I Am My Own Worst Enemy

Laitman_408 A question I received: Who is a person’s worst enemy in the spiritual work?

My Answer: The worst enemy is the person himself, his qualities, which are opposite to the Creator! They are revealed to us gradually, to the extent that we can oppose them. Otherwise, we would be paralyzed and unable to do even a single inner or external action. Therefore, the concealment is revealed to us incrementally, showing us that we really do not exist as some individual!

A small piece of truth is revealed to me only to the extent that I am able to hold onto the Creator. In regard to all other thoughts, desires, and qualities, I am not shown just how much I am controlled from above. It is instilled in me that I seemingly determine everything on my own. In other words, only gradually is it disclosed to me that I actually do not exist – I am just a puppet, whose strings are being pulled!

However, to the extent that I am able to annul myself before my environment and the Creator, and use my freedom of choice, I am granted independence. An opportunity is revealed to me to build more and more minor parts of my independent personality – until I ascend in all my magnitude. This means that I will exist in adhesion with the Creator – in the opposite desire, but in the same intention.

It turns out that we never come out from the authority of the Upper Force, but progressively the concealment diminishes according to our willingness to adhere to the Creator. It is as though a curtain draws apart in front of me. At first I am in pitch darkness, where I think that I exist and have independence. To the extent that I will be able to tolerate the fact that I am helpless, to endure this inner blow, this shame, and to adhere to the Creator, the curtain will be drawn apart more and more for me, and the concealment will fade.

Everything depends on my sensations. The state itself does not change – only my perception changes.

Landmarks On The Path

Laitman_720 A question I received: What is the most difficult revelation that we need to perform in order to reveal the spiritual world?

My Answer: In order to enter spirituality, we need to gradually cut off ourselves from our “I,” as though it does not exist. It is as though my former “I” dies. We don’t understand what the sensation of life is. For us life is a sensation of our own power and strength; it is when we think that we control ourselves and our lives on our own on both the inside and outside.

When we enter spirituality, we feel that our egoistic “I” dies. We become free from it, as it is written, “The dead are free!” I gradually reject more and more parts of myself as long as I rise above my ego. I want to be free of this dependence so much that I am willing to endure any blows to my own ambitions, as long as I rise above it. I even begin to like these blows, since I understand that it is due to them that I ascend and become free of this bitter enemy sitting inside of me. I don’t identify myself with my ego anymore. Instead, I want it to get what it deserves. This is already a sign of nearing the Machsom.

The Zohar: The Gates Leading Upward

Laitman_704 There is a universal connection, a hierarchy, or chain in the common system of the souls. The development of the different types of souls happens according to this connection. In their development, the souls always depend on the preceding souls. They are connected like a father and son, cause and consequence, or teacher and student. However, there is one, special, exalted system above all the types of connections. It penetrates the system like a live organism and operates in different directions. This system is called the system of Rashbi.

It is the transition between the part of the system that is corrected and the part that is uncorrected. The corrected part is filled with Light and contains the corrected desires which are all ready for the common, final correction of the entire system. This part includes those that have already revealed the entire 125 degrees of the proper development of the common system of creation. The uncorrected part still needs to realize the state it is in and begin its correction. The uncorrected part is us, all the souls on the level of this world.

All of us will have to go through the step-by-step correction with the help of the system of Rashbi which is absolutely at the height of the 125th degree. The revelation and the influence of these corrected souls happens to us through those connections and preparations that they have built in the form of a system called The Zohar (the Light that descends from Arich Anpin of the world of Atzilut).They have created this kind of system for us so that we will find ourselves in a proper environment as we connect to it. After all, our entire development depends on the environment.

When we try to connect to The Zohar, we can receive everything we need for our correction from this system that represents the group of Rashbi and his students. These souls have made special corrections in the Upper Light in which we can clothe ourselves through The Zohar. Through them, we also can connect with the Light or with the Creator.

Rashbi uses The Zohar to reveal to us the gates that lead upward. He reveals them to the extent of the value that we give to the greatness of this system and our ability to connect to it with the purpose of using it to attain the spiritual goal.

Evening Zohar Lesson – 03.18.10

The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “VaYaera (And The Lord Appeared),” Item 48
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Entering The System Rashbi Created

Laitman_717 In order to enter and become part of the system that Rashbi has created for us, one first needs to experience the state of a spiritual embryo (Ibur). I try to cancel myself in that state. With the help of the current Kabbalistic group, I cancel my egoism. Together with this group, I wish to attach myself to the Upper System that the Kabbalists speak of and to grow there.

I begin to find myself in a group higher than my own to the extent of my ability to annul myself before the group. Then, I begin to see forces of even higher systems operating between myself and my friends to the extent of my strengthening my connection with the others.

The system of Rashbi helps me with this. In this system, the same group of Kabbalists that had corrected itself to the 125th degree during the times of the breaking of the common soul, at first serves as the mother’s womb for me (in my state of Ibur), and then nurses me (Chagat), and carries the Light of Mochin to me (Chabad). All the Light that passes through the three lines to the broken souls is passed through this carrier which connects us to the World of Infinity.

Attain The Creator’s Secrets

Laitman_703_01 The Zohar, Chapter “Song of Songs,” Item 482: The wisdom that one should know: to know and to observe the secret of his Master, to know himself, to know who he is, how he was created, where he comes from and where he is going, how the body is corrected, and how he will be judged by the King of All.

We think of these merely as pretty words: “where he comes from and where he is going,” and “how he will be judged by the King of All.” However, the most important part is, “to know and to observe the secret of his Master.” This is exactly what we must attain.

The Creator wants us to reveal His entire work, His entire creation, the entire reality He created, the reasons for its creation, the thought of creation, the ways to realize it, and the goal that the entire creation is to reach. The only way to learn all this is by attaining it, which means, basically, to clothe into the entire creation with all of its states and experience all of them. Only then, by including our actions in the entire creation, can we attain it in us or in our desires (Kelim). From this attainment, we will reach everything that we need to reach.

We can attain this by correcting our desires. These desires are given to us from Above and they are corrected by the Upper Light. However, the Light only appears according to our readiness, our efforts, and our desire for the Light to come and correct us. This is called the raising of MAN. Man must strive to reach a state when he desires the Light to correct him.

The Abyss Between Darkness And Light

Laitman_420_04 There are four stages or phases in the level of connection between us when we build the vessel of our common soul (Kli) to be corrected by the Light. It is only when we reach the last phase that we attain the full depth of the entire creation from beginning to end and from end to beginning. All of this is attained in the depth of connection between the souls.

The opportunity to attain the full depth of creation was revealed as a consequence of the breaking of the common soul. Previously, before the breaking, we were connected; however, there was no attainment or understanding in this connection; there was no perception of the essence of creation. Only after the breaking was the abyss, the gap between the parts of reality or the souls, revealed. Along with the revelation of the abyss, the opportunity to attain understanding of the connection and correction of it was presented.

Instead of having the natural connection that the Light enabled to exist before the breaking, with the breaking and then the revelation of the contradictions and hatred between us, we now have the basis for realizing our connection upon these revelations, and the correction of the revealed hatred above it.

By connecting all the souls, we reveal the five stages of Aviut (coarseness of the desire) in the connection between us. We correct it and then this Aviut turns into Zakut (purity of desire).

Through this process, as we reveal the hatred between us and the connection above it, we will reach the attainment. Then, we can feel the full depth of the darkness of the abyss that exists between us in the fourth stage of the desire (Aviut), as well as, the connection, love, and the Light that we evoke from Above, which is the purity of our desires (Zakut).

This abyss between the darkness and the Light that becomes revealed in the connection between us is called the attainment of the spiritual world, the Creator, or the thought of creation. There we will attain our self-fulfillment.

Unity Happens Only On The Spiritual Level

Laitman_728_03 Unity amongst us builds our new reality. I’m not speaking about creating this unity ourselves and “behaving” as if we are united. This unity isn’t on the level of this world as in when everyone is on good terms with one another. Unity is the revelation of the spiritual connection between us in the vessel for the Light. We only need to want the Upper Force to realize this unity for us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah wasn’t revealed to build communism and kibbutzim in our world. Kabbalah helps us reveal the spiritual relations between us, not material relations. The goal is completely different in its essence.

Don’t try to build good corporeal relationships, but strive to reveal the Creator between you. In this way, your spiritual connection will be realized. We need to attract the Light of Correction to do this work, to build spiritual connections between us. It is precisely in these connections that we will feel the Creator. This will be the optimal solution for all the problems.

This isn’t what idealists dreamed of in trying to build the “City of the Sun” on this planet. We’re not building a good life in this world. We have a much greater goal before us; although of course, our corporeal life will also become corrected at the end. Once we attain inner harmony, we will also experience perfection in our corporeal world. However, this only will happen under the condition that we attract the Upper Light which will correct our connection with one another. Our trying to do this with our own strength won’t make it happen.

Let The Light Unite Us

Laitman_910 When we gather, instead of thinking that we want to unite with the others, we need to think about wanting the Upper Light to unite us. Without connection with the Upper Light, any other unification will prove to be false and will lead to even greater hatred. This must be made clear to the people around us. Otherwise, it may seem that we’re talking about love and friendship in just the same way as many other people and organizations do in the world.

We’re not talking about the same thing that is understood in our world as “love.” Love that we are talking about is the result of the action of the Upper Light. Love will be born as a result of this action. At present, we don’t really know what it is; we just use the same word for it. In reality, love is entirely different from what we imagine it to be right now.

To feel love, we want to feel that the Light is between us. It’s the force that connects us into one whole. “You and me” are only a means for this force to be revealed. What is the real reason for me to be by your side? I need you for the precise purpose of revealing the Creator. I use you for this and vice versa. Only when the Light comes and creates the connection between us will I feel what it means to love you and not before. If it seems to me that I love you before this happens, it’s just a delusion.

Love Above Hatred

Laitman_421_02 A Question I Received: If the gap and the hatred between us remain, then what do we correct?

My Answer: Correction is above the gap and the hatred. We don’t understand this since we exist in one world. We see either black or white, as we cannot see both black and white at the same time. When we begin to enter another reality, and two worlds emerge before us, then suddenly we are able to see that there is no contradiction between good and evil, darkness and light. We see that these two lines unite in a third line, which is neither black nor white, contrary to the way it is perceived in this world.

We are approaching the end of our egoistic development, and as the global nature of the world is revealed through quantum physics, the contradictory forms of the world are revealed, yet our mind is incapable of putting them together to form one picture of the world. Our minds do not agree with the fact that the opposites are connected, that one object can exist in two forms, two places, and so on. In other words, new, spiritual concepts or time, movement, space, and the existence of reality, emerge in us, but still our minds cannot assimilate this; our minds don’t have the capacity to do so in this world.

Therefore, we are unable to comprehend how there can be revelation of evil, and how we build goodness above it without destroying it. We may object that we can imagine this somehow for ourselves, but this is not the true picture since we still lack the senses for perceiving these two worlds – love and hatred, separation and unification, together at the same time. We are unable to imagine this properly. We can only be in one of two opposite qualities.

In order to attain this ability to see both at the same time, we need revelation in the sensations (Kli), and only through this will we understand what Kabbalists are talking about. This is why the science of Kabbalah is called “the hidden wisdom.” After all, it is hidden from me as I am unable to sense what they are saying until I am ready to feel it, before the Light comes and forms the spiritual sense in me.

Then, as the sensation develops and new qualities are revealed in the desire, I will also begin to understand. When I reach the fourth, the last stage of development of each quality, I will already have a sensation and an understanding of spiritual phenomena. But it cannot happen prior to this.