Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Without A Spiritual Kli There Is No Fulfillment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible to maintain the integral team in ascent in various conditions?

Answer: Exactly as in the group. You see we need to support each other. From above,  we only receive the ever-increasing Light, and if we become like it, then it attracts us towards it. And to that degree in our characteristics we are different from it, we feel distant from it. Therefore, everything depends upon our work otherwise we don’t get any help from above.

In people there is an attitude that everything passes, that everything will take care of itself, the malady will pass and everything will be okay. Nothing will pass and nothing will be good. On the spiritual path it’s impossible to give a person fulfillment without a Kli,vessel,  without creating the right desire from his side. There won’t be anything to give. Therefore, either you prepare yourselves for discovering the Upper Light, and it will be discovered only between us, or you simply need to leave this.

You need to grit your teeth, bow your head, and work on connection and unity. And the worse it is and the more problems there are the better. Clench your teeth more strongly and go connect with a friend in spite of it all; show him, even out of spite, how much you yearn to connect and unite with him even though he relates to you with contempt.
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From the Talk About Group and Dissemination 11/24/13

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With The Right Form

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible to evaluate the adequacy of our integrality in order to realize we are ready to go out to the masses?

Answer: After working with the public do you feel the compulsion to connect? Do you feel that without connection between you, you have no strength to work with the public? Do you feel how much you need the support of the friends during the lessons for the wider circles of the population?

If you have a feeling like this, then you are working correctly. If there is no feeling like this, then it is a problem; then you are not involved with integral upbringing and education, but are simply fooling yourself. You must feel the group within you all the time, its center, its help, the Creator, that you want to reveal. Only in this way will you become conductors of the Light and able to influence the public that will agree with you and follow you.

But you need to feel the importance of the link with the group, with its center, with the Creator, within this center, as well as the fact that you are working specifically from this connection.
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From the Talk About Group and Dissemination 11/24/13

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Stay Away From Externality

Dr. Michael LaitmanPeople are moving away from trappings and feigned manners. Once aristocrats walked the streets in tail coats and top hats, automatically holding themselves in strict decorum, performing adopted  rituals .

Today, however, people are becoming more liberated of the rigid frameworks: They dress simply, speak plainly, the media are less formal, children are more relaxed in their behavior with their parents, more people wear sandals and sneakers, etc.

In short, we are drawing away from the external form as it is clear now that this isn’t what makes a person.

People are not ashamed of what was considered social taboos in the past. Non-traditional sexual inclinations, for example, over which people used to kill themselves in the past, are openly declared today without any feelings of shame. People don’t feel they need to hide their natural tendencies anymore, and society accepts everyone. Everyone receives innate attributes to which he adds what he has received from the environment.

Thus, we gradually approach the question of: “So who am I really? If everything that I am is inherited, then I am actually nothing, a kind of a robot with a built in program instead of a real individual.”

This question isn’t asked explicitly yet, but humanity is getting closer to this and soon it will be ready to actually ask it. When the superficiality comes to an end, we will want to identify what it is that makes a person a human being.

Then we will discover that there is nothing but the point in the heart and that even this point doesn’t give us the right to be called a human being yet. It is only a drop of spiritual semen that we have to bring into the group, which means to bring one’s self into the womb. The more strongly I adhere to the group, the more I adhere to the womb, and then according to my efforts I am fed and receive blood, oxygen, etc. Then this drop becomes a spiritual embryo.

The main thing is that this whole process is carried out by the group. This is where one is nourished, and the more the embryo is adhered to it, the more spiritual force it receives to grow.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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A Righteous Man Can Fall Seven Times And Rise

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe incarnate to the lowest level which is called, “this world,” and we discover ourselves in it. We are born here, develop, live, exist within the physical body, and comprehend reality through the five senses.

All of this is so that from this condition, which is absolute zero relative to spirituality, failing each time, one can know how to enter the spiritual world through our free choice,  free action.

We penetrate spirituality a little, rising with the help of the Light that Reforms, improve our characteristics and senses, and fall again to this level outside the spiritual world. Again we rise and again we fall. Every time there is a fall to this world, absolutely complete separation from the spiritual, again a new elevation begins, but greater in value and quality.

That is how we work until we clarify all of the shattered desires and connect them together through our relationship to them as a friend  in love and unity. Ultimately we make a single Kli, one desire, which means we reach the end of our correction.

There is nothing more to do on Earth, that we feel that we exist upon now, besides attracting the Light that Reforms, the power that can elevate us from this low level to the higher level. After that, we will again fall for this must be, and again we rise, but to a higher level than the previous one. As it is said, “For a righteous man can fall seven times and rise” (Proverbs 24:16) or “No person can rely upon the matter of a Mitzvah unless he has failed in it” (Mishnah Halachot).

This is the way of the clarification of the shattering and its correction through which we attach more and more shattered Kelim, connecting them together. Essentially this is elevation from the point of this world upwards in accord with the levels of the spiritual ladder. All of this depends only upon the number of Kelim that we attach to one action, to one intention.

Therefore, the one thing that is imperative for us is to attract the Light that Reforms. It is necessary to be organized in order to influence it most effectively, to clarify what the desire, the intention, and all of our actions must be. If the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) acts upon us to the same degree that we attract it, then it is up to us to organize the group, the studies, dissemination, and all of our lives accordingly, so that everything will be directed and connected to that goal: maximum yearning for the Light that Reforms.

And so all the talk, study, and intentions while studying must only be about this subject; it is up to a person to understand that in this life, in the existence of the present level, where we are found today, there is no other goal. If one carries out this work and attracts the Light that Reforms that raises him or her to the first spiritual level, then one will merit this elevation. For clear laws operate here in compliance with the Lights and the vessels.

And if one doesn’t merit revelation, then one remains with the same Reshimo (spiritual gene). Of course, he will improve it a little through his efforts, but ultimately he will end his existence on the material level and will pass to the next level of this world. In other words, he will die and be born again; he will begin to develop within a new level of this world. These are ten Sefirot but without a Masach (screen); therefore, we see them just as the birth of a body in this world.

There is no choice, if we want to realize ourselves, we must be concerned only about the Light that Reforms! Therefore it is always necessary to make a critique, a clarification, an inspection of the study, the dissemination, the assembly of friends, the meals, everything in life. Is everything organized such that all of our efforts will be maximally useful for continuing the illumination and attracting it to us? Are we attracted to its characteristics, its direction?

On this basis it is up to us to organize all of the relationships between us. Only the illumination is our main goal and determines all of our actions.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/13, Writings of Rabash

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A Few Words About Meticulousness

Dr. Michael LaitmanI recommend applying a thorough scrutiny at what we bring into ourselves. We can more reliably deal with the “animal’ needs, to satisfy the needs in food, sex, family life, etc., than to act in the group without analysis and scrutiny.

It is one thing to simply pass out and fall to the level of “bodily passions,” and it is different when your work in the group is not exactly correct. In this case you already exist at the human stage of corruptness and this is bad. It is worth it to apply meticulousness here.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12.3.13, Writings of Rabash

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The Welding Point Of The Souls

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe only thing we can ask for is connection, the welding points between two parts. This is the only thing we speak about, and it is only with regard to this issue that there are problems and wars. This welding point between two components is crucial to the condition of the world, and the entire struggle and the development of our reality take place in that point.

Even if I ask for myself, it isn’t for my personal benefit, but for being adhered to others. The world is whole. Everything in it is perfect, except for one corrupt vessel. There was a vessel and it was shattered. We can ask only for the correction of this vessel, and there is nothing else for which we can ask. However, you are asking for many other things.

Yet, you are told, “It isn’t true, you are wrong! Everything is fine. What aren’t you happy about? You need only one thing: to correct this vessel. If you correct it and put the vessel together again into one whole vessel, you will find great pleasures in it: delicious food, knowledge, feelings, warmth, health, whatever you want. You only need to correct this vessel, to put it back together.”

However, you are saying, “No, I want something pleasant and tasty,” and the answer you get is that this will happen the moment you put the vessel together and when it is whole again. The moment you put all its parts back together, you will discover all the pleasures in it. Yet, we are asking for everything we want, except that! It isn’t only your problem but the problem of every person in the world. People don’t understand that this is the only way to reach correction; it’s only through correction.

All the religions, beliefs, problems, and wars are only about this one issue: to connect or not to connect. We were given a means that allows us to reach connection and to solve all the problems in the world and overcome the hatred. The moment we begin to connect, all of nature also begins to connect: all the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. The wolf and the lamb will live together in harmony and will obey the small child, as it says in Prophets.

Everything depends only on our desire to bring about and attain connection. We will be able to correct all of reality, our whole life, by such changes that apparently have nothing to do with our problems. It all depends on our connection. We only need to ask to be connected, welded, so that the good force will dominate us. We turn to the good force (to the Creator, to the attribute of love and bestowal) so that He will correct and fill us.

There is nothing but the point of unity, the drop of unity. This entire world that is before me now is the revelation of all the phenomena that are opposite from unity. It is for this reason that I see the stars, the earth, people, and all the phenomena that are external to the framework of unity. It is for this reason that these phenomena are called this world.

So, what should I think about: about this world or about unity? If I just worry and think about this world, then I will remain in the lie in which I have been living. So, I constantly play this game, spinning on the carousel of life. However, if I want to leave this fixed game and refuse to be a mere puppet in it, I need to think only about unity.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/13, Writings of Rabash

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Dr. Michael LaitmanWe don’t know what bestowal is because our nature is a desire to receive. But with the help of particular activities, it’s possible to awaken the desire to bestow within us, which is found in us but hidden. For this, I must connect with the group and follow the advice of the Kabbalists, meaning, people who have already gone along this way successfully.

Therefore, we are building a group like this, connected around the idea of discovering the characteristic of bestowal in addition to the natural characteristic of reception that dominates us. Each one nullifies himself before the greatness of the goal which we must attain. And if all of us together try to discover the characteristic of bestowal that is latent within us, then this will happen. Through our efforts, we discover this characteristic from the concealment, awaken it within us, and obligate it to be revealed.

In order to succeed, we require only the right deficiency, yearnings that are directed towards discovering the characteristic of bestowal among us. It cannot be discovered within one person, for it’s up to him to bestow to someone. Even reception on a slightly higher level than simple beastly fulfillment is in relationships with another person from whom we want to receive and enjoy. But when speaking about bestowal, then this is only discovered between us; therefore, it cannot be revealed in one person.

The shared work for the purpose of discovering bestowal between us is called the organization of a group of Kabbalists. In particular, our group is called Bnei Baruch because we follow the method of my teacher Baruch Ashlag who wrote unique articles about the general rules of constructing a group of Kabbalists. The group is a means for discovery of the characteristic of bestowal.

When we reach a strong deficiency for this characteristic and discover it, then we begin to understand that it belongs to the higher force that is found above the force of reception that was always in us. We see that the new force that is revealed for us is the first force in reality that controls and determines, in contrast with the second force, the force of reception.

More correctly, it doesn’t just control; rather, it created the desire for pleasure in us and therefore we call it the Creator. When we discover it, we call it by various names: divinity, gracious, most merciful, patient, kind, generous, and so forth. “From your deeds we will know you”; we clarify how it makes various changes in us and in accord with this we give it different names. This is called the “revelation of the Creator to the creatures.”

We see that we are constantly changed thanks to our discoveries; that is, this power “creates” us anew all the time. We feel like a computer that is always upgrading its software and so it becomes more and more intelligent, sensitive, discovering more and more data. We discover that this power always acted for our benefit, both in the present and in all the events that have already happened. Since the beginning of creation it has passed us through various states called “incarnations.”

Every realization of a Reshimo that is changed every moment is called an “incarnation.” In the end we discover that all of the incarnations though which we have passed were for our benefit, and therefore we decide that the force of bestowal is the force of the good and beneficent Creator.

The main thing is to reach the right deficiency, a burning need to discover this force. To the degree of the sorrow, as a result of the lack of discovery, we acquire the readiness to accept the control of the higher force. We must accumulate the necessary degree of energy called a “Seah” in order to leap each time to a new level and discover the force of bestowal.

It’s like in a restaurant, where every dish has a certain price. Until I pay in full, I will not get it. That is exactly what happens with the “portions” of spiritual discovery that are composed of “ten Sefirot.” Every portion contains ten Sefirot, no less and no more, like a “business lunch” that includes everything, beginning from the salad to the dessert at the end of the meal. And it’s up to us to discover the deficiency, the “appetite,” for all ten Sefirot. This is called a “Seah.”

The deficiency depends only on the group. If we work correctly, each one for the group and the group for each one, then we easily reach the required deficiency. Everything depends upon us, there are no tricks. The Kabbalists wrote a multitude of articles about this for us; they left a multitude of material that explains how to increase our yearning for discovery of the Light, the power of bestowal, that is, to awaken the appetite for spirituality in us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/13, Writings of Rabash

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The Safest Guide

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the most reliable sense that guides a person to the right goal of life?

Answer: When one understands clearly and accurately that it is only in this life and not after the body is dead that one attains the ascent to the spiritual world and can enter the spiritual world, in one’s yearning for connection and unity (for adhesion, love, and bestowal) with the friends in the group and not anywhere else, this means a person is locked on the target, on the center.
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Communication Is Not Just A Wire And A Wave

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In a workshop, is it possible to seat people around a table with tea and cookies instead of just in a circle of chairs?

Answer: No tables, and no tea with cookies!

If a person is included in the right way in a workshop, then he simply detaches from his body. All sensations of the physical body are lost to him. He immerses in discussions, discernments; one says this and another say something else. The possibility of determining differences between the friends appears within him. He “feels” each of them: their style, expressions, and inner world. This is imperative for him, for after all, he must become integrated with them.

A person doesn’t need to be concerned about how to convey the Light to others but how to connect with them through desire, that is, how to contact to their contact like a plug in an outlet. In general, how the Light is transmitted doesn’t concern him. He wants to connect with the desire of the friend, like a male part and a female part, and then the Light will pass through him. In this manner, he does his work, and the Creator does His work.

After all, when we beget children, we don’t think at the time of the coupling about merging the male and female cells to form a new organism. If we had thought about this, then it wouldn’t have worked. I am serious! You can’t imagine what kind of work is being done in a workshop! It is much higher, subtler, and more internal than the action of conception. You turn into a channel for the Upper Light through which the Light streams into the friend. It is forbidden to make light of this!

You need to think about how to attain a connection like this. Together with this, your friend is playing a relatively passive role here since he is representing the feminine part in regard to the masculine part, and you, in your turn, represent this in regard to the other, and he in regard to a third. This is called mutual integration, for in each one of us there exists a masculine and feminine part.

On the one hand, you imagine the friend as a pauper. You need to give him everything, even if you only had one pillow left. On the other hand, you must, yourself, be a pauper in relation to him since you will not receive from the Creator what you can receive from the friend. Only he can connect you to the Creator. Therefore, in relation to this connection, you are the pauper and he is the rich person, and thus it is for each one of us. Try to connect with each other in this way, with your desires, and fulfill them. Then, you will see how a completely new space is revealed to you that ultimately will become spiritual.

The concept of “communication” is not just a wire and a wave. This is not just a ray of Light. Inside, there exists an entire world of information and energy! This is what you now want to discover in the connection between you and the friend.

When you enter into this relationship, you feel how all this passes through you and after that, gradually expands and creates an infinite spiritual frequency above the frequency of our world. Therefore, an emotional, informative, great, and absolutely new dimension is opened before you. You must penetrate into this.
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From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/23/13

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Conditions For Entering The Upper Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What are the conditions that should be fulfilled between us in order to resemble the upper spiritual level as much as possible?

Answer: The most important thing is to keep these conditions and the Light will complete the work. We cannot ascend to the next level by ourselves. There is always a gap between the levels, as it is written, “I labored and found.” We must exert ourselves, and then there is an action from above, and the new level is revealed inside me.

How can we depict the upper spiritual level by what we have if we have nothing but an egoistic desire? The first condition is to yearn for connection when each one supports everyone else. Everyone should want to converge into one heart, one desire, instead of many individual desires.

We should regard this work on our connection and unity as very important and respectable. This means that I value the upper. However, how do I know who the upper is and what the greatness of the goal is? The upper is my state of connection with others until we become one. The general attribute of bestowal that is revealed as a result of all our individual efforts is called the Creator, which means “come and see” (Bo-re).

I must feel that I am ready for everything in this work, no matter what. This means that I feel that I am in the worst possible state and that there is no lower state to which I can fall. All the other states that will come as result of my connection with others seem preferable to my state. So, no matter what comes along and what happens, nothing scares me or affects me.

I imagine adhesion to the Creator, the general attribute of love and bestowal. I need to adhere to Him according to the attribute of love and bestowal that I develop inside me. So, I constantly search and check whether I already have any of these attributes or not. In order not to be mistaken, I check and assess myself with regard to the environment, the friends with whom I must unite in order to discover the Creator.

I fight the “Greeks” that are inside me. The Greeks refer to my desire to receive, but in contrast to “Egypt,” the Greeks have great knowledge (Daath), which means the connection of Hochma and Bina on the corporeal level. However, I understand that this cannot be a spiritual level because it is already in another dimension in which there are different conditions, other attributes, other vessels. So, I want to work totally above reason.

However, the only way to establish a level above reason is with the help of reason so that we can rise above it. So, I need the Greeks; I need to fight them. It is there that I establish the framework of the future upper level in all its forms. It is because you can reach something above reason only if you have reason.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/13, Writings of Rabash

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