Kabbalah Moments: To Reveal The True Picture

You Have A Part Of The World To Come

Dr. Michael LaitmanAt the recent Mega-Congress we received sparks of Bina. We were filled by the sensation of bestowal, common unification, and society. Now we don’t have any of this, but the need for it or an empty desire has remained. It causes us to suffer, and our task is to immediately restore our connection with others, draw the Light, act together with everyone, and build a whole mechanism for accomplishing this.

All of this is a sensation of my first spiritual desire! For the first time ever I have received a spiritual vessel. Previously I only had animate and “universal” desires, but now I have received the emptiness of Bina – a sensation of the neighbor which is completely built on bestowal. I felt that there is someone else besides me in the world, and not just an object for me to use! This feeling came to me from Bina.

“The desire to enjoy” doesn’t feel this. A lion that wishes to have a deer for dinner does not relate to the deer as an individual. It just sees a hundred pounds of meat before him and needs this meat in order to survive. It sees everything that moves in front of it from this point of view, but it has no personal relationship with his surroundings and does not wish to inflict harm on anyone.

However, Bina, which is situated in us, is a part of the Upper One. It is the Creator’s quality and it reveals our inner relationship to “people.” During a Convention such as the Mega-Congress I acquire this attitude to the neighbor; I realize his importance and receive pleasure or fulfillment through him.

When the Convention is over, I feel unwell. This is not because my desire simply grew, but the feeling is now coming from a different field altogether, from the spiritual dimension. It is a part of the world to come! Therefore, it can be filled only from there with the help of the group, the studies, and other common, mutual actions.

This is the remedy called “proceeding by the path of the Light.” It is when we build a desire inside us on our own and take care of its fulfillment ahead of time. Then we advance like an old man who walks hunched over and searches for something ahead of time, as through he has lost something.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/16/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Introductory Lecture “Perception Of Reality” – 08.16.10

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Perception of Reality”
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It’s Difficult Being Human

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person has to choose between truth and falsehood, but when it comes to “sweet versus bitter” he has no choice for it’s obvious that he will always choose what is good and sweet over evil and bitter. I am unable to prefer a bad state to a good one. Yet, if I see “true vs. false” against “sweet vs. bitter,” then I may possibly choose the bitter truth, a bad sensation, because the truth is more important to me.

These are two different dimensions: The animate level makes the analysis of “sweet vs. bitter,” whereas the human level makes the analysis of “truth vs. falsehood” because a person works by “faith above reason.” If you ascend to the single consideration of “truth,” which includes all the other forces and possibilities, it means you attain unity with the Creator.

However, if you only consider “sweet or bitter,” then you are making an animate analysis and choice. An animal will never make a mistake on its level. It always chooses what is good for it. However, it does not make progress on the “human level.” Nature will not allow us to remain on the animate level and will compel us to develop.

On the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, the animate analysis of behavior comes down only to the analysis of “sweet or bitter,” where one prefers what is sweet. On the other hand, a human being makes a distinction between two levels: the animal in him which makes the analysis of “sweet or bitter” and the human being in him who makes the analysis of “true versus false.” Therefore, a person is always in turmoil, going between the animal and human in him, looking for “what to choose.” He searches for a compromise because he wants what is sweet, but he sees that the most useful thing is the truth.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Drop Of Unity Is Priceless

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything that ever happened to us, all the suffering we have gone through over the course of all of our history was for our own good. Baal HaSulam writes in Letter #23 that a person who has revealed a drop of unity with the Creator would happily chop off his arms and legs several times a day just to feel the taste of unity with the Creator at least once in his lifetime!

And that’s no exaggeration. If a person would consider how much Light one single drop of unity brings him compared to all of the most horrible suffering of this world, then he would feel that it outweighs everything!

We do not understand what the Upper Light is which clothes into the soul. We think that it’s simply something pleasant that makes us feel good. We don’t feel the true meaning of the words, “eternity, perfection, and harmony.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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He Who Justifies The Creator Is The Righteous One

Dr. Michael LaitmanAs humanity progresses, our material life becomes more comfortable, but the “human” within us feels more and more unfulfilled. As a result, we are regarded as “sinners” because when we suffer we blame the Creator for it. Only if we feel that the Creator gives us pleasure, can we justify Him. The sages said: “Righteous is he who justifies the Creator and says that He gives only goodness to the world.”

In other words, we have to correct ourselves to the point of feeling that the Upper governing Force brings us good rather than the evil which we experience now. Our life consists of two parts: the life of the animate body and that of a human being as a part of the surrounding society. And we can correct ourselves to such an extent that we can experience a perfect life in all its aspects.

A person who has corrected his perception is regarded as righteous since he will justify the Creator, seeing His kind governance. This governance was good and fair from the start. However, we are created as egoists and perceive everything negatively with a “minus” sign (despite the fact that we are surrounded by the positive field of bestowal, the Creator) because we are opposite to Him. Our job is to correct ourselves, thereby making our perception positive. Working in this manner we expand our perception from a tiny “plus” to a great one until it becomes an infinite “plus” just like the Creator Himself.

These degrees of my coming closer to Him in the sensation of good governance of the world (according to their quality, quantity, volume and strength) are the very steps of ascension, the degrees of righteousness. Baal HaSulam writes in his Letter 59: “A righteous one feels unbroken delight, praising the Creator who created for him such a good and joyful world.”

In other words, it is impossible to feel bad and justify the Creator at the same time! Kabbalah does not call for any restrictions. Everything is defined solely by the sensations carried deep within a person’s heart. If he suffers, he will inevitably condemn the Creator; and if he is happy, he will bless Him.

Therefore, we have to correct ourselves so as to feel all His goodness and bestowal; as a result, we will become righteous without a doubt. The righteous is not the one who suffers silently and willingly, but the one who corrected himself in order to feel the truth!
[19126]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/10, Shamati #34

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Where Freedom Begins

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are two steps along our ascent to the spiritual world, and the first one is to obtain a desire (Hissaron). In our corporeal world, we are born with a desire to reveal this world and to rule, take advantage of, and connect with it. But in the spiritual world, it is different since we need to earn this desire.

It is the Light that helps us with this. We use it to arrange our egoistic desire in an opposite, altruistic form that enables us to obtain the desire for bestowal, that is, a spiritual Kli (a spiritual vessel is a desire to bestow).

In our world, we are given the desire to receive, understand, and feel. Likewise, in the spiritual world, there is a desire to bestow, love, connect, and unite. How are we able to obtain it? Clearly, we can receive it only from the Light that Reforms and nothing else. And for this we need at least some initial desire to receive the Light’s impact. This tiny initial desire is called free will which is given to us in a very simple and distinct form: as one singular point that we can find and discern within our current state.

This can be achieved solely through the connection between us and our collective effort, provided that we have the desire to bond and depend on each other. If such relationships are found between the souls (or people that carry them), then according to our efforts, the Light reveals itself, begins to give us a new desire, and passes its own desire to us.

This is the only real work that a person has as Baal HaSulam explains it in his article “The Freedom”: We need to exert the minimum effort, in a selective, narrow, and clear-cut direction in relation to the environment, and as a result of the measure of this exertion, the Light descends upon us. It clarifies our desires (their opposite side), gives us the sensation of a lack, according to which we reveal all the holy names of the Creator until the full revelation of the Light (all the names of the Creator).

Thus, a person attains a spiritual state where “Israel (the soul yearning for the Creator), the Torah, and the Creator become one,” meaning all of man’s desires become equivalent to the Light that reformed them. Through these sacred names a person attains all the general Light called the Torah and the Creator (the purpose of creation “to delight the creatures”) which is revealed in this Light.

All this is revealed within a person’s desire. The Torah is the revelation of the spiritual world attained through a person’s individual, partial revelation of the Creator’s names.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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We Exist In The World Of Infinity

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe exist in an ocean of the Light of Infinity which contains all the sacred names of the Creator. These names have to become revealed in our desires to the extent of their similarity to a particular quality of the Creator included in this Infinite Light. This general force, the Light, is called the “Torah.” Of course, today we are unable to value and know it. This is beyond our capabilities and desires.

However, here is what we can do: If we desire to become similar to the illumination that reaches us from this infinite Light, we can reach some partial similarity and feel it within us as the revelation of the “Creator’s sacred name.” Sanctity is above the “body”; it is bestowal or the quality of Bina. After all, the “Creator’s name” is a spiritual vessel, a “Kli,” or a corrected desire (meaning desire with the intention to bestow).

Due to the power of the Light, our desire acquires such a form (intention) that it can establish a connection with the Creator, which is to say, with the Light or the Torah (names of the Creator). In this way, by being influenced by Ohr Makif (the Surrounding Light), we gradually reveal separate qualities and actions within us that are similar to the Light or the Torah.

All this is perceived and measured within us and in relation to us (the receivers) to the extent that we are similar to the qualities of the Light according to the law of equivalence of form. Only by becoming similar to the Light will we be able to feel it.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/10, “You Should Always Discern Between Torah and Work”

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A Guide To The Book Of Zohar: The Middle Line

Dr. Michael LaitmanExcerpts from my upcoming book, A Guide to The Book of Zohar

Some of the souls within the general system are already corrected. If we, too, desire to attain the revelation of the Creator, but feel that He is concealed, then from the spiritual standpoint, we exist in “darkness” or “night.” It is precisely in this time of “night” when we have to exert efforts and raise our prayers whereupon those exalted souls in which the Creator reigns will influence us through The Book of Zohar.

The Book of Zohar was written specifically so that we could create the link between us and these souls. When we read The Zohar, we establish contact with them, and in return they send us a force called the Light that Reforms through this Book.

For the time being, there is no compatibility (equivalence of form) between our souls and the Light, so this Light is not yet penetrating our souls so as to fill them. Nonetheless, it acts upon us as a mother’s womb, enveloping, embracing, and caressing us. The Light gradually corrects us until we begin to perceive it, the corrected souls with whom we’ve established contact by reading The Zohar, and the Creator who reigns in the entire system of souls.

This Light is called the Surrounding Light. As we continue to correct ourselves, it enters us, fulfills us, and becomes the soul’s “Inner Light” which is our spiritual life.

Inside the mother’s womb, which this Surrounding Light forms for us, grows the middle line. The middle line is a precise calculation on my part which combines the two forces of nature, the force of desire and that of the Light, in the most optimal way for the Light to correct the desire.

The part of the desire that becomes corrected in this process and thereby similar to the Creator is called the middle line. In other words, the middle line is the measure of my ability to become similar to the Creator. It is the Creator’s image that I have constructed within myself and out of myself by this process. It began with that very request: the prayer that I had raised in the time of the “night.”

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Kabbalists On The Essence Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah, Part 24

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy

Where philosophy [egoistic narrow-minded thought limited by human intellect] ends, the wisdom of Kabbalah begins. This means that philosophers’ research only extends to the level of circles [to which their egoism, limited by the intention “for the sake of themselves,” allows them to rise], and they know nothing higher than that. Their knowledge is [even] lower than these circles [that they sense through their egoistic sensations and investigate with their brain], yet the majority of them are very confused [since they are unable to see the whole picture of the universe, its causes and consequences] and admit to this fact.

The wisdom of Kabbalah starts where their “wisdom” [limited by their egoism] ends, meaning from the level of circles [of human attainment] and on.
– Rabbi Nahman from Breslav, Sichot Moaran, 225

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