Freedom From Oneself – Laitman Unplugged
Posted on March 9th, 2014
Question: How must the group work on its connection in order to adhere to the teacher and not allow external viruses to pull the entire society somewhere to the side?
Answer: The group must learn the method of correction on the spiritual path from the teacher, but realize it in itself. The connection between the friends has to provide everyone with such a power, with such a foundation, that they will also be ready to hold themselves in their place without the teacher. They need the teacher only to be able to advance constantly in the right direction.
But on the level that has already been attained, the group has to be already be in such mutual connection that it creates a stable base so that they don’t need anyone. In the connection between them, they discover the Creator, and in this way they advance.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/27/14, Topic of Lesson: “Teacher”
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Rabash, Article “The Cup of Blessing Must Be Complete”: In the state of Ibur (gestation), the upper level corrects a person. One is like a fetus in its mother’s womb, who completely annuls himself before its mother, doesn’t have an opinion of its own, and “consumes what its mother eats.”
Continuous self-annulment before the upper one, constantly advancing, overcoming internal resistance, allowing the upper one to act as it wants is extremely hard work.
It is really hard to constantly self-annul before the upper one in everything we go through, in any situation we experience. Actually, it is next to impossible. However, one applies tremendous exertions, pushes the limits, breaks down, and nevertheless tries again and again. One ties maximally strengthen oneself by replenishing energy from one’s environment, and thanks to this in particular breaks his heart and screams for help from Above. Then, the upper one helps him to annul himself and enter the state of a fetus.
A fetus state lasts for nine months. Each time greater egoism, the desire to receive, is revealed within a person, which he has to overcome again and again, until this period is over, one is born, and enters the state of Yenika (feeding, drawing of sustenance).
In the feeding state, one is already acquainted with the upper one, but that doesn’t mean that one’s state becomes easier. At this point, a greater egoism is revealed. One has to accept the power of the Creator, His greatness, the upper governance, and the supremacy of the force of bestowal over his even stronger egoistic desires.
All one was expected to do as a fetus was to self-annul. It doesn’t mean that one acts mindlessly or feels nothing. At this stage, one still acknowledges the tastes and thoughts relative to which one is self-annulling. At the stage of feeding, one has to partake in one’s own advancement and growth by making decisions whether or not to accept the sustenance. One has to voluntarily agree that one’s entire life is in “milk” (the Light of Hassadim) and that one doesn’t need anything besides it, thus rejecting the state of Gadlut (greatness). This is what our spiritual advancement is about.
The evolution of a spiritual fetus and later on a newborn child are very intense periods of time. As in this world, a person rapidly grows by transforming from a “zero” into a small baby. Then, during the first two years of breast feeding, one transforms from a newborn baby who knows nothing about spirituality into a two-year-old toddler, who walks, thinks, talks, and interacts with the upper one.
After the feeding period is over, a child continues growing in a form similar to the upper mone. When a child stops self-annulling before the upper one, the school years begin. These are stages of human spiritual growth that all of us are facing without exceptions.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/14
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The entire system of creation is experiencing negative shocks because its parts are not functioning together in harmony. There is a part that is called Aba (father) and a part called Ima (mother).
Ima is the characteristic of complete bestowal, Hafetz Hesed (absolute mercy). The characteristic of Aba is the higher intelligence, Ohr Hochma, the source of life. These two parts must exist in harmony between them.
There is also Keter or the Creator, the thought, idea, program, prior to some kind of realization below.
Ima must make the infrastructure, a place for receiving the Light of the Creator. But this is only possible to the degree that we, the souls, ask her for this since she is found in a state of absolute Hafetz Hesed and doesn’t want anything for herself.
Both Aba and Ima suffer with overflowing love for the children, but they are unable to do anything because the children are not asking for this. Instead they ask for something else entirely opposite to the parents, something against them.
Just as in our world, if children asked to taste alcoholic beverages, drugs, and cigarettes, a mother and father, by not allowing them to do this, would suffer both because they cannot give a child something good and also because he is asking for something bad.
In order not to cause such double suffering to AVI (Aba ve Ima) in our spiritual advancement, we must specifically ask for what we really need: love and bestowal.
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From the World Zohar Week “Integral Education Convention” Day Three 2/4/14, Workshop 5
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Baal HaSulam, Shamati #8, “What Is the Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of the Sitra Achra”: We must observe two discernments in this shade, meaning in this concealment:
1. When one still has the ability to overcome the darkness and the concealments 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, meaning that the Creator does all that to a person so that one may find one’s prayer and yearn to cleave unto Him…. In that state, one still believes in His Providence.
2. When one comes to a state where he can no longer prevail and say that all the suffering and pain one feels is because the Creator sent it to him so as to have a reason to ascend in degree, one comes to a state of heresy. This is because one cannot believe in His Providence, and naturally one cannot pray.
Everything works according to the same principle: “There is none else besides Him, the Good and Benevolent.” All of our work is to attain this principle in each and every state that we go through. We need to evaluate our entire lives according to this principle, and this is impossible without the support of the environment. Otherwise a person cannot hold on.
All of the states are sent to us by the Creator, meaning that they are determined by the influence of the upper Light on the Reshimot (the informational genes) and their common state in regard to each other. But between the Light and the Reshimo an empty space remains for our free choice and effort. And a person must fill this space.
There is a lack of contact with each other which is called concealment. A person must make effort in this in order to remove this concealment and to complete this contact between himself and the Creator, between the Reshimo and the Light, and to bring fulfillment between them. The Reshimo gets revealed as shattered, and therefore it is always discovered as a discomfort, deficiency, rejection, and concealment. After all, this is a testimony to the breaking, and I need to accept this as a call for contact in all the conditions that are created.
This is called work above reason. It could be that there is an unpleasant feeling in my heart and mind, that I cannot integrate all of my problems with the Good and Benevolent, but in spite of it all, my work in mind and heart shouldn’t depend on my inner state. This is called that I am skipping over the Reshimo that is revealed, rising above the shattered Reshimo, as if this Reshimo were corrected. That is, I feel as if I have reached the revelation of the absolutely benevolent, single force and stand face to face with the Creator.
And then I thank the Creator for my shattered desires because I can only attain spirituality, the advantage of Light over darkness, this way. It is specifically in the contradiction between the Reshimo and the Light that I discover what the Light is every time.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/23/14
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Question: What is the spiritual root of indifference?
Answer: The spiritual root of indifference stems from the state of rest that our ego is attracted to. It is the lowest egoistic state. I lie, doing nothing, filling my sight with interesting pictures, my hearing with pleasant sounds, my mouth with tasty food, and my nose with pleasant odors. If I totally fill myself, I have no deficiencies left, and there is no motion. I can enjoy the quiet!
Question: So how can we overcome the indifference, especially during the workshop when I suddenly feel bored and indifferent?
Answer: I don’t understand how someone can be bored during the workshop if it provides a great opportunity to work. I listen to the friends and I feel that I am burning. First I have to be incorporated in each one. One of the friends speaks nonsense, but I annul myself and try to fathom his words, accepting them as if he were Elijah the prophet. I penetrate the friend and want to live in his words, which are the only reason to be incorporated in him.
Then another friend speaks and begins to philosophize, and I can hardly restrain myself, but I let him finish. Here I have another type of work: I am incorporated in him, suffer, and see to what extent what he says is right or wrong. It is not in order to criticize what he says, but in order to help me be incorporated in him even more. The more my ego criticizes the friends, the more deeply it helps me penetrate them.
When we end a round of debate, I am incorporated in each one and practically burst as a result of the experiences that fill me. I am not full of their words since I don’t even remember what they said, but I am full of my efforts to be incorporated in them.
We have to see the workshop as an opportunity to be incorporated in the friends, despite our criticism. First it seems that one friend speaks nonsense, another friend speaks too much, another didn’t hear the question at all, and another one doesn’t even understand how low he fell. But all this doesn’t matter! Even if I went to some other place to participate in a roundtable discussion, I would also be incorporated in my partners and would do the same work with them. I wouldn’t receive less from them than I receive here.
How can I feel bored if I constantly work? No matter what the friend says, I try to delve deeper into him and to feel his inner space. Each one is like a womb for me, and by the connection between the friends, I form the womb, enter it, and feel that I am inside some kind of space, inside a human being.
Every friend is my environment. When we complete a full round, I form a bubble of all the friends, a sack of amniotic fluid inside the womb. I feel like a baby. I penetrate the friend, discover an inner space, and try to get used to him, and by my thoughts, feelings of repulsion, I begin to identify with what is inside him.
Start working! This inner work is called a friends’ meeting and not debates on foreign affairs.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/14/14, Writings of Rabash
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Writings of Rabash, “What Is The Cup of Blessing Must Be Full in the Work”: There is a difference between speaking and mute in the work. Since speaking is the state of revelation, meaning that one has already attained the state of suckling in spirituality, and he already feels that he is suckling from Kedusha (Divinity). And the state of suckling points to Hassadim (Mercy), because Hesed is the state of bestowal, since when one merits the vessels of bestowal, meaning when all his actions are for the sake of Heaven and he no longer cares for himself, it is called that he merited the state of Hessed (bestowal).
However, gestation precedes it, meaning that the upper one corrects him. In the meantime a person doesn’t participate in his own correction. He only annuls himself and the upper one does all the work. But every time a person annuls himself differently with regards to new discernments. He encounters new problems, troubles, yet he annuls himself, lowers his head and accepts everything.
And this is when one is like an unborn in his mother’s womb, where the unborn annuls before his mother, and he has no opinion of his own. Rather, as the sages said, “The unborn within his mother eats what his mother eats” and he has no existence of his own, to ask any questions, or do anything on his own, and that means that he is mute and that he has no mouth to ask any questions.
A person makes himself mute, he as though doesn’t exist inside the upper one at all so as not to disturb the upper one and not to be a foreign force in it. If the embryo is a foreign body inside the mother, her body will immediately resist it and reject the embryo as something hostile. But this is the wonder of nature since the exact opposite happens and the mother’s whole body begins to work for the benefit of the embryo instead of rejecting him. This happens because in nature the corporeal embryo also annuls himself when it develops in the womb.
…and that means that he is mute and that he has no mouth to ask any questions. That is, he shuts his mouth and doesn’t argue, he annuls himself, accepting everything. He has many questions and feels resentment, but he concedes and doesn’t argue.
And this is the time for one to walk with his eyes shut, above reason, to believe in the wisdom of the sages and advance to the end. It is impossible to explain this in other words since in the meantime a person doesn’t understand anything in spirituality. Therefore, it is said simply that he has to annul himself all the way and believe in the faith of the sages, which means to count on them all the way. No matter what I feel inside my heart and what doubts go through my head, I annul myself before the upper Providence.
This is called gestation, meaning that he has no mouth to speak. It is the state of Malchut, which is the smallest and most restricted, and is called Ibur, which comes from the words transgression and judgments (Dinim), as implied in the words “The Creator judged me for your sake (because of you).”
And the matter of transgression and judgment (Din) must be explained. Because for the reason that one must walk with his eyes shut, above reason, the body opposes it, and for that reason one must continuously overcome it, and this is called transgression, wrath and trouble, because it is such a difficult work to always walk in a state of annulment before the upper one, and let the upper one do whatever He wills with him.
A person is ready to annul himself in any way possible. He cannot help the upper one like on the levels of suckling and greatness. But he is ready to totally annul himself before the upper one and to give Him his body and soul to be corrected. And this is called Ibur (gestation), which is the smallest possible restriction, the very first degree of spiritual existence. We shouldn’t despair, together we will reach it!
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From Preparation to the Daily Morning Lesson 2/11/2014
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The Torah, “Exodus” (Ki Tissa), 32:16-32:18: Now the tablets were God’s work, and the inscription was God’s inscription, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard voice of the people in their shouting, he said to Moses: “There is a voice of battle in the camp!” But [Moses] said: “[It is] neither a voice shouting victory, nor a voice shouting defeat; a voice of blasphemy I hear.”
When Moses climbed down from Mt. Sinai, he thought that the nation of Israel would fight both among themselves and within themselves. Instead, he heard cries of joy that indicate full mutual consent. Moses is the only one who was against everyone else since even Aaron agreed with the people’s desire to make a golden calf. But this state had to be revealed, it was necessary.
The attribute of Joshua in a person is a certain tool that is close to Moses like a loyal assistant, a servant, who totally annuls himself before him. Moses is the head and Joshua is the body and additional executive functions.
Everything that Joshua receives from Moses is totally opposite from his understanding, his knowledge, and his perspective. So he doesn’t just annul himself before Moses, but receives everything as an axiom. His mind rejects his actions but because he operates according to the desires of Moses, it’s as if his mind is rebuilt, and goes through a process of reprogramming.
The correction of the body is from the top down, as it says, “the hearts are drawn after the actions and the thoughts are drawn after the hearts.” Therefore we say, “we shall do and we shall hear.” This is our way, we have to annul ourselves before the upper level, do everything it dictates to us, and then we will begin to understand it. This is the principle of our continuous ascent.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/9/13
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The Torah, “Exodus” (Ki Tissa), 32:1: When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron, and they said to him: “Come on! Make us gods that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt we don’t know what has become of him.”
It refers to a psychologically, philosophically dramatic situation that touches the deepest characteristics of a person. And this state returns on every level.
If I go forward correctly, then at every moment I experience a state like this where I seemingly understand where I am, my direction, locking myself onto the right goal, on the “Moses” in me. I made the right step and at the end of this step “Moses” suddenly disappears because I merge with him and he disappears within me.
How is it possible to go on? After all, I have no other signpost. How is it possible to get out of this unstable condition where I took the first step forward and I don’t know how to advance further? And so the next phase appears in me, Aaron.
Moses is faith, Aaron is knowledge, knowing. And I turn to the Aaron in me because I cannot turn to the property of bestowal and not to the property of love that has suddenly disappeared in me. In spiritual advancement all of our inner characteristics are changing all the time. They rise, descend, disappear, and pass through the point of bifurcation (splitting).
The state of ascent symbolizes the beginning of the next level, the birth, but like every embryo, I don’t know and don’t understand anything. I made very great efforts in order to be born, I developed a new level in my intrauterine process, and now that I have been born I don’t know anything.
So calmness is required here, the next relaxation where I surrender myself into someone’s invisible hands. I felt great pressure, anxiety, warmth, the fluid that surrounded me within the womb of the mother, which is the property of bestowal and love, and I didn’t think about anything besides belonging to this higher level. But now I must search for her. For the embryo is like a blind newborn kitten, constantly searching for something to bury itself in.
When the person loses this signpost, he doesn’t know what to do. He badly needs confidence, and it has to be his own, inner confidence, the acquisition of his anchor, his basis. Therefore he tries to find somewhere the basis that he lacks, and to hold onto it. And this is the “golden calf.” The “golden calf” embodies the knowledge that controls me and I agree with its control. For now I have tools in my hands, a healthy common sense, according to which I advance.
But advancement is based upon this, that all the time emptiness is created within me. I don’t know anything, I doubt, feel lost, make some kind of step, as though in the air, and only thanks to this am I ready to give this step to the Creator and not rely upon any solid and logical basis. The next degree distinguishes itself from the present degree by its height, and the height of the degree is faith.
It follows that our foot looks for ground, and that ground is faith. That is, I must “lift my foot” to a new faith, to bestowal and love, while in the meantime there is seemingly no reciprocity, no knowledge. And if I am completely ready to nullify myself, I will already be able to rise to a new level and acquire knowledge there.
After this I must raise the other foot, really hanging in the air, and advance without any proof and certainty, understanding, or clarity. This is a continuous process of attaining the Light in the four levels of HaVaYaH, the four-letter name of the Creator within us. That is how the ascent on the 125 levels of the spiritual ladder is carried out by “faith above reason.”
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/9/13
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The Torah, “Exodus” (Ki Tissa), 32:12, 32:15: Why should the Egyptians say: “He brought them out with evil [intent] to kill them in the mountains and to annihilate them from upon the face of the earth? Retreat from the heat of Your anger and reconsider the evil [intended] for Your people.”
“Now Moses turned and went down from the mountain…”
“Descending the mount” symbolizes distancing oneself from the Creator, while “ascending the mount” is to go above all your doubts. “Mount” is from the word “doubts.” This means that from the same place that is the summit of man’s reflections, from there he finds the Creator.
Each level determines the inner state of a person. Thus the descent of Moses from the mount symbolizes that he acquired confidence, force, and knowledge. Yet, there remained spiritual potential in him, and with this force he went down to the nation of Israel.
…[bearing] the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets inscribed from both their sides; on one side and on the other side they were inscribed (“Exodus” 32:15).
The two sides of the tablets of the Ten Commandments symbolize the face (Panim) and the backside (Achoraim) of the face. Thus it is written on two sides which means that they are completely identical, both from the side of the Light and from the side of darkness. This means that the nature of man, his desire, acquired the attribute of the Light, therefore both sides are identical.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/9/13
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