Question: How much love can I receive in order to pass it on to my group?

Answer: If it is true love, then there is no limit to receiving love and no limit to giving it. The whole problem is in receiving love that does not turn out to be limitless. Baal HaSulam writes that boundless love turns into hatred in us. We cannot answer it because we cannot limit it in our Kli.

Therefore, if parents endlessly love their child, then they disfigure him. After all, he does not have the opportunity to feel where the boundaries are. As a result, he begins to hate his parents. It comes from nature. He gets the desire to pierce them, to do something in spite of them, because they do not set boundaries for him with their love.

It is a well-known principle that we receive everything in our Kli in a limited form. Thus, when we give something to another, we must explain these boundaries, convey them along with our love: “I love you from here to here and no more.”

By nature, we are very limited and do not perceive infinity, which we will be able to feel only with complete correction. Therefore, if you give infinite pleasure to a small Kli, it turns into hatred. In no case should you do that.

But you can always add love to our work. Do not be afraid, you are still far from making it endless.
[336971]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

Related Material:
Love Has No Limit
Anatomy Of Fear And Love
When Love Harms

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Group Work, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Will states of hatred in spiritual work constantly arise, and must they always be covered with love?

Answer: The Book of Zohar says that the students of Rabbi Shimon, who wrote this book together, experienced such intense emotions toward one another that they wanted to kill each other. This refers to great Kabbalists on high spiritual levels.

Therefore, if you think that your minor negative attitudes toward others will simply transform into good ones, don’t; such hopes are futile. On the contrary, even more irreconcilable feelings toward others will arise within you, so that you will ask the Creator to change them.

He will correct them, and simultaneously awaken deeper egoistic desires in you in which you will feel even greater hatred. Then you will ask Him for even more correction, and He will continue to correct them.

This is how, step by step, hatred followed by love, hatred followed by love, you will move forward.

Thus, the greater a person becomes compared to their friend, the greater their egoism because the previous levels of egoism have already been corrected.
[337094]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

Related Material:
Love above Rejection
Staying Above Rejection
Change Hatred To Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Comment: Sometimes I feel hatred for the teacher and it is completely unexplainable.

My Response: Hatred for the teacher is an absolutely natural state and you do not have to conceal it. I will tell you why. Who is causing all the problems in your life?

Question: It used to come to the point that it seemed to me that it would be better if I leave completely, that I would feel good. It was this way. What should I do with this feeling? How can I not leave the group?

Answer: But you haven’t left.

Question: Yes, but this may happen again. I am afraid to leave.

Answer: This is the key that you will stay. You have to be afraid; otherwise, you will go down to the level of an animal.

You see where the world is heading to. What is the use of people living, no matter how good their lives are? At the same time, we have a clear path in front of us, and the first spiritual steps are beginning to unfold. I am happy that the sensations of the spiritual path, spiritual steps, and spiritual ascent are awakening in my students.

But the most important thing for us is to control the two forces, the positive and the negative, and advance forward on two legs. It means revealing the negative force and covering it with a positive one: left-right, left-right.

Why is the left first? It is because we are created in the desire to receive pleasure, in egoism. If it did not exist, we would not have any possibility or any necessity to connect with the Creator. Therefore, it always begins with the left: “And there was evening, and there was morning, one day.”
[337097]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/28/19, “Questions and Answers”

Related Material:
Is Love Without Hatred Possible?
Complaints Against A Teacher
Teacher And Student—Upper And Lower

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

The true joy in spiritual work is the reward of faith above reason.

Is there joy in faith above reason? Of course, there is. The greatest joy is there because in this state a person is fully included in the Creator.

We should feel that we are pleasing the Creator in the ten. This should be our demand.

Question: How important is acting out joy when you do not feel it?

Answer: You need to tune in to joy and bestowal, and you will see how quickly this will advance you.
[337366]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/24, Writings of Rabash “Serve the Creator with Joy”

Related Material:
Enjoy Working for the Creator
How to Get Joy?
Questions About Joy in Spiritual Work

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work, The Tens | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: I read a story about a Korean woman who was flying from Seoul to California with her four-month-old baby. Before the flight, she handed out 200 small bags to all the passengers.

In the bags were earplugs, sweets, and a note: “Hello, I am Joon Woo, I am four months old, and I am flying to America with my mom and grandma. This is my first flight, and I might cry. My mom prepared candies and earplugs for you. Please use them if it gets too noisy because of me. Please do not be upset with me. Sorry, and thank you.”

As a result, this boy, Joon Woo, behaved wonderfully and slept for all 10 hours.

What do you think of the mother’s attitude, the Korean woman’s, toward others?

Answer: This is certainly commendable.

Question: Please tell me, what plays a bigger role here: a national trait or upbringing?

Answer: I think it is more of a national trait. I don’t know them well enough, but it seems to me that they have this characteristic—not to disturb others.

Question: Can this be nurtured in a person, and should it be?

Answer: It can be nurtured, and it should be. But who will take on this task?

Question: So, here you have this question here: “But who are the judges?” Meaning, “Who are the teachers?”

Answer: Yes.

Question: So the teachers must fully embody this quality in order to nurture it.

Why is it that some people are uncomfortable disturbing others while others say the opposite: “Why are you bothering me?” Why does this happen?

Answer: It depends on upbringing. It depends on how much each of us is willing to look at the world through different eyes.

Question: Through the eyes of not wanting to disturb others. Am I instead always looking through the eyes of being disturbed?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Is this how most of the world is? “I’m being disturbed.”

Answer: The natural world is the one that looks from its egoism.

Question: If we consider the cause of divorces using the example of this Korean woman, could we say that if we care about making others comfortable with us, there would be no divorce?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So what is the root cause of divorces?

Answer: Only that we do not understand each other.

Comment: That is, I feel uncomfortable with you, and I start to…

My Response: Yes. I cannot put myself in your shoes.

Question: If I may ask, what is the cause of wars, using the example of this Korean woman? If one country cares about making it comfortable for another country to live with it, there would be no wars. Such fantastic scenarios…

But in what case does a war occur?

Answer: When one side refuses to understand the other side.

Question: Will this ever end? Can we be educated like this Korean woman and gradually…

Answer: I hope so. But this requires very serious investments in people.

Question: In education? Do you mean purely financial or spiritual investments as well?

Answer: Serious investments of effort and money. Of everything possible.

Question: Will anyone ever decide to do this?

Answer: I think so, because eventually there will be no other choice. It seems to me that we are currently in a transitional state where this might happen. People need to be given such an education that they will feel the need to change themselves.

Question: Tell me, will this happen? You say that we might be approaching this. Will it happen because of pain, suffering, or through understanding, from some light ahead?

Answer: Through pain and suffering.

Comment: You still believe that…

My Response: I believe… I am a materialist.

Question: A materialist. So through blows, essentially?

Answer: Yes, only through blows!
[333900]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/15/24

Related Material:
Are There Conflicts In Nature?
Rise Above The Oppositions
There Are No Enemies, Only Partners

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Globalization, News | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Follow your path and do not look back at people’s pain. Only by walking your path can you help people surpass themselves. (Unknown)

My Response: Yes, in general, healing lies in a person overcoming himself, rising above himself. This is something you can help with but nothing else.

Comment: You walk and ignore people’s pain. The fact that you are following your path helps them. There are a lot of contradictions here!

My Response: This all needs to be analyzed; it is not simple. But overall, the attitude toward the world as a system that needs to come into balance, and that is what we need to learn.

Question: When we discuss the topic of overcoming suffering you seem to come alive. Why, can you tell us?

Answer: Because by addressing suffering much can be explained to people, and they are willing to listen. How else can it be done?

Question: What is the main explanation you would like to give regarding overcoming suffering?

Answer: It is according to Kozma Prutkov: “If you want to be happy, be so.”

Question: Be happy! And where is the suffering in this?

Answer: If a person is unhappy, they suffer.

Do you want to be happy?

Comment: Yes.

My Response: We will!

Question: Do you see even a deep philosophical aspect in this?

Answer: Yes, exactly when you want to be happy, you must overcome what prevents you from being happy, and you will be.

Question: Please tell us, what kind of happiness are you talking about now: “If you want to be happy, be so”?

Answer: It is the harmony of a person with nature, with higher forces, and generally with the whole world.

Question: Regardless of what happens around?

Answer: Regardless of what happens.

Question: Regardless of what turmoil is inside me?

Answer: It doesn’t matter.

Question: So I must come to this calmness?

Answer: Yes.
[330238]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/6/24

Related Material:
If You Want To Be Happy, Then Just Let It Be!
The Main Problem Of Humanity: Lack Of Happiness
Health, Not Wealth, Makes Us Happy

Filed under: News | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

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

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Selected Highlights

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 19

What Is Correct to Seek: Recognition of Evil or the Feeling of the Creator’s Greatness?

The most correct course of action in order to progress is to attach, cling, and bond with the upper force, the Creator, as Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes in his article “There Is None Else Besides Him.” He also writes that half an hour each day should be spent in self-reflection, not looking up, but looking within. Also, even when looking within, we should check what we have sensed, examined, and seen in the Creator.

A routine inward focus on ourselves is called “a complete descent to the level of this world.” It brings about despair, not progress. We are where our thoughts are. Who are we? Our thoughts. If our thoughts are focused on materialism, we are in materialism. If we are focused on Godliness, we are in Godliness. That is what we call “ascents and descents.”

It is thus beneficial to be as attentive as possible to Godliness. As Kabbalist Baruch Shalom Ashlag (RABASH) writes, the group should work to elevate Godliness constantly and focus on how to raise the Creator’s greatness. We should not think about ourselves but about the greatness of the Creator. Why? It is because we become inspired by what we receive from above.

Certainly, we should not neglect the inner goal and the desire for self-recognition of evil, but we should not linger in the negative for too long as it causes despair, which is unhelpful. Only connection with the Creator is helpful. By continually punishing ourselves for being bad, we actually distance ourselves from correction by punishing the Creator. Thus, expressions of joy, awakening, and elevation of spirit are signs that we are moving in the correct direction. Conversely, sadness, weakness, self-punishment, and guilt are signs of stagnation, not progress.

This is the general approach to advancing in the direction of Godliness. If there is a healthy spirit of struggle and overcoming in the group, everyone will abandon their doubts with more ease and speed. Doubts arise constantly and must constantly be set aside. It might seem endless, but there is an end, which comes after several years of effort. The time required is shortening. In earlier times, it took twenty or thirty years to reach Godliness, but as time presses on, more developed souls enter the world and the pace of progress accelerates so that today it is possible to reach Godliness in just a few years.

From a Talk on the Article “What Is Preparation for the Reception of the Torah?” 5/16/2002

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 18
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 17
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 16

Filed under: Body and Soul, Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: How does the Creator open a person’s eyes and heart to His greatness?

Answer: The Creator does this with the help of light, and then a person receives the corresponding sensation.

To live in the ten in the greatness of the Creator means that each of the friends and all together they think only about how to reveal His greatness and move forward under the influence of this sensation.
[337363]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/24, Writings of Rabash “Serve the Creator with Joy”

Related Material:
Under the Power of the Creator’s Greatness
Strengthen In The Greatness Of The Creator
The Greatness Of The Creator In The Ten

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Spiritual Work, The Tens | Add Comment / Ask Question →