New Life #998 – Disputes Among The Jewish People

New Life #998 – Disputes Among The Jewish People
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

With every level of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking, the desire to receive becomes greater and the power of clarification becomes greater. Therefore, developed people find themselves in disputes. A person is even in dispute with himself. That is how they develop.

Disputes among the people of Israel are necessary for their spiritual development. The higher power that developed the Jewish people awakened opposing opinions between them so that they would learn to connect above them. The Jews will subsequently discover the truth, which is union above all differences based on the principle “love covers all transgressions.” An argument for the sake of heaven is an argument that moves us toward connection with the Creator and overcomes our egoistic justifications. The Jewish people do not eliminate disputes but learn to ascend to the heavens through them.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #998 – Disputes Among The Jewish People,” 4/17/18

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Kabbalah And Mentality

Question: Suppose a person settles down in some geographical place and acquires its character and mentality. Is this all determined from above?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is there a concept of mentality in Kabbalah?

Answer: No. Earthly human properties have a very small influence on the characteristics of the soul since in the upper world a person begins to acquire completely new properties, new states.

Alongside with this, he sees the limits of his inclusion in the general system of Adam and at the same time his animal states, especially his material weaknesses and inclinations. But it does not really matter for spiritual correction.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/31/17

New Life #997 – Consensus In Spirituality

New Life #997 – Consensus In Spirituality
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

A society cannot exist without consensus and belonging. The more a person’s ego grows, the less he likes to follow what was formerly agreed upon. The wisdom of Kabbalah was hidden for thousands of years until the world was ready to accept its values of love and connection with others. We need to reach a new consensus that all of us belong to one people or group and that we have an obligation to take care of each other. Then we will reach a consensus that we need to implement a general social educational system based on the rule “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” When we attain this rule in society, we will be elevated to the level of the Creator and the world will become a Garden of Eden.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #997 – Consensus In Spirituality,” 4/15/18

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Spiritual Harmony Of The Hebrew Language

Knowledge of Hebrew is very important in studying Kabbalah. It is unlike the sciences of this world, for example physics, which can be learned in any language. Kabbalistic terms in Hebrew directly correspond to spiritual vessels, lights, and actions.

While reading the Kabbalistic text, we do not just read words, but go from desire to desire, revealing the Creator through the change of letters and their sequence.

Each letter is a spiritual symbol, and each word is a matrix. It is like a special secret code, an encryption. Each word, letter, order of words, and the root of each word come from the relationship of lights and desires. The Hebrew language was created on this foundation. It is the only language that has arisen not for corporeal use, but has descended from Above to define relationships between lights and desires.

Therefore, knowledge of Hebrew helps us penetrate deeper into the connection of light and desire, to feel its taste and understand why it is exactly the way it is. We can feel the harmony embedded in the Hebrew language and the internal interconnection of the forces of nature that are expressed through its letters.

When translating Kabbalistic text to English or to any other language, the essence of the explanation that is included in the word itself is lost. Translation gives a more external understanding of the action, whereas the Hebrew word expresses the inner meaning of the desires, their connection between each other and with the light, and the form of filling.

In addition to letters in Hebrew there are vocalization points, crowns over letters—TANTA(Ta’amim-Nekudot-Tagin-Otiot – tastes-points-crowns-letters)—which show how these properties begin to unfold.

There are 22 letters in Hebrew: nine from Bina, nine from Zeir Anpin, and four from Malchut, and five more letters at the end of words, that is, the symbols standing on the Parsa. The exit of the light builds points (vocalizations) that disappear. Vowels are almost never used, they are just implied.

Letters, points, crowns over the letters are all very important. They can reveal the entire wisdom. If we knew the inner meaning of the words and of the order of words and letters—all this is the entire revelation of the Creator to the created beings.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/18, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Giving of the Torah – 1”

What Makes Man Special?

Question: If we look at a flock of animals, for example, they live in a kind of a communist society where everything is communal. Is man a mutation of nature, a special being in which the ego suddenly began to develop?

Answer: Man, in his animal state, is an ordinary being. But there is human egoism in him, which raises him above nature.

In all of nature—inanimate, vegetative, and animate—there is no egoism; it boils down to instinct, the desire to survive. The instinctive desire for survival, the fulfillment of the rigid laws of nature, exists on these levels like on a hard disk, as in a permanent memory, and is not considered egoism.

Egoism is a desire for excess, when I want more than I need for my material existence. And if I naturally fight for my existence, this is not considered egoism.

The egoistic additive makes man special. Therefore, he stands out from the number of animals and begins to develop as a special being.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 11/13/17

New Life #996 – Social Conventions

New Life #996 – Social Conventions
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

Social conventions are behaviors that most of society supports that stabilize the general atmosphere. We have conservative religious conventions, conventions in science and art that lead to new discoveries, and social conventions in the media such as fake news. New conventions are accepted once people have made sure they are good for us. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about conventions on a new level, which is that all of us must be connected with love.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #996 – Social Conventions”, 4/15/18

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“Buy Yourself A Friend”

Question: There are certain principles in Kabbalah: “Make for yourself a rav” (find a teacher), “buy yourself a friend,” and “judge every person favorably.” What do they mean, and how are these principles interconnected?

Answer: The concept of “Rav” (great) is identical to the concept of the Creator.

Once you accept the Creator as your guiding star that you want to constantly aim toward, you must choose a group of companions; this is called “buy yourself a friend.” You must exert great efforts so that your friends truly become your companions.

And then, together with the Creator and the group, you begin to work on attaining the system, bringing the whole world to the scale of merit, i.e., judging every person favorably.

Question: What kind of a friend is this that can be bought and sold?

Answer: Everything in life is for sale. And here it is the same, but in a different way than in our world.

For example, in order for you to become my friend, I have to exert efforts to show you how important you are to me, that I am willing to sacrifice myself to have you with me, that I am willing to buy any gifts in order to bring you closer to me. We work with our egoism, and the ego doesn’t understand anything else. Do not try to make philosophers out of yourselves, removed from earthly matters.

Therefore, everything is “bought and sold” only at the expense of our efforts. We have to show each other that we are ready for anything in order to become close friends, that the great goal can only be achieved together, between us. This is called “to buy.”

Question: And what if you are unable to buy a friend?

Answer: That is your problem. But if you do not “buy” him, you will not be able to advance with him, you will not achieve the right level of connection.

The Creator can be revealed only in the union between you. The Creator cannot be revealed inside an individual, but only in the connection between us! What used to be egoism becomes a sandwich: hatred on the bottom, love on the top, and in that connection the Creator is revealed.

Therefore, a person doesn’t have to correct anything other than his connections with other people.

Question: So first, I need to achieve the state where the Creator (the force of bestowal) is most important for me. Then I have to buy friends, meaning to take care of their spirituality, and then I will be able to enter spirituality myself. And only after this will we be able to justify everything that is happening in the world?

Answer: Yes, because the world is the system of connections between us in which the Creator is revealed.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/3/17

New Life #995 – Collective Memory, Part 2

New Life #995 – Collective Memory, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

The people of Israel have the ability to build a supreme, collective memory in which the Creator is felt. They have a spiritual “gene” that burns in them and reminds them of their spiritual root. They know how to transcend their differences connect with love. They have the ability to choose to connect like a flock of fish. When they do so, Israel will look like a paradise, or Garden of Eden, since everyone will be satisfied, confident, and grateful. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches the Jewish people how to form good relationships and bring paradise to the whole world.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #995 – Collective Memory,” Part 2, 4/10/18

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