Entries in the 'Collective Soul' Category

The System Is In Need Of Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During one of the lessons you said that the intention for bestowal cannot be personal and individual. Isn’t it my personal relationship towards the society, to my neighbor?

Answer: We are in a system of mutual interconnection. It is also called the system of the worlds (Olamot), meaning concealments (Alamot). The upper force and the structure of the system itself are concealed from us. We don’t see that we are tightly connected to each other.

We are familiar with the “animate” relations: here are my parents, here are my relatives, these are the ones I love, these are the ones I hate, these love me, and those hate me. However, the finer, higher levels of the system are concealed from me. This is what my world is, my concealment.

By revealing the highest, the altruistic, system, of our interconnection, we will understand that whether we want it or not, we are tightly fused to each other. Now we are not active participants of this system; however, it already needs our active participation. The time has come to assimilate ourselves within it, to consciously join its flow, in order for each one to fulfill their function in it.

However, from our side, we don’t want it or understand it, and that’s why we feel ourselves to be in a bad condition. Of course, the general system continues to function, but due to our inactivity, we feel the defects of its work and we are puzzled. “What’s going on? What’s missing there?” This is reality and we call it the “crisis.”

Furthermore, the difference between what is desired and what is actual, between our initial state in the world of Infinity and the return back to Infinity from this world, is only in the intention. We change neither the system, nor the basis of our nature. Each one retains their characteristic traits, their connection to the reality, each one remains at their place.

The structure of our interconnection does not change as well. To someone you are a student, to someone you are a friend, and to someone you are close…Friends connect with the teacher, with each other and with the world. All of this doesn’t change, but is merely revealed to us. That’s why some extrasensory people know what’s going to happen in the future.

Freedom of will and all of our work is accompanied only by the conscious, sensible participation in the life of the system in order to become an active part in it by our own will, to “flow” with it as the Force (meaning the Creator), which controls it, wants it to flow. In essence, this is what our task consists of, to reveal the general flow and to merge into it. Let the rider and the horse move in sync. This is how we will move forward.

This way, our work is always done in intention: To what extent do I pull the system towards the Force, how much more do I understand it, how much more am I participating in its activity, how much more with its help do I reveal the Force instilled in it in order to flow together with it, and thus give pleasure to the Creator.

This is my task. This is what I participate in the life of the group for, among the partners, the friends, which I am given. Besides, I am carrying out the task for the world, I am awakening all of the parts of the system, building and activating it until it all completely assimilates to the inner force, until we flow together with it.

At the same time, of course, I have my own intention. However, it cannot be realized only inside of me. I will not make it come alive if I am not connected to others, if I am not working with them in harmony, if we are not cooperating in action, in understanding, in realization, in the maintenance and servicing of the system. Someone among us is a valve, someone is a piston, someone is a wheel, and so on. Everyone works in their own way; however, we are all aspiring towards the same goal.

It is said: “Israel, The Torah, and the Creator are One.” The Creator is the general program, which we aspire to implement. We are not simply uniting into a system, but we are keeping the course towards Him. We cannot find the connection without it, since it must lie on a certain formula, the goal of the program. It needs to be clear for us, for the sake of what and how we should be uniting. We discover the system in the aspiration towards the force acting within in, towards the general program. Without this, we cannot even make a step, including in the interrelationships between us.

So it turns out that my intention is related to the collective work with friends, the goal of which is to reveal the Creator.

In the end, I only add this intention, and not the action. In the same way, a government control system can be activated by the “stick” of a tyrant squeezing the last juices out of the population, or by the wisdom of a kind ruler pursuing happiness for the citizens. The structure is the same, the connection remains the same, nothing needs to be changed except the internal program installed into the system. Education, taxation, banks, hospitals and so on, all of these remain in their places. Only the intention completely re-builds the order of “energy flows,” changing their destination. In the end, intention changes everything.

This is what we are discovering today. “The world lives as stipulated,” “I have not changed Myself,” the system does not change, we only add our intention to it, the screen and the reflected Light. And then, everything flows in a new way according to our approach. Earlier, we pulled everything towards ourselves because of the tyrant who ruled within us, but now we are pursuing the wellbeing of a close one, and this already a different ruler.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/12, “Questions and Answers”

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Two Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person in a group should not only change himself in relation to the environment, but he should also teach others how to do it. This is the reason for the breaking. None of us has the strength to resist the egoistic intention, but when a person really realizes the need to change his intention to an altruistic one, he acquires a possibility to receive the strength from his neighbors, his friends. Suddenly this turns into a very simple principle: If you wish to unite with your friends in order to bestow to them, then you can receive the strength to change your intention from them, through this unity.

Essentially, we operate in one desire, in a single line: If I wish to bestow to my neighbor, then I can receive the strength to do it through him. But where does he get this strength? He receives it from the root, which stands behind it. This is why it is written: “I live in my people.” In other words, the Creator, the upper force, the root, which created the intention to bestow, lives in the group. He tells me: “If you treat your neighbor right in order to bestow to him, then you will find Me in your neighbor, in the exact point where your bestowal is directed. Then your intention will change, and you will really be able to realize it.”

It is written in regards to this action: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are One.” This way we begin to see complete reality. Now instead of the corporeal world before me, I see the environment. And I do not care about what is in it. What matters is that on my search for the strength to bestow that I pass through it and attain the root, the Creator who exists within my friends. I want to unite with my friends in order to bestow to them; I find the Creator inside them, who provides the strength for me to connect with them, and then I unite with Him through them.

And then the person begins to work in two lines. On one hand he sees how the Creator impels him to use his neighbor; he sees different cruel thoughts that come to him from within the group about ways to use others, profit at their expense, and receive pleasure from the group. But in response to this direct pleasure, the person restricts his intention, and on the contrary searches for an opportunity to bestow to his friends while remaining in the same line. He wishes to use himself for the good and benefit of his friends and returns to the Creator through them, thus building the ten Sefirot of the Reflected Light.

Now the person has “two sides of the coin.” By comparing them and evaluating the degree to which he can use them, he becomes ready to accept the Creator’s invitation and develop the right attitude towards Him. Two realities open up before him:

  • When I directly receive pleasure from the Creator through nature or the environment, if I am ready to continue receiving more and more of it, this kind of existence is perceived as “this world.”
  • But if I bestow as much as I can and dedicate myself to my friends and the Creator, then I reveal another, opposite existence in the Reflected Light.

This way the person acquires two worlds.
[71254]
From the Arava Convention 2/23/12, Lesson #1

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In Search Of A Spiritual Partner

Dr. Michael LaitmanAbout 40 years ago, divorce was considered a dishonorable act; today, there is nothing unusual about it. People don’t understand why they have to get married, give birth to children, and why they should continue to live!

If the answer to this question is not found, a person won’t need to have a family or give birth to children. I can continue living by myself as comfortably as possible; what will happen later is not my concern. Today, this is the way our ego relates to life.

But if I discover a higher goal, how to open doors to another world, to eternal intention, moreover, if I know that it can happen here and now, then even though it takes more responsibility and imposes certain liabilities on me such as nullifying myself to attain this goal and reach its importance, it will force me to create a family.

Next, I marry a woman that I choose not because of my animal instincts, but rather as a result of my search for a spiritual partner! My wife stays with me all the time and becomes an indicator through which I trace if I am still on the right track.

Then, we actually achieve the goal, which connects us; instead of our merely tolerating each other, we join together as one whole! This is called: “A man and a wife and Shechina (Divinity) between them.”

We begin to relate to each other through the Creator since we are not alone: He always is between us. That’s why I perceive my wife through the prism of the Creator, that is, I see both the Creator and her. Accordingly, she sees the Creator and me.

If we don’t take into account the third factor we won’t be able to build a triangle (a man, a wife, and the Goal), nor will we be able to live together. At the animal level it is possible, but at the “speaking level” it is not feasible.

I won’t be able to identify the Creator if I don’t look at my husband or wife through this prism.

Originally, we were parts of one common soul: Adam and Eve. Now, we have to revive this “structure”, although the serpent (our huge ego) has split us. We have to correct this “serpent” and reveal the Creator between us.

Question: So, it’s useless to wait for a “prince on a white horse.” Should we rather search for the Creator?

Answer: The Creator is above anything else! Later on you should focus on who can replenish Him in your eyes.
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From a Lecture “About Femininity” 12/14/10

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Your Missing Piece In The Puzzle Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If a person gets discouraged in the process, does that mean that he didn’t invest enough effort toward love for the friends?

Answer: If a person is discouraged from his spiritual development, then that usually stems from pride, from his positioning himself above the others. And this is a general disease that is found in each one of us. Pride is the foundation of the desire to receive, which comes to us directly from the Creator. The Creator is unique, thus we also feel ourselves as being unique.

And I am really unique because I am a piece of the general puzzle that is not found in anyone else. Thus, I justifiably feel that I am special. The question is only is how will I use my uniqueness? Will I try to complement the others in any way that is possible?

The spiritual puzzle isn’t the same as a corporeal puzzle where each piece is in contact only with a few of the nearest neighbors, and far away from all the others. In the spiritual puzzle I am connected to everyone. This is astonishing! Imagine to yourself that there are 600,000 pieces of the puzzle and I am connected to each one of them. Also each one of them is connected to all the other pieces. This is not a simple connection, but at each level, all of our Keterim (crowns) are connected to each other, at all the levels of Bina (wisdom) they are connected to each other and so on.

Thus between us there is a tight connection of bestowal that we still need to discover. At the end of correction, thanks to our sensation and understanding of this complicated connection, it will become revealed in “620” times greater intensity: instead of Nefesh de Nefesh, NRNHY de NRNHY.

Imagine that there was this simple system of 600,000 pieces that was connected in a series, one after the other, like a herd of sheep. And suddenly they connect in all kinds of ties, complementing and filling each other in all situations and attributes.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/12, Shamati #35

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Count On The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In turning to the world, we say that the solution to all the problems is in connection. Will we ever be able to explain to people what it is so that it will be clear to a person how to connect with others?

Answer: You are asking: When will the vessels discover the right attitude towards the Reforming Light? How do we explain to people that unity is the solution?

We go through spiritual development. The Light shines upon the different stages of development and we are under the stages.

On the first stage, the vessel feels itself in the form of the inanimate, then in the form of the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking.

A person feels that a desired pleasure can only come through the group, through connection. If on the previous levels I received egoistically, here when I am connected with others (∑), I belong to a global world, to the vessel of the true filling. My life is eternal; it rises above the beastly reality of the body. You can do whatever you want with the body, especially considering new technologies, but inside me there is something that makes up my “self.”

Thus a person begins to feel what is specific to the level of the “speaking.” He discovers that he is in a society, in a mutual global relationship, in a “round” world. Inside he is ready for that and the external influences bring him to the feeling of an integral world (∫) between the limits of zero and infinity. This picture includes everyone, with no exceptions.

Then a person discovers that there is no other choice, and that he must connect with others. What is more, it is worthwhile for him to connect because his life becomes safer and more successful this way and it also helps the environment.

Thus a person begins to appreciate the unity. Many in the world will die without unity. For example, inhabitants of big cities will not survive if they stop providing different services to one another. Actually all the people in the world are connected this way. This is the human level; it is revealed as a single, unified system (1).

You are asking, “When will we be able to explain to people the advantages in connection and unity?” it isn’t easy, because it is a gradual process. On the previous levels, humanity developed for about 50,000 years; before that only nature took part in the process.

From Above the Light operates on us. If we want to intensify its influence, we should prepare the vessel for it below, then changes will take place.

Our explanations today do not achieve the desired effect. We must convey to people a certain level of equivalence to the Light. For example, when we bring our ideas into the protest movements, it is good. On the whole we should form from the general population as many groups that resemble the Light, which means that they will carry our ideas to some extent. In order to do that we print pamphlets, signs, newspapers, etc.

On the whole, don’t ever calculate your actions. The question is: “What should I do so that the Light will operate?” Then you won’t go wrong. We don’t do anything by ourselves; we can only organize and place ourselves under the influence of the Light.
[71520]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/12, The Zohar

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Understanding The Gift We Received

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the convention in the desert we wanted to receive such energy that would enable us to reach connection. I think we actually succeeded?

Answer: I think that the convention was special since we’ve achieved a certain level of adhesion, and the Reshimo (reminiscence) from it remain in us, in the whole group and in each of us individually.

What takes place in spirituality doesn’t disappear, and this Reshimo symbolizes the spiritual vessel among us. Everyone feels it to some extent, more or less, but this vessel already exists. It has already been born! But in such a way that we have to make some more efforts in order to clarify it, to reveal it, and to feel it more and more clearly.

We should relate to this general vessel as to the Shechina (Divinity), to the place for the revelation of the Creator. The stronger we connect, the more contentment we bring Him. Thanks to our connection, the connection of our desires, we can bring the Creator contentment and so we begin to feel the Light in our desires, and accordingly we will feel our spiritual ascent and the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.

We should be more sensitive, pay more attention, and treat more subtly the general feeling that was born inside us.

None of us should stop for even a moment in one place. It all depends on changing the intentions and not on the number of actions. This means that it depends on our attitude toward the connection and unity we’ve achieved.

We have achieved unity and have created a vessel, and now the question is: “What do we do with it now?” This is the most important thing: a qualitative change in our work with it. This is the clarification, the search for a permanent solution.

You will have to think about that yourself. If I tell you about it now, I will be stealing your exertion. It is like bringing a child a box with a Lego toy and then pushing him away and starting to put the Lego blocks together myself.
[71517]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/2/12, Shamati #35

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We Cannot Remain The Way We Are

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt says: “There are many thoughts in a man’s heart, but the salvation of the Creator comes in the blink of any eye.” So all our claims are justified, but they should all come down to one claim: We need to reveal the Creator; otherwise, we have no chance to understand, feel, advance, or achieve success. This means that we cannot remain the way we are, not understanding anything and not reaching anything, and we cannot come out of this state.

This desperate, hopeless state is the best; it is exactly the way things should be. It is the revelation of the vessel that really needs treatment. But it has to be revealed as a result of clarifying the problems, the intentions, the “there is none else besides Him” from the start, that everything that I do is in order to reveal the Creator. What do I need it for? Because this is the goal of creation and I bring Him contentment by that.

The revelation of the Creator can only be in our collective vessel, in a collective desire. We build this collective desire from the points in the heart, which we connect when we rise above ourselves. Except for the points in the heart, everything else is our beastliness, and we lower it downwards. Thus we clarify the total structure of our general soul. That’s the way it should be.

The revelation of the Creator takes place unintentionally, which means in great confusion, and it is good. We should only hold on to the thought, to the intention, to the search, and add it to the joy of “what kind of work we, of all people, were given.” You may be dreaming of another place, of sitting at home in front of the TV, in an armchair, watching some series, or something like that. But just think of how special you are of all the billion people in the world, in order to help them, in order to discover Him, in order to serve the friends and in that to find peace and joy.

Now I’ve probably confused you even more….
[71265]
From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #2, 2/23/12

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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.
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From the Arava Arvut Convention Lesson #3, 2/24/12

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The Creator And I Meet In The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen a person approaches the revelation of the Creator, he feels that he is standing at Mount Sinai. On one hand there is all of his evil desire, but on the other hand, he understands that in order to attain the goal and reveal the Creator, he needs to prepare his desire to receive the quality of bestowal, which is copied from Him. After all, “man” (Adam) means: “similar” (Domeh) to the Creator.

And so, together we prepare our desire to receive for different forms of bestowal so it could accept the imprint. This is the state of the giving of the Torah, about which it is written: “You all appear today…” Not one, but all: Because it is in our common unity that we will reveal the upper force.

Essentially a very simple thing is required to prepare the material of desire. It is true that this action no longer pertains to our world, and this is why it is difficult for us. It is called: mutual inclusion. We all must become mutually included in one another, connect to one another through our desires, and nothing else. Then, just like before the breaking, we will reach the “place,” where the upper Light can enter, and make its imprint.

And for this reason, it does not matter what we do if we just keep the direction to unite, to reveal the Creator; as it is written: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” “Israel” is man. “Torah” is the power of the Light that unites us to the point of loving our neighbor like ourselves. And the “Creator” is the Root, which gives us His imprint when we unite.

This way I stand on one side of the group, and the Creator stands on the other. And if He and I are able to meet in the group, then there the revelation takes place.

This is the way we advance. Essentially, all our work is preparing for it. This will happen to us if we all stand together.
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From the Arava Arvut Convention 2/23/12 Lesson #2

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A Head In Proud Loneliness

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Where does the point of our unity touch the rest of the world? Why is the correct intention not enough? Why do we also need the physical action of dissemination? What mechanism activates the people whom we address?

Answer: We are in the common system consisting of five “layers” of Aviut (the thickness of desire).


Overall, our world belongs to the zero or root degree of Aviut, more precisely, its rudimental part. In the language of Kabbalah this is called the root of the root of the root, or Malchut inside Malchut inside Malchut of the world of Assiya. Its desire is perceived in the form of matter that exists below the speed of light.

The electromagnetic phenomena, gravity, physics and chemistry, biology and zoology, and matter that we perceive and recognize, all of this is essentially desire of the lowest degree, separated from the Light that governs it. From the point of view of the person who attains, there is no Light in this desire.

This is why I work with matter. After all, a person must go by what he sees before him. And before me there is the still, vegetative, animate, and human nature of the material world, which is accessible to my five senses. This is where we start: not just from afar or a neutral point, but from the opposite place.

The matter of desire descends until Malchut of the world of Assiya and continues its journey down, into the egoistic area of the spectrum. 125 degrees of descent apparently are not enough, we fall even further in the five layers of egoism.

And the lowest is not just anyone, it is Israel. It was on the height of bestowal, and this is why it fell to the very bottom. On one hand, Israel is the “smallest of nations,” but on the other, it is “stiff-necked,” meaning the most egoistic. Consequently, it experiences the most ills, is distanced the most, but at the same time is able to use this world better than others.

Then, the Light causes “vibrations” and strongly influences Israel, and it begins to awaken. But coming back is no less easier, especially given the intermixing that took place over thousands of years, which also needs to be considered.


“Why do we need to care about others?” I am being asked. “Why do we need this connection with the world? Would it not be better to take care of ourselves?”

Where have you seen a head in proud loneliness? Why would you need it if not for the benefit of the body? It is written that Israel needs to become “a kingdom of priests” for other nations. They are not able to receive the method of correction on their own, but they will be able to do it through Israel, by being connected with it, through the breaking and the intermixing.

Thus, “Israel” is essentially a calling that obligates establishing connection with others. And this is only possible through contact on the material level of our world, the lowest degree of desire, which we perceive in this form today.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/2012, Questions and Answers

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