Our Society Needs Urgent Treatment

Baal HaSulam, the newspaper “The Nation”: We humans are social beings, because we cannot satisfy our vital needs without assistance from others.

This is actually typical of man, as opposed to the animate level. Animals can usually take care of themselves and succeed in life.

It says that “a day old calf is called an ox.” Animal cubs develop very quickly and are ready for life after a couple of weeks. They can manage by themselves and live independently. This is true for all living things except for man. A human baby usually cannot manage and live without the help of grownups during the first 10-15 years of his life.

That is why the involvement of many people in a child’s life is a precondition for its existence. Therefore individuals were compelled to unite into a single community called a “people” or a “nation.” Each engages in one’s own trade, some in agriculture, and some in artisanship. They connect through trading of their products. Thus, the nations were made each with its unique nature, both in material life and in cultural life. Observing life, we see that the process of a nation is just as the process of an individual.

The functioning of each person within the nation is like the functioning of the organs in a single body. There must be complete harmony among the organs of each person—the eyes see and the brain is assisted by them to think and to consult, and then the hands work or fight, and the legs walk. Thus, each stands on its guard and awaits its role. Similarly, the organs that comprise the body of the nation—counselors, employers, workers, deliverers, etc.—should function in complete harmony among them. This is necessary for the nation’s normal life and for a secured existence.

Question: But why don’t I feel this harmony in our society?

Answer: This harmony doesn’t exist, but Baal HaSulam writes about what should be. A society has to exist like a healthy body in which all the organs operate in coordination with one another and in general harmony sustaining the body in the optimal manner. This is also how the connections between people of the same nation or the same country should be so that each one functions and works and thus provides society with what he can and receives from the society to the extent that the society can give him. Then we will lead a good life.

If a society wishes to be healthy, it has to keep the laws that operate in a healthy body. Everything depends on the connection between the organs or the parts of the nation. If the connections are bad, the body is ill and feels worse and worse until the connections disappear completely and the body dies. The same thing happens in the society: if bad connections operate in it, the society becomes ill until it disappears in various ways. Human history teaches us that when the connections between members of a certain society are weak, that society is doomed to extinction. This nation simply steps down from the stage of history. This is the reason that we have to urgently take care of the health of our nation.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/15, Writing of Baal HaSulam

The Spirit Of Jealousy

The Torah, “Numbers” 5:14: But a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he became jealous of his wife, and she be defiled, or, a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he was jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled.

A person makes great efforts to be connected to the Creator by his desires that are aimed at the goal. When he enters the next level of Ibur (gestation) he thinks that he can hold on in this state, but suddenly something tragic happens and he falls. He already enters the next level, the upper Partzuf and suddenly he falls because some of his desires have become detached from the right intention. There is nothing you can do here but examine your desires.

Comment: It turns out that everything in this world stems from spiritual roots?

Answer: Nothing in this world can be any other way! What is more, our world is very flat.

There are different states in the spiritual world, including jealousy and embezzlement. A person uses anything he can for his spiritual ascent. Nothing happens in vain in this process, while in our world a man may kill himself and his woman because of his jealousy. If a couple are partners in a certain search and suddenly she is physically attracted to another man, she detaches herself from the general idea, from the mutual yearning to her man and he cannot attain the goal that they have set for themselves without her.

It turns out that she has betrayed their common motion and has totally killed his state, but without her it is impossible to fulfill the spiritual correction because she is half of the common Partzuf.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/21/15

Spiritual Betrayal

The Torah, “Numbers” 5:11 – 5:15: The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: Should any man’s wife go astray and deal treacherously with him, and a man lie with her carnally, but it was hidden from her husband’s eyes, but she was secluded [with the suspected adulterer] and there was no witness against her, and she was not seized. But a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he became jealous of his wife, and she was defiled, or, a spirit of jealousy had come upon him and he was jealous of his wife, and she was not defiled. Then the man shall bring his wife to the Cohen and bring her offering for her, one-tenth part of an ephah of barley flour. He shall neither pour oil over it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal-offering of jealousies, a meal-offering of remembrance, recalling iniquity.

If the direction towards the Creator is clear to me and I gradually tie all my desires in this direction so that they will help me get close to Him and to rise to a level that is higher than me, then although my egoistic desires wish to draw me to the corporeal pleasures of this world, I want to shift them to attaining the upper world, the Creator. I constantly try to direct these desires towards the goal: I annul myself and ascend above myself, which means that I believe that all the conditions and the hardships stem from the Creator so that I will ascend above myself and advance in faith above reason. This is a system that I build and thus turn to Him with my desires.

But suddenly I disconnect from these efforts and discover that the desires I turned to Him with now yearn for different frivolous matters of everyday life. This is called “betrayal of the Creator.”

So what should I do?! I have to examine my desires: Why did it happen? Where did I lost contact with the thought that the Creator governs me? At what point, under what conditions, was my desire suddenly tempted to violate the connection with the Creator and to watch a movie, want to go on vacation, or be in some other event on the corporeal level.

Why has this desire (Nukva) betrayed me and why doesn’t it want to be adhered in the intention towards the Creator (Zeir Anpin)?!

How can I examine that? Only if I ascend to the level of the priest (Cohen) and examine things. I will not be able to do it any other way. I have lost the desire (Nukva) on the level I am now. Only the Upper Light can help a person examine why he didn’t hold on, what affected him, or what has intentionally brought him to a certain state. There are many nuances here, but they can all be resolved only this way.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/21/15

Confessing The Sin

The Torah, “Numbers” 5:5 – 5:7: The Lord then spoke to Moses saying: Tell the children of Israel: When a man or woman commits any of the sins against man to act treacherously against God, and that person is [found] guilty, they shall confess the sin they committed, and make restitution for the principal amount of his guilt, add its fifth to it, and give it to the one against whom he was guilty.

“They shall confess the sin,” means examining the work that was done and discovering what state you find yourself in. Without such scrutiny you cannot advance properly. The recognition of evil is a precondition to overcoming it.

Question: How should I examine things if I commit a trespass against the Creator, which means that I have disconnected from the attribute of love and bestowal?

Answer: We examine our state under the influence of the collective and the study according to the right system. Then we begin to judge ourselves, which is a prayer. Praying means judging yourself. If I am connected to all those who yearn for the Creator, it is thanks to this connection that I begin to see myself through their eyes, and then I can examine myself. If I am inside myself, I basically don’t think or reflect about anything and I am on the animate level. After all, an animal feels itself the way it is, whereas, a human being feels himself with regard to others and so he feels envy, jealousy, and other attributes that are rarely found in animals.

So in order to examine myself correctly we need a group; delving into myself will only lead to depression and to nothing but self-torture. All this is useless. Self-examination is a state in which you draw the Upper Light, which comes through the group unto yourself and you begin to examine yourself with regard to it. Such a focused examination shows you to what extent you are properly integrated into the group, which means with the Creator! It is because the group is actually the general attribute of connection to which you measure yourself. But if you do it by yourself, you will begin to compare yourself to ordinary people and this isn’t the state you should compare yourself to. It has to be fulfilled through the group and through the Upper Light that comes through it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/21/15

Curing The Harmful Desires

The Torah, “Numbers” 5:1 – 5:2: And the Lord spoke to Moses saying: Command the children of Israel, to banish from the camp all those afflicted with tzara’ath or with a male discharge, and all those unclean through [contact with] the dead.

The attributes called leper and unclean by the dead exist in every person. It refers to the ego that is not corrected yet. In order to correct it we need to accurately separate the useless parts, the lowly and egotistically infected parts, from the desires that have already been cured with the intention of in order to love and bestowal, for the sake of the right and good connection. This kind of work is done on every level. The moment a certain step forward is fulfilled in the preparation for the ascent to the level of the land of Israel, the level of complete bestowal and of a total connection of mutual love between everyone, different actions should immediately be performed in order to clarify and gather what is missing.

If I am assigned to classify, clean, and choose certain items, for example, I do it without glasses the first time, then with weak glasses, and then with even stronger lenses and with the right light, etc. This means that each time the resolution is higher. It is as if we examine these attributes but under an increasingly stronger magnifying glass. When we classify we clarify whether these attributes are actually harmful and to what extent. What is more, we can correct them only when we separate them from other attributes, outside the camp. But on the whole, the whole generation that advances from Mt. Sinai to the land of Israel dies, and a new generation enters this land, which means that the ego disappears completely and the nation enters the land of Israel as if it is reborn.

Question: Where do the uncorrected attributes go?

Answer: Beyond the boundaries of the desires that participate in the ascent to the level of the land of Israel. They have to die, which means that they have to be totally changed and fully corrected. Death in spirituality means purification. We have to think about how to distinguish the impure desire and attributes inside me and not use them. Taking them out of the camp is a way of putting them to death. They don’t need to receive any Light.

The problem is that when egoistic desires are among the right desires and intentions they receive the Light from them and cling to them. Why do we remove a tumor, for example? It is because it sucks the powers from the body and is nourished by the healthy organs, living at their expense. But if it is removed, it dies because of lack of nourishment. Therefore, when the egoistic intention dies the desires are rehabilitated and cured; they undergo correction and join the healthy body. At the same time, nothing disappears. The desires remain and only the intention changes: altruistic intentions appear instead of the egoistic intentions.

Question: Is this how a leper becomes pure?

Answer: A leper is a desire that is used incorrectly, for one’s own sake. But if you cut the intention for the sake of one’s self off it, and change it with the help of the Upper Light into the intention for the sake of the Creator, this desire is cured.

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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/21/15

Is There Meaning To Our Lives?

Comment: In an article by Andrei Koroptov, “Meaningful Herpes,” the author shares his point of view about the meaning of life: “It is not as I thought about the meaning of life, that there is some kind of sacred intimacy, which is forbidden to mention in vain. No, it is precisely the opposite: I am absolutely sure that there is no meaning to life.”

Answer: It seems that the author of the article is trying to evade the question about themeaning of life and therefore rejects it. He apparently calls upon us simply to live in security and comfort in a “special state of a proteinaceous material” called “life,” and that’s it. The longer that this protein lives, we exist, and nothing more. This is an absolutely realistic view of our world. But the idea that I disagree with is not only the inner feeling of a person, his need for awareness and attainment of the meaning of life, but also the general concept of material existence itself. For it is precisely in these protein states that the question about the meaning of life appears.

Why is there such a question? We exist with desires that are above the beastly states, and specifically in these more sublime desires, we see our essential existence. This is so much so that a person is ready to be separated from his bestial existence if he is somehow convinced that there is nothing outside of it. So even the meaning of the beastly life is lost for him. Second, without a doubt there is meaning in nature. We cannot deny this since we are part of nature, and even though we are not aware of ourselves and nature at all, still our observations tell us that all of evolution has a strong internal logical basis that drives everything.

Today both physicists and chemists agree with this. And religion has nothing to do with it. I am talking from the point of view of pure science: We cannot deny that there is a plan of development to nature according to which we exist within a particular process. This process gradually brings us to the appearance of questions about the next state. And this is gradually revealed.

So, on one hand, it is possible to say that there is no meaning to life. But then it is necessary to point out this conclusion is based on our current state. It is impossible to say that there is absolutely no meaning in nature, it is just that now it is understood like this by us. What will happen to each one of us in another few minutes or with humanity in another few generations, we don’t know. So I would not claim without any basis that there is no meaning to life. You just need to understand it better.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/27/15

Wisdom Of Kabbalah As A Tool To Comprehend The Universe

When we begin comprehending the universe with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we do not go outside ourselves, nor do we “float in the void”; we conduct internal exploration by assessing relationships between us.

In the physical world, we pass distances, and take time to deal with external problems, whereas in Kabbalah, on the contrary, we go inward, inside the liaisons that exist among us.

This explains why Kabbalah is called the “inner wisdom,” while material sciences of this world are considered external. With their help, we learn things that are outside and around us, whereas Kabbalah explores the psychology of mutual communication.

With this tool, you can learn absolutely everything! If we manage to do so, disciplines such as physics, chemistry, and other sciences of this world become obvious to us in the most natural and basic form. Moreover, they turn into one general science that describes the entire universe—the overall knowledge of nature not divided into physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, etc.

Our current sensors are unable to embrace this much. When we acquire internal comprehension, we start exploring the still, vegetative, and animate nature that depends on us; thus, our understanding of nature becomes three-dimensional, because it depends on us and is determined by the way we observe the world. In fact, there is no such thing as this world; everything is inside us. The world depends on how we visualize it.

This method allows us to attain the genuine wisdom that initially sets our minds on exploring the world absolutely objectively and vividly demonstrates how subjective we are. First, we have to go to a “zero level.” The state of being independent on our properties is called “faith above reason.” It’s a condition that lets us really investigate things that are external to us.

For as long as we are linked with our egoism and fully depend on our selfish properties, we are unable to see beyond a narrow, little world that is completely distorted by our egos. This is why our earthly sciences are very limited and narrow. They can be applied to particular areas but do not cover wide scales of our existence

Thus, we constantly deal with the little matrix in which we exist. For us, it’s impossible to go beyond its borders. After all, in order to achieve it and really understand where we currently are, we must become independent and objective. But we cannot reach this state yet; for that, before anything else, we should study Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/21/15

Play The Game Of Bestowal

I perceive the image of reality exclusively through the prism of my egoistic desire. It seems that there is a certain reality outside of me. As for me, I feel as being a solid body occupying a certain volume.

I am being affected by heat and cold, gravity, wind, waves, and many other factors. Thus, I feel a certain reality outside of me, albeit only when its effects manifest on my body. The source itself is out of my reach. Right next to me, there could be a doomsday going on, but if it hasn’t dropped into my field of view, I don’t perceive it. Who knows how many dimensions surround me and what grand events are taking place in them? I simply don’t have receptors for it.

I live in my reality, among multiple other realities existing parallel to each other. Similarly, two waves pass through one another without any contact since they are transmitted in different ranges. So do I, among multiple worlds, live in my world, in the part of the whole I am able to perceive.

But a moment arrives when I start feeling my world as narrow and small. I suffer living in it. And then I am brought to a group, a guide on the path, and the instructions and booksso that I may experience all the other worlds which I do not yet perceive despite the fact that I am in them. All in all, this wisdom is called Kabbalah, the science of perception, sensation, and revelation.

The reality of creation on the whole is the upper force, the Creator. How do I reach it if I don’t feel it? To do so, I am told to make efforts to gradually develop my sensory organs. Otherwise, I won’t be able to work with them. I have to learn to control and manage them so that I could later explore the enormous external reality with their help.

How do we do it? Kabbalists tell us: “We discovered that it can be done by way of exercises if you practice them within the framework of your relations with the friends. They don’t sense the wide reality either, but you can start playing a game among yourselves. Begin to unite, care about each other, build up a society where everyone will motivate the others to bestow, love, and reciprocate.”

It is similar to your rising above your egoism, and even though in reality it’s all just a game and you are moved by the ego, still, the very efforts will develop new tendencies in you. Due to these new impressions, you will advance. Even if bestowal and oneness are out of reach, keep playing, act in this small world of yours.

What do we need this for? You need it in order to feel the lack, to sort out what you have and what you are missing. These new details of perception will create a certain attitude in you, and you’ll discover that you are saturated with new sensations meant specifically for the new dimension. You will suddenly realize that it’s truly possible to exist not in your world that is absorbed in receiving and consumption, but rather in the enormous outer worlds where everything is the other way around.

What does “the other way around” mean? How can I experience it? You will feel it namely by playing among yourselves. Then everyone will feel that there is a certain property outside of them, a property directed toward the others. Even if you still approach it egoistically, like children when they play their games of being race car drivers, pilots, or cowboys, which develop them, so do you advance in your life.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/21/2011, Writings of Rabash