Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Two Ways to Discover the Wholeness

There are two ways to discover the completeness: the path of Torah and the path of pain.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Solution”

There are two authorities in the conduct of development:

• The authority of Heaven, the rule of natural law of development which transforms egoism into bestowal through suffering;
• The “authority of the earth,” the rule of people who have taken the laws of development under their own government, manage their correction, and can free themselves entirely from the long and painful path of natural development.

– Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”
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Suffering brings us to the question: What are we living for? I do not want to live in order to suffer while serving my egoism. It is better to die than live like this. Many people in the world are ready to die, and many actually commit suicide.

So how can I change the situation so that instead of me serving my desire, my desire would serve me? This is only possible if the Light that Reforms acts upon me. I need this hidden force, even though I do not know where it comes from. Only it will change the order of priorities in me, raising the importance of spiritual life, bestowal, exiting myself, and rising above egoistic concerns about my existence here and now.

At a certain stage, man realizes his enslavement and understands the meaning of the words: “I have created the evil inclination.” The ego takes you towards death—this is why you refer to it as “evil.” Life seems to be death to you because you work for a cruel master who does not pay you anything and leaves you without pleasure, until eventually you die. There is no harder slavery.

But for the time being, I do not yet see my evil inclination; it blinds me, appears to be me. But in reality it is as if someone has hypnotized me, programmed me, and I do what he wants. His power is so strong that he controls me in an unnoticeable and tyrannical manner.

We are born hypnotized, and we do not even understand that we are under someone else’s influence. It happens in life that we fall under someone’s influence, and only afterward are surprised to discover this. It is the same story regarding the evil inclination. The problem here is with the means: What will help us break free from its oppression?

The answer is suffering. Suffering is like Pharaoh who has brought the sons of Israel closer to the Creator. This angel of death constantly forces you to strain yourself for him, and finally you discover that you are suffering through his commands and your servitude. Then you begin to search for the cause of your suffering, and you discover that they actually help you reject evil. This way Pharaoh, who strained the sons of Israel with heavy work, brought them closer to their redemption.

So are we, together with the entire world, standing in the beginning of the same process. Purer souls awaken first, asking themselves about the meaning of what is happening: “Where is the villain who orders me around? I do not want to suffer.”

At first one tries to figure out his suffering egoistically. Then he raises his eyes and begins to examine the situation as a whole: “What is actually happening here?” This way we direct ourselves towards a different goal—essentially, a different authority. We go from one angel to another: from Pharaoh to the Creator. There are only two options, and no one else between them. Ultimately, you choose who will rule over you.

Purer souls are going through this now, and others will come after them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: Egoism shrewdly and inventively depicts various pictures before me. How can I discriminate the lie in them, which appears like love for others? After all, all kinds of religions and methods also talk about love.

Answer: In our world “love for the neighbor” is a simple, primitive game of small egoists. Can you really find real, exalted love for the neighbor anywhere, which is really practiced on an ongoing basis?

True, people create separate settlements in order to live in love with one another: There is a village like that in Italy, one in India, and an entire city in Asia. But if you look a bit closer, you will see that they are still the same egoists who just decided to introduce more comfortable social customs. This is more comfortable and pleasant for them, and therefore, they have united in order to make their lives nicer.

Once upon a time kibbutzes flourished in Israel—agricultural settlements with collective property similar to a collective farm. People decided that it was worthwhile for them to live together because this brought them more benefit. “Let’s give up some of our egoism and then we will feel good.” Everything’s clear about this, but is this really altruism?

Humanity supposes that conceding to the neighbor makes a person an altruist. However, people who are slightly more informed about human nature or who study the science of Kabbalah know that any concession has to come with a profit. No matter what a person is giving up, you can find what he is gaining by that. Even if the profit is concealed, it is definitely present.

For example, I am willing to live in a kibbutz because this removes my worries about how to arrange my life. Is that not a profit? I have no worries. I simply do what I am told. But development follows its course and with time kibbutzes became outdated. As a whole, these kinds of communities have no future.

We already see that all forms of interconnection between people have to change due to the egoism that grows in them. Changes continue to take place, and this inner dynamic has to be realized in some way as there will be an explosion otherwise.

This happened over the course of history to various religions, faiths, and methods. Today they are undergoing a worldwide outburst because man has set out on a search once again. He is conducting the final revision: Can these methods offer anything real?

After this analysis these practices will fall for the last time. After all, today we are checking them in relation to the integral mechanism that nature places before us. We have never had this criterion yet. People are once again turning over the pages of all sorts of practices, confessions, and mystical teachings, trying to understand: Can they help us in the new, integral world?

This process will take a short time and will quickly come to an end with all the expectations crashing down. Everyone will see that it is pointless to wait for help from them. Any subject that is checked will persist for a few years at most after which it will reveal its inadequacy.

After all, if you don’t change man’s nature so he becomes just as integral inside of him as nature itself, then no recipes will help him. The only method that makes man global, integral, and united with others is the method of attracting the Light that reforms, the science of Kabbalah. Every person just needs to be given the opportunity to realize his evil. Then all the means and their combinations will turn out powerless, and this entire business of “spiritual” tricks will end up non-existent.

Man will not be able to calm himself down because the world has changed and the problem is no longer how to calm down, but a “conflict of interests.” No one will be able to survive in the integral system without becoming fit for it.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

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We are in a reality where we have developed over thousands of years. At first we were savages, not knowing what for, how, and why—real animals. Then we started having human relations with one another, formed a society, and started developing technology.

And thus, gradually, through all of these events, we are discovering a process that was goal-oriented from the onset. New facets of desire were always revealed in humanity, continuously pushing us to a new turn in our development in order to fulfill ourselves. However, once we achieved a specific state, a specific level of development, we started experiencing desires that could not be realized in our world.

Man is suddenly contemplating things that you cannot find here. Food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge, in different variations and combinations—this is the entire selection. It would seem: What else can there be? And yet, one sunny day, man starts having new questions: about his root and about the reason for existence. Suddenly he notices that every object has a reason, a process, and a result—a beginning, development, and end. Apparently, I am not an exception?

This question no longer belongs to the animate level, but to the human in us. Until it appeared, creatures having the form of humans did not ask about life, or if they did ask about it, then they were satisfied by different methods of self-appeasement. But we are talking about a person wishing to know, “What am I for? Why am I here? Where did I come from and where am I going?” So how can he receive answers to his questions?

First he has to uncover the actual question because it is not simple. Any person can ask it, but the entire matter here is the depth of the question, its direction. After all, a question is a vessel, a Kli.

In the end a person becomes completely confused. Besides, by our nature we aspire to self-appeasement, which we accomplish by means of all sorts of actions, customs, and habits. I do something and I feel good. So let’s establish customs that will help us receive psychological compensation and fulfillment. That is how we lull ourselves, not wishing to reveal our question in its entire depth and to use it to develop, to get down to the truth. We don’t care about the truth, but about comfort.

Stated differently, I am not happy about the emergence of this new vessel or new desire in me, which sends me off to search for something, forces me to make an analysis, and evokes inner suffering. Ideally I should be enjoying it because that’s how I develop, and development is more important than transient sensations. However, what do I need this for if I’m able to fulfill myself and dampen my ardor without it just as well? What I have is enough for me.

And soon after, I am overcome by fatigue and vexed by life’s difficulties. Old age is creeping on and a person agrees to the small instead of the great.

Thus, our problem, and a great obstacle for us lies in rising from the regular level of development to the spiritual level —the human level.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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Question: How should the nation of Israel living on the material level of this world participate in the general correction?

Answer: Together with correcting the spiritual Israel, we have to correct its material “hypostasis.” It is the result of the reincarnation of the souls of Israel, whereas the spiritual Israel is all those who have a point in the heart, a spiritual aspiration by which they join the process.

The difference between them lies in what they are drawn to: a person with a point in the heart is drawn to spirituality, whereas a person who does not have this point is not. Still, if a person without a point in the heart belongs to the nation of Israel (Yashar Kel, meaning those aimed straight to the Creator), then he is obligated to work on correction.

True, there is a principle stating that there is no coercion on the spiritual path. But nevertheless, this obligation is incumbent on Israel. The Torah says, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” And the time has come.

Of course, the responsibility of those members of Israel who have a point in the heart is different from the responsibility of those who do not have this point, who have not been awakened yet. However, this obligation is incumbent on everyone, and the external pressure of AHP, the nations of the world, is aimed precisely at making Galgalta ve Eynaim correct themselves. This pressure will only keep growing. The more we fall behind, the more AHP wants because egoism constantly grows and becomes more and more empty. That is why the pressure on Galgalta ve Eynaim will become stronger. That is how the nations indirectly incite Israel to accelerate its correction.

Therefore, people with a point in the heart, meaning the spiritual Israel, and just the Jews, the material Israel, have to actualize the correction upon themselves and attract the Light for AHP. You can’t do anything to change this fact because we are talking about a single vessel whose parts are interconnected in this way.

Question: Does this mean that two processes have to occur simultaneously?

Answer: I don’t see two processes occurring here. At the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes about two parts of Israel: the internal and the external. The inner part are “the workers of the Creator,” those who desire to serve Him. They also divide into two parts: the inner part, those who wish to attain the intention for the sake of bestowal, and the external part, which makes material actions. Besides them, Israel also includes people who don’t know anything and aren’t interested in anything.

Similarly, the nations of the world also include two parts. The inner part wants to join us and belongs to Israel, even though it is called “Israel in the nations of the world.” And the external part is indifferent to this and feels only the troubles of this world. But we also have to awaken these people, so they will at least avoid making great mistakes in the future and will save themselves from annihilation and grave problems. That is how they join us.

In the end, correction is intended precisely for this external part—AHP. They are the goal of creation. The top priority is the will to enjoy, while Israel is not the goal of creation, but just its correction.

This is what our entire work has to be aimed at: correcting ourselves in order to bring correction to the world. This is the meaning of “a kingdom of priests.” We are servants, we serve the world.
From the lesson on 5/13/11, “A Discourse On Wisdom” by Ramchal

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Question: How can people who don’t feel any aspiration for spirituality be able to reach it if this requires a latent memory about it, a forgotten taste? Why do they suffer uselessly?

Answer: People do suffer uselessly, and that is why we have to bring to them the method of development without the blows. Then even if a person does not have spiritual genes (information about previous states), he will receive them from others thanks to the mutual inclusion.

It’s like in our world when you are resting in an armchair in front of the TV with a cup of coffee, watching a soccer game, and you think that you don’t need anything more. But suddenly they show you some commercial that convinces you that you absolutely need some object. You immediately forget all about soccer and start thinking about how to buy that thing. The advertisement takes away your sense of tranquility and awakens your desires.

We do not understand just how dependent we are on the influence of the environment. If we did not have that influence, we would be like animals in a forest. After all, according to the desires of our bodies, we don’t need anything besides the vital necessities.

Everything that is beyond the boundaries of necessity are things we wish for only due to the influence of society, which pressures me and convinces me that I need one thing, and another, and a third, and then I feel like I have to obtain those things.

If from every direction, via all the means of mass information, society now starts telling me that I need spirituality, then besides the simple necessities of this animate body, all I will need is spirituality. This is all we have to do—place ourselves under the influence of the right environment. And I don’t need anything else! It’s not necessary for the spiritual gene to awaken in me because the external environment will perform all of that work.

Spiritual genes awaken in special people who suddenly receive that kind of infusion from above and dash forward. This is special care from above. But others have to develop only by virtue of the environment.

Therefore, if we don’t build the right environment around all of humanity, if we don’t disseminate this knowledge across the whole world, then the world will have to advance only by the price of enormous suffering.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/11, “General Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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In Baal HaSulam’s Letter #1 there is a parable about a king who grew so fond of his servant that he wanted to raise him above all the ministers….

He appointed the servant a guard at the city gate, and told a minister who was a clever joker to pretend to rebel against the kingdom…

The minister did as the king had commanded and with great wisdom and craftiness, pretended to fight against the king’s house. The servant risked his life and saved the king, fighting devotedly and bravely against the minister, until his great love for the king was evident to all.

Then the minister took off his costume and there was great laughter for he had fought so fiercely, and now realized that there was only fiction here, not reality. … Every single item in this terrible war became a round of laughter and great joy. …

[Then for a second time the king] said to that minister that he must disguise himself as a robber and a murderer, and wage fierce war against him. The king new that in the second war he would display wondrous wisdom (Hochma), and merit standing at the head of all the ministers.

In the meantime, the servant inherited “wisdom” (Hochma) from after-knowledge, and “love” from fore-knowledge, and then has been erected for eternity.

It is true, that all the wars in that exile are a wondrous sight, and everyone knows in their kind interior that it is all a kind of wit and joy that brings only good. Still, there is no tactic to ease the weight of the war and the threat on oneself.

We really do not know why we have to go through all of the suffering, problems, wars, and confusion, and on the other side of that, clarification, successes, and failures…. What is the use of all this suffering?

But later on this path, we gradually realize how from this we acquire knowledge, wisdom, power, and understanding of the general system. We study the Creator’s actions that are done to us, and as a result we attain and understand Him, as it is written, “We will know You from Your actions.” To the extent we understand Him, we start to sense Him.

Yet, the reason why we definitely had to reach this by such a difficult path is not clear to us. And now, while we are still on the path of correction, we won’t be able to understand it, but only when we rise above its limitations to the state of perfection. Then we will gain the necessary mind and feelings, the means enabling us to discover the justify this path.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “A Parable about a King”

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Question: How can we explain our message of unity to people? Can we say that this is a natural, obvious phenomenon?

Answer: We can talk about unity by showing it from many angles. After all, unity is always beneficial if it is done for the sake of a proper and just goal. It is written, “An assembly of fools [meaning an assembly of evildoers] is bad for them and bad for the world.” On the other hand, the unity of people who desire goodness certainly benefits them and the world. We see this.

We all win by uniting. Unity is only repulsive to a person’s individual egoism because of its limited nature. It’s not that difficult to explain to people that in any situation unity accompanied by a good intention will not cause any harm to anyone and will always end up successful. Always. And only if you want to harm someone or profit at someone else’s expense and only in cases that you aim to cause direct or indirect harm will the unification be evil and undesirable.

In all other cases we can cite formulas, proofs, and examples from the lives of animals and plants, as well as human relationships, which demonstrate that unity is beneficial.

Question: Does that mean we can say that good unification is in accord with the law of nature and therefore it works?

Answer: That is what I say in all of my conversations and video conferences. Even if a person hates me, even if he is dead set against me and is pushing in the other direction, my goal is to place him and myself in a researcher’s position through the process of conversation. Even if we are the most irreconcilable enemies in the world, we are still inside of nature, so let’s take a look at it. Let’s listen to what it is saying. After all, we will definitely have to progress by its laws, and we can do it in a good way if we agree with it, or in a bad way if we don’t agree. In any case, there is nowhere for us to run from it.

And now let’s see which of us is right. Or perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle? This doesn’t matter. We, as researchers, should only recognize this picture, instead of remaining in our false, self-induced tranquility, no matter how pleasant it is.

We want to reveal the truth, and the truth is nature. You can curse at the laws of the universe, but that won’t help you because you are inside of them. This is the point we have to emphasize. More and more, scientific discoveries are indicating that we are opposite and against nature, and this opposition is being expressed as a crisis. Look at what is happening to us and where we are going because of our lack of understanding nature’s laws. That is why we have to study them.

Baal HaSulam writes about this in Item 42 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”:
Indeed, you should know that the reason for our great distance from the Creator and that we are so prone to transgress His will, is for but one reason, which became the source of all the torment and the suffering that we suffer, and for all the sins and the mistakes that we fail in. Clearly, by removing that reason, we will instantly be rid of any sorrow and pain. We will immediately be granted adhesion with Him in heart, soul, and might. And I tell you that that preliminary reason is none other than the “lack of our understanding in His Providence over His creations,” that we do not understand Him properly.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: How can we explain to people the difference between the right kind of unity and the wrong kind?

Answer: We are simply saying, “Let’s get to know nature.” I do not want to divide humanity into those who unite correctly and those who do it incorrectly, and I don’t want to analyze anyone personally. That is why we are setting up contacts with scientists—in order to show everyone what nature is. And you can decide for yourselves what to do next. Just know that the degree of your similarity to nature determines how many disasters you will receive from it. The greater is the equivalence, the less troubles and the more pleasures are waiting for you.

Everyone has to have a clear understanding of what the source of their suffering is. Humanity is asking this question, and we will give it the answer. In our times it is already possible to explain things. Previously it was impossible to explain anything because we first had to reach the maximal, global, integral egoism. But today we have reached this level and therefore we can explain the general picture of what is happening to people.

From here on we will explain it in increasingly easier words, reformulating it again and again, and using this as a basis to explain the source of people’s problems in their family, with their children, with their health, at the bank, at work, on the roads, with one’s self, and so on.

After all, the general nature is essentially your entire life. Inside of this picture you will be able to find your attitude to everything, including football, work, and death….

However, you are still not expressing yourself in this picture. Newton revealed the law of gravity thanks to an apple that fell. However, the law operated before that as well. Similarly, it would be good if someone would “get it” and recognize the universal law of nature in order to tell the world about it. But if we wait for this to happen without giving a preliminary “presentation,” then we will pay too high a price.

By now I can already talk about this with anyone. The knowledge is in my hands, but let’s check it together. It belongs to everyone and if everyone learns it, we will all win. So let’s see whether or not I am right.

This is a very sound, scientific approach, pure of any personal biases. And I am willing to check myself as well. Most importantly, look at what is being revealed by a science that has reached us through many millennia. And it is especially relevant to the present moment, to whether or not we will have the means to live tomorrow, whether we will survive or fall in war.

In short, from the entire picture of nature, you cite the facts that confirm how everything aspires to unity. All of the still, vegetative, and animate nature is in balance, in homeostasis, in a fine interaction between different species. It seems to us that they simply eat each other, but in reality this is mutual existence. That is how the cells in our bodies exist as well.

Obviously, it is not simple to raise people slightly above their current level, but there is no other choice. You cannot leave them on the “animate” level and keep them on the infusion of the upper Light to change them from the inside. They have to come a bit closer to it themselves as well.

You come closer to them by trying to give them explanations that are as simple as possible, while the Creator will awaken their interest or even nudge them forward with blows so they would gain a greater awareness of the modern troubles and will be more willing to listen to the rationale. Then you will meet in some place: You with your maximally simplified explanations, and they with the attention span they are capable of having.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Today, the entire world is in crisis, and we are slowly approaching even greater problems everywhere and in every area of life. All we have done in this world was done poorly because we grew under the rule of our egoism. We cannot expect good from anywhere because we have always worked just for the sake of our ego.

Now, evil is gradually revealed, drop by drop, at different locations and at any opportunity so as to prevent us from being withdrawn into our own pain. If the pain becomes too strong, we will not be able to think about anything else except how to get rid of it. We will no longer be interested in its cause and effect; we will want only to stop this pain.

However, if the pain comes in waves and all the time either subsides or becomes more severe, leaving me enough time to reflect on it, then I start seeking from where and why it comes and how to get rid of it. The Creator plays such a game with us, and as a result, we find a solution.

First of all, we need to study the cause, and it is in the oppositeness of our nature. Our properties are opposite to the Creator, and therefore, as He gets closer, we feel bad! And the closer He approaches, the worse we feel! It is like in the case of the thief whom it is better to keep away from the treasury and not to give him an opportunity to commit a crime. The same is with us.

Therefore, especially now, in our time, the Creator is revealed very slowly and gradually, in order to give us time to think. He is revealed slightly, and we feel bad. For example, a couple of years ago, a crisis erupted, and now people say that it is allegedly over. But it did not pass; we are simply given time to think and explore! Soon, another blow will strike, at several levels and of several types. And then a period of calm will take place.

Thus, the Creator teaches us and gives us opportunities to look for reasons so that ultimately, we would reveal Him as the source of all that happens. And in relation to our egoism, He appears as the source of all evil. Then, we will understand why we feel bad: It’s because of our oppositeness to the Creator.

What can we do to feel good? The Creator is perfect, and we have to change only ourselves. Thus, gradually, we will realize that we must correct ourselves. Humankind will certainly arrive to this under the methodical, periodic blows that will come in all forms to any nation, to any person, teaching us thereby.

However, we have to reveal the method to people so that they learn sooner from where and why these blows come. By this, we will facilitate the development of entire humanity. This is called “bringing the Light to the nations,” that is, to people who still do not understand why they get hit.

To develop consciously, people need to discover the cause, necessity, and purpose of the blows. As a result, the whole course of development changes very much. Those who possess the method of correction must do this for the entire world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah World 6/24/2011, Shamati #241

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