The Zohar Is For All Humanity

Dr. Michael Laitman with studentsQuestion: What is the significance of The Book of Zohar in the process of global integral education? Is The Zohar’s revelation in our generation a remedy for the crisis, or does it accelerate this process? What precedes it?

Answer: First of all, it’s very important for us to read The Zohar for a half an hour in our daily lessons. This is how it was with Rabash, which is why I keep to the same “dose,”except we read The Zohar in the morning hours, rather than the evening, which is even more effective.

We are also preparing a book called The Zohar for All, meaning for those who wish to join us, who understand that by reading this book we draw the Light that helps us to unite and that only by virtue of this Light can we achieve real unity between people.

That’s why we all must read this book. After all, The Zohar speaks only of our corrected connection, of our corrected inner system of all humankind, in which we will all unite in thought and feeling, achieve one desire, one thought, and thereby discover ourselves at the degree of Human, similar to the Creator, the upper world, the higher life.

That is why I am confident that our efforts to prepare The Zohar for All will not be in vain, that a time will come when it will be read and used by the masses. Just as we’re reading The Zohar today, this book will be read by external people in various ways, such as on the Internet or through social sites. Indeed, The Zohar is the source of the Light that returns to goodness, and it can be drawn on all levels. And returning to the source or goodness means returning to the state before the breaking, namely to the state of unity between us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/2011, The Zohar

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Billionaires Fear Starvation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it really necessary to have a very strong blow to change people’s perception and their view of economy and “fair distribution”?

Answer: The blow does not necessarily need to be as devastating as a war; it can be a collapse of the stock exchange or something like that. When a serious economic problem happens, it does more than remove the “extra layer of fat” from the very rich. For them it will appear as the disappearance of several zeroes from their bank account, but for a little person it is the number of pieces of bread on their table. This is why economic problems hit all and make everyone more sensitive.

However, it is not easy at all for a capitalist to lose his billions. After all, economy is not just numbers—it is a sphere of feelings. Let’s say I had forty billion, and now twenty remain, but I already fear for my bread! I will fear that I will have nothing to eat tomorrow.

You would think, what do I have to be afraid of when I have twenty billion in the bank, when others do not even have twenty dollars? But this doesn’t matter; a person starts panicking. He doesn’t feel that he has lost twenty billion and that he has another twenty left. Fear that he will be completely poor tomorrow takes over him.

This is why everyone panics in the face of economic problems. And then it can be explained to everyone, without exception, what is happening.

Obviously, it is not enough to simply provide a normal standard of living for everyone by giving them money to get them to calm down. All of this has to go hand in hand with education. But people will only agree to be educated once they are hit a little. When things are still all right with them, and there is soccer on the weekends, a wedding to attend tomorrow, and a vacation the following week, people will say that they don’t need any education.

There are people who do not need more than a little bit of bread and fruit and to spend the weekend with their family on the beach. People are happy leading their simple lives. This is why blows will be necessary to make them listen a little. Then it will be possible to start educating.

But the key is to create a system of explanation that will clarify the way all systems operate. We need to explain that nature has a program and we do not have a choice, and we need to provide the necessary knowledge about evolution, economics, and human nature. This is the very first part that needs to be realized.

The second part is the creation of an education system that teaches how we can correct and cultivate new relationships in society and connect with each other. In other words, the process is divided into two parts: enlightenment (acquiring knowledge about the new world) and education (teaching about living in it). And after that we move on to practical realization, specific actions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Entire World Inside A Drop Of Reshimo

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Man’s inner changes depend on the Reshimo (the informational gene). Is it what the new economics must take into consideration?

Answer: The Reshimo is a complete image of the entire reality that has not yet been revealed to us. Naturally, everything is contained in it, and as it becomes revealed, I begin to feel with increasing intensity as if I exist in a new world and in new conditions. However, “new conditions” primarily refer to new forces and formulas. The connection changes between the Direct and the Reflected Lights, between two vessels: an internal and an external one, as well as the screen between them.

Question: Manuel Castells, a famous sociologist, believes that we have lost control over the network of interconnections we ourselves have created, and now there is nothing else left for us to do but sit and hope for the best. Scientists lack the parameters that define inner changes in people. Is it possible to find this parameter and use it to predict what people will be like at the next stage?

Answer: Of course it is. We diffuse uncertainty with the strength of our unity. We can make more precise calculations when we advance in quality instead of quantity. Our Gematria calculations become increasingly more detailed, complicated, and reliable until we reveal the entire reality and build an ideal economy.

We complete one another in this kind of economic system, and every person, being in his place, receives absolute fulfillment as well as fulfills others. Such is the ideal system where everyone is balanced like cells of one body. The formula that describes this system is Malchut of the world of Infinity, the principle of love thy neighbor as thyself. Every person gives everything he can, helps everyone else in every way possible, and receives according to his needs from everyone else with love.

Question: This means that the macro factors of the system as a whole come to the fore in the new economy and not the relations between people?

Answer: The general picture is already becoming clear, but its individual traits are not yet apparent. Naturally, the relations between people pose a problem on the way towards the goal during the period of correction. I think it is here that people need to be stimulated. If previously monetary gain was the stimulus, now a new criterion of advancement needs to be found. We should award people, honor them publicly, make children proud to have such wonderful parents, and so on.

Question: Does this mean that the measure of success will be honor and social respect instead of money?

Answer: It is hard to say. There is a possibility of a very severe crisis that will force us to build the entire society from scratch. Then there will be no other choice but to give people a certain amount per month in order to support the necessary production in the conditions of a broken industry.

Essentially, this will not be as much of a crisis as a renewal, a bloodless transition. But people really need to be shaken up in order to feel themselves in danger and to be able to change their view of things, make a switch, agree to new frameworks, and enter a new life.

Naturally, there will be a discussion before this happens. First of all, we need to prove that this is necessary and inevitable, that we won’t be able to live as before, that the universal tendency has become clear, and that the entire problem lies in the actual transition into the new state. People will gather from both ends of the economic scale towards a certain middle ground one little step at a time, according to a select program. Nevertheless, it is the  economy that reveals the details to us today, which are closest to the inner network of our interconnection.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Epoch Of Irrationality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Previously it was considered that the economy was driven by “rational egoism.” Later, this model was proven wrong. It turned out that man is irrational and represents an unknown dimension in the science of economics.

Answer: Namely this specific “human element” that cannot be measured prevents economics from being a precise science. We cannot weigh, classify, and sort it according to specific criterion.

In the future, this element will bring us a multitude of problems. It will invalidate even simple mechanical calculations since we perceive mechanics in our mind and desires as well. It does not exist on its own. Suddenly, one plus one will not equal two. You would think, how can that be? After all, it is just a machine that operates according to precise laws. Still, calculations will not correspond to reality.

Why is that? It is because I have changed internally, and I now discover that I can no longer continue making calculations according to the usual Newtonian mechanics or Einstein’s theory. As a life example, recently, scientists have discovered that micro particles move faster than the speed of light. In this same way, not only will the economy fall victim to the human element, but so will disciplines that at first sight have nothing to do with our inner world.

Axioms will suddenly lose their immutability. This is because we reveal the world within the qualities of our own nature, and when it changes, the world changes with it.

We will make a familiar calculation one more time, and it will suddenly fail to correspond to the facts. A car engine will not live up to its horse power. Actual matter will suddenly lose its innate qualities.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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Profit Isn’t Just Money

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When talking about the economic crisis, we might possibly have to explain the new goal to people. After all, the goal of modern economics is to generate profits.

Answer: We also want profits. Moreover, we want endless profits. The goal of creation is to bring pleasure to the creatures, to guide them to good and tranquility.

In reality, economic success nowadays is not determined so much by money, but more by a variety of factors and values that have a monetary equivalent, such as power, health, unemployment, pensions, children, birth and death rates, conflicts, and welfare. There are a lot of calculations. In essence, economics encapsulates the whole of human nature.

However, there are things in it that we can’t measure. That’s why the crisis has come: to make us want, to demand a correct change. For this to happen, we need to advance to new economics. Using screens, I will consider all of reality and will include it in the economic system.

Question: What will be considered a profit in the new economics?

Answer: It will be fulfillment. How much I’ve got in my pocket and in my soul, how much my relatives, my nation, and everyone in the world have, all of it together constitutes fulfillment. It’s as if I’m stretched over the entire world, and the entire world is important to me.

Today it’s more pleasurable to me, let’s say, to make a salary of ten thousand dollars working with you than to make twenty thousand working with someone else. How can my profit be measured? In this case, money doesn’t reflect the real situation.

As another example, I prefer working with those who make ten thousand if I, myself, make eleven. This is incomparably better to me than to make twenty thousand while surrounded by colleagues with salaries of thirty thousand. So, what is my profit then? Go figure.

These questions are raised by behavioral economics, which show that people aren’t guided by rational criteria. For example, a person is ready to refuse a large sum of money if he knows that someone else will receive twice that amount. The scientists know about this, but they don’t know what to do about it. Baal HaSulam’s article “Peace in the World” can help us here.

Question: The true goal of economics is the feeling of material well-being, security. The welfare of the country and of the individual depends on the degree to which citizens feel happy. Will humankind’s attempts in this direction succeed?

Answer: Let them try. The quicker they have tried everything, the better. People haven’t got that many solutions left anyway.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Festive Calendar Of Ascent And Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the inner meaning of the holidays, of all the symbols that Kabbalists gave us: Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)? Do they symbolize some special connections between us?

Answer: These are connections, but between the souls on high spiritual levels. The souls raise a prayer (MAN) to connect and to reach mutual bestowal, and from the mutual bestowal, their common vessel, they have an opportunity to bestow upon the Light, upon the Creator. These souls connect in Malchut of the world of Atzilut, and then in their prayer they determine to what extent they compel Malchut of the world of Atzilut to rise together with Zeir Anpin: either to YESHSUT or to Aba ve Ima, or that YESHSUT together with Aba ve Ima will rise to Arich Anpin, which in itself consists of many steps.

The ascent from Aba ve Ima to the head of Arich Anpin constitutes the essence of all holidays, Sabbaths, and the beginnings of the month (Rosh Hodesh). Even every weekday is a certain ascent of the souls with regard to ZON of the world of Atzilut. All the holidays, festivals, and special years (like Shmita [Sabbatical Year] and Jubilee) are special degrees that symbolize to what extent I compel ZON to rise upward and pass down on me the Surrounding Light so that I can bring about the general connection and create a corrected vessel.

Some ascents take place according to a plan from Above for the souls that need correction. And some take place due to a prayer raised from below.

Similarly, we too assemble in conventions and large gatherings, which allows us to feel as if we rise above our ordinary level. There are cases when this ascent occurs on its own, and we don’t know where it comes from. Suddenly our condition becomes more illuminated, more pleasant, and spirituality becomes more esteemed in our eyes. Similar ascents also occur on the spiritual ladder.

If you want to know the exact meaning of every holiday, you can refer directly to the Ari’s Beit Sha’ar HaKavanot (The Gate of Intentions) or to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 15 by Baal HaSulam. Beit Sha’ar HaKavanot explains every holiday in great length, but in a very dry Kabbalistic language: ZON rise to Aba ve Ima and Aba ve Ima to Arich Anpin and describes the finest details of every ascent. This is because every ascent, even the smallest one, is a whole world by itself. At this height, every minor difference between the levels leads to an immense addition of the Light.

At the end of all the holidays and ascents we reach the end of correction. Then all the holidays are annulled except for Purim because it symbolizes the end of correction—all the Light fills the entire vessel completely.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/2011, Shamati #85

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Cursory Thoughts On Shamati, “What Is The Greatness Of The Creator”

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe attain the Creator depending upon how much we exalt Him and how important we deem Him to be. What does “Him” mean? The universal quality of bestowal.
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From the 6th lesson at the Toronto Convention 9/18/11

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.12.11

Writings of Rabash “For Sukkot”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” “A Breast Piece and an Ephod,” Item 189, Lesson 9
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 6, Chapter 15, Question 187, Lesson 11
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 148, Lesson 65
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Writings of Baal HaSulam Peace in the World,” “In the Absence of the Ability to Establish the Attribute of Truth, They Tried to Establish the Noble Attributes,” line: “Start quarrels,” start with: “And from here emerged the attribute…,” Lesson 6
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