My Spiritual Simulator – 09.16.10

Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

Kabbalah Moments: Corrected Beasts

A Descent Is A Trampoline For Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur entire work lies in finding the right attitude to the states we receive. While doing this work, we gradually begin to break ourselves up into two components:

1. My desire, in which I perceive various phenomena, such as good and evil,

2. The mind, in which I discern Who sends me my sensations and with what purpose.

To the degree I am able to analyze my states independently of the sensation "good or bad," I am able to understand these states and justify them in spite of my sensation. I can desire them for the sake of revealing the quality of bestowal, the Creator, even though the revelation of every new state means that I will first feel suffering due to the revelation of a new, empty desire.

My attitude to this empty desire can change my sensation of its emptiness. The sensation of the goal, a connection with the Creator, can put me in high spirits that will greatly exceed my sensation of suffering.

That is why we have the opportunity to ascend above the unpleasant sensations in our intentions, in our sensation of the connection with the Creator. We can justify all of creation so greatly that precisely this gap will help us ascend above the unpleasant sensations and even elicit their revelation in order to ascend even higher above them.

We cannot change any state in our development, but we can ask for the understanding of how goal-oriented and good they are, above our will to enjoy.

That is how we can accelerate our development and go through the states of descent in such a way that we won’t feel they are descents, but a reason to ascend. Everything depends on our attitude to what happens to us.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/2010,  “What is the Matter of Sufferings in the Work”

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Kabbalah For Beginners “Baal HaSulam” – 09.16.10

Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Baal HaSulam”
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The Path To Revealing The Creator

Dr. Laitman with StudentsWhen we read The Book of Zohar, we try to create a common space where we aspire to connect our points in the heart. This is the meaning of “studying the Torah.” It’s impossible to "study the Torah" without such an intention.

The point in the heart is “Israel.” "Isra-El" translates as “aspiring to the Creator.” Through the study, we want to attain the Torah: the Light that corrects us. Then, we reveal the Creator in the connection between us. In that connection and, accordingly, in revealing the Creator, there are 125 degrees, or 5 worlds, 5 Lights of NaRaNHaY.

Our world is the total lack of connection from which we commence our efforts to unify. The end point of unification between us is called the “World of Infinity.”

The Path To Revealing The Creator
This is how the entire system of the common Soul, called Adam Ha Rishon, Shechina, or Malchut of Infinity is revealed. The form of this spiritual vessel (Kli) is called “the Creator” (Kadosh Baruch Hu): the quality of love and bestowal.

Everything exists within this system. The entire science of Kabbalah speaks only of how to reveal the Creator in accordance with the law of equivalence of form, as it is written, “From love of the created beings to love of the Creator.” By uniting together, we create a system between us which matches the Upper Force of bestowal.

This is the picture we must always have in our heads when we read The Book of Zohar. I must always check where I am on this ladder of connection between us, what The Zohar speaks of right now, whether I want to unite with others or I resist, and what is it that’s stopping me. The whole time I think of one thing only: how I (Israel) am connected with the others through a force which unites us (the Torah). Within our correct connection, I reveal the true quality of bestowal: the Creator.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, The Zohar

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Crime, Punishment, And The Light Of Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If “there is none else beside Him” and everything is done only by Him, then why am I considered to be a sinner?

Answer: When the evil becomes revealed to me for the first time, this is not yet considered to be my sin. However, if after having discovered an evil desire within, I still plan on using it, now this goes on my account. When this happens for the second time, it is considered to be a sin. It is like repeatedly tasting the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. However, it is only when this happens for the third time that I am considered to be a real sinner. The second time is only the revelation that I exist in evil.

Let’s say, I committed a crime, but this was my very first time. Even courts take this into consideration as extenuating circumstances. I am given a light punishment as a warning to help me never do anything like this again. In other words, I am given the force of correction.

However, when, regardless of the correction that I am given in accordance with the transgression, I still repeat the crime because the criminal desire that awakens in me is even greater than the punishment or fear of a crime, this means that I have really sinned.

When I transgress for the first time, the magnitude of my evil is revealed to me. For now, this is not called a sin. The second time, I reveal how big of a crime against the Creator it is, and I am given a punishment for it that is slightly greater than the sin.

Crime, Punishment, and the Light

If I now reveal this kind of desire in me for the third time, and the desire is even bigger than before, then this difference is called "the evil inclination" because it is in it that I go against the Creator. This is the force of the Pharaoh within me. Now, this is a real sin. It is there where I need to repent and ask for forgiveness. Now I am undoubtedly a sinner.

The first time is merely the creation of a vessel (the desire). The second time is the evaluation of my sin. While the third time is the true crime, it is only as the result of this crime that the appeal for correction appears.

However, the most important part is that all of this is only possible through the Surrounding Light which comes in the form of a “group” or the connection within which the Creator exists. This means that “Israel (one who strives toward the Creator), Torah (the Light of correction), and the Creator are one."

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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You’ll Fall And Rise Again A Thousand Times

Dr. Michael Laitman“Repentance” means that I felt that I have sinned, but was still unable to proceed by the correct path. I didn’t ask the Creator for the strength to rise above pleasant or unpleasant sensations and to always relate to Him as to the One who does good. I couldn’t bear this and descended.

Now, in order to ascend again, I need the “awakening from below” and the “awakening from Above.” For this purpose, a special stimulation comes during particular periods of time called holidays such as the month of ELUL, which is an abbreviation for “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is mine.” This stimulation leads to new decisions, sensations, and impressions.

And then I ask for correction of the sins that did not allow me to achieve goodness, rise, request the force of faith, and advance spiritually. Instead, they led me to a descent which, of course, was planned by the Creator. Is it necessary for me to constantly stumble and fall? Yes, it is. There is no other way. As it is written, “The righteous will fall a thousand times and rise again.”

The sensation of a sin, even for the second time, is still insufficient in order to advance and feel it in all of its depth. The first time, I merely feel how the Light barely touches the vessel and creates a desire in me. The second time, I am shown the screen against my desire to enjoy. When I sin for the third time, I begin to reveal the attitude to the Creator above the desires.

Therefore, there is no other choice: Everyone must become the complete wicked. Otherwise, it is impossible to be corrected and become the complete righteous. Only impurity turns into sanctity. However, it is only possible to become wicked if one has an aspiration to become righteous.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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What Is A "Sin"?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA “sin” is determined by whether or not you ask the Creator for the strength to rise above your sensations of “good” and “evil.” The first time you do something is not a sin! Maybe you have not yet discerned good and evil and your attitude to Him. However, if you do it a second time, it becomes a sin. And if you repeat it a third time, you descend from your degree; you cannot remain on it any longer.

With the first interaction of the pleasure and the desire, a desire for the pleasure (a vessel, Kli) is created. At the second interaction of the pleasure and the desire, one receives a feeling of transgression (a sin), reception for one’s own sake. But if one receives pleasure in the desire for a third time, then it not only indicates the performance of a sin, but also shows that the sensation of the sin was not sufficient in order to refrain from it.

This can be likened to a situation where the sentence ruled by a court is weaker than the criminal desire and, therefore, does not reform one from stealing in the future. And then a decision is made to conceal me in the prison of this world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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How To Measure Faith Above Reason

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur entire path consists of revealing the Creator’s actions toward us and finding the right reaction to them. It is called “work of the Creator,” when I wish to learn two things: Who is doing this to me, and what He is doing. In other words, I wish to reveal the action and the One who acts.

My attitude to the actions and the One who acts is formed through my attempts to reveal them. And in this regard I can already be referred to as a “human being,” the “I” that somehow relates to “what happens to me” and to “the One who controls me.”

The attitude to the action occurs “within reason,” that is, within and according to the mind. If I relate to the One who acts, to the Creator who controls these actions, in opposition to what I feel from His actions, then this is called “above reason” or despite of reason. If I relate to the Creator in direct dependence from His actions, this is called “within reason.”

However, we evaluate our whole work only in relation to the Creator. I may feel His actions as “bitter or sweet,” perceiving them as “good or evil,” according to my sensations. Yet simultaneously, I also have the attitude of “true or false” in regard to the Creator.

Not necessarily is bitter always true and sweet always false. If I rise above my sensation of “bitter or sweet,” and instead of caring about the sensation, I reveal that it comes from the Creator (who is good and does good), then it means that I am in faith above reason.

I am incapable of this on my own since I live by my sensations. However, I can receive help from the Creator, and the difference between “bitter and sweet” will no longer exist. Then this means that I am in bestowal and relate to Him by faith above reason.

I rose above my sensation due to the force that I received from Him, and now I accept pleasant and unpleasant states, “good” and “evil” equally. I don’t just succumb to the circumstances; I truly feel that way, and this determines the height of my relationship with the Creator.

The more opposition there is between good and evil, while perceiving them equally and blessing the Creator for the bad things as well as the good, the higher is my spiritual degree. It is the height to which I rise above my desires and fulfillment, be they pleasant or not. This is called the measure of faith in the Creator.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/10, “Preparation for the Reception of Torah”

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It’s The Same Ten Sefirot Everywhere

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are studying the book Talmud Eser Sefirot, which comprises six volumes and over 2000 pages, and all the time, we are studying only about the ten Sefirot. We’re doing this in order to read about them over and over, then forget all about them, then to read about them once again, and to forget them again. Every time we study, we study the same ten Sefirot, but in a new form because our qualities are constantly changing, while the ten Sefirot remain the same.

Therefore, every time we sit down to study, we do so incorrectly. And afterward we always have to forget what we studied.

The spiritual law of the soul’s correction states that Nukva returns to the state of “virginity” each time. Then Nukva grows, becomes small, and then becomes an adult and unites with Zeir Anpin. She then completes this state and returns to the state of “virginity” in order to start growing all over again to reach a new state of unity.

In this way, we go through every phase or every level, which includes the same ten Sefirot. Afterward, everything becomes erased and on the following level we once again study the same ten Sefirot, but with a deeper understanding and sensation and in greater connection.

That is how one level becomes replaced by the next. New relationships are added, but we’re always talking about the unity of Malchut with the first nine Sefirot.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/15/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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