Audio Version Of The Blog – 11.23.14

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A Contradiction That Brings Balance

Laitman_707To date, studies about the evolution of the Earth make it possible to conclude that everything has been managed through extension and connection. Extension is “widespread” dispersion, whereas connection means communication, the joining of parts.

These two forces are acting in our world and must be balanced. During evolution and the correct integration between them, these forces stabilize very complex systems, which then evolve on a basis of extension and connection from their side. One cannot be without the other.

From the side of nature, this program works in perfect harmony between dispersion and unification of the parts. Yet the human inserts many distortions into the process.

Everything is based upon balance between expansion and contraction, cooling and warming, and upon other phenomena that are derived from those basic forces. They also acted at the time of the creation of the Earth’s crust when fire broke out from under it. And then after that as well when the Earth again cooled and became solid.

This cycle continued until balance was created: heat gathered within the Earth, cooling created a hard envelope and made possible the evolution of vegetative and animate life forms. One way or another these forces were designed to create a particular kind of connection such that warming and cooling cooperated between them in a balanced way. So where is all of this said to be leading? What must be our next state?

Here we come to a surprising thought. Humans are living in human society; in this they differ from the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate. From a social aspect we are becoming a single, global humanity in which everything is integrally connected to everything else.

This means that we apparently must protect and build a balance between the two forces: a centrifugal force (that flees from the center outward), which distances us from one another, and the centripetal force directed towards the center, connecting us with one another. These two factors, outward and inward, must be in balance.

Even if one of them occasionally overcomes the other, this is how we advance in our development, moving one foot and then the other. But in any case, keeping a balance between the two forces is incumbent upon us.

And herein lies the problem. We actually do use the connecting force and the distancing force, but we exploit them egoistically. For example, I am ready to connect with others to beat someone or get something. In other words, we connect not for the purpose of evolution, but to derive benefit from the struggle between us.

The truth is that we also see constant struggle in nature, yet on our human level the conflicts are no longer managed instinctively. Here it is up to us to integrate these two basic forces in a different manner, connecting with each other. This is speaking about building an absolutely different human species: the new society.

First of all, our general human unification must be complete and absolute. It must utilize all the forces of distancing, separation, hatred , etc.

In principle, this connection is designed to create from human society all over the world a single whole that will live on another level of understanding and attainmen as a single entity, as one body. And then we will be “cells” of this collective “body” and will feel a new, higher form of existence than when each one of us was separate. This is the conclusion that we can draw from what we see today.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/2/14

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The Book Of Zohar As A Guide To Spirituality

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar speaks exclusively about the connection among all elements of the general system. After descending, Malchut of the world of Infinity that includes the entire world of Infinity with its four stages of the distribution of the direct Light is given to us so that we do our work in the upper system, in the realms where a genuine creation (the soul) dwells.

The soul is shattered and it has to re-emerge with its broken parts. For that, it has to ascend through the worlds, and after it unifies with the worlds, the soul and the worlds return to HaVaYaH, to the four stages of direct Light.

The Book of Zohar, as well as other Kabbalistic sources, describes what one attains as a result of one’s spiritual exertion. Kabbalists disclose only what they actually reveal on their path.

In the sciences of our world, for example, physics, there are books explaining material laws, textbooks. There are numerous popular non-fiction books that describe the history of physics. They depict how major discoveries in physics were made, how the laws that were discovered centuries ago help scientists come up with current innovations, etc. When we read these books, it is as if we follow the routes of physicists who explored the laws of nature and we participate in the process ourselves.

There are two types of Kabbalistic books. The first kind are the texts that are written from top to bottom, starting with theLight of Infinity, as the ARI wrote: “Know that in the beginning of the creation there was only the Upper Light that filled everything.” However, these books do not describe the path of human attainment; rather, they outline the formation of creation from the moment of its appearance from its upper root of the most distant state from us.

There are books that are written differently, from bottom to top, in accordance with the way we ascend spiritually. This is how Rabash wrote his articles. His writings gradually lead us to the spiritual worlds, and he makes every effort to boost our advancement like a patient grandfather teaching his grandchildren: “Let’s do this, and now let’s do that.” It’s as if he opens spirituality together with us. He explains the stages of our advancement and our understanding of the stages of our development.

The Book of Zohar embraces both trends. On one hand, each part of The Book of Zohar, clarifies step-by-step the methods of attaining revelation. On the other hand, the authors immediately tell us where the revelation comes from and why. It is similar to a guide who leads us on the road saying: “Let’s take a step and you’ll see what’s ahead of you and what you must reveal.”

The Book of Zohar accompanies me every step, explaining to me a little in advance what I have to comprehend and expect. I have to make a step forward into the unknown, and The Book of Zohar tells me in advance exactly what will happen to us next.

This is why The Book of Zohar is different from other Kabbalistic books that were written for those who have already attained the upper worlds. Even The Study of the Ten Sefirot doesn’t explain how to raise MAN, but rather, it describes the processes that take place in spiritual Partzufim, whereas The Book of Zohar is written for us.
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From the 4th part of the Kabbalah Daily Lesson 11/16/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Preventing A Third Intifada, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A wave of terrorist attacks by Israeli Arabs has hit Israel in the last couple of weeks. This is very worrisome and seems to be getting worse and may reach the proportions of a third intifada. Very few people understand the reason for this sudden outburst of violence.

Some people think that the reason is rumors about changes in the status quo with the regard to the Temple Mount. Others believe that it is another expression of the rise of fundamentalism and the upsurge of Muslim terrorists in the world that affect the Israeli Arabs.

There are different explanations, but the main point is that people don’t know what to do in this terrible, horrifying reality. It is as if we are in a rerun of a movie that keeps taking us back over and over again to such terrible days.

The most shocking thing is that these terrorist attacks are not against soldiers, but against innocent civilians, women and children. We are forced to live in constant fear. The threat is not external but from inside our very home, from Arabs who are Israeli citizens, who are our neighbors in the same neighborhood or region.

Some people say that this is a temporary wave and that it will soon end and things will quiet down as we have already seen many times before. Others however, think that this is only the beginning of a much greater uprising among the Arab population. How do you see what is going on from your understanding of the inner system?

Answer: I look at what is going on from a totally different angle. There are no coincidences or sudden unexpected events in the whole evolutionary process. Everything is predetermined and the final action begins with a thought.

First there is a thought and a final picture. This determines both the most initial state and the whole process. It brings the still, vegetative, animate, and human to its ultimate form, which the Creator, nature, and desires have foreseen it from the beginning.

This is part of every creature’s evolutionary process, although the whole world goes through a long process of evolution that isn’t over yet and continues with all the creatures obeying rigid rules that cannot be affected or changed.

Every state is predetermined, but we have the right to ask why it is so, where it stems from, where it is taking us, and to what ultimate form. We can study and understand it, but the question is whether we can change anything about it.

First, we have to acknowledge the fact that we are in a system that obeys clear rules. Our lack of knowledge and understanding doesn’t mean that we are free of keeping them. Studies show that there is an internal force in everything that moves the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels from one state to another with the world developing as a result.

We are in the middle of a historical process that leads us from an initial state of absolute chaos that was predestined, called the shattering, to an opposite state of a perfect reality. Chaos is negative wholeness, which means that it contradicts wholeness in different ways on all the levels and in all the attributes, while wholeness symbolizes harmony between all the parts of the system on all the levels and in every form of connection.

As this process continues, there are different periods of development and there are forces of the still, vegetative, animate, and then the speaking levels. This whole evolution has been going on for billions of years. The still matter has evolved over 14 billion years; the vegetative world for about two billion years, the animate world for half a billion years, and humanity for about 2,000 years.

Humanity goes through special important periods in its evolution that are connected to the development of human beings who go through a qualitative leap. Externally, a person can remain almost the same, perhaps a bit taller or shorter, fatter or thinner, but it is mainly about the human and social evolution.

First humanity evolved unknowingly in a long historical process. This went on until one special day 5,775 years ago when one of the people in our world discovered the plan of creation, the process of evolution, its initial and final states, and everything that would happen between them along a timeline.

That person was called Adam and it isn’t by chance that he received this name. We already know that there are no coincidences in the world and that everything is governed by the laws of nature. His parents called him Adam and didn’t even know that it means that he resembled the Creator (Domeh – with the same root in Hebrew).

Adam discovered the laws of nature and evolution, and passed this information on to us through his students. Since that time, humanity received certain knowledge as to what is happening to it and the world surrounding it and about the forces that operate within it and influence our world.

We can manage in this world on the animate level. We are better at it than animals because we have a mind and feelings that are more developed. Although we are weak and gentle, this vulnerability allows us to be more sensitive and to better adapt to the environment and change accordingly.

As a result, our weakness becomes an advantage and is in our favor and a person develops that way and acquires greater control of nature. We can protect ourselves, build houses, sew clothes, etc. which means that a developed mind and sensitivity allow us to protect ourselves from nature’s caprices exactly where we are weak compared to animals.

In the generations that followed Abraham, his students developed this wisdom even more. They didn’t develop it by their rational thinking like abstract philosophy, but on the basis of their experience. Adam gave them the tools to study the inner mechanism of nature, which sets each of us in motion separately and all together and leads us towards a certain goal. Our next form already exists in the plan of creation and we have to attain it.

This whole process is revealed to humanity so that we will be able to be incorporated in it and even participate in this plan, making this process easy and pleasant. If we go through it willingly, we will enjoy it. If I want to develop and help myself do so, it is an enjoyable, desirable, pleasant process that is blessed.

It is a great advantage that provides us with the wisdom that Adam discovered, this is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the program “A New Life” 11/13/14

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Where Does The Light That Reforms Come From?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What actions of bestowal are we performing now, before entering the spiritual world?

Answer: At the moment our actions are in worrying that the friends should come to the lesson and in supporting one another, keeping spirits in the group high, and setting an example for others as to how much we yearn for the goal and how much we worry about organizing our center, so that we will be able to study and hold different activities and events there in order to reach adhesion with the Creator.

Dissemination and studying in campuses etc. are all actions of bestowal. We perform many actions of bestowal, but they lack the right intentions. This is our main problem. People constantly ask me: “What else should we do in order to bestow more, in order to do more?”

Of course we should more, but we still have to pay attention to our intentions and actions, which are very important. We shouldn’t diminish our actions, neither their intensity nor their quantity. But we need to spur one another and to remind each other about the goal. Every action should make us feel the connection, and in the connection we have to start feeling the presence of the Creator that should illuminate for us there.

We receive the Light that Reforms as a result of our efforts to connect. The Light is in the vessels, in Malchut of Ein Sof (Infinity), which isn’t shattered but is whole and full with the Light of Ein Sof . But with regard to us the Light of Malchut of Ein Sof that comes is in a shattered form after all the worlds, which means concealments.

First it is concealed, but then it is shattered and then it goes through many more partitions of concealments, levels of weakening the Light by the filters until it reaches us. We have to make an effort in order to connect, in order to get closer to the Light that Reforms that is in a connected vessel.

When I try to connect, the Light that Reforms begins to shine on me from the point that I make an effort. I collect and connect the shattered parts, gather and unite the society and the Light shines on me from there according to my efforts.

Everyone works according to his concealment, according to the way he is shattered, and the Light shines on me to the extent that I try to connect all the parts into one, since it is in a whole vessel that is shattered only with respect to me.

This picture should constantly be before our eyes.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Lack Of Consensus

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Could you please tell us how you decided to take on the mission of disseminating Kabbalah widely in the world, so that we can follow your example?

Answer: Today, you have no other choice since you live in another generation. I was still in a transition time, standing with one foot in the time where Kabbalists of all generations lived preparing their students in small groups, hidden from everyone else.

So it was with my teacher Rabash, before my arrival. Then I came along and changed that place. At the beginning, his entire family greeted me very warmly because I took care of him.

But they quickly cooled towards me because through me, forty absolutely secular people from Tel Aviv came to study. In the religious area of Bnei Brak, it was uncustomary to have these kind of students and it cast a shadow over their home. Rabash was the only one who was happy about the new students, but all his family members were upset.

I was still in the transition process and in some way helped this revolution begin. But today, you live in a different era and in a new generation. So, you only need to unite with each other and pull the whole world towards this, beginning with the closest, tightly knit circles to wider ones.

Otherwise pressure and blows will outpace your progress and will roll with great speed, not as it was in the last century. Politicians and sociologists say that the main problem today is the health of society, and the entire political struggle will be carried out around this issue.

But no one but us has the means of improving society; all other ways have long proven to be ineffective. Humanity was obliged to check them out and find out that they not only do not help, but harm.

Thus, we are shown that the entire society can succeed only through the path of Kabbalah. And if we do it together, then improvement will affect all areas of the life of the nation, such as safety and education.

Question: How can we ourselves make such a decision to really make this step?

Answer: I cannot decide for you! You are looking at me and waiting for me to say something. But I have nothing more to say. I say what to do and the implementation is up to you.

Question: What stops us from making this decision?

Answer: It should be a consensus that you have decided, committed, signed an agreement with each other, and then demanded each other to perform this action.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/14/14, Workshop

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Spiritual And Physical Exile

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom ancient Babylon to the destruction of the Temple, the group of Abraham went through many various states, ascents and descents. It is due to egoism that they were forced to unite with each other to the extent that they revealed the inner anti-egoistic laws of nature that they wrote in the book called the Torah. The Torah is the guide by which we must live today.

Through cultivating good relationships with each other, consideration, mutual trust, and support, they revealed a special force of connection within this unity, which is the force of nature. This force holds within itself the entire universe and causes its movement towards harmony.

This was the major discovery of the descendants of the group of Abraham. Having understood the fundamental force of nature that causes the development of humankind, they saw the process by which it develops.

Over time, coming out of slavery in Egypt, they again returned to their country called Israel, the land of those who seek the Creator, where they built a state based on love of others and laws of mutual trust.

These laws were introduced into everyday life through the Sanhedrin, which was a council of sages who had achieved a high level of altruism that clearly told them how to move forward and what to do. Thus, the sages dealt with the people’s problems and led it forward. The people existed in this state before the time called the destruction of the Temple.

For many hundreds of years and with each generation fighting with their ego and rising above it, they came to a state when an unexpected surge of egoism occurred within them and which they could not cover by getting closer to each other. Through this egoism, the society fell apart.

It was then that internecine wars, distrust, and disagreement began, leading to the invasions by the Greeks and then the Romans. Thus the path of the state of Israel ended. The entire group of people went from its spiritual state into exile, from a state of “love thy neighbor as thyself” to a descent to normal, everyday egoism.

In their physical life, the spiritual exile was manifested in the form of physical exile. The Romans who conquered the land of Israel expelled the Jews who were forced to begin their centuries of wandering.

Holding together purely egoistically in order not to perish and to somehow survive, they were compelled to move from country to country where they were given temporary shelter. Thus, the 2,000 years of exile of the Jewish people passed in this way.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/24/14

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Congress In Verona “Day Three” – 11.23.14

Congress in Verona “Day Three,” Lesson 6

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Congress in Verona “Day Three,” Workshop 1

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