Entries in the 'Crisis' Category

Giving Up Bread While Starving

Dr. Michael LaitmanNo movement that attempts to unify people without the wisdom of Kabbalah has a chance to succeed. Only this wisdom supplies you with the connection to the Upper Light by describing the actions it performs. When you read about these actions and desire to realize them within yourself, you start to constantly change. There is no other means.

People can assemble in various groups, but let’s first ask: What is their goal and the means to achieve it? Do they think that they are able to change human nature themselves? If yes, where will they get the stamina to do so if we are all egoists? If not, it won’t go any further than talking.

There are people who enjoy giving as their nature dictates, “egoistic altruists.” And they don’t understand that they act from within their ego because they don’t have a second nature, the spark from Above. They are really willing to give it all away.

In the time of my youth, when I lived in Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia), I had a conversation with an old woman who used to be a revolutionary. She told me how she used to give bread out to the soldiers who were leaving for war. She was starving but didn’t allow herself a thought of taking a crumb of that bread.

People are willing to give up their lives because our ego is above the animate level. The ego resides at the speaking (human) level, while the life of the body remains at the animate. And if a person feels that his “self” is hurt, he ignores his body. If he sees that the animate body is trying to overtake the human in him, he destroys this beast. There is no altruism in this.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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Unified By Love Or Hate

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are movements that gather up to two thousand people in their meetings that also make appeals to love and unite, mentioning not one word of Kabbalah. Is such unification possible without employing the sources?

Answer: Don’t you see that they are not succeeding? Perhaps, two to three thousand can get together like that. A great disaster may also force people to unite. But true unification can occur only with the help of the Upper Light, the force we don’t possess. Or, we may do so if presented with enormous egoistic benefit, such as fear of invasion or tremendous reward.

Yet, such unity is temporary. As soon as the cause that created it dissolves, the connection immediately dissipates. Therefore, unity cannot be achieved.

There have always been various “altruistic” organizations. Baal HaSulam writes that there are 10% natural altruists in the world who wish to unite, but it is completely egoistic. If examined internally, behind all the talking about unity, you will see solid egoism. We have many examples of that: Communist Russia that is now approaching fascism and Israel’s Kibbutzim.

Any attempts to create unity without employing the Light that Reforms will fail. Left without a choice, they will be forced to employ dictatorship and violent force; otherwise, such a system won’t be able to endure.

We constantly face a dilemma: We either reform the nature of man or compel him to unify by force. And any forced compliance, a Nazi regime, will inevitably lead to war. Baal HaSulam wrote about this even when he was still alive. And Russia won’t have a choice but to continue developing according to the same script. Correction becomes possible only on one condition: if people employ the wisdom of Kabbalah.

If we don’t reform ourselves and unite by way of the Light, we will be unified in a different manner: The world will be overtaken by fascist regimes. After all, Nazism is another form of unification, though it is unity of one group against the other.

People will feel that they have to unite, that unity brings salvation and ascent, and that is right. But they won’t be able to ascend and save themselves without the outside force which will be hate of somebody else. Otherwise, they won’t have a reason to unite! To do so, they need a visible, hated foe who will unite them together against it.

This is how the ego works or it doesn’t feel the necessity to unite. Therefore, society starts leaning toward Nazism and fascism. If the world leaders do not accept the method of correction by the Light and reveal the source, putting their citizens “at the desks” to study it, then very quickly they will have to deal with a Nazi regime that will immediately lead to war.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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1 + 1 = 3 (The Creator Between Us)

Dr. Michael LaitmanYou need to get used to the fact that if you begin to scrutinize anything, you always find two opposing attributes inside that, nevertheless, are united. It’s a kind of “splitting.”

If you’re working with an egoistic desire, then everything works out nicely: 1 + 1 = 2. But if you combine the desire to receive with the intention to bestow, they are opposite and cannot unite. In other words, 1 + 1= 3! The third is the Creator. You have to get used to that paradox and accept it as natural; it’s a norm for us.

We are witnesses to such a “paradox” in human society. On the one hand, everyone does everything possible to separate himself from the others, but on the other, people are looking for contact with each other.

It has turned into a mania. There was a case where an entire mobile communication system broke down, people were left without cellular phones, and they just started going crazy. How can it be that everyone wants to be alone, and on the other hand, can’t do without communication with other people?

The fact is that a person wants to be alone for a short while, so that no one will interfere. But together with that people tend to live together: in one big city, in one mass culture. They tend to imitate each other and to do everything the same way as the others. Therefore, one does not negate the other.

A person needs his corner where he can hide, like a bee each in its personal cell. But as soon as one receives such “independence,” he has to feel that he exists among everybody else.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

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From Despair To Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhat makes a person suddenly give up and no longer resist suffering? It is the result of the informational genes (Reshimot, “reminiscences”) implanted inside him. An animal will never experience this since it lives mechanically, always fighting for its life until the end and never feeling despair the same way man does throughout his journey in life.

An animal will fight tooth and nail or flee for its life but will never succumb to pain. Since man has the “human” informational genes, he will give up, let it be, and will not act as a machine that is simply programmed to enjoy, not suffer. This peak point of desperation, when a person stops fighting for his life and accepts whatever will follow, defines the entire human psychology.

In truth, all our internal Reshimot are the consequence of the breaking of the soul, and even the tiniest, smallest Reshimo has some connection with the Upper One, the Creator, who broke us from this spiritual level of bestowal. Therefore, some qualities emerge within us unconsciously as we suddenly stop thinking that we may gain something good by receiving, and we begin to think about bestowal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, “Peace in the World”

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How To Break The Wall Between Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can suffering suddenly bring a person to bestowal?

Answer: Indeed, from a corporeal, "commonsense" point of view it’s impossible to attain bestowal in this way. If a person feels bad, then he only thinks about how to improve his situation, to try to fix the problem directly, to fill the void.

That’s how human psychology works: If I feel bad or something is missing, I turn to a doctor for medicine, try to make more money, steal something, or do anything to fill the void. But after all these attempts and a number of blows, I begin to ask: "When will it end?"

A person falls into despair, depression, or starts using drugs, all that only to somehow numb his pain because he sees that nothing he does can help him. So how is it possible to make the transition to bestowal? To that end we have preparations on the corporeal level as well as spiritual genes.

On the corporeal level a person starts thinking about giving because he sees that there’s no other choice. He is ready to give to others so that they will give to him as well, so we will all feel good; otherwise, we would just devour each other like wild beasts.

That’s a simple selfish calculation at the level of our world, and it’s possible specifically because we are not at the animate degree; rather, we possess dangerous weapons that enable each of us to destroy everyone. It eventually brings us to an inevitable conclusion that our salvation lies only in bestowal. Many understand that by now, and only a madman would wish for the next war.

But aside from the corporeal reason that makes us understand that giving may be useful, our Reshimot (spiritual genes, records) from the breaking are awakening within us, from the easiest ones to the increasingly coarse ones. They make us feel that we are moving in the wrong direction and bring disappointment in our development.

Those who are progressing under the pressure of corporeal and spiritual Reshimot begin to come closer. It turns out that Kabbalists who engage their own spiritual development and people leading a normal, corporeal life but are beginning to ask about life’s meaning are coming closer to each other. Although the latter have no point in the heart, they are nevertheless asking very similar questions.

The opinion of the masses is gradually approaching the opinion of Kabbalists. There’s still a wall that separates them, but ordinary people are coming closer and closer in search of an answer, although they are not yet asking how to correct themselves. There will be a time when they will come and ask: "What should we do?" And then you’ll have to be prepared to show them how to achieve perfection.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, "The Peace"

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Who Is The Human Within Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If fruit needs time to ripen, then maybe man doesn’t need to do anything at the moment but wait until he matures, just like fruit?

Answer: Humanity has already finished its evolution at the still, vegetative, and animate levels. And in the last 5770 years we have been developing the “human” level in us, starting with Adam, the first “man.”

In these 5770 years, we have also been undergoing the still, vegetative, animate, and human degrees within man. Until then, we had lived as animals, but Adam was the first to start the evolution of the human part within us, in this beast we call a “human being.”

Adam HaRishon (the First Man) was a person who discovered spirituality, that is, the “human” within himself that is similar in properties to the Creator. Since that time, all of us have existed at the human degree of development, and that’s where all the “human” problems began. Therefore, it’s not worth waiting until everything gets worked out because it won’t, and we will only continue to fall lower and lower.

The human within us is everything that goes beyond the animate level of existence. A beast needs only food, sex, family, and shelter, and so does the animate body of man. But when a person starts using his ego, instead of his natural animate instincts, this refers to the human part within us, which we have to harmonize. And this is the only part that has free will.

Where is this human within us? Right now it is only a beast.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, "The Freedom"

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The Creator Will Preserve Both Man And Beast

Dr. Michael LaitmanNature won’t be saved by all our attempts to preserve and improve the environment. Only the Light that Reforms can help since it’s the force which we are lacking to balance the human in each of us and bring him back to harmony with Nature which is called Elokim, the Creator.

The very same force which will come to make us equal to the Creator will bring to balance the still, vegetative, and animate parts within us. We will begin to use nature correctly, only as much as necessary, because we will feel that we don’t need more.

My animal body will feel as an animal should; the human in me will feel the way a human should be feeling. The sages say, “Man and beast Thou preserves, O Lord.” He will save both, not me.

I don’t know what material actions will follow. Maybe we’ll burn more trees, who knows? We just need to let the Light that Reforms work, use it as a means. After all, it comes from the upper level and will bring to balance all parts of nature, organizing them in its likeness.

Don’t try to judge all that in your mind. Just let the Upper Force do its job, invite it, and wish for it to do it. After all, how can we know what a corrected world should look like?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, “Peace in the World” 

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Where Will We Direct The Force We’ve Been Given?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are destroying the world with our attitude. Every day we merely record additional species of animals and plants that disappeared from the face of the earth.

The world is becoming poorer every day, losing diversity of its forms. Even if we don’t eliminate them directly, we create conditions in which they simply cannot exist. Some say that situation is becoming irreversible.

And only by these regrettable results do we see that we’ve done something wrong. After all, we believed that we had the right to do whatever we wanted with nature. We did it instead of first examining nature and ourselves to see where we should direct the forces we possess.

Should we change the environment or change ourselves by means of the right environment? Herein lies the entire distinction between the right and the wrong approaches. Either I’m trying to fix everyone and the world, and make everyone dance to my tune, or I realize that everything that I don’t like in the world is something I need to correct within myself.

Egoism is within me. Therefore, I need the Light that Reforms to correct it. That is the foundation of the right approach.

Humanity has begun to come to terms with it just recently; it started to understand that the world is a closed system in which everything is integrally connected. A lot of time will pass from the moment we begin to see it until it will make us change.

We are like a small, stubborn child who sees that he is doing something wrong, but still continues to do it, each time receiving a spanking. It will take quite some time for him to finally wise up.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/10, “The Peace”

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An Opportunity To Bring Goodness Into Our World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can Kabbalah conventions help shift the world to the path of the Light, the path of accelerating time (Ahishena)?

Answer: There is no doubt that by making actions such as attending Kabbalistic conventions we do cause corrections in the world. All attempts to connect with the goal and attain equivalence with the Creator or Upper Force, to reach bestowal and love for the neighbor, do correct us and the whole world together with us.

Therefore, we invite everyone to take part in the European convention in Berlin or the Learning Center retreat in California at the end of January, as well as the big gathering in the Arava that will take place this weekend! In particular, people who are in Europe should feel that the situation is becoming more and more serious from one day to the next. That is why we have to unite and pull the “One who is Good and does Good” closer into this world! As long as we are just learning, we are allowed to do so even egoistically….
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/10, “Peace in the World”

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When Technology Is Futile

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe want to make our lives better, more comfortable. And that is the correct tendency. The only question is: Do we attach the right intention to it? Do we correct the “human” in us with the help of the Light that Reforms?

On the still, vegetative, and animate levels we can do whatever we want on the condition that our aim is to correct the world, meaning to correct ourselves. But if that is not the case, then no matter what we do, it will bring about troubles, wars, and disasters.

Humanity always developed due to lack of any other choice, fleeing from suffering. Every generation aspires forward because “the press of development” is always about to catch up to it and “squish it.” Thus, man is compelled to run ahead. He does not manage to get things done and doesn’t know why, but he is always rushing ahead.

This happens on the first three levels of development: still, vegetative, and animate. That is how we have rushed ahead over the course of millennia. But today we have reached the limit of development and we see that there is no longer anything or any reason to keep rushing ahead. Technologically, we still have a multitude of opportunities, but what do I need them for? The nanotechnologies are at my service, but what for?

What do I need all of this Internet for? What does it actually give me? It only shows me that I am empty and am wasting my time on garbage. 99% of the “clean” traffic are the troubles that the world would like to get rid of, gossip and sleaze. And does science add anything good to all of that?

If we look at all of this with a focus on development, we will see an excellent means that swiftly reveals our inner emptiness. We must only understand that our problem is not technological.

Technological development has not been exhausted yet, but we have nearly come up against a barrier, the question: What for? Man does not need it and that’s all.

We did not see all of these things during the hippie period even though back then people were already asking the question: What do I need all of this progress for? What’s the use of it? It waters me down and crosses me out, turning me into a machine. This mechanical life does not give me anything. To be born, to grow up, to work, and then to die – that is the entire formula.

Looking at life from this perspective, a person loses all desire for anything and lives unwillingly. And unless the human level in him develops, technological development is also nearing its end.

Even if everything is fine with culture and upbringing, we need deeper results. We need essence, the human grain. Reshimot awaken in us, stimulating the unsatisfied desire, the emptiness that is not filled by all the gadgets of the Internet and all the technology of the world.

So why is it so difficult for us to solve this problem? It’s because technological achievements create an illusion that we will be able to modernize the “human” in us just as easily so he will become better, kinder, and happier. But that is incorrect. In this area we will not achieve anything without the upper, spiritual force. All the “earthly” means of correcting a person will obviously fail.

Thus, humanity will not change the situation until it realizes this.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/10, “Peace in the World
”

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