Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/30/23
Posted on April 30th, 2023
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Michael Laitman, on The Times of Israel: “What was Antonio Stradivari’s secret to making the best violins in history?”
Indeed, whether it is the latest technologies being unable to recreate the Stradivari violin sound, nor the International Association of Violin and Bow Makers, which has repeatedly attempted to discover the master’s secret with no luck, there have been all kinds of logical explanations such as the wood being different, or the times being different, and so on, but no one really knows the secret.
We first need to understand what happens inside our ear, why and how it is possible to elicit the kind of reaction that Stradivari’s strings derive, and how the sounds enter us.
There is indeed a secret at play, but I think that even Stradivari himself was unaware of it. He was simply working according to a certain intuition.
The secret lies in a special combination of sounds that influences the heart, and we need to think about how the heart responds first, and the ear follows. The primary role of the heart is of utmost importance in this area, yet nobody knows about it.
Even Stradivari did not know about it. He was unaware of such internal mechanics. He and his hands were generally driven by an inner intuition, and of course, the guiding higher force played a role in that interaction.
We are talking about a person who was really just an ordinary person with a certain profession, but at the same time, he became chosen to perform a certain role, and this secret became conveyed through him.
As such, the secret of Stradivari’s violin sound applies to everything beyond musical instruments. The sound has to enter the heart first, and only then does it reach the ear. Of course, this runs against what we commonly think, i.e., that we do not hear with our ears, but with our hearts.
Words also have such a quality, and it is how words are formed. When we speak or write, we have to find a word that enters the heart, and we hear it only afterward.
It is actually very easy to find such words in the wisdom of Kabbalah. My teacher, Rabash (Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag), said about this, “Michael, haven’t you heard what it says in the Shema prayer? It says, ‘Shema (Hear O) Michael.’” I was surprised, thinking why is he saying “Michael” and not “Hear O Israel”? “Israel” is a general name, but in reality, we can insert our own names there. That is, this “Hear O Michael” speaks to the heart, and the composition then begins.
The Shema prayer is considered one of the loftiest prayers, and a prayer is heard by the person’s heart first and only afterward by the ear—if it is even heard at all.
We say in the wisdom of Kabbalah that the prayer of an ordinary person is more exalted than prayers composed by sages and Kabbalists. This is because the person feels it; his heart resonates with the word that is rooted in a spiritual sensation. When a person thus pronounces the prayer with his feelings, he first hears it above. It is not something born within any of us.
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Question: There are many couples in our Kabbalistic group who really want to build their relationships on a new level of connection. They work in their own groups and watch the program “New Life” about family life together.
They want to build the family of the future that you talk about all the time. How can they check that they are moving in the right direction? What is the family of the future?
Answer: It is when a husband and wife are very close companions to each other. They don’t impose themselves on each other. They understand that they have a long life.
Comment: Together.
My Response: Together is relatively together. Together is impossible. We must accept our mutual states so that they are not double-edged, so that they complement each other.
Where we feel that we are doing something pleasant, we get closer. Where we feel that there may be some problems, we move away. We behave selectively. And then we will be fine.
Question: But we do not run away? Is this what it means to build a family?
Answer: We don’t think about building all the time. We just feel where we can help the partner, and where it is not necessary to interfere.
Comment: And this, you say, is called “partners.”
My Response: Yes. This is the most important thing in marriage.
Question: And everything else: love…?
Answer: There is love between a mother and a child. And there is love between man and the Creator. There is no love between people. There is a possibility of creating a very kind, close, mutual connection, but it is still not love.
Love appears, manifests, is created, and is born where there is a connection from nature, from nature itself, like a mother with a child, and as a person arises with the Creator.
It is a natural connection. This can be called love. But just between a man and a woman, even if they understand the importance of each other and try to somehow complement each other, it is not love, it is still mates. And this is the family of the future.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/14/22
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Question: A mistake is an important part of the path, but it is better to make mistakes in potential than in practice. What does that mean?
Answer: In potential means that when I advance, I see mistakes in my advancement, aspirations, and efforts. Then I reveal egoism as evil, not by the blows it overtakes me with that force me to go and satisfy, but by the obstacles that it puts on my path to the Creator.
Instead of blows from behind, I discover egoism in front of me that pulls me back and prevents me from moving forward. In this case, I deal with it faster, I understand its nature relative to the Creator.
After all, when I yearn for the Creator, egoism begins to interfere with me, and I see how much it directs me in the opposite direction from itself to the Creator. That is, I start to feel that it is really help against it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. It Is Very Important to Make Mistakes” 1/4/13
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Question: Does a person engaged in Kabbalah, when he receives any state and does not bestow from it, feel only himself?
Answer: If a person is in the quality of bestowal, then he feels others instead of himself, and if he is in the quality of reception, then he feels only himself.
There are only two possibilities: to feel your own desires or the desires of the other.
Our world is built on the fact that we feel only our own desires. We can feel the desires of the other only to the extent that we want to use him to fulfill our desires.
The spiritual world is built on the opposite principle, to feel the desires of the other and to feel your desires only to the extent that it is necessary in order to fulfill the desires of the other.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Erasing the Past” 1/22/11
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Question: What is life?
Answer: Material life is a form of existence of protein matter.
Spiritual life is a feeling of being filled with light, not just with light, because there are many different colors in the spiritual world. For example, the light of Chaya is the light of life, a very great light of receiving, feeling, filling with life–giving power, and knowledge. It is called life.
In the spiritual, our protein matter is not considered life at all because, in fact, it does not exist. In the spiritual world of bestowal, there is nothing that we feel with our five senses in the material world.
Everything that we are observing now is not in the spiritual world at all because it exists only in our imagination, in our egoistic desires.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Life” 1/2/11
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Question: In principle, Kabbalah is intended for the middle class. After all, people who stand a little higher are concerned about preserving everything they have achieved. And those who are lower are thinking about how to feed themselves. Does it mean that the middle class is the most optimal for studying?
Answer: Yes. I think that as a result of the crisis, the middle class will be the most affected, and it will be possible to talk to them.
On the one hand, these are developed people. On the other hand, they are not devoted to their egoism for some higher purposes and at the same time cannot afford to descend to the level of homeless people and be concerned with just getting a piece of bread for themselves.
Of course, they need a piece of bread, but besides that they have other needs. We need to tell them where to fill these needs. I think they will find it in Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalah, Wisdom, Middle Class” 1/8/13
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Comment: The Kabbalists of Kotzk deliberately underestimated the importance of the group, which gave the friends the opportunity to do internal work.
My Response: This is intended for great people, not for us.
Question: If a person is equal to others, should he still try to be lower than others in a Kabbalistic group?
Answer: There is no such thing to be equal to others. Who knows what level one is at? The person himself does not know. It all depends on how he presents himself.
For example, I cannot place myself low because then the students will not respect me and will not accept the method and study. I have to take that into account. In front of the students it is necessary to keep myself accordingly; otherwise, they will not have an incentive and opportunity to learn. This is how a person is arranged. Until they can appreciate me as having the keys to their spiritual world, I have to play before them.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Motherly Care” 12/31/12
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — “Lishma Is Called ‘Truth,’ Lo Lishma Is Called ‘A Lie'”
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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom,” Item 36
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Selected Highlights
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Who is more responsible for our society, men or women?“
There are notable statistics in a report by humanitarian organization Care in relation to women. First, that 150 million more women are starving worldwide than men, and 60 percent of the people starving are women, and also that tens of millions of women worldwide eat last, and eat least.
It points to how women feel a natural responsibility toward their families, their children and their surroundings. About this natural responsibility imprinted in women, the Torah writes that “a woman is the home.”
Women’s ability to give birth is one aspect of why women host such natural qualities of responsibility and placing others before themselves. They have a more instinctive feeling of nature. This is why, in the Torah, the Creator tells Abraham to listen to what Sarah tells him. It describes the inner natural wisdom that women contain.
According to nature’s roots, women are already within nature, whereas the nature of the male is the correction of nature—the ability to overcome nature and guide it with an intention to bestow that is similar to nature’s quality of bestowal. If we held the inclination to listen to the inner natural wisdom of women, then there would certainly be more order in the world and less wars and suffering.
Based on the video “Do Women Feel More Responsibility Toward Society Than Men?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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