Teaching Children To Overcome Challenges

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When you work with kids, how can you tell that the approach you have chosen is correct?

Answer: First of all, you have to make sure that the group of kids goes through all the states together. If common difficulties affect the group and envelop all the kids in the class, then the kids need some kind of an outlet such as sports. They need help to go through the difficult states easier.

However, obviously it is inevitable that every new level will entail a jump of egoism and lack of understanding, followed by clarifications and achievement of greater understanding than before. Children should be taught to overcome states of obscurity in their feelings and mind.

One’s soul never grows old, and a person as well as a child (who is also a person) never receives states where he doesn’t have “the end of the rope” he can grab onto in order to climb out of any mess, descent, weakness, and fog. Together with all the things that seem like “objective reasons” for feeling bad, we always have the opportunity to ascend from this state. Children must be taught this technique. That is how we give them the instruments that enable them to make it through life.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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My Spiritual Simulator – 10.04.10

Spiritual Simulator: Questions of the Day

When You Run Out Of Strength

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person advances when he is able to withstand two lines: the right and the left. Within the line that extends from above downward he feels down, disappointed, desperate, weak, and dejected. But in the line that extends from below upwards, everything is opposite. That is when we reach an analysis.

For example, I feel totally exhausted physically, mentally, and morally. I cannot organize my thinking, my consciousness is blurred, and nothing is of any importance. I want to forget it all and fall asleep so I won’t feel anything.

However, ascending above this state for a moment, I assess it as a good state. There is a Psalm that reads, “For he who is dead is free.” Now I am free of my egoism; it has died and does not demand anything from me.

If a bit more Light comes to me, then I understand the reason for this state, that it was sent to me by the Creator. He wants me to figure it out: Why do I need a desire that does not want anything and is unable to do anything? Why did He send it to me?

The Light illuminates my current state of downfall, revealing its causes, which in turn become the starting point for me to start growing anew. The sages said, “A righteous man rises in the place where egoism falls.” My egoism falls, and a righteous man is born from it. In one line I see that I have fallen to the bottom, but in two lines I begin ascending.

The recession happens only for the sake of the Light’s influence, so the Light would give me the second line to help me start thinking above the sensation I feel. It lifts me above the sensation of “sweet or bitter” to the analysis “true or false.”

A person must always place himself beneath the Light so the Light would lift him above the sensation and show him the truth, the reason, the One who does it. Even an unclear sensation or knowledge of the reason, the Creator, the One who depicts the picture of the world inside me, changes my perception of the picture to its opposite. Then I am happy that the Creator gave me such a negative, lowly sensation. It is weakness that enables me to act.

Once I figure out the situation, I have a goal and a means. Having been awakened, I begin to get up.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/10, “What is the Help that One Should Ask of the Creator”

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"Glasses" For Reading The Zohar

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 528: However, he did not disclose what he wished to disclose, since he wished to reveal the end to them. There is an end to the right and an end to the left. He wished to reveal to them the end of the right, to be kept and to be purified from the foreskin in the end of the left. And what he revealed to them was known and was revealed until they arrived at the holy land. However, he did not disclose other things, and they are hidden in the Torah, in those blessings.

We have to try to recognize the events described in The Zohar within “ourselves,” in our corrected desire. The more we aspire to sense them within the corrected desire, the stronger Light of correction we attract. It will gradually correct us, and we will be able to see the true picture.

It’s like I’m looking at something without glasses yet I know that I need and lack them. I want to see the true picture and hope to obtain the “glasses,” correct my vision, and see the true state. This is the essence of reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/10, The Zohar

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Kabbalah For Beginners “Preparation” – 10.04.10

Kabbalah TV Channel 66’s Kabbalah for Beginners, “Preparation”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Guide Children Toward Real Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur system of upbringing has to work in a vein of our own life. We shouldn’t tell children nonsense and lies or paint a false world for them. Every toy must guide a child toward real life and the correct analysis of it. Every detail should be a tiny example of the realities of the big world. We should unfold it for the child gradually, keeping in mind that it’s the real world and not fiction.

To safeguard the child, I draw borders for him, while at the same time, give him freedom within them. A child learns to be human from his actions in these restricted and safe conditions. Gradually the borders expand, and gradually a human is formed within them.

Moreover, I don’t offer him solutions set in advance but merely a limited example. I don’t assemble the interconnecting “cube blocks” for him but merely set a pattern to follow and leave him with the freedom to fantasize and create. Occasionally, I even prepare puzzles, tricks, and traps for him so that he will be able to learn from mistakes. Only by doing so will I prepare a child for life.

How can I offer him all the solutions in advance? On the contrary, we grow from our experiences with puzzles and exercises, trials and errors. The memory of them forms a correct approach in a child, and he then knows where to start and how to solve a problem. In the end, if he errs, it will be solely because he was caught by surprise and didn’t expect such a turn of events.

Each following step starts precisely like this: It is new and unpredictable, and so the child makes mistakes. But while he is at it, he learns from his failure and benefits from it.
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From the Talk on Education 9/29/10

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Kabbalists On The Language Of Kabbalah, Part 11

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Law of Root and Branch

So it is with the worlds, where each lower world is an imprint of the world Above it. Hence, all the forms in the Higher World are meticulously copied, in both quantity and quality, to the lower world.

Thus, there is not an element of reality, or an occurrence of reality in a lower world, that you will not find its likeness in the world Above it, as identical as two drops in a pond. And they are called “Root and Branch.” That means that the item in the lower world is deemed a branch of its pattern, found in the Higher World, being the root of the lower element, as this is where that item in the lower world was imprinted and made to be.

That was the intention of our sages when they said, “You haven’t a blade of grass below that has not a fortune and a guard above that strike it and tells it, ‘Grow’!” It follows that the root, called “fortune,” compels it to grow and assume its attribute in quantity and quality, as with the seal and the imprint. This is the law of Root and Branch, which applies to every detail and occurrence of reality, in every single world, in relation to the world Above it.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah
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Proper Environment

Dr. Michael Laitman with StudentsAs we advance spiritually, we egoistically begin to value the property of bestowal. It gives freedom and fulfillment; it allows one to be independent. This attitude towards the property of bestowal is called “Lo Lishma.” But later, under the influence of the Light, the property of bestowal itself becomes valuable to us. This attitude toward it is called “Lishma.”

All we need to do in order to attain this state is to follow the advice of the Kabbalists. The point in the heart brings us to a new environment, to a group, and we begin to unite with others regardless of whether we want it or not. These actions immediately help us to attract the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) on us. It is always around us, but this time we attract it intentionally.

The more effort I put into uniting with others, the stronger the influence of the Light is on me, and I begin to receive new impressions. Eventually, I assess bestowal as something good and regard it as something high and special. This is the influence of the environment.

Proper Environment

The environment is not people. Our efforts, our common desires, enable us to evoke the Light the Reforms. All of us exist in an ocean of Light and we can attract it. This is what the proper environment is: an environment that helps me attract the Light and also the actual Light.

It influences us even when we do not do anything, but in this case, the process flows slowly with the natural speed of the development of Reshimot (spiritual genes). But when we begin to evoke the Light through studying, circulation, and unity of friends, we awaken the influence of the Light’s environment on us.
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From the Hoshana Rabbah Night Lesson 9/29/10, Shamati #8

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The Screen Builds Me As A Character In The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanFor seven days, we have been drawing the Surrounding Light, constructing the canopy of the shed. The Light expands from Aba ve Ima (AVI) of the World of Atzilut through Zeir Anpin (ZA). Zeir Anpin is represented by the branch of the palm tree.

Further on, the Light passes through HGT, the Sefirot of Hesed, Gevura, and Tifferet, symbolized by three branches of the myrtle tree, and through the Sefirot of Netzah-Hod, represented by two branches of the willow tree. After that, from Yesod of Partzuf Zeir Anpin, the Light enters Malchut, represented by the Etrog fruit. And this unification of all channels of Light from AVI to Malchut occurs under the canopy of a shed or under the screen that conceals the soul from the Light.

Having received all seven Surrounding Lights of correction during the seven days of the celebration is called “Great Supplication” (Hoshana Rabbah). I verify what I have attained, which screen or the property of bestowal. In fact, the effect of the Surrounding Light in our work is namely the screen. As soon as I acquire it, I, to the degree of the power of my screen, instantly begin to feel the Creator and to define our relationship.

The Screen Builds Me As A Character In The Spiritual World

This is why we honor this moment in our development as a special event, the beginning of work with the screen. This work builds me as a character in the spiritual world. That’s because without the screen I simply don’t exist. The screen’s degree, size, type, and form make me what I am. I do not determine the will to receive pleasure nor the will to bestow, the Light. What am I then? I am only the screen.
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From the Hoshana Rabbah Night Lesson 9/29/10, Shamati #8

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In Darkness As In Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Creator conceals Himself. But instead of tearing off the “cover” and revealing Him, I build His image in myself. The screen that He placed between us remains, but I make changes within myself which create in me the properties of the Creator, His image. Only in this way, having built His image within myself, can I see Him because by Himself, He is beyond any image.

In the darkness of my egoism, I build a shining image of the properties of bestowal and love, an image of the Light. The Creator remains just as hidden by the screen, but underneath the screen, I create His image as if He were standing before me. I shape the Light of bestowal (faith, Hassadim) and exist within it, not discovering the Creator on the other side of the screen.

I ask the Creator to not remove the concealing screen, but rather to allow me to exist in the shade, in darkness, so that the darkness will become like the Light for me and I will appreciate its importance. In fact, precisely because of it I am able to create out of myself similarity to the Creator, to become independent. Having hidden Himself, He has created a place for my similarity to Him. And to the measure of this similarity, the screen dividing us becomes transparent, and our images coincide.

The darkness helps me for otherwise the Light would fill me, nipping all aspirations in the bud. I would not feel the need for anything and would not be able to make any personal movement. In contrast to this, darkness creates a necessity for searching.

If the darkness simply dissipated, I would return to my usual, materialistic life. Because of this, I ask that the darkness will remain. It greatly helps my egoism: Nothing fills or calms it, so I will desire Light out of the darkness. I want to obtain the qualities of Light not merely by discovering the Creator, but by creating His image within myself.

I support the screen that divides us myself: The Creator gradually removes it, but I immediately raise the concealment to 100%. Thus, I build a canopy, the “roof of the tent,” as I am not willing to accept the Upper Light directly. Rejecting it, I obtain the property of bestowal and exist in darkness as in Light. For my egoism it is darkness, but for the giving intentions it is Light.
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From the Hoshana Rabbah Night Lesson 9/29/10, Shamati #8

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