Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

A Bridge Over The Eternal Conflict

From the lesson dedicated to Israel’s Independence Day

On a day like today, we usually don’t speak about deficiencies, meaning the unfulfilled desires, but we always measure everything with regard to the vessels.

First we have to understand that the term “Israel” symbolizes the intention of “Yashar – El,” (straight to the Creator). We will actually celebrate the real independence day of Israel when we are freed from the domination of our ego, when we unite above self love, when we keep this connection at least on a minimal level, and when it prevails over the separated desire that rages inside us as the evil inclination. Then the power of unity will rule over the power of separation. This is the exodus from exile to independence.

Are we free on the corporeal level? Is our group free in the spiritual world? This is what we should ask ourselves and measure. After all, everything is relative, and as we ascend the spiritual levels, we will discover the powerful size of the separation over and over again, according to the new Reshimot, (reminiscences). Then we will acquire the power of unity with the help of the Reforming Light.

This is the way—the unity and the separation alternately replace each other. So where is our independence? It narrows down to our supervision over the process. Even when we fall and seem to lose our independence under the rule of evil desires, we still know how to rise. Therefore, we are called independent.

Today we are still dominated by our egoistic needs and desires. In this world we are not united as a nation yet, we still reject one another and do not want brotherly love, we don’t accept it as our goal yet, but see it as an option: It is desirable, it’s possible but “there is no rush.” And we feel pain since this fire isn’t burning in us.

We are in a state of exile and not in a state of freedom and independence. After all, independence means that at least we make the efforts to attain it. We have received all the necessary means from Above in order to determine our independence, rising above our ego in general unity. We haven’t attained it yet in order to immediately pass it on to the people and to the world.

All our friends throughout the world need to feel this, both in corporeality and in spirituality, and we must fulfill our mission and reach the independence of the desire to bestow over the desire to receive. This is called “faith above reason.” This is what we are facing.

The uniqueness of our times is in the fact that everything is ready for correction. The world is approaching this and we understand this better and have what it takes. No one is standing in our way, not physically, not morally, and not mentally. We don’t have fierce enemies that stop us from carrying out our mission.

So the problem is only in us. We have to actually feel that we are under the domination of Pharaoh that reigns within us, an alien force, and it alone does not allow us to wage war for independence.

Question: There is a growing need for a change. Everyone understands the reason for all our problems already, we understand that it is all about the environment, about the separation and the lack of mutual trust… how can people reach a common perspective?

Answer: “Love will cover all sins.” This is the whole secret. We don’t correct anything directly, but we simply build our unity above all the problems and the disagreements.

By being in a labyrinth of opposites we will not achieve anything. If you start clarifying this swamp, Egypt will simply “swallow” you, and bury you under its massive pyramids. This is the exile in Egypt from which we will not be able to rise if we work directly with the defects that are revealed among the friends. We mustn’t do it. This is why Pharaoh, the ego, forces us and seems to logically be showing us the problems that need to be solved first. He is saying: “Bravo, keep on dealing with the spiritual advancement, but only in my territory, in the corrupt mutual relations among us.” We mustn’t listen to him!

Leave the ego, you are not correcting it, you want to build a bridge of love over it. Only then will you succeed, in “faith above reason.” After all, spirituality is above corporeality. The Creator has arranged things this way, and so I only have to escape Pharaoh, or in other words, to rise above him. We don’t have to destroy or to correct him. When I begin to build something above him, the “angel of death” will turn into “the holy angel.” This is what Moses is asking for: “Let my people go!”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/26/12, “The Israeli Nation (Independence Day)”

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Our World Through The Prism Of Spirituality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I try to see the world through the point of unity, I feel that joy and material objects lose their importance to me. What are the criteria that define the significance of your activities? How do we all “build the world?” Do we have to completely rearrange our system of values?

Answer: We should reorganize our system of values anyway. Our goal is to strive to achieve compliance with nature, that is, earn our living, stay alive, and attain harmony with nature without looking at or waiting for others while they go through their personal crises, their ups and downs. If a person rigidly, firmly, and actually places himself into this condition and tries to harmonize his life with nature, nothing can harm him.

It’s normal that this kind of attitude to life makes you happy. Besides, you should “tune” into the right type of business activities and correct relationships with family and the rest of the world. In other words, you should make up your mind about how to rearrange things that constitute your life and make them more rational.

I think that the entire world is involuntarily going this way. Gradually, it becomes obvious that, one way or another, we’ll either change the world and our personal state in it through a clear realization of the situation we are already in or nature will force us to do so by forcing us to limit our actions to such a degree that we will be cut off from the future if we don’t bother to understand that our current approach doesn’t work. However, it’s a very long and painful process.

I hope that dissemination of our knowledge will lead people to understand that only under the above-stated condition will a person reach the most rational and comfortable existence, and begin to sense, above everything else, the higher reality through the notion of an integral world.

A person enters the state of unity and eternity. He can clearly feel it. Matter dissolves and falls apart like shagreen leather. We witness a totally different world, the world of forces that our senses perceive to be a certain picture. It’s very real and, in fact, is truly close to us.

In my opinion, you should change your everyday life, the world around you, and the work you are doing in accordance with the level at which you are. However, it has to be done only to the degree of your understanding of spiritual methodology while transitioning to a higher step and becoming equivalent to it.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/26/12

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Pharaoh’s Tricks

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Looking back on the way, I see how Pharaoh is constantly walking by me. Not long ago a new trend has emerged, systematic vector psychology, and many think it is very similar to Kabbalah. This means that Pharaoh is becoming more cunning.

Answer: The Kabbalistic method is very direct. It speaks about one thing only, but gradually it reveals more and more. A person discovers greater depth and motion in the Kabbalistic text ,and if he operates accordingly, he reaches a point of adhesion with the Creator, with the one force that manages everything. Everything else was invented by man.

But in order to direct us to Him, this force constantly formats us more accurately, more finely, until we become as sharp as the attribute of bestowal, in order to enter the “needle’s eye.”

Throughout history man has invented different methods. 3,800 different methods, beliefs, and religions have officially been counted, but there can be more or less since they disappear for lack of believers. New theories are constantly emerging. Since the middle of the 20th century there have been many new methods based on different scientific findings. In addition there have been many methods that are used by secret services, for example, the development of a person’s internal mental powers. People don’t even know about it.

All these methods are based only on the ego and its development. If it seems that it is a development above the ego, it is still altruistic egoism that characterizes 10% of the world’s population who want to do each other good, to preserve the ecology, to protect nature, the animals, etc. In other words they deal with the altruism of our world, yet it is still the same egoism.

There is a very thin border, a struggle, clarifications, and examinations: “So what is the pure method for attaining the upper Light?” It comes down to the constant internal clarification of our direction.

I believe that all the other methods are very helpful. Everything in the world was created in order to help “clean” people from different confusions and mistakes.

On this basis we have to clarify what the truth is. This means that you don’t clarify psychology, not different methods of intellectual training and not ESP, but rather resemblance to the Light, by drawing the Light upon you. This is the whole difference between the Kabbalsitic method and other methods.

All the new methods that seemingly resemble Kabbalah are given to us by Pharaoh or by the Creator through Pharaoh. It is written: “I have hardened his heart,” and this is in order to sift, to sort out, the people who may be a burden on our groups.

So we shouldn’t feel sorry about the many people who come and that later 90% of them leave. The wisdom of Kabbalah chooses only those who belong to the Creator, those who can really mediate between Him and the rest of humanity. The spiritual world is built on quality not on quantity.

We are happy about every person who arrives, but everyone is free to choose. We don’t underestimate anyone in any way, but if a person leaves, it is his free will. This means that he still has to work on himself on other levels and he isn’t ready to come yet. He received something from us; he will later process it, and after a while will return to us. If he doesn’t, then he has his own way and he will end it in his next life, while we want to finish it in this life.

The wisdom of Kabbalah spreads knowledge, like a farmer who plants seeds while walking in the plowed field, and if someone picks up what falls, that’s good. It doesn’t depend on our desire. We can only hope that as many people as possible will hear about it and then it is already the Creator’s work.
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From KabTV’s “Foundations Of The Integral Society” 4/08/12

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Steady Ascent

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You mentioned that the convention lessons lack pressure. In what way is the demand during the morning lesson different from the demand during the lessons at the convention?

Answer: We don’t come to the convention in order to learn, but in order to connect. Of course there will be the element of study, all kinds of drawings, explanations of the “worlds,” “Sefirot,” “Partzufim,” etc., but this is not the main thing.

The main thing is to attain the next level of connection between us. It disconnects and renews, disconnects and renews, so that this reconnection will already be on the next level and stronger.

We are anticipating a series of meetings in Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and New York, and we need to go through these stages in such a way that they really become a steady ascent, one after the other.
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From the Virtual Lesson 4/22/12, Preparation to the Congress

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One Instead Of Billions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should a person do in order to annul himself? How can this be implemented practically in the group?

Answer: This is why there should be one instead of ten. Instead of millions or billions, there should be one. This means that we should feel like one. If you cannot annul yourself before the friends, you will not be able to advance, and to allow the Light to be revealed. The first restriction (Tzimtzum Aleph) is the condition according to which everything operates, and then comes the next part, the next stage.

Question: What should I do in order to annul myself? What should I think about?

Answer: You should think that you want the friends to attain everything, and this is the only thing that makes you happy. How does a mother think about her child? “I want him to have everything. It doesn’t matter what will become of me, what’s important is that he will be okay.”
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Workshop 2

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Protected By The Mother’s Safe Shield

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the spreading of the attributes of Bina downward, which helps the lower one?

Answer: Bina spreads downward and changes our attributes by enabling us to feel the Light of Hassadim, bestowal. The influence of Bina provides a person with protection, a shield, like a mother who protects her child. When a baby is in his mother’s arms, no one can harm him thanks to her Light of Hassadim that scares away the forces of impurity, the shells (Klipot.)

Egoistic forces retreat before the Light of Hassadim (Mercy); they are afraid of the mother. After all, she shines with the Light of bestowal that is totally opposite to them, and they cannot understand it and be next to it.

Try to stop a person on the street and tell him that he must love others. Can you imagine the negative response you would encounter because this is a most hateful and repulsive thing for a person? Thus, Bina protects us.

Can you see how the spiritual world guards itself from us, the egoists? If you really want spirituality, please, come and bestow! But if you want to receive spirituality, these two things don’t go together. Spirituality is bestowal.

So, until we are ready, it protects itself from us with a shield. We cannot even get near the spiritual world because it repels us like the two poles on a magnet.

Why should I get near something like that if there is no benefit in it, only losses? How can I get close to something that means death for my ego?

So, by spreading in the lower Partzuf, the mother (Ima) covers all its vessels, thus ensuring that they will remain in holiness. The intention of “in order to receive” cannot be evoked in such a place when the mother protects us this way.

Then, the mother’s beauty is revealed, Hochma, and it becomes attractive, like a woman, a bride, a sister. However, this is when Hochma is revealed within Bina. Bina, itself, isn’t attractive; it only provides protection.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, 4/23/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Constant Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Considering the fact that everyone lives in different time zones and everyone has different time constraints, is there a possibility for a certain platform to exist one day, where there will always be a seminar going on so people could connect to it when it is convenient for them? Or does a seminar need to begin and end within a certain framework?

Answer: I think that all this can be saved on some kind of a storage medium, and people can enter through the Internet and study in any form convenient to them: alone or as a group.

Of course it is best to study as a group. It is best to study when you are free from any disturbances, etc. But in general, it does not matter. You are gradually entering a virtual force, which you are not yet able to perceive. This work is psychological.

Baal HaSulam writes that this is the continuation of materialistic psychology, but this psychology is of our next level of development, which works with desires and intentions, the things that our corporeal psychology also works with. There is nothing mysterious or mystical about this. We must develop these qualities in us! And nothing else.

There are many people in the world, for example the Bedouins in Israel, who can feel nature very well and are able to tell what is happening 50-100 kilometers from them by reading the tiniest signs; they do not even know how they do it. They feel the Earth, or can tell what is happening in the world according to the behavior of an animal.

We once possessed these feelings too. But they have simply disappeared in us since we have stopped using them. And now we are developing new senses. When you start attending a music school, you gradually develop pitch, musical memory, etc. If you do not develop these things, you remain an amateur. You can develop anything.

Basically, this rudimentary organ exists in us. We simply must develop it. And Kabbalah tells us how to develop the perception of the upper force. We were developing normally in our world, while we did not need it. But now we have reached a state when we do not see a solution without it. We must reveal it.

Imagine when the entire program of nature, all the knowledge, all the qualities, everything passes through you, and you see and feel all of this—then what kind of problems or crises could there be?! Instead of seeing all this as disturbances, you see it as help, birthing contractions, which help you to be born. You are being pushed to the next level. This is what I see in the world instead of a crisis.

And once the people see it, they will go forward with joy and gratitude!
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From the Vlinius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 2

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A Never-Ending Workshop

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: At the workshop, I felt the interaction between the masculine and feminine parts. This was an absolutely extraordinary feeling! Now an intensification needs to occur that is amplified not tenfold, but a hundredfold. From where do I obtain this addition, this intensification? What needs to be done, and by whom, right now or at the next workshop?

Answer: A workshop shouldn’t end. A workshop is a small, intermediate stepping stone to the next degree. We shouldn’t forget this state, but keep it within us. If we go outside or sit down to a meal, we maintain the same state as now.

The meal should proceed calmly. Don’t disturb a person sitting next to you with some extraneous questions. There should be minimum discussion.

I’m not saying that you should withdraw into yourself, by no means. But every person should feel that they have time for thoughts and feelings. And the most important thing is to preserve what we felt right now. This is the state that we need to come to.

And after a meal, try to preserve this state even more, because any disturbances that are here and there need to be connected toward the strengthening of our present feeling.

Everything needs to pass smoothly from one into another. Practically the whole congress is one single action. In principle, this should all be accompanied by steady movement with constant ascent.

I am asking you not to lose what you are receiving, collect it bit by bit, the way a child accumulates knowledge and skills and becomes big. This is why all the disturbances should immediately be attached to the movement forward. You will see how fruitful they are. It is thanks to them that we advance. It is written that egoism is “help against you.” It is against, but it is indeed help.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Workshop 2 

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Penetrate Inside Creator’s World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In your opinion, was it important to have voiced our common demand during the workshop? I had a feeling that at some point you were nudging the focus group towards expressing “Creator, fill us! We are ready. Change us.” Should these words be said out loud? Or perhaps only “I sensed. I felt…?”

Answer: No. We have to move forward through Kabbalistic sources. We need to read articles, analyze them, and precisely through these articles to penetrate the world of the Creator more greatly and deeply.

We can reveal Him only if there is a primary Kabbalistic source in front of you. Under no circumstances should you trust your thoughts and desires! It’s necessary to follow the text. If you don’t like one text, take another; you can change them.

I open a book, say, Shamati, on any page and I begin to do spiritual work from it. If I see that the page I opened isn’t right and doesn’t quite correspond to my state, then I can turn another 15-20 pages—that’s not important. Then I start reading and working here. But nevertheless, I work from whatever is written in the book.

After all, a Kabbalist describes sequential actions of cause and effect that incrementally lead you forward.

And if you’re going to make things up yourself based on that mass of thoughts and feelings that rise up inside you, then who knows where it will lead you. Being small, we learn like this from older kids, and they tell us what to do, how, and why. And so we must keep on studying like this, progressively.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/25/12, Workshop 2

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Most Important Is Connection And Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we conduct the meeting of friends at the convention?

Answer: The meeting of friends at the convention should include all the groups worldwide. You can include greetings, but they shouldn’t take much time. Being given an opportunity to say a greeting, the group must value time; 15 seconds is even enough. The focus is all on your love and connection.

The meetings of friends have to reflect the world group in the first place, that is, our huge volume. You need to prepare a number of small spots so that there is a huge impression of the immense united global desire, connected above all the continents, differences, time, and distance; so we know that that there is a great number of us; so we feel mutual dependence, connection, and love.

In principle, that is what the meeting of the world group means—to become impressed from each other by the greatness of the goal, the greatness of our power and aspiration.

Question: How do you see the cultural evenings at the convention?

Answer: I think that the cultural evening should be with fewer words and expressed more in music and songs, moreover, more in tunes without words to make them more international. Although the host countries of the convention have their own South American culture with exciting rhythms, they need take into account all the other people. So you could have half of the time dedicated to local folklore, and the other half to our common tunes, which are even better without words when we are just humming the melody together.
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From the Virtual Lesson 4/22/04, Preparation to the Congress

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