Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

A Thousand Will Study, And We Will Come Out Into The Light As One

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe sages said: “A thousand people come to study, but only one comes out to the Light.” The studying of the one thousand creates the opportunity for one person to come out to the Light because everything grows in the form of a pyramid. There is no other way.

The entire still level gives rise to one plant, and the entire vegetative level to one animal. Hence, it’s impossible to bring one to the Light without one thousand who begin to study and enter the lower level.

It is the one thousand people who build the vessel so that their work will result in one force that reaches the Light. In other words, they achieve their general unity.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, Writings of Rabash

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So Is History Real Or Not?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur perception is very limited. We cannot understand what our history is and what the Torah tells us when it describes the enslavement in Egypt and the Exodus.

But what is history? Now I feel that I exist in some reality, and I divide this reality into the present and in relation to it, the past, and the future. The perception of the past, the present, and the future is my feeling at the moment. Now, as I live and feel that I exist somewhere in space, impressions are revealed in me, which I divide according to time, place, and motion.

In this case, what is history? Is it memories, informational records of previous states, or a certain perception of the actual reality, called “the past?” It’s very hard to explain that to a person. So I constantly withhold some information, like in a conversation with children who ask intelligent and serious questions, but cannot understand the answer yet.

I don’t want it to seem like mysticism, but there is no “history,” there is no past. Our perception occurs solely due to the informational records (Reshimot). And there is no past in the Reshimo, but only the present. All the Partzufim that seem to come out sequentially, one after the other, like the “historical development” of the world that took place “before we were created” are nothing but our sensation in relation to ourselves.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Little “Me” And The Big “Me”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does the state of smallness (Katnut) not disappear and, in contrast to the state of greatness (Gadlut), remain forever?

Answer: The state of smallness doesn’t disappear because it is the foundation of the degree, independent and unrelated to the state of greatness. It exists in itself.

If we look at our world, the “small state” is like a person who is alone in this world. He doesn’t need anything except basic necessities. But since he is surrounded by others who instill different desires in him, beyond necessity in the small state, he begins to want everything! These are not his desires, and therefore they can disappear.

And, then again society pressures the person, he adopts its new ideas and once again enters the state of greatness. The “great state” refers to a surplus.

In spirituality, the state of greatness (Gadlut) is really a surplus in the present level. It is impossible to be in this state if I don’t find someone upon whom I can bestow, according to my power and ability and the other person’s desire.

Therefore, the state of greatness disappears. If the lower one no longer desires to receive from me, I cannot bestow to him, and if another lower one develops a desire to receive from me, I begin to bestow upon him. These are things that do not depend on me.

In our world, greatness or adulthood means that a person grows up and becomes part of society, begins to work, and gives and receives from society. A grown-up is someone who started his independent life and is incorporated in the general work. Therefore, his desires are not his desires, and his actions are not intended for himself. This is called a state of greatness, adulthood.

We can see it clearly from examples in this world. After all, we are in a world in which we bestow to each other. It only seems to us that each one works just for himself. It is a false perception arranged for us from Above and confusing us.

In spirituality, the upper Partzuf merges with the Light only at the request of the lower one. Therefore, it necessary for us to understand the difference between the state of smallness and the state of greatness: The state of smallness (Katnut) is “I” myself. The state of greatness (Gadlut) isn’t me at all. The desires are not mine, but rather they are the desires of the lower ones. The powers that enable me to fulfill these desires are not mine, but come from Above, and the filling isn’t mine either, but is transmitted down. And I am in the middle, between the upper one and the lower one, in the middle third of Tifferet.

There is the huge difference between the state of greatness and the state of smallness. The little “me” is me, and the big “me” is the others, that is, “We.”
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/2011, TES

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How Do We Protect Ourselves From Nature?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have something to say to people who want to hear explanations. Let’s lay our cards on the table and realistically evaluate the situation. First, we are driven by nature and exist in its system. You can see for yourselves that despite all our vain attempts, we do not control the world. It is driven by a certain program that operates according to certain forces. In the end, we are under its control.

Second, by moving this way, we do not know where we will end up. So how do we decipher the program of our development? How do we control it? Maybe sweeten it a bit? For example, today European leaders are unable to sweeten the bitter pills prescribed to the eurozone. They are already inclined to consider this entire common market to be a mistake. However, what mistake can we talk about if it is part of the program? Whatever happened, happened, and nothing can be done about it. It’s foolish to regret the past.

Man is created in such a way that before he can actually join an operational force, he is unable to understand that instead of representing the function, he represents the outcome, the action. Thus, humanity is discovering its helplessness due to actual problems. But the real collapse has not yet begun. The crisis has multiple layers, and its main characteristic is neither non-recoverable debt nor unemployment.

In the near future (possibly one or two years from now, if the process accelerates), we will see that the world cannot continue to exist. Climatic disasters, economic and industrial problems will put us on the edge of a cliff. Nations will not be able to manage the huge numbers of unemployment. We simply do not have a system that is capable of withstanding something of the sort. And then disasters will force people to listen to us.

Third, we should ask ourselves why did evolution subject us to such powerful shocks? In our current conditions, different types of vegetative and animate levels of nature are simply becoming extinct like dinosaurs. So maybe we will also disappear off the face of the earth under the blade of this guillotine?

In this case, we do not have another solution but to find a third force that will work against nature, in other words, against the Creator. It doesn’t matter what we call it.

Hollywood movies depict global threats also in the form of an asteroid flying towards the Earth capable of destroying us in a matter of seconds. As a rule, film protagonists manage to save humanity.

We too need to turn to humanity with a request for protection. We must find the protective force to withstand nature, which is leading us to death. We are part of its program, and if “blind nature” has planned to finish us with a number of cataclysms, then how do we find an alternative power for further development? How can we change the program?

First of all, we need to rise to a new degree, acquire wisdom, and understand what the common program entails. This leads us to the fourth stage, when we finally must realize that our essence, the egoistic desire, is the source of all disasters. If not for the ego, we would not be destroying human society, family institution, the education system, relations between people, countries, and religions; we would not be creating artificial dividers that separate us and at the end only lead to mutual destruction.

Once we realize the evil, we will think about what we call good. And then we will learn from nature in which the integrated mechanism of unity and reciprocity operates. We are able to imagine this and observe with our own eyes. So what do we lack? Only the ability to rise above our essence.

Will we be able to change the course of our development if we rise above ourselves, or is nature still stronger than us? No, it is not stronger. Why not? It is because nature controls us through our egoism, but if we mutually support and strengthen one another, if we build a common system and want to unite no matter what, the forces of nature will develop us in the good way.

In fact, our egoism no longer wants to keep growing because growth only causes it more problems. We finally can acquire the opportunity to control it and moreover, use it to advance in the good way, but only if we learn to use it for unity. The essence of all evil is that we develop by hurting one another, while the essence of goodness is to develop by uniting with one another.

Driven by necessity, humanity has to completely change its attitude towards life, the environment, society, raising children, and education. We need to build everything around us in a way that will allow us to be surrounded by warmth, like children. We try to place children in an exemplary society so that they will learn to behave well, care for themselves and others, and so on. I would like to place my child in the best day care, let him learn reciprocity, languages, and let him be a good boy or girl.

Evolution itself has implanted the parental attitude in us, which enables us to understand how to treat others. It is no coincidence that we were divided into male and female genders, which together create posterity, the next degree. This enables us to see how to build a proper environment for ourselves. Our natural care for children and grandchildren pushes us towards the same thing. And this is why today we must create a universal day care for all. Anyone who wants to be a teacher is welcome.

Generally speaking, humanity’s only problem is upbringing. And to be more precise, the problem is to understand that this is the main problem. This is why we explain to the world that the power that needs to be awakened is already inside of us, it is in the unity between us.

Science confirms that when people gather and unite, they generate a new, special, integrated power that exists on its own. For example, this power unites a nation by maintaining a common approach, character, and potential in people. The uniting power that appears through years of mutual living and interaction does not come from Above, but exists between them according to the specific form of their unity.

Similarly, when we unite today, we will beget this new, integrated power of world unity, which will become our protection, more powerful than nature, climate, ecology, or anything else. After all, this power is much higher; it pertains to the human degree, and man towers over the other levels of nature. And for this reason, this power will definitely help us sweeten our development instead of trembling like rabbits that are being taken somewhere unknown. We will control the process in action.|
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)

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It Must Happen Here And Now

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe moment we enter the convention hall, we should immediately connect to the great, collective desire, be ready for connection, and expect that it will happen here and now! We must think that it will necessarily happen here and now (as it is said about waiting for the arrival of the Messiah everyday). This calls forth the action, and it really happens.

It isn’t enough just to come to the convention—we must prepare for it. It is a good idea to study the convention material. Surprising you with new ideas there is not part of my plan. Conversely, the more familiar you are with the material and the more I speak of seemingly known things, in response to our desire directed at what you have read, heard, and studied, I will be able to bring really new explanations.

I would like to see people at the convention who understand, feel the material, and know in advance what I am going to say. The topics of the lessons and sources they are based on can be found in convention preparation material. We have to study it because there shouldn’t be any surprises. All our advancement should take place internally, by connecting and revealing new states.

This is called advancement. The words of the material can be the same, but the impression they leave and the depth they reveal will be new. We will feel them in a new way and on a new level.

Hence, we should study the material and songs by heart so that they are familiar to all of us. This is very important. If having tasted something we then taste it again, it seems pleasant and new. But when we taste something for the first time, we barely sense the taste.

The same is said about a sin: The first transgression isn’t considered a sin because the person didn’t know what would happen and simply tried it. But as soon as one has “tasted” and wants to continue, like Adam who said about the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge: “I ate and shall eat more!”—then this is already a problem.

Hence, we should “taste” the materials of the convention in advance so that at the convention itself, we will “continue to eat” and discover the real taste. It isn’t enough that we read half a page and think we’re ready. We have to build the vessels, our tools of perception, and arrange them just like kneading and warming dough. This is how we must warm ourselves. The general preparation determines whether we will feel something or not.

The more prepared we are, the faster we’ll be able to attain, both in heart and mind. If both are operating correctly, we will achieve revelation.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/2/2011, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 11.14.11

Shamati #68, “Man’s Connection to the Sefirot,” (Start with: “And this is what our Sages said”)
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” “The Palace of Holy of Holies,” Item 816, Lesson 32
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 8, Item 31, Start with: Ohr Pnimi “Arich takes the last five,” Lesson 16
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Lesson 2
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Never-Ending Energy

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Mutual Guarantee” (abridged version): Once the whole nation agreed, they became guarantors…

What is the meaning of this nation-wide agreement? Did every person just shout out like a child, “I want!” Or do we have to understand where we are going and how far?

That is why this world was given to us, showing us all the clear examples of caring for the neighbor. I see how repulsive all of this is to me, yet I unite with others because I have to, not having any other solution in a time of peril or when I really need them.

Once the entire nation agreed, they became guarantors that no citizen will be deprived of what he needs.

Mutual guarantee by itself gives us energy. By the same principle, at the end of correction we increase the Light’s abundance by 620 times compared to what was there at the beginning of creation. Stated differently, instead of a very fine line that was filled only by the tiny Light of Hochma, we receive an entire circle in which the Light of Hochma pours, clothed in the Light of Hassadim, infinitely filling everyone to the depth and breadth of the mutual unification. When this happens, every person adds his part to others and becomes included in everyone himself.

So where does this miraculous addition come from? It comes from the fact that we involve the force of mutual guarantee, the force of mutual inclusion. By virtue of the breaking, the vessels were prepared to become included in one another, and now, in spite of our egoism, we must evoke this inclusion, this mutual guarantee, in practice. The resistance of our egoism and our ability to overcome by means of the Light that reforms, which leads to unity, create an inner pressure inside the vessel, a resistance, like in a resistor. The force of egoism inside of us constantly resists unity, while we stand above it and become tightly locked in all of the connecting points.

Eventually, the negative and positive forces that separate and connect us come together in one channel. That is how we attain a 620-fold increase of power.

Today we barely provide enough food for half of humanity. About a third of it has limited food, and another third is starving. But there is no doubt that by realizing the mutual guarantee, we will end up with the same abundance that the spies discovered when they were first sent to Israel and discovered a “land flowing with milk and honey.” It will suddenly become clear that there is no need for material investment because fulfillment is provided by the Light. Vitamins, minerals, calories, and everything else are vestments of the Light, which disappear to the extent we clear them away.

We always aspire to extract the maximum energy conversion efficiency from the energy resources. But here, what we have at our disposal is the Light, without any material vestment. That is an energy incomparably more powerful, which supports all of matter. Instead of fairy-tales about an eternal engine, we truly acquire an eternal energy resource.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/11, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Fanning The Spark With Mutual Guarantee

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Mutual Guarantee” (abridged version): Mutual guarantee means that all of Israel became guarantors for one another.

“Israel” means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar El). This is every person who has a spark of spiritual desire given to him from above. Besides the desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, power, and knowledge, he feels one more desire, which belongs to a higher dimension. This desire sends him off to search for the meaning in life, its source and essence. If a person has this spark above the material, earthly desires, then he aspires “straight to the Creator” because this urge directs him toward the source of life and of all reality.

If people want to grow their spiritual desire, they have to unite. After all, this urge can only be developed by means of bestowal, by ascending above the material desires in which only our material reality is felt. Standards of food, sex, family, money, honor, power, and knowledge form the picture of this world for me and require the fulfillment of the corresponding desires, whose various combinations differentiate people from one another. However, the spark of the upper desire develops according to the opposite tendency: above the material desires and in spite of them.

The “bestowal” to which this spark aims us is just a term, underlining that here we operate differently, not the way we do in the earthly desires. We have to rise above them and satisfy them only on the level of vital necessity, while in all other regards we develop the spark, the embryo of our soul, the part of the Creator from above.

Thus, a person who has such a spark is called “Israel,” and the means to develop it is called “mutual guarantee.” That is why all of Israel are initially guarantors for one another in the upper system. And in our world we have to realize this state, but we are invited to do this by our own desire, without anyone being forced to do anything.

The Torah was given only once every person from Israel agreed to accept the principle of love for the neighbor as for himself.

People who are able to unite their desires get together, having awakened to the source and purpose of life. In their unity, they must attain love for the neighbor as for themselves. Previously they wanted to satisfy their own desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge, but now to the same extent and in the same form, they take care of their neighbor, wishing to provide him with everything necessary for spiritual ascent.

This means we have to take care of every friend’s vital necessities, and in all other regards—of his spiritual path. I build all of the support systems for him and provide him with all the means which allow him to attain what he desires.

As a result, everyone takes care of one another’s vital needs and of each other’s spiritual needs. I wanted to provide myself with the necessities, but now I take care of the friend the same way. I naturally wanted to fill my soul, but now I care only about the friend’s soul. I looked for personal profit in everything and used others for it, but now I have to make a 180 degree turn with regard to my friends and switch to their vital needs, both spiritual and material.

Thus, by means of mutual guarantee, all of Israel have to attain love for the neighbor as for oneself. That is how they form a single, whole vessel to the extent of the desire that becomes revealed in them, and according to the equivalence of form, they feel the general bestowal, mutual love in that vessel. And above that love they feel its Creator—the source of the level on which their vessel with the Light filling it is found.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/11, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Place Where There Is No Separation

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” Item 763: The ark of the covenant in the seventh palace receives everything from the righteous, Yesod de ZA de Atzilut. Afterwards the souls come out from the ark of the covenant and enter the righteous below, in the first palace, Yesod. Subsequently, they come out from the righteous below and clothe in people. After their demise, they enter the ark of the covenant in the seventh palace so all the souls will be included from above, from Bina, the seventh palace, and from below, from the Yesod of the palaces, to be complete on all sides.

We must try to ascribe forms of unity, types of the connection between us to each word, action, and concept that we read about in The Book of Zohar. After all, there is nothing except that. It’s all about the extent and form of the connection between parts of the single soul, which for now The Zohar designates with all kinds of names, actions, and types of the relationship between us.

But essentially, all of this is designed to direct us to the only state where there are no parts, but only one desire in the unified Light. Thus we need to imagine everything that we read about in The Zohar as one system.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, The Zohar

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To Whom Should I Pray?

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur problem is that we don’t know how to imagine the Creator: Are we supposed to just imagine something to ourselves? And here we forget the principle of “I dwell among My people” and that “from love of the created beings” one comes “to the love of the Creator.”

Thus, if I want to bring pleasure to my Maker, I have no other choice to come closer to and imagine it correctly but to build a group, to connect with it, and to increase its importance so that it turns into the most important and appreciated thing in my eyes, something above all this reality, like godliness.

And then the connection between the friends will manifest within me like the upper force, by which I am impressed, to which I pray to, and from which I ask. And all my work will be only for this purpose.

Otherwise, only pretty words will remain: “To bring contentment to the Creator,” “with selfless intentions,” “not for the sake of receiving a reward,” “adhesion with the Creator,” and so on. With whom will I be in adhesion, to whom will I bestow?  All these concepts will remain completely unclear and vague for me, they will be something I can’t realize and will disappear from my sensation.

Thus, when we speak about the Creator and are constantly confused about how to relate to such an elusive concept that our senses can’t perceive, we need to remember that it is the general force that manifests within the group. This upper force is actually the Creator.

So why is it said that there is no one but man and the Creator and the relations between them? Where is the group here? And here one needs to remember that it is not a group of different people. Only one general soul exists, and man needs to make efforts in order to return to the correct perception of reality. And then he will see that all of this is his individual soul, and the general force that fills his soul is the Creator.

One needs to go slightly above corporeal vision that shows us physical bodies in our corporeal world, which are seemingly before us and have been given to us only for the purpose of the work. Try to imagine to yourself a higher dimension, all of reality as your one Kli (vessel), one desire, which is separated into multiple parts in your imagination called “evil inclination.” But thanks to your efforts to connect these parts together, you will discover the general force within that connection, and it will be called your Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/2011, Writings of Rabash

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