Entries in the 'Daily Kabbalah Lesson' Category

New Life 1102 – Intolerance In The International Arena

New Life 1102 – Intolerance In The International Arena
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Israel is perceived as a very aggressive nation that wants to dominate the entire world and exploit everyone for its own good. If Israel wants security, it must invest in research and development of new relationships between people. The level of connection in the world depends upon the level of connection between us Jews. We determine how everything will be managed. Kabbalah teaches people how to connect with each other correctly.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1102 – Intolerance In The International Arena,” 3/28/19

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 7/4/19

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “Deficiency For The Greatness of the Creator” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 69

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Lesson on the Topic “Building The Future Society” 

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Striking Of The Inner And The Surrounding Light

laitman_962.1The inner light (Ohr Pnimi) is what I receive from the host, enjoying in all my desires the taste of fulfillment and the attitude of the Creator who with all His greatness invites me to connect and bestows upon me. I feel all these corporeal, human, and spiritual pleasures on all levels and I am obliged to extract all possible pleasure from them.

However, all this is clothed in my intention to bestow to the host. I subjugate myself to Him and want to give Him contentment. There is no pleasure here that I feel outside of my relationship with the host. First of all, I connect with Him in the Rosh, become included in His intention, in His attitude toward me. I absorb His attitude toward me and I build a reciprocal attitude toward Him from it. Our relationship, His and mine, becomes clothed on each other and the inner light appears.

The surrounding light (Ohr Makif) shows how much I am not ready to do this. The surrounding light emerges out of my regret that I have to stop receiving pleasure from the host, rejecting His appeal to me due to my inability to respond to Him in the same way because of my lack of His greatness. The surrounding light is a consequence of my awareness of how small my love for the host is compared to His love for me.

The surrounding light is the clothing of the spiritual Partzuf, which reflects the reaction of the created being to the revelation of the Creator in it. Therefore, it presses on the Partzuf and asks it to receive fulfillment, like a mother standing in front of a baby with a spoonful of food and trying to persuade him to open his mouth.1

My attitude toward the group and my care for it instead of caring for myself is an exact reflection of the work of the Partzuf with the upper light (Ohr Elyon). Even if I am not yet at such a degree that I can work directly with the light, it is already a close relationship. The Guf of the Partzuf is a measure of my connection with the group, and the Rosh is a calculation of how much I am able to connect with my friends according to my discernments, thoughts, and emotions.

Coupling by striking (Zivug de Haka’a) is striking at my egoism and adhesion through my decision above my mind and feelings to connect with friends like one man with one heart.

I strike my will to receive, push it away, and rise above it because I want to follow the mind and the emotion of the group and the Creator in it. Desire is my nature and the thought is something peripheral; therefore, it can be received from above or through the group, giving me the ability to understand, feel, and make decisions above my own thoughts.

My own thoughts and desires are the animate level. The desires and thoughts of the group can be above them only if I try to work with them.2

Restriction and Striking

Restriction is when I shut my desire, disallowing myself to receive pleasure, like a baby who tightly clenches its mouth and refuses to eat. The striking, however, already implies a condition: if I have the ability to eat for the sake of bringing contentment to mother, I will gladly open my mouth. But I do not have such an ability, so what do I do?! Help me, give me the desire to bring You contentment and I will be happy to open myself for the reception.

Restriction is an unconditional act and striking occurs on the condition that I am ready to accept the pleasure if there will be adhesion between us. In striking, my goal is connection. During the restriction, the purpose is not to connect but only to prevent me from receiving. I do not want any contact because I have no strength for anything but to restrict; otherwise, I will burn from shame.

Coupling by striking is already above shame. I do not take shame into account, but think only about love and connection between us, rising above egoism. By striking, I demonstrate that I am ready to receive the meal, not for myself but only to give contentment to the host. First, we check our relationship with the host and only when this heartfelt spiritual connection is established can we implement it in action and it descends into matter, into the will to receive.

This is why the decision is made first of all in the head of the Partzuf, in the pure thoughts and emotions not associated with the clothing of the light in the desires, in the matter. Only then can we perform this action, step by step, from light to heavy: the light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 30 – 38
1 Minute 29:10
2 Minute 36:08
3 Minute 1:06:05

Related Material:
The Difference Between Inner Light And Surrounding Light (Advanced)
Kabbalah For Beginners “Light” – 12.08.10
How To Feel The Upper Light?

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 7/3/19

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “Deficiency For The Greatness of the Creator” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 65

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Lesson on the Topic “Building The Future Society” 

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A Descent Is Really An Ascent

laitman_962.7I must be connected to the ten like a mother to her baby so that not a single thought of leaving it ever crosses my mind and I just become more and more connected to it with every passing day.1

I feel descent and darkness not because of the bad state I have fallen into but because I cannot overcome it and continue on my way. That is, I want to follow the path of truth, but I cannot overcome the descent, then I get help, as it is written: “He who comes to purify is aided.”

Advancement is measured precisely in the descent because during the ascent everything is full of light and such euphoria that nothing can be assessed. In the darkness while clarifying one’s attitude toward oneself, toward the group, toward the Creator, one can understand one’s state.

This lets me make a choice in what to consider as advancement—not a pleasant feeling, but striving for the goal. The fulfillment that I ask for is to give me the strength to advance, the need for the greatness of the Creator.

A new ascent begins only after a person has reached the ultimate depth of descent and feels darkness, despair, and helplessness, but resists it.2

Descent is a tool for ascent. If after the descent we do not work with the acquired tools, with the darkness, bitterness, helplessness, and confusion that are revealed to us, if we do not use them correctly, then it disappears in vain. This is how a wheel spins; the half that moved back must then move forward. If we do not assess the state that passed correctly, then we waste time in vain because the descent will not lead to an ascent. All ascents are the result of studying descents. After all, in the descent, new desires (Kelim) are revealed, and due to them, we advance. The descent is really an ascent.3

There is nothing to hide from our friends in the ten; we remove all the masks and there is nothing to be ashamed of. We go through such states that there is nothing left in each of us but one spark. And all the rest is connection of the sparks together with the Creator that is revealed between them.4
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/19, “Holding Onto The Goal Above The Ascents And Descents”
1 Minute 25:00
2 Minute 29:30
3 Minute 1:25:10
4 Minute 1:34:15

Related Material:
The Spiritual Breathing: Ascents And Descents
When Your Ups And Downs End
A Smooth Path Without Any Ups And Downs

New Life 1100 – Inner Balance

New Life 1100 – Inner Balance
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

A person is composed of many forces, desires, thoughts, and inclinations and a person feels comfortable when they are in balance. We need to look at any inner conflict we experience as an opportunity to build a bridge of connection above it. Imbalance can be unhealthy at times and it can help us develop at other times. It is worthwhile to be curious when we experience conflicting thoughts, desires, pressures, and inclinations between the head and the heart or feelings and thoughts. By reflecting, comparing, and summarizing, we can create one, higher, complementary, balanced system of connection above it all.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1100 – Inner Balance,” 3/26/19

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 7/2/19

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “Deficiency For The Greatness of the Creator” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 7/1/19

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “The Ten is One Whole HaVaYaH” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 61

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A White Spot In The White Light

laitman_962.5The cascading of the worlds from the top down to the shattering, to this world, happens only due to the upper one without any participation of the created being. The degrees of diminishing of the light and all kinds of forms of the will to receive are designed in order to separate the desire from the light and make it free.

So far, this works like an electrical system that does not have any free choice and even a shadow of a doubt. The created being does not do calculations in darkness and uncertainty, but it acts according to the distinct, calculated-from-above plan called the “cause and effect order of descent of the worlds from above downward.” There is no created being here yet but the work of formulas of interaction between the light and the desire.

Thus, the ladder is built: Galgalta, AB, SAG, and so on, down to this world. From the Creator comes the will to receive created by Him and also the desire of the light to bestow, and the relationship between them builds the degrees. The created being appears only after the shattering since, because of it, the spark of bestowal penetrates the will to receive. This force of bestowal gets imprinted there in the inverse form as an additional will to receive.

Working with this additional will to receive that came from the Light, the created being feels its oppositeness to the Creator, feels as a created being and not just a system of lights and desires, pluses and minuses. Therefore, it is possible to talk about the created being only after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge in which the root of the creation is formed. We still have a long way to go.1

The reason for the first restriction is that the Creator, by affecting the desire with the upper light, gives it an urge to restrict itself and stop receiving. This decision is born within the desire itself, which understands that it is more worthwhile to restrict itself and not to receive than to receive and feel shame. After that, the desire remains empty and makes decisions about the next actions, discovering that it is possible to receive for the sake of bestowal.

But all these are still desires inside the will to receive due to the influence of the light. There is still no free choice here—it is a mechanical calculation of the correlation of two forces. So far, there is nothing alive in this system that could make its own decisions, want, feel, and experience. It works automatically, like the internal physical and chemical processes in our body.

The decision is not made out of darkness, out of the shattering, and not out of uncertainty; that is, there is no condition for free choice of the created being. The light strikes upon it and obligates it to become a bestower, as the saying goes, “the situation obliges.” The light is acting here and there is no created being yet. The created being is the one who is, on one hand, disconnected from the Emanator, and, on the other hand, wants to resemble Him.2

So far, the created being does not have any doubts about what it should do. All the systems, except for the human, work according to simple mechanical formulas. They just seem complicated to us when we enter this work because we do not have enough inner qualities to resemble the upper force. Yet in fact, all these actions are clearly predetermined and do not imply any doubts and freewill.

The created being is primarily the one who has doubts. Many actions are required in order to create a person of this world who constantly suffers from doubts and uncertainty. He does not know where to go and must search for the means to stand against his egoistic desires and doubts.

A person establishes an empty area, for himself,  a white spot, and takes care of its preservation. After all, if this empty area (the middle third of Tifferet) does not exist, then there will be no human. A human is the one who acts in states of uncertainty. He understands which forces operate from the right side and the left, but he must perform the connection of the left and the right line, which will not reduce his freewill and through which he will become similar to the Creator.

The main thing for the created being is to maintain his freedom because this is his main asset. If he loses his freedom, he immediately falls to the degree of a beast and he seemingly ceases to exist.3
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 22 – 29
1 Minute 14:35
2 Minute 18:33
3 Minute 24:00

Related Material:
Why Were The Worlds Created Before The Soul?
Five Worlds Between The Creator And Us
The Worlds Are Within Us

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 6/30/19

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “The Ten is One Whole HaVaYaH” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 22

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption” 

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