Introductory Lecture “The Power Of Unity” – 11.01.11

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “The Power of Unity”
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Connection Attracts Light, Separation Darkness

Dr. Michael LaitmanStarting back with the four phases of the Direct Light, Bina divides into two parts: the first part wants to bestow, and the second part decides that in order to bestow, it must receive. And then it creates Zeir Anpin, destined to receive for the sake of bestowal. The action of ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva), which come out of Bina, is essentially the realization of Bina’s bestowal.

This is why we, the creatures, are the Creator’s action. We pertain to ZON, and the Creator pertains to the upper one, Bina. In the worlds, this manifests in the Partzuf of Arich Anpin whose Keter and Hochma remain in its head, and Bina comes out of it and descends into the body. As a result, all spiritual degrees divide the same way into Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, separated by a precise border.

When we connect AHP to us, we merit for Arich Anpin to begin working with us and to give us the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), the Light of spiritual life, in addition to the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), which comes in response to our desire to connect between us.

We only need to ask for connection. The problem is that we become lost in a multitude of made up desires. But from all these useless desires we only need to select one important and truly eternal demand that brings us to the eternal purpose, and not some temporary impulses that arise in us along the way and throw us in different directions we immediately forget about.

The only demand is the desire to connect. After all, initially we were united in our perfect state, but it broke, and we found ourselves separated. What else can we demand from this broken state to attain eternity? Only connection!

We are not able to connect independently, but only with the help of the Light of AB-SAG that will evaluate and correct our desires. But we must start this action on our own, in other words, try to connect and find out what we can do with our own powers and which part is left for the Light.

There is no other purpose in our world but connection. This is why nothing but unity will help with the crisis that is now being revealed. It is the result of the borderline that has appeared between us, our breaking.

And all other actions will indirectly bring us to the realization of the truth that the only thing we need is connection. But the dissemination of this knowledge will help us to shorten the path towards realization, to reveal the true need faster, and to suffer and wonder on this path less.
[59128]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/2011, TES

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Not Just Like Nuts In A Bag

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When there is a disaster or a war, people unite and help each other, they take in people who are hurt, and it’s as if there is mutual guarantee between us. How can we explain that mutual guarantee should simply be between us and not against some third party?

Answer: I think that now our interdependence will be revealed not because some disaster unites us. In the past we felt our mutual guarantee under the pressure of threats around us, and so we clung together, like nuts in a bag. We didn’t want to unite, but the bag held us together, and as we had no other choice, we had to exist inside one bag.

Today things are different. Today we are facing nature, the upper force, and not some corporeal enemy that surrounds us and can be killed and destroyed. Nature shows me that I depend on and am tied to everyone else. If I just lived next to some enemy, it wouldn’t be a problem. The point is that I am totally dependent on him. I am so dependent on him that I can do him no harm. As I harm him with my hatred, I inflict harm upon myself.

A system of interdependence is being revealed to us everywhere in the world and with regards to everything. In every situation that I cause someone harm, I harm myself in return. This is how the general integral system is revealed. Essentially, every person in the world is part of me, and through him I feel all the evil that comes back to me.

Doesn’t Germany want to dump Greece or to be cut off from it? But it can’t! They can’t just “cut off” Greece, Italy, or Spain because there is already a connection that makes them dependent on everyone. You can’t just hate others because by your hate you are simply “shooting yourself in the foot.”

This is unprecedented, and so everyone feels so helpless not knowing what to do: “I hate his guts, but I can’t even touch him because of the blow that will immediately come back to me.” We can’t “fix” the situation by breaking up our connections. It is impossible!

If I harm someone, the harm will come back to me in much greater magnitude than if I harmed myself. It’s also the same in the opposite direction: If I do good for others, the goodness comes back to me 613 times more compared to the starting point, meaning instead of Nefesh of Nefesh, I receive the Light of NRNHY.

So I shouldn’t say or think evil things about anyone, not even half a word. It’s better to curse myself. This will become clear to everyone. This is how globalization will oblige us to change.

To reach this by ourselves, we will have to go through a long way of suffering, while the wisdom of Kabbalah reveals this to us much more quickly.
[59057]
From Lesson 1 at Arava Convention 10/27/2011

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The World Is Already Mutually Connected, So What About Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We mostly work in our local groups. How can we divide our exertion correctly between the work in the group and joint activities with other groups?

Answer: First, we have to try to be part of the general plan, according to which eventually all our groups throughout the world have to feel as one big group. The problem is that we don’t have enough people, specifically project managers. We have to organize the work so that every group should take part in the general process, according to the character of the country and region.

Now for example, the world experiences a period of uprisings, and we have to get all our groups to work in response to it. This, of course, has to be done considering the local conditions, gently, reasonably, and in an understanding way. It cannot be that one group wants to deal with it and another doesn’t. After all, it is the present need. If the world already feels that it’s mutually connected, we have to treat it as a group. It may not understand the situation yet, it may be confused, but it has already been formed.

The spiritual system is being revealed today, Malchut of the world of Assiya, and so everyone already acknowledges global unity. Once it was perceived differently, but now it’s exactly this way. Kabbalists used to say that the wisdom of Kabbalah will be revealed at the end of the 20th century because Malchut of the world of Assiya descends into our world. We can describe it differently: It is revealed from inside, like a net that rises from the bottom of the ocean and closes up on us, the small fish that are caught within it.

This is the situation in the world today. We are in this net, but we are in it willingly, unlike the others because it leads them to a crisis. This is why we have to do our best to explain to those caught in the net: “This isn’t the end of the world at all. We can’t escape this net anymore, don’t even dream about it. We can understand its laws and use them in our favor. If we understand the situation, we will attain pleasure, eternity, wholeness, and a wonderful new life. Things won’t be the same. So let’s see what it’s all about. After all, we have no other choice.”

We have to “advertise” the new reality. Today politicians, experts, and leading scientists already talk about it. This is our work with regards to the world and our groups.

Many of us are still worried about our own problems. A person wants to attain the spiritual world and doesn’t see it in connection to others. I remember how I personally found it hard to digest this idea. I heard and read about it a lot and still couldn’t connect it directly to myself. “What’s written there is one thing, and I am another thing.” A person can use nice words externally, but internally treat the world in a totally different way. So only the general force of the group that operates on all of us together can gradually lead us to the right understanding.

Today we rise to a new level. Previously, everyone made his personal calculations: “If everyone studies, I will join them too, in order to attain spirituality.” Then we began to speak a little about the connection in the group, that it’s the only way by which the spiritual world can be attained. This isn’t simple, and we haven’t totally agreed to that either.

Now we are facing a new and more advanced condition, and we can’t slow down the process of evolution. It doesn’t depend on us. We only agree that if the process is headed in this direction, we will go along with it because there is no other choice.

Today the same problem is revealed all over the world. But it manifests differently in the world and seems to turn it in our direction. People are beginning to suffer from being connected to each other. We want it in the group and at the same time can’t reach this mutual connection. It’s the opposite in the world. The connection ties everyone together against their will. If the group also went in this direction, things would be much easier.

But we don’t see that we are connected to each other. We are living like isolated islands in the ocean of humanity. It discovers a tightly growing connection from which there is no escape, whereas we, in the groups, seem to be totally disconnected.

This is how we are obliged to connect willingly and independently and to build the general network between us. I have to connect it myself. Within the huge network of souls, our groups are free of the strings of the general system. Thus, we are given the opportunity to connect to the network using our own powers and to create these connections. This is our work.

Let’s hope that we can explain this better to ourselves, including those who have “moved aside” because they can’t accept this situation. This is why I have great expectations for the December convention. After all, today the whole world is already mutually tied while we aren’t. This means that it is we who have to get ready for the connection and shout: “Let’s unite!”

We have to see that the world is more corrected than we are. Everyone is connected from Above without any preparation. They are simply “caught in the net.” We, however, have to discover this net and to build it by ourselves, and then our “islands” will draw the whole world to them and will teach it how to function correctly in the new spiritual mechanism.

Let’s hope we will succeed in making an important step in this direction in the coming convention.
[59060]
From Lesson 1 at Arava Convention 10/27/2011

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Spiritual Birth In The Light Of AB-SAG

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe first phase of the Direct Light (Behina Aleph) in the world of Infinity is the desire to receive pleasure, which was created from the Above and filled with the Light of Hochma (Wisdom). After that, the creature discovers that it is a receiver, it does not wish to receive, but instead, wants to give. Thus the second phase, Bina, appears.

This is a natural reaction within the creature, created by the Creator. From this it follows that the natural form of the desire to receive is that it strives to bestow when it is filled with Light! And this is what we lack. If the Light was to fill my desire to receive pleasure now, I would immediately wish to become like the Light: a giver. This is referred to as the “Light that Reforms.”

But why are all the corrections performed by the Light of AB-SAG that helps us be born in the spiritual world? Partzuf AB is the desire to receive with a screen, which operates in reception for the sake of bestowal. It has the strength to be near the table, across from the Host, and say: “I am able to receive this and enjoy so as to bring contentment to You. I enjoy, You enjoy as well, and we are united and connected due to the treats or pleasures that exist between us. But the pleasure I receive does not come from the food on my plate, but from adhesion with You.”

Partzuf SAG has a smaller screen, and it is not able to receive for the sake of bestowal, but can only give. It can give the creature what it has: the desire to bestow, the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). Whereas Partzuf AB can give its power—the desire to receive for the sake of bestowal—to the lower one. The union (Zivug) of AB-SAG, which produces the Light of correction, is like father and mother, the masculine and the feminine parts together, and not just a single Partzuf.

You would think, why wasn’t AB able to correct the creature on its own; after all, it is stronger that Partzuf SAG? SAG is only able to bestow, while AB is able to receive for the sake of bestowal. But SAG adds something special due to their connection with one another, their position.

In order to clarify this, it is very important to understand the difference between reception for the sake of bestowal and bestowal for the sake of bestowal. Bestowal for the sake of bestowal is the intention. It is not an action yet; I only want to bestow to Him, but I do not do anything in practice. Whereas when I receive for the sake of bestowal, I already work with my matter.

The creature that is doing the evaluation really needs to possess both notions in order to understand what it means to only be in the intention to bestow in comparison to an actual opportunity to bestow. After all, all the problems happen when we transition from our nice and good intention towards the actual possibility to bestow, which is exactly what happened during the breaking of the worlds. The intention was wonderful and correct, but look what happened at the end when it came to actual reception.

This is why for correction neither the Light of AB or the Light of SAG alone is not enough, we need them both: the Light AB-SAG. When they manifest in the lower one together, they make it understand that there might be wonderful intentions in its head, but all these intentions can collapse in the body, when it comes to real desires. After all, it is not the same thing.

But in our case, before we acquire a spiritual head and body, like those of the Partzuf, it manifests in the form of ascents and descents. When we are in a state of ascent, we become euphoric and ready for anything because we think that it is very easy to bestow. But as soon as a little desire to receive pleasure is added, we immediately fall into it, no longer want anything, and become simple animals. This is how the difference manifests between the way we act due to the Light of SAG and due to the lack of the strength of the force of AB.

The descent shows us how much we still lack. The intentions were wonderful, but what has come out of it? And then we have to raise a prayer, MAN, in response to which the Light AB-SAG comes and makes up this correspondence between intention and action.

All corrections must be done by the Light of AB-SAG, the Light of Hochma and the Light of Hassadim, which connect together. When they come to the creature, they teach it “the father’s ethics and the mother’s teaching.” In other words, both forces are necessary here, each acting on its own. Later, we will see the mutual work of these forces everywhere. All of this is so the creature could figure out the difference between the desired state and the actual one.
[59051]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/2011, TES

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11.01.11

Writings of Rabash “What Does It Mean that the Land Gave No Fruit Before Man Was Created at Work”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” “The Palace of the Sky Itself, Hod,” Item 511, Lesson 21
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 8, “The Eser Sefirot of Olam ha Atzilut,” Item 18, Lesson 7
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Writings of Baal HaSulam The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” “And to Cleave Onto Him,” (start with: “However we must still understand,” Lesson 5
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