Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

Respiration

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Please explain how you establish internal contact with people?

Answer: I try to search for and immerse myself in the place where spirituality is revealed, and each time to re-enter there from our external world. Through the external group, I go inside it in a way where faces and material characters disappear and only the points in the hearts are exposed; I delve into the relationship between them, their connection in one place, and through it, I penetrate more and more deeply into their spiritual properties.

This work has to be done over and over again, and this place constantly expands while acquiring more components, supplying the spirit of life. At this point, when you walk in and experience that connection, tangible forms of connection begin to manifest: the spiritual Partzuf with the occurrence and Histaklut of Light, the complete TANTA (Taamim–Nekudot–Tagin–Otiyot, the taste of the filling and the gradual departure of the Light leaving memories, letters, the tools for further work)

And this place is the internal oneness that expands to the entire creation so that you feel it is all around, that there is nothing but it. And conversely, the entire material world that was all of your reality and which left one tiny point for spirituality, contracts, and this spiritual point grows and fills the entire universe!

And finally, the corporeal world fades away from the foreground, as if the still, vegetative and animate levels are not the most important things for a person. In truth, you start feeling that those people are completely controlled from Above and don’t have any freewill or independent identity. Hence, this world vanishes from your perception. And what is left is only the place where all these spiritual relationships exist. You recognize the upper and the lower ones there, all the Partzufim and how they work with each other and are starting to better understand all of it. And it all depends on how much effort a person exerts in order to have it revealed.

We have to return to it anew each time since we are constantly thrown out from spirituality, pushed down to this world, and we return to the external picture, suddenly seeing the same faces and this entire world that cover the internal picture from us.

And a person starts making more effort striving to penetrate it so that the inner world will grow and expand onto the whole world. In this way, spirituality constantly either contracts and returns to a point or expands again—as if it is breathing.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, Letter #13

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Stand Firmly “On One Leg”

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are not familiar with our own nature and therefore we err all the time in one direction or another in our self-evaluation, blaming or justifying ourselves unjustly. We must understand that we have no possibility of seeing the truth and the only way out is to rely on the Light that Reforms.

Our self-image, our characteristics that now seem to us beautiful or not, all this is still far from a true understanding ourselves that will be discovered in the Light of the Creator when we see our true nature. Only then can we decide what is bad and what is good in us, for even pride is not a useless characteristic.

As it is written, “And his heart was uplifted in the ways of the Lord…” (II Chronicles 17:6), which is to say, we need to be proud, to overcome difficulties, to stand firmly on the way of truth, and not allow anyone to divert us from the way or humiliate us. In this case, humility is not appropriate.

In our view of ourselves and about others, there is much confusion; therefore, the only solution is attracting the Light that Reforms. As it is written, only “…in Your light we will see light” (Psalms 36:10), and, until then, it is necessary only to perform the advice of the Kabbalists precisely in order to advance as much as possible toward true observation of all of our nature and ourselves.

Hillel explained the correct approach, “anything you hate, do not do to others ” (that is what Hillel answered to that convert who asked him to teach him the entire Torah while “standing on one leg”). In the meantime, this is the only examination that we are prepared to make.

If you stand with them on this one foundation, “on one leg,” then this is enough. Even though your condition is very unsure and shaky when you are standing on one leg, if you hold to this one foundation and nothing more—by maintaining this foundation all the time, “anything you hate, do not do to others”—then you can move forward.

We don’t need anything else; this one thing is enough. This is a necessary and sufficient condition. Nothing else is required except connection and we need to work only by means of this all the time. The nature of the action is examined according only to how much the connection between us will be stronger. We don’t take into account anything that is happening around us at all. This already would be a “second leg,” a “third,” which can bring us only great confusion in the work. Therefore, you only should be concerned about your connection.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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The Prayer Is Most Important

Dr. Michael LaitmanMAN is a prayer, an act, that comes from desire not from the mind. It is born by the desire of Bina and Malchut acting together. We need to raise this prayer, that is, decide that this is the most important for us. This is called “raising.”

After all, the entire scale of measurement is inside me. Plenty of various demands—desires, which I somehow sort by priorities, considering some more important and some less important—live within me. However, above all, there should the force of unity within which I want to reveal the Creator to bring Him joy.

If I arrange all my actions, desires, and impulses so that this unity has become the most important, this means that I raise MAN. That is, I put the need for unity, correction, and revelation of the Creator (for His pleasure) as the most important, above all. This is called an “ascent.”

I do not send this requirement by mail or via SMS to a distant star. All the worlds are inside a person. There, everything starts, is realized, and ends in his consciousness. That is why I need to organize myself so as to arrange all my desires along one line, according to the clear scale of priorities, strictly material: food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge, and those that are slightly disconnected from this world. At the very top of this ladder of priorities, there must be my desire to bring pleasure to the Creator through our connection by giving Him the opportunity to be revealed in us now.

MAN is “Mei Nukvin” (female waters). Water is Bina and the woman, Nukva is Malchut. Thus, I join Bina and Malchut in a prayer; in other words, I glue the desires together, parts of Malchut, with the water, mercy (Hesed), the property of Bina. I want it to exist in this form together. I raise this request and want to become connected with others through the property of mercy, Bina, the property of bestowal.

That is why my request is called female waters, MAN. I raise it. That is, I consider it above all in importance, and, if I try to keep this desire in my heart by all means to awaken it in its very depth, then it is called a prayer, raising MAN.

To the extent of my efforts to accomplish this, the Light that Reforms affects me and awakens various states in me: thoughts and feelings in favor of connection and against it, in favor of bestowal and against it. In this way, they try to shake me and navigate me through various states so that I understand, feel more, gain experience. Thus, I gradually become aware what the true prayer, MAN, is.

On this path, I must go through frustration, impatience, fear of not succeeding, and failure to understand what kind of success I am waiting for: for myself or to please the Creator. Here it helps to imagine, the entire universe—all of still, vegetative, and animal nature, and people—as my own desires that broke away from me due to the shattering and have fallen from my consciousness.

Now, they appear in front of me and I must attach them to myself through my own efforts although it seems to me as if they are outside. I must try to relate to them as if they exist within me. Then, my efforts also will be called the prayer, MAN.

Thus, working on my correct perception of reality and connecting all its parts together by means of the property of mercy, I increasingly return the common vessel to its original form, in other words, to the corrected state as a whole.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/13, The Zohar

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Looking Into The Faces Of Kabbalists

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If Kabbalists experience an enormous spiritual pleasure from reading The Study of the Ten Sefirot, then why can’t we tell by looking at you that you feel this way? Why do you appear to be so calm?

Answer: And what do you want to see, what kind of Kabbalistic emotions, something external? It makes sense that we are used to seeing people’s emotions. But it is not the case when we are referring to true spiritual feelings.

The fact is that so far you are receiving impressions from the spiritual in the form of the Surrounding Light, in your egoistic Kelim, or a small highlight in the prepared clothing of Hassadim from above due to the screen of the Upper.

And for this reason you either do not feel or recognize this Light at all, or you feel it but as some corporeal pleasure, and this is why your feelings can be seen externally.

But spiritual pleasure from bestowal does not show on the outside in any way on the person receiving it! This is because he receives this entire enormous pleasure inside the clothing created by the opposite force. And they lock one another; the Direct Light clothes in the reverse Light and the desire, which is restricted. And this is why externally it goes completely unnoticed.

And a regular person does not perceive the spiritual world for the same exact reason…
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”
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A Guide Towards The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a specific intention for every word when reading Kabbalistic texts besides the common aspiration?

Answer: Once you acquire spiritual attainment you will have a common attitude towards the text as well as a private attitude towards every word.

After all, you will feel what every word represents. You will live it. You will go along with the author, perform the same actions, and you will see that your actions turn out exactly as the author says.

A Kabbalistic book is a book of instructions! You fully follow its precise instructions and check the results described in it on yourself, and this way you advance as you correct your soul.

And you receive an enormous pleasure with every action because you are revealing the Creator! In every action, you reveal some aspect of His attitude, some of His properties. After all, you are performing actions to become like Him, according to the way He created the desire to receive pleasure in you.

And this is why it is written: “From your actions, I will know you.” Your every action is an enormous pleasure!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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From Animal To Man

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, we need to understand that we are on the animate level; as it is written: “All are like animals.” The still, vegetative, and animate levels exist in us. And the level of human level that we need to build within us is a degree of similarity to the Creator.

So far I do not know who the Creator is since I lack properties similar to Him through which I would be able to recognize Him and imagine who He is. This is why I am still considered to be on the animate level. After all, how do I differ from an animal? I am just slightly more egoistically developed. And the “human” level means “similar to the Creator” (“man” – “Adam” comes from the word “similar” – “Adameh”).

The Creator is the quality of bestow, the force of bestowal, while I am an absolute receiver. This is why I have nothing from Him except for a tiny “spark from above” that is enrooted in every man from birth. When it awakens, one begins to feel a strange uneasiness, a desire for something higher than the animate level.

And then I come to a group where people study Kabbalah and I begin to hear that there is a possibility to become human, like the Creator.

This is a very drastic change that we can make in ourselves. Imagine the difference between an animal and a human in our world. A man’s life is so much more difficult than the life of an animal, say a cat! In addition to the common animal needs like food, sleep, and sex, man also has desires for education, culture, and comprehensive development. The cat does not know any of these things.

But in order for us to develop something similar to the Creator, we need reason, sensations, and strengths that we do not have. After all, the difference between an animal and a human in our world is no more than a small difference in the development of two egoistic beings.

While the Creator and I are two opposite forms, and I do not have the slightest idea of what else I need in order to become like Him. I cannot even imagine what it is like to be like Him, to rise above time, movement, space, and our entire reality.

It turns out that we need to acquire certain strengths, understanding, reason, and experience that we do not yet have. So far I exist like an animal. But there is a “spark from above” in me and I can develop it so that I will suddenly discover all these different properties, reason, and sensations in it, which already belong to the level of the Creator to the level of man (Adam) in me. This spark is developed with the help of the Upper Light.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 8-10-10

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A Time To Break Apart And A Time To Assemble Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe created being must become equal to the Creator in properties and ascend to His level, so that both of them stand at the level of eternity and perfection. To achieve this, the Creator gives the creature a broken state, similar to how we give a child an unassembled construction set, like LEGOs, so that while assembling them, the child reaches the level of the creator of the game.

Our story begins in the world of Infinity, where the Creator created us as one soul, one desire. Then, He broke it, and we have to bring this broken will to receive, which egoistically pushes away from its own parts, to the common desire, the equivalence to the Creator.

The Creator Himself is Bestowal. On the one hand, He created the will to receive opposite to Himself; but on the other, He allows it an opportunity to attain the quality of bestowal. Then, it will become a desire to receive in order to bestow, and the creature, thereby, will become exactly similar to the Creator.

The creature has to attain this correction, the intention for bestowal, itself, and then it will understand the entire creation. For this reason, from the world of Infinity, from the state of perfection and equivalence to the Creator, we have descended into our world. This can be compared with a picture that has been divided into individual pieces of a puzzle that are mixed up and totally displaced, which is opposite to the original state. That’s how we find ourselves in the lowest point, our world.

In Infinity, the desire was common for all, consistent in all its parts, and acted as one whole. Now, the system is broken into myriad fragments that are all entangled, immersed in darkness, don’t understand what is going on, and reject each other. This is the description of us in this world.

From this state, we must rise again and attain the perfection of Infinity, assemble our “construction set” so that all souls are reunified into one. This work is called “the work for the Creator”; after all, by doing so, we become equal to Him—-a global, integral force of nature.

We undergo step-by-step egoistic evolution in our world until we reach the stage of the development of the human within us. At that point, nature begins pressuring us to get us to start uniting and assembling the “puzzle.” There comes the time of conscious participation in the process of preparing our ascent back to Infinity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/10/10, Shamati #161

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Faith and Attainment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If faith is attainment and knowledge, what is the difference between the two?

Answer: The difference between them lies in the depth that is revealed to a person. Since the meaning itself derives from the creature, it includes several components. We call faith a degree of bestowal contained in the act performed by the will to receive pleasure (desire). Attainment is what a person learns while performing the act of bestowal in the degree of its similarity to the Light.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson12/8/10, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot“

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The Detector Of The Upper Force

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I don’t have the strength to work for dissemination, how can I connect with the friends in order to get strength from them?

Answer: From your point of view, it is an unnatural action that goes beyond our nature. On your own, you would never have a thought about the friends, seeing no egoistic gain in this. If you could gain at their expense, make money or if your health or income had depended on them, then of course, you would have started thinking about the friends right away. But since we are talking about some kind of an unnatural act, you have to draw a perfect system.

Spiritual qualities can come to you only from above, that is, from the force of bestowal. You need the upper force that will change you, and it can be obtained only from the center of the group. According to the nature of the force of Light, the only form that matches it, as a detector or radar able to catch it, is the unity of people as equals that desire to reveal this force.

You will find this unity in the center of the group if you become integrated into it with all your mind and heart, with all your power and concentration. Try to imagine how all the friends, all the hearts, are united in this imaginary center. You still cannot imagine it “virtually” because you have no tools for perceiving the spiritual reality yet. So, just imagine that they are getting together in one intention to draw the Light that will unite us and reveal the upper force for us.

And inside of this revelation, you will already subconsciously imagine this world, the upper world, the ascent above death to eternal life, to unlimited knowledge, mind, and feelings. It is all correct. You already visualize the true reality in which everyone is united. You also want to join them to be affected by the illumination that comes through our connection from that invisible infinite spiritual space.

Our unity is like a focusing lens that creates a tiny opening, like a needle’s eye, through which the higher energy breaks into our world and changes us.

You need to constantly imagine this picture, and thus you will connect with the group. You will already want to feel the friends, to hear them, to communicate; you will be looking where they are to connect to them in some form, to get closer. The main thing is to achieve the feeling that you must both physically and in your soul be as close as possible to them.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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A Healing Infusion Through The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is it that it is precisely through involvement with dissemination that we begin to see the greatness of the friends and our own lowness in comparison to them?

Answer: Through involvement with dissemination, you are connected. You feel your dependence upon each other. You hang the success of the dissemination on the degree of your success in attaining connection and unity, mutual support. All this brings you higher illumination.

Everything depends upon the illumination. The desire to receive, our entire world, cannot move from its spot without this energy. Scientists say that all the energy through which the entire universe lives and develops was revealed at the time of the Big Bang, and, from then, it acts in the entire universe, making all the particles go around, giving them the ability to connect and create the multitude of types of creatures that we see on the face of the earth: still, vegetative, animate and human.

However, all of this energy comes from the Upper Light, from the power of bestowal. Otherwise, matter would remain dead; it would not move. It couldn’t even exist without the Light and, all the more so, be in motion and development, and even in spiritual development. A completely unique Light is required to be able to maintain the existence of matter, giving it the possibility of developing to the level of the animate and the speaking, and, after that, also to the level of divinity.

What is required for this is not just Light, energy. Rather, it’s energy of another, higher quality. Therefore, we attract this illumination through our actions.

When we merely act on the level of the “beast,” we are serving our ego. So, this also takes place with the help of the illumination for we see that the world evolves but by a long and indirect way that is called the “path of suffering.”

Whereas, through dissemination, we attract the illumination in the right form, for we need it in order to heal this world so that it will heal matter and correct the shattering. Therefore, through our dissemination, we do rehabilitation. We convey through a pipeline to the world an infusion with the remedy, and then we begin to think, to feel, and to understand that we require friends. You are personally empty, but completely filled together with everyone.

So, the Light, according to its nature, shows you a truer picture of reality, closer to the truth. You suddenly feel that you are attracted to friends, feel your dependence on them, and feel yourself obligated to them. They radiate a vital energy, a feeling of security to you. The Light acts and carries out in you changes like these that are possible only through the Light. You feel the results directly from the area of your work in dissemination.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/13

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