Audio Version Of The Blog – 01.17.14

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The Creature’s Biggest Problem

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the Creator lacks any desire to receive, why did He create us?

Answer: The Creator delights in us. He does have the desire, although not the receiving one.

Let’s call His desire a “force,” and everything will fall into places. We always associate any desire with ourselves: It’s always “I” who wants something. While we regard the notion of “force” as completely neutral: It is something that has potential to act.  In this case, it is not just a force but the desire to bestow, a force that wants to perform an act of bestowal.

Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” that the Creator is absolute good. How did he come to this conclusion? Regrettably, other people have never witnessed anything like that. Sometimes, we experience positive sensations, but it’s usually because the amount of negative sensations goes down. Something we call the “good” is only a way to escape the evil. We wish we could use “absolute good” the way we want….

HaSulam continues “… it is utterly impossible that He would ever cause any sorrow to any person.” The Creator is Good that does only Good. This fact contradicts our sensations. If we admit that the upper force exists and yet we often feel bad, it means that the reason for our negative situations must be the upper force. Can we really accuse anybody around us of being the source of our bad feelings?

Why then does Baal HaSulam describe the Creator’s absolute benevolence as the initial axiom that doesn’t originate from anything else? He writes: “…our common sense clearly shows that the basis for any evil-doing in the world stems only from the will to receive. That means that the eagerness to benefit ourselves makes us harm our fellow persons, due to our will to receive self-gratification.”

In other words, we realize our desire to receive not only in order to benefit ourselves, but also to harm others, and preferably do it in one shot. It is called “theft”: A person steals from the other to benefit himself, and it is called a double profit. If for any reason we are unable to steal from the other, then we at least “give a present” to oneself. Otherwise we are unable to satisfy our needs. We desperately need it; this urge is instilled in us. It’s similar to how a child is driven by a rampant impulse that makes him run, jump, break things, etc. Our egoistic desire is eager to fulfill itself by harming others.

Baal HaSulam continues: “Thus, if no being would find contentment in favoring itself, no being would ever harm another.” So, the desire to receive is the cause for all the evil in the world. Because it is totally in the Creator’s hands, we don’t have the slightest chance to do something with ourselves without His assistance.

“And if we sometimes find some being that harms another, without any will to receive self-gratification, it does that only because of an old habit that originated in the will to receive, which now rids it of the need to find a new reason.” Let me reiterate: A cycle of repeated actions that were originated by a desire that used to “burn” in us automatically continues these actions. Pure “mechanics” becomes our second nature even though it is not accompanied by any intentions or thoughts, nor it is driven by actual necessity. Deficiency no longer exists, but in the meantime we acquired a desire that grew on the basis on “mechanical body movements,” and now we need them.

As a result, even if there is no need to steal, a person continues to steal. Why? What for? One has no idea, it’s a habit.… This is exactly what happened with Shura Balaganov, a character from “The Little Golden Calf”: Right after Shura received a big sum of money as a present, he was arrested for pick-pocketing. He simply couldn’t resist stealing since it had become part of his nature.

Frankly, we don’t even realize that we are “stealing”; that is, we perform actions that are not beneficial to us anymore. At some point in the future, each one of us will “catch” oneself and notice how many mechanical actions one makes during a day. Quite often, there is no chance to stop these actions since our habits are extremely durable.

“And because we realize that the Creator is, in and of Himself, complete and needs no one to help Him to completion, since He precedes everything, it is therefore clear that He does not have any will to receive.” The One who precedes everything cannot have any desire to receive whatsoever. He is primordial and original. Who can He receive from? “And because He has no will to receive, He is fundamentally devoid of a desire to harm anyone; it is as simple as that.”

The Creator is not at all the desire to receive or the need for self-gratification. He is perfect. The question is: Can the Perfect One also be the absolute good with external actions addressed to the creation that He made?

Baal HaSulam defines this aspect as “basic,” meaning not subject to any analysis and beyond the initial agreement; it’s the attribute of the precursor of everything. So, “…it is completely agreeable to our mind as the first concept, that He possesses a desire to bestow goodness upon others, meaning to His creatures.”

Let’s return to the current, actual picture of the reality in which we don’t see anything like that. Our world is full of affliction; it’s as if our universe works tirelessly to “swell” desperation, and yet Baal HaSulam explains that everything is quite opposite.

The fact of the matter is that we lack objectivity and common sense; we are bound by our current primitive egoistic intellect and are unable to conduct a “pure” investigation. For years, even I could not agree with many Kabbalistic postulates.

Only after we become corrected, we start thinking differently, by using our widened mind. Then everything takes its place, but not because of habit or a forced consent; rather, it is based on a true, logical, rational, uncompromising analysis. New vessels-desires open within you, and on their basis, you state the facts.
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From the 4th part the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Shadow That Never Was

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 24: And since the essence of the soul is but a desire to bestow, and all its manifestations and possessions are fulfillments of that desire to bestow, which already exists in the eternal first state, as well as in the future third state, it is immortal and irreplaceable. Rather, it and all its possessions are eternal and exist forever. Absence does not affect whatsoever at the departure of the body.

“The death of the body” refers to the death of the egoistic desire to receive. The moment it gets rid of the intention of in order to receive, it means that it becomes the body for the soul.

Each and every part of the egoistic desire to receive in order to receive is called a corrupt and impure body. When it makes a restriction (Tzimtzum) on itself, it “dies,” and then it receives the power and acquires the intention of in order to bestow. When the intention of in order to bestow “rides” on the desire to receive, it fills it with the Upper Light and gives it the power of bestowal, the Returning Light (Ohr Hozer).

Then the Returning Light and the Direct Light, which meet in the corrected desire that has the right intention, fill it with life. Then the desire is in equivalence of form with the Light and becomes the body of the soul or the Partzuf. The Light that fills it is called the Light of life that is in it. There is nothing other than that; there is no Heaven or Hell after the corporeal body dies, as it seems to us.

In fact, this body doesn’t exist at all. The world that we see is merely a hologram. The truth is that the desire to receive with the intention of in order to receive doesn’t exist. It’s only depicted to us this way as a fictitious picture with which we have to work and learn to change our intention to in order to bestow.

In our current state in this world, we are detached from the spiritual ladder so that we will enter each spiritual level from a neutral state that is external to spiritually. Thus we acquire the spiritual world by ourselves. This is why this world is important and this is why we were given this fictitious state. Without it we wouldn’t be able to enter spirituality. But still, this world remains external to the real categories of our existence.

The whole system of the shells, which brings so many troubles, problems, and death doesn’t exist either. It only exists as a replica, the opposite side, the oppositeness, of the Creator. In fact, the system of the shells is not more than a reflection, a shadow; it exists only when there is a flaw, a barrier, that blocks the Light.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preparation For A Prayer

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, “VaYikahel,” Item 141: Therefore, it is forbidden to kindle a man’s voice during prayer, so that the upper voice, ZA, will be in it, since the speech rises to Malchut and unites with ZA through the Malchut, receiving a voice that is mitigated from ZA. Then the prayer is fit for reception of the abundance, and the speech of the upper world need not be heard through a man’s voice.

There is a rule, “there is no vessel without the Light.” Everything is done by the Light only, while we only exert ourselves, which is the precondition for every action. Every single action is done only by the Light that works on the vessel.

We are only required to exert ourselves; we don’t do anything but only increase the intensity of the deficiency. This is the reason we are in our world, since this is the only place where we can perform different experiments and actions, which from a spiritual perspective are not considered actions. They only bring us to a state in which we can ask for the correction of the vessels and for their filling.

This is why our world is so special. If we didn’t exist in this reality we wouldn’t be able to influence our spiritual ascent in any way, since all the actions are performed only by the Light. So how can I, being on a certain spiritual level, influence something that is higher than that level? By which means can I do this? I have to be detached from the spiritual world in order to ask to be raised from one state to another, from one level of clarification and new correction to another.

There has to be a reality that is detached from the spiritual ladder, which is where I am, in which I can always prepare for the prayer before a prayer. This is the reason that the corporeal actions in our world are so beneficial to reach a certain state and to ask for the Light that Reforms. We shouldn’t think that we don’t need our world, that we can do nothing but simply connect internally and that this would be enough.

This isn’t enough. On the contrary, the more a person does in practice, the more desire, pressure, and experience he builds up inside him as a result of all his actions, which eventually add up to a cry, to a prayer before a prayer. The prayer before a prayer is addressed to the Light with a request to form the vessel, the desire. The prayer itself is addressed to the Light so that it will fill the vessels, which means that it will actually allow us to bestow.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/14, The Zohar

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The Creator’s Troublesome Poppet

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I can imagine the great responsibility toward the friends in a sinking submarine. How can I feel this anxiety and this tension during the workshops when there isn’t such drama going on around us?

Answer: Listen, no one is asking you to do any tricks like a magician and pull a rabbit out of a hat. There is no need to perform any tricks, but simply try to tie your demand, your deficiency, with the upper force, and that’s all. Try to demand, to ask for anything. The moment you lack something for your spiritual advancement, turn to the Creator immediately with any request that you have. If you manage to tie it correctly to the Creator, you will have no problems.

Your work is to be the link, the adaptor, between the deficiencies and the source. No one is asking you to be the source of energy and not even to be the user of this energy, which means doing something by yourself. Your work is passive: simply to nag and keep on asking for what you want from the Creator. However, you should ask wisely. You should clarify accurately what it is that you exactly want, and then ask for it. You should understand that the Creator arranges difficulties for you precisely so that you should nag Him and, by that, learn from Him, and thus advance.

The problem is that you are leaving the Creator. Baal HaSulam says that the greatest sin a person can commit in this world is to forget the Creator and to be detached from Him. So, don’t be detached and keep nagging Him with your requests. That’s the only thing you are required to do.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/14, Lesson on the Topic: “Preparation for the Convention”

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When The Sources Extend Outward

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe must constantly be concerned with the unity that is attained, the “raspberry ball.” For a moment, we are able to hold our own, looking for ways to change, to renew our unity. But this is possible only for a brief moment that is enough in order to understand that we must have an external factor here. This external factor is the entirety of humanity. If we want to keep the raspberry ball, our connection with the Creator, we must extend outside to the external world.

There is a story that the Baal Shem Tov got this answer from Above to the question, “When will the Messiah come?”: “When your teaching spreads outward.” In other words, our entire mission is to hold our connection with the Creator and we require outsiders, not in order to hold and keep the raspberry ball, our unity, but we need this raspberry ball and ourselves in order to serve all people. That is, we don’t use the outer community in order to hold onto the raspberry ball; rather, we hold onto the raspberry ball and ourselves in order to serve the people.

These are very important observations. The words seem simple, understandable, and quite close, yet in fact, this is not so simple. That is how we gradually begin to see the integrality, the global interface, the connections, the unity, the Arvut (mutual guarantee) that dwells in all of nature.

We discover that all of the levels of the physical world: the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate, which we didn’t take into account before, are in fact included in one indivisible whole. The entire universe, the entire perceived reality, our entire inner world, and our contact with the Creator are connected in one system. That is how we reach an understanding of the integral world.

In this fourth stage of the path, we are beginning to clarify and determine how much we need the general public, that without it we cannot satisfy the Creator, and how much the Creator doesn’t want us but specifically that outer circle of the general public, all of humanity. That is how we attain our function and our mission. We must disappear; this is the role of the “kingdom of priests”; we don’t exist on our own; rather, we serve the general public, all of humanity, and the Creator. And in this we see our exalted role. We have no part in this or in that; rather, we only connect between them like a conduit. And this is good, for with this we truly can be closest to the nature of the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/14, Lesson on the Topic: “Preparation for the Convention”

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Not A Magic Wand, But A Logical Method

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The integral method apparently claims that it covers all the material issues. A regular person doesn’t know anything about the Light of the Creator. He knows that he lacks money, health, and so forth, and suddenly he hears, “Come to us and you will get all of this.”

Answer: No, we don’t entice a person through these things and don’t guarantee him anything other than receiving the method. We only hand him an instrument, but he solves the problems on his own.

Question: Does it follow that people who disseminate the integral method don’t solve problems of health, employment, and money for themselves?

Answer: They don’t solve them. Well, so what? Suppose that I am a bank manager. Do I want to make a profit? Have I attained all the wealth in the world? So, we don’t need to be absolute; we just offer a logical method. Do you want it? Take it.

We don’t give a magic wand to a person; we only show him what he can do, like a physics or chemistry teacher who teaches us science. That is how we teach him what we, ourselves, know.

Question: However, the physics teacher doesn’t say that by studying physics it is possible to solve all problems.

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah touches upon all of our problems that are connected with unfulfilled desires that must be fulfilled by one single, abstract fulfillment.

Even though you don’t have money, you no longer want it because you will begin to be fulfilled by a power that you summon onto yourself from another degree, for you will exist in a micro-society in which you will be able to attract this power onto yourself. This is the only power of nature, and, therefore, through its influence upon us, it solves all of the problems. Our role is to draw it onto ourselves.

If we work on this together, then ultimately we will make the general atmosphere healthier. It will improve and all problems will be solved.

The influence of the only power of nature calms everything. A person becomes more fulfilled and satisfied with logical needs. Money and control no longer interest him because he begins to feel that it is possible to receive fulfillment from an entirely different source. He has no need to pursue something imaginary that is not attainable in any case. He doesn’t waste his life on this.

Through using the integral method we prevent great suffering for people from incessant competition between them. In society, a special, good atmosphere spreads, and people feel this. Moreover, it is not we who do this. Rather, it is the Upper Light, the higher power, that arranges everything, for it is not in our power to do anything, except to resemble this power, when we, ourselves, create this resemblance through the relationships between us: union, mutual integration, etc. That is how we reach the implementation of the biblical commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and with this, the abundance descends upon us.
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From Kab TV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 9/27/13

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Ready For Use

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It seems to me that the mechanics of mutual cooperation of the Creator with the creature (the desire with the pleasure), which we learn about in the wisdom of Kabbalah, is impossible to use in our lives because it’s impossible to translate it into an understandable language; it’s impossible to use it….

Answer: It is possible to use it but only in partnership with the higher power; otherwise, you cannot use it. You cannot use it in another form: on one level, in an egoistic manner, or on two levels, egoistics altruism. Rather the second level must create Light in you which you summon according to a unique method called the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The essence of Integral Education is to show all people who are not involved with the wisdom of Kabbalah that through their correct connection in alliance with us, under our guidance, they will create conditions so that the Upper Light will create favorable conditions in them. And nothing more is necessary! After all, you see they only want their lives to be  comfortably organized. Food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge; this is the sum of their desires from start to finish, but in the framework of material life. This we cannot promise them.

All of their desires will be fulfilled 100% on condition that they will be connected in the right way under our direction. For from the first practical lesson, really from the first minute of our work with them, they begin to feel that there is a unique key here. We don’t deceive them; we don’t promise anything beyond the clouds; it is purely a practical method.

Therefore the wisdom of Kabbalah is ready for use. But to understand how to use it practically is possible only under the leadership of Kabbalists, because otherwise you cannot create on the one plane, in which most of the masses of humanity exist, the conditions for two parallel planes, two levels.
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From Kab TV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 9/27/13

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So That Life Will Be Meaningful

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The only way to create mutual cooperation between the upper world and our superficial world is the right connection according to the integral method. Together with this, do we need to explain to people how the world is constructed and how to cooperate with each other?

Answer: The integral method is very simple because it’s a practical method. Through participation in workshops, people begin to feel changes taking place within them, yet they don’t understand why. So we explain to them that it happens as a result of this, that we awaken the general characteristic of nature. Nature is one and unique. Its unique power manages everything and therefore our method is called “Integral.” When we attract this unique power to us, it is revealed in us and accordingly we feel completely different properties, new movements within and between us.

When we explain the integral method, we relate it to cosmology, evolution, the structure of the human spirit and body, and so forth. Each one who finishes the course receives a general picture about creation, human evolution, and human history and where it has reached today. The person begins to understand that this is a natural process that was predetermined. For nothing exists by chance in nature and the condition today is not accidental.

In order to pass from the present state to the next state, there are two ways: unconscious evolution, which is called the “path of suffering,” or conscious development, which is called the “path of Light,” the higher unifying Kli. When we explain this to people, then the changes that are happening in the world according to that picture, that formula we present to them begin to be understandable to them. They see that this is truly happening this way in the world. Moreover, all of this is based and relies upon natural, scientific laws.

After the minimal course, let’s say ten lessons, a clear picture of the world is created in the person, something that  politicians, psychologists, sociologists, or anyone has. This picture is required for him to become a wise person, Homo sapiens, perceiving the system of management. Before him open great and wondrous possibilities for his development that ultimately help him to open his eyes and use this world to rise to the level of the only directing power, the power of the Creator. Therefore his life takes on meaning.
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From Kab TV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 9/27/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 01.17.14

Preparation to the Lesson

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Workshop 

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The Book of Zohar— Selected Excerpts

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Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Writings of Baal HaSulamIntroduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 28

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