Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

Lessons About A New World: 80% At The School Desk

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Who will study at the courses on integral education: only those who are left without work or everyone?

Answer: I think that the number of unemployed will be very high. And since we are talking about correcting society, then we need to attract not only people who have lost their jobs, but also housewives, retirees, and in general people who do not work. It turns out that at least 80 percent of the population will be ready for this course.

And if on the next day, a person finds employment or an income, it does not mean that he should leave the course. We believe that to complete the course of integral education will be everyone’s responsibility, and people need to divide work among themselves to spend only a few hours a day on the job.

These are big changes from the conventional approach, but we do not introduce them on our own; the crisis does, leaving us no choice. I think that this would take no more than a year.

Question: What will happen in the interim period, when we have not yet come to dividing the work among ourselves and working for several hours a day, and when people have not given up the hope to return to the previous state?

Answer: I think that a high percentage of unemployment will lead to unrest, the impotence of the government and the loss of direction. This will cause a state of complete anarchy, and there will be no choice but to adopt such a framework. This will happen very quickly; otherwise, we will come to a complete collapse of the whole society and a world war.

As the government now cannot take control of economic systems, so they will not be able to rule anything. If millions take to the streets, neither the army nor any other force will be able to stop them. The government will not know what to do. Everyone saw what happened in Syria and Egypt.

Every country will have to take into account their local context and national character. For example, it would not be as easy to make people come to school in Greece as in Germany. The Germans will study as diligently as they work today. But in countries like Greece, it will be necessary to attract people by some kind of compensation.

The problem of all European countries is the aging population, living between home, café, and little trips. Every place needs a program, adapted to local conditions.
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From “Lessons About a New World” 12/1/11

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The First Glimpse Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Baal HaSulam writes in “The Freedom” that the method of Kabbalah is intended for the purification of Israel, and this refers to the recognition of evil. How is one connected to the other?

Answer: Do you really achieve something good by recognizing your own evil? Of course, because this has led you to purification, you have become better, more receptive; you feel more, understand more, you permeate the matter of your desire. Before it would come down to good or bad sensations, and you had no knowledge of anything else. You would simply respond to stimuli like a very primitive animal. Just like a frog’s leg automatically contracts under the influence of an electric impulse.

Now you have questions: “Why do I do this? Who does this come from? What is it for? Is it for the good or the bad?” You rise above your nature by analyzing the situation, and in some way it’s the same as coming out of your nature. Like a worm in an apple, you start making your way towards the light.

Imagine a red, juicy apple, and you’re inside of it. And an opening leading to the exterior appears. Even if you haven’t yet gone through it, you already begin to distinguish that there is light there, and it is dark here. Differentiating between them becomes your recognition of evil.

This is an enormous achievement amid the size of creation, which serves as our “apple”…..
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12 “The Freedom”

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100% Bestowal Already Today!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the “good sign” that we have to attain in the studies, and how can we check it?

Answer: A “good sign” in the studies is the attainment of bestowal, “Lishma.” And of course, we have to take care of it so we don’t waste time in vain. No one has an advance guarantee that he will attain success.

Although, of course, any work is taken into consideration and produces a result in the end. And in this regard, dissemination is most important. That’s because work on dissemination will undoubtedly bring a positive result. No matter what, this is already recorded in your account – you already did this!

We are not even able to assess what dissemination really means. After all, it is 100% bestowal! The fact that you are not in spiritual attainment yet while doing it might actually be to your own benefit. This makes you a “loyal servant” of the Creator, who does not receive any reward from his master, but only executes His desire.

But you say, “No, I want a reward – let me see it and feel it!” However, this might ruin all your efforts in dissemination. Now you are revealing the Creator’s name to the world and you want everyone to attain the full redemption, the end of correction, as planned. And you don’t receive any benefit for yourself – and that’s wonderful!

Maybe you should just agree with this with your entire heart and soul and not want anything else!? And then you just might begin to receive…
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/5/12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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You Must Invest Yourself In A Group

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I am very envious of my friends, how do I transform this envy from being destructive to constructive?

Answer: A person does not hear words about the spiritual vessel being a common vessel. “I will do something now and advance,” he thinks. Our egoism keeps convincing us that a spiritual goal can be attained the same way as a corporeal goal—individually and personally. This is only needed to give us the force of resistance, which drives man inside himself. The stronger the material drive, the more it will give later because the person has taken advantage of it. It is written: “One has swallowed an abundance and then expelled it.”

However, we must accelerate the time, and the only opportunity to do this is to resist the centripetal currents. Otherwise nothing will come out of it.

“It is not the smart one who learns.” The spiritual path is not intended for the sharp ones, but for those who invest themselves. This path consists of simple actions. It is the same way that a computer carries out very complicated calculations through a sequence of elementary operations.

There can be one advice for man: Cancel the mind and do the deed. Your small steps will make a pathway, which will lead you to the feeling of belonging. It is like a father becomes imbued with love for his newborn child as he takes care of him. Daily care rouses feelings. And this applies to everything: Your heart attaches where you invest yourself.

And this is why you need to close your eyes and invest all your energy into the group. This is the only way for you to feel like it is close to you, like it is yours—and then you will be able to build a common Kli (vessel) together with it. Your investment, switched from an egoistic account over to the group account—is your spiritual vessel.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/11, “The Arvut”

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First We Learn Not To Steal From The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How are the Maccabean war and Chanukah felt in the internal work, as the ascent of Malchut to Bina?

Answer: The work is always on the desire to receive that awakens and on my intention with regards to it. The Maccabean war symbolizes the fact that I have to raise my intention above the desire to receive—not to use it, but only to rise above it. I don’t descend into the desire; I don’t study it. The main thing is to restrict my desire to receive, to rise above it and to acquire the form of Bina: to bestow in order to bestow. Bina is called Hafetz Hesed, and it has a huge desire, all of Malchut de Ein Sof. But I don’t use this desire; I only rise above it and want to bestow more than anything. I don’t touch this desire.

It’s like a person to whom I can give 10 dollars to keep for me, knowing he will not spend it. There are people you can depend on even if we speak about 100, 1000, 10,000 or even a million dollars. This is the level of Bina in a person when you can be sure that he won’t spend this money, meaning how pure he can stay and not touch the money. But there are people who can use the desire to receive with the intention in order to bestow: to take the “money” and to somehow bestow with it.

We are required to use our corporeal life according to our necessity, and this should “not be criticized nor praised,” meaning we should not use it in this egotistic world but to reach the level of Bina in the spiritual sense.

This is the preliminary state from which the wisdom of Kabbalah begins and which explains to us how to work with the desires to receive with the intention of in order to bestow. In them, we already resemble the Creator, but not until then. Until then you don’t fill others, but simply don’t want to receive anything, like a person who lives alone in the forest not needing anything for oneself.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/11, Writings of Rabash

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We’ll Meet Tomorrow In The Desert

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I awaken the group to such a great deficiency that they’ll be ready to go to the desert to connect by tomorrow?

Answer: The only thing that we need is an internal worry. All other things stop working. Our perception of our world transforms into being closer and closer to spirituality, and we notice that there are subtler, so to speak, “not corporeal” forces operating in it.

There are such actions, which can not be described as simply mechanical—they are already more “spiritual,” relating to the force of thought, and emotional care and concern that takes place in both heart and mind. In our world today there are forces that cannot be attributed to physical forces or electromagnetic fields.

If you want to bestow to others, the main influence is executed from within the thought and desire, and through them we are all tied to one another.

Of course it’s possible to attain this also through some physical actions, but that’s very difficult. We see that according to the coarseness of the force, more time and energy is needed in order to activate it. We observe this from the development of the planet Earth. For example, on the still level, the creation of Earth took millions of years to create. For the appearance of vegetative level, another millions of years, and then for the animate world, a little less time than that was required. And when the stages of development reached man, then in total, only a few tens of thousands of years were required.

To the extent that the force is of more quality, so the time of its development is shorter: the quantity changes to quality. If you want to influence the friends in a fast and strong way, then it’s worthwhile that it happens already tomorrow. The main thing is the worry from the heart, from thought and desire.

We don’t use this enough. And it’s especially here that the force of Arvut is concealed. It’s not signatures on paper contracts or in having common property. Everything is clarified internally, with the help of the shared force: our desire, as learned in concern, and with intellect, as learned in intention, in order to shake up and awaken the network that connects between us. It’s like when you take a piece of clothing and shake it; we also need to shake the connection between us, so that the vibrations from our heart and mind will pass through it.

All of this happens as in a game. It isn’t real, after all, as we haven’t yet reached it. We only want it to happen, until in the end, it really happens. And work like this with respect to the friends, we must carry out in relation to the Creator. This means to bring to spiritual mating (returning the crown). We are coming closer and closer to this until we receive one direction in seriousness and thoughts even though we are opposite to it. The spiritual coupling is called Zivug de Haka’a, “mating by striking.” This is because it’s a real collision. Otherwise it won’t be felt.

It is written, “one’s seed is also blessed,” since from one side there is resistance and from the other side the connection breaks through. And both of these opposite attributes create the feeling of mating, the clarity of the connection, the point of unity, the spiritual orgasm.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, Writings of Rabash

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Lessons About A New World: Course Format

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will the lessons for adults be organized? Will they sit at school at their desk, staring at the teacher, writing on the blackboard?

Answer: I think that if this is a lesson or lecture, it can be conducted as in a classroom. People are used to this form of studying, and it is still accepted everywhere. I do not think that we should immediately break the conventional framework. On the contrary, we need to show that we continue to with what was before, so that it is perceived as something familiar and habitual, so they are “at home” with it.

Everything remains exactly as it was only I attend a course in addition to my work. Then, gradually, as people are changing without any coercion, it will be possible to engage them in new forms of communication between themselves and their studies. Courses will be changed gradually according to the changes that occur in the students.
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From “Lessons About a New World” 12/1/11

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Inseparable Friends With Very Sharp Teeth

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Which desires are we supposed to reveal when we connect? Why do I need to see the desires to receive (AHP) if I am not able to use them?

Answer: Every one of us is like a cogwheel—saw-toothed. My desires to bestow, Galgalta ve Eynaim, are inside the wheel, and the teeth on the outside are my desires to receive, AHP. I connect with others through these desires to receive.

I only desire bestowal, Hafetz Hesed, within my Galgalta ve Eynaim. In other words, I need nothing, and there is nothing I could do with it.

The Galgalta ve Eynaim is the condition of my presence in the system without causing it any harm. I possess this power of resistance against my egoistic desire.

The Galgalta ve Eynaim are not just small desires of small power, (Aviut 0, 1, 2). They represent the fact that I can provide all of my 620 desires with an intention for the sake of bestowal, like Bina. I do not work with these desires, and I do not wish to use them for my own sake.

When I make a calculation for my entire vessel, desire, without wishing to receive for my own sake, I place a screen, Masach, in front of me. This refers to being inside the desires to bestow, Galgalta ve Eynaim.

This is not a restriction. This is because I simply refuse to receive during a restriction. Here, I feel my 620 desires, and I say “no” in response to every desire because I would rather unite with the upper one. Connection and the group, through which I will attain the Creator, are more important to me. However, I feel all these desires, and this means being inside the Galgalta ve Eynaim.

If I also can work with these desires and connect to the upper one even more strongly, to employ these desires to receive the AHP, the teeth, and use them to grab on and connect with someone, instead of simply not getting in anyone’s way, this means that I work with the receiving Kelim, the AHP.
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From a Lesson 12/23/11, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”

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Juggling The “Angels” And The “Devils”

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Freedom“: “Although our strength is not enough to face the first factor, the “source,” we still have the ability and the free choice to protect ourselves against the other three factors, by which the source changes in its individual parts, and sometimes in its general part, as well, through habit, which endows it with a second nature.”

I feel different influences and although I cannot resist them, I can “play” with their “combinations,” “juggle” them and make a decision. But what decision exactly?

Although my actions are artificial, there are different factors that can evoke them. If there were only one factor, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. When there are two factors, I can already direct the ratio between them and influence the balance of power. Thus, I can influence my fate and the changes in me; there is now my “self” that makes decisions.

Here there is a great philosophical problem which compelled people to divide reality into good and bad. One force is inconceivable, unattainable. Only the idea of multiple forces, to some extent, enables people to act and to “juggle” them. Even if people acknowledge the existence of an upper force, they still have a need to believe in different “angels” and “devils” that separately rule under It.

We see that in the spiritual work this problem is solved in a totally different way. A person is under different kinds of influences from the Creator and he can prefer one over another. It’s still unclear how this happens, but we see that the solution for our independent participation in the process is here.

Question: It turns out that I am trying to play with the reasons, although I really have no control over them because I myself am a result.

Answer: I can change a certain influence on me and for that there is another factor. I add my factor to the laws of nature and want to know what I evoke by that. Thus, I can really decide something and learn new phenomena. This can be done by scientific research and by spiritual research; with the help of my factor I begin to study the upper force.

In order to do that I have to be made of two forces, and I have them: on one hand, the ego which is great help, and on the other hand, the group in which the Creator, the upper Light, is hidden. Between them, in the resistance between them, my “self” is born. Thus, I discover the Creator according to how I manage to connect these two forces inside me. I can’t discover Him with only one of them. We need the combination of the two.

The point is that the term “one” is revealed above matter and above the Light. The Light is the measure of bestowal; matter is the measure of receiving, and the Creator above them is consciousness, the thought of creation, and not the duplicity of the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, bestowal and receiving. This isn’t even bestowal, but the desire to bestow that precedes it.

In this desire that are parts that are detached from actual bestowal. I want to reach them, to know who the Creator is, not in relation to me, but who He actually is. In Kabbalah this is called “Atzmuto,” the essence of the Creator, to which we have no access now, although we also want to attain it. This is to where our curiosity is drawn.

So I have to create all the conditions, like in a lab designing a field study. Everything stems from the Creator, but His bestowal surrounds me on all sides. I look for my place, for the opportunity to discover the Creator by this experiment. Actually we always behave this way when we study something new. We only have to arrange everything in its place, to understand what we are dealing with and how we reach the result.

On the whole, behind every experiment we discover an attitude, a formula, and a connection between different phenomena. In addition we discover the logic behind them. These aren’t just dry facts that leave us on the same level on which we discovered them. No, we always look for the reason: why are they connected this way? What forces them to be so? What’s the reason? Behind every phenomenon that I see in matter, I want to see what caused it, the upper part of the Partzuf. I want to know the reason for the data I received; this reason is the actual result of the experiment.

So in my spiritual work I develop a kind of “lab” attitude towards reality. The “lab” in this case is me and the approach remains totally scientific.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/11, The Freedom”

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Back To School!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In our methodology of children’s integral upbringing, there are a few basic fundamental principles: single sex education for boys and girls; younger kids are taught by their older peers; children learn “in a circle” and through discussions. Particular attention is paid to practical, lifelike upbringing as opposed to its abstract part. Are these principles different in any way for adults?

Answer: Practically no, because in this regard we are entirely like children who are about to master something new. We are now starting to reveal a new world, a new life, and a new attitude towards it. We have to change and to reveal a new world for ourselves. We are like children who have to understand this new integral world that is approaching us.

In order to avoid experiencing its approach as the modern crisis, all of our actions should be directed towards entering into a state of harmony with this integral world.

Today, nature is starting to treat us as an integral, interconnected, and reciprocally balanced system in which all parts exist in equilibrium, support, and in mutual concessions. We are the most important element in this system! And for that we need to work on ourselves quite hard and to understand that all of this is not someone’s whims, inventions, or philosophical speculations, but truly a law of nature.

This law gradually and inevitably realizes itself within human society, except we don’t correspond to it. Let’s say that someone is trying to insert us into a circular frame, yet we are a square shape and cannot possibly function within a round framework—therein lies the crisis. Therefore, all grownups will have to sit at school desks again and learn to live in a new world, prepare themselves for it.

Question: You spoke about the fact that based on your experience in children’s upbringing in your center, lessons need to be held in a circle and be videotaped so that kids could later see how they look from the side. This is a very effective methodology. Can you also apply it to adults?

Answer: You can apply absolutely the same methods because age does not matter. The only thing that matters is our status relative to that new world, the new social system that we need to enter. Relative to that we are all children, and we have to study it and gradually transform, shape ourselves to match it.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

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