Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Correction Of Errors Occurs On The Priestly Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Numbers,” 15:25: The Kohen shall atone on behalf of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was an error, and they have brought their offering as a fire offering to the Lord and their sin offering before the Lord because of their error.

The highest level of human development is called Kohen (priest). In this hierarchy, there is the High Priest who is himself the uppermost level. This characteristic exists in every person and if he attains it, he can judge, give a verdict, and carry out the sentence. In each one of us there exist the nations of the world, the people of Israel, Levites, and priests. If I can correctly upgrade myself internally and locate these corrected egoistic sub-levels within me, then I will understand in what manner I must conduct myself to atone for my errors.

A sin is what I could not evaluate correctly in the previous state, whereas in the present state I can. So it is said: “The kohen shall atone on behalf of the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was an error.” This means that it is necessary to rise to the level of the priest and then the error will be corrected.

Question: If we are talking about our world, a court apparently should be found on the level of the priest?

Answer: Yes, but the wisdom of Kabbalah is not talking about our world, because on this level it is impossible to correct anything. The corrections can only be carried out internally, inside of people. So we need to reach a level from which it is possible to correct all the lower levels. The Torah speaks about a person in a single body, so it is impossible to make any comparison between our world and the spiritual world. We can construct our world according to forms similar to spirituality, but first and foremost, the Torah calls upon us to correct ourselves.

The correction doesn’t have to be external, like in our world, but internal. It is possible only if each one of us ascends to the highest level. So the person must himself feel that he has erred and find within himself the priest that will correct it. From this level that symbolizes connection with the Creator, it is possible to correct our previous errors.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/13/15

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When We Open The Book Of Zohar

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we start reading The Book of Zohar, why do you often ask: “Do you have something to ask from the Creator?”

Answer: Certainly, otherwise for what reason do you have The Book of Zohar? After all, why do you open it? It is to discover the truth. The truth is revealed only if you awaken the right line, which is love. When you awaken it, you must understand, feel, and discover that in fact there is no love within you, but only hatred. And further, it is such a hatred that you are not able to sit next to your friends.

In order not to remain indifferent to each other, it is necessary to demand that the Creator reveal all of this to us: the love, hatred, mutual cooperation, and the conflicts between us. We lack the third factor, which is turning and demanding! The Creator is a force, a condition, and a system that demands constant turning towards it. As long as this doesn’t exist, you must do a lot of work. There is nothing that can be done about it, since it is impossible to skip over these levels.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/6/15

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In The Shadow Of The Asteroid Cloud

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is the impression created that Adam HaRishon (the first man) Adam was much more advanced than we are because he felt the upper force we don’t feel?

Answer: There is no doubt about it! Spiritual development doesn’t proceed parallel to physical development. On the contrary, the first Kabbalists were much closer to the upper force and the upper worlds than we are. If we now had the luck to meet with our father Abraham, it would be possible to ask him many questions. In the spiritual sense, a constant decline happens more and more with each generation. And accordingly, our ego and technological advancement, along with financial and economic development, have grown more and more..

Ultimately we have reached maximal technological advancement and minimal spiritual development in this world. And so the global crisis develops and breaks out, which is moving and felt all over the world in our time. It is possible to solve this crisis only through the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah to all of humanity. If all of us are united, we will reach discovery of the upper force and this world will ascend to the height of the upper worlds.

Question: We scarcely make any money to live in this world, but you want us to be involved with higher worlds?

Answer: The present crisis is only the beginning. Terrible blows are expected for the world. I don’t want to scare you, but unfortunately that is how it is. We already see clear symptoms now of a future Holocaust all over the world that nobody can stop.

The idea is that the world is becoming round. The higher spiritual forces are approaching our world like an asteroid cloud or a comet. The higher forces that are linked in a single network compress in an increasingly dense ring around our world, which is not connected into a single network. Rather, everything is divided, separate, crushed and torn apart by internal struggles. Our world and the network of higher forces that are approaching it are in opposition and contradiction with each other, so very unpleasant and negative phenomena are revealed in our world. They will grow more and more until we begin to connect and unite to be more and more adjusted to the one and only integral force. Only in this manner can we be saved.

Question: Are all the problems of the modern world sent to us as a punishment?

Answer: There are no punishments! It is only people who perceive what is happening in this way. In fact the law of nature is simply acting on us. More and worsening negative forces are awakening within us as we see the ego has grown from generation to generation. But higher spiritual forces are approaching us more and more like a single network. The opposition between these two systems is increasing: On the one hand, there is the evil human ego, and on the other hand, there is a higher network of good forces. Between them appear the potential differences and tension that we endure.

We cannot change the higher network; we need to only correct ourselves and unite. And you shall love your friend as yourself is the great general rule in the Torah. (Yerushalmi Nedarim 30b), which if not for its existence, we wouldn’t survive. The whole world is becoming global and integral, linked like a single small village. And as such, the world demands from humanity an identical good connection between them. But we are not ready to create a connection like this, so we suffer.

Only the wisdom of Kabbalah can bring all of humanity to good and wonderful relations, so it is being revealed in our time. Further, The Book of Zohar, which was written 2,000 years ago, pointed to our time when humanity would reach a state where it would be compelled to use the method of Kabbalah to connect itself and live in happiness. So I wish for a good and sweet year for everyone, meaning a year in which we have a chance to reach the good life.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Yom Kippur: Resting From One Evening To The Next

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus”, 23:29 – 23:32: For any person who will not be afflicted on that very day, shall be cut off from its people. And any person who performs any work on that very day I will destroy that person from amidst its people. You shall not perform any work. [This is] an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is a complete day of rest for you, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth of the month in the evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe your rest day.

Because the day begins in the evening, the Torah commands us to observe Yom Kippur by resting from one evening to the next. If a person comes close to a state of atonement and forgiveness, clarifies, and feels it correctly, he totally refuses to do anything on that day because all his actions will stem from his finite ego. A person who has not yet decided and tries to do something hinders his advancement and corrupts his soul.

Therefore it says: For any person who will not be afflicted on that very day [Yom Kippur], shall be cut off from its people, because the desire with which a person could have begun his ascent is gone and is concealed from him. Only if he performs many different actions will he be able to get another chance to feel and understand it. These actions help him return to the same state, but with a different clarification that is deeper, more correct, and helps him go through this state properly. But he prolongs his path this way.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 18/6/14

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Yom Kippur: Universal Joy Or Grief?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus”, 23:26 – 23:28: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: But on the tenth of this seventh month, it is a day of atonement, it shall be a holy occasion for you; you shall afflict yourselves, and you shall offer up a fire offering to the Lord. You shall not perform any work on that very day, for it is a day of atonement, for you to gain atonement before the Lord, your God.

The counting of the months in the spiritual work begins in Pesach (Passover). The seventh month from Pesach correlates to Malchut, to the seventh Sefira that comes after Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. The tenth and last Sefira in Malchut (Malchut of Malchut), which symbolizes the tenth day of the month, is Yom Kippur, when a person comes to the lowest point of his nature and raises his prayer from it. This means that a person reaches a state that isn’t in his power to correct by himself, so he simply detaches himself and does whatever is in his power to raise a request for correction.

Yom Kippur is a holiday. It is a day of joy, when I have something to turn with and someone to turn to (the upper force) with this request. I can actually do that since I have reached the lowest point by my actions. In other words, I have reached the very last state through my clarifications and internal psychological searching for who I am, what I am, towards what my actions are aimed, and what am I living for. I have discovered that it is totally egoistic and that there is no connection with others within this state.

At this point I can only cry out, and this is a point of atonement and forgiveness where I feel my nature as the hateful ego and I wish to detach myself from it with all my might. I don’t want to use the ego when it comes to food, water, or in any actions, and I cannot overcome it. The only thing I can do is raise a prayer to the upper force so that He will correct me. This is the meaning of my request.

We can reach a state of atonement and forgiveness any time, regardless of the calendar date of Yom Kippur. It happens when the upper force can perform corrections on me. Only He can help me; I cannot correct myself, but I can ask Him for this correction.

Comment: Everything that happens in the spiritual world is opposite from whatever there is in the corporeal world, because for us, Yom Kippur is a day of universal grief and not a day of joy.

Answer: In the past, the state of Yom Kippur was understood correctly, but during the 2,000 years of exile, we have attributed it to our own feelings and have matched our feelings with this day. In fact, it is a state of joy because all the holidays are joyful.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/18/15

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Who Is To Blame For The Sin Of Adam?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe discovery of evil is called the sin of Adam. But, this was in fact not a sin, for the Creator Himself says that He created the evil inclination. This means that Adam did not sin, rather he only discovered the sin, his evil, egoistic nature.

From the start we were created with a nature such as this so that we would have the opportunity to rise above it, and from this evil, become aware of the good, the Creator. It is impossible to discover this without that nature, “As the advantage of Light over Darkness,” (Kohelet Rabbah 2:13).

In the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) we celebrate the opportunity to rise up and attain the upper force, the Creator, to become Adam (Man), meaning the person who resembles Him. This is within the power of everyone, for Adam was simply the first who did it. As it is said, “for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33), and “…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7). So Adam is an image that is relevant to all of humanity.

If during this holiday we make the right accounting of the past year, we clarify that we have still not attained correction and that we have not ascended with all of humanity to the peak of our existence, the spiritual world, the level of resembling the higher, eternal and perfect power. And for this we ask forgiveness, meaning we judge ourselves that we could have discovered our evil inclination and corrected it, rising above it and uniting between us, but we didn’t do it. So we ask in the beginning of the year that we be given the power that makes it possible to correct ourselves and reach the goal of creation.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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A New Year Or A Movie About The End Of The Universe?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How many more times will we celebrate Rosh Hashanah?

Answer: A total of 6,000 times, after which the closure of this universe will take place; just as it once opened, so it will close. Even the physicists say that the universe is finite.

Its spherical character will gradually begin to disappear; it will stop being distorted by its three-dimensional character. It will first become two-dimensional and then contract to a single point. Just as a television signal is developed when it enters a television, the same thing will also happen here, but with the opposite effect: the universe will fold and collapse, because the characteristics that develop its picture for us will disappear. I hope that we will be witness to how the universe will collapse, along with all of our bodies and this entire world. Only the loftiest characteristics will be left, which in the meantime, don’t exist today within our substance, those being the characteristics of bestowal, love, and unity. And that is how we will move to a higher dimension.

The idea is that everything that is happening within us is the internal perception of ourselves and of the substance of the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The whole world is within us. So we cannot talk about it objectively having existed outside of us for billions of years. On the contrary, it doesn’t exist! What does it mean that our universe folds, the earth, humanity, and society? Within me, the entire program according to which I work today, folds back, everything disappears and contracts within me into a single state of unity. With this, our mundane stage of existence ends, and we go out to a new level.

Comment: Which means that I have been shown a film that now is ending.

Answer: But you need to realize it! The end of the world is the end of the incorrect perception of a person. It is necessary to understand that this is a movie and to stop projecting it inside yourself. Instead of this, it is necessary to project the next stage, and always be present, knowing that our world is only one continuous film, and that in reality, all of this doesn’t exist. In In the meantime, all the worlds are incomplete images of our most natural, highest state, which is called the world of Ein Sof (Infinity).

So Rosh Hashanah is a festival that includes within it absolutely everything. From it emerge all the rest of the holidays and the entire history of humanity. It is the beginning of everything. It is the head! And so in Hebrew it is called Rosh Hashanah (the head of the year). Let’s hope that we will have a good beginning for the next stage!
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh Hashanah” 8/6/15

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The Making Of A Good Year

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we do so that this year will be a real new year for us?

Answer: It is very simple. The Torah says: “I have created the evil inclination.” And indeed all the division and shattering of our world, all the contradictions and the oppositions, the ego and unreceptiveness, the lack of understanding, everything that humanity has been through during its history, is of course, the Creator’s doing. So a person has to come out of his own ego in order to understand Him.

Weak or very egoistic people, who are ready to trample the whole world, are not attracted to this kind of work. On the other hand, they have big egos, are not satisfied with this world, and it doesn’t interest them. They want to control the whole of creation, know everything that happens, and discover everything so that there will be nothing that they don’t know, feel or control.

The revelation of such an ego in a person is indeed a gift from the Creator. This means that a person is ready for attainment and ready to pay everything he has to in order to reach that. Then he finds himself in the right group, where people like him get together.

This group is under the influence of the Kabbalistic method where people come and eventually undergo very serious states of resisting their ego, rising above it, and connecting to one another. They learn all the processes on themselves and feel, discover, scrutinize, integrate and do everything necessary. Eventually, the right picture of the world is formed within them. They build the Creator in the connection between them, because this is the only way He can be revealed.

It is impossible to reveal Him other than by this connection and other than this platform on which He is revealed. It is a force that requires matter in order to reveal Him within it.

Electricity, for example, can be revealed in something such as in the form of a dial moving, wires heating up, or an explosion. Only then can we say that there is some force there. It is the same with the Creator who is simply a force without matter. We have to provide the matter ourselves, so that this force can be revealed according to accurate physical laws.

There is nothing irrational or mystical here. It isn’t religion, but the science of Kabbalah. Therefore, all our attention and all our efforts are focused on how to create the conditions in which the Creator can be revealed. We need to put this matter together by its separate parts, combining the attributes of bestowal, mutual guarantee, and mutual incorporation so that the spirit will appear within this matter.

We sculpt it for a long time and suddenly our statue comes to life. Thus, a man is created out of the dust, out of still matter, becomes a corrected man into which we have poured life. We celebrate this wonderful opportunity we were given during Rosh HaShana.
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From KabTV’s “Holidays. Rosh HaShana” 8/6/15

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Happy 5,776th Birthday!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: According to religion, man was created 5,776 years ago, while according to science it happened more than 200,000 years before that. Who is right from a Kabbalistic perspective?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t take part in such debates. It studies nature and tells us about it. Nature is the same thing as the Creator, and the wisdom of Kabbalah explores the upper force of nature called the Creator. The word “Creator” in Hebrew “Boreh” means “come and see.” If we explore nature properly, we attain the Creator and see Him.

Thus Rosh HaShana (the Hebrew New Year) is the day of the revelation of the Creator, of the upper force. This is the day that mankind first attained the upper force, the spiritual world, an upper reality that we left to live here in this world only so that we will be able to break into it again. From this world, we will be able to attain the upper world.

Then we will know the answers to all the eternal questions: “What is the purpose of this life? What is its meaning? For what purpose do we exist on this earth and for what is all set? This isn’t a mere search for filling because we are unsatisfied with life, but a search for the goal for which we were created from above. Kabbalah teaches us how to turn to the Creator, raise Him, and reveal Him. Then the whole plan of creation is revealed to us, including what happened before we felt that we exist here in this world. It is because our world is only an intermediate station between what happened before we were born and the station of our future goal at which we arrive after we leave this world.

We either ascend to an upper dimension or lower to our level in this world. The wisdom of Kabbalah allows us to do both. All this is accessible to us thanks to the wisdom of Kabbalah that was revealed by first man who was the first human being to discover the Creator.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Repentance Before Rosh HaShanah

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn order to ask for forgiveness, we must know what love is for people like yourself and what it means by asking these questions, “What haven’t I done on behalf of this love? If it is necessary to feel that I have love for others, which is the main Mitzvah (commandment) of the Torah, do I or do I not feel it?” Many people think that it is enough just to carry out physical Mitzvot.

The Kabbalists advise us to unite into groups of 10, so that together we can check if we are truly treating each other well. Is everyone trying to distance himself from his ego and connect with others, become integrated with their desires and to feel love between us? If we understand that all of this doesn’t exist, we feel we are to blame, so we ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness is for not carrying out the main condition, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Today, this condition has become imperative for the whole world in order to come out of the global crisis. But the people of Israel must be the first to realize this, and we are not doing it. So we ask for the power to help us attain this love. We clearly see that we are not prepared to carry out this condition by ourselves, but we can ask for help. And we conclude the Selichot (forgiveness) by asking for the power to carry out the main Mitzvah and bringing people closer together. And through this getting closer we also get closer to the higher force, the Creator.

A person cannot realize this by himself, so we work in a group, which is how we check if we have attained mutual bestowal and connection or not. If not, we need to ask for the power to help us connect and reach unity. This common request is called prayer and it is derived from our connection, from the center of our circle, like a pillar that rises upward. When we examine our union, we reach Selichot.

From here we see that without studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is impossible to discover what to ask, towards what to be attracted, the purpose of Creation, and how the Torah is connected to the Mitzvot of love of others and love of the Creator through the entire order of correction. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to realize ourselves according to what is written in the Torah. The only Mitzvah is to rise above our ego and attain connection and unity between everyone. It includes within it all the rest of the Mitzvot, which are individual corrections of our ego. The egoistic desire is composed of 613 parts, each one of which we must correct, beginning with the easiest and moving towards what is more and more difficult. In this way it is necessary to carry out 613 corrections, which are called the 613 (Taryag) Mitzvot.

When we help each other we ultimately attain redemption, meaning that we discover the higher power, the Creator, within our correct mutual connection of bestowal and love. And this is the forgiveness before Rosh HaShanah. Certainly it is impossible to begin the New Year, the new beginning, the next level, towards which we must ascend thanks to our correction without clarifying all that we went through. And this is the essence of repentance, to ask with greater vigor for the Light that Reforms to correct us and make it possible for us to attain an even stronger union.
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From KabTV’s “Selichot” 8/17/15

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