Entries in the 'Conventions' Category

After Eight Years…

Dr. Michael LaitmanEight years ago at the convention in Sitrin, we all shouted: “We will break though the Machsom (barrier)!” I kept quiet then because there was no point in saying anything or to object. What does it mean to “break through”? Will we, by using our ego, break the spiritual Machsom?

Gradually we began to understand that it is possible to transcend the Machsom only by the connection among us, by repressing the ego and rising to the attribute of bestowal, to mutual connection, above our ego, and then by creating something that is external to us, external to our egoistic “self.”

This is the only way a collective vessel is created, because it can only exist as a collective vessel and not as everyone’s individual vessel! Gradually the spiritual thoughts and desires were formed in us. After all, it is a long way! Look at what we’ve been through since then! It is an internal spiritual revolution inside a person!

We’ve started talking about it and beating the ego since the beginning of the crisis, because the ego has been revealed in the world as a negative force. Since then, we’ve been getting closer to the point of our connection, the point of our adhesion, in which we really find ourselves as being reborn in the upper world, in the next phase of attaining nature.
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The Hope Of The European Convention

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe coming European convention is a great hope for connection and for being able to sense the revelation of the Creator in the connection among us, the revelation of the spiritual world. First, the Reforming Light that operates on us will connect us and we will feel the adhesion among us, which we attain in order to bring contentment to the Creator. Then according to the equivalence of form, it will be revealed in us and we will feel that “Israel (those who yearn for the Torah), the Torah (the Reforming Light), and the Creator, are one.”

We yearn for the union of all the souls into one soul that is filled with the upper Light, to feel it, to discover it and to live in it, first by ourselves because we already have the desire for it, and then to help the whole world attain it. Eventually everything that is revealed in our world—all the suffering, the crises and the troubles—are nothing more than forces that hasten the development of humanity towards this perfect state.

Therefore, when we yearn for this perfect state, we want to achieve two goals: love of the Creator and love of humanity. We want to bestow all the goodness that we achieve by our work and our attainment on both humanity and the Creator. After all, we are in the middle, between them, like the middle third of Tifferet that has nothing and doesn’t want anything for itself—Hafetz Hesed. We only enjoy bringing pleasure to humanity and through it, through all this general soul, to the Creator.

This is the vessel we have to prepare. This is the state we have to reach. Therefore, while reading The Zohar, we want to approach it. Let’s think about it!

If a person imagines the next state he wants to reach, it is already a prayer. After all, I don’t know where the Creator is, how to raise a request to Him, MAN, who it goes through, what this MAN actually is, or what desires it is. That’s the way it is in our lives: If we want something, we imagine that we already have it, and yearn for this imaginary picture where we are in the desired state.

They say that if you want to be slim—don’t diet, don’t listen to all kinds of advice, and don’t take diet pills and exercise, etc. nothing will help. Only constantly think that you are already slim. Then you will see that you don’t feel hungry any more and you will really lose weight.

It is really so, and it is the same with everything: You must imagine that you are already in the future state and you will really advance towards it. The yearning that is aimed at the goal will bring you there.

It is the same with us. So let’s imagine that we are really in the good state. There is no need to evoke any deficiencies, troubles, and worries, but only to yearn for this whole state, and try as hard as we can to help ourselves to actually reach that.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/12, The Zohar

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What Precedes Our Intentions

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can talk about our advancement and ourselves as well as imagine the perspective from Above, from the source of reality. We reveal our work from below, while its cause from Above.

What was the purpose of creation? It is said that such is the desire of the upper one: to create a creature as perfect as He is. Thus in all our actions and intentions, while we scrutinize what happens with us, we should always remember that the end goal of it all is to reveal the Creator, to reveal precisely Him.

Whatever I feel, think, ponder, or aspire for is correct; such is the path of analysis. But what do I reveal on this path, my own self? No, I reveal myself opposite to the Creator. That is, in fact, I reveal Him.

We know from the wisdom of Kabbalah that in the world of Infinity there is no deficiency in anything but the realization of the Giver. The creature, called Malchut of the world of Infinity, must understand, feel, and attain Him.

That is why this round of creation is necessary: the descent into our world and the ascent back into Malchut of Infinity, which we have to carry out. This path from the bottom up is intended for the sole purpose of ascension in the attainment of the Giver.

We attain Him according to the equivalence of form: The more we resemble Him, the more we understand and feel Him, and the nearer we draw to Him. The end result is in its initial thought; hence, first and foremost, we have to establish the intention, that is, what do I want to achieve through all of my actions? What’s done is done, but why do I need it?

However, even before I clarify the intention, I need the initial thought of this intention’s primary origin since the idea is to reveal the Giver, the Creator. That is our goal.

I reveal in myself thoughts, intentions, desires, and attitudes, but essentially, through these actions I search for Him. “How do I go about doing it? What do I think? What do I want? How to I interact with someone or something?” Before each such discernment I prepare myself for the right attitude: Everything that I do is intended to reveal the Creator.

I need to draw some connections here:

  • Whoever I am, He prepared it for me;
  • Whatever I think every second, He gives me;
  • Whatever happens with me right now during this analysis, it happens according to His will;
  • However I react to what I feel, He, too, gives it to me.

There is only one thought, one statement that should always be mine: “Everything that is happening with me is coming from the Creator.” The first Shamati article talks about it: “There is None else Beside Him.”

Now, when I clarify my intentions—either for the sake of reception or for the sake of bestowal—they certainly come from the Creator. However, what is important to me in this analysis is that I reveal Him; I clarify who He is.

Out of all these discernments, the mosaic of reality takes shape inside of me. My friends, the world around me, its events and circumstances, everything should merge into one picture of the Creator. To the extent it appears internally, separate pieces come together: all creatures, this entire world, and all worlds together in one whole structure whose internal form is called the “Creator.” In its entirety, this structure represents Malchut of the world of Infinity or, in other words, the vessel, the desire. It is precisely His form, His structure, and interaction of all of His parts: desires, thoughts, and intentions that take on the form of the Giver.

The Creator Himself, Azmuto, does not have a form. However, we conduct a ceaseless analysis in ourselves and gradually create the form similar to His. As a result, He can be revealed. In the same manner, to detect waves that are unknown to us, we build a device in which they can be duplicated and reproduced. It allows us to discover them and study their nature.

The internal scrutiny helps us create a “place” to reveal the Creator; otherwise, He will remain concealed from us. That is why it is said that the Creator wants to dwell in the lower ones, meaning to reveal Himself to them. That is the reason He created the world of Infinity, and our work is comprised of revealing Him through our efforts.

Thus, the revelation of the Creator is the result of our internal scrutiny. He will not reveal Himself—our efforts and exertion are needed here. We exert our efforts, we want it and we don’t, the forces of reception and bestowal collide inside of us, and thereby we constantly prepare a place for His revelation.

Eventually, this place will become “pliable” enough so we could detect in it small “waves,” the Creator’s forms in the matter of desire. The more we soften our material, the more the Creator is revealed within it. He Himself is concealed; however, the matter begins to assume His form. This is what comprises all our clarifications: With their help we are preparing our desire to take on His imprint, His revelation.

Hence, with our every action it is necessary to remember that we, the world, and everything else in general exist only in order for us to reveal the Creator. It’s not a topic for discussion but the fact descending from the sources of creation. If I lay the foundation for any of my actions, thoughts, or intentions with that fact in mind, if I originally take this course, if I am directed toward the revelation of the Creator since such is His desire, then I am aimed at Infinity, at that very goal. And everything that I do later on will surely enter that depository of efforts that we must replenish.

Everything else will take place anyway. Only one thing depends on us: to direct our all our efforts toward the revelation of the Creator.

Later, the following questions arise: What does this revelation represent? How does one actualize it? What actions will prove most effective? Who does it depend on: myself, others, or our interaction? All in all, we are talking about the method that Kabbalists describe for us, explaining how to carry out actions that are most beneficial for the revelation of the Creator.

Today, the whole of humanity stands at the beginning of this revelation. Evolution came to the conclusion; the world has already realized the potential of materialistic progress. We have nothing to look for on other planets and nothing to extract from the earth; we have tried everything on its surface as well, and we saw that our life is limited and leads to a dead-end.

It is the beginning of the Creator’s revelation to all creatures. Because of this impediment people will start asking the question: “What for and why do we live? What is the purpose of life?”

From here on we learn that the purpose of our life is to reveal the Creator or, to be more precise, to prepare ourselves for His revelation. We achieve that through uniting, and thereby soften our desire to receive so it could become altruistic and begin to assume various sorts of bestowal. After all, the Creator is the quality of bestowal, and if we establish such a connection with each other, we help Him reveal Himself between us, we prepare the soil for it, the matter that will be able to assume His qualities, His projection.

Thus we develop ourselves in precise equivalence to His form.
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From the Arava Convention 2/23/12, Lesson #2

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The Only Thing Missing In The World Of Infinity

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhile advancing toward revelation, we have to understand how to collect broken vessels (desires). Baal HaSulam writes about this in Igrot (Letters), Pg. 70: “However, because of the breaking of the vessels, all the Otiot (letters) were ejected to corporeal conducts and people. When one corrects oneself and reaches the root of one’s soul, he must collect them by himself, one-by-one, and bring them back to the root, to holiness.”

With the breakage of the vessels in the spiritual world, a coarser layer of desire was formed called “this world,” which is where we find ourselves now. Everything that happened at that time of breakage is now being revealed in our world in a corrupted form, between corporeal people.

And if a person realizes that everything happening between him and others is a result of the shattering of desires, he then takes all the connections with other people and returns them to the root, corrects them one by one. That means he “sentences himself and the entire world to a scale of merit.”

“The matter of the unification of the Creator and Divinity that one induces when he has had his fill of yearning and longing is precisely like the underside coupling, applying in the birth of a corporeal body. It too extends necessarily by cause and effect, meaning the hardening that is a certain measure of longing and yearning, called hardness in the corporeal tongue. Then, one’s seed is also blessed…” (Baal HaSulam, Igrot [Letters], Pg. 70).

A person reaches unity with the Creator only when he ardently longs for it. We possess a desire toward spiritual attainment, but it’s given to us from Above and doesn’t belong to us. Everyone was brought into a group at some point of time, and he comes to study because he is being awakened from Above. Everything he does is guided from Above; his actions are not yet his own, but the work of the Creator on him.

Apart from a desire, there is also yearning, and that is a special notion: an addition to the desire. It comes to me not from the Creator, but from the environment. When I connect with others, I receive their yearning toward spirituality. It’s an addition to the desire that I get from working with the environment. Only this yearning is counted in spiritual work, meaning only the additional desire that I gained with my own efforts, and I advance accordingly to it.

A simple desire toward spirituality can be great, and a person may be ready to study around the clock and to disseminate. But that’s not his own desire. He’s being wound up from Above like a windup toy; when you turn a key, it starts jumping. And a person can do a lot, but the question is whether this can be attributed to his own earned desire or to a desire given to him from Above.

Looking from aside, it’s impossible to know what’s the case. Only a person himself can examine and discover that. And in so doing, he won’t be able to complain about studying for so many years, learning so much, but not receiving a revelation. This is because the desire he is working with is not his, but belongs to the Creator who created it. He has to receive an addition to this desire that is called spiritual yearning.

It’s very important. However, many make the mistake of working with the original desire thinking that everything is fine: “Look at how much I do.” But only an addition that I earned with my own efforts is counted in spirituality. Everything that was given by the Creator is not counted because it existed in the world of Infinity. This is not why the development of the worlds and the breaking of Adam HaRishon took place. Everything already existed in the world of Infinity.

The only thing that didn’t exist in Infinity and that is required for us to start ascending from below upward is a spiritual yearning, pressure, and our own awakening. This is called MAN, a prayer.

We have to take this additional desire that didn’t exist in the world of Infinity from the environment. We have it thanks to the shattering! This is why I feel all the others as strangers. If they are separate from me, I can receive an impression from them. This impression is called “envy, lust, and ambition lead a person out of this world.”

I envy what others have and thereby increase my desire. This addition to my desire, which is called yearning, pressure, or perseverance with which I realize this desire, is what helps me build my spiritual vessel.
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From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7

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The Forefathers: Then And Now

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Indeed, there is no dispute here, for everyone admits that to begin with, it is enough to start with one nation …for the beginning of the correction of the world. Undoubtedly, both the physical purity and the mental exaltedness of our Holy Fathers greatly influenced their sons and their sons’ sons, and their righteousness reflected upon that generation, whose members all assumed that sublime work, and each and every one stated clearly, “We shall do and we shall hear.” Because of that, we were chosen, out of necessity, to be a chosen people from among all the nations.

We study the general system that stems from the four phases of the expansion of the Direct Light. The Light operates on the desire that it created as “existence from absence,” and inevitably, the desire develops by the four phases. Only in the last phase does it feel itself separated from the root, from the Light, and in this state perceives the root as the bestowing one and itself as the receiving one.

As a result of this feeling of separation, the oppositeness in attributes, the desire restricts itself and performs internal changes in order to resemble the root. The root gives it the feeling of self-deficiency that stems from the evil and lowliness of receiving, and so the desire wants to change itself and to resemble its root.

The four phases create the matrix of Yod-Key-Vav-Key (HaVaYaH), or the “the name of the Creator.” This means that the Creator imprints His name, His action, in matter, meaning in the desire of the created being.

All our development occurs following the format of Yod-Key-Vav-Key, through the four phases and their root, or through the five worlds. In each one there are five Partzufim, and each one is divided into five Sefirot, a total of 125 degrees.

The five general stages of development are divided according to the Aviut (depth, “thickness”) of the desire, from the root (zero) level until the fourth phase, or into five Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Malchut, or five Partzufim: Galgalta, AB, SAG, MA, and BON, or five worlds: AK, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. In short, the format of HaVaYaH surrounds everything, and there is nothing else in reality except for these five parts of the desire to receive. The Creator is also inside.

Accordingly, the last phase, Malchut, which needs correction, also includes five phases that are corrected gradually, starting with the “tip of Yod.” The levels that preceded us are called “forefathers” and “sons.” And we stem from them. This is the order of the correction of the vessels.

In fact, the level of the forefathers begins from Adam who was the first to discover the Creator. Then came the souls who do not belong to this world, although we call them Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on. It is a matter of numerology, as the name reflects the level that the soul attained in its correction.

We come after all these souls from the degrees of HBD and HGT, and we belong to the degrees of NHY. On the whole, all the souls make up the general vessel, and so at our stage we should see the continuation of the previous levels. Our small level is also divided into three corresponding parts: HBD, HGT, and NHY. In this round we are the forefathers with regards to the last degree, the last generation.

So we are connected to the forefathers because all the Sefirot match one another and are connected. Because we belong to the level of the forefathers, it is hard for us to be corrected. After all, it isn’t just about something that exists; rather, we have to rise in our mind and heart, in awareness and understanding, in clear attainment, and in a large scale, finite, and perfect action.

So we should be grateful that we were privileged to be the first. Yes, it is not easy. There are people in the world who prefer a “quiet place” and little responsibility, but there are those who want to spread the Creator’s name in the world. There is nothing we can do, it doesn’t depend on us; however, we should be grateful that we received such a special role, we should be proud. You can be a farmer, for instance, and simultaneously disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah.

There are many interruptions along this difficult path, which are especially meant for us. It will be much easier for others. We will build schools, kindergartens, and different systems for the new world: industry, management, government, and health care systems, and then people will enliven all that.

But it is us who attain the Creator fully and wholly, not like the forefathers in the past. They only had the Light of Nefesh, while we attain the head of the level with the greatest vessels of NHY, the essence of the Thought of Creation itself. This is because the wisdom of Kabbalah begins with the question about the meaning of our lives, about knowing the Creator, about attaining Godliness. All this is revealed on our degree.
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From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7

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Chosen To Go Ahead Of Everyone

Dr. Michael LaitmanYou do not understand who you are! You are the first people who began the general correction practically. What can you do? A child who was born a prince does not understand that he is the king’s son; he runs around the royal palace and plays like ordinary children.

You do not realize how special you are—the first generation in history that has started correction. Everything that happened before was only preparation: Abraham’s group and Moses’ group. Similarly, the worlds were broken only for preparation, in order to build the system.

And we are the first generation that began the real correction of creation, and we have no choice but to disseminate it to everyone else. And all the generations, until the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun) all of them will come after you. You will have to rise every time so that they rise after you, into your place. Every generation will push you higher and higher. We will always be at the top because new broken vessels will come and gather below.

I clearly understand this and feel how it should happen, but I have no practical experience of attaining such correction in the group. It has never happened before; you are the pioneers, and I would love to go through this together with you. Please take me!
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From the Arava Convention 2/24/12, Lesson 5

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Correcting Age-Old Mistakes of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Yesterday we finished re-watching all seven lessons from the convention in the Arava desert. Could you please sum up our state and assess the stage we’re entering?

Answer: For our next stage, starting next week we’ll be working on articles about the group by Baal HaSulam and Rabash, adapted to the modern reader. I hope that this will allow us to better feel and implement them, as well as to clarify the most suitable form to express them.

After all, it’s possible to make tons of mistakes here, which is exactly what people have done with the wisdom of Kabbalah over the centuries. It is the oldest science; indeed, there were no sciences in the world before Kabbalah. And it is precisely its breaking, meaning its incorrect interpretation, which has led to all that we see today in humanity. These consequences are manifested in absolutely everything: education, culture, family, economy, and political structure, in the entire world.

Kabbalah speaks of natural phenomena, the Creator’s actions, and our lack of understanding thereof results in our erroneous, egoistic development. Let’s hope that we will succeed at clarifying all these matters in depth, which will help us move forward. And then we’ll be able to develop the point to which we were able to ascend at the convention.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/8/2012, TES

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Intention Catchers

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have gathered here to catch our intention and not let go of it, even for a second. It is what’s called man, the head, the clarification; the rest is not important. If we immerse ourselves into this analysis deeper and deeper, we will suddenly feel that we exist in the common space. One is better, another is worse, but it doesn’t matter. Most importantly, we are all in one collective field and we clarify our intention together.

Each person may be in their own state, but when all analyze their intention, the inner prayer arises about how to clarify it better and in a more intelligible way: Whether my intention is egoistic or bestowing in where I looked, what I said, what I smelled, how I sat, or what I did—absolutely everything, on all levels. It can come to a point when we will begin to feel how the blood runs through our veins, how the nervous and other systems work inside our bodies.

A person will see the entire creation inside out, as transparent, and will realize that everything is working for the sake of egoistic reception. While he, seeing this, wants to clarify what “for the sake of bestowal” could mean.

As a result of the efforts to clarify the intention, we begin to feel the group. And then each individual effort adds up to the rest—in clarification of the intention and yearning to achieve the quality of bestowal. The intention to bestow cannot be private, individual. It is always connected with others’ identical intentions.

Hence, in this intention to bestow, in aspiration toward it, I suddenly begin to feel that I am not alone. Next to me are enormous forces that I suddenly notice, great sources of bestowal: the souls of Kabbalists of all generations. I feel like a little child who wants to join them: to grab their hand so they could lead me, just like a grown up takes a child by the hand, directs, and teaches him.

It is said: “A person’s soul will teach him.” My yearning for intention to bestow puts me into the collective circle. Then we achieve the connection, and any thought about my intention, which could be wrong, as well as my search for the right intention to bestow, everything together is included in our common prayer. And this prayer will be awarded an answer.

If we succeed to unite within this intention to bestow at least a little, we will understand the need for mutual guarantee when every one influences and helps each other. Each of us adds to the rest their own desire for bestowal. Then this prayer will reach the upper root, and this root will reveal to us the possibility to live in the intention to bestow.

Only then will we realize that this entire reality is, in fact, egoistic. Nothing changes between this and the upper reality, everything stays as it was: the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature. We only begin to see them from an altruistic perspective, through the prism of bestowal. Then we will indeed be looking through this reality, even through our own body, and we will see a reverse world operated by the opposite intention. We will see the infinite, perfect world, in addition to the one we see today.
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From the Arava Convention 2/23/12, Lesson #1

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The Guides Of The Last Generation

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Studying the science of Kabbalah with the altruistic intention, the people of Israel must prepare themselves and all inhabitants of the world, until they evolve in order to take on this high work of love for others, which is the ladder towards the goal of creation, adhesion with the Creator.

This depends not on us, but on the root of the soul. On one hand, we are huge egoists with a coarse and ruthless desire, and that is why we are corrected in the last generation; on the other hand, we are characterized by the finest phenomenon, the purest Reshimot (informational genes), and hence we belong to the head of the last generation.

This antagonism, this contradiction takes in us extreme forms, compared with all other generations. Relative to us, it was easy for them to reveal the Creator, to attain bestowal and unity. They had an affinity for and understood this; it did not trigger so many rejections and disturbances. Perhaps, they experienced more material problems, but fewer spiritual obstacles.

Besides that, we have no alternative; we have not chosen our task. Anyway, in order to guide the world, to understand it completely, and lead all its inhabitants toward the goal of creation, we must know the whole system of the universe, the entire program of the Creator, and be able to realize it with all the souls that will be opened now and after us.

Until now, there was no correction in the true sense of this word. Everything was limited by the vessels of HBD (Hochma, Bina, Daat) and HGT (Hesed, Gevurah, Tifferet), which belong to Bina, bestowal. They were broken and corrected only in order to sustain the wholeness of the Partzuf, the force of bestowal. But where does this force act and what does it correct? It acts and performs corrections in the vessels of NHY (Netzach, Hod, Yesod) whose turn comes today.

Thus, we in fact belong to the most powerful, the worst and simultaneously the best part. So, it is not easy. Our path and analysis requires such efforts that are immeasurably greater than the efforts of our predecessors and successors.

However, it is said: “For the suffering, reward.” And this reward is an understanding, feeling, and attainment of the fullness of the world. Only we can understand and feel all of the Creator, absorb Him. And thus, we should be proud.

Peace in the world precedes the gathering of the exiles. As long as self-love and egoism prevail among people, the sons of Israel will not be able to serve the Creator in purity. Peace in the world is the only vessel that let us obtain the blessing of the forefathers.

We will reveal the Creator, but a complete picture can be seen only at the end when the whole world follows us and comes to correction. After all, the world is our vessel, and we will have to help the nations become corrected and join us. Only then will we correct the entire vessel, and all the nations will join in the work for the sake of bestowal, in unity.

As the head of this whole system, we will have to work, coming again and again as representatives, responsible managers. The Creator Himself puts us before that, and we should be proud of our unique mission.

No one knows why he has been entrusted with that, what reincarnations he has gone through, and why namely he and not his neighbor was given this role. And therefore, we need to respect all our friends, to love each of them because everyone is my partner in many reincarnations, that is, of corrections that await us. We will be included in a single system and become close to each other. That is why we need to understand more, strive to feel more internally, to be included in each other. Thus altogether, we come to the goal. Baal HaSulam and Rabash write a lot about this in their articles.

We need to see the friends not in their material form, but as various kinds of souls, sparks, points in the heart. It is interesting how the Creator arranges them. We will understand the correct order later, what the system HBD is, designed on the one hand to grasp the entire coarseness of the desire, and on the other hand, to understand what the Creator is and how to work with this vessel, which opens for all its depth.

The general order is following: The Creator is first revealed in us, in the desires of HBD; then, we adapt the purpose of creation for the desire of HGT, and from there, correction comes to the true vessels of NHY.
[72127]
From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson 7

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The Importance Of Light Is Realized In Darkness

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe must realize the importance of spirituality from darkness, from the absence of its perception. Only in response to such a way of relating to it, does the spiritual world appear from the fog and is born from non-existence. It penetrates into my feelings awareness, and understanding; I am holding it and working with it, but only to the extent of its importance to me. Raising this realization of importance, I “pull” it out from the concealment into the light.

All of this is to ensure that my approach would be altruistic. Otherwise, I can never reveal the spiritual world, since I will always keep aspiring towards it with the intention for the sake of receiving, like towards everything in our world.

So how can I realize the importance of something that I do not see? How do I approach the hidden with the intention for the sake of bestowal? For this, the Kabbalists say the environment is needed, a society of friends. When they exalt the importance of something, even though not even one thread may be connecting me to the object of their praises, in any case I begin to value it.

It is the same in our world, what people around me think and talk about, what is important to them, becomes important to me. This happens to such an extent that I suddenly begin to value what I have never seen and felt. And now I start talking about how important and wonderful it is. Looking at me, many wonder: “Where does such an enthusiasm come from?” And I sometimes catch myself in a sudden reverence toward something I have seen on television and something I heard from others… This happens to everyone. Why? It is due to the common opinion. Society considers something important and it passes on to me.

Why is this the way we have to go into the spiritual? Why has advertising become so widespread in the 20th century right before our common spiritual ascent? It is so that we know to what extent we must use the environment.

For decades we have been convinced that the environment is capable of influencing us and through advertising can raise in our eyes things that do not have even the slightest importance. There is nothing in them except for social prestige. What others praise will be important for me as well. We are constantly being manipulated this way; they jack up the price for something, and the public is ready to pay three times the original price. The mass media, sociologists, and political scientists are doing this job very well and they have created a whole industry of artificial importance.

What’s more, we do not suspect that we are also “calibrated” in all of our internal parameters, qualities, and opinions. We have been “adjusted” and “configured” so that we would look at each thing in a certain way. In reality, I see the world with foreign eyes. And there is nothing that can be done here, I have already been “blinded,” I can no longer come out of this formatting. The same brainwashing is being experience by our children as well.

So what have we gone through the whole of this process for; after all, nothing happens by chance?

It is in order to understand that we are completely dependent on the environment and with its help we can raise the importance of anything. Thus, we know how to raise the importance of the spiritual world in our eyes although we do not see or feel it.

Advertisers show me, say, a small bottle of water and they describe it as if it were holy water. So if we were to study this mechanism, we would be able to do the same thing for our spiritual development. After all, nobody knows what the spiritual world is, nobody sees it, whether it is important or not, how important it is, how beneficial it is for us. We only know one thing, if we l attach importance to it in the circle of our environment, then for everyone it will be elevated to the highest place in our scale of priorities. We will absorb this feeling of importance of the spiritual world from “social advertising” and then it will be easy for us to feel it.
[71877]
From the Arava Convention 2/24/12, Lesson 5

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