Audio Version Of The Blog – 09.13.12

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A Bolt That Causes The Destruction Of The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”: And each and every individual in society is like a wheel that is linked to several other wheels placed in a machine. And this single wheel has no freedom of movement in and of itself, but continues with the motion of the rest of the wheels in a certain direction to qualify the machine to perform its general role.

Suppose you are a bolt in an engine and you break down. As a result the whole engine breaks down together with you. So the car and the passengers inside are unable to move, blocking the road for other cars with other passengers. All this is only because of one small bolt. There was such an incident in the English army, when the king lost a battle because of a horseshoe that broke off the horse. The horse began to limp and this demoralized the soldiers and led to their defeat. Later they found out that one broken nail was the reason for their defeat and for the death of thousands.

So what is the price of one single bolt? It is worth all the damage that it can cause if it breaks down or doesn’t function properly. It turns out that you are worthwhile to the world according to your value, because we suffer because of you. However, if you do your job, then we will reach the end of correction. This means that you are dear to us, actually priceless, since everything depends on you. In other words everyone is worth a whole world, both according to his contribution and according to the damage he can cause.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/10/12, “Peace in the World”

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The Light Operates Without Any Days Off

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we measure to what extent the Light that Reforms influences us?

Answer: At the moment, it is impossible to accurately measure the influence of the Light since a person doesn’t have the tools to measure it yet. The problem is not with the Light or the upper level but with the person himself.

We may say that a person is influenced by the Light that Reforms to the extent that he yearns for the Light. But a person cannot measure his yearning, although it is his own desire, his efforts, his tension. The reason is that he is constantly in a state of ascents and descents and cannot count these moments and his efforts, neither the ones that he does consciously nor unconsciously.

All this accumulates eventually. It is an accumulative process, as it says “many pennies make a large account,” and when eventually there is a large account a person feels that another portion of the Light that Reforms comes.

The truth is that the Light constantly influences us, but we only feel this influence after a certain portion is filled and attained on our level of sensitivity. Thus it seems to us that the Light comes in portions, while in fact it constantly influences a person.

The Light influences us even when we don’t think about it and develop naturally. The Reshimot (informational genes) emerge one by one, and the Light influences them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be fulfilled, and we wouldn’t develop. By the blows of life you become wiser, you understand more, and get closer to bestowal, which means that the Reshimot come out perpetually, and the Surrounding Light operates on them.

But the Light that Reforms is the Light that you yearn for, and you perform special actions so that it will influence you and hasten the natural emergence of the Reshimot and the influence of the Light. Although it is the same action, the difference is that you summon it and demand it and that it doesn’t come by itself.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Boundaries Of The Egoistic Integration

Dr. Michael LaitmanMan is a social creature, which means that he depends on everyone and everyone depends on him, but this is revealed gradually.

All of human history is the essence of the social revelation of man. When he climbed down from the tree he lived in the society of the family or the tribe and then gradually expanded his social boundaries. On the one hand, the ego which separates him from others developed in him, and so he had property—a house of his own, his own field, his own camels, horses, sheep, servants… on the other hand, he became more dependent on others—one person became a blacksmith, another a shoemaker, a third became a tailor, another became a farmer, and they were all dependent on one another on the human level of exchanging goods and services. This is despite the fact that a person actually doesn’t want to give anything but only wants to take.

Thus the wheels of the global mechanism started moving since there was no other choice, although no one wanted to coordinate his actions with others. Society developed throughout history along two lines: a growing mutual dependence and a growing egoistic repulsion. People closed themselves by city walls and political borders until this irreversible process reached a dead end, as we have a big ego, and we all depend on one another. This is what is revealed to us today at the end of the two trends that started in the past and have shaped mankind.

Today we have no choice: We are totally dependent on each other and totally hate one another although neither aspect has been fully revealed yet, and we still have to discover this. On the whole, it is revealed by the upper Light that Reforms when we try to connect so that we can rise towards it.

Suppose we want to connect worldwide, what will be the benefit of such an action? By seeing the initial advantages of the connection, we will also see that we are very far from it, absorbed in evil. This is because good and bad are measured in contrast to one another. So time after time, by yearning for the good, for unity, we will rediscover a new evil, which is called the “war of Gog and Magog”—Armageddon…

On the whole, our general collective mechanism is operating now too if we look at it from a different level of clarification. The wheels are spinning and the parts are working. The question is whether you agree with the actions of this mechanism when they are revealed to you. This is how we should examine the situation, from a more mature level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/10/12, “Peace in the World” 

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Advancing Through The Points Of Adhesion

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll the troubles and the hardships that we come across, about which The Book of Zohar tells us, are interruptions on the way to adhesion. After all, if we were in adhesion, we wouldn’t need to explain anything or write about it. The only thing we lack is to reach adhesion—this is the correct request.

If my request is correct each time, I will constantly be in adhesion according to my request. I only need to ask, but the request has to be for the right and clarified absolute desire—relatively to the state I am in.

If I could request correctly now, I would reach adhesion, on my relative level, of course. Thus the desires, the conditions, the inner attributes and the external ones would change in me each time, and if I asked correctly I would advance straight from the bottom up through these points—from one point of adhesion to another.

So all our work is to ask correctly, when we clarify our request more and more accurately. There are many conditions for the preparation for this work: This whole world, the friends, the study, etc. all this is in order to clarify our request.

This world and the friends are the components of my desire that I need to clarify. The only thing demanded from me is a prayerMAN. Therefore, it says that every correction is performed by a prayer and good deeds by which we clarify our desire.

The book tells us about the desires we have to ask for in our prayers. Kabbalists don’t write about anything else but that, since you will discover everything else by yourself.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/12, The Book of Zohar

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Bacteria Have Social Roles

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from MIT News): “Many organisms — mammals, birds and insects, for instance — also form cooperative social structures that allow resources to be defended and shared within a population.

“But surprisingly, even microbes, which are thought to thrive only when able to win the battle for resources against those nearest to them, have a somewhat sophisticated social structure that relies on cooperation, according to MIT scientists. These researchers have recently found evidence that some ocean microbes wield chemical weapons that are harmless to close relatives within their own population, but deadly to outsiders.

“The weapons are natural antibiotics produced by a few individuals whose closest relatives carry genes that make them resistant. The researchers believe that the few antibiotic producers are acting as protectors of the many, using the antibiotics to defend the population from competitors or to attack neighboring populations. …

“This makes cooperation involving antibiotics doubly surprising, because the ability to produce antibiotics is a classic example of a ‘selfish’ gene that ought to increase the fitness — or reproductive rate — of the individual carrying the gene. In a strictly competitive environment, the microbe would use this advantage against its closest relatives. But now it looks as if this competition is modulated by social interactions where antibiotics produced by a few individuals act as ‘public goods:’ items that benefit the group, rather than just the individual.

“This differentiation of populations into individuals that produce antibiotics and those that are resistant is one of the first demonstrations that microbial populations engage in a division of labor by social role. This observation also provides an explanation for why so many genes are patchily distributed across genomes of closely related microbes. At least some of these genes may be responsible for creating tightly knit social units of bacteria in the wild.

“’It’s easy to imagine bacteria in the environment as selfish creatures capable only of reproducing as fast as conditions allow, without any social organization,’ says Otto Cordero, a CEE postdoc who is a first author on the Science paper. ‘But that is the mind-blowing part: Bacterial wars are organized along the lines of populations, which are groups of closely related individuals with similar ecological activities.’”

My Comment: This is not surprising because the developed egoism makes it necessary to unite for the sake of defense. So, as a result of the crisis, we find that in order to survive we need to unite above and contrary to our individualistic egoism.
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The Formula For Bringing The Creator Contentment

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll of humanity is one spiritual body and the correction is not meant for the part that can be spurred but actually for the part that cannot.

It is possible to bring contentment to the Creator only if we perform the whole formula. I correct myself in order to connect to Israel—to correct it, and then to correct all the nations of the world.

The Formula For Bringing The Creator Contentment
This means that my prayer should include the following components: Me correcting myself in order to build a common desire with others, the corrected part of the desire called “Israel” or “Shechina” and Malchut.

All this is in order to connect with the nations of the world—in order to bring contentment to the Creator.

We should plan the end of the process and this is why I begin. If it weren’t for the final result—contentment to the Creator, I wouldn’t start this whole process, since then it would be an egoistic action.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/12, Shamati #46

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Two Desires Engaged With The Thought Of Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe desire is divided into two parts because of the “four phases of the Direct Light.” The first group of desires belongs to the root level, the first and half of the second level of thickness. The second group belongs to the second half of the second level –Bina, the third level, ZA and the fourth level, Malchut.

The first level is still part of the spreading of the Light that operates on the desire. The second part belongs to the desire to enjoy that performs different actions and wants to resemble the Light, which means that it belongs to the reaction of the desire to the Light. Its first part, the lower half of Bina is the plan of the operation, like a “head.”

Two Desires Engaged With The Thought Of Creation
But when the desire develops, every level includes all the levels that preceded it. In phase one there is the root phase, in phase two there is phase one and the root phase, in phase three there is the root phase, phase one, and phase two, in phase four there is the root phase, phase one, two, and three. This means that every level includes all the previous phases and it adds what mainly characterizes it.

Phase four, Malchut, is actually the created being in which all the other phases are included, the vessels that absorbed the attributes of the Light and are therefore close to correction. The purest levels of the desire that is in the created being is the root level and levels one and two are called “Israel,” while levels three and four are the other nations of the world that cannot correct themselves by themselves because the Light operates in the first levels while the desire determines everything in the last levels.

Therefore the “Israel” desires can be corrected under the influence of the Light. They only need to draw the Light to them when they work against their ego. They still have a small desire to enjoy and it’s as if it doesn’t disturb them from getting closer to the Creator. The third and the fourth levels cannot draw the Light by themselves since their desire is so strong that they cannot even think about these corrections.

But according to the thought of creation, it is these desires that have to be corrected since the fourth phase is the true created being and the Creator’s goal. Israel is the link between the Creator and Malchut that can absorb the attributes of the Light and with its help, when it’s incorporated and connected with the rest of the desire, to correct its thick part.

Two Desires Engaged With The Thought Of Creation
So there is a mixing of the desires and as a result, Israel includes the nations of the world and the nations of the world include Israel. This incorporation comes from Above, but later there should be a clarification with the help of the work of Israel. This part of the desire that has penetrated deeply into the other layers can draw the Light that Reforms and with its help, clarify itself.

Of course Israel has to feel the pressure of AHP, of the nations of the world who need this Light, so that the desire to draw the Light will be formed. Israel itself doesn’t need anything; it is initially only vessels of GE, Bina. But when it experiences the pressure of the nations of the world, it feels that it needs corrections.

Then Israel draws the Light that Reforms and corrects itself when it connects to the collective body, GE. The collective desire that they build then is called the “Land of Israel,” and the connection among them is called “Knesset Israel” (the Assembly of Israel) or Shechina, the assembly of all the souls of Israel, since that part is already aimed at the Light (Israel meaning “Yashar El” – “straight to the Creator”).

If Israel deals with the correction, the Surrounding Light begins to operate even on the second part of the desire, on the nations of the world, when it brings them peace. If Israel doesn’t worry about its correction, the nations of the world feel pressure and begin to pressure it more strongly. The nations of the world force Israel to unite whether in a good way or in a bad way.

The process of correction is mutual: GE starts it and then the nations of the world join it. How the process will take place is up to Israel, whether they hasten time, which means whether they aspire for correction or not.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/9/12, Shamati #46

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Expanding The Soul By Corporeal Means

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring the study you should combine both corporeal and spiritual aspects to your attitude with the material—both feeling and understanding. We have to combine the mind with the feelings and include all the means that we have in the world: our mind, our perception, our ability to analyze and synthesize, which means to summarize and to clarify.

But this doesn’t mean that a person with a great potential to study can penetrate the material more deeply and someone who cannot study will penetrate it less. Everyone will have relatively enough abilities: mind and feeling in order to attain the goal of creation—his own end of correction. By incorporating with others he reaches the general end of correction just like everyone else.

But now it is about the work, the exertion. It doesn’t matter what I leave the lesson with, I also have to try to understand it—I have to understand the inner spiritual meaning by my corporeal mind.

This means that I have to try to feel the phenomena that are not part of me yet: love, bestowal, giving, incorporation in the desires of others, connection, something that is outside me, outside my feelings. I have to exert myself emotionally to be outside myself, out of my skin.

Then I hear what these phenomena are called and how they are explained in the books, about how a Kabbalist connects them in the system and what weight he gives them: what is higher, what is lower, external or internal, what expands in height or in width. Now I have to try and connect to these phenomena, which are not somehow felt inside me, by using my mind. However, even though I don’t feel them, it helps me approach them and hold on to them at least by some means of perception, even though it is logically. Thus, I expand the vessels of my soul.

The more efforts I make in order to connect the phenomena that I don’t feel, the more I expand my ability to perceive them and approach the spiritual feeling. Although I use corporeal means, my exertion determines the whole work. So, no matter how much everyone understands eventually, one can philosophize beautifully about it as if he already understands everything, while another does everything in his power to understand and doesn’t succeed, but the efforts are what count.

You shouldn’t try to be stupid, but the wise aren’t more successful here than others. The advancement isn’t determined by individual actions at all, but only by the exertion itself, both in the feeling and the mind. It makes no difference whether someone was born more emotional or wise, it is only his exertion. The exertions should be without any special tricks, just consistently growing exertion. These are the ones who succeed, as it says: “Everything is found on the outside!”
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/3/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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We Are So Close That Words Are Not Necessary

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Let us say that we are discussing a certain integral system in a group of integral education. I cannot restrain myself; I wish to explain the way I see it, but someone else also wants to express himself at the same time. What should I do in regard to my desire? Should I restrain myself and let the other person speak?

Answer: The way you express yourself does not really matter here because you are beginning to transition to the field of feelings. When you begin to work with them on the level of the integral inner composition, you will see that your feelings and thoughts add together with the others. Suddenly, others begin to express your thoughts and feelings, to the point that you do not really need to speak. It turns out that when you include yourself this way in everyone else, you begin to influence them.

You can reach a state where you will begin to feel and perceive one another without words, without the help of your body since you will perceive and feel like you are inside that system you have created between you. And you will not need any physical, verbal communication. You will feel and perceive like you are together in one system where there is no need to descend through our bodies and discuss things on the corporeal level through physical communication.

In other words, we will feel so strongly that we are together in one desire and mind that we will not feel a need to communicate through our bodies. It is just like a mother feels her child, the way we feel people who are close to us even by their movements, or we simply feel what is happening to them.
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From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 3/2/12

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