In Spirituality, You Can Only Be Good Or Evil

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: What does it mean to cause harm to my friend?

My Answer: If it’s a friend in a Kabbalistic group, then I cause harm just by not worrying about uniting with him because I thereby drill a hole in our common “boat,” our common spiritual vessel. Thus, by being idle I already cause him harm.

If I am not working to increase our shared spiritual Kli, or even if I am just a little bit lazy, I inflict harm on others. However, it seems to us that if we’re not beating someone up, killing them, or stealing from them, then everything is ok and what else can anyone ask of us? We don’t understand that we can inflict harm even while being perfectly “good citizens.” Yet, this is insufficient in spirituality. In spirituality, if I don’t spend every moment worrying about how to create a common spiritual vessel, then I don’t have a good attitude to others. The moment I forget about the worry about the common Kli, I become an offender.

There is no intermediate state, but only good or evil. That is the law of the Upper System of our connection.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 04/27/10, “Matan Torah”

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True Change Versus "Make-Up"

Dr. Michael Laitman A question I received: How can I fulfill someone’s desire if every person likes something different?

My Answer: It has to be an inner attitude to another person: You have to care for them the way you previously cared for yourself. You should demand for the Upper Light to make your friend just as important as you deemed yourself in the past, egoistically, for your own sake.

Don’t do anything artificially. We have to let the Upper Light do all the work. It makes the corrections. All we can do is ruin things! We don’t have the strength or the understanding to do anything. Therefore, if we try to change, we only do so externally and artificially, and that is not correction.

Rabash gives an example using a parable about cats that were supposed to be trained to be noble and important waiters, in order to prove that it’s possible to change one’s nature. But when the cats saw running mice, they threw away their trays and rushed to catch them. We are the same: We perform externally beautiful changes until we blow up and violently jump on each other. These are certainly not the changes that Kabbalah speaks about.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 04/27/10, “Matan Torah”

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The Practical Side Of Kabbalah: The World Zohar Convention

World Zohar ConventionA question I received: Students experience the practical side of Kabbalah at the conventions. What is the practical side of Kabbalah?

My Answer: We were born, created in a state where the ego separates us. According to the plan of creation, we must become connected in brotherly love. This is something that is impossible to realize using our own strength because we’re all simple egoists.

Egoistically we can feel only this world. It is whatever each individual perceives in their small egos. Once a person comes out of the ego and actually starts feeling the others, he starts feeling, in this new attitude towards them, a reality called the spiritual world, or the next world, or the upper reality.

This is precisely the very practical thing that we can do together in this kind of convention. It is through that connection between us. We can tangibly feel it. To actually realize that is what we intend to do.

I really hope that it will happen, and if not in this convention then maybe the next one. But we are going towards that and what we’re going to do are really tangible, practical things that the wisdom of Kabbalah writes about, that The Zohar writes about, here and now, on the face of earth, between human beings.

From an Interview with the Learning Center Director 4/5/10

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The Need For The Kabbalah TV Channel

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (From Cursor.co.il): Mr. Mordechai (Moti) Shklar, CEO, Israel Broadcasting Authority, stated during his speech at the Sammy Ofer Communications School, IDC, Israel [summary]: We turned into a society which destroys any values, a society of individuals alienated by society, where individuality stands in the center and there is no place for collective values.

Commercial TV educates the society on low naked emotions, and such a society has no future, no right for existence. Today we already feel an opposite reaction: an increasing number of people are looking for meaning in their lives, and along with entertainment programs, want to see TV channels with meaningful charge.

We need an alternative channel to commercial TV. Possibly, the content of such shows won’t suit the young audience, but it will fit mature people over 40. In this way, we first have to conquer the audience above 40 and ultimately, young people will also start searching for alternatives.

My Comment: Mr. Shklar apparently is unaware of Channel 66, our Kabbalah TV channel in Israel. Otherwise, he would replace the Israel TV Channel 1 with it!

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Calculating The Pleasure Of An Unknown Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: Yesterday I went to the Creator’s restaurant and ordered steak for 100 dollars, but today with just 80 dollars available, I can only order chicken. If I’ve never tried the chicken, how can I calculate the pleasure against the desire using the screen (price)?

My Answer: This is a very deep and important question since it determines the difference between all the states and degrees by which we ascend or descend. Every fulfillment differs from another, like the pleasure from music differs from the pleasure from art, and so on. So can we perform this calculation or not? If we can’t, then how do we advance in spirituality?

How do I perform a calculation based on yesterday’s steak for 100 dollars with today’s chicken for 80 dollars if I’ve never tried the chicken, and yet nonetheless want to perform the maximum calculation for bestowal? If bestowal is not 100%, then it’s not called bestowal. Furthermore, if I receive more than what is possible, it will go to the Klipa (egoism) which should be avoided.

Therefore, I perform a calculation on Dalet-Itlabshut (the fourth level of pleasure) and Gimel-Aviut (the third level of desire), meaning a calculation on how much of yesterday’s meat I would receive for 80 dollars. Yesterday I received steak for 100 dollars, and today with only 80 dollars it appears to be the same steak, only smaller. I cut off the Light of Yechida from it, and leave only Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, and Haya.

As a result, I begin to feel the difference between the fourth and the third level. Accordingly, instead of performing a calculation on the steak that I now reject, I perform a calculation on the money: What does 100 dollars mean in relation to 80 dollars? The difference is in the pleasure that I now reject. Hence, I now understand the value of 80 dollars, and so I perform a calculation regarding the maximum that I can receive from it for the sake of bestowal.

This is one of the principles of education: to understand one thing from another (“Lilmod Devar Mi Toch Devar”). I perform a calculation regarding one thing, then connect it to another, and go on to a third calculation.

Therefore, in our calculation we always account for the Rosh de-Itlabshut (the former Light) of the past spiritual state (a former Partzuf). From there we can already descend to Rosh de-Aviut (desire) in order to perform a calculation on a new fulfillment.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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http://www.laitman.com/category/egoism/

Binary Calculation System: Current Desire And Previous Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanAny state is defined by two parameters: the Light and desire (Kli). In addition, when there is no Light and no desire for it (which is why the Light left), then what remains is a “record” (Reshimo) of both the Light and desire.

Suppose I had a desire and enjoyment within it, but now the state has changed: There is neither that previous Light nor the desire for it. In the new state I have a new desire, but how can I determine what Light to accept within it? I have a distinct desire that I sense right now, but I have not yet received the Light within it because the Light has to come from outside. In this case I use information (Reshimo) about the Light from my previous state and information about the desire from my current state.

Supppose I was in a restaurant yesterday where I enjoyed a meal costing 100 dollars. Today I come to the same restaurant with only 80 dollars and don’t know what to order with this money. Although I understand that I cannot order as much as I did yesterday, now I have to figure it out what to order based on what happened yesterday. I have to order a bit less and must determine precisely how much less. I remember the enjoyment (the Light) from yesterday, which is my only reference since enjoyment always comes from outside. There is only money (Kli) in my pocket and I know that today I have less of it.

Every spiritual state always contains information about desire (Reshimo de Aviut) and information about the Light that was clothed in the previous desire (Reshimo de Hitlabshut). Based on these two Reshimot it is always possible to understand what is occurring. Without these Reshimot (reminiscences) a person would lose his memory and reason. He would not know what happened a moment before and would not understand how to behave in the following moment.

We act only according to Reshimot. This data is built into us; we make all our comparisons and calculations based upon them.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/10, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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All Of Creation Is The Creator’s Game

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: What game is the Creator playing with us and what is its purpose?

My Answer: As it is written, all of creation is a game. The Creator made the universe and man in it so that through the correct connection with the surrounding universe we would develop and reach similarity with the One (Creator) who created them both. This is called a game because in developing we grow and rise to a higher level of development rather than just simply accumulating knowledge.

We all have to rise to the first spiritual degree. We don’t see it. It’s like in a game: We play and we don’t know what is happening. The outcome of the game is unknown.

The same process is occurring in the development of plants and animals. Everything develops in the form of a game. A game means that one exists on a certain degree, but he cannot discern the next one. However, one makes all possible efforts in order to attain it.

Children, too, play all the time, and through their games they suddenly become smarter and begin to talk and understand. They don’t study a language or science the way we do. They absorb the surrounding world with their desire to understand it.

This is the same for us in relation to the spiritual world. We only need the desire to sense it, and after feeling it, we have to understand and perceive it within ourselves. Suddenly, the spiritual world manifests within us – and we feel it. After all, we are a vessel of sensation, a desire. The understanding and intellect follow the desire.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 4/21/10

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.27.10

Preparation to the Lesson, Shamati #221 “Multiple Authorities
If revealing eternity in which I exist is truly important to me, then this importance will determine each moment of my life.
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Korah,” Item 20
The Creator is unalterably perfect.  We assign changes to Him so that we’d have the opportunity to change ourselves and acquire similarly to perfection.
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Beit Shaar HaKavanot, Item 99, Lesson 34
In Klipa Noga, the good is combined with evil, which becomes the basis for spiritual work.
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Lesson 2
False connections between people are doomed for failure. We only unite in our aspiration toward the Light which will truly correct us.
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