Evening Zohar Lesson – 03.17.10

The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “VaYaera (And The Lord Appeared),” Item 21
Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

The Carriers Of The Light

Dr. Michael Laitman There are special souls, which are very valuable for the entire system of souls since they bring this system to life and help the other souls to reach revelation and attainment and consciously join the process of development. There are many special souls, but we only know some of them. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains this system. These special souls open the gates of attainment and perception of spiritual existence to us.

These systems are part of the common system of the single spiritual organism, and they serve as the carriers of Inner Light to the other souls on the stages of development. The development of our generation depends on the souls of Rashbi, the Ari, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash. For us, they are the fundamental parts of the system, who reveal the influence of the Upper Light to us, carry the Light, the force of life, and create the proper environment, where we can develop spiritually.

Internal And External Parts Of The Soul

Dr. Michael Laitman Every spiritual object is divided into internal and external parts, and this structure remains throughout all rungs of the spiritual ladder. Moreover, the internal parts of all rungs are connected with each other, while all external parts are interconnected as well. The internal desires are called “root,” “soul,” and “body” (Shoresh, Neshama, and Guf), and each one is located within the other. Besides that, there are external desires which are called “garments” (Levush) and “house” (Heichal). The body of the upper spiritual object passes the Light to the root of the lower object which also has the internal desires: “root,” “soul,” and “body.” Its “garments” and “house” are located outside and they are not taken into account. This is because desires cannot connect with each other if they lack the screen (Masach).

Untitled-1

Only the screen creates connection. Therefore, beginning from the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet), the calculation is performed only for the internal desires, that is, the ones that are covered by the screen. After all, how can one connect with others in a desire which is not under the power of the anti-egoistic screen?

After the breaking of the common soul, we’re like a sack of nuts that have to exist together. The nuts bump against each other, but nothing more. A person receives a possibility to connect with other souls only to the degree that he acquires the internal desires. The outermost internal part of the Upper One connects with the innermost part of the lower one according to the similarity of their properties.

Wanting To Be Like The Creator Above Everything Else

Dr. Michael Laitman The Zohar, Chapter “BeHukotai (In My Statutes),” Item 24: …This is so because justice is neither corrected nor completed but in righteousness, as it is written, “In righteousness shall you be established.” This is said to the assembly of Israel, Malchut, which is completed only in righteousness, as it is written, “And do them,” which is done by the awakening of the lower one.

What do MAN, appeal, tears, charity, “gates of tears,” and prayer mean? It all means that I want to become like the Creator. It is only under the condition that being like the Creator is the only thing I ask for, that I will awaken Zeir Anpin, so that He influences Malchut.

Only when the lower wants to become like the Upper, can the Upper influence him and lift him to the next degree giving him strength and understanding of what it means to be the Upper. After all, what else can the Upper give? The Creator only has perfection, and He can only pass the degrees of this perfection to us, gradually and according to the state that we are in.

This is why we have nothing to ask of the Creator except for the opportunity to gradually become like Him, where every time our qualities become equal to a greater degree. He has nothing to give us besides our correction. We would really like to become like Him; this is our connection with the Creator.

Therefore, this is why all the other cries and tears that we shed in this world do not lead to anything. Looking back at history we can see that it does not help. The only thing that works immediately is when I attain the “switching point.” Beginning with this point, which is that I want to be like the Creator, when I determine precisely who He is, what He represents, what I lack, what I really need to strive to, and when I make my desire into a desire like the one He has – this is what is called the beggar’s prayer, tears, the gates of tears and charity.

Returning To The Root Of One’s Soul

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: How do I learn my place in the general system of souls?

My Answer: For that you would need to return to the root of your soul. It is only when a person completes his individual correction and ascends to his root that he learns his place in the general system. And even that is relative, since the entire system has not yet reached complete correction.

It is pointless to ask about such exalted states now. It’s equivalent to a little child asking who he will be when he’s fifty years old. Even thinking within the boundaries of this world we are unable to comprehend such things.

In the spiritual world, the gap between degrees is so enormous that all qualities become inversed, so that a person cannot even discern his next degree. It comes to him when he cancels himself and accepts a state that he initially cannot agree with. Such is the nature of spiritual degrees.

Therefore, presently it is pointless to ask about the root of your soul, about the conclusion of your work. Instead you should correctly carry out what needs to be done here and now. And then we will advance. Gradually we will gather experience and stop asking such questions because we will understand that every new degree is a whole new world. While all our questions pertain only to our current level.

We are incapable of understanding the spiritual world. Even its first and tiniest degree, which exists right above us, is concealed from us, and we are utterly unable to detect it. It is right there before us, but we must first correct our qualities, step by step, by bringing all of our 613 desires in congruence with this degree.

Then we will make contact with the Upper Light, which will be called our next degree. And then we will attune our 613 qualities to a more advanced state, and together with the Upper Light we will reveal an even greater degree. This is how we ascend.

Freedom From Exile For The Entire World

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: What needs to be done in order to start life with a clean slate during the upcoming holiday of Passover (Pesach), which is the celebration of our exodus from our ego?

My Answer: Starting life “with a clean slate” is a necessary condition. We live in a new era, a period when all the old laws stop operating. We cannot continue to live as before because the world has become global. There is a new law operating within it: the law of the common system, meaning the unity of the souls and their adhesion with the Creator.

This state did not exist previously. The state that is to be revealed now is that the entire world is in exile, just like Jews once were while in Egyptian slavery. Until now our civilization continued to develop and people did not feel that they were in exile, which means living in an uncorrected world.

We thought that we were developing, advancing, conquering, building, and better realizing our ego. But now, the entire world is discovering that it is in exile in relation to the absolute global system. However, the world will not be able to do anything on its own in order to come out of this exile. The G-8 and the G-20 conferences will not be able to help. The world will not be able to unite on its own.

Only that part of the world called “straight towards the Creator” (Yashar El, Israel) will be able to bring it towards this unity. And we need to begin this unity with a clean slate for all of humanity for them to see that there are people among all nations striving towards the Creator.

Look how many groups and individual students there are around the world studying with us. This is because there is an inclusion of Malchut into Bina and Bina into Malchut with both needing to be corrected. So all of us, together, need to bring the world to unity.

Moreover, we need to connect to us the people who were once on the spiritual level and went through the breaking of the common soul during the times of the destruction of the Temple, who are the corporeal people of Israel. The moment these people start connecting to us, the other ten lost tribes of Israel will become revealed and they will also connect to us.

In the end, an enormous force will be revealed, but what matters most is its single, qualitative, inner part, which can create this unity. The whole world needs an explanation for this feeling that they are in exile in relation to the global, common system, and that all the souls must unite.

I Refuse To Be A Puppet

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: What is “the Path of Sanctity?”

My Answer: “The Path of Sanctity” means that everything that happens to us is commanded from Above and comes from the Creator (Stage 0 —  Keter) with the help of the Light. The Light influences us in two ways:

1. The Light (Pleasure) acts directly on us and creates the desire to receive pleasure (Stage 1 — Aleph), which is the first level of desire.

2. The Light also brings a sensation of its Origin to us (the Creator, the force of bestowal.)

This is why in Stage 1 — the desire to receive, within the desire created by the Light emerges the desire to bestow. Stage 1 strives to transform itself into Stage 2, which is the desire to bestow.

The Creator triggers within me a desire to receive pleasure and I follow His commands directly (the commands of Nature). But when I realize that the Creator who created me as the desire to be pleased is Himself the one who bestows, I want to become similar to Him. This is a secondary impact from the Creator!

Eventually, I deliberately develop this secondary impact within myself, the intention to bestow, until I undergo all four stages of the Creator’s “influence” (HaVaYaH) and merge with Him.

The Veil Over The Future

Dr. Michael Laitman The Zohar, Chapter “Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah),” Item 203: When a person is destined to account for his deeds, before he leaves the world, this day is a day of reckoning, when the body and the soul report. Afterwards, the soul departs the body and parts with it, and the body, which was created from dust, returns to dust and everything returns to the place from which it was taken. And until the time when the Creator revives the dead, everything will be concealed from it.

Equally in our spiritual advancement, we don’t know what the upper rung means, or what it is that constitutes our next state. Today as well, none of us know what the next minute will bring to our lives. We can try to predict, but it won’t help. Nobody can grasp the future. The next rung is always concealed and it is revealed either through the path of suffering (Beito, in time), or through the path of goodness (Ahishena, accelerated time).

The System Of Connection With Universal Nature

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: What is the connection between The Book of Zohar and global nature?

My Answer: The Book of Zohar explains how to connect to universal and perfect nature, how to request, demand, and extract this special, unifying force in order for it to affect me. The Book of Zohar is a binding link between me and all of nature; without this link a person in this world has no connection to it.

Now that I discover that nature is global, that the whole world is a global village in which everyone is connected, I further realize that I am dependent on everyone. As I depend on everyone, I then wish to be the same as them, to be among them as a friend treating everyone with goodness and for them to do the same with me. So, how do I obtain this?

In order to achieve this, I need to know how to connect with them. I need guidance, some instruction manual of connection. The guide needs to show me how to establish a connection with a group of people, how to approach and talk to them; the instructions need to expose what they need from me and what I need from them.

This manual of connection, The Book of Zohar, reveals this whole system of connection between a person and nature, so that nature, the Creator, will influence a person and turn him into an integral part of nature.

The Spiritual Center Of Humanity’s Common Organism

Kabbalah Convention We don’t have to wait for the whole world to awaken to the spiritual correction. Rather, the people who have already awakened must create a pact or correct union among themselves and advance in this manner. Then more and more people will gradually begin to join this union.

Our concern should be how to attain unity among those who are able to accomplish it and how to connect all the organs of the common organism together. They will breathe new life into the organism and will deliver the Upper Light to us, which will begin flowing through the whole organism. Then, thanks to the work of this spiritual center, the Light will spread through it to the entire common system, and all the other souls will awaken as well.