Entries in the 'Dissemination' Category

Heal The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe method of integral education is a tool that no politician or government possesses. It allows every person to change his life, society, and life of the world since every component in this system affects all the others.

Everything begins from the environment of an ordinary person. He should try to change himself despite the fact that he resists it and curses everything from morning till night, swearing and hating everyone, thinking that everyone uses him, it doesn’t matter!

He won’t change the world. Enough chewing and spitting it out all the time; what’s the use? This isn’t wise. Let’s change ourselves! Let’s see what it will lead to.

If we create a healthy area in some part of the integral system that suddenly begins to function correctly, it will reflect on the whole body. We will see that the government, our neighbors, and people who live on the other side of the world will begin to think differently since we have healed part of the system.

Question: But in a sick body, we can’t create a separate healthy part.

Answer: Imagine that it is possible. How does one get well? It isn’t that the whole body is suddenly healed. First one part doesn’t hurt, and then another; the systems begin to balance one another and to work one for the sake of the other.

You wish to say that if something happens in the integral system, it doesn’t affect that specific part but rather the whole system. This is true, you are absolutely right. But the current integral system is bad and I create a good integral system within it without creating a partition between the two, and so it begins to work.

We spur on a totally different force in our small system that doesn’t exist in our system; the force of the connection between us. By ascending above the egoistic system we begin to cultivate the altruistic force in us. This is because the altruistic force is inside the egoistic force and we humans have to bring it out by ourselves and begin to implement and manage it.

What’s more, the external system cannot affect us since we ascend above it. This is called “faith above reason,” or “love and bestowal above hate.” When we unite, the world around us doesn’t affect us since this whole world is made of egoistic vectors that operate on one plane, while we ascend above them and work on a totally different level.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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Preventing The Regression Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanI have often said and today we can actually see that millions of people are finding themselves outside the circle of active life. They receive minimal benefits, stay at home, and don’t know what to do.

A person regresses and degrades! If he doesn’t work for a couple of months, not to speak of several years, he is incapable of doing anything. He becomes an unproductive part of society since he loses the ability to work. Work builds a person! The search, the tension, and the study!

So he regresses and gradually degrades and simply becomes a mass of protein. What should we do about it?! They will go out to the streets and destroy everything. We already see that.

What is more, the next, scariest phase is beginning now: The middle class, the backbone of society, is disappearing. Factories will be shut down, production will stop and everything will begin to decline. What will happen next? They will also be given food rations. But they are used to a different standard of living! Will the golden billion, or even less, stay afloat and all the rest live on food stamps (for needy families with low income) for their “free lunch”? What will happen to these people?! After all, there is no system that can deal with them!

Perhaps the governments believe in feeding people with drugs by making marijuana legal, etc. This is not a solution!

I am not looking at this from a humanistic perspective or sympathetically: “What will become of the six billion people?!” I look at things from the perspective of non-compliance with nature’s law of development!

The regression of humanity will bring about greater sufferings. A person will not be allowed to just sit on the couch watching some TV program, smoking pot while being served his weekly meal.

Nature will not allow that, since nature’s plan is to bring all of nature to an integral state, which is the law of development that cannot be nullified. Nature must bring us to a state of becoming equal to it, to turn us into integral members in an integral society, each one by himself and all of us together. So you can’t just get rid of six billion people by putting them on drugs and food rations. Nature will lead them onward. It has to bring man to a state of being equal to it! A person has to become a human being.

This can only happen by balancing all the systems. The different parts of our world, like the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature, have to reach a state of balance, which means mutual support, homeostasis.

Bringing a person to the lowest state, however, is not homeostasis. The most important thing is to consciously raise ourselves to the level of a human being that is made of two opposite attributes: an egoistic one and an altruistic one, and operating in mutual cooperation by balancing them.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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The Fair Substitutes

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”: This means that the secrets of the Torah are revealed only to those who fear His Name, who keep His Glory with their hearts and souls, and who never commit any blasphemy. This is the third part of the concealment of the wisdom.

This part of the concealment is the strictest, as this kind of disclosure has failed many. From the midst of those stem all the charmers, whisperers, and “practical” Kabbalists, who hunt souls with their cunningness, and the mystics, who use withered wisdom that came from under the hands of unworthy students, to draw bodily benefit for themselves or for others.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is different from all the sciences of the world. Any other science is available to anyone at least to some extent, and if you don’t understand it today, then you will understand tomorrow. It doesn’t matter who you are by nature, you don’t have to change your character. For instance, a physicist may be a Nazi and misanthrope, or conversely, radiate kindness and generosity. In short, in every field of knowledge a person can move forward without changing himself.

On the other hand, the science of Kabbalah is attained only in the corrected vessels, meaning desires in the corrected properties. Therefore, people who just live in this world don’t understand it. How should I change myself? What should I change in myself? Indeed, regular studies do not help in Kabbalah, and lab experiments and practical parts acquire a very different character here. In this science, actions are performed not on a physical level and the analysis is conducted not by our present mind.

As a result, people don’t understand what the science of Kabbalah is. It really is hidden from them. It’s not even clear what it requires to overcome this threshold.

Kabbalists initially hid their books, wanting to save people from confusion. Indeed, many would study Kabbalistic texts in a vain attempt to get to the truth. “Maybe it is necessary to read at a certain time of day? Or perhaps memorize?” To avoid this, Kabbalists hid their science from humanity as if it never existed, and succeeded in doing so until a certain time, although problems still arose when some knowledge leaked out here or there.

So, the wisdom of Kabbalah is not understood by humanity or philosophers, and is incomprehensible to scientists. After all, before revealing the upper world, a person must change himself. But people, alien to this approach, have decided that it’s sufficient just to read Kabbalistic books.

The same thing happened with the Torah, which everyone rearranged in his own way, creating religions and beliefs to his taste and thus turning the “elixir of life” into the “potion of death.” Indeed, with this approach, we just destroy ourselves, sink into a greater egoism. Instead of attracting the Light, people prefer the “traditional” use of the primary sources in the hope that this will satisfy their self-love. Meanwhile, the Torah is given only to correct the heart in which the evil inclination rules.

In addition, there is another problem; Baal HaSulam writes that many, including scientists, still believe that simply by reading a Kabbalistic text, they understand what is written. People do not see the need to get a new mind; to become imbued with a new spirit, new feeling, and new attitude; to change their mentality, outlook; and to change their inner world. Without changing internally, they regard themselves as experts, write theses, and in general, talk “competently” about Kabbalah.

It’s a pity if a person stumbles on this shallow external approach to the issue. After all, only one who can first correct his own properties can understand Kabbalistic books. The science of Kabbalah was opened for everyone’s studies only in our days only for inner correction with the help of the Light that Reforms. Therefore, he who studies not to attract this Light for self-correction still doesn’t know what the Torah and its internal part, the science of Kabbalah, are. If a person doesn’t aim in this direction, the “elixir of life” turns in the “potion of death” for him.

Thus, not only do various “philosophers” reflect on the science of Kabbalah, but they also move away from the truth and confuse others. This is a pity when the thing that Kabbalists wanted to prevent takes place. Obviously the world needs a long path of correction before we are able to get rid of this debilitating flaw.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Science Whose Time Has Come

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe wisdom of Kabbalah is separate from all the rest of the sciences and human activities in this world. It is concealed from people. Simply studying the sources will not help us understand it. Kabbalah is not given to be learned alone for it requires personal guidance which will make it possible to truly learn it and attain what is said in the books.

Kabbalah is not just a science; rather, it is the wisdom of creation. And it is revealed with the help of a unique force that reaches a person, changes him, and fills him with the “Light” of the intellect and emotion, fills the brain and the heart. Only then does a person encounter the wisdom of Kabbalah and become a Kabbalist. And what he receives is called “Torah” or “The Light that Reforms.” This Light corrects him and gives him another nature compatible with discovery of the higher world. Within our present nature we discover only “this world,” the lowest level, which, in fact, doesn’t exist since it is entirely drawn by illusory perception of the desire to receive. When we acquire a desire to bestow, at this level, it will simply disappear.

The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about the entire process that a person must undergo to acquire characteristics that are compatible with a higher level; that is, the desire to bestow through which he will feel reality.

And the path begins from this world, specifically from the lowest level, where the person is completely detached from what he must attain. First of all it is up to him to correct his instruments of perception, and after that begin to investigate what he received and what he discovered. From here the advancement begins until a person reaches the source of all the Kelim, vessels, desires, and all the fulfillments within them, which is the Creator.

In order to bring the person to such a lofty result, the Kabbalists wrote books for us.

There are auxiliary books that talk about psychological discernments, like “Shamati,” “Dargot HaSulam,” “Shlavei HaSulam,” and the articles by Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

Likewise there are purely Kabbalah books like, The Book of Zohar with the Sulam Commentary, The Study of the Ten Sefirot or “The Tree of Life” by the Ari. The Kabbalists wrote them from an attainment of the upper worlds with new properties. They write them about what they feel, what they perceive, and what is not known to us.

But when we read these books, we can adapt ourselves; yearn to reach those emotions, those corrections, within our senses. And then the reading arouses the Light that Reforms on us, which is the Torah, that is, instruction, the method. When it reaches us, it corrects our intentions from “to receive” to “to bestow,” and then we can discover phenomena of a different order of magnitude and discover the “upper world.” Of course, this is not talking about distant galaxies or distant times; rather, it is about the comprehension of a qualitatively new reality.

I don’t know where the Light appears from; I don’t feel it; but I feel the phenomena it arouses. I begin to be changed; I suddenly feel a chain of elevations and descents, different states.

And after I am changed, I discover a higher reality, and then by reading in those books, I truly begin to be aware of what is written in them. Now I can point to those details that they describe.

Suppose that I bought a large and complex machine. Even though I have don’t understand the principles of its operation, but I have a technical approach and am ready to understand the instructions. With the help of the written instructions, I begin to become familiar with the diagrams and to understand the structure of the system until I learn it all.

The same thing happens to us in the second stage where we see the spiritual system and learn to work with it. This is practical, true work already, on the level of the upper world.

And in addition to that, the two main stages (the attraction of the Light that Reforms and the practical knowledge) are divided into a multitude of stages with accompanying conditions. For example, the wisdom of Kabbalah was forbidden for public consumption except for those who were already “ripe” for it.

In general, development must begin from zero, from the “big bang,” from which afterwards the substance of the still, vegetative, and animate were gradually developed  In continuation from the ape, which is the most developed in the world of the animate, emerged the human who ultimately reaches the final level of egoistic development. In other words, we are compelled to renounce, to disqualify ourselves, to recognize our evil, and only then are we ready for and worthy of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We see from the experience of history that we have always developed according to this scheme. For example, I move to a village, get involved with farming, building a home, a family, giving birth to children, buying cows and sheep, and after ten or fifteen years, or even less, I am fed up with it. Enough, I don’t want to continue anymore; I need something more than this. So I leave the farm and move to a city and start everything anew.

In other words, all development is based upon the nullification of the previous level and a desire to ascend to the next level. We must hate the present state. On the social scale this brings revolution and on the international scale the matter causes wars that sometimes continue for decades. We must always despair of the present state in order to pass to the next state.

So when will humanity despair of its egoistic development based upon reception “in order to receive” and move to altruistic development with an intention, “in order to bestow”?

The Kabbalists determined that this would occur in the twentieth century, after a number of conditions were established including the return of the people of Israel to its land. And then the time would arrive for the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Baal HaSulam also talked about this. We received permission to return to the land of Israel and also to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah. But not everyone will receive this permission but only certain people. For there are people who were not given a desire and there are those who have no connection to this. Other people were given a desire but were forbidden to realize it. But there are those who received the knowledge and it is also possible for them to act. More than this, divine providence pushes them in various ways to the discovery of the wisdom of Kabbalah as the generation is already suitable for this.

Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that all that he attained and discovered wasn’t derived from his personal achievements but because of the generation that was already required for this discovery.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Future Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is the desired picture of the future reflected in the textbook of integral education? Where is humanity headed?

Answer: The desired future of humanity is to learn systemic balance from nature.

Taking the entirety of nature as a standard, we need to make human nature integral like this, as it is in the world that surrounds us, for we are the most developed inner part of nature but egoistically developed, and this says that it is very bad. No matter what we do, we only destroy the space surrounding us. Therefore, if we begin to learn the integral laws of nature and want to live in harmony with it, this will be the best solution for our problem.

An integral society must live on two levels because a person consists of two parts: the physical body and the spirit that pulls him forward. This spirit now possesses an egoistic form. How can we balance it?

Our body must get all that it requires from nature in order to function normally, whereas the spirit—that is, our desires and yearnings—must be balanced because now they are egoistic. For this, we must place the good of society above our own good and feel ourselves as an integral component of this entire system.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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A Textbook About Inner Harmony

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe must formulate the integral method in an easy form from beginning to end. In fact, there is nothing complicated or complex about it. It speaks about the inner psychological structure of a person and about how he adapts himself to this world and uses it to change himself and enter into harmony with the environment that surrounds him.

A complex book would confuse a person. Therefore, it is necessary to formulate the material as simply as possible, for even to the greatest minds, these ideas are very complex. I say this from experience in meeting with many well-known people.

However, we are not writing a textbook for the common people. It is designed for the regular modern person who still does not understand what is happening to him even if is a genius.

The idea is that it is very difficult to destroy stereotypes. Therefore, we suggest a person close his eyes and throw himself into the group, like from a diving board into a pool, and only then will he begin to interact mutually with the group, without any preconditions, rejecting all of his stereotypes, and enter there like a small and naked person. He will begin to feel that there is an additional power in nature that we haven’t used. This is the power of society, the power of unity, the power of mutual guarantee.

If we begin to use it, our egos will transform from the evil inclination to the good inclination. If we implement the ego in the right way, we can correct it. To do this, it grew even more seventy years ago, and now it is beginning to outgrow itself, to digest itself like a cancer in the human body. If we begin to manage it in the right way, we will heal it. We have no other choice. Otherwise we will die.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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Come And See!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The modern person lives in a very complex state where the old models of behavior no longer work. Therefore, instinctively he searches for something new. In this sense, the model of integral behavior can interest him, but the nature of the matter is that he requires some kind of practical implication for this model.

Answer: Give me a practical egoistic significance.

Don’t be shy and hide from the word “egoistic.” In what way is our model worthwhile for the person? In the fact that, with its help, the altruistic balance of the ego is attained.

In order to acquire an altruistic characteristic, he somehow must sacrifice his ego. However, this is not a sacrifice because he reaches a circle of people, without any obligation and without signing anything. He is ready to listen and talk with the others. Moreover, they are completely unfamiliar people who are gathered and the meeting is not linked to eating and drinking, and not dating and courtship.

It is desirable to choose people who are more or less alike because we are talking about unity and integrality and people who are closest to integrality are similar to each other because it is easier for them to connect and unite between them.

In that, we begin to work with them. We don’t impose any preconditions on them. On the contrary, we say that their ego will only benefit from this.

Question: How do we show this to them?

Answer: We don’t show it in any form. Come and convince yourself! You will feel better; have a sensation of warmth, more security, more safety, an easier life, and will learn to overcome difficulties. It will be easier for you psychologically to endure whatever happens in this world.

First and foremost, we give you a new psychological basis through which you can overcome most problems because you will become protected. Certainly, a protected person feels healthier and happier, his productivity increases, and relationships improve at work, in the family, and so forth.

That is, we are not selling a “pig in a poke” to a person. Rather, we tell him that he will feel exactly this, and it could be even after the first practical lesson.
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From Kab TV’s “An Integral World” 10/24/13

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A Ladder Upward

Dr. Michael LaitmanNo one except for Baal HaSulam explained the terms “reality,” “Godliness,” and “Torah” so clearly and in a manner that is suitable for our generation and which enables us to explain everything in the form of laws of mutual cooperation between the Light and the vessel, since there is nothing but that and everything stems from it. All the other perceptions are nothing but logical philosophies. It is becoming increasingly clearer to humanity because people are developing. So we should wait until they understand how deeply they have drowned into all the arguments and the philosophies.

This is the way. We were also in the same position. It is even a good thing that some of them disagree with us and wish to humiliate us because the force of clarification is revealed more clearly by that and the real meaning of the term “Godliness” will be understood.

So by all means, they should have the forces to object. I am actually glad to hear about objections and I don’t want to get rid of them or to erase them. This will actually lead to more clarifications. Thus our world, which lives in a lie, will reach the clarification of the truth by such objections.

Baal HaSulam was given permission to disclose the wisdom of Kabbalah to our generation. No other Kabbalist received such permission. Even the Ari didn’t write anything by himself; all his work was written by his pupil, Rabbi Chaim Vital. No one throughout history has written or explained so clearly what we need in order to carry out and to fulfill the end of correction. Without Baal HaSulam we wouldn’t be able to approach the correction that we are starting to actually fulfill now.

We also produce a lot of materials, but these are not commentaries on Baal HaSulam but supplements without which what Baal HaSulam said would not be understood. We only want to make it easier for people to understand and perceive his words.

His books are the sources that will be used by the next generation as the ladder upward. We only help everyone find this ladder, come close to it, and start climbing. It is also very important work and I am very proud of it, but it’s still only a preparation for the ascent.

As for other sciences, they won’t help. They do study different phenomena and mutual connections, but they cannot discover their own engine. It’s the Light that operates everything and all the rest are the desire, the vessel, that is also concealed from scientists. It’s because the desire and the Light are two divine forces that cannot be found in corporeality. We only see the effects of their actions but don’t know their essence.

What is a desire? You may say that it’s energy; you may say that it’s the force of attraction or rejection. But the desire itself is already a spiritual matter.

So only the Light that Reforms, not ordinary science, can develop us and let us feel what a desire is; it’s as if I look into myself with a special microscope that penetrates matter. It’s as if it disappears and I don’t look at proteins or cells anymore, but rather, I discover the force of the desire by the Light that Reforms and begin to work with it. I didn’t know that before. In fact, I only knew about my ego and always wanted something for myself. But this isn’t the spiritual force.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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As Long As You Have Not Eaten Some Salt Together…

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We have a few sources in parallel for shaping the integral method that do not interact with each other. Suppose in Moscow we have gathered particular experience for disseminating the method and in Europe, people act independently. Do we need to act together with them to transmit our experience to them?

Answer: It is impossible to transmit experience. It is possible to transmit only knowledge but not the spirit. If we were not closely familiar with one another and only communicated virtually all the time, we would not understand each other. Like they say, as long as you haven’t eaten some salt together, you don’t recognize the person. This is truly so.

I suppose that it would be possible to transmit the entire body of knowledge to people, or even have them come to our website, take materials from there, work on them, write reports and take exams. Only after that can they come to us for training and do an internship, go with us to different places and participate in training. After all, without contact, without integration with each other, nothing will work.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/18/13

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The Link Between Actions And The Sources

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In every science there are a number of trends. In our work there is also this phenomenon. There are groups that understand the integral method and its development in their own way. How must we relate to this?

Answer: I explain that people must grow in a determined way and not only through activities. They require serious theory, they must live it, receive from their sources, their roots. They must answer the questions from their knowledge, from the connection with the group and with us.

Many confused states and questions are awakened that can be solved on the plane of our world in all kinds of ways, but not integrally. And they must solve them specifically through the integral method. And not just, “Come, let’s hold hands and everything will be resolved,” no.

Here there is still a huge white spot that I must identify. This will be solved when I connect my activities specifically with the sources. But perhaps this has not yet come to be actively expressed and therefore I don’t see this in the sources.

In other words, all this has already been described in some place, but I am still not ready to see this because the need to receive it from the sources doesn’t exist in me. Only the connection between the practices and the true sources (books, articles) ultimately gives the answer.

Question: Suppose that in Moscow we have a need to travel to St. Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, and so forth, to speak with the friends, to manage integral projects together with them, and they have no need for this. Is the trend toward unifying these actions right or should each of them to ripen in its own flow?

Answer: No, here everything must be unified. I cannot imagine that there would be different streams or approaches here.

For each audience, a different mentality for all the different nations should come from one source, only in a slightly different style, and no more.

I can see this in a person when during a conversation he suddenly leaves integral education and begins to impart psychology or, let’s say, natural sciences. We feel that this doesn’t come from our source. He doesn’t feel this, but I feel that this is not connected to the root and in the future this will remain with the audience as empty knowledge, completely unprocessed.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/18/13

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