The work on one’s egoism is basically the struggle against pride. Everything is arranged in the form of steps and a person is not aware of his true position and actions. Egoism does not allow him to see, and hide the actions of the Light from him, as if they do not exist. Therefore, we think that the world revolves on its own and there is no one who manages or plans it. Everything supposedly spins freely, by chance, without any reason and purpose.

Being in complete concealment, a person is used to thinking that he does everything himself. Only with the help of the environment does he have the opportunity to become stronger and rise a little bit above himself, above his selfish desire, to look at what is happening from the outside. Then he will see that he did not act and all that happens did not include his efforts, his plan, or his independence.

Therefore, we are constantly fighting a war over who will rule: our egoistic desire, Pharaoh, or the Creator. This struggle is taking place both in the smallest of situations and relative to the entire attitude to life. The argument between the impure force (Klipa) and holiness is only about this.

The sign of the impure force is pride, that is, when a person thinks that he himself is able to do everything himself. In fact, he has a choice in only one thing, each time to be included in the correct environment. Of all the billions of opportunities that arise in life, not one gives him any freedom of action, except for one: first of all to be included in the correct environment and then through it to continue in the action of the environment in which he has been absorbed and has disappeared.

This is the only way to avoid pride, conceit, and wrong actions. And then the person will actually be able to do something in addition to the group, to join Malchut to divinity. And just analyzing and judging oneself will not help at all. Only by being included in the environment, even the smallest action becomes spiritual.
[117497]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/13

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Question: The goal of our dissemination is to supply people with what they want. What are we giving them? Is this the million dollars that they want to make, some gifts, or something else?

Answer: Our relationship in regard to the people in the world is like a relationship with little children, we give them what they need and not what they are asking for because they ask for something that is liable to harm them, and we are trying to protect them and keep them far from these things.

If we were to go out to the world and say “Ask for what you want and we will give it to you,” then your question would be correct. But we come to the world and say, “You want money, knowledge, wealth, happiness, health, and security? All of this is available with just a little effort to unite.” We don’t just offer their getting what they want; rather, we establish the conditions necessary for connection.

It is specifically their effort to connect that awakens the Surrounding Light that reaches them through us, and with its influence, their desires begin to be changed, are made more spiritual. Certainly, they still want the regular earthly fulfillments like food, sex, a normal family, various entertainments, but together with this, their desires are fundamentally changed. Therefore our appeal is called Integral Education. They begin to ask other questions.

Essentially we present them with ordinary actions that are accepted in the world. We know that if people gather and do something together most of the time they will succeed. But together with this, we do the opposite. We gather them not in order to carry out work together for the public good, but so that with the shared discussion that they do before the cooperative work, they will feel some kind of new power; a new society is created within them, a “raspberry sphere” is created within them.

Ultimately they will begin to understand that the connection brings them not only a solution to all their day-to-day problems, but also gives a feeling of warmth, elevation in life, and a little energy. They don’t know where it is coming from, but it exists.

We make roundtables around which gather people from various camps that really hate each other, Arabs and Jews, Druze and Bedouins. And suddenly after 40-50 minutes, they are ready to embrace and sing together. The aggression disappears, for the Upper Light passes through us to them. They don’t feel this. The Light works on them and they suddenly begin to understand that they need to rise above their antagonism and, specifically thanks to the hatred, in spite of the hatred, they need to feel mutual attraction and even love.

For the ego was created in order to rise above it and to reach an opposite characteristic. From the characteristic of reception, we reach the characteristic of bestowal, from hatred we reach love. So we justify the Creator who created the ego. It is said: “I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah as a spice”—take it, correct it, and receive a characteristic that is the complete opposite of evil, goodness and love.

Therefore your question, “What do we give them?” is the right question. Through us we convey the Upper Light.

When I work with the public, I begin to need the Creator. For I invest, I promise, I work with people. If nothing succeeds, this will be a disaster. I am like some kind of robber or con man, I get myself into a dangerous situation and wait to see if I will succeed or not. If I don’t succeed, then I will get blows or worse, they will shame and curse me.

Therefore I am compelled (and this is the best situation) to turn to the Creator, for ultimately I feel a need for Him. For the first time in my life I truly need Him. This is because I feel that my ego, my pride, the terrible shame that I am liable to feel if I won’t succeed, simply burns me. This is the worst feeling. And without a choice, with the friends we are ready to do everything in order to succeed.

We are really lucky that in our time there is an opportunity like this. Otherwise we would not build this chain, we would not be ready to turn to the Creator, for our appeal would be egoistic.

And since we begin to think about the people, our appeal to the Creator is true MAN. In fact, everything is very simple. We only need to begin and you will see how the Creator puts the conditions before you that insert you into this system: lower, upper, and you in the middle.

Specifically you are the middle; therefore, without a choice, both from above to below and also from below to above, you don’t act for your own sake. Ultimately you merit receiving the anti-egoistic parts, first zero, after that the first, the second, the third. This is to say, you begin to feel the spiritual worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, and so forth.
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From the Stockholm Convention “Joy In Unity” 8/31/13, Lesson 4

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, Item 210: However, if ZON are connected below, the Sitra Achra can receive the abundance, hence AVI are separated above and their Zivug is stopped.

All the discernments inherent in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity) are included in our vessels. In our work, we have to impose restrictions on which vessels we use and which we do not. It’s impossible to get rid of something inside me, to cut off something from inside me, but I decide upon what to give importance in my contact with the Creator, with bestowal. In order to reveal Him, I have to constantly clarify where I restrict myself and where I already work with the Masachim (screens).

When ZON illuminates, it’s a dangerous state since it’s an example of how two attributes can be connected even though they are opposite by nature. On the whole, the connection of ZON during the descent can provide the Sitra Achra with the powers to connect. So Zeir Anpin and Nukva mustn’t connect below. The connection is possible only if they rise to the upper.

The corrections are always performed in the upper: We are incorporated in it and it gives us the right pattern. I can behave correctly in a perfect flawless manner if I find myself in a place with all the necessary conditions to do so. For example, I may come to a party where men and women sit on opposite sides of a table and do not mix when communicating.

This immediately leads me to a certain pattern, to a certain framework, leaving no room for confusion: I participate in the business conversations and am not distracted and drawn to different problematic directions. The place itself actually molds the right pattern for me and guards me.

With regard to ZON, its lower vessels are the whole impurity (Klipa). So there cannot be specific accurate measurements in them below that enable the connection when they descend. The connection can only be above, when they are in the Partzuf of the parents, in AVI.

So how did ZON descend to the souls in order to bestow the Lights upon them? ZON really descends and bestows in order to raise the souls back up with it. There are never any corrections below where the flawed vessel is. This is the law: All the corrections are only during the ascent.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/17/13, Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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In fact I am not in the world, but the world is in me.

The process of “reading” the external reality as internal is divided into four stages and immediately at the first step I should be guided only by what I see.

And I see that the Creator is making this “projection” for me. It’s as if a projector is placed in me and it shows the whole world and all that happens to it. The light from the “bulb” of this “projector” passes through the “film,” divided into “frames,” and falls on the “screen,” i.e., in my mind; as a result, I see a current picture of the world. Well, the Creator Himself is the abstract Upper Light, the Light of Infinity.

So, in fact, the “film” is my Reshimot that create this or that picture for me. And if it were not for this mechanism, I would have not distinguished what is happening because the Reshimot would have remained inside. However, the Creator, illuminating them, reveals my inner world as an external reality.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in “Introduction to The Book of Zohar.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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When the upper descends to the lower, the lower feels it as darkness. This means that it hurts his ego. But if the lower wants to understand the upper and to know his intentions, despite the bad feeling, and if he doesn’t want to blame the upper but rather tries to justify Him, understanding that the upper operates only for the lower’s sake, the lower has to increase his awareness in order to justify the upper.

The lower says that the AHP of the upper is revealed in him now and despite his bad feeling, he has to adhere to Him, which means not only to restrain himself and to kiss the beating stick of the upper, but also to accept this Providence gladly and willingly. This can be felt as troubles, problems, humiliations, disgrace, and any other surprises the Creator may prepare for a person. But I have to understand that it is all for my own good, that it hurts my ego, and that it is great!

Let me suffer, my ego cannot raise its head now. So I don’t even ask the upper to understand and to get to know Him, but just a little awareness to the extent that I can relate to Him properly. This means that I want to understand and to feel His actions in order to imitate Him.

Here we are given a chance to develop our awareness, just like a child’s mind that tries to understand his mother. He thinks that his mother treats him badly, but he understands that it cannot be! Here the group and all the other means can a help a person reach this demand.

When we go out to disseminate, we prepare ourselves for the blows, which is the “sorrow of raising sons.” But we have to justify them since the lower doesn’t understand and cannot operate any differently. We have to raise their deficiencies to the upper upper (to the group and further up) and to correct their attitude.

Our prayer will be double: The upper that raises the request of the lower upwards is rewarded twice so that he will become great and will give birth to the lower. So first we have to ask the uppermost for the power not to neglect the lower, not to disrespect them and hate them, but rather to love them in spite of their disdain and accusations. Despite all this, we should ask for the power to be great and to treat them with love, bestowal, and dedication and to take care of them devotedly in order to bring them the part of the Light that they need.

We do all that not so that they will curse us or accept our actions but only so that they will grow to the delight of the Creator! Then this whole process becomes in order to bestow.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/23/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Question: If a person has not yet realized himself in a group, still hasn’t acquired an intention in order to bestow, how can he turn to the general public to take care of it and be concerned for it?

Answer: Here is the whole point of the group, at the forefront for us. First of all we build it. And we go out to the general public provided that, above all, it helps the group.

As long as I have not accepted the right form within the group, I don’t have any reason to go out to the masses. Even today, our massive external dissemination means that we feel an even greater need for uniting internally.

Also, children who are born into a family give greater strength to the marital union; they give the parents the need and reason to continue to be together. And conversely, couples without children divorce more easily, without a feeling of belonging to each other; they see no reason to continue to be together.

Therefore, in that we are concerned for the external public, first of all we maintain the consolidation and unity of the friends. And then in work with the general public we have a double benefit: First of all we are doing this according to the command of the Creator, second, through our constant consolidation in the group according to the requirements of external factors, we acquire the ability to receive inner strength from above.

In a manner like this, the components of this triangle act mutually: the group, the external public, and the Creator. And the Creator acts on us through the general public.

And that is how it is until everything becomes one.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9./22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: What does “My sons have defeated Me” mean if we never ascend above the Creator?

Answer: “My sons have defeated Me” means that they have defeated all the hardships, they have overcome all the difficulties the Creator has given them. In the situation of the guest and the host, I not only defeat the Creator, but I also use Him. The victory is not in defeating and silencing Him, but rather in using Him, in receiving from Him all the love and bestowal that He stimulates in me now on top of the shame that I begin to feel.

First I was ashamed that I might be caught as if I have stolen something. Then it turned out that I am not a thief but that I have taken a gift that belongs to me, that the Host has given me out of His great love to me. This already provokes two types of feelings in me—Bina and Malchut.

The feeling of the Host is the beginning of Bina, without this the created being cannot exist. The feeling of Malchut is the same since I want to receive, but if I feel the love of the host and the shame inside Malchut I have to calculate how to raise Bina above Malchut.

But if I raise Bina above Malchut so I will not feel the shame and receive the pleasure, it is already a shell, since Bina begins to serve Malchut. On the other hand, if I use Malchut with its desire to enjoy together with the feeling of shame and want to fulfill the desire of Bina, Malchut rises to Bina bringing its Aviut (thickness) to Bina, the force of its desire. As a result, Bina expands and grows stronger. With the help of the force that helps Bina, the level of Moses develops, I try to reach the state of Keter, adhesion, and then I begin to correct Malchut.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A person has only the attributes and the powers that he needs in order to reveal the true reality and not any other powers or attributes that there can possibly be. The amount, the form, of the inner data that we have and the connection between them, are all arranged and designated only for attaining the goal.

So, no matter what we engage in besides attaining the goal directly and correctly, eventually, we always come to some dead end, experience failure, and are forced to turn back. So, after zigzagging for a long time, which may even take many reincarnations, we finally come to the decision that we must be focused on the real goal.

Then, we will discover that all the attributes that we each have are only for this purpose. If we focus straight on the goal, we discover that we have all the attributes we need in order to attain it, both the good and the bad—if we can call anything bad at all.
[117402]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Man’s origin is from the ape and he has developed gradually as the great Kabbalist the Ari said 300 years before Darwin. The Ari said that a person’s physical body stems from the ape, while the inner, spiritual content is determined by a combination of the upper forces. Kabbalah deals with the person himself and not with his corporeal body.

Every person develops thanks to his connection with his environment as he absorbs others’ attributes and opinions. A person couldn’t develop if he lived by himself in the woods. We develop thanks to our mutual incorporation.

It is said, “Go and make a living off each other,” which, in spirituality, means that everyone includes everyone else inside him and thus develops. To the extent that a person absorbs the desires of others, the knowledge, and the code of behavior, he develops. No one can develop by himself. A person doesn’t develop because he becomes smarter, but by absorbing from others.

To the extent that we are enriched by our mutual incorporation, we reach new scientific discoveries and discover a new society. There is no other factor by which we can discover the new reality, both in the corporeal sense and in the spiritual sense, except for the amount of our incorporation and connections between people. Thus, we expand our vessels of perception and everyone is enriched thanks to others, and we begin to see a picture that is more and more complex. This includes the revelation of new forces and laws, the development of science and it all is revealed to a person according to the complexity of his incorporation in everyone else.

We live in a perfect reality, and all there is to know about it already exists. However, in order to discover this, we must be incorporated and connect more strongly with all the parts that are in each of us. When we begin to collect these parts after the shattering, this connection allows us to discover the wisdom of reality, the true form that is called the development of science.

We discover more and more of it because each of us is incorporated in everyone else. This complexity, this connection, allows us to understand the picture of reality despite the separation, by comparing the plus and the minus, by comparing opposite conditions and attributes.

So, even on every level of the corporeal world, our success depends only on the connection between all the strange parts. This determines our mental and emotional development, both the corporeal and the spiritual, as a result of the shattering and its correction.

Only by connecting and the right mutual complementation will we discover the general essence of reality that is called the Creator, the force that is beyond all of reality. As it is written, “From Your actions we know You,” which means that we will reach the original idea that everything was created by Him as the result of discovering reality, its forces, and its different phenomena.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: If I don’t have the motivation to be involved with dissemination, in spite of all this, what would compel me to go and disseminate?

Answer: This would be the aspiration of your own soul. It is not found in you. Rather, it is in your link with others. However, what are you living for?

As of today, you exist like “beasts.” You were born, you live on what is allocated to you, and you die. You haven’t found anything. You haven’t done anything. No memory of you will remain. After that, you again will appear in that beastly form, for they again will give you the opportunity to realize yourself, but again from that same point, only in a worse state because you have not utilized the past. You need to catch up, to repay the debt.

What are you learning for? Why? Where is your greatness of the Creator? The Creator is the characteristic of love and bestowal. How have you elevated it? The greatness of the characteristic of bestowal and love is expressed in this: that you are devoted to this characteristic and strive to realize it.

Question: However, if I go to disseminate, this is also an egoistic calculation.

Answer: Certainly, you begin to disseminate from an egoistic calculation, but when you begin to work with the masses, then their desires and shortcomings penetrate into you. The imperative that they will succeed appears in you because they become precious and important to you, like your own children, and you already begin to ask for them, and even though, in principle, you also are asking egoistically, you are asking for the others and not for yourself, therefore, you begin to receive an ascent.
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From the Stockholm Convention “Joy In Unity” 8/31/13, Lesson 4

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