The unification of people is always a spiritual force, even on the material level. If we are talking about such a group, be it a sports team, kibbutz members, or anyone else, they also use a spiritual force by uniting for some goal.
This gives rise to a problem. If they use this force for the sake of the Creator, then they win, move forward, prosper, and everything ends wonderfully. If, however, they take this force and use it for self-gratification, as they wanted to do in Soviet Russia or in the kibbutzim, then they get exactly what they eventually ended up with.
Why? Because, as Baal HaSulam explains in the article “The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]“, they use the unification of souls, which is supposed to be a Kli for the Creator, for the light, as a Kli for achieving animalistic goals. If you unite several people and want something to come from it, then from their unification there must flow an intention for the sake of bestowal to the Creator and not for the sake of bestowal to oneself. Bestowal “for one’s own sake” brings about darkness, suffering, and misfortunes.
Let us say people unite to launch an enterprise, to get rich, to achieve something in this world. We see that all this is done precisely by means of unification. This also relates to the era of industrial development that began from the time of the Ari to the subsequent period of enlightenment. Such is the nature of development.
But all these steps in development were essentially not made out of a desire to draw closer to the Creator, but by creating groups of people in which one helps another. And all these groups, societies, or enterprises, whatever they may be, ultimately led to suffering. Through this, we come more quickly to the recognition of evil.
What does modern industry mean for us now that the whole world has become like a single village? Ultimately, through our pursuit of money, honor, and base pleasures, we reveal the flawed nature of our connection with one another.
We are tempted by trivialities like money and honors, supposedly a better life, but essentially, without our awareness, a higher force intends to show us that by uniting for reasons other than the sake of the Creator, humanity suffers a catastrophic loss. This realization dawns on us very quickly.
Rabash gives as an example a person who is given a desire for money and opens a restaurant to make a profit; however, in reality, this setup compels him to give to others. The money serves only as a lure. In essence, the Creator uses this to facilitate bestowal in the world prompting everyone to begin giving to others sooner. Consequently, Reshimot (spiritual records) multiply and combine in various ways, which causes an acceleration in our development toward correction.
In the same way, humanity is given a desire for money and various achievements, and groups of people unite among themselves in order to reveal the negative side in this. Everything that we see on the outside is the temptations given to us so that from our will to receive we perform various incorrect actions, and then come to the recognition of evil and, after correctly summing up the results, move onto the right tracks.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/26, Rabash, Letter 59
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