Entries in the 'Music' Category

Expanding Our Mind And Our Senses

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can the melodies of the spiritual (upper) worlds help students who have been engaging in the method of attaining the upper worlds for a long time?

Answer: By listening to these melodies from time to time, they constantly find deeper, newer depths in it.

The point is that people who study Baal HaSulam’s method consider him their Teacher. They enter the world that he discovered and he leads them and reveals it to them. They follow him by studying his articles, letters, and multi-volume works many volumes, like the Talmud Eser Sefirot (TES- The Study of the Ten Sefirot) for example.

Professor Kfitza compared this book to a book of classic physics for the 11th grade by Landau-Lifshitz. He once told me that it is the basis of the spiritual physics.

In addition, Baal HaSulam’s most serious work is the Commentary to The Book of Zohar, which no great spiritual teacher before him could write for 2,000 years.

It is very interesting information that describes in the most accurate and special way the connection between the mind and senses when you have to examine your feelings with the mind and expand the mind with your feelings, which then helps you examine and clarify your sensations.

Thus you work in two lines: with the help of the line of your feelings you expand your mind and with the help of the mind you understand the new feelings that emerge in you. When they merge into one, the two lines help you feel the upper Providence.

Therefore, all of Baal HaSulam’s students feel these melodies differently with the new perception that is created in them, by the vessel of the upper providence, the sixth sense. They already play them on their developed emotions, with the help of the mind, and understand in their mind with the help of the new feelings.

The seemingly simple music of the upper worlds raises the deepest layers of emotions and new upper understanding in a person. It miraculously includes both the mind and the senses.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 2/9/14

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In The Hands Of The Upper Sculptor

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it possible to play the music of the spiritual (upper) worlds to music students so that they can try to draw its effect upon them?

Answer: I believe that you can even play it to children.

Question: Should these tunes be adapted for music schools?

Answer: I think it is essential! We should offer this music to people of all ages and also to great symphony orchestras. We have already had such experiences.

The tune Hine Kahomer (Like Matter) tells us that we are like matter in the hand of the “upper sculptor” who manages us, taking into account all our desires and impulses. He leads us to His goal according to our desire to follow it by ourselves and at the same time corrects us.

By teaching a small child to walk we direct him and support him and at the same time force him to make some effort on his part and to overcome his fears. He stands and cries and doesn’t know what to do until he finally decides to make a clumsy move and falls. We pick him up and put him back on his feet and again force him to move.

This is how the upper force manages us. If we want to start the spiritual ascent, we begin to feel how He supports us (just like we support a child) to the extent that we willingly make a move towards Him, and, at the same time, He pushes us a bit and leaves us alone so that by overcoming our fear we will make a step forward.

But there is the feeling of great love in all that! Although we are a bit afraid and don’t understand, we learn that way, and in a parallel world actually perform the same actions but instead of physical efforts make mental efforts. This is what the tune Hine Kahomer addresses.

On the other hand, this music is joyful. It is because I am glad to discover that I am like matter in the hand of the sculptor, like a wheel in the hand of a skipper. It feels good that I am not just an animal managed from Above that doesn’t know where it is headed.

Two forces, a positive one and a negative one, manage us like reins from the right and the left by pulling us by what feels pleasant and repelling us by what is unpleasant. But I know what to yearn for by using them. When I put them one against the other, I perceive the positive force as negative and the negative force as positive and I can change myself.

By using the tools that I was given, the heart and the mind, I can understand and perceive the upper Providence, and although I am like a steering wheel, like reins in the hands of the upper force, I can be in a certain relationship with Him, in a covenant, and thus knowingly move towards the desired goal.

I still don’t understand that at the moment, just like a child who is put on his feet and doesn’t know what he needs to do. But we do understand that we have to listen to this force and to try to carry out His orders properly, and moreover, it is not physically but consciously, which means to constantly try to find meaning in His actions. Then we will grow spiritually.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 2/9/14

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The Healing Power Of Music

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can the music of the spiritual (upper) worlds influence us under modern conditions when people distance themselves from real values and strive to receive material pleasures? How much can it influence listeners, even subconsciously?

Answer: Great higher power is in the music of the spiritual (upper) worlds because a person feels this music when he reaches the higher strata of our world.

He feels nature on its subtle and higher levels, where the signals and forces control that are later lowered and descend to the level of this world, working with the material of the still, vegetative, animate, and human, shaping our thoughts and desires.

He feels forces that descend into our world and carry out particular actions in him (we call it evolution or history) on a higher level. He seems to ascend higher than our world and begins to feel these forces as they descend into our world.

The moment he feels them, they are much stronger than when they descend and are clothed in all kinds of directing signals in all types of material, including us.

So when we simply listen to the melodies of the spiritual worlds, without conveying them to any other images, they act on us in a good, positive, and beneficial manner: purifying, pushing us towards higher desires, and directing us towards better cooperation with other people.

Besides this, they bear a tremendous amount of information. Even though we don’t understand it, it begins to work on us positively and beneficially in that it balances and even heals (in the broadest sense of the word) all physical, moral, and mental defects.

I consider that this music should be listened to as a medicine. It prepares people so that they can gradually perceive it more deeply.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 2/9/14

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The Simplicity Of Greatness

The Simplicity Of Greatness

Dr. Michael LaitmanComment: “The Melodies of the Spiritual Worlds” (the upper worlds) is the kind of art that should now be revealed to everyone. I would call it a level that is a bit higher than classical music since the sixth sense (the point in the heart) is involved here. At first glance, the melodies seem rather simple and not so sophisticated, but…

Answer: The tune “A Concealed God” sounds very simple and may even be incomplete, like a minor composition, but it is an expression of the harmony of upper attainment or the harmony of revelation.

There are very sublime words to this tune about the one unique, eternal, and whole upper force that surrounds us and leads us to a perfect and ideal state.

The tune praises and glorifies the ten streams of abundance that descend unto us, the leadership of our world that, unfortunately, because of our egoistic attributes that are revealed on the level of this world, become the complete opposite.

Instead of opening ourselves to receive the spiritual abundance and to resemble it in perfect harmony among us, we distort all that and eventually receive a tiny bit of spiritual energy that keeps our world alive.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 2/09/14

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Song Of A Devoted Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanTraditionally, people sang melodies written by Kabbalists, in sad minor keys. But we must understand that every Kabbalistic melody is above the Tzimtzum, meaning above concern for oneself.

All the melodies are directed towards the Creator with a yearning to adhere to Him with bestowal and love, to give Him contentment, and to resemble Him in one’s relationships to other people. They don’t express regret about the hardships and suffering, or complaints about the difficulty of life, as is commonly understood in religions.

Concerns like these and the general sorrow of a person are not mentioned in the wisdom of Kabbalah and in the books of Kabbalah. This is because the Kabbalists are in a state that is beyond the Machsom, in the borders of the spiritual world; therefore, they take no account of themselves but only the Creator.

And if they are sorry, then it is only because they cannot achieve more devotion and self-sacrifice for the Creator. All thoughts, desires, and expectations are directed outside of a person, and this should be felt in the melody. This song is an outburst and enthusiastic outpouring of the soul.

If we sing a melody by Baal HaSulam, we must imagine his state and try to be as close to it as possible. Otherwise, we associate this melody with our physical state, to our crying and requests: “Give, give, give!” We transform the sacred into the profane.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14

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Music Untangles The Strings Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What happens inside me when I listen to music that penetrates me?

Answer: The sound of music generates a harmonious feeling inside us, creates balance between all the frequencies of the sounds and we are filled with great pleasure by that.

This impression can last for a long time, from the beginning of the composition to its end, but in fact we enjoy the wholeness that we feel in these sounds, like a text, words, or wisdom, but here it is conveyed through our feelings.

Our matter is a desire to enjoy, and so the sound of music has an immediate effect on our desire and makes us feel and understand that this is surely a force that affects all our parts in a balanced and harmonious manner. There is something of the upper perfection of nature in it.

So when I listen to music, my inner vessels are rebuilt according to this harmony and I begin to feel that I ascend above my matter, above everything that happens. Music corrects us and lifts us upwards. It can purify, cleanse, tune, and regulate us.

I am presently like a musical instrument with entangled strings, an instrument that is flawed and out of tune. Suddenly the music reaches me, the sounds penetrate me in a precise order, are connected to one another with harmonious chords, forte, piano, and all this tunes and calibrates me. I fee how the music takes over my feelings and untangles them, as if it combs me according to the tune.

This is the reason that we really love it when music takes us over. If it is classical music, we want it to take over our feelings and to fill all the emptiness inside, just like water that pours and fills us with sounds. This is the effect music has on man.

The sounds reach us from the level of the upper Bina, and so we don’t feel any threat in music. A person can be scared by some picture or by words, but music doesn’t scare us, even if it is the alarming sound of drums.

It evokes emotion within us and can make us feel excited. But most musical pieces were meant to make a person feel pleasure and joy. It can move us to tears, but it is a very internal, intimate experience.

It isn’t a message that is transmitted to us visually or by an audible message that can scare us. We can listen to music and not know who composed it, what it is about, or who is playing it. It is like pure water that washes my vessel, but doesn’t obligate me in any way.
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From the program “A New Life” 4/27/2014

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About The Music Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I grew up in nature, on a farm, surrounded by fields and gardens, in a world of sounds. What is the music of nature?

Answer: If a person lives in a place like this, then the music of nature is actually what should fill him and tune him correctly. The music of nature provides the right background for a good and healthy life. Trees, flowers, and the wind are all sounds that are actually vital for a person’s state of balance.

Question: How is the natural world of the sounds of nature around us related to a person’s health?

Answer: It is common knowledge that music can heal, stabilize the heart beat, our inner frequencies, and the inner organs. Everything depends on the sounds that we hear.

People have not yet learned to make proper use of that, but there is a great potential in it. It is a wonderful way to cleanse, correct, and tune a person.

Comment: This is very interesting since I lived in India for a while after my military service, in remote places, far away from any form of civilization, and I felt very healthy, healthier than I ever felt before. When I returned to the ordinary urban environment, I realized to what extent the music of nature had healed me.
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From the program “A New Life” 4/27/2014

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Melodies Of Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we sing the melodies that were written by Kabbalists or read the Psalms or other Kabbalists’ writings, we need to understand that they are all written in the state of being adhered to the Creator. Thus, there is no issue here of sadness, pessimism, or feeling of difficulty in the work.

Everything that seems as the expression of weakness or sadness are completely opposite feelings and specifically come from hope, from longings for love, from within the Light that already illuminates from afar, like the dawn rising.

These melodies can sound minor, in sadness, with a feeling of heaviness and weakness, but it is not at all this way. They come from a passionate desire, adhesion, joy, and devotion. Try to sing and feel them specifically in this way.

The same is true of the Psalms. All the most seemingly tragic poetry of David crying about how he has to run away from everyone who persecutes and hates him, and is abandoned by the Creator, all were written from a very high level of adhesion. We need to try to feel that in these melodies.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/11/13

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The Music Of Baal HaSulam At The International Music Festival In Moscow

On August 27, 2013, in the Rachmaninov Hall, the Moscow State Conservatory is hosting their annual International Festival “Gathering Friends.” Included in the festival is a concert of piano music titled “Armenia-Israel: Dialogue of Musical Cultures” from the musical project “Secrets of Armenia.”

The author of the project is my student Mikael Hayrapetyan, a famous pianist,. He will perform the music of Baal HaSulam from “The Music of the Spiritual Worlds.” Before the presentation, the guests will learn about the features of this music and the history of its creation. This will help to tune in to the musical perception.

The concert is part of the upcoming International Music Festival, which is a very significant event in the cultural life of the capital. It is presented by the Moscow Department of Culture and the Conservatory management and is held in one of the best venues for classical music in the world Rachmaninov Hall.
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“Why Rock Music ‘Brings Out The Animal In Us’”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Telegraph): “Sudden, jarring changes in pitch and frequency play on the same emotional mechanisms as the signals which animals use to alert one another of danger, a study found.

“When animals cry out in distress they force a large amount of air through their voice box very quickly, producing a discordant effect designed to grab the attention and provoke an emotional response in other animals.

“Hearing similar sound patterns, like Hendrix’s distorted version of Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969, sends a shiver down our spine because we are programmed to react strongly to the harsh noise, researchers said.

“The same goes for discordant music associated with horror films – such as the screeching soundtrack to the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho – but not for generic ‘elevator music’ which lacks jolting changes in sound or volume.

“Researchers also found that while dissonant music stirs up strong emotions, these are usually linked to negative feelings like fear or sadness rather than happy ones.

“Greg Bryant, assistant professor of communication studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and one of the study authors, said: ‘This study helps explain why the distortion of rock-and-roll gets people excited: It brings out the animal in us.

“’Composers have intuitive knowledge of what sounds scary without knowing why. What they usually don’t realise is that they’re exploiting our evolved predispositions to get excited and have negative emotions when hearing certain sounds.’”

My Comment: In the process of integral education, we have to use the appropriate musical influence as the background for conversations and during the workshops. We need to encourage and increase listening to songs with “integral” content.
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