Entries in the 'Mutual Guarantee' Category

A Package Deal With The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanIsrael, meaning the souls that aspire to the Creator, exists only for the sake of the world’s correction because a broken Kli cannot correct itself independently. Only special sparks awaken in it, including Adam, the generations of Kabbalists that came after him, then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so on. This is talking about souls that were able to correct themselves without a method by virtue of their fine and pure nature.

They were able to feel what correction is to some extent without a group or a method because they belonged to the appropriate layer of desires. All the other souls followed and joined them.

Then came the stage where desires grew more powerful and the souls needed to mutually unite by mutual guarantee at Mount Sinai by using the method of the Light that Reforms. From then on, they had to attract the Light by uniting with one another instead of individually with their own forces.

Among them were those who were able to advance alone, practically without unification being a necessary condition. They are called “forefathers.” The others have to unite as one man with one heart and work on the common egoism by receiving awakening and ascent from one another. They bring their common desire to correction and then the Light that Reforms comes to them.

The same Light previously corrected individuals, but this was “personal illumination.” Now the Light does not come in response to someone’s personal desire, but to the common, unified desire that has become “the prayer of society,” the ten Sefirot. Our unity evokes an entire “package” of Light, which does what it has to do. Then the group is already able to correct itself.

However, for now it is only a group. And besides it, there are souls that are unable to awaken on their own. They suffer and are helpless. Therefore, the mission of the souls that have already gone through all the phases of correction and corruption is to unite with them, like Bina unites with Malchut. This enables the “incompetent” desires, the souls of AHP to be able to reach correction as well.

They cannot do anything to themselves alone. Nothing can be demanded from them. They do not have any conditions, method, or teaching. They receive everything from Galgalta ve Eynaim, which broke and descended to them. This happened because it is able to awaken them and to establish the right order among all of the broken souls that belong to itself, to AHP, and to the mixture between the two.

This is the mission of the nation of Israel before the redemption.
[35183]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/13/11, Writings of Rabash

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The System Of Mutual Work Is The Key To Success

Dr. Michael Laitman with StudentsQuestion: What can we do to avoid being satisfied with our external effort?

Answer: If a person knows that only the intention to reach the goal, which he constantly discerns, brings him closer to spirituality, then he doesn’t view action as the key. Intention is the Kli (vessel) where he receives the reward, and therefore, all discernments take place in it. Actions without intention are not taken into account at all.

Perhaps a person pleases the Creator, but with an intention to gratify himself. It is the greatest impure force, a Klipa (shell). The most exalted degree of bestowal is balanced with the biggest Klipa: The action is the same while the intention differs.

On the outside, it doesn’t show, and a person seems to be yearning to bestow. Pharaoh, the desire to feel pleased, obeys the Creator’s orders precisely. A person acts according to his desire and mobilizes all his strength, if only to feel good for one’s own sake. He constantly thinks about the Creator (since it is the source of pleasure) and strives to do his best for this source, but for his own good. This is regarded as Pharaoh, the angel of death.

To avoid this, as in any other case, only a clear vision of the goal and mutual support can help. Without interaction, there is no chance to remain on the path without falling. The current generation is the generation of correction, and its success depends on mutual support: Correction occurs based on mutual guarantee and caring. There is no other source to draw the right energy and direction from.

And it is good because there is always work to do in demanding a closer connection. And if we feel it isn’t authentic but superficial, that is fine too. This course is easier than an individual one despite the fact that everyone depends on all the others. Only the collective yearning toward unity and annulment by each of us in regard to the upper degree (the teacher, the group, and the books) will help guard against complacency.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/31/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Zohar: A Tale Of Hate And Love

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I sit in the lesson reading The Zohar and exert effort along with the others. Can it be regarded as “sacrificing desire”?

Answer: No, it can’t. How do I know what you are reading? Perhaps you are simply enjoying what The Zohar explains in such easy, attractive, and exciting language.

Why does it excite us, and what does it wish to explain? The Zohar explains that if I wish to be connected with you, I will undergo the states it describes. It’s that simple! What do the author’s of The Zohar say? “We gather while feeling hate for each other; we are separated by a total abyss. And then we start trying to unite.”

At that time, there was no Book of Zohar in front of them; they were just about to write it themselves. What do they write then? They begin mutual work and start searching: “How do we get closer to one another? What can we do to experience any closeness at all?

How can we find connection between us, the network tying us together, which already exists? What relations define this connection and what are its stages? Which internal forces within us are at work: envy, lust, hate, strife for recognition, the right, left, and middle lines? If we correct it, make a restriction, then a screen, and if we rise above our will to receive pleasure (desire), how do we achieve anything? I reject this and that, act this way or the other….”

And so, they started writing The Book of Zohar based on what they underwent in their mutual connection, until they reached such exalted spiritual degrees that each degree was ten times higher than the previous one: from ones to tens, followed by hundreds, then by thousands, and tens of thousands (Ribo). Do you see what levels they reach?! This is the power of their unification. And that is what they wrote about.

Therefore, if you wish to imagine yourself in the same state, then everything they have described will affect you so that you, too, get closer with the others and in your connection with them undergo the same states, until you reach the state where the perfect Kli (desire) is filled with the infinite Light.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/10, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “You Are Partners with Me”

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Write A Prayer

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When you are “being stewed in the same juice” with the group, you start feeling hate toward the friends. How do I apply a “spiritual mind” to this specific point in order to rise above hate? What exactly should I do?

Answer: You wish to find a solution to the issue at the level where you are and don’t understand that the problem emerged in order to drag you to another place. Do you wish to resolve it or get rid of it? You have to move yourself to another place until you discover hate and resentment once more, and you will have to move yourself from that point as well.

In the end, in order to rid ourselves of hate, we have to correct our mutual connection each time. Sometimes, it can be done with the help of a shared meal, a joint action, some artificial change, and, at other times, by studying together; or, perhaps, time will accomplish this.

However, the most reliable means is a prayer. When you are in a state of inspiration, when you feel hate and simultaneously realize that you must rise above it, try to write a prayer, and let the group read it every day as an act of unity. It will work.
[26012]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10., “Come unto Pharaoh – 2”

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Give Yourself To The Friends Without Leaving Out Anything

Dr. Michael LaitmanWrite down and learn what the intention has to be during the lesson: to merge with one another as one man with one heart, inside the system of our interconnection called “mutual guarantee.” On one hand, every person feels himself, and on the other hand, above this sensation he feels such a strong connection with others that he is unable to perform even one free motion. That is how devoted a person has to be to the group.

It’s as if I am weaved into a spider web through which all of my incoming and outgoing signals pass. I don’t have anything of my own in the mind or the heart. There is just one point remaining, which constantly yearns toward this net with all its strength, wishing to give itself to it.

This is self-rejection. To the degree I give myself to others, the Upper Light influences me and makes me a part of the common net. Then I feel how on one hand I am devoted to it, and on the other hand, it is all mine.

It’s the same as how a mother gives all of herself to the child and they both feel that the child is hers. One does not exist without the other. It says about this in the Song of Songs, “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” That is how we must work.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/9/10, The Zohar

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The Wall Inside

Dr. Michael LaitmanAt the Convention we acquired a new sensation, and we now have to develop it. We feel that there is a wall before us and we have to break it with the help of the Upper Light, the Creator. He is precisely what we lack. Let Him say, “Let us go to the Pharaoh.”

To do this it is necessary to understand, and most importantly to agree that we are breaking the wall in order to give pleasure to Him instead of ourselves. We forget about the two most important aspects of the path:

1. The only way to advance forward is by means of His force.
2. We are advancing towards bestowal to the Creator.

All of this eludes me. For now I am thinking about myself instead of bestowal to the Creator. I try to break through the Machsom with my own forces rather than His. This way, the goal and the means are still locked inside my egoism.

Nevertheless, this is a good state because we start to understand the fundamental principles of spiritual advancement. A boundary emerged before us and we have to do something about it. It does not exist by itself, but constitutes a psychological barrier inside us. If we aim ourselves correctly, it will disappear.

The thought about the Creator’s benefit is opposite to my nature, and the friends also don’t have it. It lies precisely inside our unity. That is why we have to work on three aspects:

1. I am united with the group.
2. Together with the friends I have to define the right aspiration, which will enable us to break through the Machsom: By uniting, we elicit the force of the Creator.
3. All of this is in order to give Him pleasure or in other words, to attain unity with Him.

The common, unceasing care and worry must awaken everyone. This is the mutual guarantee; the group is not the faces of the friends, but the spiritual community which permeates every person with thoughts about the goal. We suddenly start to think about this and to desire it. When every person tries to build his desire into a line, then it expands across the whole world in circles, unbounded by any boundaries or distances.

Mutual guarantee means that I am responsible for the entire system in which the Creator has placed me. If I don’t hold on to the right thought, then at that moment everyone is thrown out of the right thought. By disconnecting, I stop providing for the common organism. Can the liver or kidneys go on vacation?

That is why I ask the world group to always think about the goal of creation, about bestowal to the Creator. Then I won’t lose the connection no matter where I am.
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From the lesson on 11/20/10

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Pull My Hand Toward Happiness

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is there a method in Kabbalah that enables a person to switch from the path of suffering in this life towards the good and kind path?

Answer: Yes, this method exists. Through the group, the environment, the friends, and the mutual guarantee, you can organize specific conditions where the environment, and not suffering, pulls you towards the goal in a careful, wonderful, and loving manner. You will have it replace the blows you receive from behind that are constantly sent to you by the Creator as He pushes you, like a donkey, with a sharp stick.

Instead of the “donkey driver,” the special angel from Above that stabs your desire to receive pleasure, your “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew, which comes from the word “Homer” or matter), forcing you to advance, you receive a good angel that pushes you forward and shows you the way.

This angel is called the “force of the group,” and you are the one who builds it. The only way to advance down the good path without problems, suffering, illnesses, and wars is through a strong environment which pulls you along, like an adult pulls a child by the hand regardless of whether he wants it or not.

A person knows that there is no choice and he needs to run in order to save himself from the tsunami or the Pharaoh’s army that follows him. The group will pull you against your desire because, naturally, you do not want it. This is exactly why you need the group to work this way with you.

For this, you need to connect to the environment and ask them to do anything they want with you as long as they take you with them. I am ready for anything, let them bind my arms and legs, I will pay for it. I will do anything for the group! Nobody can bring me to the goal or drag me there by force beside them.

If it weren’t for them, the increasing blows would catch up with me from behind since the Creator will not abandon His plan. This is the only way to save yourself from the blows. Nature does not compromise.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Women, Men, And The Mutual Guarantee

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the mutual guarantee pertain to women as well?

Answer: Both men and women, regardless of their gender, must reach the state of the mutual guarantee. When we say that the men stood at Mount Sinai and the women surrounded them, this reflects the inner spiritual properties of each one of us.

The “woman” represents the desire to receive pleasure, while the “man” is the symbol of overcoming this desire. “Man” is “Gever” in Hebrew, which comes from the word “Hitgabrut” or overcoming. He is the desire to bestow, which discovers the opposite property of Mount Sinai, “the mountain of hatred” inside him.

But unity and the mutual guarantee pertain to everyone. Women need to try to connect with everyone internally, just like the men. But the men also need to express it externally, while the women experience it within.

Moreover, the women must “pressure” the men. This is because according to his nature, a man tends to listen to a woman, his wife. His wife is a mother to him; this is how he perceives her.

The prototype of a man is Zeir Anpin who is located between two women, two Nukvas: Malchut and Bina. His mother is Bina, and his wife is Malchut. He receives the desires from Malchut, and he turns to Bina for its fulfillment.

In other words, he is unable to turn to Bina without Malchut, and once he has turned to her, he is left with no other choice but to pass everything he has received from Bina to Malchut. This is the way a man operates. And this is why his wife replaces his mother subconsciously in many ways.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/12/10, Shamati #1

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The Path To The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will our mutual inclusion manifest at the convention?

Answer: Our mutual inclusion takes place not only at the convention, but in our daily lives as well. The daily lesson is essentially our mutual inclusion in a concentrated form.

Thousands of people all over the world study together with us. We study the same sources, the same material; we all read the blog, answer questions in the spiritual stimulator system, sing the same songs, essentially live the same theme. Thanks to all this we become included in one another.

And with each day this mutual inclusion between us grows and deepens, until we come to the state of mutual guarantee. What is the mutual guarantee? It is the minimal degree of mutual inclusion between us, corresponding to the first spiritual degree, when the Upper Light can shine in our spiritual vessel.

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When The World Compresses Into A Point

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do you compare rising to the mutual guarantee with a narrow opening that we still need to find? Doesn’t investing in the friends mean breaking down all the barriers and boundaries and giving everything, rather than trying to find a single point?

Answer: The passage between two worlds is always narrow. It is like a birth, like coming out of a mother’s womb into the world. It is as though we go through a gorge of misfortunes under the pressure of “labor contractions.” This is in fact that small point which we widen, making it a narrow passage.

In addition, the mutual guarantee is an extremely powerful concentration of thoughts, desires, passions, intentions, and goals of a person, when one suddenly sees that they all unite, revealing his dependence on a neighbor. It is precisely a neighbor, and not neighbors. Everything compresses and contracts into one whole. This point reveals an opening into the World of Infinity to us, but we need to go through it all together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/17/10, “The Arvut”

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