Entries in the 'Perception' Category

Reality Or Life Among Images?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “Tazria (When A Woman Delivers)“: All the worlds, both the Upper and the lower, are inside man. Everything that was created in the world was created for man.

We perceive everything inside us and don’t feel anything outside. We don’t know where we are. We are inside some kind of movie that is played inside us like a film strip, and that is how we perceive the world.

We cannot come out of this movie and feel anything “outside it.” We cannot understand what the true reality is like and how it appears from outside, from the side, objectively.

Baal HaSulam explains in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar” that we perceive reality inside of us. There is a projector in the back side of our brain that projects to the “outside” everything that I perceive inside. That is why I “see” as if there is something outside of me.

Then I take those objects into my hands, eat and drink them, do things to them, and move around among them. I live among images that I created inside of me, but they seem to exist outside.

That is why our world is called invented or imaginary. I am the one who gives it form. If I change, then the picture of reality that I perceive and see around me will also change. Moreover, this reality is alive. It is not drawn on a piece of paper or in my imagination, since this machine called “me” creates this living reality in front of me on its own.

If I can view my inner film not through an egoistic projector “inside of me,” but through an altruistic projector “for others, away from myself,” then I will see what is happening now on the outside, inside. I will see everything inside of me, in the true reality (desire).
[24628]
From the lesson on 10/20/10, “Perception of Reality”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Matrix Of Our Reality
Laitman.com Post: A Question Of Life And Death

Come And See Your Creator!

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe assign the Lights the names of the vessels: NHY, HBT, or HGT. Why can’t we just refer to the Lights with their permanent names: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida? The fact of the matter is that there is no Light outside of the vessel! We cannot say anything about the Light on its own. The Light is an impression inside the vessel. I feel happiness or fear from it, and this happiness does not exist without me.

Therefore, the Creator is called “Bo-Re” (“come and see”); He is perceived only within the vessel (desire). We can only talk about matter and form clothed into matter, while abstract form is unattainable for us. Therefore, the vessels (desires) and the sensations in them are of the utmost importance.

Moreover, the sensation depends only on the perception of the Kli (vessel) itself. We don’t know what actually happens; rather, we learn only our reaction to the occurrences. However, we don’t know what phenomenon occurs outside of the vessel.

Some Light flows through my vessel, and my soul quivers. Then a different Light flows through me, and I am overfilled with delight. So what’s the difference? The difference is only in the vessel itself. I don’t know what kind of Light flows through, and I will never be able to say anything about it; I can only speak of my reaction.

Meanwhile, it is the same Light flowing through me all the time. Doesn’t it change?! I don’t know this; I cannot measure anything in Him. I only measure my vessel, its impressions and changes. Yet what suddenly causes my vessel to change? It changes under the influence of the spiritual genes (Reshimot) and on its own. I don’t even know for sure how or due to what it changes.

However, I always talk only about my vessel, and this is very important since it determines the whole principle of perceiving reality which is inside us rather than somewhere outside. Therefore, “one judges according to his flaws,” and all clarifications occur in the desires, while the Light is the sensation within the vessel.

Our whole work occurs only within our desire, and our sensitivity to the Light depends only on us. If I raise my sensitivity, I ascend through the spiritual degrees from this world to the World of Infinity. The whole difference between the degrees consists of my sensitivity to what happens. In fact, I am in the World of Infinity even now, so why do I perceive this horrible world instead?

The only reason is my lack of sensitivity. I need to get sharper glasses, then binoculars, then a telescope, and I will see a different world. The whole reality consists of sensations within me. Therefore, Kabbalah is called an inner science since it reveals only what is hidden inside us. “Come and see” (Bo-Re) your Creator inside you!

All the religions, methodologies, and belief systems insist that we need to correct ourselves in relation to the outside world. Yet in the science of Kabbalah we correct only ourselves: The group as well as the entire world, everything exists within me. It is unacceptable to think otherwise since the above principle forces me to correct myself exclusively. I will not waste my energy and time on making mistakes while trying to correct the world and other people.

This principle acts in regard to all of humanity in general as well as in regard to the group in particular. Consequently, we gradually reveal the truth: A person needs to correct only himself, and thereby the whole world will be corrected, from the innermost to the outermost circles. “A human being is a small world.”
[23446]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Attaining The Names Of The Creator
Laitman.com Post: “See Your World In This Life”
Laitman.com Post: From The Point In The Heart To Malchut Of Infinity

Windows To The Upper World

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere is nothing new in the world, we only reveal everything in relation to us as we are on lower degrees. If we were on a higher degree, then a phenomenon would not have to be realized in the material world because we would have already perceived it on the spiritual level. Once we understand what it is from the informational gene (Reshimo), there is no need for the realization even on the spiritual level.

When man requires greater materialization, however, it speaks of his low degree. That is, the realization of an action indicates a lack of perfection.

In reality, there are no new discoveries. What happens is that we ascend to higher degrees, gradually revealing the higher roots of the phenomenon that we have discovered today. It is like saying: “Wow!” as you climb the stairs and look out the window. With each step you say, “Wow!” continuing to look out the window while you ascend higher and higher. This is what we call a revelation!

In other words, there are no revelations happening outside of you. You develop, and then something becomes revealed to you. No wonder Einstein used to say that he feels like a child playing in a sandbox or with pebbles on the beach.
[23805]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/10, “From My Flesh Shall I Know God”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Every Face Conceals The Creator
Laitman.com Post: Reality Or Life Among Images?
Laitman.com Post: Wake Up And Look At Yourself

How Can I See The Real World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn essence, we represent souls rather than physical bodies even now. The Creator created the desire to enjoy, and there is nothing else besides this desire. If we sense certain corporeal matter, it is not because another separate reality exists. There is only desire which feels itself in a physical body. It is the same soul which feels only itself and only within itself. It does not perceive anything outside.

For this reason the soul feels itself as existing in its corporeal body, seemingly surrounded by other, similar bodies. This is how I perceive myself and the surrounding reality since I am enclosed inside myself with my ego. As soon as I begin to acquire new desires and perceive properties outside of myself, I begin to see reality in a different way.

The reality which I see outside of myself is called the “Upper World.” How do I exit out of myself (from my ego) and see the existence outside of myself? I have to connect with other souls, with my friends. Within this connection between us, in greater unity, we reveal common sensations and manifestations called “the spiritual world.”

Therefore, when we read The Zohar, we have to remember that we all desire to reveal the Upper Light, to reveal everything described in The Zohar. It conveys to us the states and pictures which talk only about the connection between us and its various forms. That is the entire reality.
[23719]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/15/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Just Be Ready To Unite!
Laitman.com Post: We’re Building A New Reality!
Laitman.com Post: The Zohar Is The Link To The Upper Force

Reality Or A Chaos Of Desires?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter "VaYechi (Jacob Lived)," Item 808: When Jacob was gathered, the moon illuminated and the craving of the upper sun, ZA, awakened toward her. This is so because when the sun, Jacob, awakens, another sun, ZA, awakens. ZA clings to the Nukva, and the moon—Nukva—illuminated from ZA.

All of this is talking only about a person who attains spirituality. All sorts of changes take place in a person because his will to enjoy is constantly renewed through the uncorrected qualities that are revealed and their subsequent correction, showing a person various forms in the general, unchanging, spiritual state. Everything is constant except me, and inside me – everything changes.

However, as Baal HaSulam explains in the article "Preface to the Book of Zohar," we perceive the world with the help of a "camera" which projects the picture of reality for us on a "screen" in the back of our brain. This is why it seems like everything happening inside of me exists on the outside.

It turns out that I see the surrounding reality as a projection of the inner chaos of my desires, thoughts, and the connections between them. In reality it is not chaos; it only seems this way to me because I do not know exactly in which order my inner Reshimot surface inside me.

However, when they awaken in a specific sequence, then I see the changes in the constant Upper Light. These Reshimot suddenly conceal this Light and reveal it in different manifestations, depicting it in different "colors," giving it various forms and images. Meanwhile it seems to me that all of this is happening on the outside, even though all of these Reshimot are awakening inside. That is how The Zohar describes the processes happening inside us.
[23928]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Simple Formula Of Reality
Laitman.com Post: An Accelerator On The Spiritual Path
Kabbalah Channel: Reality Is A Photograph Of You

What Is A Thought?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is a thought?

Answer: A thought is the awareness of what I am feeling, what the reasons, purpose, and consequences of my feeling are. A thought is what exists inside the desire, in the sensation within the desire. A thought without a desire is a philosophy; it is groundless. There is matter and the form that the matter takes. There is a perception of the form and the thought of “why the matter feels this way.”

Question: Do all of us need to be “like one man in one opinion or thought”?

Answer: We need to reach a state where our desires will become mutual, common, and integral so there will not be a difference in our thoughts, desires, and the Lights which permeate through us as one Light. At the same time, however, everyone will also feel their separate lives, just like an organ inside a body: A heart operates differently than the lungs, but they share a common life inside one body, above the impressions and sensations of every organ. And this higher life that they all live is called Elokut (a spiritual life).

Each organ has a separate life, each participates within the general system of the body, and there is also the mutual life of the entire body. Everything is interconnected, and nothing cancels out the other, nothing disappears, not hatred or love, as nothing disappears in spirituality.
[23471]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Develop In An Integral System Like Parts Of The Body
Laitman.com Post: Living Within The Desires Of Others
Laitman.com Post: Where Do Our Thoughts Come From?

I Was Just Looking!

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe wisdom of Kabbalah talks about the correction of the relationship between the broken, egoistic souls and us needing to restore the connection between them and lift the souls from the ruin. Obviously, all of this is taking place inside a person, as “everyone measures the world according to his own flaws.”

But only we, being uncorrected, see the ruin. It is similar to modern physicists who claim that by looking at the universe we change the processes taking place within it. Physicists are starting to discover that we influence reality even with what we see or think.

One might think: “How can something possibly change only by looking at it?” It is a typical response, similar to when we break something and say: “I didn’t do anything, but look what happened.” Essentially this means that physics has acknowledged that “everyone measures the world according to his own flaws,” just as the wisdom of Kabbalah says that we don’t see the world as perfect because we ourselves are flawed.

To the degree of the breaking, we see only ruins around us, but to the degree that we become perfect, we see perfection. Hence, all concealments originate in us, inside the breaking which conceals the World of Infinity from us. And the wisdom of Kabbalah explains our advanced states to us: how to correct ourselves and see an increasingly perfect world.

The more you correct yourself, the more perfect the world in front of you will become.
[23454]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Awakening In The World Of Atzilut
Laitman.com Post: How To Ascend By Stepping Over Yourself

The Group Today Is You Tomorrow

If I perceive all disorder taking place in the world and in my life in the light of bestowal and not reception, then everything works out and suddenly falls into places. However, if I view it all egoistically, I see multiple problems and a solid line of suffering. Start treating everything with love, and the whole picture will suddenly get pieced together and unify.

Imperfection lies not in the external world, but within me. The entire world is just my shadow (copy), and only my attitude toward it needs to be corrected so as to see the world as perfect. Everything I see in the world as negative is a sign of my own flaws, no matter what it is related to: the still, vegetative, or animate nature, and especially the relationships between the friends.

If I accept, by way of faith above reason, that the whole group, the friends, and the world are perfect and only I am not, then I begin thinking solely about my correction. I lack only connection with them, and therein lies my correction until we all become one whole. This is what is called the love of others.

In other words, I can start working! We were given an illusion that we exist in this world in order for us to start our journey toward unification. However, we are not ready yet to work with the entire world, so we have the group for this job. The group reflects my corrected state, according to the saying, “The group today is you tomorrow.”
[22646]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/10, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

Related Material:
Laitman.com: Break Free From The Grip Of Deception
Laitman.com: The Group: A Structure And A Connection
Laitman.com: The Secret Of The Group

Fata Morgana

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it true that one can love another only in relation to the desire for spirituality because in this case I am not required to fulfill another person’s corporeal desires? After all, I clearly see that now I am not even willing to share a piece of meat at the table.

Answer: For now, it is enough for us to unite in our desire to attain the Creator, but later, you will feel as though you are sitting next to your little son at the table. Would you be able to grab his piece of meat and eat it? This is how you will treat the whole world.

But why is this necessary or what will you receive in the end? We usually forget the answer to this question, that is, the purpose of bestowal, and this is why this action feels so artificial to us: You will feel similar to the Creator and will bestow pleasure to Him, after having attained such a great correction.

Currently you have no need for this at all, and that is why an act of bestowal looks forced and unreasonable to you. There is only one goal: similarity to the Creator. It only seems to you that the world is suffering, that there are poor and unfortunate people. But once you correct yourself, you will see that they are all rich and happy, intelligent and healthy (see Baal HaSulam’s article “The Creator’s Revelation and Concealment”).

We can’t comprehend what an illusion all the suffering in the world is. Each person is being shown an ugly world on purpose so he can feel how much he needs to correct in order to see perfection. We see how everyone thinks differently and has his own opinion, but where does it come from? It is the result of everybody seeing a different picture of the world because there is no picture or form: Everything is revealed within the properties of a person.

When I start unfolding the truth, I realize that behind all the pictures of the world, which appear before my eyes like mirages in the desert there stands one Thought which is projecting the reality that I currently see. And this form is so vague, like Fata Morgana that soars in the air and is constantly changing.

I can steer my way through all these fantasies and the unknown only by leaning on the group because it constantly corrects my focus toward the truth. The truth is the attainment of the single force that governs all of the Fata Morgana. Having attained this force, we can understand how it creates all of these forms and why, we become one with it, and work together with it to reveal the true picture of this world.

It is written: “A man will give anything to find the truth.”
[22930]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/3/10, "The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings"

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: To Live For Spirituality
Laitman.com Post: Authentic Altruism And Humanitarian Help
Laitman.com Post: Test Yourself

Justify The Creator In Fact

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I justify the Creator and accept everything as good, how am I going to know whether I have fallen into illusion and self-deception?

Answer: Justifying the Creator is not some unfounded declaration but the result of a whole series of actions. In its concluding stage, I appeal to the Creator with a request, and He fuses links all the details and causes of the previous experiences together.

The picture that I have started to detect amidst the blur and confusion is finally beginning to emerge, and it acquires clarity and interconnection. I reveal myself and the entire world as a group, and I reveal the Creator as the primary source.

And now, having attained this oneness, I see that everything had been done for my benefit and advanced me on the path. Thus, I justify the Creator not forcefully but “according to the results of examination” when I reveal the true status quo.
[#22809]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Writings of Rabash, Article 38

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Preparing For The Right Attitude
Laitman.com Post: Justifying The Creator Is Expressed Through Joy