Respond To Consistency With Consistency

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is the will to receive (desire), and in it, Reshimot (spiritual records, genes). The former is submerged in the ocean of Upper Light. The Light is defined as a fixed value [the red arrow in the diagram below], whereas the desire and Reshimot are subject to change.

Essentially, it doesn’t matter to me exactly how and to what extent they change. I don’t see the whole process anyway, and I am not familiar with the order of development of the common system of souls, which I am a part of. My chief concern is my response to the consistency of the Upper governance that aims me through the “obstacles” at the goal and makes me be consistent in my attitude to Him.

Respond To Consistency With Consistence

In this case, we, I and the Creator, are in adhesion. I understand that the Creator is Good Who does good and support this attitude in myself, despite numerous changes, as if I am a boat in a storm. Above all that is occurring in me, I study His governance. He changes all internal and external parameters in my world, while I demonstrate unyielding yearning for Him in the same parallel to the consistent good, in adhesion, so as “not to lose faith in mercy even if a sword is raised over my head.”

Thus I experience His nature on myself. Reshimot unfold in me, leading me up on the rungs of the spiritual ladder by which we descended from the World of Infinity. Above each Reshimo, each new rung, I merge with the Creator again and again. Moreover, I must ascend each new step feeling completeness and joy even though internally, I may be carrying an empty, suffering desire or one filled with heavenly delights.

Regardless of what I feel, be it suffering and devastation or fulfillment and pleasure, I am totally above them because I am absorbed in bestowal. Within me, there are hatred and transgressions, but above them, I am ascending in bestowal. I don’t focus on my desire. Let it remain empty; let it be filled with filth or its opposite, Upper Light, I still concentrate solely on how, above all this, to build my consistent attitude to the Giver.

And this is what comprises our work: to constantly aspire and turn to Him above all that is taking place within us. I value my desires where the Reshimot unfold since without them, I wouldn’t be able to form a relationship and merge with the Creator. But the work itself is being performed above this where I am building the middle line, the screen.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “And Jacob Sat at the Land Where His Father Dwelled”

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Kabbalists About The Concealed Torah And The Revealed Torah, Part 4

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

Attainment of the Torah Begins with “Sod” (Secret) and Ends with “Peshat” (Literal)

Now you will understand the truth in the words of the Vilna Gaon in the prayer book, in the blessing for the Torah [to which he added his note]. He wrote that the Torah begins with Sod (secret), meaning the revealed [to a common person] Torah of Assiya, which is considered hidden, since the Creator is completely hidden there [and that’s why it seems to us that the Torah speaks about the earthly matters].

Then he moves on to [studying the Torah at the level of] the Remez (intimation), meaning that He is more revealed in the Torah of Yetzira [when a person rises to the level of Assiya]. Finally, [as a result of correction] one attains the Peshat (literal), which is the Torah of Atzilut. It is called Peshat, for it [the Torah] is Mufshat (stripped) of all the clothes that conceal the Creator.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 148
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We Don’t Entice With Sweets

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do we need the screen that would enable us to rid ourselves of all the pleasures prepared by the Creator?

Answer: No. The purpose of creation is to reach the good and enjoy. However, we need to delight in the unlimited pleasures that do not exist in our world. We remain “animals” in this thin layer of reality, but our task is to rise to the human level, where the infinite pleasure originates. And then, after having opened the bestowing Kli, we will enjoy without boundaries.

Suffering is not man’s purpose. We need to understand that we experience suffering in our world only because it pushes us toward the real pleasure. Rabash gives an example of a father who arranges the firing of his son from a factory so he would not stay there for the rest of his life and would move on.

When we encounter unpleasant things, we do not feel that we are being educated in this way like little children. But there is no other path. You cannot always be enticed with sweets because they will become your only goal. Yet without the sweets, you become wiser, you begin to evaluate the situation, and learn to manage it.

Thanks to the environment and the method of correction you begin to always understand what is happening to you, you agree with the “education program,” and go through all of its steps with your own will.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Matter of Mercy”

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Joy For The Sighted And Sorrow For The Blind

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It seems to me that I understand every word you say. Why doesn’t it bring me any joy?

Answer: “It’s because you do not realize the importance of it.”
“Yes, I do understand, but what does it give me?”
“You acquire more than what the rest of the world has.”
“So what? I don’t care about what others have. I still don’t have it.”
“What do you want?”
[silence]

A person has to work together with the group on enhancing the importance of the goal. If he doesn’t feel or value the importance of the goal, it is because of his silliness and the concealment, and not because he is wise. His desires do not differentiate what’s in front of him. He is blind. For him, the world is dark and empty. “Open your eyes!”
“I don’t want to.”

Only after a person gets to realize the importance of the goal and begins to sense the sparkle of the group will he acquire the power to advance correctly. However, without joy he cannot move forward. If a person is overwhelmed with sadness, then no matter what he does, he won’t achieve his goal. He limits himself from the inside and directs himself to a different road.

It is impossible to keep to the right direction without experiencing joy. It is similar to hypocritical “confessions” that we are “extremely happy” while we, in fact, are crying from the blows that we receive from the Creator. This kind of lie shows that we are making the wrong type of connection between us.

There can be a certain amount of nervousness, tension, and even some minor arguments in the group; they are signs of energy and desire. At the same time, there has to be joy which originates from the greatness of the goal that shines ahead of us. There is no room for desperation. In fact, desperation is equivalent to arrogance. “I am unhappy with what I have. The Creator doesn’t take me seriously, whereas I deserve much more. I can abide with less, but I cannot agree with having nothing.”

We have to experience lack of fulfillment in order to start working without getting a reward, but we are not ready for this yet. We have to see the rewards that make us excited and begin chasing them.

A person doesn’t comprehend that he is given various opportunities to make another step ahead. He acts like a silly child and sets forth “conditions” and sticks to his “principles.” All right! What cannot be done by reason will be done by time. Stubbornness and refusal to join the group may cost a person many years of delay until he rids himself of desperation and starts to progress.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Matter of Mercy”

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The World Is Created With Mercy

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom the Creator’s side, the world is created with the quality of mercy (Hesed), perfect bestowal. The attribute of the creature, reception, is created as an imprint of it. In order to give the creature (human being) an opportunity to be independent, he needs to be created without any predetermined attribute. How is this possible? For this purpose, the Creator prepared a special state (place or desire) for a person because a person, in fact, lives in his desire.

In the person’s perception this desire consists of reception and bestowal. As a person develops, he gradually acquires an opportunity to choose between them, and then he sees that his choice is in neither of them, but in using these two attributes received from the Creator properly, that is, for the sake of the Creator.

A person learns to use both of them equally and not to nullify the attribute of reception. After all, this is what he is, and he needs to remain an independent creature standing in front of the Creator. Otherwise, without receiving pleasure from the Creator, a person will not bring contentment to the Creator. We can bestow to the Creator only by receiving from Him.

Therefore, a person uses both forces properly and corrects his desire for reception with the intention for the sake of bestowal. Consequently, the quality of mercy, bestowal, governs over the quality of reception since to the extent that a person corrects his “material,” the desire for pleasure, he can use it for the sake of bestowal. Finally, both qualities act as one whole in a person, and he reaches perfect bestowal (faith).

Throughout the whole path, time after time, during every state and on each degree, a person correctly combines the qualities of reception and bestowal (mercy and judgment). Thus, the world is created with mercy and is finalized with it as it reaches complete correction.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Matter of Mercy”

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The Hell Fire Of Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is it written in The Book of Zohar that “only jealousy completes the love?”

Answer: Love cannot be complete if it’s not underlain by jealousy. It is written: “Envy (jealousy) of the wise multiplies wisdom.” There are different types of jealousy, but ultimately, jealousy is the revelation of the empty desire that must be filled specifically with love.

We discover empty desires in various states. If the will to receive (Kli) is so strong that there is love being revealed against it, then this desire is the Kli of jealousy. If I desire something, then everything depends on the degree of Aviut (thickness, coarseness) of my desire or attraction. With Aviut Shoresh (0), my desire is weak; with Aviut Aleph (1), it is stronger, and so on, up to the Aviut Dalet (4), when my desire is infinite.

Therefore, every level of desire has a corresponding degree of jealousy, meaning to what extent a person is “burning” with the desire for the lacking fulfillment. And hence, against the love that has to become revealed, there is the empty desire for its revelation: jealousy, a true “hell fire (the fire of netherworld).”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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There Is No Perfection Without Jealousy

Dr. Laitman with StudentsThe Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 733: “Jealousy is as harsh as the netherworld.” Any person who loves, and jealousy is not tied to it, his love is not love, since jealousy completes the love.

In the Kabbalisitic group, jealousy is expressed in my constant thinking about the others: Are they holding the correct intention? During the reading of The Book of Zohar, my only concern is Arvut (mutual guarantee).

I am very worried whether my friends remain in the same thoughts and intentions as I do and whether we nourish our Arvut together. If not, my efforts will be fruitless since everything gets revealed to me due to the collective effort of the group, in the connection between us. This connection is built by our common concern about each other.

Therefore, right now I am taking care of the network that connects us so that it wouldn’t break but will grow and mature. It is my chief concern. The Book of Zohar will bring me the desired revelation only if we establish the connection between us, and it is there that The Zohar will become revealed. We lack only a connecting network and nothing but that.

This network is what we concern ourselves with while reading The Book of Zohar, and it is regarded as nurturing Arvut (mutual guarantee).
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, The Zohar

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Messiah For All Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn fulfilling the purpose of creation, there is mutual work between those who are regarded as “Israel” (striving to the Creator) and the rest of humanity. Israel is a small group (in quantity) of souls wherein spiritual sparks, the aspiration to the revelation of the Creator, unfold.

First, this group of souls has to realize their yearning for spirituality unwillingly, and after that, through their conscious free will, by way of faith above reason. “Israel,” the speaking level of the will to receive, affects all other souls existing at the animate, vegetative, and still levels of desire by way of the Light of knowledge, understanding, and strength, which is channeled to them through “Israel.” In response, “Israel” receives a reaction: from the still to vegetative, from the vegetative to animate, and from the animate to speaking levels (Israel), thereby joining everybody to the process of correction.

As Baal HaSulam writes, the rest of the nations of the world also make a decision by pushing themselves toward the good; they also have free will, but only after “Israel” affects them. As a result, the revelation of the Messiah, the universal Upper Light that Reforms, will occur. Messiah, if translated from Hebrew, means a force that pulls a person from his egoism.

Circulation of the wisdom of Kabbalah around the world is regarded as the “voice (calling, horn) of the Messiah.” The universal force pulling everyone toward spiritual ascension, which will be revealed in all of mankind is called “Messiah.”

Messiah doesn’t come to “Israel” since they must perform the correction themselves. Messiah becomes revealed specifically in the entire world and solely when Israel (those who received the aspiration to their individual correction) start to serve the entire humanity, being already relatively corrected in the degree that they are able to bestow to the world.

Hence, if we speak of the times of the Messiah, we say that this group, “Israel,” has to already be corrected, and in the measure of its own correction it may begin correcting the world. And the awakening of the world is regarded as “Messiah.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.20.10

Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam, “The Matter of the Slanders”
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The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “BeShalach (When Pharaoh Sent),” Item 30
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 4
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Lesson 6
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Work All Day Long Like At A Temple

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It turns out that each one of us is constantly “drilling a hole in the common boat,” and we only need to raise our sensitivity in order to understand this.

Answer: Once we begin working with it, we will reveal “613” actions (commandments), mistakes (Shgagot), and transgressions (Zdonot), which specifically relate to the mutual guarantee. After all, it is the action that was “commanded” to us, and we are capable of carrying it out!

This is the only free action, and this is why it is called the “one commandment,” but it consists of many components (GE [Galgalta ve Eynaim] and AHP, that is, of all levels of desire) as a result of the gradual correction of the desire into the mutual guarantee. All of this becomes realized through one tiny free opening, with all the commandments being realized in its passage. This is similar to the birth process, the transition into this world through a narrow passage from the womb.

I reveal the Upper World in my aspiration, in my attempt to be in the mutual guarantee, in the state of loving others. This is why it is written that “the end of an action is in its initial thought,” in other words, I constantly need to be in one intention.

All of my actions must be for the sake of love of others and love of the Creator. The action itself does not matter, what matters is the intention that I can connect to it. It is written that the Creator does not care how we slaughter cattle (our egoism); He cares about the intention.

This is why we evaluate whether we make mistakes and commit transgressions or, alternatively, observe commandments and make corrections only against the intention and not the actual actions. The Creator does not care for your actions. What He cares about is what you are planning on reaching through them.

For this reason, when you begin to add the intention to bestowal, the intention for the mutual guarantee, then all your actions in life become free! The entire 360 degrees at which you operate become one enormous pipe that leads to the Upper World!

Instead of being the initial narrow straw, this entire world becomes your guide into spirituality. It expands due to the Light of Hassadim, the property of love and bestowal. And then what you do does not matter: whether you work in the field or at the office, when you do things with the intention to bestow, your entire work becomes like work at the Creator’s Temple.

In this way we discover an absolutely different attitude towards the action, towards bestowal. And most importantly, this way we evaluate what would be a mistake or a crime. We do not go by the actions, but by the intention, by whether it is for the mutual guarantee, love and bestowal to them. This determines what makes you a sinner and what makes you a righteous: Everything is only according to your intention.

The masses think that everything is evaluated by the actions, but in spirituality everything is only determined by the intention. This is why it is written: “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the landlords.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings

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