Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Battle Of Egoism With Infants

Dr. Michael Laitman“Joseph” stands for a point within a person that can grow only when it’s positioned in the Pharaoh’s kingdom (egoistic desire). The tiny spark of Light is called a “ thin candle” (Ner Dakik). The “thin candle” deliberately places itself inside the ego since it grows within the ego and eventually transforms it into bestowal. Thus, Joseph got to Egypt, grew (expanded) there (meaning that his brothers joined him). He represents a spark that develops only inside a human ego.

Egoism is built in a way that it can only value something that it regards as “lucrative” (beneficial). It identifies “profits” only in the type of fulfillment, which is called “women’s work” as opposed to overpowering fulfillment which is called “men’s work.” This is why it’s said that Pharaoh ordered every single Jewish boy killed and left the girls alive.

We give birth to “sons” and then kill them because we have no idea how to work with intentions for the sake of bestowal. Then, they are re-born through our attempts to bestow at least minimally, but our ego yet again kills those efforts. Our intellect recognizes that that we have to bestow and we even manage to generate such intentions, but then again nullify them with our ego.

Our work is to recognize through our desires that we happen to give birth to our “sons” and then destroy them again. We are terrified by what we did, and by the fact that we have nothing else left. After going through torture and realizing that we are incapable of doing anything about the state of affairs, step by step, we acquire a new desire: a new informational Reshimo that is called “Moshe” (Moses).

“Moshe” begins to grow and develop in the Pharaoh’s house. It looks as if he comes from Pharaoh’s side. Pharaoh develops and elevates him, teaches him wisdom, empowers him. After 40 years spent in Pharaoh’s palace, Moshe got everything except that he wasn’t exposed to knowledge about the Creator.

Moshe continued to grow within his desires, which underwent correction and felt that in spite of all his efforts, he cannot convert them into bestowal. At this point gradually his desires acquired the “point of Moshe” meaning the spark that at first was hidden to the extent that it was totally elusive. However, the spark continued to grow. Because of it we carry on giving birth to our “sons” meaning intentions to bestow. We believe that we are able to give and again-and-again we “kill” our efforts.

A person continues to exterminate his “sons” until with a huge regret he starts to realize that all attempts to bestow do not lead anywhere. We give birth to a “son” (intention to bestow), which is in fact our next level that directs us to “depart” from Egypt. This step is a result of our effort in the group work; it stems from our actual deeds. At some point, we really acquire a desire to bestow, but later on we cool down and act egoistically once again. It means that Pharaoh “swallows” our newborn children.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/9/12, Writings of Rabash

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Checking The Connection With The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to understand that there are only two states in our life, in our reality: a state of darkness, a shade, or a state of Light, connection, the revelation of the good and the benevolent. There is nothing in between. If by hearing about it a person constantly tries to clarify the states he goes through, whether it is a shade or the revelation of the Creator, he will advance by the middle line.

Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 8:What is the Difference Between the Shade of Kedusha and the Shade of Sitra Achra“: “Instead, all the changes are in the receivers. We must observe two discernments in this shade…”

The first is when a person can still unite with the friends, by overcoming the thoughts about separation and the “blurring” of the senses. He can still overcome the darkness and the concealment; he still understands that he has lost the goal, the way to the Creator.

But on the whole, no one conducts actual self-criticism, “Why do I feel this way? Where is this feeling coming from?” I am not my own psychologist, I simply feel good or bad, like a child. I don’t calculate who sends me these thoughts and these feelings. I “stew” in them, and sink into my body, like a small child.

Yet a person must know and examine himself: “What has summoned my feelings and my thoughts? How can I ascend above myself, above the current state? How can I get out of this swamp by pulling myself by my hair?” A person always looks at himself from the side, “Yes, I am deep in my egoistic desire. Yes, it controls me. True, it doesn’t allow me to connect, it doesn’t let me get up for the lesson, it forces me to disconnect, it makes the daily life with all its dealings seem more important. But I see that I am in this state and that it is opposite from the goal.”

How can I understand and recognize this? When I am still connected to something external, to the group. Here comes the moment of truth, I can check whether I was really connected to the group or not. If I wasn’t connected, I only feel myself: I feel bad, I don’t want anything, etc. Furthermore, I don’t even try to account for this and simply flow along without any special thoughts or desires.

But if I were connected to the group, if I had an alliance with the friends, according to which they have to help me even if I fall and turn in anther direction, the inner connections is kept, I would care about how they see me, and I wouldn’t totally forget about my commitment. They would support me and I would be able to see myself from the side and to clarify my feelings.

Thus I will be divided into two: my own self and my attitude towards the group. Only then, by holding on to the connection with the friends, will I be able to clarify and check myself and by that to start the ascent that follows the descent. Otherwise, I have no chance; I simply fall and leave. So a person can overcome the first type of shade, by justifying the current state and understanding that it was sent to him by the Creator. Then he can call the Creator for help.

Why do I turn to Him? Not in order to feel better, because then I would be asking to annul my evil inclination, which He has created, by adding the Torah as a spice for it. So I should ask for the spice, so that the power of love and bestowal, the power of connection, will come from Above and enable me to advance towards the other line.

“When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and the concealment that one feels, justify the Creator and pray to the Creator that the Creator will open his eyes to see that all the concealments that one feels come from the Creator.”

When a person is left helpless and sees no way out, when he curses the Creator, the friends and life, he is still looking at himself from the side and suddenly sees a chance for a breakthrough, he can demand that the Creator will save him. Why? Because he does not accept the state when the Creator’s providence seems bad, and he cannot justify Him. A person feels bad because he thinks badly of the good and the benevolent, by being opposite from Him. If life seems bad, it is a sign that I am opposite from the Creator.

We have to build a Masach (screen) and the Returning Light above all the hard situations. Even in the worst situations I must see the Creator as their source, as the Light that is full of all the infinite abundance, but that is broken inside me and turns into a bad feeling, into a shade, into darkness, since my attributes are opposite from the good and the benevolent, opposite from the attribute of bestowal and love.

Thus we advance each time we clarify things correctly. The main thing is to constantly discover this point, “What do I feel? Who is sending me this feeling? Why am I experiencing this feeling?” This is the whole principle of our work and this is what divides humanity into the 1% and the 99%.
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From the Lesson from Brazil 5/03/12, Shamati #8

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Brazil Convention – 05.06.12

Brazil Convention, Workshop 4

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Brazil Convention, Lesson 5

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 5

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 6

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Brazil Convention – 05.05.12

Brazil Convention, Lesson 2

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 2

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Brazil Convention, Lesson 3

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 3

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Brazil Convention, Lesson 4

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Brazil Convention – 05.04.12

Brazil Convention, Lesson 1

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 1 

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The Function of the Mind

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I do not understand the function of the mind. How do you cancel it and what do you do with it?

Answer: You only need the mind to properly express feelings, different relations, draw conclusions, and then once again activate feelings. The mind works between the feelings: feelings – mind, feelings – mind. The mind expresses what I am feeling, the conclusion I am supposed to draw from this and how to connect to new feelings. The alternation of mind and feelings happens the same way as the alternation of ascents and descents. You can control it, we will get used to it.

Question: We know that the mind serves the feelings. How do you understand whether you are speaking from your mind or your feelings? What is the difference?

Answer: If you need to express feelings after experiencing them, you express them with your mind, generalize them, differentiate between them, and only after that do you express the prepared thought.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Workshop 4

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The Complex Process Of Spiritual Growth

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Everyone in my group wants to unite. Everyone tries, makes an effort, but nothing comes from it for anyone. This feeling very much interferes with my concentration, and I don’t know how to deal with it.

Answer: The process isn’t easy. Even in our corporeal world, we don’t grow up simply. Look at how much time passes until a person grows, until he turns into an adult.

On the spiritual path, we need to gather a great many discernments and feelings. All of our feelings are based on disappointments and on attainments.

We simultaneously walk “on two legs,” on the left and right, in minus and in plus. It is only when we attain a certain size, a certain value between the minus and plus, that we exit to the next level.

This means that we need to go through great disappointments and attainments; otherwise, we don’t advance. Thus, the one who advances is only the one who walks the path, who overcomes it. One simply must move forward. The training, the exercises, that you are beginning now, must be organized without stopping.

I am sure that each one of you gradually will begin to feel the appearance of unity, the shared force that is specifically created on the surface of our mutual feelings. This will be revealed. One simply must work constantly on this.

This is the system for the inner development of the additional sensor, of the spiritual sense. It is specifically developed within a group, and only in this way.

We will develop this system even more. We will make it more accurate and more complex. You will get these tasks. You will feel that you are changing.

You know that, when one prepares the dough for bread, one kneads it for a long time. You must “knead” yourselves, until an image of “man” comes forth from your attributes.

This work needs to continue for a few months. As much as we aspire to this more strongly, it will yield results more quickly. However, only in this way will it be realized.

All of this is described in our sources. I am not saying anything new. We simply are beginning the most serious and broadest implementation of this system.

It is very good that today you are either experiencing something or not experiencing something. Don’t forget that, but also, don’t remain there! Simply write it down in your notebook and move forward.

You will see how, gradually, time after time, your state will change. The accumulation of these impressions, in the end, will produce within you intellect and sensation, and will enable the mutual discovery of the next level, the force of the Creator. He will be revealed.

In any case, even if you felt nothing that you had hoped or wanted to attain, you went through some kinds of stages, through some kinds of feelings, and this already is quite a bit. You must value this!

The main thing is not to degrade. All the discernments are positive, and man must undergo them.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/2012, Workshop 1

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Speech – Thought – Action

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe correction that we are supposed to build above the animate level in order to reach the speaking level originates not only from our bodies, but also from the human being within us. However, we still implement the correction process though our bodies, since a body is a “tool” for correction.

We relate to each other (both negatively and positively) through speech, thoughts and actions.

“Speech” stands for self-persuasion. It can be referred to inner speech, since a person constantly talks with himself; it can also mean “practical” (outgoing) speech that addresses others and conveys ideas on how and in what direction we all should move.

The necessity to bestow leads us to attainment of mutual love; it is a process that we all have to go through.

“Thoughts” go before speech and actions. First, we have to formulate a thought that stems from our inner calculations that we obtain from within ourselves as well as from our surroundings, society, and teachers.

So, thoughts should be formulated before anything else, and then they have to be transformed into speech. Any kind of oral expression will always remain only “beautiful words” until we enable them with “force” by applying actions.

“Actions” mean devotion of every single hour that is not spent satisfying our animate needs to integral education and upbringing, dissemination and work for the sake of others. Our task is to lead people to at least a decent standard of life, at least above the poverty level, a fair distribution, and where no one feels that they are deprived of their rights.

Thus, our thoughts and speech should be oriented towards building a new balanced society that will allow us to maintain an integral level and stay within the analog system. In our thoughts, we allow our surroundings to influence us; we constantly submit ourselves to a stronger integral environment. After formulating internal thoughts, we implement them though speech, that is, we shape our concepts and informational systems. This is the point where actions come forward. It’s the time when we basically influence others through education, upbringing, and by elevating worldwide living standards so that nobody suffers from hunger and affliction.

This is the essence of our work. This is how we approach balance with nature: the goal that we constantly concentrate on. Stability among us allows us to get into a state of balance with Nature and with its universal laws. As a result, we create a “round” perfect system.

Here, our evolution stops: Our development started at a time when life emerged on the face of Earth, and at this point it reaches its final equilibrium.

It doesn’t mean that everything will be over and the Sun will stop shining. It’s not that we cannot wait several billion more years before it happens. We are talking about the end of correction of a human being: If we achieve balance with nature and reach perfect harmony, we won’t experience any pressure from Nature anymore, and thus our lives will become ideal.

Let’s hope that we approach such a state within our sensations and be able to prepare our children and grandchildren to attain this state. It is within our power.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 11, 1/9/12

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Every Action Leaves A Mark

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt’s said: “Every action leaves a mark.” Our advancement happens due to the Returning Light. It impacts us to the degree to which our desires are ready to accept It. Thus, their structure is gradually clarified.

The structure of a desire that is equivalent to the Light is in fact a connection through which we eventually start sensing the Light. It’s a permanent construction that constantly expands. Together it includes four (4) stages of HaVaYaH; that’s why it’s called the “revelation of the Creator’s names.” Numerous combinations of desires denote qualities of the Light. Within our desires we perceive the Light as if we’ve placed a screen before It; that is how we recognize what the Light is.

If we look through the tinted glass, we see that the Light acquires the color of the glass. This is how we get to know that the Light can have various colors. We need special tools to discover a new phenomenon. We also have to use additional remedies that will allow us to determine some qualities that are a part of the phenomenon that was just discovered.

This is what our work is about. The difference between regular scientific research and spiritual practice is that material scientific exploration involves using an external device, whereas in the spiritual search we use ourselves as a tool. We alter ourselves and try to apply the actions of creation to us to the extent of the level we have attained.

We do not develop our old properties, but rather reveal new ones; that’s why our work is called “spiritual.” Our effort should be oriented towards forming new properties that are similar to the Creator’s qualities; this is how we reveal His personality.

In the material realm, we tend to acquire practical knowledge about what’s going on around us and who we are. For that purpose we widen our existing natural characteristics through the development of science and technological progress. This is a basic difference: When we achieve a final stage of development on this plane, we will eventually see that we haven’t gotten anywhere. Moreover, we see that we have reached a dead-end. Our growth led us only to enormous egoism; we managed to reveal our evil nature to the extent that it became unbearable.

We have fallen to the very bottom of jealousy, ambition, hatred, and all sorts of evil conditions that we go through in relation to our neighbors. Previously, we at least had the illusion that we would get kinder and build a better society for everybody. At this time, we see that only fear of punishment stops us from using others selfishly and unsparingly.

The difference is that while working spiritually, we discover new properties, thus we get closer to the Creator; whereas when we work materialistically, we only get to explore the tangible nature of this realm. However, at this material plane, as well as during our elevation from here to the Creator, we still go through the same four stages of HaVaYaH, as it is said “I, HaVaYaH, do not change Myself.” This is why every action of ours brings us closer to the goal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/12, Shamati #190

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Don’t Be Embarrassed. Grow!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the workshop, I constantly felt shame that we were sitting and playing like children. After all we are grown-ups. What can I do with regard to this?

Answer: This game is nature’s most important and mature component. Whoever plays is the one who grows. And the one who doesn’t play, he already is considered as dead because his growth has stopped.

Do you know what the game symbolizes? The game is when I imagine the next level of my advancement and yearn for it. Actually it is a sign of growth.

Exactly the same game is found in vegetative and the conditions of development of the animate. The same element exists in them.

While working on my doctorate in philosophy, I had a question on the theory of games.

In order to grow, the plant needs to create within itself the suitable conditions for that, to develop within itself the forces of growth. Thus it grows.

The same unique principle of the game operates also in spirituality and also in our world, at every level of the worlds. Every one! Thus the game is the most esteemed component of nature.

It is not a football game, but a game of the next level, a game of growth.

This is the most honorable engagement of a person, since in this way he grows.

You pass through a very broad variety of states, of feelings. You need to accumulate all of this within you in order to feel the Upper Light. It is surrounding us, but we can’t “grasp” it. We need all of these feelings, which need to accumulate in us more and more. It will gradually accumulate in you, will assemble into one sensor, one detector, one sense, and then you will discover it.

This is actually the task of the creation of the soul. The soul is like a sensor for feeling the Light. That’s all. On the one hand, under the influence of your yearnings, the attribute of bestowal and love is created in you, and on the other hand, according to your yearnings, the Upper Light operates and bestows on you and promotes you.

Thus there is nothing to be embarrassed of. Grow!
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/2012, Workshop 1

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