The principle of a Kabbalistic group is a special attitude toward the friends.

Comment: One of the principles of working in a group is valuing each of the friend’s individuality.

My Response: It is necessary to give everyone the opportunity to show their abilities, to help them in this, so that when identifying all the abilities of the friends, we come to the maximum development of a common desire, intention, effort.

Comment: The principle is as follows: Constantly exalt your friends and feel the lowliness of your egoism.

My Response: That is, as an egoist, I must always lower myself in relation to the group, to relate to my friend with an increased desire to help and support them in everything. There are two forces within me, positive and negative. Maximize the positive and minimize the negative.

Comment: Another principle: Try to see the friends in a more corrected state than what my egoism is showing me.

My Response: I should try to see my friends as more corrected than I am. Then I will have a desire to get closer to them, to lower myself before them. My admiration for them will give me the strength to advance.

Question: The next principle: annul yourself before the friends. What exactly needs to be done here?

Answer: This arises naturally in a person. When one works in a group, whether one wants to or not, a person begins to feel lower and lower than the rest. He or she sees strength and goodness in the friends, but not in oneself.

Moreover, we are not saying that this happens on its own, but that a person can annul themself before the friends by one’s own effort. That is, to artificially lower oneself before the friends and to see oneself as worse than them, lower, less advanced. This will give a person the opportunity to raise them, raise the Creator through them, and thus, advance.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/6/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What books can I read to understand Kabbalah?“

The science of Kabbalah is unique in the way it talks about you and me, about all of us. It doesn’t deal with anything abstract, only with the way we are created and how we function at higher levels of existence.

One of its sections talks about the descent of the higher forces from the world of Ein Sof (Infinity). The world of Ein Sof is our initial state, and there we exist as a single, unified system of souls, completely interconnected. Then, from the world of Ein Sof, we study the sequence of worlds, Sefirot and Partzufim as they descend to the world we live in.

Many Kabbalistic books have been written about it, starting with Abraham the Patriarch around 4,000 years ago, who wrote a book called Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation).

The next important work is The Book of Zohar, written in the second century CE. The Zohar is followed by the works of the Ari, a renowned 16th century Kabbalist. And the 20th century saw the appearance of the works of Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam).

Baal HaSulam’s texts are best suited for our generation.

They, as well as other Kabbalistic sources, describe the structure of the upper worlds, how they descend and successively bring lower worlds into existence, and how our world came into being, the universe, our globe, and how life evolved. Studying how that system was created and how it descends to our world allows us to master the method of entering this system and governing it.

We, for the most part, study the six volume textbook Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), written by Yehuda Ashlag. It is designed as a study aid with questions, answers, materials for repetition and memorization, explanations, graphics and drawings. This is, if you will, the physics of the upper world, describing the laws and forces governing the universe.

This material gradually transforms the students, because when searching how to enter and begin to live in the spiritual world, one gradually adapts oneself to the material.

The science of Kabbalah does not deal with life in this world. Instead, by studying this system we re-attain our level before we descended, the same level where we will be at the end of our ascent from this world. During this ascent, the study of Kabbalah builds within the student a system equal to the higher system.

This system begins to organize and manifest itself in the person who wants to achieve it, and who studies it for this purpose. Just like a drop of semen can potentially evolve into an entire human being, and subsequently grows into a mature grown-up, the science of Kabbalah develops our desire to attain a higher level of existence.

At first this is a tiny desire, called “a point in the heart.” This point is like the embryo of our future states. By studying the structure of the upper world, we develop the “genetic” information within it, and as it grows, the structure resembling the higher levels forms within us.

This is why studying is so rewarding. Even if we do not understand a single thing about what we are reading, simply trying to understand the Kabbalistic texts nurtures the point in the heart, the desire for the higher force, and the point begins to grow. The more it grows, the more we feel the appearance of a new creation, a new and different feeling of a world within ourselves.

In so doing, the science of Kabbalah gives us the opportunity to feel the upper worlds, to understand everything that happens to us, and most of all, to control this process for ourselves.

I recommend that before approaching the aforementioned books, to take a introductory course, so that you will be able to get guidance on how to approach the books to reap the most spiritual benefit. I have added links to various courses you could choose to start from in my Quora bio.

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Bestow Contentment to the Creator” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,”  Item 56

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Gatehouse of Intentions,”  Item 1

Selected Highlights

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 1/27/20

Stanford University professor Hank Greely thinks that in 20-30 years people will be choosing children from a laboratory.

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A person who studies Kabbalah reveals all the forces that influence us on the spiritual degree. The Creator is the general force. We will find out how to establish reciprocal relationships: He-to me, and I-to Him. The condition of the body does not influence a person’s spiritual states since one attains the perception of the true reality.

Kabbalah is unlike other sciences, which leave a person in this world. A person does not suspect that he enters an open door into a new reality. People enter it not after death, but during life, by expanding their perception and thereby starting to perceive a reality that exists on another level.

Despite all of the summons and campaigns to counter #Antisemitism, it rises and falls like waves, following the laws of nature. Antisemitism is a law of nature, originating from the opposition of two forces in nature—bestowal and reception. Its purpose is to push egoists toward the quality of bestowal!
#HolocaustMemorialDay

It is known that in our times, the most egoistic souls are joining in the correction. Hence the stages of their correction are lengthier, the descents are more difficult. This makes the group’s support all the more necessary for every person the group’s care about every person’s state in their descents—attentiveness to the friends!

Man was created only from egoism and all his desires and thoughts are only for base things. Likewise he comes to equivalence with the Creator with all of his egoistic desires and thoughts—only by changing their intentions from “for myself” to “for the Creator.” As low as he was, that is how high he rises!

Egoism’s presence is necessary in spiritual work for the Creator. If a person has no egoism, he cannot have spiritual work! That’s because one comes closer to the Creator only above transgressions. Man rises above beast by virtue of egoism’s development in man.

The people of the world today are experiencing a state of uncertainty, the sensation of a world that is going away and the uncertainty of a world that is coming into being. Perhaps it is already here, but I am yet unable to feel it? How can I acquire a sensation of it, understand it, recognize it? For the first time, this is everyone’s problem.

The sensation of light always originates from the sensation of darkness and the Creator’s greatness is revealed. All work therefore begins from the sensation of darkness. Good is always revealed only from evil. The Creator is exalted in us only by transitioning from darkness to light. The most important thing is not to despair during the darkness.
From Twitter, 1/27/20

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It is scary to think about what might happen to the world if we do not succeed in disseminating the method of connection. A new world war awaits the world, after which it would take humanity several more centuries to recover from and begin to gather to implement the correction. Yet, the final correction must manifest here in this world in the corporeal framework in which we live now.

This world does not exist but the spiritual form, which now appears before our eyes as the corporeal world, must be exactly like this so that the process of correction will begin and end in it. Once we complete the correction at the level of this world together with the spiritual world, this world will rise to a spiritual degree.

We can avoid third and fourth world wars while this is still in our hands. However, the allotted time is already coming to an end so we need to hurry up and realize our mission.
^{From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/9/20, ”The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism,” Chapter 6
Minute 1:53:10}

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To Reach the State of Bestowal

Question: Nature obliges us to comply with the law of reception, and we constantly care about satisfying our own needs. This is normal, we are created that way. The second law “to give to society, to take care of society, of the neighbor” is hidden from us.

However, the Creator obliges us to obey this law by sending us blows and suffering; we just do not associate them with the failure to comply with this law. So we don’t have freedom of choice after all? As Baal HaSulam writes: Our absolute duty is to completely obey the law of nature.

Answer: No, a person is not strictly obligated to this, but only pushed to want him or her to adopt the law of bestowal consciously, realizing its need.

What does realizing mean? When I am my own, one might say, civic consciousness, I understand that I need to do this. Not for my own sake, but for the sake of others and the Creator. I accept this law and execute it not involuntarily, but because I realize how much good I can do with this deed for others and for the Creator. Just for the sake of them! And in no case for my own sake!

This does not make me an even more developed animal, standing on the same level with other animals because a person does not have automatic instinctive fulfillment of the laws of nature; one must fulfill them oneself. The fact is that I must reach a completely different level, the quality of bestowal and love, not the instinctive fulfillment of the laws of nature. By this I rise to the level of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

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Question: Does Kabbalah believe that there is a property of freedom in every person? Or is this not inherent in anyone from birth?

Answer: This is inherent in absolutely everyone. It only happens in very limited amounts and not necessarily in this life.

Question: I want enough to be able to finish the entire correction and discover the Creator in this lifetime. Where is my freedom of will here? What exactly depends on me?

Answer: Get rid of everything that is unnecessary and choose what is most important, which is what is needed to discover the Creator. That’s all. You will answer your question this way. This is what Kabbalah does.

Question: Do I need to part with necessities in order to attain freedom?

Answer: We cannot part with any needs. We can simply reassess our values in order to engage only in those actions that are necessary to achieve the most important goal.

Question: What is the realization of freedom of will at every second?

Answer: It is to gradually come to a determination of what is our most important goal and to move toward it correctly.

Question: Was Baal HaSulam a free person?

Answer: Every Kabbalist is a free person because he rises above his egoism.

Question: Can it be said that freewill is comprised of a person’s voluntary formation of the correct internal and external limits of behavior and thoughts and their observance? And the more carefully you observe them, the freer you are?

Answer: Freedom of will is to completely surrender to the right environment.

Question: When will a person stop living one day and think only about himself?

Answer: Whenever he wants. There is no other answer.

Question: Does freedom have boundaries?

Answer: Freedom has no boundaries. Freedom is all in the desire to bestow and therefore it is infinite.

Question: What if you experience a strong doubt about a choice? How can you choose?

Answer: Always choose toward connection, kindness, and with your group, and no other way.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 11/17/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does Kabbalah entail and believe?“

The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t involve believing in anything. Or in other words, “belief” is a degree in Kabbalah where only once one attains something, then one can discuss believing in that thing.

There is only one practice in Kabbalah: attracting the Ohr Makif (surrounding light), i.e., the higher force dwelling in nature that changes us from our inborn corporeal form to a spiritual one.

This wisdom is very simple because it is based on the interaction of two forces: the higher spiritual force of bestowal and love and the lower corporeal force of egoism, of reception. Moreover, it states that there is nothing other than these two forces in reality.

The higher force of bestowal and love controls the lower force, the egoistic desire, and everything that happens in reality, which the wisdom of Kabbalah studies, is realized in the interaction between these forces.

The lower force is generated by the higher force and is called “existence from absence.” It is like in mathematics where there is zero and something different to zero.

The higher force acts upon and influences our desire, which is completely under its control. We are desire: each one of us individually and all of us together.

We are unconscious of how the higher force acts through us, thinking that we are in control of ourselves. But, in fact, each one of us is simply a small device. We have the opportunity of evoking the additional influence of the higher force.

To the extent that we attract it to develop wisely, we understand how the higher force influences us and carries out particular actions in us. We begin to study how it operates on us, and by doing so, start developing the ability to control the way it influences us.

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