Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

The Purpose Of Life Is The Revelation Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe always clarify the issue of “there is none else besides Him” in our conventions. It’s a very important issue because it actually opens up the essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah, meaning the method for the revelation of the Creator, the only force that operates in all of creation.

Besides this force there is nothing else indeed. Everything else is what it generates, develops, what it motivates and manages. Everything depends on this one unique force. It makes no difference whether we call it “Nature” or the “Creator”; it creates and manages everything, but it’s actually one.

Unlike other parts of nature (the still, vegetative, and animate), man has a goal, a role, a purpose, and he has to attain it: to discover this force and to feel it. The perception of this force and its revelation happens according to the basic law of physics, the basic law of nature, the law of equivalence of form: To the extent that our attributes are similar to the Creator’s, we feel Him, become part of Him, and merge with Him.

The Creator constantly pushes us towards this state so that we will attain Him. This movement occurs from the beginning of the creation to its end, until we fully discover Him. We start the path of revealing and attaining the Creator while being in our world.

Our world conceals the Creator from us.


The Creator influences this world. He influences us and if we perceive His influence correctly as essential so as to attain Him from within and from this world, then we advance towards the Creator. We are given the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to attune ourselves to the revelation of the Creator through the outward shell of our world.

By revealing the Creator we attain our source, our root, the state of eternity and perfection. We can detach from our body to such a degree that our body (drawn as a point from which we attain Him, the point in the heart) and our world suddenly disappear.

We begin to feel that there is one Creator in all this, one upper Light. Everything that was previously depicted to us, our body, the five senses, by which we felt ourselves and the world, all seem to evaporate, disappear, and through this we see the one upper Light.

This is the state we need to reach. It’s very real, much more real than our “illusive” world. The article “There is None Else Besides Him” tells us how to do that.
[105510]
From the European Convention 3/23/13, Lesson 3

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Hollywood Can’t Even Dream About This

Dr. Michael LaitmanTorah, Exodus, “BeShalach,” 17:14 – 17:16: The Lord said to Moses, Inscribe this [as] a memorial in the book, and recite it into Joshua’s ears, that I will surely obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heavens. Then Moses built an altar, and he named it The Lord is my miracle. And he said, For there is a hand on the throne of the Eternal, (that there shall be) a war for the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation.

In general, a human being cannot conquer the quality of Amalek. But he has to create a situation when he places himself between the Creator and Amalek and really wants for the Creator to eliminate the property of Amalek within him.

A person needs Amalek. Otherwise, he won’t have a  connection with the Creator. In other words, the egoism (Pharaoh and so on) deliberately pushes us to the Creator. Without this pressure, we wouldn’t feel a need for Him.

In the end, corrections are made thanks to Amalek. But because he manifests in various forms, they are given different names.

Comment: Interestingly, when we read the Torah, we understand that all movie scenarios are extremely trivial and insignificant compared to it. They don’t even come close to the unbelievable height of the Torah.

Answer: There is no doubt about it since the Torah describes the inner world. It depicts completely different pictures of internal connections among everything there is. We recognize the system that unites us, see the properties and energies of the Universe, and become aware of everything that exists and happens between us. Undoubtedly, it’s a great action! A person rises to the level where his body no longer exists and there is only him inside these great forces.
[102743]
From KabTV’s “The Mysteries of the Eternal Book” 2/11/13

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Love That Doesn’t Leave Us Alone

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) Part 1, “Inner Reflection,” Item 12: It is said: “He is One and His Name is One.” “His name” stands for Malchut of the World of Infinity, i.e., of the desire to receive, an inseparable organic part of the reality that was originally included in the thought of creation.

The Light descends through five phases: from phase zero to phase four (Malchut of the world of Infinity). This process can be presented either as a sequential progression or in the form of concentric circles. In either case, the main thing is the progress. With each step, revelation of the Light becomes more intense, the desire manifests and gets clarified more, it feels and attains more.


As a result, the fourth phase receives the Light of Infinity without limitations. In other words, the creature wants to receive all of the Light not restricted by anything at all, neither by shortage nor by excess  It’s an ideal state that can be described as giving a glass of water to a thirsty man. One glass is exactly what he needs to satisfy his thirst, not more and not less. The amount of water is precisely sufficient to satiate his thirst. There is nothing left, nor is there a need for more water.

This is what the Creator prepared for us: a permanent state of “Malchut of the world of Infinity,” which we have to attain at this time of our evolution. For that, our desire has to exactly match the Light and be accompanied by the corresponding intention, in unity, in perfect harmony.

In general, it’s about the process of establishing correct relationships between the Creator and the creature. It’s because the fourth phase senses everything that is going on with it; it feels that it receives the Light, it senses the Creator’s attitude. All of it is given for the creature with the exception of its own reaction to what is happening. The Creator gives the desire to receive everything that He originally conceived, completely fills it with feeling, attitude, and goodness. Having received all this, the fourth phase becomes closed in itself and starts developing on this basis as it now has all three necessary parameters:

  • The desire to receive;
  • The desire to please, meaning the Creator’s love and good attitude;
  • The pleasure that fills it.

In other words, there is me who strives to receive, there is the pleasure that I get, and there is a sensation of the loving Giver. These factors begin working inside me. If I didn’t feel the Creator’s love, I would simply keep enjoying myself without limits. However, love “spoils the whole thing”: Apparently, besides pleasure there is something that requires my response. It doesn’t “leave me alone,” and I begin the journey.
[104851]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/2013, TES

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The Family Nest Of The Creator And The Created Being

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Shell of Noga is half good and half bad. It belongs to me and doesn’t belong to me; it’s something that stands in the middle, connecting me with all of reality. On one hand, it is an impure force (shell), but on the other, it’s a shell that I can use in the transition from one reality to the other.

There is always a bridge that connects between the good and the evil. There is no evil that is totally disconnected from the good, except for the stony heart (Lev HaEven). The stony heart has no contact with the good. The Creator is the attribute of “existence from existence” (Yesh mi Yesh), and He created the attribute of the creature “from absence” (Yesh Mi Ein) that did not exist before, and so there is no connection between them.

There is no Shell of Noga between the attributes of “existence from existence” (the Creator) and “existence from absence” (the desire of the creature). There is no connection between the stony heart and the Creator, and so it’s impossible to correct it directly. But among all the other properties there is such a transition, and we should always try to look for it. Therefore it is said: “A person should always turn the good inclination against the evil inclination,” which means that we should create a conflict between them.

But I should know from the start that at the end of this conflict, of this strong friction, of the real explosion, something new will be revealed, something in the middle, that connects the two hostile sides, just like the monkey is the link between the animate level and man, the transition between the levels, between the states.

This transition is the most important thing. It’s because the two opposite sides, the good and the bad, remain on the current level, while the transition suddenly becomes the place of a new birth that raises me upwards. Therefore, the middle third of Tifferet in which Bina and Malchut, GE and AHP, connect is the most central point of creation, where the Creator and the created being begin to build their “family nest,” their common home.
[105642]
From the 1st part to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/19/13, Shamati #68

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Mission Impossible?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: This means that each and every one in Israel would take it upon himself to care and work for each member of the nation, and to satisfy all their every needs, no less than the measure imprinted in him to care for his own needs.

An approach like this sounds as something unrealistic. So in spite of all this, how is it possible to realize it? If this condition is already laid in creation, is means that whether we want this or not, we will have to fulfill it.

In general, there are many things that we do against our will, even if we sometimes naively suppose that we want it. But any intelligent person is able to discern what results from nature that arouses in us all kinds of drives, thoughts, and desires without asking for our opinion. We don’t decide about them beforehand, but rather we only discover them within ourselves post factum.

Today we already see that in the end, the system will oblige us to resemble it. Should we tremble in fear as if we are standing before the volcano eruption, something that cannot be prevented, and flee from it? Or can we do something in spite of all this?

Whatever the case, Kabbalists claim that we need mutual guarantee. And if we look at the whole world, we see that we probably won’t have other choice. If we begin to oppose this, we only arouse our entire ego and in the end, we will be finished with the entire earth. After all, nobody thinks that he is capable to truly unite. In our eyes this seems impossible; it is simply easier to die. But we won’t even be allowed to “get off” that easily….

So, if this condition is standing before us, it is a sign that we must learn how to realize it by way of hastening. It is already clear that this path will save us from sufferings that are worse than death since they are derived from something that I hate the most, something with which we are not prepared to agree.

And therefore it is necessary to consider all these seemingly unrealistic principles: loving one’s neighbor as yourself, mutual responsibility, brotherly love, and being as one man with one heart. After all, the solution is hidden here: It’s not merely a way to avoid troubles, to get off the path of suffering; rather, a surprising possibility is here—we didn’t even think that meanwhile, through love for another, the eternal world will be revealed to us.…
[105716]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/22/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Mutual Guarantee”

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A Difficult Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Exodus, 19: 3-5: And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: ‘Thus, shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.

Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine…

Question: What does “And Moses went up unto God” mean?

Answer: Moses is the point in the heart. When I begin to feel that I ascend toward the attribute of bestowal, toward the attribute that separates me from the ego, and I don’t identify with it anymore, but rather place myself against it, then I rise a little bit above it, above the earth, to Mt. Sinai, to a mountain of hate.

I experience such mutual hate toward everyone that I am ready to enslave and subjugate everyone to me. However, I ascend above everything that the ego wants at any given moment of my existence and, depending on my ascent, get closer to the attribute of bestowal. The absolute attribute of bestowal and love is the Creator.

The Creator is not a materialized image, but rather what a person feels as an attribute. So, I leave everything that entices me to see the world in a different way, which means that I leave the people at the foot of the mountain and ascend to these new, qualitative attributes.
[105419]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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Jethro’s Advice

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, Exodus, “Jethro’s Advice,” 18:21 – 18:23: …Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times.

Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.

We are talking about human properties. A person starts recognizing what qualities in him get corrected under the influence of the upper Light (the property of bestowal). Some desires become closer to the property of bestowal, some become even more distanced. One studies their progression, systematizes them into a pyramid. There are only a few special properties that are “adjacent” to bestowal, whereas the number of more distant, more egoistic qualities is enormous.

Since the property that is called “Jethro” derives from egoism, it’s interlaced with the desires per se and their hierarchy. After all, the ego consists of five (5) levels of desires. When the desire named “Moshe” makes an attempt to correct a human ego, the property called “Jethro” helps him.

This mass is similar to the entire human mass, only that it’s inside a person. Using the language of Kabbalah, it is AHP of Galgalta ve Eynaim. Galgalta ve Eynaim is the property of “Moshe,” whereas AHP is the people of Israel that yet has to be corrected. It stands for egoism, and for that reason Jethro knows how to work with it.

According to the property named Hassadim, Moshe with his “generous hand and open heart” is not suitable for the process of correction. Egoism has to be corrected gradually, step by step. Thus, the property of Jethro shows up and puts everything in order.
[104732]
From KabTV’s “The Mysteries of the Eternal Book,” 2/18/13

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Escaping The Ego’s Prison

Dr. Michael LaitmanEvery person possesses all the attributes: “the nations of the world,” meaning his egoism and “Israel,” meaning the corrupt altruism that for the time being also works for the ego. So it says that every person is under the control of the ego and even our good motives and intentions are in egoistic attributes. This is called being in the “captivity of Egypt,” “in exile.”

A person has to imagine that all these attributes exist in him. He has to identify all of them within himself, arrange them, and start feeling through them. The same is true with regard to the world then he will see that all this exists around him in the world.

This theoretical picture gradually becomes clearer. When you apply it to the entire world, you suddenly see how it operates. It really operates in a lively manner and is constantly fulfilled.

If a person tries to organize himself that way internally, then through his internal organization he begins to see that the world is organized that way. Then the picture of the world becomes clear, and he begins to understand everything that happens in the world: how it flows, what, and why.
[105423]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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Hypocrisy Or A Game?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A significant part of our internal work is to pretend that we are already in our next state. It’s extremely important for us. At the same time people are taken aback by stereotypes that it’s hypocritical and false. How do we work with this?

Answer: Please don’t work with it! For example, I look directly into your eyes and say: “Anatoly, I can’t  even imagine that I love you so very much!”

In other words, we pretend that we are already in our next state as children who play that they are adults and thus grow up. At the same time, we trigger powerful forces of integral and undivided nature that raises us according to the same principle as it raises children. By playing this game, we get closer to nature.

A child learns automatically like a little monkey: You do something and he “copycats” the same thing. Why can’t we act likewise?

Learn from nature! However, don’t pick up from the human or animate levels, but rather from the vegetative nature. At this phase, everything anticipates and aspires to the next state. That’s the reason plants grow. This is exactly how any live cell develops: by aspiring to its next state.

It happens because AHP of the upper one used to be in Galgalta ve Eynaim of the lower onethis is the way everything descended. That’s why when we aspire to the next state, we discover AHP inside our Galgalta ve Eynaim, that is, in our upper part we discern the higher state. That’s it! We don’t tune up to the upper one, but rather try to penetrate into it since it’s already inside us.

Question: Still, how do I relate to what we do if I see it as phony?

Answer: Treat it as a game. We are playing! We are actors! Can I press the button marked “Love” only because Rabash writes in his works that “everybody has to love, respect, and bow to the group, and feel it as something great”? It’s not for me. However, if I make an effort, it will trigger the Surrounding Light, that in its turn will instigate my next internal condition that is already present inside me, and now it starts replacing my current state. It’s a simple physical principle. There is no miracle here. We have to explain it to others on a larger scale.

We have no other choice. The Creator requires it from us through the world that He displays to us. We have to accept this challenge and respond to this unique opportunity granted to each of us. We have to take advantage of this chance, hold each other’s hands, get closer, hug, connect our hearts and brains, and thus break through to the next level of existence.

The upper world will disclose itself to us inside our unity. Let’s constantly keep it in mind, and then theoretical knowledge that we have been studying for so many years will be revealed in us. I hope to see you all at that level. Just try!
[104777]
From a Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah 4/7/2013

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An Objective Appraiser

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can I get the group’s response for my attempts to annul myself before the friends? Is there an indication that the work has been done?

Answer: You accept their opinions, desires, and thoughts, but at the same time you make a distinction and they don’t dominate you. You perceive their cumulative “image”thought-desire-intentionand begin to sort out the data: What are the criteria according to which I judge myself and them? How do I connect the two parts, separate them, or put them together one on top of the other? According to what plan?

How can I fulfill my perception? How can I connect to the environment correctly? How can I be sure that the result of this clarification, of becoming equal to them in my thoughts, desires, and intentions I will not deceive and lie to myself? How can I be an expert, a true analyst, an “appraiser”? What tools do I have to measure things? After all, what’s important is that I should be neutral. Even if I see fraud, I should be as objective as I can with regards to the details.

So having no choice you need the Creator. Everything is before you except for one thing: You don’t know how to get started. You are not sure what angle you are looking at, you don’t understand what controls you, or what obligates you to come to certain judgements and not others…

This question about oneself is already a good sign. Although it’s an unpleasant situation and you feel confused, you don’t look outside anymore and don’t attribute any meaning to the external conditions, but rather, you turn your sight within, trying to examine your essence that determines all your thoughts, decisions, and your judgment.
[105659]
From the 4th part to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/13, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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