Good Environment – 07.24.11

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

There’s No Discrimination In The Spiritual Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We see our friends from Los Angeles and representatives of different nations on the screen. How well do they understand our Biblical language?

Answer: Both we and they must interpret this language in the terminology of desires and understand it according to the inner way of reading.

I have my inner truth. For example, in this world I am of Jewish origin, and sitting next to me there is a Chinese friend. I am separated from my truth by the confusion of the first order, and he—by the confusion of the second order.

Let’s detach from this material world. We both have a specific egoistic desire. According to his level of desire, he is called a “Chinese” person and according to my level of desire, I am called a “Jew.”

There’s No Discrimination In The Spiritual Work

Thus, he and I both have to perform certain work in order to get to the truth. This is what the notion of “70 nations” points to. Each of them has its own work, but it is absolutely the same for everyone to a specific measure. We think that this is not so, but in reality, the work differs only slightly by its external style, although it is entirely identical by the inner specifics, by the relative depth and the phases of the path. We all have the same work.

It seems to me that it’s very difficult for another person, that a third is not making it at all, and a fourth was already born an angel and is attaining the goal offhand. But in reality, nothing is known to me and I do not see the general picture in which everything works equally.

Thus, the great egoistic desire is divided into the “70 nations of the world” and Israel. Don’t think that Israel has an easier time than others. It’s just that every person makes efforts from his own layer of the common desire.

The real work of Israel lies in coming out of all the “70 nations” to the truth. After all, it is included in them by means of the breaking. It is written about this, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” That is why representatives of different nations come to us—desires that aspire straight to the Creator from the common receiving desire. They express themselves as Israel and are now called precisely that.

Everyone else who are not awakening are called “the 70 nations of the world” and will have to correct themselves later on. But one way or another, all the qualities and opportunities of every person are precisely “optimized.” Not one nation has precedence in spirituality.

You might object, “But the common ‘body’ of Adam HaRishon contains some organs that are more important and some that are less?” That’s true, but this relates to the order of correction: At first the purer desires start the correction, and then the “coarser” ones. However, perfection erases all disproportions.

Therefore, it’s enough to have a small wound, the absence of just one cell, and the whole body is devoid of perfection. In this sense, everyone are equal, by the principle of equality of the general and the particular.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, “Arvut

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Fundamentals Of Kabbalah – 07.24.11

A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

A Clash Between The New And The Old Worlds Inside Of Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanInside of the head of every degree (Rosh) a collision occurs between the Light and the screen, meaning between the intention “for the sake of bestowal” and the pleasure that is directly felt inside of the will to enjoy. Direct pleasure is as if I feel something tasty in my mouth, and this taste is directly connected with my desire.

But now I have to inflict a blow, meaning introduce a new calculation, implant myself in between the pleasure and the desire which are inside of me together. I have to stand between them and give them a new form of connection, because out of the two of them, I want to build the Creator so they would treat each other with bestowal!

This is called a blow (Hakaa) because I come forth against this direct connection between pleasure and desire. And by virtue of that, I build the head of the degree.

The “face” of the Partzuf is the form of its bestowal which a person has built out of the new relationships that he wants to establish between the pleasure and the desire. He stands between them and does not let them come into direct contact because he wants them to relate to one another only in the form of bestowal. That is how he builds the form of the spiritual Partzuf.

That is, the form of the Partzuf is built on the basis of the new relationships between the pleasure and the desire. And after that, the Partzuf does not want to accept all the others parts of the pleasures and desires which were unable to take on the form of bestowal, the form of the Creator. It turns out that he is left with an excess of desires and Lights which are beyond his calculation.

That is when a clash arises between this remaining direct form, this additional, separate Partzuf in which the desire and pleasure are connected directly – and the new, holy Partzuf that has been built, which contains the right connection between the pleasure and desire, creating a “face.” And the person senses the clash between these two forms: between receiving everything for himself, as the Creator persuades him to do, and the new form of bestowal that he has just created. The mutual collision of these two forces is called “the collision of the surrounding and inner Lights.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Concealment Of Perfection And Even Of Its Absence

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe originate from the state of total perfection, called “the world of Infinity.” The only thing missing in it is the realization of this perfection. And it can only be revealed as “the advantage of the Light from the darkness,” meaning by first revealing the lack of perfection, and inside of it—the perfection.

In order to create the sensation of imperfection, many details of concealment unfold in the world of Infinity as a preparation for us. The greatest concealment is the one we are in now, in this world, at the last level of concealment after 125 levels of it. Therefore, these levels are called “worlds,” “Olamot,” originating from the word “Olama,” concealment.

All that we have to do is reveal the world of Infinity, the perfection we are in according to the plan of creation “to delight the creatures,” in order to understand that this state really is the most perfect, wonderful, and good out of every possible state.

At first it seems to us that our dark state of concealment is completely tolerable. We even enjoy it and do not want to move from it to any other place. But then, more and more, we reveal things in this life that do not satisfy us, and start discerning what is imperfect in our state and what can become perfect in the future.

That is how we find many things that we lack (meaning, imperfection): food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge. And that’s how we reveal that inside of these sources of fulfillment, there definitely cannot be any perfection. Fulfillment is possible only if I come out of myself and fulfill others, thereby becoming equal to the Creator. That is, I have to reveal the Maker, my Creator, and become similar to Him.

After all, he is not present in my material state, in my current desires and needs. In order to find Him, I need a completely different aspiration—a need for bestowal. And as a result of my bestowal to Him, I will reveal Him inside of me and will attain adhesion. That is, I will acquire the same form, the same quality as He has. This will be my true, new desire—the only thing I lack, the thing that defines my imperfection. And there’s nothing more! There’s only the desire to reveal the quality of the Creator inside of me until I reach total adhesion.

When a person makes efforts to attain this desire, along the way he sees that he needs the means for it: the group, the whole world, the teacher, books, the study, and work above knowledge. But in the end he reaches the sensation of imperfection and understands that perfection means adhesion with the Creator, with the quality of bestowal that becomes revealed in a person. But now he does not have it!

This realization is called “I made efforts and found” because now he finds the right desire. And if he experiences his state as imperfect and lacks only the quality of bestowal (bestowal for the sake of bestowal, or even reception for the sake of bestowal), then a change occurs inside of him and he goes from a lack of perfection to perfection. And in this regard, everything is determined by his efforts.

However, the efforts shouldn’t be the ones he wanted to make from within his egoism, but according to what he hears from the teacher and carries out in the group. And on the way he sees many states like that, where he has to lower himself and carry out the instructions of our teachers, the guides on the path. That is how he tips the scale with his efforts, by lowering himself before the advice of the Kabbalists.

And then, from the “613 recommendations” (Eitin) he reaches the “613 instructions of the Torah” (Pkudin), meaning he corrects his desires and merits a “finding” – the revelation of the Creator inside of creation.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, Shamati

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A Systematic Discrepancy

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have never been in the situation that we are in today. We have never experienced a discrepancy between two systems. Today all of us together constitute a common, integral system (“We”), but it is egoistic. And at the same time we are inside of the natural system, which is permeated by bestowal and love. The difference or gap between these two systems is what creates the sensation of a crisis.

This difference keeps growing because we are developing in our egoism, while the upper system is coming closer to us. In particular, the crisis is being expressed precisely due to the revelation of nature.

In the past we expanded our system over the course of history, until we reached today—integrality and interconnection. However, every person continues to operate within his narrow interests, even though he can no longer shed the global bonds and is entirely dependent on others.

As a result, we end up with interdependence and mutual hatred, which stand in extreme contrast to the force of bestowal that influences us. Moreover, on the inside we are bound together with one another and at the same time, disunited to the maximum. And in addition, we are opposite to the Creator.

This opposition and difference in qualities brings us troubles. They are only starting, but at the same time they are inciting man to discover the reason for what is happening. After all, if something bothers or harms us, we pay attention to it.

Therefore, today, for the first time in history, the science of Kabbalah is being revealed to us. The time has come for us to consolidate so the Creator and creation would unite by a single force, a single connection. In other words, the time has come to correct the crisis, to get rid of the troubles, and to achieve discovering the system we are in, which is impossible without attaining the upper force.

We do not see the integrality of the natural system because we are not integral on the inside. We are discrete, disunited, and singular—each of us is by himself. I don’t have an integral mind, an integral way of thinking, and I cannot take the whole world into consideration.

But on the other hand, we constitute one whole, and by the law of a single body, I cannot make a single action unless I am sure that it will have a favorable affect on all of my systems. That is why we cannot attain success in anything.

In the modern world, no matter what system you look at, everything is falling apart: education, culture, the economy, relationships between people, families, children’s upbringing, and so on. Everything that we have created in the process of our development is crumbling. And this process will keep growing worse, becoming expressed more and more.

The problem here is not that we “screwed up” somewhere, because everything was initially programmed. It’s just that today all of our systems are opposite to the integral, correct system. Now I have to take the whole world into consideration, but by my nature, I am not accommodated to that. So what should I do?

I care only about myself, or at most—about my family, environment city, or even country…. But caring about the whole world? Even if I wanted to, how can I make this happen? I don’t have any preliminary base for that. For that I would have to be different on the inside. I must have an integral system inside of me so I would naturally think about the world as a whole just as I think about myself. That is the only way I will attain success in the economy, industry, and trade—in everything.

Otherwise, there will be no success. Today this is still weakly expressed, but soon the picture will begin becoming clearer.

Thus, nature or the Creator is obligating man to feel that he is part of the whole, a particular soul that belongs to the common soul. We suffer because we are not parts of the whole yet, and by this suffering each of us is being pushed to unite with others. However, the path of suffering is very difficult. As we know, it can bring us to death, and we’ll still have to suffer a lot until we get there.

That is why the science of Kabbalah is being revealed, wishing to explain the current state of affairs to us, to show us the system we are in, and to teach us to change ourselves, transforming from discrete fragments into integral parts, each of which contains all of the others.

For the first time in the history of human development, man no longer changes nature on the outside, does not make external egoistic actions, and does not use all of his knowledge to change something outside of him. The external changes have ended. Everything has become finally formed on the outside, has frozen, and won’t change any longer. From now on, I am the one who has to change.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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In A Circle Of Great Kabbalists

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll Kabbalistic texts are intended for Kabbalists in order to convey inspiration and impression among them, as well as knowledge of the connecting network between the souls in which they exist. The aim of this is to reveal the upper force, the Creator faster, and to move other souls closer to correction.

We can also use these books without even knowing or understanding what Kabbalists write to one another because each of them writes on his own level. But when we read them like little children, aspiring to find out what they write there, what they want to convey to one another, and what they want to describe to us, when we open up these books by great Kabbalists, wishing to become similar to them in unity and mutual bestowal, meaning to join them, to join the system of souls where they exist in a connection with one another, to take our place among them, to gather in the same circle, then, with the help of these manuscripts, we merit coming closer to them.

That’s because the texts written by Kabbalists contain their force, their thoughts. And if we desire to cleave to them, then by trying to unite with one another and by reading their texts together, we are asking to enter this system and to join the state they are in.

Therefore, while reading The Zohar, we should try not to forget that with the help of this text, we want to become corrected and included in the same system that already contains the souls, and we are the only ones still missing there in our unity. We come there once we connect with one another and desire to enter the same system where all the great Kabbalists already reside. In essence, this state already exists there and we are only searching for it. After all, The Zohar talks about our future state, which we reach and join.

So let’s imagine ourselves in the common system of souls, among these great Kabbalsits—and let’s ask for it!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, The Zohar

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The Point From Which One Enters The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the reason for the fact that when we read The Book of Zohar and keep a very tangible intention, it suddenly disappears, and we understand that it has disappeared only once we remember about it?

Answer: That’s obvious! This is given to us so we would demand the sensation. We are unable to keep two thoughts in our mind. What can be better than attuning myself correctly before reading The Book of Zohar, together with the friends, in a circle, and inside of it desiring to reveal what we are reading?

However, what happens is that I attune myself and start reading, and suddenly I become immersed in the text slightly more deeply. Then I no longer use it as “Segula” – the special quality of the Light, wishing to reveal it in the connection between us. Instead, I switch my attention to the text itself, aspiring to understand it and to attain it, the way I read regular books, wishing to find out what they’re talking about. I don’t perceive what is written there as something that happens inside of me, between us, inside of us, but as something that exists outside of me. I immediately shift to the external picture.

After that, all kinds of alien thoughts come to me and I start “traveling” in these fantasies and calculations.

This happens until a person sees that he is unable to come out of this and it deprives him of the right approach where he would literally be able to “latch on by the teeth” in order to hold on to the right attitude to the reading.

What should he do? Eventually he reaches a demand that he needs the sensation—not to get to know the text or hear it, but to enter this picture, to attain it. He wants this to happen, for this picture to become clear to him. Just as he is in this earthly reality now, so he has to find himself inside of that spiritual reality.

Therefore, this entire confusion, all of these states have to bring us to such despair that we will desire only the sensation, while clearly realizing that we are incapable of anything on our own, even of keeping the intention. But nevertheless, we will clearly discern exactly what we do need.

Then, on one hand you understand that there is nothing you could do and there’s no point even in opening up the book. You reach total despair. But on the other hand, you know that you are unable to leave this path because your entire life is in it. And then, you receive it….

This point is truly critical because from it, you can enter the spiritual world. And that is what really happens.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, The Zohar

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The Fruit Has Ripened

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhy do we need the science of Kabbalah? What’s the need for it?

We perceive the world through the five senses. We see the “picture” of this world, live in it, and arrange our lives in it. We develop the sciences in order to attain it. We have enough mind and feeling for that. We study the world and accommodate ourselves to it in joyful and troubled times. Then why do we need the science of Kabbalah, even if it’s not fantasies or lies? Is it to know how many angels there are in the sky? Or to become acquainted with the upper force, the upper world?…. Maybe it’s time to go visit a doctor?

We don’t understand why we need this. Even the people who admit that Kabbalah speaks about the spiritual world still don’t feel a need for it. Some people are a little afraid of it, some feel repulsed by it and are negatively disposed to it. There are plenty of hindrances. And no one puts them there deliberately. It’s just that this is how we are built, this is our nature. We erect the obstacles on the path ourselves: We neglect it, don’t desire it, and reject it. After all, we are driven by the egoistic desire, which is far from the spiritual world and opposite to it.

As a result, the science of Kabbalah appears unrealistic to us. When we come to it, we don’t understand how this happened and what keeps us here. We often leave it and return to our regular lives, to the place where we have strength, money, and power in our hands, instead of a “fog.”

When Kabbalists attained the spiritual world, they understood how important and great it is. After all, it opens up the true life to a person, instead of the perishable existence on the animate level. We act on the level of the animate nature and depend on the body: I am alive as long as it is alive, and I die together with it. My “I” is inside of it. On the other hand, Kabbalists master the human level—the level of being similar to the upper force, of existing in attainment, in the sensation and power that is equal to the upper force, and of being equal to it to some extent.

Thus, the science of Kabbalah is a great asset that gives us eternal existence instead of our current miserable, short lives. But there’s no one you can tell this to. That is why the science of Kabbalah was concealed for a long time, until humanity starting feeling a need for it instead of neglect, fear, and dislike. That is what happened to us as well: We did not think or plan on it, but suddenly we felt a need for it. It turned out that without this, our life is base, animalistic, and empty. We lack fulfillment.

In reality, Kabbalists did not care what people were saying about the science of Kabbalah and how they viewed it. The world was always confused about it and believed in all sorts of fables. Kabbalists knew about this and did not pay any attention to it because their primary concern was to guard people from the “unripe fruit.” And the unripe fruit is not the science of Kabbalah, but man’s desire. Man is the unripe fruit. He is still unable to “digest” his ego and transform it into something good, so it would benefit him.

When unripe egoism that isn’t able to correct itself yet encounters the science of Kabbalah, it rehashes it into mystical teaching, philosophy, religion, New Age, and so on. Baal HaSulam writes that the revelation of The Book of Zohar by Rabbi Moshe de-Leon’s widow caused great damage, all sorts of obstacles and problems. That’s because people took the wrong path to spirituality, following their egoism instead of the desire to correct themselves.

However, today we have entered a new era. Kabbalists assert this and we see this in our world as well. The world already realizes that it has found itself in a foul situation. The universal crisis is enveloping the worldwide village in which everyone is interconnected by egoistic bonds. We are discovering that our egoistic network has become global, that we are inseparably and incorrectly interconnected.

We cannot come out of this situation and we don’t have any possibility of being saved from egoism’s clutches, which are pressing on us more and more strongly.
In these conditions, we are revealing the need for the science of Kabbalah, which is the only method that offers the real solution to the problem.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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What Will We Leave To Our Children?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (M. Kravchuk, U. Krasnov, V. Malinin, terrahumana.ru): Even a mass transition to new technologies will be barely effective if the users of these technologies do not change their attitude to the world around them and do not agree that the world is a single organism, while they are just parts of this world.

Man broke the general balance of material circulation in nature. The majority of industries, technologies, and inventions created during the last three hundred years are unilaterally aimed at consumption and destruction and are detrimental to the planet.

In his activities, the modern human opposed himself to nature and acquired the feeling that he had conquered it and become the king of nature. But nature affects people by a set of feedback loops. From one year to another, the world’s political leaders impose on us the idea that modern civilization has no alternative, and the existing condition is the inevitable cost of our comfortable life.

The authorities claim that they provide the world with energy, food, and employment, but they overlook the fact that the use of these technologies leaves little chance of survival for the children and grandchildren of these people. The question is: Who needs these industries and their products if they put under threat the future of humanity? To recognize the global crisis is unprofitable for the government and business because they cannot solve it.

My comment: Scientists see the root of the problem in man’s opposition to nature, and the solution to the crisis in replacing egoistic instincts with a spiritual principle. But the method of implementation is still unclear for them. And in their nature, they are far from its practical realization. The opinion of the world scientific community should be organized to become widespread and strong so as to influence the governments (upwards) and people (downwards) in order for the governments to pass decisions on the integral and global education of humanity.
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