Audio Version Of The Blog – 2/18/24

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Is it Beneficial to Share Your Personal Feelings?

234Question: What are qualities that cannot be revealed to someone?

Answer: Some personal impressions and experiences. And although at the preparatory stage they are such that there is nothing forbidden in them, it is still better if a person more or less hides them from others.

Question: Can we share our feelings with the teacher; can we open our hearts to him?

Answer: It is better not to, but you are free to ask questions during the lesson. There is nothing secret that you have to hide; you don’t have it yet.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “One’s Soul Shall Teach Him”

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Freedom—Liberation from Egoism

591The quality of freedom, which we receive as a result of spiritual work, is the desire to be above the desire to receive. That is, as one gets closer to the Creator, one falls under His influence and begins to transform all of one’s desires, intentions, and qualities to similarity of form to the Creator.

Question: Why is this called a quality of freedom, because it actually falls under the influence of the Creator?

Answer: Liberation from egoism is freedom for us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Freedom”

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Angels Are Our Helpers

565.02Angels said to the Creator, “Master of the world, what is a woman-born doing among us?’” (Rabash. Article 34, 1990, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”).

Question: I get the impression that angels feel some kind of jealousy toward people. Are they some kind of independent beings?

Answer: Angels are the will to receive, which at the moment, according to the article, allegedly oppose the advancement of a person to the Creator so that he would understand better how to move forward and would turn to the Creator.

Question: Does it mean that angels are our competitors?

Answer: Angels are our helpers, but as a rule, they act through the questions. But these questions shape a person and raise him.

Question: How can we correctly interact with angels?

Answer: We interact with the Creator. Only with the Creator, but about the questions that the angels awaken in us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/24, Writings of Rabash “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”

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Providing for the Creator

624.07“Israel provide for their Father in heaven.” What provision do they give Him by which He is sustained? (Rabash. Article 34, 1990, “What Are ‘A Layperson’s Vessels,’ in the Work?”).

Question: Usually the Creator sets the table, i.e., the host invites the person. But here, on the contrary, a person prepares a meal; he is like a host. Why is it the other way around? Does it mean something?

Answer: It all depends on what you are doing it for—either for the sake of receiving or for the sake of bestowing. If for the sake of bestowing, then you feed the King. But if it is for the sake of receiving, then you are being fed.

The actions are different, but everything determines the intention. It reverses the actions.

Question: How can we control the intention? Is it through a request, or in some other way?

Answer: Only through requesting.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/6/24, Writings of Rabash ‘What Are “A Layperson’s Vessels,” in the Work?’

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Heaven and Earth—Two Opposite Desires

746.02Rabbi Shimon opened and said, “In the beginning God created.” We should consider this verse. Anyone who says there is another God will perish from the world (Rashbi, Zohar for All, “Heaven and Earth”).

In the beginning, the Creator created two opposite desires: the desire to receive and the desire to give, called “heaven and earth.” Between them is the whole creation.

The earth symbolizes the desire to receive, heaven, the desire to bestow.

Question: Wasn’t there a desire to give before that? After all, it is written the Creator is a pure desire to bestow.

Answer: Yes, but this does not apply to the creation of the world. The Creator created what is called “heaven and earth,” the desire to receive against the desire to bestow. Between these two desires is the whole creation: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature.

Later it says if someone believes there is another god, he will perish from the world. This means there will not be a state where people think there is another force besides the upper force (the Creator).
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From KabTV’s “Introduction to The Book of Zohar“1/21/24

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Don’t Get Into Trouble

919 Shulya asks:

Hello, dear Michael Laitman. I live in Israel. And like all Israelis, my life was filled with the news. I listened to the news in the car, the news at home, the news at work, and discussed them. And suddenly on October 7, this horror that happened, this shock that we all received! And I can’t listen to the news anymore! I listen to them and I’m stressed. Commentators, different opinions, tragic stories, criticism…

I started to settle for short news clips, just to keep up to date. And it turned out that most of the time that was occupied by the news was freed up. My question is: what kind of content should I fill myself with?

Question: This is really a question on all Israelis’ minds. They live on news.

Answer: Read fairy tales. Yes, fairy tales, not some kind of scientific literature. It can be a little bit fantastic. And even better, if you are able to read fairy tales.

Comment: Fairy tales are suitable for any age.

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why fairy tales?

Answer: Because we are living a lie anyway. We live in the unknown. So it is better to read what creates a good state of mind in you. You don’t work as some kind of minister or leader that you need to be clearly in a state of responsibility and objectivity. So keep yourself occupied with something more pleasant.

Comment: So this is advice for a person who is not directly engaged in carrying out the work necessary to govern the country, but an average citizen.

My Response: From what you will experience, you will not cause harm to anyone. And you won’t manipulate anything.

Comment: But a person simply cannot do without these short news clips; after all, our children are there, and there is a war.

Answer: It is necessary. We need to be aware and supportive.

Question: This is our prayer, that we only listen for a short bit?

Answer: Yes, but don’t cook in it all the time.

Question: So with the additional free time, is this how to live, as in a fairy tale?

Answer: Maybe not to do that. There are people who are doing something else. But the fact is that your experiences do not give anything, and on the contrary, maybe they give more negative results than good ones.

Question: Like if it leads to fear, anxiety?

Answer: Yes, there is no need for that!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/11/23

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Questions about Spiritual Work—77

284Question: Is it right to feel that no matter what efforts we make, it is still not due to our merit because the Creator gave it all: the efforts, the result, and all the resources?

Answer: So what? We are getting closer to the Creator, merging with Him, and He is spreading into us.

Question: If prayer to the Creator builds a connection with Him, are our actions the Creator’s response?

Answer: No, you cannot say that. Our actions are our actions. The Creator’s answer can be if you feel that He is responding to you. Do not mix one with the other.

Question: Is it possible to imagine that the Creator is the whole group, the whole Bnei Baruch?

Answer: No. The Creator is the upper force that is outside of us.

Question: You say that yet we have no connection with the Creator. And what is it when we feel a reaction or an answer to our prayer or some action? Is this not a connection with the Creator?

Answer: It is small, but it is already there.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/2/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “If I Am Not for Me, Who Is for Me?”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 2/18/24

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “Concerning Hesed (Mercy)”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 41

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Foreword to The Book of Zohar”

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Selected Highlights

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