Audio Version Of The Blog – 08.19.13

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Working With Our Desires Independently

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do I have to be actively incorporated in the sufferings of others and to suffer too as a result?

Answer: Of course, you have to identify with the sufferings of others as if you actually suffer, which means to be incorporated in others. We shouldn’t fear that we will remain in these corporeal sufferings like society itself. Indeed there is such a risk when we begin to help others that we will drown in their sufferings and become like them. But because we have a rope that connects us to the group, there is nothing to fear.

We must only tighten the connection to the group, and then the lower you descend into the public and penetrate their desires, the higher you will be able to ascend. It says “I dwell among my people,” because when we raise these lowest desires to the Creator through us, we give them the right form for correction.

Then you begin to see that the whole world is one desire, the whole world is you, the lowest corporeal desires that scream in people are your personal desires. It is a very good thing that you perceive them as foreign now as long as you are not corrected, don’t love everyone as you love yourself, and cannot tie all of reality to one thing.

If you felt these needs as your own, then you wouldn’t be able to worry about them, you wouldn’t be able to relate to them objectively, you would feel too interested in them and wouldn’t be able to rise above these desires, and wouldn’t be able to ask for their correction instead of for the feeling of pleasure.

If you put yourself in the shoes of these people and feel their sufferings just as they feel them, then you would focus on the pain like everyone else, or cry out to the Creator so He will save you; you wouldn’t be able to relate to these desires purposefully in order to use them only to bring the Creator contentment, but would only think about yourself.

The division of the general soul into so many parts allows us to work with these desires, as if externally and independently. We can gradually become incorporated in these desires and feel them as if they were our own, but it is only to the extent that we are protected enough by a Masach (screen),  we can be impressed by them as if they are our own but we can ask for the right correction for them.

This means that we shouldn’t ask to get rid of the troubles, but should use them as help in getting closer to the Creator, to bring Him joy. Then we will be able to thank Him for the bad feelings since it is thanks to them that our desire to receive pleasure is spurred towards bestowal.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13

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Our Troubles Are An Alarm Clock

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A friend of mine was faced with a string of troubles that caused him pain and anger at the upper force. In this situation, it is difficult for him to hold onto the idea of bestowal. How can we help him relate the “blows of fate” to the goal? What does he lack for that?

Answer: He lacks the force of overcoming.

Having found myself in trouble, I begin to blame myself for past mistakes and thrash about in the grip of misfortunes. And the following chain unfolds:

  1. Can I “cover” all of this with accepting the higher management? After all, the essence of trouble is “help against the Creator” that is designed to make me think about Him, recall that even unhappiness comes from Him.
  2. I understand that they are goal-oriented.
  3. I “cling” not to them, but to the goal, to which they lead me.
  4. I am aware that they direct me upwards so that I rise above them and adhere to the Creator because in adhesion with Him, I will achieve the best possible conditions, will join the Good That Does Good.

Our Troubles Are An Alarm Clock

I have to go through all of this. And if I am not in troubles, my desire, my egoism, my nature, will not give me even a second to think about the goal of life. Is it possible to wake up egoism without troubles?
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Warning Virus!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the correct pressure a group can exert on a person to compel him to develop spiritually? How is it different from the pressure that can shatter a person? What is compulsion in spirituality?

Answer: There is no coercion in spirituality, there is only an example. Only example!

I suggest bringing up children in an identical manner. Until I understood this myself, years went by, I aged, my children grew. But essentially this is how it is.

Only through example can you educate, interest, help someone internally, and change someone spiritually. Just showing him that you make an effort and do some kind of work awakens jealousy in a friend and this gives him an example: This is the only way, nothing else!

This is not pressure. Typically we exert pressure on a person only in a case where he is harmful. The harm is the intentional disclosure of frivolity: “Ah…it is possible to think…,” this cannot be forgiven.

That is to say, it is impossible to look at this, to hear, and to see this. It is impossible for this to exist! If there is a person like this in a group, get rid of him immediately! I advise you! This is a terrible virus! It could be that by nature he is a serious person. But if he permits something like this outwardly or seems to be intentionally boastful, then he has no right to remain in a group! All the rest is not so bad, other than revealing frivolity.

A person should show positive examples to the group. If he arrives and begins to brag that he has earned millions or he begins to inflate all kinds of goals that we don’t want, then he must leave the group. He must be excited only about our goal, the abilities of our group, and what is found ahead for us, within our attainment.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 4

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Empathy As A Means Of Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (from DailyMail): “American scientists have transformed people into cows using immersive virtual reality programmes with the aim of persuading them to eat less meat.

The University of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab allows people to step into a cow’s hooves for a surreal experience.

“The hi-tech computer software subjects humans to being virtually poked with cattle prods and eventually dragged to a virtual slaughterhouse.

“Researcher Jeremy Bailenson hopes that participants find the experience so moving that they empathise with the cattle and choose to eat less meat as a result. …

“It is not the first time the researchers have used virtual reality technology to make people aware of their impact on the environment.

“Individuals who virtually cut down trees said they thought about the experience later and reduced their paper usage. …

“The Virtual Human Interaction Lab is designed to ‘harness the emotive power of empathy’ and although it uses modern technology, the theory is not new.

“It is thought that animal sanctuaries are much more successful as they not only rescue farm animals, but encourage people to interact with them. …

“The same is true with this latest experiment. The scientists said that becoming the animals in a virtual world and stepping into their hooves was a natural extension of this idea and a new way of encouraging people to empathise.”

My Comment: In our case, it is stated simply,  “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” i.e., all the changes in ourselves have to be based on the understanding of ourselves, our attitude to ourselves. All that a person needs to do is an experiment on himself. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the internal (hidden) part of the Torah.
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The Prospects Of Spiritual Video Conferences

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we speed up the process of the Creator really becomes important to us so we will think and worry only about His desires and not about our desires?

Answer: The moment we connect and unite sufficiently, you will begin to feel the Creator.

Today the “carrying capacity” of the connection line between us isn’t great; it isn’t enough for us to properly unite and connect to the Creator. The moment our connection is of the sufficient  quality and quantity, we will connect to its “broadcast stream,” although it is still without a “picture” but only in audio format.

One way or the other, it all depends only on the connection between us. When we connect, we provide the Creator with the “line of communication” with sufficient “bandwidth,” so that this channel will become important to us even to some extent. Then we will expand it gradually by our mutual unity.

In the meantime, however, the connection between us is so weak that we even forget about it. There is not even an “audio chat” not to mention a “video conference “…
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/08/13, Questions and Answers

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Impulses Derived From The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How does one pass from a show and incomprehensible phrases to true feeling and expression?

Answer: In our world a person is accustomed to putting on a performance in the presence of others: holding himself a particular way, talking, and emulating heroes from a television series. This is because we are educated by examples: We behave according to examples that we see in life or on the screen.

All of our lives, all of our behavior consists of prefabricated structures prepared in our brain from the start. How to sit, how to stand, to eat, to speak, and so forth, all this is composed of very small images that are found within our heads and have them all the time and we  pull them out and play them like a broken record: one, two, three… that is how we behave.

But now we need to play ourselves for the first time. And here a person becomes perplexed and doesn’t understand what to do. He is confused like a little child who repeats everything aping the adults until he learns to imitate them in every way,  and he obtains these images. And then he already behaves in accordance to them. He knows that it is necessary to behave there like this and here in another way. Adults laugh and he laughs too, even though he doesn’t know about what.

But we have no examples of behavior in spirituality. This is a separate and complex subject. Therefore try to be with them as yourselves, without expectations; I am like this here, from the heart. Don’t pay attention to anything! Just as a few friends appeared here, this broke them in this kind of form and that’s it, we must be like them all the time.

Question: But what if I say something that is not according to the rules?

Answer: This doesn’t matter! What rules can there be? If you speak from the heart, then anything goes.
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 4

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Questions After The Convention, Part 5

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we “get hit on the head” and turn off all our feelings, emotions and thoughts, where can we find a foothold? Where do we begin our ascent?

Answer: By engaging in mechanical actions.

Question: Let’s say, one is afraid that one’s desire reaches the machsom and will “come true;” then there will be nothing to aspire to. Can you please explain this situation and tell us what to do with it?

Answer: It means that one had no desire to bestow.

Question: Can it slow down our entry into spirituality?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Could you please explain why we need family in order to advance spiritually? What is the difference between married and single men and women? If all my real actions are making efforts to unite with the group and caring about it (and I truly believe in it), then why do I need find my second “half” in spirituality and make a family?

Answer: In this world, we should correspond to the upper world. That’s why one should have a family if it’s possible. By that, we hasten our spiritual path, not slow it down.
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