Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

An Umbrella For Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Truma,” Item 759: Once the Nukva was adorned—meaning built by [Partzuf] AVI [Aba ve Ima]—and ZA and Nukva returned to being PBP [Panim be Panim], that shape of man, ZA, came by craving for the Nukva. There, in the Nukva, the second man of Beria was engraved and depicted, as his form. It is written about him, “And begot a son in his own likeness, after his image.”

The Book of Zohar
talks only about what is happening in the network that connects the souls. The entire sum total of these connections between us is called “the upper world,” whose pictures are described by The Zohar, including forces, Lights, various forms and images. There is nothing more for us to imagine because this is what we are living in.

Each of us individually is a desire to enjoy, and outside of every one of us, in the connections between us there is the upper world, filled with Light. Therefore, I have to “wrap up” my will to enjoy, cover it as if in a shadow, perform a restriction on it and create a screen and reflected Light, and then to exist outside of it, in my relationships with others.

This is exactly what The Zohar talks about: which form or image I take on in relation to others. If I do this, then I reveal everything we read about in The Zohar. Otherwise I am inside of myself, in my will to enjoy, and I feel only this world.

We can perceive either inside of us or above us, outside of us. “Outside of us” means in the attitude to the neighbor, where “a neighbor” is the people with whom I want to build a connecting network. This is called “the group.” If I relate to the whole world in this way, then the group is the whole world.

While correcting my qualities, if I desire to reveal the force that founded everything, then I reveal it according to the law of equivalence of form. As soon as my connecting network with others acquires a spiritual form, a spiritual essence, the true mutual bestowal, the level of mutual guarantee even on the first stage, then inside of it, I immediately feel the Creator.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, The Zohar

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A Special Means

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Arvut ”: It is written, “You shall be My treasure from among all peoples.” This means that you will be My treasure [a special quality, Segula], and sparks of purification shall pass through you onto all the peoples and the nations of the world.

Segula is a special action by which we correct our egoistic intention to an altruistic one. I do not know exactly how this action is actualized, but it enables me to change, to acquire a second nature, to enter the next dimension, a reality that lies above my current self. And I don’t know exactly how this occurs.

That is why the exodus from Egypt is called a “miracle” and why the force of correction, the Light that reforms, which is contained in the Torah is called “a special quality”—Segula. I don’t have any idea about how it works. I only see the results, as if a certain “illumination” effuses upon me or a certain force works on me, and I become different.

Thus, even though I don’t understand how Segula works, I activate it by carrying out the conditions I am told about. “Do this,” write the Kabbalists, “And you will receive that.” I cannot trace this connection. It is not within my power. I simply know that specific actions on my part will bring about a specific reaction, although the cause and effect chain remains unclear to me. That’s because it originates from the Light, from the Giver, while I am still in the egoistic desire and do not see or feel Him. The contact with Him is still unclear to me, just as I don’t understand the mechanism of the return connection by which the Giver influences me and changes something inside of me.

That is why this kind of action is called “special.” A child has this same “special means” while playing and growing in our world. What actually causes his growth? We are so used to seeing how children develop by playing that we don’t notice how it happens. What force is activated by a child’s contact with a toy, with pictures in a book, with animals he sees, or with the cars that pass by him on the street? How do the images of the big world that he wants to come closer to, form something new inside of him? To us this is the regular routine, but in essence, this is the same “special means” at work.

A child wants to grow and is drawn to all sorts of forms of the adult world, and that’s how he really grows. Likewise, if we want to advance, we have to carry out several actions in order to activate the upper force that raises us. In a child the yearning to grow is instilled naturally, while we have freedom of choice: We have to organize an environment, the study, and ourselves, and attach the intention. That is how we develop.

Thus, “Segula” is the result of certain actions a person makes, even though he does not know exactly what he activates and how he is activated in response. With us this is expressed in our relationship with the upper Light, while in children—in their relationships with the surrounding world. The same principle operates in the interactions between the “nations of the world,” meaning all those who do not aspire to the Creator, and “Israel,” meaning those who do aspire to Him. Our relationship with the Creator is similar to their relationship to us. After all, they do not have a spark, a connection with Him, an aspiration for Him, or a desire to reveal Him. Only troubles push them to search for something better. That is why we bring them the science of Kabbalah in an adapted, accessible form.

The invitation to reveal the Creator does not say anything to them. They need a good life here and now, and nothing more. Accordingly, we reveal our message gradually to them, in the appropriate form, and they use us as a “special means,” as a “treasure from among all peoples.”

By being connected to us, they “suddenly” start acquiring forces, understanding, and desires that they did not have before. These “sparks” come from Infinity, from the Creator—through us to them. As a result, the “special quality” operates on all the levels.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut”

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What Can Replace Money?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Newspapers say that the terrorist who committed a horrible crime in Norway was addicted to cruel computer games and shows about serial killers. Why don’t the people of the world understand such a small, trivial concept that modern media is creating these killers and putting psychopathic thoughts into their heads? After all, this is so clear….

Answer: The world is ruled by people who know how to earn money. They are the ones who rule the courts, the systems of education and upbringing, and the governments. And they don’t plan on “closing shop” once they make money. It’s profitable for them to create yellow press and sensations that trick people, to write about terrorists and to eavesdrop on victims of terrorist acts in order to make money off them. It’s profitable for them to produce and sell as much weaponry as possible to maintain hotbeds of wars and hostilities. And it’s profitable for them to put out “special edition” news about tragedies and catastrophes.

They don’t care about anything. Each of them wants to earn from what’s his. One produces and sells weapons, and another organizes eavesdropping and gathers materials so he can sell all kinds of information even if it is shocking and unacceptable for public disclosure.

Behind all of these occurrences stands someone’s net profit. The people who receive this profit are in control of the mass media, the government, and commerce, and as a result, our world appears the way it does.

After all, there is an enormous amount of people in the world who think exclusively about money. They don’t feel anything else. The issue here is not cynicism because a cynic realizes that there is something greater here, but looks down on it. A person who makes a profit does not look down on anything. He is just not aware of it. His range of perception is very narrow, he is entirely engulfed by one activity and nothing else exists for him.

Therefore, these people are very powerful. That’s because in essence, they have just one desire. If they need the government’s cooperation to make a profit, then they implant themselves in the government. If they need an army, they implant themselves into the army. If they need the police, they implant into the police. If they need the central newspaper to write what they want, then they buy the newspaper. Behind the scenes, everything belongs to them.

Therefore, it’s profitable for these people to have an environment with an up-to-date sensibility and pleasures that are dictated to it. Precisely these people form the public opinion, turning it toward cruelty, drugs, prostitution, terrorism, and so on. It’s not that the governments are weak compared to them, but that they act conjointly.

The issue at stake is money, and money is power. Let’s see how weak money will now prove itself to be. But what will replace it? There has to be a currency, a value, or a measure of a person’s contribution and success. What can you give people instead of “hard cash” by which they measure everything? It is the equivalent and the criterion of any efforts.

Thus, it turns out that we will need “spiritual cash”—the measure of bestowal, the measure of closeness to the Creator. This is what we will use to measure our contributions and our income, while all the material things will be reduced to bare necessity.

In order to make this transition, the world has to turn upside down. For those who hold the wheel today and stand at the head of society, the most important thing is to produce products to profit from. And they will have to fall from their Olympia, or to become corrected and accept the new “currency” as their payment.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/11, “Arvut”

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Isolated In A Unified System

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: People in the world want money, fame, and power. How do we join these desires into our dissemination work?

Answer: We tell people that they will get everything only on the condition that they unify. Nature itself shows us today that we are interconnected, and therefore, only to the extent of our unity can we succeed in anything and find a solution to any problem, be it a person himself, family, health, pension, housing, food prices, the global economy, or anything else.

There is no longer any problem that can be solved without changing our attitude to the world, without realizing its global interconnectedness. You yourself are becoming a little more global, like the world. Your perception, mind, and your way of thinking must change; you should start operating in a different mode through a program that gets repeatedly upgraded to an increasingly integrated version. You personally have to change or you won’t be able to make any correct calculation concerning children, yourself, or work; nothing will be calculated correctly.

Gradually coming into this framework, we still don’t understand where we are. Suddenly, the air grows thicker, binding us with increasingly stronger ties. And if you don’t fit in this new format, you are similar to a foreign object caught in the body. In response, the body locks it in a capsule, so to speak, isolating it. Similarly, you look the same, as something that is isolated from the world.

We are billions in the world, and we find ourselves in an integral network. We are suffering, feeling rejected and isolated within it because we are foreign to it. This applies to all, including governments, businesses, and particularly teachers. After all, they are supposed to educate humanity about the global world, to teach it unity, but they don’t understand what’s happening. The Ministry of Education today becomes the “Ministry of Failure” since it continues to use an outdated, expired program.

We find ourselves in a new binding network and we suffer not knowing what to do. Kabbalah teaches us that the world is round and that we are all interconnected. We conduct research, and yes indeed, according to the latest scientific facts, the world is integral and whole. But what can we do? We have to adjust man to fit in the system he has entered. Humanity is seriously lagging behind it.

We learn this firsthand, but scientists discover these facts experimentally from studying nature. They have the knowledge but cannot fix man. They are not aware of such a necessity due to lack of experience. We, however, through contact with Kabbalistic sources, have an opportunity to use them for man’s correction.

We just need to unite with each other.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Revived Stone

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe calculation which I made in the head of the Partzuf was as follows: You give to me and I give to You, and we are in agreement. Of course, these were spiritual actions for the sake of bestowal, but compared to what I reveal now, before Your special relationship, it looks like some petty calculation. And that is why I can’t stand this state with the screen in the “Tabur.”

I see that I did this petty calculation with regard to Him and I am ashamed. This departure from the previous state and the expulsion of the Light (Histalkut in Hebrew) is like a restriction. I cannot bear how I treated You. You treated me with such boundless love, and I counted how much it would cost me. You brought me a gift from the heart, and I looked up and said: “It’s lovely, and how much should I pay now?” Thus, I now discover Your attitude towards me in the Tabur, and therefore, I leave this state.

I see that I did nothing with respect to this absolute love! It doesn’t count that I did some part, having received for the sake of bestowal. Relative to this adhesion and the love which I felt in You, I have done nothing for You. On the contrary, I didn’t take into account that You love me so much.

Suppose that I didn’t know that, it still doesn’t matter; I must make a new calculation. I cannot say that I made a mistake because I actually had acted on another calculation, but now I see that it was wrong. Considering the relationship between us that was revealed in adhesion, the calculation now should be different, deeper, and more sensory; it shouldn’t be based on how much pleasure we gave to each other, but on feelings.

And that is why Partzuf AB is born, which is smaller than Galgalta, finer, weaker, but deeper, of Aviut (coarseness of desire) “Aleph (one).” It reveals the Light of Ruach instead of the Light of Nefesh. It is no longer dead, but growing (vegetative), that is, it is alive!

Why did it “grow up?” It grew up because by having felt the Creator’s attitude towards it, it took the property of the Creator and made a “plant” out if itself, instead of a dead stone. Thus, the desire to enjoy receives various qualities, meaning the forms of His attitude from the adhesion with the Creator, and thereby changes itself. This is a qualitative change.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Love Will Cover All Sins

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe period of preparation is called the period of “sins and transgressions.” You can object and say: How was it a transgression if I had no understanding or knowledge of anything?

Yes, you didn’t know but you acted. And even though you tried to follow the instructions of Kabbalah, you studied and were in a group, you did it all for your own sake. This is why unknowingly, you carried out the actions in the group and studies egoistically, instead of performing them for the sake of bestowal. You tried to use your friends and Kabbalah for your own sake, and these sins are called either “intentional transgressions” or “unintentional mistakes, negligence.”

Later, when we rise to a spiritual degree and acquire the strength to act for the sake of bestowal, we correct these sins. At first we correct the “mistakes,” and by doing so we rise to the degree of Bina, bestowal for the sake of bestowal, trepidation. And then we correct the “transgressions” for bestowal and acquire the degree of love, absolute faith.

Where do the transgressions and negligence which we correct for bestowal and love on the degree of Bina and Keter come from? They were once saved in our egoistic desires, as it is written: “The beast will swallow and spew out.” And this is how we have collected a number of transgressions that we can now correct.

But a person who doesn’t enter the group and doesn’t begin to study to attain the goal with whatever intention he is capable of, doesn’t commit “transgressions” or make “mistakes.” He has nothing to correct at all; he lacks the “evil inclination.”

This “egoistic inclination” that Kabbalah speaks about is a special quality. We form it while in the group, when we study, when we aspire to bestow (Lishma), when we are certain that we currently exist in egoism (Lo Lishma), and when we commit horrible transgressions by wanting to attain spirituality for our own sake and to reap rewards in all the worlds.

This is how we accumulate transgressions and mistakes within us. And until we gather a full measure of them over the “400 years of the Egyptian bondage,” we are unable to escape them and begin correction.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, ”The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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The Problem Exists. Who Has A Solution?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: But the role of Israel toward the world resembles the role of our holy fathers toward the Israeli nation….

If it were not for our forefathers, there would be no nation of Israel, meaning the group who yearns for the Creator and correction. In the same way, we now have to take care of the world because without our help, people will not be able to correct themselves. Their desires are not capable of ascending by themselves, and people cannot even think about correction for the sake of bestowal.

Today, we see this in the work of scientists and prominent experts in various fields. They write correct things about the world, but they cannot utter a word about the solution. They have no aspiration “straight to the Creator,” no spiritual spark. Thus, they do not realize that this is the only possibility. They are helpless before the need for correction; they have no means for it.

Therefore, they avoid answers in their search and discussions. They cannot see further down the road; they only see what is happening. They understand the necessity to create an integral world, and they stop there. Consequently, their reasoning is vague. It ends in nothing or falls back on completely unrealistic proposals.

I do not reproach them. This is not a sign of their limitations. It’s just that without the addition of a spiritual spark to human desires in our world, people cannot see the future, the only development possible.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/2011, ”The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.25.11

Shamati #39 “And They Sewed Fig-Leaves″
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter “Truma,(Donation) 2,” “Light, Water and Firmament,” Item 759, Lesson 32
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 “Table of Answers for Topics,” Item 102, Lesson 46
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 38, Lesson 25
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“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Item 28, Lesson 9
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There’s No Discrimination In The Spiritual Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We see our friends from Los Angeles and representatives of different nations on the screen. How well do they understand our Biblical language?

Answer: Both we and they must interpret this language in the terminology of desires and understand it according to the inner way of reading.

I have my inner truth. For example, in this world I am of Jewish origin, and sitting next to me there is a Chinese friend. I am separated from my truth by the confusion of the first order, and he—by the confusion of the second order.

Let’s detach from this material world. We both have a specific egoistic desire. According to his level of desire, he is called a “Chinese” person and according to my level of desire, I am called a “Jew.”

Thus, he and I both have to perform certain work in order to get to the truth. This is what the notion of “70 nations” points to. Each of them has its own work, but it is absolutely the same for everyone to a specific measure. We think that this is not so, but in reality, the work differs only slightly by its external style, although it is entirely identical by the inner specifics, by the relative depth and the phases of the path. We all have the same work.

It seems to me that it’s very difficult for another person, that a third is not making it at all, and a fourth was already born an angel and is attaining the goal offhand. But in reality, nothing is known to me and I do not see the general picture in which everything works equally.

Thus, the great egoistic desire is divided into the “70 nations of the world” and Israel. Don’t think that Israel has an easier time than others. It’s just that every person makes efforts from his own layer of the common desire.

The real work of Israel lies in coming out of all the “70 nations” to the truth. After all, it is included in them by means of the breaking. It is written about this, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” That is why representatives of different nations come to us—desires that aspire straight to the Creator from the common receiving desire. They express themselves as Israel and are now called precisely that.

Everyone else who are not awakening are called “the 70 nations of the world” and will have to correct themselves later on. But one way or another, all the qualities and opportunities of every person are precisely “optimized.” Not one nation has precedence in spirituality.

You might object, “But the common ‘body’ of Adam HaRishon contains some organs that are more important and some that are less?” That’s true, but this relates to the order of correction: At first the purer desires start the correction, and then the “coarser” ones. However, perfection erases all disproportions.

Therefore, it’s enough to have a small wound, the absence of just one cell, and the whole body is devoid of perfection. In this sense, everyone are equal, by the principle of equality of the general and the particular.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/24/11, “Arvut”

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A Clash Between The New And The Old Worlds Inside Of Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanInside of the head of every degree (Rosh) a collision occurs between the Light and the screen, meaning between the intention “for the sake of bestowal” and the pleasure that is directly felt inside of the will to enjoy. Direct pleasure is as if I feel something tasty in my mouth, and this taste is directly connected with my desire.

But now I have to inflict a blow, meaning introduce a new calculation, implant myself in between the pleasure and the desire which are inside of me together. I have to stand between them and give them a new form of connection, because out of the two of them, I want to build the Creator so they would treat each other with bestowal!

This is called a blow (Hakaa) because I come forth against this direct connection between pleasure and desire. And by virtue of that, I build the head of the degree.

The “face” of the Partzuf is the form of its bestowal which a person has built out of the new relationships that he wants to establish between the pleasure and the desire. He stands between them and does not let them come into direct contact because he wants them to relate to one another only in the form of bestowal. That is how he builds the form of the spiritual Partzuf.

That is, the form of the Partzuf is built on the basis of the new relationships between the pleasure and the desire. And after that, the Partzuf does not want to accept all the others parts of the pleasures and desires which were unable to take on the form of bestowal, the form of the Creator. It turns out that he is left with an excess of desires and Lights which are beyond his calculation.

That is when a clash arises between this remaining direct form, this additional, separate Partzuf in which the desire and pleasure are connected directly – and the new, holy Partzuf that has been built, which contains the right connection between the pleasure and desire, creating a “face.” And the person senses the clash between these two forms: between receiving everything for himself, as the Creator persuades him to do, and the new form of bestowal that he has just created. The mutual collision of these two forces is called “the collision of the surrounding and inner Lights.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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