Let The Most Distant Become The Closest

Dr. Michael LaitmanSpiritual fear (awe) is the fear of using something for my own benefit, even if it’s the revelation of the Creator in any form, meaning enjoying the fact that I am correcting the world, that I am bringing the Creator contentment, that I bestow like He does, and that I reach adhesion with Him.

The Creator shows me that everything depends on me and He does so with everyone. Everyone hears from Him that he is the most special of all. This is the truth. He isn’t lying to me and doesn’t try to buy me off! But I have to overcome all this great Light, and in order to do that I need to build a shield to protect me from this fear in advance.

Therefore, our work is in concealment and we have to perform many actions to which we feel no attraction by working on the connection among us. We have to make efforts in the group in advance, although I have no desire and no yearning for that and see no value in it. It isn’t only about the local group that is close to you and that directly belongs to you. It is worthwhile to invest in this group according to many conscious and subconscious egoistic calculations. But I also have to try to connect to the global vessel.

We should understand that the more distant a person seems to me geographically or emotionally, the more important he is and the more critical his influence is on my advancement than the people who are close to me. It’s like the difference between the spiritual levels; if I shorten the distance between us emotionally or physically, it will turn into an amplifier for the level of my correction.

So all those that are distant from us are very important to us: the distant groups that are far away and the individual students who speak different languages, who differ in their mentality and who live under difficult conditions so that they have to to hide from others. Each of us needs to make sure that the physical distances will not keep us away from one another, so that those that are most distant will become the closest.

In this way, we will surely build the vessel called “fear,” we will understand what spiritual fear means, and will be ready for spiritual advancement.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/13, Shamati #38

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In Order To Grow In Spirituality…

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In one of the lessons, you said that a student, according to his spiritual progress, starts to disregard the teacher more and more. You also gave an example of your relationship with your teacher. To what spiritual level do we have to rise so that this disregard for the teacher will disappear?

Answer: As in our world, when do we begin to appreciate our parents and understand them?  When we become parents ourselves! But this does not justify disregard. One who wants to grow up must understand his nature and grow in spite of it.
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Connection That Destroys Evil

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: And you find that all the seeds from which the good states grow are only the corrupted deeds themselves, meaning that all the exposed evils that come from under the hands of the wicked in the generation join and accumulate to a great sum, until they weigh so heavily that the public can no longer bear them. Then, they rise up and ruin it and create a more desirable state.

If I want to advance correctly, I have to participate in destroying evil by concrete actions along the way. These actions come down to the most efficient act, which is connection among the friends. It is the connection that destroys evil.

Question: What does it mean that the evil appears during the connection?

Answer: That’s right. The true evil is revealed only when I want to connect with others and see how repulsed I am by them and how much I hate them. I am attracted to them and this repulses me and I feel rejection. This is the evil inclination and that’s the only thing we have to correct. Everything else are animalistic feelings.

After all, Adam, a human being, is only someone who is attracted to the connection with others. The negative response to connection is the evil inclination that I correct and turn into the good inclination.

My first inclination is to establish a connection with the group and with the friends. Then I feel that I don’t want to study or do anything anymore. Instead I feel the hardening of the heart; I am tired of trying, “How much longer? I don’t see that anything good comes out of this…” This is the evil inclination, the Pharaoh in me that I have to work on now. His evil is that he opposes the connection.

On the other hand, the result of the connection is called “CreatorBo-Re” which means come and see (Bo – come and Re – see in Hebrew). If I connect with all the souls or with some of them, then in the connection between them I discover the Creator. In other words, I reach connection and there inside it I discover the result.

But in the meantime I feel bad since my desire is extinguished and I fall asleep and don’t see the point in anything anymore, not in this world and not in the next world. Nothing is worth the effort anymore. Now when I feel the hardening of the heart, I have to find the power to act, to raise MAN, a request.

So how do you do that if I already want to receive a sleeping pill for the rest of my life? Here we need an environment to help us wake up. This environment does two things:

First it “buries” my evil inclination.

Second, when we connect, and together rise to Holiness, we ask for the force of bestowal by the prayer of many with all our might.

Therefore, the good inclination can only be revealed in the group. Then from Above, I receive the good force, the force of bestowal that unites me with the friends and the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/13, “The Peace”

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A Difficult Trial Of Pleasure

Dr. Michael LaitmanThroughout history, human development occurred with a person being afraid to enjoy for his own sake. He was afraid not only to enjoy the Light but also to disturb the restriction; the breaking occurred only once, and he can keep himself from this because he is afraid of whether or not he can withstand the pleasures that will be revealed to him through bestowing upon the Creator.

After all, the feeling of one’s similarity to the Creator brings great pleasure. And it is even a greater pleasure to feel how the Creator enjoys you, how you are united into one. It is similar to the pleasure that a baby experiences from closeness with his mother, how much the mother enjoys him, and he enjoys her, and from pleasing each other.

A person feels great fear because immense pleasures are revealed to him: NRNHY de NRNHY instead of Nefesh de Nefesh. It is an immense Light that is revealed from the feeling that he gives something to the Master because NRNHY is born from bestowal upon the Creator who is revealed to a person. And that is where all the work is concentrated.

Spiritual work is not about the meal that is arranged on the king’s table, but the feeling of the Master, one’s similarity to Him; it is with this enjoyment. By trying to be like the Master, I become like Him in something. I enjoy not only the fact that I bring Him pleasure, His love for me and my love for Him, but I begin to enjoy this very position, my status.

This reveals an enormous Light and the pleasure that did not exist before in the created being in his decisions, feelings, and reactions. And that is why I first should equip myself with the vessels, which is called “awe.” Otherwise, I will not be able to approach any action correctly, and everything that is revealed will immediately disappear without any use. It would be as if I poured wine into bags, and it immediately leaked out, or poured flour into barrels only to rot there. Nothing can be done; everything needs to completely match the other; all contents must be stored in its specific container.

That is why a person is afraid that he will begin to enjoy the greatness of the Creator, His love and reciprocity which he feels in the two united HaVaYaH: HaVaYaH of the Direct Light and HaVaYaH of the Reflected Light clothed in each other. The Light that is revealed in them has never existed in reality. If a person prepares himself for this trial, then he will be able to reveal the status of the Creator correctly and withstand it in bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/13, Shamati #38

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Desire Is Like A Target For The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we ever prove that all of the matter of creation is a desire to receive?

Answer: Ask physicists, and they will tell you the same thing, but in different words. There are several basic principles, such as the second law of thermodynamics, and there are several natural constants. If we dig a bit deeper, we will come across the concept of mass. Behind mass, there is energy, and, behind energy, here scientific knowledge comes to a dead end.

We can say that there is a force behind energy, but what is that force? How can we describe it? Scientists are trying to find these bases and when their research will be completed, drawing a line from their studies to the desire to receive, the desire to keep its existence on all the levels of the still nature, the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking.

Even if we speak about the most elementary phenomenon, it is always about its nature. We refer to something that wants to sustain itself in its form of existence. This is the desire to receive, the desire to exist. Without it, there would be nothing, not even for a short while. In this source, even time doesn’t exist yet.

So, the desire precedes everything, and, beyond that, there are different forms that it takes upon itself.

All the sciences and the wisdoms speak about what man discovers here in the framework of corporeal reality. On the other hand, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t speak about our egoistic desire that is only typical of this world, but about a raw desire, about a force that is not dressed in anything yet.

Question: Can it be studied outside the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: No, outside the wisdom of Kabbalah, we simply don’t have the necessary tools. We cannot build an accelerator that would bombard the desire and record its responses. It is because it is much deeper than the micro-world, deeper than the quantum effects. Therefore, you can work only with it inside yourself when you become the “area” to which the Light comes. It hits the desire, and, as a result of their meeting—as a result of the cooperation between them—different particles are created, according to which you discover the Returning Light that descends to a lower level and evokes new Reshimot (spiritual genes) in you.

The elementary schema, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is a Masach (screen) that begins to ascend from Tabur. In the next level, there is Zivug de Haka’a (coupling while striking), and the Returning Light descends again from one level to another, thus overcoming the difference in energy in the previous state. From there, it “throws” Tagin on the letters (“crowns” above the letters, and eventually, the differences in energy bring about differences in frequencies, differences in attributes. This comparison enables you to discern the details and put together the general picture.

It is just like a baby who tastes everything, and thus begins to know the world since taste is the main sense that he can use and rely upon at the moment. In spirituality, the new Lights that are revealed in the desire are called “flavors.” They help us learn what is going on.

So, the matter that the target the Light hits is actually me, my desire to receive. Just like scientists who bombard their targets with particles by increasing their energy, we, too, do the same thing, not with corporeal matter, but with the matter of desire, by rising from phase four to phase three, to phase two, and so forth.

Therefore, we cannot speak with scientists about such matters. Of all the sciences, physics is the closest to the wisdom of Kabbalah. We speak about concrete phenomena and forces.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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From A Circle Into The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does a combination of people in the integral circle form a new force, integrality, meaning people’s minds and feelings are combined together?

Answer: They are not simply combined together, but, rather, the mind and feelings are mutually complemented. Therefore, they form a new, physical, integral force. This is not just a sum, but rather, a sum of all common efforts to rise above oneself to connect with others; that is, it is a spiritual force.

Spiritual means “apart from egoism” because everyone must rise in order to begin connecting with others.

All our small efforts accumulate together. Then, from our connection, we begin to sense something new. It’s very good, kind, pleasant, and safe.

Let’s say that ten people sit in the circle. However, during the discussion, they form not just a combination of the ten people, but it’s multiplied by an infinite number. This is because, when I annul myself in order to connect with one and another one and a third one, and they, in turn, do the same, in this way, each of us receives the integral desire. Then, with this integral desire, we, again, “enter” one another in one experience, and, in this way, we form a multiplicity of multiplication. It is as if we pull ourselves by our hair from our world into the spiritual world.
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From KabTV’s program, “Professional Secrets,” 2/10/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 03.19.13

Preparation to the Lesson

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Rabash — The Social Writings, “What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Whom Is It?”

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The Book of ZoharSelected Excerpt, ParashatVa’etchanan (A Plea),” Item 55, Lesson 3

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Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 03.18.13

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
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A Child Who Grows To The Joy Of His Parent

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 53, “The Matter of Limitation”: This is called the main part of the degree, which is a discernment of Katnut. This discernment must be permanent, and the Gadlut is only an addition. Also, one should yearn for the main part, not for the additions.

The main thing is the state of Katnut (smallness), Hafetz Hesed, “to bestow in order to bestow,” being ready to settle for less. At the same time I don’t need to feel that I restrict myself or that I lack something, but rather the contrary, I should feel that I am totally satisfied.

A state of Katnut should become very dear and honorable for me. Then the question is why should there be a state of Katnut in the first place and not one point? I don’t want to have any volume at all. I want to take as little space as possible. In order to exist and to do good to everyone for the sake of the Creator, I am ready to shrink into a point and not have anything of my own.

The truth is that this is the right approach. It’s from such a state that we start to perceive and to attain spiritual reality, but the moment we begin to think about this and how we can bring contentment to the Creator, we understand that in order to do that we need to receive all the discernments and the desires from Him and to change them from in order to receive to in order to bestow. Thus we become a spiritual embryo that begins to grow in volume in order to yearn and to adhere to the Creator and thus bring Him contentment.

Without this we don’t grow like an embryo in his mother’s womb. Every second, every additional movement, every gram the embryo puts on is only in order to bring the Creator contentment. He has to feel that he is making the Creator happy.

During the time of birth, during the labor pains, and the stage in which the embryo turns with his head down before the birth, he examines every step he makes to see whether it’s in order to bring contentment to the one who gives him birth. After he is born, during the time of Yenika (suckling) he continues to develop like a baby who is in his mother’s arms; in the same way a person is in the arms of the Creator.

He already begins to work with his desires and partly limits himself, but every action he makes for the sake of limitation or for the sake of growing is only in order to bring the Creator contentment; this is how a person grows. Therefore, the point from which he begins to grow when he doesn’t want to have more than a point, remains his center. He stands on it, not wanting more than basic existence, and everything else he is forced to add to this point is only in order to bring the Creator contentment. This is the only thing that motivates him in all his actions: in every limitation and joy.

He is actually happy about this, not for his own sake, but for bringing the Creator contentment. By that he attains adhesion to the Creator like between two loving friends who feel one another.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/13, Shamati #53

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A Guide Through The Desert To The Promised Land

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does it say, “And Moses led them to the bottom of the mountain and they gathered at the bottom of the mountain.”

(“Mountain” comes from the Hebrew word contemplations). Does this mean that Moses led them to the end of the thought, the understanding and the mind, which is the lowest state?

Answer: The role of the attribute of Moses in a person is to establish the understanding of what the attribute of bestowal means in him. Moses has to help the people of Israel know who the Creator is. In all our Reshimot (spiritual genes) that include all of Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), there is such an attribute called “Moses,” a level that connects between all the shattered parts. Its role is to help a person know the whole attribute of bestowal. When a person acquires such an attribute, he can already add his vessels to it and work  to receive in order to bestow.

This means that “Moses led them to the end of the thought and the understanding.” He leads a person through all the desires, his vessels, called “the desert,” purifying the desires, these vessels in the desert from the intention of in order to receive called “Egypt” by bringing everyone to the intention of to bestow in order to bestow. Then they are ready to actually work in the three lines, which is called the conquering of the Land of Israel.
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From the 1st  part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/14/13, Shamati #53

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