Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

Wake Up The Switch Operator Before It’s Too Late!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Now as we begin to operate as one global, collective group, does the work of the local groups change?

Answer: We have to judge ourselves severely and calculate things in the clearest, most serious way. We have to learn according to the general upper Providence, the Creator’s actions in the world, to what extent the world needs correction, and how far we are still from fulfilling it by participating in it, by being ready to become the bridge, the pass-through, the adaptor, through which the correction will be made. This should wake us up and give us a real seriousness and responsibility of understanding our role.

It isn’t acceptable to take into account only ourselves and be deluded that everything is fine with us and that we can wait. The account is very serious and even alarming. It is like Baal HaSulam’s warning before the Holocaust. If the people of Israel, (everyone who is called Yashar – El, who yearns directly for the Creator), do not keep the required conditions, it causes the increased external forces and leads to their victory over the internal forces.

Then there are great troubles. The destructive, deadly, evil force, which we actually summoned, begins to rule the world. Therefore, every individual should treat the group very seriously and with great responsibility: every person in relation to the group, each group in relation to other groups to a common global group, and to the world, to the whole world.

We are already in this state, in this time which is the most critical in all of human history, and we will determine how we advance: by Light or by suffering.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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So Was It Yesterday?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we reach a true prayer artificially, through games?

Answer: Advancement is only possible through prayer, by the revelation of the deficiency. If you wish to count how many times and in what way you advanced, then you have to take into account the moments in which you discovered a deficiency for the Creator from the bottom of your heart.

This deficiency activates the Reforming Light. What depends on you is only the prayer, (the raising of MAN), then accordingly you can calculate things. How many times do you recall that you raised MAN yesterday by discovering a need for the Creator inside you and the desire to advance towards bestowal upon others, the group, and the connection with the friends and the rest of humanity?

Did you yearn for that yesterday, at least to some extent? If you didn’t, then there was no yesterday; you have erased that day from your history!
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/12, Writings of Rabash

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Workshops Are The True Realization Of Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we organize workshops, and how helpful are they?

Answer: Kabbalah is a practical science. That is why all the millennia while we didn’t have to do practical work it was hidden from people, and only few scientists, Kabbalists, developed this method and adjusted it each time for the generation in which they lived.

But they didn’t show this method to people, simply from generation to generation along the way as they developed, they modified it until the entire humanity reached our time and found itself in the integral global crisis, that is, in an obvious egoistic Egypt, in the feeling of exile from something good, kind, natural, and normal.

We see that our nature is destroying us; we cannot get out if it ourselves and are hostages of our egoism that drives us to such dangerous actions that we may just ruin the entire civilization. We are destroying nature, the Earth, and the environment in which we live, and in general are making a terrible future for our children.

Why do we raise them? I look at children whose parents create intolerable conditions in advance. Why do they give birth? Today you love them, but what will happen to them tomorrow? You are doing things so that they will not be able to live! They will die a painful death! Don’t you feel that?! No, the human being doesn’t feel that, he is still blind.

However, he is slowly beginning to realize that. But even knowing this, he cannot change himself yet and act differently. Nonetheless, he still uses everything possible, sparing nothing, taking nothing into account; it doesn’t matter what’s left to his children. That is how we relate to nature, society, everything.

Therefore the science of Kabbalah is revealed today in order to explain that this is called slavery, it’s what is called the expulsion from spirituality; namely this is the worst state, the most opposite to spirituality. And in order to help us get out of it, to pull ourselves out of it, the science of Kabbalah is revealed. Therefore, it has been revealed today when we should practice all its advice, laws, and rules.

But to put them into practice, we first need to learn.

And we have to learn this, as usual, in groups, at school, by helping each other, by studying textbooks and conducting workshops in small groups—a prototype for future work with the whole humanity.

Therefore, workshops are necessary; they are the most important thing! They are the real true realization of Kabbalah in principle; it exists for this purpose. It’s not a theoretical science, not philosophy, but namely a practice.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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Relating To Everyone With Warmth

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we relate to the newcomers during the convention?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that there is a big difference between the newcomers and veteran students. It’s because when all people incorporate into one another, the difference is always there, and in principle, in this case it’s not important how much a person knows or at what level he or she exists since this is a reflection of the entire humanity, which consists of the smallest to the greatest ones, those who already understand and maybe even partially sense the upper world. Hence most important is for everybody to incorporate into one another.

The veteran students have to help the newcomers. They have to work at full force, participate actively, and set everything into motion. We will hold preliminary talks with them on how to conduct workshops, how to talk with everybody and get them involved, and how to relate to everyone with warmth. Most important is to set an example.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012

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The Necessary Step

The Necessary StepConventions are the necessary step to create a unified Kli (vessel, desire). If above all our problems, contradictions, distances, and differences in mentality and understanding we try to unite, then due to the differences between us and the connection above them, we will reach a powerful desire measured by the contradictions within it and the connection above it. This is the purpose of conventions. 

I understand that there are huge problems in every group and internal distances between the groups. That is why the main thing at the conventions is to try to rise above them. Don’t destroy, but learn to overcome the problems by uniting above them by “faith above reason” or love that “will cover all sins.” Let’s cover everything within us with this “blanket” and build our common desire for the Creator above this. It should be precisely like this, at the top, above all the contradictions. 

Everything that we have passed through, all the problems, the hardening of the internal Pharaoh—everyone’s personal Pharaoh and the common Pharaoh between us—all that has been given to us from Above, from the Creator. And now we only need to think about unity, how in this unity, according to the law of equivalence to the Light, we discover the upper Light in ourselves, in our connection between us.

The conventions, consisting of lectures and various exercises on connection, are dedicated to this.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012    

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Preparing For The Period Of Conventions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we best prepare ourselves for the period of conventions so as to create a feeling of a unified group?

Answer: We will work on this at the time of the conventions as well. To do this, we need to re-read the article “The Freedom” and Rabash’s articles about unification. We need to study again the shattering of the spiritual Kli (vessel), how it shaped our earthly perception of ourselves: We now see that we are distant from one another, existing in opposition to one another, in a growing egoism, hatred, and various egoistic desires.

We have to understand that our nature is made to be so opposite to the Creator on purpose, in order for us to rise above it specifically from contradiction, starting from the opposite state, and thus be able to sense Him, since otherwise we would be incapable of it. We begin to feel and build ourselves in similarity to Him specifically based on the contrast between our nature and His.

Hence the most important preparation is to repeat the material that we study all the time: a little bit from Kabbalah itself—about the shattering of the vessel and its correction, as well as the topic of the development of egoism from Adam till our days covered in one of the “Talks about a New Life.” In general, we have lots of materials on this subject.

But most important is to simply know why you come to the convention. You come there to participate in the general Kli, in the general desire, which we all created and in which we will sense the Creator.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012  

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A Journey To The Foundations Of Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we explain the influence of a Kabbalistic book on a person to the general population?

Answer: As I study a book on psychology, I begin to reveal different phenomena in myself. I talk to others in the group of people who want to change who are using the group therapy method. We work on ourselves, I uncover my reactions, I get to know my own character, and I compare it to others.

Suppose we are scientists who gathered in a group. Within it, each studies its own nature about the natures of others. A book helps us: It was written by an intelligent person who gives necessary explanations. Thanks to that, I no longer view myself from within, but try, to whatever extent possible, to look from the side, from an objective position, in order to understand who I am, what I am, what for and why… . What is this creature that is me? Of course, in our world there is no true objectivity, no real separation from oneself, but an approach does exist, and through its means we come to all kinds of results.

Freud, who was one of the founders of this approach, acted very logically. However, material society can only design experiments based on the details extracted from life, from the matter that appears before our eyes. If we grasp something from it on an empirical, experimental basis, then that’s what we can use without crossing the boundaries of a rational approach based exclusively on experimental data.

How is this different from the wisdom of Kabbalah? In it, I work exactly like psychologists do, without knowing or prejudging anything in advance. Desiring to know and study myself, I come to a group like to a School of Psychology. I have teachers and textbooks, and they speak to me about myself, explaining what it is that I am. Only their explanations penetrate further inward and touch upon the deepest layers of my being.

It turns out that there, on the inside, there are two forces: reception and bestowal, though not like the ones in our world, but fundamental ones, which govern me and all of nature. Kabbalah speaks about perception of reality, but again, penetrating deeper than psychology. I learn how I am connected to everyone else; I begin to understand to what extent the picture that I’m seeing is true. It turns out that when I address someone, I address that image which is depicted inside of me.

All these aren’t fantasies but real, material facts. I only need to check how I perceive reality, what in that perception depends on my properties, and which of those properties I am able to change.

And here they explain to me that there is a property called “reception” and I’m currently in it and it defines my entire psychology of the perception of reality. I look at everything through just one prism: “How can I enjoy what I’m seeing?” The egoistic desire inside me wants only one thing: to receive pleasure. And this is why the images that appear inside of me are dictated by my egoistic desire: Each time I am gauging the extent of pleasure or, conversely, of hatred and rejection. Should I bring a given detail closer or push it away? This is how I evaluate everything, and the contours of everything that I am seeing appear in this mirror. They seemingly appear in front of me, but in reality, they are within me, inside my receiving desire.

In this manner, I begin to understand how I am perceiving reality and how I can rise above the current perception, replacing it with a true one. “Your next degree,” Kabbalists tell me, “is a transition from a receiving view of the world toward a bestowing one.” I’ll simply acquire a new tool that will help me discover where I actually am.

And then, when I discover a second reality, two possibilities will appear before me: to perceive either through reception again or through bestowal. It’s impossible to make do with just one of these forms; I need to completely master both of them. By attaining reality in bestowal, I attain it in reception. It is written “The Creator made one against the other”; I ascend in two lines and they both grow in me equally until I acquire knowledge of the system, the method, the formula, which would allow me to use them in a form that is excellent for my desire. In other words, I fill both the receiving and giving desires within me in an optimal, best possible way. The formula is always based on a limiting value, such is its necessary condition: “You will receive nothing other than the maximum.”

This is what we study in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and we study it in a group, that is, in a laboratory that includes chemistry, physics, biology, zoology, and other components. On the whole, we explore the foundations of universal Nature, which, ultimately, is a receiving desire and a giving desire, and also intentions to receive and to bestow.

This is why I became so happy when I discovered it back then. In science, everyone is occupied with his narrow segment of the field—but then what? While here, the very foundations of Nature lay before us. First, we’ll reveal reality for ourselves and grasp the fact that everything is inside and there’s nothing outside. All of reality unfolds internally within its borders, and we reveal all of it completely.

We do not know what comes after that, but the approach remains entirely scientific. There are no contradictions here; on the contrary, the Kabbalistic method is so universal and all encompassing, so fundamental that it supplies us with ease and simplicity in everything.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/10/12, Writings of Rabash

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We Will Be In Touch!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are a lot of new people who are used to studying virtually. How can we describe to or give them a taste of the sensation of conventions so that they would come to the convention?

Answer: First of all, whoever can come should necessarily do so. If a person is given such an opportunity and he doesn’t utilize it, it harms him since he as if disregards an opportunity to connect. And he shouldn’t try to convince himself that it will be better for him to stay at home or with his group. If he can come to the convention, even if he is the only one from his entire group that doesn’t stay behind to participate in a mirror convention, he should still come, whoever can come should come.

Second, it is necessary to create certain conditions the way we did in the past, both during the convention in the Arava desert and the European Congress in Vilnius, meaning we should hold big mirror conventions.

Besides, we will broadcast from Bogota, Santiago, and other cities. There will be lectures for the 99%. So we will be in touch anyway, and you will feel this connection.

Question: How advanced should we be in order to come to the convention?

Answer: Not at all. You simply have to wish to be there, and then—you are invited.
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012  

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A Special Invitation For Our Students In The U.S.

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we make the convention in the U.S. unique so that it will connect the groups in America into one?

Answer: I don’t know whether we’ll succeed, but I have great hopes because the time has come.

Unfortunately, our friends in the U.S., even those who finished their studies at the Education Center and live in different places, still don’t understand or don’t see a need to unite. Quite possibly, at some point we need to organize a separate convention for them. The management of our Education Center in St Louis should take care of it.

Perhaps people didn’t study enough material on the importance of unification, about the fact that they can discover what they have learned about the upper world—how it manifests, becomes revealed, and is sensed in a person—only in unity, that is, not in a single person, but in a connection between us.

Where is this connection? Do they aspire to it? If they don’t yearn for it, they will not sense it. So they finished some theoretical course, and it all ended there.

Most important is practice, a practical revelation of the upper world for oneself. They are not doing it. Meanwhile, life is getting worse all the time. It pushes us towards unification, but not through the wisdom of Kabbalah, the good path, but through the path of suffering. I think that they should understand that after having a theoretical basis, it is best to realize it in practice, and so come to the convention.

I invite you all. Those of you who finished courses at the Education Center and live in the U.S., I would very much like to see you at the convention. Let’s make the most of it!
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012 

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Come To Rejuvenate

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is a convention for you?

Answer: For me, it is a desperate, serious work, tension, and great joy—everything together. It’s because I see how every second this huge general desire is boiling in a “pot.” And this desire works, even if people don’t realize it yet, and reaches the boiling point inside. I feel this, and all of it fills me and gives me strength.

Imagine, after a convention my hair gets darker. That is, there is an influx of energy there, and it actives all sources of life. So come to rejuvenate!
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From a Lecture on Unity Day Around the World, “Preparation for the Congress” 4/22/2012 

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