Audio Version Of The Blog – 11/24/21
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The Creator never punishes us but always only advances us. We, however, consider it punishment. And He can advance us only due to the fact that the desire to receive pleasure grows in us more and more, and therefore we find ourselves in ever greater egoism and distance from the Creator, in an ever worse and opposite state to the Creator.
We cry because of our inability to get what we want or our inability to give, and so we pull ourselves out. Because of all this tossing, we begin to see how the Creator controls us in a purposeful way although He does not lead us along the shortest path to the goal. After all, we are not able to move directly to the opposite property. How can I move toward something that is disgusting, hateful, and frightening to me? And how can I go to such a repulsive goal that I certainly do not want? I am obviously not able to go directly to it, and that is the whole problem.
On one hand, I am in my egoism, the desire to enjoy. On the other hand, there is the Creator, the desire to bestow. And I am not even able to make a slightest move in the direction of the Creator, just as a sailboat cannot sail against the wind but must maneuver, that is, zigzag.
It is impossible to shift directly to bestowal, but we can at least approach it, act a little for the sake of reception, a little for the sake of bestowal, and thus achieve the goal. Therefore, until we reach the goal itself, we are not sure that we are going toward it in the right way. After all, our direction is never right!
It always deviates one way or the other and raises questions. And at the very last stage until the very last moment before entering and merging with the Creator, we do not know that it will happen. We do not know what lies ahead, but the gates suddenly open and we enter.
This is our job: to believe that we are progressing correctly according to external signs. We cannot swim directly to the goal, that is, with intention for the sake of bestowal toward the Creator. This is impossible because it is opposite to our nature. Our nature is one big minus and the Creator is one big plus.
Therefore, we can only maneuver, act in the form of bestowal for the sake of bestowal, and then receive for the sake of bestowal but only partially, step by step—zero, first, second, third, fourth, and receive more and more filling—Nefesh, Ruach, Chaya, Neshama, Yechida, layer by layer.
And of course, I cannot advance alone. The whole advancement goes only through the center of the ten in connection with the friends. And we forget it all the time, we get lost, and we are forced to start as if from the beginning.
I cannot directly attack the desire to bestow. I have no such attributes. But if I add my desire to receive pleasure to the properties of the friends in whom the Creator shines, then I can walk correctly directed to the goal, against my egoism. I cancel my desire to receive pleasure and unite with my friends as tightly as possible, and then all my efforts are illuminated by the reflected light (the surrounding light) and allow me to move in a roundabout way.
There is only one way to rise above my nature—annul myself in front of my friends. By this, I awaken upon myself a higher influence, the upper light, which slightly turns me away from my egoism and allows me to advance.
The Creator shines inside the ten because He sees it at the end of correction. And if I want to move from point 1 to point 2, then the Creator already sees us at point 2. And if I am ready to annul myself in front of the conditions set by Him that He reveals in ten and affects me through the ten, then I attract from above, from the source, the reflected light, and I move forward. In this way, I attract the forces of the higher nature so that they change my nature.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/21, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #71 “My Soul Shall Weep in Secret-2”
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My new article on Linkedin “The Long and Winding Road (We Needn’t Take)”
We need to understand the uniqueness of the current state of humanity. All over the world, a new system is emerging. In this system, we are all connected, unwittingly, unwillingly and irreversibly. The system has always been there, but now the threads are pulling us closer and closer together until we can no longer ignore our interdependence, even though we hate the thought of it.
It is becoming apparent that all of creation is headed for interconnection, and those who resist it will lose. We are marching down a long, winding, and painful road when we could be taking a short, quick, and pleasant one. All we need in order to get on the desirable path is to embrace connection. If we reject it, we will remain on the current, painful path until we finally agree to connect.
The intensifying disasters and crises that seem to storm the world from all directions are the twists and turns on our path to connection. Each time we pull away from it, reality forces us to realize that we are dependent on each other and we had better act the part.
Look at the rising prices the world over; look at the soaring costs of transportation, the clusters of cargo ships packed outside ports for weeks waiting their turn to unload. Look at how we infect each other with new strains of Covid every few months. Look at how the shortage of silicon chips is crippling global production of everything from cars to computers and to home appliances. These are all unpleasant and unnecessary signs that we are all connected.
There is no real shortage of anything. There is enough food, enough goods, enough computer chips, enough oil, enough of everything to satisfy everyone. The only thing that is unsatisfied here is our ego, which derives its satisfaction from abusing others. To put others in distress, our egoism creates crises where none should have existed. We do not realize that because we are all connected, when we hurt others, we also hurt ourselves.
We need a new mindset. We must realize that in the emerging reality, countries and organizations that adapt to the requirement to connect will reap the rewards of their efforts, while those that refuse will be left behind.
Granted, it is a process. It will take time for us to truly change our thought patterns. However, we need not succeed right away to initiate the change. The very effort to reroute is enough to create a positive momentum that will put us on the right track toward a satisfied and content humanity. Refraining from exertion will keep us on the long, winding, and increasingly painful road until we bow to the dictates of reality and finally agree to connect.
When engaged in integral education, a person should understand why he is doing it. His most important task is to bring the world to an integral state because in this way we raise it to the upper force, to the upper purpose.
This is the key difference between our organization and all the others. This point is the very first and the very last. The very first because we start our own internal preparation from it, and the very last because we come with it and want to grow it within our listeners. Therefore, it is always present inside the flow in which we conduct workshops, discussions, answer questions, and so on.
This is a clear direction to make the students into one single whole because in this form they will connect to us, and they will be balanced with all of nature. This is the most important task that defines our methodology and the desired result.
By participating in this, people pass the upper energy through themselves and feel how it fills them, they live by it.
Question: Does it mean that in an ordinary enterprise the motivation is mainly financial, but here it is spiritual?
Answer: There can be no financial motivation here. A person should receive enough in order not to feel any special needs. If his head and all his life are dedicated to the spiritual goal, then it is enough for him to provide his family with a normal living standard.
When he works in a good team and his family does not put pressure on him with any increased demands, then this should completely satisfy him and even give him a feeling of happiness. Inner fulfillment will extinguish external needs.
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From KabTV’s “Through Time”
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Question: Fate is the totality of all events and circumstances that are predetermined and primarily affect either a person or the entire nation. Do you agree with this definition?
Answer: No, I do not agree because you cannot just talk about fate as a combination of some circumstances. Fate is what happens to us in our sensations, in our life, in our conditions, and is a consequence of the influence of nature or the Creator (which are the same thing) on us and our interaction with it.
Question: There are three main characteristics of fate according to something I found on the Internet: totality, unknowability and independence from human will. Do you think this is true?
Answer: No. With regard to totality, I can say that there are private destinies and common destinies, and total destinies too. As for unknowability and independence, on the contrary, we can learn our destiny and manage it if, of course, we wish to, and apply a certain quantity and quality of efforts to this. That is, both cognizability and control can be in our hands. It depends on us.
Comment: If you look at the history and culture of different peoples, then in most cases fate is defined as negative, gloomy, meaningless, blind, and ruthless.
My Response: So we speak because we do not understand the essence and purpose of what is happening.
Comment: By the way, nothing good is written in the Jewish religion, in the Prophets either.
My Response: It depends on how you look and with respect to whom it is said. In principle, the fate of humanity depends on itself. Nothing can be said here about some kind of fatal predestination.
Question: What adjective would you give to destiny?
Answer: Managed.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/26/21
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Question: There is a law of mutual guarantee. A lot has been written about this in Kabbalah. Because we are all interconnected, everyone can change the fate of others, but one can never change one’s own fate. That is, if I want to change my destiny, I have to change my environment.
How does it happen? How can I interfere in the fate of another person?
Answer: By giving him an example. The most important and most effective thing is to show a person an example of correct behavior according to the laws of nature: how to unite, how to approach others, how to interact with them, how to change your attitude to the Creator, to His governance, and so on.
Our future directly depends on it, moreover, the nearest future as well as the global one.
Question: What law of nature that must be complied with are you talking about?
Answer: About absolute love and connection of everyone with everyone.
Question: Nature obliges all elements to connect. There was even a period in cosmology when all the simplest elements were uniting and more complex substances and states were obtained. Likewise, people at a certain level must unite through feelings. Is this what you call love?
Answer: Yes. And then a new essence will emerge, full support of each other, when people create among themselves such states that never existed, which arise precisely from their direct, open aspiration to each other.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/26/21
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From a Reader: I am writing to you in confusion. We have a very close-knit family, three children, and already five grandchildren. The youngest is 13 years old, and I would like to talk about him. He is a very talented boy, he grasps everything on the fly, he has a sharp, analytical mind. That’s the problem, we’re told. He is sure that the end of the world is approaching.
He analyzes all the information he receives from the Internet, from newspapers, and television. He understands politics, economics, everything. And it all comes down to the fact that there is a need to prepare for the worst. We took him to the doctors, they say that he is absolutely healthy. We took him away to the country for three months, we don’t have the Internet there, but he takes it out of thin air. My wife and I are very afraid for him. We kindly ask you to help us.
My Response: You should give him Kabbalah books, let him study. Then he will see that everything is controlled by the upper force, that everything is programmed, that everything comes down to a single governance, and so on. If he has a good analytical mind, he will grasp it, for him it will be a system of internal balance.
Question: So he will understand where everything is going and what harmony is?
Answer: Sure. And he will not be afraid that the sky will fall.
Question: Can the wisdom of Kabbalah be introduced at school, taught, and so on?
Answer: Why not? It’s talking about the world we live in. Nothing else. It does not frighten us with anything; on the contrary, it calms, and explains the system.
Question: And why does a person have this fear, and he lives by it, meaning that fear already controls him? Is this human nature?
Answer: A person does not feel this upper, single force of nature we exist and revolve in. And that’s why he needs to hold on to something. And on what? That’s where all sorts of beliefs and so on arise.
Question: But if it is harmonious, if it is kind, why does a person have such a crisis and think about the end of the world?
Answer: This happens to every person, and many times during one’s life so that a person realizes his instability, uncertainty, rejection from this life, and he looks for a way in which he can cope with this life and find this force that controls everything. This is especially given to us.
Comment: So your advice is for the boy to read a bit of a book about the laws of the universe?
My Response: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/4/21
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is it true that after people die, they become angels and go to heaven?“
No.
The myriad phenomena that people believe takes place after death are merely theories about death, and even the phenomena that people have experienced in near-death experiences are psychological reactions within the temporary state of clinical death that they enter.
If we do not attain a clear perception and sensation of our soul during our current lives, then our body dies and rots away, and the level of desire we reach in our current lives assumes a new body. Such a process continues until we eventually attain our soul while we are alive in our world, in our bodies.
Therefore, while we are alive in our current bodies, if we hear about an opportunity to attain our soul, to access the spiritual world, then we we would be wise to take hold of that opportunity with both hands and start our spiritual ascent.
We need to stop believing in all kinds of angels and other phenomena that we think happens to us when we die. If we achieve no revelation of the spiritual world in our current lives, then we have no soul, and we simply keep incarnating in new bodies, accumulating experience and suffering, until our desire eventually ripens to embark on the process of spiritual ascent. It is as is written in the kabbalistic texts, “You shall see your world in your life.”
Based on “Ask the Kabbalist, episode 4” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Joseph (Asaf) Ohayon. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. For more information on what happens when we die, visit this page.
New Life 1323 – Feeling Equal To Others
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel
Being equal to others is generally not enough for us; rather, we want to stand out, to be unique and different in some way. If not, if we compare ourselves to others and measure our worth as “less than” or “not enough,” we feel great suffering. We measure ourselves through the eyes of others.
We need to look for how we can give our unique gifts to others. If we help and love those around us, no one will stand in our way. There is room for everyone. Even a small contribution is important since it joins with others’ contributions to create success for the whole.
The most successful people are those who properly arrange their mutual connection with others. If we pay attention to where our gifts can match others’ lacks, there is no doubt that our lives will be lifted by the appreciation of others for the positive effect we have on our environment. By recognizing each one’s specific offering, we become equal partners in attaining the goal, and by our mutual help we will reach the top.
This summary is written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1323 – Feeling Equal To Others,” 11/7/21
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