We must pull ourselves up from the earthly, egoistic level to the spiritual level—from the quality of reception to the quality of bestowal, from the intention to receive to the intention to bestow, from rejection of friends to connection with them, and thus organize an environment that will help us move forward.
It is impossible to achieve the quality of Bina, the quality of bestowal, the quality of the Creator, if we do not help each other. Therefore the most important thing is, once we determine our main direction, which is to achieve the quality of Bina, the quality of bestowal, the quality of faith above knowledge, above Malchut, we need to put Bina above Malchut, faith above knowledge, and strive for love and bestowal despite our original desire to receive and to care for ourselves alone.
Only in this way will we be able to rise to the next degree and keep moving from one degree to another each time.
And to fulfill the condition of adhesion to the quality of bestowal in faith above reason, i.e., to pull yourself up to the upper world, is only possible with the example and the help of the environment. After all if I have an appropriate environment that correctly values unification and yearns to rise above personal and collective egoism, then I can, within this environment just like inside a boat, direct myself to the quality of bestowal, the quality of the Creator.
The most important thing is to understand that one person cannot do anything here. It is impossible to fulfill the condition of “faith above knowledge,” that is, to ascend from Malchut to Bina, from receiving to bestowal, without the support and example of the group.
I cannot care for myself spiritually because I am an egoist. But I can help my friends by giving them the importance of bestowal, the greatness of the Creator, and the greatness of unity. Moreover, it is easier for me to do this with respect to my friends than with respect to myself since, when speaking about the quality of bestowal, I direct it, as it were, not at myself, not at my egoism.
We exist in a broken vessel, in broken desires, but there are many of us and therefore we can help each other. Even egoistically we can show our friends various altruistic examples and thus gradually convince each other that giving and uniting is good.
There is one very interesting factor here. Although I hear a lot of contrasting, undesirable notions from the environment, the fact that the environment is large allows me to gradually become imbued with their greatness, with their correctness. They act on me because this is the law of our collective desire (Kli, vessel).
If I am in it, the environment acts on me. Whatever it may be, it fills me with its notions. I will gradually accept them because I am a product of this environment.
I can encourage my friends, help them rise above themselves, and they can do the same. This is the law of mutual guarantee; even though we are all egoists and there are no inklings for spiritual actions in us, if we work correctly together, if we encourage each other, if we seemingly show an example of how good it is to be united, and if we help one another rise in faith above knowledge, then it will definitely influence each one of us.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6
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Question: If a person makes efforts to connect, but at the same time it becomes more and more difficult for him to establish an internal connection and get closer to the group, how should he act so that this connection is nevertheless strengthened and the connection of the group with the Creator is strengthened?
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