Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions for Topics”: Question 93: What is the root of every corruption? The Shinui Tzura (the difference of form) of the will to receive from the Maatzil (the Emanator).

We always check ourselves against the Creator since we have no other standard. After all, in the beginning, the creature created “from absence” has no frame of reference in this void. The creature born “from absence” can test itself only against “existence from existence,” relative to the Light.

We have no other way to determine what is good and what is bad. And all the qualities we find in ourselves are deceiving; for the time being, they exist by themselves and are defined only by our own imagination.

Real evaluation is possible only by comparing two opposites which have inverse nature. And so, until the creature reveals the Creator, stands opposite to, and measures itself against Him, it will have no way of knowing what and where it is, and in what state.

All measuring is done relative to the image of the Creator, the image of the Giver that we are able to create within ourselves. But we can build this image within ourselves only on the condition that we perform a restriction and remain in bestowal and concealment relative to the others.

This is why we are given the group as a reference system, where we can do it all. And then we will at least be able to know what state we are passing through moment to moment. The way I wish to appraise the group (whether I think that I am greater or lesser than they are, what kind of relationship I desire to have with them, and whether I am seeking the Creator between or outside of us) determines my own state of existence.

It is my attitude to the friends that I should assess my current state by!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Three major concepts of Vladimir Vernadsky, one of the founders of geochemistry, biogeochemistry, and radiogeology and a pioneer of the scientific bases for the environmental sciences:

1. Humanity is a potent geological force changing the image of the Earth. It is facing the question of transforming the biosphere to serve the interests of free-thinking humanity as a single whole. The new state of the biosphere we are approaching is the “noosphere.”

2. We are now experiencing the emergence of the reign of intellect in the biosphere, which radically changes its appearance and structure. Scientific thought of humanity works only in the biosphere and, in the course of its manifestation, turns the biosphere into the noosphere.

3. Creation of the noosphere, which began several thousand years ago, is an event of paramount importance in the history of our planet, related primarily to the development of sciences in the biosphere.

The noosphere is the sphere of human intellect and spirit, continuously expanding in space and time. The crown jewel of our creative work should be a new world outlook directed at the noospheric era.
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There are different levels inside of our will to enjoy, which are desires that haven’t yet formed completely for egoistic reception on the last, 4th degree. They are on the degrees 0, 1, 2, and 3. Inside of them we feel various opportunities to enjoy something. These are our egoistic “first nine Sefirot.” After that, the last stage is me, Malchut, wishing to enjoy through them.

However, in the will to bestow, other opportunities arise before me—to enjoy for the sake of bestowal rather than reception. If I make a restriction on my will to enjoy and start thinking about how I can bestow to the neighbor, then in front of me I see all sorts of possibilities of bestowal in relation to the egoistic desire I have restricted.

Therefore, I feel that I am built out of the “first nine Sefirot” and Malchut, and I begin to work practically in order to realize myself through the opportunities of bestowal that become revealed to me. That means that Malchut works with the first nine Sefirot.

If we examine the connection between us, then every one of us is Malchut, while the “first nine Sefirot” is what connects me to others. The distance between me and the friend becomes revealed to me as the “first nine Sefirot” if I want to bestow to him. And to the extent I can realize them inside of me in order to give these nine Sefirot the force of bestowal, to that degree I attach my Malchut to them. That way I turn the distance between them from the “head” (the Rosh of the Partzuf, from the calculation) into its inner part (Toch, where the Light is revealed).

This is determined by the extent to which I was able to raise my desire and attach it to the connection between us in order to practically realize these first nine Sefirot. Now the “inner body” of my spiritual Partzuf forms between us. And its “ending” is my desires, which have remained under restriction, which I cannot use yet.

After that the conditions change and I once again work the same way. That is how I go through 125 levels until I use my entire desire on its entire depth. The main principle here is that only my desire works, while the “first nine Sefirot” change according to it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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Question: How is it possible to explain to people the difference between “a special means” (Segula) and mysticism?

Answer: “A special means” refers to clearly aimed, very clear actions. Segula is a formula that includes one coefficient that is unclear to me, although I know what conditions it requires in order to work.

The resulting function is composed of various variables that are interlinked by various connections. In this formula, I understand everything besides one “x.” However, it definitely belongs there and I take it into consideration. I know that when other conditions are met, it will also be realized and will produce a result.

I am not connected to this x and I don’t feel it the way I feel all the other elements. But after I do my part, it awakens and becomes realized. It’s as if it is concealed behind a curtain, but I know how to activate it. I was given a group and a method, I study and organize all of the conditions, and if I work correctly, then I activate this unknown.

I don’t have any doubts about it. It cannot fail to work if I initiate its activation. This is a surefire mechanism where by pressing the right button, I activate it. There won’t be any holdups or glitches. It is in my hands on the condition that I have taken all the other elements into my hands as well.

This x does not add anything besides the “seal of acceptance”: “You did everything right. You have established the right connection with others.” Its seal is a guarantee that in the connection I have made, I will reveal the upper force. Thus, the x in my formula is the final verification, the proof that I have formed the spiritual vessel.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut”

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Question: I would like to know why your wife does not attend the conventions. Does your wife and sons study Kabbalah?

Answer: She is accustomed to studying and always being present through a virtual connection. She believes that this way she can see, hear, and better participate as a woman.

Question: How do I prepare a place for the Creator to be revealed?

Answer: You have to prepare a desire for it, meaning a desire to obtain the quality of bestowal. It is because the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love, is revealed in a person when he or she yearns for it. Our entire work is to desire. The group, the teacher, and the study are designed to form a desire in oneself.

Question: At the convention in St. Louis you said that Americans have to tell the world about Kabbalah, emphasizing their special role in revealing it to the world. But then you said the same about Russian people that suffered more than others and through this acquired particular sensitivity to reveal and disseminate Kabbalah. Besides this, the main part in the revelation of Kabbalah to humanity is assigned to the Jews who have to become the Light for the nations of the world.

I am confused: Through whom will Kabbalah be revealed to the world finally?

Answer: It will be revealed through every nation and every person to the extent of their efforts to connect with others and in accordance with their natural talents and faculties.
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In the News (From Die Zeit): “Hardly any politician may still defend the idea of ​​a united Europe. One can only hope for the next generation of politicians….

“They will have to deal with the fact that Europeans now account for only a fraction of the world’s population, and that climate change and the problems of the global economy can only be solved at the supranational level….

“The EU is the only way for the Europeans to secure the status of a strong player…. Surveys are reassuring: The young generation understands the role of Europe, perhaps better than anyone else.”

My comment: The new generation is now born with rudiments of the integral perception of the world, its connectedness and mutual dependence; it has a higher capacity to understand the power of unions between countries and nations. If politicians added to the studies of a united Europe the integral education of new generations of Europeans, by now they would have produced a new generation that thinks about the EU only in terms of unity, as a unified whole community.

The collapse of the EU will be the end of Europe because nature leads us to integration, and any move against it is detrimental, especially to those who are the cause of it.
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Opinion: (Joseph Stiglitz, Professor at Columbia University, Chief Economist of the World Bank, a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001)): “I was among those who hoped that, somehow, the financial crisis would teach Americans (and others) a lesson about the need for greater equality, stronger regulation, and a better balance between the market and government. Alas, that has not been the case….

“If Congress mandates expenditures that exceed revenues, there will be a deficit, and that deficit has to be financed. Rather than balancing the benefits of each government expenditure program with the costs of raising taxes to finance those benefits, the right seeks to use a sledgehammer – not allowing the national debt to increase forces expenditures to be limited to taxes….

“The remedies to the U.S. deficit follow immediately from this diagnosis: Put America back to work by stimulating the economy; end the mindless wars; rein in military and drug costs; and raise taxes, at least on the very rich….

“But matters are little better in Europe. As Greece and others face crises, the medicine du jour is simply timeworn austerity packages and privatization, which will merely leave the countries that embrace them poorer and more vulnerable….

“A failure of either Europe or the US to return to robust growth would be bad for the global economy. A failure in both would be disastrous – even if the major emerging-market countries have attained self-sustaining growth. Unfortunately, unless wiser heads prevail, that is the way the world is heading.”

My comment: I have already stopped adding comments because everything is clear: We have to wait until the circumstances force bankers to get out of power, and the authorities will understand that the integration of the whole world is a fact which does not depend on them. This fact must be taken into account, and a new world should be built accordingly.
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In the News (from bbc.co.uk): “Bhutan has put the politics of happiness on the UN’s agenda….

“The idea is based on Bhutan’s model of GNH, or Gross National Happiness, which measures quality of life by trying to strike a balance between the material and the spiritual….

“Wars and disputes do not indicate happiness or otherwise. They are caused by the egos and interests of leaders.”

My comment: I am in favor.
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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Freedom of the Collective and the Freedom of the Individual Are Equal

An individual in a society is like a cogwheel in a machine. And this single wheel has no freedom of movement in and of itself, but continues with the motion of the rest of the wheels in a certain direction, to qualify the machine to perform its general role. And the breakdown is not evaluated relating to the wheel itself, but according to its service and role with respect to the whole machine.
- Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

The whole world is considered one collective and one society because each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world, and hence he is coerced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world.
- Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”
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Shamati #213 “Acknowledging the Desire″
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter “Truma,(Donation) 2,” “The Meaning of the Blessing for the Food,” Item 769, Lesson 33
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 2, Item 1, Lesson 1
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 38, Lesson 26
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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 28, Lesson 10
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