Audio Version Of The Blog – 2/21/20
Posted on February 21st, 2020
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/21/20
About thirty years ago, I used to regularly walk in Yarkon Park, Tel Aviv with my teacher, Kabbalist Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (Rabash).
Just 200 meters from the park bench pictured in this photo, across the road, thousands of people from all over the world will gather for the 2020 World Kabbalah Convention, people who share a common purpose—to discover nothing less than the purpose of life, the revelation of the Creator, using the method of Kabbalah.
If you would have asked me thirty years ago, when I was accompanying my Rav, that an event of such magnitude would happen—that so many different people would flock to Israel from dozens of countries, and that men and women, young and old, of many different tongues, would gather in order to demand the purpose of their lives above life’s other engagements—on one hand, I never would have expected it.
On the other hand, I really did expect such a gathering, and even much bigger ones.
However, one principle I learned very well over the last thirty years is that we do not determine what will ultimately happen.
And what would Rabash have said about such a tremendous gathering, where we all assemble in his name, as “Bnei Baruch” (“the Sons of Baruch”)? Knowing Rabash, I’m sure he would have said that he expects us to apply more efforts.
I have no doubt that he would be pleased with us if he were to see our large, global and grassroots group, and knew that we have no recourse but to grow spiritually and construct ourselves “as one man with one heart.”
From Abraham in ancient Babylon, through the Ari, Ramchal, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash… all these great Kabbalists and others hoped and worked very hard to spread the method of Kabbalah to all humanity.
This year’s World Kabbalah Convention will be a spiritual breakthrough and a major leap forward. As humanity further develops and crises strike from all angles, we have a very interesting time ahead of us, and I’m sure that we will realize it well.
We need only have a little more patience. Increasing our positive connections at every moment is of primal importance right now.
The 2020 World Kabbalah Convention in Tel Aviv, Israel is open to everyone, and I invite anyone who feels any kind of attraction or curiousness to these ideas to attend.
From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/21/20
Musa from Istanbul, Ingrid from Berlin, Vlad from Kiev, Helena from Spain—hundreds of people from around the world are coming to Israel in an ongoing stream gathering for the 2020 World Kabbalah Convention.
The world’s biggest annual Kabbalah event will take place at Ganey Hata’arucha, Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds in 2020 on February 25-27.
Participants are coming together to discover the integral system that binds us all together, to feel, if only for a moment, the united soul called “Adam HaRishon.”
The World Kabbalah Convention magnifies the efforts and desires of Kabbalah students to draw the positive force dwelling in nature to the world, to awaken love among one another until a fire of unification sets off between us all “as one man with one heart.”
One clear conclusion that has emerged after many years of Kabbalah study: no science, wisdom or approach, psychological or pedagogical, will help human society curb or balance its overblown ego—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others—which is today at such high proportions, threatening our very existence.
As the positive forces of love, connection and giving, and the negative forces of hatred, division and egoism, become more polarized and opposite to each other, gnawing away at society in myriad ways, the more people are discovering how the wisdom of Kabbalah contains a special igniting force that can balance these forces and generate a whole new level of harmonious existence among humanity.
If you feel concern about the state of the world, the future of our following generations, then you are invited to connect to the convention broadcasts and participate by listening to the lessons, the discussions, the participants’ concerns, hopes and prayers for the fate of the world.
In the end, we need to understand what our desire to receive is, what it wants from us, and how to relate to it: to fight it or to use it as help against itself? Do we have any hope of resisting it?
If we want to reach such a connection like a blazing fire, then the fire ignites precisely because of the resistance of the egoistic desire faithfully doing its job. It was created precisely for this, to resist us. The ego’s action stops us. Even if we reach Arvut (mutual guarantee) between us, it is only to decide that we have no chance of leaving Egypt. No matter how much we try to unite, we are incapable of doing so and must despair of this work.
Each of us understands that we can succeed only with the help of the friend, and that is all. And with this common prayer, we draw the upper light and rise above our egoism. This is called the exodus from Egypt. There are several conditions, a few milestones along the way through which we must go.1
The spiritual Partzuf is built from the fact that we all support each other in order to reach the Creator. No one can come to the Creator with their own qualities, and even more so with Malchut, because the Creator is whole; therefore, we also need to build wholeness.
Do we have anything in common? The commonality is only the Creator, the common point of Keter. Each of us has our own qualities and we unite only above, in the Creator. Therefore, when we want to unite among ourselves, we despair of what is called “the sons of Israel sighed because of the work,” realizing that they cannot do this. We can connect only thanks to the common goal.
The connection should be like a blazing fire. But the main thing in the work is the disappointment, that is, the realization that it is impossible to connect. We strive to connect at any cost, but the correct result of the work is the realization that connection is impossible by any means. And then, the sons of Israel sighed from work. It is a completely hopeless case if we want to achieve this ourselves, but if we turn to the Creator, then we achieve everything.
The blazing fire is our common desire to bring contentment to the Creator. By the fact that we want to please each other, we give pleasure to the Creator. The Creator is the general law. If we want to turn to Him, we must first turn to the friends in the same way.2
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/20, The Power of Connection – A Burning Fire” (Preparation for the Convention in Desert)
1 Minute 0:30
2 Minute 22:40
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Question: Do you think humanity is rising to a spiritual degree?
Answer: Yes, it is rising, but this ascent is modular because, in fact, humanity is descending. However, it descends on purpose in order to understand the emptiness of our world.
This is the revelation of truth, and it is thus an ascent. There is greater and greater revelation of the upper light. On one hand, we feel that we are more developed, and on the other hand, lower and emptier. However, this is a good place.
Now we are entering a new stage when the next generation comes to Kabbalah. These people do not want to conquer the world. They are satisfied with little things, they just need a computer and nothing else. It means a lot. A completely new human being has appeared in our world.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/12/20
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Comment: Evolution occurs at the intersection of the interaction of two forces: positive and negative. Scientists say that the explosion of a small cluster of energy, which was smaller than an atom, led to the formation of what we see around us. This, in my opinion, is harder to believe than that God created everything by some single act.
My Response: Yes, indeed, it seems incredible.
I remember the times before the Big Bang theory was accepted. People believed that the universe existed indefinitely and was unlimited in size. This is what they told us at school. Why? That was simply the way it was, without any connection to a person.
Humans were considered an accidental formation of life on Earth as a result of the coincidence of some properties. This is how we develop, this is how we live, this is life. That is, a purely mechanical theory was recognized.
In parallel, there was, of course, the so-called divine theory (creationism), which stated that an upper force created all this because it wanted to.
Question: What does Kabbalah say?
Answer: Kabbalah says that neither one or the other is wrong. We simply need to understand what is happening to our world based on what reveals to a person studying Kabbalah.
One reveals that there is a program of creation based on a positive upper force that develops everything and governs this program. We can call this force “our Maker,” “the Creator,” or “God”—it does not matter.
This force controls everything. It has a program, a preset goal, and we develop along this path, whether we want to or not. No one asks us about this at all.
We have a given starting point of our development and its end so we can go through this whole path, develop, and comprehend ourselves. Based on this, we would comprehend our source, the Creator, the upper force of nature, to such an extent that we would absolutely and completely identify, connect, and merge with this force.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/11/19
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New Life 1182 – Connecting To The Upper Force
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe
In order to feel the upper force, one must become similar to it. The upper force consists of love and bestowal while human qualities are reception and rejection. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, one must transcend the desire to receive for oneself and consider the good of others. One must delve into the study of nature and form a group of people who want to understand, feel, and interact with the upper force. When one develops this fundamentally different internal attitude and acquires the force of love, one lives in a secure, complete, eternal, and supreme reality.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1182 – Connecting To The Upper Force,” 11/26/19
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The middle line is Man, IsraEl (Yashar-Kel – straight to the Creator), directing me at the Creator. The encounter with the Creator happens in the middle line, where there is no hatred or love, but there is a sensation of adhesion above them. Love is built above hatred, but adhesion is the middle line, their sum.
I must care for the balance of two opposites, not degrading hatred nor love. I attribute both forces to the Creator. I am equally grateful to Him for both of them. I incorporate both of these qualities. I feel that I am independent of them.
I build a point of connection with the Creator—in the middle line.
The middle line is the degree of creation’s adhesion with the Creator. I am neither love nor hatred. I build myself when I understand that there are two forces in existence and I prefer one over the other, since I value the Creator’s qualities more than creation’s qualities. By connecting the two lines, I build myself out of both.
At every moment I have new thoughts and a new attitude to the neighbor—in it, I feel how the Creator relates to me, what He wants to say. By wishing to bring all relationships to unity and love, I thereby respond to the Creator, I converse with Him. This is the beginning of a dialogue, a connection, with the Creator…
Do not ascribe hatred or love to yourself—you receive them from above. But always attribute yourself to the middle line, balancing hatred and love, so they will operate as one whole. One cannot exist without the other. As a creation, I exist between opposites.
When rejection from the group arises over and over again, one must understand that this is a transition to a new degree, which always starts with breakage. That is the only way we can advance and keep rising higher up the degrees of unity and love.
We must rejoice at the evil that is revealed in us: a transgression that hasn’t been revealed cannot be corrected! In one’s spiritual development, one must go through all the stages of hatred till love. It is impossible to love if one has not gone through hatred.
Our work is to turn evil, hatred, into goodness, love.
Egoism in a person comes from one’s oppositeness to the Creator, the force of bestowal, love and unity. Therefore all egoistic qualities, feelings, thoughts and desires that arise in a person are initially given to him so he can exist precisely opposite the Creator.
We are in the Creator, the field of bestowal and love. And there is none else besides Him. We can feel Him only to the extent of our equivalence to Him. If we don’t aspire to feel Him in equivalence to Him, we are urged on by the reverse, negative influence in order to move toward Him. It’s time that we understood this and became wiser
Wherever there is no reflected light, intention to bestow, clothing over direct light, there is no manifestation of direct light, the Creator, as if He does not exist. Therefore, turn all your actions toward acquiring the intention to bestow—in it you will reveal the Creator.
From Twitter, 2/20/20
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The Times of Israel published my new article “Coronavirus Ship Is a Lesson in the Need for Mutual Responsibility in Israel”
Three of the 15 Israelis aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise liner have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and hospitalized in Japan, while extensive efforts are underway to evacuate the others home to Israel.
The help they demanded from Israel during their crisis and predicament raises the questions about the kind of support that the state of Israel should provide its citizens when they encounter certain extreme problems abroad.
While it is usual for the state to be concerned about its citizens’ welfare abroad, hard experience demonstrates that intervention procedures could be arranged in a much more beneficial way, both for citizens and for the country in general.
I completely support the state’s responsibility toward Israel’s citizens, provided it has the necessary infrastructure of mutual responsibility among the citizens themselves and an officially acknowledged governmental organization that would be engaged in handling such matters.
Such an institution could be called “The Office for Mutual Responsibility.”
On behalf of the state, the Office for Mutual Responsibility would be responsible for rescuing every citizen in Israel and around the world in desperate circumstances and finding solutions to the variety of problems that emerge. Every entreaty for help would be satisfied by the force of a potent social atmosphere, orchestrated by the work of this office, to generate positive connection among all citizens.
Currently, there is no such official body in Israel dealing primarily with positive social connection and developing mutual responsibility among the nation’s citizens.
For the most part, Israeli citizens today neglect their relationship with the state, feeling that they owe it nothing—dodging payments wherever possible, and fleeing far away to a distant land if an opportunity presents itself. The general atmosphere is a society of individuals each trying not to be suckers, in a common effort to get the upper hand on others and the state wherever possible. In other words, each person’s sole concern is about himself and how to use others in order to stay one step ahead.
We need to realize as a society that this atmosphere suffocates us.
We have had the highly publicized examples of a soldier getting caught behind enemy lines and a young woman being imprisoned overseas after getting caught with marijuana. In both cases, the parents had to scream loud and long through the media until they garnered enough support to achieve their success.
However, these are the isolated success stories.
Mutual responsibility must become a way of life for everyone, a constant concern for others, and not just a hurried, stop-gap embrace when someone’s need suddenly catches our attention.
Mutual responsibility is a shared sensation of closeness, where we feel committed and belonging to one another—neighbors, colleagues and people on the street—just like we feel toward our own family. I am speaking of responsibility toward all people, society and the state. It is written in our sources that, “Love your neighbor as yourself—it is a great rule in the Torah.” This is the law that should be at the foundation of our society.
As suggested by its name, “The Office for Mutual Responsibility,” this institution not only gives to people when they are in need, it also requires from people when they are capable of contributing.
Members of such a social framework would need to pay their dues in order to sustain it. Therefore, it would require financial contributions, volunteers, and a general atmosphere of giving, wherever and however a person could.
The Office for Mutual Responsibility would function almost like an educational institution whose duty is to make us all feel that we are one big family. Anyone contributing within such a framework would also be worthy of receiving help from it whenever needed.
It is not enough to expect that by paying our taxes and contributing military service, we are entitled to receive help from the state if we are in trouble. Mutual responsibility requires regular learning and contributing with the aim of building a warm network of the quality of relationships that feel similar to a mother’s constant, loving manner toward her children.
Once we establish such a setup within Israel and provide an example of a well-oiled society operating upon the principle of mutual responsibility, a positive rippling effect would spread such a unique form of connection to the rest of the world.
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