Loneliness According to Hemingway

629.3Question: Loneliness is a very pressing issue. England even has a Loneliness Minister. But Hemingway’s perspective is different. “Hemingway reflected on loneliness in his Nobel Prize acceptance letter, saying, ‘Writing, at its best, is a lonely life… He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone…'”

Why do people value loneliness so much? Some suffer from it and do not want to be alone, while others cherish it. What is it about loneliness?

Answer: In loneliness, there is the sense that you owe nothing to anyone. And generally you feel satisfied with that.

Comment: You have often said that you could just sit alone in a room.

My Response: Yes, it depends on one’s character.

Comment: But you were still compelled not to be alone.

My Response: Well, what can you do?

Question: Is that a burden?

Answer: I think it is a burden.

Question: And how did you accept it?

Answer: I was forced to do it.

Question: Can you describe how you felt that call? You could have just stayed, written books—you seemed to have planned that.

Answer: No, people came—some, then others. Gradually, I was compelled. What can you do? If not for this higher obligation, I would not have done it.

Question: Can you say what you would have done if you had not been compelled?

Answer: I would have written books, maybe occasionally given lectures, and then I would go back to my place.
[336888]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/28/24

Related Material:
Is Loneliness a Gift from the Creator?
We Are All Lonely Whales
Loneliness Is Unhealthy

How Can Broken Relationships Be Fixed?

284.01Comment: Broken relationships ruin people’s entire lives, and they can be confusing due to micro-misunderstandings. What is the right thing to do to prevent resentment and broken relationships, and conversely, to improve them?

Psychologists recommend trying to understand your counterpart’s point of view because the result of an action is not always intentional and that there is difficulty with some micro-manifestations because we all apply different standards to their assessment.

My Response: Where are the standards here? It is my standard: how I see others and try to measure myself in correspondence with them or how I see myself and try to measure others in correspondence with myself. This is completely wrong. It is like putting on a dress. If I put it on, my belly will stick out, my arms and legs will look thin, and the dress will seem ugly to me.

There are no general standards here. There can only be one standard: for the good of one’s neighbor. That is all. I do not perceive anyone in any way, neither myself nor anyone else. I am interested in only one thing: whether the phenomena that occur are for the good of man.

By “man,” I mean all of humanity, the general image of man. I do not in any way try to measure myself in correspondence with one person or another, then I will definitely get lost.

Question: How can we correctly understand the point of view of another person and determine whether it is correct or not?

Answer: I cannot understand another person. How can I understand him? How can I get out of myself in order to understand another person?

We simply must act in a way that is good for another person—for everyone! That is, in addition to what is necessary for my existence, in everything else that depends on me, I must act for the good of others.

This is natural. Very often due to our habits, we make some movements, gestures, or say some words or expressions that others may even find offensive.

We may not even feel or understand this. We must tune our hearts. The heart must be tuned to kindness to another person! Nothing else will work.

If a person is warmly tuned to another, it will still be perceived correctly. Even if he says something wrong and fails to express himself somehow, the other person will feel him.

Direct your heart to another person, to all people, to good! You need to get used to this. You need to educate yourself to do this. It is necessary to maintain the same attitude toward the environment, toward the surrounding society, and then everything will be fine!
[254793]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/28/19

Related Material:
The Three Vectors Of Evolution
A Day Of Spontaneous Kindness
Leading The Desire To The Light

Similar to the Deeds of the Holy Forefathers

237Question: What can we add to the merits of the holy forefathers in our generation?

Answer: Whatever we feel, our questions.

Question: What must our generation prepare for the next so they can complete the correction?

Answer: We must address what is revealed to us as deficiencies in our state or in our vessels, strive to correct them, and leave them for the next generation. To properly utilize the achievements of our forefathers, we must pray that our deeds align with theirs.
[337498]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/24, Writings of Rabash “Abraham Begot Isaac”

Related Material:
A Branch of the Holy Fathers
The Work Of Our Forefathers And Our Work
How One Can Inherit “The Fathers’ Merit”

Why Is There no Tenderness in the World?

627.1Question: The Riga-based writer Mikhail Dymov asked students from Riga schools, aged 6 to 10 to write to the Almighty and ask Him pressing questions and to ask for the most important things. And so the children asked the Creator.

If you don’t mind, I ask you to imagine yourself in the place of the Creator—what would you answer the children?

Lena, a first-grader—a first-grader—asks: “Why is the world without tenderness?”

Answer: Yes, this is how our world is. There is no tenderness in the world because people do not love each other.

Question: Then why was it created?

Answer: To bring the world as close to this as possible. That is something we must achieve on our own—independently and thoughtfully.

Question: What does it mean for life, for our world, if a first-grade girl is asking such a question? Please explain.

Answer: It means the world is already becoming serious and ready for corrective action.

Question: Even if such questions reach the youngest children?

Answer: Of course, yes.

Question: So do you believe that children feel more deeply than adults? Perhaps she sees this in how her parents interact or in interactions around her?

Answer: She sees it exactly as she sees it.

Question: And we fail to see it?

Answer: We do not see it.

Question: What is happening to us? Over the years does something gradually dim our vision?

Answer: We get used to and resign ourselves to what exists, and we do not want to see the bad because it feels unfixable. And so we live like that.
[336982]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/4/24

Related Material:
Adult Questions from Children
The Nature of Egoism
The Unruly Nature Of Egoism

Questions about Spiritual Work—205

591Question: We often hear a friend say: “I cannot give any more.” How should we work with this “I cannot”?

Answer: Offer your help. By helping them, you help yourself. So there is no need for either of you to think that you are taking away part of their work or pushing them forward. All of this comes purely from the attribute of bestowal.

Question: In the Psalms of David, the phrase “Seek My face” is often repeated. Does seeking the face of the Creator mean seeking joy?

Answer: Seeking the face of the Creator means seeking His revelation. It is more than joy.

Question: When we are in a state of descent, we most often feel bitterness. How can one find joy in such a state?

Answer: Think about the proper state: the Creator lifts you up, you connect with Him, you feel how He embraces you and holds you like an infant, and you cling to Him and find joy in that.

Question: All sources say that in the multitude of people the greatness of the Creator increases. How can each ten include the global group in its prayer to increase the joy of the Creator?

Answer: In your intentions and nothing more.

Question: We speak of the need to feel joy and love for the Creator. What should we do to bridge the gap between hearing about it and actually experiencing it?

Answer: You need to lift your mood automatically, both for yourself and for others, through yourself. Try it and you will see what it brings.
[337436]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/24, Writings of Rabash “Joy that Comes from Dancing”

Related Material:
Questions about Spiritual Work—204
Questions about Spiritual Work—203
Questions about Spiritual Work—202

The Foundation of the Jewish Nation

767.2Any culture is the filling of a nation. Kabbalah is a very important part of the culture of Israelis as it is essentially the foundation of the Jewish people.

On what basis did this group emerge three and a half thousand years ago under the leadership of Abraham? The basis is the unification of completely different people—descendants from various nations whom Abraham gathered together, created a group from them, and called it “the people of Israel” because Israel means straight to the Creator, because this group is aimed precisely at attainment of the quality of bestowal, and connection.

In fact, the Jews are not a nation, but a collection of representatives of all the nations of ancient Babylon, a few from each nation. Therefore, we see how ready they are to distance themselves from one another.

They do not feel a biological connection between them. Only when an external danger arises do they involuntarily unite because for them that is common. If the world did not have a special attitude toward them, they would not think about uniting at all and would not even look at each other, because biologically they represent completely different roots. They are united only by the external hatred of those around them.

That is why if the Jews themselves do not want to unite, then hatred toward them arises among the nations of the world, and then they involuntarily draw closer to one another. But this unification is not for the correction of the world, but only for a certain correction.
[337394]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

Related Material:
The Goal of the Entire Humanity
A Nation Created on the Basis of Idea
Predisposition to Spirituality

Develop the Desire to Bestow

283.02Question: What can a person do if he has no desire (Hissaron)? How can he listen to two other voices: bestowal for the sake of bestowal and reception for the sake of bestowal?

Answer: If a person has no desire, no Hissaron, he will not listen to anything.

The most important thing is to develop a desire to hear the Creator, to feel Him. If such a desire does not exist, we cannot do anything except pray for the Creator to grant us this desire in which we can discover what He wants to give us.

We must strive to receive from the Creator, not because we want to receive for ourselves, but because He desires it.

Question: How can one receive what the Creator wants?

Answer: It is said that a person can reveal his desires to receive from the Creator only if his intention is to use this reception to bestow to the Creator. That is what is called receiving for the sake of bestowal. That is the mindset we need to cultivate.
[337311]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/24, Writings of Rabash “The Discernment of “In Everything”

Related Material:
How Can We Want to Bestow?
How Can We Develop the Need for Bestowal?
How Can I Direct Myself to Bestowal

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12/10/24

Preparation to the Lesson

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

Audio Version Of The Blog – 12/9/24

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 21


Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 21

How Much Does Our Work Depend on Going in the Right Direction?

We need to understand what the purpose of creation is, what the Creator wants from us, and what our heart’s desire is, which is called “recognition of evil.” We examine and learn how far and how different our “self” is from what it needs to be in our current state, not how it should ideally be in its root at the completion of correction, but right now.

We should always improve relative to our current state and not compare ourselves to other people’s states or a different stage of development from our own. Just as a five-year-old is regarded as a five-year-old and not as a ten-year-old, it would be disheartening if that child suffered from growth delay and required the support of various treatments and corrections.

At every moment, we have all the data needed to discover, examine, see, and understand how we should be and whether we are moving in the right direction. It depends solely on our effort and labor. There is no corruption from above; all corruption exists within a person, and we are granted permission to discover and heal it.

However, we need the reforming light to come and illuminate our way. It is a light that reveals our nature and clarifies the extent to which we are tarnished by various thoughts, impulses, and desires. We draw this light by studying Kabbalistic texts. Therefore, it is all in our hands; only studying can help us see the gap between our current “self” and our ideal “self.”

Moreover, an overly-strong desire to immediately see the extent of the deviation between identities will not help, as transgressions, mistakes, and feelings of distance, disparity, and separation from the correct state all gradually accumulate and surface. They are specifically where we feel the revelation. Therefore, such information gathering requires a long time. We develop this ability to perceive over years, depending on the quantity and quality of our effort.

The mechanism will always be prayer and correction on the prayer, on the desire in the heart. Whenever we feel our presence in the world, at every moment, we essentially discover the gap between who we are, what is in our heart, and who we are meant to be. At the end of the day, the pressures or pleasures that the world provides are forces of correction that act on us.

For a corrected person, the worlds disappear. All the worlds exist within the person. They are a mechanism, a system, that constantly surrounds and corrects us. They guide us closer and closer to the goal. The more we approach the goal, the purer the worlds become. They become purified from the world of Assiya to the worlds of Yetzira, Beria, and Atzilut, until they disappear and become replaced by simple light.

In a person who has reached the goal, there are no worlds. There is no longer a mechanism of worlds between the simple light and the person; instead, the person becomes attuned to the simple light.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 20
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 19
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 18