Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

One Soul For All

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe spiritual world is a unified soul, one for all. By unifying with the others, everyone attains the same integral soul. In the article “600,000 Souls,” Baal HaSulam writes that there is nothing else in the world but one soul.

Every person attains this collective soul in an individual manner, according to his or her program or Reshimot (spiritual genes), just as at present, we observe the surrounding world and see it in our own way. I cannot compare the taste that I obtain from a certain food with how others taste it, or my impression of a painting that we both view. Everyone has impressions that match their Reshimot.

Even if we are standing in front of the same picture in spirituality, the same worlds and Partzufim, everyone receives an individual impression of it anyway. This uniqueness doesn’t vanish.

How do I unify with the integral soul? You do it by way of desires. Suppose I am in the center of the spiritual worlds: Assiya, Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon (AK), or the world of Infinity. By exiting myself, my ego, and unifying with the others, I attain the dimension of the integral soul. In it, I perceive the spiritual world. The more I step out of my ego, acquiring the others’ Kelim (vessels), the more exalted world I perceive thereby.

How do I do that? I “purchase” new desires since I have only a point, an embryo, of the soul. The new desires that I gain while unifying with the others are, in fact, the Kli (vessel) of my soul.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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Eureka! It Does Exist!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the desire to bestow develop with the help of the desire to receive? Will it change and unite us back into the collective soul?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah states that the entire path of our correction amounts to our uniting together and reaching the property of bestowal (the Creator) in our connection because this property brings us together.

Development occurs by virtue of unification. And when the desire to bestow enters the desire to receive, it supplies it with the force of development by facilitating various connections. And since it is the desire to bestow, it fuses various parts.

Contrary to it, the desire to receive remains there in the capacity of the still level and does not bond with anything. Hence, if we want to draw closer to the desire to bestow and develop, we need to facilitate ties between us and our mutual inclusion.

And it does not matter that we are separated by distance, differences in character, opinions, and education. We will later see that our previous development (as various distant nations that hate and disregard one another) is needed so that above it, we could start forming our mutual inter-relations. And between these connections we are destined to reveal the property of bestowal (the Creator).

It exists but is hidden inside. This is precisely what we wish to reveal at our conventions.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Stopping Is Falling

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to constantly accelerate in relation to the spiritual goal, and how can we “push on the gas” as much as possible now, before the convention?

Answer: In the spiritual space, acceleration is movement. That’s because if you don’t make a certain action now, then none of your previous merits will count and you will lose all of the speed you have accumulated until now by all the previous actions. The spiritual space is like an empty cosmos where there is no other system from which to start counting, and if you don’t accelerate then you don’t move at all.

A constant state is equivalent to zero. Even if you are flying at the speed of 10 miles a second, this is not considered motion and it’s the same as if you were just hanging in the air. In the spiritual sense acceleration means speed, and in essence it is the action.

Therefore, there are no “gaps” between spiritual actions. Wherever one action ends, that is where the next action immediately begins, just like during the birth of spiritual Partzufim. This indicates that a person’s attitude to the group and the group’s attitude to him must be such that it will constantly awaken him to act and always renew his desire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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The Paradigm Of Acceleration
Signs Of Imminent Revelation
For Spiritual Progress, You Need Constant Acceleration, Not Constant Speed

Bestow With A Generous Hand

Dr. Michael LaitmanPrayer for the society is the aspiration to bestow to the other, which gets born in the person. At first, he feels that only his group, its inner desires, is “the other.” But then he realizes that the entire world is unified and filled with the Shechina, the Divine presence. And then the spiritual world, the upper reality becomes revealed to him.

Now he begins to understand why he had to go through hatred. This is how the process of his development was arranged from Above. Instead of fortifying his egoism through the society and using the others for his own profit, he had to come to the group in order to lower himself, to bow before the force hidden in the society, to develop the desire to connect with this force of bestowal, unite with it, and simply drawn in it.

This is the prayer of the many since he asks for peace for this society, meaning that he aspires to reach the property of bestowal, until he establishes such a connection with this society that there remains no difference between them, and they merge into one whole.

When a person acquires the form of the society, completely unites with it, this signifies their unity, “mating while striking” (Zivug de Hakaa) since untimately, this unity works against his egoism. He strikes his ego in order to unite with the others and in that extent builds his spiritual Partzufim, the forms of unification, and acquires the Creator’s properties.

The form he conceived in his head now becomes realized in him; it spreads in his “body,” fills it, and assumes the form of the Upper One. By receiving the intention “for the sake of bestowal” and clothing in the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), the desire to enjoy becomes fit to receive fulfillment, the Light of Hochma (Wisdom): the Creator’s form.

The Light of Hassadim lacks form; it spreads in breadth, as the gifts of a “generous hand”: for all and without any restriction. But when the Light of pleasure, Hochma, starts to clothe the desire, it imparts it with a certain form of bestowal called “the name of the Creator,” the form of the Upper One. Thus, by virtue of Zivug de Hakaa man attains the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation for the WE! Convention

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How Do I Overcome My Nature?

Dr. Michael LaitmanMany people think that spirituality is an ordinary method to fulfill oneself. A person thinks that very soon the Creator will be revealed to him, and then he will be able to get the whole world at his feet. But it is a false idea because in truth, spirituality is bestowal.

In other words, I am fulfilled not by what is being revealed to me, but rather, if I open myself correctly, I get filled with bestowal. After all, the Light never enters a Kli, desire, directly but only when dressed in the Reflected Light. Hence, I must become a giver and enjoy bestowal. But how do I accomplish that?

To achieve this, a person needs the environment that would influence him so that he would think that bestowal is a very profound, exalted property, that it is fulfillment. Everybody must elevate the value of bestowal in the eyes of the friend, passing to him his part of the mutual guarantee thereby. And then, thanks his awareness of the importance of this goal, a person receives illumination that assists him in spiritual advancement.

But on top of that, a person must understand that it is a game since from his present condition, he cannot see the goal. And hence, all of this work is regarded as ascending to the state which for now is unclear, imperceptible to him, opposite to what he is able to comprehend today. In other words, a person should constantly think about the importance of some false goal. But it is false only for him because it opposes his egoistic desire.

Therefore, the environment must educate a person, provide the correct scale of values for him, and be fairly strong in order to override his egoistic nature. As to the person, he must assist his environment, lower himself before it, submit to, and literally dissolve in it. And then he will be able to receive from it the importance of the goal, despite his ego that unfolds in him more and more.

Otherwise, he won’t be able to advance since there are two forces that participate in it: the force that rejects and one that attracts. The force of rejection, resistance, surfaces naturally: It is his ego. And the question lies only in whether he will manage to oppose it with the force greater in value, the force of the environment that will draw him into spirituality.

Therefore, everyone must be preoccupied with how to arrange the right environment for oneself. This is what is implied in what Rabash describes as: “We have gathered here to rise to the degree of man.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011, Writings of Rabash

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In The Radiant Sphere Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Yitro (Jethro),” Item 465: On Sabbath, the Torah is crowned with him, crowned with all those Mitzvot, all those sentences and punishments in seventy branches of light that shine to every direction…. Who saw those gates that open to each of the directions in them, where each consists of ten, and they are fifty gates? They all shine and illuminate in that light that is emitted and which never stops.

Where can I reveal all these details? I can find them only in the internal connection between the friends. The Zohar describes all types of connection that we will reveal, until it becomes an infinite bond between us, when we completely correct it.

All states and relations The Zohar describes, as well as various images of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, including people and all kinds of situations, or in the language of Kabbalah, Partzufim (souls), Olamot (worlds), Reshimot (spiritual genes), and Sefirot (properties), along with their ascents and descents, all of them are expressions of the internal connection between us, the people who are willing to unify in order to reveal the upper world within, in their relations.

Everyone advances in being able to see how the 613 desires of his or her soul expand outward in bestowal to the other souls and how from every soul, its 613 desires also expand to all the others. Imagine this: There are billions of souls that match the number of people in this corporeal world. From each soul, there expand 613 desires to every soul, all of them link into each other, and with a new, mutual linkage they bestow to each other again, and interconnecting once more, they continue to bestow.

Thus, finally we will see a sphere that has no empty “space” since all of it is filled with the souls’ bond. If we reveal this bond in the minimal measure, in 1/125th part of it, we begin revealing the Light flowing in the channels between us. This is called the revelation of the Creator because this Light is, in fact, the Creator, and that is what The Zohar describes.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/2011, The Book of Zohar

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A Tower In The Sky

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can studying The Zohar help a person realize that he has gotten off the path and correct this transgression?

Answer: In reality, the most effective means that directs a person in this regard is the group’s opinion, the common sensation that reigns in the group. If a group follows the advice of the teacher and the authors of the books, then it forms a sensation inside of it that enables every person to check the extent to which he loses the direction toward the goal of creation.

This is like a tower floating in the sky, but I have to be inside of that tower.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/11, The Zohar

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Prayer For Society

Dr. Michael LaitmanYou and I were not created by accident. The Creator wanted for creation to become the same as He, and everything happening to us is moving toward this goal. Therefore, on this path we have to go through the realization that we are divided, separated, and hate one another. However, we receive the force to unite above this hatred, which gradually increases more and more. That’s because we cannot overcome and rise above all of the hatred reigning in us all at once. But if we can overcome it gradually, step by step, then we will acquire the quality of bestowal, mutual attention, care, the quality of Bina that does not allow us to do to another what we hate. And after that we reach love for the neighbor “as for ourselves.”

That is why the entire science of Kabbalah, which is called the science of truth, talks only about unity. It’s because inside unity, we, people, attain the qualities of the Creator.

If people get together and unite in one desire in order to multiply every person’s forces and give each other the guarantee that through their common efforts they will attain the desired goal and will gain greater confidence, this is called “a society of clowns and liars.” That’s because they think that through their unity they will be able to gain greater egoistic benefit. Therefore, their common prayer acts destructively and separates them from the goal.

A person has to understand that he unites with others only in order to discern how to ascend above his nature. It’s not to receive greater force from the society or to satisfy the demands of his egoism, but to enter inside this society and start bestowing to it. This is the only force we should look for.

The force of bestowal to society comes form the Light, from the Creator, from what is concealed inside of a person’s relationship with the society, the group. That is to say, the group has to consist of people who unite precisely in order to attain the Creator, the common quality of bestowal.

The Creator does not exist separately from creation. The quality of common bestowal does not exist unless there is a person who reveals it. Therefore, if a person includes himself into the group that aspires to the quality of bestowal and there he desires to find this force, to attain this quality, he starts to understand from his unity with others that this care about society, inside of which the quality of bestowal exists, or care for the Creator, which is the same thing, is the prayer of the society.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Creation’s Worst Nightmare

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe need to unify Israel, the Torah, and the Creator as one (the person striving straight to the Creator, the Light, and the Creator). Each part must strive to unify with the others so that in the end, it could bestow to the Light. It is just as in the beginning, the Light was the one to bestow, having endowed Malchut with the sensation of His love, prompting it to all of the actions that started with the First Restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) and unfolded further downward.

But when after all these corrections Malchut returns to the same state of perfection, wholeness, and oneness, in its love and bestowal to the Light of Infinity, we get to see that all of it is just one created being which has gone through all kinds of “hardships.”

These “predicaments” are regarded as the “worlds,” from the word “concealments” in Hebrew. They are concealments on the perfect state of Infinity, in order to withdraw from that sensation of fulfillment and undergo all kinds of inner experiences, impressions, choices, and wars, to construct within an identical relationship with the Light while going through the states of separation from and then drawing closer back to the world of Infinity, and to finally arrive to an embrace, or complete adhesion.

In all of this process, there are infinite details, each of which is linked to the beginning and end of the process. After all, we also participate in this whole entanglement of feelings that Malchut experiences, caused by the collision of the Light and the vessel, pleasure and desire, the force of the Creator and that of the creature. We pass through the same states individually, as parts of Malchut, so that in the end we would experience ourselves as one soul.

After all, there is only one creature: Malchut of the world of Infinity. And every one of us must unify with all the others, having overcome this terrible nightmare and our illusory separation, this concealment of a perfect, eternal state. And then, everyone will see that he or she is included in all the others with their feelings, thoughts, love, and bestowal.

Therefore, we need to do all that we can to expedite our awakening from this dream. It is written that the Creator will bring us back “out of Zion,” meaning that there is a way out (Yetzia) from this reality, from this slumber. Then, we’ll see that we were in a dream-like state and will unify into one soul.

I hope that the upcoming convention will help us make a huge leap forward so that we’ll wake up and feel as one soul.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, Preparation for the WE! Convention

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A Wise Man Looks Into The Distance

Dr. Michael LaitmanOn the spiritual path, we undergo phases of development and at the same time, creative development. It is the same in our world: Man does not live by bread alone.

We do not only feed children to strengthen them, nor do we solely appraise them by the weight they gain. Rather, the most crucial factor is the extent to which a child becomes a human being: one who is understanding, perceptive, responsive, longing, and directed towards qualitative rather than quantitative achievements. This means that a child grows. It is a pity if he is deprived of this.

It is the same in spirituality. Is it really possible to evaluate yourself according to the number of hours spent studying? No, we require qualitative growth so that our desires and thoughts focus more and more on the principle of “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one,” on the goal of our growth.

Nature imparts on us purposeful development and obliges us to learn to relate to everything we do in life purposefully. And this means that we have to define for ourselves what a person should be like. After all, a wise man looks into the distance. If we develop purposefully, we need to understand what nature wants.

Nature demonstrates to us the wholeness, interconnection, the integrity of all of the parts, a constant development. And so we, too, must distinguish the corresponding stages in our development, accepting them as desirable.

Today, correct education is required for both parents and children. We must deliver the basic principles to everyone: constant self-perfection, aiming towards unity, the goodness of qualitative and quantitative connections between us, naturally arising as a result of association, unity, harmony, and homeostasis with nature.

If we ourselves behave this way, and if we begin to teach this to the young generation, if continuous steps towards unity, becoming closer, and mutual understanding, up to loving our neighbor as ourselves becomes a norm, we will be moving ever closer to the goal. Our education will be purposeful.

As we develop and undergo states that contradict our egoism, we should understand that the end of the action lies in its initial thought. Nature has set the end goal: We must unite with each other. And because there is no other way out, we need to educate ourselves and the growing generation with the method of uniting.

Otherwise, instead of longing towards a sweet fruit, we’ll only be more immersed in the bitterness of the previous stages of ripening.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/11, The Principles of Global Education

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