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Building A Model Nation

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can only solve our problems on the social level through the relationships between us. Humanity is a general system, a general body, which should be managed properly so that it will feel good at any moment of its existence.

What form should humanity take on as it develops? It is clearly advancing towards a certain state, a certain form, towards some goal. We are changing and the world around us is also changing, and we develop for better or for worse.

The question is what does nature demand of us? Studying the laws of nature in the last decades, we begin to realize that nature is a whole integral system in which every component is connected to all the other parts, just like in the human body.

Therefore, all the parts should match each other and not oppose one another. Even if it seems that way, it is only because we don’t know how they integrate.

Nature has provided humanity with optimal conditions, except for the connection between people. These should be connections of a new quality so that we do not advance by blows, by the ego, hate, deceit, wars, and dominating others.

Now we are all cooking in one pot. If something bad happens to someone, it will eventually be bad for everyone. In this global world we have to build a homogeneous society in which all the people are equal, are properly connected to one another and mutually complementing one another. Such a society is based on the principles of equality, the right connection in which there is room for everyone, the right education for children and adults, and mutual concessions, until together, we reach connections of love. After all, there cannot be certain parts that wish to devour the others in one body, unless it is cancer.

Question: What is the complementary work needed between all the parts in regard to Israel?

Answer: Israel needs this much more than anyone else. It is because the Israeli nation must be the first to realize this process and to fulfill it in order to set an example to others, to be light unto the nations. The role of our nation in the world is to be a model nation. This is the reason that we are hated because we show everyone the opposite and set a negative example.

Question: How is the development of the Israeli society expressed in the plan of nature?

Answer: It should be a commune, a connection, according to the principle of “all of Israel are friends,” and “love thy friend as thyself,” so that no one would fail, there would be no great or small, and everyone should be equally connected. Everyone should only worry about the maximum connection between people in mutual complementation.

This is exactly how the human body, how every organ, complements all the others, and as a result, the body functions properly.

Question: Would a certain leader who could understand the plan of our evolution and could see at least one or two steps ahead win the trust of the public?

Answer: No. He would first have to explain his approach to the public and prove it by bringing evidence from science and from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and thus gradually get the public accustomed to the new model. It is because people only want to solve their daily problems and that’s all.

Therefore, they should first be prepared to understand the current situation and what is going on, why we are called the nation of Israel, why the whole world relates to us in a special manner, and what we should be. It is because according to nature’s plan we are the most special of all the nations and we cannot escape our role.

Question: And what if the people didn’t believe this, would we develop differently?

Answer: No. In that case, nature will oblige us to fulfill our role, but only under the receiving of hard blows. If we don’t want to understand and accept this role, we will accept it under the pressure of problems and troubles, including wars and even nuclear wars.

Question: If a certain leader could perceive nature’s plan and advance along the right track, what specific steps should he take?

Answer: First he should bring the educational plan to the whole nation by using media, schools, kindergartens, and workplaces. Education refers to knowing nature. In Gematria (numerology) nature (Teva) and God (Elokim) have the same value. Let’s recognize who governs us and what He wants of us. This is the only way to improve our life and prosper.

This is what happens to a child who doesn’t listen to his parents, but later eventually understands and does what his parents require. Then of course their attitude towards him changes for the better. Thus, this means that we reach the solution for all our problems, including health problems, wars, the high cost of living, etc. Everything will work out and advance smoothly, and thus we will receive everything, even before we ask for it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/9/14

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In Righteousness Shalt Thou Judge Thy Neighbor

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On what level must a judge be to sentence another person?

Answer: This is a very complex question. After all, everything that a person carries out is done when the Creator turns a blind eye. The Creator allows him to commit a particular transgression against society and even against the Creator Himself.

The question arises as to how one can recognize that what happened is the revelation of evil for the sake of future correction. This question is not very simple. Why does the Creator arrange for everyone that disclosure will happen specifically in a bad way like this and not in a good way?

It follows that the situations were incorrect from the start and work on them is unfinished, both by the person and by society. In order to discover the incorrect situation that there is between them, they must first undergo some kind of transgression and then a correction.

Suppose that someone committed a murder and was caught. This is a problem of society as a whole, since particular conditions exist in it for carrying out a deed like this. How is it that from today’s circumstances, we reach their full correction tomorrow?

All of us are connected into one system. This system breaks down like it does in mechanics: There is some kind of a problem in an engine and one of the parts is broken (analogous to murder). It follows that it is not one part that is to blame; rather, it is in its coordination with the other parts.

So it is necessary to take a new look at the entire engine and find out why this part broke down. Maybe this didn’t happen at all because of the engine? That is to say, the Creator arranged all of this for us.

The correction comes only by covering the broken part. Since it was revealed this way in society and helped it determine its general integral breakdown, all members of society must carry out the appropriate corrections in working with it, taking its breakdown upon themselves and connecting with it as if it were a corrected part.

It follows that society must give a guarantee to a thief or murderer and correct itself so that under the pressure from society that together with it, they will rise to another level. This is where the general recognition of evil happens: the discovery of the overall error, the overall defect. Why didn’t they see this? Why didn’t they discover this in time?

There is collective work here. Nothing is private or individual! You don’t catch the murderer and haul him off to court where the judge immediately passes sentence on him according to the laws regarding punishment: There is no death sentence or ten years in prison. Of what exactly is he guilty?

Only an integral system is prepared to give the right answer to an error like this. Moreover, when we find the right solution, the right completion, we discover adhesion with the Creator within this picture.

The egoistic system of our world is based on the transgressor being guilty and so must be disposed of. It is up to him to express remorse and to sit and suffer. And what is the end of the matter? He takes upon himself the general defect of society and absorbs the entire breakdown of society into himself, and so it follows that he apparently is guilty.

Together with this, society accumulates uncorrected parts like these within itself and attracts all the social evil upon itself from generation to generation. Society forces the transgressors to suffer in its place, when it is cleansed of this egoistically: “Go and suffer instead of us.”

Question: Under our physical conditions is it possible for us to realize a different legal system?

Answer: Can we morally and spiritually establish a balanced system? Can we say how it should look in the perfected state and how imbalance, the loss of proportion and inner tension, is created in it? For this it is up to us to see this system.

Question: Does this mean that only a person who is found on a spiritual level can be a judge?

Answer: A judge is the Light of AB SAG, Ohr Hochma and Bina. Together they work on the desire and reveal it on two sides: Din (judgment) and Rachamim (mercy). Only the right integration between them can reveal the Kav Smol (left line) that makes it possible for a person to be a judge.

Even the ancient Greeks depicted the goddess of justice holding scales in her hand, trying to balance between good and evil. This is a natural human impulse. However, it is not possible to find the Kav Emtzai (middle line) in our world, since it is higher than human characteristics.

The judge must be impartial, so to ensure this, they give him a good salary for then he supposedly wouldn’t require additional money. But the truth is that a judge must be a person who is necessarily even more self-sufficient and simply doesn’t require anything else. Rather, you obstruct him with money. This is an entirely different approach.

We are not concerned about his inner state and suppose that it is up to us to fill his pockets with money so that he will not be tempted to take a bribe. On the contrary! This is how we destroy judges.

Moreover, the judges cannot be completely detached because they live within society and depend upon it. But in truth, the judge must be completely detached from society. This is what we are cultivating within us: the quality of judgment, the judge.

The judge is the highest person in a society! This is a person who is ready to be connected with the Creator; and from this high level, when he understands what the Creator is doing with the society, he can bring correction to a society because judgment is only a system of correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/02/14

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A Flight To Inner Space

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can a person understand the Creator‘s greatness and His providence?

Answer: The whole goal of creation is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings in order to do them good. The Creator does the created beings good by revealing Himself to them and by filling them. The Creator is dressed in the created being, which means that the Light of Hochma is dressed in Light of Hassadim.

But do we know how to advance towards the revelation of the Creator? By what attributes do we look for Him and in which direction should we advance? How do we make sure that we don’t draw away from the right path? We have to be stabilized in order to do that. If I were in space not knowing where I am, I would find my way according to the stars.

It is the same in spiritual work. We cannot say anything about any phenomenon, outcome, force, or attribute if we don’t measure it in relation to something. It is important to make sure in relation to what we measure something.

For example, we assess the behavior of animals that devour one another and it seems very cruel to us. But the point is that we assess it wrongly, in relation to human feelings. This is why we reach wrong conclusions. It is the same in regard to any phenomenon.

The problem is how we should assess every phenomenon. This is important both in spirituality and our world, and in order to assess phenomena, we use tools such as compasses, measurements, and specific units to measure distances, weight, and different frequencies. Humanity has created these systems of measurement in order to determine and measure different phenomena.

Before measuring systems were invented, it was very difficult for people to communicate. If I wanted to exchange my chickens for your donkey it was difficult to measure how many chickens the donkey was worth. Today we have money for that.

The increasing accuracy of different measurements allows us to measure different attributes. This is exactly how we bring up a child, teaching him how to see himself with regard to his environment in order that he has the right orientation with regard to space, the furniture in the room, his parents, to other children, and to himself.

When we enter the spiritual world, we have no means by which to feel it. It is because we lack a standard and we don’t know in which way we should change ourselves and what we should do with our attributes.

Therefore, it is impossible to exist only by the positive force, so we need to use the two forces together. This is the reason that there is always light and darkness. It is impossible to see anything in contrast to one light and neither is it possible to see anything in the dark. The only way to see something is in the contrast between light and darkness. This principle is true in every aspect.

Just as a small child begins to recognize attributes and differences through his close environment and to gradually learn how to establish increasingly wider connections until he knows all of humanity, so we also establish connections between us in the group and begin to know the spiritual world.

It is impossible to do this in any other way. The Creator is revealed in the group, in the relationships between us. If our relationships are egoistic, there is no standard of measurement since there is only one force at work, which is help against us. We also need the opposite force. When I develop the force of bestowal and it begins to operate against the force of receiving, I can begin to turn and manage myself and measure the diversion.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, just as in any other science, the main thing is the measurement: NRNHY, KHB ZON, Partzufim, levels, Hassadim, and Hochma. It is all based on measurements, when different things are compared and thus new phenomena are discovered.

It is written: “Thou shalt not make other gods,” which means that different forms intentionally appear before us so that we will be able to measure and format the Creator in relation to them.

When the Light of Ein Sof (Infinity) fills Malchut of Ein Sof it does not leave a shadow within it and everything is totally filled with the white Light. It is thanks only to the fact that phase four, which becomes coarse, appears within it and sees itself as opposite from the Light. From this oppositeness, we can begin to measure things.

Therefore we cannot manage without “other gods” although they are fictitious and a lie and don’t really exist. But we need them in order to measure things in relation to them. This is how the Creator plays with us. This is the reason that He created the evil inclination and the Torah a as a spice, “since the Light in it reforms.”

Thus we have 613 desires and opposite them there are 613 lights by which we acquire our senses. If there are 613 lights that fill 613 desires, we have 613 elements by which to measure. We can assess and clarify many near and distant concepts with regard to every desire and the light inside it. We can find out in which direction they operate, whether in the direction of Hassadim or Hochma, bestowal or receiving.

It turns out that after we correct our desire to the intention of in order to bestow, according to the principle of “the advantage of the Light from the darkness,” we get a chance to know the Creator, the Light of Ein Sof. Other gods stem from the Creator, so that we should know them and stabilize ourselves by using them. Without them, there is no way we can get to know the one upper force, the One who is “there is none else besides Him.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/09/14, Shamati #15

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Work In Concert With The Light

laitman_934The wisdom of Kabbalah describes creation from the level of Infinity (Ein Sof). In Infinity everything exists and Infinity exists in regard to the Creator. In Infinity, the Light and the vessel are found in a wondrous oneness, for they are equal, support each other, and shape each other because there is no Light without a vessel and there is no vessel without Light. They exist in a permanent state.

And in continuation, in order to acquire a vessel that was created in Infinity and is found in unity with the Creator in awareness and understanding of its state, five worlds (concealments) were created: Adam Kadmon (AK), Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (ABYA). And this world is found under all the worlds, detached from them. We are completely detached from the spiritual system, not understanding at all where we are found and what happens there.

The border that passes above us is called the Machsom. It determines the reality within which all of us are born and live, the present level of development from generation to generation. A single Infinity fills the entire Infinity. And the Light of Infinity bestows to us in the form of Ohr Makif (OM), which awakens us to evolve. We depend upon it, and in the present stage it is up to us to learn to find a common language with it.

We must know how to awaken its influence on us, how to approach it, as a result of whatever actions it bestows upon us more or less. It is necessary to “play” with it all the time, to accommodate ourselves to it. Just as a person exposes parts of his body to the sun in order to get a tan, exactly like this it is up to us to work internally regarding the Ohr Makif.

We still don’t know how to approach the influence of the Light maximally; its influence is always positive; it is always for the good, granting us happiness and wealth in every sense, truly with total bestowal. But in the meantime this is Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) for us, because we have not accommodated to its inner characteristic.

The guest must be like the host. The host provides everything for him and only wants to give more and more, and the guest is ashamed, he is not prepared to bear this. So he makes a restriction on himself and says that first he must build himself according to that law in order to bestow back to the host. Only in such a circumstance and to this extent can he receive all the goodness from him.

That is how we receive Inner Light from the Creator, to the degree that we are ready to bestow to Him. And this is possible only in relationship to someone who loves you. When I bestow to a person whom I love, I enjoy my bestowal, like a mother who takes care of her child. Giving is a sign of love. Therefore, if we accommodate ourselves to the love that we expect from the Creator, we will feel it.

How do we attain it? How is it possible to be a guest who knows how to respond to a relationship with the host? How do we learn what giving is? Because I don’t know what it is now; for I am entirely immersed in narcissism, in reception for myself.

Here I can only use the preparation that made the spiritual vessel that was in connection with the Light from the start. Then the vessel went through a shattering, shattered itself into fragments in order to discover how much it differs from the host. It wanted to discover the evil in itself because only in this way could it resemble the Creator.

Previously, in the world of Adam Kadmon, a “division” was made in the Light into NRNHY and a division of the vessel into KHB and ZON. And in continuation, between the worlds AK and Atzilut the breaking of the vessels was made. And the one great vessel was divided, broken into a multitude of parts, each one of them closed in upon itself, within its ego, within a desire to receive for itself. It was closed in such a way that it was not ready; it was not prepared to feel the “other.” It only feels what happens within itself. This is its nature.

All the billions of vessels descended until they fell into this world and our universe was created from them. And later on the matter of the universe began to develop from below to above already. During the course of this process the planet Earth was created and upon it the plants, the animals, and the human species evolved.

Work In Concert With The Light-1
That is how evolution continued in our world, the sparks that fell from above began to connect between them into blocks of matter, stars, planets, and galaxies, and after that on the face of planet Earth into various natural forms of plants and animals of which we are a part. If previously there had been a process of fragmentation that was a result of the “breaking of the vessels,” now this is talking precisely about the connection of substances, components. The vessels fell and began to connect with each other. For this they were not required to carry out actions with consciousness and understanding. On the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate, the particles connected themselves into atoms, the atoms connected into molecules, and the molecules connected into more complex structures, into biological bodies. So, gradually the matter of the still transformed into the matter of vegetative and animate.

But the level of man doesn’t belong to our world; it is still ahead of us, and in the meantime, we are a more developed part of the animate world. Our lives are subject to precise principles: all of us do what brings us the most benefit. Each one acts according to his personal good. It is clear that we try to “get along” with each other, so that we don’t “eat” each other, but in the end, in spite of it all, each one of us is concerned about himself. This is our program. That is how we find ourselves in opposition to the Inner Light. But the Surrounding Light acts upon us in a unique form, and in spite of it all advances us towards greater connection. This is even though we are made more and more egoistic through connection.

The substance of the still is satisfied with existence; it only keeps itself from destruction; therefore, in order to shatter it, a power that is higher than its egoistic power of preservation is needed to act upon it. It has no other shortcomings. The vegetative substance is not satisfied with this; it wants to grow, to breathe; it discharges what is harmful and absorbs what is beneficial; it spreads and multiplies. The ego of the vegetative substance is different from that of the still.

That is how the Surrounding Light inserts its energy, connecting more and more fragments, more and more components, constructing living cells that multiply, feel the environment, and learn to use it for their development. On this level the ego is already connected to the environment.

The animals are not only aware of the environment, they also move from place to place, produce offspring, and are concerned about them. In other words, within their ego is rooted the power of giving that is intended for their use.

And we humans exploit the environment even more on all the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. You see our ego is more developed, and in addition, it continues to develop. Animals don’t develop like us; they simply become extinct and in their place other species come.

On the other hand, people change from generation to generation with increasing speed. Five hundred years ago a son was like his father, and the grandson was like both of them, the same life, the same profession, and the same clothes. But today people are changing all the time; it is as if they are reborn. Essentially, his life is spread over a number of generations.

Why does the Surrounding Light work on us, manage us in a form like this? In order that we will become more and more complex. The more complex the structure, the more difficult it is to be concerned for it and to support it. The more complex the connection between the desires, the more egoistic they are and they acquire greater inner powers. They see the external world more and more egoistically, searching for the opportunity to exploit and profit from everything. Ideally, we would like to scoop the whole world into our hands. The Surrounding Light created us like this.

Today this has brought us to a crisis. Nature, or in other words, the Light or the Creator, has brought us to the maximum of our original nature, but we discover that as a result of this we feel worse. Apparently we have no more stock of positive forces that will make it possible for us to get along with each other and receive almost optimal pleasure.

In fact, we would like to move the process in other lines; it is clear to us that it is worthwhile to give children the best education, to strengthen the institution of the family, to correct ourselves so as not to be aggressive, to build a society that is friendly, egalitarian, better….

But everything is going in the opposite direction, and a minute percentage of the rich control half of the wealth of the world. They are themselves afraid; they don’t know what to do, but on the other hand, they are not ready to give that up, they are not ready to distribute anything. All of their kindness is directed towards self-benefit in order to soften and straighten out the situation and no more than this. But even in this they are unsuccessful.

And so, in the end, the Surrounding Light brings us to the “recognition of evil.” Therefore many are asking the question, “What is to be done?” “What kind of a life is this?” Many enter into despair, use drugs, tranquilizers, and antidepressants. Medications like these are even prescribed to students in school, and recreational drugs are sold to everyone; the main thing being for a person to relax and die quietly.

This is not done maliciously but from a lack of choice. And all this is a result of the influence of the Surrounding Light. For it must show us our true state. So with its help we have reached some kind of understanding of evil, asking about the meaning of life. Questions like these push particular people to suicide, to murdering other people, or using drugs and so forth. And there are those who understand the main question with a little more sensitivity. This depends upon the Reshimot, on the spiritual gene, that is inherent in a person and makes a new feeling possible. There must be a solution, an answer to all of this. I must reach a particular source that will truly give me an answer for why I am living and what is the reason for my life.

If the Surrounding Light brings a person to this, how nice. So the question itself awakens the potential latent in it and the Light brings him to a place in which people like him are gathered. These are not bodies but sparks, the most internal questions, the inner potential that is gathered by the Surrounding Light. Essentially, this is all that it did, it gathered the scattered fragments, the elementary particles, the atoms, the molecules, the cells, etc. It simply continues with its work, gathering everything together. And our convention is also the work of the Surrounding Light. It gathers the desires that yearn for what is above. And after we are gathered, we search for the answer how to solve the problem. And here, after the Creator brings a person to the good lot and says to him, “Take it,” there are two possibilities:

  • Either we continue unconsciously to be under the influence of the Surrounding Light that has taken care of us until now;
  • Or with the help of the group, together with the Surrounding Light, we consciously participate in the process with understanding and emotion.

This is to say, we must be connected with the Surrounding Light. It is up to us to understand how we influence it and how it influences us, and how it is possible to control our evolution with its help. From now on we receive free choice. Therefore, it is up to us to think only about how it acts and how we can change and hasten its activity. This is what it is up to us to learn; therefore, it brings us to the place of learning.

Here they explain to us that in the end it is up to us to carry out the activity of the Surrounding Light. Just as it gathered matter, formed more and more complex structures, so we must also continue the work. We continue to do that with ourselves, with the help of the means that are standing at our disposal.

The Light brings us to a group, and I must work for the sake of connection in a group as one body, one system. That is how I advance together with it, and then I see a partner in it. Now it no longer pushes me towards something; rather, I use it not as an opposing force but as a helping force that is found in my hands.

And essentially this is the entire wisdom of Kabbalah. It tells how to utilize the connection between us from now on so that the Surrounding Light will help us. The small connection that there is in the beginning will expand more and more until it encompasses all the people in the world. And then we will go back in that way to Infinity to complete connection.

If we don’t succeed, don’t want this, then in spite of it all, the Surrounding Light will correct us, will act as, “He hath made a decree which shall not be transgressed” (Psalms 148:6). You see it is up to us to reach the final correction during a defined period of six thousand years. Many things have already been done and a little more is left for us. Through the connection between us, with the help of the Surrounding Light, we must bring ourselves to accommodation with the characteristic of the Inner Light.

The essence of the Inner Light is bestowal and love. We don’t know what this is. Here we must understand that there exists a unique “network,” model, pattern, in the whole world, and it is up to us to connect to a group in accord with this, all the time anew. In the world of Assiya we are connected into an “ellipse,” in the world of Yetzira into a “triangle,” in the world of Beria into a “square,” and in the world of Atzilut into a “circle”—all the time the link between us, the group connection, receives a new form, more and more qualitative.

Work In Concert With The Light
If we try to do this, we seemingly insert ourselves into some kind of “pattern.” This is not easy, not pleasant, not good, but there is no choice, for we must be more and more “attached” to each other. Each one “polishes” himself, contracts himself, and becomes more and more integrated with others. And so time after time we insert ourselves into the pattern of connection more and more qualitatively. And the Surrounding Light helps us with this. If we invest effort in order to enter into the pattern, then it will help us. It helps us even if we make a mistake; it pushes us almost as well as a school teacher.

But if we become lazy, its influence becomes negative and brings us to a state opposite to the state we must reach. So without a choice we learn what is positive from the negative. One way or another, everything is done with the help of the Surrounding Light. “Raising the prayer” is the shortcoming that we discover in regard to the Surrounding Light. And the “answer to prayer” is the Light that comes to us and pulls us forward. During this process we advance.

The main thing is to remember and imagine to ourselves at every moment that it is up to us to accept a new form of connection. We enter into a new pattern all the time: So I mold myself, create myself, depart from the material of my desires and see in it the material where I am the maker.

This is exceptional work, work that causes unbelievable pleasure, pleasure on the level of the Creator who molded the creation. This is the Upper Light, the Light of NRNHY, that arrives and fills us. There is no greater pleasure in all of creation than seeing ourselves as a creator. On the one hand, you recognize the material because you are found in it, and on the other hand, you contract yourself, go out of it, and begin to work on it from the outside in order to put the “donkey” into the “stable,” into the right pattern: ellipse, triangle, square, or circle. Clearly, this is not talking about geometric shapes, rather about characteristics; they are born in us and we give birth to them one from the other and feel that we have changed.

This is truly unique work, a great gift from the Creator that makes it possible to feel what it is to be a creator. And all this is incumbent upon us. And at the end of the way, after we have built the image of the Creator from ourselves, we feel and understand the entire creation and reach adherence, which is the essence of the final correction and the goal of creation.

When we begin to work on Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) within a group, we understand this goal and work all the time in the presence of the Surrounding Light and are directed towards the Inner Light, aspiring to be like the Inner Light with the help of the Surrounding Light. And while advancing, we understand more and more that “there is none else besides Him.” He acts within us, He awakens all of the thoughts and desires within us, He gives us all of the opportunities through the environment, He awakens everything except for one point, and this is the point of our free choice.

So through connection with a group, I find my new form. He molded me up to here, and the search for the next form is “my true self.” I organize, research, and am found in development, in a search for my most advanced form. This is the principle of “there is none else besides Him” (Deuteronomy 4:35); we are constantly working with the help of the Surrounding Light in order to reach the Inner Light.
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From the “World Zohar Convention,” Day Two 2/6/14, Lesson 4

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For The First Time Since Abraham

Laitman_115_04The creation goes through three stages.

The first stage is “Infinity.” There, we are in a perfect state that is given to us from Above and derives from the thought of creation. The thought of wellbeing in the creations instantaneously reveals itself since the Creator does not have to do any actions in order to bring good to His creations. However, the creations exist only “in potential,” which will be implemented in the future.

The second state is the descent from Infinity through five worlds down to this world. On this way, we go through shattering and splitting into two systems: wickedness and purity. A special Partzuf (Adam HaRishon) appears at this stage; later it shatters as a result of the sin of the “Tree of Knowledge.” Souls break and proliferate; the evil unfolds to the level of this world, to its lowest degree.

On this plane, our development is called “evolution” during which we reach the very bottom; at the same time, it is a turning point that allows us to alter the tendency of our advancement. In this “bifocal” point, the creation starts rising, i.e., we begin understanding and acknowledging questions like “Who am I? What am I for? What is the purpose of my life?” This quest is especially acute for our generation. It is inexplicable, painful, and burdensome; it brings us desperation, helplessness and lots of problems.

From this point on, humanity has to begin its advancement in a new direction; it has to understand and realize how it should correct itself and admit that our correction is mandatory and unavoidable.

At this point, all of humanity splits into two categories:

Those awakened from Above who received a point in the heart, a special desire that draws them to know the Divine, without “introductory” disasters and difficulties. It is the lack of knowledge that draws them upward. These people come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Others do not tend to reveal the reasons, purpose, or essence of their existence. They don’t bother questioning themselves about the purpose of their existence; they are satisfied with the lives they have and try to get maximal benefit with minimal expense.

These two categories advanced throughout the entire history until today. Nowadays, one of these groups has acquired the energy to ascend. This group is receiving the power of The Book of Zohar that truly makes them capable of a large-scale self-correction not feasible since Abraham’s time.

These things are possible only in Keter and Malchut of the entire process, i.e., in its highest and lowest degrees.

By going through these states, we approach the realization of the third state. It is the second state that leads us to it. The third state is our goal, the end of correction, when we once again become included in the Creator, in the unity among us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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The Law Of Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that under the bestowal of Ohr Makif  (Surrounding Light) we begin bestowing to an empty vacuum, which we don’t feel. What does it means to bestow to a vacuum?

Answer: We have to come to a point that we will bestow without demanding any reward in return so the act of bestowal itself will be for us a fulfillment, a reward.

Question: How can I understand that I perform an act of bestowal?

Answer: Let’s assume that in front of you stands a very respected personality or a person that is famous and known all over the world. You will feel respect and awe, and would want to give him a gift. You feel satisfaction, because in a way, you receive a gift since such a respected person has received a gift from you.

That is how you have to work with everyone that you love or respect, because love is expressed in the gift. I want to do something pleasant for the other, because I enjoy when I give him something and he receives from me. Kabbalah is arranged on this principle. I give or bestow to the Creator, but I actually receive pleasure from it.

Question: It is not about corporeal gifts, but about relationships?

Answer: Try also to practice with corporeal gifts. But of course, the main thing is the relationships. If you love a person, you look for possibilities to give him something. And not because you want to bring him pleasure, but because you enjoy it. You relate to him like a mother relates to her baby. She will cover him with a blanket, then later take the blanket off. She will check on this and that. She will watch him, and if he is not smiling, she will play with him, so he will smile. This is the law of love. The law of love is the law of bestowal! If I love someone, then giving to him fills me with pleasure. He takes and enjoys it.

Question: But I need to know what he wants?

Answer: Right, it means you need to feel him. No problem, feel! Let’s assume that a person you love has a birthday tomorrow. You think to yourself, “What present will I give him? What does he want? What are his needs? How do I bring him joy?”

You would calculate: “Should I do it this way or that way? How is it better to get to know him? How do I best reveal him? How to feel? What to give to him?”

These calculations are based on attaining of the Creator. Otherwise it will be egoistic! Because at the time of spiritual bestowal, I bestow and enjoy. I bestow more, I enjoy more. But each time I have to clarify what he wants and what else I can bestow to him.

Question: How does one know? Does one guess?

Answer: No, ask him to tell you, so you will be able to fulfill him, and with this, you yourself will be fulfilled in his Light.
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14, Lesson 3

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.28.14

Preparation for the Lesson

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Writings of Rabash, “Shlavei HaSulam,” “Concerning Bestowal”

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts

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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 81

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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Item 1

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