The Group: A Structure And A Connection
Question: How far do I have to go in ascending above reason if the group seems flawed to me? It is written, “Do not sit at a gathering of fools.” What if the friends are harming my spiritual progress?
Answer: You’re right, yet a person has to understand that this state was sent to him from Above. He never sees the truth. If instead of constantly criticizing others, he accepts them above reason, then even a tiny spiritual spark from his friends will help him to advance.
We have to perceive reality the way it is. I was not placed in random, accidental conditions, but in a situation the Creator created for me. He is the one who determines what I see and feel. Therefore, one can and must always advance above reason. While I help build the group and employ constructive criticism, at the same time in the spiritual regard, I must always view the current state as the most effective and the best for my advancement.
Difficult confrontations and collisions in the process of the group’s formation and activity do not belong to spirituality. This is material work, but in the process we build, destroy, and build again.
At the same time, in a completely different dimension, each of us considers the friends great, bows his head before them, and sees them as “angels” sent by the Creator.
We are talking about two dimensions of perception and we have to learn to separate them from one another. On one hand, the group is a structure in this world. On the other hand, the group is a connection of souls that I must be included in. These dimensions of the group’s perception require different attitudes.
I may not agree with the forms of dissemination, with the friends that skip lessons and don’t fulfill their responsibilities to the general structure, but when I unite with them for the sake of my spiritual progress, I have to advance above my own opinion and knowledge and lower myself before them.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, “The Matter of Above Reason”
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Can you explain what you mean when you speak of “constructive criticism”. The Texts exist, the Teacher guides us, and the Group provides an environment in which we may obtain and nurture the connection. We are where we are meant to be, or have accepted, through our free choice, to be. What, then, is to be criticised?