Entries in the 'Spiritual Work' Category

Three Kinds Of Faith

laitman_571.03Question: It is written in the articles of Rabash that faith is man’s intention to bestow to his neighbor, to think about him, etc., and self-love is the intention to receive for one’s own sake. Is this what we call within reason?

Answer: Naturally.

Question: We feel and understand this. We see some benefit from this. Is it possible to say that faith in Kabbalah is something in which I do not feel any obvious benefit to myself?

Answer: Of course. In order to bestow, you must feel not yourself, but a stranger, what he needs personally, and then you begin to accept fulfillment only to satisfy his desires. Thus your faith is realized.

And after its realization, a new desire appears and you must set another bar, and so on.

Remark: It is similar to science or sports: You set for yourself a bar, and the state that you have not yet achieved is called faith. And what you have already achieved is called knowledge, and then again, what is achieved also becomes knowledge and is added to the previous one.

This is the opposite of what we know in our world when I was told something, and I have to believe. Such faith is called faith below reason.

My Comment: In addition, in our world, I do everything for the sake of receiving. I am ready to believe anyone in order to fill myself.

Remark: For example, I was told: there is a certain upper force, the Creator. If I just believe in it and do not check, then this is faith below reason. And if I start checking, exploring: Who is He?, What is He?, What are His properties?, How can I achieve these properties?, this is called faith within reason.

My Comment: In this case, you believe to the extent of your reason. And if you do not check anymore and can do the act of bestowal, then this faith is above reason.

Thus, faith below reason is work for the sake of knowledge, for the sake of fulfillment, when you do not check but simply believe blindly.

Faith above reason is when you have checked dozens of times, saw that this is completely unrealistic, and you do it anyway.

Faith within reason is when you check and know, that is, when faith and knowledge support each other.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/1/19

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How Should We Spend Our Time?

laitman_628.4Question: Do we have to live in a hurry in order to save time?

Answer: Time must be used wisely, which means to use it only on what Kabbalists advise us to, and then you will succeed in everything.

But at the same time, you do not need to rush. Instead, use your time seriously, correctly, and rationally. I recommend reading what Kabbalists say on this matter.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/1/20

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Nature Is Beginning To Teach Us

935Question: Are we now given the opportunity to consciously pray for the whole world through our connection?

Answer: It seems to people that if we address the Creator as a person, then everything will be fine. This is actually not the case.

We address the system of nature; we want to participate in it with the microsystems of each and everyone together. By incorporating into it and striving to be in balance with it, we bring a positive impact on it. This positive relationship brings the whole system into balance.

This is actually a prayer; this is our impact on the system. This is how we need to pray for each other and for everyone, because in the world today, due to the violation of the immense general equilibrium, we are very dependent on each other.

People who are more or less influenced by this disturbance called coronavirus should help each other.
The disturbance is common to all. The system is common to all. We are all in it. Therefore, let us realize how much we influence each other and are dependent on each other. This system begins to teach us quite seriously that we are a small single organism on a small globe called planet Earth, and we must think about this and take care.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/15/20

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Holidays—A Chain Of Spiritual Actions

laitman_293.1Question: Holidays symbolize a chain of spiritual actions in which a person corrects a certain layer of egoism and then starts everything from the beginning to correct the next layer?

Answer: And this happens on every degree and every day.

All this happens to us when we start revealing the upper world and working on ourselves toward bestowal and love, then we attain all these degrees that in our world are interpreted in such an earthy, mundane way as holidays.
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From Kab TV’s “The Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/29/2019

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How Not to Go Astray?

laitman_571.04Question: Is it possible to go astray in the study of Kabbalah and how do we avoid it?

Answer: You can go astray if you start to tear yourself away from the teacher, if you begin to believe that you know the path better than him. It is impossible to know better than him because he has passed all this already.

Nothing depends on the mind. By the way, in Kabbalah, there were cases when a student turned out to be more subtle and with a sharper mind than the teacher. However, the fact is that the teacher has experience, and this is the most important thing.

In Kabbalah, the most preferred one is the one who has more experience.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/1/20

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The Attainment Of Unity Is The Revelation Of The Creator

laitman_548.02Question: Is the spiritual state predetermined and we simply need to find it?

Answer: The spiritual state that we descended from really exists. It is a state of unity that filled us not too long ago and is in the general soul of Adam. (Red in the drawing)

The attainment of this unity is the revelation of the Creator.

We attain unity when we are actually distant and totally opposite from each other. The distances between us will continue to grow all the time. We will look for the center of the ten and its circles will seemingly begin to expand. This means that the differences between us will continue to grow more and more, and we need to try to find a common attribute between us, unity.

This does not mean that you have to be like me and another has to be like someone else and so on, no. This means finding a state, like in the game when you are looking, looking and want to catch some goal, but they are all scattered. Here it is necessary to make you feel: “How can I combine these goals?”

And when you catch this point, you will begin to feel that you have revealed the Creator. The unity of all the opposites that complement each other is the Creator. It is when they complement each other.
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From Kab TV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/12/20

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Old Age Is A Relative Concept

laitman_756.2Question: What is old age from the physical point of view and from the spiritual point of view? Do you feel like an old person?

Answer: Old age means that a person is already filled with some kind of knowledge, whether it is correct or not, and he keeps this knowledge to himself. Just like a small child will not release his grip on a toy, will not give it to anyone, the old man also holds on to his knowledge because he is completely in it.

The knowledge and habits formed and formatted him, and he can no longer act differently. Therefore, such a person is harmful to society, and nature destroys him through viruses.

Question: Do you feel like such a person?

Answer: I hope not because I am constantly subject to changes, ready for them, and I myself try to promote them and guide them through young people. I feel young.

But if I have to change the shell, I will. Cycles of life – nothing can be done, they are necessary.

Kabbalists relate to this very simply. My teacher said: “Just like in the evening you take off your shirt and throw it in the wash, so at the end of this life you take off your body and in the next life you will have to wear another one.” So nothing terrible happens.

Remark: You have given an interesting definition of old age. It turns out that it is not about age at all. Even a young person, if he is filled with knowledge and does not want to change, nature, as it were, replaces that person. This is what constantly happens in all systems and technologies.

My Comment: If the system is ready for an upgrade, then there is no old age. On the contrary, it is moving toward a better, more advanced, progressive replacement of itself.

Question: So nature is always in the process of improvement and we should assimilate to this process?

Answer: If we walk in unison with nature, we do not need anything to pull us forward: no viruses, no nudges. We would feel absolutely comfortable.
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From KabTV’s “Coronavirus Is Changing Reality” 3/26/20

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Amalek Accompanies Us All The Way

Laitman_509The force of Amalek is most evident in a sudden change of state—the end of the holiday, the Sabbath—such states that lifted us up by the upper light, and not by our own efforts.

We felt at a height, thanks to the forces that the upper light gave us. And when the Light disappears, Amalek appears. But it can also appear at any other time.

“Amalek” is an abbreviated form of “for the sake of receiving” (Al Menat LeKabel), meaning that this intention is ostensibly for its own sake. Although in fact, it does not act for our good, but in the interests of our egoism. An increase in egoism in a person, a sharp jump, are awakenings of Amalek. Therefore, we must constantly make sure that Amalek does not awaken in us.

Now that the Passover holiday is over, you may feel tiredness and have various problems, as if for objective reasons. But these are not real reasons, it is always Amalek; the desire to receive is clothed in all sorts of reasons, supposedly natural and explicable. Amalek builds nature and regulates our lives.

We must not relax our attention, we must monitor our states and watch for Amalek who awakens every moment. He will inevitably awaken because we would otherwise not be able to achieve great corrections. Amalek is constantly awakening, and we need to correct our attitude toward it, that is, to rise above it.

Amalek is help against us. The more it grows, the more we rise above it, higher and higher. In this way he will lead us to a perfect, spiritual height. This is his job, as help made against us.

Amalek gives us the opportunity to work by defeating it with the help of the group and the Creator and rising above it. Amalek accompanies us along the entire spiritual path, at every step, manifesting itself sometimes more, sometimes less, and putting on different forms. But it always pushes us into an egoistic intention.

Therefore, now, after leaving the Passover holiday and continuing on your way, you need to make sure that you do not stray from the path, and always keep the right direction for the purpose of life.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/20, Writings of Rabash, “What Is the Order in Blotting Out Amalek?”

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A Sure Way To Please The Creator

552.02Try to enjoy the attempts to come closer to the Creator, try this or that. The Creator looks at us as babies, and like us, He is touched by everything the baby does. It doesn’t matter that the baby fell, broke something or got dirty; this is how the baby develops.

The Creator does not demand the right actions from us, only those that bring us closer to Him through our friends in a simple and naive way. That is all. This is how we bring Him the greatest pleasure.

If we do so while hoping to bring joy to the Creator, we ourselves will rejoice. And if we feel joy from our actions, we can be sure that the Creator is also rejoicing. Later on, once we begin to feel Him, we will see that the Creator feels all that we experience.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/7/20, “Growing Farther – A Call For Nearing”

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Faith And Knowledge

232.09Question: In Kabbalah, what is faith and what is knowledge?

Answer: Faith in Kabbalah is the quality of bestowal, the ability to rise above my egoism, when, contrary to the ego, which demands of me: “Receive, take!”, I can rise above this desire to receive, take, and grab, i.e., not to work with my egoistic desires to fill myself with any kind of pleasure.

In other words, I cut back on my desires. The desires remain, but I restrict them, I am above them. We call such an action “faith above reason”. Reason is called my egoistic desires, because in them I receive and feel myself, my greatness, confidence, and tastes.

Question: Are these my natural desires, feelings, and emotions?

Answer: Yes. They are all called tastes or knowledge. These are our basic desires: food, sex, family, money, power, and knowledge. Moreover, knowledge is the greatest egoistic desire. After them comes faith, when I rise above all these desires and I work with them not to fill them, but to rise above them.

Question: Why did the sages call it faith?

Answer: Because this is the quality of bestowal—the property of Bina, compared to the property of receiving, Malchut.

Question: Is this a quality that I do not feel in my natural desires and so I must believe in it?

Answer: No. This is a quality that is acquired gradually under the influence of the upper force—an upper light. It has nothing to do with faith in our world when I worship someone or something with my eyes closed and accept on faith, everything they tell me. Here (in faith above knowledge) I set for myself what I want to believe in and what I want to value in comparison with what my egoism values. That is, this faith raises me above my egoism. According to what level of egoism I can rise above, I am in faith.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/11/20

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