Audio Version Of The Blog – 11.06.12

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Georgia Convention – 11.06.12

Georgia Convention, Lesson 1

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Georgia Convention, Workshop 1

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Georgia Convention, Lesson 2

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Georgia Convention, Workshop 2

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Georgia Convention, Lesson 3

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Freedom Between The Creator And Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam: “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” item 13: There are two parts in the Torah: 1) Mitzvot between man and God, and 2) Mitzvot between man and man. And they both aim for the same thing—to bring the creature to the final purpose of Dvekut with Him.

Mitzvot governing the relations between people boil down to the principle “Love thy friend as thyself.” And Mitzvot that govern the relations between man and the Creator boil down to the principle “Love the Lord, your God.” Thus there are two levels on the way to fulfilling the Mitzva of love: First, a person fulfills it with regard to humanity, and if he succeeds, then he attains complete love of the Creator.

Why is the process divided into two parts? The point is that if there weren’t the shattering of the vessels, as a result of which my world seems to be populated by many people, I would have no basis, no foundation, to perform the actions of correction, since these actions need to be concealed.

On the other hand, if the Creator is revealed to me, I am bribed, convicted, enslaved, annulled, sold, and deprived of freewill. In short, in such a case, I have to bestow since I have no choice. When I look at Him, I have no other choice. He controls me, dominates me, and I become an “angel” who doesn’t bestow out of freewill.

In order to have freewill, I have to be detached from the Creator and to learn how to bestow by those who don’t obligate me to do so by force. They do, however, evoke me by sufferings. For example, they send me the storm Sandy or a tsunami. But such disasters don’t push me forward to corrections, since I don’t feel that they come directly from the Creator, and so I keep my freewill. On the whole, we are constantly in a state of vagueness.

This world was given to us so that we will be free from the Creator and so there are two types of Mitzvot. There are Mitzvot that relate to the relations between people, which we keep without any obligations. We actually increase our internal recognition of how necessary they are and with time as we become experienced we begin to understand that we are actually free in that.

At the moment I don’t think so. I am pushed from behind by a stick and drawn forward by the point in the heart. I don’t look to the sides anymore, but just advance and fall back. Is this freewill?

On the way, however, we begin to establish the connection between us; we feel that we are free in the resistance between the Creator and Pharaoh. The true freedom is concealed in this middle point, in the mixing between good and bad (the Shell of Noga). This is where the intention, meaning man, is born. The intention is man.

Thus the Mitzvot are divided into two parts since we must be in a state of concealment in order to have freewill, so first we perform the Mitzvot between people in order to finally keep the Mitzvot between man and the Creator.

The amount of Mitzvot is determined by our 613 desires that are divided into 248 “organs” and 365 “ligaments” in a person’s soul. We have to correct all these desires with the intention of in order to bestow.
[92106]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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A Playing Field

Dr. Michael LaitmanA replica of the last shattered spiritual level is revealed in us as the corporeal world, which we feel with our five senses. At the same time both matter and the senses are imaginary, and they depict spiritual contours, like a picture on a wall. The picture is old, but it isn’t real. Reality is there behind the wall and there is only a projection on the wall.

People watch movies and experience different feelings, is it real or not? These are just reactions and impressions. It is as if we are living in a movie that is being projected to us.

But besides the movie, I don’t see anything and don’t know anything. My whole life takes place in it and goes through it and so all my feelings reflect this movie. My sight, my hearing, my sense of smell, and touch are all reflected in this movie.

Today we are being shown three-dimensional films that present an even greater reality. It is no secret that a person can be placed in a certain sphere and be shown that it is his life; if he gets used to his tiny world, it would be hard to prove to him that there is an external reality, “Here there are human beings, and here is the earth, and here are the stars, everything is in its place. …” He doesn’t leave the limits of this sphere in his senses. For him there is nothing beyond the limits of his current feelings. He doesn’t feel a deficiency for something in some extra sense or that his reality is inferior.

Today, I too, by using my five senses, perceive only what is inside my sphere. Where is the extra sense, a vessel that cannot be filled by anything that is here, no matter how hard you try? The extra deficiency is called a “point in the heart” (•) and it is aimed at what is outside our universe. When a person feels this desire, he doesn’t find his place, he begins to search and eventually he finds us. Our goal is to connect him with the outside world. He needs to break out, outside the “fence” and get rid of it.

A Playing Field
The whole point is that our sphere is built as a replica of the upper world, and they are similar. We should only use what is here correctly. I take my spark, the point in the heart, and insert it into the mutual relations with the friends, as if I want to love them. Then I see that I actually don’t want that, but the deficiency has already been created, and the spark already has a direction and I can demand correction.

So the main thing is to insert my spark into the “playing field” and to force myself to play according to the rules. By this game I acquire a real mind and the right deficiency. Thus from a demo model, from a parallel similar form, I can move on to the real world.

This world is merely an imaginary “playing field” and only my spark is real. This tiny “point in the heart” is a Godly part from Above, and if I use it correctly in the game, I succeed and I grow.
[92099]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A Ticket To The World Of Desires

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the book Shamati, in the article “The Most Important Thing is to Want Only to Bestow,” it says: “The force of faith is sufficient for one to work in the form of bestowal.” What is faith?

Answer: We don’t know what faith is. It is a kind of force that doesn’t exist in our world. In our world, in all the natural sciences, in physics, chemistry, biology, and other sciences, we discover the forces of the still, vegetative, and animate nature that operate as forces of attraction and rejection.

In the spiritual world we suddenly discover forces that operate oppositely from these forces. Suppose, there is a natural force of rejection that we see in this world, but in spirituality it is the opposite, the force of mutual attraction is formed between these objects, as it says: “Love shall cover all sins.”

We begin to discover this to a certain extent in quantum physics: If we place elementary particles that are equally charged (electrons for example) in the same place, they will begin to reject one another, not only because they have the same charge, but for quantum reasons as well (the force of anti-symmetry); none of them wants to be where the other is.

So what is the force of bestowal? It is a force that is revealed above our nature in a form that is opposite from it, as it says: “I have seen the opposite world.” We can only say that the spiritual world operates according to intentions and not actions. There are no actions there; only what takes place in the intentions is taken into account, since our bodies don’t exist in the spiritual world, but only the desires and the intentions.

Imagine that your desires operate. What terrible things would happen in the world! In a split of a second the world would cease to exist, people would burn one another.

So in order not to find ourselves in such a world, we are all in an imaginary world in which we can perform physical actions as much as we are allowed to. To the extent that a person can operate his desire for the good of others, he ascends above his body and enters the spiritual domain where he acts according to his desire and his intention.

Otherwise, how could it be possible to bring a person into a reality that is totally under the domination of his desire?! After all, he has no control over his own desire and his intention.

So only to the extent that a person to hold his desires and work correctly with his desire and his intention does he enter the spiritual world, is he allowed to enter. It is called “entering the King’s palace after having climbed the mountain,” and there he begins to correct the world, to the extent that he can control himself.
[92082]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12, Shamati #30

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Following Wisdom Or Following The Light?

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, Shlavei HaSulam (The Rungs of the Ladder), Volume I, Article 12, “What is Torah and the Work in the Way of the Creator”: It turns out that a person has to make great efforts before he begins to study, so that his study will bear fruit and good results, this means that the study should bring him the Light of the Torah, that can reform him.

First we must develop the right desire, in fact, it is indispensible. A person reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah only with a “point in the heart,” which has no direction yet. He doesn’t know where he has arrived or where he is, like a drop of semen in the womb. In this case, it is the group that plays the role of the womb, and it has to “format” a person, to give him a form, and to exert influence. We shouldn’t wait for him to act correctly. We should be careful if he “shows off,” since the show should be the group’s show.

There are those who come full of energy and begin to work, for them it is really a positive approach, but it is definitely not in the right direction. And were can he find it? From his egoistic actions? A person hasn’t even had the chance to discover the evil inclination yet and is still on a lower degree.

So the group should gently control a new student in order to give him the right form, the right direction And when a person feels that “reins and a bridle” are placed on him, he is obliged to accept it since he has no other choice. The group must control everyone.

The friends must look for the evil inclination and the lack of connection. We yearn for connection; we clarify to what extent our qualitative and quantitative parameters are correct; whether it suits our requirements and satisfies us, until we discover the Creator’s form in the connection.

We go through the levels of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya and Yechida on each of the 125 degrees. In search for connection, we discover a deficiency and draw the Light that Reforms during the study. Thus the study becomes purposeful and I constantly check myself not according to how much I understand or not, or how interesting it is or not. This has nothing to do with what we do, the study is a time of healing, a time of clarification, a time of drawing the Light of correction. All this is in accordance with our deficiency, which we discover during the preparation for the lesson, we discover it during the friends’ meetings and in our collective actions and then we come to the lesson with the demand for the Light that Reforms.

In this demand we are different from the rest of the world. People feel that they are righteous; they don’t demand the Light that Reforms; they are satisfied with what they do, like all those who don’t even think about it. We need to constantly assess ourselves according to the deficiency for the Light and the Light itself.

When I first came to Rabash, I asked him after a couple of months: “What is the main thing about working with the book? Where is the essence of our world during the morning lesson described?” Then he showed me item 17 in the “Introduction to TES,” where it says: “And so a person who studies is committed before he studies to strengthen his faith in the Creator and His Providence in reward and punishment” since this is important. Our only work is to prepare the desire for change through the exertion in the group. On the whole we discover that we cannot do that and it is only there that we should perform the correction. With this recognition, we reach the study again.

Thus while we study we discover a deficiency and on the other hand we are corrected and healed.

So accordingly “a person should make great efforts before he begins to study.” And if in the meantime we don’t attain the right results, then we should check whether we come to study with the right intention. Otherwise we study in order to acquire knowledge from a certain book instead of drawing the Light as is required from the Torah.

So there is “wisdom” and there is “Torah.” And a person who simply wants to know what is written in the book deals with wisdom, and a person who looks for correction and who wants to change himself deals with the Torah, with the true method. This is the whole difference…
[92067]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/12

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Hurricane Sandy: The Beginning Of Nature Going Rampant

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Sergey Tichonov): “It seems that people have angered nature. Along with the hurricane Sandy and the resulting flood in the United States, there were more than 200 regions in 41 countries worldwide, or about 11% of the inhabited land that experienced natural disasters. But out of all these disasters, the world media prefers to talk only about the American one. Many regions of the world were under extreme weather conditions, but the media somehow see only the American tragedy.

“The situation in the USA is only a small part of natural disturbances at a planetary scale. Storms and floods are happening in several regions at once, killing people, and even in larger quantities than in the USA. According to experts, this happened for the first time in the history of systematic meteorological observations.

“The strongest earthquake in 25 years hit Canada. … As a result of heavy rains, water began to flood Buenos Aires; the city halted public transport. … The lagoon city of Venice, Italy, is under water after a week of rain, with flooded ground-floor stores and apartments. … New Zealand and Burma have experienced the power of a huge tornado, and the Thai Meteorological Service warned of the approaching 8-meter killer waves.

“Sadly, the majority of readers and viewers of the ‘impartial’ international media will not know about these disasters with thousands of victims. I understand when the American CNN shows such a cynical selectivity of information, but even the European TV channels are silent. What happened to the Euronews? Even the Russian information space, devoted to the world news, talks about unfortunate Americans left without light and subway, and the closed New York Stock Exchange …”

My Comment: If we live in an egoistic world, then our media talk about what is closer to them. It is not interesting to talk about what happens at the “bottom” (of the map, globe)… And you, don’t you think so?
[92192]

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What Motivates Man?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we watch a dog, we find that its basic needs are food, sleep, and sex. And what motivates man?

Answer: In man, it’s the same thing: food, sex, and family. These are the animal, physical desires. The next level of desires are social, which are created in us under the influence of the surrounding society. It arouses in us additional desires: for wealth, fame (power), and sciences (knowledge). This means that the first three desires are physical and the next three are seemingly spiritual.

Question: Where do the things like confidence in the future for myself and my children come in?

Answer: Everything is included. Absolutely everything!

Everything is included within these kinds of desires: three corporeal desires and three desires that are, seemingly, “spiritual,” which are as if outside of the body of man and are not used directly for bodily pleasures.

Question: Is the desire of not doing anything, to have everyone leave me alone, to not touch me and just disappear, also included here?

Answer: This is what our general desire, egoism, wants.

The desire for peace can be discovered also when you are running around from corner to corner, but specifically it creates in you a sense of peace. Try stopping a child, for him stopping on the spot, on the contrary, brings a state of anxiety, and when he is running around, he enjoys it; it is peace for him. This is to say that rest is felt according to its desire. When it is in balance, in fulfillment, satiated, this is when the desire itself is relaxed.
[92091]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 03/10/12 

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Make A Wish And It Comes True!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we ask a child what he wants, there will always be some little person that hasn’t yet been tormented by life that will answer: “I want to be a magician!” After all, our problem is in the fact that we lost the ability to want a lot and with great power. Life has beat us down, made us small, made us suffer, survive, and to wish for nothing more than to stop suffering.

Answer: Throughout our whole lives all we do is try to get rid of suffering instead of obtaining true fulfillment, pleasure and attainment. This is something we are lacking. We are overwhelmed by our existence. This is an enormous misfortune for humanity. A person who comes to this realization understands that living this way is meaningless.

Does life have meaning in a different form? When a person asks this question then possibly he begins to see some way out.

Reply: If you ask a child what it means to be a magician, he will say: “I’ll make a wish and it will come true.”

Answer: A person can achieve this. And as a result of our development, we must achieve it!

But despite the fact that it can be difficult, it’s not so easy to escape from the corporeal life and to become involved in a different attainment, in ascending and changing your view of the world; it is, however, within each and everyone’s power. Basically nature is pushing us all to become magicians.

A magician is someone who makes a wish and then makes it come true or attains it on his own. You wished for it and got it!

That is when you begin to comprehend nature, its eternity and perfection, and then you don’t simply imagine getting a house by the lake, a yacht, and so on, but you understand what to desire!

First you stop desiring something material; it doesn’t bring you fulfillment, you instantly elevate to the next level. For this reason we are no longer talking about animal or general human fulfillments in our world.

A person instantly elevates to a different level, a level of attainment. He becomes interested in the harmony of nature and he becomes fulfilled by seeing the picture of forces that govern us, how they arouse us and lead us forward.

This is the kind of desires that arise in a person. I’m not saying that everyone possesses these desires to begin with. They arise in a person that is truly interested in the meaning of life and wishes to become a magician. That is, to become a magician, you must take this giant apparatus, this governing system into your hands.

When you begin to see and to comprehend the system, then you truly begin to become fulfilled by its harmony. This is the highest pleasure! To this degree you become closer, become included in the system and sense its eternity and perfection. You no longer associate yourself with the perishable animal body because you no longer exist on the animal level, but you exist on the “Human” level. Your body can die, but you attain entirely different desires and you exist in them.

No desires remain in a person that can’t be realized. If they are directed in accordance with the general system of nature then they will surely be fulfilled. These desires are one’s that are aimed toward love and bestowal.
[92088]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/11/12 

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Rapid Movement

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It seems that along the process of the integral game, there will be people who will be easily impressed and who will suddenly say: “Oh, I have entered the general state of mind, and now I will teach all of you.”

Answer: In an integral group there cannot be leaders. Everything we discuss is according to the guidance of the moderator. This is one thing.

Second, a person who truly attains the upper world becomes softer and even more concealed. He never speaks about abstract matters; he can tell you jokes or joke about other subjects, but on the whole jokes are a distraction from the truly serious matters, since he is actually in them himself and he doesn’t reveal this.

Question: I am talking about later stages of the game, if we imagine humanity playing the game for 10-20 years …

Answer: First, we don’t play for such a long time since on the way, the recognition of the connection and unity in the group takes place within a couple of days up to a week, it is a very fast movement.

So if humanity begins to deal with it, then within several days the world will totally change. You cannot even imagine that!

People will gladly go where they are told to: to arrange something, to work somewhere. They won’t need anything that is redundant. They will become rational in their attitude to themselves and to the world, to a reasonable, normal way of life.

The main thing is the feeling of connection and unity that gives a person an upper spirit, a mind.
[91893]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 03/10/12 

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