Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.23.15

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Life And Pleasure, Part 1

Laitman_632_4

Maximum Pleasure With Minimum Investment

Question: From the point of view of Kabbalah, what kind of force drives all of creation? What compels everything to go around?

Answer: Only two forces exist in the world. One force is the desire for pleasure, the desire to fulfill oneself, and the second force is the desire to bestow. The desire to bestow belongs to the Creator.

The desire for pleasure is inherent in every creature, beginning from the smallest atomic particle, through every molecule, to all of the objects that exist in the world: still, vegetative, animate, and human. The desire for pleasure is the substance of creation, and it can be in thought or in physical substance. The goal is the preservation of life, making everything in existence more comfortable and pleasant. Consciously or unconsciously, at every moment, we strive for this goal.

The energy of pleasure is what drives matter. If matter comes in contact with the power of Light, with the life energy, it feels balanced, full, and in the most pleasant and best state.

Our desire works according to a single, permanent formula: maximum pleasure with minimum effort. However, each one receives pleasure according to his nature and from different sources. One wants to fill his belly, a second the mind, and a third the emotions.

There are three types of material fulfillment that also characterize animals: food, sex, and family, and there are another three human fulfillments: wealth, honor, and knowledge. It doesn’t make a difference what a person does. He is driven solely by pleasure. We have no possibility of behaving otherwise.

Everyone strives to receive more pleasure or to avoid suffering. This law lies at the foundation of our substance. That is how we are born, and that is how we exist. All of us are egoists who want to enjoy every moment of our existence, in the past, present and future.

How much does a person enjoy at the expense of others? It depends on his education, fear of punishment, and the influence of the environment. Relying on this, he makes a calculation. Is it worthwhile to steal to be rich? Perhaps, one could even murder in order to gain paradise, like the Jihadists imagine.

No matter what, pleasure is always found at the base of the calculation, at the base of all actions. As it is said, a human being is not alone in acting this way; in general all of creation acts this way. According to the formula of seeking maximal pleasure with minimum investment, it is possible to compute the behavior of every part of creation.
[171309]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 11/29/15

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The Role Of Jethro In The Making Of Moses

laitman_740_02From the words of the Midrash Rabbah, Parshat Balak: Balak sent a message to the sages of Midian. “The leader of the Jews, Moses, grew up among you. Can you reveal to me the secret of his success?”

In the response that he received it said, “This snake, Moses, truly suckled from our breast. A Midianite invited him to his home, gave his daughter to him as his wife and provided him with money.”

To provide money means to supply a spiritual Masach (Screen).

Moses constructed a screen against his egoism, otherwise he would not have been able to oppose Pharaoh. For forty years, Moses lived in his house and used the same methods as Pharaoh, automatically obeying him. Then, he spent forty years with the Midianites and married the daughter of Jethro.

During this time, Moses attained such a level that he could return to Pharaoh and confront him, in other words, he could rebel against the universal egoism. Jethro gave him this method.

Moses began to understand the language of the Creator. When he leaves the house of Jethro to return to Egypt, he already has a connection with the Creator. From the burning bush, the Creator spoke to him, “Go, I will guide you.”

After that, what does Moses have?! His ego started with a special point in the heart that was under the control of Pharaoh for forty years and under the control of Jethro for forty years. Now, he is 80 years old, meaning that he has gained serious egoistic characteristics and some of the characteristics of Bina, which were basically at the level of working for the sake of the ego, but he could stand against Pharaoh.

Question: What does it mean that Jethro the Midianite provided Moses with a wife?

Answer: It means that he gave Moses a completely different desire that made it possible for him to understand side of Pharaoh (egoism). After being inside egoism, it was impossible to understand it because he had the mind and desire of Pharaoh. Moses, being an adopted son who grew up in the house of Pharaoh, was fully immersed in the ego.

However, with Jethro, he received such an understanding of leadership that it became possible for him to stand against Pharaoh. Jethro is the main system of leadership: egoism that is gradually drawn toward altruism, becoming more connected with it.

It is like a person who is already studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and advances even though he is entirely in the ego. However, he already understands something, perceives something, enters a period of preparation, and then to a state of Lo Lishma (Not for Her Name). He begins to understand the system, even though this system is still on the fuzzy side for him.

The fact is that, even if you want to manage your ego, you still need to do this with the help of the Light. When you are within Pharaoh, you cannot manage it. It is just a pitiful, egoistic state from which you are not able to exit.

When you begin to use the characteristics of bestowal and love, you gradually approach the Creator, the correct characteristics of leadership, although you are attracted to the spiritual forces for the sake of the ego. However, it is precisely in this way that you begin to learn about them! It follows that you get dirty by working within the ego, but it is with the help of the spiritual forces.

This is the Klipa (Shell), the impure forces, that gradually help in moving toward true bestowal and love. In the beginning, the bestowal is not true, yet it still exists, at least for the sake of the ego. It is just this way that we move through an intermediate stage called Lo Lishma (for himself), but it is now with some kind of contact with the altruistic system, not with the inflexible Pharaoh who strikes with the ego. He has nothing else; he is fully Klipa.

However, within Pharaoh, altruistic characteristics that will work for him already are manifesting, which are called Erev Rav, the mixed multitude. These people exploit the Kabbalistic system for their own sake, for the sake of their ascent and self-aggrandizement. All of the religions evolved from that.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/8/15

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“Take Ye Therefore Good Heed Unto Yourselves”

laitman_629_4Question: What is the meaning of the verse “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves,” according to Kabbalah?

Answer: It means that a person has to be careful not to fall into his egoistic desires.

He has to make sure that he is constantly surrounded by the right society that will keep him in the correct altruistic direction and make him feel that developing in spirituality is important. The environment will always make sure that he perceives the feeling of the Creator in the Light of Hassadim, which is a very special force, the attribute of bestowal.

If a person continuously renews this force inside him, he will begin to ascend in spirituality and will feel the Creator at every moment, closer and stronger. This is called, “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves.”
[170505]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/11/15

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A Universal Science For Everyone

laitman_214Question: How can I show an example to others that by studying Kabbalah I am in a better place?

Answer: There’s no way. When a person begins to study Kabbalah, he sees in it such knowledge, logic, and depth that it simply amazes him.

He will understand that all the rest of the sciences of our world are explained very simply within it, and it advances them further. Kabbalah tells a person what must be done to reach general integral knowledge about our world and the upper worlds, about the management system of our world.

We need to see the system of creation because then we can not only manage ourselves, but also rise to the system of management itself and exist in it in the form in which we existed prior to the physical body.

Before entering our body, we were within the program of creation. But now we have the possibility of achieving this program and living simultaneously in two worlds. And then from our perspective there will be neither time nor death. We must yearn for this.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/25/15

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Why Is It Difficult For Us To Bear The Death Of Our Relatives?

laitman_627_2Question: It is very difficult for us to bear the death of relatives. How do people who are involved with spiritual development relate to this?

Answer: Shortly after I began to study with my teacher, it so happened that the mother of three of his students died. I went for to express my condolences and was very surprised to see that they behaved as before, talking calmly with each other.

As time passed, I understood that this is precisely what the relationship to death should be.

Why do we perceive temporal, petty, insignificant existence, that amounts to only escaping from suffering, as so special? What is it?

After all, this life amounts to attempts to place ourselves in a more comfortable situation every moment, to suffer less. That is what life is! Why should I grieve if people are moving away from this?

There is a particular animal fear of losing even this tiny speck of life, even though according to the wisdom of Kabbalah it is not even called life; it is a kind of inner illusion!

We were originally created to begin from this state, to search for the true meaning of existence. If a person doesn’t use the opportunities that are given to him in this world to go out to a higher state and continue his life from there, then there is nothing to be done. Naturally this will continue until all of us achieve the feeling of the upper world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/1/15

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.23.15

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 25

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Giving of the Torah,” Item 5

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Gatehouse of Intentions”  

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