Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Seven Billion Worlds Of Infinity

Dr. Michael LaitmanAs a consequence of our spiritual work, we should reach a state in which 1) We all desire to reach the same goal and 2) We all are united. However, we unite not because this is our initial state that comes from Above, but because it is our common goal.

In a best case scenario, when we correct something in our world, we return the object to its former state. However, when we correct the broken connections with other souls, we acquire much more than we had prior to the breaking of the common soul. This is due to the fact that we reveal and endow independence to every part outside of ourselves.

Within my egoism, I relate to everyone as though they have no independence and they all should service me. As I begin to love them, I wish to relate to them like every one of them is great, independent, and special. This is also how we want to see our children. Then each of the friends that surrounds me suddenly becomes a possessor of freedom of choice; each of them takes his place and level. And then, when we unite and I adjoin all these friends to myself, it turns out that each of them has grown and become just as great as me.

As a result, I do not re-adjoin the same seven billion parts to myself; rather, seven billion worlds of infinity unite into one. This means that I increase the scope of my spiritual vessel (Kli) by 620 times. However, all this works only in relation to me. After all, everything exists within me and depends only on the extent to which I relate to my friends in the right manner every time. I do it only in order to increase my Kli, to make it worthy of the Creator’s revelation.

Therefore, I see them in a three-fold way:

1. As higher than me, so that they would be great in my eyes,
2. As lower than me, in order to bestow to them,
3. As equal to me, in order to unite with them.

Then I acquire a huge, powerful Kli called my true soul. It becomes several billion times bigger than it was prior to the correction. After all, before the correction, I was in the World of Infinity as one point. Now I return to it with a “620” (Tarach) times greater sensation of perfection and eternity. The difference between these two states is like the difference between a drop of semen and a grown-up person who attains everything.

From Mega Congress Lesson 5, 7/25/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The World Of Infinity – Here And Now
Laitman.com Post: Broken Angels
ARIfilms: “The Ego’s Grip On Our Choices”

The Maidens Of Jerusalem

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is said in Mishnah (Ta’anit 26:2): There are no happier days for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) for on them the maidens of Jerusalem used to go out dressed in white garments, borrowed ones, however, in order not to cause shame to those who had none of their own… and thus the maidens went out and danced in the vineyards, saying: ‘Young men, look and observe well whom you are about to choose?’

The pretty ones among the maidens, what did they say? "Regard but beauty alone because a woman is made for beauty." Those from the noble families among them, what did they say? "Rather look to a family for a woman is made to bear children." The wealthy ones among the maidens, what did they say? "Look at those with considerable wealth." The ill-favored ones among them, what did they say? "Take us for the glory of Heaven and crown us with the golden adornments."

The “ill-favored maidens of Jerusalem” is the last phase of Malchut, Dalet-de-Dalet, called “poor and wretched.” A person runs away from a work like this, having no motivation or desire for it because all this work is by “faith above reason.” But it is created this way on purpose to help one attain spirituality.

A person has to understand that if his egoistic desire doesn’t work any more, if he lacks any desire at all, or if the beauty or fulfillment doesn’t attract him any longer, then it is a sign that he needs another type of “fuel.” A person is given the chance to imagine a state in which he isn’t “bribed” by his egoism and to understand that if he continues working in the same manner, it will be “for the sake of bestowal.”

However, where does he get “anti-fuel” that will allow him to work without energy or fulfillment of his egoism? This is the state where a person starts to comprehend that he needs the Creator’s help. If he doesn’t get power from Above called the Light, he won’t be able to move at all. If someone wants to reach bestowal without being compensated by “wealth,” “beauty,” or “nobility,” but rather chooses a “poor and wretched wife” (according to an estimation of his own egoism), that is, if he chooses to bestow unconditionally, then he arrives at The Day (property of the Light) of Joy and Love (15th of Av).

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/26/10, Article “15th of Av”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: An Ugly Beauty
Laitman.com Post: Where To Look For The Reward For Bestowal
The Path Of Kabbalah: “Faith Above Reason”

Annul Yourself And Start Living

Dr. Michael LaitmanBecoming a spiritual embryo means totally annulling oneself before the Upper One. There is a clear analogy in this world: an embryo cannot choose whether or not to eat, while a baby already can. An embryo receives sustenance directly through an umbilical cord, but it has to receive an anti-egoistic screen to be connected with its mother. Being an embryo is tremendous work. It seems to us that a drop of semen simply grew to 7 pounds in order to be born, but that isn’t completely correct. It not only gained 7 pounds; it also climbed 125 spiritual degrees, as it is written: “In the mother’s womb a candle burns and enables an embryo to see from one end of the world to the other, and it is taught the entire Torah,” the entire Light of Infinity (NRNHY).

An embryo receives and digests only to the degree that it annuls itself before its mother, and this annulment must take place in every spiritual degree until the End of Correction (Gmar Tikkun). A screen is needed so that it will not interfere with the action of the Upper One and so that it will only annul its own ego. It remains a drop of semen until its birth, as it were, while 7 pounds are formed only by annulling itself.

Until you become a drop of semen, you simply do not exist in spirituality. Annul yourself relative to the very first degree of spirituality, annul all your egoism relative to the point in the heart that you received, and then you will become a drop of spiritual semen and enter the mother’s womb of the Upper Partzuf. There, you will see all your friends; they are waiting for you. You are the only one missing in order for the spiritual embryo to start growing and evolving! You cannot do it alone because you have to unite with the others inside one Mother.

From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post:Why Do I Need This Whole
Laitman.com Post: The Inner Work Of A Kabbalist-5.20.10
5 Minutes Of Light: “Discover Your Connection With Others”

Actions Lead To Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I check my intention so that I am not lying to myself and I am doing everything possible for my advancement?

Answer: When a person begins his spiritual development, he only has an intention “for myself.” Only under the influence of an invisible Upper Light does he begin to feel a change in himself in that his intention becomes “for the sake of others.” In order for this to happen, a person needs to perform the actions that he is capable of performing, namely to 1) Unite in the group to the point of reaching a state of a mutual guarantee, as one man with one heart, and 2) Study Kabbalah together.

Kabbalists advise us to perform these two actions. This is called “half a shekel” which we need to put in. The other half will be given by the Creator.

We should invest, invest, and invest in the studies, unification, and dissemination. First, there should be the action, and no one can argue whether it did or did not happen. It is seen clearly, and it is within your power. Make a list of your actions (not necessarily the physical ones) that you have done that have transferred from your desire to the neighbor. You direct your actions to the group or to the Creator. By turning your actions toward them, you invest in them.

This is much like adopting a child where you invest in him, and he becomes closer to you than your own child. You don’t invest as much into your own child since you know that there is a natural connection between you anyway. However, you invest more in an adopted child because you are afraid that your connection is not strong enough. You wish to connect yourself to the child and to have him be connected to you.

Thus, adopted children become more dear to us than our own. This is because there is fear within that he isn’t really mine, and there is more that I could add or do. Maybe I am not treating him right or maybe he won’t treat me like I am his father. We see how important this inner fear is in order to use it as a foundation for revealing love.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, Article, “You Stand Today, All of You”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Voice Of The Messiah’s Horn
Laitman.com Post: Unification with The Group Leads Us To The Creator
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Love For The Creator&Love For The Created Beings”

The Fear Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, Article “Purpose of Society (1)”: “…the whole world was created for the fear of God.”

There is an exalted goal, which we do not perceive in our egoistic sensations, in the aspiration to absorb everything “into me.” The exit “from me” into concern for “outside of me” is called spiritual fear (Yirat Hashem).

Currently I am worried about how to fill and protect myself, which is called fear about oneself. Subconsciously we are constantly concerned with attracting that which is beneficial to ourselves and distancing what is harmful to us, our egoism. In contrast, spiritual fear means that I experience fear about what exists outside of me. I am worried about others, about the Creator, like a mother worries about her little child, thinking about him and identifying with him all the time.

In this fear and concern for the neighbor, outside of the self (one’s egoism), I feel the Upper reality.

From Mega Congress Lesson 1, 7/23/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Knocking On The Creator’s Door
Article : "Arvut (The Bond)"
Kabbalah Moments: "Like An Anxious Mother"

Why All Of Mankind?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe desire that we need to rise above is as great as the Light that created it in terms of volume, depth, breadth, energy, and might. We are not able to correct it alone. For this reason, the Creator divided it into multiple parts so that each of us would have an opportunity to correct our individual part in this immense desire. As a final result, all parts come together.

At the same time, Kabbalah relates that we were separated in order to learn to rise above our hatred (separation) and love each other so that we would learn to love the Creator in the same way. That is, the purpose of our division into individual souls is to raise in us a new, caring attitude to others, not to make our work with the will to receive easier.

Both assessments are correct. The purpose of our separation is two-fold. We must attain love for others before we attain love for the Creator, as it is written, “From love of others to love of the Creator,” and the division into multiple parts makes our work toward the correction of the ego easier.

Actually, the Creator could have created two Adams instead of one so that they would learn how get along with each other. We have heard that the “minimum quantity is two,” so two would have been enough to learn how to step outside oneself toward the other. Still, the Creator divided the collective desire into the multitude of souls of mankind according to the density or mass of the egoism so that each of us could correct his individual part of the collective ego, restrict it, rise above it, and use it in order to bestow onto others.

Therefore, our work in correcting this massive ego is divided into multiple parts relevant to the number of souls (or people) in our world. Hence, the population on earth decreases or increases to match the density of egoism in this world at any given moment.

Beside the fact that this work is divided between a great many people living today, it gradually gets completed by each of us with every return to (reincarnation in) this world. Each time, we correct our ego in small portions, day by day, during our entire lifetime and multiple incarnations.

From Mega Congress Lesson 1, 7/23/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Gathering And Gluing All The Pieces Together
Article: “Love For the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”
Kabbalah Moments: “Integral System of Correction”

Standing At The Borderland

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe are part of a society that is moving toward the purpose of creation, and under its influence, our values are changing. We check everything that is happening relative to our advancing toward eternity and perfection. We don’t want to be bound to transience and death. Our desire to receive pleasure wants to rise higher. It is not enough for it to merely improve current conditions; our desire strives for qualitative change.

Initially, I want change in the world around me, not within me. I need time, study, and collective efforts in order to switch my desire from that of external change, to an internal one. At first my efforts seem to bring no results, but then something suddenly clicks and my understanding and perception of the world change. Such changes may take months to occur.

Each new state consists of 10 Sefirot, which are our accumulated inner transformations that are hidden from our own awareness. Only after they are completed can we make a leap to the next spiritual degree that we perceive. Therefore, we simply need to exert effort to accelerate time. Once we build a new state consisting of the 10 Sefirot, we will experience it as a new spiritual degree.

Before this change occurs, a person feels confused, as if in a fog. This happens at every spiritual degree, even the highest. It is a sign that one is standing at the threshold of the next degree. In fact, in order to enter the next state, a person must lose the previous degree in order to receive the new one. These transitions are much more effective than going through another cycle of life and death.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Clarifying The Secret Act of Creation
Shamati #34: "The Profit of a Land" – Lesson
5 MInutes Of Light: "A Spiritual Degree Is New Each Time"

Knocking On The Creator’s Door

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn order to reach love, we first need to achieve fear of the Creator. The first stage that we need to undergo in this process occurs on the level of a simple action, as it is written: “We shall do, and we shall hear!” (“Naase ve Nishma”).

In our world, we worry about our close ones since our well-being depends on them. However, we do not experience this natural concern in regard to the society and the Creator. Thus, we need to exert much effort in order to create the beginning of such fear in us.

We put in a great deal of effort in the group in order to unite. We read and hear a lot about the broken system of connection among us, which was purposely destroyed by the Creator so that we would aspire to recreate it. We try to behave like we love each other, like we need each other. These attempts are, in fact, practical actions despite the fact that it is a game, superficial behavior. But in the beginning we need to “do” and then we will “hear”! To “hear” is the second part that depends on the Upper Light, the Creator.

If we exert a sufficient amount of effort, the Light reveals this opportunity to us: It opens the entrance in our hearts called “the entrance for those who knock at the Creator’s door” (Petach Le Dofkim Bi Tshuva). And then we begin to sense the desire for bestowal, the opening in the heart through which we feel concern for others, like mother Bina does about her children. We become this mother Bina in relation to the whole system of souls with which we need to unite in order to give to them. I adjoin the Creator to myself in order to give to Him also. I bestow and thus become seemingly above Him.

We only lack this trepidation. Once we obtain it, we begin to understand how this attitude evolves into love.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, Article, “You Stand Today, All of You”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Fear Is The First Step Toward Love
Article : “Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”
Kabbalah Moments: “Like An Anxious Mother”

An Exercise With Pleasure

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Lech Lecha (Go Forth),” Item 108: The act of Egypt is extension of the light of Hochma from above downwards, like the sin of the tree of knowledge….

However, there is a degree that is close to the act of Egypt and is not the real act of Egypt. He [a person] extends illumination of Hochma from above downwards once, to strengthen and to increase the [lights of] Hassadim that are covered from Hochma…. Hence, this degree is considered close to Egypt, but not the actual land of Egypt.

If a person holds back and does not use his desires, how does he grow in his anti-egoistic screen? He needs to draw some pleasures to himself, but even receiving them, he should feel a lack of pleasure. This is the first exercise. Then, as he allows himself to gradually feel the pleasures, he should still remain in the intention above them.

For example, one could be enjoying something tasty, but using the pleasure to see how much he can rule over it and rousing the pleasure in himself only for the purpose of nevertheless feeling that he is above it. Another exercise: a person consciously brings himself closer to a source of fear or shame in order to feel whether he has power over himself and can hold himself above this feeling.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Shameless Enjoyment
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Process of Conforming to the Creator”
Kabbalah Moments: “Greater Pleasure”

The Voice Of The Messiah’s Horn

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the Mega Congress 2010, many new participants will face the force, the desire called the “World Group” (the World Kli) for the first time. Why should someone who studies Kabbalah in the Ukraine or New Zealand matter to me?

Answer: This wisdom has to spread to all of humankind for it is written, “And they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.” The Torah was given in order to correct all souls. The “nation of Israel” is only a connecting link, as Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).” Correction has to take place in the entire world, but Israel is the first in line. This correction starts with Israel, manifests here first, and then “spills” over its borders filling the rest of the world.

Meetings such as this congress demonstrate how adoptable the method of Kabbalah is for all nations since it is the only wisdom that can bring all people to unity regardless of their corporeal, earthly differences of nationality, race, gender, and mentality. Within the spiritual system, we are initially connected through our “points in the heart.” Now, we only add to them our desire to strengthen this connection. I don’t pick with whom to unite. My “point in the heart,” my soul, is already tied with whom I belong. In fact, our relationship broke solely in our perceptions. We don’t wish to be related, but we already are. All we need to do is to see it and become its voluntary participants.

Therefore, we must awaken everyone in the whole world. And congresses such as ours demonstrate how close we are to the truth. Actually, if we disseminate the method of correction, a person who has this “point in the heart” will understand and feel our truth. He will join us as an equal part in all our actions. In this way, all nations will join together in collective correction. This is what is called the complete correction or “complete redemption” (Geula Shlema) from spiritual exile. “Complete” means not only for the nation of Israel, but for all nations.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was written down for our generation, and the history of human evolution is coming to its final chapter. The nation of Israel must complete this correction first and pass the Light on to the other nations. If we don’t strive to carry out our mission and correct ourselves and the world, we will become the object of hatred.

The dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah in the world is called the voice of the Messiah’s Horn. As soon as we come out into the world with this method of correction, we will immediately receive a sympathetic and kind response of love instead of hatred.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Are All Responsible For One Another
Interview With The Future: “The Return to the Spiritual Land of Israel”
ARIfilms: “The Nation of Israel’s Role”
Kabbalah Moments: “The Israel Phenomenon”