin to gain awareness of it, focusing our vision on the true world in which we already exist, the easier it will be for us to perform this transition from our present state to a higher, global, integral level in order to make it quick and simple.

Then we won’t have to go through problems, blows, suffering, cataclysms, and revolutions that have already begun happening, but will advance by a gentle, wonderful path ahead of time, before the cataclysm takes place. We will do it by making corrections in human society.

We can gain all of this by studying the science of Kabbalah, which is intended to help us rise from this egoistic, individualistic world into the integral world. Let us hope that we will be able to do this. This is essentially the purpose of the science of Kabbalah.
[34684]
From my lecture in Paris on 2/1/11

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Question: What role does asceticism play in human development?

Answer: Kabbalah has a very negative opinion of various restrictions. It does not demand anything from a person with regard to his earthly life. In principle, you can do anything you want.

It’s a different matter when you become engrossed in all sorts of fetishes in this earthly life by introducing some kind of special customs, habits, and exercises to it. Live normally. If you like doing yoga, then do it. If you like running in the morning, then run. If there’s a certain diet that is healthier for you and another that’s less healthy, then eat accordingly. None of this matters. The most important thing is not to turn anything into a cult.

Kabbalah treats every person absolutely normally. It doesn’t care about how a person lives, what habits he has, and what his customs, religious convictions, and inclinations are. Who he is in the earthly life doesn’t matter one bit.

We are once again returning to the essence: Egoism rises in us in order for us to compensate for it above ourselves. That is why it doesn’t matter one bit what I am like. Limiting yourself in food or applying any kind of methods—none of this will help. Nothing will help.

On the contrary, a person who does some kind of physical exercises or keeps some kind of strict boundaries thinks that he has already advanced forward, has achieved some kind of level, that he is righteous and so on.

This can only confuse people. Therefore, live normally, calmly, eat well, and think about your health and profession. Take part in all the things that your surrounding society does.

And together with this, study Kabbalah. This balance or normal state is the most preferable one. Fate has placed you in this environment so go with its flow. Then you will see that in reality, everything around you is in the ideal state, besides yourself.

A minus is compensated by the right plus.
[34198]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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In order to be in balance with nature, it is necessary to consume intelligently, meaning to the degree it is necessary, depending on every person’s needs. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article, “Peace in the World” and in other articles.

However, this practice cannot be imposed through terror. It can only happen by means of education! Yet in their times the Russian revolutionaries took a different path, having discarded the principle of education.

In addition, this was taking place in an underdeveloped country, with the most underdeveloped population that to this day is used to living in practically feudal conditions. Today the people of Russia, who are good-hearted and kind, still agree to the feudal conditions in which Russia exists to this day. This is not a capitalistic, but a feudal country with its customs, structure, corruption, and all of its social relations. It is feudalism.

It might seem to us, “But how can that be? This, in modern society? Isn’t it long gone? In the West, Feudalism hasn’t existed for 300 years already.” True, in the West it hasn’t existed for 300 years, but in Russia it still exists. That is to say, every person still agrees to it. The people still haven’t developed above that level.

Only a small portion of the population, about 10 – 20%, cannot tolerate these conditions, while everyone else agrees to live in them. They don’t care that they have a master, that they have to submit to someone without law and order, that everything can be bought and sold, and that the rich are powerful and right. People agree to this! That is why it is still deemed a feudal level of social development.

Marx absolutely did not suppose that this kind of country would try to implement his idea. He practically laid out Kabbalah in the form of economic laws. But the egoism of the post-Soviet realm is completely different. This egoism is feudal and not yet ready for serious development.

However, when we work with each person individually or with our groups in Russia, we see an astounding result because the people have points in the heart. They are very responsive and goal-oriented.

The question is: Will the society be able to understand that it has to unite, but not by the laws it was brought up by in the Soviet regime? The unity has to happen by laws where everyone is equal, conscious, and unites consciously. The people of Russia are not used to uniting consciously. Will they reach this, will they be able to do it? That is, indeed, a question.

Therefore, our groups in Russia are very dear to us. I personally know this nation very well since I grew up there and my native language is Russian. But can we look at Russia as the country that has the ability to easily realize the Kabbalistic principles? That is something I do not know.

On the other hand, in Europe, despite the fact that the people are very different from the Russian image, all they have to do is overcome a certain external opposition, a certain shell or casing. After that, as soon as this idea penetrates into people’s thoughts, they realize that it is true and are able to realize it inside of them through their development.

In Russia it is easy to come close to the individual. But in Europe it is much more difficult! Yet I think that if we penetrate inside the individuals in Europe, they will find the forces and abilities inside of them to unite. Their conscious collectivism will emerge.

On the other hand, in Russia collectivism does not emerge despite this. There the society is not developed collectively. I think that it is not yet able to do this.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding all of these surmises, we have to develop Kabbalah and disseminate it everywhere. Of course, there is a great boundary in the countries that were once socialist. But this should not stop us. We shouldn’t give any thought to where it’s easier and where it’s harder, why, and how. We should work, and that’s all. I never make any calculations. We do not know what is better and what is worse, and how everything will occur.
[34050]
From the 3rd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Question: Some ten to fifteen years ago, a question was raised about Russia’s national cause, the program of rebirth. It has quietly disappeared and was replaced with a spiritual void. How do you see Russia’s national cause, the program of its development?

Answer: Over the course of these years I have met with many people, cabinet members, mass media, and I have spoken a lot. I was hoping to find a response specifically in Russia. First of all, it’s because I have traveled around the world and through all of my students around the world, I feel the soul of every nation. And I have never seen anywhere else the same response and aspiration for truth like previously in Russia.

There was a national cause. I was hoping that this national cause would serve as the basis for showing how it needs to be realized. In other words, some time ago (I am emphasizing some time ago), the desire of the Russian people was to show to the entire world that they have a soul, a purpose, and that this purpose is above pragmatism, above one’s pocket and other materialistic interests, that they have something ahead of them, something for mankind to follow. It was really like this until year 1995 or 2000.

Lately when I begin to speak to people about this and continue to develop the same ideas, regrettably, people seem to laugh at me and speak to me as if to a child. They say that all of this is in the past and think that there is nothing to discuss there. Unfortunately, I see that this cause has simply died.

But I do not think that this is possible. I think that people are simply suppressed, and eventually it will be possible to resurrect it because this inner request needs to exist among the people. I hope that it will manifest. But currently there is simply no one to speak to.

Back then I also met with very influential people and spoke to them about the things that can be done. I warned them: Look what is written in Kabbalah, a science of general nature and its development, look where we are heading. Essentially, everything happened the way I said it would happen: the financial crisis, and so on.

I do not want to be a prophet, but this obviously and naturally comes from the egoistic curve that keeps developing. But I heard a very simple answer: “We have money and an army. If we can change something using these two things, then we are ready to listen. We do not have anything else.” From the government’s point of view this is the truth; every country says the same.

But I continue to think that the world is still to be well shaken up, we cannot avoid it. And then everything that is now stagnant will get agitated, and it will be possible to speak about bringing this cause back. But this cause must be based on similarity to nature; it cannot be some made-up idea forced onto people, like the Bolsheviks did.

When you work together with nature, you do not make mistakes. You can be going ahead of it or trying to catch up. But when you go with it in unison, this becomes the best and most comfortable social development. But when you go along with it knowing the formula of its development, what it demands of you, then you completely protect yourself from any catastrophes and even any negative influence. In other words, there will not be any illnesses, large epidemics, earthquakes, or fires, there will not be anything. You simply exist comfortably.

And you suddenly begin to feel that all your actions in the world bring you five hundred, a thousand times more benefit than today. This is simply because nature seems to favor you; you are properly going along with it. This is the only thing Kabbalah reveals: the formula of human development that we must follow together. In other words, one can either develop under nature’s steamroller which rolls over us and develops us in spite our egoism, or if we choose to go with it, this will be an easy and pleasant development.

I do not see another force in the world like the force that the Russian people have in their character, their aspiration to have a cause, live for it, even suffer in its name, as long as it is a real cause. And this is why I still think that this movement comes from the inside, this request is still to arise and it will be possible to properly realize it. And then you will really become teachers of the masses who will simply want to find out about the world they live in. It will be possible to tell them about it, show it to them, reveal it, and in this way reach the state where the entire world will be kind as nature requires us to be.

I think that this will happen. I think that it will not take long, judging by the rate of development, the events around the world, it will quickly make us come to our senses.
[33801]
From Lesson 3 in Moscow 1/16/2011

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The only thing we lack are anti-egoistic screens (Masach). The desire itself does not change. It only becomes revealed for being used to the degree of the screen that it has.

The screen determines what desire you can use, how much, and in what way. Therefore, we already have everything besides the screen—it is the only thing we need!

The screen is the force to overcome my egoism in spite of my egoistic desire, despite the things that seem attractive, sweet, completely obvious and rational, and are confirmed by my entire mind! Yet I go and do the opposite!

And I don’t just do the opposite, turning a minus to a plus. That would be very simple. Rather, I am in no way guided by my desire, logic, or any of my calculations. There is only one calculation for me: “This is the desire of the Upper One!”

I don’t receive anything at all from this, and don’t desire to receive anything. I want to know just one thing: that this is the desire of the upper one. This is called a “screen”—the force enabling me to act this way, above my desire, above nature, above egoism and all of its calculations.

And there is great pleasure contained in this. This is not masochism from enjoying trampling my desire, but pleasure from the fact that this makes me similar to the Upper One in some way.

It’s like a child who desires to be similar to an adult. This is a natural instinct children have. They have to make great efforts to achieve this, even though nature helps them.

The upper nature has endowed children with this enormous gift, enabling them to grow. It gave the will to enjoy such a powerful thrust that it forces it to work very hard, never stopping to rest. Look at how little children act, running about non-stop and doing something all the time.

This is the pure upper force, the force of bestowal, the force of the Creator, which is present in small children and in any creature that desires to grow. They do this against their nature because our nature aspires to rest! We can see this from all the laws of physics: Everything aspires to a restful, motionless, and balanced state. The laws of entropy, conservation of energy are aimed at this.

Yet in the case of children we see how the body does not let them take a break. A child is always running about, eager to do something, and it is impossible to stop him. In our days this phenomena is called “hyperactivity,” but in fact it isn’t “hyper” activity, but normal behavior for the increased will to enjoy that is being revealed in the last generation. For such a developed desire, this is not an exaggeration, but the norm.

It’s a wonder looking at what children do; they are anti-nature. We have simply gotten used to the picture where children know no rest and that’s why we aren’t surprised by it. But where does this body or desire take this moving force, causing him to run around this way?

This is the regular picture, inherent in any creature. An adult mother, such as a dog or a lioness, is lazy, sleepy, lying down, sleeping, sitting calmly, and wishing to rest. And all around her there are cubs whirling about and never tiring. This is the opposite nature. And man behaves the same way.

This aspiration is given to children from above, against nature, in order for them to develop. Likewise, we have to ask for this force in order for us to spiritually develop!
[33586]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: Why can’t changes for the better happen without suffering?

Answer: Suffering is any sensation that takes me out of the present state into the next. Suppose that right now I am in an absolutely comfortable state. If my matter and essence is the will to enjoy and all my desires are fulfilled, then I don’t have any opportunity to move forward. Only the sensation of lack moves me toward the source of fulfillment. When I want to drink, I move closer to the bottle. When I want to sleep, I move closer to the bed, and so on. If I don’t have any desires, it means there is no movement or development.

So what kind of suffering should I feel in order to advance? For a smart or energetic person a very small suffering suffices for him to start moving forward in order to solve the problem. Lazy people will keep suffering, but it will still be difficult for them to move from where they are. Fools feel pain, but don’t understand where it comes from and why. They sit there and cry, but cannot move from where they are.

The suffering also comes in different forms. For example, an uncomfortable position makes me sit differently, which is also a kind of suffering. “Suffering” is the absence of total, absolute comfort. If suffering—meaning additional empty desire—is not evoked in a person, then he won’t move or develop.

The Upper Force created us absolutely opposite to it so we would gradually desire to become equal to it. This is impossible until we feel that we are opposite to this force in some way. We are always moving only in relation to the Creator, only in relation to this force. No matter what we do or feel in life, in the end we only feel our attitude to Him or our oppositeness to Him.

If only we realize this and stay constantly sensitive to it, then we will advance forward by small steps without any breaks, always staying inspired and experiencing a pleasant adventure. We must only understand that everything inside me is awakened by the Creator. At every second, constantly, no matter what I feel, I must connect everything to Him. This will move me toward Him ceaselessly and nothing else will be necessary!

In the end my entire life will be the right movement toward the eternal, perfect goal, toward unity which really exists. Let us be stupid or lazy; after all, we were deliberately created that way. Each one of us “simmers” inside his own problems which were deliberately created by the Creator in order for us to solve them together.

If we create the right environment or society around us which will hold us together, then at every second we will feel comfortable in very small doses, sufficient for us to advance.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Why is it that even when a person knows what is good for him, he still goes and does things that harm him?

Answer: We even see this happening with small children. How many times do you have to punish a child until he starts to understand something? And even then, is this a result of the punishment, or did he simply grow up and become smarter? Maybe the punishments were not beneficial at all? This is indeed a question: What causes us to change our actions?

In reality, we do not change by being punished. Overall, there is no such thing as reward and punishment as we understand it. We never learn under the influence of fate’s misfortunes. We simply grow until we outgrow our Reshimo. Then new ones emerge in us and the surrounding environment changes, and we change under its influence as well. We only change from the confrontation of two parameters: our inner informational data (Reshimot) and the surrounding society. As they interact with one another, they determine our state.

We have to bring our Reshimot to balance with the environment. This is all we aspire to. It is the basic law of the universe: similarity, balance, equilibrium. Everything in nature automatically aspires to this. That is why as soon as an imbalance emerges inside us with the surroundings, then consciously or not (depending on a person’s development) we immediately put all our energy toward trying to bring ourselves to balance.

For example, when you enter a certain society or a certain group of people, you always adjust yourself because you desire to be similar. That is how things are built; it is the law of equivalence, the initial law that the Creator put at the head of everything. Having created a nature opposite to Him, the will to enjoy, He desires for it to gradually reach equivalence with Him, the will to bestow. That’s because growth creates a mind inside the desire, and then the creation gains awareness, sensations, and reveals the Creator, becoming equal and identical to Him.

A person differs from any inanimate creation by the emergence of a mind that consciously directs creation toward similarity to the Creator. Therefore, our entire freedom of will lies in constantly creating a surrounding environment for ourselves that will “pull us up” to the Creator. That means we have to take care of the environment so it would be a level higher than we are. In that case we will want to become similar to it, and thus we will keep advancing toward the Creator. By envisioning the group as higher, greater, and more ideal than ourselves, we advance forward.

Therefore, everything depends on creating the right environment because it will enable us to automatically pull ourselves forward. Therein lies the entire law of growth.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/17/11, Shamati

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In the past Kabbalists advanced by a personal path and it was very difficult for them. It even says that a thousand people come to study, but only one of them comes out to the Light. However, in our times, with the help of a properly organized environment we can advance practically without any losses, without losing our friends on the path.

This depends only on whether we will be able to build our common, external desire among us. Therefore, the most important thing is “the prayer of society” where all together we try to unite our desires so they would evoke the influence of the single force that fills space. This force will then be revealed as the force that connects us and exists among us. Revealing this basic, fundamental force of Nature means revealing the Creator because it is primary and we are its products.

How, then, can we elicit the influence of this force so it will give birth to us, pulling us out of ourselves to the outside, so that like a baby coming out of a mother’s womb we would start to feel what happens outside of us? We have to elicit this force in order to be born. It will make us and everything around us strain in order to “push” us out into the Light.

To achieve this we need a “prayer of society.” All together we must reach the realization that this is necessary. Naturally, we will then see and feel everything that really happens in the world. Everything, including all the causes and actions, will immediately become clear to us. We will find ourselves born into the sensation of a new world and will no longer identify ourselves with the body, but will exist in a connection with the single force that fills all space.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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First, we have to develop a relationship described as “Do not do to another what you yourself hate,” followed by “Love another as you love yourself.” We only need to determine who the “other” (the friend) is, who I am, and what “do” means. It has to do with a person’s actions relative to the friend, which have to acquire a tangible form in this world in the entire human race.

In the end, such relations will unfold between all humans, which can be called the world of Infinity, and it will signify the final correction (Gmar Tikkun). Here, on this sphere called Earth, among these animate bodies, we will establish the relationships that will be called our infinite soul.

When we reach that point, we will find ourselves in another world. There will be no more need for our experiencing all this materiality, and it will dissolve from our perception. Even now, it exists solely in our perception; all of this reality is but imagined.

This is the only purpose of our existence on earth. This is the place where everything occurs.

Before the fall of the Temple when people lived in spiritual attainment, they didn’t really live in another galaxy or dimension, did they? It is true, though, that internally they lived in another dimension with a different attitude. However, along with that, this world, the still, vegetative, and animate nature still existed, and everybody lived a normal life. They raised cattle, managed property, bore children, had jobs, and paid taxes.

However, the relationships between them were spiritual since all of them lived in mutual bestowal and maintained it to the best of their ability. Each person was important to the degree of their ability to bestow. Judgment was done based on the same principle: from the point of view of how much harm a person has brought on society and how suddenly his egoistic desire unfolded.

This was the way the people of Israel, whom Abraham led out of Babylon, lived up to the fall of the Second Temple. Now, in the group, we have to actualize what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches in practice, meaning that our internal relations should be grounded on love and unity so we may live “as one soul.”

It has nothing to do with external closeness. We don’t need to actually eat from one plate, live in the same house, and keep a collective household. It’s all about internal relationships.
[32645]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/11, “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General”

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