Question: Is maintaining a constant connection with the Creator a conscious effort, or does everything come naturally?

Answer: These are constant efforts in which we try to exist. But we cannot live in them all the time in a natural way, the Creator cuts off these efforts and gives us other pictures of the world instead. And we again return to trying to define the Creator through them. And so it is all the time: entrance – exit, entrance – exit.

Question: Could this become a habit?

Answer: It does not become a habit but a necessity.
[228783]
From a Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 2/11/18

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Our path consists of ascents and descents, deviations and contradictions, despite the fact that it is straight. You think: “I fell, I was thrown out.” But even if you are walking along a straight line, you are constantly forced to endure blows, falls, problems, and confusion. Apparently, it is impossible without this.

It is only important to see whether you become “older” from this, that is, whether you acquire wisdom (Hochma), whether you see the source, the cause. Do you relate to this in such a way that behind all these blows you see a future structure that is even more beautiful than the present one?

Sometimes it is impossible to build a new building on the site of an old one; it is necessary to clear the place and build anew. This is how to relate to these things. The main thing is whether we are building or not building. A group that begins to discuss this should be ready to enter a state of criticism of its actions and of everything that is happening to it, but it emerges from this more united and strengthened.
[352126]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/18-19/26, Rabash “What Are Torah and Work in the Way of the Creator?”

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Question: Israeli children are very noisy and energetic, one could say hyperactive. Is this related to a particular Jewish mentality?

Answer: Jews originate from Ancient Babylon, from a single civilization of earth’s inhabitants who once rose to a spiritual level and then fell from it. Therefore, that ascent and descent have been preserved in their genes. There’s nothing to be done; they are the most active part of humanity in everything: science, culture, everywhere.

They make up literally about 0.01% of humanity, and suddenly 50% of Nobel laureates, 20 to 30% of musicians, 30% of artists, and so on. And all because they were once on a spiritual level, fell from it, and are now engaged in earthly affairs. They should have given this up altogether and devoted themselves exclusively to spiritual work. I hope that eventually this is how it will be. We don’t need “Einsteins” or revolutionaries. We need to engage in spiritual revolutions, not earthly ones.

I think everything is moving in that direction now. The general crisis and everything happening in the world will lead humanity to spiritual elevation, and then this hyperactivity will be realized in spiritual actions.

It manifests in Jews because they fell from a spiritual level to an earthly one, lost the spiritual component, and it turned into something earthly. What remained in them from the spiritual charge at the fall is precisely this hyperactive part.

Therefore, if you see a revolutionary or a transformer in our world, in science, art, or anything at all, then by digging into their lineage you will find that their roots come from a tribe that once stood on a spiritual level. This is the quality of Bina, the quality of bestowal, which alone can enliven humanity.

I am not a nationalist, and I advocate for the correction of the entire world. Therefore, the method of Kabbalah, which emerged from Ancient Babylon, must be realized everywhere. The fact is that the whole world is Malchut. And part of it, which once was on the level of Bina, fell back into Malchut. But only from that part, which is the former people of Israel, once on a spiritual level, does progress in our world originate.

Thus, if you see truly serious activists, it cannot be that they lack a spark originating from the attainment of the upper world that fell to our level. The people who come to Kabbalah today, no matter from where, somehow, somewhere, have received this spiritual virus.
[351568]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Children of Israel, Part 2” 10/1/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 23, “What Beginning in Lo Lishma Means in the Work” (1988) (1.29.2003)

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2nd part of the Lesson — Recording of Rabash, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 5, Item 6

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3rd part of the Lesson — Preparation for the Congress “Connecting in the Ten, Adhering to the Creator,” Lesson 3: “What Stops Us from Truly Connecting”

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Question: When you speak about people who have received a spiritual “virus” and advanced in the corporeal world in some way, do you mean outstanding people?

Answer: Yes, this is a consequence of Bina. Bina is expansion, bestowal, a quality opposite to Malchut. When two qualities join together, egoism and some small germs of altruism that have fallen from the spiritual level, egoism receives direction and greater strength because it contains a spark of the upper light.

Therefore, such egoism is more fortunate, more successful, and this is expressed in results.

Today the Kabbalistic method is open to everyone. Once, in Ancient Babylon, only a small part of humanity used it. By the way, throughout history many people, the so-called “Gerim” from different nations (converts), joined it.

If we look at ancient history from the exodus from Egypt through the existence of the Kingdom of Israel until the destruction of the Second Temple, this was a period when huge masses of different tribes came and joined the spiritual elevation. Among them there were many great Kabbalists.

Comment: But when they joined, they did not become Jews.

My Response: What does it mean that people “join”? It means they take this method and begin to realize it within themselves, just like in Ancient Babylon. Abraham, the ancient Babylonian priest, gathered a couple of thousand people around himself, created a group from them, and from this group a people was formed, so to speak.

What does “a people” mean? It is a group of individuals united by a single goal of spiritual ascent. Whoever wants it joins. On the level of our world, there is actually no such concept as “the Jewish people.”

Comment: But in Israel it is a nation.

My Response: No, it is not a nation. Even today it is not a nation, but a gathering. When will the Jews become a nation? When they begin to unite among themselves with the force of mutual love. Only this force can unite them into a nation. There is no other force that can bond them together.

In any other nation there is a natural force from below that bonds people together. But above this group, there must be a force from above.

Therefore, today, for example, an Italian can become a Jew.

“But you are Italian!”

“I am no longer Italian, I am a Jew.”

“How is that? What about your father and mother?”

“My father and mother are no longer ‘mine’.”

I am Jewish, and I cannot become an Italian because I was not born to Italian parents. But an Italian can become a Jew of full value if he takes upon himself the method of spiritual ascent. The laws of conversion to Judaism are based only on this. And he can no longer go back and become Italian again.

This is a very irrational model but it exists in our world, although no one really understands it because it is built on spiritual laws that we are trying to squeeze into our world like into a Procrustean bed. But it does not work.

People do not understand this. It all sounds very strange. But gradually we are approaching a time when clarification will begin to take place in humanity regarding the entire historical picture: why it happened this way, what it brings, and why it must be this way.

But for now, people only have questions, and there are no answers.
[351572]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Children of Israel, Part 2” 10/1/10

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Question: People constantly strive for new sensations; they try one thing, then another, then a third. For example, I did not understand what it meant to get a tattoo, and I decided to try. Obviously, it is a sign of a certain self-expression. But only after I got it did I understand what a tattoo really is.

It is the same with spiritual things. Until you try, you cannot explain. Many people who come to study Kabbalah begin to cultivate a principle of equality among themselves so that everyone becomes similar. To what extent can the environment influence a person positively or negatively in this sense?

Answer: You are speaking about a person who is like the wind in the field. Does he have a goal or not? First he has to find it for himself. What do I want to reach? What is my goal? Does it exist or not? If not, then what? Should I just look around? These people behave like this, those have such-and-such a goal, and others fool around in their own way. So I choose what is closer, better, and easier for me. I follow the masses or some groups, and thus I join them.

But if we are talking about individuality, then I must find my own personal goal. After I find it, I need to clarify how it can be realized: where, with whom, and by what means. Then I will look: if for its sake I need, say, to get the same tattoo, then I will do it; if I need to learn something, I will learn it.

In other words, the goal must justify the means. The final state must determine the path toward it. My present state is meaningless if I do not know the final one, and I am like the wind in the field: wherever it blows me, that is where I go. Meaning, I will act not with my own head, but someone else’s, whatever is advertised to me at the moment becomes important. And so a person spins around his whole life, until he weakens, agrees that “that is it,” and dies.
[351941]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Everyone Should Be the Same” 10/1/10

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Question: Why do we need physical suffering? Is it to awaken the point in the heart?

Answer: Our material essence is a body that we want to provide with the maximum comfort.

We live in a family, and want everything to be good there: house, children, health, pension, rest, etc. Meaning, we want to live comfortably in this world.

However, if a person achieves it, and everything is fine in his life, he becomes an animal because he already does not aspire anywhere; he is not doing anything. Give him everything that exists and you will see that nothing will change. We see how without wolves, sheep begin to get ill and decline.

It is the same with the Jewish people. Without antisemites, there would be no Zionists, there would be no Jewish home and Jewish nation. It means we have to respect antisemites and understand that they exist as a certain force in nature that is holding us. Otherwise we would run away in all directions.

It is the same with a person in general; he cannot exist without suffering. Suffering directs us because we are egoists. Our desire is absolutely egoistic: to become filled, to do nothing, and to have everything at the same time.

How is it possible to accomplish this? It is impossible! After all, the task of a human being in nature is to reach his highest development. But if I enjoy and feel good about everything, then I will never fulfill this task.

We should not forget that “love and hunger rule the world.” Therefore, only suffering pushes us forward. “One beaten man is worth two unbeaten.” This is true indeed. Therefore, “through thorns to the stars.” We lack precisely these thorns.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that a “point in the heart” that has awakened within a person triggers depression in us, a question about the purpose of life and its futility. If this weren’t the case, how would we go forward? Thus only suffering leads us.

Moreover, it has to be suffering that is directed to the achievement of the goal, its anticipation and aspiration—the suffering of love. However, if we lack it, we become urged on by other suffering. This is how the entire system of nature is structured, and it is doing it.

If you want to go forward correctly and willingly, no problem; there is the wisdom of Kabbalah for you. It shows you the entire system and the correct direction to the destined goal. The goal is defined in advance. There is nothing to make up.

However, if we are not going toward it, then nature causes suffering in us through various alternative ways. It still leads us to this goal, but already through the long and tangled path.

Question: Does it turn out that our earthy (animal) suffering leads us to the suffering of love?

Answer: Not right away and not directly, but it does lead us. Any little suffering in our life pushes us forward. Had a person understood this, he would himself aspire to the goal, and there would be no need to “move with a stick to happiness.” He would be moving forward faster than the stick could reach him.

This is the sensible development, and this is what Kabbalah shows us: the goal, and the shortest path to reach it, so you would not be pushed by suffering from behind.

Come and join the kind, good, and correct development. We look forward to seeing you!
[198799]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/21/16

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Rabbi Elazar said, “The Creator said, ‘The whole world was created only for that.’ This means that the whole world was created for the fear of God” (Rabash, “Purpose of Society – 1”).

There is an exalted goal that is not perceived within our egoistic sensations, within the aspiration to take everything “into oneself.” The exit “from oneself” and concern for what is “outside of me” is called spiritual fear (Yirat HaShem).

At present, I am anxious about how to fill and protect myself. This is called fear for oneself.

Subconsciously we are constantly preoccupied with attracting what is beneficial and distancing what is harmful to ourselves, to our egoism.

Spiritual fear means that I experience fear for what is outside of me. I worry about others and about the Creator like a mother worries about her small child when all her thoughts are in him and about him.

In this fear, in this concern for the other, outside of myself, outside of my egoism, I feel the upper reality.
[18070]
From Lesson No.1 Mega Congress, 7/24/10

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Spirituality has only the form that you build for it yourself by your desires. From above we are given only an informational record (Reshimo), and we must build the form ourselves. From above, from the upper degree, we are also given strength and mind for realization, but according to our request.

It seems to us that some ready-made world will suddenly fall upon us from above. There is nothing to wait for. I build it myself through my efforts. I myself draw this world against the background of the light.

I draw the image of the upper one, and to the extent of my efforts, it becomes more and more true. I do everything that I am capable of. I draw all kinds of forms. Sometimes it turns out better, sometimes worse, and sometimes I make mistakes. I create them and erase them until I succeed.

And in the process of my work, I suddenly see that the upper one begins to help me! He clothes within me like a hand in a glove, and works. He helps me like a mother who plays together with a child and helps him build a house out of blocks. When I try to do something and it does not work, I suddenly feel that it is He who helps me understand that it should not be this way but the opposite.

But all this comes thanks to my efforts because I tried to build something. And He also awakens the beginning of this effort within me, but I must continue it myself, find its sprout, and begin to work from it. This is what is called: “I, the Creator, am the first and the last.”

We ourselves must build the connection between us, this “house,” the place where the Creator will be revealed, the “picture of the Creator,” using our own material. Without this, He has no image at all. I project Him onto myself, onto my desires, onto that part that I can make similar to Him.

And on this desire, as on a foundation, as on a screen (and in spirituality it is indeed called a screen), I begin to see His picture. It begins to appear on this screen like a photograph lowered into a developing solution. This picture that manifests on my screen is called reflected light. And thus I receive two spiritual forces: the screen and the reflected light.

All of this must come from me myself. This is why the necessary time of preparation for entering the spiritual world—“from three to five years”—is required. The time of concealment is the time of my attempts to build this picture. And afterward the spiritual world is revealed; and what it turns out to be in reality is difficult for us to even imagine.
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