Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

The Most Materialistic Approach

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar does not speak about the physical death. It speaks about the desire to receive pleasure which becomes corrected and attains similarity to the Creator. A regular person has not yet reached this.

When a person works in the spiritual world, he has the left and right lines (the two “angels”), between which he builds the middle line. My ego, Pharaoh, stands on the left side, and the Creator, the Light, on the right side.

I create my spiritual vessel (Kli) with a screen to the extent of my ability to transfer this desire to receive pleasure to the middle line and attract the Light from the right line, the intention, toward it.

The screen is the intention to bestow, while the vessel is the desire within it. In this way, I build myself with these two forces, and I am the third one. Then, I begin to exist in a spiritual reality. Once I have built this “third one,” the desire with the intention, it means that I have acquired a soul.

However, if I did not build it from these two forces, then I do not have anything except for one point where I do not feel anything. This is merely a tiny desire which does not depend on me at all, “a desire out of nothing” (Mi Ain).

It is written in The Zohar that you need to kill your egoistic desire. You attract the Light toward it, kill it, and bring it to the intention to bestow. This will be you, a living you.

All of this can be done with the help of the proper environment which is called “the Holy Society” (Hevra Kedusha) because it helps you bury your egoism. This way, you receive an eternal soul, a part that is similar to the Creator.

You make it yourself, and if not, you do not have a soul. You exist below the life line, in this world, where you have nothing but an animate body, matter (Homer, substance, is consonant to Hamor, donkey). This is the most “materialistic” approach.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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Love Is A Vessel For The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf we don’t receive the desire to bestow from the environment, we will not be able to reveal the spiritual world through our own efforts. Indeed, spiritual pleasure is infinitely greater than its corporeal counterpart. Even the smallest pleasure which we receive upon ascending to the first spiritual degree out of 125 is billions of times greater than all the pleasures of our world combined.

The “Big Bang” is the result of a tiny spark of Upper Light that infiltrated our world and caused our whole universe. And it was merely a tiny spark! Meanwhile, now we are primed to reveal the entire Light of NRNHY to its full measure. It follows that for this we will need unlimited vessels of reception.

Therefore, we cannot receive all this Light; otherwise, we would simply explode. This is why each person needs to build external Kelim (vessels) outside of himself. Only through connection, a mutual inclusion into one another, are we capable of achieving great external desires.

Even now we are all swimming in the Upper Light; we are just unable to feel it. There is no place inside of us that can be filled because we only have a tiny spark. In Baal HaSulam’s Letter No. 8 (Fruit of Wisdom, Letters), he describes the Light that is revealed in us:

“At the hour of attainment one feels the Upper Light which is revealed and based on all the reverse transformations. And it seems to a person, at the hour of attaining perfection, that all the suffering he had gone through was valuable because it allowed him to appreciate the sweetness and flavor of the Light, of uniting with the Creator. And all of his organs and tendons shall say and bear witness that anyone among the living in the world would gladly agree to chop off his hands and feet seven times a day, if only he could attain the flavor of adhesion for but a brief moment in his life.”

In other words, we need to understand that spiritual revelation is something infinitely stupendous, and we need to prepare our empty desires (Kelim) for it. A great inner work awaits us, and yet it is incredibly easy only if we do it together with love. This union determines everything!

If I unite with others and feel that I exist together with them in one Kli, in one desire, then the Light becomes revealed inside. It is written that “love thy neighbor is the main rule of the Torah (Light)” because love is a vessel for the Light.
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From Lesson 1, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/9/10

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Good Environment – 12.02.10

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

When The Alarm Rings

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn their books, Kabbalists only write about the soul. They do not touch our world which is below the life line. It is an illusion given to us temporarily so we would begin to awaken from this dream and build a true life.

Now, think how to value your friends who can help you awaken toward a new life. Understand that you are together in a dream, and only a tiny spark that you have been given can help you come out of it. This is similar to the times when you sleep, and you understand that you can wake up if you try. This “clue” that can help you wake up is the “point in the heart.”

When you connect all the points that wish to awaken and demand for the “alarm to ring,” the Upper Force will awaken you. It will pull you out of this dream. Otherwise, we will all just continue sleeping.

The only possibility to reveal the spiritual world is being in this dream. There is nothing lesser than it, lesser than the beastly existence, lower than this illusionary life.

The only thing that will remain after death is what you have attained in the spiritual world while in this life. Where would something else come from? Why does it not exist now? How does your animate body get in the way? Why do you need to suffer now to enjoy later?

We only have what we perceive within the desire to receive pleasure. If, in addition to the perception of my corporeal life, I will also acquire a spiritual one, then I will definitely have it. It does not depend on the corporeal life. There are two types of desires: one is “for your own sake,” and the other “for the sake of bestowal.”

This means that, for now, I will continue living simultaneously in two worlds, and once the body dies, I will continue living just in the spiritual world. The animate body dies and ceases to perceive this reality in its five senses, similar to as if I had lost my hearing now. This way, all the corporeal sensations disappear.

Egoistic desire cannot exist forever; it has a limit. However, once you acquire the desire to bestow, it is eternal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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A Cry In The Desert

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does raising MAN mean?

Answer: MAN is a plea to become like the Creator. It occurs when a person feels helpless, as though he’s in a middle of a desert. He is stripped of all things, he’s withered, and others can’t help him. He understands that he has no chance of reaching love and bestowal. He feels weak and “surrounded by lions,” desires that are “devouring” him. His life is in danger and he is unable to get out of this state and enter bestowal.

The whole world is at a person’s feet except for bestowal and love for his friend or the Creator. It doesn’t matter what pleasures the ego fills itself with; if the quality of love and bestowal doesn’t stand behind all of these things, the person is lost in the desert. In this desert, this empty ego, a person’s spiritual desire becomes so powerful that it makes him cry out, and this cry reaches the goal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Rose”

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Accept The Creator’s Invitation

Dr. Michael LaitmanNever in history has there been such a powerful environment as our world group, which aspires to reveal spirituality so much, prepares for it, and gives every person the opportunity to join it and draw energy from it. Indeed, all the necessary forces are already present inside it. Let every person imagine that he is in the position of Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma, who valued his environment so much that he was not willing to leave it at any price.

Start to value your environment. It is the only place where I reveal spirituality and the only condition that the Creator has placed before me. It is the only free action; nothing else will help.

This is exactly where our “evil inclination” is concealed, the Machsom. The entire problem lies only in this and all the efforts must be placed only here.

We are now at a very critical state! Either we will “freeze” in this state or we will make a super effort and approach the second blow to Pharaoh. The second blow will be of a completely different quality. We are starting to reveal Pharaoh, his qualities, even deeper inside us, and the qualities of the Creator against it.

The Creator tells Moses: “Let’s go to Pharaoh together with Me.” It is necessary to attain both of them together, one against the other. The Creator hardens Pharaoh’s heart so you would get to know the Creator in opposition to this. That is why He says, “Let’s go!” So accept the invitation!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/10, Writings of Rabash

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Good Environment – 12.01.10

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

We Have Received The Opportunity To Ascend

Dr. Michael LaitmanFreedom of will lies only in strengthening our environment so that it influences every one. This is in our hands. There is absolutely nothing else that we are able to change in this life.

You entered the Convention hall and felt a powerful tension. This is because a common desire that was there influenced you. Everyone burned with an enormous desire to reach the might that would enable us to make a leap up, and this affected you.

So, why are you not able to organize your environment so it would influence you the same way now? There are many thousands of people participating in the daily lesson with us, so why are we not able to influence one another?

We have the same connection, and we are in the same common field. Does it matter that much that we are not sitting in the same hall, in the same physical space? Is this the only problem? Why do we lack that common joy and enormous happiness?

We simply lack preparation. Several months before the Convention, we all waited for this day with hope, fear, trepidation, and worry. We read and listened about it, memorized special songs. We all prepared ourselves for this event.

It took an enormous amount of money, time, and physical effort. Of course, when all of this gathered in one place and exploded at the same time, it led to an impressive result. Everyone who was there as well as those who followed this event behind a screen received this strong impression. Why are we not able to continue the same way?

We achieved this degree, this elevation of the spirit, with our common work from below (Itaruta de Letata, awakening from below), and now it is ours. We bought it; we paid for it. So, why are we not able to hold on to our possession?

We need to remember that we have kept this attainment after the Convention because “one is elevated, not lowered in spirituality.” Everything I have attained is now mine, but now I am being swamped with a new, uncorrected desire that obstructs anything that happened previously because it reveals a new height to which I need to rise. I need to regard this new mountain as a means to ascend.

So, let us understand what happened to us. We did not fall; we acquired an opportunity to ascend. Then, we will see a precise goal before us, and we will simply need to combine our strength. After all, this is the only action that can enable us to ascend, only through joining together.

We unite even more strongly in the group, and this will mean that we are ascending. The Light lifts me; I myself do not need to do anything. I just need to connect with others more strongly than ever. Then, the Light will lift me to a new height, a new degree.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Body and Soul”

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The Inexhaustible Means For Advancing

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe stronger we unite, the more sparks of bestowal we can include into the quality of reception. Essentially, by working on unity, we work on combining these qualities.

We are unable to work with the desire for pleasure in its pure form. When coming near it, we see that it is not intended to work for bestowal at all. So what can we do with it considering that it has the opposite nature?

It turns out that we don’t have the possibility to receive for the sake of bestowal, and that means we cannot give any pleasure to the Giver. There is a barrier standing between the Creator and the creation, blocking all of creation’s efforts to attain mutual bestowal.

Our only way to go is to combine qualities. How can we do this? We have to elevate Malchut and include it inside the quality of Bina.

Our work is built upon the same principle: A person in relation to the group is like Malchut in relation to Bina. By becoming part of the group, one nullifies himself similar to how Malchut nullifies herself before Bina.

It doesn’t matter what kind of people make up the group and whether they have already attained the spiritual quality or not. By rejecting himself, a person receives the Upper Light through them. He does not receive it from their external qualities, but from their inner essence which is already corrected in some regard.

Thus, the group is an inexhaustible means, pure Bina. By nullifying myself, I can receive anything through it. If I am small then I receive a small influence of Surrounding Light from the group. If I am great, then I receive a great Light from the group, which corrects me. With my attitude to the group I determine what the group is for me.

This does not depend on the friends. They may be total beginners who just encountered Kabbalah, yet by bowing down to their spiritual desire, I penetrate and tune into their corrected state even if they haven’t started correcting themselves.

We are all in the final correction already and therefore with my attitude to the friends I can awaken and revive any of the intermediate forms leading there. Everything depends on me, not on them. I myself determine the level on which I will activate this structure called “the group.”

Then love for friends becomes love for the Creator. The right attitude to them is the right attitude to Him. I cannot step away from my friends and give the Creator anything more than what I give to them.

The group is the means which helps to “form” itself, to give itself the form of bestowal. By funneling my desires through the group, it’s as if I modulate them and then I address the Creator the right way,

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/1/10, The Zohar

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Salvation Comes In A Blink Of An Eye

Dr. Michael LaitmanUnderstand that you did not fall, but rose to the next degree and received a new desire, specifically because you did such a good job! Now, we simply need to join forces in order to turn this darkness, this apparent barrier (Machsom) into Light. And then you will receive an even stronger inspiration than at the convention.

We received some initial impression there, and now we need to realize it in a clear and practical form. Now, we need to methodically break that wall, the Machsom between us, which we have felt slightly. We need to keep hitting it in one place, and it will collapse after several blows.

This happens suddenly, “in a blink of an eye,” as it is written about the coming of the Creator’s redemption. Revelation occurs suddenly: Efforts keep accumulating and, all of a sudden, the escape route opens for us to run in extreme haste.

We need to do all of this now, but instead we keep remembering how nice it was at the convention, unlike here, where I am now. However, this is the actual time for work. We did not work during the convention. It was the result of everything we had accumulated in the past, which combined all the efforts, hopes, money, and nerves.

The time to work has come again. The work is always the same. Our ego, the desire to receive pleasure, constantly keeps growing and shows itself in different ways. You need to recognize it and understand that this is “help against us,” that this is sent to you for a specific purpose, out of great love.

The Creator is playing with you like with a small child who is given small obstacles on purpose in order for him to learn to overcome them and grow up. This is how we advance.

However, a child has a natural instinct that pushes him to develop, and he never sits in place, as he is constantly trying to overcome something, do, understand, feel, or break something. Meanwhile, you need to work on your desire yourself.

Imagine the fate of an indifferent and bored child who is too lazy to play with toys, and he sits in class like you, all sleepy with his eyes closed. Will he develop and grow up? This is exactly what is happening to you now.

However, the Creator will not deviate from His program. He must raise you to His level until you become equal to Him. So, what is there to do when you sit with your eyes closed? He will have to beat you until you wake up.

Yet, if you want to do the walking instead of going down the path of suffering, there is one simple law: “He who chooses the best environment every time, advances.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/23/10, “Body and Soul”

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