Question: How can it be that we shouldn’t ask to revoke the concealment, but at the same time, only the revelation can correct and connect us?

Answer: The question is what revelation am I asking for? I need to ask for the revelation of the attribute of bestowal, which I want to acquire. The Creator lets me feel that He exists but is as if hiding behind a curtain. All this is so that I will reveal Him. I can reveal Him only by developing the attribute of bestowal within me.

But what would I ask for now, in my egoistic desire? I ask that He becomes revealed in order to fill me, and this is why I am in concealment. The concealment protects my ego like a circuit breaker in a short circuit.

The concealment puts me at a certain distance, keeps me at a certain range, and lets me understand that if I correct myself, I will be able to get closer. And if not, I will stay at a distance.

Now the question is what I will ask for when being at such a distance: Do I ask that the Creator reveals Himself and fills me for my own personal pleasure, as if I want to enjoy myself, or do I first want to acquire the desire to bestow and in it, receive the filling, that is, do I want to be filled by the actions of bestowal and not by the actions of reception?

The concealment is meant to allow me to decide what I want.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/30/2012, “Preface to The Book of Zohar”

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It is written, “there is none else besides Him [besides the only force of nature].”  This means that there is no other force in the world… that is opposite or similar to it, that exists besides it. That is, there is only one force in the world, Nature, which includes everything in it.

Actually, it doesn’t include anything in it; it only seems to us that it is divided into many parts. It seems to us that there are many forces, reasons, results, and different occurrences in the world, but it all stems from this one force.

We are among many people, with such big problems, worries, and constantly changing actions on purpose, so that despite everything, despite all these actions, problems, and interruptions we will focus our attention only on the force that created everything around us.

Everything that seems like interruptions that negate the uniqueness of this force, Nature, and that stems from one plan, one thought, one goal, all of it is meant to repel us from it so that we will return to the same track, like a missile that has to constantly follow the same course. It constantly checks itself when it is off track, and only so it can aim itself again towards the goal, like an ordinary surveillance system.

I have to direct myself at the goal, but I am on the path, not knowing how to advance, as if hanging in the air, and there are no road signs around. So how can I do anything? This is the state we are in: We don’t see the goal. It is totally hidden from us by the screen that conceals it.

Since there is a screen, we don’t know what goes on behind it. So how can we reach this goal?

To do that, we have “road signs” and certain diversions, and we constantly check ourselves and thus advance forward. By diverting from the goal, I calculate the error and return to a normal state. And this happens all the time.

But what state is considered normal? How do I know it? After all, I have never seen this great goal, so how can I aspire to it? I aspire to it when I aim all my thoughts, longings, actions, the reasons, the results, and everything that happens in the world to one source only. I have to attribute all the minuses and the pluses, everything that happens to me to one thing only—to this source.

This means that there are individual forces of a single force of Nature, which purposefully acts with the intention to divert a person from the goal.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3

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A spark emerges specifically out of collision, explosion, like when striking a flint against steel. A spark is something completely new; it is the result of a collision between two uncompromising opposites that fight with each other.

Nothing of this kind ever existed before; matter has always been under the Creator’s control. All of a sudden, a crash happens and it produces a spark. This spark does not exist either in the Creator or matter—either in the property of bestowal or in the property of reception. It results from a strike and creates a foundation that allows us to grow and become independent.

Solely due to this spark, we name the upper force “the Creator” who made something that didn’t exist in nature before. The spark is in fact creation.

Everything starts with a breakthrough, a collision, a sparkle. Our work is to shape our life around it. This spark is an independent point from which our development begins, similarly to a fetus in the Upper Mother.

The mother possesses two forces: Hochma and Hassadim, but we still need a spark to start growing using these two forces. Otherwise, creation will not exist. Only this particular kind of semen “impregnates” the Upper Mother.

Do you really think that any piece of matter placed into Her can eventually grow into a human being? She won’t accept anything other than that. She consists of two forces: bestowal and reception, which are separated by an abyss, a gap: the middle third of Sefira Tifferet. This is exactly where we should insert our spark since it also emerged as a result of the collision between two contradictory forces. When placed inside the mother, right in the middle of two opposite forces of Hochma and Hassadim, into Klipat Noga, we start growing there, which is called “one’s seed is also blessed.”

If I choose the desire to enjoy to the extent that I am able to create a screen (the intention to bestow) for it and connect them together, it means that I create myself. Of course, I do it with the help of the upper one: the group, the environment, and Bina. Then the entity formed there, within, is called man or Adam.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2012, TES

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Question: The egoistic modern personality rests on such human concepts as honor and dignity.

Answer: Even having no dignity and honor, everyone tries to emphasize that they uphold honor, tries to play the role of a modern gentleman.

In mutual integral interaction this doesn’t exist. Here we declare that the only true value is our unification. The only thing that matters is whether a person is able to unite with others, to understand them, and to open himself up so that they will understand him and unite with him into one whole. All the good that there is in the world and us is realized only in this.

Anything else that is not under the label of unification is faulty, and we simply denounce it. What is more, these denouncements are essential in order to unite. This means that they are actually positive! Without them, we wouldn’t be able to achieve anything.

All our negative attributes are needed in order to create the positive attributes; on top of them and in contrast to them, we build everything that is positive because initially there is nothing positive in us. Thanks to the ego that grows in us, we can constantly develop the attribute of bestowal and the love of others, which is opposite to it.

Question: A person with an “inflated” sense of honor and dignity perceives such a group of people as spineless losers.

Answer: We are like that by nature. Nature operates us by instincts! We receive an education in kindergarten and then in school; nothing is our own. The natural instincts are not mine. So who am I? My instincts operate me, my body and throw me into battles with others, and all this isn’t me! I only experience suffering as a result of everything that my distorted nature does with me and everything that I was taught by the society.

Actually I have nothing in life. I am a poor puppet that suffers from having been made this way in a corrupt factory.

If we reach this conclusion, then there is nothing to be proud of. On the contrary, let’s help one another. And if we don’t want to correct ourselves, if we don’t wish to help, it also is part of our negative attributes.

Naturally, it is necessary to ensure continuous cooperation, mutual help, and, of course, constant, serious training in a group.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #13, 12/18/11

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Question: On whom does the ability to annul oneself with regards to the upper one depend: on a person or only on the Light?

Answer: The level of your self-annulment depends on the group. You will never be able to annul yourself before the teacher and before the Creator if the group doesn’t encourage, support, and strengthen you. You cannot annul your desires by yourself; you don’t have the strength for that.

You have to work with the group in relation to the Creator because without it, you won’t be able to approach Him. You have to assume the correct form that draws you closer to the Creator, and you do that with the help of the group. The group gives you this form of annulment, the approach, the point of contact with the upper one—you do all that within the group.

During the convention in the Arava desert you felt the existence of this contact point, the point of general connection. It isn’t in the upper one yet, but it is the result of our collective efforts. Now we need to develop it so that we will feel that this point is in the waters of Bina, in the Upper Mother (Ima Ilaa). This is the state we have to attain.

We should feel that we are inside the upper one and annul ourselves more and more on top of the growing ego in us, on top of the conflicts and problems that come up. We annul ourselves for the sake of unity, in order to stay in the upper one, to bring Him pleasure and not to reveal our desire, because otherwise we will become a foreign body and there will be a shattering, an abortion.

We have to attain greater loyalty to the upper one, which will symbolize that we are growing and expanding inside Bina, until we fill the entire space of Bina by our desire. The result is that the desire to enjoy is in it, but we have annulled ourselves completely above our ego and thus have grown. This is called a spiritual embryo.

When it reaches the size of all of Bina, of all the spiritual womb, its doors open.
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From Lesson 2. The Internal Convention, 3/2/2012

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 130: They that are granted the sensation of His Providence in the form of the first degree of disclosure of the face, called “repentance from fear,” are considered medium. This is because their emotions are divided into two parts, called “two cups of the scales.” From the time before they were awarded the above repentance, all remain standing and are called “a scale of sin.” And the scale of merit is set and guaranteed to them from the moment of repentance onwards, the time of repentance stands “between” the merit and the sin, and hence they are called “medium.”

It isn’t about time periods but about the present reality. Upon reaching this level, a person discovers in his present attributes that he has partly sinned and partly merited. In other words, there are still uncorrected and corrected parts in him. The criterion here, of course, is the connection with others and with the Creator.

At the same time, a person is immersed in a state of Hafetz Hesed: He cannot do any evil to the other, but he hasn’t done any good to the other either. So it is as if he is in the middle of life, having neutralized the evil in him, but not turned it into goodness yet.

Question: Can we set the attainment of this “intermediate” state as our goal?

Answer: Why settle for half? You should imagine the state of the complete righteous. If you are asking for something, ask for the maximum: the end of correction. If you want to find yourself at the end of correction, you will barely succeed in reaching the next level. This is because at the moment, you cannot imagine more than its corrupt back side. This is the limit of your imagination because you have no other model. So go all the way, wish for maximum bestowal, and by that you will acquire the minimal similarity to the AHP of the upper one.

But if you only ask for half, this isn’t bestowal but pettiness. In bestowal there is no calculation for part of the whole. In bestowal you are looking for what else you can add, how to engage everything you can.

In this sense the spiritual laws are simple. I yearn for the end of correction, and I want all my desires and thoughts to be aimed at bestowal upon others. This is what I ask for. There cannot be half way in the attribute of bestowal. By demanding half, I am making an egoistic calculation and this isn’t bestowal anymore. After all, a secret bid for personal benefit is necessarily present in the “altruistic half” as well.

It is impossible to limit bestowal. Therefore, the course should always be set towards the final goal and not to intermediate phases.

In everything that we do, from this world to the world of Infinity, there are ten whole Sefirot, but in a minimized form. We are in a holographic picture, in which every part contains a whole. Therefore, a partial calculation isn’t right here. You have to do everything in your power, everything that depends on you, and then you may barely reach the next level.

You are now facing the AHP of the upper one, and this is the only thing you can imagine as something infinite. It is the same with small children who cannot take an example from a grown up. A five year old looks at an eight year old like at “God” and wants to be like him. There is something he can “hold on” to, it resonates within him. Rabash gave the same example of a girl who is more interested in playing with a doll than with a real baby.

So don’t try to minimize the goal to the “accepted” sizes. Even if you aim at the maximum, you will barely reach the upper one.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/2012, “Introduction to TES” 

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In preparation to my visit to Colombia on April 27-29, 2012 a comprehensive site explaining the principles of global education has been created by my students, with information about the lectures that will take place to address the general public in Bogota, the capital, and Barranquilla, the second largest city.

I will also have a warm encounter with the Colombian group, including special lessons and meals. The students are coming from nine different cities in the country.
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Question: The Jewish nation (Israel) is supposed to unite and be a light unto the nations, but in Israel you have so many divisions between people that the only time we have truly united is the War of Independence (after immense suffering from the Holocaust) and the Six-Day War (out of great fear of being destroyed). Will we not have to go through more immense suffering to realize we must unite as one people?

Answer: We are talking not about Jews by birth, but Israel—those who aspire to the Creator, regardless of their nationality. They have to unite and lead the entire world to the Creator.

In Kabbalah, souls have no nationality, but the level of their development. Thus Abraham once chose his students and called them Israel: those who aspire to the Creator.
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The Šiauliai region site and the news portal of the Lithuanian TV channel published an article titled “Šiauliai University Has Signed a Contract with the ARI Institute (Israel).”

On March 22, at the library of Šiauliai University, the Vice-Rector for International Relations and Development Professor Teodoras Tamošiūnas and the director of the ARI Institute Professor Michael Laitman (Israel) signed a cooperation agreement between Šiauliai University of Lithuania and the ARI Institute (Israel).

At the press-conference, Professor Michael Laitman presented the principles of the integral education and upbringing. Professor Teodoras Tamošiūnas said that Siauliai University has a long tradition of teacher training, and thus integral education, advocated by the professor from Israel, can be developed in Siauliai. The Vice-Rector said that the visit of Professor Michael Laitman to Šiauliai University and signing of the contract with the ARI Institute indicate the recognition of Šiauliai University.

According to the lecturer Vida Skačkauskaitė, who participated in the press-conference, the system of integral education aims at creating a new human being and society. According to her, Šiauliai University that began to apply and promote the method of integral education can serve as a model for other institutions of Lithuania.

After the signing of the contract, the library of Šiauliai University hosted a conference, during which Professor Michael Laitman gave a lecture on the topic of “The Integral Upbringing: Why?” There were also other speakers from France, Ukraine, and Israel.

Professor Michael Laitman is a Professor of Ontology and epistemology, MSc in bio-Cybernetics, Doctor of Philosophy. Professor Michel Laitman is a member of The World Wisdom Council and the founder and director of the ARI Institute. Using innovative ideas that are suitable for solving the acute problems of modern upbringing, he is seeking positive change in the education strategy. The professor presented a new approach to education, which applies the laws of the interconnected integral world.

Michael Laitman set up new landmarks and explained how to live in the new global village of humanity—more technologically connected in our interconnected world.

His view encompasses different areas of human life: social, economic, and environmental. In addition, a special focus is given to education, a system that provides universal values​ and thus creates a harmonious society in our so closely connected reality.

Over the past three decades, Professor Michael Laitman published over 40 books that were translated into 18 languages.

Photo: Sigita Inchyurene
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