Audio Version Of The Blog 10.19.14

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See The Friends As Higher

laitman_527Question: Practically, how is it possible to try to ask for Light for the friends in a group of ten? Must I imagine them as miserable and try to transform them into being happy, or is it preferable to imagine them as uncorrected and ask for the Light of correction for them?

Answer: The right mutual relationships are shaped in a group when for me all of the friends in a group become exalted spiritual creatures, completely corrected people. I look at the friends through my ego so I see them negatively, with a multitude of deficiencies. If I were to correct myself, then I would see them as complete.

So I adhere to them and constantly try to work with them only for the purpose of bestowal. This is not because they need this, for in fact they are complete. Rather it is because if I try to help them with everything even though they don’t need any of this, because, after, all I am looking at them with my ego, then I will also advance towards them.

I must pray for them, ask for them, and follow them in everything, dissolving in what they say. First and foremost, this is a full nullification of myself in regard to the others. And it is completely unimportant who they are and what they are.

There were new students, small and limited with the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma. But he saw their inner state and could humble himself in regard to them; he could feel them as being higher than himself. So he advanced forward. We must also do the same thing. We are not yet on the level of the great Rabbi Yosi, so it is much easier for us to do this.

But in no way should you allow any criticism! On the contrary, everything is done only to make it possible for me to make myself into the characteristic of bestowal. And then I will feel that the whole world was created for me.

We must concentrate only on this, so that with intellect and heart, with thoughts and desires to be with my group of ten, I try to create one thought and one desire in it, as one person with one heart. Try to reach a state like this and you will see what it carries within it.

You will begin to feel completely different characteristics and laws. This will be like a feeling from the start of a higher state, of the upper world. Switching the laws between us is correct; this is the spiritual world. Within it we begin to feel a completely different plane, a different dimension.

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From the Convention In St. Petersburg 9/18/14, Preparatory Lesson 2

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Ego That Is Squeezed Out Like Lemon Juice

laitman_933A few years ago, if you were to hear from me about the evil of the ego, you would think that I was simply preaching morality to you. Now that a connection has been created between us, this feeling of dependence upon your ego has been handed over to you. Soon, you will begin to feel that it is really tiresome for you to be a slave of Pharaoh and to serve him.

After this, the prophecies and movements will begin as they did with Moses, “Come to Pharaoh,” and everything will continue to happen just like in the story. You will feel how Pharaoh puts pressure on the people of Israel, loading more and more work on them. The ego brings evil to you; life will go on without benefit. All of the fruits of your work will go to Pharaoh. Everything will be swallowed up by him, and as much as you try to correct something nothing will come of it for you.

In principle, you would want a little revitalization to make your soul happy, but nothing works. A little later, the crisis will appear everywhere, even in America and in Europe. However, it is possible that it won’t come to such a state. Instead, you will do all scrutiny in emotion and intellect, and not in coarse material. The problem is that people don’t hear the warnings.

It is possible to depart from the ego without waiting for the plagues of Egypt by developing the heart and mind. But in any case, this takes time, and it is not just a few waves that will pass over you because it is impossible to overcome the ego through one wave. One big wave would drown you so it is divided into several small waves.

Here, patience is required, but it means that you have to arm yourself with all the means at your disposal: connection with friends, with the teacher, along with the study and dissemination. Then, it becomes possible to hasten time very greatly.

Question: It is terrible to discover that someone always is cheating you and striking you, and you don’t even feel that this ego is living in you as a part of yourself. Why don’t they let us see it so that we can ask to be free of it?

Answer: You could ask, but this wouldn’t help you because this would be an egoistic request. You want to see the wretch who deceives you all of your life and destroy him? However, this will work only when you ask for this in order to reach the Creator. Then, you will be shown this wretch, otherwise, no.

Moses, the “point in the heart,” must come to Pharaoh and close accounts with him. Otherwise, you are acting for the sake of your own benefit because you want to be released from difficult work, from whomever is deceiving you.

A substantial reaction is required as in a chemical experiment that makes it possible to examine the composition that is filtered and separated it into several components. If you want to discover and see the truth in Egypt, it is possible only if you try to become a single whole with the group. Then, you will begin to feel what it means to go against Pharaoh. While still in Egypt, a reaction or mechanism will appear within you that will make it possible to differentiate and clarify where Pharaoh is and where is that which is above him.

This is because you never work directly regarding the Creator. In Egypt, this is not possible at all. So, you work in relation to the group, which is called the “people of Israel.” Begin to connect all of your friends in Egypt, which is, today, what all of this world is called, and then you will see where the power of Klipa is and where the Kedusha is, where Pharaoh is and where he isn’t.

Pharaoh is everything that disturbs unity. So, you will discover him more and more until the ten plagues of Egypt, and all of these plagues are relevant to the increasing connection. Ultimately, you will understand that you must leave Egypt.

However, this is possible only through such a connection where you squeeze all of the Pharaoh out of the group like lemon juice. All of the ego will ooze out, and only the group will remain. Then, this group must be filled with the power of bestowal, something that is impossible to do in Egypt, and so it departs from there.

All of the work is done only on the connection. It is impossible to work directly against Pharaoh. You can only summon blows upon him through a connection with the friends. The ten plagues correspond to the ten Sefirot. By rising higher and higher, from Sefira to Sefira, to a greater and greater intensity of connection, you summon the Upper Light to act and influence Pharaoh and filter the ego.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/14, “Sukkot

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More Shade Than Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that a holiday hut, a Sukkah, symbolizes the soul of a person. How can one understand this?

Answer: A person sitting in a Sukkah symbolizes a desire. The measurements of the Sukkah symbolize the qualities of the human soul, and its roof symbolizes a Masach (screen).

That is, I don’t want to receive Light for my own pleasure, so there must be more shade than light in a Sukkah. This symbolizes my readiness to be satisfied with the minimum necessities, with everything else being for bestowal.

This is like the level of the Tzadik (Righteous), bestowal for the sake of bestowal. First of all, it is necessary to reach this to attain a beginning of resemblance and equivalence to the Creator. There are a few stages of approach to the Creator, and this is the initial stage.

The soul is our desire to receive, to enjoy, that is organized in a form like this by the right environment, the integration of forces, of preparation, as if it were found within a Sukkah. Certainly, this is not talking about a material Sukkah, but about such an integration of my desires within the environment that makes it possible for me to correct them gradually for the good of others.

On every day of the Sukkot holiday, we receive a new Light, with whose help we scrutinize our desires and correct them. The illumination that reaches us is called Ushpizin (guests). We receive honored guests in our Sukkah in this order: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, and David. They are seven Lights, each of them correcting in us a particular part of the soul: Hesed (the characteristic of Abraham), Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod and Malchut.

So, during the entire holiday of Sukkot, we correct ourselves by arranging festive meals for the Ushpizin. It is customary to eat and to drink only in a Sukkah because only there is it possible to make a correction.

During Sukkot we make blessings with four symbols: Lulav (palm), Etrog (citron), myrtle, and willow. Their form is similar to the innate characteristics of the four parts of the human soul—Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut—that together, comprise a complete HaVaYaH.

So, there is a tradition to choose the Etrog carefully so that there will not be any defects in it, for it symbolizes Malchut, the foundation of creation, the foundation of the soul. All of these symbols must be connected together, and then it is possible to bless, meaning attract the Light.

From the side, this process can seem like some kind of idolatrous ceremony. The person shakes the symbolic branches that are gathered together a few times, moving them in all the directions of the Light: right, left, middle, above, below, forward, and backward. However, if we read the explanation of the Ari in the book, Shaar HaMitzvot, it then will be clear that lofty spiritual activities are concealed behind this.

In fact, a person must carry them out within himself. The external actions are only a tradition, whereas the main thing is that agitation that he performs within his soul, correcting it. The correction of the soul is the purpose of a person’s life.

During each one of the seven days of Sukkot, it is necessary to carry out internal activities like these in a Sukkah that is built inside of us by attracting Ohr Makif there. If we arrange all of the parts of the soul to resemble the four symbols of Sukkot and we know how to bless them in all the directions of our desire—right and left, with bestowal and with reception—then, at the end of the Sukkot holiday, we reach the holiday of Simchat Torah.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/02/14

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In Pairs Or In A Group Of Ten?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we work in a group of ten, it seems that we are restrained because we are ashamed to reveal some things. In a relationship between two friends, we act with greater freedom.

Answer: It is not about freedom. Rather, in the meantime, there is no other structure through which it is possible to feel the next level before even entering it. It is discovered very sharply and suddenly, as a result of gathering immense internal potential.

Essentially, you are building yourselves. In the connection between you, you begin to acquire some new sensations, habits, characteristics, and intelligence, and to discover all kinds of different feelings. In this way, even before entering the upper world, you build within yourselves a system of consciousness and the perception of it.

When a person proceeds alone, everything happens differently. Today our world is moving in a different direction, only in the form of a group! If there is no group, it is very difficult to work in pairs, and it is even more difficult to work as a pair with the teacher. It is difficult because you begin to abuse him, belittling him and relating to him as a parent. In general, this is how we relate to parents, as if they owe us something.

My teacher, Rabash, had a similar situation. He told me how difficult it was for him to nullify himself constantly toward his father. So, it is also difficult to nullify yourself toward the teacher if you learn with him in a pair. This is called  student–friend, and this is not easy.

So, be thankful, and consider yourself blessed that you have a group.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day Two” 9/20/14, Lesson 3

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Going Through The Ten Plagues Of Egypt

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The path of the ten plagues of Egypt is actually the path of suffering. Is it possible to bypass them and avoid them, or is it impossible to avoid them even if I focus on love and bestowal toward my group of ten, the people who are close to me, and the teacher?

Answer: It depends on the person who follows the spiritual path. If he identifies with the forces of Egypt and with Pharaoh, he surely suffers. However, if he identifies with working above reason and ascending above it, his ego suffers, but he doesn’t identify with his ego and so he doesn’t suffer.

The time of the spiritual development is called the plagues of Egypt, which means the plagues that the ego feels that help a person rise above it. However, if he is in his ego, they force him to rise.

It all depends on to whom you compare your position.

Question: Do the plagues of Egypt reflect a certain state that we go through?

Answer: We must process and practice together to the fullest, everything that is written in the Torah! You will see that we cannot miss even one step. There may be levels that I have gone through but did not realize it, then ten years later, as often happens in life, I begin to realize what I went throug and what these actions and circumstances were.

Question: This means that we have no chance of skipping any of the plagues?

Answer: What for? How can you detach from your ego if you don’t go through all the ten plagues? You will not have a whole vessel, a vessel of ten Sefirot.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day Two” 9/20/14, Lesson 3

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How To Feel The Center Of The Circle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we feel the center of the circle? What is the difference between a person who speaks from the mind or from the center of the circle, which is from the heart? How do we define it for ourselves?

Answer: Speaking from the center of the circle means to speak from our collective yearning.

The center of the circle is where all our aspirations and expectations come together and we begin to feel that we really need to be in contact with the Creator so that He will dress in us and reveal in us the intention, direction, and motion. When we totally annul ourselves there is only one central point of our circle left and the desire that He should dress in it. This is what we should reach.

Although we know a lot and seemingly understand the method, what is eventually left of all this is only zero feeling of the connection. Zero! This is the best feeling, when you just need the upper, and in comparison, of course, the whole group turns to zero. Then you are rewarded by feeling His work on you.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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Carry Out The Desire Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The prayer of many is a unique prayer. Is it derived from a state where from the start I am ready to accept the concealment of the Creator upon myself?

Answer: The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam asked the Higher Power for the ability to describe the Kabbalistic method for the simplest people. He was ready to descend to any level so that he could convey this in a simple language.

This is the same thing that we are doing today with our dissemination; we are continuing the same movement. This is compulsory for all of humanity. Even more than this, how can we talk about bestowal if we are thinking about how we rise, instead of thinking about how to carry out the desire of the Creator, about bringing the whole world to the Completion of Correction?

Soon you will have the opportunity, either as one person with a number of people to be involved with higher Kabbalistic levels and rising in the spiritual levels, or not rising in the levels, but on the contrary, even to descend but to bring this to people. Questions of this type will appear within you. And you will see that there is no other way except dedication. God grant that this is the time!
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Lesson 2

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 64

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

The Crisis Is According To A Consistent Pattern  

The fact that the crisis is a regular thing has been known for a long time. Nikolai D.Kondratiev’s studies are widely known.

Kondratiev waves are long cycles of economic activity, the existence of which was predicted by the Russian economist Nikolai D. Kondratieff (1892-1931) who was killed during Stalin’s purges.

The cycle length is defined as about 40 years. The last drop in production accounted for the depression in the 1930s. (Academic Dictionary)

It is interesting that, according to Kondratieff’s observations, cycles consist of four phases. In their turn, Kondratieff cycles themselves are part of another four.

Economic cycles:

Kitchin cycle 2-3 years;

Juglar cycle 6-13 years;

Kuznets cycle 15-20 years;

Kondratieff cycle 50-60 years.

By the way, let’s recall that we talked about the four phases of development in Chapter 2.

We need to say the following with respect to the cycles. The point is not in what order and how economic crises pass. The problem is that even the most thorough study of the crisis brought us no closer to an understanding of their causes. Why do we need to know when the next crisis comes? It is better that it didn’t happen at all.

“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” (Albert Einstein)

The fact is that the causes of the crises are in the incorrect relationship between people, Abraham once said. Today, we are finally starting to understand it.

We do not develop harmoniously and our spiritual development is so behind that we are the victims of an avalanche of technological growth. We cannot emerge from this stream, even if we wanted to.

As a result, when humanity had a need for a new energy for technological development, when it discovered this energy, then morally it was not ready to use it to its advantage.

Then, in terms of historical development, we began to distrust each other so much, not to believe that we could help each other (although everything was done in order to survive together) that each of us personally, in fact, does not participate in public life. (Andrei A. Tarkovsky, Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director)

We do not know how to solve this problem. Abraham solved this problem.

“He (Abraham) managed to create a great nation of the progeny. Unified, despite all the changes of places and vicissitudes.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and statesman).
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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.19.14

Writings of Rabash Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 12

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts “Introduction,” “The Fifth Commandment,” Item 215 

[media 3] [media 4]

Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 48

[media 5] [media 6]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” “The Wheel of Transformation of the Form” 

[media 7] [media 8]