“Secrets of the Eternal Book”

Video program with

Dr. Michael Laitman and

director and screenwriter Semen Vinokur

Part 1, Chapter "Noah"

Semen Vinokur: Hello, dear friends. We continue our series on ‘Secrets of the Eternal Book.’ We are studying the Pentateuch and revealing the secrets of this great book. Here is, as always together with us, scientist and Kabbalist, Dr Michael Laitman. Hello, Dr Laitman. We have studied quite in depth the first chapter called ‘In the Beginning’ and have now approached actually one of the most interesting chapters for me. It is very visual. Visualization can be different here...

Dr Michael Laitman: Do you mean the ‘Flood’?

S.V.: Yes, Noah, in the Pentateuch, Noah in the Torah. I would like to start with the end of the previous chapter. There is such a phrase there:

But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord

My question is this: ‘What does it mean to find favour in the eyes of the Lord’?

M.L.: To find favour in the eyes of the Lord, or not, is relatively to the similarity of properties. In the spirituality, we do not measure distance in kilometres, meters, nor even in microns, nor in nanos. We measure them accordingly to the properties. Spiritual space is the space of properties, qualities, and, therefore, spiritual entities, when they are similar in qualities, converge in this spiritual space. The same with people, if they are alike, they are close to each other, if they are different in their qualities, they are remote from each other.

S.V.: Does it mean that there are two objects here, Noah and God?

M.L.: Yes, and as Noah was closer to the Creator of that entire generation, or of that level of creatures mentioned here, he, as it says, “found favour in the eyes of the Lord."

S.V.: What is this property in me that ‘found favour with God’?

M.L.: Since the Creator is the property of absolute bestowal and love, then it is, obviously, Noah of that entire generation, meaning, of that entire stage of development...

S.V.: Of all those desires.

M.L.: ...that is referred to, or of all of man’s desires, was a very progressive, altruistic desire...

S.V.: The closest to Him.

M.L.: Yes, to the Creator.

S.V.: Who said that the Creator is the property of love and giving? How can this be proved?

M.L.: No, this cannot be proved. Therefore, the entire science of Kabbalah, in principle, is a secret science. It is revealed only by those who change their properties, and, to the extent of similarity to the Creator, feel Him. Therefore, from this, he deduces a kind of postulate for himself, but for others it may just be an axiom.

S.V.: Do I have to believe in this straight away?

M.L.: No, you do not need to believe in anything. Kabbalah is a science that does not oblige a man to believe. It just offers a man, through himself, to reveal the Upper creation. But a man may say, ‘Well, how could I know this in advance?’ Well, you cannot know this in advance, but only after you start doing this. All the studies are strictly logical. One is told about our world and how and what elements it was created of; how it has been evolved; what a man's structure is; what desires he consists of; and in what his free will is, and so on.

It means that when a man begins to study Kabbalah, he sees that this phenomenon is scientific, and there is nothing in it what he needs to believe in. Therefore, if he progresses further, then there emerges the whole system of knowledge in him, which allows him already to reveal the world with the help of logic. He starts suddenly feeling a manifestation of some new qualities that seem to be expanding beyond this world. The world is becoming more complex and composite. He begins to see phenomena and forces that cause them, and, thus, he himself gets included in this knowledge with his properties.

S.V.: He no longer needs the question whether he believes or not? He already goes further.

M.L.: Yes, the fact is that while a physicist can remain exactly as he was before; the Kabbalist cannot, because, he can study the Upper World only through changing his properties. So, it turns out that he is changing, he is becoming different. Therefore, such qualities emerge in him, that bring him closer. He begins speaking with the Creator or with other souls, other creations, at different levels of communication.

S.V.: Can we say that there are such things as ‘Dialogue with the Creator, conversation with the Creator?’

M.L.: Yes, but it is not like we imagine some internal dialogue, when I speak with Him.

S.V.: How else can we imagine this?

M.L.: Only in a man himself, meaning, through all man's properties, qualities, thoughts and desires inside himself, when he feels this part called the Creator and he, sort of, communicates with it.

S.V.: Is there some inner click that says: ‘Yes, I hear!’? Is there such a state?

M.L.: Again, it is not that ‘I hear’, it is the level of communication.

S.V.: I feel it more?

M.L.: Yes, I feel, understand, perceive, meaning, this is me.

S.V.: Absolutely clear!

M.L.: The Creator is not felt as something external, outside of me, there is no such thing at all, but it is only my inner strength, general knowledge, general force, and general property.

S.V.: So, there are no more questions, no doubts...

M.L.: No, there are no doubts, because the entire world is seen as a consequence of the influence of this force, and, therefore, it is not even clear how, without this force, the world can exist. Meaning, that it is clearly understood that when the force is hidden, we can see, feel only our world; this feeling is very limited, temporary and precarious, because we do not understand what keeps our world in existence.

S.V.: In this case, it is impossible to return back to our world, let's say, if you have already achieved the attainment.

M.L.: The return happens very often in order to do the restart. This happens all the time, sort of, change of day and night, day and night, a constant change of pictures, and this change of pictures builds the further movement forward. Each time between different states, there always comes detachment from the Upper Force and one senses oneself only in this world.

S.V.: This is not a depressive state, is it?

M.L.: There is no such thing in Kabbalah, because one is aware in advance that one enters a state of night, darkness, detachment, partial loss. Meaning, that when you feel only the state of our world, you are aware that you feel just it and that you do not feel the Upper World and the Creator. Meaning, that it is already a fall, because this state is called descend from the Upper World, but it is not your complete fall. It leaves an impression from the past and, at the same time, the feeling of the advancement towards the future.

S.V.: Meaning, that now delta exists in everything; that the model, the Creator, is already here and does not disappear.

M.L: Yes. He is either hidden or explicit. Every time He is hidden and explicit in His various aspects, bigger or smaller, different in their qualities.

S.V.: This is what those people, who are in real falls, depressions, are missing; they do not have it.

M.L.: No, not there. There, oh, it is really a terrible state. Spiritual states are all good, meaning a man anticipates the future light out of darkness, like a hungry man, knowing that there is a meal, a feast, prepared for him, and he is glad that he is hungry.

S.V.: We have started with a short blitz that has allowed us somehow to approach this chapter, because all this is related to it. Here, all these states are similar.

This chapter begins so:

There are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.

What does it mean ‘he walked with God’?

M.L.: It means that he was in motion, in spiritual movement, in constant search, and in continuous process towards the Creator.

S.V.: So, this is called ‘he walked with God’. What is the movement in general? What kind of movement does it speak of?

M.L.: Spiritual movement is a constant aspiration to change self and find a closer convergence, similarity to this Upper force, meaning, how and with what help can I change myself to become so more existing, really being in the properties of bestowal?

С.В: Then it continues:

And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.”

A lot of information is now conveyed here. First of all, he had three sons. What are three sons?

M.L.: Meaning, that he has detached himself from his previous state and risen three steps above it. Three steps are right, left and middle lines.

S.V.: Is it the birth of the sons?

M.L.: Yes, it is the birth of the sons. ‘Sons’ are like the next step from the previous one, called ‘father.’ Moreover, he detected in himself good and bad properties. All man's properties are good in principle, but bad properties are those with which he can now neither work nor move forward, meaning, use them for bestowal.

S.V.: Is this what it is written: ‘The earth was filled with violence.’

M.L.: Yes, the earth is eretz (in Hebrew), from the word Ratzon (in Hebrew), the desire, and, therefore, by revealing all the desires and by sorting out all those desires with help of which one can advance, one creates a special shell from them and, soft of, exists inside it. I only work with these desires, this is me, and I cut off all the rest and do not work with them, they are there, but, as if, they do not exist inside me.

S.V.: Meaning, that a man says, ‘I have good desires that are close to the Creator...’

M.L.: Everyone has impulses to kill, to steal, to rape another or something else.

S.V.: Such ‘good’ desires.

M.L.: Well, the desires can be really used afterwards, there are no bad desires. Today they are such that I cannot use them for the good, and in the future I might be able to do so.

S.V.: Meaning, that I put them aside for the time being.

M.L.: Yes, I do. Therefore, the most important thing is to select those desires from all the desires at every level that I can use correctly. If I do so, then I quickly move forward. All man's work is precisely to sort out, to analyse all his desires and so to move forward. So did Noah and, therefore, he built the ark. The ark is such a closed system of desires, qualities, that allows him to exist correctly inside it. Meaning that this closed integral system...

S.V.: Inside me.

M.L.: ...yes, inside a man, that is called the ‘ark’ or a box, a sphere that is directed only towards bestowal, only towards love. Therefore, all his completely different desires can gather there – everything that creeps on the ground, and animals, two and two, male and female, and so on - they all can gather together. He can include them into this ark, meaning into this property of bestowal and love, and leave everything else behind, leave this mortal earth (the earth comes from the word 'desire'), meaning all his...

S.V.: Bad qualities.

M.L.: ...bad qualities, which he is not capable to correct yet. He will correct them afterwards, and, therefore, he escapes through entering the state called the ‘ark’. The ‘Ark’ in Kabbalah is called the property of Bina, the property of the absolute bestowal, meaning that this is not love yet, this is only the property of bestowal, when a man rises above his ego and aspires not to be depended on it.

S.V.: Is this that first aspiration?

M.L.: This is the first aspiration, but this allows him to break away and rise like in a balloon, to enter into something like an embryo in the mother's womb, to be in this type of the ark. Meaning, that all the intermediate states, when we want to break away from the past and enter the future, go through this state called Ubar (Hebrew) - embryo. So, Noah goes through this state from the past to the future in this ark. It is like the birth in the next world, the birth into the next level. It is described in Kabbalah and everyone goes through it.

S.V.: Can you say that this is the beginning of such states, when one begins to surround oneself with certain books, certain attention, certain influence, let's say, with certain friends who are advancing along with one? As we say: the ‘group, books’, is this called the ‘entrance into the ark?’

M.L.: These are the necessary tools in order to build for oneself such an ark. I would say so: these tools (books, the teacher, and group; everything that the Kabbalist builds around himself) are actually the external ark. Meaning, that the society, the environment inside which he is and which holds him, sort of, in the right direction despite his ups and downs, or his other vacillations.

S.V.: Sort of, afloat?

M.L.: Yes, he is constantly creating around him this sphere.

S.V.: Yes.

M.L.: On the other hand, he needs to create this sphere inside him.

S.V.: Meaning, that exactly this combination of external and internal is the real ark.

M.L.: Yes, he should use this external sphere: books, the teacher, his community, and his friends. He must use it in order to create within himself this sphere, which is called this real ark.

S.V.: Here is another question that I would like to ask you. Is the ark teiva (?) in Hebrew?

M.L: Yes.

S.V.: If we read this word in reverse, it is Bait in Hebrew. Is there any meaning in this?

M.L.: Yes, but teiva is not bait.

S.V.: Not bait?

M.L.: No, Bait is already a house, palace, temple, everything that is man-made so that he could exist on the ground. The house is on the ground, it has a solid foundation; it has a solid base. It is being created by a man, and it is not seemingly under the influence of the laws of nature.

S.V.: Wallowing on waves.

M.L.: Yes. teiva is the same as in the story of Moses, when he, a new born baby, was set off on the Nile.

S.V.: A little baby.

M.L.: Yes, and so on. That means that teiva is a man's exodus from his previous egoistic state, when he is yet rising, but not yet completely possesses the next state.

S.V.: It is interesting. He has not yet found the earth?

M.L.: No. He is just giving himself to it, entering into it being absolutely neutral, as if he says, ‘this is me here wanting to exit the past and be purified.’ So, this entire process...

S.V.: Subsequent...

M.L.: … is called the process of purification.

S.V.: Why is the ark divided into these sections?

M.L.: Well, first of all, it is divided into four parts, because still, vegetative, animate, and human nature...

S.V.: Are divided.

M.L.: ... yes, they exist in every desire and, therefore, it is so divided, and a man sorts out his desires thereby. Moreover, he does not just sort them out, but also he cannot yet work with them, he cannot collate a desire itself with its direction, its aspiration; so-called kli and masach — the vessel, the light, the guiding intention. Therefore, two and two of every creature, male and female parts are just taken and let's go, so to say, forward. Afterwards, when we break away from our previous bad usage of all desires in the egoistic direction, then we move in the altruistic direction, meaning that the same male and female parts are already in a new state; there are new levels of each desire and it will produce from itself the subsequent good actions...

S.V.: My question may be wrong, but I will ask it regardless. Is it possible to imagine the ark as man's soul?

M.L.: This is the soul: all man's desires and qualities together.

S.V.: This is the soul.

M.L.: It is only it that can be uncorrected before the flood with the desire to be corrected, when a man takes all his desires and exposes himself under the influence of the Upper Light, the Upper force, gives himself to it, and then moves from his egoistic state to the altruistic state, to the property of bestowal.

S.V.: It is said about this in the next passage:

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

M.L.: Meaning, that after a man carries out in himself this analysis, this systematization of his desires, properties, and qualities and really wants to direct them towards the similarity with the Creator, with bestowal, towards the ascend above their egoistic usage, he begins to understand how to accomplish this further out of himself. There is no voice heard from the Above, this is all out of oneself, because the Creator is called Bore in Hebrew, from the word "come and see and discover," meaning that one sees, discovers Him in oneself.

Then he knows how to act further, meaning that the part of his previous desires that he cannot take with him, he, sort of, cuts off from himself, and the part with which he can advance, he gathers them together – him and his wife, meaning, his aspirations and his desires, called male and female parts, aspire forward. So, all of his other parts, meaning, these desires at the living, vegetative and still levels, it does not matter, he collects them all under his aspiration and goes through this period, which is called the flood.

S.V.: Why, for example, does He want to destroy the earth with the Flood and not with something else, for example, to burn or ruin it? Why should it be the Flood?

M.L.: The Flood is the correction. The Bible speaks about nothing else at all, but the correction; there is no punishment either. What we think as the punishment, in fact, is the correction, and even it happens so that it is not only the correction, but also the reward.

S.V.: Despite the fact that all is...

M.L.: Yes, it is just inverted in us. In fact, we perceive it wrong. So, the flood, which covers the entire earth and ruins, allegedly, all that exists on it, except that that was included in the ark of Noah, it actually corrects it that way. Meaning that, the water, the property of bestowal, covers the entire earth, as if putting to death all these...

S.V.: Egoistic desires.

M.L.: ...egoistic desires, and manipulates them forcibly, because one is unable to work with them. Meaning that, in principle, it turns out that a man identified in himself several desires and says to himself, ‘With these desires I can be giving, connected with others in a good way, and altruistically attuned to nature and to everything. Besides, with those, I cannot. I wish to get rid of them, so, that they would die in me, that they would not exist in me, so this Upper force, the force of bestowal, the purifying force would put them to death in me.’ Meaning that, this is the actual correction that happens through the flood. Then these forces that have been purified by the flood appear, and one begins working with them and becomes corrected in subsequent stages.

S.V.: But I need to wish this. Here you have just said...

M.L.: Yes, of course! Nothing happens from Above, not a single action, until a man himself wants this to happen. Nothing!

S.V.: How can I start wishing this?

M.L.: For this purpose, there exist books, group, lessons, when a man is imbued with this, he begins to see around him this living universe that is all built on these transitions from egoistic state to altruistic state. When everything is advancing in this direction forward; all these transformations, which he sees, are happening worldwide. Then he begins gradually to wish that this would happen to him as well.

S.V.: Meanwhile, I do not want this, I did not want this. Is it useless to read these books to me?

M.L.: You will be forced.

S.V.: Forced?

M.L.: Forced.

S.V.: Is it good when one is forced?

M.L.: Otherwise, there is no way. How can one desire this by oneself?

S.V.: Persuade me. Tell me that this is good for me. Why should I be beaten for this...?

M.L.: So, I have to speak with you so persuasively...

S.V.: At least, like a kind father, well, tell me, ' My son, this is the path!'

M.L.: No, this is not our path.

S.V.: And what is our path? (Laughter)

M.L.: Our path is a very simple path. Nature or the Creator, which is the same, will compel us to want to stop being blind kittens and wish to rise above ourselves. If we are blind, we see nothing. We cannot rise above this state. The state, it speaks about, is altruistic and we do not think that it is really good for us and that it is possible for us at all. Therefore, one can be forced to do it only by the path of...

S.V.: Suffering.

M.L.: ...feeling of the suffering in our real egoistic state.

S.V.: Afterwards, shall I be grateful for these sufferings that are hitting me?

M.L.: Yes, of course. You will see them as the necessary components of your development. These sufferings, in fact, they are not sufferings caused from Above, but these sufferings come from the fact that you should have risen to the next spiritual level from the point of the Upper, but instead you balk at it like a bull.

S.V.: A donkey

М.Л: Therefore, this force wants you to move to the good, but you balk at it with your internal egoism. Here is the opposition between these two forces, between the force for the dynamic development towards altruism, let's say, and your egoism that resists, so they create this...

S.V.: Impact.

M.L.: ...yes, this pressure that feels as suffering.

S.V.: Meaning that, in principle, any suffering...

M.L.: Any, whatever it could be...

S.V.: ...any; a mosquito bit me.

M.L.: ... to the point of death, no matter what, it is a result of disparity between these driving forces: the force that makes you move and the force of your resistance.

S.V.: What do I have to do when I feel sufferings?

M.L.: You need to figure out what their source is and correct yourself. You need actually to adjust the speed of your development, in which you are, with the speed that is required from you.

S.V.: Meaning, that the force of the push has to correspond to my movement.

M.L.: They need to correspond, so you could move harmoniously with the force that develops you. The force develops everyone in this way, therefore, we all suffer more or less, and nothing can be done.

S.V.: Meaning, that I have to run before a bullet, isn't it? I should move with the same speed.

M.L.: Even faster, why not. If you determine that you are moving towards the good, why not to do it faster?

S.V.: Can you tell me when this movement stops entirely, when do I stop running?

M.L.: When you have entirely included all your desires into this movement and reached this state of complete correction...

S.V.: Then I suddenly look back...

M.L.: ...when all your movements are absolutely similar to the driving force, and you are moving even before it. Then it turns out that you determine your movements.

S.V.: Then it turns out...

M.L.: Then you determine that you are absolutely free.

S.V.: It turns out that I...

M.L.: You, sort of, dictate to the Creator what to do.

S.V.: Can one dictate to the Creator anything?

M.L.: If you are moving ahead of Him and determine that this is better, and your movements are correct, then it is called the next generation, which you create from yourself, which is higher than the previous one, meaning that you are the master over the entire universe and even over the Creator. This is the most desirable state for Him, which is described as ‘My sons won me over.’

S.V.: So it turns out that He even wants this.

M.L.: Well, like any father wants his son to be more successful than him, you want this from the state of love. Therefore, you are proud of it, you enjoy it, it is you yourself; it is your continuation. Even in our world, we understand this feeling, and even more so in the spiritual.

С.В: We always come to the end on an optimistic note, we finish our program today, our time is up. Thank you very much!

Dear friends, we have discussed today that the Creator's desire is that we would become even above Him and would even dictate Him what to do, as it turns out. We will discuss this during our next programs. Thank you for your listening. Goodbye.