Audio Version Of The Blog – 08.20.14

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Unselfish Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Should friends maintain a connection between them that is similar to that between a mother and child?

Answer: Yes, it is a special internal unity between you and your friends that stretches deep into your most internal feelings, thoughts, and relation to the goal.

Comment: Often, it so happens that even if I demonstrate my internal concern to somebody, I don’t receive the same attitude in return. So, I end up in having a very weird connection with this person.

Answer: You don’t receive anything in return, so what? It is not written anywhere that a friend has to love you. Love is the feeling that if I love my friend, I am happy. It’s not about being loved and therefore feeling good.

You should not have claims against your friends for neglecting you (as you think they do.) Not at all! These reproaches have to be directed not to them, but to the Creator. You always talk with the Creator, not with your friends. This is the problem that is constantly overlooked.
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 4

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Layer by Layer Purification of Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus” (Tazria), 13:13-13:14: Then the Cohen shall look [at it]. And, behold! the leprosy has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce [the person with] the lesion clean. He has turned completely white; he is clean.

This portion describes an egoistic distortion that replaces a complete correction. Even though a person behaves correctly and normally, he still cannot be a full member of the society that works only for the sake of bestowal.

The Torah speaks of a gradual correction of the society and bringing everybody to mutual bestowal and love in which we later reveal the Creator.

All layers of the desire have to be clean, and the skin has to be cleaner than th other organs because it is the most superficial layer and is the hardest to be corrected. That’s why dermatological diseases cannot be cured in this world.

Egoism consists of five parts that allegorically correspond to the brain, bones, ligaments, flesh, and skin. These five parts have to be corrected by exerting from inside out. At each level, this process becomes harder but better and each layer bears a higher quality.

Question: I noticed that internal abnormalities in my organism do not cause discomfort in me, whereas various skin irritations can be very embarrassing. How can you explain it?

Answer: Internal systems and organs can be more or less successfully cured. They maintain a deeper interaction between each other. Their malfunction can be discovered faster and fixed more easily. All internal problems are released in the form of toxins that show on the skin. If physicians knew how to diagnose illnesses according to skin conditions, they would be able to define all sorts of internal ailments.

Comment: I feel very embarrassed when I deal with other people if, let’s say, I have an ulcer on my hand. I feel extremely self-conscious when I have to shake hands with others at this time.

Answer: It’s because you deal with others through the external part of your egoism. The layers that are more internal are hidden from others.
[140995]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/20/14

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Process Of Self-Scrutiny

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus” (Tazria),“13:12-13:14: And if the leprosy has spread over the skin, whereby the leprosy covers all the skin of the [person with the] lesion, from his head to his feet, wherever the eyes of the Cohen can see it, then the Cohen shall look [at it]. And, behold! the leprosy has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce [the person with] the lesion clean. He has turned completely white; he is clean. But on the day that live flesh appears in it, he shall become unclean.”

“…leprosy has spread over the kin, whereby the leprosy covers all the skin…” signifies that there is an ongoing process of self-scrutiny when a person who has already attained the level of Cohen feels as if he is sick with leprosy. If it applies to one’s current layer of egoism, it can be corrected by isolating one from the others.

If “live flesh appears,” i.e., when the next degree of egoism shows up, then an internal problem appears and involves the deeper, inner layers of egoism. At this point, the problem becomes incurable.

It’s interesting that on one hand, a person attains the level of Cohen, but on the other hand, he manages to detect these conditions only because of the high level he has achieved.

Question: How can one attain the level of Cohen if one deals with these kind of problems?

Answer: The thing is that these issues are not apparent. The ego unveils itself gradually. Particularly, at the Cohen level, one starts sensing “leprosy.” Previously, when these conditions were hidden, one seemed clean.

The Torah describes Moses who hid his hands and when he pulled them out they were covered with leprosy.

“Hands” denote receiving desires. The more we advance, the bigger the desires that are revealed to us. Inside, we are filled with “worms” although on the outside it doesn’t show and nobody can see it. Externally, everything looks good.

Thus, when we continue ascending to the levels of Israel, Levites, and Cohen, we start noticing changes that our ego undergoes.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/20/14

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The Time Of The Babylonian Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we relate to our current state?

Answer: Today, having “departed” from Babylon 3,500 years ago, we again feel that we are back in the same place, in ancient Babylon. That’s why our time is the time of the Babylonian correction; we tried to escape from Babylon, but did not succeed because Babylon (i.e., our egoistic society) has to be corrected!

So, we must look at history as a whole, and it is irrelevant that it has been 3,500 years since Abraham attempted to create a unified society. These events reflect on the destiny of humanity. These events are being transformed, conveyed, and concentrated in one aspiration: attaining unity. So far, we continue revealing our oppositeness to it.

We have to be connected with the Creator in our studies and activities. The Creator, the force of the Light, the property of bestowal, that corrects us and without whom we are unable to cope with the task, has to be implied in everything we do.
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A Ring Of Unity Is Closing In On Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is anti-Semitism increasing throughout the world and how does this hatred towards the Jewish people connect with the eternal connection that exists within it?

Answer: This eternal connection among the Jewish people was created at the time of the exodus from Egypt when the people of Israel were hated and enslaved. The pressure and the blows helped to consolidate us, to agree to be as one person with one heart, and to reach the source of unification, the required power and intensity.

In this manner we began to feel the higher power, the central force that manages nature. It is possible to call this force the “Creator,” meaning nature. The name is unimportant; the main thing is that this power was revealed to us. We were already in this state, but afterwards, as a result of various events, we lost this power that united us and from this unity we descended to a state called “exile.”

We have already been in this exile for two thousand years. But now, according to a process through which all of nature is passing, we have reached a kind of limit when the people of Israel must return again to unity and bring all of creation to it. All of humanity must live in total unity and not just the people of Israel.

Therefore, nature is awakening the people of Israel and the whole world to this. It is impossible to believe, but people who have never seen a Jew in their life, somewhere in distant Oceania or South America, nevertheless, feel themselves belonging to that process. Everyone blames Israel.

Question: But this hatred is the opposite, against unity.

Answer: The hatred is derived from there being no unity among the people of Israel. This is the reason that all of the nations of the world feel bad. All of nature, the entire earth, must attain balance.

The world of the still, vegetative, and animate are in balance and harmony, in that, they support each other mutually. And only the human, because of his ego, departs from this balance and doesn’t want to be connected with all of nature. The human doesn’t even feel that he belongs to nature and is a part of it. The ego obliges him to think as if he exists on his own.

In the past, the people of Israel attained this power of unity that exists in nature and used it. We were connected among us, with all of the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate, and likewise with the higher power that manages all of creation. This higher force is called “nature,” “Creator.”

Today we live in a world in which the higher power is again approaching us, this force of the universe is beginning to influence the planet, all of human society, as if a ring of unity is closing in on us. From this we feel ourselves dependent upon each other.

This is a cyclic process as usually happens in nature: sometimes this connection is revealed more and sometimes it is weakened. And as of today we are at the peak of the revelation of this power of unity. It is approaching us again, just like there are periods of maximal solar activity or some processes within the earth.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/12/14

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Anti-Semitism As A Demand For Attention And Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe force of unity is a force of nature that passes through a certain process of changes. Today, this force affects the Earth and compels us all to unite. The whole system should become integrated, connected through all its parts. Also, it has to become global, spreading throughout the world.

We must achieve this state. But of all the world’s population, only the people of Israel have ever lived in this state of unity and reached balance with the still, vegetative, and  animate levels of nature, and with the general upper force. The rest of humanity has not had this experience.

It happened two thousand years ago when the nation of Israel, living in the land of Israel, built the First and Second Temples. We were called the people of Israel because of our orientation straight to the Creator, Isra-el, Yashar-Kel, directly towards unity, harmony, and brotherly love for one another.

Today the whole world is suffering from the external pressure of the upper force that is getting closer to us. Israel does not want this approach, to be in a state of spiritual destruction, expulsion from this upper force, from the connection with each other.

Therefore, the rest of humanity feels that Israel is not fulfilling its obligations: Israel does not pass this upper force to the other nations, the method of unity, is not a Light for others, it does not teach them how to live in connection and unity. We do not realize our mission is to become “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation,” teachers for all of humanity.

Subconsciously, the whole world is awaiting this from us. The world hates the Jews because they do not bring good to them and thus cause suffering. All the nations accuse Israel of being the source of all ills. In this way, they want to say that Israel has the opportunity to become a source of good for the world but does not do it.

Anti-Semitism is the evidence that all the nations feel dependent on Israel. Imagine what a serious condition this is. As if you fell into complete dependence on the neighbor who has gathered a complete report about you and has the opportunity to tell your relatives and friends about all your secrets, all the crimes that you have committed in your life.

He keeps this report at his place and gradually reveals the facts from it, bringing you terrible suffering here and there. And he does it deliberately, as a clever and cunning criminal, leaving you alone neither day nor night, and tormenting you day after day.

How would you feel in this situation? Can this be called life? Your life would be worse than death! It would have turned into one continuous suffering, renewed every moment when you do not know what to expect. That’s what the nations of the world feel, and day after day this feeling is increasing.

Question: What exactly causes the world to feel this way about Israel?

Answer: The reason is that the people of Israel are not united. We have to become united, and then the unified upper force will flow through us and will affect the world, bringing it in order.

We bring harm to the world by our disconnection from each other since the upper force of good cannot flow to the world because of us. We do not teach the world how to be in good connections with each other. The whole world has to be organized in a global system: people have to connect with each other with good ties and become like one body, one man with one heart.

The people of Israel must set this example, show its unity to everyone, and help others to unite in the same way.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life,” 8/12/14

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An Honorable Privilege To Serve People

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The last war [in Israel] has brought about a special change in the younger generation and suddenly there is a different understanding, a great desire that did not exist before. A couple of months ago words like “unity” and “connection” did not appeal to young people, but the latest events have made them feel the connection between people and it is as if this feeling has been imprinted in them.

On the whole, it is actually the same generation that fought the war and if not they themselves, it was their friends. My daughter’s friend couldn’t wait to be recruited and was eager to reach the front and to do his share. For some reason he had the feeling that if he didn’t participate in it he would be missing something.

Answer: A person feels that he doesn’t get what he deserves. When he reaches the front, a soldier feels that he gets something for being there and not that he gives. It is a new phenomenon that we didn’t see before in wartime or in military operations. It belongs to the next level of a human being who begins to feel his giving as receiving.

A soldier who reaches the front and receives a weapon to carry out orders should feel that he sacrifices himself when he serves the nation. However, he suddenly feels that he receives since he acquires a feeling of belonging to his people and to the action that unites everyone. He receives the force of unity from that.

If he doesn’t go to the front, he doesn’t have this strong impression; it is as if he remains empty and he lacks this. So he yearns to be in the center of events in order to be with everyone not just physically, but mentally. It is then that he feels a filling. He understands that this is the only place that can fill him.

This time the feeling was very clearly expressed. Let’s hope that it will be enough to help us move forward this time without war.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/12/14

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 26

From the book: The Essential Secret of the Jews, M. Brushtein.

“Fundamental Principles of the Integral Theory”

Egoistic desires allow seeing the states opposite to them.

We don’t know what controls egoism.

The universe is built entirely out of the desire to receive.

We are now standing in front of the entrance to the eternal, infinite dimension.

The force of unity can break the boundaries of our universe.
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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.20.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Baal HaSulam  “Introduction to the Study of  the Ten Sefirot,” Item 1

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “The Commandments of the Torah, the First Commandment” Item 191

[media 5] [media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 3

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

[media 9] [media 10]