Good Environment – 02.10.11

My Good Environment – Daily Lesson Summary and Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

An Insult To Honor

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are situations in life when someone insults me, making me feel very wounded and degraded. What is the exact order of analyzing this kind of situation?

Answer: In our current state, we are unable to tell what the right attitude to reality is. We are confused, being halfway between the sky and the earth. I haven’t revealed the Creator yet, but I am no longer in full concealment either. I perceive all sorts of wise sayings like quotes, expressions, and pieces of knowledge, as revelation, but that is not so. Everything has gotten mixed up inside of me.

That is why Baal HaSulam writes in “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot” that during these years, a person has to maximally focus his development. This is a period of great confusion when I cannot understand the truth, but I no longer agree with the lie. I am simply thrown about from side to side.

On one hand, there is no one besides the Creator. I am standing in front of Him. So how should I treat reality if the only thing around me is Him? And where am I? If He has screamed at me, should I scream back at Him? But it’s the Creator, so does that mean I have to hold myself back all the time? Should I remain totally humble, even in the face of a death threat? At times one looks at things this way.

In reality, there is not a great deal of advice we can give people in these cases because a person is subject to change at every second. That is why Kabbalists prescribe a specific order of actions for us, which is determined by concealment.

Why do they give us this advice? Because we are subject to the influence of two forces. The Creator did not create a very simple state were I stand before Him and reveal Him without being distracted by anything. Who am “I”? I am the forces of disunity and separation from the Creator. Moreover, these forces appear to me as myself as well as what is around me, but not as the Creator. To me the Creator is an invisible and imperceptible ideal.

The forces of disunity conceal Him from me and I have to unite them into one whole. These forces separate and distance me from the Creator, covering Him up. They divide into two worlds: inner and outer. In essence they belong to one nature of disunity, the egoistic desire, but appear to me dually, as opposites.

I have to unite them with each other and discern precisely the disunity in them. Looking at actions, thoughts, desires, and anything there is around me, I connect the inner and the outer, doing so only in order to attain unity. In that case, if I am able to do this, then I do not err.

We have to apply just one principle here: “A person judges things according to what he sees.” I do not try to reach the One who is concealed from me. But as soon as I unite all of the forces—my own and those of others—into one whole, I discover the single Creator inside.
[34958]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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A Leap Across The Abyss

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe receive as much Light as we have Kelim, desires. That is why in this world we are very far from the true state. It is concealed from us by many veils and degrees, and without having many Kelim, means, and components, we would not be able to reveal the Light.

Creation is “existence from absence.” In other words, the only existing Creator wished to create someone outside of Him. This differentiating quality, something outside of Him, is called “creation.”

The Creator desires for creation to attain the fact that it is outside of Him, to overcome the gap between them, and to attain the state that annuls creation and the gap between them. Therefore, a person in this world must see himself as being exclusively in front of the Creator. There is none else besides Him. There is nothing outside of the Creator, not even the person himself.

Only in my perception and sensation was this illusion created that there is existence outside of the single Force, the Creator. Everything I can imagine was created deliberately so I would have something to grab onto, enabling me to get to the Single One from many Kelim.

Inside of this Single One there is no “me.” It is written, “The Creator is our God, the Creator is one.” Everything is included in Him. This is what man will have to attain. And that is how he will “leap” across the abyss lying between “existence from existence” and “existence from absence.” This is what we must reach.

Everything we have, including the great world, the spiritual worlds, the breaking, the Kelim, the friends, all the means, and the entire method are intended only in order for us to correct our perception of reality and recognize that besides the single Force, there is nothing, not even me.

My surroundings are formed in this way in order to help me attain that unity. I am always standing in front of the Creator, and there is nothing between us. That is how a person has to feel reality in his perception. Baal HaSulam writes about this in Shamati #67:

He who thinks that he is deceiving his friend, is really deceiving the Creator, since besides man’s body there is only the Creator. This is because it is the essence of creation that man is called “creature” only with respect to himself. The Creator wants man to feel that he is a separated reality from Him; but except for that, it is all “the whole earth is full of His glory.”

Hence, when lying to one’s friend, one is lying to the Creator; and when saddening one’s friend, one is saddening the Creator. For this reason, if one is accustomed to speak the truth, it will help him with respect to the Creator.

If a person advances toward revealing unity, then he sees everything as the means that helps him reveal the single Creator. It is written, “Stand up, the Creator, and Your enemies will disperse.” In other words, a person sees that all the disturbances don’t actually bother him, but they are Kelim, means. By uniting them into one whole, inside of them he reveals the Lights, until they all merge into one simple Light.
[34968]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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Bestow? What For?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why would a person possibly wish for correction for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: There’s no question about this because no one knows this about himself. King Solomon also asked himself the question about love between a man and a woman: Who could possibly understand it? It is a heartfelt passion, a desire, and desire is created by the Creator. We must only use all of the inclinations that can aim this desire toward the goal.

The Creator gave me all of the means, and I have to arrange them correctly in order to advance forward. If I don’t do this, then He helps me by “pressuring” here and there. In the end I will still have to correctly use everything at my disposal.

The desire and environment were given to me by the Creator. I must only organize them correctly with each other, bind them together into “Israel, Torah, and the Creator,” and use them as they are intended in order to advance toward the goal.

I do not do anything myself besides this “proper placement.” And even when I put everything into its place, I first and foremost use the Upper Force. If the Creator does not build my spiritual home, then who will?
[34961]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 2/10/11, Writings of Rabash

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The Phases Of Attaining Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What stages does a person go through when attaining the science of Kabbalah?

Answer: When a person begins to study, he first learns to perceive this world correctly, even though he studies a higher level, the following dimension where we are all united together, meaning an integral world. Yet, by studying it, we actually begin to understand how separated we are from one another here in this world, and how each one of us eats up the entire system instead of working to complement it together with everyone.

Every person exists like a cancerous cell inside the common body. This sensation and understanding comes precisely by studying the global state of the system. Then the difference between these two levels: the upper one that’s united in harmony, and our level, which is completely divided into individualists and egoists, begins to be felt very acutely.

By studying together with other friends from the whole world, he begins to attract the force of development to himself, which gradually influences him. This force is present inside nature and it begins changing him and making him more connected to others. As a result, he begins to perceive this world as a single, common system.

This happens naturally, from within, but not artificially, the way we forcefully connect one thing with another today. Then a person’s attitude to the world, to life, and to himself changes, as well as his plans for life. And because he begins feeling the world better, more correctly, and more globally, the world becomes transparent for him.

He sees the connections operating behind the external picture of the world, among all the parts of reality. It is like embroidery: on the front side you see flowers, while on the reverse you see the connecting threads that tie all the parts together.

A person sees all of this and is no longer in the dark. He feels how everything is connected together. Thus, he becomes wise and no longer acts foolishly. This is the first phase of attaining the science of Kabbalah.

Next, when a person penetrates deeper, he begins to reveal the levels of connection between all parts of reality. He begins working with all of these connecting forces. Then it becomes clear to him that everyone in this world acts like puppets on strings.
He sees how everything is controlled by these strings, which extend from the reverse side of the “embroidery.” We, who live in this world, have no freedom of choice. Our behavior is determined by genes, hormones, and the forces governing us. But this person attains the level where decisions are made and can determine on his own how to behave and what kind of future he wants to see.

That’s because he sees the general system correctly and becomes included in it, becoming of one opinion with it. His desire begins acting together with the desire of this system. This is the second phase of attainment. After that there are more phases—all together there are five.
[35043]
From my lecture in Paris on 2/1/11

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Why Do We Need The Language Of Branches?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe language of branches is attained when you ascend from this world, and then in the upper world, you reveal the roots of everything existing in this world. But the goal isn’t simply to connect the branch with the root. This language does not connect us with the spiritual world, but with our teachers! This is the means that helps them to teach us.

We do not understand the spiritual language they speak as we did not learn it. And we do not have to know it because we are already familiar with it from our world. That is why we can hear it and learn from them about what happens in the spiritual world.

You open up the book in which some kind of words are written. If you were not living in this world, then you would not understand anything. But from our world, you are already familiar with what Kabbalists talk about, and you desire to attain the root to find out what they are pointing to in the upper world since they do not say a word about the material world.

Kabbalists do not describe our world with even one word. The Torah is not connected to our world and a person who interprets it this way materializes it and commits the greatest crime, creating “idols” for himself. It is talking only about the spiritual world. But in order to speak the same language as you, Kabbalists describe the spiritual world using words of our world in order to awaken some kind of connection or attitude to them within us.

This was deliberately planned in the thought of creation so we would begin rising from our world to the spiritual world. Thus, we have to take all of the means for this existing in this world.
[35001]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Then You Will Remember Everything You Learned

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen you receive spiritual attainment, first of all you will begin feeling certain spiritual phenomena inside your desire. Suddenly, you will understand what they are called and what this is.

And then you will suddenly begin to understand what the book talked about and will remember how you read about it or studied it at some point. You will suddenly remember everything relating to this spiritual phenomenon that has become revealed to you just now.

Everything will immediately unite inside of you—the word that names all of this, the understanding of this spiritual state, the memory about where it was written, and when you had studied it. All of this will become clear to you and connect with the spiritual phenomenon that you now reveal and feel.

However, first the sensation has to come to you, the attainment—without words! And then immediately after you will clarify the words, the definitions, and the connections to the degree you are ready for it.
[35004]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Complicated Path Of Attainment Of The Divine Simplicity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If everything in our world originates in the upper roots, where do all kinds of artificially invented objects come from, those that do not exist in the nature, such as a vehicle on wheels for example?

Answer: All of nature is a picture that appears in me, and all of it descends to me from Above. In the spiritual world, there are no automobiles, but the notion itself has to exist; otherwise, how would we make it up?

In their obvious form, the roots of the upper world manifest to us as four levels of nature: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking ones. And the rest come down to us in the form of thought. All our artificial inventions (such as missiles and cars) root in the upper thought and are not a result of our observation of nature. It doesn’t expand in a direct, mandatory manner from Above downward, but rather are invented by man who completes himself with all that he lacks in this world.

The four stages of the Direct Light expand from Above downward, from the world of Infinity to this corporeal world, bringing forth the worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, and their numerous combinations. And at each degree, everything that is present in the lower one, all its forms, come to it from the upper one, although we think that at the lowest level there may be more developed forms because its lack of perfection requires finding greater diversity and combinations of matter.

Above, in the world of Infinity, everything merges into one whole, in integral oneness. That is how simple it is compared to our complex world. But in essence, this world of ours isn’t the richer one; it simply must divide into such a great number of constituents.

The Complicated Path Of Attainment Of The Divine Simplicity

Below, there are billions of elements of nature: minerals, plants, animals, and man, and in each of them, there are countless multitude of details. But as we climb the rungs of the worlds, we see fewer and fewer of them.

After all, to decode the notion of oneness that exists Above, in Infinity, we need numberless elements that, when put together correctly, can re-create this wholeness in our world. And it is only natural that there is an enormous difference between the upper and lower degrees, in the extent that the lower one is more material and, consequently, requires more detail.

Besides, there is nothing in the lower one which wouldn’t exist in the upper one. Simply, the individual details that get revealed in the lower one are linked as one in the upper one and, hence, are perceived by you as one whole. But in reality, it isn’t just whole. As in the world of Infinity, everything merges into one in its aim to bestowal, and we don’t see any division. However, it doesn’t mean that all these definitions do not exist.

In the world of Infinity, there are countless elements, but all of them are linked into one whole, and therefore, it is called a simple, infinite Light that fills the entire creation. But in truth, it isn’t a “simple” Light of Nefesh, but rather NRNHY de NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida), which is “620 times” greater than what is only perceived as simple.

The lowest degree just gets to know itself in such a “complex” form. We create so many different things in it only due to our weakness since we are unable to attain the upper one otherwise. And when we reach the highest degree, we don’t need all these supplements any longer.

All the abundance of details that I have at my lower degree roots in what I added in order to complete myself relative to the higher degree. But from Above downward, it is the very same elements that keep descending to me.

The same world of Infinity is present in our world. And the entire variety of details that are added by me or revealed to me in nature derives from the fact that I am unable to perceive this “simple” world of Infinity. Everything around me is regarded as the imaginary world. All worlds are merely “disappearing concealments” of the world of Infinity, where there is nothing but desire (the will to receive) filled with the simple Light.
[34741]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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How Can We Change Our Fate?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the wisdom of Kabbalah, we study the upper world, how all creation is made, and what forces expand into our corporeal world. In the upper world, there are forces whereas in the physical one, there are objects that are affected by and are the product thereof.

The upper forces are called “roots,” and the lower ones (those manifested in our world) are “branches.” There is nothing else below our world and worse than it. That’s already good.

Everything that happens to us occurs under the influence of the forces that descend to us from the upper world, from the roots. There isn’t anything in our world that wouldn’t derive from Above. Therefore, it is pointless to blame someone for something: each other, other nations, the government, and nature since all of it is governed by the upper forces from Above downward. If we look at the entire picture logically and realistically, we will see that everything comes from Above.

It turns out that any problem we encounter, no matter what it entails, can be resolved only if we ascend to the level of these upper forces and start influencing them. Thus, we will be able to draw a different influence upon ourselves. That is, we will be affected not by the first forces, but rather by some type of their derivatives and the effect we instilled. Only in this manner will we cause changes in our world, and by no other means.

How Can We Change Our Destiny
We tried, over the course of thousands of years by using all kinds of methods and practices, to affect our fate. And we see that it isn’t worthwhile. There is no point for us in appealing to the Creator: He (someone whom we imagine as the Creator) doesn’t hear us. And none of our actions in this world produce any results anyway. In the end, everything takes a course that it was supposed to take.

We, who have lived in this world long enough, see all this very clearly; therefore, we can agree with the wisdom of Kabbalah which states that at the level of our world, there is no solution to anything. Our world is the effect, and all the solutions are at the level where decisions are made: in the upper world.

Thus, namely in our time, when humanity, having arrived at the integral, global crisis, is realistically facing a serious problem, and when everything that is happening to us below is already part of this integral picture, only then do we receive an opportunity to influence these general forces by coming together.

Essentially, we have to affect only a single force since there is only one upper force which simply splits into its multiple sub-forces, the individual forces that impact us.
[34479]
From Lesson 5 Berlin Convention 1/29/2011

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Moving Beyond The Red Line Into A New World

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom the world of Infinity, “State 1,” we develop (descend) down to this world, which is called reaching “State 2.” From this state we have to rise back to Infinity, into “State 3” which is identical to State 1. There is only one difference between them: We exist in State 3 being aware of this fact, consciously. Hence, it is considered to be 613 times greater than State 1.

We developed in State 2 over the course of billions of years in the still, vegetative, and animate forms. Until we descended down the worlds of Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya, time did not exist at all. Time appears when we reach this world and then develop over the course of approximately 15 billion years, finally arriving at the “human” degree.

Beyond The Limits Of This World

The difference between the “human” and the still, vegetative, and animate states is that man does not exist in nature! From the beginning, a human being is essentially a beast, albeit a more complex one. He turns into man only at the degree at which he feels that he is a global, social being.

That is, he no longer lives in an individual, egoistic form as he did previously before reaching our current degree. Rather, he has to join in the spiritual development and climb the steps he once came down by. From the general, social development we have to transition to the spiritual development with full seriousness and responsibility. This is the essence of our work.

While we were developing egoistically, we did not encounter any problems because we evolved unconsciously, naturally. But since we have reached “the red line,” meaning the state whereby everything turned to be globally and integrally interconnected, it is a sign that we must assume another form of existence, in harmony with nature.
[34449]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/2011, “The Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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