Entries in the 'My Similarity to the Creator' Category

We Need A New Start

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen I try to imagine what my spiritual level really has to be and whether I can rise to it by my feelings, my knowledge, and my efforts, I see that I cannot. If I come to the right conclusions, I discover that without the Creator’s help I will not manage. After all, I have to correct my intention in order to bestow upon the Creator and I can reach that only through the love of others, by connection with the friends.

Here I see to what extent I work in the opposite direction, forgetting all about the love of others, unable to constantly think about mutual guarantee, about connection and about the love of friends.

It seems that love of friends and the correction of my desires are two different things. I have to love the friends and then I will be ready to do them a favor and to get a bit closer to them. But the correction of my desires and the revelation of the Creator are intimate personal things that belong only to me. I cannot connect these two conditions, and this is our main problem.

So we have to constantly work on the connection of “Israel, the Torah and the Creator.” The Torah is revealed only by the Light that Reforms, which connects all these components. After all, the important rule of the Torah is “Love thy friend as thyself.” The Torah is all the vessels and all the Lights in which love is revealed—from such a strong connection that turns to love.

We have to imagine a common vessel called the “Torah,” which is all the desire to receive that was created and that is shattered to pieces that are very far from one another filled with mutual hate. I want all this to be covered with love; I really want this! So I need the Creator and I focus on Him through this collective desire.

In that case I really need the Creator. I summon Him not just so that He will bring me pleasure, but as a result of an unbearable pain that is caused by my inability to connect to the general love in the relations between us.

This love has to be expressed towards the group in some way, towards the friends, even if it is not openly but more internally. This already depends on a person, on time, on the height he is on. The Kabbalists of Kotzk used to express an opposite attitude externally; we follow the instructions of Rabash to display love and  concern for the friends openly.

We have to constantly worry only about the general vessel, about the general connection that draws the Light that Reforms and the Light that fills the vessel. The Creator is revealed only in that vessel, as the one who builds and sustains, heals, and fills it.

All this takes place in that state; the trouble is that we don’t imagine it correctly, but think that the Creator can be revealed inside us, will enter our individual hearts. This is how every egoist thinks, since he is used to drawing all the goodness and all the achievements to himself.

This is the whole problem. Only by mutual guarantee can we support one another in order to remain focused on the center of the group, the nation of Israel, and the whole world as one system in which everything takes place. There is nothing but that.

Otherwise we are simply not living in reality. All the other perspectives except this one are called “an imaginary reality.” It isn’t even as imaginary as our world but actually fictitious and totally egoistic.

So we have to discover the snake that stands in our way that constantly takes us back into our impure heart. In that case, it is impossible to manage without the group’s decision that this has to be our only concern, and only through the help of the friends can I remain focused correctly on the group in order to see my correction in it.

This is the reason we cannot think about the Creator’s benefit, about true bestowal; it all depends on one another, and our thoughts are aimed in the direction of receiving and not bestowal. The revelation of the Creator seems like a sweet candy.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Creator Is Hiding Among Us

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the most important thing is to despair of my own powers along the spiritual path, then why do we need to cope with all kinds of corporeal problems, too?

Answer: The Creator doesn’t make life difficult for you and doesn’t place any obstacles along your path. It is you who is getting confused. If you could listen to the advice that we have to correct the relationships among us and that we have to find the connection among us—and, in it, discover the spiritual world from the very first moment you started studying—then the interruptions that are constantly increasing wouldn’t seem like interruptions. Rather, each time, they would seem like the revelation of a new thickness of the upper level.

No one stopped you from accepting this advice and from fulfilling it. It wouldn’t have interrupted, but rather would have helped you rise and tighten the connection and discover its inner essence called the Light.

However, you are looking for the revelation of the Creator, not in order to bestow and not by bestowing upon others, not among the friends, but in a totally different place. So, who is responsible for the fact that you don’t succeed? You may have built different barriers that separate you from the spiritual world instead of getting close to it from the moment you arrived until today. Although you eventually can reach the right decision along this way, too, it is by feeling despair and finally discovering that we have reached a dead end and must go back to follow a different path.

As it is written (Ecclesiastes 7:29), “This is the only thing I have found, that God made human beings upright, but they have devised many schemes.” In fact, it is a very simple point, but we simply haven’t located the right place of the shattering. We want to prepare our own heart for the filling. This is everyone’s inclination.

However, we don’t want to accept the fact that the place of the filling is among us! There is a cut, an abyss, a dark empty vacuum between us, but this doesn’t worry me at all. I worry about the fact that I don’t have a filling inside me! This means that I am thinking about a totally different place instead of the place where the upper force must be revealed.

I also interpret the idea of an upper force as I see fit, which is as some enticing filling, a wonderful attainment, understanding, a pleasant feeling, but the real upper force is totally opposite from what I imagine. Being equivalent to it is in bestowing upon others, filling the other while rising above myself, without thinking about myself, annulling myself, and restricting myself. I take everything from myself and deprive myself of all the fillings only in order to pass them on to the other. It is only above myself that I look for a way to fill the others.

This is the spiritual filling that I feel in the other to the extent that I am ready to provide for him above my own desires and passions, but we don’t even think in this direction. Sometimes, we slightly touch this feeling in some powerful convention in the desert, but, afterward, we each come back to our own personal interests, and, then, everything comes to an end.

The group doesn’t support me. It doesn’t hold me focused on this one sharp point. And my ego constantly pulls me downward to the abyss. So, what can I do?

All this is because we don’t support and hold one another. The force that can save us is among us, in the connection between us, in the collective flock, and not in each of us. The force of our connection is the Light, and this is where we should demand it: in the crevices between us, in the barriers, in the walls. The Light, the Creator is hiding in there.

We can discover it only if we begin connecting with one another in a way that the gaps will disappear, and, then, right in that place, you will discover the Creator, right there where He is concealed now.

The whole point is that you hear, but you don’t fulfill the advice in the right place. It is because you cannot accept what Rabash says, “We have gathered here to establish a society for all who wish to follow the path and method of Baal HaSulam…”

We must make a decision and then carry it out constantly, but if everyone worries about himself and not about others, it will lead to nothing. If I think about how to fulfill this by myself, it won’t work. The thought must go only through others since it is a closed, analog system.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Entire World For A Cup Of Coffee

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the order of my internal actions in relation to the Creator coincide in the case when I feel bad and in the case when I feel good?

Answer: On the spiritual path, bad feelings are not suffering in the usual sense, but the sufferings of love.

Imagine that you place an order in a restaurant. Why isn’t it brought right away even if everything is ready? They give you time to talk with your companion or just to sit, and this is no accident. Once, my friend was choosing a coffee maker for his office and wanted a machine that would take 15 minutes to prepare one serving. He needed time for a quiet conversation with clients.

This is what is called preparing desires, which we usually ignore. We want to “swallow” everything as quickly as possible, but this approach is incorrect. Because of it, we do not feel the taste in life, the meaning in life. Spiritual concealment is needed to cause a strong, firm desire in us.

Question: What should fill this time of delay before meeting the Creator?

Answer: I make a preparation, yearn for Him in the right way, and, then, I can discern the relationship and find contact. It is said, “I will eat what has been prepared in advance.” I do not discover anything new; my revelation is a direct result of this completed preparation.

Even now, I am in the world of Infinity, but I do not see it, do not notice the connection between people, do not distinguish the actions of the Creator, and do not feel the waves of this force, which changes everything. My eyes can see only separate, small phenomena. Thus, everything depends on preparation.

The problem is that I choose for myself a coffee machine with this or that “time of preparation,” but the preparation period is not set by me, and I do not know when it is over. So, you should hurry. It is very important how we cope with the preparatory stage. It is already underway and the fate of the entire world is here at this point.

Question: How can we apply every effort so as not to lose time?

Answer: First of all, are you trying to bestow to the Creator, or do you just want to get your “coffee” sooner? For whom is the pleasure of your efforts intended? After all, you have a chance to bring Him pleasure. What is it for you: a burden or an honorable right? If it is a right, then you want to finish the job quickly and prepare all the best for Him, and if it is a burden, then you evade it to the last moment. “It is a deadline, and there is nothing I can do; I must act.” The approach determines everything.

You can speed up the “coffee” cooking time without having to wait 15 minutes. Since The Book of Zohar was revealed and the science of Kabbalah came into the world, you can quickly complete the process and reach the end of correction. Don’t wait until 6,000 years pass; do it today! If you were given the means, time is not a function. If you wait, you advance in “due time,” according to the program of Nature, without adding your efforts in order to show your results to the Creator. So, accelerate, unite with friends, keep the intention all the time, strive for the goal, and understand that all the disturbances on your path are good for you. They help you connect with the friends, studies, and intention. Since you were given the opportunity, you must realize it.

Question: But all the friends already are doing this. So, where is the problem?

Answer: You do not ask. You are given an opportunity to ask. So, ask!

Question: But we are thinking about and asking this all the time.

Answer: If you had asked as you are supposed to, wouldn’t you have received a response? So, your request is not the right one yet. It is lacking either quantity or quality of effort, and the most important thing here is quality. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the 18th paragraph of The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot: and, if one practices Torah and fails to remove the evil inclination from himself, it is either that he has been negligent in giving the necessary labor and exertion in the practice of Torah—as it is written, “I have not labored but found, do not believe”—or, perhaps, one did put in the necessary amount of labor, but has been negligent in the quality.

I received an awakening from the Creator. He lit a spark in me and now I must wake myself further, adding quantity and working on quality, to check why and for what do I do this, to what do I aspire. In whole, I need a vessel, a desire, a need for the right amount and quality. If I gather the necessary measure for the revelation of the upper Light, It will be manifested immediately. It is here; it is ready.

In physics, there is a concept of “quantum,” a minimal “portion” of light. So, when I have a need for a quantum of Light, I will reveal it on the first level of Nefesh. Then, I will form an even greater need, I will want “quantum squared,” and will reveal the Light of Ruach. At the same time, the vessel grows both quantitatively and qualitatively.

What we need is the desire. For that, we are always talking about self-annulment and restriction and we organize workshops in order to reveal, to “whiten” the desire.

So, why, after the lesson, don’t I feel a concern about the friends, to want the fire of desire to propel them forward? Why don’t I feel the same concern on their part and why don’t I flare up from their flashes? There is no care, no shared responsibility for us, for the world, and especially for the Creator who gave us a chance. In essence, our concern for us and for the world is shallow and egoistic, but we need to start somewhere. In fact, we have a chance to bestow to the Creator, but we do not want to turn toward this direction at all.

In short, we still have much to do. Don’t wait until the coffee is ready.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/13, A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Dangerous Fictitious Dealings

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 47: Therefore, turn away from all the fictitious dealings, and pay attention to think and to come up with the right inventions to connect your hearts as one heart… and start connecting lovingly to the right extent, and then you will find a taste in it.

Question: What are “fictitious dealings”?

Answer: Fictitious dealings are all sorts of efforts that are not aimed at attaining the spiritual goal. This includes any effort that is above the effort to provide the body with the basic necessities and dedicating everything else to attaining the goal.

Any effort that is even a little bit off this track is fictitious, which means that it only seems to you that you will gain from it, but in fact, it immediately pushes you to the path of “in its time,” the path of suffering.

It seems that there is a spiritual goal before me (!), and if I work for it, I will gain something. I exert myself and gain from it. If it is a real goal, which means that it is on the path to the Creator, then I work correctly.

But this goal may not be directed towards the Creator (!), and I don’t know the right direction, and it seems that this goal is real. If I invest my powers in it, then, in return, I receive sufferings that push me from behind instead of a gain. These are called “fictitious dealings.”

It seems that I profit from them and that I yearn for the real goal. Even material profit: physical profit, money, respect, knowledge, all these eventually lead me, after many efforts along the way, to a void, to sufferings.

This fictitious goal, the fictitious dealings, can be very complex and complicated. It may take 30 to 40 years for me to finally realize that the goal was fictitious. It isn’t just one business and may very well be many dealings. Everything that you do beyond the basic necessities of the body belongs to these fictitious dealings.

Dealing with the basic necessities is a must, since you have no choice. All your attention, 100% of it, must be focused in one direction—on the Creator. Then, to the extent that you have to exert yourself for your family, it is already a necessity because all your thought will be focused on the Creator.

It is not clear that this goal is fictitious. It is a big question for you. Even if you are aware of it rationally, you disagree with it emotionally. Then you find yourself in an inner struggle, not knowing what to do. You make different concessions, forgive different minor weaknesses, thinking, “Well, never mind, I was a bit distracted.” Fictitious dealings appear in many different manners.

So, how can we clarify which dealings are fictitious? Everything that does not relate to the group, to the teacher, to the study, to dissemination, to the inclination to unity with the Creator—are all fictitious dealings! If you focus all your efforts on the goal, then the family worries are also included in it. Then you discover that the Creator has arranged all these things for you in the most perfect way, but only if your family doesn’t object to your path and allows you to study.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/4/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Warm Embrace Of The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does an awakening from Above occur every minute, and what is the correct response to it on our part?

Answer: It isn’t only the awakening from Above, but it is actually all our existence that is possible thanks to the upper Light, which constantly sustains us, like a magnet holding a piece of iron in the air, and performs all sorts of actions on us.

There is no doubt about it, the matter of creation wouldn’t be able to exist, wouldn’t change, and wouldn’t feel itself without the upper Light. The Light does everything.

The right response on our part is to try to increase our sensitivity and our refined understanding towards what the upper force does with us, to understand how we should respond in order to be exactly like it, and to adhere to its attributes, to the changes that it makes and to its influence on us.

This means that in every bulge or indentation that the Creator makes in me, I immediately join His action and dress in it, like the desire of Nukva on the desire of the male. It turns out that we constantly cooperate in the general action, like partners. Thusly I should try to operate throughout my life, and then I attain the state of wholeness called adhesion.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Point Between Hate And Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 11: And I am asking you to do your greatest efforts in intensifying the love of friends and to think of ways to increase the love among friends, and to annul the passion for bodily pleasures, since this is the cause of hate. And among those who bring contentment to their Creator there can be no hate but rather greater compassion and love among them, and it is very simple.

And you should listen to my words from now on, since your life depends on this.

Question: How should we correct our attitude towards the friends that arouse hatred in us?

Answer: You should love the friends that you hate now, and that’s it. You have to reach a state that they become important for you, dearest, closest and most desired. But at the same time, the hate towards them should be kept.

The hate remains below, and you have to constantly worry about correcting it and building the love above it. This is how the spiritual tension is determined. You discover spirituality in the point between hate and love, between these two forces!

There is not just love or hate. Both love and hate come from the Light that illuminates one way or another, but you find and discover yourself in adhesion to the Creator, between these two feelings.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/3/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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About Giving And Receiving

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: We should know that spiritual matters are not like corporeal matters, where giving and receiving come as one. In spirituality, the time of giving and the time of receiving are separate. This is because first it was given from the Creator to the receiver; and in this giving He only gives him a chance to receive. However, he has not received a thing yet, until he is properly sanctified and purified. And then one is rewarded with receiving it. Thus, it may take a long time between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

Question: Why is there a disparity between the time of giving and the time of receiving?

Answer: Giving is bestowal and receiving is bestowal. But the giving prepares the “vessels” in us, the details of perception. After all, there is no concept of “time” in spirituality, but when it comes to our “matter,” to our desire to receive, the upper bestowal cannot be in contact with it.

There is a “shell” between them that keeps the dualism of their relationship—separation and mutual connection.

How does the Light reach the vessel in the first place? How can the connection between these two opposite attributes exist? There is nothing like it in our world. When fire and water come in contact, one of them annuls the other, but they both belong to one world and the inner nature that is aimed at conquering, at mutual annulment, is concealed in them.

On the other hand, when a spiritual force reaches a corporeal force, they cannot come in contact, they cannot “get to know” one another.

The first attempt to come in contact would evoke mutual annulment in them. We know about such phenomena in physics. Contact between opposites is simply impossible.

This is the reason for the “shell” that should be highly respected, which is wonderful, powerful, whole, and very complicated.

It is exactly what creates the right connection between “Holiness,” which means the attribute of bestowal, and the egoistic desire that simply wants to receive pleasure. The “shell” brings the “lie of the truth” and the “false truths” to life, what “has not been said to the end,” and “what has not been fully clarified,” as areas that “coordinate” between the poles that cannot be tied into one. We use such tricks in politics and in other fields.

So the time of giving is not the end of history. All of creation—its essence is in the difference between the time of giving and the time of receiving.

The chain of events from the top down into this world and the ascent back from the bottom up are only so that from state 1 we will reach state 3, and they are the perception of the Creator’s message to the created being. You also see how long it takes to “digest” this idea and to respond to it.

Question: According to what formula does the connection between the opposites exist? How is the string from the upper to the lower actually drawn?

Answer: If we speak about an initiative that comes from the upper, it is possible only if we annul ourselves and receive His desire as the one which determines things instead of our own desire; this is the connection.

Using the same technique, we bring different parts in contact, equalize their ranges, and use a certain link as a “coordinator” between them.

We have to create a certain place in which this equivalence takes place.

In spirituality it is the seven lower Sefirot of Bina, the “mother’s womb,” the lower third of Zeir Anpin to which Malchut connects.

We have to design this special “adaptor” which in Kabbalah is also called YESHSUT, or the system of TzeLeM.

One way or the other, the task of the two sides that are connected is for each side to annul itself in order to connect to the other. But while the upper can do that since it is perfect, the lower, being totally imperfect, attains it, accepts it, and annuls himself before the upper.

It is about simple things. In everyday life we constantly renew our place on the scale of connection and communication. In media, instruction, education, and culture the connection is built even instinctively by itself. If I want be in contact with another, I have to withdraw from my uncompromising stance to some extent, and to accept the other’s opinion.

Question: How does the lower become adapted to the giving of the upper?

Answer: The upper descends to the lower and gives him what he wants, but in this “package,” in this message, there is the whole inner force that develops the lower.

After all, the lower only wants to “fill its belly.” He doesn’t want to grow and doesn’t know what it is. But in the “milk” of the upper, which means in the Light of Hassadim, there is the “blood” that operates, the Light of Hochma that raises the baby. The lower would not be able to grow without the “blood” in the “milk.”

First, during the time of Ibur (gestation), the lower annuls himself before the upper and agrees to receive everything from Him. Then he receives the “blood”—the direct bestowal of the upper. Then the lower becomes more independent and the upper intentionally designs a system in the lower one that matches it and that is used as an adapter between them. It is exactly like the mechanism of lactation, feeding milk. In fact, it is about the same “blood,” about the Light of Hochma, but it receives the “dress of Hassadim.” Now the lower can compare the attribute of bestowal that is typical of the Creator and the attribute of receiving that is typical of the created being, and when he grows, he receives them both simultaneously.

But at this point, the lower is still small because he annuls himself with regard to the “milk,” and agrees to receive it from the upper…
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/13, A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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Two Conditions That Determine Everything

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why are the instructions given to us by Kabbalists so vague? Why can’t we understand by now what we are supposed to do? What are the ways to connect with the group and bow our heads in front of our friends? All is unclear. Probably, it’s supposed to be like that, but what does this mist hide?

Answer: First of all, there is no intention to make your life miserable whatsoever. You should remember that the creation has no other way to become similar to the Creator. Not at all!

Imagine that you are an expert chef with steaks and you have received an order for a special steak. For that, you need beef from a special breed of cattle raised to a certain age that grazed in a pasture at a specific altitude, as well as spices that are made of particular plants grown in a specific area, etc. You bring forward a list of requirements because you know that otherwise you can’t make the dish.

It is similar here: The creature cannot attain similarity with the Creator on any other terms. I would say that it’s not even up to Him. Once He decided that creation had to become similar to Him, these two conditions (creation and its similarity with the Creator) automatically dictate all the rest.

First, the Creator connected creation with Himself; this is described as “the creation of the world” in which the creation disappeared. Then, He added a single point to the creation, “something out of nothing.” Then, the creature started to grow inside the Light, and from this point on everything unfolded without the Creator’s interference or participation.

Here, as a binary system, there are two positions: zero and more than a zero. In other words, the Creator and of something that sticks out of the Creator. The creature that is different, external, and opposite to Him is called “creation”; it was made as “something out of nothing.”

Everything else is developing by itself. That’s why it is said: “The end of action is incorporated in the original thought.” Besides these original conditions, the Creator doesn’t need anything at all. He made the desire to receive; the rest stems from the opposition between the Light and the vessel, the giving force and the receiving desire, the Creator and the creation, meaning a point that in essence is a little bit different than the Light. These conditions are quite sufficient.

You ask: “Why did the Creator make our life so miserable? Can’t He change anything?” The very question is incorrect, since we are not yet at the level that allows us to see the whole picture and thus justify the Creator. However, even our tiny knowledge demonstrates that an alternative path is impossible. There is love and bestowal; anything that is opposite to these notions can reach similarity with Him only in one way. This applies to all times and circumstances from the beginning of creation until the end of correction. At that point, you’ll see that everything is perfect and nothing happens “accidentally.” So far, we are still very small and immature; we are squeezed in our niche and haven’t even started to follow the path that will eventually allow us to sense these things.

It seems to us that the world is huge and it’s a little scary to us. The entire universe, all our properties and troubles, everything that fills you now is only a small particle of the real world. Even though we measure this realm in kilometers and kilograms, from the point of view of the authentic reality, it simply doesn’t exist. And yet, even from this world, which is a divergent part of “something out of nothing” we can start our journey. It’s very desirable to accelerate our speed in order to cover this path on our own.

So, there are two forces, two details of perception: the Creator and the creation that is a little different from Him. These two details determine everything there is. That’s why today you cannot receive anything else but what you are already getting. Wishful thinking doesn’t work here.

The moment creation was made, as soon as “something out of something” gave birth to “something out of nothing,” everything became subordinate to the rigid law including all “cases” of our freedom of choice. Everything is included in the law, although curtains of concealment hide this law from us. In fact, the mist is illusionary. There is no mystery here. The fog that embraces our consciousness is purely of a psychological nature and is meant to “calibrate” us correctly.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/31/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar

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Is There A “Human Being” Growing In Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is considered bestowal upon another and why is there no direct and immediate punishment for not fulfilling this Mitzva of bestowal upon the society?

Answer: Bestowal upon another means that I help the other advance towards the goal. It isn’t bestowal unless it is about necessity. Everyone needs the basic necessities to exist, since the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature have to exist on something, but in every other sense, we only have to help the other go through the phase of development of the “speaking” level.

As for the immediate punishment for not keeping the law of bestowal, this cannot be. It is because the immediate punishment would activate you like the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature—when you do something wrong, and you are immediately punished; you do something right and you immediately get a reward. Then you are simply “programmed” just like an animal.

What’s the use of that if there is not the “human being” growing in you? He can only grow from the recognition and understanding, by developing and acquiring new attributes, and most importantly by acquiring new values, by raising himself upward, above the current level, and above unnecessary decisions.

A person grows something that resembles the Creator in himself. My body, my whole world, belongs to the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. Now, however, I rise higher and build the “speaking” part in me that resembles the Creator (∾).

There is no such thing in our world, but this is actually what becomes my “self.” I sustain everything else only on the level of the necessary corporeal existence.

So it doesn’t work according to the principle of “give and take,” and the system of allowed and forbidden doesn’t fit here. It is because I have to build something above me.

Question: So who actually breaks the laws of nature: the created being or the Creator who allows us to do so?

Answer: Of course it is the Creator. He does that so that we can learn as “the advantage of the Light out of the darkness“.

The question here is as to my inclination and my tendency. It is a fact that I will fall and rise over and over again, as it says: “A righteous shall fall and rise a thousand times,” but do I want that? Am I attracted to that? Do I value this path and this direction? I am required to have an urge for that: “Do you want this to happen?” Do I cherish and develop the inclination and the desire for it”—”But how can I? I am but a “piece” of egoistic desire? “You have an environment, a group, a teacher, books, the Light that Reforms, everything that you need. It is up to you.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/8/13, “The Peace”

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How Can We Get To Know The Creator?

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion for The Zohar“: The soul is like that, too: After it has acquired equivalence with Him, it knows His Thoughts once more, as it knew prior to the separation from Him due to the will-to-receive’s disparity of form.

Question: What are the Creator’s thoughts?

Answer: As it is written, “By Your actions, we shall know You” or, in other words, from my actions, I will get to know the Creator.

I try to act “in order to bestow,” to perform actions of bestowal, but I cannot. I ask for help and I get it. There are changes in me whose essence and root I don’t understand. I exert myself and become like the Creator according to my understanding of the sources and the examples that the group presents to me. Thus, I study the Torah, which means the method, the system, the actions of the Creator who is concealed in the Torah. By imitating His actions, I begin to know Him, to know His attributes of love and bestowal.

Today, I interpret the words according to my understanding, not knowing their real meaning. Then, through my corrected desires, I really will get to know the Creator. It is because the corrected desire feels a kind of an awakening inside called “Light.” Generally speaking, such desires create the Creator’s image for me in a way. It isn’t a figure and not a drawing, not a form, but I simply understand what the attribute of bestowal is, the attribute of love. I understand it as a result of my corrected actions.

Therefore, it is written, “By Your actions, we know You.” By my corrected actions aimed at bestowal, I perceive the concept of “the Creator.” In that system, I am connected and, later, adhere to Him; thus, “Israel, the Torah and the Creator are one.” “Israel” refers to the person who yearns for bestowal. ”The Torah” refers to my inner system of connection, the system of the soul, its 613 corrupt desires that I must correct by the Lights that evoke it. Then, the vessels and the Lights work together. When the vessel and the Light equalize in the direction of bestowal, it means that the Torah is revealed in me.

I work systematically on the five levels of Aviut (the “thickness” of the desire) and go through stages of attaining the Torah, by starting from Sod and ending in Pshat when everything is revealed and I have not only the Lights of NRNHY, but also the Light of Yechida, not different kinds of vessels, but the vessel of Keter. By that, I return to complete adhesion, but I return by myself with a Light that is 620 times greater than the initial Light, and, by that, I correct my vessels. I increase them 620-fold, and, by that, I know the Creator. First, I was in Him in the form of a point that He created as “something from nothing,” and now, with His help that comes as a result of my asking, I develop this point by myself from the “drop,” and stand in His place, equal to Him on the level of Adam (a human being).

Question: The Creator has one thought, which means that I must be incorporated in everyone and insert in them the one thought that is directed at Him.

Answer: Otherwise, I will not be able to put my soul together. It includes all the other souls in it. I am just a point, and, in order to build my soul, I need to attach everyone to it.

Question: What is hidden in my soul that is aimed at the Creator?

Answer: For the time being, I have a shattered Reshimo (spiritual gene), a spark, the posterior of Nefesh of Kedusha, which means a beneficial desire. The beginning of the previous connection with the Creator was revealed to me in a shattered form. I want to gain at His expense, to use Him.

Thus, the spiritual awakening appears in a person. I want to gain something, and, at a certain point, I cannot find anything satisfying in the entire world. How long can you play in this “sand box?” I want to grow and do real stuff, and then I search egoistically for a partnership with the Creator on equal terms. “You are for me and I am for You. I know that I must pay. Oh well, I agree, but what will I get in return?” This is already a state of Lo Lishma (not for His sake).

Question: So, what is our general corrected thought?

Answer: It is total identification with the Creator, an “embrace,” a “kiss,” “coupling,” which, on the whole, is called adhesion.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/13, A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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