Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

An Attack Inside The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Lately it’s felt that the world Kli is working in a single desire. At one time Rabash advised you to make an attack from this state. What exactly are we attacking?

Answer: Ourselves, our heart, our laziness, our pride, our past habits. I have to ascend above all of these calculations.

The most important thing is to dissolve among the friends, to intentionally push yourself into the group. I want to be there all the time. I want to lose my personal mind and feeling and to acquire the mind and feeling of all the friends. It’s as if I lose myself in them by my own desire.

This means acquiring the vessel of the mutual guarantee.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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The Benefit Of Spiritual Shame

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” Baal HaSulam presents his famous parable about the guest and the Host, the example that reflects a person’s relationship with the Creator. The Host greets His guest as His closest friend and, driven solely by the power of His love, wants to give him everything without any intention of receiving anything in return.

He gets pleasure from serving the guest, is happy about it, and expects no compensation because the law of love obliges Him to act in this way. On the contrary, if the guest refuses to receive, this will upset the Host very much because He has a great desire to fill the guest, His friend, completely with all the abundance.

If the guest feels some discomfort, this feeling does not come directly from the Host but surfaces involuntarily as he used to be empty and now somebody gave him fulfillment. And within this fulfillment, there is something shameful, undeserved; there is the lack of his own participation and effort, which raises a feeling of shame in the guest.

In this sense of shame, the guest discovers what he is missing. He thinks: “The Host gives, and I receive. As a receiver, I feel ashamed, but there is no shame in the giver. This is the difference between the giver and the receiver! He is not ashamed because He gives, but I am not capable of this action of bestowal. If I could give as He does, I would not feel shame; moreover, I would be honored!

The Host does not feel any honor in His bestowal to me because bestowal is natural for Him; He loves according to His nature. And thus, He is not proud that He gives; on the contrary, thus He fulfills His desire.

If I give, it will bring me honor instead of shame. That is why the shame that I am feeling now is useful; it will help me feel the opposite state: honor and self-respect in addition to the high position of the giver.”

The receiver obtains all this understanding as a result of shame: Why and how he should perform the necessary steps in order to not only extinguish shame, but also to reach the level of the giver. Here, it is not merely to achieve bestowal—one has to come to love! Let this shame rise hatred in me, which I will transform into love, and then I will actually attain the state of the Creator.

All the love that He has naturally will become a great acquisition for me that I myself attained and earned. And that is why now I begin to love and appreciate this shame! It is through it, through the depth of this shame that I am starting to feel hatred, and from this hatred, I come to love.

The creature comes to this conclusion as a result of a series of internal clarifications.
[47118]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.07.11

Shamati #15, “What Is Other Gods in the Work”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter “Truma (Donation),” “Gold and Silver and Bronze,” Item 408, Lesson 17
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 “Table of Answers for the Meaning of the Words,” Item 47, Lesson 34
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 18, Lesson 13
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“Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 14, Lesson 9
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Living To Escape The Question About Meaning

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are in a reality where we have developed over thousands of years. At first we were savages, not knowing what for, how, and why—real animals. Then we started having human relations with one another, formed a society, and started developing technology.

And thus, gradually, through all of these events, we are discovering a process that was goal-oriented from the onset. New facets of desire were always revealed in humanity, continuously pushing us to a new turn in our development in order to fulfill ourselves. However, once we achieved a specific state, a specific level of development, we started experiencing desires that could not be realized in our world.

Man is suddenly contemplating things that you cannot find here. Food, sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge, in different variations and combinations—this is the entire selection. It would seem: What else can there be? And yet, one sunny day, man starts having new questions: about his root and about the reason for existence. Suddenly he notices that every object has a reason, a process, and a result—a beginning, development, and end. Apparently, I am not an exception?

This question no longer belongs to the animate level, but to the human in us. Until it appeared, creatures having the form of humans did not ask about life, or if they did ask about it, then they were satisfied by different methods of self-appeasement. But we are talking about a person wishing to know, “What am I for? Why am I here? Where did I come from and where am I going?” So how can he receive answers to his questions?

First he has to uncover the actual question because it is not simple. Any person can ask it, but the entire matter here is the depth of the question, its direction. After all, a question is a vessel, a Kli.

In the end a person becomes completely confused. Besides, by our nature we aspire to self-appeasement, which we accomplish by means of all sorts of actions, customs, and habits. I do something and I feel good. So let’s establish customs that will help us receive psychological compensation and fulfillment. That is how we lull ourselves, not wishing to reveal our question in its entire depth and to use it to develop, to get down to the truth. We don’t care about the truth, but about comfort.

Stated differently, I am not happy about the emergence of this new vessel or new desire in me, which sends me off to search for something, forces me to make an analysis, and evokes inner suffering. Ideally I should be enjoying it because that’s how I develop, and development is more important than transient sensations. However, what do I need this for if I’m able to fulfill myself and dampen my ardor without it just as well? What I have is enough for me.

And soon after, I am overcome by fatigue and vexed by life’s difficulties. Old age is creeping on and a person agrees to the small instead of the great.

Thus, our problem, and a great obstacle for us lies in rising from the regular level of development to the spiritual level —the human level.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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Finishing Abraham’s Business

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday we are completing what Abraham had started when he taught the sons of his concubines different spiritual practices which precede the actual spiritual work for the sake of bestowal. He instilled in them the foundations of belief systems and sent them off to eastern lands. Later, the same work of Abraham has materialized through the people of Israel who, after the destruction of the Temple, fell from the spiritual level and gave rise to religions thereby.

Thus the beliefs, which originated in the times of Abraham, and religions, which came about in the times of the destruction of the Temple, essentially represent stages of the inclusion of the method of Israel into the nations of the world. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam among others have been advancing humanity towards the understanding of Godliness. People would have remained complete barbarians without them.

In our time, after thousands of years of evolution, it is hard for us to imagine a person who does not ponder at all about this and the future worlds, the Creator, or good and evil. If there were no religions, we would not have culture, education, and a human society in its modern understanding.

We simply are not aware of the role that religions have played in advancing humanity. Universities have appeared due to religions. In the desire to spread religions, people have discovered new continents, settled new lands, and aspired towards something in the future.

This way, the spiritual message became part of the egoism of our world and it has reached people who had no connection with the Creator and no desire for Him for the lack of the point in the heart. However, now they have a certain impulse, belonging, and fear before the future world, a possible punishment, and something above this life.

They have a feeling of something greater and foresee certain things. And even though corporeal images appear in their imagination, even though this is idolatry, still, something close to a human is beginning to grow out of a “higher animal.” They already think about things that animals do not care for.

Previously, people did not think beyond a closed cycle of income, food, reproduction, and death. We simply are not aware of the contribution of religion into human culture and art.

However, today our development is coming to an end, and the global crisis, grasping the entire humanity, is the sign of it. Religion is not the problem: We simply can no longer keep sustaining an egoistic society that lives according to the laws of self-love.

Our egoism has brought us to its spiritual component. Money has become a “spiritual value” for people and forced them to blow unthinkable bubbles in the economy by selling air to one another in the form of virtual businesses.

This has brought us to the need for a change. We are facing real spiritual work for the sake of bestowal.
[47011]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Ramchal’s “The Wisdom Article”

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The Force From Outside

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur development can be divided into two parts:

1. All of the inevitable phases when people are able to calm themselves down with life and actions within the boundaries of our world.
2. The phase when a person understands that none of the means that he has at his disposal are effective anymore and he has to attain the root.

Then everything that’s external recedes into the background, as it is written, “The Creator does not care about how you cut a sacrificial animal—from the throat or the nape of the neck.” In other words, there are no actions in our world through which we really can attain the Creator. Therefore, we have to find a new, completely different means—the Light that reforms. Thanks to this force, we begin to develop ourselves.

There is a very clear delineation here:

– Either we are in our world and use its attributes because our desire is only here, and we desire to receive what this world has to offer, and in addition we hope for something more after death;
– Or we want to reveal a new means in this life that is not present in our world—the Light that reforms, a new, special force that opens us up and starts to bring to light completely new desires and fulfillments in us, which are completely different from anything we knew to this day.

I live like a person in our world—with a family, job, and social relationships, with all of my knowledge and feelings, but this person is in no way connected with what forms inside of me under the influence of the Light that reforms. It develops the soul inside of me, the part of the Creator from above, the Divine image that I attain and build inside of me, participating in the process together with the Light. In that case, what came before is called “the animate level” whereas the new part if called “human” (Adam) because it is similar (Domeh) to the Creator.

That is why external actions don’t matter. Only one thing can help me—to attract the Light that reforms. There is no other force that can raise me from the animate level to the human degree. The only thing necessary here is a force from outside, and the entire Kabbalsitic method is aimed only at this.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/6/11, Matan Torah

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The Spiritual Division Of Labor

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are the giving vessels, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), called “Israel,” which means “straight to the Creator.” Just these vessels can draw the Light because they are closer to it and contain only the force of bestowal.

There are also the receiving vessels, AHP, “the nations of the world.” In reality, namely they are important, and everything is done for them. However, they themselves are not able to receive the Light directly if the vessels of Israel do not conduct the Light to them.

This is the division of roles: Galgalta ve Eynaim must draw the Light for AHP, and AHP must supply its desire to Galgalta ve Eynaim so that they carry the Light for AHP. Only this mutual cooperation will let us achieve the final correction.

All the people in the world who have “the point in the heart,” meaning the inclination to attract the Light, are called “Isra-El” or “Yashar El,”in Hebrew – “straight to the Creator.”  And all those who lack this inclination cannot attract the Light directly and are called “the nations of the world,” AHP. Together, they use their nature to attract the Light and receive the revelation of the Creator in the collective vessel.

Thus, in order to establish a connection between them, Israel goes through the breaking. It rises to the end of correction, to the level of the Temple, and then the Temple is destroyed, that is, Israel falls from the spiritual height into the forces of filth, into the nations of the world, and intermixes with them so that AHP is included in Galgalta ve Eynaim, and Galgalta ve Eynaim is included in AHP. As a result, both of them are in the egoistic intention.

However, when the mixing or “exile” ends, they can attract the Light and realize correction. First, Galgalta ve Eynaim is corrected, which are purer vessels that still retain the Reshimot, records of the corrected state.

They have the ability to draw the Light, and through mutual inclusion with AHP, they have someone for whom they can attract this Light. Then, AHP receives illumination from Galgalta ve Eynaim, which is sufficient to extend the line of connection upwards. As a result, all of them complete the ten Sefirot and draw the great Light. Thus, in mutual interaction, we arrive to the end of correction.

Today, we are at the beginning of correction of Galgalta ve Eynaim, Israel. If they correct themselves, to that degree they will be able to bring correction to AHP, to the nations of the world.
[47017]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2011, Ramchal’s “The Wisdom Article”

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Fixing The “Flesh” Of Your Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is the revelation of evil enough for advancement?

Answer: The revelation of evil is a powerful method of advancement since it is a discovery of an uncorrected desire. If you correct it, you will advance. This is why it is impossible to do it without the revelation of evil.

For example, you get into a car and try to reach your destination with it. Suddenly you see that the key does not fit the ignition lock. You start fixing the key. You fix the key, put it in the ignition, but it doesn’t turn. You need to fix the lock.

You fix the lock, you turn the key—the car does not start. You discover that the wires are not connected to the ignition. You need to connect the wires. The wires are fixed. Why will it not start? The battery is missing.

And you go step by step until you fix the entire car. But every time you discover whatever is missing until you complete the renovations and high polish the last drop of paint. Then you sit and drive. The car will not move until then.

Question: What does it mean to correct every component?

Answer: To correct means that you understand why you need the component, how it connects to other parts, and what its ruined and corrected forms are. Every component is a part of your heart, your soul. “Ignition” and “key,” “wires” and “battery,” every last component, all these things are your inner desires, the “flesh” of your soul.
[47033]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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When The Sun Does Not Leave The Zenith

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Surveys show that 80 percent of humanity believes in the higher power that controls everything. Why don’t we explain to people what kind of power it is and what it wants? It is much more interesting than the calls for love.

Answer: We have nothing to explain. The upper force is Nature, the law, the force as unyielding as the force of gravity. It is Absolute who is Good, does Good, and does not change.

If this force is invariable, it is as if nonexistent. The absence of change seems to cancel it. It is like living under the sun, forever stuck at the zenith. There is no point of taking it into account if it is and will be there always. It just is, and that is all.

In our life, we make calculations based on what has to change, on advancements we depend on. It is another matter if we talk about something permanent and indestructible on which we depend constantly to such an extent that it cannot be called dependence.

This is what the “Creator” is. And that is why it is so difficult to explain this to people. In reality, we pray not to Him but to ourselves. We seek how to change, and He is always unchangeable. Of course, I will change if I desire it, and to do this, I do not need to take Him into account. He is Good and does Good, and next to Him, I am like a spoiled child whose parents give him absolute love, while he does whatever pleases him and gets out of control, knowing that nothing bad will happen to him.

Thus, our problem is how to explain to people that the Creator is like a solid wall and simply exists. You can jump in front of it, wave your arms; this is your business, and the wall still towers over you.

A person can barely imagine that: “Then, whom am I dealing with? It means that there is nobody to ask.” How can we explain to those who believe in the higher power that it does not make sense to pray to the “changeable” Creator who would do better today than yesterday. Does it mean that yesterday He caused me harm?

In reality, we deal with the One who is Good and does Good to the wicked and to the righteous. But for a person, this means that regardless of whether he is good or bad, the result will be the same.

An ordinary person is subject to changes constantly. All the time, he compares himself with the world, trying to calculate the results of internal and external changes. He does not understand what the universal, general, great, immutable Force is. This eludes our sense organs because they are “tuned” to changes rather than to the static condition. I just do not see what does not change, does not disappear from my view.

That is why we cannot explain to people what the “Creator” is. Sometimes, I say that the “Creator” is Nature, that He is unchangeable, and there is no one to pray to, that a prayer is self-judgment. In response, they are ready to tear me to pieces. This is the problem: We judge ourselves, whereas others ask the Creator to change: “I threw a little bit in Your piggy bank, now, save me from troubles.”

Talking of the Creator as of the unyielding law of nature, we deny a person the possibility to turn to Him. A person does not see that he has to change. A new strong “dose” of development is necessary so that a person begins to behave differently.

Whatever we talk about, including the crisis, we essentially explain to people the path of suffering: “Alternatively, it will be troubles, and it is not worth it. Let’s change.” It is not a lie, but not the truth either.

We should tell something else to a person who comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah desiring to reach the goal of creation: “You have to be above this. No matter whether it is good or bad, you have to rise by faith above reason. You should not make your actions conditional on suffering or pleasure. This is not bestowal. Faith above reason means that you rise above the reward. Or do you work to escape evil and achieve good in the future? Are you expecting compensation? Do you want to reach the purpose of creation for yourself instead of giving pleasure to the Creator?”

On the other hand, whom are we supposed to please if the Creator is the law? This is a delicate moment in our explanations.
[46848]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/2011, “Mesiah’s Horn”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 07.06.11

Shamati #38, “The Fear of God Is His Treasure”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter,” Truma (Donation),” “This Is the Donation,” Item 385, Lesson 16
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 1 “Table of Questions and Answers for the Meaning of the Words,” Item 44, Lesson 33
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 17, Lesson 12
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“Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 13, Lesson 8
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