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A Gossip Or A Friend?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus,” 19:16: Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor: I am the LORD.

A gossip in our world is a person who enjoys the revelation of the ego in others. What is interesting is that he is typically candid. He doesn’t lie and doesn’t try to hurt others, but simply unveils the distortions, the corruption that exists in society in the relationships between people.

Comment: But a gossip never says things openly to a person, only behind his back…

Answer: It makes no difference, since at the same time he can have good motives. The problem is whether he acts for the sake of correction and whether the action of the revelation of evil is intended to attain a greater connection between people.

A gossip separates people and keeps them further apart from one another. You can do the same thing when you discover the lack of connection between people, but at the same time you think about how to connect them. If your intention is to connect people, it isn’t considered gossip.

In spiritual work the term gossip is not examined with regard to oneself or to others, but in regard to the Creator, since He is the one who disrupts the harmony between us, causes our problems and the lack of integration of attributes and parts of the only mechanism of the soul. By His Light, He reveals the lack of coordination between them and is therefore the main cause of all these actions. We, on the other hand, have to work on the coordination between them.

Here is where the gossip is revealed as the one who reveals the evil but doesn’t think about its correction and doesn’t operate along the middle line. Each of us discovers flaws when he focuses on correction in order to correct them and not in order to delve into their revelation.

The revelation of evil draws the Light that highlights all the corruptions in me, but I should first think about the whole, integral, harmonious state, as it is said: “The end on an action is in the initial thought.” This is the whole subtle difference between gossip and doing the right thing.

If, for example, my friend tells me now that I did the wrong thing, is he a gossip or not? It is revealed only by the way it brings me to reveal my corrupted state and how to correct it. Gossip, on the other hand, doesn’t do that and the approach is totally egoistic.

Thus, if my friend reveals the evil in me in order to guide me correctly and get even closer to me, he is not a gossip, but a friend.

I cannot refuse to help the friend reveal the different obstacles and mistakes, since I see my incorrect state. I have to fear the possibility of being a gossip, yet not refrain from revealing the mistakes of my friend. I must do things properly because I have to connect to him and reach correction together with him. This is called “neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbor.”

Blood is the fourth part of the four phases of the spreading of the Light in the soul, which means that it is help on the lowest level of correction that revives the corporeal body. I help others to ascend, but is with this condition. Everything else should be done by a person himself. I only raise him a little.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/02/14

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Don’t Just Share Two Toys, Give Both Away!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the stories of the righteous Job relates that his suffering is the result of a dispute with the evil spirit named Satan, who supposedly looks at people and decides to test their loyalty to the Creator.

Satan claims that Job was righteous because he had everything and thrived in life. And if you take away his wealth, it is unknown how he will respond. This is the beginning of the suffering of Job. Who is Satan?

Answer: This story is about the evil desire that confronts everybody. Satan is inside us and is called the evil inclination. It is written: “the evil inclination in a person is the Satan, the angel of death.”

Question: We consider Satan to be some kind of the higher power?

Answer: Why can’t it be higher? We are born this way; it precedes me: “the human heart is wicked from the day of one’s birth.” It rules over us. I would say that this force is even stronger than the Creator. Nature consists of four levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

The force that controls the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels is benevolent. That is why harmony and balance are present in the first three levels. Even though some live creatures gobble each other up, it happens only because they are governed by nature. They don’t hurt each other deliberately. The positive, kind force that rules the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels is called the Creator (Elokim).

The human (speaking) level is controlled by the negative force: “the human heart is wicked from the day of its birth.” The evil nature constantly tempts us to hurt others. Not only do I want to take your watch, ring, and beautiful eyeglasses just because I want them, I also enjoy that you don’t possess them anymore. Where does this feeling come from? It derives from the ability to sense our neighbors, i.e., “I feel you.”

Since I feel them, I am not satisfied when my neighbor simply doesn’t feel good. I really want them to feel bad. This mere fact makes me automatically happy. So the sensation of a neighbor that is inherent to human nature allows us enjoy others’ suffering that result from the fact that they lack things that they strive for. This sensation elevates and fulfills us. The force that causes this sensation is called Satan or the evil inclination.

Question: What does the dialogue between Satan and the Creator mean?

Answer: Satan lives inside us. It is our nature. As for the Creator, He is the external nature that we don’t yet have. It exists in the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels, but is absent from the human level: “the human heart is evil from the day it was born.” This is how we are born and then continue living. You can easily see it in our children. They gradually grow for two, three, four years, and all of a sudden they become people.

They begin lying, stealing, acting solely for their own sake, doing anything they can to fulfill their desires. They want everything, and if you give a toy to a child and the second toy to another child, the first child wants to grab both. It is our duty to transform the wicked inclination into a good one, “as if for our own self.” If previously a little child grabbed both toys and never gave them to other children, now he is supposed to give both toys to his friends. It’s not about sharing. He has to act “as if it is for his own sake.”

Question: How should we understand  Satan’s manipulations when he demands sending new troubles to Job? It’s not enough to take Job’s money away. It is necessary to take away his children!

Answer: It stems from the program of nature that constantly rules over us. We permanently advance and grow, and our desires constantly enhance, develop, and become more and more egoistic. Our needs expand. However, do we become more corrected from generation to generation?

We constantly follow Satan. He pushes us to bad things: weapons, murder, terror, deceit, and slyness. Can we resist these things? No! We drift with the wicked flow that leads us nowhere. We consent to it. Moreover, we continue considering ourselves to be honest citizens!

By converting evil into benevolence, we’ll attain the Creator’s level. Then, we’ll understand all of nature and reach the best possible scientific level, build correct relationships among us and behave accordingly. We are not there as yet.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/28/13

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The Invigorating Power Of The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom At the End of Days. Jewish Predictions of Humanity’s Future, Chapter 1, “Signs Indicating Imminent Deliverance”: Messiah will not come until the strength of Israel expires.

In spiritual work, one has to be completely disillusioned about their ability to act independently and to determine things and events. Everything happens only with the help of the upper force.

Everyone will have to sense and realize that we don’t have anything to do with the action of correction. Even though we may plan for certain actions, we are not involved with them because we are influenced by the upper force that descends and corrects us.

We contribute our efforts only to realize that this process is way beyond us. The force that descends to us from the next level has nothing to do with us.  The sensation that it is impossible to act on our own, is in fact, a reward for our exertions.

Our full awareness that it is the upper force that has complete impact upon us is the basic condition of being under its influence. Its power is ultimately important since it speaks of a new stage, the next level.

Comment: It is a very cruel and painful condition.

Answer: On the contrary, it is very joyous since we feel it as deliverance. We get rid of the responsibility to plan and calculate events that take place in our lives.

Question: Am I freed of worries about myself?

Answer: No, you stop worrying about yourself long before you attain this state. You simply feel a desire that is absolutely incapable to act on its own as if it’s inanimate, dead matter.

Only with regard to the next state, which you define as spiritually dead, are you able to turn into clay in the sculptor’s hands. Only the Creator can transition us to the next step and give us water that brings life. The land (desire) is dead without water (the Light of Hassadim). When it happens, you’ll be revived and will transition to the next step.
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From KabTV’s “Will the Messiah Come?” 11/14/14

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The Evil Inclination, For The Good Of Others

laitman_207Question: The “Song of Songs” was written by King Solomon, the wisest of men, from his knowledge and awareness of all of nature. Why did he choose the form of a romance between a man and a woman for his story?

Answer: We simply have no other words. Only with a language like this can we describe our good attitude towards someone. What other words can I find if I want to fulfill someone, to connect with him, to hug, to kiss? I yearn to be closer to him, constantly adding and replenishing good. This is what is called love. Love is a general expression of caring for a person.

Question: The love described here is love between a person and whom?

Answer: It is for everyone. It is for all of the reality that I feel outside of me. Previously I looked at reality with a desire to swallow everything, whereas now it is as if I have put on glasses. I acquire a new attitude and look at the environment with a desire to fulfill and complete everything. I want everyone to feel goodness, pleasure, and additional enjoyment in life from me. That is what is called loving.

So at every moment in life, infinite possibilities and opportunities open before us. If I enjoy the pleasure that others have when I give them pleasure, then my life is fulfilled. What a person must think about is: What is the meaning of life? What do I enjoy, who do I give enjoyment to? These questions bring him out to the level of Adam – Man (from the word “Domeh” – similar), for he wants to resemble the totality of nature, which is called the Creator.

Question: King Solomon describes the connection with these words: His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand would embrace me. (Song of Songs 8:3). What is this saying?

Answer: Connection is made through two forces that exist within us, a negative force and a positive force. The negative force, the force from the left, is my unfulfilled desires and foreign needs, a yearning to exploit others. In contrast to this I must complete and fulfill the other through the positive force of bestowal, which is the force from the right. It follows that I hold onto the other through my negative feelings and fulfill and complete him through the positive feelings. Embracing and fulfillment is possible only through both “hands.”

If there were no evil inclination, I wouldn’t be able to feel the other at all. By nature, the still, vegetative, and animate don’t feel others. They only feel themselves: I must devour someone to be satisfied, but if this is good or bad for the victim, I don’t know.

Our evil inclination is built such that we feel when we do something bad to other people. I want to diminish others, to dominate them, to be smarter, more confident, and richer. At least something, but I want to be more: I feel pleasure and satisfaction if others are less than I am.

The ability to feel the other as close to oneself can develop other characteristics in me that lead to the correct use of my nature. It is specifically about this that the words, “His left hand would be under my head” are intended: I hold the other by wanting to understand what he is missing, but with a good relationship towards him already. I use my evil inclination to learn and explore the desires of others, and after that, “and his right hand would embrace me” (embracing him with the right hand).

Question: But if I want to discover and know what he is missing in order to fulfill and complete him, why is this evil? This is good!

Answer: To begin with, the evil inclination arouses and pushes me to check what the other has and to take it from him, to feel pleasure that he has lost it. It doesn’t matter if I have it; the important thing is that he doesn’t. The correction begins with feeling something that the other is missing: I don’t enjoy his not having something, rather that I complete it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/28/13

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The Kabbalists About The Nation Of Israel And The Nations Of The World, Part 14

Baal HaSulamThe Nation of Israel is Obligated to Fulfill Its Mission

“If those who now neglect Kabbalah as a methodology of self-correction begin implementing it on themselves, the construction of the Temple will become possible. Thus, we’ll prove to the nations of the world, even to Arabs, that Israel has the right to return to its homeland.

At the same time, the return to the land of Israel that happens because of reasons other than attaining our destiny to serve as “the light to the nations of the world” doesn’t produce due impression on the nations; so, they are ready to sell Israel’s independence for the sake of their own needs.”

Baal HaSulam, The Last Generation. Appendix (supplements) and drafts, Fragment 12
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Now Is The Time For A Complete Revision

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the process of human development, each new state initially is perceived as good and desirable and we are pleased to enter into it. But then, gradually shortcomings existing within it are revealed and it ceases to please us. Over time, it gets worse and worse until it ends in a revolution, a struggle to move to the next stage.

We are now in this transition period. We need to make an audit of our entire previous development on the still, vegetative, and animate degrees, subject it to critical analysis and a general check to see that all this development did not work in our favor.

It was just the evolution of our egoism that made us continuously improve our material life and build systems that were able to fulfill it more and more. But it never made us happy because in the end, egoism always devoured all the fruits of our efforts, once again leaving us with nothing and an even greater sense of inner emptiness.

Having received a hundred, it is not content and wants two hundred, having received two hundred, it wants four hundred. It is a natural tendency and we will never be able to limit our egoistic appetite. It all ends when a person dies without satisfying even half of his aspirations. He never gets what he coveted, even at the end of his life.

Humanity must reveal the insignificance of its egoistic development. First of all, we need to clarify that this development was required and that we now have the opportunity to get out of the material plane and develop in a completely different direction of reality. We must move upward to a new dimension and into the matrix that is not related to this world.

To do this, we need to change our tendencies. Instead of constant absorption, which is characteristic of our egoistic nature that begins with cells and atoms and seeks only to absorb more good things, it is necessary to go directly opposite in order to feel the whole universe that is related to us.

Each of us must feel that all the others are part of us. Thus, we will feel that the whole world is one integral system. In our time, the world began to move toward such a form, but in a negative manner, showing us our inability to exist in an integral system.

We see that we are unable to succeed in the economy, in the education of children, or in any other area of life. After all, we ourselves are structured completely opposite to this integral system and everyone just grabs and pulls towards themselves.

Nature presents us with a new reality. The cause of the current crisis in human society is hidden within it. We remain in our original egoistic nature, but the total integral system is beginning to unfold before us in which everyone is connected to everyone else.

This system cannot work in an environment where everyone grabs only for himself. On the contrary, in order for this system to exist so that can we exist within it, we have to feel it as part of ourselves.

So today we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, which will reveal this upper system, the force of bestowal to us. It will explain its nature and how to work with it. Whether we wish it or not, the train of evolution is carrying us forward and bringing us to a new station. We find ourselves in a completely new condition and suddenly discover that all the previous methods no longer work.

All the capitalistic laws, under which everyone pulled everything towards himself and everyone felt comfortable, do not work. We thought we could continue like that forever, but this does not work because the force of bestowal began to work in our world. And if we are not equipped with it, if are not able to understand and feel it, to learn and begin to work with this second force, then with every moment we will lose control over what is happening and suffer more and more setbacks in our lives.

Therefore, we must study the wisdom of Kabbalah that explains all of reality “that has emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time,” as Baal HaSulam writes.

There is a science, a technique, by which we can move forward on the basis of our real experiences and sensations. As it is said that the judge has only the facts that are before his eyes and that the phenomenon that has not been comprehended is impossible to describe.

In our hands are the real tools for understanding reality. We have never had such an opportunity to see our future with confidence. Our present lives are arranged so that no one can know what the next moment brings him. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us the opportunity not only to learn this, but also to control our own destiny. Today’s reality obliges us to do so.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.16.14

Workshop

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Writings of Rabash, Letter 43  

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts

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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 62

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Rabash, Letter 53  

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