From The Bottom Of The Heart….

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is a prayer from the bottom of the heart? Where is the innermost point located?

Answer: “The bottom of the heart” is such a deep desire in a person that he cannot reach it himself. There, in the deepest point of the heart, hides the upper force that maintains my entire heart, the entire desire it created. That is where the secret of life is concealed.

But if from the depth of the heart, from this innermost point inside of me where the Creator is found, who is the one that created me, supports me, and controls all of my thoughts and desires, I will be able to speak to Him, that means I have reached the right request.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati

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Going Towards Each Other

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen a person already understands that he has to ask the Light to make the changes, the entire difficulty lies in imagining what changes to ask for. That is why he is led through various states in order to understand what “his own good” means according to his egoistic desire, for the sake of a pleasant mood and fulfillment.

But precisely above all of these calculations, he has to desire to act in the opposite way, preferring for egoism to suffer for the sake of rising above it, and there to build a relationship with the Light, the Creator, “for the sake of bestowal.” All the situations he had to go through were necessary in order to help him establish this relationship with the Light. Then he understands that even though everything comes from the Light and the desire does not awaken, does not change, and overall does not exist without its influence and support, still the desire has an ability to awaken the Light. This action is called “awakening from below.”

It is possible only on the condition that the desire precisely understands itself and its entire egoistic nature. It has to ask for its opposite transformation so the Light would give it a new force, enabling him to rise above himself, to step on his own desire, to squash it and freeze it, and to build the act of bestowal above it. If we will be able to ask for this, this will be called “an awakening from below.

When we receive an addition from the Light, called “awakening from below’ (Itaruta de Leila), then according to our request the Light will give us the ability to rise above our ego and act contrary to our egoistic desire. That is how a person begins building his spiritual vessel (Kli).

A new desire is continually awakened in him, burning within and not letting him rest, demanding to be fulfilled egoistically on account of the neighbor. Nevertheless, he begins to recognize the true attitude to his desire, that he has to lock it up and not let it break through in order to build a screen and the intention for the sake of bestowal above it, enabling him to use the same desire in the opposite form.

When he sees that he is completely incapable of this and only the Creator can help him, he reaches a request called “an awakening from below, “ a MAN. And if he asks correctly then he receives an answer from above—a MAD, and then he unites in a mutual action with the Light.

From then on a person already has experience in building a relationships between himself and the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/11, Shamati

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The Nation Possessing Nothing But An Idea

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can genocide against Jews be singled out as a specific phenomenon?

Answer: It isn’t a mere historical event, but rather a natural phenomenon. It is rooted in nature itself. The extinction of other nations during World War II had particularly to do with Germany’s plans to “cleanup” territories and was purposed to solve the problem of the supply of agricultural products. All of this was calculated in advance.

However, the root of the “Jewish problem” is felt instinctively, starting in ancient times up to this day. The nation of Israel is a special people, the keeper of the method of the correction of the world. Hence, when another nation seeks to enforce its system (let’s say, Nazism) and establish its own world order, it instinctively feels that the world has someone who possesses another method which contradicts their own.

“I claim that unity is possible only if our German people unite and submit the world to their order and their might. The entire Earth must belong to us. However, there is another nation that claims to have the method. It has neither real power, nor a country, nor an army, nothing but an idea. This idea has lived in the Jews for millennia; it is set in nature, and there is nothing I can do. But in the meanwhile, my present solution is totally opposite to theirs.”

This has to do with competing ideologies: “I need to not just suppress the Jews, but to wipe them off the face of the earth. Only their total extinction will prove that I am right, which nature itself, the upper force, the Creator, will support. If, however, I let them live, I won’t be able to prove even to myself that my solution to the problem of national and world unity is correct.

Germans wanted to unify their nation, enforce a correct (from their point of view) order, and in this case, they had no foe more odious than the Jews who had a different method of unifying the world. Ideologists can see it naturally. This is what is rooted in the collective desire of the world.

A note in reference to the topic: Julius Streicher, a racial ideologist executed after the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial convicted him of crimes against humanity for his anti-Semitic propaganda and his call for the genocide, during his execution at the bottom of the scaffold, cried out: “Purim-Fest 1946!” (a Jewish holiday of Purim is the celebration of victory over the enemies of the Jews).
[42034]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/2011 on Holocaust Memorial Day

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All We Need To Do Is Unite

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Are we supposed to start our correction with the animate degree, meaning to reduce our consumption to only the level of necessity?

Answer: No, we shouldn’t. The issue is not about merely reducing the exploitation of nature. Besides, we really don’t know how to limit ourselves.

It must occur naturally, on its own. If my head is “in the clouds,” in spiritual aspiration, I instinctively consume only as much as I need to sustain myself. It is absolutely not necessary to issue a minimal ration card and an inflatable mattress to everybody. This isn’t what we are talking about.

We work in a reciprocal manner on the interconnection between us in order to build an integral system similar to nature on all of its levels. The speaking level is given to us so that we will arrange this system ourselves. And if we are building it, we will surely have the right attitude toward all natural wealth, using our resources as this exalted necessity dictates.

Austerity, “the green movement,” or a vegetarian life style, none of this will ever bring success. On the contrary, we must think solely about our internal structure, the correct connection between us at the human degree, and then all the rest of our relationships with the still, vegetative, and animate levels will come into balance.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Listen To His Voice

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Creator reaches us every time we give Him a chance. This is the secret to success. If we give the Creator such opportunities, we will be waking up quickly, at a higher frequency, and be able to come to a greater desire sooner, to a certain degree of longing and yearning regarded as “world, year, soul” (Olam, Shanah, Nefesh). That is, we will reach adhesion with the Light “in the same place, at the same time, with the same woman,” as the unification of man and the Creator is described.

After all, to reach adhesion (Zivug), we have to meet several conditions. First of all, we need the correct desire, meaning not some corporeal desire, but a need to come to similarity with the Creator, the first spiritual degree, the first connection with Him. To achieve this, I am supposed to provide the desire in the appropriate amount, quality, intensity, and form.

Besides that, I am not supposed to want anything else so that it would become my only desire, reward, and fulfillment. Nothing else is required, but desiring it. After all, the rest is the reward I am working for. All my passionate desire, longing, tension, and aspiration to keep the connection with the Creator, to hang on to this point despite all the difficulty, is, in fact, the reward.

If one comes to this state, rises above his egoistic desire, and wishes to pass all of his yearning to the Creator, to demonstrate one’s longing for Him, and doesn’t seek anything beyond this, he merits exalted adhesion.

Here, one can find help in the environment that will support, awaken, remind, and arrange all the necessary conditions for such adhesion for him; it will clarify them and raise their importance. After all, the Creator reaches a person every time the latter presents Him with such an opportunity. This is the point most important to us.

This means that the goal is to give the Creator more opportunities to wake us up by any means, no matter how. It may be that more often than not, it is through unpleasant sensations, but we are not scared by problems, fears, and longing since we don’t view them as bad states.

What is bad for us is only when we disconnect from the thought and relationship with the Creator, from longing and desire. All our other yearnings for Him we consider as desirable and important, regardless of whether we like or dislike experiencing them.

Before anything else, we value the truth rather than feeling good or bad, sweet or bitter. Thus, we gradually and correctly prepare ourselves for the first adhesion and finally come to it.
[41886]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19

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The Awakening Of Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam’s Letter No. 19, p. 70: “Know thou the God of thy father and serve Him.” Know means recognition because a soul that does not know is not good. This means that if a person does not know his master, even though he has a soul and yearns and longs to serve Him, it is not good.

Even though one has a soul, he is not ready to know Him, “Until the spirit be poured upon him from on high.” However, one must lend an ear and listen to the words of the sages and believe in them wholeheartedly.

It has already been written: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The Baal Shem Tov interprets: “The Lord is thy shade.” Like the shade that follows one’s movements, its inclinations lean every way the person does, so is man according to the Creator. It means that when love for the Creator awakens, one must see that the Creator has awakened toward him with intense longing, etc.

Even if the point in the heart emerges in a person, he doesn’t know how to wake up and cannot do it on his own, alone. He is awakened by the upper Light, the Creator, while a person, from all these pleasant and unpleasant awakenings, is supposed to understand and learn how the Creator deals with him. He must learn to speak the Creator’s language to communicate with Him.

We need to come to a desire, intensity, and longing, that corresponds with what is next, meaning the first spiritual degree that exists above us or the last step of the ladder that sprawls down to us, along which our soul had descended from the world of Infinity some time ago. That was the rung where we were still linked with the Creator, and therefore, today, we are supposed to achieve the same kind of determination, intensity,and  desire that connected us with Him there.

We come to this kind of yearning by using the exercises that the Creator provides for us in the time regarded as “wheels” (Ofanim). He presents us with various opportunities to become connected to Him, and we don’t know why it should be in this specific form and this kind of situation. He suddenly reminds us that He exists, and we start to feel that we are missing Him.

At this point, it is necessary to understand who caused this awakening. Did I wake up on my own, or was it the Creator who woke me up? What am I supposed to do with it? Do I give thanks for my awakening or blame Him for not calling on me and for my having nothing at all? To the extent that a person is aware of this whole process and constantly strives to receive a desire for oneness, he will come to success.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter 19

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Man In The Final Stage Of Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will man look in his final stage of development?

Answer: As I see it, he will restrict himself in order to employ nature only as necessary and won’t feel the lack of anything, while all his yearnings will turn to the welfare of others. He will use only as much as is needed for correct corporeal existence, only to actualize his aspiration toward the well-being of others.

Meanwhile, the body will be receiving only what is good, vital, and most beneficial for it to be healthy. As to the yearning for others and contact with them, it will allow a person to reveal the integral system of total interdependence for himself. Thereby, he will attain the inner dimension of nature, its internal force, perfect and eternal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”

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What Remains Of An Apple?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: As an example of development, we talk about the ripening of an apple that undergoes stages of bitterness before it turns into a delicious fruit. However, then the apple falls to the ground, rots, and provides seeds. So, we seem to be describing only the intermediate stages, aren’t we?

Answer: It’s not so. Having ripened, an apple’s next stage is its development in the next generation, at a new stage. That is specifically why it rots, expires, and gives its sprouts and seeds to the next states. This is all so that on the way, it could serve a more advanced degree, the animate or speaking one.

So do our bodies change from generation to generation, live and die; so that in this life, we could gradually extract from ourselves a certain measure, a certain sensation, our sensory, spiritual offspring for a higher degree of human. Despite our similarity to an apple which undergoes a cycle of life and death, the results remain in this life for the next step of development. At it, we specifically collect human seeds, feelings, and relationships until gradually, above the bodies, we come to the need to unify.

Thereby, we construct one more system of nature that didn’t previously exist: unity which connects not the bodies, but rather people’s consciousness. This is what we call the truly human society, rather than our external relationships that are worse than those of the animals. We will unify with each other in an authentic human society, build it above ourselves in the course of the lifetimes we go through.

When we form this structure, it will become the human degree. All nature at the still, vegetative, and animate levels, and in between, is linked into one mechanism where only human is absent.

Until we build among us the whole, wonderful system, we will be a nuisance in nature. When our unity is built, we will find ourselves in harmony with all levels of nature and ourselves. Then, we will feel how perfect and beautiful all of nature is.

This is what we must come to. It is the final stage of our evolution. From generation to generation, we undergo the disintegration phase, like an apple, and give our life for the generations that follow us. It is all so that in every lifetime we could build up the desire that someday will be one.

Everyone donates thoughts and emotions from his failures and achievements, a contribution to the human degree, the construction of which will finally become completed. This degree is present in our consciousness since man differs from beasts specifically by having a mind, understanding, attainment, and wisdom.
[41899]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Correct Desires Instead Of Using Them

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn our world, we exist at the animate degree. Hence, we can take from nature only as necessary to sustain the body. However, we pump its resources out for the needs of the speaking degree.
Unlike the animate level, the “human” in me demands more: It wants money, honor, and knowledge. These desires can’t be satisfied by raping nature.

I can take a few pounds of metal called “gold” from it and thereby gratify my vanity and lust for power. How does metal relate to the lack of power? Why do we use the resources of one level for the needs of another? It is totally wrong.

Desires pertaining to food, sex, and family should be met according to natural instincts, which doesn’t destroy nature since you are acting at the animate level. If rabbits in the woods don’t have enough food, their numbers decrease. Thereby, one exists in balance with nature and is directly in circuit with it. Instead, we artificially place ourselves above nature, exploiting its levels in order to engage the speaking one.

The authentic correction of the speaking level should be different. We employ nature for necessities, while all other efforts are directed at the connection with people. Thereby, we correct our yearning for money, honor, and knowledge. Otherwise, we destroy the animate and vegetative levels, which is exactly what we are witnessing today.

In our relationship with nature, if we didn’t employ our desires for wealth, honor, and knowledge, there would be fewer of us on the Earth, probably a billion. Our life would be simpler, and we wouldn’t be exploiting our desires, but rather correcting them. It would result in our living in balance with nature at the still, vegetative, and animate levels, as well as at the speaking one.

Moreover, this degree would endow us with the sensation of the inner essence of nature, the upper force hidden in it. By having corrected the desires for wealth, honor, and knowledge, we would get to step inside nature and see the depth of its being, eternity, and perfection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/2011, “Peace in the World”

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