Working With Obstacles

If my goal is to give to the Creator, then it should not be important for me whether I do it from the state of ascent or descent. I make a restriction on myself as if I do not exist, and I am only looking for any opportunity to please the Creator. I constantly live in such a “sandwich”: I only pay attention to my goal to bring joy to the Creator, whether I rise or fall.

Then my attitude to the ups and downs becomes constructive: I evaluate them in terms of what will help me more. Perhaps it is more useful for me to reveal more darkness and all kinds of defects. Already by the fact that I thank the Creator for the evil revealed, I give Him pleasure because I understand that this is preparation for merging with Him. I want to be faithful to Him in bad states just as in good ones and not wait for Him to correct everything.

If I solve the problems and stay in joy, this is a sign that I am on the right track and keep the right direction. There is no good without evil. Evil is a solid foundation with which I can confidently advance to perfect work. I always check where and how, in what form and with what power can I please the Creator as much as possible, attach to Him. I do not strive for Him so that I feel good, but because my whole intention is to merge with Him for the sake of bestowing to Him. Therefore, we can feel perfection in any state so that darkness will shine as the Light, and there will be no difference between darkness and light, day and night, and everything will be united in one great day.

If I do not see myself in such a sandwich, then life will constantly throw me up and down, I will not feel that these jumps are targeted, and I will not be happy about the ups and downs equally.

The Creator is the healer of all diseases. Therefore, when I reveal some kind of breakage, I already have the right medicine. When I reveal the disease, it already means I have a cure: these two processes are inextricably linked. The main joy comes from revealing the flaws. The more we reveal them, the more pleasure we can deliver to the Creator.

If I am ready, I will always be glad for any fall: “Look, there is still a flaw! And here is another one, and more!” I will enjoy and rejoice in revealing defects and regret those that have not yet been revealed. After all, a hidden problem has no chance of resolution, and discovering it is a great blessing from above. If it is manifested, it means it existed before but in disguise.

If the Creator reveals bad qualities, conditions, and broken relationships to us, it is a sign of our progress. We must accept them all with joy because they are sent to us by the Creator with love. We must immediately answer Him with love, gratitude, and blessings for the bad as much as for the good^.1

It is not good if everything goes quietly and smoothly in the group. This is similar to a family: if a husband and wife never argue, then it is not life. According to nature, there must be conflicts so that we understand each other’s weaknesses and love each other no matter what. There must be gaps and connections, and only their alternation gives a sense of life.

We do not need to wait for the relationship to be smooth like a horizontal line. After all, it is known that a flatlined electrocardiogram means death. Life means beatings, blows and overcomings: there must be ups and downs.²
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/13/19, “To Learn From the Descent During the Time of Ascent”

Sorting Desires

Question: How can we understand which desires we can correct now and which we will be able to correct later? How can we not waste time on something that we cannot change?

Answer: Indeed, there are such desires that we are not yet able to change. But it is not important. We can sort them only if we are in a group.

After all, in the group I work on the greatness of bestowal, the greatness of connection. This is called the greatness of the Creator because the Creator Himself does not exist—there are qualities of connection, bestowal, and love.

When I am in a group and work on these qualities, then I start sorting out the desires and thoughts that arise in me and I work with them.

Question: Which is more correct: to focus on sorting the desires of the friends in the group or to give them the opportunity to help me sort my desires?

Answer: The most correct way is when I, being in a group, receive from my friends their thoughts and desires and I become their full assistant, ally, and even slave. I am ready to help them in everything to realize their wishes and thoughts.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/14/19

New Life #1136 – The Essence Of Human Evil

New Life #1136 – The Essence of Human Evil
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

The wisdom of Kabbalah defines evil as an egoistic thought or desire that is directed toward one’s own benefit because it surely comes at the expense of others. It could be that someone like a doctor benefits others because it makes him feel good, yet this is also considered to be evil. By transcending the human ego, it becomes possible to discover the “upper world,” “divinity,” and the system that manages everything. There is no limit to human evil. It is only the ability to learn how to transform evil into good that is in our hands.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1136 – The Essence of Human Evil,” 7/11/19

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Walk With The Rod And The Serpent

When the importance of spirituality falls in my eyes, it is as if the rod falls out of my hands and turns into a serpent. But these two states are connected: we cannot rise up without going down. “God has made one opposite the other.” The rod holds me up and the serpent drags me down.

If spirituality falls in my eyes and I elevate it, it means that I am walking with the rod. The nature of the rod is such that it constantly falls and each time I have to lift it up. The rod falls, I lift it; it falls again, I lift it again with the help of the ten and the reforming light. At first, we just study this theoretically, but later it turns into practical work. I begin to work with these forces, feel how the ten gives me energy, desire, and support by attracting the upper light and revealing the Creator.

Such a powerful compression occurs inside the group that the force of bestowal is revealed in it. Through this pressure, we squeeze all the egoism out of ourselves and it flows outside. An empty vessel remains there, already without egoistic desires, filled with the light of Hassadim.¹

If someone humiliated me, just spat in my face in front of everyone, what should I do? If this happens in ordinary life, with outside people without any connection to inner work, I must react as it is customary in this world, the same as everyone else: defend myself, complain, that is, act according to the situation. In the external world, I must look like everyone else and not appear strange.

However, if such a conflict occurs with a friend and the friend suddenly insults me, then I have to accept everything. There is no room for calculations. The calculation here is the opposite: everything the friends do is for my benefit.

The Creator shows us His actions more clearly and we must become more delicate and sensitive in order to understand where everything comes from. ²

It is written, “Anyone who is proud, says the Creator, ‘He and I cannot dwell in the same   abode.’” Proud means the one who thinks that he has his own thoughts, his own desires, actions, that he has at least something of his own. To think that I have even a grain of something that belongs to me personally is already pride.

All our work is in completely annulling ourselves so that there will be no one else beside the Creator. From this absolute zero, we must lower ourselves even further, until negative infinity, so all the work that is required after our complete annulment will be done not by us but by the Creator, according to our request.

It turns out that from plus 100 percent of egoism, we descend to zero and then further to minus 100 percent of egoism. In this way, we reveal the right desire, the vessel in which the Creator clothes and begins to act. This is called the revelation of the Creator to the created beings in this world.

We must work with our desire to enjoy for the sake of bestowal, meaning, use our egoism to the fullest. By doing our work, we grow our egoism 620-fold and attain a corrected desire that is 620 times greater than the original one.

We lower our egoism all the time, it again erupts and grows even more each time. The light that enters us at the next degree only inflates our ego. Through our work, the light of infinity enters into us for the sake of bestowal, but we immediately fall and want to receive this light for our own sake. Thus, the light throws our little egoism up to the degree of the light that was going to fill us for the sake of bestowal and eventually was received egoistically.

The next egoistic degree comes from the light that I drew for the sake of bestowal, but then I fell and wanted to have it for myself, This is the rod and the serpent: the importance of bestowal drops in my eyes and I must raise it higher and higher. This is how we ascend. Therefore, we reach 620 times more power. 620 times more is the degree of the light fromMalchut to Hochma.

It is as if we are inflating our desire to enjoy the upper light with a pump and it expands 620 times. Only we can do this because we are in two opposite states: for our own sake and for the sake of bestowal. The Creator cannot give this to us already prepared; this can only be achieved by working on our correction, through the Torah and commandments. Therefore, it is written: “ There is not a righteous man on earth who will do good and will not sin.” How else can he be able to become even greater righteous if not through the fact that the upper light has entered the desire to bestow and turned into egoistic reception. ³
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/19 , Baal HaSulam, Shamati 59, “About the Rod and the Serpent”

“Anti-Semitism In Fashion: When Anti-Semitic Symbols Become Trendy” (Times of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism in Fashion: When Anti-Semitic Symbols Become Trendy”

There is nothing chic about Nazism but there is already a fashion trend called “Nazi chic” gaining popularity in the world. Clothing and accessories, phone covers, pillow cases, and other kinds of merchandise with pictures of concentration camp victims and images exalting Hitler are now easily found in online stores. We Jews cannot remain indifferent to this phenomenon coming to shake us up to understand the paramount importance of uniting our forces. By becoming one unified people will we be able to avoid normalizing the horrors of the past to prevent history from repeating itself.

Once taboo, the glorification of anti-Semitic manifestations and Nazi symbols is becoming increasingly popular in the world of fashion, art, music, sports, festivals and even amusement park attractions such as a swastika-shaped ride recently closed in Germany, where public display of Nazi propaganda and memorabilia is illegal. Just this past year, this ban was surprisingly lifted for computer games.

Erasing the Holocaust as a Tragedy

The trend to trivialize the darkest chapter in Jewish history is worrisome because, as we can see, it is now found in basically every human field. Moreover, polls conducted in Europe show that the memory of the Holocaust is starting to fade. In America, 1 out of 3 people queried on the subject do not believe that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

The Auschwitz Memorial recently condemned online shops that advertise products ranging from home decor to clothing featuring starving Jews from the Holocaust and Nazi symbolism. The museum demanded a more strict verification system for retailers “as sometimes things go beyond just a bad taste and become disrespectful. Especially when images of victims are there.” Online users have also been shocked by the offensive merchandise and some advertisers have agreed to pull specific items from their websites while others remain available online.

Even international fashion companies have caused uproar in recent times for using anti-Semitic imagery and hate symbols in their designs, such as striped garments including yellow stars resembling clothing Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust and swastikas.

What about Making Connection Fashionable?

Today’s growing hatred toward Jews and people’s indifference to historical Jewish suffering reminds us of our task. This grotesque trend is an opportunity for us to reflect on the reason for anti-Semitism and to remember that we have a method of connection to prevent the atrocities from recurring.

Over many centuries, our ancestors fought to maintain their unity above their growing selfishness. But 2,000 years ago, Jews succumbed to unfounded hatred and were exiled from their land. Since then we have lost the ability to be a light unto nations because we have lost our unity. The moment we lost our unity was the moment when anti-Semitism as we know it began.

Only when we rekindle the brotherly love we cultivated centuries ago and share the method for achieving this with everyone, will the world will stop hating and blaming us for all its troubles. How is this possible? It is possible because, whether we like it or not, Jewish unity determines the state of the world and its fate. Through our connection, we stream a positive, uniting force into the world, a force the world desperately needs. Conversely, our separation denies humanity this power and evokes within it hatred toward Jews. This is the cause of the nation’s aggression toward us and why they perceive us as the source of all evil.

In his essay, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee),” Rav Yehuda Ashlag writes about the important role of the Jewish people: “The Israeli nation was established as a conduit to the extent that they purify themselves [from egoism], they pass on their power to the rest of the nations.”

Now is our time to become a “light unto the nations” through our example, to make unity, peace and calm the only trendy fashion in the world. We cannot allow atrocities to happen again when we have a method of prevention through our connection. It is indispensable to stick to this goal of brotherly love among all Jews above all obstacles because our lives depend on it and because the well-being of the world requires it of us.
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Two Forces, Emanating From The Creator

Question: There are two forces: the power of reception and the power of bestowal, evil and good. If everything is the Creator, then who is the one that perceives these two forces?

Answer: The person develops in his natural property, which we call egoism. The Creator gives it to us. He created us with this property. So it is said: “I created egoism.”

Now we must turn this property into the opposite, into bestowal and love. Where does the property of altruism come from? It also comes from the Creator. Egoism develops in us even if we do not ask the Creator for it, but altruism develops in us only if we insist on it.

Our job is, over egoism, which the Creator constantly develops in us, to constantly ask Him through the group for Him to balance egoism with altruism. We will then walk as if on two legs, understanding and feeling the whole universe, all the worlds beyond time, space, and motion.

Thus, both forces come from the Creator. One of them is the power of the Creator, the power of bestowal and love. And the second, generated by Him from nothing, is the egoistic power.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/7/19

New Life #1135 – Governing Society According To Natural Law

New Life #1135 – Governing Society According to Natural Law
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Society needs a mechanism that will protect it like a raft on the waves—a connection above the individual ego. The ego pulls everyone in an anarchistic direction. Nobody knows what is truly good. Society requires a head that knows how to constantly create balance between people and the general laws of nature. The head must be constructed from a large body of wise people who study the wisdom of Kabbalah, discuss the laws of nature, and teach the people.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1135 – Governing Society According to Natural Law ,” 7/9/19

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Friends, I Need You

Choice is the most important thing in our life. We constantly choose, weigh, and compare one thing with another either consciously or subconsciously, changing our approach, our system of evaluation, views, and priorities. Our entire life is the choice of the best option according to some criteria determined by what is more important to us now. We are constantly checking what we have to lose as a result of our choice and how much we will gain because of it.

It is possible that the solution we chose is not very pleasant, but it is so important that we must go for it. All our life we work like the most complex computer that processes a lot of data in order to make the correct calculation. Of course, each of us would like to make the right choice that allows us to confidently determine the best situation that wins by all the indicators and avoid the worst situations without any shadow of a doubt, not choosing one at the expense of the other and regretting the missed opportunities.

Only faith allows making such a choice, the feeling of the force of bestowal and love, which is something beyond our will to receive. The problem, however, is that we do not feel this force of bestowal, so how can we acquire such faith called “the staff”? Even if we acquire it, at the next degree, the faith already crosses into the egoistic sphere and becomes “the serpent.”

I must overcome this growing egoism and then I will come to faith again, already at a new degree. Each time the force of holiness crosses over into the egoism and so I rise all the time as if walking on two legs, right and left. The left line grows only if I have raised the right one correctly.

We should always lean on the “staff” and not on the “serpent,” that is, on faith, on something that seems low and unimportant to our egoism, and lift it upward. This is the entire work of a person: the staff constantly falls and we must lift it. If this were not happening, we would not be able to advance and get closer to the Creator. Every time I lift the staff, the faith, I take another little step forward.

As soon as I leave this staff, it immediately falls and turns into a serpent. It is help from above that the staff falls; otherwise, I would not be able to advance. If I lean on my knowledge, that is, make an egoistic choice, then I do not have any difficulty.

The staff is what directs me to the Creator. If I hold it up, as the most important thing, then step by step I get closer to the quality of bestowal, degree by degree. The environment is the staff if it is more important to me than myself. Then through the environment, I rise toward the Creator. Therefore, this degree is called Moses because it pulls (Moshech) the people.¹

The light is only revealed if there is a barrier before it. It would seem that outer space should be the brightest because nothing obscures the light there. However, precisely because there is no barrier for the light, it cannot be seen. The cosmos is absolutely black. However, if we put a screen before the rays of the Sun, then you will see that there is light.

All we are missing is the screen! Light cannot shine if there are no barriers on its path. Therefore, if we want the light to be revealed in us, we should make a screen for it. One person cannot become a screen for the light. However, if we unite in the ten, above our egoism, despite the fact that each of us is full of pride and does not want connection with others, we raise the importance of connection and even higher than that, the importance of the Creator whom we want to reveal.

We want to feel the Creator inside of our internal unity as real as we feel each other now. Together, we make such a sandwich: our will to receive is at the bottom and unity, the screen, our readiness to connect despite our egoism, is on the top. Then the upper light is revealed on this screen and becomes visible to us.

One person cannot build such a screen out of his personal egoism; this is possible only by connecting with the friends.²

To help a friend means raising the importance of spirituality, the importance of connection, giving him the “staff.” Nobody can do it by himself. If one can do it by oneself, it is not real spiritual work but only preparation for it.

Every time this work becomes more and more difficult; after all, now I trip over the “staff” that I lifted the time before. The left line rises higher and higher at the expense of the right one, at the expense of my past successes. I must start everything anew as if in a new place, in a new country, in a new language, with a new understanding and new perception. This is a new degree! Every day a person is as if born again.

It is impossible to do this alone. It is a huge mistake to think that by shutting myself inside, in my personal inner work, it is possible to do deeper, more intimate clarifications. This is nonsense! It takes many years for a person to understand that in this way he is just spinning in the same place, like a puppy chasing his tail.

Only by incorporating each time in the group, even if it consists of beginners, we will be rising to increasingly elevated states. Even if the friends are below you, by incorporating in them, you ascend to the next degree. It is only possible to lift the “staff” with the help of friends, all together. Friends, I need you! Help me!³
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/17/19, Baal HaSulam, Shamati 59, “Concerning the Rod and the Serpent”