Entries in the 'Prayer and Intention' Category

Pray For The Internal Power Of Bestowal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean to ask the Creator? Do I have to acquire His attributes for that?

Answer: To ask is to search, demand, and even ask for my own transformation. After all, I have to express my own desire for it. I sentence myself (this is the meaning of “to pray” or “Lehitpalel” in Hebrew), I investigate which attributes I lack and how I can attain the force of bestowal.

This force exists inside the society. Therefore, if I enter the society, develop a desire to “clothe” in my friends with all my heart and soul, and connect with them internally so as to totally dissolve in this connection, then I will find the power of bestowal there. This is exactly what I pray for.

I pray to reach such a state in which I will see that everyone is perfect and connected. This situation is called Shechina (Divinity), the general gathering of souls (Knesset Israel). I want to be there, and I pray for the connection that brings together all the souls yearning for “Yashar-El” (straight to the Creator) to be realized in me.

I don’t turn to some external power or desire that exists independently, or to some imaginary figure. All the prayers are aimed at Malchut (of the world of Atzilut or the world of Infinity), to the connection between us, in which we discover mutual bestowal. I want this state to be revealed to me, and this is what is ask for.

This is a very delicate point, and we have to be careful not to start imagining some statue or figure, but only the state in which we are connected and incorporated in each other, tied together in complete bestowal. More correctly, it should be called an attribute and not a force because a force may seem as something distant, while an attribute is what I intend to acquire myself. These are very slight differences, but they determine the cleanliness of my attitude, and hence they are so crucial.

It says: “There is none else besides Him,” however, we have to imagine this as our state in a perfect system. Then we can be sure that we won’t be mistaken.
[55348]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/2011, Shamati $#240

Related Material:
The Wave That Carries Us Upward
Cries Won’t Help
Prayer Is Judgment Over Yourself

Cries Won’t Help

Dr. Michael LaitmanOur problem is that we cry out from the pain that our egoism has caused us. But the Creator is deaf and unreceptive to this kind of cry. We can cry as much as we want. We have witnessed terrible suffering throughout history, but the upper force doesn’t seem to pay attention to it.

This is because the purpose of creation, the Thought of Creation, and its entire system is built so as to bring the egotistic desire to correction, to the intention to bestow. If we don’t cry in order to acquire the attribute of bestowal, but on the contrary, we demand good for our egoism, we get the opposite result and only make our situation worse. We invite a much stronger negative effect, from which we will learn how to cry out correctly.

This is the problem of humanity, which doesn’t understand the upper governance. All the heaviness that we feel, all the hardships, and our disagreement with the Creator stem from the fact that we don’t understand His plan and expect Him to change and to do something for us. But He won’t do anything! There is a plan for the correction of the shattering, and I need to use it. That’s all.

If I don’t do that, I can cry just as everyone has done for ages, and whom did it help? By our crying, pleading, and attempting to fill our ego, we only increase our desire to receive and we receive harder blows until we reach total despair, which we are starting to feel now. This is so that we will finally understand that salvation will only come from our correction and not from egotistic demands. There is no one to ask from!

It is only possible to turn to a corrected system, which is one level above me and which I perceive as total darkness since it is a system of bestowal. If I want to adapt to it and be like it, I can ask for that. This is what I will receive—if I really ask for this.

My request will be fulfilled if I ask to bestow in order to be the one who bestows, and not in order to feel better.
[55351]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/2011, Shamati $#240

Related Material:
The Wave That Carries Us Upward
Pray For The Internal Power Of Bestowal
How Can An Egoist Pray For Bestowal?

The Wave That Carries Us Upward

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I reach the demand for the Creator if I feel that I am nothing compared to Him?

Answer: Our work is not to engage in soul-searching, but to focus on our environment. There is nothing more we have to work on but our attitude, our coming closer and connecting with others, which stems from the shattering of the vessels.

The Creator is what is revealed in our corrected vessels. We should worry about the vessels because the upper Light is at absolute rest. The more the vessels become equal to the Light, the attribute of bestowal, the more they reveal this attribute, and this is called the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.

How can a radio receive and transmit signals? After all, these sounds do not exist in the air? It is because we “arouse” in the radio the same radio wave that exists outside. According to the equivalence of form, these two waves unite and begin to resonate. Thus they produce the result of their unity in the radio, which we hear as sound.

Clearly, we cannot hear radio waves; our ear does not detect such frequencies. However, this main, “carrying” wave has some extra element, harmony. And if we reach equivalence with the main wave, we begin to hear this extra element, the hidden voice inside.

All our senses work according to this principle, and this is how we have to tune ourselves to the connection with the Creator.
[55354]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/22/2011, Shamati $#240

Related Material:
Cries Won’t Help
Pray For The Internal Power Of Bestowal
The Simple Law Of Mutual Guarantee

Just Like In A Light Bulb Filament

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can one reach a prayer about bestowal instead of about oneself?

Answer: This is called a “prayer of many,” and it is only possible to reach it by virtue of Light. If I wish to reveal my true desires in order not to be in an illusion that I already exist in the spiritual world and bestowal, and if I wish to understand my true place, then I need the Light to illuminate myself to me.

The revelation of evil is only possible under the condition that the Light precedes the desire, when I want it myself. And then the Light comes and reveals this desire to me, and I see one against the other. As a consequence of this, I strive to goodness, wishing to replace my intention.

We need to change our intention. This is the only action that works as a trigger and causes this overturning. The Light brings me from an egoistic intention to an intention to bestow. Therefore, we need to aspire to this force that performs all the changes in the creature.

The Creator created my desire that acts as evil, and He can also turn it into good. An egoistic intention is revealed from a breaking. When we become more distant from each other, this is called evil. We reveal the extent of our unification above this separation.

It is impossible to destroy the separation as if it didn’t exist. The distance stays, but we build connections of love above it and thus reveal 620 times more Light! You discover resistance between souls, and precisely in this separation, instead of the Light of Nefesh de Nefesh, you reveal NRNHY, like in a light bulb filament.
[55051]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/9/2011, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
Going Towards Each Other
The Prayer That Draws The Light To Us
How Can An Egoist Pray For Bestowal?

How Are We Different?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Without mentioning the science of Kabbalah in our dissemination, we are simply telling people that mutual guarantee will provide them with a good life. In that case, how are we different from other organizations that hand out similar promises?

Answer: It’s bad if you don’t feel the difference.

The modern person is experiencing a global, integral crisis. In this way, the Creator is showing him that he is connected with others the wrong way and that he has to reach mutual guarantee. There is a method that will help him unite with others correctly and to start living a good life. This method operates by creating the appropriate atmosphere, a “shell” out of the environment, which gives a person the explanation of how to live together and lead a good, healthy, safe life.

A person hears this and understands that there is no other solution. And others hear the same thing, so it’s easier to make this happen conjointly, together with them. A person learns to unite with others the right way, and in the process he attracts the Light that reforms to himself. This is the same thing that children do while playing, becoming older and smarter in the process.

Thus, when a person finds himself in a bad situation, he uses others to attract the Light, and gradually he starts valuing the force of bestowal. He holds it in high regard and it becomes the highest value for him. And suddenly he begins respecting it so much that even when everything in his life is going ok, he does not abandon bestowal, wishing to enact it regardless of his sensations. That’s because he attributes the primary importance to it.

That is how a person becomes spiritual, going from the egoistic intention, Lo Lishma to the altruistic one, Lishma. And there is no chance that 99% of the population will reach correction in any other way. Can you recommend anything else besides the Torah?

I think the problem is an elementary misunderstanding of how to advance AHP. We have known how to correct Galgalta Eynaim since the times of Babylon, but to correct AHP, this is the only means we have.
[54407]
From the New York lecture #2, 9/12/11

Related Material:
Becoming The Center Of Good
Learning To “Share Everything”
“The Living Water” For All Humanity
A Fire Extinguisher For Humanity

Between The Desired And The Actual

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: While reading The Zohar, should we try to search for the connection between us in the mind or in the sensations?

Answer: We should search for it in our sensations. If we’re unable to find it, the mind should assist us. However, first and foremost we should try to find an emotional connection.

The Zohar describes the already existing connection between us. This connection will reveal itself as Malchut of the world of Infinity, full of the Light of Infinity, the presence and the revelation of the Creator. This is what we must aspire towards.

Hence, when reading The Zohar, we try to imagine the correct connection between us. Today the necessity for this type of connection between all of humanity is becoming apparent. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed to everyone. It demands from those of us who have received an awakening and have begun to study a bit before the rest to disseminate it in the entire world so that everyone could realize that we are in a crisis, that our current connection no longer works, and we must reveal a new connection between us.

This new connection cannot be discerned in the natural, egoistic way, as it was done before because this connection already exists in the global, integral system permeated by mutual guarantee, the system that is somewhat becoming revealed in the world. Therefore, a problem arises: A better type of connection manifests to us, but we still relate to it egoistically. The crisis is the gap between the desired state that is becoming revealed in the world and the actual state we are in. This is a crisis.

The reading of The Book of Zohar, the study of Kabbalah in its entirety, and all our efforts should lead us to a state where we become similar to the connection network that is being revealed between us. After all, it’s being revealed as far more corrected than we are in our broken state. When we analyze the situation, we ourselves say that the world has become interconnected, while we have not.
[53716]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/5/2011, The Zohar

Related Material:
A Systematic Discrepancy
A Chance To Take The Next Step
Settings For Revelation

A Prayer Is A Desire For Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the Creator is my inner property, then who do I raise my prayer to?

Answer: You are raising it to that perfect property which you need to reach. To pray means to desire to obtain some connection with something you want to become closer to. A prayer is a desire, a need for connection, as it is said: “I desire!”

The connection can be external, meaning from a distance, or it can be close and more internal to the extent that there is no difference between us. In either case this is connection. There is nothing else in our reality besides being further or closer to something. I want to distance myself from something bad and be closer to something good to the extent that I become included in him or he becomes included in me.

The way that we feel our connection depends upon the spiritual degrees where we exist. If we sense the upper degree, then it is a more inner connection, where the AHP of the upper one exists in the GE of the lower one. If we sense the lower degree, we enter its inner part and act there.

However, there is nothing other than drawing further away or closer. My entire prayer and all desires are about this: to either become closer to something or distance myself from it.
[53310]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/2011, The Zohar

Related Material:
There Is No Empty Space, All Is Filled With Desires
Walking The Tight Wire Straight To The Creator
Write A Prayer

A Prayer, Growing Secretly In The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanTurning Above with an appeal (raising MAN) is an action we do not feel. It is a consequence of many actions, deeds, hours of study, work on dissemination, uniting with the group, and internal analysis. All of this accumulates more and more until we reach a state where this cup overflows.

That is the reason why a person does not know when it will happen. He is putting in the effort, training, trying to prepare himself, and finally, he comes to execute this action as a result of all the great, provisional preparation. Then, he can say something about it.

However, in reality, this action is accumulated outside of himself, and it actually is not him preparing and finally executing the action. That is why it is said: “Each penny is accumulated into a big account.” Then, this common, large account activates in the upper one, forcing it to take action. All of the actions obey the law of equivalence of form, and that is why it happens when the appeal of the lower one begins to correspond to what the upper one is ready to do to him.

MAN is a prayer, an appeal, a desire, with which I turn to Above, and this is the only thing that I am capable of doing. When I call to Above with an appeal, I do not know whether it is correct or not. I do not know whether I have or have not done it because a prayer is called “the work in the heart,” and that is why we do not feel how we raise the prayer, the sparks left behind after the breaking (Reshimot).

We do not know what is really going on in the depths of our heart, and we only feel the consequence when we receive the answer to our prayer. The answer is felt in the heart. It expands and begins to perceive new phenomena from a different dimension, which is something that a person has never felt, understood, or known before.

The heart widens as a person comes out of himself and incorporates more and more into his circle. First, his circle includes a part of the world and then, the entire world, all of the upper worlds, and the spiritual steps.
[52428]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/24/2011, Shamati #81

Related Material:
All Requests Come From Below, And All Fulfillment Comes From Above
All The Difference Is In Intention
Pushing Through The Skies

All The Difference Is In Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Two forces act in the world: the force of bestowal and the force of the desire to receive, created as existence from absence. What is my “I,” my intention? Where does it come from?

Answer: We do not feel the Creator because we are in one desire: the desire to enjoy. Even if I want to give, it is just for fun. In reality, I am confused in intention and action. My action can be either reception or bestowal. And it can be accompanied by the intention to receive for myself or the intention to give to the other. There is nothing else, and this is our whole life.

In our world, there is an action to receive and an action to give to the other, as well as the intention to receive for oneself. But the intention to give to the other is non-existent; I do not have that ability. I can give something to somebody or receive something from somebody, but my intention is directed exclusively at receiving for myself, whereas the intention to bestow to the other belongs to the spiritual world, but I cannot reach it. It is not my fault: I am created like that.

There is no confusion here at all: My entire routine is aimed at self-enjoyment.

What I need is an intention, and it is the most important thing for me (!), regardless of what action I perform: giving or receiving. I perform bestowal to my child, to those whom I love, to friends, and even to my employer because I receive a reward in a natural way or in money, in the form of respect, power, and so on.

The key here is the intention, according to which I operate. How can I achieve the intention for the sake of bestowal to fellow human beings? And what will it give me?

This is where the problem occurs. If all of reality exists outside of me, then what I currently receive inside is only its tiny part called “this world.” It is terribly small, tight, limited in time, space, and everything else, but by crossing to the other side, I will get rid of any limitations.

This is the difference between the intentions. If my intention is aimed at myself, I will not be able to feel anything greater than I perceive today. If my intention is directed at unity with the other, to be in him, then I save myself from this horrible life with its fatal end and ascend to the next degree of life; I live outside the body. The only difference is in intention.
[52692]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/2011, “One Commandment”

Related Material:
Do Not Make Yourself An Idol
To Precede Desire With Intention
Purifying The Intention

To Precede Desire With Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it that even in the spiritual world intention and desire don’t merge into a single whole, but remain two separate things?

My Answer: We must always be concerned with the intention. The desire will be revealed in compliance with the intention, but no more. The desire is revealed in accordance with the screen and the Reflected Light.

Indeed, my desire is very big—it is Malchut of the world of Infinity. But my screens can be different: from the smallest to the largest. The size of the screen is split into 125 “portions,” and if I reveal the desire along with them, then I am always in balance in that I have one intention.

Every one of us contains Malchut of Infinity, unbounded with all its Reshimot. Only a restriction is placed on it, and now it gradually reveals itself to us, but only in accordance with the size of the screen, or the intention.

Our behavior must be similar: Our whole work is done in the intentions, which determine the revelation of our desires. If the desires are revealed before the intentions, then we suffer. And conversely, if we care to develop the intentions first, then we walk the good path. In other words, if I cultivate the intention, then I walk the path of the Torah. But if the desire is revealed before the intention, then I develop by the path of suffering.

Our destiny lies between these two opportunities.
[52688]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/26/11, “One Commandment”

Related Material:
All Requests Come From Below, And All Fulfillment Comes From Above
A Request To Be Made Human
Don’t Psychoanalyze Yourself