'Secrets of the Eternal Book'

Video program with

Dr. Michael Laitman and

director and screenwriter Semion Vinokur

August3, 2009

Program 6, Chapter 'Lech-Lecha'

Semion Vinokur: Hello, dear friends, we continue our series of programs "Secrets of the Eternal Book". We will be talking about the Pentateuch, the Torah, and will be moving on along with Abraham. I do not know about you, but I return to these programs and I watch them again and again. I have a feeling that they cleanse me, as if I am purified. I look at all that is written differently, without materialising it. I do not see people anymore there, but I see forces there, I begin to see them. I recommend you to watch these programs again from time to time and then you will feel how it works.

So, our guide Michael Laitman is, as always, here with us in the studio. Hello

Dr. Michael Laitman: Hello

S.V: Hello. We are with Abraham

“The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give you and to your descendants forever.””

M.L: Meaning that a man sees, from a distance...

S.V: From a height?

M.L: ...yes, from above, he sees his egoism, all his desires...

S.V: All this land?

M.L: ...yes, and he imagines it already from a distance, as far as he can imagine it without delving into these huge, various desires, into his internal abyss. He begins to see that he needs to correct all this, to take under control, under his power, and to seize this land-desire with the property of Abraham. Then, in this correct state, he will be able to reach the balance, connection, and union with the Creator.

S.V: What is the voice of God in him? Can you tell what it is?

M.L: This is the point in the heart, which is leading him all the time and it shows him that all his desires, all his properties, all this is in him, and he must make them in likeness to Me.

S.V:

“I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted. Arise; walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

M.L: Meaning, with this property, which is called Abraham, with the property of complete bestowal, you begin correcting all of your desires lengthwise and crosswise. From the east to the west, from the north to the south is called from the point of giving and receiving. From the north to the south is called giving and receiving; from the east to the west is also giving and receiving, but only within other coordinates.

S.V: In accordance with what you have said, I look and anticipate what happens next – wars have begun...

M.L: Yes

S.V: Wars have begun...

M.L: As the man begins to correct his desires with the property of Abraham, huge problems immediately arise inside him and this is not so simple. Meaning, the correction begins here. The correction is always a war, but not the type of war as it seems to us in our world. It is the man's internal struggle. He must detach, oppose himself to these desires, and understand how he can overcome them.

Naturally, he has no ability to overcome these desires because they are natural, inborn. There is no possibility to crush them, but when he calls for the force of the Creator, attracts the force of the light, then with this help, he wins. So, all these desires, which appear now before him, always seem so huge to him, scary, impossible to overcome and to defeat them...

This makes him connect with the Creator. Meaning, all these properties, terrible, egoistic, that are now awakening in him, in fact, push him to the Creator. Therefore, it is called the "help against you."

S.V: Is that why it says, "they made war with Bera king of Sodom," and then it says precisely with "Birsha king of Gomor'rah?" Wars are made with them, here all these...

M.L: Yes, it is a ...

S.V: Personification.

M.L: ...the names of those forces that exist inside the man. These names are very precise, they consist of certain symbols...

S.V: Like in Gematria.

M.L: ...yes, that speaks about what desires are involved in this, what connections, how they correspond to the property of Abraham. The man is beginning to see here the forces of nature that are in him. Here, well, it is like in our world, when we study all the particles of the atom, and then their structure in the molecule, then connection of molecules and then their achievement of some organic properties, etc. Here, the man begins to study where his nature comes from, what is in its foundation, how he, by emerging himself into it, can begin transforming it from its native internal state to the property of bestowal.

S.V: As a result of this war?

M.L: Yes.

S.V: But the war has to happen, right?

M.L: The war is the struggle between these two properties. His gradual victory means that he takes these egoistic properties and begins already moving with them altruistically towards the growing likeness to the Creator. His increasing similarity to the Creator, his development as the man, Adam - from the word like, similar to the Creator- he builds on the ground that he wins all these egoistic properties, makes the likeness from them.

S.V: But what about the losses in this war? These egoistic properties...

M.L: There are properties that he can not correct, capture, make them his own, etc. He only ascends above these properties. Therefore, there are properties that he turns into slaves; properties that he kills; properties that he disperses from himself; properties of all sorts. Eventually, we know that all of these properties, with which he now does not interact (he does not marry, nor take, attract someone), all these are the properties that he lays aside for the future, when he will be much stronger and will be able to absorb them. Meaning, this is the man's inner world; they remain in it.

S.V: How many particular details! How many... each name, I even find it difficult, to pronounce it all...

M.L: No, it is not yet. It is only...

S.V: Bits, right?

M.L: Right.

S.V.: Games for kids.

M.L: ...it is only a sketchy message for us about what is within us, and how we have to go on this path. But when you are on the path, you do not notice all the...

S.V: All the abundance

M.L:...yes, diversity, abundance of these properties and desires, because it is your life, you have to be in it. Each time, when it manifests in you, it manifests as darkness and light, it gives you more clear pictures of the Upper World: here I am, here is the Creator, and between us, is how I am approaching Him; how I am interacting and beginning to acquire His forms, His forces. Along with this, I suddenly reveal a totally different level of my existence. All this excites me, it is such an adventure, and I am like a child who discovers the world. Therefore, there is no fatigue; there is no fear; there is, on the contrary, the revelation.

S.V: Do I, as a beginner, for example, have to grasp the meaning of these indistinct names?

M.L: No. Only understand the basics of the narrative, because when you start going through it, you begin to understand the true meaning of these words. Suddenly, you see it and begin to understand, "Oh! This action is called this way; that action is called that way; this is an animal; this is a man. ” You perceive their images, as if, they are earthly images. They do not exist as earthly images, but you begin imagining them in such way; it is like a dream. But, in fact, these are the forces that manifest and act in certain way.

S.V: Are these names universal for me?...

M.L: Absolutely, they are universal for all.

S.V:...for Africa, Russia...

M.L:It does not matter for whom.

S.V:I find it interesting, that they are universal.

M.L:Absolutely.

S.V:Here, let's take, for example, the name “king” ______

M.L:Any soul is created in the image and likeness to the Creator. It consists of ten Sephirot, of ten parts that you can divide by 365 and 248 with total of 613. They can also be divided on sublevels, five parts, etc. In short, we, all in all, have one standard set of all desires, of all the properties. The only difference is that everyone has more or less of certain desires or properties, but the set is standard, it is the same, 613 desires, and they all are calibrated in five levels. However, the intensity of the desires differs; everyone has his own combination, spectre, complex of desires. It is like fingerprinting, you can make an imprint of each soul and it will be unique for each soul.

S.V:It will be unique for each soul. How about mentality in Kabbalah? Does it exist? As it turns out, that there is none. When one reads this text, he perceives it in the way it was written, right?

M.L: No, every person perceives it in accordance with his unique set of properties. If you and I watch the same movie, we experience it in different ways. We perceive the same picture or music differently; we perceive everything differently. One perceives differently from the other, because one differs from the other. There is no total similarity between us.

S.V: Although, we do cry in the same place in the movie.

M.L: Right, but every one of us cries in his own unique way. Everyone has his own degree of understanding. In this, we are different. Otherwise, our souls would be the same, no difference. We understand that we are different in bodies. What would have happened if there were no bodies? Our internal part is made up of the 613 properties and forces and they are in a specific unique combination in everyone. If it was not so, then everyone would have the same soul, meaning they would be existing as one soul.

S.V: ..it is some kind of spiritual genetics...

M.L:Yes, of course, each of us has his own set.

S.V:The following happens as a result of these wars.

“Now the Valley of Siddin was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomor'rah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the mountain. So, the enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomor'rah, and all their provisions, and went their way; they also took Lot, the son of Abram's brother, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.”

What are these bitumen pits?

M.L: They fell from their level of control, power, kingdom, and it represents their full destruction, overthrow to the lowest level.

S.V: These black bogging bitumen pits are the lowest level, aren’t they?

M.L:Yes.

S.V:It is impossible to get out of there, isn't it?

M.L: Right, it is impossible. It means those egoistic properties, forces, desires, that were in the man, freed from the domination of egoistic direction. Now they become neutral. You can take them and start using them for bestowal and for love, instead of using them in the egoistic direction.

S.V:As I understand, Lot was captured and the narrative continues so:

“When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive...”

M.L: "His kinsman had been taken captive", means that he was captured egoistically in a greater way. Lot always stood his ground: mine is mine, and yours is yours. That it is not the greatest egoism. The greatest egoism is: mine is mine, and yours is mine.

S.V: So, the greatest egoism has suddenly appeared.

M.L: Yes, the egoism has appeared and it captured Lot.

S.V: Does it mean that an increase of egoism has occurred?

M.L: Yes.

S.V: In the man?

M.L: Yes, and here Abraham cannot just separate himself and wait. He must help him in order, at least, to bring him back to the previous state, and he does so. A certain picture of internal correlation of forces arises in a person. He sees that, under the increased egoism from the left, the forces that were neutral, suddenly, get too attached to this egoism and they go together with it. A person is captured by this egoism. Then, the quality of Abraham, the only property that is still left in him, is obliged to go and fight with the enslavers of Lot.

S.V: All this is from Abraham's point of view...

M.L: Yes...

S.V: Abraham cannot allow...

M.L: by this, three states are determined: Abraham, Lot, and the left force, the far left force that captured Lot. These are several elements. It means the man begins to see more and more elements in his internal set of properties and forces.

S.V: It is like the “turning point” in a movie plot. Before and after...

M.L: Yes. Many elements already appear in him: those kings, who fled and drowned in the bitumen pits, etc. Here is this internal struggle between the bigger and the smaller egoistic properties for power. Which one of them would lead?

S.V: Meaning that the feeling arises in Abraham that Lot can be pulled out from there and corrected. Does this time have come?

M.L: He cannot advance further. On the other hand, he realises that if Lot is not there in the middle...

S.V: Then he cannot advance.

M.L: ...then he would face the most terrible egoistic rulers, kings in him. The man begins to fear that the only intention, the only inclination...

S.V: The only hope...

M.L: …yes, that hope could be killed by the egoistic properties in him. He would be left... not even in some intermediate state... Everything would go to the left, and the small spark in him that is called Abraham, might disappear.

S.V:

“When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah.”

M.L: It is obligatory to pursue as far as Dan.

S.V: Hobah in translation is...

M.L: Yes, Dan. It is from the word din, judgement. It means he pursued them to the state when he executes judgement upon them.

S.V: So, when it says “went in pursuit as far as Dan” does it mean that he pursued them to judgement?

M.L: Yes, to judgement, to confrontation and then he also pursued them to Hobah: from bestowal and mercy towards judgement. The north is judgement and rigidity.

S.V: What does Damascus mean?

M.L: We will talk about it further.

S.V: It does not relate to the geography, does it?

M.L: No, all of this is...

S.V: Well, it still manifests there...

M.L: ...we will talk about Elie'zer...

S.V: Yes, of course, we will come to it.

M.L: ...of Damascus at some point.

S.V:

“After these events, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be great.” Abram said, “O Lord, what wilt thou give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Elie'zer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, thou hast given me no offspring; and a slave born in my house will be my heir.”And, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; your own son shall be your heir.”

M.L: Yes. Meaning that Elie'zer of Damascus, I can see that...(laughing)

S.V: There is no choice; we need to talk about Elie'zer and about Damascus.

M.L: Yes, Elie'zer means the helper of the Creator.

S.V: Eli is the Creator, ezer is the help.

M.L: Yes, that has been given to Abraham. This help that has been given to Abraham, comes from very rigid, opposite to Abraham forces. The Upper force leads the man by helping him and giving him the opportunity to become gradually stronger. Compare with the child: what does the child do? Nothing, but with each day, he gets stronger.

S.V: Legs get stronger...

M.L: Yes, all of a sudden, arm, legs, or he stands up, he crawls, etc ... he is getting stronger. Meaning, it is so created by nature: our advancement into the spiritual world is based on these two opposing forces that are initially developed in person. The first force of Abraham is considered to be the southern force, bestowal, love, mercy. This is his main property. The second force is given to him...

S.V: The help.

M.L: ... the help from the northern force of Damascus, God's help, so-called Elie'zer, is, in fact, a hiddenforce of the Creator, that basically... What does Abraham say? "If this force is instead of me, then who am I? I also want to reach the Creator. If this force is instead of me, then it is not me, it is not my work." It means it is not the man who attains the Creator; it is the work of the Creator Himself. Well, then the creation disappears. I need to be in it. I need my offspring, the human force, to lead. Not the God's force. Therefore,

S.V: He asks the Creator.

M.L: ...he asks the Creator: "Let me give birth to the next level. Here I am; the property of bestowal, the property of mercy and what is next? What next property can be born out of me?"And here, with the help of this Elie'zer, who is close to Abraham, the next level of Abraham is born...

S.V: With Elie'zer's help, the thought is born in Abraham to ask for his next level, isn't it?

M.L: Yes.

S.V: To give birth to his son?

M.L: Yes, if there was no Elie'zer...

S.V: He would not have thought of this.

M.L: He would not have thought about how to ask and what to ask for. It is due to this confrontation between him and Elie'zer, he says: "And where am I going to be in this next state? Let me give birth." It seems to us that Abraham is such a close state, the basis of everything. All philosophies emerged from him. All eastern philosophies and all religions emerge from him. They are called Abrahamic religions: Judaism, then Christianity and Islam. But it is not actually that he thinks there should be, because he desires to conquer his nature, and he does not see it yet.

S.V:Let's move further.

“And he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chal'deans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O, Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey cam down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

What a picture! It is, indeed, a movie! (laughing)

M.L: Well, imagine that all of these are the properties inside the man. In order to come closer to the Creator, the Creator tells him: "You can do it. There are internal properties in you, but these internal properties you should bring out. You have egoistic qualities in you, but they were simply oppressed by your internal Abraham. Now, start pulling them out: birds, animals. They are various egoistic desires, their manifestations, begin pulling them out...

S.V: Cut them.

M.L: ...cut them, begin to see what is inside of them, and pull their guts out. You, Abraham, will see that by using these properties, you can come closer to Me. Take these egoistic properties and create such conditions when you can give birth to the next level, Isaac. "

S.V: It is with great regret, I have to say our time is up. Our today’s program comes to an end. We will continue our journey with Abraham the next time. Stay with us, join us at the programs to come. Goodbye.