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Question: You said that we must constantly return to the corrected state and to keep it in mind. What is that state?

Answer: The point is that when a person attains an integral connection with other people in a group that isn’t too big, he remembers that, he has an impression called Reshimo, (reminiscences). This impression is emotional and it is stored in him as a memory, but it is an active memory.

This means that with the help of any state that resembles it we can always fulfill the Reshimo and to actually begin to experience it anew, to live in it and to immediately feel in it the ease, the lack of restrictions, warmth, security and the exit from any crisis, etc.

When a person begins to exit himself and connect with others, he sees that all the problems he felt before were felt by him because he had a different perception of reality, “for himself” and not “from himself.”

So the main thing is to leave a very accurate impression of mutual cooperation with the world around him, with the environment, in a person and to teach him habits and how he can return from different states to this basic state. Then we will return to it on different, higher levels, despite the possible interruptions, with the help of different environments, in any environment.

Question: How often does a person have to return to the corrected state during the day?

Answer: He should constantly be in it. I try to turn any state I am in into the corrected state.

Question: How can it be intensified, how can it be stronger and more powerful?

Answer: It is possible to intensify it by the resistance that I feel in order to return to it. Eventually, when I overcome the resistance I feel, it becomes a coefficient of intensity. My experiences of cooperation, the oppositeness of the states “to me” and “from me” will accordingly be clearer, more distant and stronger.

Question: When you describe this phenomenon I see it as an individualistic process, but we are always saying that it is a group process.

Answer: It is a group process, but we are talking about an individual effort within the group process. Later, when the process stabilizes as a group process, everyone will begin to feel a unified partnership. This is the state in which individuals become one whole, just like many drops merge into one in which no division is felt, but rather is the feeling of one big unified drop.

But we are saying that these states are constantly changing—groups break up and reconnect. We are not speaking about one group or about the fact that humanity has become such a group. Therefore, the individual component of my work with all of the environment becomes the main thing here.
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From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12

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The mere fact that a person studies according to the method of the integral education changes him in such a way that his paradigm and his feelings change the world he lives in, and he feels the world as a totally different place. We can say that by creating an imaginary world for a person, we change his natural, psychological, internal parameters. On the whole, today we develop in an absolutely beastly manner and we see that we can’t go on existing this way. This means that we can change the world only by our perception, and this is what we are doing.

Here we already begin to feel that a real, deep internal change is taking place in a person, and we can see how he changes internally and the whole world becomes different. Life is basically a feeling of something that doesn’t really exist; it’s simply how you feel it.

So we have to constantly perform very serious psychological work, in workshops, making acquaintances, in our feelings, in the definitions: What does reality mean, relatively and objectively, what is society, who am I, and what is the status that we should hold on to since everything is constantly changing and is very vague? Suddenly the world and I become something that is indefinite, dependent, and where you can lead a person in every direction that you want: Where will we be?

We must have this feeling because on the one hand it relates to the options a person has. On the other hand, these feelings should be free, and a person must feel that he can change the world and himself and tie himself to others. Others will also perceive this world that is actually a tiny image that froze in our imagination, in our impression, and can be changed.

The main thing is to depict the right picture for a person and what it should be: a full exit from himself outwards and the feeling of the only force of nature, which is the force of bestowal and love, of goodness and mutual cooperation. When we stabilize this image, this feeling, in a person’s mind and the society supports it, we begin to change fearlessly, and there will actually be an internal transition from the egoistic perception of reality (into me), to the external perception (from me).
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From “A Talk on Integral Upbringing” 2/27/12Related Material:
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I spend my whole life taking care of myself, both internally and instinctively and consciously, intentionally, and deliberately. In this case, how do I change my nature to the complete opposite? How can I learn to love my neighbor? After all, to love my neighbor means to think only about him, to place my entire body at his service, all of my means, abilities, and generally everything that I have. And to do that to such extent that I won’t have anything left except for this point of desire to bestow to him and to relentlessly care for him so that he would feel as good as possible.

This is how a mother cares for her child. Nature itself directs her to tirelessly care for the little one, and the only thing that interests her in life is that these few pounds of flesh feel good. She thinks only about how to settle him comfortably, what to feed him, when to change the diaper, and on the whole, what to do with him so that he would feel even better. No other care exists for her.

How can we follow her example so that we would treat all of humanity in the same manner, with the same devotion? It’s unrealistic!

But could Nature actually set impossible conditions before us? Why, then, did we come to a completely opposite state? Why are we wholly immersed in self-concern? Moreover, although animals constantly care about themselves as well, people, in addition to that, want to profit at the expense of others, to use them, to impose their power and opinions on them, to bend them to their will. A person delights in towering over others. What is more, he enjoys when they feel a little worse than him, when he is in a more advantageous state compared to them. A person constantly evaluates him or herself relative to those around him, and only through that does he establish the extent of his satisfaction.

If egoism led me to the point where I want to feel like I’m above everyone and where I need them only in order to sense my own superiority, then how can I change this nature and transition to an opposite state? Perhaps it’s worthwhile for me to imagine a utopian situation in which I care about my neighbor and receive pleasure from that, like a mother who cares for her baby? Suppose I would love others the same way that she does and I would constantly be caring for them, then, maybe, I would feel absolute self-realization in this?

However, I don’t see any means for achieving that. What would oblige me to that?

In fact, humanity pondered this for thousands of years. Throughout history many books have been written, many attempts were made to implement something similar: to build a good environment, to form corresponding organizations. Even hundreds of years ago, utopians attempted to create the conditions for good and kind relations between people in different corners of the world. However they didn’t succeed in implementing these initiatives.

In the course of our development, we were becoming more intelligent and getting to know human nature better and better, and now we understand that we’re incapable of rising above our own nature. Maybe that’s even a good thing. Maybe it will give us something special. But building such a society is impossible: a utopian idea indeed.

And this is why in our societies we restrict ourselves to laws of conduct so as not to harm our neighbor too much. We have lawyers, accountants, sociologists, psychologists, politicians, and so on, and they normalize social laws. We unite with each other, but only in order to receive services. For example, a municipality cares about order in the city, about garbage cleanup and other services like kindergartens, schools, cultural centers, and so on. We’re willing to reckon with the needs of everyone, and in this case, of course, it’s worthwhile to unite. After all, thanks to that each person pays a relatively small sum for a broad range of services. These things are clear to us since through them we receive a real, calculable benefit.

But when it comes to changing people’s attitudes in the realm of feelings and emotions so that a person would take his neighbor into consideration out of the calling of his own heart, this is something that we can’t do.

And here we come to an understanding of that special state of crisis that we’re in today. It’s a very strange crisis, and in its essence, it pertains to the relationships between us. Using all the same previously attempted egoistic formations, we sought to build a more comfortable society for everyone, taking common interests into account one way or another. We understand that an excess of disgruntled people will lead to clashes and irreconcilable conflicts, and this threatens to provoke civil wars. Throughout all the ages, we’ve been aware that our egoism needs to be reined in well so that we wouldn’t devour each other.

However, all of these calculations were constructed under an “egoistic umbrella”: We understood that such is our nature and that we need to restrain ourselves within certain boundaries. Even if our world shimmers with egoistic facets, it still requires a single mechanism in order to prevent the outbreaks that threaten to destroy all our achievements. This is how humanity came to create the World Bank, the UN, and other international organizations, how we came to closer communications and more complete accounting of interests.

In particular, during the last century we realized that it’s necessary to take each other into consideration more. The two World Wars have showed us that nobody wins in unbridled warfare—on the contrary, everyone suffers a loss as a result and everyone pays a dear price for it.

That’s why humanity created all kinds of communities and communication channels. There are even “red buttons” in Moscow and Washington for establishing emergency contact in case of a global threat. A certain form of trust exists here simply because it’s clear to all involved parties that nobody would come out of a conflict squeaky-clean and profitably. Thus, realizing that there is no alternative, armed with an accumulated basis, we can now establish certain interactions and communication.

On one hand, it’s still an egoistic approach, but on the other hand, such turn of events still leads to closeness between us. Even though we increasingly hate and want to kill others, it’s becoming clear that they’re just as strong, and thus it’s worthwhile for us to take each other into consideration.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” #13, 1/11/12

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In the News (Yelena Dobrovolskaya): “A new qualitative understanding of unity between human beings and Nature has been reached due to recent scientific discoveries within the last decade. They clearly demonstrate that interaction between genetics, our way of life, and the environment are much more complex than we previously thought.

“A ‘quant’ is a basic unit of nature. Energy levels (nuclear, atomic, and molecular) represent a ‘quantum ladder’ which reflects the way matter organizes itself; the highest (the fourth) level is ‘taken’ by living creatures.

“Modern medicine which we call ‘Western’ or ‘academic’ is based on a chemical paradigm and classic physics. It follows the principle of visualization, which means that science can only explore objects that can be observed without a device such as a microscope. This primitive approach can be easily understood when we review the history of biology and medicine. Both were formed during medieval times, were subject to religious dogmatism, and suffered greatly from constraints of the Inquisition that fought with ‘heretics.’ The protests of the bravest scientists of that time carried signs of a spontaneous materialistic world outlook.

“Physics of living matter (a new direction in Natural science) turned empirical medicine and biology into fundamental knowledge. Quantum medicine emerged only during the last decade; it’s a medical contribution into a new perception of life, health and disease. It views living organisms as open quantum systems with a complex structure that possess a self-reviving, self-educating configuration, which is able to synchronize its parts both internally and externally.”
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In the News (from Oxfam’s Report): “According to a new report from Oxfam, a broken food system and environmental crisis are now reversing decades of progress in the fight against global hunger. Oxfam projects that spiraling food prices will create millions of hungry people unless we radically transform the way we grow and share food. …

“Oxfam identifies the various symptoms of our broken food system: growing hunger, flat lining crop yields, lack of fertile soil and water, and rising food crisis. The organization says that we have entered a new age of crisis where depletion of the earth’s natural resources and increasingly severe climate change impacts will create millions more hungry people. Naturally, poor countries will be affected dramatically more than industrialized nations. Oxfam projects that the price of staple food such as maize, already at an all time high, will more than double in the next 20 years. Half of this price increase will be directly linked to climate change. The world’s poorest people, who spend 80 percent of their income on food, will be hit in the harshest way.

“By 2050, Oxfam predicts that demand for food will rise by 70 percent. Yet our capacity to increase food production is in decline. The average growth rate in agricultural yield has declined by almost 50 percent since 1990, and it is set to decline even further in the coming decade. …Four global companies control the movement of the world’s food. Three corporations- Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Cargill- control around 90 percent of the global grain trade. Their speculative activities drive volatile food prices and they profit from it. For example, in the first quarter of 2008, at the top of a global food crisis, Cargill’s profits were up by 86 percent. In 2011, Cargill is heading for its most profitable year on record. Needless to say, this speculation on food prices will further disrupt global food supplies.

“’For too long governments have put the interests of big businesses and powerful elites above the interest of the seven billion of us who produce and consume the food.’”

My Comment: Governments are powerless against corporations or they serve them. We have created a trap for ourselves—our egoism; although it’s destroying itself, it doesn’t want, like the Pharaoh, to release us from bondage, even if this leads to the destruction of Egypt—our egoistic world.
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Question: What are the 125 degrees actually?

Answer: Your whole desire to receive is divided into 125 degrees of thickness: how cruel and tough you can be on the zero level that is hardly revealed, like a mosquito, up to a wild beast on the level of minus Ein Sof (Infinity).

These are the 125 degrees that we count from our state up to the world of Ein Sof. 5 worlds times 5 Partzufim times 5 Sefirot, this is how the Ha-Va-Ya-H is divided.

We have to correct this whole desire to receive. It wakes up at another part of the 125 degrees each time by being added to you, and you have to correct it. Therefore, you constantly feel a growing darkness and you correct it, and from this darkness you attain the “dressing of Hassadim” where you discover the Light. The darkness is the same Light but without the dressing of Hassadim.

First, in the world of Ein Sof the Light doesn’t need the dressing of Hassadim. But later after Malchut of Ein Sof decides that it receives only in order to bestow, the Light disappears and illuminates, which means that it is awakened in the vessel, (since it actually doesn’t disappear at all, but we only say that it does), only in the dressing of Hassadim. To the extent of the dressing, you receive the Light. It is as if you have a certain lamp and according to its strength you discover the power of the Light that you receive.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/12, The Book of Zohar

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Why did the Creator create everything so strangely? He built a palace, invited all His beloved guests, and then placed guards and policemen around the palace who are testing and checking the guests, not letting them pass and causing them pain and suffering. Didn’t the Creator know in advance who would be loyal to Him, who loves Him and who doesn’t? Why does the Creator reject us all? Is it so that only those who can overcome all the obstacles will pass, in order to prove their loyalty and readiness?

The point is that it is in this struggle that our desire is formed; a vessel for receiving the filling in the King’s palace is built and stabilized. Otherwise, how would we be able to build this vessel? After all, it wasn’t given to us readymade from Above. If we were not allowed to pass without a reason, would that be justified? It is as if I yearn for the Creator with all my heart, and here some guard throws me down the mountain.

The point is that I am totally opposite to the attributes required to reach the top of the mountain. I am not the person I should be to become a guest at the King’s palace. It is only thanks to the guards that I constantly change by becoming more and more adapted.

These forces, of course, are depicted in my ego as vicious, cruel guards who don’t let me pass. The Creator is the cruelest of them all because He is the one who posted all these guards and policemen. He created my evil inclination and all the problems and suffering that relate to it. It is as if he gave birth to a poor, sick child and instead of feeling sorry for him, He even beats him, as if the child is guilty of something.

Apparently, all our complaints are justified, but the point is that the only way to build the right vessel is with the help of the right attributes that we receive, which we don’t have from the start. So the right approach is to divide myself into two. From one perspective you see what there is in your egoistic desire. From a second perspective, you see what there is in your desire to bestow, in your yearning to resemble the Creator, which means according to the ascent up the mountain, on top of which there is the King’s palace.

Following these two perspectives is called the “middle line.” With regard to your desire to receive this is the most terrible way in which there is no justice but actually only the opposite! You will not be able to justify the desire to bestow or to support it so much. This is because we should exert ourselves on both sides, both from the side of the ego and from the side of the yearning for bestowal.

What’s important is that you are looking at these two points independently from a neutral zone. It is as if you rose to Keter and from there you are watching this machine, like the Creator. It doesn’t belong to you, but it is yours only if it helps you resemble Him. Thanks to it, you can become like Him, reach adhesion with Him, and look at everything else as a means to attain that.

Thus you can justify, understand, and go through all these trials “above reason”: both as the egoist and as the one that bestows. This is because this bestowal is also totally based on receiving.

You want to adhere to the Creator instead of being connected to your desire to receive. The desire to receive is merely a tool for you to attain the Creator. With the help of the Torah, (the Reforming Light), you have to turn this evil inclination into the good inclination with which you will adhere to the Creator.

In order to adhere to the Creator, you need the good inclination, but in order for this good inclination to be able to help you adhere to it, you should approach it from the side of the evil inclination by using the Torah. All of creation was created in order to reach adhesion with the Creator. From this point of adhesion, which we want to attain, we have to look at the whole process we are going through. Then you will cut yourself off the egoistic perspective and not look at yourself through your desire to receive, through your ego. You will constantly be above it and look at it from the side, as at a means for achieving a goal.

This is why it is so important to constantly raise the greatness of the goal, the Creator, the group, and the friends. Because this will help you relate to everything else as to tools.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Question: How can we be equal to others? How can we measure if we are equal? After all, otherwise we can’t be friends and create the conditions for the Creator’s revelation between us.

Answer: You can feel either above or below others, but only those who achieve equality among themselves become friends. In other types of relationships, when you either bestow or receive, you’re not a friend but rather a teacher or a student.

People become equal if they desire simultaneously:

1. To give everything, like an adult to a child, to care for them,

2. They are ready to learn from any friend like a student from a teacher (as it is written, “Mi Kol Talmiday Iskalti” – “I’ve learned from all my students”).

It is precisely by combining these two attitudes toward another that I become equal to him, that is, I become his friend.
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Question: Why is it much easier to keep the right intention when reading the Study of the Ten Sefirot than when reading The Zohar?

Answer: The thing is that we need a language for explanations. After all, there are no words in the spiritual world and Kabbalists have to speak the language of branches, which confuses us.

The language of branches is good for those who already are in the spiritual world. If I am above the Machsom, I do not have a problem with understanding no matter the language of explanation. This is because I really feel this world, I understand it, and I perceive it on the level of the 125 degrees to which I have ascended. I will understand what is happening from the explanation the same way I understand a tale about this world with which I am familiar.

But if I am beneath the Machsom, I am unable to understand the allegorical language of branches. It is easier for me to understand the language of TES, which speaks in technical terms and uses spiritual definitions, names of Lights, Sefirot, Partzufim, and the heights of levels. I can somehow understand this; at least it is clear to me that the 120th degree is lower than the 125th degree, and Nefesh is smaller than Ruach.

Even if I do not understand what this is, I can still somehow compare and gauge them. And this is very important. Even if I do not feel these concepts in my heart, I can at least separate them into levels in my mind: Reshimot Dalet/Gimel, Gimel/Bet, Partzufim AB, SAG, MA, BON.

Here everyone can be wise if he has studied the material. Even if he has not practically attained anything, he has at least learned the terminology and can explain himself. This is why it is so necessary for us and we would not be able to express anything at all without it. After all, Kabbalists must establish a certain connection with us in order to use it to bring the Reforming Light to us.

They need a certain thread that connects them with us to be able to constantly pour medicine into us through it. Otherwise we are unable to connect with them because they are in another world that is separated from us. We do not see the channels through which information flows to us.

Kabbalists create this channel by telling us about Partzufim AB, SAG, MA, and BON. And as we study them theoretically and establish an external connection with them, essentially without any understanding, but only obediently repeating words after them, in this way we express our desire to receive the medicine from them, the Light of correction, and this is why we receive it. But this connection is necessary.

If Kabbalists, instead of speaking the language of TES (Talmud Eser Sefirot – The Study of the Ten Sefirot), speak the language of the Tanakh, you immediately imagine that they are speaking about this world and that you understand everything. This is the entire problem, people do not understand that the legend pertains to the spiritual world, actions of bestowal (called the Holy Bina, the quality of bestowal), and they attribute it to this world, which begets all the religions and beliefs.

However, as the notions of the group, connection, and dissemination become closer to you, you will feel that the material in TES is becoming clearer. You will never be able to understand it purely theoretically with your mind. You can memorize all the words, but you will not advance past this. If a person wishes to advance through sensory attainment inside his desire, then he will not understand TES until he connects it with some already attained private correction of himself. Already before the Machsom, he will begin to perceive the inner meaning of the notions, and it will become easier for him to study.

When a person advances correctly, attainment goes from feeling to mind. This is why one does not need to have a big mind to learn. Theoretical knowledge is not connected to spiritual advancement in any way.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/16/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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