The Great Sculptor’s Living Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VaYigash (Then Judah Approached),” Item 129:  When the firmaments and the animals, meaning the Nukva, are corrected so that everything is one Merkava for this man, ZA, it is written, “And Joseph prepared his Merkava [chariot/structure], and went up to meet Israel, his father, to Goshen.” This is a Tzadik [righteous], Yesod de ZA, called “the righteous Joseph,” who tied and united his Merkava, the Nukva, with the firmaments and the animals.

Here The Zohar speaks about the desire created by the Creator, which begins to resemble Him, His actions. The Creator is the source that shows the desire to enjoy (that He created) His actions upon it. The Creator influences the desire to enjoy in a variety of ways, and, by perceiving these forms, the desire starts developing from them.

The desire perceives the Creator’s actions in six different directions (four directions of the world and up-down) as well as through a variety of colors, tastes, smells, temperatures, and so on. In essence, the Light emanating from the Creator affects the desire to enjoy and it receives certain impressions.

In accordance with the sensations experienced, the desire ascribes different names to these impressions and defines them by various forms. These phenomena do not exist outside of the desire to enjoy since we are unable to perceive anything outside of our desire. For example, we can say that there is simple Surrounding Light; however, we can only talk about certain phenomena when they’re already within the desire, when the desire already senses them in one way or another.

The Zohar explains the structure of the systems, that is, it clarifies how the desire to enjoy is impressed by the Light and how this determines the desire’s structure. Each time the desire receives an impression from the Light, it acquires a specific shape, which is how the Light leaves various imprints on it. The desire to enjoy is like a living sculpture with a myriad of internal and external forms and systems.

That is why the creature represents an extremely complex system that originates from the influence of the Light upon it. The direct influence of the Creator on the creature means that the creature goes through all His actions and acquires forms in accordance with the system “from Above to below,” that is, directly from the Creator.

There is also an opposite action when the creature says: “Stop! From here on I will operate the system on my own. I want to be similar to You. It’s enough. I’ve already received all the impressions and Reshimot, and now I want to work independently. I want to operate the system that You imprinted in me, in the way You do it. I want to become as giving as You are. I want to bestow to You!”  This is called “work from below to Above.”

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/9/10

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To Believe Means To Feel

Laitman_024A question I received: What is “faith” before crossing the Machsom (barrier to the spiritual world)?

My Answer: Before a person crosses the Machsom and enters spirituality, he has no faith. The concept of faith in Kabbalah is totally different from what is customarily referred to in ordinary life. In Kabbalah, all of these concepts are defined at a completely different level.

Faith is sensing the Creator. If I sense the Creator, I believe in Him. Note how different it is from what I thought before. In our regular lives faith is something that we don’t see or know, but believe in as though it actually exists in reality.

Kabbalah says that this is not faith, but merely a fantasy. Kabbalah relies exclusively on realistic, true inner sensations: To the extent I feel the Creator, I receive the strength to work against my ego. One force against the other; positive against negative. This is what we call “faith above reason,” that is, faith above egoism and the sensations within it. I rise above all this because I am able to use the Upper reason and sensations. Yet if I don’t have them, how can I work? Based on stories told by someone else?

This is not what we call faith. It’s a game people play in this world because they don’t know of a better way to reassure themselves. To attain faith, we have to reach revelation. The wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, and this is called “faith.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/10, Shamati #50

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Unity Is A New Reality

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: What is unity? Is it an internal sensation or the revelation of some force?

My Answer: Unity is a new reality that we have no idea about. It is a new matter that we haven’t sensed before and that has the properties of the spiritual world: the properties of bestowal. When we become included in this matter and live in it, we start revealing a different, new dimension as if finding ourselves on a different planet. We reveal this dimension within the properties of this matter: in bestowal.

Thus, unity doesn’t simply mean mutual connection, good relations, or confidence. It is revelation of the new property which doesn’t exist in our world. When we obtain this property and become similar to the Creator, we reveal everything in our mind and feelings, in unity with Him.

There is nothing else for us to do except to reach unity. It is within our power to do so. With regard to this it is written, “We shall do and we shall hear.” This means that we can perform various actions, put forth our effort, and do everything in our power. We can study together and unite as the Kabbalists recommend and as RABASH writes in his articles.

However, we won’t succeed in this. We have to reach the state described as “And they screamed from this work.” It’s an internal scream that we have to unite but are incapable of doing so. Only with this state of this internal scream will it happen. It must be a true prayer, a true cry.

We have already built the entire foundation. Now we only have to reach the property of unity. The new matter which will become revealed as the connection with others is the spiritual matter. It is already to some extent a spiritual vessel which existed before the breaking. At the instant that we reveal it, that we reveal the spiritual existence, the Creator will be revealed.

Therefore, throughout the day, each of us and all of us together have to try, as much as possible, to care only about this.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/10, The Zohar

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