Entries in the 'Conventions' Category

They Are Tired Of Waiting For Us On The Second Floor, Part 2

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe shattering was on purpose, in order to allow us to prepare our soul for the revelation of the Upper Light within it. When we try to correct the shattering and establish relationships of love and mutual bestowal among us, we discover that we cannot do so.

It is good that we cannot do so by ourselves since then we yearn for the Light, for the force of bestowal, that should help us. We want that force to appear among us and enable us to connect into one network of mutual bestowal.

I draw the Light to the extent that I want to bestow unto others and to love them. When the Light appears, I feel the connection with the friends and I begin to see and to feel them thanks to the influence of the Light. The Light puts us through different states with different connections, and I can thus see and learn how our collective vessel begins to connect and how all its parts are integrated correctly by the Light.

I don’t actually see the Light, but I feel its actions which help me connect with the friends. I see what is going on in the network of the connections that are revealed between us, and thus I study the actions of the Light and begin to understand and to feel it. It is said: “From Your actions we will know You.”

Thus, the network of connections between us is gradually built to the extent that I need it. The friends help me yearn for it, I exert myself and so we draw the Light and build this network.

Inside the network we discover the Upper Light and how it formats us, which means that we attain it according to its actions. But this isn’t enough either, because we have to rise from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator. Once we reach the love of friends, we rise to a higher level by our desire to be equal to the force that operates in the network of connections between us.

This means that we don’t want to resemble the actual connection between us on the first floor, but the force that operates inside it, which is called the second floor.

This is how three levels are created. The first level is the ground floor, which is where we are during the period of preparation.

We ascend to the first floor when we reach the love of friends. It is only called love of friends, but in fact, these are my efforts to build the network of connections between us with all the complete ten Sefirot since all of creation is comprised of ten Sefirot. It is then that the Creator is revealed within this network.

We actually build Malchut, the Shechina, which is the place where the Creator can dwell and be revealed. Building such a place is called love of friends in the ordinary words of this world, but we should understand that it refers to the building of the spiritual vessels, to the network of connections.

Thanks to this, we actually reconstruct the network of connection, correct the shattering, and begin to understand the Creator’s actions. If the Creator hadn’t shattered this structure, we would never have been able to reveal it, but would have been angels who are in their natural attribute of bestowal.

But since we ask for the revelation of the Creator in order that He will connect us after the shattering and help us, we will thus know His actions and attain “the advantage of the Light in the darkness.” This is how we can imagine the vessel and the Light within it because they become two separate entities, like a body and the Light that fills it.

We shouldn’t think that the love of friends is redundant. Years go by before a person begins to understand the importance of the love of friends as a result of the influence of small portions of Light. We can increase the importance of that by our actions in front of one another. In fact, no one feels the real importance, which is great; in this way we reconstruct the shattered soul. Then we discover our adhesion to the Creator within it.

It is impossible to treat the Creator better than the friends! It is impossible to connect to Him, to bestow unto Him and to love Him more than connecting, bestowing unto and loving the friends. After all, everything is determined by the vessels.

Everyone should understand that eventually there is no choice but to annul before the group, to try to connect with everyone with all one’s heart and soul so that instead of feeling oneself, we will only feel everyone together as one whole.

It is because we want to hasten our development and to help ourselves reach the state in which we will finally begin to discover the spiritual space that we organize a convention of connection and gather in order to make a collective effort to connect.
[148875]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/14, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
They Are Already Tired Of Waiting For Us On The Second Floor, Part 1
Changing Your Ground Floor Apartment To An Apartment On The First Floor
Advancing By Blows

Learning To Live In An Integral World, Part 2

laitman_254_01Baal HaSulam, Article “The Freedom”: It turns out that when humankind achieves its goal, with respect to the success of the bodies, by bringing them to the degree of complete love of others, all the bodies in the world will unite into a single body and a single heart, as written in the article, “The Peace.” Only then will all the happiness intended for humanity become revealed in all its glory.

Humanity needs to reach a state in which everyone attains spirituality and the complete revelation of the Creator.

Baal HaSulam, The Study of The Ten Sefirot, Volume 3, Ohr Pnimi, Item 88: All our dealings with the prayers and the practical Mitzvot are in order to clarify time and time again and to raise all the souls that dropped from the First Man and fell to the shells, until they are brought back to their initial root, as they were before the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, which means that before the sin of the Tree of Knowledge First Man was already in his ultimate wholeness.

No more, no less. We must correct the whole shattering that the First Man (Adam HaRishon) underwent and to restore him to the corrected state. All the people in the world should reach the complete revelation of the Creator.

Baal HaSulam: In our generation when every individual needs the help of every state in the world to attain his own happiness (since we are living in a global integral world), the individual must be enslaved to the whole world like a cogwheel in a machine.

We are all like cogwheels in the same mechanism, totally dependent on one another to such an extent that no one can reach correction unless everyone else is corrected. At the moment it doesn’t concern us since we are only on the first level of correction, before the revelation of the Creator. There are 125 other levels of the spiritual ladder before us and the higher we ascend this ladder, the more we will have to expand and the more people we will have to include in the process of correction in order to reveal the upper world. This is especially true today when our world has become integral.

Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”: Therefore, the possibility of making good, happy, and peaceful conducts in one state is inconceivable when it is not so in all the countries in the world, and vice versa.

It is impossible to reach a good life in one country only. Today everyone understands this point. On the contrary, if it is bad in a certain place, it will be bad for everyone. It is a pity that politicians don’t understand this.

So how can we attract people to correction? We can succeed with quantity and we can succeed with quality. There can be a very small but strong group of Kabbalists, but sometimes it is the other way around, when the average is low but the size of the group compensates for that by the number of members, 30, 49, or 70 people.

There is a hero in quantity and a hero in quality just like in our life. If I have to move a load from one place to another, I can do it with the help of several “heroes,” but if I don’t have any “heroes,” I can do the same job with a much greater number of ordinary people.

The same is true with regard to the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is clear that we should yearn for quality, but we shouldn’t underestimate quantity, since it is also very helpful. Even if we are small, we can manage if there is a quantity and we might do the job even faster.

There is a great advantage to a large number of participants. If one of them falls, another rises. Everyone helps one another, and the fact that they are all on different levels and in different states makes it easier to carry out the work. Therefore, we have to make sure that the group expands, grows, and “gets fat.”

Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation,” Part 2: The inclination of life is to carefully attain adhesion for the sake of the Creator alone, or to award the masses with adhesion with the Creator.

This means that we have to reach adhesion with the Creator while still alive. This is precisely the reason we were born in a corporeal body, which means that we have received an extra ego called a body. Now we have to rise above the ego and to adhere to the Creator and connect to Him.

Baal HaSulam says that this is everyman’s goal. But if you cannot attain it, you will be able to do so by disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah to others. As it says: …Thus you can learn that the inclination of life is to carefully attain adhesion for the sake of the Creator alone, or to award the masses with adhesion with the Creator. Baal HaSulam, “The Last Generation,” Part 2.

Every person has his own work style. There are those who engage in dissemination and others study, which means that they engage either in an external or an internal correction, each according to his abilities.
[148248]
From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11/22/14, Lesson 4

Related Material:
Learning To Live In An Integral World, Part 1
All Of Us Are One Family
Egoism At The Finish Line

Emitting The Light Through Our Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we look at our life in this world, it seems as if we are forced to spend many hours on unnecessary activities. Life is arranged in a wasteful manner with so many hours spent on sleep, food, work, and family. A person is left with some nuggets of time at the end.

Some people calculate and figure out that they have only a few moments remaining out of their entire life and are unclear why they live their life..

But on the other hand, we understand that our entire material life is built in accordance with spiritual roots. In our world there is nothing that would not have been a consequence of the higher world, since all material branches derive from their higher spiritual roots.

Even simple activities in our world, like sleep, work, and eating seem like a waste of time, but in the upper world they have a spiritual form. Apparently, our world is designed correctly, no matter how irrational it may seem to us. First of all, we need to take this as a hypothesis, and then we’ll see.

Our life seems a little too short or too long, confusing, and without any meaning, but is apparently arranged in the best way to achieve the highest goal. And if so, it’s necessary to ask, “Where is that secret reason, that correct goal towards which we should strive? What exactly is there to choose from in this life and how do we delve into this analysis?”

Even during those times when we are in spiritual work studying, we aren’t always able to properly concentrate. What can be depicted as the most important and necessary? What can be accomplished during this life in order to make it successful and to correctly use this chance given to us?

We come to the most important point in which all our work and effort are concentrated. This is the place for which we all should strive and seek: the revelation of the Creator. This is the only place towards which we should direct our efforts, to try to get as close as we can until we can touch it and then start building it.

It’s been written that we create the Creator. We need to build a vessel, a joint desire assembled from the many different and strange desires that are foreign to each other. The capacity of the vessel is determined by the contrast and connection of all components, which will be revealed to us as the property of bestowal that is located above the properties of reception.

The confrontation of these two properties, one against the other, is how we reveal the Creator. As it is written, “Love covers all crimes,” which is built above hatred.

It’s clear that the most important thing is to build this common place for us that is combined from our desires. Therefore, everyone has to find out what kind of wish is being talked about, what we want it to do, how one organizes and builds the correct desire, how to correctly direct it, what its effect will be, and what we need to feel within it.

Interesting enough, none of us have such a desire that is good enough for the revelation of the Creator! If it’s present within us, we would need only to increase its size and the power at the expense of our association. But everything is based on exactly the opposite, which is the annulling of the opposite desire existing within a person.

In Kabbalah, this is called a screen and reflected light We need to build such desires internally and see that they are contained in this particular desire that appears as an opposite, as an aspiration to bestow. Only in this desire are we able to connect with each other and achieve such a powerful quality and strength that it would start emitting light by itself. Therefore, the most important thing is that common place that we must attain.
[149124]
From the Convention Association “Day One” 12/5/14, Lesson 2

Related Material:
What Is A Spiritual Necessity?
The Light Looks For A United Heart
The Closed Door As An Excuse To Enter

Learning To Live In An Integral World, Part 1

laitman_579The Light created a desire to receive and after that divided it into five phases. The “root” phase – Keter still belongs to the Light. And from it the first phase emerges that belongs to the desire, to the Kli, to Hochma. The Hochma phase is a desire to receive that wants to be bestow like Keter and becomes Bina.  Bina produces Zeir Anpin, a unique Kli that integrates reception and bestowal within itself. And Zeir Anpin produces Malchut that includes all of the characteristics within itself and wants to get everything without taking account of anything; the main thing is to be filled.

These states are called the Four Phases of Direct Light because they are created by the Light that extends directly from above to below. The last phase, Malchut, which is the only true Kli, the creature, is also divided into five parts: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Desires on levels 2, 3 and 4 are very strong, difficult, and especially egoistic. They are called receptive desires, the AHP. The desires on levels 0 and 1 are lighter desires, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE).

The goal of creation is to bring all of Malchut to the state of Keter, like the Creator. For this to happen, many actions take place, including a shattering. And now it is up to us to correct everything. It is interesting that there are parts of Malchut that are not ready to be awakened to correction by themselves and require external awakening. And there are parts that awaken by themselves and yearn for the goal of creation, for the Creator. They already want to attain the heavens and the upper world here in this life. Such people come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah; they want to know the meaning of life: What are we living for?

Many ask this question, especially in their childhood from the ages of 5 to 10. But after that a child grows and stops asking about this. The moment that sexual attraction develops in him, he forgets these questions about the meaning of life. What can be done about it? That’s life. Society suppresses them in a person and he stops thinking about the meaning of his existence.

Among some of the people there are spiritual Reshimot (remembrances) that force them to search for the meaning of life. And other people are not ready even to imagine questions like these. But all of us are parts of the same Kli, everyone must reach correction.

The uniqueness of the integral Kli is that each part includes all the rest of the parts within itself. It is impossible to correct the source phase or the first phase without including all the rest of the phases within them. This is the law of the integral system.

Even our body functions according to the same principle, even though we are not aware of it. According to eastern medicine there are points on the hands and the feet which represent all the organs of the body: the kidneys, the heart, all of the organs. And this is truly so.

So to correct ourselves, we must be drawn towards correction of the whole world. There is no choice! In our day this is an obligation! In previous periods Kabbalists would correct themselves since there was no possibility of speaking openly with people about the wisdom of Kabbalah and about the meaning of life. So Kabbalists were in concealment. It was even forbidden to open one’s mouth to speak about Kabbalah publicly.

This situation continued until 30-40 years ago. It was forbidden to talk about the wisdom of Kabbalah in the street, as someone was liable to hear. If someone found out that you were studying Kabbalah, people would simply shy away from you. It was considered to be criminal. And bookstores didn’t sell books about Kabbalah.

So throughout the generations, beginning from ancient Babylon, Kabbalists corrected what was possible, meaning themselves. Even thirty years ago they secretly learned the wisdom of Kabbalah. And only in our times has Kabbalah emerged from hiding and become common knowledge.

But along with this, we must correct the world; otherwise, we cannot correct ourselves. It was enough for Kabbalists of the past to correct themselves, but for us this is no longer enough. Many sources have been written about this.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: But the end of the correction of the world will only be by bringing all the people in the world under His work, as it is written,”And the Lord shall be King over all the earth (meaning over every desire); in that day shall the Lord be One, and His name one” (Zechariah, 14:9).
[148212]
From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11/22/14, Lesson 4

Related Material:
The Turning Point Of Development
Connection With The Light
All Of Us Are One Family

Heart To Heart

laitman_943Question: What do you expect of the coming convention?

Answer: First we need to regard the convention seriously and to spend every minute and every hour of the convention in a collective inclination to connect in order to reveal our collective attribute of bestowal in which we will discover the Creator.

At the same time we shouldn’t forget all the groups and all our friends who are not able to be with us in person for various reasons. We will not forget anyone.

We will also not forget the whole Israeli nation or the whole world as well.

We will constantly try to implement the inner impulse each of us has for connection during all the activities and the events in the convention in order to feel the hearts of the friends as one heart.

This is the feeling we should have as a result of the convention and we should try to hold on to it and keep it during the weekdays. In a couple of weeks we will have another convention and once again we will see to what extent our efforts in connecting help us advance.

If everyone is serious about his task of his contributions, we will really be able to achieve something.

Everyone should show others how serious he is and his readiness to attain the goal, to attain connection. He should show others that he works with an open heart with regard to others and to what extent he is attracted to the connection between them, to actually be connected heart to heart. This is the impression and the inspiration we should receive from everyone. Everyone has to set an example as to how much they want and yearn to be connected and how much they want to shatter all the partitions between us.

We must get closer and closer to one another so that everyone will see to what extent he annuls the shell (Klipot) of his body (Guf). It is our obligation to continue these efforts.
[148939]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The Friends Inside Our Heart
Let The Convention Fill Us With The Breath Of Life
The Convention Is Starting

Convention Association “Day Two” – 12.06.14

Convention Association, “Day Two,” Lesson 4 

[media 1] [media 2]

Convention Association, “Day Two,” Lesson 5

[media 3] [media 4]

Convention Association, “Day Two,” Lesson 6 

[media 5] [media 6]

Convention Association “Day One” – 12.05.14

Convention Association, “Day One,” Lesson 1 

[media 1] [media 2]

Convention Association, “Day One,” Lesson 2

[media 3] [media 4]

Convention Association, “Day One,” Lesson 3 

[media 5] [media 6]

Connecting Through The Teacher

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe main thing learning is not the study of separate phenomena but of the connections between them: how one phenomenon depends on the other in a direct and an opposite manner. This means that studying provides us with a picture of the connections between all the parts of reality.

This is what we pay most attention to during the lessons. We learn more about the connections between the elements than about the actual elements. It is impossible to study only one thing.

It turns out that a person cannot study by himself. Therefore it is written: “I have learned from all my students.” The teacher doesn’t learn by himself but actually from his students. So if we disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah or teach the integral method, we learn from our students and thus advance.

But if I don’t teach and have no students, I cannot advance. One can only learn from his students, and it is an essential condition. Now we may understand why Kabbalists call us to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah. We are not doing anyone a favor by that but are helping ourselves.

Teaching a student means establishing a connection between him and the Creator. This is actually what a teacher teaches his student: how to connect to the Creator. This means that the teacher is between the Creator and the student as a mediator, a guide, a conductor.

A student connects with the Creator through the teacher whether he wants to or not. Every time he renews his connection with the Creator, whether in a positive way or a negative way, all the changes are through the conductor, through the teacher. No matter what the student does, whether he ascends or descends, he activates this conductor and the teacher gains from that.

It is impossible to connect to the Creator unless you are a guide, a conductor that conveys to the group or to a student. This goes together with the fact that there is no need to correct a person himself, but rather his attitude towards others, including the Creator.
[148323]
From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11/22/14, Lesson 4

Related Material:
Dissemination Makes Us Like The Creator
If We Only Knew How Much We Gain
We Learn Much More From Students

If We Only Knew How Much We Gain

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What benefits do I get when I contribute to the dissemination of knowledge of Kabbalah in the world? What rewards do I get from the Creator when I tell the whole world that we need to achieve adhesion with the Creator?

Answer: There is only one soul that broke and fell into many pieces. And now each part, each of us, restores its part of the whole vessel of the soul. I put together the entire vessel according to my properties, you organize and put it together according to your properties, she does it according to hers, etc.

So, it’s important to bring a lot of people in this world to study and to correction. For instance, I was able to bring 50 people to study Kabbalah with Rabash.

We are one integral soul where everyone is included in each other and every one contains parts of all the others. Obviously, what is good for me is awakening some fragments of the soul lifelessly lying on the floor.

I wake them, ignite them, revive them, and convince them that it is worth studying and striving towards the goal, and they then start to do something. Thus, I awaken others, and they make a correction for me!

It’s not that I’m doing them a favor by pushing them to the correction, to the purpose of creation and the Creator. On the contrary, by prompting others, I persuade them to perform work for me, since they correct my soul.

Suppose I come to a convention and teach you. Believe me, I gain a lot, more than all of you, to the extent that I pass knowledge on to you and an awakening. I awake you and you begin to correct yourselves, but, in fact, you are correcting my soul.

We do not understand this and therefore neglect dissemination. It seems to us that no matter how many people know about Kabbalah, we aren’t personally affected. Internally, I possess such properties that I can never correct directly, but only through someone in a roundabout way.

If the group is awake and affects me by inspiring me with the greatness of the Creator and the spiritual goal, then I awake and start working while being fueled by friends.

I take a student and begin to teach him, and while studying, he corrects my soul. If we had only known how much a person benefits from dissemination, everyone would have rushed excitedly to the group to disseminate. It’s like opening a factory where your employees work for you. Students correct the teacher’s soul.
[148318]
From the Congress In Verona “Day Two” 11.22.14, Lesson 4

Related Material:
Dissemination Makes Us Like The Creator
We Learn Much More From Students
Regarding The Greatness Of My Mission With Fear

Congress In Verona “Day Three” – 11.23.14

Congress in Verona “Day Three,” Lesson 6

[media 1] [media 2]

Congress in Verona “Day Three,” Workshop 1

[media 3] [media 4]