Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.24.13

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What Does The Prohibition Of “Other Gods” Mean?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe commandment that “you shall not have other gods in the work” means that it is forbidden to think that there are other forces that operate on you. There is only one force that man is standing against, the Creator. The difference between a person, which is a special level of the desire to receive, and all the other previous levels of development is that a person calculates things and can see himself from the side: Who am I, what am I, why did I act in a certain way and why do others act in another way, who is influencing me, how am I operated? A person has a point of observation from which he can appreciate things as if from the outside.

It is as if he is divided into two parts and can look at himself either from inside his ego, when he operates in agreement with his nature, or from the side. Then he sees that all his work is to attribute everything to one force. This force operates on him internally and externally and determines everything that he does and thinks at the moment. There is only one point of clarification, and if he sees things through it, he can assess himself correctly if he understands that both the internal and the external reality: he, his perspective, and feelings are all arranged by the Creator.

This point of clarification is centered on one thing only, on whether he really attributes everything to one cause. At this point there is nothing but this discernment, this condition, attributing everything to one force that created the desire that manages it and fills it. This means that what the desire to receive feels and understands also come from the same force. The point that examines everything and focuses a person on attributing everything to the upper providence is also managed by that one force.

All of what is happening to a person and his feelings that he cannot attribute to one cause is called “other gods.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Shamati #15 “What Is Other Gods in the Work”

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A Universal Foundation For All Sciences

Dr. Michael LaitmanScience is the revelation of the Creator, the sole force that acts on us. There is nothing else to discover. A scientific approach is to measure revealed phenomenon and describe it in formulas.

That is to find out the cause and effect, to describe patterns in the parameters of time, motion, space: either spiritual or material, to determine the correlation of forces, actions and results. We reveal how everything is connected with each other.

In addition, we have to figure out the elements themselves, between which this connection exists: what the actual force is, what the material on which it acts is, the object of influence, and what happens as a result of this interaction with the force and the material: what is the reaction and its result. In essence, this is a scientific study; it doesn’t matter at what level it occurs, the usual Newtonian or quantum physics, or the microcosm of the macrocosm.

But the science of Kabbalah brings everything under one base and speaks about the two forces acting on each other: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. It explains that with the correct perception of reality, everything that happens inside and around us in fact is our inner feelings inside a single material. Only this material is divided relative to my feelings into external and internal parts.

The science that studies our internality we call psychology. Those sciences that study the material that we feel supposedly outside of us, as if it does not belong to us, is not called psychology, but physics, chemistry, and biology, depending on the level of material and its proximity to us.

Kabbalah is called an inner science and conventional sciences are called external because we do not feel that they belong to what lies within us. All their actions, instruments, seemingly belong to what we consider as the external world. But the problem is only in us.

We study the desires of this world, which we do not perceive as our own, on the still level and call this physics. The studies of the desires of the vegetative world, we call botany and biology, of the animate world, zoology, etc. In fact, we divide our perception into several levels: still, vegetative, and animate, and considering them external, we develop sciences with respect to them. Thus, we can study only the material of this world only on this primitive, lower level, provided that we feel it as external.

But if I start to correct my perception, I will see that the entire reality is inside me, and only one force acts in it. I feel that all this reality in which “There is none else besides Him,” I comprehend in one single desire. Then all the sciences are absorbed by the science of Kabbalah. Why should I study physics, biology, zoology, botany, etc., including psychology, education, culture? All these are partial knowledge, fragments of knowledge, developed by humanity. They create a very limited and shaky picture, unstable, and often changing.

There is no firm basis under all this. As we are approaching the unity of our perception, all the sciences are going through crisis and are absorbed into the science of Kabbalah, which provides a universal, single foundation for all the phenomena, occurring in the material of the desire to enjoy under the influence of the Light.

Today, humanity has thousands of different formulas in different sciences. But all this ultimately boils down to a desire, pleasure, and the restricting screen between them; the confrontation of two forces reconciled through the middle line. That’s all!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/13, Shamati #15 “What Is Other Gods in the Work”

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Obstacles Are The Way To Fulfillment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I was informed that there was a convention, I didn’t have a shadow of a doubt that I would come to it. But as the time for the convention approached, more and more external and internal obstacles appeared. One moment I was enthusiastic that I was traveling to a congress, and in the next moment, the opposite, I had no urge to travel at all; this occurred innumerable times. Why are we given obstacles like these?

Answer: The obstacles depend on how much you feel them as such. But if you were to feel that for every obstacle, for every small disturbance, whether some thought or confusion, that you had received a great reward in all kinds of ways, then would this seem like an obstacle to you? This would be a means for attaining a good, eternal, and perfect state. Therefore it depends on how we look at it.

You lack the sensation that “There is none else besides Him.” And He set up the obstacles for you; He simply wanted to give you more possibilities for fulfillment. Difficulties, despair, overcoming them, these are all your efforts that you invest so that afterward, when at the convention, you can feel and get more. Therefore you need to thank the Creator for the so-called “sufferings,” for now, specifically thanks to them, you feel a greater fulfillment.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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The Euro Project Has Failed

lDr. Michael LaitmaOpinion (Sir Christopher Pissarides, School Professor of Economics & Political Science and Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, Nobel Prize winner for economics in 2010): “One of the world’s leading economists will today admit he was wrong to back the creation of the euro – and call for it to be dismantled.

“Sir Christopher Pissarides, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2010, was once a passionate believer in the benefits of the single currency.

“But in an extraordinary change of heart, today he will warn the euro is creating a ‘lost generation’ of unemployed youngsters and is ‘dividing Europe.’

“The Cypriot-British economist will call for action to ‘restore the euro’s credibility in international markets’ and to ‘restore the trust that Europe’s nations once had in each other.’

But, in a lecture at the London School of Economics, where he teaches, he will add: ‘Regretfully, I do not see either materializing.’ …

“Experts believe Europe will never be able to implement the policies required to boost growth and create jobs because of the huge differences between economies across the region. …

“He will say that unless there is a dramatic change of policy the euro should be broken up.

“‘The euro should either be dismantled in an orderly way or the leading members should do the necessary as fast as possible to make it growth and employment-friendly,’ he will say.

“‘We will get nowhere plodding along with the current line of ad hoc decision-making and inconsistent debt-relief policies.”

My Comment: Such views are increasingly heard among specialists. But how can this project be rolled out without destroying all of Europe and plunging it into a deadly conflict? Isn’t it better to accept the program of the integral education and transformation of the EU that should have been done before forming the EU?
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Implementing The Theory In Everyday Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf we don’t implement the wisdom of Kabbalah in practice in the group, in our relations with other people, then I float in the air misinterpreting it and not even feeling that I am wrong. Together with the friends, we must decide that it is time to correct the mutual relations between us.

We are standing around the mutual hatred, unable to cope with it, or simply disrespect one another and cannot correct it. I don’t care about the friends; I don’t want to think about them, and even if I want to think about them, then it usually leads to repulsion and disgust and not to positive feelings. In short, we have a basis to work on, and only in the general circle can we reach unity.

This is the only reason we turn to the Creator, and this is the only thing that we demand from Him, even if it is daring and tough: “You have promised us, You have to keep what You have promised!” No problem, He will be glad to do so as long as you demand that He corrects the mutual relationships between the friends.

So the question is what do I need all this for? Theoretically, in order to delight Him, but who is He? I don’t know Him. I don’t understand what it is all about. What does it mean to delight Him?

It means that when working in the group and really expecting connection, we discover that what is missing is the help of some force, a force that will glue us together and connect us. We are powerless by ourselves. So where is the force that can connect us?

Then we can demand and raise “the prayer of many,” since it is actually the Creator who has created this problem for us. Why? So that we will establish and consolidate our attitude towards Him, so we will delight Him in everything that we do.

Why? Because then we will achieve equivalence of form with Him, we will reach connection and adhesion.

We have to fulfill this not just during the lesson but when we connect together  and focus correctly on the goal during the lesson. Then our collective desire works.

Studying alone doesn’t lead to anything.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Delighting The Teacher

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we say that by delighting the teacher I am delighting the Creator?

Answer: It depends on how you calculate things. Just like the group that reflects your inner structure and serves as an imaging instrument so that you can practice and fulfill the correction, so is the teacher for you in this world so that in the mutual relationship with him you will be able to clarify your inner correction. Instead of the Creator, there are the friends in the group, the teacher, and the books before you.

How can you delight the teacher?

Let me put it simply: In order to delight someone, you have to know what he desires, what his deficiency is, and then you can fill his desire. I delight someone if I give him what he wants.

So what does the teacher what to receive from you? He wants to see how you connect with the friends. So you can practice working on the connection with the friends and show the teacher, like showing a kindergarten teacher what a “good boy” you are in the group, and thus delight him.

The teacher doesn’t need any presents, rewards, or favors from you, this is enough.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Rise Up And Pull the Others After You

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we correct the wicked when they are discovered? What is there to do if they persist like permanent problems without solutions?

Answer: Static states do not exist because at every moment new Reshimot are discovered, but a person doesn’t see them, doesn’t notice the changes taking place. These changes of Reshimot occur with infinite speed, but we with our limited feelings only discover every tenth Reshimo, every thousandth Reshimo, or ten thousandth.

We are not prepared to grasp the changes of a state with such a high frequency or to distinguish the tiny changes that take place in them. This is like an infant who hardly perceives anything of all that is happening around him, but the more he grows, he begins to discern and discover more, to be stimulated and enjoy more.

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Letter 5: I rejoice in those revealed corruptions and the ones that are being revealed…. This is why I’m happy when they come out of their holes because when you cast your eye on them, they become a pile of bones…. But I do not settle for it even for a moment…. that when the buried wicked appear, although they haven’t been fully conquered, their very appearance is regarded as a great salvation.

This essentially is our work, there is no more. Concentrating on it can greatly reduce the time. And the main thing is to not lose our enthusiasm and good mood. But if we don’t prepare ourselves for revelation, then we get a descent. But this is not necessary. It is possible never to descend but to go from strength to strength if we prepare ourselves correctly. And then we won’t feel the blow. In prepared Kelim (desires), it will not be perceived as a blow but as an honorable achievement, attainment, and good discovery. Everything depends only on preparation.

This is what the world is missing because the world was not ready for this discovery; now we are beginning to teach about it, but it must still pass through many ascents and descents. And we must understand that as long as we have not advanced them, we have not advanced ourselves. Baal HaSulam writes that he asked that his spiritual degree be lowered so he would be able to educate people.

Every Kabbalist who is a conduit for others, depends upon them. This is because he can’t advance more than he can take care of others. Certainly there is a huge difference between their levels, but in spite of this, if he takes upon himself the mission to be concerned about others and to take care of them, he cannot rise as high as would be fitting regarding his effort, rather he is left below in order to take care of the lower ones.

We relate to the world exactly as the teacher relates to his students. And if we want to advance, we have no choice but to advance the world. And even though there is a very great gap between the levels, in any case, we must rise together in parallel. If we don’t rise and don’t lead and pull the world after us, we cannot give satisfaction to the Creator.

We see even from the example of our world, that people who give birth to children begin to be more concerned about and involved with the children and are less immersed in their own advancement. They turn themselves in the direction of the children, “small states,” and don’t yearn to develop themselves and be great people. We must learn from nature, that specifically in this form we advance. After I passed the stage of embryo and the small state (Ibur and Yenika) and attained maturity (Mochin), I can achieve great abundance only through taking care of the small.

That is how the spiritual ladder of levels is built. If I don’t raise a prayer, MAN, from the lower ones, I cannot myself receive Light from above, that is, to clothe in the Light of Hassidim, which I pass to the lower ones. Attainment and discovery are possible only when you don’t look for greatness for yourself, but want to develop those who come after you. That is how it is arranged in our world as a copy of the spiritual, and that is how advancement in the spiritual levels is done. Therefore, the time has arrived for doing acts of widespread dissemination, whether we want it or not, because without this we don’t advance.

We must understand these things, agree with them, and realize them. And then we will see that it is specifically this work with the people that helps us to understand, feel more, and advance.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/18/13

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General Rules Of Successful Unification

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Kabbalists who left writings, books, and textbooks for us are teaching within them some general rules about the right way for people to connect in a Kabbalistic group.

The first condition is nullification of the self. We must nullify ourselves and show this to all the others as if we are proclaiming: “I am ready for everything in order to make a complete zero of myself. Do anything you want with me. In no way do I want to command anyone, to be the leader, to pressure anyone. I want to be a complete zero in a group and am ready to do everything necessary for your benefit.”

The second condition is greatness of the goal. Our advancement depends on the greatness of the goal in our eyes, on the importance of the characteristic of bestowal, love, and unity between us. This must be the most important thing for me and I must show this to everyone. I must speak about this, even if this is not that important to me personally because the friends will return that stimulus to me and we will impress each other. Our obligation is to elevate the group, for it has a lofty goal. I must speak about this with the friends, all the time elevating the importance that the group is everything. This will help me to nullify myself.

The third condition is bestowal to the friends. I must try to give them some gifts. By the word “gifts” I mean bestowal to the friends. I go to the kitchen and wash the dishes, clean, do something for them. I try to serve them, like an adult serves the children, helping them in whatever way possible, to give, to add to every situation in the group. On the other hand, I must feel myself as small, wanting to receive influence, education, and bestowal upon myself.

That is, on the one hand, I am great, I bestow to the friends all the time, exalt the goal in their eyes, and care about them. On the other hand, I am small, ready to receive everything from them that can fulfill only me.

A dual relationship like this regarding the group is very important. The larger the gap between these two polar relationships: I am below – the group above and I am above – the group below, the closer I will be to the goal.

We also need to include some of our particular problems that we need to raise to solve them.

All of this is realized in that I am always concerned for my friends that it will be good, happy, and pleasant so they will have complete confidence of attaining the goal and they  remain with great energy through the connection between us. And this energy must be pumped through the group so that all of us are “cooked” in it, in the good sense of the word. It will warm and throw us around so that we will shake all of the ego out of us and accumulate a completely different force, the power of bestowal and love. That is what we need.
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From the Moscow Virtual Convention “Unity Without Boundaries” Day Two 12/14/13, Lesson 4

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.24.13

Preparation to the Lesson

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Shamati #36, “What Are the Three Bodies in a Man”

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, Parashat, “VaYikahel,” “The Intention of the Prayer,” Item 107 

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 6, Item 70

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

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