The End Of The Love Affair With Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanTo help us identify the intention, to receive or to bestow, special conditions have been: Each one sees himself existing in a big world of still, vegetative, animate, and human nature.

When the intention to receive approaches the very surface of consciousness, a person becomes despaired of this life. He might not yet realize it, but in reality, his despair was evoked by the egoistic intention. Everything is evaluated in relation to the intention, and everything is revealed in thoughts.

We need to clearly analyze ourselves to see the evil of egoism and acknowledge that the altruistic reality, which is opposite to it, may end up being good. This is why we suddenly end up in a group, which is given to us for this reason. No one thought or planned to join it, to study, and to work on establishing a connection with friends. However, since our egoistic intention has exhausted itself, the time has come to elucidate how evil it is. And then we find ourselves among people, who strive towards the same thing: They also wish to figure out what our life is about. And it is nothing like life in the egoistic intention. And even though the realization will come later, the analysis of the situation has already begun.

As a result, these people are gathered by a root, which created our egoistic existence; it gathers them so we would get our lives in order. It brings us closer (also in space) according to the similarity in qualities, that is, our intentions. It does not matter where we live and what we do; we become close in our analysis of the intention and then we suddenly become acquainted with each other. We begin to recognize each other all over the place only by our intention to receive, and we get together only in accordance with it.

All the friends are selected above and come to this final stage of development in our world, coming closer to the line, where it becomes clear that the love affair with egoism has come to an end, it is impossible to go on this way, the time has come to change the vector and move on to a different kind of existence, the intention to bestow.

So we would feel the need for it, the same root has prepared accordingly: Suddenly all our actions show how evil they are, the world appears broken, and we are broken between us. The crisis grasps the entire humanity, and us as its inner part.

  • For the masses, this
 manifests as a deterioration of living conditions: They simply cannot live
 as before, even though they are not yet able to discover the cause of the
 events. People want to continue using their neighbors—and they are
 unable to do it. This also makes them recognize the evil, but so far instinctively,
 and not in the form of the egoistic intention: They fail to achieve things
 in the given conditions, and do not know the recipe for success.
  • Moreover, there
 is our group where friends recognize the reason: They are failing because of the intention.

People, who identify the intention as the cause of all the evil, are called “the head,” while people, who are simply unhappy, are called “the body.” This way the group becomes “the head” of the entire humanity.

This way, together with his friends, man discovers their breaking, and together they discover the reason for it. And the world, which also discovers the breaking, gradually receives the realization of evil from this group: the understanding of why things are the way they are. This way the group and the world connect between them.

In reality they are initially connected, and they are just gradually beginning to realize it. Soon, we will discover how much the people need our analysis, which uncovers how evil the egoistic intention is, because they are unable to do it on their own. Our objective is to reveal this knowledge to the world, in other words, to provide integral upbringing.
[71257]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #1, 2/23/12

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A Dialogue With Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Since I came to the convention I am talking with the “Pharaoh” in me; I ask him questions and he answers me. He says: “whatever you do, you are enjoying it.” I go to work in the kitchen, Pharaoh says: “it doesn’t matter, you are still enjoying it.” If I clean the toilets, I enjoy that too. Finally I say to Pharaoh that I have one goal for which I came to the convention, another goal to reach the state in which everyone is connected. Pharaoh in me says that even this connection I am waiting for, is eventually for me. If so, what should I do?

Answer: Enjoy! I say this seriously. If I can do different things for the society, both physical and mental, to think about them all the time and to enjoy it, that’s wonderful. Who says that we have to suffer?

But after several such actions, you will suddenly see that you don’t enjoy it anymore. Suddenly you will ask: “What do I need all this for, why?” and so on. Then “Pharaoh” is revealed.

At first there are the “seven years of satiation,” everything is nice in an egoistic manner. Indeed, your Pharaoh is right, he says that whatever you do, you do it for him. So do it for him, like in Egypt in the first seven years of satiation where everyone works doing everything for Pharaoh and then eventually discover that it is the force of evil.

Why does the evil Pharaoh suddenly appear instead of the good Pharaoh? It is because we advance toward the Creator. As we advance, the desire that previously looked good begins to seem evil. The group is good, the study is good, the friends are good, I want to be with them and to be on duty, to clean the toilets, to work in the kitchen, everything is nice and I enjoy every minute that I am in this society—this is how every beginner who comes to the group feels. Then suddenly he begins to feel disrespect, to explode, not to care about anything, he doesn’t feel like doing things and doesn’t want anything: “What duties? What for?”

Why? This is because the “seven years of hunger” begin. What is hunger? A person doesn’t feel pleasure in being in the group, in being with the friends—and this is advancement.

Everything is revealed according to the order of the degrees. We should be happy and serious and follow that line carefully, and accept whatever is revealed along the way. The Torah tells us about it; after all, the Torah is an instruction (they have the same root in Hebrew); it tells us where you will get stuck and what you should do on the way to the revelation of Godliness.

So you have no choice, you have to enter Egypt, you have to do this kind of work, and you have to come out. Only then do you receive the Torah, the instruction of how to advance more clearly.

This is because the Torah is only about the correction of the desires. You correct your 613 desires from the intention of “in order to receive” to the intention of “in order to bestow,” and then you discover the Creator.
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From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #2, 2/23/12

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