Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Rabash, Vol. 1, Article 13, “Why the Festival of Matzot Is Called Passover” (1987)
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Writings of Rabash, Letter 72
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Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)”
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There is nothing in the world that doesn’t serve as a means to attain the goal.
When I aspire to the goal, everything pushes me toward it. When I am distracted and pay attention to the disturbances instead of using them as a means to attain the goal, then instead of help they become disturbances.
There’s no need to analyze the disturbances—we can never understand them while we are on their degree. We must rise above them, thinking only about the spiritual goal and overcoming disturbances, the way water paves a path through a cliff.
All the disturbances are necessary—they direct us, helping us come out of egoism. At every step, we must learn how to turn toward the Creator. To make this adjustment, we constantly receive signals from our egoism and from the Creator—and according to them, we can adjust the direction toward the goal.
No matter how much man tries to relate to the Creator as good and just, he will reveal facts that are opposite to that—precisely so he will have no other possibility but to accept the Creator’s governance as good and just by faith above reason. No one will help me except myself…to beg the Creator to help me!
If I wish to clearly see the Creator’s good governance, it looks like a demand for proof of His goodness and lack of faith in His perfection. But I wish to show my faith in His absolute goodness and hence I need precisely the disturbances against the good Creator. To see the injustice and go above it.
The problem of adhering to the Creator’s governance lies in the fact that we go through “impure” thoughts and desires, which we cannot relate to the absolutely good Creator. Only those with spiritual endurance attain the state of uniting with the Absolute, above all the “impure” circumstances.
The Creator’s plan in creation is for man, the pinnacle of creation, to devote every moment of his existence to the Creator. In this yearning and expectation, the Creator is extremely envious! Our entire life at every moment is a chain of circumstances directing us toward Him.
Man’s entire mission in this life is, above all the transpiring circumstances, to attain constant yearning for adhesion with the Creator. He then reveals that all of the Creator’s actions are also aimed at creating circumstances for him to develop adhesion, till full equivalence.
Man cannot blatantly receive evil from the Creator, for it is a detriment to the greatness of the Creator. Therefore, in the measure of the sensation of evil, one can feel the absence of the Creator. Therefore, the efforts not to distance oneself from the Creator, although one senses evil, are rewarded. And if he weakens the efforts, punishment is in store for him.
I am happy when evil is revealed in me. And vice versa, I regret the evil that is still hidden in me. Since it is unknown when and if it will ever be revealed. The revealed evil must surely be corrected! Therefore, one must aspire to reveal all of his evil!
Zohar, Bereshit, 159: By the rear side one can judge the future face side of the spiritual state. The rear side frightens and thus pushes for a speedy revelation of the face side. So one can feel negligible and inept in a descent, but he must overcome it and strive for revelation!
From Twitter, 4/25/19
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Currently, we are under the complete control of the Creator, carrying out everything that nature, meaning the Creator, dictates to us. We do not realize and do not feel that we are acting according to the directions of a foreign, external force, believing that we fulfill our own desire. Yet, in fact, it is not us at all.
I am created from the desire to enjoy and I work according to the program embedded in this biological computer, thinking that this is me: my desires, my thoughts, my aspirations are all mine. I have nothing except this.
Actually, an outside force acts in me, which clothed itself on me, drives me, leads me, and twists me in all directions. I am so attached to it that I think that it is me. I do not feel any distinction between us, and this is called the inanimate level.
It is very important to feel this, literally to feel this in all your internality, because then you have a chance to disengage from this external force and become free, that is, come out of the Egyptian slavery.1
Natural scientists, biologists and zoologists can confirm that a person has no free choice and that is completely controlled by his nature, which determines all his behavior. A person is a result of various internal chemical and electrical processes occurring in the body and head. He has no freewill and is not responsible for his thoughts. It is a machine operating under the control of chemical and electrical signals that are generated inside it. There are many serious scientific articles on the Internet confirming this.
And where does anything else in a person come from? In the process of training and upbringing, we bring in additional programs such as: education, shame, ethics, all kinds of calculations that elevate him above simple animal and make him a human being. But all these programs that determine our decisions and are hidden from us, do not leave us any free choice.
Our task is to want to come out of this inanimate degree in order to reach the landlord of the program and change His decision, meaning to force Him to control us in a new way. Only through the Creator we will be able to act differently. One can change something within oneself only by turning to the Creator in order to force Him to change us, as it is written: “My sons have defeated me.”2
A person begins at the point where he suddenly feels that he is managed by the force of the Creator and he disagrees with this governance. He calls this upper governance “Pharaoh” and wants to come out of this slavery. Pharaoh is an upper force that constantly dictates to me what I should do. Yet, I do not want to be controlled this way. If I feel that I am entirely under control of the Creator and have no opportunity to resist His orders, I am considered inanimate.
When can we discover that we are under the full control of the Creator? Only when we want to come out of it: by the contrast between the two. I want to do an action that is not dictated by the Creator and there is only one such action: in order to bestow. If I try to do it, I will understand that I am incapable of it because I am fully immersed in reception and want to remain in it, and this is my entire life.
It means that in order to understand that I am in the inanimate state, I must want to become “a plant”! Only by such oppositeness can I acknowledge my state.3
It is possible to move from the inanimate to the vegetative state only in the ten. Each one of us is inanimate, but if we influence a person correctly, we will give him an opportunity to become vegetative. Nine friends are working on one, the way the Creator works on ten. We need to work on each one in the ten like the Creator works on us.4
How does an inanimate molecule become organic because it consists of inorganic chemicals? Yet, when they connect in a special way, according to the rules of valency, they move to the vegetative level, that is, they become alive. Life is a result of connection. When inanimate particles connect with each other, they turn into plants or even into animals.
We do not know how this happens; we just see that this is how it is. Inside the connection, the upper force is concealed, the Creator. Therefore, it is considered that everything comes from the inanimate, from the earth. There is nothing special in a plant, animal, or human, apart from an additional spiritual force that comes from above because below we have an aspiration to connect. This is the secret of life.5
Before the connection, there is no ten—just ten people sitting together. The ten begins from the fact that we are trying to connect and wait for the force from above to come and connect us so that instead of inanimate, individual atoms, we become an organic matter. Every atom of the human body is inanimate in itself, but the connection between them gives birth to life. The means for rising from the inanimate degree is connection.
Why does one connection create only inanimate matter and another one creates life? It is all about the desire to become like the upper degree, to become vegetative. The force that awakens this desire is not at our degree, but comes from the higher level, penetrating us through the sparks hidden inside of us.6
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/11/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 115 “Still, Vegetative, Animate, and Speaking”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 31:34
3 Minute 39:25
4 Minute 52:15
5 Minute55:20
6 Minute57:20
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Question: Kabbalists say that the very essence of the Creator is unattainable. We can attain only His form and matter. What does it mean?
Answer: It follows from every physical phenomenon we attain. We do not attain anything that exists outside of us.
Suppose a certain signal enters into my sense organs. I do not know what kind of signal it is. I know that it passes into the ear, presses on the eardrum, then on the hammers and other parts of the organ of hearing. Then it turns into electrical signals, passes to the brain, and is displayed there in some concepts.
What is the connection between the fact that some thoughts and sensations from your words appear in my brain and how sound vibrations reach my eardrum?
Since thousands of changes are taking place, I cannot even say what is outside of me. I attain only what is already in me. From what is in me, I begin to experiment and discover that all this comes as if from the outside.
That is, we never attain the phenomenon itself, we only attain its reflection in us. It is the same with the world. It is displayed in us like that. What do these walls, books, people, TV sets, light, and darkness really mean? I do not know.
Question: Suppose a man is a liar. His biological body is the matter, and his form is a liar. As I understand it, a lie disconnected from a person is his abstract form and cannot be researched. Is this correct?
Answer: This is philosophy that leads to mistakes.
Question: Does it mean that it is impossible to research it? Even Kabbalists cannot do it?
Answer: No, Kabbalists can research it. They name all the elements of the spiritual world only from their attainment.
Question: But they research the form and matter itself and not the abstract form and its essence?
Answer: Yes. Of course. That is why it is called Atzmuto, that is, a phenomenon that we can neither research nor feel. It existed before it entered in us.
For example, the sound wave that enters into me and then goes through all the transformations, starting from the auricle to the awareness in the mind about what it is, exists in me. What is outside of me I will never know because is outside. Similarly, Kabbalists clearly separate their attainments from what is unattainable, because a person is still a created being.
Remark: There is a law in Kabbalah: do not personify or create any image of the Creator or upper forces.
My Comment: Yes. As a result of the development of science, it is now much easier to explain than it was 40 years ago when I started to teach Kabbalah.
Today, you can clearly explain that everything around us is waves, forces, not volumes or objects. The fact is that all volumes and objects exist only in our sensations, and in reality, they are all some kind of impact on us, the nature of which we do not understand.
We can talk about what exists only from our sensations in ourselves. Therefore, today it is much easier to explain this to people, especially to the younger generation, which already understands that this is how things work.
[243459]
From KabTV’s “The Essence of the Science of Kabbalah, Part 7” 11/12/18
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Question: If historians are to be believed, then man, as homo sapiens (wise man), has existed for about 70,000 years. Kabbalists claim that man is the one who revealed the Creator. Have there been such people for the past 6,000 years?
Answer: We can say that they were only some individuals. The first person who attained the Creator was called Adam, from the word “Domeh – similar to the Creator.” In the entire history of such people, there have been no more than tens of thousands.
But Kabbalah says that according to the plan of creation, all humanity must reach the revelation of the Creator. Ultimately, every person constantly manifesting on the Earth in a physical body must attain Him.
[243418]
From KabTV’s “The Essence of the Science of Kabbalah, Part 6” 11/12/18
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New Life 230 – Happiness And Success
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe
Why don’t people experience happiness from personal success in modern society, what is the type of success that can bring a ceaseless feeling of happiness and how do we realize this?
Today, we need to find a new kind of success based on mutual benefit, enjoyment, and connection. Personal, egoistic success, at the expense of others, eventually brings double the emptiness. On the other hand, individual success that pleases everyone and is supported and encouraged by others, as in a family, produces the power of perseverance, warmth, love, reciprocity, and infinite happiness for all.
[133652]
From KabTV’s “New Life 230 – Happiness And Success,” 9/12/13
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Lesson Preparation
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Writings of Rabash, Vol. 1, Article 13, “Come unto Pharaoh – 2” (1986)
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People’s problems are your own—you only hear about them from others. You mingle with parts of your soul. You will never hear anything that isn’t about you. You perform actions in order to return them to their places in you. They seem external due to your improper perception.
Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt with the onset of famine in Canaan—further advancement is possible only by uniting. Likewise our world today is gradually realizing that salvation lies only in unity. They do not wish to enter Egypt since it obligates them to become one nation.
Small strikes of light create the sensation of reality in us—we feel the world around us and ourselves.
If the desire did not receive small “injections” of light, then it wouldn’t feel itself or the surrounding environment.
There’s nothing besides the will to enjoy which receives small strikes of light.
The beautiful cities, Pitom and Ramses, built for Pharaoh, do not benefit the nation of Israel, but on the contrary, they are fraught with danger (Sakana, from the word “poor” – “Misken“) of forever remaining in Egypt in the state of mutual rejection in a life devoid of meaning.
Then attempts toward salvation begin.
“How is this night different from other nights?” It’s because precisely on this night, the Creator revealed to me the special darkness of this night—and I was able to ask Him to come out of this darkness, egoism—and He answered me.
Otherwise, even when observing all the commandments, one won’t attain intentions for the sake of the Creator. This is why caring for others (Gmilut Hassadim) is so important!
What matters most is changing your intentions from “for yourself” to “for the Creator.”
This is possible through intentions about other’s benefit. Afterward one can think about the Creator the same way.
As soon as egoism saw that a person can come out of its subjugation and acquire the Creator’s quality of bestowal and love, it replaced his work from men’s to women’s—letting him know that there is no need to change the intention, what matters most is the action.
In it you can feel confident.
It is precisely in action without intention that one can feel confident. And make the observance increasingly more complex. The main thing is not to engage in intention—it is for special people!
If you start thinking about intentions, you will immediately feel that actions are unnecessary, and will feel lack of confidence in the intentions.
“One who speaks more about exit from slavery (egoism) is more important”—because he feels more enslaved and by that increases the upper light’s desire for correction and filling.
And he is able to thank the Creator more for exit from egoism since “One must always see oneself as coming out of Egypt.”
“Of the four sons, the one who cannot ask—open it for him!” The one who cannot ask is the one who has no desire. Open the desire for him—he will then ask the Creator and will merit a response.
We lack only the desire and request—a question.
Hence the Creator responds only to this son (desire) out of the four.
It is written, “Open for Me an entry the size of the tip of a needle, and I will open it for you big enough for chariots to enter.”
A person is not required to have a yearning for the Creator greater than the start—the Creator does the rest.
-What did the sons of Israel (small state) want over the course of all the years of exile in Egypt?
-To create unity between them, which they ultimately attained at Mount Sinai (hatred). Without these torments at each and every moment of standing at Mount Sinai, the “400 years of Egyptian exile” won’t be over for you.
When a blow comes, I feel how useful it is for me, since a powerful revelation of evil takes place. These blows pass over me as internal, spiritual disruptions. Yet they strengthen a person the way salt “preserves” meat. These blows bring on healing from egoism.
Pharaoh is the angel of death. Nothing can be done about him. Israel starts to realize that Pharaoh’s entire attitude comes from one source—the Creator, and it is precisely Pharaoh that brings a person closer to the Creator (“to bring closer” and “to make a sacrificial offering” is the same word—he helps us “from the opposite.”
Israel, bestowing for its own sake, uses the spiritual force to fulfill material desires. Egoism clearly does not want to lose them—they become its main means for receiving fulfillment, which has no substitute. Neither does Pharaoh wish to part with them.
The nation of Israel mingles with other nations and learns their occupations, attaining greater success since it knows how to use bestowal for the sake of reception.
The Creator’s force is necessary to pull the egoistic desire, which is so profitable for Pharaoh, out of Egypt.
The Creator must constantly grow in my eyes. Otherwise I will remain in slavery forever and will never be able to connect to the friends.
Egypt is separation. Where am I running? I want to unite above the separation and hatred—Mount Sinai—this is why I come out of Egypt.
This is called exodus.
Pharaoh’s mission is to elevate the Creator in my eyes, so I will be compelled to appreciate the general force of bestowal that rules in nature more and more. For only it will enable us to connect to one another.
If we don’t encounter changes on our path, it means that we are not asking for them. All spiritual advancement can happen only through revelation of the previously formed needs and requests.
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