Entries in the 'Workshops' Category

Getting Ready For The Congress: Second Round Of Questions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should I do if, during the convention, I connect via the Internet, and in the workshop, I can only hear the focus group? How should I incorporate in the unity like the people who physically attend the convention?

Answer: The friends who conduct the workshop on the other side of the screen are with me. I also am connected to the focus group, only listen to these friends, and as appropriate, give instructions and speak. I don’t hear the others, so you are in the same situation I am in, and it is enough in order to be with me. If a person sits by himself in front of a screen during the workshop and opens his heart as strongly as he can, he is with us.

Question: How should the groups around the world prepare for the convention?

Answer: Just like we do. After all, the distances don’t separate us. Prepare mattresses and food and everything that you need in order to constantly be with us, like us. Then, you surely will experience the same feelings, the same fillings, the same states.

Question: Should we have a protocol in this convention?

Answer: Yes, the same protocol as in the workshops or in the group according to which a person comes to the convention only to connect. By that, it will be clear what we have to do.

No one can leave for a while during the convention; no one does anything outside the general framework. In short, we are consolidated. People who served in the army will find it easier; they have such memories.

One way or another, a person should follow his feelings, and everything should follow the feeling of unity from which no one detaches himself. After all, the moment a person leaves this feeling, this necessity, the yearning for it, he falls.

Then, he needs a protocol in order to act according to its rules. In the meantime, he holds on to the unity, and the protocol is written in his heart.

This refers to all the groups. People who don’t take part in our daily activities, but feel a need to participate, can join our groups, but it should be full participation. You cannot just visit the friends during the convention for a couple of hours and that’s it. If a person participates in the convention, it should be from the beginning to the end and only with the permission of the group if his intentions are really serious. Our convention is not for beginners, but for those who follow our path and who feel the need to unite in order to reach the spiritual world.

Question: How can we choose a stronger environment before the convention?

Answer: In order to do that, we must unite as strongly as we can. I don’t escape from one group to another, and I don’t choose between two groups. I clarify the concept of a “group” itself.

Question: A week ago, you said that a 1% effort during the morning lesson is much more effective than a 10% effort during the convention. So, why do we need the convention?

Answer: The morning lesson involves greater difficulties since is very hard to work against a habit, but, indeed, by many actions during the morning lesson, we can do much more and come to greater results than during a convention. If we made enough efforts during the morning lesson, if we were serious and constantly thought about how to make the best of it, we wouldn’t need conventions. They wouldn’t compensate for much either. After all, every morning lesson is a special event, an important state.

Question: What should be the outcome of this convention? What is the final picture that you see?

Answer: Constant unity in which we open up the upper dimension.

Question: How should we aim ourselves with the help of the convention and the Creator who does everything so that this wisdom will become common knowledge so that it will be the general approach of the group?

Answer: Everything is revealed in unity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/2/12, “Questions About the Congress of Consolidation in the North of Israel”

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I’m Ashamed And It’s Great

Dr. Michael LaitmanLet’s talk about shame, a very elevated concept, which is only characteristic of man. As much as you may try to induce shame in the representatives of the still, vegetative, and animate natures, there will be no reaction since this root is not instilled in them. The beginnings of shame are only manifested on the human level of our world, and not even within everyone.

It is because the human level is separated into five levels of development, and only on the last one of them, a desire of a sufficient “thickness” emerges, a large egoism, which allows one to feel great shame.

Regarding the previous levels, Baal HaSulam describes them as milestones on the way. Some are ready to cause others any kind of evil in the presence of everyone and they are not ashamed of it. Others are somewhat shy or are being careful, and that is why they prefer to cause harm secretly. Others are truly ashamed and not due to the fear of punishment. However, they reconcile their shame and justify what is happening by the retributions known to everyone: “He deserves it,” “I have the right to do it,” “Everyone does it,” and so on.

And only the people, who possess a large egoistic desire, who have experienced great shame, begin to work with this property. As their point in the heart awakens, they begin the spiritual work and arrive at a different kind of shame then, which does not lie on the plane of this world but on a higher level.

In our world, I am ashamed of receiving something that I have not earned, have not paid for. I cannot accept such an “acquisition” because, as a rule, it is not difficult to figure out from whom this good is coming and whether I deserve it or not.

However, I have a problem with the spiritual world. I do not see whom I am receiving the gifts from and that is why I am not ashamed. First, I need to reveal the Bestower, the Root, whom all of this is coming from, and this requires many more calculations. For example, “Must I earn the good from Him? If He created me, then surely He must also provide for me?” Another option is: “I did not deserve the help, but due to no other way out, I will pay for it later.” In other words, in the spiritual world, like in our world, we move by the steps of shame.

In reality, shame is the foundation of creation. Because of it, Malchut of Infinity carried out the restriction and has initiated all of the subsequent development in order to become equivalent with the Creator in the end. Shame is a source, the initial point, impelling us to arrive to the similarity of qualities with the Creator, to become even with Him, to pay off the debt to Him, and to stop receiving gifts as before.

Baal HaSulam gives the following example: A rich man meets his friend, a poor man, at the market and he brings him home and gives him all kinds of goods. The poor man feels that the rich man is helping him from the bottom of his heart without any calculations for himself, enjoying this bestowal. However, while receiving the abundance directly, the poor man simultaneously receives the feeling of impatience and shame, which burns him up from the inside and becomes unbearable. It’s all in the separation of personal receiving on the one hand, and the bestowal by the rich man on the other. Such is the law: When I feel that I am the one receiving, not like the one bestowing, this evokes the shame in me.

This feeling is so huge, that Malchut of Infinity restricted and decided that she will receive pleasure from the Creator only in the similarity of qualities, only for the sake of bestowal. Only in this case will she feel the expediency of receiving. While the point is not to neutralize one’s shame, on the contrary, she begins to value it. Since it is thanks to the suffering, which it brings up, can she now make a different calculation directed at reciprocal bestowal to the Creator.

Shame does not only prevent receiving, does not simply make one restrict one’s egoism and to receive for the sake of bestowal, avoiding suffering, but it allows me to arrive at true bestowal. And that is why I value shame. It is said that this feeling is prepared only for the high souls. In the spiritual world, it is good and beneficial to experience it because shame becomes a means for him, helping him realize the necessity of bestowal, to demand the revelation of the Creator. And then the point is not in the egoism anymore and not in the shame, as such, it’s just that by its means I can truly assimilate to the Creator and become a bestowing one. Let the previous factors remain inside of me, the desire to receive and the shame, but only as necessary conditions above which I can build the relationship towards the Creator and move towards merging with Him.

Shame develops together with the desires and expands them, enriching them with a multitude of details of perception. We see this even in our world, the Creator has only created the initial point of development and everything else has developed thanks to the gaping emptiness, the perception of the difference between the creation and the Creator.

The Torah tells us that Adam has experienced an explosion of egoistic desire, described as the emergence of Hava (Eve) beside him. He has merged with this desire, what is called, has tasted from the Tree of Knowledge, meaning, has received the fulfillment and then has perceived himself as nude, barren of his clothing, and has become ashamed of it.

The Creator is showing an example here. He has created the dressing for Adam and Hava and later, as a consequence, we enrobe ourselves into all of the dressing by ourselves. Their root is the Reflected Light. If we wish so, then we can follow its example and form our own personal dressings. And all of this is not simply done in order not to be ashamed, but in order to assimilate to the Creator and by means of this, to give Him pleasure.

We rarely mention the concept of shame. In our original sources, it is found occasionally. However, in reality, we are always guided by this feeling of separation between the Creator and the creation. Shame is the “trigger,” that point of beginning with which the creation is awakened towards assimilating, merging, like in the example with the poor man and the rich man.
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From the Workshop 6/17/12

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Light That Is Dressed In Simpler Words

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is it possible to dress Kabbalistic principles in simpler ordinary words so that everyone will be able to accept them and to agree with them?

Answer: It is clear to a person who studies Kabbalah that connection is vital since there was the “shattering of the vessels” and now we are trying to glue the pieces back together. So we draw upon us the Light of correction AB-SAG, the Light that Reforms, which connects us. The upper Light, the Creator, is revealed in this restored, corrected vessel.

The whole process is clear. We are trying to connect and see that we cannot and then we ask the Surrounding Light for help and it connects and fills us by turning from Surrounding Light into Inner Light.

The question is how is it possible to explain all this to every person so that he or she could understand it? I say that we have to connect above our questions.

Never throughout our history have we acted correctly. But if we connect we become “one family” in which everyone loves one another and we are considerate of the needs of others.

Now, within the connection that we’ve attained, we look at everyone and see that there are different layers, different parts of our society, that demand more attention: the elderly, children, young couples, single mothers, and the poor who simply live in poverty, and there are the rich. Only thanks to the connection will we discover how it is possible to distribute the resources correctly.

Now there are the people’s representatives sitting at the “roundtables” so let’s see how we can first of all attain unity. Then we will somehow distribute our general pie. If we do that from our connection and love, there will not be any complaints. Society will be united and consolidated, aiming at goodness and optimism, satisfied and peaceful.

We can explain all this without mentioning “the Light that Reforms.” Although it is understood that the Light performs all the good changes, people don’t need to know that. The Light will reach them through the Kabbalists who are among us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/20/12, “Workshop”

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The Workshops: Not Just Verbal Debates But An Ascent To Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I work with the group in order to clarify correctly everything that happens with me?

Answer: First, try to connect with the friends. Leave the clarifications for now; you don’t have the right tools to clarify things. First you have to acquire the means, a spiritual vessel with which you can clarify what is happening. At the moment your attitude to life is distorted.

Today you have to build a new vessel in the group since the clarification and actually everything depends on the mutual relationship a person has with the environment.

Question: We are trying to do it in the workshops. How can we correctly clarify the questions that you are presenting?

Answer: You have to want to connect on the basis of my questions. The question itself isn’t as important as everything you are saying in the discussions. The words are necessary so that we will rise above them and constantly think about how to connect with the friends. No matter what nonsense the friend may say, I rise above it wanting to connect with him. I have to see the friends as the greatest in our generation, and on the other hand, I bestow upon them my part of the general bestowal.

The work takes place on two levels: below—hatred and coarseness, and above—love and purity. If these two things exist, it is already a certain type of vessel. If you attain such a great gap between coarseness and purity then the Light, the Creator, is revealed.

Until then, you constantly work in workshops, in connections and in studying in order to attain this gap, which for us is the goal called “Mount Sinai.”

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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/08/12, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Seminar Protocol

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do you recommend assigning people who will take care of discipline at the seminars, or should they be self-regulated?

Answer: People come to seminars to get together, connect with each other, feel the unity, and immediately start discussing these sensations.

There must be a person in the group who initiates the discussion, a person “on duty.” Today, you are the one who takes care of it; tomorrow, it’ll be my turn. Everybody has to have a printout with the list of questions to be discussed at the seminar.

However, sometimes it’s good not to provide the list of questions to the participants of the circle; absence of the list of questions will make people even more confused with the topic of their discussion. Thus, they will try to formulate the question in their own way by asking: “What did he just say? What was the question again?” This state of mind is very useful. One needs to “pull” oneself out of confusion and therefore delves deep into the topic, and by doing so one understands the topic more precisely, since he is searching for the ways to articulate the question. It brings him to a better understanding of how and why the question should be verbalized.

All depends on the level of independence and seriousness of the group. There is a chance that there are newcomers who do not have a clue about what they are doing in the group. It means that one who “comes and goes” should be prohibited.

There have to be people who are appointed to observe the protocol of seminars: the leader of the “circle” and the “general manager/leader” who oversees the overall order.

However, over time, the group starts to better understand its task and learns why and how it is supposed to act. Similar to a child who grows gradually and at first, jerks his hands and feet without any clue in what direction to move, but eventually starts to act more thoughtfully.
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From “Questions About Workshops” 5/25/12

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Tuning Ourselves To The “Melody” Of The Seminar

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is obvious that in order to prepare for a seminar, one needs to apply internal effort. Exactly, what kind of effort is required? What should we be doing specifically?

Answer: The first 20 articles by Rabash clearly, specifically, and concisely explain this issue. They illustrate what particularly we should talk about while preparing for the seminar: the importance of the group and friends, the importance of revealing the Creator within the group, the role of nullifying oneself before the group, the need for complete inclusion in the group, and the necessity to regard everyone as “one whole” in order to disclose the upper force according to the law of similarity of properties.

All of these conditions create a joint aspiration that we should imagine as one single picture. We should constantly work with this picture, permanently keep it in mind, and try to elucidate all questions through it since this is the place in which we all are united and where our aggregate desire and mind are. If we manage to achieve it, everything else will happen smoothly.

The only problem is how to start thinking in this direction and how to prepare to achieve this state. Maybe, we should write down everything that helps us “tune” ourselves, like tuning a musical instrument. Have you seen how they tune an instrument? First, he takes care of one part of the instrument, then he turns his attention to another. One octave at a time, he plays the note “do” in various octaves, then he tries “mi” He plays and listens to the sounds of the chords. In other words, it is a system to which we have to “tune” ourselves internally.

We have to constantly keep in mind that the system of ten Sefirot, which we are made of, far more complex than any musical instrument. This is a huge, multi-dimensional, multi-leveled system, which includes innumerable sensations that are arranged into one joint structure.

We are not talking about some separate “planes”; all of them ultimately join together. In due course, our efforts will end up creating a spherical picture of the upper world.

Just as today you imagine yourself in the sphere of this world, imagine yourself in the upper world even though it is far more complicated than ours, since it has n-dimensional “space” if “space” can be even used in the context.

People do not realize how much, in principle, they are not prepared for seminars. All they know is that today something will be going on. It has nothing to do with real preparation!

Preparation is when several hours before a seminar; you are “tuning” yourself, searching for a precise way to unite. It is a process of enhancing internal sensations and making a detailed analysis. It’s also about ridding oneself of all interferences and considerations until something “clicks” from within, a sensation of connectedness that we by all means have to preserve and augment.

Question: Is this individual work or does it have a group nature?

Answer: It is individual work. Later on, in the group, at the very beginning of each seminar, everybody should spend a couple of minutes to grasp the idea. However, when one connects with the group, there is a good chance that he will lose the result of his preparatory work. Yet, one should still do one’s work, and only after the work is complete can he become engaged in something else, although it shouldn’t take you as long as 50 minutes (or even longer), as it happened at the last seminar.

Essentially, people were discussing the topics of the seminar mechanically, rather than implementing them internally. They were confused even in words! Strangely enough, even those people who have lots of prior experience and usually are pretty eloquent couldn’t find normal words to scrutinize their internal states through the sensation of unity.
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From a “Talk About Workshops” 5/25/12

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The End of Growing Pains

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What do you envision the ideal state in the groups to be like? What do we need to come to?

Answer: Growing pains will continue. There is no way to avoid this until the groups acquire their spiritual foundation.

Once there will be a foundation under every group, a “spiritual pillow” that they will perceive in its constant form, understanding and feeling their spiritual skeleton, their ten Sefirot, which are the basis of them, and within them perceive the higher state, the upper world, the governance, and adaptation, then it will be possible to say that they exist independently, they understand there are no imbalances, and together they participate in one common connection, one common system.

Otherwise, what kind of a common system is this? Everyone only understands himself in accordance with his own egoism. This is why these growing pains will only go away once we reach the spiritual level, and I hope that this will happen very soon. .
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/25/12

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Feeling Everyone Without Exception

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: During the workshop, should we think about those groups who are not on the screens?

Answer: No. It’s not necessary; it’s distracting! How much can you think about others? You need just to feel them and that’s all!

We have to feel that they are with us, that we are together in one thought, in one spiritual space.

Spiritual space is the space of thoughts and feelings, the heart and mind, the information layer around our world. We are all together in it because we have one mind, one senses the same goals.

What would the image of the people on the screen give me? What for do I need to see faces and bodies or to read that it’s Krasnoyarsk, Tallinn, or any other city? What is the difference where they sit? I feel the desires that come to unity and thus form a huge common desire: This is the most important thing.
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/25/12

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The Aim: Integral Unity!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should we concentrate on now? Where should we direct our efforts? I mean dissemination and the group work.

Answer: In group work, we should direct our efforts to our workshops on Sundays.

On the other days, there must be at least some classes. I see that there are groups that study seriously. A lesson, in general, is organized and directed towards unity. Practically, the entire course material speaks about this. Even in The Study of the Ten Sefirot, it is speaking about unity, about the connection of souls between themselves. Everything that is described there is only the connection of souls in a single system.

Besides that, we have begun to create courses for training lecturers of the “Mutual Guarantee” movement, that is, lecturers for the 99%. They will become leaders and organizers of workshops, round tables, etc. Today, already around 300 people are ready, and new people are being added; a new wave is coming.

In our country [Israel], we have reached a point where we are invited as permanent lecturers and education consultants in schools, workplaces, city halls, and other places.

I think that within a few months, we will come to a point when the experts, prepared by us, will be able to start working in various organizations. In any case, we are approaching such a state when no business can operate if it’s not internally re-organized and people are not correctly connected with each other into a small integral community. Nothing will work without this!
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From “Questions About the Workshops” 5/27/12

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Preparation For The Workshop

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the best form of preparation for the workshop?

Answer: Perhaps, you could sing. Or maybe read some excerpts, but not long ones, not tiring, just some short “bullet points.” You might sit, hugging each other, touching, looking deeper into oneself for a few minutes, talk on a particular topic about the importance of the group and unity as a means of revelation of the upper world.

The whole method is very simple! It requires only a maximum desire, commitment, and nothing more.
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From a “Talk About Workshops” 5/26/12

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