Entries in the 'Education' Category

Favorable Changes

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Suppose that workers in our company go through a course of integral education and they work according to these principles. Suddenly a new manager comes. Will he see what changes have occurred within us?

Answer: Certainly, he will see that the people in this company are working according to another principle: person to person—a friend, not a wolf. We will explain to him that we worked with good psychologists who improved our collective, made it healthy, and this has resulted in things being cheaper, more efficient, and more flexible than before. We have minimum costs, no absenteeism, people have fewer injuries and illnesses because each one looks for how he can help others.

In other words, we explain everything from the point of view of the benefit to the business and this will be understandable to everyone. It is no wonder why various companies have coaches, psychologists, and other experts.
[122030]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/23/13

Related Material:
The Indicator Of A Person’s Integrality
Different People Are Needed, Different People Are Important
How To Fill The Void?

The Indicator Of A Person’s Integrality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the identifying mark of a person’s integrality in a collective?

Answer: The indicator of a person’s integrality is his yearning for the center of the circle (the collective).

For example, I have some kind of bad feeling; I became entangled in something; I don’t understand anything, I’m in a bad mood. In order to escape all of these sensations, I really want to sit together with my colleagues at work. The need is created in me for my collective. Among them I find a source of energy, trust, and mutual help. Even if we talk about something else, what is important to me is to find the center.

If the person is drawn to the center of the group (the collective) because there he needs to be connected to the source, to be charged up, this is a sign that he is already becoming an integral component.
[122025]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/23/13

Related Material:
Conveying An Integral Message
Different People Are Needed, Different People Are Important
How To Fill The Void?

The Passage In The Wall

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”: According to the above-mentioned power in the Torah, that is, considering the measure of Light in it, it is certain that the Torah should be divided into degrees, according to the measure of Light that one can receive from studying it.

The “Torah” is the means of correcting the primordial desire. The Light, “something out of something,” created the desire as “something out of nothing” and develops this desire to correct it to the required state. Thus, the whole influence of the Light on the desire during its development is called the “Torah.”

Thus, the “Torah” is the method of correction of the desire until it reaches the required state. Individual Lights “shake” vessels of desire, align them, connect, and disconnect, and all this is the Torah.

We are talking about it and coordinating ourselves to the extent that we are able to engage and draw the Light. The part that we attract is called the Torah for us. We can draw it according to one of the fives layers of desire (stages of Aviut), from zero to the four. Accordingly, the Torah is divided into five parts for us.

By studying it, we study the relationships of the broken fragments. Today, we observe their egoistic interaction; they depend on each other, but their connection is bad, and we study how to connect them correctly. For this we need the Light that Reforms to create good relationships with the various desires, parts of creation, and all the interconnections between people in the systems they have built. We want the Light to organize us in the correct connection; otherwise, all the achievements of humanity will end in failure.

That is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, the means which allows us to attract the Light. It will bring us back to the source, and then the general Light, the Creator, will be revealed in our correct relationships.

When I am studying, I align all these components—moving them from the broken state to the corrected one, from the crisis to unity, from an egoistic reception to general altruistic relationships, to connection and mutual guarantee—then the correct connection, the correct system will be revealed to me.

Moreover, they are revealed in stages. If I act only in the first layer of desire, I reveal the “secret” (Sod). The second layer shows “allegory” (Drush), the third one is the “hint” (Remez), and the fourth layer is the one where all connections are aligned correctly, it reveals to me the “simple meaning” (Pshat), here everything is simple, open, disclosed.

Thus, the Torah is the means for the correction of the vessels; the correction of the human being is the fourth stage (Behina Dalet) because it contains all the previous ones. When the human being is corrected, all the other levels are corrected as well: the still, vegetative, and animate.

Therefore, everything depends on the study of the Torah. This means that I want to learn the correct components and connections between the vessels in various forms, which bring me to the correct, true system where all the desires are connected with each other in mutual bestowal. And this makes it possible for me to reveal the Creator.

Thus, due to the connection of different desires and their interaction, through mutual bestowal to each other, I reveal the Creator. Why? Because in the desires that are connected correctly, in the spiritual Partzufim, in the “circles” and “straight lines,” TANTA (Ta’amim, Nekudot, Tagin, and Otiot) is manifested, all of the details of perception, all the discoveries that come to me from the Light. Thus, I disclose the vessel and the Light supporting each other, and this allows me to feel, to reveal, the root according to the principle “From Your actions we will know You.” It expresses itself in the Light and the vessel, in the structure of TANTA, HaVaYaH, and thus, is manifested in us.

This is the purpose of creation. Indeed, I am able to reveal Him only by adhesion, which I reach in the end. I reveal the Creator in the corrected vessels, the main TANTA, HaVaYaH is revealed, and by this I bring Him pleasure in the same way as He does. Due to this reciprocity, we come to adhesion, the final state.

In fact, all these facets are very close to each other, and the main thing for us is to try to link them together. The crisis, the current problems, the enemies that stand against us, and the Creator who saves us from them, the whole process that we go through, we must bring all of this together and view it as a single system.

For the time being we turn to the Torah as the book written by Moses. In it, he described and presented the very process that lies before us. It is said that in every generation, a person must view himself as if he came out of Egypt. The entire history up to the present crisis can be compared with the seven years of satiation. In general, we were pleased with our egoistic desire, our development, the “American Dream” which seemed about to come true. Competing with each other, we expected to rise higher and higher, to take more and more, to reign over nature…

Then, suddenly the seven years of famine arrived, the promised rewards were no longer satisfying; on the contrary, they humiliated and belittled us. The work turned out to be too hard, like slavery. Despair is rising; we groan under the unbearable yoke, and find no exit. The entire world is “floundering” in turmoil, and in essence these states herald the escape from Egypt. We are getting closer to the realization of complete helplessness, and the only way out is to show people the door to spirituality. This is truly a passage through the wall into a new world. However, the condition for passing through it is that we cannot see the wall. We will try…
[120976]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/19/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
From Secret To Simple Interpretation
The Morning Lesson: According To The Call Of The Heart Or A Time Table?
The Book That Connects The Sky And The Earth

The Arrow Of Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanRecently, thanks to our outside activities, we feel as the lessons are taking a new shape. Kabbalah no longer seems to us as something speculative, theoretical, and detached from life, hovering somewhere in interstellar space or in an unknown dimension.

No, it comes in the form of practical, applied science, which is given to our world so that we reveal the Creator here between us.

The current crisis is intended for this. It will not end no matter how much we may try to gloss over it, on the one hand, legalizing drugs, and on the other, handing out promises of its imminent end. The crisis persists. As the Kabbalists say, it will end only when, in the easy way or the hard way, we correct nature and reach the stage of adhering with the Creator , i.e., realize the purpose of creation.

In this process, we are pioneers, the vanguard of humanity. Be proud of that and give all your strength to this work. You were given a chance that no Kabbalist of the previous generations had. Millions of years of evolution, all the worlds and our world, everything that has been experienced, all that exists is aimed to the present. And you and I are at the point of this “arrow” of development, which we should aim at the purpose of creation.

Everyone should be proud of it and full of energy to carry out this great task. And accordingly, we must attach great importance to everyone in the group because the Creator chose each friend out of billions of people.

Let us respect each other, love each other, and by this love between us, we will provide the Creator with a place for revelation.
[120964]
From One America “Virtual Convention” Day One 11/16/13, Lesson 1

Related Material:
At The Forefront
Knowledge For The World
Crisis: The Search For The Solution

Family As A Means Of Spiritual Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Should we continue encouraging people to create families?

Answer: We are going through a stage of human development where the family institution is falling apart; it is no longer necessary. We have worked through the old stage, threw it aside, and now must ascend to a new level. It has yet to emerge. So the younger generation is re-assessesing their values: They don’t want to create families, give birth to children, or to be obligated to anyone or anything.

But this is a temporary phase. People are looking for an answer to the question, “Why do we need a family?” In general, we always deal with the question, “Why?” People need to find meaning in the family when it’s not an end for reproduction, in order to maintain life and everything. Today, we have developed such services and amenities that we do not need a family. Instead of a wife, a supermarket and other services can take care of household tasks, and one can find a woman, and every day a new one.

If one feels that one needs a family, then of course one will come to it, but at a new level, the primary “cell” of the society, which raises man to the next level of existence. If a person realizes that he has this need, one will gladly create a family. People would feel that by having a family they advance, gaining new vessels of sensation of existing in this world.

And all the everyday aspects of life for which we have created devices and services to serve these needs, were specifically created according to the program of nature so that we no longer need a family as a material entity, and eventually will realize that we need our families solely as a special, miraculous instrument that stimulates our ascent to a new level.

Comment: Doesn’t everybody strive to enjoy the warmth and joy that come from family communications?

Answer: People will experience them in the integral family. The main thing is that one will feel oneself, acknowledge one’s own nature and the entire world at a totally new level. If one sees that a family promotes one’s attainment of this elevated state, one will agree to have it. If not, then people will reject having families.
[118721]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 10/21/13

Related Material:
The Family Of The New Era
A Social Unit Which Focuses Everything
The Revival Of The Family

The Science Of Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanRecently, we have been working actively with a wide audience, going to people with the method of integral education so we could learn a little about and feel who these people are and what they want.

However, we must not forget that Kabbalistic principles are the basis of the method of integral education. Although we explain them for beginners in ordinary, everyday language, we do not mention the inner psychology revealed by the wisdom of Kabbalah, the essence of our internal relationships with each other.

We do not talk about nullifying our desire before the desire of the other, surrendering ourselves to the group in order to enter it, and nullifying the desire of the entire group to become similar to the Creator. Of course, we do not tell this to beginners at the first lectures. However, later, they will begin asking themselves about the origin of these forces and properties that they suddenly feel in the process of studying: warmth, attraction, the desire to rise above this world, the reluctance to be inside matter. Where does the force of unity come from?

First, we explain that this is the force of society that is revealed within unity. However, then we will have to disclose that this is the general force of nature that governs it, only it is concealed from us, and by means of our unity, we can reveal it. This is the force of the Creator ruling the world and managing us, and because He wants to come closer and to be revealed in us, we feel that we are not ready for this, and we experience the crisis because of this.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the foundation of integral education, and that is why a person who does not study Kabbalah cannot become an instructor of integral education. He will understand nothing in this method. We see ourselves that, after ten or twenty events, we have nothing to say to the audience. We need to penetrate deeper into things and explain the inner psychology of our connection to them.

Then, we begin talking like psychologists communicating among themselves in technical terms not understood by layman, discussing in detail every aspect of our relationships with each other and the internal phenomena in man.

Therefore, we will have to teach the audience more and more of the elements of Kabbalah. In the beginning, we do not have to use special terms, but can explain things just in plain words. Later, Kabbalah gradually will be revealed because we have no other language to explain the relationship between humans and between the human being and the Creator other than the terms of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the science of connection, the revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal and love. It should be our highest basis, according to which we live and from which is derived all our wisdom, all our forces. Due to it, we know how to make contact with the Creator by means of unity in the group through which we draw strength and pass it to the public. However, because of this, the audience connects with us and, through us, with the Creator, and gradually, the following words will be realized: “…for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them,” and “…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,” that is, for everyone.

This means that everyone must reveal the Creator fully, to reveal the force of bestowal and love within himself, within his vessel, which will be equivalent to any other vessel. Indeed, every person ultimately must connect with the all the other broken desires, to correct the breaking and reveal a whole, corrected vessel, and in it, the force of bestowal and love, the force of perfect union.

Therefore, we cannot leave the wisdom of Kabbalah. Integral education cannot move forward separately from it. We must continue to study it to strengthen the integral methodology by the elements of Kabbalah, weaving them together, and thus advance.

A person who has just begun studying cannot go to work with the external public immediately. He will not be able to carry the spiritual force to it because he does not have the inner force yet, connection with the group for the sake of reaching bestowal upon the Creator. The instructor must draw strength from the wisdom of Kabbalah and study it constantly.
[120886]
From One America “Virtual Convention” Day One 11/16/13, Lesson 2

Related Material:
The Purpose Of Kabbalah
All Of Us Are One Family
Together On One Merry-Go-Round

How Do You Escape Loneliness?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Often, frustration and depression is caused by a deep distinct fear of being alone in this world deprived of connection with loved ones. In other words, there is strong basis, foundation, on which to build family relationships.

Irrespective of the fact that we may not need each other as before, the obvious decline of family traditions, the availability of sexual partners, doors that used to be locked in the past are now widely open, and in spite of the fact that family partners have significantly less in common these days, there still remains something intrinsic in us: a primordial, existential fear of loneliness that many experience today.

Answer: And yet, people are less likely to find an answer to this fear in marriage. Mutual reliance and mutual support are not associated with a contemporary family anymore. The fear is there, but the solutions are not yet visible.

By all means, it’s better to be together with someone rather than stay alone. People with a lot of “baggage” feel that their partners depend on them; they understand that they are responsible for them at least due to habits that were built in the past. We are just people.

However, at the same time, I don’t think that the fear of being alone keeps people within a good, faithful family. This “theory” doesn’t need to be proved by contradiction, nor can it be solved by hiding from the negative downsides. All we really need is to be positive.

Question: Psychology states that we don’t become attached to anyone merely because of fear; rather, we are seeking deeper internal bonding, unity. Yet there is no doubt that many people are driven by fear. This is where the process begins, although it’s quite obvious that the correct connection does not come from it. On the contrary, fear gives rise to other phenomena, often stopping us from breaking connections that were inherently flawed.

Let’s speak about a situation when people strive to establish relationships, but don’t know what to do. The question is: Where to start?

Typically various methods offer people means of self-exploration that let them get acquainted with their nature: “What portion of myself can I devote to connect with my partner?” After asking this question, one makes a “list”: “What do I expect from my partner and from our common life?” Then, when one understands what one wants and expects, it can be configured for a particular kind of relationship. This exercise is very common these days. Is it correct?

Answer: I assume, that it is popular not only today. It was always this way: People calculated their input and the contribution made by their partners into their common life. Matchmakers of all kinds always communicated this way and helped young people and their parents “make good deals.” In fact, it was all about business. Both spouses-to-be were egoists and had to soberly justify whether it’s worth living together. Their feelings towards each other were just one of many components in this formula. Their emotions had a “purchasing power” and were included into a general equation.

Is this approach correct? I don’t think so. Of course, it worked for some time, but we have changed dramatically. We are not exactly sure what we want today, and especially do not know what we will want tomorrow. Besides, our psychology is largely perverted by a huge external effect that pushes us from side to side with artificial restrictions and permissions, imaginary benefits and losses.

Each “fad,” each “change of season” completely alters us from the outside in addition to all internal changes that we undergo. That’s why our calculation of benefits and disadvantages of our potential future family life might be wrong. Only if we set a higher value as a goal and agree to a certain challenge, to an objective that elevates us above the disruptions that happen both in the society and within us, only then will the society and its cells, the young couples not only survive, but will flourish.
[119263]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/6/13

Related Material:
Family In The 21st Century: Update
Within The Family There Is No Need For Heroics
A Social Unit Which Focuses Everything

Family In The 21st Century: Update

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There is less in common among us today; old community traditions gradually disappear. It would seem that the world is permeated with many relationships and “stitched together” with advanced networks of communication… However, a real platform of interconnection and unity has vanished.

On what basis can we build a common “infrastructure?” What unites people, primarily at the family level, while the former types of connections collapse?

Answer: This is the problem. Previously, the natural bond among us was based on three factors, three basic needs: food, sex, family. But today, everything has changed.

First of all, prepared food is readily available everywhere, my future wife may not even know how to cook. So, by staying single we add a big fat “plus” to our existence.

Furthermore, sex is totally accessible and available to everybody these days. Moreover, we are brought up in this spirit. Even if we want to maintain a solid, permanent relationship, the world confuses us with its standards, all the while reminding us about how much we “lose” if we stick to the “old-fashioned” approaches. So, our environment draws a big “minus” in the “family box.”

Thirdly, the mere notion of “family” scares us off since it imposes obligations and “incarcerates” us in the prison of endless responsibilities.

As a consequence, we obviously have to create a model of a different family structure that is no longer based on unrealistic images of modest girls with braids wearing long dresses. The patriarchal family has vanished, along with the domestic arrangement of three generations maintaining a traditional household with a big backyard, chickens, and a vegetable garden. A new family is around the corner, which apparently has to acquire a very different form.

In the family we see a piece, a small cell of the global system. We teach people how to maintain the relationship as the correct universal connection that corresponds to nature; this is necessary for survival in this contemporary society. We must come to mutual reciprocity and unity, as in the example of a unified system, a single mechanism, one living body capable of balancing itself, controlling its life, and taking care of its overall health. This is how a healthy biological organism functions, and this is a model of how human society has to behave. We should learn from these examples and bring them closer to our level of existence.

We have to treat a family “cell” according to this principle; we should treat it as a part of a common “body.” It has two opposite poles, a man and a woman that are connected to each other and represent a basic social unit. Integral education will show people that we are obligated by nature to unite and shows us that unity is the only correct attitude we can possibly exercise in life.

When people see and feel this, public opinion will change: t will become clear that marriage is necessary for the relationship and for the family units that comprise society, which will also be like one big family. The whole world will be like one big family. This is the only way to achieve genuine success, rid ourselves of frustration and despair, resolve oppressive problems, and enter a new period and new, unprecedented lives.

This is the only possible method. We cannot succeed on our own if we stick to a narrow personal approach. Everything we do has to be a part of a common concern about making our society as one family. And I repeat: the collective opinion plays the key role here. It will obligate young people to connect as correct family couples.
[119258]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/6/13

Related Material:
Within The Family There Is No Need For Heroics
The Family Is An Elevator To The Next Level
The Family Of The New Era

“Children Of Rich Parents Suffering Increased Mental Health Problems”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Telegraph): “The children of rich parents are put under so much pressure to succeed they are at an increased risk of suffering of mental illness, a study has claimed.

“Scientists found that children from homes with an annual income of more than £100,000 ($160,000 US) a year were suffering anxiety and depression at twice the normal rate of their less well-off peers.

“Researchers found issues such as eating disorders, drug abuse, neuroses and self harming were soaring among wealthy teenagers.

“It is thought the relentless pressure being piled on youngsters both at school and in extra-curricular activities is leading to increased feelings of vulnerability.”

My Comment: The reason for this is that they are being pressured by parents and competition among peers; they continue to live in full capitalism, while their poorer peers are in a more sociable environment.
[120303]

Related Material:
Nearly Forty Percent Of Europeans Suffer From Mental Illnesses
The Paradox Of Choice
Where Does The Culture Of Consumerism Come From?

Opportunity For Spiritual Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: According to our experience, there are circumstances where, while we are still sitting in the integral circle, one of the participants begins to feel nervous, aggressive, and hatred. What should we do if someone expresses irritation by what the others say? Should he hide it, be silent, or let off steam in the circle?

Answer: There is no need to let off steam, but rather, just talk about how you feel, and the people in the circle need to clarify why this is happening. After all, a new stream of ego is penetrating into you, and suddenly you began to look at a person not objectively, but through your new egoistic desire. You don’t like him, he annoys you; it is not important what. So now you should clarify with the help of the correct ego how to raise yourself to the next level.

At the moment, you are not in command of yourself. You cannot remember that this is done intentionally. Therefore, you need to turn to the members of the workshop for help, but only if this doesn’t conflict with the general flow so that you will not begin to divert the others from the main topic when you describe how repulsive everyone is to you.

Question: What is the mechanism for clarifying this state? How does this take place?

Answer: After the person gives us part of how he feels, we need to bring him to awareness, to raise him to our level.

After all, nothing is by chance. He got some ego to help us, too. He is found together with us in the same network; he is linked to us. It cannot be that, suddenly, the ego jumped into him, and he needs to swallow it. Since we are found with him in the same system, you see that, somehow, he needs to convey this to us. You see, with the help of this ego, all of us can ascend. We need to look at this process as our guidance from above.

Question: What is the mechanism to clarify this condition? How does this happen?

Answer: So, he says, “Guys, I am torn apart; everything is boiling in me,” and everyone must react. We begin to discuss why and for what purpose this was done. We relate to this as to an objective reason for all of us since we are in the same network, and this touches everyone. At the moment that we are sitting around one table and are gathered together, that’s it. There is nothing personal.

This situation was given to us so that, by working together, we would rise above the ego of our friend. Through conversation, by working on the situation, agreeing that there is nothing bad in nature, that all this is for the sake of our development, that, through the states of the friend, nature is presenting to us an example of its evolution. We transform the negative, egoistic outburst of the friend into something positive, and thanks to him, we rise.

Perhaps in this case it is not necessary to take up any other topic for the workshop. We turn to discussing this situation in a conscious manner, and this will be the best solution for us. We all can ascend. After all, it is clear to us that the idea is not about the friend who is sitting there and boiling; rather, all this comes to us from the upper management in order to give us an opportunity for ascent.
[118935]
From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/21/13

Related Material:
Understanding The Nature Of Man
Resolution Of A Family Dispute From The Height Of A Spiritual Level
Clarification In A Circle