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Useful Types Of Fear

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is to be done with fear and trembling before a descent? After all, the Creator gave us the point in the heart and He can pick it up.

Answer: A descent does not at all mean that the Creator takes away the point in the heart. The fear of a descent can be the fear of the pain involved in a descent, when a person is detached from spirituality. He may fear it because he doesn’t want to be in this state, because during the descent he curses the group, the teacher, and the Creator.

He may also fear the powerlessness of the ascent after the descent; you do not raise yourself; you aren’t able to do this by yourself.  because he cannot do this by himself. This means that there can be a descent in which a person loses all connection with the upper world and he may not even be reminded of it. On the whole, there are different types of fear of a descent, and they are all very good and essential.

It is a blessing if a person feels fear. The remedy for this fear is the connection with the group, because when you fall, you cannot promise yourself in any way that you will awaken from the descent, except through the provision of the guarantee that the group will help you. There is no other way.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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Like Sheep Facing Wolves

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: After the First and Second Temples were destroyed, did the Jewish people feel and remember their foundation established by Abraham? Did the people of Israel remember around what they were created and consolidated? Did this foundation live among them?

Answer: Yes and no.

After the destruction of the Second Temple, the people fell from seeing the inner picture of reality, the managing forces, everything that happens in the world, and again found themselves in mutual hatred, mutual rejection, and mutual distance from each other, with an indifference that characterizes us even today.

Exiled from the land of Israel, we passed through many lands and turned to the West, to Europe, to the East, to the Arab nations, and we began to sink into apathy. Since then, what has held us together is not the power of love, nor belonging to one idea, not mutuality, not connection, and not mutual help without any calculations, but only the desire to survive. We were stuck to each other like sheep flocking together and facing wolves, but we didn’t hold ourselves together.

Basically our situation has been like this throughout the entire exile until this very day, which is the entire two thousand years.

Question: What role did religion fulfill in this?

Answer: Religion helped people in this state of absolute detachment from spiritual sources, from understanding, from everything. It simply strengthened and supported them in this low and abject state so that people could be involved in carrying out some kind of worldly activities, also called Mitzvot, and thus would maintain themselves in this manner. Religion is what is left and what was given to the people after the destruction of the Temple, instead of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah opens the heavens, reveals the Creator, and reveals the power of unity to the people. Through realizing it between them, they discover the Creator, who is found among them, and who makes it possible for them to live within a sensation of a completely different reality.

And when all of this was lost, we acquired our present form. This pertains to everyone, except for a few Kabbalists in every generation who wrote books and developed this method, and who continue to work to attain the Creator and unity between us.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 9/24/14, Part 7

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Learn To Work On Others’ Desires

Laitman_524_01Question: How can one pass from artificial, cognitive fear to emotional fear?

Answer: It is possible to do this by immersing oneself in thought and emotion. If I am among friends and listen to them all the time, immersing myself in their words, trying to sail on the waves of their thought, I absorb their characteristics and emotions.

Even though inside me everything may be dead, as a result of such mutual influence, my own emotions begin to appear.

If a person is full from the start, this isn’t good. The best situation is when you are empty; you have nothing, not even the smallest desire. You come to the group mechanically and begin the work on yourself from an absolutely dormant state, from a completely empty state.

But it is not worthwhile to immerse oneself in such a state intentionally and worry about that you are not in it. Learn to work with others’ desires and bring yourself to a state of awe because you are absorbing the feelings of your friends. This is very good.

If you are not ready, then invest some effort in others; try to do something physical, or just speak with the friends so that somehow they will awaken you and give you inspiration.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Workshop 1

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The Remedy Against Laziness

Dr. Michael LaitmanComment: Often I want to put everything aside instead of making an effort.

Answer: This is Klipa, the serpent who is sitting within you and constantly convinces you, “It doesn’t matter, let’s wait.” This is called laziness.

A state like this can go on for thousands of years! So it is necessary to convince the friends to always take you to all the events without paying attention to excuses that you cannot, that you don’t want to go out to disseminate, or that you don’t want to go to the gathering of friends. Maybe you say that you are very tired, something hurts you, there is a soccer game on television, or other things. You must convince your friends not to listen to you and to pull you out of the doghouse you are trying to push yourself into. This is the only way you can be saved.

There is no other possibility of getting you out of this state besides the influence of the environment! This is done intentionally, because it is specifically through connection with the environment that you correct yourself.

You will be given you all kinds of opportunities to flee from spiritual efforts, from victory! It is here, beside you, but instead you say: “Next time, tomorrow evening, surely.” And again you forget.

Success is possible only if you convince your friends to forcefully obligate you to come out of your laziness.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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Privately Or Collectively?

laitman_942Question: How should we invoke fear properly? Should it be from the center of the group by myself as an individual?

Answer: I can spur the group, not as a spiritual person, but as a corporeal egoistic individual. However, if I merge with the group, I am already a spiritual element because the group is a spiritual body, and it is possible to influence the environment on the next level through it.

Do you want to ascend to a higher level? It is possible only through the group of ten!

On the next level when you connect ten groups of ten into one, you will work on a level of a hundred, and so on. This is how the system is organized. Moreover, it works in depth rather than breadth, i.e., in the general deepening. We have to pay attention to that and constantly aspire for improving the quality of our connection. This is very important.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Workshop 1

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The Truth About The Three Religions, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why has Islamic religious fanaticism become so strong in recent years? Islam began its journey to the West and is gradually conquering Europe and the United States. Today in Europe there are 54 million Muslims; 7 million Muslims are living in France alone.

The trend towards Islamization is gaining momentum, but worst of all is that it is amplified in the radical, extremist movements. In today’s Europe there are “Muslim ghettos” into which both residents and the police are afraid to enter. They conduct their closed lives in these places together with the Mosques and a legal system according to the laws of Islam.

This phenomenon has grown to threatening dimensions and has gradually gone beyond governmental control. The culture war began in central Europe, which had been an example of freedom, democracy, equal rights, and pluralism.

Suddenly a foreign body is beginning to develop within it that is opposed to all of its basic principles—radical Islam—bringing us back to the distant past regarding the equality of women and additional modern achievements.

The Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, founder of the “Freedom” party, made a speech warning of the great danger that threatens Europe. In his opinion, we are in the last stages of the process of the Islamization of Europe that threatens not only its existence but also the United States and all of Western civilization because it is leading to extremism, violence, and intifada.

Why has the popularity of radical Islam grown so much, in particular among the young?

Answer: The idea is that we have reached the last stage of the process of human development that has been happening for thousands of years. Human civilization emerged from ancient Babylon and developed in two directions: Part of the people followed Abraham and the other part were scattered all over the world. After that, the doctrine of Abraham became the foundation of the three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

These religions developed in that order, one after the other. Judaism developed directly from Abraham. Christianity was founded around 2,000 years ago when the first Christian communities appeared. And Islam only appeared in the 7th century.

A relative flowering and decline of every religion happens according to these stages. Judaism flourished in its true form until the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (temple). After the destruction, the Jewish people neglected the principle of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” that was the foundation of the doctrine of Abraham, and so it went into exile. This was a spiritual exile from the altruistic state, a fall from brotherly love into hatred.

Christianity flourished until the Middle Ages, and after that it began to decline, change, and split with the formation of the Protestant movement.

Islam was in a long dormancy and didn’t express itself in its full power. And only lately, when Judaism and Christianity became so weakened that they stopped determining the form of society, then it began to become stronger. And indeed, it is written in the Torah that in the end of days, in the last stage of human development, Islam would accumulate great power, as was written about Ishmael, (Genesis 16:12) “…his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him… ,” meaning that this religion would ascend above all.

Judaism flowered for the first 2,000 years after the departure of Abraham from ancient Babylon, meaning approximately until the beginning of the common era. This was a period when Judaism existed in its true spiritual form and in its full power. Yet after that the Jewish people fell from their spiritual level and began to sink into physical desires. Therefore they went into exile. Every generation sank deeper than its predecessor.

After the burst of Judaism, the Christian surge began. Christianity developed in a storm until it squeezed itself out. Today we are in the period of the decline of Christianity, which has lost its former power. In Europe, to be a Christian, nothing is required except for a necklace with a cross around the neck.

In some places Christian fanatics still remain, but these are not people who were Christians from the start, these accepted Christianity in a more recent period, as in South America, for example. For them, Christianity is still a relatively new religion. It had already existed for 2,000 years and it reached America through the missionaries only after it was discovered by Columbus 500 years ago. So there are still devout Christians in America..

Islam in our day is truly beginning to be awakened. Until now, it was in its incubation period. After 2,000 years of the blossoming of Judaism and after that the 2,000 years of the flourishing of Christianity, Islam’s turn has arrived.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/31/14

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Right-Wing Extremism In Europe, Part 2

Dr. Michael Laitman

This Old, Old World

Question: Europe has already had bitter experiences; it has known so many wars. Why doesn’t it try to break the present trend of xenophobia?

Answer: We live in different times. Contemporary modern Europe is not prepared to fight. For example, when I was in Germany I talked with politicians, mayors, and public figures; they admitted to me that people are simply exhausted, subconsciously exhausted. Clearly, it is possible to go out and protest with loud voices, but basically, the Europeans are not prepared to resist what is happening.

What is it that apparently prevents the leaders or others who appear to be unanimously against ideas that bankrupt multiculturalism, against disturbances to the “non-indigenous” sectors,  from taking to street demonstration? But no, people are not prepared to protest. The time of battles has passed, and today they are not ready to fight.

Basically nothing serious stands behind even the neo-Nazi proclamations. These are not the fascists who led the torchlight parades of the 20th century.

Question: And yet people are voting for the extreme right-wingers, adding political weight to them.

Answer: It is political, but no more than this. They are not ready and are not prepared for a true war within Europe. The Europeans have no power and no incentive. They have aged, and this is very noticeable. Even though people disagree somewhat with what is happening, and even though the young still go out into the streets here and there, in general the old world has aged and weakened and put up its hands.
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From KabTV’s  “A New Life” 9/9/14

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.22.14

Shamati #5 Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below”

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Writings of RabashDargot HaSulam,” Article 943

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts “Introduction,” “The Fifth Commandment,” Item 216

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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 49 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” “The Wheel of Transformation of the Form” 

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