Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

We Must Give People Something

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person must be in a group preferably comprised of ten people. It is also possible to have three to ten people, but ten is the optimal number. It is necessary to try to organize a group of five to ten friends who are ready to connect, to attain the goal.

In addition to this, since we are living in a crisis, it is possible to advance upward only on the condition that we disseminate externally.

There are three levels: upper, middle, and lower. We are in the middle and must rise. At the upper (1) is Light; it is whole and perfect. This is the teacher, the Creator, everything that is above us.

The middle (2) is our group. And the lower (3) is the external public and society. To receive Light from above, from the Creator, through the teacher, there must be those who want to receive it below us. So we must disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah or the method of integral connection, which is basically the same thing except without teaching the physics of the upper worlds.

Without the lower one who wants to get out of the crisis, it is impossible. He doesn’t know what the wisdom of Kabbalah is and thoughts about the meaning of life do not concern him, but he has a large deficit at the bank, in the family, with his children, and his entire life, which has embittered him, depresses him, causing him to use drugs; things are bad for him.

And it is enough that we care about him, take care of him, and raise his desires up to us. And when we begin to care about people, we begin to be infused with their needs. They are waiting to get something from us. Then we are gripped with fear about how to provide them with what they need.

After all, we have nothing, and we feel a deficiency. But this awakens us and pushes us to rise even higher with this deficiency, to the teacher, and to the Creator, to demand that they will give the fulfillment that the lower ones need from us as fast as possible. We are ashamed that we are unable to provide it.

We internalize the desires of the general public, and this forces us to turn to the Creator. This is because we must indeed bring something to them. We must place ourselves in this narrow place (Tsar), bring troubles (Tsarot) upon ourselves, and the people will begin to blame and demand what was promised by us. But this is very necessary because then we will want to go to the teacher, demand it, and we will receive it from him.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 3

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Circles Of Spiritual Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we begin to connect between us more and more strongly by contracting our circle, our connection becomes more and more dense. Within our very first connection we already discover the characteristic of the Creator, but it is revealed in a very weak form. This is called the world of Assiya.


By continuing to work on our connection, we discover the next level of connection within it, called the world of Yetzira. An even stronger connection is discovered as the world of Beria, and an even stronger connection is revealed as the world of Atzilut. This indicates the end of correction. We discover these spiritual worlds within the connection between us to the degree that we more closely approach each other.

From the first connection to the last connection there are 125 levels or five worlds, in each of which there are five spiritual Partzufim with five Sefirot in each of them. The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about all of this.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day One 5/9/14, Lesson 1

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What Is Seen In The Next Photograph?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is a person’s work, which attributes everything to the principle, there is none else beside Him, linked to a group?

Answer: All of the work is with intention. It is not important what I do: sell watermelons or give a class somewhere. At that moment I have some kind of intention of what I want to accomplish with this activity. For the Shevirah (breaking of the vessel) was intentional and the destruction was intentionally concealed.

The desires, activities, events, and circumstances are not important in and of themselves. Rather, what is important is with what intention I am including in that circumstance, in that picture from the film. What do I want from the picture of the world that is now revealed in me and what do I do with my attitude towards the present state?

The states arrive by themselves; I don’t determine nor choose them. It is as if I pass from one picture to another in a film, one after another, and the question is only what I want from all of this. Here is all of my work. I cannot change these pictures, but my intention determines what I will see in those pictures through which I must pass;  peace or war, jealousy or hatred, or everything good and pleasurable.

All of this depends only on my intention, since  through that I change each picture in the film, the entire film and the entire picture of reality from end to end. I must return this picture to the Creator at all times, since all that comes to me in the form of the world, through adhering to Him.

To support this I have a group that is operating worldwide. I want the whole world to connect to the same idea and everyone to adhere to the Creator. This is what I am trying to attain at each and every moment.

And it makes no difference what actions are required for this. It could be that I am working as a mechanic in a garage, but this is not important. What is important is my intention through which I gather and connect all moments for correction.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/15/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Creator’s Clothing

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Thou Hast Hemmed Me in Behind and Before: Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before, meaning the revelation and concealment of the face of the Creator. This is because indeed, “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and everything will return to its root because there is no place vacant of Him. But the difference is in present tense or future tense.

Because who connects the two worlds, discovers His clothing in the present: everything that is done is a clothing for the revelation of divinity. And this is deemed the present tense, meaning that now, too, he comes out in royal clothes and evidently shows that the rider is not subordinate to the horse.

The Creator doesn’t disappear in His clothing, which is all of reality, the whole world.

But although it seemingly appears (to a person) that the horse leads the rider.

We are confused with regard to the Creator’s clothing to such an extent that we are distracted by everything that happens, which conceals the upper force from us and confuses us so much that it seems that the rider is subordinate to the horse.

The truth is that the horse is provoked to any movement only by the sensation of the rider’s bridle and headstall. And this is called “the construction of the stature of divinity,” and it is also called “face-to-face.”

If we discover the reason, the active force, the thought of creation, and how it directs each of us and all of us together, we can thus clarify and discover the rider, that there is none else besides Him, the first cause and the first source.

We then realize that the clothing by which the Creator conceals Himself, is actually so that we will discover Him behind them, learn to understand His language, and realize why He is concealed behind everything that happens.

It is actually by such concealment     that we reach His revelation. Otherwise we would not feel anything in the simple white Light, even if we perceived its white shade. It is actually by these concealments, by such games where the Creator is concealed, that we begin to learn His nature, His character, by comparing Him to ourselves, which means to the opposite form. The opposite form is revealed as clothing, as the concealment that separates us, but if we try to reveal the Creator and ask Him to help us reveal Him correctly and adhere to Him, if we are ready to change, the concealment will turn into a revelation.

The same forms of concealment will turn into opposite forms and will help us in the revelation. Without them, we could not taste, distinguish, see, or feel the Creator, because our nature is opposite from Him. Therefore, there is the need for an adaptor between the Creator and the egoistic force or shell, which is us and which later turns to Holiness.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Connection Above All

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe group is an organized group of people who are ready to connect and agree to maintain special rules for this. These laws are not determined by us but by great Kabbalists who passed through all the stages of ascent and know how it is necessary to assemble the Kli in order to discover the Creator.

The Kabbalists explain that there must be: “One for all and all for one,” “as one man with one heart.” Each one must rise above his ego for the welfare of the group. Nobody thinks about himself or about individual friends, rather only about the whole group. Everyone nullifies themselves in order to reach unity. The connection is above all, there is no other goal.

If all of a sudden something must be done, then we ask: Will this increase our connection or not? If our connection will become stronger, then we do it, and if not, then we don’t do it. This is the only criterion. There is nothing but one single goal, our unity, for the discovery of the Creator depends upon its intensity.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 3

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I Will Recognize You Behind Any Mask

Dr. Michael LaitmanEvery person must reach a life of bestowal. The force then enables us to do this is called the Torah or the Light. The Light operates on our desire, that doesn’t want to change, especially qualitatively, not quantitatively. After all, the most important thing is to constantly improve the quality, penetrating more and more deeply, focusing ourselves more and more on the benefit of others, and then instead of others, on the benefit of the Creator.

The changes have to be qualitative, and they take place by the Light that Reforms, which is called the Torah. The Light operates on the desire that realizes it doesn’t want bestowal. But I take a special position by ascending above the desire, and I see that it constantly pulls me downward.

I, on the other hand, ask the Upper Light, the Torah, the Light that Reforms, the upper force, to help me not drown in my own ego, which constantly tries to get a hold of me and pull me in different directions. One time it pulls me towards one external engagement and another time towards another, constantly distracting me so that I forget about the Creator.

I have to find out who is sending me these impediments, who is the enemy that constantly confuses me, the pest, the adversary that hides in the flood water and tries to drown me. But suddenly I discover that this adversary is the Creator. He is the one hiding under this mask playing with me so that I will ask and demand His help. He causes me harm by His posterior so that I will want to see His face.

This is the only way I work, and then I begin to realize that there is only one force, the Creator, who turns either with His face or His posterior to me, and it is with Him that I actually communicate. If I detach myself from the Creator, I engage with His posterior, and if I connect to Him, I am in contact with His face.

There is nothing other than that. The group, humanity, everything that happens, is the mechanism of my connection with the Creator.

The main thing is to feel our connection with the Creator and the way His presence, the Light of His face, helps us reconnect to Him. After all, this is the only thing we should work on. The next moment, He will harden our heart some more with His posterior and we will have to clarify this state again. Ultimately, thanks to our mutual guarantee and these reminders, we will remember that we have to turn to the Creator and to hold on to Him since only in Him will our hearts rejoice.

This is how we advance and this path is called the path of the Light, the path of the Torah. Learning from our experience as we advance along this path is called studying the Torah. We learn how the Light, called the Torah, comes to us and how, according to our request, it pulls us out of our state time after time.

Thus we learn by our ascents and descents, like it says: “The Torah will come from Zion (stemming from the root word ‘Yetsi’ah’ –  ‘exit’ in Hebrew).” It is actually from the exits, from the descents, that the Torah comes, since thanks to them we can rediscover the strongest Light and go through all the books of the Torah.

The method of attaining bestowal, the attribute of the Creator, and merging with Him is the fulfillment of loving others like yourself. It is enough to keep away all the problems in the connection with the Creator. After all, initially there was one vessel that was filled with one Light.

The Light and the vessel were united, but this state was shattered. If we put all the parts of the shattered vessel together again with the help of the Light, we will attain the Light that filled us and which kept us together once again. Then we will become one vessel again in which the one Light, the one Creator, will reside. So our correction is about loving others like ourselves, and thanks to this, we reach the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Fragment Of An Ideal Dream

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Kabbalists say that it is not worthwhile to wait and tolerate the crisis; instead it is necessary to hasten time. It is not necessary to wait until nature itself will evolve for tens or hundreds of years and our life will end without anything, again to be replaced generation after generation. If we have already entered a state of crisis, we can hasten the time through efforts we invest in our development.

Instead of life forcing us to develop, learn, and change ourselves, we can change ourselves voluntarily by our own efforts. Everything depends upon the society I am in.

I must enter into a group that will nourish me energetically, push me forward, and hasten the process. I will take an example from a society that is developing in the right way to attain the goal and the discovery of the Creator, which gives awakening and stimulation and supplies great support.

Then I won’t have any difficulties, as I will also want to develop together with it, and so I will develop. The main thing is to enter into the right environment. So the Kabbalists determined rules for us according to which it is necessary to build this right environment and to exist in it in order to hasten the time.

We must develop from state to state all the time. This ladder has 125 levels. I stand below the bottom and want to rise to the first level, to the second, third, and every level above, growing more and more. For this, I must resemble a higher level, and this is possible by connecting with others more and more.

Ultimately I must return to a linked and unified picture in which all of us are connected as if assembling a puzzle together. Needless to say, connections like these are a pipe dream in the distant future. We can already take some fragment of this ideal dream and begin to work with it, building within it a corrected mini-world.

This world is called a mini-group. If we take ten people and build one complete connection between us, then this will be called a group. If we can connect as one, then we rise to the first spiritual level.

But to rise to the second level is more difficult. For this we need either to increase our quantity a hundredfold (x 100) or among those ten people, we need to attain a connection ten times more intense than the previous connection.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 3

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Practical Ascent On The Spiritual Ladder

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe practical ascent on the spiritual ladder from level to level is realized in this way. Suppose we gather ten people and a mutual rejection force of one kilo operates. If we overcome this rejection, then we rise to the first level.

On the first level we are ten people, as before, but the hatred between us has grown to minus ten kilograms instead of minus one kilogram. This means that it could be that with continued ascent, we will need to work with greater numbers of people. This could be in relation to quality and it could be both in quantity and quality.

A group is some quantity of people who take an obligation upon themselves to be connected as one person with one heart. If we are ready for this, then according to this goal, which we may not have yet achieved, we are already called a Kabbalistic group. The moment we reach the first degree of connection as one, immediately the upper Light is discovered and the Creator is revealed within our connection.

We have worked hard on our ego and have attained this first level, the weakest Light of Nefesh  (Ohr Ha Nefesh) (Light of Soul). After that an even greater egoistic desire is revealed to us that we must work on. Suddenly between us there is a blazing hatred and differences of opinion that we must overcome through even more difficult work. And when we connect, the Ohr Ha Ruach  (Light of Spirit) is revealed.

After this an even greater ego is awakened in us, which in order to overcome and connect, it is necessary to give even greater effort. That is how we discover the Ohr Ha Neshama (Light of Soul), and after this also Haya (the last correction of Malchut) and then Yechida.

The ego grows all the time and we overcome it by connecting more closely and we attain greater and greater revelation of the Creator. These levels are called: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida—NRNHY.

As the ego continues to grow, the work becomes more and more difficult, we are more and more detached from each other, and then we are able to connect to an even greater degree. This is what work in a group is like.
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From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 3

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Everyone Is Gathering Mushrooms Together

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I make sure that we are acting as one person in our shared dissemination?

Answer: We go out to disseminate, each one turning in his own direction, but with the same mission, the same goal, as if we are scattered all over a forest in order to gather mushrooms or berries and don’t see each other behind the trees. But afterward we gather and each one throws what he found into one great common pot and we use it to prepare a feast for ourselves.

Each one knows that now, somewhere, his friends have also scattered to all kinds of places and are doing the same work. And in truth, this work that you are carrying out in all the groups is beautiful, and the result that will be revealed from it will also be beautiful.

Question: How can I support the friends, knowing that they are also gathering mushrooms in the forest now?  What should I think about?

Answer: I simply feel that they are doing the same work. Even though I don’t even see them, they go out together with me for the same work. We bring and gather all that we did, and from this we make a shared feast, fill ourselves, build our common Kli (vessel), and continue to go forward together. There are works in which we are scattered, and there are works in which we gather and connect together.

If we think about each other, about all of us dispersing in the evening for general dissemination, this will give us the strength to achieve success. I need to feel connected with everyone and see myself as their representative who must bring my share to the maximum of my ability for the collective pot.

By thinking about the overall success, I am already helping everyone. I don’t have to know exactly who is doing what at any given moment and ask about him. The main thing is our collective success, for the world is deteriorating more and more downward. The Creator shows us with this His higher oversight, the demands that the world advance as rapidly as possible towards correction.

And advancement of the world towards correction depends upon us alone, for only we have free choice, and therefore we need to realize it as much as possible. We realize it through consolidation, and now we are working specifically towards consolidation.

This activity will go in the right direction and you will see how, according to this, the Creator will forgive us and will help in everything. The Creator will fight for me, but the main thing is to always check the correctness of the direction. With this we open a place for the Light, and it acts.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/02/14, Writings of Rabash

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Delta

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we deal with pain that keeps us on the animal level?

Answer: The Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms, operates on me, penetrates, and goes through the levels of Aviut (thickness) of my desire: the root phase, phases one, two, three, and four. If the Light reaches only the levels of the root phase, phase one, two, and three, then I am unable to feel any source of Light.

 

In the four phases of Direct Light, the feeling of shame awakened and there was a Tzimtzum (restriction) only on the fourth level of the fourth phase. So the Light has to penetrate all the way to the fourth phase of the desire. If it spreads only through three phases, then I feel pain, but in fourth phase, I feel the source of the pain.

I still feel the pain, but I understand where it comes from. Thus I begin to compare the pain with its source, with the reason. Why did the Creator cause me this pain? For what purpose?

Then I realize that it isn’t pain at all. It isn’t the Creator who causes my pain. I feel pain because I am not corrected; the Creator actually sends me wonderful presents, wanting to embrace and kiss me with love. The Light of love comes to me, but instead I feel pain.

It is like loving a parent who pressures his child and may even slap him, but who does it out of love. I have to change my perception and calculate this delta, the gap between the pain that I feel and its real essence.

I can only do that through the group; there I make this calculation as well as in its relation to the friends. All our relationships with people and especially with the group help us learn how to calculate our relationship with the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/2/14, Writings of Rabash

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