New Life #759 – Proper Boundaries In Love

New Life #759 – Proper Boundaries In Love
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches how to relate to others in a balanced way, including one’s spouse.

Summary

For this we must study human nature, add limits to instinctive sensations of love and hatred, and make connections between us correctly, with a spiritual connection.

A person begins to feel the other when he reins in his narcissism, the desire to fulfill himself. He restricts his egoism, rises above instinctive drives, and develops a relationship toward others through internal effort.

In proper love between spouses and in general, there exists a balance between feelings and intellect. On the one hand, there is love, and on the other hand, there is a limit to revealing that love, a limitation on the giving to others depending on the response of the other side.

In order to build a loving connection, we must take the desire of the other and work on fulfilling it, the result of which is aspiring to become one.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #759 – Proper Boundaries In Love,” 8/11/16

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In Harmony With Global Nature

When a person enters the global system of nature and adjusts himself to it by observing all its laws on all levels, he comes to the balance and harmony with both material and spiritual nature, because they are one whole. It seems to us that they are different things because we don’t perceive them as a whole yet.

We don’t notice a lot of things in nature. After all, in the material world we see only a small fragment of it.

But if a person acts according to the laws of Kabbalah that explain how to tune in to the entire nature, called the Creator, he receives only positive feedback from it.

It is said so in the Torah in a simple language that everything will be good for you: your wife, children, home, peace, country, weather, sun, and moon, everything will shine and flourish. And during your life you will begin to move gradually from the perception of this world only to the perception of the spiritual world, that is eternal and perfect, as well.

You will move from one system of forces to another. You won’t feel when you die since you don’t die, but simply turn into a spiritual person. You gradually stop feeling your body and feel yourself living in the eternal, infinite, and perfect space.

This is the state we must reach. The wisdom of Kabbalah and the entire Torah urge us to do just that.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/11/16

How Can We Defeat Egoism?

Question: What should a person do if he feels that a huge egoistic potential is hanging on him and doesn’t allow him to function normally? What measures should he take in order to get rid of this burden?

Answer: Only the Upper Light can correct any kind of egoism, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) that is external to us.

Question: A person has to turn into a human being, Adam, in order to defeat his egoism and get closer to the Creator. But what happens if Satan (a man’s ego) wins? You often speak about what we should do in order to win, but what if we lose?

Answer: There is no Satan, but only our egoism, and the Creator manages everything according to a person’s efforts. Everything depends on the quality and the quantity of our efforts.
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Everything Depends On A Person’s Internal Development

Torah, Deuteronomy 9:4 – 9:5: Do not say to yourself, when the Lord, your God, has repelled them from before you, saying, “Because of my righteousness, the Lord has brought me to possess this land,” and [that] because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord drives them out from before you. Not because of your righteousness or because of the honesty of your heart, do you come to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and in order to establish the matter that the Lord swore to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Question: “Not because of my righteousness” does the Creator bring me to this land, “but because of the wickedness of these nations, …” He “drives them out.” Does it mean this isn’t my achievement?

Answer: Of course. A person has no strength to act directly against himself, against hisegoism. He can only try, and to the extent that he tries and suffers, he appeals to theCreator, and the Creator frees him from egoistic desires. Therefore it happens in such a roundabout alternative route.

Comment: And then again and again “Not because of your righteousness’ is repeated…

Answer: No, it just seems to us that the same thing is repeated. We are talking about new levels! Every time we advance, all these steps and all these circumstances seem completely different to us.

For example, I can look at some picture, and when I am in one state it causes me to feel one way, in another state I feel differently. In a year or two I have changed, so it causes me to feel a third way and so on. Therefore, although allegedly the same circumstance is described here, the fact is that I constantly change. Everything depends on a person’s internal development.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/4/16

A Woman’s Purity

Question: What is the spiritual meaning of Niddah (expiration of menstruation)?

Answer: Niddah is a spiritual state of impurity and is meant to get rid of all the shells, Klipot, (impure desires) that are left after the correction. They are called Gevurot (limiting forces, Dinim) or Lev HaEven (heart of stone), and they are disconnected from the desire to receive, called woman, and thus she is purified.

Here lies the whole system of the universe. After all, in the same way as our body develops, our soul evolves When I speak about concepts such as the desire to receive, the desire to bestow, the three lines, ten Sefirot, etc., they are depicted in my mind and not the physical states of our male and female bodies.

Question: Do we refer to egoistic thoughts only when we speak about a woman’s impurity, to receiving, to living for my own sake?

Answer: No, a woman who gives birth doesn’t do it for her own sake because otherwise she wouldn’t give birth. Therefore, a state of purity emerges when she is ready to join bestowal. After her monthly cycle ends,  it is necessary to wait seven days  during which Malchut ascends to Bina, and then she is ready to be fertilized.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/24/16

We Can Do Everything!

Question: I had many questions after the St. Petersburg convention. We have learned that we cannot change those around us, but can only change ourselves by working with our egoism. But in the convention you said that we cannot change ourselves either, but can only change our connections in the group.

I understand that the work in the group is very important, but still we have to work on ourselves in some way in order to correct our desires. How can we correct the intention of in order to receive for my own sake to in order to bestow?

Are there any concrete suggestions, exercises, or practical work? I cannot participate in a group physically and I don’t think that I can actually advance by working with my virtual group.

Answer: We can do anything the Creator can do, and we can also receive and harm others, which He cannot do. We can change ourselves and others internally because the whole world is inside me! You need to find a group and study together, even in a virtual group.
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New Life #435 – The Month Of Elul: Time For Soul Searching

New Life #435 – The Month Of Elul: Time For Soul Searching
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What soul searching do we do during the month of Elul? What do we discover when we engage in such thoughts, and how do we get on a new path toward a balanced and harmonious life?

Summary

The Jewish holidays describe the phases on the way to the perfect connection between people and between humanity and nature. The goal is to attain the force oflove among people and to become equivalent to nature, to God. There is one law in nature that ties together all its parts, except for mankind, into one system. We are pushed forward by blows until we cry “enough.”

The question is why do we suffer. This kind of soul searching during the month of Elul comes from a special illumination that that Light of the mind shines on us. “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.” “Beloved” refers to the great system of nature which develops us, the Creator.

Our soul searching is about why we quarrel with each other endlessly; why we were created with such an evil nature; how lowly and contemptible human nature is compared to the great pure and beautiful nature.

All the species in nature operate according to their instincts and so they are never wrong, while we go wrong over and over again. Why is that so? Because we try to use our emotions and our mind in order to harm others, and it returns to us.

In the additional mind and emotions we were given compared to the animals, we have freedom of choice.

The conclusion of the month of Elul is that I want to reach a state of balance, the state of “love thy friend as thyself.”
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From KabTV’s “New Life #435 – The Month Of Elul: Time For Soul Searching,” 9/14/14

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The Wisdom of Kabbalah: What Is It About? Who Is It For? And For What?

Question: What is the wisdom of Kabbalah about?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how we all have to rise above our egoism by the good force in nature, the Light, and how to become good and connect with everyone into one whole desire. The positive attribute of love and bestowal that is revealed among us is called the upper force because it is above our egoism. It is called the Creatorbecause He created us with an attribute that is opposite from Him, as it is written, “I have created the evil inclination.”

Question: Who is the wisdom of Kabbalah intended for?

Answer: For anyone who feels a desire to discover the secret of his birth, his destiny, and the meaning in of life. According to all our sources there are no limitations in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: Why do religious people object to the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: Only religious people who do not understand the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah object to it, as do many non-religious people. The wisdom of Kabbalah does not refer to religion in any way because religion does not have the goal of changing a person’s attribute from egoistic to altruistic but only to keep him in frameworks where he can live according to corporeal customs. Baal HaSulam describes this in great detail in the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”
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