Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/6/21
Posted on August 6th, 2021
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How does self-annulment practically take place so that we achieve the state of a spiritual embryo? Self-annulment is when I systematically, day after day, more and more, annul myself in relation to the upper force through the ten.
I try to follow all advice from Rabash regarding the work in the ten and hope that this will help me become passive toward the Creator. This means that no matter what state I am in and what I have, I want to annul myself in front of the Creator and be ready for any change.
I want only one thing: for the Creator to take care of me. I hand myself over to Him and wait for Him to start changing me and for the quality of annulment and devotion to the upper force to start growing in me.
Being inside the mother’s womb of the upper means that the upper can do whatever he wants with me from beginning to end, as it is said: “A King who puts to death and brings to life.” And I am ready for anything. This is called being a spiritual embryo, the biggest restriction of all that has ever existed.
This is the most important point that marks the entry into the spiritual world. I completely annul myself, in spite of all the obstacles inside and around, and transfer myself to the upper above them. After all, the main thing for me is complete devotion to the upper.
The main thing is to reach such a stage of self-annulment in relation to the upper force. All the other degrees are only different forms of this self-annulment because each time I must annul my desire to receive relative to the desire to bestow of the Creator. And then the form of His bestowal will take over my desire to receive, that is, the Creator will place the form of bestowal inside the form of reception. All the degrees up to the very end of correction: embryo, nursing, and maturity are essentially the same embryo, the same point of self-annulment, only expanded more and more.
I keep reminding myself with the help of my environment and my studies that I am asking the force of bestowal to clothe me and take over me. And I remain passive and want the upper force to rule and annul my force of reception. I am waiting for the Creator to clothe on me and give me new desires and new qualities—qualities of bestowal. Sometimes I feel that I receive such qualities and sometimes I don’t. One day is different from the other, one desire comes, then another, because we are bound to go through all the states.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/21, “Ibur (Impregnation) and Yenika (Nursing)”
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My new article on Linkedin “Why Our Connection Can Stop the Fires”
When the world is consumed by fire, inundated in floods, and crippled by a global plague, only one remedy can really help: union. Only our solidarity, our sense of mutual responsibility, can lift us above the impairments that nature has imposed on us. We may think that we must tackle each crisis separately, but we are wrong. The crises are all linked at the root, so if we cure the common root, we will resolve the crises.
It may seem odd that nature is striking us with physical punishments and we are to respond to them with emotional remedies such as bonding and mutual responsibility. Where is the connection between floods and love, for example?
It has already been scientifically proven that nature’s systems are all connected. There are countless scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary studies that research the interconnections and interdependencies among the parts of our global ecosystem, which is planet Earth, and even our solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy where we are situated in space, and ultimately the entire universe. Everything is connected, and everything affects everything else.
When a malfunction manifests, such as this year’s summer, when climate has clearly gone awry, we must examine not only the regional weather where an extreme event has happened, but everything else related to it. Eventually, we see that even local events such as severe hail storms are connected to everything else that’s going on in the world.
To find the cause of problems, we must find which element or elements in the system are dysfunctional. If we find them and correct them, the whole system will regain its balance and the butterfly effect that leads to the creation of cataclysms will not happen.
When we look at all of nature, there is only one such element whose actions are becoming increasingly incongruent with everything else: man, or more specifically—human behavior.
Particularly in recent decades, we have allowed our egos to run amok and demand whatever they want. We have enshrined carefree, careless, and mainly thoughtless behavior and resolutely rejected the very thought of accountability. As a result, instead of being free, we have been enslaved by our egos, which have destroyed our planet, killed millions of people and extinguished entire species. Ironically, in the name of freedom, we have denied the freedom of countless others, while we, too, have not become free; we have become our ego’s servants and we have ruined our world.
Now that our ruined world can no longer support us, it is falling apart, collapsing. We, who have been cutting the branch we have been sitting on, are about to fall with it. There is only one way to save ourselves from annihilation: to rein in our excessive egoism. If we become considerate and mutually responsible for one another, we will restore the balance we have denied nature, and nature’s restored balance will calm the storms. We have pushed nature to the edge; we have unleashed the storms upon ourselves, and we can restore balance and calm the world. For this, we only need to stop thinking only of ourselves, and start taking everyone into consideration.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do we still believe more in nationalism than in humanity as a whole?“
The more developed we are, the broader we perceive our lives and human life in general. We become interested in an increasingly wider world. In ancient times, we were closed within our families, and afterward, in our villages, and then in our cities. Today, we are closed in our countries, but modern development and globalization show us that we are globally interconnected and interdependent.
This is why our ego today envelops the entire world. To the degree that we understand our global interdependence, we will accordingly feel the entire world as our home. There is no way out, and it appears as if we are obligated to take care of everyone. When we feel this small global village as our common home, we will then exit our national boundaries and enter into human boundaries, into a dimension that is common to everyone.
In the meantime, however, we find ourselves unable to get on with each other, and that we are closed within our ego, each one in our respective shells. This paradox, this collision, gives rise to a lot of tension and poses a threat to our existence. Accordingly, we will need to seek a solution so that the world will become less menacing. So let us have faith that we will soon ascend above our national boundaries and head into boundlessness.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
My new article on Linkedin “Behind Iran’s Power Play”
Since the rise of the Shi’ite regime in Iran, the country that used to be on good terms with Israel has been promoting an extremist ideology against the Jewish state. In recent months, the rhetoric has become so pugnacious that words have spilled into actions at sea, with attacks on merchant ships, and on land, through its proxies in Lebanon and Gaza. Now that Iran is “only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon,” according to Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz, we should ask ourselves where we are going with Iran and what we can do about it, if anything at all.
As I see it, the only country that is genuinely concerned about the prospect of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons is Israel. For the rest of the world, their worried statements are just that: statements. They have greater worries than Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. Its neighbors might also be somewhat concerned, but no one is really that worried about it besides Israel.
Therefore, I have no doubt that Iran is on its way to obtaining nuclear bombs and becoming a nuclear power. Their national pride requires that they do not stay behind the rest of the world; they are adamant about obtaining the bomb and they will get what they want, which is not the bomb itself but rather the world’s respect.
Yet, once Iran achieves respect, I don’t think that it will go beyond that. Their leaders’ threats may be militant, but I think that they are just that: threats, and nothing more.
We shouldn’t underestimate the astuteness of the Iranian people. They are a nation of merchants; they know what buttons to push and how tight they can pull the string without snapping it. I think that a direct confrontation is simply not their style; they’re smarter than that. They’re nature, as I said, is that of business people, and in business, power play is key, but you mustn’t go too far. Iran knows that if Israel is pushed against the wall, it’s got overt and covert ways to retaliate decisively and destructively, and Iran is smarter than to try Israel out.
Therefore, I think that our real problem is not with Iran. If we want a good future, we need to focus on ourselves, and not on what other countries are doing. If the people of Israel were united, they wouldn’t worry about other nations’ weapons.
Our unity is more powerful than anything. If we had it, it would neutralize not only other countries’ weapons, but their desire to fight against us. It would even turn their hatred toward us into love. It is just as the book Maor VaShemesh writes: “The prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come over them. … [When] there is bonding among them, and no separation of hearts, they have peace and quiet, and no Satan or evildoer, as by this [unity], all the curses and suffering are removed.”
Our unity can do much more than protect us from harm; it can shift the world from the belligerent mindset it is in today, to a much quieter and friendlier approach. Our nation was created to be an example of unity; once we set it, the rest of the world will follow. This is why one of the most famous antisemites in American history, Henry Ford, wrote in his virulent composition, The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems on paper, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”
The nations are looking to us for example, for leadership toward unity, while we are displaying the opposite. Nothing is more powerful than unity; it is the foundation of existence. Everything is connected and united; everything is harmonized and synchronized with everything else. When we operate like the rest of reality, we derive our strength from there, from the very root of everything. This is the vital force that everyone wants, including the Iranians. Rav Kook once wrote, “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred, and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love, and the world will be rebuilt with us.” Indeed, here, in mutual love, lies the key to our victory, and to the victory of all of humanity right along with us.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can a person be perceptive enough to see our planet in a way that tells them that they too are a part of nature?“
We are incapable of understanding that we are parts of humanity, nature, the world and the universe. Our inborn ego limits us from seeing such a picture.
In order to feel the all-enveloping nature that surrounds us, we need to shift from an introverted perception of reality, where we accept everything into us with the help of the five senses that merely absorb information—to a state where we come out of ourselves.
We can impact such a shift in our perception of reality with an altruistic perception of the world.
This is why, for now, we are unable to see that the world is global and that we are integral parts of the world. However, our ego pushes us forward, and by means of suffering, we start feeling that we have no way out, and we need to understand the world in which we live. Otherwise, we will continue suffering until we eventually destroy ourselves.
Suffering makes us more perceptive because it develops our mind. In the beginning, suffering develops our mind in order for us to avoid it. Afterward, suffering nevertheless brings us to the realization of the integral and whole reality. We gradually discover that, in the end, our entire universe and we inside of it are parts of a single integral system, which has a law, a general law of nature—the law of love.
Therefore, we too need to become equal to this law. Nature works as a single organism, and only we are given free will in order to freely reach this understanding and to make ourselves integral parts in each of our personal statuses. When we achieve such a state, which I hope will be in the nearest future—then we will see that we rise above the animate level—where we live as animals, aiming to fulfill our personal needs alone—to the speaking level—where we come out of ourselves and aim at fulfilling others.
We will then feel ourselves as the global, interconnected and interdependent nature: all-embracing, eternal and perfect.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
In our world, every person has many different desires. But the most basic of them, which includes absolutely all desires, is the desire to enjoy, to fill oneself; it is a person’s ego. All of them are inherent in each of us to varying degrees. Everyone is guided precisely by their own desires and opportunities to fill them.
The desires we are born with are absolutely selfish. We see this starting with young children and ending with almost all people in the world. Only a small child does not reckon with anything; he screams and demands his desires be fulfilled.
Adults already understand that they cannot do everything to satisfy their desires at the expense of others. We have problems and conflicts because we constantly want something and the world around us, the people around us, may not agree with it.
A person’s desire to satisfy his egoism always meets some kind of restriction or even contradiction on the part of those around him. Therefore, we are constantly trying to understand how we can fill ourselves in a way that we do not receive rejection from others.
There are selfish desires in action when I want to fulfill myself and I succeed. These desires are in everyone, but they are not always possible to realize and therefore a person suffers.
There are desires to fulfill oneself that are realized in the action of bestowal. If, for example, I love someone, then my external actions may be giving, not receiving, but at the same time I enjoy, I fulfill myself. We give gifts to a loved one, but still, this is not giving but receiving. After all, in principle, at the same time, I fill myself. I give these gifts to myself, not to someone else.
In our world, giving to someone else free of charge, without fulfilling your desire, your egoism, is impossible.
To teach us how to do this, there is the science of Kabbalah. But here, too, there are many different conditions. This is a difficult science.
Thus, the desire to enjoy in us is graduated into the desire to receive, the desire to bestow, to receive for oneself, to receive for the sake of another, to give to another, and to give in order to enjoy oneself.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/23/21
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In the News (“European Parliament overwhelmingly backs ban on caged animal farming”): “The European Parliament is calling for a ban on caged animal farming, after voting overwhelmingly in favour to end the practice.
“The idea originally came from a European Citizens’ Initiative that was started in September 2018, which has so far gathered nearly 1.4 million signatures in at least 18 member states in support of animal welfare.”
My Response: The European Parliament has nothing better to do. They are ready to turn into animals themselves. They are not far from it. I cannot imagine what else I can say about this! They have so many problems! Europe is decaying and running wild! And they do not see anything.
Question: Do you think that these are signs of the end of Europe?
Answer: This is a collapse! We have already been through all this in ancient Babylon.
Question: What should the parliament be like?
Answer: The European Parliament should think about correcting people and not about bringing animals closer to the human state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/1/21
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A bright path is tied in the middle of the firmament. This is the serpent of the firmament, called by astronomers, “The Milky Line” (Zohar For All , “Chayei Sarah,” Item 71).
The fact is that the Milky Way is not called that for nothing. This is the path that is determined for us from above by our fate, by the upper providence.
If you do not apply your efforts, you will be moving as if through the milky way from the beginning to the end , along the path of the original serpent. It will always press you hard and thus advance you to the goal because it is the angel of the Creator, His governing force.
However, if you take this upon yourself, then you are above the Milky Way, above the stars! You rise to a completely different level and determine for yourself how to advance.
Then heaven cannot reveal anything to you. It reveals the map of your life when you do not participate in it on your own, when you are forced. However, if you want to rise above these forces, you by yourself write in heaven your own life in heaven.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #16
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Question: What is independence from the point of view of Kabbalah?
Answer: Independence is gained only in the middle line to the extent that you can rise above your egoism on the one hand and above the property of the property of the Creator on the other hand.
That is, you want to be independent of both your own desire and the desire of the Creator. By rising in the middle line above both of them, you achieve independence.
Our great teacher Baal HaSulam likens this to the example of the guest and the host. Suppose I come to visit you and you treat me to all kinds of food. Let’s say that you, as the Creator, know what I want because you created all the desires in me. You offer me absolutely all the dishes, everything that I can fulfill myself with, in exactly the quantity and quality that was aroused in me in advance.
If I start eating it, I will eventually be subject to my desire. I will not be independent because I am completely dependent on my desire and on you. Even if I refuse, the desire to use this desire and these pleasures will not disappear in me and I will remain dependent on you.
How can I act in order to be independent both of you as the host, as the Creator, and of myself, my egoism, as a creation, a creation, to rise above it, to be above it? Imagine what an opportunity the Creator gives a person! How can this be done?
If I start using my egoism to eat your treats, but not for my own sake (although I enjoy it), but in order to please you, I make you (because you want me to enjoy it) into a consumer, my “client,” a guest. And I myself turn into a master.
Here we get a very interesting reversal of our states, our statuses: I rise above everything. The Creator made it possible for a person, as His beloved child, to rise above himself and above Him in the middle line. In this way, we gain independence, independence, eternity, perfection, and absolute freedom!
The Creator needs us to attain this because He is perfection He cannot create anything imperfect.
Question: Is this state of independence called perfection?
Answer: It is the only perfection.
Comment: On the other hand, we say that we are dependent on each other, that all souls are tied to each other and we are all one organism.
Answer: Yes, we, the creatures, depend on each other, but not on our egoism, which is created in us by the Creator, and not on the Creator Himself.
In order to rise above myself, I need to connect with others, to achieve the quality of “love your neighbor,” the property of bestowal. If I do this by rising above my egoism, which remains in me, and I use it with the quality of bestowal and to become like the host, the Creator who wants to treat me, then I rise above everything and become absolutely independent.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #6
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