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How Can We Count What We Have Attained?

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring the convention we had the feeling that we were in a general vessel and all the differences between us disappeared, all the differences between people were simply erased. Everyone had certain personal feelings but only on the corporeal, physical level, a feeling of sickness or hunger, but above that there was one general feeling of connection.

But this feeling of connection was not clarified. We simply felt that we were together. Now, when the convention is over we have to assimilate this feeling of togetherness in order to expand this feeling and to add the mind, the understanding, and the discernments to it. This is called Sefirot, which we have to start “to count” – “Lispor” (from the same root in Hebrew) and to examine with accurate detail. Then we will see how we can actually work with the new vessels correctly.

This is possible only by adding to the previous level and ascending to the next level. From the next level we will be able to “count” the previous level. This is the only way to do it, from the state a person is in. In the current state, a person cannot attain such a Sefira (counting) since he needs the ten measures that are ready and enable him to count from Malchut to Keter and back.

This level is now being formed, and we cannot digest or count it yet or explain it in detail. The main thing now is to try to hold on to what we have attained and not to be satisfied with that, so that the descent will be from the desire to attain more!

The descent should not be in our feeling, not as a result of losing the pleasant feeling we had during the convention which is gone now. We have attained the feeling of the attribute of bestowal and now we want to hold on to it above the daily routine that will pull us away from it day after day.

We can use the vessels that we have now discovered as a standard, as a parameter, and can start establishing clear measures in us, which are called Din (judgement), mercy, the middle line, ten Sefirot from Keter to Malchut and back through the Returning Light, and different levels of Aviut (thickness). We can begin to compare which vessel is developed, where the apple is red and ripe and where the apple is small and green. In the meantime it’s not a conscious choice, just like a small child’s, but we will understand what and why we choose.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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The Convention That Will Never End

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: After the convention, why was there no feeling that it had ended and we quietly went home?

Answer: Indeed, there was no feeling that the convention was over, and that’s why it’s very important to hold yourself in this state. We need to recall the state that was there, to strive for it. But not because we felt good in it, rather because we don’t want to lose the sensation of bestowal in relation to others that we achieved there.

We want to remain in the same feeling. We need to distinguish clearly: a pleasant feeling or the feeling of belonging to a unified whole. This is a huge difference! I don’t care whether I feel pleasant or not. I don’t want to depend upon my feelings, but to stay only in bestowal, giving, and belonging; to swim in this single current wherever it takes me, as in the current of life.

Nothing else is required! Just keep this feeling of belonging to the unified world group, to the common vessel. This feeling of belonging must be felt within us so no disturbances can separate us. This will be keeping the covenant. If these concepts are imprinted in you, the “letters of work,” we will be able to reveal this theme more deeply, at a more inner level.

And it doesn’t matter here in what group a person is, in what place, in what city. Correction should be done here as well, so there is no feeling of difference.

I suggest opening a page on the Internet called “The Convention that Never Ends,” where everyone will be able to briefly share his impressions and support others, post excerpts from articles and clips. Everyone can visit it once or twice a day for five minutes and check whether he is in the same feeling of unity. Thus, we will support each other to feel belonging to that common desire, the state of unity, in which we were able to stay for a long time.

We have caught it well, and that is why we have no feeling that we are parting. We left without goodbyes and tears, and it’s very good. The separation on the physical level is not relevant to that spiritual connection that everyone has achieved, and thus he does not feel inside that he is parting. This is very important.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/13, Writings of Rabash

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How Can We Hate Evil?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What can I do so I will always hate evil?

Answer: In order to say that something is good or bad, we have to measure it compared to something. Therefore it says: “Those who love the Lord, hate evil,” this means that they always yearn for attaining an increasingly greater goodness. According to spiritual values, goodness is bestowal and evil is receiving. They actually establish an environment that constantly tells them that bestowal is good, and thus they advance. This is why they perceive it as the hatred of evil.

We discover the Upper Light, the attribute of bestowal and the concealed love according to the equivalence of form. This is why we have to constantly create and increase the attribute of bestowal inside us. The pure attribute of bestowal doesn’t exist in the created being. Instead there is the attribute of receiving with the intention of using it in order to bestow. If this is how we use our nature, in order to bestow, to give, in order to give as much as we possibly can, it means that we bestow.

It’s just like a baby who has nothing to give his mother except for the joy that she feels when he receives from her everything that she wants to give him. This is why receiving remains receiving but the intention of in order to bestow is added to it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13, Shamati #54The Purpose of the Work

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An Evil Grin Under The Nice Mask Of Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do you use hatred as a means to keep us away from evil?

Answer: It is hate that separates us from those we hate. We don’t need anything except to hate the ego. There are two stages: purity and holiness. The first stage of the correction is the purification from evil. This includes the whole process we go through from the beginning of our work until the revelation of evil, and then from the revelation of evil until the level of Bina, to bestow in order to bestow, don’t do unto others what is hateful to you.

This part of the correction is called the recognition of evil and exiting it until we escape from Egypt. Then we enter the phase of correction of to bestow in order to bestow, which is called the work in the desert. Then we enter the land of Israel by purifying our desire as we aim it at Yashar-El (straight to the Creator); we turn it into Israel, which is called the conquering of the land of Israel. Then we reach the phase of love thy friend as thyself.

This is done in stages: I detach myself from the ego, from evil, purify myself, and the moment I discover that my ego is my enemy, I begin to hate it, and so I have to break away and escape it. I am ready to jump into the Red Sea, anywhere I can, as long as I can escape and be saved from the pursuit of the ego. I receive ten blows (plagues) from it that force me to come to the final decision and that doesn’t leave me any chance of remaining inside my ego.

I cannot stand it anymore, as I see that it only brings me trouble and pain. All this is a result of the Surrounding Light that shines and bestows upon me. I feel so evil in relation to it, to the attribute of bestowal, to any revelation of the Creator in a cloud, in a pillar of fire, in a burning bush… Only when the Creator brings me to Pharaoh do I realize that he is a tyrant and wicked. Pharaoh is revealed in contrast to the Creator, and when I stand in the middle, I see who is a friend and who is a foe.

I cannot bear the domination of Pharaoh anymore, since on the other side the Creator is by my side. I already begin to see the difference between bestowal and receiving, and this summons the hatred of evil in me. It’s impossible to come to Pharaoh without the Creator! Otherwise I will not see that Pharaoh is evil, since before he seemed so good to me when he raised Moses as his grandson. Even before that, in the beginning of the period of exile, the good Pharaoh ruled until he died and there rose a new king in Egypt who did not know Joseph. Thus we gradually go through the phases of the recognition of evil.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/13, Shamati #54 “The Purpose of the Work”

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The Secret Of Happiness

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Robert Cummins, Professor at Deakin University, Melbourne Australia): “A loving partner, up to $100,000 of household income and a social activity that offers a sense of purpose is the new ‘golden triangle of happiness’ according to Deakin University psychologist Professor Robert Cummins….

“’More important than money is having a good intimate relationship,” he said.

“’You only need one person to share your life and having that person is incredibly important. People who haven’t got someone to share their life in an intimate way – where you can share your troubles – are very vulnerable to the bad things that happen to them. This is extremely consistent across all of our surveys.’

“’The magic number is $100,000 of gross household income. It’s not that more money makes it better, it is that you need a certain amount,’ he said. …

“’Having something interesting to do is the third element. People are happier if they are active; in a footy club, in a sewing circle, whatever,’ he said.

“’If you can combine that activity with social contact and a sense of purpose then that is best.

“’People who do volunteer work combine those very well. There more active they are and more socially connected the better they are. …

“The culmination of 29 Australian happiness surveys over 12 years by Melbourne’s Deakin University has revealed it doesn’t matter where you live, whether your collar is white or blue or whether you’ve got kids or not – if you live within the golden triangle you’re more than likely to have a permanent smile on your face.”

My Comment: The goal of creation is to delight the created beings. In the course of its development, humanity is becoming aware that happiness is in the correct connection with the environment. We are at this stage of development—in the transition from individual to collective. And then, considering we are together, instead of I, having felt the value “in dissolving” in the collective, we break away from we to the fulfillment with which this “we” will be filled, meaning, we will feel the Creator, the Source, we and I.
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In The Light Of The Sun And In The Darkness Of The Night

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah “Exodus,” 22:1 – 22:2: If, while breaking in, the thief is discovered, and he is struck and dies, [it is as if] he has no blood. If the sun shone upon him, [it is as if] he has blood; he shall surely pay.

The thief is our ego. It constantly tries to dig inside the person and take from him. If it does this unconsciously, at night, meaning when all of this is not understood or clear to a person, then the person has the right to kill this thief, since in this way his correction is carried out.

But with “the shining sun,” you don’t need to kill the ego, you need to correct it. If you relate to it incorrectly then you fall from this level, meaning, you die. You are killed. Thus you have no right to kill your ego since you need to correct the thief, the egoistic act into an altruistic act, not just to kill.

There are two great periods of correction or two parts of each act:

  • “What you don’t like done to you, don’t do unto others,” is when the person within his egoistic state goes to a neutral state.
  • “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is when you are already doing good for the other person, wishing for him what you would for yourself.

Thus, if the person acts “at night,” when he still isn’t ready for the real correction, then he has no strength, but if he struggles with the ego, then he has the right to kill it, which means to simply neutralize it—I don’t have it. But if he operates in “the day” when the upper Light illuminates on him and gives him strength, then he needs to correct the ego and not to kill it. By this, he kills it. He doesn’t perform the same act that he could do, and by this he kills himself, which means that he falls to a lower level.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/20/13

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The Two Attributes Of The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus” 22:5: If a fire goes forth and finds thorns, and a stack of grain or standing grain or the field be consumed, the one who ignited the fire shall surely pay.

There is a Light that heals and there is a Light or a fire that kills. It’s just like in our world.

A “fire” is the attribute of Din without the attribute of mercy that balances it. You balance all the forces when you hold and aim the “fire” in the right direction, until it is used correctly.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/20/13

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To Live With Each Other’s Desires

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: As a child I loved to read romance novels, and as a result, I certain image of an ideal romantic relationship developed. When I grew up, it seems that I tried to embody this ideal image and constantly got it wrong. It turns out that this image has nothing to do with what I really need.

Answer: Certainly, because these romances are completely imaginary and don’t describe a true inner connection. All of your work must be to be freed from these false forms and images. Nature intentionally obliges us to be occupied with them so that we will become disappointed and freed from this lie and relative to it we will discover how to find true love. Otherwise, we would not have this possibility.

In the meantime we are still enthralled by this lie, captured by our imaginary and artificial images. After we cleanse ourselves of this external Klipa and gradually discover our “net” pure self, our desires and our characteristics, we attain a true inner connection. There will no longer be any falling in love; rather, there will be true love because we will desire to connect soul to soul according to the spiritual characteristics of each of us.

We will understand how it is possible to bestow and to give to each other reciprocally. All of my happiness and emotions are supported by this; I will feel how to fulfill my wife and she will fulfill me, each of us will live within the other.
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From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 6/20/13

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Spiritual Work With A Desire Called “Slave”

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus,” 21:20 – 21:21: And should a man strike his manservant or his maidservant with a rod, and [that one] dies under his hand, he shall surely be avenged. But if he survives for a day or for two days, he shall not be avenged, because he is his property.

We understand what is said here in the framework of our world from an ethical, moral, democratic or any other possible point of view. In the spiritual work the desire is called a “slave” that is already under my domination and with which I can already work in order to bestow. But in that case we see that we are coping with a situation in which, for different reasons, the desire doesn’t really obey his master. Then the attribute of Din appears, which means that we have to use force.

If I use force, if I control it by using my intention, then it’s fine. But if I use the measure of Din excessively without the measure of mercy to balance the two, then I have to clarify what actually happens and whether it causes “death.” In that case it’s an improper behavior.

“Death” means that I cannot use this desire anymore. A “slave,” “man,” “woman,” “children,” and “friends,” are all desires that accompany my original desire. So a “slave” is a desire over which I have a Masach (screen).

If I manage to use this desire in order to perform a certain action and it is not annulled, it doesn’t disappear after the direct blow, but rather disappears after using it as a result of my correction, it means that it doesn’t disappear because I have killed it, thus it cannot be used anymore, but because I have already used it, it’s already dead and gone. But if it’s gone directly as a result of using the measure of Din, it means that I have not used it correctly.

In other words, if I use my desire by using force and then it disappears, it means that I kill it. This means that my actions are wrong because I have used too much force.

But if this desire is still fulfilled at least in one action and only then disappears as a result of my pressure, it’s a sign that it was the right thing to do. So we have to examine our internal work with our desires: what level they are on, and how we use them.

Eventually, all the desires have to rise in me again and I have to fully use them with the intention of in order to bestow. They don’t have to disappear, but rather to appear to their fullest and fully operate in me.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/29/13

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