Entries in the 'Unity' Category

Don’t Let The Friend Deviate From The Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring our studies of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we shouldn’t pay attention to how much we understand in the books of Kabbalah. The Sefirot, Olamot (worlds), and Partzufim aren’t important because we still haven’t attained the spiritual worlds and don’t know what is going on there. We are just juggling words.

However, the work in the group is first and foremost; the connection between us leads to the correct studies in which we, like children, want to rise to the next level. Some kind of mutual desire for the next level attracts the upper Light onto us, the force that develops us.

It develops us to the same extent that we yearn to be above. That is the only law of nature. Thus, we need to operate within this law and not forget that we unite and connect in order to discover within us the connection between us and the upper world, the Creator, in at least at the initial, minimal manifestation.

The great students of Rashbi, before they began to describe their feelings and the discoveries in The Book of the Zohar, felt such a great hatred between them that they were even prepared to burn each other. This means that they were at such a high level of attainment where the left line, their ego, manifested in such a terrible way. We need to grow a lot in order to reach this.

Thus, before us there lie many more great trials, and if we aren’t ready for them in the correct manner, then we simply will leave this way. Some of our friends have already left the way, and more are likely to drop out. Thus, we must always remind each other that we are involved with the Creator who gives us all kinds of states and determines all the relationships between us, along with the hatred, and if we ask, also the love.

The main thing is that the group must take upon itself the commitment to remind each friend before the lesson about what to concentrate on. What was discovered today in our relations concerning one another? Apathy? That’s good, and tomorrow it can be that we will reach such a state where we will begin to feel rejection for each other. This means that we understand that everything comes from the Creator, that purposefully He reveals our ego and the intellect within us! Just a small person is given small opportunities so that he won’t deviate from his path.

If people, leave the group anyway, it’s a sign that it didn’t work enough, that we didn’t explain to others the method of advancing in two lines: “We must advance in spite of the growing ego. In the end, we will rise together with it and transform, on the one hand, from being completely opposite to the Creator according to our developing ego, and on the other hand, to receive His same attributes.”

This means that there will be seemingly two states within us: one that is opposite to the Creator and the second that is similar to the Creator, and together they will stand facing each other, to be more precise, one under the other. Below, there will be the vessel, the Kli, that is completely under Tzimtzum Aleph (the first restriction), and above it, we will build the second vessel, Kli, the attribute of bestowal, and in this way, we will work with it.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/8/12, Lesson 4

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A Convention That Will Ignite The Flame In Our Hearts

Dr. Michael LaitmanOn the 13th of January, there will be the first global women’s convention. Our entire world group needs this special awakening on the part of the women. I am very happy that the women are enthusiastic and understanding regarding this special event. They are ready to do whatever they can, and I hope it will bear fruit. I advise every woman who can come from overseas and from Israel to register, and not to miss this meeting. The registration ends on Wednesday January 9th.

We expect this convention to be a great ascent that will provide all of us with a new deficiency. In every family, the woman “fires up” her husband, and we want that this flare up to be a million times more intensive and that a real burning fire of desire aimed at the goal will surround us. The women are ready and able to do that.

On the whole, a purposeful woman is more than 90% of the success. It isn’t by chance that we say that behind every successful man there is a woman. It is true. Here in spirituality, it is 100% true. I can hardly imagine a man’s success along the spiritual path without female support. So, why do we need all these hardships if we can connect according to the law of root and branch? It is written, “A man and a woman—Divinity between them.” The connection begins in the family and continues in the group, and it reaches the connection with the Creator. So, eventually, we will resemble Him as one image of one man.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/13, “Body and Soul”

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Not A Spectator But A Participant

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring the preparation phase, a person who studies Kabbalah cannot use it as an exact science and operate according to facts yet. In this phase, I realize myself in the group, in the study, in the connection with the teacher, in the connection with the Creator, and through the sources. I study authentic Kabbalistic sources that are beyond the Machsom (barrier), although I haven’t transcended it yet. The group in my eyes is also beyond the Machsom, and especially the teacher as well as all the other Kabbalists and the Creator, the universal upper force.

Only I, miserably, am standing here below wanting to be incorporated in them all. I am incorporated in them through the group that has a guide. He doesn’t guide anyone personally; he belongs to everyone. He teaches the group according to Kabbalistic books, which were also written in a group, and all the friends together want to discover the Creator in the general unity.

This is the difference between the wisdom of Kabbalah and other wisdoms: Now I am just like a child trying to behave like a grownup, with the help of different “toys” that his parents have given him. If I do this, I grow correctly; I have a group, books, and a teacher—everything that I need. If I use them the way I should, I will advance.

One of the most effective means is our workshops. We make the most not from the wisdom but through connection; a workshop is an act of connection.

I hear what the friends say, and in my heart and soul I yearn to be with them, to participate in their unity, to feel what they feel, to think what they think. I am incorporated in them, and in that I begin to accept the necessary conditions for the upper Light.

We are ten people sitting together and in between them I find a warm common feeling. Even if I am viewing them on a TV or a computer screen, I am, in fact, looking at the connection, at the mutual cooperation between them. I observe and want to be inside.

Then I begin to perceive the Light that Reforms, the Surrounding Light, that develops my soul.

This is why it is so important to see the group and to feel that I am in its center. I unite with the friends; I want to tie them together, to hug them all, and to feel one inner desire, one inner thought, mind, and heart.

After several such exercises, I start to feel much closer to the friends, to such an extent that through them I perceive spirituality.

Don’t underestimate the workshops because they are very near unity. It will come sometimes, more and more, and not just in the form of inspiration but as a spiritual experience from which the illumination of the Surrounding Light will become the real Light.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/1/13, “Body and Soul”

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The Year Of Movement Toward The Public

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that the year 2013 will be a year of big changes. I would like to hear from you some kind of blessings, concerning this year.

Answer: I think that this year will pass relatively quietly in the world. The world will delay the end. The economic fall will continue, but in a slower manner; governments will print money, all kinds of “bubbles” will be inflated, and in this way the collapse will be prevented.

But we need to understand that this period is specifically good for us to reorganize, to continue the unity, to prepare intensively for training and good dissemination, so that we will learn to speak correctly to the public and will be able to reach them according to their level and be near them. We must show people that there is a completely different way of development and it is the only way that is correct, realistic, and unique so that they will understand that there is no other way, and then they will see that we are really offering them the only choice.

We don’t need to compete with others and to convince people that we are right, as the Soviet regime did in the past with its claim that “the victory of communism is unavoidable, because it is right.” We just need to work on ourselves, on the movement towards the people, and gradually we will win.

Thus our workshops need to be closer to the public, to people. It doesn’t mean that we are declining. If a person can explain lofty things simply, it is a sign that he understands them and that they live within him. He translates them from the language of the book to his inner language, and then brings it to others in a simple language. Thus, it is very important for us to position ourselves in this way in order to lower it to a simple explanation.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/30/12

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The Beginning Of All Beginnings

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe content of Kabbalistic books can be divided into two parts.

One of them describes our work in feelings between us and explains how through it to reach the Creator Who is not somewhere on the side but between us.

On the other hand, we are given precise Kabbalistic texts, such as The Introduction to the Science of Kabbalah, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and The Book of Zohar, which are absolutely incomprehensible to us. These books talk about the degree to which we must ascend and the actions that we should perform, so by having united and received the property of bestowal, we begin to feel the upper world in this property.

That is why, based on the articles and advice of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, we must carry out actions of unity between ourselves, and while reading the textbooks about the spiritual worlds, we draw the upper Light to ourselves.

In other words, one part of the primary sources is educational, forming our correct connections up to the point that inside them we feel the quality of bestowal, the Creator.

The second part is dedicated to pursuing the goal of unity between us, during studies, to the extent the upper Light, upper forces, properties, degrees, worlds and Lights are revealed between us.

We should strive to that as a child who longs to become an adult is driven by his egoistic nature. It keeps putting pressure on him, teaching him how to grow, and he tirelessly engages in this. Therefore, in our spiritual growth, we must try to be like children, and with the same energy, just as hard, playing all the time to go to the next level, to become adults, to explore this world of adults and adult relationships.

To do this, on one hand, we need to annul ourselves before the friends, and on the other hand, to be above them, to work on unity within the group, to seek every opportunity to add to it, deepen, broaden, and concentrate it so that in everyone one big spark gathers and lights between us. We should not be afraid that we “rub” against each other like nuts in a sack because this friction also produces sparks. If we know why we do this, we will succeed.

Most importantly, we should constantly be aware of the need to unite and adhere to the Creator and fear nothing. As soon as the group or individual people forget why they are here, they immediately turn from a Kabbalistic group to a “bunch of mockers.”

As it said in the Psalms: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” With these words, King David begins the world renowned Psalms, the book of man’s pleas and appeals to the Creator. They are accepted all over the world as the outpouring of the human heart. That is the most important thing! This is the beginning of all beginnings!

We know that groups have many conditions and problems, but they all converge in one point—the realization of the law “love your neighbor as yourself” because it is the law of the Creator. When egoism corrects itself to love, one becomes similar to the Creator.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/8/12, Lesson 4

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Shared Contact

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A workshop is a powerful action that each time is felt in a new way, sometimes sharper, and other times muffled.

Answer: Of course, this is because during workshops a common desire is developed, a collective mind; a generalized image of man, Adam, is created. It happens gradually.

Everyone assembles a small organ within his group, which connects with other organs. Everyone in his group of 10 feels what he assembles, and when up to 30 or more groups are gathered here, we get a large number of desires. The time will come when all the groups will come together in a common desire.

What we have to learn now is to reach shared contact quickly, so that while sitting with 10 friends, we enter into contact within a second and stay in it for a long time without a break. This is the most important thing for us.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/30/12

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Spiritual Union

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion from women: How can we effectively connect in internal work with the Creator through the men’s group without physical contact with it?

Answer: This happens automatically. When we reach the spiritual level, there is inclusion of the men’s part into the women’s part, and vice versa because everyone has both; there is no division in men and women.

That is why history mentions great women Kabbalists who were at the level of attainment, called prophecy. This is the level of GAR de Atzilut, a very high level, which was rarely achieved even by men. So, women are not less than men and are capable of spiritual attainment. The only thing that must be overcome are various external, earthly, small animal obstacles.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/30/12

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Great Hopes

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do you expect from the women in their convention and from their mutual preparation with the men for the Arava Convention?

Answer: I expect a lot from the women because it is the principle part of our world group. The fact is that the women are much more modest than the men; they are very active, but they stay at the back, on the sidelines.

Women’s help is limitless, but all the fruits of their efforts they quietly give to the men. That is the nature of woman. One needs to note that in this they are certainly closer to bestowal than men are. Women do a lot, even though we don’t feel it. Thus I honor their work and am very happy about their cooperation and participation.

Besides that, in all of our worldwide groups, the number of women is not less than the men, and that is a huge force. Now, when humanity is beginning to gradually move to a new state that isn’t familiar to it, the women’s participation is especially important.

We need their desire, the yearnings, and their pressure on the men. We need to make them even more active so that they will pressure us, like a woman to her husband who is under her constant supervision. It is very important that a man feels that his wife values his spiritual work and follows after him, pushes him, understands what he is involved with, and controls him. It gives a man meaning and directs him.

We must feel this, and then we will be able to better advance forward. Thus, on the one hand, we must divide our work and part of our events to men and women. But on the other hand, we must encourage the woman’s part to connect, to unite, to work together, and give them every opportunity to share one huge powerful desire that will force us to realize it.
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From a Virtual Lesson 12/30/12

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The Wonderful Attribute Of Mutual Guarantee

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Now the whole global group is anxiously preparing for the Arava Convention and there is a great emotional intensity in the air. A while ago, you advised us to try to rephrase the mutual guarantee declaration in one paragraph, so that it will touch the heart of every individual. What would you write in the declaration?

Answer: The meaning of mutual guarantee is that we must give each friend the feeling that he will automatically, naturally, having no choice, stop feeling the need to care about himself. By that we neutralize his ego. Therefore, the sources say that mutual guarantee is essential for spiritual advancement.

Clearly, the spiritual field is above our ego, and we have to be above it, in the attribute of bestowal. But we cannot imagine how it is possible to be in this attribute of bestowal. Time after time we encounter the same ego, but in different variations. It constantly surrounds us and does with us whatever it feels like, and we cannot get rid of it and rise above it.

This is intentional, so that we will be able to attain the attribute of bestowal only through connection and unity, since that’s the main thing. It isn’t the ascent above the ego, but the connection and unity between us that’s important. When we connect and in this connection influence the friends, they begin to lose their ego. We care about them like a mother who cares for her baby, and they feel fully confident and don’t think about themselves, feeling no worry. What is more, this bestowal that is focused on the friend automatically denies him of his ego and allows him to focus on the spiritual work. This is the power of mutual guarantee, its wonderful attribute.

So if we develop such mutual cooperation among us, by making each other feel mutual guarantee, people who receive this feeling from us will simply start “jumping” out of their ego, ascending in “faith above reason” and will immediately start feeling the upper world.

It is not up to a person, but rather to his environment, which we create by ourselves by mutual guarantee by totally focusing on filling one another until we reach this state in which each of us feels the collective support.

So mutual guarantee is the guiding, mutual cooperation among us that summons the absolute feeling of confidence and the natural exit from the ego.
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From the Virtual Lesson 12/30/12

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What’s Behind The Curtain

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the article “Body and Soul” Baal HaSulam says that everything, whether it is concealed or revealed is in a person’s consciousness. What is hidden from me today will be revealed tomorrow. What is “concealed” from us now during the preparation phase?

Answer: First, it doesn’t refer to some abstract concept of the unknown, but a reality that actually exists but which we cannot study for the time being. I know that it exists and I know that it is hidden from me. In other words, it is as if the Creator is behind a “curtain” according to my calculations and all my experience.

It is also a kind of knowledge, but not a clear fact yet, for which I can testify and present to others. I have some elements, some proof, but the essence hasn’t yet been revealed. Baal HaSulam says in this article that the knowledge that is not fully part of our consciousness yet is “concealed.” He speaks about knowledge here and not about philosophy.

Experiments with the collider and particle accelerators, for example, enable physicists to come up with different theories about the structure of the micro cosmos. Its components are still unknown, but the data they have received allows them to come up with hypotheses and discuss these matters, since it is already clear: there is something behind this “curtain.” The facts may be a bit different than the theories and even opposite from the scientific hypotheses, but this approach is perfectly “legitimate.”

In our case, the “point in the heart” says to a person: “There is some force that controls everything, that encompasses everything, and that closes everything in one, and I want to discover it.” This desire already builds some kind of model of what we are looking for—the meaning of life, its source, its reasons, and its plan, “who is turning me around, who is managing me and everything around me?” A person guesses, he “senses” the Creator, and so he reaches the wisdom of Kabbalah, in order to get an answer to the question that has already been evoked in him. On the other hand, those who don’t have this question regard the wisdom of Kabbalah as mere speculation.

Later we will discover that the Creator is the force of connection, and that there is nothing but unity, and that it is through unity that all the other forces that make up our reality are revealed.

As for studying the unknown, we don’t examine the Creator but His actions. The wisdom of Kabbalah puts this principle very clearly: “From Your actions we shall know You.” We never speak about the Creator, since it is already an abstract form, and essence, which means something that it is unattainable. Our research refers to a form that is dressed in matter. This form is actually the Creator (Boreh) for us, literally “Come and see” (Bo – Reh). I am the matter, and the form that dresses in me is Him. I become increasingly more similar to the Creator and He is revealed in me, “dresses” in me.

Question: How do I study His actions?

Answer: On yourself. This is all our work. But first we have to receive His forms, His “fingerprints,” and prepare a place inside for it, correcting everything that needs to be corrected, and then receive the form of bestowal and pass on this attitude to those around you, to the friends. This is the form of the Creator that you study, and by that you study Him, which means that you attain what bestowal is, unity.

Question: But today I cannot attribute the Creator’s actions to Him.

Answer: In research a negative result is also a result. The negation in this case is the preparation for the revelation of the Creator. You reject Him and don’t accept His existence—that’s the way it should be. Everything is attained by its oppositeness.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/13, “Body and Soul”

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