Good Environment – 06.15.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

Rising Above All The Borders That Separate Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanI hope that this convention will become a turning point. We will start treating each other more seriously; we will finally start getting closer to each other; we will stop paying attention to which country we are from or that we are opposite, different.

We must rise above all the borders that separate us. We have to form a single space, and I really believe that this will happen. We must break all the barriers. Otherwise, we won’t get to the next degree.

What kind of Machsom (the barrier) do you expect to cross if you differentiate between you and me, between this and the other, between black, white, yellow, red, and so on. This immediately places a wall in front of you.

That’s how it should be in every group. In each group, we have to rise above our ego. After all, we are simply being played with from Above. The Creator deliberately gives us this egoism from the left side, and we can’t climb it.

We always see shortcomings in others. This one is disgusting to me because he picks his nose, that one because he talks in such a way, and that one because he looks at me in a strange way. This one is fat, this one is thin, this one is arrogant, and so on. Where do we get this from?

There are thousands of reasons not to connect with others. I have no problem doing this. I’m ready to push everyone away and will find a reason to be right in every case. How can I rise above this? If we don’t do this, nothing will work.
[45358]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Dissemination Is Like Giving Birth In The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I do not feel that my spiritual progress depends on the men. How can I hasten the emergence of this feeling?

Answer: There are many women who feel self-sufficient. They are involved in dissemination, watch the lessons, and they are together with us with their heart and soul. They do not feel that they are dependent on the men. That does not matter. They are still included in our collective desire, Kli. They are nevertheless together with us.

Even if a woman is completely engaged in a particular work such as translation, processing materials, or something else, her participation covers everything because dissemination is virtually the most important application of women’s desire. It’s similar to giving birth in our world.

Thus, the participation of women in dissemination is their best action for correction. There are many women who exist somewhere separately, not in contact with others. Maybe we need more virtual contact. I am in favor of a good virtual connection. But even if a woman is on her own and takes part in dissemination, she is still in our collective aspiration to move forward. She definitely feels that and advances with us.

I have many such examples. I work with so many women on the blog, in the processing of materials, in translation, in book publishing, and in many other capacities. I value this work highly. They are loyal, trustworthy assistants, and I see their progress. Even though the women’s group is not organized well, they are advancing, and advancing well along with everybody else, at least as well as the men’s group.
[45364]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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The Light Is The Answer

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can you explain this phenomenon that urgent questions that arise today are answered by you tomorrow?

Answer: It is a very good question! I often hear about this from my students. They say that perhaps I know, that I intentionally ask someone a question and give him an answer the next day, or someone asks today and I “catch” his or her questions, and the like.

It is nothing like that. It is very simple: A question emerges in you, a desire to be filled with some information, some sensation. You become included in the group, in the lesson, and get an answer or fulfillment. In the same way, you can take my lesson from a month ago and see that I answered your question. This is only because a question has emerged in you—only because of this.

The Light is called the answer; it is all around us in unlimited quantities. Even now, we are in the world of Infinity, but we only feel its smallest, darkest part. There are many concealments around us, 125 curtains of concealment. Thus, we sense only our world.

Once a person has a desire for a more exalted state directed not inside himself but outside, he immediately begins to discover new questions and to get answers. It all depends on desire; there is nothing else.

The Light around us is at absolute rest, and you attain it. What we lack is desire. Thus, if I connect with the group, if I try to connect with the friends, I perceive their desires. Then, I acquire a larger vessel, a greater opportunity for fulfillment.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main directive of Kabbalah. This is the key tool for receiving the Light. What does “love your neighbor as yourself” mean? It means that you need to attach his desires to yourself. Then, you will have at least twice as much. In reality, it is not even twice, but multiplied by the resistance of your egoism. You will have a huge desire.

While you are connecting your friend to yourself as yourself, you have to rework all your egoism from reception, from rejection, into bestowal. You form a massive vessel. The Light will fill it right away, and you will reach spiritual attainment.

So, if I ask a question today, I can get an answer today and tomorrow; it does not matter when. Usually, it happens during the lesson when you are included in the collective desire and in the collective Light which thereby manifests around you, in the so-called Surrounding Light.
[45383]
From the 3rd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/11/11

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The Right Stimulus

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe science of Kabbalah has an interesting section about the way we perceive the universe, about how man attains the world in which he lives. Why do we feel the world precisely in this way? Is our world really the way we perceive it to be, or is it completely different? In reality, after it passes through our five senses, it acquires a specific form in our perception. We observe precisely this picture, rather than having a direct, objective perception of the actual world.

Today scientists research how the world is seen by butterflies, bees, snakes, and dogs. Every creature sees it in its own way, in different ranges, through a schema of color or scent, and so on. Every creature has its own kind of orientation in the world and sees its own picture, which differs from what others see.

So why is the picture precisely this way in our eyes? And what is it really like from the objective point of view? Can we even attain a truly objective worldview? This is what the section of Kabbalah called “Perception of Reality” talks about.

However, the most important part of Kabbalah is not the descent from above downwards from the world of Infinity into our world, but what happens afterwards. The most important thing for us is the Machsom and the subsequent path upwards. This is what we are now facing, what we now have to go through. We have to go through it in practice, not in theory, and we have to go through this path all together.

We have to implement this as fast as possible so the negative force of development won’t pressure us from behind, giving us a negative stimulus. In ancient Rome, Stimulus meant a sharp stick that was used to prick donkeys so they would move forward. Thus, it’s important for us not to feel this stimulus on our flesh, but to aspire forward ourselves, with the help of the positive force that is given to us for now.

This is essentially the reason we have gathered together. We can get together and get organized, and we can start feeling each other internally, even without physical contact. Let’s feel that by uniting with one another we become similar to the common, global nature. Then, inside of our unity, we will reveal the common field and will feel that we are rising slightly higher. This is realistic and I hope that you and I will do it.
[45526]
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Man’s Essence Is the Will to Receive

The desire [to receive, to enjoy] is the [primary, only] essence of the person.
– Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), Article No. 153, “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire

The essence of all the details in reality is no more and no less than the will to receive [the difference between all parts of creation in all the words comes only from quantitative and qualitative differences in their desire for fulfillment].
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 20

The very essence of the soul is the will to receive [pleasure, fulfillment]. And the difference we can tell between one object and another is discerned only by its will.
– Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 21
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The World Is Ready To Hear

Dr. Michael LaitmanKabbalah is the method that talks about the need to unite with each other according to the plan of Nature, the single force which controls the entire universe, all of us, all of creation. Since the days of ancient Babylon, this science has been hidden from humanity. Kabbalah only states that this teaching would be passed through a tiny “stream” from teacher to disciple for thousands of years, from ancient Babylon to the present time, until our world becomes a modern Babylon, meaning the world turns into one whole with complete interconnection regardless of borders, countries, continents, nations, races, groups, and the religions that have emerged over the course of history. Our interdependence will become so strong that it will eliminate all these barriers.

On the other hand, our egoism will remain and continue to develop. Because of this, we will hate each other even more. We will repel each other automatically; we will think only of ourselves subconsciously and instinctively. We won’t consider the others and will only use them maximally for our own profit. This will be our nature for 3700 years, Kabbalistic sources said.

We will come to enormous egoism, and it will be natural for us. We will not even realize that it is special, but only that this is us and this the manner of our life. Nonetheless, this egoism, together with our extensive integral connection and the communication that we have developed between ourselves, will eventually turn us into Babylon again.

Besides that, during the last stage of development when this huge egoistic society becomes global, we will practically deplete all the natural resources and sources of: energy, oil, coal, gas, water, minerals, and metals. Everything is coming to an end. Even if we’d like to grow our egoistic potential, it won’t be possible.

The consumer society that developed during the 20th century has exhausted itself, emptying the Earth of all resources, and as a result, we cannot continue in this life even physically. We have reached such a confrontation with each other and the environment that it forces us to do something.

Our society will become different—uncontrollable. Recently we see revolutions taking place in different countries; we see how communication and connection between people urges them to demand social change. However, we still do not understand how or why this happens: Today it is there, tomorrow it may happen here or elsewhere. We do not see where any of this leads.

In this state of confusion, not being able to understand the next stage, we see the science of Kabbalah being revealed to the world again. I remember when I studied with my teacher, we used to travel to special, Kabbalistic places and sit there together, across from each other. During those evenings and nights, he tried to tell me that the time would come when Kabbalah would be revealed.

What does “revealed” mean? “Revealed” means that it is not you who starts talking about it, but people who want to hear start coming. It depends not on you, but on the ones who will listen.

We see that this time has come because there are plenty of people from different countries, on different continents, in various languages, who want to hear what nature, the Creator, demands from us. They want to know what we should resemble, how we should change ourselves, on what level to rise, how to enter an entirely different dimension, how to perceive the general level of nature, eternity, and perfection, and to feel this here and now in our world. It is said in the science of Kabbalah that such people would appear at the end of the 20th century.

I did not really believe it: I did not see these conditions. However, at the end of the last century, thousands of people became interested in Kabbalah, subconsciously and instinctively sensing this urge thanks to their desires which had developed and reached maturity. In the next stage, a new dimension is conceived in this finally ripened egoistic desire.
[45317]
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Dr. Michael LaitmanWe do not have the slightest idea about the future world order because we have entered a system of forces which has never before manifested in our world. As nature, the Creator, approaches us, it becomes outlined more and more clearly. Thus, we must begin to reveal the upper world, meaning the system of governance by the upper force, the Light.

As this external force approaches us, as it shines on us, our society, and the world more perceptibly, more intensely, we sense our oppositeness to this force. We don’t feel the force itself, but sense our inability to settle down even a little bit.

The world has become unpredictable. People are engaged in fortune telling and even believe in miracles. How can it happen in our enlightened age? How can we suddenly begin to believe in it after the 20th century? Every year and sometimes a few times a year, we have all kinds of doomsday dates and other apocalyptic events.

In addition, we find ourselves in the rigid embrace of nature which unexpectedly generates crises of tsunami, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, fires, floods, and so on. Gradually, everything is going out of balance, out of that delicate equilibrium in which we were. That’s because we are going through a turning point. We crossed this turning point once before on a smaller social scale in ancient Babylon. The entirety of humankind was concentrated there, and even then, it discovered that it was a small, closed society.

Today, even though there are seven billion of us, we are a closed society. We suddenly “short-circuited” together; we found ourselves dependent on each other. On the other hand, we are like spouses before a divorce. We hate each other although we are still in one apartment. We should move out, we cannot be together, but common ties hold us together. This is the “shared apartment” that we find ourselves in today on Earth.

Once before, this became evident in a small territory, in Mesopotamia 3700 years ago. Then, for the first time, people began to seek out what they could do about it. On one hand, they were in the same place and in complete, total interdependence. On the other, they hated each other and strove to be as far away as possible from each other. Two opposite forces, two of the hardest tendencies were tearing the society apart. Then, in fact, two methods were suggested.

The first method was the correction of their nature. “Let us correct the egoism that separates, distances, and alienates us from each other. Then, we would win. We would become a single entity in mutual support. We would have enormous power, and we really would erect a “tower up to heaven,” the tower of mutual love, cooperation, and unity, the positive force.

Thus, they would become equal to nature because everything in nature is interconnected. All its levels—the inanimate, vegetative, and animate—always act in mutual harmony, and only a human with his egoism feels himself above nature, believing that he can do whatever he pleases. However, if he understands the laws of nature and looks for correspondence with it, for a harmonious relationship, then he would sense all of its capacity and power. He would understand and realize its purpose, its essence.

This is what was suggested by the adepts of human correction, but, unfortunately, humanity (around three million people living between the Tigris and Euphrates) chose a different path. Like spouses after a failed marriage, they decided that it would be better for them to “move out,” divide their shared apartment, and break the contract. Thus, people dispersed around the world.

Many ancient sources narrated this story. From those times we have the book on Kabbalah called The Book of Creation. We have it in our free archive, in the Russian language as well.

The book called The Great Commentary appeared after that. It also describes the events that happened in ancient Babylon and how people could not solve the problem of unity. To do this, they had to work on their egoism, to rise above it by means of a special method, and that required much more internal, moral effort than simply to physically separate from each other and do whatever everybody wanted, each in his own corner.

Josephus Flavius describes where people went, to which places. Later, all the beliefs and religions were originated by them, everything based on egoism, everything that egoism supports.
[45322]
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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A Rhetorical Question: “Whose Fault Is It?”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What has to happen so that the all of humanity will start embracing the method of correction?

Answer: Most people don’t yet understand where all the problems are coming from. It’s not about the government, unemployment, political and economic manipulations, or “backroom” intrigues. America’s pressure and cheap labor in China are merely the external side of the game, but people think that somebody in this world still has power over them, as though political leaders like Ahmadinejad, Obama, or Merkel can indeed determine anything.

What is the point in going into the streets to loudly claim something if it’s not working anyway? How many governments need to change to show us some use? We have to understand once and for all that changes may come only from Above, by the power of nature, and not by some ruler’s will. He is just the same as his people. What does he know? What can he possibly do in the global world where the well-being of every country depends on all the rest?

There is simple logic in it. There are more than 250 countries in the world. What can one prime minister do with a given country under the conditions of total interdependence? What options do they have in the common market? The global economy is governed by cruel laws, and it’s impossible to take a step to the right or left since everyone is tied to their own zone of influence. Is each nation’s leader entitled to a magic wand along with his office?

People hope for a change of power when, in fact, it’s only going to get worse, not because of certain leaders, but because they are looking in the wrong direction. People are yet to understand who is really in charge of the situation. If we don’t spread the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world, they will never know, while they will feel that it’s our fault. They are not aware of Kabbalah which we hide in our hands, but they will be pointing fingers only at us.

Then, as the era of Gog and Magog is described, the entire world will be making claims of us. First, there will be wars between the nations followed by their turning against Israel. It’s only natural since they are in conflict and have no idea what to do about it.

They will blame others until they will start to understand that everyone is in danger, everybody is desperate, but there is no salvation in anything. Where does this misfortune come from? Whose fault is it? No, it isn’t Obama’s, Ahmadinejad’s, Merkel’s or Sarcozy’s. They are not to blame; it’s only the Jews. How so? That’s how they feel.

It is a natural reaction of an anti-Semite: “It’s all your fault!” Frankly, are they that wrong? No, they aren’t. That is how it’s going to be if we don’t spread the method of correction at the right time and show the willingness to share it with the world.

We must act ahead of all their claims and be ready to respond to the world’s desire. We must apply the medicine before the illness becomes acute. Mind you, it’s not because we fear them, but because such is the will of the Creator who doesn’t want to see any people suffer.
[44343]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, “The Peace”

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Live News: Thirteen Minutes About The Most Important Thing

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe crisis that has enveloped the world was very obvious at the recent conventions we held, including the one in Italy three weeks ago and especially  the one in Madrid, Spain a week ago. There the crisis is very apparent. The masses are in disarray, and the rate of unemployment among young people is 40%. And things only get worse every day. There are demonstrations and protestors holding sit-ins on the streets, and more.

I deliberately walked around the streets there and talked to people. They don’t know what to do and are holding protests in front of government buildings. But the government also doesn’t know what to do. Everyone is confused and no one is guilty. And it’s all because we are finding ourselves facing nature’s challenge.

Work places cannot be created out of empty space. And what for? By doing that we would only exhaust the remaining natural resources even faster, ruin the soil, and pollute the environment even more. Our water and air resources will dwindle even faster. So why should we stimulate the deteriorating economy? Just to give people work? With these kinds of consequences, it’s better not to give it to them!

In Spain I appeared on the most popular TV channel during prime time. Instead of speaking for just a few minutes, which was planned according to the program, the interview lasted thirteen minutes. Can you imagine—thirteen minutes on the morning news, among reports about the most important current events! They just couldn’t put an end to the interview.

My suggestion was simple and came down to one piece of practical advice: We have to sit people down to study. They should be paid unemployment benefits (which will also be the most effective money-saving strategy) and they should be taught about what kind of world we are living in, what exists in front of us, and what kind of challenge nature is throwing at us.

This is not someone’s whim or the interests of a certain party or government leaders. This is none other than nature, which is challenging us. And the challenge is for us to change. We do not have to change anything besides ourselves.

We have to become integral and global, in conformity to the current crisis. After all, the crisis is the sensation of one’s lack of conformity with the surrounding nature. Therefore, if we correct ourselves this way, everything will become balanced out and will reach harmony. This is what people should be taught.

The interview received a widespread positive response throughout all of Spain, as well as Latin American and North America, and that’s because it really is the only sensible way to come out of the situation that has formed. And Spain is not alone. Greece, Iceland, Italy and others are in a similar situation, and there are many other countries gradually entering this crisis. And in other places the crisis is coming in different ways.

That is how nature places a clear task before us: We have to change. We have to be integral with nature just like everything else it contains—the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Man should not think that he is above nature and that he can do anything he wishes. His most important task is to consciously become an integral part of the whole.

By becoming an integral part of nature, he begins to understand what it is, and suddenly discovers new depths in it: the worlds of Assiya, Beria, Yetzira, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the world of Infinity. He no longer obstructs himself from nature with his egoism, but starts to feel nature as transparent. He finally understands and becomes aware of the forces that control everything, including himself.

This is the task we are facing today. Therefore, if we desire it and use the force of aspiration forward, which exists in many people in the world, then we really will aspire to self-correction, to the world’s revelation, to exiting from the state of dreaming, from unconsciousness. Then we will attain total equality with nature, the Creator’s level.
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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