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The One Who Ruined Everything Will Fix Everything

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I understand that we shouldn’t regret the past, but what should I do if I now find myself in a difficult situation because of mistakes that I made in the past? Does it mean that I don’t have to correct anything but hope for the Creator’s help instead?

Answer: Of course it is the Creator who has ruined everything and of course He is the one who will fix everything. You only have to ask, to thank Him for the fact that you see the corruptions He has caused, and to be thankful that you are asking Him to correct it now. After all, it says: “Everything is in the hands of the Creator, except for the fear of the Creator,” except for the fact that I see that I pin everything on Him. If He hasn’t corrected your state yet, it is a sign that you haven’t asked Him to do so or that your requests were incorrect; check them!

You are not a master of your past or future. You are in charge only of the present, the current moment—to the extent that you can choose between the path of Torah and the path of suffering, to ask the Creator to perform the correction on you—that is specifically on you!

You have to ask for such correction so as to cling to the upper governance with all your mind and heart, with all your being, with your entire consciousness, so as to not disappear in the current of life, but rather be in agreement with everything that happens and accept it in all your mind and heart, with all that you are.

But this doesn’t mean that you should simply sit and wait for the Light to do all the work. You have to perform many important actions in order to reach such serious thoughts, using all the means that you are given in this world. You will have to build this world, change society, make revolutions, manage in life, raise children, work, and worry about other people by bringing them closer to the Creator— a lot of different things.

Besides, you have to inspire the friends in the group to make sure that they have the best conditions for their study, development, and connection. You have to perform many actions, both physical and mental. But it is all in order to tie all the future moments to those of the past and the current ones with the only force acting in creation. This is our job, which is called the work of the Creator. He does everything and you justify everything that He does in all the vessels of your soul, in all your inner feelings.
[118005]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/13, The Zohar

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Hollow Nesting Dolls That Contain A Secret

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is a typical fear of the Creator and how do we attain it?

Answer: Fear is the main thing. At the moment we have nothing but it. Even the love that we will feel later is based on fear at that moment. This can be fear for my life, the fear of wasting my life purposelessly, meaninglessly, and of ending it without any positive result. Such fear brings people to the wisdom of Kabbalah, and it is called “fear of this world and fear of the next world.”

Fear stems from the fact that we begin to think of what is external to ourselves and not about ourselves, and we can establish that fear only with the right environment. Because otherwise I may get confused and not understand whether I worry about how to delight the Creator and whether I am advancing towards it or not. But this is already fear regarding the action whose result is external to me: not in my pocket, not in my soul or my spirit, not in this world or in the next world, but rather somewhere external to me already, which means that it’s already connected to the act of bestowal.

In that case, I cannot be sure that my assessment is correct, and so I don’t exist in this world as one person but as surrounded by such an illusion that gives me the feeling that there are many other creatures: the still, vegetative, animate nature, and people. I have to accept all of them as parts of my soul. Unless I reach the fear that I worry about them more than I worry about myself, it means that I haven’t restricted my ego and I didn’t think about a certain action that resembles the Creator.

So we should first weigh, measure, and arrange our relations with the environment in our work. Only through the environment do we fulfill our freewill. The Creator is also in the environment. If I display the right attitude towards society, towards the friends, wider vessels open up for me as if I move to a more internal dimension, and there I reveal the connection with the Creator. One is inside the other (like hollow nesting dolls). This means that the connection with the Creator is revealed in the group. It’s impossible to discover Him any other way. Eventually I have to see how the whole world joins the mutual guarantee since it all belongs to me, it’s all mine.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/01/13, Shamati #38 “The Fear of God Is His Treasure”

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Playing In Concert

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the function of the roundtable organizers? What things should they manage, what should they leave to self-management?

Answer: The facilitator of a roundtable needs to be a nanny, a teacher, a leader. Any changes in the course of the discussion come only from his instruction and questions.

The participants themselves don’t invent anything, they are constantly led and guided. Gradually they gather an experience of connection and from it they advance onward. But without a facilitator, this will not last, they will confuse themselves. Therefore they need to follow his instructions strictly.

The facilitator and the participants in the roundtables set up along this common instrument, this Kli, together so that all will be playing in concert, and with this, a uniform harmony will result. And everyone will be stimulated by it, will be fulfilled from creating a group among them, connection, into which each of them disappears and begins to be nourished from that commonality that is created between them.

All this happens under the management of the facilitator. From the start he arranges a precise list of questions that they will discuss, but along the way he can adjust them because he has to feel what needs to be changed according to how and what they are discussing.

For example, during discussions like these, I generally sit at a distance and don’t disturb the participants in the roundtables, but they know that I am listening to them. I ask them a question and according to their answers give them correction and direction: The next question and another question. It doesn’t have to be that I go according to questions that were prepared from the start. If I hear that something is not right or distorted in some way, then I ask the next question in such a way that they will correct their previous answer.

So there is constant adjustment until we reach a state where the participants in the discussion feel that they have reached a common conclusion and in principle have risen above themselves, have connected into one single opinion, a single desire. A common “child” appears as a result of the discussions and gives them a feeling of fulfillment, both emotional and intellectual.
[117992]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/15/13

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Will The President And The Cleaning Lady Understand Each Other?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it possible to gather representatives of different social classes together at the roundtables? Wouldn’t they reject each other because they are not equal?

Answer: At the roundtable people need to feel equal. We are not equal by nature, but it does not depend on us, turn to the Creator who created us this way. In all other aspects, we are equal. We came here and no one should feel uninvited, disadvantaged, or flawed.

So I always insist that people have absolutely equal initial conditions, and the only thing that has to be corrected between them is for everyone to rise above his own egoism to the state of a common platform. I believe that at least in the first stage, when we are still creating roundtables, we need to make them as homogeneous as possible.

If we do not form them according to a qualification of  properties or on any other basis, you may have problems. After all, very different people can hardly understand each other, so there should be at least some preliminary connection between them.

Therefore, it’s desirable to select people that are similar to each other. Then it will be easier for them to connect. People carry with them the various social conventions that they have accumulated throughout their lives. During life, people develop a whole conceptual framework, and each one has lived in such different conditions that people can hardly understand each other.

I am in favor of gathering equal people at roundtables. A manager, his deputy, an employee, and a cleaner cannot sit at the same table and be free in discussion. We need to take into account what people come to the table with. I do not think that in the real world we can connect such opposite people as the president and the cleaning lady, and I would not like to attempt these experiments; this would be a lack of understanding for the cleaning lady and humiliation for the president.

Understanding and unity is possible only if people have already risen to the level at which they equally feel the need for each other and they complement each other fully. Our task is to bring them to this level. After they experience completely different values that they will draw from the common roundtable, then it is a different matter. But this should come.
[117994]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/15/13

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The Golden Age Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from DailyMail): “Scientists have discovered that despite an overabundance of polyester flares and bouffant hair, 1978 was the year that the world’s quality of life peaked, after which it has gradually deteriorated ever since.

“Australian experts used a novel method to track the social and economic progress of the world, taking into account various economic, lifestyle-related and ecological factors to come to their conclusion.

“Until recently the standard method of measuring progress in a society was by assessing its Gross Domestic product (GDP) – basically a measure of all the money spent and earned in a given society.

“’GDP was never designed to measure social or economic welfare, and yet, today, it is the most commonly used indicator of a country’s overall performance,’ the study, led by Dr Ida Kuniszewski and Dr Robert Costanza of the University of Canberra’s Crawford School of Public Policy, said.

“So, for example, an oil spill would be interpreted as a boost to GDP because large sums of money would be spent to mount a clean-up operation. …

“They said that a more accurate measure of how a society is faring would need to take a variety of factors – including economy, the state of the environment, and society – into account

“One alternative measure – and the one they used – is called the Genuine Progress Indicator. (GPI). GPI starts by using the same figures as GDP, but uses 24 other factors including crime rates, pollution levels, loss of wetland, car accident rates and even the amount of people who volunteer and enjoy housework to give a country its rating.

“The study analysed data collected between 1950 and 2003 and followed 17 countries – equating to half the world’s population – to come to their conclusion.

“They found that on average, where GDP steadily increased without interruption, GDI peaked in 1978 and has tapered off ever since.

“Experts said the results show that social and environmental problems have cancelled out any monetary wealth the world has accrued. …

“The study concluded that in order to enjoy a ‘desirable and sustainable future we need to rapidly shift our policy away from maximising production and consumption (GDP) and towards improving a genuine human well-being (GPI) or similar.

“’This is a shift that will require far more attention to be paid to environmental protection, full employment, social equity, better product quality and durability.’”

My Comment: Again, the conclusion is correct. It is just not understood how to implement it. To correct society through correcting the human being himself , no one agrees with this. So, suffering awaits us again, which will force us to reconsider our attitude to the only means: the method of integral education and upbringing. Then, our golden age is yet to come!
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Don’t Fear Shadows

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will it help me if I think that everything comes from one benevolent force, the Creator, if I am forced to struggle with each problem individually and deal with them separately?

Answer: If you fight every problem separately, you will never get your life in order! You will keep trying to defeat these alien forces: your boss at work, your wife, your neighbor, friends, and foes, the entire world, and you will waste all your life only to see that you resolve nothing.

Everyone will be disappointed here and very much so since we put ourselves at the mercy of thousands of reasons and people who are acting simply like robots! They are parts of our own souls, but since we haven’t attached them to ourselves correctly, we think they have their own power.

The instant you start connecting them to yourself and loving them “as you love yourself,” you will discover that they truly are like “yourself” and belong to you, and that beside them there is only one force that is at work and which arranges all this for you. And by themselves, they don’t exist and act independently.

The moment, you worry about various problems and can’t sleep, it is all because you can’t imagine yourself as a baby in the Creator’s arms. Feel how He is holding you in His arms, and you have nothing to worry about. The only thing worth worrying about is: When will I really perceive myself, unveil the Creator, and experience His love for me, which means becoming similar to Him and able to receive all this?

When the properties of love and bestowal emerge in you, you will feel how much He loves you. And if you yourself cannot love, how will you feel His love? If you hate everything that surrounds you, you will feel only hatred from everything and won’t stop suffering!

But if you could relate to everybody with love, you would feel only love that fills the entire world. It depends solely on your qualities, desires, Kelim.

So you have to, on one hand, keep calm since everything is in the hands of the Creator and “There is none else but Him,” “the good Who does good.” But on the other hand, “nobody will help me but me” to practically achieve the perception of “There is none else but Him.”

In fact, in order to feel this way, I need to have my attributes corrected and then I will be able to perceive what is really happening in reality. I am surrounded by the Light of the world of infinity, except that I don’t feel it! This is the only thing I should worry about, my properties (Kelim), in order to experience this infinity.

What else is there to worry about? Everything else is a mere illusion manifesting in my corrupted properties. And I worry about illusory problems that are painted by my corrupted senses; I am scared of shadows like a little child.
[29662]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Pulled Into The Spiritual Vortex

Dr. Michael LaitmanUnity of the friends is the place where I unveil the spiritual world. The moment when I will manage to connect all our desires together, I will see in this point of oneness an opening, the entrance that leads inside into the Upper world! It will suddenly expand and unfold, and through it, I will discover a new spiritual dimension, or desire.

And it is clear that around this point of entrance that has to open for me, there are a great many barriers. And they are not obstacles; on the contrary, they attempt to aim me at entering spirituality correctly, so it looks like they deliberately trip on me from every side.

But if I don’t despair and instead try to understand that it works as “help against me,” then I will pass through all the barriers and enter the spiritual world. The entrance to it will show up in this specific point.

At present, it seems difficult and impossible to us, but it will suddenly open so we will fly directly in! We won’t have to push and keep breaking through—it will simply pull us into itself.
[30107]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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How Do I Delight The Creator?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we prepare ourselves for the morning lesson now, after the congress?

Answer: We ask for the Light that is contained in the depth of our collective power, our common desire, to be revealed. We seek the revelation of the Light! I don’t know what the Surrounding Light is. The Surrounding, inner, outer, Nekudot (points representing vowels ), Taamim (flavors), I don’t know the difference between them; I only know that if we manage to reach unity between us in some small degree, we will be able to unveil the Light concealed within this unity.

Therefore, I apply pressure to our oneness as I see it in order to find the Light in it. What is the Light? It is the property of bestowal! I wish to have the property of bestowal revealed between us. There is a common desire where all desires are gathered in one, all our points in the hearts, and I wish to unveil the Light resting in it, the Light of oneness, mutual guarantee, and love.

I don’t assess the spiritual rungs in it yet but just wish to find spirituality, to uncover the Light, the mutual attribute of bestowal, the Creator, in order to delight Him. It is as if I have a little child and think about how to make him happy, what to buy him, what present to give him. I think and care about it. In the same way, I think about the Creator whom I wish to find in the connection between us; therefore, our unity is the place where I can reveal the Creator revealed and the state in which I can bring Him pleasure.
[29808]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Your Honor, The Surrounding Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanSages say a person should speak no word without intention. This is described as “distance yourself from falsehood”. “Falsehood” means that you are led by your egoistic desire rather than the will to bestow. Therefore, all we ought to do is keep preparing ourselves for the morning lesson and constantly think about the Light that Reforms since it is the only thing we depend on!

Imagine that all of us are facing a death sentence. But there is a chance to be redeemed. You just discovered that there is some “Surrounding Light,” someone whose first name is Light and whose last name is Surrounding, and he can save your life. You keep thinking: “How do I talk to him? What do I bribe him with so that he changes my sentence?”

That is exactly the attitude you should have while preparing for the lesson.
[29918]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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