Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

The Creator: The Witness Of Our Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I understand that I love my friend?

Answer: It happens when I cease to see his body completely and sense that our feelings (hearts) and minds are united together. At first we only imagine such connection to ourselves, but then it actually occurs beyond the bodies. In this connection we start to feel the Creator’s presence.

A state when you are capable of uniting with the friend in mind and heart and the Creator dwells between you is called love of the friend. One condition cannot be met without the others: All three parameters have to be joined together. The Creator becomes revealed between us as the witness of us being truly connected with each other.
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From Lesson 2, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Everything Depends On The Right Focus

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe do not realize that our entire worldview passes through the prism of human society. The difference between the animate level and our, human level lies precisely in the fact that we build an environment.

We used to live in herds, just like animals. But then we started organizing special relationships among us, arranging people according to a hierarchy, and distributing functions. Our development thereby took on a social character even though it still unfolded egoistically, naturally, instinctively, by nature’s command. Yet we were becoming human.

We cannot even imagine what it would be like to live completely alone, without any memories of human society. In this situation a person would live by himself, on the level of an animal.

From this it is clear that we do not perceive reality the way it is, but through the environment. Society has raised me, endowed me with habits and models dictating how to look at what is happening, how to evaluate things, and how to accept everything that I see. My mind and feelings are programmed according to the value system that society has conditioned me to have over the course of the first 20 years of my life. I do not see the world the way it is, but the picture imposed on me by society.

Likewise, in the spiritual society we have to give a person our view of the world, funneled through the prism of love, the aspiration to bestow to others instead of personal benefit. Bestowal has to acquire the greatest importance in every person’s eyes.

At the same time a person’s worldview will still be built on the program “installed” in him by society. This is natural because it is the only way he can look at the world. A person by himself is just “an observation point,” whereas the analysis and understanding come from the norms of society, which tells him: This is important and this is not, this means one thing and that means something different. It’s as if we build a matrix in front of a person through which he sees the upper Light. Otherwise it would be impossible to see it.

On the other hand, right now we observe the upper Light through the matrix of human society. This is our world.

Thus, we have to become maximally included in the group, using the materials of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. That is how we build a new vision of the world inside of us. This is seen very clearly when looking at beginners. They come to the lesson or lecture as if they were coming from another world, but gradually they adopt a slightly different direction, a different perspective, and different values. Gradually we come closer to them and they change their point of view, the “polarization” of their picture of perception. In the same world, a different form of being comes through before them.

Then the lecture ends, the connection with me becomes severed, and everything disappears. Next time they return defocused again, with a distorted “resolution.” At every lecture it takes time to focus them anew, to bring the details that diffuse in their eyes back into one.

I am unable to do this all of the time. You have to focus on your own by uniting so that every mutual action will constantly keep you in the spiritual focus. It has to become focused a bit more and then a bit more, as if you are adjusting the resolution on binoculars by turning two lenses so they would come together on the spiritual goal. When you achieve this, you will immediately reveal the spiritual world.

Everything is determined by the love between friends. This is the “focus” that enables us to see the Creator. The friends bring together my feelings and mind in one direction, toward love for the neighbor, and then demand that I look only at them and that I think only about how to help them. I constantly concentrate on this and by means of the group I focus my attention into the thinnest line. That is how I reveal the Creator.
From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention 4/1/11, Purpose of the Group

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A Real Virtual Environment

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to organize an inner environment among us instead of the external, common human environment. Then our environment will offset the external influence and will influence us of its own accord, “brainwashing” us and intensively “advertising” spiritual ascent as the most important thing we have to accomplish in life.

Otherwise I will leave this world without any use. An animal lived and then died. The body has “strolled about” as long as it was allotted and then it decomposed, and in the meantime nothing was accomplished. The point instilled in it from the spiritual world remained a mere point and did not develop.

Everything depends on the importance of the environment. There is nothing more important than organizing a virtual environment that is warm and heart-felt. This is the most important thing. Otherwise my thoughts will disconnect from the right direction at every second and maybe the next time I disconnect, I will never return to it again.

After all, if I am given over to my own power, then I will never return to thoughts about spirituality. I stopped to think about it for the first time because the Creator, the upper force awakened me. The upper Light awakens Reshimot and that is how my spiritual Reshimo awakened, causing me to feel a desire that turns toward the Light. But this only happened once. Maybe the Creator will awaken the person once or twice more, but all the rest depends on us. I have to build an environment as fast as possible which will become a womb for me to raise my soul.

The spiritual environment has to be as numerous as possible, but more importantly, it must be as powerful and close-knit as possible. Baal HaSulam writes about this, and so does Rabash. The main force should be quality, not quantity. Quality determines everything.

The quality of the influence depends on how much we worry about one another, how inspired we become by one another, how much we return to the fundamental principles of the environment and take care to ensure that no one forgets about the goal. The thoughts of the friends are passed over to me and therefore, the more I inspire them, the more they inspire me in response.

I will not be able to awaken to spirituality unless I awaken the group to it. The group will inspire me also if I aspire it. We must always work in this closed circle.

That is why the virtual environment is important for us. We have to create a portal that will enable us to maintain unceasing contact with one another. It’s not accidental that communication means have been developed in the world enabling us to constantly stay in touch, to constantly see what is happening in our virtual environment.

I am dreaming about a virtual environment in which I will be able to constantly communicate and be in touch with you, to feel you by means of speech and music, 24 hours a day, non-stop. Then we will constantly give each other the realization of the importance of the goal, love, connection, and the right direction, and that is how we will hold ourselves in spiritual ascent and consolidation all together until we become a single vessel, one soul.

Let us hope that we will implement this platform and will stay in constant connection with it.
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From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention 4/1/11

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The Only Use Of This World

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe don’t even realize how deeply immersed we are in the egoistic nature. Our cells, our bodies, our world, our thoughts and desires, and generally everything that exists is just egoism and nothing more.

Everything aspires only to receive, to absorb as much goodness as possible for one’s individual self. This is the nature into which we are born and in which we live, not having the slightest inkling that there is a possibility for anything to exist besides this.

Nevertheless, we have to go from one world to another, or in other words, to acquire an additional, new world, to grow through from the point in the heart, to develop it into a new spiritual “body.” In essence, it is analogous to our current body, which only appears flat to us, but in reality it is depicted by forces and vectors. But instead of seeing this image on a computer display, we see it on the 3D screen of our consciousness.

We perceive reality on this screen of the receiving desire. Everything we are able to receive or perceive falls upon this screen and stops there, creating the picture that we see.

However, the forces of bestowal are entirely different. We cannot stop them with the screen of the receiving desire and therefore we do not perceive them. Only by creating a screen in the bestowing desire will we reveal the second half of reality. In truth, we won’t feel half, but nearly 100% of everything that exists. Whatever amount of Light this new screen, the intention of bestowal, will stop, that is the kind of picture we will see on it.

It is very difficult to start raising a second “body” from your point in the heart. To do that you have to enter a group, like a mother’s womb, and start growing inside it. This looks very repulsive and unreal to a person. The whole world is against it and therefore he does not think about it or attribute any significance to it.

That is why it is very difficult for us to focus on the group. Whatever the environment deems important, that is what’s important to us as well. If the world considers work in the group to be unimportant, then we also forget about it at every second. Even if we try to extend a thread of connection, to listen about it and to maintain it in our thoughts, it still seems infantile, unrealistic, and naïve to us, and that is because it is not important to the greater world. And vice versa, if the most unrealistic thing becomes important to everyone, then we would think about it, talk about it, and aspire to it.

That is why we need the “social opinion,” the confidence, the mutual influence that convinces us that we are doing something real and that our world is really not worth a thing. What do we have here besides a fleeting life full of suffering? If it weren’t for the unique opportunity to acquire eternal, perfect life during this time, then there would be no use from this world for us or for our children.
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From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention 4/1/11

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We Have Gathered Here….

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, 1984, “Purpose of Society”: We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam, the way by which to climb the degrees of man, and not remain as a beast… And this is why we gather here—to establish a society where each of us follows the spirit of bestowing upon the Creator.

What is “bestowal to the Creator”? Everyone gets confused by these terms. And in general, Rabash wrote his articles in a language that we are not used to. We have to rewrite these words so they will sound clearly. “Bestowing to the Creator” means awakening the general force of nature (because the Creator is nature) and acquiring the force of bestowal in likeness to nature, in equivalence of form.

Baal HaSulam gives an example of the situation with a guest and a host. I can reveal the host’s bestowal to the degree that I with to bestow o him. But how can I desire this? After all, he is invisible to the eye and I will not reveal him until I reveal my inner desire to bestow to him.

I can only reveal him inside of the aspiration to him. With my desire to bestow, by attaining equivalence of form or the same “style” as the host, I remove the concealment and “open up the veil.”

To do that I have been given the society, the group where I can practice bestowal. Then, in the same place, among the friends, I discover the host, the Creator, and continue bestowing to Him through the group and together with the group. That is how we reveal Him.

This is our work: We want to unite among us in order to reveal the general force of nature, the bestowing force that is inside of us, in the group. There, inside, it becomes revealed to us, and in it we discover the spiritual world consisting of five levels or five worlds. In it we discover Partzufim, levels, Sefirot and much more.

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From the 5th lesson at the WE! Convention, The Purpose of the Group

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When Purpose Calls

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I strengthen the group and the bond with the friends if I can only act virtually?

Answer: So what if it is virtually? Distance isn’t an obstacle, and it is absolutely unnecessary to hold hands. Or, do you think that if I am familiar with your face and personality, I know you?

How did you find us? Through the Internet. Do you think it was an accident? In truth, your desires connected you with the collective system of Adam, the connection of all parts of the world together. In this system, there are multiple societies or circles according to interests and desires such as science, banking, business, family, and so forth.

Additionally, there is a unique circle connecting those who are seeking the purpose of life and the knowledge of what is worth living for. These individuals are located everywhere geographically and in various circles, but at the same time, without feeling or even being aware of it, they comprise between themselves their own circle, some field of internal, mutual connection.

When purpose starts calling a person from within, he gets in contact with this field, steps out of his circle, and enters this special, other circle. This is how you found us on the Internet.

Now, the new connection continues to grow stronger. We may not have seen or known each other before, but with time, we have a much greater effect on one another. Every day, you are receiving the thoughts and desires of millions of people from around the world who also have started pondering the purpose of creation and, thereby, finding each other.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/2010, Writings of Rabash

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Want To Browse The Net? Get A Computer First

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: My sensations and spiritual states are reflected on the reality that I observe all around me. Does that mean that I can judge the internality based on the externality?

Answer: Not at all! As it is said: “The world lives according to a plan.” In the corporeal world I go through various states and relationships; some are more pleasant than others, but I cannot label them with “spiritual tags.”

I have to hold onto my spiritual goal above all the sensations of the corporeal world. Even if the Creator does something awful to me, I still have to hold onto this grip. I am unaware of what happens and why it is happening to me. I am linked with other souls, events, and states that I have no clue about.

Today I still lack a sensation of the whole system that allows me to research these matters. It is silly for me to think that I can trace a connection between spirituality and corporeality. I am not an expert in either of them.

No research tools are available to me at this time: I don’t possess the intellect, sensitivity, or insight. I cannot observe the upper system (world), the lower system (world), nor can I trace any connection between them. It is still very far away from me. I don’t comprehend it at even the simplest spiritual level. I cannot understand it yet because it is based on annulling one’s ego. I am unable to clarify this since I don’t have such a desire yet, even though I wish to be included in the upper system.

What do I have except egoism? Is there anything I have to attain except bestowal? For that, I have to annul my ego and conduct internal work in the group with my friends. We build our inner unity to obtain a common strength that exists outside of each of us and belongs to us all.

Why do I fantasize about the hidden spiritual essence of an illness, family or financial problems, or conflicts with my boss? It is silly! I am not ready for these kinds of calculations yet.

A new computer is only a piece of metal until I install the operational system, turn it on, run the programs, and enter data. Only when I familiarize myself with the software will I be able to start working with it.

We don’t have the Kelim (the computer) so far, not to mention the software! That’s why we cannot comprehend the internality by observing the externality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/2010, Writings of Rabash

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The Representatives Of The Upper World

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday we have all the possibilities to advance spiritually and circulate the wisdom of Kabbalah throughout the world. By unifying together in our world-wide group, by connecting with our spiritual sparks, “the points in the hearts,” we act as representatives of the upper, spiritual system in our world. Besides, we circulate the wisdom of Kabbalah together. We do not need anything else.

We are situated at the apex of the pyramid of humanity’s development. In the extent that we unite together, it will influence the entire world. And we also have to bring the entire world closer to us.

Yet we shouldn’t think that the entire world has to study Kabbalah or that all people are destined to understand what it is. Not at all! This is akin to a human body, 99% of which is composed of matter governed by the brain. Meanwhile, the brain is the people who strive for spirituality.

The rest will accept this structure of the world; this awareness will get over to them, and they will draw closer to us. But, similarly to how in today’s world the majority of people live an ordinary life and don’t feel the need for great achievements, so in the future the rest of the people will participate in the spiritual process passively.
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From Lesson 1, WE! Convention 4/1/2011

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Standing At The Beginning Of Glorious Deeds

Dr. Michael Laitman The tendency manifesting today was clear for the Kabbalists tens, hundreds, thousands years ago. They talked about our epoch having calculated its time frame precisely based on the general laws of nature.

Throughout the course of history we were developing under the influence of the force that was pushing us forward. As our ego increased incessantly, we transitioned from process to process, from formation to formation in society, family life, education, culture, and so on.

We were advancing by means of the negative force alone and hence Kabbalists were able to calculate how much it would take for humanity “to hit rock bottom,” meaning to reach the need to rise to a new level and, instead of being developed by egoism, advance by means of another force: the force of universal unity.

The calculation pointed to the end of the 20th century, year 1995. From that time on, we will have to reveal for ourselves the method of correction of man who knows how to unite with the others into a single whole—absolutely, globally, and integrally.

Granted, today we are just at the beginning of this path. It is yet to continue. However, we, the people who received a gift from Above, “the point in the heart,” the aspiration upwards, have to turn to the entire world with an explanation about what is happening. By this we realize our predestination, warrant the impulse we received, and lead humanity towards the ascent to a new state, a new degree.

It is a very special degree. The body, the parts of which are disassembled and even opposite to each other, feels sick. But if they begin to unify in harmony and inter-connection, then instead of feeling the illness, the body will sense the life of a higher order. This is how we, with our animate body, feel ourselves at the human degree. The body is an animal, but there is something in a human being that brings him or her back to a higher degree.

And now, by uniting with each other in harmony, we acquire a sensation of a life higher than our present one. It is our spiritual life.

Surely, we have to work on this in the group. This is the primary responsibility that has been placed upon us. In addition, it is our duty to bring the entire world to this, to mitigate the enormous suffering that we may evoke by advancing by means of the negative force, being pushed with a “stick.” Indeed, we already see that humanity’s misfortunes are becoming increasingly unexpected and dangerous.
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From Lesson 1, WE! Convention 4/1/2011

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We Build Spirituality Ourselves!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we are raising a child, we do our best to prepare him or her for life in this world, but how can we enter the spiritual world if we don’t have any idea what it is like?

Answer: A person who, after leaving his or her parents’ home, enters adult life and wants to succeed in it can lean on the life experience of other people. It doesn’t matter what he wants to be, whether it is a thief, a priest, a scientist, or just a seller at the market place. All of these models can be found in society.

However, a person who wants to advance spiritually doesn’t have any examples or support. He must build his environment on his own. After all, the only thing that fills all of reality is the upper Light, and there are no worlds without a person.

The instant that I activate my desire for spirituality, I immediately arrange all the worlds between myself and Infinity. It is as if I erect a ladder leading to the spiritual world that exists only in the form of Reshimot, spiritual information genes.

In the article “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment” from the book Shamati, Baal HaSulam writes that all the worlds with their multiple steps exist only relative to the souls. Therefore, I cannot demand, as we do on our world, to be taught how to behave in spirituality. I must form the spiritual world, which doesn’t exist, on my own.

It is my job to visualize how the upper one relates to me and how I relate to it. If what I see in my imagination matches the actual Reshimot, then everything is wonderfully arranged that very instant, according to the law of equivalence of form. If that doesn’t happen, spiritual reality doesn’t exist for me.

After all, it exists only relative to the person who reveals, constructs, and forms it. In other words, we are the ones who must build the spiritual world, and we need to turn to the Creator with a request that would match precisely to what is set up from Above in Reshimot.

Hence, in Hebrew the Creator is regarded as Boreh (Bo is “come” and Reh is “see”) since it is you who is creating Him. You are the one who builds this form.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011, Writings of Rabash

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