We have to attach the entire world to us with all of its needs and desires, the whole Malchut of the world of Infinity. First, we draw the parts that are close to us, i.e., those who have similar views and are willing to connect with others: “Let each one help his neighbor.”

And then we transition to the parts that are farther from us, i.e., those who do not share our outlook, nor do they strive to connect with each other or reveal the goal of creation.

Dissemination starts with collecting the desires of the general public. They seem petty, primitive, and earthly, but they only look like this. In the liaison of the upper Partzuf and the lower one, the latter carries a small desire. However, the upper Partzuf regards the request of the lower one as something very important and substantial because of the huge love the upper feels for the lower. Thus, the upper becomes able to perform great work to satisfy the needs of the lower part.

This is how I attach the entire world to myself. It is said that the entire world is made to serve me. People don’t understand this fact nor do they think this way. On the contrary, they reject and even hate me. However, this should not matter to me at all. I accept their desires and know that I cannot treat them the way they treat me.

I cannot sit and wait while they suffer through troubles and wars become wiser. This is a wrong way and is incompatible with loving our neighbors. If you think this way, it means that you still need to work on yourself. This explains why we should continue our efforts to connect with others no matter what.

Imagine a family that has an obstinate, good-for-nothing son who doesn’t listen to his parents and deliberately does everything wrong. No matter what, he is still their son and they have to take care of him no matter what. This is the pattern we have to exercise with the world that becomes embittered and loses hope since it doesn’t know what’s next.

It is a revelation of people’s genuine nature, those who do not regard themselves as good, extraordinary, smart, strong, but rather feel they are weak, silly, and unaware of what exactly is going on in the world around them . The world degrades and descends lower and lower; nothing interests people except very primitive fulfillments such as food or sex.

Where did our prior culture, space programs, lofty aspirations, respect for scientists, sages, artists, and well-educated people go? We used to have all of them some 50 years ago. Everything is gone! Mankind seems like a herd of animals.

People are incapable of fulfilling even their minor needs, and they suffer. According to statistics, present material wellbeing is ten times higher than it was a hundred years ago, but at the same time, depression, desperation, and a sense of deprivation constantly grow. After all, these things are not directly related with material prosperity.

Troubles are given to us to make us work on them. We should clearly understand it. Our perception of the world is extremely “quantum.” There is a huge contradiction between the duty that each of us has: to acknowledge that each of us is the only one who has the freedom of choice and the others do not have it. This rule should apply to everybody without exception. It leads to the understanding that the entire world depends on each one of us and all of us have to serve the goal.
[136121]
From the Preparation for the Lesson 5/28/14

Related Material:
Film For A Single Viewer
All The Changes Are Inside Me, Not On The Outside
Barter Brings People Closer To Each Other

Filed under: Perception, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

 Moshe Weissman, “The Midrash Says,” Chapter “Shemini”: “Moshe said to his brother Aaron: ‘When I was appointed interim High Priest for seven days of the Consecration, I cherished the secret hope that I will be allowed to perpetuate this position for myself forever.

But because, I, at first refused to fulfill the request of the Almighty to take the Jews out of Egypt, I am not allowed to be the High Priest. And so this post is transferred to you, Aaron.

My brother, how can I do that to you? – Aaron pleaded. – How can I be a High Priest after you spent so much effort on the construction of the Mishkan?’

Moshe replied: When you heard that the Creator had chosen me to lead the Jewish people you rejoiced; so I am also happy that you will perform the duties of the High Priest.”

If we regard this conversation from a purely psychological point of view, we would most likely think that this passage is about a dialog between two different people. In fact, this conversation takes place inside one person, since Moshe and Aaron symbolize two opposite qualities in a man.

Aaron stands for the left part, and Moshe the right line. By nature, they are incompatible. That’s why they work separately.

Even though they are brothers and are united, there is always a gap and a connection between brothers. This passage shows us how to use both properties to make a positive impact on everybody around.

Moshe is a property of bestowal and love; it symbolizes a proximity to Abraham. Aaron denotes an internal tension, a bad quality that naturally overcomes itself and works for the Creator. Both properties are meant to replenish each other.
[136030]
From Kab TV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book,” 12/18/13

Related Material:
Moses And Aaron, Faith And Knowledge
Variety Of Desires
From One Moment To The Next

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: When we are talking with the general public about Arvut (Mutual Guarantee), do we mean material Arvut and not spiritual Arvut?

Answer: If you are talking about material Arvut, this is a political conversation. But if we are talking about spiritual Arvut, then this is about the spirit that dwells within the people through which we can change everything. We are talking about the power that is found in the center of the group, in the center of connection.

We are not calling for people to gather and bring order to government offices, to human society, to physical life, to the schools, to the police, and so forth. We are talking about discovering a unique higher force within our connection. This power is called the power of connection, the power of Arvut, and it can organize our entire lives.

If we want to correct and organize everything through our physical powers, we need to struggle with someone and organize a civil war within the nation. But we don’t want to struggle with anyone. We only want to institute education for the people. And when the people connect and unite through this education, through studying the wisdom of connection, then they will discover the power of connection that organizes everything.

We don’t rely on anyone, not on ourselves and not on our powers. We are far from all politics, because the Light that Reforms will correct everything.

Question: But people don’t feel this Light.

Answer: The Light doesn’t interest people; what matters to them is having a good life. The lack of Light brings them all their troubles, whereas through Arvut they attain the Light that Reforms that will remove all troubles.

There is a provider of Light of great intensity, but it is found ten feet from you; and so you barely feel the vitality that comes from this illumination. But through Arvut everyone gets the power of everyone. In this way, the provider of the Light approaches us and we begin to better feel ourselves.

We turn to the same source that makes the troubles for us and attract Him to us so that He will correct everything for us. This works in a very simple form.

It is necessary only to attract this source to us and people will feel good. They also will not ask where this good comes from. Suddenly they will feel that everything is okay at work, in relationships with neighbors, with their children, in the schools, and in their family. But they will understand that this is done thanks to the Arvut, because there is a deliberate action between the Light and the Kli vessel) and people will begin to discover this. This is practical Kabbalah.
[136373]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Finish Line Is Near
Where Are We Headed?
There Is No Punishment, There Is Only Correction

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Society, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The Great Commentary is a book that was written close to 3,600 years ago. Much later it was amended again and again, but the beginning of its creation coincided with Abraham leaving Babylon and the subsequent destruction of the kingdom of Babylon. The Great Commentary is a book of chronicles that accompanied the history of the people throughout the many years before they went into the Egyptian exile.

There it is said that when the sacrificial animals were ready, it was Aaron’s turn to begin the sacred service. But he stood and didn’t move. “Aaron, go out!” shouted Moses. “Why are you stalling? Indeed you were chosen to be the high priest. Find the courage to begin the sacred service!” But Aaron continued to stand hesitantly, because every time he looked at the altar, the altar took on the outline of a bull.

Question: How does a person feel inside himself when the altar takes on the outline of a bull?

Answer: For me these words don’t evoke any associations with bulls. First of all, this is all about one person. But because it is difficult for us to describe the actions that are considered as happening within one person, let’s describe them as people who identify and feel everything as one person, how their feelings are mutual and their sensations acute.

As one person, they begin to elevate themselves, dividing themselves into the people (Israel), Levites serving the people, and the Cohens, the highest level of service in a person. For in a person, meaning in the general image of an Adam (human), in the general Partzuf there are three levels, NHY ( Neshama. Haya, Yechida), HGT (Hesed, Gvurah, Tifferet), HBD (Hochma, Bina, Daat).

In principle, they are always gathering and assembling the image of the whole person, of Adam. So they begin to feel whether they rise to the level of Aaron, coming into contact with the Creator. Their mission is to reach adherence between them, for only in connection do they rise sequentially to the level of the “people,” to the level of the Levites, and after that to the level of the Cohens, and from the level of Cohens to the level of Aaron, and after that they attain the level of Moses.

That is how they solve the problem of connection for themselves, and in their common unity, which is called Mishkan, the dweller (Shochen) is discovered. The dweller is the Creator who is felt in a person as having descended to this place and filling it, like a fog that fills a valley.
[136363]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/15/13

Related Material:
Getting Closer To The Creator
Let The Creator Be Revealed To Us
Give Everything For The Truth

Filed under: Adam-The Common Soul, Ancient Babylon, Group Work, History, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, Article, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: And once the whole nation unanimously agreed and said, “We shall do and we shall hear,” each member of Israel became responsible that nothing shall be missing from any other member of the nation. Only then did they become worthy of receiving the Torah, and not before.

“Exodus” 24:7 “We shall do and we shall hear” at Mount Sinai refers to accepting the guarantee. Only to the degree of revealing the vessel of the damaged desires that we agree to connect to help each friend to correct the desires and approach the goal of creation, reaching adherence with the Creator, do we attract the Light that Reforms. It corrects our vessels and we put them in the framework of mutual guarantee.

Meanwhile, all the rest of the desires that cannot enter into the framework of guarantee are left out. This means that a guarantee is the condition that we must reach on every new level.

In accord with the guarantee between us, time after time, we receive the Light that Reforms that corrects us, and then we discover the Creator, the Master, we carry out the action for the sake of bestowal, reach adherence, and continue onward. On each and every level there are the conditions for guarantee that must be maintained according to the level that is attained. And in that vessel that is called guarantee, we receive the Light that Reforms.

But how can I be a guarantor for someone if I don’t have any power; I am not found beyond time, I don’t see the past, the present, and the future, and I have no possibility of changing them? I cannot change my desires. So how can I be obligated to be a guarantor for someone?

The guarantee means that I am ready to join with you with all the available forces, but I must attract the Creator to this. Because who am I to be able to be a guarantor?

At the bank I sign a guarantee for a friend hoping that he will be able to pay it. In the worst case, if he cannot repay the loan, I will somehow pay it. While here, I am simply not able to cope. How can I be a guarantor for attaining connection, for attaining adherence, for attaining the spiritual goal? I must, in place of the Creator, sign guarantees like these, otherwise this is a lie!

How is it possible to demand something like this from me if even in this world I have difficulty understanding what is happening here? All the more so, I am not responsible for what is happening on spiritual levels. So we need a higher power within our guarantee.

I don’t attract more Light than what I need to be a guarantor for others. I ask for the help and cooperation of the Creator to help everyone. This is what we can realize today!
[136320]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Degrees Of Mutual Guarantee
In Preparation For The Arrival Of The Long-Awaited Guest
Dividing The Spiritual Work

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Rav Kook’s Letters: Even the lowest person, when offered to do kindness with the whole world, which includes everything infinitely, will powerfully rejoice to do good.

All the laziness and the weakness is only a result of lack of faith in the greatness of the good that can be done to the whole universe when engaging in the Torah, the Mitzvot, the work and the purity of our measures. This is depicted by understanding the spiritual unity, which means knowing that the light of the soul of every individual is connected to the general soul of the whole existence.

Every person should say that the world was created for him. When a person does his work he generates a change in all the other souls. It is because we all belong to and are included in one mechanism, and when a person corrects his connection with the whole world, he brings the parts of his soul back to him and thus helps others connect.

It is like fishnet that was thrown into the sea during the shattering. As a result of the shattering, I am left with only a point in the heart, and my other parts dispersed in the water and remain external to me. I was born this way; it is a fact.  Now I need to take the fishnet out and to gather my lost parts and connect them back to me.

By working with the public, I connect my parts back to me on one hand, and on the other hand, I give each and everyone the spiritual force to start working with his own net. It seems that I speak to strangers but really it is me in different forms.

When I draw people to this idea, it turns out that I bring the parts of my soul closer to me. All of humanity are parts of my soul. But except for this, my part, each one has his own personality. By attracting my parts, I convey the spiritual force to them by which they can work in their own circle, with their own world.

It turns out that when I pull this net out of the water, I awaken all the parts of my soul that were connected to this net, and each one pulls out his own net and clarifies its content because everyone has his own world. Thus we understand that working with the public enables us to connect the parts of my soul; the quantity becomes quality and so each one advances toward implementing the establishment of the ten Sefirot of his own soul.
[136313]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14

Related Material:
Whom We Correct
The Gemstone Of My Soul
The General Soul: Mine And Ours

Filed under: Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Dissemination, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why does a group that reaches guarantee attract the Light that Reforms?

Answer: The guarantor creates a vessel that resembles the Light. When we are still connected with external connections, this is called guarantee. So through mutual guarantee we receive the Torah, meaning the Light that Reforms, the elixir of life, the Light of correction.

The Light of fulfillment doesn’t yet reach the first guarantee because the vessels are not yet ready for it. You left Egypt only now; Pharaoh still sits within you. You brought these vessels from Egypt and these vessels are terrible: They are all just hatred, envy, lust, honor, and dominance. Everything that is in you is comes from your ego.

And you have a point in the heart through which you somehow succeed in connecting with others, and we are ready to reach mutual guarantee. According to this pre-condition, we only receive the Torah, the Light that Reforms, and only after this do we make a Zivug de Hakaa (binding by striking) with the Light, clarify our vessel, and receive within it for the sake of bestowal.

But the guarantee is the vessel, and the extent of our connection in regard to the law and terms of guarantee determines the size of this vessel.
[136376]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Degrees Of Mutual Guarantee
In Preparation For The Arrival Of The Long-Awaited Guest
Dividing The Spiritual Work

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Mutual Guarantee, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, article 33, “The Lots On Yom Kippurim and with Haman“: “This is so because he sees that without the contradictions, meaning the descents, there would not be a place for the Upper Light to be there, as there is no Light without a Kli (vessel).”

The Upper Light is actually perceived by the obstacles, the little potholes. If a wall is smooth, then we cannot hold on to it, but if there are holes, cracks, and pits, then it is possible to climb it.

Thus the Upper Light can be raised only according to our holes, and if the desire is too smooth, then it has nothing to hold onto. This is why changes are so essential in a person’s desire, both in the size and in the character of the desire, that he will feel disappointed and hurt but will not run away. Instead, he will stay and demand the greatness of the goal and feel that the Dinim (judgments) are revealed on top of the greatness of the goal.

The goal has to be clarified as much and as clearly as possible. The question is what a person yearns for: either the greatness of the vessel or the greatness of the Light. The most difficult thing for us is to think about delighting the Creator. It is because we then feel complete darkness, how detached we are from Him, and how we don’t feel Him.

These are very strong Dinim that are meant to reveal the Creator and so they are revealed as total detachment. It isn’t in our feelings or mind that we can tie ourselves with the desire to delight the Creator. It is easier to tie ourselves with all of humanity because we can understand and feel everything that relates to the vessel, but not to the Light.

Here I discover a real demand: “Where is He and how can I imagine Him?” Then the vessel begins to take on its form in the dark, reach the complete HaVaYaH, and receive the filling. As a result, a person begins to somewhat understand the idea of the Creator in order to attribute himself to Him and perhaps even think about the next level, about delighting Him.
[136369]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, Shamati #33

Related Material:
The Light In The Vessel: Not Only Fulfillment But Permeation
He Elevated His Heart In The Ways Of The Creator
Being Impressed By The Creator’s Greatness

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

A group should create conditions to accommodate everybody who has a desire to develop their points in the heart. We don’t know in advance who has a point in the heart and who doesn’t. Spiritual desires by all means will gradually appear. It’s quite possible that at some point these desires may stop evolving and a person may abandon the path.

We have to support those who get into an “accident.” We need to help and strengthen those who are in need of our care. A group should constantly think about these situations and maintain everybody at their maximally highest level. The group must constantly feel if they are in the state of absolute integration or not. Currently, we sense one dissolved desire and one focused intention, and everything else is overboard. This state should be constant.

This  may result in all sorts of quarrels and misunderstandings on the everyday level regarding how we publish a book, issue a newspaper, etc., with anything that is not directly associated with spirituality. Things that are not a part of the spiritual path are not subject to spiritual laws. We can argue, fight, and disagree with each other, but still do everything in our power to detach these situations from our internal group relationships.

It is similar to a mother who reprimands and punishes her child even though she loves him to the depth of her heart. For her, it is vital to take care of her child. We should follow this example because in this world this is the only model that is abundantly clear to everybody.

Each one of us has to constantly ponder how he, as a member of the group, can create maximally optimal conditions to ensure others’ development and flourishing at each given moment in time.

Sometimes downfalls happen that trigger jealousy, resentment, negative thoughts, and a critical attitude between friends.

It is very good since it gives us something to work on. One has to evaluate one’s actions correctly. The group has to create the surroundings that promote immediate analyses of one’s attitude to others and its adequate and prompt correction so that one returns to the group at a new level of unity.

We have to work very seriously with our intention; it has to be directed towards the group as a whole, aimed at our collective unanimity and at creating an atmosphere that holds everybody afloat. Otherwise, nothing will work. It’s about a constant and yet benevolent tension. Our desire to have this kind of tension is so strong that we easily get used to it and don’t consider it burdensome at all. It should not trouble you. It won’t exhaust you! On the contrary, it will promote your spiritual life.

At the same time, when we study and go deep into the material we learn together, the group turns into one whole and thus grows. This is how everybody advances, step by step. Individually, each friend feels that he is an internal part of the group like a fetus in the mother’s body; each one sees the group at its new level and continues considering friends to be higher and better than him and experiences a good jealousy toward others. It’s a positive type of envy since it pushes one to connect with others.

A person starts understanding that attainment of the next level is generally very easy: there is something one can cling to, a place where one can be enclosed and where one can be dissolved. This process happens effortlessly. All we need is to tune into it and be in the environment that support this disposition. That’s it! This is enough to be brought into the flow.

Later, our entry into the connection that manifests itself as the Sefirot, all kinds of ties among numerous qualities, and becomes more precise and deep. There are 10 major properties. Besides the major 10 Sefirot, there also are private, individual Sefirot, i.e., each of the 10 Sefirot contains a new set of 10 Sefirot, etc. However, we need only the first 10 Sefirot. We have to start sensing them first.

Connection between us turns into a force that allows us to bestow. When we achieve this connection, we start sensing it as one whole even though it is comprised of totally different forces that oppose each other: Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. They are as opposite to each other in love and hatred, and jealousy and kindness. So when we connect them together, we get exactly the mass that reveals spiritual states. We disclose spirituality in this mass.

A group has to relate to each of its members like a mother to her child so that each friend develops correctly, has the right mood and attitude and prepares for spiritual growth instead of being in a static state. Every new day cannot be similar to yesterday.

That’s why we have to examine ourselves and analyze our internal states. If I don’t see what to work on today, it means that I didn’t work yesterday. It also means that a new prerequisite for my correction does not emerge in me. Our growth is based on a gradual and cumulative correction of the problems that arise among us in the group, in the connection between us.
[113802]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7.13.13, Lesson 4

Related Material:
A Life Giving Sprout From A Rotted Grain
A Safety Net Or An Insurance Policy
Making A “Heavenly Firmament” Above Us

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, article 33, “The Lots on Yom Kippurim and with Haman”: “Hence, one sees that all the greatness of the Creator that he had obtained was because of the Se’arot and the contradictions he had had. This is the meaning of, “the Lord on high is mighty.” It means that the greatness of the Creator is awarded through the Aderet.”

Of course it is impossible to manage without the support of the group, without the work that others perform. They may not even speak about it, but because we are all connected to one another, I grow stronger thanks to others. Therefore I can continue to go through all the Dinim (judgments) and accumulate the necessary clarifications until I reach the sufficient measure for the revelation of the Creator’s greatness.

The Creator is not revealed at first but rather the Creator’s greatness is. But then we see that we don’t even need that. A person reveals the Creator when he demands the Creator’s greatness and not when he demands to know Him.

I advance when I clearly discern and feel more and more sharply that this is the Creator’s greatness. I don’t demand to know the Creator in any way other than the force of His greatness that will allow me to advance to adhesion and to perform actions of bestowal that are independent of any discernment other than His greatness.

I want to think only about this and that I will see it as the greatest thing. I have no need for all the discernments and clarifications that follow this greatness anymore, so that they will not be excuses for my actions. Only one thing is enough for me: that the Creator is great.

This is called pure faith, without any self benefit. I don’t ask the Creator to feed me, to bring me health, peace, a good life, good relations with people, success, etc. It is actually above all these deficiencies, above the lack of success, above the fact that the Creator gives me nothing and that Pharaoh is revealed more and more, above all the great disappointment, above the darkness, that I ask for one thing only: the Creator’s greatness, which means the power to work for Him.

Accordingly, the rejecting of my ego is increasingly revealed. Here I discover the gap between the two ends: the feeling in the desire to receive and the recognition of the Creator’s greatness, which are two opposites.

I establish the Creator’s greatness, “the Lord on high is mighty,” above all the Se’arot (hair), the contradictions, that are rejected by the desire to receive, above all the Dinim I feel. This highness is established in the Se’arot. Thus I establish the two opposite discernments inside me, and the distance between them is the volume of my soul. That is actually revealed by this oppositeness.

“It follows that through the Se’arot one gradually discovers the greatness of the Creator, until one finds the Names of the Creator, called “the thirteen attributes of Mercy.” This is the meaning of “and the elder shall serve the younger,” and “the wicked shall prepare it, but the just shall wear it.”

Wicked refers to all my descents and disappointments, all the times that I caught myself with the desire to do something for  my own benefit, to go back to the previous calculations, not by being detached from myself and adhered to the Creator. Thus I gradually establish my new form.
[136366]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/14, Shamati #33

Related Material:
He Elevated His Heart In The Ways Of The Creator
Being Impressed By The Creator’s Greatness
The Light In The Vessel: Not Only Fulfillment But Permeation

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work - No Comments →