Entries in the 'Perception' Category

From This World Into The Next

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 88: It is written, “A Psalm of David, when he fled.” He said the psalm while fleeing because previously he thought that the Creator would punish him for his sins in the next world. And when he saw that He wished to avenge him here in this world, he was happy and said a psalm.

“This world” and “the next world” are two spiritual degrees because we exist in the Upper Light and see our qualities around us against this Light. This determines the reality we perceive.

Consequently, any state we experience is a state of concealment of the Upper Light which hides from us behind our egoistic qualities. It is revealed only to the extent that our qualities become similar to it. It follows that each of our states is called a “world,” (Hebrew “Olam” from the word “Olama” or concealment), that is a measure of concealment that we attain.

Therefore, “this world” and “the next world” are two degrees. One is what I feel and observe at this moment or what I can verify, investigate, and study. The other is a state to which I aspire, a measure of concealment that I want to reveal and attain. That is what the Kabbalists refer to as my next world.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How Can I Influence My Own States?
ARIfilms: "Kabbalah and Our Perception of Reality"
Kabbalah Moments: "Concealment"

First, Let’s Receive A Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: How do I combine inner work with studying The Zohar?

My answer: Don’t think that The Zohar was written to serve as an ordinary book to tell or explain something to us. This isn’t the case. Baal HaSulam wrote his commentary for a different reason as well. We don’t study using our earthly mind to comprehend what is written and to learn in detail how to work in the three lines by memorizing all the terms. We must understand the necessity for correction and not the structure of it all.

The additional commentaries on the authentic sources provided by the Kabbalists (on the Kabbalistic works of the Torah, the Prophets, and other sacred texts) are impossible to comprehend through the ordinary, external mind. They can only be comprehended through correction of the soul. Therefore, all Kabbalistic commentaries are primarily designed to draw the Upper Light onto the student. Then, the reader can use the sources correctly, enjoy the light contained in them, and, along the way, discover what is written in the books. This is what is called commentary.

Every commentary is an additional instrument that helps us to connect to the authentic source, not to just understand it. When we are reading Baal HaSulam’s so-called “technical” explanations about the three lines, Sefirot and Partzufim, ascent and descent, and Reshimot and screens, we think that he is trying to teach us some regular science for us to learn with our brain and to be able to draft all this schematically. But, this is not the case.

Baal HaSulam’s addition, “The Sulam Commentary to The Book of Zohar,” helps us to draw the Light that Reforms. Its purpose is not to give us abstract knowledge of the structure of some higher world. It is impossible to know the Upper World until we are able to perceive it within our souls. Essentially, we are studying our own construction.

A person begins to sense that the entire reality, all of creation, is enclosed within him, not outside of him even though it appears to be external. Therefore, we must tune ourselves into studying correctly with an understanding that we will gain nothing but the Light that Reforms. After this, attainment will follow, and “the soul of a person will begin to teach him.” First, we must receive this soul, the spiritual substance, in which we will discover all the phenomena about which The Zohar speaks.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How The Sulam Commentary Works With The Zohar
Laitman.com Post: A Spiritual Ladder Anyone Can Climb
Laitman.com Post: Using The Ladder To Build Our Soul

Does The Creator Get Angry?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA brief summary of the weekly Torah portion of “Chukat,” Part 1: The nation of Israel continues to wander around the desert and comes to Kadesh, which is situated in the desert of Tzin, where the nation begins to complain about the lack of water. Moses and Aaron turn to the Creator for advice and He tells them to ask the rock to give them water in front of the whole community. However, instead of asking the rock, they hit it. This angers the Creator, and He sentences them to die in the desert, and not to be among those who will bring the nation to the land of Israel.

A question I received: If the Creator gives us the point in the heart and takes us through all the states Himself, then why does He get angry?

My Answer: Obviously the Creator creates all the problems for us right from the start. He gives us obstacles every step of the way, no one else does. In the cruelest manner, He first performs evil, and then yells, punishes us, and later makes a suggestion: “OK, do it differently that will be better for you.” However, while we are in that “better” state, He once again makes it even worse for us and punishes us once again.

Why does He get angry? This wrath is correction. A person feels the Creator’s behavior inside himself; this is the way we are arranged. We cannot correlate this feeling to the Upper Force and to what happens inside It. After all, nothing happens in the Creator; He exists in absolute rest.

However, since we still don’t exist in a completely corrected state, our reality is separated into “me” and “outside of me,” “me” and “the world that surrounds me,” “me” and “the spiritual world,” and “me” and “the Creator.” However, everything that is seemingly external to me is in essence me; for the time being, it just seems to exist outside of me.

Therefore, the Creator’s behavior, which is presented to me in various forms, is really only the way I imagine Him through my own qualities. If I correct myself, I will see that love, nothing except love, comes from the Creator. But, while my external desires are not corrected, these desires bring me either a sensation of an evil world or a sensation of an evil Creator.

From the Evening Zohar Lesson 6/14/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Revealing The Creator’s Goodness
Kabbalah Moments: “The Creator’s Attitude”
Unlocking The Zohar: “How To Change Reality”

 

The Whole Universe Is Just Ten Sefirot

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar, Chapter “VaYetze (And Jacob Went Out),” Item 59: “And behold, the Lord stood above it.” Here in the ladder, Jacob saw the connection of faith, the Nukva, tying all the Sefirot as one. “Stood above it” is as it is written, “A pillar of salt,” a mound, since all the degrees as one are on that same ladder, the Nukva, connecting everything in one knot because that ladder was given between the two sides.

It is written, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac.” Those are the two sides, right and left—Abraham is right and Isaac is left.

Malchut is an image, a picture of the Creator. We are within Malchut. Actually, we are Malchut and we sense everything within as a picture of this world. In fact, we always sense the Creator and nothing but Him. The problem is that we sense Him in accordance with our properties and to the level of our similarity with Him.

Sensations always come from the Light, but the desire (the vessel of its perception) senses itself as a certain object depending on its opposition or similarity to the Light. That’s why the Higher Sefirot constitute properties that are present in Malchut and include the Creator’s attitude toward Malchut’s attempts to become similar with them. They are called Sefirot since they illuminate inside Malchut which “lights” them because of its corrected desire to receive pleasure in order to bestow. That’s why it is luminescent.

The Upper Light doesn’t illuminate itself; it is hidden. Only to the degree that the lower one advances and attempts to become similar to the Upper One do the properties of the lower one light up and then are called Sefirot.

Everything we feel begins and ends within Malchut. Anything we can imagine existing prior to Malchut is an illusion of our perception. Similarly, we envision a certain reality around us, but in fact there is nothing at all; everything is within us. We simply divide all of reality into “me” and “something outside of me.”

The same happens in spirituality: We divide all of reality into a soul that as of yet has no sensation of itself and something that is outside of it. But when our correction is complete, everything comes together and there is no difference between “external” and “internal”; everything merges into one point.

As a person advances, he begins to see that even though the whole picture around him becomes wider, more intense, and complicated, at the same time, it concentrates and organizes itself into ten Sefirot. This allows us to arrive at the conclusion that everything depends on our perception, that is, on the measure of our similarity with the Light.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/14/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Life Is Merging With The Creator
Laitman.com Post: Acquiring The Real Perception Of The World
Shamati #68: “Man’s Connection to the Sefirot”

The Kind Healer Of Hearts

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll our work in terms of free will is conducted in the concealment of the Upper Governance. This period is described in the Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Item 53: …"The reward is according to the pain.” Since His Guidance is not revealed, it is impossible to see Him but only in concealment of the face, from behind…and might doubt…In this manner, one is always left with a choice to either keep His will or break it. This is because troubles and the pains he suffers make him doubt the reality of His Guidance over His creations….

Imagine that you see through the prism of your egoistic desire a person standing in front of you. There are the Creator and me, and in between us stands my egoistic nature. It is as if a kind, good person is approaching me, as if he is a doctor holding a syringe in his hand to give me an injection, and I am a little child. I am looking at his kind smile and the syringe that he is hiding in his hand, and I freeze in horror. Yet, he is coming closer and closer, it seems, to hurt me.

Get the picture? That’s the state we are in. We need to get acquainted with Him, understand Him, and sense His intentions, even if He may want to give us an injection. We have no other choice if we are ill and need to be healed (corrected).

Why did He arrange everything in this way? He did so precisely in order for us to know Him; otherwise, it would be impossible. The benefit of the Light can be known only from the darkness.

Then, you understand that all these imaginary terrible pictures – the injection, this entire world with its suffering and evil – are merely the pictures drawn in your egoistic substance. Reaching the degree of faith means rising above this substance and not feeling it any longer. You will realize that all of that was a childish fantasy which in reality never existed. The Light, the kind attitude of the Creator, seemed to your egoism as a painful injection. Like children who are scared of syringes, so were we afraid of Him.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Break Free From The Grip Of Deception
Laitman.com Post: Is Concealment Hiding Within Me?
Shamati #34: "The Profit of a Land"

Exile Is A Spiritual Degree


Dr. Michael Laitman
The Zohar
, Chapter “VaYigash (Then Judah Approached),” Item 120: …Also, it is written, “I will go down to Egypt with you,” meaning that Divinity went down to exile with him, and wherever Israel exiled, Divinity exiled with them.

It wouldn’t be an exile otherwise. Exile means that you feel concealment. You feel that spirituality (the Creator) exists, yet you sense His reverse side. It shines to you in a way that allows you to feel the Creator’s presence, but in a concealed form. That is when it is called exile.

If your sensation of the Creator’s concealment is absent, this is not exile. As far as you’re concerned He simply doesn’t exist, meaning you exist at a level below spirituality. Exile is a spiritual sensation which is above the level of our world. Therefore, we cannot say that people in this world are in exile.

However, if you know that something spiritual ought to be here, if you have that feeling or are somehow familiar with what is concealed, then you are in exile. This is a connection that shines via its reverse side, in a black light instead of white. It follows that “Israel in Egypt” is a spiritual degree. They have a Light, a special illumination, so they are not detached from spirituality. Whereas we are “like mortal beasts” if we have no sensation of exile.

Today, as we read The Zohar, we gradually awaken from our beastly existence, and the reality of our exile is slowly becoming apparent. It is no small feat to ascend to the level of exile. For that you need to truly feel the concealment, the striving (desire) for the spiritual world, to discern from the darkness Who it is that is concealed from you, and how you can grab onto Him.

Exile is a spiritual degree which is the reverse side of the same degree of revelation. The sensation and work of this reverse side is part of the Creator’s work.
[15835]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Exile Is The Creator’s Doing
Baal HaSulam Article: “Exile and Redemption”
Kabbalah Moments: “Feeling In Exile”

Is Concealment Hiding Within Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen the time comes to attain the Creator, He slightly opens Himself to us, showing us His kindness. Later on, He increases our egoism and it makes us feel like He is not good to us. In this way, the Creator invites us to raise above our egoism and acknowledge that “Everything is good; it is me who feels bad inside my egoism. If I manage to rise above it, I will see that everything is good.”

Afterward, the Creator reveals more of His kindness to us, which allows our egoism to grow even more, and then He hides behind it. We feel bad again, but have to rise higher beyond egoism by “faith above reason” and understand that we see evil only through our egoism. Meanwhile, His rule is always benevolent.

In other words, the higher we rise, the greater the concealment, but each time we possess more power to rise above our egoistic desires and realize that concealment exists only in respect to our egoism. When we transition to bestowal, the concealment disappears. To be more precise, the concealment doesn’t really disappear; rather, we rise above it.

All the stages (double concealment, single concealment, and revelation) are created by us against the simple, even Light. If we want to receive the Light, we have to raise above the ego and receive it over the screen, that is, into a desire to bestow. To reveal the desire to bestow within oneself amounts to revealing the Creator.

However, to be in concealment means to lack the revelation of the Creator or the property of bestowal. Do we suffer because we don’t have the property of bestowal? Such suffering indicates the degree of one’s concealment. So the question is does the concealment intensify or diminish as we advance?

We grow and concealment gradually disappears, which results in more revelation and less concealment. Yet in terms of its quality, concealment is stronger and we suffer from it more. I correct part of my desire and, by becoming similar to the Creator, attain revelation. But in other parts of my desire I remain in concealment. That’s where I feel how much I need Him and He hides from me because I am uncorrected.

The higher I rise, the greater the revelation and the more the concealment is diminished. If only 10% of the concealment is left, then I will suffer much more within that 10% than I suffered when I was at the bottom and 99% was concealed from me. With the strength of 90% revelation, my “dirt,” which is almost sterile, looks terrible to me because now I see what I am still lacking. So, the level of concealment decreases, but the sensation of its evil grows until we attain complete revelation.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Infinite Light Or Infinite Darkness?
Laitman.com Post: The Window Into The New World
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 1.10 – “Faith Above Reason”

Break Free From The Grip Of Deception

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: What kind of game is it?  Is it to perceive the friends as the greatest?

My Answer: It is not a game; it is breaking through the concealment. My egoism conceals me from the others and the others from me: It doesn’t allow me to see the entire World of Infinity. Right now I am in the World of Infinity, but what I see is quite a gloomy picture. My egoism paints a picture of ugly, stupid, lazy, lying people. But in reality, it is all wrong; this picture resides in me within my egoism. If my own children, whom I love dearly, were next to me right now, how would I view them? They would look perfect to me because “love redeems all sins.” I would still love them with all their flaws.

Only my ego is to blame; I see nothing beyond it. In the back of my brain, I have a screen. I seem to view the world through my eyes, but it enters through the prism of my egoism and is projected on the screen in my brain. Everything depends on my attitude, and how I attune myself to see it. So, I have to attune myself to the group in such a way that I see them all as the greatest people of this generation, completely corrected.

Is it a game? No, it is simply annulling the deception of the ego. It is a rational act. Beyond me, there is the World of Infinity, and I already reside in it, right now. If you peel off all the shells (Klipot), which distort the World of Infinity to this mediocre, inverted state, you will perceive Infinity.

First, try to pretend. Let’s make an effort. Try to see us as fully corrected, big, and united. Through this action, we will draw a very strong Surrounding Light, and it will correct our nature. Instead of egoism, we will attain bestowal. This is a very simple principle, and it is absolutely real; there is no mysticism here. We are trying, through our own effort, to see ourselves in the corrected state, and in that degree, we will receive an inner strength, which is contained in this corrected system. Our desire pushes it to act. These are the practical actions toward correction.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, “The Importance of the Association

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Infinity Is Boundless Unification
Kabbalah Moments: “Through The Ego”
Song: “The Greatest in the World”


"Do Not Make Thyself An Idol"

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: Is the purpose of reading The Zohar to develop our sensitivity to what we feel in our five organs of perception? Does it develop our consciousness of the vision of this world?

My Answer: Absolutely not! While reading The Zohar, I forget about this world; I don’t see or feel it. I am entering the system of Upper Governance and Supervision, reading about, studying, and trying to perceive it, meaning to connect to it in my sensations and mind.

I am trying, to the best of my ability, to use all the names and appellations written in The Zohar. Essentially, the entire Zohar talks about Yeshsut, Zeir Anpin, Malchut, and the souls. Everything takes place between Zeir Anpin and Malchut, but The Zohar expresses it in thousands of names and situations.

Therefore, while reading The Zohar, I am trying to enter these spiritual states, but not draw them into our material world. Why do I need it? I must find myself in the spiritual one, sense how I clothe in ZON of the World Atzilut, identify myself, and merge with it in all my desires and thoughts.

I need to try to always see all that is happening in a singular body of the common soul, because it is all my qualities: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Aaron, David, and all actions that the Zohar is talking about, Klipa and holiness, the steps of ZON of the World Atzilut.

But this world doesn’t exist for me, as it were. I don’t understand or feel it; I don’t need this imaginary world. It is written that we must rise to the level of the Upper World, and from it, after getting some understanding of the spiritual roots, we are able to study their lower branches in our world.

There is no need to be in the branches “just because.” In fact, it is prohibited to attach the Upper roots to the lower ones. It is called idolatry when you take the names and actions from the Upper World and try to see their effects in this world in the precise congruence of one to the other. It is banned because it is wrong. What does it mean “prohibited”? It doesn’t exist. It means to “make an idol for oneself.”

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Malchut Of The World Of Atzilut Is, In Fact, You
Laitman.com Post: The Book Of Zohar Was Written Only For Creating A Connection Among Us
Laitman.com Post: Advancing From The Branches To The Spiritual Roots

Try To See The Truth Behind The Illusion

Dr. Michael Laitman“Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item.61. “A Great Rule in Time and Place,” Know that everything in the wisdom of Kabbalah that expresses time and place do not refer to the imaginary time and place in corporeality, since everything in spirituality is above time and above space. Rather, “before” and “after” refer to cause and consequence. We refer to the cause as “before” and to the consequence as “after,” since every cause precedes its consequence…Аlso “above and below” and “ascent and descent” are measures of coarseness and purity of the desire because “ascent” means purification of the desire, and “descent” means the coarsening.

And when we say that a lower degree rose, it means that the lower one has been purified and became as pure as the Higher Degree. Hence, it is considered to have clung to it because equivalence of form attaches the spirituals to one another…Study them in this manner, that is, in spiritual meanings, according to the issue.“

Kabbalah uses the language of roots and branches, which uses words from our world to describe what takes place in the spiritual one, the Upper World. In the spiritual world, meanings of our world such as time, motion, space, distance, and direction don’t exist. But the very same names that we use to identify some objects and actions in our world signify, in the spiritual world, forces, qualities, and their actions.

Therefore, we need to do our best to try to imagine spiritual actions behind these words. Such efforts are very useful because they create a request (MAN), the desire, the need to understand and perceive the Upper world, and begin living in it. Through such actions we help ourselves to enter it.

Thus, in Baal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 155, it is written that even though we don’t understand what we are studying, due to our strong desire and will to understand the studied material, we draw the light that surrounds our souls. As a result, it brings to us qualities that we need in order to perceive the spiritual world.

It doesn’t mean that some new external picture is revealed to us. But our desire brings about a change in our perception, in our inner qualities, in which we begin to see what we are reading.

It’s all right if you don’t know what purification and coarsening of the desire means or what the ascent and descent of the screen is, but you must try to imagine this in the form of desires and intentions. This is all there is: a desire, its intention, and the Light which works on them. This is how I should connect these words with what I know and how I should be impressed by what is written.

This is already enough to connect with this system. Let it be incorrect; it doesn’t matter! What matters is my effort, my desire to enter this system however artificial it is. Granted, I don’t feel a sensory connection, but it’s natural, and Above, nothing more is expected of me.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/10, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah: The Innermost Science
Laitman.com Post: How To Use The Opportunity Presented By The Zohar
Laitman.com Post: Draw The Upper World For Yourself