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The Secret Of The Passage To Eternal Life

laitman_744The most important thing for us is to realize ourselves in the correct form in this world. And to realize our destiny means to sacrifice this entire world, that is, our egoism, everything that we aspire to in our world, and make it so the feeling of the upper world is the most important thing for us, and to be able to exchange this world with the upper world.

Although this world does not disappear, we do not chase all the temptations and fulfillments it offers anymore. They stop being the goal of our existence. We want to exchange perceptions of the world and attain the upper reality.

When I intend to do something, what am I paying attention to first? It is to the most important things to me, and I don’t relate to what is not important to me. I don’t even feel it. As it is said, a cat sees only the mouse and does not pay attention to the beautiful world that surrounds it.

Therefore each person sees something different (else), meaning, each ones sees the world differently; the order of priorities that can fulfill us and our sensations, is different for each one.

Therefore, I must reach such a level that I’ll stop paying attention to this world, although all my vessels of absorption will remain: vision, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. Instead of all these I’ll see only the quality of bestowal, love, and connection between all the details. And then I’ll reveal the Creator, because He is the single connecting force of nature.

However, meanwhile, I’m not paying attention to the connection between all the details of nature. I am interested in a completely opposite action, to take for myself as much as possible. This egoistic inclination is opposite to the quality of bestowal, connection, mutuality, love, the qualities of the Creator. And because of that I am not able to reveal this force.

Therefore, I must make all kinds of actions that will direct me to look for this connecting force, similar to scientists who want to reveal it. I do the same thing; I am a researcher. And it’s not religion; it’s the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore, I look for this single force that connects, fulfills, and moves everything to one goal, from the beginning to the end according to a certain plan.

I want to know what the secret of death is. Does it exist or not? If I look at this topic from the point of view of the wisdom of Kabbalah, I don’t understand at all what death is. Is it a change of one desire into another desire: the desire to receive into the desire to bestow?

The question of life and death is a critical question and subconsciously worries many people. It is possible to explain it only partially, to leave it in secret, in order to attract them forward and hint by that, that here is the solution for overcoming death and passing to eternity. This will give a person the possibility to understand the greatness of his existence.

Do I perceive the world through my beastly body, through my five senses that exist in me? However, the truth is that the body does not exist. There are only the five senses that give me the feeling of the world and of the self, sensing in it. With this approach, it is quite easy to ignore this world. It would not be terrible if I would not be in it, and this world itself would not exist; it disappears, and that’s it.

We have an opportunity to exit to the eternal existence. There is no death; there is only transition, the exchange of ten Sefirot. Now, I exist in the feeling of existence that is called my minimal ten Sefirot, and inside them I feel this world, myself, and everything that surrounding me.

Let’s assume that a person dies. What is his death? His death means that all his ten Sefirot are emptied, and instead of Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut, or vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, nothing is left. What remains is information called Reshimo.

Later, this Reshimo transfers to another biological body and begins to realize itself in it. The next point joins it, a new level of desire, (Aviut, coarseness), and what is called Adam (Man) grows with this desire and realizes them.

The Reshimo develops under the influence of the Light at the same level, at the same plateau. It can continue until man himself will want to rise to the next degree, or under the influence of beatings because the Light will raise him all the time (we see what happens in the generations) or under the self-aspiration of the person to rise to the next degree.

The rise to the next degree means that, instead of receiving a small amount of Light that is called “our life,” man begins to receive a special Light that formats him differently and raises him from an inner perception in his minimal ten Sefirot to the exterior perception.

Obviously then the problem of self-existence disappears. If you exchange the means of self-perception to outside of yourself, then outside of you is the volume that exists constantly as if you spread inside it, and your existence becomes eternal and endless. With it disappears the feeling of inferiority, the sense that you lack something as in the current five senses. The Upper Light will pass through to others.

If the problem of existence in the world is constantly to draw, to absorb, to the interior, the energy and knowledge through this world, the problem of existence in the next level, the higher, is to transfer the energy, the force of vitality, through you to the entire world and to feel that the world needs you constantly.

That’s it. Here, there are no problems with life and death. People need to understand that, in principle, there is no other way, and from this path, from this purpose, one cannot escape. To the contrary, in front of us stands a wonderful opportunity of eternal life.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 11/20/13

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Each One Of Us Is A Representative Of All Of Humanity

laitman_929Question: How is it possible to reach correction if we leave the influence of the group and immediately fall into the corporeal, beastly existence?

Answer: The group must help a person. It’s possible that I am in such a decline that I am not able to connect to the group by myself—that I feel hatred and rejection concerning the group and I neglect the friends.

However, if I have a group in which I previously invested, if I tried to install it in the correct orderso that everyone would help each other and would immediately lift up those who fell, then they also will worry about me when I fall.

Question: How do you strengthen the group so it never leaves a person?

Answer: It is impossible that a person will never disconnect from the work, won’t forget the friends, and won’t curse everyone, including the Creator. It’s impossible that he will not think that he is insignificant and that everyone else are nothing as well. You must go through all the states. You will not succeed going through this path in a smooth way and avoid feeling all of this.

You have to dive into your ego, feel it, and go through all the discernments, and then, later, you will begin to become integrated with the others, and the exile must be four hundred years, four levels that one must pass within the desire to receive. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have anything to correct, and how would one reach the summit?

You are in front of Mount Sinai, and you must raise above all that hatred (Sina) in order to reach the Creator. Don’t be afraid. If you have a teacher, group, studies, a general connection, and dissemination, then you need not be afraid. However, if you are missing any element, that is already a problem, and this is because, at the end of each process, there needs to be the goal to delight the Creator. It is impossible if you don’t connect all the components together and make from them the basis for your bestowal to the Creator

Question: Desires constantly grow. Will they be corrected all at once or will the correction take place gradually, portion after portion?

Answer: The correction takes place gradually in small portions. We progress toward correction gradually because it is hard for us to agree to these changes. We are not able to execute them all at once, and in addition there must be a mixture between feelings and intellect, which corrects them and connects them to each other.

We must go through all of this together. In order to reach Malchut, you must also connect the history, your inner development, and all the souls that existed before you. You must pass through the entire process, and at the end of it you turn into a messenger who represents the huge desire, a huge balloon, with one point above, which is you who is connecting the whole Kli (Vessel) with the Creator.

You become the representative of the whole of humanity, and that’s the intention: that you correct the entire Malchut on your part, concerning yourself, and thus, each one does. So each one, for himself, attains the entire Malchut. Each soul attains the entire creation from one end to the other.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/14, Writings of Rabash

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The Eternal Dilemma: To Be Rich Or Happy

laitman_546_02From Rabash “Yenika (feeding) and Ibur (Impregnation)”: And the person must believe that before he is born, meaning before the descent of the soul into the body, the soul adhered with Him be He blessed, and now it yearns to return and adhere, as it was before its descent.

The soul was in adhesion with the Creator because there was a single complete Kli, all of whose parts were connected and whole. The single Upper Light filled them equally in a state of “He is one and His name is one” (Zechariah 14:9).

This state is most permanent, stable and secure; it is the foundation of all of creation. And therefore after the shattering, the vessel was fractured into a multitude of pieces and each one of the pieces yearns to return to that connection. For now they have become parts; they cannot feel fulfillment and always feel deficiency. In this world there is no happiness, fulfillment, and true wholeness, and perfection cannot be. This is because each one is only part of the system, and as long as the system is not whole, deficiencies and problems will always be discovered in it. And that is how it will be until the end of correction.

So each and every part, every person, subconsciously yearns to connect with others. This tendency and inclination is discovered gradually according to the development of the person. Ultimately, the necessity of connection is discovered because we can reach wholeness only in this way.

But for this it is necessary to win the struggle between my yearning for wholeness and connection and my ego that wants to dominate. And connection can only be between equals. So I need to decide what to choose—this or that. But we cannot resolve this inner dilemma.

Until the end of correction we will be found in such an inner crisis. On the one hand, I want wholeness, which can be felt only through integral connection, equality, the general inclusion of everyone. On the other hand, I want to dominate! This may be a connection, but it is one where I dominate and not all are equal and integrally connected.

Therefore, humanity constantly fluctuates, sometimes to one side and sometimes to the other side. And that is how it will always continue until we reach complete recognition of evil.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Rabash

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How Power Is Dangerous

In the News (from Psychologies.ru): “Why do people in power clearly display tyranny, obstinacy and mental instability? The answer is simple: a slight feeling of superiority over others might have a significant impact on all of us.

“We all notice how almost instantly the people appointed to high office become transformed. They are impatient and demanding. Any, even minor progress on the career ladder may radically change their behavior. The tone of their voice rises, and they become harsh and arrogant. Like all of us, they have no doubt about being right.

“In receiving power over others, we feel our superior. Our desires become higher than the rules of decency and behavior, less ethical. A sense of authority allows us to behave noisily and leave a mess.

“From this moment we stop understanding the feelings of others and ignore their efforts. All decisions are made independently and self-confidently, especially in cases when the fate of hundreds or thousands of people depend on this.”

My Comment: Therefore, Kabbalah encourages allowing only corrected people to “steer,” those who are free from personal selfish purposes. It was like that in the ancient kingdom of Israel during the First and Second Temples when the whole population and especially the sages who managed it were in the state of revelation of the Creator, which kept everyone above his egoism.
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We Depend On One Another

Laitman_115_06Question: Is there a reason for all our problems?

Answer: If there is a conflict with our spouse, our children, our neighbors, at work, and even within ourselves it means that our ego, called Pharaoh, dominates us.

Question:  But the slavery in Egypt, which the Torah tells us about, was only in ancient times and ended a long time ago.

Answer: Pharaoh dominates us all the time, even right now. The events described in the Torah are not related to a certain time and are not a historical story. We are still enslaved to the same ego, to our egoistic nature, which doesn’t allow us to live a normal life.

We live in a special world today, in a special time. We are all connected in one network to an integral world, an integral economy, and depend on one another. If the international community imposes certain sanctions against any country, it cuts off its connections with that country , like Iran for example, this state falls, since everyone depends on everyone else.

This shows us what an integral world we are living in, in which everyone is connected to one another. If we don’t keep the good relations in this interdependent world, we harm ourselves.

Therefore, if we don’t manage to fix the relationships between all the nations, all the countries, and all the political parties within a country, we will simply destroy ourselves. Nothing can help us if we are opposite to the general law of nature.

Question: But it is a fact that we don’t get along with each other and we still go on living.

Answer: There is a limit to this confrontation: how large it can grow and how long it can continue. The reason for this confrontation is our nature, which forces each of us to think only about himself. But a person doesn’t understand that his own good and wellbeing depend on everyone else. Our foolish ego operates in such a primitive way. People cannot understand that if we connect with good relationships with others we  will only benefit.

Question: It seems contrary that in ancient primitive societies people were more closely connected and that we draw further apart as we develop.

Answer: Don’t consider ancient societies as primitive. They realized that they depended on each other and that they were connected and couldn’t survive without these connections.

The problem of modern society is that we have reached such a high level through technological progress that it seems that we can live independently of each nother and so each one locks himself in his apartment with his cell phone and his computer and doesn’t want to see anyone. The main point is that he shouldn’t be touched.

This lack of connection between us, or the negative ties, are called Pharaoh, our ego. We don’t want to consider others and we don’t understand that we are mutually connected in one network and this is especially true for the nation of Israel. We always need to value ourselves according to this scale: the extent that we are against others or for them.

The whole Torah is only about “love thy friend as thyself,” which is the great rule of the Torah. This rule includes everything and there is nothing but reaching the right unity.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/15/15

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Like A Bundle Of Reeds—Plurally Speaking, Part 4

Like a Bundle of ReedsLike A Bundle of Reeds, Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour, Michael Laitman, Ph.D.

Chapter 9: Plurally Speaking
Affecting Social Cohesion Through the Social Environment

Recall the First “Ego-Warrior”

When the speaking level of desires first erupted as egotism, Babylon was at its peak, and Abraham was the one faced with trying to solve the mystery of his people’s social decline. His countryfolk were so immersed in building their tower that they completely abandoned their camaraderie. They were no longer “of one language and of one speech” (Genesis 11:1); all they cared about was the tower.

The book, Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer), portrays Abraham’s dismay with his people’s new passion: “Rabbi Pinhas says that there were no stones there [in Babylon] to build the city and the tower. What did they do? They fashioned bricks and burned them like artisans until they built it [the tower] seven miles high. Those who would lift up the bricks climbed up from the east, and those who climbed down would descend on the west. And if a man fell and died they would pay him no mind. But if a brick fell, they would sit down and wail saying, ‘When will another come up in its stead?’ When Abraham, son of Terah, walked by and saw them building the city and the tower, he cursed them in the name of God.”[i]

But Abraham did more than curse the builders. First, he tried to mend the rift and bring his people back together. Midrash Rabah tells us that Abraham brought together all the people in the world,[ii] and Rabbi Behayei Ben Asher tells us how he exposed Nimrod’s pretence of supernal powers. In his Midrash, Rabeinu [our Rav] Behayei, he writes, “[Nimrod] said to him, ‘I created the earth and the heaven with my power.’ Abraham replied, ‘…when I came out of the cave, I saw the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. Make it rise in the West and set in the East, and I will bow unto you. But if not, the one who gave my hand the strength to burn the statues will give me strength and I will kill you.’ Nimrod said to his counselors, ‘What shall be the sentence of this one?’ They replied, ‘He is the one of whom we said, ‘A nation shall come forth from him and inherit this world and the next world.’ And now, as the sentence he had decreed, so shall be done unto him. Promptly, they threw him into the furnace. At that time the Lord filled with mercy over him and saved him, as it is written, ‘I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans.’”[iii]

Following his heated debate with the king, Abraham took his family, his students, and his possessions and fled from Babylon. Along the way he collected into his entourage people who agreed with his message—“When faced with egotism, unite above it.” In other words, when hatred breaks out among friends, make the common goal of revealing the Creator—the quality of bestowal, the fundamental force that creates reality—more important than the rivaling parties, and thus unite above the rivalry. The bonuses of such deeds are enhanced unity, subsequent acquisition of the quality of bestowal by the former adversaries, and consequently, the revelation of the Creator.

The above sentence describes the essence of the fusion, the mending of the rift with which Abraham attempted to furnish his countryfolk. And that essence—unity above differences enhances cohesion and (if you want it to) reveals the Creator—has never changed. In fact, it will never change, as it is Nature’s Law of Bestowal.

As detailed in the Introduction to this book, Abraham’s group succeeded in uniting and grew into what became the people of Israel, a nation whose common trait is the desire for the Creator. Through unity above differences, as explained in Chapter 1, Israel developed a method by which to shift one’s thinking from the “me” mode to the “we” mode, thus perceiving the “One,” the Creator.

Thus, while Israel was going from strength to strength by employing unity over egotism, the rest of the world was experiencing episodes of ebb and flow, with empires rising and falling and the hedonistic culture of self-indulgence assuming predominance. For this reason, even today, in the most hedonistic of all eras, Abraham’s monotheism is the predominant notion of deity, while the Tower of Babylon is a symbol of human conceit and folly.

This is why the only ones who can educate the world as to the way one can grow as wise as Abraham are those who were his students, the children of Israel, known worldwide as Jews. This wisdom was Abraham’s legacy to them, and passing it on as he did is their obligation to the world.

[i] Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer), Chapter 24.

[ii] Midrash Rabah, Beresheet [Genesis], Parasha 39, Paragraph no. 3.

[iii] Rabbi Behayei Ben Asher Iben Haluah, Rabeinu [our Rav] Behayei, Beresheet [Genesis] 15:6.

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 03.29.15

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder” Article 17

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Writings of Baal HaSulam“This Is for Judah” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam“The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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