The only thing that can help the world against all disasters and problems is a stronger connection, cooperation, participation, and attention to each other. This is the part that the world can fulfill. And the people around the world who relate to “Isra-El” (“straight to the Creator”) have to add their intention to this. Our work is on the intention.

By connecting our intention, we will raise all these actions, all the common desires to the level of bestowal, back to the Creator. And then we’ll balance all these forces of nature that are falling upon us nowadays.

In reality, these forces are good: All disasters, fires, and hurricanes are nothing but a stronger Light coming to us. But we can’t receive it properly, and that’s why it leads to disaster. If the Light of Hochma (Wisdom) is not received inside the Light of Hassadim (Mercy), it turns into four plagues. The Light of Hochma without the Light of Hassadim is called a sword (knife).

The Creator always reveals a greater Light. He reveals Himself according to a special formula: He cannot and does not want to stop. He will not “wear our shoes” as He already has a complete program from the beginning to end of creation.

The first (initial) and third (end) states are already joined together and that’s why the program is working: The Light releases itself stronger and stronger with every moment. And according to this, if we don’t start working on greater similarity to Him all the time, disasters will continue.

They will be happening on all levels. First, they started on the still level; these are the blows that we see now. It’s like the first Egyptian plague, “blood.” And then just wait, all the other plagues will come: “frogs,” “lice,” and so on. Let’s hope that we won’t have to get to the last, the worst plague, “death of the first-born.”

The whole world has to connect and help each other, putting aside all the hostility and childish bickering. And those who have a “point in the heart” and are called “Israel” have to add to this their screen and Reflected Light, meaning the intention of bestowal.

And then everyone will unite together and achieve equivalence to nature, revealing the Creator for everyone! Each individual, according to his level and degree of participation, will discover the spiritual world.
[28601]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/3/10, Special Talk on Tragedy in the North of Israel

Related Material:
Why Fight A Kind Embrace?
I’m Asking For Everyone’s Sake, Including Ourselves

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: If the entire responsibility for the whole world rests on those who have a point in the heart, why then did the fires start in the north of Israel where other people live, and not in my house?

Answer: We are now in the preparatory stage for doing practical spiritual work, which begins with our entrance into the perception of the Upper World, our presence in it. Therefore, there is no sense in distracting you from the studies by making you lose your home and health in the fire. For the time being, you must quickly and easily move forth toward the practical work.

However, later on, you will find out that the people who are now suffering on the material plane, such as those who lost their homes, including children, the elderly, and women, are parts of yourself. In fact, they are closer to you than your biological children.

Your lack of sensitivity blocks this perception in you, but your are yet to see all of this and include it in your correction. For now, it is similar to two parts of the body: In order for one of them to be healed, the other suffers at its level. Afterwards, however, they become one, included in one another.

We are expected to understand this and experience it on the level of spiritual awareness instead of the level of matter so you will feel that it is you who burnt there in the north of Israel! Moreover, your inner work determines whether this predicament will be resolved or not.
[28889]
From the lesson on Rabash’s article on 12.03.2010

Related Material:
The General Reason For All The Suffering
I’m Asking For Everyone’s Sake, Including Ourselves

Filed under: Crisis, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Suffering - No Comments →

If the Upper Partzuf wants to give something to the lower, it reduces itself like a mother that cares for a child. She makes “adult” food for herself, but for the baby she makes special food, heated to a specific temperature.

These additional actions, which are done through a special mechanism of the Upper One’s connection with the lower one, are called “Searot” (hair). It comes from the word Soer (stormy) or Saara (a storm).

The Upper One wanted to give the lower one everything He has! But He had to restrict Himself and give the lower one just a little bit according to the lower one’s level, as much as he is able to receive. The Upper One has to ensure that the fulfillment will benefit the lower one.

This restriction or the force with which the Upper One restrains Himself is called “Searot” (hair), which has a similar sound to how everything rages (Soer) inside of Him due to this.

Now just imagine how the Creator suffers and rages! His desire to bestow is enormous. He desires to give us all of the infinite correction (Gmar Tikkun)!

But He looks at us and sees that there is nothing to give to anyone. No one wants to receive anything. How great is the suffering of looking at babies who are nearly dying of hunger, while being able to help them, having the ability to cure all of our pains and fill them with goodness, while we do not want it! We are unable to accept anything from Him.

The echoes of this storm, which the Upper One uses to restrain Himself, the impure forces, Klipot, begin to influence us, trying to awaken us and force us to act. It seems to us that we are influenced by evil forces, but they awaken only to the degree we fail to advance, falling behind in our development and not letting the Light fulfill us.
[28938]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/6/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
The Impure Forces Are The Creator’s Assistants
The Ten Garments Of The Light

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: Is it correct to build an intention while studying The Book of Zohar and to think about those who have been hurt by the fires in the north of Israel and those who are fighting the fire?

Answer: This is not a matter of the obvious and latent problems people are facing. By bringing the Light closer to Malchut de Atzilut, we enable Malchut to shine in her nine lower Sefirot, meaning in all of reality that lies beneath her, including our world.

We raise MAN, a plea for correction, to Malchut, which is then transferred higher, all the way until Arich Anpin, the source of abundance. By virtue of this, the abundance starts descending to Malchut and she provides this Light to the lower ones: the Worlds of BYA, our world, all the souls, and the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature.

Of course, we thereby bring life to all the creatures below. This includes the inhabitants of the north of Israel, who are the same as all the people and all the creatures that continue to suffer.

We understand that they are suffering due to a lack of connection with the Upper Force. When we add the right intention to their suffering, we raise their desire upwards together with our intention. Then we receive additional abundance in response, which becomes transferred to the whole world.
[28754]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
I’m Asking For Everyone’s Sake, Including Ourselves
A Guide To The Book Of Zohar: From Darkness To The Light

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, News, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Suffering, World - No Comments →

Question: What should we actually do to counter nature’s blows, such as the fire in the north of Israel that’s happening now?

Answer: The only thing we need is the common intention, the unity of our thoughts. We need our friends all over the world to think about how our unity with one another will help eliminate all the disasters in the world, including the horrible fire that has broken out in Israel.

You have to include your personal plea into the common plea for the whole world and unite with all of the world’s suffering. That is the only way it works: If you think about everyone, then at the end you can also add “us” – but not yourself! This is the only thing that can help.

It is impossible to fight catastrophes or a crisis using the old methods if you find yourself facing the Upper Light that acts against you. We are yet to see how the financial crisis will come back, even though people have tried to extinguish it using all the possible means. In fact, it will explode much more powerfully than before. And the same thing will happen with everything else. We cannot cope with these problems using the usual methods. We can only suppress them temporarily, but later they will break out even stronger.

Correction is possible only through bringing hearts closer, only through unity. The world has to become global. The force operating on us from Above surrounds us, shutting us in from all sides and becoming revealed as one global force. Therefore, we feel how humanity is becoming as one organism where everyone is connected with each other.

We are yet to see that these very catastrophes will force humanity to unite. Now fire-fighters from all over the world will come to Israel to help fight the fire, and tomorrow something else will happen in another place and the whole world will come rushing there, and later it will be a new place. In this way, through disasters, nature will force us to unite and understand that we need each others’ help.

Nature will become so hostile that we won’t have time to think about how to fight with each other. If we don’t agree to it the good way, the Creator will force us to it. The situation will become so serious that not one nation will be able to single-handedly fight the natural catastrophes. Everyone will have to help each other. And suddenly, everyone will understand that they have to be together; otherwise we simply won’t survive,

Everyone will unite in the face of a deadly threat. But why should we wait for it if we can advance by the good path?
[28605]
From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article “Freedom of Will” on 12/3/10

Related Material:
The General Reason For All The Suffering
Appealing To The Creator Together
Connecting To Good

Filed under: Collective Soul, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, News, Prayer and Intention, Q&A, Suffering, Unity, World - 1 Comment →

If a person is filled by great pleasure, then it’s as if he dissolves in it, being completely overpowered by it and like a robot, ready to do anything this pleasure demands from him. And he cannot do anything against it.

Every person has a certain tolerance threshold or a limit up to which he can withstand pleasure or tolerate suffering. Once the pleasure or suffering exceed that threshold, they can enslave him completely. A person is able to oppose them only within a very narrow range of sensitivity, and even then, he can only do so when he is able to protect himself from them in some way. What is that protection? It’s when he understands that he should not give in to temptation, both from the good side and the bad.

Otherwise pleasure and suffering will overpower him completely because a person is created out of a material whose basis is the will to enjoy. Therefore, it is completely obvious that they can easily do anything to him.
[27390]
From the lesson on Shamati on 11/19/10

Related Material:
How Do We Find Our Point Of Freedom?

Filed under: Egoism, Suffering - 1 Comment →

Question: How does the science of Kabbalah say I should relate to the things that threaten my life, such as war, a terrorist attack, falling rockets, or just a regular criminal attack?

Answer: While we are still uncorrected, we have to live in this corresponding, uncorrected world of ours while correcting ourselves and thereby correcting the world. In the meantime every person should behave according to what is accepted in society and the world.

At the same time, each of us must correct himself and thereby reveal the Upper Force, the quality of bestowal and love inside him and in the world. To the degree he makes this revelation, our enemies will gradually become our friends and all the bad things will disappear.

However, for now we have to behave in accordance with our uncorrected qualities. All my haters and enemies are the evil that’s inside me, which becomes revealed on the outside in this manner. I project them to the outside and that is why they exist.

However, if instead of them I see the Creator standing behind them, then they suddenly become inseparable parts of me. Therefore, we shouldn’t be afraid. What we have to do is perform corrections.

I am certain that nothing bad can happen to a person if he is always aimed at “there is none else besides Him.”
[27109]
From Lesson 7, World Kabbalah Convention 2010, 11/11/10

Related Material:
A Force Field Of Love And Goodness

Filed under: Conventions, Crisis, Inner Work, Q&A, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: Why do the descents make a much bigger impression in our sensations than the ascents?

Answer: It’s because we are egoists. We were created out of the will to enjoy, which experiences pleasure or suffering. There is no middle between them, and therefore even when I am in a neutral state where both pleasure and suffering are absent, I feel bad. I lack pleasure. I always demand a positive; zero is not enough for me.

That is why a person is dissatisfied. He has a home, a job, and plenty of food, but something is still missing. Either the grass is greener on his neighbor’s side, or life is devoid of meaning.

Our egoistic desire is not satisfied with what it has. As a result we suffer from the lack of an addition, and this addition must definitely grow as our egoism grows.

Besides, our source is the Creator, who created us. He is the only, single, and irreplaceable one, and every one of us feels the same way. So where can we find fulfillment for someone who is so unique?

That’s why it turns out that we never find satisfaction, not through pleasure, nor through the right self-realization. That is the nature of egoism. The smallest descent is enough for all of our heroism to vanish into thin air. We would agree to anything just to avoid feeling empty inside!

The desire for pleasure depends entirely on the Light. As long as it receives Light, it is full of energy, even though it doesn’t understand where that energy comes from. But as soon as the Light grows slightly distant, you feel helpless and would agree to anything in order to correct the situation in some way.

Look at the world: there’s terrorism, murder, theft, and lies. It would seem that if you gave every person what he wanted, no one would do anything bad. So who’s to blame? It’s the Creator, who does not reveal Himself and thereby evokes bad things. All that remains is to make the right conclusions from the above.
[26684]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/16/10, Introduction to the Book of Zohar

Related Material:
Pictures From The World Kabbalah Convention 2010
Kabbalah: Wisdom Or Knowledge?
Reveal The Power Of Love

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Q&A, Spirituality, Suffering, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: What is punishment? Is it the suffering in this world, a lack of desire to unite, or just an unpleasant sensation?

Answer: This always depends on the person. We need to realize that the four levels of nature – the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking – exist by means of the Light that pours on the desire. Out of these four types of the desire, only the speaking (human) level is able to purposefully respond to the Light.

As the desire grows, the Kli (vessel) begins to feel how it does not correspond to the Light. Nature suffers on all of its levels due to a lack of adhesion and an inability to reach it, and, naturally, man suffers the most. First of all, his desire is bigger and more susceptible, but most importantly, the end of the string is in his hands. He has the ability to go towards adhesion and pull the rest of the levels after him.

The suffering of the human degree gradually brings us to the realization of choice. And once man begins to understand that the problems are caused by his inactivity, it will be possible to speak about reward and punishment. Everything that previously happened does not play a part in this because the true categories of reward and punishment always correspond to the goal: the correction.

Man begins to understand that the Upper Governance operates in the world and uses reward and punishment in order to correctly direct him towards the goal and teach him through positive and negative consequences, just like parents teach their children in our world. Then everything that happens acquires a purpose in my eyes. Punishment, just like reward, is a correction, and the way I accept it depends on me.

However, I will only be able to accept it correctly in a group, the place where the Upper Governance needs to be realized. Reward and punishment are inseparably connected to my participation in the group, the mutual guarantee. I scrutinize reward and punishment as precisely as possible and relate to them the same way: I need them both in order to keep correcting the course time after time. Essentially, they are both rewards.

At the end we discover a simple thing: There is no punishment, and every state is given for the purpose of using it to the fullest extent in order to come closer to the Light.
[24407]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/10, “I Am the First and I Am the Last”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Crime, Punishment, And The Light Of Correction
Laitman.com Post: Spiritual Punishment

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Mutual Guarantee, Q&A, Suffering - No Comments →

Question: Where does suffering come from? Am I causing it through my lack of equivalence to the Creator, or does He send it to us?

Answer: Definitely, all suffering is sent by the Creator since “there is none else but Him.” Humanity suffers on the path of its evolution, and the suffering is designated to develop the creatures on the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels so that they would come to need the correct fulfillment and well-being. In the end, one way or another, everyone feels a need due to the lack of a good, fulfilled state of existence.

All of this is necessary in order to complete the picture by correcting the breaking. After all, everything is caused by the lack of unity or absence of Light in the vessel. As soon as we begin correcting the Kli, the Creator becomes revealed to us, and then, following the speaking level, all of the other levels ascend, breaking free from misfortunes and problems.

We are being trained by the suffering sent from Above, until we start correcting ourselves. And there is no one to blame for this except the program of creation. Why then must we suffer on the path to love? Truth said, in the beginning the will to receive (desire) has to feel that it’s empty, and only then will it experience the fulfillment. Herein a question arises: If the Creator has prepared eternal pleasure for me, does it mean I must feel infinite suffering first? In that case, I’d rather remain a beast.

However, in reality, we start slowly and move forward in stages, time after time correcting and filling a new layer of our desire with Light. None of us would be able to bear the feeling of the dark infinite void. We are given the exact portion of what we can bear, going forth slowly and gently. This “feet dragging” is necessary precisely because we are unable to take a lot in at once. The breaking is being revealed to us drop by drop, according to our capacity.
[24526]
From the lesson on 10/22/10, Rabash’s Articles

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Absence Precedes Existence
Laitman.com Post: Justify The Creator In Fact
Laitman.com Post: Wake Up And Look At Yourself

Filed under: Evolution, My Similarity to the Creator, Suffering - No Comments →