Belonging To A Kabbalist

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Clearly, when one ponders and contemplates words of the Torah that pertain to the revelation of the Creator to our fathers, they bring the examiner more Light than when examining practical matters.

This is how Baal HaSulam recommends we read books that tell us about the relationship between a human being and the revelation. The articles, letters, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the Sulam commentary to The Book of Zohar, in fact everything we received from Baal HaSulam and Rabash are books that are especially for us about the revelation of the Creator to the created being. They are written in different styles but they are all about this.

Some of them explain things directly and describe the spiritual work psychologically, so to speak, like the letters and the articles. In other articles we read about the connection between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other sciences, but they are also about the revelation of the Creator to a person. We see this especially in works talking about The Book of Zohar and in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

All these books and texts were written during the drawing of the Light. Kabbalists discovered the Light in different states and levels and wrote accordingly. There isn’t one word or one letter that was written before the writer had attained the specific state that he described in the text.

So when we read these texts, we can receive the power in them. It is by these texts that we connect to the writers, and then we can draw and enjoy the Light that Reforms, but this is only if we yearn to resemble them in their simple faith and receive everything that they have. While reading his writings, I want to be like the Kabbalist, to annul myself, to belong to him, and by that I turn on the Light that he has prepared for me.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence

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The Environment Makes A Human From An Ape

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe environment—from the moment that the ape came down from the tree and became a human, it is everything  This was written about in the book, The Tree of Life by the Ari, 400 years before Darwin. Beginning from that moment on, they already had become not just a band of apes but had transformed into being a kind of “society,” a society of individuals. In this, each one is a personality by himself, and in spite of it all, everyone is connected together; there are various types of unique links between them which are evolving all the time.

This was an alliance for the sake of a particular goal: defense against predatory animals, defense against other bands of apes, and so forth. Thus a social structure began to evolve more and more.

Human evolution is possible only due to the environment! There are legends about the existence of Bigfoot living somewhere in the Himalayas. But why do we describe him as a wild man with a height of two and a half meters, covered with hair and not think that he could be subtle, beautiful, and good? Because he lives alone! Perhaps he has a family, but this is still a form of existence on an animal level and not like a human society.

Therefore, if you have chosen some environment, you must become integrated within it. You must arouse yourself with jealousy all the time; this is the most effective means. It is necessary to be jealous of others, how much they have already advanced, are active, running everywhere, and internalizing the goal. If you begin to be jealous of them, then you will surely succeed.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/13, Shamati #64 “From Lo Lishma to Lishma

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The Conception Of A New Entity

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are two egoistic forces in our world, a negative and a positive one, and we all are between them, a small animal called man (Adam).

These two forces operate on us spontaneously. We don’t know the system according to which they lead us forward by throwing us from side to side, but in the 21st century, we have reached a level that we seem to have used them up.

We feel tired, alienated, indifferent, frustrated, lacking motivation, and depressed. This is actually the most common illness of the century and it affects the whole world. Managers of every institution complain about people’s indifference; people don’t want to work; they have no motivation to do so. A person cannot do anything with himself since these two forces have grown weak in us and their sum doesn’t push us forward anymore.

So now we begin to perceive and to study a new entity, a new order, a new dimension that is also established by the action of these two forces.

The moment we begin to yearn for the center of the group, to create what we call the right Babylon, in order to become one whole, we will immediately feel how we are repulsed by it.

What is more, the repulsing force (P2) is much greater than the attracting force that we develop (P1).

If we understand that we have to reach an outcome when the one force of connection will be revealed inside us,  we will have another force left, the force of prayer or the force of requesting, our desirable efforts in yearning, so that this force will be revealed in us. It is called a prayer but it is actually the power of our desire. It isn’t a prayer in the usual sense.

We want to add another force to us that will help us yearn for connection and unite us.

Naturally we get a very small force based on a certain egoistic desire, on egoistic benefit, since this is our nature. But when we try to attract a new force, we want the force of bestowal and love to reside among us so that we will lose ourselves, our animal essence, in our collective connection.

We operate according to the instructions that the Kabbalists left us about how to establish a group and the connection between us, and about how to focus on the secret force, draw it to us, and want it to be revealed between us as one whole so that we will resemble one another according to the system of mutual guarantee.

“Loving the other” means feeling the desires of the other and filling them while he fills my desires. This is the mutual incorporation in one another, the mutual connection. When we operate that way in the group we summon the influence of the upper force upon ourselves and it is revealed in the first phase, although not very clearly yet, and we feel certain new emotions and new forms of bestowal internally.

Subconsciously we begin to understand that the world is built so that it is possible to move to a totally new state, to the next level, in which we exist in a totally different manner, in mutual cooperation between us, as one whole, while our whole egoistic essence is be left below. It will not go away, but the altruistic force that connects us all will dominate it.
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From the Bulgaria Convention “Dawn Of A New World” Day One 11/1/13, Lesson 1

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Purposeful Exertion

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we distinguish between egoistic exertion and purposeful exertion?

Answer: I exert myself purposefully outside myself according to the intention and the goal. I bring my whole exertion to the center of the group like a bird that brings everything to her nest. I want everyone to enjoy this and our pleasure is in discovering how much we can delight the Creator.

Even if we don’t discover this, what’s important is that we have a chance to do something that brings Him contentment. The main thing is that we have the intention that allows us to do this and to reach this. The Creator doesn’t even have to know about us as long as we can bestow.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 09/27/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 11.22.13

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
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There Is No Way Out – No Entrance

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have said many times that advancement depends on the sense of the importance of the goal. The problem is that our egoism diminishes this importance all the time because of its opposition to it. But it is not the goal that is opposite, but the means of achieving it. The goal of creation is to delight the created beings. Our egoism wants to enjoy, and the goal is to get the maximum enjoyment, both in quantity and quality.

So, what prevents us from achieving this goal? What prevents it is the means by which this maximum pleasure can be achieved. This pleasure can be received only in unlimited vessels, but such a vessel cannot be receiving. The vessel of reception is limited by definition and receives only to the extent of its capacity.

Only if a vessel passes fulfillment through itself, receiving for the sake of bestowal to the other or the Creator, which is essentially the same, under this condition it opens itself for infinite pleasure and can achieve the purpose of creation, a sensation of the infinite goodness of the Creator.

The Light, by the initial conditions, cannot enter the receiving vessel, which leaves all the content in itself. There is no way out—no entrance. That is why the task is not to stop seeking pleasure. It is necessary just to change the character of fulfillment: What do I enjoy? Or more specifically: “Who do I bring pleasure to?” Pleasure should come from bringing pleasure to others, from bestowal. In this case, my vessels will become unlimited and I will reach the goal.

It is important to understand that this is a subtle distinction that separates desire and intention. Desires can grow as much as you want! We do not have to suppress them, go on a diet, or torment ourselves. On the contrary, we need to enjoy life! Otherwise, you seem to ignore what the Creator has prepared for you. The only question is whether you desire all this in order to delight the Creator. To do this, we need to discover new desires.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/13, Writings of Rabash

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The Passage In The Wall

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”: According to the above-mentioned power in the Torah, that is, considering the measure of Light in it, it is certain that the Torah should be divided into degrees, according to the measure of Light that one can receive from studying it.

The “Torah” is the means of correcting the primordial desire. The Light, “something out of something,” created the desire as “something out of nothing” and develops this desire to correct it to the required state. Thus, the whole influence of the Light on the desire during its development is called the “Torah.”

Thus, the “Torah” is the method of correction of the desire until it reaches the required state. Individual Lights “shake” vessels of desire, align them, connect, and disconnect, and all this is the Torah.

We are talking about it and coordinating ourselves to the extent that we are able to engage and draw the Light. The part that we attract is called the Torah for us. We can draw it according to one of the fives layers of desire (stages of Aviut), from zero to the four. Accordingly, the Torah is divided into five parts for us.

By studying it, we study the relationships of the broken fragments. Today, we observe their egoistic interaction; they depend on each other, but their connection is bad, and we study how to connect them correctly. For this we need the Light that Reforms to create good relationships with the various desires, parts of creation, and all the interconnections between people in the systems they have built. We want the Light to organize us in the correct connection; otherwise, all the achievements of humanity will end in failure.

That is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, the means which allows us to attract the Light. It will bring us back to the source, and then the general Light, the Creator, will be revealed in our correct relationships.

When I am studying, I align all these components—moving them from the broken state to the corrected one, from the crisis to unity, from an egoistic reception to general altruistic relationships, to connection and mutual guarantee—then the correct connection, the correct system will be revealed to me.

Moreover, they are revealed in stages. If I act only in the first layer of desire, I reveal the “secret” (Sod). The second layer shows “allegory” (Drush), the third one is the “hint” (Remez), and the fourth layer is the one where all connections are aligned correctly, it reveals to me the “simple meaning” (Pshat), here everything is simple, open, disclosed.

Thus, the Torah is the means for the correction of the vessels; the correction of the human being is the fourth stage (Behina Dalet) because it contains all the previous ones. When the human being is corrected, all the other levels are corrected as well: the still, vegetative, and animate.

Therefore, everything depends on the study of the Torah. This means that I want to learn the correct components and connections between the vessels in various forms, which bring me to the correct, true system where all the desires are connected with each other in mutual bestowal. And this makes it possible for me to reveal the Creator.

Thus, due to the connection of different desires and their interaction, through mutual bestowal to each other, I reveal the Creator. Why? Because in the desires that are connected correctly, in the spiritual Partzufim, in the “circles” and “straight lines,” TANTA (Ta’amim, Nekudot, Tagin, and Otiot) is manifested, all of the details of perception, all the discoveries that come to me from the Light. Thus, I disclose the vessel and the Light supporting each other, and this allows me to feel, to reveal, the root according to the principle “From Your actions we will know You.” It expresses itself in the Light and the vessel, in the structure of TANTA, HaVaYaH, and thus, is manifested in us.

This is the purpose of creation. Indeed, I am able to reveal Him only by adhesion, which I reach in the end. I reveal the Creator in the corrected vessels, the main TANTA, HaVaYaH is revealed, and by this I bring Him pleasure in the same way as He does. Due to this reciprocity, we come to adhesion, the final state.

In fact, all these facets are very close to each other, and the main thing for us is to try to link them together. The crisis, the current problems, the enemies that stand against us, and the Creator who saves us from them, the whole process that we go through, we must bring all of this together and view it as a single system.

For the time being we turn to the Torah as the book written by Moses. In it, he described and presented the very process that lies before us. It is said that in every generation, a person must view himself as if he came out of Egypt. The entire history up to the present crisis can be compared with the seven years of satiation. In general, we were pleased with our egoistic desire, our development, the “American Dream” which seemed about to come true. Competing with each other, we expected to rise higher and higher, to take more and more, to reign over nature…

Then, suddenly the seven years of famine arrived, the promised rewards were no longer satisfying; on the contrary, they humiliated and belittled us. The work turned out to be too hard, like slavery. Despair is rising; we groan under the unbearable yoke, and find no exit. The entire world is “floundering” in turmoil, and in essence these states herald the escape from Egypt. We are getting closer to the realization of complete helplessness, and the only way out is to show people the door to spirituality. This is truly a passage through the wall into a new world. However, the condition for passing through it is that we cannot see the wall. We will try…
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Arrow Of Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanRecently, thanks to our outside activities, we feel as the lessons are taking a new shape. Kabbalah no longer seems to us as something speculative, theoretical, and detached from life, hovering somewhere in interstellar space or in an unknown dimension.

No, it comes in the form of practical, applied science, which is given to our world so that we reveal the Creator here between us.

The current crisis is intended for this. It will not end no matter how much we may try to gloss over it, on the one hand, legalizing drugs, and on the other, handing out promises of its imminent end. The crisis persists. As the Kabbalists say, it will end only when, in the easy way or the hard way, we correct nature and reach the stage of adhering with the Creator , i.e., realize the purpose of creation.

In this process, we are pioneers, the vanguard of humanity. Be proud of that and give all your strength to this work. You were given a chance that no Kabbalist of the previous generations had. Millions of years of evolution, all the worlds and our world, everything that has been experienced, all that exists is aimed to the present. And you and I are at the point of this “arrow” of development, which we should aim at the purpose of creation.

Everyone should be proud of it and full of energy to carry out this great task. And accordingly, we must attach great importance to everyone in the group because the Creator chose each friend out of billions of people.

Let us respect each other, love each other, and by this love between us, we will provide the Creator with a place for revelation.
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From One America “Virtual Convention” Day One 11/16/13, Lesson 1

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In The Desire For Peace

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe goal of creation is to reach a state in which the the Light fills us in the world of Infinity. This is our duty because we are in a system that requires us to reach this.

Two possible ways of reaching this are before us:

  • Either a good way, if we are drawn forward towards this and the Light illuminates the Kelim, (vessels) of our desires that have been prepared for this.
  • Or a bad way if we are not ready and the Light turns to darkness making escape from unbearable misery and suffering impossible.

To keep to the good path, we must realize the method of correction in a group by complying with the Light within that group. Today, one group is not enough; it simply doesn’t have the power to reach the Light. It must supply itself with “additional” deficiency from the general public.

Therefore, through connection between us, we must remember that acquiring a correct deficiency directed towards the Light is possible only if we go out to the general public and take care of it, if we see what it lacks. In this case we take on additional deficiencies from there and then with them we can achieve a sufficient deficiency for which the Light will illuminate us in response.

In this manner, work with the general public is not required just because we need to take care of them, rather first and foremost, it is in order for us to reach the Light; we begin to work with it, to attract it to us, and after that we bring it to the world. The unity between us will take on a form similar to the Light only if we accept the deficiencies of the external public.
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From the One America “Virtual Convention” Day One 11/16/13, Lesson 1

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