Entries in the 'Perception' Category

“I Sleep But My Heart Is Awake…”

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person decides what to consider the day and what the night: what is good for him and what is bad. Sometimes, he is given awakening, raising of the spirit, great light, and he understands how wonderful it is to enjoy and come closer to spirituality. He calls it day, but in reality, it is light in his egoistic desire. Egoism enjoys, and this is not called spiritual advancement.

Or maybe he feels in the dark, exhausted, but his mind understands that this state is useful for advancement. And although in his desire to enjoy he experiences unpleasant sensations, it is said: “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” The desire to enjoy feels darkness, but the point in the heart—Light. A person understands that this darkness is useful for him, descent precedes ascent, and he needs to prepare even greater desires for this. And the desire comes from darkness.

That is why it all depends on what a person values, what he considers the day and what the night—in his sleeping egoistic heart or in the point in the heart, which is burning and yearning for spirituality.

If a person begins to separate one from the other, then he already has two points, according to which he can aim and direct himself exactly to the goal. One point is his ego. And it is good that egoism does not feel anything good. The darker I feel in my egoism, the greater my desire (Aviut) will be above which the point seeking the goal exists.

The main thing is to separate these two points and all the time hold them correctly against each other, finding out with what I identify myself. Do I choose the direction that leads me to the Creator, although my path lies in the dark, do I consider it good? Then, I can be sure that I move correctly because my egoism is not interested in rushing there, like a thief, running ahead of everybody else and shouting: “Catch the thief!”

My ego does not want darkness, and I rise above ego, above reason, and want my bestowal to be above reception. And this is a good state in which my day and the day of the Creator are the same day.

And if I suffer that I feel bad and have no interest in advancing, it means that I follow my desire to enjoy, my ego. I run there where my egoistic heart, but not the point in the heart, calls me: This is the difference.

We need to try to divide ourselves into two parts: the point in the heart, which faithfully adheres to the goal, to bestowal in any situation, no matter what happens, and the heart itself, which is always eager to receive. Its appetite is growing constantly. Darkness reigns in my heart, and there is a ray of Light in the point in the heart; this means that I directed myself correctly. And I achieve this through the environment, group, external force, which is needed to pull the point in the heart out of the egoistic heart and aim it at the goal.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/5/12

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Light Is When It Is Light Within

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I reach the Light of faith?

Answer: Our desire determines everything, but the Light does not change. All the changes take place only within a person: where he aims his desire at, and relative to this, what strength he needs. He receives according to this.

We are always under the influence of some light, but it is very weak. We do not match this light, but feel its lack, and that is why we do not notice it.

Light is a force, but it affects us either to the extent of our similarity to it or the opposite. That is why the light of the Passover holiday is a huge light, but it is not manifested openly.

We think that light is when it is light outside. But there is nothing outside—the entire world is inside us. And that is why light means the light of mind, the light of feeling, opening in our heart and thoughts.

A vast world that seems to surround us is revealed, in fact, in our sensations and mind. And Light is the force of revelation in the feeling or thought.
[74324]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/12, Shamati 59

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A Black Box Sailing In The Waves Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is very hard to explain what spirituality is because it is a matter of feeling. If a person shares such feelings, he will understand what is being described. But if he is not on the same level and doesn’t feel what the author speaks about, he won’t understand anything at all.

All our work takes place in “Egypt,” in exile, when we don’t yet feel the Creator, the upper force that can help us rise above our desire to receive. This is a time of choice and it is the best time because this is when we learn how to work against our desire.

I have to constantly imagine that I am already in bestowal, in the spiritual world, in sanctity, and I do not create any partition, barrier, in the way of the upper Light that fills all of reality. I annul my personality, my egoistic “self,” and although I feel different states that go through me and summon different reactions in my ego, I have to try being only in pure bestowal.

It is as if I am already in the spiritual world, I’m immersed in a sea of Light by being totally equivalent to it. This is because everything that actually separates me from the Light is my desire to receive, my ego, which resembles a box that doesn’t let the light through. I put obstacles for myself, I’m the only one who stands out with his ego in the Light. Except for me everything is corrected and ready.

Only I see that this reality is distorted, that I’m corrupt, and that the Creator is evil and treats me badly. In addition, it seems to me that there is another authority besides the Creator.

All our work is to imagine our state correctly, the way it actually is, and not what is depicted in our ego. There is nothing except the Creator, but my ego tells me that there are many different forces that make decisions and there is also me.

It seems to me that I feel and decide something myself, but even this isn’t true. The Creator is the one who sends me all these feelings so that based on the impressions I receive from Him every instant, I will be able to do the work and to annul myself, my thoughts that I seemingly think and feel independently, that I receive something from the environment, the group, and the whole external world. Instead, I have to imagine that I am totally under the control of the upper Light that fills all of reality.
[74221]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/2012, Shamati #59

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Scientific Measurements

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we measure our attainment?

Answer: First, what do I actually attain? To the extent that I bring contentment to the Creator, to that extent I attain the attribute called the “Creator (Boreh)” within me, according to the principle of “Bo-Reh” or “come and see.”

I attain the Creator in my understanding and awareness. This is my internal image. In the same way I also “draw” other people in my perception, and thus I attain them. My attributes are built so that I can imagine certain figures. I don’t know who is on the outside. Forces act outside of me, which project into my perception the “holographic picture” of other people who only seem to me as external. Thus my whole picture of the world is put together.

So what can I measure or weigh? I weigh my bestowal with regards to everything that I feel. This general measurement is called the “Creator.” Thus the Creator “clothes” a person, the Light “clothes” the created being.

I perceive different forms thanks to the attribute of bestowal that operates on the desires and arranges them in a certain way. From that I feel who the Creator is. I imagine the Creator and those who surround me as my own reaction to a certain action.

I don’t know who I am and what the world is. I don’t know anything, but gradually I begin to draw the sketches of different reactions and feelings in me. This is how I am built: The forms are all depicted as if on the outside. This illusion exists only here, in our current state.

A sensory system is developed in me along with its logical understanding. I live by the mind and the feeling. This reality is divided into four levels, the four layers of the desire: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. By the right combination of the four I discover the origin of everything that happens, my source, the source of my feeling, and of my four-layer images. I discover that there is an initial reason for all that, which I call the “Creator.” This reason is revealed when I begin to relate to all four levels with bestowal. Then out of equivalence of form, I discover the attributes of the Creator, the Giver.

Therefore, don’t think that our world actually exists—it all ends within me. Later, when I ascend the spiritual levels, it’s as if I move from one class to another. Suppose I know that I am in the first grade now, but can I compare it with the eighth grade or even with the second grade?

Today the clear measurements are still unavailable to us. We only have vague feelings, but there are no accurate tools because the mind and the feeling are not tied in such a way that we can attribute quantitative characteristics to our sensations. In the meantime we are on the psychological level, which lacks the mathematical tool for measurements and comparisons. Such a tool is truly provided by the wisdom of Kabbalah.
[73820]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/27/2012, “Introduction to TES” 

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Crossing To Another Dimension

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that we can exist in another form: without the body or outside of it?

Answer: There is information, its carrier, and someone who senses this information. And all of them can change. Information (the intellect and so on) can exist not only in a protein, silicon, or other carrier, and not even in the material one, not in the brain.

Information per se is not material. It is only us who perceive it through a material carrier. We are already able to pass on information from a protein, live carrier (the brain) to an inanimate one. All of our evolution has been leading us to gradual changes in the information carrier, the gradual distancing from its initial, natural form: from speech to writing on different carriers, and then to programming and storing information in the virtual space.

Today we are standing at the threshold to another state in which the body will lose its importance, the sensations will transfer to a new dimension (the attribute of bestowal), while we will move the information from the brain-carrier or, to be more precise, the quality of reception, to another carrier: the quality of bestowal.
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If He Beats Me, He Loves Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I feel that I’m able to hold on to the thought that everything comes from the Creator. What I can’t understand is how to accept with love the disturbances that cause me pain? I can understand that they’re good for me with my mind. But how can I add love to this? Where is this love?

Answer: You’re not completing the action, which is why you don’t feel love. You understand that the disturbances probably come from the Creator, and that, evidently, this is good. You know that you can’t escape the disturbance, so you accept it. You don’t finish it off with love. You don’t process this disturbance together with the group and invert it, thereby perceiving the disturbance as an expression of love.

It’s like when parents punish a child, he needs to understand that they’re doing it out of love for him. They’re not punishing him, but his ego. What’s more, they want to raise the child above his ego. When he divides himself in two, “this is my ego and this is me,” and realizes that disturbances arise in opposition to the ego, then his “I” draws closer to the Creator and feels love.

Imagine that you’re a clever child who understands: “My parents need to punish me to prevent me from misbehaving. They’re not punishing me, but simply giving me an opportunity to overcome my ego.”

Comment: When I was a child I had no idea that someone was relating to me with love. All I saw was punishment.

Answer: Then get smarter! You need to grow up, after all!

You need to reach a state when you perceive the greatest problems and hardships as tremendous kindness and love. I’m being very serious. Everything depends only on your perception! We exist in a field of infinitely good Light. Nothing exists in the whole world but this. Only infinite love and infinite goodness! But our perception is flawed, and as a result we feel the opposite sensation. If you reconstruct yourself and grow your understanding, instead of hatred you will feel love, instead of evil, goodness, and instead of suffering, delight.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3

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Choosing Another Focus

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe main article of the Kabbalistic method is “There Is None Else Besides Him.” This article is the fine-tuning of our point in the heart, our aspiration to reveal nature, its highest eternal perfect harmony, integrality, and globality, in which everything is interconnected and represents one general whole picture.

Typically, in our world we cannot grasp everything in our individual egoism. We break nature in a vast array of sciences (there are 184 sciences). This does not exist in nature. We simply cannot learn everything at once. We divide nature into some “slices” and study biology, zoology, geology, astronomy, and so on, in general, a great number of sciences.

Our individuality, our egoism is very narrow, so it can absorb only something concrete, but it cannot perceive nature as a whole, holistically. And that is why we cannot feel this general picture and the integral force egoistically, through our corporeal senses. We do not feel it; it does not enter our sensory organs.

To do this we need to develop a new sensory organ that will include, of course, all the previous ones, but will also have the ability to experience absolutely everything at once and together, as a single whole. This is how we should attune ourselves. That is, instead of looking left, right, up, down, precisely according to the coordinates, directing our egoism at a specific phenomenon, we, on the contrary, remove the entire focus, the entire egoism, and try to see nature as it is. This is the essence of attunement.

A group and special methods exist for this. Tuning ourselves this way, we suddenly begin to feel that by removing the egoistic focus from the world, we start looking at it simply, openly, not wanting to grab something from it, and leaving ourselves for the world. We do not limit ourselves by our body, five senses, understanding, and limited ability of perception of everything that exists in nature. Then, we begin to feel that, indeed, we are surrounded by a great force—general, eternal, and perfect, which is called nature, or the Creator.

It has nothing to do with religions, beliefs, or mysticism. This is only a method that helps a person rise above his narrow attitude towards the world and look at it without the limitations of time, space, and movement, that is, it shows how to get beyond the area of our nature so that the body does not restrict us.

To achieve this, we try to organize into groups, where mutual help between friends gives us an opportunity to exit ourselves and start feeling something outside of our body, as if I am not in the body. And indeed, starting to feel ourselves not in the body, we get an idea of what it means to live outside the body.
[73741]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3

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A Multidimensional System

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to become similar to the Creator, to take His place. We have to manage ourselves and through ourselves, all other parts of nature. We feel such discomfort in our corporeal life, which today threatens our very existence, so that we reach the level of attainment, knowledge, and awareness, so that we take upon ourselves all the governance and resemble the Creator: feel all of nature as part of ourselves.

On the whole, there is nothing except man. Everything that seems to exist on the outside: people, different physical bodies, and the cosmos, all of it exists in our consciousness, it is all inside us and perceived by us, although it is actually only parts of us.

This means that our desire is divided internally. It is separated so that part of the desire is perceived as ourselves and part of the desire we imagine to be outside of ourselves. The desire is made up of five so-called parts: Shoresh, Neshama, Guf, Levush, and Eichal, that is, our inner essence, soul, body, garments (garment is what is close to us, what touches us), and then all the rest. These five parts of the desire are actually inside us, but in our consciousness they are divided into internal and external.

When a person connects with others, he begins to perceive this illusion correctly. He feels that everything is inside him and not on the outside, and that it is all parts of him.

It seems strange, but he sees how everything interacts and is set in motion depending on him. It’s as if he becomes the part that determines everything else. Suddenly I realize that the whole world depends on my thoughts and my feelings. All other people in relation to me, according to how I relate to them, are suddenly attracted to me and are under my influence, under my will, to the extent that I treat them correctly.

What’s interesting is that this system is multidimensional and each of us sees it the same way. That is, from the starting point of his soul, everyone begins to see that he is the center that manages everything. And no one disturbs anyone, everyone has their own starting point.

When we connect all these points into one collective goal: to unite with the upper force, with nature, the multiple composition of our individualities completes the whole picture till the level called the world of Infinity. Thus our unity has great implications, and eventually it takes us to the next level, to the next dimension.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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A New Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur program today amounts to clarifying a primary and fundamental element in our development: the search to sense the upper force. Much in this search pertains to man’s psychology because we begin at the most basic psychological level, just like any regular person in our world. But then from basic psychology we start ascending higher. Why? Because the aspiration that we have within and work with is called the point in the heart.

That is what we must develop; that is what we must expand. This point has to become massive to us, bigger than anything else, filling the entire horizon. Through it I need to start sensing nature, its eternity and perfection, harmony, the upper force, information—everything! This can only happen if I cultivate my point in the heart.

The point in the heart no longer pertains to simple psychology. It appears only in special individuals after a great many lives over the course of their evolution, having arrived at a state when the desire for a new layer, the “Human” degree, arises in them. They’ve developed through the still, vegetative, and animate levels of matter and lived through many different incarnations as humans in our world, but now a new desire emerges in them, which begins to gradually develop them toward sensing the upper force of Nature.

Today this desire is emerging in millions of people around the world. And we have the method to actualize it.
[73744]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3

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Feeling The Force That Controls Destiny

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll our work is to find in ourselves the opportunity to sense the force that fills the world, controls the world and our destiny, leads us through life, and determines all the events in it—what will happen to each of us, every minute.

To do this, we need to constantly delve into ourselves, specifically through ourselves. We will not be able to find anything in the mechanical world that surrounds us. Only through refining our senses, increasing our inner sensitivity will we begin to feel the fine layers of nature as well as its information layer. This layer will reveal to us the entire program of creation, everything that should happen to us, and what has already happened, and will raise us above the sensation of time, space, and mechanical movement into an entirely different area.

Thus, we have to constantly go deeper and search in ourselves for the sensation of this information layer, of this force that controls everything. It may be called the basic force of nature, the upper force of nature, or the Creator because it creates everything and contains the whole program of creation. To accomplish this, we get together to increase our impact on each other and thus help each of us to unite together.

We start to create a new sensory organ in a collective feeling, which is able to reveal for us the force that surrounds us and penetrates everything. Being in such constant and correct connection between myself and others, I rise above myself, exit myself, and begin to feel what is between us. This becomes most important.

But everything else is my own, like my beastly body. When I desire to exit myself completely, to feel what is outside of me, there I find this upper force of nature.

Connecting with it is the goal of our existence. And we all want to achieve this.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3

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