Finding The Creator Within

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Are we building the Creator’s image within ourselves, or does the Creator Himself form His image in us?

Answer: We need to find the Creator’s image within ourselves every time. Baal HaSulam gives an example of a servant chosen as the head of the King’s ministers. To reach the desired, he had to fight his cruel opponents twice (even though they were faking), in order to first reach the property or degree of “bestowal for the sake of bestowal” and then the degree of “receiving for the sake of bestowal.”

Without a fight within, it is impossible to see and attain all the forces and properties, to absorb them into ourselves, and understand what it means to be a “minister,” that is, to be similar to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Matter of Mercy”

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Kabbalah Moments: Arvut

What To Do In Order To Hear

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Sages said, “We shall do, and we shall hear.” What do we need to do?

Answer: I need to make efforts to come together and take care of everyone because everyone takes care of me. Even egoistically, as much as possible, we must connect with each other. This has to be the major condition: “Are you willing to do everything you can?” We don’t know what we have the capacity for, but we will try to do it. After all, we are not being asked to do anything beyond our capacity.

However, this “shall do” that is expected of us is truly the most serious and difficult act that we are capable of performing. Although in reality, we are incapable of almost anything. Yet, these efforts are enough to start attracting upon us the Light hidden in the system within us. If we strive for this system as little children yearn to become adults, then it is enough to awaken the force residing in the corrected system, the force called “the Light.” As a result, it will act upon us and bring us closer to the state of the corrected system.

This is a very basic form of development which exists in our world as well, in everything. If a person aspires to something, he attracts to himself the state he is yearning for. It effects the person and approximates him to itself, and he suddenly becomes more intelligent, understands and feels more.

It is written, “There is none wiser than he who is experienced” since a person gains wisdom from experience. However, what is so special about experience? The person tried to do something: “We shall do.” Just like a child, he acted according to the same natural method of development.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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News From The Frankfurt Book Fair

Our representatives took part in the Frankfurt Book Fair 2010. This is our 6th fair. Laitman Kabbalah Publishers is becoming well-known, and the relationships that we have developed are starting to bear fruit.

Kabbalists About The Concealed Torah And The Revealed Torah, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Attainment of the Torah Begins with “Sod” (Secret) and Ends with “Peshat” (Literal)

Who would dare extract it from the heart of the masses and scrutinize their ways, when their attainment is incomplete in both parts of the Torah called Peshat (literal) and Drush (interpretation)? In their view, the order of the four parts of the Torah (PARDESS) begins with the Peshat, then the Drush, then Remez (insinuated), and in the end the Sod (Secret) is understood. [This the opinion of the ignorant people about the attainment of the Torah.]

However, it is written in the Vilna Gaon prayer book that the attainment begins [specifically] with the Sod [when everything said in the Torah seems to a person a secret]. After the Sod part of the Torah is attained it is possible to attain the Drush part, and then the Remez part. [Only] when one is granted complete knowledge of these three parts of the Torah, one is awarded the attainment of the Peshat part of the Torah.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 1
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The Creator’s Family

Dr. Michael Laitman with StudentsQuestion: If I walk in faith above reason, does it mean that I am moved by the mind of the group?

Answer: There is no group outside of me. The group is “painted” within me like all the other realities. The notion of the group should be understood as something given from Above. In this way, the Creator is letting me see the friends so that by arranging my relationships with them, I would be able to construct my relationship with Him.

First of all, I yearn for the Creator. But He seems to be placing a condition before me: “Do you want to find a connection with me? Then please be pleasant and close to those who are close to Me. These people, the group I brought you to, are my family. Do you want to do something nice for Me? I will accept nothing from you, but watch how you treat them, what presents you give them, and how kind you are to them. Demonstrate your love to My family, and then you will become close and dear to Me.”

From this, it becomes clear whether you truly desire unconditional closeness with the Creator or act based on egoistic calculations. If you treat the friends well regardless of how you view them and become close with them, then you wish to be close with the Creator indeed. However, if you are unable to be close with them, then it is an egoistic motive which pushes you toward the Creator, and since it is not good for the Creator, you remain outside.

This is how we should view the entire world. The Creator offers us reality as a means to assist our correction and bring us into total equivalence with Him.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, “The Matter of Above Reason”

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Envy In The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we use envy in the group correctly?

Answer: Envy and ambition are very powerful tools. Envy magnifies descent and ascent. The greater it is, the better or worse the friends look in my eyes. As a result, this “amplifier” helps me to advance since without envy, I won’t see anything good in the friends.

In that case, on what side does envy play? Is it for egoism or against it? It depends on how I use it. It is in my power to assign it a vector that will seek the needed qualities. If I exalt the friends in my eyes to the level of the final correction, then I envy them to the same degree. In this case, the envy drives me forth, after them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, “The Matter of Above Reason”

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Rising Above All Of Your Possessions

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the entire diversity of my perception I have to discern only the most important element: unity. I check myself regarding my friends in the group only to the extent that I see in them the benefit or harm to our unity. So far, I do not take anything else into consideration. I evaluate my friends “within reason” and “above reason.”

This means that I do not cancel my logic; instead, I use it to view myself through the prism of my own opinion (desire, vessels) and see how high I need to raise the group in my own eyes in order to give my friends a positive assessment. However, I know that my logic is egoistic, and it always registers my friends as “debtors.” This is why I rise above it to view my friends as “absolutely righteous.”

Is it true or is it false? There is no true or false; everything depends on my judgment. When I use my logic to judge, then naturally, there is nobody righteous in the world, but myself. I only justify myself and those who are dear to me. However, when I go above reason, I feel that all my friends are righteous, that they have attained the final correction, and I am the only sinner among them.

What does this game give me? After all, neither of the options is true, both are conventional. However, this game gives me the opportunity to constantly be in two states: above reason and within reason (above egoism and in egoism). So I practice until I gain experience and start desiring to reach the true assessment. Then, I will be ready to see the truth.

The more effort I put into it, the quicker my desires (opinions) become prepared by this process for the spiritual world. I will not be perceiving it above reason. On the contrary, I will acquire it in my new Kelim, within reason. Then, time after time, I will keep going above previously acquired reason. After all, every consequent degree is greater than the previous one according to its strength of bestowal and for this reason, it is opposite to the previous degree.

Man always needs to rise above his possessions. It would seem like everything is well and right, there are delicious treats on the table, and life is such a blessing. But not this time. I need to despise this blessing in order to rise to a higher degree of bestowal, which I see as darkness. Every time, I go above reason, above the current facts, and I acquire the property of Bina which is always opposite to them.

Bina rules over Malchut on the new degree, but then, in the Upper Light, I see how power goes over to Malchut. So, I prepare myself for the next degree, and the process repeats itself.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, “The Matter of Above Reason”

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We Lack A Drop Of Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: At the Kabbalah Convention 2009 we were able to reach a special sensation that you referred to as a “drop of unity.” What did we attain then and how can we complete it at the big, upcoming convention?

Answer: At the Convention last year we felt that there was a special point in the unity between us, which did not depend on us and was above everyone. And if we were to connect between us, we would be able to depend on it, strive toward it, unite around it, and be protected by it. This “drop of unity” is a high force created by the connection between us, which protects us from all ills.

But this is not enough. In this drop, we connect our spiritual sparks into one spark. If we were to connect our desires to bestow, the mutual guarantee, to this common spark, we would begin to reveal the connection between the sparks that are glued together; that is, we would start to discover the system of connection of our souls. Every connection between the sparks is a relationship of mutual hatred and love above it.

In the first case, we connect our sparks (the points in the heart) into one big spark, and then we attain what a high state this is, meaning a state that exists by itself, a certain reality outside of us. We have created something new that was produced through the connection between us.

However, if you were to add a little bit of desire to it, then not just all these points in the heart connect into this spark, but also all the egos between them become revealed, meaning the entire hatred, and love above it. In other words, a net of connections between us becomes revealed, and we can perceive spirituality, the Creator, in this connection.

This means that you sign the mutual guarantee on the basis of the revelation of your desires, meaning that besides the point in the heart, there is the revelation of evil in them and the consent to be above it. After all, this net is built with our desires which we renounce by connecting above them and replacing hatred with love.

How will I be able to connect with others otherwise? It is not enough to simply connect into one spark; this is not a real connection because we have left the entire ego below. Meanwhile, I must rise above it, above Mount Sinai (the mount of hatred).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Perfect Attainment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we perceive the Creator: like other people outside of us or differently somehow?

Answer: The difference between perceiving the Creator and perceiving other people can be likened to perceiving the general and the particular. Due to truly beginning to feel people, I reach the perception of the general which includes everything and is called the Creator.

However, there is a difference between the particular and the general. After all, the general is the root, the initial cause of everything. It is not just a few people or many together, individuals or the entire totality. The general implies attainment of the root of creation. This is a qualitative addition.

The difference is not in drinking from a hundred separate glasses or from one big glass with all one hundred portions poured together. I attain the cause of creation, the process that includes everything and its goal. The root encompasses everything, and other people cannot provide such attainment, only the Creator can.

The goal of the Creator is to bring us precisely to this point! And prior to it, our state is still imperfect.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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