Who’s More Important?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Donkey Driver”: They said, “It is Rav Hamnuna Saba,” for now they have recognized his degree, that he was Rav Hamnuna Saba himself, and not as they previously thought—that he was only Rav Hamnuna Saba’s son.

Question: Usually we study that the “son” is the next level of the “father.” So why does this paragraph say that the son of Rav Hamnuna Saba is a smaller degree than him?

Answer: During the descent from Above downward, every greater degree is higher. Thus the grandfather (Saba in Hebrew) is the higher level, and the father (Aba) is beneath it, and lower still is the son (Ben).

We ascend up the levels from below upwards, going through them in the opposite order: from grandfather, to father, to son. A “son” is the most advanced level, above all of them. But during the descent of the degrees, the son is below everyone.

The levels that the “donkey driver” goes through are the levels of the worlds. These forces descend to the sages from the height of all 125 levels in the form of “grandfather” and “father” being higher than the son.

But when these sages ascend, their levels of attainment: grandfather, father, and son are expressed from above downwards, in which case the son is the most advanced level.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 1/20/11, The Zohar

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Her Majesty Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Who or what is the “Light that Reforms?” Is it the Creator?

Answer: The Light, the Creator, the Upper Force, are all one and the same: the integral force of bestowal that governs the world, the enormous sphere inside of which all of us reside. Today, it is increasingly contracting above us, affecting us with its might.

It is regarded as Nature or the Creator since in Hebrew, a numeric equivalent (Gematria) of these words is the same, and emanation expanding from it is defined as the Upper Light or bestowal.
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From the Introductory Lecture in Netanya 12/12/2010

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why can’t changes for the better happen without suffering?

Answer: Suffering is any sensation that takes me out of the present state into the next. Suppose that right now I am in an absolutely comfortable state. If my matter and essence is the will to enjoy and all my desires are fulfilled, then I don’t have any opportunity to move forward. Only the sensation of lack moves me toward the source of fulfillment. When I want to drink, I move closer to the bottle. When I want to sleep, I move closer to the bed, and so on. If I don’t have any desires, it means there is no movement or development.

So what kind of suffering should I feel in order to advance? For a smart or energetic person a very small suffering suffices for him to start moving forward in order to solve the problem. Lazy people will keep suffering, but it will still be difficult for them to move from where they are. Fools feel pain, but don’t understand where it comes from and why. They sit there and cry, but cannot move from where they are.

The suffering also comes in different forms. For example, an uncomfortable position makes me sit differently, which is also a kind of suffering. “Suffering” is the absence of total, absolute comfort. If suffering—meaning additional empty desire—is not evoked in a person, then he won’t move or develop.

The Upper Force created us absolutely opposite to it so we would gradually desire to become equal to it. This is impossible until we feel that we are opposite to this force in some way. We are always moving only in relation to the Creator, only in relation to this force. No matter what we do or feel in life, in the end we only feel our attitude to Him or our oppositeness to Him.

If only we realize this and stay constantly sensitive to it, then we will advance forward by small steps without any breaks, always staying inspired and experiencing a pleasant adventure. We must only understand that everything inside me is awakened by the Creator. At every second, constantly, no matter what I feel, I must connect everything to Him. This will move me toward Him ceaselessly and nothing else will be necessary!

In the end my entire life will be the right movement toward the eternal, perfect goal, toward unity which really exists. Let us be stupid or lazy; after all, we were deliberately created that way. Each one of us “simmers” inside his own problems which were deliberately created by the Creator in order for us to solve them together.

If we create the right environment or society around us which will hold us together, then at every second we will feel comfortable in very small doses, sufficient for us to advance.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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A Black Point In The Ocean Of Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I achieve the similarity of properties with the Creator when both His intention and His action are bestowal, and I only have the ability to correct the intention? How can I become like Him in the full sense of the word?

Answer: You become absolutely like Him according to the essence of the action. Do you give to Him? You do. Does He give to you? He does. Do you do everything in your power to express your love to Him? He does the same.

When an infant does everything to make his mother happy, it does not matter whether he receives something from her or gives to her; it is the quality of the action that counts. It is the same with people: You are looking at the direction of the fulfillment, but what happens here is the revelation of the relationship, and it can be that the receiver bestows.

Only our world lives without an intention (attitude) sustained by the spark of Light that exists in it and gives it life. However, the entire spiritual world only operates according to the intention. When we say that the Lights of NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida) fulfill us, what do these Lights represent? They are a relationship with one another, and nothing more than that.

“I receive from Him.” What does this mean? I receive and feel His attitude toward me. What do I give to Him? Also, it is only my attitude toward Him, and this fulfills us.

Then, what do we give to each other? This does not matter at all. We do not take this into consideration. I do not need to receive anything, like Hafetz Hesed (wanting nothing for himself), and we build our attitude above this.

The desire (Kli, vessel) created by the Creator is no more than a black point in an ocean of Light. However, what does the “ocean of Light” mean? “Ocean of Light” points to the Creator’s attitude toward that point.

This point also must expand to the point of infinity in its attitude toward the Light. This way, it will become a vessel, a receptacle for the Light. But what does it receive? It receives the Creator’s attitude. We do not understand that the pleasure here only comes from the attitude toward one another.

There can be no pleasure without attitude. Pleasure without attitude can only exist in our world, which is why this world does not exist. It is an imaginary world from which we rise into the spiritual world where everything is only determined by intention.
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From the 2nd of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/2010, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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The Reason For Every Quarrel

Dr. Michael LaitmanNothing that happens in the world is extraneous. Everything comes only from the necessity to bring us to the final, perfect state where we exist in total equivalence with the single Upper Force. Therefore, if we forget about this in the group, this force tramples upon us, bothering us and constantly bringing about all sorts of “cunning” events, and the most important thing to do is not to give in and to always remember that all of it is happening deliberately. No one ever does anything accidentally.

Unless a person is psychologically sick, then everything taking place to him in the group happens specifically in order for him to ascend above it and to relate to it the right way. This does not necessarily mean that we have to ignore the problems. But the most important thing is for us to connect them to the Creator, the Force that controls us. Everything comes from Him. He is the one who is tripping us now in order for us to learn to move above these problems and thus to ascend above egoism. However, the egoism we ascend over is not our personal one, but the one that emerges between us.

If I am enticed by certain egoistic actions, for example, I want to buy a better car, earn more, and so on, this does not belong to Kabbalah; it is my personal business. But the things happening between us in the group, the degree of my friction with others comes from the Creator and only from Him. We can cope with these problems only if we don’t forget that He influences us.

We will never be able to cope with them separately from Him even if we will constantly try to solve them with each other. Even if we understand that we have to solve them because we have to be together because that is how we unite in the group and it is not acceptable to separate, this still won’t help! We will sink into this more and more.

It is possible to solve this question cardinally, correctly, and realistically only when each of us, the group, and the Creator are together and we solve this problem together. He awakens the negative, egoistic phenomena among us in order for us to “attract” Him to us, or putting it differently, to reveal Him among us. Problems are empty space, which we want to discover as being filled by the Creator. This is the opportunity He gives us. That means the problem lies in correctly reacting to His challenge, when He awakens egoism inside each of us and friction between us.

The Creator “flirts” with us, awakening our attention to Him. The right reaction is the common prayer, when we begin turning to Him all together. That is to say, without entering any confrontations with one another, we gather together and turn to the Force, the Primary Cause from which all of this comes. This is called “the prayer of society.”

We call on the Creator, summon Him, and obligate Him to become revealed between us. He evoked the negative interactions between us and we transform them to a desire or need for His presence. We are like children who have quarreled and cannot do anything about it, and so they demand for their mother to come and stand between them. The Creator deliberately evokes problems inside us, and in response we have to realize this and call on Him to fulfill that space.
From the lesson in Moscow on 1/16/11, Writings of Rabash

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 01.20.11

Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Matter of Tu Bishvat”
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The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Donkey Driver,” Item 101, Lesson 6
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Talmud Eser Sefirot 3, Part 8, Item 59, Lesson 34
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Quality of the Hidden Wisdom – in General,” Lesson 3
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