The Spiritual World Is Born Between Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanMany things have appeared and disappeared from this world as technology developed and replaced them with more perfect things. However, now a different process is starting and soon all of these cars and planes will disappear from our sensation and will lose all importance.

Only forces operate in the world: Direct Light and Reflected Light, together with the will to enjoy. And this entire picture somehow appears to us on the screen in the reverse part of the brain.

That is why people’s workplaces are shifting to the computer keyboard. One might ask: What can they possibly produce on it—clothing or a house? They create some kind of artificial values: respect, power, scientific knowledge, and other things that are detached from bodily needs (food, sex, family). This is how we create a connection between people, and these efforts are now being expressed in matter. The only thing of importance is to produce Reflected Light, and if we can create it by playing with a computer keyboard, then that’s enough!

The form of reality in which we live depends on us. If I start to see everything in the Reflected Light, then I will connect the root with the branch and will see spiritual roots in the world that appears before me. Then I will begin giving more importance to these spiritual roots than their material branches. This will happen to such an extent that the material branches will gradually disappear from my perception completely because I will activate my spiritual sensations more and more.

In the material world I use only what I need to support the life of my body, and I won’t need anything more than that. That is how this world will become increasingly more transparent. However, this does not depend on every person separately, but on the common correction of the world by virtue of all the souls.

If our souls unite, they create the spiritual world between them! They will have a shared perception of the Upper World and will feel the reality that is above this material reality, a billion times more powerful than it. Even the first spiritual level is infinitely greater and more powerful than our world.

If we start feeling it, then it eclipses our world to us. Even now there are many details in the world that we don’t notice. The desire to enjoy does not disappear to any place, but when all of humanity begins building the common system of bestowal among everyone, meaning the place for the spiritual world, then we will begin living in it and making it important!

We will raise the lower, material dimension to the spiritual level. That is to say, I start viewing the material world as part of the spiritual world because I see the forces operating behind everything and do not notice any matter as I did before. In relation to me the world turns into forces, and that means that the world of Assiya and all the other worlds ascend until the very world of Infinity.

However, this does not work in relation to a separate person, but in relation to all humanity that is starting to unite together into one common soul.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Running Away While Staying Put

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We know from experience that there are ascents and descents on the spiritual path. What can help me avoid running away from the “battlefield”?

Answer: “Running away” does not mean falling off the face of the earth. Instead, you continue to sit at the lessons, you are friendly and good-natured toward your friends, you carry out all the rules of the group, take part in the duties, and pay Maaser, but in essence you have escaped to another place a long time ago with your thoughts and feelings. Or maybe the habit of being in the group has become second nature for you. This is running away.

You are in the right place physically, yet we don’t assess things by bodies, but by desires and intentions, which may have withdrawn far, far away a long time ago. And that means you are not here. In other words, you do not apply your mind and feeling, desires and thoughts during the study in order to merit the Light that Reforms. So it turns out that you have escaped.

You sit here for several years wearing out your pants, and later you ask, “So where’s my reward?” That means your egoistic notions about reward have not changed one bit.

Therefore, a person has to check: Is he escaping or not? This work has to be done ceaselessly, every moment. As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 18 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” it’s important not to get distracted from the most important thing: the Light that Reforms, which is concealed in the Torah.

First and foremost, this has to be done during the study. Even if a person has prepared, he might be running away from the goal in his thoughts at the lesson. If you kept the intention for five minutes and then lost it, then all three hours were wasted.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/11, Writings of Rabash

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An Intervention Into The Upper Realm

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have finally matured to the human level and have become free. That is why our perception of reality will transform from a purely material one to an increasingly more spiritual one.

All of our machinery, workstations, and factories will become less material and more “transparent.” Even today half of the people are already working at a computer keyboard. But what could they possibly be producing there?

It’s clear what can be produced by working in the field, at a conveyor-belt, or by mining oil and coal. But what can you create by striking the computer keys? Soon the whole world will sit by computer screens. So will we be able to change the world through them?

In reality, this is how we create new matter, one that’s more spiritual. We will no longer need cars or planes because everything will shift to this virtual form. In reality it doesn’t matter one bit in what form we imagine everything. The most important thing is our effort, the Reflected Light we produce.

The Creator continuously moves upward, farther and farther away to give us the opportunity to expand our intervention into the upper realm with our Reflected Light. This is the kind of movement upwards we have begun from today onwards.

In reality, the entire difference is only man’s perception, his sensation of himself. In the past he was forced to work by the egoistic desire to enjoy, but now his effort lies in preferring the Reflected Light and bestowal over reception. This is called the human level.

In any case, one way or another, every person will work. The only question is: Will he do it unwillingly or by his own desire? All of human history until today was also spiritual work, albeit unconscious. That is how the Creator or nature had obligated us to work.

But now He no longer desires our slave labor. He wants us to become the same as He by ascending above our nature and playing with it ourselves the way He once played with us. You have to look at yourself from above and do the same thing to yourself that the Creator used to do. That is how you become equal to Him.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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A Miraculous Transformation Of The Zohar

Dr. Michael Laitman“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Rejoicing in Holidays and Not Giving to the Poor,” Item 176: Then the angels of the upper one said before Him, “Lord of the world, Here is so and so, who ate and was full and could do mercy to the poor, but gave them nothing.” In other words, even the high angels, Hesed and Tzedakah, and all those who agreed to creation, began to slander it….

The Zohar speaks of the reality which we do not perceive. And if a person does perceive it, it is forbidden for him to pull into it the familiar images, pictures, details of perception, interpretations, and clarifications of this world.

Right now I’m reading the text of The Zohar. The correct interpretation of it is unclear, incomprehensible for me; hence, I don’t understand a thing. I am not at all present in that world. If you can sense what The Zohar talks about, in its reality, it means that you understand it, otherwise not.

I don’t know what the words “do mercy,” “alms,” “the poor,” or “angels” mean. I don’t know anything! There are a multitude of notions here, and I’m not familiar with any of them.

So what do I want? I want the Light that Reforms! And nothing else! First and foremost I desire correction! When my vision and hearing will be corrected, I will find out what is being described. And then The Zohar will turn into an instructions manual for me, like the entire Torah (in Hebrew, it means “Oraa,” instruction). For the time being, we read The Zohar only as a Segula (miraculous property).

And if instead of the words “do mercy” written here I think of charity, it’s forgery. There is no greater mistake than pulling the upper world down to the level of the lower world.

Does The Zohar talk about any charitable actions in this world? Surely not! It describes the intentions, actions in the intention for the sake of bestowal that for now we are incapable of. Unless the Light comes and endows me with this ability, I won’t find out what The Zohar talks about.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “Introduction of the Book of Zohar”

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You Broke It, So Now Fix It

Dr. Michael Laitman“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Rejoicing in Holidays and Not Giving to the Poor,” Item 175: It was said that on holidays, the Creator comes to see His broken Kelim. This is because on good days, when one keeps the Mitzvot of the joy of a good day, due to all the abundance that the Creator gives him, the Creator goes to see His broken Kelim, by which man is given an opportunity to engage in Mitzvot in Lo Lishma [not only for the sake of bestowal, but also for personal profit so as to reach complete bestowal].

In this article The Zohar talks about us having to use our properties in any situation in order to elevate it to adhesion. You have to assemble a correct structure out of everything at your disposal and to identify your broken Kelim (vessels) as well as your corrected state, to the extent that you can imagine them correctly inside the group. Whether a state is corrected or corrupted depends on your attitude toward the group: the current one and the desired one.

My current attitude toward the group is as follows: I’m an egoist and want everyone to be exclusively at my service. This is a current state. And the desired one is when I see myself as serving the group, friends, reaching adhesion with them, and incorporating myself into them.

The discrepancy between these degrees is the place of my work. When, after all my efforts, I realize that I am unable to accomplish anything, I cry out, scream, ask the Creator, the Upper Force, the Upper Light that created all this reality, to correct its act. He did it, whereas I revealed what He has created. And now I demand correction.

Then the correction occurs. In what? It is in that I sense myself in adhesion with the environment, the group. Then, in this adhesion I also reveal my connection with the Creator, with the force that has corrupted and then, due to my plea, corrected the state and for this reason dwells with me in it.

And if on the contrary, I do not utilize my faculties, properties, conditions, and everything that becomes disclosed to me correctly, it means that I am negligent of everything that the Creator has prepared for me. And then there comes the time described as: “The Creator comes to see His broken Kelim,” which He has broken purposefully, in order to give us the opportunity to discover our independence.

If I do not perform these corrections in what becomes revealed to me, I as though come into a “fight” with Him, and He teaches me what I have to do in an undesirable way. This is how we educate a child who does not want to listen.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “Introduction of the Book of Zohar”

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Introductory Lecture “The Proper Environment For Education” – 02.08.11

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “The Proper Environment for Education”
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The Spiritual Love Triangle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to engage, insert myself in the group?

Answer: On one hand, the friends and I feel equal in reference to the Creator since we equally desire to reach Him. But we ourselves are divided by hatred. In this case, the way everyone treats all the others is the way a person treats the group. And in order to engage in the group, one has to transform hate into love.

The Spiritual Love Triangle

The group is defined by two parameters:

1. It is comprised of the friends who yearn to know the Creator as I do; however,
2. I hate them.

If both these conditions are met, then the path to spirituality is before me. After all, how can this triangle exist: They seek spirituality, but I hate them, and if so, how is it possible for me to also yearn for the Creator? And if I do strive for Him, how can I hate them in the first place?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Forever Seeking The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Any scientific research includes three stages: 1) a hypothesis which has to be proven, 2) materials to experiment with, and 3) the procedure itself, the process by which the hypothesis is tested. How can this be applied in Kabbalah?

Answer: It is also a scientific experiment. You start it with a question about the purpose of life. Kabbalists make a suggestion for you: “Taste and see for yourself how good the Creator is.” Perform this act and you will get the result.

We exist in a very simple system. Beside me, there is my higher spiritual degree regarded as the “group.” I need to incorporate myself into it, and if I do connect to the group, I start feeling the Light within myself. There is nothing unreal or fictional in this.

In order to ascend to the degree of the group, I have to realize my informational gene, Reshimo 0/1 (Shoresh de Aviut and Aleph de Hitlabshut). I myself am this Reshimo “0/1” that I wish to insert into the group, in which case the Light influences me from my more advanced, corrected state by lifting me up to it.

Eternal Strive For The Future
All of these states of mine are already present, up to the very last one, and I strive toward my future. In this future, I am unified with all those who are in the group in one heart, by the mutual guarantee. If I wish to reach this state, the Light affects me from there since I am already present there. The Light alters my properties and pulls me in, like on a string, so that I connect exactly at my spot where the Light is coming from to me.

And when I engage in the group at my upper degree, I suddenly see that the group is there with me: It is all I, only the new one, “the 2nd I.” As to the group, it is above, at the next degree, and that is where my next state exists.

In other words, I am shown even a greater difference, a greater force of desire, the greater hatred between us, and I must work in the same manner again, in order to insert myself in the group completely. All the ten Sefirot of the lower one must enter the Malchut of the upper Partzuf because there is nothing besides the ten Sefirot.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Your Choice: 3-5 Or 35 Years

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is said that it takes three to five years to exit into the spiritual world. How do I maintain myself on this path if it has been longer than that?

Answer: You can maintain yourself on the path solely by way of the Kabbalistic group. Without it, you have no chance to advance and stay on this path not only for years, but even until the next day.

If you can maintain the desire and keep studying without receiving support from the group, you are on the wrong path and are deceiving yourself. You are probably studying to gain knowledge or to reach some other egoistic goal, but you are not moving in the right direction.

Think what you are counting: the calendar years or the effort you have exerted? You may have made the right effort worth a couple of weeks instead of 35 years. How many hundreds of years will you have to live in this world to accumulate effort worth three to five years?

But you can really finish this work in three to five years and reveal the spiritual world on the condition that you are working with the group, with the environment. Cultivate your desire to enjoy in the right atmosphere, on the right ground. Otherwise, it won’t evolve, and you will sit and study without the support of the environment, counting the hours by the clock. But this is the wrong clock: It doesn’t count your work with the environment and, hence, has no value.

You must spend these years under the influence of the environment, and it isn’t necessary to wait five calendar years for that; it isn’t the question of time. But if you are not under such influence, then you haven’t even started to advance yet. So what result do you expect in five years?

It’s really simple to verify whether you are receiving the strength from the environment. Without the environment’s force, you would have no strength at all and it would be as if you were dead. And only when you receive the strength from the group do you have the capacity to rise, come to study, read the Kabbalistic texts, and think. It is similar to an electrical system: If it receives a little electricity, it starts working, while without electricity, it stops. And this electricity can come solely from the environment.

The spiritual Kli (vessel) is namely the connection with the environment which is precisely the place where I reveal the spiritual world. And if such connection is missing, there is no place to discover spirituality.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Tasting All The Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are desires, actions, and there is a force that created and is affecting us (“the Acting One”). We are its consequence, much like our properties and the feelings we experience in the properties created and filled by this force.

We aren’t even the product that would feel the force and its influence directly, in all the four stages of attainment. We are still very far from such full revelation. But we are never able to step beyond the boundary of sensation since we are desire that can know only that which unfolds within it.

This is why we can’t know the essence of things, not only in the spiritual, but even in the corporeal world, be it electricity, bread, water, the upper Partzuf, or the spiritual Light. All of them are merely the sensations I experience within my desire. It is a derivative of some impact that evokes and fulfills my desire: I feel the result of a certain act performed by some force in some properties.

That means that I, too, am a certain consequence, a certain combination of forces I know nothing about. All that has existed before and created me is unknown to me. I only know that I already exist and somehow experience myself as some mineral body that occupies space in the universe.

Nonetheless, all of them are merely my experience of myself, according to the properties assigned to me by the Creator. But whom am I truly? Could it be that I have some other form except the one that I am seeing right now? I don’t know and will never know that. I am the desire to enjoy, which perceives itself in this manner, and I attain only the matter and the form that this matter acquires by experiencing it as pleasure or pain.

As to the abstract form and essence, we do not attain them and don’t suffer in this regard since it doesn’t manifest in the matter. We don’t know the essence of the most familiar things around us. What is bread or sugar? We know only how they taste. I swallow the force that looks as a piece of bread to me and occupies a certain volume presented to me as such in my sensations. This force fills some empty area within me, and I think it is real matter since matter is a desire which receives fulfillment.

In a similar way, later on, we reveal the spiritual reality, its specific “tastes” by giving them names. We attain the Creator by His actions and start tasting the flavors of the Sefirot and Partzufim: Zeir Anpin has one flavor while Malchut another. And so, gradually, we attain all of the flavors, until we get to know the taste of how wonderful the Creator is. To know the taste of the Infinite Light means to receive it for the sake of bestowal, enjoy the adhesion with it, fulfillment, and love.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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