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Stand Firmly “On One Leg”

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are not familiar with our own nature and therefore we err all the time in one direction or another in our self-evaluation, blaming or justifying ourselves unjustly. We must understand that we have no possibility of seeing the truth and the only way out is to rely on the Light that Reforms.

Our self-image, our characteristics that now seem to us beautiful or not, all this is still far from a true understanding ourselves that will be discovered in the Light of the Creator when we see our true nature. Only then can we decide what is bad and what is good in us, for even pride is not a useless characteristic.

As it is written, “And his heart was uplifted in the ways of the Lord…” (II Chronicles 17:6), which is to say, we need to be proud, to overcome difficulties, to stand firmly on the way of truth, and not allow anyone to divert us from the way or humiliate us. In this case, humility is not appropriate.

In our view of ourselves and about others, there is much confusion; therefore, the only solution is attracting the Light that Reforms. As it is written, only “…in Your light we will see light” (Psalms 36:10), and, until then, it is necessary only to perform the advice of the Kabbalists precisely in order to advance as much as possible toward true observation of all of our nature and ourselves.

Hillel explained the correct approach, “anything you hate, do not do to others ” (that is what Hillel answered to that convert who asked him to teach him the entire Torah while “standing on one leg”). In the meantime, this is the only examination that we are prepared to make.

If you stand with them on this one foundation, “on one leg,” then this is enough. Even though your condition is very unsure and shaky when you are standing on one leg, if you hold to this one foundation and nothing more—by maintaining this foundation all the time, “anything you hate, do not do to others”—then you can move forward.

We don’t need anything else; this one thing is enough. This is a necessary and sufficient condition. Nothing else is required except connection and we need to work only by means of this all the time. The nature of the action is examined according only to how much the connection between us will be stronger. We don’t take into account anything that is happening around us at all. This already would be a “second leg,” a “third,” which can bring us only great confusion in the work. Therefore, you only should be concerned about your connection.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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The Prayer Is Most Important

Dr. Michael LaitmanMAN is a prayer, an act, that comes from desire not from the mind. It is born by the desire of Bina and Malchut acting together. We need to raise this prayer, that is, decide that this is the most important for us. This is called “raising.”

After all, the entire scale of measurement is inside me. Plenty of various demands—desires, which I somehow sort by priorities, considering some more important and some less important—live within me. However, above all, there should the force of unity within which I want to reveal the Creator to bring Him joy.

If I arrange all my actions, desires, and impulses so that this unity has become the most important, this means that I raise MAN. That is, I put the need for unity, correction, and revelation of the Creator (for His pleasure) as the most important, above all. This is called an “ascent.”

I do not send this requirement by mail or via SMS to a distant star. All the worlds are inside a person. There, everything starts, is realized, and ends in his consciousness. That is why I need to organize myself so as to arrange all my desires along one line, according to the clear scale of priorities, strictly material: food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge, and those that are slightly disconnected from this world. At the very top of this ladder of priorities, there must be my desire to bring pleasure to the Creator through our connection by giving Him the opportunity to be revealed in us now.

MAN is “Mei Nukvin (female waters). Water is Bina and the woman, Nukva is Malchut. Thus, I join Bina and Malchut in a prayer; in other words, I glue the desires together, parts of Malchut, with the water, mercy (Hesed), the property of Bina. I want it to exist in this form together. I raise this request and want to become connected with others through the property of mercy, Bina, the property of bestowal.

That is why my request is called female waters, MAN. I raise it. That is, I consider it above all in importance, and, if I try to keep this desire in my heart by all means to awaken it in its very depth, then it is called a prayer, raising MAN.

To the extent of my efforts to accomplish this, the Light that Reforms affects me and awakens various states in me: thoughts and feelings in favor of connection and against it, in favor of bestowal and against it. In this way, they try to shake me and navigate me through various states so that I understand, feel more, gain experience. Thus, I gradually become aware what the true prayer, MAN, is.

On this path, I must go through frustration, impatience, fear of not succeeding, and failure to understand what kind of success I am waiting for: for myself or to please the Creator. Here it helps to imagine, the entire universe—all of still, vegetative, and animal nature, and people—as my own desires that broke away from me due to the shattering and have fallen from my consciousness.

Now, they appear in front of me and I must attach them to myself through my own efforts although it seems to me as if they are outside. I must try to relate to them as if they exist within me. Then, my efforts also will be called the prayer, MAN.

Thus, working on my correct perception of reality and connecting all its parts together by means of the property of mercy, I increasingly return the common vessel to its original form, in other words, to the corrected state as a whole.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/13, The Zohar

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The Unexpected Discovery

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do we need to tell people at the lectures on integral education that they are uncorrected elements of nature and that all the problems in life are brought about by them? Wouldn’t this depress people?

Answer: This will not happen in two cases: First, if people come to this conclusion themselves in the course of a workshop as a result of the proper pre-designed questions asked in the correct sequence, this will become their personal discovery. It will turn out that you are not proving something to them, but they themselves draw definite conclusions, give you your methodology themselves. They “give birth” to it every time.

Second, if you speak from the perspective of a doctor, telling the patient about his illness and making him understand that there is a cure, then, it will become a pleasant discovery for him because he will understand at once that by getting rid of the disease, he will rise to a completely different level of health.

You can tell people that they are uncorrected elements of nature only in these two instances.

In general, we never start with this. I believe that a person should not be told anything unpleasant—or even pleasant—because he must discover everything himself. Then, it will be his attainment, his feeling. After all, it is not someone else’s thought that whizzed past his ear and disappeared in the air, but his own that he has found within himself. He will own it and will not part with it.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 10/20/13

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Everything Is Built On Balance

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we tell people that egoism is our nature, we are confronted with strong opposition.

Answer: True. That is why the disclosure of the disease always should be preceded by its remedy. Let’s say that you are going to hit someone; hit, if it is necessary but first, explain why, what for, and what positive result will come out of it.

It’s the same thing as with spanking a child; he should know that you do this with love, for his benefit, clearly pursuing the definite objective of fighting his egoism and not because you are upset.

Question: So, do I tell the patient that he will have a difficult operation but it undoubtedly will lead him to a better state?

Answer: No, first, you need to describe the best state, show it, and make it felt. Then, the person will see his next state in front of him. His diagnosis will be revealed to him much more clearly and correctly. He will understand everything correctly. Otherwise, he will not want to accept it. It really will be awful for him. He will want to forget it, to get rid of it, to erase it from his memory as quickly as possible.

Question: We conducted a workshop with a group, half of which were physicians interested in making society healthy. When it comes to balance in terms of medicine, blood pressure is 120/80, a specific white blood cell count, pH factor, and another sixteen indicators.

Answer: These are the physical manifestations of balance. When physiological parameters of the balance of the internal systems are disturbed, a disease appears, and any disease is a lack of balance.

Applying the integral methodology, we come to balance at the next, higher level—at the psychological, physical, spiritual, and emotional levels—no matter what. Therefore, physicians should understand that the same principle applies to all the levels.

The same goes for psychologists and psychiatrists. We all desire to achieve balance in our lives, anywhere, in any state. Indeed, there is no positive without negative. It is possible to give a person such positive stress that his heart will not sustain immense joy. Therefore, everything is built on balance.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 10/20/13

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Looking Into The Faces Of Kabbalists

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If Kabbalists experience an enormous spiritual pleasure from reading The Study of the Ten Sefirot, then why can’t we tell by looking at you that you feel this way? Why do you appear to be so calm?

Answer: And what do you want to see, what kind of Kabbalistic emotions, something external? It makes sense that we are used to seeing people’s emotions. But it is not the case when we are referring to true spiritual feelings.

The fact is that so far you are receiving impressions from the spiritual in the form of the Surrounding Light, in your egoistic Kelim, or a small highlight in the prepared clothing of Hassadim from above due to the screen of the Upper.

And for this reason you either do not feel or recognize this Light at all, or you feel it but as some corporeal pleasure, and this is why your feelings can be seen externally.

But spiritual pleasure from bestowal does not show on the outside in any way on the person receiving it! This is because he receives this entire enormous pleasure inside the clothing created by the opposite force. And they lock one another; the Direct Light clothes in the reverse Light and the desire, which is restricted. And this is why externally it goes completely unnoticed.

And a regular person does not perceive the spiritual world for the same exact reason…
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot
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A Guide Towards The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a specific intention for every word when reading Kabbalistic texts besides the common aspiration?

Answer: Once you acquire spiritual attainment you will have a common attitude towards the text as well as a private attitude towards every word.

After all, you will feel what every word represents. You will live it. You will go along with the author, perform the same actions, and you will see that your actions turn out exactly as the author says.

A Kabbalistic book is a book of instructions! You fully follow its precise instructions and check the results described in it on yourself, and this way you advance as you correct your soul.

And you receive an enormous pleasure with every action because you are revealing the Creator! In every action, you reveal some aspect of His attitude, some of His properties. After all, you are performing actions to become like Him, according to the way He created the desire to receive pleasure in you.

And this is why it is written: “From your actions, I will know you.” Your every action is an enormous pleasure!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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From Animal To Man

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, we need to understand that we are on the animate level; as it is written: “All are like animals.” The still, vegetative, and animate levels exist in us. And the level of human level that we need to build within us is a degree of similarity to the Creator.

So far I do not know who the Creator is since I lack properties similar to Him through which I would be able to recognize Him and imagine who He is. This is why I am still considered to be on the animate level. After all, how do I differ from an animal? I am just slightly more egoistically developed. And the “human” level means “similar to the Creator” (“man” – “Adam” comes from the word “similar” – “Adameh”).

The Creator is the quality of bestow, the force of bestowal, while I am an absolute receiver. This is why I have nothing from Him except for a tiny “spark from above” that is enrooted in every man from birth. When it awakens, one begins to feel a strange uneasiness, a desire for something higher than the animate level.

And then I come to a group where people study Kabbalah and I begin to hear that there is a possibility to become human, like the Creator.

This is a very drastic change that we can make in ourselves. Imagine the difference between an animal and a human in our world. A man’s life is so much more difficult than the life of an animal, say a cat! In addition to the common animal needs like food, sleep, and sex, man also has desires for education, culture, and comprehensive development. The cat does not know any of these things.

But in order for us to develop something similar to the Creator, we need reason, sensations, and strengths that we do not have. After all, the difference between an animal and a human in our world is no more than a small difference in the development of two egoistic beings.

While the Creator and I are two opposite forms, and I do not have the slightest idea of what else I need in order to become like Him. I cannot even imagine what it is like to be like Him, to rise above time, movement, space, and our entire reality.

It turns out that we need to acquire certain strengths, understanding, reason, and experience that we do not yet have. So far I exist like an animal. But there is a “spark from above” in me and I can develop it so that I will suddenly discover all these different properties, reason, and sensations in it, which already belong to the level of the Creator to the level of man (Adam) in me. This spark is developed with the help of the Upper Light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 8-10-10

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A Time To Break Apart And A Time To Assemble Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe created being must become equal to the Creator in properties and ascend to His level, so that both of them stand at the level of eternity and perfection. To achieve this, the Creator gives the creature a broken state, similar to how we give a child an unassembled construction set, like LEGOs, so that while assembling them, the child reaches the level of the creator of the game.

Our story begins in the world of Infinity, where the Creator created us as one soul, one desire. Then, He broke it, and we have to bring this broken will to receive, which egoistically pushes away from its own parts, to the common desire, the equivalence to the Creator.

The Creator Himself is Bestowal. On the one hand, He created the will to receive opposite to Himself; but on the other, He allows it an opportunity to attain the quality of bestowal. Then, it will become a desire to receive in order to bestow, and the creature, thereby, will become exactly similar to the Creator.

The creature has to attain this correction, the intention for bestowal, itself, and then it will understand the entire creation. For this reason, from the world of Infinity, from the state of perfection and equivalence to the Creator, we have descended into our world. This can be compared with a picture that has been divided into individual pieces of a puzzle that are mixed up and totally displaced, which is opposite to the original state. That’s how we find ourselves in the lowest point, our world.

In Infinity, the desire was common for all, consistent in all its parts, and acted as one whole. Now, the system is broken into myriad fragments that are all entangled, immersed in darkness, don’t understand what is going on, and reject each other. This is the description of us in this world.

From this state, we must rise again and attain the perfection of Infinity, assemble our “construction set” so that all souls are reunified into one. This work is called “the work for the Creator”; after all, by doing so, we become equal to Him—-a global, integral force of nature.

We undergo step-by-step egoistic evolution in our world until we reach the stage of the development of the human within us. At that point, nature begins pressuring us to get us to start uniting and assembling the “puzzle.” There comes the time of conscious participation in the process of preparing our ascent back to Infinity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, Shamati #161

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The Thoughts Of Kabbalists Are Above This World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why don’t Kabbalists talk much about this world?

Answer: Usually people take pride in their knowledge of this world. They haughtily discuss wines or how to arrange their business; it’s because they have nothing else except this.

A Kabbalist is not interested in those kinds of things; he is above this world; he is not involved in these conventions invented by people; for him, it’s important to rise above this world, despite the fact that he knows much more about the structure and the progress of this world than all its scientists. But his thoughts are above this.
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