Questions about Spiritual Work—96

961.2Question: We have a sense of self-awareness that we are a reality that can receive and bestow light. In the quality of the Creator, we feel ourselves as part of a single system with Him. How do we reconcile these two qualities in the work of the ten since they are essentially different?

Answer: Yes, they relate to different qualities, but we must try to combine them. Gradually, we will succeed in doing so.

Question: How can we strengthen the intention to bestow in the ten?

Answer: We need to talk about it more, and while performing actions, you should try to feel that you are uniting and turning to the Creator. Then longing toward Him will be stronger, and you will come to His revelation.

Question: Can a person studying Hasidic texts embrace the dissemination of Bnei Baruch and begin to strive for the Creator?

Answer: Of course. That person needs to get acquainted with what we do. We want to reach the feeling of the Creator. That is what he should engage in. He needs to read our books and immerse himself in them a little.

Question: If a person is part of a whole and included in the system, how can he pray for others without thinking about himself? What is unconditional love? How can one love unconditionally at all?

Answer: I do not know how to explain it because it is a feeling. You have to try to let these feelings pass through you, through your connections with the friends, and then you will have the opportunity to understand what this is about.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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The Power of Imagination

1.02Question: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we often hear the term “imagine to yourself.” What kind of creature is a person if they can change their states with imagination? When we imagine something good, in a way, we change our state. Where does this happen within us?

Answer: A person as if consists of two systems. In one system, he feels; in the other, he can imagine something, even if it is opposite to his feelings. Therefore, when we read the explanations of the Kabbalists, we desire to feel what they describe. Let us do just that.

Gradually, by tuning ourselves to different understandings, sensations, and bestowal, our brain will transition from sensations to feelings so that feelings will operate in the mind.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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Intention Comes First

629.3Question: If there is none else besides Him, then it turns out that any slander is directed against the Creator?

Answer: Any slander we put out into the world is negative. Therefore, we need to very clearly weigh our words that go out into the world from each of us.

Although this does not mean that slander is directed against the Creator, nevertheless, when condemning our world, we must understand that at the same time, we condemn its starting point, i.e., the Creator.

Question: If I am dissatisfied with what is happening in the world and do not agree with it, then I am slandering the Creator?

But this comes from my inner nature. I do not do this on purpose. If I am opposite to the Creator, created opposite to Him, will I automatically disagree with Him and begin to slander Him?

Answer: No, what also matters here are your intentions, why you are doing it and how? The Creator created the world, placed a person in it, and gave them some kind of strength, intelligence, and the ability to influence this world. We can talk about this within certain boundaries and explore our possibilities of bringing the world into balance.

Question: Is it possible to say that if I am opposite to the Creator, then I automatically do not agree with His program? But if I resist this or try to somehow correct the situation, then, in principle, is this no longer slander?

Answer: No, it does not matter what you do. It is your intention that matters.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 3/7/24

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The Path to Courage Lies through Timidity

543.02Question: Timidity wanted to hide from itself. But where? Cunning advised it: “Why don’t you settle with Courage, it’s not so scary with it.” Timidity went to Courage, but was afraid to knock on the door, so it just lay down on its porch. Since then, the path to courage lies through timidity.

Is this true?

Answer: Yes, because with an egoistic nature, it is impossible to achieve courage without fear. How do courageous people deal with this? It is because they overcome timidity.

Question: So the more a person is timid and the more they overcome timidity, the braver they are? So fundamentally are we timid?

Answer: Yes, because we have egoism within us. It prevents us from acting recklessly against ourselves; where there is a possibility of harming ourselves, it doesn’t allow it.

Question: So is there always a risk?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And is it our egoism that causes this? Why then is timidity so despised?

Answer: Timidity is despised, but it is important to understand that it is a human feeling and very strong. It, by the way, protects us from many problems that we could cause ourselves and others.

Question: So a person who admits they are timid is not despised by you?

Answer: No, not despised. You just need to know how to balance this force and take care of yourself in any situation with consideration for how much it is needed.

Question: Is there courage without fear?

Answer: No, only if it is a pathological state.

Question: So you consider it a pathology? When there is complete recklessness?

Answer: Of course. Look at animals, how they behave. They don’t recklessly attack anyone. They check, they make circles, and so on, and so forth. And only then, if necessary, they rush forward.

Comment: Yes, that’s true. Only in rabid dogs, it seems, this is disabled.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: So it is actually a disease if a person is purely reckless, brave, as they say.

My Response: That is not courage.

Question: How should children be raised? When we tell a child, “Don’t be timid, be brave.”

Answer: Weigh everything.

Question: Whom are you talking to right now?

Answer: The child. Weigh everything for and against. And only if you are convinced that there is no other way, attack.
Comment: You’re now addressing the child as an adult, as someone with wisdom.

My Response: What can you do? That is how it is with adults too.

Question: But should this be the attitude toward a child? So you weigh, weigh everything for and against? And only after that…?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is this what is called upbringing?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Can a child do that?

Answer: They can. Since this caution, timidity can help them.

Question: What age of the child are you talking about?

Answer: A young child. From three years old.

Question: Can you say “weigh” to a three-year-old? Sit in front of them and say “weigh”? Can you already treat a child like an adult from such a young age?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If a parent acts like this, what does it say about the parent?

Answer: That the parent teaches their child a balanced approach to the world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/22/24

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Patience and Understanding

549.01Question: What feeling in a family is accepted as truth? There are very warm feelings and sometimes literally hatred. One does not understand what is real. It is so devastating! One suddenly starts to believe that this hatred is what defines the relationship.

Answer: What is need here is patience and understanding that the other person has the same feelings, impressions, and aspirations as you do. Everyone has both love and hate within them. Sometimes they coincide and sometimes they do not.

Question: How important is it for spouses to share their feelings and states?

Answer: No, there is no need to turn this into some kind of drama. The most important thing is to understand that you should smooth everything out.

On the other hand you should not accumulate negative emotions. It is essential to discharge them, meaning to discuss these situations almost as if in the third person and not keep them inside.

Question: Who is more difficult in family life: men or women?

Answer: It is hard to say. Women have more strength to resist men. They are not in equal positions. She knows how to twist him. But this is given to her so that she can defend herself because a woman is home, family, and the foundation.
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From KabTV’s “Man and Woman” 3/5/24

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 4/2/24

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Does It Mean that Before the Egyptian Minister Fell, Their Outcry Was Not Answered, in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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Selected Highlights

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/1/24

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Purim in the 21st Century

294.4Comment: Purim is an unusual, great, and magical holiday. It is known that Haman cast lots to determine the date of the extermination of the entire Jewish people at the beginning of the year, and the lot fell on the 13th of Adar, i.e., at the end of the year. The whole story from the very beginning suggests that it was staged.

My Response: Naturally. There are dates that work for various ascents and descents for both the Jewish people and the rest of humanity. All this is in dynamic connection with each other.

Comment: The Scroll of Esther (Megilat Esther) is the only book in which the Creator is never mentioned.

My Response: It is called Esther (concealment) because the Creator is hidden, and it is unknown who and what is operating there.

The queen is also named Esther, but she is revealed. And the King, that is the upper force, is concealed. The King does not manifest himself explicitly but only through figureheads and puppets.

Comment: Then let’s move on to these figureheads and puppets. We know that Mordechai never bowed to Haman. Haman had everything, but when he saw Mordechai and his behavior, it drove him crazy.

Answer: The fact is that Haman understood that Mordechai is a force set against him, and as long as Mordechai was alive, undefeated, or at least not subdued or disgraced, he, Haman, could not rule.

Egoism cannot rule the world as long as there is a force opposite to it that will not allow it. Therefore, Haman, who personifies all natural human egoism, could not tolerate the property of bestowal, love, connection, and reciprocity, which Mordechai personifies.

Question: Why didn’t he seek some compromise?

Answer: It is impossible to do this. They are opposites: it is one or the other. Therefore when they are in conflict, there can naturally be neither peace nor victory. So, they remain in conflict. Who can prevail? Only the Jewish people together with Queen Esther.

Question: What does the Jewish people represent between these two forces?

Answer: It is the force that decides which way to turn the world. If Jews perform acts of love, bestowal, and unification among themselves, the whole world turns to follow them in the same direction.

Comment: When the Jews came out of Egypt, the Creator gave a decree to wage war against every Amalekite and destroy everything that belonged to him.

My Response: This refers to all the evil forces that are inside a person.

Question: There was a possibility of destroying all egoism multiple times in history. Is there some kind of loophole intentionally built into this scenario?

Answer: Absolutely. Until the Jews correct themselves and come to a common denominator—a common bond among them in order to pull all the nations of the world after them—Haman or his descendants will exist and will always interfere with the Jews. Basically their intrusion is their help.

Comment: You often give an example that when a negative force becomes threatening or destructive, it is helpful.

My Response: Naturally it is useful and helpful. How can you not have a plus or a minus? They complement each other and together spin the whole flywheel of history.

Question: Several women are mentioned in the Purim story: Vashti, Zeresh, and Esther. Were they just female characters, or did female power play a role throughout the story?

Answer: Vashti is the queen preceding Esther. When Vashti is concealed, Esther appears—the next female force. And most importantly, Haman’s wife is a negative, evil female force that practically stands behind him and directs everything.

Question: What do these three female images represent? What do they teach us?

Answer: They teach that in principle, female power rules the world. Egoism must surely be defeated. Haman’s femenine power, his wife, is much fiercer than he is. We should fear evil, bad women more than men.

The most evil force of nature is a selfish, bad woman. This is a terrible force that cannot be curtailed. It is insidious and can manifest itself in completely different ways and guises than she truly is.

Question: What powers do Vashti and Esther represent?

Answer: Vashti is just a small female egoism. And Esther is a concealed righteous woman, the property of Bina that men should follow. In fact, it manifests the property of the Creator, the power of the Creator, only in a hidden way. Therefore, she is called Esther, from the word “Astara”—concealment.

Comment: You often say that everything we see, all forces and images, are inside a person.

Answer: We see a theater before us being played out around us. In fact, according to the perception of reality taught by Kabbalah, what we see is inside us. Let’s say that I am sitting in the studio right now, talking to you, someone is recording something here, another person is managing something there, none of it exists. In fact, it is all in me, and I am going through all these states.

Question: How can a person who sees this story and knows these characters, recognize all the guiding forces within him and be able to choose one of them?

Answer: He should simply align himself with the positive forces and distance himself from the negative ones, and eventually reach a state when these forces begin to be revealed to him. Behind all the characters in front of him, he will see the forces controlling them. Let’s say there is a so–called angel behind you; this is nothing other than a force that controls you and does everything that is needed.

In fact, you are a completely disembodied object controlled by the force behind it as well as behind all people, inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature. This is all about the governance of our world. It happens with the help of the upper force which breaks down into all sorts of levels and sub-levels and thus controls everything.

Question: Is the story of Purim intended for the Jewish people or for everyone?

Answer: For everyone. The Jewish people have no history of their own. Their whole story is aimed at bringing all nations of the world to unity. This nation does not exist on its own; its mission is only to reveal the upper force in this world to all nations.

The fact that Jews have forgotten about this and do not engage in their mission is a liability, and they suffer because of this.

Still, we must fulfill our purpose. For thousands of years we have been stumbling on the same rake: we push it away all the time not wanting to fulfill our historical mission, which is very simple—our unity.

As soon as we begin to unite, the world around us will do the same and support us—not hate, but love us. To do this, we just need to unite among us. To the extent we love each other, the world will love us.

Everything is very simple. In fact, it is a very direct and simple covenant.

So, be good children, as everyone has probably heard from their mothers: do not fight, do not argue, be close to each other, and the world around you will become closer and warmer. This is what the great Purim holiday is about. This is the essence of the vast upper goal of development of all mankind.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/22/19

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The Path of the Torah and the Path of the Creator

226Question: The article “The Torah and the Creator are One” discusses two paths: the path of the Torah and the path of the Creator. How can we determine which path is preferable for us?

Answer: We work according to the methodology of the ARI and Baal HaSulam. These are the two main pillars on which our teaching rests. According to this, we move forward to understand the world in which we exist and to reveal the actions of the Creator in it.

Our methodology includes both the path of the Creator and the path of the Torah. Walking the path of the Torah reveals more of the Creator. That is how it works, one within the other.
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From the the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Torah and the Creator Are One”

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What Is Jewish Uniqueness?

222Question: What makes us unique?

Answer: Our uniqueness lies in the fact that we show humanity the right path forward, and if we do not show it, then humanity will simply perish in civil strife, in wars, in anything.

Now nature is putting pressure on us to make ourselves ready for peace, friendship, and mutual understanding so that we give up many of our goals, including completely unnecessary ones, and exist only for the love of our neighbor.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/12

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