Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

Do Not Experiment With Children

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: My three year old daughter watches your lessons together with me. Is this material enough for her, or does she need other content?

Answer: I am hearing many similar questions here, and it surprises me a lot. What do you expect of such young children? Who told you that you should drag a three-year-old girl to the lesson? Where have you seen this? Why are you not learning from what we do with our children?

We do not do this. See what we do, and do the same. We gradually let children older than six listen to certain things and sing together with us.
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From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Realizing Your Purpose

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Following your advice to expand my world, I have connected as many pieces that are similar to me as I could, but I see the suffering of the people outside of our group because we are not bringing the wisdom of Kabbalah and the level of connection that exists among us to them.

Answer: I already told you how to disseminate Kabbalah. Give the easiest book we have, From Chaos to Harmony for example, to one person, then another, then someone else. Have a small library, and this way, you will see whether people are interested in this. Do they feel that there is an actual reason behind all this chaos? Do they understand that there is a solution?

This is the best way to act because as soon as you begin to speak with them, you ruin yourself and them. The best method to disseminate is to give a book.

Question: What else can I do to strengthen the connection between the people who study Kabbalah?

Answer: This is a different question. You should unite with other women to use your strength, desire, and concern to motivate the men to work harder between them on the destruction of their egoism and the strengthening of their connection. You cannot even imagine how much influence women have over men.

There were many times in my life when I received great advice from my wife, as if it were sent from God. She often offered me a solution in the most critical states—I am speaking about spiritual solutions. You, women, can influence men, and you should not be avoiding this responsibility.
[41462]
From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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When I Receive Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the connection between disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah and spiritual attainment?

Answer: Spiritual attainment comes solely through dissemination. We know from the wisdom of Kabbalah that a soul consists of two parts: GE (Galgalta ve Eynaim) and AHP (Awzen, Hotem, Peh), which are my properties (Kelim) by way of which I remain in bestowal to others. GE obeys the law of Restriction, where only the Light of Hassadim (Mercy) is present. It isn’t attainment but only the correction of the Kli (vessel).

However, if I wish to attain the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), I need to involve my AHP, my receiving Kelim (desires). In other words, I must bestow to the others; otherwise, I won’t be able to engage my AHP. I must receive MAN from them which will result in my being able to channel the Light of Hochma to them.

Therefore, it is said: “I have learnt a great deal from my teachers, more from the friends, and much more from the students.” After all, the students bring to me their unfulfilled desires, and I lift them up to Infinity, draw from there and channel through myself the Light of Hochma that they are asking for, and thereby attain.

A person never attains spirituality in his Kelim, but only by adjoining the others’ desires to his own. He can engage his AHP only if within him, there is the GE of another. And the AHP of the latter, in turn, has to be tied to someone else, and so on. None of us is free.

Thus all spiritual Partzufim are formed up to the world of Infinity. Let’s take the Partzuf of my soul, for example (see the diagram below). Its lower part resides within the lower Partzuf, totally controlled by it. And in the second part of my soul resides the upper one. In other words, with the upper part of my soul I belong with the upper one and with lower part, to the lower one. Where is my Self then?

Well, I don’t exist. I cannot exist for myself. My life (and we will very soon start observing it in our global world) is tied either to the upper one or to the lower one, to both of them, but it surely doesn’t belong to me. If in my upper part I completely hand myself to the upper one, along with him, I attain in my GE and his AHP in me the complete ten Sefirot. And below, in my AHP and GE of the lower one, I also attain the full ten Sefirot. Thereby, I receive life.

But I never have my own Kli except in connection with the upper or lower ones. I don’t possess my own ten Sefirot or, to be even more precise, I don’t have any one Sefira of my own. My one, upper, part is always totally tied to the upper one, while the other, lower, one is fully tied to the lower one. And only in the middle can I make a decision to split myself into these two parts.

This is precisely what we will be revealing now as a result of a global world crisis. There is no other connection between people, nations, countries, and all parts of nature. We are all linked like cells of one single organism. And if we make an effort to fulfill this condition, we will find a good life. And if not, we will suffer.

This is the spiritual law that defines how the Partzufim are connected. We learn about it in The Study of the Ten Sefirot.

Question: How much time should we dedicate to inner analysis and how much time to external dissemination?

Answer: Dedicate 100% to inner unity with 100% dissemination to the world on top of it!
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From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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A Gun Against Your Temple

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: An example of mutual guarantee at the cellular level is very convincing. One can easily imagine how the cells act for the sake of the body, leaving for themselves only life’s necessities. But why is it so hard to imagine mutual guarantee at our human degree?

Answer: It is because we do not see this system with our own eyes. If we saw it now, we would have no freedom of will and would be forced to comply with its laws. If the necessity to bestow is suffocating me, if I have two options: to die or to give myself away for the benefit of others, then I surely agree; “Take everything I have.”

I as though feel a gun against my temple:
“Give everything you have!”
“Take it, I can’t help it.”
Death is not an option—they would take everything anyway. This is the absence of choice.

This is why our interconnection is hidden from our sight, and we are unable to comply with it. What can be done? With the help of the environment, I have to come to a state when I will put a gun against my own temple.
[41409]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/24/2011, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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How To Avoid Tsunamis

Dr. Michael LaitmanA child’s question: The Creator promised Noah that there wouldn’t be another flood. So why was there another tsunami?

Answer: That’s a difficult question. I’m not used to viewing the Torah as a historical tale. The corruption that happened then—the sin of Adam and all the other transgressions leading up to today—is still the same corruption, and we are beginning its correction only now.

The reason for disasters like tsunamis or earthquakes, past or future, is that we are causing an imbalance. Does the Creator really promise that the blows will stop? No. He promises that there won’t be a flood that would wash away the whole world!

The flood means that malicious waters arrive and wash away everything, leaving only the point in the heart. It really did happen once because a corruption of that magnitude had to happen, but no more. We are facing only correction. But if we don’t correct ourselves in time, we ourselves trigger the blows that befall us.

I hope that we will be able to avoid them, but we must feel responsible for what’s happening. After all, if the wisdom of Kabbalah was revealed, and we know that by building on our interconnection, we correct the world, we are capable of preventing misfortunes.

Remember what the Creator said to Abraham: “If I find ten righteous men in Sodom, I will not destroy it with an earthquake.” But there were not ten good people, and so the earthquake happened.

If we so desire, we are capable of saving the world from suffering. Everything depends on us. I hope that we will be successful because we really need to take this seriously.
[41304]
From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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The Remote Control To All The Souls

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Ever since we started studying the article “There is none else besides Him,” I feel totally confused about the intention. If the upper Light is constantly at work, doing 100%, then what is the “Light that reforms?” And whom do I ask for it? From whom do I demand it for others? What works here if everything is inside of me?

Answer: Suppose I have a remote control. I press a button and activate some kind of mechanism. Nowadays there are many devices that work this way. However, if you were to show this to a person who lived 100 years ago, he would think that you are simply an angel that performs miracles: You press a button and suddenly the glass turns into a picture….

That is, using the remote control I can activate various systems. For example, I press a button and you, who are looking at a piece of glass (a screen), start to receive all sorts of impressions. You start crying and then laughing, experiencing worry and then joy. It turns out that by simply pressing a button, I made such a powerful impact on you. I influenced a friend.

Kabbalists say that when reading The Book of Zohar, it’s as if you are holding the remote control to all the souls and they depend on you. Think about how you awaken them! This is called “pressing a button.” If you think about this, then you “press the button” and activate an influence that causes them to begin awakening.

Everything depends on how much you desire for this to happen and how many other people also aspire to awaken others. All the efforts must be both qualitative and quantitative.

That is how we awaken one another. No one can awaken himself. Every person can attain this spiritual community called “the group” only in order to awaken others. Otherwise, he does not even come in contact with the group. That’s because the group is like Malchut of the world of Atzilut.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/11, The Zohar

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Not By Bread Alone

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that compensation for unity will be spiritual fulfillment. Is this world prepared to hear this or should we replace the worlds “spiritual fulfillment” with something else?

Answer: In order to reveal what our ego should be filled with, we must unify amongst ourselves. Then, through our inner spiritual fulfillment, we will be able to show the world that there is an answer to the question of what every person can be fulfilled by beyond the satisfaction of their daily needs.
[41470]
From Lesson 7, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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Dissemination Is Like Giving Birth In Spirituality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: My question pertains to dissemination. At school, I talk with my classmates about Kabbalah. There is an impression that they are interested in it, which creates a certain contact between us, but as soon as they go home, the contemptuous attitude of their families and environment toward Kabbalah spoils everything. How do we get those families to see the importance of the goal?

Answer: I am not sure since I never dealt with this. After all, we are talking about love of friends and love of others not with the outsiders, but with those who have already joined us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches that we must spread it passively, forcing no one into it. I need to provide a person with certain information: Why the world is suffering, what the cause of it is, where we are heading toward, and why crises occur.

We also try to explain to him that all of it is happening due to nature’s program so as to demonstrate to us that egoistic evolution on the rising exponential curve has reached its final point and now we are headed for the downfall. This means that we will feel pain and problems (possibly serious ones) since our egoistic development has ended, and we need to rise above the ego.

This is the kind of information that we need to spread in the world. But if I start talking with people about it, it will take many hours to explain things to them until they comprehend it. This is why we spread the wisdom of Kabbalah in a passive way, via books or the Internet, and those who become interested in it and feel that it meets a certain need in them will find us.

We are in the field of the upper force, in the field of Light. And if a person does have an inclination for a personal correction and sort of gravitates to unification, to spirituality, which equates to love of others, bestowal to the Creator, he or she will find our sources. There is absolutely no need to come to them, apply pressure, and start huge propaganda.

You may talk with friends about Kabbalah, which is not prohibited at all. But if you see that afterward they immediately forget or lose interest in it, or if they quickly change their mind, even if they initially agreed with something, all of this is a sign that this wisdom most likely isn’t for them.

If I were in your place, I would give them a book to read that would, in your opinion, suit them best. Collect a small library at home. I suggest everyone does the same.

All those who study Kabbalah must have a complete collection of our books. Additionally, keep three or five books most suitable for beginners and lend them to others to read one by one, and after they are done, get them back. And then you will see if they do show any interest or not.

A book has a unique power. And even though I usually read and work with a text on a computer, I still keep a book in front of me. It has a spiritual root, which a computer does not.

But what I really appreciate in this young man and praise him for is his desire to spread the wisdom of Kabbalah. He is so great! And we should follow his example.

Each of you should check what you can do in dissemination since the more you spread the wisdom of Kabblah, the more internally enriched you become. And in correspondence with how many people receive the knowledge of the spiritual world or spiritual fulfillment through you, the same degree of spiritual fulfillment will pass through you as well. It is as though you give birth to them, and they become your children afterward, which stimulates your growth.

And a person who didn’t bring anyone closer to the wisdom of Kabblah and didn’t impact anyone spiritually in this world is similar to someone who never gave life to anyone and has no continuation. Each of us must become a disseminator.
[40872]
From Lesson 5, WE! Convention 4/2/2011

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Participation Of All Is The Key To Success

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Hundreds and thousands of American children are practically left to themselves, and multiple social services that are supposed to handle them fail completely. Are there any books on this issue that we can offer them?

Answer: So far, there are not, but we are working on them. I hope that in three to six months, you will start receiving a series of books containing the method of raising children of different ages: how to form groups, conduct discussions, influence their development, and build a connection between them.

Besides, you don’t have to wait for our materials; you should join us and together with us participate in the process of writing such books! A person who isn’t engaged in spreading the wisdom has no chance to advance spiritually. How can one channel the Light if there is no yearning to pass it on to others?

Take the American Education Center as an example; participate in dissemination or we won’t succeed and will keep developing very slowly. We need the force, a lot of it! We really need your help!
[40887]
From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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The World Is Fine, The Problem Is In You!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that nature will force us to change if we don’t wish to do it by choice. What change can our small Kabbalistic group make in the world if the majority of it don’t want to think about anything whatsoever?

Answer: It’s much easier for the majority of the world to change than it is for us since they don’t have free will. You do have free will because you possess an egoistic heart and the point from another world.

There are two forces in you, and that’s why you are in constant argument and struggle between them. This pertains to you but not to the whole world! They are fine: When they feel bad, it’s bad, when they feel good, it’s good, so what spiritual world are you talking about?

Without these two forces, there is no free will to choose between them; there are no upheavals and descents; there are no thoughts how to move forth; there is no faith above reason. Reason and faith above reason? Malchut and Bina atop of it?! Most folks have no connection between these two worlds. The connection between them exists only in us, in every one of us! It’s our problem, and the rest of the world doesn’t have it.

Hence, as soon as you make a choice, you impact all the other souls who don’t have free will; you “pour” your choice, will, and yearning into them and lead them on like a shepherd who leads a herd of a thousand cows. Obviously, it’s easier to be a cow than a shepherd since he has to know the way. But it’s not up to you; you will have to become a shepherd!
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From Lesson 6, WE! Convention 4/3/2011

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