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The Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn spirituality, adultery means using the uncorrected desire.

The point is that the male part of the spiritual vessel is a Masach (screen), an intention of “in order to bestow,” and the female part is “the desire to receive.” To receive in order to bestow is the correct use of the desire, its correct fulfillment.

So, adultery means using the incorrect desire. It isn’t your wife, it’s not your correct desire. You must choose the desire correctly, to be engaged to each of them, to get married, to connect, to adhere, to mate, and to give birth to the next state above it. Then, the Light will come and fill it.

How many new desires emerge in a person every minute? Every minute he is different and his desires are different but since the entire world is you, your application, then on the whole there are no strange desires.

The fact that we see that there are seven billion different people in the world or three billion couples is actually what is in one person as the desires constantly change and so do their Masachim (screens).

A person is a sum, an integral element, that includes all of humanity. All of humanity is a kind of an exhibition, a photograph, a replica of our inner states. This means that during the phase of correction, a person goes through, let’s say, three billion states and so he sees three billion couples external to him.

The Torah doesn’t speak about problems that we encounter in this world. Adultery has been part of human history and there was no way to extinguish this phenomenon that flourished in every age.

Sexual desires are considered the most basic elementary pleasures, which means that sexual pleasure is actually the greatest pleasure. A person cannot reject any pleasure; he can use them correctly.

Prohibitions in Christianity and, on the other hand, the annulment of prohibitions and bigamy in Islam, are like the “right line” and the “left line” with regard to Judaism where it is normal to have one wife and adultery is forbidden.

From a spiritual point of view, a person has the desire that must be fulfilled at any given moment. It is called his female part. He must prepare a Masach with the right intention of that desire in order to bestow, and thus use it. The result, which means the actual bestowal, the Light that is born in the new system, is called “his offspring.”
[109833]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/04/13

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The Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Steal”

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen a person works with the intention for others, “Love thy neighbor,” and so forth and suddenly takes a little break while he works and takes a little for himself—which means that he begins to receive for himself—it is called stealing.

This, of course, is different in our world since we are on a level that is lower than the moral, spiritual level. On the whole, all the commandments in the Torah have nothing to do with the corporeal world. However, people began to use them with regard to their family, social, and human life.

Question: Can we call this time the time of preparation since a person goes through a certain process when he turns the “barbaric world” into a world of laws?

Answer: However, this doesn’t mean that he gets closer to the spiritual world. The level of preparation is a level for attaining spirituality. We, however, see that these laws are not part of any level that precedes spirituality. On the contrary, the world begins to feel that it is civilized, liberal, and advanced.

Question: Can we attribute all that to adultery?

Answer: Not completely. Adultery in spirituality refers to mistakes that people make over and over again since, to the extent that a person wants to keep all the Ten Commandments, he constantly discovers that he breaks them over and over again.

However, all these sins are revealed when you are shown a more accurate picture, a more delicate and deeper picture, and only then does it become clear that you didn’t really think, that you didn’t suppose and allow it, that you didn’t try hard enough. So, the whole Torah speaks only about mistakes and, at the same time, about how to correct them. Without the revelations of the mistakes, there are no corrections.
[109828]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/04/13

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“Thou Shalt Not Kill”

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13), means that we can cut off the Light that comes to us from Above, the Light of life, or the Light of correction that guides us toward equivalence of form with the Creator. I can stop receiving it and extinguish it, and ignite the egoistic desire inside me.

The moment the egoistic desire appears inside us, the Light immediately disappears. It feels this desire in advance since there are Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut between it and the egoistic desire. Malchut is the last desire, and Keter is the first desire. The Light that is still in Keter feels that it mustn’t come to Malchut. It is a paradox: The moment that I do something corrupted the Light immediately knows that and doesn’t arrive.

My wrong movement is immediately felt in Keter since there is an opposite mutual connection between Keter and Malchut. The moment I do something in Malchut, Keter immediately feels my intention and the Light leaves it.

Question: I am a desire and one way or another, I follow pleasure. So, what happens to me?

Answer: You are killing your soul since you want to receive the pleasure for yourself! The Light enters only according to the equivalence of form while you perform an action that is opposite to it, so it immediately disappears.

Question: I would like to comment that all revolutions start from the romantic level. Now, we shall establish a just society and later it leads to bloodshed, killing, imprisonment, and so on.

Answer: Yes, we see the same thing in technological advancement and in changing different formations. Every system—capitalist, egoist, Nazi—begins from romantic elements since people are driven by an idea of proving, showing, fulfilling, and enjoying what they create. During the first phase, this idea receives the support of the Light since otherwise it cannot be fulfilled. However, the moment the ego and commercialism join the game, the Light disappears, and everything moves toward collapse! It may take two centuries but the collapse inevitably will come.

Question: What should we do so that there would be no collapse? Can we make a preliminary covenant so that the romantic levels will develop into upper phases?

Answer: In order to do that, you should know how to sustain yourself in this romantic mode, which means that the upper spiritual level should constantly draw you above the corporeal level.

However, the corporeal pleasures will draw you more strongly as you advance. You will begin to feel such pleasures that it is impossible to imagine. You will have to constantly prefer your spiritual growth on top of what is revealed to you here.

Question: Can I be aware of it in advance? Can I sign some kind of an agreement that I will not be left alone, that I will be warned and reminded of it?

Answer: Only if you tie yourself to the right environment and invest all your powers in it, which is what people who started revolutions did. They were ready to give everything for their friends so they succeeded.

However, the moment the connection between them was broken and they began to split things up—you will be this minister and I will be that minister—everything came to an end. The ego came in and the “circle” disappeared and so did the equality.

In order to avoid that, we must establish the right environment together with the Creator so that it will be sustainable, from it, through the general society, until the very center.

This invisible force, the Creator, must constantly sustain us. Then, you also become invisible and disappear into this system. Otherwise, nothing will happen! You must disappear inside it by yourself, without any self-profit, and then you will acquire a different world.
[109765]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/25/13

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Breaking Out Of The World Of Fantasy Into The World Of Truth

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I feel the others if the heart doesn’t feel that they are close yet?

Answer: You have to think that the others are part of your soul and that only by the connection with others can you build the vessel for receiving the Light, the revelation of the Creator, the revelation of the true state, which means bestowal. The world of truth is the world of bestowal. We, however, are under the domination of a lie, in some fantasy that this world seemingly exists by the force of receiving. We have to think about this as much as we can, until it’s clear that everything exists according to the force of bestowal.

Our fictitious and distorted perception that forces us to think and feel differently is only in us. So because of it we don’t see the real world, and we are like blind people walking in the dark, feeling our way by holding on to a wall. We don’t understand where we are!

Thus, all of humanity is wandering blindfolded in the dark. We have to make our greatest efforts in order to remove this concealment, and then we will see that all of reality exists only by the force of bestowal and love. We will see reality as some kind of an enchanted fantasy world in which everything operates by the laws of total bestowal. We wander around this enchanted city and we have the chance to constantly correct and improve ourselves, by acquiring additional power of bestowal each time.

Thus we increasingly assimilate in this city and can use everything and understand and feel more. This is called ascending the spiritual ladder.

But the moment the spiritual ladder is revealed to us, it becomes clear that all of reality is bestowal and love alone. Besides, there is a small bubble in this reality in which we sleep, like in a coma, not regaining consciousness. This sick fantasy is only in our heads like in a mind of a person who has lost consciousness and different fluid, chaotic thoughts, flow in his mind. This is what is happening to us now…

The reality of our world does not exist! It’s only a kind of fantasy, but it’s very important since only from it can we ascend to the truth.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/04/13, The Zohar

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The Most Elusive Commandment

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Exodus 20:3 – 20:5: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God Am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

Commandments are considered the basis of the entire human code of the whole human existence. They are acknowledged by all religions, by all societies, and serve as a basis for all social life. However, in Kabbalah, they have a totally different meaning.

In other words, “I am the Only! I am Incorporeal! I cannot be depicted, imagined, or understood! I don’t give you any hints of Who I am! I cannot be put in your pocket, placed in the corner, or hung on the wall. It is impossible to make an amulet out of Me, nor can I be shaped as some kind of a sign! Nothing like that is possible!”

Humans are quite different. A child grabs a toy and doesn’t toss it away for a month or two. It calms him down.

A person goes to a temple, prays, confesses, and cools down. Everything will be all right! For everyone, it’s a medication, a remedy, to settle their worries, a prevention of various social, family, and other problems.

We don’t have anything tangible here. If it is impossible to imagine Him, meaning that there is no one to appeal to, this is a big problem. Does it translate into the fact that there is no God for a regular person who lives in this world? We are unable to visualize Him or sense Him. He is some abstract property of bestowal, something shapeless that fills everything and, at the same time, nothing. What sensors will allow us to reveal Him? We must begin feeling Him one way or another. However, there is nothing around us.

We simply cannot imagine the Lord, the upper power as described in the Torah nor can we establish contact with this force. In order to stay in touch with Him we must grab onto something, appeal to somebody, and portray Him somehow.

Question: Why are these “threads” cut off of us? It’s as if we are floating in the air. Why is that so?

Answer: It’s because we must find Him at a completely different level. We should rise to His degree. Then, we will sense something that we haven’t sensed before and define things that we previously were unable to comprehend. It will become possible because we will acquire a new set of sensors that are called the five Sefirot.

Before we achieve this, there is no such thing as “God” for us. There isn’t anything at all! Of course, there is nature that twists us, pulls us ahead, and plays with us, forces us to continue living, to give birth to someone, controls our behavior in our surroundings and society, and then buries us in the ground. That’s it.

I am exaggerating everything by showing that people have no connection with the Creator or with the Torah whatsoever. That’s why it is said that the Torah is spotless since no one has ever touched it, not even once.

The Torah is a teaching; it’s a spiritual mechanism that is totally disconnected from humans. The fact that we picked it as the source of our beautiful rules and legal laws is very reassuring. Without it, we would just be barbarians.

Nevertheless, I want to emphasize that these rules and laws do not have anything in common with the authentic Torah. We must understand that the Torah’s power, its veracity and the very core of it are not about the rules or laws. It doesn’t matter what we are doing in this world. Rather, what matters is if we happen to rise to the next level where the Creator reveals to us. For that, we don’t need Him to be observable or appear as an image or a phenomenon. Our awareness rises to such a level that we don’t need any images any more since we manage to get out of ourselves.

This explains why the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” comes first, why it is considered a major commandment, and why it precedes all the others. Each subsequent commandment (their order is not random; they are organized in a certain way) delineates the execution of this particular main commandment.

If one cannot observe this commandment, all other commandments are worth nothing. They don’t lead us to the goal. We should constantly keep in mind this primary commandment. For it, we should fulfill all other commandments.
[109450]
From KabTV’s, “Mysteries of the Eternal Book” 2/25/13

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Anti-Consumerism Is Gaining Strength

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Of Two Mind.com): “The anti-consumerism Degrowth movement is gaining visibility and adherents in Europe. Degrowth (French: décroissance, Spanish: decrecimiento, Italian: decrescita) recognizes that the mindless expansion of mindless consumption fueled by credit and financialization is qualitatively and quantitatively different from positive growth.

“Degrowth is based on a number of principles:

“1. Consumerism is psychological/spiritual junk food (French: malbouffe) that actively reduces well-being (bien-etre) rather than increases it.

“2. Better rather than more: well-being is increased by everything that cannot be commoditized by a market economy or financialized by a cartel-state financial machine– friendship, family, community, self-cultivation–rather than by acquiring more. The goal of economic and social growth should be better, not more. On a national scale, the cancerous-growth measured by gross domestic product (GDP) should be replaced with gross domestic happiness/ gross nation happiness (GNH).

“3. A recognition that resources are not infinite, despite claims to the contrary. Even if fossil fuels were infinite and low-cost … , fisheries, soil and fresh water are not. … Indeed, all the evidence suggests that access to cheap energy only speeds up the depletion and despoliation of every other resource.

“4. The unsustainability of consumerist consumption dependent on resource depletion and financialization (i.e. the endless expansion of credit and phantom collateral).

“5. The diminishing returns on consumption. Investing in clean air and water, public transit, universally accessible knowledge/information–these forms of consumption yield high returns in public health, affordable mobility, etc. Buying clothing to wear once or twice and then throw away does not. …

“6. The failure of neoliberal capitalism and communism alike in their pursuit of growth at any cost.

“7. We have reached Peak Consumption ….

“The Degrowth movement explicitly questions what John Michael Greer calls the religion of progress (i.e. growth). The civil religion that growth equals progress is akin to the Cargo Cult of Keynesianism, the notion that growth is so essential that expanding debt exponentially to drive diminishing returns of growth is necessary.

“But both the religion of growth and its Cargo Cult enablers are merely superficial facades masking the real force: the expansion of global finance via financialization. Expanding capital, profits and power is the key agenda, and the quasi-religion of growth is just the public-relations narrative that mesmerizes the debt-serfs, political toadies and media sycophants.

“What does Degrowth mean in practical terms? Use the thing until it cannot be repaired.“

My Comment: New movements and parties begin to emerge in various countries and with different governments; their programs are partly similar to the ideas of “Integral Education” (IE) but cannot be realized without it. The future is coming. They will start developing their ideas and find the lack of tools for their implementation, then they will understand the need for IE.
[108934]

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The Wisdom Of Kabbalah is The Property Of Everyone

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”: Thus, because of their ancestral merit Israel succeeded, and over 400 years they developed and became qualified and sentenced themselves to a scale of merit.

In the course of exile, we face external resistance and reveal the force that does not let us unite, although we want to become one. This force is divided into four layers of Aviut (the “thickness” of desire), and this is what the concept of “four hundred years” indicates. In general, similar breakdowns and measurements stem from the initial structure of HaVaYaH.

If evil, preventing complete integration, is manifested, this means that the sons of Israel had completed the Egyptian exile. This applies to us: If we want to rise to the level of receiving the Torah, meaning the method of correction, then first we must feel ourselves in exile. This growing feeling brings hatred, rejection, alienation, and inability to unite to the three levels of egoistic desire that are called “Egypt” and to the last, the fourth level of burdening of the heart that is called “Pharaoh.” His manifestation is accompanied by the “ten plagues,” and as a result we exit Egypt, meaning feel the necessity to unite in spite of the evil that is being revealed, and flee Pharaoh, ready to receive the Torah.

We are crying, calling, and then the force comes that leads and raises us above the receiving desire. Now we are not in Egypt, we are above the ego, and from this moment on we are ready to become like one. The Light that Reforms affects us, and at Mount Sinai, the mountain of hatred (Sinah), we become a people.

Then, we proceed to the correction of Egypt, begin to “scrape off” this desire, layer by layer, and raise them to bestowal in the property of “AHP on the rise.” At the end, only the “inaccessible” parts of desire (the “stony heart”) will be left in Egypt, which will be corrected last.

So, when the fragments of the general soul of Adam HaRishon begin to connect again, the first who join this process are “lighter,” more sensitive parts. You and I do not understand what type of soul those were who left Babylon together with Abraham and to what source exactly, to what point of the general soul, he belongs. This is the point in the heart Adam HaRishon. In any case, this is the process of correction based on the method of Kabbalah.

Of course, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the science of the highest order belonging to all of humanity, encompassing the entire general vessel and not limited to its individual fragments. It contains the whole reality beginning from the world of Infinity. However, it is used only by those people who can add efforts themselves and accelerate instead of developing “according to schedule.” Without waiting for the correction in their term, they raise MAN, meaning the request, in advance, and help others to do the same. Thus, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the property of the whole world.
[109279]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Krasnoyarsk Convention: A Tour In The Upper World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On one hand, many will invest much effort to reach the convention in Siberia, but on the other hand, there will soon be a conference in Saint Petersburg, so they don’t know which they should choose…

Answer: I suppose that for all the friends beyond the Ural area, who live from the Urals to the Far East, it is preferable to go to Krasnoyarsk.

In Saint Petersburg there will be another type of convention, not a regional congress, but a gathering of many nations, which would be called a European congress; representatives from Europe and other countries will come. This is a congress for the already established, incorporated, and inclusive groups, people who have “ripened” for many years in this region.

Whereas for the inhabitants of Siberia, I personally recommend that they travel to Krasnoyarsk. They won’t lose anything. A convention like the one in Saint Petersburg will be in many other places; whereas a congress like that in Krasnoyarsk may not ever happen again. I say this seriously. I relate to this with great awe, great caution, and think that it will be unique.

This will be a more intimate congress, closer to nature. The spirit of the congress in Krasnoyarsk itself is local, Siberian, compulsory, so that all of us can come together with more density. We don’t need to visit the attractions of Saint Petersburg, rather we must look at the upper world. For this, Krasnoyarsk is better.
[109249]
From the Virtual Lesson 6/2/2013

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Incredible Action

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the discussion circles a sensation of unity, of identity, is created among the people. How important is it here, specifically, for the person to understand that this is happening to him now?

Answer: The person doesn’t need to do anything at first. We arrange workshops with very different people like those who are opposites, who hate each other and disagree. They are completely different people in mentality, nationality, age, profession and so on, gathered into the circles.

Very gradually, over the course of the first half hour, surprisingly, they begin to connect internally, to understand each other, to complement each other and they don’t interrupt each other and don’t argue in any way. They try to find a common point of view, to rise above themselves. Then, suddenly, something in common begins to form between them, an agreement that shines on them with some kind of inner light, an inner energy. This is specifically what a person lacks today.

Our world now is entering into a state like this. Around us, nature is revealing more and more of its integrality, its mutual cooperation that fills all of its parts, and we, humanity, are like a cancerous tumor. We don’t want to be integrally linked between us and with nature itself.

Through attaining the most minimal integrality in a group, we become like the nature that surrounds us (except for humanity) and begin to feel a kind of radiation from it, some kind of influence, and this feeling of receiving a unique energy makes the world more resonant, more subtle and fine. This is so soothing, relaxing, and balancing for a person that he doesn’t want to be separated from it.

A sensation of wisdom descends upon him because he is found in balance with nature, meaning with the entire universe. He begins to feel that there are special goals in a state like this and that through these states it is possible to go out as if through some kind of matrix to the next level of existence. Apparently, a group in which this is found is, in fact, not a group, but a unique body, a schema, an instrument, with whose help one can organize his ascent above this world.

From a physical point of view, he might have everything: a house, a family, salary and the like. However, this sensation of “suspension in the air” above our world fills him with meaning. This gives him rest from everything that he usually feels in this world. This is very important to people. For this, they would be ready to give everything if only to attain such a state.

Therefore, from my personal experience, I would claim that within an hour to an hour and a half of being in a workshop, a person reaches this kind of state. He becomes completely different.

Taking part in integral workshops are: Arabs, Jews, Druze, the old, the young, right wingers, left wingers, fascists, and communists. It doesn’t matter who or how. They sit around a roundtable as enemies that don’t usually complement each other and within an hour they transform into comrades. An absolutely incredible activity has taken place!

Afterward, they will travel to visit each other, meet, wanting to feel that feeling that they had found again, and precisely in contrast to that initial sense of opposition, they feel the new state more prominently and clearly.
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From KabTV’s “Through Time” 3/17/13

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