Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

Who Will Support Whom?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When a man is going through unpleasant states, we recommend that he connect to the group and solve his problem there, through the integral connection with others. What can we recommend to a woman in a case like this?

Answer: Male instructors, who teach groups of women, must notice these things and help women. Several men must work with women’s states, and not just one man. Moreover, constant work with the group leads to women overcoming these states.

Question: What do you mean when you say that male instructors need to work with women?

Answer: Support, explain things, have individual talks with women.

When several male instructors see that a woman really is in a very difficult state, we must work with women as well even though this happens very rarely; women usually overcome these states on their own; it is much harder for men to do.

Usually at least two instructors should be speaking with a woman. And if we have a husband and a wife studying in separate groups, then by temporarily putting them into one group we can influence the wife through her husband, and vice versa.

Question: What do you mean by “influencing?”

Answer: Support, for example, if the man has fallen or become weaker in his integral development.

Question: And the other way around? We can influence a woman through a man?

Answer: It can be done in a family. We can tell the husband to support his spouse, but he must not tell her that he was instructed to do it. Naturally spouses decide everything between them. In every situation, we advise one of the partners how to unassumingly give the other partner the importance of further integral advancement, and show that this makes him or her greater in the eyes of the other partner, and he or she is valued a lot.
[71845]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 2/16/11

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How Can A Woman Taste The Miracle Of Unity?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We have observed the psychological phases of splitting and integration and noticed that men manage to reach integration and women usually do not. Is this somehow connected to the laws that you are speaking of?

Answer: Of course. We already discussed the characteristics of men’s and women’s groups. The women’s group concentrates on the men’s group, it exists around it in the form of help, support, as the part that obligates men to advance towards unity. Then the unity that men attain also expands to the women’s part.

This is why work in a women’s group is completely different. It is seemingly directed towards the external part, the men’s group. And women connect between themselves only to influence it. It is best that they understand the efficiency of their mutual work, the purpose of which is to influence the men’s group.

But this is a fairly complicated problem and it cannot be solved very quickly. Only after many special events, when women begin to taste unity, which the men’s group attains and which emanates to them, only then do they become ready to somewhat unite in order to bring on the next ascent of men and receive some fuel from them. They develop this essential need. It is not corporeal or inherent—it stems from the integral level.

This is why under the influence of unity of the men’s group, a new demand for unity arises in women, even for unity between them. In other words, emptiness—the desire to unite—appears in them. First of all, they begin to feel their personal participation in this unity, and every one of them receives her own fulfillment from the men’s group. And then, the more they connect, the more they rise above their female essence and become able to unite between themselves into a single women’s part, a single image of a woman.

Maybe I express my thoughts in a somewhat complicated way because these are quite advanced degrees not suited for beginner groups. All this manifests better in practice. For this reason, this should not be discussed with women theoretically since initially this is against their nature and only antagonizes them.
[71848]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 12/16/11

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Europe: Together To Unity Or Separately To War

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On the whole, is our message about mutual guarantee meant for naïve people?

Answer: No. We are offering humanity something that is very concrete: practical changes in society. It isn’t naïve, but very real. According to the law of mutual guarantee, we are all mutually connected. Evolution and progress present this very clearly to us. In the past the connection was weaker, and we lived separately in isolation, but today the system has suddenly become “tight.” The natural condition of our mutual guarantee stems from this: Let’s act according to the new situation. Eventually, our good future depends on this.

What’s naïve about it? On the contrary, here is the key for the correction of human society in every aspect. This is the rescue from all the troubles.

See what’s happening in Europe, and it is only the beginning. What will the Europeans do when winter becomes colder?

The decline is everywhere, including in Germany. A total collapse is expected in Europe if people there don’t accept the fact that we are all connected.

Here they have to act against the old familiar common sense. Everyone thinks that he will manage to isolate himself, to equip himself with the necessary resources, to provide his own energy, food, medicine, and to sit on the sidelines. It won’t work.

On the contrary, everything should be wide open and one whole. If you go against your will and start connecting with others despite all the fears, if you try to connect with everyone else, you will attain the upper force that is concealed in the connection. You will not be able to overcome the crisis if you don’t bring it down to your level.

The current crisis is very different from what we’ve known so far. Today the general European “pie” is divided into different colorful parts, and if every country, despite the external union, continues to isolate itself, the results will be horrible. Members of the EU seem to be considering the option of separating and surviving separately. “If there is pressure, then I will get rid of the collective problem, and return to my currency and manage somehow.” But here they are doomed to fail.

Today Europe must unite into one nation and cancel the boundaries in every area: education, economy, industry, etc. There must be one government responsible for everything. If the Europeans do that, they will receive the upper force form Above that will influence them.

However, without this force, they will not succeed. Even if every nation is strong, problems will come up that will not allow individual countries to provide their own needs. If Germany, for example, cuts itself off from all the others and counts on its own natural resources, it will collapse.

What the Europeans are missing today is the power of unity, the Creator that will descend into them and fill them. This is impossible, as long as they don’t connect. If they want to be smart separately, they will only be smart alecks.

All the problems we see today indicate what is missing. A desire is missing, power, a decision, one “head.” If the EU wants to operate with thirty “heads,” things will be bad. Even if there are several years of prosperity, it will be like in Hitler’s days, from the mid 1930’s onwards, towards the war and the collapse that followed. Today it will happen much faster than in the 30’s. If Europe doesn’t choose connection, it will find itself very close to a world war.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/16/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The “Physicists” And “Lyricists” Of Spirituality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The Rabash wrote articles about the group wanting us to think about love of friends. I understand the Rabbi Aba wrote The Zohar in a concealed manner for historical reasons. But why do we, who want to think about love of friends while reading The Zohar, leave it the way it is and don’t simplify it at least to the level of the Rabash’s articles?

Answer: Suppose I come to an expert and ask him to tune the colors on my computer screen. He sees the display on the screen and says: “Okay, I will tune it, please sit and wait.” I look at him: he enters the “internality” of the computer and starts playing with the pixels and the codes there, which I don’t understand at all. Suddenly I see certain forms on the screen, lines of codes and numbers…”What are you doing? I asked you to make the yellow a bit more yellowish and the white whiter, so why are you dealing with the numbers? I didn’t ask you to do that!”

But since he understands what he has to change exactly, he goes into the level of the forces and defines each force and each vector, and what it should be in relation to the others and thus changes the picture.

You seem to be asking: Why does one Kabbalist write about colors and another about numbers? Each one expresses the same reality in a different way. Actually, the language of numbers, the Reshimot (reminiscences), meaning the language of Kabbalah, as Baal HaSulam says, covers everything. In spirituality there are only forces: the force of receiving, the force of bestowal and the Reshimot. There is nothing else but that.

After that you are already impressed in your own desires, one way or another and another person is impressed differently. The main thing is to record your impressions and each one writes them according to his character. There are “the lyric poets” and there are the “physicists” just like in our world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/7/12, The Zohar

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Ascent From Point Zero


Today we are writing history with our unity. Everything is happening for the first time. Because until now, generations were spiritually descending: from the revelation of the Creator to Adam through Abraham, Moses, etc, until Rabash. This overall process is called the “descent of the generations.” So for the first time in history, we find ourselves completely separated without any preparation. We begin the ascent from point zero.

The previous stage of development is completed. The descent from above downward, the descent of the worlds, Partzufim, and Sefirot, the breaking of the soul of Adam HaRishon—everything has been completed. Baal HaSulam said that we would begin the reverse journey starting in 1995.

Our state does not have examples from the past. There are no analogies to show us the way to act today. In all the past generations, there was a certain degree of illumination; there was perception and a connection with spirituality. But we are completely separated.

But on the other hand, we have a huge support from Above to begin our ascent. The entire system is helping us and relying on us. This is why parts of broken souls, which did not have any connection with the spiritual, started coming closer to this idea over the past several years and started understanding some things. This is because we make our actions correspond to spiritual actions, and thus awaken the Light.

Question: What does our generation need to do?

Answer: Understand the crisis. We are becoming acquainted with it in a spiritual way, asking the question about the meaning of life. But the entire world is experiencing it in a material way: A person is not happy with his life, and this also is a kind of a question about its meaning, but on a different level.

We all begin with this as we see that there is no answer to the crisis neither in the corporeal nor the spiritual plane. In this way, the entire humanity, divided into those directed straight to the Creator (Israel – Yashar Kel), and the nations of the world, must realize itself.

We live in a very special time, and do not understand that the Creator is literally “spoon-feeding” us. He cannot reveal Himself right away because this would destroy the entire work, this would be against Nature, and would disturb the law of balance and similarity of qualities. He will reveal Himself when we raise MAN, an appeal for correction.
[71934]
From the Arava Convention 2/25/12, Lesson #6

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Matter Is An Unrealized Intention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We are forming a collective desire before going to the Arava. How can we reduce the path of such a desire so that it transitions from material exertion into spiritual attainment?

Answer: In fact, there is no such thing as two worlds, material and spiritual. When our actions lack intention, it seems to us that we act within matter. The world around us is “visible” because of the deficiency of intention; that’s why we are bound to work with “reinforced concrete” by going through trouble and putting forth demands. They are nothing but the materialization of the defects of our intention. That’s what our material world is about. So far, there is no way out except working with “clay and bricks” as the sons of Israel did while they were in Egyptian exile.

Kabbalists gave several recommendations which allow us to draw the upper force upon us in order to get altered. I don’t know who I am at this time since I consist of a thousand parameters and have no idea how to change them. Besides, I don’t possess any ability for self-regulation. Real transformations are of a qualitative nature; I am not qualified at this time to envision the next step or shape.

This is the reason why we have this world and the group, toys which we “play” with. It’s okay that I act materialistically and egoistically, by doing so I trigger the influence of the upper Light upon me. It’s a very unusual remedy: I can connect to a notion called “we” and together we activate the mechanism of the group with the help of intention, studies, dissemination, and so on. Thus, we engage an even more superior mechanism, GAR of the world of Atzilut, from which we receive the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that changes us. We try to connect with each other, participate in various events, join common meals, study and disseminate. The major thing in these activities is our unity.

We take part in all sorts of activities with egoistic intention (Lo Lishma) to the best of our ability as small children who don’t know accurate answers to their questions. By acting so, we initiate a system that comprehends our actions like a mother who senses her child even though he is not yet able to express his desires. She knows what he wants before he cries out.

The motherly system is ready to decipher our appeal. It’s Bina who gave birth to us and to whom our appeals return through a closed circle. It doesn’t matter whether our efforts are of a material nature; they will result in spiritual “discovery.”

Kabbalists accurately defined the place and specifics of human efforts: The group work should be as unified as possible. At the same time, we should address the world with the message that the Creator wishes us to convey to others; if we cope, the “discovery” will come to us by all means.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/12, “The Peace” 

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The Spiritual Breathing: Ascents And Descents

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that it is very important for a person to be in harmony with the rhythm of nature’s breathing: inhalation and exhalation. Psychology examines the process of psychological “breathing,” the so-called “splitting,” when a person’s “Self” seems to break into pieces. Afterwards, thanks to this splitting, a person can once again assemble his “Self” and so on. He does this independently, trying to assemble himself anew every time. Gradually, it becomes more difficult for him to do it, which leads to depression.

Answer: A person becomes depressed because he constantly needs to overcome himself for G-d knows what—just to rid himself of bad feelings, despair, and emptiness. Whereas in integral upbringing, he has a clear goal relative to which the spiritual breathing takes place. As one gets closer to the goal, he inhales, which means that he feels the oneness, senses its greatness, the power it gives him, admiration, and inspiration.

Then a person needs to exhale because otherwise he will not be able to go on. He needs to reveal new emptiness, new negative qualities in himself, in order to once again become one with them and attain unity with everyone, in other words, to move on to a new phase of breathing.

This kind of inhaling and exhaling happens to every participant in the group, usually through some interesting contact between them. There are periods when every participant has his own movement, his own frequency of ascents and descents. And there are periods when the group has special events: picnics, gatherings, and conventions, that is, very serious moments of unity, for which everyone prepares and where everyone participates. These ascents are also followed by certain descents.

There are different descents: descents into bad states and descents into states of indifference. Bad states are better because they pass more quickly and sharply.

States of indifference can last a long time. This requires somehow arousing people in one direction or another. As a rule, they must be aroused in a good direction and never in a bad one since they might fall into an even worse state. In any case, the key is to bring them out of a dead state.

Question: What does it mean, “into a good state?”

Answer: Good state means towards unity. But in general, there are periods when these ups and downs happen in unison in the group, and there are periods when this happens in people individually in their own time, with their own frequency, and so on.

However, only the entire group can help a person. It must inspire and help, it can even obligate him. It can literally pull a person out of bed as there are different cases of depression. In general, the group has the ability to stimulate a person in a positive manner without pressuring him—if it is a real group.

A person can say: “Leave me alone! I do not want to be friends with you at this time.” And this needs to be respected, and a person needs to be left alone. Let him experience the entire state. He will be back anyway. People return as a rule. If not, he still needs to be observed and invited at the right time.

We need to understand that there is no other way! Maybe pride is getting in his way: “You want me to come back?!” We need to show him that we want him, need him, that is, help him come back.
[71850]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 12/16/11

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An Egoistic Knockout

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When people unite for a common goal in a certain group and someone refuses to play the common game, he either needs to be removed or forced to work together with the team.

We are creating integral education groups where people do very important things: They study integration and apply it in practice. But in such groups, there might be a person who not only refuses to play this game, but for some reasons disturbs or even destroys the process.

Answer: We gather people in groups by type. There are people for whom it’s hard to accept the integral method and unification and to understand that community is where we will reveal the next level of our existence above the corporeal body: a common desire, common thoughts.

We have to put these people in separate groups, where we “pump” all this knowledge into them over months or maybe even years. Very carefully, we apply education methods, showing the need for unity using the examples of animals, people, social structures, society, and so on, until they begin to hear that this applies to them.

These people need time. They must not be pressured or expelled from the game because all of humanity has to develop to this point. If they have a desire for something (these people usually gravitate towards understanding, towards systematization of knowledge), they need to be given the opportunity to “cook” in it, until very gradually the society around them, time, as well as material will affect them. There is nothing else that can be done. Practice shows that sometimes the result can only come after several years.

These people study, they can write, speak about integration, lecture, and organize groups, but their nature is in such a deep state of egoistic knockout that they do not understand that they are not in this.

Question: How do you offer such person to transfer to a different group? And who will do it?

Answer: We initially sort people as we deem necessary. I think that you also put together your psychological groups according to certain criteria. It cannot be done any other way, otherwise participants will disturb one another. And we want for everyone to succeed. Groups are sorted according to certain similarity between them. So we use the same criterion of similarity here.
[71545]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 12/16/11

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The Claw Of Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Psychology speaks of different behavior regulators like shame, the feeling of blame, fear, and so on. Every person has these feelings and they have to do with ethics. On their own, these regulators are neutral. But how do you properly use them? Will we be able to teach people to properly use feelings like shame, blame, or fear?

Answer: First of all, we have to teach people to have an objective attitude towards these qualities since they have been instilled in us by nature. How do we learn to use them? We need to teach them that.

First of all, we have to rise above it. I am human. All this exists in me. Anything human is not foreign to me. I understand and try to understand all my negative and positive qualities. They are not mine, they have been instilled in me by nature. And the same applies to everyone else. Thus, we have to reach absolute harmony between us by using absolutely all our qualities! That is it.

We will gradually “pull” newer and newer qualities, fears, worries, and self-blame from within us. And we will need to somehow comfortably make all of this work in our common friendship in a way that none of these qualities remain inside me—they will all gradually come out of me.

Is an infant lying in his mother’s arms ashamed of anything? No, nothing! He lacks this concept. He is fully naked and completely hers. Similarly, when there is complete understanding, love, mutual feelings, and need for each other, nothing is taboo. On the contrary, the more of them you reveal, the more opportunity to grab on to one another you give, as if you had claws and connected together.

This is why all our negative egoistic qualities, which we earlier wanted to use to grab on to each other so as to get something for ourselves, are now beginning to manifest as a proper and good link between us, and hence we do not see anything bad in the things created in us by nature. We would not be able to connect with each other without these negative qualities. When we transform their use from negative into positive, we acquire the opportunity to make contact and be connected.

It is like cogwheels. If the cogwheels were round, they would just slide, so the ripples and claws help us connect.

It is written in the Bible regarding egoism: “I give you help against you.” This inverted help actually helps us. So the cogs are our egoistic qualities.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 12/16/11

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From Another World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the group dynamic we encounter people who seem ridiculous, as if they were from another world. They are usually very active and try to get ahead.…

Answer: There are people who like to lecture. They suddenly get up and spend half an hour talking nonsense. They think that they are talking business, that they have brilliant ideas. And everyone else is regrettably obligated to sit and listen to them. Moreover, it is usually not a onetime occurrence, but they literally must mark their territory at every lesson, otherwise they do not feel like they participate with everyone else.

These people need to be separated, removed from the group. The group should not suffer because of an individual. Never! We must make sure the group is homogenous in everything.

Question: Should we put these people in one group?

Answer: Yes, let them speak, discuss things, and do whatever they want, but only on the given topic. They will advance through mutual discussions, when one lectures and another speaks over him, that is, basically they will advance in their own key, just like every other group advances in its own key.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #11, 12/16/11

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