Audio Version Of The Blog – 3/5/24
Posted on March 5th, 2024
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Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “What Are Your Thoughts and Needs to Be Happy?”
There is a parable about three brothers who saw Happiness sitting in a pit. One came and asked Happiness for money, and he received it. Another asked for a beautiful wife and received one too.
The third bent over the pit. “What do you need?”, Happiness asked.
The man asked, “What do you need?”
“Brother, get me out of here,” Happiness requested.
The brother extended his hand, pulled Happiness out of the pit, turned around, and walked away. And Happiness followed him.
The parable shows us that happiness followed the brother who demanded nothing, and who did a good deed, providing a service to happiness. I do not think that this should be interpreted as a condition for happiness to follow us though, nor that we should have no demands.
I think that happiness depends on each person’s fate. We each behave according to what we are served, and we either give away happiness or demand it for ourselves. Most importantly, we should agree with it.
In practice, we cannot change. Maybe the upper force can sometimes enact a change according to our earnest request, but we ourselves cannot personally change anything.
It is not easy, but we can reach a state where we do not like demanding happiness solely for ourselves and not wishing it upon others. Also, if we wish happiness upon others, why? It is usually because we calculate that we also gain happiness as a result. If we were not to gain from our seemingly positive wish upon others, then we would have no such wish. There is no way out of this self-centered loop, since the egoistic desire for self-benefit is human nature.
I do not think that we can find happiness. Rather, we need to create happiness. That is, we need to place ourselves in a state where we know exactly how to make happiness reveal itself, and we will then feel it.
What is happiness? Happiness is the feeling that our life was successful, and I think that this feeling comes to us closer toward the end of our lives.
Life itself is constant work, i.e., when we seek ways to rebuild our lives again and again so that it brings the happiness that we imagine. Gradually, we shift from imagining happiness for ourselves and instead wish it upon others. Moreover, we find the meaning of our lives in such a vector: “from me to others.” Through this vector, we can reach a conclusion of happiness. It is constant and incessant work, and we would be wise to seek the understanding of how to do it.
We likely encounter myriad disturbances on such a path, but the key to enduring it is that we imagine that path, and then, as it is said, “the road surrenders to the one who walks it.” So if happiness is following us, it does not mean that we are happy. We rather need to constantly work to make others happy, which is no easy task. However, it does not matter whether or not it is easy. Nothing is easy in life, but that is the way to a meaningful and happy life.
In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we discuss two paths of development: the path of light and the path of darkness. The path of light is when we bring light to other people, and the path of darkness is when we cannot and do not want to. “Cannot” and “do not want” are one and the same in this case.
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Question: When spiritual and material desires are so intermixed that it is hard to distinguish them, what should we do about it?
Answer: I think this will gradually sort itself out and you will see which desires are spiritual and which are material.
Question: It seems material desires are pulling spiritual desires along with them. Is this an illusion?
Answer: No, this is indeed so. Material desires gradually turn into spiritual ones.
Do not worry, it will all be corrected.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Rewarded—I Will Hasten It”
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Question: What is the difference between physical and spiritual fear? Physical fear is my instant reaction; how can I move to spiritual fear with the same speed?
Answer: To do this, you need to be connected with your friends so that you learn from each other how to provide yourself with confidence so that fear cannot paralyze you. It is very important.
Question: Can my individual fear shift to the ten, and then we will not be able to thank the Creator?
Answer: It does not matter. Fear comes from the Creator who gives it to everyone to the extent and in the form you need to experience it and rise above. But in general, everyone must go through this fear.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Concerning Fear that Sometimes Comes Upon a Person”
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Question: We all have different perceptions of reality. Should we strive to make it one and the same in the ten?
Answer: We should only strive to ensure that we all strive toward the Creator and support each other. And everything else is as it turns out.
Question: By connecting our hearts, can we see reality through the eyes of a friend without distorting it with our qualities?
Answer: To do this, you need to neutralize your egoism and connect with your friend in his desire. This is the right connection, and we must strive for it.
Question: If I see a friend who is angry, or is in fear for himself, or is offended by others or the Creator, what is the action of connecting with him on my part?
Answer: Calm him down, hug him, draw him to you, and take a couple of steps forward with him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “All the Worlds”
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Question: While working in the ten on faith above reason, it turns out that someone has a small stone (faith above reason), someone has a big one (reason), some can rise, some cannot. Why is that?
Answer: Because you are all different. Each of you has your own stone. But by working together, you strive to unite in order to lift one common stone.
Question: So everyone must do this with the strength of all?
Answer: No, each with their own strength. You always have the strength to work correctly with faith and not even entertain the thought that it is something difficult. You must understand what you receive from the Creator and move toward closeness with Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “You Shall Not Have in Your Pocket a Big Stone”
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“Lily among the thorns” is finer than all the other lilies in the world because the pricks, meaning the sufferings she suffers from the wicked, cause him to receive new powers from above each time, and by this, his soul grows (Rabash, Article No. 22, 1991, “What Is ‘A Lily Among the Thorns,’ in the Work?”)
Question: On the spiritual path, we constantly encounter thorns that disturb us and distract us from our connection with the Creator. What is it that becomes a rose as a result of our work?
Answer: The rose symbolizes Malchut, which we comprehend in the best possible way precisely because we make our way to it through the thorns. Malchut is our common desire, which reveals the Creator to us.
Question: Is this rose (Malchut) given to us as a gift from the Creator or due to our efforts?
Answer: No, this is our egoistic desire, which we correct from all egoistic intentions, and then what remains is a pure rose.
When Malchut merges with Keter and there is no difference between them, a person is included in the Creator in wholeness, which is one’s correct goal.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/24, Writings of Rabash “What Is ‘A Lily Among the Thorns,’ in the Work?”
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The Wisdom Of The Heart
Question: Do we have to force ourselves to activate a loving heart to realize what we have received from the Creator?
Answer: Of course, but how do we feel what we receive from Him? In our normal mode, the heart is not engaged. Therefore, at every moment of our existence we must determine where we are relative to the Creator, receive an answer, and move on.
We need to open ourselves to the Creator as much as possible, and based on this, we will know what our actions should be.
Question: What prevents us from set the desire for unification ablaze? What do we need to cancel in ourselves?
Answer: Your ego. Only the ego is holding us back.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/24, Writings of Rabash “What Is ‘A Lily Among the Thorns,’ in the Work?”
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Question: When a person is in a state of ascent and rises to connection with his friends, he must transfer this connection to the Creator. What does it mean that he returns to his memories, to his descent, to his evaluation? How does he analyze from this state?
Answer: He does not fall into this state. It is as if he is checking this state based on a real feeling of how far he is falling or rising relative to the Creator.
He adds his Kelim to this request, as it were, and then the Creator shows him where he is now.
Question: As a result of the lesson, I need to come to the conclusion that is it my duty to analyze in which direction my feelings are directed?
Answer: Your feelings should be directed only at the Creator through your friends.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/12/24, Writings of Rabash “What Is, ‘The Smell of His Garments,’ in the Work?”
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “Three Prayers”
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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 3, Part 10, Item 42
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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Body and Soul”
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Selected Highlights
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