International Kabbalah Congress in Paris this weekend

http://www.eurocongress.info

Apologies

Apologies from the editor:

Due to traveling engagements the blog will be idle for the next three days.
Normal service will resume on the weekend.

A Miraculous Machine

Question: What is laziness in the work?

Answer: Laziness is heaviness in our work, a lack of motivation, a lack of vigor and fuel, meaning, a lack of importance. Rabash gives a simple example: If one’s house were on fire and one needed to escape the fire, nobody would be lazy and continue sleeping. Everyone would jump out of bed and flee.

If one’s life isn’t in danger, one can say no matter what happens, what will be, will be,  and might take a sleeping pill to sleep more deeply.  Everything depends upon the importance.

There is no laziness or excitement; there is only a sense of the importance of the goal, the next state. If we are talking about a process which is repugnant to our nature, which like all animals, egoistically is drawn to rest, to fulfillment; how can one work for the fulfillment of others? This is simply impossible.

Can a car travel without fuel? Certainly not, it needs fuel. Without this it will not move! Whereas we want to reach a state in which we can advance without fuel. So how is it possible to do this without fulfilling ourselves with a nice and tempting goal? We are not ready to do this.

And here we are confused and don’t understand how to advance, where, to what goal, how to go through this whole process? This is because we truly must begin to work without fuel for our desire for pleasure, to work without an attractive goal for the ego that says it must be filled. We must go to the perpetual motion machine, towards an engine that uses an absolutely different fuel and performs other work.

We just don’t understand how such a thing can exist in reality. This is like a machine that works by itself on some invisible fuel and gets the power of movement by acting for the sake of others, fulfilling them, and doing everything for their good.

I don’t require anything for itself. It’s a miracle, and everything works. I check, does it have fuel? There is no fuel! Is there electricity? There is no electricity! Maybe it at least enjoys benefit from what it is doing? I check, it has no benefit from this! So how can it work?! Thanks to a miracle, a wonder, the power of bestowal! Why? There is no answer.

So how must we proceed towards a state like this where we will be like that machine? This is the whole question. The process moves us towards this, and we must grasp only one thing in it all the time: Connection – connection – connection. And so we pass through the states that are called the forefathers, the entire history of their development after leaving Babylon, then the entry into Egypt, seven years of satiety, seven years of famine, the plagues of Egypt, and the exodus from there.

All this happened only thanks to some kind of higher power that is unknown to us. From the connection between us, I discover all these states called seven years of satiety and seven years of famine, the ten plagues, and the escape from the previous state.

I flee from this entire old paradigm because it cannot help me any more with anything. I see that everything that I have done until now lacks value, and I discover something new here: the possibility of understanding, feeling, and working like that perpetual motion machine that works without fuel, without self-interest, and without fulfillment.

This machine works completely on the basis of a higher power. Suddenly some kind of illumination reaches it from Above and it begins to spin by itself as long as the illumination is in it. And then it’s ready to connect with others, to perform actions, to radiate energy from itself. This is simply amazing; this is the miracle that we have been waiting for so much.
[133256]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/14, Writing of Rabash

Seeing The Future

Question: I don’t understand what I have to add in order to actually participate in my own development.

Answer: When a baby is born, it first grows only instinctively. But gradually he becomes more aware.

What is the difference between a one-year-old baby and a five-year-old? What has changed besides the child’s weight? A five-year-old can somewhat understand the future, which means the outcome of the states he is experiencing. He can assess and see the future, which means expecting the next state.

Animals do it instinctively, but not humans. A baby can fall from a high place and doesn’t understand that it’s dangerous. He can put something hot in his mouth and get burnt. An animal would not do such thing; it wouldn’t fall from a high place and would not get close to danger. A baby grows and acquires the wisdom he lacks.

A wise man is one who sees the future, which means how a state develops. This is what animals do instinctively but only in the limited sphere of their existence. A person has a much stronger ability since he develops it himself.

Baal HaSulam says that if someone was shown a newborn baby and newborn calf, he would say that the calf is a more perfect creature than the human baby because the baby is totally helpless while the calf can already walk, understand, feel, and is strong.

But because we develop the ability to see the future, we understand who is more perfect. The whole wisdom is in the ability to see the future. Therefore people consult wise men who see what ordinary people cannot see. This is what we have to acquire these days because the whole world is becoming confused and depressed. No one knows what to do and no one sees any possible outcomes. Therefore, we have to learn to see the future.

In contrast to previous generations, we can already see the future, our future, only in vessels of bestowal. It’s because the spiritual future is approaching and we cannot identify it, and so we think everything is falling apart. However, the point is that we cannot perceive and see the future and enter it in our current vessels because we don’t belong to that system. In order to become compatible with that system, to see the future and understand the changes that we have to make in order to adapt to the future, we need to be wise.

A wise man is anyone who knows the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore it written in theprophets that thousands all over the world will hold on to every wise man so that he will lead them.
[133657]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam

An Operation For The Assistant Director

Question: What does it mean for me to participate in my own development, that didn’t exist before?

Answer: Previously you were a box that was managed by orders that came from a network. Within you were only mechanisms through which they activated you with these commands. But now, into yourself, you must move the main part of the computer that is above you and sends you the commands along with the program that runs it. This is called, “a part of the Divine from Above.”

Question: Why are you calling me a box? After all, I am alive and learning.

Answer: Because you are a desire to receive that is activated only by self-interest that is managed from Above. But now you are getting a part of the computer that manages you, together with the program. You need to know the ultimate goal of creation and your true situation. You need to know how to advance in a mandatory direction.

You need to check yourself, understand, and see that you are a desire to receive, so you cannot advance towards the desired goal of creation. Appearing within you is a conflict between what you want and what is necessary. This will draw you towards troubles and wars through which you will gradually begin to change your mind about the goal.

You don’t want this goal, anything but to bestow, to give. But what is there to do? You receive blow after blow, flee until there is neither anywhere to flee nor anywhere to hide. You begin to accept that you have no choice but to agree. And through your consent, you begin to learn that until this point all was through coercion, and then it becomes according to your desire.

We see this according to the 4 phases of Ohr Yashar (Direct Light), how a receiver is made from a bestower, and that a receiver under pressure can resemble the bestower. But this is a very long way, since 400 years are required for this. These are the 4 phases of  Ohr Yashar, but in reverse, and this way is not very desirable.

So we needed progressive development over billions of years. And now through thewisdom of Kabbalah and a guide that is sent to you, you begin to see how to carry out actions that will be desirable to your ego and will gradually become a mechanism that works in the opposite way. All of this must be done gradually, not because you receive benefit for yourself, rather because this is good for others, including the higher power.
[133655]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/14/25, Writings of Baal HaSulam

A Turning Point In The Perception Of The World

Question: How do we explain to people that an imbalance with naturecauses disease?

Answer: Rationalism has existed in the world since the days of ancient Greece. The prevailing view is that a human is found above all of nature and we shouldn’t wait for mercy from heaven; rather, it is up to us to take everything into our hands. This broke us, for a materialistic philosophy developed claiming that a person is not a part of nature. In fact, he is the greatest egoist.

Nature includes the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate within which man is found. And man thinks he is outside of all of this; this is our problem.

This contradiction is particularly prominent now; I think that I am found above nature and it shows me that I am found within nature, under its control.

The difference between my world view, my desire to be above nature, and what is in fact discovered, awakens a global crisis that includes all areas of human activity. This is because I think that I control nature and I suddenly discover that nature is integral. Now we are gradually discovering that we are inside a computer, within a program that manages us, so we cannot do anything. All of our plans are destroyed and there is no way that we can succeed in activating them. We try to do something with our lives, with the children, with the nation, but everything is in vain. Why? It is because we have developed to a state where we feel ourselves above nature, but discover that it is above us and in sum we are activated by it, whether we like it or not. This lack of accommodation between our state and what happens in reality leads to all the problems.

And in the meantime, the global network of management is being discovered as more and more linked. It doesn’t make a difference what we do; in response we feel a blow, a severe reaction. Nothing will succeed, the world is falling apart, the family is breaking apart, children go away in all directions, and everything escapes from our hands. These many problems must bring us to one conclusion, we are within a cosmic, globally inclusive system, within a program that is called the purpose of creation, and we are only a small part of it.

The crisis helps us discover that we are a part of that program, and we have a free choicehere that makes it possible for us to recognize the program and to carry it out from our choice. Only then can we be called “man.”

And if we don’t want to carry out the program by our free choice, then we will have to do it against our will, because we will not succeed in doing anything! More and more problems have arisen in the world precisely to show that humanity depends upon nature and its program. This is because nature is the Creator, the higher power, and if we are within it, so its program is found beyond our powers. This is the point of the crisis in the world view and integration within it.

So when we go out to the general population, it is up to us to explain to them that for all of their problems in the family, at work, in health, with children, and so forth, for all of this there is only one cause and one solution, and this is the right connection between us.
[132254]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/14, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

We Have To Do Something To Change The World

People don’t feel the need to connect, but they understand that they should connect when they feel that they lack ordinary material things. This is the initial level of the still nature.

They want to better their lives and they understand that it’s possible to find some merit that may help them by connecting. Having connected several times, thanks to our help, they understand that there is a special power in it: a pleasant, good feeling of confidence and of joy. But this is not enough.

If they begin to change their environment and their lives with this power of connection, they will really manage to see that their actions can change the world. But in order to do that, they need to do something other than just sitting and rejoicing about how good they feel together.

Now they have to actually fulfill the power of connection: to change their lives, the life in their neighborhood, the relations in the family, the attitude towards children, to demand that the government make new laws to improve education, and the connection between people.
[133760]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/27/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

The Key To The Miraculous Remedy

The Book of Zohar is the key to the Segula (miraculous remedy).Any person who wants something can get it. It’s not important what exactly he wants. The desire of the person is always influential. This is because we are in the force field of a desire, and this power is influential. The stronger the desire, the more influential it is; the weaker the desire, the less influential it is.

But besides this, these desires are arranged according to a hierarchical ladder, on various levels. On every level, a stronger desire swallows a weaker desire. But qualitatively, the desires are found on various levels, and a desire on a higher level, even if it’s weak, will win over a strong desire from a lower level. This means that quality is more important than quantity, than strength.

Besides this, there is the idea of a direct desire and its opposite. It is written: (Pirkei Avot 2:4) “Make your desire like His desire.” This means that if I want The Book of Zohar to influence me in a good, direct way, I need to make my desires identical to His, meaning to reach such a state where I truly want to bestow, to give. Then this Segula that is concealed in The Book of Zohar will influence me directly: He has what I am asking for and He gives it to me.

As long as I ask to get something from the Creator—“I want this, and this and this! Give it to me! Give it to me! Give!”—then this doesn’t exist in spirituality, and then the upper Light will influence me in the opposite way. In other words, He will bring me a little more darkness and then I will gradually get wiser, and with the passing of a number of years of development, I will feel that this is not the way and will begin to be changed. As long as an inner revolution has not taken place in us where we want what the upper Light wants, we will not get the right and direct help from Him.

So when we are before The Book of Zohar, it’s worthwhile for us to understand that thousands of people have tried to get all kinds of miraculous remedies from this Book and haven’t gotten anything, and only a few have known what to ask from this Book because they have expected to get the power of bestowal, the characteristic of bestowal, from it and own it.

Everything depends on how to ask and what to ask. If we ask for the characteristic of bestowal, and everyone together, then we have adapted ourselves precisely to this miraculous remedy in the best way, and then it works on us.
[133990]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/14, Writings of Rabash

A Point That Reveals The Upper World

Question: What should a person’s inner work be during meals?

Answer: Each of us should constantly work internally, and it makes no difference whether it is during a meal or not. I always have to work in order to be in the center of the group internally and to look for theCreator concealed there. And it is said “a hiding God,” “the upper is hiding.”

I only need to bring myself to the point of connection, of adhesion, and then to constantly expand it by feeling many attributes, feelings, sounds, and Lights in it, which means to discover it.

The more I clarify the point of adhesion, where the Creator is, the deeper I delve into it and the sooner I will begin to feel its attributes and the combination between them, and thus will summon the influence of the upper Light upon myself. Then I will discover a special passage to the upper world.

This is what we have to engage in and not only during the meal.

Gradually the point of adhesion will begin to expand, and from this central point of creation, it will first become the world of Assiya, and then the world of Yetzira, Beria, etc. I will begin to unite the individual souls inside me into one general soul on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. This will gradually be revealed in life, a complete connection between feelings and understandings, and is continuous work.

The meals, meeting the friends, and dissemination only add their extra forms to the inner search. All our work has to be focused on this one point.
[133637]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/17/14, Questions and Answers with Dr. Laitman

The Conditions For Breaking Through The Potential Machsom

Question: Is a Tzimtzum our first activity without which it is impossible to go out into the spiritual world?

Answer: A Tzimtzum (restriction) is the first condition that differentiates this world from the upper world and differentiates an intention in order to receive and an intention in order to bestow.

In this way I go out from a perception of the physical reality I am now, like all of humanity, and break through the Machsom (barrier) that is placed before me in order to begin to feel and live on its other side.

The Tzimtzum determines on which side of the border of the spiritual world I am found. AMachsom is a potential obstacle, a potential level, above which it’s necessary to leap in order to enter into the new dimension, the new world. And it’s possible to do this through a Tzimtzum of desires. A Tzimtzum requires gradual preparation and a great effort with a great need to move towards the perception of a new life, where I only want to be directed from myself outward, beyond my nature.
[133857]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/14, Shamati #141

When You Disappear, You Are Found

Question: Where am I found in the connection between us into one point of mutual guarantee? I do not find myself there! Where are my characteristics and tastes? Do they disappear within this connection?

Answer: Specifically when you disappear, you are found. You exist only in this form when you melt into the connection. Does a mother have anything of her own other than what she provides for her children?

Does she need something of her own? No, that is why she is called a mother, thinking only about the welfare of her children. Bina has nothing of her own. Her upper half belongs to the Sefirot of Keter and Hochma, and her lower half belongs to ZON, and what is left for herself? She only has the point of the Chazeh where Bina calculates how much to rise further and how much to descend further.

The further a person rises up the ladder of levels, the more he will resemble Bina and extend further over all of reality. His entire upper part reaches to the world of Infinity, and his entire lower part encompasses all the lower levels, down to the lowest part. In that way, he covers the entire creation.
[133561]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/18/14, The Zohar

Unseen Gifts

Question: Why do we need to hope for redemption, which is impossible without our hope?

Answer: It is simply necessary to feel how much we need it. As long as we don’t have a deficiency for something, there is no Kli; we are not ready to receive the desired fulfillment.

The Creator is ready to give us gifts as much as we want. He demands only one thing: that we will have a desire for them, otherwise we don’t feel the gifts. If you bring a gift to a person that he doesn’t need, he will not feel any value in it.

So we must attain a deficiency and then we discover that the gift is already found, it’s near us, in the air. The entire space around us is filled with gifts; you simply don’t see and don’t imagine what is happening here. Everything is already found, you only need a deficiency.

It’s like I take off my glasses and don’t see anything in front of me. How is it possible to give some kind of gift to a person in conditions like these? The Upper Light is at absolute rest, but the gift is revealed in a desire that is appropriate for the Light. Prepare your desire and the gift will be revealed.

There is no need to ask the Creator: “Give me, give me!” The moment, I begin to prepare my deficiency, I discover that I am not ready to do this, and then I will ask the Creator: “Help me mold my desire for the gift that you have prepared for me.” And the Creator will help.

But as long as I have not formed the desire, I will not feel the gift. The desire must precisely match the gift, the Light. The redemption will not come as long as I don’t have a complete desire, a need for the Creator, the king of the world, there is no feeling of exile. Separation from the Creator is death for me! He must be discovered in my world; otherwise, I will not be able to get what I need so much.

If I don’t have this feeling of exile, then how can the redemption come? How can the gift be revealed if I don’t have a need for it? I must feel that I am yearning to bestow and am not ready to reach this, so I am obligated to have the Creator save me, reveal His greatness.

I don’t need His revelation, otherwise I would begin to enjoy him egoistically; rather, I need the feeling of His greatness. This is all that I ask! Just as it’s important for me to go on vacation or relax on the beach now, I must constantly think about bestowal and understand that in order to attain it I need the greatness of the Creator.

My desire needs to receive a form that is accommodated to the revelation of the Creator. I want to bestow to the Creator, to feel within my desire how I bestow to Him, and that He has enjoyment from me and bestows to me through this manner. In this way we are together with Him in this intention, in adherence with one another, in mutual bestowal.

It makes no difference who bestows and who receives. The Creator gives and I give; He bestows and I bestow, both of us are equal. It’s not important who is first and who is last if there is love between us, our actions are completely equal. That He is the Creator and I am the creature loses all meaning. Is the infant less important to his mother than she is important to herself?

Question: Does it follow that the Creator also receives?

Answer: The Creator gets pleasure from me. But where does He enjoy if He has no desire to receive? He enjoys my desires! It’s like a mother who enjoys her baby because things are going well for him. Her pleasure is found within the infant.

Now we can understand how great our desire for pleasure is. Within it there is already the desire to bestow of the Upper, and so everything begins and ends with our desire.
[133865]
From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/29/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam