Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

Educate Your Child According To His Way

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe rule of “educate your child according to his way” does not at all imply permissiveness. On the contrary, it is a very strict approach.

“According to his way” means in accordance with the child’s inclination. If a child has a talent for math, put him into a math school and force him to study using all means possible. And if someone has a talent for dancing, let him take ballet classes and do it seriously. “According to his way” does not mean “whatever the child pleases.” If not, where is “educate your child?”

Children should be given only positive examples. After all, we are born with the egoistic nature, as it is said by the Creator: “I created the evil inclination.” No good inclination was created against it, but rather, only the reforming Light which can be attracted by Kabbalah studies.

Hence, when we show a person something bad and say that it is not good to behave this way, he does not agree: “It’s bad, but I want it!” He does not connect the words with actions: He says that it is bad, but does it.

For this reason, it is not advisable to give children negative examples along with positive ones so that they could choose. They will never choose good. They will follow their nature and always be attracted to bad examples and actions in spite of numerous sermons. On the contrary, by seeing only positive examples and discussing them in various formats, we gradually transition to good. Habit becomes a second nature.

What can be considered a positive example? A person sets an example by being strongly connected to the group, inspiring his friends, and acting together with them.

Children should know how to evaluate themselves with respect to the group and their own actions. For this, they need to be given a scale of achievements since otherwise a child does not know how to assess his acts. Bestowing to the group has to have an external form which could be used as a measuring instrument.
[29217]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Talk on Education

Related Material:
Let The Upper Light Be Your Teacher
Upbringing In The Spiritual World
The Basis Of Correct Development

The Basis Of Correct Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf, instead of focusing on each child individually (who he is and what he does), we shift emphasis specifically on children’s connection with each other and on their connection with adults, and if in the process of education we facilitate a person’s connection with his or her environment, then he will evolve correctly internally as well.

Indeed, all of our inner qualities, inclinations, and genes are not subject to correction. They are given to us only to be in contact with other people.

This entire system was created completely opposite to its current state. We were merged into one common desire to such a degree that none of us was noticeable or perceived at all. Only after the breaking of this system did we divide into “me,” “you,” and “him.”

Therefore, our personalities do not demand any correction. They will disappear as we create correct ties and become incorporated into each other.

Only these connections or absence thereof define how a person is viewed by the society and how correctly he works and realizes himself in it.
[29373]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/10/10, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
Educate Your Child According To His Way
Our Main Trump Card

Do I Exist Or Not?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the lesson, we are constantly trying to build the same plea, which makes it less acute. How can I renew it every day and plea as if for the first time?

Answer: This is the key, and if you succeed, you don’t need anything else. But I don’t know how to help here for this is exactly what is described by “Whatever is in your power, do it!”

No work is more important than preparation to the lesson. Dissemination and everything else you do in this world, everything must revolve around one point: to build an inner plea during the lesson, the anticipation of the Light that will descend and reform us.

This must become our obsessive thought, an internal ache, a feeling that without it I will die, and it will be even more frightening than to die in the corporeal world! It is impossible to arrive at such powerful desire on your own; a person needs the group, support, and collective inspiration. We need to feel despair which accumulates over the years of effort….

It is the most profound point around which everything revolves. If you reach it, you will succeed in everything. There is nothing more; this is the point where you connect with the Creator. Through it, from below upward, the prayer, MAN, is raised. His response, MAD, arrives through it from Above downward, for now as the Surrounding Light.

This need, the aching point, must stand out clearly and conspicuously as the most meaningful need. We need to constantly care for it and think how to enhance it, how to come to the studies with a broken heart so we may bond together during the lesson.

The rest is not important; what you know and what you’ve done does not matter at all. The final outcome of your entire life and all your effort is contained only here, in this point. If you come to it, you will attain everything; if not, nothing else is worthwhile.

Nothing else is taken into account but this point for only it is called the "human" within me. It determines whether I do exist or not.
[29053]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/7/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
The Game Of Bestowal
The Spirit Of The Group
Help Me Today And I’ll Help You Tomorrow

The Game Of Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I don’t understand how the Kelim (vessels) of GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) broke. They are Kelim of bestowal, and there is no restriction on bestowal, is there?

Answer: There is no such thing as bestowing desires (vessels, Kelim). A vessel can only receive. The Creator created the will to receive pleasure.

The created being can bestow only if it receives the property of love from the Light. Only then does the created being have a screen, the ability to feel the desire of its beloved within, and fill it with Light because it accepted the other’s desire as its own, just as it is written: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

A vessel is a created being, and it acts only one way: It can only receive and has nothing to give. The Kelim of Galgalta ve Eynaim are also the will to receive pleasure (desire) and when they lose their screen (intention to bestow), they receive Light for self-gratification and break.

There is only desire and the Light, one or the other. The desire to receive is all that the creature is made of, but if it has an anti-egoistic screen, then the property received from the Light holds it up, like a magnet holds a piece of metal. In this case, the creature remains in bestowal. But as soon as the Light disappears, this desire immediately becomes egoistic due to its nature. Nothing can be done about it.

Any one of us can be placed in such conditions that will force us to abandon a civilized, refined lifestyle and return to our “primitive state.” It all depends on corrections. As soon as the corrections are gone, the egoistic desire is completely exposed, uncovered. If the corrections are added, we “appear” like desires to bestow.

Therefore, Kelim of Galgalta ve Eynaim receive just like the AHP. The only difference is that the former ones are more illuminated and not as coarse as the latter; hence, they can undergo a correction that will make them look like “bestowal.” But as soon as the Light and the screen disappear, they immediately turn into receiving Kelim just like all the others.

They are easier to reform, but they require correction nonetheless. The created being is nothing more than the will to receive pleasure (desire).
[29056]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/7/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
Do I Exist Or Not?
The Order Of Correction

Cure For Lethargy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It has been several weeks since I found myself in a fog that has blocked years of studies. I barely understand the words. If it weren’t for the group, I wouldn’t be here anymore. No matter how much effort I make, nothing can bring me out of it. What should I do?

Answer: This shows that you have made a profound effort. You probably participated in the convention and our collective states, you received an enormous amount of Light, and now in this Light you see that you don’t merit the revelation of the property of bestowal. Your desires (Kelim) don’t need bestowal yet, and they subconsciously reject it.

Thus, we are dealing with the state of fog, fatigue, confusion, helplessness, and unwillingness. Everything is clear except one thing: Why I can’t assert myself above all these feelings, these psychological obstacles? Why am I unable to detach myself from it and determine what is happening to me? After all, this is how a physician diagnoses a patient as well.

If you examine yourself thoroughly, you will see that you are going through the correct state, the right stage on the spiritual path. In fact, our sages tell us that one is never lowered in spirituality, rather one is always elevated.

And yet, how long will it take you to awaken from your slumber? That is up to you. Are you hastening the time? Your condition is favorable for advancement, but you must detach from it and move on as soon as possible.
[29134]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/10, “Introduction from The Book of Zohar, Article “Mother Lends Her Clothes to Her Daughter”

Related Material:
The Perfect Formula For Spiritual Ascent
The Benefit Of Pretence

Joy Through Tears

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a sign to help me see whether or not I’ve managed to awaken the friends in the group? Will they appear happier?

Answer: Only children can feel happy without a reason, but an adult cannot. He can only rejoice when he has completed his task: reached the goal of adhesion with the Creator.

If you read King David’s Psalms, you will see that he doesn’t stop talking to the Creator; he is either crying and asking the Creator for help or blessing Him. These are two opposite states, and a person must remain in both of them. On one hand, he is screaming and crying, begging the Creator; on the other, he is happy that he has the need to turn to the Creator, to demand from Him, and that the Creator has given him this opportunity.

His body or ego suffers, but his soul rejoices in knowing that thanks to these states, it receives the privilege to ascend to spirituality and connect to the Creator. Therefore, the book of Psalms is the most holy book since regardless how King David feels, good or bad, he experiences adhesion with the Creator.

But how can there be adhesion when one feels bad? After all, if I am in adhesion, I am supposed to rejoice. Why is he crying then? He is crying because he is lamenting his uncorrected desire while his intention is in adhesion with the Creator.

This is something that we are still unable to comprehend or to act accordingly. We are still acting like little children. When something doesn’t go our way, we fall into despair or, on the contrary, when we become happy about something, we forget about everything else. But we are unable to stay in both of these states at the same time, and it’s a shame.

This means that a person cannot control himself because he cannot correctly connect the events he is going through. On one hand, he has to undergo these unpleasant states, while on the other, he has to feel a connection with the Creator, the One who sends these mishaps, confusion, and problems.

But in the group, where there is a connection between the friends, this can’t occur because one friend is in a state of ascent, another is in a descent, a third friend is asleep, and so on. Thus, a person perceives all of these states simultaneously and is included in all of them.

There are those who are strong and others who are weak, but everyone, in accordance with their personal attributes, receives problems, traps, and difficulties from Above. Each person undergoes them; the only question is how quickly the states give way to each other.

We are given an opportunity to “take off” a 1000 times faster than what is happening with us today. And this means that we can reach spirituality not in a thousand years, but at this very moment!
[29121]
From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Writings of Rabash, Letter 24

Related Material:
Why Wait For The Blows?
Manual: How To Bring Joy Back

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.10.10

Writings of Rabash, Dargot HaSulam “Labor and Finding”
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Tzav (Command),” Item 152
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Explanation of the Article, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Lesson 7
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Rav Yehuda Ashlag “The Freedom,” Lesson 8
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Give Yourself To The Friends Without Leaving Out Anything

Dr. Michael LaitmanWrite down and learn what the intention has to be during the lesson: to merge with one another as one man with one heart, inside the system of our interconnection called “mutual guarantee.” On one hand, every person feels himself, and on the other hand, above this sensation he feels such a strong connection with others that he is unable to perform even one free motion. That is how devoted a person has to be to the group.

It’s as if I am weaved into a spider web through which all of my incoming and outgoing signals pass. I don’t have anything of my own in the mind or the heart. There is just one point remaining, which constantly yearns toward this net with all its strength, wishing to give itself to it.

This is self-rejection. To the degree I give myself to others, the Upper Light influences me and makes me a part of the common net. Then I feel how on one hand I am devoted to it, and on the other hand, it is all mine.

It’s the same as how a mother gives all of herself to the child and they both feel that the child is hers. One does not exist without the other. It says about this in the Song of Songs, “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” That is how we must work.
[29231]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Place Of Residence: The Group
A Clear Criterion
My Contribution

Kabbalah Moments: Every Day Anew

Place Of Residence: The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: At the lesson we have to aspire to one place and unite everything into one. However, over the years I have developed different notions of spiritual phenomena. When reading about Bina and Malchut, I perceive them differently. Is it possible to reduce them to one point?

Answer: They really do have to become one whole. In essence, Bina and Malchut are the qualities of the Creator and creation. We do not know exactly what this is, but nevertheless their interconnection and relationships indicate union.

Bina lowers a part of herself into Malchut, the letters “ELE” of the name Elokim. Malchut ascends into Bina, changing the name MA to MI. Behind the descriptions of these processes in The Book of Zohar we discern the bonds connecting them.

Accordingly, we have to build our intention. By uniting with the group, I see it as the place, the focal point where the quality of Bina, bestowal, or Elokim is revealed. That is where I raise my desires and yearnings. It is where I want to unite as a corrected part of Malchut.

I hope that Bina will help me by means of its vessels ELE, which are lowered intentionally in order to take care of me in order to become a motherly womb for me and raise me spiritually. That is how I should relate to the group.

The group is the system that is empowered to present Elokim, HaVaYaH, to me. It is the place where I receive nourishment, and from where the Lights and changes come to me.

My conception of the group depends only on how able I am to reject myself before it. The Upper One may take on any forms, but it happens only to the degree that the lower one ascends the degrees of self-rejection and becomes similar to Him, going through the phases of conception, feeding, and adulthood.

This is what I want when I subject myself to the group’s influence, the place that nourishes us. This should be my intention at the lesson: to constantly search for my place in the story about the interrelationships of Bina and Malchut.

They connect through Zeir Anpin, through HaVaYaH, the quality of mercy, the Light. This is the entire system that develops us. Our territory is the lower part of Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut herself. That is where our entire life is, both the material and the spiritual.

That’s because reality is one. Even though we only see an illusory picture now, it is just a flaw in our perception, an illusion caused by meager understanding and sensation. When the fog begins to clear, the Upper World will come through from it, our connection with the group, with the other souls, which comes through in AHP, meaning in the lower part of Bina (ZAT), Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.

This is what all of the science of Kabbalah talks about. This is the expression of our relationship with the Creator, with the unity of HaVaYaH and Elokim, which we have to attain.

Therefore, we have to understand that ZAT de Bina is the corrected group in which we find ourselves. We will never reveal anything more. we discern only the degree of our ability to unite in the lower part of Bina, in the group. That is our place. By giving ourselves over into its power, we will reveal our true reality, which is concealed from us for now by a veil of hazy perception.
[29237]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Working In Two Directions
This Is All We Need!
Building The Vessel Of Love