Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.24.13

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Mission Impossible?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: This means that each and every one in Israel would take it upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, and to satisfy all their every needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs.

An approach like this sounds as something unrealistic. So in spite of all this, how is it possible to realize it? If this condition is already laid in creation, is means that whether we want this or not, we will have to fulfill it.

In general, there are many things that we do against our will, even if we sometimes naively suppose that we want it. But any intelligent person is able to discern what results from nature that arouses in us all kinds of drives, thoughts, and desires without asking for our opinion. We don’t decide about them beforehand, but rather we only discover them within ourselves post factum.

Today we already see that in the end, the system will oblige us to resemble it. Should we tremble in fear as if we are standing before the volcano eruption, something that cannot be prevented, and flee from it? Or can we do something in spite of all this?

Whatever the case, Kabbalists claim that we need mutual guarantee. And if we look at the whole world, we see that we probably won’t have other choice. If we begin to oppose this, we only arouse our entire ego and in the end, we will be finished with the entire earth. After all, nobody thinks that he is capable to truly unite. In our eyes this seems impossible; it is simply easier to die. But we won’t even be allowed to “get off” that easily….

So, if this condition is standing before us, it is a sign that we must learn how to realize it by way of hastening. It is already clear that this path will save us from sufferings that are worse than death since they are derived from something that I hate the most, something with which we are not prepared to agree.

And therefore it is necessary to consider all these seemingly unrealistic principles: loving one’s neighbor as yourself, mutual responsibility, brotherly love, and being as one man with one heart. After all, the solution is hidden here: It’s not merely a way to avoid troubles, to get off the path of suffering; rather, a surprising possibility is here—we didn’t even think that meanwhile, through love for another, the eternal world will be revealed to us.…
[105716]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

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A Difficult Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Exodus, 19: 3-5: And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: ‘Thus, shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.

Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine…

Question: What does “And Moses went up unto God” mean?

Answer: Moses is the point in the heart. When I begin to feel that I ascend toward the attribute of bestowal, toward the attribute that separates me from the ego, and I don’t identify with it anymore, but rather place myself against it, then I rise a little bit above it, above the earth, to Mt. Sinai, to a mountain of hate.

I experience such mutual hate toward everyone that I am ready to enslave and subjugate everyone to me. However, I ascend above everything that the ego wants at any given moment of my existence and, depending on my ascent, get closer to the attribute of bestowal. The absolute attribute of bestowal and love is the Creator.

The Creator is not a materialized image, but rather what a person feels as an attribute. So, I leave everything that entices me to see the world in a different way, which means that I leave the people at the foot of the mountain and ascend to these new, qualitative attributes.
[105419]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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Jethro’s Advice

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Exodus, “Jethro’s Advice,” 18:21 – 18:23: …Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times.

Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.

We are talking about human properties. A person starts recognizing what qualities in him get corrected under the influence of the upper Light (the property of bestowal). Some desires become closer to the property of bestowal, some become even more distanced. One studies their progression, systematizes them into a pyramid. There are only a few special properties that are “adjacent” to bestowal, whereas the number of more distant, more egoistic qualities is enormous.

Since the property that is called “Jethro” derives from egoism, it’s interlaced with the desires per se and their hierarchy. After all, the ego consists of five (5) levels of desires. When the desire named “Moshe” makes an attempt to correct a human ego, the property called “Jethro” helps him.

This mass is similar to the entire human mass, only that it’s inside a person. Using the language of Kabbalah, it is AHP of Galgalta ve Eynaim. Galgalta ve Eynaim is the property of “Moshe,” whereas AHP is the people of Israel that yet has to be corrected. It stands for egoism, and for that reason Jethro knows how to work with it.

According to the property named Hassadim, Moshe with his “generous hand and open heart” is not suitable for the process of correction. Egoism has to be corrected gradually, step by step. Thus, the property of Jethro shows up and puts everything in order.
[104732]
From KabTV’s “The Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 2/18/13

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Escaping The Ego’s Prison

Dr. Michael LaitmanEvery person possesses all the attributes: “the nations of the world,” meaning his egoism and “Israel,” meaning the corrupt altruism that for the time being also works for the ego. So it says that every person is under the control of the ego and even our good motives and intentions are in egoistic attributes. This is called being in the “captivity of Egypt,” “in exile.”

A person has to imagine that all these attributes exist in him. He has to identify all of them within himself, arrange them, and start feeling through them. The same is true with regard to the world then he will see that all this exists around him in the world.

This theoretical picture gradually becomes clearer. When you apply it to the entire world, you suddenly see how it operates. It really operates in a lively manner and is constantly fulfilled.

If a person tries to organize himself that way internally, then through his internal organization he begins to see that the world is organized that way. Then the picture of the world becomes clear, and he begins to understand everything that happens in the world: how it flows, what, and why.
[105423]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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The Choice In How To Prepare For Action

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What characterizes our free choice in the work?

Answer: True free choice, as opposed to all “false free” choices, is possible during preparation for, and not at the time of the deed itself. When the action is taking place, then it’s no longer possible to influence it. Some kind of state comes from Above and only in the beginning can we establish how we will accept it.

Nothing depends on us other than this. The plan of creation already exists and cannot be changed. We can only hasten our development. Besides this, we still don’t understand our connection within the entire great system. How could it be that I will advance faster than others if we are in a single system in which all components have to develop in harmony? It follows that all of us depend upon each other.

But if you want to know what our free choice is, it’s in the preparation. I have to isolate that single datum that I’m able to influence and work to change it. All of this change depends solely on how I raise the society so as to succeed in evaluating every state as given by the Creator, by “there’s none else besides Him,” and the “Good that does good.”

Only the environment that I organized for myself will determine how much I will succeed in rising above the forces of separation that deny the unity of the Divine Providence, “there’s none else besides Him,” and the darkness that opposes the “Good that does good.” Then I can see whether or not I can justify every state both personally, internally, and also in general, in the entire group.

Suppose that some general problem, a great trouble is discovered. Here we can check whether we are prepared to deal with it and overcome it all together. Have we prepared for it or not? So accordingly, everyone must check himself, how much is he joining with everyone and strengthening them all.

All this depends on preparation and on the recognition of our evil, the clarification of our egoism, and the aspiration to do good. Here we also examine the person: Is he really controlled by his ego or does he feel the importance of the environment, group, which is above all of his personal, egoistic evaluations? This is our entire preparation, meaning our free choice.
[105261]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/13, Writing of Rabash

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Desire For Relaxation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We encounter a phenomenon whereby people systematically participate in the program of integral education and happily come to workshops, but in their spare time, they disconnect until the next workshop. They pass their time in front of a television or on the Internet, and so on. What is this phenomenon? How can we work with it?

Answer: One can understand these people. The issue is that a person doesn’t feel the need at each moment to look at his life via the feeling of integrality with the entire nature. After all, he isn’t connected to nature. He lies on the sofa and watches television. It’s simply the beastly state.

By no means do I want to humiliate people; I’m simply talking about what is natural to our bodies. A person wants to relax: to sit on the sofa, to drink beer. The body pulls a person to this.

If during this time he was in some society, then various associations with what he feels now or felt during the workshop would appear to him there. But since this is his individual state, and he now disconnects from the world (watches pictures on the screen), then he simply rests from everything, disconnects, enters the beastly state. It will slowly pass.

I hope that at some stage the workshops will appear on television. They will be more interesting, attractive, and sharp, akin to all kinds of television series. Perhaps they will be arranged and structured so that the viewers will be able to take an active part in them: to sing together with the workshop participants, to act with them in all kinds of theatrical scenes, and so on.

All of that can become a special kind of art where there is a clear direction: to create a harmonious society from all of these situation. And all of this will happen in front of the viewers and will draw them inside, within the mutual activity. We are just beginning this work, and I hope that if not us, then those who will come after us will enrich it with manifestations of inter-relationships that are more and more integral.
[104922]
From a Talk on Integral Education 4/2/13

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Hypocrisy Or A Game?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A significant part of our internal work is to pretend that we are already in our next state. It’s extremely important for us. At the same time people are taken aback by stereotypes that it’s hypocritical and false. How do we work with this?

Answer: Please don’t work with it! For example, I look directly into your eyes and say: “Anatoly, I can’t  even imagine that I love you so very much!”

In other words, we pretend that we are already in our next state as children who play that they are adults and thus grow up. At the same time, we trigger powerful forces of integral and undivided nature that raises us according to the same principle as it raises children. By playing this game, we get closer to nature.

A child learns automatically like a little monkey: You do something and he “copycats” the same thing. Why can’t we act likewise?

Learn from nature! However, don’t pick up from the human or animate levels, but rather from the vegetative nature. At this phase, everything anticipates and aspires to the next state. That’s the reason plants grow. This is exactly how any live cell develops: by aspiring to its next state.

It happens because AHP of the upper one used to be in Galgalta ve Eynaim of the lower onethis is the way everything descended. That’s why when we aspire to the next state, we discover AHP inside our Galgalta ve Eynaim, that is, in our upper part we discern the higher state. That’s it! We don’t tune up to the upper one, but rather try to penetrate into it since it’s already inside us.

Question: Still, how do I relate to what we do if I see it as phony?

Answer: Treat it as a game. We are playing! We are actors! Can I press the button marked “Love” only because Rabash writes in his works that “everybody has to love, respect, and bow to the group, and feel it as something great”? It’s not for me. However, if I make an effort, it will trigger the Surrounding Light, that in its turn will instigate my next internal condition that is already present inside me, and now it starts replacing my current state. It’s a simple physical principle. There is no miracle here. We have to explain it to others on a larger scale.

We have no other choice. The Creator requires it from us through the world that He displays to us. We have to accept this challenge and respond to this unique opportunity granted to each of us. We have to take advantage of this chance, hold each other’s hands, get closer, hug, connect our hearts and brains, and thus break through to the next level of existence.

The upper world will disclose itself to us inside our unity. Let’s constantly keep it in mind, and then theoretical knowledge that we have been studying for so many years will be revealed in us. I hope to see you all at that level. Just try!
[104777]
From a Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/7/2013

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An Objective Appraiser

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can I get the group’s response for my attempts to annul myself before the friends? Is there an indication that the work has been done?

Answer: You accept their opinions, desires, and thoughts, but at the same time you make a distinction and they don’t dominate you. You perceive their cumulative “image”thought-desire-intentionand begin to sort out the data: What are the criteria according to which I judge myself and them? How do I connect the two parts, separate them, or put them together one on top of the other? According to what plan?

How can I fulfill my perception? How can I connect to the environment correctly? How can I be sure that the result of this clarification, of becoming equal to them in my thoughts, desires, and intentions I will not deceive and lie to myself? How can I be an expert, a true analyst, an “appraiser”? What tools do I have to measure things? After all, what’s important is that I should be neutral. Even if I see fraud, I should be as objective as I can with regards to the details.

So having no choice you need the Creator. Everything is before you except for one thing: You don’t know how to get started. You are not sure what angle you are looking at, you don’t understand what controls you, or what obligates you to come to certain judgements and not others…

This question about oneself is already a good sign. Although it’s an unpleasant situation and you feel confused, you don’t look outside anymore and don’t attribute any meaning to the external conditions, but rather, you turn your sight within, trying to examine your essence that determines all your thoughts, decisions, and your judgment.
[105659]
From the 4th part to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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United With The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the article “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before” we learn how the rider and the horse move in perfect accord. We, like all of creation, play the role of the horse, and the rider is the Creator, who manages it fully and naturally. There is not one movement that the horse makes without the influence of the rider. But the horse itself wants to go along with the rider in accordance with his desire to understand and to predict the desire of his owner to such an extent that the horse will act even before the rider influences it. This means that we have to reach such a level of connection with the Creator, that we act in His place, thinking and feeling in His place; this is how strongly we should be connected and adhered to Him.

Here we attain the next level, the next problem: What are we doing this for? We do so in order to bring the Creator contentment and not so that we will feel good. If I do things for myself, I detach myself from Him because of the difference in attributes. So we have to think about the fact that we don’t just want the revelation of the Creator, but want to do so in order to bring Him contentment.

Then we begin to feel how He wants to be revealed to us, in order to bring us joy, in order to tell us about everything, and to draw us to His world of eternity and wholeness. Our world, which conceals it, that is between us and Him, and our bodies and everything that surrounds us will gradually disappear. Then we will see only the one force that manages the world and that we are in it. In fact, scientists also begin to speak about this today.

So we have to start feeling pain and joy as a result of our intention. Why do we want to reveal Him, for our sake or for His sake? Here is the last work our ego has to do. Once again we demand from the Creator to give us the intention that everything is from Him and everything is for Him. All the questions, all the demands, all the requests, the prayers , all the complaints, everything is to Him.

Don’t ever try to find the slightest movement inside you. If there is a problem, turn straight to Him, no matter what it is, and operate with Him. If you focus yourselves correctly on this force, you will see how everything works out. This means that I want to reveal this force because there is only Him in the world and only so that all of us will connect in order to become “one below Him,” to unite as one single “horse.”

We have to feel joy for being in contact with Him, no matter if this contact is good or bad. If I feel the contact with Him in the worst feeling, it’s a sign that it’s a good state, if I don’t remember Him in the best feeling, it’s a sign that it is a bad state.

We have to value the states according to the intensity of our contact with the Creator. Then we will gradually move from feelings in our desires of receiving to feelings in the desires of bestowal. This means that all our joy, all our yearning, is already aimed at Him in order to bring Him contentment, and then in the intention to bring Him contentment, we begin to receive the upper Light that fills us. The Creator in His entirety enters us and we begin to feel that we are one whole with Him, as two lovers that connect.
[105501]
From the European Convention 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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