Introductory Lecture “Kabbalah For The Nation” – 08.15.10

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Kabbalah for the Nation”
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The Revelation Of The Breaking

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Who are people with a broken heart?

Answer: The heart is all of a person’s desires. When a person discovers that all these desires are for the sake of self-gratification, he sees that they are broken.

What is the breaking? Once upon a time, initially, they were connected by the force of bestowal, the force of connection among them. This happened naturally due to the Light or awakening from Above since that is what the Creator created.

Then the Creator concealed Himself and the Light disappeared. For this reason the connection among them disappeared. The revelation of a lack of connection among us is called breaking. All of this is talking about the creatures.

The absence of the revelation of the Creator or the quality of bestowal caused disunity. This disunity may be felt the way we now feel: “It’s not so bad. Everything’s OK. I just wish others would stop bothering me, and I also won’t harm anyone.” This is called the revelation of the breaking.

Besides this, there is a state where we feel that we are in the state of breaking and there is no connection or unity among us. This can also involve varying degrees of the realization of evil: Without a connection among us, I will not attain a good material life; or through the absence of connection among us, I bring about natural disasters; or due to the absence of this connection, I do not attain the Creator, spirituality.

In other words, it is possible for a revelation to happen above the exile (meaning the lack of connection among us), or it is possible for a revelation to happen from below, which is what humanity is now gradually attaining.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/10, The Zohar

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The Fast Road To The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanLight comes to us from Above and awakens specific parts of the common soul in order to advance them according to its program. This program is very complex and assumes that the souls will awaken in a specific order and combination among them like parts of one body. This is invisible to the eye, but according to the inner structure of the soul they are all connected with each other. The Light connects them together so they will perform the mutual work of searching for the quality of bestowal.

These are people who are complete strangers, very different from one another, and have completely contrasting material qualities. Yet, we have to believe that this is all arranged from Above. We have to leave behind everything that prevents us from uniting and search for a means that can help us accomplish this. The search will enable us to understand that the only basis for unification is bestowal, which is above reception. Nothing but this can unite people.

This path is very inconsistent, as if we are traveling across a very uneven road and our car is constantly thrown up and down by all the potholes and bumps. Yet, despite everything it has to keep going and advancing forward. The more we advance, the greater is the frequency of bumps and the more sensitive we are to them. In other words, the changes taking place in us are more drastic and significant. The truth is that they were the same before, but we did not notice or feel them very much.

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It is impossible to advance down this road unless you even it out. Then our car will roll along quickly and easily! The only way we can smooth out every pit and bump on this path is to have a common opinion in the group and unity among us. This is the only thing that will fill in all the pits and unite us together, making our path smooth and even.

There is no possibility to advance spirituality without evening out the road. The disturbances and problems that arise before a person who desires to advance individually, or worse yet, a group of individualists, are so great that it is impossible to overcome them. The car will inevitably get stuck and it will be impossible to get it out. A person will remain in the same place; his life will be over, and he still won’t complete the path or attain the goal.

Therefore, our work must be aimed at unity. Then we will reveal that we can attain all the results precisely through unity! Our spiritual advancement on this path depends only on this. All the efforts and revelations happen only in one direction inside this connection that unites us all.

Everything depends on how much a person values the connection among the friends above all the problems that become revealed, and he understands just one thing: “There is none else besides Him.” All the disturbances come from the Creator. He gives rise to these inner pits and bumps inside us, confusing us in a thousand different ways. We have to imagine that all the problems come from Him and their only purpose is for us to unite.

Therein lies the secret to success! This is the basis upon which everything begins and all the rest is built.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/10, “Concerning the Importance of Friends”

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Opening The Channel To The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn order to attain The Zohar a person needs to open the channel that leads to the heart. And the tendency to understand it with the mind is given in order for us to resist this and wish for The Zohar to be revealed in the heart. Otherwise it will not work.

It is necessary to make an “opening in the heart” so that the text of The Book of Zohar is felt in inner attainments, in the desire, rather than just in the external mind where one connects words to each other. After all, the external picture which one imagines in the mind, remembering the meaning of words and building logical connections between them, does not allow him to constantly aspire to feel The Zohar.

Such an approach is doomed to fail. A person receives satisfaction from the fact that he seemingly connected a few things in his mind, and the problem is solved for him. He has no regret or desire left to feel and attain. He learns the external (comprehensible to him) definitions from the Book and builds a “Lego” out of them by connecting them to each other.

However, only under the condition that a person already feels what is written in The Zohar and wishes to connect the sensations, can he look at the words of the text and connect the sensations according to these words. If there are no sensations, it’s better not to activate the mind and just to wait for “the wonderful force” (Segula) that is contained in The Book of Zohar to affect you.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, The Zohar

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A Guide To The Book Of Zohar: From Darkness To The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanExcerpts from my upcoming book, A Guide to The Book of Zohar

Darkness sensed within the desire to receive pleasure can be transformed into the Light provided that the direction of the desire is altered from “for my own sake” to “bestowal to my neighbor.” It means that one has to use his desire to enjoy in order to start bestowing to his neighbor and thus feel pleasure from giving. Only at this point does a person become unlimited in his actions since only bestowal knows no boundaries.

If I get pleased in the same way as the Creator does (from giving), I thereby become similar to Him and sense eternal and perfect life filled with love and bestowal. What do I lack in order to acquire this new type of fulfillment? I need to love my neighbor and find the fulfillment he needs. I can obtain “love of neighbor” from the Creator with the help of the Light that Reforms. I receive the Light of abundance from Him in order to fulfill my neighbor.

Thus, I become the Creator’s partner in everything that exists; I become similar to Him. This is how correction of the intention used by the desire to enjoy works.

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Want A Million Dollars? Here You Go!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I am an ordinary person and just want to live in peace. I get life’s blows from time to time but never think about the purpose of life. I see people studying Kabbalah and it does them good. But I just want to live in peace. Do I have to study Kabbalah too?

Answer: Yes, you do. It’s because the wisdom of Kabbalah will tell you how to attain a peaceful life. You don’t have to seek the Creator, the future world, or the spiritual worlds. But someone who does seek those will receive them. If you wish solely for comfort, you will have it.

Since the wisdom of Kabbalah leads a person to harmony with all, everyone will receive what they wish from such a state. It is called “Man” (manna) that “sustains in the desert” (the empty will to receive), and everyone obtains the desired taste in it.

You desire a peaceful life? Here you go! If you wish it the other way around, a life full of adventures, you will get it as well!

Question cont.: What if I want a million dollars?

Answer: A million dollars is a sensation of pleasure, not the amount of “green” paper bills. You will receive pleasure equal to that of having a million dollars for it merely measures to what degree we are filled.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, A Lesson On Current Events

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Kabbalists On The Essence Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah, Part 23

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah Incorporates All Sciences of the World

Where the knowledge of investigators [investigation of the universe via egoistic qualities, the means of our world] end, the science of Kabbalah [investigation of the universe via the investigator’s acquisition of spiritual qualities of love and bestowal toward others] begins.
– Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Sichot Moaran, pg. 225

The inner wisdom void of distortion [of the picture of reality perceived by our ego], the heights [depth of attainment] of which are immeasurably higher than all the other wisdoms [which are based on investigating the universe via man’s egoistic qualities], this true wisdom [for it offers us an undistorted picture of the world] is the wisdom of Kabbalah.
– Rav Shimon Bar Tzemach Duran (RASHBATZ), The Book of TASHBETZ, Part 2, Item 52

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A Spiritual Ambulance

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Men have a group that supports them in any state. But what should a woman do when she experiences a “descent“? Where can she get the energy to withstand the growth of egoism which caused her spiritual descent, making her feel indifferent, sad, and lacking the greatness of the goal or of “bestowal”?

Answer: People have been asking me this question for many years and at every women’s lesson. But now there is a practical and effective answer to it: our spiritual stimulator which we are all building together.

Women have to participate in it just like men because all our desires come together into a general desire or Kli. Its size will determine our right to reveal the Light of the Creator.

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What Is Gematria?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is Gematria in spirituality?

Answer: Gematria is a specific inner state of a person or of his soul, comprised of desire (a vessel, Kli) and Light, fulfillment. The sum of all sensations, impressions, states, memories, and intentions, the general state of the soul expressed in the form of letters or a sequence of letters, is called Gematria. It is a way of writing down a specific state of the soul.

Suppose I could play a melody or sing a song that expresses my state. This is Gematria. I can draw a letter or symbol; this will also be Gematria. I can convey my sensation or my state by recording it. It is similar to Reshimo, a record of information about a state.

In spirituality there is nothing besides the state of the Light and desire (Kli), that state of equivalence between the Light and desire with the help of a screen or intention. Everything else are means or ways to express this state.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/15/10, The Zohar

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