What Is God?

Dr. Michael LaitmanGod is a connection of love among people. More precisely, a connection is an action and the sensation that accompanies the action. The property that appears as a result of it is called God. We cannot imagine this property outside of us.

That is why it is prohibited to envisage God as an image. In Kabbalah, prohibited means impossible.

However, it is feasible to depict Him as a property that dresses in each of us as a quality of love, bestowal, and merging. It is said: “I’ll know the Lord from inside me. I’ll know You from your actions.”

God can be attained only through our efforts to unite, and our appeal to unite in essence is a call to reveal the Creator.

As soon as humanity admits that an overall and powerful egoism dwells within us and as soon as we learn to regard egoism as a crisis that accompanies all of our uncontrollable actions, it will be a true sign that we have reached a transition point to the next, spiritual developmental level. This is a state when people will be united, not through egoistic relationships, but by building altruistic liaisons among them.

Before this transition takes place, the opposite (reverse) manifestation of the Creator, the egoism (Pharaoh, Aman, etc.) inside us will press on us to make us continue developing for the sake of His revelation. In other words, it is He who impacts us by his opposite side and makes us reveal Him.

It is said, “There is none else besides Him” because we are governed by a single force, no matter whether it is done by His front, direct side or by the opposite, hidden side, as it is said, “You have hemmed me in from behind and before.”

This is what makes us grow in the initial phase of our advancement before we acknowledge our egoism as the evil force. The final development of the ego, the opposite side of the Creator (Pharaoh, Aman, etc.) reveals gradually and its appearance corresponds to the four stages of the spreading of the direct Light. It is meant to bring creation (a desire) to build an independent reaction, the four steps of exile and submersion in egoism and the four levels of liberation from the authority of Pharaoh. Today, we (Abraham’s group, the people of Israel) have reached the fourth phase of our liberation process.

Only after we go through all four stages and admit our selfishness, i.e., the opposite side of the Creator, only after we recognize and realize that our ego is evil, can we confront it. Egoism was artificially inserted in us by the Creator in order to make us decide which side of the Creator we prefer to choose: the opposite, negative side or His front side, i.e., love above egoism, faith above reason.

This is why we should understand that there is nothing that harms us; rather, everything we face is meant to happen to promote our further growth. We are the ones who define the state we are in by reacting to the events that involve us. If we relate to circumstances correctly, with understanding that no matter what is going on with us is sent by the Creator, our afflictions will be replaced by the positive side of the Creator. There is no intermediary condition. It is either the opposite side of the Creator or His front side.

To summarize the above, it is not the Creator who changes His impact on us from negative to positive; rather, it is we who alter our attitude to His actions from misunderstanding and rejection to understanding and consent.

The difference between God and the Creator is that God is the upper detached quality, whereas the Creator is the acting, governing, close and sensible property. However, all these definitions are true only for humans who strive to reveal Him (aspire to sense Him).
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See parts 1 and 2 of the Daily Lesson 3/20/15

Related Material:
Does God Exist?
Discovering The Creator Inside Me
“And Shall Be Called After The Name Of The Creator”

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