Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

Worship Or Attainment?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If all religions appeared after the destruction of the Temple, what did people worship before its destruction?

Answer: Anything and everything! In ancient Babylon, people worshipped various natural phenomena: trees, the sun god, etc. It is not considered religion.

Response: But nevertheless, the Temple itself was established by a particular religion…

Answer: No, the Temple embodies the non-religious zeal of people who were on the level of clear attainment of the upper force, the general force of creation, overall nature.

It is not what we understand as religion today. Our modern Judaism is a religion of exile from the spiritual world, exile from the Temple, exile from the land of Israel. It is a religion of exiles.

Kabbalists have a completely different view than religious people of the world about the challenges of the people of Israel, the challenges of humanity, and what we need to bring to the world.

Question: Can you share the secrets of Kabbalah with others?

Answer: In Kabbalah, there are no secrets.
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From an Interview in Toronto with V. Kanevsky, 8/5/14

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Roundabout Path To The Mystery Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I really don’t understand how scientific progress can hurt humanity?

Answer: Science is a search for the Creator through our material minds. Scientists conduct numerous studies and experiments with the help of our five corporeal senses in order to find the upper force. All kinds of scientific research are aimed at discovering the Creator and solving the mystery of life.

We intend to attain the upper force, understand the structure of creation, find out its goal, and unveil the secret of our existence using our physical brain and bodily senses. It is not possible. This road leads to a dead end. After thousands of years of scientific development we have ended up in a crisis that no science is able to fix. Science is not capable of ensuring even our material well being.

Science is a method of disclosing human weaknesses and a means of discovering mistakes in our quest for solving the mystery of life and finding out the goal and essence of our existence through our earthly sensors and brainpower. Science chooses roundabout routes; however, it still leads us to the right conclusions. Our task is to realize the incongruity of our efforts and learn to completely rely on the Reforming Light.

The goal of world development is to make us disappointed in ourselves. It is said: “There is no happier moment in one’s life than when one becomes completely disillusioned in one’s abilities.” In fact, it is really a huge discovery! Imagine that all of humanity undergoes this process.

When it happens, we’ll realize that nothing but a prayer can help us; in other words, nothing but raising MAN and acquiring the upper force’s help will let us act correctly and attain our goal. There is nothing we can do except realize that out of the darkness it is the Light that determines everything. Light is faith.

Today, we can talk about these issues openly. About fifty years ago, nobody would agree with these ideas, including me. I was the most zealous advocate of scientific progress. I thought that science was everything!

Years passed. Humanity became disappointed in science. Nobody expects scientists to make discoveries that humanity can really benefit from. All discoveries are doomed to bring us harm because they contradict the goal of creation and the means of its attainment since they urge us to rely on our brainpower.

This explains why we cannot expect science to help us achieve positive results. Unless we stop relying on scientific progress and discontinue our “enchantment” with the magnitude of our intellect, nothing can really move us forward. We’ll simply continue along the road of scientific advancement.

On the other hand, we cannot neglect science since it is a path that nevertheless leads us to the goal, even though it does so indirectly. Any road to the Creator is sacred. At the end of our path, the angel of death will turn into the holy angel. “The angel of death” will absorb all our mistakes including scientific evolution.

The problem lies not in science per se, but in the fact that we rely on ourselves and count on our pride, on our belief that we can reach a good life without connecting with the Creator. This mistake is common for those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah but turn it into a theory. It is the most serious error that is called Klipa (shell, the evil force).

Our task is to accurately follow all instructions and study the Torah instead of playing tricks with our minds. There is a very thin line between these two processes. Studying the wisdom (Hochma) of the Torah means revealing the Light of Hochma with the help of the Light of correction that is embodied in the Torah. The wisdom of the Torah is the Light of Hochma dressed in the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Measuring Thought With The Dimension Of The Screen

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can thought be measured?

Answer: Our matter is desire. We measure the desire with the four degrees of Aviut. We have a scale to measure the spiritual desire from 100% to 0% from the world of Infinity to our world. Being on a spiritual level, I can measure the desire in accordance with the degree of Aviut. I create the screen over the degree of the Aviut of the desire. The screen together with Aviut gives me the strength of desire: what I want, what I aspire to, what I am planning to do.

In other words, the Surrounding Light determines my thoughts, the extent of my ability to perform actions of bestowal. Where do I check this? On the degree of Aviut. The power of thought is measured through my ability to connect my intention and my action to the Aviut of my desire.

We cannot measure the thought with the mind, but I check and measure the thought’s influence on the desire, and with this measurement I evaluate the thought.
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Kabbalah for Beginners 10/21/10

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There Are No Coincidences

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: Indeed, if you take the body of a small animal, whose only task is to nourish itself so it may exist in this world for enough time to father and carry on its species, you will find in it a complex structure of millions of fibers and tendons, as physiologists and anatomists have discovered. And there is much there that humans have yet to find. From the above, you can conclude the vast variety of issues and channels that need to connect in order to achieve and to reveal that sublime goal.

Have we ever thought about the essence of the process called evolution? About how all of the matter of the universe with all its complexity and variety was created out of a tiny particle, out of a grain, the first unknown matter that was the foundation of creation? According to which plan did all this take place and according to which laws? What determines the still, vegetative, animate nature and the human body?

We seem to think that it all happens by itself, but is that possible? Is it possible to make one step forward without clearly knowing what we are doing it for? On the contrary, “drifting” leads us into trouble.

But we continue to believe that there are redundant parts in our body or in nature in the whole, in the vegetative and the animate, which nature has forgotten and left by chance. We attribute nature with such misses after which there were more attempts…but one judges according to his flaws. We attribute our qualities to nature.

It says first, think, then act. There is not one detail in evolution that is not predetermined, not aimed at the final goal, and not already in the state of the end of correction. Therefore, there is nothing new in the whole process except for what the created being has to develop by himself. Evolution leads the created being, prepares, and obliges him to establish the new additional component: the adhesion, the recognition, the understanding, and his own feeling of the Creator. All the other things develop in order to bring a person to the element he has to establish by himself. Therefore, everything is predetermined and nothing is coincidental or random as different philosophers and scientists think.

We have to try to somehow imagine this enormous mechanism that includes and encompasses the beginning and the end of creation, including all the processes, and everything possible, all the details separately and together, on all the levels that are still unknown and not understood. These are all a network of forces, a system that the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about a little, and we cannot even understand this explanation. But at the end of our evolution, this system will be ours internally, and then we will feel it, control it, and understand it.

We must understand that there isn’t a single detail in our world that is not connected to the rest of the system and that all the laws also relate to it. When an individual performs a certain action it is because he is forced to do so and he causes the reaction of the whole system that responds and advances accordingly.

Thus everyone advances together from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning. We think that we understand something in our world but it is merely a meaningless part in a system that we will have to discover; all this is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/19/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Flight Path Into The Spiritual

Dr. Michael LaitmanI have a problem: I do not know how to advance toward the spiritual goal. I do not see it, and I cannot aim at it. This is why I constantly need to analyze to make sure that I do not deviate from the path. This is because even the slightest deviation in the beginning can lead to my inability to reach the goal, even if I continue going in the correct direction.

However, I will think that I am going in the true direction, and I will not even notice “having strayed from the path.” This is why it is best if I stop, check where I am, and maybe even go back. Then, it may be possible for me to continue correctly on my path.

However, which signs will help me determine and make sure that I am advancing in the needed direction, even though the goal is concealed from me?

After all, for instance, for a rocket to hit its target when it is launched, the course of its flight is calculated according to very complicated formulas taking different factors into consideration: wind, speed, earth rotation, and so on. However, at least, we know all these laws.

However, when speaking about the spiritual goal and rising to every new degree, we need to do the entire analysis in the beginning of the path while we do not understand anything yet, do not see the Creator, do not imagine the path, and who will tell me whether I am wrong?

This is why Kabbalists say that the correct formula for the attainment of the goal is “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” Besides that, it is necessary for all three of its components always to be equal; none can prevail over another. All of them need to be together, constantly tuned into the same point.

Israel is a person in the world who strives to come to the goal: straight to the Creator (in Hebrew, Isra (straight) and El (Creator). The Creator is a level of Bina, and Bina is the property of bestowal, Hafetz Hesed.

What is the Torah? It is the Light that Reforms. In other words, I always need to strive toward a certain correcting force that can influence me and correct me until I reach a state where Israel, Torah, and the Creator will become one.

The Creator is the root toward which we strive. He is our goal, the absolute, complete property of bestowal. In other words, when I correct myself completely in all of my desires, my correction will be called the Creator (HaKadosh Baruch Hu).

This is why, before I undertake anything—whether it is my thoughts, desires, or intention—I need to hold on to all three components within me every moment in order for them to be equal and give me the sensation of unity between them.

Then, I will walk correctly toward the goal.
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From a Lesson on “Kabbalah for Beginners” 11/17/10

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The Issue Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about all of reality, and it is revealed to individuals throughout history and in general at the end of our history.

The abundance comes from above and below, there is the desire, a burning need. They cannot touch each other because there is an insulating obstacle between them, an essential precondition of adaptability. This is the main thing that we should know. This is the subject of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

There are many details, but this is what we need first and foremost: knowing how to adapt and make ourselves suitable for the perception of the Creator, for the perception of the abundance.

Accordingly, the Creator is revealed to the full depth of the desire in all its five levels.

As for the roots, we discover them according to Tzimtzum Aleph (the first restriction) and the Masach (screen), and creating the necessary adaptability.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Knowing The World We Live In

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.

We live in a certain reality and sense ourselves and things that surround us. We instinctively want to know what these things are. In essence, people are just egoistic desires to fulfill themselves. Naturally, awareness of our place in the universe helps us find out which things are useful for us and lets us avoid harmful influences, and allow us to achieve the most beneficial results.

We spend a certain amount of time in this reality and wonder about what was and what will be. We strive to be impervious and live in the best possible conditions to enjoy perfection and eternity. We are pushed to this need by our desires.

Thus, each one of us has a natural craving for reaching the authentic reality in which we all dwell.

At this time, we are not masters of our fate. We have no idea what will happen to us in a second and generally speaking we are unable to decide anything on our own.

This upsets us and as a result we build “lines of defense” to protect ourselves from heat and cold, robbers and wild animals, from everything that is bad for us: We construct houses and yards creating a distance between us and others. We always care about being in the safest situation. It stems from our desire to receive.

Therefore, a person wants to know exactly what is going on with him, where one is at each given moment, what reality one lives in. People develop sciences to be able to experience pleasant sensations every single moment of their lives.

At the same time, we toss aside everything away that doesn’t bring us pleasure, for example, space exploration. Previously, it was of great interest; however, nowadays we see that it is not worth investing heavily in this. Calculations have demonstrated that this program will not generate any gain. Where there is no profit, there is no reason. Likewise, we don’t pay as much attention to exploring the depths of the sea or the Earth anymore. People care about things that are close to their hearts.

However, if we view the whole picture, we’ll see that we lack knowledge of the system we are in. We see that everything in the system is in constant movement; everything is planned; everything is interconnected, including us; but we don’t know the essence of what is happening to and around us. Thus, the knowledge overall system is the most important thing. From it we learn everything.

Our attempts to develop a systematic approach have never reached any tangible success. We become disappointed with earthly sciences since they don’t provide us with clear knowledge that would allow us to control our destiny, our lives, nor do they allow us to correctly fulfill our existence or go beyond it.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah, the most ancient science, steps in. Before Adam, very few people possessed knowledge about nature. Their knowledge was based on their direct contacts with nature. Adam discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah; as a result, he caused the entire wisdom to be revealed.

We don’t require more knowledge. If we understand how to correctly influence the system that governs us and all other worlds, the entire universe, we won’t feel a need for the minor additions of physics, chemistry, etc. They don’t make any sense since the wisdom of Kabbalah encompasses everything. It teaches us what is worth doing in various spheres of life and what’s useless. We don’t need to go into details of molecular and atomic structures or comprehend the laws of the inanimate, vegetative, or animate world. When we feel the entire system as a whole, we sense each of its details and realize what our relationship with them should be so that it works to the best of our interests.

It means that all scientific disciplines can be explored through the wisdom of Kabbalah to their full depth, up to their final stage.

Baal HaSulam states that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the general knowledge that covers everything. It is revealed as a complete knowledge to all of us at the end of human development. And, the wisdom was opened to a chain of individuals beginning with Adam and further to his successors.

The ARI wrote that after the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, there appeared a man (Adam.) He had some similarity with a higher, new stage. However, later there showed up a genuine Man (Adam) who revealed and started to explore the system in which he appeared. That’s why his name is Adam HaRishon (the first Man).

Adam HaRishon’s perception and attainment is beyond others. He is the one from whom we trace from those called “Adam”—the chain of Kabbalists from ancient times till nowadays. The words “You are (named) a Man” is about them, whereas all the rest of us are still at the “animate” level.

And yet, at the end, all of humanity will have to reveal the level of Man and fully realize the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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How Do We Bring Peace to Israel?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThis is a very serious issue, so let us approach it from a distance. As background, after the Big Bang, particles were divided into positive and negative ones, and they began to connect together. These relationships formed the various elements of inanimate nature, which appear today in the periodic table of elements.

Further formed molecules, including proteins, with greater life force and development potential stemming from the correct connections between the parts.

Through this, they began to accumulate information about how they develop—what is beneficial and what is harmful for this development—or, in other words, connection Indeed development is connection.

This process continued. Then, fauna and flora emerged and ultimately, modern man. Then, development came to a stop the moment human beings appeared; the correct connection between them was absent. After all, here connection requires a certain push to come from us.

We, ourselves, must understand, feel, and desire harmonious interconnection. The force of development and connection has done its part. It compelled nature to adjoin instinctively into one whole, and now people need to add their own desire to this process, a desire aimed at unity.

Thus, people need connection as much as the rest of nature. However, they must arrive at this bond against their natural essence that repels them from each other. We are divided into various religions and beliefs, and in general, each person wants to build their own prosperity at the expense of others.

However, life is built on a different principle: on the fact that we all connect pluses and minuses into a certain system. An atom also has polarity, but its parts interact harmoniously with each other, and this is why it forms a fundamental particle, a cornerstone upon which building is now possible.

Molecules make up more complex systems, capable of absorbing and excreting substances, forming the basis of life, and growing. All of this also happens through the combination of two forces: repulsion and attraction. Yet, what combines and connects them is still that same original force that created them, which began with the Big Bang.

Human society, however, is a collection of minuses. We repel each other, and, if we ever let anyone near, it is only to take advantage of them, to delve into the pocket of our fellow beings. To us, closeness and connection are an opportunity for mutual exploitation.

Thus, only one force manifests itself and operates in our society: the negative one. Perhaps from the side, it sometimes seems that we help each other, take each other into consideration and make mutual exchanges, but all of this is only in order to profit from one another. In addition, it does not matter what exactly I am giving or receiving because my intention is always pursuit of personal benefit.

Meanwhile, on a human level, we, ourselves, need to add the positive force for this purpose: that the force of connection is not for my own sake, but for the sake of others. Through this, we will be able to connect in a way where the negative and positive forces form a mutual, harmonious, round system between us.

In the inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature, this mutuality is supported instinctively. In other words, it is based on the universal cohesive force. Our body is also maintained by it, and this force supplies its vitality.

However, this force is not operating between us, leaving us only the negative potential. So, now, we need to add the positive part on our own through our own desire.

How? By demanding the underlying force of nature to reveal itself. For this, we need to exert effort toward a good and compassionate connection with those around us.

Question: What if they do not want to reciprocate?

Answer: Find those who are ready. Try to find such groups, and start to unite them, and then you will see how nature’s force will flow and erupt like a fountain between you. Through activities of groups like these, this force will manifest on our human level and begin to expand outward.

After all, we are connected to each other, and, in fact, we unconsciously yearn for it. Therefore, it will spread between us like water that rose up from a well that we created, for example, during a workshop, and it will continue to flow onto others.

Thus, gradually, we generate and bring a positive force into our world that knows no bounds and is able to extinguish any conflicts because, in reality, they are all brought about by lack of good connections, and it is precisely this force that we form, irrespective of religions and beliefs and above all differences.

Question: Yet, right now, I am most interested in one simple thing: How do we bring peace to Israel?

Answer: Then, understand this: Until you bring peace and tranquility to the entire world, you will not have any peace yourself either, since you are the one who is sitting on the tap the force of unity flows into the world through. Israel will not see peace until it brings peace to humanity.

Then, open the tap for that force that will pour into the world and fill it. Then, the world will begin to calm down, to form connections, and you will teach them how it is done. The people of Israel have no other choice, and there is no chance to achieve peace in any other way.

We must start with ourselves. We need to organize the people in such a way that all their leisure, and even non-leisure time, they will be under the influence of an advertising campaign of unity. At home, at work, in any circles and activities, in kindergartens, schools, and universities, we constantly need to disseminate this message everywhere.

We are practicing this together, and thereby we realize that unity brings wonderful feelings and wonderful relationships between people with it . We come to the principle, “That which you hate, do not do to your friend,” and even to the principle of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

We feel how great it is to be “as one man with one heart,” when all of Israel are friends, and we do it because, otherwise, we will not be able to exist, and not only inside the borders of the state of Israel, but, overall, as the people of Israel.

Question: So far, we have been trying to solve our problems through political and military means. What is more, we have always acted from defensive positions: Namely, we responded to external threats as they arose. It is no coincidence that our army is called the Israeli Defense Force. Yet, are you proposing an active action within a completely different realm, a social one, instead of reacting to attacks, initiating the process of unification ourselves?

Answer: This will be sufficient to bring peace to the entire world. We have a weapon in our hands that allows for victory not through war, but through peace.

Of course, for the time being, we need to respond to threats and attacks, but, above all, we need to work on unification. Through this, we will build an invincible defense because we will go outward, calm the rage, and unite everyone. We will unite them not against us, but in a true way. We will connect everyone to our unity.

This will put an end to terror and wars, to all the evil, to all the malicious groups and organizations in the world. This also will put an end to the differences and inequality between people and countries because in unity everyone is equal. Through our unity, we will oblige others to the same as well, even if they do not want it.

It is necessary to act right now because I do not know whether we will have another chance at a different time when the situation becomes much more severe than it is today.

Here and now, we are capable of turning the entire world toward good, but we are not doing this. This is the true cause of anti-Semitism, and this is why everyone is so keenly and closely monitoring what is happening here. We are always under the microscope. This does not exist anywhere else, nor will it. A little scrap of land with a population of a few million elicits a completely disproportionate interest.

Indeed, we are in the middle of it, at the center of the world. After all, only we can give it the positive force. Then, the general crisis of opposition between human nature and the natural environment will subside, and the world will calmly go on.

Question: How should we establish correct relationships between us here in Israel?

Answer: Above all, we need to understand the importance of unity as a factor of our security. Let us call this program,  say, “The Dome of Peace,” and take care of its implementation the same way that we care about the combat capacity of our army.

The program will include a system of campaigns and explanations, a system of education, and a system for preparing specialists. Everywhere—including kindergartens, schools, universities, workplaces, the army, and so on—people will be taught how to connect with one another correctly.

This must be conveyed to everyone so that even housewives will watch relevant shows on television. Everyone needs to go through this educational course, to assimilate it from a great variety of delivery: collaborative activities, including en masse, movies, music, and so on. In short, this needs to be a national program, embracing all the country’s citizens, young and old.

This way, people will move from the theory of unity to its practice, to exercises building true relationships and arranging a correct influence of the environment on everyone. Then, a person will be able to hold on easily in this channel, to show amicability, friendliness, and support, instead of competition.

A person will compensate his or her egoistic minus with a plus that he receives from society, and in this situation, these two poles are connected correctly, like in an atom. This is how harmony is created within a person, and, in addition, between man and his environment, and thus society becomes a harmonious whole because now our negative desires are balanced by a positive force.

Then a new life emerges between the minus and the plus, unfolding on a new stage on which we swing open a new dimension of being.

Question: However, is it not naive to assume that simple exercises will change human nature?

Answer: You are right. Indeed, we are all minuses. However, I repeat: we have the ability to oppose them and evoke a positive force, and this is the foundation of our program. We are not talking about childish games of unity, but about a method that allows us to attract the positive that is inherent in nature.

It is not with banners with nice words since the writing needs to be, as it is written, “upon the tablet of thy heart.” People awaken this positive force in practice and develop it between themselves. At a roundtable, minuses generate a common plus, and later they learn how to work with it, how to use it, and this is the second stage.

Thus, the method allows a person to become free, to take the two forces into their hands like two reins and direct their life toward good. Conversely, today, people are driven by only one force that is dictating everything to them from beginning to end toward a third world war.

Question: Yet, do you consider yourself to be a naïve person?

Answer: I consider myself to be a very cynical and egoistic person, ready to swallow the world, wanting to enjoy everything possible. In addition, however, I am a scientist, and I know that in nature there is a positive force that acts on the inanimate, vegetative, and animal levels, but it does not operate among people. Thus, it follows that we need to extract it.

This is the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is built into the foundation of our people and explains how it can be done. This is why it is becoming revealed to us in our day. Let’s make use of it.

Question: Do you see peace with Gaza on the horizon?

Answer: What I see on the horizon is our free choice: Either we will go down the good path toward peace and tranquility, feeling every day that we are closer to the goal and seeing how the world is changing its face and treating us kindly, or we will do it through great misfortunes. However, either way, we must carry it through because according to the program instilled in nature, we are required to come to correcting the world.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life: How to Bring Peace to Israel” 7/24/14

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Heavenly “Milk”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we come to the suffering of Shechina from our state?

Answer: Many of us have pets: a dog or cat. They know who their owners are and they follow them around the house all day long. Wherever their owners go, their pets go there too. But if their owner grieves or cries, the pets don’t “feel” the owners’ tears because their desires are at a much lower level. In the same way, the suffering of the Shechina are at a higher level, and we simply are unable to sense it.

Moreover, if I never suffered in this life, I cannot sympathize with others. For example, the majority of people have never experienced famine. They never starved. For our generation it is normal. It’s quite rare that someone has no food at all for several days in a row. It sometimes happens that we are hungry because we had no time to eat, but none of us ever experienced real starvation. That’s why for us it is impossible to understand what those people who have absolutely nothing to eat go through. We cannot share their pain.

We can’t feel the Shechina’s sufferings because Her pain is generated by a desire to give everything She has, but there is nobody who wants to take it. Subconsciously, people suffer because of their inability to exist at the level of the world of Infinity, but they don’t acknowledge or realize this fact. However, we have to rise to this level.

The Shechina’s affliction belongs to the next level. Can you imagine your dog crying when you are upset? Let’s say, your friend died and you are crying and mourning. Can your dog share your pain? No! The dog can only sense that you are in a bad mood, not more than that.

This explains why we are incapable of connecting with the Shechina. If not for the Upper Light that develops the desire through the four stages of the direct Light – from the initial inanimate level to the vegetative, animate and speaking stages, we won’t be ever able to climb to the top. It is the Light that does it for us; we are not the ones who do it. If we want to rise from our animate desire to the speaking level called “man” (Adam, similar to the Creator and the Shechina), we need the Upper Light to help us.

However, after the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels, including the highest step of the animate desire (a human being, the last variation of “monkeys’ that belong to this realm) were created, the Upper Light stopped the process.

In order to rise to the next step, we have to be the ones who trigger the Light! Then, It will develop our desires to the next level, because a desire is the only material of creation. The desires of the next stage will be the desires of the Shechina, the revelation of the Creator, the property of bestowal. We have to attain this level because our job is to attract the Upper Light onto ourselves.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah steps in because it is a methodology of attracting the Upper Light, the system of self-development that allows us to seek the external help of the Upper; however, it happens only if we are the ones who trigger the Light.

If we don’t seek the Light, it’s similar to a cow that suffers because of an excess of milk; when she cannot carry it inside herself any longer and milk flows from her udders, and there is nobody to milk her.

However, the Upper Light continues pouring, but we don’t sense It inside our Kelim (vessels), but rather around them. We cannot receive the Light into ourselves because we don’t yet have similarity of properties with it. We don’t want to bestow or receive for the sake of bestowal; this is why the Upper “milk” pours all around us and we feel very bad. We realize that there is abundance around us, but not inside us.

So now the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed. It never happened before, but it is happening now! All that took place before our time is called the “forefathers.” These are the steps that humanity had to go through in order to prepare the methodology of correction for us. Today, we must implement this methodology in life.

Kabbalah speaks about becoming similar to the Upper Light with the help of daily activities and by building relationships among us that exist at the spiritual level. If we start doing it, the Light will impact us to the extent of our efforts.

Then gradually, the drops of “milk” that Dvinity dispenses will penetrate into us, enlighten and correct us; thus, we’ll change. As a result, we’ll aspire to rise to the level of “Adam” and will want the same things as the Upper Light, Shechina: we’ll aim at receiving for the sake of bestowal; we’ll strive to be “Bnei Eichal”, i.e. the sons who comprise the Upper Kli (vessel).

This state can be reached only by attracting the Upper Light that manifests in us only through our similarity with It in everything: in the way we interact with each other, disseminate, and to the degree of our exertions to correct the world through ourselves.
[140020]
From the International Summer Camp In Bulgaria “Day One” 7/11/14, Lesson 2

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You Reap What You Sow

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Currently, there are wars all over the world. Is it possible to stop this through our study of Kabbalah?

Answer: Kabbalah does not perform any miracles. If we could only apply Kabbalistic knowledge to ourselves and make the Upper Light that fills the Upper world start to fill our world as well, through us, if we will make ourselves equivalent in our structure and unity to the higher elements, then the higher energy will start to pass into our world too.

This energy will flow through it and connect all the fragmented, opposite, antagonistic elements of our world into one single system. Then we will see our world full of kindness, mutual connection, and support.

We must reach this state. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is being opened to us, because only through realizing it inside of us can we achieve peace in the world.

This needs to happen within the next few decades. We see this from the rate at which the world is developing.

Until we begin to draw into our world the upper energy, the property of bestowal and love, which we will cultivate in our groups, the world will continue to enter into more and more cruel, unpleasant states: wars, suffering, enormous ecological shocks on a cosmic scale. Our imbalance with nature will trigger all sorts of disasters on every level.

This is not a result of actions of some benevolent or evil forces relative to us. We bring about all the disturbances through our lack of balance, through our bad relationships with each other and the world around us. Therefore, what can we expect: You reap what you sow.
[139757]
From the International Summer Camp In Bulgaria “Day Two” 7/12/14, Lesson 4

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