Entries in the 'Perception' Category

Stop Looking At The World Through A Torn Curtain!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What sentence can I write in front of me in capital letters so that every time I get distracted and my thoughts wander, I could come back to it and refocus again?

Answer: Imagine a state that is worth constantly aspiring to, and describe it so this sentence would immediately remind you that you perceive reality as divided and broken up into different parts only because you are inside of egoism.

As soon as you discard this view through your ego, everything becomes a single whole. It’s like you are looking at reality through a curtain that has small holes in it and what you see seems to be made up of separate parts. But then you remove this curtain from your eyes and all of reality turns out to be one.
From the 2dn part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/11, The Zohar
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The Fruit Has Ripened

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhy do we need the science of Kabbalah? What’s the need for it?

We perceive the world through the five senses. We see the “picture” of this world, live in it, and arrange our lives in it. We develop the sciences in order to attain it. We have enough mind and feeling for that. We study the world and accommodate ourselves to it in joyful and troubled times. Then why do we need the science of Kabbalah, even if it’s not fantasies or lies? Is it to know how many angels there are in the sky? Or to become acquainted with the upper force, the upper world?…. Maybe it’s time to go visit a doctor?

We don’t understand why we need this. Even the people who admit that Kabbalah speaks about the spiritual world still don’t feel a need for it. Some people are a little afraid of it, some feel repulsed by it and are negatively disposed to it. There are plenty of hindrances. And no one puts them there deliberately. It’s just that this is how we are built, this is our nature. We erect the obstacles on the path ourselves: We neglect it, don’t desire it, and reject it. After all, we are driven by the egoistic desire, which is far from the spiritual world and opposite to it.

As a result, the science of Kabbalah appears unrealistic to us. When we come to it, we don’t understand how this happened and what keeps us here. We often leave it and return to our regular lives, to the place where we have strength, money, and power in our hands, instead of a “fog.”

When Kabbalists attained the spiritual world, they understood how important and great it is. After all, it opens up the true life to a person, instead of the perishable existence on the animate level. We act on the level of the animate nature and depend on the body: I am alive as long as it is alive, and I die together with it. My “I” is inside of it. On the other hand, Kabbalists master the human level—the level of being similar to the upper force, of existing in attainment, in the sensation and power that is equal to the upper force, and of being equal to it to some extent.

Thus, the science of Kabbalah is a great asset that gives us eternal existence instead of our current miserable, short lives. But there’s no one you can tell this to. That is why the science of Kabbalah was concealed for a long time, until humanity starting feeling a need for it instead of neglect, fear, and dislike. That is what happened to us as well: We did not think or plan on it, but suddenly we felt a need for it. It turned out that without this, our life is base, animalistic, and empty. We lack fulfillment.

In reality, Kabbalists did not care what people were saying about the science of Kabbalah and how they viewed it. The world was always confused about it and believed in all sorts of fables. Kabbalists knew about this and did not pay any attention to it because their primary concern was to guard people from the “unripe fruit.” And the unripe fruit is not the science of Kabbalah, but man’s desire. Man is the unripe fruit. He is still unable to “digest” his ego and transform it into something good, so it would benefit him.

When unripe egoism that isn’t able to correct itself yet encounters the science of Kabbalah, it rehashes it into mystical teaching, philosophy, religion, New Age, and so on. Baal HaSulam writes that the revelation of The Book of Zohar by Rabbi Moshe de-Leon’s widow caused great damage, all sorts of obstacles and problems. That’s because people took the wrong path to spirituality, following their egoism instead of the desire to correct themselves.

However, today we have entered a new era. Kabbalists assert this and we see this in our world as well. The world already realizes that it has found itself in a foul situation. The universal crisis is enveloping the worldwide village in which everyone is interconnected by egoistic bonds. We are discovering that our egoistic network has become global, that we are inseparably and incorrectly interconnected.

We cannot come out of this situation and we don’t have any possibility of being saved from egoism’s clutches, which are pressing on us more and more strongly.
In these conditions, we are revealing the need for the science of Kabbalah, which is the only method that offers the real solution to the problem.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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The Inner Vision And The World Of Forces

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen a person attains the revelation of the true nature and reveals an inner vision, he starts to see one more reality inside of him in addition to the one he felt before. He perceives this new reality more intensely than our current one, and feels that it determines what happens in our reality.

Therefore, he calls this new reality that he has revealed, “the upper world.” This is a world of forces that becomes revealed to him. These forces, which act inside of his desire, bring him all kinds of experiences and impressions, depicting different forms and pictures inside of him. But he does not know what to call these forces, how to describe them, and how to talk about them.

After all, if he experiences a new sensation that has no connection with his entire past, then it’s unclear what to call it. But then he reveals the connection between these new sensations and the pictures that they project on the lowest screen that depicts this world to us.

He discovers that every force he reveals, every sensation in the upper world has its own result on the picture we see here, in the lower world. It’s as if every object or action of this world has its own force standing behind it, which supports him, manipulates him, and drives him.

He is left with just one way to explain the upper world—by taking names from this lower world for this purpose. This language is called “the language of branches.” Now, a person who is in the sensation of the upper world can talk about what he feels! He has names for every force, every spiritual action, every spiritual essence according to the results of these forces, which they depict and create for us in this world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/11, Writings of Rabash

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A World That Arises From Concealment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we build concealment in the period of preparation, and how do we conceal the Creator if we don’t even sense Him?

Answer: I’ll answer briefly: This entire work is done only with the friends, in the group. Friends are also concealed from us, and none of us knows the true degree of another. The group, in its true form, is also concealed from us, as is the teacher.

Our task is to build the concealment, that is, to finally begin to clarify that I perceive everything to the extent of my lack of correction. Therefore, I need to make corrections to my ego and picture everyone as the greatest of their generation, existing in a state that’s beyond me. I must attain a state where I have tremendous respect for concealment, wishing for it to turn into my attitude toward everyone else.

It is on this screen of concealment that I must build a new picture of the world, and this whole picture will be drawn or molded from the importance that I impart to each phenomenon. If I do this, then gradually, I’ll begin to work against my ego and learn to perceive the spiritual world, that is, to draw the picture of the spiritual world. After all, it doesn’t exist outside of me, but only within.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/2011, Shamati #174

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The Current Of Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the real sensation of the Light?

Answer: I don’t have anything to give to another person, but when I really want to give him something, then inside of me, in my attitude to him, in the aspiration to bestow and love, a special “current” becomes revealed which is called “Light.”

In order to perceive any external phenomenon, it is necessary to reach equivalence with it. Like a radio that is tuned to a specific wave, I generate the wave, the quality that is outside of me. Inside of me I create an example or model of the quality of bestowal that is outside. And then I catch and perceive this quality.

If I truly want to relate to another person by the law of bestowal, then suddenly, in my attitude to him, I develop a certain fulfillment that seems to come from outside, although in reality it floats to the surface from within. This response that I felt in my aspiration to bestowal is the Light.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/11, “Arvut”

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The Light At The Other Side Of The Picture

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When will the Light unite us? How can we advance together while we exist in evil?

Answer: We work to overcome. We understand our state and examine it, and we must support one another in mutual guarantee. Then the Light will settle between us.

It also helps us now. If the Light did not fulfill us to the smallest degree, we would not feel the desires that are nevertheless being revealed in us.

After all, we, all the people, and the entire reality exist in a perfect system. Now, a little Light is appearing in some people, and they are beginning to feel where they are, why, and for what purpose. They are beginning to receive the Light in the form of a connection with the environment, in the form of a mentor. They are beginning to feel the Light in their vessels as if they were studying books in the group. All this is happening “as if” because the corporeality does not exist.

In reality, all of this is the revelation of the Light. There are no people, no group, no mentor, and no books. These are the forms in which you reveal the Light that presents itself to you as the means of spiritual advancement.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/17/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Upbringing Works On Every Age

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We are trying to teach the world about unity, but an egoistic one for now. How can we later raise people to the level of love for the Creator?

Answer: They will make this transition under our guidance. After all, we are leading them into the framework of the new upbringing, rather than just gushing in front of the public.

People will have to enter the network of upbringing, which envelops every age group, from 0 until 120, and which is in effect from now until the end of correction, throughout all times. Everyone will have to undergo an unceasing process of upbringing. Say, a third of the day will be spent on work, and two thirds on upbringing, which is also work in and of itself.

Then, through a gentle, customary presentation, we will explain to people the principles of Baal HaSulam, adapted to the whole world. After all, the science of Kabbalah talks about the will to enjoy and the will to bestow pleasure, about their relationships and interactions, about how to correct our nature. There is nothing “virtual,” imaginary, “spiritual,” or mystical about it. It is talking about forces that act inside of you.

By revealing them more and more, you will see that no one is forcing you to “float up in the clouds.” “Spirituality” is the intention for bestowal. If I attained bestowal to another person, that means I am spiritual. But if I care for myself, then I am material. Our relationships, which are based on bestowal, are the spiritual world, whereas our current relationships are the material world.

But we are not even talking about any kind of “worlds.” After all, it’s difficult for a person to give up his old notions, and therefore he will become confused. Therefore, we are giving him simple explanations, presenting the entire science of Kabbalah without any special terminology, with scientific words.

We have to build up this system of upbringing so we could gradually give people the knowledge about human nature. Nothing more than that is necessary. We are talking about man’s nature, which is the only thing that was created.

Thanks to this, a person will constantly develop until he discovers what lies on the outside – the system of his interconnection with others. And in it, he will reveal the Creator.

In practice, we can give explanations in terms of perception of reality: A person isn’t even revealing a connection with others, but himself. The desires that appear external and alien to him become revealed as his own. It turns out that this is him. By bringing the external parts closer to himself, it’s as if he sews them on, implants them, and joins together the separated organs of his body. And according to this, he feels and reveals the perfect reality.

Now I see only what is present in a small part of the broken body. But the more parts I reunite with it, the more I reveal in it.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/11, “Arvut”

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Radiating Love Onto The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If we continue to work on our inner unity and interconnection, will we also love each other more in the outside world?

Answer: Yes, but it doesn’t only apply to us, but to the whole world. After all, it is all one system. If at our level (which is higher than that of the rest of the world) we try to draw our spiritual parts closer to unity, in so doing we will also bring the material parts, meaning people, to unity between them.

Indeed, there are no people, and there is no unity or rupture between them. These are the same souls, only they picture themselves and the connection between them from the viewpoint called “this world.” Everything that you see is the same very souls in the same network, only they perceive themselves and the web of connection between them as our illusory world.

Therefore, if we aspire to build this connection, being within this common system with them, only at a higher level of awareness and understanding, naturally this will impact everyone else.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/14/2011, The Zohar

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And The Secret Will Come To Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I cannot understand the meaning of creation and the existence of our world. Is this the creature’s fault or the Creator’s design? Who is to blame for this misunderstanding?

Answer: No one is to blame here. We are in a state where instead of the world of Infinity, immense and perfect, we see our world and ourselves as imperfect. So, let’s make an effort to view everything in the light of bestowal, rather than in the light of reception. Then, we will see that in reality, we are completely corrected, in a vast and perfect sphere filled with the Light, the Creator.

There was nothing else. It was just a misunderstanding of where we existed. We exist in this beautiful realm now, just as we did in the beginning. So let’s put our efforts into making this a reality.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 7/10/2011

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The World Where “There Is None Else Besides Him”

Dr. Michael LaitmanA human being is created in such a condition that it seems to him as if other people exist and a huge world surrounds him. But all this is his inner desires which he has not yet been able to join together to see that there is only he alone, standing before the Creator.

One should attribute all the distortions, disturbances, extraneous thoughts and desires, and seemingly “random” incidents happening to him not to their numerous and imaginary sources and reasons, which still appear to him because of the imperfection of his work, but only to the Creator.

This is what the internal work consist of. After all, everything that a person does not attribute to the Creator, but rather ascribes to other forces, such as other people, all sorts of reasons, fate, and even to himself, all of this is called “idols” (foreign gods). Thus, it turns out that he considers himself dependent on something other than the Creator, as if there is some other force that can be a source of influence on him, either good or evil.

We must realize the principle of “there is none else besides Him” above all the obstacles intentionally leading us astray so that we learn to tune ourselves to the single force, one source. This work consists of several seemingly different types and stages:

  • To clarify the uniqueness of the Source, whether other sources exist or it is the only one;
  • To clarify the nature of the Source, whether it is kind or evil;
  • To clarify our relationship with the Source: Is it “for oneself” or “for the sake of bestowal.”

A person performs the work related to the Source with his personal spiritual vessel, desire, by uniting with all the others, and then he feels himself as the only creature. He also unites all the forces acting on him, all the various sources into one Source. In other words, there are several types of work, depending on how those two, a human being and the Creator, connect.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/2011, Shamati #15

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