Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.19.12

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Advancing By Blows

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash describes a person’s spiritual ascent and he brings the example of a two story building: On the first floor there are the friends and on the second floor there is the Creator. We have to unite with the friends so that we will have one heart, one desire, one intention. If everyone lowers his head and annuls himself, if our internality is one collective, we create a system that is adapted to bestowal.

At the same time, we lack the actual power of bestowal, but we do our best to keep the connections among us. Even if we know that we won’t be able to fulfill this, we still do our best to keep the intensity. We mustn’t stop here, we can’t cross the finish line and sit and wait until the Light comes. On the contrary, we must constantly exert ourselves in order to reach the center, which means that everyone annuls himself with regard to the collective goal.

In the center there are all our sparks, all the desires that are aimed at mutual bestowal and mutual love. If we aim correctly at the desirable attribute in order to bestow upon the Creator by it, to give it to Him as a present, then the Reforming Light, which builds the attribute of bestowal, comes into the center, into our mutual connection, into our unity.

In other words, we reveal the Light of Hochma in the Light of Hassadim. Thus the divine attribute Elokim is connected with the structure of HaVaYaH, and it is in this connection between the created being and the Creator that the Light of Hochma can be revealed. The Creator Himself is the Light of Hassadim, and Hochma is bestowal that is aimed at the one who works for it.

Question: Can we compare our conventions to the first floor of the building Rabash talks about?

Answer: Not only with the first floor. In our general global unity, in the global vessel, we want to rise to the second floor too. If I am going to the convention in Brazil, it doesn’t mean that I am not in other places as well. We are all connected to one desire. The moment the first floor is built, the second floor is immediately created as well, and the Light from it descends and lands into the ready vessel.

And so, along with our daily work in tightening our mutual connection, we should advance towards the crucial state in which the final blow is given.

The Torah tells us how the stage of the exile ends: After many troubles and blows, we reach freedom. Therefore our blows in the conventions are the “plagues of Egypt.” Everything is in concealment and in the dark and we cannot tell them apart, but later we will discover this.

So we gather here in order to strike our ego, to neutralize, and to annul it by these blows of connection and dissemination and by being ready for redemption. I look at these actions as the last steps before we reach freedom.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Adaptor Between Heaven And Earth

Dr. Michael Laitman“Zohar For All – Passover,” “Bo (Come unto Pharaoh),” Item 174: … It is written, “A land where you shall eat bread without scarceness.” “Scarceness” is bread of affliction. It is called, “bread of affliction” because the moon, Malchut, has been waned and is not blessed by the sun, ZA, and does not shine from the sun, as it is written, “For all that is in the heaven and in the earth.” This means that, “All,” which is Yesod ZA, clings to the heaven, ZA, and to the earth, Malchut, receiving from the heaven and giving to the earth.

The main thing is the relationship between Zeir Anpin and Malchut, because Bina, by formatting Zeir Anpin its bestowal upon Malchut, actually shows that if Malchut doesn’t adapt itself to Zeir Anpin, it is in smallness and it doesn’t even have the head of the Partzuf. Therefore, it is called Zeir Anpin, “a small face,” and Malchut has nothing, which is the point of darkness.

It says that there is no Creator without a created being, since Zeir Anpin is artificial. It is a tool that was created by Bina, which is empty and which becomes full, whole, and big according to how much Malchut can reach an equivalence of form with it.

It turns out that Malchut determines the size of Zeir Anpin since it has nothing of its own except what it needs to take, the attributes from Bina, and to arrange them, and thus bring Malchut to the level of Bina and then to the level of Keter.

The Creator is called Kadosh Baruch Hu (The Holy One, Blessed), because this Partzuf is holy for us—by holy we mean the one who bestows. He sets an example for us as to what we should be, He corrects us and we reach an adhesion with Him, but actually there is no Creator without the created being. It is because He has no form if we don’t stabilize a certain deficiency or a desire below. By that deficiency we reveal Him to the Light of Bina, which then fills Him.

This is a very special mechanism. Zeir Anpin always, wherever we study about it, in the four phases of the direct Light, or in other places, is a “small face,” we go over it quickly and there is nothing we can say about it. We must understand that Zeir Anpin is the adaptor between Hochma and Bina, (father and mother) and Malchut. On the side of Bina it has the attributes of Hassadim and doesn’t need anything. If it has a deficiency on the side of Malchut, then accordingly the Lights of Hassadim will be revealed in it and it will be filled with the Light of Hochma, but only if Malchut will want to adhere to it.

Zeir Anpin is VAK, (six Sefirot), and Malchut is a point. VAK symbolizes that it is empty and is ready to develop according to the point of Malchut if it wants to become more than a point.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/12, The Zohar

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Invitations To Rise Are Everywhere

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person cannot be corrected until he understands that he must rise to the next level. He must always picture this solution in his mind as if he is not in his current state, but already in the next state having attained the upper level to which he rose by the Reforming Light.

Usually we want to correct our current state. This stops us because we think that the current state has arrived so that we will correct it.

Thus we confuse ourselves because all the states come so that we will rise above them to the next states. There is nothing to correct in the present state. The correction is in rising from the current state upward.

It is very hard to accept this, because this approach does not exist in our world, but this is what happens in spirituality. This is because all the states are given not so that a person will correct them, but so that he will correct himself. It is possible to correct yourself only by rising above every state, which is called advancing by “faith above reason.”

Every time I feel a certain discernment or a wrong and unreal attribute, I see it as an invitation to rise above it. Thus I see that everything that happens to me comes only in order to show me my deficiencies. Their filling and correction takes place on the next level, and never in the current state.

Everything that I see with regard to myself, with regard to this world, with regard to the friends and the Creator, which seem as bad and imperfect, are the discernments of the places above which I should rise and adhere to greater bestowal. This is how I can advance until I reach complete bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/12, Writings of Rabash

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Absorbing The Convention Materials

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that in the next few days, rather than to engage in dissemination, it is desirable for us to scrutinize the inner point so as to strengthen unity….

Answer: I believe that you should constantly, all your free time, review the materials on mutual guarantee, unity, mutuality, and integrality. Perhaps it’s better to use the processed rather than the original version because the originals are written in a special language that distracts us from experiencing this material in life directly. Maybe you should simply watch the convention one more time.

You should live by this and go through this again and again in order to form the strongest possible Reshimo, meaning memories, feelings, and work with these sensations. You will suddenly discover that we talked about the things that may have slipped your attention there, or you might have heard them in a different context, in a different perspective. You should go over what happened to you there, and do it several times.

I have witnessed many times that people hear very selectively. God help you to get something out of the information that I have put into it, not secretly inside my words, but clearly, verbally. In reality, people don’t catch more than 10-15 percent of what they hear. I personally went every day at least twice over any lesson with Rabash (any lesson! I don’t even mention our conventions), besides the fact that I attended it.

I also made a plan: Why he explains in that particular way, where the beginning and the end are, how he begins a question, how he finishes it, how he proceeds from the beginning to the end, develops a topic, gives additional questions, or sets some unclear tasks in the middle. I tried to “enter” his head, penetrate his approach. As a result, it turned out that due to this mechanical work I began to feel him, started to sense better.

It is necessary. This is what I meant by saying that for now you shouldn’t do anything else. It is you, those who experienced the convention and were inside, who now have to absorb it well.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/26/12

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The Period Of Youthful Growth

Dr. Michael LaitmanOnly due to the Light that Reforms can we reach the correction of “Shovavim” (the sin of youth). Indeed, in the beginning a person is like a small child who doesn’t know what’s happening to him. It’s as if a baby is given gold coins to play with, and he doesn’t understand their true value. He is running from corner to corner, not controlling his actions and not understanding their objective.

However, this is a very good period that can be used effectively for our advancement if we remember it and rely on the environment and the teacher’s advice. It’s in this manner that we’ll be able to save a lot of time because the speed of advancement in this “state of youth” is huge.

This is similar to the rapid development of a baby, in whom very significant changes occur during the very first months of his life. And the more he grows, the slower he changes, until he reaches the age of 10 when one month is not much different for him than another.

That is why the period of youth on the spiritual path of man is a very effective and intense period of development. And the key here is the environment because it has its greatest impact on a person precisely in “childhood,” when he’s ready to absorb everything from the environment, and internal changes occur in him with great speed.

The more a person demands from his environment, and the more powerful the environment influences him and is able to answer all his questions and his need for change, the faster he can advance.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/2012, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Prayer About A Successful Birth

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe need certain means in order to go from one state to another. The transition from reception to bestowal occurs as a result of a process of turning, whereby Malchut of the upper one becomes Keter of the lower one. For this reason one should always see how to best utilize this transition.

Most important is the transition. The states are already predetermined, but our work consists of speeding up the transition from one state to another as much as possible.

All states are determined by a link of informational genes called Reshimot, and all the degrees are already established in the process of the descent of the worlds from Above to below. The key is to hasten the transition from one state to another. The hastening occurs when we connect to the means that aid this transition. All of our work is focused on this interval.

A person senses a lapse: He still belongs to the lower level but at times he’s able to ascend to the higher level, and then once again he descends to the lower one. He fluctuates back and forth, as though leaning on a staff that turns into a serpent and then turns back to a staff again. A person has to know how to catch the serpent by the head or by the tail, and what action to make with his “hands” (in the desire to receive) in order to reveal one’s egoistic intention and correct it, meaning to clarify whether your intention is for the sake oneself or for the sake of bestowal.

We must understand that we are tied by external conditions as well. If we are in a transitional state, we are subject to certain danger, like during childbirth. While a fetus is in the womb, it is safe because its mother protects it. After a child is born, he is also safe because his mother will take care of him. However, the transition from one state to another, like the birth itself, is quite dangerous. This is due to the fact that many opposite force are engaged, and the proper combination of these forces allows us to be born, or transition from one state to another.

The difficulty is in the fact that while a person is in a transitional state, he is controlled by the external disturbances and can fall under their influence. Therefore, he must always protect himself from them. If one is surrounded by people that aren’t involved in the inner work and are not interested in anything other than soccer, then they don’t present any danger. However, if they are involved in something that resembles your spiritual work and wish to pull you to their side, they can influence you, especially if they are the majority.

This is particularly dangerous during the transition from one stable and fully realized state to the next state, which pertains to greater bestowal, giving yourself to the society, and connecting with friends. Between these two states a person is in danger, and he needs the realization of the Creator’s greatness, the importance of the study, the teacher, the friends, and the group. Then all of these factors that contribute to his birth will guide him correctly so that he can penetrate the narrow pathway between the levels and be born.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/2012, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Healers Of The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There is a lot of anger and fury brewing under the surface in today’s world. It seems that an explosion is about to happen.

Answer: It’s true. For the time being everyone is talking about the post-crisis growth, all the while something explosive is in the mix. After all, the crisis has not disappeared and the pressure is rising.

Given this state of affairs, we must work tirelessly in explaining what’s happening. We must present to people the causes and the solution, which isn’t at all what they imagine.

In reality we don’t have many options. No progress is going to make everyone rich because there simply aren’t enough natural resources. On the contrary, the masses are only going to become poorer, although it would be desirable to avoid it. We are left with a third option: to level out the general standard of living to an acceptable  level. We have to come to this. Then we’ll be more or less equal amongst each other and balanced with nature.

Today we simply don’t think about what will happen ten or twenty years from now. It’s as if humanity went blind: we have exhausted all our resources and are pretending like nothing is going on. This is truly a special time. Like a handicapped child, we are recklessly cutting down the branch on which we’re sitting, thereby depriving ourselves of a future. Ultimately we will be left with nothing.

However, no one can stop the course of events. On the contrary, the top few who carry out the decisions are the ones promoting consumerism. In reality, the angel of death is giving us a drop of poison on the edge of a sword, and we’re closing our eyes and opening our mouths.

The only solution is explaining, propaganda. Naturally, it seems pretty powerless next to the global feast that’s ruining and polluting the planet. Nonetheless, this is the way. We have to do all that’s possible. The pressure is growing. We’re sort of going through an “incubation period” of an illness and later an epidemic will break out. In this dangerous period we must work as much as possible with the world, using all accessible channels. There’s always something to add, and our work will surely bear fruit.

As far as the pending explosion is concerned, it’s difficult to say what it will be like. One possibility is war, used to divert the public’s attention from the original problems. I hope it won’t happen, however, such plans obviously are being nurtured. After all, the situation is becoming very bad, and it’s being taken to the limit, to the point of unbelievable debt and terrible imbalance.

We have to use all of our strength to disseminate our material to the masses and to strengthen our inner connection with each other. Only then will the general system begin to reveal the Light, which is the source of everything.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/2012, Writings of Rabash

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Tomorrow Starts Today

Dr. Michael LaitmanTime, motion, and space do not exist. It is we who, in our consciousness, call our perception in some parameters as years or time, while in others as motion and space. According to this we see a certain picture.

However, there are no billions of years outside of us. If you ask whether there was a “yesterday,” it’s necessary to find out what “yesterday” or a thousand years ago means. What does “was” mean? It’s now that I feel these states and call them “yesterday,” “the day before yesterday,” or “tomorrow.” But if we separate this point of “I the perceiver” from this, there will be nothing left.

We concern ourselves only with how to exit this illusion. We are absolutely confused and there is no need to discuss what’s going on. We only need to search how to rise above this material feeling and understanding, and then we’ll sense and understand the truth and be able to judge our state. But while we are still inside of it, we won’t be able to judge; it’s absolutely useless.

We start with this reality because we must correct ourselves while staying in it. By addressing you, I essentially correct myself. There exists some kind of image of you that seems separate and even opposite to me. But in reality, it’s my inseparable part and I have to correct it. I see all my parts as seemingly foreign; this is called the shattering. And as soon as I correct myself, they all get connected.

And even at the very first degree, I will get a correct picture of time, motion, and space because a higher dimension will appear within me. I will start feeling what spiritual qualities mean; to some extent, I will begin to sense what the spiritual qualities, the three spatial coordinates, and time are. I will learn that time is a chain of causes and effects with no intervals that come out of mechanical actions.

A concept of spirituality is in us creating time by ourselves and defining its speed by our corrections. We don’t measure time by rotation of some material planets around each other for days, months, or years. Does the rotation of one cosmic body around the other define the concept of time according to which I live? Do I have to live in accordance with space rocks moving relative to each other?

There is no time in spiritual world. Each and every action happens right after one another: You do an action, cause a pulse, the next action, one more pulse, with no delays between them. We don’t take into consideration how the Earth, the Moon, or the Sun rotate at that time.

The root of the problem is that we don’t yet feel spiritual time. But the moment we enter spirituality even at the very first spiritual degree, we will start perceiving the world in new categories. This won’t be an illusion, but an actual feeling.

In the same way we feel this world around us in our internal perception, we will get an additional picture that will give us new definitions. Until the end of correction, we will be living in two dimensions: in a dimension of this world and in an additional dimension of the spiritual world. After all, until we are fully corrected, some part of the lowest degree of this world will remain in us each time. We will be revealing and extracting from this “Egypt” ever new qualities and correcting them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/2012, The Gate of Intentions

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How Do We Develop The Suspended Ego?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If there are two scenarios for the development of the ego: One, when the ego becomes a total war, and two, when the ego commits us to learn and to develop in a systemic manner, then couldn’t there be another scenario when the ego will make us fall into a stupor, will turn us into zombies?

Answer: No. The issue is that the development of the ego in an integral society takes into account its rise to the next level, where it becomes greater. That is, the ego continues to develop.

What we see today in society is the suspension of the ego. It doesn’t grow any further, it doesn’t want to grow. Why should I grow more if what I get are only problems? When a person has problems, he doesn’t want anything. It’s better to divert the mind through reading a book or to go to sleep so as to not feel anything. He doesn’t want anything else because he just wants to hide from the problems, not to see or know anything. Thus, if you don’t give the ego the correct answer, it will begin to extinguish and you will become a vegetable.

When you enter an integral environment and together with everyone, begin to develop not your own personal ego but the general one, you receive completely new opportunities of fulfillment, together with everyone. Our general ego, “WE,” begins to develop. Then the constant opportunities to grow, meaning to receive constant fulfillment, vitality, will appear to you.

However, currently there exist only two opportunities given to us from nature: Our ego can either subside, lower its level, which is what happens with the unemployed and with those who suffer and go into depression, or we can develop and fill it in connection with others.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson

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