Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

A Hero Among Heroes

laitman_572_03If the troubles in life are what drive us, if we are just looking for where to hide from them, then this is the very long and difficult way of suffering. In this case, I actually want to flee from what the Creator is doing to me. I am apparently fighting with Him, so certainly I won’t attain anything this way.

But if I don’t forget that I am specifically dealing with the Creator, then I react differently to any disturbances. I don’t eliminate them, instead I prepare myself so that through “equivalence of form” with the Light, through the bestowal that I radiate, I neutralize and transform every bad factor into a good one, and that is how I succeed.

In that way, success is being a “hero among heroes.” It is about a double overcoming: I transform my hater into a neutral state, after that I transform him into my partner. And about this it is said, “Who is a hero? It is someone who transforms his hater into his lover.”

From here we see that in our work we shouldn’t completely hold onto the same direction typical of ordinary life. I must make an effort to see that behind every person there is a force that activates him. I arrange a contact with this power through every object or entity. It is specifically that with which I am involved and not the person as he is.

How does one do this? I try to connect with a person so I can be closer to the force that motivates him. That is basically how I put all of humanity into a network that is connected to me and I discover the collective power, the Creator, the Infinite Light that is revealed in the entire Malchut, all in the same Kli, which I ultimately combine with me.

The beginning of the way, the ascent on the spiritual ladder, and the final state are all hidden in this yearning. So in everything that we go through, everything that we discover, we must only keep this direction. In every situation, in every detail that appears in front of me and generally in reality that singular, good and beneficent power is concealed.

I cannot keep this direction by myself. But by working with my group of ten and in relation to it, it molds in me this approach of “there is none else beside Him” and the “good who does good,” and I advance towards revelation.

And in addition to this, it is self-evident that we must go out to disseminate because we need to discover the Creator in all of reality, meaning, to discover Him in His entirety.

And this is our work, our advancement.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/1/14, Lesson #3

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Kabbalistic Holidays

laitman_276_02All the Jewish holidays stem from the wisdom of Kabbalah and symbolize different phases in our spiritual evolution.A person goes through many levels as he ascends the ladder of the spiritual worlds totally detached from the Creator until he reaches complete unity with Him. But in between there are special levels called “holidays” or “good days” (Yom Tov).

Pesach (Passover), which in our world symbolizes the redemption from the slavery in Egypt, reflects the first spiritual level, the exit from the ego, breaking free from it and ascending above it.

Then there is the level of the giving of the Torah that is symbolized by the holiday of Shavuot.

The breaking of the “stone tablets,” which means the temporary return to Egypt “falling into the ego” (Tisha B’Av) is symbolized by the Ninth of Av. This date now symbolizes a day of mourning, but in the future it will be the most joyful day.

After the Ninth of Av there is Rosh Hashanah (New Year), a major turn towards the new spiritual correction.

Ten days after Rosh Hashanah there is Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) when all of a person’s states are revealed and then his sins are revealed and corrected.

After Yom Kippur a person begins to receive a special Light of correction called the Light of Sukkot, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that reforms him.

During the seven days of Sukkot a person reaches a state called Simchat Torah (rejoicing in the Torah), since the Light that descends on him provides him with the general corrections, bringing him close to the Creator.

The next holiday is Hanukkah, which is the holiday of Light that raises us above the ego and frees us from it. When we ascend above the ego a person feels that he is free, but this isn’t the end of correction yet.

The end of correction comes when we finally change the ego to a state of love and bestowal. This happens in Purim.

This is how a person goes through a whole cycle of holidays that symbolize the history of the Jewish people. I really hope that we will finally reach Purim, the end of correction, in the near future and thus the whole earthly saga, the history of man’s existence in this world, will come to end.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

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The Resolution Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is very important to check yourself: “What worries me?” Every moment that I feel alive and well, I am full of worries. So what do I worry about?

Am I worried about my own well-being, tranquility, achievement, what will make me happier, peace and quiet, security, food, and family welfare?

Or am I worried about friends, like a mother with a baby, searching for what they are missing and what should be done for them?  Do I worry about the group like a faithful nanny? This means I must check the intention of my worries.

The whole of creation gradually descended down to our world in which we exist in physical form and in the most inferior situation. We feel as if we are detached from the spiritual world, when in fact that can’t happen. So this world is called the imaginary world.

We suppose we exist in a vast world filled with lots of physical objects. However, in fact, it is all spiritual, but we don’t recognize or feel this.

So it is very important to check what I am worried about at every moment. Entering the spiritual world means continuing to be concerned about what is essential and vital in life: food, sleep, health, money, and relationships with people, but subconsciously, I am always troubled by the thought of how to organize the group so that it will become the Shechina (divinity), a place for discovering the Creator.

I must get used to being happy about my concern for the group. If I stop worrying about it, then I am worried about why am I not concerned about the friends. This must become habitual. In our world, habit becomes second nature.

Suppose that they give me a baby who is a stranger for whom I have no feelings. But I have no choice; I am compelled to worry about him day after day. I begin to be concerned about him and he becomes important for me. Ultimately, I begin to think about him all the time. It is the same thing in relation to the group. We must attain this state that is possible thanks only to determination and constantly returning to my thoughts about the group.

And after all these nice plans about taking care of the group, about my supporting it, attracting Light into it, about the Creator and giving Him satisfaction, I must ask myself, where He is and where I am subconsciously. I must always clarify what I am doing all this for. Certainly I hope to receive some reward, but what exactly?

It could be that in the meantime, I am not ready to imagine a reward for myself. It could be that I understand that afterward, for my effort I will demand control, respect, and transcendence of life and death, something tangible and very important for me. And here I must examine what is more important for me: Is it my reward or the ability to give satisfaction to the friends and the Creator?

Can I forego the reward, or at least part of it? And when I forego a reward, won’t I replace it with something else other than fame and the pursuit of honor?

What does it mean to give pleasure to the Creator? By what means can I do this and with which desires do I feel it? Through what will I feel that the Creator gets pleasure from me? It is necessary to try to separate my desires and perception into as many parts as possible and see how to work with them. The more parameters that I have, the more I will develop my perception.

This is like pixels on a computer screen that determine its resolution: In one square centimeter there can be two hundred pixels, there could be a thousand, or there could be ten thousand. The more points there are, the better and clearer the picture becomes.

The same thing happens also happens with our desires. The more we scrutinize them, the closer we come to the truth, to true perception.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/01/14, Lesson #4

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The Children Of The Universe, Part 4

Dr. Michael LaitmanPeople who study the laws of the universe feel that the entire universe is a program, a thought. The most significant feature of this system is that it is unified. All of its parts are interconnected. This is true even in the framework of our current rational minds.

Each part of the system originated by the Big Bang continues to develop in various directions, thus giving birth to a multiplicity of phenomena. However, all of its elements acted in accordance with the laws of the system.

There is no such thing as a coincidence. Lawlessness, that is so typical in human society, is not possible in the structure of the universe. Everything that exists has causes and consequences. It means that according to the law of interaction among numerous elements and forces, the after effects of the Big Bang constitute a unified, closed system.

It’s not an accident that in ancient time​s, ​people knew how to predict their destiny, foresaw ​large-scale events that occurred on the face of Earth, predicted the weather and other phenomena that took place under the earth and in the air by just looking at stars. It means that experiences over thousands of years of exploring the sky, nature, climate, and humans allowed them to trace connections that existed among all elements. They were able to create various tables that reflect numerous fields of knowledge such as astrology, astronomy, and many other sciences.

In the long run, we all are looking for connection since, knowingly or unknowingly, we acknowledge that everything that exists constitutes a unified, global system.

We admit that the progress of the universe is not just about giving birth or spreading particles of matter that still exist today. To be frank, it is our subjective perception, whereas the most important question is completely overlooked: Is it really so or is it something that we imagine in our organs of perception?

One has to judge in accordance with what one’s eyes see. So, the spreading particles started assembling in clusters. With time, the initial energy generated various types of clots and objects. It doesn’t’ matter if they were clouds of gas, stars, or planetary material, etc.. All these particles were drawn together by a force of concentration and attraction among the substances. In other words, on one hand, the process of the spreading of  elements continues, but on the other hand, they gather and bond together.

The spreading tendency is meant to fill the universe. The Big Bang created the place, i.e., the space that we consider endless (even though there is no justification of this fact). It’s as if we look into a dark hole and state that it is bottomless. The question remains: Does our universe really expand or does the inflation model only reflect our perception of it? We should always keep this nuance in mind.

The problem is that when we take measurements of the universe, we don’t add the caveat that we do it only in accordance with our human perception.

So, there is a tendency to fill the space in which the particles were created by the exploded energy according to the basic universal program. As we see, the process of creation of  matter is about particles, pieces of matter, collecting in bigger blocks and taking various forms (both positive and negative) by getting closer or disconnecting and moving farther from each other.

It goes without saying that we are simply using the terms that are a part of our current lexicon. By now, this process demonstrates a rapid dynamic that continues at a speed that is far beyond our comprehension.
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From the program “A New Life” 3/02/14

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Do Not Allow Another Catastrophe On A Universal Scale, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why, when one hears that there is no one else besides the Creator, the first thing he thinks about is all this evil that occurred in the world: wars, the Holocaust that claimed millions of lives?

Answer: A person does not agree with the fact that there is no one else besides the Creator because it seems that it eliminates the person himself, including his existence. He does not understand what it is all about.

To this day, people do not agree with the way the upper governance treats the people of Israel, the group that seeks “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-Kel), which Abraham organized as one people. Even today, people still cry about this disaster.

But it would be more correct to transform all the memory of the catastrophe into the basis for correction. The Holocaust Museum and Memorial should show why it occurred, from where this terrible fault came, and what it should teach us. It is meant to teach us how we can rise out of this affliction.

In place of the catastrophe, we can grow a new attitude of the people of Israel to the Creator that is more mature and purposeful. Just tears and vows that it will never happen again will not protect us from future disasters. At that time we could not prevent the disaster, and so we cannot today.

What can be done in order to be able to influence events and not allow this to happen again? How can we learn from the past and find the strength that allows us henceforth to act so that it actually never happens again? Today we must correct the damage that we were not able to eliminate in the days of the catastrophe. Therefore, it took place in order to make corrections by the path of suffering.

The oneness of the upper governance is a very hard fact, which is not accepted by an ordinary person with all the troubles and tragedies of this life he has to go through. People do not understand how it is possible that the Creator treated the nation of Israel so badly, which was the group “aspiring straight to the Creator,” guiding them through such suffering.

It is enough to look at the path that the people of Israel went through, at all the suffering experienced by us during the 2,000 years of exile. Why did this happen? What was our mistake and why haven’t we learned from it? Why to this day, don’t we want to draw conclusions? Indeed, with anti-Semitism growing day by day, today there might be a much worse catastrophe than the one that occurred in Europe 70 years ago.

This is a very painful subject, but we have to discuss it. There is no way out, and we have to look at what happened in terms of the purpose of creation and the forces acting in nature. Our sorrow for the perished is only the beginning step towards production of a practical action through correct, broad education for the people of Israel and the whole world.

This education should show people what terrible forces could be revealed if we do not turn them into good forces. The choice is in our hands! We ourselves choose who will take power over us: the evil force or the force of good, Pharaoh/egoism, or the Creator/bestowal; it must be one of the two.

We should explain this in television programs, workshops, and discussions. This applies not only to the Jews. Today, we have advanced so much that the whole world has to be included in the correction. That is why the upper governance begins to treat the world in the same way as it earlier treated the people of Israel.

In the past, the upper governance demanded only the people of Israel to come closer to bestowal, but now this is demanded from the whole world. Thus, the entire world is on the threshold of great suffering: the war of Gog and Magog, the third world war that was described by the prophets, to a multitude of problems and misfortunes. And all this could happen because the world is not advancing on the correct path.

Of course, the people of Israel will suffer the most because it has to pass the Light to the rest. But the whole world will also be involved in this disaster. It will not be like before, being a catastrophe only of the Jewish people. Riots, problems, and revolutions will occur in any location in the world. We can already see the first stirring of conflicts, which are destined to explode in the future and envelope the whole earth.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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The One Who Sets Everything In Motion

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring our study we first discover the actions of our ego in every state. This is called another god. It is when I think that I do things by myself and that my life is determined by others such as world leaders who keep law and order, those who are close to me, those who are distant, friends, and foes. In short, I see many operating factors, both positive and negative.

Each time I grow stronger I see that it isn’t so. I simply look at what is going on as wrong and attribute those actions to those around me. But when the situation clears up, I see that the Creator sets them in motion and that they actually don’t understand what is going on. He is the only one who operates them in order to influence me. Thus, I once again discover that there is none else besides Him.

That’s the way it is in every state. Each time I eventually discover that there is no other force before me but Him.

This also applies to me: Now it seems that I am exerting myself, acting or doing something, arranging my connection with others and that I am independent in my thoughts and desires, but it is all a lie. The Creator governs everything.

Why do we see a different picture? It is so that we will be able to correct the vessel, our desires, and our ability to perceive and see that there is none else besides Him and that only He operates in reality.

Where do I reveal that? In the states, desires, and thoughts that now make me feel confident in knowing that we are all independent. It is with regard to this notion that it is written: “as the advantage of the Light out of the darkness.” The more I attribute more definite and certain independence to different factors, the more clearly I eventually discover that there is none else beside Him.

By undergoing different changes that guide me for and against the uniqueness of the Creator, I eventually begin to discover Him, not only in different situations, but also in the intensity, in the thickness (Aviut), of my desire, not only to its width, but also to its depth. I see increasingly how it operates on me through every external detail.

Then it turns out that instead of the friends and the group, I am dealing with the Creator. But that doesn’t mean that I should disrespect them. On the contrary, in the meantime, they have attained equivalence of form and so I relate to them just as I relate to the Creator. Therefore it says: “from the love of the created beings to the love of the Creator.”

It turns out that in all the troubles and contradictions, and in all my quests for the source of this life of sorrow, I have been brought to the one and only source and I see that it is actually the Creator who presents this whole reality to me. Previously, the force against it confused me by showing me that others are to blame for everything that happens, including me, since I made so many efforts. Now it turns out that only the Light operates both for and against.

I, on the other hand, am only a spectator looking at God’s work, at the only force that operates in all of reality.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/01/14, Lesson #3

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The Only Evil Person In The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom, Shamati, 1, “There Is None Else Beside Him”: And as much as he overcomes, he always sees how he is farther from holiness than others, who feel that they are one with the Creator.

But he, on the other hand, always has complaints and demands, and he cannot justify the Creator’s behavior, and how He behaves toward him. This pains him. Why is he not one with the Creator? Finally, he comes to feel that he has no part in holiness whatsoever.

I see that all my intentions and my desires are in order to receive. I want to connect to the friends and reveal the Creator among them in order to bestow unto Him, but after all my attempts, I discover that it isn’t my nature at all.

Although he occasionally receives awakening from Above, which momentarily revives him, but soon after he falls into the place of baseness.

This means that I perceive my ascents and descents judging by to what extent I worry about the Creator through the group and through which He will be revealed, and to what extent I yearn to see in all that there is none else beside Him and that He is good that does good. I discover corresponding attributes in the group, but I understand that I cannot participate in it by myself.

It turns out that there is no one to blame but me. Ordinary people on the street are totally managed by the Creator in a natural instinctive manner. Therefore, they are not responsible for anything and are absolute righteous since they only carry out the Creator’s orders without any participation on their part.

The friends that I see invest all their powers in order to bestow and the only evil person in the world, who wants to exit his ego but cannot do so, is me. It turns out that the general state of the vessel, of the general soul, depends only on me.

Thus, the Creator’s state depends on the outcome of my efforts. The Creator can enjoy the created beings and be revealed to them only if I add my penny. Without that, the Creator cannot be content and this is my fault!

A man must always try and cleave to the Creator; namely, that all his thoughts will be about Him. That is to say, that even if he is in the worst state, from which there cannot be a greater decline, he should not leave His domain, namely, that there is another authority which prevents him from entering holiness, and which can bring benefit or harm.

That is, he must not think that there is the force of the Sitra Achra (Other Side), which does not allow a person to do good deeds and follow God’s ways. Rather, all is done by the Creator.

On the one hand, we have to accept all the actions we undergo. There is only one thing I cannot accept: the fact that I cannot justify the Creator in all these actions and thank and praise Him. This is the only thing that hurts.

Of course, I don’t feel sorry for myself but for the fact that I cannot add my missing part, my penny, to the whole general vessel in order  that the Creator will be able to be revealed within it and to enjoy it.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/14, Shamati #1

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Love Neutralizes The Ego

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe convention is over and we are about to return to our groups in order to connect with other people. We are about to go outside this big hall and separate from our group of ten.

Of course, we should keep in touch with them, but we should see that anything that is added to my group of ten or what it lacks when I go back home is calculated from Above and this is actually what I should work with.

The Creator has given us such conditions on purpose and I should not feel sorry that I am not next to the same small group that I have grown so accustomed to for the last few days and with whom I want to stay forever. No! I am going to work with the whole world and with my local group.

We should attain a state in which there are several people I can work with everywhere, whether virtually or physically. There can be different groups of ten in the morning, at midday, and in the evening. This is only the beginning and we stick to a certain group of ten in order to feel that there we can find an answer, warmth, closeness, and mutual understanding.

But we can feel the same almost immediately in any other group. If I am surrounded by friends from all over the world who are advancing towards one goal, I can sit in any group and immediately feel that these are the same friends.

It makes no difference whether I know these people well or whether I don’t know them at all in the corporeal world. If we have a common goal, I can connect to them as if I have known them for years. It makes no difference at all how well we have known each other previously.

It is very important to express love to all the friends, so that every person in the group, in the group of ten, will feel that he is loved. The feeling of love neutralizes the ego if a person wishes to annul his ego. This is because the love of the friends evokes in me such a peaceful feeling that I cease worrying about myself.

Then I can ascend above my ego! I am free of worrying about myself and so I can bestow and give my love as a present to others because I no longer have to think about myself.

It is a very important point. We can agree that we will intentionally show our love to one of the friends and thus free him from his troubles and worries.Try it and see and how well it works, even if we don’t work that way on purpose with regard to one of the friends, each of us should still feel that the group worries about him.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/01/14, Lesson 4

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A Group Of Ten As A Tool For Adhesion

laitman_934If you want to explore the upper force, the wisdom of Kabbalah says that you must create a tool appropriate for this. This is just like scientists who create measuring instruments: microscopes, telescopes, particle accelerators, and the like. But they are appropriate only for physical substances. So how can we explore the force that works within us, in our essence?

For this the Kabbalists recommend building a structure of ten people (Minyan) who try to create complete interconnection between them. They stabilize the characteristic of Light in their environment, whether they are ready for this or not, by wanting to make a single whole of themselves above their egos.

Such a structure already contains two forces within it: our natural egoistic force and the general force of bestowal, meaning the Creator. And the calculation here is simple: The more we overcome the force of separation with the help of the power of unification, to this degree we match, resemble, and equalize with the Upper Light.

Even when bestowal rises to a value of one percent, to that degree we resemble the Light and feel it. We feel it to the degree that the desire to bestow dominates the desire to receive.

If we try making an effort, in spite of our inability to overcome our egoistic desire, we begin to pay attention to where there is a shortcoming, how weak we still are, why we don’t succeed. And then a scream, a request, a prayer develops in us for the Light to help us, give us strength, and then we connect. Certainly we don’t have the power to connect on our own. It comes only from the Light.

That is how we advance: The Light acts and influences us according to our request; we overcome our desire to receive, absorb more of the desire to bestow; we connect between us more strongly again and again…. It is written about this: (Baba Batra 9b) “A penny and another penny accumulate into a great sum.”

And then the moment comes when we truly can unite. Then everyone feels how he disappears into the common connection between us.  “I” and the “friends” no longer exist; all merge into one. And at the moment in this state of “togetherness,” we feel fulfillment, the Upper Light, the Creator dwelling among us.

And then we can investigate Him. In other words, we have built and activated a device called a “group,” a “group of ten,” (a Minyan); and we can now advance forward by stabilizing ourselves more and more in various forms of connection. And the Creator, in accordance with our mutual connection, will be revealed more and more.

Through its influence, the Light will also awaken us to deeper and deeper layers of ego. We feel resistance, descent, and all kinds of disturbances, that makes it possible for us to turn towards the Upper Light with even greater force so that it will come and acquire the power for us to see our defects and the methods for their correction.

This is the way, 125 levels, that by ascending through them we ultimately reach “equivalence of form” with the Creator. And in this way we discover how important the characteristics of fear and anxiety are to us. After all, it is only concern and fear, “Am I capable of bestowal?” which pushes us forward.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/1/14, Lesson #3

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It Is Not The Wise Who Learn

Laitman_165When we read books of Kabbalah, we are able to attract the Upper Light that Reforms. So it is very important at the time of the lesson to keep the right intention at every moment by remembering what one wants with each and every word that is read.

It could be that I don’t understand anything in these words about the subject itself. I came to the lesson and heard that it was necessary to open some book. I open it, read, and don’t understand anything because the things written there are completely new to me. But this is not important, I think only about my intention: What is it that I want to attain by sitting and learning?

Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” Item 155, that the Kabbalists also designed their books for people who are not yet on spiritual levels and don’t understand what is written. But precisely thanks to studying texts they don’t understand and not for the sake of understanding but to receive the Light, they advance.

It is said, “It is not the wise who learns.” During the lesson, it is important to decide that I don’t aspire to knowledge.  “Knowing” means connection, rising to the appropriate level. “The Study of the Ten Sefirot” talks about such high levels that it will take me a long time to achieve them.

But I demand the Light that Reforms, the higher power that will influence me and correct, elevate, purify, and connect me. I ask it to differentiate between desires that are possible to correct and desires that are impossible to correct within me, so that it will be clear to me what I must work with.

This is because there are such desires and thoughts that are worthwhile for me to distinguish and not touch them. And others, on the contrary, must be awakened and discovered. By means of them, I can communicate with the group and with the Creator.

Likewise, I need to discover in what way it is possible to help the group: It is not for my desires but for the desires of the friends. So I turn to the Creator and specifically ask for strength regarding these desires, to bring the Light that Reforms to the group.
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From the Convention In Los Angeles “Day Two” 11/1/14, Lesson 4

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