A Head In Proud Loneliness

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Where does the point of our unity touch the rest of the world? Why is the correct intention not enough? Why do we also need the physical action of dissemination? What mechanism activates the people whom we address?

Answer: We are in the common system consisting of five “layers” of Aviut (the thickness of desire).


Overall, our world belongs to the zero or root degree of Aviut, more precisely, its rudimental part. In the language of Kabbalah this is called the root of the root of the root, or Malchut inside Malchut inside Malchut of the world of Assiya. Its desire is perceived in the form of matter that exists below the speed of light.

The electromagnetic phenomena, gravity, physics and chemistry, biology and zoology, and matter that we perceive and recognize, all of this is essentially desire of the lowest degree, separated from the Light that governs it. From the point of view of the person who attains, there is no Light in this desire.

This is why I work with matter. After all, a person must go by what he sees before him. And before me there is the still, vegetative, animate, and human nature of the material world, which is accessible to my five senses. This is where we start: not just from afar or a neutral point, but from the opposite place.

The matter of desire descends until Malchut of the world of Assiya and continues its journey down, into the egoistic area of the spectrum. 125 degrees of descent apparently are not enough, we fall even further in the five layers of egoism.

And the lowest is not just anyone, it is Israel. It was on the height of bestowal, and this is why it fell to the very bottom. On one hand, Israel is the “smallest of nations,” but on the other, it is “stiff-necked,” meaning the most egoistic. Consequently, it experiences the most ills, is distanced the most, but at the same time is able to use this world better than others.

Then, the Light causes “vibrations” and strongly influences Israel, and it begins to awaken. But coming back is no less easier, especially given the intermixing that took place over thousands of years, which also needs to be considered.


“Why do we need to care about others?” I am being asked. “Why do we need this connection with the world? Would it not be better to take care of ourselves?”

Where have you seen a head in proud loneliness? Why would you need it if not for the benefit of the body? It is written that Israel needs to become “a kingdom of priests” for other nations. They are not able to receive the method of correction on their own, but they will be able to do it through Israel, by being connected with it, through the breaking and the intermixing.

Thus, “Israel” is essentially a calling that obligates establishing connection with others. And this is only possible through contact on the material level of our world, the lowest degree of desire, which we perceive in this form today.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/2012, Questions and Answers

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At The Crossroad

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that we should not set any laws and should not change anything in the systems existing today in human society, but we should only focus on one thing so that everything that we do would be for the good of the integral humanity?

Answer: At first, it may be to benefit a small circle: first, for the good of the group, then the country, then the world; this happens gradually as humanity develops.

However, pay attention that we are not forcing anyone! Everything happens according to the rate of our development. We will not be creating the KGB here as was done in Russia where they tried to build a just society with coercion. We are achieving changes in the person who sees it as a necessity for advancement. We have no choice. Either we get closer to an atomic war and the complete destruction of the world (although today it is already crumpling without any wars), or we change ourselves in the direction of the good! There are only two ways, and we are at the crossroads.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 8, 1/5/12

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A Person Is Born In Joy

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe should be very happy that we have come to the most important work, the most important analysis that exists in all the worlds, even in the spiritual ones. Baal HaSulam writes that there is no happier moment in a person’s life than the moment when he discovers that he is unable to exit his ego and no effort of his own can help him. Then he comes to his first prayer, his first cry for the Creator.

This first cry is birth. An infant cries as soon as he is born into the world. And this means that a person was born.

Let us hope that we will attain this cry and become Human. This is why the effort we make towards it is called birth pangs. And we must be happy that we have come to this. After all, who do these birth pangs reach? We have to be happy and serious at the same time. But joy has to come from the status, the mission. This is where spiritual life begins.

When an infant is born, adults are happy even though he is crying and screaming. Likewise, the Man within us (the one who did all the work and all the analyses) rejoices, and the infant, now being born, is still suffering from the pressure, sadness, and the perception of disturbances. They both must be together.
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From Lesson 1, The Arava Convention 2/23/2012

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Four Steps Towards The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does a person feel the effect of the Light that Reforms? And if he does, how does he feel this influence?

Answer: The Light that Reforms constantly affects us. But its effect is revealed after a number of stages through which it puts us. It’s just like in the four phases of the expansion of the Direct Light—only when Malchut reaches its completion and the entire realization of Keter occurs in it, only then does a leap to a new degree take place and Malchut of the upper Partzuf becomes Keter of the lower one. And once again there is a multitude of inner actions from Keter to Malchut, the degree becomes completed, and a birth on a new degree takes place.

This is why the Light always acts upon us, but naturally, as strongly as the power one uses to activate it. But even when the Light affects one in a good way, there is still a need for certain inner actions, until one begins to recognize Keter, the root, inside these actions: Why things happened the way they did, who did it, and so forth.

This is why when we begin to feel Who works with us, what for, what He wants from us, how He created us, how we need to react to Him, and the way we react to Him now, this means that we have reached the point of Malchut within us.

This way in the four phases of the expansion of the Direct Light Malchut suddenly feels: “Keter is an absolute giver, and I am an absolute receiver. I cannot tolerate myself the way I am! What do I do with myself?! I want to restrict myself!” Malchut has the power to restrict itself. Kabbalists tell us that on such a high level the power to restrict oneself and to stop working with the egoistic intention really exists.

But we do not have this power. Why not? It’s because we need to attain love and bestowal. This is why we have to connect with others. This is how we learn what bestowal is, and together we demand for the root, Keter, to give us this power.

Everything fully corresponds to the four phases of the Direct Light, either directly, from Above downward, or in the opposite direction, from below upward. There is nothing else.

Hence, when a person feels within him that he is beginning to perceive where the influence of the Light is coming from, this means that he has not only attained the realization of evil, but also the root of this realization.
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From Lesson 1, The Arava Convention 2/23/2012

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What Can We Give?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we intend to receive only for our own sake and wish to come out of this intention and bestow, what can we give? We have nothing to give because we only wish to receive….

Answer: We can give our desire to bestow to the group. This is enough. The fulfillment comes from the Creator, and the desire to bestow comes from us. I have nothing to give, nothing to bestow. I will give you what He will give me to give to you. This way we examine the connection between the Partzufim: The upper one, the one who receives first, gives to the lower one what it has received from its upper one.

We only need to build the intention between us, for me to desire to bestow instead of worrying about what I can bestow.
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From Lesson 1, The Arava Convention 2/23/2012

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A Screen Against All Doubts

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: According to our reason (“within reason”), we don’t value the friends: We disregard them and we hate them. However, with faith above reason we must accept society’s opinion that it’s worthwhile to see them as great in order to get inspired. So it turns out that I can force my material body to smile and play, but it doesn’t yet enter my feelings. Is this called faith above reason?

Answer: If you feel hatred towards your friends and yet must arrive at the state when you begin to feel love towards them, this is not called faith above reason. It’s the same as when someone brings me a culinary dish that I am unfamiliar with and I don’t like it at first. I don’t even understand how people can eat such a thing. However, if I keep trying this dish every day, after a month it’ll seem to me that there is nothing more delicious.

It’s as if I have been told: “Check above reason that this is delicious, try once, twice, and then you’ll taste it thoroughly and will be convinced. Then, you will ask for it yourself.” However, this is not the kind of faith above reason about which Kabbalah speaks. We don’t value this kind of faith at all. If I am simply following my friends’ advice, this is how the whole of humanity acts; all of the commercials are built on this, convincing you to accept faith above reason that you need this thing and to buy it.

This is not faith above reason but is simply getting accustomed to any new thing that is still unfamiliar. We are drawing it closer and begin to love it within reason; we acquire a taste for it.

However, in faith above reason relative to the Light, I want it to be as elevated as possible in my eyes, meaning higher than all of my doubts. But I want those doubts to remain in their full height. My feelings and reason don’t agree with it, but I want to be similar to it to an extent that’s higher than my agreement with it. This means that I am connecting to a higher Light.

Let’s say that there is a wise man, the more I don’t understand him and simply realize that he is wise and decides things in a completely different way from my reasoning, the more I am impressed by him. Meaning that we should develop our faith above reason relative to the form clothed in our matter, relative to the Light, the Creator, and keep holding on to it.

The Creator suddenly clothes in me and says: “Let’s hug like brothers!” And at the same moment when I am about to hug Him, I must raise Him higher than me, exalt Him even more. Otherwise this is receiving within reason, receiving for the sake of myself, shattering.

Do you feel where the border lies here? This must always be above my reason, against my desire. And in this form I will be ready to connect to Him.

The difference between how I feel Him inside of myself, unite with Him, have contact with Him, and how I raise Him above myself, this difference is created by the screen. And then, even if I receive from Him, I receive it for the sake of bestowal. He reveals Himself each time and shows me that it’s as if He is the same as me, while I constantly want to see Him higher than myself, raising Him ever higher. This means that I am protecting myself and I take care so that I always have the screen.

Faith above reason is my protection from receiving for my own sake. One can speak about this endlessly, while on the other hand, there is nothing else besides this. You must unite with all created beings, beginning with Adam HaRishon, like one man with one heart, and the Creator must constantly remain on the very top of the mountain for you.

If I intend to attain this within myself, to unite as equals, then this is called within reason. However, if I aspire to constantly retain it above myself, this will be above reason. What is important here is my tendency, my aspiration, so that the Creator will be above me. I don’t connect with Him simply, on equal terms, like two friends who feel themselves as equal, but I always retain Him being above.

That’s why I wish that there always remains something that I don’t fully understand or feel. This will mean that I am aspiring ever higher and higher. As long as a person has questions and doubts, it’s thanks to them that he keeps developing.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/15/2012, Writings of Rabash

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The Special Role Of Zealous Egoists

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: People differ in qualities, and there are people who have a special role. They are the carriers of the method of integral upbringing and education, and they must teach, convey, and tell all of humanity about it.

Answer: True, there are people with high sensitivity and susceptibility toward this specific integral method. About six to ten percent of people in the world strive toward integral interaction. They represent the vast variety of altruistic organizations, fighters for different freedoms. These are not revolutionaries, but fighters for the environment, protection of wildlife, and so forth. This number includes volunteers who help others such as the poor, the hungry, and so on.

However, these are people who simply strive toward this kind of communication, toward integration. As a rule, they do not have a high and deep level of understanding of the integral system. Nature made them this way.

Then, there are people who by nature are very real and very zealous egoists. As we see from our studies, they are not included in the six to ten percent of natural altruists. These are very regular egoists, and the understanding of the need for integration becomes revealed in them because of their desire to understand the meaning of the world, existence, and the law of nature, its plan. They want to know where evolution is taking us, why it is so binding, and so forth.

These are scientific people who wish to delve into the very essence of evolution. They make up the squadron that leads humanity toward the goal. Nature did not make them altruists, but their altruism develops according to their research and realization of the need for this process.

We are trying to find these people in different corners of the world; with the help of a dedicated dissemination system, they come to us. Currently, there are around two million people around the world who are connected with us, despite their origin, religion, nationality, and lifestyle.

They are united by a common aspiration to correctly realize man’s advancement toward the goal, reach it, and change the direction of humanity so that instead of advancing through suffering, it will advance through the realization, meaning intentional, conscious unification. We are trying to find a connection with these people and organize them.

Question: Can these people participate in the creation of the integral upbringing system?

Answer: Absolutely, they are the ones! We are preparing them. We have a course for leaders of integral upbringing and education where we do special training, including working with people, teaching group games, active events, and primarily making an analysis in groups where people gather to discuss themselves, society, and all the problems that can appear between them.

We purposefully cause special problems in these groups. Then, they divide into subgroups such as defendants, prosecutors, critics, judges, jury, and so on, and they discuss these problems. These are very serious discussions.

We really do not invite psychologists to participate since we want people to develop internally, independent from the enormous psychological apparatus and the entire mass of collected information. We want them to regard it from the point of view of an integral goal. With psychologists, everyone works on his own part.

We have plenty of materials regarding this and a lot to work with.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #10, 12/16/11

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The Group: An Inverted Amplifier

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is pretty clear to people in a regular educational system where they should make an effort. For example, a student in school pays attention during the lesson, takes notes, does homework, makes a lot of voluntary intellectual effort, and sacrifices rest. When the person grows up, he does the same: He works instead of having fun. These efforts are understandable. What are the integral efforts over egoism? Is there a place for volitional efforts?

Answer: In general, there shouldn’t be any. When a person properly positions himself in relation to the group, the environment, he arranges it to have a positive influence over him and for him to have a positive influence over it. Then, this precise interaction works so that a person changes willingly, without noticing it himself. Basically, he makes very little volitional effort to evoke the group’s positive influence.

Indeed, if I make a small effort in the group, and the group, composed in a special way, reacts properly, this proper group set-up organizes and forms a force that influences me. The group’s reaction to my request changes me immediately and correctly. When I exert a little effort and make a small request of the group to change me, I receive a thousand times more than my impulse, and I change. In other words, the group is a special inverted amplifier that comes back at me with such a degree of reverse connection that it forces me to change.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #10, 12/16/11

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A Fight For Leadership?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When uncorrected egoists gather in a group, there are people among them who dominate, take leadership positions, and begin to appropriate and redistribute the group’s intellectual, emotional, and other resources. What is the right way to work with such phenomenon as leadership in an integral society?

Answer: It means that this is a “community,” not a group! From the start, we establish a set of conditions according to which a community can be called a group, regardless of whether it is big or small. This can be ten people, twenty, thirty, or a million.

A group is a community where no one person stands out. Every person must integrate so much into the group that he becomes absolutely whole with it. His interaction within the group consists of his entering it and taking the place he feels he needs to take to bring it to absolute harmony.

In this way, everyone searches to answer the question: “What can I do to make the group harmonious, homogeneous, to make sure that the relationships between everyone are equal? If I see possible imbalances, I can fix them, make them smoother with my attitude and participation so that there are no differences and no one is bigger or smaller. Only this connection has to exist, reaching such a level of unity where we feel that something absolutely new appears.”

This unity is something new that is born from individualities. And it has the right to exist.

We support this existence. We cherish it. It is like our mutual child. We think about it in such a way that it seems to begin to separate from every one of us and exist outside of us. In the end, this unity pulls us in so much that every one of us loses his own egoistic individuality and acquires an integral individuality within this unity. This integration does not exist without me, and my participation consists of making it whole.

At the same time, everyone receives the influence of the common mass that supports and obligates him or her as if we were in one boat. Here, a little effort really leads to a great result.

Question: What do you do with those who aspire for power and possess leadership qualities?

Answer: This manifestation of the aspiration for power, these leadership qualities, is an aspiration for power over yourself.

Question: How do you make a person who strives to rule the group change his direction? After all, people like this literally can fight to the death?

Answer: It is through discussions. Make a video of your group, then watch it with the objective of bringing everyone to integral, absolute, and harmonious interaction. Discuss who needs to be moved, who needs to be raised, who needs to be eliminated, who needs to be brought closer to whom, and how we create an absolutely integral mechanism so that we will connect like cogwheels and spin in unison, no more and no less? Everyone needs to make an effort in this direction.

Question: Is this the goal?

Answer: You have said that every person goes to work and makes an effort to achieve something. We are attaining this!

Here, we are revealing our own egoistic nature, and here no one can say that we are not egoists. Everyone reveals enormous internal, egoistic resistance. Everyone has this area of work.

We need to help each other in this and understand people who jump ahead. Something is happening with them. They are failing to understand something. They have different moods. We are constantly smoothing things out and integrating between us, without lowering or oppressing anyone else (only one’s self).

We do not point anything out to anyone. We only discuss things externally, and everyone treats everyone else absolutely objectively: There is one object and another object. People are not ashamed of either their negative or positive qualities, understanding that they come from nature. What does not come from nature is that we must bring ourselves to integration through mutual help.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #10, 12/16/11

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Encouragement That Gives Energy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We have discussed how important it is to introduce integral signs of distinction and awards.

Answer: We must take encouragement into consideration, but not corporeal encouragement. The encouragement should be various signs of distinction, incentives, certificates, diplomas, or anything that gives people the desire to continue to ascend and attain the goal.

This also marks a certain degree that he has completed. It is actually very difficult to define yourself in relation to others in an integral movement because a person is constantly doing inner work in correcting himself and including himself into a single organism.

It is a very good when society encourages you. When the encouragement comes from your spouse or your children, the person feels enormous strength from being respected and valued by his relatives.

Question: What do you mean when you say “non-corporeal” encouragement?

Answer: I refer to non-corporeal rewards, not money, but signs of distinction. There can be no other kind of encouragement here. For example, an instructor who completes a course well will receive a badge and a certain rank, perhaps even epaulets or something similar.

Question: You said epaulets, and I thought of the army. People invest so much effort for stripes that are meaningless. Can we introduce the same?

Answer: Yes, absolutely, any incentives. The goal is what matters. When a person strives toward a goal, even if it is for stripes, he does not care about the stripes once he achieves the goal because the goal is what matters to him. However, right now, we need to encourage people like little children because we need them to attain the goal.

Question: Can it also be a roll of honor as under the Soviet rule?

Answer: Of course. By the way, the Soviet system had a very correct disposition, just an incorrect realization. This is why everything failed. If everything had been based on education, real and true education, instead of repression when people were forced to unite, driven into Kolkhozes and places like it, then they might have had succeeded even back then. Now, it is a necessity; back then, it was just an opportunity.

Question: So, all that had a purpose?

Answer: Absolutely. People had a goal. First of all, there was a certain equality. There was a common culture. There were certain false ideals, but still ideals. People were brought up in a completely different way. Despite all the deformity and ugliness of the way things were imposed on people, the actual theory was integral and correct.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #9, 12/15/11

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