Now Is The Time For Independent Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything is comprised of two triangles: the upper one with the Direct Light and the lower one with the Returning, Reflected Light. The triangle with the Upper Light is diminishing due to the descent of the worlds from Above downward so as to supply the creature with the place for existence in which it can realize its bestowal, raise the Reflected Light.

We can make a cut at each level and see these triangles: Depending on the strength of the Direct Light, the creature is capable of raising the Reflected Light. The higher we rise, the greater the Direct and the Reflected Lights are.

It seems to us that we live in some kind of world, but in reality, there is nothing beside desire and the Light, and we always carry out the work of the Creator whether we want to or not, realize it or not, are aware of it or not, or agree with it or not. We always work for the Creator, the only difference being our willingness or not.

The still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature operate without awareness, by natural instinct. But at the speaking degree, we have to comprehend, attain the root, agree with it, and only then act correctly.

Hence, while we were developing as “primitive people” having remained so over thousands of years until very recently (with the exception of Kabbalists who revealed the upper world, starting with the first “man,” Adam HaRishon), we advanced under the pressure of our egoistic desire that pushed us to evolve.

We applied a lot of effort throughout history. We worked hard to harvest the land, produced various things and products, fought, invented machines and new technologies, built houses to only destroy them later, carried out revolutions in all areas and levels of life. In short, we exerted effort to exist, to receive the Direct Light. These efforts were our “Reflected Light” in the spiritual worlds.

This is the essence of our material development. It is material because it took place inside the egoistic desire.

In our perception of reality, it seemed to us that we produced concrete and fixtures, relationships in the society, crops, but essentially, we produced the Reflected Light and inside it, received the Direct Light. Meanwhile, it seemed to us that we worked in the material world, surrounded by our machines, factories, houses, fields, and products.

This is how it seemed to our egoistic desire, whereas in reality, the desires (Kelim) with the screen and the Lights at the still, vegetative, and animate degrees were at work. And we all behaved like obedient children, carrying out everything that the Creator wanted. Nobody could escape this since that’s how the will to enjoy and the Light that acts upon it work.

And when we reach the speaking degree, considerations become completely different. This is why we no longer have the strength… The Creator tells us: “Do it yourself, alone!” And I’m at a loss: “Do it myself, while nobody is forcing me…?”

The Creator awakens me only occasionally and awaits the Reflected Light from me. Now, He wants me to do it by myself. This is the work we have to complete.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Light In Your Home

Dr. Michael Laitman“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “Rabbi Shimon’s Exit from the Cave,” Item 186: And that light stands from the heaven to the earth and illuminates the entire world until Atik Yomin, meaning Keter, arrives and properly sits on the throne, meaning until the end of correction. And that light is entirely included in your home, meaning in his daughter, since the daughter of Rabbi Pinhas was the wife of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and from the light that was included in your home, a small and thin light comes out, which is Rabbi Elazar, his daughter’s son. He comes out and illuminates the entire world, happy are you.

There is a system called “the worlds.” The souls are hanging on it like fruit on the tree. There is a connection between the worlds (”tree”) and the souls (“fruit”), between the fruit themselves, meaning the souls, and between the parts of the tree, meaning Sefirot. They are all connected together, and all of them are merely Kelim (desires) and the Lights.

Likewise, all the characters described in The Book of Zohar: Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Pinhas, Elazar, and the daughter of Rabbi Pinhas are the illuminations within the Kelim, tied together by certain connections. This is why The Zohar calls them by names of familial relationships, such as “grandfather,” “father,” “son,” “daughter,” or “wife” depending on who it is talking about.

However, all of this is related only to Kelim or the Lights. The Lights are most important. The illumination which emanates from one place to another is called “Rabbi Shimon,” “Rabbi Elazar,” or “Rabbi Pinhas.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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Bring Your Hatred To The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I accelerate the revelation of the broken desire between myself and the friends?

Answer: We go through states where we are always sent an awakening of evil. The question is: How do I accept that evil? Do I perceive it as a disturbance? Why do I discover that I hate others? Why do conflicts between us keep surfacing?

If you give in to the hatred and don’t want to see one another, then go home, stop uniting, and don’t set your sights on spiritual work. However, this work lies precisely in revealing the evil, the hatred (Sinah), all the way until Mount Sinai. We have to know that this is the path: We are revealing destruction, the breaking.

And no matter how big the extent to which it is revealed, we do not correct it artificially. We do not hold fraternity parties with rowdy toasts following a hearty meal, and we do not “make up” like kids in kindergarten. Rather, we want to correct the evil by means of studying, by means of the Light that Reforms. With the understanding that on the external level there is hatred and repulsion between us, we do not cover it or try to smooth it out. We want the Light to come and change this hatred and repulsion, to turn it into connection, all the way until love.

No matter how much hatred becomes revealed, we do not touch it. We do not strengthen or weaken it; do not suppress it or correct it. We do not do anything to it, but only wish to bring it like a valued treasure to the Light that Reforms.

“Finally I revealed a little bit of hatred! This is the Upper World, but in the reverse. It is the opposite side of the spiritual Kli. When it turns to connection and love, it will become a full-fledged vessel for the Light!”

We have to treat this hatred with great care, making it special, and then bringing it to the Light. Yet, what we do instead is cross it out as if everything is already OK, or we go our separate ways, or split up the group. True, sometimes there are hopeless situations because the people are still weak and cannot act or understand otherwise. Then a division is suitable as a temporary solution. But in essence the real work is done precisely on the background of hatred. So let’s not forget that this is our path: We are working on ourselves.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, Writings of Rabash

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Reunion In Malchut

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If Malchut is the desire to receive pleasure, how can she gather all the souls under her wing?

Answer: Malchut is the will to enjoy. It used to include all the desire to receive created by the Creator. Later, it was broken in order to give this desire a capacity to know itself and the Creator, and based on that knowledge, to perform autonomous actions. In other words, it broke into multiple, fragmented parts that feel hateful and disconnected.

Malchut is the point where all the broken parts used to reside. Now, by their own free will and effort, these fragmented parts are gradually coming into oneness in the same Malchut, in their root.

It could be described in other words: The created being, in its experience and perception, is divided into multiple parts which seem alien to one another. These parts must keep uniting together until they feel bonded. An example of such oneness is the upper one, Zeir Anpin, which manifests according to their effort.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Greater The Ego, The Greater The Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What can we learn from the current internal state? What is the correct attitude toward them?

Answer: The correct approach is not to focus on any of them. The key is to keep going forward. A person cannot evaluate an internal state that he or she is in. Until we arrive at the end of correction, we won’t know whether we have achieved anything whatsoever.

In fact, you are undergoing a process of correction non-stop. Moreover, the farther you advance, the more corrupted you feel. Having repaired yourself and absorbed the upper properties to a certain degree, with their help, you get to see how far you are from the other levels to which you are yet to ascend.

The final degree, Yesod, includes it all. You must absorb all there is and reach the final correction of Yesod. Only then will you receive the illumination of the Sabbath and start sensing that you are standing at the threshold of the end of correction.

Therefore, we are expected only to continue on the path without focusing on the fact that it is becoming much harder. The most difficult stages are regarded as “signs of Messiah” since that is where our Aviut (coarseness of desire) increases.

This is why compared to our forefathers, our states are heavier, but thanks to it, we are willing, able, and merit drawing greater Lights. Even though they clothe in the forefathers, it is we who evoke them nevertheless.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Don’t Let The Source Dry Up

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, ““What Is He Who Does Not Have Children In The Work”: A tree that does not bear fruit is like a childless man who does not give birth to anyone. A person and the Torah are called barren if they do not have children.

Question: How can we refine the common intention that is aimed at help from above?

Answer: Help comes only in response to a desire to unite. That is why we study together to attract the Light of correction. All of us together must discern the desire to unite (the common prayer) because otherwise not one of us will have the right request or the strength to continue on the path.

A person has a basic desire: to feel good. Sometimes in addition to it the question about the meaning of life arises in him, which is a desire to acquire Light. That is when he begins studying the science of Kabbalah. Before he had this additional desire, he developed like an animal following the orders of his earthly desire. We take a person into account only from the moment when he aspires to something higher.

How does a person use all of the inclinations that are given to him? After all, development is only possible by virtue of a desire being added to him from the common Kli . But a person must include himself in it, similar to a tree that receives all the forces from the surrounding environment, such as the earth, air, sun, and so on. If a person knows how to accept everything for the benefit of his spiritual growth, then he will absorb this need from the environment and with it will request the Light that Reforms during the study.

This Light constructs one’s inner process whereby one’s inner qualities, objectives, and notions grow. That is how a person advances. He continuously thinks about how to receive an ascent from the environment. To do this, he has to lower his head before the friends and elevate them in his eyes as the best people of the generation. At the lesson he has to not forget why he studies. In the end, a person only receives an additional awakening from the group, but then the Light has to come and aim him correctly.

Thus, with the help of all of these factors, a person provides himself with the forces for growth. He has to check: Do these forces produce any fruits? On one hand, he advances in the left line, continuously revealing the evil inclination that the Creator made. Alternating with this, he reveals the Torah as a spice: He understands what to do with the evil inclination and how to discern the Torah with its help, which is the Light, the quality of bestowal.

Thus, as a person carries out the advice of Kabbalists, he reaches a certain sensation. Even if it is not a real vestment of Lights into vessels yet, nevertheless new details of perception emerge in him—specks of Light that clothe into Kelim. True, for now it is not felt as fulfillment, but as Surrounding Light—the Light that Reforms. A person is still on the path to the Source. He still hasn’t reached goodness, even to a small degree. Yet, he is moving forward.

Therefore, the most important thing is to fear that he will not have children, that he will remain without a strong desire, will stop halfway and wither by a dried up source. If you have a desire, it is necessary to discern the evil inclination in it, which is formless and opposite to spiritual advancement. Then one has to add the Torah as a spice, the Light that Reforms to this. If the Torah brings fruits, then it is no longer childless.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/11, Writings of Rabash

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The Paradigm Of Acceleration

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen Zeir Anpin becomes revealed before Malchut, we can accelerate the speed of our development. Up until now, having advanced in the course of history on the still, vegetative, and the animate levels, we were not able to accelerate time. We didn’t know at all about what state we were in and which process we were going through.

But now, having entered the period of corrections, we possess the freedom of will. We can speed up the course of events without having to wait for the end of the sixth millennium. Everything depends on us.

With our efforts, we can include the qualities of Zeir Anpin into ourselves in less than six thousand years. After all, we are referring to spiritual degrees, not a date on a calendar. And that is why we are able to hasten the ascent to the level of the seventh millennium.

Baal HaSulam writes about further development in “Introduction to the Book, From the Mouth of a Sage.” These are also spiritual levels since Shabbat (Saturday), the seventh millennium, is the Sefirot HGTNHYM. Besides this, there are three more levels called the “head.” We enter into them after seven thousand years, and this is beyond our current attainment since it involves receiving into the Kli which has already completed its corrections and become similar to the Creator in its qualities.

It is not written anywhere about this. Kabbalistic books contain only faint hints at these stages. Let’s hope that we will reach them quickly as well.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Globalization In Family Circumstances

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”: Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society.

Meaning, because each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world, he is coerced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world.

We don’t feel this to the full extent yet, and that’s simply because egoism conceals the true picture from us. Nevertheless, we have entered a new era even without feeling this transition to our total dependence on the whole world.

Just yesterday we held a “domestic household,” having all the vital necessities in our own countries, whereas today we won’t be able to produce food, nor clothing, nor anything at all separately from the world. Suddenly we will discover that we do not have the necessary food components, machine tools, and so on. A fundamentally new situation has arisen: Now there is not one detail in the world that could be honestly written down as being your own without a thought about others.

Today it is impossible not to be connected with everyone. And that means we have to create the corresponding relation system because the well-being of the individual and the world depend on one another.

Through the prism of egoism it seems to us that we might be able to get rid of half of humanity without much damage. This is possible technologically, and besides, several billion people appear as nothing but a useless burden. However, it is necessary to remember that we do not see the general picture. In reality, we have a “family situation,” similar to how the elderly have already provided for the young generation and are unable to work any longer, while the youth grows up in order to later accept what has been prepared for it.

The same thing is happening with the whole world, although in a different form. Even if a person does not do anything and only lives off of begging, or even if he lives off of some miserable pittance in some remote place in Africa or India, he is still part of the common system and we are yet to discover how important every person in it is. Even the details that seem useless from our point of view are important and necessary for the whole.

The human body also contains many organs and systems whose functions we have not completely deciphered yet. But gradually we will discover that not one detail can be written off as unneeded.

Therefore, we have to use every object according to its vital purpose without destroying anything. Any other approach will turn out to be destructive, especially for the person who will resort to it.
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From the lesson on “Peace in the World” on 2/4/11

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Saturday As The Result Of Corrections

Dr. Mchael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, Chapter “VaYakhel (And He Assembled),” Item 180: What is Saturday (Shabbat)? Why is it called Saturday? It is because when a point of desire rose and its light manifested, it was crowned with the forefathers, HGT of Zeir Anpin, in order to unite with them together….

Malchut with the forefathers together are called Shabbat (שבת). This word can be written as ש-בת (SheBat). The three letters Vav (ו) that together comprise the letter Shin (ש) point to the three forefathers, HGT. And Malchut called “Bat” (daughter) is crowned with them.

Shabbat” (The Sabbath) is the highest degree which corresponds to the end of the entire correction, the seventh millennium. Six millennia correspond to the six Sefirot of Zeir Anpin, the properties of which we have to receive in Malchut.

Malchut, by incorporating into herself the influence of these six properties of Zeir Anpin: Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod become ready to receive the Light in uniting with Zeir Anpin. This is the unity of the Creator (Light) and the creature (Shechina, Malchut, desire).

Malchut collects all the souls, the desires undergoing correction, which exist in the broken, egoistic states in the worlds of BYA. Of course, until Malchut assumes all the properties of Zeir Anpin, she is not worthy of uniting with him. In all the properties that appear in her, she is obliged to take upon herself correspondence to Zeir Anpin.

Then, Malchut receives for the sake of bestowal, in correspondence to Zeir Anpin, in order to become similar to him. In so doing, she rises, clothes in him, and reaches the degree of She-Bat. Being a daughter (Bat), she nevertheless reaches the three upper lines: She, meaning the forefathers, HGT.

Similarly, we do not feel any benefit in correction until we come to its completion. Then all the corrections which we performed on ourselves in the course of six “days” or “millennia” get manifested, and “Saturday” or the “seventh millennium” becomes revealed.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Our Root

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Are there roots originating in the breaking?

Answer: Of course. After the breaking additional elements emerged related to the revelation of the egoistic system, which also expands from above downwards. We all originate from the breaking. Thus, we never attain the state before the breaking, our root.

Question: What is the transformation that happens to the roots after the breaking?

Answer: After the breaking, the true desire is revealed having been concealed from creation beforehand. When the desire became revealed, it manifested in its true form: There is no screen on it. We have to attain that screen. Before the breaking, the screen descended to Malchut from the first nine Sefirot. During the breaking, Malchut itself manifested, but without the covering of the first nine Sefirot. Now together with the first nine Sefirot we must find the covering precisely for that Malchut. Therein lies all of the correction.

Question: Why does the breaking multiply the number of elements?

Answer: The first nine Sefirot intermix with Malchut and thereby give us the opportunity to see how to balance them. Without balancing the elements it would be impossible to do this because it is necessary to connect every particle to the one that corresponds to it. To do this, it is necessary to check with what intention, desire, and in what order I have to build the corrected world with the help of various details that are at my disposal in the form of a Lego. That is why I have to check the combination of every detail with every other detail, which is only possible as a result of the breaking and intermixing.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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