Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Lift Your Eyes Up

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll the work begins namely in this world and at our time. We have reached the state when our desire to enjoy has grown, completely evolved at the corporeal level, and now we are able to start to perceive it by comparing it with the desire to bestow. In other words, we finished our development at the still, vegetative, and animate levels, and now we have to begin to develop at the human degree which includes two forces: reception and bestowal.

Before, I had completely “flat” vision; I saw around myself only what I could benefit from and  grab for myself, and those who I could use. I acted just on the desire to enjoy, which is the basis of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. Thus, I did not have any “splitting” and doubt; it used to be one direction only: how to succeed more in my egoistic desire.

This translates into an ordinary corporeal life without regard to public life, which we never developed before. We always looked at the society as an object of use. However, now the desire to bestow awakens and manifests in us. We cannot resist this desire and must take it into account.

For the first time in history, the whole of humankind enters a state in which the desire to receive and the desire to bestow have to be balanced and controlled by us. If we don’t establish their balance, we bring upheavals and crises.

Thus, the most important thing for us is to create the correct environment for all of humanity. Our world group has to become the first one to serve as an example. Thus, our growth “from below up” begins, while before that, we were developing only on the horizontal plane.

Then, we will reveal the correct interaction between the desire to receive and the desire to bestow, Malchut and Bina, in our broken desires. To reach this, we request the Light that Reforms. It’s as though I reveal: Here is my egoism, and I would like it to act differently and to connect with others, to participate in the mutual work.

That is why I ask the Light to come and correct my desire, to establish some balance and reciprocity in our system so that we bestow to each other, make concessions, and connect. Then, the Light comes and brings us back to its Source. This is called the correction “from below up” that we have to accomplish.
[44327]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Good Environment – 05.31.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

Dissolving In Others

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we are in such close proximity at the Kabbalah conventions, what are we trying to overcome, the grip of the ego? Or are we trying to feel our friends’ desire, to make everybody feel good? What should we think about while we are there?

Answer: I personally recommend that you try feeling the collective state as much as possible. Don’t dig into yourself, don’t do the “soul-searching.” You’ll never find the soul anyway because you don’t have one and neither does anybody else. Your soul is beyond you!

Try to feel the collective state, the common spirit of this exalted gathering of desires for unity, attended by people who put huge effort and means into it, anticipating such an event for many months or even years so as to reveal in this unity the integral upper force of Nature, the force of love and bestowal—the Creator. You need to catch the collective spirit. And when it starts working in you, do the only correct and most effective action: lose yourself in this common spirit, just like an embryo in the mother’s womb.

Then you will get to feel how this property of bestowal gradually works on you, forming and building in you a new sensory organ for this new property (or dimension). This new sensory organ isn’t aimed at you, the precious, but at the will to bestow, at those whom you love.

If you want to succeed, leave all thoughts about yourself and dissolve in the convention’s collective spirit. Take advantage of every minute we spend together.
[44360]
From the Virtual Lesson 5/29/2011, Fundamentals of Kabbalah Series

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Good Environment – 05.30.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

Do Not Reveal The Secrets Of Your Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn Kabbalah, we don’t talk about personal feelings. We do speak of love of friends, but only generally, without mentioning ourselves or any specific names.

It is necessary to speak about the greatness of the teacher, the Creator, the group, and the importance of the goal because without inspiring one another, we won’t advance. This gives us strength to work, and that’s why we need the group. But nobody speaks about it from the first person, revealing their inner feelings and desires (Kelim).

In fact, the others are not yet reformed to Bina’s degree (Hafetz Hesed), meaning not “to do to others what you don’t wish to be done to you” and therefore, may harm you with their thoughts. Hence, this ban exists.

You talk about how exalted the spiritual goal is, but not about how you or somebody else is inspired by spirituality. You should talk about the law that works in creation, the formula in the system of forces, without pointing at anyone specifically.

All our work is internal and humble. I must view the group not as individual people and faces, but as forces who yearn toward the Creator, bestowal, and who unify in order to reach this goal together. This bond of our desires, this internal connection is what we call the group.

Hence, when I speak about the group, I don’t mention people’s names. It is as if there are no people and only desires tied by the mutual guarantee! If these desires reach the level of connection when it truly becomes for bestowal in the first degree, they reveal it, along with the Light of Hassadim that fills it, meaning mutual bestowal.
[44033]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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A Point That Contains Infinity

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything starts with a black point “created from absence,” which the upper Light works on and thereby develops the creature. All development, except for this point of “Yesh Mi Ain” (existence from absence) is done by the Light, the force that acts in the creature, in the part that’s being “led.”

Where then do we get such different properties as individuals? From the Light! The point of creation “from absence” is a mere point. But the Creator splits His relation into billions of creatures and then re-connects them by tying them together in all sorts of ways so that everyone becomes connected with the seven billion others. Thereby, He wishes to express Himself within the matter of “existence from absence.”

He wouldn’t be able to express it in any other way except by such multiplied number of small creatures, each of which is created in a special, unique manner, unlike any other. Every creature comes to its individual correction, having renounced the part of “Yesh Mi Ain” (existence from absence) in itself and gaining a desire to consist of the properties of “Yesh Mi Yesh” (existence from existence), which can help it unify with the others. And thereby, it increases its “Yesh Mi Yesh” from a small point provided by the Creator to Infinity, to the exalted status of the Creator Himself.

How do I, this tiny point that appeared out of nothing that was created with a virtually zero connection with the Creator, come to His revelation? I unify with all the other points (desires) by cancelling my “existence from absence,” which allows my “existence from existence” to grow to the size of the entire creation that I adjoin to myself.

In other words, connecting thereby, I make out of this point the whole spiritual vessel, “Yesh Mi Yesh,” filled with the infinite connection to the Creator, “Yesh Mi Yesh,” to all. This can be done only by multiplying such tiny parts, each of which unifies with the rest, and thereby, all of them intertwine with the each other as multiple layers.

One unifies with the other; then, the previous two which became one unify with the third and intertwine within, while the new three bond with one more, and so on. So, it’s not just my connecting with all the others, but rather it is a multi-dimensional system of connection. And it is the only medium for the Creator to express Himself within the general creation upon completing this work at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).
[44059]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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Good Environment – 05.29.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

Decoding Each Moment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is written that when you lose thought of spirituality, you should give thanks to the Creator. How can we possibly thank Him for that?

Answer: We know that all our work is solely on desire, and except for the right kind of desire, we need nothing else. In order to reveal the property of bestowal, the Creator, we only need to continue preparing ourselves for the next upcoming moment. All we have to do is just decode it correctly: From whom did I receive the sensation of living, and why did it come in the form that it did?

I know nothing about it. However, if I received it from the Light, from the upper force that is leading me toward the purpose of creation, then the only thing required of me is my awareness and the right response. That is, in each of the states I am going through, I have to be able to see Him and His kind attitude toward me, despite the fact that I feel the opposite.

Thus, a discrepancy arises between how I wish to view Him, as good and doing good unto me, and the world I am experiencing right now, which is not that nice and good. That’s where I am given room to work because the difference between what I desire and what is real, between the thought of how it is supposed to be and my present experience, is the foundation for prayer.

If I don’t feel perfection at any given moment, it means that I feel the gap separating me from it—my own inadequacy. Hence, I already know how to move forward since I sense my digression from the course, from the goal.

The right direction is where everything becomes unified: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator.” That is, the self, the internal meaning of the group and our unity, and the revelation of bestowal in it, all of this together is one whole. If I can’t tie it all together correctly, I view the Creator’s attitude toward me as bad.

In other words, I feel that I’m corrupted and living in a corrupted world. Judging from what the Creator gave me, I discover that He is not good who does good, and I am not living in the world of Infinity. Because of my flawed perception, I am unable to feel perfection.

Hence, I have precise information about how I am supposed to be (if I aim myself at the goal) and how it differs from what I really am. In each of the states, I have a complete set of data, and all I have to do is to use them correctly to assess what I really want. It will become clear that I am always deficient in bestowal, which would otherwise complete my perception and switch me from feeling bad to feeling the perfection that was given to me by the Creator.

The Creator offers me perfection, whereas I feel as though I am flawed and living in a flawed world. The difference between what He sent to me and what I feel is, in fact, my internal flaw. Right now, if I could add bestowal to all my desires, I would move from a bad state to a good one instantly. This deficiency I feel is the prayer with which I am turning to Him right now to ask for the property of bestowal, the force of Bina or correction.

As soon as the right plea is formed, I get an immediate response which actually can be an even worse state of being. That is, my feeling of how remote I am from authentic bestowal is going to become even more acute. I used to assess my remoteness with a rough measuring device, and now I am using a very accurate one, which is how I am able to see a greater deviation.

However, it doesn’t mean that my state has gotten worse in itself. I did change for the better, but at the same time, I have come to understand my state better. I have gained greater receptivity.
[43839]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Let There Be No Rich Or No Poor?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe essence of the method is to awaken yourself to move as quickly as possible, to take the force of development into your hands and control it. That’s why I organize the environment made up of people like me, in order for it to influence me and give me additional power. That is, everything depends on my impression from the environment—this is the measure of my ability to advance.

But I exist in a system of forces and have to know how to get from it the best and most effective influence in order to not harm myself and the environment. Indeed, the harm inflicted upon the environment will return back to me. In this influence there is a force called “the evil eye,” meaning an uncorrected human egoism not covered by a screen, which a person can set in motion unknowingly. Or the person may even be aware of these actions but can’t help it.

If a person sees that someone is more successful than he, he becomes jealous, whether he likes it or not. This can be good, productive jealousy, pushing the person towards development. That is, it could be “the good eye,” when I envy someone and try to advance too. Or it can be “the evil eye,” when I am so jealous I want to kill him because he is greater than me and this poisons my spirit.

There is a joke about this: “Are you making a revolution so that there aren’t any rich people? We were dreaming of a world without the poor….” Which state you desire makes the whole difference: that there are no rich or no poor? With what eye are you looking?

It’s the same in spiritual work: When you’re looking at a friend who is greater than you, do you want to bring him down or to advance yourself?
[44024]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Don’t Believe Your Eyes

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn Kabbalah, we talk about a person’s inner work. One needs to go deeper inside himself and, there, build images of the friends, the group, himself, his inner world, and his impression of spirituality, paying no attention to external impressions which may even be opposite.

The impressions one receives from the external environment may not be true because these are feelings that result from the states (Reshimot, informational records) awakening in him. One can’t rely on these impressions. Rather, one must rely on the images that he has built within himself of the friends, the group, himself, the Creator, and the connection between us.

I don’t rely much on what I feel today and see around me. After all, who sees this? I myself see, and I’m entirely in deception. So, it makes no difference what I see now. I have to build inside myself a model of the future world where we are all connected by mutual love and bestowal, inside of which we reveal the Creator as if in Divinity (Shechina).

[44027]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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