Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Take Care Of Our Common Boat

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Creator is concealed; the property of bestowal is concealed; the future is concealed, and I can’t see it with my egoistic vision. No spiritual property can become revealed in my current egoism, and I have no opportunity to influence its exposure but to work with the environment. Indeed, I reveal my unwillingness and inability to unite specifically there. I’m ready for anything but this!

This is called the "revelation of evil," the hindrances coming from Pharaoh, and if we do not overcome them together, they will bury us beneath them. All these crimes and quarrels that took place in Egypt and then in the desert, fights with each other and the Creator, all of them are the demands for some fulfillment, for payment in the place where you have to only think about bestowal and not about yourself.

The instant you think about your own benefit, it is a crime. Even if you do not receive anything, the very anticipation of a reward for your bestowal is a sin. One needs to strive for this aspiration to be one-sided and make sure that this one-sidedness constantly intensifies. Indeed, the second the tension weakens, the demand for oneself emerges naturally. For this reason, we need the environment’s support and mutual guarantee.

What helps me not to drill a hole in our common boat, not to think about myself but only about the environment, about our future ship? Only the friends’ support. It’s because I’m under their influence, they own my heart and mind and become more important to me than I myself. The environment has to impart me with such an attitude.

This will allow me to detach myself from selfish thoughts and to switch my entire attention, all my feelings and mind outward, like a mother whose entire desire, heart, and feelings are in her baby. If I begin feeling this way, it means I received the property of bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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Let Us Not Demand “Give Me”!

Dr. Michael LaitmanI think that during the WE! Convention in New Jersey we will reach the connection that we are already capable of creating. It’s when everybody forgets about himself and gives himself away to the society, totally submerging in the common feeling of unity and the corrected collective soul in which he doesn’t feel himself, but only this collective desire.

Besides this, everybody wishes and does everything possible to preserve this state in us forever and use it to ascend higher and higher. After all, only thanks to such an environment, by applying mutual efforts with regard to it: I toward it, and it toward me, will we reveal the force of bestowal within. And then we will acquire the property of Bina, without expecting any reaction or feedback for ourselves. We will remain in joy from being ruled by the pure property of bestowal.

I receive strength and support for this only from the environment. I have to develop such an ability myself; otherwise, it will not be considered to be my accomplishment.

Obviously, for my current egoism this seems irrational: Why do I need to create the society myself, which would confuse me and impart me with its values, forcing me to act accordingly and even rejoice in it? Will it give me any benefit at all?

True, I will not receive anything for egoism—but I will rise above my nature. This is the first stage of correction called “faith above reason.” Later, thanks to this faith I will attract the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) “inside reason,” into the desire, by receiving in order to bestow. But first and foremost, I have to rise above my egoistic desire.

But unfortunately, we stand like children in a stubborn pose and demand the Creator to become revealed, being totally oblivious of who the Creator is and what His revelation implies. We have all the conditions for revelation of the property of bestowal: Go ahead, do it! But it is the property of bestowal which will be revealed, and not a new, very cunningly disguised fulfillment for your egoism.

And our disappointment only shows how egoistic our expectations are. We don’t even realize that we demand: “Give me!”

This is why the force of mutual guarantee is so vital. It supplies everyone with confidence, the foundation, the necessity to rise above one’s ego, to bestowal without any self-consideration and compensation. This is the first property of Bina, which we have to acquire.

The only thing we can do in our state is to constantly turn to the environment for help. Moreover, one shouldn’t ask for some fulfillment for oneself, but only for support that allows him to stay above egoistic demands. Joy comes from the “good deeds,” from an outward movement toward the others because this makes you similar to the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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Getting Ready For The Upcoming Meeting

Dr. Michael LaitmanA few times a day we need to perform a calculation and to examine the state we are in, our stance relative to the Creator, the environment, and ourselves—and to adjust our direction. We veer off the path all the time; it’s natural. After all, our ego is constantly growing and we have to add evermore strength to keep it under control.

I have to separate my animate body from the spiritual goal, to give the body everything necessary, and to direct everything else toward reaching bestowal, verifying it relative to the environment, according to how strongly I desire to connect to the latter.

Then I will not get confused, and it will be clear to me how much I need for a regular life, and how much I can give to the environment. That is, I will know precisely where I am and where my limit is. It is very important since if you feel a limit, you can guide yourself correctly: Give what’s necessary to corporeality and do everything possible for the sake of spirituality.

Now, before the convention, you have to examine how strongly you feel the need to connect. Awaken yourself by watching the recordings of the previous conventions so as to connect to the environment that is joyous and happy from its advancement. This prepares a person very well.

There is no time in spirituality: There is no past, present, or the future. Hence, when you are watching the recording, it’s not the past. We connect to the state which exist now. There is no difference whether I watch a recording done six months ago or participate in what is happening today. All these states join into one and the same reality. By getting inspired by the past, I can prepare myself for the upcoming meeting.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/2011 on Preparation for the WE! Convention

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A Perpetual Motion Machine That Runs On The Light Energy

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe haven’t drawn enough Light yet, and if we start using our corporeal mind to figure out where the evil inclination within us is, it will yield nothing but mere philosophizing. We act only within the Light; hence, we don’t need any assessments or examinations and must think only about our connection. We are simply not able to do it right now.

We have to draw a great deal of Light before we do get the power, understanding, and wisdom to feel what the “evil inclination” (Yetzer ha Ra) is. In truth, it is an angel, the force of the Creator which is opposite to Him. Only Moses merited the honor to face Pharaoh. Only after this whole long path will we come to Mount Sinai (the mount of hatred).

And how do you with your earthly heart and mind, having no connection with the spiritual world, wish to detect the evil inclination? In our world, there isn’t any evil inclination, not in any one person! If a person possesses a terrible character, it isn’t evil but merely a natural trait, like in a bully. First, we have to find the human in ourselves, which has to do with the spiritual degrees and properties.

“The Creator created one against the other,” impurity and holiness, which unfold as two lines now, the right and the left. Hence, during the preparation period, we don’t make any calculations but only strive to connect. And only after all these efforts do we come to Mount Sinai, to such a state when we are finally ready to receive the correcting force, namely because we have found the mount of hatred, the real evil inclination.

And it is only the very first revelation. Afterward, there come the 40 years in the desert and the conquering of the “land of Israel,” meaning higher and higher degrees of the revelation of evil, and so on to the very end of correction.

Therefore, we must think solely of the Light, unity, and nothing else! When the Light force starts effecting us, it is a completely different energy when we begin to function as a “perpetuum mobile (perpetual motion machine),” running on external fuel. It’s as if out of the thin air, on their own, the understanding and strength to do the job appear in us, which we don’t really have, meaning they were not supplied by our egoism.

Thus, no matter what we study, above all the thoughts of the Partzufim and Sefirot, we need to think about unity, the correction of the breaking. After all, the evil inclination is what is left within the Kelim (vessels) after the breaking.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on the topic of “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice”

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A Shadow Of The Evil Inclination On The Background Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom the start, I have no desire to reveal evil, that is, I do not want to see that I hate others and that it is evil. And if I hate them just in my daily life, it isn’t considered the evil inclination yet since it is my natural, animate egoism and not something discovered with the help of the Light.

If today, I am here in this world and hate other people, wishing to take advantage of them so as to acquire food, sex, family, power, and knowledge, then it isn’t regarded as the evil inclination. After all, I need to reveal not the ordinary, corporeal egoism, but the spiritual egoism that stands against the Creator, against the force of unification between the parts of the integral soul. At one time our souls were all one but were drawn apart due to the force of separation that entered between them.

The evil inclination is above our nature. Here, below, in this world, I have only petty, earthly egoism. But if I enter the group and start studying, then by that I start drawing from Above the Light from behind the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality), where it resides. It starts working on me as the Surrounding Light that reveals the force of the breaking to me. This is something new that I have never felt before.

In this force of the breaking, I attain its opposite nature as well: I realize that it derived from the Creator, from the force that used to connect us. One stands in opposition to the other, and then I am able to tell them apart. Otherwise, there is no attainment if there aren’t the two opposites that I can compare. I can only see something as a contrast between the Light and the darkness.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on the topic of “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice”

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The Created Being That Is Out Of The Creator’s Control

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is said: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah (Light) as the means to correct it.” And indeed, it is the most important condition because all other provisions, principles, and the recommendations Kabbalists provide for us, their explanations regarding the Creator and the laws of creation, all of it derives from the above mentioned supreme law.

First, it begins with the creature itself: “I created the evil inclination,” meaning that before it, there is no creature. Until man finds the “evil inclination” within, he is not considered the “created being.” All the other attributes, thoughts, desires, tendencies, and actions that do not pertain to the evil inclination are not regarded as the creature.

In other words, neither the pencil I hold in my hand nor I myself can be regarded as the creature as long as there is no evil inclination revealed within. To start, I need to see the evil inclination which is the only thing we give the title of “creation” or Beria, from the Hebrew word “outside” (Bar) the Creator, meaning opposite to Him, against Him. Thus, there should first be an understanding of who the Creator is, and then you will understand what the “evil inclination” (or the creature standing in opposition to Him) is.

In all of creation, the evil inclination is present only in a human being of this world, and also not in everyone, but only in a person who has developed a desire to receive pleasure with an egoistic intention called “hatred” toward others. If he has a desire that has reached a certain degree equivalent to Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred), only then can he be regarded as the “created being,” and Kabbalah addresses specifically him.

Everything else doesn’t refer to evil because it is merely nature that functions according to its given laws which we can’t change. If there is a place where something can be clarified and worked on so as to be changed in order to obtain a reward for one’s effort, that place is called the evil inclination, hatred.

Hatred emerges during the breaking of desires (Kelim). There was one integral soul, but it broke, that is, the force of separation, resentment, and hate came and worked between its parts which used to be one whole. Everyone now wants to use others, gaining pleasure from humiliating and exploiting them, until he destroys the other completely. In other words, he enjoys hurting others.

This is the consequence of the breaking of Kelim, and this force is opposite to the Creator. The upper Light shattered the Kli, having entered it directly as is, without the screen, the intention to bestow on the part of the Kli. This is how we became the created being and the evil inclination appeared in us.

Therefore, a person should differentiate between the “self” and the “evil inclination,” the creation within himself, if he comes to discover it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on the topic of “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice”

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How To Come Out Of A Dead End

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf a group has come to a dead end of mutual hatred, then it’s best to break it up in order to give people a chance to see the truth. Let each person stay home and evaluate his life. The hatred will become less blinding, and he will get a more objective look at the hatred between friends, bringing a little bit of rational thinking into the emotion.

Then he will start thinking about what he should do with this hatred, where it came from, and for what purpose it was given. He will then remember that hatred is the means for an ascent. After all, the Creator created the evil inclination and purposefully evokes the hatred between us so that we would appeal to and reveal Him. The science of Kabbalah is the means for revealing the Creator and you have the opportunity to reveal Him right now.

The Creator only becomes revealed above our egoism, and as long as we feel good we will not appeal to Him. We must understand once and for all that all advancement comes only as a result of negative sensations. If a person feels good, he won’t make a move; this is our nature.

Hence, it is possible to work on love of friends if we imagine all the processes and states that we will have to go through, if we discern them within ourselves and understand them, write them down, go back to the self-analysis a few times a day, and add logic and emotion to it. This is how we begin to control each state, bad or good, and use it as a necessary means or a lever that will allow us to turn it into the next state of advancement.

If each one of us will try to break our ego, our “stony heart,” it means that we enter the heart of our friends. Ultimately, we reveal the only state that exists, which our egoism was concealing from us.

We are not working on our friends or the group, but simply changing our perception of reality and our hearts. The problem isn’t in the friends and the group. There is only my soul, which I need to collect into one whole.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/2011, Writings of Rabash

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It Is Impossible To Feel Joy Alone

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do people experience more joy when they are together? Is there a spiritual root in this?

Answer: Certainly! It is impossible to enjoy alone. We are gradually coming to this conclusion as a result of our development. After all, one Kli is incapable of receiving pleasure; it can only do so if it passes the Light through itself to others.

It is possible to feel pleasure if one passes the Light to another and the Light does not remain in any of them. This is similar to Mother-Bina who receives the Light in her upper part (GE) and passes it through her lower part (AHP) to others. This is the only reason the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) exists in her.

If she only has GE, she has no Light of Hochma, but only the Light of Hassadim (Mercy). However, if she has AHP, the “uterus” which allows her to beget and pass the Light to others, only then does she have the Light of Hochma.

Therefore, it is impossible to reveal the Creator if you are not connected with others and do not bestow to them! In this case you do not have the Kli for the revelation of the Creator. He becomes revealed precisely in AHP, in the Light of Hochma, while GE is only the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/18/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Origin Of Freedom

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Most people are appalled by the thought of having no free will in our world. How should we approach them?

Answer: That’s true since if there is no free will, there is no person either. He is not a person but a mechanical toy, a puppet controlled by strings. And it doesn’t matter that it includes you as well: A person sees in it your attitude toward him. You, sort of, discuss your own non-existence. After all, I only exist if I have free will, a personal opinion, and perform autonomous actions.

But we are talking about the omnipotent system of nature where everything is governed by absolute laws. Even if we don’t bring the wisdom of Kabbalah into it and just think logically, from where can freedom appear in this world? From a global perspective, what is freedom? Is it seemingly spontaneous actions, even though it’s not the case? Or is it some sudden desires that in fact are conditioned by the life giving force?

Where do my actions begin? As to me, I don’t see what triggers the events of my life, my thoughts and desires. What inner depths give rise to different urges in me? Out of the blue, I crave something. Where did this impulse come from?

If I found its source, it would be clear to me that it isn’t I who chooses, but that these kind of impulses are triggered in me by nature. But man has no access to what lies below the level at which nature makes decisions. He receives ready-made thoughts, desires, and actions deriving from nature’s acts.

At this level, we assign a certain degree of independence to man since it is he who had a desire or a thought. Based on this shaky premise, we view a person as an autonomous being.

Obviously, it is totally wrong. If we saw the integral picture, we wouldn’t find the slightest reason to judge a person or, on the contrary, to show him mercy. We would all feel as cogwheels controlled by the general force. The same is described in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Where then is free will? It lies in my ability to take over the management from the upper force that sets the entire system in motion. I can govern in its place, in alliance with it. In the degree of my agreement with it, I overtake management functions and begin to activate the system myself.

What’s in it for me? By doing so, I obtain freedom and autonomy. I take example from the upper force, demand assistance from it, and thereby take part in the plea. This opportunity is available to me due to the breaking: It presented me with free will in the middle third of Tifferet, in the middle point, a very delicate intermediate state. It is from that point in particular that I can ask to take the Creator’s place.

Thus I acquire autonomy. And there is nothing else that I can call my own.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/17/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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