Audio Version Of The Blog – 06.05.12

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Introductory Lecture “The Influence Of Media On Us” – 06.05.12

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Series, “The Influence of Media on Us”

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Feeling Everyone Without Exception

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the workshop, should we think about those groups who are not on the screens?

Answer: No. It’s not necessary; it’s distracting! How much can you think about others? You need just to feel them and that’s all!

We have to feel that they are with us, that we are together in one thought, in one spiritual space.

Spiritual space is the space of thoughts and feelings, the heart and mind, the information layer around our world. We are all together in it because we have one mind, one senses the same goals.

What would the image of the people on the screen give me? What for do I need to see faces and bodies or to read that it’s Krasnoyarsk, Tallinn, or any other city? What is the difference where they sit? I feel the desires that come to unity and thus form a huge common desire: This is the most important thing.
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/25/12

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The Aim: Integral Unity!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we concentrate on now? Where should we direct our efforts? I mean dissemination and the group work.

Answer: In group work, we should direct our efforts to our workshops on Sundays.

On the other days, there must be at least some classes. I see that there are groups that study seriously. A lesson, in general, is organized and directed towards unity. Practically, the entire course material speaks about this. Even in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, it is speaking about unity, about the connection of souls between themselves. Everything that is described there is only the connection of souls in a single system.

Besides that, we have begun to create courses for training lecturers of the “Mutual Guarantee” movement, that is, lecturers for the 99%. They will become leaders and organizers of workshops, round tables, etc. Today, already around 300 people are ready, and new people are being added; a new wave is coming.

In our country [Israel], we have reached a point where we are invited as permanent lecturers and education consultants in schools, workplaces, city halls, and other places.

I think that within a few months, we will come to a point when the experts, prepared by us, will be able to start working in various organizations. In any case, we are approaching such a state when no business can operate if it’s not internally re-organized and people are not correctly connected with each other into a small integral community. Nothing will work without this!
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/27/12

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Under The Domination Of Foreigners

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Thus, the portion that is given into the hands of foreigners will not be secured for any person from Israel because his friends will not be able to provide for those needs, as they will not be in possession of them. Consequently, as long as the individual is troubled with concerns for himself, he is unfit to even begin to keep the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself.”

By correcting the desire to receive to be in order to bestow, we can divide it into two parts:

  • One part can be attributed to actions of bestowal, dissemination and connection—when a person yearns to exit himself he gradually advances towards bestowal, towards the Creator.
  • The second part is the desire to receive itself, that is still with the intention of in order to receive, thinking only about itself in different manners, which is called “given into the hands of foreigners.”

It is as if a person is “split”: Part of him is in exile and part of him is exiting to redemption. So as long as the egoistic desire controls a person and doesn’t allow him to think about dissemination, bestowal, connection love, etc., this means that it doesn’t allow him to worry about others, through which he learns how to treat the Creator, there is no chance he can come out of exile. By being in his egoistic desires to receive, he begins to receive blows, and having no choice, he doesn’t hope for a better corporeal life anymore because it doesn’t bring him any pleasure, but only suffering.

Then a person is ready to escape from Egypt, from the domination of “the nations of the world,” which means from the domination of his own ego, and is ready to dedicate himself to bestowal. The blows help him decide that it is better to be on the other side, where at least there are no blows. This helps a person to get rid of the part that is under the domination of foreigners, to restrict himself, and to move to the side of bestowal where he begins to make efforts. This is called the “path of suffering.”

At the same time there is the “path of the Torah” where by different actions we summon the Light which reforms our attitude by emphasizing the good and wonderful feeling of bestowal. This Light changes my set of values and lets me feel that bestowal is sublime, respectable, and good. This is how it is depicted to me, and then I am drawn to bestowal more strongly and am ready to restrict the receiving part that now seems contemptible to me. This is how I advance with the help of the Light, in the path of “I shall hasten it.”

We can follow one way or the other, but a person should always see himself as “half guilty and half innocent.” One part of him is under the domination of the friends in the group where he is ready for bestowal and connection, and his other part is under the domination of foreigners. We are talking about this kind of person, not about those who are totally submerged in the passions of this world, who cannot leave them, and don’t feel the aspiration to rise above themselves.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Either Mutual Guarantee Or Self Love, There Is No Third Option

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” (text of the article in bold):

And you evidently find that the giving of the Torah, to a person, had to be delayed until they came out of Egypt, which means until he escapes his ego and decides that he doesn’t want to be connected to it any more.

Only then do they became a nation of their own. Now a person is ready to connect with all the friends in order to develop above the ego.

Then all their needs were provided for by themselves without dependence on others. The group wants to establish itself in a way that only the attribute of bestowal will reside among the friends in order to create and to stabilize the force in order to bestow upon the Creator.

This qualified them to receive the above Arvut, and then they were given the Torah. By that they qualify themselves to the connection called “mutual guarantee,” that is stabilized and revealed to them by the Light that Reforms, called the “Torah.”

It turns out that even after the reception of the Torah, if a handful from Israel betray and return to the filth of self-love… This means that it isn’t speaking about the final success, since they can always return and fall and leave the mutual guarantee. …without consideration of their friends, that same amount of need that is put in the hands of those few would burden Israel with the need to provide for it themselves. This is because those few will not pity them at all. If every member in the group doesn’t invest all his powers and add to the mutual guarantee, to the general mutual connection, or if he completely leaves the way, his power is lacking in the whole system and because of such people everyone descends.

Hence, the fulfillment of the Mitzva of loving one’s friend will be prevented from the whole of Israel. The vessel is called “mutual guarantee,” and the Light, the feeling that fills them, is called “love.”

Thus, these rebels cause those who keep the Torah to remain in their filth of self-love. The “keepers of the Torah” are those who constantly worry about connection and for that draw the Light that Reforms so that their connection will be compatible with the Light and will grow in intensity towards a greater connection with the Creator, such people constantly hold on to the Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments), which means to corrections and connections which are increasingly greater and more complicated.

…for they will not be able to engage in the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” and complete their love for others without their help. It is necessary to constantly reinforce the mutual guarantee, the connection among them, and it is there that the Light of love is revealed in an increasingly growing intensity.

As a result, all of Israel are responsible for one another, both on the positive side and on the negative side. “Israel,” which is the yearning for Yashar- El (straight to the Creator) is possible only by mutual guarantee. On the other hand, without mutual guarantee there is no Israel, which means that they are not called “Israel” if there is no mutual guarantee among them.

“Israel” and “mutual guarantee” are synonyms that symbolize the spiritual vessel in which the Light is revealed.

On the positive side, if they keep the Arvut until each cares and satisfies the needs of his friends… A person worries about the whole general vessel, so that he will be in mutual guarantee and in connection on all sides, in a whole integral system.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot. They constantly add corrections to what is revealed to them. Of course, corruptions are revealed to them, as it was with the children of Israel in the desert. Here the Torah is needed, which means the study and instruction that shows them how to correct the corruptions that are revealed after the exodus from Egypt. By rising above their “Egypt”, the children of Israel begin to stabilize the nation of Israel, by drawing the Light called the Torah and by being constantly on guard, ready to learn how to do that. This action, this process, is the “nation of Israel,” that advances straight to the Creator.

They can fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot, meaning bring contentment to their Maker. And this is actually the goal and the reason for this whole work. Only two states can be here—either mutual guarantee or self-love, it cannot be somewhere in between.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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A Matryoshka Put Together On The Inside

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSualm, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Therefore, the Tana described the Arvut as two people on a boat, when one of them began to drill a hole in the boat. His friend asked, “Why are you drilling?” He replied, “What business is it of yours? I am drilling under me, not under you.” So he replied, “Fool! We will both drown together!”

From this we learn that since those rebels wallow in self-love, by their actions they build an iron wall that prevents the observers of the Torah from even beginning to fully keep the Torah and Mitzvot in the measure of “Love thy friend as thyself,” which is the ladder for reaching Dvekut (adhesion) with Him. And how right were the words of the proverb that said, “Fool, we shall both drown together!”

This is a very clear example: No matter where the hole is, in any case, I eventually drown and as a result everyone dies. This is why we should worry about all the participants, and this concern should first be revealed internally, inside me, when I worry about my own desires, and also outwards when I worry about the group and the world.

A person is a small world. Eventually my inner structure connects with the structure of the group and the structure of the whole world. So it turns out that if I could keep the right, accurate, basic form of my vessels, the corrected and the uncorrected ones, I could keep the external vessels of the group and of the whole world. This is called “judges himself and the whole world to the scale of merit.”

We can bring the example of a Matryoshka (a set of nesting dolls): I am inside, then there is the group, and then the whole world. And all of this is only in my imagination—my ego is divided into “layers” from the internal layer to the external layer. Actually, however, it is about one structure, one system. Therefore, I am responsible for everyone. If I carefully guard myself, I guard the whole world by that.

Thus the correction is carried out internally. Of course I should also worry about the external part, but the real work is done inside me. Therefore by growing stronger internally, we radiate the power upon our groups and upon the whole world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The World Around Me: It’s Me Under A Magnifying Glass

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe difference between spiritual perception and corporeal perception is in the fact that a person feels that the spiritual world is inside him, in his desire to receive, and the feeling that the world that is outside of me doesn’t belong to me is this world. The difference between the two is determined by the ego that distances certain attributes that are in me and seems to place them on the outside. This separation is created because of the shattering of the desires that made them alien and distant from one another, as if they were not part of the egoistic interests of others and of those who are opposite from their own desire.

But it is exactly for this reason that we have a chance to connect, as in the beginning, in the final, corrected state, but now with the feeling, understanding, and attaining its existence to its full depth. After all, we’ve been through a long way of recognition towards the final state, comparing what we feel inside us and outside of us.

This is possible thanks to the fact that my ego separated me and threw millions of my attributes away from me: the attributes of the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human, which I feel as foreign. Now thanks to the fact that I compare them to myself and draw myself forcefully closer, whether I want them or not, I intensify my feelings and increase my understanding until I begin to love all the others.

When I bring them back inside me I acquire such a wide perception of reality that encompasses all of Ein Sof (Infinity), 125 spiritual degrees.

Just think how hidden and unfelt are all the processes that take place inside us. But on the outside I immediately pay attention and react strongly to every change, even the slightest one, whether it is good or bad. After all, my ego increases them as it looks at them as if under a magnifying glass.

With regard to what happens inside me, my ego is not as picky as toward what happens externally. Therefore, I am so sensitive to anything that happens around me, but if the same thing happened inside me, I wouldn’t even notice it. A person doesn’t know himself; he doesn’t feel and doesn’t see himself as others see him. Sometimes it is a real shock for him to discover what others think about him. They open his eyes, and he cannot believe that he is really so.

We don’t know ourselves! We don’t feel ourselves and don’t know our own attributes. We only want to fill ourselves, but we are not familiar with the internal intricacies. While everything that takes place on the outside concerns us, and we passionately judge those who act in a certain way with regard to us and contemplate what we should do about it.

So thanks to the shattering that has brought all of my internal attributes outside and has left only a very small desire inside me, I can begin to work with what seems to me as external to bring it back inside in order to connect the Light and the vessel into one desire. Thanks to that I acquire a fine perception since I have to take into account and understand every stranger. I may hate him, but I have to love him when I turn my whole perception to the other pole.

Such an understanding rewards me with a Light that is 620 times stronger and the understanding of where I am and what I feel. This is the difference between the world of Ein Sof, that was initially created by the Creator in which the created being was only one small point, and our world. We increase that small point until Ein Sof by adding everything that is on the outside by bringing the whole world inside according to the rule: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/01/12, The Zohar

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“US Firms Put Social Values Before Big Profits”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from BBC News): “…in the next few weeks, half a dozen US states are expected to pass legislation that will for the first time protect companies which value their social impact as much as the bottom line.

“Whether it’s buying locally, protecting the environment or launching community projects, the new ‘benefit corporations’ have a common mission – to do well by doing good.

“‘It’s becoming a national movement,’ says Penny Jones-Napier, owner of the Big Bad Woof pet store in Hyattsville, Maryland, the first business in the US to adopt the new benefit corporation designation. ‘What started with small businesses is moving into the mainstream.’

“As a benefit corporation, Big Bad Woof is protected from legal action if it makes decisions that aren’t in the financial interests of its shareholders.

“The company can support local suppliers for instance, even though that might not be the cheapest option and could reduce the profit margin.

“Ms Jones-Napier says her customers are also happy to pay extra to support the company’s values. …

“‘Benefit corporations are brilliant because they allow companies to pursue profit – for which no one should apologise – and at the same time have a positive impact on society,’ says corporate legal expert Laura Jordan of The Capital Law Firm in Washington DC.

“Whereas the two goals were once seen as incompatible, people in their 20s and 30s regard them as complementary, she says. ‘They want to use the power of business to change the world.’

“Seven states, including New York and California, have already adopted the new business class. These seven states combined produce a third of America’s annual economic output, which makes their support for benefit corporations significant, says Andrew Kassoy, co-founder of B Lab. …

“There are still fewer than 100 benefit corporations in the US, but Mr Kassoy expects that number to grow rapidly over the next few years.”

My Comment: This initiative would be wonderful if it weren’t egoistic and confined within one country or one state. In the end, since this is contrary to the law of nature, to bring us to a total interconnected system, this initiative has no future! It will only delay the end and will bring us to a greater devastation.
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Fighting For Lower Performance

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Tim Jackson, professor of sustainable development at the University of Surrey): “Productivity — the amount of output delivered per hour of work in the economy — is often viewed as the engine of progress in modern capitalist economies. Output is everything. Time is money. The quest for increased productivity occupies reams of academic literature and haunts the waking hours of C.E.O.’s and finance ministers. Perhaps forgivably so: our ability to generate more output with fewer people has lifted our lives out of drudgery and delivered us a cornucopia of material wealth.

“But the relentless drive for productivity may also have some natural limits. Ever-increasing productivity means that if our economies don’t continue to expand, we risk putting people out of work. If more is possible each passing year with each working hour, then either output has to increase or else there is less work to go around. Like it or not, we find ourselves hooked on growth.

“What, then, should happen when, for one reason or another, growth just isn’t to be had anymore? Maybe it’s a financial crisis. Or rising prices for resources like oil. Or the need to rein in growth for the damage it’s inflicting on the planet: climate change, deforestation, the loss of biodiversity. Maybe it’s any of the reasons growth can no longer be safely and easily assumed in any of today’s economies. The result is the same. Increasing productivity threatens full employment.

“One solution would be to accept the productivity increases, shorten the workweek and share the available work. …

“But there’s another strategy for keeping people in work when demand stagnates. Perhaps in the long run it’s an easier and a more compelling solution: to loosen our grip on the relentless pursuit of productivity. By easing up on the gas pedal of efficiency and creating jobs in what are traditionally seen as ‘low productivity’ sectors, we have within our grasp the means to maintain or increase employment, even when the economy stagnates.

“At first, this may sound crazy; we’ve become so conditioned by the language of efficiency. But there are sectors of the economy where chasing productivity growth doesn’t make sense at all. Certain kinds of tasks rely inherently on the allocation of people’s time and attention. The caring professions are a good example: medicine, social work, education. Expanding our economies in these directions has all sorts of advantages. …

“The care and concern of one human being for another is a peculiar ‘commodity.’ It can’t be stockpiled. It becomes degraded through trade. It isn’t delivered by machines. Its quality rests entirely on the attention paid by one person to another. Even to speak of reducing the time involved is to misunderstand its value. …

“In short, avoiding the scourge of unemployment may have less to do with chasing after growth and more to do with building an economy of care, craft and culture. And in doing so, restoring the value of decent work to its rightful place at the heart of society.”

My Comment: Namely, by building mutual support, passing many functions of the state, the service sector and industry, to the mutual aid organizations, leaving only the necessary part of production within the enterprise, we will get rid of the concept of “work to live” and “live to work” and will be free to create the new integral society.
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