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After The Convention: Under The Creator’s “Millstone”

Dr. Michael LaitmanNow, after the “Flame in the Desert” convention we will go through many states. We have attained a certain level of connection, unity, detachment from matter, the importance of annulling ourselves before the friends, different inner spiritual discernments that are close to a real spiritual level.

We have no control over the process we are going through, and we advance according to the order of the Lights and vessels. We are between them like between a millstone, and different forces constantly operate on us advancing us towards the goal, according to our understanding, agreement, will, and support of their action.

Eventually, all the work of the “millstone” is only according to our agreement, that can be under the influence and pressure of sufferings, or by the help of the Light that Reforms. We don’t do anything by ourselves; this work is called “God’s work,” but we have to agree with the actions and want it to take place, although it is against our basic nature.

Since this work is against our nature and we feel it as very difficult, against our will, it allows us to become free, to have freewill and to transcend our nature.

Now after our convention, we go through very special states, and we must use them as quickly as possible to rise above them a few steps ahead. Therefore, these days are very important for whoever participated in the convention physically, mentally, and virtually. We now have to process everything we have received in the convention correctly, as much as we can, and to continue our advancement forward quickly.

The processing of the states is in clarifying the importance, who do we attribute it to, is it important that we have somehow discovered the connection with the Creator, with the spiritual space, with self-detachment, with the new space in which we can really live and after which there is an opening, and if I am born there, then I am born in a new reality, in some matrix, in a new dimension; or do I sink into the current of ordinary life and return to my ordinary animal life?

It is very important to rise above our matter, above the desire to receive that actually pulls us “by our feet” back into the abyss of the ego the moment we want to rise a bit. We, however, have to try and rise.

This effort can succeed only if we operate together, like in the convention where we attained a new level only thanks to the connection for which we have received powers from Above and felt that there is something above nature.

This is how we should continue now, so that all the forms of the egoistic desire and the thoughts that cross our mind will immediately be incorporated in the new ascent. Then we will constantly, every minute, rise higher and higher and will not wait until all these awakenings that the Creator is sending us in the form of the “hardening of the heart,” as an addition to the egoistic desire, as strange thoughts, as blurring and fatigue, will add up to a “big account,” and then we would have to go through them through the path of sufferings and different blows.

On the contrary, every moment we have to go on and on and thus “one penny is added to another and they make up a big account.” We shouldn’t wait until these “pennies” accumulate by themselves; it is much more difficult and disrespectful in the eyes of the Creator; in the eyes of the Creator it is respectful when you don’t leave Him.

So while reading The Zohar we have to connect and to think about how to receive help from Above in order not to break away from the great appreciation we feel towards self-annulment, connection, love, self-detachment and adhesion to the Creator.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/13, The Zohar

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Weekly Torah Portion – 01.23.13

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion, “HaShavuah” Selected Excerpts

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How Can You See What You Have Received?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What made the great success of the convention that has just ended: the special work during the convention or the preparation for it?

Answer: During the convention we don’t do any work. The convention is not meant for working; it is a “gathering” of all the efforts we made before. We have worked for many years, and the convention is the fruit of our work.

Everyone has received a whole measure from the convention, but it is revealed according to his understanding and his awareness. It is like a small child in our world that is full of different modern devices, machines, etc. but who only sees his few toys. This is what he can perceive in the meantime in his mind and heart; this is what’s important for him.

We have received much more than what each one reveals now. A new and very important level has been revealed, but each one is impressed by it according to his exertion, according to the desires and the thoughts he has developed for this level. Therefore, one perceives it like a two-year-old, another like a four-year-old, a third as a ten-year-old or a fifteen-year-old. There are those among us who have perceived it in its full form, which means that they already feel the complete feeling of the first spiritual vessel that should open up now.

I hope that very soon we will advance towards this revelation and acquire it. The spiritual development is like the corporeal one, and it grows faster according to our advancement. See how slowly humanity is developing, having been in the first state for thousands of years, until it reached to the age of slavery, and then it went on very quickly to feudalism, and even faster to capitalism, and much faster than that to the postindustrial society. The pace of development increases exponentially and more and more changes take place in a shorter time.

The same will happen in our spiritual development, the main thing is to continue! And not to just forget, but to continue this level that we have attained: the same level of clarification, connection, and self-annulment. Just don’t leave what we have attained: hold on to it like a tick, or like a bulldog, and advance further.

Learn from the snake that actually symbolizes our nature in the way it swallows its prey deeper inside it until it swallows it fully. We too have to reach this level, not to leave it, but rather hold on to it very strongly until we swallow all of it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/20/13, Shamati #26

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“What Will Replace The Globalization Model?”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (David M. Smick, global macroeconomic adviser, founder and editor of the International Economy magazine, author of The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy): Here’s a prediction: The political party that controls the White House after January could, four years later, be out of power for a generation. The economic challenges are that daunting. …

“The globalization model of the past 30 years is cracking up. And there appears to be no new model to replace it. …

“It is difficult to underestimate the degree to which this flawed, sometimes frightening, good we call globalization has been the proverbial goose that laid the golden eggs. As a result, the public has unrealistic expectations about how much the economy can deliver in a post-globalization world.”

My Comment: We have to reconsider the whole model of the world as the economy reflects only one of its ugly relationships. Globalization, which was built by egoists, failed, but it has accelerated the realization of evil in egoistic dependence and forces us to recognize the finality, a dead end, of the general egoistic approach to life. A truly global, integral world lies ahead in which all relationships and solutions will be based only on the likeness to the laws of nature, the Creator.
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Computers Have Overshadowed Children’s Interest In Traditional Toys

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from GlobalScience.ru): “American psychologists are alarmed. Today’s kids increasingly abandon traditional toys in favor of computers; moreover, the process begins at a very early age. This trend is observed in all the developed countries and brings producers of traditional toys to ruin. Is it necessary to teach children to use computer technology so early, immersing them in the virtual world?

“Psychologists warn that happiness is in good communication with the child, spending time together with him, and therefore, they advise parents not to buy their way out of responsibilities with expensive toys, but to spend more time with children.”

My Comment: We have made our life so that we have no time for children; we push them towards computers. If it were not for the threat of the ruin of manufacturers and sellers of traditional toys, no one would have raised the issue. In integral education that Kabbalah offers, the main emphasis is on communication between children and discussions with the teacher, guided tours, and games; working with a computer is only supplementary.
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A Leap Over The Last “Impossible”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I see that Pharaoh steals all the fruit of my labor and I ask myself: When will I finally reach the point of desperation regarding my own strength? I feel as if I am driving a car but somebody else is behind the steering wheel.

Answer: That’s right; you are not the one steering your car. You are only in charge of your desire to advance. As to how many times you will have to repeat one action, that can’t be known in advance. But the pace depends on you: how frequently your states will change and how quickly you will be able to pass through them. Suppose according to the root of your soul you have to pass through 8000 states until you reach the first spiritual degree where your will to receive will turn to bestowal because of the Light the Reforms.

You have to pass through these 8000 actions, but can do so in two years or you can stretch it to 20. That’s your choice since you have freewill in to what extent you will hasten your advancement. But you will certainly pass through all the necessary discernments, whether it is in this or another lifetime. It all depends on you.

You complain that the Pharaoh is stealing all the fruit of your labor, but that is why it is written that all the beautiful cities built by the sons of Israel in Egypt were inherited by the Pharaoh. It is as if Pharaoh stands behind you, stuck to your neck, and collects all the fruit of your work. This is what leads a person to the point of desperation in the work and to prayer. But you cannot give up!

Besides, every time when you move forward and exert more effort, you still gain wisdom and attain the method and new meanings. You get absorbed by darkness, disappointment, helplessness, and indifference. You get sick and tired of everything and lose faith that there will be a breakthrough any time soon—these are the worst states that can be. Each more advanced state brings even greater descent, desperation, apathy, and realization that it’s impossible to reach the desired.

It goes on like this, until reaching the very last “impossible,” which is regarded as crossing the Red Sea, when you have completely lost faith that man is capable of it and that the Creator is. You decide that it just can’t happen; you are shown that such is your nature and nothing can be done about it and all you have left is to return to the trivial life.

And then one makes up one’s mind to still leap over this impossibility, and a person is shown the condition of how to connect: what it means to become one man with one heart in reality. And if he agrees with it, he receives his first spiritual degree.

The first degree he receives only as a single point regarded as Moshe, and it pulls (mosheh) him from egoism, from exile, while in the rest of the will to receive the “golden calf” becomes revealed against it.

Afterward, a person enters the desert, where problems await him each step of the way and it’s infested with snakes. It is no longer one great serpent, one big ego, but rather, a multitude of little wasps that keep biting a person from every side, his various egoistic attributes. Yet, they help him to keep moving forth on the spiritual ladder, acquiring the property of bestowal.

Along this entire path, I see only two vital qualities guaranteeing success: nullification of oneself before the teacher and the group, and endurance, patience, and tenacity in any circumstances, no matter what may come up. These are the two attributes with which you, like a stubborn ram, keep breaking through, leaping in one direction, regardless of what is going on, despite any internal and external obstacles. And this speeds you up and makes you succeed.

Otherwise, don’t waste your time; it’s better to go enjoy life. But the majority hang in the middle between one and the other state, and sadly, they come to the finish line empty-handed.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/16/13, “The Prayer”

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Unity Determines Everything

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 66, “The Giving of the Torah”:The issue of the giving of the Torah that occurred on Mount Sinai does not mean that the Torah was given once and then the giving was stopped. Rather, there is no absence in spirituality, since spirituality is an eternal matter, unending. But since, from the perspective of the giver, we are unfit to receive the Torah, we say that the cessation is by the Upper One.

Once in the history of humanity, a baby was born whom his parents called Adam. Why did they call him Adam? They didn’t know why, it was determined by the upper Providence.

The baby grew and matured and probably started asking about the meaning of life. “Why and for what am I living?” Then at about the age of 37, the Creator was revealed to Adam and he began to teach people, and thus  he laid the foundation for a chain of events the Torah describes, all the generations until Abraham and the phases of development that followed.

On the whole, we study the history, geography, and spiritual essence together. So what should we believe? Or more accurately, how should we imagine these events? Do they take place both in spirituality and in corporeality? For example, is the transition of Abraham’s group from Babylon to the Land of Canaan identical to an inner ascent? Was it accompanied by the recognition of evil and goodness, by unity?

For example, if I strongly unite with the friends, I leave Babylon, and if I unite more strongly with them, I enter the Land of Canaan. If I descend the levels of unity, I find myself in Egypt. If I unite in a different manner I move from Hebron to Beer Sheba….

It turns out that everything is measured according to the intensity of our unity. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about: It isn’t about this world at all; I don’t look at it except inside, knowing that inside me all the details of my perception depend on the level of unity or separation from the friends.

At the same time, however, Kabbalists say that there must also be a corporeal “branch” that is parallel to what happens in the spiritual “root.” The “root” must touch the “branch” once—in its first revelation. After all, this revelation comes from the top down, and so everything that the Torah describes was fulfilled to a certain extent in our world too.

We know that the First and Second Temples, the story of Purim that is described in the Book of Esther, the wars of the people of Israel, and the exiles actually occurred. The graves of Joseph, Rebecca, the Cave of Machpelah and other holy places still exist. In other words, the spiritual levels were actually revealed in the people that lived in those times in our world.

First the descending process takes place from the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) until the actual “bottom”—as we say, from one end to the other. Then we have to fulfill the potential we have acquired on the levels of the “forefathers” during the destruction of the Temple and during the exile.

Today we are in such a state of darkness that we don’t even know what exile actually refers to. If we take the current crisis into account, many feel that perhaps they have been exiled from the land of wealth, respect, and other earthly pleasures. We have descended so low, to such depths where darkness conceals the actual essence of the exile from the spiritual world, from the attribute of love and bestowal. For us bestowal is the opposite—an undesirable attribute.

Now we have to start the ascent and it has to be an inner ascent. Of course, it will affect the corporeal world too, but no external actions are required of us. It is spirituality that determines what form we will have, individually and collectively, what kind of humanity there will be, and what kind of world.

The giving of the Torah before Mt. Sinai took place both on a spiritual and on a corporeal level. The issue of the giving of the Torah that occurred on Mount Sinai does not mean that the Torah was given once and then the giving was stopped. Rather, there is no absence in spirituality.

It isn’t the same in corporeality: There is nothing holy about Mt. Sinai and neither orthodox people nor non-religious people are attracted to it. On the other hand spirituality is an eternal matter, unending. But since, from the perspective of the giver, we are unfit to receive the Torah, we don’t reach the right level and we say that the cessation is by the Upper One.

In reality, the cessation is not on our part. The spiritual ladder still exists, and all its conditions are kept; spirituality is eternal and so if you reach a certain state you receive the Torah.

Rise higher and you will be in the desert, then in the land of Israel, etc. These are the levels of the spiritual ascent.

I cannot say how our world will change according to this ascent, but it will undoubtedly change. After all, a “branch” operates according to the “root.” If we change the root by our ascent and our participation in it, it will certainly affect the world differently and then the world will change.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/13, Shamati #66

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Breaking Through To A New World Without Revolutions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Any qualitative breakthrough is always hard in terms of awareness. For example, the theory of relativity, essentially denied the very foundations of customary perception; thus, it wasn’t immediately received and understood and only with difficulty. How will an integral understanding of the world spread in the general system of humanity?

Answer: Really, Einstein suggested a revolutionary approach to understanding spatial characteristics. Until then, people lived in the usual three dimensions and couldn’t immediately understand and agree that everything depends on perception, that “the reference point” could change and enter another coordinate system.

It turns out that the three axes are not fixed in a monolithic structure, but can move relative to each other, depending on the observer. For example, I see the system in motion and you see it at rest. Accordingly, we see different phenomena, different pictures, and don’t understand each other.

Thus, it was difficult for people to grasp the theory of relativity, and only after a few years was it indirectly confirmed when physical experiments and studies predicted its results. But still, even today, there are only a few who really grasp the essence of this approach and the results that follow from it.

Many are satisfied with a superficial understanding at the level of formulas and not through a deeper, inner emotional interpretation. Since, in order to “feel” this theory, one needs to be able to disconnect from our reality at least a little bit. It seems to me that Einstein himself had the beginning of this feeling that accompanies the exit from the regular axes system.

On the other hand, our problem isn’t as great. We don’t disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah and its application, but rather, we disseminate integral education to the general public. We show people how beneficial integral relations are and how it helps in solving all kinds of problems. For that one does not need to go to different axes and experience internal revolutions.

We suggest simply connecting and working on ourselves through workshops, discussions, and communication between us, and from that, it will be good for us. Thanks to that, people will finally feel what constitutes the “round” world, and by that, they will understand what nature wants from them.

We don’t give them tasks that are impossible to execute. On the contrary, subconsciously each person understands that integrality, without a doubt, does not cause evil, and that connection and unity of forces and desires, and closeness between people, will necessarily bring benefit.

And in the meantime, if they don’t want this very much, well, perhaps after a few more troubles and problems, they will have the desire. We are speaking about realistic and achievable things.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/13, Shamati #66

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Not By Wisdom, Not By Force, Only With Patience

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 141:I am found nowhere but in the Torah. Therefore, keep the Torah and look for Me there, and the Light in it will reform you and you will find Me,” as it is written, “Those that seek Me shall find Me.”

This is what we try to do, striving to connect as one man in one heart, attaining mutual guarantee and “love your neighbor as yourself” by showing our readiness for such a connection during the study. And then in each moment, we reveal how much we are incapable of this, and then again we try, despite everything, to think about unity and connection.

We hope that our study and connection will help us reveal the Creator in order to bring Him pleasure. This becomes the prayer during the study, an action of correction, and it draws us nearer to the goal. If the friends try to connect in the right way, raise their points in the heart above their ego, free from its control, and connect them, which takes place during the lesson, which tells about such states, then in this we attract the Reforming Light. And this is actually our exertion.

There will always be disturbances, more and more. Therefore, we need to strengthen each other, and precisely then, when the despair comes and big obstacles appear in the path, a person is helpless before them, doesn’t know what to do, wants to escape, gets tired and falls, falls asleep or the opposite, becomes angry and cannot bear this state. But precisely these states are the most beneficial for adding one more drop of work, another ounce of effort, by which we attract the Light on us.

One who does not despair and give up is the one who succeeds. Here neither wisdom nor force will help, only patience. Time will do it.

“Time” symbolizes numerous efforts that a person does in each moment, even the smallest ones. These efforts accumulate, connect, and in the end, bring a solution.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/13, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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