Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 12 – 17
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Lesson on the Topic “Building The Future Society”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Spiritual work starts with limitation. A person is a device for measuring the Creator and like any device it needs to be calibrated. Therefore, first one must position oneself at zero and from this zero, one can already start studying, measuring states, and advance in this way. Zero is the beginning of the spiritual ladder, and without it, we would not know where we are: above or below, in minus or in plus.
However, a person does not agree to this calibration, our egoism pushes away the nullification, does not want to hear about it. After all, we already are in the best state, in the world of infinity, at the end of correction—nothing changes except our desires and thoughts, that is, the inner sensations that obscure from us the infinite light in which we are immersed.
That is why it is so difficult for us to accept self-annulment, but it is necessary. Zero is the absolute truth. That is, I always have to annul myself, understanding that I cannot evaluate anything according to my desires and feelings. I am in the ocean of the upper light, under its influence, and I fully annul my evaluation of it. After all, I have no correct feelings and understanding of it, and therefore, I do not want to judge it in any way: neither good nor bad. I detach myself from my “I” inside the upper light and strive to become like its qualities, to reveal the correct sensation of it.1
Prior to using scales, they must be calibrated by placing the arrow at zero. Exactly in the same way I have to calibrate myself; otherwise, I will not be able to check how much I correspond to the qualities of the Creator. First of all, I need the precise definition of the Creator as the absolute good that gives me the world of infinity, the state of the end of correction, the light that fills the entire universe.
I try to get closer to this perception and to determine how I differ from it or resemble it, how much above or below it I am. But first of all, I need to annul myself to zero. As if there are two separate scales from which I remove all my weight and want to balance the arrow at zero first. I know that on the one pan is the absolute good. Now I put my egoism on the other pan as if it has already been corrected and check my similarity to the upper light. Thus, I constantly correct myself and ascend through the spiritual degrees.
First of all, I imagine myself inside the white upper light: there is none else beside the Creator, good and benevolent. Now I can start approaching Him, figuring out what changes I have to make within myself, how to restrict my heart and mind in order not to be a disturbance for the white light. To the extent I do not disturb the light, I begin to enter Him, undergoing the states of gestation, suckling, and adulthood (Ibur, Yenika, and Mochin), until I get completely included in the light, reaching the end of correction.
I detach myself from my “I” as if I do not exist and cut off my desires and thoughts in order to feel myself inside the white light, excluding any interference of my egoism. If I completely nullify myself, I can be sure that I will not fall, because it is impossible to fall from the floor—this is the lowest, safest point. Just like a baby immediately sits down on the floor when he loses balance. Then he can be sure that he will not fall.2
If I am not happy about my states and I want changes, it is a luxury. I am adding my desire to enjoy, which obscures spirituality from me, and I only feel the corporeal world.3
The first calibration is to exclude my interference with the white light and to not allow my desire to receive to wake up. I want to nullify myself completely so as not to be a disturbance for the upper light, like a drop of semen in the mother. As if I do not have any of my own desires and thoughts, I cancel them all before the white light.
I do not care what I feel, I nullify myself before everything I receive from the Creator who is good to everyone: to the wicked, to the righteous, and even to me. At every moment, only absolute good comes from Him. The only thing that I lack at any moment is to reveal that now I am receiving the infinity, the end of correction, absolute good.
If I calibrate my desires correctly, I will feel myself in the best possible state right now. There is no doubt that from above I receive absolute good, and now I must only bring myself to equivalence with it here below.4
Try to calibrate yourself so that you do not have your own mind and feelings—everything comes from the Creator. All my thoughts and sensations, everything in me is sent by the Creator. If I am ready to hold on to this state, it means that I am becoming a spiritual embryo.5
My egoism is always trying to raise its head and demand understanding and feelings. Besides, external disturbances come from all sides and I have to constantly nullify myself in relation to them. This is dynamic work; I must always remain in zero as if I constantly check the direction with a compass in order not to be lost.
At every moment I calibrate myself so that I do not care what will happen to me. I remain in the center of my desires and thoughts, like a spider in the middle of the web, and watch that no desire or thought escapes from it. It means that I annul myself to zero, and from that point I can already start rising. An absolute zero is the beginning of the spiritual ladder.
I feel that I have nullified myself, and the arrow of my scale points exactly to zero, that is, I do not interfere with the Creator to influence me. Then I say that there is none else beside Him. After all, if my arrow moves toward plus or minus, then this is not the direction toward the Creator; it means that I am not annulling myself. Therefore, to keep myself in zero, I have to work constantly. All future progress is based on it, when we just add new types of annulment.6
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/12/19, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 53 “The Matter of Limitation”
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 21:50
3 Minute 29:20
4 Minute 31:05
5 Minute 35:15
6 Minute 45:00
Related Material:
Absolute Zero
We Always Start From Zero
From Zero To Ein Sof (Infinity)
Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Items 1 – 11
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
A man is born and exists in this world in order to achieve independence from his nature, to break away from the inanimate level, from the desire to enjoy, and to build the form opposite to it. This means becoming independent from the previous stage. The next step does not exist in its completed form so that you could see, study, and take an example from it. We have no one to imitate; we can only aspire to the opposite properties and in this way build the next step.
Each time desires and thoughts change and grow, and a person can work on building oneself independent of them. One develops more and more at the animate level: one is no longer a simple animal one was born as, but egoism, the evil inclination, becomes increasingly apparent in him. But evil was created in order to build the opposite over it, the spiritual level, a good inclination, a man (Adam).
The human level is characterized by the fact that it requires connection with others, unlike the animate level at which everyone feels increasingly isolated and distant from others. At the same time, at the animate level, it seems that by moving away from everyone, one attains independence. But to build myself on the human level, I need to nullify myself and connect with everyone. One wonders: “Where is independence here?” On the contrary, I neglect myself for the sake of others. This is absolutely the opposite.
We need to realize how insignificant the animalistic independence we strive to through the call of nature is. And independence at the level of a man is the aspiration to fulfill the instructions of the upper force. We build our similarity to the upper one to the extent we can rise above our animal nature.
It is written: “The Creator saves humans and animals alike”—both these levels rise, supporting each other, and together they build independence from nature, from the desire to enjoy. In this way, we reach the goal of creation for which the Creator created everything with an egoistic desire so that we can build the level of man, Adam, similar to the Creator, above it in adhesion, mutual support, connection of all the desires.1
Everything Baal HaSulam said about the people of Israel almost a hundred years ago is still relevant today—we really are like “nuts in a bag” because we are forced to hold together due to the influence of external negative forces. No one knows the great mission of these people, which still must be revealed. Therefore, we envy all other nations undisputed right to exist on their land.
But the Jews are a special people toward which no other peoples of the world have a positive attitude. This is a special phenomenon. And the people of Israel themselves are not able to unite in a natural way and they feel inner separation.
Even non-Jews in whom the point in the heart—the desire to unite with the upper force that leads them to the study of Kabbalah has awakened—also reveal how different and remote from each other they are. They have no desire to get close to others. It does not matter what nation they belong to in the corporeal world, but as soon as they unite in a group that is engaged in spiritual advancement, they immediately become similar to the people of Israel: they feel just as divided. Each group is like a bag of nuts that grind in friction against each other and do not want to connect.
This is a manifestation of the same nature: both in the people of Israel and in Kabbalistic groups around the world that want to approach the Creator. From this, it is clear that Jews are not a people, but a group of Kabbalists that existed in the past. Once, they were on a spiritual level and were able to overcome separation and unite, then they fell from this height and now exist in the opposite form.
It is necessary to study our spiritual state from its opposite form that exists today. After all, the further we develop and try to be together, the less we succeed in it. But we must rejoice that the evil, our true nature, is revealed. This nature is not ordinary, it is much worse than that of all other nations because it comes from the shattering.
All others have a regular animalistic nature and strive for the material well-being of their bodies. But the people of Israel, trying to unite and studying Kabbalah, consciously or unconsciously awaken the upper light that reforms, thus revealing the shattering, the lack of unity and spirituality. Therefore, anti-spiritual qualities opposite to the Creator are revealed in us.
It is necessary to clarify and understand them and to treat them with great respect because it is above these consequences of shattering, corruption, and rejecting spirituality and unity that we need to build a corrected state. All these states which are opposite to unity and correction, as well as those supporting unity, belong to the human stage. Therefore, we need to appreciate them and work on them.
Correction relates only to the human level; it requires us to unite and to converge in our opinions and sensations, although no one relinquishes their opinions and feelings, the connection takes place above them, as one person with one heart, like in the first person called Adam HaRishon. The last, the finally corrected person will be the same. The revelation of the past shattering indicates a future correction.
Therefore, today we are a special group, new people, people of the Creator, who are trying to raise themselves from the dust.2
There are people, that is, such a desire to enjoy, which are united at the animal level. They feel intimacy and understanding according to their corporeal properties, and therefore, they feel good together. Everyone feels that it is worth relating to this group, to his people. There are 70 such nations of the world, groups, each of which has its own spirit, extent of unity, level of existence, character, and physical genes. People naturally feel that they belong to one of those groups. Even if hatred between them appears, it is purely corporeal and has nothing to do with spirituality.
But at the same time, there may be a group at a higher level, which exists due to a connection for a special goal. This goal is not natural, it is above the corporeal nature: it is to connect above one’s egoism. Here, two opposites combine. On one hand, there is a negative connection between them because no one feels obligated to this group and connected to it. But on the other hand, they are united by an artificially set goal.
A common goal creates a common space for them because only by joining together can they achieve this sublime higher goal. Then they will be called a special people—not according to the corporeal DNA, but according to the spiritual genes (Reshimot) awakening in them.
Such a group that reaches a new type of connection in contrast to their natural corporeal disunity is called the people of Israel (Isra-El) because it wants to become similar to the Creator (Yashar-El), the upper force. It possesses a new nature, a new essence. From generation to generation, it has been trying to attain the upper force, creating a methodology for this, and establishing traditions in accordance with the upper force, like holidays, special days, and physical commandments according to its spiritual attainment.
That is, the union is formed according to spiritual laws. A group of people that establishes laws and traditions for itself according to the upper source appears in history. Every nation has its own traditions, but the traditions of the people of Israel correspond to spiritual steps, either achieved in the past, or marked for the future as a “sign for the sons.” These traditions remind a person of the spiritual levels that he or she is to achieve.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/9/19, Independence Day
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 9:30
3 Minute 19:57
Related Material:
Memorial Day And Independence Day
Degrees Of Independence
New Life #551 – What Is True Independence?
Holocaust Remembrance Day is a special, very sad day in the history of the Jewish people and all of mankind since we are all connected with each other. On this day, we need to talk about the causes of this tragedy and its lessons so that “the deeds of the fathers will become a sign for the sons.”1
There is nothing except the upper force that is good and does good; it governs us all the time. There is no action beyond this good governance. Therefore, if in our research we do not rise above our egoistic nature and instead we begin to condemn the Creator, doubting His good governance, we will be mistaken. In this case, our entire research will not bring any benefit and will lead us back to the same bitter reality, which we must talk about today.
The Creator feels what we feel. If we are united and happy about it, the Creator rejoices. He has no personal feelings—He is within us, like a mother who lives inside her beloved baby. Through our connection, we create a place for the Creator where He can exist. If we are not connected, then there is no place for the Creator and we feel His actions in the inverse form, as if they are not coming from Him. Every action is experienced in us according to the extent of our connection or disconnection.2
The Creator lives inside of our connection with each other. This connection should develop all the time, starting from the first shattering caused by the Creator until the final correction, until complete adhesion. As long as we are not behind in our advancement in the stages of correction that we must undergo, we are all right. However, if we fall behind, we find ourselves in a bad state that we ourselves have caused.
If at every moment we do not correct the connection between us, we feel the difference between the desired and the actual states. Let’s say that today I should have been corrected by 20% in my connection with all of humanity, but I have reached only 15% of the connection. Therefore, -5% is revealed to me as pressure and problems. In fact, these are forces that are intended to accelerate my advancement in order to make up for the delay, to extinguish the difference between the desired and the actual.
These forces do not indicate the goodness or the evil of the Creator, but are simply a natural consequence of the system’s operation, as it is written: “The law is given and cannot be transgressed.” That is, we should evaluate not how much pain or pleasure we feel, but how much these forces that are revealed to us as good or evil help us to advance correctly.
The Creator does not wish us harm, but there is a law of nature, by fulfilling it, we feel our connection, and by breaking it, we feel pain, and today it is to such an extent that we must remember the Holocaust—the saddest event in the history of the Jewish people. Of course, it was caused not by the Creator but by people who had to correct the connection between them and did not. The delay in correction was so great that it resulted in terrible suffering.
What lessons can we learn from this? From Ancient Babylon to the present day, there were many such sad events, and all for one reason. Since the Creator is the general law of nature, the system shows us the need for connection. But we do not listen to it and are not in a hurry to eliminate the delay, and we receive the corresponding consequences. In fact, we ourselves cause them and we cannot blame the Creator.
There are conditions known to us, but we do not fulfill them and by doing so, we draw upon ourselves forces that push us to the goal more firmly and resolutely. Throughout history we have been plagued by pressures and problems: exiles, Egyptian slavery, the desert, the destruction of the Temple. Yet, the Holocaust is a very different state. The people of Israel in their historical development have already reached the need for the fourth degree of connection in the soul of Adam HaRishon, but have not implemented it. Today, we are also not fulfilling this goal, so what can we expect? We can only expect even worse states than before. We have to learn from history so that we do not to repeat the same states.
After Babylon and Egypt, we have been plagued by blow after blow every moment we have not established mutual connection in the required measure. The punishment will be collective, to all the people of Israel. Today we are responsible not only for ourselves, but for the entire world. Once, it was possible to make a correction in a limited group: the European Jewry. The Nazis themselves wanted to help the Jews rebuild the state of Israel. At first, they acted as forces helping the correction. However, if we do not use the chance given to us, these forces turn into negative ones.
Today as well, if we do not use the awakening forces that are already acting negatively, they will turn into much more terrible ones than before. Today’s Holocaust will be on a different scale: not only in Europe, but all over the world. Therefore, it is worthwhile to understand this and to hurry up with the correction before it becomes too late.
If we connect, the upper force passes through us to all the nations of the world, to all of reality, and gradually the whole world attains unity. Then everything calms down and the Creator begins to reveal Himself to the created beings, and the world reaches the intended correction.
However, if we, the people of Israel, do not connect between ourselves at least within Israel where we have the best conditions for connection, if we do not become one man with one heart, do not love our neighbor as ourselves, do not become the light for the nations of the world by showing them an example of unity, then we will go through such horrible states that will make the Holocaust pale in comparison to.3
Merits turn into debts and debts into merits. Therefore, we must believe that now we have the opportunity, time, place, and all the means not to repeat the mistake made by the Jews almost a hundred years ago. We must not miss the opportunity to connect between us in order to be in contact with the upper force, which is good and does good, and that through us, this force that wants to appear to all the inhabitants of this world, will be able to reveal itself. We must help it with this and become a conduit between it and humanity.
Let’s not repeat past mistakes. The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about the laws of nature that do not depend on whether they are pleasant or unpleasant to us and do not take into account someone’s political or economic interests. There is no doubt that if the Jews behaved differently back then, the world today would look completely different.
Everything is in our hands and we determine our fate and the fate of the entire world. The law of nature is an immutable law that must be fulfilled. The Creator does not pity or punish us, but fulfills the general law. The Creator is nature, and according to the program of nature, we must connect in one desire, in one intention, according to one formula of mutual bestowal. We must bring this connection to the world; this is our mission.
Let us not repeat the bitter mistakes and let us try on this sad day to take upon ourselves the responsibility to bring the world to unity. 4
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/19, Holocaust Remembrance Day
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 4:40
3 Minute 27:28
4 Minute 1:44:50
Related Material:
In Memory Of The Holocaust
The Lessons Of The Holocaust
Epilogue To The Holocaust Memorial Day, Part 7
Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Lesson on the Topic “Impressions from the Conventions”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Lesson on the Topic “The Absolute Zero”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Lesson on the Topic “Building The Future Society”
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
It is written in The Book of Zohar, “VaYechi” 116-117: “Divinity is present only in a whole place, and not in a deficient place or a flawed place or a place of sadness, but in a proper place—a place of joy.”
“Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with singing.” There is no service of the Creator unless out of joy.”
We need to carefully remember these words. A sad person cannot reveal the Creator, cannot connect with friends. It is impossible. Only in joy can one achieve connection and unification.
Everything that leads to unity and filling with light in itself causes joy. It is also necessary to approach it in gladness. After all, “Joy is a reflection of good deeds,” the connection into which the light comes and fills it.
In everyday life it happens the same way; when we meet someone we love, we do not cry and mourn. Only if we hate and cannot stand something do we grieve and suffer. Therefore, checking the correctness of our actions is very simple: is there joy in us?
Of course, this is not the only criterion, because you can commit a crime and viciously rejoice. Joy, however, is a necessary sign of proper spiritual work. If I am joyful, it means that I have already fulfilled one of the conditions for finding the right path.
Good deeds cause joy even when you do not expect it. If I have helped a created being to advance in correction, then there must be joy. As with the friction of two objects heat invariably arises, so is the correct action, correcting the creation, always accompanied by joy. This is a mandatory consequence.
Therefore, it is necessary to start the action of correction with joy, and then check whether it really contributed to correction by whether it caused joy. That is, joy should be both at the entrance and at the exit.
The same check is valid for a group, a ten. We always need to check whether working with friends makes us happy. It is written that “the Torah brings joy.” If we act toward correction, then we must be happy. Joy will radiate from our good deeds.
It is necessary to try to constantly maintain such an inner joy from being in a good world where only the power of the Creator, the good and the Creator of good, rules. The Creator wants all creatures to be joyful and happy, and all the flaws are the result of our laziness, unwillingness to do our work. But in reality, the world should be full of joy, warmth, and love.
[243640]
From the Lesson 7 of the World Kabbalah Convention “Day Two” – 2/20/19, “Serve the Creator with Gladness”
Related Material:
Gladness Is The Parameter For The Right Way
The Joyful Guests, Grateful To The Host
A Key To Happiness
Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Rabash, Vol. 1, Article 17, “Concerning the Importance of Friends” (1984)
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Discussion on the Topic “Preparation for the Convention”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Questions and Answers with Dr. Michael Laitman
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Discussion on the Topic “Preparation for the Convention”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Holocaust Remembrance Day and Independence Day recently occurred in Israel while the country was under constant rocket fire from Gaza. The Creator gives us an opportunity to turn to Him and to awaken mercy from above. If we attribute all of reality to the Creator and to the correction of the world, we must try to see the process of correction in everything that happens. We certainly think of correction as a good life on the physical level, corporeal well-being, but in essence, correction belongs to the soul.
If we understand that the correction should take place in our souls, connecting us to the Creator, we will understand what each missile falling on us means, what it must awaken in us, and who sends it. There is no single event that is not sent from above with a specific purpose; everything is verified to the tiniest detail and connected to a system of forces.
There are no coincidences in the world. We just need to understand what we need to do in order to correct this form of relationship with the Creator, and we have great opportunities for this. Let’s not just sit and wait. Let’s strengthen our work on connection in order to awaken mercy from above, from the upper force. It will advance us and all of humanity not through such negative forces and judgments, but through kindness and mercy.
Let us ask the Creator for that and I am sure we can influence the situation. The only way to resolve this state is greater connection between the people of Israel. We can correct everything through our connection. There is no other way; the world will not let us solve this problem by force because it is becoming more and more anti-Semitic. The world will only rejoice in our troubles.
Therefore, we must correct our attitude toward the world and its attitude toward us. Correction is only possible through the fulfillment of our mission regarding the world, that is, unification of the people of Israel the way the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us. Our connection will cause the world’s connection. We do not need to call for the world to connect and to perceive Israel in the same way as all the other countries.
It will never happen. Therefore, there is no point to call upon the entire world to eliminate anti-Semitism; it will never disappear, it will only grow. We must correct all negativity only through our inner work, among the people of Israel, that is, through our connection. Through our connection, the light will come to the world, meaning, to become “the light for the nations,” which the people of Israel should become.1
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/5/19, Writings of Rabash Vol. 1, Article 5, “What Does the Rule “Love Thy Friend as Thyself” Give Us”
1 Minute 46:55
Related Material:
Israel: Hope For A New Life
How To Transform Enemies Into Beloved Brothers
While It Is Not Too Late
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
