Audio Version Of The Blog – 07.08.13

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Pray For Everyone

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “A Sage’s Fruit:” It is forbidden for the individual to leave the public and ask for himself, not even to bring contentment for his Maker other than for the public, for he who leaves the public and asks for his own soul individually is not constructing, but rather is bringing destruction to his soul, and one needs to gather all his might, the general of Israel, in all his turnings to the Creator, in prayer and work, and integrate himself in the root of the entire Israel.

It turns out that I do not want to do anything good, even for the Creator, if it is not for the benefit of community, through the benefit of community, and in connection with community. If there is something sacred, then first of all, it is community, all of humanity, and if I understand the importance of community, then based on this, I can reach the importance of the Creator.

Our common soul is already broken in our perception. However, praying for oneself, a person turns into impurity; that is, he descends in the negative state that is much worse than the original one.

Why would it seem so? After all, a person who “leaves the public to ask for himself individually” does not do it at the expense of others. He just says to the Creator, “I want to be corrected, settled. I want to reach bestowal. So, please give me strength to bestow and bring You contentment!” Does he really cause the “destruction of his soul?” How could this be? He is praying from his heart. It is his sincere feeling for which he cannot be responsible. The heart is crying; What can you do?

However, no, I must make all kinds of external actions to make my heart want something else, and this is within my ability. Our work is carried out from the heart, above the heart, so that it does not call for evil and wrong things, so that it does not ask for itself even if the person wants to be corrected and bring contentment to the Creator. This request is already impurity, the destruction of the soul.

That is why I need the actions that will set before me the only task: unity. I am not able to turn with the correct request on behalf of my own heart, which is broken and disconnected from the collective. I cannot bring contentment to the Creator unless I unite with others because I will not have the true desire to bestow, and from what place will I turn to Him? From my own “self?” It is impossible because it is cut off from the whole and lies beneath all the spiritual degrees, below the spiritual ladder. I am not standing even on the lower edge of the ladder that goes to heaven, to Malchut of the world of Infinity.

So, the main thing for us is to unite. If I constantly care about unity then everything that comes from this will be correct. Conversely, if I do not think about unity, then even the best intentions, the most correct words and complete devotion is the essence of impurity, the destruction of the soul.

This is the most important thing for us during the days before the convention in St. Petersburg. Preparation should direct us at the only action, to unity, and everything, no matter what, will be good in it.

“In all turnings to the Creator, in prayer and work,” we, first of all, ask for unity for the collective, oneness all the time and nothing else. Thus, we “integrate ourselves in the root of the entire Israel,” that is, the center of the group, aimed directly at the Creator (Yashar El). All our efforts are directed to its unity and interconnection.
[111575]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/13, “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”

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What Stops Us From Starting To Live?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What stops me from starting to live in the friends?

Answer: You have everything that you need in order to do that, but you shouldn’t wait for it to come from above by itself.

The only thing you lack is the recognition in your mind and heart that spirituality is attained only in connection, that spirituality and connection should be integrated into one, and the Creator is revealed in the connection.

There is nothing but these three elements: you, the connection, and the Creator. We should understand all this more internally.

Connection is called “Torah,” and it is also the vessel and the Light that should consolidate and connect the two points, me and the Creator, into one.

Everyone should check himself with regard to this and see where he is and worry about friends who grow weak and have less power. If we notice that a friend comes to the lessons less and to the assembly of friends, or that he comes but constantly tries to engage in other things and finds justification for that, he should not be left alone. Only a serious reason can justify being absent from the lessons and only occasionally.

My heart aches when I see that this is the case. I am not worried about those who have left. If this is their faith, there is nothing we can do. However, we should ask ourselves whether we have done enough to awaken the importance of the goal in them. If we haven’t, then it is our fault and they will be missing in the connection among us later. We will lack that part in order to build a whole vessel.

The reason for that is disrespect for others, for the friends, when our attitude to them is like toward strangers. However, it isn’t a stranger but a friend that must be more important to you than yourself since your soul depends on him. I wish you a long life, but you should know that without the friend, your life will end on the animal level. If you want to take care of your soul, it is in the friend.

It is a fact, whether you like it or not, and it doesn’t matter whether you accept it or not. Now, you must decide and make a choice: Do you accept it or not? You don’t have the desire for that and no one says that you must want that. “To receive” means that, from now on, you must take that fact into account in every action you make, in every desire or thought.
[111562]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, Writings of Rabash

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Nothing New

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “600,000 Souls”: It is said that there are 600,000 souls, and each soul divides into several sparks. We must understand how it is possible for the spiritual to divide, since initially, only one soul was created, the soul of Adam HaRishon.

In my opinion, there is indeed only one soul in the world, as it is written (Genesis, 2:7), “and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” The same soul exists in all the children of Israel, complete in each and every one, as in Adam HaRishon, since the spiritual is indivisible and cannot be cut—which is rather a trait of corporeal things.

Yet, saying that there are 600,000 souls and sparks of souls appears as though it is divided by the force of the body of each person. In other words, first, the body divides and completely denies him of the radiance of the soul, and by the force of the Torah and the Mitzva, the body is cleansed, and to the extent of its cleansing, the common soul shines upon him.

There is only one desire in reality. The Light has created a desire, and it operates on it. It restricts it, puts Masachim (screens) on it, and makes Partzufim and worlds of it. However, the desire remains the same desire. The word “worlds” (“Olamot” stems from the word “concealment” in Hebrew), and refers to the concealment of the Light in our perception and feelings. It is just like looking at the world without glasses and seeing a blurry world. The spiritual worlds are increasingly more accurate and clearer pictures that are revealed by “spiritual glasses” that I change each time as I correct myself, until I reach the world of Ein Sof (Infinity), which means the whole correction.

So, it is all about an individual perception and not about an external reality that actually exists. The picture of the world depends on the person who attains it.

On the whole, there is one soul, but each one perceives it according to his level of preparation. We are always in the same place, in the same system, but each one is connected to it emotionally and mentally to a different extent, according to his attainment and his understanding. It is like a newborn baby who hardly perceives anything. It is only after a couple of months that he begins to perceive some details of the whole picture. It is as if he is also in a state of concealment in some part and in a state of in revelation in another, and at first the concealment is much greater than the revelation.

A person gradually perceives more clearly where he is according to his advancement and his development. We are not talking about anything new, but about the revelation that is part of our perception. So, all our development is in order to awaken, to build, and to prepare such a vessel of perception that will be sensitive to the revelation of the eternal unchanging eternal reality.

Our basic assumption is that there is only one soul in the world, a desire of Malchut of Ein Sof, and we attain this state to a certain extent as if looking at it through different types of glasses that determine the level of our closeness to it.
[111582]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/05/13, “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”

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The Mosaic Of Malchut Under My Responsibility

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 19: However, because of the breaking of the vessels, all the Otiot were ejected to corporeal conducts and people. When one corrects oneself and reaches the root of one’s soul, he must collect them by himself, one-by-one, and bring them back to the root, to holiness. This is the meaning of “to sentence oneself and the entire world to a scale of merit.” The matter of the unification of the Creator and Divinity…

You lack nothing except to go out to the “field blessed by the Creator” to gather all the members which separated from your soul and combine them into a single body. And it’s a perfect body where the Creator instills His Divinity in perpetuity, without any interruption.

We don’t understand how the world is connected and what is revealed to us, but in the meantime what is revealed to us every minute is exactly what we need to correct. Even if we cannot investigate everything deeply and make the right corrections, we must still keep returning to connections since connection is the expression of love on higher levels.

It also means “to cultivate the field, blessed by the Creator.” Working on the connection is what brings us to “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” We must see the picture of connection in all the friends, in all of humanity, and even in the still, vegetative and the animate nature. It is because Malchut includes all its previous levels, and its fourth phase becomes responsible for the root phase and for phase one, two, and three after the “restriction” and the appearance of the Returning Light.

We should understand that we see everything in Malchut. From phase four of four, we observe the root phase, phase one, two, and three. Now, it is our whole world, and later we will discover the spiritual worlds by the Masach (screen) and the Returning Light.

However, on the whole, I am in Malchut, which seems shattered, and I must connect all its parts into one. All its parts are separate from me by my ego and my hatred, and I connect them above the hate.

I cannot annul my ego and my hatred, but as it is written, “Love covers all transgressions.” I leave the sins, hatred, repulsion and all the other negative attributes below, restrict them, and build a new vessel above them.
[111579]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/05/13, “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

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“The Middle-Class Revolution”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist, political economist): “The theme that connects recent events in Turkey and Brazil to each other, as well as to the 2011 Arab Spring and continuing protests in China, is the rise of a new global middle class. …

“In Turkey and Brazil, as in Tunisia and Egypt before them, political protest has been led not by the poor but by young people with higher-than-average levels of education and income. They are technology-savvy and use social media like Facebook FB +0.45% and Twitter to broadcast information and organize demonstrations. Even when they live in countries that hold regular democratic elections, they feel alienated from the ruling political elite. …

“A 2012 report by the European Union Institute for Security Studies, using a broader definition of middle class, predicted that the number of people in that category would grow from 1.8 billion in 2009 to 3.2 billion in 2020 and 4.9 billion in 2030 (out of a projected global population of 8.3 billion). …

“None of this is a new phenomenon. The French, Bolshevik and Chinese Revolutions were all led by discontented middle-class individuals, even if their ultimate course was later affected by peasants, workers and the poor.

“While protests, uprisings and occasionally revolutions are typically led by newly arrived members of the middle class, the latter rarely succeed on their own in bringing about long-term political change. This is because the middle class seldom represents more than a minority of the society in developing countries and is itself internally divided. Unless they can form a coalition with other parts of society, their movements seldom produce enduring political change. …

“No politician in the U.S. or Europe should look down complacently on the events unfolding in the streets of Istanbul and São Paulo. It would be a grave mistake to think, ‘It can’t happen here.’”

My Comment: The question is with what they will go to people. The problem is not to cheer up the masses, but to lead them to real changes. Real changes can happen only if they occur in accord with the development of nature and society, that is, towards the integration of humanity.

Therefore, the only real solution to all urgent problems of society is in the implementation of the method of integral education and upbringing among the general population. Reconstruction and resetting of the social structure is possible after that on the basis of the acquired knowledge and new skills of integral interaction.
[111481]

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Above Hatred, Toward Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, “VaYiera” [And the Lord Appeared], Item 453: Man is created in utter wickedness and lowliness, as it is written, “When a wild ass’ foal is born a man.” And all the vessels in one’s body, meaning the senses and the qualities, and especially the thought serve him only wickedness and nothingness all day. And for one who is rewarded with adhering unto Him, the Creator does not create other tools instead, to be worthy and suitable for reception of the eternal spiritual abundance intended for him. Rather, the same lowly vessels that have thus far been used in a filthy and loathsome way are inverted to become vessels of reception of all the pleasantness and eternal gentleness.

Moreover, each Kli whose deficiencies had been the greatest has now become the most important. In other words, the measure that they reveal is the greatest.

The more we work, the more deeply we penetrate the thickness of the desire and discover more problems, an entire complex of interferences. All this is in order to give enough “flesh” to the evil that is inherent in us and between us. In other words, it is to reveal the breaking.

We are now working on unity and discover the forces that are oppose it until we reveal the breaking on the first, lowest level.

Then, we will have to overcome it. How? We restrict all the forces of separation and darkness. At the same time, they remain because it is impossible to cancel evil. We just rise above it. There is no need to correct everything that we have. It will only get worse. No, we lock our evil within and rise above it. It is said about this, “Love covers all transgressions.” It does not correct flaws, but covers them.

Evil must remain. It is not turned into good, but good is built above evil. Everything is arranged in nature in this way, and this is the key to perfection.

We want to get rid of evil. We do not understand what good is in the wolf eating the sheep. A person reflects on his qualities, lamenting what he has done in life. Don’t eat yourself up. On the contrary, one needs to accept the facts and think about something else: How can he form the opposite properties above it? This is the question: Where is the Light that Reforms? If evil has been revealed, then, obviously, I can build good above it.

In this case, good and evil must be of the same size, and then the middle line appears between them. We will achieve nothing without it and will not come to spiritual interaction (Zivug).

Therefore, we need to identify the necessary state more and more, looking for a way to achieve the first contact with the Creator.

Before the meeting in St. Petersburg and during the convention, we will face all sorts of obstacles, distracting circumstances, external impressions, or we will “soar in the clouds” instead of carrying out the right work. We will be sent various surprises from above, according to the order of our states, and, even if we all strive for unity, we still will face a descent. We can feel it even on the first day of the convention, moreover, in a stronger form provided that we have prepared ourselves well. Suppose, after registering at nine in the morning, I feel tired around noon and begin thinking, “Why, actually, have I come? What am I doing here?”

It is very good because, then, we will have to work on ourselves, to “kiss the rod” that hits us and bless the evil as good.

Hence, one sees the extent to which he is worthy to build the screen (Masach) now. After all, the screen is formed above all the senses, interferences, and troubles that are manifested, and the main thing in this set is hatred. This is what love covers. Without these “transgressions,” we will not come to true spiritual love. It is built only above hatred.

That is why the technology of virtual communication is flourishing in the modern world. It is in order to reveal hatred. However, to prevent it from turning into a war, we must simultaneously provide people with the method of correction. Everyone will know and understand what is to be done under the circumstances.

This is the only means: unity above separation, love above hatred.
[111542]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms”

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The Opposition To The Creator Is The Relationship With Him

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Mystery of Letter Kaf in the Word Anochi (I)”: Malchut, clothed in the worlds, is called “I” and distributed to the world of Assiya. Precisely it is the division which every man feels himself existing as he is.

Developing, a man wants to conquer the whole world for his own sake and pleasure. This is the force of breaking in the world of Assiya, as it is said (Prophets, Melachim (Kings), I, 1:5): “I will be king”—because of the spiritual sparks that have not yet been revealed.

We must understand that the receiving desire, detached from the Creator, which feels itself as opposite to Him and seeks to dominate over everything is artificial in its essence. It does not exist in reality, it is created as something imaginary to be in polar opposition to the Creator.

It exists only as part of perception, in order to create a sense of oppositeness to the Creator. And only in this it should be given importance: It is important only because it enables us to feel oppositeness to bestowal and for no other reason. Based on it we can build a relationship with the Creator.

Now we do not touch Malchut, as such, the end of the line of Infinity, in the center of the circle. We will touch it only if we present ourselves before the Creator. The receiving desire does not exist until we place it opposite the Creator. Only then there is me and there is the Creator, and some line is stretched between us, the link, from which it is possible to begin the path.

This point is opposite to Him in all its properties and is hidden, and it begins to be revealed to the extent of my ability to imagine the Creator as its opposite. Otherwise, it shows me nothing but troubles, meaning not itself, but its external manifestations. But gradually, unlike the entire world, I approach its internal essence, distinguish it in front of the Creator, and then I start my own line.

Thus, it is important to remember: We do not eliminate this point; we understand that we need it. However, we must constantly go into it deeper and deeper. If I want to know materiality, then we have to contrast it with spirituality, to place the point Malchut before the Creator. One cannot exist without the other in this set.

If I imagine a certain reality without the Creator, opposite to it, then I live in an imaginary world.

This is the difference between the lowest state that precedes the first spiritual degree, the state in which I oppose the Creator and the imaginary world, which I do not connect with the Creator in our understanding.

The real “I” appears only when the property completely opposite to me, the Creator, is before me. And then, confronting Him I “lay claim to the throne,” which is manifested in various forms. For example, I can admit that He is eternal and powerful, that He determines and provides everything, and nonetheless, as a small child, I want everything the other way; I want to take His place. This is also included in the scope of claims, “I will be king.”

Thus, what is important is not power itself, but the desire. If I want to take power in my hands at least in something, this is already my real I. After all, the thing is, who is the head, who decides? And if it is clear to me that it is either me or the Creator, then I already enter into relationship with Him, even if not yet in a spiritual way.

How can I come to this? It is very simple: I begin to realize that the Creator rules in me I completely. Even my opposition to Him He creates on purpose to advance me on the path of development. As a result, I include both opposites and start building a correct relationship between them.

Baal HaSulam illustrates this by the example: Going to work in the morning, a person is guided by the principle, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” And at the end of the day, he admits that there is none else but the Creator.

At the first stage of the process, I become aware that there is no one but  Him. I realize this relative to myself in all my desires and thoughts, in feelings, and the mind (and I have nothing else); the Creator has absolute power.

Who am I then? A deeper detail of perception, a higher spiritual degree. Since He reigns in me fully, then I state this on the basis of some new point. Thus, every time I reveal a deeper “I” until the fourth stage where the force of breaking occurs.
[111533]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/4/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms

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How To Adhere To Your Spiritual Line

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Chapter 8, “Histaklut Pnimit“, Item 88: All we have to do is to clarify once more and raise all the souls that fell from Adam HaRishon (first man) into the Klipot (shells) and bring them back to their root just as they were before the sin of the tree of knowledge.

And where is the shattering point, the point where my “self” is revealed? Where does it stem from? It is a result of the shattering, since everything other than the shattering is the upper Light and is unity and connection. It is because of the shattering that a “short circuit” between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow is created.

Then this point of the “self” is revealed and only by our efforts to connect can we discover this point and do the work we have to do in contrast to it: to change from “I” to “nothing” to the Creator, and “nothing” doesn’t mean that He does not exist, it means that He actually does exist and fills everything and that “There is none else besides Him.”

This means that our goal is to constantly connect so we will all “shrink” as much as possible. By that we discover two things together, both the “self” and the “nothing,” the Creator. Between them I will discover the whole spiritual ladder around which there is the whole circle, all of Ein Sof (Infinity).

If we begin to ascend this ladder from the bottom up, if we ascend from one level to the next, we connect everything that we have to correct, the whole circle, except for the part that we cannot come near, called “stoney heart.” When I ascend up a line it means that I correct not only that line but the whole area that is not revealed yet; I correct the ten Sefirot on the line, and everything else is the Surrounding Light. But it is already a Surrounding Light that is made of different couplings that I have made. I have received the Inner Light in the coupling and in contrast to it the Surrounding Light. Then I ascend to the next level. This is actually the whole corrected vessel. The Surrounding Light is in the “stoney heart” that will be corrected at the end of correction by “Rav pealim mekabtziel.”

How To Adhere To You Spiritual Line

By having created a whole corrected vessel I ascend to the next line, to the next level. Then I continue my line and acquire a greater Inner Light and accordingly, also a greater Surrounding Light. Thus I clarify both each time.
[111530]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/04/13, “From Hatred to Love by the Light that Reforms”

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The Creator Is Always the Absolute Good

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”: …the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive. And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.

Furthermore, it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures. And that is evidently shown by the great Creation that He has created and set before our eyes. For in this world there are beings that necessarily experience either a good feeling or a bad one, and that feeling necessarily comes to them from the Creator. And once it is absolutely clear that there is no aim to harm in the nature of the Creator, it necessitates that the creatures receive only goodness from Him, for He has created them only to bestow upon them.

Thus we learn that He has only a desire to bestow goodness, and it is utterly impossible that any harmfulness might be in His domain, which could emit from Him. Hence we have defined Him as “The Absolute Good.” And after we have learned that, let us take a look at the actual reality that is guided by Him, and how He bestows only goodness upon them.”

We don’t see it this way. For us, it looks like everything is upside down in this world. Compared to inanimate, vegetative and animate nature, the speaking level suffers much more than others. The more advanced a person is, the bigger his distresses are. So, where do we see the “Absolute Good” here?

It applies to another level of existence, to a different plane of life. Here, there are no traces of the Absolute Good, nor can we expect that, at some point, things will become better. On the contrary, throughout all of history, we advance solely toward evil. The truth is that we develop in order to realize our evil inclination that is built into our nature, our properties. It doesn’t matter where exactly since everything is the same. That’s why it is useless to hope or wait for positive things in this world.

As to the Absolute Good (the Creator) and our connection with Him, we are unable to even fantasize about it since we are restricted by our present boundaries. It doesn’t have anything in common with this world at all. There is no link between this realm and the upper force whatsoever. All we have here is the will to receive that continues to change. However, there is no “Good that does Good,” no “Absolute Benevolence,” no Creator!

The purpose of this world is to reveal the fact that we cannot tolerate this realm any longer. The trick is that we should reveal this fact and disclose the reasons that cause this state. Not only am I in pain and scream about it, this pain must explain why I go through it and how to rid myself of it.

Otherwise, I will control my pain to reach a better state. This doesn’t mean that there will be no pain in my life, although I will reach a different, higher level of attainment, understanding and realization that will allow me to control myself by using my aspiration to the delight and the affliction as the reins for self-control. At this stage, I don’t want to rid myself of suffering or enjoy myself. I begin to understand and clarify exactly to what I should aspire. Regardless of my aversion to affliction and my desire to be delighted, I still want to behave correctly. Gradually, while pursuing this path, I substantiate what “correctly” means.

This type of analysis begins in our current state and continues from one stage to another. Gradually, we begin recognizing potential features of the Absolute Good. It takes a lot of time and lots of clarification. It is a process that makes it possible for us to define what’s good and what’s bad.

Then, we regard these concepts not just based on what we feel, but purposefully. Thus, we move forward. We rise above the “animal” analysis of what’s good and what’s bad, which is based on our positive or negative sensations. Rather, we switch to a human-type analysis that relates everything to the upper goal. We place the upper goal ahead of everything. Only through the upper goal can we distinguish between good and evil.
[111380]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/13, “There is None Else Besides Him”

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