Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

The Light Is The Answer

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can you explain this phenomenon that urgent questions that arise today are answered by you tomorrow?

Answer: It is a very good question! I often hear about this from my students. They say that perhaps I know, that I intentionally ask someone a question and give him an answer the next day, or someone asks today and I “catch” his or her questions, and the like.

It is nothing like that. It is very simple: A question emerges in you, a desire to be filled with some information, some sensation. You become included in the group, in the lesson, and get an answer or fulfillment. In the same way, you can take my lesson from a month ago and see that I answered your question. This is only because a question has emerged in you—only because of this.

The Light is called the answer; it is all around us in unlimited quantities. Even now, we are in the world of Infinity, but we only feel its smallest, darkest part. There are many concealments around us, 125 curtains of concealment. Thus, we sense only our world.

Once a person has a desire for a more exalted state directed not inside himself but outside, he immediately begins to discover new questions and to get answers. It all depends on desire; there is nothing else.

The Light around us is at absolute rest, and you attain it. What we lack is desire. Thus, if I connect with the group, if I try to connect with the friends, I perceive their desires. Then, I acquire a larger vessel, a greater opportunity for fulfillment.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main directive of Kabbalah. This is the key tool for receiving the Light. What does “love your neighbor as yourself” mean? It means that you need to attach his desires to yourself. Then, you will have at least twice as much. In reality, it is not even twice, but multiplied by the resistance of your egoism. You will have a huge desire.

While you are connecting your friend to yourself as yourself, you have to rework all your egoism from reception, from rejection, into bestowal. You form a massive vessel. The Light will fill it right away, and you will reach spiritual attainment.

So, if I ask a question today, I can get an answer today and tomorrow; it does not matter when. Usually, it happens during the lesson when you are included in the collective desire and in the collective Light which thereby manifests around you, in the so-called Surrounding Light.
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From the 3rd lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/11/11

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Advancing In Fear Of Death

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can people who don’t feel any desire for spirituality associate themselves with our message of unity?

Answer: Yes, they can. There is plenty of serious content that talks about the necessity to unite. Thinking people do understand that egoism is destroying the human race, while humanity is selfishly destroying the Earth, and that is why we must switch from egoism to unity and rise to altruism. Only then will we learn to get along with each other and save our planet, the only home we have. After all, we can’t move to another “apartment.” Many world authors describe this picture with clarity and precision.

The issue is how to make this transition. It’s evident that humanity is on the verge of war and faces a gloomy future the insatiable ego is pushing it to. The solution is also obvious: be “good children,” “befriend one another,” restrict consumption, and learn to distribute resources properly. But how do we make it from point A to point B if human nature is the desire to enjoy? How do we reform it? How do we turn it into bestowal?

It is one thing when we talk about basic instincts such as maternal love. But people don’t usually feel this way; love rises only when trouble comes, out of necessity. Hence, we need to try to open their eyes so they may see how serious the situation is and to show them one specific condition: The world will escape demise only by way of unity and mutual participation. Then, left without a choice, they will agree to it.

However, carrying out this transition requires that every moment, in every detail, every tiny particle, each crumb of bread and droplet of water, a person will clearly feel: If I don’t share it with others, I am dead. It should permeate every feeling, action, and choice. This is the way it ought to be.

And the reason for it is one: In his or her egoistic desire that is constantly looking to be pleased, a person feels that he will drop dead if he succumbs to egoism. If the situation is a bit different and death is not instant, he’ll steal. Such is the nature of man. We can’t ask of man what is beyond his power, above his nature.

So it seems that everyone should fear this? It is impossible. In “Introduction to TES” Baal HaSulam writes that in the ancient times, Kabbalists resorted to asceticism, as it is written: “Live on bread and water, sleep on the ground, and labor in the Torah. If you do so, you will be a lucky man.” It follows that even on the path of such sufferings you need the power of the Torah. Otherwise, you must constantly feel misfortunes hanging over you: Either unite or perish.

This is why Kabbalists explain that while undergoing such painful states, a person should “labor in the Torah.” After all, you still have to draw the Light that Reforms. If not, there is no life, and there is no choice. Any hero in this world can be easily fooled. We live by egoistic sensations, and anyone can be made to respond in any way you wish them to. After all, man is the will to receive, not a hero.

Therefore, it is up to us to provide the solution for them. People will think they found it on their own, while in reality, it will be coming from us. And the faster we advance, the easier it will be for us to prevent them from being fooled.

We have to rely on logic and explain that we employ the inner force of nature, the power of unity, the life-giving force that breathes life into everything there is. All our definitions must be brought a bit closer to people so that they don’t start thinking that we are talking about some supernatural force working beyond the nature of things. No, it underlies nature itself and stands by to assist us.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/2011, “Preface of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Bringing People A Little Closer To The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The global crisis has already announced itself publicly. When will the public start asking questions about what’s going on? When will the storm come?

Answer: This depends on us. We have to do our best to disseminate the method of our correction. Our message is simple, and we can offer it to the governments of the countries that are already in trouble.

The key problem is what to do with the sky-rocketing egoism. A human being has a normal, earthly desire to be provided with all that is necessary for his existence. He needs food, family, and the other things he can’t do without. Besides that, his egoistic desire aimed at receiving more keeps growing. It is so inherent in every one of us that we can’t even define what a basic necessity is.

Will a person be satisfied if he receives his daily bread, so to speak? No, he will not. What do we do with egoism then? What can we fill the black hole with?

The answer to this is as follows: Egoism grew so that we can transform it into spiritual desire, a spiritual vessel filled with attainment, bestowal, love, and finally with the upper Light. How is it done? How do we make a transition from a society of receivers, insatiable in its quest for material wealth, to a society of minimal consumption, grounded on basic needs?

If we don’t, the world will not be able to exist due to our rapidly depleting the planet’s natural resources. Consumerism will not be able to satisfy our egoism anymore. The people of the world won’t be able to shop store to store, filling their carts “to the gills.” The feast is over, and from now on, everyone gets only what he or she needs.

How then do people get fulfilled? We have to send all these millions to school. They will receive all the necessary goods in exchange for their studying. Otherwise, they are not entitled to even that much. And indeed, why should they be? Trouble is trouble, and everyone is in it. The government provides them with basic necessities, everyone continues to live where they do, stability is preserved, and at the same time, everybody starts studying.

What do they study exactly? They study the laws of life in the integral system. In reality, they are the laws of the group, but Kabbalah is not mentioned during the lessons. The subject is systems and mechanisms pertaining to a unified society. Getting all that they need, at least during the class, people hear and study the facts proving that we don’t have another way to survive but through unity.

You are dealing with “savages” coming to learn, who wish only to make money and get certain benefit. But gradually, they begin to understand there is no other option, that we have entered a new system, and that the world will develop differently now. Consumerism is finished; this type of society is dying out. It didn’t live that long anyway, at maximum for a hundred years, from the end of the 19th century through the 70s-90s of the 20th century. And even during this time there have been crises, including the Great Depression of the 30s.

Thus, people begin to study, while the government provides them with all they need, which is much less costly than creating new jobs. The latter is pointless since nobody will be buying what may be produced. Besides, the raw materials and energy are almost gone.

Thus, the most concise and cheap solution is to send people to school, regardless of where it may be: at home via the Internet, in theaters or auditoriums, or anywhere else. The key is to place everybody in an educational framework. In the meantime, studying is going to make one wiser and allow him to understand that he is entering a new world, where the previous laws do not work. Baal HaSulam writes it as well: We must all go to school and learn yet again how to live in the future.

Eventually, thanks to the studies, people will gain a new desire and start perceiving changes in it, until they come to understand that fulfillment can come from another, higher degree. The process will be gradual since we are dealing with a gigantic mass which is beginning to ripen. It will truly transform us as well.

As of today, we don’t have any other options. This is why no one can find anything. But just imagine how much Light these hundreds of millions can draw by merely listening to what they are taught. This is the solution that Baal HaSulam is pointing at, the solution that suggests itself to us logically since there aren’t any other means except for bringing people a little closer to the Light.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Key To Success

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can you describe in more detail the right direction that is mentioned in the verse, “If the desire is directed correctly, this is the key to success”?

Answer: A person in our world is always in motion. At every moment we desire something, are directed somewhere, and are doing something.

If my direction at every moment of my existence corresponds to the motion of nature, if I don’t digress to the side but move in exactly the same direction, without any angular transgression, then my motion is optimal and I attain the goal to the maximum and in the best possible way.

Therefore, I must constantly control myself by checking: Am I moving correctly in my thoughts, desires, and actions, according to the direction that the upper force, nature, desires for me to move in? This is the key to success.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Moscow Convention, 6/10/11

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The Vessel Of Knowledge

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: The prophet conditions peace in the whole world with the filling of the whole world with the knowledge of God.

Thus, the solution to problems in the world is “the knowledge of the Creator.” Until the whole world, from the smallest to the greatest, according to their fully disclosed desires, is filled with the knowledge of the Creator, it will not reach perfection, peace, and contentment. Till then, there will always be forces that agitate, shake up, and push the world to be filled with the knowledge of the Creator, a state where the Creator fulfills His creation.

Our eyes can see how the unhappy patient writhes and squirms from the unbearable human  pains. After all, humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as in Germany, or to the extreme left, as in Russia, but not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony, and the voices rise up to the sky, as we all know.

What our mind suggests is not going to help at this point since we always deflect to the right or left. At times, we keep holding on to the middle line, but usually only while moving from one extreme to the other. Consequently, we end up in one trouble after another, and there is no way out until we know the Creator.

The “knowledge of the Creator” points at the correction of our desires so that they are fit to become the vessel for knowledge (Daat), meaning to become filled with the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) with the illumination of Hochma (Wisdom), as Sefirot Hochma (“wisdom”), Bina (“understanding”), and Daat (“knowledge”), HBD.

Question: How is the world going to get filled with the knowledge of the Creator?

Answer: People will start learning how to bestow to all, while existing with everyone together in a global, integral, and analog system, where we yield to each other, are bonded and integrated into each other, where mutual bestowal and even love rule.

Until we unify into this kind of system where everyone feels the collective desire of all and strives to fulfill and service it, like a cell in the body, we won’t come to perfection. Till then, misfortunes will keep increasing and pushing us toward this perfection.

This is what we call “the knowledge of the Creator”: Each of us becomes a vessel of knowledge. Zeir Anpin and Nukva ascend to Hochma and Bina and receive from them fulfillment, according to the desire they have raised. Hence, they are regarded as “the vessel of knowledge.” They reach the degree of “adulthood” and, together with the parental Partzuf of Aba ve Ima, transform into HBD.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/30/2011, “The Peace”

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Game Over

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We suggest that people should be sent to school to study the laws of the integral system of the world. Who will finance this kind of education and provide the masses with basic necessities at the same time?

Answer: Measure the output of modern industry’s production. Essentially, it doesn’t have much use and only ruins the world. We just keep wasting resources, while we don’t produce anything good and really useful. People exchange meaningless things, nothing more.

Industry was previously based on the rule of “money-commodity-money,” but today this model has lost the commodity element: We sell money for money. That is what our “trade” is: We pass paper to one another.

The only commodities that still matter are related to the sphere of basic necessity. A person needs basic shelter and sustenance as well as a certainty that they won’t be gone today or tomorrow. The only thing they need to understand is that luxuries are cancelled. Instead, you will receive ideal fulfillment, but not the one you used to imagine. And we will teach you how to obtain it.

We help a person to understand that in the integral society, he or she will find perfect fulfillment in everything that exceeds basic necessity only by unifying with others. After all, they can no longer be fulfilled by all sorts of meaningless things found in this world.

Question: What will the economic paradigm supporting such a society be?

Answer: A very simple one since all modern industry, legislative agencies, and financial institutions are driven by illusion and trade nothing but useless paper. In the meantime, they are sustained by the natural resources that are being successfully drained.

Take them out of business and just give them food as it will be much less costly because in reality, they produce nothing instead of something, air instead of goods. Exchanging meaningless things leads only to waste. Except for a few staples we need, all the rest are merely toys for which we are willing to ruin the Earth.

The consumer society is a game we play:

“The TV said: Buy it.”
“So buy it.”

Wide-eyed, you run to the store and start up a chain that engages you in return. So we are building a heap that will eventually bury us.

For thousands of years humanity has developed grounded on the basic necessities. The majority lived without luxuries; even the clothes used to be passed down from generation to generation. However, a century old feast of the modern era has ruined the planet. Like it or not, we will have to put an end to it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/25/2011, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Screen To Reveal The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the upcoming conventions, if we wish the Creator to be revealed, what should we be asking for?

Answer: The Creator’s revelation is love and bestowal that unfold between human beings. Within this property, we find its source, the upper force that created us, and feel it inside ourselves.

Hence, the Creator’s name is “Boreh,” meaning “Bo uh Reh” or “come and see,” discover. You discover Him within yourself, in your reformed properties. They serve as a screen, a monitor, where you can find your world.
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From the Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah 5/29/2011

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Be A Total Success

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do I need to do in order to be one hundred percent successful at the convention?

Answer: You can be totally successful only by way of thought! “I am a part of this along with the others. I want to unite with them all. I realize that in my bond with the others, within this connection, I will discover all spiritual degrees, worlds, and my spiritual states. If I unify with the others completely, I will come to the total correction or, at least, a partial one on the path (if I haven’t fully connected with others yet).”

But all that has to do with spirituality unfolds in the connection between people. Moreover, this bond must be based on bestowal. This means that it appears in a person only when he or she is tuned into it correctly: myself, the group, and the studies of our properties described in a Kabbalistic book.
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From the Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah 5/29/2011

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What Desire Is Speaking In Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I clarify whose desire I am serving?

Answer: If you do not internalize the desire of the group intentionally and consciously, you undoubtedly live by the orders of alien desires. You follow the orders of fashion, the directives set by the media, and everything else that reaches you from the four corners of the world: “Go there, think this way, buy this,” and so forth.

Only one desire is your own: It is when you appeal to the group and want to receive the desire from your friends. In this case, you are the one who chooses their desire, and it leads you to the revelation of your soul.

Apart from this, you never have your own desire. Only the Creator has an authentic desire that has originated in itself and has never been in anybody else. Our desires always come from outside.

Therefore, my choice is in deciding what desire I give the right of voice: a vain trend or a particular desire of a particular group, which is aimed at a particular direction. I put forth my efforts in order to become permeated with this desire and to work according to it. This is my only choice. The desire itself is never mine originally: It is either brought by the winds of the world or acquired from the group, from the correct environment.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Formula Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is bestowal?

Answer: Bestowal is called the state when I accept your desires as mine and begin to fulfill them. In other words, my desire exists solely to generate fulfillment for your desire. This means that in relation to you, I perform the action of bestowal, that I love you.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we study that in the entire reality there are only two components: desire and fulfillment. Thus, the still, vegetative, and animate natures are created. Our cells, molecules, atoms, thoughts, and force fields act from the desire (the need for fulfillment) to fulfillment.

This is manifested at different levels: biological, physical, in thoughts and desires. There is nothing in nature apart from deficiency and fulfillment. So, if I turn myself into a device of your fulfillment, this means that I bestow to you.

Thereby, we unite: I connect with you, and you can do the same in relation to me. We build the place between ourselves in which we can reveal the upper Light, the ultimate fulfillment: you from me and me from you. This is called the sensation of spiritual life.
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From Lesson 1, Convention in Spain, 6/3/2011

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