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Obstacles—Help To Reach The Goal

laitman_423.02Comment: You once said that our whole world is one big obstacle.

My Response: Yes, because it obscures the Creator.

Question: Who is stopping us and what is considered an obstruction?

Answer: Our egoism. Egoistic desires draw to us everything that surrounds us. It is hard to believe, but stones, trees, electronics, everything we create, see, and work with, and we ourselves, are just obstacles that disallow our revelation of the Creator.

Question: Does that mean that the Creator created this world in order to prevent me from reaching His state?

Answer: No, quite the opposite. It is with the help of obstacles that I attain Him.

Question: Do you consider obstacles as help?

Answer: Of course. For example, you are an athlete. For how long do you have to work with all sorts of weights to reach some result? What is it for?

Comment: I don’t even ask myself about it because if I would start asking, I would stop doing it.

My Response: You see. Wherever we try to achieve results and success, we must apply effort. What for? Why are there obstacles in any work, in any achievement, no matter what?

Comment: But I have a goal. Let’s say I want to be a champion. That is why I exercise. I lift a few tons of iron every day. And if it were not for the goal of getting respect from society and feeling good, I would not do it.

My Response: That is, in order to achieve something, you must make great efforts, in general, in monotonous activities, exercises, and checking yourself to see how much you are advancing. As a result, you come to a state where you reach your goal. So it is in everything.

Question: But how does this manifest in our case? After all, our goal is to attain the Creator, the quality of bestowal.

Answer: Here the situation is somewhat different: You build up external muscles and Kabbalists build up internal muscles. They work on a different principle.

In other words, I must work against my egoism, like you, but work acquiring the quality of bestowal above it. Instead of a small egoistic desire to lie down, to rest, you are attracted to sports. And I, instead of lying down to relax, am attracted to my internal work. I apply effort so that instead of an egoistic desire, an altruistic desire appears in me—concern for others, for my friend, for the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/25/19

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Comprehend Love Of Others Through Love Of Oneself

laitman_527.02Question: You say that to “love the other as thyself” a person first of all has to love himself. What does it mean?

Answer: Before you start working on loving the other you should feel how much you love yourself, how much you think about yourself all the time, and how much you cannot give up on yourself. The most important thing for you is to please yourself, to feel good. You cannot really think about others.

When you examine all this and feel how egoistic you are, then you start realizing that you do not need anything except to transfer such an attitude toward your beloved self to others.

And a person who still does not feel that he loves only himself, and very strongly, cannot start working on love of the other. He does not understand what love is.

We comprehend the notion of love through love of oneself when I am all about myself, all the time for myself. For example, now you sit in the most comfortable way and already think about how you will come home soon, get some rest, and lie down on the sofa. “Where are my slippers, my TV set, and my dinner?” That is, you seek comfort all the time. You want to entertain only your beloved self, you want to wrap him up and put him in a warm bed.

One needs to feel this strongly within oneself. And one can feel it in a ten.

When you aspire to think about others in the ten, you truly begin to feel how you love only yourself. You do not need friends, anyone. You cannot think about anyone but oneself.

It is specifically from this realization that you can start talking about you needing to love others. You have an example of loving yourself. Now start relating to others the way you relate to yourself. It is not easy.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/29/19

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Development Of Egoism And The Method Of Connection, Part 2

Laitman_115.05Babylonian Period of Development of Egoism

In ancient Babylon, people lived in harmony with each other, worked, and enjoyed life. Suddenly their egoism began to work so that they started to envy, steal from, kill, subjugate, and compete with each other. As a result of the growth of egoism, they began to hate each other so much that they did not even know what to do next.

Abraham, as the spiritual teacher of the Babylonians, investigated this phenomenon and discovered what was wrong. He believed that it was necessary to transform people, to change them because his role as a priest was to educate them.

He propagated this method in his speeches and spread it among the inhabitants of Babylon. However, people disagreed with him because no one wanted to change themselves, everyone wanted to get what they wanted. No one wanted to do what they disliked. Abraham began to feel that not only the population of Babylon was against him, but also king Nimrod himself, the Babylonian monarch.

In principle, Nimrod was not a harsh king. At that time, the system of communal dormitories flourished. However, when there was an outburst of egoism in Babylon, it required a different force, a tougher hand. Nimrod became the first king in whom a desire to rule completely was awakened.

Comment: In addition, in Ancient Babylon, people had one language; they understood each other and were like one family. However, after the surge of egoism, a strong separation began to appear between them.

My Response: In principle, egoism had been developing since the time of Adam. However, back then it was on an individual level, and in Babylon it became public.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 7/1/19

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The Uniqueness Of The Force Governing Us, Part 8

624.02Turn to the Law of Nature

Question: How can one turn to an invariable, perfect power, to the law of nature, so that He would give me something to change?

Answer: One can turn to Him only with one request: that He will help us see the world correctly. Then there will not be any problems.

If we really ask Him, He does everything so that this world will become a very bitter place for us and very difficult so that it will confuse us. As we move forward and develop, we get more and more obstacles. Therefore, we have more and more reasons to turn to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/24/19

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New Life 1192 – Attaining Renewal Through Despair

New Life 1192 – Attaining Renewal Through Despair
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Defeat, crisis, and failure are the birthplace of spiritual renewal and development. Despair signals where one is in relation to one’s goal and can be overcome when we learn how to turn to a higher, external force for new power. Everything we have from nature is good and correct. Children can be taught how to have a correct attitude toward failure through a good example and environment. Humans are social beings and we can spiritually develop when learn how to depend on and give to others.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1192 – Attaining Renewal Through Despair,” 12/24/19

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World Kabbalah Convention 2020, “Connecting To The Root Of Life,” “Day Three” – 2/27/20

World Kabbalah Convention 2020, “Living in the Greatness of the Creator,” Lesson 7

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World Kabbalah Convention 2020, “Embracing the Entire World,” Lesson 8

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