Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

No Work Is More Important Than Dissemination

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut”(Mutual Guarantee): The work in Torah and Mitzvot is expressed in the words, “and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests.” A kingdom of priests means that all of you, from youngest to oldest, will be like priests….so will the entire nation be organized so that the whole earth and everything in it will be dedicated to the Creator only.

It turns out that he who harvests his field in order to feed his fellow person is the same as he who sacrifices to the Creator. Moreover, it seems that the Mitzva, “Love thy friend as thyself,” is more important than he who makes the sacrifice….

The closer a person’s actions are to serving the physical needs of others, the higher his work is. If I have stitched sandals for a friend with loyalty and love, like Rabbi Yochanan, the Shoemaker, then with this I have done work that is greater and more important than the work that the High Priest does in the Temple in the Holy of Holies on the Yom Kippur (Day of Judgment).

All the more so, if I go out of my way, out of my surroundings to the wider public in order to explain to a person the goal of creation and to attract him to it, to give him a little knowledge about it, to give him support, to lend a helping hand, then there is no more important work than this. It is even impossible to compare how important this work is compared to all other work.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Whole World Is Nourished By Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanMutual guarantee is the law of connection between the vessels, between the souls. None of us can do his work if the others don’t sustain and don’t support him. It is a structure that exists only thanks to its connections. The moment someone breaks the connection, the whole structure falls apart.

The general law of connection and interdependence is called mutual guarantee. I exist now in the simplest form that has nothing to do with spirituality since it is the only form that can exist without the law of mutual guarantee.

The moment I begin to mix with others and connect to them, I detach myself from my current form and feel that I belong to the system, and to that extent, I feel the force in the system that is called the Creator.

Everyone is connected to one system of connection of mutual guarantee. And this is actually the reason we can connect because everyone connects in order to work for others.

Mutual guarantee is our achievement. Feeling that I am responsible for all of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature means that I feel that I am equal to the Creator. This is the only way I can be like Him: It is as if I give birth to everyone, raise them, sustain them, and revive them all. The whole world is nourished by me. This is called the force of mutual guarantee.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We Can Prevent The Threat

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In 1940 Baal HaSulam wrote about the danger looming over us. But today we see that this danger is no longer in potential if we don’t connect, we see it in reality in our children being kidnapped (in Israel).

Answer: It depends on how you look at things. Most people don’t think this way and go on with their life as if nothing happened. They may be ready to participate in some actions for the kidnapped boys, and here too, it isn’t everyone. Everyone has very egoistic calculations, so in the meantime we are forced to advance along the path of suffering, along the path of in its time.

In order to switch from in its time to I shall hasten it, we need a powerful system of education so that people will understand that they can change things and gain something by it.

It has to be a wide system of clarification that includes the whole nation. It shouldn’t be a result of the sufferings, the blows, and the troubles. We should not wait for the moment that people will be ready to listen to us. We shouldn’t wait for the blows, but rather we want to reach them when they feel good and bring them to an even better state. We have to establish a gradual system of education that will increasingly influence people.

We are going through a difficult practical learning process with the public. We learn what people accept, what they don’t, how we should better approach them, how to talk to them, and what our message should actually be. Thus we teach ourselves how to learn from others.

Comment: It is scary to think about what may happen if we don’t manage to carry out our work and prevent the war of Armageddon that the prophets wrote about.

Answer: There is nothing to be scared of! If we do whatever we can and try to convey the method of correction to people and draw them to the goal of creation, it is enough. Even if we don’t see that we succeed, it still works. We open a passage for the surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) and allow it to reform everything.

It is like a baby who in one day advances in learning about the world much more than an adult may advance in a year. But a baby doesn’t understand that and acts unknowingly.

This is what happens to us. We act without understanding, trying one way or another, and it seems that we don’t succeed. But such states are actually the most beneficial for advancing. Thus we don’t create a barrier for the Light since we are too confused and this is actually a good thing!

Question: Can we prevent the war of Armageddon if we carry on this way?

Answer: We are already at war. If we continue to work this way and other parts of the nation join us in order to fulfill this mission, this goal, then there is no doubt that everything will be alright and things will quickly improve. I don’t foresee any disasters in that case.

But we have to try to stay ahead of the blows so they will not catch up with us. We have to run faster than the whip that is about to hit us. We are able to do this thanks to the importance of the goal, so that we will not have to escape the whip but will yearn forward because we value the connection and the goal.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam 

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Don’t Dwell Upon The Past

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In preparation for dissemination, we go through many difficult physical states. All of the mutual flare-ups of the ego leave a deep scar on the heart, and it is as if you get an immunization so that you will not enter into such intimacy that you could get another wound.

Above what is it worthwhile to rise? Is it above your backing away from revealing your heart so that you won’t get close to such a distance where you get scars, or above concern about feeling the hatred that they leave?

Answer: Do not think about anything but going forward. Therefore, as it is written, “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). Never go back to the past.

It appears to the degree that we can correct it. And until then it is forbidden to dwell upon it. It arises only when we are ready to correct it. So, act as if it never happened. That is how we should behave in life.

Question: So what can I ask the Creator for?

Answer: About the future.

Question: But I am not able to forget about the ego flare-ups from the friends.

Answer: If you are ready, then yes; if you are not ready, then no. When you are not ready, then you see that your ego is directing you.

Question: However, the Creator trips me up so that I see my own justification.

Answer: Certainly, He turns you around and confuses you. There is nothing you can do about it. That is how we go forward, and that is how we learn.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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An Unknown Property That Transforms The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what form should we conduct a first meeting with the external public to leave them with a feeling of warmth?

Answer: Think about what is possible, it makes no difference. It could be that it will be a workshop in the form of a game.

The main thing is for a person to discover that when we connect and unite, then some kind of inner force, warmth, a “raspberry ball,” appears among us. It doesn’t matter what you call it. “Wow! How good this is!” That’s it, nothing more is needed. Only this feeling should remain with them. This is the conclusion of the first meeting!

However, it is necessary for this result to be registered: As we came together in a circle and each one didn’t think about himself but about how to be together with everyone in the center of the circle where all of our yearnings forward are gathered and everything personal is left outside of it, then, within the circle, we discover something new and pleasant, our shared child, our shared feeling, and this was so good, so warm, that when we looked at each other we felt that all of us were close, and this feeling is revealed only when we are connected like this.

I believe the result of the first round of the workshops or simply the meeting should be a raspberry ball. We need to bring people to a state where they feel that through the connection between them some special property is discovered that gives them warmth, hope, confidence, and transformation of the soul.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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Connection In The Face Of Evil

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we connect in times of adversity, when something bad happens, but when things calm down, everything reverts back to competition and separation?

Answer: Why do we have to wait for the blows in order to connect in the face of adversity and advance towards the Creator on the path of suffering? It is better to follow the path of “I shall hasten it” (Achishena) than the path of “in its time” (Beito).

Even now, if we hold workshops in circles after the kidnapping of the three boys, it is already the path of in its time, the natural path of evolution, and not the path of hastening time, the path of I shall hasten it. But if we don’t perform any actions of connection, it will be even worse, since we will not advance but descend.

We have received a negative blow (a minus) and if we make a circle now, which means if we draw the Light that Reforms and advance further ahead, to a better state, this path is called in its time, which means the natural path of evolution.

But if we had made this circle and advanced without the initial blow, without the minus, it would have been the path of I shall hasten it, the path of the Light.

However, if we receive a blow and don’t make a circle, but simply advance in a certain direction, we advance towards an even greater minus, as if we descend. On the path of in its time, we somehow still advance towards the goal, but here we don’t advance towards the goal at all.

This means that even if we hold connection workshops now, after the tragic case of the kidnapping of the boys, it will still be the path of in it time.

We have been given a method according to which we can improve our lives in every way, no matter what happens. Now we only have to use it. We have all the means. We know how to summon, to draw, the good force that will automatically correct everything, that will spread and clean everything like water. We only have to draw it by workshops, discussions in circles, etc. Do you want to use it, fine, and if not, then don’t!
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From the 5thpart of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/8/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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How Does One Find Favor In The Eyes Of The Community?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can satisfy the desire of the community, find favor in their eyes, only through heartfelt emotion. We will not succeed with anything else!

What we have is something unique. Every person deep inside feels that this is precisely what he needs. We need to awaken this feeling and sensation in him, direct and reveal it, like a child that we educate: “Look at this; do that. Oh! You see, did you feel it?”

Question: How can we get rid of the fear that we are not finding favor in the eyes of the community?

Answer: All of this is nonsense. If you know what state you need to bring them to, then you have no fear. You have turned on a precise knowledge of levels and states, an algorithm, which is a system of successive actions according to permanent laws and with a final result. You need to chew on this with them.

A Kabbalistic rule says, “The end of the action is in the preliminary thought.” For the Creator, the beginning and end don’t exist because everything is determined at the outset that conveys the final completion. That is the same thing we should aspire to in our actions. I need to precisely know the final result and how I lead people towards it and see the result in every step I take.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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Those Who Followed Abraham

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what way is Israel different from other nations? Why do they have a special role?

Answer: The desires of GE (bestowal) are called Israel and AHP (reception) is called the nations of the world. The matter of creation is a desire to receive, but it is so small that it can only yearn for bestowal called Israel. Therefore it is written: “You are the fewest of all the nations.”

There was a man who lived in ancient Babylon called Abraham who wanted to reach a good life, to be free of the ego in which all the people of Babylon were immersed. The people decided to build the Tower of Babel, but their languages were mixed and they ceased to understand one another, so they lost contact with one another.

Abraham understood that the goal is actually to be connected and that by connection can we establish a system in which we will discover the upper force that operates and manages us. How many people followed Abraham? There were 5,000 men out of 3 million.After all, a person needed to have a special kind of purity.

The pure people who joined Abraham, according to their intention, their yearning to resemble the upper force that is absolute bestowal, are called Yashar- El (straight to the Creator). All the others who yearned in the opposite direction, in the direction of the ego, are called the nations of the world.

The goal of creation is, of course, to bring everyone to the level of Yashar-El, to a different level of existence. But in the meantime, it is only that small part of the population that agrees to such an ascent. Abraham led these people out of Babylon and guided them to Israel. They differed from others thanks to their vessels, which were the root phase, and phases one and two. These are vessels of GE that were ready to understand this idea and were attracted to connection.

We exist in a field that doesn’t operate on a certain individual but only through our connection. The moment there is a connection between several people, they summon the Creator’s influence upon them, the influence of the field, according to the connection between them above the ego. Then they feel that the upper force and the Light is revealed in them.

We are all in the field of the constant Light that is in a state of absolute rest. If we don’t connect, we don’t see it and don’t’ feel anything. But if we begin to connect with others, then even in a connection between two, and all the more so between ten people, we begin to perceive this field like “a radio receiver.”

This perception inside us is felt as the revelation of the Light and the Creator, of the upper force, as if we perceive a radio wave. This is what Abraham explained to the people of Babylon. There were those who understood him and followed him since it was clear to them that this was the only way to overcome the crisis that was developing in Babylon.

All the others didn’t understand Abraham and remained in Babylon to flow in the current with their ego. Since then, the whole world is divided into two parts: Israel and the nations of the world. It may seem strange that Israel is so important while it is only a nation of several million people, but it determines the essence of the process. We see that this division has been maintained throughout human history until these days.

It isn’t about a geographic location on the surface of the earth, but about a spiritual idea. There are people who follow Abraham’s idea, like Israel, and others who follow their own nature, like the people of Babylon.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/15/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Payment For The Revelation

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati #199, “To Every Man In Israel”: Every man of Israel has an internal point in the heart, which is considered simple faith. This is an inheritance from our fathers, who stood at Mount Sinai. However, it is covered by many Klipot (shells), which are all kinds of dresses of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), and the shells should be removed. Then his basis will be called “faith alone,” without any support and outside help.

If a person has an inclination to the upper force, it is because he has a spiritual gene, a Reshimo (reminiscence), that is called “an internal point in the heart.” This point awakens and draws a person to the source of Light, and he therefore is called Israel–Yashar-El (straight to the Creator).

He is given a chance from Above to reach the root of his soul. This is done when he removes the Klipot, which means the dresses that cover this Reshimo.

This Reshimo is shattered, which means that, in the past, it wasn’t just a Reshimo, but a connection with all the other parts of the general Malchut. However, now, the force of separation resides between them, and in order to attain the Upper force, one must first attain the force of separation. Our exertion is actually the payment for the revelation.

These Klipot grow thicker each time and increase the force of separation that operates inside a person. To the extent that he removes the Klipot and can connect to others, he becomes a vessel for the upper force.

The work of removing the Klipot that interfere with the attempt to adhere to the other parts of the vessel is called God’s work since it is done by help from Above when a person becomes a partner of the upper force and thus gets to know it, gets closer to it, until he reaches adhesion.

This is the work we must engage in since it is only by that that we fulfill the Reshimo that is invoked in us. The moment the Reshimo is invoked, it is referred to as the moment the Creator puts a person’s hand on the good fate, and a person must make sure that this Reshimo doesn’t disappear, that it isn’t covered, but that it is fulfilled.

If he doesn’t make enough effort to fulfill the Reshimo, the Reshimo disappears and arrives in a different way at a different time, perhaps not even in this lifetime, since a person didn’t manage to cope with the external conditions and therefore will receive the Reshimo under different conditions, until he fulfills it.

As it is written, “Every man of Israel has an internal point in the heart, which is considered simple faith.” Simple faith is when a person cleans his spiritual Reshimo from all the corporeal dresses, from the intention of in order to receive, until only this simple point remains, and “This is an inheritance from our fathers,” from higher levels, “who stood at Mount Sinai,” and could overcome the hate that separated them.

However, it says that the point “is covered by many Klipot (shells),” which means forces that are against connection, “which are all kinds of dresses of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), and the shells should be removed.” Then, his basis will be called “faith alone,” which doesn’t require anything for oneself and is ready to work for others “without any support and outside help,” which means that he doesn’t need anything for himself and is ready to work only for the sake of the society.

To the extent that a person acquires simple faith, he has the power to connect to others and to bring everyone to the level of faith. This is actually the correction of the vessel. There is faith that is the level of Bina, and there is complete faith that is the next level, when Hochma is dressed in Bina.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/15/14

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How Does One Become Eternal?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: As a young person, what can I learn from an old person?

Answer: A young person can learn a different attitude towards life from an old person. That is, he can understand that the achievements that seem important to him now are not important at all, and it is worthwhile for him to fill his life with what will allow him to leave his footprints behind him forever. This is specifically what an old person and someone approaching old age wants.

And then we come to integral education whose task is to explain a system of eternal connections exists among us. Within it we can express ourselves and remain in a form filled with a new spirit of bestowal to others.

During the time of our egoistic reception we cannot do this, and then we die, such that nothing is left of us at all. But if I connect with the others in bestowal, then I acquire an eternal power that acts by itself and doesn’t require reception from others. And so this power operates all the time. If I am included in this power of bestowal and love that fills all of reality and go along with it, then I increase this power through my desire.

That is how I am included in this field of power and begin to live in it. And I will never die! This is my “self” that succeeds in becoming mixed with the power of bestowal in an eternal manner, for this altruistic power itself is eternal.

For this it is only necessary to change my psychological perception. Now I perceive myself as living and existing according to what I get. To the degree that I have aged, my egoistic powers weaken and dissolve. I age, and gradually lose all desire until I die. This means that the force of my needs dies as it becomes smaller and smaller, until it disappears completely.

Among us this is called “death.” But if I develop the power of bestowal and love within me, then I will not feel death. I will see how the power of bestowal fills the world, and with my new desire, I am included in this power and add intensity to it. I let this power of bestowal be revealed through me as if it is clothed in a new body. In this manner, I acquire a new life that is spiritual and not physical!

This body is beastly and I feel that formerly I was living with a single egoistic spirit, and now I live with a completely different spirit, which is the spirit of bestowal. And with this spirit of bestowal the angel of death has no control over me.

This spirit of bestowal is revealed to the people who are surrounded by it, and so it transforms them into very useful members of society. It is possible to gather people of retirement age, who already feel that they are approaching the end of their life, and explain to them how they can become eternal. And then we don’t end life along with this physical body because we don’t identify ourselves with it; instead we build a new body, a body of bestowal instead of egoistic reception.

So if a person doesn’t want to feel aging as a gradual decay until his lamp is completely extinguished, it is necessary for him to attain bestowal and discover the system of integral connections in which he will feel his eternal existence before his physical body dies.

Question: What kind of conclusion must the young person make from life being constructed such that eventually his or her time will inevitably end?

Answer: From a young age it is necessary to teach a person that this life is an ascent until the age of 30, and after that it is a descent and death. And therefore we must use all of this life to make a constant ascent from it that will never end!
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From the program “A New Life” 4/22/2014

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