Entries in the 'My Similarity to the Creator' Category

Connecting In The Common Root

232.08Baal HaSulam, “The Acting Mind”: “There is great diversity even within the same teaching, for if one exceeds another in even one element, it separates the spirituals from one another. But when two sages contemplate the same teaching and have the same measure of knowledge, they are in fact united, for what separates them?”

Each one experiences and perceives unity in his individual way. Two people cannot compare their feelings in any way because each one perceives within his own vessel.

If you and I say that something is sweet, it does not mean that we both feel the same sweetness. But when both of us aspire for the same goal to attain the Creator, then due to the fact that we unite not in the object but in the Creator, in our common root, we will be able to attain the state in which He will make us equal and connect us. Then we will attain absolute unity!

Question: What do Kabbalists feel? Where do they connect

Answer: Only in the root. There is no other way.

Question: We say that each one includes the other inside him. Is this true?

Answer: Yes. As in a closed, integral system.

Hence, when one contemplates another’s action and attains the mind of the sage who performed it, they have the same mind and power. Now they are completely united…

But although they are united, each one still has his own personal attainment.

“…like a man who met his beloved friend on the street, he embraces him and kisses him, and because of their great unity, it is impossible to separate them.”

Because they are united by what they have attained. They attain the great upper spiritual essence, and it connects them into one whole although they are different and the source is different, which means that the Creator is one, but each of them in their individual root holds Him as something personal.

“Hence, the rule is that in speaking, the mind is the best-adjusted force between the Creator and His creatures. It is considered the medium, meaning He emanated a spark of that force, and through that spark, everything returns to Him.”

Eventually, if people unite in order to attain the Creator, they do actually attain Him by attaining the state in which the Creator becomes their common whole, their home, the common connection between them, their common root, the beginning and the end of every state.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 4/21/19

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Return In Awe

laitman_961.2Repentance (Tshuvah) means that I am able to feel the Creator to some extent and link my existence to Him. He creates all my states and leads me from one state to another, me and all of humanity. I want to be constantly connected to Him as to my Creator who creates every moment of life. The Creator is the one who creates every moment of reality.

The return happens after my separation from the upper force that created the whole reality: me and the whole world. I was unaware of the upper governance. If we feel nothing besides our animal life, we exist as if in a dream, in an illusory world. Suddenly, a force emerges that pulls me out of this dream to another understanding, awareness, and feeling of truth, which is the root cause called the Creator who controls everything: me and the world. Such awareness is called repentance (Tshuvah).

Understandably, this realization is also caused by the Creator. He plays with me, puts me through different states, forces me to exit the sensation of the Creator and His true world, and return to it again. Due to such entries and exits, stop-and-go cycles, He develops my sensitivity to Him.

Some returns happen out of fear of losing the sensation of the Creator and forgetting that He rules the whole world, that everything has a reason and that everything has an answer. I do not depend on my neighbor, my wife, the police, or my boss, but only on the Creator, who controls the entire reality.

It is such a wonderful feeling to connect everything happening to the Creator that I don’t want to leave it. Perhaps it gives me comfort in corporeal life. If all the problems come from the Creator, then there is no need to worry, for His goal and intentions are good and He knows what He is doing. This makes life much easier for a person and is called “return in awe.”1

If I understand that I am going against the Creator’s wishes and still perform this act, by doing so I conceal the Creator from myself. After all, I seem to want the Creator to disappear from my horizon and not to interfere with me. The Creator says: “This should not be done! I do not want you to do this,” and I push Him aside, not wanting to notice, and do as I please. Therefore, an intentional crime negates the Creator.

Before, I knew that the Creator was hidden from me, but I understood that He exists. When I commit a crime intentionally against His wishes, taking advantage of the fact that I do not fully sense Him, I force the Creator to disappear. I then become “free,” not believing in reward or punishment, considering myself free to do anything.2

If a person wants to fulfill the Creator’s desire, it is considered a commandment, while the opposite, going against His will, is a crime. The Creator wishes for us to correct the broken common soul, that is, to restore the unity between us which would extend to all the lower levels of creation. This is our main commandment.3

We have to understand that we exist in a system of forces. If I am influenced by the force that sustains me at a certain level, then I behave like a righteous person. As soon as this force disappears, I inevitably become a sinner, according to the balance of powers. Therefore, I need the Creator to become the guarantor for me not to fall into sin anymore. I am in constant dependence on the balance of internal and external forces that hold me in a certain condition: the environment, the Creator, and me.4

I undergo a series of states, through concealment and revelation, making efforts, and it seems to me that everything depends on me. However, when the Creator is revealed, I understand that He played with me so that I would exert the necessary measure of effort to get a greater understanding and sensation of Him. The Creator requires no payment from me nor does He blame me for anything. Yet, without applying effort, it is impossible to acquire the right impression of what the light and the darkness are, the pros and cons of the Creator, giving and receiving, or my own strength and the force of the Creator.

Due to the Creator playing with me, guiding me through concealments and revelations, I understand my desires. This is how we teach our children. We do not want them to cry and would gladly do everything for them, but without efforts, children would never grow up or become wiser. They would not gain patience or understanding. Therefore, you cannot avoid making a child perform exercises, apply efforts, work, and sweat so that he will grow up and rise to our level.

It is the same here. When we return to the Creator and reveal His governance, we understand that life was a game to make us grow. We complain that our whole life is continual suffering. But a small child also cries and screams when something is not working out, it is a major tragedy for him.

Life ends, leaving nothing behind of our joys and sorrows. The only thing that lasts forever is our effort on the spiritual path, like a child who gains knowledge. Such efforts are not lost because we use them to make corrections in the system of the common soul, Adam HaRishon.

In fact, all our efforts in corporeal life also do not disappear. Their impact is on such a low level, on such a meager scale, that it is a pity to waste energy on them. It is said that even a tiny louse, making efforts to survive and eat, also contributes to the common sum. However, it is impossible to compare the significance of corporeal efforts and the desire to conform to the will of the Creator, to establish mutual relations with Him. This is a completely different level.

I dedicate my life to resembling the Creator, looking to Him, and asking if I am doing the right thing by wanting my actions to precisely resemble His wishes. If I truly want it, then the Creator begins to reveal Himself so that I can mimic Him and act according to His thoughts, like a child who learns from his father. This is called becoming a servant of the Creator, learning from Him.5
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/19, Writing of Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, item 57
1 Minute 6:00
2 Minute 19:36
3 Minute 22:30
4 Minute 23:38
5 Minute 26:17

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An Unbiased Look At The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are certain actions a person must carry out by changing his or her egoistic nature. After all, our nature forces us to love only ourselves, to gain at the expense of our neighbors, regardless of the suffering it causes to the other and even enjoying it.

In the same manner, we don’t take into account the Creator. If it weren’t for the fear of the upper force, we wouldn’t think of it at all. However, there is concealment, due to which I don’t know what will happen to my life, my children, those close to me, or myself. Will I still be alive in the next moment? What does the next day have in store for me? Therefore, I perform a calculation and decide to be good.

We think that the Creator has some obligations with respect to a person if he carries out his obligations with respect to the Creator. In other words, if a person behaves correctly, the Creator treats him well.

Yet there is another condition that obliges us to not only relate well to the Creator, but also to the whole world and the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human. I need to treat the world that surrounds me like I treat myself. Hence it is written, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” My neighbor is anything within my environment.

Imagine that I treat everything outside of me with the same level of sensitivity, care, and love as I treat myself! I then stop feeling the difference between me and what is outside of me. The whole inanimate world, plants, animals, and people become like me.

I feel that I, the whole world, and the whole universe are as one pie in which I exist. There is no difference between what I have inside and what is outside. If we achieve this state, we thereby cancel all the boundaries and acquire an additional sense that allows us to feel what is outside of us. I have always felt the outside world through judging how beneficial something is for me. And now I cancel my egoism, my preconceived notion, and I just feel the outside world.

Suddenly I discover that the outside world and I merge into one, which is called the upper world, or the Garden of Eden. The world is full of light, energy, life, and pleasure. There is only the Upper Light, which exists in absolute rest and tranquility. There are no separations, limitations, or time.

I exit the limitations of this egoistic world and our egoistic perceptions and I reveal a new true reality, which is not bound by the boundaries of my egoism.

If I reach such a perception, when I feel the whole world as one whole, where the upper and lower worlds unite, I can feel all the Light that fills them, the only force of the Creator, then I reveal the truth, by which I exist in this world.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/17/15

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Who Is To Blame For The Sin Of Adam?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to reveal the higher force, to uncover its intention, to reveal where it is leading me, and to uncover what it wants?

Answer: Ramchal (Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, a great Kabbalist who lived in the 18th century in Italy), wrote that the wisdom of Kabbalah is intended only in order to learn the governance and purpose of the higher desire: why the Creator made all of these creations, what He wants from them, and what will be the end of all the incarnations of the world.

You shall know everything in terms of what happens in your body, in your thoughts, desires, in the mind and in the heart, everything that is happening in the world and where it leads. I am talking about a high attainment when you are on the same level as the upper force, as it is written in Hosea 3:5: “Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God… .”

You reveal the entire program of creation, all the forces that activate it, and you begin to receive the right to enter this program and control it, instead of the Creator. It is like with a child who grows up, and a father hands over his business so that the child will continue running it instead of him.

This is what it means to become a human being, man, since “man” (in Hebrew “Adam,” from the word “Domeh,” similar) means similar to the Creator, similar to the upper. This is what we need to reach.

Question: Does this revelation affect the everyday life of a person?

Answer: Of course! First of all, you become the master of everything that is happening. You know what you are living for and how to arrange your life in order to extract from it the greatest benefit.

Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence” that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the higher governing force in all its properties and manifestations unfolding in the worlds and subject to the revelation by man in the future, until the end of all generations.

In other words, you see all the prospects ahead, until the end of the existence of our world at 6,000 years counting from the first revelation of the Creator to Adam HaRishon 5775 years ago. You will reveal the future.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/8/15

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It Will Be A Day Of Rest For You

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Exodus” 35:1 – 35:3: Moses called the whole community of the children of Israel to assemble, and he said to them: “These are the things that the Lord commanded to make. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to the Lord; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death. You shall not kindle fire in any of your dwelling places on the Sabbath day.”

Initially we deal with the egoistic desires of a person or the society.

The Torah tell us that all we need to do is overcome our ego and gather together above it into one single whole. So this Parasha (Torah portion), is called, “VaYikahel” (assembled).

It speaks about the gathering of all the separated, distant, and hostile parts of the collective soul, which are found in all of us and which we need to gather, like a puzzle, into one single soul.

Through the connection of these parts, we begin to arrange them under the influence of the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the characteristic of bestowal and love of the Creator. If we try to be like Him, then to the degree of our efforts, He will influence us and help our gathering into a mutual, integral connection.

Then we will see how our mutual characteristics create something whole, some kind of complete image, which in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called a Partzuf, meaning a block or structure.

This Partzuf is composed of Sefirot: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. In the first six Sefirot, that symbolize the six days of the week, we need to work in gathering the separated parts of the soul. If we succeed in this, then the Light will finish the complete gathering, working on our efforts throughout the six days of work. And then we do not need to do anything more, since on the seventh day our work is finished.

We make it possible for the Light to finish this welding between us in which then the complete unit of the soul emerges from the separated parts we gathered.

We finish a week, and begin a new week. A part and then another part is gathered, and in this way, we gather our entire common soul. Within a particular number of actions like these we attain the spiritual gathering of all the parts becoming one complete unit, the likeness of Adam (man), which means Domeh (similar to the Creator). With this, we attain the complete correction of humanity, which we must reach.

So Shabbat is the holiest day, for on this day the Light acts, influences our efforts, and finishes them. It is as if throughout the six days we create the work to be done, and on the seventh day the Light carries it out.

If on the seventh day we continue this work, then it is as if we are happy about this shattering of the soul of Adam because we are attempting to do the work instead of the Light. This is the greatest violation of the entire system of correction.

In general, we do part of the work and the Light does part of the work. If we do all of the work ourselves, we are adding even greater destruction into the system and even more strongly rejecting the reciprocity of all the parts that we gathered during the week. Generally, it is preferable to do nothing at all than to gather all week and continue this even on the seventh day. In this way, we would negate the entire method of correction of the system and all of its forward progress.

So prior to the seventh day, it is necessary to finish our efforts, meaning that we stop on the sixth day and make it possible for the Light to weld all the parts, sticking them together. It is said, “It will be a day of rest for you.” Basically, the person is doing work and not just resting. At this time, we finally feel the gradual unity of all six parts into one general whole and we finish the correction of the present spiritual level. And after that, we correct the next level and the next, and so on, week after week.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/10/13

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The Wisdom Of Connection In An Era Of Isolationism

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn everyday life we generally hide our egoism. If I depend on my enemy completely, my ego begins to disappear and hatred evaporates. There is nowhere to escape to and I start to look for how to love him and cause him to love me. The self-preservation instinct begins to work, and I cannot hate someone when my life, the most precious thing I have, depends upon him.

But in our case, we are not succeeding. The hatred is being revealed between us more and more and the separatist movements are taking over the world. The more that our world is discovered as whole and mutually connected, the stronger the opposite trend becomes.

Each one aspires to isolation and ultimately we will reach the same situation as in ancient times, where every city and area became a separate nation. The whole world will be divided into such kingdoms.

On the one hand, egoism is growing, feeling its limitations and areas of control with more precision. And in this way, it separates itself from the others. As a result of this, the world in which seven billion people are living will create 10,000 nations that cannot get along with one another.

Even solitary individuals are no longer able to get along with each other. There was a time when families would live in one room: parents, children, grandchildren. And today two people cannot live in peace in the same apartment. This is called hatred.

To the same degree that our interdependence is appearing, the desire to shatter this dependency, separate and move away from each other is appearing as isolationism and separation. These two tendencies will not disappear and will develop more and more within human society, and there is no way to resolve this! Both will grow to the skies and there will be no possibility of solving this conflict.

The art of connection is called the wisdom of Kabbalah. Ultimately the relationships between everyone—children, adults, in schools, at work, in international relations and within society—will reach such a state that we will not be ready to speak to one another and will need the wisdom of connection!

This wisdom will be required simply to be able to arrange normal relationships at work, in school, in the family and in all areas of our lives. People will need this wisdom because hatred, rejection, the inability to speak to one another or even look at others will reach such a threatening degree that we will not be able to bridge this gap.

It will not be possible to overcome the lack of desire to see and feel others. A person will search for isolation so that nobody will be near him, and he will not want to get close to anyone. But on the other hand, he will have to sit in class at school or university and be in connection with others.

Today, one person cannot do anything; even scientists carry out research in large groups. In addition, in our jobs everywhere, we need to connect in teams. But a person will lose the ability to cooperate even with one person who is like him as this hatred will grow to such a degree.

So the wisdom of connection will be very much in demand. The whole world is going to need it.

We need to understand that all of the spiritual worlds: the five worlds, Olam Ein Sof (world of Infinity), the entire ladder of levels, and the Partzufim are revealed in us through the unnatural connection between people. According to nature hatred and interdependence are revealed in us. But if we arrange for a connection between these polar opposites, the hatred and dependence, and communicate with others above our intellect, desire, and all calculations, we will discover new relationships and a new world.

Now we feel this world through our five senses, meaning the five kinds of egoistic connection between us. We see everything through our egoism, meaning that in every situation we search for the opportunity to be confident and enjoy. Thanks to the wisdom of connection, the wisdom of Kabbalah, we will reach new relationships above the egoistic relationships, which are relationships of “…you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (“Leviticus” 19:18), and within the connection between us we will begin to discover the five additional senses: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut.

Within these senses, we will discover phenomena called spiritual worlds, until attaining the complete connection called Olam Ein Sof. The spiritual world is revealed in the connection between us, in the levels of our relationships that go from total detachment to complete adhesion. This is the ladder of spiritual levels.

To the degree that I try to develop love above my egoism and hatred, I discover the levels of the spiritual worlds. So it isn’t necessary to search for the spiritual world in any other place, such as in books or mechanical actions with the hands and feet. Everything depends only on work in the heart and how much I can connect emotionally with others above the rejection and hatred without wanting to delete or annihilate it.

After all, everything is built precisely above the hatred, as it is written, “Love covereth all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). So with love built above the hatred, I will discover a new world called the world of men. After all, we are all within this world and will be connected as one and receive the form of Adam – man  (Domeh – similar to the Creator).
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From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14

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The World To Come, Here And Now!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what way is the world that I am seeing now in my life different from the world to come about which it is said: “You will see your world in your life,” (Berachot 17a)?

Now I am now alive and see what everyone sees, a world full of hatred. What kind of benefit do I have from this “immense” computer about which you speak, that brings the entire system to a state of separation, hatred, and distrust in our relationships with each other?

Answer: I see this entire gigantic, higher mechanism and how He plays with us to bring us to develop so that we will become like Him by rising to His level. It is said, “And the children will return to their father in heaven (the Creator),” (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3). Then I begin to justify Him, understand Him, and see in what manner I now need to behave in order to live on that level  at all times and not have to wait!

The moment I begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, I have the possibility of ascending to this level of the force that manages this.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 4/12/15

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The Difference Between The Wisdom Of Kabbalah And Other Sciences

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: All of the sciences are generally involved with the discovery of nature, meaning the Creator. So in what way is the wisdom of Kabbalah different from the rest of the sciences, even though it also calls itself a science?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is a science for the discovery of the higher power, the only director, which is called the Creator. But unlike the rest of the methods that speak about what a person must do to bring the Creator closer to himself, the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that the discovery of the Creator happens to the degree that a person comes closer to the Creator.

The wisdom tells us that a person must discover the Creator to a greater and greater degree until His full disclosure. This means that the entire wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for changing and correcting a person from being opposite and against the Creator to being completely similar to the Creator.
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