Entries in the 'Conventions' Category

In A Warm Friendly Circle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: After the completion of all the courses, new students are often thrown into some kind of vacuum. This affects women especially because the men have a young group, whereas women don’t. Would it be worthwhile to create a separate young group for them and create a course of intensive study with a teacher on the articles of Rabash?

Answer: I suppose that women need to organize a group that is involved with the absorption of new students. This group doesn’t need to be mixed.

When a new student feels herself in a warm circle of women, this will be a pleasant surprise for her that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. You know this for yourselves. In general, women don’t really greet new students cordially, to put it mildly. If you show a new student that among you there is an absolutely different form of mutual relationship, this will be better for her than any absorption! She will be faithful to you. She will feel that she can’t find anything else like this anywhere. Here societies appear, a place appears in which they accept her, wait for her, a place in which they don’t laugh at her, in which she can speak freely from the heart. So this is very important.

If you show her that she truly can be pleasant and open with you, you will find in return that it will be very easy to absorb her.

You don’t even need a center for this. Gather with someone once a week at home in an informal atmosphere: coffee, tea, sweets, and invite all the new students. They will not find anything like this anywhere!
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 4

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All Of Us Are One Family

Dr. Michael LaitmanI am very excited and this is not really typical of me. I have acquired quite a lot of experience in teaching and in connecting, especially with students and friends, but here there is a unique atmosphere, exciting and pure. In principle I expected this, and in spite of it all, it still excites me that it is possible to hear and to see something like this on Earth.

As you know, Kabbalah is a science that is derived from the investigation of the system of creation. People who succeeded in changing themselves according to the forces that manage us, the force of bestowal and the force of reception, discovered it. They know how to control these forces within them, in fact, they know how to manage themselves like they would some device, and through this they perceive the upper world in which we also exist.

Only we don’t know how to control these characteristics. In the meantime, we exist only within one characteristic that is revealed in us from birth, the characteristic of reception or ego. And we need to acquire the second characteristic, which is the opposite of the first. The acquisition of the second characteristic is a very complicated and drawn-out process, and all of us are now occupied with this.

After we acquire it, it is discovered in us and we begin to learn how to work with these two opposite characteristics. Only then do we begin to understand what nature or the Creator or the creation really is. And we see what happens behind this whole picture that is formed only within our egoistic characteristic.

When we discover the true picture of reality, we see that everything is based upon the right connection between the two characteristics, on the reciprocal wholeness between the opposites. And a wondrous picture is discovered, in principle, a single whole, the entire creation. All people, including the entire world, is one whole.

And only so that a person will not be a managed creature, in order to lift him to the level of the entirety of the perfect nature, it is given to him to feel that his egoistic characteristic that controls the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate destroys him. On the one hand, this characteristic develops a human being, and on the other hand, he begins to feel his development as a negative development. All that he does, he begins to see that he does to his detriment. And he is not prepared not to do it.

In this way, the program of nature acts in us so that we will reach recognition of the evil of our ego, of our nature, and we will want to balance it, to somehow leave it and rise above it, to control it and to limit it. But this is impossible until we reach an understanding of how we do this and what Kabbalah speaks about.

Without this wisdom we are liable to suffer, we try to do something with ourselves, with our ego, but nothing comes of it. We need people who have already penetrated into the “supra-egoistic” world who understand how everything is constructed and who can help us acquire an additional characteristic, the characteristic of bestowal that will balance the characteristic of reception.

Even though Kabbalah reveals that all of us are one family, one complete whole (the Kabbalists wrote about this already thousands of years ago) it waited until the moment that humanity began to understand and become conscious of its evil nature.

Even a few decades ago we thought we had the ability to be victorious over nature, to change the direction of the flow of rivers and to conquer nature. For some reason we want to “conquer,” “to fight over crop yields,” to do everything by force, to shatter everything. We thought that this needed to be done because we weren’t the crowning glory of nature, its highest part, for no reason. And ultimately it turns out that it is completely the opposite.

The recognition of evil is the most wondrous phenomenon that typifies our century, our generation. On the one hand, a global world is revealed, wholeness is revealed, integrality, a mutual connection between all its parts. And on the other hand, there is a feeling that there is no adaptation among us for globalism, for wholeness and integrality. On the contrary, we are completely opposite to all of nature.

It would seem that humanity is so powerful and intelligent, it is also the part the affects nature the most. Indeed, in the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate, all the parts complete each other, they are found in harmony and we are opposite to it. We are harmful, and in fact, we destroy ourselves and everything found around us; we saw the branch we sit on, with our own hands, we cause our own deterioration. All of our sciences turn into evil, the arts are deteriorating, and families fall apart. Everything we produce and attain turns into completely ridiculous accumulation in one hand and poverty in others.

That is, the ego is clearly revealed today as entirely evil and destroys all our options and great human potential. At the same time, nothing can be done about it.

Once upon a time we were one single whole. The upper light, the force of bestowal, the force of love, which is the essential force of nature, created desire. This desire evolved, and to the degree that its characteristics became distant from the characteristic of the Light, it became conscious of being opposite to the Light, becoming more distant from it all the time. Thus, the levels of the evolution of desire were created; its distance according to its lack of equivalence of form to the characteristic of the Light increased until this desire was shattered into very small fragments. And these fragments are, in principle, the people in our world.

The parts of the still, vegetative, and animate nature are in an integral relationship with each other. But the human is completely shattered. All of us are little egoists; all of us are completely opposed to each other. All of the types and forms of connection between us are only in order to fulfill ourselves and if possible, at someone else’s expense. We get pleasure from the oppression of others and this happens subconsciously in our nature, unconsciously and even automatically. Someone who is more developed is more of an egoist, and he looks for better opportunities to benefit at the expense of anyone and everyone.

Essentially this is the picture we are gradually discovering between us in this generation. Humanity is beginning to gradually realize this, and as a result we have the opportunity to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah. Humanity could not disclose this on its own;  there are special souls for this, i.e., parts of the shattered common desire, of the shattered Kli that can perceive this themselves.

Our spiritual father is Adam. Many generations of people lived before him, but he was the first to reveal the truth, the combination of the two forces, the force of bestowal and the force of reception, the discovery of the Creator, meaning, the force of bestowal opposite to our primordial property.

It is not by chance that they called him “Adam,” which means “Domeh – similar to the Creator.” We know that there are no accidents, as it seems, it was improbable that his parents just got the idea to name him in this way, even though they didn’t know the reason.

According to tradition, around the age of 36-37, Adam perceived the Creator, meaning he discovered the higher reality, the second characteristic, and with the help of the two characteristics (reception and bestowal), he began to investigate the world. He wrote about this in his book, Secret Angel (Raziel HaMalach). Thus the process began, and therefore, even though we believe our spiritual father is Abraham, it is forbidden to forget Adam.

But Abraham lived in another era, twenty generations after Adam. Then not only was the ego discovered, but also the system of its correction. Therefore we call Abraham the spiritual father of humanity and he is included in all of the religions. He gave us the opportunity, the mechanism, that made it possible to develop altruistic characteristics within us opposite the egoistic characteristics and then supported by the two opposite characteristics the possibility to investigate ourselves and nature through us in order to grow and discover the world.

The method of correction began from Abraham. In ancient Babylon the ego was already discovered among people in a serious form, and Abraham, as a representative of that generation, found the required method, the wisdom of Kabbalah, relying on what had already been discovered in people. It is necessary to remember that previously he had been one of the spiritual leaders of Babylon, and in general he was an educated man of those times. Therefore from him came the method of correction called “Kabbalah,” from the word “reception” or from the word “transfer” (information).

In fact there are many things hidden here. This is a hint of the many opportunities that the wisdom of Kabbalah conceals. On the one hand, this is a science of our ego, therefore it is called the “science of reception.” And on the other hand, this is a science  of transmission because it is passed on from generation to generation, or the science of connection because it brings people together who want to discover the upper world because they can only do so in the relationship between them.

Therefore from the days of Abraham, people who want to perceive the upper world, to discover the eternal state, and to exist within it, i.e., to rise above the state of the beast and discover the next state, unite with each other.

At the same time, hey pass through very interesting changes.

Once, when we were embryonic, we were a kind of energy, which gradually transformed into still (inanimate) matter. After that the still matter passed through an evolution and transformed into vegetative matter and after that to the animate, and now we are passing from animate matter to matter that is called Adam, human matter, that is not yet found in us. This is a completely different level of evolution.

Imagine how for hundreds of millions of years matter passed through changes from still to vegetative and from vegetative to animate. And now, as of today, we must essentially leap within a number of years, within a single lifetime, intensifying the transition from the animate level to the level of Adam. This is the state we are in.

The whole method is a conscious connection after the shattering that happened in the spiritual world. Since that time when our world appeared as a result of this shattering, beginning with the “Big Bang” and onward, it exists only so that we will connect together, unite as a single family. This is how it is expressed and heard with our human language.

I don’t know if fits the definition. This is what the Kabbalists write, this is what Baal HaSulam wrote, that all of us are one family. We need to understand how much we must connect. Our connection must be such that not one will be left feeling himself not connected; instead we will only feel inclusion among us, we will feel that all of humanity is a single whole.

This is a great correction that we must make on ourselves. But on the other hand, essentially this is easy to reach. Baal HaSulam writes that there is nothing but a simple psychological task because ultimately everything is done by  the Light, the power of bestowal, the power of love, the essential power of nature that created the ego in particular so we would perceive this power and begin to work with it, so we would rise to its higher level, so that we would enter into the system of Adam, the eternal, perfect system, in which we lose the relationship to our beastly state, rising above it.

This is what we should aspire to. And essentially this is easy to attain. This is a psychological problem; it is achieved not by me personally, but through everyone together (the collective). We must solve this “little problem” on our egoistic physical level. It is up to us to solve it. If we succeed in doing this, then we will pass quickly to the next state.

Of course, I cannot convince myself that I need to connect with others. It is impossible. He we cannot do without the influence of society. Thus based on the original terms, the problem is solved only in the union of us all—when each one awakens all the rest, and all arouse each one, connecting with each other with mutual concern for all and for each one separately. This is the integral.

And our ego helps us because it separates us all the time, pushing everyone to the side, “pulling” us from the others. And so we begin to feel a need, a greater and greater imperative for connection. The ego repels us again and again, doing this intentionally, subtly, but in fact this is not so. This is because it is managed by that same power of the Light, that power of bestowal. It is secondary and therefore called “existence from absence.” In other words, it was created intentionally, artificially, to help us to discover the Creator, the Light, the characteristic of bestowal, from a lack of existence.

Therefore it is necessary to see in our ego as “help against us.” In all the activities where we discover it, it is up to us to be happy that it indicates our imperfections that still exist so that we will reach the necessary connection, the discovery of the higher system.

And when we discover that, we see that it is truly those relationships that we try to arrange between us. We discover within them the system of worlds, the ten Sefirot that interact with each other. We discover this actively and the ego seemingly pushes us from behind, pokes, and indicates where we still lack discovery of the right connection between us.

Therefore we need to relate to the ego politely and happily, as a negative helper, who warns, pokes, and pricks, specifically in a place in which connection is lacking. It is up to us to love this means that develops us correctly.

The ego shows us the imperfections not in ordinary life but in a place where we begin to approach each other. In ordinary life the ego is found on the level of the beast. Each one wants to grab something for himself, to conquer, to score, to steal, to manipulate, to lie… all this is not considered as ego with which we need to fight. It is necessary to put our attention on the ego that disturbs us from connecting. It is our leader, our guide. It indicates precisely the smallest imperfections, works with us at every moment. And we need to thank it for this.

People turn to me with complaints about lack of power, lack of desire, disappointments, frustration, and so on.

First, if these are complaints regarding the beastly ego, then in a circumstance like this we simply don’t pay attention to it. Gradually this will pass, die, and disappear somewhere. It is not necessary to think about this.

And if you pay attention only to connection, then here you begin to receive blows and various stimuli, a lack of desire and disappointment. This is the ego that is required more. It must not only be nurtured and developed, but we must immediately rise above it and build new relationships with the others until we reach a level of connection between us or until our attempts to connect convince us that we are truly powerless.

But even here there is a difficulty. I can be convinced of my powerlessness only when I am connected with the others, that is, when I will feel the need for mutual connection with the friends. They will arouse me through their striving forward, towards each other. I will feel how much I am not like them. I will feel that I am worse than them. Even though this may not really be so, but I will feel that I am lower than they are, inferior to them, not successful like them. They speak so nicely, can be open, embrace, hold each other, suddenly find the correct necessary words, and I have none of this, I am “impenetrable”, insensitive, impervious, unemotional.

If a person advances, he always thinks this about himself. And this is very good. It is only necessary to understand that this is given to him intentionally and to the degree of his advancement he will see himself as being more and more inferior. Here the support of the group and a constant reminder is imperative that these states are most productive and useful.

If a person doesn’t feel the support of the group, then disappointments like these will throw him off track and he will leave. He will tell himself that this is not for him and that he cannot do it, that this doesn’t lead anywhere, and that he will not attain any quality of bestowal… and so on.

We cannot respond with indifference and say that it is okay that he left. First of all, we must immediately help him return.

Actually, this is a serious sign for us that indicates the need to develop a force within the group that will keep a person inside so that it won’t be possible for him to go out. The group needs to be a weight from which it is impossible to detach, like a black hole or like superheavy stars that because of their great density don’t make it possible for light to escape.

In principle, a person departing from  the group is possible only in the case that he is opposed to and doesn’t want to participate in work together with everyone, if he comes to the group by chance and ultimately discovers that this is not for him, then there is nothing to do, he has not yet ripened within. But in spite of it all, we need to leave a place for him to return. And in general, this needs to be a sign to the group that they must examine themselves, are they a family or not?

Essentially how do we build a family? And just why is the family our model?

If we consider a normal family, which might not exist today, we depict is something shared, whole, where all are equal. Equality is not just “according to the ruler,” rather each one has his height, children, and parents, old, sick, healthy… the family always decides what is needed for everyone and what is the maximum that it can do for the good of each one. It is clear that this comes out for one at the expense of another, but in a general way we try to do this where everyone will receive the maximum possible from the family’s common resources.

Relationships like these need to be also within the group. Connection, adherence, concern and mutual love, a common fate, a common Kli, are stronger than within a family, and this solves all the problems. On this basis it is possible to solve all the problems. If you begin from the point of assuming that all of you are one family, then your decisions will always be correct without any distortion. But if your approach to problems in ordinary life is egoistic, then your actions and decisions will be incorrect.

We are one family. In all matters the group should proceed from this and then there won’t be mistakes. Our decision needs to be shared, collective. This is not a separate decision of two or three people. Two or three can decide about problems that touch upon technical problems of arranging work, for implementing any events. But for what concerns our life, our our shared spiritual work that relates to everyone, we all need to decide.

As Baal HaSulam writes, “Today the entire world is already like one family.” He wrote this at the beginning of the 20th century, around the year 1927. Imagine that already then the world began to ripen and to connect, even though people then were so separated. Who was aware of what was happening in Africa, in South America, or in Australia? And in general what kind of intercontinental connection was there? There was nothing special, but in spite of it all, he wrote about this because within we had already finished connecting between us as a family, and in fact, we were ready to begin to acquire our next level, the level of Adam.

And today it is already clear to us. And even though we see separation, conflicts, and problems in the world, it is already clear that in general there is absolute dependence between all parts of the world. This is happening in a natural way, according to the laws of evolution. And therefore today when we study Kabbalah, we have already begun to speak about the integral education of humanity, not only of ourselves, but of everyone.

Baal HaSulam writes that the whole world is one family. And the Kabbalistic principles must ultimately encompass the entire world giving an equal standard of living to everyone. Baal HaSulam, in the article, “Building the Future Society”: “The entire world is one family. The framework of communism according to the Torah should ultimately encircle the entire world in an equal standard of living for everybody.”

Incidentally, this is a compulsory condition. According to our beastly level, it is up to us to supply everyone with their basic needs.

But the process is gradual. Every nation by and large would in fact accept these fundamentals for itself; if educated in the spirit of bestowal to others and has a sound cause for fuel, could immediately enter into international unity based upon the principles of altruism. For all the peoples who would enter into the framework of this society there would be a comparable standard of living; The surplus of a wealthy or a diligent nation will improve the living standards of the failing or nation poor in raw materials and productive means. ”

It seems to us that this is still far off and in particular we are very far from this. But at least in the last hundred years we have seen, in spite of it all. that the world is advancing towards this. In the end, we have reached a state that not only brought us to the recognition of a method for discovering the world, a new life, a new level, but also we could no longer exist on the previous level.

We were no longer prepared to exist in it in a normal way, ideologically, mentally, and spiritually. We felt that we must find something else in life. What brings us to this is not a shortage, not slavery, not any terrible conditions on the level of the beast, but a lack of meaning in life, nihilism, emptiness, that is, a desire for something higher.

This is already a gigantic leap from the days of Baal HaSulam. Masses of people (as of today there are already millions) feel within them a spiritual hunger and somehow approach the wisdom of Kabbalah every day or are even familiar with it.

And in addition to this, further millions or even billions of people are beginning to understand the nothingness of life like this through the general global crisis on various levels. We see that it is taking place in all the nations, in all cultures, in all civilizations, and they all are searching. But they are searching on the level of their “beast” (this is not said in disparagement, rather this is a classification of desires according to the levels: still, vegetative, animate, and “speaking”) where a person is occupied with his existence, how to organize himself, his family, and the world around him so that it will be secure from now on for him and for his children and so on. This is imprinted in us on the instinctive level.

Therefore all the rest, even if they once desired this, are beginning to understand that this is also impossible to do and to attain. Today they no longer want to get married, to build a family… they are depressed and don’t find a sufficiently good reason for this, and so forth.

Therefore we see that in spite of the attempts to connect among people, the principles, “the world is one family” and “we are one family,” at least in the national framework, don’t work anymore. Even within the family (!) there is a shattering. Children of the age of ten already dream of when they will leave the home of their parents and the parents also are not prepared to live all their lives together, they divorce, marry again, and so on. The concept of “family” has disappeared.

We see destruction in everything, on the national and social level. Everything is destroyed, including the natural basis of the family. And all these phenomena of destruction are also the recognition of evil. We understand that we cannot find any fulfillment from anything.

The only solution, as the Kabbalists say, is to build a family of a different kind in which we are connected on another level and only together can we feel true life.

There is an expression like this, “The negation of negation.” Baal HaSulam writes about this, that the person rises to the next level of his development only when he feels that the present is no longer appropriate. Then he destroys it with the help of various revolutions: social, technological, and so forth. In any case he makes a breakthrough, a departure to the next level of development and it could even be to a new form of existence.

Therefore, today we are making this breakthrough, which is the negation of the previous state, which needs to appear to be terminal. And the next stage must be born from this negation.

Here we stand before a dilemma that the wisdom of Kabbalah presents to us now. It is not for the first time that we are passing through states like these, but they were always solved through uprisings, bloody riots, revolutions, famine, destruction and so forth. And now the wisdom of Kabbalah offers us something else, to advance through a conscious method.

The transition from the animate level of humanity to the human level can take place not through the usual method by which we passed through before, during the period of slavery, the Middle Ages, capitalism, and so forth.

Incidentally, capitalism is the culmination of egoistic development that ended after tens of thousands of years that Kabbalah divides into four precise periods. Now this development has reached its end, for we have attained the maximal ego that shows us that we must be freed from it. We will not succeed in transforming it into something new. On all levels of life it doesn’t leave us with any hope that we will succeed in transforming the ego into some form. This is impossible. We see that economists, political scientists, and sociologists try to find some kind of solution to the situation, but they haven’t succeeded in anything. And now they are beginning to acknowledge this.

You know that we spoke about this a number of years ago, but everyone laughed. After that they stopped laughing and waited expectantly. And now they admit that there is no solution, and they don’t know what will be. Gradually they are beginning to adopt this outlook.

It makes no difference to us if they recognize us or not. We simply see that everything is advancing in a form like this. The system is working and its evolution was foreseen already from the start thousands of years ago based upon the knowledge of the system of creation. In a general way even Abraham wrote about this already in the Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzirah).

And today, whether it is aware of it or not, the world is transforming into a single family, and it is up to us to be a clear example of this. I hope that there will be an opportunity like this.

We don’t need to do anything artificial; our goal is to build familial connections that are essentially correct. I don’t mean familial closeness, but the division of responsibility between everyone, the general connection that is derived from complete mutual assistance, from love and integral connection where everyone is included with the others.

The moment that we begin to advance towards this, extraordinary possibilities will be revealed to us from above. They will invite us to talk about this method and ask us to teach it. We are already getting signs from the managers of organizations that people are not succeeding in maintaining the connection between them; there simply cannot be normal labor relations. Suddenly everything is crumbling. Like the residents of ancient Babylon who stopped understanding each other, so also today people are ceasing to understand each other and there is nothing to do.

So it is not the fault of the person. Suddenly each one is cut off from the rest. I feel this is happening and so do business owners,  and all kinds of public figures. You are talking with someone, broadcasting, trying to manage various structures but all of it is in the same decaying relationship. And you don’t succeed in any way or manner in penetrating through the ego that is raised like a wall between people.

I repeat, they are not guilty as nothing can be accomplished using the old methods. It is possible to break through this “isolation layer” between all of us only with the help of the power of the Light, for there is no other way. Humanity is lost, and people continue to err in this way with their eyes shut, colliding with each other without understanding where they are. You will begin to feel this.

And therefore there is a need for family, meaning a need for a mutual inner connection that will awaken naturally. Otherwise we are lost, we will not succeed in satisfying even the compulsory fundamental needs for existence and everything will crumble. We are losing all connection between us and you see how suddenly in various nations wars begin between brothers. Who is against whom? Why and what for? There are a million excuses!

Are there really any kinds of serious reasons for someone to kill someone else!? Thousands of reasons will always be found for this. But they will also kill for no reason at all. Why? Because of a lack of any kind of connection, even the most negative.

When an atmosphere of detachment is formed in a family, we can at least argue, and this will also be the end of the thread for mutual connection. There must be some kind of connection, some kind of dependence, even if it is negative, it doesn’t matter.

And here nothing is left, and this will lead to wars, to various outbreaks. Otherwise you simply won’t feel where you are at all, as if you are suspended in space and this is frightening. This is the most terrible thing that can be. I am found in absolute darkness and don’t know where to go. Like a small child who gets lost in a dark room. This is a terrible state, and they are bringing us to it with the help of various means so that we will feel the need for what is called “family.”

Thus “family” on the human level is an absolutely dependent existence within one integral system where each one is totally connected with the others and each one feels this entire system as his particular “self.”

This was the reason for the first shattering. When we were created in the beginning as one common desire, we felt only our small existence and not as on the present level, absolutely not. Rather it was on an embryonic level like when we were once in the womb of our mother in the still, vegetative, or animate levels, similar to our state today.

Therefore, in order to bring us to awareness of the higher level of the Creator, the level of the Light, they must shatter us with the help of the Light so that it will enter among us and specifically among us so that it will create a network of connection that will distance us but will make it possible to approach each other to the measure of our desire, the mutual yearning.

When we begin to come close, then we will discover, feel, and understand the Light in its intensity a billion times greater. We feel everything with a single Light; everything is connected, integral for us. We feel one thought, one force of the Creator and get answers for all our questions until the next level when the ego is discovered again. Then a new level of separation is discovered. And when a person builds a new connection above it, he perceives a greater level of Light, connection, thought and feeling of cooperation.

But already the first level brings us to the level of eternal existence. That is, we begin to exist in the dimension of the human on the level of Adam. Previously we existed on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate nature until we evolved to today’s level. And thus we will raise it to the level of human and then the previous level is finished.

It is to be understood that the present change through which we are passing is so serious and extreme that there has been nothing like it. It was much easier to pass from the natural level of the still to vegetative and after that to the animate than it is to pass today from the nature of the animate to the nature of human. For the modern change depends upon a prior desire from our side, it is up to us to oblige the Light to change us. Otherwise nothing comes of it.

And so the Light changes us into a single whole. We go back to one complete desire that was created from the start. It was torn to shreds because of our ego and now we connect the desire through the removal of the ego. When we return to a single desire, we begin to perceive our next level, which is to say, we are made equivalent to the Creator. So, the next level is called “Adam – man,” which is similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

Hence, we are one family. This is not just a nice word; this is a compulsory need, a goal, a call of nature to all of humanity. And we are the leaders in this case.

And all the rest of humanity also needs to consciously demand to reach the level of “one family,” even though it lacks movement forward. We have gathered together because we ourselves want to advance, and they are forced to advance from behind. But they don’t know where to advance since they lack the goal. If a single force acts on you, you can only flee from it. It pushes you and you flee from it along the same track. It pushes you from the other side and you flee along another track. That is why humanity will run in different directions all the time, lacking organization, without understanding what is happening to them at all.

And here an obligation has been imposed upon us to tell about the method of correction of our nature to all who don’t have the power to change in their domain. As it is understood, we cannot tell them about the subject in the same form that we read in our source texts. There is no need, because they will think that we are mystics. They lack the most minimal feeling that we have; they have no forward aspiration, attraction, or yearning. They are pushed from behind only by a negative force, and we are attracted only by a positive force.

But if we begin to connect with them, we will also acquire from them the negative force that pushes from behind. In other words, their desires, their needs, their expectations and their yearnings to depart from these earthly conditions that we are indifferent to, these will become ours and will also push us from behind. We will begin to be concerned about them like we are for our children and then we will have additional serious motivation. Today this is not so, they attract us forward, and even if we advance only a little, this is also good. And that’s all… but this is not enough.

So first of all it is up to us to understand that the state of humanity today is intended for us, for those who are going forward, looking forward. We are the pioneers and therefore it is up to us to be involved with integral education. We will begin to receive desires from other people, their aspirations, and their demands, and they will gradually become ours and we cannot remain indifferent to them.

Through involvement with integral education, the group is changed, it acquires an additional push forward. And then the family truly begins to be created. We are connected in order to take care of someone, to educate, to be concerned for someone and this is very important. First of all this is for us. And besides that, if we are truly one family, then the entire world is also built this way as a single system. So how will we succeed in reaching the next level if we don’t create it together with everyone?

For this, all of us are designing a new science, a special chapter in the wisdom of Kabbalah. It explains to people, as to little children, how to connect between us into a single whole, not by means of Kabbalistic concepts, but basically we are saying the same thing…

And so, the whole world is one family and the responsibility has been delegated to us to bring the world to this state and through it to go out to the next level of existence, to the level of Adam – human. This has been entrusted to us and we will try to implement it.
[110190]
From the Convention In Krasnoyarsk Day One 6/14/13, Lesson 1

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Forty Levels In Two Weeks Not In Forty Years

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You say that we can and are ready to exit Egypt. Help us get rid of everything and take us across this narrow bridge so that we will follow you like a guide.

Answer: Every teacher of the spiritual work is like Moses (the name stems from the root limshoch – “to draw out” in Hebrew), and the whole Torah—starting from Adam until Egypt and especially from the giving of the Torah until the stage of entering the Land of Israel—describes the wanderings in the desert.

The wanderings in the desert represent a state when no one sees anything, when no one knows or understands anything, but everyone follows the leader. The leader is sure of himself, but he has problems with the Creator. Sometimes he carries out His orders and sometimes not. Sometimes he understands them correctly and sometimes not. The people also don’t always listen to their leader, and sometimes believe him and sometimes not. Sometimes they shout at Moses and sometimes at the Creator, and sometimes at both, and so we see how they carry on these interesting mutual relationships for forty years.

I must say that the leader shouldn’t be envied. What can he do? Nothing. Whatever he does, he tries to perform as loyally as he can, in bestowal, and tries to do everything in his power. Sometimes he is ready to pray for everyone and ask the Creator to have mercy on them.

However, there is nowhere to run. They must go through all the forty levels (forty years of wanderings in the desert), since forty levels is the distance from Malchut to Bina. This lasts until the entire generation that came out of Egypt dies, and only the next generation, their descendants, enter the land of Israel.

This means that all the desires that once were under the domination of the ego must die, and new desires that already are adapted to working in order to bestow must replace them. Until this happens, there is nowhere to run. Theoretically, we can go through this in two weeks, although they went through it in forty years.

I told you before the convention that you are preparing yourselves and that you are coming to the convention to continue the preparation, not to look at me. This means that everything depends on the preparation and the connection between you. I only teach you and cannot do anything—nothing!

Everything depends on the connection and the unity between you, the internal heart connection that is aimed correctly so you are also waiting for the bestowal of the Light like manna from Heaven. The Light will correct, change, and connect you to one another. That is the main thing! It is your yearning for one another and the yearning of all of you together upward.

You must exert yourselves a bit more, but it is with this intention: We, all of us together, are waiting for the Creator Who will correct us and rejoice at that.
[114343]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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So That The Creator Will Be Clothed Within Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There is an image in our world of “wedding preparations,” and when everything is ready, the table is set, the musicians are ready, and now we can sit cross-legged and watch the main event.

How can one not freeze within this picture that essentially, preparation to convention has brought us great confidence? How can one feel a need to enter into the next level called “adjustment” and open a second wind?

Answer: Everything is done only with the help of the Light. All changes directed at the goal are done with the help of the Light. I have nothing else to add.

We know that all of our work is built from two opposites. On the one hand, I need to be completely sure that my efforts build the next level and everything depends only on this. On the other hand, it is up to me to understand that all efforts are designed only to awaken the Light and create a prayer within me because I, myself, produce only a desire for the Light to influence and carry out this action, which will reveal me for its sake, for the sake of the Light.

This opposition within us is relaxed only when we are connected with the Creator, and until then, it is the opposite. It grows all the time, tearing us to shreds, and we don’t understand to where we are advancing at all.

The gap between these two opposites continues to grow: We fall into one of them and then into the opposite, and when they are connected, we find ourselves in an internal state that we are not prepared to endure. This is done intentionally because ultimately the need for the Creator to be clothed in us is created, and then we feel great happiness because through this, we give Him contentment.

It is up to us to fulfill these three conditions: to be in one extreme state where everything depends on me, to be in another extreme state where everything depends on the Light, and in a third state where we hope that the Light, the Creator, will fill us and connect these two opposites into a single whole. Then we will feel happiness because this brings joy to the Creator, and until then, until everything is connected within us into a single whole, we are not yet ready since there is no complete desire yet. It is still in preparation.

I fully share your commitment and desire to finish everything immediately, because the moment that the intention is correct, then there is a realization that we may only have this moment to implement it.

We had a very deep, powerful, and dynamic convention where everything that was prepared from the start was destroyed. We made giant strides.

I hear people who were recently in connection with us, with the method, suddenly developed such internal definitions, inner clarifications, and really amazing things awakened in them! Young friends express themselves not through vague words. Rather, I see and feel where they come from, with such depth. This is absolutely a different generation.
[114257]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Longing For The Unknown

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is written in Divrei Hayamim I (Chronicles 1) 28:9: Know the God of your fathers and serve Him. To know means being conscious because the Nefesh, that is, the desire in itself, cannot exist without consciousness, without a sensation that there is something clear, something definite within it. Desire must feel and define its sensations and compare them.

Together with understanding the sensations, a fulfillment appears; you see the person strives and longs for true service to the Creator. This is what is in us, this is what pushes us. Our lives are so confused, concealing from us what we are truly doing.

We are also now carrying out all that we are required to do, only the true state, the true world in which we are found, is concealed from us. We feel ourselves as a shadow of our true state, and all that we do is directed towards returning to awareness of this subconscious state. But along with this, neither our world nor the actions that we do within it will change; rather, we will see it in another form.

The person doesn’t understand that his longing, his aspiration, all that he does for the sake of egoistic development (it makes no difference how he acts in our world), all our actions are contingent on only one thing and are directed towards it: the desire to perceive the Creator. And until we perceive the Creator, the origin which illuminates us and gives us life, we will not rest and we will always feel unwell. In other words, the origin for all of our negative feelings is the concealment of the Creator, while His discovery gives us fulfillment, ecstasy, which is the goal of creation.

The person aspires to perceive the Creator in all his actions, both consciously and unconsciously. You see, it’s as if we desire and are ready to even agree to nullify our ego somehow to connect together: “Put before us all the conditions given for existence that we can fulfill, then we will be ready to discover You.”

But even though we have urges like these, not even drives, but permanent desires, this is still not enough. Even if we gather together, connect, sing, cry, dance, learn, work on connection, it makes no difference what we do and how much we strive, our efforts will not yield fruit if the Light of the Creator will not illuminate them.

Therefore our efforts should not to be either spontaneous or temporary. They must be crystallized in the right form with intensity, with direction, with character in order to attract the Light of the Creator onto us. Without the influence of the Light on us, our nature would remain the same egoistic nature, and we will “stew” within ourselves, no qualitative changes will take place within us.
[114253]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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From Absolute Helplessness To Self-Realization

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible not to flee from the spiritual work when you feel emptiness? On the one hand, the feeling is unpleasant, and on the other hand, it is understood that this is the right direction.

Answer: The only action that the person can do is to strengthen himself in the right environment. This is what is given to us. I do this in whatever way I can through all kinds of activities, be it in a physical, mechanical, intellectual, moral, or emotional form. It doesn’t make a difference how. And if not, then scream to the Creator; this is good.

Now, they will show you that you can be found among friends, to sit among them, to sing together with them. Then comes disappointment. After that, you will begin to carry out some other activities, perhaps not to sing, but to study together with them or not, but to disseminate together. You will be disappointed all the time. All the time, you will feel that this is not enough in order to be mixed with them, and so it is until you have apparently done everything and, in spite of it all, you feel empty. Then, you will begin to cry and scream, and with this as well, you gradually will reach a need to mix with them, but you are not ready to do this by yourself, for only the Creator does this. This is to say, there is you, them, and the Creator between you. That’s it, a marriage. That is how this works, but gradually.

You see that in every distinction there is the gradual gathering of negative potential, until it explodes, and every time that it explodes, then the last state is the feeling of absolute exhaustion when nothing can help except turning to the Creator. If you already have prior experience, then according to states of this type, you already can determine that these are moments appropriate for realization.
[114429]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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A Movement To Attain The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is that blind alley from which a true desire is born?

Answer: This is the egoistic “blind alley” that we pass through all the time when our powers are completely disappointed and suddenly the discovery comes that there is help from the Creator here. This is a small transition.

This is not yet a crossing of the egoistic “barrier” but the understanding that only the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) must act here. Nothing else can be here. You are passing through cycles like these where you are disappointed completely and find yourself understanding that the Creator must be here and then get disappointed again and again.

These cycles gradually accumulate in every form of disappointment, reaching a general state where you pass over all the required possibilities, and their summation takes place.

When this integral develops, there comes one general disappointment in all of its capabilities, and a true demand is created that only the Creator can tear through all of this, and this happens. Then, apparently, He has no choice because you already have understood that only He must be present here, and in truth you have a precise and clear demand for this, which is to say: the Kli is ready!

Until then, these disappointments and recognitions that the Creator must act here must repeat themselves as much as possible.

If a person sits with his hands folded and eats himself up, this means that he is not found under the influence of the teacher, the group, and the method, and therefore, cannot quickly realize that all this is intentionally arranged for him from above so he will be disappointed in his possibilities and will understand that the higher power is required here.

In our world, this is not happening because people have no yearning for connection and unity, and therefore, there is no exit toward the higher power. For them, the connection is considered to be a physical gathering, “Ah, connection! So, we gathered and dispersed,” whereas for us, when we desire unity, this awareness takes place because, without the higher power, we cannot attain unity.
[114426]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Do Not Let Humanity Fall

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it worthwhile to understand that, essentially, there is no free choice now?

Answer: Indeed, in our times, there is no free choice. The world is deteriorating while we are standing on the side watching. This is not good. Humanity is apparently sliding downward and we need to try to hold them, to stop them.

I say this seriously. I feel as though I have gigantic hands or I have a gigantic net in my hands, and I must stop everyone because they are being drawn downward, and if left unchecked, they will pull us after them. This is not desirable. The program of nature, the program of the Creator, cannot be changed.

He is like a loving and strict father Who takes His belt in hand and begins to teach His rebellious son.
[114419]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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When Prayers Become A Song

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Must we yearn for the joy that we speak about all the time or will it come naturally?

Answer: We constantly should feel joy. This means that I am filled with the spirit of life that comes through the group that constantly keeps me focused on the importance of the goal, that we are special, that we were chosen for this mission, for this great work in order to serve others.

Since it pleases the Creator when we serve others, it is the greatest and most important work for us, and it must be done with joy. Otherwise, you probably are headed in the wrong direction and are not connected to the Light, to the Creator.

You cannot weep and perform the spiritual work simultaneously. You need to focus yourself.

See what King David says in the book of Psalms. He describes great problems that one encounters along the spiritual path, but it all is done with joy. Therefore, these are not just prayers, but a song!
[114417]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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Only The Creator Will Help Us!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is the Creator revealed to us through despair?

Answer: Despair is a very good state, but only when it won’t be the final state. After despair it’s necessary for a solution to come.

Despair is when I look at my desires and see that I am not prepared to do anything. This is wonderful! Baal HaSulam writes that there is no happier state in the life of a person than when he feels that there is nobody who can help him, not even himself: In general, everything is breaking down and in crisis.

Baal HaSulam, Letter 57: There is no happier situation in man’s world than when he finds himself despaired with his own strength. That is, he has already labored and done all that he could possibly imagine he could do, but found no remedy.

At this moment he begins to understand that only the Creator will help him and then a true demand to the Creator appears within him. Therefore despair is a wonderful feeling, only that it needs to be properly formed.

There is nothing like this, that we go through something and it’s incorrect or it’s unnecessary in the direction of the goal. Our efforts give us the right intention as to how to relate to what we are going through. In any case we need to pass through those states; only that the right relationship regarding them hastens the way, softens it, and transforms it. But in every circumstance this is according to the same pattern, these are the same states, and you cannot do anything about it.

You were some fragment in the corrected Malchut of the world of infinity (Ein Sof). This Malchut was shattered into fragments, and as in the case of any uncorrected part, you must grasp the location of your corrected fragment. There is no place to escape from this! You must again be gathered and grasp that part in the shattered circle. This circle will already be in consciousness, 620 times more perceptible than before, but this will be the identical circle completely, the same desires (they don’t grow, you see), but they simply become recognized.
[114347]
From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Three” 7/14/13, Lesson 5

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