Let There Be No Rich Or No Poor?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe essence of the method is to awaken yourself to move as quickly as possible, to take the force of development into your hands and control it. That’s why I organize the environment made up of people like me, in order for it to influence me and give me additional power. That is, everything depends on my impression from the environment—this is the measure of my ability to advance.

But I exist in a system of forces and have to know how to get from it the best and most effective influence in order to not harm myself and the environment. Indeed, the harm inflicted upon the environment will return back to me. In this influence there is a force called “the evil eye,” meaning an uncorrected human egoism not covered by a screen, which a person can set in motion unknowingly. Or the person may even be aware of these actions but can’t help it.

If a person sees that someone is more successful than he, he becomes jealous, whether he likes it or not. This can be good, productive jealousy, pushing the person towards development. That is, it could be “the good eye,” when I envy someone and try to advance too. Or it can be “the evil eye,” when I am so jealous I want to kill him because he is greater than me and this poisons my spirit.

There is a joke about this: “Are you making a revolution so that there aren’t any rich people? We were dreaming of a world without the poor….” Which state you desire makes the whole difference: that there are no rich or no poor? With what eye are you looking?

It’s the same in spiritual work: When you’re looking at a friend who is greater than you, do you want to bring him down or to advance yourself?
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Don’t Believe Your Eyes

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn Kabbalah, we talk about a person’s inner work. One needs to go deeper inside himself and, there, build images of the friends, the group, himself, his inner world, and his impression of spirituality, paying no attention to external impressions which may even be opposite.

The impressions one receives from the external environment may not be true because these are feelings that result from the states (Reshimot, informational records) awakening in him. One can’t rely on these impressions. Rather, one must rely on the images that he has built within himself of the friends, the group, himself, the Creator, and the connection between us.

I don’t rely much on what I feel today and see around me. After all, who sees this? I myself see, and I’m entirely in deception. So, it makes no difference what I see now. I have to build inside myself a model of the future world where we are all connected by mutual love and bestowal, inside of which we reveal the Creator as if in Divinity (Shechina).

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Do Not Trigger Fire Upon Yourself

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is a strict ban: You should never talk about the inner states in which you exist. After all, many of your friends still do not have the anti-egoistic screen, and they can harm you with their envy, hatred, and pride even without wishing to do so.

They seemingly do not want to harm you, but the lack of their inner correction forces them to do that if they see that you are above them and have more inspiration, if you achieved more connection and came closer to the goal. The one who has not yet reached correction cannot tolerate this and will harm you.

If you start sharing your personal sensations, you trigger the fire upon yourself. It is written that 99% of all failures happen due to the “evil eye.” This is not some mystical superstition that people believe in, but rather the normal envy of someone towards you.

As a matter of fact, we exist in the system of forces and connected desires. The one who envies you diminishes your power. Instead of love and connection, he passes a negative force to you.

If this just happens in the outside world, there is nothing we can do about it because the world is still uncorrected. However, if this happens with a friend within a group, and in addition, you are at fault for provoking such a reaction, it turns out that you harmed both him and yourself. You are the one who caused this “evil eye,” and it is not your friend’s fault because he still has not reached correction.

The system of laws force us to act this way. The forces of envy, hatred, pride, thirst for power and glory stand opposite to the positive forces of love and bestowal. In order to allow the positive forces to act within us, we have to be modest.

Kabbalists explain how we should use all these forces so that they facilitate good, effective, and fast advancement.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You keep saying that you would like to see your students being more autonomous. How does this kind of independence tie with self-annulment before the teacher?

Answer: Independence is the ability to make correct decisions autonomously and to act correctly, feeling and knowing what I would do if you were me. As a matter of fact, it’s even easier to use this principle in a large society. After all, we need a huge system to manage it. And if everybody puts forth their best effort to see in the same direction as the spiritual leader does and starts seeking how they can contribute to the common cause, we can’t fail.

It’s impossible to manage each cell in the body from one brain center; it would be too complex. In an integral system, everybody manages everyone else. And each of us has to examine how his or her opinion matches the view of the rest, accept the society’s view above their own, and act accordingly. This is what it means “to love others as you love yourself.” I don’t do what seems best to me; instead, I do what is best for the other. I work to fulfill his or her desire. And that is the essence of adhesion, oneness.

There won’t be one man with one heart unless we accept the collective point of view above our own. And for most, it’s a huge problem, especially for those who are good organizers. They think that they know how to arrange and manage society, and they use only their brain.

And here there is a great danger in how they and the entire society will be progressing. In fact, it’s easy to switch to the direction opposite to the spiritual path. On the outside it will look like they succeeded on the material plane, but they will not advance spiritually.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/11Shamati #25

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Kabbalists On The Approach To Studying The Wisdom Of Kabbalah, Part 5

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Importance of the Intention during the Study

The Creator, who created the evil inclination, evidently knew to create the remedy liable to eradicate it altogether. And if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either because he has been negligent in giving the necessary effort, as it is written, “I have not labored but found, do not believe,” or perhaps one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.

This means that while practicing the Torah, he did not set his mind and heart to draw the Light in the Torah, which brings faith [the property of bestowal] to one’s heart. Rather, he has been absent-minded about the demand for the Light that Reforms, although he initially aimed for it.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 18
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