Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

The Receiver Of The Imperceptible Wave Range

laitman_934Question: Can the method of Kabbalah become public if the majority perceives the development of additional sense organs as mysticism?

Answer: People are accustomed to everything that is beyond this life being related to mysticism, unnatural forces. But in this case it is not so. The wisdom of Kabbalah is organized very simply, and this method originated from Abraham.

Students gather around the teacher, and he organizes them in a group. They begin to work in it as if in a laboratory, creating an environment in which it is possible to reveal the upper force. And when they reveal this upper force in connection with each other, they begin to study it, to develop due to it and develop it.

That is, they operate from two directions. They have the desire to receive, and they reveal the desire to bestow. Thus, they can influence this force of bestowal, draw it, grow it, and study how it affects them. They begin a mutual, practical work with the upper force, the Creator, as with any other force of nature that is revealed to us.

The only question is how to quickly build the laboratory in which we will reveal the upper force, will research, learn, and be able to perform mutual work with it, as partners. We will affect it, and it will affect us, that is, the whole group. After all, one person is not able to create the property of bestowal out of himself.

Only in mutual connection in the group, for example, between ten people, can we create the force of mutual bestowal, which will be similar to the hidden upper force. Then this upper force will be revealed to us according to the law of equivalence of form.

In this way we catch a wave in a radio set, tuning it internally, respectively to this wave. And then according to the law of equivalence of form, with the help of the internal wave, we catch the external wave. By the same principle, we reveal the upper force in the group, creating a small property of bestowal between ourselves to the extent of our abilities.

Suddenly, we seemingly catch the external radio wave in this property of bestowal created between us: we feel some conversation, external, higher impact. So, we have caught Him! In this way we grasp the Creator.

This is a very real feeling. If we arrange our group in this way, we will certainly reveal the Creator; there is no mystery. The same laws, as in physics, act here.

Rabash writes in his article “By Your Actions, We Know You” “The whole earth is full of the glory of the Creator, and there is no place free from Him.” The upper force fills all creation, the desire to enjoy created by this force, and manages it. “But we do not feel it only because we lack the necessary sense organs.”

“In this way, a receiver does not talk itself, but picks up voices that sound in the world. But before the receiver was invented, we did not hear these voices, although they already existed in reality.

“We can understand from this example that there is no place free from the Creator, and we need just a receiver. And the receiver that catches the upper force is based on adhesion to it in the equivalence of form, that is, on the desire to bestow.

“As soon as we have such a receiver, we will immediately feel that there is no such area, where the Creator is not present, and the whole earth is full of His glory.”

We are in the group like scientists in a laboratory, who only need to generate the force of mutual bestowal between themselves in order to be turned into a receiver. Then, inside the receiver, we will reveal the spiritual wave, the Creator.

It is revealed only in the connection between us. And all the preliminary preparation, our development through the still, vegetative, and animate nature up to the human was needed in order to form in us the desire to find this wave.

Therefore, we must look for how we can be connected according to the advice of Kabbalists. But all this is very far from mysticism. Only a completely ignorant person can relate Kabbalah with mysticism since according to the definition of Kabbalah, it is the revelation of the Creator by the created being in this world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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There Is A Continuation To Life!

Laitman_109Question: What must we correct in our reality?

Answer: The created being is a desire to receive that is external to the Creator, external to the desire to bestow. We are created intentionally so that we would be able to discover our deficient state, our dependence on the desire to bestow, its limitations, and that we cannot exist even for a moment without being adhered to the desire to bestow.

This limitation evokes in us a yearning to know and attain the desire to bestow, and to be like it. It is because we discover the imperfection of our state and our constant need for something, and that we are totally limited and dependent. As long as we receive the Light, we feel alive, but, the moment we don’t receive Light, we feel increasingly worse, until we feel death. If we cease to receive the force of bestowal on the animate level, our body dies. We simply are dependent totally on the force of bestowal. This stimulation brings us to demand revelation the upper force on the animate level and to find out on whom our animate body depends.

Thus, we discover that our corporeal body on the animate level depends on a higher level, and then we begin to look for this force of bestowal.

Throughout human history, we believe that our evolution is leading us to something good, to a better state. This isn’t true. Our evolution is intended to bring us to the conclusion that we are limited. The more we advance, the more we feel how limited, lowly, and defective we are in every aspect and in every sense. This makes us realize the need for the attainment of a state that is more sublime than ours, the next level above ours, the one on which I depend now.

Therefore, a person who reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah asks, “What is the point of my life?” This question pushes him forward and obliges him to clarify, “What am I living for? Why am I alive? What is the secret of life and the essence of life?” A person may have everything in his corporeal life, but if his life has no meaning, no point, he sees no reason to live.

Statistically, depression, drugs, and so on are more prevalent today, and it isn’t just about individuals, but multitudes who are asking the question about the meaning of life and cannot find an answer. This is also one of the signs that the wisdom of Kabbalah can be revealed.

It is because it impossible to get an answer to the question of what we are living for if we don’t discover that there is a continuation to life!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Force Of Good And The Force Of Evil, Part 2

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do I need this game between the force of good and the force of evil? Wouldn’t it be better if there were only one force of good?

Answer: By this egoism, our whole lives are spoiled because it wants only one thing—to feel good. It does not understand that the force of evil should be used in the same way as the force of good, bringing them both into balance. It is uncomfortable for egoism.

Question: What do you mean by the balance between the good and evil forces? I want to be in harmony with the good, but how can one be in harmony with the evil?

Answer: There can be no harmony with either the good or evil. Harmony exists only between the two of them, in their connection and in equilibrium. Therefore, our life has to consist of good and evil; otherwise there is no life.

Comment: But imagine how it wonderful it would be in the world if there were only one force of good!

Answer: We must stop calling one force evil and another good. Good and evil are relative concepts. You label them in one way and I label them in the opposite way.

There are two opposing forces given to us by nature. What occurs between these two forces is called life, existence. Rocks, plants, animals, and humans exist because they are created by a combination of these two forces that mutually balance each other. This is nature.

We exist in this world in the animal body and therefore must maintain this balance, which nature makes any animal obey. In addition to the animal level, which we receive due to our human minds and feelings, we also need to bring it into balance in order to use it not on the animate degree, but as human beings.

The human degree implies a completely different balance between good and evil. As a human being, I have to relate to good and evil objectively and recognize their right to exist, deciding what can be between them. Thus, I form my worldview, understanding that I have to use both forces in their interaction, in balance and in correct mutual connection.

For me, there are no good and evil. Both these forces, combining with each other, produce my good state, that is more advanced, higher. Harmony between these two forces is turned into good for me. It is not one or the other but the connection between them.

Question: This is good and evil in their absolute forms, relative to our development. But would I, an ordinary person, perceive this development as good or not?

Answer: It depends on a person, his preparation, education, and perception of the world. A baby, until he grows to a certain age, does not understand anything and follows his desire just like an animal. He naturally chooses what he likes and dislikes.

Thus we have to limit him because from birth he is not an animal, but a little human. An animal has an inner program that allows it to correctly use all of its strength.

The animal would not fall from a height, would not eat something harmful to itself, would not hurt itself. But a baby can hurt himself, and that is why he needs to be supervised. From the very day of his birth, we must begin to educate him.

An animal does not require training. If a young animal is abandoned in the woods but there is food next to it, it will be able to survive. It will know what is good to eat and what is not, what should be avoided, and so it will continue to live. But a baby will not survive alone. At all times, we have to teach him what is good for him and what is bad, and how he should use all the things in order to grow.

He should not grow only physically, although he should be given an understanding of this process. When he grows up a little and learns how to live in this world and take care of his body, then he needs to be taught mentally, internally, psychologically.

An understanding of good and evil means that the child is able to use these two forces that are around him, inside him, and in others, constantly keeping his balance with the environment. In fact, life is a balance within and around us. A little human should be taught how to achieve inner balance and balance with the environment on the animate level, where our body exists, and also on the human level of society, in connection with other people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/3/14

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All The Attributes Of The World Are Within Me

laitman_926_02The Torah “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:17: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account.

Man is built in such a way that it is pleasant for him to see bad attributes, sins, and transgressions in people, because it makes him feel above everyone else.

To the extent that others are lower than him, he sees himself rise higher without having to exert any efforts. It appears to you, as it seems, as an advantage in relation to others, but this advantage is false: You are wise because everyone around you becomes dumber. You have become smarter only in relation to the fools, but it still is pleasant for you.

In spiritual work, this approach is not correct. You need to determine your shortcomings, mistakes, and violations of others and accept them as yours. Because everything stems from the fact that you need to see the general soul before you, and thus, as you look at the crimes and the faults of the world, you should not enjoy them.

If you enjoy them, then egoism blinds you. In fact you can’t look at the world and always be happy that nothing good is happening in it.

The only thing that a person should be happy about is that, subconsciously, to the extent that he is able, he longs to actively discover the defects and bring them to correction; at best, to correct his attitude to what is happening, and most importantly, to justify the Creator who arranges all this for him so that he will constantly be happy for misfortune: “It’s so good that the Creator behaves so badly with others!”

This thought goes through us automatically. We shield the Creator, shield the entire world, and enjoy that we see how people quarrel between themselves. Only for this do we watch TV and listen to the news, in that, subconsciously, we are searching for how to be happy from the misfortune of others, since we feel satisfaction from that.

If God forbid, it happened to me or one of those close to me? Would I want to hear, for example, that the bank where I keep my savings blew up? But if that happens to some other bank, that’s fine.

That’s human nature. Thus the Torah shows different perspectives of the same issue of our beloved ego.

To the extent that you see some defect in the society, you have no right to stop without participating in the correction. Each one needs to feel himself as a sinner, a thief, a murderer. Each one of us needs to “dig” and “pull“ the judge from within himself without any connection to his sin.

A person is a small world. Thus in the different stages you need to be both an expert and a corrector, i.e., combine all the attributes within you: the Creator’s, the judge’s, the sinner and the sage. This means that you solved the problem. And so every time.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/2/14

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Spiritual Correction

Laitman_198Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:20: And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, designated for a man, and not at all redeemed, nor was freedom given her; there shall be inquisition; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

The Torah speaks of desire (Malchut) that has not yet been corrected. The bestowing part (male) and receiving part (female) are interconnected in such a state where the desire is not yet free, and there is no restriction and no screen of its own. The male part is free and willing to work with this desire, although it is still uncorrected.

Therefore, the problem is not in the female part, but rather in the male, which starts working toward bestowal with yet uncorrected Malchut. This is wrong.

If the action has been done and it is revealed that the desire is not fully corrected, it is leading to a Cohen (priest) because both parts must rise above to the next level.

Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:21-22: And he shall bring his forfeit unto the LORD, unto the door of the tent of meeting, even a ram for a guilt-offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt-offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath sinned; and he shall be forgiven for his sin which he hath sinned.

What was missing in the female part was Malchut. In order to properly connect to the first nine Sefirot and take all the Light in order to bestow, the male part must rise to the property of Bina.

Danger awaits a person at each stage of spiritual correction to commit misconduct, and one must conduct an internal search, analyze whether one properly can see for oneself with what desires one works, whether they are in a free state, and if one begins to get some fulfillment, will one not become a slave again? It is practically impossible to predict in advance.

Absolutely all cases that may occur are considered in the Torah. This is nothing to worry about because the correction always is happening at the next level, the third highest Partzuf. This means that the spiritual correction involves the male part, the female part, and the highest Partzuf, the Cohen.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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Playing With Community Life To Form Mutual Connections

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In today’s modern world, the greatest payoff for independence is loneliness. So how can I, on the one hand, keep my independence, and together with this gradually add elements to this life that will connect me with other people?

Answer: A person doesn’t have to give up anything in order to be included in the life of the community. On the one hand, this life is more developed, corrected, and warm, and on the other hand, you are included in it to the degree that you want, to the extent that is beneficial to you. You don’t give up anything in this.

As a general rule, we think that we need to give up our independence, our freedom, and our decisions. Come, let’s try to play with the life of the community, with agreement between us, with such a connection from a distance so that we reach a particular equality in all kinds of forms of connection. We open circles for children; we help each other mutually, and we disseminate new forms of learning in circles.

Come, let’s begin classes in organizations, workplaces, and various places where people meet, organizing meetings that look like a community, but external in the beginning. This could be a roundtable, a picnic, or a festival. Come, let’s begin to talk about the importance of such an approach to life.

With this, we begin to resemble the global nature that compresses and mixes humanity such that people are constantly moving from place to place, from nation to nation. It is no longer possible to say where the place of one group of people or another is to be found because borders have become blurred and cancelled.

Come, let’s start talking about this and clarify together how much a mutual connection of equality can be beneficial to a person as an addition to his life. In fact, we awaken in a person an additional form of thinking that doesn’t obligate anyone. It is just external participation. If we begin to work in this direction, then a person will almost immediately begin to feel additional benefit, so much so that it will be attractive to him, whereas the previous way of life will lose its value.

You want to keep your former life and add to it? Please! There is no compulsion! But gradually, thanks to this social influence, this softening, without pressure and obligation, changes will take place within you. It will also be felt in your children and your partner, and through this means of communication, everyone will begin to feel the benefit of this situation; in the meantime we are only playing, for after all all of us are egoists, and we aren’t even trying to hide this fact.

We only want to examine the validity of good connections and not the influence of the community on the life, wellbeing, the way of life at home, or anything else. Come, let’s try to feel its relevance to our region, city, and neighborhood in the relationships between us. It is not important what level of measurement we choose. With this we build a softer and more secure environment, reducing the tension in the air.

In the end, we see that growth in the general welfare of the population is worthwhile for us. In addition to this, the inner sensation of people becomes more pleasant, freer, and sweeter. Specifically a person wants this pleasantness, and specifically this is what everyone is missing, even the most independent and wealthy person.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/8/14

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The Upper Sphere Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the Creator according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the upper force ?

Answer: The Creator is the highest nature. Nature has many levels, and the uppermost level includes everything that we are able to discover with the help of all the sciences and the science of Kabbalah, which reveals the mechanism of force of bestowal. All this together is called the Creator.

Indeed, all this is under the control of the properties of Bina, the force of general bestowal, which is called Elokim, the Creator. What else exists besides this is not known to us. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives a clear answer to this, as in any science: we do not know what is above the force of bestowal and are not able to reveal this.

Maybe it is only a temporary restriction. Generations are advancing one after the other, revealing and correcting nature. Perhaps, after we correct the entire reality and reach the end of correction of all generations, new opportunities will be open to us.

But for the time being, we do not have the slightest contact with what is above the quality of bestowal. Perhaps, nature exists there in different ways that we, due to our structure, are not able to understand and feel. When we reach the end of correction, then we can talk about what is next. Kabbalists hint at this slightly in their books, but we still cannot understand them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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What Does A Kabbalist See?

laitman_928Question: In the article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam writes that all of the worlds are identical in all of their details. What does this mean?

Answer: The whole world is like a copy of the higher world. The material is different, the intentions are different, the fulfillment and the essence are different, but it is a copy of the upper world with the characteristics of the lower.

Suppose there is a flower in our world and there is a “flower” in the upper world. A “flower” in the upper world is a collection of characteristics that have a connection between them resulting in a flower in our world.

A Kabbalist who opens the upper world, opens his eyes, and begins to see this connection. And in accord with the inner picture of our world that is found in him, he begins to attain the upper world and sees the roots of this worldview. He sees that a flower in the lower world is a result of a gathering of particular forces in the upper world, which he is now discovering. In such a manner he has the “branch” and “root,” the “root” above, the “branch” below, and the connection between them.

So the Kabbalist looks at the unique gathering of these forces in the upper world that results in a flower in our world. He calls them by the names of flowers, for example, a “rose” with its thorns and leaves. He understands what to call these things. Otherwise he would have no possibility of doing this.

The language of the branches comes from this. Without it, the Kabbalists couldn’t talk about the upper world, where there are only forces. In order to exchange insights between them, Kabbalists don’t require a language, for they are themselves included in these forces and activate them. But in order to transmit their attainments from generation to generation and to teach, they need the language of the branches. This language is very precise, for they know every root for every branch in this world, and since it has a name, it is clear to them what to call the root.

For us this is a problem. When we open books of Kabbalah, we see that everything is written in our materialistic language. This confuses us and we begin to think it is talking about our world. But the Kabbalists are not relating to this world in any way. Only the physical sciences are involved with this world.

Question: Are there roots in the upper world for all the branches in our world?

Answer: Yes. For everything that exists in our world there are roots in the upper world, but they are unknown to us. One could ask this differently: Are there many more roots in the upper world that have no branches in our world? No, for every root there is a branch in our world. There is no Light or phenomenon in Olam Ein Sof (the World of Infinity) that doesn’t reach the lowest point of this world.

In our world, the Kabbalist even sees the Light that is working within the material, whereas we only see the wrapping, the substance. Whereas he sees the Light, the energy that activates all of the components of the substance, he sees the intention of the creation, the goal of creation, the thought of creation. So behind all of the faces, all of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, he sees the realization of the goal of creation in each and every moment, either a bit more in the way of suffering “in its time” (Beito), or a bit more in the way of Light “I will hasten it” (Achishena). He sees how this world is constantly progressing, as if it is swinging on the balance.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/14, Writing Baal HaSulam

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Thou Shalt Not Sow Thy Field With Two Kinds Of Seed

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It says in the Torah: You shall not crossbreed your livestock with different species. You shall not sow your field with a mixture of seeds, and a garment which has a mixture of two kinds of material shall not come upon you. What does that mean from a spiritual perspective? What should a person’s spiritual work be?

Answer: It is about the right and the left lines that you have no right to connect. Every action you make, every thought or desire that you have, should be performed so that they are aimed at bestowal or receiving. There should be the right clarification of a person’s attributes and a recognition that it is only receiving in order to bestow or bestowing in order to receive.

Cattle, field, or garment refer to different levels of a person’s desires: the animate, vegetative, and still. It is all inside a person, and a person is a small world! This is our first assertion. According to this perception, everything is inside us and we reflect that through our feelings.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/9/14

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Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What exactly do we celebrate on Chanukah? What are we happy about, and how do we make our lives happy today not only on holidays?

Chanukah is dedicated to events that happened in 167 BC, the war of the Maccabees. But the war was conducted not only against the Greeks.

Between the people of Israel themselves there was a great schism that divided the society into two groups: those who opposed the invasion of the Greeks and those who supported it. The secular elite accepted new values that were brought to the people of Israel by the Greeks.

And the second group, that called itself the Maccabees, opposed the penetration of Greek culture into the Jewish people. In this manner, a schism appeared among the people, an internal ideological war. And all of this was under the conditions of a serious external threat.

Is it possible to see here some kind of parallel with what is happening in our day in Israeli society, which also lives under conditions of an internal schism and an external threat today?

Answer: Clearly, the situation today is much different from the wars of the Maccabees. This is because the Greeks didn’t come to conquer the land of Israel; they only wanted to instill their culture, attitude towards nature, science, and way of life into it.

This was the inner essence of these wars. They were intended to disseminate Greek materialism to everyone. The Greeks agreed that higher forces of nature exist, but they were very simple. The main thing was that a person should bow down to them, and he could then live however he wanted regarding everything else.

They didn’t demand that a person live according to the laws of connection and unity, as was customary among the people of Israel. So, many people willingly accepted the dominance of the Greeks. If a person accepted Greek culture, their statues, their stadiums, then he would become like them. Much later, the English and the French established colonies in African nations with identical goals by bringing their culture to them.

In other words, this was a war of cultures. Among the people of Israel, a war broke out because the people didn’t want to accept the Greek materialistic approach to life. This led to an internal schism among the people of Israel between those who accepted the Greek approach and those who opposed it.

A materialistic approach to life was accepted specifically by the elites, the military officers, the rich, the executives, and the highest strata of society.

Question: And what was the culture of the people of Israel in that period that they so much wanted to protect from the Greeks?

Answer: This was the same culture that manifested itself in the group of Abraham on the basis of, “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” It connected everyone through love and mutual bestowal. Each one understood that he was connected with everyone else and existed thanks only to this connection and unity.

Through the realization of a connection like this between them, they felt their connection with the higher power of nature. This is because there is only one higher power at work in all of nature, which can be called the Creator.

This power illuminates a person according to the law of equivalence of form. When we connect among us, then we also become singular, like this power. And so it begins to illuminate us and we feel it. We feel this illumination, the presence of this bright power among us, which brings us blessing and success in all of our activities.

This is like a good energy that is discovered in every person among the people of Israel and in all of these people together.

Question: If this force is the bearer of such goodness, why were the Greeks against it?

Answer: The idea is that in order to discover this force in our connection, it is necessary to conduct a struggle with our ego. This is because the ego pushes us away from each other and it is necessary to fight it all the time in order to have an inclination to be drawn towards everyone.

So we must awaken the forces of society that will obligate each one to be attracted towards it, to publicize this knowledge and call for everyone to be concerned about everyone else. This is called mutual responsibility. The main thing is connection and unity between us. We exist and win thanks only to this.
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From the program “A New Life” 12/11/14

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