Understanding The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, you talk about man’s ego, about unity with everyone, and about us needing to reach balance with nature. But how does this relate to the connection with God (Elohim)?

Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we talk about nature. According to Gematria (the numerical value of the word), “nature” and “Elohim” are the same thing. That is, if we talk about the upper force, nature, God, or the Creator, whatever you want to call Him, everything around us is just a manifestation of that force.

If we talk about the upper force, then what is the difference in how we call it: “Elohim” or “nature”? There is the upper force (really the upper!) which gives birth to and rules over everything, and we want to know how to connect with it, how to reveal it, and to understand it.

Thus, if I exit myself, my ego, and begin to reveal the reality outside me, above my ego, this is called the understanding, realization, and revelation of the Creator. Naturally, all this happens within me and only relative to me.

Gradually, I organize my desire, my spiritual structure, meaning the property of bestowal and love towards others: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod,and Malchut. According to this structure, I know the connections between them and thus reveal the Creator.

Elohim is also called the “Creator” (Boreh), from the Hebrew words “come” (Bo) and “see” (Reh) because we have to “see” Him, reach the state in which we understand Him, as if seeing firsthand. We are created by Him for this purpose.
[44882]
From the Lecture in Rome 5/20/2011

Related Material:
Who Will Help Me Attain The Goal?
Nature’s Commandments = the Creator’s Laws
The Creator And Nature Are The Same

What Does Unity Give Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanPeople in whom the point in the heart has awakened strive forward for unification. Granted, when they are just beginning to study, they do not think about connection; they do not have this need yet. But the science of Kabbalah teaches that namely in the connection between each other can we rise spiritually and cross the Machsom, the spiritual barrier, to the revival of the property of bestowal within us.

We have to unite above the Machsom. From the Machsom itself until the state in which we all attain complete unity, from 0 to 100 percent, we have to ascend 125 spiritual degrees of unity.

The entire path from the moment when we come to the group, begin to study, and try to connect is called the preparation period. Kabbalists say that this period may last from three to five years and may be longer because it is very important preparation: Without it, people do not understand at all where they are heading.

A person has to prepare himself or herself for the sensation of the spiritual world, create the correct environment for oneself, start sensing it, and advance together with it. In other words, he or she must understand the need for unity with others.

We have to unite again, having returned to the state in which we used to be in the world of Infinity, where we were united and filled with the upper Light. But to accomplish this, we have to tame our egoistic desire, and this is not easy and might take years….
[44890]
From Lesson 2, Convention in Madrid, 6/3/2011

Related Material:
Your Choice: 3-5 Or 35 Years
The Perfect Formula For Spiritual Ascent
Unity Is A New Reality

A Laboratory Looking For The Secret Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What’s the difference between Malchut of the world of Infinity before the restriction and after the correction?

Answer: Malchut of the world of Infinity before the restriction is the initial state created by the upper force. This is the creature that was formed as the upper Light acted upon the desire to receive that was created “from absence.” The Light developed this desire in four phases and brought it to a state called Malchut of the world of Infinity.

And here He finished His task, that’s it! From this moment onwards, an awakening develops inside Malchut itself. It starts slowly realizing that apart from the will to receive, a will to bestow also exists. This will to bestow was introduced into it in the first phase as the sensation of the root, meaning a sensation of the Giver. This starts developing inside of it resulting in the second phase in which it wants to become like the Giver, resisting His bestowal and overcoming its own desire to receive.

That’s why it starts restricting itself and building screens on top of itself, and then it breaks. Serious work begins with this breaking, when the desire to bestow penetrates every desire to receive.

The qualities of reception and bestowal aren’t next to each other anymore, meaning one above the other, separated by a screen, working like You and I, the Creator and the creature. After the breaking, the qualities of the Host penetrate the qualities of the guest, the qualities of bestowal penetrate the qualities of reception and intermix with them.

And then, working from the bottom up and climbing the spiritual ladder, we perform specifically these clarifications because every detail now contains both these forces, bestowal and reception. We separate them from each other into two lines, while we stay in the middle. And now we want to command them and connect with each other in the correct form, the middle line.

This is the way that we start working, trying to become like the Creator. But how can I do this if I don’t know Him? This is what the environment is for, in relation to which I start working on this.

Now I have both the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, the qualities of the Creator and of the creature. I have the Light that Reforms and a state that I can study by analyzing my relationship with the environment and connecting all these forces. This is the field of my work, my “laboratory.” Everything is in front of me!
[44330]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Know All Forms Of The Upper One And Conform
From Love To Hatred And Back To Love
Climbing The Steps Of Desires Toward The Creator

The Human Degree Does Not Wither

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam said that he was glad to be born in the generation when it was possible to divulge the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalah teaches us how to combine the two forces of bestowal and reception into one, how to add them to each other so their sum (Σ) becomes a “human.”

This is really a science, a wisdom. This is not easy; it is difficult. We are used to going with the flow, and suddenly another force appears, taking us somewhere. Where to?

The integration of two forces leads to a unique result. In our world that we see and feel, there are forms of the still, vegetative, and animate natures. We belong to the animate level and have not yet achieved anything higher. The human level that we begin to discover within ourselves is a spiritual degree opening a new world in front of us.

In nature, one level gives life to another. Animals feed on plants, and plants take strength from the still nature. However, the still level does not know what it means to grow, develop, live, consume and excrete, and to feel the environment. The vegetative level, in turn, does not understand what it means to be an animal, move, bear offspring, and stay in the pack, not to speak of the subtleties of existence for “developed animals,” people who live very complicated lives.

A lower degree is not able to understand a higher one; it is a completely different world. For the time being, we exist at the animate degree and are ruled by our desires. We do not understand what the human degree is. It is impossible to show or demonstrate it, just as an animal cannot demonstrate its view of the world to a plant.

Moreover, a person who has integrated the two forces, the point in the heart and the heart, the desire for pleasure and the desire to bestow, and ascended to the human degree of development cannot convey his sensation to those who have not yet reached it. It is possible to say one thing: He feels beyond all the limitations of the corporeal body because he rose to a different level. He exists in connection with all the previous levels and is nourished by them; however, he himself is on his degree.

So will we, having ascended to the human level (let us hope, as soon as possible), preserve the connection with this world, with all forms of life in it. However, in addition, we will have completely different sensations and intentions. We will feel eternity and perfection on the first spiritual degree.

Our entire problem is that we want to receive the pleasure, the upper Light, while it cannot exist in us, and it immediately disappears due to a “short circuit” when the plus and the minus cancel each other. Thus, we have to work correctly in the third line between these two forces.

We create a correct combination: We put a kind of “resistance” (R) in the middle, through which the plus and the minus operate properly. This gives us the results of their work, and we get force from them. In the language of Kabbalah, the resistance between the point in the heart and egoism is called a “screen” (Masach). Namely in this place we receive and sense a new life at the human degree, Adam.

Then, we become free from death. Every time I want to receive the Light, I cannot adapt myself to it. Pleasure with desire disappears, and I taste a bit of death. I have nothing else to enjoy, and I fall into despair. I do not want anything and retreat. In the end, a person “dries out” because of this work, and he sees that he is not successful. He begins to “fade.” The animate, vegetative, and still natures gradually decrease in him until the person dies.

However, if we understand how to unite the force of bestowal and the force of reception correctly within ourselves, the plus and the minus, we will attain a sense of life at the human degree, an eternal and perfect life.
[44836]
From Lesson 1, Convention in Spain, 6/3/2011

Related Material:
A Gift To Humanity
In The Grip Of Opposites
Unifying The Two Forces Of Nature Within