Kabbalah Moments: An Inner Wall

Two Paths

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is no doubt that our state is the most insignificant one and there is nothing worse than it. There’s nothing to discuss here. This is the reality given to us from Above and no matter what you say, you cannot revoke that fact.

The Creator says, “Yes, I created egoism and this entire world. All of that is true, but this is just the initial point. Quit sitting there and crying. Start acting as you should already! I have prepared all of the means for you, so use them!”

But no one wants to hear about some kind of correction, work, efforts, and changes. Usually we only know how to sit and complain about the fact that we feel bad.

There are two ways out of every state we are in. And in reality our state is not as bad as it seems to us. Rather, it is truly horrible because we do not see what we are losing compared to the world of Infinity, where we have the opportunity to be.

We are not shown that infinite state since otherwise we would leap there egoistically. In order to stop us, this light state is concealed. This enables us to work and develop as normal, using the force of the group, and thus to advance toward bestowal instead of turning into egoistic parasites (Klipa) and chasing only pleasure, not having the strength to refuse it.

There are two paths out of this lowest and worst state. To try to advance on your own, initiating your own development, or if we don’t want this, then there is a machine or a program of nature that pushes us to develop according to the sequence of states that is recorded there: the relationships between the Light and the desire which stand one opposite the other.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Leson 2/28/11, “Introduction to the book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Conceiving Myself Within Myself

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I envision our common Kli (vessel)? What does the group within me mean?

Answer: The group within me is the place where the Creator exists. He organized such a place within me. This why when I enter the group, I seemingly come to my friends, whereas in reality, I enter my inner sensation of the “place.” If I continue to be connected with the group, it will serve me as the mother’s womb, the ark, the place of concealment, salvation, and protection.

This group exists within me. I only mistakenly perceive it as existing outside of me the same way I perceive the entire reality. In order to start sensing the true reality for real, I have to give up my pride, independence, and grandeur so I could become dissolved in the group, the ark, the mother’s womb. Then within it I will reveal the Creator—in my first spiritual degree of the spiritual embryo.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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Growing Toward Free Will

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are born in special, unique conditions: in the egoistic will to receive which is our nature. It permeates our mind and heart, meaning our thoughts and desires, and sprouts from the Reshimot (informational genes) that we received at birth. They manifest in the corporeal attributes we inherit from our parents and are instilled in us as the rudiments of spiritual properties.

This process contains various details which we will comprehend only when we have sufficiently evolved and realized what a soul is, how it circulates, and what transformations it undergoes from one degree to the next.

Thus, at birth, we receive a “package” of inner and outer attributes. There is no point in arguing with it. Likewise, we don’t choose the environment that we are born and will grow up in until reaching adulthood either. Thereby, we supplement our inherited properties with what we receive from the outside.

It corresponds with the development of the soul, which we study in The Study of the Ten Sefirot. At the stage of conception, a soul undergoes a period of “nine months” but doesn’t reach adulthood yet. It receives everything else from the outside only later when it is born from the upper Partzuf and resides next to it.

Having been born from the lower third part of Tifferet that is regarded as the “womb,” a soul rises to the upper third part of Tifferet regarded as the “chest” (Hazeh). And further on, all the Lights that it didn’t receive in the mother’s womb during the “nine month” period, the soul receives over the course of “two years” of nurturing.

We can say that being nurtured is the same as being conceived, but now it continues in the external conditions. And then, there comes a new stage of the outside development, the years of upbringing, the small state (Katnut), until maturity is reached, which is completed at the “age of 20.”

During all these stages, a soul discerns the Lights and Kelim (vessels) while evolving against its will, by virtue of the environment that obligates it to grow without its exercising freedom of choice. And choice, in its direct meaning, begins with the transformation of the soul as it reaches “20 years of age” and up.

This is how Kabbalists describe our spiritual evolution, the counterpart of which we observe even in our corporeal world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Most Dangerous Stage On The Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanI have to change myself in conformity with the upper world. To do this I attract forces from that world through the group and change by means of those forces. Thus I ascend up 125 degrees and reveal the upper world. That is how it opens up to me, becoming more and more apparent.

In the process I am not working on something external, but on what is inside of me. I attract the forces of change to myself rather than applying my forces to something on the outside, the way we do in our world.

This determines my interactions with the environment: I do not want to change it, eliminate anything in it, or conquer it the way I conquer the people around me in this world, controlling them, submitting them to my power, and using them to achieve my own goals. This is especially vivid in our world among politicians.

In spirituality, however, everything is opposite: I work in the environment of friends quietly, often even without having any special discussions. If they were all chosen by the upper force to attain the spiritual world, then by bending down before them, I absorb their forces. These forces accumulate in me and join the point in my heart, and then I change.

This way, my criterion of progress is not the external conquests, but inner changes that manifest as new qualities and sensations, new understanding in relation to the study and the objects described in the science of Kabbalah. It isn’t simple to re-orient yourself and shift to the approach that accords with the spiritual world. It takes a lot of time for a person to reach despair and to discover that there is no other way, to understand that he has to act differently, to begin hearing and realizing what he hears, and to build everything in the right order, placing himself under the influence of the environment.

In essence, this is the most important thing. Whoever has taken these steps and formed the right attitude to the group, has already gone through the first and most dangerous stage of the path without falling prey to his own egoism. It is extremely important to place yourself in front of the environment the right way. Rabash particularly underlines this in his articles.

We can even say that the subsequent steps are easier to make because I already have the right approach and focus. I understand that the Light is primary, that it is the only thing that operates in reality, and we have to give it the opportunity to do so instead of getting in the way with our egoism, as if we have the strength and reason to do anything ourselves. In fact, the only opportunity we have is to naturally bend down our head before the environment and then to receive the forces for change and correction.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/11, Writings of Rabash

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The Zohar For Our Generation

Dr. Michael Laitman“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Twelfth Commandment,” Item 245: … [it is] being said about the eleventh Mitzva and not this Mitzva. Indeed, The Zohar mixes them right at the beginning of the eleventh Mitzva for it says, “There are two Mitzvot here.” The printer, however, divided them into two.

The Book of Zohar in its initial form was a commentary on the entire TaNaKh (the Torah, Nevi’im or the Prophets, and Ketuvim or the Scriptures), which implies that its volume was much greater than what has reached us. But for various reasons, the major part of The Zohar vanished, and we have to accept whatever was left of the original text as given to us by the upper management so that we could correct ourselves.

Evidently, we don’t need more that that. Each generation is endowed with what is necessary for the type of souls that appear in that generation in our corporeal world.

Therefore, we have to embrace The Zohar as it has come to us, as its parts are printed and intermixed. The Light that emanates from this Book reforms us; its effect is evident. We must accept everything as a fact and do the job we are responsible for.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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A Moment Of Weakness For The Great Conqueror

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn our world we are used to acting independently. I use all of my strength, knowledge, energy, potential of being connected with my environment, my inborn abilities, as well as habits ingrained by upbringing and education. I am the source; I am the center. Coming from myself I act and pave my path in the world.

At every step of the way we see how effective this approach is. After all, we were born by the power of egoism, the will to enjoy. And since we are already using that desire to “succeed” and attain self-profit, we therefore use everything we have, both our inner capabilities and the external means.

I have strength, reason, drive, and audacity—all the things that are inherent to me, and I use them outwardly, in the direction of going from within me to the outside. But that’s not what happens during the soul’s correction. If my set goal is not to succeed in this world, but in the spiritual world, if I want to break through into that world and acquire it, then I discover that I am not fit for it from the onset. I do not have the forces, understanding, or qualities that enable me to come closer on my own and to attack, break through, and conquer the upper world.

It takes time to realize this. But afterward, seeing that my regular “instruments” are powerless here, I experience weakness, give up, and don’t know what to do. Usually this brings a person to a great descent. After all, he does not have any means to attain what he desires. So what should he do?

There are two things concealed here that one must realize:

1. I do not belong or correspond to the spiritual world in any way, shape, or form. Now this is completely clear to me. And this moment of weakness is a good beginning. After all, in essence this is talking about the realization of my own nature, which is detached from the spiritual nature and will not help me in any way. I do not have any inclinations, means, tools, or possibilities of finding my way to the place where I want to be. I cannot make heads or tails of it. I am spiritually immobile and inaccessible.

2. I am able to obtain a force that will help me and a mind that will direct me at acquiring the upper world through the environment. After all, the environment is the means of attaining the upper world, and it is present right beside me. It is the group to which I am brought from Above and through which I can receive upper forces in order for them to influence me.

I do not acquire the spiritual world by aspiring to go from within myself outward to it. I do not buy it, absorb it, or break into it. Rather, in order to conquer the upper world, I must only adapt myself to it. Then I will discover that I am in it.

This way, the approach to the work and its result, as well as the reconciliation of myself and the upper world are completely opposite to what we work with in our world. Here I must attain, acquire, or conquer what I desire, while the spiritual world, to the contrary, is ready for me initially. I am already in it and all I have to do is change in order for this to become apparent.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/11, Writings of Rabash

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When The Undesirable Becomes Desired

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe purpose of creating man is to have him transform himself from being opposite to being similar to the Creator, meaning to have him acquire the property of acting solely for the sake of others instead of acting solely for his own benefit. This transformation of nature can be achieved by studying The Book of Zohar because in the degree of a person’s need, a force that reforms man’s nature becomes revealed during the reading.

Even though a person may not have the slightest desire to change and thinks solely about his own good, nevertheless, being under the influence of the environment, he gradually agrees that the ability to bestow is the most vital asset in his life. Thus, he studies with the group so he may enhance his aspiration to get reformed.

If the friends present themselves as one whole, their study evokes an impact of the concealed force which then manifests as mutual love and bestowal. And despite the fact that nobody takes their transformation seriously, eventually, under the influence of the environment and the force hidden in the collective studying of The Zohar, everybody experiences authentic changes—everyone acquires the Creator’s nature and feels the upper world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/24/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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A Guide Into The Depths Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Introduction, “General Explanations for All Fourteen Commandments and How They Divide Into the Seven Days of ‘Creation’,” Item 1: …Rabbi Shimon explains the fourteen Mitzvot, which include all 613 Mitzvot, as the seven days of creation include 7,000 years. This is why he divided them into seven days of creation and tied each to its ascribed day. And since they include all 613 Mitzvot, it is worthwhile exerting to keep each day.

What does it mean to observe a commandment (Mitzva)? How do I even know what that commandment is? And what can I do now if I don’t even know what it is talking about?

Nevertheless, I have to read this text with the intention that it will correct me. After all, for now we don’t even know how to connect to the text or extract the spiritual action from it so it would become an instruction manual for us, the Torah, because “Torah” comes from the word “Oraa,” instructions. For it is written, “A man’s soul shall teach him.”

When each of us will have a soul instead of its embryo or spiritual spark, then inside of our soul we will reveal various phenomena. These phenomena will become “my book,” “my Torah,” my revelation, according to the instruction to write the Torah on one’s heart, where the heart refers to all of a person’s desires.
From them we will find out how to advance, how to take the next steps, and will take them inside of us. That is exactly how we will perform various actions inside of us according to the instruction manual.

But for now we are looking at the instruction manual without realizing what the instructions are saying. We do not know what it is talking about because we do not feel what each of them is talking about inside of us, where various parts of our soul are, and what connection between them is.

Therefore, we must only ask and pray to reveal the inner structure of our soul: Where are these desires in the states that are being described, what exactly is the book talking about, and what actions does it describe which we must perform inside of us?

The intention to desire and to attain this is the right intention, which Baal HaSulam describes in Item 155 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”: …through the yearning and the great desire to understand what they are learning, they awaken upon themselves the Lights that surround their souls.”
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/11, The Zohar

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