Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

The Balance Between Inner Work And Circulation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I find the right balance between inner work and circulation? How do I keep from pulling too heavily into either side?

Answer: One’s personal advancement depends on the degree of one’s concern for others to draw closer to the point of unity and always remain in it, together.

Every one of us exits and re-enters it on a regular basis, and ultimately everyone is always working with respect to it. Out of this point, out of this “baby” of ours, we form our soul and begin to feel ourselves in it. This is our main objective, and this is our inner work.

Our external work, conversely, is aimed at circulation. Without attracting huge masses of people to ourselves, we will not be able to advance since we will remain in our egos. In other words, our ascension upward hinges only on our expansion outward.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lessons Series 12/11/2011

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The Ego Is Always With You

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The point of unity experienced at the convention felt like a tremendous jolt of bliss, freedom, and optimism, alien to our world. It was literally like a separate world, toward which my ego ran with great joy. And yet you were saying that the ego should be resisting this?

Answer: Don’t worry about your ego. It will come and start dragging you away from this state “by the ear,” and you will need to aspire to it again and again. It is precisely your ego that will now start distancing you from the point of unity, and you’ll need to actualize and reconstruct it within all the time.

This reconstruction is necessary not because it’s fun, but because all your friends are standing behind it. You must gradually come up with brand new motivations for what you do so as to support your friends because without you, they will not be able to locate this point.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lessons Series 12/11/2011

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A Plane Ticket To The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the power of The Zohar if, for now, we don’t understand anything in it?

Answer: The power of The Book of Zohar doesn’t depend upon how much we understand. It depends upon the author: the level from which he wrote it, the strength of his intention that the reading of this book would radiate a special Light on us, and the extent to which we can use this Light. But it has nothing to do with understanding the book. You don’t have to understand anything.

If I have to get to a certain place now, I choose the best and most convenient means of transportation that can bring me to that place. It may be a train, a plane, a car, or a camel. What difference does it make? The main thing is that I will feel good and comfortable.

The Book of Zohar is the best, most convenient, most effective, and the strongest means for those who wish to advance. I am told how to operate it. After all, I don’t know how a plane’s engine operates. I simply buy a ticket and fly.

It is the same here. When I reach my destination, and even on the way, I begin to understand what is going on, but not before. For example, if fly to New York for the first time, do I know what New York is like? Where it is? Nothing! I only heard about it, but I don’t know anything. I use some means of transportation that gets me there. I believe the people who know, who have already been there, and who have discovered and attained this means. I enter it, I reach my destination, and then I realize: “Ah! Now I understand…!”

The principle is the same, there is no difference. Even in our world, when it comes to corporeal things that are totally revealed and can be felt, we act the same way. So why do you expect to find in spirituality what we don’t have even in this world?
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/2011, The Zohar

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From A Point Of Unity To Crossing The Machsom

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: At this past convention I felt the flavor of our unity in its fullness for the first time. But this also raises the question of the mythical Machsom.

Answer: The point we have achieved is situated at the Machsom, at the transition to the next state—the ascent to the degree that we ought to achieve at the upcoming convention in New York.

Why am I accentuating a convention? In essence, it doesn’t matter when it happens, but a convention is nonetheless an impact point of sorts, when we truly unite together and are capable of achieving this.

Then this point will grow into something whole and new, into the sensation of a new world, small at first. But it will already be the first awakening in it, the sensation of being within something still subconscious and unattainable. And yet we will already feel ourselves in this new dimension and be able to determine our position and find our bearings in it. I hope that we will achieve this. Everything depends on our preparation.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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Work Based On A Combination Of Contradictions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I combine two states when in one of them, I must ask for help for my friends to unite and in the other, be small in relation to the group?

Answer: A person must simultaneously seem to be in two states. On one hand, I think that I am big, and the salvation of my friends depends on me. On the other, I think that I am small, and I completely depend on them. These two states should not mutually eliminate one another. Spirituality is always built on two states, but we have a problem with this.

As a matter of fact only one force, the force of reception, operates in our world. This is why we are unable to feel the upper world that was created out of two forces, the combination of the right and the left lines. And we add the middle line that consists of the force of reception and the force of bestowal. The balance between them creates the inner fulfillment in the point of our unity.

In the end, all our constant efforts to exist between these two forces—in the contradiction of I, the Creator, and the group, all of us together or separately—have to combine and connect into a system within me where I will revolve freely between them.

Everything in our world is built on the interaction of two forces, expansion and constriction, plus and minus. The problem is that these two forces pertain to egoistic reception. We must begin to form a completely different structure within us, a structure where the force of reception and the force of bestowal really will be opposite. We create the structure of the soul namely by rising above this contradiction.

So, you do not need to worry about having to cancel one of these two forces out. Instead, you need to live in the contradiction, trying to be in absolute unity with others despite the presence of a variety of problems.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 12/11/2011

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Free Choice In The World Of Infinity?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said once in a lesson that a person needs free choice only when he isn’t sure. Will we have free choice after the end of correction?

Answer: The more we advance towards the Creator, the less we agree with Him, and still we find the internal power to agree each time. When I enter Infinity, I discover that there is no one worse than the Creator.

I don’t agree with Him on anything. I hate Him more than anything. But at the same time I also have the power to rise above this feeling and to feel the opposite: that there is no one higher, more perfect, stronger, and more certain than Him. And so I have to choose: Which way to go? Meanwhile, there is nowhere to go. This is what Infinity is.

In general, we should understand that no matter how high a person rises, the evil inclination is still greater than him. We actually discover creation as “existence from absence,” in contrast to “existence from existence.”
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Moving Towards The Goal

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Since the convention you have stopped commenting on international news and the crisis. Is it a good or a bad sign?

Answer: It’s neither. Simply, there are not enough comments for all the new decisions of the leaders because without the understanding of the nature of the crisis, they’re not able to make the only right decision: towards gradual, but full unity, as nature obligates us to do.

Back in the beginning of the last century, Baal HaSulam wrote that humanity is moving towards the realization that it is one family, that it is integrally interconnected. He saw this as a Kabbalist, from our inner connection, the way it manifests in our growth, evolution, under the influence of the forces of nature.

This is why the manifestation of our opposition to nature will continue to grow in the form of greater suffering, bankruptcies, descents, threats, unemployment, disorders, and protests. And this will continue until the world realizes the cause of the escalating crisis: our egoistic relations.  After all, we have developed to the point when we must start connecting into a single integrated world community and then reach the level of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

This is not a fantasy or utopia, but the future objective reality that has already appeared on the horizon. This is the goal of our evolution, programmed by nature. It’s already beginning to manifest in the form of a necessary universal connection between people, enterprises, and countries, and our resistance and lack of correspondence to it causes the crisis in our society. On the contrary, similarity to it will evoke the feeling of harmony, wellbeing, and perfection in us.

And no solutions or actions that are not directed towards unity or integration will find their proper implementation. Instead, they will encounter failure, which can lead towards war. This will result in so much suffering that humanity will realize that integration is the only solution to their problems.

This is why I have nothing else to write about the crisis. All attempts to come out of it have so far been unsuccessful; they failed to hit the target. The development scenario leads us towards the goal of nature, although so far in an unfavorable way. This is similar to a child who has to do “the right thing,” but through force and punishment. Regrettably, so far we are going down the “path of suffering” (punishment)—we will have to learn from them….
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Between The Creator And Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can you draw an analogy between the modern stage of development of the world and spiritual development?

Answer: Of course. We go together with all of humanity like Galgalta ve Eynaim with AHP. We are the one percent, and they are the ninety-nine percent. If not for the needs of humanity, we would not have awakened from the corporeal dream. Just as in the past generations, the world today would have had only several Kabbalists.

So, why are there hundreds of thousands, millions, of us today? It is because the world needs us. Everyone who studies and disseminates Kabbalah will become a full-time teacher. I am sure that in the next few years, the world will need the presence of such people in the educational systems and in the areas of culture and politics, everywhere. Everyone will need the special, integrated approach that only we have. It will become necessary for all areas of life, not to mention inner development.

Our path and the path of mankind are naturally interconnected. Today, the need for correction is already ripening in an enormous number of people. Naturally, the process is gradual because the world consists of many parts and layers. The differences are enormous. China, America, Europe, and Africa are different in their mentalities, size, and the nature of their egoism. Overall, all the people represent a pyramid of humanity.

Undoubtedly, one way or another, we have received the right to advance in the direction of freedom and the revelation of the upper force only with one goal: We will have to pass what we will receive to the others. However, we will need to pass it in a suitable form.

In this regard, we are like Bina. Essentially, its upper part pertains to Hochma and is in touch with the Creator, the upper Light. The bottom part is like a mother’s womb for the lower Partzuf. It guarantees its birth, nurturing, and growth. In this way, our upper part constantly aspires toward the Creator, and the bottom part constantly exists among the creatures.

We, Bnei Baruch, are in between like the middle part of Tifferet, between the Creator and the world. We only have the desire to be above with Him and below with humanity. In the middle is our freedom of choice, and in this way, we become similar to the Creator.

After all, the Creator is the maker; He produces, constructs, and fulfills like a mother. We call nature “mother” because it begets, nurtures, and protects us. We must play the same role toward the world. Exerting this attitude full of bestowal, we become like the Creator.

The common Partzuf is divided into five degrees of Aviut (coarseness). The second degree is the most important. It copies Keter, follows the example of the zero degree, and continues it further down. This is our objective. In this way, we unite with the Creator.

The Second Restriction is related to this. As we rise toward Bina, Malchut helps us begin to watch over the world from the new degree.


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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/2011, “The Freedom”

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In Search Of Yourself

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I exactly recognize the point of my free choice?

Answer: First of all, we discover that we are absolutely, one-hundred percent not free. This is the realization of evil.

However, on the other hand, what is so bad about that? If I am entirely under the power of the Creator, or Nature, then there is nothing to ask of me. I am neither good nor bad. What is there to demand of me? No matter what I do, it is not me doing it, as it is written: “Go to the craftsman who made me.”

Religion is based on this. I am a small person. I do everything that He wants. If He says do, I do. In this way, all my charges are removed, any questions are canceled, and I rid myself of problems.

However, on this path, you lose independence and freedom. Just by following the Creator’s decrees, even if unwillingly, you will always find a reward for yourself and ease your task—at the cost of your real “I.” This is why religion is good for the masses. When everything comes from Above, it adds a feeling of comfort to life and provides psychological support to flow together with everyone.

On the other hand, in Kabbalah, I demand independence, instead of self-cancellation. I want to find the beginning of my “I.” In this search, in this rational and logical evaluation, I discover that in reality, I do not exist. I did not make the decision about being born in this world, I did not chose my qualities, my genetics, my parents, my country, or my environment. I was reared and educated by already formed systems and institutions such as kindergarten, school, mass media, and so forth. Who am I after all this? I am a piece of dough baked in a common oven into a regular loaf of bread.

When I see this, a question arises in me: Is this what life is? What does it give me besides never-ending concerns, a constant flight from suffering, and brief moments of pleasure? This is the realization of evil: I begin to think about the essence of what is happening, about my journey and its end, and I understand that I do not exist. There is only a machine that I neither launch nor control. When there is an algorithm conflict in the computer, it gives an error message. I too respond to problems, albeit in a sensory way. The pressure jumps somewhere, and I feel pain. That’s all it is to it.

In this case, I simply have no reason to live. Many people come to this conclusion. The only thing that holds them back is an instinctive fear of death, and even that does not always work.

This is where I begin the search for true freedom, my true essence. The path to it lies through becoming like the Creator, not in worshiping and canceling yourself before Him, but actually becoming like Him. I must grow and become more like Him. Absolute independence and freedom is inherent of the Creator. There is none else besides Him in all of nature. I can grow according to the same principle when there is no one else besides me in all of nature.

This is the Kabbalistic method. We search for freedom and independence. The most painful thing is the fact that I do not exist. Where can I find my “I?”  This pursuit of my own “I” is my entire life. I want greater self-expression. I want to rule over everyone and receive. What is all this for? It is for my “I” to form and grow. Here, Kabbalah explains that to acquire your “I” means to acquire the qualities of the Creator, in other words, to acquire freedom.

Question: So how can I find my “I” without free will?

Answer: The initial point of my “I” manifests itself through questions about the meaning and essence of life. A person who comes to Kabbalah already has this point of choice, a point in the heart, a spark, the other side of the middle line, the reverse side of freedom, the feeling of emptiness and lack.

I have no freedom, and this is why I ask questions about the meaning of life. This is exactly what I lack. I do not care about life itself; I need to find my “I.”
[63025]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/2011, “The Freedom”

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The Foundation Of The Third Temple

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we say that by virtue of the common efforts we made in the Arava desert and at the Convention, we were able to find a place and lay the foundation for the Third Temple?

Answer: In Hebrew, “Temple” is “the House of Holiness,” where “House” is Malchut, and “holiness” is Bina. Malchut that is connected to Bina, having received its qualities and having its own Partzuf, is called “the House of Holiness.”

This House is built by the group, or in the language of primary sources, by the “holy society.” This is talking about a society that wants to advance and acquire the force of bestowal. It is able to build the House of Holiness.

As a whole, there is one, common soul and we are trying to assemble it from broken parts. Our inner Kelim, corresponding to Galgalta ve Eynaim divide into three components: root, soul, body. Besides, there are also external Kelim corresponding to AHP, which form the clothing and castle.

Inner Kelim are the group, our unity. After all, in spirituality there are no single individuals, but only a society. This group builds the correction of the external Kelim for itself, also called “the Temple.”

In the past we have already done this twice—on the third and then on the second stages. Now we have to gather into a group, meaning correct the inner Kelim, and then go on to correcting the external ones. The Temple cannot be erected without a builder. Stated differently, AHP cannot be corrected if there is no Galgalta ve Eynaim.

Thus, having begun to correct ourselves, of course we have laid the foundation for the construction of the Third Temple.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/11, “The Freedom”

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