Good Environment – 12.19.10

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

Kabbalah Moments: Nazi Regime

Introductory Lecture “Kabbalah For The Nation” – 12.19.10

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Kabbalah for the Nation,” North Tel Aviv
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Know What You Want Precisely

Dr. Michael LaitmanBefore I start studying, “engaging in the Torah,” the key is to know what and why I am studying and what I will get from it. The Torah is the only medium that can help us reach the goal. There are probably multiple conditions to that, but all of them are necessary solely in order to form a correct connection with the Torah for us.

“The Torah” is the Upper Light that affects and reforms us so that we get to know the Creator, the Upper Force, and appreciate Him as the Giver, as love itself, which lies above our essence: the will to receive pleasure.

This is why the prayer book opens with special blessings that we bring before the study: We give thanks for the opportunity to study the Torah. A person feels that it is worthwhile to study the Torah which is designated solely for the correction of the evil inclination. This is described as: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice for it.”

If it weren’t for the evil inclination, the Creator wouldn’t have created this special Light, the unique system of reforming us. And now, seeing the inner evil unfold, a person truly needs the Torah. And if it isn’t the case, a person doesn’t study the Torah since he isn’t connected with the system that teaches him about inner changes.

I need to become aware of my evil and wish to get rid of it; I need to understand that there is no way out of it and only the Upper Light will reform me. Then, I will turn to the Creator in the correct manner.

The journey may be long. Most don’t have a clue about it, while others think they practice the Torah although it isn’t really so; for them, the Torah is not the instrument of correction and ascent to the Creator.

First of all, a person has to find out what inner part of him needs to get corrected. I think not about what I will get from the Torah but what must be reformed in me. After all, the Torah is a “spice” which conceals the Light that Reforms. What then is corrupted in me? What requires correction?

I must visualize both these forms, the corrupted and the corrected ones, as clearly as possible and expect liberation, the force that will help me to transit from the first to the second spiritual degree. Having constructed this crystal clear, accurate system, I anticipate and demand assistance from Above so that it all comes true.

If the evil inclination is evil for me indeed, if I understand what correction is exactly and am determined to come to it, then I draw the force of the Torah, the Light that descends and reforms me. And that is when I truly do “engage in the Torah.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, "Introduction of The Book of Zohar," Article “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”

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To Read Or To Listen?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You have explained that each word and letter we read in the Kabbalistic texts contains the force of correction. It is my job to draw this force and feel how it enters me and reforms my flaws into perfections.

Is it correct to assume that when you speak and explain the content of the Kabbalists’ writings, I must also apply this process regardless of the fact that in one case, I am dealing with a word written in the book and in another, I hear it from you?

Answer: No, it works in a different fashion. You hear from the other what has already passed through him, his own experience of spiritual revelation; therefore, you adhere to him and, together, you act as one system. Meanwhile, when you read the text yourself, you perform corrections differently. In short, there are different ways to do correction, depending on whether you listen to or actually read the text.

When you read it yourself, you become one with the author and belong to his system, whereas when you listen to someone, you join him and together with him or through him you perform correction.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Learning To Operate According To A New Program

Dr. Michael LaitmanUntil now, we were able to develop according to the general program of nature. We kept on developing our egoism over the course of human history. Now, we have completed this development and need to begin evolving in a different form.

Before, nature was pushing us to develop according to program “A,” but now, it seems to be beginning to influence us from a new “orbit,” and is launching a program “B” of development. This is why we need to develop in a completely different way.

If program “A” directly developed the desire and the mind, program “B” is working in a different way. It is striving to bring us to similarity in properties and harmony with nature. This is why nature is showing us that we are connected, unified, and that we live in a global, integrated world, regardless of whether we want it or not.

Nature is revealing a new form to us which did not exist previously, and we must make ourselves correspond to it, in other words, to connect, unite, and attain mutual bestowal. We must begin to organize within ourselves and the entire population of earth according to the laws of nature which we are now revealing in society as we discover that everyone is interconnected and depends on one another.

When we do not do this, we become opposite to nature, and a “delta,” a lack of correspondence, appears between us, and it is very dangerous. When we used to work according to program “A” before, we were not opposite to nature. We simply were on the “inanimate” level. Nature was pushing me to develop my egoistic desire and search for fulfillment, and that is what I was doing.

Suffering was pushing me from behind. It always helped me when I was not advancing fast enough, but I always developed in a normal, egoistic direction. This is why those who tried always attained success.

But this no longer works today because nature has begun to influence us from Above in a different form, and we need to change accordingly.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Special Talk on the Tragedy in Northern Israel and Balance in Nature

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The Birth Of Joseph

Dr. Michael Laitman“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,”Article “Flower Buds,” Item 5: The flower buds are the patriarchs, who entered in thought and entered the next world, Bina, and were hidden there. From there, they came out in concealment and were hidden in the true prophets. Joseph was born and they hid in him. Joseph entered the holy land and erected them there, and then they appeared in the land and were revealed there.

Our entire connection with the spiritual world goes through the Partzuf of Nukva of the world of Atzilut. The broken souls raise their MAN, the request for correction, toward her.

A person with a point in the heart aspires toward the spiritual world, and spirituality is bestowal and unity. Because of this, he strives to unite with others, and he is given the opportunity to do this in the group.

When a person carries out the condition of ascent and creates a Kli (vessel), he connects with Malchut de Atzilut. She raises the common appeal of the friends to Zeir Anpin, and He gives them the Light that Reforms. Then, the souls that wish to become one whole ascend the degrees of unity.

First, they rise to the state of conception (Ibur). Here, they unite through nullifying themselves before one another. Each lowers his head before the environment and becomes “like a fetus in its mother’s womb.” Then, they reach the nursing degree (Yenika, drawing of sustenance) where their unity becomes stronger. Now, they become able to work with their desire to receive pleasure, and rise above it.

Then, the souls move on to a grown state (Gadlut, adulthood). The degree of their unity enables them to connect with Zeir Anpin, and this degree is called Yesod de Gadlut or Joseph.

This helps us understand the story described in the Torah of how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. These events unravel around our fight for unity, for us to attain the mutual guarantee to the degree that is sufficient for revealing the Creator between us.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Flower Buds”

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Where Do You Go When The Rails Run Out?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why are there so many natural disasters of late, like the terrible forest fire on Mount Carmel in Haifa?

Answer: The general tendency of nature is such that natural disasters are becoming a commonplace phenomenon in the entire world. It’s unfortunate, but as we continue advancing, we hear about them more and more.

The wisdom of Kabbalah offers a simple explanation. From the very beginning of creation and to its end, the Creator is always pushing us in one direction, in a straight line, and He will not back down. In other words, there is a very simple formula whereby nature is always intensifying its influence over us, compelling us to grow.

At the preceding phase of development, we grew on account of being influenced by the Light, the Upper Force, nature, the Creator, so that our egoistic desire was always increasing. This was called the development of human civilization which lasted for tens of thousands of years.

The development conformed to one simple formula: The ego grew generation to generation and over the period of one’s life, and we actualized it directly, achieving all that we wanted and developing all possible means for that purpose. Therefore, there was no problem. We simply needed to correctly utilize all that was around, that is, human society and natural resources, so as to fulfill ourselves.

However, the end of the 20th century, which was referenced by Kabbalists long ago, wasn’t only the end of the millennium, but also the end of the entire paradigm of the past, the entire principle of development where we grew in our ego with the sole aim to keep fulfilling it. The time has come to take stock and realize we cannot continue like this for we are no longer developing or fulfilling ourselves. This has become a rat race in pursuit of an artificial prize, and we no longer wish to participate in it.

This path of development is finite since the entire development transpires along four phases: 1-2-3-4 (AlephBetGimelDalet), and we have now reached the 4th phase, having fully completed the first period of development. Kabbalists calculated it long ago and gave us a date when it would happen: the year 1995.

Now, we are gradually experiencing the crisis in all spheres: family, education, culture, industry, international relations, and, most importantly, the climate. Due to the imbalance we create with our incorrect inter-relationships by not changing our approach to our development, we greatly violate the general balance in nature. We insert the imbalance of human inter-relationships into all of nature.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Special Talk on the Tragedy in Northern Israel and Balance in Nature

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The Danger Of Head-On Opposition To Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe world is entering a qualitatively new period of development, and Israel is becoming the leader in it. This has not happened before because we were in the period of "exile." Now we have entered the time of “redemption.”

“Redemption” means similarity to the Creator, becoming closer to Him and revealing Him, discovering the laws of nature, and attaining harmony with it. To reveal nature means to accept all the upper laws in order to observe them.

All these laws must begin to be realized in human society and within us through our own efforts. In other words, right now we do not need to work on anything besides our similarity to nature, the Creator.

Meanwhile, we are going in the opposite direction, and we do not want to listen. This is the source of all the catastrophes. Before, suffering was revealed in a simple manner to just slightly push us ahead. However, today, it works in a direction opposite to us, against us.

Before, suffering was like small pricks from behind that would turn us in the right direction and stimulate us to develop faster, but they worked together with your own aspirations. They simply rushed you, like a donkey who is pricked with a sharp stick. Now, anywhere you try to advance in development, nature faces you head-on and hits you straight in the face. Do you want to continue your old journey? No way! By doing this, you will attract more problems. As it is written: “Sit and do nothing is better.”

In other words, we must begin correction, and, in this world, Israel is the conductor of correction because it possesses the method. This is why Israel will continue to experience more and more problems if we do not advance properly.

Here, everything depends on us. First of all, as we see the catastrophes that are happening, we need to draw the right conclusions. These are not “accidental events.” In nature, everything is connected, and everything has a reason.

If we are going into a head-on opposition to nature by becoming opposite to it, which has never happened before, we should hurry with correction. Instead of being opposite, we need to come to similarity and do what the Creator, nature, wants us to do: attain harmony, connection among us as one man with one heart, and achieve brotherly love.

When we achieve this, all the disasters will disappear, and all the nations will begin to support Israel. We will become the center of correction of the world. If there is hatred of Israel in the world, it is only because we have the method of correction, but we are not fast enough to realize it and disseminate it around the world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Special Talk on the Tragedy in Northern Israel and Balance in Nature

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Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 1

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

The Torah

The Torah is Simple Light that expands from His Essence, whose sublimity is endless.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a Sage

The Torah being all the Names of the Creator, which belong to the creatures.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Acting Mind

The word Torah comes from the word Horaa (instruction) and from the word Maraa (showing) and Reiah (vision), meaning complete awareness that leaves no filaments in its wake.
– Baal HaSulam, Letter no. 11
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