Rising With The Help Of Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: No matter how much I try to rise above my reason, where is the guarantee that everything I do will not end up being within my reason? How can I check whether I have risen above it, and what will help me rise?

Answer: Reason always strives toward knowledge and reception. And above reason are faith and bestowal. Now I need to elucidate: Am I heading toward bestowal because my reason wills me so or because faith wills me?

If I am situated only in one of two points, and depending on my state, I will certainly act within or below my reason, meaning that I will work for my egoism. Two points together are always necessary. Imagine that you hate the teacher, you boil with anger toward him, thinking that he is not right. And along with that you build a relationship of love, bestowal, and total rejection of yourself, and you adhere to him. Then your desire develops precisely between these two points, in their difference, due to the fact that you maintain yourself in one of them in opposition to the other.

Otherwise, what use is there from Pharaoh if you do not build your love over him, over all this hatred and confidence in you being right, to accept the teacher’s opinion in spite of your knowledge, opinion, and reason? However, if you lose one of these points, you won’t rise anymore. Usually in this case, people descend below reason.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/2011, Shamati No.59

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The Meaning Of Faith Below Reason

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the difference between faith above reason and below reason?

Answer: If you annul yourself before the teacher because you’ve decided in your mind that it is worthwhile in order to attain spirituality, this is called faith below reason. After all, your mind endorses this kind of self-annulment: You think that the teacher is great, and with his help, you will be successful.

You need to feel the might of your ego to the fullest, the whole Pharaoh that exists within you. You need to feel these two points, Pharaoh and the Creator, meaning the extent to which you want to remain in your ego, criticizing the friends, yourself and everything in your environment, to remain in all the various calculations with the logic and potency of your sharp, rational mind.

Only then will you be able to decide that in spite of it all, it may be worthwhile to lower yourself since the mind sees that otherwise you will not attain spirituality. This is called faith below reason. Or you can go in faith above reason. How does it work? How can you go against your mind, what calculation must you make that will enable you to rise above your intellect?

This pertains not only to your attitude toward the teacher, but also toward the friends and the Creator. After all, you relate to something that is outside of you. The teacher provides the direction, you annul yourself before the group, and your friends do the same. Your goal is to unite like cogwheels, where you are dependent on them and they are on you. If you work within the group to carry out the teacher’s instruction, you will merit the revelation of the Creator, the general force of bestowal.

You annul yourself before the teacher so as to accept his advice. You annul yourself before the group so as to actualize this advice in practice, so that together, with them and within them, you can reveal the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/13/2011, Shamati No. 59

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A Great Egoism That Leads To Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How does one reach a state where he or she will ask the Creator for help?Answer: For the time being we are pushed forward only by suffering and disappointment. If we are situated in our egoism, how can we break away from it and advance? This is possible only if we see its complete unworthiness. I do not find any egoistic hope for the future in it, only emptiness. Therefore, I become disappointed in my ego, try to turn to other sources, and do not find anything.

No matter how hard I try, I am unable to unite with others for the purpose of reaching a comfortable material life. And then I begin to think that possibly unification itself contains some hope for the future and for spiritual life which will be better and more fulfilling than material life. After all, bestowal is good; it fulfills a person and cancels out all limitations. This is called “Lo Lishma,” egoistic aspiration for the spiritual from which everyone begins.

This is a necessary stage on the path where I wish to attain the Creator and unification in the group since I hope to find my good future there. All this is even greater egoism, but it is already aimed in the right direction, and it forces me to continue my path. Everything here unwinds gradually according to a chain of cause and effect, and it’s impossible to skip any stages.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/2011, Writings of Rabash

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A One-Sided Connection With The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The information that is placed on the Internet is controlled by a small group of people. How will we be able to rise or bypass them in the circulation of true knowledge about the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: We are currently building a portal where we wish to post materials focused on the future of humanity. We wish to express a serious concern about the fate of the world without doing this in a hysterical manner.

It will be a very respectable portal that will concentrate on changes in the world, what actually is happening in it, and all the manifestations of the crisis that is enveloping us. We provide our own explanation to all these occurrences. This portal is owned by us, and no one can do anything with it.

We don’t care about what happens on the Internet: We do not plan to control it or intervene into anything. We shouldn’t come into contact with that crowd or what they do in their market at all.

We need to be an authority in the world regarding issues about the future, and in this respect no one can be close to us. After all, no one has clear, serious, correct, and authentic knowledge about the future of the world: How to come out of the crisis in education, family relationships, finance, and so on.

In reality, there is one reason for all of these problems: It is the lack of connection between people and because of that, these problems only get worse. We need to bring the world to this knowledge gradually, not all at once, with the help of scientific research in different fields and the explanations of the wisdom of Kabbalah, logically, seriously, and businesslike.

And we shouldn’t even think about taking part in different discussions that arise on the Internet and are controlled by various organizations. That does not pertain to us.

My advise: Do not get involved in conversations with the world because there is no one to talk to there. Treat the world in a one-sided manner, filling it with our knowledge in such a way that it can be picked up, and do not receive anything in response—nothing!

After all, people do not know what to say, their opinion changes constantly, and it’s not worthwhile to get intermixed with them at all. Act like you would with little children, only from one side. We need to give them our science and not receive their knowledge from them, which has nothing authentic in it. They themselves don’t know what is happening to them.

And in regard to the Internet, it is clear: We should understand that it is a mechanism of lies that is used by different groups that have an interest in its development, meaning the government, intelligence forces, and marketing. All the social and information networks are controlled and used by agencies that study us for a more sophisticated exploitation in the long run.

From the moment that the Internet came about, all the interested parties, starting from the KGB to the FBI and others, immediately knew what to do with it: collect information about each of us and all of us together. Such is the Internet and its system of control. And we should not be involved in this; let them do whatever they wish.

It still will be revealed that the Internet is just a net of spies on a general and personal level. Practically everyone is being spied upon and everything is known about everyone. This is of no great difficulty since we all are on the web. There are records on what you bought, who you wrote to, what you receive, what you are interested in, and what pages you visited. Special systems check and examine this data, and this constitutes the main job of big informational networks that are active on the Internet.

By the way, I received a joke on this topic:

Letter from a company that works with discount cards:

Dear Mister Jones,

We noticed that you have not bought any condoms in SpiffyMart for a while (the last time was 8 weeks ago). In addition, you stopped buying feminine hygiene products but started buying more frozen pizza and fast food dinners.

This goes to show that Miss Sanders has left you. (Maybe this is for the best since she used to buy really cheap shampoos that obviously failed to make her more attractive).

The post office database confirms that she has changed her address. Please accept our condolences. We suspect that the hot porn video will help you deal with this stress.

If you feel lonely, please look through our catalogue. Buy videos immediately and we will add one video free of charge!

Sincerely yours,
Sales Manager

P.S. Remember that blonde you treated to a double martini in the O’Dougles bar? Forget about her! She has been infected with something for many months now, and she is a regular customer at Acme Pharmacy. (Her home computer is on the same network as ours). You never know what you might catch from her. Meanwhile, our videos are completely safe.

However, this does not matter to us, let them use each other. We need to be represented in the most serious manner so that people will see that only we have the answer about the future of the world.
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From Lesson 4, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Filling The Cup

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the exodus from Egypt occurs in a hurry, then why is preparation necessary?

Answer: One has nothing to do with the other. Preparation is necessary in order for me to be able to come to fulfillment. I need to experience a lack for this. After all, we come out of Egypt with our desires rather than with our feet, from one desire into another.

If I don’t have a need for a new state, it means that I haven’t prepared myself for coming out of Egypt. I need to desire to reach bestowal to such an extent that I see only this in front of me. Let the force of bestowal unite us as one whole: This is what I desire.

Let us all dissolve and merge into one without any differences: No one exists individually, and there is only one common force of bestowal. And then the upper Light will fill us.

Do I have a need for this? If not, I am not ready to come out of Egypt. Possibly I still don’t feel that I am in exile, and I have not completed the “seven years of famine.” Everything is fine for me, the group studies,  joint meals, picnics, conventions…. Only when the state becomes unbearable, meaning when we must unite with each other and that this will specifically be redemption for us, then we prepare for the exodus from Egypt.

Question cont.: Then why do we come out in a hurry?

Answer: A person cannot know ahead of time when the cup of his efforts will be filled. There is no time in spirituality. As soon as the cup is filled, as soon as you have exerted your desire to a sufficient extent, immediately a leap occurs and you come to the action: the escape from Egypt. Yet even a moment prior to this, you still don’t know that the cup is just about to be full. On the contrary, the previous moment may seem the most distant from redemption to you: Egyptian darkness and disasters that befall you….

Up to the very last moment you associate yourself with Pharaoh, until you break away from him. Therefore, you experience very intense and heavy blows, and you see no chance of coming out of this storm. Every blow only shows you how weak and incapable you are.

Then suddenly, precisely in the midst of this darkness, a force is revealed, and using it, you can run away from Pharaoh. Darkness is revealed to you, and this aids you in your escape. And as soon as the desire is finally revealed, the redemption begins immediately.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/2011, Preparation to Going Out From Egypt

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Allies In The War With Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanKabbalists advise us not to philosophize (since our mind is egoistic and can only halt us), but rather to make more practical efforts. Clearly, my thoughts and desires will only keep me in my egoism, but with my actions I can bestow. And it’s all right that I may be giving because I intend to receive something for myself because otherwise, I wouldn’t give anything whatsoever.

But if I perform the actions recommended to me by Kabbalists, there is a spiritual element in it already. At this point, it’s not only about my personal benefit, but it may give me some spiritual result that I cannot think of directly. It works in such a roundabout way.

In other words, we advance indirectly. And with every action we perform, we build wonderful cities for our egoism, which turn into poor cities for Israel (“Yashar Kel,” those who aspire “straight to the Creator.”)

And herein hides one more additional obstacle. If I worked for Pharaoh by building cities for him but at the same time could see that parallel to that, as a “byproduct” of my egoistic work, I am gaining the properties of bestowal, faith, love, unity, and adhesion, then it would be great and clear! I would know that hoping for an egoistic reward, I will gradually acquire the desires of bestowal.

But that’s not how it works. Not only do I not gain desires of bestowal, but I also realize that I lose twice! In my ego, I see that I have earned great cities; I didn’t want them but I had no choice in it. But for Israel that is within me I lost twice as much: Instead of having advanced, I received destitute cities.

If next to the beautiful cities for Pharaoh there would also rise beautiful cities for Israel, if a successful spiritual “business” would bloom there, it would be fine. But there is nothing! I see that my ego, my Pharaoh, has won, whereas my striving for the Creator has lost and only removed me further from Him.

And then I get confused and start worrying: What is this path after all?! What will bring me closer to bestowal? And herein lies the stumbling block that can halt a person on his path since from this point on, a person must move toward the plea, a personal outcry to the Creator. He will realize that on his own, he can’t fight with Pharaoh and lead himself out of the bondage of slavery and that there has to be a third force.

Until now, he didn’t feel the need for the Creator and hence, he used to forget about Him. He thought that it was some kind of accompanying, additional force that gets revealed in the very end of the path. He didn’t see it as something necessary. Also looking at Moses’ story, we notice that it is the Creator who tells him: “Let’s go to Pharaoh”; the Creator Himself appears before Moses as a burning bush.

This means man still faces great obstacles that prevent him from getting connected with the Creator and appeal to Him in order to work together, as partners, against Pharaoh.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/2011, Shamati No. 86

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