Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Provide The Basics Of Life And Take Care Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to provide the other with everything he lacks?

Answer: Surely, we are not talking about the reality of our world. Otherwise, you will be reproached with hard-heartedness: “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You study Kabbalah and do not give away everything you have.” Ignorant people think that you have to sweat to provide the others with their material needs.

In truth, to help the other means to show him how he can correct himself. The only exception to this rule is basic human needs. We have to provide everyone with the barest necessities of life so that there will be no people in the world who lack the basics of life.

However, beyond that we care exclusively about correction of the soul. There is no place for doubt: First of all, a person needs to secure for himself the basic, “animate” existence, and in everything else he has to provide for the “human” within, meaning the soul.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Playing A Game Of Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur mood defines the connection with spirituality, with the Creator, with the Light, the fulfillment we had in the world of Infinity. But when we aspire to a good state, we naturally think about fulfillment and forget that this fulfillment presupposes correction, the intention “in order to bestow.”

In other words, we first of all need to acquire the intention to bestow; fulfillment will follow. Hence, we are given a feeling of emptiness, lack of fulfillment, so that we focus not on it, but on the intention, meaning on fulfilling others and not ourselves.

This is needed to build within us a “neutral” attitude free from egoistic pleasure when we can use the fulfillment for the sake of others and not ourselves. Just imagine what it would be like if we were given the ability to fulfill ourselves with the upper Light egoistically! We would dream about it all the time instead of thinking about how to fulfill others!

Hence, the upper Light is hiding. Thereby it gives us the opportunity to think about the upper fulfillment unselfishly, free from our egoism which does not distinguish the concealed spiritual pleasure. Even if I’m not exactly happy, and the friends, too, don’t seem particularly joyous, this is the only opportunity to lull my egoism and thirst for pleasures to sleep and use this empty space for building my relationship with others.

This is an exceptionally valuable help, and we have to be thankful for it! Otherwise, we would probably remain in the slavery of our egoism and wouldn’t have any chance to tear away from it. And here, I’m given a chance to search by myself and artificially, meaning not according to my desire but virtually from zero, start advertising joy, the importance of the spiritual goal, of the environment, of everything that I lack!

I myself awaken this joy and importance, build them artificially, and bring this into my environment. I act like a child who plays with a toy and thereby introduces it into his life. He pulls a toy car and hums, and it seems like a car is indeed driving and the engine is working in it.

This is how we activate the upper system with our desire. This desire—the only thing we need to reach—is our plea (MAN). We express our desire so as to realize it without any readiness from the side of our ego, without any preliminary sensation, but purely artificially. This is how we start building a new form from a zero.

We shouldn’t be ashamed of it being seemingly artificial. Surely, it’s not an authentic form in a sense that it does not derive from our previous desire. On the contrary, we should be proud of it not being our true, natural (egoistic) desire and of us playing a game of bestowal!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Help Me Wake Up From This Dream

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the final state we have to return to where we came from at the very beginning, where we were united together, as one man with one heart. The Creator created only one creature, one desire.

When this desire divided into parts, the separation occurred only relative to us: This is how we feel it. But coming back to the state of unity, we feel as if we were in a dream. We perceive this separation and the entire world, the entire reality except for the world of Infinity as a dream.

By descending from the world of Infinity into this world though the five worlds or concealments (“world” or “Olam” comes from the word “concealment” or “Alama”), we gradually lose the sense of reality, similar to a person who gradually drifts into a dream, until falling asleep completely. And now, in the same gradual fashion we have to wake up from the dream.

However, the only, perfect state exists even now, and we live in it. We only need to clarify that our separation is just a dream and to shake it off from us. It only seems to us that by intending to bring joy and inspiration to everybody we care about others. In truth, it is an opportunity to work with myself. But it’s very hard to wake oneself up, and besides, in that case I will be driven by a small egoistic goal of this world and nothing more.

This is why, essentially, bestowal to friends, uplifting their mood, returns me to that same state of unity. I care about my own soul, aspiring to unite it with the rest of the parts, with all other souls. This in particular is each person’s mission, by fulfilling which he realizes his soul.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Moments Of Your Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have just been reading The Zohar for over half an hour. I ask you, during all of this time, how many moments did each of you yearn for the arrival of the Light that reforms, expecting something to happen? It is written that the angels asks a person after he dies, “Did you study the Torah and did you await salvation?”

How many moments did you spend in exertion, trying not to miss out and to "catch" something very important, like a goalee guarding the gate, or a hunter chasing prey? Were you passionately anticipating it, the way you might feel before a long-awaited date with your beloved? How long did you remain in this state? How many times did you return to this aspiration again?

Only these moments count in life. They are summarized and they determine the speed of life. The other moments don’t really exist….
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/11, The Zohar

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Friends Of My Point In The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A part of me really wants to go to the Convention, but another part of me opposes it so strongly that I don’t want to see anyone. What should I do?

Answer: You have to make your free choice. You should understand that both parts of you, like all of the thoughts and desires that awaken in us at every moment, come to us from the Creator. These are conditions which are set for us; it is not the actual me.

What makes the decision is not my body, which gets sick and does not want to go to the Convention, and not my mood either. We act like a mechanism where all of the internal electrical signals are controlled by the upper force according to the program leading us to a certain state.

Life, death, and all of the states in between are determined from above and there is nothing accidental about any of it. Therefore, in every state I have to detach myself and look at this “mechanism,” meaning my body, its mood, and everything in it, from aside. The purpose of this is to see that this is the Creator’s work and to understand what He wants to give me right now, and to what state does He want to bring my “donkey” (Hamor, donkey means Homer, matter). Then I will understand how to work with it and will not identify myself with this “donkey.”

The more times a day a person is able to detach from himself in this way and look at himself from aside, like at a body in which some kind of forces are being awakened, without identifying himself with it, but rather using it as a means to attain the goal, the faster he will reach success. That is also how we should treat the friends in every regard. Don’t look at their faces or personalities, but at their inner desire in the pure form, which does not depend on anything external. This is the friend of my point in the heart.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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A Familiar Song Sounds Better

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe need to prepare ourselves for the convention so as to come there in an uplifted mood. We have to get familiar with all the preparation materials, to watch all the video clips, and learn all the songs that we will sing there.

In this sense, there shouldn’t be any news or surprises for you. The more familiar the material is, the stronger impression it makes on you. We learn from the structure of the worlds that the first unity between the male and female parts does not beget a new life, but only creates the vessel (Kli). The Light becomes revealed in that Kli only starting with the second union.

First of all, a person needs to prepare his desires (vessels, Kelim) and therefore, it is worthwhile to familiarize oneself with all the materials. If everything is familiar to a person, he or she will be able to reach a stronger connection during the convention. And if we see something for the first time, we are unable to master it immediately. We don’t yet have the desires for it; there is no place to receive the fulfillment into; it is just the first encounter.

But a mere encounter is not enough for us; we want participation and fulfillment. It is possible only if you are well-familiar with the program. We are not talking about some individual performances, but we have to know and participate in everything else that’s happening on the stage.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/22/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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Equality In A Global Family

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll souls are interconnected and distributed into different levels of nature: still (S), vegetative (V), animate (A), human (H), and spiritual (S). The souls that have corrected themselves are on the spiritual level. Those on the human level have a “point in the heart” and aspire to spirituality. All the rest do not.

Possibly, the rest of the souls do not require such advancement. If a point in the heart awakens in a person, he or she ascends upward, but these will be special, exceptional cases. In general, the souls do not undergo such cardinal changes.

It means that we should not demand of humanity to adopt the structure of the developed societies. This is why it’s hard for us to believe Baal HaSulam who writes that all people already became one family and humanity is ready to ascend spiritually. Nevertheless, this is so.

A tiny part of the brain the size of a square millimeter rules over the entire body. Similarly, a small part of humanity has to govern it, connecting it with the Creator. From this part, everyone will receive correction in a passive form which corresponds to their type of souls.

Nothing should be done about it. Don’t equalize everyone according to the democratic model. They will be equal when each will become corrected according to their egoistic potential, their Reshimo (informational gene). Then everybody will become a single “body”; however, 90% of this “body” will be “flesh,” “bones,” “muscles,” “tendons,” and so on.

How many important organs does an organism have? How much is allotted to the brain? What portion of the brain represents a person per se? It’s a tiny part, a “microprocessor,” not more.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Where Is My True Self?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can one receive from the environment the importance of the intention to bestow?

Answer: Imagine that beside the environment there is nothing. There is no Creator, no property of bestowal, there is nothing but the environment.

We think that there is something else and it appeases us: There is the environment, but there is also the Creator, my own relationship with Him. In truth, there is nothing like that, but only the environment. Either you perceive yourself in yourself, or you can sense yourself inside the environment. It will also be you, but the perfect you that incorporates within of all of your lost pieces.

Beside these two components there is nothing. You are either submersed in your current self or you connect with the environment which you presently imagine as being outside of you: with the group, with the common desire. But that’s you!

In reality, my current perception of myself is conditioned by the fact that my egoism tears me away from my true “self,” and I think that I exist outside of it. It’s totally the opposite! My entire Kli (desire, vessel) of the soul is there, inside my true “self.” It’s just that the concealment acts upon me and I consider it foreign. Subsequently, it will become revealed to me whom I stole from, whom I deceived, or harmed. It was me myself, the people closest and dearest to me!

Question cont.: Under what condition can I receive the importance of bestowal from the environment?

Question: By faith above reason! You are looking for a rational confirmation, for a certain logic which would explain that you appeal to the group and receive support from it. Such logic does not exist. Indeed, if you were able to substantiate this logically, it would be advantageous for you to be in this team from the egoistic point of view, for instance, like in a football team. Here, however, you have no rational support!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011, The Book of Zohar

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What Awaits Us On The Other Side Of The Final Sea?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe first revelation of the Creator is the discovery of the pure property of bestowal, the exit from oneself to the “outside.” Undoubtedly, it seems irrational to us: Why would I think about the others?

If I, being an egoist, think about someone else, I feel emptiness and expect compensation. I haven’t yet transcended the egoistic calculation and don’t realize that by rising above my ego, I receive a new calculation that is presently unknown to me.

I can understand that similarity to the Creator is probably beneficial. Drawing closer to Him is such an obvious gain that I’m ready to pay for it. If it requires me to exit myself, I’m ready! They also promise me the entire spiritual world, so I’m willing to work for it.

In other words, for as long as I envision a certain profit, fulfillment for myself, I naturally have the strength and readiness to connect to the environment, unite for this goal. However, the instant we start feeling that the property of bestowal won’t bring any benefit for our egoistic desires, the problem arises.

We should understand that we are about to reveal a new reality, a different dimension that has nothing in common with this world. The gap and the opposition between the two worlds is so immense that we can’t picture it beforehand. We don’t have any example that would allow us to somehow, directly or indirectly, understand, sense, or imagine anything relating to the spiritual life.

A person transitions from one world to the other, which is called “crossing the Final Sea (Yam Suf),” without knowing where he is going or what awaits him there. The Creator and the creature are two absolute opposites. And until a person moves from one to the other, it’s impossible to comprehend what their opposition means.

Hence, to demand certain understanding, attainment, or support from one’s egoistic heart and mind is to shoot oneself in the foot and halt one’s progress. How can you demand something now, if you yourself block the wheel in the carriage that carries you forward.

It’s forbidden to awaken egoistic desires! Meanwhile, we don’t only awaken them, but also embitter them by our screams: “Let me see and feel something! I want to receive some proof so as to rid myself of any doubt!” It’s as though we are making an ultimatum: “If I don’t receive, I won’t move.” We even think that this stubbornness acts to our advantage….
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbaalah Lesson 3/21/11, Preparation to the WE! Convention

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