Sensing The Invisible Network

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we think about all together, the entire world group, when we hold a Unity Day? How can we unite?

Answer: Every person has to delve into himself and there to feel the chain that connects him with others, the inner net that exists between us. Moreover, a person can be in this world or he might no longer be in it because this is a network between desires, between the souls and not the physical bodies.

Baal HaSulam and all the great Kabbalists of the past millennia are here, in this connection. They are all together with us, embedded in our common net. There are millions of us today, but in reality, there are many more because all of these souls throughout all of human history are together with us, amounting to hundreds of millions of souls. And all together they are a tremendous spiritual force.

If we wish to unite together in this net, then naturally not only will we influence each other and become part of this net so every person will acquire it for his own spiritual ascent, but we will simultaneously influence all the people in the world, who are tuned into this net involuntarily, without sensing it. We will start to awaken them.

Therefore, let’s start by reaching an agreement among us that we desire to clearly feel our common connection.
From the lecture on Unity Day, 6/26/11

Related Material:
The Place Where We Are Together
A Net Enveloping The Whole Universe
Resting In The Hands Of The Great Kabbalists

Clashes In Athens

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the news (from CNBC.com): “Demonstrators clash with riot police in front of the Greek Parliament on June 29, 2011 in Athens as lawmakers moved towards a vote on a massive austerity package demanded by international creditors.” The package calls for pay and benefit cuts and sharp tax increases.

My comment: Unfortunately, the reason for the situation in all the countries and the protests of the people is one and the same: It is a global crisis of the disparity between the society and an integral matrix which we are all “moving into.” And it does not depend on our desire—we must correspond to it.

We sense our lack of correspondence to nature as a crisis. Neither budgetary cuts nor tax increases will help us. These temporary measures are good only if in the meanwhile we educate the entire population about the global, integral world which we are now entering.
[46967]
Related Material:
One Millionaire For Every 500 People On Earth
Five Global Shocks Of The World Economy
Let’s Get Things In Order

The Revelation Of Kabbalah To The World: For Evil Or Good?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn Kabbalistic books people see the upper system that controls the world. However, by using the wisdom of Kabbalah as well as religions, people  have “sculpted” all sorts of misconceptions according to their personal taste: mystical teachings, philosophies, and other theories studied in universities. Papers on demonology and wizardry are submitted in philosophy courses.

By borrowing Kabbalistic names and terms but not the essence, people only confused themselves, thinking that they understand what was being discussed. This includes anti-Semites who formed an entire structure using an unsound foundation. People from Hitler’s faction studied these questions closely, trying to prove that by destroying Jews they can destroy all evil in the world. This is why Baal HaSulam writes in his article “Messiah’s Horn” that premature disclosure of Kabbalah caused disasters for Israel.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. All culture in the world is based on religion. Some 200 years ago there were no “regular” books, music, or art; everything revolved around faith. If the wisdom of Kabbalah hadn’t revealed itself to the world in different forms, humanity would still be at that stage. And really, where else can development come from? Man can’t develop by himself.

But leaking Kabbalistic knowledge caused humanity to “flourish” and develop a rash of faulty beliefs. This brought a lot of disaster to Israel.

Question: But Baal HaSulam also writes that Kabbalah was revealed according to the Creator’s will. So how does one combine these things?

Answer: Certainly, everything happens according to His will. He established an absolute law to which you have to conform or else you are heading down a bad path. And the difference between these two paths is in you, not the Creator. There are no changes on His part whatsoever. You feel His attitude as bad only because you are bad.

The revelation of Kabbalah to the world did a lot of damage to the nation of Israel. But if they had acted differently, better, Kabbalah wouldn’t have been revealed to the nations of the world, and they wouldn’t be treating Israel this way. After all, the hearts of the rulers are in the hands of the Creator.

Everything in the world happens in relation to those who have a point of choice. But if a person doesn’t have this point, he cannot do anything, and he is pushed forward by collective suffering.
[46875]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/2011, “Messiah’s Horn”

Related Material:
A Rhetorical Question: “Whose Fault Is It”?
Hatred Against Jews
Lever For The Ascent Into The Upper World

Black Letters On White Background

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Inner Reflection,” Item 32: The thing is that the Otiot (letters) of the four-letter Name (Yod-Key-Vav-Key) do not imply and indicate the amount of Ohr (Light) in Ein Sof (Infinity). Instead, they indicate measurement of the impact on the Kli (vessel). The white in the parchment of the scroll of Torah implies the Ohr, and the black, being the Otiot in the scroll of Torah, indicates the quality of the Kelim (vessels).

When Baal HaSulam talks about white and black colors in the book, he does not mean physical paper and ink, or parchment made of animal skin. He talks about how and where we reveal the fourth phase “Dalet” (the last phase, corresponding to the external Kli, “skin”).

I take the “animal skin,” meaning my animate nature, its final fourth stage, and divide it, slice it into two parts, tearing the inner from the outer layer. Then, from the inner layer of the skin, “parchment” is made, on which I can write letters.

This is my final stage, which I still can correct. The outermost layer of desire remaining after this separation is impossible for me to correct. Thus, light and darkness within the creature are revealed at the most perfect degree. Nothing more is possible!

The big revelation of the Light will take place only at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun) where we discover that there are no letters and no parchment, and it is possible to correct all the “skin”: the whole Malchut is included in correction. Then, the letters disappear, and it turns out that “He and His name are One.”

Malchut and Bina are fully connected and reach the degree of Keter, as it is said: “And they both will go together.” That is why the letters, originating from the Sefirot ZAT de Bina (the lower half of Bina) and below it, disappear. There is no more difference between white and black.

The Torah is given to us only until the end of correction. After that, this method is no longer needed. If we finish the correction, we do not need the Torah (the Light that Reforms). We will be in another, new state.
[46804]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/31/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
The Iron Rules Of Spiritual Grammar
The Contours Of Spiritual Combinations
Living Each Letter Of Your Sacred Text

Serving The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should the nation of Israel living on the material level of this world participate in the general correction?

Answer: Together with correcting the spiritual Israel, we have to correct its material “hypostasis.” It is the result of the reincarnation of the souls of Israel, whereas the spiritual Israel is all those who have a point in the heart, a spiritual aspiration by which they join the process.

The difference between them lies in what they are drawn to: a person with a point in the heart is drawn to spirituality, whereas a person who does not have this point is not. Still, if a person without a point in the heart belongs to the nation of Israel (Yashar Kel, meaning those aimed straight to the Creator), then he is obligated to work on correction.

True, there is a principle stating that there is no coercion on the spiritual path. But nevertheless, this obligation is incumbent on Israel. The Torah says, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” And the time has come.

Of course, the responsibility of those members of Israel who have a point in the heart is different from the responsibility of those who do not have this point, who have not been awakened yet. However, this obligation is incumbent on everyone, and the external pressure of AHP, the nations of the world, is aimed precisely at making Galgalta ve Eynaim correct themselves. This pressure will only keep growing. The more we fall behind, the more AHP wants because egoism constantly grows and becomes more and more empty. That is why the pressure on Galgalta ve Eynaim will become stronger. That is how the nations indirectly incite Israel to accelerate its correction.

Therefore, people with a point in the heart, meaning the spiritual Israel, and just the Jews, the material Israel, have to actualize the correction upon themselves and attract the Light for AHP. You can’t do anything to change this fact because we are talking about a single vessel whose parts are interconnected in this way.

Question: Does this mean that two processes have to occur simultaneously?

Answer: I don’t see two processes occurring here. At the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes about two parts of Israel: the internal and the external. The inner part are “the workers of the Creator,” those who desire to serve Him. They also divide into two parts: the inner part, those who wish to attain the intention for the sake of bestowal, and the external part, which makes material actions. Besides them, Israel also includes people who don’t know anything and aren’t interested in anything.

Similarly, the nations of the world also include two parts. The inner part wants to join us and belongs to Israel, even though it is called “Israel in the nations of the world.” And the external part is indifferent to this and feels only the troubles of this world. But we also have to awaken these people, so they will at least avoid making great mistakes in the future and will save themselves from annihilation and grave problems. That is how they join us.

In the end, correction is intended precisely for this external part—AHP. They are the goal of creation. The top priority is the will to enjoy, while Israel is not the goal of creation, but just its correction.

This is what our entire work has to be aimed at: correcting ourselves in order to bring correction to the world. This is the meaning of “a kingdom of priests.” We are servants, we serve the world.
From the lesson on 5/13/11, “A Discourse On Wisdom” by Ramchal

Related Material:
The Revelation Of Kabbalah To The World: For Evil Or Good?
The Connecting Link
A Rhetorical Question: “Whose Fault Is It?”

My Interview With EFE News In Moscow

Dr. Michael LaitmanMy interview with the EFE News Agency in Moscow was published on a number of international portals worldwide. EFE is the leading Spanish language news agency and the fourth largest news agency in the world.

Moscow, June 16 (EFE). Dr. Michael Laitman, scientist and teacher of the ancient wisdom of Kabbalah, today brought some 2,000 people to the Russian capital.

“We have about 70,000 Russian-speaking students in our International Academy of Kabbalah, including those living in China, Japan, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe,” Laitman told EFE.

Born in Vitebsk (Belarus), the founder of the International Academy of Kabbalah “Bnei Baruch” maintains a strong link with Russian culture, present throughout the former Soviet Union.

Professor of ontology and epistemology, with a Master’s degree in bio-cybernetics, and author of more than 40 books, Laitman promotes a major change in the consciousness of humanity.

The Academy founded by Laitman, with 2 million students around the world, treats the current crisis as an economic and financial phenomenon, but above all, as a moral collapse with cultural and social repercussions on all of humanity.

“This crisis is not a negative phenomenon, but a turning point for us to reach a higher level in our development as a civilization,” he explains.

In a globalized world and a global crisis, Laitman insists that humanity should “aspire to unity and harmony to meet the challenges of the historic moment” and find a “global and comprehensive solution.”

“Instead of demonstrating in the streets, as in Spain,” Laitman says, people should “begin to study, prepare for the new integrated world.” Meanwhile, the political and economic powers “should provide people with a minimum wage.”

Laitman describes himself as a scientist, “a realist,” not a mystic. He is convinced that his ideas are not utopian and can become a reality. EFE

International portals that published the interview include: Yahoo USA/International, Univision (the largest Spanish-language television network in the US), Terra International Portal, a number of sites in Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, and others.
[46029]

Related Material:
The Russian Press About The Moscow Convention
Live News: Thirteen Minutes About The Most Important Thing
Interview For The EFE News Agency

No Man’s Land

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We speak a lot about Lights and vessels but rarely examine the point of one’s own “I” that lies between them. What does it represent?

Answer: The “I” merely exists as my point of choice and no more than that. Everything else connects to it when it receives the desires of the others and fulfillment from the Creator. This point is like a pointer on a scale, the moment of choice, the section, the middle third of Tifferet. It doesn’t pertain to anything: neither reception nor bestowal.

The upper third of Tifferet pertains to the upper one, the qualities of the Creator, and the lower third pertains to the receiving desire, the creature. And there is literally nothing in the middle; it is a no man’s land.

Question: So what is there? After all, isn’t the choice realized according to certain criteria?

Answer: Once you get there, you will understand that this point is literally “hanging in the air.” You grow into a spiritual person out of this point; it is the initial point which exists in the middle, between the Light (existence from existence) and the desire (existence from absence). It is the miracle of creation.

We reach this point when we begin to connect to it all the desires and the Lights. Then as I act above these Lights and desires, I attain the point from which I act. It does not come from the Light or the vessel, but from the Creator’s essence.
[46763]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Related Material:
Freedom Is Born From Love
From Separation To Unity
Let The Donkey Work For The Human

My “I” Section

Dr. Michael LaitmanBy becoming a giver I become like Zeir Anpin who fills Malchut and receive double from the upper one, from Bina: for myself and for the others. I become filled above the desires of others that are being revealed; I receive everyone’s needs, an infinite spiritual desire. This is my vessel.

My  I Section_1

But I myself am like Zeir Anpin, just a point that connects Bina and this desire. I am the section between them. However, I only see it as a section now. This is because the lower ones have the desire and the upper one has the Lights. Thus the “section” is my intention. I expand my point through their desires and His Lights, by “consuming” all Lights and desires.

This gives birth to a new vessel which did not exist before. And all I had was a point, a preliminary foundation, a needle’s eye which we use to enter the new world, the vessel of infinity.

On its own, the receiving desire is not a vessel, and the Light is just the Light. When I discover the world of Infinity, which supposedly has also existed before, or return to the third (also the initial) state, I reveal a new vessel that is 620 times greater than the previous one. This is because I have acquired both the Lights and desires myself. Now my vessel is 620 times greater. It’s me.
[46771]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Related Material:
Living In Others
Freedom Is Born From Love
Kindling The Spark Of Light

Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 13

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

The Superiority of Man to the Beast

Man’s advantage over animals is that he can aim at a remote goal, meaning to agree to a certain amount of current pain, out of choice of future benefit or pleasure, to be attained after some time.
– Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom

And man’s pre-eminence over all animals is that our minds are developed to such an extent that all the body’s events are depicted in our brains as images that we experience as concepts and rationalities. Thus, the mind and all its deductions are but products that extend from the events of the body.
– Baal HaSulam, “Body and Soul
[46255]

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 12
Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 11
Kabbalists On The Nature Of Man And The Nature Of The Creator, Part 10

The Root Of Darkness

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1, “Table of Questions and Answers on the Meaning of the Words“: Question 17. What is Darkness.

Behina Dalet (the fourth phase) in the Ratzon (desire), which does not receive the Ohr Elyon (the upper Light) inside her due to the Tzimtzum (restriction), is regarded as the Shoresh (root) of the darkness.

This is in spite of the fact that the Tzimtzum (restriction) in the fourth phase occurred at its own will. The fourth phase overcame its own desire to receive and began to want to be like the Creator, according to its free choice.

Of course, it cannot be said that it was completely free if it felt such horrible suffering. This wasn’t because it didn’t have the Light; it had all the Light of Infinity. But even so, it felt bad because of the reception.

Then it decided that filling itself with the Light in the fourth phase meant complete darkness. From this moment onward, this is what “darkness” means. That is, if I receive for myself from the Host, the Creator, and feel that I am the receiver; if I am enjoying not only what I’m receiving, but also the fact that I’m receiving from Him because of His love and good attitude towards me, meaning that I get both His attitude and the pleasure itself (otherwise, it would be the first phase), then I decide that it is complete darkness to me.

In reality, nothing changes. It is said that the Light is leaving, but the Light isn’t going in or out at any point. It only depends on how I treat my state, thinking that I’m in darkness.

One second ago, I was in my best state and happy about everything: the Host and the refreshments. I was getting pleasure from closeness to the Creator and could receive pleasure from everything He has. Suddenly, in the very same state, I begin to discover the contrast between us, meaning that I understand that there is another condition, equivalence of form between my qualities and His. Then, I decide that my state is complete darkness and nothing is worse than this.

From this moment onward, this decision made at a higher degree spreads over all the lower degrees, being the root of darkness in our world as well. Darkness is a feeling that I’m opposite to the Creator, that I’m the receiver, and He is the Giver.
[46729]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
From The Garden Of Eden And Back Again
Shame That Is An Exalted Sensation
Shame Brings Us Closer to the Creator