Audio Version Of The Blog – 08.02.12

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Under Pressure

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe should yearn for unity and constantly “hit” on this unity point until we reveal and attain what we want; until for the first time we’ll feel the spiritual world that is revealed in unity, according to the law of equivalence of form. Time after time we clarify things and discover new details and new manners on the way. Many phenomena are discovered as a result of the pressure and so we need to press to a certain extent. Then the Light that is inside will be revealed to us.

Question: What is this pressure?

Answer: Pressure is searching. As it says, “On my bed at nights I searched for my beloved.” I lie in the dark, which means that all the parts of my spiritual Partzuf are on one level, and I am without the Light, without an understanding, but I am searching for: Who is sending me these states? What for? What does he want from me? How can I contact Him? And then He is revealed.

Question: But where is the pressure here? The search seems like a pleasant adventure….

Answer: It isn’t good if we don’t feel pressure. Our mutual guarantee should provide us all with it. We need an internal pressure, an inevitable question that doesn’t let go: “Will we succeed in attaining the goal or not?”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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Are You Awake? Don’t Lie Down!

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe hear more and more new details on the news about the general global crisis, although many things still remain unsaid. The real situation is much worse than we know. The world leaders themselves are not aware of the actual extent of the problem.

So we have to disseminate the method of correction as fast as we can. It’s our duty. We haven’t developed it enough. We have to accelerate things and “hit the gas pedal.” Then we’ll be able to prepare it and to present it to the world.

In Israel things are also going from bad to worse, and this is only “mild decrease” from Above. They are meant to make us feel pressure and to want to “sweeten” them. We have to explain to people exactly how we can sweeten the bitterness.

We hear about it, we understand what’s going on to a certain level; we have received an awakening from Above. If we don’t try as hard as we can to develop the method in order to present it to the people, we are putting ourselves in grave danger.

We’ll be the first to experience all the troubles in order to awaken us to fulfill our vocation. Baal HaSulam writes about it at the end of “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar.” He says that the Jewish people are responsible for the nations of the world and so we are also responsible for the Jewish people. If people have been awakened, if they can hear what needs to be done and they don’t do it, I won’t rejoice at their troubles, but I am telling you in advance that the troubles will undoubtedly arrive. It’s because the Creator has assigned a special role for each one and we mustn’t escape it.

Here is a passage from Baal HaSulam, Letter 18: And so there is no correction for a person, but to straighten all the present moments and all future ones so that they shall be dedicated and presented for His great name. Whoever postpones a moment before Him, since it is difficult, reveals his stupidity to everyone, since all the worlds, and all the times are worthless for him, when the Light of His face is not dressed in the changes of the times, although a person does change by them in his work.

We have no choice; we have to devote all these moments. If you don’t do that you automatically summon upon yourself the right account. Your inaction will not drown in piles of overdue paper work like in the case of public servants, and no one will pity you, since we are in a system that has clear laws.

You were awakened. By fulfilling it you feel a positive response and can go on. What’s more, you are not required to do more then you can, since this is a closed system that takes all the parameters into account. But if you don’t fully respond, you’ll feel the pressures that are put upon you accordingly.

So if you are sitting and waiting for something, it’s a great pity, the results are inevitable. I don’t understand what you are waiting for if you already have the opportunity to connect through the group and to wake up from the dream. Let’s hope we will be wiser.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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The Point Of Freedom: The Beginning Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Where is the point from which my freewill begins? What does it include? How do I see the world through it? How do I divide things into important and unimportant, major or trivial, how do I arrange my priorities?

Answer: Freewill begins from a point called the “root of the soul.” This is where the soul begins. So the search for this point is the main thing and we go through it and learn during the preparation period.

The clarification of the point of freewill is possible only when we reach the first level of bestowal, the lowest one. Then we begin to understand what we have to choose and from what. After all, we always choose between two options. If we had to choose between two identical things we wouldn’t be able to choose. It would be hard to make a choice so we won’t decide. We have to find a defect or an advantage in one compared to the other.

So freewill is only possible if I choose the attribute of bestowal instead of the attribute of receiving. If I can tell the difference between these two attributes and decide that I definitely prefer the attribute of bestowal rather than the attribute of receiving, then according to this scale I will already be able to start clarifying what is better and what is worse in every aspect.

This means that first, in order to choose freely, I have to be free of my desire to enjoy and to know what to choose: the attribute of bestowal, and to know that I should choose it at every moment. This determines my level. So every time I choose the attribute of bestowal instead of the attribute of receiving, I advance. This is the only thing I should do.

But the first point of freewill in which we exit exile and become “a free nation in our country,” which means in our desire, free of our ego, appears at the moment a person transcends the Machsom, the barrier to the spiritual world. Until then it’s the time of preparation.

After we transcend the Machsom, we also advance in an “unsown path” that goes through the desert and then we choose the Land of Israel, which means that we want to reach the desire that is aimed straight to the Creator (Yashar El), and is totally in order to bestow. But we still don’t feel benefit and advancement. These are the “forty years of wandering in the desert,” although it seems that it’s possible to cross it on foot in a week, like the Sinai desert. Why should we wander in it for forty years?

This time is essential until a person attains all the discernments inside him and can choose the desire to bestow called “the Land of Israel,” instead of the egoistic desire called “Egypt,” in a state that is called a “desert” for him. In the meantime nothing attracts him to bestowal. After he enters the Land of Israel, he encounters greater problems. After all, the desire to enjoy begins to receive spiritual pleasures there and he has to overcome them so that he can receive in order to bestow.

To sum up, the meaning of freewill is to what extent a person always prefers “faith above reason,” which means the attribute of bestowal over the attribute of receiving.

In corporeality it’s expressed in constantly seeing the revelation of the Creator in every state I go through. After all, He gave me these feelings and He presents to me the world around me. He plays with me from both directions, both from within and from the outside, and leaves me only one point of freewill in order that I correctly stabilize my attitude in the internal world He has imprinted in me towards the external world, so that He can be revealed. Eventually I have to connect myself and the external world in order to reach the one and unique form called “There is none else besides Him.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/27/12, Shamati #113 

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Jerusalem: Not Stones But The Spirit

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is “Jerusalem” in the spiritual sense?

Answer: “Jerusalem” (Yerushalayim) in the spiritual sense is a “perfect awe” (Yira Shlema).

As The Book of Zohar explains, we have a commandment of fear and a commandment of love. The first commandment is fear, which can be of different kinds: from this world, from the future world, for oneself, for the community, for the Creator, and so forth. So, “Jerusalem” is the perfect fear, the level of Bina, which then develops itself in order to become the basis for receiving the Light of Hochma for the sake of bestowal. That is why this level is called perfect, on it, the Light of Hassadim and the Light of Hochma are together in one vessel. This way, the fear, meaning, Hassadim, holds the Light of Hochma, and this perfect state is called Jerusalem.

Besides that, as we know, each of the four levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human natures contains in itself all of the others. Accordingly, on the human level there are also the previous levels, the still, vegetative, and animate. Finally, the ascent along them reaches an interaction (Zivug) of a maximum depth, that “place” where all of the creatures, connected by a common net, come to an integral state and come to the merging, to the drop of unity with the Creator.

That is what Jerusalem is. This is how we will see it, as the point of the highest spiritual quality, as the drop of unity. The Temple will be there, the high priest will be there, we will bring everything into this point.

But, perhaps, you suppose that Jerusalem is a city on a map? No, we are not talking about that. The material world will disappear, will rise in our perception to a spiritual level. The picture, which we see today is distorted by the forces of filth. This is a dream of those who are in materiality. But we want to awaken from the dream, then the shroud in the form of this world will disappear and we will see the true reality in which everything is united.

So the point is not in the buildings located on the Temple Mount; the work we need to do is internal. Throughout all of the years that I spent with Rabash, just once we visited Jerusalem. In his time, Baal HaSulam left Jerusalem for Jaffa. Therefore, clarify your expectations regarding the ancient stone slabs. In the branches, they symbolize what is inherent in the root, and we need them in order to get to the root from the branch. However, if we cling to the branches, then we will never arrive at the necessity for correction.

Today, the material still dominates in us. Some believe that if the stone blocks were to be arranged according to the drawings, which seem correct to us, then we will suddenly breathe the spirit of life into them, that we will endow them with holiness and spiritual force. In the same way a child makes an airplane from the materials he has at hand in the hope that it will fly.

Who really knows how to create spiritually today? It is good people are waking up, thinking about it; however, we understand that in this approach there in no spirit of life, no understanding of what really needs to be done.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Goal Of Life Instead Of Drugs

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from DailyMail): “British children as young as seven are taking ecstasy and cannabis, it was revealed today.

“Nine-year-olds are also trying cocaine and often it is because their parents are failing to control them, experts say.

“The Government’s annual crime survey has shown for the first time the youngest users of the most popular drugs in Britain – cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine.

“They found almost one in three who have ever smoked cannabis first tried it when they were under 16.

“Around six per cent of those who had ever taken Class A cocaine took it first at school and 8.2 per cent had taken ecstasy before they turned 16.

“Jeremy Todd, chief executive of the charity Family Lives, said: ‘We speak to thousands of families every year and evidence shows that parents are the main influence on how children approach drugs and alcohol. …

“But it appears that drugs are getting less attractive to young people. (…) Cannabis use has dropped the most, while there have been reductions in ecstasy and cocaine compared with the 1990s.

“High school children taking drugs is down 12 per cent and the number of under-16s trying cigarettes is at its lowest for 30 years.”

My Comment: Drug use goes; the desire to reveal the meaning of life comes. This is the next form of desire that a person will have to satisfy. It begins to appear also in those who don’t use drugs. It is the desire to understand what makes life worth living, what the purpose of nature is, and what it wants from us. The very existence no longer gives people force to live. The struggle for life will become so severe that if not for drugs, then suicide. The sharp decline in birth rates, the general reluctance to start a family, the lack of goals will force people to find it.
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Integral Education From The Cradle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is an integral family or an integral relationship in a family?

Answer: When it comes to an integrated family, ideally, from the earliest years, literally from the cradle, it is necessary to prepare children to interact properly with each other. Parents need to understand that they must educate the child so that he will become an integral member of society, and then it will be good, easy, and secure. But first, you need to educate the parents in this spirit, and then this chain will continue since everyone is interconnected with each other, especially in a family.

I think that those people who didn’t receive an integral education, but have created a family and plan to have children, should begin to take at least a short course, which afterward will be supported regularly by weekly lessons and training via TV, via the computer. This should be mandatory.

After all, a woman during pregnancy inspects all kinds of advice. Therefore, if once a week she comes with her husband to an integral education course, it would be good for the family, also for the connection to her husband, and afterward for the education of the child as well.

If we introduce this education, then we will receive a completely different generation, both according to the quality and also according to the rest of the pyramid. The integral education of the child is latent in the family and afterward we need to naturally continue it in kindergarten, in school, and even in the workplace or schools where every person has the opportunity to take short integral courses, and afterward to simply be in some supportive structure.
[84245]
From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 7/8/12

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Collapse Of The Institution Of Marriage

Dr. Michael LaitmanAn integral family is the system of bringing people closer to each other. This is not just an ordinary relationship of two people who do not have integral knowledge and who begin to interact at a natural, animal level that subsequently leads to their marriage.

Indeed, in that case, they do not understand why they want to be together. It is possible that, if they had learned more about each other, they would have understood that, in principle, they do not match each other.

It is not for nothing that fortune telling is so popular nowadays. We do not really know how to approach each other. People are turning to psychologists, to healers, and to all sorts of techniques. In the old days, grannies and nannies explained all that quietly, and that was enough.

Today, with our developed ego, in our spoiled society, we certainly need support and training so that we can learn how to interact with each other correctly, and, in general, to understand whether we can become partners. The institution of marriage is now crashing and going deep “underwater,” dissolving so that only memories of it remain; it is a consequence of that fact that we are running integral education and upbringing in the family circle.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 7/18/12

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Instructors Of Integral Education: Worth Their Weight In Gold

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Should we prepare those who now are taking the course in integral education to become instructors?

Answer: Absolutely! The method of changing a person must serve all of humanity. Everyone who understands, knows, and knows how to teach this method will be viewed as a public treasure.

They will be needed at any enterprise, in manufacturing, government, school, and family, as family counselors, psychologists, and so on. People will need them.

That is why we just need to educate instructors from our friends who are studying both Kabbalah and the method of integral education. They are the foundation, the source through which the upper force will act on the entire world.

People will feel this. Each person will be worth his weight in gold. He will be appreciated greatly and be extremely popular. That is why we must prepare them as teachers, tutors of integral education, and for all ages, for both men and women.
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From a Fundamentals of Kabbalah Lesson 7/15/12

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.02.12

Preparation to the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulamThou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before,” Remember and Keep Were Said in One Utterance, Lesson 4

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The Book of ZoharSelected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 147

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 1, Part 3, Chapter 4, Item 4, Lesson 10

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Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 58, Lesson 23

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