In Times Of Pain, Don’t Forget Where This Feeling Comes From And Why

Correction Depends Only On Desire, Not KnowledgeQuestions I received on negative experiences along the path:

Question: I often feel as though I was doing better with confidence and connecting with the Creator before I studied Kabbalah – back then I relied on my instincts and followed my gut, and it worked. When I look back, I was doing the “right” things. Now, I analyze things more and find myself more critical than in the past. Please help. Is this part of the process? I feel I need to find more of a balance.

My Answer: You will find information about this in many articles: you are being taken out of your confidence and balance on purpose, in order to reach a need for the Creator’s revelation. See the article, “There is None Else Beside Him.”

Question: One moment I am joyful and the second I feel pain and sorrow. And I feel a burden on my back due to the responsibility I have as a member of the group towards the group and the whole world. What can I do to lessen this pain?

My Answer: Don’t forget that this feeling is awakened in you by the Creator in order to direct you toward correction.

Question: Is it normal that while studying Kabbalah, sometimes I feel hatred toward what I am studying?

My Answer: Sometimes this happens, and it is natural because you are studying how to hate your present qualities. Hence, as an egoist, you begin to hate Kabbalah and myself, who tells you about this.

Question: Massive layoffs are expected due to the global financial crisis. However, in the Bnei Baruch group, if a person wants to study, he has to work. If a student gets fired and is unable to find a new job, will he have to leave the group and completely devote himself to finding a job?

My Answer: No, but he is obligated to devote some amount of time to job hunting. Or, if he receives unemployment aid, like everyone else, then he should spend all day working at Bnei Baruch on materials for dissemination. This way he will be of benefit to people.

Related Material:

Laiman.com Post: We Can Develop Without Waiting for the Suffering to Come
Laitman.com Post: Why Does the Creator Give Us So Much Suffering In This World?
Shamati #4 “What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work?
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 4 “Nullifying Our Personal Interests”

2009 Is The Year Of The Hungry

revivalNews Report (from The Independent):Year of the hungry: 1,000,000,000 afflicted” One billion people will go hungry around the globe next year … despite a second record worldwide harvest in a row. … The main reason has been that high food prices have priced the poor out of the market.

My Comment: As we can see, the problem is not a lack of food, but our inability to distribute it correctly. This is a result of our egoism, which controls us and does not allow us to consider others as we consider ourselves. Similarly, all the problems of our time will show us that they cannot be solved unless we do away with egoism.

There are two ways to correct egoism:

  • Through suffering so terrible that one is willing to stop thinking about himself, because thoughts about self make him suffer, or
  • Through connecting with others by bonds of love, above one’s egoism, and thereby revealing the joyous fulfillment of the corrected egoism.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What’s On the Menu for Summer 2009?

How To See A Wonderful World

We Are In the Center of All the WorldsNews Report (from BBC News): A look of horror will grab the attention of those around you faster than a smile, US research shows. Individuals react more quickly to a fearful expression than to faces showing other emotions such as joy, a study in the journal Emotion found. … It is thought the brain has evolved to react more quickly to potentially threatening situations.

My Comment: This is because we perceive everything within our egoistic desire “to receive.” But if we switch to the desire “to bestow,” then our perception of the world will change: we’ll notice smiles instead of looks of horror, because the phenomenon of “danger” or “threat” will cease to exist for us. And that’s because we will reveal that Nature is absolute goodness. Baal HaSulam describes this wonderfully in the article “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation” – whether we perceive the world as horrible or wonderful depends only on the qualities of the observer.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Heaven is the Feeling of Delight from Being Similar to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: The Creator = Nature
Kabbalah Today Article: Why Do We Call the Creator “The Creator?”
Talk: “Perception of Reality”
Shamati #30: “The Most Important Is to Want Only to Bestow”

The Purpose Of The Crisis Is To Bring Us To Perfection

Unattainability in the Mind of a KabbalistA question I received: I heard you say that the goal of the crisis is to bring all humanity to one level, where every person receives his necessities and invests all the rest into society (like cells in a body). My question is: what’s so special about such a connection between people? Why does the Creator want us to reach it?

My Answer: Because then, instead of foolishly pursuing empty and illusory fulfillments of this world, we will consciously receive only as much as we need for our physical existence. And our entire existence will be solely for the sake of others. By implementing this principle, we will become similar to the Creator and will thereby feel like He does – eternal and perfect. That’s what’s special about such an existence!

By “necessities” I mean the kind of fulfillment where I don’t desire anything else. Moreover, I would gladly rid myself of this as well, but I can’t, because I was created as one who has to consume. The goal is to attain a state where one’s entire fulfillment doesn’t come from reception but from bestowal. Then, one perceives the life of the entire creation – the eternal organism of the single soul of Adam. In this case, the connection that emerges between people enables a person to perceive more than this connection, to feel a new quality – the Upper Light that created him, the Creator. This state constitutes the goal of creation. It is perfect, and that is why the Creator desires us to attain it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Is the Corrected You
Laitman.com Post: Preface to the Science of Kabbalah. Items 3-5
Kabbalah Today Article: The Financial Crisis: Diagnosis and Cure

Kabbalah Today – Issue 19

The 19th issue of the Kabbalah Today publication is now available:

kt_19

Climate Change Impacts Human Lives, The Economy, And… The Holiday Season Flights

How to Keep Effective Virtual ConnectionsNews Report (from BBC): The past year has been one of the most devastating ever in terms of natural disasters, one of the world’s biggest re-insurance companies has said. Munich Re said the impact of the disasters was greater than in 2007 in both human and economic terms. The company suggested climate change was boosting the destructive power of disasters like hurricanes and flooding. Munich Re quoted World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) figures showing that 2008 was the 10th warmest year since reliable records began, meaning that the 10 warmest years on record all occurred in the past 12 years.

My Comment: We are about to face all the consequences of the melting glaciers and other phenomena, since we have already passed “the point of no return.” However, if we correct our relationships on a higher level, this will also influence the lower level – the climate. This is because the whole natural balance was disrupted due to the human relationships. It is difficult to accept this position, but the revelation of the crisis in economics, industry, and security will force us to correct ourselves, to become a single organism – and along with our correction we will find that balance will be restored in all of nature.

News Report (from USA Today): Hit by extreme weather and operational glitches, U.S. airlines canceled nearly 9,000 flights, disrupting more than 1 million passengers’ plans in the first half of the holiday travel period, according to a report Monday. The number of cancellations from Friday, Dec. 19, through Sunday jumped 70% from last year, says FlightStats, a Portland, Ore., firm.

My Comment: This can happen anywhere in the world. Our spiritual opposition to nature will be revealed on all the lower levels. We can save ourselves from the threatening consequences of this only by reaching balance, harmony, and complete interconnection with Nature. The global interconnection will force us to become a harmonious part of this picture. We were obligated to pass the point of no return, and there’s no sense grieving over this. Precisely the impossibility of returning to the “sweet” world of the past will enable us to make the decision to change ourselves – the only parameter in this system that we can change.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Spiritual Revolution Is Inevitable
Laitman.com Post: How to Make Nature Change
Kabbalah Today Article: “The Tip of the Iceberg”
Interview: “What Lies Ahead of Us”
From Chaos to Harmony: “Altruism is Life’s Law”