Entries in the 'Prayer and Intention' Category

Let’s Be Wiser

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere was single, whole Kli that was full of Light; after that it was shattered. The Kli (Neshama) wanted to receive in order to bestow with all of its might and not be separate; it did not discern that within it were desires that were not directed towards reception in order to bestow, that some kind of desire was left there that had never been revealed from the beginning of creation called the stony heart.

And so the Kli (vessel), this Neshama (soul), was shattered, and the Light that this Kli was intended to hold was removed and became Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light).  In Ohr Makif there are two characteristics; the Light that was removed that was within the Kli and filled it, and the Light that was removed that held the Kli that initially created it in order to bestow.

These two characteristics are found in the Light; the Light of correction and the Light of fulfillment. We must understand that these two Lights act only according to our lack of them. First we need a Light that connects. If the deficiency is not directed towards connection, then the Light doesn’t work. We don’t attract it and we don’t invite it.

The Light can be attracted only through our lack, consistent to its action, so that we will be directed towards each other; I to it and it to me. Therefore a prayer must be for connection, for the Kli was shattered, and its connection is the only thing that the Light performs at our request.

And without our request, the Light performs another thousand actions, which it does anyway. So before we read The Zohar, we need to direct ourselves correctly: ask for connection if we want to attain some kind of result from our study.

A person can sit for 20 or 30 years next to the book, as if he is present in a group, but if he doesn’t artificially develop a desire for connection, through all kinds of texts, videos, conversations and so forth, then he remains without a prayer, meaning without help from Above.

He is still included in the study, but studying like this is through a long and difficult path, requiring a long time and passing through unpleasant conditions. So let us be wise and understand that we have the opportunity and support to heed the advice of the Kabbalists and let us invest the necessary effort.
[131971]
From the 2nd part of the
Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/06/14, The Book of Zohar

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If There Are No Requests, There Are No Changes

Laitman_049_01Our work must concentrate on prayer to make our request as correct and precise as possible, in the maximal way that we are prepared to get from our condition. At every moment we need to try to locate the right request according to its direction, intensity and character. This is the most important thing.

If we examine ourselves, we will see that we are not asking the Creator. And even if we ask, we are asking for ourselves, regretting our personal condition. And this is certainly the manifestation of the greatest ego.

Ordinary people in this world who are not involved with studying Kabbalah are in better condition than we are. After all, they don’t demand that the Creator should change, improve, or correct what He did to them, disagreeing with Him. They simply accept everything as it is, since they are separated from the Creator. At least they don’t come to Him with demands and claims, asking where is their deserved reward. A demand like this is completely opposite to the right prayer.

It is possible to arrange such a change in us so that we will ask correctly only by working in a group. A person by himself cannot hold himself in this process. If he is alone, he will fall into his ego again; he will begin to attribute everything to and demand for himself. He doesn’t have the means to format himself and arrange his appeal to the Creator correctly. This is possible only through common prayer.

It’s worthwhile for us to see all of these concepts very clearly. If we don’t get any changes on the way, this is a sign that we are not asking for them. All spiritual advancement is realized only through the prior discovery of a deficiency, a request.
[131987]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/14, Writings of Rabash

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The Components Of A Correct Prayer

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion:  What should the group do in order to achieve turning towards the Creator correctly?

Answer:  The group must influence each one of its members and provide all the required conditions for revealing the MAN (prayer) in each and every one. This means it’s necessary to clarify:

  • What is the Creator?  Who is the Creator?
  • Exactly how do I turn to Him; with which request? This means that there must be a prayer of many, for the many.
  • How exactly should one ask within a very narrow range? If I want to turn to the Creator, I need to do this in an extremely narrow gap according to the form of the request.

First, I need to prepare myself for turning to someone with very high qualities. My fear is not a beastly fear regarding Him but from reverence of His spiritual elevation.

My prayer must pass through the group, for which I ask like a father would for his beloved children. Due to this, I become similar to the Creator, bringing myself to His characteristics through equivalence of form and attaining adhesion with Him.

He is the bestower, and I also want to bestow. We have a shared field in which we work for our bestowal. My investment in bestowal is the deficiency, a request to Him to bestow to others. And He is happy to bestow to them through my request, for my request opens the possibility of bestowal for Him. The whole world is in trouble, with problems, in crisis; so we can see what a vast field of work we have.
[131985]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/14, Writings of Rabash

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Give Contentment To The Creator With Every Word Of The Zohar

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, Parshat “BeShlach,” section 134: The order of the emergence of the Lights in the three Nekudot of Holam, Shuruk, Hirik. That in the beginning Malchut rises to Bina, under her Hochmah, and then her Bina and TuM fall below her level to ZA.

And she is left with only two Sefirot, KH, and with two Lights, Ruach Nefesh. And it is considered that Bina is pierced, so that nothing is left in her but Ohr Nekeva, which illuminates from below to above. And so her Sefirot are called by the name pierced stones. And this is the point of Holam.

With each word that we read, we try not to forget what we want from our connection, we renew our request with every word.

Now we try to go one step forward, not only to seek a connection with every word, but we ask also for the success of the friends, we ask for them.

From the intention and request for connection, we pass to an intention and request for the sake of the friends. And now we have to add an intention here that we want to give contentment to the Creator with each and every word, to create a feeling, a relationship like this, a state, which will surely bring contentment to the Creator. In this way we arrange the Kli in which we give contentment to the Creator.

If the group intends to give contentment to the Creator, and I disappear in it, so the entire group gets the same value as the Creator. Only the group is the Kli, and the Creator is the Light that connects, corrects and fills the Kli. By being included in a group and praying for a connection that will bring contentment to the Creator, we already yearn to give Him joy.

And the main joy for the Creator is when we try to bring this connection to the whole world. For we are ourselves the Kelim designed only to realize and carry out this work, but delighting the Creator is possible only with the Kelim of the whole world. So we go out and try to connect them.

In The Zohar we read about actions that take place on high levels. Why do we think that this will help us? Because there are no other actions other than the act of connection, but on every level this happens in a more subtle, more detailed, more complex, and more intense form. But it is the same ten Sefirot with more and more bold acts of connection.

So no matter where we read, if our intention is right, meaning for correction, for connection, we read all in this way and will open all the channels of Light.
[131966]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/06/14, The Book of Zohar

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First Thank, Then Ask

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion:  What is each friend’s work to constantly hold everyone in a collective prayer (raising MAN)?

Answer:  Each and every one must discover within himself a deficiency regarding the group and disseminate this to others, in other words, to show love to your friends. And, besides this, we need to awaken all to a general concern for correcting the world, bringing everyone to form a single family.

We need to speak about this between us, disseminate this to the entire world, and provide confidence to every one that this is precisely what the Creator wants. Toward this form of humanity, as one family, we need to go forward and raise this as a prayer.

First of all, we need to praise and give thanks, to speak about the greatness of this mission and all of its components. And then we ask for the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, i.e., that everyone will feel the importance of bestowal. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the creatures.
[131982]
From the 1
st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/14, Writings of Rabash

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Yearning For Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I feel causeless hatred towards a friend, I cannot figure out how to get out of it.

Answer: Hatred lacks a foundation; it is a spiritual category that manifests in a person without a reason; it is simply because his ego burns in him.

Such issues can only be solved together in a discussion with other friends. The idea is that the correction is realized specifically when a strong rejection appears between us.

Unfounded hatred is a clear and accurate discovery of shattered desires. It is said that rejection became the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple, when instead of connection, solidarity, mutual assistance, and love between people, suddenly intense hatred flared up. And this is what led to and caused the shattering of the collective spiritual Kli (vessel).

So, when such situations like these appear, gather together quickly and try to discuss them in the form of a workshop. First, without any agenda, without touching anyone personally, and without intending for a mandatory solution for the question, which concerns all because manifestations of unfounded hatred exists in each one of us.

It appears all the time for some unknown, inexplicable reasons or without any reason: Well, I cannot stand him, I cannot come to an agreement with him, we don’t understand each other, or something pushes me away from him.

It is necessary to clarify whether there is some reason by gathering into groups of five or ten with friends to discuss the issue. At the same time, I cannot say that I feel dislike someone, but I want to find out why my attitude to him is revealed in this way.
[131851]

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An Intention Embodied In Action

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is more important in mutual guarantee, the physical obligation (to awaken the friends, telephones, etc.) or an intention about the group with thoughts and intentions?

Answer: An intention about the group with thoughts and intentions is not just important but necessary. But people who think that this is enough are sadly mistaken, because theory without practical action is dead.

So if you can also practically strengthen and increase your participation in gathering the group, then it is a full and final action. An action cannot be completed with only an intention. It is possible to check it only when you embody the intention in the action itself.
[131848]

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A Vessel Suitable For Storing Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 13: Indeed, I feel all of you together, that today has been replaced for you with tomorrow, and instead of “now,” you say “later.” There is no cure for that but to exert to understand that mistake and distortion—that one who is saved by the Creator is saved only if he needs the salvation today. One who can wait for tomorrow will obtain his salvation after his years, God forbid.

We only need to work on our deficiency. The entire problem is reaching it. And the deficiency that is directed correctly immediately becomes a place for the discovery and absorption of spiritual properties, the Upper Light.

All of our work must be only on deficiencies, on this desire. And the desire must be through equivalence and accommodation to the Light according to all the laws of physics: The vessel and the Light need to match each other according to their frequencies and location. It is impossible to use a sack to store water, or a jar to prepare cement. Everything has its own container, and that is how it is in spirituality; this is a very basic and important condition.

The problem is that we don’t feel that there is no need to work on the Light, which is available in abundance and is in absolute rest, and that we need to work on the vessel, on our deficiency. The deficiency can only be attained through mutual work among us. To the degree that we actively yearn to attain the corrected spiritual state, then to this degree the Surrounding Light will help us to prepare the right request, until it is revealed as Inner Light.

This happened to you due to negligence in my request to exert in love of friends, as I have explained to you in every possible way that this cure is enough to recompense for all your faults. And if you cannot rise to heaven, then I have given you a way to move on earth. So why haven’t you added anything in that work?

The vessel is the collective soul that existed before the shattering of Adam HaRishon. And to the degree that we gather the parts in order to return it to its right form in order to bestow, so we approach performing our correct function.

This is expressed in love of friends, in a mutual connection in order to resemble the Creator, so that the connection between us will be according to spiritual laws: love and mutual guarantee.

Certainly we discover ourselves having characteristics and directions that are opposite this, but then we have something to pray about, meaning to raise MAN. And in an answer, we discover help from Above and fulfillment, as it is written: “The Torah was not given except to those who eat manna (Man),” meaning to those who are nourished by their requests to the Creator.
[131730]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/4/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Strange Bestowal To Yourself

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is the work of fulfilling the desire of the other called an “intention”?

Answer: This is called an “intention” because I use myself, everything that I have, in order to fulfill the desire of the other.

I can work only with the desires. There is work called preparing the Kelim: This is bestowal for the sake of bestowal, the level of Bina. And there is direct spiritual work, receiving in order to bestow.

But I always work with the desire. If I work with my desires, this is called “in order to receive,” and if I work with the desires of the other, this is called “in order to bestow.”

In every case, the work is done with the desires and the intention shows for whose good I am acting: in order to receive or in order to bestow. The intention is my work plan. The intention in order to bestow means that I work with the desire of the other above my own desire and use all of my ability to help him and to fulfill him.

But essentially, his desires are mine. They simply pour some kind of dust in my eyes which makes it impossible for me to see that they are mine and that all of this is myself. So I work trying to fulfill these desires, which are seemingly foreign to me, but essentially I am fulfilling myself. After this I see that all of this belongs to me. So why did I have to work for the sake of such a strange bestowal? This was so that I would need to create a relationship with another and essentially feel the Creator through him.
[130887]
From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

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What Is Working With Intention?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we help others with our intention?

Answer: Nothing can help a person other than a prayer for him. It is said, “A prisoner cannot release himself from prison.” One cannot help oneself in spiritual attainment in any way; one can only help oneself in corporeality. And in spirituality, only others can help me.

Everything that I want to attain in spirituality, from zero to infinity, is possible only on condition that others will want to give this to me, will help me to get this, and will fulfill me. How can I make them help me? They will help me if I will make efforts to help them.

So we must think only about being included in the desires of the other and the correction of the other. Only in this way can I obligate the system to take care of me, and this desire will no longer be an egoistic desire.

I must gather and collect the desires from everyone because this work is called Yesod. My vessel is the desires of the other that I intend to fulfill, and I perceive them as closer than my own desires. I work on the desires, but because they initially seemed foreign to me, those of the other, they are called intentions.

What is the difference between intention and desire? The desire belongs to me; within me I feel a desire for me to enjoy myself. I don’t feel the desire of the other and so work on the desire of the other is called intention. It turns out that I am always working on intentions! This means that if I reduce my desire, penetrate the desire of the other, and work with his desire by placing his desire above my desire, it means that I am working with intentions.

In this manner I am building the head (Rosh) of the spiritual Partzuf. Instead of my desire, I take the desire of the other and work with it like my desire. And this is called working with an intention.
[130735]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/14

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