Entries in the 'Prayer and Intention' Category

A Request That Cannot Be Refused

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur prayer should be focused straight on the goal and not accompanied by any special conditions by which I can overcome the obstacles more easily, be stronger, and more focused. If I start bargaining this way, it means that my thoughts are not purely focused on the goal and that I impose certain conditions. On the whole, I need one thing only: to annul myself, to reach the initial level of conception, when the old “I” doesn’t exist anymore.

I become a drop of semen, just like the drop of semen that each of us developed from. This is the state that I want to attain so that there is nothing left of me but the Reshimo (reminiscence), the spiritual gene that descends from the upper level. This is the only point I want to develop from: from the point in the heart, from the root of my soul, that is not egoistic as it is now, that is not shattered.

Today, even my point in the heart is broken because I seek the Creator in order to attain, to win, to understand, to feel. But I wish my approach to be changed and that my point in the heart acquires the opposite character, working only on bestowal. This is what I ask.

This means that I don’t demand any definite form: I don’t demand more wisdom, strength, understanding, sensitivity, and the ability to feel. I ask for one thing only, minimal adhesion! I am grateful to the upper for having created me and for the inclination that I have, and I ask that the Reshimo, that point, that drop, would adhere to Him and start developing,

All other requests are already surplus and will always be wrong.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/13

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You Have Not Exerted Yourself And You Have Not Found

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything depends on the importance of the spiritual path, and this is exactly what we lack. How much time do we waste during the day on different things that are unimportant? We are unable to constantly concentrate on the right intention, to yearn to draw the Light that Reforms. After all it says: “I have not exerted, I have not found.” So how do we make the effort to exert ourselves?

People are willing to exert effort every day on things that seems to be important: hard work, travel, worries. So the only thing missing is spiritual importance. Rabash used to say that unfortunately it’s impossible to buy this prescription in a drugstore, a medication, which if swallowed, would immediately allow you to feel the importance of spirituality. There is no such medicine, so what can we do?

The only means is the influence of the environment. It says: “a group or death.” If we really organize a strong group that constantly inspires a person and evokes envy, lust, and honor in him, then he will envy others and see that they are stronger than he is, how special they are; it will press him, not let him relax, and then he will wake up. If not, there is no way he can succeed.

Everything is determined by the environment. Once you enter an environment, you become totally dependent on it. The environment can raise a person or lower him. A person advances according the intensity of the spirit of the environment with regard to the goal, no more, no less. This is, of course, if he doesn’t disrespect the environment and if he tries to adhere to it. His job is to invest in the environment, and the environment in response has to invest in him, in each of the friends.

We have to make sure of that and constantly check and see that everyone feels the importance and the greatness of the goal. Now, for example, we are sitting in the lesson while some of our friends are working on the construction of our new home, so we have to worry about these friends and not let them work day after day and miss the lessons. This is also forbidden. Even if a person is more extremely needed on the construction site, we still have to make sure that he comes to the lessons sometimes.

You mustn’t leave the lessons completely. A person must be in the lesson at least twice a week in order to keep the feeling of the importance of the spiritual goal, otherwise he will fall. It says: “Torah with the desired system of behavior is better,” which means that we need both.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/20/13

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Lo Lishma

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible to check if a person is in the state of Lo Lishma; what typifies the Lo Lishma from which we reach Lishma?

Answer: Lo Lishma, means that a person is seeking the truth. He has heard and theoretically has an idea what it is, but at the same time he still is in the intention to receive for himself.

 

 

If we measure Lo Lishma according to a scale from 0% to 100%, then in the case where a friend borrows $1,000 from me, 0% of Lo Lishma is when the friend must return all $1,000 to me.

1% of Lo Lishma is when he returns $999 to me, and I accept this as if he returned all of the $1000. And 100% of Lo Lishma is when he returns 0 dollars to me, an empty envelope. And I check this with my senses, see that there is nothing there and accept this as if he returned the entire debt to me. This is to say, this shows me how much I can go beyond the receiving desires.

But certainly all of this advancement is possible only due to the influence of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). But when we pass from Lo Lishma to Lishma, then we begin to operate the Direct Light (Ohr Yashar).

Baal HaSulam provides a definition of Lo Lishma in The Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot: “Indeed, practicing Torah and Mitzvot in Lo Lishma means that one believes in the Creator, in the Torah, and in reward and punishment. And he engages in the Torah because the Creator commanded the engagement, but he associates his own pleasure with bringing contentment to his Maker.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/13, Shamati #64 “From Lo Lishma to Lishma“

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The Prayer To One’s Future Self

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe problem is how quickly a person, having come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, is included in the real work. He could be there for a long time, listen to what is said, but not apply real effort, which is connection with others.

Perhaps, only after a long time, he finally begins to understand that the spiritual path is in connection in the group, and it is necessary to find the central point of this unity. After all, only there will he be worthy of contact with the Creator.

It will take a long time until he develops an idea about the concept of the Creator. After all, the Creator has no image, no form, not the slightest clue for us. The Creator is called the force of bestowal that is revealed in a person under certain conditions, which he has to reach by his own efforts. He needs to be suitable for the disclosure of this property. Only when it is manifested in a person can it be called the Creator, but not outside the person.

In essence, a person is impressed by the form which he himself will take in the future. He is drawn to the fact that it is revealed in him, that is, to him in the future. He must be very clear that nothing will change, except himself. He strives to his future form, addresses it with a prayer.

Therefore, it is said about this path, “I labored and found.” This does not mean that I remain the way I was and everything around me changes. The entire world, the entire reality is within a person, and only he changes. That is why, “I labored and found, believe.” It is impossible to come to this find without changing oneself. I “find” because I bring myself to the correct form due to the Light that Reforms and within myself reveal the common property of bestowal and love that is called the Creator.

It is impossible to achieve this without effort. And having applied efforts, I find because I make out of myself the basis on which the image of bestowal, the property of the Creator, can be discovered. This is the only way to advance. That is why efforts should be beyond human power; that is, I have to create a foundation, apply my efforts, but always wait for the Light that Reforms to change me, to prepare for the revelation of the property of bestowal and love. Then, it will be established in me and will begin to rule, changing myself in such a way that my entire mind and heart work in connection with my other parts that now seem to me foreign and separate from me.

That is, we need a proper definition of effort. That is why so much time passes from the moment a person comes to the group and begins to study until he begins to understand and feel that all the changes that must happen are in him, not on the outside. This change in approach, in perception of reality, in feeling that everything is inside him because the whole world is the imprint of his properties, and his spiritual vessel has to include in itself everything, that is, to be “integral.” Only then he will achieve his realization, when the entire creation is in him as his inseparable part. The entire still, vegetative, animate nature, and people are parts of his soul, and there is nothing else besides it.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/13

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How Can We Reach The Gate Of Tears?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It says that we have to reach the “Gate of Tears.” How can we be sure that we are not deceiving ourselves?

Answer: We will not be able to deceive ourselves because we are shaken so strongly from above that we will have to come to the Creator with the right request for spiritual salvation. We simply have to try as much as we can to perform all the requirements, to hasten the process of our evolution, and we will certainly reach it. I promise you since I know from my own experience how this method works.

This is how we develop. The majority of the people who participate in our development are advancing forward, and I hope that it will soon be revealed in us.

Today, when we read the Torah and other Kabbalistic books, it becomes clearer that we are on the right track. You begin to feel and to understand what it says in those books. So don’t worry, sooner or later you will begin to cry.

Tears is a feeling of powerlessness, a state of smallness (this is called the “Gate of Tears”), when it isn’t in my power to do anything and I understand that only the Creator can perform everything in my place.

Question: But how can I be sure that I have really reached that and that I am not deceiving myself?

Answer: Don’t worry, you will be given the chance to understand this. Do everything that is up to you, and then suddenly new states will be revealed to you. These are the new Reshimot (spiritual genes). When they are revealed, a person begins to have new feelings. Just advance forward and you will see how everything is revealed by itself.
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From the Bulgaria Convention “Dawn Of A New World” Day Two 11/2/13, Lesson 4

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Asking For Others

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we demand the filling of the Light for people who seem to be suffering and at the same time justify the Creator?

Answer: First you have to go through corrections. I pray differently to the Creator: “Just as You are revealed to me as the good and the benevolent and there is nothing evil in what You do, it is by all the evil that you reveal that you direct me to the good and you reveal it to me in suffering and much greater pain than the pain I feel. Although I understand that it is for the best, I ask You to reveal Yourself to them a little in order to show them all Your goodness.”

Let’s ask this differently: How can we justify the Creator if we suffer? We gradually acquire the understanding that everything is for the best by the experience we acquire. All the bad things, the flaws, the darkness, “and there was evening and there was morning,” are revealed as the matter of the next level. We need this and so we don’t only justify this, but we also bless for the evil like for the good.

So when it comes to others, we feel that the world is suffering now and that we have to come to the Creator with this, but we have to turn to Him knowing that people actually need only one thing – the revelation of the Creator. Only His revelation will solve all their problems. It is because the abundance comes from the Light. So only then will they feel that they are rich, healthy, and successful.

So I turn to the Creator and say: “Please do them a favor so that the goodness will be revealed in them.” It hurts me when they curse Him.

A person who suffers curses the Creator automatically, wordlessly. This means that every state that is lower than the circle, than Ein Sof (Infinity) forces me to curse the Creator to that extent. It isn’t about logical conclusions, but the feeling itself is an indication of that.

Question: So how can I depict the revelation of the Creator in them and me correctly?

Answer: I don’t ask for the revelation of the Creator for myself. I only ask for the chance to serve Him and them, or more accurately, to serve Him by them. This is the work I have to do as the link.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/13, Shamati #3 “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”

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Although You Cannot See Anything In Advance …

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Letter 57: I haven’t revealed this truth to you so you would not weaken and give up on the mercy. And although you don’t see anything, for even when the measure of labor is complete, it is the time of prayer. But until then, believe in our sages: “I did not labor and found, do not believe.”

When the measure is full, your prayer will be complete, and the Creator will grant generously, as our sages instructed us, “I labored and found, believe,” for one is unfit for a prayer prior to it, and the Creator hears a prayer.

Our desire is able to achieve everything it desires. The only question is whether it wants this. This is the state that we should bring it to, having developed it to a complete perfect desire, because only this desire works in spirituality.

In the material world, it is possible to pretend, to play some games as if we want to because this world is false. In this world, everything happens within the desire itself, instead of being clarified in the confrontation between the two desires: the desire to receive and the desire to bestow. And if everything is taking place within the same desire, then we are free to fantasize anything we want. After all, in essence, it does not change anything.

All the creation is evaluated only in the area of the interaction between the two desires: receiving and bestowal, the created being and the Creator. And there, in any moment, in any state, in every part of the desires, only one true desire acts, that is, the desire that has reached its fourth and final stage “Behina Dalet.”

So, if you have not been rewarded the correction of your desire to enjoy bestowal this means that you have not reached the last, fourth stage of the desire and you should work more. It is all determined by whether you ask with the true prayer, that is, have reached the fourth state or not.

And this depends on your efforts; you are obliged to “All that is in your power, that do.” That is why we need to check whether we carry out all the advices of Kabbalists and work according to this. And if not, of course you will get nothing. Strict laws act here. In the spiritual world, there is a full HaVaYaH (complete desire). If you have not reached the full HaVaYaH, the fourth stage of desire, then this trigger does not work; you do not attract the Light that Reforms that will change you from egoism to bestowal. It is possible to rise to the next level and achieve revelation only with the help of the Light.

The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of the desire to enjoy in a person that turns into bestowal. This is what is called the revelation of the Creator, because the Creator is the property of bestowal that is manifested in the person when he wants to bestow.

But do you truly want that? It cannot be that you have made every effort imposed on you and it did not happen. According to the law, it has to happen! Therefore, even if you cry out, you need to check whom you are addressing. It is as if the Creator does not hear your cry because it is a law that cannot be transgressed. All these cries are only to awaken yourself, force you to work, to make efforts, and eventually to complete the measure assigned to you.

Baal HaSulam says that you need to know about it in advance so as not to despair and to not give up. Until the very last moment, even the moment before you complete the entire measure of your efforts, you will not know that you have come to the finish. That is why it is called a find; you will obtain the force of bestowal, which you did not know about. Even then, on each next degree, you find something completely new.

Therefore, it is said, “I labored and found!” But this find is a result of all the labors is revealed according to the strict law, which cannot be transgressed.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/11/13

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One Mother For All

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Everything depends on our request from the upper, but how can I be sure that the upper has what I am asking for and that He will want to give it to me if my request is right?

Answer: The right request is called MAN, a prayer. If you intend to ask for something that is very important to you, it isn’t enough just to ask for it. There are so many people like you asking for something. You need something to gain the upper being willing to help you, to win His sympathy. You have to know Him better and understand how to get closer to Him, and to check what He likes. This means that you have to perform different actions in order to please Him and to be near Him.

The request has to be so that your GE or the Reshimo (spiritual gene) that rises towards the upper has to be exactly according to His desire, to the AHP of the upper.

The lower has a Reshimo for the fulfillment of the new state, so how can I get a response from the upper? The upper has a system called “the breasts of an animal” that are always ready to fill the lower, but you have to prepare the right vessel in order to receive a filling in it.

If you bring a sack of coins, you will not be able to receive milk in it. You need a vessel that is designed to receive the Light and that is perfectly suitable for it in quantity, quality, and in its purpose. The purpose is mainly what you need the Light for.

This “animal” is everyone’s mother and not only yours. If you come to it in the name of everyone else and want to receive from her, she will give you want you want, but not otherwise. But you don’t really feel, understand, or accept that. You don’t agree! You hope to be favored by her, and that’s the whole problem.

But mother is exploding with milk… and you only have to ask for everyone, otherwise you will not receive one drop. If you reach the right request, MAN, you promise to convey everything that you have received to humanity, which becomes your AHP and joins your GE. Since this is everyone’s mother, she cannot give less than that; that’s the way she is. She has to give 100% and you have to receive 100%, 100% of a desire to bestow against 100% of the vessel and a deficiency.

You have to be whole as to 100% of what you can give of your vessel, of your Reshimo. Since a “whole adheres to a whole.” If a baby makes one sound asking his mother for food, he requests 10 grams of milk in order to pass to everyone, and so he will receive his 10 grams. But first he has to promise that he does it for the benefit of everyone. If not, the request isn’t whole and we will not receive anything. This may cool a person down a bit and sound disappointing.

Question: But how can I promise that I will convey to everyone what I receive if I am a thief by nature? What if I suddenly steal some of it?

Answer: This is called “a prayer before a prayer.” Ask for a desire before the desire, that you will have a good desire, ask the upper to put the right prayer into your heart. You cannot reach that by yourself of course.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/6/13, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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A Baby’s Squeak Which Shakes The Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe believe that we don’t get an immediate answer to our requests and our prayers, but it isn’t true, you do get an immediate response. You are in an integral system that is internally connected by billions of strings. So there is no way that you perform a certain action either in your thoughts, in your speech, or your actions that doesn’t affect the system. Every tiny change that you undergo internally shakes the whole system. It responds to each and every detail.

It is like one body that responds to every one of its cells, to every desire. You are connected to everyone and cannot perform one single action without shaking the system. Everyone begins to move thanks to you and you constantly change the system. The mechanical actions have a minimal influence on the system and speech also has very little effect. But your intention brings about enormous changes in the whole system, even right now when your intention isn’t exactly the right one but you still are trying to attain it. You are like a baby trying to advance.

We don’t see such an effect in the corporeal world, but in the spiritual world people who are just starting their spiritual work summon a real and powerful response of the whole system by their actions. According to your advancement, you gradually grow from a person who performs actions to a person who serves those who perform actions when you rise to the level of Bina, Hafetz Hesed, or even higher than that. You only serve the lower by helping them, but they are actually the ones who bring about the greatest changes in the system and it is certainly thanks to you.

The state of the upper, whether it is smallness or greatness, depends on the lower, on the MAN, on the prayer, that they raise. But it is they, the smallest ones, that raise MAN (a prayer), and in response to that, the whole system is shaken by responding to their efforts to be incorporated in the system in their understanding and feeling.
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From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/7/13

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The Opening Sluice To The River Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe path to revelation consists of implementing all conditions, again and again, on each degree, until a person comes to the limitless, endless revelation, a perfect adhesion. He reaches adhesion on each degree. Each degree is similar to the next one, the difference is only in the quality and quantity of the details that get accumulated there and make us perceive a degree as a new world every time.

“Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one” derives from the fact that initially, we are in the world of Infinity, fully merged with the force of the Creator, the force of Light. There, there is no difference between the vessel and the Light, and thus there is no Israel, meaning someone who aspires to the Creator. The created being becomes Israel only under condition that it is separated from the Creator but nevertheless aspires to adhere to Him and to reach adhesion, still remaining independent.

Two opposite conditions are needed: From one side, separation from the Creator, and from the other, adhesion. That is, one needs to remain independent—this is the entire meaning of creation.

Israel, the Torah, and the Creator have to connect for us all the time in their final form—as much as we are able to imagine this for now. The creature is equal to the Creator to the extent that it can envision the Creator’s image, His properties that have already been dressed onto the creature. We imagine ourselves as being at the end of the path already, meaning having completed our current degree, because we are unable to think of something beyond our current degree.

But we aspire at least for this, meaning we wish to become Israel and to reach full adhesion with the force of bestowal and love for the wicked and for the righteous, for the enemies and friends alike—till the end of correction. Although in reality, this is only our current degree. After all, everything that we can only imagine to ourselves, the entire creation from end to end, exists within this framework, this very tiniest Sefira, which is being revealed for us now, for the meantime. And still, we must imagine to ourselves that we want to reveal everything, correct everything, and to adhere to the Creator in everything. We want to do it so that the entire world becomes my soul, and all the properties are corrected to bestowal and love.

We picture ourselves corrected in this way, to aspire for this, we study and perform all the necessary actions for this in order to attain this final state: “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” But along the path towards attaining this goal, it’s necessary for us to fulfill the Creator’s commands, meaning to study all types of bestowal, which is what we do in the group. Most important is love for the friends in which all these notions are being clarified.

Having received such instruments out of love of friends, the vessels of Galgalta ve Eynaim, with their help you will be able to correct the receiving vessels, AHP, of that very degree, meaning those who are outside the framework of the group, to the degree when we start relating to everyone in exactly the same way. We relate to the group as to the place of our inner work and the source of strength. Yet, the real place of work is the AHP, meaning the entire world.

GE are created so as to take care of AHP. The breaking occurred namely for this reason, and the sparks of bestowal from GE penetrated into AHP. This way, the rudiments of correction were created in AHP. After all, without it, AHP has no hope for correction.

For this reason we need to always prepare ourselves in our GE, in the group, the studies, our connection, a friendly hug, and seminars, and afterward come out to work with the desires of AHP. The true realization is carried out in AHP, while preparation is in GE.

Although it seems to us as if we correct ourselves while working between ourselves in the group, essentially it is only the work of preparation.

Our work is called the “work of the Creator.” We do not act ourselves, the Light does. Meanwhile, each time, we need to reveal the area in which the Light will be able to work, as it is said: “Open the tip of the needle….” Our request, rising upwards as a prayer, MAN, opens the sluice to the Light, into which it enters and operates. The Creator carries out His work, and we need to only open the entrance for Him. This is called revealing the world: Each time we come to a new world.
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From Preparation for the Lesson 9/11/2013

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