Audio Version Of The Blog – 02.20.14

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Negative Selection Of Capitalism

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (from vz.ru): “Negative selection exists in all capitalist countries because capitalism is based on the principle, ‘man is a wolf to [his fellow] man.’ And in order to survive in the pack of wolves, one has to be a wolf himself.

“Capitalists claim that the market will put everything into place and the invisible hand of competition will regulate everything; most important is not to interfere with markets.

“There is some truth to it: If you are a capitalist, you need to compete, and in order to compete, you need to be effective. That is, you need to get more profit than your competitors since those with higher profits have more competitive opportunities.

“But the more profit a capitalist makes, the worse it is for an ordinary worker. An example: Three capitalists want to produce the exact same product of the same quality under the same conditions and they sell it in the same market. To compete, they have to make production more effective, that is, to lower the production costs, preserving its previous volume. Eventually, they will transfer production to the Third World country, where the labor force is cheaper; start buying low quality raw materials, supplementing them with taste enhancers; lengthen the workday, and manage to pay less tax.

“But competition is perpetual and in order to survive, each one will have to do everything that they each did before.

“This is the system of negative selection. The fittest survive or, more precisely, the most cunning and mean ones, who are ready to disregard any moral values only to profit more. Life is a war, and at war, everything is fair.

“A capitalist couldn’t care less about the life of a worker, his family and children. Through exploitation, he acquired new equipment and now he can fire half of the staff to lower labor costs. If you don’t devour someone, they will devour you. Such system leads to monopoly in the industry, market, authority, truth, and the world. Hence, the most ruthless person gets monopoly. Then, something worse comes instead—fascism, and those who disagree are sent away to camps.”

My Comment: The law of nature doesn’t consider our desires, but rather changes them. Capitalism is replaced by its crisis. The crisis is external, in all spheres of our life, and also internal, manifesting as the change of purposefulness of man. A soft transition is possible provided the integral upbringing of the masses is successful, which is possible by disseminating the method of integral education. If not, the transition towards integral society will indeed happen through fascism, as Baal HaSulam wrote nearly a hundred years ago.
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What Are You Ashamed Of?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I am in a group, I feel some kind of sense of shame and try to understand what my ego wants to tell me with this. But this is not shame with regard to the Creator, but in regard to the physical world?

Answer: Tell me, what should I be ashamed of in this world? Is it because I am a regular normal beast? Even if abnormal beastly defects exist within me, this is also not me. What is there to be ashamed of?! I want to steal? Yes. I want to sin? Yes. Yet this is no reason to be ashamed! These are normal human characteristics, and it’s not even necessary to think about them.

Shame can be only from this, I could approach the Creator and I belittle those possibilities that He gives to me. A feeling like this appears only with regard to a host who honors a guest and the guest begins to feel ashamed. But this happens on the highest levels. And so it is also said that shame is only for high souls. Therefore, shame must only be because I don’t utilize the opportunities that are given to me from Above.
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Why Am I Sick?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do health problems appear with us all the time, in the family, etc.?

Answer: We don’t know why we are sick because we don’t see the entire system of creation. Someone does something in one place and for that someone in another place “takes it on the head” because we are a single integral system. So I cannot tell you how to act when someone is sick.

We need only to advance towards an inclusive unity. Only this alone! As Baal HaSulam writes, love of friends is ready to cover all of our problems.
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The Life Of The Embryo Depends On The Umbilical Cord

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe main thing is not to forget the most important thing: We have to attribute all the discernments, all the questions, and all the excuses only to the connection with the group. Everything else belongs to the corporeal world. I may think of sublime things, but it makes no difference since it has nothing to do with spirituality. Only one thing belongs to spirituality: my connection with the group, which is called the form of the embryo. This is the only thing that belongs to spirituality and it’s the only thing that takes on a form of in order to bestow, and nothing but that!

Therefore, I ask, listen, and think about some of the questions in the workshop, but there should only be one discernment in my thoughts: my current connection with the group, its style, and its manner. This is called a form, and it’s the most important thing for me at the moment. The only thing I care about at any given moment is my connection with the group by which the form of my spiritual Partzuf, its height, etc. is determined.

No matter what we discuss, this is the only thing I think about. This connection is more important than anything else, like the placenta or the umbilical cord are for the embryo and nothing but it. This means being constantly part of the source, as a result of which the stabilizing force and the delaying force are valued only with regard to this one discernment with regard to my connection with the group. We mustn’t forget that since otherwise it’s as if you are hanging in the air engaging in abstract philosophy instead of with specific clarifications.
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From the Unity Workshop 2/18/2014

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The Engine Shuts Down When Idling

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said we are lacking a few million people to connect with us. But what exactly are we missing: their shortcomings or our own efforts to create a spiritual womb and fetus?

Answer: The question is why do we want to be born and become mature in the spiritual world? Why do we want to resemble the Creator? The Creator is the bestower, the lover, the bringer of life! In what way could we be like Him? Where and to whom can we express our bestowal?

In what way do we prove that we want to be like Him? It’s only in our relationship with the external community. This is because we don’t have a deficiency that we can raise to the Creator if we don’t work with the external community. Through work with the friends, we can only attain a state of Bina, Hafetz Hesed. We have seemingly created some kind of engine, but it’s not clear what else to do with it, to what kind of use do we put it?

There is no work for this engine and so we remain without movement on the still level. We corrected our group, we silenced the engine, and with this everything is done. It’s even impossible to finish the correction of our group if from the start we don’t prepare for whom we are going to use it. Likewise, we must also be in dissemination because otherwise it’s impossible to be like the Creator. We must be like the Creator towards the wider public.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Seize The Creator, Embrace, And Never Let Go

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We always try to understand that everything comes from Above, and this begs the question: To what extent do you need to accept the conditions that are given to you, and to what extent do you need to try to rise above them and adhere to the group regardless of the circumstances? In other words, when do you need to accept the conditions that you have, and when do you rise above them in connection to the group?

Answer: First and foremost, one should cling to the Source of all of these conditions. As for whether any effort needs to be exerted in this or not, it depends on the circumstances. What difference does it make? The important thing is to constantly be glued to the Source.

I might like it or I might not, this varies, although it is not important. I grab Him and shout, “You are mine!” and that is it. And then you need to separate from yourself whatever your egoism is feeling at the time, whatever I feel by addressing Him, that is, to go in faith above reason. But the most important thing is to seize Him and not let go.

Often, we are given circumstances where even if we do not wish to, we are still required to accept them with our minds. How do we act in such cases?

If my friends or certain life circumstances are telling me that everything that is happening to me right now comes from the Creator, then however unpleasant this may be for me, since I am unable to agree with it right now because it completely churns me, I nevertheless need to accept Him as the source of all that is happening. Moreover, as a good and kind source, one that is necessary for me so that I would work with it and bring myself to a state when all the time, to whatever extent possible, I remain with Him.

Do I perceive it as an obstacle? – Yes.

Is this obstacle for my own benefit? – Yes.

Is it pleasant or unpleasant? – Unpleasant.

Still, I have to gradually come to a state where this obstacle will fade away. This requires a lot of patience and a lot of work, and then everything will turn into sweetness.
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From a lesson in Russian, 2/10/2014

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Not Just A Book

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar is a guide for us, and that is why it was hidden for two thousand years, waiting for all of humanity to reach a crisis that requires a mandatory correction.

We are already in this period, which is described by Rabbi Kook, AGRA, and Baal HaSulam. In fact, it began with the holy Ari five hundred years ago already.

The great Kabbalist Abraham Azulai wrote that “I have found it written that all that has been decreed Above forbidding open involvement in the wisdom of truth [Kabbalah] was [only meant for] the limited time period until the year 5,250 (1490 C.E.). From then on is called the “Last Generation,” and what was forbidden is [now] allowed. And permission is granted to occupy ourselves in the [study of] Zohar. And from the year 5,300 (1540 C.E.) it is most desirable that the masses both those great and small [in Torah], should occupy themselves [in the study of Kabbalah], as it says in the Raya M’hemna [a section of the Zohar]. And because in this merit the Messiah King welwill come in the future—and not in any other merit—it is not proper to be discouraged [from the study of Kabbalah].”

Correction happens due to our study of The Book of Zohar even without understanding what is written there. But we realize that we need to unite, and the spiritual world will be revealed because of our unity. Indeed, there was a fall, that is, from the property of bestowal, mutual love, into hatred and mutual rejection. Now, we have to make the return journey from the bottom up, correction, unity; that is what is required from all of humankind.

In our time, we are already beginning to feel that the crisis is not economic and not even environmental, not in education and family. These are just small individual crises that naturally affect everyone and even extend to all of humanity in various forms. But the real crisis is integral and happens in relationships between people.

In other words, we must be united in one interconnected system, but we are not able to achieve this. In our world there is no force that can unite us. We will find this in relation to ourselves and all of humanity.

Studying The Book of Zohar is the means of revealing this force of unity and correction that allow getting rid of all the problems and starting to feel a completely new reality, to get a new perception. So, many years ago we began to work on the adaptation of this book, to make it accessible to everyone.

It is clear that we could not touch the text of The Zohar, written from a height of GAR of the world of Atzilut, the end of correction. But we have translated into Hebrew all the insertions made in Aramaic, deciphered abbreviations so that it is easy to read. That is, we made this book closer to the general reader as much as possible. Now, it is necessary just to know Hebrew to read it.

The more we study this book, the more we realize that it contains everything! All the thousands of generations that changed since the time of the writing of The Book of Zohar to the present day were nourished from this book like from a source with living water, each time drawing new strengths for correction, knowledge, clarification of all the degrees, the entire upper world.

Much is written about The Book of Zohar, and all of Kabbalah is based on this book. It does not matter when and who wrote a Kabbalistic book, the author’s basis has always been The Book of Zohar. As Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Eichenstein of Zidichov said, “The one who never saw the light of The Book of Zohar, never saw a light in his life.”

We must understand that this is not just a “book.” Kabbalists do not write words in a book but create between themselves an interconnected spiritual system and express it in writing. But the main work is spiritual, created from the connections that they built. All the parts were cut off from each by the breaking and scattered, and Kabbalists connect them together into a single integral system and describe their work, the types of connections, the whole process that occurred, and they got results.

First, they reveal the breaking, which is quite unpleasant because they are ready to burn each other; they feel hatred, darkness, fog, confusion, helplessness, hopelessness. Everyone sometimes experiences this feeling; it not possible without this, as it is said, “And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” The advantage of the light is always revealed from the darkness. Then, they reveal a connection, that is, how it is possible to connect these things and join them together.

Kabbalists do these spiritual actions in practice and then describe them in books. A book is only the result, a written statement of the changes made in the spiritual system that was first revealed to them in a broken form, as well as the final result, that is, how they managed to connect it.

That is why, from generation to generation, as Kabbalists advance in their correction, Kabbalah also changes. A person from the next generation does not have to repeat the corrections done by the previous generations. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah reaches him in a different form, and he himself is completely different. This happens with each succeeding generation.
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From the World Zohar Convention 2/5/14, Lesson 1

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Signs Of The Golden Calf

Dr. Michael LaitmanHe took [them] from their hand[s], fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into a molten calf, upon which they said: “These are your gods, O Israel, who have brought you up from the land of Egypt!” (The Torah, “Exodus,” Ki Tisa,” 32:4)

Everything is forgotten! It seems that it was not the Creator who led the people of Israel out of Egypt, but rather an idol, the golden calf. It looks like people carried all of Egypt within a symbolic calf.

If one doesn’t advance in the property of bestowal and love of one’s neighbor and then ascends to a state of love to the Creator, if one doesn’t feel a constant appeal to advance accordingly, one will never “exit Egypt.” And yet, people are confident that they are already in the state of the final correction.

5. When Aaron saw [this], he built an altar in front of it, and Aaron proclaimed and said: “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.”

6. On the next day they arose early, offered up burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and they got up to make merry. (The Torah, “Exodus”, Ki Tisa,” 32:5 – 32:6)

A firm basis that lets us enjoy this material life and also rejoice in the future life finally appears in all human egoistic desires. We become totally confident that we have everything we need.

However, we have not found the most important thing: the Creator! Moses and the Creator disappear from our sensations, but we don’t sense the deficiency, nor do we feel a need for them. We are so fulfilled that we don’t have the slightest thought of the Creator. We feel great, are getting fatter, acquiring confidence, gaining seriousness, and concerned only with ourselves.

Aspiration to power, knowledge, and wealth create a stable and firm basis for us. All these things are the signs of the golden calf.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/9/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 02.20.14

Preparation to the Lesson

[media 1] [media 2]

Workshop

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts

[media 5] [media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 5

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 55 

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