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The Clutch Pedal With Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace:” Because the purpose is undoubtedly built over all the laws of nature, none excluded, … he who alters even a single law harms and damages the purposeful aim that the Creator has set, and will therefore be punished by nature. Hence, we, too, creatures of the Creator, must not pity him because he is desecrating the laws of nature and defiles the purpose of the Creator.

From here, it is clear to us that, if I see that someone is acting against the laws of nature, I must stop him for we are in one system, and if a person goes against one of its laws, then, necessarily, he has a bad influence on all of nature and on everyone.

Generally, all of your actions must be accompanied by an understanding of what you are doing. This is because you are influencing a great collective mechanism, the mutual connection of a multitude of parts, integrally and globally. If you don’t know the laws of nature, this doesn’t mean that you still won’t cause damage.

Nature accepts your action as it is, and, if the intention is good or bad or there is a lack of intention, this is already superfluous. However, whatever it may be from a materialistic point of view, we need to understand that we essentially are in a closed system, and therefore, all of us depend upon each other. No one can feel himself to be free of an obligation not to harm the system.

After that, it is possible to continue. Am I also free to benefit the system? And, if you think about it, well, you are not. This is because, in a closed system, each has its place and function, and therefore, each is obliged not to harm the system and is obliged also to benefit it, and no one has free choice about this. Rather, to the contrary, all of us are obliged to be corrected parts within it, beneficial to the system.

However, among all the parts of the system, there is yet another mechanism called a “clutch.” The more that we are pressed together—soldered together into the general system—and to the degree of our mutual adherence, this “pedal” is gradually released more and more, raising the mutual dependence, and we are obliged to act accordingly, doing no harm and bringing benefit according to the “negative commandments” and the “positive commandments.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulamThe Peace

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The Future Is In Integration With Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we all form one system, then how can the human, being its inseparable part, make mistakes and violate its laws?

Answer: The fact is that a person is now connected to it like a baby. Adults take care of him and give him a slightly higher degree so that he would begin to integrate into it, to evolve, to connect, and to see how much he can match it, how much benefit or harm he brings it.

Only in our time are these mechanisms finally manifested: We are harming the world and it responds so much so that our very existence is threatened. Environmental hazards today are such that humanity with all its history can disappear from the face of the Earth that can no longer bear it. We ourselves cause the extinction of plant and animal species and suddenly we find ourselves on the same list. Moreover, one global war is sufficient to end civilization even before ecology would do this.

The conclusion is that if we do not learn from nature, meaning from the general system, the correct integration into it, we come into conflict with it and to an unpleasant end.

Question: The problem is that if a person comes face to face with a steadfast system that is stronger than he, then at some point he raises his arms: “Come what may…”

Answer: That’s right; today a person feels helpless and doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know because he is incapable of understanding the world, feeling it correctly, making the right decision, and most importantly, realizing it correctly.

That’s why Kabbalists, sages, come to our world. They are also part of the general system. And apparently, no matter how many of them appear, the world does not need more. After all, people still need to be given freedom of will to ensure the realization of evil; they have to be brought to their own decision whether to join those sages or not.

It turns out that the world has a chance, provided by the system as well. And this opportunity is us the world organization Bnei Baruch. In the framework that we were given, we are obliged to act, sparing no efforts, so that everyone in the world would know upon what his good future depends.

A “good future “is the correct inclusion in the system of nature. If we do not violate its laws, the conditions set by it, we will be fine. If I judge wellbeing on the basis of my egoism, then I behave like a small child who doesn’t want to listen to adults.

Anyway, being in the general system, I cannot choose their laws according to my taste. Either I am against nature and in helplessness follow the path of suffering, or I study the laws of nature in order to associate myself with it and move forward by the good path, drawing from nature forces which are useful for my advancement.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Give, Give, Give Us Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that before we go out to people it is necessary to obtain the power of the Creator with the help of the group, the teacher, and the books?

Answer: To obtain the power of the Creator means understanding that His power, His revelation in that Kli, which is designed for this, is necessary for me. That is to say, not within my Kli, but rather in the Kli of the other. I take other people’s deficiencies and raise them to the Creator; that is, I ask for the power of their correction from Him, for the discovery of the fulfillment within them.

People want more money, but I know that it’s possible to satisfy this desire only through approaching the Creator. All the unsatisfied desires for money, honor, control, health, security, and problems in education are derived from a lack of Light. This is specifically why people are screaming. They go out to demonstrate in the streets or sit at home and silently curse the whole world and governments, but basically they want Light.

They simply don’t know what this is, like an infant who doesn’t know why he is screaming; he only knows that he hurts! But why he hurts and what needs to be done in order not to cry but to laugh, is unknown to him.

And since I do know this, and therefore, through the reception of the deficiencies of people, what they suppose they are missing, I raise them as I feel them, in a different form already. I feel that they lack Light! And this is what is called turning to the Creator. I work for their sake, as on a higher level, and raise their requests to what is above that, to the next level above me.

In this manner, their prayer, their MAN, which is only: “Give, give, give! Give us food, sex, family, money, respect, information.” I pass these to the Creator and say: “We, which is to say they and I together with them (because they stick to me in my AHP, and we become a single spiritual Partzuf), need your help! We require your Light so that it will correct us and fulfill to give You satisfaction.

And as proof that I truly want to please the Creator, I nullify myself towards the group, the teacher, the study, and the outer world, humanity. I am ready to make concessions to these in order to show the Creator that I truly want to attain bestowal, even just a little, even without intention, but at least a little! And then according to this “small amount” the Light acts on me, and through me, it passes to those below. Thus a link is created: lower—upper—upper upper, and I am like a big brother to the little ones, taking twice as much in order to convey it to others.
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From the Preparation from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 08/26/13

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When In Doubt…

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we do with the doubts that we often feel that everything that we engage in is only a false illusion?

Answer: Everyone has such doubts on every level. Even if you are a great Kabbalist, you still have such doubts and even greater ones.

You feel them between the levels, in the transition between one state and another. This period is always designed in you by the Creator so that you will clarify it internally.

It is impossible to attain an external revelation before you discover that you are totally dependent, that you don’t understand anything, that you don’t know anything and don’t believe in anything, don’t feel anything and you should feel an emptiness in which you can later feel the filling. This will be a revelation; the emptiness is revealed this way at the moment.

It will not be revealed in the form of doubt since you don’t even see this world and what the wisdom of Kabbalah offers you in a practical perspective. So as a result of everything that happens, it offers you the only solution. What is more, it is absolutely logical, strong, and rational since there is nothing else in our world, even if you look at everything with the wide-open, mature, normal eyes of a scientist, a businessman, or an ordinary person.

They can say: “Yes, but I want to deal with my own business.” If you want to, then do so! Everyone plays with his own toys. On the whole, if we speak about the fact that we can change ourselves and our world and build a different society (I am referring to different conditions, types, and styles of corporeal living), then it is possible to fulfill it only by the method the wisdom of Kabbalah offers. It is impossible to offer anything else now. If before there were many theories and many ideas, they are all passé now. As of today nothing makes sense or is rational anymore.

I follow the media and current scientific thinking, if there is such a thing today, I don’t see anything. Humanity is becoming so empty that there is no one to argue with. People don’t want to clarify this, and that is their business.

The only problem is how to change ourselves in order to change the world, our perception. The world is only a subjective personal feeling. The question is whether the force that can change us really exists?

Everyone agrees that the ego is harmful, that we should get rid of it, and that it destroys us. There are many conferences and international forums on this issue, but no one takes it seriously since it is considered human nature, which cannot be changed.

We, however, say that it is possible! In this same nature there is an upper force that is above our ego, which has created the ego, the desire for one’s self, and which can change it to a desire for the sake of others.

This transformation can take place in us only if we want it. But how can I want it?! It turns out that I have to pull myself out from the swamp I am in by the hair. It is indeed so to some extent, but not totally, since if I connect to the other friends in the group, we can help one another and thus take all of us out together; it is possible. If we pull one another out by the hair, the most important thing for me is to think about the friends and about how I should pull them out and that they should think about me. Thus everyone thinks about the others.

By annulling ourselves and connecting to others, we summon an extra force. We don’t even know where it comes from, but we suddenly begin to feel it. This force influences us and raises us, we begin to feel that there is something in nature which is above our ego and can change it, turn it into something else, and manage it.

The main thing is to wait for this state when all the circumstances around us will make us feel the need to unite. We see that many in the world already understand that by uniting we can solve any problem there is, which we cannot without connection.

So we can tell people about unity and connection in order to solve small concrete, ordinary daily problems, since even by solving these small corporeal problems, we will begin to feel the special quality of connection. Thus people will realize that we can also change our nature, our society, and even our world, which means our perception. It is all possible.

So the doubts that you feel are true. What’s important is not to drown in them but to constantly be above the doubts and to look for accurate scientific explanations so that we will be able to connect these doubts in our mind and make the correct picture of the questions and provide the answers for them; I am ready to take part in this.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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A Means For Tightening The Connection In The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we tighten the connection with the friends in the group and in the group of ten, in order to hold on to the force of unity in our daily work connecting the world around us?

Answer: How can you tighten the connection in the group of ten and in the group? Only if you feel the need for it, if you feel that it is essential!

When the Light spreads from the top down it creates a desire. In the fourth phase of the development of the desire it begins to respond to the Light, to restrict itself, to form a Masach (screen), the Returning Light, etc.

Since we come from the desire and not from the Light, we need a reason in order to do something. You are asking: How can we tighten the connection among the friends in the group?” But is there a need for it?

If I go out to disseminate, to connect to other people in the outside world, I see that I need the group’s support and to hold on to the group. I feel the need for the connection with the friends and I connect to them. But if I have no desire to succeed in the outside world; I have no need for the connection with the group.

We are disseminating integral education in Israel in a very intensive campaign and all our people are involved in this external work. Wherever they are they speak about the need to unite in order to solve daily problems and they feel a greater need for connecting with the group! When they return, they feel how important the friends are to them, and how important they are in providing them with the power to convince others.

So keep on tightening the connection with the world around us, enter it, disseminate, and bring it to connection and unity. Thus you will tighten the connection with your friends qualitatively.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/13, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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The Ego Is Not A Disruption But A Means To Advance

Dr. Michael LaitmanRav Kook, “The Purpose of Israel and Its Specificity”: The love of others is the most clarified feeling, and it is based on sensory perception. Indeed we should follow it and a person should prepare himself for this cause so as to be part of the life of others, and in this lies the whole point of individual morality.

Love of others is the rule that includes all of a person’s actions. In other words, he shouldn’t do anything if it doesn’t stem from the eruption and expansion of love. Otherwise, this action is not compatible with the Creator’s plan, and eventually it will lead to negative results. This is exactly how our initiatives are examined: If they are aimed at love of others, then it will work, and if not, then it will not work.

But how can we explain this to people? If they hear about it, they will say that they don’t need our preaching. They only want to live and enjoy life.

Still, we have to look for ways to reach their hearts, not in order to give them love, but in order to reach the love of the Creator. I will learn to love the Creator only if I learn to love the created beings first. I use the whole world only for the sake of the ultimate goal, which is love of the Creator.

What kind of love to the created beings is it if I just use them? Still, that’s the way it is. I really love them since only thanks to them do I reach the love of the Creator. The means becomes as important for me as the goal.

The great ego implies that I should rise above it since then I will attain something that is much bigger. It turns out that if we become greater egoists, we understand how to use our ego in a new more efficient way, and we don’t enjoy in it but above it. Then I will be like the Creator.

It is according to this healthy approach, without any illusions that I intend to use all of creation, including the Creator, since I will not continue to advance if I don’t reach the level of Pharaoh. I have to feel and to experience everything, but together with the right clarification, without vague illusions. I advance accurately without diverting from the goal.

It says: “A judge only has what his eye can see.” I approach every roadblock with the package of my attributes and I usually don’t have to get rid of it. I have nothing but the ego, and it evokes me to join the group, to annul before the friends, to be incorporated in them, to advance towards the Creator and to turn to the public. All these steps stem from my ego. Suddenly I understand that from now on I have to use it differently, not from the inside but above it.

How can we attain this? How can you benefit from the ego? We can do so with the help of the Surrounding Light. It will influence me and will give me a chance to rise above the ego. I don’t want it to limit me, since I already understand that I cannot perceive much in it. It only offers this world only, but I want more than that…

When I look at myself now, I see an animal that enjoys food, sex, family, comfort, tranquility, money, respect and knowledge. But above the animal level, I ask myself if I should rise a bit more. Then I receive a method that enables me to rise. Thus the greater ego evokes me more than all the other previous desires, and I advance above them.

This is the only way to grow without neutralizing my ego but by using it wisely. The whole course of development is aimed at turning us into greater egoists, but wise and not primitive ones. Other people are ready to settle for little. Give a person a million dollars in order to solve all his problems and he will feel satisfied and well off. But I don’t settle for that; I have to control the worlds. I am Pharaoh who declares “Who is the Lord that I should listen to Him? No, I will rule in His place!” This is the ego I will discover in me if I don’t stop on the way.

But this truth is revealed only to people who have the point in the heart, who have a spiritual potential; “This secret is revealed to them bit by bit.”

Question: How can I avoid making mistakes and not sink into the ego over my head? How can I know that I am on the right course?

Answer: If you are connected to us then you advance correctly. You can be sure only if you are in the right environment and want to be there; there is no other way.

The problem is not in feeling weak and lacking the understanding, but when a person adds other methods. A person is not a hindrance to himself, but if he begins to catch external “viruses,” he will not succeed.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/13, Writings of Rav Kook

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People Who Volunteer Live Longer

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from the University of Exeter): ”Volunteering may be good for your health, reveals a large systematic review and meta-analysis led by the University of Exeter Medical School.

“Volunteering can improve mental health and help you live longer, finds the study which is published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. The research pools and compares data from multiple experimental trials and longitudinal cohort studies. …

“The systematic review was led by Dr Suzanne Richards at the University of Exeter Medical School, and was supported by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care in the South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).

“Worldwide, the prevalence of adult volunteering varies with estimates of 22.5 per cent in Europe, 36 per cent in Australia and 27 per cent in the USA. Volunteers commonly cite altruistic motives for their habit – ‘giving something back’ to their community, or supporting an organisation or charity that has supported them. Volunteering can also be used to gain work experience or to widen social circles, but its effects may go far deeper.

“Previous reviews have highlighted supposed health benefits, including increased longevity, improved quality of life, reductions in stress and hospitalisation, but these tend to be based on narrative, rather than comparative evidence. Richards and colleagues pool data from 40 papers which reported data from 9 experimental trials and 16 cohort studies to arrive at their conclusions.

“The causal mechanisms underlying the potential health benefits of volunteering are unclear.”

My Comment: The real reason is that the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) affects them because the basis of voluntary assistance is ascent above egoism and longing for some unity. Though these impulses are selfish, they still are above usual motivations and thus cause a bit of influence of the Surrounding Light. When a person can really go against his egoism in the desire to bestow (the vessel of the soul), the same Ohr Makif will become for him Ohr Pnimi – the Inner Light of his soul.
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How Does One Move One’s Attention Towards The Creator?

Dr. Michael LaitmanHow do I organize myself so that all of my thoughts, calculations, examinations, and clarifications will always be directed towards the Creator and not towards myself? This is the only and most essential question: How do I move my attention from myself to the Creator?

As long as the person has not begun to feel the Creator through the Light that Reforms, at least a little, even not clearly, but to some degree, he begins to feel how some kind of power pulls him, brings him closer to it, organizes his whole life, until then he has no ability to think about Him. With his powers he never can move his attention from himself to some strange object that doesn’t even exist for him.

He never thinks about what is around him, about the many strange objects, he doesn’t take others into account, except if he is dependent on them. Therefore the environment that tells us about the importance of the Creator, the power of bestowal, the field in which people are found and which organizes for us the entire process through which we pass all the time is so important to us.

Even though we still don’t perceive, don’t feel, or don’t identify this power, still the environment can awaken in us the feeling of its importance all the time. That is how we can return time after time to the thoughts and calculations that focus on the Creator, even if they are all for my own personal good, but in spite of it all they are linked to Him. This state is called Lo Lishma.

And if we seek the discovery of the Creator, in other words, some kind of thought about bestowal within my work, then it can come only from the point in the heart. There are people in whom a basis exists, a gene with information (Reshimo), a spark of the characteristic of bestowal that we had before the shattering of the soul of Adam HaRishon. It follows, that they have some kind of spark from that shattered “Screen” that attracts them towards spirituality.

Which is to say, the person himself doesn’t do anything in particular himself, and simply within him the spark is awakened. This doesn’t depend on him; it is simply that this is how he was born. And if he arrives within a group of Kabbalists, then the group and the study can ignite that spark in him. Thus, time after time he receives awakening: a little more and a little more, in that he overcomes himself, sometimes by himself, sometimes with the help of the teacher and the group. Thus he attracts the Light that strengthens his link with the Creator.

He no longer feels just a vague aspiration like before he reached the group, rather a little more. But this is still a very distant link; you see he is not ready to think about the Creator all the time, rather only at unique moments when he gets extra illumination. And then he is awakened and reminded with the higher power. But in general, he moves according to the desire to receive in an egoistic form, which is to say, to acquire additional knowledge and feeling, and not in order to be concerned about the Creator. This is an artificial turning towards the Creator, as if it is to get the characteristic of bestowal.

But that is how the time passes, and thanks to a person’s present efforts, the Light does its work time after time. He begins to understand that he remains empty and doesn’t reach any success. From the sensation of emptiness within the desire to receive and thanks to the illumination that he receives within his point in the heart, he begins to understand that without help from above he has no chance of getting out of this state. And in order to truly reach bestowal, it is necessary to go out of the ego, to rise from the world in which he is now found, and to leave all the previous values, all that was close and dear to him.

If he feels attractions like these to go outside of himself, then he must be careful that this will not be on his own account; that is, he must clarify more deeply what he is doing this for, what it means to bring joy to the Creator. This must transform into the entire goal for him, the most precious thing in life, more precious than everything that he has in his world. Everything that he had until today was absolutely nothing in comparison to the opportunity to give satisfaction to the Creator.

This is to say, he aspires to this not because he hopes that in this way he will organize all the rest of the things in his life, and not because he hopes to benefit from greater fulfillment when he uses the Light egoistically; rather, he strives to understand and to feel what the true meaning of Lishma is, the intention in order to bestow without any reference to himself. Therefore all the actions must be towards the other, and only when they are towards others can they bring bestowal for the sake of the Creator.

The person doesn’t feel any reason for these actions, he has no desire for this, rather he aspires to this artificially, really forcing himself to think about this. But thus, time after time, when he thinks about this and discusses this with the friends in workshops, clarifying all these concepts, with his efforts he attracts the Light that Reforms and begins to approach the truth. He must check in what place he wants to receive benefit from this advancement.

In this way, a person gradually exits himself—through the other to the Creator. The Light gradually will grant to him the characteristic of bestowal.

And it is impossible to forget that specifically these states, when the person is devoid of sensation, emotion, and excitement, is confused and foggy, these are most useful for giving effort, if he tries with all his power to bring himself to consciousness. Therefore in the work the descents are more important than the ascents. The ascents are designed only to give an impression, an example, of what must be attained during a descent.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/04/13

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Unity Is The New Format Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is disseminating the wisdom to the masses?

Answer: When a student comes to me, he wants to feel good. But he understands that good for him means attaining the meaning of life, what is above life. He wants to rise to the level where he can attain this meaning in his heart and mind.

For seven billion people the meaning of life is to ascend to the level of wealth, respect, domination, health, and knowledge, everything that is a filling for their desires. They try to do this in every possible way: religious, scientific, philosophical, psychological, technological, financial, and economic, but it leads to nothing and doesn’t work. This is what they call a crisis.

For us, however, the crisis means birth. The word crisis has a double meaning: It means both a fall and the birth of something new, but the public doesn’t understand that.

After they totally despair of all their attempts, we can declare that we have the method for attaining what they want: health control, wealth, food, family, and love. They will have everything that they need in this life, an earthly Heaven. But in order to attain this they must unite.

They will begin to unite simply because they have no choice and they will do so gradually, in small circles without even noticing it. At the same time they will immediately begin to feel a positive outcome.

By uniting they will establish a totally different society, since the unity between them is the new format of humanity. A totally new civilization will emerge which is global, integral and analog. As a result of this unity, they will begin to feel the revelation of the integral force, which is what they seem to be creating.

In fact, they only yearn for the connection between them and this force is revealed as a result of their attempts to unite. It’s the same upper force that influences us, but they do it as a result of their own yearnings and we do it as a result of our yearnings. Therefore our collective work is more accurate and consists of ascents and descents, while for them there is no such thing, they simply advance.

They will feel a constant state of ascent, since they don’t have a left line or a right line. They will feel movements relative to this point, but they will constantly feel good. They will be drawn to us, since it will be clear to them that they will not be able to advance without regular workshops and the study of integral education, but by advancing, they will suddenly begin to see the light ahead instead of dark descents and destruction. This will continue until the end of correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/24/13

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