Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.08.14

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Political Economy Of The New Globalism

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Nikolay Kobelev, PhD (Economics), Professor at the Russian Federation Financial University): “The development of production forces has reached the level that the 10 percent of the workforce is sufficient to provide for humanity. The agricultural production and industry of Argentina with a population of 40 million people can feed the whole world.

“Industry and technology can receive all the necessary materials and products from natural elements, found in abundance in the earth’s crust and air. Energy resources (oil, gas, coal) can be substituted (atomic energy, wind, ocean waves, the sun); lack of energy and limits of resources do not threaten humanity.

“But political and social control mechanisms conducted according to the inadequate old models and theories hinder the management of the world as a whole. The rapid growth of the political influence of transnational corporations and financial-industrial groups led the government to losing control over the world economy.

“Global world processes are managed by money, large corporations, and a handful of people who own enormous financial resources. Each of them takes care of the object of his interest. Money has become the equivalent not only in economy and production, but also in education, science, medicine, which cannot be assessed by an amount of money.”

My Comment: If mankind doesn’t change, using the method of the Upper Force, of the Light, of course, the skeptics would be right. But precisely the same Ohr Makif, the Surrounding Light, produced our egoism and it will correct it. Therefore, there is no place for any other method.
[131997]

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America Is Getting Ready For A Convention In August!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do virtual students need to invest efforts to meet to feel each on a physical level? Is it possible to skip over this limitation and only exist in a virtual world, which is symbolic of our time?

Answer: No, this is impossible to skip. Regular people who don’t have a point in the heart are not required to have a tight connection with each other. But we must be connected to each other. I think that the convention in America, which will be held in August this year in New York, will become a place in which all of us connect for a few days in order to discuss and clarify something very simple: What are we lacking in order to open the spiritual world for ourselves?

This is the main question, which concerns all of us, and it should become the theme of this convention. And rightly so. Even though this is an egoistic goal, this is what specifically interests us now. We cannot pretend that we are enlightened altruists.

We want to reach the opening of our eyes in the spiritual world and we need to clarify exactly what needs to be done in order to realize our desires. For this we are organizing the convention. Therefore, we must go to it, we must enter and integrate within it, discuss this, and determine clearly once and for all, what we have already done and what we must still do in order to reach the desired result!

Therefore, I turn to the many thousands of our friends who are scattered all over America: Get ready for the convention! We must meet and clarify between us what else is missing for each one of us to reach discovery of the upper world, discovery of the higher power.

It must be clear to everyone that if he does the required actions: one, two, three, then the discovery will happen, and very soon. This is necessary so that we will not deceive ourselves and will not be involved in useless things that don’t bring results.

And then everyone will be sure  that even if somewhere in Alaska without a physical group, they will advance correctly and rapidly and will not be discouraged about sitting alone in front of a screen. Each one will know that he or she is acting for the sake of spiritual discovery, advancing towards it, and feeling it.

If we perform the right course of actions, then even if we are far from the target, according to our actions and reactions, we can see that we are advancing. Although the signs of advancement can be negative—feeling greater difficulty and heaviness, confusion, deeper descents—all this indicates advancement.

So, I am asking, let’s all get ready to meet at the convention in August. In anticipation, you need to connect as much as possible and start preparing ourselves for this call and these clarifications.
[131770]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/14, Q&A with Rav Laitman

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Strong Connection With The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to be very connected to a group in the right way?

Answer: It is called seeing my future, all of the next steps toward the goal, receiving the reward; it is all of my realization that is only in connection with the friends. And friends are not physical faces.

In order to be connected with them, it is not enough to hug and dance together with them; rather, it is necessary to unite into one heart, into one desire.

And this desire needs to be found outside of us, as if the heart goes out of my body and is connected with all the other hearts. If a person has an inclination like this, then through it he can understand what the Kabbalists advise us to do.

All changes in the direction of connection of the hearts will be right, they will naturally, correctly, and appropriately show us the direction of connection.
[131864]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/6/14, Writings of Rabash 

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A Pure White Temple Within The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the most prominent sign of being in exile?

Answer: We want to reach mutual bestowal and we have no power for this; we want to give contentment to the Creator, and it’s possible to do this only through mutual bestowal between us. Our goal is to build an infrastructure called mutual guarantee. From an inability to do this, we feel ourselves in exile.

Redemption means that our desires are organized, connected, fixed, and linked so that we acquire the form of pure bestowal. This means they take on the form of the Creator, the bestower and loving. We build from ourselves a model, an example, a form similar to the Creator.

There are 125 levels of resemblance like this, 125 portions in which we can resemble the characteristic of bestowal, of love, more and more in all kinds of ways with tighter and tighter guarantee. This is the work of Israel, and that part of it is done in Egypt, in the wilderness, until we reach the construction of the First Temple.

We need to feel all of these states. This is not talking about building a structure from clay and bricks. The construction is done from our substance, from desire, where we correct it and whiten it, and then from that grows a house of Kedusha, the Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash).
[131761]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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How Long Will The 400 Years Of Your Exile Be?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do the 400 years of exile that the Creator promised for the descendants of Abraham symbolize?

Answer: Exile is the discovery of the desires to receive that must be corrected. They are discovered gradually through the Upper Light, layer after layer, to the degree that we can tolerate it.

One cries about how difficult this is, another says he sleeps in the lesson, the third totally flees from here, but in spite of all this, someone will remain and be able to discover his evil.

This is called 400 years of exile: clarifying and discovering that we are not ready for connection, but want it very much in spite of it all. Therefore, this is done in stages and not all at once.

400 years (year – Shana) symbolizes 400 changes. Every change is a heaviness of the heart and a new darkness that comes as a reward for my effort, the desire to connect with the friends. And now I feel even more difficulty, I understand that nothing will help. I reject connection, I don’t want it, I am entirely crushed inside and lack power.

I don’t feel any taste in connection; I have no relationship to and interest in this and everything inside is completely transformed for me! Once I was on fire because I understood the importance of connection, whereas now I am totally extinguished.

We need to see how the Creator works on us, how He is ready to break us apart in a moment, to empty us completely. Once I thought and dreamt about this; I was drawn wholeheartedly; I was ready to burn myself just to reach the desired goal. And now I am now ready to talk about all kinds of nonsense, even worse than the most primitive person on the street.

But if I overcome this descent through connection with the friends, mutual guarantee, and so forth, this is called that I have passed through one stage of exile. How many stages like these do I need to pass through so that this will be considered 400 years for me? I don’t know. Redemption takes place in haste, suddenly, like the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt.
[131757]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/26/14, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Bringing A Sacrifice Is Getting Closer To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe initial essence of the creation is the desire. The desire is actually neutral and can be aimed at any direction, toward itself or toward others, it can be anywhere and in any manner. But when an egoistic intention of in order to receive for one’s self is added to it, it becomes cruel and evil since it is focused not only on the filling for itself but also on the inclination not to give to others.

All of a person’s nature is the evil inclination. It says: “I have created the evil inclination; I have created the Torah as a spice.” The evil inclination is called our desire that has the constant intention of in order to receive for itself.

Rejecting the egoistic use of the desires is a spiritual action called “bringing a sacrifice.” In other words we sacrifice our ego not by annulling it but by annulling the egoistic use of the desires.

Bringing a sacrifice is a person’s ability to actually cut off pieces of his desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature.

All the desires are divided into four parts: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature. Each part has its own manner of the correction of its ego to altruism, to bestowal.

The simplest work is the work with the desires on the still level of nature. The Torah represents the construction of the Tabernacle, the preparation of different objects from gold and precious stones, the use of salt in the food, the water, and everything we obtain from the earth.

All the plants in nature belong to the desires on the level of the vegetative: grass, seeds, cereal, and the food that is prepared from these materials like bread that is made of flour, etc.

The different categories of desires on the animate level are described in the Torah in the form of birds, fish, and animals, and they are already sublime egoistic desires that have to be killed in a certain ritual and the carcass has to be freshened in a special way.

Each of the corporeal desires of a person has to be processed in a special manner so that it can be transformed from an egoistic use to altruistic use. This is what the laws of Kashrut refer to, which means that they are cleaned of the ego.

The last level of the desires is the human desires, when we already have to work on ourselves. This highest intention is called a priest (Cohen), a lower one is called Levi, and an even lower one is called Israel (the masses).

To bring a sacrifice means to change the desires from an egoistic level to an altruistic level. On the other hand it isn’t a sacrifice since in Hebrew the word “Eid” (victim) means getting closer, which means an action which brings us closer to the Creator.

On the whole all the laws and the rules that the Torah presents refer only to the correction of the ego. The main part, the sacrifices (“Kurbanot” – victims), are the levels that describe a person’s getting closer to the Creator and the correction of the ego to altruism—from hatred of others to love of others.

All the spiritual actions are performed inside a person in the group when he is together with friends who share the same ideas and with whom he clarifies the elements of his inner and external behavior: how to cooperate with them correctly and how the group affects each of its members.

Thus, each one, together with the general force of yearning for bestowal and love that is revealed among everyone, gradually reveals such altruistic attributes that can actually raise the group above the egoistic level. This is called the transition from our world to the upper world.
[131842]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/13

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Universal Brotherhood

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, “VaYikra,” Item 99: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well”… For their love, the Creator calls them, “servants,” as it is written, “For unto Me the Children of Israel are servants; they are My servants.” Afterwards He calls them “sons,” as it is written, “You are the children of the Lord your God.” And after that He calls them “brothers,” as it is written, “My brothers and my friends.” And because He called them “brothers,” He wished to place His Divinity in them and He will not stray from them. Then it is written: “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together, as well.”

A person’s sacrifices means that he begins his work against his basic nature in order to connect so that he can reveal the Creator inside him.

The gradual dwelling of the Creator in a person takes place according to the still, vegetative, animate, and the speaking levels of nature, which are called respectively called servants, sons, and brothers.

We go through all these levels in our attitude towards one another, and in our attitude towards the Creator until we reach complete total mutual connection between brothers and become brothers with the Creator. Only when we are together do we become brothers.
[131838]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/24/14

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A Game For Advanced Groups

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Part of the connection workshops that we have done were dedicated to clarification of the difference between the sexes. First the women talked about how they see the men and how they see themselves.

Then the men expressed how they see themselves and how they see the women. This picture was compared, and it was surprising to see how different we are.

After that both the men and the women seemingly gathered all of their characteristics into a few “baskets,” and began to think about how to fulfill these qualities of the other sex: What do they want and what could they give to each other? Is it worthwhile to use an exercise like this as a game in family circles with adolescents?

Answer: This is very difficult, because here it is necessary to gradually become detached from yourself, to begin to think with the head of another person, to live in his desires, to enter into him. It follows that the abilities are mine and the desires are his, as if I live with my body but with his desires, in that we complete them and he completes mine. Here we go out to another level of cooperation, to absolute bestowal.

This is integration with each other. This is really true love: not physical, not platonic, not sexual, but precisely true integration with each other. It is doubtful that this exercise is appropriate for the family because in it the gender differences are blurred and appear differently. If we arrange this game for a circle of adolescents, then this must only be in a very advanced group.

To begin with, I would insert a discussion among the adolescents in the form of a courthouse, where a person would look at himself from the side, discussing the others not from his point of view but from the side of the other, as an arbitrator. That is how they would learn to be flexible, to discuss not only themselves but also others. This is what you need to teach them.
[131653]
From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 12/11/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.08.14

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1] [media 2]

Shamati #86 “And They Built Store-Cities”

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Parashat,” “BeShalach

[media 5] [media 6]

Writings of the Ari, “Shaar HaKavanot,” Pesach

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Rabash “Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 16

[media 9] [media 10]