Entries in the 'The Creator' Category

The Right To Choose, Part 4

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In every person such an immense ego has grown that he feels that he is a king. How will this look if he corrects his ego and hatred towards others into love?

Answer: First of all, we clarify that all of us depend upon each other, like organs of a single body. Therefore we have no choice; we must connect with each other mutually and correctly so that everyone will work for the good of everyone. The system that is built by us must be integral, closed, and whole.

To the same degree to which we approach relationships like these, by mutually completing each other, to this degree we begin to feel the power that is working within us. Between us, and within our connection, the integral force that we call “higher” is revealed.

We begin to discover this a bit even in a regular workshops and during discussions in circles that we arrange in different places including on the streets. That is how we demonstrate to people how, with the right connection, even a spontaneous connection like this that lasts only an hour, it is possible to feel a kind of force, a unique mood, a feeling that is unusual. Something is changed, and even the world seems different.

Question: What is this unique thing that the integral force brings into our lives?

Answer: This integral force obligates us to change our lives to be similar to it. Everyone becomes consolidated, connected, and each one feels everyone else.

Question: Where will that powerful ego that obligates each one to feel that he is like a king disappear to?

Answer: The ego will remain, since we connect above this ego! As it is said in Proverbs 10:12: Love covereth all transgressions. Each one will feel that he is a king, and specifically with his royal power, he will want to make everyone happy. He will want to be a good king. Why do you think he will be an evil despot?

Question: But if each one feels that he is a king, how will all of these kings get along together?

Answer: In an integral system, each individual is as important as everyone else. This is because if he doesn’t perform his role, the entire system will break down.

Question: And who obliges each individual to perform his role?

Answer: The system maintains and supports a person and obliges him to act, and so he gives everything to do so. This mutual support is called a covenant, the power of Arvut (mutual guarantee), which must exist between everyone.

Question: Is there a chance that Israel will become stable?

Answer: We will be ready to do this since no other choice will remain. But the question is, will we reach this through the way of suffering or thanks to an understanding and awareness by which it is possible to advance by a short and pleasant way?
[149545]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/9/14

Related Material:
The Right to Choose, Part 3
The Right to Choose, Part 2
The Right to Choose, Part 1

Building A Model Nation

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can only solve our problems on the social level through the relationships between us. Humanity is a general system, a general body, which should be managed properly so that it will feel good at any moment of its existence.

What form should humanity take on as it develops? It is clearly advancing towards a certain state, a certain form, towards some goal. We are changing and the world around us is also changing, and we develop for better or for worse.

The question is what does nature demand of us? Studying the laws of nature in the last decades, we begin to realize that nature is a whole integral system in which every component is connected to all the other parts, just like in the human body.

Therefore, all the parts should match each other and not oppose one another. Even if it seems that way, it is only because we don’t know how they integrate.

Nature has provided humanity with optimal conditions, except for the connection between people. These should be connections of a new quality so that we do not advance by blows, by the ego, hate, deceit, wars, and dominating others.

Now we are all cooking in one pot. If something bad happens to someone, it will eventually be bad for everyone. In this global world we have to build a homogeneous society in which all the people are equal, are properly connected to one another and mutually complementing one another. Such a society is based on the principles of equality, the right connection in which there is room for everyone, the right education for children and adults, and mutual concessions, until together, we reach connections of love. After all, there cannot be certain parts that wish to devour the others in one body, unless it is cancer.

Question: What is the complementary work needed between all the parts in regard to Israel?

Answer: Israel needs this much more than anyone else. It is because the Israeli nation must be the first to realize this process and to fulfill it in order to set an example to others, to be light unto the nations. The role of our nation in the world is to be a model nation. This is the reason that we are hated because we show everyone the opposite and set a negative example.

Question: How is the development of the Israeli society expressed in the plan of nature?

Answer: It should be a commune, a connection, according to the principle of “all of Israel are friends,” and “love thy friend as thyself,” so that no one would fail, there would be no great or small, and everyone should be equally connected. Everyone should only worry about the maximum connection between people in mutual complementation.

This is exactly how the human body, how every organ, complements all the others, and as a result, the body functions properly.

Question: Would a certain leader who could understand the plan of our evolution and could see at least one or two steps ahead win the trust of the public?

Answer: No. He would first have to explain his approach to the public and prove it by bringing evidence from science and from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and thus gradually get the public accustomed to the new model. It is because people only want to solve their daily problems and that’s all.

Therefore, they should first be prepared to understand the current situation and what is going on, why we are called the nation of Israel, why the whole world relates to us in a special manner, and what we should be. It is because according to nature’s plan we are the most special of all the nations and we cannot escape our role.

Question: And what if the people didn’t believe this, would we develop differently?

Answer: No. In that case, nature will oblige us to fulfill our role, but only under the receiving of hard blows. If we don’t want to understand and accept this role, we will accept it under the pressure of problems and troubles, including wars and even nuclear wars.

Question: If a certain leader could perceive nature’s plan and advance along the right track, what specific steps should he take?

Answer: First he should bring the educational plan to the whole nation by using media, schools, kindergartens, and workplaces. Education refers to knowing nature. In Gematria (numerology) nature (Teva) and God (Elokim) have the same value. Let’s recognize who governs us and what He wants of us. This is the only way to improve our life and prosper.

This is what happens to a child who doesn’t listen to his parents, but later eventually understands and does what his parents require. Then of course their attitude towards him changes for the better. Thus, this means that we reach the solution for all our problems, including health problems, wars, the high cost of living, etc. Everything will work out and advance smoothly, and thus we will receive everything, even before we ask for it.
[149467]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/9/14

Related Material:
The Jewish Character Is Unity
The Right to Choose, Part 2
The Right to Choose, Part 1

Love That Is Stronger Than Death

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the Song of Songs, King Solomon’s every sentence literally is filled with allegorical meaning. For example, the expression “Closed garden, my sister, my bride, secluded fountain, a sealed spring.” What does it mean?

Answer: It is an attempt to open the concealment, not allowing the bond to be reached. Otherwise, love will not reach its full height. Without it, the seed will not be blessed and there will be no emanation without this bond.

Question: “I sleep, but my heart is awake.”

Answer: This is the reason they do not immediately reach the bond: there is absolutely no need for it. My heart is awake, but my desires and all the vessels are not awake.

Question: How can love awaken?

Answer: Through various activities, he knocks on the door, she opens the door late, he is gone, and she runs after him, etc. “The song” ends with the lover allegedly filling the whole world. And where is their real embrace, connection, and bond?  Allegedly it is not there. The Song of Songs tells about everything, but this is only the opening. Discovery of the nature that exists in perfection is ready for an embrace and bond, and we are in front of this nature.

Question: What is the “kiss”?

Answer: There are different types of connections between those who love and their beloved ones. This includes the embrace, which is divided into a hug from the left and a hug from the right. Together they form the perfect embrace. Then there is a kiss, the connection at the mouth. This connection is still not complete, since a full bond is a fusion of bodies.There should be embracing, kissing, and bonding.

Question: There is a special viewpoint regarding the “Song of Songs” as a description of love between the people of Israel and the Creator. How should we look at this story: both the man’s love for his neighbor and a man’s love for the Creator?

Answer: Actually this is the answer, “from the love of creatures to love for the Creator.” What does this mean? If I set my disposition of love towards everything that surrounds me, then eventually I reach the same disposition to the whole of nature, which is the Creator, the higher force. All of nature is above me; I’m in it, and we are all in it.

Question: “For as strong as death, love as the grave is a cruel jealousy; its arrows are the arrows of fire! Many waters cannot extinguish love and floods cannot drown love, and if a man would give all his household goods for love, then he would be branded in contempt.” What kind of love is it that is stronger than death?

Answer: All of our good and bad properties, everything that exists in the nature of good and bad forces, the plus and the minus, the heat and the cold, pressure and vacuum; it all gets replenishment. Achievement of the very end, a complete fulfillment of the opposing forces of nature, the fact that in nature there is always one against the other, is the purpose of the whole creation.

This is called the “Song of Songs.” The Song is a non-egoistic love of creations in mutual bestowal, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Song of Songs is the achievement of love towards the Creator or love towards all of creation, when a person exits oneself and is literally located everywhere!
[149262]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/28/14

Related Material:
The Evil Inclination, For The Good Of Others
Love: A Brief Flash Or A Fire That Never Goes Out?
Earthly Love Is Worthless From The Start

The Maccabees And The Greek Ideology, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: While we are celebrating  Chanukah, the festival of the victory of the Maccabees, let’s talk about the Hellenization, which prompted them to go to war with the Greeks.

After the conquests of Alexander of Macedonia, the Greeks imposed their culture, which in those days seemed quite enlightened, rational, and intellectual.

The rational approach, consciousness and understanding was at the forefront, on the one hand, and on the other hand, beauty and aesthetics. Competition also played an important role. Essentially, ancient Greek culture was portrayed as very progressive and dynamic.

Initially, in the first two centuries, the new government was sympathetic to all the peoples, including the Jews, allowing them to keep their customs and religious rituals. Together with this, they were required to be a part of the universal  “supermodel” empire with cultured moral principles.

At first glance, everything was okay. The Jewish elite joined the process and saw the developmental trends in it. But among the Jewish people appeared a group that opposed assimilation and wanted to keep its uniqueness instead of disappearing into the “collective” culture. Why was that? What was bad about it?

Answer: First of all, these events look very different to my eyes. That part of the people who remained faithful to Jewish culture represented not a quantitative, but a qualitative minority—the weakness of man’s internal forces.

Greek culture could not seriously penetrate Jewish culture, for it was in absolute opposition to what the Jewish people lived and breathed and what absorbed their entire approach to life. First of all, in those times, the Jews passed through a powerful comprehensive education system. It was said that there was no child from the age of six from Dan to Beersheba who didn’t know the laws of impurity and purity.

Moreover, this is talking about the inner purity of a person. Today Rabbis pass examinations on Kashrut, but the people knew then that “purity” was essentially the intention to bestow, and “love your friend as yourself.” Impurity was its opposite, the use of the ego for personal benefit. The Jews lived according to the law of love until the days of Rabbi Akiva, when the second Beit HaMikdash (temple) was destroyed and the principle of love your friend as yourself collapsed, something which later led to the exile of the Jewish people.

Indeed in the period of the Maccabees, they were all still at a great spiritual height; people knew how to keep the Torah and the Mitzvot (precepts) in the spiritual sense by correcting their desires for the good of others and for the good of the Creator. All of them then were truly as one person with one heart. They certainly were compelled at every moment to overcome the evil inclination that was continuously growing, and in this way, they rose higher and higher in the love of others, in unity. Their unity caused growth of the ego at all times and they again united again above it in order to discover all of the ego within the people, connect above it, and attain the completion of correction.

They yearned for this, and on this condition the first Beit HaMikdash was built. Then a retreat from this began, which was completely natural, until everything was destroyed and the people of Israel went into exile and then later left it, as it is said, Genesis 15:14: with great substance, as in the time of the exodus from Egypt. However, this time it would draw all of humanity after it, which in fact is something that we need to do today.

First of all it is necessary to understand the process, which is completely opposite of what happens with all other people. The people of Israel live according to the law, Leviticus 19:18: And you shall love your friend as yourself, in Arvut (mutual guarantee), each one supporting the others and creating unity through the power of bestowal. And then the Creator was revealed among them.

The prophets also appeared from here. Everything that they did and wrote was derived from living within the Light, through discovering the higher power, the true higher reality.
[149964]
From the program “A New Life” 12/14/14

Related Material:
Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 3
Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 2
Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 1

Hanukkah – The Miracle Of Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn 170 BCE, the Greeks, led by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, captured the Temple. There was a division between the adherents of Greek philosophy and religion and those who remained loyal to the concept of a single Creator.

Some priests, including the high priest (Cohen Rishon), supported the Greeks. The Jerusalem Temple was desecrated and turned into a sanctuary of Zeus. Severe persecution and forced Hellenization of the population led to the Maccabean revolt, led by Matityahu Hashmonay who issued the call, “He who is for God, follow me!”

The uprising ended with the victory of the Maccabees. Having entered the Temple, they found that the pure oil to light the Menorah candles would last for only one day. But a miracle occurred. The candles burned for eight days and so is called the miracle of Hanukkah.

Question: What does Hanukkah represent from the spiritual point of view?

Answer: The history leading to this holiday begins with Abraham as the founder of the Jewish people. Long before the Maccabees, It was he who first issued the call,  “Whoever is moving towards the Creator – follow me!” Under this motto, he gathered a large group of Babylonians, to whom he taught his approach to the universe, the purpose of life and creation, the higher human destiny, etc.

But most importantly, under the slogan of “unity in the name of unity,” Abraham began to unite those who sided with him because it is in the pursuit of unity that we reveal the upper force of nature, the Creator, which unites us. It forms us into one whole and we become invincible to either external or internal egoism. What Abraham began, the Maccabees, united with each other, continued.

In principle, it is the same action of a rebellion against egoism, only at different levels, and that is why it occurred at different points in history.

Having united people, the Maccabees came to the same state as Abraham and won. To the extent of unity with greater groups of people who joined them, they revealed a greater spiritual force, which was the force of unity, the upper force of bestowal and love. Therefore, they were invincible to egoism, which was personified by the Greeks in this case, in Babylon by the Babylonians, in Egypt by Pharaoh, and later, by the Romans.

Through unity with large groups of people joining them, they recognized more and more spiritual power: the power of unity and the supreme power of love and bestowal. Therefore, they were invincible against the selfishness personified in this case by the Greeks, the Babylonians, Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and later, the Romans.

In general, it is the only fight, a war throughout all generations. And even when we do not have an apparent enemy, our inner enemy always rebels within us, again and again pulling us towards worshiping various idols in our life. We must fight it.

It is easy to draw a parallel between these two wars and today since modern idols are fully exposed as complete nonentities, leading us to some end and we have nothing else to do with them. On the one hand, we are still drawn to them, and on the other hand, we understand that this is temporary, harmful and brings no good results.

Therefore, our behavior is reminiscent of a man who gets drunk, does not know or hear anything, forgets himself,and is disconnected from what is happening. We become immersed in business or other things just to stay occupied, thus imitating a movie hero, a literary character, or just acquaintances who have supposedly succeeded in life. This is the idol  that is so attractive to us.

Question: Do you think that these desires have exhausted themselves?

Answer: No, but I know that all this is temporary and limited. Life itself shows us that. The world is like a theater and we always play a role in it.

There are people who seek nothing. The main thing for them is to live quietly and peacefully, so no one bothers them. But, there are few of them. The majority are pulled by competition, the struggle for a place under the sun, and we begin to pretend that we are business people, running with a briefcase and changing from one plane to another, and in this way, we run to the grave.

Question: Can the miracle of Hanukkah take place nowadays?

Answer: In life there is always a place for a miracle. Every time we connect with each other, the force, which is higher than all the other forces, obstacles, conditions, is manifested, and then there is a miracle before us. We can evoke it, even today.

A miracle is a supernatural phenomenon, but we are able to cause it ourselves, when we wish. Today, if we want to rise above egoism in our unity, then a completely new upper force will be manifested within us, and with its help, we will be able to calm the whole world, arrange everything, and everyone will be fine and easygoing.

Question: What kind of a miracle happened when the candles of the Maccabees were lit?

Answer: Through their unity, the Maccabees attracted the Light that gave them the opportunity to stay in the state of bestowal, love and connection until they began to pull new masses of people towards themselves.

The desires of people who connect with each other in one whole symbolizes the oil, and their gathering in spite of their egoism symbolizes the wick. They burn in their desire to get closer, and when they unite somehow, a light appears within them that support the fire of their desires.

If they begin to be engaged in even greater dissemination and draw towards themselves greater masses of people, then the lamp will burn continuously.

The manifestation of the Light, the upper force, the Creator in the people’s unity is the miracle. Besides that, there are no other miracles because the essence of all miracles is that our unity brings about the manifestation of the inner force, called the property of love, the Creator. It works wonders. The crossing of the Red Sea, the miracle of Hanukkah and the miracle of Purim are always the revelation of the Creator in our unity. Therefore, there is just one technique and it contains nothing complicated. It came to us from Abraham, who first showed how it is realized.

The fact is that we can unite in any manner, but the essence of the miracle is that we unite so that a new upper property appears within us, which is not manifested in any other actions, that raises us to the next level of consciousness, sensation, vision, and existence.

Question: How could people believe that one candle would burn for eight days when they knew that it would be sufficient only for a day?

Answer: If we aspire to unity, we are not interested in anything except to come to this state, within which the Creator is revealed. Then we reach the conditions of infinity and go to the next level of existence, where there is neither time nor space. And eight days is just an allegory, since there are eight Sefirot from the level of Bina to the level of Malchut.

Question: How can a person not think about what will happen tomorrow?

Answer: If you work for bestowal, tomorrow does not exist for you! There is no next moment! The most important is to give.

Tomorrow will disappear from your field of vision, mind, and calculations! It does not exist! You are included in the action of bestowal and are seemingly extended to everyone else. Nothing will remain in you. Your “I” simply disappears.

Then, in the next step, a new egoistic state appears. The same thing is repeated, like the wheel that moves forward, but at the same time revolves around itself.

Question: Under what circumstances is this possible?

Answer: It comes gradually, after many years and only from Above. But it will come. I can promise to all of my students that it will come true, and they will reach this state.

I think that together with them, I will still be able to go through their first steps in this ascent. This is the desire of every spiritual teacher who cannot abandon his child halfway. The teacher wants to guide his students across the desert so that they reach full bestowal, and they would not have any possibility of turning back, since the property of bestowal would reign in all their desires.

Then, they will develop their spiritual path on their own, with the next leader, like Moses and Joshua. But it is desirable for us to cross the desert together.

Question: How do you view the miracles from the material point of view? Let’s say, for many years, archaeologists seek confirmation of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, but find no traces. Indeed, something should have been left. In addition, there no evidence has been found of the 40 years of wandering of the nation of Israel in the desert.

Answer: Archaeologists find confirmation of these or other historical events when the time comes. Therefore in its time, they will suddenly find artifacts of history in the same place where they previously could find nothing. These discoveries are still ahead.
[149961]
From KabTV’s “Secretes of the Eternal Book” 12/17/14

Related Material:
Live According To The Mind Or According To Love
The Breached Walls
The Maccabean Wars

The Mystery of Israel

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn recent years,  politicians have started talking about legislative consolidation of the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The reason for this is the broad wave of  anti-Semitic attacks. The whole world has a problem with the Jewish people,  asking: “Why did they take the possession of land that does not belong to them?”

Many do not even agree with the original division of the territory in accordance with the UN resolution. Today, a secondary vote, of course, would deprive us of the right to our own state.

After the disaster, the world was uncomfortable in front of us, and if we indeed were to get the country, this will continue, according to the laws of common development.

However, we have to make it really ours, take the holy land (Eretz) as a desire (Ratzon) to purify and form not as a collection of exiles, but as the people of Israel, in the full sense of the word, fully united and aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar El).

We have to take a course on cohesion, love, and unity, to become as one man with one heart.

If we had arranged our nation in this way, we would not have had to carry the endless war for the past 66 years without a single second of rest and relaxation. And the situation would not have been like it is today such that when all of Israel is forced to plan an emergency evacuation, an escape plan in case of a disaster.

Question: Again and again, life confronts us with basic issues that affect our very existence in the land of Israel. And always this topic covers the fog of uncertainty, vagueness. Why is there this agonizing incompleteness in our self-determination? Why haven’t all “I’s” been dotted?

Answer: It is because we want to be like all the other nations and define our country like everyone else, according to the traditional representations of territory, borders and public entities. However, for us it does not work and does not apply to us. This usual format does not cause a faithful response in us, where we do not feel for ourselves, and do not find any correlation as to how our country should be identified and appear as our people, and every person in it.

It turns out that we are not the people of Israel, as it should be, and we do not live in the land of Israel nor in the country of Israel, as it should be according to the original sources, according to our basis. We have tried to adopt the concept of external concepts, simply taking them in, but they have not come to fruition. The international standard label comes unglued again and again.

As a result, we feel that it is not suitable, but continue to burden ourselves with it, without making the definition clear. And the world, for its part, does not understand our actions and sees the state of Israel as some artificial entity.

We can eloquently argue that this is our land. We can even sacrifice for the sake of life. However, we still do not understand what “the people” and “the country” mean for the Jewish people.

Baal Sulam wrote a great piece about it in the newspaper “The Nation” (HaUma), which, incidentally, was closed following its initial release. In this paper, the nature of these concepts and the need to return to their roots after two thousand years of exile was described in detail.

Why should we turn to ancient history and to the primitive life now that once was lived by our ancestors? On the contrary, in the previous centuries advanced nations planted their cultures everywhere. A foreign culture with a particular success was transferred to the indigenous peoples of Africa and America. Languages would die out as well as the traditions and beliefs, giving way to the English, Spanish, and French influence.

But we still have not been able to keep within the margins of the present. There is nothing we can borrow from the people of the world. On the contrary, we are organized in such a way that the people of the world adapt the correct things from us.

It is not up to us and it is not pride or arrogance. We are hard-wired this way. It is no coincidence that the world sees us as an intelligent, developed people, nurturing a purpose of life. The world feels that the Jewish people have a secret they do not want to open to others, so this means they must force us to give it up.

This feeling is indestructible, and we must finally understand what they want from us. Indeed, what kind of a mystery lies within us? If we only knew, then we could sell it for triple the price. But no, it does not work this way.

After all, what we hold inside and that lies within the people of Israel without their knowledge is this great, beautiful, alluring, shining goal, the future of the world.

Our world is bound to the brotherhood in which we once lived. We need to regain it, in other words, to live together as a law-abiding people, love our neighbors as ourselves, according to the principles that we received on Mount Sinai, and to be as one man with one heart.

Today our global, integrated world feels the unbreakable relationship of all its parts, literally requires it, and requires compliance with this law. If we reveal an umbrella of guarantee over all of us, we will find ourselves in a world that is for us, is as the Garden of Eden.

That is why in this modern era, the world pays attention to us without knowing how or why and begins to demand the law from us by which it will live tomorrow. After all, today’s life seems more and more intolerable to the world, pitch black, and hopeless. It no longer presents a picture of tomorrow. And subconsciously, people feel that the Jewish people have the answer.

Anti-Semitism flourishes around the world as a consequence, affecting millions of people. Thus, it simply obliges us to wonder about the law and about the way of life that should form the basis of our existence here.

If we really did go back to the roots, if we would put into practice the concept of “the people of Israel” aspiring “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El), i.e., to unity, solidarity, and love, if this were so, we would educate the people based upon the law combined with each other, as one man with one heart, helping neighbors and binding people together by this partnership. This would serve as an example to the world. Moreover, we would teach people how to build unity.

The world would then understand that we are a special part of it and that we really need to learn. And there is much to learn, since it’s the future and the salvation of all mankind. It is not just for a few decades comprising the lifespan of every generation, but rather a new basis for a new foundation being laid here in which our world will be perfected and ascend to a new level, into the eternal, perfect condition.

Today our egoism devours itself and as a result, we live an average of 70-80 years. If we move from the egoistic receiving desire to an altruistic one, to bestowal, and if everyone would live with their heart wide open among one’s nation, taking care of all, we would find other natural laws, the laws of love and bestowal. At that point we would enter into the eternal, perfect life and our world would open the opportunity to live beyond the limitations of time, space, and motion. We would begin to perceive the world in which there are no limits.

In the meantime, the problems towards the Jewish people, which we call anti-Semitism, will grow more and more. We cannot get rid of this. On the contrary, we will have to give an answer, as it is necessary to stand face to face with this situation.

At the same time, we will need to solve the problem of the Jewish character of the country, recently exposed for public discussion. But, it must not be by artificial language and not on the basis of the laws that we have inherited from the British mandate or Turkish rule. No, we need to take up the Torah and draw out all the necessary definitions.

For millennia, since the days of Abraham, Kabbalists have explained the meaning of “the people of Israel” and “country of Israel,” and who is a “Jewish person.” We need to open ourselves to the world, abandon the boundaries and take into our surroundings, everyone who wants to live by the law of love and unity under the umbrella of bestowal. That’s right, rather than geographic, the boundaries of the land of Israel, that is, universal mutual guarantee, will extend to the whole world.

In principle, the land of Israel is not the territory on the surface of the globe, but a place where people live according to the law of love. So now it does not exist. After all, the earth (Eretz) means the desire (Ratzon). If there is the law of love between people living in any place and they follow such law, their relationship, their common desire is called the land of Israel, the desire aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar-El), and thus they want to be like the upper force.

That is what we have to explain, demonstrate, and offer to all peoples. And then, instead of hatred, we will feel empathy, respect and affection, which is what we feel right now from many thousands of our students around the world. We see how committed they are to us when we teach them how to unite with each other to cooperatively achieve a higher power.
[149644]
From the program “A New Life” 11/30/14

Related Material:
The Jewish Character Is Unity
Time To Justify What Was Received In Advance
Bring Light To The World

A Butterfly On Mt. Sinai

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The disintegration of society that we are now witnessing in Israel and all over the world reminds us of the birth of a butterfly. First there is the caterpillar, which lives for a while, eats plants, and is happy.

But at a certain point the caterpillar reaches the end and cannot fill itself anymore. Then it turns into a chrysalis and enters a state of darkness closing itself inside a cocoon where its body begins to disintegrate.

The caterpillar ceases to be what it was before. Scientists have discovered that the genes that will later turn it into a totally different creature are already in the caterpillar. After a period of chaos and disintegration, a beautiful butterfly suddenly emerges from the cocoon; a winged creature that is much more developed.

Could it be that we are in the period of the cocoon now and therefore see how everything around us is out of balance and falling apart?

Answer: It is indeed so, but in order to become a beautiful butterfly, we have to change. We can reach these changes either in a pleasant, easy, and short way by the connection between us, or by war and terrible problems that will force us to unite. This means that we can go through this process passively or actively.

Comment: So in the end we will connect with or without war.

Answer: Yes, but there is a huge difference. After all, it will not be just another war, but a nuclear war.

Question: And if we don’t connect?

Answer: It cannot be. It is already in our genes, just like the caterpillar is supposed to become a beautiful butterfly in the end. We also have the genes according to which we have to bring the whole world to correction and are already imprinted in the genes of human society, in our internal program. We only have to carry it out.

We have two options, which are good or bad. The bad option is through wars and sufferings and the good option is by reaching the fulfillment of the wisdom of Kabbalah by ourselves, attaining the force of connection by it to draw the force, the Light that Reforms unto ourselves. It says: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice, since the Light in it reforms.”

Question: You speak about the Torah, so is it about religion?

Answer: No. The Torah is light, the force we discover inside the circle, which welds us together. The force that reforms is called the Torah. It is not a religious concept at all. It isn’t a book or a parchment that has words written on it, but an inner force.

The egoistic inclination doesn’t let us connect, while the Torah is the Upper Light, the means to correct the evil inclination, which is felt only by those who sense that they have to connect with others and cannot do so. It is as if our whole nation sat in one big circle of eight million people and everyone thought only about the fact that they cannot unite. It is a fact that if there is no external pressure, the society remains separated and detached.

Our mission is to move from state one to state two. State one is our current state of insecurity and of no future as a result of the lack of connections between us because of our egoistic nature.

There are two ways of achieving state two. The right way is the way that Kabbalists tell us about. They say that if we want to advance, we have to connect. If we sit in circles and begin to discuss the issue of how to be “as one man in one heart,” we will discover how much we are against this idea. This resistance we feel towards connection is called the evil inclination.

The evil inclination is not revealed to a person in his ordinary life, when he disrespects everyone, but only when he wishes to connect to others. Only then does he see that he doesn’t want this connection and is repelled by it, although he understands that he must reach unity despite his natural repulsion.

We felt it during the last military operation “Enduring Rock,” since we could unite only under external pressure. The moment the pressure was gone, we immediately returned to our initial state and began to quarrel and fight. So what can we do? After all we need to connect!

What is actually lacking at the moment is the recognition that we need connection. We need to widely publicize and explain that our good future depends on the unity of the nation and that otherwise we are facing disaster.

If we discover that we cannot unite, although we want to, we need the Torah as a means for attaining unity. This means that we are at the foot of Mt. Sinai which is a mountain of hatred. We want to reach unity, but we cannot do so since a high mountain of mutual hatred separates us.

Then we are worthy of the receiving of the Torah, which is the revelation of the force of connection that should come and connect us. This means that the light of the Torah reforms. It is a force of unity, a force of light and love. When it is revealed, we suddenly begin to feel closeness, dependence, and a mutual connection between us.

Question: Where can we find this force?

Answer: This force is hidden in nature. Now too, it is among us, but we discover it only to the extent that we yearn to connect. This is what the whole Torah is about. Thus every time Kabbalists connect into a group, they discovered the Creator, the upper force of connection.

Question: Is this circle also suitable for people who are not religious?

Answer: The circle is suitable for everyone, not only people who are not religious, but also for women and people from every nation. After all, the Israeli nation has to be a light unto the nations, teach everyone the wisdom of connection, and reveal to everyone that the Creator is the upper nature. During the last war, it was actually the women and the mothers who voiced the call for unity of the nation.
[143488]
From the program “A New Life” 9/02/14

Related Material:
Remember The Road To The Temple
A Circle Is The Form Of Existence Of the Corrected Society
Love Is Always Stronger Than Hatred

The Upper Sphere Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the Creator according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the upper force ?

Answer: The Creator is the highest nature. Nature has many levels, and the uppermost level includes everything that we are able to discover with the help of all the sciences and the science of Kabbalah, which reveals the mechanism of force of bestowal. All this together is called the Creator.

Indeed, all this is under the control of the properties of Bina, the force of general bestowal, which is called Elokim, the Creator. What else exists besides this is not known to us. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives a clear answer to this, as in any science: we do not know what is above the force of bestowal and are not able to reveal this.

Maybe it is only a temporary restriction. Generations are advancing one after the other, revealing and correcting nature. Perhaps, after we correct the entire reality and reach the end of correction of all generations, new opportunities will be open to us.

But for the time being, we do not have the slightest contact with what is above the quality of bestowal. Perhaps, nature exists there in different ways that we, due to our structure, are not able to understand and feel. When we reach the end of correction, then we can talk about what is next. Kabbalists hint at this slightly in their books, but we still cannot understand them.
[149636]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
No Empty Calls
From Within Separation One Gains Completeness
Everything Begins From The Group

It Is Impossible To Know The World Only By Its Pieces

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When there is a need to work together, groups of people gather and determine who is strong in what, and they get along and perform some activity together. Why doesn’t this mechanism work on a global level, between the nations? Why don’t we get along with each other?

Answer: The higher supervision is a goal-oriented supervision and so it accompanies and directs us towards complete attainment. This is attainment of the Creator, meaning attainment of the only general universal force that fills everything. In other words, a person develops such that eventually he will be able to fulfill himself through the system of worlds, and through the system, he will understand the general force that exists in nature.

When we were created, we could absorb something only through in small, discrete segments, pieces,  or sections. The most that we were prepared to do is to arrange these small sections together and create an integral form from them.

On the other hand, the Creator exists in analog form, beyond the integral, and on a higher level where there are no boundaries. That is His nature, the nature of pure bestowal. And He wants to bring us to that level.

And so our present plans will not help. No matter how much we want to know and be conscious of the world, nothing comes of it for us. On the contrary, we need to reach a state where we despair of all of our plans and goals, seeing that none of them succeed, and understand that the main thing is that there is a very unique plan in nature and it is worthwhile for us to implement it. Only then will we attain everything through changing our own nature.

Today we want to become aware of nature in digital form. But this won’t work, for every segment differs from the others. It is only possible to attain them all together, beginning on a small scale, and on a greater and greater scale after that. This way is called ascending the levels of the worlds. But if we just want to connect the separate segments with each other, this will not work for us and we will not be able to assemble the general picture from this.

Therefore, our plans will not be realized. According to our present intelligence, we won’t attain anything that is found above the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. Today we have reached the end of the development of the still, vegetative, and animate levels, and now require higher levels of development in order to continue. But these levels require our personal, internal, psychological participation, and here we come to the end of science.

Question: Which is to say, we can never logically explain peoples’ really poor situation to them?

Answer: We will not succeed. There is only “from your deeds do we know you.” Even though you might be a great Kabbalist, you cannot explain spiritual phenomena to a person even though he could be very intelligent. Since he is not familiar with the transformations that you are going through, it is impossible to explain and to describe analog phenomena in a digital language. There you are attaining divinity to some degree or another and here you are connecting pieces or segments, in other words, separate parts of the whole.
[149234]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/07/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Related Material:
Coincidence Is Simply Ignorance
There Is No Third Way
The Transition To The Global World

Don’t Just Share Two Toys, Give Both Away!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the stories of the righteous Job relates that his suffering is the result of a dispute with the evil spirit named Satan, who supposedly looks at people and decides to test their loyalty to the Creator.

Satan claims that Job was righteous because he had everything and thrived in life. And if you take away his wealth, it is unknown how he will respond. This is the beginning of the suffering of Job. Who is Satan?

Answer: This story is about the evil desire that confronts everybody. Satan is inside us and is called the evil inclination. It is written: “the evil inclination in a person is the Satan, the angel of death.”

Question: We consider Satan to be some kind of the higher power?

Answer: Why can’t it be higher? We are born this way; it precedes me: “the human heart is wicked from the day of one’s birth.” It rules over us. I would say that this force is even stronger than the Creator. Nature consists of four levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

The force that controls the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels is benevolent. That is why harmony and balance are present in the first three levels. Even though some live creatures gobble each other up, it happens only because they are governed by nature. They don’t hurt each other deliberately. The positive, kind force that rules the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels is called the Creator (Elokim).

The human (speaking) level is controlled by the negative force: “the human heart is wicked from the day of its birth.” The evil nature constantly tempts us to hurt others. Not only do I want to take your watch, ring, and beautiful eyeglasses just because I want them, I also enjoy that you don’t possess them anymore. Where does this feeling come from? It derives from the ability to sense our neighbors, i.e., “I feel you.”

Since I feel them, I am not satisfied when my neighbor simply doesn’t feel good. I really want them to feel bad. This mere fact makes me automatically happy. So the sensation of a neighbor that is inherent to human nature allows us enjoy others’ suffering that result from the fact that they lack things that they strive for. This sensation elevates and fulfills us. The force that causes this sensation is called Satan or the evil inclination.

Question: What does the dialogue between Satan and the Creator mean?

Answer: Satan lives inside us. It is our nature. As for the Creator, He is the external nature that we don’t yet have. It exists in the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels, but is absent from the human level: “the human heart is evil from the day it was born.” This is how we are born and then continue living. You can easily see it in our children. They gradually grow for two, three, four years, and all of a sudden they become people.

They begin lying, stealing, acting solely for their own sake, doing anything they can to fulfill their desires. They want everything, and if you give a toy to a child and the second toy to another child, the first child wants to grab both. It is our duty to transform the wicked inclination into a good one, “as if for our own self.” If previously a little child grabbed both toys and never gave them to other children, now he is supposed to give both toys to his friends. It’s not about sharing. He has to act “as if it is for his own sake.”

Question: How should we understand  Satan’s manipulations when he demands sending new troubles to Job? It’s not enough to take Job’s money away. It is necessary to take away his children!

Answer: It stems from the program of nature that constantly rules over us. We permanently advance and grow, and our desires constantly enhance, develop, and become more and more egoistic. Our needs expand. However, do we become more corrected from generation to generation?

We constantly follow Satan. He pushes us to bad things: weapons, murder, terror, deceit, and slyness. Can we resist these things? No! We drift with the wicked flow that leads us nowhere. We consent to it. Moreover, we continue considering ourselves to be honest citizens!

By converting evil into benevolence, we’ll attain the Creator’s level. Then, we’ll understand all of nature and reach the best possible scientific level, build correct relationships among us and behave accordingly. We are not there as yet.
[148771]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/28/13

Related Material:
In Each One Of Us There Exists A Foolish Job
A Person’s Inclination Is Evil From His Youth
Don’t Give Yourself A Guilt Trip Like A Trapped Thief