Through A Lane Of Obstacles

Dr. Michael LaitmanShamati #1, And only if that person has a true desire will he receive help from Above. And he is constantly shown how he is at fault in his present state.

What is the help from Above? It is that you are constantly pushed into your own inner filth, into your egoism, and are shown your own insignificance. This is what the Creator does: He constantly shows a person a huge, black darkness inside of himself, a garbage dump in his thoughts, desires, intentions, and calculations.

Why? It is only in order for him to come to need the Creator, to bring him to a state where he will no longer be able to stand his own stench. To do this, it is necessary to constantly pull him out of this feeling and to show him a different existence—one that is slightly higher, lighter, and higher than his egoism. Then he once again has to be shoved face-first into his own egoism: Look at yourself, see who you are. And then he once again has to be slightly pulled out of that swamp, and then once again thrust head down.

That is how everything happens until a person comes to feel that he really does not have any “holiness” or spiritual purity, and that everything comes only from his personal, small, egoistic being that was created in him and in which he was created.

Although he occasionally receives awakening from Above, which momentarily revives him, but soon after he falls into the place of baseness.

Of course, all of these are the Creator’s actions. But that doesn’t matter because a person feels them upon himself and inside himself. All we are is the sensation. There is nothing else in us besides sensation and we realize only what we feel. The mind only accompanies the feeling.

However, this is what causes him to come to [finally] realize that only the Creator can help and really bring him closer [to perfection]. This need or demand for perfection gradually ripens inside us precisely from these opposite states.
[34357]
From the 4th lesson of the Berlin Convention on 1/29/11

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I’d Rather Jump Into The Water

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the connection between depression and our nature?

Answer: Depression is a sensation of emptiness in desire. There are desires but no fulfillment. It is the most vivid manifestation of our nature. After all, the Creator created desire, and this desire yearns to be fulfilled. This is our essence.

The collective desire where we all reside or every individual, little desire it is comprised of requires fulfillment. When desire lacks inner fulfillment, the question is where the fulfillment is. If it is somewhere near and the desire feels that it is close but not inside, then depression occurs.

I Would Rather Take The Water

If this fulfillment never existed in the first place, there would be no depression. Who knows what kind of emptiness I feel? How does some African peasant know that he lacks a laptop or a washing machine? But if future fulfillment, which could be but isn’t in you yet, appears in your vision, your sensation, it gives rise to depression.

Thus, depression characterizes not a primitive person, but rather someone advanced. And the farther we move forth, the more depression there will be since desires mature and so does the awareness of the lack of their fulfillment.

It is evident how for the last forty years depression has been getting more wide-spread in humanity. Today it is one of the top problems. Moreover, it has also become an illness. It will keep growing, and there will be no way to stop it.

In the nearest future, they will have to legalize and sell drugs to anyone who wants them. Basically, we will be glad to take anything to not feel this depression. But we won’t be able to overcome it anyway. It will come to the point where a person will see the “fix” before him or her but won’t be able to use the drug. Why? Because they will feel that it is not the answer to their question, not the “fix” to their internal void.

Therefore, the battle with depression is the major battle of man with his emptiness that is precisely what pushes him forth. Hence, by the number of those who are depressed, we can judge how close humanity is to becoming aware of its evil.

Nothing will help a person except a decisive, firm, and dynamic engagement in the correct society. Only there will he be able to suppress his or her depression, and very intensively at that: by switching themselves off, by turning off their feelings, and thrusting themselves into the environment as if flinging themselves into the water. There is no other medicine but the influence of the environment. And as a result, fulfillment will come and immediately eliminate one’s depression.
[34202]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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Instructions: How To "Format" A Spiritual Receiver

Dr. Michael LaitmanKabbalah becomes revealed to every person individually and to the entire mankind in order to answer their questions. People do not care for theory, the quantity of angels in the sky, or the upper Partzufim. They are concerned about one thing only: They need to fulfill their desires. And eventually, they will feel that Kabbalah seems to have the answer.

So far people do not know what they want, but as we disseminate Kabbalah we need to explain to them where they can find what they are searching for. It is like a mother who can feel by looking at a child what he needs, what is good and bad for him. She knows why he cries, what he wants, and where he hurts.

We need to feel humanity in the same way, prevent the blows, and as this desire grows, begin to develop it a little bit ahead of time in order to direct it towards goodness and to avoid suffering. There is no need to wait for horrible hunger to manifest and make people suffer. We need to provide people with fulfillment ahead of time. Let them try and see! We need to explain to them where their desire is directed. This is what the dissemination of Kabbalah is about.

Those who are for now satisfied with their lives need to be left alone. And the rest need the explanation about where they can find fulfillment to the emptiness they feel. People need to understand that a special desire is being revealed in them right now.

So far it completely lacks shape. It needs to be “formatted” and “wired” with a new program or system, like a computer disc which so far is merely a dead piece of metal or plastic, and we need to “bring it to life” in order to learn to work with the programs and data. Then we will be able to use this desire of ours.

In order to do all of this, we need a special force which we receive through our efforts in the group, study, and listening to the teacher. And this way we gradually “reformat” ourselves, and to this extent we begin to adopt new, spiritual information which gives us fulfillment and helps us find our bearings in life.
[33594]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/24/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Work With Resistance

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You have said that we shouldn’t suppress the ego, but rather increase the positive. What do you mean by that?

Answer: This refers to a person walking the path of spirituality and engaged in a Kabbalistic group. How then can one increase the positive when he falls?

When I feel sick I take a pill, and when I’m in a bad mood I go dancing. But by doing these things, I don’t suppress or negate my ego in the slightest degree. If you feel ill, acknowledge it as a fact, but don’t beat yourself up. It isn’t you! It is just a little more of your egoism being shown to you. Don’t take it personally.

The negative constantly evolves in a person in order to develop the positive. What is this positive then? It isn’t the annihilation of egoism or balancing it on the corporeal level. In no way should I compensate a minus with some earthly plus. No matter how dreadful my sensation may be, I wish to compensate the minus solely with a spiritual plus. Otherwise, I will be similar to the “reformers” of the world.

Whatever the case may be, I don’t compensate for the negative by reducing it. After all, it is deliberately given to me since nothing is accidental in life. So what should I do? I need to increase my positive relations with the group, the right environment. Why? It is because my entire future depends on our mutual inclusion in one integral system.

If egoism is evolving in me, then this is the only correct decision. My plus lies on my path to the group. If in my entire emerging egoism, I increase my positive connection with the environment, then it is really an altruistic force with which I balance the egoistic force. And it turns out that I rise to the next level through compensating the minus.

Then, needless to say, a new minus emerges in me, and I must become rooted in the group again. But at that point the group seems to even worse to me: “Idiots, hard-hearted dummies. I don’t want any of this anyway, let me go chill out.”

And thus, gradually a person lowers his head, over and over again, and turns to the environment until he reaches a complete connection. Nature encourages us to do the same so that we are together as one integral whole. Hence, the global crisis and complete dependence on one another shows us in what direction we need to correct ourselves.

So, we have agreed not to work against egoism, but to work in order to use it properly. As a result of the minus, we transform it into a plus. Otherwise, we would never have it.


My “I” is a resistor, like the resistance necessary for producing current from a power source. Minus and plus create the tension that draws and forms my reality. Therefore, having reached a certain potential between minus and plus, I begin to see the picture of the upper world on my “screen.”
[34205]
From the 2nd lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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A Convention On The Angola Shore

A letter I received:

Hello Dear Group! This letter is from the “Gulf Service” sailors. We want to share our common joy: Our small group consisting of three people was together with you during the Berlin convention. We watched lessons (we downloaded them as we were unable to watch them live) and tried to connect our desires to the one common desire “Yashar-El.”

After the end of every lesson, we discussed the lesson, asked questions of one another, shared our opinions, feelings, expectations. The convention had a great effect on a friend who has recently joined us: He showered us with questions and shared how impressed he was with such an enormous gathering of friends.

We conducted the same seminars that the groups had; we discussed the same questions. And, of course, we arrived at the same conclusion that European and world unity can only be attained from the current state of lack of connectivity through the circulation of Kabbalah. To do this, we need to use all the means that exist, all the connections, all the media, and “infect” with it as many people around the world as possible.

We were together with you throughout the entire convention; we sang and raised L’Chaims with you. And we have received an enormous inner fulfillment and joy, just like the entire World Kli.

Wishing you all the best,
Sergey, Yura, Maxim,
“Gulf Service,” the Atlantic Ocean, the Angola shore
[34098]

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Kabbalists On The Torah And Commandments, Part 32

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

What Is a Prayer?

Everything, great or small, is obtained only by the power of faith. And the reason why we must toil and labor is only to discover our lack of power and our lowlinessthat we are unfit for anything by our own strength. And then we are ready to pour out a whole prayer before Him. [That is, our entire work comes down to the realization of our hopelessness and our desire to reach the goal by the Creator’s mercy.]

We could argue about that, “If this is so, then I will decide in advance that I am good for nothing, and why all the trouble and effort?” However, there is a law in nature that none is as wise as the experienced. Before a person actively tries to do all that is within his power, he is completely unfit to arrive at true lowliness, in the true measure mentioned above.

Hence, we must toil [in any way we can] in Kedusha (holiness) and purity, as it is written, “Whatsoever you find that you can do by your own strength, do,” and understand that for it is deep and true.

Even though you do not see a thing, since even when the required measure of labor has been made, this is the time for prayer, until then, believe in our sages, “I did not labor and found, do not believe.” When the required measure is reached, your prayer will be whole and the Creator will respond generously, as our sages instructed us, “I labored and found, believe,” for prior to that, you are unfit for prayer, and the Creator hears a prayer.

[In other words, one has to reach a sufficient desire for the goal: bestowal and love of the created beings and the Creator. He has to realize that he will not reach that goal by himself, by his own strength, and the desire for the entire result must be for the Creator’s sake. All of this together constitutes the intention “for the sake of the Creator.”]
– Baal HaSulam, Letter No. 57
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Who Will Help Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanShamati #1, “There is none else beside Him” Not only does he not progress in his [spiritual] work [and does not see any clearance ahead], but [it seems to him that] he regresses, that is, he lacks the strength to observe [the Creator’s will] even “for his own sake,” [while it is the Creator who pushes him forward].

We don’t create a real egoistic desire that is able to overcome anything. Instead, we start experiencing weakness, indifference, and our operation by automatic pilot. “Let happen whatever will.” We just go with the flow. Sometimes things are a bit better and sometimes a bit worse.

That only by genuinely overcoming all the obstacles, above reason, can he [advance forward]. What does “genuinely overcoming above reason” mean? It’s when in spite of one’s desire and thoughts, without having any predisposition to do so, a person begins to connect to the teacher, the group, and the books. Altogether this is all called “the environment” or the surroundings.

But even in this case, when he begins to connect to them, he is still thrown about, up and down and in relation to the teacher, the group, and the sources or books. Sometimes he wants to and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he believes it and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes he’s sick and tired of it, and sometimes he strives forward, and so on.

As the difficulties mount, a person starts to feel that there is nothing attractive or special on this path, and nothing motivates him to advance. There is no spark, nothing really worth giving up his life, career, and success for.

As a result, a person falls. His fall is serious, real, deep, and pretty lengthy. Thus, he reaches the final decision that not the group, nor the teacher, nor the books, nor exertion—nothing will help him in the world besides the only governing force, the Creator.

All the times that a person fell and rose, all the states that passed over him were all in order for him to feel total and absolute dependence on no one but the Creator. Imagine how much a person has to be beaten from all sides, shaken up, pushed away and attracted, and shown the existence of a great number of forces and various causes for his states so that in the end he would become convinced that there is nothing besides the one, single Force. If it doesn’t help me, then no one will. Only it will come to my rescue if I demand it.

That is when the following need arises in a person: for the Creator to definitely help him. The formation of this demand is also very not simple. It does not happen in one moment, but it gradually surges up in a person, becoming vividly expressed, fierce, and persistent. Like a child who demands what he wants no matter what—just give him what he wants, and you can’t convince him any other way. That is the kind of state we must reach. And in this state the Creator really does help us.

Only those people who truly want to draw near the Creator, so they will not settle for little, meaning remain as senseless children, they are therefore given help from Above, so they will not be able to say that I have everything and what else do I need?
From the 4th lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/29/11

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Now I Get It!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You have said on numerous occasions that the ideas of Kabbalah should be brought into psychology and to scientific minds. I teach psychology in a university and I noticed that like all other scientists, even psychologists have very narrow opinions. So how can we approach psychologists? How can we bring elements of Kabbalah into psychology?

Answer: In principle, I myself came from the scientific world. But I left it. Yet, I respect people who nevertheless try to find something out about nature, themselves, and the surroundings. Of course, they are driven by egoistic qualities, but that’s how man is and you cannot do anything about it.

Psychologists, philosophers, and other people who study what seems like man’s inner world and the theory of knowledge, as well as scientists in the field of various closed systems—all of their research is based on our nature and the previous developments in all of science. Science develops in our five senses and is built out of these sensations.

Naturally, this entire science is absolutely egoistic because it comes from the sensation inside egoism, our main quality. And naturally, psychologists, psychiatrists, and philosophers are unable to understand Kabbalah because it works with opposite qualities. These people are no closer to attaining Kabbalah than all others.

That’s because in order to attain Kabbalah, one must have a point in the heart. If it is present, if a person has a need to know “Why do I exist?” that is not coming from smart philosophic reckoning, but from his personal, inner necessity, then he reaches the sensation and understanding of what Kabbalah talks about. This does not happen immediately, but over the course of a great amount of serious study.

At first he does not understand what it is talking about at all. He sits at the lessons for many months, listening and nodding his head, but he still does not have the inner sensations that emerge under the influence of the Light, which are adequate to the realm that the science of Kabbalah talks about. However, gradually this happens. We have to wait.

That is how children grow. Over the course of 20 years a person is brought up and grows, and only later does he become suitable for living in our world. Even though he was born in this world and his entire environment is also in this world, it still takes him 20 years to become more or less independent. And even then he is next to his mom all the time…. Still, suppose this is so. However, in our case we are talking about the spiritual world, a completely unexplored territory. How can I prepare for it if I am not in it? How can I adapt to it if I don’t feel it? I am told about this in these books and I don’t understand what they are talking about. So everything comes down only to the influence of the Surrounding Light.

We simply have to take these people and place them under the influence of the Surrounding Light if they agree to it. Meaning, we have to place them in the right environment, evoke the Surrounding Light through the study, and over the course of several months or years, we will see the result. This is the only thing we can do. If a person agrees to it, this will happen to him, and if he doesn’t agree to it, it won’t happen.

How much knowledge he has acquired in this world does not have any relation to Kabbalah because the knowledge he has acquired is about our world, this realm, “inside the aquarium.” So how will this help him find out what is outside? After all, everything is structured in a completely different way over there.

Even if he is a great scientist in our world, even if he is Einstein himself, he will suddenly find himself completely imperceptive to what is being said here. It is written that it is not the smart person who will master the spiritual world. That is never a criterion! It can only be done by a person with a point in the heart, who properly places himself under the external influence of the group and the inner influence of the Light. From inside the point in the heart is influenced by the Light, and from outside it is influenced by the group.

Under the influence of these two sides, this point swells up and a person begins to feel the first ten Sefirot inside of it as he rises from one degree to the next. And suddenly—Kabang! This sensation becomes revealed inside of him. Then he begins to understand what he heard about, what he read, and what others talked about. “Oh, now I get it!”
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From the 1st lesson at the Berlin Convention on 1/28/11

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The Internet: The Upper Force Hidden In Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Internet has been around only for only about 15-20 years. It hasn’t even taken one generation to grow, but there’s definitely a generation raised on the Internet.

And if we wait till the next generation arrives, another 15 years, we will see a very different humanity. It will all live on the Internet, constantly plugged into the common communication network that connects everybody by means of some portable devices such as an iPod, for instance. And we will maintain acquaintances with one another only through this virtual network.

That will be the time when all our good and evil will come to light since this system has an internal force that we are not aware of at the moment. It is yet to emerge and unfold.

In the place where people are connected with one another, a “third component” emerges as well: an effect, a “derivative” of this connection. Suppose we are a group of 10 participants who are interconnected. It means that there also is a cumulative force of the group consisting of ten people.

But this isn’t all! When we bond, an additional force comes to life, an extra component produced by our oneness, its result, a “generalization” which includes all particular forces. And if we get connected in one network, despite the fact that it is completely egoistic and false and has absorbed all the worst samples of our nature, it nevertheless is a system that brings us together. And hence, the force supplying this connection will be revealed in this place.

It exposes a new necessity to us. This network itself has such a unique nature, character, and legitimacy that it will pull us toward integration, unification, and correct development, to a truly unified humanity.

If we get connected, no matter how, by good or bad ties, this bond will bring us to the correct type of unity in the end. It may bring some blows on the way if we are egoists and don’t understand what the right form of evolution is. But by the same token, it can go smoothly and well. At any rate, one way or another, within this network, there works a special force that is one degree above us.

The integral egoism which has connected and is forcing us to be together, which has arranged this whole network and us in it, seems to be a negative force, but inside it, there is a positive one that gradually draws us to becoming as one. I am certain, based on how fast we are developing now, that we will reveal it in the very near future.

It is a natural phenomenon: When people unite, within such unification and as a result of it, there is an additional force present. This is how nature is designed. It could be a gathering of some clowns or the most evil criminals, and still, their unity will produce a powerful result (albeit possibly bad). It is because bonding itself is endowed with spiritual force. After all, spirituality is a connection.

So, our connection may be good or bad for the time being, but it will still advance us as a result.
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From a TV Program “Ask the Kabbalist” 1/20/2011

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