The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: June 28, 2026
Part 1: Rabash. What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work. Article No. 8, 1990.
Reader: Hello friends, the first part we will learn a lesson of Rav Laitman’s from February 4, 2002. The lesson is based on the article, "What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work." In the writings of Rabash, the Hebrew version, it's on page 998. We're going to read the article in the Tens, 29 minutes.
Reading: (00:41) What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work
Article No. 8, 1990
The Zohar says (Toldot, Item 75), “It is written here, ‘A skillful hunter, a man of the field,’ and it is written there (about Nimrod), ‘He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.’ As there, it means that he was hunting the minds of people and misleading them to rebel against the Creator, so here, ‘A man of the field’ means to rob people and to kill them. Esau said that he was in the field to pray, like Isaac, as it is written, ‘And Isaac went out to stroll in the field,’ and hunting, and he deceived Isaac.”
We should understand what are the two things said about Esau, meaning what is the difference between “a skillful hunter” and “a man of the field” in the work. We should also understand why The Zohar says, “a man of the field, since his lot is not in an inhabited place, but in a desolate place, in the desert, in the field, and this is why he is called ‘a man of the field.’” But Noah, too, was called “a man of the earth,” as it is written, “And Noah, man of the earth, began.”
Also, it is written about Isaac himself, “And Isaac went out to stroll in the field,” and it is also written that Isaac said about Jacob what is written, “And he said, ‘See, the scent of my son is as the scent of the field that the Lord has blessed.’” Thus, from where is it implied that with Esau, “a man of the field” means robbing people and killing them? We should interpret this in the work.
It is written, “Which God has created to do.” That is, the Creator created the world with the aim to do good to His creations. For this purpose, He created something new called a “desire to receive delight and pleasure.” As we learned, in order to enjoy the delight and pleasure that He wants to give, the pleasure is according to the need and the yearning for the thing, since the yearning determines the measure of the pleasure that one can derive from the matter.
Therefore, first emerged this will to receive existence from absence. This is called “which God has created.” “To do” is the correction of creation, since by this there is a difference between the Bestower and the receiver. Therefore, there is the matter of the bread of shame, namely shame. This is why we can have an aim to bestow, meaning not to receive despite the great yearning to receive the delight and pleasure. Still, in order not to feel shame, work was given to the created beings.
It is called “work” because it is against the nature with which the Creator created creation, since the matter of the purpose of creation to do good to His creations means that anything that can be said that a person receives, meaning that he has a desire to receive, comes from the Creator, who created this nature. Conversely, not receiving the delight and pleasure that the Creator wants to give, this we attribute to the creatures. For this reason, this correction not to receive th e delight and pleasure unless we have the aim to bestow is called “doing,” and the creatures must do this although it is against nature.
This will to receive is called Malchut, as it is known that the Kli [vessel] to receive the lights is called Malchut. As we learn, there was a Tzimtzum [restriction] and concealment on this Malchut, and Malchut, with respect to the will to receive for herself, remained without light. Only when it is possible to place on her a desire in order to bestow, to that extent the Tzimtzum and concealment depart and she can receive the abundance. Otherwise, Malchut is called a “vacant space” from light. From this, it extends that afterward, two systems were made, as in “God has made one opposite the other.” In other words, just as there is ABYA of Kedusha [holiness], opposite it there is ABYA of Tuma’a [impurity].
Malchut has several names: “land,” “earth,” “sea,” and “dust,” depending on what she receives. In this Malchut, called “earth,” the man is extended, as it is written, “And the Lord God created the man dust off the earth.” This is the Malchut of whom it was said, “All was from the dust.” It was said in The Zohar (Tzav, Item 173), “All was from the dust, even the wheel of the sun.” This means that when we speak, we speak only of lights clothed in the Kelim [vessels], as it is known that there is no light without a Kli, and all the Kelim extend from Malchut, who is the will to receive.
This means that all we speak of is only of Malchut, who is the will to receive, which is either in Kedusha or in Klipa [shell/peel]. The only difference is that the Kedusha does not use the will to receive unless it can place on it a desire that works in order to bestow, or it restricts itself from using the will to receive. Conversely, the Klipa wants to use the will to receive in order to receive. This means that when it is said that a person is using vessels of bestowal, it does not mean that the vessels of bestowal are doing something, since there are no vessels of bestowal in the will to receive, as all of creation is regarded as only a desire to receive, as it is known that other than the will to receive, we attribute everything to the Creator.
Creation is called “existence from absence,” and this pertains specifically to the lack that the Creator created. However, when we say that a person is using the desire to bestow, it means that the will to receive is not using its own quality, but the Creator’s desire, Whose wish is only to bestow and not receive anything.
According to the above, we can understand the meaning of the “field” that was said about Esau, who is called “a man of the field.” We see that Isaac, too, went out to the field, and it is also written about Jacob that Isaac said, “See, the scent of my son is as the scent of the field that the Lord has blessed.” This means that a “field” means Malchut, which is the will to receive, and there, there is the matter of the choice whether to correct it into working in order to bestow, which is called Kedusha. It is about this that Isaac said, “as the field that the Lord has blessed.”
If we do not correct it into working in order to bestow, but engage in receiving in order to receive, this is called “a man of the field,” which is a Klipa, as was said, “a man of the field, in order to rob people and kill them.” This pertained to Esau. But concerning Isaac, it is written, “And Isaac went out to stroll in the field.” He went to correct the field, which is Malchut, to correct so that the quality of Malchut, which is a desire to receive, will work in order to bestow.
This is called “correcting the world with the kingdom of Shadai.” It is known that the name Shadai means Yesod, and Yesod is called Yesod Tzadik [righteous], who is the Bestower. The intention is to correct Malchut, who is reception, so she becomes like the quality of Yesod, meaning aiming to bestow. This is the meaning of “Isaac went out to stroll in the field.”
It is written likewise about Jacob, that Jacob said, “See, the scent of my son is as the scent of the field that the Lord has blessed.” In other words, Isaac saw that Jacob corrected Malchut, so it was possible to see the blessing of the Creator on the field, which is Malchut.
However, we should understand why The Zohar speaks of the field in a reproving manner with respect to Esau. We should interpret that it is because it is written, “a skillful hunter,” and then it is written, “a man of the field.” It interprets that “a skillful hunter” is from Nimrod, for Nimrod was “a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The Zohar interprets that it means that “he was hunting the minds of people and misleading them to rebel against the Creator.”
We should understand the difference between a skillful hunter and a man of the field. According to what we learn, there is a difference between the mind and the heart. The mind, Baal HaSulam explains, refers to faith above reason. The heart means the desire in the heart, which works only for its own sake. That is, for its own sake means that a person is willing to do any work in the world as long as he sees that the reward he will receive in return for his effort is worthwhile. It follows that when it says “a skillful hunter” or “a man of the field,” they are two things, which in the work, are called “mind” and “heart.”
Now we can understand that if the writing says about Esau that he was a skillful hunter, and we learn from Nimrod what hunting means, that he hunted the minds of people and misled them to rebel against the Creator, this is a flaw in the mind, meaning in faith. From this we know how to interpret “a man of the field.” It means that as he flawed the mind, he also flawed the heart. This is why we interpret “a man of the field” to mean self-love, meaning that his field was about robbing people and killing them. He was supposed to choose the good for the field, so there would be blessing there. Yet, he did the opposite, extending death and killing into that field.
In the work, we should interpret that since man was created with a desire to receive, and must correct it into working in order to bestow, in order to be able to correct, meaning to have a choice, meaning that a person will observe Torah and Mitzvot [commandments/good deeds] in order to bestow and not for his own sake, a Tzimtzum and concealment were made, where man must begin the work in the form of faith above reason, since within reason, the concealment has been placed.
This is when the work on the choice begins, meaning that a person must accept the burden of the kingdom of heaven, which is a burden, as in, “as an ox to the burden.” In other words, although the body does not agree to do anything unless it sees what is done with its work, since this is the nature with “God has created to do,” that man must see what he is doing, meaning what is done with his work. He must see who enjoys the work he is doing.
Therefore, when a person engages in Torah and Mitzvot, he wants to see who received his work. Since a concealment and hiding were made, for the purpose of correction, a person does not see or feel who receives his work, and he must believe above reason that the Creator receives his work. But the body does not want to believe.
For this reason, we were given this work “as an ox to the burden.” In other words, as the ox works by coercion and must obey what its owner wants, man must not ask the body if it wants to take upon itself the burden of Torah and Mitzvot. Rather, he must force it and believe in the sages that such is the path of truth.
Also, there is the discernment of “and as a donkey to the load,” meaning it is the quality of the heart. In other words, a person must work not in order to receive reward. Therefore, when the body is told to work without any reward, this work is a load to it and the body wants to take off this load, which man wants it to suffer. In other words, the body understands that it can carry a load even for a doubtful reward for this work. But if it is told, “Work and carry loads without any reward,” it wants to get rid of this work every moment. Then it was said, “as a donkey to the load.” That is, a person must walk in this direction even though the body disagrees.
It follows that the labor is in two manners: 1) as an ox to the burden, 2) as a donkey to the load. If a person walks on the path of Esau, the person is called “a skillful hunter, a man of the field.” That is, he lacks faith, which is called “a skillful hunter,” like Nimrod, when the body wants to rebel against the faith in the Creator, which blemishes the quality of “mind.” Also, he is “a man of the field,” meaning he robs people. This means that he robs the “man” in him and he remains as a beast, knowing only himself and not others.
It is written, “a man of the field, to rob people and to kill them.” This means that if he robs the man in him and enters the state of a “beast,” which is the desire to receive for oneself, then he is in a state of “The wicked in their lives are called ‘dead,’” since they are separated from the Life of Lives. This is called “heart.” Baal HaSulam said that in truth, the quality of the heart is man’s primary quality, meaning that this is the root, that he does not want to believe because man has more pleasure when he sees and feels. Therefore, he does not want to degrade himself and walk with his eyes shut and believe all that our sages said.
Yet, the primary basis is faith in the sages, as it is written (Shabbat 31), “There is a tale about a foreigner who came to Shammai and said, ‘How many laws [Torah] do you have?’ He replied, ‘Two, the written Torah and the oral Torah.’ He said to him, ‘I believe you about the written Torah, and I do not believe you about the oral Torah. Convert me, so as to teach me the written Torah.’ He rebuked him and ejected him with a rebuke. He came to Hillel: ‘Convert me.’ On the first day, he said to him, ‘Aleph, Bet, Gimel, Dalet.’ The following day he reversed [them] to him (such as Tav, Shin, Reish, Kof). He said to him, ‘But yesterday, did not say them to me thus?’ He said to him: ‘Do you not trust me? So trust me with the oral too.’” RASHI interprets “Do you not trust me?” as “How do you know that this is Aleph and this is Bet? But since I taught you and you trusted me, ‘trust me with the oral too.’” From this we see that Hillel told him without faith in the sages there is nothing.
However, faith is an argument of the intellect. That is, a person says, “If I did not have to believe above reason, but everything would be within reason, I would progress without any breaks.” But Baal HaSulam said that in truth, the will to receive—that a person wants to work only for his own sake, like a beast—is the reason why he cannot believe. This means that when a person claims that it is difficult for him to go above reason, it stems from self-love, which is the beast in man. This is all that interferes. For this reason, two forces are required, the mind and the heart, as it is written, “As an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.”
Hence, if we correct the field, meaning Malchut, who is called “will to receive for oneself,” whether in mind or in heart, it is called “the field that the Lord has blessed,” which was said about Jacob. And likewise, it is written about Isaac, “And Isaac went out to stroll in the field,” which is the correction of Malchut. But Esau, who is called “a man of the field,” in the action, it seems as though he is going to correct the field, but in the intention, which is called “in order to bestow,” which is the whole correction of Malchut, there is room for one to deceive oneself, since this is something that is given to the heart, and it is not apparent from the outside that it is possible to monitor.
This is not so with actions, which are revealed outwards, a person can check whether or not he is deceiving himself. This is why The Zohar interprets, “And Esau said that he was in the field in order to pray, like Isaac,” as it is written, “And Isaac went out to stroll in the field, and hunting, and he deceived Isaac.” This means that he went into the field in order to pray, meaning he entered the field in order to correct it, like Isaac, but “hunting,” meaning that he hunted, like Nimrod, who misled people’s minds to rebel against the Creator. By this, Esau misled himself, as well, and from this extends the robbing, too, as it says, “to rob people.”
This is as our sages said about Adam HaRishon. They said that he was a thief in that he ate from the tree of knowledge, meaning took it out from the singular authority, meaning the authority of the Creator. In other words, everything must be for the sake of the Creator, and by eating from the tree of knowledge, he fell into his own authority, meaning wanted to receive everything for his own sake.
It is likewise with Esau, who entered the field, meaning to correct Malchut. Externally, it did not show that he was not working in order to bestow. Externally, Esau said as it is written, that he entered in order to pray, like Isaac, meaning to correct the field, which is Malchut.
Yet, he deceived himself, meaning that the intention that should have been for the singular authority, for the sake of the Creator, was “in order to rob people.” That is, as Adam HaRishon stole and was a thief, so did Esau do everything for his own sake. This is called “robbing people.”
Therefore, a person who begins to do the holy work, meaning to turn everything into Kedusha, must be careful with the externality, so he does not deceive himself while performing the actions, which is work Lo Lishma [not for Her sake]. He must tell his body, “I am engaging in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma, and by this I want to come to aim Lishma [for Her sake].” He believes in the words of our sages, who said, “One should always engage in Torah and Mitzvot Lo Lishma, and from Lo Lishma,” I want to come to Lishma. He believes with faith in the sages, who said, “The light in it reforms him,” and he will be rewarded with it.
Reader: We will go to the lesson from the date, the 4th of February, 2002.
M. Laitman: (28:58) We've read the article, "What It Means that Esau Was Called “A Man of the Field,” in the Work," Rungs of the Ladder. The articles of Rabash, of the Rebbe, although they seem simple externally, on a surface level. He’s spinning all sorts of yarns there and elaborates them. We don't feel how much is buried within. Gradually, we will reveal that. He has this very special style of concealment, where he seems to say everything openly, freely, but he actually opens a portion and covers two. We're learning that there's nothing that was created in the world without a purpose. All the more so, such great forces like Nimrod, Esau within the person, what is their use? He says that Nimrod means that a person wants to, Limrod, rebel against the Creator. Rebelling against the Creator, against Him, against the Creator, the person has such forces within him.
And when he recognizes that, he recognizes that he's standing opposite the Creator and then he really has something to correct. Same thing with a huntsman, Esau, man of the field. He acquires the field. The field that's the field of work, it's his. After acquiring the field, correcting it, then one becomes Yaakov, Jacob, who sits in the tent. Meaning, these are stages of the work that apply to every person. And so we need to relate to all these states that come upon us, that pass within us, being given to us from above, one after the other, where we are either immersed in the qualities of Esau within us, or the quality of Nimrod within us, the qualities of the fathers in us. So we come to the general correction through these qualities of the Creator called our forefathers.
Then we correct all the wicked ones within us, the nations of the world. And so, every state a person inhabits, we don't need to relate to it as something that's redundant, useless. Oh, again, this unpleasant state came to me, it's not nice, it's not good, oh, what a shame, I hope it passes. No, we don't need to think about when it passes. When it needs to pass, it'll pass. When there's no need for it, then it'll pass. If there was a need, then it comes. We need to arrange this attitude towards each and every state as though it's crucial, that state. Now, from that state, I need to organize the way I relate to the purpose of creation, from that state. It doesn't mean that I need to sit and suffer and eat myself up. Rather, I need to work, to do in that state whatever's necessary. And then, if I complete the correction in that state, then the state inverts or transitions into a different state.
Whereas, if a person relates to a state he receives from the Creator as something that's needless, he doesn't agree with the Upper Providence, doesn't agree with it, he knows better than the Creator what he needs to go through. And then it follows that either he's not using what he's given, by this he either completely uproots himself from the work or, at the very least, slows his progress very much.
M. Laitman: (33:21) And so, although we feel sometimes unpleasant in various states, we need to relate to them calmly in a way where — what can you do? You know, we have to work in these states as well, to separate, to distinguish between mind and heart, between bitter and sweet, and truth and false, true and false. And to work from true and false, even though it's not sweet. And therefore, the work of Esau is very important work, and every time a person goes into this, he turns into a man of the field truly. He sees his wildness, his instability. He needs to actually get to know these awful things of the field, these things are revealed to him as actual raw matter used in order to get closer to Godhood. Without that, it's impossible. Ultimately, it turns from a field into a field that the Lord has blessed. The Creator blesses the field, and then a person turns from a man of the field into, well, he turns the field into a blessing.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:45) Despite the difficult states, should I continue my inner work, or should I work independently of them? What should my attitude be? If it's hard for me, should I say it's hard for me, and that's why I should continue, or should I not relate to the difficulty at all?
M. Laitman: You have to relate to the difficulty that's revealed to you and unpleasant sensations, but relate to it as things that are beneficial for you. They don't remove you from spirituality. The more you can recognize the wildness of the field, the more you can correct it and extract its fruit later on, to bring a blessing to that field. Man is the tree of the field, right? He grows from that, precisely by discovering how this field is full of… What is he going to do? He's going to hunt, yes? All the beastliness is revealed, all the lions within man. After that comes the correction. It's impossible in the work — it's impossible without the revelation of the qualities of Esau first, and after that, Yaakov, Jacob.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (36:22) What's the difference between mind and heart in the work here?
M. Laitman: Let’s, for the time being, divide it into feeling and intellect. Mind and heart, Mocha ve Liba in Hebrew, they are spiritual concepts, but at least that. So again, I say, see every state that comes to the person as a desirable, worthy state, a necessary state, and not criticize what we receive from the Creator. Just accept it, and from that, start working. It's written, like a good servant, whatever he's given to do, he does. We don't know through what stages we need to advance, or what is the benefit of each and every stage. Our people, in relation to the groups, they come to me and they say, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is bad. They think that without the revelation of the bad things, they can progress. What will make you take the next step if you now feel good? When the bad things are revealed, then you correct them, and that will be your next degree. It's not where you receive a little bit of difficulty and you don't want it. What do you mean you don't want it? It's the opposite. It is desire that you will advance. Why are you displeased that we need to make some effort to rise to the next degree? Well, our efforts are inner efforts.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:23) What does it mean to work with a state that comes? What is working with a state when it arrives?
M. Laitman: Work with a state that arrives, it means that now, that my mood is different, different state. Sometimes there's difficulty, suddenly I don't get along with the friends, with the Creator, with my relation with the wisdom of Kabbalah, a different attitude towards life, suddenly it all changes. I'm not talking about what I have at home, also at home with the wife, with the children, at work, with the manager, it doesn't matter how. Ultimately, I'm being influenced by various things in order to move me, to disconnect me from the straight path towards the goal, by various means. A bit closer to spirituality or further away from spirituality, both. And so accordingly, I simply need to accept everything in life. If I'm already going into this work to accept everything in life as signs, as factors that arrive from above, within which… In all these states that are revealed I need to establish myself.
Yisrael, the ways of the Torah and the Creator are one, meaning me and the Creator and whatever He gives me now, this whole mess in my life, this whole situation, it should not interrupt the connection between me and Him. And if I do that, then all these things called the wild field, I turn that into a fertile field by which I advance, I create the next degree. All the unpleasant conditions, disruptions, problems, bad moods, inner things as well as external, which seem to disrupt the work, this is the field which is not tilled, not worked, that's it. These are the things which are revealed to a person. They're revealed, usually, well, why are they revealed?
It's revealed that within me I don't have corrected qualities opposite that. Whatever is revealed to me as bad, it's revealed to me because I don't have the corrected qualities by which to receive it as good. That is, how to say, reflection — reflection, I don't know. It's like in a mirror, reflection, it's like an external reflection of my inner qualities. Why is he shouting at me? This is wrong, that is wrong. Think about him. All the bad things, all the good things I see, all the bad things that I see in relation to me and my attitude towards them, it's all a reflection of my uncorrected qualities outside of me, that's it.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (41:55) By what means do I correct this reflection that's now being revealed?
M. Laitman: How do I correct it? Through my attitude. When I see these things that appear bad outside of me, I need to believe that they're actually good, because the Creator is Good and Does Good. If I were corrected, I would feel only goodness, 100%. It cannot be that a person receives anything bad from the Creator. The fact that I do not yet feel the final correction is because my own qualities are not corrected, they do not perceive this state of final correction. It is not that the situation around me is actually bad. Even now I exist in the world of Ein Sof, in the final correction, in complete perfection; the problem is only that I have to correct myself. So, everything that appears to me, both inside and outside of me, I see through my own blemishes. I see it through my uncorrected qualities. The moment those qualities become corrected, I will see only godliness, the light of Ein Sof filling all of reality. This is how I need to receive every situation that comes to me. The field is truly just that.
Every degree that becomes revealed appears first from its posterior side, although through its uncorrected aspects. Then there must be agreement, acquisition, surrender, many stages of work in every new state that becomes revealed as uncorrected. But from the beginning, my approach needs to be such that I stand before the Creator, There is None Else Besides Him. If there is None Else Besides Him, then I need to come to a state where I see everything as good. I need to become righteous, one who justifies what is happening within me and before me, because it certainly comes from Him. Apart from the single point of my own judgment, where I judge the Creator's attitude to me, everything else comes from Him. I need only judge my own attitude to Him and justify Him.
Student: According to what you said, building together, that's the meaning of joining the work of the day into a corrected state?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:48) Is it possible, before the Machsom, the barrier, to join all the desires that are revealed to a general motion towards the goal, or, for the meantime, it's just an interruption?
M. Laitman: Everything becomes revealed first as an interruption, as a disturbance. Everything that is ultimately beneficial is initially revealed as a disturbance. Generally speaking, though, there's help that's given from above to support a person, to hold him up a little, but essentially everything that becomes revealed is a disturbance, or at least something that requires you to make an effort. Without effort, it's impossible to attain anything.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (45:41) There is a kind of dormant state in the work where there is no feeling of progress. Is it correct to look for this Esau as fuel in such a state?
M. Laitman: If it truly is a state of dormancy, there are days, even weeks, when nothing changes. The inner state is completely barren. First of all, these states are also necessary. That is, it's not a state that comes and you simply agree with it, but a person nevertheless has to go through everything. There's no state on a higher degree that you can be on without having passed through all the states at the lower degree, and everyone who advances goes through the same states.
In other words, if I'm on the 10th degree and you reach the 10th degree, you might be Chinese, or I don't know who you are or what you are according to your mentality, your qualities, and your lifestyle. It doesn't matter, you still have to go through the same discernments that I did. It might be that you experience them in your soul somewhat differently, just as we might each taste the same tea differently, and perhaps we cannot even measure exactly what the difference is. But in any case, we would both certainly taste the same tea. With everything, the same as true. So all these states are necessary, and then when this barrenness comes to a person, he should first relate to it as something that comes to him for a reason, that he deserves it. And after that whenever something becomes revealed in any situation there are always two aspects to it, to our attitude towards it.
The first is patience. Patience does not mean that you never burst out, explode, or shout, that's not considered patience. Patience means that despite everything, this state does not throw you off the path. If you jump and shout, that's perfectly fine, it's okay. We're used to people like that, and don't pay much attention to it, you don't have to be overly withdrawn. Patience means that despite everything you keep going, because there's no alternative, simply because there's no other choice. Even if you cannot accept the state joyfully, you still say, I'm going to keep going.
Then comes the second stage, how can I nevertheless come out of this barrenness? Barrenness is the worst state. If the states are clearly felt, whether good or bad, at least they move a person in some direction, but a barren state provides no fuel for anything, it suppresses you completely, it's like glue, you become stuck like a fly caught on a sticky surface. What should you do? There's only one thing, to place yourself in a society, even passively, like a lifeless body, like a corpse lying together with everyone else, then little by little, you'll absorb the spirit of life from them. In other words, if there's no society, and sometimes it happens, it happened to me, for instance.
So, whatever the mind cannot do, time does. There are states in which you are simply incapable of doing anything, absolutely nothing. And you need to feel those states, you need to go through them and see that time itself brings about the changes. But even then, you still try. And what does it mean to try? It means to come here and sit. Maybe you'll doze off a little, maybe you'll somehow hear something somehow. I'm not talking about ordinary states you experience here. You'll still see that there are states in which a person literally physically cannot move a finger. He cannot even think about moving it. It's as though the spirit of life is extracted from him, leaving only a living body that breathes and nothing more.
There are very unique changes that we still have to go through. That's why I'm speaking about these critical states where a person's truly incapable of anything. So in those cases, time does its work and the person simply has to go through them. There are discernments that are corrected precisely in that way. In other words, you might lie there, even on the floor, it doesn't matter where you are. And it's like someone having an epileptic seizure. The state simply runs its course until it passes. Yes, but these are not the kinds of states you're going through at the moment, you'll encounter them later.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (51:18) In that state, is there an action that the society can actively do on the person that will help?
M. Laitman: The society should actively act toward a person according to whatever has been agreed upon in the society. In other words, if I see that you are in a state that's really below the line of life, so to speak, and it's written in our agreement that we can act in such and such ways, so then we discuss it in the group. We might decide, for instance, that we'll come to you and give you 10 slaps. We'll tie a rope around you and drag you behind the car until you get here. We'll pull you up to our floor with a rope. We'll sit you down in a corner, start pouring water on you. Whatever you agree on in advance, it doesn't matter what. Sometimes people agree that when a person's in a bad state, this is more common among the Hasidim, he simply does not go home. He doesn't leave the synagogue. He comes from work, stays there. Someone brings him something to eat. He sits there and that's it. He doesn't leave. That helps restore him to the right state more quickly. There are all kinds of approaches.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:04) If there's a state that the whole society is declining, how does the society take itself out? Can such a thing only happen directly from above?
M. Laitman: If the entire group sinks, that's already a very serious problem. It needs salvation from above or from the outside. It's a very serious situation. A person in relation to the group, he can still hope for some help. But if the group itself sinks, that leads to detachment, to disintegration. And that's really the end of the story. Under no circumstances should such a state be accepted. The group needs some kind of insurance policy, so to speak, an agreement with another group that will step in and do something. The salvation will not come from within.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:57) Say a society of 15 people, one person feels that he's full of life, he can lift all of the 14?
M. Laitman: If there are 15 people in a group and one of them remains spiritually alive, he can save all of them. It doesn't matter whether it's 15 people or 15 million, it makes no difference. One person who has the spirit of life can save everyone. But several conditions are required for that. First, the group must let him do it. They must agree that he should act in that role. He must have the authority and the group's approval to do so. Yes, this, they do this with a prior agreement. Make your right agreements in advance for bad states. Right now, while everything's going well, we don't need an agreement for the good states. Instead, while we're in a good state, we need to examine all the bad states that could possibly arise and prepare accordingly. That's very hard.
While feeling good, to examine the worst situations that could happen, it's very hard. But it's essential to do so and study them, and this is exactly what we're told. That you should spend 23 and a half hours in a good state, and while you're in that good state, enter into the bad state and study it. Then even the evil you study is being studied in order to increase the good. In that way, you don't need to wait for the bad to arrive in the future, because you've already entered it with strength and corrected it. You understand? It's like writing a contract. I prepare the agreement now, and include in it all the possible situations that could arise later. And if those situations come, then others will know how to take care of me, and I'll not simply be left to lose my way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (55:58) In our state, where we're now connected into groups, so each group needs to have like a statute, a contract, like you say?
M. Laitman: Yes, but it doesn't need to be a written set of rules or a written contract in the group. Instead, start by making verbal agreements. All these written regulations, it's just mostly a waste of paper. If you don't see it that way, so go ahead until you reach such a decision or realization. The agreement is an inner agreement. It's actually an inner correction. After all, what's a contract? It's my inner consent to whatever might happen. What if it's written down? So what, you're later going to take it to a lawyer or to the police, because he gave me permission to slap him 10 times, and that's why I did it? Well, that's not how we should work. An agreement means our inner consent that even in the very worst states, when I lose my mind, when I lose my reason, when I become someone who's no longer really myself, when such a powerful desire to receive is added to me that I've never had before, that I'm no longer the person I usually am, but someone completely different. I look at everyone and I don't recognize them. Who are they? What do they want from me? I've got no connection to them. They're all disgusting, they're garbage. What am I even doing here? Even in such states, in any case, this society, which I don't want, I completely reject it — that they can come to me and act upon me. So much so, it's the worst possible thing. But just let them come to me. I just want to remain quietly, and leave me in peace, stay away from me. How should we prepare now for such a future state? Not by writing something on paper, making an agreement on the inanimate.
Rather, it should exist within me, in my own inanimate level, not on a piece of paper. Even if I'm left with nothing but the inanimate, not the human, not the animate, not the vegetative, but only the inanimate, so how can there still remain within me something that lets the society still act upon me? How can something of the human even remain within the inanimate? That's what's called an agreement, a contract for the future. How can we depict such a thing, that something nevertheless remains?
Student: How will society know?
M. Laitman: So for that, now, while I'm on the speaking level, while I'm truly a strong human being, I need to practice, like in the army, like how the army trains in preparation for times of crisis. So even if such situations never come, this is called the time of preparation, and that's where we are now. Just as we prepare ourselves to receive every good thing in order to bestow, we should also begin thinking about how to receive every bad thing in order to bestow.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (58:48) How will the society know how to act?
M. Laitman: How does society know how to act? Just as the army trains, very simply. A little more, and a little more, and a little more. This is how a person gradually becomes accustomed to not feeling the burden placed on him. You know how it works. You first lift 10 kilos, then 15, then 20. How can you rise from one degree to the next? If on your current degree you complete everything and just go a little bit beyond your limit, so that small amount beyond your end, beyond your limit, will become your habit the next time. That's what training is. The same applies when ascending from one degree to another. It's the AHP of the upper one, going beyond your own limit, above reason. If you're able to rise to that higher level, so you acquire it.
So now, while you're in good states, in any case, for half an hour each day, you should enter the bad states, and that will serve as preparation for bad times, should they come. And perhaps they won't come at all, but by working on them for half an hour each day, then those bad states that could come to you as days and nights — that's what a contract is. What does it mean to write a contract? It means to write upon the tablet of your heart. You truly write it there. In other words, while you're now in a good relationship with the Creator, imagine all the bad relationships that could arise, and write there all the commitments you could make. Write them on your heart, that if such and such happens, this is how I'll respond. Practice these situations. Then the contract itself becomes the correction. Nothing new will need to come, because you're already doing all of that now.
Student: You're talking about a single person?
M. Laitman: I'm speaking both about a single person and about a group. In the group, these things also have to be discussed together, and you need to carry out this kind of training. And you'll see, right now, if you're in a group, you probably don't see any bad people around you. They all seem great, giants of the generation. And maybe you only seem a little bit below them, but another week or two, you might begin to see things a little differently, and a couple more weeks after that, differently again, until you start noticing problems.
So already start writing your contract now. You write the contract specifically from a good state. You don't wait for a bad one. Don't wait for bad states. If you do, it's already too late, that's no longer correction. It's simply running away from the bad to the good. Then once you reach a good state again, you won't want to write the contract or correct the bad things either. Meaning you need to go down into the bad state deliberately, under your control, in order to extract a little of it and raise it, elevate it to the good. So we learn about the AHP of the upper one. We lower our hand a little bit, grasp a few crimes, transgressions, a few bad things, and then raise them upward and correct them. That is called the system of correction.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:00) In one of the conversations you said that a person builds an environment around himself so the society will work on him from the good side. So if you don't build these laws of how the society should act in certain states, and one agrees and one disagrees... So, I didn't ask about that. It's clear that the agreement should first be inner, but afterwards, when people come to those worst states, how to remember what we determined before?
M. Laitman: There is none as wise as the experienced.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:50) What is the work in truth and false during the fall?
M. Laitman: Truth and false in a state of descent means that I don't look at what is bitter or sweet for me, as my teacher used to say about his own body, "Let it suffer." Yes. That was when he really suffered physically. He would say, "Let it suffer. The beast has to suffer. The animal has to suffer." In other words, the feeling of pain does not detach me from the human being within me. It's the beast, the animal that suffers. If I'm presently connected with that beast, that connection should not determine what the human being within me does.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:54) Is it possible to determine this half an hour a day as a group?
M. Laitman: Yes, a group can set aside, just like a single person, half an hour each day, or maybe not every day, I don't know, provided that during all the other hours you're in a good state of preparation, where you can control yourself for the other 23 and a half hours. And then you can dedicate half an hour to work on this. It should be an obligation. Otherwise, you're only dwelling on the negative. You won't make any correction and no advancement.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:30) In what way to do the inspection in the group, if it's a group action?
M. Laitman: Seek that right way. Explore together how the group should carry out this self-examination during that half hour. And really, what's half an hour? You can even make it five minutes. But in that five minutes, your approach to the negative things remains a positive one.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:05:54) This means that if a bad state comes to me, it just means I didn't prepare myself in the good state.
M. Laitman: If a bad state comes to a person and he's not happy that the wicked became revealed, that's a sign that he didn't prepare himself properly for it.
Student: That he didn't determine the agreement in advance.
M. Laitman: That he didn't determine the agreement in advance, yes. A person should always be in a state of readiness, on standby.
Student: Standby.
M. Laitman: Standby, yes. Meaning that if a difficulty or a question arises, he's ready to organize himself correctly toward it. And then he starts seeking how he can carry out that exercise. In a group, this is a subject that can never be put to rest because you constantly have all kinds of thoughts and attitudes toward the friends. Here, every single thing you feel, not 100% positively toward a friend, becomes material for work.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:07:25) If the states that appear outwardly are a reflection of my inner flaws, yes? So, how… At the end of the article you said that the picture that is seen outside of me is my inner flaws, yes? So, what is my work in the group then? I need to arrange the influence of the environment on me, or the other way around, how I influence the environment?
M. Laitman: Think about it. I've got nothing to answer you. A word is written here. How does it relate to the purpose of creation? What am I supposed to do now, spend an hour explaining it?
Student: No, how does it relate to my correction?
M. Laitman: Everything relates to your correction. In what way? Find out.
Reader: Now, friends, we will summarize our impressions from the lesson and what from it we will take to our work in the Ten. Six minutes, summary workshop.
Workshop:
Reader: Let's move to the next part of the lesson. And before that, we'll sing a song together.
Song: (01:15:14)