Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

“Outside” Means Even Deeper On The Inside

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Kabbalists says that on one hand everything is inside us, while on the other hand, we need to come out and connect. Does this mean that there are two Creators: and inner and an outer one?

Answer: First of all, I recommend watching our program on the perception of reality where we speak specifically about this.

There is nothing on the outside; everything is inside of man. At first I feel a lack on the inside; I lack the form of bestowal. This is a desire directed toward the Creator. And then I receive the form of bestowal, I become a giver, this means that the Creator has robed Himself in me; He has fulfilled me.

Nothing exists on the outside. In the “Preface to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam explains that the world we perceive to be external is no more than a big illusion. After all, the creature is the desire to receive pleasure, which only feels what happens within it.

Some parts of it become worlds, others, creatures. In the end it divides into many pieces, and I only associate myself with one of them while the rest of them appear to be external.

Why is this so? This is because I went through a breaking. I was once complete, but then I became divided. And now, looking from my small point, I see everyone else as strangers.

This is where I need to form the desire for unity. Once I unite with others according to the principle of love thy neighbor as thyself, I will return this entire big Kli inside of me, this entire reality, which I now see on the outside. Two drops merge into one in the same way, without even leaving a trace of their separation.

So, the breaking was intentionally prepared for us so that we would be able to understand the form of nonexistence, which precedes existence, unity. It is not unity that matters, but the fact that I acquire the form of bestowal, the Creator, in it.

I build the Creator in me. This is why in Hebrew He is called “Bore,” (Bo-Re, which means come and see), in other words, do and you will feel, understand, and attain. This is because you are doing it yourself.

Nothing exterior exists. As I correct every detail of the breaking, I attain the Creator’s nature in me.
[24530]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
An Honest Talk With The Creator
Our Perception Of The World Is An Optical Illusion
Re-Assembling The Creator

An Opеning In The Wall

Dr. Michael LaitmanTo enter the spiritual world, a person needs to be equipped with desire, and spiritual desire is desire for oneness. Our unity is that very place where the spiritual world is located.

There is you and me. If a person feels only himself, he experiences the corporeal world and lives in its environment. But we want to cover the gap and begin establishing connection between us. I strive for your desires (1) to receive them (2) and feel them as my own. For this reason, I turn to the Light as to something external although it, too, resides between us. The Light gives me strength to unite with you, and in this unification, I suddenly discover something new.

When we become close and work together in Arvut (mutual responsibility, mutual guarantee), a deeper dimension becomes revealed to me as if in our oneness an aperture into the upper world opens .

Baal HaSulam desribes this as follows: if we feel that between us there is a wall that doesn’t’ allow us to plug into each other, if we wish to break through this wall and are asking for it, then the Light descends and makes an opening in it. Unlike a door, it opens suddenly and only then you see that it had been initially “intended” there.

As a result, you enter another’s desire and it becomes as your own. This entrance is the very exit to the higher rung: the Kli that you have attached to yourself turns out to be your newly gained world. In this way, you attach more and more new Kelim, or the souls, and by doing so, you expand your world. You keep ascending on the 125 rungs of the spiritual ladder, which means you unite with all the desires despite your egoism and hatred.

Therefore, it turns out that you acquire the Light in the desire of another when you wish to perform bestowal to him. You fulfill another’s desire, and for you, it turns out to be the Upper Light.
[24519]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/22/10

Related Material:
Absence Precedes Existence
Careful Steps Over The Dark Void
The Mutual Guarantee Draws The Light

Where Did All This World Come From?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is a big difference between the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) and the Second Restriction (Tzimtzum Bet). During the Tzimtzum Aleph, we receive part of the Light into Sefirot Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut inside ourselves, and this is regarded as the Inner Light or NRNHY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida), but we don’t receive part of the Light in the same Sefirot, Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut; this latter is called the Surrounding Light.

In line with these levels, all fulfillments can be divided into two parts: receiving and non-receiving. But I know what is located inside and what is outside since I have all these properties and have been studying them. I have established a connection with them, entered adhesion (Zivug de Haka’a).  And even the part that didn’t enter inside me, I also know; after all, I was trying to merge with it and rejected it.

I was given “two kilos of meat”, and I accepted only half a kilo, refusing the rest because I couldn’t receive more for the sake of bestowal. But I know what the remainder in 1.5 kg means and how it tastes. I remember how I was building an anti-egoistic screen for this fulfillment and how I pushed it away resisting receiving it. This is how we work in Tzimtzum Aleph.

At the same time, in Tzimtzum Bet, while we receive the Light of Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshama, we don’t receive Chaya and Yechida and have no idea about what they are! I haven’t worked with the Lights Chaya and Yechida and don’t know what’s in them. This doesn’t exist “in me” for I simply pushed them away and didn’t have to decide what part I can and cannot receive.

Within me, there are vessels for these Lights, Chaya and Yechida, but they have no experience or idea about this Light; therefore, they seem totally alien to me. Hence, they are called “others” in relation to me. Only during Tzimtzum Bet do I feel the sensation of the “outside world.”

This means that in one case, I have a screen to receive one part of the Light and not the other. And in the second case, I don’t have a screen on this Light at all. When Malchut is in adhesion with Bina and can function as Bina, it is another Malchut, which is not just my desire. Connecting with Bina, Malchut receives special properties from it, the properties of bestowal that allow Malchut to taste and detect what is inside me and what is outside of me.

If, however, Malchut isn’t connected with Bina and therefore rejects the properties of Chaya and Yechida, it cannot taste what is inside them; it doesn’t have any connection, any equivalence of form, with what is outside.

That is why I see distant stars, the whole world around me, rocks, plants, animals, and even other people, but I don’t feel any of them as part of myself at all.
[24678]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
The First And Second Restrictions
Where Is The Real Me?
Shifting From Illusion To True Perception

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 09.01.14

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam  “Igrot,” Letter 1

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 56

[media 5] [media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 5

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “The Essence of Religion Is to Develop in Us the Sense of Recognition of Evil”

[media 9] [media 10]

The Urgency Of Sochi And The Breakthrough Of Saint Petersburg

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Not everyone has the opportunity to come to the convention in Saint Petersburg in September. How can all the friends in the world help each other to connect to it?

Answer: This convention will engage the Sochi group, that is, those friends who were doing dissemination work in Sochi this summer, and in three days, we must go through what they went through.

Clearly, not only those who are coming to Saint Petersburg will participate, but rather all our groups and students from all over the world. So, all of us together as a whole, by internally feeling all that they felt and experienced in Sochi, will absolutely acquire a new level. We are standing before this. We are waiting and expecting from them preparation for realizing the convention in Saint Petersburg.

There is no obligation at all to come physically to the convention. A trip is not at all relevant to this. Distance means nothing. I saw this in the example of our groups in South America who adhere to us without separation through integral connection and are tightly connected with the daily lessons. They simply have no feeling of detachment or of distance.

It is the same thing with the friends in Sochi who wholeheartedly let me go home after a one day visit so that the following night, I could transmit a lesson to everyone. I feel that they also have the same feeling, the same connection, the same fulfillment and satisfaction from the lessons.

So, all of us are mutually connected, and there are no problems for anyone regarding connecting to the convention. Someone who really cannot come to the convention doesn’t need to take the trouble and invest superhuman efforts beyond the limits of his ability. It is preferable to organize mirror conventions in your groups where you keep maximal contact, and I assure you the same intensity of connection and the same enthusiasm. If you are with us, then we are with you as if we are found in a single place.

In general, we want the experience in Sochi to be conveyed to everyone in sensation. Our great world community will be integrated with what they go through and their experiences, so this will be a very good level.

Our friends, men and women, attained a very good and beautiful mutual cooperation and mutual integration there, truly real dedication. We hope that we also will be integrated with them. This is why friends exist.
[142256]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Israel Is Not Geography
There Is Something To Envy
No Preparation – No Convention

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.31.14

Workshop

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Rabash  “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 217

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya,” Item 50

[media 5] [media 6]

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 9 “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 4

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “Two Paths: A Path of  Pain and a Path of Torah”

[media 9] [media 10]

A Garden Of Eden For Nine Billion

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “One Commandment”: …(good deeds) are justified in and of themselves, since human conscience necessitates them. However, if one performs them from this perspective, he has not done a thing. In others words, these actions will not bring him closer to the Creator and to actual work Lishma.

Idealism and a good attitude won’t bring us closer to positive results because they contradict the thought of creation according to which we should unite through taking steps towards the upper. Actions that are not aimed at the upper force will trigger a huge failure.

Baal HaSulam used Russia as an example of a country where the idea of building communism had totally failed. If one’s reciprocal “good deeds” are not directed to the right goal, nothing positive will occur, so it is better without them

There are plenty of charities that help various countries and different segments of the population. They save people from famine, epidemics, and other disasters. Still, more and more people starve, get sick, and suffer from numerous disasters. Research shows that humanitarian aid to Africa never improved the general situation; on the contrary, acts of charity made it even worse.

How can it be that the world doesn’t know how to distribute the abundance? Why do our attempts to save people who have nothing to eat have a negative effect? At first glance, it looks illogical.

Maybe, we demotivate people from doing their work? However, nowadays they don’t have to work. It’s better to pay them for not being employed, since there is not enough work for everybody.

The fact that among the aging population there will be less working people and more “freeloaders” sounds frightening. But in reality, here is no need for so many workers. It would be even better if the vast majority of people stopped working right now. According to the latest statistics, if there are fewer jobs, the world would become a cleaner and better place. As to food, clothing, and shelter, there is enough for all.

In my eyes, less than ten percent (10%) of the population are able to provide for the normal, basic needs of the earth’s entire population. If we implement modern technologies, only two to three percent (2-3%) of the world population would have to be engaged in work to cover the needs of humanity. We have no clue what prospects are open to us by modern science, nor do we realize that a technological revolution is already at our doorstep. However, we are not ready for it because nobody knows how to reorganize the world.

Unemployment is a direct threat to the social order. Riots of youth in France and England vividly demonstrated that a few idle teenagers can destabilize the life of vast regions and districts. What if there were a million or several million hooligans with nothing to do?

This situation must be prevented. Before we change the system we live in, people have to be educated and taken care of. Special systems that serve more than 90% of the unemployed population have to be established. People have to be busy doing something else, otherwise what will happen to them?  People, who stay home without having anything to do, gradually go crazy. Marijuana was recently legalized particularly for them, but what’s next?

Family values are being broken in the Western world and significantly fewer people want to marry or have children. However, staying single does not solve their problems.

The population of our planet is forecast to grow to nine billion people in the next fifty years. Actually, it’s not the worst thing that can happen to us. In the last one hundred years, the population of one billion grew to seven billion regardless of the extremely devastating wars that took place in the 20th century.

Our major problem is becoming more apparent. At this time, our “good works” are not oriented to the higher goal. Without the correct intention that crowns the entire process, we won’t achieve any success.

On the contrary, had we organized the process correctly, the world could have turned into a paradise. For that, humanity doesn’t have to become zombies as it has now. People will acquire wisdom and obtain a new, enlightened spirit. They will realize what they are doing, and thus, they will be engaged in jobs of a completely different type.

People will be full of life. They will sense that they live in a vast reality, in an unlimited universe and that other worlds depend on them. They will interact with everybody around them. Together, they will change our reality. It is quite a different kind of work, isn’t it?

Gradually and methodically people have to be prepared for this transition.
[142043]
From 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/22/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
We Are Educators
Exile From Intention
Doing Good For One’s Own Sake

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.29.14

Workshop

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam  “Igrot,” Letter 43

[media 3] [media 4]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”

[media 5] [media 6]

The Book of Zohar — Introduction: “The Commandments of the Torah, the First Commandment,” Item 192

[media 7] [media 8]

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 54

[media 9] [media 10]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “His Guidance Is Purposeful Guidance”

[media 11] [media 12]

One Person Brings The World To Either An Ascent Or A Descent

Dr. Michael LaitmanThose parts of “the created” by the Creator’s desire, that can awaken towards the spiritual, are called Israel. And those that are not yet able to awaken are called the “nations of the world.”

These parts exist within every person, in accordance with his desire. The wisdom of Kabbalah does not look at the bodies but only at a person’s desires.

Also, as soon as a person acquires the desire for the spiritual, he begins to be called Israel. But as soon as this desire disappears, fades, and begins to hide among his egoistic desires, he immediately begins to belong to the “nations of the world.” And this pertains to all of us.

The egoistic desire that is referred to as “nations of the world” also divides into two parts: “the righteous of the world” and “the beasts” (these want to hurt their neighbor), and the other ones achieve what they want, but not at another’s expense.

All the desires divide this way into these four groups:

  • Egoistic desires called the “nations of the world”: harmful and harmless
  • Desires that are inclined to “bestow,” which are called Israel: those devoted to bestowal and those that are not.

When one studies Kabbalah, he inclines the entire world towards the good, because he attracts the Upper Light with his studies, which causes the world of egoism to become kinder. But when one only studies the regular Torah (the open Torah), only the physical observance of the commandments, he worsens the suffering of the world (he inclines the world towards blame).

There is no state in between. This is why every person connected to the Torah must begin to study Kabbalah! Otherwise, he harms the world.

The Zohar tells us about this and Baal HaSulam explains the meaning of this.

The entire system is made in such way that when people only take care of the corporeal observance of the commandments without studying Kabbalah, they lead towards a state when all other parts of the soul, which do not pertain to spiritual work, but only the egoistic desire, gain a greater strength and feel more opportunities to realize their ego.

That is, these people, who only do the corporeal observance, evoke all the evil, which later becomes revealed in the other three parts of the soul.

 

 

And those souls that pertain to the three lower parts do not posses any freedom of will of whether to be good or bad. Only those who study the Torah have a choice: they can incline the world towards good or evil. And the highest group, which studies the “inner Torah,” or Kabbalah, have little choice if they do everything that depends on them!

The entire choice belongs to those who exclusively study the “external Torah”; this is the most problematic part. Everything depends on whether they will also begin to study Kabbalah, and to what extent.

Those who can study it but do not, absolutely harm the world. But those who study it, though not to their full ability, they benefit the world to a greater or lesser extent, but they do not harm it. This is a big difference!

If all the people who have some kind of connection to spirituality studied Kabbalah at least a little, there would be no evil in the world! There would be no crises, no problems. This is the key to success, nothing else needs correcting, not the banking system, nor ecology. And nothing else will save us from our misfortunes.

The only thing that will help is for all the people who are connected to the Torah to study specifically the inner Torah, instead of the external Torah, and then the entire world will come to goodness; all the people will only feel the desire to do good deeds.

This is the conclusion made in The Zohar and by all the Kabbalists of the following generations.
[28799]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/10, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

Related Material:
Inner And Outer Israel
A Very Simple Scheme
The Order Of Correction

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 08.28.14

Writings of Baal HaSulam  “Introduction to the Study of  the Ten Sefirot,” Item 49

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Baal HaSulam  “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” Title: “The Absolute Good”

[media 3] [media 4]