Entries in the 'Unity' Category

A Wide Variety Of Workshop Questions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We have a great need to have morning workshops. We would like to learn how you compose the questions that are difficult to answer and that force us to go beyond our limits in order to find it.

Answer: In general I ask two types of questions during the workshops. Either it is a question that has no answer for which you need to strain, like during childbirth, in order to find the common “fruit” between yourselves. After all, when such a necessity for everyone all together arises, then the center of the circle is born.

Thus, the question needs to be such that the person feels it tearing him apart inside and that he can solve it only if he gives up everything he has and merges with the others, hoping and making efforts to connect with the friends to find the answer.

Or it is a question where we need to clarify something from within that same common point that we found. And then the questions come in a certain order of the system and should follow in a logical way one after the other.

Here people need to support each other and connect even more. Technical questions might be interwoven with sensation questions, but people constantly need to work in the center of the circle.

There are circumstances in the workshop, when it is effective to draw a person out from the current process of the discussion. Suddenly a question is asked that seems to be from a completely different world. This is good too because confusion causes a reaction in people, one needs to find a foothold. People need to find it in the center between them.

These workshops are necessary for us; they are not meant for the external public. After all, we don’t want people to knock their heads together where each person is within himself. For those, we need to pad it with something soft so that they will not fall.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/10/14, Lesson 2

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An Unknown Property That Transforms The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what form should we conduct a first meeting with the external public to leave them with a feeling of warmth?

Answer: Think about what is possible, it makes no difference. It could be that it will be a workshop in the form of a game.

The main thing is for a person to discover that when we connect and unite, then some kind of inner force, warmth, a “raspberry ball,” appears among us. It doesn’t matter what you call it. “Wow! How good this is!” That’s it, nothing more is needed. Only this feeling should remain with them. This is the conclusion of the first meeting!

However, it is necessary for this result to be registered: As we came together in a circle and each one didn’t think about himself but about how to be together with everyone in the center of the circle where all of our yearnings forward are gathered and everything personal is left outside of it, then, within the circle, we discover something new and pleasant, our shared child, our shared feeling, and this was so good, so warm, that when we looked at each other we felt that all of us were close, and this feeling is revealed only when we are connected like this.

I believe the result of the first round of the workshops or simply the meeting should be a raspberry ball. We need to bring people to a state where they feel that through the connection between them some special property is discovered that gives them warmth, hope, confidence, and transformation of the soul.
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From the Sochi Convention 6/9/14, Lesson 1

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Raising Moses From Nothing

Dr. Michael LaitmanM. Weisman, “The Midrash Says” (Chapter “Shemini”): There is only one method for getting closer to the Creator, and that is absolute obedience to His will. And the Lord says to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that I did him a great honor. Tell him where his sons are, is where the innermost part of the Shechina will be, which means the place where the Creator is revealed, His divine presence. Even you and your brother Moses will not attain such heights.

This is talking about a state that the created beings cannot attain until the end of correction. It is revealed after the levels of Aaron and Moses.

The fact is that Moses is buried on Mount Nebo across the Jordan River and his place of burial is unknown to this day. It turns out that he attained a level that no one has disclosed yet. But it still is not a level of the complete connection and unity that includes both the people and the Torah, i.e.,  all the parts of the general soul.

But at the end of the general correction, all levels will be revealed in what is called the allegorical picture of Moses’ tomb. In principle, there is no tomb since he climbed the mountain by himself and died there.

Later the state of Moses will appear again, but at a level that all the other souls below will begin to ascend to him, connect with him, and advance all the way to the end of correction. Then we will really ascend to the level about which it is said that “even you and your brother Moses will not reach such heights.”

The Torah speaks about the preparation that our egoistic desire goes through before entering what is called the land of Israel, that is, before the complete development of our egoism in love and bestowal.

It only tells us about the period when we come out of Egypt and reach the border of the land of Israel by going through forty spiritual levels and forty years of wandering in the desert (the ascent from Malchut (will to receive) to Bina (will to bestow). Then there is the descent from Bina to Malchut, when we begin to attain the level of Malchut, raise it to Bina, and then ascend from Bina to Keter (crown).

After the whole mass is corrected by the gradual ascent, there is an action called Rav Pealim Mekabtziel, a special force that unites all the corrected parts of the general (Mekabtziel is the connection that compresses everything into one unique force).

This is an additional correction. When it is fulfilled there will be an ascent all the way to the level of Keter. The level of Moses will then actually be revealed, not the way it is described here, but on the next level, when all the levels merge and ascend to the level of Keter.

Then the tomb of Moses will be revealed, that is, the state in which we attain the level of Moses, and together with him will begin to ascend until the complete end of correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/22/14

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Blessed Are Those Sitting In A Circle

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In what way is studying the wisdom of Kabbalah different from the wisdom of connection?

Answer: We can speak to people who come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah about the Light of faith, about the Light of bestowal, about self sacrifice, about faith above reason, about ascending above our egoistic nature and about rejecting our nature, and about going through all the states of the shattering.

On the other hand, when we present the wisdom of Kabbalah to the public, we cannot approach them by talking about these ideas and concepts. We can tell them only what can be revealed to vessels of receiving. This means that we tell them that there is a method that enables us to receive pleasure, filling yourself by the connection with others.

There is an upper force or an inner force in nature that allows us to connect and to correct all the problems by this power of connection that we have received. If you want to correct your connection with your children, hold a workshop in a circle with them. You will discover the force of connection and unity among you that will change and fix everything.

When the force of connection is revealed, there is an immediate correction. I cannot generate this force from inside our circle during the workshop and fix my washing machine by it, but by holding the workshop, your washing machine will not break down anymore if this is supposed to be your correction.

We should understand that only the force that is revealed in the connection will fix everything. Therefore, we must be everywhere and hold debates around roundtables, and wherever we do that, the situation will be corrected. Thus, we teach people to avoid problems, to find a blessing, luck.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Accumulative Clarification

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it possible to say that a workshop is a conversation without arguments?

Answer: A workshop is an “accumulative clarification” where everyone adds to clarify the answer, the problem, the phenomenon, with the power of connection.

For every problem there is a key, which is called the wisdom of the crowd, where through taking an average of a large number of answers, a correct solution emerges, despite the fact that all of the answers were not correct. So let’s solve our problems with the help of the wisdom of the crowd, the wisdom of the group.

If we don’t argue with each other, but gather together our knowledge and sense of unity, then we suddenly begin to discover a unique phenomenon within our connection. In this way we clarify a particular problematic question or phenomenon that becomes understandable.

This is because the connection is found above us and gives us additional wisdom, an additional I.Q. Suppose that everyone had an I.Q. of 100. From the connection of five, in sum we have 500. But through our connection, the result is 1000. That is how the connection between people works. There are experiments that confirm this phenomenon called collective intelligence.

Question: Is the wisdom of the crowd revealed only in a good connection at the time of the workshop or can there be disputes?

Answer: The wisdom of the crowd cannot be revealed during an argument, for there will not be a connection between opinions. Only when all of the opinions are connected do we attain the higher knowledge.

In arguments we don’t reach agreement between people. Someone simply surrenders due to all kinds of different reasons, but he doesn’t complete you. While in a workshop we complete each other.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/14

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A Society Deprived Of Purpose

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Dmitry Leikin): “The struggle for the rights of minorities in the West takes absurd forms. The problem is that Western society needs a purpose – and simultaneously forbids itself to have it.

“The modern human being, equipped with developed intellect and higher education, desperately needs a purpose for his existence, which goes beyond him and his family, a social goal, society-wide.

“But Western countries are not able to set goals before people; their function is not to prevent people from living the way they want. They view a big goal as communist projects.

“For lack of anything else, a European enthusiastically enters into the battle for the rights of gays and transsexuals, against non-environmental oil platforms, etc., as he previously made revolutions. By the way, the revival of neo-Nazi movements in Europe has the same cause – Nazism; despite all its monstrous essence, it still gives people a super goal.

“And the way out of this social chaos can be only one: to begin to set before society real super goals that it needs.”

My Comment: There is such a goal, and it must be set before the community: to achieve universal equality and unity in which we will experience the next (other worldly) level of existence.
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Yearning For Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When I feel causeless hatred towards a friend, I cannot figure out how to get out of it.

Answer: Hatred lacks a foundation; it is a spiritual category that manifests in a person without a reason; it is simply because his ego burns in him.

Such issues can only be solved together in a discussion with other friends. The idea is that the correction is realized specifically when a strong rejection appears between us.

Unfounded hatred is a clear and accurate discovery of shattered desires. It is said that rejection became the reason for the destruction of the Second Temple, when instead of connection, solidarity, mutual assistance, and love between people, suddenly intense hatred flared up. And this is what led to and caused the shattering of the collective spiritual Kli (vessel).

So, when such situations like these appear, gather together quickly and try to discuss them in the form of a workshop. First, without any agenda, without touching anyone personally, and without intending for a mandatory solution for the question, which concerns all because manifestations of unfounded hatred exists in each one of us.

It appears all the time for some unknown, inexplicable reasons or without any reason: Well, I cannot stand him, I cannot come to an agreement with him, we don’t understand each other, or something pushes me away from him.

It is necessary to clarify whether there is some reason by gathering into groups of five or ten with friends to discuss the issue. At the same time, I cannot say that I feel dislike someone, but I want to find out why my attitude to him is revealed in this way.
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A Dual Processor, The Group And Me

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the workshop, how does one remember the need for inner work? I feel like I am a computer with two processors and one of them forgets about the goal, the work, all the time. The other reminds me about this all the time and remembers the entire process which I have gone through.

Answer: We cannot constantly remember the goal, the work, and we will disconnect from it all the time. This detachment is required to exist, but we don’t have to agree to it. And then it will be useful for our correction, as it is said: “Everything is found outside.” In other words, you don’t agree to be detached.

We are detached so that we will connect again on the next level. Also, I cannot hold myself on such a high level at all, except only by means of the environment.

Any electrical circuit works according to this principle; every item transmits its energy outward and takes new energy into itself, then again transmits outward, and receives inside again. It is like a coil and cable which constantly exchange energy streaming in circuits between them; that’s how they work reciprocally.

I cannot hold myself in a good state; I require mutual work with the group. That is how we alternate in our work. Moreover, each one of the friends passes through his own states. And then within this system, the Creator arranges the rate at which the states alternate in each one of us and in everyone together.

We must feel that we don’t exist in isolation; rather, we belong to one system with two processors, which work alternately, sometimes this and sometimes that. What we need is to pool our energy together so that you can charge yourself and be nourished with the energy from our mutual work. In a group, all the states that you have gone through disappear, all the previous levels, all of your history. All of this happens only within the group, within the collective Kli, until within it we reach the form of Infinity. Only then, in an action called the end of correction, will we discover everything that we went through.

All of this is found within the group. The first spiritual state begins in relation to the group, in my ability or lack of ability to be connected with it. That is how my first and smallest discovery of the evil inclination takes place, and so on to the last evil inclination, the great ego at the peak of the ladder of levels. Therefore, all of the results of the work are swallowed up by the group. The group is Malchut of Infinity.

Spiritual advancement is measured solely and only in contrast to the evil inclination that constantly increases: at whatever rate and with whatever power it increases, from this the rejection of connection grows in us. The rejection and the darkness become greater and greater, stronger and stronger, but we interpret, understand, feel them, and receive a push to work with them in order to connect with the group in the face of this darkness. We are interested in this rejection; otherwise, we will not accept our “signs of work.” Our advancement is measured with this.

Meanwhile, we judge only according to our feelings without objective measurement, but after this, we will measure our own states.
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From 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/14, Workshop

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Holding Onto The Inner Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the state of the unending internal workshop?

Answer: The state of the unending internal workshop is constant internal contact with the friends where I seemingly am found in connection with them, in controversy, in conversation, and this is the inner connection between us. This is what we must reach. We can do this; everything depends upon us.

In principle, we need to be connected a billion times more than the best moment in a convention, and we will attain this. It is just necessary to yearn for the goal all the time. This certainly doesn’t depend on any convention, not on distances, nor on anything else. We are trying to do this.
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