Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

Working With The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to correct the desire that represents the entire matter of creation to a degree that we start sensing the Force that permeates the universe: the Creator (the Light). There is nothing except this Force and desire.

Revelation happens in accordance with the law of equivalence of form: Desire feels the power of the Light to the extent of its correspondence to it. Full revelation of the Light is the program and the purpose of creation. It means that we have to correct ourselves to a degree of complete equivalence with the property of the Light: bestowal.

For that purpose the whole system of worlds was created; it helps us to change our desire and make it similar to the Light. This world is where the first steps are made; later, we rise into the Worlds of Assiya, Yetzira, and Beria. Nine lower Sefirot of Malchut of the World of Atzilut is where the broken souls “dwell.”

Keter, the upper Sefira of Malchut, is above the Parsa, in World of Atzilut, where bestowal is in effect. The property of reception acts below the Parsa.

Malchut receives the forces from Zeir Anpin. For us, Zeir Anpin is the Upper One, the giver; we receive everything from him. In its turn, Zeir Anpin is connected with the higher Partzuf of the World of Atzilut, Abba ve Ima (AVI), a part of which is Yeshsut. Below, there is the Partzuf of Arich Anpin (AA), which receives the Light from Infinity (Ein Sof) and passes it down the chain to Malchut.

The major issue for us is how we (the broken souls that live in the Worlds of BYA) rise to Malchut de Atzilut. By including ourselves in it, we begin to take part in the process of correction. The World of Atzilut corrects broken desires that bear egoistic intentions.

The desire to receive is unchangeable; it is matter which cannot be altered. But desire can be used in two different ways: It can either be filled from the inside by receiving, or it can be utilized for bestowal. In the second case, the desire will receive for the sake of bestowal. It is possible only as an outcome of love and union with others.

The Book of Zohar helps us mostly at the first stage of our rising to the World of Atzilut. The sequence of actions is as follows:

1.      We raise our request to get corrected (MAN).
2.      The answer (MAD) returns back to us in the form of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that empowers us.
3.      We rise upward to Malchut de Atzilut.
4.      Malchut delivers our request to Zeir Anpin.
5.      Zeir Anpin gives Malchut powers and corrects the souls.

Thus, all we do is work with the Light. Our work is intended to attain union among us in order to correct our desire by applying intention to bestow to it. This becomes possible only as a result of the Light’s influence.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”

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What Is Light?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What exactly is the Light that Kabbalists talk about?

Answer: There is a special force in our reality called “Light.” This force is concealed, and you cannot feel it. But if you study the wisdom of Kabbalah, then you will be able to awaken this Light, and it will start working on you.

What does it mean “to study the wisdom of Kabbalah?” There are people who have already attained the Creator, equivalence of properties with Him, and described the various states of existence ,which they have uncovered in their relationship with the Upper Force in the Upper World.

Obviously, while reading their books, you are unable to understand anything written there because you are not in the same world and don’t know anything about it. You hear only what you can imagine in your own world even if the text speaks about the spiritual world, which is totally different from this world.

If, while you are reading the texts of the Kabbalists, you desire to be in the Upper World with everything you have within you, then through your aspiration you evoke a special force from the Upper World. This force is regarded as “the Light.”

You can awaken it because you have a spark from the Upper World, which was planted in you at birth. Then the Light that comes from the Upper World shines upon it.

Therefore, if you wish to awaken the Light and get it to act on the spark, read Kabbalah texts and concentrate on this. Nothing else is needed. You don’t need to understand what is written in the book, have a sharp mind, or be especially lucky. You just need to be an ordinary person with a desire for the world that the Kabbalists describe to you to constantly work on your spark. Then, the spark will gradually grow until you suddenly start feeling what they are talking about.

This is exactly what we need while studying The Book of Zohar. But the force of this Light only comes to a person if he strives to be in the Upper World, that is, aspires to be in bestowal.

But how do I know what it means to be in bestowal? Kabbalists say: If you read The Book of Zohar in a group and visualize that you are connected with the others as one organism, without any difference between you, and if you possess one desire, one intention, one aspiration toward the force that illuminates you, then this one singular, undivided force will act on your united desire, and you will indeed reveal this Upper Force that is working on you and promoting you. This is what is called the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.

Hence, we are reading The Zohar in the group, with an intention that we are coming together in our desires to reveal the Light so that it would act on us, correct us, and manifest within us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, The Zohar

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A Spiritual Booster

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do we need to do in order to aspire towards the high state of unity that exists in The Zohar?

Answer: This comes from disappointment. No matter what I tell you now, it will not help until you develop an urgent need, aspiration, a vital necessity. Only then will you turn to the group.

When you know that you have a big problem, your life is at risk, or you are ill, then you run for help. But when you do not feel ill, do not see that there is a problem, or do not believe that anything will help, you remain still. This is why we need a deficiency. Either the Creator gives us a deficiency as He pushes us from behind with suffering, or we make a connection with the environment without waiting for suffering and try to receive an opposite reaction from it.

I come to my environment without experiencing a need for it; I simply follow the advice of the Kabbalists. They are wise, and I listen to them. This means that the Creator places man’s hand on a good faith and says: “Take it! Take it! Why should you suffer?”

Then we receive additional desire from the group. This is how it works. Those who are lucky will hear, turn to the group, arrange for this booster of desire, and come to the Creator though the group.

Ultimately, the group needs to direct a person towards the Creator. The connection with the group and our entire work is the preparation of the desire, the Kli. And then we come to the Creator.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, The Zohar

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Who Will Help Me Attain The Goal?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the Convention we really wanted to attain the goal, and then we discovered that our ego would not let us do it. Why won’t the Creator answer our prayers and let us rise above this mountain of egoism? Why are we unable to do this?

Answer: The Creator is the general force of bestowal. He created our force of reception. These two forces stand one opposite the other like stringers of a ladder with rungs in between.

As you correspond to a higher step, you ascend to it, advancing to a new degree one step at a time. Everything is in your hands. You have been given a key to nature in order to change your own nature and make it similar to that of the Upper One.

You ascend as soon as you become similar to it, but when you are different from it, then you remain in the same place. It does not depend on the Creator, His desire is constant; He is Good and does Good. The Creator does not change, this force is absolute and invariable.

But in order to let you ascend, the Creator divided the entire path into steps or states. Every time that you are like the Upper degree, you ascend to it, and as you become even more like it, you continue to ascend higher. Between each step, you have to prepare yourself for the following step, and this way you continue ascending each time.

You have no one to pray to, no one to ask. This is why you can’t object: “Why won’t the Creator help me? Where is He? Where did He go? What is going on? What else does He want me to do?” Essentially, when you pray and ask, you are judging yourself in relation to the Upper Light that shines for everyone in an equal, constant, and unchanging manner. Everyone can take as much as he wants from it.

It is written about the Creator: “I do not change my HaVaYaH,” “There is none else beside Him,” “The Good Who does Good.” He does not change. When you correlate your properties to His, as if He were thinking about or reacting to your cries, then you are making all of it up. Throughout history people have been attributing human characteristics to forces of nature: the wind, the rain, the moon, as well as the Creator. But this does not exist!

We are working against nature. Kabbalists explain to us that Nature where we exist has its own laws. In Hebrew, the numerical value (Gematria) of “nature” and “Creator” is the same. We can use these laws and continue to ascend its degrees time after time until we reach the universal Nature referred to as the level of Bina, the Creator (Elokim).

This is why it is clear to me that if I have not yet received it, then the problem is in me. I have no one to fear and no one to ask.

It is correct to say that the Creator rules over us. Doesn’t nature rule over us? Yes it does. Tsunamis, hurricanes, and other natural disasters occur, and it is surely nature’s rule over us!

In nature, there are two opposite forces which constantly collide and battle: the force of bestowal and that of reception. It all happens according to the program that leads us towards the purpose of creation. In the beginning these forces are completely opposite, but they gradually become closer until they unite. This is the process of development in nature.

This is why you have no one to work with but the group. You can change yourself through the group and make your properties similar to those of nature. The group is an adapter between your desire, which you do not control, and the Creator, whom you cannot control either. The group, the society, the environment, is your only power; it is the only thing you can change.


Hence, if instead of advancing unconsciously according to nature’s program that leads the entire creation towards unity with the Creator, I want to change something; if I want to advance towards Him on my own, and not by nature’s cruel forces, then I only have one choice: to work with my environment.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, The Zohar

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Pull My Hand Toward Happiness

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a method in Kabbalah that enables a person to switch from the path of suffering in this life towards the good and kind path?

Answer: Yes, this method exists. Through the group, the environment, the friends, and the mutual guarantee, you can organize specific conditions where the environment, and not suffering, pulls you towards the goal in a careful, wonderful, and loving manner. You will have it replace the blows you receive from behind that are constantly sent to you by the Creator as He pushes you, like a donkey, with a sharp stick.

Instead of the “donkey driver,” the special angel from Above that stabs your desire to receive pleasure, your “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew, which comes from the word “Homer” or matter), forcing you to advance, you receive a good angel that pushes you forward and shows you the way.

This angel is called the “force of the group,” and you are the one who builds it. The only way to advance down the good path without problems, suffering, illnesses, and wars is through a strong environment which pulls you along, like an adult pulls a child by the hand regardless of whether he wants it or not.

A person knows that there is no choice and he needs to run in order to save himself from the tsunami or the Pharaoh’s army that follows him. The group will pull you against your desire because, naturally, you do not want it. This is exactly why you need the group to work this way with you.

For this, you need to connect to the environment and ask them to do anything they want with you as long as they take you with them. I am ready for anything, let them bind my arms and legs, I will pay for it. I will do anything for the group! Nobody can bring me to the goal or drag me there by force beside them.

If it weren’t for them, the increasing blows would catch up with me from behind since the Creator will not abandon His plan. This is the only way to save yourself from the blows. Nature does not compromise.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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An Apple In The Creator’s Garden

Dr. Michael LaitmanMan develops like an apple that ripens on a tree until it attains the final, desired state. Man certainly goes through very opposite states on this path. He feels like a hard, sour, unripe apple. Yet can he nevertheless follow the path of Light instead of the path of suffering and feel that he is constantly coming closer to the good?

When following the path of suffering, our desire to receive pleasure constantly receives blows as it grows without receiving fulfillment. However, when we follow the path of Light, it takes us through the same states consciously, and instead of living in our desires, we live in intentions, which enable us to reveal the opposite world, the world of bestowal.

In it, I receive pleasure from bestowing to the Creator. The egoistic Kli (vessel) is the desire, and the altruistic Kli is the Reflected Light, the intention to bestow, Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom).

I not only accelerate my development with the help of the Light, but also perceive this path as pleasure because I am going toward a desired goal. I agree with His plan, and every moment brings me closer to it.

However, the closer I get to the goal, the stronger I feel that I am opposite to it. This is because we constantly keep increasing our sensitivity toward the difference between us and the Creator, as it is written: “The Creator is critical of the righteous to the thickness of one hair.”

On the first degree, I feel that our difference is not that major: Big deal, I receive, and He bestows. Then, from the first degree I rise to the second one, and even though I become more like Him, precisely because of this, I feel that the difference between us is no longer minus 10, but minus 100. I have risen (in other words, I acquired a correction), and it operated as a magnifying glass where I see my flaws 100 times stronger than before.

Even though I became one degree closer to the Creator, I also became 100 times more sensitive. Before, a difference the size of cart ropes did not bother me; now, I am bothered by even one little hair.

The only element that can be changed in the four factors of development (the foundation, the ways of development of the foundation, the environment, and the ways of development of the environment) that influence a growing apple or a person, his spiritual gene, is the influence of the environment. This is because only the environment determines whether the apple has good conditions for growth: enough sun and moisture.

The same pertains to the soul. When we receive good conditions for growth, we will not need wars and suffering. If we want our apple (soul) to grow, it needs to be in balance with the environment.

In order to do this, it is necessary to establish a connection with this environment and attain the Upper Force through it, attain the Creator who turns into the environment and corrects it so that I, the environment, and the Creator would unite into one whole.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Women, Men, And The Mutual Guarantee

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the mutual guarantee pertain to women as well?

Answer: Both men and women, regardless of their gender, must reach the state of the mutual guarantee. When we say that the men stood at Mount Sinai and the women surrounded them, this reflects the inner spiritual properties of each one of us.

The “woman” represents the desire to receive pleasure, while the “man” is the symbol of overcoming this desire. “Man” is “Gever” in Hebrew, which comes from the word “Hitgabrut” or overcoming. He is the desire to bestow, which discovers the opposite property of Mount Sinai, “the mountain of hatred” inside him.

But unity and the mutual guarantee pertain to everyone. Women need to try to connect with everyone internally, just like the men. But the men also need to express it externally, while the women experience it within.

Moreover, the women must “pressure” the men. This is because according to his nature, a man tends to listen to a woman, his wife. His wife is a mother to him; this is how he perceives her.

The prototype of a man is Zeir Anpin who is located between two women, two Nukvas: Malchut and Bina. His mother is Bina, and his wife is Malchut. He receives the desires from Malchut, and he turns to Bina for its fulfillment.

In other words, he is unable to turn to Bina without Malchut, and once he has turned to her, he is left with no other choice but to pass everything he has received from Bina to Malchut. This is the way a man operates. And this is why his wife replaces his mother subconsciously in many ways.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/10, Shamati #1

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When The Wall Between Us Falls

Dr. Michael LaitmanYou are revealing the evil that does not let you enter the spiritual world as a wall that stands in front of you. Also, you cannot break through it alone, only together.

To do this, we have to unite in a group, which is the only free action that we are able to perform. Having gathered together, we have to draw the power of the Creator to us and break the wall with it!

Now I stand before the same egoistic wall, but I am no longer alone; I stand as many points in the heart connected together and called a “Kabbalah group.” This is a huge force that can easily break the wall. We reveal the Creator inside our connection because without the Creator, we are unable to connect!

I ask the Creator and He connects me with the others. The others ask the Creator for the same thing and they also get connected. By this we introduce the force of the Creator between us. He unites us, and with the same force we break the wall. It’s because the wall isn’t outside of us, it’s between us. By working on your connection with others, you are basically preparing yourself for a breakthrough.

What does it mean that the people of Israel exited Egypt? They united with such a force that the wall collapsed; they ascended above their egoism. This is what escaping from Egypt means.

There are no walls outside. The wall is revealed to show us that we don’t want to connect with each other; it’s a revelation of the wall between us. Now bring the Creator so that He will break it. That’s it, nothing else is required!

We should continue on without being too smart. Our main work is done in concealment, unconsciously; this is the preparation period. Thus, it’s important to follow the methodology even if we don’t fully understand it, just as a child doesn’t understand how he grows up. The wall is between us and our only free action is directed against it.

One can work on this connection even if he watches the lessons at home on TV because our connection is not physical; we do not connect to each other with handcuffs or iron chains, only by inner desire. Therefore, even if I’m far from a center, I can still join as if I’m in the center itself. The distance doesn’t matter; it’s only the desire and devotion to the goal that do.

The same wall that we feel between us right now will turn into glue that will bond us together in the end. The same Pharaoh that stands between us will become the Creator. This means that we run from Pharaoh and come to the revelation of the Creator.

We don’t move anywhere; this is done within the group, but instead of feeling the breaking and rejection, we reveal the glue and connection. This is purely a psychological problem that we’ll overcome, and then suddenly the difficulty will turn to the power of connection, the angel of death into the angel of holiness, and the grave into the mother’s womb.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/16/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Pouring Fresh Blood Into A Spiritual Embryo

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can one ask for the point of the heart to become revealed in a dear one?

Answer: Our development is similar to that of an embryo in a mother’s womb. Every part develops with a certain speed and in a certain order. We do not understand why this happens, but as we study the Sefirot and the three lines – KHB, HGT, and NHY – this development becomes more clear to us (this is explained in detail in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Parts 11 and 12).

I cannot speak to the individual beginning of development as this depends upon the root of the individual’s soul. My children or grandchildren may have nothing to do with Kabbalah and may be indifferent towards the spiritual, while a person awakens somewhere in Alaska and cannot live without it.

This depends on whether the soul has reached its development. This is why I should not pray for the Creator to change this common “embryo’s” order of development. I should only work within the group as much as possible. Our main objective is to attain unity between us!

Through this we will pour a fresh, fast, and strong flow of blood into this developing fetus. We will accelerate the common development, and everyone will develop faster as they keep their proper order. This is why we must accelerate our development and through this accelerate the general development .

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From Lesson 8, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

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The Only Desire That Attains The Goal

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, “Introduction to The Zohar,” “BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride),” Item 128: …Zeir Anpin unites with Malchut, and she sees her husband…For she will not be able to see her husband until they all gather. And they depend on one another.

Malchut incorporates all the souls. Without them she is merely a point in the World of Atzilut, a point of Keter that has nothing of her own.

The broken souls, in other words, I and the group are found beneath in the Worlds of BYA. I want to unite with my friends, and my desire rises towards Malchut. From there it rises towards Zeir Anpin, and from there even higher toward Infinity (Ein Sof). Then as a response from her, I receive the strength to ascend. This way, the only thing that goes to Malchut is my desire to become part of the group, when I force myself into it.

I want it even stronger, and only this kind of pressure rises above to become incorporated in Malchut de Atzilut. Only it constitutes MAN, the actual appeal for correction.

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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/10, “Hakdama, Laila de Kale (The Night of the Bride)”

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