Entries in the 'Prayer and Intention' Category

Awaken The Lower To Connect To The Upper

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do you ask the Elyon (upper) for what is truly useful to you?

Answer: Ask the Elyon to let you know what it wants. This is the most certain, the most useful: “Make His desire your desire.” (Avot 2:4). But to make your desire like His desire, you must know what His desire is. So ask about this!

Question: But that doesn’t work!

Answer: I don’t know if you asked. Maybe you received, but didn’t understand that this was the answer.

Question: How do we identify the AHP de Elyon (vessels of reception of the upper)?

Answer: We begin to recognize the AHP de Elyon to the degree that we connect between us with our GE (vessels of reception). Then He gradually begins to be discerned. The AHP de Elyon doesn’t exist without the GE de Tachton (vessels of bestowal of the lower one), meaning without our connection. Only through our connection do we reach the concept of “One,” and accordingly we can create a link with the Elyon.

The Ten Sefirot on a lower level become one Sefira on a higher level. We must connect these ten into one.

Question: How do we make our GE want to connect?

Answer: Dissemination is required because this is mutual work. If you do not receive stimulation, a demand from below, then even though you have a spark, you can never awaken a connection with the Elyon.

As long as a man is not married, he still has not left childhood, he lives with his mother for pleasure, passes the time at a bar with friends or at the soccer field. But if he marries and has a child, then he has commitments, concerns, problems, and demands.

So in the same way, if we don’t go out to the Tachtonim (lower ones), to the community, and take them with us, meaning if we don’t produce spiritual children that require us to grow, then we’ll never want it. This is the order of the levels; they are all in GE and the AHP and fall to a lower level.

So if you want to connect to the Elyon, you must awaken the Tachton. Only the Tachton will compel you to connect to the Elyon; that is how this works. So The Book of Zohar was not revealed until our days, and the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed because the time had not yet arrived for the Tachtonim to be awakened.

The moment that the Tachtonim become ready to be awakened, to the degree that we work with and awaken them, to this degree, we are required to rise to the Elyon. Otherwise there won’t be any demand on every level, only the GE, the Kelim (vessels) of bestowal.
[137001]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/08/14

Related Material:
I Have Asked For Years But Have Received No Answer
I Want To Be Like The Upper!
Awakening A New Life

Going To The Store To Buy Milk For The Baby

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhen we go out to the public, we always need to keep a link with the Elyon (upper one) within us. Through detachment from the Elyon we cannot work with a lower level. Indeed we don’t come to people as performers or as agitators of the crowds, rather we are bringing them the higher power, a connection with the Creator.

So through connection with the friends we must attain contact with the Elyon. If we don’t have a connection like this, we cannot be considered a higher level in relation to the Tachtonim  (lower ones) and work with them.

If a girl takes care of her little brother, she doesn’t consider him as a lower level. They are on the same level as brother and sister. Whereas the mother who takes care of yhe baby is the upper one because she gave birth to him and she has the power. So we cannot go out and take care of the community without maintaining a permanent link with the Elyon.

I am only a point, the middle third of Tifferet (splendor). My entire upper half is with the Elyon; my entire lower half is with the Tachton (lower one). So I must be connected with the Elyon and the Tachton and work simultaneously with both.

When I work with the Tachtonim, the Elyon is within me, otherwise I can’t do anything. And when I turn to the Elyon, the Tachtonim are within me. Otherwise I don’t have anything with which to turn towards them. When a mother goes to the store to buy milk for her baby, it is as if she is carrying him with her.
[137014]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/08/14

Related Material:
I Have Asked For Years But Have Received No Answer
Walking The Tight Wire Straight To The Creator
I Want To Be Like The Upper!

I Have Asked For Years But Have Received No Answer

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe only way to awaken the AHP (vessels of receiving) of the upper is by asking Him for the power of bestowal. Then the upper will raise His AHP and convey the Light of AB-SAG to you, which will correct your vessels so that by the corrected vessels, you will be able to bestow unto others.

How can you ask the upper for that? If you annul your vessels of receiving (your AHP) and want to connect with the vessels of bestowal (with GE), with others, it is the proof, the conclusion, which you bring to the upper and demand that He give it to you. I want to annul my AHP and I want to connect to everyone by my GE ( vessels of bestowal). Thus you influence the AHP of the upper and oblige Him to rise as much as necessary to fulfill your request.

If you manage to raise a certain part of the AHP of the upper, it means that you have raised a prayer, MAN (female waters). It is the same thing.

Question: What about all the demands, the requests, and the prayers that I have been raising for years?

Answer: I don’t know if you have raised even one prayer during this whole time. What you ask for has to be compatible with what the upper is ready to hear from you. You are asking for a needle to prick your eye or for things that can harm you and so the upper certainly doesn’t answer you.

You may cry and ask, but the upper will wait for you to grow wise. All the prayers are accepted Above and are added to the work, but it still doesn’t lead to the raising of the AHP of the upper, since it isn’t MAN yet.

You cry out, but the upper doesn’t answer. But still, He performs certain actions so that you will understand that it is impossible to ask this way and for Him to give you what you are asking for. It is just the way we behave with children. In our world, time brings about changes, while in the upper world, our actions actually determine time.

If your take the deficiencies of the public and ask the upper to fill them, you are performing actions of bestowal. You want what is good for them but not for yourself, and so you are treated differently. You become the upper’s partner in taking care of the lower, and thus rise to a different level. By that you resemble the Creator and this is why this work is so beneficial for our advancement.
[136934]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/08/14

Related Material:
I Want To Be Like The Upper!
Awakening A New Life
A Group Is Thousands Of Points In The Heart

Connection With Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When do we raise MAN, a prayer?

Answer: We raise MAN when we can give up our receiving Kelim (desires) and connect between us only with our Kelim of bestowal. But this doesn’t mean that we don’t take our receiving desires into account at all.

Suppose that I live in a palace and I have lots of cars and planes and you live in a regular apartment and you have one car, and he lives in a tent and only has a wagon and his horse died. So what would it mean for us to connect between us?

For this we must give up all of our property for each other, meaning that we gather everything that we have together and beyond this we connect through our GE in bestowal. Connection with the desires of bestowal (GE) also requires a relative nullification in the desires of receiving (AHP).

This doesn’t mean that one really has to give up all one’s property, but it is necessary to take into account nullifying your AHP, lowering its importance. Then the connection will be made on higher levels. This means that we cannot just connect with Nitzutzin (sparks); this will require us also to connect in the future with our AHP, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation.”
[136918]
From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/08/14

Related Material:
I Want To Be Like The Upper!
Awakening A New Life
A Group Is Thousands Of Points In The Heart

Shouting For The Unattainable World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do the four properties of mercy, charity, truth and peace mean in terms of our attitude to the group and to the world in general?

Answer: The Inner Light in the first nine Sefirot is called mercy. How can we visualize it? Our intentions to treat our neighbors humanely represent the first nine Sefirot.

When acting inside these properties, we become similar to the Creator in a certain way. Mercy is similar to bestowal, the quality of Bina. Hessed (the property of Abraham) is the first prerequisite to it.

Charity (alms) is Malchut. Let’s say, our will to receive is more or less ready to adhere to bestowal. To the degree our will to receive (Malchut) supports the first nine Sefirot and is ready to accept their illumination, it obtains the alms.

Our will to receive just cannot achieve anything on its own. As a result of buying the first nine Sefirot and influencing them, it receives the “backlight.” Malchut obtains the first nine Sefirot from her neighbors. Each one of us has egoism of his or her own; we understand what others want and we use their desires. We fill their desires with the help of our own egoism.

Let’s say, I am Malchut; your desires are my first nine Sefirot. I work with them and fulfill them. What I fill them with is called mercy.  By allowing me to act in this way, my Malchut receives illumination. This “backlight” is called charity.

Truth means that after completing any action, we clearly understand that our work is just a deception and that there is no truth in it whatsoever. We keep recognizing this fact over and over again. In other words, truth always unveils the general Light called the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) to the souls.

Eventually, the general light should become a part of the first nine Sefirot and Malchut. It shows the true state we are in and the extent to which we have to be corrected. When the truth illuminates, I feel very bad, even though it doesn’t shine in its final, eternal stage, but is only a bit higher than my current level as the Surrounding Light that I have to pull inside myself.

It illuminates the darkness of my corrupt desires. This explains why the truth is so tough for us in this material world. Nobody wants to admit or hear it.

Peace that shows us that we are not able of doing anything at all shows up last. We are trying to achieve completely unreal things! All our actions (charity and mercy that we exercise with others and ourselves) are nice and wonderful, but they do not allow us to merge with the Creator. They cause no peace! Only disagreements!

So, truth and peace bring us to an understanding that all we can do is shout. There is no alternative since we are asking for something that is beyond our nature. We don’t know what that is, but we have no other options except this plea. This is how we are correct ourselves.

It’s very important to keep in mind that all these things imply interactions between us and from these actions we reveal the spiritual vessel. the Higher world, a new reality. Now physicists acknowledge that other dimensions and cosmoses, “included and linked universes” in which we dwell in a different form exist and depend solely on the levels of the human cognition.

We explore cognitive modifications and strive to learn to reveal a new type of cognition. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah is about. This process is not connected with our corporeal body whatsoever, nor is it linked to the inanimate, vegetative, or animate levels.
[132126]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Beware Of Merchants Of Truth
No Longer Barbarians, But Not Yet Altruists
Eternal Strife?

Concern About Necessities

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to ask only for necessities?

Answer: If a person is concerned about bestowal to others, he doesn’t have to be concerned about his necessities because they will always come to fill his desires to a sufficient degree. But there are unique situations where a person must take a look at himself to clarify what is essential and where its fulfillment is found. And he sees that this degree of the necessities is found in the desires of bestowal that are directed towards the Creator.

On the level of Bina, a person doesn’t ask for necessities because that is taken care of by itself. He doesn’t have to be concerned about it. This is because the level of Bina is absolute bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, a state of Katnut (smallness) from the side of the vessels, the states of “embryo” and “nursing.”

But when a person goes through greater and higher states and begins to work with the receiving vessels, then he must become active and turn with a unique prayer for the necessities to determine what his work will be for the purpose of bestowal. This is even though he doesn’t have any need for this himself. But he determines that he is a creature, exists, and must exist in order to work to bestow and to serve the people, and therefore he asks for what is essential for himself.

This means that praying for the essentials is an effort for him. He would prefer not to do this, but he must do it as part of his work. This is like the Cohen (High Priest) who had to have special clothing, even though he didn’t need this himself. But in order to serve the people, he had to have special ceremonial priestly garments tailored for him.

This means that the request for the essentials also requires an effort from the person and is not felt as necessary. But this is a part of his work, and he asks for this through overcoming his reluctance.
[135966]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/14, Shamati #35 “Concerning the Vitality of Kedusha”

Related Material:
Don’t Devote Any More To This World Than It Deserves
A Person’s Clothes Are His Inner Expression
Provide The Basics Of Life And Take Care Of The Soul

Connection, Connection, And More Connection!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is an inner voice? Is it the Creator speaking to a person?

Answer: Stop dreaming and imagining. It is said, “He has given a law that cannot be broken.” The wisdom of Kabbalah is a science like physics. If you are on the same frequency as the Creator, you hear Him. You convey your message to Him, and He responds.

However, if you don’t meet by the exact adaptability of attributes, in equivalence of form like a plug and a socket, you can cry out until you lose your voice—the Creator will not hear you.

Does He respond to people crying in this world or to our complaints about our suffering? He knows how you feel even before something happens to you since He is the one who causes this.

What can we ask of Him if He is the cause of everything? If you turn to Him, you should give Him something new of your own. Otherwise, there is no point in crying out. He pokes you a little in order to spur you, and you already cry out as if the entire world is falling apart.

Question: So, how should I respond when the Creator pokes me? What does He want to tell me by that?

Answer: The Creator wants to awaken us to work to connect with the group. Through this connection, you can make a demand to Him: “I did my part. I want to connect with the friends. Help me!” If you manage to carry this load on your back but it falls, you can cry out: “Help! Help me!” Then, the Creator helps out.

Question: Do I have to connect to the friends if the Creator sends me a certain illness?

Answer: Yes! You can turn to the Creator only with the right deficiency and the right request for correction, which means for connection. There is nothing but connection. You can feel endless troubles and problems, but they are all an outcome of the manifestation of the shattering since there is no other action.

We can say that every complaint, even without hearing it through, is:”This is the shattering, the shattering! And this is also the shattering!” So the remedy for every illness is connection, connection, connection.

Question: Is the Creator forced to arrange such a minus in the bank for me so that I will connect to the friends?

Answer: The upper Light operates on the vessel that it has to correct and evokes different deficiencies in it. It created the vessel so that we have banks, police, spouse and children, all sorts of illnesses, problems, and events, and it constantly evokes something in them. The upper Light is at absolute rest, but the Reshimot (spiritual genes) are constantly revealed. Every new Reshimo that is revealed makes you feel a new reality and thus moves you from one picture in the movie to the next.

However, if you yearn to connect with the Creator before something happens, it is called hastening time, Achishena. Then, you have no problems.

If you run ahead in order to connect with the Creator and to avoid problems, it is called Lo Lishma (not for Her sake). However, if you do it in order to delight Him, it is called Lishma (for Her sake).
[135859]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Consumers Of The Upper Light
How Do We Get Along With The Law Of Nature?
Connection Above All

The Main Thing Is Not To Divert From The Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, Letter 22: Therefore, if you write that you live a life of sorrow, it is a sign that you are following the path of the Torah. This means that you have black and white, since the Torah is written in black on top of white. But you have to try to have a black fire on top of a white fire, which means that everything that you feel will be as flaming fire.

We should feel constant tension, be under pressure, and inclined with all our might to yearn for the goal. It makes no difference what happens to a person as long as he is focused in the right direction. Whatever happens on the way depends on the way itself, and I only need to adjust myself according to it,

The road itself, how many twists and turns are on it and how many failures we have, is not up to us, but rather depends on the structure of our soul.

Since the Creator wants us to receive the Torah, we must feel the deficiency for the Torah ourselves, since one is not given luxuries from Above, but only necessities.

I will not receive what I ask for from Above unless my request is solely for necessities without which I cannot exist. Otherwise these are merely powerless requests.

Of course, it takes a long time until a person comes close to a real prayer. First there should be the intensity of the request by which it can be heard. Second, it has to be for the right thing that is exactly on the path.

A person should grasp onto a real part of the string on the path each time. If I ask for something now, my outcry may be correct, but perhaps it isn’t mine, and is instead arranged by the Creator.

I attribute everything to myself, and this is totally wrong. I have to search myself more deeply and find out who directs me, who arranges a good action, my prayer, or the desire to connect to society. If all this comes from Above, then what do I ask for?

And the greatest reward is that a person needs the Creator, which means the giver of the Torah. Therefore, when a person feels his lowliness, it is a reason for him to need the Creator. However, if he feels that he can help himself and that he doesn’t need the Creator, then he is separated from Him.
[135483]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/20/14, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Moving Fast Forward By Running In Place
While Collecting Grains Of Awe
Knowing What To Ask And From Whom

Help That We Seek In Concealment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What kind of help must be sought in concealment?

Answer: If the final goal is adherence, which is possible only with equivalence of form, then it is good that darkness is revealed to me now. All my ego, all desire to receive, is taken from me and the egoistic joy from one of its parts is taken. Now, it is from this part that I can carry out some kind of altruistic movement directed towards bestowal, closeness to the Creator.

It follows that concealment comes specifically to make it possible for me to do something, to take a step forward, to determine in what form I want to be. Of course, I must work together with the Light that Reforms, yet I can use it as a means that is at my disposal all the time, like a vehicle that travels in any direction that I want. If my request is for the right thing, then the Light will carry it out fully, both quantitatively and qualitatively, meaning that the Light will do everything that I want.

Question: In what is my independence expressed at the time of concealment?

Answer: My independence is to act in a group and with dissemination in order to connect with the friends as strongly as possible in the state of concealment, and this is due to previous preparation. I don’t know what the right form for me should be. I only know that I want to build contact with the higher power together with the friends and the group in order to feel how I give pleasure for the Creator. I want to discover the happiness from His side; this is disclosure.

And this is not to make myself happy but to discover connection with the Creator beyond concealment. This will be called my future “head of the Partzuf,” meaning the beginning of the soul.

Question: How is a request in a state of concealment different, indeed in any state where I am asking for power?

Answer: In a state of ascent, I ask for for the force that will allow my mind and heart to justify and praise the Creator. In every state we are searching for clarification of adhesion, so that I will have signs, clear sensations, in order to know in which impressions, desires, and thoughts I am in connection with the Creator, adherent with Him, where He embraces me and I embrace Him.

Spiritual adhesion is like adhesion between physical bodies where there is protrusion and indentation, bestowal and reception, matched one to the other. Yet what is unique about spiritual adhesion is that with every desire I both receive and bestow. All of the desires that bestow are like protrusions and receptions are like indentations. That is how we connect absolutely and reach a shared sensation.

I seek full adhesion and want my partner to feel pleasure from me. He is good and benevolent and I want to be like Him. This is my goal.
[135340]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/18/14

Related Material:
First Steps
Tango: One Step Forward,Two Steps Back
A Minor Heart Attack In Malchut Of Infinity

Not Without Help

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does the Creator want to bring a person to an understanding and awareness that we are not able to reach the goal ourselves? If I knew this when I began to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, I would not continue!

Answer: You can attain the goal, but you need help! In regular life did you know how to get along without help when you were an infant, a little child, or when you arrived in a new place?

A person cannot do anything by himself: other people give birth to him, teach him, and bury him. A person is not able to help himself and, even more so, to change his inner nature.

Question: So why does the Creator abuse me so much by sending me troubles?

Answer: The Creator gives you these exercises so that ultimately you will turn to Him and so that this turning will be for equivalence of form, for adherence, equivalence with Him. And instead, you are turning to the Creator and asking Him to give you success in this world: health, money, respect, and as much as possible, and, in addition, for the next world. And you complain that you don’t get all of this. This is to teach you not to be so materially egoistic but to be a man, Adam, resembling the Creator. You need to be scrubbed and polished many times until you understand what you must ask for. The main thing is that you must ask with the understanding and awareness that you don’t need anything more than to be like the Creator and separated from yourself.
[135227]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
What Request Does The Creator Expect From Us?
How Do We Oblige The Creator To Help Us?
To Ask The Creator