The Creator, Pharaoh, And Me Between Them

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the difference between the realization of evil that Kabbalists write about, meaning the unwillingness to unite with others, and the evil that a regular person feels in this world?

Answer: In order to reach the spiritual sensation of evil, you have to do a great deal of work because spiritual evil becomes revealed only after the Machsom. Below it there is no evil inclination. Right now there is no ego in you, just like in a small cockroach!

The evil inclination is the force that openly opposes the Creator; it’s the Pharaoh! It becomes revealed when you want to unite with the Creator and other souls with all your strength, but you discover that in reality this is hateful to you and repels you. Pharaoh stands against the Creator; the evil inclination against the good.

They are both inside you and are revealed only one against the other! There cannot be one without the other.

On the other hand, the fact that you are now experiencing bad sensations while wishing to advance spiritually is not a spiritual realization of evil. There are many people in the world who feel even worse. Maybe it seems to you that this is a spiritual worry because you do not feel the spiritual world and do not understand it, but in fact, all of this is still taking place inside egoism.

Of course, this is no longer the regular egoism of the consumer, but suffering due to your inability to unite with others, repulsion, and unwillingness to even think about this, the lack of desire to correct yourself. For now spirituality seems to you like something attractive for your egoism. This is already a time of preparation for entering the spiritual world, but for now you do not have the right spiritual notions. None of this is spirituality. Spirituality can only be “for” or “against” the Creator Himself, for His good or for my own. But I have to be against Him!

Spirituality is either Pharaoh or the Creator. I am in the middle between them in Klipat Noga where I choose: good or evil, “for” the Creator or “against” Him.

There is nothing more than that! The world we now see around us does not exist in spirituality. This reality is unreal; we live in an imaginary world. The still, vegetative, animate, and human levels in this world actually exist only inside of our egoistic desire.

Why is this world imaginary? It’s because it does not have any connection with the Creator! It lives by a small spark of Light that somehow enlivens it. That is why there is no good or evil here.

The sensation of evil that you feel is only due to a lack of animate, egoistic fulfillment. All of your high thoughts, desires, fantasies, and dreams are the whims of your developed, oversized ego that demands whatever it wants and forces you to suffer.
[30630]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

Related Material:
When Evil Unveils
The First Plague Of Egypt
Standing Between Good And Evil

Kabbalah Moments: Good That Does Good

Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 4

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

The Essence of the Work in Torah and Mitzvot

One should crave being awarded the reward of a Mitzva (commandment/good deed) [performing a correction]. This means that through keeping the Mitzvot [corrections] he will be rewarded with [has to demand] adherence to the Metzaveh (Commander) [as it said: “The reward for performing a commandment is knowing the One who prescribed it].
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article no. 227, “The Reward for a Mitzva–a Mitzva

When one can aim in order to bestow [to benefit another], this act is called “a Mitzva (good deed).”
Rabash, The Rungs of the Ladder, “Concerning the Reward of the Receivers”

The work in Torah and Mitzvot [correcting egoism by the Upper Light] begins primarily after one has been awarded repentance from love [actions that stem from love of others]. Only then is it possible to engage in Torah and Mitzvot with love and fear, as we are commanded.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 133
[29638]

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 3
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 2
Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 1

Who Am I Ashamed Of Cheating: Myself Or The Creator?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 52: “Happy is he who comes here without shame.” He also saw Rabbi Elazar and the rest of the pillars of the world that they were without shame. But Rabbi Hiya himself was ashamed….

Question: What is shame in spiritual work? And what is its function?

Answer: Real shame is revealed precisely in the spiritual world. It is made only for high souls that become equal to the Creator through having the same qualities.

In our world I am ashamed when I fear that others will find out about my egoism. I am afraid that I will be harmed, belittled, or rejected. On the other hand, spiritual shame is fear of whether I have done everything possible in order to give pleasure to the Creator. I fear that I have not fully realized all of the chances that were given to me. The Creator gives me pleasures and the forces to overcome them, and He arranges all the conditions for me. Did I create 100% Reflected Light in response? Did I miss anything? Was I weak in any way?

In our world shame can be a horrible sensation if a person is sufficiently developed. But in spirituality it is simply the truth, which is impossible to escape, which you cannot hide or conceal. Normally we justify ourselves, hiding behind excuses, “Everyone steals and so I do too.” Sometimes we can somehow smooth out a situation on the spot, and with time we forget the initial extremity of the event. In this sense our world is very “easy” compared to the spiritual world, where shame is the judgment of truth.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Joy Through Tears
A Baby That Was Ashamed To Eat
A Purely Human Quality

Where Will We Direct The Force We’ve Been Given?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are destroying the world with our attitude. Every day we merely record additional species of animals and plants that disappeared from the face of the earth.

The world is becoming poorer every day, losing diversity of its forms. Even if we don’t eliminate them directly, we create conditions in which they simply cannot exist. Some say that situation is becoming irreversible.

And only by these regrettable results do we see that we’ve done something wrong. After all, we believed that we had the right to do whatever we wanted with nature. We did it instead of first examining nature and ourselves to see where we should direct the forces we possess.

Should we change the environment or change ourselves by means of the right environment? Herein lies the entire distinction between the right and the wrong approaches. Either I’m trying to fix everyone and the world, and make everyone dance to my tune, or I realize that everything that I don’t like in the world is something I need to correct within myself.

Egoism is within me. Therefore, I need the Light that Reforms to correct it. That is the foundation of the right approach.

Humanity has begun to come to terms with it just recently; it started to understand that the world is a closed system in which everything is integrally connected. A lot of time will pass from the moment we begin to see it until it will make us change.

We are like a small, stubborn child who sees that he is doing something wrong, but still continues to do it, each time receiving a spanking. It will take quite some time for him to finally wise up.
[30421]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, “The Peace”

Related Material:
The Universal Law Of Nature
Our Help To The World

When The Light Knocks To Come Inside

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 56: …“At that time, He kicks 390 firmaments, and all are startled and frightened of Him.” … This is the hint in the Masach called “firmament” … There aren’t 400 but 390, with ten missing, Malchut de Malchut. This is why he calls the firmament, “390 firmaments.”

The vessel of our soul is characterized by the size of the desire. This size is called “Aviut.” If we perform the First Restriction on it (Tzimtzum Aleph), then the Direct Light (Ohr Yashar) comes to us and we reject it, raising the Reflected Light (Ohr Hozer).

The Direct Light is equal to the desire because our desire reveals the degree of Light or pleasure that it corresponds to. Therefore, in reality the Light does not have to “come.” Now, when I have not made a restriction yet, I do not feel that I am in the Light, the Creator. But having carried out the condition of the First Restriction I will immediately feel that I am in the Light.

This is the Direct Light that “comes” to me. It pushes on me, knocking to come inside, and then the first thing I do is I reject it, raising the Reflected Light. The Reflected Light indicates the rigidity of the screen (Kashiut), while the Direct Light indicates its Aviut. We are talking about the screen because it is the connecting link between the soul and the Creator, being in the middle between them.

The desire itself, Malchut, divided into four parts, each containing ten Sefirot, each of which also consists of ten. Altogether there are 400. We cannot correct the lowest part, Malchut de Malchut, “the stony heart.” Her ten Sefirot are excluded from the general count and thus there are 390 remaining Sefirot or screens that The Zohar calls “firmaments.”

From here we see that in order to hold on to the connecting thread, we have to translate The Zohar’s language, which is still incomprehensible to us, to the language of Kabbalistic terms.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Only Ascents Lie Ahead!
The Sculptor Of My Soul

The Protective Shield Of A Person

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gateway of Intentions), Item 87: Sefira Keter with the Light of Nefesh is called the state of Ibur [embryo] of each degree, which has not yet scrutinized its “body” and is wholly located in the Klipat Noga, where the good is mixed with the evil.

Only the root is corrected in it for now, not the body itself, and that is why the entire body is called the “skin” for now. But when it reaches the state of Yenika [breastfeeding] and receives Kli de Hochma, into which the Light of Ruach clothes itself, it then receives the “body.”

In the state of “embryo” (Ibur), the good is mixed with the evil, and we do not know how to differentiate it. However, in the state of “breastfeeding” (Yenika, drawing of sustenance), we are already beginning to distinguish between the good and evil and to use the good desires. Due to our clarifications, we grow, and that is why this state is called “breastfeeding.”

It is not a material infant who is born and changes his place, coming out of the mother to the outside. A spiritual “embryo” and an “infant” that receives sustenance are different kinds of connection between the upper one and the lower one.

If I cannot scrutinize anything by myself and the upper one does it for me, then this state is called an “embryo.” If I participate in the clarifications myself and differentiate the good from evil, using the good, then this is “breastfeeding.”

If I clarify the Klipat Noga (the Noga shell) so as to make a “shield” out of it from the three impure Klipot (shells), turning the selected evil into the “skin” that protects me, then I can begin to build myself, choosing from the mixture of good and bad desires.

This is a special mixture since in it the qualities of the Creator and the creature are intermixed. It is precisely out of this that I have to build something new: an independent man (Adam, meaning “similar” to the Creator).
[30301]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
Shift The World’s Balance To Good
A Choice Without Hints
How Do We Find Our Point Of Freedom?

An Opportunity To Bring Goodness Into Our World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can Kabbalah conventions help shift the world to the path of the Light, the path of accelerating time (Ahishena)?

Answer: There is no doubt that by making actions such as attending Kabbalistic conventions we do cause corrections in the world. All attempts to connect with the goal and attain equivalence with the Creator or Upper Force, to reach bestowal and love for the neighbor, do correct us and the whole world together with us.

Therefore, we invite everyone to take part in the European convention in Berlin or the Learning Center retreat in California at the end of January, as well as the big gathering in the Arava that will take place this weekend! In particular, people who are in Europe should feel that the situation is becoming more and more serious from one day to the next. That is why we have to unite and pull the “One who is Good and does Good” closer into this world! As long as we are just learning, we are allowed to do so even egoistically….
[30624]

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World

Related Material:
The Main Thought
“Material Commandments” And Correction Of The World

Where Everything Is Dark And Confusing

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Beit Shaar HaKavanot (The Gateway of Intentions), Item 87: And know that the complete evil that becomes clarified, in which there is nothing good [It is the scrutiny of the three external Klipot (shells) which will only be corrected at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun)], but the fourth Klipa is not fully clarified, and that is why it stays in the form of “garment” and “skin.”

This means that there is something good in it, but it is not yet scrutinized, and that is why it is called Klipa (shell). However, still, it is not a Klipa like the three impure Klipot which clearly carry no good in them, and hence, we cannot correct them until the final correction.

However, we can scrutinize the fourth Klipa, Klipat Noga, and we need to work with it. It is the broken Kelim (vessels) that fell into the worlds of BYA (Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) where good and evil are mixed together. We are clarifying them in particular in the Klipat Noga called the middle third of the Sefira Tifferet.

This is the only place of our freedom of will. Above it, there is sanctity; there is nothing to scrutinize there. Below, there is complete impurity, the Klipa; there is nothing to sort out there either. We can only work in the Klipat Noga where there is still a mixture of good and evil.

It turns out that it is precisely the place where we have to constantly reside: the place of confusion and doubt, where everything is mixed, unclear, and dark. This is where we make clarifications; it is precisely the place of our work.
[30306]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
Between Darkness And Light
How Do We Find Our Point Of freedom

A Desire That Does Not Let Go

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 54: …It is they who roam after Divinity, who sits alone, and who always awaits for the Creator to raise Divinity from the dust. And one who does not await that each day while he is in this world has no share here.

Question: How is it possible to await the restoration of the Shechina (Divinity) from the dust each day?

Answer: “Each day” means each moment. This is a rigid condition because the spiritual world is perfection. In other words, it’s when a perfect desire reigns inside you and you cannot leave it alone.

Now, when egoism reigns inside you around the clock, you do not challenge its power. That is how the desire of bestowal will reign in you day and night, making you tirelessly aspire to redemption.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Are You Anticipating The Light’s Arrival?
Aspire To The Light Of Wisdom!
Let Your Heart Knock On The Creator’s Door