Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

The Most Important “Toy” In Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is known that The Zohar is a special book. Everyone says that it contains many secrets and has the special, miraculous force (Segula). It is true. Thus, during the reading of The Zohar, each person has to try to think of the most important thing that this book could bring him—but only about what’s really worthwhile to ask for. Only about one thing!

For example, you bring your child to a toy store and tell him: “Choose one toy only!” And you see how his eyes go cross-eyed. He rushes around in confusion from one toy to another and each time grasps another toy: “This one! No, that one! No, this one!”

Thus, if The Zohar gives you the most important and the best thing from the “toy store” that you now entered, think about the most important “toy” for you. And then from the chain of thoughts, you will really come to something of value.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, The Zohar

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What Is The Upper Mind?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the upper mind, which every person must attain as a result of correction?

Answer: The mind is the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), which I attain when I bring myself from the side of my desire, Malchut, to correspondence with the first nine Sefirot.

Malchut is a receiving vessel, the will to enjoy. If I change it to bestowal, embodied by the first nine Sefirot, I turn it into a vessel for the Light of Hochma. This is called the mind, the Light of Wisdom (Hochma), that is dressed in the creature’s desire.

We cannot attain the upper mind with our corporeal mind. The upper, acting mind is the mind of the Creator, Who created the created beings with the Light of Wisdom. We can attain it only through equivalence of form, as we correct ourselves.

If I correct my desire to receive to bestowal, that is, I fill it with Light of Hassadim (Mercy), I acquire the anti-egotistic screen with which I perform a union with the Light (Zivug de Haka’a), thus raising the Reflected Light. Then the upper Light clothes me, and I attain the mind of the Creator.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “wisdom of reception” since it teaches us how to receive the Light of Hochma and thus attain the Creator. However, we attain this mind gradually, according to our equivalence to Him in bestowal. It is not the corporeal, beastly mind we are born with.

We obtain the upper mind due to our correction. The more a person corrects himself, the greater spiritual mind he attains. It has nothing to do with one’s inborn mental abilities. One can be Einstein, but it will have no effect on his or her spiritual advancement.

The corporeal mind that helps a person understand how to better use his egoism has nothing to do with the mind he acquires namely by lowering himself, the work in the group, meaning thanks to actions that are seemingly senseless, irrational, and scorned by everyone.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “The Acting Mind”

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We Waited And It Came

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why should we have an “internal” convention at a time when we have started disseminating to the masses?

Answer: Now it is more necessary than ever. In the past we could have small gatherings of friends, and it was enough in order to advance, quietly and individually.

In truth, we waited for the world to wake up. We, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), don’t need to correct ourselves personally. As the AHP awakens, our task is to receive corrections and serve it. Baal HaSulam writes about it in “The Giving of the Torah.” This is what it means to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

We are special only because we can and are obliged to serve the entire world. This is the uniqueness of Israel, of Galgalta ve Eynaim. If we “deserve” anything, it is only service, work.

Today the nations are waking up, public unrest is starting, and the world is submerged in problems. For us it is a sign that we should hold events like the convention in December, in order to accumulate in ourselves a greater power of bestowal, of mutual guarantee. Only then will we be able to turn to the world and invite more people to join us, which will enable us to receive the Light of Hochma (Wisdom).

For us, Galgalta ve Eynaim, revelation means reaching unity and mutual guarantee and doing so in connection with AHP. We have to awaken mutual guarantee in it too. Then in response to that, it will join us as the factor of its unification, and together we will all become the ten full Sefirot. This will be a true Partzuf, upon which the upper Light can act. Then it will begin to fill us.

 
The Light will operate not only on GE, on “half of the body,” but on the entire degree. Today we approach the realization of this stage: If we connect to the masses, if we bring them and ourselves to the minimal level of mutual guarantee, the upper Light will fill us. It will only fill all of us together. This is because by nature, GE do not require any filling and work only for AHP.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “One Commandment”

 

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The Fork-Lift Truck

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we measure efforts? History shows us that for some Kabbalists the path was easy and others suffered greatly. How can it be that one passed the Machsom (the barrier) in five years, another in thirty years, and still another made great efforts and achieved nothing at all?

Answer: We cannot compare people’s efforts. After all, we don’t know their starting position and their place in the general system.

Suppose someone is on the top fifth position in the pyramid of souls. However, accordingly, he is born with the worst desires, with the most corrupt attributes, and he has to work on them many years—say not just thirty, but thirty years times ten live cycles. How long does it take for him to reach the states that allow him to reach his “place” and to attain the root of his soul? In the meantime, you feel sorry for him: “Poor soul!” But another person may belong to the middle layers and do his work easily in a couple of years.

As far as we, people with the point in the heart, the souls that belong to the category of “Israel,” are concerned, we have to work very hard. First, unlike the “nations of the world,” we were at the top already and went through shattering. Their desires to receive were always that way, but our situation is much worse, and hence our corrections are much more difficult. The hatred towards the nation of Israel and the troubles it went through over the course of history attest to it.

Even the spiritual path, the ascent to the mountain, is much more difficult for us than it is for the rest of the world, for whom the ascent will be easy. People will just join us: “Yes, we want to, we are ready.” They will really feel that it is worth it. The evil inclination, the shattered desire, hides in us, and not in them. They only bring their “weight,” the load that is tied to your feet. Now you have to invent the mechanism that will lift this heaviness.

How can we create such a “fork-lift truck”? How will it operate? What blocks and ligaments does it need? We have to decide this. People bring us their luggage and leave it at the terminal, like in the airport, and we have to load and deliver it.

There is no reason to be outraged by it. Moreover, no one can claim that his path is easier or more difficult, compared to somebody’s else. After all, you do not “clothe” in the other, and hence you can’t compare or complain. By nature, you are absorbed in yourself, and you cannot measure efforts.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “One Commandment”

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We Start From A Distance

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “One Commandment”: It is hopeless to wait for a time when a solution is found for allowing one to begin the work of the Creator altruistically. As in the past so in the future, every servant of the Creator must begin the work egoistically and from that achieve bestowal.

We start from a distance, with the egoistic desire to receive whatever seems valuable to us: money, respect, power, knowledge, excellence, health, the next world, foresight, or comprehension of secrets. Each one is attracted to something else in the wisdom of Kabbalah, something that is close to his heart. This is how a person begins his path.

But gradually, thanks to the integrated influence of the group, the studies, and dissemination, a person draws upon himself the Light that Reforms. The Light is the only acting force, but we activate it by different, collateral means and actions that seemingly have nothing to do with it.

I may joke around with the friends, have no correct intention and hardly sit at the lesson, or disseminate because my ego wants to impose my values on others. It all does not matter. If the actions themselves are close to the Light, if they are intended to bestow, to study, and to unite, then they draw the Light that Reforms. As it is said: “Commandments do not require intent.”

So there is action, and there is intention. My actions are the studies, dissemination, gatherings of friends, and the work in the group. However, I have no control over my intentions. I can feel that I am an angel or a devil, it doesn’t matter. If I perform the necessary actions to the best of my ability, I draw the reforming Light that gradually helps me transition from the egotistic intention to the altruistic one—from Lo Lishma (for oneself) to Lishma (for the sake of bestowal).

The only difference is the intention. The actions remain the same: I continue to study as before, I take part in gatherings of friends and dissemination, but my intention is corrected more and more, compelling me to truly connect with others, with the Creator, and to bestow upon them.

This is the process, and we should only continue it without any delays. No one can escape it. We should only look for the most efficient actions to hasten the process and still look for the intentions that are closer to bestowal and can be added to them.

Everyone goes through the same stages, and no one can skip any of them. We can, however, speed up the advancement, and this is all of our work. It is said that Israel hastens time. Here the Creator cannot yield. After all, all the stages are essential in order to acquire the mind and feeling needed to create the vessels that enable us to understand and to attain Him, to reach the equivalence of form and merge with Him.

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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “One Commandment”

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The Mosaic That Leads To Perfection

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are standing at the foot of a ladder in a state opposite to Infinity, which we have to attain. Our ascent through the steps of this ladder occurs as a result of two active forces: the force of our desire and the Light.

On each level of our ascent, we have to show a greater desire to connect, and then to the extent of our desire, the Light acts upon us and connects us to one another. We do half of the action, which is called “half of a shekel” and the Creator does the other half, as it said: “A prayer does half the job,” “the Creator will finish it for me.”

We only try to connect to one another, and the Light comes—and performs this union between us. On a higher level we’ll experience an even greater pressure so that we will connect even more, and then once again the Light will come to connect us.

This is how we obtain a greater connection by ascending up the steps of the ladder until we reach total unity. Essentially this is the entire process that we must undergo.

This process contains practical work when we must physically sit together at meals, participate in different events and dissemination projects. However, the main work in correction happens when we study and want to attract the Light that Reforms so that it will create a connection between us.

We have to want to connect in order to attain bestowal and spirituality, and then the Light will influence us. However, this is more effective when we request this when we study and wish to connect and attract the Light. After all, when we read the sources, the words of which hide the Light, we are in the same place, the same state as the Light, and it is close to us.

It doesn’t matter how much I understand while reading the text because I am still unable to truly understand it until we connect. However, from the very first level of connection, I’ll understand what I read—thanks to the fact that the Light will connect us. It will connect all of our different forms into a mosaic. From this mosaic, I will reveal a picture of the spiritual degree, and within this new picture, I’ll reveal what I read about in the Kabalistic books.

We’ll start ascending to a higher level, meaning we’ll obtain greater egoistic desires. We’ll still have to connect, and this will be a more complex and higher level of connection. We’ll demand more Light, it will connect us, and a new mosaic will form between us.

Although we won’t appear to change, what will change are our egoistic desire, our intentions, and our efforts to connect above our egoistic desires. In the connection between us, we’ll reveal a different mosaic, a different and loftier picture, and in the words of The Zohar we’ll reveal a new inner state, one that’s more exalted and detailed.

We aspire to connect like the pieces of the mosaic, but the text tells us of a state where we’re already connected, and no matter what level we’re on, the text always corresponds to it. For this reason as we read The Zohar, we must demand for the correction to occur right then—thanks to the Light hidden in it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/2011, The Zohar

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.23.11

Writings of Rabash “Because Yakov Has Chosen the Creator”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts),” “The Hair in the Tefillin,” Item 332, Lesson 14
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 6, Chapter 15, Question 289, Lesson 15
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 161, Lesson 69
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World,” “The Attribute of Singularity in the Egoism Affects Ruin and Destruction,” Lesson 10
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The Economy Of Global Mutual Guarantee

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe economic system of today’s world is the most obvious demonstration of our connection with one another. That’s because we are primarily connected through the economy, production, and trade. And we see that there are several thousand large corporations in the world that are interconnected, that envelop the whole world, not giving us a chance to move.

But they also can’t move! And now, to their shock, they are discovering this and don’t know what to do. They don’t have any freedom of movement in relation to one another.

This is how the common, global system of mutual guarantee is being revealed to us. But we don’t desire it, we don’t aspire to it from our end. Yet nature, the Creator, is showing us the mutual guarantee, our connection with one another. Under these conditions, how can my mind possibly help me?

The mind can only help me in one regard: to leave my animate mind and start learning, becoming familiar with this system.

However, this system is not built according to my earthly mind because my mind is personal, individual. It helps me exist in this egoistic world, showing me how to win more and do more for my own benefit, thinking that others were created to serve me.

But now, when I am revealing a system with which I am firmly connected and on which I am fully dependent, my previous mind stops working. I have to adapt to this new system! It’s as if I come to some unknown place and first of all I try to take a close look at what’s around me, to learn the customs of this place in order to adapt to them. And once I get to know it well, I can start acting in it and improving my state.

But how can we get to know this global system in which we have found ourselves if we cannot figure it out with our earthly mind? Even all of these huge corporations which seem to control the world, are in reality not in control of anything. And this is now being revealed to them. The mind of every particular person individually does not work just as the corporate mind does not.

It turns out that I now have to discard my animate mind and acquire a new mind—an integral way of thinking. This will be the creative mind, the mind of the common system, meaning the mind of the Creator.

It won’t be easy for us to acquire it. We will have to develop ourselves, turn ourselves into one, connected whole, try to feel ourselves as one person, one system. Then we will attain this single, connected system and will thereby “wrap up” our own egoistic desire and connect with one another. That is how we will gradually build our common vessel, reuniting the parts of the broken Lego.

Within the connection between us, we will reveal the upper mind, the program, its essence, and then we will understand what is happening! Only in this case will our state be corrected.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/11, “The Acting Mind”

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Earning Only By Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur state won’t be corrected by us building something new on our own. All we have to do is to bring ourselves into greater similarity with the system of mutual guarantee that already exists and is now being revealed to us.

Our correction – and the only action we can make – is to unite. When we do so, we will reveal that we are part of a single upper system and everything will end up working out.

Until today economists had to construct highly sophisticated systems of connections and contracts, but from now on, none of this will be necessary anymore. Everything is already present within this new system. We must only adjust our human relationships to it – and that’s all. We don’t need anything else. All of the stock brokers can go fish.

We will suddenly discover that there is no more need for any professions besides those that provide us with the bare necessities of life. In this new system of connections between us, other professions won’t exist because the system will already be revealed as connected, perfect, coordinated, and ready-made.

These are not the same systems that we had to constantly build using our egoism, such as staging revolutionary transformations and new connections that we had to establish in the past. None of this will be necessary. By correcting the connection between us, our qualities, we include ourselves into the ideal system that already exists.

It exists today as well; we simply don’t know how to include ourselves in it and that is why we are ending up with such a crisis.

That is how humanity will reveal that there is nothing it can do! This entire animate mind of the past has to be discarded. We won’t be able to do anything with it any longer. All we need is to correct ourselves to reach mutual guarantee in order to enter the upper system that will become revealed more and more clearly – a system that is already made and perfect. We will become part of it and will continue existing this way.

Eventually, we will reveal that this system is the inner mind of creation, nature, or the Creator, which is the same thing. We will reveal the eternal and perfect life inside of this system, entering it ever more deeply. Our animate bodies will die and disappear, but we won’t feel that at all and will exist in this system merged with the Creator’s mind.

This system of connections, which we discover among us today, is the revelation of the upper, spiritual system. That is why the economic crisis is happening, which is a crisis in the system of connections between us. After all, precisely the economy connects us with one another, as it says in the Torah, “Go and earn from one another.”

This is what we have to reveal: How we can earn. And the answer is: by bestowing to one another! A completely unique period is upon us, which we are entering in our days.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/11, “The Acting Mind”

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What Your Shadow Will Show

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe aspiration to bestow to others forms in a person gradually, over the course of a long time, and it stands for the correction of desires if I am capable of restricting them because I see that life in egoism does not bring any joy. I attract a small illumination from Above through my study and efforts. And even though I don’t know what this Light is, it still corrects and changes me, gradually leading me towards the feeling of the value of bestowal.

I begin to feel that I strive outward, towards a fellow human being, towards a connection with all others, and perceive them as parts of my own soul. This is the result of the influence of the Surrounding Light. This change happens from within on its own due to my efforts, study, participation in dissemination, and connection with friends.

This is how I come to the decision that I refuse to continue being a receiver who takes more than is needed for living. I begin to hate egoistic reception. And my aspiration towards bestowal begins to develop from this point on, which also happens due to the Light.

What I do is to try, ask, pray, and demand, and in this way I force the Light to operate on me. And finally the Light makes a correction in me, after which I begin to feel an aspiration towards a fellow human being and true love—one that is not the object of my pleasure. This is because I have already built a barrier that does not allow me to enjoy egoistically, but only from actual bestowal.

The development of this kind of aspiration in man is called “the seven days of Sukkot,” when he begins to receive the illumination of the Surrounding Light that reforms. This Light forms the quality of Bina, faith above reason in man, a covering, a roof of a special structure built on Sukkot from the “waste of barn and winery,” meaning from the desires he previously neglected in his egoism considering them to be garbage. But on the contrary, in the desire to bestow he lifts them above his own head.

And finally, he comes to a state when he tests himself: whether all of his desires are directed towards bestowal. He checks his “shadow” for this: whether it is holy or impure. He hides himself from the Light, and by doing so he opens himself for the Light to later enter him and fill him with the intention for the sake of bestowal. Testing the shadow after the end of the holiday of Sukkot and the evaluation of whether it pertains to holiness or the impure forces, all these things are the establishment of one’s attitude towards his egoism and the transition into another dimension: that of bestowal.

I seal myself for my desire to receive pleasure, and I am only ready to receive for the sake of bestowal, thereby turning my reception into bestowal. I and He love each other, and this is why I receive from Him to please Him. But all of this happens after the test of my shadow and all the corrections that the holiday of Sukkot symbolizes.
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From the 1st part of the Night Lesson Of Hoshanah Rabbah 10/19/2o11, Shamati #8

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