Entries in the 'Prayer and Intention' Category

When Efforts Turn into Action

534Question: Which is more important: to be happy with the revelation of evil or to ask for a way out of Egypt?

Answer: The joy of revealing evil is not yet a finished action. And the request to leave Egypt is already a more conscious state.

The children of Israel cried out to the Creator to bring them out of Egypt. At the same time their similarity to Him was that they wanted to get out of their state and achieve the opposite: liberation from egoism.

Question: If we feel bad and we try to escape from this place, does it also come from the ego?

Answer: A place is a desire. We try to escape from egoistic desire, to make efforts, and to ask the Creator to help us do this. To our weak efforts, like those of a small child, the Creator gives His help, and then our efforts turn into action. This is how we ascend the steps of the spiritual ladder to the Creator.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And It Came to Pass in the Course of Those Many Days”

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Nothing But Connection

936Question: We are required to awaken from below. Is there anything special about Purim that we still need to do?

Answer: We do not need anything other than connection. The Creator created the desire to receive and shattered it into many parts. And we need to gather them so that they become like one person with one desire.

All these parts are in us. We are broken parts, so our desire to unite leads us to a state of correction.
We must constantly turn to the Creator with a request that He unite us into one common whole.

And when He does, we will have the opportunity to ask Him to fill our common desire with the upper light. This state will be called Purim.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Haman Pockets”

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The Golden Rule of Family Relationships

923Natasha writes:

Dear Michael Laitman,
Please tell me, why does this happen? All of us, without exception, so eagerly want to meet our soul mate and live with them in love and harmony, but in life, this remains only in our dreams. Or we find a partner and seem to live in harmony, but suddenly everything ends, and we part as enemies.

Today, the divorce rate reaches 70%. What is this? Just a moment ago, people were sure they would be together forever. Why does this happen?

Answer: Egoism! What can you do? Our nature is pure egoism that cannot tolerate another.

Comment: But just a moment ago…

My Response: It does not matter. They did not understand that they love others, meaning they could tolerate them nearby because they received great fulfillment from it.

Question: Is it only for that reason?

Answer: Of course, what else do we need from others? So as soon as a person feels they are not receiving that fulfillment from another, they want to cast them away.

Question: So the old idea that we meet and this feeling will be eternal and we will do everything for it does not work anymore?

Answer: No, that is childish babble.

Question: So we face an enemy stronger than us in the end?

Answer: Absolutely!

Question: Our nature is stronger than us?

Answer: Yes! It was created by the Creator.

Question: If we realize this, then we would stop making vows and we would be cautious?

Answer: What is the point in stopping to make vows? That will not change anything. Here, we need to teach a person how to control himself, how to arrange life with someone like himself, with another. This requires significant preparation.

Question: Does my understanding of myself as an animal help in this?

Answer: Yes, of course. It is a part of this realization.

Question: So, is such a statement correct: “It will be difficult with you, but we will try to stick together, and go through all the ups and downs together”? Is this kind of marriage agreement better?

Answer: Perhaps.

Question: They say we kind of bring the Creator upon ourselves when we promise something unconditionally. Maybe we should not promise?

Answer: There is no need to promise, that is for sure! We must know each other very well and understand that both egoists are coming together. How should we behave with each other so that our egoistic desires to use each other coincide rather than oppose each other in confrontation? And this is very important for us.

Question: Tell me, what practical steps should we take to advance together in this dance, as you say?

Answer: Consistently, with small steps. Take a little step forward, something goes wrong—take half a step back. Step forward again—half a step back. That is, one step forward and half a step back.

Question: What is this step forward? I feel rejection now, the time has come. I used to love all the time and now there is rejection. What do I do?

Answer: Now there is rejection, I reconsider my life, my current state, my partner, and I gradually come to the conclusion that I can continue to exist with this partner and I just need to establish some connection between us so that we understand each other more positively.

Question: Is this through conversation?

Answer: You can clarify this in conversation. You should not even talk about it but somehow show that now I am not capable of closer connection.

Comment: So, I kind of show this, and then her step is not to get closer…

My Response: More calmly, yes.

Comment: And from her side, when I feel irritation toward myself, I should also…

My Response: Yes.

Question: So, do we always have to maintain some distance?

Answer: Step aside.

Question: What about love, closeness?

Answer: You can only achieve that if you act in the way I just described. Then you will have normal mutual understanding, which will aim to foster love. That is, you will love another person for being a good partner.

Question: What do you mean by partner?

Answer: A partner is someone who understands you and builds a path from heart to heart next to you.

Question: In that specific state: two steps forward, one step back?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So we have to be vigilant all the time?

Answer: No, not to that extent, I don’t think. The most important thing is to forgive, and not only forgive, but also yield.

Question: For almost the entire time?

Answer: Throughout life.

Question: Even throughout life? So you know that you are entering into connection and specifically making concessions? Do I need to know this in advance?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Are we talking about both sides?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: When children come into the picture…

My Response: When children come along, men need to make more concessions because women already have additional, even greater responsibilities.

Question: So the golden rule that you always talk about is about making concessions?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Since we are constantly returning to the Creator, can we say that we and the Creator are like a couple?

Answer: To the extent that you yield in your earthly life, to that extent you can hope that the Creator will yield to you in your spiritual life.

Question: When I take a step back in family life, does the Creator also make His concession? Is He kind and good to me?

Answer: Yes, because it is evident from your actions that you are yielding in order to maintain or even progress in the relationship. Therefore, the Creator can do the same with you.

Question: In which case do we say that between us there is the Creator, between husband and wife is the Creator? Is it in this case?

Answer: Constantly.

Question: Is the idea that between us there is always the Creator and we must constantly strive toward Him and hold onto this for His sake, is this idea correct?

Answer: Yes.

Question: For His sake, is that correct?

Answer: For His sake, yes.

Question: So, He actually established that this couple should exist and should come together?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If we meet, who brought us together? Him?

Answer: In essence, the Creator.

Question: If we keep this in mind, is this a good path?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/18/24

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What Kind of Prayer?

294.3Question: How can we influence all people from within ourselves without going out to the people?

Answer: We can achieve this only if we can raise our prayer to the Creator.

Question: What kind of prayer?

Answer: That is what we need to figure out so that our prayer is so unified that it can ascend to the Creator. In this way, we implore Him to fulfill our desire.

What do we turn to the Creator with? To reveal among us what we need. And this is not just a matter of words, but it is an urgent need.
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From  the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

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The Essence of Passover

749.01Question: What is the true deficiency (Hisaron) born in the struggle of exile and redemption that leads to true prayer?

Answer: The true Hisaron, or deficiency, arises in a person through the process of studying what exile is, why we ended up there, and how to escape from it.

This is the essence of Passover. Passover, from the word Pesach (Pe-Sach), means a transition from one state to another, from a state of exile to a state of redemption from egoism.

Passover night symbolizes the feeling of being exiled into egoism.

Therefore, for hundreds of years until the final correction (Gmar Tikkun), the exodus from Egypt represents the final night of Passover, when we finally exit egoism and become free people.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/24, Writings of Rabash “Concerning the Exodus from Egypt”

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Feeling like You Are in Egypt

49.01Question: When the sons of Israel felt a great emptiness, they cried out to the Creator. This cry came out of them automatically. What was their freedom of choice?

Answer: They had freedom of choice before when they were in Egypt. Now, the Creator has gathered them and pulled them to Him. Therefore, they are under the full power of the Creator.

We must understand that we do not yet feel like we are in the desert. We do not feel that we have nothing to eat. Therefore, we cannot cry out to the Creator asking where the food we ate in Egypt is. We do not yet feel Egypt.

Question: What is the difference between Israel and the nations of the world? Is it that the people of the world in this situation would not turn to the Creator?

Answer: No, the nations of the world are those who do not feel related to the Creator at all.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/12/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “And It Came to Pass in the Course of Those Many Days”

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How Can I Ask for Others

525Question: I ask the Creator for others from my inner desire. How can I annul my state and ask for the friends from their state?

Answer: To do this you need to step out of yourself, make yourself neutral, tune into the desire of the friend, be impressed by this desire, and turn to the Creator. It is as if you are asking for the friend without including your own inner desires.

Question: Is the quality of each individual’s deficiency (Hisaron) important for reaching a unified request? How can it be cultivated?

Answer: We cannot measure the deficiency of each individual and the collective integral deficiency. The only thing we can do is ask the Creator to unite us in such a way that all our vessels become one collective vessel (Kli).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/24, Writings of Rabash “Anyone Who Sanctifies the Seventh – 2”

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Full Investment of Effort

624.07Question: What determines the ability to do everything you can from the heart without any limitation and with hope that the Creator will respond to our maximum efforts?

Answer: This happens when you are in complete despair and you have no other choice but to turn to Him. You have already asked many times, and you have always received a little, but it was clearly not enough.

And so you pray again and again until you are completely disappointed in your abilities, and you ask as if for the last time, as if you will no longer have any opportunity to reach the Creator, to get close to Him, or to force Him to answer you. You raise your voice to the Creator so that He hears it and finally helps, and then you get an answer.

Question: Should I be sure that I did everything I could, or should I still regret that I did not make the necessary efforts?

Answer: There should be regret too.

Question: What will help us synchronize correctly in the ten in order to imagine the potential of the next degree that we want to come to, and then proceed to action?

Answer: You need to see the present state as much as possible and imagine the future state, how you give everything of yourself in the ten in order to rise to the Creator together.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/24, Writings of Rabash “Anyone Who Sanctifies the Seventh – 2”

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Include Everyone in Your Prayers

942Question: In prayer, is it better for us to focus on the ten, or can we place the hearts of the entire world Kli in it?

Answer: You can include everyone in your prayers, and I really encourage that. But remember that you must first pray for your ten so that it can unite everyone and thus rise to the Creator.

When everyone strives for unity, it is very easy to achieve. The main thing is that you are all directed toward Him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/31/24, Writings of Rabash “Inheritance of the Land”

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Focus on the Most Important

942Question: You said that as a result of the spiritual work, the ten will become like one body and appear before the Creator. How does this happen?

Answer: This is done by the Creator from above. But in order to help Him as much as possible, you must be ready to unite in one desire and strive for one goal.

Comment: We try to do this during the lessons and at all our events, but it does not work out.

My Response: No, it is slowly working out, but it has not yet come to the point where you feel it in your sensations. To speed up this process, you need to focus on making sure that your desires are similar to each other.

Question: We compose a prayer every day and try to build a common desire. Is it better to focus on one thing?

Answer: Yes, on what is important to us today.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam,Introduction to The Book of Zohar

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