Transcription of the Audio file "The Knot of Responsibility"

Transcription of the Audio File "The Knot of Responsibility" (By Dr. Amin)

Part One
In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
With strength drawn from the Absolute Power, God, we begin this session.
Hello, friends. I am Amin, the session guardian.
I kindly ask everyone to observe fourteen seconds of silence and seek refuge in God, so that we may free ourselves from our most powerful enemy—our own ignorance and unawareness.
Thank you. I would now like to ask our secretary, Ahmad, to read the summary of the previous session.
Secretary: Hello, friends. I am Ahmad, a traveler.
This is the fifth session of the 50th round of Congress 60's Worldview educational workshops, for travelers and companions in their second journey. The session is being held on July 16, 2014, by Mr. Amin Dezhakam as the guest speaker, Mr. Dezhakam serving as the session guardian and myself as secretary. The agenda for today's session is "The Knot of Responsibility." The session begins promptly at 6:30 p.m.
Thank you very much.
I hope we have all been enjoying this time, and that the month of Ramadan brings goodness and blessings to all our dear friends.
Of course, there may be moments when things become a little difficult. But just picturing that refreshing drink and the food waiting for us at Iftar gives us the strength and confidence to keep going along this challenging path. As the saying goes, we make our way over rocks and rough terrain until, like roaring rivers and bubbling springs, we finally reach Iftar.
Our weekly discussion is actually based on Valley Eleven, which states:
"Roaring rivers and bubbling springs eventually reach the seas and oceans. Empty or half-filled cups will one day be filled."
This is a true promise for those who keep striving, those who are like springs that never stop flowing. They never give up their efforts or lose their love and enthusiasm for doing things and reaching their goals. They leave no stone unturned in their pursuit.
In fact, they draw their source of energy either from the snow on the mountains, from heavenly rainfall, or from divine words and teachings. These are what enable them to keep their inner springs flowing.
And this is exactly how it works in nature, too. If there is no rainfall in the mountains, it won't take long before the springs that once flowed so abundantly gradually begin to lose their water, until eventually they dry up completely.
So, in this context, the heavenly blessings—whether in the form of snow or what we call divine words—are sources of nourishment that a person needs to remain connected to. These are, in fact, the right teachings, or the true teachings that originate from genuine knowledge. As long as a person maintains that connection, they can preserve their ability to keep flowing and generating energy from within. And if they can maintain this quality, they will be able to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way.
Think about it this way: a spring may keep flowing for ten hours, or even a hundred hours. It might overcome three or four obstacles, but when it reaches the fifth, it may finally come to a standstill. However, if it can maintain that connection or link—which, as I mentioned in our previous session when we discussed the family, is one of the fundamental roots of family life—it can preserve its flowing nature. This principle applies universally; it makes no difference who or what we are talking about.
Let me put it this way: even the most talented human being, someone who possesses the abilities and potential that you might normally expect to find in twenty people combined, someone with extraordinary genius, will begin to lose those qualities if their connection to those sources of nourishment and inspiration is cut off. It won't take long before you witness a change in their attributes, just as we discussed in the previous Valley, Valley Ten. They begin to lose their qualities and their abilities.
For example, when you watch football, you may remember a player who, just last year or in the previous season, used to perform all kinds of extraordinary moves and do things that seemed almost impossible. But now you see him walking around the field like nothing more than a piece of meat. He no longer has the abilities or potential he once possessed. His name is still the same; his identity hasn't changed, but his qualities have.
So, we must preserve that inner vitality, that ability to keep flowing and growing. And doing so requires continuous effort. What I do today may be enough for today, but today's effort will not be sufficient for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I must also have something new to learn and something new to discover. I must maintain a certain outlook on existence and never imagine that I have become so great or have reached such a high level that I no longer need to learn. That feeling of having grown too tall, or the belief that I have become someone important, may actually unplug me from the source of energy! That is why maintaining these connections is more important than anything else.
Well, I hope we can all benefit from this teaching and learn to protect and preserve what we receive. Because in a war, capturing a position is important, but holding on to it is several times more important.
You may conquer a territory, but then fail to pay enough attention to defending and maintaining it. Most people don't give this much thought. They assume that once they have achieved something and secured a victory, their work is done. They think that once they've entered university, that's it—they've made it, and their ticket to success is secured. Or once they've landed a good job, they think everything is settled.
But gaining that position is only the first step. Preserving it is many times more important. In other words, we must place far greater value on maintaining what we already have and make sure we take good care of it.

Well, what I want to talk about today is based on some of the experiences that I and many of our dear friends and fellow members have gone through over the years at Congress 60. Some of you may have experienced similar situations yourselves.
There are times when a person can lay their head on the pillow at night and fall asleep peacefully simply because nobody needs anything from them or has any demands on them. At other times, everyone seems to need something from them, yet they can still put their head on the pillow and sleep peacefully. But then there are times when just a few people need something from them, and they can no longer maintain that same peace of mind.
I'd like to talk a little about what we call the Knot of Responsibility, to understand how it develops in the first place and what we can do about it. When it happened to me, I didn't even realize what was going on. It develops so gradually, so quietly and little by little, that you hardly notice it happening.
When we are in the first journey, whether as a traveler or a companion, things are quite good in certain respects because we are the ones being served. In other words, others are taking care of us. We may look at the guides or the border guards and wish we were in their position. But the reality is that one day, you might find yourself looking at a newcomer through the eyes of a border guard and actually wishing you could be in their place. This can happen. And if it does, you should recognize that you have most likely become caught in the Knot of Responsibility. Otherwise, there would be no reason to envy them. Generally speaking, a person should not wish to go back to the past unless there is something they have left unfinished or failed to do properly.
Gradually, we become more involved in Congress 60. We take exams, participate in different assessments, and eventually we are entrusted with certain responsibilities. These may begin with the simplest tasks, such as serving as a discipline officer, passing the microphone around, mopping the floor, or taking care of the refreshment area. Then, little by little, we move forward and take on greater responsibilities.
When we are first given a responsibility, something important happens. According to Valley Eleven, if we want to become a bubbling spring and maintain that constant flow, we need to create a potential difference within ourselves. In addition to having reserves—the nourishment we receive from heavenly blessings, represented by rainfall and mountain snow, as we discussed earlier—we also need to create this potential difference within ourselves.

This potential difference begins to develop right from the start. We begin at zero, as newcomers in the first journey, and gradually become someone who has the authority to hand the microphone to others. This potential difference generates energy within us and gives us a pleasant, rewarding feeling. In fact, this feeling becomes the foundation that motivates us to keep moving forward.
If a person enjoys this experience at this stage, it becomes an incentive for them to continue serving and take on more significant responsibilities. They begin looking forward to experiencing other forms of service, such as becoming a secretary, a session guardian, and so on. But if they don't have the courage to give it a try, naturally, they will never experience the satisfaction it brings. They may stay at Congress 60 for a while and then eventually leave. They might even end up getting into conflicts along the way. Well, these things can happen.
This process continues until we eventually take on a substantial, meaningful, and long-term responsibility at Congress 60—a position that allows us to serve consistently over an extended period.
When I say a responsibility that is "worthwhile" or "substantial," I am not referring to anything financial or to earning money. I mean a position that provides continuity in service. For example, if you are responsible for passing the microphone around, you may get the opportunity to serve one day, but it might not happen again for several days. However, if someone becomes a border guard, they usually hold that position for a year, which means their service is continuous. And if they become a guide, they may come to Congress 60 at a specific time every week and continue serving for four or five years.
These are the kinds of positions that create that potential difference within us. They are so important that I sometimes even encourage some of our members who have completed their journeys to experience these positions, because they can bring about profound changes in them. Many of the knots and difficulties people carry within themselves can be resolved through these very positions and by taking on responsibilities. In fact, some personal ailments may even be healed through accepting responsibilities and serving others.
However, as I mentioned earlier, there is a general principle here: everything has both a constructive and a destructive side.
Take a kitchen knife, for example. It is an essential tool that helps us cut and peel fruit, prepare meals, and serve others. At the same time, it can also be used as a means of self-defense, to protect ourselves from harm, or it can be used to hurt others.
Love is much the same. It can be a constructive force in a person's life. It can give us hope, generate energy and motivation, encourage us to start a family, and help ensure the continuation of the human race. But when love loses its proper form, it can turn into what we call a Knot of Love—something we have discussed before. And when that happens, it can make a person's life utterly miserable, cause tremendous destruction, and even lead to death.
There are many people who become trapped in the Knot of Love and eventually turn to alcohol or drugs, or develop severe psychological and emotional disorders. Their lives may even be cut short. These are people who, had they not become entangled in this knot, might have grown into magnificent, fruitful palm trees, bearing an abundance of fruit.

This means that anything can have either a constructive or a destructive effect, depending on how it is used. Take gunpowder, for example. An explosion can be used to clear land and build roads, or it can be used to kill people. The same principle applies to everything, and responsibility is no exception.
Responsibilities give people power, self-confidence, and discipline. They are essential to life. A person who has no responsibilities at all is, in a sense, not fulfilling their role as a human being, and will constantly experience hardship and suffering.
People in the past understood this very well. That is why they strongly encouraged their children to work. They believed children should be given tasks to do, whether physical or intellectual, so that they would always have something meaningful to occupy themselves with and some responsibility to take on. They knew that if children did not work, their inner potential would never come to fruition. They would remain restless, unhappy, and burdened by suffering. A person might have tremendous talent and potential, but without putting them to use, they would never attain inner peace. The people of the past understood this.
So, people in earlier times recognized the importance of responsibility and paid close attention to it. But there is another situation that can arise: responsibility itself can become a veil that blocks a person's vision. This is something we also need to be aware of.
How does this happen? How can responsibility turn into a veil and begin to create problems for a person?
We need to understand that there are two very powerful forces—greed and arrogance—that work together like a pair of jaws. Think of a crocodile's jaws: there is an upper jaw and a lower jaw. One jaw alone is not enough. In other words, to bite someone, you need two rows of teeth; one row by itself simply won't do the job. These are forces that can put a person under tremendous pressure and eventually crush them.
Last night, Mr. Dezhakam was speaking about a particular tooth, saying that it is an extremely dangerous one, the worst of all teeth. What makes it so dangerous is that it bites its own owner. In other words, it doesn't hurt anyone else; it hurts the person who has it. And that tooth is the tooth of greed.
That's exactly right. Imagine one of these jaws as a person's greed and the other as their arrogance. When these two forces come together in one person, that person doesn't need any enemies. They are more than capable of bringing trouble upon themselves and making their own lives miserable.
In the Holy Quran, a person driven by this kind of greed is described as someone who is insatiable—someone who is never satisfied with what they have and always wants more. If you roast a sheep for them, they wish you had roasted a calf instead. If you roast a calf, they say, "I wish you had roasted a cow for me!" They never appreciate or even notice what they already have. This is a very important point.
As for arrogance, as you may remember, we discussed it in the CD titled Arrogance. It refers to a person seeing themselves as fundamentally different from other people in their very nature and creation. When someone has this quality, they are an arrogant person. Deep down, they always feel, in one way or another, that they are different from everyone else.
A person who is full of conceit may think they are better than others, but that isn't necessarily the same thing. An arrogant person, however, deep down—right at the very bottom of their heart—truly believes that they are different from everyone else. They are completely convinced of it. This is something that needs to be corrected.
So, that's one side of the equation. The other side is human greed.
What does greed do? Greed draws its strength from fear—the fear of losing something. Fear arises when we are faced with the possibility of loss. And when a person is driven by greed, they are never satisfied. That is its very nature: nothing ever gives them a sense of contentment.

Now, put these two forces together and see what happens! Imagine a person who is never satisfied with what they have and, at the same time, believes they are different from everyone else. Just think about what kind of combination that creates and what state such a person will find themselves in.
These qualities can exist in a person in two different ways. They may be present in what we call the manifest aspect of a person, meaning that the person is consciously aware of having these traits. And let me reassure you: everyone has them to some extent! Or they may exist in the person's hidden aspect, so deeply buried that the person is not even aware of them.
When these qualities exist in the manifest aspect, you are fully aware of them. You can actually feel them within yourself and say, "I'm different from everyone else. These ordinary things just don't satisfy me." These are the kinds of thoughts a person may constantly repeat to themselves.
But when these qualities exist in the hidden aspect, they reveal themselves later, as the person moves forward. What do I mean by that?
Take the road from Tehran to northern Iran, for example. There are certainly sharp turns and dangerous cliffs along the way. But when you first set out, near Karaj, before you have even reached the city, there are no dangerous curves or deep ravines. It's only after passing Karaj and gradually making your way toward Chalus that these features begin to appear.
The same thing happens with a person. They have to set out, move forward, and travel their path until they reach certain responsibilities and positions. Once they get there, those hidden qualities begin to surface. They come out into the open, and suddenly we realize, "Goodness! I didn't even know I had this side to me!"
Let me tell you a story. Once, my aunt and uncle decided to go hiking in the mountains. They invited me to join them, and I agreed. I was in middle school at the time, and I had a pair of very smooth-soled shoes—the kind we used for playing football and other games. They asked me, "Would you like to come hiking with us?" I went up to the rooftop, looked at the mountain from below, and said, "Sure, I'll come!" The mountain looked so smooth and easy to climb from a distance.
But once we got up there, it turned out to be one of the worst days of my life! I told myself, "If I ever make it back down this mountain, I'll never set foot on one again!" There were so many dangerous cliffs, I kept slipping, and thorns and branches kept piercing my hands and feet. I was so miserable that I decided never to do it again.
This path is much the same. When you first decide to move forward, everything seems easy. You tell yourself, "I'll do this. I'll take on this responsibility." But once you actually step into that position, a certain quality within you begins to emerge and reveal itself. Sometimes it is something completely new, even to you. As the saying goes, it takes you by surprise!
Now, what happens if a person is driven by greed? How does greed affect them in this situation?
Once you take on one responsibility, you decide to take on another, then another, and another, until eventually you run into a concrete wall. In other words, whenever someone offers you a responsibility, you never say no. You simply accept it, one after another. No matter how many responsibilities are offered to you, you keep saying yes.
This is a sign that a person has developed greed in relation to responsibility. They think, "Well, if one responsibility makes me feel this good, imagine how wonderful three of them would be!" That's how they keep adding things up in their minds.
This is what Mr. Dezhakam refers to as calculating intellect. When you approach things in this calculating way, everything seems to make perfect sense. You think, "I'm already a border guard. Just imagine how great it would be if I also took on this other position and that one! How much faster I would develop! How much further ahead I would get!"
And yes, that may well be the case. Taking on two or even three responsibilities can sometimes be beneficial. You may have the ability, the potential, and the time to handle several tasks simultaneously, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying a person should take on only one responsibility. But there is a limit, and if you fail to recognize it, you will eventually run into problems.
Another point is that when a person is driven by greed in a position of responsibility, they are constantly looking for ways to expand their authority. In other words, they don't pay much attention to the limits of the authority that has been assigned to them. Instead, they try to find ways to go beyond those boundaries and overcome the restrictions placed on them. This is because greed and limitations are fundamentally incompatible. Greed always wants more, and to get more, a person feels compelled to cross the established boundaries. This is a tendency that each of us can recognize within ourselves.
What happens as a result? The person starts interfering in other people's work. This has happened to me personally; I'm not talking about others. I'm speaking from my own experience.
When someone takes on a responsibility, they naturally begin working with a number of other people. Gradually, they start expressing opinions about their colleagues' work and interfering in what they do.
For example, if someone who isn't familiar with the boundaries of our respective authorities comes to me with a question, they might say, "What should I do about such-and-such matter?" or "I'd like to conduct some research on a particular subject." And I might respond, "Come to me. I'll take care of it for you."
But what I fail to consider is that my area of authority, for example, is the Watcher of Education, not the Watcher of Research. Someone else is responsible for handling that matter. Yet the person who is actually in charge has no idea that this individual has come to me. I've simply taken over their work.
And nobody knows what's happening. No one is even aware of these things going on behind the scenes. I do the work, the person is very pleased and grateful, and they even bring me some sweets as a thank-you. Every time they see me, they bow respectfully. But eventually, all of this begins to make me feel uneasy, because I've stepped outside my proper role.
So, one consequence is that a person, consciously or unconsciously, begins to disregard the rules governing the responsibility they have accepted. They gradually grant themselves a wider range of authority than they were originally assigned.
On top of that, they want to take on more and more responsibilities.
The first behavior—going beyond the boundaries of one's own authority—has its own destructive consequences. The second—taking on additional responsibilities—may seem like an achievement in itself. But what happens as a result? Other people also need opportunities to earn their livelihood, to work, and to receive education and training at Congress 60. They are deprived of the opportunity to serve and benefit from those teachings.

There was a time when, during Congress 60 camps and other activities, I noticed something similar while I was serving as an agent at one of the branches. Whenever I visited that branch, I no longer felt energized by being there. People would praise me a lot, saying things like, "Master, you have been so kind to come here. We really appreciate your visit." I would tell them, "It's my duty to come." But the truth was that I wasn't even carrying out my duty properly anymore.
You see, when a person moves forward in a position without practicing decent conduct, they no longer receive the right kind of energy from their work. Some people may realize this sooner, while others may take longer to recognize it. I had reached a point where I could no longer do the job properly. I could also see that the work was no longer producing the results it was supposed to.
Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I needed to change my position. That was clearly no longer the right place for me. Someone else could come along and do the job better than I could. It didn't matter how much cognizance that person had, whether they knew more or less than I did. No, that wasn't the point at all. This was not about an individual's abilities or level of knowledge. It was about teamwork and the rotation of people within the system.
I decided to make that change and began looking carefully to see who might be the right person for the position. I was waiting for the right person to appear, and eventually, someone did. It happened within just three days! Until then, nobody had come forward because, deep down, I wasn't willing to let anyone take my place.
You see, when you don't want someone to come along, they simply don't. It's like someone who doesn't want anyone to come and ask for their hand in marriage. They keep sending out such strong signals—"I hope it doesn't happen! Please, let no one come! I hope no one shows up!"—that they end up driving everyone away! (laughs)
The same thing applies here. Once I made up my mind and genuinely wanted the change to happen, someone came forward just two or three days later. When they approached us, I realized that I had made the right choice.
I went ahead with the decision, and it took another month or two to put all the arrangements in place. After I left, that branch actually began doing much better than it had when I was there. It made me realize that sometimes, without even noticing it, we can become an obstacle in other people's way. We shouldn't stand in the middle of the road and block the way for others.
It doesn't matter who is standing in the way. Whether you have a street sweeper sitting in the middle of the road or Albert Einstein, the road will still be blocked. It makes no difference who that person is or how important they may be. The point is that they need to step aside. Once they do, the path opens up. And I saw that the branch began to flourish.
Before I reached that decision, I had all kinds of thoughts running through my mind, trying to convince me not to leave. I would think, "What are they going to do if I leave? What will happen if I'm no longer here? Who will guide them if I'm gone? They'll lose their way and stray from the principles." A thousand different thoughts would come to mind, each giving me another reason to stay.
Interestingly, where did these thoughts come from? They came from the very idea of responsibility: "You have a responsibility here. If you leave and things fall apart, you'll be held accountable." In other words, responsibility itself was being used as a trick to keep me from letting go of that position.
But the universe must remain in motion. Everything needs to keep flowing and circulating.
When I was about to leave that position, I could feel exactly what was happening inside me. It felt as though I was being torn away from something. I had a lump in my throat and felt on the verge of tears. That was the emotional attachment I had developed. But once I finally let go, I felt relieved. A sense of peace came over me.
I've done the same thing again since then, and I'll continue to do it whenever I can and whenever I recognize that it is necessary. We have to be willing to do this. Just as we arrive at a certain place one day, we must also be prepared to leave it one day. And this is something we need to practice within ourselves.
These are the moments of choice when a person must be willing to give up the respect, the position, the attention, and the authority they have come to enjoy. If they can do that, it means they have finally pulled out the tooth of greed.
Many things within us can only be corrected through making the right choices and taking the right actions. Otherwise, a person may spend years attending classes, reading, and studying, but if, at the crucial moment when they need to make a choice, they fail to make the right one, no real transformation will take place. They will remain exactly the same person they were before.
God says in one verse:
"Indeed, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what they want (their desire)."
When taking on responsibilities, a person must be able to change their own desires. My desire is to stay in that position, and I cling to it. All right, then stay! But nothing will change. Then I ask myself, “Why is it that I work so hard and make so much effort, yet nothing changes?” At this point, the amount of effort is no longer what matters; what matters is the direction in which I am moving. I could put all my energy into heading north, but I would never reach the south. That simply isn't going to happen. But letting go of that desire—being willing to give it up—is precisely what changing direction in life means, and that change can bring a person peace of mind. In other areas, too, a person can develop an almost obsessive tendency toward their responsibilities.
As you move forward, your cognizance grows. Let me tell you something: as a person's cognizance increases, as they receive more education and take on more responsibilities, their sense of responsibility also becomes stronger. But there is always a potential pitfall alongside this progress, and one of those pitfalls is obsessiveness. In other words, a person can become obsessive about getting things done. They feel compelled to keep interfering to make sure everything is done as perfectly as possible. That's what I mean—not that they feel tempted to go and do something evil or malicious. That's not what I'm talking about. Rather, they become obsessed with making sure that a task is done more precisely, more correctly, and more completely, over and over again.
We experienced this last year at the camp festival. We made a very big deal of certain things and gave them a great deal of attention. Up to a point, that was good, but we ended up taking it a little too far. We built a stage and so on. Anyone looking at the place from the outside might have thought it was Milad Tower or some other impressive venue, when in fact we were right in the middle of the desert! (laughs) For filming and similar purposes, it was a very good achievement—a major step forward. But we hadn't realized that there were other things we needed to pay attention to as well. We had put all our eggs in one basket. We found that, compared with all the work we had done and the energy we had invested, the return we expected simply didn't come. In other words, we had invested a great deal and had been extremely meticulous, but we didn't get the outcome we had hoped for.
You know how sometimes, when you press your pen too hard against the paper, your handwriting doesn't become neater. Instead, you end up piercing the paper. And once the paper is torn, your writing is ruined, and you have to start all over again. So, if you write too lightly, your handwriting won't turn out well; but if you press too hard, the pen may break or the paper may tear. You have to find the right balance. Exactly the same thing happens with responsibility. As a person's cognizance develops, they can also become increasingly obsessive about the way they carry out their tasks. At this point, they must learn to overcome that tendency. And the way to do so is to trust others and distribute the work among them.
If a person can do this, they will succeed. Otherwise, they think, “I'm an expert at this. If I don't do it myself, everything will go wrong, and my responsibility will be called into question.” But the reality is exactly the opposite. You have to trust others and let them do the work. And there's nothing wrong if they make mistakes. Let them make mistakes! You have to invest in them so they can gain experience. That investment has a cost, and you have to be willing to bear it. Just think how much God invested in human beings and in their freedom of choice! He placed all of existence at their disposal. He entrusted the universe and the Earth, with all their countless blessings, to human beings so that they could gain experience. And when a human being made a mistake, did God destroy them? Of course not!

We have practically ruined this planet; we have polluted it and destroyed it. God could have wiped us all out, but He did not. Now, if we want to become even a tiny reflection of the Almighty and take Him as our example, then we must learn to delegate responsibility to others without being afraid that things might go wrong.
I don't mean that we should hand someone a major responsibility right away. For example, you wouldn't ask someone to build a dam when they cannot even tell the difference between a brick and a clay tile, and then say, if something goes wrong, the dam collapses, and the city is flooded, "Never mind, it's all a learning experience!" That's not what I mean. Start with the smallest tasks. Entrust them to others, show them that you trust them, and gradually allow them to move forward.
If a person fails to do this, then as they move forward, two things happen: first, their responsibilities keep increasing; and second, they begin to overstep the boundaries of their responsibilities and become increasingly demanding. Eventually, they reach a point where they can no longer enjoy a single moment of peace. This is exactly what happened to me. It can completely rob a person of peace of mind and tranquility.
Others may look at such a person and say, "Wow! Look how many responsibilities they have! Look at the position they've reached!" But what matters is not what other people think. What matters is that you are happy, that you feel at peace, and that you are satisfied with the work you do. This balance gradually begins to take shape when you start sharing responsibilities and distributing tasks among others.
It may take someone several months to get started, but that's perfectly fine, because this is the right path: a person must learn to let go of greed and arrogance. When someone is arrogant, they believe they are different from everyone else and cannot bring themselves to entrust responsibilities to others. They tell themselves, "No, nobody can do this job as well as I can." But that's not necessarily true. Others may even be able to do it much better than you. So, learn to trust them. Trust is one of the fundamental foundations of finding peace and tranquility.
In the CD The Range of Vibrations, I talked about how everything begins to fall apart when a person loses trust. Everything can be destroyed when we lose our trust—whether it is trust in our friends, in existence itself, in our country, or in our family. But when trust is restored, you begin assigning tasks to others, giving them responsibilities, allowing them room to act and encouraging them to gain experience. You let them think things through and approach their tasks wisely and rationally. Only then can you finally take a deep breath, find some relief, and turn your attention to other things.
We are always on a journey. Addiction itself is a journey, but so are many other aspects of our lives, and we must learn to move through them. Our journey begins at the very first point, when we are entrusted with the smallest possible responsibility. It continues as we move forward until we reach the point where we are given the highest level of responsibility within that position. But that is not where the journey ends. It ends only when we are able to carry out the work in the best possible way and teach others to do it as well. Then, even if we are no longer there, the system can continue functioning on its own.
If we cannot overcome the knot of responsibility, the entire system becomes dependent on us. If we are absent one day, everyone becomes confused. Nobody knows what to do, and everyone gets tangled up with one another. But just as everyone becomes entangled when we are not there, we also become entangled within ourselves when we are there. This is because whatever we create in the world around us is reflected precisely within our own being.
Our journey comes to an end when the others are able to carry on with their work even in our absence. That is the true end of our journey. This is what liberation means in the context of accepting any responsibility: reaching a point where the work can continue without us.
Thank you all for listening to me.

Part Two

We kindly ask our dear secretary to read out the summary of the previous session.
Secretary: Hello, friends. I am Ahmad, a Traveler.
This is the sixth session of the 50th round of the Worldview educational workshops of Congress 60, held specifically for Travelers and Companions in their second journey, on 1/5/93, with Mr. Amin Dezhakam as the guest speaker, Mr. Dezhakam as the session guardian, and myself as the secretary. The session will now begin at precisely 6:30 p.m., with the agenda to be announced by the teacher.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. I hope everyone is doing well, having had a good time, and having experienced at least a little of that feeling of well-being, and that these days have been beneficial for you.
Of course, there are times when things can be a little difficult, such as during the month of Ramadan when we are fasting. Fasting can make the body somewhat weaker, but as time goes on, the body regains its strength. We can also draw some knowledge and understanding from the changes that take place during this process.
The subject we discussed in our previous session was the knot of responsibility. In general, throughout our discussions on Worldview, we pay considerable attention to opposites. Understanding opposites is extremely important because the human being is, in essence, a combination of opposites. In order to navigate our path through life more effectively, we need to understand these opposites. They truly exist within us, too, and the better we understand them, the more clearly we can recognize how they function and operate.
This understanding gives us a broader perspective, allowing us to look at different matters from a wider point of view. The difference is quite simple. Imagine looking at the world from ground level versus looking at it from the top of a tree. When you look around from the top of a tree or from a higher elevation, many things become much easier to see. You may be able to see several thousand meters ahead and make decisions accordingly. If a storm is approaching, you can spot it sooner. If an enemy is preparing to attack, you can see it coming sooner. If a fire has broken out and is spreading toward you, you will notice it sooner.
Seeing things earlier allows you to make decisions at the right time. And timing is crucial. Being able to make the right decision at the right moment can completely change the course of a person's life and the calculations they make along the way.
So, there is a tremendous difference between being at a higher elevation and being down below. In each of our lives, understanding opposites—whether it is responsibility, the knot of responsibility, or similar matters—and being able to recognize them, as well as knowing or not knowing something, is like being at the top of a tree versus standing at its base.
For a blind person, it makes no difference where they are, whether at the top of the tree or at the bottom. Why? Because they cannot see. What does being blind mean in this context? It means being a person whose human senses are closed and no longer function. Therefore, for someone whose human senses are closed and inactive, knowing or not knowing something makes no difference when it comes to making decisions about a particular matter.
But for an aware person, someone whose human senses have awakened, things are different. For those of us who come here, undergo purification, embark on our journey, and work on ourselves, our senses gradually change. Therefore, for us, knowing makes a difference.
The issue we raised in our previous session was how the knot of responsibility can entangle a person in darkness. A responsibility that could give someone self-confidence, strength, and a sense of being useful to themselves and others can gradually turn into something that completely robs them of their peace of mind.
It can reach a point where a person begins interfering in other people's affairs, getting involved in their decisions, speaking when they should remain silent, and taking action when they should refrain from doing so. In general, they begin creating problems for themselves and those around them.
This was the central issue we were discussing when we talked about the knot of responsibility.

However, alongside this issue, there is another important point that can be extremely helpful for us to understand: taking on the burden of other people. This brings us to a statement made by Sardar: “It is a mistake to feel pity for those who are truly guilty.”
You have probably heard this statement before: “It is a mistake to feel pity for those who are truly guilty.” But who is a truly guilty person? A truly guilty person is someone who has committed a wrongdoing or violated a command, even though they could have chosen not to do so. In other words, they have neglected or failed in their own duties and responsibilities, despite having the necessary conditions and opportunity to fulfill them.
When does this apply? It applies when you have the freedom to choose between two things, one good and the other bad, and you deliberately choose the bad one simply because you like it, because you want it, or because you find it interesting and appealing. Then, as a result of that choice, you encounter all kinds of difficulties and problems.
But when you finally reach a point of hardship and helplessness, you begin to complain, plead, and cry out for sympathy. This is a characteristic of human beings: as long as things are going well, they refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. If someone even dares to point something out to them, they respond so forcefully that the other person begins to question their own judgment. But once they run into trouble, they suddenly turn the whole situation around. They present what they have done in the most carefully crafted and subtle way, making their actions appear completely justified.
For example, someone may have neglected their duties or failed to fulfill their obligations, yet they present the situation as though, at that very moment, the entire world had conspired against them—everyone had put obstacles in their way, stopped them, beaten them, and threatened them, leaving them with no choice but to do what they did.
In reality, this is a way of arousing pity and sympathy, and this is an extremely important point. In other words, the person approaches the situation by appealing to our compassion and seeking our attention. If we are not alert or careful enough, we may find ourselves, in our position as a person in charge—or someone who is expected to assess situations and make decisions—making decisions out of pity and sympathy that can cause tremendous damage. After all, responsibility must always go hand in hand with discernment.
In a sense, out of compassion, we take the burden of that person's wrongdoing off their shoulders, even though they themselves must take responsibility for their own purification and refinement. They need to make up for their mistakes, learn from them, and eventually reach a higher level of awareness and cognizance. But instead, we take that burden away from them and place it on our own shoulders or on the shoulders of others.
This disrupts the balance, because that burden is actually part of the person's learning process. It is essential for them to carry it so that they are forced to reflect and make a decision. Because of a mistake they have made, they have been deprived of something, and that deprivation must continue for a while so that they can make better decisions in the future.
However, when we remove that burden, we effectively overturn the consequences of their actions. As a result, we delay their personal development and postpone the moment when they finally come to understand the lesson they need to learn.
Why? Because the moment that burden is lifted, they say to themselves, "Ah, what a relief! I'm finally free of it!"
For example, imagine that someone is facing expulsion from university because of repeated academic probation. If we remove that pressure at a time when we should not, and say, "It's all right. Normally, anyone who is placed on academic probation for three consecutive semesters gets expelled. But in your case, even if you're on probation for ten semesters, it doesn't matter. We like you so much, and you're such a good person. Don't worry about it!" then we create a serious problem.
The fear of expulsion and the consequences they were facing could have been exactly what they needed to make a leap forward and change their behavior. But we, in our position as university administrators, have taken that burden off their shoulders, leaving them completely at ease.

That was exactly what happened to me. I was expelled from university several times, although I kept going and eventually earned my degree. If, from the very beginning, they had simply told me, "You're a good student. Don't worry, just go ahead," I don't think I would have finished university, because I would have felt completely at ease. But I had to stay up at night, spend entire nights sighing and crying, and even beat my head against the wall and my books until I finally found a way forward.
That experience was good for me, even though, at the time, it was an enormous burden to carry. Any burden, when it comes at the time it is meant to, is difficult and painful for every human being. Financial pressure, for example, can be extremely distressing. When someone finds themselves in financial difficulty, the pressure can be overwhelming. They have to struggle and go through considerable hardship just to keep things together. But that very pressure is guiding them toward a point where they must make decisions, and through those decisions, they begin to grow.
Of course, we must not fall off the other side of the horse, either. Let me make this clear: balance must be maintained in this matter.
We were not aware of this principle and paid little attention to it. Instead, out of pity and sympathy, we would overturn decisions and take upon ourselves the consequences of other people's negligence and failure to fulfill their responsibilities. The result of this approach—which, at one time, became quite common at Congress 60 camps and made things extremely difficult for us—was that during the camps, we ourselves would suffer serious disruptions and end up facing all kinds of problems involving those very same people and the same unresolved issues.
So, we decided to correct this approach and made every effort to put things right. As the saying in the book “Crossing the zone 60-Degree Below Zero” goes: "If you arrive late at your destination, you won't see the bus."
As people in positions of responsibility, wherever we may be, it is our duty to create the best possible conditions for others to participate in a given activity. Everything must be properly arranged: the timing must be right, information must be communicated clearly and in advance, and all the necessary conditions must be in place. This way, if someone wishes to participate in an activity, they can do so without difficulty.
This is something that must be put into practice whenever we take on a responsibility.
For example, if a movie is going to be shown at a cinema, you, as the person in charge, should open the doors half an hour or even an hour beforehand. The auditorium doors should be opened at least half an hour before the screening, allowing fifteen or twenty minutes for people to enter and take their seats.
You cannot open the doors and then close them ten seconds later, saying, "Whoever made it in those ten seconds is in, and whoever didn't, well, they should have come earlier!" That is not the right way to do things. But, on the other hand, you cannot leave the doors open for ten days, either. That is not acceptable.
So, our responsibility is to provide the proper conditions. If someone fails to act on time or neglects to do what is required despite those conditions being made available, then the consequences are their own responsibility.
For example, suppose we have announced a specific registration period and that period has now ended. If someone comes to us a month later and we still allow them to register, we are actually taking their burden upon ourselves.
And the damage this causes us is just as great as the damage it causes that person—perhaps even greater. It disrupts our entire system and undermines its efficiency.
The Holy Book of God states: "Some people carry the burden of other people's sins." This is a very interesting statement. Every person already has enough problems of their own to deal with, yet what is interesting is that sometimes people end up carrying the burdens of others as well.
When does this happen? It happens in the context of responsibility. It happens when we are put in charge of something and are expected to make decisions, but because of a lack of awareness or for personal reasons, we make the wrong decisions.
For example, I might want a particular person to come with us to a camp. I tell myself, "It would be so much fun! If that person doesn't come, we're not going to enjoy ourselves as much." So, I come up with some kind of exception, create special conditions, and find a way to accept that person so they can participate in the camp. The result is that I end up carrying their burden myself.
Over time, this creates serious disruption in a person's life because it weighs them down. It makes the mind and spirit heavy. So, these are issues we must pay very close attention to.
Under what circumstances do people take on the burdens of others when they are in positions of responsibility? When do they fall into misplaced sympathy? It happens when we begin to think that, in the position we hold, we are somehow above the law—in other words, when we consider ourselves superior to the rules.
To ensure that Congress 60 operates smoothly and continues to progress, the Watchers' Council and the Border Guards' Council each establish rules and regulations. These rules are there to help us carry out our activities and move forward more effectively and completely.
Now, suppose a rule is introduced, but a person in a position of responsibility comes to believe, deep down—and this again goes back to arrogance, which we discussed in the previous session—that "I am above the law. After all, I was the one who proposed this rule in the first place!"
A person might even think to themselves, "Nobody else knew anything about this rule. I was the one who brought it up in the meeting, and we were the ones who made it a rule."
Because I was the one who carried out this action or played a key role in establishing the rule, I may begin to develop the mistaken belief that, since I created this rule or voted in favor of its adoption, I somehow stand above it. Therefore, if the situation calls for it, I can make an exception, disregard the rule, and make my own decision.
When this kind of thinking takes hold of a person, the burdens begin to shift from one person to another. And whenever these burdens are shifted in this way, destruction and disruption follow.
The same thing happened to me. At one point, I came to understand that I am not above the law; the law is above me. I have been coming to understand this more deeply, especially recently. At first, it is a little difficult and puts some pressure on you. But later, you begin to realize just how many burdens you have been carrying—burdens that have absolutely nothing to do with you and do not belong to you—all because of one mistaken belief: that I am above the law.
Two years ago, when we were registering people for the camp, I was running around like someone who had nowhere to turn, rushing from one place to another, trying to figure out whether I should buy PVC pipes, rice, this or that, or a whole list of other things. And there were many others running around just like me.
But some of the things I have gradually learned made a difference. Today, I was sitting comfortably in front of the air conditioner, typing away and taking care of things over the phone. I said to myself, "Just look at the heavy price a person pays for ignorance! When someone lacks awareness, they have to spend all their time running around, constantly going from one place to another, exhausting themselves in the process."
Thankfully, things have improved somewhat.

Let me also make one point clear, though: this should not make us rigid in the way we deal with people. It is true that the law takes precedence, but when we are implementing it, or when we are in a position of responsibility, we must always keep this in mind. If the university had dealt with me in such a rigid way, I would have been expelled and would have had to take the entrance exam all over again. But I was in a particular situation, and they took the time to look into my circumstances. They were very strict with me, but they gave me another chance. They gave me one opportunity to put things right, and I did.
The same principle applies here. When we are carrying out our responsibilities or enforcing the rules, these things are extremely important to us. At the same time, however, we must also take people and their circumstances into account. We need to ask ourselves whether, in a particular case, the situation that has arisen was actually caused by a mistake on our part. For example, perhaps one of our camp guards, or someone we work with, passed on the information incorrectly. Maybe someone asked them to register them, or perhaps that person's form was already complete, but the person responsible failed to follow through. We cannot simply draw a red line through every case from the outset and dismiss them all. No! If we look at things properly, we may find that one or two people, according to the group's or the council's judgment, did meet the necessary requirements, or were not actually at fault. Perhaps this applies to one, two, or even five percent of the cases. We can look into their circumstances and make a decision about them in consultation with the council.
So, to sum up, if a person wants to avoid carrying the burden of the knot of responsibility and find peace, they must understand that once rules have been established, those rules stand above us. Let me give the same example once again: if a guide in Congress 60 makes a mistake, their dignity is not violated. They may be asked to step aside and the matter may be dealt with privately, but their standing as a guide is respected. The law, too, carries the authority of that position. In other words, we do not want to undermine the position itself. The dignity of a position and the authority of the law both occupy a certain level and must be fully respected.
Well, we went through all of this, and it took us years to gradually learn these things. Many of our friends already understood them and helped us learn. Some of them put these principles into practice even better than we did, and they helped us along the way. But these are general principles; we can apply them in any position of responsibility.
This year, there may be people who, because of their particular circumstances, will not be able to attend the camp. I would have really liked everyone who wanted to attend to be able to do so. In the beginning, it was very difficult. There were times when I could not sleep all night because I kept thinking, for example, about why certain people had been unable to come. But in the end, when we decided to enforce the rules governing the camp and Congress 60's programs, I came to feel that things were much better this way. At first, it was very difficult for me, too. But now I think, no, what we did was right, and it is something we need to do.
There are many countries that have made tremendous progress. If we look at a country like Germany, for example, which became world champion in this year's final, we can see that this did not happen by chance. It is not as though Germany simply got lucky this year and happened to become world champion. No! Germany is a country where, for the past hundred years, not even a single train has been late. In other words, the last time a train was delayed in Germany was a hundred years ago. Now, what does that tell us? It tells us that the law is being implemented consistently. A system that can enforce its rules in this way can also become a world champion. It has tremendous potential and strength.
We, too, should try to learn from such examples and bring ourselves closer to that standard. Perhaps we cannot make such a change all at once. Yes, if we try to make a huge leap from our current situation overnight, we will not succeed. But we can gradually put these principles into practice. We can be a little stricter this year and a little stricter the following year, allowing both ourselves and others to adapt to this approach.
Of course, I am speaking about the process of building a structure. I am not talking about the responsibilities assigned to us, where we are told to do a particular job. You cannot say, "Well, this is my first year as a Border Guard, so I'll be a little stricter this year, and if I'm selected again for the next term, I'll be even stricter." No! That is not what I mean. I am talking about establishing and developing structures.
Last night, Shani and I were talking about villages, orchards, fruit, and things like that. It is quite interesting that some agricultural products are very expensive in cities, especially in Tehran, while they are extremely cheap in rural areas. One of the main problems orchard owners face is that sometimes their produce is bought from them at such a low price that they would rather leave it on the trees. The cost of harvesting it is actually higher than what they would earn by selling it. For example, if you want to sell apricots there, buyers will offer you no more than 1,000 tomans per kilo. But in Tehran, you practically have to beg to find someone willing to sell them to you for 10,000 or 12,000 tomans. That was what we were discussing.
Then we began to understand why this happens. We noticed that there are certain products that are not affected in the same way. In other words, there is no such mafia-like market or manipulation of buying and selling when it comes to these products, whereas it does happen with others. For example, wheat and beans are not affected in this way. If you grow beans, the price you can sell them for is not much different from the price in Tehran—perhaps only 10 to 20 percent. The same applies to chickpeas. But apples, grapes, and apricots are a different story. Why is that?
The reason is that some products have a long shelf life. When you harvest wheat, for example, you can put it away somewhere. It will not spoil or become moldy. You can sell it two or three months later. The same is true of chickpeas and beans. But apricots are different. If you harvest them today, by tomorrow they may no longer be any good, and by the day after that, you may have to throw them away. You either have to dry them or discard them.
When a product is not affected by time—in other words, when it can be preserved and stored—it is much harder for the mafia to gain control of its market. But with products that spoil quickly, the situation is different. Let me give you an example. Suppose I am a middleman and I want to buy some produce. I ask, "How much are the apricots?" The seller says, "3,000 tomans." I reply, "I'll pay you no more than 1,000." He says, "Then I won't sell." I say, "Fine, don't sell! By tomorrow or the day after, you'll have to throw them away anyway!"
But what about wheat? The seller says, "1,000 tomans per kilo." I say, "I'll pay you no more than 500." He replies, "If you don't want to buy it, that's fine. I'll store it and sell it to someone else next week."
So, there is a principle at work here when it comes to fruit and agricultural products: if something can be preserved and stored, negative forces—those same middlemen who buy something for 1,000 tomans and sell it for 10,000—cannot easily interfere with its market. That is not Islamic trade; it is unfair and improper trade.
This example taught us something important: destructive and obstructive forces can interfere and take control of something when it has no lasting value or cannot withstand the passage of time. If something cannot be preserved or stored, negative forces can take control of it and turn it into a commodity or a tool that they can use for their own purposes.
Now, if we look at this same issue in other areas of life, we will see that the principle still applies. In the previous session, I said that acquiring something is important, but preserving and maintaining it is several times more important. Just as it matters that you plant an apricot tree, watch it sprout, and see it grow, it is equally important to take care of it and preserve it. If we only complete the first part and neglect the second, then when the apricots finally grow, they will spoil within two days. If we fail to take care of them, we are effectively leaving them at the mercy of destructive forces.
So, in the activities and work we undertake, acquisition is important, but preservation and maintenance are even more important. The reason is that if we fail to maintain what we have gained, it will certainly fall into the hands of destructive and obstructive forces. For example, how important is it to establish a Legion? We take numerous exams and work very hard to become a guide and receive permission to form a Legion. This is like planting and growing an apricot tree. But if we cannot preserve it, continue running the Legion properly, and take good care of it, then instead of producing healthy, well-trained pupils, our Legion will undoubtedly produce a group of selfish people who are in a poor state, pursue only their own desires, and are of little use.
Therefore, in every aspect of life, just as we are willing to pay a price to acquire something, we must devote even more energy and effort to preserving and maintaining it. If we put the necessary effort into maintaining what we have built, it will no longer become prey to evil, negative, and destructive forces.
To create a structure that can sustain and preserve what has been established, that structure must be built on a sound foundation and designed with care. We must always think things through as we build it. Once we establish a structure—for example, now that we have our Legion and a group of pupils—we must think about it every day if we want to preserve it. We must stay involved and keep it moving forward. We cannot simply feel that everything is taken care of and say to ourselves, "Well, I've established the Legion. I'll hand it over to one of my good pupils, and it won't matter much if I don't check on it for a week, three weeks, or even four weeks." That would be just like handing the apricots over to a wholesaler, who then sells them for 12,000 tomans per kilo, while the farmers themselves are gradually driven out of business.
So, we must remember to think carefully and maintain consistent, ongoing action in carrying out our responsibilities. If we fail to do this—if we stop moving forward, thinking things through, and planning our work—then negative forces will certainly take what we have worked so hard to produce. They will take away the very thing we have struggled to gain. Think of the precious gem we had lost through addiction and then regained through a difficult journey. We rebuilt our families and regained so many valuable things after years of effort. We endured so much fear, sorrow, and heartache to get where we are today. But if we fail to maintain what we have gained, those forces are certainly making their own plans. Little by little, they will take that precious gem away from us. And one day, we may suddenly realize that something we devoted years of our lives to and worked so hard for has fallen into the hands of negative forces, and they are now using it for their own purposes. This is an extremely important point.
We can say, then, that everything good we have in life—our jobs, our families, our education, and everything else—requires us to invest a little time, effort, and thought in it every day so that it can be preserved and maintained. If we simply assume that everything is fine and leave it all to fate, negative forces will undoubtedly take it away from us. They are always lying in wait, ready to do just that.
Of course, let me make one thing clear: this does not mean that we should live in a constant state of stress. Once a person reaches a certain level—for example, in matters of responsibility and the knot of responsibility, when they no longer carry other people's burdens—taking care of these things in life is no longer difficult or painful. We do not do these things through suffering. We simply do them, enjoy doing them, and even gain energy from them.
There is a saying about this: "Lift the burdens off the shoulders of your work so that your work can bear fruit." If a person wants their efforts to bear fruit, they must remove the unnecessary burdens weighing down their work. Sometimes, the work itself gives us energy. But at other times, we pile so many extra burdens onto it that we can barely move forward. It is as though we have one task to do and then load ten donkey-loads onto its back, making it extremely difficult to carry out. If we separate those extra burdens from the actual work, we can carry out our tasks and responsibilities with pleasure and energy.
I hope we can all develop the skill of doing this, so that we can reduce the unnecessary suffering we put ourselves through. Unnecessary suffering comes from carrying unnecessary burdens.
Thank you all for listening to me.

Translated by: Marjan
11/10/2026