Audio Version Of The Blog – 07.04.14

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Thirty-Three Percent Of Americans Don’t Accept The Theory of Evolution

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Pew Research): “According to a new Pew Research Center analysis, six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that “‘humans and other living things have evolved over time,’ while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that ‘humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.’ The share of the general public that says that humans have evolved over time is about the same as it was in 2009, when Pew Research last asked the question.

“About half of those who express a belief in human evolution take the view that evolution is ‘due to natural processes such as natural selection’ (32% of the American public overall). But many Americans believe that God or a supreme being played a role in the process of evolution. Indeed, roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that ‘a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today.’ …

“There also are sizable differences by party affiliation in beliefs about evolution, and the gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown. In 2009, 54% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats said humans have evolved over time, a difference of 10 percentage points. Today, 43% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats say humans have evolved, a 24-point gap.”

My Comment: Kabbalah talks about evolution under the influence of the program of creation. The created being develops from the level of the still to the vegetative level, and then to the level of the animate. The level of human being is not the one with which we are familiar in our world. Our highest stage is not just as an intelligent animal, but is characterized by our development of similarity to the Creator.

This was spoken about thousands of years before Darwin, beginning with the early Kabbalistic sources, such as The Book of Zohar, the writings of the Ari, and others. According to Kabbalah, evolution is development, but it is under the influence of the Upper Force, the Light.
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Qualitative Effect

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When going out to disseminate we seriously depend more on external results: being liked, not being liked, success, failure. We are missing any direction of thought as to why we are doing it. The goal is constantly elusive.

Answer: There is a lack of unity within the group in which the Creator exists or any vital necessity of discovering Him, the point of connection of the group with the Creator. You must reveal our method to others without any personal interest, with complete bestowal. For you are indeed coming and presenting the higher power that is needed to correct them. Everything that follows is derived from that, everything comes from it, and you are a conduit for its transfer. And so nobody understands why this effect is obtained. The effect is a law of nature.

I suppose that we have two problems. But it is indeed impossible to demand their immediate resolution. This will come with time.

First of all, little attention is paid to the consolidation of the group from which you are going forward, for within it the Creator is discovered, and you are really presenting Him to the external public. It is impossible to be passive here because you are carrying out the work of bringing the higher power to the masses, and it carries out all the rest. This doesn’t mean that you should immediately relax and release yourself from any responsibility; rather, you must feel this power of unity called the Creator within yourselves and give Him the opportunity to work on the person.

Specifically in this point of contact of the Creator with the external public, when you present Him to them through your efforts, you begin to discover Him. You lack this point; the Creator is not revealed anywhere, but only in the unity that you organize. The unity gives us a qualitative effect.

The you won’t have any problems. You job is done: You brought the Creator down to the people and revealed His vessel (Kli) that He preparesd through the Surrounding Light. Whatever results there may be, ultimately it will always be positive. This contact is very important.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 3

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It Is Not Easy To Love The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I know that many of our friends have major health problems, but I want to ask about my mother. She is a friend of our group and very invested in it. In the last two years she has been very ill and suffers so much that you can’t bear to see it.

Whatever we do, nothing helps. This causes anger at the Creator and interferes when you go out and want to convey His love to people. I don’t know how to handle this.

Answer: I understand that it is difficult to speak about love for the Creator when it is clear to us that everything comes from Him. Certainly if we receive great blows of fate, we are not prepared to justify Him.

This is because these are two mutually exclusive feelings: injustice and misfortune and immediate justification. One extinguishes the other because we don’t comprehend how it can be that from a good and beneficent power suddenly all the problems and sufferings of humanity emerge.

We have not yet reached a state where we can see the truth. We are not in a dimension in which the opposites are connected and there is no contradiction between the sufferings of a person and the omnipotence and uniqueness of the Creator.

This is a bit like the paradox: is an electron a particle or a wave? It seems to be both this and that. It depends upon the observer, how he looks at it. And what is the person himself? We don’t know what he is himself. It is the same thing here.

In any case, it is necessary to act: Go to the doctors, carry out their recommendations. And despite all the contradictions, my advice is to turn to the Creator. On the one hand, ask for help for your mother (in general, this is your need). On the other hand, ask the Creator to help you, not to understand Him, but to depart from the state where you condemn Him.

Question: Indeed for many of our friends throughout the world there are difficult problems like these.

Answer: Nobody can guarantee that we will develop in exceptional goodness. Once, ten or twelve years ago, I was getting ready to travel to Moscow to give lectures and disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah. But one day before the trip I was in an accident. As a result, half of my liver was removed, I underwent a number of operations for my lungs, and in addition to that my leg was broken.

Looking at it logically, I needed to fly to Moscow to begin dissemination there, and look how they stopped me. So what is there to do after this, stop everything? We don’t know where we are going. But the blows do what they do.

Question: How much can the support of the group, the world Kli, help our friends in situations like these?

Answer: Basically, we say: “Let’s pray, let’s think.”, but essentially these words are not worth anything. Only our combined efforts give results, not words and exclamations.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 3

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Diseases Are The Result Of The Ego

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why are diseases and physical sufferings needed?

Answer: These are the results of the general uncorrected ego. As long as it exists in the souls, even the corrected soul, that are in complete connection with the uncorrected souls, will feel suffering.

Question: It is possible to understand why suffering is required for Kabbalists so they can learn to rise above the level of the beast, but what about ordinary people?

Answer: We are all in collective dependence as a single entity, the soul, a desire to receive. If it is “for its own sake,” then we suffer, if it is “for the sake of the Creator,” meaning similar to the Light, then we enjoy.

Question: Isn’t this cruel to fill poor creatures with suffering?

Answer: The Creator takes our final state into account; His conduct is derived from the need to bring us to the complete end of correction and perfection.
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A New Middle East

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will Israel’s relations with the neighboring countries reflect the unity of the Jewish nation?

Answer: They will suddenly start to treat us like best friends. To the extent that we correct ourselves, we will see how they change and begin to like us.

On our part, we will unite all the nations into one, without any differences. Yellow, white, black, or red, what difference does it make? They will all be under the protection of peace, i.e., perfection and love, accepting this principle, studying it, and changing accordingly to become one whole nation.

The result will be that the citizens of Gaza will want to be like us and will want to establish this friendship and enjoy its benefits. They will want to get closer to us and will feel an urge for that. It is enough that we change and their hatred will turn into attraction. Today’s hatred will be transformed because we will transform ourselves.

They will feel that we have the key for a perfect life. They will feel that the Jews have discovered a special force that makes them perfect and thanks to this transformation, nature treats them mercifully in every aspect. It is as if a natural umbrella has been opened above the Jewish people, and a force that is above our natural existence spreads over us.

Everyone will feel an attraction for the same thing and we will have to be the Light for the nations of the world teaching the whole world how to attain it.

Therefore, the Israeli society needs to be taught how to reach this peace among themselves and this peace will spread and burst out to all of humanity.

This is how the world is built, as processes develop form the inside out, and so if we perform our work in the relations among us, it will spread to everyone.

Then we will be the teachers of the integral method and how to implement it. Each of us will become a guide of perfection, love, and of the unity of mankind.

The nations of the world will gradually learn this and change, and the boundaries between them will disappear. They will not feel any differences between them anymore because it isn’t about people’s faces but about feeling every person inside you.

Then even the citizens of Gaza will become our brothers and not cousins as they are today.

Thus the socio-educational revolution that has started in Israel will spread among everyone and will bring eternal comprehensive peace to all the nations. The unity of the Israeli nation is the first step on the way to the unity of mankind. Peace in Israel and peace in the world are directly connected in a cause and effect relationship.

Thus, we can understand what will happen if we don’t do it, if we don’t bring the world the peace that it needs so much. Then the whole world will attack us because they are filled with subconscious hatred wanting to destroy us, not even knowing why.

Question: Everyone is speaking about a new Middle East. What do you think it should be like?

Answer: Borderless, people simply living like brothers, open to one another. The force of love and bestowal will be revealed in them and they will have a different perception of reality, a different society that believes in a rational noncompetitive attitude.

The new Middle East will be managed by a group of wise people who know the method of integral education and who believe in the value of love of others and know how to take care of everyone day by day.

Question: Is that possible?

Answer: It is vital.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/10/14

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The Main Thing Is to Be Able to Change

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it right to keep demanding more from the friends?

Answer: Everything depends on you. Demanding more from your friends is the same thing as to demanding more from the Creator, the Upper Light, which influences the Kli. It may happen that their response will seem opposite to your expectations.

We need to understand that we live in a world that is constantly approaching the end of correction. By properly “reading” the data about it, we will feel closer to the Lights and will change according to them. But instead of changing “linearly,” we will change cyclically, as we pass through the five degrees of HaVaYaH over and over.

However, I do not know exactly how I need to change. But I always remember that the Creator gives me more every time. “The Good who does good,” “There is none else beside Him,”  He keeps growing greater before me.

And what I feel does not matter. I am heading in the right direction when I want to know where He is every moment and I keep Him in sight.

As a result, I see that the purpose of all the stages and states is to reveal the Creator’s bestowal before me so that He would really become great in my eyes. This is what will happen if I am able to change.

This is why Baal HaSulam begins Shamati with the article “There Is None Else Beside Him.” We must direct and orient ourselves this way: The Light is being revealed more and more, and we must find a middle ground.

On one hand, “There is none else beside Him,” “The Good who does good,” on the other hand, my desire, which is opposite to him, and in the middle, I build my attitude towards the Creator, in order to strengthen this formula within me.

In this case I constantly change.

How? I cannot change my desire and sensations. They come naturally, and I do not mislead myself when it comes to them. The principles of “The Good who does good,” and “There is none else beside Him” also cannot change.

But I can build my intention in the middle, change it, and correct it each time in order to harmonize my desire with the Creator’s greatness.

This “buffer,” “adapter,” the peacemaker between the two opposites, is called faith above reason; I advance because of it.
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From 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 12/3/10, Writings of Rabash

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There Are No Words In Spirituality

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf you open a Kabbalistic prayer book, you will see individual letters instead of complete words; they express sensations, inner actions, screens, the repulsion and attraction of Light. There are no words in spirituality.

We usually use the words of this world and relate them to spirituality; it is common. But we can do without words. A person who attained spirituality doesn’t operate with words.

Baal HaSulam prayed to descend from his level to a state where he could find adequate words, by dressing those attainments into “material” words so that they could be understood, to convey to those below him what he attained

In spirituality, there are only sensations. I don’t have to dress them into words, since I have Reshimot and tastes (Ta’amim). I don’t have to explain them to myself unless I am willing to share my impression with others. But sharing is always limited. Not a single word can include the whole meaning that it actually embraces.

Therefore, a prayer is the work in the heart, a cry from the depths of the heart, without any language or a prayer book. Prayer books were written for us by Kabbalists (members of the Great Assembly) before the exile when we all fell from the spiritual level. If you fall from the awareness of the spiritual worlds into this world, you have nothing to say about spirituality. And so they wrote prayers for us so that we could at least talk about spirituality in the form of prayers. Nonetheless, the connection with spirituality still remains, and when during the exile numerous people pronounce the words that are written in the prayer book they cause a certain “agitation” in the Surrounding Light that in turn protects the nation. But they work only at the time of exile and not for long. It is not a real prayer.

Currently we are arriving at the state when we have to start working on the point in the heart that draws us back into Bina.
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From the lesson 10/18/10, The Zohar

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The Tree Of The Universe

Dr. Michael LaitmanEvery creature must contain the five degrees of its development in it otherwise the actual creature, Malchut, the fifth degree, will not be there.

The Light that operates in every point of creation must go through five degrees (from above downward), and only on the fifth degree does it build the creature that feels Him.

The fifth degree, the creature, perceives the Light that influences it from Sefira Keter, the Creator, bestowal.

Now it begins to develop (horizontally) and build its own degree and also goes through five degrees.

We are not able to distinguish anything until we go through the entire five states because it needs to reach our sensation and comprehension (the heart and the mind).

Possibly, I am already feeling it, but I do not yet comprehend it; that is, the phenomenon needs to reach me from above downward and I need to comprehend it in the opposite direction, from below upward: what this is, where it is coming from, and why.

I do not notice the actual phenomenon when I do not understand it; this is how we are made; we need the complete ten Sefirot of comprehension.

Then, I build a new Partzuf from a certain degree, Bina, for example, and this Partzuf also has five parts (I am building Partzuf Bina, which comes out of Hochma and Keter), and then another Partzuf of five parts from this one, and in this way the “tree” grows, an enormous system, where all the parts are connected.

And it develops in all directions, all sections, every time from the state that becomes Keter into the following chain of five states, which develop from it.

Every part is constructed from the above so the creature would want to attain its Creator and become like Him, by moving back towards Him.

And this way the creature builds the same parts that the Creator has already created, taking the example from Him, multiplying states and the spiritual Partzufim.

All of them can be numbered like in a catalog, but in Kabbalah they are given names in order to follow the correspondence between them.
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From the lesson 10/19/10, “Beit Shaar Ha Kavanot” 

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.04.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam,” “What Is the Substance of Slander and Against Who Is It? “

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Workshop

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“The Book of Zohar” — Selected Excerpts, “Among All the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You,” Item 161

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 75

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Unity of the Nation” 

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