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The 9th Of Av Is The Root Of Shattering

962.3Since we are created beings, we are always moving from emptiness to fulfillment, from darkness to light, from bitter to sweet, from mistakes to success. Only in this way can we attain things on the contrast of opposites, as the advantage of light from darkness. The more darkness there is in our states, the brighter is the light that is revealed between them.

The light we reveal cannot be greater than the darkness, the feeling of lack of light that was there before. Therefore, success and revelation must be the result of exile from spirituality, of the feeling that we have no Creator, no understanding, not even the desire to live and exist.

To the extent the descent and separation from the true reality occur, a feeling of lack is formed in us. Until we attain the full depth of darkness and separation from the Creator, the absence of a true purpose, we will not be able to come to the opposite state.

Therefore the shattering has to happen. It is arranged in such a way by the upper force that first there is a shattering, and then there is its recognition, from which the desire and the need for liberation appears. This is how we progress until we reach complete redemption.

The 9th of Av is the root of the shattering and of all the destructions that have occurred in history. However, it is precisely from these days and states of destruction that liberation grows and spirituality, the upper force, the Creator will be revealed, exactly in that place, in those desires, where there was a feeling of distancing and separation, darkness and destruction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/21, “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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Moving To The State Of Temple

747.03Question: What is the destruction of the Temple? Where is its place in the chain of all the various spiritual states? Is this a state that a person or all of humanity goes through?

Answer: The destruction of the Temple is a great act. First, it is necessary to reach the state of the Temple where humanity is already at a certain spiritual elevation and needs to move on. Further advancement is impossible without the destruction first because, in principle, we move only when we discover some faults and malfunctions in our current state. Only then do we begin to investigate, measure, and correct them.

Therefore, the whole path began long ago, from scratch, with the appearance of a small egoism in ancient Babylon and with the subsequent exit from egoism by a group of Babylonians led by Abraham.

This group aspired to a connection between each other, which is the correction of humanity. It went through certain stages on its path: It entered a great egoistic development called the Egyptian exile and left it with a desire to rise above egoism since it recognized it as evil. Then it went through tremendous hardships and corrections in the forty-year ascent from egoism to the first altruistic stage, which is called forty steps or forty years of wandering in the desert.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States”

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The Third Temple—The Final Correction

937Question: Is The destruction of the Temple an inevitable process, like inhaling and exhaling? It is impossible to only inhale.

Answer: It is not just inhalation and exhalation. The people of Israel were in Egyptian exile, ascended from it, reached the state of connection, built the First Temple, and fell from it after finding faults in it.

The Second Temple was built and it also collapsed. But now, after the destruction of the First and Second Temples and exiting all exiles, while in the last, third exile, they are achieving the greatest egoistic desires.

Question: Is this already the unity of all humanity?

Answer: This is not unity yet, but the comprehension of the real egoism that exists in all of humanity. After all, proceeding from previous connections, they can now understand in what malicious egoistic state they are in relation to each other.

Question: So, will the Third Temple be built when all of humanity is united? Will it also collapse according to the program of development?

Answer: No, at this stage the final correction is carried out.

The fact is that now we exist in the development of the Third Temple. It is characterized by the fact that all of humanity is beginning to realize its failure on the earthly level and to feel the only thing they lack is connection between them.

In addition, humanity’s beginning to reveal that unity, i.e., salvation from mutual hatred and lack of success in life, is in the hands of a group called Israel. Only they have the methodology of connection and all the information records of the past states. It is an experimental group that has gone through all these historical conditions and therefore today can present to all of humanity the methodology and practice of connection.

If this group, which in the past was repeatedly in a state of division and unity, today reaches unification, then all humanity will rush after it, will also join this union, and the world will reach a rise to a level that is higher than egoism, that is, complete salvation from its own egoistic nature.

If this group, which in the past was repeatedly in a state of division and unity, today reaches connection, all of humanity will head for it, join this unity, and the world will reach an ascent to a level that is above egoism—complete salvation from its own egoistic nature.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States”

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Becoming A Part Of One Common Whole

528.01There is no individual development in Kabbalah. It helps if a person becomes an organized part of the collective.

The fact is that our egoism stops working. It goes through such states that it pushes us out of itself.

We have already completed the individual egoistic path and we see to what an extent humanity does not know how to go further. However, Kabbalah says that the next level of development is not the level of individual complacency, attainment, or finding some kind of a niche for yourself, but it is the state when you reach collective thoughts and desires.

All the decisions are made only in the group, in the ten. Ten people connect with each other in a special desire and aspiration of thought, in which they suddenly discover a common integral force of nature, called the Creator. This is revealed through their correct connection when everyone rises above their egoism and connects with the others as if they are part of him.

Rising above the individuality and building a single common whole between themselves, they begin to feel in it, as in a new sensor, in a new feeling, this common force of nature according to the law of equivalence of form.
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From KabTV’s “Videoconference”

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We Can Prevent Any Disaster

919Question: Tens of thousands of people in the world need saving from ecological catastrophes, from natural disasters, and many are engaged in the production of weapons of mass destruction, yet they do not feel that they bring grief, troubles, etc. to anyone.

At the same time, when we see a person suffering—for example, a boy being pulled out of the ruins after an earthquake or someone being rescued from a raging river—everyone grieves, everyone watches and worries about that person and what will happen to him.

What is this property in a person that he can worry so much about one person, but he is not touched by the suffering of many?

Answer: One does not imagine oneself in the form of people, in the form of a huge mass. But he immediately imagines himself in the form of a single person and empathizes purely selfishly.

Question: And how can we guide a person to empathize with the global situation, the world?

Answer: We do not have this feeling at all! Let’s say, animals die: there is flooding and forests burning, they run away across the river and drown. We look at it as a catastrophe, that is, purely through reason, philosophically, but we cannot empathize.

And when something happens to a small dog or a cat, then it is another matter, we are ready to kill for it because you put yourself in its place; you can imagine yourself in the place of the victim.

Question: How can we escape this version of events?

Answer: We cannot. Our egoism is set up that way.

Comment: Well, then the future is clear, this is how nations will be destroyed.

My Response: Such is the course of history.

Question: But there must be some way out of this. Has some sensory organ been cut off from us?

Answer: The collective one: the organ of collective perception. We cannot feel the integrality of a huge group or a nation. We sometimes conform to it but only if we feel included in them.

Question: And what about compassion for the world you keep talking about?

Answer: It depends on upbringing. And not only on upbringing but on the fact that with the help of upbringing, we induce the development of this sensation in us. After all, we were once in it. We all came from a group, a tribe, around a campfire, from a cave, and so on.

Question: Do we have a genetic record that we were once as one?

Answer: Our ego suppresses it.

Question: But can this memory be restored, that we were connected and are now connected?

Answer: Only by special influences on these elements of memory that are in us. But they are very deep, and they must be literally pulled out into light by force.

Question: As a Kabbalist, speaking about the unity of the world, the unity of mankind, are you trying to penetrate into this depth where we are connected?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And at the same time you say that it is very difficult, almost impossible.

My Response: Of course.

Question: But you keep doing it all the same?

Answer: What else can we do? In practice, the good outcome of our story depends on this.

Question: Is such a point in a person, barely noticeable, called the unity of the world: “I am one with the world,” and this is where we need to break through?

Answer: Yes. Otherwise, there is simply darkness ahead.

Question: Do you have a feeling that this task is almost impossible?

Answer: It is absolutely impossible. But we must do it anyway.

Question: How can we convey this to an ordinary person today?

Answer: When there is absolutely no way out of a situation, a person does incredible things. And this shows us what should be done. Kabbalists speak about this. So, you move from your logic to someone else’s. You accept their methodology, their ideology, their advice. You just put their head in place of yours and work that way.

Question: When there is no other way out?

Answer: Yes. Otherwise your ego will not allow you to do it. Otherwise it will always look for a way out in the same plane. It will be over soon, I hope.

Comment: It seems as if there is no specific way out.

My Response: Yes, it has already been discussed calmly.

Comment: And calmly accepted, which is very interesting. And here again the same thing happens: “Perhaps this will not affect me, it will affect others.”

My Response: No, what does it mean “will not affect”? It is as if you are saying that after it rains on Thursday, a meteorite will fall on the Earth and turn the Earth into a pancake, and at the same time you say: “And we can prevent it with our reasonable, correct, general intervention, mental intervention.”

Question: It is getting nearer and there is only one way to stop it?

Answer: Yes. Like this: “Brothers, earthlings! A great trouble is approaching and our only opportunity is to mentally unite.”

If we mentally unite and with our common thought wish to change its trajectory and remain in our good position, united together in order to drive it away, we will begin to understand that this trouble is not a problem. It is in order to bring us to a better state, to unification. And in this state of unification, we must continue to exist. Let’s not just do it for a moment, but make it so that it does not go away.

Question: Is this a Kabbalistic idea?

Answer: It is the Creator’s idea. The war against egoism must be to the end, to its complete correction into bestowal and love.

On one hand, it will not give up. On the other hand, everything depends on us. We need to take the responsibility of our correction above our logic.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/8/20

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The State Of The Ruin Of The Temple

933Question: Does a single person or the entire nation go through the state of ruin on the spiritual path?

Answer: It can be one person or it can be a nation. As a rule, a group of people goes through the feeling of ruin, and then they reach the state of the land of Israel. These are all spiritual states that are built only on the above-egoistic connection with each other.

The state of the land of Israel is the desire to connect with each other according to serious parameters above egoism of integration with each other. If people are capable of this, then the connection they achieve by integrating with each other as one single whole is called a Temple.

Having formed such a group, or you can say, a nationwide connection with each other, the followers of Abraham, as if, created a Temple, and for some time they existed in this state. However, in order to advance, they had to reveal even greater problems within themselves: where else they can connect, where else they can come closer to each other.

When the state of “here it is – the Temple!” is reached, then at first in the group that has connected everything seems to be good. But it is not, not good enough; there should be connection at the next level. In order to reach it, they must reveal in their current state all sorts of separations, disconnections, hatred, and mutual rejection that exist in them, but are not visible to them.

At the same time, the clarification of their next state takes place in them. It is manifested as a shattering, that is, they see their attempt to connect as an unsuccessful one.

Although it was very successful, now when they are advancing, which means even more light, even more connection, even more desire to be mutually integrated with each other, they begin to see how great their egoistic desires really are, which do not allow them to connect even more.

On the contrary, they feel themselves in the great shattering. This is the ruin, the destruction of the Temple. They again find themselves in a great desire to enjoy, in mutual rejection from each other, in the so-called Babylonian exile.

Then, from the state of the revelation of hatred, they again begin to aspire for connection and love, which is called the construction of the Second Temple. They build it, that is, they connect in a group so that it acquires a strong, monolithic state of mutuality and unity.

When they reach this state, they again discover that it is insufficient, that there are many different faults, defects, and mutual separations in it. It turns out that there, inside it, is egoism, which pushes them away from each other.

However, they see it because they have risen to the next level of mutuality and love. That is, every time they reach a higher spiritual quality, precisely thanks to it they find themselves even more disconnected and distanced from each other.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States”

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Meeting The Creator

239Question: In any science, scientists first propose some hypothesis and after that they perform actions and discover something. How does this happen in Kabbalah? How can I reveal that the Creator influences me?

Answer: I am in some kind of a field, under some external influence, this is clear to me. But how I can come into mutual contact with this influence is not clear to me; this is what I would like to know.

The fact is that we are trying to determine in our corporeal qualities and capabilities what forces influence us and what reactions they cause in us. However, we perform all this by ordinary corporeal means.

If we develop ourselves according to the Kabbalistic methodology, we try to influence the force field we exist in to understand it, get in contact with it, and determine which of my influences on it cause certain, adequate reactions from it to me. The reciprocity that I create by my influence on the external field that causes change in its influence on me is the subject of the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Kabbalah calls this external field that exists around us the Creator because it reveals that this is the highest, the only force, that creates and holds everything in itself. It calls us, humans (except for inanimate, vegetative and animate nature) created beings, and invites us to develop a sense for perceiving the Creator, to exit ourselves, to begin to feel and explore Him. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is engaged in, and this is what we can attain.

Question: By what principle of the actions of the Creator, from the influence of the upper field, on me I will be able to recognize Him?

Answer: According to the law of equivalence of form. If I can change myself, my reactions, my influences on the Creator, then I will feel how He influences me at the same time. Kabbalah in this respect is just a science, there is nothing else here.

Therefore, by changing myself, my influences on the external field, I accumulate enough reactions from it to me; over the course of history I already have some data, I collect it, process it, and I can make some kind of conclusions about the nature of this field, about its behavior, about the way it influences me, and the way I can influence it. This is the entire wisdom.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/2/21

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“Should We Have The Right To Choose Where We Want To Live?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: Should we have the right to choose where we want to live?

According to the way in which nature develops us, we need to reach a state where we realize ourselves for human society’s maximal benefit, and with maximal effectiveness. As such, if we thoroughly research our options and find that we can realize ourselves more beneficially for humanity in a specific location, then of course we should have the right to move to that place where we can be of more benefit to humanity.

However, I emphasize that such a move should take place only after we find that we can truly be of more benefit to humanity in the target location. It means that we refrain from moving simply because we feel like it or that it “seems right” at a certain moment. Instead, we make our decision to move according to our awareness of the general law of nature, and how nature develops us. Also, as explained by Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), we might need to receive special permission from the people who understand where we can best realize ourselves. We can then be certain that where we wish to move is where we need to be and act.

If we move simply because we are bored in one place, and think that we can reap more egoistic fulfillment somewhere else, i.e. aim to move is simply in order to egoistically absorb what others have prepared in the other location, then by doing so, of course we do not become useful to society and I do not think that such a move is justified.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

A Viral Pandemic Multiplied By The Pandemic Of Egoism

290Only good forces come to us from above, but if we are not ready to receive them, we feel them as blows. This is the case with the coronavirus. If we were ready to accept this force, which eventually came to us in the form of a pandemic, if we united to become internally closer to each other in the face of danger, it would not have manifested itself.

Look how animals unite against a common disaster. When they run together, fleeing from a flood or a forest fire, they no longer attack each other. They feel that they must save their lives, and their predatory instinct is suppressed by the instinct of self-preservation.

We are now in the same situation. The blows that we feel from nature or the Creator, the upper force, should push us to correct conclusions about how to get rid of them.

We need to see how animals behave, when fleeing from danger, they do not attack each other. The predator’s instinct disappears and only the instinct for the struggle for life remains. If we took an example from the animate level, we would have defeated the pandemic and correctly and successfully gotten out of this state.

But the problem is that we are not at the animal level. We are spoiled animals because we have human egoism, which poisons everything.

Therefore, we cannot even think in the direction of connection, unity, and closeness in order to escape from the pandemic. Even in the context of a global pandemic, governments and individuals are trying to make profits and cash-in on each other because they believe this will bring them wealth and success.

Thus, they make the trouble twice as bad, incur double the problems. Instead of being together with others and thus softening the force of Gevura, they multiply the power of evil. Therefore, we will have to learn through suffering.

The pandemic does not come to make people sick or kill them, but to teach us how to behave toward each other. But for now, we see that we are not learning, but we are going the opposite direction, that is, the path of suffering. Every country thinks that it can succeed and win at the expense of other countries and nations. And this is the mistake.

However, gradually, under these blows, we will descend to simple survival like on the animal level, and then we will begin to see that it is worth helping each other and not hurting others when you are running from a common disaster together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/21, “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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