Good Environment – 05.04.11

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

Rabbi Shimon’s Group Comprised Of Several Million Members

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe upper Light is in a place called “Shechina,” which is the unification between the souls. With our efforts we have to attain unity among us. Then we will reveal the Light that builds, creates, corrects, and fulfills all of creation.

This Light is always present in the Shechina, in the assembly of souls that aspire to the Creator (Knesset Israel), in the unification among us.

The Zohar is the same source of Light, but on the condition that we imagine ourselves (and it doesn’t matter how many millions of us there are) as being the group of Rabbi Shimon, which had ten people who sat, connected together, and received this Light called “Zohar”—“the upper illumination.” This is the Light that influences us, corrects us, and elevates us.
[42174]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/4/11, The Zohar

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The Science That Studies The Self

Dr. Michael Laitman

Kabbalah is a science about reality. Man is a creature that strives to understand why and for what purpose he exists and how he can come to the truth. He yearns to uncover the meaning of such notions as “truth,” “facts,” “purpose,” or “reaching the goal.” He is made to demand this kind of fulfillment.

Man’s greatest need is to know who he is, as it is said: “From my flesh shall I see the Creator.” Indeed, to learn who I am, I need to know who the Creator is. This necessity mandates me to search.

The entire wisdom of Kabbalah is dedicated to the study of man since besides him, nothing exists. All of reality is within man, and everything occurs solely in him. I don’t see anything in this world except myself. All that is happening around me is me, images within me. I don’t have the slightest idea what is going on outside of me.

This means that Kabbalah is the study of the self, self-attainment, self-awareness. All other books describe some kind of illusions, as if there is an external reality around us. Therefore, everything but these sacred books is a total lie made up by man; they are the fruit of his imagination.

We don’t realize how unique these books are; besides, as far as the truth is concerned, we have nothing to hold on to. Without these books, we would exist in this world as some little insects that live only for as long as the time allotted to them permits. Only with the help of these books can we gradually develop ourselves and start examining, measuring, and learning “who and what we are.”

Thus we find out that we contain the whole worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, and numerous parts that seem alien to us, which in the end turn out to be the parts of your own soul. This is your very desire split into the still, vegetative, animate nature, and humans as well. And at the last, fourth degree, we must collect all these parts together in order to come to the intention “to bestow,” which is mandatory for this final, fourth, stage of creation.

When I gain this intention to bestow for all parts of creation, I will finally find out who I am; I will know myself. And there is nothing else to study in reality.
[42014]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Unifying The Two Forces Of Nature Within

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are only two forces in the world: the force of bestowal and that of reception. By interacting with one another, they must come to equilibrium, adhesion, and oneness.

The will to receive starts forming inside the desire to bestow, the Light. The Light constantly influences the desire to receive by developing it, while the latter responds to the Light. Thereby, they begin to interact. As a result, the desire to receive pleasure evolves to an ability to act on its own, to experience, think, and react to the desire to bestow.

Thus, these two desires gradually decrease, descending lower and lower. In the end, this allows us to analyze very fine details that combined, allow us to construct the complete system. It is as if from a global analysis we move on to a very fine research (as if we are using tweezers), which enables us to get information unavailable in a general approach. And the latter provides what is missing in the particulars.

As a result, we need to come to a state when the general and the particular will be fully analyzed and completely corrected. This is why there was the descent of the spiritual worlds up to this world, followed by development in this world. In the process of its development, our world undergoes the same four stages and arrives at the creation of the desire to bestow: from below upward, in order to return to the world of Infinity.

Kabbalists take great care to explain this process to us. First of all, they are scientists, and this is the physics of the two forces acting in creation, which explains how these forces come down to us in order for us to connect and start working with them. After all, they become realized only in our desires, intentions, and discernments.

In nature, these two forces are balanced. But we are supposed to get in between them and assemble ourselves, completely incorporating both of them within. As nature, the Creator, consists of both of these forces, His own force of bestowal and the force of reception through which He influences us, so must we construct ourselves from these two forces. That is what the entire program of creation and evolution entails.
[42017]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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What Hides Behind The Illusion Of Progress

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: This is what happened to the Germans who had been thought to have been one of the most civilized nations and who, overnight, became a nation of savages, the most horrible of the primitive societies that ever existed in the world. Moreover, Hitler was chosen by the majority.

We are dealing with the question about human society: How do we progress? It seems that from generation to generation, we become more advanced. But in what sense are we more developed? Is it science and technology or social structure? Or, perhaps, we evolve in our human values? The latter is specifically incorrect.

Egoism increases over the course of all of history; however, we don’t reform it, and as it accumulates, we are getting worse. Instead of the true correction, we coat and cover our egoism so that it wouldn’t get out of hand and bother us while we live. Otherwise, we would simply eat one another up. Essentially, from generation to generation, we become increasingly skilled at concealing our ego, while hatred still keeps growing.

We have an opportunity to “scamper around,” hide behind the telephones, computers, and all other kinds of screens, and it helps. Everybody has a room or even an apartment; everyone drives their own car, not picking anybody up; people don’t get married and break their blood ties. In short, we erect a shield, a curtain, between the outbreaks of human egoism and, thereby, continue to live as if everything is alright.

It escapes us, but the services that we develop in the modern society are destined to free the space for everybody to live in order to prevent a confrontation with others. State and medical insurance, retirement plans, vacations are all the examples of our attempts to give a person more and more opportunity to feel independent from the society and isolate himself from another’s ego. We strive to allow and teach everybody to stay inside himself and not come out for the rest of his life.

As a result, our nature doesn’t get corrected, and this is why it has become a lot more ruthless than it used to be in the previous millennia. We simply learned to keep it tucked away, and hence, we are caught in the illusion that our civilization is still progressing.

In reality, however, it isn’t so difficult to awaken our egoism, to show our evil in the most vivid way. After all, it is raging within, and all one needs to do is open the valve—it will pour out like a flood.

Moreover, it will pour out to such an extent that man will be ready to do anything, without any empathy, since he doesn’t feel the others under his ego’s shell. He will kill, slaughter children and adults, families, and entire nations. He will sort people out for himself: He is a black, she is a white; he is a Jew, she is a gypsy, and so on. One can invent thousands of criteria or reasons to kill: the elderly have already lived their lives, those infants are born defective, and so forth.

In other words, without any regret or remorse, but rather proudly and in cold blood, man will do to others whatever he wants because he does not feel that they are humans as well, who have the right to exist like he does. We are not talking about Germans, but about all of us, while we remain uncorrected. If our egoistic desire awakens in the open, we will all become like this. It happened to Germans precisely because they were the most advanced, while today it can be any other nation.

Many nations have already sufficiently evolved for Nazism to manifest through them naturally and easily. They will feel no shame doing anything at all and will act according to the same calculations that the Germans had used to extinguish the Jews and other peoples. Today, the majority of the world is prepared for it. If we don’t reform our egoism, the tiniest excuse, a smallest spark, is going to be enough, and people will actualize their ego by the book: mercilessly, methodically, and accurately. They will come and destroy.
[42042]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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The Danger Has Not Passed

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: There is no hope at all that the Nazis will die off when the allies win because tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will embrace Nazism, since they are also in the world of democracy and Nazism.

No developed nation can avoid a Nazi regime unless we prevent this disease by taking a powerful remedy, unless egoism, which is integrally locked onto itself, is reformed. Why is Nazism, especially fascism, so attractive? “Fascio” in Italian means a bond, unity. This is the answer to why people gravitate to being one whole. Therefore, it specifically threatens the developed nations. Their ego is growing, and they are starting to feel the need to unite since it is programmed in nature.

But their actions are based on the forces of egoism: People give up personal gains and become a unified nation. They want to be totally equal, if not in terms of possessions, then at least in terms of general solidarity. Peasant and prime minister alike, they share the national pride which they place above all other peoples.

This is, in fact, a type of “national unity” that our development is asking for, a response to the demand of the time, which doesn’t include correction of egoism. In other words, fascism is the answer to nature’s calling for unity. The calling itself is clear; it feels timely and right, and in order to get stronger, people start looking at other nations with disdain. In their eyes, the other nations are far from, don’t understand or feel, and are not ready for this calling.

This is where all dictators, who bring a nation together, all Nazis, and fascists come from. Essentially, they answer a certain question. And hence, the danger is still hanging over us. It has not yet passed for humanity, and the events of the 20th century were a mere “demonstration” of what can still be. Fascism and Nazism are still threatening us.
[42038]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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To Be A Model For The Nations

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the Holocaust, not only the ideologists but also the entire nation hated the Jews….

Answer: Let’s put it this way: The entire nation was willing to accept the ideas of genocide without feeling any shame and guilt. It is a war, an ideological war, in which victory can be achieved only one way: by exterminating the nation which has an opposite idea.

Nowadays, tens of peoples can take the same course which the Germans took before. And everyone will instantly feel that, first and foremost, it is the Jews who are their rival and nemesis. Besides, it doesn’t matter what neighboring country a nation will be fighting with: “We have a war party going on here, but it’s all the Jews’ fault.”

Any nation that chooses the path of fascism will inevitably attack Israel with ideology. This is programmed in nature; there is nothing we can do about it.

Therefore, our only responsibility is to expedite correction. We must get corrected and unify, become a model and “a light unto the nations.” And then they’ll understand that it is the right, perfect example which doesn’t just provide a solution on the level of this world, but also elevates a person to the spiritual degree, the eternal life.

Having demonstrated such a model, we will be able to prevent the Third and the Fourth World Wars and all the misfortunes that might follow. There is no other solution. And hence, everyone who understands what danger is threatening the entire Jewish nation and all of humanity must participate in correction with all their strength and heart.
[42029]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do the horrors of the Holocaust combine with the principle of “There is none else besides Him” and “He is good that does good”?

Answer: There is none else besides the Creator; He is consistently good and does good, while we are opposite to Him. And hence, not reforming ourselves, we provoke the development and strengthening of the negative forces. In the world, only we possess free will. In reality, there is a balance of forces. However, in the process of exploring them, man tends to bring into the picture his own resentments, pains, and impressions, as well as worries and fears, along with the burden of his personal history.

When we approach something with our own instruments, we should study natural phenomena rather than the subjective factors that make us laugh or cry. As a true scientist, I research the forces of nature that in our world generated a form called Nazism. Who could have prevented it? Why did everything occur as it did?

This is what the research shows: A force that is good and does good acts upon us from Above, and there is nothing else besides it. The upper Light remains at absolute rest; it is invariable, and its laws are indisputable. One could provide many citations, and all of them prove but one thing: The Creator’s force and the program of creation don’t change because of our cries. They are constant and are moved by the engine that drives us to the end of correction.

The more we correspond to this process, the better our condition is. The less aligned to it we are, the more misfortunes befall us and we feel worse. Everything depends on our choice.

Essentially, the blows we receive assist our correction, but thereby we advance by the path of hardships and pain, which will bring us to the destination at a designated time. If, however, we study the system and seek an opportunity to adapt to it, we can advance along with the system, in accordance with it. Thereby, instead of being hit, we can evolve by taking a pleasant path of hastening time.

One way or the other, everything depends on us, on how we integrate ourselves into the mechanism that advances us and the whole humanity forward. Moreover, we are the only ones who can do it, unlike all other nations. Before anything else, Israel must become a model of a new, integral, global humanity, of “altruistic communism,” as Baal HaSulam defined it.

Having prepared ourselves for it, we will justify our existence. We have been chosen only for this. Only through a small group can the method of correction be brought into the world.

Therefore, there is no other option: We will either accomplish what we are supposed to, and then the entire world will be well, or, God forbid, we will choose the unpleasant path as it previously happened in history. There is no use in sitting and crying; we have to examine and evaluate all the factors and be very serious about it. This is what characterizes sensible and wise people, unlike little children who can only cry, which is exactly what the nation is doing so far.
[42026]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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An Honorable Task Of Becoming Righteous

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we switch from the state of a “sinner” who is unable to justify the Creator to the state of a “righteous man”?

Answer: To feel as a “sinner” is a very good, beneficial, and unavoidable state. While egoism is waking up in you, you are “under the protection of the Torah,” meaning that you have something to lean on: You have the Light that helps you understand that you are experiencing a downfall and descent.

You fall because you haven’t corrected your new desire yet, which is unfolding in you now. Hence, you see yourself as a “sinner.” A “sinner” is a spiritual degree, and a very honorable one. This means that I have reached a state when the Creator realizes that He can load me with an even heavier burden and I will be able to correct it! He seems to be inviting and assigning me a more meaningful, additional job.

But I haven’t corrected this additional load yet; I cannot aim myself at bestowal regarding it yet, so in this state I consider myself a sinner so far. But I don’t blame myself for it; I justify the Creator, thank Him, and rejoice in the opportunity being revealed to me right now.

This is radically different from how ordinary people interpret the word “sinner.” It is a very respectable state. The commander singled me out of the entire company and said: “Only you are capable of carrying out this task!” In other words, I am granted additional burdening of the heart, and I take it on a new combat mission. But for now, I am a wicked man, until I complete it and become righteous.

Pharaoh understood he was a sinner and the Creator was the righteous one. In other words, every state along the spiritual ladder is spiritual. The wicked are exalted degrees preceding the righteous. And so these states come in turns: One time you are a sinner, another a righteous man, and once more, a sinner and a righteous one, over and over again. It’s as though I am walking on both legs: One leg is that of a sinner, and the other of a righteous man.
[42002]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011, Shamati No. 6

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