Audio Version Of The Blog – 07.18.14

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“Governments Are Power Systems, Trying To Sustain Power”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Noam Chomsky, American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, Professor Emeritus at MIT, author of over 100 books): “Governments are power systems. … So for instance, if you read technology journals you learn that in robotics labs for some years there have been efforts to develop small drones, what they call ‘fly-sized drones,’ which can intrude into a person’s home and be almost invisible and carry out constant surveillance. You can be sure that the military is very much interested in this, and the intelligence systems as well, and will soon be using it. …

“Of course, they’ve always played the security card. But I think one should be very cautious about such claims. Every government pleads security for almost anything it’s doing, so since the plea is predictable it essentially carries no information. If after the event the power system claims security, that doesn’t mean it’s actually a functioning principle. And if you look at the record, you discover that security is generally a pretext and security is not a high priority of governments. If by that I mean the security of the population — security of the power system itself and the domestic interests it represents, yes, that’s a concern.”

My Comment: The state cannot be better than the people, and the government is always worse than it, because the way to the top is possible only due to huge egoism. Only changes from below are able to force the authorities to change themselves and society, because they involve the upper force.

Within the same egoistic development, no change to a better government can take place because egoism cannot change itself for the better; it requires the influence of the Upper Light.
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A People Or A Bunch Of Refugees?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is to be done in this situation where missiles are flying and a siren is blaring all the time? How must I act so that a rocket will not hit me?

Answer: In order for missiles not to hit us, it is necessary to influence it somehow, and, first of all, it is necessary to scrutinize what kind of a force is sending it. Certainly, everything is sent by the upper force. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that only one system operates in the world, that is directing us toward correction.

From the days of ancient Babylon, from the days of our father Abraham who began this process, until our day, we are advancing toward correction, and the correction is to connect into a single whole.

Abraham began this correction from a small group of people who called themselves “Israel,” Yashar-El. He taught them how to reach unity, bestowal, and love. For some time, the people of Israel maintained a state of unity like this—during the Egyptian exile, the wandering in the wilderness, the First and Second Temples, until hatred toward each other was discovered in us.

From the level of brotherly love, we fell to unfounded hatred, and since then, we have been living within this hatred, separated in mutual loathing. This state is called “exile,” and we have lived in this state until today.

Close to a hundred years ago, we got the opportunity to return to the land of Israel and to begin living in it again as the people of Israel in its own nation. However, the people of Israel can exist in the land of Israel only on condition that love of others as yourself permeates there: All of Israel are friends connected with mutual guarantee, and it is impossible to do to another what is hateful to you.

However, we are not carrying out these conditions, and so we are not approaching a state in which it is possible to call us the people of Israel living in the land of Israel. In the meantime, this is just a gathering of exiles and refugees who settled in this place thanks to temporary conditions given to us by nature.

We have no merit to be living in this land like this. The Kabbalists wrote about this in every generation, and today we must understand that everything that was written by them truly is being realized in us in our day. Either we accept the conditions upon ourselves according to which the people of Israel must live in the land of Israel—in other words, connected and unified—or we will have no place, not only on the soil of Israel, but no place in the world at all.

For the nations of the world, suppose that, existing like this, we are causing damage to the entire world. We want missiles not to fall on us, that we should be respected all over the world and related to as all other peoples. However, it won’t happen this way, and it will never happen.

We cannot be like everyone else because we must be greater than everyone else because this is how nature is built, that specifically through us, the higher power reaches this world and calms it down, gives it fulfillment. If we become a Light to all the other peoples, the matchmaker that connects the upper force with the whole world, then we can be high and respected. However, if we don’t behave like this, then all kinds of unpleasantness can be expected for us which, in the end, will oblige us to carry out our mission.

Do you want a ceasefire? We have one solution: to be a conduit between the upper force, which is good and benevolent, and the whole world. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how to implement this. We must actively transform to become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”; in other words, to educate ourselves and teach the world how to be bestowers, connectors, loving each other.

No one is to blame, no person in the world, including our most terrible haters who blame us from all directions. We have no one to blame, except ourselves, for our negligence, our laziness, our delay in the correction that we must bring to the world. This is because, beginning from the time of the Ari and on, we are in an era of correction, and it is specifically we who must bring it to the world.

All of the Kabbalists, beginning from the Ari, wrote about our generation, about our day, as being about the revelation of the upper force in the world, and this revelation is done through a simple action: the unification of the people of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “The Mission of the People of Israel” 7/8/14

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The Whole World Is A Single Anthill

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are made from the substance of the will to receive, like all of creation. But in contrast to all the rest, the human knows how to divide himself into two: into action and intention. It is possible to act like all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, or like little children who play without any inner intention, taking what they want for themselves.

But when the child grows and takes the image of man in this world, it is no longer possible to know his intentions from his actions. It could be that the deed is a deed of bestowal, but as usual, the intention is for the sake of receiving. This means that our bestowal requires compensation in exchange and we are always acting for our own good.

From here it is clear that if we don’t change ourselves, then we act only for our own good. And because the ego grows all the time, then all of our activity is based upon the new ego and the intention becomes more and more egoistic. That is how we advance until the gap between our actions and intentions is made so great that we begin to pay attention to it.

When we see an old movie that was made fifty years ago, it seems really childish. Although they show strong and heroic people there, all of their speeches and their actions seem naïve like those of little children. This is because the ego was still small, not like in our time; their behaviors seem naïve and primitive to us. The action and the intention are very close to one another, the deed precisely matches the intention like with a small child. There are no devious political calculations behind all of it.

But in our times, the ego has developed so much that it brings us to despair because we see that every action in our world is only with an intention for oneself alone. We no longer believe in advertising, in nice promises, in words or actions, we no longer believe anyone, not politicians or simple people. We don’t even believe the members of the family, for we see how much each one is an egoist and is concerned only for himself, both children and the parents. So we are moving far away from each other. It is clear to all of us that all of our deeds are only for our own good without consideration of others at all.

Even if we are concerned about someone else, this is only because of feeling a connection with him, and as a result of that, his problem becomes our problem. So we think of him as we think about ourselves. But essentially this is only an egoistic calculation, for there is nothing else. That is how we reach recognition of the evil of our nature, understanding that everything is “for the sake of reception.”

The ego develops so much that it is not possible for us to connect to anyone. In the previous generations the ego was still not so developed and we would not use it in such a coarse form as today. But in our day nobody matters to us and nobody is ashamed of anything, rather he is even proud of his ego.

Politicians and businessmen no longer try to disguise their activities and appear to be nice. Each one acts according to his desire, fearing only punishment, and making a simple egoistic calculation.

And this is good because it is a sign that our generation has reached the recognition of the truth about itself. We have finally understood who we are and in what kind of a world we exist, and in what kind of connection we find between us. All connections have been made simple and clear, between nations, between people, in every city and family. As long as it is good for me with them, I will remain, and the moment that it is bad for me, I will leave everything.

There is no other calculation. Nobody speaks about patriotism, about self-sacrifice for the sake of the motherland or for the sake of someone else. A modern hero is famous for the number of people that he killed in a movie and not how many people he saved.

The question is can we continue to exist like this? If we continue to develop our egoistic nature, whose source is the desire to receive, then without shame we begin to use our ego instinctively like animals.

Animals act instinctively according to the inner program that is implanted in them, and humans can exist only if some kind of connection exists between them, like ants in an anthill. We are seven billion humans, each one must be aware of his place, his role, and his obligation. And that is how, through reciprocal work, we will build a secure life for ourselves.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/14, Shamati #60

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The Creator Doesn’t Feel Individuals

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam“, 1986, Article 15, “A Prayer of Many”: Therefore, he prays for the collective. This means that if there are a few people in the collective who can reach the goal of Dvekut with the Creator, and this will bring the Creator more contentment than if he himself were rewarded with nearing the Creator, he waives himself. Instead, he wishes for the Creator to help them because this will bring more contentment above than from his own work.

If a person doesn’t join the collective, he has nothing to turn to the Creator with. After all, the Creator doesn’t feel individuals, He only feels the collective.

This is why we have to go out to the public and why we have to connect. Everything belongs to one system, and it is impossible for one part to work when other parts do not.

During human evolution, our work was performed parallel to our waiting. Kabbalists who wrote The Book of Zohar concealed it for two thousand years until our days. All the parts of the Bible they wrote about, the Torah, the Prophets, and Scripture still had to be developed.

But we are a special generation, as Kabbalists say, and we have to perform a practical correction both inside the group and outside the group, among the public. The relationship between the members of the group, the group and society in general, between the individual and the collective, is the only framework where we can raise our request.

Even if every member in the group asks for it, we cannot advance unless our request is incorporated into society’s desires. This is the only way the Creator will listen and feel us. After all, the Creator is the general force, the Upper Light that has created the whole desire to receive. Therefore, it only feels all of its parts together. If we regard Him that way, as a whole desire, then we will be able to convey our deficiency to Him and ask Him for correction or for revelation. Only through the collective can we formulate the correct request that He connects.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/14, Writings of Rabash

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A Sweet Medicine

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I work with myself if I feel tired from the effort to remain with the right intention because I don’t get any pleasure or results from this?

Answer: Of course, a person is not ready to do this. The group must support him. It is up to us to find an action that on the one hand we are ready to carry out, meaning that our desire to receive makes it possible for us to do it because it sees some kind of benefit in it. On the other hand, as a result of the benefit that we get within the desire to receive, there must be something that will change us.

For example, I bring some medicine for my sick child. For him this is candy and for me this is a medicine. For him this is “yummy” and for me it is a cure. Why? Within his desire to receive he swallows and enjoys it for he has the strength to swallow. He gets pleasure within his desire to receive, and together with this, he gets a medicine.

So, the Torah is called an “elixir of life,” “health to all their flesh,” a medicine that we take in this form. This is called the “clothing of the Torah.” So it is up to us to be creative and wise, not opposing our nature, but understanding it and recognizing how it is possible to fool it so that on one hand our ego will see the purposefulness in a particular activity. On the other hand, if I act with joy, I also get a portion of the Light that changes me. So the next time I will already want to perform an activity that is a little closer to bestowal.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/14, The Zohar

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In A Race Against Time Before The End Of Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is known that we are under the total control of higher management, but this knowledge remains only empty words if we don’t feel it and don’t live in it. it is our job to respond to the influence from above every moment, to seek who the Supervisor is in everything that is happening. This means that I don’t just comprehend what is happening to me, but “with mind and heart,” with thought and feeling, I attribute everything that is happening to the higher supervision, apart from which there is nothing. I understand that everything is happening to connect me to it, and as it seems, it is up to me to be ready for it. If I am not ready for this, it is my problem, perhaps because of my previous shortcomings.

Baal HaSulam writes that if the angel that is sent from above cannot take care of a person and bring him to adhesion with the Creator, then the Creator replaces this angel with another one. So we need to understand that we have been lagging with our corrections and they are approaching their realization naturally. They are beginning to be more and more perceptible.

We find ourselves lacking time, and the situations through which we are passing seem more and more complex. In this way, they are pushing us towards the right solution, and from our side what is required is only to invest more effort. There is nothing to do since the whole world is approaching difficult times, as are we.

It is not necessary to wait for things to be easier, on the contrary. Our goal is to connect and from this connection to understand how we can understand the higher management correctly. People who belong to the fourth level in level four are called Yashar-El (Israel) because in them the yearning to discover the supervisor is awakened. And to direct ourselves towards Him correctly, it is up to us to connect. By searching for the right connection, we find how to relate to every moment to discover in it the action of the Supervisor and the Supervisor Himself, to reach adherence with Him and advance in this way.

All the while that we don’t discover the Supervisor, is called “exile.” And every moment that we discover Him within the concealment, within the exile, is called “redemption.” That is how it is necessary to accept our states until we connect all of our efforts into one collective effort. And with its help, we discover the Supervisor with an intensity of “six hundred thousand souls.”

And later on we begin to recognize the Supervisor in all His depth. We don’t just discover Him, discovering that He exists and acts on us; rather we discover all of His expressions. He always stands in front of us through various images, and in spite of all the unpleasant states, we want to discover Him and adhere to Him. That is what we discover; we investigate Him and adhere to Him more and more until we reach the absolute adhesion called the end of correction” (Gmar Tikkun).
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/14

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Putting Together The Mosaic Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati, article 199, “To Every Man Of Israel”: Every man of Israel has an internal point in the heart, which is considered simple faith. This is an inheritance from our fathers, who stood at Mount Sinai. However, it is covered by many Klipot (shells), which are all kinds of dresses of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), and the shells should be removed. Then his basis will be called “faith alone,” without any support and outside help.

According to a point in the heart, a person is called Israel, which means Yashar El (straight to the Creator). It is the vessels of bestowal that awaken a person to yearn for the Creator while the Klipot pull him in different directions but toward the upper force of faith. The foundation of Israel is the attribute of bestowal that is totally free of any reception for oneself.

Question: How is the inner point of Israel connected to the nation of Israel?

Answer: The vessels were shattered and have been through corrections on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and then took on the form of the speaking in our world, until finally the inner spiritual form was gradually revealed in them, an attitude towards the Creator. Everything started from first man (Adam HaRishon) and so he is called the first, because he was the first in our world who took on the form of a man, Adam, meaning that he resembled the Creator. But the direction of Yashar El wasn’t really clarified even later for twenty generations, from Adam to Abraham. It also wasn’t clarified during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was only as a result of the work of Jacob (Israel), with the force of Esau (the left line) that was revealed through Pharaoh, that it was possible to understand this inclination. Only then did the descendants of Abraham reach the level of Israel (Yashar El), which means that they established themselves above their desire to receive and above it they managed to focus themselves straight to the Creator.

Thus Abraham’s group reached the level of the receiving of the Torah and further corrections that later enabled them to reach the level of the First Temple, the private end of correction.

However no state is preserved in spirituality, but immediately changes and moves on to the next phase. Therefore immediately afterward, the children of Israel entered the phase of the shattering in order to be incorporated with the Babylonians, with the rest of humanity. The incorporation began with the destruction of the First Temple, when the ten tribes of Israel dispersed among the nations of the world; we still don’t know what happened to them. This will be revealed later on. Since then, there has been an addition of the attribute of bestowal to the nations of the world.

Eventually, only a small group remained after the destruction of the Second Temple and it was exiled. Throughout our history many parts were separated from them. In a visit to a museum in Portugal, for example, I was told that 35% – 40% of the local population has Jewish roots, and it is the same in Spain.

This means that we don’t know what happened to the lost tribes of Israel, but their incorporation in the nations of the world still has its effect. So the Reshimot (spiritual genes) awaken today in many people in different countries, and they feel that they are attracted to the Creator. They are called Israel according to their inclination, according to the inner voice that is awakening in them.

This inclination places them on a spiritual level and creates the spiritual connection with the Creator who spurs them. It makes no difference how they receive the desire that used to belong to those that Abraham had gathered from all over Babylon, since today the same law of evolution, the Light that Reforms, which they draw by the wisdom of Kabbalah, affects all of them. These people in whom the point in the heart was revealed need the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to fulfill it.

There are also people in whom the inner voice doesn’t awaken but they are the descendants of those who had revealed the Creator once and were then shattered. These people are also called Israel, and they have to participate in the process, although this force, the attraction towards the goal of creation, to the Creator, hasn’t been revealed in them yet.

We, on our part, first work with those whose point in the heart has awoken. We unite them and establish the world Bnei Baruch group.

People who call themselves Jews have no idea who they are, what their origin is, and what happens to them. They believe that they are an ordinary nation just like all the others, and are not aware of their mission and their role at all. We also have to work with them and to provide them explanations and draw them to the work of connection.

We also have to work with the nations of the world and to explain to them what their work is because we are in the phases of the end of correction today, when all the vessels have to participate in this process together.

Generally speaking, whoever feels an inclination to correction has to use it for the sake of the collective. In other words, in order to open people’s eyes and to explain to them what humanity needs to do in order to advance towards the predetermined goal, which is everyone’s obligation.

We have two options, two ways to reach the goal: good or bad. This cannot be avoided. Let’s hope that we will manage to teach everyone how to advance along the good way. The Reshimot are revealed every moment and we have to be ready to fulfill them correctly, if we refuse, we will be forced to fulfill them along the bad path. Our choice is to advance either by blows or by our exertion.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/06/14, Lesson on the Topic: “Unity of the Nation”

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 4

From the book, The Essential Secret of the Jews, M. Brushtein:

Why Now?

Why is it so important today to decide about this strange and difficult to digest law, to understand the nature of anti-Semitism? To be convinced that Abraham discovered the law of nature without an electron microscope and without a particle accelerator, or maybe out of simple curiosity? No. Everything is much more complex.

The prophecies of Abraham began to be realized from the dawn of civilization. They were based upon the laws of nature and he said that sooner or later humanity would have to connect, and today we feel the results of connection on all levels, which are sometimes painful.

As the wisdom of Kabbalah and Abraham predicted, today, at the end of the 20th century we have returned, but already now, around the entire Earth, we have entered into that state of the “small village” and of the “butterfly effect.” The crisis is global, ecological disasters are global, epidemics are spreading, the Internet network is global, and within this network there are social networks which are no less global. The more that we advance we see the more that the world becomes confused within global and integral problems. At the same time, ideas about connection come back again like a boomerang in one form or another and give no rest to humanity. This has already reached the absurdity that the biggest capitalists are talking about social identification and brotherhood.

And here I am entering into the vague and most problematic realm, the realm of values and social identification. In every society there must be particular common values. The values of the market in themselves are unable to fulfill this role. In addition, Abraham established the nation such that according to the program it must first show an example of new social relationships.

According to the example of Israel, it is certainly possible to see how imperative the general education of the population in the area of connection is, and only through that will it be possible to solve all the problems of society and show the whole world an example in this way. Generally we thought: Maybe we will follow Abraham and organize our own research? Essentially it is up to us to find the answers to two questions:

1.  Where do we see the laws of connection in the world around us?

2.  How are the Jews connected to the connection of the whole world?

We are aware that for this kind of research we require a genius like Abraham, and we are not geniuses. Yet together with this, unlike Abraham, we have experience that we have gathered for 3800 years of the development of civilization. Meanwhile, it is not clear how all of this will wind up but it is known that even a negative result is also a result.
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From the book, The Essential Secret of the Jews, M. Brushtein

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.18.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 2, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 4, Item 40

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World” 

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