There is a certain paradox in the process of spiritual advancement. We are used to the fact that the more we grow, the more we understand life and connections in society, the family, country, and the world. As we grow older, we better understand what is happening because we get to know what is already in front of us in this world.

But in the spiritual world, it is not so. The further we advance, at each subsequent step, we reveal more and more concealment, and only then, accordingly, is there revelation. First we need to detect the whole concealment by putting in the required measure of effort, and then we begin to attain this new degree.

In our daily life, an ordinary person is different from a scientist, who as he advances further in his scientific work, the more difficult his research becomes, the greater the obstacles he has to overcome. But it is impossible otherwise because he makes new discoveries every time. Whereas an ordinary person does not discover anything new but only becomes acquainted with what others have discovered.

Therefore, we must understand that we will always encounter obstacles on the spiritual path that we must overcome by faith above reason, through our connection, each time with effort, and break through to a new level.

All obstacles are a revelation of a stronger desire to receive, another stage of egoism. It turns out that we are thrown out of spirituality and see a new stage of uncorrected desire before us as a barrier, a wall, along the way. We cannot see what is behind this wall, and we can only go by faith above reason.

We want to arm ourselves with the power of faith, bestowal, without any evidence or confirmation, and we are looking for ways to overcome this egoistic barrier—our desire to enjoy—by faith above reason so that bestowal becomes higher than receiving. I must raise the greatness of the Creator above all the treasures of this world, and this is possible only through the importance of the group.

As a result, we find out that neither I nor the group can succeed and only the prayer remains, a request for help to the Creator. Prayer helps us take the final step that will take us to the other side of the barrier.
[277361]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 1/22/21, “Breaking the Barriers to Spirituality”

Related Material:
Being Born In Spirituality Without A Cesarean Section
Tell Us About Spirituality!
From The Light Of Nefesh To Yechida

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Comment: The UN and UNESCO love to create holidays. There is a holiday called International Thank You Day.

The point is that we, they say, neglect to express our gratitude to each other.

Psychologists’ research suggest that “the benefits of handwritten thank-you letters was underestimated.  …

“Additionally, the researchers found that the prosocial gesture of expressing gratitude in a handwritten note boosts positive emotions and well-being for both the letter-writing ‘expresser’ and the recipient of the stated appreciation.”

These oral strokes, the holiday proponents say, can bring warmth and they use a lot of words like that, that it moves us away from stress, toward tolerance, but the main thing is that the words of gratitude should be sincere, from the heart.

My Response: That is another matter. The UN will not help here.

Question: How do you feel about this holiday—the International Thank You Day?

Answer: Everything that the UN and UNESCO do is dirty in my eyes, and there is nothing that makes what they did bring pleasure and good to people.

They do this mainly in order to pump over the money from the pockets of humanity into their own. Check the box.

Comment: But the very word “thank you” has now become so small, turned into a selfish “thank you.” For what they do, you say: “thank you.” For politeness—you say: “thank you,” etc., etc.

My Response: There is no height or feeling in this.

Question: But the root of “thank you” is in gratitude. You are thanking me. In principle, they say that the roots are quite high. “Thank you” comes from “save me, God.” “Thank you”—from “gift of goodness.” Even in Russian, it sounds beautiful, we just stopped thinking about it.

What is the root of this gratitude?

Answer: Yes, this is gratitude to the Creator. Then, probably, it passed on to people, to emphasize your kind attitude toward them, the reaction to their attitude toward you.

Question: Basically, do I thank you for something egoistic that I was given? Or can I still be grateful that I was given the opportunity to help someone, to do something good for someone?

Answer: No, it is too much! It is impossible to demand this from a person today. I do not know if this was ever the case with humanity at all.

We all develop from egoism. So, I Should be grateful that I had the opportunity to do good to others. It is all from within.

Question: When I thank the Creator, what do I thank Him for?

Answer: Yes, people thank the Creator for the fact that He gives them some egoistic pleasure, gets rid of suffering, from diseases, and nothing else.

If we talk about Kabbalists, they thank the Creator for giving them the opportunity to be like Him—the Creator. To be Adam. “Adam” is from the word “Dome”—like the Creator. This is when they can do good. But it is still the other way around.

You do not think about yourself at all. In this case, you break away from yourself and think only about how to act good toward people in order to bring them to the equivalence of form with the Creator.

Question: Do you thank the Creator for giving you this opportunity?

Answer: Yes.
[277207]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/11/21

Related Material:
Whom To Thank For What?
Laziness: A Wonderful Quality
I’m Happy To Be In The Hands Of The Upper

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Question: What is faith above reason?

Answer: The concept faith above reason refers to the fact that I ascend above my nature and enter a state in which I am in the Creator, which is opposite from the state I am in today.

The Creator is the attribute of bestowal, the attribute of general connection, of general love. Initially I don’t have this attribute, but if I can somehow create it inside me, compose and reveal it, it will be above my current egoistic nature and will be called faith above reason.

Reason refers to what happens in my nature, in the ego, in my understanding and my feelings. When I ascend above it by wanting to operate in an opposite manner, I will be in the attribute that is opposite to reason, in faith above reason. Opposite does not mean in contrast to.

Generally speaking, there are many discrepancies in our simple understanding of life that we need to bypass first and then try to feel, because faith above reason stems from the feeling that there is a state like the upper world, like an ascent above yourself, like life for the sake of bestowal, and you want to acquire this state.

When such an internal motion appears in a person, he begins to prepare for the exit from the slavery of the ego. This is due to the fact that a force called the upper surrounding light operates on him for a certain but long period of time. This force was summoned by a person’s desire and his actions in order to change himself; although their internal intention is egoistic, their goal is altruistic.

If a person receives such an impact from his work in the group while studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and as a result wants to acquire an extra force, an attribute that is not corporeal, it is gradually created and develops inside him, just like an embryo in a womb. Then this attribute, faith above reason, is born and begins to exist with a life of its own and it is called a soul.

In Kabbalistic terms, a person adheres to Bina and is seemingly detached from Malchut. This is the reason that faith above reason is the attribute of Bina that overcomes the attribute of Malchut, or the attribute of bestowal that is implemented above the attribute of receiving, or the desire to bestow above the desire to receive.

The structure of the general soul is based on this principle, and it is according to this principle that we exist in the spiritual world. We need to build it inside us. Until then none of us has a soul, but only a corporeal body that is not even mentioned in the wisdom of Kabbalah. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the concept of body refers to our egoistic desire to receive and to enjoy, which exists inside us and is not related to the corporeal body in any way.
[242486]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/23/18

Related Material:
Faith Above Reason Is Attainment
Faith And Reason
To Believe Means To Feel

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Does the hatred between friends and the desire to kill each other that is written about in The Book of Zohar always remain?

Answer: But of course! This separation remains, and a union is created over it, and, moreover, the greatest, most absolute love. But it must exist above hatred, otherwise it does not exist.

There is not one quality. Only the Creator represents one quality—the quality of bestowal and love. And creation must exist separately from the Creator, otherwise it will be lost. If we completely dissolve in Him, then we no longer exist.

How can we make sure that we exist and are equal to the Creator, similar in everything? For this there are two qualities in us: the original, absolute egoism, and the clothing on it, absolute bestowal and love, absolute altruism. One overlaps the other. But one cannot exist without the other.

That is, we are created from two opposite qualities, giving and receiving, and these two qualities complement each other.

Therefore, inside there is absolute hatred and egoism, which is converted in its external outpouring into love and giving to others.

And then a person remains a person, a creature, but completely equal to the Creator. This is not perceived by us. We don’t understand that. Egoism is called “help against you,” as if it exists opposite to you.

He is not standing in front of me, but inside me. It seems to me to be my opponent, but in fact, when you start to correct it, you see that you have something to correct, something to rise above, thanks to which you can learn, attain, and build yourself.

Therefore, it is the material from which you restore the broken statue. Without these egoistic pieces, you would have nothing to collect. You don’t really work with egoism itself. You work on gluing the pieces of souls together, you work on the connection between the corrupted souls.
[277191]
From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #3

Related Material:
The Flame Of Love Above Seething Hatred
Open The Faucet Of The Upper Light!
The Remedy For Helplessness

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: When a person striving for unification begins to investigate his nature, he sees that it resists this. Is this state called the entrance to Egypt?

Answer: Yes. He understands that, on the one hand, he must go toward unification. This property is called “Yosef” (Joseph). But the rest of his properties, which his brothers personify, are selfish. They absolutely disagree with this.

As a result, everyone ends up in Egypt (in egoism) and begins to somehow work with each other, to unite, to multiply, that is, to raise their connection. A person begins to understand how selfish he is and how his egoistic desires are destroying him.
[276804]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/15/19

Related Material:
Joseph Will Bring You To Egypt, And Moses Will Bring You Out From It
Exit From The State “Egypt”
Break Out From The Snakeskin

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Everything will pass—and the grain of hope will not grow,
Everything you have saved up will be lost for nothing
If you don’t share it with a friend in time –
All your possessions will go to your enemy.
Omar Khayyam

This is how it will be. If we leave this world without giving away everything we have, internal gains as well as external, will all go to the Klipot.

Question: What does it mean to give it away, to give to a friend? Not just to give it away, but give it to a friend.

Answer: To someone who can use it correctly. This means that he will continue with you, follow you, move closer to the Creator so that he would constantly find the image of the Creator in connection with others.

There is no Creator. When we get closer to each other, we begin to feel that such a force exists.

Question: Your statement “There is no Creator” kills everyone. It’s all over the Internet. You’ve completely confused people. What do you mean?

Answer: In the image in which people imagine the Creator, He does not exist in this. This is an absolutely false idea about life and death, about the Creator, about the issue of punishment. It is all so invented and distorted. And people live by these false impressions, build their lives around it.

Question: When can one say that there is a Creator?

Answer: When one discovers, in spite of one’s own egoism and the egoism of others, the existence of a force that is above it—a kind, loving force. Then a person understands that this is the Creator.
[273894]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/21/20

Related Material:
Discovering The Field Of The Creator
A Spiritual Savings Account For A Rainy Day
Difference Between Klipa And Holiness

Filed under: Body and Soul, The Creator - No Comments →

Question: If everything is fine during the convention and everyone integrates into everyone else, and then you are suddenly thrown off and cannot feel the connection with the friends, should you just leave, or should you help them integrate at that moment?

Answer: Who gave you this state? The Creator, so turn to Him. If you feel that you cannot sit in the same place anymore, and that you cannot stand it another minute, and that you are simply thrown out of the group, turn to the Creator immediately. He gave you this state for a certain goal. The problem is that we act unknowingly and disregard the root cause.

The initial cause is the Creator, so you need to tie everything you feel in life to Him. He inserts everything you feel into you and revives these feelings in you. You need to turn to Him immediately and ask Him: “Why? What is the reason for this?” The moment you understand and perceive that it comes from Him, your attitude toward what you immediately feel changes. You begin to understand that it has a meaning and that it was given to you on purpose, so that you will lock yourself on the Creator, and that it is impossible to penetrate you any other way.

The Creator gave you fears, worries, and sharp hostile feelings, which means that He shakes you so that you have no other choice but to turn to Him. You do not understand what it is about, and suddenly you begin to remember that it is from Him, that it is Him.

We must get used to locking all our emotions and feelings on Him so that we will feel and understand that every big or small thought that may worry me or not is from Him and that He awakens it in me, He, He, He. Thus, I will begin to feel Him, and I will gradually be in contact with Him and begin to understand what He does, why, and for what purpose. This is the beginning of the method of the revelation of the Creator.
[242964]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/11/19

Related Material:
Single Source Of All Thoughts And Feelings
Thoughts And Feelings
A Human Being Is A System Of Thoughts And Feelings

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: To attain the Creator, one must love and help gratuitously. Does it mean we should also love animals? After all, you do not expect any material return from them. Maybe we should start with them?

Answer: No. Regarding animals, plants, and inanimate nature, there is a clear regulation: you should use them only to the extent that you need to achieve a human goal. Nothing else.

You should not sit all the time and, as Mayakovsky wrote, “Stroke the shriveled black cats.” 🙂 This may be good for generating electricity, but not for achieving the goal of a person. There is no internal advancement in this.
[276956]
From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 12/31/18

Related Material:
Humans And Animals
Love For Animals Or Love For People
Humans Or Social Animals

Filed under: Q&A - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic of “Love Covers All Transgressions”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

Selected Highlights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →