Outsmart Your Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanDon’t try to be “clever ones” or “heroes” and fight egoism using your own powers. Nothing is more foolish than that! Who can resist nature? Is it even possible?

Our work is to rise above our egos, which means drawing the force of the Light and with it, rising above egoism as if it doesn’t exist. This does not mean suppressing the ego and drifting peacefully through life. Our egoism remains, and we realize that it is the Creator who gives us such a large reserve of desire. But we wish to be above it.

I do not annihilate my ego since this is what I rise above. But at the moment, I don’t take it into count concerning my relations with the friends, regardless of how dreadfully arrogant, insolent, envious, and driven by power or honor each of them might seem. None of this matters; all I know is that “love will cover all sins.” You with a gun and me with a knife in hand embrace each other and make all decisions based on love.

Everybody thinks that he is right, yet each nullifies himself. Love means that I accept another’s decision and they accept mine, and in this way we arrive at a common agreement that allows us to make a decision at a higher level. We have risen above our collective hate to our common love.

Try to do this in the group, and you will feel a third component within: the Creator! You will feel that you either lack Him or that He is already present within you.

This is a very practical type of work, as all of Kabbalah is: “Come and see (Bo-Reh)”; “We shall do, and we shall hear” are absolutely practical things we need to implement right now.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “The Freedom”

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One Wisdom For All

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we need the external mind if all perception of reality is occurring within us?

Answer: The true perception of reality is built externally, in the mind of the environment, that is, in the Upper One, the Creator, and not in my current mind.

Advancing in spirituality, I engage in this environment as in Malchut of the World of Infinity. It is the place of my root from which my soul was born and descended to this corporeal world in a long journey through all the worlds. In this world, I am cut off from my root and keep only a spark of it called the “point in the heart.” And thanks to this environment, which is my system of the World of Infinity for now, I progress back to the initial state of Infinity.

When my environment, the group, gradually joins on its path the entire humanity, we discover that everyone comes to the same World of Infinity. This is why I begin to see with more clarity that my engagement in the environment, looking so artificial, undesirable, unnecessary, and unreal today, is actually “me” entering my own root. I return myself precisely to this initial point I stepped out of in order to come to this world.

Then, I discover that I reside in the system of the World of Infinity filled with the Light of Hochma together with the group. I gradually receive this Light even while being on the way, which is regarded as the “Light of Wisdom” (“Hochma” means “wisdom” in Hebrew). And I use this Light, the wisdom of Hochma, with all the others.

It is our collective wisdom, one for all! This common wisdom, the Upper thought, the Light, is called the Creator (Bo-Reh,“come and see”).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/10, “The Freedom”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11.23.10

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride),” Item 142
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The Book of Zohar — Selections, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 84
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Baal HaSulam, “Beit Shaar HaKavanot,” Lesson 49
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Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Body and Soul,” Lesson 1
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Good Environment – 11.22.10

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

Kabbalah Moments: Comforter

Traveling Through The Creator’s World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Baal HaSulam writes that when a person acquires spiritual attainment, he “travels around an enormous world.” What does it mean to travel around the Creator’s world?

Answer: The world is Malchut of Infinity, while all other worlds are separate, particular states in it that reveal its specific qualities in relation to us in order to help us become fully part of it.

“Traveling around the Creator’s world” means attaining Malchut of the World of Infinity and revealing the entire might and wealth of the connections among its parts, which connect and supplement one another.

I don’t have anything else to say because words cannot describe what happens Above once good and evil, truth and falsehood unite. They unite and complement each other, and we reveal this inside us, in the common desire of all the souls, called Malchut of the World of Infinity.

This is called “traveling around the Creator’s world.” It’s when we can use all the forces and all the desires of Malchut of Infinity, attaining each of its details and all of them together.

The most important pleasure is “when doubts are resolved,” meaning when things that seem opposite and hateful to one another suddenly unite. That is when love flares up among them, forming a place to be filled by the Light.

That is how a person “travels” around the Creator’s world, checking all of the harmony in which Malchut of the World of Infinity resides.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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The Universal Language Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we attune ourselves while we read the books that reveal the “physics” of the spiritual world: Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gates Of Intention) or TES (The Study of The Ten Sefirot)?

Answer: My primary task is to make myself similar to the Creator, to ascend to Him. Therefore, I need to repeat His actions and attitudes: If the Creator treats the group as “Good that does Good,” this means I should treat it with the same kind of goodness.

This is why I first need to take care of my attitude towards the friends, which is given to me as work so that we will become one whole in unity and love. If I achieve this state, I begin to treat them like the Creator does, and to this extent I begin to feel the Creator. After all, we become close with Him according to the law of equivalence of form, and we feel each other. In this manner, I reach adhesion with Him. This is the only thing we should think about.

And it’s enough to just look into a book and listen, as long as it is a genuine, true primary source. You might not even know the language, that’s irrelevant; you won’t understand anything anyway.

You only need to remember that now you are receiving the medicine that should heal you! It should reveal an additional sense in you, and then you will feel the spiritual world and understand without words since the sensation cannot be expressed in words. No words are necessary in order to feel. Words are needed only in order to tell someone else about it, but within the sensation itself, there are no words.

And one should wait for a spiritual sensation to open up within him without any words. This is what the real science of Kabbalah is: It helps you reach this perception!
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

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Kabbalists About Studying Kabbalah, Part 16

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

The Opposition to the Study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Hence, he brings good evidence from the words of the Gemarah [Babylonian Talmud]: “A disciple who [studies the Gemarah] has not seen a good sign [revelation of the Creator] in his study after five years will also not see it [in this life and therefore will live it in vain].”

Why did he not see a good sign [revelation of the Creator] in his study? Certainly, it is only due to [one reason] – the absence of the intention [of love and bestowal] of the heart [within his desires], and not because of any lack of aptitude, as the wisdom of Torah requires no aptitude [since it is not about learning, but rather about attracting the Light of correction].

Instead, as it is written in the above study: “[Those who desire to ascend, Isra-El = straight to the Creator] Regard, the whole wisdom and the whole Torah is easy [and does not depend on the intellect]: any one who fears Me [who has a desire to bestow and love as I do] and [to attain this level] observes the words of the Torah [so as to correct correct his egoistic intentions], the whole [higher] wisdom [the Light of Hochma] and the whole Torah are in his heart [fulfill his desires].”
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 23
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The Dating Of States

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, “Introduction of The Zohar,” Chapter “BeLaila De Kala (Night of the Bride),” Item 135: On the fifteenth of Nissan, David sent a proclamation through all of Israel to go to war. They were with Yoav on the seventh of Sivan, and went and destroyed the land of the children of Amon. They were detained there through Sivan, Tamuz, Av, and Elul, and what happened with Bat Sheba was on the twenty-fourth of Elul. And on Yom Kippur [Day of Atonement], the Creator forgave his iniquity.

Of course, we are not dealing with dates here, but with spiritual degrees. The annual cycle is divided into 12 months, in accordance with the four stages of HaVaYaH multiplied by the three lines. The four seasons, the order of months, and holidays are determined by the mutual inclusion of the Lights of Hochma (Wisdom) and Hassadim (Mercy).

The Jewish calendar is based on the cycles of both the sun and the moon. The sun calendar is the part that pertains to Zeir Anpin, and the lunar months are the part that pertains to Malchut.

These are descriptions of spiritual corrections, depending on the kind of forces and influences are at play. Either Malchut influences Zeir Anpin, or Zeir Anpin influences Malchut. As a result of the correct connection that they build between them, they ascend and attach to Bina, to their supernal mother, who corrects them.

Accordingly, all dates in the lunar cycle have their own spiritual meanings. Every month begins with a new moon and ends before the next new moon. This concerns the thirty Sefirot of HaBaDHaGaTNHY, each including the three lines. The states of this system may be subdivided and systematized by its particular Sefirot down to “hours,” “minutes,” and “seconds.”

This would clarify what specific corrections Bat Sheba had undergone with David and Uriah, and why they had fallen on those “dates.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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The Work Of Uriah And The Work Of David

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar tells us about the correction of Malchut. Malchut is the collective Kli, the will to receive pleasure (the desire) made by the Creator. On the other hand, He created it through a series of special actions in order to give this desire a special form which will later allow it to prepare itself to receive the entire Light of Infinity.

This is why we talk solely about the correction of Malchut or desire. The process is divided into several stages: conception (Ibur), nurturing (Yenika), and adulthood (Mochin). All these states become corrected by way of unification of Malchut and Bina. Their correct combination is regarded as “Malchut of David.” The correct approach lies in our correction of Malchut only in the degree that we are able to include it into Bina.

In the article “The Night of the Bride,” The Zohar colorfully describes how King David fell in love with Bat Sheva. She was once the wife of Uriah, David’s commander, and David intentionally sent him to die in the battlefield so that he could marry Bat Sheva, not even waiting for the news of her husband.

This story narrated by the prophet Samuel seems surprisingly appalling, although today such behavior is quite common. How could that happen?

Obviously, the story is allegorical. “David” is Malchut that is able to be corrected, but in the male aspect, by means of a screen and the Reflected Light, that is, intention. “Bat Sheva” is the part of the collective Malchut that at the moment is fit for correction. If she is corrected by means of the Light of Hassidim (Mercy), it may belong to David.

The sequence of actions is as follows: First, the Light of AB-SAG exposes a given part of Malchut, and then the Light of Hassidim fills it. The preliminary stages where Malchut is analyzed and filled with the Light of Hassidim is the work of Uriah. His name (אוריה) expands into: אורי"ה, which signifies the Light of the first half of HaVaYaH that has no relation to the second half, to the receiving Kelim of David.

Only after this can Malchut be corrected to receiving in order to bestow, and at that point it becomes “David’s work.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/18/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

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