The Illusion Of Personal Gain

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How are we supposed to help each other? Let’s say I am a farmer and most of the time I don’t communicate much with other people. How can I possibly bestow to them?

Answer: Tell me, why and for whom do you work on your land? We think that we work for our own sake, but in fact that’s not what’s happening. A long time ago, humans were at the animate level thinking only about how to feed themselves. They didn’t feel that they were a part of each other or have a sense of community. But with the development of our receiving desires, people were no longer able to provide for themselves. Then, one became a farmer, another a shepherd, and another worked with tools. It is said: “Go and earn from each other.” Our desires grew more complex; accordingly, our world became more complex.

Ultimately, we think we serve ourselves, but in fact, it is really others. We are under the delusion that we act for the sake of our own benefit, but in fact, it’s a misunderstanding. Actually we work to get our salary, which is nothing other than a deception. In fact, we work to bestow and to provide for others.

For example, you grow tomatoes and all day long you are thinking about how to sell them and what you will earn. So remember, if you did not regard yourself through the deceitful prism of egoism, you would see that you simply are trying to find a way to help others profit. You are suppressed by a delusion that all you do is pursue profits because you don’t know how else to motivate yourself because you still don’t know how concern for others will serve the purpose. Well, you can remain under the impression of this lie if you want.

In reality, your pursuit of profit is a complete fraud. Soon the banking sector will collapse, and you will see this. Similarly, we encourage children or trick a donkey by dangling a carrot in front of its nose to make it work.

Question: So, a Kabbalist grows tomatoes, earns half a million by selling them, and constantly thinks about how to use this money for the benefit of others?

Answer: Of course! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be working for the sake of bestowal. What kind of a Kabbalist would he be?

Comment: But, people are constructed in a way that most of the time they don’t think of things like that.

Answer: You keep forgetting because your perception is not connected with bestowal as of yet. A mother feels her child within herself, so she never forgets about her baby. Internally, she never separates from her child; she simply cannot cut off the umbilical cord that connects them together. Wait, you too will discover the cord that joins you to others.

Comment: But even egoistically, I don’t dream about my future salary all day long.

Answer: That’s right! However, you constantly think of various pleasures that attract you. An expert receives sensual and intellectual fulfillment from doing his work well. Eventually, you’ll find out that you are working for the benefit of others. All of us are the Creator’s workers; we are giving to each other all we can against our will and do not acknowledge our bestowal. Instead of a beautiful and perfect picture of the world, we see a perverted and wicked image that alters the reality into its complete opposite.

Eventually, we have to “remove the blinders” and lift the veil of concealment. Nothing will change, except us; but when you change, you will see an inverted world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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A Spark Of The Creator’s Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does it seem to a person that he can advance on his own without the help of the environment?

Answer: People prefer to rely on themselves, since they are used to implementing their habitual egoistic approaches. Because of the egoistic desire, one doesn’t appeal to the upper Light that Reforms, but thinks that he will earn everything by using his own knowledge and efforts. We tend to think that we are clever and strong enough to overcome all impediments and get a reward without outside help.

We think we don’t need the upper force, the Creator. When we feel powerful, we neglect to maintain connection with the upper force, even if we presume that it exists. One begins to imagine one’s association with the upper force only when facing threats in this world or fearing punishment after death in a future world, that is, only when one can’t cope on their own.

If a person is confident that he will succeed and fill his egoistic desires on his own, he won’t strive to attain the upper force. But, when the spark that is part of the upper Light awakens in a person, he feels that it cannot be fulfilled unless he is connected with the upper force, which gives him additional fulfillment.

The spark is not just a particle of Light from above that was cut off and placed in me. This spark is the faintest illumination of the Light, the Creator that descended within a person: the beginning of the revelation of the Creator in me. This is the beginning of man (Adam) within us, similar to (Domeh) to the Creator.

The spark needs to be connected to the desire to enjoy, so they are brought into harmony by establishing the correct connection between them. This is what we have to work on until the Creator completely reveals Himself to us and not just a tiny spark; in other words, instead of a small desire to be pleased, we should find great aspiration, and both should reach complete adhesion.

A tiny part of the Creator is disclosed within us: This is called a spiritual awakening, a spark. A small portion of the great desire to enjoy wakes up all my earthly passions for food, sex, family, wealth, power, and knowledge.

The difference between my natural desire and the spark is that the desire to be pleased demands that we fulfill ourselves for our own sake, whereas the spark requires fulfilling others, bestowal. They contradict each other, and so a person first loses his head when he first senses the spark.

A person feels the split because the desire to be pleased pulls him into this world with all its egoistic pleasures, while the spark of bestowal carries us in a completely different dimension, although we do not know where or what it is. At this point, we stop caring about this world and become totally attracted to something more lofty and unearthly.

Eventually, the spark leads us to a special place where we can realize it, that is, to the place where the Creator’s desire reveals itself with greater force. The place is called a Kabbalistic group.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/12, Shamati #21

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Four Steps To Keter

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen spiritual insight is revealed in us, we actually begin to see and gradually understand more clearly that everything depends on the “place” (the Creator), which means on the number and the intensity of my discernments that reveal the spiritual reality and that show me to what extent I am connected to everyone else. Everything depends on the number of discernments and mainly on their intensity and the intensity of the connection.

Each of us suddenly discovers different discernments of his egoistic perception, but gives up his ego in order to connect with others. It turns out that a “dent” appears in my desire opposite a “bulge” in the desire of the friend, and a “bulge” of my desire opposite his “dent.” Thus we connect, as each one gives in to the other.

It turns out that I have given up my interests in order to connect to the friend, but he, in his perception will discover these “bulges” of my ego and will annul himself in order to connect with me. Thus, we don’t annul our ego, but constantly use it through more “bulges” and “dents.” Our sensitive and fine perception and its intensity depend on the amount of such connections in which we discover more and more discernments.

This is how the general vessel is built for the interest of the public. The more common needs I discover, the more I can annul myself and connect with others. But then I have to think about the reason I am doing this for—for the revelation of the Shechina (Divinity). Here I have to attain one more connection that is more internal and for a higher goal by discovering that it is the Creator.

The Creator isn’t some personality, but a discernment that I revealed as a result of my clarification. It is the upper Sefira of Keter, which I discover after having clarified all the Sefirot that precede it. Just like the commandment of love, which we must reach, but which we actually cannot. It reveals to us by itself if we perform all the commandments that precede it.

It is the same when it comes to connection. If I with my point in the heart work in the group and connect with the friends, then within this connection, in all the four phases, I discover their inner root called Shechina. Shechina symbolizes the revelation of the Creator.

I cannot build this last phase, the Keter, the one who bestows, by myself. It is revealed since I have taken the four steps towards it.

I did everything that was in my power, I revealed the four phases and the forms of connection by myself, and then I discover the phase of Keter on which I cannot work by myself. This is the Shechina. On my part, I complete the work and then there is a discovery waiting for me, as it says “I have labored and I found.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Our Fear Of The Future Is Our Helper

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a way to avoid reaching the point of catastrophic bifurcation and to turn to a good path in time?

Answer: A smart person is one that can foresee a future outcome, and because he’s able to see it so clearly, he’s able to change the present. For instance, a person wants to do something that will bring him instantaneous pleasure; however, seeing that this action will result in future suffering, a person will annul the urge for this pleasure, he will become cautious, and will have the strength to overcome the urge.

For example, if a drug addict would see the future picture that his drug use would lead to, it would convince him to give it up.

This is why people need to be shown the picture of the horrible future, even though scaring people isn’t what we want. It’s very difficult to present such information, but since people are closing their eyes to what’s going on, it is necessary to find suitable means of informing people of the threats. So now there are more and more films on this subject.

I hope that reason will prevail. I see it actually happening in our awareness of the nature of evil, although I would like to see it happen more quickly. But only a vision of a threatening future and fear can help a person, nothing else will stop him.
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From a “Talk About Integral Upbringing” 6/13/12

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The World Must Know The Truth!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are two forces: One force leads to unity and goodness and the other toward destruction and death. Right now, humanity is irreversibly heading for a point of bifurcation where we need to stop, because we cannot go on like this any further. If things go the natural way, would that be catastrophic?

Answer: Yes, it would be a natural and social catastrophe, which means wars. If we continue to stubbornly go against nature, then on the one hand, it would evoke a variety of natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and so on, and on the other hand, it would trigger in us such internal strain and pressure that a global nuclear war would erupt. This is the natural course of events without our conscious awareness.

But if we reveal this point in advance through mass media, through all kinds of possibilities, then we can move it forward. This should be done not when it’s already inevitable and we enter a state of great conflict, but while we are anticipating everything and feel it in advance as though this point already exists now, and then we can start changing ourselves and society.

This can be achieved only by disseminating the truth about our state and direction: what are we heading toward, what force is leading us forward, and about the inevitability of coming to that precise state. Actually, people are already talking about it, though very little.

And most importantly, there’s a method of correction that allows us to change what exists today. By the way, the method itself is painless, without drama. A person won’t need to break him or herself.

A person comes to a group and engages in it under the influence of a gentle, kind, and friendly environment, attends it like a simple psychological workshop in a university. And within a few sessions, he begins to feel how he himself and his view of the world change.

So, nothing dramatic happens to a person. He or she simply, easily, and comfortably begins to acquire a new system of knowledge and perception of the world.
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From a “Talk About Integral Upbringing” 6/13/12

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Stages of the Formation of the Mind: Inclusion In The Upper Program

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe third stage of development starts when I begin to search: Why is the Creator doing all this to me? And then I understand that He does this to develop a reasonable attitude in me, based on mind instead of feelings.

And here a person feels that he must reach the same kind of bestowal to the upper, as the upper One has for him. It is no longer enough for him to merely accept all the pleasant and unpleasant states from the Creator with the understanding that they are for his benefit. He looks for an opportunity to also bestow to the Creator on his behalf and give Him his love.

To do this, he needs to develop even more and attain the Giver more deeply, understanding the purpose of His actions, in other words, understanding what exactly He wanted to build in man. This is the way the third stage (Behina Gimel) develops, which desires to receive from the Giver. It continues the first stage (Behina Aleph) in order to feel the pleasure, but it wants to feel it in order to understand the program the Giver has implanted in it. This is the meaning of the third stage.

At first, Bina refused to receive Light, but once it desired to understand the Giver, it understood that this is only possible when receiving from Him. And now, in the third stage, the person perceives both, good and evil, only as good. He no longer separates the good and evil, since he has risen above it.

And because he considers the higher program to be above his good and bad sensations, he begins to attain the actual program, and not just its influence, which makes things appear lighter or darker to him.

When a person perceives the program of the giver, he becomes included in it and unites with it. This means that he has attained adhesion on the fourth stage (Dalet). And all this begins with the very first action, when a person attains a certain level of correction through his environment, study, and the Light that Reforms, when he accepts everything that happens, both, good and bad, as a single inseparable whole.

He attaches to the Creator above all these states in order to feel Him, respect, value, understand, and unite with Him on the highest possible degree.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/12/12, Shamati #121

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 06.15.12

Preparation to the Lesson

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Shamati #117 You Labored and Did Not Find, Do Not Believe

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The Book of ZoharSelected Excerpts “Beresheet Bet (Genesis 2),” Lesson 122 

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Preface to the Book of Zohar, (Starting with: “The same holds true”), Item 34, Lesson 21

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The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “The Actuality of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Lesson 4

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 06.14.12

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
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The Turning Point Of Consciousness

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to reach a height where we work above our egoism and it doesn’t get in our way, where we rise above it and become completely free from it. Then there are no limitations left for a person.

But for now egoism gets in our way, being “help from the opposite” since it helps me to reveal new desires, problems, and all kinds of flaws inside of me. This incites me to work and act, awakening various sensations in me and a change of states.

If none of this existed, our state would be completely hopeless. That is why it is written that “The greater a person, the greater his egoism.” But as a person advances, he reveals a greater desire to enjoy, and inside of that same desire he reveals more and more details and finer nuances, evoking stronger impressions in him. This is called a greater will to enjoy.

Reaching greater egoism means becoming picky and intolerant about the smallest things which I previously did not even pay attention to. And this spurs me to perform new, finer corrections, eventually bringing me to carry out very precise work against my egoistic nature.

The Creator created the will to enjoy, being foreign to Him and to us. But this lets us feel one notion: our separation from the Creator as “something from nothing” (Yesh Mi Ein). There is nothing besides this in the will to enjoy. It includes just this one quality, and not an ounce of any desire. The Creator created just this one particular point, which emerged “from nothing,” being something completely separate.

And from this separate point, the will to enjoy then begins to develop like a spiral that unwinds. Everything that is present in this desire, that comes out of the point of “something from nothing,” develops from the Creator, but in the opposite form, like an anti-world.

The Creator created a certain point beyond His boundaries, which exists from nothing, and He brought Himself inside of it. It turns out that there is the Creator and the creation, standing one opposite another. And creation uses everything it has from this “nothing” in order to establish itself in the same status as the Creator.

After all, in reality everything else besides this one point of “something from nothing” is the Creator. And “something from nothing” is the turning point in our mind and feelings, which we must always correct.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/14/12, Shamati

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The Return Of The Global Meltdown

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Michael Casey, the author of The Unfair Trade, a managing editor at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal): “In the annals of world economic experience, 2009 was a terrible year. It was the first since 1945 in which global economic output contracted in aggregate.

“Now, just three years later, we are on the verge of the same happening again. Data releases from around the world last week suggest an alarming, synchronized slowdown is underway. Another global recession so soon after the last one, at a time when an intractable debt crisis is tearing Europe apart while a divided United States is still reeling from the 2008-2009 financial meltdown, could easily undermine international trade relations and even threaten world peace.

“The tensions have turned a breakup of the euro zone into a distinct possibility. If it comes to that it would be a global catastrophe. The international banking system that developed out of the pre-crisis global savings glut is too interconnected to withstand such an event without profound losses and extreme capital flight.

“Having used up ammunition in the last go-round, governments have little fiscal or monetary firepower left. They should instead set aside their domestic agendas and engage in truly coordinated actions. To restore global investor confidence, they need to free up trade, coordinate fiscal and social policies that help rectify savings and spending imbalances, write enforceable rules requiring free-floating exchange rates and uniformly regulated financial sectors, and develop a centralized system for storing currency reserves so that the dollar loses its distorting dominance.”

My Comment: The proposed solutions can only be theoretical because the moment governments will start to undertake any changes, everything threatens to collapse completely. That is exactly what explains the inaction of the EU leaders.
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