Question: What does the ability of the group coming together each time before a new attack depend on?

Answer: It depends on the feeling that we are on the right path and that it is essential. We have to get closer together and to see that the connection between us is the only place for the revelation of the Creator. Everything that happens around the group is only meant to tighten the connections between us. The Creator cannot leave any opening. If I feel pressure on all sides: some pressure me, others shout at me and threaten me, and suddenly there is an opening, meaning a society, a group, a certain party, that invites me to join them and promises me that I will feel good with them, then I will surely run to them. But is this what the Creator wants of me?

So He must arrange a “siege” around you, so that you will have nowhere to run. Your enemies are already attacking you with knives, trying to slaughter you, and only if you have no choice, you begin to cry out to Him. Otherwise you will escape somewhere on the level of this world. It’s as if you enter a certain place and try to escape from it, looking for a way out. But both the first and the second doors are locked. Suddenly you find one door that is unlocked, so you will certainly escape in that direction.

But this would be a simple corporeal clarification and not the spiritual clarification that the Creator has prepared for us. The spiritual clarification takes place when you have no choice and have to turn to Him; then He saves you and raises you to Him, a certain level higher. So the clarification is possible only when you are in trouble, in a narrow spot. If you call the Creator from there, you receive the Light that Reforms that raises you.

The salvation, the Creator’s help, always comes through the Light; the Light reaches the vessels, corrects them, and you immediately ascend above all the interruptions. The next moment you encounter obstacles again; they become stronger and more sophisticated. Once again they close down on you on all sides and you try to escape, looking for a way out.

You should see how the Creator organizes such a sophisticated siege for you, which no one else can do. He operates through different people, through events, and eventually brings you to a state that you have no choice but to cry out to Him. Only thanks to the consolidation and the connection of the group that cries out to the Creator does it receive the Light that Reforms.

By the connection we understand that all the enemies and the troubles we encounter are not so bad and that it’s even a good thing, since they are help against you. Their pressure only helps us turn to the Creator. We don’t turn to the Creator in order to get rid of these troubles. They don’t worry us anymore. There is only one important thing and now we can ask the Creator to raise us above our nature, to resemble human beings a little, to resemble the Creator.

So the Creator’s help reaches a person when he is in a state of despair when he is about to jump into the Red Sea. It is possible, however, to advance without increasing the obstacles but by growing the connection. The sufferings don’t need to grow more intense, “neither them nor their reward”; that’s not the right way. I want to feel good every part of the way since I am advancing towards the Creator.

The end of correction is a state in which no interruption affects me, since I am above the obstacles. The obstacles remain, nothing disappears; the dogs that attack me become dinosaurs that surround me on all sides. But I am not afraid of them since I have a shield against them, the Light that comes and saves me.
[119433]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Please expand on the subject of the “family in the last generation.” How is it possible, according to the example of mutual cooperation in a group, to convey this state to humanity?

Answer: If we want to understand and perceive something in the right way, we must pay attention to the soul and not the body. The soul is the yearning to unite, to disclose the ultimate driving force, the Creator. Therefore when we are talking about souls, we mean their attraction.

It seems to us that we are attracted to the external characteristics or the inner parts of a person. But in fact, they bring us together with our Reshimot (spiritual genes). This is not talking about a genetic attraction to each other, rather about a spiritual attraction. The genetic attraction is the envelope for the spiritual attraction. In other words, there is a certain tendency among the Reshimot to be attracted to each other and form an alliance between them. In our world, this is called the “alliance of the sexes,” the union between a man and a woman, essentially this is not a man and a woman, but rather it is Reshimot.

The idea is that among the Reshimot we need to connect the Reshimo de Aviut (a Reshimo from the strength of the Masach) and the Reshimo de Hitlabashut  (a Reshimo from the power of the Light).

The Reshimo de Aviut is the female part, and the Reshimo de Hitlabashut  is the male part. If these two Reshimot are connected together correctly, then they create a spiritual action with the Light, summon the Masach, and so forth.

It is the same here as well. It is said: “A man and a woman and the Shechinah between them”; where there is a man and a woman, there is a positive and a negative Reshimo. When they are connected together and create a Masach, an intention for the sake of the Creator, then the Upper Light is clothed within this Reshimo and begins to build a new Partzuf, which in this world is identical to childbirth.

Within this union are spiritual actions that we don’t know about yet. However, all of the physical actions and events that take place in our world are matched to spiritual activities.

A family in our world becomes the nucleus in which spiritual work is possible. Therefore if we are talking about a family in the last generation, then certainly mutual cooperation between the husband and wife will take place on the spiritual level. They will become a spiritual element by themselves that will work on uniting above their ego so that in the internal adhesion between them they will resemble the Creator.

This is very serious mutual work. I think that we have reached this. We already have examples of a husband and wife who are truly connected between them in this way. It all starts with working on oneself, and through this spiritual unification, a completely different effect within the family itself is achieved. This is possible.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

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Question: Why do we feel obstacles in our dissemination to the broader public?  They are no longer personal clarifications of our own attributes? How does it bring us closer to the Creator?

Answer: A person is a small world. Everything that exists in the world is actually in a person. All the worlds are incorporated in him. Everything that I see around me is a replica of my inner attributes. There is nothing on the outside; it is only the picture of my inner reality.

This means that there are seven billion desires on the level of the speaking inside me, and infinite desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate; all these attributes are inside me.

If I had to study them inside me, then I wouldn’t be able to clarify and differentiate all the stars, the galaxies, every flower and insect in the forest, all the mountains, and the people living all over the world. All of these are a replica of my internality. When we change our perception and acquire an integral perspective, then we discover that it is all very simple.

Now the world seems very complex. It’s because we look at it through a narrow perspective in which we see only separate items that are not connected in anyway. Nothing is clear and you could simply go mad. But if you install different software with a global approach inside, then everything immediately works out.

Everything around me belongs to me and to my correction since that is me. So no wonder I have to feel a stronger connection to all the parts of reality, both negative and positive. As I advance towards spirituality, accordingly their influence is greater on me; it is because I begin to correct myself.

The only thing that can develop and save me is the correction of my perception of reality to a more correct perception. So as I advance, I ask the Creator for the Light that Reforms on every level, and it corrects my attributes of reception into bestowal. My desire that used to be in order to receive begins to work with the intention of in order to bestow. In this corrected desire I already see the reality that used to be external to me as my inner reality, so it isn’t hard.

Thus, I continue to advance correcting part of the external world. The dogs that bark at me remain outside, but I already know how to get along with them; I know that they help me.
[119745]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: I don’t really understand: How does the fact that someone attacks us and accuses us bring us closer to the revelation of the Creator?

Answer: When you drive along a road, there are shoulders on both sides of the road. Then, there are ditches on both sides that drain the water and the dirt that builds up on the road, and then there are fields or houses. This means that there are clear boundaries that limit your way.

This is exactly what a person’s life is like. When we bring up a child and guide him, we explain to him what he should do and what he shouldn’t, what he should be careful of and what he can use. We constantly try to guide him so that he will advance successfully toward a certain goal that seems to be worthwhile.

We always should know how to advance from one moment to the next. If I advance from state A to a state B that is closer to the Creator, I must know how to advance and which powers can guide me in the right direction. These powers must correct me if I want to advance in the right direction. There is only one point in me: A spark that draws me in that direction. The Creator has ignited it in my heart, so how can I advance with that spark? How should I know which way to advance?

I must move from point A to point B, which is closer to the Creator, to bestowal, to the love of others, to the love of the Creator, which means that it is opposite from me! This means that I must be free of my ego to rise above it a bit, and instead of loving myself, to be filled at least a little with the love of friends. It should be filled with the love of friends at least because loving everyone is a bit too much for me at the moment. So, it turns out that I must work with the group now.

However, how can I clear my mind of kinds of egoistic thoughts and opinions of this world? I must clarify what bestowal and receiving mean. I must understand that everyone is engaged in receiving, and I must engage in bestowal. How do I reach that? How can I be free of the influence of all the other people? How can I be free of the values of the egoistic society?

It isn’t easy to clarify that, and the Creator fixes such conditions for me that force me to clarify things each time by making greater efforts. This means that there is an opposite force that operates here and seems to stand in my way of advancing. I am forced intentionally to feel that I am confused, weak, scared, and that I don’t understand who is right and don’t know which way to advance. I am under great pressure on all sides. So what should I do?

The Creator surrounds me with many enemies and problems on the level of this world, and there is nowhere to which I can run: not forward nor backward, to the right nor the left, upward nor downward. There is simply nothing I can do. This negative pressure on all sides constantly grows and the goal keeps growing more important for me, and through the love of others, I want to reach the love of the Creator, to be adhered to Him. Eventually, this ring should be so tight around me that I will cry out to the Creator, “Help! I cannot take it anymore!”

Then, at the last moment, when the Red Sea (Yam Suf) is before me ready to swallow me (and this happens on every level), I suddenly am saved! The Light that Reforms reaches me and shows me the way, lighting it up for me, changing my perception and my feelings, and the way opens up before me!

Before that, there is no way. I don’t see anything and I don’t know which way to go. It is the same every time. This means that I am forced to go through difficult states. So, why do Kabbalists call this a life of pleasure and comfort as compared to the corporeal life filled with pain and suffering, empty of any content?

I don’t see that advancing along the spiritual path promises me an easy, pleasant life. If advancing along the road that leads to the goal of creation guaranteed a good life, my ego would run before everyone and shout, “Catch the thief!”

So, I must clarify this road in the group and check it by the connection between us. Then I really will rise above my animal feelings and understand that it is actually only the kind of life in bestowal and advancement toward the goal of creation that can be pleasurable. This is the only kind of life I want to lead. This is the only kind of life I consider “Heaven!” I want to live in bestowal, like Hafetz Hesed, not to be impressed by anything people think and say about me who are like barking dogs that surround me on all sides. This doesn’t worry me at all.

Only after going through several phases will I know that they helped me come out of Egypt. Who pushed the people of Israel out of Egypt? Pharaoh already had lost his power and his army, which are the true egoistic forces, but the mixed multitude that accompanied Israel remained.

So, when can we say that we have come out of Egypt? It is actually when the mixed multitude chases us.
[119438]
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Where is the boundary between me nullifying myself, my opinion, and my investing myself in a group and thereby adding to its power?

Answer: I can add to a group only what it needs and not my opinion. I don’t have the right to insert my opinion into a group. I only show it that the most important thing in life for me is spiritual elevation, where perception of the Creator becomes the most important goal for me. This is what I must insert and contribute to a group. My personal opinion is not in this. I nullify myself and accept the opinions of the Kabbalists.

Could it be that you are confusing this with the work of dissemination or with other states? Could it be that you think about exchanges of ideas in connection to the manner in which we build the group, how we disseminate?

Very often, the term “group” is understood in two absolutely different forms. The first is that this is a spiritual form, where all of us are connected in the heart, in the yearning and inclination to discover the Creator, and the second form is when we work in dissemination, in unity, not within ourselves, not for the Creator, but in order to carry out some physical task. There is no need to mix this with that.

Carrying out a task on the physical level has no relation or connection to spiritual work. It is necessary to differentiate these two parts of a group, and in no way should they be mixed together. Then, everything will be okay.

There are people who are wonderfully involved with dissemination. We can speak about the strength of their natural abilities. There are people who can work more with their hands. There are technical workers, accountants and so on. Our dissemination factory is comprised of them.

In no way is it necessary to link the factory with the spiritual group where we are gathered together, unite our hearts and turn them toward the Creator, for people who are successful in one group might not succeed at all in another group. They don’t have this ability. There are friends who learn passionately, unite, are ready to ignite and awaken the others, but they don’t have particular skills for work, even in processing material. Therefore, it is seriously necessary to differentiate one from the other.

Try to think of how you divide the group into its spiritual part and its physical part. The spiritual part is only the inner unity. Who is more involved with this? Who is concerned about this more? Who gives more excitement to the friends, for the spiritual part of the group is the most important.

What belongs to the physical part? It could be that this is all kinds of experts, technicians, pragmatic people who simply work without a mutual connection between them.
[119468]
From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

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Over thousands of years, thousands of people have been trying to get out of this prison, the feeling of a narrow, small world, but they have not succeeded in doing this. And that will never change! The desire to receive will never willingly expand out of its own desire and release me, so I cannot look at reality through it and see the real world.

This will never happen! On the contrary, from day to day I will discover that my desire to receive has grown, but the opportunities for discovering new phenomena in it have contracted. And this brings me to the feeling of exile that forces me to seek and find the method of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalah explains that a person cannot see anything more within his egoistic desire.

I must reconcile myself to the fact that the ego will not allow me to feel anything besides this world. And if I want something beyond this, then I must change my attitude regarding my desire to receive. I now perceive reality selectively, only seeing whatever interests my ego. But if I want to see a wider, truer picture, or at least a picture closer to the truth, then it is up to me to rise above the desire to receive, to go beyond my egoistic desire.

For example, I can exit my desire to receive and pass into the desire of a friend, or several friends. Through this, I have already expanded my perception and will feel the world that exists outside of me. I must connect with the desire of a friend. If I am able to feel reality in his way, then it will already be completely different in comparison to what I feel within my ego. That is how I will wake up from this dream and rise above myself. At least I will be able to get out of my box, out of my prison.

The general rule,  “Love your friend as yourself” is derived from this. This is the practical means that allows a person to get out of his tiny cocoon, which appears to us as this world through one’s prism of self- interest, to rise above oneself, and find a different view.

However, so that my mind will be truly independent of my desire to receive, I should not only go out to a friend or several friends, but rather it is up to me to connect myself to a multitude of other individual desires to receive. Only through them, each time from another perspective, will I see the true reality.

In the end, all the points of view, the individual perspectives will connect into one collective view, into one expansive observation. This observation will expand indefinitely until I will be completely free from my desire to receive, and through the desires of others I will acquire freedom. My perception of reality will not be not be subject to any conditions and will be absolutely objective.

A wonderful thing is that the true perception is still felt within my desire to receive, but I will have created glasses which correct all of the defects, neutralizes them, and makes it possible for me to see and to feel the higher reality.

So we say that the spiritual work is reflected in the need to “love your neighbor,” “rising to the height of the Creator,” and so forth. For “The Torah is spoken in the human language” (Mishna); that is what we are prepared to understand and feel. Yet in fact, this is talking about a change in the perception of reality.

But we need to carry out simple activities and exercises in order to attain this change in perception: either through our primitive, egoistic desire or through a desire to receive which is directed towards bestowal. In the end, I reach a state where my efforts to change my perception transform into pleasure because I feel that I am already close to freedom.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/13

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Question: I feel that we get the greatest impressions by being in the center of the group. Could it be that a friend will look for different ways to move to the central group? Is the fact that small groups are distant helpful for their advancement?

Answer: We are the first system in the world that is reconstructing itself after undergoing all the previous historical phases of the spiritual development of humanity. It is all happening for the first time. We have no previous experience, so we don’t know what we should do exactly and how to respond to everything that happens.

On the one hand, it could of course be very good if our central group grew stronger. There is no doubt that if it were stronger and bigger, it would reflect on all the other groups all over the world.

On the other hand, however, we must engage in dissemination all over the world now. So we need to support all the groups and develop them all over the world. The fact that they are not stable enough at the moment is beside the point. There are quite a few weak groups, just as there are very strong groups, but we still must continue our development.

I understand the doubts that people who live far away have and their desire to be in the central group and move over here. Personally, I would love to see them all next to me, like a mother who wants all her children to be beside her no matter if they are big or small.

However, even in Israel, people cannot move from other towns to our group because of different circumstances. Besides, they see the advantages in living away from the central group, some independence.

If, however, a person decides to move, and we know that he is a serious student who has been with us for a while, we don’t reject him in any way. He is our friend, and his place is with us.
[119605]
From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

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Question: What does it mean to “see the spiritual world?”

Answer: We cannot see the spiritual world with our regular eyes. The spiritual world is perceived in inner sensations.

And even though in these senses we perceive it as something limitless and infinite, this is not determined by the geometrical measures of our world, but by our properties, our new senses, the inner vision.

And once we acquire these properties, everything becomes simpler and easier. We begin to see the forces that stand behind every action, every object.

Everything is very precise, clear, and specific. We understand that we are all controlled from above and that man only has one free action: to wish to see the spiritual world in order to identify himself with these actions.

He himself does not perform any actions; he only identifies himself with them. But he feels free by doing this because he rises above his egoistic nature, and instead of involuntarily carrying out all the laws as before, he begins to do it at his own will, he feels and sees them. And this is an entirely different case, this gives man a sensation of freedom.

Gradually, he begins to equate himself to the upper force to such extent that he no longer only justifies it, but he demands for it to perform all the actions that essentially are part of its program, even before it was planning on performing them. He is like a child who runs in front of the grown up demanding for him to do something.

And then the complete union of the Creator and the creation takes place.
[28703]
From Kab TV’s “Kabbalah for Beginners” 12/01/10

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Question: What is concealed from us? What exactly do we begin to feel during the revelation?

Answer: Nothing else exists except two forces, the Creator/bestowal, and the creature/reception, which bring us into action. Different combinations of these forces form a system, called Malchut; nothing else exists except for it, and we exist in it.

The revelation of this  system, full of Light, gives the feeling of attainment, wisdom, and fulfillment, provides answers to all the questions, and fills all the emptiness.

Besides, the life that one gets to experience in this flow is limitless. You stop being controlled by the body and you stop thinking that you are losing life with every beat of your pulse.

You feel perfection because opposite forces do not just connect, but they also complete one another. This begets joy and pleasure from attainment, which reveals the world from one end to the other to man, the entire nature, and not just the material world.

And then man begins to perceive this world in a different way. Before he used to see suffering, problems, and unhappy relationships between people. And now he sees that people are corrected and treat each other with love.

This transformation happens to man according to his properties: He attains that the world is a copy of this and everything that he sees is a projection of his inner properties. The better corrected they are, the more corrected he sees the world, and now he can justify it.

And then he discovers that this world also pertains to the spiritual, and he understands that all the people are in concealment, while he has attained revelation. It turns out that revelation is when man sees the true picture of this world: Before it seemed to be absolutely real, but now it is perceived as a film projected in the air that depends on the changing of his properties. Man perceives the people around him as inner organs of his soul, and they also change according to his correction. Then he understands that the world is not outside of him, but inside. And everyone begins to see this way.
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From Kab TV’s “Kabbalah for Beginners” 11/29/10

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The Zohar – Introduction, “The Night of the Bride,” Item 140: And all the Zivugim that were made one after another, revealed the ascents, and the separate, consecutive degrees have now gathered into one degree of one great Zivug—Unity, which shines in the world from end to end. Hence, it is written: DAY AFTER DAY SHALL BRING A SHEAF, that is, the intervals between days now become magnificent glory for they have been turned into merits. Thus, everything becomes the Creator’s one glorious day!

The states described here do not come with time but only as a consequence of our corrections. We read that something is about to happen. Nothing will happen unless we evoke it through our efforts. There is always an illusion that higher states will come on their own. Of course, we will reveal everything written here, but this will not come on its own with time. A new state will become revealed from our current state, and we will see how perfect and full of the Light of Infinity it is, just like The Zohar describes. When will this happen? Once we correct our perception and discover that we have been in this state all along but were unable to view it properly.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, The Zohar

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