Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.10.12

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-12-10_declamation_blog-rav_full.mp3 title=’10.12.12′]

Don’t Neglect The Friend

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is it that the more you give a person what he is supposed to pass on to somebody else, he keeps it to himself and doesn’t wish to pay it forward? Suppose a person asked me for help. For me, it’s not a big deal, and I don’t receive any material benefit from it. I give him a hand because I feel that I am rising spiritually. But I want the person to be better.

Answer: I don’t understand why you would demand this. We don’t do it. We must think that when we help a person, we are approaching the upper force. We become similar to it, meaning that when I bestow to another, I get a chance to be like the Creator, up to the point that I reach a state when I will begin to feel that I’ve reached the first degree of similarity with Him.

To achieve that, I have to exert certain efforts and perform certain actions. They accumulate since this is a cumulative process. And as I do, I start feeling contrasts: I want, I don’t want at the same time increasing all kinds of doubts, criticism, etc. But if I move forth correctly and understand that all of this is done to enhance the quality of my efforts to help, toward bestowal, then I don’t demand anything.

What for? For me, this is already the very realization of my desire. The reward is the revelation of the Creator, revealing myself at a higher rung. In that case, I should thank the person who gives me an opportunity to act this way.

We cultivate it in the group because from it I can get the force to operate so I can get the right response. Even if later I start hating this person or thinking of him critically, it’s also good. Today I feel this way about him, tomorrow, he feels this way about me, and so on. That is, we are being “stewed” in the same emotions: giving – receiving, receiving – giving.

But we shouldn’t be demanding. Why? He did you a favor by being an object thanks to which you became more similar to the Creator, your next degree. The only demand of the friends in the group is for them to follow the group’s code: to come, study, clean the facility, and doing dissemination. That is another matter.

As for the rest, treat him not as a person who is supposed to do what we all decided in order to support our organization, but as a soul I am connecting with in order to reveal the mutual quality of bestowal and reception, in order to discover my upper world. I can’t neglect the friend. We have to understand that everything the Creator is showing us in the friends, is what we see of Him.
[94952]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 1

Related Material:
How To Help A Friend
Bestowal Upon A Friend
Turn To Friends With A Smile

Women’s Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we discuss the problems that arise between the male and female parts of the group in a mixed workshop?

Answer: I don’t understand, what problems can there be between men and women? Isn’t it clear to us that we have to help one another? Could it be that the men have some outrageous demands?

Question: They demand our support, which they claim that they don’t feel.

Answer: Oh! They are right about that. This is the most important role of the female group, and without it the men won’t be able to advance. Only the women can do it with the special inner part of their soul.

The support is in not going in every direction, but calming things down, directing and supporting the men, just as a mother calms a child. This means that they have to perform the role of a mother. The men’s group needs a mother that will balance and soften it, which means that it will smooth things out. This is the women’s work.
[94945]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 1

Related Material:
A Man And A Woman: To Be Or Not To Be Together?
A Man And A Woman As Traits Of Nature
The Unity Of The World Lies In Harmony Between Men And Women

When Science Turns Into Bargaining

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe cannot speak about something seriously, scientifically, based on facts that we haven’t discovered. We try to study the complex reality of this world in parts, and even if we cannot separate one from the other, we can still describe things and have something to rely on.

On the other hand, we don’t know what the Light and vessel mean, an action and a potential, what time, motion, and space are in the spiritual sense and how to rise above them. Here we don’t even identify basic elements and in fact cannot discuss these details.

Baal HaSulam says that “philosophy has wrapped itself in a Tallit that isn’t hers,” which means that it deals with something that doesn’t belong to it. How is it possible to discuss abstract concepts, the Light and vessel, and a dimension that is above this world if you are not there. If you imagine it, go to Hollywood, perhaps they will make a movie of your fantasies. In any case, it isn’t science and not even opinions that presume to be scientific, but fancy in its pure form.

So after exaggerating in abstract descriptions, philosophers left them and today they don’t deal with “earthly” studies anymore. They are unable to continue presenting their own theoretical concepts.

This is another aspect of the crisis that shows us man’s limitations in dealing with this world. If evolution has brought him to rise to a higher level and he doesn’t do anything, he discovers the limits of his path and the crisis.

Philosophy is basically a science about life, something that is sublime and that requires that a person rise above his nature. He has to be objective, he has to be adapted to nature; he has to rise above the human level in this world. Once philosophers operated in this direction. Plato and Aristotle, for example, warned about the passing of the wisdom to those who were not worthy of it. They understood the greatness of the wisdom and understood human nature, and worked above it in order to be above it in some way.

Today there is no trace of this, on the contrary, scientists want to “enjoy both worlds,” which means that they are after a double benefit: both scientific and financial. This is the end of the wisdom. It has been sold.
[94913]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah And Philosophy: Who Has The Last Word?
Deviations Are Impossible
Don’t Make Hasty Conclusions

The Science Of Changing Oneself

Dr. Michael LaitmanReligions, science, philosophy, everything that man has developed, is intended to bring him closer to the Creator. But this connection is actually fulfilled by the wisdom of Kabbalah.

If I study about the fifth level of “thickness” of my desire and about the processes that take place in it in connection to different periods or values, then it is generally called “science,” “philosophy,” or “psychology.” One way or the other, I study what is happening within my desire to receive.

When do I study that? During the exile. That is the right time and the right situation.

Besides, there are people who yearn to rise above their desire to receive, above the exile. Thus they develop this ability internally—they study about higher levels with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. On this level they acquire a connection with the Creator, which means that they build their desire to receive so that it will take on the Creator’s form.

It has no form or shape, and in order to stabilize this resemblance I summon the Surrounding Light that reforms me. This Light enters my desire and builds the form of bestowal in me, which is similar to the Creator, the Returning Light.

The Science Of Changing Oneself
So science, philosophy, and psychology speak about what is happening within our desire to receive. We develop these disciplines without changing ourselves but in a rational manner. So even the worst person can reach great heights in every scientific field. A philosopher may be a Nazi and indeed anyone. Today it is possible to arrange a philosophical concept that will justify all the evil in the world.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, has a different approach: A person changes himself for the good, to bestow, and to this extent, he discovers the Creator. This is a totally different wisdom, and ordinary scientists cannot understand it, since it is based on a person’s transformation.

Today, such change is necessary, as the upper dimension that is being revealed obligates us. This is where the cry of science, philosophy and man stems from. If we don’t start changing ourselves according to Godliness that is being revealed, we will find ourselves opposed to it. The real problem isn’t concealed in this world, but rather in the fact that the Creator “lands” on us, the integral network of the general mutual connection. It is hanging over us, like a giant flying saucer from a science fiction movie, and descends, thus leaving us fewer and fewer options to maneuver. Let’s hope that people will understand this.

So it all depends on a person: whether he changes himself in order to continue his development correctly now, or not.

Let’s get back to science and philosophy: The exile of the Jewish people and its integration with the nations of the world was meant to provide us with science, with information about the desire to receive. The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, teaches us about the external reality, changing our desire, and it is arranged that way so that the Light will go through the desire and will give it the form of bestowal. Without the passing of the Light, the wisdom of Kabbalah wouldn’t exist. It appeared when people began to explore their desire, its structure, and life, and after having examined it, they began to draw the Light that Reforms upon themselves, which means that they began to reform themselves and to change to the good, to bestowal instead of receiving.

The Light changes my discernments and I collect the data and eventually discover a new science called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.”
[94908]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
We Can’t Be Robbed Of Freewill
Redemption Comes In An Instant
Deviations Are Impossible

What Is Stopping Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanI cannot correct the evil that is revealed in me without a group. Suppose I hate a certain friend, and although I understand that it is bad, I cannot do anything about it by myself. Only the Creator can help me, and until then, despite all my efforts, I continue to hate him.

I am bothered by it from morning till night, I understand that it is stopping my spiritual advancement and what is most important is that it doesn’t allow me to bring contentment to the Creator. It turns out that if I hate a friend, then to the same extent I hate the Creator. So what can I do?

Then I remember that I can change myself by the environment.

Question: And what if it doesn’t work?

Answer: It will work 100%, if I only want it to. In fact it is all very simple and everything is in the group including the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

Question: So what is stopping a person if this is the goal of his life?

Answer: Disrespect and laziness, that’s what’s stopping him. He has everything, to the last detail: support, a crisis, friends, books, dissemination—these are all the conditions and the upper force is standing ready. We are the ones who are stopping ourselves.

We have to connect, to stabilize, and to create the force of mutual guarantee in order to use it to attain the influence of the Creator. It may be that we are forgetting this part of the work, although artificial at the moment, it is very influential on the first part of the group work.

We are not doing that; we are not making enough efforts, like in the hour of distress. Where are our efforts? Where is the demand?
[94905]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
Reborn
Wired And Wireless Communication With The Group
Growing In The Group

The EU Crisis Takes Many Faces

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Boston Globe): “A summit meeting of European leaders collapsed Friday amid bitter discord over a new budget for the European Union, delivering a further blow to a 27-nation grouping already struggling to contain a debt crisis, social discontent fueled by rising unemployment, and doubts about the long-term viability of the euro currency.

“Leaders abandoned efforts to set the shape of a trillion-euro long-term budget and called for a new round of talks early next year to try to reach a deal.

“Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who along with the leaders of the Netherlands, Sweden, and several other countries had pushed hard for deep cuts, blasted proposals that left spending on the union’s administrative machinery intact.

“This, he said at a news conference, showed that ‘Brussels continues to exist as if in a parallel universe,’ referring to the headquarters for the union’s institutions.

“The refusal to trim bureaucratic costs, which amount to about 6 percent of total spending, is ‘insulting to European taxpayers’ when many governments are slashing spending, Cameron said.

“The impasse after two days of negotiations was the second failure this week in Brussels. …

“The budget, which amounts to about $168 billion per year, goes mostly to subsidize farmers and support regional projects in poorer member states, policies that were originally intended to help bind Europe together and mute the economic discord that in the past fueled antagonisms that led to bloody wars.”

“German Graf, CEO OAO Sberbank (Russia): ‘In its current form, the European Monetary Union has no future; in the long term, the eurozone with all its countries cannot be saved.”

My Comment: Everyone understands that the EU cannot be saved, but also no one understands what to do! It is still not too late to implement integral education and prepare society to integrate its many faces; otherwise it will be pushed there by war.
[94972]

Related Material:
The EU’s New Plan To Exit The Crisis
Obama Will Not Save Europe
Europe: A New Direction In Fight Against Crisis

Our Shows Broadcast On The Largest Jewish TV Network In North America

The largest North American Jewish television network (JLTV, www.jltv.tv) is showing our Kabbalistic TV programs. The Kabbalah shows experience success with one of the highest ratings, reaching an average of 130,951 households on JLTV.

JLTV

The network is available on cable in the top five metropolitan areas with the largest Jewish populations in the United States: New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, South Florida, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Jewish Life TV is America’s 24-7 Jewish themed television network with 40 million homes subscribed on digital basic cable programming, nationwide on DIRECTV, and on cable through Comcast, Time Warner, and other multi-system operators.
[94817]

Unexpected Gifts From The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe always experience the upper force, the upper impression on us, as something incredibly delightful, pleasurable, fulfilling, and very desirable. We experience it as a gift. It comes unexpectedly, without any preparation on our part.

Although we worked hard and strove to get it, its appearance is always startling. And inside this gift we feel love. This love, manifested in the Light’s effect on us, triggers in us an instinctive effect on the Light in return. Hence, the most important thing is to achieve this gift, the first impact of the Light on us.

This love is much more profound that than the gift itself, since it’s measured by the greatness of the giver rather than by the value of the gift. It’s similar in our world: If I don’t care about the giver, then I focus on the value of the gift. Suppose I receive something from the company where I work, then naturally, I’m indifferent to it. But if such a gift is given to me by a special person, then it doesn’t matter what he is giving me. He may give me a simple pen, but what matters to me is the very sign of his attention, because I measure it not by the value of the gift but by this person’s greatness.

Likewise we define what we feel in the spiritual world. If we are already in spiritual attainment, then when we sense the Light’s impact on us, we instinctively respond to it with love arising within us.

But if we are still in our world, beyond the sensation of the upper one, then here we must cultivate this quality artificially. In other words, we should make an effort and try to express gratitude, exalt the Giver in our eyes, even though we don’t feel Him and instead, we just feel His working on us: Suddenly we begin comprehending more, feeling more, and experiencing new internal sensations.

This connects me with the Giver. As soon as I feel that I receive a small positive effect in the form of feelings or wisdom, I must immediately start developing gratitude within myself. It expands my sense of the gift. And then, even if the gift is small, I will start feeling it as much bigger, and inside it I might even sense the very Giver.

Therefore, being in our world, in our states, we must immediately respond to various positive spiritual changes in us correctly; although they may not be quite spiritual just yet, but something is already emerging in our senses and mind. We should respond to it with gratitude and exalt the Giver, bestowal, in our eyes. Then, it develops and expands our organs of perception, our sensors.

Moving forward in such a manner, we start to gradually attain the Creator, and that’s why His gifts are valuable only to the extent that we can follow them with a deeper experience of Him after all. That is, the gift is sort of a mediator, a communication between Him and me.
[94899]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/2/12

Related Material:
The Weight Of A Suitcase Depends On Its Owner
The Only Gift From The Creator
A Gift Is Appreciated Only as Much as the Receiver Values the Giver

The Difference In Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the difference between egoism in the spiritual world and egoism that we sense in our world?

Answer: There is no egoism in the spiritual world. It is a completely different “egoism,” which cannot be compared to ours. The egoism there is a force opposite to the force of love and connection. It is manifested precisely to the extent to which it can be used by a person as a basis for greater connection and unity; whereas in our world, egoism is the only force of the entire creation. It is simply material egoism just like animals have; however, it is more advanced.
[94892]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/2/12

Related Material:
The Faces Of Pharaoh
There Is Reason To Be Happy!
Two Roots From Which A Tree Grows