Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.13.11

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Born To Become Human

Dr. Michael LaitmanMan (Adam) means “similar” (Domeh) to the first nine Sefirot, meaning nature, the Creator. Such people gather into a group to begin their work.

At first, this work does not inspire us. We feel like it is a compulsory and unnecessary responsibility. Then we begin to become inspired by it. However, at the same time, one always needs to try to walk on two feet, like on two rails, head and heart, mind and feeling.

Essentially, everything comes out of the first and last points of our journey. At the first point, we are in a state of adhesion with the Creator because of His force because this is the way He created us and rules over us. However, at the last point, we must attain the same adhesion on our own, which means to become equal to him in all our qualities. This is our objective.

The group, our world, and this entire life are just the means to attain it. Everything that happens to me every single moment is given to me in order to reveal that my current self, my group, and my entire environment, all causes and consequences, are just an aid. They are like the three preliminary phases of the direct Light, until the development reaches the fourth phase, meaning us. In order to reach adhesion to the source, the Creator, I must view all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature as the means given to assist me with this aim.

The group and my entire life, the entire universe, everything that surrounds me are only given so that I would be able to reach adhesion to the Creator. If I organize every moment this way over the course of my life, I absolutely will be able to complete the entire program of creation.

Rabash writes in “The Purpose of Society” that the people who gather into a group feel how their points in the heart demand them to become human (Adam), that is, similar to the Creator. This is what man was created for. This is his main purpose, and everything else is just the means for realizing it.

The only way to realize it is through the fear of pointlessly losing even a moment of your life. For this, I need the influence of the environment that will show me how important and high the purpose is so that I would be afraid of failing to attain it. Then I will realize it correctly through envy, lust, and ambition.

The Creator helps me advance toward the goal every moment if I properly connect myself to the group and Him inside the group, striving to reveal Him. The goal is to reveal Him through the similarity of our qualities so that I would be more and more like Him, which is to say to become more human. To be human means to be like Him.

The more persistent I am in trying to do this, the more spoiled qualities and desires He reveals to me. I must not forget even for a moment that all of this is revealed to me only for the purpose of correction, becoming similar to the Creator. It turns out that it is even a good thing that I become confused and forget about connecting with the group and the Creator.

I reveal this in new desires and feel myself deviate off the path every time. In this way, the Creator awakens desires and thoughts in my heart and mind that are not directed straight to Him so that I would direct them on my own, that is, would bring them to unity. There is nothing else for me to do in life besides this. In this way, I correct myself.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Point Of Unity: Why Not And When Yes?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why wasn’t I able to connect to the feeling of the point of unity at this convention? Why is this sensation still hidden? How can I support it if I don’t feel it?

Answer: Certainly, many of our friends have not been able to feel this point of unity yet. In any case, this first of all depends on time. There is a category of time in our world, and nothing can be done about it. A person can’t come today and enter this feeling tomorrow. He has to go through various states, to experience them. A person has to be inside of our group for some time and advance the same way we did some time ago. This is first.

Second, a person has to be properly prepared for the convention. We were getting ready by uniting in the desert as well as working hard preparing for the convention technically. We began the work in August in order to prepare all the necessary technical equipment, events, study materials, and programs.

Everything depends on a person. If he was interested in participating with us, even as a “little one,” he would reach the state where he would feel the same as we to some extent. The majority of the participants, including women who joined this sensation, felt it. This is the first convention where we were able to reach the point of unity.

What should a person who didn’t feel it do? Read, study, and disseminate. It’s desirable to go over the convention materials a few times: lectures, all activities, gatherings, discussions, the opening ceremony, and dancing. There are about 100 hours of video recordings; we need to continue taking little tastes of it, watching little bits of it each day.

In addition, starting from today and on, it’s necessary to start preparation for the next convention in the desert that will take place in a couple of months. It doesn’t matter where a person is located and where he will be physically at that time. The main thing is to prepare oneself for the connection with others. This connection is a virtual one; it’s not located in some physical place that one would have to watch from afar.

I didn’t dance in the convention hall, but that didn’t prevent me from being connected to those who were. Certainly, contact helps, but the time will come when we won’t need it.
[62844]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/2011, The Zohar

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Introductory Lecture “The Principles of Spirituality” – 12.13.11

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “The Principles of Spirituality”
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The Point Of Unity Is On The Machsom

Convention at the Arava DesertQuestion: What is the point of unity that we reached at the convention? Could you describe it in more detail? Where is it with respect to the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality)? How is it felt? How do people recognize feeling it? How do they determine that they hold on to it?

Answer: This point is located on the Machsom itself. This point is the unity between our world group consisting of thousands of people who are interconnected, want to be tied together, and try to connect with each other in all possible kinds of relations. The goal of our connection is to reach mutual bestowal called “mutual guarantee.”

We are ready to support and think about each other and to take care of the common Kli among us. That is, we are ready to strengthen each other and want everyone to awaken. There is no competition or rivalry here, when I would want to become stronger at the expense of others and not think about them. On the contrary, I want for all of us to become stronger, and for my friends, who in this case become as my children to me, to feel the result of my efforts first.

With respect to the group, I have to feel myself in the following three states:

  1. I take care of them as if they were the lower ones, like a mother takes care of her children or the Creator takes care of the creatures.
  2. I relate to them as to the greater ones, considering them the greatest people of the generation. I’m ready to serve them and do everything for them in order to get the greatness of the goal and strength from them.
  3. I want to be their friend, their equal, neither higher nor lower, and for all of us to unite in one “embrace.”

In this “embrace,” we reach a fusion of our desires. From these three relations toward the other, each of us and all of us together reach one desire, one thought, and want the Creator to fill us.

But here, we then discover that we’re not connected enough. There is still something with which we need to connect. Then we demand  for the Light that reforms to unite and then fill us. This is what our work is about.
[62847]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/11/2011, The Zohar

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the lesson you said that right now the main thing for your students is to grow the feeling born between them (the common desire towards the quality of mutual bestowal), which already exists independently from them on its own, like a newborn who has separated from his mother. What should our next actions be like?

Answer: Now we only need to strive to grow the newborn desire by using the egoism that has appeared in us. We should add it to our common connection and thereby strengthen it, like an athlete who becomes stronger through using the resistance of sports equipment.

Question: Since the connection is realized by the male part of our world group, how does the female part participate in it?

Answer: The female part supports the men in this, obligates, reinforces, and reassures them. It also actively engages in the dissemination of the idea of mutual guarantee, the integrated connection of all of humanity, for the 99%, meaning the general public.
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Business In The Integral World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe world economy stands on the verge of global changes, which essentially boil down to the inevitable, deep, and permanent reduction in demand. This means that industrial capacities producing non-essential items gradually will be shut down. First this will hit weak businesses that have low competitiveness in quality, productivity, and innovation.

The main change that is required is to reject the profit motive, which is the objective of business. Profit will continue to play a role in the functioning of the business, but it will cease to be important in and of itself. What matters is its mission, the purpose it serves.

Today, profit is the main thing in any industry and any method is used to attain it. The profits are used to fulfill the desires of a narrow group of people.

Profit should result from effective economic and industrial activity, serve as a measure of its effectiveness, but be directed at raising every member of society above the poverty level. At the same time, businesses and society must see that the profits of each enterprise be allocated to raise living standards to the level required for existence, as necessary for the survival of society under new conditions.

Of course, shareholders are entitled to receive their share of the profit, but they will strive to develop the enterprises necessary for society. Their investments will be recorded in their personal accounts, and society and public opinion will support them. A percentage of profit and investments should be in the development of integral education and upbringing of the managers, shareholders, and employees of the company because a successful business and its correct public distribution depends mainly on them.

In the integral world, only new business working relationships can fit. The company’s staff is a mechanism of control, and the principle “supervisor-subordinate” relationship will continue to exist, but only within a system of friendly relationships, in unity, striving for a common goal within the company, country, and the world.

Thus, the main objective of entrepreneurs will be to engage millions of people in the creation of a common future: the society of mutual guarantee. Due to mandatory integral education and upbringing, everyone who builds his work on these values will achieve correct results. The formation and development of the value base of employees should become the key priority for entrepreneurs.

Since the motivation of man will cease to be based on material factors, due to the support from the community that provides everything necessary for existence, society must find new methods to motivate people to work effectively, such as the desire for leadership to the benefit of society, public recognition, and so on. No enterprise will be able to become part of the new global economic system if it does not pass through inner spiritual renewal, transformation, and accepts new basic values.
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Separated Under A Stream Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we speak about love of others, it seems trivial to most people. How can we convey our message to them?

Answer: Don’t talk to them about love of others. Instead, explain the laws of the integral system that demand a stronger mutual connection between us. The separation in humanity is growing and so is the need for connection. This is why we feel worse and worse.

These are simple things that can be presented by a linear diagram. Every day, we need to increase the connection between us. By 6,000 years, we will have to unite all of our desires. Today, we are being required to connect at a certain level, let’s say, X2. In the year 2012, the requirement will rise to the level of X3. If we don’t reach this level, we will experience suffering according to our incompatibility with nature.

 

Today, we experience a crisis, a fall, and it is perfectly natural. However, we can reverse the trend if we raise our level of unity. If we do that, we will feel a rise instead of a fall. It all depends on us.

We have the wisdom of Kabbalah that was meant to develop the recognition of evil in us. Indeed, the more we lag behind, the more separated we become. The Light increases, while we are more detached and disconnected, and this makes us feel worse and worse.

The Light lets us feel the global and integral world that is mutually connected in all of its parts. Accordingly, we gradually feel that we are becoming more and more opposite to the integral world. So, we are not speaking about love, but about the laws of nature, about its development.

After the December convention, we will see that the world will be deteriorating much faster. On our part, we will be able to hasten the development in a positive way, and we must make every effort to achieve that.
[62073]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Psychology Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanAt the lessons, among other things, we learn about the structure and the interconnection of the spiritual worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot. A question arises: Why do I need to learn this? After all, I only need to attract the Light that reforms upon myself?

Even if no Kabbalistic books have been published in my own language, I can sit in the lesson and listen to the reading of The Book of Zohar without understanding the words. This is truly enough. Baal HaSulam, for example, had a few students who did not know Yiddish, the language in which he taught.

However, something else is being concealed here. As we advance, we begin to feel, to discern, various spiritual phenomena inside of ourselves. So, what do we do with this? This is why a person studies the wisdom of Kabbalah in the form of his internal, spiritual psychology. Thanks to it, everything joins together into one picture.

Of course, it does not happen right away, but still, a person gradually discovers within himself what he has studied in the lessons. In the same way that a child studies a language, he remembers words, associates them with objects and events, and then brings meaning to each word, including a wide spectrum of shades, details, and perceptions.

That is why we have to know the material and to study the language of the science of Kabbalah that describes our deep psychology. As Baal HaSulam says, it is very important to enter into Kabbalah from the side of materialistic psychology as well. This is how we study ourselves, starting with the animate level and proceeding to the human one.

Clearly, we do not need a university course on psychology. This would only add to the confusion. However, when we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is worth it to search within ourselves for those details of perception that it talks about.
[61752]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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The Only Criterion

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I have different feelings while studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. How can I know that they are real, not fantasy?

Answer: Our only spiritual criterion is the group. I must see the collection of our desires. I want everyone to be connected by the power of mutual guarantee, above corporeal life. Let it flow as usual; after all, I am born, live, and die against my will.

However, here we are talking about man’s basic yearning, about the higher degree where we must connect. I check myself in relation to that common power. That way, I have a scale by which to determine what spirituality is. All other “pictures” are imaginary and mistaken.

On the other hand, if I can’t imagine the collective force that dwells in the group, it is an accurate indication as to how far I have diverted from the spiritual direction. People imagine spirituality in all sorts of strange forms, while the only support, the only spiritual essence for us is the collective power of the group. Otherwise, you will not be able to picture anything correctly.

This should help you understand how wrong your approach has been thus far. You pictured spirituality in a completely different way. It drew you in different directions, except for this one. So hold on to the right course and each time adjust it only in the direction of the group. It makes no difference what we read or study, it is all aimed toward our unity, and nothing but that.

Even if you hate someone, it still has nothing to do with good or evil as the Torah describes it. This is because the Torah only speaks about the unity of friends in the group. Take the shell off spiritual essence, detach yourself from home, family, work, and the rest of the world, and leave only the powers that we want to connect in your perception.

You are looking only for the collective power in the study and friends, and you should interpret every word of the wisdom of Kabbalah through the prism of this concept. Only thus will you be able to advance in the best possible way. Any other form of advancement will lead you through the path of suffering.
[61738]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/2011, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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