Faith above reason is a feeling that bestowal is above reception, the importance of the Creator is above the importance of the created being and the whole of reality. A person begins to feel that he has a new concern: to do something for the Creator’s sake and in such a way that the Creator will not even know about it, to bestow in concealment, humbly, without any intention to receive a reward.

We need to ask for this power so that it will govern us and give us guidance as to how to work between us for the Creator’s sake. This power awakens around the point in the heart, grows it, and allows it to act. Here we begin to discover that reality is not what it previously seemed to be. In fact, it is governed by a single force that fills and arranges everything. It always arranged everything, but now it is beginning to be revealed.

Through our desire and efforts to connect, we can invite the Creator to reveal Himself and correct us. In fact, this is the only thing we can do. After all, the first basic act of bestowal is revealed within the connection, and only within the connection does it begin to grow and strengthen. Therefore, we see in the Torah that immediately after the exodus from Egypt, the formation of the nation began by assembling people into tens, hundreds, and thousands.

The desirable state is the revelation of the upper force that gives us the desire to bestow above the desire to receive. We then truly aspire to bestow in order to bring joy and contentment to the Creator, which is our only reward.¹

A person who does the right work is always happy, primarily because in any state he has a correct connection with the Creator. In any ascent or descent, he is under governance of the Creator and by being aware of it he already brings contentment to the Creator and thus rejoices.

He feels that he receives strength to always be concerned about the Creator and to bring Him contentment without any self-compensation, that is, to perform pure bestowal. This is an effect of the Light; this is how the Light of faith works.²

At the spiritual degree, a person receives Light that disconnects him from egoism and he begins to consider his desire to enjoy only as means for performing acts of bestowal. Therefore, he does not take himself into account, meaning what he has and what he does not have. On the contrary, he wants to have nothing, no reward at all! This is his primary concern. “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”³

I want all the results of my work to be only in the Creator, and I myself will receive nothing for it, except strength for the work, as if I am filled with fuel like a car. All hundred percent of my work will be for the Creator’s benefit to such an extent that He will not even know about my existence, as if I am an absolute zero.

A car does not know where it is going, it is under the complete control of its owner. I want to be under such control of the upper one. Let the owner fill me with fuel and use me completely. I want to be totally devoted to Him. This is called a loyal servant.⁴

The Creator likes when we prepare a vessel where He can be revealed. This is exactly what we want to do at the upcoming convention in Italy. We have to create a place for the revelation of the Creator. Even if we do not feel how we create this place, it will exist. Perhaps its intensity will not be enough for the revelation of the Creator toward us, because we are very crude, but nevertheless this place will be already founded.

Now we are beginning to create the structure of Adam HaRishon at the state of final correction. This is the very beginning, we are laying a foundation of this structure of the common soul of Adam in its completely corrected form. This is extremely important work.

Therefore, we need to do everything in our power, and the Creator will finish it for us. The most important thing is to do it and the result is determined from above.

I really hope that we will be able to build the place for revelation of the Creator and for bringing Him contentment.⁵

If I try to do my work correctly then at every moment I bring contentment to the Creator, even if this is not yet apparent to me. Therefore, I rejoice. After all, I know that the Creator is taking care of me: There is no doubt that I received life and development from Him, “There is none else besides Him.” Therefore, everything depends only on my attitude. I do not place conditions before the Creator that He will reveal Himself no matter what, but I just want to perform acts of bestowal.⁶

Construction starts from digging a pit and casting a foundation. Likewise, we lay a foundation for the common corrected soul of Adam HaRishon. For this we need to dig into the ground, and this is hard, dirty work. The one who does it sees nothing apart from excavation inside his egoism until he digs enough to lay a foundation for the building. Then perhaps he will gradually start to rise from the pit, above the foundation and erect the building itself.

To add levels is not a problem, someone can add them after us. What’s most important is to lay the first piles of the foundation, and we are very close to it.⁷
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/18, Lesson on the Topic: “The Work in Faith Above Reason”
¹  Minute 0:20
²  Minute 14:20
³ Minute 19:25
⁴ Minute 27:49
⁵ Minute 42:30
⁶ Minute 45:40
⁷ Minute 47:50

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In the News (BBC): “An app that rewards students for time spent away from their phones is being released in the UK. …

“It has proved popular in Scandinavia, with more than 120,000 users across Norway, Denmark and Sweden. …

“Students will accumulate 10 points for every 20 minutes that they do not use their mobile phone between 07:00 and 23:00 every day of the week.

“Points can be exchanged for goods and services within the app’s marketplace, with brands such as Caffe Nero, Vue cinemas and Amazon signed up.

“To earn two free coffees, students will need 300 points, which equates to 10 hours on the Hold app. For free popcorn at the cinema, they will need to spend two hours to accrue 60 points.

“Students can also exchange their points for books and stationery which are donated to schools via Unicef.”

My Comment: I am not sure that smartphones will be around for too much longer. Why do we need useless conversations that come from our inner worries, from misunderstanding what is happening around us and in the world? And when a person finds an answer to this and starts to hold on to the essence of what is happening, one will not need small talk, uselessly filling the air.

Judging by the intensity with which smartphones are used today, I think this will subside soon. Desire will vanish.

Question: Does that mean that the desire for physical communication will reignite?

Answer: No, it will be on a different level—internal. Other desires will appear, different goals. People will try to find an inner layer of nature in their relationships. This layer will attract them, carry them away, fill them up. They will seek this.

Question: What layer is that?

Answer: Information about our world, but more profound, hidden within nature. This is information about what happens in nature itself manifests in each of us and in the connections between us. This source will be very interesting to us.

All the rest, what we are still looking for today, is only an unconscious connection with the same source. We do not need anything else. This is exactly what we always want to find.
[226387]
From KabTVs: “News with Michael Laitman,” 3/13/18

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New Life 1004 – The Right Approach To Life, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Life is felt in the desire to receive pleasure that exists in everyone. This desire ruins our ability to perceive objective reality since “all who condemn do so through their own defect.” The wisdom of Kabbalah calls what exists prior to the person’s perception by the name of “Atzmuto” (“His Essence”), the primordial root. This primordial power is the Light that created and also influences the desire to receive. It projects a three-dimensional picture of the world within us that changes according to changes in our desires. To get the best picture of reality, we must understand the thought of the Light, which is to bestow to others. We must become more like the Light.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1004 – The Right Approach To Life,” Part 1, 4/29/18

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic: “Attacking the Connection”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 4, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 2, Item 35

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Living in perpetual anticipation,
Holding my breath,
Here it comes…
#poetry #Wisdom

Study of The Book of Zohar exceeds any other study, even if one doesn’t understand or reads it incorrectly—it’s still a great correction of the soul.
The Book of #Zohar holds the deepest secrets, and though they may not be clear, they accelerate attainment of creation.
CHIDA

Study of The Book of Zohar specifically in our time is absolutely necessary to guard against #evil. In our generation, so remote from the upper root, there is no one to protect us but the wisdom of Kabbalah, so all that is concealed may be revealed.
Y. Tzemach
#ZOHAR

There are many fools who avoid studying the secrets of The Book of Zohar, the essence of our life. If they heeded my words, they’d engage in The Book of Zohar and corrections every day, which would annual all misfortunes and draw the light of abundance (Notzar Chesed).
#ZOHAR

The significance of studying The Book of Zohar is known, as the ARI said: one day of studying The Book of Zohar and the secrets of the Torah is equal to a year of simple Pshat (written Torah) study.
(Preface to The Book of Zohar, Liborno edition)
#ZOHAR

In fact, it is the very foundation that brought the people of Israel together in the first place. #unity

This is specifically the kind of example that Israel has to show the world, and is exactly the message that the nations of the world expect from us. We have to showcase the ability to go beyond the ego, which stirs strife between people and nations, and act toward human unity.

Instead of playing political games for power and status, in this case we should have risen above our petty ego, acted more mature and made a concession, just as we do with our children for the sake of keeping #peace in the family.

So why didn’t it happen? Because unfortunately the ego blinds us once again. We couldn’t see that having the game in Haifa would clearly have a positive impact on Israel’s image, friendship between nations, while lowering hostility in the whole region.

Moreover, we could have opened the tribunes equally to both sectors and gained the world’s appreciation. #Israel #PR

We could have easily turned hostility into friendship by simply keeping the game in Haifa, a city which symbolizes some degree of co-existence between #Jews and #Arabs.

Sadly, Israel’s politicians made bad moves trying to politicize this event as well, and lost a perfectly good opportunity for a friendly and positive event to take place right here in #Israel. #Football

The Argentinian delegation is undoubtedly right. They are not supposed to risk themselves in light of dangerous conflicts that may erupt in #Jerusalem.
#Messi #Argentina @TimesofIsrael

The Book of Zohar is called the Book of Radiance since the light it radiates comes from the upper radiance. Through its light, those studying it affect the upper providence and reveal the Torah’s secrets. This is why it’s called The Book of Zohar, originating from radiance.
-Ramak

Man always has an opportunity to turn to the Creator and bring about correction IF he perceives everything taking place as coming from the Creator, and all his actions as going to the Creator.
Try thinking this way and watch your life transform!
#Spiritualwork_ML #Kabbalah

Unfortunately the ego blinds us once again. We couldn’t see that having the game in #Haifa would clearly have a positive impact on Israel’s image, friendship between nations, while lowering hostility in the whole region.
#messi #Israel #ArgentinaNoVayas

We could have easily turned hostility into friendship by simply keeping the game in Haifa, a city which symbolizes some degree of co-existence between Jews and Arabs. See my full post >> 
#Messi #Israel #ArgentinaNotGoing

The more diverse the people in the group, the faster they’ll sense opposition and will have to overcome it. In the differences, they’ll feel the force of unity and the might of the Creator’s revelation. But the Creator arranges challenges for those with similar personalities too.

Those who attain The Book of Zohar will shine like the firmament, by returning to the Source. #Zohar

The evolution of #shopping is only a superficial layer of what is happening. We, as human beings, are evolving as well. At the core of our #evolution is the engine of human desire, which drives all our choices and preferences ….

In 2017 the Buy American, Hire American program was launched in the US to bring production and jobs back to the US. #Trump is a businessman and does what is good for #America. The steps he’s taking are systematic, thought-out, and long-term. I put my bet on him. Best of luck!

There’s nothing outside of us besides a perpetual force, we just don’t feel it. We are born with a specific program, the basic egoistic software.
We shape the world around us.
If we rewrite our program, we will see a different #world.
#Reality_ML

The fulfillment we look for is less apparent and more internal, less material and more #spiritual. The younger generation may not know exactly what they’re looking for, but they’re beginning to sense that it’s not in their external appearance. #fashion

#Fashion transforms and adapts itself according to the #evolution of human desire, and so it reflects the desires of #society as a whole. And where is our desire headed these days? It is looking for a more inner fulfillment.

From Twitter 6/6/18

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In the News (Bloomberg): “The Death of Clothing”

“The apparel industry has a big problem. At a time when the economy is growing, unemployment is low, wages are rebounding and consumers are eager to buy, Americans are spending less and less on clothing.

“The woes of retailers are often blamed on Amazon.com Inc. and its vise grip on e-commerce shoppers. Consumers glued to their phones would rather browse online instead of venturing out to their local malls, and that’s crushed sales and hastened the bankruptcies of brick-and-mortar stalwarts from American Apparel to Wet Seal. …

“Apparel has simply lost its appeal. And there doesn’t seem to be a savior in sight. As a result, more and more apparel companies—from big-name department stores to trendy online startups—are folding.”

My Comment: The point here is not at all in fashion and not in the fact that there is a large amount of affordable goods. It is just because our egoism, our desires, outgrew clothes. Today you are not judged by your appearance. People are looking for something internal, something more elevated. The superficial things are gradually receding and these changes come from within.

Over time, only the good, correct attitude of a person to others will be appreciated, when he understands that he exists in a uniform society where all people are united and equal for the attainment of the next degree of our development.
[224822]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/13/18

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There is nothing in reality other than the Creator and the created beings. Therefore, all the created beings need to do is discover the Creator. It is possible to discover Him only from feeling a deficiency for Him because we feel everything only in the measure of deficiency.

Initially we do not feel any deficiency for the Creator: we are in concealment. This is the entire difficulty because we want to work against the concealment of the Creator: wanting something we do not want and yearning for something we do not yearn for. Therefore, the entire work is in concealment. The Creator is hidden and His greatness is also hidden from us.

In fact, the Creator could easily reveal His greatness to the created beings. Then the created beings would understand that they are completely dependent on the upper one. In this case, all the created beings would obviously run to the Creator and be fully devoted to Him. After all, there is nothing more beneficial than connecting to the source of life.

However, the Creator wants the created beings to be devoted to Him not because they depend on Him, but because of their consciousness and awareness of His greatness and uniqueness. That is, they will adhere to Him not as the source of their existence, but due to His qualities of bestowal and love.

This is the only reason that the created beings want the Creator. There is a special condition here: the Creator is revealed only if the created being aspires to Him because of His greatness and uniqueness.

Initially this does not apply to a person in any way. He does not feel any need for these qualities, but gradually he begins to appreciate them as the most important ones. Thus, he begins to work with the soul’s devotion, where the fact that his corporeal life (and even his very existence) depends on the Creator is no longer important to him. He is ready to give all of it up in order to acquire the Creator’s qualities of bestowal and love.

This comes not due to any personal gain of the created being, but rather from his appreciation of the greatness and uniqueness of the Creator. In this intention to bestow to each other, the Creator and the created being rise above personal gain.

The Creator seemingly sends us problems of different intensities, from tiny things up to the greatest ones. The created being, however, needs to rise above all these problems in his attitude to the Creator in order to show that there is nothing personal in their relationship. Neither of them wants to receive any personal gain, comfort, or pleasant sensation from the other. All they receive from each other is an opportunity to prove that they are above personal egoistic filling in the heart and in the mind, and that they care only for the benefit of the other. That is, the created being acts for the benefit of the Creator and the Creator acts for the benefit of the created being so that eventually they come to complete, unconditional love, which definitely does not include any personal calculation.¹

Due to the fact that we are constantly making efforts to connect with the friends, even artificially, and overcome the burdening of the heart, we are building ourselves. Although we do it all at the corporeal level in order to unite in the corporeal form, we receive a spiritual Kli in return that is not built from our efforts, from our earthly heart or mind.

This is how we rise. The corporeal heart and mind stay on the corporeal animalistic degree, and the efforts are just a preparation to receive a force of faith, within which we will be able to discover ourselves in one soul. This is a completely different feeling. After all, faith belongs to spirituality.

In spirituality, no one feels himself as existing separately, on his own, but only together. This is a new concept. This common “I” where all connect as one is called a man (Adam).²

We need to give a full measure of exertion against our egoistic desire. However, these exertions on their own do not build anything spiritual but only create conditions for receiving the spiritual vessel. The spiritual vessel is not built from our corporeal efforts, but these efforts are necessary in order to receive the quality of Bina—the soul—from above.³
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 5/17/18, Lesson on the Topic, “The Greatness of the Creator”
1 Minute 0:17
2 Minute 63:07
3 Minute 66:25

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Question: By what means do we measure spiritual distances?

Answer: In the spiritual world, distances are measured by differences in characteristics.

Question: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, each one lives in his own small world, in his own personal reality. Is there some kind of common and united realty?

Answer: No, there is only the Creator. Through Him, we begin to perceive and understand our common Kli, our shared mutual connection, His revelation within us.

Question: If two systems come out from the Creator, both the evil and the good, why can I not see good and evil in a friend who is managed by the Creator 100 percent?

Answer: Both the friend and the entire world must be seen as the revelation of the Creator.

Question: How does one correctly understand people and have concern for them? Are we to write it all off to nature and the Creator in one person, or are we to see the control and action of the Creator through people on oneself?

Answer: See it as the activity of the Creator through people on me. I never see the revelation of the Creator in nature and in humanity. I see what is clearly presented to me.

Question: So, I don’t need to correct anything within me except my attitude toward others. Is my attitude toward others not within me?

Answer: Yes, but it is possible to correct this. I need to relate to others as I do to the Creator. When the entire world, except for me, is filled with the characteristic of bestowal and love, then I will be able to connect myself with this characteristic.

Question: We encounter the expression: “I am lovesick” (Song of Songs 2:5) in the wisdom of Kabbalah. What is this talking about?

Answer: That is what Malchut says in relation to Keter (the Creator) when she attains the characteristic of Bina on the way to the Creator. When Malchut attains Bina, she first acquires the full characteristic of bestowal, and after that, through her ascent from Bina to Keter, she acquires the characteristic of love as well.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/3/17

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New Life 986 – Spiritual Art, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Art comes from the person’s urge to express himself and resemble the Creator. The Creator has no form. It is the force of bestowal and renewal. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, true art expands our horizons and rises above all limits. It provides a new perspective on the world, which can only be achieved through the power of faith. The secret of creativity is attained when we connect with the upper force and build forms of bestowal for everyone.
[224157]
From KabTV’s “New Life 986 – Spiritual Art,” 3/27/18

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Audio: Play Now | Download

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic: “Attacking the Connection”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 4, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Chapter 2, Item 23

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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