Question: What are these three categories of the Creator: One, Unique, and Unified?

Answer: The categories One, Unique, and Unified emphasize that there is only one force in the world: the Creator’s force, the force of bestowal and love. Only He, One, Unique, and Unified governs absolutely everything. Even those forces and qualities that He deliberately creates in order to contrast Himself against them are also under His control.

Question: Why does one and the same force act on different people in different ways?

Answer: The force is one, but people are different. Depending on their similarity to this force or, conversely, their opposition to it, we either draw closer to it or move further away from it.

Question: When you say “people are different,” do you mean only the egoistic level of a person?

Answer: Yes, they differ only in their accordance with the Creator. Everything else does not matter.
[225305]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 1/21/2018

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Question: There are many songs created about love, and many wonderful romance novels written throughout the history of humanity. On the other hand, love has led to a great number of tragedies and wars. So much has been said about love. Perhaps it is a person’s  most sublime feeling. What is love?

Answer: Love is a special attitude of a person to someone or something. I love the sea, music, pleasant smells, etc. This is also called that I love.

Why do I love? Because it gives me pleasure. I enjoy the sea, the music, the smells, the skies. I love what gives me pleasure. Conversely, I hate what causes me suffering or problems. This is how love or hate that arises to people and animals.

It is “egoistic love” when I love something that gives me pleasure and hate what causes me suffering. We are like animals; we love what is good for us and move away from things that are bad for us. This is called love. Meaning, it is not love toward some object, but rather love for what it awakens within me.

For example, I run into a friend and he tells me that he has divorced. “What has happened?!” “Love has gone.” It means that love exists up to the moment where we can receive pleasure from one another. Even today doctors say that love between partners disappears in 2 to 3 years.

This is not the love that the wisdom of Kabbalah is talking about. The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about love as something that is above a person’s ego, which enjoys using someone or something. Love is something we build on two levels.

There is a level of relationship between us which may involve arguments and even hate, i.e., disagreement with one another. At the same time, above these disagreements, we build a special connection called “love.”

We work a lot on this, make efforts, and invest time building it. This is called “love will cover all transgressions.” It means that we build love precisely above transgressions, above disagreements that exist between us.

Only in this way can two people connect one with the other so their mutual connection would be good, strong, healthy, and truly human. This connection is between people who understand that they are egoists and that again tomorrow they can have a dispute but they will still continue working to make their connection beautiful and kind, and it is called “love.”

This is not love that is built on sexual attraction, habit, or something that is good for me today but tomorrow may be the opposite.

On the contrary, it is love between people: a man and a woman, children, within a nation, or within a group of people. But with all this we do not treat each other based on receiving pleasure one from another, where I receive pleasure from the other one and therefore I love. After all, this would be the animal level.

At the human level we create connections of love between us above everything that we receive one from another—pleasures or the opposite—up to the point that I can hate the other for his habits that I do not like. Still I have to love him, for example, for the reason that we belong to the same nation.

Then we will work on how we can also become closer one to another in the habits at the level of this world—physical, national, and so forth.

In other words, love is the highest value in relationship between people who are going to connect with each other since they are obliged to be tied and they chose this connection. Then they constantly work on this.

Therefore it is said that “love will cover all transgressions.” There are “transgressions” between us, various disagreements, and above them we are constantly building love. Even more, the more disagreements, the stronger love should be above them.

This is the way we have to educate people. Then we will be able to come to the state where we will be able to open an umbrella of love above the entire world, above all of humanity. This is precisely what love is. Otherwise, it is just a physiological love where you love something that is good for your body; this is love of animals, whereas human love is built above all that makes me unhappy about the other one. There is some reason, a higher value, that obliges me to be in connection with the other one.

We both understand that at the regular level we have all kinds of disagreements with regard to the country, life, and everything else, but in any case we come to the decision that we have to be connected despite that we are different and our structure is different.

We build this connection, our love, slowly, step by step, based on our superior goal which we together have to reach in connection between us and above our physical bodies.
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From the Program on Radio Station 103FM, 2/14/2016

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Question: What is an intention worthy of action?

Answer: Our world is a world of action. All our earthly deeds are based on action itself. It is only by action and not by intention that our deeds are counted. In our world, we cannot be certain whether we have recognized, reproduced, evaluated, and weighed the intention correctly, whereas actions can be seen, measured, and compared because they leave behind a clear material result.

Intentions are our inner motivations, which are incomprehensible both to others and to ourselves, and are forgotten within a minute. Nothing can be done with that.

The science of Kabbalah says that we are special beings that consist of both actions and intentions. The more developed a person is, the further removed from mere animal existence, the stronger his intention is, and it is the intention that determines the action. That is, the action itself may be insignificant, but the intention behind it is great. In such cases, the person carrying out the action pays attention precisely to the intention.

For example, if I give someone a small gift or perform some deed that was very difficult for me but into which I put my whole soul, then the person receiving the outcome of my action measures it not by the action itself but by the effort and the good intention.

How can we measure intention? That is a problem because the world is becoming increasingly global. We must build a single system of relationships between us. But we cannot evaluate this only through actions.

After all, I am not working like a machinist in a factory whose contribution is measured by a thousand units of production that determines his pay and how others treat him. In our time, more and more professions arise where intentions are measured. We try to measure the relationships between people: how I influence them, how they awaken because of me, how we exchange services, and so on. That is, intention is acquiring ever-greater significance.

And so, our world faces a great problem. The more we develop, the more we move away from an animate state, the greater becomes the need to measure intentions. Yet, we cannot measure them.

Thus, the attitude of a person defines the world. The world itself becomes a consequence of our intentions.

And here a problem arises: the world falls into crisis not because of overproduction nor because we cannot get along with one another, but because our intentions are incorrect. But how to make them correct, how to evaluate and weigh them, we do not know.

Suddenly, quite unexpectedly for us, we find ourselves in an immaterial world because countless emotional, spiritual, and soulful connections arise between us that we cannot measure or account for. Intentions turn out to be more important than actions, and the world becomes awkward and unfit for human life. It begins to “push us out of itself” because it was created only for the animate state of humans.

At present we are like animals. Animals are not embarrassed by each other: I want to eat you; if you manage to escape, you escape, if not, I will eat you. Everything is based not on intentions but on clear actions. And intentions are absolutely obvious because action and intention coincide.

But when we rise above the animate state to the human level, we are obliged to begin taking our intentions into account. And they can only be evaluated with the help of the science of Kabbalah.

Question: Can you give us an example of intention in its pure form? What is it?

Answer: Suppose I have a certain intention toward you. You neither see it nor know it. I must determine it within myself, recognize it, and test it. If I wish to harm you with my intention, then by that, I will harm myself.

On the other hand, the world of intentions is much simpler. When we enter it, we as if erase all actions, “delete” our entire world, and only points remain along with intentions of those points toward one another. This is the spiritual world.

Try to imagine 7 to 8 billion points each of which, at least in some radius around itself, relates to others with a certain intention: either evil or good, plus or minus. The intention is directed either toward making another feel good according to how he understands it, not you, or toward making another feel bad according to how you understand it, not him.

Question: Can there really be only two intentions?

Answer: Only two, nothing else. And each of them can be graded in magnitude. Our attitudes toward others determine our world and our passage into the upper world.

We sort all the possible intentions people may have and take into account only those that exist between them. If they are positive toward others, they are called spiritual; if negative, they are called earthly.

All intentions of our earthly level are only for oneself and to the detriment of others.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/25/2018

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #49 “The Most Important Are the Mind and the Heart” (12.4.2021)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #75 “There Is a Discernment of the Next World, and There Is a Discernment of This World” (12.4.2021)

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 1, “Inner Observation”

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4th part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah, the First Commandment”

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Question: You say that Kabbalah influences fate. For example, an actor who plays a role in some film is influenced by the role he played. He seems to live the life of that character.

What if we take the method where you must go through all your reincarnations, clothing yourself in this theatrical role, quickly living through your states? Let’s say first you were a prince, then a beggar, then someone else. After all, for the future each soul has its own specific informational records that it must pass through. So instead of living a whole life, can one pass through it in this theatrical way?

Answer: No, that is absolutely unnecessary! Why should one go through reincarnations in some artificial way?

We are all repeat students, held back year after year, who in the end will graduate externally, quickly and simply. You just take it and in one year you pass through all ten grades, instead of sitting several years in each. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah offers.

Suddenly such possibilities open before you that it becomes no problem at all, and the whole world is like an open map before you. You calmly pass through everything, easily, pleasantly, like on a picnic.

We can shorten the time of our maturity, as in an incubator: one-two and that’s it instead of following the natural long and suffering path.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Our Whole Life Is a Game?!” 9/29/10

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Question: We talk a lot about descents and ascents. Does a descent mean that it is me and the outside world, while an ascent means I am in the Creator and the Creator is in me? Are these states supposed to be uniform, or should they be the way they are given? Is it possible to soften this path, and does it depend on us?

Answer: We have to aspire to exist constantly in a state where we sense the Creator both inside of me and outside.

The sensation of the Creator that fills the entire world, including me, is the most perfect state. All the rest of the states are given by the Creator so we would have a greater aspiration to sense Him both inside of us and outside.

“There is none besides Him” means precisely such a sensation of the Creator where besides Him, indeed there is no one. Then who am I? I am the one who states the fact: “Yes, indeed, I feel that there is none besides Him!”

This is the only point that remains. It is the center of our soul. Everything else is the Creator.

Question: Does it depend on us to exist in the ascent as much as possible, all the time with the Creator, and the Creator inside, and Him in us?

Answer: No problem. Organize your group the way so it would always be engaged in this. Then it will be holding you.
[257090]
From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 11/24/2019

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Question: How can one stimulate oneself to greater advancement? Can the goal become the main and only stimulus?

Answer: It can. It depends only on the environment. The group has to constantly deliver to you the greatness of the goal and create a sensation that this goal is the most important. You have the necessary minimum, it is enough. The rest is only in the inner growth, in the relations within the group.

Let’s quickly turn to the Creator through the ten and compel Him to help us so He would reveal Himself inside the ten. We can do this.

Comment: But so much has been done in this world: so many laws have been discovered, so many heroic acts.

My Response: People did not do all these things, the Creator did. He pushed them to sufferings and to heroic acts, and to crimes. This is why it is called “the work of the Creator” (Avodat HaShem).

Our movement forward is His work too; it is work of the light upon desire. The desire itself is absolutely motionless. It can move only to the extent to which it feels the shining of pleasures or the push of sufferings. This is the property of our world, of our matter.

Therefore, it does not make sense to ascribe special action to a person that he would not be able to do by himself. Even people with a high inner sensitivity will say that one person is built this way, while another one in a different way. A fortune teller can predict our future.

In other words, there is nothing that depends on a person except for one thing, his own aspiration to the Creator with entering such an environment that would advance me to the Creator faster than He attracts me.

This is the essence of the freedom of will. I really hope that we will realize it.
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From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 11/26/17

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Comment: Winston Churchill, the greatest statesman, Prime Minister of Great Britain, military leader, and Nobel Prize laureate in literature, formulated the laws of leadership that allowed him to become a great strategist, tactician, politician, and orator. First law: “Enjoy the moment.”

My Response: That is true. Because without satisfaction in the very moment in which you exist, you cannot produce anything.

Comment: “Be a realist.”

My Response: Yes, one must necessarily weigh the dark and the light sides, the possibilities, and choose the middle line realistically.

Comment: “Define your destiny.”

My Response: Choose what you exist for, and gradually, constantly, and precisely realize it.

Comment: “Learn from mistakes.”

My Response: As much as possible.

Question: You mean to say, it is impossible?

Answer: It is possible, but only within certain limits. Because mistakes, in principle, are needed in order to learn from them. Not to regret past mistakes, but precisely to learn from them.

Question: And does a person really learn from mistakes?

Answer: He does not learn, he remakes himself. Mistakes are necessary in order to constantly rise higher.

Question: So he leans on them all the time?

Answer: Yes they are needed. In no case should one regret past mistakes. On the contrary, you should rejoice that you went through it and moved forward.

Comment: A person keeps thinking: “What a mistake I made! What have I done!”

My Response: Self-torment is the worst thing that can be!

Comment: It is unclear how. I catch myself so many times on this thought.

My Response: Then be ready for the fact that you are making a mistake even now, and everything will be fine. And then you already have a good mood, and you catch the right moment, according to the first point: “Enjoy the moment,” and everything goes well.

Comment: “Just do your job.”

My Response: Right, every day systematically do what you are obliged to do, and add one day to another, another day to another, so that they all add up to the realization of your idea, of the goal you set for yourself.

Comment: “Verify through your own experience.”

My Response: One must sometimes draw a line and make sure that, after all, you did do something, you did bring something into the world, you did actualize yourself in some way.

Question: So this check mark is needed?

Answer: That check is needed in order to move forward. Maybe make some correction, but in general it won’t change much, you will remain who you are. But it is necessary.

Comment: “Be fair.”

My Response: Be fair, first of all, to yourself. Try to put yourself in another’s place, and others in your place, and from this draw the conclusion: How much you are not better than others, and how much you, in principle, are fulfilling your function. At the very least, do not expect from others more than from yourself.

Comment: “Draw the line.”

My Response: Below which you cannot sink, and above which you would like always to be. That is, of course, a dream!

Question: And what is your line?

Answer: That is a cherished dream. One does not speak of such things. I would like to see my students as the great leaders of this world. That, yes.

Question: Do you want to dissolve in your students, or that they be your continuation?

Answer: Well, my continuation… Who am I? I want them to rise to such a level that they would be worthy of leading the world to its spiritual goal.

Comment: “Always remain yourself.”

My Response: That is, do not deceive yourself. Do not think of yourself higher than you are; get used to, agree with the fact that you, perhaps (perhaps!), are worse than everyone. And act so that you could always say: “I tried to do better than everyone and I am always at peace with how it turned out.”

Comment: But that you are worse than everyone, that won’t really please a normal person. If he feels that way, he will always be depressed.

My Response: But you are asking me, not some ordinary person. I exist in two lines: in the real one and in the desired one, and I try all the time to be between them.

Comment: “Speak the truth straight to the face.”

My Response: Well, I try. Although every day I feel from my students that perhaps it shouldn’t have been said at all.

Question: That is, too much truth straight to the face. You tell it to your students. But to another person, not your student, can one tell the truth straight to the face?

Answer: No, one must not. By no means! As it is said: “Do not put a stumbling block before the blind.”

Comment: “Follow your own compass.”

My Response: That, yes. That is, if you have an orientation in life, you will have to say many unpleasant things and, naturally, hear many unpleasant things. But you must go that way, because otherwise you are nobody.

There can be no compromise here. Otherwise, it will not be you, then go wash dishes. And that’s all.

Comment: You once said that your teacher Rabash prepared you so that after him you would not buy into something, into all those “offers” that exist.

My Response: Yes, because there were very many opportunities. There were very many enemies who said: “Come to us, and everything will be good. Here, we must create such a group, such a society. Otherwise…”

Comment: “No one will come to you.”

My Response: Not just “no one will come,” but “we will eat you!” Well! In the end they didn’t eat me. They nibble a bit at each other, and we exist.

Comment: “Accept the unknown.”

My Response: Yes, it is very good when you live in the unknown. That is, for you every next moment is something new, arising, that you did not expect, and it doesn’t matter to you how it will be. Because it is determined somewhere and descends upon you, and you are ready to accept it.

Question: But isn’t it important to you whether you will reach the goal or not? Or is it unimportant?

Answer: No! I strive toward it, but nothing matters to me. Nothing! No-no, these are different things. These are two lines.

Question: That is, the result, whether you reach it, does not matter to you?

Answer: Of course not.

Question: And what matters here: to go, go, go?

Answer: As long as I can, I go. And each next minute, whatever falls on me, I must meet it with blessing. And that’s all. It is as simple as that!

Otherwise, one cannot live. Could I have carried it for so many years otherwise? No.

Comment: To go out again to the lesson, and again to the lesson, again, to stir everyone, again to stir.

My Response: Yes. And it is not hard for me. People think it is such an effort, and again, and again, and each time, and so many times repeated. But I do not repeat myself, no minute is similar to another for me! None!

Comment: I am always amazed that for all these years with you, the same questions are asked! And so, you begin again, begin again…

My Response: For me these are not the same questions.

Question: Because you feel that the student is new, or that you are new?

Answer: Neither he nor I, we together reveal now some new quality in the world, something that did not exist before. Because minutes are all different.

And therefore, it is not hard. Not hard! But the world does not understand this. Kabbalah gives such an approach that all life is truly an adventure.

Comment: That is, you are like a child, constantly discovering a new world, with wide-open eyes…

My Response: Yes, and therefore, you have energy and ignition. Of course. It is simply God’s gift!
[256324]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/29/25

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21. What is “unique and unified” (Part 1, Inner Observation, 1)
Unique indicates the upper light that shines and rules over all the many degrees, which are different from each other, to the point of inverting them and equalizing them with His unique form. “Unified” indicates the end of that rule, meaning after He had already equalized and returned their form to the state of “unique,” as He is (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot).

Our entire path is the attainment of greater and greater unity until we reach complete unity.
And when we merge into one, we reveal within us the “unified.”

This very state is called “unified,” and it includes all the previous forms within itself.

We see the degrees as completely different, even opposed and contradictory to one another, but the One who arranges all of this for us is called the “Unique.” And in relation to Him, all this appears in a completely different way. He has only a single action, yet it seems to us as though entirely different actions are taking place.

We are unable to unite all this together, yet we call Him “Unified” because in passing through all the many and opposite states, we reveal that in all of them acts one single form and one single purpose.

In this lies the whole root of our work. On our part, we discover within ourselves all kinds of actions, qualities, and states, different, alien, and opposite. But we must strive to unite them together, to bring them to unity, to the root.

From the root emanates unity; yet in our sensations, it divides into a very large number of various manifestations and actions in order to show us our separation, our lack of unity.

If we unite all this together and bring it to one root, since within all these forms there exists one thought and one relation, then we will attain this unique and unified root.

All these forms that appear to us as different are testimony to our own flaws and corruptions. And precisely because of this, we must ascribe and bring them to the unique and unified form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/21/2011, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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