The System Is In Need Of Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During one of the lessons you said that the intention for bestowal cannot be personal and individual. Isn’t it my personal relationship towards the society, to my neighbor?

Answer: We are in a system of mutual interconnection. It is also called the system of the worlds (Olamot), meaning concealments (Alamot). The upper force and the structure of the system itself are concealed from us. We don’t see that we are tightly connected to each other.

We are familiar with the “animate” relations: here are my parents, here are my relatives, these are the ones I love, these are the ones I hate, these love me, and those hate me. However, the finer, higher levels of the system are concealed from me. This is what my world is, my concealment.

By revealing the highest, the altruistic, system, of our interconnection, we will understand that whether we want it or not, we are tightly fused to each other. Now we are not active participants of this system; however, it already needs our active participation. The time has come to assimilate ourselves within it, to consciously join its flow, in order for each one to fulfill their function in it.

However, from our side, we don’t want it or understand it, and that’s why we feel ourselves to be in a bad condition. Of course, the general system continues to function, but due to our inactivity, we feel the defects of its work and we are puzzled. “What’s going on? What’s missing there?” This is reality and we call it the “crisis.”

Furthermore, the difference between what is desired and what is actual, between our initial state in the world of Infinity and the return back to Infinity from this world, is only in the intention. We change neither the system, nor the basis of our nature. Each one retains their characteristic traits, their connection to the reality, each one remains at their place.

The structure of our interconnection does not change as well. To someone you are a student, to someone you are a friend, and to someone you are close…Friends connect with the teacher, with each other and with the world. All of this doesn’t change, but is merely revealed to us. That’s why some extrasensory people know what’s going to happen in the future.

Freedom of will and all of our work is accompanied only by the conscious, sensible participation in the life of the system in order to become an active part in it by our own will, to “flow” with it as the Force (meaning the Creator), which controls it, wants it to flow. In essence, this is what our task consists of, to reveal the general flow and to merge into it. Let the rider and the horse move in sync. This is how we will move forward.

This way, our work is always done in intention: To what extent do I pull the system towards the Force, how much more do I understand it, how much more am I participating in its activity, how much more with its help do I reveal the Force instilled in it in order to flow together with it, and thus give pleasure to the Creator.

This is my task. This is what I participate in the life of the group for, among the partners, the friends, which I am given. Besides, I am carrying out the task for the world, I am awakening all of the parts of the system, building and activating it until it all completely assimilates to the inner force, until we flow together with it.

At the same time, of course, I have my own intention. However, it cannot be realized only inside of me. I will not make it come alive if I am not connected to others, if I am not working with them in harmony, if we are not cooperating in action, in understanding, in realization, in the maintenance and servicing of the system. Someone among us is a valve, someone is a piston, someone is a wheel, and so on. Everyone works in their own way; however, we are all aspiring towards the same goal.

It is said: “Israel, The Torah, and the Creator are One.” The Creator is the general program, which we aspire to implement. We are not simply uniting into a system, but we are keeping the course towards Him. We cannot find the connection without it, since it must lie on a certain formula, the goal of the program. It needs to be clear for us, for the sake of what and how we should be uniting. We discover the system in the aspiration towards the force acting within in, towards the general program. Without this, we cannot even make a step, including in the interrelationships between us.

So it turns out that my intention is related to the collective work with friends, the goal of which is to reveal the Creator.

In the end, I only add this intention, and not the action. In the same way, a government control system can be activated by the “stick” of a tyrant squeezing the last juices out of the population, or by the wisdom of a kind ruler pursuing happiness for the citizens. The structure is the same, the connection remains the same, nothing needs to be changed except the internal program installed into the system. Education, taxation, banks, hospitals and so on, all of these remain in their places. Only the intention completely re-builds the order of “energy flows,” changing their destination. In the end, intention changes everything.

This is what we are discovering today. “The world lives as stipulated,” “I have not changed Myself,” the system does not change, we only add our intention to it, the screen and the reflected Light. And then, everything flows in a new way according to our approach. Earlier, we pulled everything towards ourselves because of the tyrant who ruled within us, but now we are pursuing the wellbeing of a close one, and this already a different ruler.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/12, “Questions and Answers”

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Is Our World Finite?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there any hope that our aspirations and values that we now strive for will be passed to our children and from them to their children? After all, we see that everything is declining.

Answer: Nature will not die, life will go on. We’ll have to live in our current dimension, which we’ll feel as long as we do not complete our correction.

So, don’t worry about the end of the world, what will remain or not remain for our children and grandchildren, and whether this world will exist in a few generations. Our world will cease to exist only when it is no longer needed. That is, when the last people complete their correction, all of humanity that will exist at that moment will simultaneously feel that this is the final correction that closes them together into an ideal global community and allows them to begin to feel the gradual disappearance of this world.

But even earlier, to the degree that a person corrects himself and becomes integral, our world disappears from his sensations. However, it does not “disappear” completely, but only as the world of governance, as the world that has some importance, special purpose, besides the one that allows us to ascend higher.

This world will disappear from our perception only when we complete our correction in it. It doesn’t really exist; it exists in our senses. We desire to reach this state.

Why are we talking about our children and grandchildren? The same awaits them. It’s all perpetual motion, until the final correction.

So there is nothing to fear, there is no need to make plans. We are still little to understand anything about it. Do what you have to do today—it’s the best.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 2/12/2012

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Disseminate In Order To Mature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If there is no agreement in a Kabbalistic society, how can we broadcast agreement to the outside world?

Answer: On one hand, that is correct. On the other, we should definitely do something. This is why nature has given us this opportunity. The Creator is deliberately pushing us toward this educational process.

We can see this in the example of the family, when two young people get married. They are not particularly wise yet, but when they have a child and become parents, gradually they acquire responsibility, triggered by need and other circumstances. Thus they mature and become adults. When a person doesn’t have children, he remains a child.

Therefore, if we circulate our materials to the outside world, we will mature as well. Otherwise, we will not. This is the only reason we are given dissemination work. It is what compels us to mature.

We study in the wisdom of Kabbalah that if we don’t disseminate, we can only have a small state (Katnut). If we do disseminate; however, the Light passes through us to others, and we acquire a big state (Gadlut), the Light of Hochma, the Light of Wisdom. Therefore, whatever state we may be in, there’s nothing for us to do other than engage in dissemination.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 2/12/2012

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Two Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person in a group should not only change himself in relation to the environment, but he should also teach others how to do it. This is the reason for the breaking. None of us has the strength to resist the egoistic intention, but when a person really realizes the need to change his intention to an altruistic one, he acquires a possibility to receive the strength from his neighbors, his friends. Suddenly this turns into a very simple principle: If you wish to unite with your friends in order to bestow to them, then you can receive the strength to change your intention from them, through this unity.

Essentially, we operate in one desire, in a single line: If I wish to bestow to my neighbor, then I can receive the strength to do it through him. But where does he get this strength? He receives it from the root, which stands behind it. This is why it is written: “I live in my people.” In other words, the Creator, the upper force, the root, which created the intention to bestow, lives in the group. He tells me: “If you treat your neighbor right in order to bestow to him, then you will find Me in your neighbor, in the exact point where your bestowal is directed. Then your intention will change, and you will really be able to realize it.”

It is written in regards to this action: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are One.” This way we begin to see complete reality. Now instead of the corporeal world before me, I see the environment. And I do not care about what is in it. What matters is that on my search for the strength to bestow that I pass through it and attain the root, the Creator who exists within my friends. I want to unite with my friends in order to bestow to them; I find the Creator inside them, who provides the strength for me to connect with them, and then I unite with Him through them.

And then the person begins to work in two lines. On one hand he sees how the Creator impels him to use his neighbor; he sees different cruel thoughts that come to him from within the group about ways to use others, profit at their expense, and receive pleasure from the group. But in response to this direct pleasure, the person restricts his intention, and on the contrary searches for an opportunity to bestow to his friends while remaining in the same line. He wishes to use himself for the good and benefit of his friends and returns to the Creator through them, thus building the ten Sefirot of the Reflected Light.

Now the person has “two sides of the coin.” By comparing them and evaluating the degree to which he can use them, he becomes ready to accept the Creator’s invitation and develop the right attitude towards Him. Two realities open up before him:

  • When I directly receive pleasure from the Creator through nature or the environment, if I am ready to continue receiving more and more of it, this kind of existence is perceived as “this world.”
  • But if I bestow as much as I can and dedicate myself to my friends and the Creator, then I reveal another, opposite existence in the Reflected Light.

This way the person acquires two worlds.
[71254]
From the Arava Convention 2/23/12, Lesson #1

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The Scattered Caviar Of Souls

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is only one aspiration against which all obstacles and problems are revealed, it is the aspiration towards unity. If you are constantly pushing yourself towards unity, then you reveal the forces fighting against it. And then you realize the necessity for the help of the Light, the Creator.

In essence, the situation is very simple. However, we do not work with it directly, because we do not have the spiritual vessels for this, the “letters of work,” and that is why it seems to us that this is so difficult.

A desire existed that was assembled from numerous pieces connected together by the force of the upper Light. This structure was called “The First Man,” Adam HaRishon. This was a body, consisting of pieces, grains of desire welded together. The glue, which held them together and glued them to each other was the Light. It existed originally.

There was very little of it, which is called the Light Nefesh de Nefesh, but there was no need for more since the desires were also very small, only of the zero stage (Aviut Shoresh). This is how Adam HaRishon was before the transgression, an angel, created above, not possessing an egoistic desire.

And suddenly, a force of desire awakens inside of him, which seems to be good and is called Hava (Eve). She says: “Let’s receive for the sake of bestowal, like in the world of Nikudim!” And here they are, the two of them, Adam and Hava, they want to receive the upper Light for the sake of bestowal, meaning, to reach the great state, to become adults instead of small children. They think that a great state means a great bestowal to the Creator, and this is really so because this is receiving for the sake of bestowal!

Hava is the 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels of desire (Aviut Bet, Gimel and Dalet), and Adam was then, the 0 (root) and the 1st level (Aviut Shoresh and Aleph), simple and pure. And a woman appears here, the so-called “help against him,” a large and strong desire, and says: “You know what we can reach together?” (A strong desire is called a woman, while a small one is called a man, although in our world it seems to us to be the opposite.)

And indeed, the two of them together can receive the Light for the sake of bestowal for the whole of the huge desire to enjoy. However, Adam had the strength of overcoming only his small desire. The Creator gave him all of this: the desire and the screen for it. Everything was merged with the Creator and in unity, a wonderful system.

And suddenly, he gets an addition of a large desire to enjoy, for which he did not have the strength for unity: the 2nd, 3rd and 4th levels, like in a great state of the world Nikudim. Adam HaRishon is not capable of such a union with the Light, he has no strength for it and he breaks apart into pieces, which are now called separate souls.

They all existed inside of Adam HaRishon before as well, but they were glued together, like a fish’s caviar inside of a bubble. And suddenly, the bubble bursts and all of the eggs spread out. This is exactly how these souls were at first glued to each other thanks to the upper Light holding them together, but in a small state.

But when a desire to enjoy has burst out inside of them, it has become bigger than the Light, which was gluing them together. An explosion happened, the boundaries were broken and all of the souls came outside. This is how Adam HaRishon transgressed and broke apart.

From that time on, each part has received a desire of all levels: 0-1-2-3-4. This is already not that small desire, which used to be there before. All of that Light, which they were planning to receive for the sake of bestowal, has turned into egoism inside of them. Now these desires want to enjoy this Light by themselves.

It turned out that now there is a great, unlimited desire to enjoy concealed inside of us. We do not know about it because we are only given the thinnest, upper layer to feel. However, even this layer is being revealed only under the condition, that we want to unite into that system of Adam HaRishon. And then the broken desires begin to be revealed.

The rest relates to me, to what is inside of the tiny caviar, one from among billions of people, like that of caviar. These are only animal desires, defining my simple existence, like that of a single caviar egg. And only if I unite with others, will I reveal the force of fragmentation, which needs to be corrected.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/12, Writings of Rabash

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In Search Of A Spiritual Partner

Dr. Michael LaitmanAbout 40 years ago, divorce was considered a dishonorable act; today, there is nothing unusual about it. People don’t understand why they have to get married, give birth to children, and why they should continue to live!

If the answer to this question is not found, a person won’t need to have a family or give birth to children. I can continue living by myself as comfortably as possible; what will happen later is not my concern. Today, this is the way our ego relates to life.

But if I discover a higher goal, how to open doors to another world, to eternal intention, moreover, if I know that it can happen here and now, then even though it takes more responsibility and imposes certain liabilities on me such as nullifying myself to attain this goal and reach its importance, it will force me to create a family.

Next, I marry a woman that I choose not because of my animal instincts, but rather as a result of my search for a spiritual partner! My wife stays with me all the time and becomes an indicator through which I trace if I am still on the right track.

Then, we actually achieve the goal, which connects us; instead of our merely tolerating each other, we join together as one whole! This is called: “A man and a wife and Shechina (Divinity) between them.”

We begin to relate to each other through the Creator since we are not alone: He always is between us. That’s why I perceive my wife through the prism of the Creator, that is, I see both the Creator and her. Accordingly, she sees the Creator and me.

If we don’t take into account the third factor we won’t be able to build a triangle (a man, a wife, and the Goal), nor will we be able to live together. At the animal level it is possible, but at the “speaking level” it is not feasible.

I won’t be able to identify the Creator if I don’t look at my husband or wife through this prism.

Originally, we were parts of one common soul: Adam and Eve. Now, we have to revive this “structure”, although the serpent (our huge ego) has split us. We have to correct this “serpent” and reveal the Creator between us.

Question: So, it’s useless to wait for a “prince on a white horse.” Should we rather search for the Creator?

Answer: The Creator is above anything else! Later on you should focus on who can replenish Him in your eyes.
[30406]
From a Lecture “About Femininity” 12/14/10

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Reeducating Leaders

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Usually, leaders are extremely aggressive toward other people. They hit where it hurts the most, but when they receive feedback, they get offended and walk away. And that happens all the time.

Answer: If these people don’t hear about the necessity of integration with others yet and thus continue behaving this way, they have to be put on some kind of probation. That is, they can listen, record, summarize, or draw graphs and tables for many months. They discourse and discuss everything purely theoretically.

They can write a PhD thesis from all their research, but they can’t “push” all of that into themselves; they can’t use it in practice. They have to be somewhere on the side from the practicing group as the latter can already start putting this method, the system of integration, into practice. And they have to be given an opportunity to work with materials, which is what we usually do.

Each group has people like that, and it is necessary to agree with that. Nature created them this way. Usually, I assign them to work with materials.

And they work on it for many months. They dig, invent, compare, systematize, and search for interesting excerpts based on examples or scenes; generally speaking, they do any work related to processing materials. They prepare reports because by examining various companies and social movements outside of us, we get in touch with the world.

While working on these materials, they have to write about connection between all external cases they observe or events they see in the group. We give them group video recordings in which the group discusses its yet unrealized integral ties, exposing all obstacles, imbalance, and disputes between its members. They process all of that, discuss, make conclusions, and so on. This kind of work with materials changes them gradually.

Usually, people like that are highly egoistic and have a stronger sense of shame (we understand that egoism and shame are the same thing); they are more demanding toward others and can’t see themselves from the side. In general, these people are extremely strong, but they totally lack the ability to see themselves objectively, from the side. They simply lack this by nature, but it has to gradually develop in them under the influence of the material.

They work with the material, study, systematize, and then bring it back to us, and the instructors check it. Usually, we get enough people like that and form a separate group out of them. We start working with them by showing materials of the same kind which they work on, and then we proceed with discussions.

And then various nuances appear, and these people start realizing what they lack in order to be inside of the group, get closer to it, and not just be independent judges and stay above everyone else (they immediately put themselves on the level of instructors). Gradually, they realize that they are worse and lower than everyone else in the group because the rest of the people already starts feeling the need for integration, starts seeing and guessing the difference between them, while they don’t. They can only see other people from the side, but not themselves. That is the work.

If a group has people like that (usually, there are not that many of them), these could be future leaders because they can go far with that enormous egoistic charge they posses. But they have a long way to go. They don’t immediately get into an integral interaction. Sometimes it takes years for them to start feeling the need for the group, the need to put themselves under its influence. Otherwise, they won’t be able to reach their new integral life on the level of “Man” and will remain a mechanism that observes from the side but doesn’t change itself. After all, the essence of the method is to change a person himself. And this gradually appears in them as well.

Any kind of coercion against them is forbidden. Realization of one’s own nature should go through a person and occur in him or her without urging, but just under the influence of the “hints,” when you give them materials and the materials work on them.

We distinguish and encourage people like that: “See how special you are.” Yet a group should be more or less homogeneous, and we have to put such people into a separate system so that they do not interfere with everyone else.

You can turn them into your assistants, but make sure that the pride they will feel does not hinder their development. We just have to be quiet in many cases and wait for them to change.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #10, 12/16/11

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Group Is Power

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the process of integral interaction, a person should feel tension between his egoism and the work on rising into the collective “we.” From my experience in psychotherapy, I know that sometimes people are not able to handle this tension, they slam the door and run away, while those who manage to handle it advance. How important is patience in this process?

Answer: What is needed here is the support of the environment that has to give a person the understanding that there is no other solution—this journey can be completed. And encountering resistance means that he is not connected with the environment that would support him and turn his efforts into an easy existence, giving him the feeling that there is nothing to fear and everything is very simple and easy when you do it collectively in a group. But when you try to do it on your own, it gives rise to the forces that expel you. In nature everything is directed towards unity.

Evidently, in your psychotherapy practice you lack the element of group support, the influence of the group on a person. We know that even weight loss groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, Drug Addicts Anonymous, and other groups are powerful.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #9, 12/15/11

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Tears Of Joy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we speak about feelings, we immediately imagine an emotional person, open to everyone. On one hand, this can be stimulated. On the other, it is possible to switch a person’s focus so that he or she won’t become too emotional. What should be the optimal degree of emotionality in groups of integral education? Is there a place for tears?

Answer: Of course! We see how grown men cry under the influence of the group—a person suddenly has such feelings that he is not able to control himself. And he doesn’t really feel any particular need to do so.

Of course, there are certain restricting factors. But in general, they really lead to tears, tears of joy and liberation, to various expressions of positive energy. This is natural. Of course, this is a very emotional process.

After all, emotions are our essence. And the mind is only intended either for suppressing them, as we do it in life, or on the contrary, for using them for our benefit, which is what we are trying to achieve in integral upbringing.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #9, 12/15/11

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Life In An Exalted State

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When people spend several hours a day in an integral education group, is there a place for music and songs? I know that there is a lot of music, joy, and sublime states in your center.

Answer: We are constantly trying to be in an exalted state, not playing it, but actually examining it on ourselves. First of all, this helps us feel how realistically this is connected with nature and that this is the goal of our development, the goal of nature.

When done differently, when we create this artificially, then it carries no value at all! On the contrary, it only brings harm!

A proper and good union of people, when no one is suppressed and everyone tries to work for the community, produces a lot of positive energy, and a person does not want to leave this state.

He suddenly discovers that this state is not boring, not difficult, and it is possible to always be in it. He falls asleep and awakens with it. He begins to feel that this state contains absolutely all the opportunities for self-realization for him with society and with this new level he is attaining.

He begins to see that in comparison to the previous state, this one is much wider and more exalted; it simply unravels the entire possibility of harmony before him. It is like when a musician hears something off-tune in comparison to a well played Beethoven or Mozart composition.

This is the way a person perceives the difference between his past private life and the harmony he reveals. He cannot go there. At first this often makes him tired because he still needs to make emotional inner effort, but then some time goes by and he can no longer be without it.

And then it becomes his life, a necessity. He reveals that all of nature also exists in this harmony and nothing else exists!

He begins to understand that the past level of his existence only consisted of caring for his physical body in other words this was an animal level of existence. He agrees and understands it. And the “human” level is the collective image that we are building here.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #9, 12/15/11

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