Entries in the 'Spirituality' Category

At The Threshold

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do we lack before the Convention?

Answer: I don’t think we lack anything! I heard that you “sold everything and decided to put everything at stake.” So what else is there? Now, when everything you have is in your hands, you must only decide where you are placing it. Everything depends on you.
This is the choice we have to make. For a start, take part in the preparation that is infinitely important. Don’t see or hear anything unrelated, don’t think about anything but the goal. We are leaving everything behind and going “va-banque.”

In spirituality, just like in corporeality, a child asks for something, and the adults have to give him what he desires. This is what happens with animals and with people. This is the natural order of things in nature.

We shouldn’t be too smart. We have to be ourselves and that’s enough. Don’t try to jump out of yourself, trying to fine-tune your desire until it is crystal clear. Rather, we have to unite in the place we are in and ask for help in a childish way.

The Creator doesn’t need anything besides simple readiness. He will teach us everything else in a wonderful way, step by step, caringly, gently, and lovingly. Only simple things are required of us, without any special wisdom. We just have to desire, and that’s enough.

Let us hope that in the hours we have left before the Convention we will warm the hearts so as to correctly welcome the guests and attain what we desire. After that we will begin doing completely different kind of work. We will see a new picture of reality, and behind it the Creator. Then it will become clear that all parts of the picture are governed by a single Force, the all enveloping Nature.

This Force is a common field that permeates and fills everyone. We are inside an inseparable net and it moves every person in every regard, down to the final detail. Then we will work in a different way, trying to join this Force and pour into the dynamic development, the harmony, the range, the flow that is called unity. On this path a person’s soul teaches him.

In any case, we are moving in the right direction and are already standing at the threshold. I really hope that this time we will be successful. I also feel this by the desires of the hearts. Even those who have joined us in the last year or two are also ready. It’s amazing how quickly a person grows in our time.
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From the lesson on Shamati on 11/5/10

The Effect Of The Critical Mass

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: At the Convention how can we overcome the psychological barriers barring us from unity?

Answer: The Convention is not just a small or large group, but unity that is bound by the common force. It’s possible to win by quantity or by quality. After reaching a certain quantitative level, the mass becomes the determining factor. No matter how weak the people are and how little they understand, and even if they don’t really agree with each other, if they unite, then every person is influenced by the mass. He feels the force that comes from quantity, and it becomes the quality that influences him.

When I am among 7000 people who are inspired by the goal, I am connected with them because we are together in the common system of souls. Therefore, regardless of my desire, they influence me.

Unity among a great number of people at the Convention creates pressure that begins to work of its own accord. By becoming included into this unity, a person is under the power of society and therefore he does not have to work on lowering himself in relation to the environment. He simply unites with everyone in one desire. Even if this desire is not completely clear to him, the common goal unites him with other people and makes up for the disagreements, conflicts, and lack of understanding.

That is how quantity operates, absorbing all the problems of unity. Then, depending on the force of our unity, we will feel the Upper Light. It is contained inside the connection between us; that is the only place where we have to reveal it. The unified Kli exists on all levels with all the Lights fulfilling the desire as a ready-made ladder. Therefore, everything depends only on whether I am included in this degree or not. If I am ready to unite with the force of a particular degree, then I become included in it as if entering through a gate, and thus I feel the spiritual world: the common unity, the Light that fills everyone, the Creator. To the degree I gain awareness, I see the world from end to end, seeing the World of Infinity on the first degree out of 125 degrees.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/5/10, Writings of Rabash

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Just One Step From Love To Hatred

Dr. Michael LaitmanDon’t try to make an animal out of a person and to lock the spiritual world into a mechanical scheme. It is a world full of adventures and uncertainties that are revealed along the way, and you suddenly see that it was not like you thought, and maybe even quite the opposite.

When the connection between phenomena is revealed on a more inner level, you perform a complete “upgrade” (new installation) on your whole “program.” You see that you can now use new instruments (Kelim), new connections. Obviously, the foundation – the Creator, the creature, the process of development with the help of the Surrounding Light, the desires of Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE) and AHP, and greater unification of souls – remains unchanged. However, specific phenomena could be completely opposite.

Suddenly I reveal completely new connections in the same desire for bestowal, at a greater depth (Aviut or coarseness). I didn’t think that my enemy on the present degree would turn out to be my dear friend on a higher degree. But on a higher degree I hug Haman because this complete criminal becomes a holy individual. How can it be that on a lower degree he is my greatest enemy to whom I cannot come closer, and on a higher degree I merge with him?

 If two Kabbalists are on these degrees, although both degrees are spiritual, they will not agree with each other! How can you love my enemy? Then you and I cannot be friends!

For a person who achieves the final connection (Gmar Tikkun), Haman, Hitler, Ahmaninejad, and all other misanthropes are forces of holiness. You hated them on the previous degrees, and on a higher degree you reconcile with them.

The whole problem is that we are unable to connect two opposites with our limited minds. How can an electron be a wave and a particle at the same time, and how can a particle be in different places simultaneously? Even more so we fail to understand how above this, in the spiritual world, everything consists of two opposites that exist together: the angel of death and the angel of holiness, the Creator and Pharaoh.

We cannot understand this with our corporeal minds, and we wish to hear which of these two opposite answers is correct, while actually they both are true. And the spiritual world, the Creator, is revealed precisely at the unification of opposites.
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From the 3rd  part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/4/10, Beit Sha’ar HaKavanot

The Reason For All The Delays

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What practical means are there to strengthen our inner work?

Answer: We have to have a greater feeling of belonging to the common world group. It has more forces and opportunities that the particular groups to elevate us to the common desire.

We have to create the first quality of bestowal among us and reveal it inside our unity. I hope that it will happen at this Convention and then its contours will be drawn inside us. After that our task is to try to keep the connection with this quality, meaning to unite more and more while egoism constantly grows and becomes revealed more in every person.

Which actions will help us do this? Out of all the Kabbalistic sources and from my talks with Rabash, I see just one means: for all of us to ask for this during the study. Throughout the entire day before the lesson I must discern what I should ask for. No matter what I do or where I work, I have to come to the lesson with a question or problem, knowing what to ask for now.

Every person has to come to the lesson with a question, aimed at the goal. Let every person have his own question, formulated in his own way and funneled through his personal state. That doesn’t matter. The main thing is to arrive with a question and a demand.

All of these questions become included in Malchut of the World of Atzilut, which then raises a MAN to Zier Anpin, and he – to Bina. This is what we need: a desire, an awakening, passion, a cry, until it reaches the gate of tears.

We are given all the hours of the day before the lesson in order to prepare this request, but the request itself arises during the lesson. It doesn’t matter what material we study and whether we are reading or asking questions. I devote the hours of study to the request: How to receive that which I persistently desired throughout the day and which I now have to realize?

The reason for all the delays is insufficient preparation and lack of a real request at the lesson, when we are together, with the Light inside, and with the common Kli. Therefore, now when we are about to unite at the Convention, it is very important to enter it with the true desire that everyone shares. Even if we do it in different styles and variations, we have to express a common essence: We want to reveal the Upper Force.

Which force is higher in relation to us? We are the desire to receive and the higher force is the desire to bestow. This is what we want to reveal inside of us so it will reign inside us and fulfill us. This is the revelation of the Creator inside the creatures.

Even if our desires are small, if they unite, then their common might is sufficient for us to reveal the Creator. We are ready, and that’s a fact.

After that we will retain a Reshimo – an impression of the revelation, which will enable us to aspire toward this state every day in our local groups, to attract this state, strengthen and fortify it, using it as a basis to build new levels.

From the lesson on 11/6/10

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Follow The Heart

Dr. Michael LaitmanOn one hand we say that we are ready for the Convention, but on the other hand we may be thinking that we are not ready. This is the right state. The Torah talks about this when describing the preparation to the passage and the exodus.

It doesn’t happen smoothly and predictably. The exodus from Egypt is rushed as the people burst forth toward the Red Sea. A person does not understand the mechanisms behind what is taking place and as a result it seems like a miracle to him.

When standing at the foot of Mount Sinai, we say, “We will do and we will hear!” As if we know exactly what to do ahead of time. The only thing that’s needed is to agree to it in principle: We are willing to put forth every effort we have, as much as we are able to understand the demands of the Upper World while in the lower world. This effort opens up the doors to us.

The mind is powerless here. No matter how much wiser we become, trying to find out and understand more things in order to react to the situation more correctly and precisely, it won’t help. We need a simple inner aspiration to become as one, and thereby to become similar to the Creator, the general quality of bestowal and love. Only our heart can understand that this is our salvation.

I hope that we are standing at the threshold of a spiritual breakthrough which has never yet happened in human history. Let’s try, and we will succeed!

From the lesson on 11/6/10, Writings of Rabash

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There’s Nothing Sweeter Than Feeling The Creator’s Embrace

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Creator desires for us to receive pleasure from Him. This is the plan of creation. Since He is Good and Does Good, the only thing He lacks is someone to do good upon. That is why He created us out of a material called "the will to enjoy."

But what should we enjoy? Precisely Him. When our desire feels that the Creator is close, that He fulfills it and is united with it, it experiences pleasure. On the other hand, when it grows distant from the Creator, it feels worse in relation to Him to the point that is suffers and feels empty. Yet we always feel only the Creator!

Our material is sensitive to the Creator’s sensation and presence. If it feels the Creator more, it perceives Him as pleasure, and if it feels Him less, it perceives Him as suffering. This happens until the will to enjoy the Creator grows more and more distant from Him, finally reaching a state of completely losing all contact with Him. Then the will to receive pleasure finds itself in this world, where there is no connection with the pleasure or its source.

This separation is necessary so we would desire to unite with Him and enjoy Him of our own accord, and to understand that there is nothing sweeter and better than being unified with Him. This mutual action is called "Zivug" (spiritual unity), when we become included into each other to such an extent that it is impossible to distinguish and separate us from each other. That is the unity we have to reach. And if we acquire the right necessity for this, then we will begin to feel Him, unite with Him, and feel His embrace.
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From the lecture on 11/2/10

There’s Nothing Supernatural About Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we do in order to reveal the Shechina between us at the Convention?

Answer: Just one thing: unity. There isn’t one action that depends on us besides coming closer to each other. This will enable inspiration to flare up among us, which will help us to unite .

We unite internally. It’s not necessary to hug each other, although sometimes the external actions do help. First of all, I have to understand that I will enter the spiritual world and acquire life on a higher level only if I ascend to a higher, more powerful desire to perceive everyone as parts of me.

However, that’s when a purely psychological problem arises: I reject them. That means I have to change my perception and attitude, and break through the inner fence between me and others.

To do this, I have to come closer to my friends so they influence me. Then they will suffuse me with their idea and goal, with the unity in which each of us will reveal the Upper Reality.

That’s why we are organizing the Convention and uniting with everything we have. This is practical Kabbalah.

In the past people used to think that Kabbalah predicts the future and deals with something supernatural. But there is nothing supernatural about it besides the transformation of our egoistic nature to an altruistic one.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/5/10, Writings of Rabash

Imbued With One Single Field

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is our interconnection like?

Answer: A connection is when I look at you, and you begin to understand what I am thinking of. A connection is when you stand thirty feet behind me, and I feel that you are there with my back.

There are many types of connection between us, many fields where we interact. The electric, magnetic, biochemical field, the field of desires, thoughts, and intentions, all these fields connect us together.

All live bodies create fields around them, and we interconnect with our fields. Sometimes we make contact, and sometimes we can’t. Everything depends on the extent to which our fields correspond to one another.

However, there is a special, powerful, and elevated field: the spiritual connection between us. This field embraces and encompasses everything else, and this is why it is called the “Creator.” This is the field we need to reveal, but, essentially, all the fields belong to a single, universal field that Einstein also wanted to discover.

It connects our thoughts and desires, and we influence one another through it. Once I concentrate on this possibility, once I desire to reveal our interconnection, I will discover our mutual influence and will use it for the universal interconnection.
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From the Talk on the Arvut 10/29/10

The “Graphics” Of Mutual Inclusion

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What happens at the Convention?

Answer: Something very simple happens there. Imagine that we are in some kind of box. It contains our desires, each of which must unite with the desires of others and become included in them. Suppose there are 24 desires inside the box; then each of them will have a force equal to 24.

This is the first level of unity, the first spiritual level, when each person includes everyone else inside him once: 24 desires, and each of them consists of 24. This is the mutual guarantee.

If we attain the state, then we become equivalent to the Light of Nefesh, which then fills us. Why? It’s because we have attained the state where we are all included in everyone, where every person loses himself inside everyone and each one absorbs everyone inside him. This is the first level of our equivalence to the Light.

I have canceled myself in relation to others and acquired their desires as my own. This is called “love your neighbor as yourself,” and thus I become equal to the Light of Nefesh, which fills me.

Now if we increase the degree of our mutual inclusion and bring it to greater depth, I will include everyone else inside me and every other person will include 24 desires (24 x 24). In other words, I go from a small system of mutual inclusion to a more inner, qualitative, and complex system. Then instead of the Light of Nefesh I will be filled by the Light of Ruach, and thus I will ascend to a higher spiritual degree.

This way, to the degree of our mutual inclusion in one another, we reveal completely different forms of mutual inclusion. In order to receive the Light of Nefesh, this took place inside a two-dimensional plane, but in order to receive the Light of Ruach our inter-inclusion acquires the form of a three dimensional space. Then I already have a completely different attainment, one that includes depth. Gradually our mutual inclusion turns into a multidimensional system whose form resembles a honeycomb.

People are not coming to the Convention to study, but only for their souls to become mutually included. This happens on the inner level and a person does not know how. For three days you are among a huge amount of people and this connection constantly works inside you.

It turns from a point into a line, from a line into a square, and from a square into various other forms, until it turns into a sphere – the symbol of perfection.
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From the talk on 10/27/10

How To Place Yourself Under The Influence Of The Environment

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Now, when so many people are about to arrive at the Convention, will each of us be able to attain the sensation of the spiritual world?

Answer: This entirely depends on us. I think that we are going through very good, advanced states and the right preparation. Lately there are many drastic ascents and descents happening every day and I am very happy about that.

These states are wonderful because in order to unite correctly, we have to reveal both the evil and the good. Both the evil and the good become revealed one after the other, alternating.

All the states we are going through are the preparation a person goes through with awe and excitement. We should not be feeling rest or a static state, but as if we are about to enter an important event and go through inner sensations.

We have to understand that all the states we are now going through are given to us from Above and each of them is absolutely necessary. In spite of these states we have to carry out everything that is incumbent upon us.

If I place myself under the influence of the friends, if I cancel myself as if I have closed my eyes, and I completely don’t care about what I want and my only desire is to feel their influence, then it is a blessing from Above. This might seem like easy work, but when you do it you are immediately faced with obstacles and worried thoughts. They come to us deliberately and we will have to overcome them and remain under the influence of the environment.

People who know how to work this way will benefit a great deal. They don’t separate from the problems, but “swallow” each of them, and above every obstacle they advance by faith above reason, explaining to themselves that what is happening at the Convention now is more important to them.

Thus they shift “back and forth,” each time entering and exiting various states, tuning out of the Convention and returning, as it is written, “The Torah will come out of Tzion,” meaning the Light will come out of the exits (descents).

The Torah comes out of these kinds of exits and entrances (into spiritual states), when there are obstacles and people constantly analyze their states; eventually, the Light appears inside them. If a person is able to behave this way and at the same time to sing and dance, then there is nothing better. If he holds himself this way, then he will definitely feel the spiritual world.

A person will suddenly feel that the world is eternal, that it is common and interconnected, and that he is inside the flow of a special Upper Force.
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From the lecture on 10/26/10