Growing From Opposites

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are in one part of nature, the receiving part, and have to reach the other part, the bestowing part. Today this part is completely unclear to us and that is because the transition from one degree to the next is always unclear. In dialectic this is called, “the law of the double negative.”

The next degree is a different mind, different feelings, and different vision. In fact, everything is different with completely new parameters. We aren’t talking about something slightly bigger than what we have now, but a qualitatively new degree. In general, on the spiritual path every level is completely different from the previous, being totally detached from it and having a new ten Sefirot.

The order of ascent is the following: We immerse into the egoistic desire, say one inch deep, and evaluate it as the evil of our existence, wishing to correct it to good. Then we ascend one inch above it, meaning we start using it inversely in the direction of bestowal, and see a completely new world.

Then we descend once again, but this time two inches deep. At first everything is fine: We use the world, meaning the state, for ourselves. But then we gradually discover a horrible picture and once again begin transforming the evil to bestowal. Once we get rid of the evil, we ascend two inches up and once again see the world of bestowal, which is completely unlike the previous level.

The greater the immersion, the greater the ascent. Adjacent levels are divided from one another by descent and all of their content is absolutely different. We continuously reveal a new world, not knowing how to act from one state to the next. The states are completely different, even if it seems to us that “we have already been here.”

How, then, can we make the choice? How can I choose a direction and the next state?

This requires a simple action: Out of all the possible states, I choose the most complex one, the one that’s most difficult for me now, the one that’s most repulsive to my nature. That is how I act in relation to my friends against my nature, and that is how I ascend to the next state.

I must continuously choose the spiritual state that is maximally opposite to my present state. In this way, reception and bestowal grow one from the other. This is the law of the double negative. This law is the foundation for vegetative life, the growth of living cells, the path of our thoughts, and so on. Everything develops by having opposites grow from one another.
From the lesson on 1/17/11, Shamati

Related Material:
Combining The Opposites
Zivug de Hakaa
The Wall Before You Is Your Next Spiritual Degree

One Comment

  1. Is the combining of opposites
    not as to be much the same as taoism

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