Each desire consists of two parts: the Upper and the lower, Galgalta ve Eynaim, which is connected to the Upper Partzuf and the AHP, which is connected to the lower. This is the way that all the souls are connected in the spiritual world, where they are dependent upon each other.

It turns out that with my bestowing part (Galgalta ve Eynaim), I am fully under the control of the Upper Level and I wish to belong to it. Meanwhile, with my lower part (AHP), I am completely connected to the lower one and I care for it.

I bestow in both cases. However, with regard to the Upper One, I bestow by canceling myself, whereas with regard to the lower one, I bestow by caring for it. The more I am able to cancel myself before the Upper One and to receive from it, the more I can give to the lower one later.

This is what happens between all the souls, and therefore, everything depends on our mutual connection. It turns out that a person has nothing left to call his own, since his Upper Part is determined by the Upper Level, and his lower part is determined by the lower one. If he is united with both the Upper One and the lower one, then he fully belongs to them, and now he can reveal his “I” precisely in this form. Then his point in the heart picks up strength and flourishes as it realizes itself.

This is like the mother of a family for whom the most important thing is the upper level, her husband, and the lower level, her children. She does not see her existence separate from them and for this reason she is the most important member of the family; it is she who holds everything together.

It is the same for every soul; by receiving Light from Above and transferring it below, it becomes important to everyone.

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The story of the Exodus from Egyptian slavery depicts all the details of a Kabbalistic group’s spiritual path. It seems like we are ready to come out of Egypt and gain our freedom (out of egoism and into the quality of bestowal), and yet it is so difficult. We undergo the “seven years of famine” and the “Egyptian plagues” so that every one of us feels the Pharaoh (the evil rule of egoism over us) lurking within. We undergo a terrible inner struggle with a part of us willing to come out of Egypt (forsake egoism), but with another part unwilling to escape.

The escape from Egypt (the night of Passover) happens suddenly while we are in darkness, in a hurry, out of fear, and is prompted from Above. It is when we feel a force pushing us forward, toward bestowal. We are willing to flee into the darkness, which is how we perceive the quality of bestowal. However, the Creator leads us to freedom via the long path, by surrounding us with the Pharaoh’s followers (Erev Rav – mixed multitude).

Even when we tear ourselves away from true egoistic desires known as “Pharaoh’s forces,” we are still left with the “mixed multitude.” They are those who want to have their cake and eat it too, seeking to remain egoistic while at the same time receiving pleasure from the Creator and spirituality.

These desires bind us in exile, preventing us from escaping. And when we finally do escape, they may still attach themselves to us because they have a connection to the Creator. That is why they are called “mixed” – because both their desires are immediately apparent: hoping for a good life here in this world, as well as in the world to come. They are the ones holding us back.

Thus, the story of the Exodus talks about desires and intentions that exist in every one of us. When we come to the Red Sea, we aren’t ready to jump in – the sea seems like death. To cross it, we must reveal the single, special force that is capable of leading us across.

And when after all that we finally reach Mount Sinai, we are given the final and most difficult condition: “Unite as one man with one heart.” After all our discernments and efforts toward spirituality, we eventually reveal that we aren’t willing to unite with others.

However, this is the only condition that we must meet and we have no choice but to agree: “We are willing, but incapable.” If we really want this mutual guarantee, then the Creator has to be our guarantor – But do we really want that?

When we agree to this condition, we receive from Above the strength for the mutual guarantee and the Creator’s revelation. The Creator reveals Himself within us so as to give us a chance to bestow.

It is a very long and complex process, and The Book of Zohar teaches us how to be more sensitive to the changes taking place within us so that we can imagine every detail. All this takes place within us and nowhere else. That is why we must learn to recognize and understand these qualities internally. As we train ourselves to maintain such an inner vision, we move increasingly closer to perceiving the spiritual world.

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A question I received: What does it mean in Kabbalah to turn to the group?

My Answer: To turn to a Kabbalistic group means that a person is completely helpless, he is drowning in an ocean, he finds himself in a horrible situation, he is starving to death – and suddenly, he reveals that there are good people all around him who want to help him. He must only ask them and show them that he wants help from them!

He has to be sure that they will help him. He doesn’t even need to hear them say that they agree to this. Everything depends on the person, similar to his outlook on the Creator’s attitude to us. In reality, the Creator is always ready to help, and the group is the same thing as the Creator. If I nullify myself before the group and expect to receive help from it, then I will receive it! It will happen automatically. It does not depend on specific people in the group, since I turn to their inner, corrected state, which is in the World of Infinity and which even they may not feel yet.

In order to achieve this, I have to really need it. I have to despair from my own lack of power and believe that I will be able to do it only with their help, only if I receive their support, their mutual guarantee, their energy, and all the rest. If I nullify myself before them in this manner, then I will definitely succeed.

However, I have to nullify myself completely. In order for a seed that is planted into the ground to grow, it must first rot. Similarly, a person must first reject all that is his in order for the group to influence him to the full extent. He will then enter a new life; a new plant will sprout from the seed that rotted. But it won’t happen until the seed rots.

We think that we have joined others and are building something together, but that is not so. A seed has to nullify itself, and then the environment will influence it. A person has to understand what he needs to receive from the group – which minerals he needs, what kind of moisture, warmth, and oxygen. He has to disintegrate in order to be able to absorb the influence of the environment.

We, however, think that all of the moisture, minerals and oxygen are inside us. Yet, all that we contain is the Reshimo, and nothing else. The rest comes from the environment, since the entire spiritual system is built upon our connection.

If a new cell is transplanted to the body, then the whole body begins working on it. We, however, have to annul the protective forces of the ego, which reject a foreign body and don’t let them connect. This is something we have to do on our own.

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A question I received: You said that the science of Kabbalah was conveyed “from mouth to mouth” for millennia. What does this mean?

My Answer: “From mouth to mouth” means that spiritual attainment is conveyed by way of a common Masach (screen) from teacher to student, when both are on the same degree. They are connected to one another as an adult and a child in our world: the adult can descend to the level of the child and teach him, while the child is capable of receiving from the adult. Learning is possible because both are in the same world and on the same level.

The same is true in the spiritual world: we can attain a connection with the Teacher because he descends to a lower spiritual degree, a degree the student has to rise to. They then reach a connection that is called “from mouth to mouth,” meaning: through a common screen between a Partzuf of the Upper Level and a Partzuf of the lower level. The screen stands in the Peh (mouth), and that is why the mutual connection is called “Peh El Peh” – mouth to mouth.
[5160]

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A person never knows what desires will awaken inside him a moment later. He is also unable to determine the direction of his desires. A person is ignorant of his future state.

Humanity has always been interested in knowing its future state, but has never been able to satisfy its interest. All of our speculation is rooted in the fact that the future is unknown to us.

Why is it so? The reason is our ignorance of the system in which we exist. Actually, it’s quite a simple system of mutual connections between all of us. We are the ones who determine these mutual relationships. I shape your condition with my thoughts, and you do the same to me with yours.

My subsequent desire is a result of the desires of other people who are within the system, since we are absolutely mutually interdependent. If I  think good thoughts that will make you think similarly. If what I have is bad thoughts, you will have bad thoughts too. It’s similar to the situation, where a victim causes the appearance of a murderer, as if both of them determine and seek one another.

You are placed inside a network. The sum total of everyone’s state  determines your state, the way you feel, think, want and react.

You act unconsciously; you don’t have your own free will! Besides that universal mutual interdependence, there’s a plan at work, a program that leads all the souls to a pre-determined goal which is total harmony and absolute connection between them.

The process of our development is a process of purification, awareness and understanding of how each individual can consciously take part in it.

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A question I received: The notion that the individual’s welfare depends on the society’s welfare is the foundation of any upbringing. Unfortunately, at the end of the day this rule is never followed…

My Answer: So as to not get confused in the concepts of “integral, global humanity,” “the butterfly effect,” “the mutual guarantee” and “mutual bestowal,” it’s best to picture just one image: we are all one family. And in a family everyone is dependent on everyone else; if one member is unwell, this feeling is shared by everybody.

Similarly, today the welfare of each individual is dependent on the welfare of everyone. That is why we must devote ourselves to the care of others, since each one of us is a member of one family.

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Because our egoistic desire constantly develops, we also perceive the world as becoming more developed, as the world is our internal, subjective perception. As our desire grows, we feel that we become more developed, yet we also feel emptier.

As each individual egoistic desire (each person) develops, it starts to feel its dependence on the other egoistic desires (other people). At the same time, it perceives them as alien and strange to it. This kind of perception was created inside us on purpose, so we would collect all the other desires and make them our own.

It is in order to make us do this that the circumstances make each of us feel our dependence on the environment, whether our country or town, our relatives, the world, or all humanity. We later discover that our connection to the world is not simply necessary for our existence in this life, but in order to create the Upper World and our future existence.

This is why a new law is being revealed to us in this world: the law of mutual participation, or the law of mutual guarantee, altruism, and unity.

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A question I received: That a written agreement is in itself insufficient and requires the supplement of respect is already recognized by political leaders, such as Great Britain’s Gordon Brown, America’s Barack Obama, and many others. The question is where to find a regulator that would change people’s attitude to an agreement?

My Answer: I have often talked about the fact that a person advances from goodness to greater goodness under the influence of the society, the feeling of shame, and the realization that he has no choice but to act in a particular manner.

My society makes me feel that I am worthless if I don’t advance to a state it deems more successful. So, the public opinion is the factor that can change things.

The public opinion is, in turn, a consequence of upbringing. Therefore, the process of correction must begin with the proper upbringing. This is the only way we can reach a feeling of mutual interdependence.

When people realize that a lack of connection among them is tantamount to a food shortage, then they will also see interdependence is the only thing that can save us. People will reach this understanding under the influence of nature’s blows.

We should realize that everything depends only on whether we follow the law of the mutual guarantee that is currently being revealed in the world. If everyone will realize this, then society will require all of its members to follow this law. The people will simply expect this from each other.

In addition to the blows that come at us from above, from Nature, we should do our part and disseminate the knowledge about the development of egoism and the goal of this development – to make us unite.

The force of the mutual guarantee enables each person to reject his own egoism and to rise above it. This is how we all reach a common desire to bestow. And because of the quality of bestowal that we attain, we thereby attain eternal, perfect existence (see the section on “Perception”).

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The egoistic development of our society has reached its natural end. Egoism is the use of one’s desire to receive pleasure with the intention “for one’s own sake,” and we are currently revealing the fact that it is impossible to fulfill. Thus, egoism is being a “Helper against the self” (Ezer KeNegdo) and leading to its own demise.

The next form that society will take on is one of complete interconnection among all of humanity, where all people will be as one whole. Nature offers us abundant examples of this connection, and we too must correspond to it.

However, Kabbalah warns that the realization that our egoism is evil may be insufficient for us to conclude that the only type of society that is beneficial and necessary is one that’s based on mutual guarantee. If we don’t reach this conclusion, we will have to go through additional stages, which will involve fanatical nationalist and religious regimes, as well as a third and fourth world wars. At the conclusion of these wars, we will finally realize that egoism is evil and we will desire just one thing: to part with it.

The current crisis shows us that it is impossible to be fulfilled egoistically. However, in order for everyone to realize that egoism is evil and to reject it, the crisis must also be accompanied by an explanation of its true causes. All mass media channels must be utilized to bring this explanation to the people. Otherwise, humanity will aspire in other directions, such as isolationism, separation, fanaticism, and dictatorships.

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The law of nature is a force that pushes us to attain complete interaction and become an integral part of Nature. It influences us gradually, to the extent we develop, using reward and punishment to guide us like an intelligent judge or teacher. This law is strict and merciless toward us, like a strict judge, and we shouldn’t forget this.

However, we still don’t feel that we have to follow this law – the law of interaction between us, or the law of mutual guarantee. We have not yet been placed at the guillotine, where anyone who doesn’t carry out the law is put to death.

However, history already has a simple example that is understood by all: the Holocaust that befell the Jewish people. This process began to evolve slowly, and people could have changed themselves and the situation. That is, they could have corrected themselves by studying the science of correction – Kabbalah. In fact, this is what Kabbalists summoned people to do even before Ward War II began.

All the conditions for correction were given to the people from above, but the people didn’t meet these conditions consciously and correctly. And that is why the law suddenly began to act rigorously, like a volcano that erupts. And it affects everyone until people will follow it to the letter.

We should stop and think about the fact that history may repeat itself.

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