Question: Our state is like that of a birth. A birth is a concrete action that either happened or not. However, if I ask this question now of my friends I’ll get all kinds of answers in the full spectrum, as if there are numerous tints of the grey color here. Is this the way it is supposed to be, or is it only one of the two, either black or white?

Answer: There is a very good example for this, the exodus from Egypt. It can be related to a single person who includes all of these qualities within him, since the whole world is inside of him. However it can also be seen as the exodus of many people of all types, amongst which there are men and women, the elderly and the children, infants, people related to the nation of Israel, and the Egyptians, the so-called “mixed multitude.” Everyone is coming out; everyone is running.

In this crowd, there are those who dreamed of this flight for many years and some who are following along with their relatives. There are children and infants who are led out by their parents. There are the elderly who would have no one to take care of them if they stayed. There are those who saw the crowd fleeing and just then decided to join.

But there are those who are going at the head of the throng who are determined to escape, and in front of them all, Moses is leading the way. Meaning that we see that among those who arrive at Mount Sinai are all types of people. And inside of a single person, reaching this state of the first unity above the mountain of hatred between him and his friends, there are also a multitude of desires and thoughts, from the high point in the heart which leads him like the forefather, Moses, and up to the most rough, vain desires.

In the end it’s required of them all, all so different and each one with everything confined inside of his spectrum of desires, thoughts and intentions, it’s necessary for all of them to be ready for the mutual connection as much as we, being below the Machsom, are capable of it. Of course, all of this is happening in a world of deception for the sake of egoism, Lo Lishma, but no more is required of us yet.

It needs to be understood that the spiritual approach is not difficult at all, but very simple. The problem is that we are not directed at the spiritual! I am not directed at unity! If I were able to remain in the aspiration towards unity for a few hours, I would have reached it. However, I don’t want it, and I am spending hours on all other possible things except spirituality, so in the end, life alone is not enough to reach it.

The problem is that we keep forgetting where we need to apply efforts. If you apply effort in the correct place, then it doesn’t matter if you have very little water, but you are using it to water a seed planted into the earth, this seed will shoot sprouts. While if you have a lot of water, but you are pouring all of it out into the desert sand, then nothing comes of it.

That is why the whole problem lies in the quality of intention. While in quantity, we are over-fulfilling it, skirting around, doing something, and we remain satisfied because we have used all of our strength. However, if you were to see how it really is, you would understand that you have not done anything in the right place at all. This is the whole issue. This is what we are working on and everything depends upon this.

Each one is already overfilled with theoretical knowledge, the science, and the articles. What remains is to apply the effort in the right place, only between the hearts, and then we’ll succeed. In our state today we can reach this within a few hours in order to at least touch the spiritual vessel, and then everything will be much easier.
[71836]
From the Arava Convention 2/24/12, Lesson 4

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We need to love the game the Creator is playing with us. A mother also plays with a little child, teaching him different things. This is the way He treats us, only we, being so “mature,” refuse to accept this game, this attitude, and do not wish to be His partners.

The Creator wishes to teach us what our nature is, what His nature is, and how we can transition from one to the other. Then once again He throws us into our nature and teaches us to rise to His nature again. This game continues time after time, thus teaching us to recognize Him, understand what His nature is like, what He wants from us, and the stages He uses to bring us closer to Him. We understand that He created our nature the way it is in order for us to attain the entire creation from two opposites.

However, we disdain this game, reject it, do not agree with it, and wish to come out of it. When a person understands that it is the Creator speaking with him and does not leave this course, things become easier for him. No matter what happens to him in life, he knows that everything comes from Above and he only needs to have the right reaction towards these things: to continue on the path without deviating.

It is very difficult to keep this mindset. The only way one can keep this attitude in understanding, sensation, awareness, and mutual work is when one is connected with others, when they support him and he supports them in mutual guarantee. One must not forget about it and always be connected to reality on this wave: “There is none else besides Him.” Anything being sent to me always pursues just one goal: for me to rise and become closer to Him.

We must learn this from life with the example of children. We only need to take into consideration the fact that they are given a means of instinctive preparation. Their inner calling pushes them to experience the world, learn from grownups, and enjoy the games we give them. We purposefully buy them building blocks, mosaics, and constructor sets for them to build, glue, and assemble things. And they instinctively enjoy this, but we do not. So, instead of instinct, we need to add efforts in understanding and awareness. We develop following this principle.

Our development consists of assembling ourselves like a construction set. And this is why from the beginning I am not able to last in this game without the support of others. This is the starting point: The Creator is willing to play with us if we decide to assemble the common mosaic. But if I forget about everyone, there is nothing to assemble. Then I am not even a part of the game yet, no matter how much I fuss. The game begins with readiness to unite.

We join the game the moment we grab on to this tendency, when we acknowledge and accept this approach.

And then fluctuation begins. A person can encounter difficulties, become disappointed, and lose understanding and drive, but all this happens within the framework of the game. No matter what happens, the thread towards unity always remains both in happiness or despair. The Creator presents us with these kinds of forms in this game.

We must always be prepared for it and remind each other that essentially, we are all standing before Him. Sometimes we are for and sometimes against, but we always interact with Him, whether in a positive or negative way. One way or another, by keeping this attitude towards the Source of everything that happens, we take steps towards attaining Him. We do not have another business: As we “press” on unity, we begin to reveal His form—from the simplest level. It’s like in a mosaic: We get a part of the common picture by putting together two or three fragments. We already know something: This must be a cloud, this must be grass, this must be a flower, and so on. In other words, we attain Him in certain things. And then we continue on.

This is what the correction of the broken Partzuf of Adam HaRishon consists of. We reconnect it, where everyone reconnects his piece of the common mosaic.

At the same time, one should not be ashamed of difficult questions and disturbances, or of anything in life. We see that if we manage to connect our entire life, all the crises and problems, from the most difficult to the lightest, to this game the Creator presents to us, everything suddenly adds up. Every part finds its place, and we see that “There is none else besides Him.” He is everywhere, working in very different forms. Sometimes He is behind, sometimes in front, sometimes in my life, and sometimes in the life of the world, in the group, and outside of it, in my feelings and mind.… I begin to recognize Him everywhere as the only Force that operates on different levels, and this way I gradually reveal Him.

The essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings in this world by having us assemble His form. Is it possible to advance without starting with the smallest and easiest moves in this game so that we will gradually transition towards more serious and complicated moves? After all, this is what everything is about—to become closer to the Creator, to understand and feel Him better. When a person completes the “moment,” connects another obstacle or difficulty to the complete picture, then it is written regarding it: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are One.” Everything comes to me from the Creator, and then all the pieces in the group and the entire world will connect in my perception. This way I realize this principle of unity.

This way we grow and go through the “childhood years,” when we can unite only in Galgalta ve Eynaim, that is, in the light vessels, and then we come to more difficult desires. This is the path. We go through moments of despair, but they also need to be seen as a game, the game of life, which encompasses all the worlds, the entire reality. And then it will be easy because all the worlds are between us and the Creator—we play with Him at the place where we create unity together.
[71646]
From the Lesson #4 of the Arava Convention Lesson 2/24/12

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When a person approaches the revelation of the Creator, he feels that he is standing at Mount Sinai. On one hand there is all of his evil desire, but on the other hand, he understands that in order to attain the goal and reveal the Creator, he needs to prepare his desire to receive the quality of bestowal, which is copied from Him. After all, “man” (Adam) means: “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator.

And so, together we prepare our desire to receive for different forms of bestowal so it could accept the imprint. This is the state of the giving of the Torah, about which it is written: “You all appear today…” Not one, but all: Because it is in our common unity that we will reveal the upper force.

Essentially a very simple thing is required to prepare the material of desire. It is true that this action no longer pertains to our world, and this is why it is difficult for us. It is called: mutual inclusion. We all must become mutually included in one another, connect to one another through our desires, and nothing else. Then, just like before the breaking, we will reach the “place,” where the upper Light can enter, and make its imprint.

And for this reason, it does not matter what we do if we just keep the direction to unite, to reveal the Creator; as it is written: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” “Israel” is man. “Torah” is the power of the Light that unites us to the point of loving our neighbor like ourselves. And the “Creator” is the Root, which gives us His imprint when we unite.

This way I stand on one side of the group, and the Creator stands on the other. And if He and I are able to meet in the group, then there the revelation takes place.

This is the way we advance. Essentially, all our work is preparing for it. This will happen to us if we all stand together.
[71356]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Question: I once watched a movie where a microchip was installed into a monkey’s brain and as a result, it procured bananas using an artificial arm. That’s when I understood that my body does not exist because it can also be just as artificial. In this case, where is the desire to reveal the Creator located, which I now feel within me?

Answer: The desire for spirituality is not located inside of the material body. Desires aren’t inside the body at all. We confuse the biological, animate body, which operates according to natural instincts, personality, and inclinations that determine its natural desires and needs, with the desire that is disconnected from this body and belongs to the attainment of spirituality.

Our body is an animal, like that monkey with a banana. But when a new desire awakens in us, above our animate needs, it is on a completely different level and is not inside the body. The body may live or die, but nothing happens to the spiritual desire.

The animate body lives and dies, and all of its animate desires, aspirations, and goals die together with it. But there is also a desire called “the point in the heart,” which we have to develop. If we connect it with other desires like it, which are present in others, then we will build a common desire out of them in which it is possible to reveal spiritual life.

I have a drop of spiritual semen, called “the point in the heart.” I can grow it by adding more and more “meat” to it, just like a baby grows from a drop of semen in a mother’s womb.

So how can I attach the spiritual meat to my point, the drop of spiritual semen? For that I have to unite with others. That is how I will build the vessel of my soul and will begin living inside of it, inside of this new desire that I collected.

If I don’t build it, then I will remain that initial drop of semen, with the informational gene (Reshimo) alone, and will once again return and go through life cycles, one after another, receiving the opportunity to develop that drop.

My animate body only accompanies the drop of semen, the point in the heart. Therefore, stop focusing on your body and give it what it is supposed to get to lead a normal existence. And devote all of your attention to the point in the heart, to how to connect it to other points in order to build a general vessel out of them for revealing the spiritual world.

As for the microchips, leave them to the monkeys.
[71350]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/24/12, Lesson #2

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Question: On one hand we say that we should demand revelation now, regardless of our length of study, and on the other hand there is the notion of the necessary measure of exertion, which must be made in the preparation stage. How do the two things go together?

Answer: Reaching the necessary measure means reaching the true necessity. None of us can even begin to feel this. We simply feel bad in our ego and so we are ready to escape it to some extent. Not more than that.

Spirituality begins from the revelation of our mutual connection. We haven’t started that yet and haven’t reached it. We haven’t started this process and haven’t touched the vessel among us.

In each of us there is only emptiness, nothing. It isn’t a vessel, but merely a point. Besides that, everything else in you belongs to the beastly level and has nothing to do with spirituality. The “human” in you is just a point within which there is nothing. This point develops only by connection with other points, and thus it puts on “flesh” and creates a spiritual “body.”

The preliminary work for attaining the necessary measure is only needed in order to begin uniting with the friends. None of us has anything; no one understands anything. We come out of Egypt like some “crowd” escaping without knowing where to, in total darkness covering all our desires, thoughts, and intentions. This is the escape of the slaves of the egoism. Otherwise they cannot leave it. They are taken out after being in a state of having no choice, and nothing more is demanded of them. Then they start complaining to Moses, they build the golden calf, but this is actually the road to spirituality, otherwise you will not be born.

Therefore the measure of exertion is when you understand that the spiritual vessel is connection with others. It doesn’t belong to you. It is a very hard moment, because here you begin to enter through the wall in order to reach the spiritual world. On one side of the wall you are in the ego, in your individualism; and on the other side of the wall it will be clear to you that the spiritual “you” is what is between you and the others to the extent that you are in them, in their desires and their thoughts, when you leave your own thoughts and desires behind that wall.

Only the Light can do that for you, but you should imagine this and think about it. Nothing more than that is asked of you.
[70671]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/22/12, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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The Creator is one, unique, and unified force. As it says: “There is none else besides Him,” “I have not changed my HaVaYaH,” or “the Light is at absolute rest.” It is all about one essence.

All of our reality can exist only if we separate from the One and exist outside Him. But actually there is nothing but that One. The question always comes up: “If there is none else besides Him, then who are we?” But actually we don’t exist. All of our reality is in our imagination until we return to the One: one desire and one Light, as it says, “He and His name are one.”

Then everything but that One disappears. The whole process we seem to go through outside that One exists only in our corrupt imagination, detached from the true reality, in concealment, in a distorted perception. This is what we have to correct: From our delusive vision in which there are two, we should switch to the truth in which there is only One.

This One is the only thing that exists and rules. We must understand that the world we see in which there are many different creatures is like a dream, an optical illusion. It is as if we cannot focus our vision and find the right thought or feeling. We as if are lost in the fog, confused, and hence feel the world this way.

So how can we return to the truth spoken about in the wisdom of Kabbalah, called “the wisdom of truth,” meaning the method that leads us to the truth? How can we return to the true, full, and correct awareness? What is the reason that there are so many of us and that we are all in this false, confused state and then return to the truth—to the One?

Kabbalists write that in order to reach that One, we have to go from imperfection to perfection. Due to this, the One is revealed and a different unity appears.

Now it is impossible to recognize the final goal and how high it is. But we try to somehow imagine the difference between everyone’s private desire and thought and the desire and the thought that connect and adhere to the concept of “One.”

The unity we reach thanks to our connection is not a simple combination of the forces of many people that come together. It is a force that grows not just in quantity and not even just in quality. The law of equivalence of form is in effect here. If we connect because we want to reach bestowal, to rise above our present nature, then according to the law of equivalence of form, we reach the concept of “One” that resembles the Creator.

If we simply connect, we become an ordinary group, like a group of football fans or soldiers in the army, which receives the general sum of forces of all its members. But here it isn’t just about the sum of individual forces. After all, everyone doesn’t come here with his force, ego, mind, and desire in order to connect all the attributes, desires,  forces, and brains together.

Rather, everyone rises above his mind and feeling, and so they connect their desires in order to be above reason, above themselves. Then they are incorporated in the concept  of “One” called “the Creator” and acquire one mind and one feeling. This one mind and desire begins to rule over them.

Therefore, all the sages and Kabbalists have one desire and one thought, although it seems that they express different opinions and even argue (like the House of Hillel and the House of Shamai). But they debate only to better clarify the concept of “One,” to see how every individual feels it from his point of view, after he rises above it and discovers this One.
[70394]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2012, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Question: No matter what I do, calculations of self-benefit will always be behind it. Thus, I’m opposite to the Creator. Does that mean I won’t be able to reveal Him?

Answer: No, now we’re going through the preparation period in a state of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name). Above us is the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality). This is a very unique state. On one hand, on the way to the Machsom, you continuously aim to identify: What is bestowal? Is it good or bad? Who is the Creator? And on the other hand, you constantly think: “What’s in it for me?”

That is the state of Lo Lishma: You move forward and every time you need to justify that advancement in your eyes. No one is demanding us to take too big of a leap. Cooperation between the Light and the vessel, which began in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), brought about the division of the system into two parts. It divided into souls and worlds, vessels and Light, and both those lines, in correlation with each other, cascaded down. Now I need to combine them into a middle line and use them like reins in order to return to the point of my birth in Infinity.

Clearly, the system suits all my present needs and states, it doesn’t require me to bluff. I truly am an egoist who wants to take advantage of the whole world for self-benefit, steal from everyone, lie to all, and so forth. If I haven’t yet revealed it, I’ll soon realize that everything is that way. I only need to build all those things correctly so that receiving and bestowing will be balanced in accordance with my present degree.

I’m willing to invest in a group in order to gain a positive future for myself, the spiritual world. I don’t shut my own mouth; rather, I conduct an examination. Indeed, we’re talking about permanent rules. Nature can’t be wrapped around my finger. We aren’t hiding anything from ourselves or from others; otherwise, our approach wouldn’t be serious or practical. We learn about the forces operating in nature upon ourselves, forces destined to lead us forward to the goal. We need to conduct that study without shame and without hiding anything.
[69430]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/12, “The Peace”

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We are going to the convention in the Arava because we urgently need the forces of unity and cohesion. They will give us the power and the understanding to bring correction to the world. There is no greater force in the world than our unity. All other means are material, whereas we have the spiritual force, allowing us to change the common system and transform the universe.

Our universe submits to a limited number of constants, such as the speed of light. It’s enough for a tiny shift to occur in these fundamental dimensions, and then all of nature will become different. When constant values change, our world won’t be able to exist in its previous form.

Thus, we can slightly adjust the correlation of these constants with the help of the spiritual force. And then the world gradually “flows” and changes form. No one is aware of it, but suddenly everyone becomes smarter and more perceptive, everyone’s eyes open, people understand and feel more, and every person rises in his consciousness, coming intro greater contact with the idea of unity and realizing the need for change.

We are turning on the Light that reforms for people, and it develops them. However, it does not develop them in earthly wisdom, but in the upper wisdom, the wisdom of unification. That is the path we must open up to humanity with our unity.
[69976]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

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Everyone’s personal perception of reality develops according to the root of their soul, its character and mentality.

There are people, who are more inclined towards a technical development, while others have a more sensual inclination, as in our world there are humanitarians and technicians in our world. Some study music, literature, philosophy, and others study engineering, mathematics, architecture and so on.

And spiritually, there is a huge difference between them. Why did one Kabbalist write in one style, while another in another? This is a result of the character traits of a person’s soul; each one perceives the spiritual world differently. Subsequently, they complement each other, but as a whole, there is a big difference between souls, much greater than the differences between people in our world.

Of course, everyone perceives the spiritual reality; as we move forward and pass the Machsom (barrier to spirituality), everyone reaches the insight. But to one person, the spiritual world may be revealed in a way that he sees a whole picture and works with the figurative attainment, while another one, with a more technical disposition of the soul, has a perception like that of a physicist in our world. The third one perceives spirituality like a psychologist does in our world, and the fourth one as a simple workman.

In the spiritual worlds, there is a much richer “assortment” of  occupations than in our world, like a projection of one world into another.
[69522]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/12, The Zohar

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Integral upbringing strips a person of practically everything that characterizes our modern society. What remains is only their normal, peaceful, and regular existence (we call it the beastly level, but not with disdain as this is the level on which our physical body exists). At this point a person devotes all of his or her resources only to master the next degree, that of “Adam,” the degree of universal mutual guarantee, ascent, and unity. It is precisely in our unity that we reveal the next level of our existence: the attainment of eternity and perfection.

And this is possible since by breaking away from our animal body and attaining the complete picture of nature, its mechanism, dynamics, and the forces that permeate it from beginning to end, this entire process, a person connects to and associates himself with this process and already simply lives on that level. It’s as if he or she breaks away from their own body (we cannot imagine this state yet) and associates himself with the attained common unification and exists within it to such extent that even if his body dies, he doesn’t feel death. It’s as if this is the death of his beloved pet animal who lives next to him. He doesn’t feel that his “self” loses something thereby.

Since our body represents merely the sum of our desires and our notion of self, if we no longer associate ourselves with it, it’s as if we live detached from it. This is also a psychological problem, but it can be overcome in the course of integral upbringing.

We need to lead our students towards this gradually since the problem of death, despite the constant attempts to “bottle it up,” nevertheless drives a human being. In any task that we set before ourselves, we subconsciously include this element and are compelled to address it. Any decision that we make: to have children, to support a family, to appear a certain way in the eyes of society, and so on, anything presupposes an element of inclusion of the self into something outside of ourselves since in this manner it’s as if we continue on.
[68743]
From “Lessons About the New World” #8, 12/15/12

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