Entries in the 'Conventions' Category

Each Step Has Its Answer

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that in one’s internal analysis one gets an answer from within. How can I be sure that my egoism does not deceive me, and I receive the right answers instead of just imagining something?

Answer: If you are seeking how to move forward—by the books, the method, you receive the correct answer for a given moment. On the next step, you will receive a more correct answer.

Each successive step relative to the previous one is more correct, and the previous one seems to be erroneous. Thus, we advance. In this way, a child begins to understand that he played with toys, not something real.
[45863]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Related Material:
The Light Is The Answer
The Right Question Is Already The Answer
Try To Answer Your Own Questions

The Russian Press About The Moscow Convention


Komsomolskaya Pravda (Komsomol Truth), a daily Russian newspaper, published an article on the World Kabbalah Convention that took place last week in Moscow. The article includes a clip with my interview to the special correspondent of the newspaper, a portion of a lesson, and photos from the convention.

An excerpt from the article: “On Friday, Kabbalah followers gathered at the convention titled “Unity—the Future of the World” that was held in Sokolniki, Moscow. Kabbalah followers from Russia as well as Canada, Germany, China, and other countries attended the event. The lectures were given by the founder of the International Kabbalah Study Center Dr. Michael Laitman who is originally from Russia, has lived in Israel for many years, and has thousands of supporters around the world.

Dr. Laitman thinks that humanity is immersed in depression and crises because it has separated from its nature, forgotten how to enjoy, and lost desires. His students are sure that they will find the key to understanding the world, become happy, and teach others.…

The first day of the Moscow Convention ended with the delegates singing “The Future is in the Unity of the World.” Holding each other’s shoulders, dozens of people swayed to the beat of the anthem with belief that namely they are called to bring the true Light into our dark world.”
[45465]

Related Material:
Live News: Thirteen Minutes About The Most Important Thing
Interview For The EFE News Agency
NTV On Kabbalah Or “Growing Pains” Of Humanity

A Springboard To Infinity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the women’s desire contain the desire to acquire the intention to bestow?

Answer: This intention is absent from the desires of both men and women. How can it just appear inside us? All we want is to receive. How can we acquire the intention to bestow? The Light does this and not us.

I am an absolute egoist; I only think about myself and cannot leave this state. Neither the desires in my heart nor the thoughts in my mind can work differently. This is nature, this is how I was made. So what to do?

Only if we, together, wish correctly for the Light to descend upon us and correct us, will we acquire, apart from our egoism, an intention to work with it correctly. This will be the desire for the Light, for the will to bestow, to love.

Our egoism will stay. But working on it correctly, we increase and intensify the Light. This is the essence of our historical path.

From the world of Infinity, our first state, where we begin, we pass through our present, second state, and reach the world of Infinity, the third state, once again. This third state is said to be 620 times greater than the first state. 620 is just a name, in reality it is billions of billions of times greater. The key is that in the third state, we know where we are.

In the first state we were a drop of semen, and in the third state we become completely like the Creator, gaining his status. This is what we achieve thanks to this amplification, when our egoism stays, slowly developing in us as a huge ego, while we can use it to intensify the weak Light of Nefesh that filled us in the first state.

Nefesh is a very small Light, in which life barely exists. And in the third state we achieve a degree that’s called NRNHY, a huge Light that fills all the worlds.
[45674]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Related Material:
From A Thick Pipe To A Vibrating String
Outsmart Your Egoism
Calibrate Yourself With A Benchmark

The Everyday Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The last three conventions in Italy, Spain, and Moscow were special. What should the group do now?

Answer: The end of the convention means that now you have to rise to the level of this convention in your “everyday” state. We seemed to have pulled ourselves up onto the bar, and now we have to stand on our feet on it.

In other words, we put a ladder to the next step and climbed to the top. Here is my current state:

We exerted efforts during the convention and have barely made it there. And now, we have to stand up on this rung—all together.

This is our everyday work until the next convention. As soon as we stand upright, as soon as we master this step, we will be ready for it.

We should not hold it automatically, simply putting a check mark on a date in a month or two. Maybe, it will mature in a week or two, or on the contrary, in half a year; it all depends on how quickly we realize and master the potential for our ascent to the top. Everybody has to master it within himself.

When I was at the convention, the entire ascent was embodied for me in our world group. I united with the friends and through this unity rose higher.

However, it happened under the influence of communication, the society, the external environment. I felt ready to merge with them, to be together with them. At least, there were minutes like this and perhaps even hours.

Now, not being under the influence of the friends, I must do this within myself: rise from my knees and stand on my feet. This is a serious and painstaking work when I feel that the charge I received from the friends lives in me, helps me with my group and the world group in dissemination and in studies, and all the time gives me energy so that I act together with them.

The unity that took place there, at the convention, under the external influence, must be mirrored in my realization.

[45687]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/16/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Create Yourself
Don’t Let Yourself Fall
There’s No Time To Be Depressed!

The Global Matrix: There Is No Time For Ourselves

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe crisis is coming over the world, and people feel it, they feel that things are getting worse for them. And indeed, it will not get better unless we begin to correct it through harmony with the Creator or the surrounding Nature, which is the same thing.

This is why we need to look for people who will respond to our call; we need to disseminate, “throw information around,” and to better utilize the Internet as a medium. The Internet is practically our only opportunity to be everywhere for free. First, we need to bring ourselves in order, but on the other hand, when you start organizing others, you also organize yourself.

The first thing we need for our work is inner unity, and of course the most important aspect of our work is circulation. The crisis clearly shows us that we need to care more for others than ourselves. We will reach the goal faster going down the most reliable avenue if we disseminate Kabbalah. Through the nearing crisis, the Creator is showing us that we do not have time for ourselves. We only have time for the world: By organizing it, we will organize and correct ourselves.

The global crisis became obvious only a few years ago. For a long time, ecologists have been screaming that we are in trouble, but it was specifically the economic crisis that put us into a panic. Why the economic crisis? Because it reflects the egoistic connections between people: When these connections become global and integrated, it becomes a problem.

What is economics? It is a display, an expression of our egoistic connection: the amount each one of us wants but is unable to make and only does with what economic, egoistic bonds and relations according to the principle of “I for you and you for me” permit. Economics is pure egoism in its clear, harsh, real form. And when it suddenly enters a global and integrated state, we discover that this state is completely opposite to it.

We can negotiate anything, even atomic weapons—out of fear. But we are basically incapable of negotiating economics: Everyone is pulling the blanket over to their side. How else can it be?

This is our main problem. The economy is already manifesting in the world as a global, integrated, interconnected, mutually binding system, and people are not yet ready for it.

This is the greatest discord that can exist in our world, the greatest, acute demonstration of our nonconformity with the system which is now manifesting before us. We got caught in a net, an analog matrix, where all the parts depend on each other. We are incorporated in it against our will; we are bound inside it by the old ties of egoistic economy as before, and we have no way to escape. This is nature challenging us and clearly showing us: “Guys, time’s up.”

We need to move forward on our own and alleviate this state and bring humanity into complete accordance with this matrix through explanations, education, and so on. If we do not move in this direction even in the slightest way to the extent of our abilities, then the crisis draws closer.

The matrix has its own program of getting closer to us, and as a result, even greater contradictions happen in the world to the point of revolutions, wars, different cataclysms, and so on. The awakening of one volcano causes serious consequences on a global scale. What if  20-30 volcanoes erupt? We are hostages of the unknown, we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder—our Earth with titanic forces bubbling inside. We need to understand this and not provoke Nature’s harsh attitude towards us. Yet on the contrary, we disturb its balance and not just in ecological sense.

This is why all our groups, everyone studying with us must disseminate. Nature itself obligates us towards it. This is the only way for us to break ahead and approach the global matrix.
[45695]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson from Moscow 6/14/2011, Shamati #4

Related Material:
Five Steps To Get Out Of The Crisis
When The Crisis Becomes Unbearable
It’s Time To Start Taking Care Of The World

Open Sesame!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does the revelation of the collective women’s desire depend on?

Answer: It depends on the correct organization of the women’s groups around the world. They should be in contact with each other; they should have a women’s virtual magazine or website; they have to communicate, to help other women understand what Kabbalah is, what it leads to, what our common goal is, and what the role of women in this process is.

Your collective women’s desire depends on how much you will be able to become organized together, apart from the men’s group, so that there is a separate large international women’s part. In the spiritual world, in principle, we are presented like two collective parts: men’s and women’s.
[45644]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Related Material:
Women Need to Work On Correction Just Like Me
The Role Of Women’s Groups
The Women’s Desire As The Engine Of Creation

Envy As Much As You Want

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Women have many different desires. How can I identify and distinguish the desire for spirituality so it is above all other desires?

Answer: In principle, it is a general question, not only a woman’s but a man’s as well. Everybody has numerous desires. How can we distinguish the desire for spirituality so it becomes the most prevalent? This is possible only when I am in the right environment that inspires me, that builds the correct value system in me. I become inspired by others and envy them. Envy is a good quality; there are no bad qualities, you only need to use them properly.

If I use envy correctly, if I do my best to perceive what the general women’s group thinks, join them, absorb their enthusiasm for the goal, and recognize with their help the value of spirituality above everything else, my desire increases as a result.
[45634]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Related Material:
The Women’s Desire As The Engine Of Creation
Wake Up The Men!
Women Need to Work On Correction Just Like Men

Inspire The Men!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean for the force of the receiver to submit to the force of the giver? Does this mean that I must raise men above myself?

Answer: Every one of us must raise the others above himself or herself. I do the same in relation to the group, the environment: I lower myself as much as possible and become lower than them (-), but on the other hand, I try to receive from them as much greatness of the goal, the group, and the Creator (+) as I can.

I will not be able to receive from the group without lowering myself. Only a small one can receive from the big one. Thus, I lower myself in order to take in their desires, thoughts, aspirations, and the greatness of the ultimate goal. Thus I enrich myself. To the extent of my ability to receive the entire plus from them and make it mine, it will determine my aspiration to advance. But if I do not receive this plus from the group, I have nothing to advance with.

I always receive the desire to aspire forward only from the environment. This is because I am but a preset point, and there is nothing else in it; it is only given to me in order to work with the environment. My entire spiritual vessel (Kli), my entire soul, is what I receive from the environment; it does not exist in me.

And if I do not receive anything from the environment, if I walk around with my nose up and have no desire to hear anything from them, these additional desires cannot appear in me, and I will not have a soul, a place to reveal the Creator. This is very important.

The same pertains to the feminine and masculine parts. The masculine and feminine parts must be tuned to one another. We must lower ourselves in relation to the other part in order to hear and perceive their desires, and then we will receive their aspiration from them. In other words, we must listen to one another and lower ourselves in order to receive the greatness of the goal and the desire from the opposite group.

How do you raise the men above yourself? You simply need to show the men’s group that you exalt them, that you look forward to their achievements, that you believe that they will be able to pick a star from the sky, that you believe in them. Inspire them, and then they will be capable of anything! Be just like a mother who always tells her little child how big, strong, capable, and smart he is and thereby boosts his positive growth. This is necessary for the men because they really depend on women’s approval.
[45630]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

Related Material:

Our Strength Is Our Weakness
The Unity Of The World Lies In Harmony Between Men And Women
Keep Your Nose Down And Riase The Group Up

Don’t Psychoanalyze Yourself

Dr. Michael LaitmanKabbalists of all times have studied humanity’s problems and analyzed what separates us from the global, locked, cosmic, harmonious picture: “What makes the human nature so unique? What specific properties does it have? How can these qualities be reformed? What motivates such transformation?”

Kabbalah explains how we should go through these cyclical changes internally, assisting one another according to a certain principle, a particular algorithm, in order to gradually come to greater equivalence with nature, to dive deeper within to discern the qualities that oppose it, and to correct them by following a specific sequence.

Moreover, a person isn’t supposed to make any corrections in himself or herself. We need to correct the connection between us, and only then will we achieve harmony.

At this point, another peculiar detail arises: Basically, I must accept myself exactly the way I am. A great number of people spend time psychoanalyzing themselves: “I’m good for nothing, lazy, greedy, jealous, and so on.” Leave your specifics alone; it doesn’t bother us. All of it will fall into place if you begin aiming at good connection with others: inter-relations, mutual understanding, and interdependence.

If I start analyzing, experiencing, and building our relationships correctly, I will suddenly discover (which is truly remarkable) that all qualities exist within me: the most disgusting and terrifying, such that I am ashamed to admit them even to myself. And I’ll suddenly see that I need them, require them, in order to receive from and give to the others and in this way to be an integral part in this enormous, closed organism.

It turns out that all our desires, such as theft, deceit, envy, hatred, rejection, and taking advantage of others, all these internal impulses we were born with are absolutely necessary to us. Therefore, don’t even think about undertaking such self-correction! It is a big mistake I see our world group making more often than not.

All you need to work on is our interconnection. Don’t criticize a person’s flaws: He or she has none! The flaw lies solely in the connection between us and nowhere else!

This is what we call “guarantee,” a property that the wisdom of Kabbalah so strongly focuses on. When we start studying, we begin to establish a connection between us, and this intention has to precede every endeavor: mutual contact, mutual responsibility to be connected with each other, and the need to discover this inner connection among us.

Parallel to this, we study Kabbalistic texts. We don’t know what is happening to us while we are studying them, and neither do we know what they describe. We simply read about our future corrected states described by Kabbalists. In a similar manner, a little child instinctively picks up a toy because nature pushes him to play and grow. So do we play with each other in the group, as if in this way we are building a correct model.

But as a result, while we are reading about it, we as though draw the higher state upon ourselves, like a child who is playing with a toy car, construction set, or a puzzle. We intentionally give him all kinds of tasks in the form of a game, while he earnestly strives to solve them as his nature dictates him.

So should we motivate ourselves and inspire each other, by being each other’s example and talking about how important it is. In the end, everybody should get stimulated by the others, by their enthusiasm, by their intention to draw closer, unite, and be in internal, well-coordinated harmony.
[45605]
From the 5th lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/11/2011

Related Material:
Revealing The Connection Between Everything
The Need For Unity Is Drawing To A Head
What Does Nature Demand Of Us?

A Proposition We Shouldn’t Refuse

Dr. Michael LaitmanNature instinctively, firmly, and automatically supports the system of reciprocity, interconnection, assistance, harmony, globalization, and integration, sustaining life thereby. Thus we say that the upper force is the force of love. Yet, the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature have one “little” additional element: man, human society, that doesn’t wish to follow this law. It is intentionally created so as to evolve randomly, pushed by its egoism.

Imagine a gigantic system where one part, which is the most advanced, efficient, and fragile, doesn’t work in sync, in harmony, with the rest of it. Therefore, this entire system gradually reaches a state of complete imbalance. This is what we are beginning to finally realize. Humanity has become a cancerous tumor consuming everything outside itself, breaking the equilibrium, and naturally causing a corresponding feedback.

How then do we achieve harmony? After all, otherwise we will destroy the whole organism. This is becoming obvious. It doesn’t take a prophet to see where the things are headed.

That is exactly what the wisdom of Kabbalah describes: how we must reform ourselves by studying the laws of integral nature. Don’t get into mysticism and start studying astral phenomena; all we have to do is learn the laws of the closed, global, integral systems which are also called analog networks known to us from engineering. There is an enormous amount of scientific, mathematically accurate material which informs us how closed systems support their internal balance.

We have to study ourselves as the elements inadequate to this system in our actions, desires, and thoughts. And if we honestly wish to achieve some kind of normal existence, even at the level of the corporeal world (not to mention what else we unveil when we enter homeostasis with nature), then we bring ourselves to overall harmony.

Today, it may seem a bit unnecessary and unpleasant, but nevertheless, nature is already pushing, forcing, and demanding from us the internal efforts and actions aimed at transforming ourselves. After all, to be aligned with surrounding nature means to consider it and not to simply consume and drain it. How and in what sense can we change ourselves? The section where Kabbalah discusses this is entitled “Mutual Guarantee.”

Guarantee is our mutual agreement (not only pertaining to ourselves but to all of nature) to reach absolutely complete mutual understanding and total balance. In terms of Kabbalah, it is Malchut of the world of Infinity or, in other words, a common, mutual property of love and bestowal.

To obtain the “property of love” means to take into consideration the needs of another as my own. This is exactly how all parts of our organism interact at the biological level. And nature pushes us to reach the same degree in our social interactions by way of social unification with one another. It can force us to do so by causing suffering. If, however, we start moving in that direction, we will be transformed quickly, comfortably, and easily. And this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is offering to us to learn.
[45610]
From the 5th lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/11/2011

Related Material:
The Need For Unity Is Drawing To A Head
Corrected Means United
What Does Nature Demand Of Us?