Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Levers For Controlling The Spiritual World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I direct my dissemination actions towards the spiritual root with maximum intensity? How can I imagine the spiritual processes to which my actions correspond? Where is the world I disseminate to, where am I, and where is the men’s group in this picture?

Answer: You are asking questions that already pertain to the next degree. In other words, you want to feel the actuality of your actions: How exactly do they manifest, where are these levers, threads, instruments which I use to control when editing materials, disseminating, doing something? How exactly am I acting, in what direction is this all going?

In general, for now all this work is for general unity, meaning not for the direct attainment of a higher degree, but for unity on our degree. As soon as our unity becomes somewhat similar to the upper Light, this Light begins to influence it and lifts us accordingly to its level.

This means that everything you do only affects unity. And nothing else! But as soon as it reaches a certain strength, a certain threshold, contact between this unity and the Light immediately begins to appear. Light influences this unity; it begins to manifest in it and feel it. Then our attempt to unite becomes real. And those who join this united desire and complete it begin to perceive whatever is manifesting in this common desire to the extent of their participation.

Assume that a thousand people are participating in the creation of the collective desire, trying to rise above their egoism and create a certain generality of desire through all possible actions. They rise slightly over the breaking of this desire and aspire towards unity. This aspiration and effort attracts the manifestation of Light in this desire.

When their efforts reach a certain strength, the Light manifest in its action above the desire and sets it on a certain level within this desire. It then becomes a common desire, and this upper quality manifests in it.

And when you take part in this common desire by giving it, let us say, ten pounds of your efforts, you perceive that what is happening in it to the extent of these ten pounds. Light and the Creator can manifest in it to the extent of a million pounds, but you will only perceive it to the extent of your participation.

Question: Is it enough to imagine unity?

Answer: Of course it is. But again, unity will depend on the collective efforts, and you will perceive it to the extent of your personal efforts. In other words, you depend on both your own and the collective efforts.

You depend on the latter because the Light will not manifest otherwise. But the intensity of the Light, the degree which will be revealed to you, depends upon your personal efforts. In other words, this common desire can reach the degree of fifty miles, but you will only feel the ascent of five inches.

Question: Can I help the collective efforts by imagining within myself the desire this effort realizes? I do not think I should be coming up to every person to tell them: “Let’s do it!”

Answer: Your desire is your actual participation in this collective effort. Others do not even need to know about you. You could be living somewhere in the North Pole. What does it matter? Even if you are not connected to them in any way, your desire is your actual participation. And if we succeed, everyone will succeed, regardless of their location in the world. After all, all our desires are mutually interconnected, and we are the participants of a single field.
[45583]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Parting In Body, Don’t Part In Your Soul!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You are giving us good advice. Why don’t we hear and follow it? Teach us to do as you say.

Answer: One person can never succeed. Only a group of people who have a mutual agreement can reach the goal.

“We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam,” as Rabash writes in his first article on the matter of the group. And we must move forth guided by this method, helping each other to reach the goal. We will certainly come to it, but only to the degree of our mutual assistance, the guarantee. We don’t need anything else.

Question: But what is preventing us from doing so?

Answer: We must begin doing it here and now. And when we part in body, we must not part in soul. I truly hope that we will keep and cultivate ever more the heavy potential we have accumulated at the present convention and before it. This is the essence of our work.
[45616]
From the 7th lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/12/11

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The Role Of Women’s Groups

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do we need a women’s group? What is the role of women’s groups?

Answer: In principle, there is no such connection among women as there is among men. A man should be united into a single vector with his friends, so much so that there is no difference between them. That is, on the earthly level, they must try to achieve an absolute fusion with each other in their feelings and thoughts.

This quality, this ability to connect is inherent in men; they simply must work on this. Only egoism separates them, and they have to unite above it. If there are two friends and between them there is mutual egoism that pushes them apart, they still have to make contact.

This is the duty of men. The woman’s part cannot do that.

The men’s part includes the objects that carry in themselves the potential quality of being able to connect with each other. Potential! They must create this network of connection among themselves. They can do this. This is their correction.

The woman’s part is created in such a way that each woman is on her own like a queen. She cannot be connected with other women by ties, like the men are among themselves. However, together with other women, she can create one common desire to reach the goal.

This is the women’s task. This desire has to be directed, as if passed, to the men’s part and through them, to the Creator.
[45483]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Five Steps To Get Out Of The Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I have a question about the upper and lower degrees. What does it mean in our state to take a desire from the lower one? What can I do with it, and where can I direct it? How can I take this desire sooner and advance without wasting time?

Answer: In truth, we are between the upper world and humanity. If we want to get desires from all of humanity in order to raise them and receive the upper Light from Above to carry it down, then this scheme will work. To do that, we must disseminate to the wide public knowledge about the solution to the problem of our general crisis from which humanity is only beginning to suffer. There are many problems ahead.

Hence, we have to take the following steps: 1) We need to give humanity knowledge about the crisis, that it is purposeful and not random. 2) In order to raise us up, we have to get from humanity their desires to ascend, to get out of this crisis. 3) We have to raise these desires in order to realize them within ourselves, 4) receive general fulfillment in them, and 5) pass it down. Thus, we work: the upper and the lower one.
[45492]
From the 6th lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/12/11

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Giving Birth To A Spiritual Degree

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the correct environment for women, and how can we use it when it is difficult to work with joy and enthusiasm?

Answer: The correct women’s environment facilitates in a woman an aspiration to calmly, constantly analyze and synthesize the correct desire: What it should be; how we, the male and female parts of our family, unite and give birth to a spiritual degree.

We produce it between ourselves by uniting with each other correctly. Our correct contact brings forth the next degree. This is what the women have to think first. Then, the men will perceive everything in the right way and will act.
[45480]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Rising Above All The Borders That Separate Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanI hope that this convention will become a turning point. We will start treating each other more seriously; we will finally start getting closer to each other; we will stop paying attention to which country we are from or that we are opposite, different.

We must rise above all the borders that separate us. We have to form a single space, and I really believe that this will happen. We must break all the barriers. Otherwise, we won’t get to the next degree.

What kind of Machsom (the barrier) do you expect to cross if you differentiate between you and me, between this and the other, between black, white, yellow, red, and so on. This immediately places a wall in front of you.

That’s how it should be in every group. In each group, we have to rise above our ego. After all, we are simply being played with from Above. The Creator deliberately gives us this egoism from the left side, and we can’t climb it.

We always see shortcomings in others. This one is disgusting to me because he picks his nose, that one because he talks in such a way, and that one because he looks at me in a strange way. This one is fat, this one is thin, this one is arrogant, and so on. Where do we get this from?

There are thousands of reasons not to connect with others. I have no problem doing this. I’m ready to push everyone away and will find a reason to be right in every case. How can I rise above this? If we don’t do this, nothing will work.
[45358]
From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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The Right Stimulus

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe science of Kabbalah has an interesting section about the way we perceive the universe, about how man attains the world in which he lives. Why do we feel the world precisely in this way? Is our world really the way we perceive it to be, or is it completely different? In reality, after it passes through our five senses, it acquires a specific form in our perception. We observe precisely this picture, rather than having a direct, objective perception of the actual world.

Today scientists research how the world is seen by butterflies, bees, snakes, and dogs. Every creature sees it in its own way, in different ranges, through a schema of color or scent, and so on. Every creature has its own kind of orientation in the world and sees its own picture, which differs from what others see.

So why is the picture precisely this way in our eyes? And what is it really like from the objective point of view? Can we even attain a truly objective worldview? This is what the section of Kabbalah called “Perception of Reality” talks about.

However, the most important part of Kabbalah is not the descent from above downwards from the world of Infinity into our world, but what happens afterwards. The most important thing for us is the Machsom and the subsequent path upwards. This is what we are now facing, what we now have to go through. We have to go through it in practice, not in theory, and we have to go through this path all together.

We have to implement this as fast as possible so the negative force of development won’t pressure us from behind, giving us a negative stimulus. In ancient Rome, Stimulus meant a sharp stick that was used to prick donkeys so they would move forward. Thus, it’s important for us not to feel this stimulus on our flesh, but to aspire forward ourselves, with the help of the positive force that is given to us for now.

This is essentially the reason we have gathered together. We can get together and get organized, and we can start feeling each other internally, even without physical contact. Let’s feel that by uniting with one another we become similar to the common, global nature. Then, inside of our unity, we will reveal the common field and will feel that we are rising slightly higher. This is realistic and I hope that you and I will do it.
[45526]
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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