Question: In psychology, a person’s character is conventionally divided into spheres, one of which is motivational. Let us say I set a goal that seems right and good to me, like learning to drive a car. But I don’t have any motivation, no inner pleasure from it. However, in the process of exerting efforts, this goal flips and becomes an inner motivation. I start feeling pleasure, and it becomes a part of me.

Is the system of integral education based on this, too? At some point, everything turns around, and the goal becomes one’s inner world?

Answer: The fact is that you are giving an example of goals that initially do not seem important or necessary to a person.

We begin by explaining that the goal is obligatory. It may be undesirable, but it is necessary. Nothing can be done about it; it must be implemented in the same way that I get up every day for work, raise children, etc. My whole life consists of things I have to do because I owe someone something all the time.

And here we have the same thing; I have an obligatory goal imposed on me by nature. For the first time in our development, we reach a point where we can see a goal in advance. This has never happened before.

We had revolutions, wars, all kinds of upheavals—technological, scientific, social, undergoing various formations—whatever we have done throughout history, but we have never known what goal nature sets for us. We shouted at the barricades: “Move forward!” “Freedom, equality, brotherhood!” But in general, we did not imagine what would follow. No one could have predicted that it would be one way and not another.

Humanity cannot know anything in advance; it is simply driven forward by the compelling forces of nature, “motivation” (translated from Greek, “motive, stimuli” is a sharp stick used to drive animals).

That is how we developed, without having a specific image of the future before us. The bright future we imagined was once a slave-owning system, a feudal system, a capitalist system, and a socialist system. And all these images of the future turned out to be illusory.

Now, for the first time, we clearly see the picture that nature shows us—in all our crises. We can study, understand, classify, and differentiate these crises. We see how crises manifest themselves in education and upbringing, in the family, in illnesses and depressions, in finance and economics, in science and culture—everywhere. We can clearly outline them.

But we do not want to do this, it is unpleasant for humanity. We turn a blind eye because we do not see a way out. But every day the future nature imposes on us looms clearer and clearer—a global, integral combination of all mankind as one single whole. In this, we achieve similarity to nature’ the general law of nature leads us to it, the law of similarity to nature. You can call it entropy, energy, no matter what.

Therefore, in integral education, from the very first day we begin to gradually clarify this, show it to a person, based on all sorts of scientific findings. We do not need to invite scientists to meetings since we have recordings of their presentations, videos, etc., all of which have already been prepared and are in effect.

People are built in such a way that no one needs or wants to move forward; it is undesirable. We are lazy (this is our nature) and do not want anything except to do only what pleases us. One likes to create and build, the other likes to bask in the sun. But uniting together into a single whole?

This is unpleasant even for the 10% of altruists who are born that way by nature, because here we are talking about a completely different combination of people with each other, together with our egoism, in  interaction with it.

Therefore, we are doing something completely undesirable, but we start doing it based on necessity. We discuss what will happen if we don’t do this, what consequences our clashing with nature will lead to, what cataclysms it will cause in the environment. In the inanimate nature it will cause earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, general climate change, solar flares, etc. In the vegetative world, we see what is happening to the surface of the earth. In the animal kingdom, entire species become extinct. And in man…

We are now in a state where nature threatens us with absolute starvation. Plants, animals, fish, birds—all of this is catastrophically disappearing. Through our imbalance with nature, we ourselves make our Earth, its surface, unsuitable for the existence of all other species, because we are like that, and because only we can bring it all into harmony. It all depends on us.

Gradually, such a revelation of the integral picture leads man to realize the need to change himself and society; afterward, you can already work with such a person.
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From KabTV’s “Integral Education. Conversation No. 13,” 12/18/11

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Question: Lately, I cannot understand what faith above reason is. Could you explain how one reaches this state, and what it actually is? As I understand, it is given by the Creator, and without this faith, one cannot move anywhere.

Answer: Faith above reason is that the intention to bestow and love are higher (in importance) than the intention for one’s own sake.

This happens under the influence of the surrounding light that descends during study, and while participating in the group, and dissemination. Until the light gives you this quality, you cannot understand it.
[3045]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/28/08

Question: Why is it easier to endure personal misfortunes when you have friends?

Answer: When I am connected with friends, my personal problem is shared among us. If there is truly a strong bond between us and they support me by sharing my sorrow, then it is distributed among all of us.

This is precisely the meaning of visiting the sick. We tend to think that people visit the sick just to check on them, to talk with them, to bring them apples and oranges, but there is a much deeper meaning. Such a visit can actually ease the illness because we share the suffering of the friend and give him our strength.

We are all connected in one system regardless of the fact that each of us exists in a separate body. If we are connected, then all our systems connect: intellectual, emotional, and many others that we do not yet know about.

As a result, we create a shared system of connections between people, and in truth it is much greater than we imagine. Illness is a kind of malfunction in my personal system that makes me feel ill. But when my friends who are connected with me come to visit with the intention of deepening the connection, they enter my damaged system and take part in it.

If two friends come to visit me, then my malfunction is divided among the three of us. It does not yet divide evenly, but it should if we are strongly, properly, and correctly connected. We will clearly feel how we take on the other’s pain, and give the sick person our own joy and happiness in return.

Question: So if someone tells me about their problem, does it make it easier?

Answer: If there is no connection between you, this has practically no effect. Yet we know that hearing good or bad news can influence a person strongly, either lift their mood or depress them.

But if this is my friend, then we are connected as if we exist within one body. Therefore when he comes to visit me during an illness, the defect in my system is transmitted to him, and it becomes easier for me.

It is precisely because we are separated by bodies, but able to connect on a sensory level, that a friend can help heal my illness, as if taking part of it into himself. He takes a portion of the imbalance from my system and equalizes it within his own.

He eases my suffering simply by performing a good and correct action, and takes this unbalanced part onto himself with love. And besides that, his healthy system can absorb this fragment of another’s illness precisely because it is not inherently his. He takes part of the illness, isolates it within himself, and heals it within his own subsystem.

Question: Does this happen unconsciously?

Answer: Usually it happens unconsciously, but there are people on a higher level who can see how it occurs.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 242 – Happiness And Social Ties,” 10/17/13

It is very easy to determine whether a path is spiritual: everything we agree with is not spiritual!

What does belong to it are precisely the opposite things, which are not accepted by our reason and feelings and are unwanted and hated. Those are exactly what we must work on.

If I do not feel any benefit from some state, neither emotionally nor mentally, then only by rising above that state can I begin to build the spiritual. After all, in such a case I am certainly not bribed or seeking personal gain, and in order to rise above it, I will need the help of the Creator.

So I constantly check myself: to what extent does my body resist my work? And this becomes a sign of correct advancement for me.

Then I need to look at why I am doing this. Maybe I want to rise above myself and pursue some personal goals.

Or maybe I want to find the love of the Creator, which is repugnant to our “body”—the egoistic mind and feeling. And I am looking for love that is entirely built on hatred of egoistic thoughts and desires about myself.

But often we do not try to rise above our body, but regret that we cannot work according to the mind and feelings contained within the body, rather than seeking the state that lies above reason and feeling, and desiring to be in it.

First of all, we must push the body down with all its feelings and reason, be above them, and not take them into account. That is, we take them into account only in order to rise above them. This is called faith above reason.

Instead we lament: why is everything not revealed to my mind so that I could act like a sensible person, and know that I possess intellect and my own strength for proper advancement?
[20274]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 8/30/10, Rabash, Article 35