Entries in the 'Ancient Babylon' Category

The Secret Of The Ten Tribes, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe will not be able to understand the modern global processes if we don’t first understand the state that became the basis, the real reason and the prototype about 4,000 years ago.

Two perceptions of our evolution were formed back in ancient Babylon during a similar crisis of humanity. The king of Babylon Nimrod led the majority along the path of natural evolution while the wise Babylonian priest Abraham called people to ascend to a new qualitative level.

Question: Abraham was a major ideologist and philosopher and a very respectable man, why did he need to start a revolution?

Answer: He looked for a way out and found it in the state that was created in the nation. The circumstances forced them to unite, but people couldn’t live together anymore. On the contrary, the ego grew in them so much that they began to find fault with each other and to hate one another.

Nimrod’s solution was simple and corporeal: “We should simply disperse and live separately, under my leadership, of course.” This is how the residents of a communal apartment disperse in order to stop bickering.

But Abraham had another idea: “We mustn’t disperse because the law of nature is a law, we cannot escape it. The earth will become crowded in the future anyway. We don’t need to invent anything. Nature, evolution requires that we unite. We have to unite above the ego.”

Few, of course, listened to Abraham, several tens of thousands out of three million people. After all, it’s a tough decision and it is much easier to disperse. One way or another, Abraham’s disciples followed him, came out of Egypt and carried the idea of love thy neighbor as thyself, by fulfilling it amongst themselves.

They felt despair at first; they couldn’t live with egoism any longer and wanted to do something with it, get rid of it. This is the reason that they found the goal that Abraham set for them attractive and not the idea of simply living a normal life, not to simply stop cursing and quarreling with one another, but to ascend to something new. It is the ascent to the next level that attracted them because it didn’t require annulment of the ego, but rather using it for the ascent.

Question: What strange people. They didn’t want to live in their own homes, in separate apartments, but preferred the spiritual ascent instead. It turns out that the basis of our nation is these depressed guys that followed Abraham?

Answer: Of course, the depression actually pushed them upwards. They understood the crisis in a totally different way, and they counted on it to help them find a meaning in life, in their existence.

The others examined the crisis practically: “Let’s solve it and carry on with our normal life.”

Eventually people divided very sharply into two groups and their ways were extremely different.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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The Decline Of Babylon, Part 3

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is not that most of the Babylonians disagreed with Abraham; rather, they didn’t feel that this was for them. Only five thousand people felt that he was the bearer of Light for their lives drawing them forward, that he could be their shepherd, their leader, their guide, and that they would follow him. They felt that they were going towards that small ray of light, without worshipping their idol, but they followed him as their leader.

He let them “taste” a little of the positive force. And they understood that in following him they could realize, attain, reach, and discover it. Subsequently this force would be called the “Creator.”

And whereas others “sorted themselves out,” they cut themselves off from Abraham and followed Nimrod, Terah, etc. Only one thing was left for them, the same bad situation, quarrels, and fights between neighbors, that in fact they had nowhere to flee from each other, but they still didn’t understand it. “We have terrible taxes. It is necessary to go somewhere; it is necessary to do something. We are going there, and where are you going? Well, that’s your business! Between you and me, I would not want to go that way at all, but they are going there so I will also go there… or should we go in a different direction?”

As it is said, “Change your place, change everything.” In the pursuit of a better life and on the run from confrontations, people scattered, went in different directions, gradually settling all over the face of the earth. But how long could that go on? They spread out to the degree of the growth of the ego, to the degree of their multiplication and their physical reproduction. They continually developed like this, searching for a better place.

Here it is necessary to understand that a person searches for a better place according to his inner feeling, according to the root of his soul. Ultimately, they spread to those places where their soul was inclined to go, wherever it led them.

In principle, animals operate in a similar manner. They roam the forest, wandering from place to place, and with them everything is measured: Here it is better, here it is worse, here there is lots of sun, here is little sun, here the ground is not suitable, and here there are lots of trees.

In other words, they were searching all the time, they constantly presumed where it would be better for them, where nourishment would be more accessible, where it would be more secure, where to find a mate, where to raise offspring, and so forth. A huge amount of internal information was processed and directed all of their movements.

The same thing happened with the three million Babylonians who followed Nimrod’s concept. The developing ego gave them similar sensations, and a person suddenly understood that the ego was attracting and moving him, one to the beach of the Black Sea, another to Alaska. In this manner they spread over the face of the world.

And then there was a great migration of peoples. And again people moved from place to place, but not just that, rather an eruption of a great egoistic desire moved them, for example, to subdue someone, to impose taxes, etc. But these were only external signs, essentially what was driving them forward was a feeling of the imperative to be nourished somewhere else, nourished internally, spiritually, and mentally.

Conversely, for example the Chinese, for thousands of years didn’t venture from their “corner”; the Japanese didn’t let anyone leave or enter. Such was the static state of the soul. And on the other hand, what culture, what civilization! Everything developed only within, with their unique problems and conclusions.

And so the Babylonian tribes dispersed and settled, each one found his place according to his soul. Josephus Flavius writes about this in detail: Some of them went to the land of Ashkenazi, others went to England, France, Spain, to the East, to Africa, etc.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14, Part 4

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The Decline Of Babylon, Part 2

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person is born and develops as an egoist. It is written, “I created the evil inclination [egoism]; I created the Torah as a spice,” for its correction, so the Torah will give you the Light with whose help you can correct the ego. That is how two lines are formed, two parts of the inner work: the separated ego, the left part, and the Torah, the right part.

Question: Am I such an egoist that only the negative force is within me? In addition, with a message like this, is it possible to attract the public to us just like Abraham did?

Answer: As it seems, he simply scattered flyers all over ancient Babylon. He printed them quickly in a local print shop and scattered them among all the Babylonians, a total population of three million inhabitants, according to the myth. So, they read the flyers and five thousand people gathered around Abraham.

Joking aside, Abraham was a very great spiritual leader, a high priest, a great scientist of those times. Furthermore, he was the son of the head Babylonian ideologue, his father Terah. So, he had the means, the knowledge, power, and connections, all the possibilities to spread his message. All this is compulsory in our world.

So, Abraham spread the knowledge and people joined with him. He was joined by those who felt that they no longer wanted to work with just the ego.

In other words, they already had a new sensation, an awareness of the evil of selfishness; they had already developed and realized that it must be in balance, and that they had been longing for the second force, which could be used to balance the selfishness, to create a “dipole” of positive and negative forces and exist in it.

They felt that only the ego motivated them. They lived thanks only to its negative power, and surely this plunged them to depression. After all, they didn’t feel any satisfaction, any fulfillment, in this life even though ancient Babylon was a developed civilization. If a person understands that only a single negative force is working and evolving within him, he would jump from a bridge or a high tower. At best, he would go and smoke dope.

Another thing, is if, together with this understanding, the possibility of acquiring the positive force is revealed to him. Because the path consists of two points and a vector between them, a second point is required so that, at least a bit, the Light will illuminate you from wherever it is. It is impossible to live without this illumination, “I cannot stay here. So, what else is there to do, commit suicide?”  However, if something illuminates me from a distance, if, through the clouds, a small ray of Light breaks through, I have no need for anything more.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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Perfect Society of Abraham, Part 5

Dr. Michael Laitman

Together with his sons, Jacob entered Egypt, where he later died. It happened because not only the original point was “revived” from Egypt, but the entire system emerged from it. The system originated in Egypt, i.e., appeared from the terrible fragmented state that was thousands of times worse than Babylon.

In essence, it is the same Babylon, only more terribly disconnected. Instead of Nimrod, there appears the Pharaoh, instead of Abraham, Moses shows up.

History repeats itself, but in a new spiral. Correction of a huge, constantly growing egoism (“Egypt”) begins from there.

Question: So, instead of just being a family or a tribe, they became a nation, right?

Answer: Yes. This power is called “the nation” even though they all are one soul. It’s always about one soul. There is nothing in the world except one unified soul, i.e., one desire that emerged in Babylon and that was split into two major segments:

  • Those who joined Abraham and were willing to combine all desires in one.
  • Those who didn’t want to reconnect and become as one whole. The latter were spread throughout the world.

The part that left with Abraham gradually re-connected at the first level, then at the second level, and then the third: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then, they received a bigger, additional egoism: Egypt and the Pharaoh, i.e., the governing forces that rule over the people. They managed to overcome the tremendous egoism that internally tore them apart. Please use your imagination to draw a picture in which you feel mutual detachment called “Egypt.”  A much bigger, obvious, reciprocal detachment whose source is “the Pharaoh.” Both of them are appellations of brand new layers of egoism.

Thus, by overcoming the levels of disconnection named “Egypt” and the “Pharaoh,” despite all the Egyptian plagues that this group had to go through, they turned into a strong nation after they exited from Egypt. They absorbed a new coil of egoism and transformed it into a mutual connection. As a result, they became ready to ascend to the methodology of correction of their egos called “the Torah.”

Here we are talking about a new type of connection that is different from Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob’s, or even Moses’. It’s a novel type of unity that is called a “nation,” and that can be attained only if people not only use the natural joining powers, but also when they induce them from nature with awareness.

This is the difference between all the previous stages (from Babylon to Mount Sinai) and the subsequent stage of correction that started from Mount Sinai and continues further on: from that point on, people made efforts to attain the force that connects them. Not only do they aspire to be with each other and congregate, but they come to a stage when their cognitive attainment of the connecting force (the Creator) is activated.

Question: Wasn’t their prior advancement also based on the principle of “loving their neighbor as themselves”?

Answer: They had never attained the Creator. Only a few of them, their leaders, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moshe, and Aaron accomplished this task to the extent that it was “as if” they had spoken with Him directly. The rest of the nation failed to attain this goal. That’s why Moshe announced to his people what exactly the Creator had told him. There was no direct or apparent perception of the Creator at that time.

However, they managed to ascend to a new level at which they altogether started to reach out for the Creator. At the time of the exodus from Egypt, they witnessed many “signs,” slowly and gradually the Creator started to manifest Himself among them: He spoke from the Tabernacle, walked ahead of them, etc. In general, step-by-step, people began realizing that they saw “miracles.” Essentially, the Creator manifested Himself bit by bit.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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Abraham and Nimrod: A Debate That ContinuesToday

Dr. Michael LaitmanComment: Let’s talk about the distant, but in fact very close history, the history of Babylon and the story of Abraham. This was 3,800 years ago.

Answer: Essentially for me, there is another perception of history. For me it is alive even now, including Greece and Rome. Everything is alive today, for without this, it is impossible. Everything exists together with us, simultaneously.

And so, around 3,800 years ago the ancient civilization of Babylon existed, which was similar to our civilization. The entire process began from that and gave a push to the development of modern civilization.

A very interesting breakdown happened in those times. It is possible to say that it was an internal revolution in humanity that was concentrated entirely in one area. Until then it was a type of commune, a family that was not particularly connected, but also not quarrelsome. And suddenly everything changed.

The fact is that a person has an ego. This makes us different from animals. As long as the ego is obedient to a person, we quietly arranged our lives and designed a kind of patriarchal order. But when this ego suddenly broke out and began to go crazy within us, we became detached from the animal world and became true humans. This created a basis for today’s breach, which is the level of the ego that dominates the world today.

The civilizations prior to Babylon were much more primitive and not egoistic. Of course, also among them there was a hierarchy, rulers, and wars, but there was no concept like, “the ego that pushes us forward.” In other words, humans were not conscious that the ego was managing them, separating them, and bringing them to mutual hatred, the demand for an “ascent to the heavens,” and the aspiration to manage and trample everyone. That clear perception of an egoistic world did not exist then.

And then another figure appeared who established the Jewish people, Abraham. It is noteworthy that Abraham came from a much respected family. In those times, one of the central pillars of society was the continuity of the generations because everything was handed down, including, until recently, the transfer of various crafts and skills.

Terah, the father of Abraham, was a distinguished spiritual leader of the people. He was so revered that they created statues of idols in his family. It is possible to understand this as simply as it sounds: They made statues of idols and related accessories. But it is possible to say that they “created” ideas and concepts; meaning that they spoke about divinity and explained it to their people according to their understanding.

So I would say more than this, they were the founders of the spirit of Babylon. It wasn’t Nimrod, but specifically the family of Abraham. This was a clear separation of power: On the one hand, there was the power of the state, “police,” the military, which was represented by Nimrod, and on the other hand, spiritual power, represented by Terah and Abraham who came after him. Each of them had a strong personality.

And suddenly at a particular moment, from a particular point in his investigation, Abraham observed with what rapidity his own and others’ cruel egos were developing. While searching for the general global force that manages everything, Abraham discovered the integral system that manages creation. His essential question was that among all things in the world, there must be something in common that basically provides for the principle of unity and leads the world towards a particular goal. After all, we see how everything turns, and even if it rolls backward, at the same time it continues to advance, like the rim of a wheel.

And so from facts and research, Abraham succeeded, through willpower, in penetrating this system by way of the filter, the screen (Masach). The filter is very simple; it is found between us. It is clear that entry into the world to come, the next dimension, is found in a place where it is possible to find a tangible bridge between people, where confrontation between them disappears and clear accommodation is created, meaning such a connection within which they dissolve one into the other. At this moment they discover gateways between them, entries into the next dimension; and you enter into it.

There is nothing new here. In our world there are three components: still, vegetative, and animate. Regarding the person, if he is prepared to nullify his ego with regard to others, to rise above the ego and nullify it together with another person, then he acquires a new characteristic which becomes an entry into the next dimension.

Question: How did Abraham succeed in discovering, from his investigation, that the main thing is found between us?

Answer: He saw that the entire system of creation is integral and good and that all of its parts support each other. It is mutually connected and united.

And here a single, ugly and damaging “nuance” was created, which was the person with his narcissism. He is, in fact, a beast, but he has an ego. And this ego pushes him towards a development that is not at all right, since it is against others, opposed to everyone, and in opposition to the still, vegetative, and animate. This means that he is not in harmony with them, in homeostasis. Instead he goes out of his boundaries, tearing everything up and dominating everything.

What for? It’s not important. What is the goal? There is no goal. It is only to satisfy the ego that is burning inside.

Abraham understood the global system of nature and the intent of the person that is absolutely opposed to it. So it became clear that the problem is within the person, that it is necessary to bring him to harmony, to be similar to nature. How is this done? He needs to be directed towards the right relationships with the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and most importantly with humans, within society.

So by looking at nature, Abraham saw an ideal; and by looking at the person, he saw its opposite. So the task was to integrate these two systems, and he understood that the whole problem is in realizing the principle, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The civilization of Babylon encountered the process of globalization, as in our world today, and it closed in upon itself. After all, this was a small civilization, around three million people who were living in a limited space between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia.

Incidentally, they were seriously developed. From there came astrology and esotericism, and was born what is today called the new age, the new era, as there were stores, flushing toilets, and water supply systems. Many of the inhabitants of the modern world could be envious of the Babylonians. Everything was very organized, nice, and neat among them. We simply cannot imagine how they lived.

But suddenly everything exploded from within. Within 20-30 years, egoism broke out before the eyes of Abraham, and the Babylonians began to hate one another. This became a type of miniature globalization in which the inhabitants of Babylon, who were tightly linked, could no longer live together. By and large, the same thing is also happening today. We must live together, and on the other hand, this is impossible.

And so the ego that erupted compelled the Babylonians to build a tower to the heavens. This was a natural, instinctive, direct expression of the ego, and the continuation of its activity.

A new religion was created: “We must worship our ego, rise above the heavens, we must open everything up, reach the general welfare, and perhaps even equality and brotherhood. All of this is in our power to do,” This is very similar to the calls of the modern era: communism, Nazism, liberalism, and consumerism, whatever. They were all represented there together.

Since the process was so rapid, strong unrest brewed within the society. Large factions were created: for Nimrod, against Nimrod, etc. But Nimrod was a very serious leader, and Terah, Abraham’s father, served him, so to speak, as his right hand, as the spiritual leader of the people.

And Abraham, as a son and student, had to go follow the same path. In the history of humanity, continuity had always been desirable, especially in those times.

But here something interesting happened. From his investigation, Abraham discovered a completely different picture and it became clear that the ego was given to us not to manage us, but so that we would manage it, and with its help, rise above it and truly ascend to the heavens. This is not to those heavens to which the Tower of Babel would raise us, rather to the heavens above which we rise, against it, against our ego that continues to grow. In other words, this was a completely different system!

Question: So Nimrod, who understood that the ego separated people, proposed separation, spreading out over the face of the globe, and Abraham’s intention was the opposite, connection and work on this ego?

Answer: There were a number of streams here. The first stream was similar to the modern inclinations: “In spite of the ego we will fight against our nature. With the help of science, culture, and education, we will flatten it. It won’t be possible for the ‘dog’ that sits inside each one of us to break out.”

Another stream proclaimed the opposite: “Tear everyone else to pieces and dominate. That is how we advance. All of life is a struggle, egoistic, and competitive, and the strong survive, like in nature.” At any rate, it appears to us that this is what is happening in nature.

Question: This was the intention of Nimrod?

Answer: No. Nimrod thought that the true development of civilization could be attained through balance. But this was not balance with nature, but with the ego. “We are neighbors and don’t get along with each other as neighbors. Someone throws garbage in the wrong place, slams the door, and makes noise that disturbs those who are sleeping, and so on. So we will separate and meet from time to time, and suddenly everything will work out between us. We can sit together, drink beer, and remember our old common home where we took turns for the shower and the toilet.”

And so Nimrod thought that we had to separate. If we separated and everyone was given a small apartment, we would solve this problem. Just get away from each other and everything will be okay.

This decision is directed towards realization and management of the process. That means, in principle, to remain in control, and in this manner, to solve the problem of the large ego and social conflicts.

Nimrod understood that the ego is bad, but together with this, he only needed to be concerned that the people remain as a people and that everyone would live well and correctly together. “So we will build a tower that will symbolize both the connection between us and the separation, the dispersion.”

This was not some kind of foolish idea, this was a philosophy: “I don’t recognize any god. Globalization and integration are derived from nature, and we will flow with it without giving up the ego. Yes, we can develop this civilization calmly and well, along with our growing ego.”

Essentially, this is what capitalism today also proclaims: Each in his house, in his corner, in his particular area. This is mine; that is yours. Each one has his own inheritance. And a common government, a national structure also exists, and so on.

This means that Nimrod is every modern government and modern perception in general. It is possible to say, that in part, what Nimrod thought has been realized: People scattered all over the globe and began, as it is called, to speak in different languages, and continued to live according to the laws of the ego.

Nimrod’s position is very understandable and rational. He logically solved the problem that had been created. And Abraham went out with an absolutely different revolutionary thought that was derived from attaining the inner characteristic of nature.

Today we have again come across the same problem, but there is nowhere to disperse. The ego has grown and we are so stuck, linked, to each other, and it is impossible to separate. If there were several additional nearby planets and a “bridge” to reach them, we would make the same attempt again. But we have a single planet Earth and now we have no choice but to solve the problem through the way of Abraham.

Today, the forces of separation and disengagement are growing. Moreover, families divorce, many children separate from their parents, etc. Each one is searching for some corner of his own to be detached from everyone there.

And what is interesting is that there are so many places in the world! In my flights above our planet I see clearly that humanity occupies only a few percentages of the entire area of the planet. But people cannot go far away from each other. They simply cannot. This means that we have reached a situation where the idea is no longer about an area for settlement, nor physical distance. Today we are linked much more tightly.

So Abraham began to advocate his theory. Clearly, it seemed illogical and unnatural. In fact, it was impossible to prove it.

But there is a higher logic in it. After all, Nimrod, in principle, did not offer an absolute and final solution to the problem. He said: “We, with the ego that is growing in us naturally, must only disperse a bit.”

And Abraham said, “This won’t help us because the ego is growing with an absolutely different goal in order that we will rise above it! We will not disperse in all directions; rather, we will rise above the ego and use it specifically to connect with one another, so that the ego will be used by us as an ‘opposing helpmate,’ meaning that it will oblige us to rise above it.”

It is difficult to understand this and to agree with it. But if you do this, in fact, you will be linked to all of global nature. This is a clear and logical conclusion: You become an integral part of nature because you are linked with all of humanity and become like the nature of the still, the vegetative, and the animate. Only unlike that, you have reached this general integral state through your own power.

So you begin to feel the general nature, its general law, and the general power that is called the Creator. And you go out to the next level of development above the ego. Now you feel the world, not by way of your physical eyes, not by way of the animalistic, corporeal senses, but you begin to feel it by means of a completely new logic, by means of new desires, which are not beastly, not with an egoistic face, but from a truly human level.

In conclusion, all modern civilizations emerged from ancient Babylon. Babylon is the basis for all of our civilizations, and furthermore, for all of our spiritual development.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/18/14

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We Today

Dr. Michael LaitmanHumanity today is at a fateful crossroads.

On the one hand, it appears that we all depend on each other and our world has become one global village. On the other hand, we strongly resist this relationship and do not want to get closer to each other.

Clearly, this unstable state cannot last long. Humanity must decide how to live further into the future.

About 4,000 years ago, a similar situation in the world once existed in ancient Babylon.

In order to come to the right decision, as well as to understand how we, the people of Israel, are associated with this problem, let’s go back in time and trace the events as they unfolded.

The full text of the brochure – here.
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The Decline Of Babylon, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Let’s take a look at the moment of the creation of the Jewish nation and join Abraham’s group which left Babylon and moved towards the Land of Israel according to the principle of love thy neighbor as thyself. Have all these people already ascended to the spiritual level or has only their leader attained spirituality?

Answer: The whole nation knew what was going on and they felt the inner changes. But on the whole, their mutual connection wasn’t on such a high egoistic level yet so that the Upper Light that brings the inner attainment could be revealed in it. They only had general illuminations.

We can compare this to our level: to what extent does a rock, a flower, a rabbit, and man feel life? They all feel some sort of existence. It is hard to judge on the level of the still nature.

The vegetative does, however, feel life somehow. The animate level already has to move in order to establish a state of balance with the environment, and on this level, life is felt to a greater extent. A human being feels life even much more strongly.

It is the same here: When they came out of Babylon they were like the still nature of the spiritual creation. Then when they gathered and went down to Egypt they entered the next level of the ego, which by correcting it they began to feel their existence on the level of the vegetative.

This means that the spiritual reality is already felt by a person as life or death. The revelation of the Creator, as the sun from behind the clouds, and its light is life-giving and gives me the day that attracts me. I may also fall into night, and sink into a state of depression, etc.

Today, the whole world is in a state of depression, which means that people already begin to feel they lack something. They will be able to fill themselves and to replace the feeling of depression with positive feelings if the Light illuminates for them a little. The Light is the revelation of the Creator.

This is what Abraham’s students felt after the exodus from Egypt. They felt very clearly that they had to reveal the Creator since without that they would not be able to connect. In other words, their ego had grown so much that only the Creator that is revealed among them can help them overcome it. Gradually the group of Abraham turned into the group of Moses, and this state grew increasingly stronger in it.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 4

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Let’s go back to the stages of how people get closer to each other internally. How does this happen?

Answer: The first step is when I do not want to use a stranger, another person, any friend of my people, i.e., in the group with which we go to the spiritual ideal, to the principle of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

When I ascend to this degree, I feel I do not want to do anything bad to another; I do not have bad thoughts about him. I can overcome my egoism, restrain myself in all its forms, and all my energy is focused on being absolutely neutral to people, desiring to be connected with them, wanting to be with them. That is, I do not think and do not take care of myself in spite of all the rest.

This is called the “restriction” of one’s egoistic desires and is seemingly a neutral state: Do not wish for and do not do to your neighbor what you would not wish for yourself.

And the next stage is “love thy neighbor as thyself.” That is not neutrality but a positive action. Because originally a person discovers that all his actions are directed only at his own benefit, and he cannot do good to others, except for his own profit.

Thus, we are talking about three stages:

  • First, there is recognition of egoism;
  • Then, its neutralization;
  • And then, its correction, implementing it for the benefit of others.

And this final action is the essence of love.

Question: Can we say that Abraham built a perfect society?

Answer: Yes, of course. Abraham built a perfect society of those people from Babylon that he took with him.

But here we consider, in general, not the people but their desires! This also applies to the followers of the work of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yes, they are his direct descendants, but all in all, his followers are called “sons,” disciples. Hence, there are such concepts as the “house of Abraham,” “house of Isaac,” and “house of Jacob.” The “house” means the community of people who continued to grow and develop.

They grow in a physical sense as well, but the main thing is they grew spiritually until they united fully in their mutual aspirations, in connection with each other on the first spiritual degree, which is called “Jacob.” This first spiritual degree is already considered the degree of “Israel,” with a hint of the future land of Israel, which will be reached. Although there is no land yet!

After all, “Israel” means “directed to the Creator.” That is, when you are in some place and aspire to the goal, then you are called “Israel,” “straight to the goal.” To reach this goal means to enter the land of Israel.

What are you lacking for this? For this you are lacking egoism, which you will correct and turn into the land of Israel. That is why they later had to come down to Egypt.

Question: So the group was already called Israel, and it still had to go through a century of descent before it would acquire the land of Israel, the desire, aimed at the goal?

Answer: Therefore, it is said that Jacob knew about the future and wanted to tell his sons, but he was not given…
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From KabTV’s “Babylon, Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 3

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does the work on the principle love thy neighbor as thyself come down to?

Answer: There are many steps and many stages on the way to this state. This is the whole system of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

At first a person simply yearns for a connection with others. There are different special exercises like sitting together, having meals together, discussions, consultations, and talks about getting closer, which for the time being can just be theoretical. For the time being there is little practical work here, since on the first levels, people still barely feel the movements, the attraction, and the need for connection and unity with others.

Comment: This means that they should at least sit next to one another for a start.

Answer: Yes, this is how the connection begins, from external to internal.

Later they study different sources that speak about that, about how the world is in a state of absolute connection and that all the elements of the still, vegetative, and animate levels are mutually connected, mutually complement each other, and to what extent the system that manages our world is totally integral, and that above it, there is the whole system of creation.

We should just live in this system as we do now. Forces and the realization that are opposite this system are intentionally awakened in us so that by this oppositeness, from the dark, we will discover the Light.

Now we are small passive elements managed from Above and we are also part of this immense analog, global integral system, totally connected and simply perfect. But we don’t feel it. We were given such options, such conditions, on purpose, so that we will feel wholeness only if we can reach that by ourselves and to the extent that we agree with it and understand that we need it. This is a person’s gradual internal correction and what Abraham taught his students.

Then they began to see the states they were in compared to the states they should reach. First they simply discussed it verbally without any basis, repeating the words of their teacher like small children who repeat every word the grownups say without even understanding what it is about. Then they began to feel it, out of their yearning for one another and out of cooperation and unity that affected all of them. That is, even their mechanical actions affected their inner states and led to internal changes.

They began to change their attitude towards one another. They went through times of descents and times of ascents, all stemming from one source: each time they felt they were incompatible with any format, they had to yearn to attain it.

In order to attain that, there was a need for constant alternating descents and ascents in order to constantly raise the oppositeness by penetrating more and more deeply into perfection that can only be attained through the opposite state.

This is how they advanced. Moreover, their movement forward to greater and greater closeness symbolized the detachment from Babylon, from the inner state of total dispersion and the movement towards the land of Israel, which meant moving to the state of connection. This is what Abraham led them to.

Here I must say that the wisdom of Kabbalah is perfectly logical because it coincides with our corporeal perspective things, with the principle “matter as a reality is given to us in sensation.”

Abraham’s students advanced in a natural way and in an internal way from the state of Babylon to the state of the land of Israel, and accordingly they also advanced externally from Babylon to the land of Israel. They felt that they needed to advance.

How does a person get such feelings?

I am sitting here and I suddenly feel like going somewhere and doing something, like calling someone and talking. I have certain thoughts and desires, but where do they come from? They also come from inside, but I simply don’t know it and I can’t follow this mechanism. And so it seems that it operates randomly and coincidentally.

Now it is about desires that are not on a physiological level but on a spiritual level. When I change some spiritual attributes inside me it also affects my physical attributes.

Thus, when they began to change internally and get closer, the people who followed Abraham began to feel the need to leave Babylon and they also drew away from Babel externally.

They began to move forward and gradually move their tents, awnings, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys and thus they advanced towards the land of Israel. It was not such a great transition from Babylon to the land of Israel, which they fulfilled internally and externally.

Question: So the land of Israel, as it were “reassured” them and they changed from nomads into farmers?

Answer: They were not farmers. Wheat was grown in Babylon, but the people who followed Abraham along the historical path for nearly a thousand years after Babylon were shepherds. Only after settling in the land of Israel, after the exodus from Egypt, did they settle down and in addition to being shepherds began to engage in agriculture as well.

Then after the exodus from Egypt, on the same principle, they felt internally that here was the place for the Temple.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 1
The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 2
How Did the Dispute Between Abraham And Nimrod End?

The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 2

Dr. Michael Laitman

Question: The Torah tells us that the Creator told Abraham what land he should go to from Babylon. So, did he initially know where he was going?

Answer: No. It is not about the coordinates on a map. If we do not think about millennia of history, we do not consider kilometers of the earth’s surface either. Time and distance have no control there. When a person’s inner feeling, called “his Creator,” tells him what to seek, where to go, it means that he should move not to another location, to a new place of residence, but on to the next spiritual state, which will be called “the land of Israel.”

Question: That is the “land” that he found in himself?

Answer: Of course. Because the concept of “land” (Eretz) is derived from the “desire” (Ratzon). “Eretz Yisrael” means the desire aimed “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El). When you get to the point where all your desires are directed to the Creator, then one would say that you arrived, entered “the land of Israel,” whether you are in Canada, in Africa, in the US, or anywhere. After all, our body is not taken into account. The whole matter is in a person’s desire.

Let’s go back to Abraham; he worked with his students on unity. Many Kabbalists write about this, especially Maimonides, the great Kabbalist of the 11-12th century. Abraham began to work with them according to the system “love thy neighbor as yourself,” and thus began to unite, assemble, and “form” a completely new society from them, in which everyone was internally connected to everyone else.

States, countries, and people are also connected, but externally, meaning that they have health care systems, social security, laws, education, etc. But we are not talking not about the external but the internal systems of connection between people. This approach of Abraham’s is different from the concept of Nimrod, who offered people dispersing so as not to interfere with each other and, at the same time, keeping in touch from afar.

It would seem, indeed, let the diplomats negotiate, let traders take caravans along the “Silk Road” or “from the Vikings to the Greeks,” let the sailors discover America, etc. But here we are talking about another journey, about connecting with each other internally. We are not talking about bodies, but intentions, focus, and overcoming internal obstacles. A person travels not in the mountains, not through the Sinai desert, but through the desert of the soul, because he feels his attitude towards others is a wasteland that dries him out, in which there is nothing with which to be fulfilled.

That is why the way to get closer to others is through the desert. Then, a person really gets closer to them; internally through the “Sinai desert” he comes to the “land of Israel.” And here he finds his desire “flowing with milk and honey,” emanating, “radiating” all the good things.

In essence, this is a “paradise.” In the past there was a desert, or even “hell,” and now the “Garden of Eden.” Unwillingness to come into contact with others, hatred of one’s neighbor, all of this is turned into goodness.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 8/27/14

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The Perfect Society Of Abraham, Part 1