Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/18/24
Posted on January 18th, 2024
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Inna writes:
Dear Michael Laitman, I am trembling all over when I write to you.
I have been living in Israel for 30 years. My children grew up here. Now the oldest one is in the army. He is in a combat unit at a closed base. The connection with him is very rare. He was just next to me, my child, warm, kind, and loving, and suddenly childhood is over.
This realization that childhood is over is terrible! I have a very strong feeling of emptiness! Here neither faith nor mind helps. The younger children do not help either. It is like a piece of me has been taken out of me. I am afraid for him! I feel like I am sinking into this worry! How do I survive this? How do I hold on?
My Response: You just have to believe. There is nothing else to say here. Believe that everything will be fine, that there is the upper force that arranges the fate of everyone, and it will treat each of us with kindness.
Question: My son, and in general, all our children?
Answer: Yes. It is very difficult to imagine a mother’s feelings. Nothing will calm her down except that he would be near her.
Question: Is that what she should want?
Answer: Yes. He should be near her! Under her heart!
[323740]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/7/23
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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “What Can We Learn from Ants and Their Colonies?”
Scientists from Rockefeller University conducted research on how ants behave in extremely high temperatures. The findings revealed a fascinating aspect of ant behavior. When an individual ant in a group senses the rising temperature beneath, it appears to carry on as if unaffected. It continues on its course without interruption, maintaining its determined path until the entire colony collectively changes direction. The ants collectively make decisions, showing a remarkable level of trust in the collective mind.
The question is: can humans apply this concept of unified decision-making to their own lives? Is it even possible for humans to reach a similar state of trust and unity with one another? The answer, as it turns out, is not so simple. Achieving such a state requires significant inner work and is not something that takes place instinctively, like the coordinated movements of ants, birds or fish.
In the case of such animals, their synchronized actions are instinctive. In contrast, for humans, reaching a state of collective unity and trust necessitates conscious effort and intention. It is a different kind of unity.
The idea of humans achieving a state where they feel connected to each other as if they exist in “one breath” is indeed a goal to strive for. However, such unity comes about through a deliberate process. It involves aligning our requests and demands in congruence with the integral laws of nature.
Nature’s laws develop everyone and everything to higher states of unification. When we reach a state of unification among each other and nature, self-aimed concerns dissipate as we fully immerse ourselves in the unified consciousness.
This state of unity with the laws of nature applies to everyone, and it results in the formation of a single body and heart, much like the synchronized movements of ants, birds or fish. However, unlike animals that act instinctively, humans require the involvement of nature’s laws to activate their unity.
The question then arises: why do we witness these synchronized behaviors in the animal kingdom? Is it meant for humans to see and possibly envy these creatures? The purpose behind observing these natural phenomena is to illustrate the possibility of achieving a state of adhesion, a complete state of unification where individuals willingly annul their egoism for the collective good.
Ultimately, humanity’s final destination is to reach that unified state, even though we are egoists by nature, where we wish to enjoy ourselves at the expense of others and nature. It is through overcoming these innate tendencies and embracing unity with others that we can find true happiness and fulfillment. In a sense, the existence of our egoism creates the backdrop against which we experience the joy of aligning ourselves with nature’s laws and being together with everyone.
This state of unity does not eliminate the presence of the human ego—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others—but it lets individuals rise above it. The ego remains, but love and connection override the ego. As it is said, “Love will cover all crimes,” indicating that egoism must persist beneath the surface, with connection and love prevailing above it.
Humans are indeed different from ants because we can experience happiness and revelation. Unlike ants, whose actions are driven solely by instinct, our ability to experience pleasure and happiness hinges on our ability to overcome our self-aimed drives and embrace unity. It is through such conscious effort that we can achieve true happiness.
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Man is made of three bodies:
A) the inner body, which is a clothing for the soul of Kedusha [holiness];
B) the Klipa [shell] of Noga;
C) the serpent’s skin (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 36, What Are the Three Bodies in Man?).
Question: Is the inner strength the total strength of the ten?
Answer: If you can do that, then it is good.
Question: Do we need the other two bodies to strengthen the connection?
Answer: No, we strengthen the bond only through our common body. And the other two—the Klipat Noga and the outer body (snake skin)—are needed only in order to push of them to the right choice. And then we drag them into a positive connection and start using them for the sake of holiness.
Question: If thoughts are more important than actions, then where do they come from, from the inner body, holiness, from the Klipat Noga, or from both mixed up?
Answer: From everything together. As a rule, confusing thoughts come to us, and we have to sort them out and follow only the right choice. You should try to deal with these three bodies and always feel which one you are working with.
Basically, you always need to reach out to the right line, to the inner body, where you are most connected to each other.
[323409]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “What Are the Three Bodies in Man?”
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Question: In Baal HaSulam’s article, “Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work” (Shamati 45), it is written that wisdom is revealed in both the mind and the feeling. What is this wisdom that is revealed in feeling?
Answer: There is wisdom in feelings and rational wisdom. Sometimes we get an awareness of something from feeling and sometimes from the mind. Therefore, it can be both.
There are people who are more inclined to perceive the world in feelings, and there are people who are inclined to perceive it in the mind. And then it all balances out. After all, we exchange thoughts and feelings between us in the group and gradually become a common quality that is already shared by everyone.
[323425]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 1/5/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Two Discernments in the Torah and in the Work”
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Question: You said that the true judgment is the middle line. At our degree of development, is it possible to come to the middle line to become a true judge of oneself? Was the article “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?” written for Kabbalists or people like us?
Answer: Of course it is written for special people, Kabbalists, who correctly combine the right and left lines, and thus come to the middle line.
Question: At our degree of development, will we have the opportunity to work in the middle line?
Answer: Yes, this is our goal.
Question: How can you come to the middle line and judge yourself in the true form?
Answer: If we include all the forces of nature and accept them as coming from the Creator, then we eventually come to this.
[323329]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/24, Writings of Rabash Rabash “What Does It Mean that a Judge Must Judge Absolutely Truthfully, in the Work?”
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Question: How can you help yourself when you get trapped in your mind and thoughts paralyze you?
Answer: Go above the feelings and reason despite yourself.
Question: The world was created with one thought, and we must also become one thought. What is this thought that we should become?
Answer: It is the absolute connection of all creations in one desire and one goal.
Question: It is said that when a person is honored to feel the taste of the Torah and the commandments, he pursues the service of the Creator. In this case, how can he not get into a situation where his pride and he himself are at the top of the climb? What can be called a genuine ascent?
Answer: When he does it only to bring contentment to the Creator.
Question: What does it mean that our soul teaches us in the ten? How do we enter into this system?
Answer: Connect everyone and constantly increase unity. Then you will begin to feel what faith above reason means.
Question: In the Shamati article “Receiving in order to Bestow ” it says that we should value the state of reason because we are now honored to reveal His names to attract the upper abundance. What is the correct acceptance of the revelation of the Creator’s names? For whom and for what do we draw the upper abundance?
Answer: We wish the upper abundance to be revealed to everyone, that is, the names of the Creator, His manifestations, because that way the whole world will experience the greatness of the Creator.
Question: Are we figuring out what joy is and what kind of joy should be given to our friends for them to enjoy our connection?
Answer: Yes, respect your friends more, raise them, and you will see how they come closer to you with greater joy.
[323319]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Receiving in order to Bestow”
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Prior to the sin of the tree of knowledge, vitality was not dependent on the bread. That is, there was no need to extend light and vitality, but it illuminated (Baal HaSulam. Shamati 36 “What Are the Three Bodies in Man?”).
Question: What does it mean to extend vitality?
Answer: Before working with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there is no way to be in connection with good and evil in order to perform actions between them to separate, distance them from each other, and put ourselves in the middle.
Question: Can we distinguish this vitality in the ten?
Answer: No. In the ten, we must act in such a way as to work with the inner body, i.e., with what concerns holiness (Guf de Kedusha), separate from Klipat Noga, what we can separate, and adhere to the inner body of holiness. And what we are not yet able to correct, we do not touch.
[323355]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “What Are the Three Bodies in Man?”
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The wicked, however, who want to work precisely when there is clothing in the body, called within the skin, they will die without wisdom. This is because then they have no clothing and they are not awarded anything. However, it is specifically the righteous who are rewarded with clothing in the body (Baal HaSulam. Shamati 36 “What Are the Three Bodies in Man?”).
Question: What exactly helps the righteous to be worthy of being clothed in the body?
Answer: Both the wicked and the righteous exist in every person. Therefore, when we sort out our thoughts, desires, and actions, it becomes clear to us which part this or that belongs to.
That is how we define that these are the righteous and these are the wicked, in us, within us! And thus we achieve correction.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “What Are the Three Bodies in Man?”
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My Comment: In the article “Concerning Love of Friends,” Rabash asks the following question: “Should we know what each friend lacks in order to understand how to fill him? Or is mutual work on love of friends enough?”
My Response: When all the friends in a group have a common intention to come to such feelings as friendship, connection, love, and rapprochement, then of course it is necessary to understand what I have to do to a friend so that my actions are defined as giving and love, and as well what I should feel in this from a friend. It is very important.
That is, it is necessary to know what each friend personally lacks, and act in this direction.
Basically, Kabbalah claims that we move from light to heavy. We do not immediately rush to love the whole world, but we start in a small group in which there is interaction, and then we expand this to the whole world and to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 12/19/23
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