Entries in the 'humanity' Category

Messiah For All Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn fulfilling the purpose of creation, there is mutual work between those who are regarded as “Israel” (striving to the Creator) and the rest of humanity. Israel is a small group (in quantity) of souls wherein spiritual sparks, the aspiration to the revelation of the Creator, unfold.

First, this group of souls has to realize their yearning for spirituality unwillingly, and after that, through their conscious free will, by way of faith above reason. “Israel,” the speaking level of the will to receive, affects all other souls existing at the animate, vegetative, and still levels of desire by way of the Light of knowledge, understanding, and strength, which is channeled to them through “Israel.” In response, “Israel” receives a reaction: from the still to vegetative, from the vegetative to animate, and from the animate to speaking levels (Israel), thereby joining everybody to the process of correction.

As Baal HaSulam writes, the rest of the nations of the world also make a decision by pushing themselves toward the good; they also have free will, but only after “Israel” affects them. As a result, the revelation of the Messiah, the universal Upper Light that Reforms, will occur. Messiah, if translated from Hebrew, means a force that pulls a person from his egoism.

Circulation of the wisdom of Kabbalah around the world is regarded as the “voice (calling, horn) of the Messiah.” The universal force pulling everyone toward spiritual ascension, which will be revealed in all of mankind is called “Messiah.”

Messiah doesn’t come to “Israel” since they must perform the correction themselves. Messiah becomes revealed specifically in the entire world and solely when Israel (those who received the aspiration to their individual correction) start to serve the entire humanity, being already relatively corrected in the degree that they are able to bestow to the world.

Hence, if we speak of the times of the Messiah, we say that this group, “Israel,” has to already be corrected, and in the measure of its own correction it may begin correcting the world. And the awakening of the world is regarded as “Messiah.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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How Will You Color Your World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe symbol of our upcoming convention is unity, connection, mutual guarantee, and unification of the whole of humanity around the Upper Force which we reveal among us. It will bring us to equality, serenity, peace, and eternity. Through this we cancel death! The angel of death is born from the hatred that separates us. And if instead we draw the spiritual force, the force of bestowal, we merit eternal life. Precisely the hatred between us cancels life and leads us to death. It kills our bodies and gives us a sensation of this world.

This world is a reflection of the egoistic connection between us. However, everyone has to bring himself and the whole world to a different form of connection, when instead of this world we sense a spiritual connection called Assiya, Beria, Yetzira, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the World of Infinity. All the worlds are forms of connection between us; nothing else changes! We will live in our bodies just like now, only our attitudes will change and give us a sensation of a new reality. We’ll feel that we exist in the World of Infinity and cease to feel our bodies since our whole world will ascend to Infinity.

Different relationships and connections between people (from the most threatening to more neutral and benevolent ones) give rise to a spectrum of colors and shades around us. They range from the deepest black to continuously lighter and wonderful colors, such as sky blue and ultimately completely white.

Imagine all of humanity today armed with guns and knives against each other, where each wishes to guard himself from the others with a fortress and to have his cup full there, independent from everyone. And now imagine the complete opposite of that: A completely open world with no boundaries where I and the other are like one whole, and all the people of the world are my children, my neighbors, friends; we are a single organism.

We will begin to feel that without the others, we are losing ourselves. We are starting to learn this from nature bit by bit as we reveal that everyone is connected and interdependent. For the time being, we are reaching this conclusion due to necessity. Later we’ll realize being connected to others is actually good. After all, precisely due to this connection (if we turn it into a correct one) we’ll rise above this world toward perfection and eternity.

I will be grateful that this connection exists since it specifically allows me to change myself and my perception of reality and to enter a different, spiritual, and eternal dimension.

From the 4th part of the
Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, A Lesson On Current Events

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Let’s Pull All Of Mankind Through The Eye Of The Needle

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe don’t yet fully comprehend what a serious task has fallen into our hands. Billion of years of the evolution of the Universe, all of Earth’s nature, and the accumulation of human history up until our time are pressing on us so that we (with the still, vegetative, animate and human levels of nature standing behind us) establish a connection between the Creator. The whole mass of this will to receive must merge with the Creator through a tiny hole: the quality of bestowal that we must attain. The responsibility to pull all of the egoism created by the Creator through the “eye of the needle” has been laid upon us.

We sense that we are facing the wall of our egoism, but we don’t yet understand what kind of wall it is. This wall is the force of the Creator. Our ego is the force of the Creator! We think that it is an ordinary vice that we can beat or discard. That won’t work. We will have to recognize that only the Creator can change our egoistic nature. He must do it, but only at our request, our prayer.

In fact, the entire path of the descent of the spiritual worlds from the very World of Infinity, from Above downward, including all the human evolution in the corporeal world that followed, is now coming to the point of culmination, to merging with the Creator. It is our duty to draw it to the Light. Just imagine how much creation has gone through, and now we must implement this merger.

Our mission seems too grand, but the Creator has placed it on all of us. How many times in the Torah does Moses complain to the Creator that he is incapable of completing his task, but the Creator orders him to continue? Today, we are in Moses’ shoes; we have received strife to rise above our nature. We are to play his role for our generation. ("Moses" or "Moshe" comes from the verb “Mosheh,"  to pull.)

This is why we have to understand that our task is extremely delicate and subtle; it works through the eye of the needle that we can barely discern. However, if we focus the efforts of all who are studying within our system around the world, we will succeed.

We are given all that we need for this from Above; there is no doubt. We just need to have a clear vision of our goal and ask the Creator to assist us. We are that very creature that must come to adhesion with the Creator, and through that, we give all souls an opportunity to ascend to the state of perfection. Unlike the Kabbalists of the past who were only preparing the path for us, we must complete this path by realizing it on ourselves and the others.

The wall before us is the Creator Himself. He stands and waits for us to "break" Him in order to rejoice that “His sons have defeated Him.”

From the Talk during Friday’s Festive Meal 6/25/10

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Up To The Sky On Eagle’s Wings

Laitman_704The World Zohar Convention marks the beginning of a new phase. The convention has transformed us significantly. We also feel how the world is changing in the light of the latest events. Its problems will only intensify.

We have to reach the ultimate goal. Imagine that humanity is a runner who is beaten along his way and these blows give him strength to continue to the finish line. He must run and reach the goal. The time is set for him; he has no choice but to come to the finish line. He can only choose to run with the desire for the goal or to wait for the blows and run trying to escape them.

There is also the third path. By uniting we can trigger the force within us which will make it easy to rise to the goal. It will take us on its wings like an eagle takes its nestlings, and it will lift us up.

However, we cannot abandon the world and rise on the wings of the eagle, Bina, by ourselves. We have to stay connected with the entire world. We will ascend only if we think of all people and give ourselves to them. This seems to be a contradiction. Yet the world is standing on the brink of an abyss, and we have to help it rise on the eagle’s wings.
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Post Zohar Convention Lesson 5/11/10

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A Dead End Or A Door Into A New World?

Dr. Michael Laitman Throughout all of history we, humanity, developed on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. This is the most that humanity has achieved until today. It developed its egoistic desire, which perceives the world through five material senses.

There was nothing unnatural about this development. We simply carried out the program that nature instilled in us, following our natural instincts and desires that awakened in us. But what next?

Now we are finding that all of that development was only to our own detriment. Yet, on the other hand, we are discovering a new, inner, spiritual desire that we did not notice before. We don’t know where it is aimed, but it demands fulfillment. Otherwise we are left feeling empty and feeble, not knowing what to do with our lives from this point on.

That is when the science of Kabbalah comes to the rescue, explaining that this additional desire that we feel “above” all the other material attainments, belongs to the human level, whereas previously we were only fulfilling our animalistic necessities. Obviously, we weren’t just regular animals, but very developed ones – animals that like good music, pretty pictures, delicious food, and a soft bed. Yet, today we are sensing an additional necessity that is beyond the body.

Besides, the entire world around us is becoming more and more threatening. We thought that scientific and technological development, along with self-actualization, would enable us to attain a good life from the viewpoint of the consumer. But even though our bodies do have certain benefits in the modern world, such as several pounds of meat in the refrigerator and some smart electrical devices, nevertheless on the human level, even in the simplest sense of it, we are experiencing greater emptiness and suffering than before.

It’s as if the carnival costumes have fallen down and we find ourselves more unprotected and naked than ever, facing life without knowing what to do with it. Humanity feels lost. All attempts to attain perfection, power, and prosperity (at least in the material sense) have only led us to greater problems.

What we need is a new, higher-level understanding of ourselves and our lives. Otherwise we won’t be able to advance. This is why the science of Kabbalah is coming and offering us a solution.

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The Science Of Kabbalah Gives Us Protection From Blind Fate

Dr. Michael Laitman Today humanity does not know how to continue developing further and how to solve the problems that arise. More and more, these problems are felt in a confusing manner, as blows coming from blind fate. In the 21st century the media is brimming with predictions of the future, fortune-telling, and horoscopes. The fact is that we live in a world we do now know, but today we are attracted to predictions that aren’t based on blind faith, like the generations of the past, but that come from realizing one’s weakness in the face of nature.

Faith in higher forces that govern the world was passed from faith to science, which sought to gain mastery over nature. But at the summit of scientific development, people came to understand that they don’t have any power over nature and their fate. Thus, they are starting to search for the Source on which they depend.

In the article, “Exile and Redemption,” the section “Congruity and Unity between Torah [the science of Kabbalah] and Blind Faith, and the Development of Human Calculation,” Baal HaSulam explains that humanity will inevitably grow disillusioned in trying to solve its problems. People will then accept Kabbalah as knowledge, sent from Above, about how to correct oneself and the world.

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All Of Humanity Is In Exile

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday humanity as a whole is very close to coming out of Egypt. More and more people feel the need to revise their life values and establish new priorities. Every person needs to perform his own calculation: What is he living for and why?

There are situations in our life when the battle for survival, for one’s existence, drowns out all these questions. After all, usually a question about the meaning of life arises when a person feels that he has achieved "everything" in this life, regardless of what level he is on. The question that then emerges in him is more elevated than his every day life.

We see that this question already engages large segments of humanity. It occurs unconsciously and it "chips away" at us from within. This is why there is dissemination of Kabbalah. It provides the explanation about what is happening in our era, why more and more people are suffering from depression, committing suicide, using drugs, getting divorced, and why the wave of terror is growing. It explains why the question regarding the meaning of life is arising and not leaving us, what is happening to our children, and why we can’t run from these questions even with a personal psychologist.

Humanity is unconsciously preparing itself for an ascent to a new era. Either through suffering or consciously, we aspire to connect into one spiritual vessel (Kli) as is instilled in nature, where we will perceive life as eternal and perfect.

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Men, Women And…Chimpanzees

Laitman_420_02Question: Why are men and women always separated when they study Kabbalah?

Answer: The professional opinion of neurologists is that the difference between a male chimpanzee and a man is significantly less than the difference between an adult man and an adult woman. The genetic dimorphism is a lot stronger within the human race than between a man and a male Bonobo chimpanzee.

Question: The best donor for human transplants is considered a pig. Which animal brain is most similar in structure to a human brain?

Answer: If we take into consideration protein composition and DNA, we’ll see that it is very similar to a chimpanzee’s brain. For example, the difference in structural proteins of Bonobo chimpanzees that inhabit Western Africa and human beings is less than 1%.

The whole process of evolution is in fact an implementation of the desires of egoistic monsters who only wish to consume food, propagate (reproduce themselves) and dominate each other.  This is how a pack of chimpanzees is organized and at the same time it is similar to how a human society is constructed even in the most democratic and civilized countries.

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How Can Humanity Unite?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur entire work is carried out by the Creator, who fills the space between us. So you can imagine how fruitless all of humanity’s attempts to unite on its own, are.

Today humanity’s global problems are revealed, and we find ourselves tied together. We thereby witness the revelation of the Upper system, the connection among us. We try to reach some agreements, establish certain connections on this level,  but to no avail. Reaching compromises was possible until the global system became revealed. Today it no longer works.

That is why we have to reveal Who fills the space among us. Without this “middleman” – the Creator – nobody will manage to establish a connection with the others. Hence we experience the crisis in family relationships, relationships with children, relatives, and virtually everybody. And these problems will only intensify.

The Messiah: A Force, A Person, Or A Group?

Dr Rav LaitmanA question I received: Why is it that in the process of correction some people actively strive toward spirituality, aspire to teach and create the method of correction, whereas others have enormous earthly desires and merely take a passive part in this process by helping in some way?

My Answer: This division does exist, but it isn’t so clear cut because even the people who aspire to spirituality are divided into different levels. We know that in our world, too, there are people who simply “do” as well as others who want something greater. As a result, each person occupies a certain position that is sufficient to satisfy him and does not want any more responsibility beyond that.

There are many reasons that seem to justify why this is so, but in essence everything is determined by one’s desire. All of humanity is built as a pyramid, including the part of humanity that aspires to spirituality. Some people are willing to keep going until the end and won’t stop for anything until they attain equivalence with the Creator. They won’t settle for anything less. Every person finds his own place according to his desire, work, efforts, and inner aspiration. Everything is determined by the root of one’s soul because this is what one has to realize.

There is no soul higher than Moses; he is the spiritual leader who led the entire nation out of spiritual exile to freedom, thus performing a great correction in the souls. However, this correction only occurred within a part of the souls, whereas now we are awaiting the Messiah who will perform the general correction of the whole world. The Messiah is not a person, but the Light that will bring all of us out of spiritual exile (in Hebrew the word Mashiach originates from the word Moshech – to pull out).

Perhaps there will be a spiritual leader in the form of a person because people are able to perceive the method of correction and to see an example precisely in this form. Alternatively, it might be a group that will hold the spiritual leadership over the world and set an example of how to work together while rejecting one’s personal egoism and elevating the Creator. They will be able to explain the goal of creation to everyone, to show what the Creator demands, and to set an example of love and bestowal, a spiritual union. This will constitute the Sanhedrin, the world’s spiritual leadership.