Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Shedding The Hated Serpent’s Skin

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter all the preparation from above, the shattering and the descents, our desire to receive pleasure is divided into three parts: the inner part suitable for correction and the two external parts that can be corrected if we stop using them. These two parts are called the “shell of Noga” and the “serpent’s skin.” But, the inner part is called the “inner body.”

The entire correction a person has to perform takes place in the thought. If one thinks about it, he is outside his body, which means that he aspires to bestow upon others—the friends, the group, and the world, as it is written, “From the love of man to the love of the Creator; from the love of the creatures to the love of the Creator,”—then he doesn’t nourish his ego, and, as a result, his egoistic desire dies. After all, it cannot exist without food, so it disappears!

However, a person must constantly guard himself since the temptations from the “serpent’s skin” and from the “shell of Noga” constantly will draw him, trying to hold onto him, to hold onto thoughts of envy, ambition, and dominance. They do it cunningly, and, thanks to that, each time a person can decide that he doesn’t want these thoughts, but that he wants to work outside his own interests without any self-benefit, but only in order to bestow.

If he clarifies things enough, through a certain number of such actions, he separates the inner body, the soul of holiness, and the external body in which no intention to bestow can be dressed. If he stops thinking about them, then the soul of holiness is dressed in the inner body about which it is written: “From my flesh shall I see God.” This means that a person begins to discover the Light, the Creator, Divinity, and the revelation of the Creator, in his flesh, in his body, in his skin.

It is all thanks to the fact that he managed to keep himself in thoughts and clarifications that were outside his body, which means outside his self-benefit. He tied himself to the Creator so that he could be sure that everything comes from Him and that there is none else besides Him. The Creator arranged all of this so that he will be able to clarify the three bodies after the sin of the Tree of Knowledge.

As a result of the persistent clarifications, a person gradually deprives his two external bodies, the shell of Noga and the serpent’s skin, of their food, and they depart from him and vanish. When the difference between the internal body and the two external bodies becomes evident enough, the Light on the very first level can be dressed in his inner body, which means being born in the spiritual world.

If a person constantly aspires for bestowal upon others—the friends, the group, and the Creator, which means that he wants to be “outside his skin,” outside his desire to enjoy—then it is in this desire that the upper Light is dressed, as it is written, “From my flesh shall I see God.”
[82272]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/29/12, Shamati #36

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The Soul Is A Tool For The Revelation Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur sensitivity to the revelation of the Creator depends on our yearning for the revelation of His greatness. It is like raising the sensitivity of a detector 10 times more, 100 times more, 1,000 times more, 10,000 times more.

I tune the detector by raising its level of sensitivity, and thus it helps me discover what I was looking for. Raising the sensitivity means raising the importance of such a phenomenon compared to other phenomena.

Suppose I am in a certain space where different phenomena take place: electric fields and magnetic fields, and many radio and television waves going through it in different frequencies. I tune myself to a special phenomenon and my sensitivity rises specifically to that. I focus on it and choose it out of all the other processes.

Our world is full of different noises in different frequencies. Suppose I want to know what is being said on a certain cell phone, I have to tune my detector specifically to that frequency. In the same way, I have to focus all my attention of the greatness and the importance of the Creator and raise my sensitivity to that as much as I can. Being persistent at that allows me to discover the phenomenon called the Creator, which is the general force active in the world, the “general frequency.”

It is like a basic carrier frequency or stem cells, which are the basic phenomena in our world. I have to discover the force that is at the basis of all of reality.

When we speak about greatness, importance, and respect, we want to express our increased sensitivity to this phenomenon specifically, and thus we reveal it. So a person who tries to feel that there is none else besides Him, the good and benevolent Creator acting behind the scenes and generally hiding behind the friends and the group, this person will constantly raise the sensitivity of his detector, of his soul, and will advance that way.

This is because the soul is the tool for the revelation of the Creator
[82136]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Turning Fear Into Advancement

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I feel hungry, for example, I have to fill myself. What can I do if I fear that I will not be able to do that, if I feel the lack of filling?

Answer: The fear of being hungry, ill, or old and the fear of death are the fear of the defeat of the ego. The fear of lack of filling, of lack of fulfillment, is already on a higher level, but it is still an egoistic fear, but can we fight it; why was it given to us?

It is impossible to run away from fears, starting from the most primitive fear of death and all the other fears that turn into awe. They were given to us so that by running away from them, since we will have no choice, and by seeing that there is nowhere to run and that we cannot compensate ourselves, we will suddenly discover: “If I rise above them, if I live in a system of bestowal and love, outside myself, I will not fear anything. It may well be that if I exit myself, which means my desires and my thoughts, I will be able to imagine that I don’t exist, since I have no desires or thought about myself. What do I have? I have thoughts about others, about everything that isn’t me. So this is probably a good thing. By that I don’t suffer from anything. But if I don’t suffer, I don’t feel anything either. So it may well be that by getting rid of myself, of my fears, I will have to be full of the sufferings of others and to live in such fears. Thus I will get the feeling and will be able to fill them.”

This means that all these thoughts are essential in order to push a person forward. He mustn’t get rid of them; he mustn’t avoid them, but on the contrary, only try to aim them correctly.

We are constantly managed by fear until the end of correction, Gmar Tikkun—it is either fear about ourselves or fear about others, which depends on how distant the people I fear for, worry about, and feel concerned about are from me; this is how a person’s height is measured.

In what sense? If we say that everything is connected in one single system, then I think about those who are closest to me since I depend on them, and I think about those who are distant from me not because I depend on them but because I simply think about the system and maybe about the Creator since I can already operate on Him through this system. I can bring the system to a state in which He can be revealed and thus cause Him pleasure, etc. This means that I become an active partner sharing His work in the world.

There are always worries, sufferings and fears, and that’s good. By their intensity, I measure my degree, my spiritual ascent—to what extent I turn the fear into advancement.

At the same time, don’t think that when you are advancing spiritually your fears change drastically. You can be given the simplest mundane fears although you may be on a high spiritual level.

All this will continue until you complete the correction. How else can a person be pushed forward if not by fears? Fear is a feeling of a desire that is not full.
[82038]
From a “Talk During the Meal in Toronto” 6/19/12

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Getting Ready For The Congress: Third Round Of Questions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You always guide us during the conventions, leading us from one lesson to the next.

Answer: I cannot say anything about that in advance. I don’t know how things will work out before I see you in the convention. You will summon my attitude towards you according to the state you will be in.

In bestowal everything depends on the one who receives and nothing is predictable. I am a power supplier—you will receive bestowal according to your connection to me.

So the matter is not in the subject of the lectures and the workshops, but in the preparation. Your intensive collective preparation will generate from me everything that you need in the right order. I listen to the friends, feel the general atmosphere among all those who connect to us, and this determines how the workshops will be managed.

Question: How can we raise the level of our question in order to add feeling to it? Before every convention there are the same questions to which we’ve already received the answers.

Answer: The questions may repeat, but we have to feel a new depth in them. The phrasing of the questions isn’t important, what is important is the depth. If a person is only superficially interested in how he should connect, it isn’t a question at all.

We have to be more serious since we are in a process of clarification, which means that we are constantly summarizing what we pick up along the way. So on the basis of all the clarifications and the conclusions, we reach new questions. Even though the questions may sound familiar, they are much deeper.

There isn’t much depth in your questions, there is no burning necessity for a new study of the unknown layers: “What should we do today in order to reach the unity that we have not reached yet? What do we lack? What should we add?” I must hear the echo of this search in your questions.

Question: How can we constantly soften our heart until the congress itself?

Answer: The key is the influence of the environment. It is this factor that influences the workshops. At first I don’t want to hear others, I look down upon them. I am not interested in what they say, who are they? Their words only irritate me.

But after a few minutes a new thought comes to me. Where do they come from? After all, they don’t appear out of the blue, this is how the Light operated, and there is nothing but the Light. Occasionally we manage to sink faster inwards and to feel ready for he influence of the Light. This is the whole essence of the workshop.

The “workshop” is our intensive, collective, integral group effort. This effort that is aimed at unity resembles the Light in its attributes and summons its influence upon us.

Of course it will eventually take us less time to reach unity in the workshops. Although it is impossible to explain, the desire already understands which internal movements are required in order to feel the excitement and the impression from the unity. Thus the workshop is our “tool,” our means.

But we can also do the same thing during the morning lesson. We need to do it every day for three hours!

Question: During the workshop we “rub” against one another and there is a kind of spark going through us. How can we reach the same feeling during the lesson?

Answer: During the lesson you don’t speak and don’t look at one another, which makes things more difficult for you. But you should overcome this. You should learn to feel one another without words and even independently of distance. The distances don’t exist, there are no walls, I only imagine all this; it is all depicted in my perception. So let’s make an effort and each one will feel the friends as his integral parts.

Don’t pin your hopes on me. I only operate the mechanism. It all depends on the connection among you. The upper Light is always ready and responds according to your desire. So there is no effort on my part: The moment there is a desire, I am ready to work on it. You are expecting something from me, and you need only one thing—to actually want connection. Thus, you will oblige me, you actually force me to act. Only your connection summons a real filling on my part.
[82051]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in the North of Israel”

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A Tuning Fork For David’s Violin

Dr. Michael LaitmanI cannot tune myself to the Creator without first properly calibrating myself with the help of my friends. I do not have any other tool for checking myself: not its foundation, no boundaries, nor qualities of reference.

I first must reach the correct setting, like the white balance in the camera or the initial calibration of any instrument. I need to connect to a certain system report.

It is the same in relation to the Creator because I do not have any points of reference when it comes to Him. Every religion and belief gives Him its own definition; there are plenty of opinions, everyone imagines whatever they like.

And this is why the breaking of the desires gives us the opportunity for verification, so we will not get confused. I am able to perfectly tune myself with a tuning fork in relation to a group of friends. I need at least one more person (two is the minimum number) who I could use to determine the correct direction and the starting point for advancement, by combining “Israel, Torah, and the Creator.”

But I must start working by turning myself into a properly calibrated instrument, as precisely as possible. The entire ladder of spiritual degrees where I am constantly working on greater adhesion, unity of all souls, all the people, represents a better quality and finer calibration to something called the Creator until I focus on a single point, which points in the absolutely precise direction.

All my qualities, all my desires, connect in this point, giving a pure sound, like of David’s violin. This means that I am attaining real adhesion, revealing this phenomenon called the Creator in all my qualities.
[82132]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/3/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Zohar: The Link To Perfection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we imagine The Zohar as the center of the energy source, how does it permeate the soul?

Answer: There is no source that can come close to The Book of Zohar, which was written by ten Kabbalists, each of which was part of a group, part of the integrality that is the basis of nature. Nature is round, and with the help of the upper force a group representing the collective force of nature convened. And now this group, to attain all the laws, all of reality, all of Providence Above, and our work below, builds inside it the system of the Creator’s forces.

This group founded the whole system of correction. It did not exist before that. Before that there was the era of the forefathers, Abraham, Egypt, the first and second Temples—all this was a development from the top down. There was no real exile, since Egypt was only a prototype, the root of all the subsequent exiles. All this was preparation so that a group called “Israel” would be established, which is actually the same group of Rabbi Shimon. There are also the nations of the world, who are external to that group. The group of Israel is “shattered” and they go out and mix with the rest of humanity.

Therefore, there is no stronger connection than The Book of Zohar in which the authors expressed in writing everything they attained by building their internal system in spirituality, by building a hierarchy of all they did and attained, all the 125 degrees. This is all one system, and it makes no difference that I see the text and that I exist in my body. It is all a system of forces, there is no body here that understands or that doesn’t understand. These are forces that are now arranged as an integral system that can be corrected and brought to perfection.

So the composition that was created by the authors of The Zohar is not a book, but a system that was created by their work, and we want to be part of this system so that it will influence us. I want to enter its force field.

It is with this intention that we try to read The Book of Zohar. There is no other way to connect with that system, except for seeing the still letters by our corporeal sense of sight. But by that, with the help of the group and my efforts, I begin to develop my internal attitude, to enter the system of forces, by clarifying the force of reception, the force of bestowal, intentions, connection, rejection, repulsion, hatred, and love.
[81960]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, The Zohar

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Illuminated By The Light Of Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanUnity and cohesion in the upper One is the Light for the lower one. There is no Light as such; fulfillment is created by those additional qualities that we develop: the screen, our attitude, and our values. All of this fills us and serves as the Light for us. In reality, everything is determined by our attitude.

How do we feel the Creator, His attitude? The upper Light is not a light bulb, but rather the impressions within a person. That is why a group that is becoming united and gradually passes through all the stages reveals the Creator at the highest stage, the fourth stage of its unity. Our maximum connection is the state of final readiness in which we discover the spiritual spark, the force that came to us from the Creator. In Him we attain that very point that came indirectly from Him. All of this is realized within the group; as it is said, “The Creator lives within His people.” That is why, on the one hand, advancement is impossible without unity in the group, and on the other hand, without studies and dissemination. By these two actions, we bring about the general correction.
[81802]
From a “Talk About General Questions” 6/29/12

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Getting Ready For The Congress: Second Round Of Questions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should I do if, during the convention, I connect via the Internet, and in the workshop, I can only hear the focus group? How should I incorporate in the unity like the people who physically attend the convention?

Answer: The friends who conduct the workshop on the other side of the screen are with me. I also am connected to the focus group, only listen to these friends, and as appropriate, give instructions and speak. I don’t hear the others, so you are in the same situation I am in, and it is enough in order to be with me. If a person sits by himself in front of a screen during the workshop and opens his heart as strongly as he can, he is with us.

Question: How should the groups around the world prepare for the convention?

Answer: Just like we do. After all, the distances don’t separate us. Prepare mattresses and food and everything that you need in order to constantly be with us, like us. Then, you surely will experience the same feelings, the same fillings, the same states.

Question: Should we have a protocol in this convention?

Answer: Yes, the same protocol as in the workshops or in the group according to which a person comes to the convention only to connect. By that, it will be clear what we have to do.

No one can leave for a while during the convention; no one does anything outside the general framework. In short, we are consolidated. People who served in the army will find it easier; they have such memories.

One way or another, a person should follow his feelings, and everything should follow the feeling of unity from which no one detaches himself. After all, the moment a person leaves this feeling, this necessity, the yearning for it, he falls.

Then, he needs a protocol in order to act according to its rules. In the meantime, he holds on to the unity, and the protocol is written in his heart.

This refers to all the groups. People who don’t take part in our daily activities, but feel a need to participate, can join our groups, but it should be full participation. You cannot just visit the friends during the convention for a couple of hours and that’s it. If a person participates in the convention, it should be from the beginning to the end and only with the permission of the group if his intentions are really serious. Our convention is not for beginners, but for those who follow our path and who feel the need to unite in order to reach the spiritual world.

Question: How can we choose a stronger environment before the convention?

Answer: In order to do that, we must unite as strongly as we can. I don’t escape from one group to another, and I don’t choose between two groups. I clarify the concept of a “group” itself.

Question: A week ago, you said that a 1% effort during the morning lesson is much more effective than a 10% effort during the convention. So, why do we need the convention?

Answer: The morning lesson involves greater difficulties since is very hard to work against a habit, but, indeed, by many actions during the morning lesson, we can do much more and come to greater results than during a convention. If we made enough efforts during the morning lesson, if we were serious and constantly thought about how to make the best of it, we wouldn’t need conventions. They wouldn’t compensate for much either. After all, every morning lesson is a special event, an important state.

Question: What should be the outcome of this convention? What is the final picture that you see?

Answer: Constant unity in which we open up the upper dimension.

Question: How should we aim ourselves with the help of the convention and the Creator who does everything so that this wisdom will become common knowledge so that it will be the general approach of the group?

Answer: Everything is revealed in unity.
[81965]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in the North of Israel”

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Getting Ready For The Congress: First Round Of Questions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: This congress is quite sudden, and we fear that we will not arrive with sufficient enthusiasm. How can we prepare ourselves in the time we have left so that the convention will not turn into a festival?

Answer: The congress will not turn into a festival; we will make sure it doesn’t. Don’t expect celebrations, but rather most likely a forced march with mattresses. So you can stop worrying, it won’t be easy.

As for the suddenness, the best and most important things appear suddenly, the exodus from Egypt, for example that took place in a hurry. So there is nothing to complain about, it is just the opposite case.

Besides, we are talking about connection and unity, so do we have to make a fuss about that and say: “Friends listen to the news, we have to unite! Let’s prepare ourselves and in six months we are going to unite…”

Are we talking about something new we haven’t heard of? Do we have to start preparing for it only now? Shouldn’t we be ready for that all our life and every moment in our life?

What do we need a congress for? It may very well be that we will receive what we want to attain today and then there will be no need for the convention and other actions will be required instead. We should expect the coming of the Messiah every day.

Question: What should I expect from the congress?

Answer: That by the connection and the unity with others I will attain the general from of bestowal called “the revelation of the Creator,” the revelation of the “upper force.”

Question: This is the first convention that in advance you are not awakening us, leaving room for our exertion. How do we examine ourselves to see whether we are preparing ourselves the way we should?

Answer: I act according to the situation. In the current state, I don’t feel that I can spur you in any way other than what I am doing. Listen to today’s lesson again, and you will see that I am constantly waking you up. It also refers to the recent lessons and workshops.

What can I do if you don’t take this into account, if you don’t pay attention to that? I am trying to do my work. Besides, you should demand! I am ready to give a thousand times more, but where is your demand? You have no spiritual hunger; it is as if you are all full: “Well, tell us some more and we will listen…” what else can I say?

Question: How can we consolidate our forces in order to break through the Machsom (barrier) during the convention?

Answer: We need the unity that is attained out of necessity, the awakening of the desires and the impression. It says: “Each man shall help his friend.” Nowhere does it say that the teacher has to dance before the group in order to evoke joy or tears. The teacher guides the group in the right direction, but the students should follow this direction by themselves. There should be a collective desire among the friends. The teacher cannot do what the group should do, and you are wasting your time if you are hoping for this.
[81968]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in North of Israel”

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Contact With The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” item 15: When you examine the above three states, you will find that one completely necessitates the other in a way that, if one were to be cancelled, the others would be cancelled, too.

If, for example, the third state—the conversion of the form of reception to the form of bestowal—had not materialized, it is certain that the first state in Ein Sof would never have been able to emerge.

It is because the perfection materialized there only because the future third state was already there, as though it is in the present. And all the perfection that was pictured there in that state is like a reflection from the future into the present. But if the future could be cancelled, there would not be any present. Thus, the third state necessitates the existence of the first.

The whole plan, including the initial part, the middle part, and the final part couldn’t exist without the future form. It is said: “The end of the action in is the initial thought,” which is true according to every plan and every action—the future form is mandatory and in itself determines all the details.

The beginning is only the point of the created being, which is separate from the Creator. In the future form, the created being should be like the Creator, when he rises to the level of Adam, the “human” level, stemming from the word Domeh (similar.) This determines the process: to get from the beginning to the end, we must start our development from the end to the beginning. That means that “the end result of an action lies in the initial thought.” An “action” is already the end, the final and complete form, from which we know how to approach things. It is the only way the spiritual work takes place.

In our world we assume that we operate differently, but it isn’t so. It simply seems that way since half of our actions and thoughts are concealed. It seems that something new is going on, that I am doing something, but in fact I don’t see what is going on behind the scenes where everything is arranged for me, where the future form determines the current form from which it is supposed to stem.

It seems as if I go through some process of development and that I can affect it according to my desire and my plan and to obey the desire of those around me. In the meantime, I simply don’t see that everything is predetermined and programmed.

The future form determines everything there is and everything that there will be, and only our attitude affects the feeling, the manner according to which we accept what is happening.

So we don’t need to think about the actions themselves at all. Our intention is the action. Our attitude towards what is going on is the one new element we can add on our part according to the principle of “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before.” The Creator holds everything in His hands and all the created being has to do is to change his perception of reality as he accepts it as good, in equivalence of form, or in the form of suffering.

Question: How can it be that although the final phase already exists we still have to make our own independent efforts?

Answer: Our independent efforts are necessary only so that we will want to format new internal values for the new perception. If you waste your energy in order to change the world, it only means that you are foolish. You don’t need to change the world in the present but to contact the future. Animals do it instinctively, and man developed this ability when he climbed down from the tree.

After all, it is impossible to advance without knowing the future. Ancient pagan beliefs were intended only to connect to the future. Today we simply don’t understand them and that actually the customs, the dances, the rituals, and even the martial arts were designed not in order to harm someone but only to “lock” the future upon ourselves.

Man has always faced the problem of contacting the future and of feeling it. If I shoot an arrow from a bow, for example, I only have to capture the moment in which I actually hit the target, feel the future moment in which the arrow already reaches the target. That’s enough. This is called “living the future,” being in contact with it. Then by that feeling I can arrange my actions on my way to it.

But we have not been developing in this direction for quite a while since the growing ego has deprived us of the natural perception that was in our basis and we lost contact with it.

If I don’t know the future form and don’t connect to it, I don’t act; it is a sign that my desire isn’t clarified yet. So there is nothing to cry about—I have to aim all my actions towards the connection with the future.

Our future is the attribute of bestowal and I have to express it by different means. When it is clear to me how I have determined my future form, I ask for its correction and then I discover it.

Accordingly, now too, if I imagine the group correctly, it shows me the future in which I am totally connected to it in all my attributes. This is my first spiritual level. On the next level I will be given a greater egoistic desire, I will draw away from the friends again, I will begin to disrespect and hate them even more in order to reunite with them after I overcome these interruptions. This process continues until we become like Rabbi Shimon’s students, united above the burning furnace of hatred.
[81819]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/12, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

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