We Can’t Be Left Alone

963.4The eagle was sitting on a tree, resting, doing nothing. The little rabbit saw the eagle and asked: “Can I sit like you and do nothing?” “Of course, why not?” he answered. The rabbit sat down under a tree and began to rest. Suddenly a fox appeared, grabbed him and ate him. Moral: To sit and do nothing, you have to sit very, very high (Fable, source unknown).

My Response: Yes, but I don’t think this is the solution to the issue. And the eagle has problems; it has enemies, and it also must defend itself and imagine other conditions.

Question: So it still needs to keep an eye out?

Answer: Definitely. No living being can exist like this, without caring about anything.

Question: When can I allow myself to be at peace?

Answer: Only if, heaven forbid, you are dead.

Question: Is this peace?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: But you always say that the Creator is at rest. And we must move toward peace one way or another.

My Response: For us, this state is death, because we must kill ourselves, our egoism.

Question: Is this state what you mean?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So I have to kill my egoism? And my whole path is to kill it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But we are all “rabbits”? We can’t be at rest. There is danger everywhere: on the right, on the left, everywhere?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, you say that danger exists precisely because we are, as it were, attached to this egoism. How can we not be a rabbit?

Answer: To do this, we need to know exactly what awaits us, what we must sacrifice, and how to be free. That is, we must study the nature of our world, the nature of the higher world, and the paths of transition from one state to another.

Question: This, in principle, is education?

Answer: Yes. It is not simple. I must remake myself, become a person of the upper world.

Question: How does this peace begin?

Answer: With love your neighbor as yourself. And this is already the height of an eagle.

Question: That is, we can allow ourselves some initial, minimal repose if we come to this rule: love our neighbor as ourselves?

Answer: If we accept it at least theoretically.

Question: Do you think we do not even accept it theoretically?

Answer: No, of course not!

Comment: We talk about it all the time.

My Response: We are talking.

Question: Then what does it mean to accept it, at least theoretically?

Answer: Accept it, that is, begin to look for ways to master this law, this condition, look for how to get out of your egoism, and how to rise above your nature.

Question: To love and not to hate? Peace instead of war, good relationships instead of evil. Although you always say that human nature is different.

Answer: You can’t do anything. Especially in our time, we are already approaching this. We still have to somehow prepare ourselves to move to the next level.

Question: In your opinion, is humanity already at this stage and has lingered on the previous one, or not yet?

Answer: No! We are not at any stage yet!

Question: Have we not realized it, but maybe we are there?

Answer: No, on the contrary, we are beginning to realize what stage we are at and that it is far from ideal.

Question: So since our nature is different do we need to take a step into the abyss?

Answer: This is not a step into the abyss. These are rash actions; they are not welcomed by anyone. On the contrary, we must clearly understand what is in front of us and take an absolutely rational step forward.

Comment: So I know that in front of me is “love your neighbor as yourself,” and that is the only way I am going.

My Response: Yes.

Comment: There will be a lot of interference from all sides, naturally.

My Response: We can overcome them all if it is we.

Question: If it is not me, but we?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Could humanity make this decision at some point from great suffering or from what?

Answer: I have no idea.

Question: Then a small group can?

Answer: A small group can. And I cannot imagine that humanity can.

Question: Is it contagious if a small group comes to this?

Answer: This is the mission of the Jewish people: to become such a group and show all humanity that this is possible.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/30/23

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From My Own Experience

232.09Question: How can one rise in faith above reason by judging oneself?

Answer: That is what we are doing. I cannot explain what it means to be in faith above reason. A person should format himself in such a way that he feels from his own experience what it means to be within reason and above reason.

When, in accordance with this, he has feelings about what it means to be within reason, in oneself, in work, in desire, and a feeling above reason arises, then he will be able to work with these two degrees and come close to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Torah Lishma”

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Questions about Spiritual Work—63

560Question: Is the state of ashes a descent to the inanimate degree or a transition to the human degree?

Answer: The state of ashes can be at any degree; it is when a person simply loses a sense of where he is, with whom he is connected, and so on.

Question: What determines which quality currently dominates us?

Answer: It depends on what degree a person is at.

Question: Does the ten as a whole also go through all four degrees: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking?

Answer: Partly, we have to go through all these degrees individually and all together.

Question: Should our dissemination include different degrees or focus on some of them?

Answer: No, it should not. You have to disseminate in a way that it will be clear to everyone.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Still, Vegetative, Animate, and Speaking”

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Assemble All the Sparks of the Soul

944Similarly, in spirituality, first, one needs to receive from below upward. At that time, he can only receive and not add.

But afterwards, in the second state, one can add as well (Baal HaSulam, Shamati 166  “Two Discernments in Attainment”).

Question: What do we receive from below upward: Hissarons (deficiencies) of the nations of the world or do we collect those sparks of light that fell into Klipa?

Answer: We collect all the sparks that have fallen into our egoism. We do not want to work with egoism, but we collect all the sparks and raise them, and from this our holy image begins to be created, which is aimed only at bestowal.

To do this, we try to be closer to each other and ask the Creator to connect us so that we feel who we are and what state we are in.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Two Discernments in Attainment,”

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Communicate Directly with the Creator

509Question: How does love for the other lead to love for the Creator?

Answer: How else can one love the Creator? You only can based on the fact that you can practice by loving the other.

When you work on yourself and want to rise to the quality of bestowal and love, it turns out that first you have to get closer to your friends, feel yourself in unity with them, and then, based on this common feeling, you will be able to turn to the Creator.

Question: So there is no way to love the Creator directly? But many people have a feeling that they love the Creator. What is it? An illusion?

Answer: They just say that because their ego pushes them to do it: “A connection with the Creator? No problem, we are friends with Him. I love Him and I want Him to love me.” This is clear. But this is not what is required.

Question: Does the Creator love each of us directly or only through the whole of humanity?

Answer: Each one of us and all of us together, whatever you want, He knows each of us.

Question: Then why shouldn’t we treat Him directly, but through others?

Answer: The fact is that in order to develop the right feeling for the Creator, you must first reach the quality of love for your friends. That is, love for friends is a tool. When you reach this, then you will be able to communicate directly with the Creator.

With your friends, you will continue to be in a state of love, friendship, connection, and adhesion. You will always need them. You yourself will not want to give them up, because this is the Kli, this is the basis from which you come closer to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 12/19/23

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 1/26/24

Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “Concerning the Importance of Society”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 24 “The Main Thing We Need”

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3rd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 7, Item 3

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4th part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic, “Preparation to ‘Life in the Ten,’ Convention”

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Selected Highlights

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/25/24

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The Language of Roots and Branches

526In the beginning, Rabbi Shimon stated, “The flower buds have appeared in the land; the time of pruning has arrived, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land” (Rashbi, Zohar for All, “The Flower Buds”).

Question: It creates the impression that the author clearly did not want ordinary people to understand what is written here. Or are there simply no other options to describe the state of connection with the Creator? What can be understood from all this?

Answer: The thing is that the spiritual forces that descend into our world and organize everything in it are called by different names at different levels. They form the world surrounding us. Therefore, a Kabbalist who wants to talk about it uses different levels of these forces in his narrative.

It turns out that, on the one hand, this can be described allegorically (that sprouts appeared from under the ground, the voice of the turtledove is heard in the sky, and so on), and on the other hand, it can be described by the actions of physical forces, and not by their branches.

In general, there are many possibilities to describe the actions of nature in order to bring a person closer to what he should do, to the realization of his abilities.

Question: Does that mean that the author didn’t intentionally write it in such a coded way? He just had no other choice?

Answer: Yes. In general, it should be understood that all of nature is revealed to Kabbalists, and they use the terms and designations that they consider closest to describing certain actions.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 1/7/24

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Prepare a Place for the Creator

530Question: What does the Creator judge, our egoistic flaws or our yearning toward Him in bestowal and connection? Is the result of this judgment our coming closer to Him?

Answer: Yes, the Creator judges how close you want to get to each other. He wants you to be connected into one whole and to give Him a place between you in which He could be revealed.

Question: What if we do not have this feeling?

Answer: Just start doing it, prepare a place for Him, and then you will feel Him approaching you and entering between you.

In fact, if you think about the Creator and want to do everything for Him, then you are pretty much in a very correct direct connection with Him, only this connection has not been revealed yet, but it will be revealed in the near future.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Torah Lishma”

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Wicked or Righteous?

228As our sages said (Nidah, 16b), and these are their words: “Rabbi Hanina Ben Papa said, ‘That angel appointed over pregnancy is called Laila [night]. He takes a drop, places it before the Creator, and says to Him, ‘Lord of the world, what shall become of this drop? A mighty one or a weakling, a wise or a fool, wealthy or poor?’ But wicked or righteous he did not say’” (Rabash, Article 10, “What Is the Degree One Should Achieve in Order Not to Have to Reincarnate?”).

That drop of semen from which a person emerges is practically neutral and contains everything. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we understand what germs of good or evil actions we have and how we can speed up or slow down our good or evil development. In principle, this is what practical Kabbalah deals with.

Question: Does it mean that what kind of person one will be, strong or weak, smart or silly, rich or poor, does not depend on him?

Answer: It all depends on the drop of semen from which he develops. But a person determines whether he can influence his destiny through good actions. He must choose whether he will be righteous or wicked. This is his only choice, and everything else is already given in the drop of semen.

Question: In regards to what do we determine whether one is wicked or righteous?

Answer: Regarding the fulfillment of the commandments. Will he love other people, since “love your neighbor as yourself” is the basic law of the Torah, and will he treat the world this way?

That is, being wicked does not necessarily mean doing some kind of evil deed. It is enough that he simply thinks about himself, and this is already a sin.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 1/2/24

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