A Shock Absorber Against The Blows Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe entire crisis stems from the fact that the world connects egoistically and the property of integral nature collides with the mutual hatred between all the countries and nations. Thus, if we stand between them like a force that creates a shock absorber and cushions this collision, we abate the crisis. And when these two opposites crash, softened by the buffer that absorbs the impact, they don’t hit each other with full force.

That’s why our place is honorable and located right in the middle between the positive and negative forces of nature. Being in the middle, we have to connect the entire negative force of humanity to ourselves and tie it with the positive nature of the system of creation. Our world group is that very shock absorber, the binding force.

People are talking about the imminent end of the world, but we have to complete our task. On one hand, we must establish a connection with nature, the entire system of creation, through our unity among ourselves. On the other, we have to enter the world with the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah to everybody. We have to connect these two parts.

Our group is in the middle; the rest of humankind is on the left of us, and nature, which is in balance, is on the right. Thus, on the one hand, we have to unite together, and this will connect us to nature, to the system of creation. On the other, we have to disseminate Kabbalah in the world.

A Shock Absorber Against The Blows of Nature

This is our predestination, and without it, the world will not reach correction. The perfect forces of nature will not be able to come to this “opposite world,” the world of uncorrected humankind, if we fail to stand between them like a buffer.

The part that we use to unite among ourselves and want to connect to nature’s perfection is called Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), GAR de Bina. The part that we use to connect with the entire humanity is called AHP, ZAT de Bina. Thus, we unite everything into one system and enliven everything.

The balanced part of nature is Keter and Hochma. We are in the middle, in the middle third of Tifferet. AHP, Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut are below us. Only we, the middle part of Tifferet, have freedom of choice. In this way, we connect all the parts of creation into the ten Sefirot.

Thus, everything depends on us. It’s not necessary to wait until the world feels and understands. Out of our love, we must help it come to this realization as much as possible. We must help not only through wide action in the media, but through our deeper understanding of the inner systems of the world and the connection between all the souls. It doesn’t depend on presidents and prime ministers, but only on us.
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From the 1st lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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Learning To See The Good

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Kabbalah teaches that the Creator is good and does good, but how does this reconcile with life that is full of problems and pain?

Answer: The Creator is good and does good, but one has to come to this by reaching the similarity of properties with Him. However, if I am a bad, naughty child and don’t want to listen what my mother tells me, she yells at first and then punishes me. And I say that my mother is angry, as a scolded child usually would think.

Her yelling and spanking were purposeful because she wanted me to do well. How can I see that behind everything that happens to me, there is a good attitude towards me, even if I perceive it as bad, as does a child? How can I understand that namely there, where I feel bad, I need to complete myself and my attitude towards nature, humankind, and the group—to correct my ego in order to feel that it was good?

The one who strives to carry it out as soon as possible and is ready to localize the place within oneself that needs correction starts seeing that the world is actually created as good, and the Creator is good. Exactly in the same place where we now find this world, we begin to feel the revealed forces of nature which permeate everything and connect all the parts of creation: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

We suddenly begin to see the spiritual world instead of this one! We begin to reveal more and more forces: eternal forces that rule our existence. Then, this world seems to disappear; it becomes transparent, shaky. It’s “virtual” even now and exists in my mind, and it only appears to me that I see it outside. This is how we correct our perception.

It turns out that all your problems and troubles are an indication of your flaws; they point out the faulty spot, saying: “Correct here! And there as well!” If you do it quickly, you will certainly correct the imperfection.

If you don’t know whom to turn to, aim at the group. If you connect with them and are ready to give what they need for unity, are ready to be influenced by them, you will never make a mistake.
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From the 1st lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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Forerunners Of The Modern Crisis: A Short Study From The Beginning Of Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about the entire reality. Starting from the very beginning of development, it takes us through all its stages to completion.

The initial point is the upper force called “nature” or “the Creator.” Having no idea about anything preceding it, we come to know it as a mother. There was nothing before it. Our history commences from the moment when the upper force began to create the levels of matter: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

Firstly, it used its own force to form supporting forces that comprise and make it. These forces immediately divided into two: the matter of creation and the force of the Creator, in other words, plus and minus, light and darkness that affect matter to impart development to it. Under the influence of these two forces, matter started to react, respond, experience sensations, and thereby evolve.

One of these two forces called the “right line” is filled with the nature of the Creator, love and bestowal and as a result, is able to give life to matter. The other force is the force of egoism, opposite to the Creator and acting as if in spite of Him. However, in reality, both of these forces operate according to the upper program.

The Creator acts from above with His single force that is divided into two: the forces of bestowal and reception. Our matter is between them. Thus, these two forces put us into motion. They affect matter and stimulate its development on the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels.

Forerunners Of The Modern Crisis_01
In the beginning this development affects only the forces that gradually form matter, until matter doesn’t reach the final stage. Then matter explodes. Thanks to this explosion, a unique event takes place. The two forces, the plus and the minus, mix together. Previously, they worked on matter from both sides, and now they come to the breaking, become included in each other, and coexist in matter, blended together to such an extent that it’s impossible to tell them apart like in a big mess.

Until now, the process took place only at the level of forces, thought, and program. However, now the force turns into the matter of this world. Primarily, the place for our space appeared as a result of the Big Bang. Earlier, there was no room for our universe. Then, matter started developing from the spark of spiritual energy, from one small point of Light. This tiny particle of spiritual Light was enough to create matter for the entire universe.

Further, during its development, matter created galaxies, the Solar System, and the planet Earth where we are growing along the same lines, on the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels, parallel to spiritual development.

Forerunners Of The Modern Crisis_02
As a result, at the fourth level of development, the force of the Creator and its opposite force finally mix, and we find ourselves in the current situation.

Preparation is over. From now on, we have to check what to do next. We have two forces mingled with each other. They completed their development and bump into each other within us so much that we don’t know what to do. We feel bad.

Here, we find the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method allowing us to balance and unite these two forces, establishing equilibrium and harmony between them.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 05.25.11

Shamati #25Things That Come From The Heart
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The Book of Zohar – Selected, Chapter, Truma (Donations),” “Who Is She Who Looks Forth Like the Dawn,” Item 1, Lesson 1
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 1, Part 1 Histaklut Pnimit,” Lesson 19
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Explanation of the Article, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 4, Lesson 3
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Good Environment – 05.24.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Principles for the Week

Egoism Is Finally On The Verge!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” Baal HaSulam writes that in our world the receiving desire materializes in its entire, adequate, desired form. What is it desired for?

Answer: For correction. Otherwise why would it need to descend down the ladder of the spiritual worlds? Moreover, on the lowest level it went through life cycles over and over again until taking on the adequate form in our time. Even in our world the development happens “according to schedule,” and now in the 21st century we are starting our ascent back up. Our current state is the desired, adequate form.

This point was instilled in us from the beginning of creation and we had to reach it. Now is exactly the beginning of man’s or creation’s birth. Until now there was no creation. There was just desire, which developed according to a set program in order to reach a specific state where a point of freedom emerges, the point of our independence.

Question: We are talking about a fully formed egoistic desire, but the “desired form” sounds like a positive thing.

Answer: Of course, this is a positive state. That is exactly how the Torah defines the deadly egoistic desire that has accumulated its full might. This is where creation begins because now it can form, express, and sense itself.

As long as a person doesn’t feel that he is evil, completely opposite to the Creator, as long as he doesn’t realize the entire horror of being in this position, he won’t be able to work on himself. Therefore, in the boundaries of the process of correction, this is a good state because it leads to the formation of a human being.

However, if you suppose that “goodness” is when you feel good, fine, go ahead and feel good. But this is purposeless. In a goal-oriented state a person feels his opposition to the Creator, and this is exactly what motivates him to act.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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“This World” Is Not “Our World”

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” Baal HaSulam writes that the desire for pleasure, which formed in its final form, is in “this world.” What is “this world?”

Answer: It’s precisely what is written there: the state of the “receiving desire which has formed in its final form.” In reality there are two things in existence: Light and desire. Everything else are just names for these forces.

When the receiving desire undergoes changes, it finally reaches the lowest state called “this world.” This is a spiritual notion, which is why we differentiate between it and “our world,” in which we exist for now on the animate level. Only a person who feels that he is at the last stage, in the final form of the egoistic desire, determines his location as “this world.” This can already be called spiritual attainment in some sense because a person is aware of where he is according to the spiritual coordinates. But a “person from the street” does not live in “this world” yet, but still in his own world.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/11, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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To Be Born And Grow Up In The Group

Dr. Michael Laitman with StudentsWorking in the group is extremely important. Without the group, one can’t advance. Studying theory from the authentic sources is not going to help a person in any way since he or she doesn’t change with it.

One has to put himself in a “laboratory”: work in the group, be influenced by it, time after time lower his head before it, and exalt the group in his eyes so that the friends would have an impact on him. And other times, it should be the other way around: On has to exalt himself by bestowing to the group and seeing the friends as little. This is how the work is done, mutually and in turns, depending on which of the two forces a person is employing at the moment.

My future soul is the “resistance” in the integral spiritual chain, placed between the “plus” and the “minus.” Sometimes, I work in the group by using my positive force and sometimes the negative one. Thus, there are times when I receive additional positive power from the group, and other times I get the negative one. This is how my “resistor” (R) evolves and becomes ever closer to the group, by getting engaged in it until I become its internal part.

Having entered the group, I become like a drop of semen in the womb and start growing in it. If, with all my initial egoism, I am able to cancel myself in the group as its integral part, I am regarded as an “embryo.” Immediately thereafter, my egoistic desire starts growing progressively. Thus I start going through developmental phases having renounced myself before the group.

  1. The initial phase is regarded as “the nine months of conception,” which is the first stage of development. Having completed it, I get born.
  2. Then, the second phase begins: My egoism grows bigger, and I cancel myself before the group ever more. But this time, I do it more proactively—I work in bestowal to others. This period of “infancy,” the small state, is called “two years of nurturing.”
  3. Next, I move on to the third phase of egoistic development and reach “the age of thirteen.”
  4. Beyond this point, I can gradually start employing all of my egoism in order to bestow, until I become a complete human being (Adam) at the age of 20 and on.

I undergo this entire process by using my egoism which evolves alongside my actions shown as the time line (t) in the diagram above.

Thus, practical application of the wisdom of Kabbalah entails the inclusion in the group and then into the entire world, when it takes our example and starts developing in the same way.
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From the 2nd lesson at the Rome Convention on 5/21/11

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Who Is Steering The Wheel Of Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf the Creator wishes to be the Creator, He needs the creature. This created being, which exists separately from the Creator and feels independent of Him, receives from and responds to the Creator, and it is considered as though it is giving back. In other words, these two have to have a certain relationship, feelings, thoughts, and interaction.

There has to be two! Therefore, it’s necessary to create a being separate of the Creator, meaning that its nature should be the will to receive pleasure—the only thing it lacks to be the creature. That is, it has to feel alive, existing, and receiving. Then, by using this desire to receive, it can become like the giver and respond to the Creator’s love in the right way.

Thus, except for the will to receive pleasure, the creature must also possess a “steering wheel” in order to turn this desire and change its direction from 100% of receiving for its own sake to 100% of receiving for the Creator’s sake. And in the rest of this interval between them, there will be various combinations between these two extremes: one part to the Creator, and the other to me.

This is what defines the entire ladder of spiritual rungs. I start with 100% for myself and gradually turn the “wheel” 180 degrees to 100% of bestowal to the Creator or other people. It doesn’t matter to whom because it’s all about how I use myself.

“I” is my desire, whereas the “steer” is my intention, meaning for the sake of whom I exert. This is what determines my state. And now the only question is at which point of this circle I am. We start at the zero point (0) and finish with the final correction (Gmar Tikkun), the state of absolute love and bestowal.

So, according to the plan of creation “to delight the creatures,” the Creator creates the necessary desire. Additionally, He gives the creature conditions which allow it to control the desire and turn itself in the direction it chooses—if I wish to “drive” to the higher rungs, on the 125 degree ladder, from the zero point of “this world” to the world of Infinity. This is how the plan of creation works.

In order to keep “driving,” I need to see the road ahead of me. I have to know what is necessary to keep driving and how to obtain “fuel.” I should know how to steer the wheel, change direction, and stay out of trouble on this path. I have to clarify for myself all of these criteria and check whether I am following them or not, if I can change and control them.

Then, I will gradually begin to see in all of these “road traffic” conditions that I am losing sight of myself ever more. I can keep driving only if I am willing for the new form to clothe in me all the time, the one that is ever closer and more similar to the Creator. Phase after phase, point after point of this trip, when I have covered another distance and advanced a bit more, I get internally transformed, and the image of the Creator clothes in me ever more. This means that I am “driving” and getting closer to Him.

Consequently, we need to make our desire to enjoy ready for such transformations, to assume such forms of the upper one. This implies the restriction of the will to receive and annulment of one’s egoistic intention, until it starts to obtain the forms of bestowal, the Creator’s forms, getting closer to Him ever more.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/17/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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