Against Or For Kabbalah – Laitman Unplugged
Posted on November 19th, 2013
Science of our world is constantly changing, we have to keep correcting and improving it without interrupting the search.
Whatever seems to be absolutely obvious today, ceases to be indisputable tomorrow, and it is even possible that whatever was considered beneficial today, tomorrow will become harmful. Our desire constantly keeps changing and we discover a new science in it.
And since the desire to receive pleasure can change into its opposite on a daily basis, then useful things can become harmful.
Moreover, by operating only through our egoistic desire, we use all of the discoveries that were made in nature for the sake of self-benefit, and therefore the outcomes of the evolution of science harm us.
In other words, we always use it for evil. And we see that science mainly develops because we need it for wars and mutual destruction. If not for this, we would not keep evolving at all.
All the wonderful scientific discoveries are used to serve our egoism.
[24440]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “The Wisdom of Israel in Comparison to Science”
Related Material:
Why There Are So Many Sciences In The World
Kabbalah and the Earthly Sciences
The Seven Sciences That Originate From Kabbalah
Question: When is a person considered a student of his teacher?
Answer: A student is called someone who adheres to his teacher (meaning in the inner way) and tries to “suck” everything possible out of him. Like a baby who is sucking milk out of his mother, a student is trying to suck out of his teacher everything he has and to grow, meaning develop what he receives.
He is not capable of receiving all the knowledge, attainment, and sensation instantly, but he can obtain the tools in order to develop everything within himself. After all, a child receiving his mother’s milk does not digest it inside of him, but rather he turns it into meat, muscles, and bones. He is building his organism and developing himself. The same thing happens here.
We have to understand that from a teacher we receive something that we wish to receive and only in the form and to the extent that we put forth our efforts toward it. We do not hear what the teacher says; we only hear what we wish to hear. The work of a student is to annul his psychological obstacles and begin to listen to the teacher. In other words, the work of a student is the annulling of his ego.
[119474]
From the Talk about Group and Dissemination 10/20/13
Related Material:
A Merciful Attitude From One’s Father
Borrowing A Bit Of Wholeness
We Need The Right Balance In The Work
What is the essence of religion? Is it given for the benefit of the created beings or for the benefit of the Creator? Where is the reward that it promises, in this world or in the next world?
As Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” no one knows the right answers to these questions. In their delusions, people do not understand what is called “religion.”
Religion is the human attitude to the upper force that controls all of nature. It would appear that since it controls everything and I am here against my will, that there is nothing we can do about it. However, apparently our relationship with it is such that I can do something myself: to escape the evil or to seek good. In short, if I develop the correct attitude to its influence on me, then I can change something in my life.
So a certain connection extended by the human being to the upper force, and accordingly, by the upper force to the human, is called “religion.” Thus, “religion” is a system of bilateral relations between the Creator and created beings.
The problem is that no one is familiar with this system; everyone is mystified about it. Some take one wrong direction, some take another. Some assert that the Creator is one thing, and some another. Everyone is confused in his own way, and no one knows where the truth lies, where a reward is, and what kind of reward. On the contrary, we do not see in our world that someone has a good life, and in the end, everyone suffers. And the future world is hidden in the fog; this is what they “sell” us…
As a result, we have one big mess with religion. The fact is that this confusion has encompassed all the modern generation. If religion had given us answers to the questions that affects our existence, if it had explained how to live in the world, earning and achieving success in this world and the future world, how to get along with each other, of course we would have observed religious canons. But since religion does not give answers, people leave it. A person becomes weaker and leaves its framework, even if he continues to follow it as a formality.
This is an internal disagreement; a departure from religion is called the “fall of generations” and it is given, and you cannot argue with it. The reason is that we have not received correct answers to the age-old questions from religion and do not know what it represents in reality.
Of course, no one is to blame, and no one can be reproached. This is the process; the program of creation should be realized in us in this way, bringing us to the moment when we finally ask ourselves the three questions listed above. If we answer them correctly, we will know what “religion” is; in other words, how we can build the right relationship with the upper force. And as a result, we may be able to get pleasures in this world and in the future world, for our own benefit and for the benefit of the Creator.
Either way, we should clarify, resolve, this problem. In any case, we are under some higher power, and we need to find out what the proper relationship with it is. This promises benefits, and that is why we need to achieve this in a simple and practical way.
This is the way we offer to a wide audience, “Let’s find out what nature is in this world we live in.” In Gematria, the meaning of nature (הטבע) is the same as the word “God” (אלה – ים). We all live in this “bubble,” and day by day it threatens us more and more: on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, as well as in human relationships. It is enough that scientists today predict all kinds of natural disasters. Who knows what lies ahead? In general, we see that nature, that is, the Creator, shows us not the friendliest attitude. There is something to improve upon. Let’s see whether we are able to do it. Obviously, it is in our hands.
This check is certainly worthwhile. We need to find out what our attitude toward God, or toward nature, should be . It will definitely benefit us.
[119132]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
Once Again About Religion…
To Flounder Or Surrender To The Flow?
Religion And The Process Of Integration
Baal HaSulam, “One Commandment:” …it is possible for the smallest of prophets to succeed in his prophecy even more than the greatest prophet—concerning the above-mentioned speed—since he relies on revelations of prior prophets, who paved his way for him. Obviously, it also depends on the development of his listeners, since clear and concise words require a more developed generation so they can understand him. And if these two additions join one small degree, he can succeed far more than a great one.
The main thing is that the generation is able to accept our message. Here, time does its thing, until the time to act comes, and then precisely the small one can become a mediator, conveying down the spiritual idea.
After all, a great one, in his perfection, is like the lord who makes decisions at the highest level and not condescending to the “local” details. Many agents stand between him and an average person and yet this person needs specific help in his ordinary, everyday life.
That is why, in a sense, the small one is closer to people than the great one. It is because he can talk more simply and lead them to the degrees of attainment, explaining their work in detail.
The great one is far from the masses. Baal HaSulam writes in “The Prophecy of Baal HaSulam” that he asked to lower himself so as to be able to explain to people. For this, he went down to a lower degree and then passed the method down.
On the other hand, at the highest levels he would not have been able to write for us. There, attainment cannot be expressed in writing, in an understandable language. It is available only in the form of Gematria characters or by the words he wrote in his notebooks, the words that do not exist in our world. After all, the forces and laws, governing combinations of letters at their source under the Parsa of Bina do not function at the highest degrees, and therefore, it is necessary to descend below Chazeh of Partzuf AVI and proceed to new Zivugim there.
However, in any case, it is not about people but about the degrees and of course, either the small or the great one, descending to a lower degree, can bring us much more good—in any case, at this stage of the path.
So, for us, the one who is close to us is important but not the one who is far. If today, we met Baal HaSulam or someone from our forefathers—if, theoretically, we had come into contact with the soul, separated from us let’s say by a hundred degrees—we could have done nothing about it. We simply would have nothing to ask.
Our generation needs connection with a Kabbalist in a series of ascents, descents, and all sorts of states as we are imbued with the desires of the environment. Even our questions arise from our study. If he had not taught us, we would have had almost nothing to ask, in fact, as the whole world…
It turns out that the one who is close is important.
[117587]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
What Baal HaSulam Contributed To The Spiritual System
The Man Who Opened The Path To Liberation
Closing The Chain Of Great Souls
Baal HaSulam “One Commandment”: Earlier sages chose a private way for themselves and I chose a general way, since in my view, it better suits the Godly matter to be clothed in eternal letter-combinations that will never change. I wish to say that with physical success, they will not change in any place and in any time. For this reason my words are limited.
Because of the above reason, I was compelled to express spirituality in a general manner. Yet, instead, I chose to explain all the details and spiritual combinations down to very small details, which have no other source and origin other than this collective, that is, the purity of Kabbalah. And since I clarify the spiritual details without clothing in corporeal combinations, it will do much good to the development of attainment. And this wisdom is called “the wisdom of truth.”
Only after many twists and turns and revelations along the way, a person walking the path of truth begins to realize what changes Baal HaSulam has made to it. It seems that he just wrote new texts but in fact, we are talking about changes in the system itself.
In general, every Kabbalist makes changes in the system through his corrections, his additions. That means to “clarify” the system as a whole or in details, in one form or another. The essence is not to describe the spiritual world in some words or in a certain style. No, Baal HaSulam streamlined the system and added such components so that a person advancing along the path could use them, constantly receiving support, assistance, acceleration, and so moving on.
In this, the analysis and clarification is done both in details and as a whole and takes more distinct forms necessary to move toward the goal of creation at a higher rate in comparison with those which provided the system earlier, before Baal HaSulam contributed his efforts, his changes into it.
Each Kabbalist adds something, each of them produces systemic changes, and it is not related to just writing a book. In the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Baal HaSulam talks about the sages of Talmud who have carried out such corrections in the system, so that instead of asceticism, we could advance through efforts and studies. He himself has made such a correction, by which we can, instead of studying, be more engaged in actions between us: dissemination and unity.
The Light that Reforms depends more on the actions, called the “study of the Torah.” And to “study the Torah” means to learn actions of bestowal, to learn to make them in such a way so that the Light of Hochma would clothe in the Light of Hassadim and they become the “letters” of life. Thus a man is writing the book of Torah on the tablets of his heart and advances on the path.
We learn from the “Book of Life,” we live it, experience it in practice, and reveal its letters in the form of states that pass through our desires, vessels. And Baal HaSulam arranged everything so that going through our individual actions we gain knowledge of the system as a whole. We seem to look at the big screen with the general picture, in the corner of which there is a small fragment with a part of it. Similarly, a surgeon sees general data according to the patient’s conditions and, at the same time, on the small screen, a specific location of the ongoing operation.
Thus, moving individually, we are imbued with the same impressions of the total process.
[117507]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam
Related Material:
The Man Who Opened The Path To Liberation
Kabbalists’ Legacy: Not Only Books
First-Hand Method
Daily Audio Version-MP3
Get the Weekly eNewsletter
Follow on Twitter
