New Life #950 – Being A Celebrity

New Life #950 – Being A Celebrity
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

Why does it seem to us that being a “celebrity” means being happy; how is publicity about a person influential, and how do we direct the natural desire for publicity to a positive place?

The desire to be respected and well-known is inherent in a person and today when this is possible, everyone wants to be a celebrity.

The stars of the future will teach others to be happy by attaining the essence of life. They will be people who succeeded in rising above their own egoistic calculations.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #950 – Being A Celebrity,” 1/21/18

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“Stephen Hawking”

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 3/15/18

An interviewer once asked the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who died yesterday, how come he uses “God” as a metaphor although he is not religious in any way?

“If you believe in science, like I do, you believe that there are certain laws that are always obeyed. If you like, you can say the laws are the work of God, but that is more a definition of God than a proof of his existence,” Hawking replied.

Interestingly, Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, wrote that “Nature (Hebrew: HaTeva) has the same numerical value (in Hebrew) as God (Hebrew: Elokim)—eighty-six,” and therefore we can “call the laws of God “Nature’s laws” or vice-versa, for they are one and the same.” (“The Peace”)

The wisdom of Kabbalah, similar to ordinary science, asserts that man is meant to investigate and attain a clear sense of reality, and not be caught up in delusions. Man must apply the proverb: “A judge has only what his eyes see.” Meaning, he must trust only what he is capable of grasping in his actual senses.

However, if the concept of “God” is undefined and amorphous, declaring “there is no God” is just like declaring “there is a God.” In order to declare the existence of something or lack thereof, you first have to define what that something is. Perhaps Hawking knew what he meant when he said “God,” but in science, you cannot refer to something if there’s no consensus on its definition.

Hawking’s decisive approach to the non-existence of something, is somewhat reminiscent of the certainty that previous generations had that the earth was flat or that the sun revolves around it. Also, a statement about the existence of God, or vice versa, is sometimes connected to one’s expression of the righteousness of his view and the triumph of his belief.

A person who researches reality using the method of Kabbalah accepts that what he cannot perceive simply doesn’t exist for him. In other words, let’s say I am told: “Jump a meter high, and you will see a completely different world.” Now, I simply train myself to jump a meter high. I do not believe what I’m told, I want to see for myself. Therefore, I focus only on the jump itself.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us how to use the laws of nature so as to expand our grasp of reality. Ultimately, to reach a state where I am included with all of nature, referred to as “attaining adhesion with the Creator,” or in Stephen Hawking’s words, “to know the mind of God.”

To learn how to do it start here >> perceivingreality.com

Coefficient Of Bestowal

Any science in the world studies connections between parts of reality, each on its level of reality—physiological, psychological, biological, and physical—and so there is psychology, biology, physics, etc.

The wisdom of Kabbalah does not deal with these levels, but with the most basic level, that is the desire contained in each part of creation, only in different forms, on different levels, and in different sizes.

Therefore, Kabbalah is considered the main science. It conducts the same scientific research as any other science, derives formulas, studies creation and the actions of the Creator, clarifies our place in creation, and measures creation in relation to the Creator. All this presupposes a serious scientific study. All other sciences do not give such exact definitions.

In fact, creation is very complicated. Although it would seem that it is based on a very simple formula: the Creator’s desire to bestow equals the creature’s desire to receive.

However, this is not a simple equality because it includes a coefficient that should equalize the desire to receive and the desire to bestow: the Creator’s desire to bestow equals C multiplied by the creature’s desire to receive.

This coefficient includes within itself a restriction, a screen (Masach), and Reflected Light. We need to implement this equation all the time. Therefore, I must know the desire to receive, the desire to bestow, and my coefficient.

So I always study the Creator’s desire to bestow. I aspire to and equate myself with Him. According to these parameters, I determine my state and place in creation. In this way, I explore all of creation. Without this, it is impossible to relate to the Creator correctly, and I need to reach the degree of love for Him. The coefficient is my intention for the sake of bestowal. Without it, I cannot contact the Creator.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/1/18, Writings of Rabash

Touch Point With Truth

How do we come to a true prayer that is born out of a genuine desire? It is written: “A person is where his thoughts are.” Therefore, one has to start checking where his thoughts are: to restrict myself, my desire, to one point and with it attach myself to the Creator. And then I start to feel different states that are going through me, and in each one I should re-attach myself to the adhesion with the Creator.

I may not know exactly how to execute this restriction to a point, but I keep trying, like a child who wants to grow up. This is how I start to build my spiritual Partzuf, and scrutinize the disturbances that the Creator sends me from all directions, which scare me, confuse me, and rattle my heart and mind. I continually return myself to the point of adhesion. Nothing more is asked of me; this is how I build my spiritual plane.

If, above all disturbances, I nullify and attach myself back to the Creator, then every disturbance in my heart and mind gets corrected and included in holiness. That is why I will always remain in the genuine desire and true prayer, trying constantly to return to adhesion and realizing that I cannot do it without the Creator’s help. I will constantly reveal problems and apply my effort to ask for adhesion with the Creator.

My first point of adhesion has to be genuine. I am not a part of it, there’s only my goal to adhere to the Creator. And then I begin to study the Creator, from His actions over me I can learn His attitude, character, behavior, and understand what He wants to tell me. This, in essence, is what is called the science of Kabbalah.

The books of Torah are holy because they were written by those who were in holiness, in the spiritual world, i.e., in bestowal and attainment of the upper force, in brotherly love, at the time these books were written. If a person is writing from the feeling of attainment of the Creator, “good that does good,” from the desire to do good to everyone, from the state of love your neighbor as yourself, then his writings are called holy, and they contain the quality of bestowal—Bina.

However, the person reading this book may not have the correct, good intentions. After all, we are born egoists and we start from a negative balance, desiring to attain the reward, or at least avoid punishment. A person thinks that Torah is a wonderful remedy from all problems, and by studying it he will make himself better in this world, and maybe in the next world. Therefore, he studies for his own betterment in this world and the next world, from the fear of punishment and the desire to receive rewards. In this case, what is important to him is the number of Mitzvot he observed and the number of books he studied.

The greatness of the Creator means that in any state that may come, whatever problems and misfortunes befall me, I first and foremost think of Him. Not even of my adhesion with Him, but only of Him, to give Him pleasure.

How can one check if a person really cares about his inability to bestow to the Creator or whether he is just thinking of himself: “Why have I still not reached bestowal?” The way to check is whether he is ready to help others come to bestowal upon the Creator, then he is truly aiming at bestowal.

Every Day To Come Out Of Egypt

First of all, one must adhere to the Creator and then perceive all the disturbances through this point of adhesion, to increase adhesion with the Creator because of them, without getting deeper into life’s problems. I have to leave all my fears and troubles, and adhere to “There is none else besides Him.” I become included in the Creator, into this only existing reality, as one point, as if at the beginning of creation.

“Know that before creation there was only the upper Light, which filled everything… .” And then, in this upper Light a black dot was formed that was opposite to the Light in its desire for pleasure. But it nullifies itself completely before the Light, and I want to do the same! And after I already reach the point of adhesion with the Light, meaning that I see only the Creator in everything that is happening to me, I will be able to open my mind and heart, thoughts and desires, to the point that I am able to refer them to the Creator.

I have nothing of my own, I become a single point. And all my feelings do not belong to me, but are sent by the Creator, so that I will cleave to Him even more. Then my point of adhesion begins to expand above all the disturbances, and my area of adhesion with the Creator will keep on growing. Thus, these are not disturbances, but “help from the opposite,” because it is against me, but it helps me increase our adhesion even more. I do not always succeed in referring everything to the Creator, although I understand that it should be so. Problems and fears can be so big that I will not be able to stay in adhesion with the Creator. The sign of adhesion is the joy that comes from “There is none else besides Him, good that does good.” When I am in adherence with Him, I feel myself in perfection, because everyone who adheres with perfection is also perfect.

If there is no joy, then I am in exile, not in adhesion with “There is none else besides Him.”

I am sitting at work and feeling myself in exile, needlessly wasting time. Someone has come up with all these tasks, and I have to waste my life in them. There is no way out, I have to continue, but with the intention that while doing so I am adhering with the Creator, nullifying myself before Him. And all of it is due to work and disturbances, the so-called imaginary world that gives me the opportunity to increase my adherence. And if I achieve adherence, then I cease feeling this world, it disappears. And if I achieve adherence, then I cease feeling this world, it disappears. Instead of separating, it becomes uniting, concealing the screen turns into revealing.

I turn exile into redemption just by referring everything to the Creator, and this is enough. The whole difference between Egypt and Israel is that the same desire revealed in Egypt changes its intention to bestowal; it passes through the desert and comes to the land of Israel. Thus, every day we must see ourselves coming out of Egypt.

Every day I must strive to achieve adhesion with the Creator, and then I reveal that I am in exile from it. Therefore, my daily work is to adhere to the Creator above the separation and change my evil nature into the good one, the angel of death into the angel of life.
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/18, Writings of Rabash, “A Real Prayer Is Over a Deficiency”

In Tandem With The Creator

Try to act very simply: before any desire or thought pops into your heart or mind, catch yourself that it was sent to you by the Creator.

Try to continue acting in tandem with Him with this thought or desire. You will understand how differently you begin to sense everything until you feel that you and He are partners.

In each moment, He engenders thoughts and feelings in you and you try to continue them together with Him with constant perusal of how to make Him stay within your actions all the time.

You will see that you succeed.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/29/17

New Life #949 – Women In The Management Of Society

New Life #949 – Women In The Management Of Society
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

In the future, women will function like mothers and will care for all of society like a family. They will be involved in education, culture, and building good connections between people, whereas men are more inclined to be involved in industry and research. A new kind of social education will redefine what it means to be feminine; a woman’s identity will no longer be associated with external beauty but with her concern for all of society.
From KabTV’s “New Life #949 – Women In The Management Of Society,” 1/16/18

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Have Patience!

The separation of creation from the Creator happens because of the difference in intention, not in action. Through the action of receiving, the created being adheres to the Creator who is the one giving: as an infant to the mother. And if the infant had adult reasoning and experience, then he would understand that it is not necessary to interrupt his receiving from the mother, but rather to add to it his own intention to give.

It is not enough for the mother to delight only in the infant’s receiving from her. It is also necessary to add the child’s understanding of the entire depth of her experience and love and his own gratitude for such bestowal. This will then become the level of human, not an animal one, as an unaware infant.

In the created being, the sensation of the lack of such an intention is called shame, and it is the reason for making the restriction. (Talmud Eser Sefirot)

The Main Thing Is To Have Patience

The whole difficulty in studying Kabbalah lies in that it demands a change in values. That’s why people leave; they are not ready and do not agree to this because they lack patience. They do not believe that this study will bring them a real outcome and do not understand what this wisdom is talking about.

And here patience is mandatory in order to give the upper Light, the force that turns us into a new creation, time to work. Gradually we begin to feel, understand, and judge by new criteria. Then even though from all appearances it may seem that the individual is still the same person, in reality, he becomes completely different.

It becomes impossible to judge him by ordinary, earlier measures, values, and laws because he now reasons according to the law of similarity of form with the upper force; in other words, he reasons completely differently from the way he did before.

We attain such a substantial change as a result of the work of the upper Light on us, by going through a very complex inner revolution. Many years are needed for this to take place because such changes occur within a person gradually, in small portions. And even this is difficult to bear. It is much easier to advance within a group, which a person can hold on to. If, with eyes closed, a person grabs on to a group, then he can move through all difficulties.

He closes his eyes to the old values and receives from the group, from the connection with the friends, from the new Kli (vessel) in which ten becomes as one with new values: new reason and experience, new relations, new units of measure.
This is a very delicate, difficult period, about which it is written: “A thousand enter the room, but only one exits into the light.” It is necessary to acquire patience, to give the upper Light the opportunity to work on you and give you new qualities. Where it is written: “Do anything, just don’t leave,” it refers specifically to this process.

An infant is not ashamed to receive from the mother; there is no shame yet on his level. But Malchut of the world of Ein Sof (infinity) decided that she wants to be the same as the Creator and bestow to Him in the same manner. That’s why she makes a restriction—a very noble and strict action. On one hand, she stops receiving from the Creator. And on the other hand, she decides that adhesion to the Creator is more important than receiving from Him.

This decision determined the entire subsequent process creation goes through. For the one who desires adhesion with the Creator, the understanding of adhesion must be more important than the reception of fulfillment, in other words, more important than life!

After creation develops, in the fulfillment it receives from the Creator, it discovers that the Creator loves it and wants to give it pleasure. That’s why it cannot be fulfilled just by receiving. The love of the Creator obligates it to respond in a similar manner, called “Reflected Light.” Of course, this returning Light is very weak in comparison with the Light of Hochma of the Creator, but it makes the creation similar to the Creator.
(Rabash, “The First Renewal”)

Until the person rises above his desire to enjoy, acquires a screen and Reflected Light, in other words, some kind of similarity of form with the Creator, can he exist in the spiritual world, in the experience of the upper Light, or to understand spiritual actions? The entire renewal begins only after the exit from Egypt, from egoistic receiving.

That is why it is forbidden for idol worshippers to study the Torah, where “forbidden” means “impossible.” A person cannot study the Torah because he does not have any connection to it. Torah is the clothing of the upper Light in the desire to the degree in which the desire is ready to receive it, in other words, similarity of form with the Light. And then the upper Light clothes in the desire, as water fills an appropriate vessel which correspondences to it, possessing a screen and an intention for bestowal.

So, we attain the Creator by His actions, by studying His nature. In reality, we attain the Creator in our own selves, revealing in ourselves the forms of bestowal and calling them the Creator (Boreh), in other words, “come and see” (Bo-Reh). In this manner we study the Torah, that is, the laws of the upper Light’s clothing in the corrected desire. All of this begins only after the restriction and acquisition of the screen and Reflected Light, which is called the exit from Egypt.

Without a group, the person has no place where he can formulate his relationship to the Creator. In a group he creates that place, through which he receives from the Creator and through which he gives to the Creator. And then he sees that this is not just a group, but ten Sefirot, a soul.

“Lo Lishma” means that the work not for the sake of the Creator, but for the Pharaoh, in other words, “not for Her Name” (Lo Lishma).

History Is Coming To A Close

All sciences, except Kabbalah, work within a small Light that can be obtained in receiving desires without correction. So our entire world exists without the intention for bestowal.

But this is a very limited glow, a barely smoldering spark of life that allows desires to exist just waiting until the time of correction.

In our time, the Light has almost filled all desires. Therefore, science is in crisis, and has reached a dead end. There are no more breakthroughs in science; everything is fading. We only find connections between various phenomena. Humanity is allowed to discover this because it leads to the understanding that our world is closed, round, global, and integral.

So we must be connected with each other and with all of nature. Only in this direction does science develop and reveal our common relationship to us. But beyond that, there will be no scientific development. Only technology will develop, not the fundamental sciences. Scientists have been talking about this for many years.

We have completely exhausted our desire to enjoy that we can exist in. Now only its perverted forms are possible. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before the Great Depression in America, we used such incentives as money and power to advance for.

Then, it ended. Today, we simply earn abstract numbers in accounts, and money also is losing its value. History is coming to a close. In other words, we are becoming aware of the need for correction.

However, there will be no more material development due to the Light of Hochma entering into this world’s desires. As a result, people will experience disappointment, depression, and a global crisis in all areas of human activity.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/28/18, Shamati, Article 37 “An Article for Purim”