A question I received: Wanting to unite with others for personal benefit is an egoistic desire. How is it different from egoistic love?

My Answer: It differs by one’s understanding of the fact that we are living in a global, interconnected world, where everyone depends on everyone else, and all of us together exist in a unified network.

In the past, we lived according to the capitalistic law of profit, where one’s income depended on one’s abilities to use others, steal from them and cheat them in other ways. Some did this openly while others did it inconspicuously. However, now this law doesn’t work anymore. Now you have to take care of the same people whom you exploited in the past. You will reap benefits only to the extent that others are doing well.

It’s not easy to realize that we are all in one boat, and that anyone who causes harm on an individual level is actually hurting everyone. Once we realize this, we will enter a mutual guarantee, even though it will still be based on egoistic calculations. Nevertheless, when people connect to each other, then even if they do it egoistically, they will still begin to feel the influence of a spiritual force (the Light) inside this involuntary connection.

They will then begin to realize that this unification holds something higher than the material benefits they pursue – and people will then aspire to this higher fulfillment.

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Questions I received on the will to receive, roots and branches, and Ramchal:

Question: What is the will to receive based on? What is the will to receive made of?

My Answer: Of the shadow of the Upper Light.

Question: Are the roots and branches in Kabbalah something like a reflection of a tree in water? Everything is “reflective opposite” exactly like the source, but made from a different “material”?

My Answer: That’s exactly right. The difference is the material – whether it’s the will to receive or to give.

Question: What do you think of Ramchal? There is no mention of him on the site.

My Answer: I have mentioned him more than once. I studied his works alone and with my teacher Rabash.

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A question I received: I want very much to rise above myself in order to satisfy the needs of others, but I feel that by doing this I will only fulfill my own egoism. Even when I am doing dissemination, writing to friends about the importance of the goal, or studying, I understand that I am cheating myself. How can we actually do something for the goal and not for ourselves? How can we do something without receiving anything in return?

My Answer: The Surrounding Light shines upon you when you perform these actions – when you study, work on unification in a group, and disseminate. This Light affects you to the degree that you desire to rise above egoism through your actions. Or in other words, the Light shines on you to the degree of your equivalence to it.

This Light gradually corrects your intention from “for yourself” to “for your neighbor (or for the Creator).” Little by little, this Light’s glow affects your desire, starting with the weakest egoistic desire, with an Aviut (thickness) of zero. This stage is called Shoresh. When the Light finishes correcting the intention of the desire with this level of Aviut (thickness), you will immediately feel the revelation of the Upper World or the Creator. But until that happens, there is only one thing to do – continue!

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Coral Fossils Suggest That Sea Level Can Rise Rapidly” Evidence from fossil coral reefs in Mexico underlines the potential for a sudden jump in sea levels because of global warming. The study, being published Thursday in the journal Nature, suggests that a sudden rise of 6.5 feet to 10 feet occurred within a span of 50 to 100 years about 121,000 years ago, at the end of the last warm interval between ice ages.

My Comment: Any occurrence in Nature has an initial stage where the energy builds up, and then an abrupt change. And the latter is always fatal for humans! However, we can stop the threatening changes taking place in Nature by bringing the whole of Nature to balance. The way to do this is by changing ourselves, by acquiring the quality of bestowal.

Kabbalah says that Nature and the Creator are one and the same. The Gematria (numerical value) of the word Nature (HaTeva) is the same as the Creator (Elokim). In our world, the level of Nature is lower than the level of a “human being.” Therefore, by correcting ourselves, by changing our egoism to bestowal, we will become equivalent to all of Nature or the Creator. We will thereby bring all of nature in our world to balance, making our existence absolutely comfortable and secure!

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We have reached a state where it is essential for us to unite. However, we mustn’t unite in order for each one of us to feel better, but because by doing so, all of us together will feel better.

In the past, we were drawn to each other because of the benefits we received from collaboration. This is why we have developed a global connection among all the people in the world. We produce something in one part of the world, sell it in another part of the world, receive something else from a third part of the world, and all of this affects yet another part of the world. This is how people fulfill their egos, their individual desires to receive pleasure.

Now, however, it is time for us to switch from the egoistic connection between us to an altruistic one. We mustn’t do this in order to profit, but in order for everyone to benefit. We have to shift from a connection that’s “for the sake of receiving” to a connection “for the sake of giving.” We have to unite for the sake of the opportunity to bestow.

Of course, this sounds absolutely unrealistic, but Nature will oblige us to attain this kind of unification. Therefore, we will be better off if we take initiative and learn Nature’s law of universal bestowal and love. This law is a result of the fact that all of Nature is a single body. If we will, at the very least, begin to talk and think about this, then our thoughts will do all the work!

The science of Kabbalah explains that none of us has the power to attain spirituality on his own. Alone, we cannot attain and become filled with the quality of bestowal, and thereby acquire peace. Rather, we can only accomplish this by creating the proper connections between us. And to do this, we should understand that by reaching the correct kind of unification, each of us will receive all of the common force. And this is something that can only be accomplished through love.

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The Chinese language newspaper, “News from American Life,” which has a circulation of 17,000 in Toronto, has just published our article about the crisis, called “What Happened?”

Three more articles will be published over the next few weeks. In addition, we are looking into further opportunities to place Kabbalah articles in other Chinese language newspapers in Canada. Many thanks to Jang Weimin for her efforts!

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In the News (from The Financial Times): “Germany warns on ‘crisis after crisis’” The world could face high inflation and a “crisis after the crisis” when the global economy recovers, Peer Steinbrück, German finance minister, has warned. Angela Merkel, chancellor, told The Financial Times last month that pumping too much money into reviving global growth would create an unstable recovery.

My Comment: Dear readers, let’s think together about how to help all the world leaders and all the people in the world understand that there is no crisis. Rather, there is a new reality and new social conditions, which we do not match yet. This is the crisis.

As soon as we understand the meaning of “a global and integral world” and realize that the new conditions require us to have relationships of kindness and consideration, the crisis will disappear!

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TV Program: “Ask the Kabbalist”

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The virtual lesson that took place on April 19, broadcast as usual from 4:00 – 5:00pm Israel time, was the third of a series of lessons on Baal HaSulam’s article, “Peace in the World.” These lessons are translated from Russian into English, Spanish, French, German and Hebrew.

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In the News (from WBCSD): “Japan honors ‘Limits to Growth’ science author” Japan awarded its top science prize Thursday to a US researcher who decades ago predicted that rapid economic and population growth on a finite planet would lead to the collapse of civilization.

Professor Dennis Meadows led a research team that in the 1972 study “The Limits to Growth,” using a computer model called World3, forecast that on current trends humanity was headed for doom by 2100.

Meadows, of the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the lead author of the study, which became a best-seller but was also attacked as alarmist and opposed to technology and progress. … Meadows, 65, received the 500,000-dollar annual Japan Prize from the country’s Science and Technology Foundation for “transformation towards a sustainable society in harmony with nature.” In his study, Meadows argued that “human demand exceeds nature’s supply.” Unless the human race switched from exponential population and economic growth to a sustainable system, his team argued, they would “overshoot” the Earth’s limits, leading to the collapse of human civilization.

More than three decades on – Meadows said that today he sees even fewer signs of hope. Meadows argued that the key lessons have not been learned, and that the search for solutions to the crisis remain based on “trust in the markets and the current faith in technological advances.” “Indeed, the most common policy for solving current economic problems is a desperate effort to get the growth of the physical economy back onto its historical, exponential track,” he said. “I know this policy will not work.”

My Comment: Almost 40 years has passed since he made his forecasts. And indeed, everything has changed for the worse! Everything he said has come true.

However, there is a solution: to reach equivalence with Nature by consuming only what is necessary for our existence. Then we will have enough of everything, no matter how many people there are in the world!

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In the News (from The Independent): “1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India” Over 1,500 farmers in an Indian state committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure, it was reported today. Farmers’ suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death.

My Comment: And what about their families – what will they do now? Moreover, since all of humanity is interconnected as a single, united system, this suffering will trigger disasters for all of us.

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