There is nothing in reality other than the Creator and the created beings. Therefore, all the created beings need to do is discover the Creator. It is possible to discover Him only from feeling a deficiency for Him because we feel everything only in the measure of deficiency.

Initially we do not feel any deficiency for the Creator: we are in concealment. This is the entire difficulty because we want to work against the concealment of the Creator: wanting something we do not want and yearning for something we do not yearn for. Therefore, the entire work is in concealment. The Creator is hidden and His greatness is also hidden from us.

In fact, the Creator could easily reveal His greatness to the created beings. Then the created beings would understand that they are completely dependent on the upper one. In this case, all the created beings would obviously run to the Creator and be fully devoted to Him. After all, there is nothing more beneficial than connecting to the source of life.

However, the Creator wants the created beings to be devoted to Him not because they depend on Him, but because of their consciousness and awareness of His greatness and uniqueness. That is, they will adhere to Him not as the source of their existence, but due to His qualities of bestowal and love.

This is the only reason that the created beings want the Creator. There is a special condition here: the Creator is revealed only if the created being aspires to Him because of His greatness and uniqueness.

Initially this does not apply to a person in any way. He does not feel any need for these qualities, but gradually he begins to appreciate them as the most important ones. Thus, he begins to work with the soul’s devotion, where the fact that his corporeal life (and even his very existence) depends on the Creator is no longer important to him. He is ready to give all of it up in order to acquire the Creator’s qualities of bestowal and love.

This comes not due to any personal gain of the created being, but rather from his appreciation of the greatness and uniqueness of the Creator. In this intention to bestow to each other, the Creator and the created being rise above personal gain.

The Creator seemingly sends us problems of different intensities, from tiny things up to the greatest ones. The created being, however, needs to rise above all these problems in his attitude to the Creator in order to show that there is nothing personal in their relationship. Neither of them wants to receive any personal gain, comfort, or pleasant sensation from the other. All they receive from each other is an opportunity to prove that they are above personal egoistic filling in the heart and in the mind, and that they care only for the benefit of the other. That is, the created being acts for the benefit of the Creator and the Creator acts for the benefit of the created being so that eventually they come to complete, unconditional love, which definitely does not include any personal calculation.¹

Due to the fact that we are constantly making efforts to connect with the friends, even artificially, and overcome the burdening of the heart, we are building ourselves. Although we do it all at the corporeal level in order to unite in the corporeal form, we receive a spiritual Kli in return that is not built from our efforts, from our earthly heart or mind.

This is how we rise. The corporeal heart and mind stay on the corporeal animalistic degree, and the efforts are just a preparation to receive a force of faith, within which we will be able to discover ourselves in one soul. This is a completely different feeling. After all, faith belongs to spirituality.

In spirituality, no one feels himself as existing separately, on his own, but only together. This is a new concept. This common “I” where all connect as one is called a man (Adam).²

We need to give a full measure of exertion against our egoistic desire. However, these exertions on their own do not build anything spiritual but only create conditions for receiving the spiritual vessel. The spiritual vessel is not built from our corporeal efforts, but these efforts are necessary in order to receive the quality of Bina—the soul—from above.³
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 5/17/18, Lesson on the Topic, “The Greatness of the Creator”
1 Minute 0:17
2 Minute 63:07
3 Minute 66:25

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Question: By what means do we measure spiritual distances?

Answer: In the spiritual world, distances are measured by differences in characteristics.

Question: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, each one lives in his own small world, in his own personal reality. Is there some kind of common and united realty?

Answer: No, there is only the Creator. Through Him, we begin to perceive and understand our common Kli, our shared mutual connection, His revelation within us.

Question: If two systems come out from the Creator, both the evil and the good, why can I not see good and evil in a friend who is managed by the Creator 100 percent?

Answer: Both the friend and the entire world must be seen as the revelation of the Creator.

Question: How does one correctly understand people and have concern for them? Are we to write it all off to nature and the Creator in one person, or are we to see the control and action of the Creator through people on oneself?

Answer: See it as the activity of the Creator through people on me. I never see the revelation of the Creator in nature and in humanity. I see what is clearly presented to me.

Question: So, I don’t need to correct anything within me except my attitude toward others. Is my attitude toward others not within me?

Answer: Yes, but it is possible to correct this. I need to relate to others as I do to the Creator. When the entire world, except for me, is filled with the characteristic of bestowal and love, then I will be able to connect myself with this characteristic.

Question: We encounter the expression: “I am lovesick” (Song of Songs 2:5) in the wisdom of Kabbalah. What is this talking about?

Answer: That is what Malchut says in relation to Keter (the Creator) when she attains the characteristic of Bina on the way to the Creator. When Malchut attains Bina, she first acquires the full characteristic of bestowal, and after that, through her ascent from Bina to Keter, she acquires the characteristic of love as well.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/3/17

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New Life 986 – Spiritual Art, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Art comes from the person’s urge to express himself and resemble the Creator. The Creator has no form. It is the force of bestowal and renewal. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, true art expands our horizons and rises above all limits. It provides a new perspective on the world, which can only be achieved through the power of faith. The secret of creativity is attained when we connect with the upper force and build forms of bestowal for everyone.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 986 – Spiritual Art,” 3/27/18

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Audio: Play Now | Download

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic: “Attacking the Connection”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 4, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 2, Item 23

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Happiness amounts to conflict resolution. We don’t perceive it otherwise. Give a person everything, and he’ll still be miserable. One must experience qualities that are opposite to happiness. You can’t have happiness without conflicts, and conflicts—without aspiring to happiness

It is written that one must search like a bent-down old man—but search for unity, rather than evil. Only by properly aiming at unity will we feel hatred, repulsion for it. We’ll be forced to face our debility and the need to turn to the Creator—”Help us!” #Spiritualwork_ML

We see our reflection in everyone since we perceive everything in our ego. We see the world the way we depict it to ourselves. In reality, I see white light before me, the perfect quality of bestowal/#love. On this background, I draw my own qualities—my reflection outside of me.

The soul’s correction lies in uniting bestowing desires in the group.
When we truly unite, we feel the act of bestowal, the Kli and the Creator filling it.
The ten can be either permanent or random.
What matters is the struggle to unite in spite of egoism.
#Spiritualwork_ML
From Twitter 6/5/18

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 6/5/18

Buying clothes used to be a ritual. You go to the mall with friends, spend most of the time window shopping, try something on and debate whether it is the right one, stop for a cup of coffee, and perhaps buy some clothes on the way too.

Much more than matching a garment to a physique, it was about the social ritual and the fulfillment of an emotional need.

However, tech giants such as Amazon and Alibaba have sent their long virtual tentacles to revolutionize shopping for clothes as we know it, turning it into another swiping experience. Today, you just have to snap your fingers and the clothes of your choice, at the right size and color, are already making their way to your house.

By the end of last year, more than 1,875 fashion stores in the U.S. had announced closure, and about 10,000 more stores are projected to close this year – 53% more than the number of closures during the financial crisis of 2008.

And yet, the evolution of shopping is only a superficial layer of what is happening. We, as human beings, are evolving as well.

At the core of our evolution is the engine of human desire, which drives all our choices and preferences, including what clothes we wear. In general, we can divide all our desires to two groups: bodily desires such as food, sex, and shelter, and social desires, such as status, honor and power.

So what is the nature of our desire for clothing and fashion and how is it evolving?

On the one hand, clothing belongs to our bodily desires: we need clothes to keep our bodies warm and comfortable, for which our pajamas actually do a great service. But at the same time, our clothes are also our social calling card: There were times when only kings could have custom-tailored clothes, times when grandkids inherited their grandparents’ clothes, and don’t forget professional dress codes which stayed with us to this day.

Fashion transforms and adapts itself according to the evolution of human desire, and so it reflects the desires of society as a whole. And where is our desire headed these days? It is looking for a more inner fulfillment.

That is why it is becoming increasingly challenging for advertisers to sell us the illusion of unattainable beauty. They invest billions trying to market the idea that you are a class B member of society if you haven’t purchased the latest coveted brand. But this is beginning not to work as they are losing their grip on our desire.

Many millennials, for instance, are not buying into the story anymore. They prefer to wear something plain and comfy, reject labels and brands, and mostly want their apparel to be affordable. Likewise, the aspiration to wear expensive clothes from prestigious brands is fading all over the world.

Our desire is developing to a qualitatively new level. The fulfillment we look for is less apparent and more internal, less material and more spiritual. The younger generation may not know exactly what they’re looking for, but they’re beginning to sense that it’s not in their external appearance.

Driven by the qualitative development of human desire, new social norms and values are gradually forming. What used to be respected and prestigious yesterday is losing its value today. Thus, fashion as we know it today will eventually disappear. We will no longer strain ourselves to wear clothes that prioritize social acceptance over convenience. We will gradually find that our hearts are the center of attention, and that will become the new global fashion.

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Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: Israel must be the first among the nations to assume the international, altruistic communism. It must be a model demonstrating the good and beauty of this government. Because they suffer and will suffer from the tyranny of the nations more than all other nations, they are like the heart that burns before all the other organs. Hence, they are better suited to adopt the proper government first.

Baal HaSulam talks about creating a society of absolutely equal people united in one common family that exists in a state of complete mutual guarantee. This is an ideal socialist system working by the principle of “work according to one’s ability and receive according to one’s needs.”

In an altruistic society, no one will take more than he needs. At first, he will not get extra, and then he will stop taking surplus.

People will think only about the consent between all members of society and connection in such a system of interaction in which a single force—one equal, homogeneous field that will fill the entire space between them—will be revealed. This field will be revealed between them not as their derivative, but as their initial force called the Creator.

Question: Is this the ideal perception of a future person because his primordial nature is egoistic?

Answer: The method of Kabbalah is based on the correct application of egoism. It is due to mutual rejection, hatred, and other negative qualities that exist in everyone in relation to others, which we can use to restore the opposite, positive properties above them.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 12/11/17

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Question: Is it possible to single out other forces in the one higher power of nature?

Answer: No. There is only one power of the Creator/nature, which manages everything in a single system with a single force of bestowal. The whole of creation is based on the opposite power. The goal is to manage it, change its direction, and join the Creator by correcting it.

Question: But the power of creation is also a power. Does it mean there are already two?

Answer: No. The fact is that we cannot simply divide it.

We need to understand whether egoism really exists. It seems that it does. But what for? It exists to give us the opportunity to acquire the opposite property of bestowal, love, and altruism. When we reach it, we find that egoism has never existed, it only seemed to us that it existed in order to rise to the property of bestowal and love.

But these are all empty words until the person himself will experience it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/4/18

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Question: If you begin to see and feel that other people are a reflection of your egoistic characteristics, does this feeling somehow apply to the spiritual world?

Answer: Yes. This is already a good step.

Question: Why does the Creator give desires that harm me? How should I work with them?

Answer: There is nothing harmful in the world! You only need to balance one thing with the other. It is not necessary to restrict desires or to reject them. It is only necessary to balance them. There is no evil in the world; there is simply imbalanced goodness.

Question: Does the Creator act in our world through all people to reveal His actions?

Answer: Certainly.

Question: Do you feel the audience during a broadcast?

Answer: In general, yes. But it is not necessarily the same audience that is in front of me now on the screens.

Question: If a person must become like the Creator, isn’t this arrogance?

Answer: There is no arrogance here. This is a task that the higher power established from the start at the time of the creation of the desire to receive and enjoy so that it would become a desire to give pleasure.

Question: What can be done if one has a desire to bestow and give to others, but suddenly discovers that he doesn’t have anything to bestow and give?

Answer: You should not give anything to others other than your desire to bestow. Everything else is in nature is in infinite quantity and quality.

Question: What does it mean to restrict desire?

Answer: It means that you are not thinking about yourself.

Question: What is love? Is it possible to feel it in our world, after attaining and studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, outside of a group, in the ordinary life of all people?

Answer: Love is an expression of concern for others more than for oneself. That is all. It is very simple.

Question: If a person does something bad, does this mean that the Creator, not evil forces, wanted him to do this?

Answer: We cannot clarify this. To do this we must enter into a system where we can see exactly how the Creator acts through us.

Question: Does the concealment of the Creator depend on my actions, or does the Creator conceal Himself?

Answer: We conceal the Creator through our opposite characteristics.

Question: Does the concealment of the network of forces that manage us belong to one of the three reasons for the concealment of the Creator?

Answer: All three reasons for concealment work on us simultaneously, sometimes one is more, and sometimes another.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/12/17

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