Good Environment – 07.25.11

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

A Wise Person Sees The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter the terrorist attack, this Norwegian newspaper espouses unification of all the peace-loving nations of the world, summoning all the people to unite and hold hands. That is an example of how suffering guides a person to the right thoughts.

But is it possible to aspire to unification without preliminary suffering? This is precisely the purpose of Kabbalah’s dissemination in the world—to prevent the impending suffering.
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An Umbrella For Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Truma,” Item 759: Once the Nukva was adorned—meaning built by [Partzuf] AVI [Aba ve Ima]—and ZA and Nukva returned to being PBP [Panim be Panim], that shape of man, ZA, came by craving for the Nukva. There, in the Nukva, the second man of Beria was engraved and depicted, as his form. It is written about him, “And begot a son in his own likeness, after his image.”

The Book of Zohar
talks only about what is happening in the network that connects the souls. The entire sum total of these connections between us is called “the upper world,” whose pictures are described by The Zohar, including forces, Lights, various forms and images. There is nothing more for us to imagine because this is what we are living in.

Each of us individually is a desire to enjoy, and outside of every one of us, in the connections between us there is the upper world, filled with Light. Therefore, I have to “wrap up” my will to enjoy, cover it as if in a shadow, perform a restriction on it and create a screen and reflected Light, and then to exist outside of it, in my relationships with others.

This is exactly what The Zohar talks about: which form or image I take on in relation to others. If I do this, then I reveal everything we read about in The Zohar. Otherwise I am inside of myself, in my will to enjoy, and I feel only this world.

We can perceive either inside of us or above us, outside of us. “Outside of us” means in the attitude to the neighbor, where “a neighbor” is the people with whom I want to build a connecting network. This is called “the group.” If I relate to the whole world in this way, then the group is the whole world.

While correcting my qualities, if I desire to reveal the force that founded everything, then I reveal it according to the law of equivalence of form. As soon as my connecting network with others acquires a spiritual form, a spiritual essence, the true mutual bestowal, the level of mutual guarantee even on the first stage, then inside of it, I immediately feel the Creator.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, The Zohar

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A Special Means

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Arvut ”: It is written, “You shall be My treasure from among all peoples.” This means that you will be My treasure [a special quality, Segula], and sparks of purification shall pass through you onto all the peoples and the nations of the world.

Segula is a special action by which we correct our egoistic intention to an altruistic one. I do not know exactly how this action is actualized, but it enables me to change, to acquire a second nature, to enter the next dimension, a reality that lies above my current self. And I don’t know exactly how this occurs.

That is why the exodus from Egypt is called a “miracle” and why the force of correction, the Light that reforms, which is contained in the Torah is called “a special quality”—Segula. I don’t have any idea about how it works. I only see the results, as if a certain “illumination” effuses upon me or a certain force works on me, and I become different.

Thus, even though I don’t understand how Segula works, I activate it by carrying out the conditions I am told about. “Do this,” write the Kabbalists, “And you will receive that.” I cannot trace this connection. It is not within my power. I simply know that specific actions on my part will bring about a specific reaction, although the cause and effect chain remains unclear to me. That’s because it originates from the Light, from the Giver, while I am still in the egoistic desire and do not see or feel Him. The contact with Him is still unclear to me, just as I don’t understand the mechanism of the return connection by which the Giver influences me and changes something inside of me.

That is why this kind of action is called “special.” A child has this same “special means” while playing and growing in our world. What actually causes his growth? We are so used to seeing how children develop by playing that we don’t notice how it happens. What force is activated by a child’s contact with a toy, with pictures in a book, with animals he sees, or with the cars that pass by him on the street? How do the images of the big world that he wants to come closer to, form something new inside of him? To us this is the regular routine, but in essence, this is the same “special means” at work.

A child wants to grow and is drawn to all sorts of forms of the adult world, and that’s how he really grows. Likewise, if we want to advance, we have to carry out several actions in order to activate the upper force that raises us. In a child the yearning to grow is instilled naturally, while we have freedom of choice: We have to organize an environment, the study, and ourselves, and attach the intention. That is how we develop.

Thus, “Segula” is the result of certain actions a person makes, even though he does not know exactly what he activates and how he is activated in response. With us this is expressed in our relationship with the upper Light, while in children—in their relationships with the surrounding world. The same principle operates in the interactions between the “nations of the world,” meaning all those who do not aspire to the Creator, and “Israel,” meaning those who do aspire to Him. Our relationship with the Creator is similar to their relationship to us. After all, they do not have a spark, a connection with Him, an aspiration for Him, or a desire to reveal Him. Only troubles push them to search for something better. That is why we bring them the science of Kabbalah in an adapted, accessible form.

The invitation to reveal the Creator does not say anything to them. They need a good life here and now, and nothing more. Accordingly, we reveal our message gradually to them, in the appropriate form, and they use us as a “special means,” as a “treasure from among all peoples.”

By being connected to us, they “suddenly” start acquiring forces, understanding, and desires that they did not have before. These “sparks” come from Infinity, from the Creator—through us to them. As a result, the “special quality” operates on all the levels.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut

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What Can Replace Money?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Newspapers say that the terrorist who committed a horrible crime in Norway was addicted to cruel computer games and shows about serial killers. Why don’t the people of the world understand such a small, trivial concept that modern media is creating these killers and putting psychopathic thoughts into their heads? After all, this is so clear….

Answer: The world is ruled by people who know how to earn money. They are the ones who rule the courts, the systems of education and upbringing, and the governments. And they don’t plan on “closing shop” once they make money. It’s profitable for them to create yellow press and sensations that trick people, to write about terrorists and to eavesdrop on victims of terrorist acts in order to make money off them. It’s profitable for them to produce and sell as much weaponry as possible to maintain hotbeds of wars and hostilities. And it’s profitable for them to put out “special edition” news about tragedies and catastrophes.

They don’t care about anything. Each of them wants to earn from what’s his. One produces and sells weapons, and another organizes eavesdropping and gathers materials so he can sell all kinds of information even if it is shocking and unacceptable for public disclosure.

Behind all of these occurrences stands someone’s net profit. The people who receive this profit are in control of the mass media, the government, and commerce, and as a result, our world appears the way it does.

After all, there is an enormous amount of people in the world who think exclusively about money. They don’t feel anything else. The issue here is not cynicism because a cynic realizes that there is something greater here, but looks down on it. A person who makes a profit does not look down on anything. He is just not aware of it. His range of perception is very narrow, he is entirely engulfed by one activity and nothing else exists for him.

Therefore, these people are very powerful. That’s because in essence, they have just one desire. If they need the government’s cooperation to make a profit, then they implant themselves in the government. If they need an army, they implant themselves into the army. If they need the police, they implant into the police. If they need the central newspaper to write what they want, then they buy the newspaper. Behind the scenes, everything belongs to them.

Therefore, it’s profitable for these people to have an environment with an up-to-date sensibility and pleasures that are dictated to it. Precisely these people form the public opinion, turning it toward cruelty, drugs, prostitution, terrorism, and so on. It’s not that the governments are weak compared to them, but that they act conjointly.

The issue at stake is money, and money is power. Let’s see how weak money will now prove itself to be. But what will replace it? There has to be a currency, a value, or a measure of a person’s contribution and success. What can you give people instead of “hard cash” by which they measure everything? It is the equivalent and the criterion of any efforts.

Thus, it turns out that we will need “spiritual cash”—the measure of bestowal, the measure of closeness to the Creator. This is what we will use to measure our contributions and our income, while all the material things will be reduced to bare necessity.

In order to make this transition, the world has to turn upside down. For those who hold the wheel today and stand at the head of society, the most important thing is to produce products to profit from. And they will have to fall from their Olympia, or to become corrected and accept the new “currency” as their payment.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut

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Isolated In A Unified System

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: People in the world want money, fame, and power. How do we join these desires into our dissemination work?

Answer: We tell people that they will get everything only on the condition that they unify. Nature itself shows us today that we are interconnected, and therefore, only to the extent of our unity can we succeed in anything and find a solution to any problem, be it a person himself, family, health, pension, housing, food prices, the global economy, or anything else.

There is no longer any problem that can be solved without changing our attitude to the world, without realizing its global interconnectedness. You yourself are becoming a little more global, like the world. Your perception, mind, and your way of thinking must change; you should start operating in a different mode through a program that gets repeatedly upgraded to an increasingly integrated version. You personally have to change or you won’t be able to make any correct calculation concerning children, yourself, or work; nothing will be calculated correctly.

Gradually coming into this framework, we still don’t understand where we are. Suddenly, the air grows thicker, binding us with increasingly stronger ties. And if you don’t fit in this new format, you are similar to a foreign object caught in the body. In response, the body locks it in a capsule, so to speak, isolating it. Similarly, you look the same, as something that is isolated from the world.

We are billions in the world, and we find ourselves in an integral network. We are suffering, feeling rejected and isolated within it because we are foreign to it. This applies to all, including governments, businesses, and particularly teachers. After all, they are supposed to educate humanity about the global world, to teach it unity, but they don’t understand what’s happening. The Ministry of Education today becomes the “Ministry of Failure” since it continues to use an outdated, expired program.

We find ourselves in a new binding network and we suffer not knowing what to do. Kabbalah teaches us that the world is round and that we are all interconnected. We conduct research, and yes indeed, according to the latest scientific facts, the world is integral and whole. But what can we do? We have to adjust man to fit in the system he has entered. Humanity is seriously lagging behind it.

We learn this firsthand, but scientists discover these facts experimentally from studying nature. They have the knowledge but cannot fix man. They are not aware of such a necessity due to lack of experience. We, however, through contact with Kabbalistic sources, have an opportunity to use them for man’s correction.

We just need to unite with each other.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Revived Stone

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe calculation which I made in the head of the Partzuf was as follows: You give to me and I give to You, and we are in agreement. Of course, these were spiritual actions for the sake of bestowal, but compared to what I reveal now, before Your special relationship, it looks like some petty calculation. And that is why I can’t stand this state with the screen in the “Tabur.”

I see that I did this petty calculation with regard to Him and I am ashamed. This departure from the previous state and the expulsion of the Light (Histalkut in Hebrew) is like a restriction. I cannot bear how I treated You. You treated me with such boundless love, and I counted how much it would cost me. You brought me a gift from the heart, and I looked up and said: “It’s lovely, and how much should I pay now?” Thus, I now discover Your attitude towards me in the Tabur, and therefore, I leave this state.

I see that I did nothing with respect to this absolute love! It doesn’t count that I did some part, having received for the sake of bestowal. Relative to this adhesion and the love which I felt in You, I have done nothing for You. On the contrary, I didn’t take into account that You love me so much.

Suppose that I didn’t know that, it still doesn’t matter; I must make a new calculation. I cannot say that I made a mistake because I actually had acted on another calculation, but now I see that it was wrong. Considering the relationship between us that was revealed in adhesion, the calculation now should be different, deeper, and more sensory; it shouldn’t be based on how much pleasure we gave to each other, but on feelings.

And that is why Partzuf AB is born, which is smaller than Galgalta, finer, weaker, but deeper, of Aviut (coarseness of desire) “Aleph (one).” It reveals the Light of Ruach instead of the Light of Nefesh. It is no longer dead, but growing (vegetative), that is, it is alive!

Why did it “grow up?” It grew up because by having felt the Creator’s attitude towards it, it took the property of the Creator and made a “plant” out if itself, instead of a dead stone. Thus, the desire to enjoy receives various qualities, meaning the forms of His attitude from the adhesion with the Creator, and thereby changes itself. This is a qualitative change.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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What Is Mutual Guarantee?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is mutual guarantee?

Answer: Mutual guarantee means that I act according to how I understand and feel my relationship towards others, my interconnection and interdependence with them within a single system where we are like organs in a body. There are many stages of our closeness to each other inside this system until we reach the stage where we start acting as cells in a body, when from what comes to me I take everything necessary in order to completely realize myself for the benefit of society.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that there 125 steps of our connection with each other before we reach a perfect system. Thus, we correct ourselves, our ego, and obtain the property of bestowal and love towards fellow men to its fullest. This is called a complete correction of a person, when he or she becomes global and integral within all of nature.

Thus, having built himself with all of nature tied within and thereby affecting all the lower levels (the still, vegetative, and animate), a person achieves the level of all-inclusive nature. We can call it the Upper force or Nature with a capital letter. It is then that a person feels himself eternal and perfect like the whole of nature, which has no beginning and no end, no time, movement, or space. His perception of reality changes because a person perceives himself differently: He discovers vision and perception on a new level.

Mutual guarantee can be explained with the example of the interaction between all parts of nature: between the still and vegetative, the vegetative and animate levels, how they feed and support each other. There are plenty of examples of mutual help in nature: how bees and birds help plants reproduce, how all of nature is interconnected. This is a special, very interesting science. It is simply amazing how all the parts of nature depend upon, are interconnected with, and need each other.

The easiest way to explain mutual guarantee is through the example of the work of our body parts. When I don’t feel well and go to see a doctor, he examines whether I am in balance or not, what part of my body is out of balance and isn’t working properly. This is called an “illness.” If a part cannot perform its work relative to all other parts, for example, the kidneys cannot remove toxins, the liver cannot clean the blood, or the lungs cannot provide enough oxygen, this is an “illness.” According to this, we check whether people are healthy or not.

This is how we have to check human society, whether it’s healthy or not, according to how much each receives and gives, to what extent he is in connection with other parts because he must do so for the benefit of others. And it’s everyone’s mission.

That is, each gives up his ego directed at oneself and engages all his talents for the benefit of others. What does he get out of this? He obtains the perception of a higher reality, eternal and perfect, raising him to the degree which is much higher than his current animate level.
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From the talk about a new book 7/11/2011

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ARI Research Institute Newsletter

ARI Newsletter We are in the process of preparing the first issue of the ARI Research Institute newsletter. Prospective subscribers are about 10,000 people associated with UNESCO, as well as education experts from around the world.
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Mutual Guarantee Is The Key To The New World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the principle of mutual guarantee, and what is its role in the balance of things that you are talking about?

Answer: Mutual guarantee is the principle which operates at all levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and should also be carried out at the human level in the connection between us. Studying nature, we see that all its elements are linked by one rule regarded as a “guarantee.” After all, if one part stops caring about the other, the organism will die. Everything is mutually connected, exists in homeostasis, reciprocal relationship, and exchanges nutrients and information.

As in our body, the heart, lungs,  kidneys, and all of its organs are servicing the entire organism. No organ works for itself; they are all bound together. Each of them serves the others, not itself; it takes from the body as much as is necessary for it to work for the benefit of the entire body. Other than this, it does not require anything.

How many calories,how much  information, and what certain abilities do I get? Just as much as is necessary in order for me to use all that I have to bestow to the organism in a special, form inherent to me so that I give to it what it needs. All that enters me is multiplied by my ability to render special service throughout the body, and this is what I bring out of myself. As to me, I do not keep anything for myself and only use everything to carry out my mission with respect to the entire system.

But what do I get out of it? After we start to live at this level in total harmony, in a perfect integral form, each of us earns the right to belong on a higher degree, a completely different level of existence. Then we reach a state where we do not simply dwell in a biological, protein body, but also feel the emotions and mind of the human degree.

Why is it so? In animals, the body works naturally, in the instinctive connection between them, in balance with nature. It’s because at the still, vegetative, and animate levels everything acts according to homeostasis.

But if a person enters the same integral picture of still, vegetative, and animate degrees in a harmonious, integrated form as well, he does so against his will, by doing a lot of searching, experiments, and self-analysis. He raises himself to the integral level and takes his mind and senses along. And then he studies this system from above since he attains it. After all, without attaining it, he cannot exist as an integral part, along with all other people.

Then I step out of myself and begin to experience this very system. I do not view myself apart from the others, but perceive us all as one, and this is the highest system called “Adam” or “Man,” identical to omnipotent nature. Thus, we rise to this level, not each of us individually, but all of us together in our common system. We can see how bound we are and reveal a new dimension called “Human.”

But today we have not reached the human degree since we are governed by our ego, programmed in us by nature. Hence, we are viewed as animals. Today, we cannot be regarded as humans since we don’t have anything authentically our own. We live and act instinctively, inside ourselves, within our desire to enjoy.

But when we go against our wishes and build our relationship, the mutual guarantee, we then rise to the level of the integral system, omnipotent nature. Whereas today, we act below this level.
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From the talk about a new book 7/11/2011

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