Entries in the 'Perception' Category

The Paradox Of Levels

Dr. Michael LaitmanWithin the connection an additional force is concealed. All ten of us together are equal to one Elyon (Upper One). That is how the law of evolutionary and developmental steps works in nature.

Through connecting everyone on a lower level, an evolutionary leap to a higher level happens, and there the connection is made again and again, followed by a leap in development and a breakthrough to the next level. This is how it is all the time. It is a physical law of nature.

Thus we  have emerged as human beings with all our strength, intelligence, with the human body and all of its fibrils and cells—only through the power of unity, the power of connection. Without it, nothing would have happened. Starting from the Big Bang and onward, only the power of connection has been at work.

Start to work with what you have, and you will see that you can convince people. Don’t say that you haven’t been given enough tools for the correction of the world. It is not true! In the meantime, if you don’t feel what sort of means you are holding in your hands, begin to work, and you will see that these means exist. The audience will agree with what you say even before you agree with yourself.

You will actually learn from the audience that this is the next stage. Even though you are on a higher level, in your lower part, in your AHP, you are more coarse than the people you are going out to. They are more refined because they are found in GE.

This is a paradox, an internal contradiction. You are on their level with your receptive desires (AHP), and they are on the same level with their Kelim of bestowal (GE). Although they are on a level lower than yours, they discover desires within themselves that are more refined than yours. You are coarser, and essentially, more of an egoist than they are. Yet, the fact is that you want the Creator and not mundane things.

They agree with what you say to them more rapidly and more easily than you agree with the statements yourself. About this, it is written, Talmud Babyli, “Ta’anit,” 7a: I learned much from my masters, more from my friends, and even more from my students.” You receive back from them precisely what you said to them yourself. They bring you evidence, intelligence and emotion, and you finally will begin to understand, feel and be stimulated by what you told them.
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From the 2nd part of Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/14, Writings of Rabash

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It Turns Out That There Is Sunlight!

Dr. Michael LaitmanEducation means feeding the students from one day to the next with a certain portion of material in quantity and quality. The quantity and quality change every day according to the changes that you want to bring about in them from day to day. This means that the changes that take place in people and the changes in the material must be mutually synchronized, as one affects the other.

We must establish an open university that will provide a simple daily portion on TV and the Internet. Education cannot be completed in five sessions but should be a continuous process. We must take that into account because this is our job.

It involves updating the material, songs, and clips daily, in order to keep shooting at one point until an opening is made in the heart of stone, and a deficiency is created.

Question: Does a person need to be aware of the fact that he is undergoing an educational process?

Answer: Yes, he should know that. After all he is taught in order to adapt to the upper force that manages his life or his death and arranges his existence in all the worlds. Thus, he learns how to succeed at every moment in both small and great matters.

We should not conceal anything from people, as it is written, “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them.” Otherwise, we will be like those about whom Baal HaSulam writes who conceal the wisdom of Kabbalah from the Israeli nation, thus keeping them behind an iron wall.

We must open people’s eyes. We will be surprised by the depth at which people’s perceptions will suddenly open up, although today they may seem totally blocked and interested only in food and football. This will be despite the absolutely corporeal passions that occupy them today.

All of this isn’t their fault but is a result of the concealment that everyone is in these days. There is a curtain placed before them that creates a shadow, and they say that there is no sunlight. If the curtain is removed, they will say, “Wow, it turns out that there is sunlight!”

What they say now is a result of the concealment;  a person is a consequence of the upper providence.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Life Management Instructions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are 24 books in the Tanakh: the Torah, the Books of Prophets, the Holy Scriptures. Why are they called holy? Aren’t they written in ink and on paper by earthly people of flesh and blood?

Answer: Their authors didn’t write about this world. Rather, they are written about a system of governance of this realm. Our reality is run from a higher level.

Our world, like a computer, is controlled by some operating system. Everything is under its control: atoms, molecules, the inanimate, vegetative, animate nature, and people.

Everything that exists in this world is governed by the two forces of attraction and repulsion, plus and minus. There is nothing else! This explains why we must understand exactly what impacts us and figure out whether we can somehow influence the forces that oversee us.

Is it possible to improve our destiny? If we knew beforehand where these two forces were leading us, could we rearrange our future? All of humanity constantly dreams about what the next day will bring.

Contemporary society has become very powerful, but at the same time we feel helpless because we don’t know what to strive for. In this respect, the books of the Tanakh are extremely helpful because they describe the entire system of governance.

Imagine owning a machine or device that you don’t know how to operate, nor do you have you any idea what it is for. All of a sudden, you are given an instruction booklet with diagrams and descriptions, including the functionality of each button like instructions for a mobile phone.

Humanity has developed to such extent that it must get acquainted with its system of governance. That’s why the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed.

Question: Where is the governing system located?

Answer: It is inside us. In the end, we will discover our internal management system through which we will change and reorient our lives. This system is called a soul.

Question: How are holy books connected with our internal control system?

Answer: The Scriptures tell us about the structure in general, as well as its parts that are inside us. The Tanakh is a holy book because it explains how our nature operates and particularly the way humans are managed.

If we understand what this book talks about, we can change our destiny for the better, reach higher goals, and attain other dimensions.

Then, not only we will correct our poor lives and improve our earthly existence, but we will also ascend to states beyond this world. The Tanakh is full of surprises!
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/22/15

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The Perception Switch

Laitman_131Question: What, in your opinion, is the most difficult point of ascent to the revelation of the upper world for the beginner Kabbalist?

Answer: The biggest challenge, I would say, is the revolution in the understanding of myself and the world, that happens in me when I realize that the whole difference between this world and the upper world is only in my perception, my attitude towards the world:

When I relate to it naturally, as I was born, egoistically, the world that I perceive is called “this world.” And since all the people perceive it in this way, we call it “our world.”

When I treat the world as if it and I are the same thing, with love and with bestowal, then the world that I perceive and feel in this case is called “upper,” “spiritual,” and “future” with respect to my previous, past perception.

So, the understanding that there is only a “switch” of perception, and it is inside you: “The desires and thoughts for myself” is “this world,” and “the desires and thoughts for others” is “the upper world,” I consider this realization the most difficult in a person’s life. It is not that easy to picture this emotionally rather than mentally, to make it “yours,” and so it takes many years for a person, in my observations, decades.

We can easily and naturally imagine “another world” as existing outside of our world, the universe, or beyond the limits of our life, after death. It is natural to imagine it like the Earth, or in the form of other creatures and images, but not like what appears in my perception as the objects and people surrounding me, as my parts, as parts of me.

We cannot accept this even if we have repeatedly heard and read that the difference between the worlds is in our attitude towards the surroundings: towards myself – I feel this world, away from myself – I feel the upper world. We are so accustomed, rooted in the sensation of the surrounding world as a firm, unchangeable reality that we cannot imagine that everything depends on our attitude towards it.

Kabbalah says that I perceive the world inside me, and it does not exist outside of me. Hence, I “figured out” that I have to change only myself. To change myself means to not change my desires and qualities but my attitude towards the world, my intention, how to use it, that is, using myself and the environment towards myself (for myself) or away from myself (for the sake of others).

It took me a long time to form this switch within myself. But after you feel it as existing, you work with it, switching it from towards myself to away from myself becomes the only important thing in life. The real spiritual work starts from here: self-analysis and the action of correction.

Today, this revolution in consciousness happens in the whole world; everyone should feel this switch inside oneself, and since this realization occurs in masses, it will be relatively easy for each person.
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On The Ocean Of Wisdom

Laitman_083Cloud Storage?

Question: Recently, we hear more and more about how to communicate with higher powers, with the information field of the universe.

One of the modern approaches that promise such a communication channel is called “channeling.” It is based, by definition, on the concept of a higher reality with which we establish contact.

By analogy, we can refer to the example of cloud storage data with remote access to its content.

This opens up a rich field for imagination, a real “virgin land,” which is cultivated in front of us.

Dozens of books have been written on this subject and it has attracted considerable interest. Is there a grain of truth in it? Are there any “clouds” of a higher order? Can I enter the password and enter into a system of global knowledge?

Answer: The place where we exist, of course, contains a huge amount of knowledge. As we are developing, we connect to this “storage,” become fueled by it and get ahead in life.

At the same time, we discover something new for ourselves, what we did not know previously. But, from an objective point of view, these phenomena are not new. They have existed in nature since the formation of the Universe or the later stages of development. We do not invent novelties, but perceive what exists.

That is why Newton compared himself to a child who is playing on the seashore, “…I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Such is the measure of our knowledge of the universe. All our science is tiny attempts to communicate with the ocean of wisdom.

Tunnel Vision of Our Own Nature

In fact, we know almost nothing about ourselves; we do not know the mechanism of our perception of reality. We understand only that the picture that appears before our eyes is extremely limited by our senses.

This range is so narrow that even we cannot imagine qualitatively different sensations. We would like to expand the horizons, but, by its nature, we do not just need the “supplements,” like a dog does not need a fifth leg.

Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch restrict me by their apparent sufficiency. As a result, I see a tiny fragment of the magnificent painting imbued with infinite frequencies and infinite information. Numerous “curtains” distort even this piece before it appears in my sensation.

In fact, it is not about external reality. When I see a tree in front of my eyes, my eyes perceive not even it, but the waves, the data of which passes within me through electrical and chemical “converters,” until they outline as the form that is called a “tree.” I have no idea what is outside, outside of me, and if there is something at all or that the “tree” is a part of me.

The theme of communication with certain forces or phenomena is full of unanswered questions. The problem is that there is nothing to investigate, nothing to discuss, because we are not able to be outside of our sense organs.

Therefore, “channeling” is what is called a “wild area,” where everyone can declare what he wants and no one’s correctness is provable “by definition.”

There have been many people searching for channels of communication with the higher forces. Compared with the previous periods of prosperity, today this sphere looks modest, but still it brings revenue.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/29/15

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The Angel Fights

laitman_628_3A Good Angel

Question: Is it possible to somehow “make” a “good angel” that will protect me?

Answer: Yes, you can do it if you start changing and establishing good relationships with others. In this case, you are activating “good angels,” which will be around you and you will be protected.

Question: How can I contact these “good angels”?

Answer:  This is your own strength. You find them inside yourself, replacing the negativity towards the others that is inherent within you.

Each of us comes from a broken vessel from the shattering of the “sin of the Tree of Knowledge.” That’s why we have 613 corrupt, selfish desires. We must re-build these desires to the best of our ability and improve them as much as possible.

So far, we are unable to identify, list, or find each base egoistic desire separately. However, with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we can learn how to relate to each other in a positive friendly way.

Getting to Paradise

By acting so, you change your reality. In other words, all of a sudden we begin sensing that we live in a wonderful world, in real paradise! In order to get to paradise, we don’t have to die. A state of being in paradise doesn’t have anything to do with corporeal life or death. In order to get to the “Garden of Eden,” we have to recreate it ourselves. Each one of us is capable of doing so.

We must transform our bad, egoistic powers into bestowal. At least, we should try not to hurt our neighbors. Even though we are yet incapable of giving them our love, the state of “positive neutrality” allows us to rise to the level of paradise that in Kabbalah is called Bina, desire of mercy (Hafetz Hesed): I don’t need anything from anybody, nor do I want to hurt anybody.

Thus, I transform my “bad angels” to “good ones.” I am full of desires and thoughts that constantly come and go. I have to permanently maintain a major aspiration: converting my desires from evil to benevolent. At the same time, the scale of what’s good or bad should be based solely on my attitude to my neighbors.

In order to transform bad “angels” to good ones, meaning to re-orient our egoistic impulses and make them beneficial for others, we have to trigger the upper force. For that, we have to work in a special group of Kabbalists who interact with the Light since it is the force that changes our selfish urges from negative to positive.

Spiritual Firewall

Question: Is it possible to control a general system, “a network of angels”?

Answer: There are people who can easily influence you. They are capable of scaring you or using you in a certain way.

General systems in which we all are interconnected as one whole act this way. This phenomenon allows each person to impact others.

As an example, an elementary school teacher who has a big influence over his students can cause various sensations in them. He can either agitate or calm them down. It depends on the difference between the conditions he creates for them that in their eyes are either psychologically advantageous or disadvantageous. Generally speaking, we are talking about materialistic psychology. Kabbalah is its continuation.

Question: So, does it mean that I still have to be cautious of these things? Is there anybody out there who is capable of influencing the nodes in the general system that are directly connected with me?

Answer: Of course, there are people who by nature possess tremendous powers. We can bring totally negative examples such as Hitler or Stalin. Besides, some individuals really possess the ability to predict the future. Through them, the upper force activates a general historic process. They never act on their own. Moreover, they often feel that they are being used without having any freedom of will.

On the other hand, we can defend ourselves from evil influences by activating benevolent forces. In this case, we form a “protective shell” around us.

Our security depends on the degree of positivism we bring to others. No matter how much “poison,” hatred, or filth is around us, we remain out of their reach since we rise to the level of Hafetz Hesed and do not wish bad things to others. All we aspire to is bestowal. It is our “secure firewall.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15

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laitman_232_05The Evil Eye of Egoism

Question: Can using the powers that are associated with the wisdom of Kabbalah be harmful in any way? Can we hurt anyone by implementing these powers, let’s say, “jinx or curse” anyone?

Answer: No, never! These forces are always benevolent. We want to become better and use positive energy to influence the Light’s system. The latter impacts us and corrects our ego.

If our intentions are bad, we won’t be capable of influencing the system of the Light since we are completely opposite to it. All we can do is mercenarily (selfishly) use the structure that is built-in us. Accordingly, if we use wicked, egoistic powers against the still, vegetative, and animate nature or people, our actions would be called “the evil eye.” Our desire to profit at the expense of others or simply to hurt someone is the real “curse.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that there are two options:

  • We act to the detriment of others
  • We act for the benefit of others.

We implement the first option “by default”; a powerful negative desire can actually damage others. Let’s say, I want someone to feel bad. This desire activates my wicked connection and amplifies negative energy.

The Kingdom of Angels

Question: Let’s say, one person wants bad to happen to me, but another one wishes me good. What will come out of this?

Answer: The result depends on many factors, but they will have two kinds of effects on you, both good and bad at the same time. Events that take place in our lives are the results of the confrontation among numerous forces that act within a general network. These forces can be named differently, but often they are called “angels.” No matter how they are named, the essence remains the same.

It’s not about our belief in “guardian angels”; rather, it’s about the scientific study of actual forces that act in nature. The wisdom of Kabbalah explores them as other scientific disciplines study atomic structure, climate, etc. One way or the other, all sciences engage in exploring numerous forces.

So, an “angel” in Kabbalah is “a force.” For example, there is an “angel” who attracts objects to Earth. It is called gravity.

The forces of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, both material and spiritual, are called “angels” (Malachim). The word derives from “Malchut,” which means a specific power (a Kingdom). According to their functions, “angels” can be quite different. They have numerous titles including “demons” and “spirits.” All of them represent our properties and basic internal qualities.

A human soul is higher than angels. Thus, a human being (Adam) is higher than “angels” because people are capable of changing if they engage in self-correction and develop above their basic, built-in limitations.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15

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How To Change The Entries In The Diary Of Life

laitman_526Question: There are unusual dreams that seem to pass some message to us. Is it possible to decipher these dreams?

Answer: I never gave importance to my dreams, nor did I try to remember what I dreamt about.

There are two types of people. The first type engages in thinking about the essence of life; others just live and that’s it. They are not worried about why they live and what the purpose of their existence is. Their motto is “live your life and then die”—as if there is nothing more to it. For these people, it is very important what will happen to them tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in ten years… They are marionettes of blind destiny.

That’s why they feel that if they knew at least something about their future, they would be able to avoid harsh blows and change their destiny. The question is whether it is possible. If not, then it’s better not to know what waits for us in the future. Why would I worry about troubles that will take place three years from now?

I would love to hear good predictions. However, I can’t control my destiny. At the same time, “prophecies” that someone gives us can vary significantly. Usually, with years life doesn’t get better.

Only Kabbalists possess the tools that can change one’s fate. That’s why those who are engaged in Kabbalah don’t interpret prophetic dreams. At each given moment, Kabbalists make every possible effort to clarify how to better implement their time and calculate the purpose of their existence as well as what is the best and shortest way to attain it. That’s why their destiny is always in their hands; thus, their dreams do not matter.

Let’s say, tomorrow someone shows you the book of your life, like a diary, painted day by day. And you can read what will happen to you today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow… Is it good for you?

Comment: Of course! We are totally uncertain of what will happen to us tomorrow!

Answer: Lack of this kind of knowledge is good for us. The diary will contain records like “on Tuesday you’ll be reprimanded, on Wednesday you’ll be fired, on Thursday you’ll break your leg, on Friday your son will misbehave at school.” Our lives are comprised of things like this.

Why do you want to know these things in advance? If I knew today about the troubles that will happen to me in a week, a month, a year… how would I live? I’d be desperate. That’s why knowing our future is useless.

Conversely, it would be quite a different story if you had the power to change the entries in the diary and could write it yourself. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us. It is the true key to our dreams.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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Behind The Supernatural

laitman_207Witchcraft Forgery

Question: Our understanding of magic and witchcraft seriously expanded at the beginning of this era. Many people believe in or actively refute these issues. It confirms their interest in the topic.

How does the wisdom of Kabbalah relate to these issues? Can we implement benevolent, positive forces by using witchcraft or magic? Can we make our lives better with their help?

Answer: First of all, if not for the wisdom of Kabbalah, we would never have a modern-day understanding of what witchcraft or supernatural phenomena are. They are “borrowed” and then re-structured from the wisdom of Kabbalah and its exploration of how desires that represent the power of a human soul can be used.

The Network’s Enchantment

Let’s get to the point. We are interconnected with each other in a corrupt way. In general, our connection is pure egoism. As a result, evil forces generate the overall system of human relationships: Each one of us pursues personal benefit and doesn’t care about the society. We always try to take advantage of everything that surrounds us.

Humans are not to blame for being selfish since to begin with we are completely submerged in an egoistic nature. However, we are guilty of not using the wisdom of Kabbalah. The Jews should be remorseful more than others since we neglect the science of Kabbalah, whereas with the help of this wisdom we would be able to transform our connection from an evil network to a benevolent one.

According to Kabbalah, this is a positive way of using “supernatural powers,” i.e., transforming relationships between us from negative to positive. We cannot turn them “upside down” since it is an external system for us. Nowadays, the way we are connected make us treat each other quite poorly.

In order to change the current state of affairs and establish good relationships between all of us, we have to use a special force called “the Upper Force,” “the Creator,” “God,” or “Nature.” The impact of the force that we are trying to trigger in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Light.”

It is said: “I created the evil inclination and I created the Torah as a spice.” In other words, egoism governs us; still there is a way to take advantage of the system that can correct our relationships. The power of the Light descends to our egoistic structure and improves it. As a result, a benevolent network appears among us.

This is exactly how we should use the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah, the essence of which lies in the principle “love thy neighbor as thyself,” i.e., creating benevolent relationships between all people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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The End Of Hypocrisy

Dr. Michael LaitmanContact with the World

Modern means of communication, including computers and smartphones, provide the ability to communicate with the global world. This completely changes my perspective, I can touch a variety of things as if I can influence them. I can contact anybody and learn anything I want.

I see the big world and my place in it. I find social circles in this general field and establish myself within them. People know me and I know them.

Forums are being created, communication groups, and dual-purpose platforms for work and leisure. I can even sit with someone in a virtual cafe. Perhaps my hobby is also implemented on this vast web.

Besides, it is cheap and I can afford things that previously were unfulfilled. For example, materials that I read or view during a week would cost me tens or even hundreds of dollars.

Now everything is available and accessible. It changes my perception of the world by gradually showing me that I am connected to the world and the world is connected to me.

Steps to the Truth

Another point is that while working with the interactive interface, we have less and less talking and listening. The main flow of information passes through the visual channel. In this I see the benefit of a person giving a higher weight to thought and thinking. After all, it operates in a virtual connection. Yes, we express our thoughts in words and symbols, but they are now more specific. We learn to express ourselves more clearly, and that is good.

Smartphones and computers have made our communication more direct and straightforward. This contributes to the wealth of information covering the whole spectrum, from the beautiful to the terrifying. We dropped the old fake covers and if you want, we can talk to each other without reserve, without scruple, without hypocrisy.

An LCD screen has become my window to the world, and at the same time, has taught me to be outspoken. The information that has been provided to all has become too available. A person on the Internet is bare, meaning one has thrown off the garments of lies, hypocrisy, and pretense. Politics, media, and family relationships are all unmasked and are free of fraud.

Thus, we have made a major breakthrough for the true essence. As it turns out, everyone lies, but that is where the truth exists. This understanding is very important. We learn who we are. Reset is the convention of the last century, rejected is the put-on etiquette. Today we are much more frank. The younger generation does what it wants without worrying about the opinions of others. And the older generation knows that it has no power over the younger generation.

To Get to the Bottom and Not Let Go

Question: If we have invented a good and useful technology, why does it lead us to the realization of evil? What is this evil?

Answer: The technology is good, but our nature is bad, egoistic. It divides and separates us in different directions. Online, we see our own image everywhere on our small and big screens as if in a mirror.

We are very close to the realization of evil inherent in our nature, in our state, and most importantly, in our inability to do something with it. While getting to the bottom of it, all the beauty of this moment is raising our hands and not letting them drop when we start looking for solutions coming not from us but from another source.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/20/15

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