Entries in the 'Unity' Category

A Simple Work On The Main Thing

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe do not have to correct our current desires on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature directly. As Baal HaSulam says, they accompany the ascent of the level of the speaking and are corrected with it.

Question: What do we have to do now, during the preparation period when the level of the speaking has not been revealed to us yet?

Answer: The work during the preparation period is very simple—a connection to the greatness of the goal. This is called “Israel, the Creator, and the Torah are one.” I connect with the friends and together we work on the recognition of the greatness of the goal. In order to do that, we need the study, dissemination, and everything that we do in general, and that’s it. What’s important is to connect in order to attain what we believe to be the upper goal and that’s all.

What is more, the goal is not external to us, but within the connection between us. So we are constantly working on the quality of the connection so that it will be as pure as possible.

During this process we discover many facets of our ego, but only in spirituality will we truly know it. It isn’t by chance that Rabbi Shimon’s students feel hatred towards one another, the kind of hatred that doesn’t exist here. I don’t think about how I can harm or kill the friend all day, but actually, it is on these kind of thoughts my ego “fixates,” and I cannot get them out of my head.

Now, however, I encounter minor interruptions: I don’t want to keep in contact with the friends, I don’t love them, I don’t want to connect with them, I don’t get the importance of the unity in the group. It seems that I can still wait: “Tomorrow everything may work out and we will connect and will remember the greatness of the goal…” This is our current ego.

Question: What do we mean by the term “connection” when it comes to the general public?

Answer: For them it is only one thing: If we connect nicely with one another, we will get rid of the crisis and return to the good and comfortable life we had. There is no other choice, since nature itself obligates us to do so.

As Baal HaSulam says, we are one family, so we simply must be connected.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/12/12, Shamati #3

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How To Approach The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Should we decide what we want while reading The Zohar, or should we try to find out what we really want?

Answer: A person asks about one thing and thinks about something else and wants another thing. The Light that is focused on the vessels evokes something totally different in him, which is different from his thoughts, from his question, and from his desire.

All that is required of us is only the awakening. If we can awaken ourselves correctly, then everything will work as it should. The right awakening comes down to one thing—have I tried to be with everyone, which means to be in a vessel, in my true desire, now while reading a passage in The Book of Zohar; not in myself, in my desire and only from there to think and to ask, but to be incorporated in my external vessel, not feeling any need for that or any taste in it, and to ask for connection with the friends by rising above my need and my taste? Did I do that or nor? If I did, then my efforts are correct and I begin to receive different positive and negative spiritual results.

But if my efforts were aimed at understanding and at feeling what is in The Book, these are efforts in my egoistic vessel and so accordingly the results I get are in a totally wrong direction. That’s what happens until I evoke enough Light upon myself, since I am still somehow connected to others and this Light somehow guides me in the right direction.

We should understand that our actions here have to be very accurate. On the part of the Light everything is simple: If you are in a vessel upon which it shines, then you are in contact with it and it works with you, and if you aren’t, then it doesn’t. You have to be in front of the attribute of bestowal, which is the Light. You cannot be connected to the attribute of bestowal at all if you stay inside your “self.” To the extent that you exit yourself towards others, you approach the Light.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, The Book of Zohar

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Not In Words But In Deed…

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I sincerely answer the question “What do I want?” then the answer that comes up in my heart is “to feel good.” I try to change this desire through the mind and say that I want to bring contentment to the Creator, but in the next lesson my real desire is once again to feel good. How can I exit this feeling? How can I reach the true spiritual desire?

Answer: If a person remembers that he has to say: “I want to bring contentment to the Creator” since otherwise he will not succeed, it will not help. The Creator does not enjoy it if I’m just saying that I want to bring Him contentment.

I can only bring contentment to the Creator by actions and not by empty words, by the act of connection. Thus I bring contentment to the Creator by revealing Him. I can only reveal Him in our collective vessel in which we are all united. But in order to connect with others, I have to exit myself and to try to connect with them. By that I bring the Creator contentment, because then He can be revealed.

This whole system of mutual bestowal can be revealed and this is called the revelation of the Creator to the created being. This is called bringing contentment to the Creator. I don’t do it by words, but by actions, by giving Him a place to be revealed.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, The Book of Zohar

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Peace Is When The Strong Have Heard The Weak

Dr. Michael Laitman

In the News (from MIT News): “To help promote peace in the Middle East, many organizations have established ‘peace camps’ or similar conflict-resolution programs that bring Israelis and Palestinians together to foster greater understanding of the opposing group.

“One common feature of such programs is the opportunity for members of each group to share stories about their lives with members of the other group. Now, a new study from MIT neuroscientists shows that the benefits from this exchange are much greater when members of the less empowered group share their stories with the traditionally dominant group than when the reverse occurs

“The finding, published online in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, supports the idea that for the disempowered group, the biggest barrier to reconciliation is the belief that their concerns are being ignored, says Rebecca Saxe, senior author of the study. …

“Each participant was assigned to write about the difficulties of life in their society, or to read and summarize such an essay written by a member of the opposing group. All interactions took place through video and text-based chat. Each participant was paired with someone who, unbeknownst to the subject, was actually a research assistant.

“In a questionnaire given before and after the interaction, attitudes toward the opposing group improved most among members of the disempowered group who told their own stories, and among members of the dominant group who read others’ stories.

“When members of the less powerful group simply wrote their stories without having anyone from the opposing group read them, this did not boost their attitudes towards the other group — reinforcing the importance of being heard.

”For the dominant group, the researchers believe that hearing the opposing group’s stories is beneficial because members of the group in power often fear being blamed for the conflict. Therefore, listening gives ‘an opportunity for them to act virtuously and morally and to show that they’re actually good people,’ Saxe says.

My Comment: Only dialogue in the form of a roundtable (sadna) will help bring people together and then connect them, up to the point of complete inclusion of everyone in the world, and thus achieve full integration, and in it the feeling of entering the next dimension, our next state, intended by evolution.
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Leave Your Ego On The Other Side Of The Machsom

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah with a very personal question about the meaning of his life. He wants to know about himself and what he lives for, what is going on in the world around him, and what he has to do in order to understand what is going on and to manage his fate by himself. It is very hard for a person to connect the answers to these questions, which are so personal and intimate and which come from his most internal point, with others.

It seems that one thing contradicts the other: On the one hand, there is my internal point in which I want to discover the secret of my life, and on the other hand, there is society and all of humanity.

I could accept the idea that I need to connect with nature, but it is hard to accept the fact that in order to do that I have to connect with some group of people and to be so strongly connected to them, a connection that I cannot bear, to feel that they are the dearest, closest, most beloved people to me.

I have to work on this above my feelings and my mind, above all my previous patterns. Of course, it seems very distant and unclear, but we must understand that it is thanks to this that the entrance to the spiritual world is revealed to me—it is through the love of others that is so distant, hateful, and opposite to everything that I want.

For me there is nothing more unpleasant and repulsive than the need to connect with others above my desire, to serve them, and at the same time, to know that all the reward will go to them and not to me, that they will have everything. I and my heart will also be with them! Here, where I am, there will only be my empty ego.

It is very hard to understand this, but by studying and working on ourselves we gradually begin to perceive this principle. There is an inner logic that is concealed in the one thing that is most hateful, distant, and senseless in our world, and this is what represents the spiritual world for us. Through it, through the opening that suddenly appears in the wall, we can go through the Machsom (barrier) that separates the spiritual world from this world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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The Point Where The Hearts Connect

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt takes a very long time until, against all the desires and the rejections, a person can convince himself that it is essential to establish a relationship with the friends. It takes a very long time until he clarifies all this and convinces himself, after many ascents and descents.

Gradually by learning from all the states and actions he has been through, by checking himself, he begins to understand what is good and what is bad for him. First he thought that it was good when he had new feelings, understood and felt more, and thought he was respected and powerful. Now he gradually begins to understand that all these pleasant feelings do not indicate his spiritual advancement at all. On the contrary, they indicate that a person is drowning more and more deeply into his ego, into the desire to receive, the matter of creation.

First a person thinks that advancement depends on studying the theory, on knowing the material. He goes through the books wanting to understand them, believing that by that he will be able to approach the goal. Then he rushes to disseminate this knowledge, thus hoping to get a reward for his efforts. He tries to break through in different directions by revolving around one central point: love for the other.

He reaches it only when he has no other choice, and is in total despair of attaining anything by himself. As a result of all these actions the Light illuminates him, and he begins to understand and to feel that the entrance to the spiritual world opens only where his heart connects with the heart of the friend.

Through this point of connection, where the hearts come in contact, I exit my heart and penetrate the heart of the friend, so that in the heart of the friend I will discover my spiritual world. This is what each of us does with relation to the friends.

It takes a long time to do this, since it has to be in the heart and not in the mind. The mind becomes only an external tool. Thus a person advances in the right direction and discovers the most distant and hateful state of all the states in this world.

Previously he couldn’t even imagine that this is the goal of life. But this is what he has to reach, so that the goal of his life will be the connection of the hearts of all the people in this world into one heart.

We have to be patient with ourselves and with the friends that go through different external states. Everyone needs his own time and form of development until he finally discovers that there is no other work but the love of friends.

The more you take your time in this process, the more you succeed. People who think that they can start this work immediately usually burn out quickly. This recognition requires an adaptation period, a time for all the other types of work to “dry up” so that from all his experience and his efforts a person will feel despair. Then, with the help of the Light that Reforms he will understand and feel that nothing will help him except connection. This is when his work begins in the right place.

Since we are connected in one general network with all the people in the world, we pass on this feeling and this understanding to everyone. Thus the world begins to talk about the need for stronger connections among people, which can save humanity. The more we work on ourselves and the greater efforts we make, the more Light we will draw upon ourselves according to the law of equivalence of form that also pours into the external vessels, to all of humanity and so this idea reaches everyone.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/12, Writings of Rabash

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At The Critical Moment, You Get A Second Wind

Dr. Michael LaitmanPlease know that if you go alone, you will never have the forces needed. The same path that is possible to pass within a year will take you fifteen years to pass, and, in the end, you won’t reach any result, except for recognizing that you need the group.

However, if I work correctly with the group, then always at the time of a descent, it will awaken me. And it is not necessarily through obvious physical methods, but it will come from above as an inner awakening after I have joined myself in connection with the group. At the time that I am able to, I constantly think about it: How can I attain connection where there is my exact place, within which I am included, like in a “puzzle?” I want to feel my place in this puzzle and constantly think about it, only about the connection. After all, this is the place with which I associate the future revelation of the Creator, which will connect us.

If I constantly invest my efforts in this, then it can’t be that I will fall and am left without any forces. My friends will help me.

Imagine that, like an element of a mechanism, I am a part that is included in a system. I constantly insert this force within this system, the desire to connect, by awakening the others. And, at a certain moment, I die; in this element, the ego suddenly grew, and it can no longer do anything, standing still like a car with a flat tire. And, then immediately, to the extent that I “inflated” the others, they now begin to work on me.

In our body are the same processes; all the time there are ascents and descents, contractions and expansions, absorption and emission of various substances in different systems. So the body constantly operates, and that is called being alive

To live means that there is a time to give and a time to receive. This is how each cell in the body operates, large or small. And, if I do not, then there won’t be any life. I can receive awakening from above, but only in order to awaken myself and return myself again to work with the environment. The environment is like a battery for my efforts, which then return to me.

First, I need to do everything in my power. I can’t say that now I am in a descent and wait until the group will give me strength. In any case, I need to invest efforts according to how much strength I have left, and then begin to receive forces from the friends. I just can’t fall into their arms in advance.

You will be convinced from your experience that it works specifically in this way, and huge accumulations of strength will be revealed to you. Take as much as you want. It’s like on a long run when your strength is gone, but you continue to run anyway, and then you pass the critical point when you get a second wind.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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125-Speed Transmission


Today we want to create even a greater unity among us. The preparation period, that lasted quite a few years, has ended. In the past we would not take this challenge seriously. Today the outside conditions in the world, the internal conditions in Israel, the inner conditions within the group, and the inner conditions in everyone more or less are suitable in order to “switch to the higher speed.” The time has come.

Question: Have we already started this acceleration?

Answer: Some people are still in “neutral,” while others are advancing together with us. Everyone determines with what speed he is moving forward by himself.

Question: Can a person measure it?

Answer: He cannot measure it; however, everything is in his hands. How much is he united with the group, with the teacher, with our common actions? Some people are still sleeping, while others put forth all their efforts to get in the process, and from day to day they sense the “extras.” Everything depends on the degree of agreement with this process against one’s desire. Thus, don’t look for loopholes within yourself, but rather you should act.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10.10.12, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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An Ocean Of Water Drops

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe correction cannot take place at once; it is done gradually, step by step, since it is about the Reshimot (reminiscences) that remained after the shattering. It is the correction of the shattered vessels that must first each be clarified. Before that, there must be the clarification of the first vessel in order to build the next big vessel on top of it and then the next vessel, which is even bigger.

It is because everything is shattered, and the shattering can be corrected only in small parts, each part individually according to its level of shattering. The whole spiritual structure is made of discrete vessels that are connected by so many ties that they become one integral analog system.

It is like water that is made of separate drops, each of which is connected not only to the drops next to it, but to all the other drops, and not through other drops but directly. If you are in the world of Atzilut you are directly connected to Moses and to Rabbi Shimon.

So there is a difference in how the vessels are corrected after the shattering. It seems that we are connected to some friends by chance, thus joining some spiritual system and some Light. But by that, we activate an infinite number of ties. So the correction is gradual since it requires our clarifications.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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The Secret Of The General System

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to examine which conditions and rules and which types of connection should be among us, so that we will generally feel the mutual connection as a spiritual system. In this system everyone nullifies himself and connects with others by incorporating in their desires and impressions, their thoughts and goals, as if they were his own.

Everyone changes and nullifies his desire; it becomes formless. “Personally, I don’t need anything. I want to receive your desires and to fulfill them for you.” This means that I am “dressed” in the form of bestowal like in a new outfit. My desire becomes raw material, a shapeless mass. It has power and potential, but now you are guiding me to where you want, to what is good for you.
This is a “servant of God;” a person that dedicates himself to the service of bestowal. This allows us to be mutually connected with one another in the spiritual network where everyone fulfills only the desire of others.

Then I discover that these are not strange desires at all. Thus I begin to exit myself, and I immediately feel that there is only one general collective mutual desire.

It turns out that the system is harmonious, and this special desire is not typical of the “leg” or the “arm,” or any part that I imagined, but of the whole. I discover that the system has a mind, an internal part. I discover it and receive instructions from it through the whole system and connect to it in a reverse connection.

This is the connection with the Creator, but it comes after I feel the general “body,” the general harmony of the mutual bestowal.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/5/12, Writings of Rabash

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