Audio Version Of The Blog – 09.30.14

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The Person Develops The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we really discover the Creator among us now?

Answer: We understand the concept “Creator” as a sensation of fellowship, connection and love. This is not something limited in space and volume. Rather, this is the general force of nature by which we live. We develop it; that’s what we do.

If we can be organized so that we discover this force, then it will exist. Likewise, it also will influence us, and we also will be connected to it. This means that the person develops the Creator.

We must constantly try to find this current through which all of us advance and exist. We must avoid extraneous thoughts and activities. This means that everything will be directed only toward connection. It will live in us, and we automatically will feel it.

As is understood, from each one of us, there will be a particular effort in this regard. Yet, this effort will become desirable. It will be like a person who plays basketball and invests effort in this, but enjoys it. After all, in this world, we get pleasure from many activities in which we seem to invest great efforts.

So, we must understand that our efforts will create pleasurable sensation in us. Specifically, it will create an urge to come closer, intending to satisfy the Creator. This will make us happy and give us vitality.

MAN is what nourished us in the wilderness. MAN is the ascent of desire. In the physical world, we work and then get paid, whereas spiritual work itself becomes the payoff. The efforts become our nourishment. A sensation of lack, hunger, and yearning fulfills us.

So, we suddenly will begin to understand that we were even in this perfected state before. We just didn’t feel it, and, now that we have cleansed all of our intentions, have prepared the sensory Kli, we see that we exist within this. Nothing changes except the fact that we have begun to understand correctly the state we are in. It appears before us as a universe that has changed, as a humanity that has changed, as another world. However, all of this is in relation to us because we are the ones who have changed.

MAN (prayer) is mutual yearning, mutual help, being concerned that my friends will discover the higher force! This becomes the only goal of my efforts, and, if I ask myself, “What am I thinking about?” this means that I am concerned that all of the friends throughout the world, our entire immense group, will receive the discovery of the characteristic of bestowal and love between us. If all of us will think this way, as having responsibility for everyone else, then this will succeed.

It is up to us to reach this. Don’t expect any external changes, only internal changes that must be such that we feel the higher world within our regular state.

So, we must have only one singular request as the goal. The yearning must be shared. The intentions and the thoughts of each must be not about himself, about his attainments, but only about our attainments. In the first stage, it is “we,” instead of “me.” In the next stage, it is a single whole, instead of “we.” All of us merge with the Creator. That is how the sole higher force of nature begins to be discovered within the connection between us.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg 9/18/14, Preparatory Lesson 1

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Yom Kippur: Sorrow Or Joy?

Dr. Michael LaitmanMidrash Sefer, “Acharei Mot”: Moses who was on a very high spiritual level was given a special state. The Creator told him: “You can enter the Holy of Holies any time you wish to speak to Me. Any time you enter and wish to hear My word, My voice will be heard between the cherubs and reach your ears.”

Moses was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies any time because he was on the middle line between the two cherubs, between the right and the left lines. The level of Moses is the level on which a person is continuously in the state of the Holy of Holies, in the state of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).

You can disagree: “Yom Kippur is a state of sorrow when a person cries about what he discovers inside him.” But did Moses constantly cry and ask for something? On the contrary, he was happy, since, in fact, Yom Kippur is actually a day of joy and not of weeping. People simply don’t understand the truth and so they cry and torment themselves the whole day.

In fact, if I advance and yearn to discover the negative attributes inside me which were initially created by the Creator, and ask Him: “Correct me so that I will be closer to You. This is how I want to delight You: by bestowal and comprehensive love…” then it is an ascent for me and an inspiration.

In this case, Yom Kippur becomes a day of joy instead of a day for tears, a state of continuous awe! This is a day of double holiness, of double bestowal, when not only my desires of bestowal, but also my desires of receiving, work in order to bestow. This is the level of Moses.

On the level of Aaron this state is attained only once a year, whereas on the level of Moses, it is continuous. Therefore, every person must reach the level of Moses.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/12/14 

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 51

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

The Vegetative Group

Plants are one of the major groups of multicellular organisms (Wikipedia, “Plants”)

This definition, in order not to distract the reader, is taken in an abbreviated form and illustrates the theme of this book, which is that a plant is a body consisting of a set of interacting cells.

It is important to note that plants, in similarity to cells, are attracted to mutual cooperation and are very successful in it. With respect to plants, “social” terminology is used very often.

Phytosociology is a sub-section of geobotany and biogeocenology, which study plant communities relationships,and the forming these of communities in plants. (Biological Encyclopedic Dictionary “Phytosociology”)

What would you say regarding this definition?

A vegetative association is the basic unit of classification of plant communities (phytocoenosis). (Academic Dictionary)

But the most convincing in the sociality of plants is the following definition.

A grouping of plants is a complex of plants from phytocenosis to random settlements of plants. (Ecological Dictionary “Grouping of Vegetation”)

There is a full set of terms related to human communities: relationships, associations, settlements and even grouping.

It seems that plants have gone far in social terms from its predecessors – cells.

Among other things, they are able to transmit information to each other over long distances and also use intermediaries from other biological communities for this purpose.

To prove the existence of this communication method, scientists from China used several pairs of tomato seedlings connected by a mushroom network. Upon receiving the signal of an attack on their neighbors, the plants reacted by releasing substances which spoil the taste of the leaves or even kill the disease-causing parasites.

“It’s a very robust system that could allow for the movement of signal proteins over many metres,” Durall says. Mycorrhizal networks even tie together plants of different species, which means different species might be able to communicate with each other. Last year they found a network weaving its way through an entire Canadian forest, with each tree connected to dozens of its neighbours over distances of 30 metres.” (Source: New Scientist)

That’s right. Socially, plants are far advanced. However, a generalized conclusion is needed to complete the picture. Indeed, how do plants stand out from other forms of nature?

In our opinion, Kabbalah gives a very original, albeit peculiar, interpretation of social relationships in the vegetative world.

“Yet, as we can see in corporeal flora, even though they are mobile and expand in width and length, still, all the plants have a single property. In other words, there is not a single plant that can go against the method of all the plants. “All the plants are like a single creature and the individual plants are specific organs of that animal.” (Baal HaSulam, Shamati #115)
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The Secondary Growth Of Terror, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A new threat looms over the world. The threat unifies us with a sense of common danger. Its name is ISIS, the Islamic state that is rapidly gaining ground.

The outstanding cruelty of this organization includes terrible executions of western journalists and proves the organization’s great efficiency.

This organization has financial resources, good technological abilities, and excellent organizational skills that allow it to quickly establish their control.  One gets the feeling that we are witnessing the evolution of an epidemic that will take over the world if we don’t stop it.

This concern fills the hearts of leaders and citizens who are looking for a solution. In the last two weeks, the world has been trying to unite in its struggle against the organization. The UN published an announcement denouncing the organization’s actions and both the Western world and the Arab world are calling to unite forces. The last NATO convention also raised this issue. As a result, they have agreed to establish a coalition of ten countries including Turkey, with massive support. A declaration regarding military, diplomatic, intelligence, and political cooperation against ISIS has been made, hoping that the Arab states will be the next to join.

The UN secretary, the president of the United States, the British prime minister, the king of Saudi Arabia, and others have joined this initiative, as the common threat brings everyone together to fight the common enemy.

Many suggestions have been made, including changing the law that would prevent the return of ISIS warriors who have a Western citizenship to their homes, tighter control of Muslim organizations that are spreading in Europe and in the US, limiting activity on the Turkish border, and banning ransom payment for hostages, since this money finances terrorist activities and thus returns to us like a boomerang.

Let’s suppose that NATO is convening to discuss the threat presented by ISIS and other extremist organizations that are raising their heads. If you were a consultant, what would you advise them to do in order to uproot the problem and neutralize the cruel hatred on an international scale?

Answer: We can put the solution in one word: unity. If we don’t advance towards connection, towards a coalition of states that is so strong that it will eventually become one family, new resistance organizations will emerge and will surprise us anew in very unpleasant ways.

We should stop asking where ISIS was six months or a year ago, where it gets all the money for such widespread operations, where they keep their arsenal, where they get their medical care, etc. because, after all, it is impossible to fight in a desert without all that, and they need thousands of people to supply all their needs. Just like there is an immense mechanism behind an army that provides it with food, ammunition, logistics, medical care, etc. The armed gangs in the Middle East also need many people who serve the warriors.

Thus we speak about a huge organization with great resources and unlimited possibilities. It has already spread throughout the world, and with the help of systematic propaganda, is attracting many people, not only from the Middle East, but also in the developed Western countries. This international network operates very wisely. They are in contact with each other and have a serious leader.

Why have we just recently found out about it? If we hadn’t spoken about it now we wouldn’t have been able to discover and get to know them. Was no one on alert? Didn’t the Western intelligence services, that are everywhere with all the means they have including bases, agents, etc., know what was going on?

Are we so naive that we can be told fairy tales about the emergence of a new leader whose kingdom spreads all over the world and among its citizens, are people from different countries? It isn’t by chance that the man who cut off the head of the American journalist was a British citizen.

This means that we don’t understand the background for these events. I guess the Western leaders meant to quiet this problem down for a while. I doubt that they didn’t know of and hadn’t discussed it because such problems are always an issue for discussion.

We see that eventually, humanity depends on leaders who only think about themselves and how to stay in their position for as long as possible in order to enjoy the benefits of their position.

They were ready to carry on this way, and if ISIS hadn’t started with active conquests, they would have allowed it to continue to reinforce its network. No one cared. The world is destroyed by people’s egoistic attitude within every country. The breach in the connection between us is so great that no one even cares. We cannot think about what connects us. A person thinks only about himself and worries only about today or tomorrow, at the most, and that’s it. Our ego has become tough and intolerant.

Therefore, I don’t expect the world leaders to take any special action.The bombing will not help, since we all know it is impossible to defeat terrorist organizations.Their power is in their ideology and fighting against it with weapons is futile. Only another ideology works against a certain ideology. We do need to take military action in the meantime, but we shouldn’t think that this will bring victory and the end of ISIS. It will not disappear. Such terrorist organizations don’t disappear, but rather change form, merge, and split apart, but no one has ever succeeded in uprooting them.

We see this in Israel, in our war against Hamas, which proves that it is impossible to defeat it and to come to any agreements, since whatever is signed today is irrelevant tomorrow. We all know that, so any negotiations with them are nothing but deception.

This refers to all the terrorist organizations and there is no chance for peace unless a Palestinian leadership, like Jordan or Syria, for example, can at least keep an agreement. Only  then we will be able to talk about some stability and about a government that is responsible for what it says. In the meantime, new terrorists emerge in place of the ones that were killed, and nothing changes. Therefore, I have my own solution for the international community, and that is that only an ideology can be an efficient weapon, and this ideology is very simple.

What does ISIS actually want? It wants connection. They want to bring everyone together under their black flag. Therefore, the weapon we can use against it can only be an idea of connection between everyone under our flag. The color makes no difference. The main thing is that it will truly unite everyone according to the same principle ISIS believes in, that “everyone can join us.” This is what humanity should do and we should start now to work on the general connection.

When we do that, we will teach people to connect, tell them what an integral world is and how important it is to establish it in similarly to nature, since nature forces us to do just that. We have to deliver this message to people in different ways, through study, entertainment programs, video clips, etc. so that the message will reach every sector.

Then we will be able to say that we have started the fight against all the terrorist organizations, and in general, all the evil in the world. The only means to do this is through the introduction of a system of training and education, which explains the laws of a single, integrated world.
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From the program “A New Life” 9/07/14

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The Scapegoat

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Book of Leviticus, “Acharei Mot” 16:21-16:22: He (Aaron) is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

Letting a goat into the wilderness stands for releasing the desires that are as yet impossible to correct nor suitable for working with for the sake of bestowal. It’s the basis of the notion of a scapegoat.

The other goat, the one that is killed, symbolizes the egoistic desires of a person who is still at an animate level and who is in the process of rising to the speaking level. People use this animal as food, i.e., they implement their desires for the sake of bestowal

Laying both hands on the head of the live goat means controlling our thoughts that we as yet cannot refine nor use for the sake of others.

Question: What does send the goat away into the wilderness mean?

Answer: From the material point of view, the wilderness is the place where wild goats live and die naturally.

From the spiritual point of view, they signify the desires that we reject and that are considered dead. Killing them is beyond our power, only a desert can cope with this task because we ban ourselves from using these desires, i.e., we fill them with emptiness that eventually kills them. And then there is the resurrection of the dead i.e., the desires that are subject to correction are revived.

The Torah, Book of Leviticus, “Acharei Mot” 16:26: The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must… This is speaking about a messenger who takes the goat far away into the desert and leaves him there. In other words, the one who has to let his most powerful and huge internal desires go. Only a priest (Kohen) can do it. If not a Kohen, then only a special envoy can cope with this task. The person who does it experiences huge internal tension.

The envoy then returns and washes himself, since he was connected with impure forces, with the desert. He has to internally purify himself. After he rejects all desires and thoughts that cannot be used correctly, that is, when he sends them to the desert, he has to clean himself. It happens under the influence of the Light of Hassadim that is represented by water.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/06/14

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The Connection Between Us Protects Our Soldiers

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that if the Jews in Israel got even one millimeter closer to each other it would bring about major changes in the whole world. Why is this place so important and why does the connection have to be from Israel?

Answer: According to the spiritual roots and the corporeal branches that match them, the Jews have to be and to connect in the land of Israel. This connection will not work out anywhere else in the world. We will not even be able to think about connection and what is more to fulfill it. This is the reason that Abraham was told “Leave your land…”

Question: What can the Jews who live abroad do in that case?

Answer: The Jews abroad have to support the connection in Israel. They should also connect but only if we connect in the land of Israel and they will support us. It is here in the land of Israel that the connection should be.

Question: Is that enough to simply establish the connection or should we understand its root and where it stems from?

Answer: We will gradually understand that, as it says: “The hearts are attracted by the actions.” First we have to try to connect, even without understanding exactly how it happens, but simply fulfilling the advice of Kabbalists and taking an example from others. After all, we are not taught anything that is bad or dangerous, but only about connection and mutual understanding that is attained by workshops and different activities together.

It is pleasant and necessary because without it we are facing a disaster, and it is certainly true that when the Jews in Israel get even one millimeter closer great changes take place in other nations according to their size. Everything that happens in Israel is multiplied by one million in the nations of the world. The Jewish nation is very small, so a small change in Israel brings about huge changes all over the world. It is as if we turn on a tap by only one millimeter, but all the nations receive a great filling by it.

Question: Why is unity felt among the Israeli nation only in hard times, in times of war? When we feel such pressure it is felt like labor pains and in ordinary times everything calms down.

Answer: A state of war is a time when we have to start explaining things. After all, people are terrified, hurting and mourning the soldiers that were killed, and so they are more sensitive. In this time it is possible to explain to a person that there is a way of living without pain, that there is a method that raises us from this bad and low world to a beautiful high summit.

If people only listen, it will lead to a great outcome. By the connection between us we protect our soldiers. But in the meantime, it remains as nice words for most people.

Question: How can we learn how to connect?

Answer: We learn to connect in workshops, roundtables, and home circles. This is not a learning process but a process of correction. We learn by actions.

The media were developed for this cause, so that it will be possible to reach everyone. We can have roundtables on TV that will move a person more than a dramatic film and he can participate in the discussion emotionally. Everything depends on how tense the situation is and the tension will not go away. However, we have a chance to connect, and then the success is guaranteed. Join us and together we will succeed!
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From KabTV’s “Anti-Semitism” 7/21/14

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Discovering The Creator Inside Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do you understand what the Creator is?

Answer: It is impossible to understand the Creator.

We are a desire to receive, so whatever we feel, we can understand to the extent that we feel and understand our desires. Our desire comes first. Then the mind perceives, thinks, and assesses what it feels. Thus, it is impossible to know and attain the Creator without feeling Him. Feeling the Creator is nothing but feeling the connection between us. We perceive Him as the right connection between us since He is “come and see,” Bore (in Hebrew).

The Creator doesn’t exist inside me. The connection that is properly established among us allows me to understand that the Creator is inside me and this is what He is called. I don’t feel, don’t understand, and don’t know this. This is something, in and of itself, and is my first and basic source. I can feel Him inside me to the extent that I resemble Him. I don’t feel Him, but rather the corrected attributes that resemble Him and that I call the Creator.

Baal HaSulam gives us the example of an electric current. We don’t know what it is, but we can only see and feel its manifestation: a needle moving in a measuring device, a light shining, it heats, cools, etc. But, what is this actually?  It is some kind of energy that is not understood, because everything we wish to feel, see, or measure is its revelation in matter and not the actual source. This means that it is already matter that has been transformed.

Therefore the Creator is called come and see, and it is what’s inside us.

Question: So how can we personalize His control?

Answer: We shouldn’t personalize Him personally and must not give it any form! That is a terrible mistake. If you do that, you descend to paganism and don’t work on correcting yourself, but rather, depict a kind of figure whom you ask for mercy.
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From the Convention In Toronto “Day One” 8/04/14, Meal 1

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A Group Is A Single Body

Dr. Michael LaitmanA group in itself is one single whole, and everyone gets only what exists in the whole group, nobody feels himself as a unique unit.

In a group there don’t need to be any differences between men and women, veterans and newcomers, any differences of opinion, misunderstandings, or distortions.

The concept of an “individual” torn off from the others doesn’t exist in it because one is the hand, a second is the foot, a third is the body, and so forth. Everyone constitutes a single whole, one body that is found in absolute mutual cooperation, in absolute agreement among all of its limbs.

This must be the main thing for everyone and we shouldn’t have any complaints from anyone about this. The opportunity was given to me to participate in a group, to dissolve in it, and nobody takes that from me because the Creator is the one who granted it to me. He brought me here, gave me friends as His representatives through whom I must work on my unification with Him. I am found in this.

The main thing is that in every moment I can dissolve in the group further and further, “losing myself” among them such that they manage all of my thoughts, feelings, and desires, they determine all of my behavior, my attitude. The moment that I attain this state, I immediately begin to feel the next spiritual level, because it is felt in our unity. If I attain it, become dissolved in all of them, then I move to the next level.
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 4

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 09.30.14

Shamati #36 “What Are the Three Bodies in a Man”

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts “Yom HakiPurim”

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 43

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, “Table of the Answers for the Meaning of the Words,” Item 23

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” “Necessity to Practice Caution with the Laws of Nature”

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