Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

Thought And Feeling

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is thought connected to feeling in creation?

Answer: Malchut that raises its request, the black point of deficiency, is the feeling. But this feeling cannot take on a certain character, volume, or form if it isn’t incorporated in Hochma and Bina. These two forces are meant to build a form called Adam that resembles the Creator, out of the raw and formless desire.

After the request rises to Hochma and Bina two opposite forces begin to operate on it. One force cannot set the direction and there have to be two forces that operate in different directions. The force of receiving and the force of bestowal build a form that is similar to Keter out of the raw material, out of the deficiency of the lower.

Both Hochma and Bina come out of Keter and so Malchut rises to them and asks them: “Build me like Keter since you come out of Keter and know it. So please make me like it.” This is our whole fulfillment.

Malchut doesn’t know what Keter is because it is Above. It’s the “edge of Yod” that we attain. But “from Your actions we shall know You,” which means that we will understand the Creator according to what is made of us, and therefore it’s called a thought.

You don’t need to be very clever in order to fulfill this, since the less wise you become and the closer you are to your inner reality, the better. Spiritual wisdom does not depend on the corporeal mind. No Kabbalist is wiser than ordinary people and isn’t born a genius, but rather has average abilities within the framework of this world.

The need for spirituality is not a result of extra mental abilities or even emotional ones. It’s something that is totally independent of corporeal attributes. So there is nothing to worry about; if you have a desire that forces you to sit and study, it’s enough. It’s a sign that you can develop it, and not by knowledge and different debates. The wisdom comes later, as a result of the spiritual attainment. First, you discover the feeling and only then you grow wise by it. It works in a relatively opposite manner from this world in which the more coldly you think, like a computer or a machine, the better calculations you can make and the wiser you are.

In spirituality everything is the opposite since the spiritual vessel is based on emotion, on the desire to enjoy. All the accounts are in the desire to receive. If you don’t take this desire apart and start playing with it, you will have nothing to work with. How else will you reach the feeling, the understanding, and the attainment?

A thought is the force of Bina, and Bina is totally based on a strong feeling, since it’s the level of Hochma that wanted to resemble Keter. It’s like a guest who discovers that he wants to be like the host since otherwise he cannot exist.

The problem is not just to exist, but to exist in the Light of the host. But this is impossible if you don’t repay Him by at least treating Him as nicely as He treats you. You cannot pay Him like in a restaurant and compensate Him for the expenses He had in preparing the refreshments for you, for the cost of the products, the fuel, the work, plus 20%. He expects a feeling from you that is revealed in thought, in Bina. Everything is fulfilled in the vessel of feeling. So all our advancement stems from disappointment, from tension, and from a feeling of economic shortage, which we translate to a spiritual deficiency.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/13, The Book of Zohar – Introduction

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Leave The Donkey Out Of The Circle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What inner action can I perform in order to help the friends and not just smile at them, but to actually bestow and give internally? I don’t want to just spend some time in the convention and then go home. I want to create and to perform this inner action, so how can I do that?

Answer: We are going to have workshops and you should try to listen to one another, and feel the circle that is formed by your ring. Everyone should lower his head before the others so that he can receive from them. At the same time, everyone can also add to the others, give to them. You should want a special force to appear in the circle, the force that will be shared by all the participants in the circle.

None of us has any feeling or mind of his own left since our own heart and mind belong to the animal, to the donkey, that is left outside the circle. In the circle, however, there are souls and not bodies. You don’t see physical people before you, but only their yearning to connect in order to reveal the Creator. This is for what this exercise is meant.

If we manage to connect correctly, we will begin to feel a certain closeness to something new that we haven’t felt as of yet. There will be a special feeling, a special force that is external to you, that pulls you out of your body. This is the experience we should attain.
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From the Convention in New Jersey 5/10/13, Lesson 1

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Willing To Prepare

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does the desire to resemble the Creator appear in a person?

Answer: That is called a gradual approach to confronting Mount Sinai when I have prepared myself for a new system of values to be formed within me, when the attribute of bestowal becomes for me the highest and most important quality, and although I have no previous conditions for this, I am ready to part with everything for it.

This desire penetrates through the point in the heart that from the beginning exists in each person. But if it is still asleep, lost within the depths of a person’s ego, then there is nothing to be done. One needs to bring it out though gradual influence in a suitable environment that will awaken this point through all kinds of egoistic actions and influences perceived correctly by the person, and a person will feel that it’s worthwhile to do this since the environment confirms it.

This means that we wash and cleanse these layers in order to reach the point in the heart, and when it begins to come forward, a person is willing to give everything in order to realize it.

This is because the questions are unable to receive an answer in the egoistic dimension. This is the result of the previous steps of the influence of the Light on it. Concerning all the questions about his ego, a person gives one answer: “Because that is what I want!” After all, there is no other way to answer the ego. He is not able to justify this unacceptable act from his viewpoint.

However, one needs to approach this gradually. Thus, we need to understand that our dissemination of this system to the world should be done to the same extent that the world agrees and is ready to listen. And on the other hand, the general crisis operates in such a way that people are already able to listen to it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/18/13

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The Major Law Of The Universe

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why is Kabbalah a hidden science?

Answer: Kabbalah is not a hidden science. It simply waits until everybody feels a need for it. Humanity has to realize that there is nothing else in the world except the general law of balance, the basic law of nature. In order to be happy, healthy (in an absolute sense of the word), and rise above this life, exit to the next level at which one can sense eternity, perfection, and unconditional health, we should follow the law of “love thy neighbor….” It’s the major law of the universe and the ultimate goal of the method called Kabbalah.

However, in order to approach this, humanity has to first realize that natural egoistic aspirations only lead us to death. Soon (maybe even today) people will hear that there is a method capable of bringing them to absolute harmony, which translates into absolute health, success, happiness, peace, benevolence, and well-being.

Question: Is it possible to formulate this law some other way? For example, “don’t treat your neighbor the way you don’t want to be treated.”

Answer: Yes, you can verbalize it this way. In any case, you should put yourself in your neighbors’ shoes and act out of this understanding.

This is called balance that expels all diseases out of us. However, there is another hidden problem here. How can balance eliminate illnesses if we are constantly subject to the influence of an awful environment, both human and ecological? No matter how one tries, one’s illnesses will remain intact. Not only does one have to correct oneself, but one also has to correct oneself relative to society and society itself.

We depend on humanity and the entire civilization depends on each of us. However, if one starts correcting only oneself, he’ll become a “dandelion” who admires everybody and everything around. By all means, he will feel more comfortable and balanced, but still one will never achieve the state of genuine health since other people around him are simply parts of his own organism. One has to correct humankind inside oneself; the rest will happen automatically and will instinctively lead to a state of harmony.

Question: If we correct ourselves with regards to humanity, does it mean that we don’t have to mend humanity on a physical level?

Answer: We have to address humanity and try to deliver the truth to them, thus helping them correct themselves. The world will not improve as long as there are people who don’t understand what the law of general balance means on a moral level.
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From KabTV’s “Medicine of the Future,” 4/7/2013

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I Am Above Desire; Desire Is Above Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanAt this time, we are at a certain level of egoism, and its value, relatively speaking, is approximately one gram. Spiritual ascent makes the level of our egoism rise. At the next stage, it will be worth ten grams, then one hundred grams, then it will expand to ten tons, ten million tons, and so on.

Thus, our receiving desires constantly grow, each time making a new spiritual vessel. This is the place where the Creator reveals Himself to us, when our desires are directed to bestowal and the well-being of others. We constantly use our desire, rising above it, while it charges upwards again and again. This is why it’s said: “No matter how much a person rises above others, his evil inclination will still rise above him.”


This begets the stages of spiritual growth during which the vessel, desire, increases within me, and in parallel to it I receive the Light, the property of bestowal.

As a result, by climbing the spiritual ladder, we create more challenging situations, up to hatred, felt by Rabbi Shimon’s disciples in the beginning of their studies. It’s impossible to grow without going through this stage. This explains why we have to be happy when we reveal the “wicked” within ourselves— after all, we can now correct them.

Question: While it happens to us, who acquires new vessels: the entire group or an individual?

Answer: Only those who experience internal leaps of egoism are able to acquire new vessels. We apply a group effort that each one of us benefits from to the extent of one’s individual contribution. Subsequently, if one’s participation in general work is not enough, he receives the least out of it since he doesn’t have a “place” to accommodate anything bigger.

Everything happens proportionately to the affliction we go through; there are no compromises. Our efforts are equal to our ability to absorb new portions of the Light. We can never “digest” more than we have contributed, never more than we give, since our bestowal, our straining, our desire, allows us to feel the results.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/13, Writings of Rabash

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A Failed Exam

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that it’s necessary to try to see the Creator behind everything, including my thoughts and emotions. But when something bad happens, it’s very difficult to hold onto Him, not to speak about getting out of such states. Why does the Creator put us into conditions above which we are unable to rise? Intellectually, I understand the need to surmount this, but it’s impossible.

Answer: There are no states above which we are unable to rise. Every state accurately matches our present level, which makes it possible for us to overcome it. If we make the effort and fail, this says that we have not sufficiently prepared a base.

Suppose you have to take a test, and you want very much to succeed in this test. But you haven’t prepared enough, and therefore, no matter how much you “sweat,” no matter how much you try to answer the questions, this doesn’t help. So, what’s the point of complaining that you invested all your energy and failed?

So, humanity and each individual evolve according to a program, and if we prepare ourselves and our environment correctly, it cannot be that we will not succeed in overcoming all the states that we encounter on the way. For these states do arrive in stages according to a precise program, and we receive everything necessary to be ready for them.
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From the Convention in New Jersey 5/10/13, Lesson 1

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The Technology Of The “Wisdom Of The Crowd”: A Unified Image

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In an integral group everyone needs to humble himself towards all and simultaneously rise above all. What does this mean?

Answer: When we discuss something, uniting between each other, we nourish each other. Suppose that our friend is speaking. So, on one hand, we seemingly try to enter him, to feel him, to be together with him. On the other, when I am speaking, then everyone is included within me.

It follows that when my friend expresses himself, I nullify myself completely and try to absorb everything that he is feeling and thinking, in heart and mind. And when it’s my turn, I bring everything out of myself, and everyone else is included in me in an identical manner. This is the first, smallest precondition.

In addition, people need to understand that they have to rise above the ego and not look at the faces of the others: I don’t like your glasses, I don’t like his nose, I don’t like his hair, and so forth. This is to say, I completely divest myself of the external appearance of those participating in the conversation. We try to gather our emotions, heart, and mind together. And when this shared heart and shared mind, that is, the feelings and thoughts that typify an individual are united, this creates one unified image that is called a “crowd” or a “group”; otherwise this is not even a crowd.

In our world we consider a crowd to be a mob that gathers in the town square to beat someone. It’s very easy to manage an average crowd. This is not so in the integral society. In this group of people, clear protection appears. In fact, no external force can do anything to them because they rise to another level, working at another frequency.

When people create a unified image, all of our usual earthy stereotypes, disturbances, and influences don’t affect them—they have another level of perception.
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From KabTV’s “The Wisdom of the Crowd” 5/6/13

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Transmission Of Thoughts

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is known that thoughts can be transmitted over distance. According to scientific research, if 10% of people out of the collective whole think or feel a certain way, then this will spread like a virus to the rest.

Answer: This is in regard to egoistic thoughts. Naturally, it can be made so that people will begin to sense whatever it is that you discuss and think about in your circles, even if they don’t know or hear anything about it. They simply begin to hear.

This is usually what happens with all thoughts—people begin to have a hunch. What we discuss now, they will begin to hear a few months later through different media sources or from people on the street.

This happens due to the fact that we exist in a single system. However, this doesn’t mean people will become interested in what they hear. They will come to it gradually, actively advancing forward. A very long period of their development still needs to take place, and this is actually what we are seeing.

Transmission of thoughts in the world, even if it stems from various egoistic motives, is a natural process that in reality, always has had its place.
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From KabTV’s “The Wisdom of the Crowd” 5/6/13

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Prayer As A Systematic Action

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Whenever we speak about asking something from the Creator, it seems like an attempt to escape reality. After all, I don’t see the Creator and I don’t know who He is. If creation is managed by fixed laws, then how can I ask anything from them?

Answer: A request is not just words. When you ask for something, you discover a deficiency, a demand. This deficiency is a force, a “minus,” a negative that draws fulfillment. With this, you turn to the “plus,” to the positive, and draw it, activating the force.

Let go of the corporal picture of the bodies, trees, animals… Erase it, and, behind it, you will discover a void with two forces, a positive one and a negative one. Then, you will be able to activate the negative force intentionally as you choose selectively, and through that you necessarily will activate the positive force that is opposite to it.

You were given a chance to control your negative force. Other people wander in this void having no freewill and no understanding, just like particles that are influenced by different forces. Although you are a particle too, you were given the opportunity to focus your charge in a certain direction. This means that you operate a desire or a prayer, or, in other words, a deficiency or a request.

Although the words confuse us, we must remember that it is about forces. Therefore, it says that everything is attained by the force of prayer. We already know what a prayer is: It is the work in the heart that arranges the desires and directs them so that they can change the current map of forces.

I can change all the forces through my desire that is directed in a certain way. It is great work, real work in the field of forces. There is nothing but that. All the other “attires” are fictitious.

So, the wisdom of Kabbalah tells you that you are a force, a desire, and how you can focus yourself and be an active and even a beneficial force.

Thus, you understand that if you don’t do anything in the field of forces, you remain a zero. However, Kabbalists tell you that this isn’t so. If you were just an “animal,” you would remain a zero, but since you are given different opportunities that you don’t fulfill, then you are not just a “zero,” but a harmful force. Then, you must be “shaken” so that you will understand that.

I repeat, erase the picture of our fictitious world from your imagination, and feel that you are in a world of two forces: a negative one and a positive one, a desire to receive and a desire to bestow. We were given the opportunity to connect the two, and the connection between the “plus” and the “minus” is determined by resistance.

There are different types of resistance: a simple resistor, a cable, and so on. Certain factors create fields, and other factors create linear forces. The spiritual system also is varied and full. Some of the activities are fulfilled by the Surrounding Lights, as in a conduction coil; other Lights sustain the current state and don’t allow the force to burst, like a cable, and there are Lights that reduce the force or those that increase it. In addition, these forces connect in two lines that continue the three lines.

Generally speaking, it is about very complex systems that operate these two forces. To “pray” means to fulfill the opportunity you were given to increase your force. Thus, I change the whole system as if I have another supplier of power. Actually, there is no other supplier, but I use other suppliers like a solar panel that receives the sun’s energy and converts it, aiming at another function, for example, heating water or generating electricity.

So, a prayer or a request is the force that I operate in the system. I don’t simply ask the Creator to give me something. No, I know for sure what force I activate, how exactly I activate it, and what I can get in response. This is indeed an active spiritual act.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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The Place For A New World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does a person feel when he is receiving the Torah?

Answer: He feels that his attitude toward others is changing. He begins to understand that precisely in relationships with others, there, in the middle between them, is a place for the new world, new states, new development above at a higher level.

By establishing a mutual connection, we form between ourselves the third factor: the upper one. This is the soul; this is the Creator whom we reveal. This is the upper world, which lies not just anywhere but precisely between us in the form of the middle line.


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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/1/13, “The Mutual Guarantee”

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