Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

Changing Your Place Brings About A Change Of Luck

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, letter 78: Until now we haven’t engaged in constructing buildings and in things that are related to publicity. This isn’t our way, and our only goal is to disseminate the wisdom of the fear of Heaven and God’s work among people who support us and especially the wisdom of Kabbalah and the concealed wisdom for the humble who deserve it.

Yet in this generation, when the wisdom is poor and despised and every city is solidly built, but God’s city is humiliated to the lowest possible place, it is the time of the coming of the Messiah as the gracious know.

Therefore, I have accepted the request of our supporters who wish to expand our residence and to build a small temple for the wisdom and the prayer in the name of my father and teacher, a place where its springs will stem from and will spread outwards, and the wisdom will sing in public, and whoever wishes to know the Creator and obtain the necessary correction and training will come.

I appeal to all our brothers, the children of Israel, in whom the spirit of the Creator lives and who regret the exile of Divinity, to help us in this building and great work. And because of this we will all be rewarded with complete redemption, as it says in The Zohar, “And so the children of Israel will come out of exile.”

I hope for redemption of the total glorification of the Torah.

Your friend in heart and soul.

Today we start the regular broadcasting of the lessons from our new home, hoping that studying in this new place will enable us to disseminate the sources of Kabbalah widely to the public. This, of course, has nothing to do with the corporeal building, but with the efforts that we have made in building this place. Our great efforts operate the strength of our desire through which new people will be drawn here. We will also be able to go out to the public more powerfully, with greater understanding of the wisdom of Kabbalah, and will thus be able to draw people to the correction of the world.

When I first came to Rabash, the new building that was being constructed on Hazon Ish Street in Bnei Brak was almost ready. There was still work to be done inside in arranging the interior. They also tried to build it together with hardly any help from the outside. This is how Kabbalists have always expressed their desire to do things: We built a big Sukkah at Sukkot, and special ovens for Pesach, a gallery, and a women’s section and other additions. We always tried to build everything by ourselves.

I am very glad that during the construction of this building and everything that is in it, everyone did his best and made great efforts. The individual investment of the friends is eternal, both in corporeality and in spirituality. It all rises upwards together with a person’s intentions, subconsciously or consciously, according to his abilities, and it works.

I truly hope that as a result of our efforts and of the efforts that are still to be made in arranging the new building, we will be awarded with greater and wider dissemination both in Israel and all over the world. We are glad that immediately after we begin to study in the new building, there will be the great international convention next month. It actually begins now since we start the preparations for the convention, for the new form, for the new level!

Indeed “changing your place brings about a change of luck.” A place means a new level a person ascends to, a new desire. If we rise to a new level each time, then our luck certainly changes. Luck or destiny refers to the Lights that drip on the souls from Dikna of Arich Anpin, from the upper part of the head of Atzilut. So these Lights are certainly new for us. I do hope that now everything that we expect to see in this life will soon be fulfilled: the revelation of the Creator in the connection between us!
[123841]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/25/13

Related Material:
Our New Home: Realities And Perspectives
The Center Is A Place For Everyone
Our New Home

Under The Warm Rays Of The Sun

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything depends only on our desire and the Reshimot (spiritual genes) that are imprinted in it. So there is no point waiting for mercy from Above. We must simply work on our desires.

We will be able to feel the upper reality that is revealed in this desire and the Light that fills it according to the way we turn it, increase or decrease it, and connect its parts in a certain order.

We work with the desire only and so we mustn’t believe in anything or wait for something to be done for us from Above; we must only perform the right and accurate actions that will change the desire.

We know that we have to pray so that the Light will influence us and reform us. This is true, of course, only if our desire is sensitive enough, close to the Light and needs it. Then the constant Light will have a stronger effect on the desire. All our work is to bring the desire closer and to turn it in such a way that the Light will influence it as much as possible.

It is as if I wish to sunbathe and choose a certain place on the roof where nothing blocks the sun. I lie under the sun at a certain angle and turn to it to catch the rays. But if the sun is constant, it doesn’t change as a result of my changes. I have to move to get closer to its rays as much as I can.

The desire can change only under the influence of the group. There is no other means that can affect me. The Light is constant just like the sunlight. I have to turn my desire towards the Upper Light and get closer to it. How can I do that?

The only thing I can do is to use the force of the environment so that it will turn me. The stronger and bigger the environment is, the more deeply it will “swallow” me inside it and the faster I will be able to turn. My Reshimot will be revealed faster according to my readiness and the desire that I have received from the environment. I will go through all the states correctly since I will be ready for the changes.

I cannot change my Reshimot; this whole chain has to open up according to its programmed pace. I cannot influence the constant Light, of course. The changes are possible only by the environment from which I acquire additional desires.

The Reshimot are in the desire, but the group gives me an additional desire, and thanks to its great power, I can hasten the revelation and the fulfillment of the Reshimot. If I advance that way by my efforts, I will feel that this development is positive and that I am following a pleasant, easy, and fast road instead of the natural long and difficult path of sufferings.
[123746]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/13

Related Material:
An Electric Stove: Brand “NRNHY”
Change The Rules Of The Game
Shorten The Path To The Creator

Interweaving Two Lines

Dr. Michael LaitmanMoreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains: of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skillful workman shalt thou make them.
(Torah, “Exodus,”, “The Tabernacle”, 26:1)

Each fabric symbolizes a certain quality of our egoism. “Intertwining of threads” signifies the right (bestowal and love) and the left (egoism and receiving) lines.

It’s about the way threads should be “inter-twisted,” from left to right or from right to left. It’s also about what material is used to make a basis and which one is on top of another, linen or wool, and what colors they are. There are natural fabrics like wool, linen, leather of which garments, capes and curtains (canopies) are made.

“Ten curtains” correspond to ten Sefirot and represent a screen that we have to make. On one hand, a screen consists of the egoistic desire; on the other hand, altruistic intention. It implies that a screen should consist of both right and left lines, “wool and linen.”

In ordinary life it is prohibited to join these materials. It is forbidden to wear clothes that are made of both fabrics. However, it is allowed in a place when doing things with a correct and accurate intention that makes the “ratio” between both “fabrics” right, whereas in everyday life it is not apparent if it is so. This explains why one cannot combine the right and the left lines together, an egoistic desire with the altruistic intention, because first one must connect both of them into a middle line.
[121948]
From KabTV’s “The Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/13

Related Material:
A Place For The Revelation Of The Creator
The Middle Line
Correction In Three Lines: An Exalted, Complementary Compromise

Your Desire In Me As The Basis Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe need to awaken envy in each other, speaking about the greatness of the group, the friends, and the Creator. We need to demonstrate to others that we have something! The group should show everyone that it has something. We need to rise above our states and awaken envy and feeling the height of success in the friends’ hearts.

We must not show our insignificance; be modest inside before the Creator, but not outside, before everyone. If you show that you are humble and have nothing, others will not learn from that. You have to envy the success of others openly in order to be an example for others and to speak out about the greatness of friends to spark their envy.

All that is in the group will affect you as a result. We need to pull ourselves to the upper world by the hair. If you do not awaken the desire and aspiration, then the Surrounding Light will not work on you. The Surrounding Light does not work on the desire that you received from Above; it does not pull you forward or develop your vessel.

The Surrounding Light acts only on the desire that you revealed yourself by your work in the group. There is no other possibility. You have all the means and forces, but you need to organize them, otherwise you will not get the desire. You need an “aspiration,” that is, something that comes out of you. But nothing can come out of you! Correct, that is why you need to buy this desire from others.

Thus, there is an instruction, “Buy yourself a friend!” He pays you, and you pay him. How? By additional desires, which turn into aspiration when they enter everyone. And the Light that Reforms affects these aspirations. After all, this is already your earned desire, and thus it attracts to you the Light that otherwise would not have come.

Every vessel has the Light that is supposed to be there: some have only the reviving Light, others the spiritual, because this is the desire to bestow. How can a desire change suddenly and demand more Light? This simply cannot be in the spiritual worlds. This opportunity is given only to a person inside society and in our world, in our state, when we are all in the state of concealment and do not understand where we are, do not feel the higher degree, and are fenced off from others.

The only possibility is through mutual play to awaken in each other—envy, passion, and ambition—all the senses that “take a person out of this world,” that is, raise him to the upper world. Therefore, I have to deliberately to awaken these feelings, to warm myself up. It is clear that it is impossible to awaken some new desires in oneself, only the Light can do that. But I can buy this desire from you; thus it is said, “Buy yourself a friend.” It is buying.

We can awaken the desire: mine in you, and yours in me. As if I copy new desires from you to myself. I attract the Light that Reforms to these desires that I obtained from you by envy. I cannot do that on my own desires.

Thus, it turns out that the Light that Reforms unites us! It does not just increase my personal desire and fill it. I buy your desire from you; the Surrounding Light acts on it and corrects not my desires, but your desire in me! Thus we become connected with each other and build the vessel consisting of all the integrations of our desires with other.

Everyone remains with his original point, the drop of semen, because he has nothing except it. We buy all the rest from the environment, like the sperm from which an embryo develops. Once we were those sperm. From where did we get all these kilograms of flesh, brain, and bones? From outside. It is clear that their form was already determined inside the sperm, but it had nothing but the information about what should grow from it.

The same thing happens in spiritual development. Due to envy, passion, ambition, greed for power and fame, I buy desires from the environment. The Light that Reforms is attracted only to those desires, and only after the influence of this Light, this desire turns into the vessel of the soul. So it works. That it is why it is said, “Either the group or death”; either you join or perish.

It is said about this at Sinai Mountain: “Either you enter into mutual guarantee,” that is, buy the vessel, and then I give you the Torah, which corrects this vessels and then fills.it, “otherwise this will be your burial place” because each of you will remain in his place, and it will be his grave.
[123896]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/25/13, Writings of Rabash

Related Material:
I Envy Means I Grow
Envy Each Other More
Under One Blanket

From “The Unification Of Society” To The Revelation Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanI do not expect any dramatic events in the world until the fall of 2014, although in general this year heralds the materialization of the accumulated evil. After all, humanity has accumulated a lot of “bubbles,” “poison,” which must be released.

This process will begin in 2014; however, we still have time that we should use efficiently in order to be organized and prepared as quickly as possible.

We all need to work in the field of integral education. It is not enough just to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. We have studied it for fifteen years, until the time arrived for this methodology that requires us to act.

Until now, we have not yet implemented the wisdom of Kabbalah in practice. Like all of mankind, all the past generations, we just passed through the stages of the preparation period. Now, from 2014, we are starting to realize the program of creation practically on ourselves. For this, we organize groups of people to implement loving your neighbor as yourself.

We call this the integral methodology, although for us it is the same Kabbalah, the same instructions of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, only applied to a small degree among the higher, less “coarse” layers of the desire to receive.

This approach allows us to reach a more pleasant feeling on a low spiritual level, a kind of “unification of society,” a bit of egoism and a little good. This is not the Creator yet, just a transition from the negative (-) to the positive (+), and no more.

The wisdom of Kabbalah covers all the other layers itself; first you want unity and reveal your evil inclination against it. Further, to the extent of your efforts, your ability to unite, you rise to the good inclination. This is called the “science of Kabbalah,” the “revelation of the Creator.”

Thus, the integral method and the wisdom of Kabbalah vary in scope. The first precedes the second, like opening a door to the masses, and then we’ll see how people will enter it.

This will also happen gradually as we study with them the structure of the system of management and providence, the spiritual world, the inner nature of the human being, our desires and inclinations as well as the method of dealing with them, restrictions, the screen, and the Reflected Light.

In general, we will advance through psychology, gradually turning to the language of Kabbalah, but still in the context of our desires, interactions, etc. People will learn how we form the connection between us and how we reveal in it the force that unites us. It does not matter whether we call it: “the Creator,” for instance, or the “integrality factor.”

I do not see any problems in this gradual transition to Kabbalah. We just need to get down to business.
[123819]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/23/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
You Woke Up – Awaken Others!
The People Want, The Decision Makers Will Do
The Science Of Unity

The Land Of Israel, The Right Interpretation

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: The proof is that anyone who is drawn to the secrets of the Torah is also drawn to the land of Israel.

There is a physical branch and there is a spiritual root. In spirituality, the “land of Israel” in its complete form is Malchut which rises completely to Bina, and this is not parts of Malchut that we raise to Bina. “Land” is “desire,” and “Israel” is “directly towards the Creator,” (Yashar-El). In this way, a desire that rises to Keter must rise to the level of Bina, thereby correcting itself. Therefore, the land of Israel is called Malchut on the level of Bina which is called the redemption.

When Malchut is entirely on the level of Bina, it begins to receive the Light of Hochma that is revealed within the Light of Hassadim. And this is called redemption, the revelation of the Creator to the creature. Therefore it is said that the revelation of the Creator can only be in the land of Israel.

We must interpret these terms correctly in their spiritual sense. For example, we say: “His glory fills the world”; this is that Malchut rises to a level compatible with the land of Israel.

An additional example: We say that at the end of correction, with the coming of the Messiah, i.e., the Light that draws (Moshech) Malchut to Bina, then the land of Israel is spread throughout the world. In other words, the characteristic of Bina dominates the entire desire to receive and corrects it.

Therefore the redemption, the coming of the Messiah, the revelation of the Creator, and all similar phenomena can exist only in the land of Israel, in the corrected desire.

But there is also a relationship in the material world. After all, every spiritual root must reach the material branch. And therefore anything spiritual cannot happen anywhere except in the land of Israel. And therefore everything will happen around the land of Israel, or in another place, but in connection with it or with the Jewish people. All events, in one way or another, are linked to this, and someday we will see that their cause and their root lies here….
[123830]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
A Special Zone That Was Conquered From The Ego
The Land Of Israel On The Map And In The Soul
It’s A Time Of Trouble For Jacob

First Comes The Appetite, Then The Meal

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard) #3, “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”: …the Creator wanted us to attain and understand the abundance as “His desire to do good to His creations.

Question: In general, what do we need all these secrets along the way?

Answer: The “secret” is a place we are about to discover, gradually, by applying sufficient effort; it appears more and more in “small doses” that alternate with our efforts. So, little by little, we are shaping vessels, the desire to eventually reveal the Light of Infinity, the whole world, which will allow us recognize, understand, and be in adhesion. The Creator wants to fulfill and please us; for that, we have to attain equivalence of form with Him by following His example and building ourselves accordingly.

In the meantime, it is a mystery to me. He is in front of me, but I still cannot attain Him because I don’t have suitable vessels.

However, I have to want it. What is the value of giving you a present you don’t want it?  How could you enjoy it? Let’s say, I am offered a wonderful meal that includes fish, meat, numerous salads and fruits, wines, the richest and most exquisite meats; at the same time, I am limited by a very narrow desire, very small both in magnitude and quality, i.e., by the ability to distinguish tastes.

How can the Creator trigger our “appetite”? I can’t just be sold this “dinner”; first something needs to be stirred, exited, opened. A strong desire must be cultivated in me so that I myself go to Him and ask Him for this meal. At the same time, He gives me obstacles until my desire becomes completely formed, which then will only need to be filled.

Question: Is there any other way to attain this state except by going through blows?

Answer: These are not troubles or misfortunes; they are a means of awakening true needs. I make them into troubles. The Creator suffers, but He has no other option. After all, He wants to me to enjoy. He prepared so much to give to us, but my desire is drawn to different things: crude food instead of His feast. The appetite is there, but not for His dishes.

Hence the form of concealment and awakening, internality and externality, this entire world that brings me confusion, the group, etc., I still see no other way, that it all comes down from Infinity, which the Creator wants to give to me.

“The end of an act is in the preliminary thought.” There is only the Light of Infinity and a desire to receive; according to the goal of creation, the desire to receive pleasure should be filled with the Light completely. And yet, the Light contains certain details that in order to enjoy them I have to attain the Creator’s height.

So, we have three factors:

  • Enjoyment
  • The embryo of desire
  • The conditions under which the desire should be extended until the delight is “swallowed” completely, and “tasted” fully in all of its intrinsic properties. In the end, I comprehend every last crumb, feel all the tastes, the Creator has prepared for me.

These three factors give rise to further descent to this world to present me with all my “troubles.” That’s the way all the necessary conditions are ordered, and there is no way we can hide from it. The final state is pre-set at the very beginning; everything is bound to the World of Infinity, to the thought that will eventually bring us to the complete delight.

It means that everything that we go through is meant to reveal our “appetite” – a desire to be pleased by the Creator’s delicacies. The Upper Light stays in absolute rest and awaits only my needs.

How can I generate a need to receive His Light? Where can I find a stimulus that will “stir up” my soul as hunger “stirs up” my stomach? How can we tune in to the Creator’s tastes?

For that, we need a special kind of aspiration that is formed through our work in the group, with our friends. The group is the place where a new desire begins. When we manage to correct the shattering, we will recognize our new needs that are instigated not by our “animate” impulses, but by the authentic “evil inclination” that prevents us from connecting with each other.
[120404]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/13, Shamati #3

Related Material:
Discern The Evil And Prevail Over It
The Secret Of Desire
Before A Set Table

Mentality – The Internal Language Of Humans

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: According to the integral method, in order to create a family it’s enough if a man and a woman are not repulsed by each other. On the other hand, you mentioned that souls are selectively brought together as a result of their similarity of Reshimot (spiritual genes). What particularly do we have to know in order to implement the methodology correctly?

Answer: We know in spirituality convergence happens according to the principle of similarity.

Similarity in this world manifests in common features of character, common interests and views, similar education and social level. All these things are very important when it comes to creating a family.

Naturally, when a couple is involved in spiritual advancement, it becomes most important. However, material similarity in our world should be compared. So how much the people are alike, close in spirit and education, the easier and more preferable it is for them to have a family; it comes from the spiritual law of similarity.

I cannot marry a woman from Australia or Africa for example. I’m not talking about the color of her skin, but rather our internal properties; they are totally different from each other! We won’t understand each other for the rest of our lives!

We will cohabitate in the same home and even have children (that’s not a problem), but it will be extremely hard for us to understand each other internally, because her inner language is completely different from mine. It only seems that she says the same words as I do; in fact, the images and pictures that are hidden behind the words that live in her heart and mind are completely different from mine.

We speak one earthly language, but each of us a completely different internal language that is based on the images that are concealed by the words. When I say something, I have a certain image behind the word I said and this word evokes a totally different image in her. We will hardly ever understand each other. Practically, it just doesn’t happen.

In the spiritual realm, we are united, included in one another, I accept her internal world and she takes mine, not earthly, but spiritual! We are unable to accept somebody else’s internal material world because we can’t correct anything in this world at all. We cannot correct our earthly qualities, which we were born with and that were developed in us in the process of our upbringing and education. We just cannot do it!

We see these things happen even to people in our inner circle who take a husband or wife from a distant place and with a completely different mentality. They just don’t understand each other! They live together because they are a part of the group and that’s why they have acquired something in common, but they still lack the inner meaning of a glance or understanding each other without words. Mentality is extremely important!

Question: Can spouses who have different mentalities improve their relationships by aspiring to spirituality?

Answer: I don’t believe so! It’s impossible to “enter” another person with a different kind of mentality. It is very difficult! Even psychologists or politicians cannot do it. Nobody can! It takes a general and complete re-organization of one’s brain. It’s impossible to have two mentalities simultaneously. Mechanically, artificially it can supposedly happen, but not really.

Mentality is about those conceptual images of this world that a person acquires during the first 15-20 years of his life. It’s impossible to replace or alter them!

What’s the internal language that each of us has? It’s our inner pictures of this world that we represent in connection with specific, forms, thoughts, and words. For example, sometimes we see all sorts of code on a computer screen that represents the internal language of a computer. Although we type words and give commands in English, Russian, and other languages, the computer translates them into its hidden language that runs it.

We too have a similar internal language: It is immutable; it cannot be changed. So I can relate externally with another person, but there always will be a barrier between us. And there is nothing we can do about it; it’s a result of being exposed to the environment during our childhood and youth.
[119956]
From a Talk about the Group and Dissemination 10/20/13

Related Material:
Stop Playing The Roles Of Other People And Return To Being Myself
A Melody In Two Voices
A Social Unit Which Focuses Everything

Platform For Discoveries

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Where do you get so much patience to answer the same questions over and over?

Answer: By nature I am impatient. However, when I answer questions, I always reveal something new. A person changes every day. Even if he asks the same question today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I feel his transformation and this question is always new for me. Through it I reveal some property each time and thereby receive my next sensation of the upper world. Therefore, your questions serve as a platform for me in order each time to draw something from Above and to make a new discovery.
[120945]
From the Talk About “Group and dissemination” 10/22/13

Related Material:
Getting Ready For The Congress: Third Round Of Questions
Talking To The Deaf
Getting Ready For The Congress: Second Round Of Questions

The Ascent Triangle

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, “VaYikahel” Item 131: This is so because after the separation ZA was established as entirely Hassadim, on the right line, and Malchut as all Gevurot, on the left line. Hence, they are disputed as in the two lines, the right and the left of Bina, until ZA ascends in the middle line and establishes peace between them, uniting them with each other.

This is what our ascent depends on, on the extent that we can attribute everything, all the reasons, to one cause, to one state, to the middle line. The middle line is not found in nature; it comes from the Light that Reforms.

If we try to establish the middle line by ourselves, then the left line is revealed in contrast to it, as it says: “He who is greater than his friend (on the right line), his desire is even greater (than the left line).” Then the two lines converge into the middle line, so we ascend.
[123833]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
From One Level To The Next
The Middle Line Is The Straight Road To The Creator
The Middle Line