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Praising Is Not Flattery

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash “Mighty Rock of My Salvation”: In the Hanukkah song we say, “Mighty rock of my salvation, to praise You is a delight; Restore my House of Prayer, and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.” The song begins with words of praise, “To praise You is a delight,” and then begins with words of prayer, “Restore my House of Prayer.”

Afterwards, it returns to words of thanksgiving and praise, “And there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.”

We always evaluate the states according to the order of vessels. After all, the Light is at absolute rest, and everything depends on whether I manage to align the vessels with each other and use them correctly in accordance with the appropriate measures of “depth” and “transparency,” in one form or another. Consistent with this, I reach the maximum, most effective influence of the Light.

Similarly, we arrange our request if, for example, we appeal to the public authorities. This appeal should be correctly formulated and brought to the “right” people, and sometimes we need to use patronage in our uncorrected world…

In short, the procedure should be very clear. We act, beginning with the purer desires and continuing with “coarser” desires, from the less important to more important, and in case of need, vice versa.

But before we turn to the Creator, I have to “develop” gratitude within myself, the awareness of the importance of the goal, the importance of the Giver, and His greatness. It is projected on the filth of our world as flattery and subservience to help get what you want. However, there is no patronage in spirituality; I elevate Him in my eyes, and this arranges my vessels, desires, correctly. Thus, I get closer to Him.

Anyway, changes occur only in the vessels and the Light remains unchanged. Thanks and praise are required not to appease the Creator but for us ourselves; they let us get closer to Him.

But not because He somewhat softens toward us. Nothing changes in Him. Now I see that He is smiling and then is angry. However, no matter what, I reveal all this in my own perception. And in Him, all the faces are the same, without any discrimination without any form…
[122070]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/13, Writings of Rabash

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Under The Rule Of The Nations

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”: This nation will find no rest among the nations until it realizes the verse, “And from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

Of course, we can easily interpret these words in the material sense: The people of Israel were scattered among other nations around the world and still have not found themselves. They wander there among them and only a small part of Israel is in the land of Israel.

However, we must look at the root and understand the words of Kabbalists correctly. In reality, we fell from the property of bestowal which is called the “people of Israel” into the property of reception which is called the “nations of the world.” We dwell among them now and this property of reception reigns over us. This is the exile from which we still cannot escape. As a result we suffer and the entire world suffers.

We need to reveal the cause of this suffering, the cause of the crisis that is sweeping the world. All this is caused by the fact that we are still under the rule of the nations of the world, our own egoistic desires, which rule over us, over the point in the heart, over our desire for unity with the Creator.

We must rise above these desires, over selfish calculations, and thereby get out of exile. Having realized that individually and together in inner work, through inner efforts, we will see how the exit into redemption affects our external life as well as the internal and external life of the whole world.

Baal HaSulam explains this at the end of “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”: The whole world and the people of Israel are divided into the internal and external. The internal is the work against our egoism in order to rise above various material calculations, to live only in the desire to bestow, in love and unity between us and the whole world.

In line with this, we need to also perform external work.

And in every state, we must reveal what the Creator requires from our hearts, that we correct them.
[121875]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Can I Get Out Of Exile Through Customs?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam , “Exile and Redemption”: The Creator will evidently show us that Israel cannot exist in exile and will find no rest, as the rest of the nations that mingled among the nations and found rest, and assimilated in them until no trace was left of them.

A wrong way ultimately brings us to a dead end and leads to the realization of evil. We will still have to reveal it, but preferably through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, attracting the Light that Reforms and discovering evil internally in advance before it manifests on the material level. Thus, we can advance like a wise man who looks ahead. And then, to the extent of the revelation of evil, we are able to get out of it.

But here we have a big problem. After all, we are not in a neutral position; we have been in a very difficult exile, in the hardest concealment for thousands of years. We plunged into unreal thoughts and fantasies, unreal desires. We exchanged the state of Lishma and Lo Lishma for filth, Klipa, and found ourselves under the rule of the “nations of the world.” In other words, we are under the dominance of various egoistic calculations which we cannot get rid of and which we are not even aware of.

Today, the Torah and the Commandments are not a “spice” for the evil inclination among people. And although in reality the Torah is the method of the correction of egoism, we use something else under the same name, increasing the egoism, instead of correcting it.

It is a sign of exile and no one is to blame. This is a process and we must finally realize it in order to no longer justify ourselves and to understand what the great sages write about our current condition.

We need to clarify exile: What is it? What is its essence? If I buy a ticket and fly to Israel, can I say that I have returned from exile? And if I am going to America, do I go back into exile? Is it just about crossing the border?

We need accurate, authentic definitions of exile and redemption. Baal HaSualm writes in the article “This Is for Judah”: …all the letters of redemption are present in exile except for the “Aleph” since this letter indicates the “Aluph (Champion) of the world.”

This teaches us that the form of absence is but the negation of the presence. And we know the form of the presence, redemption, from the verse, “and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, …for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Hence, the form of the previous absence, meaning the form of exile, is only the absence of the knowledge of the Lord. This is the absence of the Aleph, which is missing in the Gola (exile), and present in the Geula (redemption), the Dvekut with the “Champion of the world.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the method of redemption, the method of revealing the Creator to the created beings. It is impossible to reach it without this method. And whoever is against it does not know the definition, does not understand why we needed to go into exile, or how to return to redemption. He does not understand the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is needed for the revelation of the Creator to the human being in this world; thereby redemption is realized.

Accordingly, the “land of Israel” is the desire in which the Creator resides. In other words, the desire corrected by the intention to bestow is possible only through the Torah, the Light that Reforms.

First, we are governed by the desire of the “nations of the world,” and when we correct it, it becomes the desire aimed straight at the Creator (Yashar-El), the “land of Israel.” Whoever has corrected his desire in this way is called a “Jew” (Yehudi), since he comes to unity (Yihud), adhesion to the Creator, reveals the Upper Force in the corrected desire. And it must happen here while we exist in this world. We will achieve nothing after death.

All this should be clear to people, and then we can talk about redemption. Until then, the physical return to the land of Israel demonstrates that we have not changed a bit, and we even changed for the worse. Indeed, the true difference is manifested in a person who corrects himself.

Therefore, as Baal HaSulam explains, we will not reach a happy, safe, fulfilling life, if we do not come to inner redemption. After all, the inner precedes the external.
[121870]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Conditions For Entering The Upper Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What are the conditions that should be fulfilled between us in order to resemble the upper spiritual level as much as possible?

Answer: The most important thing is to keep these conditions and the Light will complete the work. We cannot ascend to the next level by ourselves. There is always a gap between the levels, as it is written, “I labored and found.” We must exert ourselves, and then there is an action from above, and the new level is revealed inside me.

How can we depict the upper spiritual level by what we have if we have nothing but an egoistic desire? The first condition is to yearn for connection when each one supports everyone else. Everyone should want to converge into one heart, one desire, instead of many individual desires.

We should regard this work on our connection and unity as very important and respectable. This means that I value the upper. However, how do I know who the upper is and what the greatness of the goal is? The upper is my state of connection with others until we become one. The general attribute of bestowal that is revealed as a result of all our individual efforts is called the Creator, which means “come and see” (Bo-re).

I must feel that I am ready for everything in this work, no matter what. This means that I feel that I am in the worst possible state and that there is no lower state to which I can fall. All the other states that will come as result of my connection with others seem preferable to my state. So, no matter what comes along and what happens, nothing scares me or affects me.

I imagine adhesion to the Creator, the general attribute of love and bestowal. I need to adhere to Him according to the attribute of love and bestowal that I develop inside me. So, I constantly search and check whether I already have any of these attributes or not. In order not to be mistaken, I check and assess myself with regard to the environment, the friends with whom I must unite in order to discover the Creator.

I fight the “Greeks” that are inside me. The Greeks refer to my desire to receive, but in contrast to “Egypt,” the Greeks have great knowledge (Daath), which means the connection of Hochma and Bina on the corporeal level. However, I understand that this cannot be a spiritual level because it is already in another dimension in which there are different conditions, other attributes, other vessels. So, I want to work totally above reason.

However, the only way to establish a level above reason is with the help of reason so that we can rise above it. So, I need the Greeks; I need to fight them. It is there that I establish the framework of the future upper level in all its forms. It is because you can reach something above reason only if you have reason.
[121804]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/13, Writings of Rabash

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How To Enter The Upper World Without Moving

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I depict the form of the upper level?

Answer: You have to imagine your upper state and try to live in it as much as possible. I am building the upper level in this world in these conditions. The corrected relationships between me and others are called the upper world. Then, I discover that it is right here and that there is no other place.

I see a new connection stretching between me and others, and so I reveal the whole upper level and in it the Creator who fills the world. I see that the whole world is the Holy Shechina, and the Creator is in it. I discover it right here. I don’t need to fly there or to some other dimension.

I constantly establish the form of this spiritual world by what I have before me now, and only the intention changes. I use all my egoistic desires and the hatred as building materials. I only add the corrected connection between all parts of reality. I discover and change the connection from receiving to bestowal. Nothing else changes, as it is said, “Everything goes on the way it was,” and “I ate that which is very old.”

However, I discover that, through the new attitude that I have toward others, and among others, I see that everyone is at the end of correction. They don’t feel that way, but I see them according to my level. I see that there is nothing in this world, except for Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity) that is perfectly corrected. Everything that I saw up until now was simply a dream. Everything depends only on my perception of reality.

So there is nowhere to which you can escape, and there is no need to escape. I should only change my attitude toward what I see and try to see the domination of the Creator everywhere. Then, I need to feel glad since I gradually will discover the real state that already exists. The only thing missing is my effort to discover it.
[121801]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/13, Writings of Rabash

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Expensive Whims Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from RBC Daily): “An unexpected change in usual climatic conditions, a sharp cooling or warming, brings businesses higher losses than the most serious natural disasters.

“The annual damage of weather whims costs EU companies over 400 billion euros. Losses from about 900 natural disasters in 2012 were only 126 billion euros.”

My Comment: The amplitude of climatic changes will increase, the losses will grow, and then problems at the level of the still, vegetative, and animate nature will start. And there will be no protection from them… Salvation is only in the likeness of the human being with nature, attaining the property of bestowal, and connection. This can be achieved only by implementing the method of integral education for the general population.
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Without Support

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I feel bad. I don’t know who I am. The Creator created the ego, the evil inclination, so where is the real me?

Answer: The truth is that at a certain point my ordinary self just disappears. Before I used to feel stable,  “on all fours”;  everything was fine, and now it is as if I am floating in the air without any support: “Who am I? What am I?”

Perhaps it’s good. Perhaps I will finally begin to ask what my life is based on.

Question: It would be good if I received an answer.

Answer: But at least I know that my previous state was fictitious. Now I have hope to overcome everything and to reach the truth.

Question: But what can I hold on to?

Answer: There is nothing to hold on to. I don’t think that it’s even worthwhile to hold on to anything. I have to enjoy the fact that I am “hanging in the air.” This is the real point, the moment of truth: I have nothing, nothing to hold on to. As much as I try to hold on to something, to cling to something, to find a safe secure place under someone’s protection, it is all lies. I prefer to float in the air than live in a lie.

Then in the air, I gradually begin to feel that my whole reality has a totally different basis. I don’t have to catch something on the outside anymore, to change my perspective, to adopt a certain philosophic approach, to yearn for a certain goal…  No, I need to look for something that isn’t in this world at all and is totally independent. Here I need to look for the force of bestowal: What can it be? In which dimension do I exist?

I cannot make this internal transition and then everything changes.
[121458]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We Ourselves Create The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanAn idol worshiper is one who works for the benefit of his egoism and turns it into an idol.

The nations of the world that create images and builds statues are not considered as idol worshippers because they are not aware that their original nature is the desire to receive. In other words, there are those who create corporeal images and there are other people who create imaginary images.

Ask any Jew why he closes his eyes when he says “Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God the Lord is one.” He doesn’t know. He doesn’t even understand that he does it because it is forbidden for a person to imagine any image!

The Creator is the attribute of bestowal and love and He exists only within our correct inner desire, and we can discover this attribute only according to our desire. Otherwise He doesn’t exist! He doesn’t exist in any place, not even as the Surrounding Light. Simply, we speak this way in order to express in some way the spiritual attribute in our corporeal language.

The Creator, (Bo-re) means “come and see,” and if you reach your vessel, you can discover Him. And He doesn’t exist outside the vessel. It is impossible to explain this to a simple person. He thinks that if he believes, this means that there is a Creator.

Actually, there is no basis for this. We ourselves create the Creator, which arises within us in from some kind of transcendental dimension according to our properties.
[121540]
From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/23/13

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