2010 October — Laitman.com

October 2010
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The Degree Of Spiritual Death

Posted on October 30th, 2010

Question: In his article “The Matter of the Slanders,” Rabash writes that the state of Lo Lishma (not for Her Sake) leads to death. However, we also know that Lo Lishma is a necessary and very important degree from which we transition to altruistic intention. What is going on here?

Answer: In the state of Lo Lishma, my intentions are still aimed at personal gain, material or spiritual. This, as such, is death indeed. I am not moving toward death; I am in it, in the will to receive for myself. Below this state, I reside at the animate level and don’t exist in the spiritual sense. On the other hand, Lo Lishma is a new state which is my relation to spirituality: I want to take advantage of it.

We are talking about the stages of development: this world, preparation (Lo Lishma), altruistic intention (Lishma) in the category of Hafetz Hesed (not wanting anything for oneself), and finally, the level of love.

The intention of Lishma during the stage of preparation is already good. We acquire it starting from zero and end at 100% where we have fully prepared ourselves. At this point, I have to understand that to the extent that I make myself depend upon the group determines how well I progress toward Lishma.

A person by himself will receive nothing that might lead him directly to the correct request, not from the books, nor from Above. After all, Lishma is a request for unity. And only in unity, from the equivalence of properties, a person asks for the contact with the Light, the bestowal, the Giver.

Herein lies an opportunity for precise and specific examination: If we view things through the prism of the group, unity, and Arvut (mutual guarantee), we find in them the Torah, the Light that Reforms. That is the exact place where everyone receives the gift of the Torah, and then a person penetrates deeper and deeper, becoming closer in his properties to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, “The Matter of Slanders”

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About Diapers And Eternity

Posted on October 30th, 2010

Question: While forming a group we have to pay a lot of attention to external things, as if we’re taking care of a baby. How can we keep from losing the inner essence during this process?

Answer: Every group encounters this problem and every member of the group asks this question.

We live in a world of material actions. How many hours a day do I spend on satisfying my natural needs, such as sleeping, eating, and washing? How many hours a day do I have to work, carry out responsibilities around the house, and so on? And how much time do I have left for myself and my spiritual advancement? I have maybe one or two hours a day left if I manage to separate from everything else in some way.

That is how our life is arranged. Who arranged it this way? Could it really be the Creator? Why does He make us drown in this material, animate existence? Why didn’t he make us like angels, unburdened by worries about our bodies, home, and children, so the only thing we had to do is build connections with each other?

Yet, in reality everything is very different. Any work we do, even work unrelated to the group, is pure spiritual work. We just don’t know about it or understand it. By carrying out the responsibilities of an employee, a family man, a citizen, and so on, I correct myself. I may not see exactly how I do it, but it is nevertheless so.

I am allowed to devote just a small part of my life to spiritual correction. As I perform this correction, if instead of studying, I work on organizing the life of the group, I thereby support and strengthen the connection in our common system.

Obviously we also can’t forget about having a fair distribution of the burden among all of us. And more generally speaking, this is a vast topic that we will definitely come back to.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, Writings of Rabash

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“The Mixed Multitude” In A Person, Nation, And The World

Posted on October 30th, 2010

The Zohar, Chapter “BeShalach (And Pharaoh Sent)” Item 37: Because of the mixed multitude, they were not called “the children of Israel,” or “Israel,” or “My people,” but simply, “the people.” When they rose from Egypt and the mixed multitude had not bonded with them, He called them “the children of Israel.” When the mixed multitude bonded with them, He called them “the people.”

Speaking of what occurs in a person, the “mixed multitude” (Erev Rav) are the desires that seem to be walking a spiritual path and choose it, thinking that it is the way to advance. However, every time they decide to advance, they intend to use the Creator, the Upper Light, for themselves, for reception.

This is the most treacherous, impure force (Klipa, shell). They wish to use the Torah to satisfy various demands of egoism in their corporeal life. All the problems of the nation occur because of this Klipa regarded as the “mixed multitude.”

It is easy to discern them on the spiritual path if you recognize that it is an egoistic form that has no relation to spirituality. If I desire any pleasures of this world (food, sex, family, money, fame, power, or knowledge), such desires are regarded as the “nations of the world” in me. They want only this kind of fulfillment.

But when I start studying the Torah and want to receive earthly, egoistic fulfillment (the very same money, fame, power, and so forth) with its help, this is called the “mixed multitude.” I engage the Torah, the force of advancement and Light, in order to use it for my egoism.

All this must take place in every person on the spiritual path. After all, everybody consists of everybody else as it is written, “There is no righteous man on earth who has done good and did not sin first.” Everyone will have periods (if they haven’t occurred yet) when, amidst his spiritual advancement, there will arise a desire to make money, have power, and so on. The only question is how quickly and how correctly he will exit this state.

Similar divisions exists in the corporeal world as well. There are “nations of the world,” those who desire to receive all that there is in this world. Their desires are simple, without any yearning for spirituality, for the wisdom of Kabbalah.

There are also people who strive for spirituality and yearn to attain it to the best of their capacity. And there are those who engage in spirituality as well, but not to uncover their “evil inclination,” correct it, and thereby get closer to the Creator, meaning to use the Torah as it was intended. Rather, they study the Torah in order to get all possible wealth, fame, and power from it. Hence, it is written that all problems after the exodus from Egypt took place because they brought with them the “mixed multitude.”

So it is in our generation: There are those in the nation who study the Torah in order to gain from it the Light that Reforms and correct themselves, and there are those who engage in the Torah in order to obtain power and wealth for their earthly life.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, The Zohar

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What Is A Congress?

Posted on October 30th, 2010

Question: How is a congress related to the idea of a form clothed in matter? Isn’t it an illusion of this world?

Answer: A congress is the means with the help of which we wish to create an enormous, powerful desire (Kli, vessel). All who are part of this Kli will take pleasure in the Light that will be revealed in it. To take pleasure means to use this Light for correction.

What is a congress? A congress is the creation of the system where all parts are connected with each other. We hope that we will create such a connection between us, and in it, there, we will discover equivalence to the Light, the Creator. Every person will feel it to the extent of their being connected to this Kli, and that will become his spiritual revelation.

Creation of this collective Kli depends on everybody. It also depends on how well everyone is incorporated into the collective Kli because later, every person receives the sensation of the revealed Light depending on his measure of personal participation.

Everyone benefits from the collective desire inasmuch as they participate in it. This is the law of interaction between an individual and the group, and it is a real action.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Spirituality Is The Measure Of My Equivalence To The Creator

Posted on October 30th, 2010

Question: When I enter spirituality, will I be able to visualize my more advanced states?

Answer: The problem primarily lies in the current states. In proportion to my acquiring the screen, the Light paints pictures for me. The spiritual world is an image of my equivalence to the Creator.

At present, I don’t perceive the spiritual world because I don’t possess an adequate degree of equivalence with the Creator. Between me and Him there is a screen. And on this screen, instead of my equivalence to the Creator, I see this world, my projection, an imprint of my uncorrected properties, and my inadequacy with the Creator.

As I get corrected, a new picture unfolds for me, which is called “the corrected me,” “the Creator illuminating me,” or “the world where the Creator and I are together.” They all are one and the same picture, depending on how we view it.

Spirituality is an image of the form of my equivalence to the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/20/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Good Environment – 10.29.10

Posted on October 29th, 2010

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

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The Independent Sixth Sense

Posted on October 29th, 2010

First, we need to tune into the group and find in it the independent Kli (Vessel), the sixth sense. In the same exact manner, the sixth day of the week rises over the other five days and prepares them for the Sabbath. We, too, need to prepare all of our senses and above their egoism, build a new sense based on the screen and the reflected Light.

A person annuls himself, unites with the friends, and thereby builds a Kli through which he can perceive reality. In this Kli, he reveals the 613 desires, the construction of the soul. In this Kli, in his connection with others, one discovers a net and in this net, all the various desires and relationships.

As he gathers them and puts them into order, he suddenly sees how they become the ten Sefirot, the desires of his soul. In it, in its structure, he begins to reveal the Light, or the Creator, in direct, reflected, inner, and surrounding Light in the reverse and front sides. A person continues to develop this Kli, this sense, to verify and delve deeper into it, ascending by the degrees of self-rejection and interaction.

His Kli becomes more and more complex, more and more perfect, until a person realizes the principle of loving his neighbor as himself. This love builds and forms the Kli, unifying its parts, due to which a person reveals different forms of connection and builds them according to mutual bestowal.

There, in this Kli, in these ten Sefirot, he “draws” the image of the Creator, the universal force of bestowal. Such is our work, and we always conduct it in an environment which becomes the group, the soul, and takes the form of the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10, “According to What is Explained Concerning Love Thy Friend as Thyself”