Question: People can understand the need to make concessions to one another, but how can you explain the Light of correction to a regular person?

Answer: The Light is the quality of bestowal, the upper force that is present in nature, which advances us, gives us life, corrects us, and moves us forward. Throughout the millennia of man’s existence on earth (without considering the millions of years of development of the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature) we developed coercively, by means of the force hidden within nature. There is a certain program inside of it, an engine that operates by that program, setting all of creation in motion and causing its development.

Scientists are revealing that 15 billion years ago our universe began to develop as a result of the Big Bang. That is to say, the universe contains a developmental force. And now this force continues to develop us further, which is called “the natural course of history” (Beito).

However, we have the opportunity to develop “faster than time” (Ahishena), not by means of the harsh force of nature which pushes us to develop with a “strong arm,” through “judgement and restriction,” but by awakening “mercy” upon us, as it is written, “As He is merciful, so you shall become merciful.”

This means that I awaken good forces of development in nature. If I agree with the development, desire it, and aspire to the same goal myself, awakening the desire inside of me even before nature starts putting pressure on me, then I will feel good and comfortable! I will merit understanding and will shorten my path. In essence, this is all that we have to do!

We have to run forward ourselves, like a mouse running away from a cat. When a person becomes wiser, he understands that the developmental press is moving upon him. On the other hand, there are people who still don’t notice or feel this press that is catching up to them. That means it still hasn’t gotten close enough to them and does not evoke great suffering.

Imagine that you are running down a road and a huge press is chasing you, just about to crush you. If you already feel this, then you will look for a way to be saved from it. You have nowhere to run. On both sides of you there are buildings stretching out for many miles, and you are running down a narrow road between them, while the press is rolling forward right behind you. This is an astonishing picture…. You don’t want the press to squish you into the asphalt, do you?

Some people already feel that they are in this state, while others don’t feel it yet. Nevertheless, it’s all a matter of time. Maybe you feel good for now, like a person falling from the 10th story, and while passing the 8th floor he tells his neighbor who’s staring out the window, “How are you? Everything’s OK for now.” This is how the world is “OK” today, but it doesn’t understand it yet.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/11, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
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Change Is Impossible Without The Light
The Two Paths Laying Before Us

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Question: How will the changes happen in the education system—by the initiative of the government from above, or pressure from the masses from below?

Answer: Leaders are only afraid for their “seats” and nothing else. If the masses come out to the streets and start shaking those chairs, and they aren’t just setting cars on fire but starting to making more serious actions, then the leaders start listening to their demands. In the end, they will have to agree to them. The question is: Will we be able to offer them our explanation of the necessary measures? We have to try to do that as much as we can.

One way or another, we have to get through to the leaders, but from both sides: from below, through the masses that go out onto the street, and from above directly. After all, we are talking about a global study of the world, about changes in education, and about building a worldwide system of upbringing in which everyone will study while receiving a specific salary for it, the means for sustenance.

This learning will take place instead of work, but in reality it will become people’s work in the spiritual sense. Every person will attract Light to the extent of his forces and capabilities, and this will be his reward. After all, the Light holds all of the abundance there can possibly be.

How many people are required to provide the vital necessities for all of the earth’s inhabitants? Clothing, food, construction, service—everything that’s necessary within the framework of a normal existence? For example, people will work for half a day and will study for half a day. And this will be done by everyone.

However, this can only be achieved through the leaders, or more precisely, through the public opinion, through people who think, including scientists, sociologists, political scientists, and all those who rise above the mass, but not too high. After all, the very top is occupied by the “destroyers,” whereas we are talking primarily about the university circles.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: Kabbalah has taught me to accept all the troubles that come my way with a smile. Is that wrong?

Answer: The science of Kabbalah gives a person the strength to feel, after all of the troubles, that they have a reason. And it doesn’t matter whether you are crying or smiling form the misfortunes. The most important thing is that you use them beneficially, for taking a step forward. The misfortune has to be perceived as a force that obligates you to advance.

But we have to try to advance even before we receive the blow, just like in the cartoons about Tom and Jerry where a huge cat chases a small mouse. They always show how the mouse runs away from the cat, who is just about to catch the mouse, but the mouse always runs away. That is how we should run toward the goal, while the problems will keep on chasing us, running right behind us all of the time. But try to escape them!

We have to understand that the problems are exactly what enables us to run to the right place and very quickly. We have to try to be that smart mouse.
From the 2nd lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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Question: Now that the crisis is intensifying all over the world with natural disasters and wars happening more and more often, how should we treat people who have experienced misfortunes considering that we feel their pain when we see what kind of suffering they are going through, but aren’t able to help?

Answer: The crisis is not moving in any single direction. It’s not just an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, floods and tornadoes  in America, fires in Russia, or national revolutions in the Near East. These are local events and that is why we worry only slightly when we hear about them, not taking it too close to heart. Our egoistic nature does not allow us to empathize with others any deeper. But if I’m afraid that the tsunami will reach me, then it’s an entirely different matter.

However, this crisis is multifaceted. For now it is being expressed as several separate catastrophes here and there, but in essence it is preparing ground for a fundamental worldwide jolt that will be common and global. This is exactly what people who understand what is happening are afraid of.

This will be a global economic crisis. When economic connections disintegrate in conditions of our total, universal interdependence, it will be a huge problem. This will be an immediate blow to everyone, causing people to go crazy because they won’t know what to do. Let us hope that before this happens we will be able to exert a positive influence on the world and prevent this kind of turn of events.

We shouldn’t think that in order to influence the world we have to enter the mass media or get the world’s leaders on our side. Rather, we are operating internally. We are connected with the world’s inner forces, the global, integral system that operates inside of the world. If we correspond to it and go together with it, then we act according to the laws of nature. We bring the force of unity and love into this system. It comes from us, from the part of humanity that desires a good connection between people.
From the 1st lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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The essence of the global crisis is that humanity has “gotten stuck” or “bogged down” in nature and does not know what to do. Nature has turned its harsh side to us, threatening us with crises in various areas, and we don’t have an answer to that challenge.

On one hand, we developed inside of our nature and have reached a completely lawful result. If we had a chance to turn back time a few centuries and do it all again, we would still take the same path.

That is because this is our very nature—the growing egoistic desire with all of its derivatives. Scientific and technological progress, industry, culture, education, and human society are all natural results of egoism, and nothing can be done about them.

Until now we have developed the way our nature ordered us to. So how can we now influence it and correct it in any way to change the direction? Has anything like this ever happened in history? Never. In the best case scenario we can recognize the results of our development—whether they are good or bad, depending on the observer’s point of view. Meanwhile the train moves farther and farther along, and maybe we really don’t have another way out?

Scientific research of the manifestations of the crisis is a useful thing, but what does it give us? We are looking out of the window of a train, watching the view that is flying past us: At first it glitters with different colors, the sky is clear, and the green fields are filled with sunlight. But then, the colors start to wither, the grass becomes replaced by sand more often, and there are increasingly more glimpses of garbage dumps, dirt, and waste drains, and the sun becomes obstructed by smoke and smog. Can we do anything or will the train ride down this track until the end? Should we put a veil over the window and come what may?

There are many uncertainties here, but the science of Kabbalah does not even discuss this route and where it will lead us. It deals with the root of the problem: We are riding down the train of our egoism, which is constantly growing.

Development is necessary, but will we direct it in a different vein? Let’s reject the egoistic path in which we are unable to agree on anything and inflict so much harm to ourselves and nature. After all, every person thinks only of himself, and that is why we inevitably destroy our lives and the surrounding environment.

What if, instead of that, we will unite in love? Would we then treat nature and the environment differently? Would we still exhaust the earth’s abundant resources? Would we burn such inconceivable amounts of fuel? Would we throw out food when there are a billion people suffering from hunger? Would we give birth to one child here and to ten in another place? Would we then be able to reach balance?

Or maybe we wouldn’t have to look for balance between us? Maybe people’s attitude to each other and to the world as a whole would correct this world? And then the train itself would change and would ride forward differently? By correcting our attitude, maybe we would ensure an abundance of natural resources and crop yields so there would be more than enough for everyone?

Baal HaSulam wrote the following in the newspaper “The Nation”: Our planet is sufficiently rich to feed all of us. So why do we need this tragic war for survival, which complicates our lives from one generation to the next? If only we would achieve unity, compassion for one another, and love, then everyone would have enough of everything. That is because then the upper Light would fill all of our necessities. Nature itself would change from the inside.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/11, The World’s Problems, Overpopulation

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We must properly assess our current state of affairs on the earth. The defects are intended for us to correct them, to use them as a means for ascending into the upper world. Otherwise, what am I living here for? Why am I experiencing all of these troubles and attempting to resist them? I want to overcome them. I am aware of the situation and grateful for the crisis because by correcting it, I will enter the upper world. If not for this crisis, where would I work, where would I change myself in order to rise to a higher level?

We are talking about a means that enables us to improve and correct ourselves. We are revealing the illness, but now, by working on the treatment, we will attain our nature and understand what we lack in order to acquire the Creator’s nature.

Obviously, the crisis is not a reason to get enthusiastic, but the revelation of evil. However, we should have a practical attitude to it. Suddenly I am discovering that I am cruel, greedy, and love to rule over others, that I don’t have a care in the world for anyone else—and I evaluate these revelations as a means on the path. I am happy about the flaws that become revealed because I realize what they are intended for.

That is why we shouldn’t silence or conceal the world’s problems from ourselves. On the contrary, we have to expose them to people, and not in order to scare them, but to cure the illness. We have to show everyone that we have just one way out: to treat the crisis practically, to use it for making qualitative changes.

Then we will suddenly feel that we are doing wonderful work on correction, whose result will be eternal, perfect life. What can be better? We won’t want to remain on the animate level, being born and dying over and over again. Besides, that’s impossible because through our development we have already reached the need to ascend to the next level, into a higher dimension.

We are not just explaining the nature of the crisis to people, but are pointing to its higher goal. The issue here is not that it is educating us and bringing us closer, forcing us to unite. All of these are just means, a ladder by which we will ascend to a new level of being.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/11, The World’s Problems, Overpopulation

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Question: Even if my intention is egoistic, if I start thinking about the benefit of others and the well-being of the world, can this already be considered an action?

Answer: Of course. Do you really think that giving out bread to the poor is a real action? This will only cause more poor people to exist in the world.

Your action is to attract Light. It, and nothing else, returns you to the Source. So what else is there to think about? Especially at a time when the whole world is in trouble and in danger. We only need the Light. The lack of Light is the reason for all the wars, crises, catastrophes, and other problems.

Precisely the lack of good actions by the Light evokes troubles at the four phases of development—still, vegetative, animate, and human. The evil we encounter is a projection of the lack of Light.

Punishment does not come from above. If I have to reach a specific reward, the revelation of the Creator, similarity and adhesion with Him, and I don’t do that, then I experience the gap that this creates as punishment or lack of goodness. And vice versa, by attaining this, I will feel a reward.

Thus, I feel reward and punishment in the same desires. If I have corrected and filled my desire, this is the reward, but if I cannot correct and fulfill it, this is punishment. There are no penalties from above. I do not receive a speck beyond what I inflict upon myself. I create my own punishment.

Therefore, we have just one task—to attract the Light. Especially today, considering everything that is happening and accumulating in the world. There are no other means.

I am constantly in touch with people who are “in the know,” and I read all kinds of articles, visit websites, and follow the newspapers, but I don’t see a solution offered anywhere. They cannot offer anything and they don’t even want to think about this because they don’t have the slightest connection with correction.

Just yesterday I was talking about this with a famous writer and he did not say anything—he avoided answering. This indicates a lack of sensitivity, a lack of understanding the corrections.

“The world is round and we have to unite,” I say to people. “That’s right, we’re also acting in that direction,” they respond. People don’t even realize that in reality they are going in the opposite direction. After all, in the end every person is just strengthening his own party or movement. There is no one to talk to.

Therefore, we have to create conditions in our midst for a positive force to emerge. Only then will its waves ripple through the whole world. Nothing else will help. We do not depend on others, but we have to help them so that later on people will quickly catch these waves, understand their message, and feel that they are coming from us.

The materials have to be disseminated ahead of time, but in essence the source of these waves is us. And therefore, the most important thing is to unite, to merge with one another more and more.

I place great hopes on the upcoming conventions. They are the means by which we have to bring to life unity, consolidation, and mutual care for the world and for our correction, which will help the world.

The time has come for the Creator to become revealed in the creatures. The means is simple and it is in our hands. All we have to do is use it. We ask the world to wake up, but are we awakening ourselves?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/11, “Peace in the World”

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Question: Does suffering point to the area of the necessary correction directly or only indirectly?

Answer: We need to try to accurately discern what is causing the pain, meaning what the Creator expects from us. When a thought, desire, or intention visits us and it’s not connected to love of others, I should immediately feel the red light turn on in me!

There are thoughts, desires, and intentions where this alert signal is, at first, yellow, then orange, and finally, red as a real sign of disaster. It depends on the case.

But I should view it so as to desire looking at everything with love, and if it’s less than that, I want a red light to turn on. Then, I will see a field of red lights in front of me. This makes me understand and become aware of my real condition so that I can get a hold of myself and want to switch all these lights to green. I search for how it’s done, and thereby, I start working with the Creator.

He turns on the red light within me, and I switch it to green. While I am attempting to do so, I search for why it turned red and how to switch it. This is what our work is all about, the process we are supposed to undergo.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/11, Shamati #113

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Question: What is the use of studying The Book of Zohar if I discover that I am merely trying to run away from my earthly problems?

Answer: A person studying The Zohar does not have any earthly problems besides one: to unite with the friends to such a degree that the upper Light will become revealed inside of the connection between them. All the problems come only from the lack of Light. There is no other source and no other solution.

A person can fuss about and try to correct this state using all the possible earthly means, and he will discover that he seems to have corrected it, but instead of correcting it, even worse problems arose, and everything became much worse. Why is that?

That’s because he thought that he could overcome the previous problems alone, but maybe now, when greater troubles came crashing down on him, he will no longer think that he will overcome them alone and perhaps he will turn to the right solution. And if that doesn’t help, then he will be sent even greater problems until his cup of suffering overflows and he will see “the hand of God” in it, like Pharaoh’s sages did.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/8/11, The Zohar

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 19: A person is not ready for adhesion with the Creator all at once, but gradually, as it is written, “Goodness and mercy shall follow me.” That is why he creates yearnings, which are the beginning of adhesion, as it is written, “a righteous who suffers.” He suffers because the Creator does not desire adhesion with him. That is why the person feels yearning and sorrow without love, which is necessary for adhesion. He feels suffering which will turn into the delight of adhesion.

Question: How can we aspire to a connection with the Creator in states of suffering that He sends us?

Answer: The Creator does not send us suffering. Only goodness comes from Him, but in my egoism, I feel His kind attitude in the opposite way, meaning that I experience suffering. But this is exactly the “awakening” that is necessary for attaining the goal, for changing my egoism to bestowal. Then suffering turns into pleasure.

Nothing changes besides my attitude to the world, as it is written, “You will eat what is old.” You have changed yourself and your attitude to what happens. You have ascended above your will to enjoy, and therefore, instead of suffering you experience pleasure.

You used to aspire to imaginary sources of fulfillment, but now your aspiration for the Creator, your sorrow and suffering turn into fulfillment because you don’t want anything but this. You only want to desire Him, and this already fulfills you.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/11, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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