A Person Who Has Strayed From The Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If in spirituality a person is born anew every moment and starts everything from the beginning each time, how can it be that once he strays from the path once, he then diverts from it more and more?

Answer: This is how Baal HaSulam depicted it, I’m simply repeating his diagram. If at the beginning of the path you divert from it just a little bit (say, by 1 cm), then by continuing to advance on the same way, you eventually divert from the correct path by, say, 5 cm.

A Person Who Has Strayed From The Path

It seems to you that you have made progress: received knowledge, realized and went through many things. You become increasingly confident that you are on the right track, while in reality you have already strayed from the path and are advancing beside the mark.

Nobody took away your freedom from you or the opportunity to make an adjustment. But if you do not suspect that your have veered from the path, if you do not feel it, you think you can continue like that.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/2011, Preparation for the WE! Convention

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By Definition, We Cannot Understand Each Other

Dr. Michael LaitmanWithout correct definitions there is no common language. We seemingly use the same words, but each word has a completely different meaning for us. Let’s say that we started to teach a foreign language to someone, but gave arbitrary definitions for the words. Our student would begin speaking with someone, and neither would understand the other. As regular people, scientists and philosophers do not understand Kabbalists.

In general, this is the problem with all human relationships because each of us has our own particular definitions for the words. Usually, these differences are not significant, but, nevertheless, this is why it’s so difficult for us to communicate with each other.

Regarding the differences between the usual definitions accepted in science and philosophy and the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is absolutely no comprehension at all. It seems to people that they already know what the spiritual world and the Creator are. People feel that they do not need to change themselves to attain Him in their sensations. They do not understand that they perceive the whole world in their egoistic desire and that spiritual perception requires reaching similarity with that which is being studied.

Until we arrive at a common denominator here, it is impossible to talk. By definition, we do not understand each other. Scientists are smart people, but unfortunately, they use different definitions.

Kabbalah states that the perception of reality depends on the person, on his qualities, egoistic or altruistic. We perceive the whole of reality inside ourselves; nothing exists outside. Everything is relative.

It is difficult for scientists to agree with this. They do not have such prior assumptions before their studies; they do not need them. Science studies everything inside of the egoistic desire and does not come outside of that boundary. That is why they are not sensitive to such subtleties, being inside the desire, according to its size and qualities.

Furthermore, for them, everything is already apparent. They are inside one, small room and study things only inside of it. You might say, “But, I am studying things in the next room. One could come out of that room into another one, and study things there.” But they are perplexed: “Is there another room?” There is no need, understanding, or perception that such a thing could exist. That is why they consider Kabbalah a philosophy which is allegedly detached from reality. For them, science, studies, and facts are only here in our world.

In other words, in his development, a person has not yet come to perceive that there exists a reality higher than the one we perceive with our limited organs of perception. For this, the respective internal qualities are needed, the revelation within the person of the spiritual gene (Reshimo, reminiscence) so that he begins to agree, accept, and feel such definitions.

In reality, only blows are of help here. The Light hits the desire again and again, letting the person feel how he is thrown up and down. Thus, little by little, he begins to grasp that such a thing really can exist.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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The Revelation Of The Light Or A Stretch Of Imagination?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the difference between revealing the Light through one of the eastern methodologies or the method of Kabbalah?

Answer: The revelation of Light can only be reached if one has a big Aviut (coarseness, thickness of desire) which he can correct only with the help of Kabbalah and thereby reveal the Light, the Creator. After all, with a smaller Aviut, a person will not be able to reveal anything but more or less pleasant sensations that give him or her the illusion that he or she is already “soaring” in the spiritual world.

Everything except for Kabbalah—all the eastern methodologies, New Age teachings, different beliefs and religions—are its modified forms born out of the desire to receive pleasure which has not reached its last degree, that of Dalet (four), and is not perfect on all of its levels of Aviut, not as egoistic.

Besides, what did they take from Kabbalah? One preaches moral norms, another advocates meditations, a third recommends food limitations, a fourth prompts to believe in drawn images or spoken tales, a fifth commends ceremonial observances that are considered to be sacred, and so forth.

All of these are the results of the desire to receive pleasure which has not yet reached its final development. It thus expresses the wisdom of Kabbalah in an equally light form instead of correcting itself.

After all, a person like this does not feel the need to correct himself. He does not understand what he needs to correct. He believes that if he were to kiss a “sacred” object or donate something, he would be all right. A small desire to receive pleasure does not push man toward anything greater. All of this flows out of the desire that has not yet been developed to the level of the last degree, that of Dalet.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Getting Rid Of Delusions

Dr. Michael LaitmanPhilosophy and the majority of people in general believe that the material world was born out of the spiritual one. Indeed, Kabbalah states the same: After the breaking of the worlds and the collective soul, desires lost their screens, became egoistic, and descended lower and lower until they fell into “this world.” This defined our existence in this world and all our senses, organs of perception.

It follows that we “came” here from the spiritual world and no other place. One way or another, corporeality is the consequence of spirituality. The only question is whether the corporeal world completely separated from the spiritual world or does it still have some indirect connection to it?

Neither the philosophy nor natural sciences of this world are able to examine the force of bestowal, being only inside the egoistic desire. For this reason, they have no contact with the spiritual world and can only fantasize about it.

There are “scientific” experiments of whatever is considered to be the “soul,” or an alleged connection to it that can be grasped, which are based on incorrect definitions of the spiritual world. These also are philosophic arguments of people who lack any research instruments and a real connection to the spiritual world, meaning a scientific approach, and they simply assume things.

People can imagine anything. There are no limits to human fantasy. For example, there were observations in the changes of the human body’s weight before and after death. Supposedly, the difference determined the weight of the soul. This is how they weighed the soul. They also registered electrical impulses in the brain at the moment of death, and they considered this to be the manifestation of the soul leaving the body.

What about the different hallucinations in the brain at the moment of a clinical death, the nature of which is similar to dreams? These were considered to be sensations of the spiritual world where the person “rises” and then “returns” back to us as they regain consciousness.

All these fabrications are caused by the absence of a correct definition of the spiritual world. This is why people become confused and think that they can touch the spiritual world and examine it.

However, the spiritual world is a reality that is above our egoistic desire, above our matter. Here is where the problem of the perception of reality arises because people are confused about what matter is. A famous definition states that matter is an objective reality given to us by our sensations. What do I perceive? It’s my desire.

This is confusing to people. They think that matter is solid bodies, liquid, the four foundations:  fire, water, air, and earth, or the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature. However, Kabbalists say that matter is desire, and we examine the desire which is, in fact, our own!

This is completely confusing to us. I see a metal pipe in front of me which I am completely unable to move, and I am being told that it is mine and exists within me. Here, people become totally bewildered, and it becomes very difficult to speak with them from that point on.

In other words, it is necessary to overcome many obstacles, until we attain a point of view and definition of all the phenomena which will enable us to view reality together with scientists and philosophers. So far, everyone is in his own niche, which leads to a huge confusion.

The main problem is in the different definitions of “spirituality” and “corporeality.” Most frequently, people assume that culture and different human activities fall under spiritual life. In this sense, dancing is also spiritual.

These incorrect definitions really confuse people and prevent serious conversation. For this reason, first of all, the world needs to be given correct definitions of spirituality and corporeality, life and death, and the upper reality.

This way, we will solve all the problems. The correct definitions need to be firmly engrained in your head, and you should view reality only through them. Then, you will not make mistakes for sure.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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A Scientific Method: “We Will Do And We Will Hear”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How does the need for a scientific approach go with the principle of “We will do and we will hear?”

Answer: These goes together very well. “We will do and we will hear” is a pure scientific approach which exists in true science. This is because science constantly reveals phenomena that were previously concealed from us. We had no factual knowledge nor connection to them. All we had was our desire to reveal, develop our perception and abilities, in order to grasp new, additional phenomena, test them on us, on our own flesh, on our senses, and register them. Relying on this data, we gathered a more robust image of reality where we exist.

The same approach operates in Kabbalah. It is a science just like a regular science as it is our aspiration to reveal a new reality. There is no difference.

However, in the regular natural sciences of this world, we are not required to change our senses. We only need to expand them. The research instrument already exists: It is our desire to receive pleasure. We simply must expand it through different microscopes, telescopes, and other tools that raise our sensitivity toward previously concealed phenomena.

The entirety of reality divides into two halves: reception and bestowal. In order to check, examine, and study the reality that is based on bestowal instead of reception, we primarily need to arm ourselves with the corresponding instruments of perception (Kelim, vessels).

It is no longer enough to simply expand our senses. We need to build new organs based on bestowal from scratch. This is called birth in the spiritual world.

In the spiritual world, a different nature where we study the force of bestowal, our ability to test, examine, and register data depends on the expansion and development of our senses. It happens the same way as with our egoistic organs of perception when we build different auxiliary tools.

This is how a higher science called Kabbalah appears. It is referred to as “higher” because it works with the force of bestowal in nature, while the sciences of our world examine the egoistic force of reception.

However, in the end, we discover that there is only one source for both the force of reception and that of bestowal. This is because this division only exists in relation to us; we divide reality this way. However, in truth, they both come from one source: the upper force.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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All Sciences Examine The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is an ancient connection between Kabbalah and philosophy. Philosophy seems to be the foundation of all the sciences. There were no separate sciences a thousand years ago such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, and astronomy. A scientist did everything and was even a doctor at the same time.

This general knowledge was called philosophy which translates as “love of wisdom,” knowledge. Johann Reuchlin, a famous philosopher of the sixteenth century wrote, ”My teacher Pythagoras, the father of philosophy, took his teaching from Kabbalists … he was the first who translated the word Kabbalah, unknown to his contemporaries, to the Greek word philosophy.”

The connection between Kabbalah and philosophy, and all the sciences in general is very deep. Really, science is already a part of the revelation of the Creator, His actions, which are not just revealed through the sensations of the body, but through the mechanism in us which is called “man” and already pertains to the human degree, even though this is still a person of this world, nevertheless.

Before its connection to Kabbalah, ancient science was developing on the animate degree. It was only after Kabbalah became revealed to the first man, Adam HaRishon, and developed for twenty generations until Abraham and on, as it revealed the Creator’s actions, that the modern science of this world could appear upon this foundation.

We as though do not see a connection between the one and the other. After all, regular science is built on the basis of the human mind and sensations, an egoistic desire to receive pleasure where we reveal the world, and seems to be disconnected from Kabbalah and the spiritual world. However, in reality, this is not the way it is because it examines the same actions of the Creator, which only become revealed in a different, egoistic matter.

These are the Creator’s actions which point to the connection between the parts of reality. For this reason, even the regular, natural sciences are also a sort of a revelation of the Creator, only on our earthly level.

This is because nothing but the Creator exists in the universe, and everything that we reveal are His actions. Only we can reveal Him in our egoistic desire, and then this is called natural sciences. We can also reveal Him in the desire to bestow, and then this is called Kabbalah.

However, it is revelation of the Creator in both cases. The Creator is one, and He does not divide in two. It is we, the researchers, who divide Him this way, depending on the desires where we perceive Him.

From the Creator’s side there are no separation; all the divisions happen in relation to us. This is how we get the eternal problem of how one thing connects to another and how they influence each another.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Reveal Secrets Of The Sages

Lecture in Manhathan On March 29, 7:30 P.M. at Symphony Space, a performing arts center in Manhathan, I will give a public lecture titled “The Zohar, the Laws of Nature, and the Future of Man.” The event starts with a Kabbalistic music performance by The Ensemble. For more information click here.

Excerpts from the event announcement:

“An evening of music and wisdom with the world’s foremost Kabbalist, Israel’s Dr. Michael Laitman.

Open the inner door to the beauty and significance of the ancient wisdom of Kabbalistic sages. Enjoy a special concert of once concealed, profound and haunting melodies carrying wordless sensations of higher realms of love. Then listen as the world’s foremost Kabbalist reveals the wisdom’s message meant for this challenging and decisive moment in human history.”
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Stopping Is Falling

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to constantly accelerate in relation to the spiritual goal, and how can we “push on the gas” as much as possible now, before the convention?

Answer: In the spiritual space, acceleration is movement. That’s because if you don’t make a certain action now, then none of your previous merits will count and you will lose all of the speed you have accumulated until now by all the previous actions. The spiritual space is like an empty cosmos where there is no other system from which to start counting, and if you don’t accelerate then you don’t move at all.

A constant state is equivalent to zero. Even if you are flying at the speed of 10 miles a second, this is not considered motion and it’s the same as if you were just hanging in the air. In the spiritual sense acceleration means speed, and in essence it is the action.

Therefore, there are no “gaps” between spiritual actions. Wherever one action ends, that is where the next action immediately begins, just like during the birth of spiritual Partzufim. This indicates that a person’s attitude to the group and the group’s attitude to him must be such that it will constantly awaken him to act and always renew his desire.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Spiritual Fine-Tuning

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom “The Principles of Global Education”: The essence of our development lies in the recognition of evil.

We are able to perform act after act only according to our recognition of evil, to the degree of our sensitivity to good and evil. Everything depends on the level to which our properties allow us to measure the difference between them.

My desire is like a measuring instrument. Its pointer moves one measurement if, say, I change the inner tension or weigh something on my inner scale. There are scales with divisions of 100 pounds for cars and precise scales which measure milligrams.

My measurements also depend on sensitivity. As soon as I feel within myself some gap between the two forces, it triggers my action, my response. I feel bad because of this gap; I am unsatisfied and concerned. Then an impulse emerges within me and it pushes me back towards the point of balance where we originate from.

This is why everything depends on the recognition of evil. I have to intensify this feeling again and again by pushing the “button” which is fine-tuned more and more. Just like the initial point of creation felt that it differs from the Light until this dissimilarity turned into the darkness of their complete oppositeness, the same way I raise the sensitivity to the Light within myself in order to ultimately achieve correction.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/37/2011, The Principles of Global Education

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We All Want To Make The Fairy Tale Come True

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The theme of the upcoming convention is, “We make it real.” What do we actually have to do to make it real?

Answer: “We make it real” means that we are revealing the true reality instead of the one we imagine through the prism of egoism, the will to receive.

We include two forces: the will to receive and the will to bestow. If we are under the power of the will to receive, and the will to enjoy only gives us a slight life force, then everything we feel, determined by the role of reception, is called this world. But if we reach the state where everything will be determined by the will to bestow, it will be called the upper, spiritual world.

Thus, there are two forces in the world and you determine what you want to feel, in what world or reality you want to be. If your will to receive rules over the will to bestow, then you feel this world. And since the will to receive is limited by the amount of pleasures it is able to absorb inside, therefore our life is limited.

However, if you want to experience yourself in the will to bestow, then you will feel bestowal, and that is already life and eternal, unlimited development. Our presence in the will to receive is real. It exists and we are in it, but it is far away from life because we only imagine that it really exists. The entire realty of the will to receive, its very matter, comes from the will to bestow that is present inside it. That is why it is unreal, similar to a children’s blow-up toy. We get the impression that it is alive, but the air filling it, its entire life force actually comes from the will to bestow; it is not its own. That is why our world is called an “imaginary world.”
From the lesson on 2/18/11, Writings of Rabash

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