The Smallest Fluctuations In Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Reading The Book of Zohar with the right intention turns into the “potion of life.” What does “the potion of death” mean while reading The Zohar?

Answer: The Zohar can work like the “potion of life” or the “potion of death,” and using the Light of the Torah can be good or bad. All that adds strength to our nature can turn out to be useful or harmful, meaning to turn it into the “potion of life” or into the “potion of death.” This is the reason why we always refer to intention (rather than action) as the most vital thing.

We don’t even realize the extent to which we all live in the world of intentions. Sometimes I am repulsed by something, but my attitude changes dramatically when I begin to understand that it was done with a good intention. Has anything changed? Only my perception of the intention that lies behind the action.

Thus, the only difference lies in intention: What exactly do I anticipate from an action? The difference is in using the Light as the “potion of life” or as the “potion of death.” It’s the different between two worlds.

Our advancement happens only within intention to the degree of our ability to share, differentiate, and sense it in order to feel the tiniest fluctuations of our personal intention rather than the intention of our environment.
[22188]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, The Zohar

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Questions About Punishment And Pride

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There seems to be a paradox: It is written that “There is none else besides Him,” which means that the Creator is the source of everything. But then how do I treat a person who is trying to hurt me?

Answer: It is also written: “The Creator sends you good through good people and punishes you through the bad.” Hence, those who commit evil acts should be punished not because they have done something bad but because they have deserved to become the conduit through which the Creator has channeled evil into our world. It turns out that punishment is not really punishment, but the correction of the person and the world.

Question: In one of the interviews you told  a journalist that you didn’t consider yourself a professor and are indifferent to what others say about you. Why did you do so? Ultimately, it casts a shadow on Kabbalah circulation.

Answer: Criticism is very healthy because it is a preventive remedy against pride. It is also written: “The Creator pressures a person whom He favors.” Moreover, He sends wreckers and accusers against that person in order to help him defeat his pride and egoism. Besides, as in the actions against Klipot such as “Maim Achronim,” “Seir le Azazel,” and others, there is an obligation to throw the “bones to the dogs.” True dissemination will benefit from it even more.
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The Sum Of All Feelings

Dr. Michael LaitmanI think I feel something, but in reality I don’t have any individual feelings. Each feeling is a sum of the feelings of all souls, all of Infinity. This is called the spiritual vessel.

The spiritual vessel does not belong to me personally; it is what we reveal between us. As to what I discover within myself, it is regarded as the animate degree, and Kabbalah doesn’t talk about it. Each of us is an animal. But the way we connect with each other is exactly what is called spiritual connection. In spirituality, only the connection between us is what counts.

This connection is broken; nonetheless, it belongs in spirituality. This is why we are able to arrange a comfortable animate life for ourselves though it has nothing to do with spirituality. Spirituality starts with the discernment of our mutual connection.

It’s not just any connection, but the one that is aimed at the revelation of the Creator. I desire to know the Creator. Therefore, I discern that I need other people since from love of others we arrive at love of the Creator. This is the sole reason why the Creator broke our souls.
[21978]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, “600,000 Souls”

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125 Steps From Me To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In our world, people unite in order to succeed in some type of deal. How do we unite our souls?

Answer: In order to succeed in spirituality, I need to connect with the people who wish to achieve the same condition and goal. And together, we have to discern that without such a special connection between us, we won’t envision this goal. As a matter of fact, it will suddenly disappear from between us!

It isn’t somewhere “up there” as it has to be between us. Yet, due to the fact that we don’t cleave tightly together but rather walk away, this goal falls into an abyss that separates us. Indeed, the hate that divides us is infinite and unfathomable. It turns out that there are you and me, and we are separated by an abyss of infinite depth, at the bottom of which lies the spiritual goal, unification. And there is nothing we can do!

We wish to unite with you and cannot as we keep uncovering this gap, so we strive to build a bridge above it every time. Thus, we construct bridge after bridge until we cover the entire, bottomless depth. In this way we get 125 degrees of revelation of hate which is revealed because each time we uncover love over hate.

Hate is determined by the depth of both our desires, and above it, we connect by way of the screen, the Returning Light, while we are building the vessel (Kli) that belongs to us both now. The screen is the connection between us, and hate is its internal desire.

Hence, the greater the amount of Returning Light that ascends thanks to our connection, the more Upper Light we receive and experience pleasure. And by feeling this pleasure, we delight each other! Everyone is delighted by the fact that the other is feeling pleased. Otherwise, there is nothing else we can give for we bestow to each other our own individual pleasure.

As a matter of fact, all of us are created as receivers, so we can only receive. We can bestow solely in intention. And what else can I possibly give to someone other than my intention?
[21980]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/10, “600,000 Souls”

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The Essence Of Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the entire Torah (Kabbalah) talks only about love for others, then why should we correct ourselves? Isn’t it enough to simply have a good attitude toward each other? Why do we have to worry about anything else?

Answer: We exist at the lowest, animate level; we simply live and die (“animal” means a “living, animate” creature). Our task, however, is to ascend to the level of man, to become “similar” to the Creator.

But how do I ascend 125 spiritual degrees to reach this state? To this end, there is a special hidden force: the Torah, the Light. If it affects us, we evolve and ascend from the animate level that we currently perceive as hate for others to the human degree of love for others, which is equivalent to love for the Creator.

The initial (1st) and the final (125th) spiritual states have already been established; I am clear about what I am at this moment and what I must become. Hence, there is no point in thinking about the conditions that are given to me at this moment or about my nature. Nothing is up to me, and all of it has already been recorded within the root of my soul. I must simply concentrate on how to advance and correct myself.

I need to focus less on the states themselves, whether it’s scolding myself or feeling good, since an instant is more than enough for this after which I have to immediately aspire upward. We cannot correct ourselves with “polite behavior” or “good manners.” Even at the smallest degree, we correct ourselves only with “love” since otherwise, it’s not a correction regarded as “commandment.”

Hence, it is said that the main rule of the Torah and all its commandments is love, and each correction to any part of the will to receive is a small attainment of this love. There is nothing but love and hate: the broken desire to receive selfishly and the corrected one to bestow.
[22065]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/27/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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