Entries in the 'Collective Soul' Category

From External Hearing To Internal One

Dr. Michael LaitmanTo the degree that a person feels the importance of the goal, he is ready to forego everything that prevents him from reaching it. But it takes time until he begins to hear what is being said because the heart is what hears and not the ears. He can go over what is written in articles many times, yet he doesn’t hear. Then he begins to hear, but doesn’t understand. After that he begins to understand something, but doesn’t absorb it. After that he begins to absorb it, but meanwhile it does not touch his desires.

When it finally penetrates into his desires, he begins to compare what he had with what enters his desires now. He begins to calculate and decide what to do, to clarify which desire is preferable: Which is more worthwhile, eternal, equal, and so forth. So, he decides whether he is able to abandon his current self, his ego,whether he can empty a place for another within himself—is he obliged to do it, does he want this or not?

After this he already begins to act on his choice, wanting the external environment to influence him as much as possible so that he can make a calculation within his heart regarding the good of the other and not his own good. All this has to be with his agreement, by his free choice, above his previous egoistic desire. In this way he advances towards the goal.

Therefore, we see many people who learn are allegedly together with everyone, but they still hear only with “external hearing.” It may take years before this enters them. Some begin to hear only after 10 – 15 years, and others much faster. There are all kinds of reactions from the soul for essentially it has to do with its correction.

So until a person realizes the need to transform his private inner essence to the collective  much time will pass. This constitutes the hardest part of our work, the most difficult first step. After this a person only increases the desire to bestow, but first he needs to establish and consolidate it, to put it on top of the mountain, above his ego, and this requires great work. One can only ask here for patience and a little submission, which is what helps us.

Thus, we have no basis to be angry at people who hear about this method of integral education yet don’t know how to implement it, to explain it to people. It’s not yet the time for them to absorb it internally. There is a difference between an ability to hear and the ability to carry it out.
[105651]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/13

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The Mother Is Always Good

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does it say that the picture of this world is fictitious and not real?

Answer: The picture of the world that appears before us is fictitious and not real because the Creator is always good and benevolent to us. Eventually, the created being will reveal the Creator’s love in everything. But in the meantime, having no choice, He must hasten us to develop and even threaten, pressure, and confuse us.

We do the same thing with children since otherwise, they will not develop. This is why the Creator treats us in the same way. The problem is that we don’t see who is taking care of us and we don’t know the plan of creation.

A baby also doesn’t understand what is going on, either. He doesn’t realize that his parents are giving him exercises; for him, it is simply a game. It is only when his mother or father begin to pressure him does he pay attention to them and begin to shout that Mommy is bad!

I never have heard a child shouting that Mom is good. He takes this for granted since it is obvious that she must serve him. But when she suddenly does something against his will, he resents it.

So, we must understand that the only way to advance is by exercises that are not very pleasant and will only get more complicated. Everything depends on our preparation and on our ability to recognize them. In fact, we are given a certain exercise every moment, and we can be constantly in the process of clarification. However, a person doesn’t make the right effort, and so the Creator’s stimuli accumulate and are felt eventually as a hard blow.

It is as if you have complaints about someone, but restrain yourself and suffer. You accumulate anger and frustration inside of you, instead of easily and immediately clarifying things the moment they come up. Eventually, however, you lose patience and explode, and this happens suddenly and unexpectedly and those around you don’t understand what is going on.

So, it is better not to come to such an outburst, but to be aware of what is going on all the time. This is possible only through mutual guarantee when everyone thinks about this and deals with it, when everyone wants to support one another. In fact, we are building the one, general vessel of the soul. A person has nothing that is private in spirituality.

The solution is only in connection, and it has to do with what I think about the friends and about the connection between us. This is the only thing we have to correct since this is how our soul is built.
[104963]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/8/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Key To 99% Of The Global Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the role today of the global Bnei Baruch groups  in different countries?

Answer: The world  groups play a special important role because Israel cannot correct themselves if they are not focused on the world. The GE have no way of correcting themselves if they are isolated from others.

The Creator wanted to give the Torah first to the nations of the world . All the Light is opposite this desire, opposite the AHP and not opposite GE. In fact the AHP makes up the whole vessel, 99% of the whole desire. Therefore the nation of Israel, GE, is the smallest of all the nations. It has no right to exist except for serving all this great AHP.

The Creator wants to fill the AHP with the Light and He tests GE as the part that serves the Creator and these desires to receive. Israel are the slaves of their mission, and the nations of the world are not. We have to carry out our mission towards the Creator and all of humanity. Therefore, the two sides come complaining to us, and their complaints are just since we have to be the link, the adapter,  between the Creator and the world and between the world and the Creator. We, however, don’t fulfill our role.

In order to function correctly, we need a connection with the upper force, with the Creator, which is realized through the center of the group. On other hand, we need to be connected to all our groups and to all the friends who belong to the nations of the world since this is how the connection from them to us and from them to the nations of the world among which they live is fulfilled. Thus we all connect paving the path from Malchut of Malchut, the greatest desire of the created being, to the desire of Keter of Keter and all the way to the Creator.

The central group must treat all the groups around the world lovingly, with great concern and attention, to connect to them as closely as possible despite the language barriers and the geographic distance, and to accept them as closely as possible. It is through them that we can reach the other people, the other nations, and to pass on to them the method of integral education.

Our friends all over the world who live there as “converts,” which means that they also have a point in the heart, are part of Israel and fulfill the connection between AHP and us, GE. We cannot establish such a connection by ourselves, and it is our friends in other countries who do that.

It turns out that they belong to the main layer of the desire that is on the border between GE and AHP. Without this connection the GE and AHP are meaningless. For this reason, we have to pay great attention to our friends and to support them in every way we can, to hold conventions, to provide translation in every language, that is, help them as much as we can. It is because they belong to the layer of desire that allows us to answer the question: What do we exist for?

We exist thanks to the fact that we have such connection to the AHP, thanks to our friends all over the world.
[105255]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam 

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The Land Of Israel On The Map And In The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanIsrael are not saved unless they are all one bundle, and Zion was saved.”

The reflection of the goal of creation, of the shattering, is reflected throughout the history of the Israeli nation that conquers the land of Israel, and only afterward does it have the privilege to be called a “created being.” The desire to receive itself cannot be bad since everything is managed by the intention and it is the only thing that determines what happens with the creation.

The created being grows only by its intention and it can feel, understand, and expand the perception of its “vessels,” thus becoming an independent entity. The desire to receive and the Light are given to him infinitely.

When the created being begins to work and understand that it is part of the intention and not the desire, it is the beginning of Adam (a human being). This is the critical turning point in the development of all of creation. At that moment when a person begins to tie himself to the intention, he becomes a human being, which means that he transcends his desire and determines everything according to the intention: to whom and to what he wants to belong.

People who determine everything according to their intention, who develop it and ignore their desire are called Yashar -El (those who yearn for the Creator), Israel. By that they differ from people who want to develop and to determine the course of their life according to their desire and the size of its filling.

Desire (Ratzon) means earth, land, (Eretz), earthliness, which means connecting to the low corporeal desires. The loyalty to the intention, however, is considered upper. According to this criterion, the world is called upper or lower, apertures above and below.

If we develop according to our desire, it is a natural development according to the Reshimot (informational genes). The desire to develop is what forces us to change, which is called the natural development, but if we develop by the intention, then it is already up to us. It doesn’t happen naturally, in its time, as time goes by, according to nature’s plan. It is a development by the path of “I shall hasten it,” according to the pace that we determine ourselves.

Developing according to the desire is the usual animal development on the levels of the still nature, the vegetative, and the animate in which a person first develops in a state of unconsciousness. However, developing according to the intention is the real human development, and so he is called Adam since he corrects his intention and by that becomes similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

The intention that is aimed at the Creator is called Israel or the nation of Israel. The desire that is under the domination of this intention is called the land of Israel. The correction that we have to make is to bring our desire under the domination of the intention of in order to bestow. This means to conquer the “whole world” (the whole desire) of which the nations of the world are accusing Israel. It means placing all of the desire of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) under the domination of the intention of bringing contentment to the Creator. This would mean that the land of Israel has spread all over the earth.

So, it is clear now that the land of Israel cannot be a ready made piece of land, like a geographic zone on the map, but everything depends on a person’s readiness to correct himself and accordingly to also conquer a place that is called the land of Israel, on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, which means to receive it, to inherit it in the corporeal sense.
[105072]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Inheritance of the Land”

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The Group’s Burning Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, “One Should Always Sell the Beams of His House:” Rather, I truly want love of others. This is why I was interested in establishing this society, so I would see that each and every one is engaging in love of others, so that through it, the little bit of force that I have in love of others would increase and I would have the strength to engage in love of others more powerfully than I could by myself. But now I see that I have gained nothing because I see that not even one is doing good. Thus, it would be better if I weren’t with them and hadn’t learned from their actions.

To that, there is the reply that if a society is established with certain people, and when they gathered, there must have been someone who wished to establish specifically this “bunch.” Thus, he sorted out these people to see that they were suitable for each other. In other words, each of them had a spark of love of others, but the spark could not ignite the light of love to shine in each, so they agreed that by uniting, the sparks would become a big flame.

A group is not just a collection of people who gather in order to study together like in a certain course. This gathering is called a Kabbalistic group the moment these people feel a real need for an inner connection, in order to discover the Creator in it and by that to bring Him contentment.

When all these conditions are fulfilled, even in the most initial form, then we may see that a place and the time, the conditions for the birth of the group are formed. Anyone who decides that the main thing he needs in life is the concern for such an inner connection with other people in order to find the revelation of the Creator in this connection is a called a “member” in the group.

Our obligation is to constantly check whether we are compatible with these conditions. If we are not, if a person is not compatible with these conditions and exits the domination of the group, he immediately returns to the level of the animate. But whoever remains connected to others in order to annul himself in order to bring about connection and in it to discover the upper force, the force of bestowal and general love is part of the group when he succeeds in doing that.

Eventually, the collective efforts of the friends lead to the revelation of the system called the “soul.” They build the spiritual system of the ten Sefirot between them, the Direct Light, the Returning Light, the three lines, etc. All the details of the upper worlds about which we study in The Study of the Ten Sefirot will be revealed in the connection between us as the components of the system of the soul.
[104556]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/13, Writings of Rabash

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Temporary Relief Or Full Recovery

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I work in an artistic workshop where I help people with mental and emotional problems, with depression, and all sorts of social problems to come out of their seclusion through art. I don’t understand the difference between integral education and social work. What is the difference between them?

Answer: The difference is that in the case of integral education, you transmit the Light through yourself to others. You organize them so that they will transform into a spiritual Kli (vessel). After all, you have a point in the heart and therefore, you work with them through yourself. You receive their desires and problems and arrange them such that something is added in you and for this addition you can receive the Light.


This is not social work, but spiritual work. This is the difference between them.

You work in order to attract the upper Light to organize all humanity into one whole, into one unified system called “Adam” so that in this system the upper Light, the higher state, will be revealed. This is not some kind of relaxation instead of a pill. Rather, it is specifically the elevation of humanity to the next level of existence.

We are not engaged in relaxing people even though we may say this to them. But we understand that it is impossible to do anything on the level they are at, except raise them to a spiritual level.

All of our attempts to resolve some of the problems in this world, charity, or help for various population strata are to no avail. Nothing is fixed with this, and it only gets worse. There are many investigators of this subject; and it is completely clear that all of the problems are derived only from our not correcting ourselves and instead, becoming involved in this kind of social work.

I am not saying that this work is not required or that it is harmful. If it is possible now to help a person in some concrete manner, it is necessary to help. However, together with this, one must not forget that we don’t attain anything with this. Therefore, it is possible to be involved temporarily with social work as long as we haven’t yet begun the widespread dissemination of integral education.

Question: Do these two types of work conflict with each other, and is it possible to unite them?

Answer: It is possible to unite them but only to the degree that you understand that with this, you are providing only temporary relief to a person’s condition. If your actions are connected to real correction, then this is meaningful.
[103572]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Incredible Progression

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I include all 600,000 souls in my quality would ordinary people feel my great power when they interact with me? Will I influence them in certain way?

Answer: 600,000 souls are not parts separated from one another; it is a conventional Kabbalistic name of the level to which we have to rise.

This means that if now I sense the minimal bonding with others then conventionally it is called one. When I begin to climb the spiritual rungs and let’s say I include myself into Zeir Anpin, it means that I include 10 souls within myself; if I become included into ISHSUT – it is 1,000 souls, in Aba ve Ima – 10,000, etc. In addition, this is multiplied by 60 because Zeir Anpin consists of six parts. When I rise to Arich Anpin it turns out that I multiply myself by 600,000. It means that my today’s attainment increases 600,000 times.

However, this is just a convention because we don’t understand what 600,000 means. It is an incredible progression. It is not linear, but rather exponential in the infinite degree.
[103320]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 1

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When The Curtain Falls

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 20: And the same “body,” in its bad form that is given to us in the present, this too does not spoil our essence as this and all its properties are about to be annulled completely together with all the system of impurity that is its source, and everything that is about to be burned is as if it is already burned, and is considered as if it never existed.

The essence of the soul (Nefesh), clothed in the body, is merely at this stage of desire, but the desire to bestow is derived from a system of four worlds of ABYA of sanctity; it exists eternally, because this form of the desire to bestow is in equivalence of form with the source of life and is unchangeable.

We exist in the reality of Ein Sof (Infinity) and all the worlds (olamot), meaning the concealments (alamot), are only filters that adjust the picture of Ein Sof for us; the degree of concealment exists only in our perception and they will vanish the moment we are able to annul our body,” the desire to receive for itself.

However, this desire still needs to be revealed. Where does it really exist? In fact, today all my desires are actually acting at the beastly level. The real desire in order to receive is revealed only when I begin to work in order to bestow and find out everything that is opposed to the desire to bestow. Opposing the right line, the left line is revealed; against sanctity, impurity is revealed.

Here below, under the line of spiritual perception, we are in the imaginary world where our desires, as it is said, “All look like beasts.” But if by work in the group, in dissemination, in connection, for friends, for humanity, and finally for the Creator, we reveal our inclination toward Above, then we reveal our corrupted “body,” meaning the desire to receive with the intention to receive.

In order to correct this desire, the intention needs to change to in order to bestow. The desire to receive itself stays and above it I build a desire in order to bestow that is called soul (Neshama). Its essence is in my bestowal to everyone. By giving to everyone, loving everyone, I develop the soul above my “body.” And in this form, we are reach correction.

Then this world disappears, and I can see all the worlds to the world of Infinity.

Now we also exist in the world of Infinity. And now, too, everything depends on my intention. Nothing is immutable and constant, as everything is being depicted and happens only in my qualities.
[102676]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/13/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” 

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From A Circle Into The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does a combination of people in the integral circle form a new force, integrality, meaning people’s minds and feelings are combined together?

Answer: They are not simply combined together, but, rather, the mind and feelings are mutually complemented. Therefore, they form a new, physical, integral force. This is not just a sum, but rather, a sum of all common efforts to rise above oneself to connect with others; that is, it is a spiritual force.

Spiritual means “apart from egoism” because everyone must rise in order to begin connecting with others.

All our small efforts accumulate together. Then, from our connection, we begin to sense something new. It’s very good, kind, pleasant, and safe.

Let’s say that ten people sit in the circle. However, during the discussion, they form not just a combination of the ten people, but it’s multiplied by an infinite number. This is because, when I annul myself in order to connect with one and another one and a third one, and they, in turn, do the same, in this way, each of us receives the integral desire. Then, with this integral desire, we, again, “enter” one another in one experience, and, in this way, we form a multiplicity of multiplication. It is as if we pull ourselves by our hair from our world into the spiritual world.
[101930]
From KabTV’s program, “Professional Secrets,” 2/10/13

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Gliding On The Waves Of Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanLooking at the creation as a whole, in every object, in every part of it, we can recognize a measure of desire: desire to preserve itself, its properties, its state. This pertains to any part of inanimate, vegetative, animal, and human nature. Each one is characterized by a particular degree of desire since desire was the only thing that was created. On our part, we just add to it when we have a chance to work above it.

At the still, vegetative, and animal levels, we live within desire and don’t understand how it can be changed in height, size, and application. On the other hand, a human degree in a person acquires a capacity to comprehend this, start wanting to change, and apply the desire in a different manner, and this ability to modify the application and realization of desire doesn’t let us rest.

We see how people live today: society dictates the size and nature of their desire, and they, like soldiers, strive to carry out the orders they receive. After all, they are given an impression that it’s for their own good. However, those who receive an additional need to work above their nature, above their desire, which is, in fact, nature’s entire material, are deprived of rest. They wish to learn, desire to know how matter, nature, can be employed, how to re-direct and “deploy” oneself so as to achieve something above nature. This is a totally different approach: not to be inside nature, but namely above it.

This is what the science of Kabbalah teaches: to use desire living not in it, but above it in order to keep attaining the upper reality. “Upper” means above desire, above the creation’s matter. We must learn how to govern desire to remain above it without sinking to the bottom, but, rather, going with the waves and using the breath of the wind, the “spirit” breathing over the sea. We need to live by something that lies above these “depths,” to breathe air, inflate sails with the wind and use the water solely to glide over its surface.

That’s what we gradually learn in this study. We learn to use our nature, the matter of desire, to control it from outside of ourselves, to restrict and turn it in the required direction, to verify and modify it, not as our nature dictates, but as we choose. This ability we can obtain with the help of the science of Kabbalah by studying the systems we have to know and as a whole, the system of the worlds, 125 steps of changes, calibration of desire. We figure out how to use it each step of the way in order to achieve something above it.

In addition, above it, we reach the degree of the upper force that created this desire in which all of mankind lives. We use the matter of desire solely to “ascend” over it and form for ourselves a spirit, equivalent to the upper force. This is the spiritual equivalent called “Human” (Adam).

Thereby, we use the matter itself and the force that created it; we construct ourselves from both. This is how a person becomes independent from matter, meaning desire, and from the force, meaning the Creator who created this desire, and gets on his feet on his own. Now, he is comprised of matter and spirit, but in the form he has found by himself and has chosen freely.

This is what our goal is, and we won’t rest until we reach it. That’s how we are made. Some will select this path by necessity, as simple workers. However, they will have to comprehend their task, although not at high degrees, not at the level of the root cause of creation. They will follow us, whereas we won’t be at peace until we attain the equivalence that we are to create on our own, the image of Man, free from both the creation as well as the Creator. From Him, we only learn how to build ourselves in His likeness, but the Creator does not obligate us to it. On the contrary, it is the independent evolution that allows us to realize that His form is the most correct one, the best, most desirable, and profound.

Yet, we do not accept the importance of this form automatically, but rather, work by way of “faith above reason,” become unplugged from the conditions of our material and the upper force, and in this disconnection from everything, attain the value of the property of bestowal which is the highest there is.

These things will unfold in us later on, but for now they already should be giving us a some sense of importance and understanding of the work that requires us to rise constantly above the mundane. We seek pleasure in part from knowledge, habits, and all types of values that have been planted in us. We strive to ascend just as high as possible and enjoy changes, even if it is not very pleasant for our matter.

We simply need to get used to it. Spirituality, or the new form, by way of small actions, time after time, pulls us higher and higher, a little more and then more. And spirituality should be something that we desire.
[98479]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/21/13, Shamati #213

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