Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

At The Foot Of Mount Sinai

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the inner connection between the friends?

Answer: The inner connection takes place between spiritual sparks. Each of us has his own egoistic “I,” and beside it there is a spiritual spark, the “point in the heart.” One may be “blue” and the other “green,” but each has a point in the heart, and all of them are the same “red!” It is these “red” points that we must connect!

If we connect our points in the heart, the connection between them is regarded as a spiritual vessel (not the points themselves, but their connection). To the degree that everyone annuls themselves, there will be love between us, in opposition to hate. And by the difference between love and hate, we measure the exaltedness of the soul, the magnitude of the spiritual vessel.

All the work occurs within a person, when he sees in the others only their spiritual sparks and yearns to unify with them. Afterward, we begin to see on the outside how this reflects on one’s attitude to the group, to the collective achievement and caring for the others. From the internal effort, it expands outside and becomes a practical action.

If I am able to connect these spiritual sparks, the bodies will begin acting differently in accordance with them. It is all up to us, and let’s hope that we will seriously realize it during the Convention.

I am certain that we will understand these principles. After all, people come to Mount Sinai with no knowledge and understanding. But first, we have to arrive at it!
[25196]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10, “The Acting Mind”

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Why Do I Get Up For A Lesson?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Three or four times a week I get up and go to the lesson, and I don’t really understand why. What’s going on here? Why do I do this?

Answer: You receive an example from Above: the Creator forces you out of sleep, and you come to the lesson. This is meant to show you that you are capable of getting up and coming to the lesson, but only three times a week, when the Creator awakens you. The rest He leaves up to you. Now let’s see what you do when you don’t get this impulse.

If you don’t understand why you are here, you should analyze the situation. It appears that you come here because if you don’t, you’ll feel bad. It follows that you come in order to escape evil.

Question cont.: So what can I do to start coming every day and on my own?

Answer: For that you need another kind of fuel. You need to come here not to escape from evil, but in order to realize the importance of the goal. You need to get up not because otherwise bad things will happen, but because a lofty goal is awaiting you.

Question cont.: How do I exalt the goal in my eyes?

Answer: You are incapable of doing this alone. The goal cannot be achieved individually. Here you need to see your true state: There is a single system of souls, similar to the Creator, within which the Inner Light of life (NRNHY) is revealed. This is the Creator. We are separated from this state by 125 “filters” which weaken the Light. I want to receive the strength to return to that state.

Looking at the system of souls I see that it unites everybody into a single whole, and thanks to this the Light fulfills them and gives them life. Consequently, in order to ascend, I must establish a stronger connection with the friends.

The Creator does not relate to any individual alone. Any step toward correction ought to be regarded as an even greater level of unification in the group.

It follows that if you were to unify with the friends ahead of time, you would receive from them the inspiration and fuel to come to the daily lesson. Whereas now you are isolated from them, and even on the corporeal level the flame burning within them does not rub off on you.
[24913]
From 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/10,  “All of Israel Have A Part in the Next World”

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When Ties No Longer Break

Dr. Michael LaitmanRegardless of the fact that we exist in the unified system, the connection between us is broken. A person is given a chance to feel the initial point of his connection with all others, and this sensation is life in our world.

Thereby, I receive an opportunity to renew and enhance this connection based on the principle of bestowal in order to live a spiritual life. If I fail to do so, the spiritual spark in me expires.

Further on, I am given a new desire, a new spark. In other words, I undergo a Gilgul (reincarnation or a new life cycle) and arrive at a new reality. Here, I discover a different connection with the system of Adam HaRishon, and I feel that I am living in this world anew, at one or another point on the timeline, and within a certain framework of relations between people. This is my other chance, at another level of desire and mutual connection.

If I fail to take advantage of the setting yet again, I once more will be transferred to another degree of mutual connection. In other words, I undergo a Gilgul in order to appear in another generation, another timeline, and receive one more chance to unify.

Every time, I am shown a specific level of interconnection with the others so that I can find a way to unite with them through ties of love. In the corporeal world, I am forced into a minimal degree of connection. If I obtain some degree of connection founded on love on my own, then instead of our corporeal world, I experience a much more exalted and intense form of existence: the spiritual, eternal life.

Now, instead of the chain of Reshimot (spiritual records, genes) that create in my perception a constant revolution of life and death, I myself keep restlessly renewing the connection with others and rise above the chain of “reboots.” The connection no longer breaks; life doesn’t stop with the loss of the body.

No matter how we look at it, everything lies within the unified system, where the law of correct interaction of the parts rules. This law is the Creator or love.
[25284]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Klalut Adam”

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The Pipeline of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe exist in a general system. If we actualize the right connection between all its parts, we will create a web that connects our desires correctly.

It is as though we correct a “pipeline” between us, whereupon the Upper Force (the Creator) comes and begins to run the Light of life through these “pipes.” Everything depends on how we establish the connection between us, meaning the diameter of the “pipe,” to what measure is it the right kind of connection. And then the Light of Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida (NRNHY) flows through it.

Thus we advance along the 125 degrees of connection between us, until we reveal the entire Light of NRNHY, which means we exist in the World of Infinity.

[25298]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, The Zohar

You Got It, So Pass It On!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we become like the Creator whose property is to bestow, while having been created with the desire to receive and having forever remained with it?

Answer: If you begin to bestow to others through your desire to receive, you will only increase your bestowal.

There are two natures:
1. The Light = the Source of Light = the Creator = the Giver,
2. The desire = the receiver = the creature.

The creature always only receives, it can never give. When we read that the creature becomes like the Creator, this refers to “reception for the sake of bestowal,” meaning to receive and pass it on!

But I cannot pass the Light like an item can be passed in our world from one person to another. So how does this work? How can I give you something? I receive from the Creator and it cannot be any other way because I am the desire to receive pleasure.

The desire to receive cannot bestow; this does not exist in nature. Our nature only works to consume and absorb. This is a law of nature that cannot be broken. So how do I bestow to you, a stranger? A very special action takes place here.

The Surrounding Light comes from that same Creator, and this Light Reforms. This Light performs a correction and connects us together. And then I do not bestow to you, I receive, but I receive in your desires. This is what it means for me to bestow to you.

I connect the entire “body” of the collective soul to me, all of it becomes mine, and then I receive for it, but it is referred to as my bestowal to this “body.” This is the marvelous trick that happens here. When I perceive another person as a part of me, I receive for him, and it is like I am bestowing. You can object: What kind of bestowal is this, it is the same reception!

Let’s say that there is someone I did not want to give anything to, and, suddenly, I find out that he is my son. And then I am ready to give him everything because I perceive him as part of me. However, can we really call this bestowal? For example, if I had given to him before I knew anything about him, then surely. But now, what kind of bestowal is this when this is my own son? It is the same as giving to yourself.

All of this would be true if I were to reveal that other people are absolutely a part of me. But the problem is that hatred remains between us. This is a great asset, and we must love it. Another person still remains a stranger to me, but the Surrounding Light comes and creates a loving attitude over my hatred. Love and hatred remain as two lines: the right and the left, with me in the middle between them. This is why this is still referred to as “bestowal.”

In the right line, I perceive another as someone close to me, like a part of me, like someone who I am ready to sacrifice everything for because he may as well be me. In the left line, I hate him and am ready to destroy every last bit of him. And both of these lines exist simultaneously and unite in the middle line.

This continues until the very end of correction, Gmar Tikkun. And no one knows what will come after.
[25308]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “The Freedom”

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The Screen Of My Reality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the perception of reality depend on the environment?

Answer: If I wish to see a different, more advanced reality, compared to the corporeal reality of this world, I can see it only on the screen that I build from our mutual connection. Wishing to build a different reality, I must connect with the friends’ points in the hearts and create a network between us as it was before the breaking of the collective soul. This network of communication between us is the screen on which I see the picture of the world.
[25253]
From Kabbalah for Beginners, “Perception of Reality,” 10/20/10

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How To Accept The Creator’s Governance

Dr. Michael LaitmanNo changes occur from the Creator’s side. Everything changes in us, gradually, through Reshimot (spiritual records, genes) which intensify from lighter ones to heavier ones. In this manner, step by step, we learn to treat everything we feel correctly. All the lessons of life are lessons of correct attitude to the Upper Governance.

All of nature develops by the “still,” “vegetative,” “animate,” and “speaking” (human) degrees. Each degree has the same four levels of development. On the first three levels of the “human” degree, we are not ready to accept the idea of the causal development. This degree is characterized by the absence of questions, and for it,  the Upper Governance exists only in the form of religion.

However, there is a fourth level of development in us, when the Reshimot to the Source, to the Creator, awaken in a person. Of course, from time to time, a person disconnects from this and “forgets” or “falls” under the influence of worries or pleasures.

However, with the help of the environment, he is given an opportunity to connect himself to the Upper Governcance regardless of any incidental influences or interferences. Then a person correlates the interferences with the Creator, whom he may also ask for correction rather than goodness and cancellation of obstacles.

If a person imagines that there is a cause in the world, fate, someone who causes evil and someone else who can send him goodness, then such a person worships two “idols.” He is afraid of evil and asks for goodness. This often happens to people, secular and religious alike.

All these stages of developing an attitude to the Upper Force should bring a person to a state of “There is none else beside the Creator.” This builds a completely different approach to the Governance. It turns out that both forces, the bad one and the good one, come from one Source. And this means that we need to somehow justify the suffering since how can something bad come from a kind God?

This leads a person to the conclusion and realization of the fact that there is no separation into two forces, a good one and a bad one. The Creator simply treats him like a father treats a son and teaches him through every step.

In this manner, the Upper Governance – the education that a person receives from the Creator – is revealed in one’s life. And he is assisted in this by the environment, the other “children” in the same “nursery school,” taken care of by the same Instructor.

We all help each other and cultivate the right attitude to the Upper Force which controls and teaches us to become big in order to attain it.
[23566]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/10, “And Jacob Sat at the Land Where His Father Dwelled”

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Good Environment – 10.31.10

My Good Environment – Questions of the Day

A Coin That Is Worth A Lot

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Kabbalists described a solution, and many people in the world agree with and are willing to execute it. What are we lacking?

Answer: We lack the realization of the urgency. Everything that pertains to spirituality can be realized only due to hopelessness, an urgent need of life or death. Like at Mount Sinai: Either you unite or this will be the place of your death. A person is incapable of coming out of self-love by even a jot until he sees that he has no other choice.

Therefore, any decision on the path demands for us to be pushed forward by strong blows: fears, worries, the danger of losing everything, and so on. This is called “the path of suffering.” After all, the Creator represents a universal law of nature which has no protection or compromises.

The other opportunity is to advance with the help of the Light which reveals the situation and shows us the truth. Then each person supports, strengthens, and is willing to help everyone so that the group feels a need and readiness to reveal the true state.

If we proceed toward it together, it no longer seems as horrible to us as in the case where I receive suffering. By suffering, I remain an egoist and I see only danger ahead. However, if I annul myself before the group, a hundredth portion of suffering will be enough for me to perceive them to the full extent.

By lowering our heads before the friends, I intensify my sensitivity to suffering. Now I suffer because I am immersed in egoism. In the group I become more responsive, and now, if a hundredth portion of my ego is demonstrated to me, I experience greater suffering and am ready to get rid of it in the same way as if I had experienced its entire load.

This is what the friends give me: They split my burden with me. It is like in the parable about the king who needed to send his riches to a faraway country. His servants, who were egoists, would steal the jewels. Therefore, he gave each of them one coin. There is no sense stealing a single coin, and thus each servant delivered it to the point of destination.

If we proceed together, bending down before each other, then we don’t need to go through a world war. The fact that we exert effort and don’t achieve anything is enough; it already causes suffering which will do what it is supposed to.

After all, the years pass and I still have nothing. How can that be? What is happening? Unification intensifies the pain caused by futile efforts. This pain will be enough to make us want to run away from it, ascend higher onto a spiritual degree, and deliver our part of the king’s treasure.
[25144]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/10,  “According to What is Explained Concerning Love Thy Friend as Thyself”

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How To Turn A Descent Into An Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I keep the intention while being pressed by all kinds of obstacles?

Answer: To keep the intention is possible solely with the help of the environment and a strict schedule: I have to know that there is a lesson to attend, and I have to come; I have chores and duties in the group, and I have to honor them. It’s forbidden to digress from the routine schedule in anything.

Use all your free time to do more work than before. During a descent, the only thing that can help is your connection with the group where you do any work, like a diligent laborer, without the senses and intelligence of which you are incapable at the moment.

The correct realization of a descent is when you are not trying to escape from it, but use it to ascend. If you think that you can handle it with your own desire and mind, it is totally incorrect. During the descent, a person doesn’t perform any clarifications nor does he have any feelings. He is dead, as it were.

What is a descent? It is a reception of an additional, more exalted desire to feel pleasure. You are made to feel that your GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) are being adjoined with the AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh) of the Upper One, and instead of your desire, you feel His.

Previously, I had my own 10 Sefirot, and the Upper One had His. However, now I attach His desire to mine, my GE and His AHP, and there are 10 Sefirot once again. Instead of my small AHP, I have the addition of the AHP of the Upper One, the enormous desires that are willing to restrict and nullify themselves. This AHP is allowed to work with me, which places an enormous burden on me.

Suppose I can lift 20 lbs, but am forced to lift 50 lbs. I can’t do it! They tied a 50 pound weight to each of my legs. Can I really take a step? Or, I was going to give somebody $10,000 and suddenly discovered that I, myself, have a debt for this very amount in my bank account. How can I now give the money to another? There are plenty of such examples in our lives.

This is regarded as the revelation of the AHP of the Upper One. What can I do if I experience it as complete darkness? Is there any way I can handle it using my intelligence and emotion? What intelligence and senses? From my point of view, is there really any logic in all this?

I was a “good child” at my rung, and out of the blue, I am loaded with the desires and duties that I cannot handle. Am I supposed to carry them all out in my present state, when I have lost my mind and senses and am completely lost and trapped in endless problems? How can one do anything alone?

Salvation lies solely in the group, and doing any available mechanical work in it by yourself. This will be the starting point of your ascension to a new state.
[24950]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/10, “600.000 Souls”

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