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The Creator Brings The Pharaoh To Us

239The ascent from this world to the spiritual world is realized thanks to the fact that we increasingly need the help of the Creator. And to help us acquire His qualities, the Creator gives us the burdening of the heart, the feeling that we cannot cope without Him. Everywhere we are convinced that we are not capable of fulfilling any spiritual conditions.

But we are also unable to ask the Creator; we do not know how to do it. This shows lack of faith. That is, we do not feel the Creator, we do not feel that He exists and that He is waiting ready to help us, and that only with His help can we fulfill spiritual conditions, achieve connection and bestowal, and see the world as created from one source.

Therefore, we will have to reveal more of our force of evil, which does not allow us to connect with each other and with the Creator. And when we feel that we are not capable of connection and bestowal, it means that the Creator shows us the Pharaoh who stands between us and leads us to the wall, prevents us from moving toward connection and drawing closer to become one man with one heart.

And all this burdening of the heart is the result of not believing in the Creator, that is, the lack of feeling that this force exists and that it is only this force that puts all sorts of obstacles in front of us.

It is the Creator who sets the Pharaoh, our egoism, against us so that we may be convinced of our inner helplessness. I must act, but I feel that I am not able to, I do not have the strength to overcome my egoism even in the smallest way.

And the further we go, the weaker we feel, incapable of performing the slightest action of bestowal. But the Creator has deliberately arranged for us to plunge into egoism, which shows its complete power over us, the power of the Pharaoh in whose slavery we are under in Egypt. Only the Creator can save us by pulling us out of egoism, not any other force. Thus, we increasingly need the force of bestowal that the Creator can give us.

These two forces, the force of the Pharaoh and the force of the Creator, stand against each other, and Moses is us, the force in the middle that wants to outweigh toward the side of the Creator and rise above Pharaoh, to get out of his control. But this force is very weak. And only in the measure of our faith in the Creator, in the fact that He can save us by snatching us from the hands of Pharaoh, do we establish the dominion of the force of good over the force of evil.

The Creator sends out ten blows, awakening the force of Pharaoh. He says to Moses: “Come unto Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart.” And why does He harden Pharaoh making him stronger and stronger?

Moses is the force that wants to escape from Pharaoh and pull us out of egoism. Moses sees that he cannot go out on his own but must cling to the Creator, cling to Him as a baby clings to his mother with all his strength. It is the only way he feels safe and secure.

Both forces come from the Creator: the force of giving and the force of receiving. It is upon us only to pray that the force of bestowal will prevail over the force of reception and allow us to perform practical actions of bestowal.

And when we learn to perform altruistic actions, we will feel the presence of the Creator in them, His force, and His help. So we will begin to collect our desires of bestowal from which we will then form a spiritual vessel, our soul, the form of a spiritual group.

Therefore, the main thing is to consider where is it that we receive the Creator’s invitation to perform a spiritual action for the sake of bestowal, to realize our inability to fulfill it, and the need to turn to the Creator for help. Then we receive this power from Him and perform the action of bestowal. This ascent above egoism is called the exodus from Egypt.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/21,“Pesach (Passover)”

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Will There Ever Be Peace in The World?

592.04Question: Currently many people believe that the Third World War is already underway. Everyone from futurologists to the Pope speak about this openly. Many agree that this war is taking place in fragments. It has not yet appeared in the overall picture, but it is already going on in many planes.

There is even a more exotic view that the Third World War is a war against the coronavirus, since the consequences that the virus has brought to humanity are comparable to the consequences of the First and Second World Wars.

Do you think the Third World War really awaits us?

Answer: Unfortunately, I think it could be. Not whether it will happen or not—I do not want to talk about that. But the fact that it can be—yes.

The fact is that humanity is in constant competition, competition with each other is not yet a world war. A world war is when we want to defeat each other by destroying people. At least, we do not see it now.

In addition, it is also impossible to talk about the virus as a weapon. We do not see any direction in it. There is no need to attribute it to the Chinese or anyone else. Naturally, there are all sorts of ideas, plans, but this is not a war.

The Third World War means a nuclear war, when the huge nuclear forces of the superpowers would be brought into action. I do not want to think that this will happen, but it is possible.

Question: Will there ever be peace in the world?

Answer: One day there will be. Someday by making people realize that there is no other way, and by raising everyone above egoism,  or through great suffering, when a small number of people will remain on Earth, and they will realize that they have no other choice but to start their development anew in a completely different plane, in complete mutual assistance, mutual bestowal, and interconnection.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 2/16/21

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The First Egyptian Plague—Blood

962.7Question: The first Egyptian plague is  water turning to blood. What is this blow from the Kabbalistic point of view?

Answer: In the spiritual sense, water symbolizes the quality of bestowal and blood the quality of reception.

For a time, the children of Israel lived in the quality of bestowal, from which they fed, through which they existed united among themselves. But suddenly this quality no longer unites them.

Even the minimal amount and quality of connection that they could achieve disappeared and they felt completely disconnected. They saw that the Pharaoh wanted to rule over them to such an extent that there was no connection left. And so they couldn’t go on like this.

The plague by blood is the first realization of their egoistic intentions, which lead them to absolute death.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 1/30/20

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Song For Two Voices

528.03Even if it seems to me that everything that happens to me depends on myself, on my friends, or on some other random reasons, in reality everything comes from the Creator.

If I perceive it this way, it means that I am always standing in front of the Creator and not in front of the Pharaoh or any other forces. This is what I need: always imagine myself standing in front of the Creator.

Then what I should do is try to see Him through all the influences He awakens in me, to understand that everything comes from the upper force, that there is nothing else besides it. Through this attitude to everything that is happening, I will already know how to respond. I have to connect as much as possible with the friends and connect with the Creator together with them until we reveal Him between us. Then the Creator will correct the connection between us and He will fill it.

This is our work at every moment of time. The states that arise between us on this path can be called Egypt, exile, the exodus from Egypt, and so on. However, in essence, this is the ten, which must constantly strengthen our connection, advance more and more in order to reveal the Creator in the connection between us, the upper force, which is the only one that controls everything.

This force appears to us in the form of Pharaoh, or the Creator, or various villains and righteous people. However, it is the Creator who plays with us all the time in order to awaken the ten and each of us for connection above all the changes that He caused in us, above all the disturbances.

Then we begin to understand the language of the Creator, to recognize what He wants from us, how He addresses us, how He plays on us as if on a musical instrument. We feel what changes He makes in us and how His lights spread inside our connections in the ten, that is, fill our Partzuf.

Accordingly, we can respond to His address and respond to Him. We have a common language, as it is written, “I am for my beloved, and my beloved is for me.” The Creator speaks to us by changing our specific desires in the ten, and we want to connect on top of all the states; this is our response to Him. As a result we get a real song, He speaks to us, and we speak to Him, and we sing the song together.

The main thing is to picture that everything is inside the ten and not run away from it, but combine all the states together, into one system: seven years of satiation and seven years of hunger, Pharaoh, the Creator, and Moses. Then everything will fall into places wonderfully and easily.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/21, “Pesach (Passover)”

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“Mastering Human Connection” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Mastering Human Connection

The world is advancing towards a more interconnected state, towards reciprocity and integration. One who already perceives this trend of development can pass along to others the spirit of connection. We bear witness to the signs of humanity’s ripening process which has been accelerated by the pandemic. Complete maturity will be reached only when we rise to the level of love of others. The transition period toward it can be either painful or pleasant depending on our level of willing participation in ushering in that positive change.

What can move us towards a state of emotional closeness and harmony despite all the legitimate disagreements? Each of us as a “connection cultivator” must constantly put before his or her eyes one principle: in order to influence someone for the better, I must first connect with the person in sympathy, praise, and understanding, while thinking together how to further improve mutual care and reciprocity. In other words, we each must put into practice love of others to create the most fertile ground for a gratifying existence.

Until now, we have let our inborn selfish nature dominate our thoughts and actions in life. The more we continue in that direction the more we distance ourselves from the essential unifying law of nature, which leads to everyone’s suffering as the division proliferates. Thus, the ongoing virus outbreak is conducting us towards a more conscious society, one that is aware of our interdependence so that our aspirations for a better future bear fruit.

How can we yield ideal results in our human relationships and cohesion? First of all it is important to realize that every person acts as a type of receiver and transmitter. We constantly receive messages, process them within ourselves, and transmit them. So when I start thinking about good connections and complementary relationships between people, a field of positive feeling already spreads around me, even without words.

Moreover, in order to increase the positive impact in the circles among which we move throughout life, first and foremost we need to assess our surrounding environment. This means we need to check the current situation of the people we associate with, the state they aspire to reach, what they would consider success, and how they define a good future. Then, we need to build an outreach action plan based on that vision that is tailored to them and offer to deepen the mutual connection as a means of helping them realize those goals.

This kind of sensitivity to the needs and aspirations of others is relevant in our relations with our children and family members, as well as with friends and colleagues at work. It might also be related to improved health, career and business success, to better relationships—in reality, to anything and everything. Whatever the exact situation, the principle is always the same: first understand where the people are and what they are aiming for, and then think about how to demonstrate them that through good connections between people around can they achieve their goals.

In order to better understand what is meant by the word “connection”, let’s consider the family circle for the sake of illustration. What does a connected family look like? It is a place where everyone feels open to each other, willing to understand and support each other, without having to defend or hide from anyone. A family must be a unit in which the atmosphere is like a warm, gentle cloud encircling everyone.

If we want to broaden our perspective, we can go one step further and try to envisage how differently our country would be run with this connection-focused approach. If people could sit together and connect in the same way as within a family, our societies would behave in a vastly different manner. Instead of fighting from morning to evening in such ruthless ways, there would be more peaceful interactions between us every step of the way.

What can move us towards a state of emotional closeness and harmony despite all the legitimate disagreements? Each of us as a “connection cultivator” must constantly put before his or her eyes one principle: in order to influence someone for the better, I must first connect with the person in sympathy, praise, and understanding, while thinking together how to further improve mutual care and reciprocity. In other words, we each must put into practice love of others to create the most fertile ground for a gratifying existence.
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“Harnessing Society’s Power Of Complementing Contrasts” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Harnessing Society’s Power of Complementing Contrasts

When you look at societies around the world, it is clear that tensions are rising everywhere. Whether it is between Right and Left, religious and secular, Conservatives and Progressives, Blacks and Whites, or locals and immigrants, the reasons are countless but the tension is the same: Two opposites that want to cancel one another.

The contrasts in society are its source of energy; we must harness them to build a better, stronger, and healthier society. We must not, and cannot agree, but rather complement each other. Once we do this, all of us will benefit from the power of society, the power of complementing contrasts.

It will not work. The contrasts will only grow, as will the tensions. All of reality is built on complementing contrasts that are interdependent. Take one away and you have canceled the other. Human society is no exception, except that we don’t recognize our interdependence and therefore do not want to complement each other. Instead, we want to cancel one another. We regard anyone who does not think or speak like us as backward and ignorant, hence the cancel culture.

But if two complementing contrasts are required for development, how can one party be right and the other one is wrong? If reality itself requires the presence of opposites, how can we want to cancel those we regard as opposite from us, when in truth, it is the existence of the opposite view from mine that justifies the existence of my own view? If, for example, there were no Conservatives, would there be Progressives? The whole concept of Progressivism exists because there is the concept of Conservatism.

Moreover, and this is the most important point: Neither side matters in and of itself. Only the tension between them matters! The frictions between opposing views makes people think, move, build, explore, challenge, or in short, live!

Therefore, we must feel our objection, our dismay at the opinion of our opposers. At the same time, we must not cancel them; we must acknowledge that they are the reason that we feel so strongly about the subject. Their zeal about their views excites our own, and together, we keep each other growing.

The contrasts in society are its source of energy; we must harness them to build a better, stronger, and healthier society. We must not, and cannot agree, but rather complement each other. Once we do this, all of us will benefit from the power of society, the power of complementing contrasts.
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“Between Good And Evil” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Between Good and Evil

From the subatomic level to the most sophisticated human societies, everything consists of two basic, yet opposite elements. We define one of them as positive and the other one as negative. For example, we define the electric charge in a proton as positive and the one that is in the electron as negative. We define light as positive and darkness as negative, growth as positive and decay as negative, birth as positive and death as negative, and we define love as positive and hate as negative. We also attribute value to our definitions: We regard the positive as good, and the negative as bad.

We already exist concurrently, but we resist this idea and still strive to cancel one another. In order to create the healthy balance that can engender the next level of development, we must be conscious of the process, agree to coexistence with our opposite, accept our mutual dependence, and that without the other side, we will not develop.

But life does not consist of static states, but of cycles. Generation and degeneration are intertwined, and we would not have one without the other. Therefore, neither of them is good nor bad. We would not have love if we did not have hate, so which of them is good and which is bad? In a cycle, just as in a wheel, everything moves through all the possible positions; nothing has an absolute, unchanging value; it all depends on its position in the cycle.

Now, imagine what would happen if we removed one item from a pair of opposite elements. What would happen to the day if there were no night? What would happen to life if there were no death? Only when we have both do we have a complete and functioning system. If we have a balanced number of protons and electrons, we have a complete atom. If we have a balanced number of animals in an area, we have a stable and healthy ecosystem.

As things evolve, they tilt and sway, and each time, a different aspect takes charge until it gives it up in favor of the opposite element. When they reach a more or less stable balance, it is a sign that the system has completed its construction and a new system has begun to evolve on top of it. This is why evolution goes from the simpler to the more complex, and why human society has evolved from smaller and simpler societies to larger and more complex ones.

The same pattern permeates all of creation; the tilt from positive to negative is the engine of reality. It never stops; when it reaches stability, it engenders a new level where the tilting process starts all over again until the new level reaches harmony and stability once more, but only in order to develop another level, higher still.

Human societies go through the exact same process as the rest of reality. The previous century demonstrated the extremes that humanity can reach. My teacher’s father, Baal HaSulam, who wrote about this as early as the 1950s, already noted, “Humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as with Germany, or to the extreme left, as with Russia, but not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony.” Like all of reality, human society had to go through extremes, but it also has to find its balance, where extremes exist in mutual support and move on to the next level of development.

This is our current point in time. We have tried our best to ordain the most fanatic extremes, but they all gave way (as they should) to their opposites, which in turn collapsed, as well. Now we have all of the extremes existing simultaneously, and it is time for them to complement one another just as atoms, seasons, and all animals do.

However, this is where humankind’s uniqueness comes into play: In all of nature, the tilting and subsequent harmony happen on their own, through nature’s inherent forces. Humankind is different. We already exist concurrently, but we resist this idea and still strive to cancel one another. In order to create the healthy balance that can engender the next level of development, we must be conscious of the process, agree to coexistence with our opposite, accept our mutual dependence, and that without the other side, we will not develop.

Moreover, we have to agree to it on every level. We must go through that process of recognition in matters of gender, race, culture, opinions, and anything that pertains to human existence. If, for example, we do not accept that there are both Democrats and Republicans in society, we will never grow above the political rift. Instead of generating a higher and more advanced reality that includes both views, we will sink into the rift until bloodshed erupts.

Worse yet, it doesn’t matter how much blood we shed, we will still not be able to eliminate the other side since nature has created it, just as it created us. If, by chance, one side does destroy the other, the “triumphant” side will disappear, as well, since its opposite will no longer exist. We will stop advancing, nature will recreate that situation all over again, and we will ultimately have to accept that both sides must exist and complement one another.

Only then will the higher level emerge. When we accept that both opposites are mandatory, we will rise to the next level of development. This is the secret of evolution.

“Why Did The Coronavirus Come To All The World? Why Is This Virus Active?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: Why did the Coronavirus come to all the world? Why is this virus active?

As much as we have been affected by the pandemic, we are still unaware of its true effect on us.

The pandemic has affected us very deeply. It emerged in order to create a new humanity, to upgrade our attitudes so that we would relate more positively, considerately, compassionately and constructively to each other and to nature.

If we look at ourselves a year ago, and if we would be able to see ourselves a year from now, we would see completely different people. We cannot return to the kinds of people we were before the pandemic. On one hand, the pandemic has isolated, detached, and estranged us from each other more and more, but by doing so, it has given us space to think about who we are, where we are, why we are here, and also, what kind of attitudes we have to each other and to the world in general.

Nature has placed us onto a new level of development from which we will be able to very quickly transition to a whole new kind of positively-connected human society.

It seems as if we have been struck with a very contagious viral disease, but when we understand nature’s purpose and plan, then we see how this state came about precisely as a means to upgrade our attitudes to each other: to become detached from our egoistic-consumeristic values that had been running rampant leading up to the pandemic, and to let us further develop in a more refined manner toward the purpose of creation, to the discovery of who and what we truly are, and why we are alive here in this world.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash .

“When Inclusion Turns Against Itself” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “When Inclusion Turns against Itself

Banning Children’s Books and Movies Is the Writing on the Wall – Society Is Crumbling

Over the past several months, we have been bombarded with news about “corrections” taking place in various global companies, corporations, but most notably, in the education system. These measures, which are taken purportedly in order to make society more inclusive, actually ban, prohibit, limit, and condemn many of the most basic freedoms of people in a democratic country, such as freedom of expression and even freedom of thought. There are too many examples to mention, but here are a few typical ones: Amazon has removed the iconic children’s books of Dr. Seuss, and Disney+ has taken down from children’s profiles such cherished movies as Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Swiss Family Robinson, and added a caution next to the title in grownups’ profiles that the movies contain culturally inappropriate content.

By now, we have become so alienated that we cannot stand anyone who isn’t exactly like us. As a result, we introduce “equity,” which tries to force fairness and impose impartiality and equality, when in fact, it states that if you don’t think like the decision maker thinks you’re “supposed” to, you are ostracized, subject to various social punishments such as banning from society, losing your job, shaming on social media, and other social punishments that are often more hurtful than incarceration, and occasionally cause people to take their own lives.

There is more: Coca-Cola asked its workers to be “less white” to fight racism, seriously. Megyn Kelly, in an interview with Bill Maher, said she pulled her children from a private school because, among other woke oddities, it conducted a “three-week experimental trans education” program in her son’s third-grade class.

There is still more: The Grace Church School in Manhattan offers a 12-page guide to “inclusive language.” The guide discourages children from using the words “parents,” “Mom,” and “Dad,” and suggests that they use “folks” or “grown-ups” instead. In New York City, the Department of Education will remove all selective “screens” for middle schools for the 2021-2022 academic year and eliminate district priority for high schools altogether. To increase diversity, a lottery will replace the screening tests. And finally, Bari Weiss writes about a friend of hers, a Manhattan mother of a four-year-old girl who watched her daughter draw, when the girl said casually, “I need to draw in my own skin color.” Skin color, she told her mother, is “really important.” This was what she learned in school.

The irony about these examples, and countless more, is that they are all consequences of a campaign to increase inclusion and diversity. Clearly, the campaigners do not realize that when you inhibit freedom of thought and freedom of expression, you are abolishing inclusion, eliminating diversity, and shredding society into pieces. I don’t think that this ideology will prevail, but if it does, America will finish itself off.

This campaign is going toward a clear outcome, which I call “recognition of evil.” In other words, it is going to show us that our own nature, human nature, is rotten and evil to the core. In the process, it will also show us that we don’t have a clue about the right way to educate children or grown-ups.

Successful education requires knowing its final outcome before you even begin. And as for the inclusion campaign, nature didn’t create people equal; it created them different! It didn’t create them better or worse, but rather different! We, humans, attribute value to one race over another, to one culture over another, to one faith over another, and to one worldview over another. Therefore, we humans are the problem, not the race, gender, faith, or culture into which we were born. We make people unequal because this is how we think of them. Diversity is a blessing; it makes people unique, and therefore extremely valuable! Trying to eliminate the differences between us will create separation, alienation, and hatred, and it will not create inclusion or equality.

Indeed, for many centuries now, we have been growing further and further apart. By now, we have become so alienated that we cannot stand anyone who isn’t exactly like us. As a result, we introduce “equity,” which tries to force fairness and impose impartiality and equality, when in fact, it states that if you don’t think like the decision maker thinks you’re “supposed” to, you are ostracized, subject to various social punishments such as banning from society, losing your job, shaming on social media, and other social punishments that are often more hurtful than incarceration, and occasionally cause people to take their own lives.

Trying to change human nature is as wise as Don Quixote’s tilting at windmills, and far more damaging. It injures people’s souls, especially that of children, and maims their psyches. You cannot tie people to a mental procrustean bed and expect them to come out unscathed. They will never be the same, and they will not be healthy individuals.

What you do have to do is utilize each person’s uniqueness for the benefit of society. You need to highlight the differences and show how each person’s contribution makes him or her unique and irreplaceable. When you make people proud of who they are, they will not want to change themselves; they will not want to change others, and they will feel confident connecting and communicating with others. This is the whole trick to building a thriving society.

In a society that endorses people’s uniqueness, they will not hesitate to socialize, mingle in diverse groups, and get to know other people and cultures. There will be no racism or discrimination among them, no judgment and no xenophobia, since they will know that they have something to gain from every person they meet. Such people will form flourishing societies that will be inherently diverse, and naturally inclusive. They will be vibrant and welcoming precisely because all views, races, genders, faiths, and cultures are welcome.

For the sake of the 330 million people living in America, I hope they understand it before rather than after they suffer unimaginable torments for trying to change their own nature.
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