Baal HaSulam gives an example of a guest and a host to illustrate the system of receiving for the sake of giving. The host offers the guest various dishes, but the guest first refuses, does not want to receive them, and makes a restriction.

This is a natural reaction, originally inherent in us. We do not like to be the receivers due to shame.
In that case, the first thing I have to do is have a screen. Then I still begin to receive, but this receiving will no longer be for my own sake but for the sake of the Creator, for the sake of the owner, for the sake of the giver.

Therefore, I can receive once I have pushed away the light; that is, I have demonstrated that I do not want to enjoy but only want to please the Creator. By pushing away the light, I begin to slowly accept it in a way that pleases the Creator.

If we consider this process in the example of a guest and a host, then first I am offered, say, water, and I consciously decide to accept it. Then, it could be salad and so on. And at the very end the meat dish. In other words, at first, I can accept only 20% for the sake of the Creator, then 40%, 60%, 80%, and in the end 100%. But all this is gradual.

The system gradually reveals to me more and more pleasures and checks if I can work with them.
[316450]
From KabTV’s “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” 7/30/23

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The “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” says that there is no greater pleasure than resolving contradictions because each contradiction contains an amazing opportunity to reveal a special degree of attainment of the Creator.

This means that if, when revealing contradictions, a person wants to overcome them with his inner qualities, then he approaches the state where he sees the common in all the diversity and contradiction of objects and phenomena. It is the realization of unity that is perfection.

Question: Suppose a person sees some kind of catastrophe and contradictions arise in him regarding the way the Creator governs the world. He cannot justify the Creator. After some time, is it suddenly revealed to him that it was for his own good, that the Creator had good intentions because this moves him forward?

Answer: Yes. The removal of contradictions is the reason for attaining perfection. At the same time, the greater the contradiction, the greater the pleasure afterward.

The Kabbalist constantly lives in such contradictions. At first, he does not justify the Creator when seeing a paradox in what is happening, and then he understands that all this was for his own advancement.
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From KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” 8/6/23

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to be like the Creator?“

To be like the Creator means to be like the singular force of love, bestowal and connection that governs reality and leads us toward the goal it has set for us, which is to enjoy through resembling and identifying with that force.

The wisdom of Kabbalah engages precisely in how to shift from our inborn animate state of existence, where we are opposite to the Creator, to a state of existence where we become like the Creator. It involves learning about the two opposite natures—our egoistic nature and the altruistic nature of the Creator—and how we can attract and work with the higher altruistic nature until we fully resemble it.

Such a transition is considered shifting from the animate to the human level of existence. The word for “human” in Hebrew (“Adam”) comes from the word for “similar” (“Domeh”) because the concept of becoming human means that we become similar to the Creator (“similar to the most high” [“Domeh le Elyon”]).

“What was the purpose for which the Creator created this lot? Indeed, it is to elevate him to a higher and more important degree, to feel his God like the human sensation, which is already given to him.” – Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence.”

Based on KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the Modern Turbulent World” on August 3, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Is ‘For Lack of Spirit and for Hard Work,’ in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “General Preface,” Item 2

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3rd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic, “The Intention in the Heart”

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Selected Highlights

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Question: Is it possible to feel the spiritual reward so that I receive it not as a gift from above, but because I have actually earned it?

Answer: Of course. But what does it matter? The main thing is to yearn for the Creator all the time, to express our attachment to Him and our dependence on Him, and then we can advance. After all, no matter what we do, we can advance only with His force, with His mind, with what we receive from Him.

Therefore we do not need to make any calculations regarding what we should give Him. Ask and use everything you receive.

You ask the Creator like a favorite student asks for help from his teacher. Or the way a child feels that he cannot achieve something without his parents, and asks them for help. This is exactly what the teacher or the parents are waiting for and are happy to help with.

One must treat this with the heart. Nothing influences the Creator more than our heart.
[317105]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/14/23, “All My Bones Shall Say”

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Question: I want to break through to the heart of every friend, but not everyone is ready to open their heart and accept you. How can one not lose the fire of love and continue to knock on his heart?

Answer: It is quite natural that a friend does not want to hear about it. This means he has healthy egoism.

You should try to reach him through other friends. Do not lose optimism because this is the purpose of creation. The “place” in the heart of a friend that you need to hit several times is your desire to be in his heart. In the end, everything will work out.

Question: I am sending “bullets” into the hearts of my friends, and they are sending “bullets” to me. The heart ignites, burns, and then it cools down a little. Is our task to turn the heart into an eternal flame? Can we survive it?

Answer: There are no problems. We can all burn together constantly with eternal fire, and the Creator will be inside it. He is the material that will burn within us.
[317067]
From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 8/13/23, “To Give the Creator a Gift”

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Question: Can there be love between the Creator and the friends? After all, there is only me and my neighbor. What is the difference between love for a friend and love for the Creator?

Answer: We want to love the Creator together, to unite in Him. We cannot connect with each other in any combination: neither man with man, nor man with woman, nor woman with woman. This is possible only if we are included in the Creator and unite in Him.

And then no one will be superfluous; we will all complement each other. This is what we should strive for.

The main thing is to achieve connection and love with the Creator. And the friends should take the same part in this as you do. Therefore you must be connected with them in order to come from love for your friends to love for the Creator. And if love for your friends already exists at least in some minimal form and it warms you, then you should turn to the Creator and ask Him to dwell in your common feeling.
[317023]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/23, “Giving a Gift to the Creator”

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Question: What should I do to make a wish come true?

Answer: First, really, really want it and investigate whether your desire is in contradiction with the general course of humanity.

Second, find such people in your environment who would also like to achieve a state of connection, and rapprochement with each other. This way you will have an understanding of how to advance to the desired result.

Question: At what level of desire is the desire to be loved? And how can you rise above it?

Answer: Every person has a desire to be loved in a more or less expressed form. It is our natural desire that we feel at any age, at any time. The desire for love is the desire for compassion, connection, and feeling the other as yourself. It is inherent in everyone.

Question: Is the desire for mutual love, for whole life, an egoistic desire?

Answer: In general, yes. But can you give the same feeling to another? This is already a question.
[316811]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the modern turbulent world” 8/3/23

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Question: There is a very famous story that is possibly from the oral Torah about when there was no rain and people came to a disciple of a great sage and asked him to pray for rain. He prayed for a day, two days, and three days, and there was no rain. Then they went to the sage. The sage prayed, and it immediately began to rain.

They said, “Now we see who the real sage is: you, not him.” The sage answered: “No, on the contrary. This disciple of mine is great because the Creator wants to stay connected with him. And with me: “Do you want? Please, receive.””

The question arises that when everyone is waiting for an instant response from the Creator, maybe it is precisely the fact that He does not answer means that He is taking care of this person?

Answer: We do not know. Nothing can be clear here. We just have to do what we have to do. And what we get, we must understand that this is exactly what we should get.

Question: Is the formula pray and immediately receive an answer or pray and the answer comes in a year comprehensible?

Answer: Yes, it is incomprehensible. Time interferes and upsets everything for us.

Question: It is the time, the year that is passing?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So we are absolutely entangled in this world. But all the same, when the answer is not coming, at that moment there comes, as it were, complete disbelief, disbelief in the upper force, disbelief in the Creator. Well, there is no answer, it is not coming! How can you hold on here? You have been in this request for years and years on.

Answer: You do not need any Creator. And you do not need any answers at all. Just love your neighbor as yourself. The Creator does not ask you to respect Him, to love Him, and to treat Him as something great. No.

On the contrary, He is telling you: “Pay attention to what is next to you. Start treating them well. And then everything will be fine.”

See what He requires of you. He requires just an attentive, kind, cordial attitude toward people from your side. This is the Creator. Is that not, right?

Comment: Now a person will hear this and soften. He feels good about it, really. He wants to say “Yes, I can.” But he will not be able to.

My Response: He will, slowly. He will be able to if all of us, in all our systems from which we affect a person, will constantly calm him down, tune him in, relieve him of tension, and only lead him to this.

Question: To have a warm attitude toward others? To “love your neighbor as yourself”?

Answer: Yes. Give him an example about everyone and everything, that this is exactly the law of life.

Question: You have also said a very interesting, sharp phrase here: “Do not look for any Creator.” Right? That is, look for this connection, and you will find the Creator because this is exactly what the Creator wants?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When I look for this connection with others, for a warm relationship and try to understand what “love your neighbor as yourself” means, I must keep inside myself that this is what nature, the Creator, wants?

Answer: You must keep yourself absolutely clean inside. And only from this point speak with yourself and with others.

Question: Then what is this purity you are talking about?

Answer: You do not deviate from this straight line in anything as much as you can.

Question: And if all kinds of thoughts and of desires come up, what do I do with them?

Answer: You keep yourself like a tightrope walker. You must guard yourself so that you do not deviate an inch in any direction. Just follow this path.

Comment: Thank you! God bless!

My Response: You will succeed in it!
[316425]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/31/23

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