To annul yourself in relation to the ten means that you have to define your common goal,  realize you are in the same boat, and there is nothing else left but to become dependent on each other so much that you will all feel like one common whole.

And then, as you get closer and closer and constantly work on it, you will be able to feel how the Creator dwells in all this.

Every friend should think that he wants to feel the group, only this system, and live inside it. Then you will begin to feel that there is an upper force inside it, the Creator who pulls you, guides you, and shapes you inside the ten. And the ten becomes a common system. You have to feel it.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Going with Faith above Reason” Lesson 5

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Have human beings reached their full potential as a species?“

We will reach our full potential when we open our hearts to each other, and in our shared heart, feel a completely different reality above the limitations of our ego.

We will then be in a state where we will be able to bestow abundance to everyone with our thoughts, living in a network of such mutual connection that no one would need anything else.

We need only learn how to tap into the greatest energy source—the upper force. We can receive it out of thin air. It exists right here and now, but we do not feel it.

The upper force is endless because it is different to the receptive force that is our nature. We have no idea how a tiny spark from that energy source broke into our universe, created the galaxies, planets, people, animals and so on—that everything and everyone was created from a tiny spark of that force. Do you understand how powerful that is? We still cannot comprehend it to this very day. It simply vitalizes everything that exists.

How can we tap into this energy source? First, we need to understand that its qualities are those of love, bestowal and connection. By equalizing our form with its qualities of love, bestowal and connection, we then no longer pose any disturbance to it and let it flow uninhibitedly into our lives.

We will then realize our full potential—discovering the full extent of love, bestowal and connection between us and with the upper force.

Based on the video “How Humanity Can Reach its Full Potential” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Psychologists, religions, and spiritual movements often tag pride as the greatest evil. Pride is behind insults, diseases, wars, and all kinds of sufferings. Author Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth contends that there are 41 evidences of pride, which include: self-infallibility, a patronizing attitude to others, a sense of self exclusivity, feeling like a victim, bragging, the ability to put an opponent in his place, and so on. All these evidence pride within us, but in disguise.

Why is pride given to a person?

Answer: This is our main quality!

This is precisely our egoism, which supposedly wants to raise a person above others. Pride is given in order for me to realize how sinful, vicious, insignificant, stupid, weak, etc. I am. It is in order for me to understand in all my actions and thoughts, that is, in my mind and desires, that if I want to do the right thing, I must act only by the force of connection with the Creator.

Question: Does it mean that it is not evil, but rather good?

Answer: Of course! It was created to show us how insignificant we are if we are under the control of pride.

Comment: Psychology and religions say that it is the greatest evil. Yet you, after all, say that this is the greatest good.

My Response: Evil leads us to absolute good. It is what the Creator created: “I created evil and gave the Torah, the upper light, to correct it.” So, go and correct yourself.

The Creator created pride so that we would realize our insignificance in it, and would want by all means to get rid of it, and therefore, to find strength, to find the mind to turn to the Creator so that He would do it. Thus, pride leads us to the Creator, helps us find a connection with Him, and allows us to reach the height of the Creator.

Question: What does pride turn into in this case?

Answer: Into complete agreement with the Creator. There is nothing left of it but joy in obtaining the greatness of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/4/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Faith Above Reason” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Body and Soul”  

Selected Highlights 

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Going by faith above reason means going above one’s own perception, above one’s own feelings.

I see my friends in their usual way. I have a certain idea about them. But in order to pull myself closer to the Creator, I have to imagine them, not the Creator or myself, but them being on a higher degree and to try to connect with them at the level that I imagine them at. This is called going by faith above reason.

And so it is every time: higher and higher and higher. It does not matter to me what I see. It is written about this: “They have eyes, but they will not see; they have ears but they will not hear.” That is how I imagine them: higher and higher!

I want to be together with them, in adhesion with them, and thus I bring myself to a state where I begin to see the Creator through them! That is all.

Knowledge is what I see and hear, and above knowledge means that I imagine my friends being at a degree higher, better, and purer.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3

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Why has Russia failed to build a society based on love for others? Could have they done something in a different way for this experiment to be successful?

It is impossible to change history. History is given to us not to learn from and correct ourselves, but so that we understand that it was impossible to do what they tried to do.

They wanted to build egoistic communism. Instead of being directed to benefit the Creator, it was directed only to benefit people.

It is not enough to think only about bestowing to people. Rather, we need true, spiritual bestowal. It means that we must rise to faith above reason and acquire the property of bestowal, which will operate in us instead of the property of reception. However, this can be done only if we implement the method of Kabbalah.

Similarly, kibbutzim were created with the intention of doing better for themselves. The fact is that there is an egoistic intention behind everything. But we are talking about bestowing outside of ourselves. This is what humanity must come to—adhesion with the Creator. Therefore, it is impossible to do this without the wisdom of Kabbalah and all its conditions intended to attract the upper light and for it to influence us.

That is, it is absolutely necessary to study and implement the method of Kabbalah that can attract the upper light, which will change our nature. The light should change our perception of reality so that we would see before us the world we want to bestow to and we would live outside of ourselves.

All forms of communist societies were built on the opposite principle: the desire to isolate themselves, to group together in one camp against all the rest, and become stronger than everyone. This approach is the exact opposite of true bestowal.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/22, Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”

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Question: How can we annul before our friends if the ego pulls us away from unity?

Answer: We should do all kinds of physical exercises in the group: unite, talk, discuss, write, and disseminate.

Dissemination is very important because it promotes unification. If several people engage in dissemination together, then this unites them.

At the same time, the upper light influences them because they are doing something necessary for the Creator. That is how you have to act. Try. It is very important.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Annulling before the Friends” Lesson 2

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We need to imagine a world filled with the Creator’s qualities—bestowal, love, and connection—and in this state interact with each other in the group. The more we express ourselves in such a way in relation to our friends, the faster we will move toward the revelation of the Creator.

And we will always have to imagine the Creator in faith above reason, never in reason itself. He will always reveal Himself to us only from the state of concealment.

Therefore we say that there is a restriction (Tzimtzum), a screen (Masach), and reflected light (Ohr Hozer). We create such conditions in ourselves that even if the Creator were revealed to us, we would not want to openly reveal Him between us and within ourselves.

Only under such conditions can we truly attain Him and are already prepared to reveal Him only in the direction of bestowal.

Therefore we will constantly try to establish a connection in faith above reason and realize it as if the Creator is between us; we want to be like Him in this connection.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Going with Faith above Reason” Lesson 5

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My new article on Linkedin “The Scholar Who Knew the Greatness of Baal HaSulam”

Of all the people who were not his disciples, and with very few other exceptions, no one has written with greater admiration and appreciation about the work of Baal HaSulam than Prof. Eliezer Schweid, who passed away last week. Rav Yehuda Ashlag became known as Baal HaSulam (author of the Sulam [ladder]) for his Sulam commentary on The Book of Zohar. Schweid, winner of the Israel Prize in Jewish Thought, recognized the greatness of spirit behind the unassuming, scrawny figure who devoted his entire life to trying to save the Jewish people and the world from the impending catastrophes that he predicted they would bring upon themselves through hatred and hubris.

“Rav Yehuda Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, was among the greatest Jewish thinkers of his time. Seeking the truth—for it is the truth—was his life’s mission, his goal, and the manner by which to fulfill his life’s goal. It seems as though for this reason, he was known only to few.

“It is not the difficulty to understand his words that had left him unknown. On the contrary, Baal HaSulam had a rare gift for deciphering secrets and elucidating deep matters. His words are crystal clear, to the point that any reader attains through them the truth he shows by perceiving how it pertains to his life’s experiences.

“As a thinker on a mission, Rav Ashlag strove to become known in order to bring salvation to the world, but he spoke alone, a Jewish man among his oppressed and persecuted people, suffering, tormenting with him and with him, awaiting salvation. He addressed his people directly, as individuals, wherever they were, beyond parties and without a mediation of a party, movement, or specific school. This is why no establishment or institute stood behind him. That was the price that Baal HaSulam paid for his integrity, openness, his freedom of thought, and his bold spirit.

“However, precisely because of all those merits, his words were not enslaved to the shortsightedness of passing ideologies and are as pertinent and convincing today as they were then, and perhaps even more so, since much of what he had predicted came true. His explanations are still valid as a tool to cope with the challenges of the future of humanity, of the Jewish people, and of the State of Israel.”

And may I add: May we merit realizing the teachings of Baal HaSulam.
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