Question: Where exactly should a person start in order to feel the whole system of the universe inside?

Answer: Start only from our joint inclusion into a single group. Men or women, irrespective of who, where, and how, if everyone tries to unite into one system, a system of a mutual guarantee, we will begin to represent a closed system. We will start to feel a common pleasure in the form of spiritual Light that will circulate between us.

It is an everlasting sensation of an eternal perfect life that exists above our present existence and has nothing to do with our animate body. In other words, when you begin to feel this enormous circulating pleasure, our life will cease to be felt as the only one that exists. Even the death of the body will not be perceived as death anymore. It will just be a departure from the lowest and most insignificant part of you.
[58613]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/16/2011

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Question: How do I come to the Creator, when in reality I do not have the desire?

Answer: For you, the Creator is the collective vessel of all souls to whom you bestow. It is written: “I dwell among My people.” When this vessel manifests fully, you reveal the Creator in it.

The Creator is not some separate entity that exists outside of your reaction to the collective Kli. He neither has a form nor an appearance; He does not have an entity outside of what you find in the collective vessel.

For you the Creator is the group. When you reveal the connection between the friends, then in this common connection you reveal the Creator (Boreh), which comes from the words “come and see” (Bo-Reh). He manifests in the form you are able to see.

But He does not exist until then. Right now you do not have the Creator because it is written that you must go by what you see. You must not imagine anything outside of the limits of actual perception. You will reveal the Creator when you reach universal interconnection. It is the actual vessel that becomes imbued with mutual bestowal. And the Light will be revealed in this vessel.

It is not an abstraction of some sort—the vessel will seem to vibrate from the desire to bestow. Its “trepidation” is the Light, penetrating the universal interconnection. Everyone wants to bestow to others, everyone is connected with others, and this is why every part fulfills the other parts. This bestowal of one desire to another is called the “Light.”

Hence the Light in the Partzuf is the measures of the response in the desire. There is no Light without the vessel. The actual vessel becomes the Light when it begins to bestow. And the Creator is the commonality of bestowal, which becomes revealed inside the vessel, in the group.

Our entire work in the group brings us to the conditions that allow us to reveal and attain the Creator. I don’t go from the group to the Creator like from one room to another. The group is the vessel where I reveal everything: the upper Light (mutual bestowal) and the commonality of this Light, this bestowal, called the Creator.

Everything becomes revealed in the vessel of unity over the breaking. There is no other place, even now. There is no other reality other than the desire to receive pleasure, which experiences different states inside. It thinks that it is divided, broken, and welded to different extents and with different connections on different degrees; however, all this is happening inside of it. When it unites, it perceives the Creator, and when it loosens unity, it is left with a tiny Light. But one way or another, the reference is always to the desire and its experiences.
[58522]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/2011, “Peace in the World”

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The principle of love for the neighbor as for oneself is known to all, yet there is a lot of confusion surrounding it. Eveyrone agrees that they have to love one another, although some are wiling to exterminate a large part of humanity out of their love, thinking, “Those wretched people! Why should they suffer?” And it’s even more surprising how vaguely this principle is reflected in different religions.

As a result, we are cooled, and we are not worried about not loving our neighbor. Our upbringing and environment have completely neglected this question. Therefore, it is time to stop and think: Is it really that important? Maybe it’s enough to give moral teachings to children and to show elementary respect among adults? Or should love for the neighbor nevertheless be the goal of life at every moment for every person and everyone together? Should we live just in order to attain this quality as fast as possible?

This question we face is extremely important. If we are talking about the meaning of life, about the attainment of the goal for which we came into this world, then why do we neglect this principle so much? In essence, we are extremely far from understanding the fact that this principle is the universal law of the universe and of nature. All other laws which we know, and especially ones we do not know, rotate around this axis.

If we want to understand ourselves and the world we are in, then we have to attain the general law of creation. Without attaining love for the neighbor, we won’t be able to find out who we are and where we are. This is the key allowing us to see the whole picture correctly, to understand it, to feel it, to become included in it and to use it for total self-realization.

By acquiring love for the neighbor in practice, we attain the quality of the Creator. All other laws are just facets, partial expressions of this fundamental law of reality. It’s similar to how the law of gravity can be expressed in different ways, but as a whole, it always determines how one object is attracted to another.

There is a general phenomenon and there are particular cases of it. There is a law of universal bestowal, and for us it is first and foremost expressed as the social principle, “love your neighbor as yourself.” By realizing this principle in society, we carry out the universal law. It controls us, and if we want to arrange our lives well, we have to aspire to realizing it.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/27/11, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”
[58903]

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Question: Someone asked where is Jesus in Kabbalah, and the answer came back: “He is absent.” How can Jesus be absent? Kabbalah says that it deals with physical energy, so how can you separate it from the One who generates it? It’s like separating the gas from the car. How can it run without it?

God is the source of all things. In Genesis God spoke: “Let there be light, and there was light.” But isn’t light energy? Then why would God separate Himself from what He created? How can Kabbalah have no relation to religion? Regardless what religion it is, God is the source of all energy, all things in Heaven, on Earth, and beneath it.

Answer: Are you talking about the Creator or man, about what is revealed or what people believe in? I think this is a question of faith, which has nothing to do with science. Do you ask a physicist: “Where is the divine force in your particle accelerator?” Kabbalah talks only about what is revealed to us, people, as we develop within the force of bestowal and love.
[57535]

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Question: People tend to think that mutual guarantee and unification is a threat to their exclusivity, that it erases their individuality. Every person feels special and does not want to give up this feeling for the sake of unity….

Answer: A person will always keep his exclusivity. No one will have to give up his initial, unique qualities. We unite on a level higher, above them.

Suppose I join a creative association of workers in the television industry: artists, screenwriters, authors, and other creative people who work to create a large-scale piece of art together. Should each of them stand out with his own individuality? Or on the contrary, should each be equally mediocre? Clearly, we need outstanding individuals with unique talents who put forth their best effort for the common endeavor.

We do not lose our exclusivity, but we lower our heads before the goal, before our brainchild. This is exactly what enables every person to reveal himself.

Today nature is placing us in conditions where we will involuntarily have to give up the animate excesses, which actually bring us nothing but harm. We have to build our lives based on what is good for the body, and not exceed this norm by an ounce. After all, anything beyond that leads to diseases and problems.

On the other hand, all of our successive movement, all of our development and flourishing, and the entire abundance of personal qualities will be realized in the spiritual dimension. Stated differently, in society I can find opportunities for self-expression, for personal contribution and participation as a person who is creative and influential. I can do many things in society and I do not demand anything in return besides a normal, sufficient, safe material life. The environment provides for the needs of my animate body, and in all other regards I want to be part of everyone, and there, in the common whole, to find my happiness, pleasure, and vital forces.

That is precisely where I acquire unlimited opportunities. No one limits me, I do not lack anything, and I do not compete with anyone or try to get ahead of those who seem more successful. Like a painter or composer, I realize and express myself fully in my art—in the creative work for the common good. I feel like a creator, and this sensation fills all of my desires.
[58428]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/11, “Peace in the World”

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We are under the authority of “other gods.” “Gods” are the forces of nature that I worship. I worship various things: forces, fulfillments, phenomena, and situations, which make me—my ego—feel good. This is called “other gods.”

My attitude is wrong only relative to the property of bestowal that is opposite to me. I do not derive pleasure from it and do not understand how one can bestow—and enjoy it.

It means that we are under the control of other gods and engage in idolatry, meaning worship idols: all sorts of egoistic fulfillments. We have to change our system of values and appreciate the property of bestowal that is opposite to us.
[57198]
From the 6th lesson at the Toronto Convention 9/18/11

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Question: When will I finally understand that the Creator is not a mean boss, but a loving father?

Answer: Once you reveal Him. Until then, you will always have complaints to the Creator; you will always scold and curse Him, perhaps automatically or quietly in your heart because you fear Him. Being sincere will also not do anything. You must really think about what speaks to you without fearing anything. What matters most for the Creator and this entire system is that you understand it and yourself, bring yourself closer to it, and enter it.

Right now the entire world is coming closer to it. This is the sensation of our crisis; a feeling that we are on the threshold of this system. And this is why we must learn its qualities as well as possible, try to evaluate how eternal and perfect, how desirable or undesirable they are, which in reality is the same thing, and compare yourself to it as much as possible. This will lead to the manifestation of its Light, its influence within us. And then we will really obtain entrance into it.
[57419]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/2/2011

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Baal HaSulam, Letter #39: “… Know that since the times of the Ari and to this day there was no one who could understand the Ari’s method to its very roots. And behold, by the upper will I have merited the reincarnation of the Ari’s soul, and it wasn’t for my good deeds, but by the desire of the upper one.

“It is concealed even from myself why I was chosen for this wondrous soul, which not one man has merited since the time of the Ari’s death and to this day. But I cannot say any more about this because it is not my custom to talk about miraculous secrets….”

Baal HaSulam did not reveal the upper secrets not because it was against his rules, but because we simply don’t have that possibility…. Nevertheless, from his compositions we see how special this person was, that he was sent to us from the heavens. This soul was destined to unite us within the upper system. I don’t even know what to call him. This is not a “person” and not a human force. It’s not the kind of soul that might be present among us and that we might be able to become similar to or come closer to.

I remember this from the time when I was next to my teacher Rabash during his life in this world. You are next to a physical body: You take it to the sauna, to the sea, take a walk next to it, take care of it in a hospital after surgery, but all of that is just a body. Yet the soul that is inside is something completely separate from you and you cannot touch it in any way no matter what you do. It is in a different dimension and there is no connection between it and the body.

If I felt this way next to Rabash, then it’s impossible to even imagine how he felt being next to his great father, the man who wrote Talmud Eser Sefirot, the Commentary to the Book of Zohar, and who was able to explain any word written in the holy books in the language of hints or legends through the language of spiritual attainment. This simply wasn’t a person!

We have been granted a great honor in that we can be at least slightly related to his revelations and to the extent of our limited understanding, uncorrected desires, and lack of spiritual attainment, to nevertheless start realizing his method. We have to be infinitely grateful for that and be aware that a special privilege has been given to us which we do not even understand yet—a connection with such a great soul.

It’s like a baby who is born a prince by inheritance and who does not seem to deserve such an honor by any measure. That is how we have now been born and have merited to belong to the special souls who were chosen out of all humanity, who at least know what is happening to them, who understand the cause and the effects, the entire process, and everything taking place in the world. And thanks to them, we do not remain miserable blind men.
[57005]
From a talk at the meal devoted to Baal HaSulam’s memorial day, 10/8/11

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