Entries in the 'Body and Soul' Category

Inclusion Into The Global Mind

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does the ability to “feel the world through everyone” mean?

Answer: If I am included in others, if I feel what they feel and think what they think, then obviously, I possess capabilities several times greater than an average person. I am much broader, I am able to include more within myself. After all, our perception of any phenomenon depends on the number of parameters that we’re capable of grasping, on the resolution of our view.

The number of parameters depends on the quantity of opposing things that are included in me. Due to the contrast between them, I distinguish the individual parts and can build out of them, like out of construction blocks, many options. At the same time, I understand what these constructions are composed of and how they differ from one another.

And if the feelings and reason received from others are absorbed by me, I become the owner of different and opposing properties. Then I perceive the world in a more multifaceted way, and relative to the previous planar perception, this seems like an entry into a new dimension.

Psychologically, this is a completely new perception, a new world. Through this I rise above the limitations of the body, associated with the categories of time, movement, and space since I am included into humanity. I acquire its shared feeling, its acting mind—the data that comes to us from nature.

I receive an opportunity to attain the feeling and the mind inherent in nature, which exist within it as my root. All development in this world proceeds from there. In this development I see that I return to that place, to that root of feeling and mind within nature from which the entire chain of creation evolved: the still, vegetative, animate, and me—a human being who reaches the root and thereby completes the circle of development.

I want to emphasize that it is no accident that nature is pushing us to a state of mutual guarantee so that we will literally lose our individual properties. We don’t really lose them but only rise above them because they are corporeal, pertaining to the animate level.

Everything individual within me relates to caring for the body so that it will live through its allotted time in the best way possible. But development consists of us rising above the concern for the body to a common concern. This common concern endows us with completely different properties, not the bodily ones. Thanks to them, I reveal the program and purpose of creation, the intention of nature in which not a single element develops by chance—everything advances according to a program. And I can attain and understand this program.

And as soon as I direct myself towards an integral vision, connecting with other people, I immediately begin to grasp this integral vision, exchange my “glasses” for round, integral ones. I see the entirety of nature and don’t just receive from it a narrow channel relative to my own body, of whatever carries benefit or harm for me: food, sleep, entertainment, and so on. No, I don’t live by this! I live on a level independent of my body and already look at nature that is above bodies. It’s as if I am no longer inside a body: I judge, check, and control from the universal human mind and feeling. This stage fundamentally differs from the current one.

Right now I am merely an advanced animal, within certain boundaries, and it’s unclear if this advancement is in a good or a bad direction. But due to inclusion into the global mind, I achieve a new dimension. I qualitatively change my perception of the world in which I find myself. It becomes genuine since I no longer view it through a narrow egoistic slit, pulling to me whatever is beneficial and brushing away the harmful; rather, I literally come out through it and live in the world. And there, perception is completely different, not through an egoistic sieve through which I see only whatever is useful or harmful to me, but independently of myself altogether. This is what the new dimension inherent in man is.

And then I really reveal the mind and the feeling that exist there, within the bright state outside of my body, behind the wall with a narrow slit through which I peek. I understand the entire process and purpose of creation.

Our research shows that this is truly so, that this is something elusive and imperceptible to us. But we are already starting to realize that evidently, this level does exist. It can be compared to dark matter: It exists, but we don’t perceive it, even though it comprises 90% of all matter in the Universe.

Similarly, we cannot yet reveal the common feeling and mind that exist in the Universe. However, scientists who study the cosmos talk about the presence of a powerful feeling and mind there, like sounds that we cannot pick up on, hearing only some kind of noise. We cannot reveal these phenomena because they belong to a dimension above us.
[66964]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 3, 12/29/11

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Treasure Every Drop Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanNo matter how many efforts a person puts forth and what discernments or actions he performs, he has an infinite number of possibilities to make a mistake if he doesn’t hold onto the authentic source that passes the Light onto him.

He will not even know that he is making a mistake. Regardless of his rung, he will be like “a man who is lost in the field” or “a wandering donkey in the field” (the desire to receive pleasure). One needs to have an admiration for the greatness of the source of the Light. Only with its help we can discern our state, determine the correct direction, and steer.

The Light arranges and turns all of this for us, while we don’t know what rung we are at. In the spiritual world we always advance from state to state without any understanding where we currently are. This is because we always rise from the desire to receive pleasure to the desire for bestowal. We change our intention, and therefore, we can never know what is ahead of us even the tiniest step.

This advancement is possible only through faith above reason. Only the Light can take you if you grab it and fulfill the conditions given to you. This is the essence of all our work (raising MAN, prayer) when we prepare all conditions, all our wishes and abilities, so afterward we would hand everything to the upper Light with full confidence that He will do everything.

This requires a lot of effort from us, but in the end all of this is the work of the Light and therefore it is called the work of the Creator.

This is why it is necessary to treat The Book of Zohar with respect as much as possible. Although certainly this will never be enough since a person is incapable to really appreciate this upper radiance called Zohar. However, try to value each word as if you receive from it one more portion of medicine, one more drop of infusion, which pours the elixir of life into you.
[72166]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/12, Writings of Rabash, “Purim”

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Matter Is An Unrealized Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We are forming a collective desire before going to the Arava. How can we reduce the path of such a desire so that it transitions from material exertion into spiritual attainment?

Answer: In fact, there is no such thing as two worlds, material and spiritual. When our actions lack intention, it seems to us that we act within matter. The world around us is “visible” because of the deficiency of intention; that’s why we are bound to work with “reinforced concrete” by going through trouble and putting forth demands. They are nothing but the materialization of the defects of our intention. That’s what our material world is about. So far, there is no way out except working with “clay and bricks” as the sons of Israel did while they were in Egyptian exile.

Kabbalists gave several recommendations which allow us to draw the upper force upon us in order to get altered. I don’t know who I am at this time since I consist of a thousand parameters and have no idea how to change them. Besides, I don’t possess any ability for self-regulation. Real transformations are of a qualitative nature; I am not qualified at this time to envision the next step or shape.

This is the reason why we have this world and the group, toys which we “play” with. It’s okay that I act materialistically and egoistically, by doing so I trigger the influence of the upper Light upon me. It’s a very unusual remedy: I can connect to a notion called “we” and together we activate the mechanism of the group with the help of intention, studies, dissemination, and so on. Thus, we engage an even more superior mechanism, GAR of the world of Atzilut, from which we receive the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that changes us. We try to connect with each other, participate in various events, join common meals, study and disseminate. The major thing in these activities is our unity.

We take part in all sorts of activities with egoistic intention (Lo Lishma) to the best of our ability as small children who don’t know accurate answers to their questions. By acting so, we initiate a system that comprehends our actions like a mother who senses her child even though he is not yet able to express his desires. She knows what he wants before he cries out.

The motherly system is ready to decipher our appeal. It’s Bina who gave birth to us and to whom our appeals return through a closed circle. It doesn’t matter whether our efforts are of a material nature; they will result in spiritual “discovery.”

Kabbalists accurately defined the place and specifics of human efforts: The group work should be as unified as possible. At the same time, we should address the world with the message that the Creator wishes us to convey to others; if we cope, the “discovery” will come to us by all means.
[70744]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/12, “The Peace” 

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The Last Drop Of Effort

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When you are incorporated in a collective action, you sometimes feel united with the friends even in your thoughts, but at the last moment you feel that something is missing, an effort within an effort, the last drop. How can we achieve this last drop so we can come to the general cry, so that we will be able to open our hearts once and for all?

Answer: That last drop is exactly the point of birth, the point of the exodus from Egypt, and it’s the most difficult. A person is ready to go almost to the end, and then he sees a wall in front of him, something he can’t overcome, and suddenly he has endless excuses. His evil inclination tells him, “You still have to take care of this and that, you haven’t studied all of the Study of the Ten Sefirot yet, you don’t know all the Shamati articles yet, there is still so much you have to do,” and so on.

And it’s the same in relation to the friends, meaning that when you actually reach the point that you can now break your ego and connect, to make the welding point between you and the friends, you can’t do it. To create a point of soldering means that this drop of glue will now fall on the connection between you and the friends, and glue you together in a single adhesion. You can’t do that. At the last moment you suddenly pull back.

Only a general effort will help here. Therefore the prayer of an individual doesn’t help. A prayer should be the “prayer of the many,” when you pray for the friends and not for yourself, and when the entire group or most of the group prays together. But you are telling us about an individual effort. You can tell me about an individual effort for another thousand years, nothing will happen to you. The direction is familiar but it’s wrong because you don’t worry about the connection with the friends.
[71426]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #3, 2/24/12

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An Inverted Imprint

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I start with revealing that I am the Pharaoh’s slave and with time I become the Creator’s slave, then where is my “I”?

Answer: You are still to find your “I.” We are not yet people; we only say that we supposedly already exist. The point in the heart is the beginning of man in me; it is the drop of semen from which I will grow. And I am still to reveal my “I.”

So far I am “nothing”: I do not exist. (When you change the order of the letters in the word “I” – “Ani” you get “nothing” – “Ain”, and the creature is called “created out of nothing” “existence from absence” (Yesh Mi Ain). This form of the Creator, which is being revealed in me to the extent to which I prepare my material to adopt this form of the Creator, will be called my “I” (Ani). In other words the imprint of the Creator in me will be my I, and everything else will remain “nothing.”

This is because the desire is not mine, it comes from Him, He does all the actions. I do not exist as an individual who makes decisions. If I prepare the material to perceive His qualities, which He imprints in me, inside my material, then I will be this imprint. This form is called the soul.

The form of the Creator, imprinted in my desire, is called the soul, and that is what I am.
[71353]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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Where Is The Microchip Of The Soul Within Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I once watched a movie where a microchip was installed into a monkey’s brain and as a result, it procured bananas using an artificial arm. That’s when I understood that my body does not exist because it can also be just as artificial. In this case, where is the desire to reveal the Creator located, which I now feel within me?

Answer: The desire for spirituality is not located inside of the material body. Desires aren’t inside the body at all. We confuse the biological, animate body, which operates according to natural instincts, personality, and inclinations that determine its natural desires and needs, with the desire that is disconnected from this body and belongs to the attainment of spirituality.

Our body is an animal, like that monkey with a banana. But when a new desire awakens in us, above our animate needs, it is on a completely different level and is not inside the body. The body may live or die, but nothing happens to the spiritual desire.

The animate body lives and dies, and all of its animate desires, aspirations, and goals die together with it. But there is also a desire called “the point in the heart,” which we have to develop. If we connect it with other desires like it, which are present in others, then we will build a common desire out of them in which it is possible to reveal spiritual life.

I have a drop of spiritual semen, called “the point in the heart.” I can grow it by adding more and more “meat” to it, just like a baby grows from a drop of semen in a mother’s womb.

So how can I attach the spiritual meat to my point, the drop of spiritual semen? For that I have to unite with others. That is how I will build the vessel of my soul and will begin living inside of it, inside of this new desire that I collected.

If I don’t build it, then I will remain that initial drop of semen, with the informational gene (Reshimo) alone, and will once again return and go through life cycles, one after another, receiving the opportunity to develop that drop.

My animate body only accompanies the drop of semen, the point in the heart. Therefore, stop focusing on your body and give it what it is supposed to get to lead a normal existence. And devote all of your attention to the point in the heart, to how to connect it to other points in order to build a general vessel out of them for revealing the spiritual world.

As for the microchips, leave them to the monkeys.
[71350]
From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/24/12, Lesson #2

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Where Is Immortality?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe exist in a unified reality, in the world of infinity, but from it we perceive only the part, which we are able to realize, in that form, that fragment, which is created by our qualities from the whole world of infinity. However, in any case, we are always connected to the world of infinity. We receive the strength from there and all of the changes that happen inside of us happen by means of connection with it.

This is how we learn that any change happens by the raising of the MAN (prayer) from us through all of the worlds to the world of infinity and it descends from there to us in the form of MAD. Also, any change gives birth to a new Partzuf, a state, a connection between them through the world of infinity as well, following the rule “Malchut of the upper becomes the Keter of the lower.” This is only possible under the condition that Malchut obtains the qualities of the world of infinity and this way becomes the quality of Keter.

Such a leap in the change of qualities in the matter of our world is called a quantum change: sharp, strictly discrete portions.

This is how an electron, revolving around an atom’s nucleus changes its orbit in a jump, transforming from one stationary state to another. At that, it changes its orbit instantaneously, it disappears from the old orbit and at the same moment it appears in a new orbit, where it continues its movement, as if it had not gone through its transformation, the jump.

Physicists can detect neither the path of transformation nor duration of the transformation from one orbit to another, this happens instantaneously. This is because this action is raising its force into the world of infinity, above matter, time, space, and motion, which do not exist there. That is why we cannot detect what is happening in a jump. Meaning that during the time of the transformation, which for us is a space (a quantum void) a connection between the worlds happens, our world and the upper world.

Besides this, all of the matter exists only due to similar quantum jumps, receiving the energy of the upper Light (bestowal) from the world of infinity into them.

And even a regular person at every moment of his existence falls out of the reality of our world in order to change his state for a new one, he connects to the world of infinity and returns back again, but into a new state in our world already, although it seems to us that the flow of reality is continuous. With these continuous connections to the world of infinity the changes happen and flow in the whole of the nature on all of its levels, from our world in all of the five worlds.

The rise to the world of infinity and the return back are necessary for the change of the Reshimot, the data, which define our specific states. However, these specific states, in their turn, must keep changing continuously, feeding from the world of infinity, and in this way, realize ever newer Reshimot up until their complete realization, the complete correction of the whole of nature.

This happens when all of the realities merge into one, the complete revelation of the Light, that force from which all of the parts of the universe receive ever newer Reshimot by quantum impulses, new energy and qualities. And it is not important how we call these changes in matter: the interval between the pictures of the world, a quantum jump  (discontinuity), an absence of reality, the change of Reshimot, a minimum change in a state.

Our future is in mastering these timeless states in connection to the Light, to the quality of bestowal, above egoism: Here lies life above death. It is in the absence of time in a quantum jump and it is our immortality.
[71023]

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Constructing The Lego Of The Soul’s Shards

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Our goal is adhesion with the Creator; it is the top priority for all of us. According to the law of equivalence of form, the goal itself already unites us. But we see that this is not enough in order to advance, and that we should make greater efforts in connecting. Are these efforts the only means we have to advance towards the goal, or are there other means?

Answer: First of all, the end of the action is in the initial thought. The final result is adhesion with the Creator. That means that we have to be in equivalence of form with Him, because adhesion is achieved only according to the equivalence of form.

Equivalence of form means to be like Him. Like Him is pure bestowal. That means that I have to go through the phases of correction in which I gradually advance towards the state of “like Him.” For Him it is 100% bestowal and for me it is expressed in receiving in order to bestow, which is the highest level. Below that there is to bestow in order to bestow. But now, I am even further below, in bestowal in order to receive and even in receiving in order to receive.

On my present level, instead of discovering unity, the connection, the one system of souls called “Adam,” in which I feel the Creator and all His bestowal, His whole appearance, I discover a shattered, confused, and destroyed world. But I should understand that it was given to me like a Lego to construct, like a puzzle to put together. After all, “one sees through his own flaws”: I see before me this shattered world; because I am broken, so it seems to me that the world is broken.

So I have to view everything before me as a copy of my internal system, my feeling and mind—to the extent I am broken, I see this world as broken—instead of seeing in it only the upper divine system that operates and exists in it.

This means that all our work should be aimed from the inside out because everything that seems to be existing on the outside is the imprint of my internal attributes. I need to correct myself, and then the world will be corrected. It isn’t as “world reformers” claim that we should carry out this or that reform. There is nothing to do in the world except for disseminating the method of correction and integral education.

Actually, when I disseminate and deal with education, I also take care of the parts of my soul, which at the moment I feel as detached from me. Therefore, I should take care of them this way, as if they are on the outside, and bring them the knowledge, and the method of education. But then, I discover that everyone is like my group, inseparable parts of the one, unified system, together with me.

Therefore, we should try to see the whole world internally. After all, it is all one, one whole; there is no this world and the spiritual world, but rather one system that in the meantime seems to me to be out of order. So what should I do in order to see it as one vessel? This is what our actions are aimed at. If we approach our work plans this way, our dissemination, our internal work, and the different connections among us—we will succeed.
[70997]
From  the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/26/12, “The Purpose of Society”

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Make Maximum Use Of What Is Given From Above

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 6, “Inner Reflection,” Chapter 7: The thinning of the screen does not effect the desires nor create any changes in them. The desires remain with the same depth as they were before the weakening of the screen.

Therefore, we never attempt to correct the desire itself: its depth (Aviut) doesn’t change, only the screen changes. Our inherent qualities will never change. The qualities you were born with, both good and bad, will remain with you always.

The personality you had as a child will remain unchanged until old age. A person simply learns through out his life which qualities to implement and to what degree. However, all of his inherent qualities are forever embedded in him.

We only correct the implementation of our qualities, desires, and inclinations. We have to bring each quality to its maximum use while preserving the natural balance between all of our qualities and desires. After all, there is “no coercion in spirituality.” The only thing is that we have to use all of them to bestowal to our fellow man and through that to bestow to the Creator.
[70809]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Assembling The World From Its Shattered Parts

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe do not need to correct our inner nature; I will remain like this no matter what I do with myself. There is no commandment to correct animate qualities; they do not interfere. Instead of the force of repulsion, I need to get the force of connection; that is all. I have to work only on the connecting glue between us, not on myself.

That is why all our work is concentrated in the group, and the direction can be only at connecting our breaking. Any calculations with respect to the person are prohibited. There are plenty of those who sit and eat themselves up: “Who am I, what am I, and why am I like this?” In spiritual work, nobody is interested why you are like that, and the Creator is not interested either!

We all are different parts of one mechanism: one is a cogwheel, the other is an axis, the third is a filter, the fourth is a pump, the fifth is a generator, etc. Everyone remains internally the way he was; we just need to put it all together into one system. And you are sitting there and crying about what is going on inside of your pump; do not worry, it is in perfect order. The whole problem is just that you do not connect it properly with others.

This is exactly the opposite direction of the way the world thinks. That is why all the work lies in achieving love of your neighbor as yourself, the great rule;  you must include everyone into one mechanism, one system.
[70811]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/12, Writings of Rabash

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