Question: All the needs of a baby are provided by the womb. Should the group also provide for all the needs of a friend?

Answer: Not all the needs of a friend, but rather his spiritual needs.

Above the group is the Creator. And if a friend annuls himself before the group, the Creator will clearly take care that he receives everything that is necessary for his spiritual development from it. That’s how everything is arranged.
[292570]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Condemn first yourself,
Learn this art,
And only then judge your enemy
And neighbor on the globe.

First learn yourself
Not to forgive a single blunder,
And only then shout to your enemy,
That he is the enemy and his sins are grave.

Not in the other, but in yourself, conquer the enemy,
And when you succeed in this,
You will no longer have to play the fool  –
And you will become a man.
(Bulat Okudzhava)

Question: This Russian poem still spreads over the Internet, which means that people feel it is relevant. How do you become a human in such a difficult world today?

Answer: This is a problem. I see that this is impossible without the help of the Creator.

You can admit your lowliness, the lowliness of your nature, anything. But if you admit that you have been given this from above for correction and you have to turn to the same source, to the Creator, who created you this rude, egoistic, etc. way, and you admit that you need to correct yourself, this can start helping in some way.

What’s the use of what Okudzhava summons? We see that humanity cannot do this. If we are only within the boundaries of our nature, we can keep on saying anything. There’s only one thing left for us to do—get drunk. What else? Drugs. Do you see what humanity is doing? Nothing!

Question: So you think that to learn practically the art of “condemn yourself first” is difficult?

Answer: I think it’s impossible. I even think we should not condemn ourselves, after all, we are created that way. And then a person stumbles upon some kind of internal contradiction, “What can I do if I am created worse than animals?”

Animals don’t act like us. We are ready to destroy everyone, animals don’t. Any animal eats another because it sees it as a source of food and nothing more. Therefore, whenever it destroys, it does not really destroy the other, it feeds.

This is a completely different attitude to life, to another, and to the world than our perspective. We destroy the other, not because it is necessary for us to survive, but to be above him. And our desire is not limited by anything.

We see that the world is not moving toward a better state. It can’t move to a better state. We have to get worse and worse. Our egoism is growing more and more, and no one and nothing can help us in this except the awareness of where it comes from.

It comes from the Creator specifically so that we understand why we were created in such a terrible, egoistic, uncorrectable, incorrigible nature.

Question: You are speaking such a bitter truth, and yet the Creator’s script is for us to try to get out of this nature?

Answer: When we begin to realize that nature, meaning the Creator, which is the same thing, created us like this and precisely for some purpose, and we realize ourselves to be so vicious, then on the one hand, we are somehow lost. What can we do if we are like this?

We need to accept that we are like this and cannot be different. And then we have the only opportunity to turn to the same source that develops this evil in us all the time: “I created the egoistic desire. I created egoism.”

Then we need to ask Him to give us the opportunity to at least somehow limit this evil, somehow occupy it.

Comment: Then this last stanza of Okudzhava: “Not in another, but in yourself, conquer the enemy.”

My Response: But it’s not us, it’s through the Creator again, through the same source.

Question: So the victory over the enemy is to turn to the Creator?

Answer: This is a victory over ourselves, over our own limitations, so that we turn to Him and always urgently demand from Him that He change us. For this He created us so creepy, terrible, egoistic, and limited so we could understand that our egoism cannot be corrected or changed in any way.

We do not need to blame ourselves, we do not need to blame others, and we must admit that we are the ones who are worse than the rest of the world, both vegetative and animal, and anything else, and we must turn to the Creator to change us.

Comment: And then, as Okudzhava writes: “And you will become a man.”

My Response: Yes!

Question: Then what does “man” mean?

Answer: A person is one who wants to do good, like the Creator. Then we will see that the Creator is not the one who created egoism, but who created egoism so that we turn to Him for correction.

The first part is the awareness of egoism. The second part is an appeal to the Creator to give us the strength to correct it and to teach us how to correct this egoism. And then proceed to this practical work on correcting egoism. Thus gradually, gradually, from oneself being opposite to the Creator, to make oneself similar to the Creator.

This is what is called human, this is our mission. And what will become of him, will be called a man, Adam, from the word “Edomeh – similar.”
[291281]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/25/21

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Rabash, Article No. 21 (1986), “Concerning Above Reason”: This is why they said that when the evil inclination comes and shows him the lowliness of the friends, he should go above reason. But certainly, it would be better and more successful if he could see within reason that the friends are at a higher degree than his own.

I must not forget that everything that I feel in my five senses is depicted by my egoism. It shows me what kind of world surrounds me and what the group is. And I perceive it only through my egoism.

Therefore, if I yearn to see the world differently than my ego depicts it, and I can do this only with an external effort, with the effort of the group, then I can rise above this egoistic picture and begin to feel the world of the Creator instead. And this is very simple to do.

When the evil inclination comes and shows him the lowliness of the friends, he should go above reason. That is, above what he sees, although he can see each friend in an unattractive form, he must use his efforts to raise his friend as high as possible.

But certainly, it would be better and more successful if he could see within reason—within his reason—that the friends are at a higher degree than his own.

But if he does not see this in his reason, then he must imagine in faith above reason that his friends, contrary to his opinion, are above him.

Hence the conclusion: the only correct way out of any state is to raise the friends in your eyes. At any given time, I have to think about how to keep them higher and higher in my feelings, mind, and impressions. This should be our permanent work. And then I will reach the state where I see the Creator through them.
[292293]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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Comment: You received a letter from a young man.

Hello, Dear Michael!

I know that you will help me. I subscribe to all your programs. May you be healthy! That is the main thing.

I have been bedridden since childhood. I have a rare disease, which is progressing. My beloved parents and I have been fighting it since childhood. But it has gotten worse lately. It is painful to move. And recently, just six months ago, a new method of treatment appeared that has already helped many recover. But it requires an organ transplant from a close relative.

My dad immediately decided to become my donor. He was tested, and everything checked out. But I found out that it is very dangerous for my father. He is not all that healthy and nobody knows how the surgery will affect him. When I found out about it, I told my father that I do not agree, that I do not want the transplant, but he insisted. He does not want to hear anything. What should I do? How to convince him? I do not want it! I am afraid. Naturally, I want to get well, but I am afraid for my father! My mother is not saying anything and neither is my sister.

I am writing to you. Help me! I am exhausted thinking about it! In the meantime, I am getting worse.

My Response: You must give your father the opportunity to give you life again. I feel for you and for your father. This is something you must go through together.

Question: But what will he feel if he accepts it?

Answer: They are going through this together, through this surgery, together!

Question: Meaning, as if the father is giving him life again?

Answer: Yes! And the boy already understands, you can tell by his letter, that otherwise he will have a tragic end. How will his father be able to live on if the boy dies?

Question: So he is actually saving his father, among other things?

Answer: Of course. He should give his father the opportunity to help him.

Comment: No wonder he wrote both my mother and sister are quiet.

My Response: Because this is his personal decision.

Comment: He will instantly mature, he will become an adult as soon as he makes this decision.

My Response: True.

Comment: Such mature questions for these children!

My Response: Life is full of challenging decisions.
[292217]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/1/21

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Question: You have been studying Kabbalah for more than forty years. Is there really no other way to reveal the Creator besides love?

Answer: If love for His creatures is His only quality and there is nothing else, then how can we explore Him if we do not possess this instrument—love? Only then we will be able to reveal Him, feel, and know how to get closer to Him.

Question: But in the Middle Ages there were hermits, even among Kabbalists, who withdrew from the world for a few months and attained the Creator. This means that it was still possible to get closer to the Creator in some way. Is it only through the love of creation? There are so many spiritual methods.

Answer: They all talk about it too. If these methods are at least somewhat close to the truth, then they speak about love.
[291954]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/14/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Faith Above Reason” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”  

Selected Highlights 

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Question: How do we reach self-annulment?

Answer: We reach self-annulment when we realize its necessity, from the fact that I have been hearing about it for months. Each time I listen, I receive a little bit of the upper light.

As a result, I start to feel how it affects me, how certain changes occur in me like an internal click, a switch, and I suddenly realize that I truly cannot live without the group and I must annul myself.

I can feel either myself or the Creator. And how can I feel the Creator if I have no tool to change myself? So I am replacing myself with the group. And then in this group I begin to perceive the Creator.
[292445]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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Thus, each one should assemble with his friend and come to him to hear from him a word [about the work of the Creator], and how to find the Creator. He should annul before his friend, and his friend should do the same toward him, and so should everyone do.

Then, when the assembly is with this intention, then “More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to nurse,” and the Creator approaches them and He is with them (Maor VaShemesh, “VaYechi”).

Now we are in a gathering of friends. We have to think all the time about how we are getting closer to each other, how we want only one thing: to begin to feel the revelation of the Creator in the connection between us, not in each of us, but in the connection between us. This is very important!

That is, I do not want to reveal the Creator in myself, this is egoism. Watch where the border between our animal world and the spiritual one runs! I want to reveal the Creator in the connection between us, as a quality of bestowal and love, my own toward all my friends.

I do not want the revelation of the Creator in order to see Him, to know, to understand, and to enjoy Him. These are egoistic qualities of a person. They should be avoided. Try to control yourself; try to rise above yourself.
[292564]
From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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Question: Neurophysiologists say that a person is just a confused animal, and that feeling love is a result of a cocktail of pheromones, dopamine, and oxytocin.

Psychologists do not agree with this. They say that feeling love is something more than the sum of its components: mental, social, and so on.

Philosophers do not argue with anyone. They say that love confuses a person and is the cause of all the stupidity and all the discoveries humanity has made.

How do Kabbalists define love?

Answer: Kabbalists define love as the highest connection of a person with everything outside of him and makes him similar to the Creator.

Love is a means to become like the Creator. Love is something that exists outside of us. There is no love in an individual. And therefore, no physiologists and no psychologists can know anything about it. They think about everything only on the basis of pheromones and the like.

Love is the exclusive property of the Creator given to us, and with its help we can raise ourselves from the animate to human level. Man is Adam. “Adam” from the word “Edomeh”—similar to the Creator.
[291481]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/6/21

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