Entries in the 'Inner Work' Category

Self-Correction As A Major Occupation

Dr. Michael LaitmanDue to our internal and external work, we go through very rigorous changes due to internal and external work. And one should not interfere with the other. After all the work, we go outside with the speed with which the world is moving, turning to them with what they are ready to hear. As it is written, “Educate the child according to his own ways,” and this “child” is the whole world, and it requires the same attitude on our behalf.

As to our internal work, we should be oriented toward one goal and stick to very rigid definitions. Even when our perception alters, we still must collect all impressions into one general picture that continually acquires visible contours, thus becoming more and more accurate. We must permanently sharpen our focus and see the goal in front of us more precisely.

It’s impossible to change our “profession” and look for other ways to earn a living. Any changes that happen to us must retain similarity with the model of the group and be based on our unity.

One must be consistent in one’s exertions and activities in order to positively accept various images of the world that constantly fluctuate and be ready to consent to obstacles that perpetually show up in our way. One must understand that all of them are sent from one higher source and that there is nothing at all but this source. The purpose of all difficulties that we go through is to direct us toward the goal.

If we have this kind of attitude to everything around us, then we won’t drown in troubles and problems. We will accept them positively, rise above them, and above the problems, we will connect. By doing so, we can check ourselves constantly.
[91530]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Weight Of A Suitcase Depends On Its Owner

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Giving of the Torah,” Item 8: …This is because there is a natural law that the receiver feels shame and impatience upon receiving gifts from the giver out of compassion and pity. …

And this is the reason He has prepared for us the toil and the labor of Torah and Mitzvot, to produce our exaltedness by ourselves, because then the delight and pleasure that comes to us from Him, meaning everything that is included in the Dvekut with Him, will all be our own possession that has come to us through our own efforts. Then we will feel ourselves as the owners, without which there cannot be a sensation of wholeness.

Shame is a measurement that defines the relationships between us. If one doesn’t feel shame, then one has nothing to correct since he does not see any major differences between himself and the Creator. Therefore, it is better to divulge shame and be embarrassed by a comparison of our receiving properties with His bestowal.

The question is, if one stops receiving, does it mean that he neutralizes shame. For example, I visit a friend of mine and see a generously set table waiting for me, but I refuse the treats, “No, no, thanks. I am full. I am on diet.” Is it possible that we act the same way in spirituality in order to diminish the sense of shame? By acting so, we neglect the Creator as if we don’t care about His indulgences.

After all, what, in fact, can we receive? Is it the Light of NRNHY? To be honest, it doesn’t fill us with pleasure. NRNHY is the Light that stems out of our comprehension of the Giver’s magnitude.

All we ever receive from it is a tiny spark from which originated a desire to receive pleasure. A desire to receive is comprised of a black point, the tip of the letter Yod, and in the Light lies a spark that created the black point.

The rest is triggered by our awareness of the Creator’s greatness, when we appreciate it, it elevates it in our eyes. That is why we constantly should remind ourselves that we must aspire to His greatness.

If somebody is really important to us, we are ready to “carry his suitcase.” The greater this person is in our eyes, the heavier the suitcase we are ready to carry. At first, the suitcase seems too heavy to us, “Why do I carry it in the first place? Why am I doing this?”

However, if we realize how indispensable the owner of the suitcase is, we lift it with ease. It’s such an honor and good fortune to serve this important person! We even are ready to pay for the right to carry his suitcase.

As a result, we devote our entire lives to the Creator. What do we get in return? Nothing. After all, a spark and a black point constitute the basis for everything there is.

Question: Is there any analogy to the genuine shame in the work we do?

Answer: Yes, it can be applied to various types of shame that we experience in front of our friends. We are afraid that they will figure out that we are ignorant or that we still are being egoists.

It’s a primitive, self-centered shame. There also is a spiritual shame caused by our inability to contribute our share by acknowledging that we are not supporting our friends the way we should and do we elevate them. They depend on us, so we feel embarrassed that we are unable to cope with the task.

Question: Must the group instigate this kind of shame in its members?

Answer: The group must evoke us and promote our growth by teaching us how to respect shame since it demonstrates a deficiency in the desire to receive. If pleasures and affliction are conditioned by either fulfillment or emptiness within our desire, then bad or good states reflect in the sense of shame or, on the contrary, the realization of the Creator’s greatness.
[91407]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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How To Survive The Storm Of Doubts?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can rise to the spiritual level only after we accept the condition that we don’t expect any reward. But how can I reach such a decision? How can I ask for power from Above? How can I do that if I only have a corporeal mind, corporeal feelings, and can only act egoistically since I don’t know anything else? Where can I find the right forms and the right discernments from which I could form the right request: to receive only the power to bestow and not to ask for a reward? This is called the level of Bina, Hafetz Hesed, Noah’s Ark.

If a person advances persistently being careful to keep all the conditions, he is not required to have any special attributes other than the ones he was born with or to belong to special people. Everyone is given the right conditions for his work by being sent doubts: “What is this work?” and “Who is the Lord that should listen to Him?” This happens when he is thrown once into the “flood waters” and once into “clean waters,” and then into “water of discord” and the “peaceful waters,” into different discernments of Bina that are revealed to us.

A person should clarify whether he accepts them in the right line, the left line, or the middle line, and in each of these lines there are his own lines: In the right line, there are three lines, and in the left line, there are three lines, and it’s the same in the middle line, and they are all incorporated in each other.

The main point here is not to stop and to stubbornly advance in the simplest way, not to be clever and try to solve these problems with our corporeal mind. This whole philosophy is worthless and only the purity of the heart can help. A person who succeeds is not necessarily clever and may even be a bit foolish, but is dedicated to the goal and stubbornly advancing straight towards it, by trying to do his job. Of course, the evil inclination constantly grows in him by evoking thoughts of criticism and doubts, but this attitude will eventually lead a person to success.

All the clarifications start from the well-known questions of Pharaoh: “Who?” and “What?” Then different types of waters are revealed. “Who?” and “What?” are questions about the Creator’s greatness, about whether I need Him or not and about what kind of a reward I expect. In the meantime these are simple clarifications as to who is in control and how.

Later I encounter different kinds of waters and am forced to clarify: Whom do I want to hide from? What am I hiding for? What kind of waters are the floods for me, and what kinds aren’t?” A person draws this whole picture, but there is no flood in that! The flood is for me; it’s a result of my malicious thoughts, bad influences, etc.

It’s determined by where I feel myself and not by physical disasters like the storms and floods that we encounter now. We actually create the flood inside us. Although there are natural storms and floods like the one in North America, they are also created by humans, by their attitude to life, which summons such a response from nature.

After asking the “Who?” or “What?” questions several times, I begin to clarify the different types of waters, and I am approaching the right prayer. This means that I have to clarify the deficiency that I have to reach in order to get the power that will raise me above my desire to receive and enable me to truly bestow. After the flood retreats I will come out of Noah’s ark and will begin to work with my desires to receive in bestowal. It says that Noah understood that the flood was over when the dove brought him a branch from an olive tree, which is a sign that there is not only Hassadim (water) but also Hochma within the Hassadim.
[91805]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/12, Writings of Rabash

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Shorten The Path To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter all the efforts a person makes, being confused, running around and then relaxing, trying to do something in the group or by himself, in the study, in external dissemination, after all these attempts all these efforts concentrate in one point called a request, a prayer, the raising of MAN, a demand. This request, which is an urgent need for help creates the first contact between a person and the Creator, since as a result of all his efforts, both consciously and subconsciously, he summons upon himself the influence of the Light. We do everything because of deficiency, desire, it doesn’t matter what type it is, whether it’s for or against, negative or positive, there is only a desire, a deficiency and from it we act. So every time we discover a new deficiency, a new need for fulfillment, we evoke and summon the Light, since they are inherently connected. So we first evoke the Light, and then it operates.

Thus, by different actions, we just need to shorten the path. What do we mean by “to shorten?” If we operate with the right intention, the changes in us occur much faster and we increase the frequency of our changes. We can’t skip a thousand Reshimot (spiritual informational genes), to miss them, and then to skip several thousands again, and thus leap along the time axis. We can only “scan” all the Reshimot by processing each of them, but if I operate purposefully together with the environment that supports me, organizes, and pressures me, I process the Reshimot quickly.

Eventually, we reach the right deficiency, which according to its intensity and character are “Reshimot of dressing” and “Reshimot of thickness.” “Reshimot of dressing” is not inside, since it’s always on a higher level, but I understand it more or less, I imagine the state that I want to reach with the sufficient thickness. If this Reshimot is more or less adapted to the state of connection, to the contact with the Creator, then it happens.

Fulfilling the Reshimot most quickly occurs during the study of the sources, as it says in many articles that it’s desired to turn the study into a prayer. Usually all the efforts are revealed in a person during the study and the most efficient conditions are while reading The Book of Zohar.

If a person thinks about his correction in the connection with the group, in order to incorporate in it, to lose himself, to turn it to a general desire to reveal the Creator and by that to bring Him contentment, The Zohar is very helpful in fulfilling the Reshimot in this direction in the quickest way.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, The Zohar

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The Ark Of Unity On The Stormy Flood Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanAs The Zohar says: “He has seen that the angel of death is approaching along with the flood and he hid in the ark.” Meaning, that he understood that the claims to the Creator and spiritual work deprive him of the spirit of life, and therefore he came to faith above reason, the properties of Bina, the desire to be only in bestowal, to receive nothing and rejoice in his share, considering slavery to the Creator as a tremendous honor.

A person’s task is to organize an environment that will continue to guide him to the goal, praising its importance. He should take care to make this environment as large as possible and to make important to himself. But on the contrary, he is prevented from doing this by being sent questions: “Who is the Creator that I should obey Him?” and “What does this work give you?”

He begins to doubt why he should do inner work, what is the point? There are all kinds of interference in this work, coming from the family and various other sources. And only the environment will help a person stay on this path; there are no other factors. A person must understand that he has no power himself.

There is a war between two forces: The right side is the environment, the society, radiating the force of unity and the importance of the goal within him. And on the left side are egoistic questions sent by the Creator: “Who?” and “What?”, which over time turn into a turbulent flood.

Everything comes from above, from the same source, but if a person tries to set a strong environment on the right side to support him, by this he realizes his only freedom of choice. And then on the left side, the Creator organizes disturbances.

Caught between these two opposing forces, a person is completely confused; he cries, feels helpless to the extent that he needs either to escape or to hope for a miracle.

And then in this hopeless condition, when a person is almost drowned in the treacherous questions “Who?” and “What?” and cannot get out of them, the idea of the ark is suddenly born in him. He understands that he will be saved only if he gets the property of Bina, bestowal, Hafetz Hesed that will be higher than all his requests.

These requests will remain, a person cannot completely get rid of them; it does not depend on him. But if in spite of all these problems, he enters the ark, deciding that these turbulent murky floodwaters, all these doubts and problems are not related to him, he can be saved.

From what and for what is he saved? It needs to be checked! After all, the questions “Who?” and “What?” (“Mi” and “Ma” in Hebrew) that generate the floodwaters (Ma-im, “water” in Hebrew) offer a very attractive material solution. An ark is intended for entering a state of unity, adhering to the same goal. Thus, a person will be able to advance.
[91910]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Ascent But Not Escape

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is the negative force in the world revealed in such a clear manner, and not at all in proportion to the positive force that we awaken? Or maybe we don’t awaken anything?

Answer: The negative force awakens so that you will ask for the positive force that is in opposition to it. And not in order to annul the blow, but in order to transform the blow to something beneficial. It is, as if, you ask the father to teach you to think, but not to stop the unpleasant process, but to transform it into being 100% beneficial. You truly want to acquire a new mind and improve your own attributes. You don’t identify with your ego, which receives the blow, but on the contrary, you exit it and admit: “The ego deserves this blow, but let it be for its benefit, let it change it.”

And then instead of bitterness and pain, you suddenly feel sweetness. In addition to its coming as a “blow,” the negative force helps you break away from your desire to receive, to rise above it and determine for yourself, that it is specifically in this form that it brings benefit. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to cut yourself off from the ego.

In this way, our work is in asking for strength to rise above the desire, but not because we don’t want to feel the blows from it, but because we want to identify with the Creator. We want to discern the evil within the desire to receive, to feel the blow on it, not in order to adhere to it, but to rise above it to the desire to bestow. And again, not because we will feel peace and quiet there, but so that we can perform an act of bestowal.

Here a very delicate and fundamental clarification is hidden, a clarification that reveals the condition of the Machsom (barrier). We are approaching it…
[91671]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/12, The Zohar

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Fine-Tuning To Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf from the very beginning, albeit artificially, I “work hard” before the friends, if I bow my head before the group, at least on the physical level, I, in this way, prepare myself to discover my shame for my egoistic flaws and to stand in this sensation. I will be able to endure and “digest” it, I am not identifying with it, I will be grateful for it.

Shame sets me correctly before the Creator. Like fine-tuning, it makes it possible to catch the right wave. The greater my shame is, the more precisely I tune to the narrow range of frequency, the one that leads me to the Creator, to the properties that I want to acquire. And the picture does not become fuzzy in front of me; on the contrary, it is extremely focused.
[91650]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/12, Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)

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Without Feeling Shame You Get Nowhere

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah),” Item 8: This is because there is a natural law that the receiver feels shame and impatience upon receiving gifts from the giver out of compassion and pity.

From here extends a second law, that never will anyone be able to satisfy the needs of his friend to the fullest, because ultimately he will not be able to give him the nature and the form of self-possession, as only with it is the desired perfection attained.

Actually the Creator can’t cover and compensate for the feeling of shame by Himself, without our participation. We have to go through different stages independently, thus revealing our flaws and correcting them; of course, we use His force in order to perform the correction, but the cycle must be as follows:

– I discover how corrupt I am

– The problem that is revealed is not in me but in my attitude compared to the attitude of the Giver.

– I determine what is flawed with respect to it.

– I look for how to correct the flaw and how to complete it.

– I ask the Creator for the force to correct the flaw.

This means that this action is very complicated and is made of many components; it’s impossible to manage without it. A person has to actually feel it; there is no other choice. He has to feel it and to go through the different states on the way, with the Creator’s help of course, which means with the help of the upper force, the Light. But he has to participate in every stage and in every decision.

It’s impossible to receive a present from someone, to enjoy it, and to feel that it’s yours. There is always the feeling of shame before the giver. In our world the problem is solved by the concealment of the Creator, who thus allows us to reveal Him only to the extent that we can bear the feeling of shame.

The Creator is concealed and the shame is revealed only to the extent that I am ready to resemble Him, to clarify the matter of my receiving. The more I advance, the finer and more sensitive my perception becomes, and then I am ready for the revelation of shame. In some ways it is similar to what happens in our world.
[91415]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/12, “Matan Torah” (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Every Level Starts From Ibur (Gestation)

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I cannot count on my feelings since they are subjective and don’t reflect the true reality. On the other hand, by trying to imagine something I can be the captive of false dreams. How can I hold on to the thin line between fantasy and feeling?

Answer: First we must understand that no matter where you go, it is a wrong and false direction. So don’t try to hold on to the golden path, no matter what you do you are lost, wandering in the dark.

The only means is to adhere to the group, like a drop of semen in a mother’s womb. There is no other way. If you adhere to the group, you will surely develop with nature and you are not required to do anything more than that. Then nature, the Creator, operates on you and develops you.

This approach operates on every level, since “wandering in the dark” is typical even of the highest levels. On every level there are the stages of Ibur, Yenika (suckling) and Mochin (maturity).

Suppose you ascend from level 124 to level 125, which is the last one. Even here you totally annul yourself although all of the shattered Malchut of Ein Sof is revealed to you.

No matter how high a person ascends, there will always be the state of “he who is greater than his friend, his desire is also greater.” If on Monday 10 grams of evil were revealed to me, then on Tuesday, when another portion is added to that, it will accumulate new powers. Today it was revealed to me a little, and tomorrow it will be revealed to me with much greater clarity, according to the order of the development of the Lights. As a result, the evil I corrected yesterday is revealed to me in an even more corrupt way. Therefore, on Wednesday when I get an additional portion of evil, I discover that in addition to that, the evil of the previous day has been doubled, and the evil of the day before that has grown three times bigger. Thus is gets bigger and bigger. This is the spiritual ascent.

We can overcome that only by self-annulment and adhesion to the group, like an embryo, when I have no thoughts or desires of my own, using the friends’ feelings and mind in my self-annulment. I only want to adhere to them to feel their attitude to the Creator, to the goal, to life, to let their spirit penetrate me, so that it will determine my point of view on everything. It is as if I am floating in the amniotic fluid in the womb, in the Light of Hassadim.

All we need is to be sensitive and then this state will open up, and you will feel life in it. Even if the friends don’t feel and don’t know this, even if they don’t have such questions, it will be real for you because we are in the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) in which there are no changes. However, in the meantime it is hidden from us, and by the right approach you increase your sensitivity and your perception and gradually discover it in the spiritual levels. You don’t have to wait for anyone, act.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/12, Shamati #3

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The Power Of Good Thought Is Breaking Into The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do our thoughts have real power?

Answer: Of course thoughts have power; it isn’t by chance that there are concepts like the “evil eye” and “good eye.” Our mind power is the most powerful force, even stronger than a nuclear explosion. It’s concealed in the greatest depths, among the forces between the atoms. Mind power is the last level before the spiritual force.

But thoughts become powerful only if they connect, if each of us thinks alone, he does influence the system a bit but only on the corporeal level. However, if we begin to connect in order to reveal the power of general bestowal, we revive and renew; it’s as if we ignite and operate the whole spiritual network of connections among us. Then we discover the Creator within it.

We don’t have to have great mind power, the main thing is the quality of our thought so that it will be correct and help us reveal the force of mutual bestowal among us, which means the Creator. When the Creator is revealed the true intensity is revealed. This is already all the Light of NRNHY and not our small world.

We connect and want to be under the influence of the Creator so that He will reside among us and manage us so that we will be in harmony with Him in synchronized actions. Just as the Creator is a constant state of bestowal, so do we want to constantly be in a state of bestowal, then we revive the general network, and to the extent that we are incorporated in it and connected among us, the Creator is revealed.

It’s an immense power compared to which all the corporeal forces are worthless. All the corporeal world begins to revolve according to this internal power of humanity, everything changes starting from our slightest connection, and the main thing is that the connection is right.

We see that in the past year the term “Arvut – mutual guarantee” has become very popular, it’s because when we gather as a group and connect in thoughts and actions, this mind power breaks into the world. If this term expresses a spiritual action, it influences the whole global network and is accepted by everyone.
[91360]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/12, Writings of Rabash

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