It’s Not Easy Being God

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The plan of creation is awfully sublime, and here I am – just a small, simple man. How could it be that my thoughts matter?

Answer: You simply don’t know who you are; that’s why you think you are small and unable to influence everyone. If you start ascending up the spiritual ladder, you will discover that you personally have the opportunity to be responsible for the entire plan of creation instead of the Creator, and you can relate to all of creation as if you were Him.

There are seven billion people, a countless number of stars and objects in the universe, the entire vegetative and animate world, and one Creator! Do you want to replace Him and treat everything the way He does? Go ahead! If you are ready to replace him, you have the opportunity. This is called unifying with Him, becoming equal to him. This is called becoming human.

That is why we say that the Creator treats the creatures kindly and lovingly, and if I want to replace Him or become His partner, I have to treat the creatures the same way He does. There is a law: Love your neighbor as yourself. If I treat my neighbor with love, that means I equate myself to the Creator and am in adhesion with Him. Then I carry out the action that He carries out in relation to others.

From the lesson on 10/21/10, “The Power of Thought”

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Spiritual Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe study Kabbalistic texts about the Upper World, the concealed part of reality. The Kabbalists describe this reality, this world, in a poetic form, and we don’t understand what they say. They seem to take the words from this world to tell us about the Upper World. Why is this so?

It is because the Upper World is the world of forces that descend into our world and perform actions in it. All events that take place in our world we already see as deriving from the forces that trigger them. We don’t perceive the forces, don’t know or feel where they come from. We see only the effects of their action: our world and ourselves.

We are given an opportunity to read and hear about the Upper Forces, how they descend and bring this world into motion. Kabbalists describe this to us so that on our way back to the source, we can rise from the actions that these forces perform here in our world to their roots. If we read the books written by the Kabbalists with this intention, then these texts affect us, and, gradually to the extent of our efforts, we start approaching them more closely, like a child with the help of the game that gradually helps him to develop and grow.

But there is one more condition: The forces that we wish to ascend to are not ordinary, as in our world. The Upper Forces are opposite to us; they are the forces of bestowal. And we are the receiving matter, the desire to feel pleasure, that is affected by them.

In order to attain the nature of bestowal from the receiving one, we have to organize ourselves in a group prior to opening The Book of Zohar, and, while reading in the group, try to keep thinking about our unity since this is the nature of the very same Upper Forces that are affecting us. Then, they will be affecting us not only through their governing action as they do in relation to all humanity and the world, but also with their property of bestowal.

Everything occurs in accordance with our desire. If we wish to not only be affected by the Upper Forces but to also become as they are and attain the property of bestowal, then gradually we’ll change and become part of these forces as bestowing as they are.

This means that we gradually ascend from this world to the level of the Upper Forces. Clearly, we don’t ascend and descend physically, but we start being organized within, realizing and agreeing with that very force of bestowal which affects us more and more; we identify with it.

This force fills me ever more, and I act accordingly. This is regarded as “spiritual ascent” that takes place under the condition that I am in the group and wish, as all the others do, to feel how this force of bestowal fills us.

Let’s think about this while we read The Zohar, and we will succeed!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/10, The Zohar

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Bringing Everyone To The Level Of Moses

Dr. Michael LaitmanMan must rise to the level of the Creator. We received the method of ascent from the Kabbalists, those who revealed it. Beginning with Adam, man began to reveal that the purpose of his life and creation’s existence is to reveal the Creator. It is required of every person and all of humanity.

All of us only go through this process; everything advances from the beginning of creation towards its end, the corrected state. And if we judge everything that happens by the purpose of creation, then we are able to see the truth and justify everything.

But if we do not consider the beginning, the end, and the process of the development of creation as absolutely necessary in all of its details, in order to go from the beginning to its completion, then we err. We reach bitter conclusions about our purpose in life and the world. Because the entire process of development is already included in nature, we will benefit to the extent we study and apply it.

Every person is created for a single purpose: to become like the Creator by reaching the degree of Moses. For this reason we need to accept everything that happens to us in the world and in our private lives as necessary for lifting us to the degree of Moses, meaning the revelation of the Creator in its clear form, “face to face,” the complete correction of man’s properties to those of the Creator.

Since the Creator does not change, man must. This is why the entire process that we go through is not external, but rather, it happens exclusively in our properties in order to make them similar to those of the Creator. For this reason, it is necessary for us to study this process, ourselves, our spiritual anatomy (the properties that we consist of), the spiritual physiology (how we operate), spiritual healing (what needs to change in us) and to concentrate specifically on what we need to change, in what order and in what direction.

Through the changes in us we will come to understand the nature of the human society and the history of mankind. Then we will see the reasons of these changes, their purpose, the direction they take, the connection between them, and how they help every person and all of humanity to attain the ultimate goal.

The study of the system of nature, humanity’s direction toward the goal, and the way it needs to progress is the source of our well-being. All the evil that happens to us comes from insufficient understanding of the process that we go through. But once we understand the process, we perceive it as good!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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The Best Conditions For Attaining Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If, while reading The Zohar, I ask for better corporeal conditions so that they would help me attain the attribute of bestowal, does that mean I disapprove of the actions of the Creator?

Answer: You need to understand that everything that comes to us now (or at any other moment) comes from Above. I should not react to these events as if they are accidental and then turn to the Creator to save me from the things that someone else has conspired against me.

Quite the opposite, all that is happening was prepared for me by the Creator so that I position myself correctly in the current circumstances and aspire for Him. If I gather my thoughts and focus myself in the right direction, then all will definitely “work out fine.”

I am always placed in the conditions that can best help me advance toward the goal, even if they seem bad to me. These conditions are precisely aimed at my advancement. A person sees the truth and justifies the Creator both from bad and a good states.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, The Zohar

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The Greatest Gain

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have already reached the state where we can attain the mutual guarantee, now we only need to work harder. It might be beneficial to imagine in great detail how much we will lose if we do not attain it. Imagine that we were unable to turn the November convention into anything more than a colorful festival and did not bring the point of unity into this action. What will happen to us if we do not advance in reality?

We have decided that we must reach unity this year, and we need to remember that all the time during the preparation for the convention. There will be no problem reaching unity if all of us together are absolutely serious about it. People that are less advanced than us are capable of doing it.

Our group has gone through a very serious preparation. We are simply facing a psychological barrier. The greatest problem is that we are unable to imagine this notion, this goal. We need to constantly think about it so that the loss in relation to the gain and our actual loss will become more obvious.

We are already connected in the common system; we only need to reveal it from our state. Beside this relative revelation, nothing else happens. Everything is already here! This is also relevant to the entire world, but we have more because we have gone through a great deal of preparation.

The spiritual system has become closer to us; we have drawn closer to it and pulled it towards us. It has already started to “surface” from the depth and come closer to us. Now we just need to work harder to reveal it. It will become much easier to work after the first revelation. The hardest part is rising to the first degree.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

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"Getting Lost" At The Convention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If everything depends on the power of thought then why can’t I participate in the Convention while sitting at home on my living room couch in front of the computer screen, with a cup of coffee and a cigarette?

Answer: Trust me, I understand you very well since I also like doing that. However, the matter is that I require inspiration. I have to receive an impression from the group. I need a society that’s as strong and as high as possible. I need a goal-oriented, gutsy group, a team, and a mass of people to influence me and turn me into whatever it wishes.

Can I receive this impression while sitting at home on my living room couch in front of a computer screen? If the answer is yes, then there’s no problem – go ahead and stay at home. However, we know our nature better than that. A person has to find a place where he can dissolve in society and receive the society’s mind and feelings. Let them replace everything that fulfills my heart and mind; then I am bound to be moving in the direction of the plan of creation.

The Creator works with the group, as it is written, “I dwell among my nation.” However, He does not work with me alone. If I become part of the group, then inside it I find contact with the Creator. That is how I reveal His thought (which becomes my thought by virtue of my choice) until I begin to understand and accept His program even before it is actualized.

Baal HaSulam talks about this in his article, “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before.” If I connect to the Creator, I gain the opportunity to plan actions as if I am planning them and He carries them out. The Creator gives me this opportunity if I attain His thought. Of course, all of this is a result of love, just like our children control us, their parents.
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From the lesson on 10/21/10, “The Power of Thought”

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Together For Better Or Worse

Dr. Michael LaitmanYou can impact the spiritual system only by entering it through the relationship of a mutual guarantee because then you will uncover your connection to the system. And if you exist in it simply as an observer, then you are there as a “beast” (angel).

Your actions aim at restoring your connection with this entire system, and it depends solely on you. And then, through this relationship, you will see how the system gets renewed. It is written: “You will eat what has long been laid in store for you.” There is nothing new! You only need to discover your connection to the system thanks to the mutual bestowal.

Only the group can help us accomplish this. If you can’t demand help from the people that you are familiar with and connected to, then how can you demand it from the Force that you don’t know or feel? We have to build between us a system of relationships that will constantly shake and push us.

The group must not accept indifference. Everyone has to feel that he depends on all the others, in happiness and grief, in corporeality and spirituality, in everything!
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

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Windows To The Upper World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is nothing new in the world, we only reveal everything in relation to us as we are on lower degrees. If we were on a higher degree, then a phenomenon would not have to be realized in the material world because we would have already perceived it on the spiritual level. Once we understand what it is from the informational gene (Reshimo), there is no need for the realization even on the spiritual level.

When man requires greater materialization, however, it speaks of his low degree. That is, the realization of an action indicates a lack of perfection.

In reality, there are no new discoveries. What happens is that we ascend to higher degrees, gradually revealing the higher roots of the phenomenon that we have discovered today. It is like saying: “Wow!” as you climb the stairs and look out the window. With each step you say, “Wow!” continuing to look out the window while you ascend higher and higher. This is what we call a revelation!

In other words, there are no revelations happening outside of you. You develop, and then something becomes revealed to you. No wonder Einstein used to say that he feels like a child playing in a sandbox or with pebbles on the beach.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

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Attainment Is Possible Only Through The Method Of Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn “Within My Flesh Shall I See God,” section “The Realization of Attainment – Only through the Method of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam writes that the denial of Providence is like asking a person: “Who wrote this incredibly wise book?” and him answering that there is no such sage in the world, that everything only happened because his small son spilled ink on blank sheets of paper, and the ink spread to form letters which combined into the words of this incredible science.

By denying the presence of the Upper Governance, people act according to the principle of “whatever I do not feel does not exist.” That’s so even if they see that there is a reason for everything, which is the essence of a materialistic approach.

All of our scientific experiments are based on studying the preliminary causes; otherwise our natural sciences would have no value. But at the same time there are those who deny the existence of the source of the entire creation. Even though man understands that his knowledge is limited and there are many things that he does not grasp or understand, he tries to prove that the universe is exactly what he perceives.

But in order to study the universe, it is necessary to rise above nature because I can study a certain state only when I am above it. In order to study animals I need to be a human for animals cannot study themselves. I can study the stages below me, but I cannot study myself.

Psychology, a science of human behavior, is an example of this. In psychology we base our knowledge on real facts that we have experienced, but we are unable to rise above ourselves to begin to understand the actual methodology of human relationships, the system of connections, or human mentality even though it seems to us like we are capable of doing this objectively.

This is why Baal HaSulam writes that he respects materialistic psychology; its data is based on the study of matter and its form. But until man is able to examine the matter of the spiritual world and the form clothed into this matter, he is unable to say anything about himself, just like a cat is unable to study human behavior or explain its actions.

Thus, Baal HaSulam says that attainment is only possible through the method of Kabbalah because it lifts a person to the next level of consciousness.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

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A Psychological Barrier

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You say that there is just a psychological barrier standing in our way. What is it exactly?

Answer: We aren’t able to understand that bestowal, rather than reception, contains enormous, eternal pleasures, which we can’t even fathom. Suppose someone placed a cup full of poison in front of you and told you, “Drink it, die, and enjoy!” You cannot put these three things together. That is called a psychological barrier.

We have to remember that the second part of every action always belongs to the Creator. We are working on the desire and He carries it out. Like a child I say, “I want this.” And He gives it to me, again and again. That means we have to always demand the most important thing in life, knowing that we will receive it.
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From the lesson on 10/17/10, “Arvut

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