Lesson Preparation
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Lesson on the Topic “The Absolute Zero”
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]”
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#Israel is a nation that rises to bestowal, love for the neighbor, mutual guarantee, empathy.
#Jerusalem is the capital, the heart of the nation, the peak of the spirit, the focal point of power over oneself, over one’s egoism.
Without a yearning to unite, to love the neighbor—Jerusalem is Klipa…
In order for Jerusalem to become a true capital, the center of a united nation, we must conquer it INSIDE US, return to a good connection, learn to overcome conflicts and strife. Only in this way, upon the unity of hearts, can we build the nation of ISRA-EL, aspiring to the Creator.
#Jerusalem is an indication of the spiritual state of the nation. It’s a very harsh city since it demonstrates the genuine attitude toward unity in every person’s heart. Jerusalem can either be a center of fragmentation of the nation of #Israel and the world or the center of its #unity.
The result is attained by a plea to the Creator to help him go by faith above reason, in joy, as if one has attained spiritual reason. And although the body does not wish to go in spite of reason, he asks for joy, as befits the Upper One’s worker.
He asks not to see the greatness, but asks for joy above reason, as if he is in reason.
One sees that the world is bad, but by his efforts, wishes to see it as the Creator does—that the world is perfect, receiving everything from the perfect Creator, and as if he feels this in his sensations. He thus feels the force of life and joy by coming nearer to the Creator, who does good.
People have entered a new geological age called Anthropocene—the human era when people have begun inflicting irreversible damage to the planet. People can be brought to balance with nature only by correcting human nature. There is one method for correcting man’s nature—Kabbalah.
The world lives by its laws. One who wishes to reveal the Creator, although he sees a bad world, must see it as good—transferring the world’s and the Creator’s faults to himself, his qualities. The good Creator is the evil (uncorrected) I. That’s why I see the world this way!
The left line is what one sees in reason, his and the world’s faults.
The right line is what one sees above reason, his and the world’s perfection.
The middle line is when, despite what he sees in the left life, he goes in spite—above reason.
That is, one needs the right and left lines in order to go in the middle line, faith above reason.
Being in spirituality means remaining human and going above him, by faith above reason. Even if one can see the Creator in reason, he prefers to be in faith above the reason that is offered to him. Faith becomes an instrument for revealing the Creator since everything is for bestowal, in care not for oneself, but for the Creator.
In order for the creature to attain the Creator, he must build the quality of bestowal, faith, above the quality of reception, reason. The Creator helps a person by creating emptiness in him. One must go above the emptiness, creating the quality of greatness, sensation of the Creator inside him, above reason. Wishing to attain in faith, not in reason.
Above it we build faith, in spite of the quality of reception, the way the Creator sees my ego-qualities.
There are two attainments: earthly and spiritual.
What one receives in the ego-desire is called reason. To attain the Creator, one must build a sensation above the ego-reason. This is exactly why the ego, the quality of our world, was created.
To the degree one has faith in goodness above reason, one comes to the sensation of evil in one’s reason, which pushes him toward correction by a request for bestowal.
The Creator awakens evil in reason to help a person rise to faith above reason, to realize that he feels evil because he exists in the quality of “for my sake”—otherwise he would feel goodness.
A person has no forces to go against the will to enjoy since he feels no fulfillment in this. But the Creator takes away the taste and leaves only the opportunity to ask for forces to work for the sake of the Creator.
Imagine as if you have merited full faith in the Creator and the sensation that the Creator governs the world by goodness, and this is what the creatures receive. When you see your and the world’s suffering, say that you see it in your uncorrected qualities in order to correct yourself until you see an absolutely kind providence.
Zohar, Hayei Sarah 21: Happy is he who diminishes himself in this world—how great is he in the eternal world! But one who is great in this world, is small in the eternal world.
The Creator exalts the one who diminishes himself.
Happy is he who diminishes himself in this world: how great are his merits in the eternal world!
The path of faith above reason means not taking feelings and knowledge into account. The Creator observes us and knows what is good for us. Hence I don’t care how I feel, if I want to delight the Creator.
Although I don’t feel perfection in my work, from the perspective of the Upper One I am in perfection.
Malchut, the basis of creation, is a black point. If one doesn’t wish to increase his state, one cannot fall. If once accepts the work in a black point in any state—one attains adhesion with the Creator and receives light from above since there is no intention to receive and enjoy the light.
The aim of the work is to be at a lower degree, always accepting the Creator’s power anew by faith above reason, naively. And to accept it with joy, as if in complete reason. The verification is that one never falls and is always in joy because he accepts all states in desires and mind above reason.
One should rejoice at a small state more than a great state. And when in a great state, one should cover oneself with a small state from ego-disturbances. In a small state one can reach revelation since there is no fear of being defeated by ego-disturbances.
Therefore the Creator has more joy from a small state than from a great one.
From Twitter, 6/1/19
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The substance of creation is the desire to enjoy, and all our work is to clothe it in the intention to bestow, the love of the neighbor. The intention matters most because it testifies to the essence of the action. The point is not whether I receive or bestow, but what I expect from this action: to receive or to bestow? It is what determines everything.
If an alien landed on Earth and saw how a person works hard all day long and at the end of the day gives all the money he earned to a salesperson in a store or a cashier in a bank, he would be fascinated: “What an act of bestowal!” But we understand why he bestows, then he receives something else more valuable for him.
It turns out that the action itself says nothing and everything is determined by the intention. This is the difference between an animal and a human being: the animal understands only the action itself. It is impossible to talk with it about intention, although it is possible to train an animal and to explain a little about the intentions of the owner to it, with the help of actions. But by and large, an animal understands only the action: if you give, you are good, if you do not give, you are bad.
A person acts with an intention, and this is different from animals. We are animals by nature, but the more we rise above the animal level due to education and acquired habits, the more importance we attach to intention. All fiction, cinema, and high art speak about intentions, not about the actions themselves. The more the intention diverges from the action, the sharper dramas, conflicts, and confrontations emerge, and therefore, it is hard to understand and feel the intention and difficult to express it. And when the intention finally connects with the action, it leads to a solution, to a denouement.1
Intention for the sake of bestowal can only be obtained from the reforming light because this light comes from the system where we are all interconnected. It turns out that I begin to feel another person inseparable from myself, and therefore, I change my attitude toward him and bestow to him as if I myself receive. Bestowing to him turns into receiving, as if I were bestowing to my own child.
We understand the example with a child; it is even more enjoyable for us to give to children than to take for ourselves. Similarly, we should perceive a stranger as if he is our inseparable part. For this purpose, there is the light returning to the source, which has the power to show me that my friends and I are parts of one body and that by giving to them, I myself seem to receive.
Therefore, the change of intention is possible only in a group and only with the help of the reforming light.2
The lesson should be a practical action in the ten rather than mental speculations. It must enter into our substance, into our connection, because unity is the matrix of all reality. There is no other reality but the ten. If I rehearse all the scenes within my ten, clothing all the material of the articles in it—the ten Sefirot, the upper worlds, the Partzufim, the shattering, and the correction—this is the real study of the science of Kabbalah in practice, practical Kabbalah.
After the lesson, I go out completely different from what I was before it and my ten is also different because we took a leap on the way.3
What prevents me from feeling myself in perfection, complete abundance, merged with the Creator? The world is kind and beautiful, filled with the Creator, and I am eternal and perfect in it. Why do I feel different now? The difference between these two states is only in my sensation. If I do not calculate with my animalistic desire to enjoy, but I want to be in the desire to bestow, then I bestow pleasure to the Creator saying: “I feel infinite filling in what You give me. I need nothing else, and I am happy that You exist and take care of me! ”
Who prevents me from feeling such joy and fulfillment except for my egoism and my pride?4
At the end of correction, the whole world becomes absolutely good, as it is written that “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” Israel (aspiring to the Creator) is the Rosh (head) of the Partzuf, the common soul of Adam HaRishon. Adam did not have a Rosh; he was born an animal, an angel. An angel is the animate level of holiness, and an animal has no mind, no Rosh.
Now, due to clarifications, the Rosh begins to grow on the levels of Shoresh, Aleph, Bet, Gimel, and Dalet. We are the Rosh, striving for revelation of the Creator, for unity. The Guf (body) exists due to the Rosh and could not come to life without it.
Adam had a Rosh at the level of Hassadim, that is, at the animate level. When he wanted to have a Rosh with the light of Hochma (wisdom), that is, on the human level, he shattered. The correction consists in gathering back the Rosh and the Guf—this will be the correction of the world, of reality. Everybody will be joined by good connections in the light of Hassadim and filled with the perfect light of Hochma. This is called the end of correction.5
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/30/19, “There is None Else Beside Him” (Preparation for the Convention in Latin America Convention 2019)
1 Minute 30:12
2 Minute 34:00
3 Minute 1:03:57
4 Minute 1:16:40
5 Minute 1:58:57
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New Life 239 – The Wisdom Of Abraham’s Happiness
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe
Humans have existential questions. Abraham explained that we are controlled by the power of reception and can discover and develop the power of love and giving through kindness. In order to bring the entire world to correction, Abraham and his followers had to be brought closer to all of humanity. They fell into egoism like everyone else. Today, we must return to being as one man in one heart in order to turn hatred into love. True happiness can only be achieved through ascension to the upper force.
From KabTV’s “New Life 239 – The Wisdom Of Abraham’s Happiness,” 10/10/13
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Question: What should you do when there is no strength? Fight with yourself?
Answer: Why fight with yourself? You can never overcome yourself because it is not you, but your egoism, which is much stronger than you, and you have nothing but that. This is a battle already lost.
The only thing you have to do is stick to the group as much as possible. Then you will have the strength, a direction, everything you need to overcome the problems.
Question: How can you not be trapped, thinking that you are developing, but in fact you have long since gone astray and are regressing?
Answer: Only by sticking to the group. I cannot give any other advice. If you have a ten, then you have a lifeline. If you do not have one, then you are drowning.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 1/20/19
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I must trust that the Creator corrects me in everything. Rejoice in His care equally in ascents and descents. So you will experience all the states as ascents. Efforts to be in a descent as if it is an ascent are called stimulation from below, and bring one closer to the Creator when he feels that this is the Creator’s way to draw him near.
In descents, one must renew the Creator’s governance in everything. And this will be the beginning of a new spiritual state: wherever one can’t sense the Creator’s governance, he fills this void with the Creator’s authority. And so in every sensation of the descent, of the absence of the Creator’s hand, one fills Malchut part by part.
Through the group and studies of Kabbalah, one realizes that he has to go above egoism, unconsciously raising the prayer for his fulfillment, MAN. The Creator corrects the ego-MAN and instead of fulfillment gives him the strength to curb the pleasure, fulfillment, the strength to reject egoism, meaning—the screen.
From Twitter, 5/31/19
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Spirituality can only be attained in the connection between us. It is not that easy to accept and it is not very pleasant because it is completely against our nature. The further humanity develops from generation to generation, over thousands of years, the more egoistic we become. This can be clearly seen in the transformations of human society, which began with tribal clans, then transformed into villages, which then grew into big cities and countries.
Connection is a very difficult topic, but it defines all the differences between us and the spiritual world. The main problem is our belief that we can connect. But we cannot connect because we are one hundred percent egoistic.
First of all, we must remember that we cannot connect, let alone love one another. This is completely against our nature. Let’s be realistic: we are capable only of hatred. All the rest are just beautiful games, like in kindergarten. Yet, we are inverting this game into a very serious one. Playing like good children and realizing that we are not and that in fact no one loves his friends and does not want to get closer to them, we are hoping for the only remedy—the reforming light.
We do not want to connect, and we clearly understand it. However, if we nevertheless try to connect, then we ask for the force of correction, the reforming light. We are not innocent children, but evil egoists, and we come to the group not to embrace each other, but to attain spirituality. Otherwise life will end in vain. Therefore, all our actions in the group, during workshops and in dissemination, have only one goal—to attract the reforming light. And the light will do all the work.
We do everything we can and the Creator will finish everything the way it should be; He will even correct everything that we have spoiled. The main thing is for us to try and reach a true request. We do not deceive ourselves. We do not want to connect. However, at the same time, we understand that there is no other way. In this global world everything is interconnected: inanimate nature, plants, and animals. Only man, the last degree, falls out of the general symbiosis and acts in an opposite way.
In order to correctly connect with others, we need the force of nature. This force cut us off from the rest of the levels and from each other. Now we must demand this force to reconnect us. Therefore, we try to talk nicely to each other and understand that this is a prayer, a request, that will help us egoists be corrected by this force.
The tens, the groups, and the workshops are very serious work against our animalistic egoism. We do not want to get closer to each other, but there is no choice: humanity must restore nature, which is completely integral and perfectly connected. Only man spoils everything; therefore, we are obliged to connect with each other and all other levels of nature.
I feel that I do not want to connect with anyone, but at the same time, I acknowledge that I must be connected with everyone, and therefore, I demand the reforming light.
It is written that “Israel will not be redeemed by sorrow, nor by bondage, nor out of their wonderings or madness and not through pressures or lack of food.” No heroic efforts in this world can help to attain the meaning of life and achieve eternity, but only “by ten people sitting together” and speaking about unification. They understand that there is no connection between them and according to their own forces cannot be; they ask the force to come and connect them. “Thus, their voices will be heard.”1
From Lesson 2, Latin America Convention 2019 “Building A Future Society” “Day Two” 5/18/19, The Work in the Ten
1 Minute 00:00 – 20:00
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Question: How does the concept of joy unfold in Kabbalah? For example, faith is love, bestowal. And the joy?
Answer: Joy comes from the fact that I can perform the action of bestowal. As it is said: “Joy is a reflection of good deeds.”
When you perform good deeds: give, love, hug, help, push forward, then you have joy.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/4/19
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Daily Audio Version-MP3
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