Reflect: Reflect: Share an epiphany from the session that broadened your understanding or shifted your perspective.

Thank you for the lessons. Consciousness, is about awareness of our state. Often we are not aware of our oppositeness to nature, perhaps we created a life around ourselves that limits need to “bump” into others, as that is the way we prefer, because it’s uncomfortable and we don’t like the feelings that are brought up. But it’s in these interactions where we find ourselves challenged, that our level of consciousness is being raised. If we remain conscious of that process, then in those moments we feel challenged by others we may remain a little open to see what is the lesson our level of awareness is being called to. In that moment we give a little patience for both the other person and patience for ourselves. We learn to love the other as we should love ourselves. After all, we are all one.

I understand the importance of the group, and grateful for a group of people that step up to this challenge with the right intention. Let us take care of ourselves and each other when it gets uncomfortable. Let us strengthen each other in doing so, by bringing back the pieces of Adam HaRishon with conscious care at attention.

• This reply was modified hace 2 meses, 1 semana by Andrew Lawson.

I really connected with the video of the swarm of birds.  I always wondered how they (being “dumb” animals) can be in such perfect sync, and we as “smart” people cannot get it right.  Now I know, we can also be like that.  We just need to stop trying to be so individualistic, and become part of nature – and put the needs of the whole above our personal desires.

Getting a better understanding of the group dynamics was helpful in knowing how it works.  I saw a comment of an individual who left the group.  Now I understand why they left, although it was unfortunate.  We are there to challenge another’s ego in order for the individual to harness that ego into development of loving our friend as ourselves.  I understand that will cause me to dig deep and to keep me focused on “The Goal Above All.”  Even if I do lose my focus, I know the group is there to help me attain that goal.

I was deeply moved by this idea of collective consciousness — the understanding that all of nature is one interconnected system, and we are each a part of it. Nature shows perfect balance in every cycle, and over billions of years, life evolved from single cells that learned to cooperate, into plants, animals, humans — and eventually into higher levels of awareness.

In people, our biology itself proves our interconnectedness. The vagus nerve links empathy, compassion, and connection to our physical health. When we feel accepted, oxytocin is released — lowering stress and improving healing. When we feel rejected, cortisol floods our system, causing harm over time. We are literally hardwired for connection.

Spiritually, Kabbalah teaches that at the root of creation there was one collective soul — the soul of Adam HaRishon — which shattered into many pieces. Today, those pieces are the billions of individual souls in the world. Our purpose is to repair that unity, to live in balance like nature, moving from ego-driven competition to cooperation and oneness.

The allegory of the rich and poor brothers shows why the shattering happened: we were once in perfect unity but without independence, like a baby in the womb. The separation allows us to grow, mature, and return to unity out of our own free choice — becoming like the Creator, but as independent beings.

Our world’s crises — inequality, conflict, pandemics — are like “labor pains” of a new era. The path forward is to rebuild the collective soul, redefine ourselves as one human family, and live “as one man with one heart,” making mutual concessions for a shared goal. Just like the cells of a single body, our survival and fulfillment depend on cooperation and unity.

I understand why it is important in kabbalah the need  to work in a group where our ego will be challenged and encounter conflicts to forces us to examine ourselves, make changes, and grow closer the creator. In  the lab setting.