Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

The Key Is To Find The Correct Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe main problem is that a person, even after studying Kabbalah for many years, can’t grasp that the whole Torah becomes realized in the connection between people. This concept repels us so much that we forget about it every moment. We are ready to do anything else but that!

That is the first obstacle on the path. And here, everything depends on building the environment that will constantly hold a person on the correct line. We reveal the spiritual world only by deepening this connection inside the group, specifically an internal connection with the friends, not an external one. After all, the spiritual world is the connection between us.

We constantly develop this connection one step after another, and draw the Light that Reforms wishing for the general force of bestowal, called the Creator, to secretly dwell between us. We want to reveal Him so that He would correct the connection between us.

And then the connection and mutual bestowal that exists in the upper Light itself will be revealed inside our desires so that the vessel (desire) and the Light become equal. This is called the adhesion of the created being with the Creator.

The emphasis in our work has to shift to the group, the connection between us, so that all our desires and thoughts, except for the most vital ones relating to the maintenance of the animate body, will be directed toward the good of the others. And then we will go through, relatively quickly, all the stages that bring us to the revelation of the force of bestowal or the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.

The main thing is to direct oneself, to clearly and precisely define the line of work, which is only in the connection between the creatures. And that takes a long time because filtering out all the other possible paths, approaches, and means is the work against one’s egoism, disappointments, and that takes a lot of time.

But after a person finally makes this decision, meaning the Light directs him or her towards this state, towards a connection between the created beings, after that one gets on the right track.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/2011, Writings of Rabash

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You Will Find The Creator In The Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I come to the Creator, when in reality I do not have the desire?

Answer: For you, the Creator is the collective vessel of all souls to whom you bestow. It is written: “I dwell among My people.” When this vessel manifests fully, you reveal the Creator in it.

The Creator is not some separate entity that exists outside of your reaction to the collective Kli. He neither has a form nor an appearance; He does not have an entity outside of what you find in the collective vessel.

For you the Creator is the group. When you reveal the connection between the friends, then in this common connection you reveal the Creator (Boreh), which comes from the words “come and see” (Bo-Reh). He manifests in the form you are able to see.

But He does not exist until then. Right now you do not have the Creator because it is written that you must go by what you see. You must not imagine anything outside of the limits of actual perception. You will reveal the Creator when you reach universal interconnection. It is the actual vessel that becomes imbued with mutual bestowal. And the Light will be revealed in this vessel.

It is not an abstraction of some sort—the vessel will seem to vibrate from the desire to bestow. Its “trepidation” is the Light, penetrating the universal interconnection. Everyone wants to bestow to others, everyone is connected with others, and this is why every part fulfills the other parts. This bestowal of one desire to another is called the “Light.”

Hence the Light in the Partzuf is the measures of the response in the desire. There is no Light without the vessel. The actual vessel becomes the Light when it begins to bestow. And the Creator is the commonality of bestowal, which becomes revealed inside the vessel, in the group.

Our entire work in the group brings us to the conditions that allow us to reveal and attain the Creator. I don’t go from the group to the Creator like from one room to another. The group is the vessel where I reveal everything: the upper Light (mutual bestowal) and the commonality of this Light, this bestowal, called the Creator.

Everything becomes revealed in the vessel of unity over the breaking. There is no other place, even now. There is no other reality other than the desire to receive pleasure, which experiences different states inside. It thinks that it is divided, broken, and welded to different extents and with different connections on different degrees; however, all this is happening inside of it. When it unites, it perceives the Creator, and when it loosens unity, it is left with a tiny Light. But one way or another, the reference is always to the desire and its experiences.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/24/2011, “Peace in the World”

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The Solution To The Crisis Is The Revelation Of The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we connect the structure of the universe we are studying with the development of the current crisis?

Answer: Malchut of the world of Infinity has divided into an enormous number of separate egoistic pieces, which now must acquire their common structure.

How do they do it? We do not know and cannot know this structure—it is very complicated. Eventually it will become revealed to us. But there is an enormous number of connections between us, and we have to “restore” these connections. We restore them when we work with one another, disseminate, and unite.

This is exactly what we have to do. This is our objective, and this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks of.

The current crisis, on one hand, is the revelation of the system of the common interconnection (colored red in the drawing), but on the other, it is the demonstration of the fact that we are egoists and do not wish to be connected with one another. Every one of us is a separate egoist.

So what do we do? The crisis appears because we are separate egoists, but the actual system is altruistic. Where can we hide from each other? Nowhere. No props will help us fix this crisis now, even though in Europe they have been thinking a lot about finding a solution. But they are not able to think of anything because the only thing that can be done is to restore an integrated system of connections between us. We will not be able to achieve anything without restoring it.

The entire problem is for the upper Light to start operating between us, and we could open the path for it through ourselves towards one another. This is called mutual guarantee. I reveal the Light for you, you for me, and thus we reveal it for one another, until the Light fills the entire volume of the world of Infinity.

Today we are in the beginning of the path. We must do all of this together. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah exists for. This is why we go out to the streets and try explaining this to people.

The extent to which they will join us will make it easier for us to open all leaves and valves on the path of the upper Light. I hope that in this way we will quickly come closer to solving the crisis. We have a medicine, a remedy for it. We simply need to fully reveal it for us and the others and start using it.

Good luck to you in this. I hope instead of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we will feel it going through us.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/16/2011

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I Am A Conductor Of Light!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do you regulate your relationship with the Light and pleasure before you have a screen and exist in the spiritual world?

Answer: Today we can only come closer to creating a society that will gradually make us desire to open ourselves up to the Light, the circulation of this Light, so it will go through all of us, and we will be in one single system.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is based on convincing man to connect with others: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” When a person approaches this state, he begins to feel how the Light literally begins to pulsate within him, break through his egoism. And a person becomes a conductor of the Light to the extent that he opens himself up to it, in order for it go through him to others. This very gradually becomes revealed in the work in a group, in work with others.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/16/2011

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Let’s Reveal The Path For The Light!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it possible to bestow in our world without receiving pleasure, and how does one connect bestowal with our world?

Answer: We are talking about the transfer of energy, desires, and sensations, about the mergers of desires. We don’t generate Light; we only open the path for it with our intentions.

We are surrounded by Light that fills Malchut of the world of Infinity. However, as a result of the restriction, it contains a large amount of disconnected desires.

When we direct our intention to bestow toward one another, we as if raise the blinds within ourselves, and the fulfillment from the Light begins to circulate between us. All the “valves” open, and each one of us begins to feel that he exists in a single living organism.

Essentially we don’t receive or bestow Light. We only open the path for it with our intentions.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 10/16/2011

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How Can We Check Whether Our Request Is Correct?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can a person check whether his request is clarified and correct?

Answer: If I can perform what I am asking for, it means that my request was correct. I discover deficiencies in me and ask for them to be corrected, and then I see that after some time (since it takes time in our world), I actually understand, want, aspire to, and can do it.

All the previous discernments now become much clearer. I suddenly agree with and desire all the actions and opportunities to get closer to others, which at first seemed totally unrealistic, undesirable, and repulsive to me.

I criticize people less and am able to get closer to them, understanding that spirituality can be felt only in the connection between us. I perceive the spiritual concepts more correctly and understand that we talking about the inner connection between us because this is where the spiritual world is revealed, while the concentration of the attributes of bestowal is the Creator.

I understand that spirituality is attained by practical deeds in this world, which was especially created in a way that enables us to perform certain actions even without any desire or intention for it. We can compel ourselves to do it, just as we can do many other things against our will: We go to work and fulfill different obligations in life.

This is impossible in the spiritual world because there is only pure desire there. In our world, however, the corporeal body clothes the desire, and hence the body can perform different actions even against its will. Thanks to this we can get closer to others in situations that contradict connection totally. This is the wonderful attribute of this world!

So in order to acquire the next, new level, we always have to fall into this world, which means to fall under the authority of our body. We aren’t talking about the physical body, but the desire detached from spirituality, which enables us to perform different actions even without a desire for it.

I begin every spiritual level by a physical action, with the egotistic desire, the intention for myself, and with an aspiration to profit and to receive reward. Having started this way, I can proceed to spiritual actions.

This happens in every level, until the end of correction. This is why this world must exist. Otherwise, we won’t be able to approach every new spiritual level independently.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Overcoming A Potential Obstacle

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe upper governance always arranges the present state for us and illuminates the next state a bit. If we overcome the present state, we can ask to be brought to the next state.

The next state doesn’t seem to be desirable because otherwise, we would strive for it out of our egoism, without having free will or being independent in any way. Therefore, the next state is always opposite to our egoism. It follows that I can always receive support from the environment, the books, and the teacher in order to ask to be raised to a state that doesn’t seem desirable, good, or attractive.

In other words, I mobilize all my energy and increase the importance of the higher degree. And if I really have a strong aspiration to it, sufficient to overcome the potential obstacle that separates me from the next state, then I attract the Light that Reforms, and it changes me. This is how I am born in the next degree and become its son.

Of course, “there is none else besides Him,” but He arranges the present state and the next one, opposite to it, as well as all the opportunities to reach the latter. I have to understand that these means are special, necessary, and thought through to the smallest detail.

Nothing is redundant in me or in the world around me, in every internal and external condition. Everything is arranged ideally so that I will mobilize my will power and rise to the next state. If I can’t do that, it means that I still lack the necessary attention to what is happening to me.

Therefore, we have to justify the Creator in advance for that bad, uncomfortable, and unpleasant state in which we discover ourselves. After all, it is a good sign and great help, which directs me and compels me to look for a way out of this situation.

The present unpleasant state helps me. However, as a person grows stronger and reaches higher levels, he begins to feel good in the state he has achieved. And yet, he must rise above it. He must do extra work in order to see the defects in his present situation, and this isn’t simple at all.

Now we are in a state when we feel bad. The future state seems quite dark as well, although it isn’t that dark because we can somehow imagine the next state as desirable and grow stronger thanks to the environment and the books.

We have been given everything in order to reach the demand to rise to the next level. A person must believe this from the beginning. After all, every moment in life we have everything: the present state, the next state, and the means to reach the next level from my current situation. There is only one thing that is always missing—our attention.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Less Talk, More Circulation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: This weekend our friends all over the world will go out to the streets to distribute materials to millions of people. How can we prepare for this internally?

Answer: First of all, we should understand that everything that is happening in the world is happening for us. We must see the Creator’s guiding hand in every action. He gives us a chance to perform corrections in the light of external activities of different organizations, the intentions of which aren’t always the purest.

One of the major principles of our development is “it swallowed abundance and spew it out.” We constantly get zero results, as if pressing the gas pedal to the floor while in neutral gear. The Sitra Achra (the other, impure side) seems to swallow all our work, preparing itself to control and to rule. Eventually, however, it spews out everything it has swallowed. Everything that has accumulated in it suddenly comes back to us.

This is because we don’t have the vessels to accumulate all our efforts, to “store” the results of our activity in the world. Millions of newspapers, lots of books, the Internet, television—everything seems to be going into a bottomless pit. But later we will get it back, according to the rule of “it swallowed abundance and spew it out.”

Even today different forces in the world, with greater and lesser degrees of purity, offer us an opportunity for dissemination. We don’t have to take them into account, but rather we continue our own way, without developing any relationships with them. We are only in contact with people who are pushed out of their homes by these forces. They take part in the demonstrations chanting slogans, and in the meantime we give out our materials in silence.

Our materials will do their work. This is because in every leaflet that we give people there is a connection with the Light. The Light will flow through the letters we printed and will do their job.

We can already see the results all over the world. Our friends are amazed by how quickly people connect to our message and are ready for more. Even professors come with their students to study this phenomenon that contradicts common knowledge.

So we only have to prepare lots of materials that convey our message and to talk less, especially outside Israel, where our forces are limited. Baal HaSulam says that it is even possible to hire people to advertise our message of unity, but the content must always be ours.

All our friends must go out to the streets tomorrow. It is this kind of work that can truly connect us. This is a great opportunity for all of us. No one should stay home. There are people who haven’t been coming to the group for years because they aren’t happy with it. But now is not the time for hard feelings.

If you really want to advance towards the goal, if your spiritual life is more important to you than your pride, step on your pride and come. Start connecting with others for this cause. Take a pile of flyers and give them out. Even if you go home afterwards without speaking with any of your friends, the external action will have its effect. After all, without connection you won’t reach the goal.

So, we go out to the streets in order to distribute our materials to the masses. Less talk, more circulation of flyers. Now is not the time to talk to people. It’s enough for them to receive leaflets with our Internet address. It is a rare opportunity for us, and we shouldn’t miss it.

Everything will change in the future. We have to find the ways to disseminate our message on the Internet as widely as possible. One way or another, everyone uses the Internet today. Moreover, people gladly leave us their e-mail addresses and even telephone numbers and are ready for further communication. Hence, in the future, the emphasis will shift to virtual space and communication.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/14/2011, “One Commandment”

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How To Draw The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can a person balance the upper governance in reward and punishment?

Answer: A person can’t do anything by himself. One can only give the Light the best opportunities to be influenced by it. The upper Light is in concealment. In order to invoke its influence upon ourselves, we have to conform to it in the best way possible, meaning to unite between ourselves as much as possible.

The more strongly we get connected with heart, soul, mind, desire, thoughts, and inner intentions into one whole, by that we awaken the upper Light, obliging it to be revealed inside of us and take care of us. Apart from that, we can’t do anything. This is our only action that prepares us for correction, and the actual correction is done by the Light.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Man Is Always In The Middle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I not forget at the end of each day that everything comes from the Creator?

Answer: At first, such an understanding needs to be acquired by force: with your own efforts and with the help from the group, by reading appropriate quotes and constantly reminding yourself about it.

And then the real changes come, which produce the Light that Reforms. Then the person enters into a permanent state and realizes that everything is guided from Above: The Creator is the first and He is the last, while man is in the middle and only ties the beginning to the end.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/23/2011, Writings of Rabash

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