The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Morning Lesson: September 24, 2026
Part 1: Sitrin Convention, Sukkot 2003. Lesson 3
Reader: Hello, friends! In the first part of the lesson, we will continue with the series of the lessons from Citrine.
M. Laitman: (00:03) We will continue with the series of the lessons I wrote from Citrine, please. You all received printed pamphlets containing the articles, right? Yes, that's the article, Giving of the Torah, Giving of Kabbalah, I wrote, not Torah, so you wouldn't get confused on Mutual Guarantee. Then Free Will, with this picture of a little man that you see here, he achieved free will, yes! And the Concealment and Revelation of the Creator. They gave me two copies, and Machsom, Welcome to Machsom. I think they printed only half of what I gave them. So, I ask you all to bring these with you, at all times, we will always continue to work with them, constantly, because in Baal HaSulam, he expressed the very essence of man's ability to exit himself into another space, space in which he lives. Because inside himself, man senses everything, we only, it only appears to us as if it's outside. But it's all purely just our internal sensations, just a projection of our disagreement with our senses on our screen, as we so-called, the internal screen on which the picture of the world. It's supposedly the world that surrounds us, of course, it's not at all surrounding us at all, we talked about it, this topic, many times. If we had different senses, we would perceive everything completely differently. Of course, we would feel completely different light, different color, different tastes. If our senses were different, we would pass through walls by now! These, they wouldn't even appear as walls to us. Perhaps it would be even, the air would be, seem, as like it's solid to us, perhaps, and so on. All of this science understands today, and finally, it's all merely just our pure subjective interpretation of all the interaction between all our internal organs with something that's just around us.
The only question is, okay, if this picture was just frozen, paused, but if this picture is always changing constantly, then is it changing inside of me or changing outside of me? So, I don't know exactly, just let's say purely subjectively, so inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature. Everything is composed of solid, liquid, gaseous, or plasma states, and that's how I sense it all. Because I have like a spectrum of all these states and all these sensations; but if this state was fixed, constant, unchanging, then okay, then it exists, this is how I am. Some other, someone else, it's another living species experiences things slightly differently. There's others that are completely way far from me. I don't even sense them, and they don't sense me. We don't even touch each other, interact anywhere because our senses are in such a range that we simply don't sense each other. Naturally, there's no way for us to perceive the world in the same way but besides the fact that we perceive our world in such diverse ways. All these different beings and everyone has their own world – but let's say in general – what enters is the Kli, the vessel. That's what's felt within the Kli, and that's what, at that moment, we call it the world.
M. Laitman: (04:28) So, this world changes, this world changes not because something from the outside is changing. But because I change, only me, only from within, only within me. The I, what is what changes constantly and these changes occur according to some kind of, something that's not controlled. The rules that are not controlled by me, and I all of a sudden find myself in these states, or those states. Suddenly, it's me, or it's, it's not me but then, all of a sudden, my mood changes, my sensations change, and I suddenly sense that I feel more changes from the outside that are constantly moving. They are always influencing me, and is this really happening outside of me or is it happening within me? Inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature, people that are around me, the society, humanity. Do they exist outside of me, or, or is it all within me? They exist and each of them has their own freedom of life, movement, and changes. Each in accordance with their turn, or is it that within me I'm changing all these types of creation that happen to be around me: inanimate, vegetative, animalistic, and the human? That is, this change within me, it dictates how I experience this world differently. How does it all happen?
There are many questions that, out of all these and similar problems, that are all connected with our, I, and what our, I, experiences. But all of them, in the end, they all merge towards one. What is the difference how I feel, correct or incorrect, outside of me, or inside – yes, no? Of course, it's interesting, but that's, it's only interesting for the scientists. What will, what would I get if I would find out about it, what will change, ultimately, if I do know something, or don't know something? The main thing is, can I actually change it? This is, well, we can actually change within ourselves after all of these that are even bigger questions that'll come. And other bigger scrutinies, no matter how much smarter we'll become, this is what this article of Baal HaSulam, the article of Freedom of Will, talks about.
Right after this gathering, when we return, I will find a paper that I have from Baal HaSulam, called HaUma, which he published in 1930. I'm surprised we haven't posted it yet on the Internet. You know, sometimes one misses such things, I have it in the original and this paper is with what Baal HaSulam wanted to address the whole world. Around 1930s, he published a newspaper because it was the most affordable form, cheapest form to disseminate because he had no money. He, in this newspaper, he published three articles: The Giving of the Torah, Mutual Guarantee, and Shalom, the Peace. These three articles, they're the defining articles of the relationship that a person has with the world if a person wants to change himself. To truly feel like he's living in the correct world, to really feel – not just a small part of the creation that we perceive, but what lies beyond it – and what lies beyond it is, that's also called that which lies above the Machsom. So, in order to have the shortest path for the masses, the one that's a suitable path. Not for individuals but to bring the masses to such a level of existence, he wrote these three articles. You and I will have to study these and from them, we can actually pass through into the Machsom.
M. Laitman: (11:14) Because Baal HaSulam has prepared them and he placed into them such strong forces. In that special way, he prepared, he made a preparation with each of the points, parts of the articles. Such that when a person just digs into these articles and tries to feel them on his flesh, where is the true understanding, what should really change within me? Then, it starts to happen within him because the surrounding light is prepared in such a way and is divided in such portions, in such details. That it's very gradual, gradual, gradual illuminations, that they basically take a person by the hand and lead him toward, through the Machsom. So, I advise you – very much highly recommend – to read these articles. Right now, we'll cover them in a very concise summary form, in the form that I edited for us, because Baal HaSulam wrote this, of course, in a more academic language. Of course, most of his articles are like this scientific style, and the language is naturally not yet adapted for us, for our needs. It's not, it's still written in the language of the Sages, and it has all kinds of different references and sayings from Talmud and other books and he writes it in a complex way. And there, there's also a very special wisdom in this, because when a person is struggling through this complexity, a person, kind of like dough that is being kneaded. A person kneads himself from within and makes all the necessary changes; he adapts all his inner states and molds himself and makes himself similar to the form, exact form that he's supposed to ultimately acquire in order, so that surrounding light would gradually become this inner light, from Ohr Makif to Ohr Pnimi.
Therefore, although we will study these articles concisely and briefly in the form that I've written them, I still strongly advise you to then go back and re-read full text of Baal HaSulam. Not now, but after, when we start to understand the essence of what he said. So when we start to read the text, it'll become more clear to us from the simple to complex. We will, of course, we will study his original text, and actually Baal HaSulam has a whole vast set of articles besides The Giving of the Torah, and the Guarantee and the Peace. Then there are One Commandment, and Peace in the World – HaShalom BaOlam, and The Last Generation is also related to this, definitely. Perhaps you can help me, I don't recall, the Concealment and Revelation of the Creator, which we'll also study this time. I only remember seven today but we definitely have at least twice as many.
M. Laitman: (15:21) The Essence of Science of Kabbalah – no, it's not that – this isn't about the science, it's about a person that, and that the shortest path, with the shortest path possible, shortest route enters the spiritual world. So, the science of Kabbalah by itself, it's like a helpful, complementary material for us, it's an additional tool that helps a person attract the Ohr Makif, and there's no need to study the science of Kabbalah. If you have the opportunity in some other way to change the way you perceive, to draw upon yourself the surrounding light, then not through the science of Kabbalah. Sure, then not through the science but through something else, then please do. The way we study this, we study this, the means, so to draw upon us the surrounding light that will correct us. There are people that have been, many of them throughout human history, who didn't study science as such. Who only worked in themselves, helping others; that is, they worked in like a direct way of correcting their ego and thus, they would start to sense this, the upper world. But the true, the study of science Kabbalah, itself, that's the means, mainly it's the means. Then, when a person passes through the Machsom, Kabbalah ceases to be a science, he can then look forward quickly and invoke his future states. Then he becomes more familiar with the spiritual world, the world that he exists in. For us, it's merely a means, it's a Segula, as it's called. How do you translate Segula? I keep forgetting. It's a special quality that's contained in these books on the science of Kabbalah.
What I wonder is that when a person, what happens to a person when he passes through the Machsom? They naturally begin, as we talked about it many times, he starts to see behind himself and everyone else, forces that are acting. Actually one force that manifests in everything, he doesn't yet perceive this force as the Creator, but he simply sees that everything is in some kind of harmony. Each person moves and each person acts, and it's like some kind of a particle in some common field and some shared thought. It moves in a very specific, precise way, and in a way that this field commands, this particle is what it must do and what it must realize at that moment. There's something missing here, the second part, the Welcome to the Machsom is missing. So what's changing are the states, the perception of the world changes. Let's start, let's start with the most difficult article, first, The Concealment and Revelation of the Creator. We all know this and we heard many times and read and studied it many times, and I hope that everyone that already completed all the virtual lessons and listened to all of the virtual lessons, then of course. If not, then for sure you'll feel like you're missing it.
M. Laitman: (19:56) Our path is made of, as we explained in many lessons already, that it consists of four states. Everybody that begins to study Kabbalah goes through these four states. The first state is the double concealment of the Creator, when a person clearly senses that they are in the double concealment of the Creator, that is, they sense that they don't even sense the Creator's concealment. That is, I know that right at this moment, He is completely hidden from me and there are states when I feel that He is hidden. But He is, as if, always arranging something for me, He's acting in some hidden way around me but He's still in contact with me. In my sensations, what I could say is that there is at least some kind of connection that exists between us. I suddenly feel that He is behind these events, these actions, with everything that's happening around me. And this state is called, The single concealment of the Creator. That I hear and I see and I feel that somehow that the Creator exists, but He is hidden from me; and on the other hand, there are states where I fall from the state of sensing the Creator. That He's hidden and I don't even sense that the Creator's hidden at all. But I know that the Creator exists, that He was somehow connected to me. That I felt that something was behind all the phenomena that happened to me, good, bad – and well, generally good, generally bad – and now I don't feel it. This sensation is called, Double concealment. Meaning, it's both of these, double and single concealment of the Creator, they're the ways we sense it's from a person that's only seriously engaged in their spiritual development. Someone that's in the process of advancing toward the Machsom, so what does he feel then? Double concealment.
In the books it's called, Hiding the hidden, it is a simple translation of notes of Baal HaSulam. It's not an article, the way he wrote it, I have it just on paper, like a manuscript that's torn from two pages. It's not even ready for the printing press, it's not a finished article, it's just for himself he journaled, made a note in the books it's called The Concealment of Concealments. This means that a person does not even see the other side of the Creator; that means the reverse side. So, the front side of the Creator, the face, is when we sense His kindness toward us. It’s when we see His plan, The Good That Does Good, His complete love for all of creation. It's absolutely fair and equal and limitless, and when we feel this force that governs the entire world with absolute goodness, then that's called that we are experiencing the Creator. It's not an image but it's the sensation of this force, of this thought that governs everything and surrounds everything. And permeates everything, it moves in accordance with this thought and with this goodness, and bestowal. This state is called, Panim, the face of the Creator, Panim means face.
M. Laitman: (24:49) When a person senses the Creator's concealment, what does it mean? That is, this good revelation of the Creator is concealed and we see His reverse side. So, there's this force in the world and this force is causing me all kinds of negative things and troubles. But there's only one force that exists, it's causing me blows or suffering but it's doing it with a specific goal of leading me and educating me. Upbringing me to a specific, perfect, wholesome state, a good state; and when a person feels such a duality in the interaction with this force that fills the entire space of the world, that's called, The state of Achoraim, the other, reverse side of the Creator, the back. But the Creator never reveals Himself in a negative way to the person. He can reveal Himself in what way, in a negative way, what does it mean? That means He doesn't turn His back to me – that's only if a person with his negative qualities senses the Creator.
In other words, see how, again, we encounter this problem of expression once again. We say, the Creator has turned His back to me but in reality, the Creator doesn't turn His face, nor His back. His attitude is absolutely constant, but we, with our 620 qualities, if they're in equality to the Creator, in accordance with their correction, then they're, Face to face with the Creator. They perceive Him, how He is, because these qualities are of the same nature as Him. If we sense the Creator in our 620 qualities or properties or desires that are opposite of the Creator, then only for ourselves and not outward, then we sense from the Creator either a double concealment or a single concealment. Or we don't sense any concealment at all, and we don't even sense Him at all. Again, we say that the world is constant, it doesn't change, only we change inside ourselves. It only depends on me in what way to feel the Creator in His double concealment and single concealment, or in His direct relation to me, face to face. From His side, He is always in the Kli, or He is always direct relation to me. I see this in accordance to my qualities, my level of correction. If all my qualities are corrected, I feel His revelation the way He is, we are face to face, then this state is called adhesion, or final correction, or the world of infinity, because there's no limit, no end, no limit, no restriction.
M. Laitman: (29:20) There is a revelation of one to the other, there is unlimited perception of the Creator, the spiritual world. To the extent that my 620 senses, feelings, desires, qualities are not correct, they can be corrected in part, in part not corrected. They can ascend to some degree, each one of them, and some of them can be fully corrected. It's like a spectrum of all the 620 desires, each one should rise to the 100% of the particular Sephirot. It can be in some kind of a spectral image as when we see the sound in an equalizer: you see 20 pitches, 20 qualities, and each one is on the level of their part, their segment. They are what paints the image of this world, the more corrected they are, the more the Creator enters them; the less, the less. These relations create the image of the world. Let's say, at a particular level, at a particular degree of the spiritual world, there is an image and it's depicted in a certain way, then I'm at a specific degree. This part, let's say, at the top of 620 desires, it's corrected, that the Creator is in there, this is called, The measure of His revelation, and the part of the 620 degrees that's not revealed, there the Creator is not revealed. This is the extent of His concealment, the world, Olama, from the word concealment, is the measure of His concealment. Our world is full concealment, all the worlds, the spiritual worlds are in a certain level of revelation of the Creator. My desires in certain combinations, certain similarity to the Creator, then I feel the Creator.
Why are they not the same, these desires, why are they corrected not in one go and I don't feel the Creator in all of them? Because they are different in their quality and their Aviut, their coarseness, their ego. That's why the world that's called Assiya, Malchut, is different from Yetzira, it is called Zeir Anpin, from Yetzira, it is called Bina, Atzilut - Zeir Anpin. Each one is a bigger sensation of the Creator, more reception of the Creator, so to speak. Apart from that, in His qualities, His harmonics, His manifestations in all the 620 qualities, they don't raise in a proportional way. But in each of the 620 desires, the quality raises by a certain degree. When one goes up the degrees, it's not that 10% of my desires improve: one can be improved by 1%, and another one by 8%, let's say. So, the attainment, at the same time with the general ascent of the feeling of this force I'm in. Apart from that, it's changed in its quality, in the impression, just like in our world, we don't only feel it more strongly or less strongly. But also in its character, more pleasant or unpleasant, let's say. Are there questions? Ask, please. Does anyone have any?
Question (Citron): (34:43) [Inaudible]
M. Laitman: We'll read this article, it's not due to our communication. You know, we'll build the lesson differently from tomorrow, then the Moscow group will connect to us as well. It's over a hundred people, apart from, it's a big group, we have to wait for them. I'm not dragging out time, it's just we have to go through this, we'll go over it again.
Question (Citron): (35:46) Why are there 620 parts of our egoistic desire for that law of, Love your neighbor as yourself?
M. Laitman: What's the connection between our 620 egotistical desires and the Love your neighbor as yourself, this rule? Because why are our 620 egotistical desires parts of the law of Love your neighbor as yourself? Because this is the law, Love your neighbor as yourself is the only condition. It’s the only part where we can become similar to the Creator; the Creator reveals Himself as the loving. This is revealed on the other side of the Machsom. If we want to jump over the Machsom and connect to the Creator, be with Him, feel Him, we have to change ourselves, be like Him. The transition is qualitative in our qualities, nothing else changes. What changes is the sensation of the person that depends on his inner qualities. That's why if we want to go into the upper world, feel ourselves, feel the Creator, feel that we are on the other side of the Machsom, we have to become similar to Him in His attitude to the world.
We don't feel Him in any way, we learn in Kabbalah that the light that's in Kli, we don't attain it. We just have to say that perhaps it exists, because otherwise, who feels it? The Kli is our sensory organ, it's everything, the Kli is everything. There are all the clothings, everything that makes up the world, everything apart from the Creator. He is the one that fills the Kli, so gives life, and this is called, The One that fills. So, in a different way from the one that loves, that feels, gives good, we don't perceive Him in the spiritual world in a different way. If a person wants to be on this level, he needs to be similar to the Creator. In order to give the person this opportunity, the Creator created the Kli, broke it into parts, and to every part He placed His quality of Bina and the quality of the Kli itself, Malchut. Now a person has the ability to relate to the general Kli to everything else that exists apart from him and the Creator, the same way as the Creator. So, I have to place myself in such a way that I am here, the Creator is next to me, and the creation created by Him. Can I become similar, become equivalent to Him in His relation to this creation? If I can, then I'll be closer to Him and will adhere as one; I can't be similar to Him, I can't love everyone absolutely, endlessly. Then I can't be closer to Him, I'll be to the extent that I'm opposite to Him, and then I'll feel Him, but Achoraim, so to speak, from the other side, His opposite manifestation, there's nothing else here.
M. Laitman: (40:46) The breaking of the Kli happened to give the opportunity for each one of us to feel ourselves separate from the creation. And see it in an isolated way, and only humans have this ability, no other creations. Then if I place myself in a way that I'm separate from everyone, then I can start to work on becoming similar to the Creator, this is our work. When I begin to do this, it's not now, it's when I cross the Machsom, I discover in myself only one egotistical quality. Then it begins to develop in me and create 620 qualities, different in character. It's just like a child grows in his mother's womb, first from a drop, there's only one quality – an embryo of future life, there's nothing else. Gradually, a whole organism grows, Rosh, Toch Sof, extremities, inner organs, and so on. I begin to see in me this growth, this development in all 620 qualities, each one to its full height, to the full size, this is called, Development of the soul. Then I see the connection between my qualities and this condition of, Love your neighbor as yourself, which is similarity to the Creator. So, if I change my 620 egotistical desires to a relation of good love towards the world, to the inanimate, vegetative, animal, and human. Then by this I will be similar to the Creator; so the soul grows in me, reveals in me these 620 qualities to the extent that I make them similar to the Creator. This is called I am given the left line and looking at the Creator, I begin to correct it into the right line. The Creator is to the right of me, so to speak, and He reveals negative qualities, 620 qualities to the left. I compare them and try to treat and relate to the creation in a better and better way, more correctly. This is my similarity to Him, my closeness and then my adhesion to Him.
We have to explain this in an inner sensory way, in a mathematical language: Kinyot, Sephirot, Partzufim. We explain more clearly what's happening inside of us, we cannot imagine this existing outside of us. That's why in Judaism it's forbidden to, to depict, you know, that for thousands of years nothing was depicted. It's just in our days, people started to draw, depict things. There were some images in the 10th, 15th, there were some etchings, but there were no images, why? Because everything is from this law because it's from this law that not to imagine anything as existing outside of him, outside of my senses.
M. Laitman: (45:31) So, we shouldn't be afraid of this language. When we read the Torah, Talmud, Kabbalah, it doesn't matter what language we use, we have to translate it to our inner sensory language. Then after Machsom, we can speak without language directly; then there's no external language. We just, everyone is outside of himself to an extent; to the extent that we are outside, we connect to some external field that's called the Creator. To that extent we understand each other, we express ourselves without any words because between us exists this field of communication called the Creator. To that extent we understand each other, communicate, we don't need words or actions.
Question (Citron): (47:08) How to overcome your nature?
M. Laitman: How to overcome your nature? The question is correct, it's not funny, the question is how to beat, how to overcome our nature. I'll explain what you wanted to say: we discover, we discover all kinds of qualities, some of them seem good, some of them seem bad, many of our qualities, some of them are not known to us. We're terrified of revealing something in ourselves, maybe we feel pleasant. There are some things that we conceal from ourselves, we are ashamed and we hide them. We are revealed to ourselves only to a certain extent; otherwise, full revelation of ourselves in relation to ourselves will reveal some such suffering that a man won't be able to exist. That's why we support ourselves in this false but comfortable state, but let's say we imagine what our nature means. We are terrified, and then what? Can I, am I able to correct myself?
Where did I, where did I say this? God, give me strength to change to correct what I can in The Freedom, yes, in The Freedom! In the article Freedom. In one ancient prayer it is said: God, give me strength to change in my life what I can change, and give me courage to accept what is not in my power, and give me wisdom to tell one from the other. This is good common wisdom, but we need to correct ourselves. This is what a normal person says, Show me what I can do, what I can know, where I can exert, show me. Why should I hit my head on the wall, I won't be able to change anything and give me the wisdom to do it. Give me strength, let me see it, give me strength. We want to change ourselves, our children, each other, and to know correctly where we can, where we can't, to treat life wisely. It is easier to live that way but we are not talking about such a peaceful, ordinary level of life. We say that we have to, despite all this, to change, to correct ourselves completely, how do we do this?
I can only say one thing: that until a person begins to feel the Creator, it is just right there before the Machsom. Not in an obvious way, but in this way of not yet obvious manifestation of the general plan. The general field of love that exists in the world, and everything permeates, everything guides everything. Until a person senses the Creator, there is no hope, there is no hope, no possibility of anything changing within them. How can it change if it is 100% a consequence of the breaking of the Kelim, how can there be anything within us? We can only imagine that there is something positive within us because even the light that we sense, the Ohr Makif, does not yet give the awareness of our utter insignificance and utter lowliness. A complete oppositeness, invertedness, as it were, to the Creator. But you can, theoretically, imagine that we possess nothing of what the Creator possesses, and if we did, we would immediately sense Him in this quality. To the extent of my similarity to the Creator, I would sense Him clearly at least in one aspect of the 620 and I don't feel it, I don't sense this.
M. Laitman: (53:01) It seems to me that somewhere, somehow, but not in a clear way, I don't need to tune in, I don't need to invent any circumstances or inner states for this, so that I can catch Him by the tail. No, there's nothing like that, it's a clear sensation, a clear existence within the Creator's scope. It's not something achieved in meditation, not at all, this is a clear existence in a corrected quality, at least one of the 620. It can't be in just one, it's 620 on some small elementary level because even a drop of semen from which the embryo develops, or the starting point from which the spiritual Partzuf develops, also consists of ten Sephirot or all 620 properties. So, to the question, how can we correct ourselves, we can't, there's no way. Only the Creator's manifestation to us, this manifestation of this field, this light, the sense of what kind of world we truly live in, what's behind all this, what's behind everything we are sensing, these objects we sense. That behind them there is one constant controlling good force. Until we feel this, we won't want to be like it, and as soon as we want to be like it, we begin to correct ourselves to that extent.
Then there is something very interesting, a very serious conclusion for us. Under no circumstances should a person think that they should correct themselves. Under no circumstances because naturally it's impossible and nobody is forcing us to pull ourselves out by the hair out of this swamp we're in. It's impossible, only the Creator's revelation, to the extent that it reveals itself to us. It draws us to itself, and to that extent we correct ourselves; therefore, we should only think about this in general and strive for this. But strive not for what will be good, but because I will be corrected because I want to become like Him. Because I wish to be like Him in relation to humanity, in relation to creation. In our form, it's in relation to the group. Baal HaSulam writes about this in the article, The Last Generation. That is, he writes there that to begin with, we need to create a small society. He's no longer writing about a group, but after a group, he says, We need to create a small society in which all the same, not connections, organs, as it were, in this society is in a small state. Which would fully communicate with each other, would be governed by the principle of complete bestowal. People would work according to this principle in relation to one another, but what would be different from a communist state or Israeli kibbutzim or other utopian societies? The difference would be that the goal would be union with the Creator, adhesion to the Creator.
If we create such a society, this society will begin to attract, you know, like skimming off the cream, the very, very top. The very best layer from all over the world will gradually begin to flock to this society. This is what's happening, I hope, with us now, all over the next year, we'll see more of it. The very best layer of the most advanced, the most refined, and gradually this layer is called, Israel, from the word striving for the Creator. Don't get hung up on this connection to any particular state or people, those who strive for the Creator are simply called, Israel, in Hebrew. So, these people that strive for the Creator gather into a small community, and this community gradually grows, becomes an example for the entire world. Baal HaSulam says that this is precisely how it should begin to happen; but we are still in the preliminary stage, creating groups and then merging these groups into such a society.
M. Laitman: (58:31) This principle of attitude toward humanity, toward the universe, as we said, including towards some beetles. It doesn't matter what, towards cockroaches and rats, it doesn't matter what. There's no difference whether it's a cockroach or a person or a rat because when it comes out of oneself, without any connection to oneself, it's absolutely the same for everyone. Since we cannot currently relate to or truly realize ourselves like the Creator in such a kind attitude towards all of humanity. We are given a group for this purpose, we are in a group; there are people like me who desire to achieve the same. Who desire the same goal, who are ready to strive forward and make the effort to achieve it, then together, we strive together for what the Creator does. Naturally, our aspirations are purely artificial, it's like a child imitating an adult when they watch what an adult does and do the same. Supposedly, it's the same thing, they don't even know what they're talking about, they're just doing it. Like a monkey and we should do the same, like try to do it like children pretending that this is how it is. In a group, even though it's clear to all of us that we're egoists, that we don't want it, we don't need it at all. We'll keep trying to imitate this movement called, Faith above knowledge. I do this above my ego, pretending, faking, simulating, but I do it because I don't have any other opportunity from my nature to do anything else. But I want to do it, in this way, I attract the surrounding light, then it begins to influence me. Because by mechanically assimilating, not our own, our true Kelim, but mechanically, I thereby draw the surrounding light on myself.
If I was doing this with my inner qualities, then this light would enter me, it would become Ohr Pnimi. But since I'm still on this side of the Machsom, not with my qualities but only with my aspirations, only with my mechanical actions, I am assimilated, therefore, like Or Makif, and this light already cleanses me. I have no other way from this state, from this side of this metal wall of the Machsom, to attract anything from there, from the Creator's light, from His manifestation toward me in another form. Only if I'm like a child, if I act in only this way – and that's why in our world, that's how education and all the upbringing happens – so, never to think that we can correct ourselves by ourselves, that's not possible. We must create conditions, mechanical conditions inside ourselves when the light will act upon us, and it will just pull us forward and pull us through the Machsom. There we will start to feel it, and then there we will truly start to correct ourselves. But before the Machsom, no matter how close we get to it, we remain as egoists. But we have some remaining feelings, sensations to try to get out of ourselves, to exit ourselves towards altruism. We see that this is the true liberation from all these poorly lowly feelings, from this lowly life because our egoism starts to feel filthy and disgusting. We cannot, still cannot get rid of ourselves, get rid of it until we pass the Machsom. Only the light, only the true light, the surrounding light will bring us toward this. But after, through the Machsom, the Creator takes us there.
M. Laitman: (01:03:40) If we don't forget this, if we don't demand from ourselves this kind of correction, then it will be much easier. And as it says here, Give me, we will decipher this phrase correctly: Creator, give me the strength to change the things in my life that I can change, the courage to accept the things that I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference. So, this won't be like some general principle anymore, but it will be actually specific to my spiritual advancement. That I shouldn't just correct myself, but I should strive to create such an environment around myself. That's why I made this as an introduction to the article of Baal HaSulam, because the next one is Freed Will, right? This one I wrote, these first two pages, right, that's why I took it from here so we would understand where this free will exists, to choose it out of everything that we have. That specific area where we can do something, truly change something, and only there we can concentrate all our efforts. Only in the group because before the Machsom, where does a person find strength? Only from the group because a group can give each of us an example of how this should be. And conversely, if a group doesn't provide such an example, then it's not a group. That's why Baal HaSulam says that we must continually seek, constantly, a new group. Of course, you're not going to search, you're not going to be searching for different groups every day. But what it means is each time, each and every time, you must change the environment that you're in so that it will change you back. Of course, this is done very purposely, and even artificially, I can change others, of course I want to change others, I can't change myself, I'm happy to change others, of course, yes, break them, twist them. But myself? So, we change the group in such a way so it'll change you.
That's the whole point of this article, Free Will, because we can't change ourselves but, because we're created from a common Kli, because once we were a common Kli. Even though we've later become, we became individualists, egoists, our root is still on the common Kli. That's why we aspire to it or not, want it, whether we resist it or not, we will still want it. Whatever the common Kli wants to command us to do, we should do. And any kind of advertising, any kind of opinions of this general crowd, of the society, whatever they want, they will influence you. No matter what kind of egoist I would be, no matter how high I would place myself above everyone. I still am dependent on this general opinion, each of us. We must take advantage of this because it's the only thing we have in our free will. So now if I understand that I'm completely dependent on the opinions of others, and they, with their opinions, can change the values in me in any way. They can change anything within me, and reprioritize my values, my whole set of values, they can completely flip my whole life in everything. They can convince me that it's better to die, or better to live this way, or vice versa, they could treat me however they want, and shape me. The society needs to be arranged in such a way that it will always remind me of spiritual values, and these values will be imprinted in me. Then – and if that's everyone who will express this information towards me this way – then I will change and nothing else will be left in me. I will change so much that I will want to approach the Machsom, I will want to want this Creator, who's completely opposite of me. I will want to live and exist in the upper world, even though this life is completely opposed to me, to my egoistic life that I live today. I will want it today, before, even before, way, way before coming up to the Machsom.
M. Laitman (Source Text/Commentary): (01:08:08) So, if we have this re-evaluation of values in the environment and the group in which I find myself, it will really cultivate within me the values in such a way. I must, that's the most important thing, create such a group, and Baal HaSulam writes this, I think I even, I even bolded it here, he writes:
A person cannot change his essence, a person cannot change the laws by which his essence changes.
That is the Reshimot that keep being revealed in us, this internal spiritual gene that is gradually revealed from within us, we cannot change it, and we're obliged to grow it. So he writes,
A person cannot change the laws of change of its internal properties depending on external influences, but a person can completely change the environment on which we are completely dependent, and this is where our free will lies.
He continues, that's why it's written here,
Since we're entirely in the power of this world, the means to escape from its power is to create around ourselves contrary to our natural egoistic environment, that is to all humanity, an artificial environment, a group striving together to escape from the power of our common environment.
So all over the world, we must,
And fall under the power of environment guided by the law of the higher world.
So we must create such a group, a society, and we must do this involuntarily. We must be impressed by the values of the upper world and do it kind of like a brainwashing. And even though we know we don't want it, but like a child, we still do it. And it's called , Going above reason, going above yourself. So being on this side of the Machsom, it's impossible with our current abilities to cross it. So,we try to imitate, adapt ourselves to the spiritual world, and we must create such a society and such an environment as if we already exist behind it, like a child, artificially To do the same thing like a child copies the adult, and then from this side of the Machsom, we attract and we form the surrounding light which draws us there. When it draws us there, we receive this from this revelation of the Creator, we become immediately similar like Him, and we have no choice in this. As soon as we sense the upper, we immediately want to become just like Him.
All of our free will is simply in not to do something later, but in by placing ourselves under the influence of the surrounding light; then each time, and even after the Machsom, at each spiritual degree we must draw upon ourselves this illumination from the highest spiritual level. From the AHP of the upper, it will act on us, the surrounding light will draw us up, then when it draws us, it's like it sucks us up there. Always the AHP of the upper one into the next one into more advanced states. The Creator is revealed there and we're already under His power and become like Him. The light builds everything, the Kli, and the light corrects the Kli, and the light makes absolutely all the changes in the Kli. Just like a child, we are drawn inward by this light, and this is our action, this artificial action, against our ego. And it's – we're playing it, we must understand this and act on it.
Question (Holland): (01:12:19) If I corrected myself to some of these 620 qualities, and the rest I must wait to get corrected?
M. Laitman: Well, we already discussed that it's impossible to completely correct any one quality without correcting the rest. They all must approach 100% correction at the same time. There is a relationship between them, some are greater, some lesser; but in the end, regardless of which one's greater or lesser, we always – how can I say it? Let's say from 620 qualities, each of the qualities has its own percentage of correction. But at the same time, when you take, like a summation or an average of just kind of all of them. It gives you this, the actual spiritual level that you're on, so this, for example, it could be 10th, or 20th degree, or degree number 125. But it's impossible that you will correct one of the qualities completely, but the rest will not be corrected. Before a person reaches the Machsom, he must prepare himself artificially. Artificially, in accordance with what Baal HaSulam writes in the article, The Freedom, which is with the creation of the group, because it must, we're creating such an environment that it will help a person become like the Creator. We have nothing else, no other greater rule, no other opportunity to bring ourselves into this equivalence with the Creator.
Again, I'm saying that we must put ourselves under such conditions where I and the Creator, we exist as two independent entities. Humanity exists supposedly beneath us. The Creator, He treats humanity with absolute goodness and absolute love, and to become like the Creator, I must treat humanity in the same way. And this will be, to that extent, to that similarity, that will be the measure of my closeness and how close I am in adhesion with the Creator, there's no other way.
M. Laitman: (01:15:02) In spirituality, closeness is, it's an equivalence of form of qualities. When we're distant from, when I'm distant from the Creator, this distance widens, I and the Creator. This distance is divided into many levels – five worlds, from complete oppositeness through the five worlds, five stages, right? The world of Assiya, Yetzira, Briah, Atzilut, and AK, and an incomplete adhesion with the Creator, and the world of infinity. And here I stand, and here He stands, and the worlds between us are there, the measure of how close we are. So, to the extent of how close do I get to Him? To the extent that I relate to humanity, to the whole universe, like we said, as we talked about these bugs, the little beetles, remember? It's the same thing, except I can be similar to Him, I cannot be similar to Him alone, only in similarity to Him, in the degrees of similarity to Him, I get closer. This means that I'm drawing closer to Him, so how do I do this today?
I can only do it artificially, if I'm creating such a group, such an environment, that if I'm relating to it in such a way, as if, I'm relating as the Creator relates to humanity. Then it becomes, as Baal HaSulam says, Becomes a small community, a society, and then this small society will become the next and the last generation, will eventually envelop all of humanity. Then we'll have complete adhesion with the entire vessel and the Creator, so we see that our whole existence today depends completely on the existence of a group, so, how can we create such a group so I can easily support it and receive support from the group? How can I relate to it in such a way? As the Creator relates to it, this is what we must do today. That is, Love of friends – or as it says here, the principle of the giving of the Torah, Love your neighbor as yourself, this is the main rule. The main rule of the Torah and Kabbalah, as Rabbi Akiva said, because this is the main principle as the Creator relates to creation. Because as a light comes from the stage, the root stage, from zero into stage one, from stage Shoresh to Behina Aleph, Tanya. There's no Creator, but beyond that, it's Atzmuto, it exists outside of us, not relevant to us. So, only this way He expresses Himself toward us, that's all.
M. Laitman: (01:18:20) I need to choose a group of people who will agree with me on this and create such relationships between us. But the question here arises: then what is the group? Group is something spiritual that exists between us, it's something common, it's some kind of shared plan or idea. It's not, it's just my attitude towards this person, it's what will be revealed within us as the Creator. If we start to treat each other in this way, then between us, we will start to feel such a sensation, such a feeling, that it will be called the Creator. We will sense in this light, we will sense His good relations, and the Creator will be revealed within us. I will, suddenly, discover that I don't need to try to adapt or imitate the Creator, who, as if, He stands next to me, He stands behind these worlds. But I start to sense Him there, within the group, in the relationships between us, and when I am engaged in all these relationships and connections between us. Then I adhere to Him, and I lose my, I in all of this. And that is called, Exiting through the Machsom, it's as if you're jumping there, and your, I, your ego, stays outside, on the other side.
All work is internal, in which way you can express it? You can express it externally, well, of course, naturally, in order to organize such internal work, you need something to organize it with. You need some external actions as well; because in order to gather a large group, and you know, you're one of the members of our inner group, and you know how much we invested. So, in order to sit here in such a big number, several hundred people, and talk about such things. For this, we must exert efforts in our world. But if we didn't have to do this, then it wouldn't be necessary. We simply find because it's needed, there's a demand within us; we find for ourselves such opportunities to be together more, to unite more. To find more common actions, and to express our inner selves outward. So, like I said, if we don't give enough opportunities to communicate with each other, then we will ruin either the potato peeling, or the vegetable cutting, and we'll just stand there as a conveyor belt, just be peeling, and cleaning, and for what? We need some kind of form, some basis, some material for this communication, where will we be? That's why we need this tent. Why do we need this Sukkah? Of course, there are all kinds of special things here, Or Makif. Of course, we're under this Masach, and above it is the upper light, that we are, as if, of course, it's all symbolic, as if we are in the light that shines upon us through the cracks, the surrounding light. As we're studying all this, all this is a way to communicate, these are all attributes of the upper world.
M. Laitman: (01:22:39) But in principle, we can do it without the Sukkah, without all these deeds, nothing will change. But we use these external symbols and attributes in order to align ourselves with the rest. Because if I was the only one doing it, then I would do it, I would never do it; but since we're doing it together, investing in common efforts. It creates this foundation to create our general Kli, so only this creating this general environment from the lowest level. From this lowest inanimate level and upward, that's why we do it, if it wasn't for this, we wouldn't do it, only for that. So, if there's something spiritual here, something from the upper, striving for the Creator, it's because we gave our desires to not just build this nice Sukkah. But in order to do it together, to make a certain number of efforts, united efforts, desires, intentions. So, this yearning for the Creator would be revealed between us and be covered with all this surrounding light that we could attract, there's nothing else. If we could just remove all of the even from the Holy Temple, then you see Jerusalem fell, and like the students of Rabbi Akiva, instead of loving each other, they start to hate each other. As he said, Love your neighbor as yourself, that's the main law. But their ego has a spark, it flared up so much, because they went through a certain historical stage where the ego had to spike. It surged in such a way that all of his 24,000 students immediately began to be selfish and hate each other.
Of course, we don't want to talk about ourselves this way, we love! And right away, the Temple was destroyed; otherwise, what would remain of these bricks? Just some palace. Who would take tourists for money to visit? And what else would be there, nothing. So, without the interconnection, naturally, all these external things have no meaning. It all disappears from our world, because it just decays. It disappears, because the spiritual root is lost. That's why in this little tent of ours, unless your thoughts are spiritual, then there's nothing. That's why we create within ourselves – and I advise you to do the same, to take examples, and to take as many common jobs, duties, besides kitchens, or broadcasts, or all kinds of departments that print and translate, and everything that's possible – only to unite and only to be connected with the members of the group.
M. Laitman: (01:26:37) The law is the law, no one's asking about your intentions. Intentions, I mean, if a person, well, there are intentions, but the world is not judged by intentions, but by our inner degrees of our correction, our qualities. That's what I wanted to say here, maybe I didn't express myself clearly enough, but it hasn't passed through your editorial review, yet! No, in this regard, she's great, it's entirely possible, because you can't write in a certain state – sometimes you can express something, sometimes you can't. But the world is judged only by who we are. It says the person is judged by their BaAsher Hu Sham. That is, by their inner state they're in, sometimes it simply turns the opposite. We are judged not by what we would like, but by who we truly are, otherwise, we always present ourselves as something other than who we truly are. Therefore, the law operates with absolute precision, the clock ticks, meaning that constantly, every second, the Reshimot are renewed in us. If we don't systematically implement these Reshimot, the moment they appear, we are behind schedule. This delay turns against us, compelling us to speed ourselves up, to hasten time.
In fact, there is a most absolute state in which we find ourselves in, in complete, final correction, Gmar Tikkun. From this state, the upper light comes down and passes through all the stages down to our current state, where we perceive ourselves today and where we actually are. And this light gradually influences us, what does it mean, gradually? It doesn't influence us gradually, it doesn't change, that's just what we say; it's revealed and changes within us, constantly influencing and revealing new Reshimot in us. This spiritual gene is constantly developing in us and we constantly feel the changes within us. Or perhaps not within us, we sense changes in the world around us, as if everything here is changing, while in reality nothing changes on the outside. These Reshimot are what's changing, they are revealing themselves, constantly new ones, and the spiral of my spiritual gene is unwinding until the final correction, until the very last Reshimo. The light, constant light shines, and the spiral unwinds, and each Reshimo gets closer and is exposing itself to the light. This Reshimo, and then the next, and the next, like in a spiral. If each new Reshimo that approached this light and is against this light, if I don't correctly realize each one of them. If I don't immediately create a screen for it and thus fully align it with the upper light. This Reshimo slips forward, as it were, and the next Reshimo appears but I can't even realize the next one because I don't have the previous screen, how can I create a screen for the next Reshimo?
So, it turns out that all these Reshimot that are being delayed, they are holding me back, and they're causing me suffering, what does it mean, suffering? The feeling that this entire chain is stopping, is slowing down, and it's causing global and personal suffering. The sole cause of suffering is that we aren't immediately realizing the Reshimot according to the light that comes down from above, that's all. That's why I say that no one's asking you about your intentions, the law is the law, no one's asking about that. The clock is ticking, it's measuring whether you've entered the realm of holiness or not. If you haven't, if you're within the realm, then another Kli is in action, it depends on how much you exerted yourself in this field. This isn't my translation, I said this in Hebrew and then it's translated to Russian, so it doesn't sound right in Hebrew, but we'll edit this, but for now, we'll keep it this way.
M. Laitman: (01:32:26) It's hard for me to talk about this because, I don't know, anything that's above the Machsom, I shouldn't talk about it. Firstly, because your question, does a person cease to sense himself? What does it mean to feel yourself or not feel yourself? What's your, I, is this the measure of your adhesion to the Creator? Then my, I, is lost, and then another, I appears in me, and if my egotistic, I exists in relation to others, that one disappears. This, I, disappears, the egotistic I, that separates me from others disappears gradually, happens gradually throughout all the steps up to Gmar Tikkun. But the very first steps beyond the Machsom truly suppress my, I, that's why these states are called Ibur, embryo. Just like an embryo develops, grows inside its mother, it's completely independent, and everything it receives, it nurtures it. It's at the expense of a higher one, then we enter the higher world, and at the first stage, we find ourselves in the state of Ubar. It loses itself, we are included in the upper light, and we just want to be in this state. I don't get lost in this, my former egotistic self is simply gradually dissolving, but only in Aviut Shoresh, the zero stage of egoism.
These are stages, but the egotistic self begins to, I lose it gradually; that doesn't mean that a person is annulled. A spiritual body begins to emerge within them and the soul begins to grow above the Machsom. A Kli, a soul begins to form from a point, they begin to feel that they are in a sea of higher light, in a sea of that thought, intention, love, that I call the Creator. Being in this, he sees how everything else in our world is in a corrected state, the way in which everyone unconsciously realizes everything within this field. The plan of the Creator and to the extent that everyone adapts and enters this field, he sees that everyone begins to fulfill both his thoughts and his desires, those that align with the Creator. To the extent that they do not yet align with the Creator, he sees that everyone does not fulfill his desires, but fulfills the desires of the Creator. This is an interesting discovery, I wish for everyone, I hope that we will reach this state. At the very least, all the prerequisites for this exist.
M. Laitman: (01:36:10) There is a certain problem in imagining how the 620 desires, TaRaCh Evarim – the so-called 620 parts of the soul – 620 parts of the spiritual body, the Partzuf, in what way do these 620 parts go through correction? In Kabbalah, going through, undergoing corrections means they are born and developed to their full state. Meaning, when we say that there is a state of Ibur, the embryo, Yenika, nurturing, the Gadlut. The large state of the Partzuf, that is, Ibur is the Aviut Shoresh, a person's screen zero develops. Then nurturing, Yenika, this is the first level, Aviut Aleph, then Bet, Gimel, Dalet, second, third and fourth, which is already Gadlut. All these stages, I don't know, what did I want to say? The question was: this is the correction is discrete? These corrections gradually starting with the 8th part of Talmud Eser Sefirot, the 10th part of the Talmud Eser Sefirot is called Ibur, part 11, I think, is called Yenika, part 12 is already Gadlut. Then part 13 is how this Partzuf receives from AA, from the highest manifestation of the Creator; then parts 14, 15, 16 is how they already ascend to Gmar Tikkun. That is, birth, development, it is naturally strictly regulated, but it's exactly like an embryo in our world. Just like an embryo grows in our world, within the mother, then a small child grows outside, and then an adult goes through exactly the same stages. That's why I'm saying that we know that, say, at three months old, maybe five months, this develops, this develops, that develops, it grows unevenly. Then a person develops, they can't walk; they have legs but they can't walk, yet. Why does he need legs? If he can't walk, he'd be born without legs and then gradually by the time he's a year old, they'd grow. No, he's born with legs right away, why? And so on. Or he can't speak or anything, and the organs already exist, he just can't control it yet.
The different development of different organs and different activation times, that is, the way they can receive control information, like they can be developed like legs, they can be strong child's legs. But he doesn't receive control, they don't activate, and therefore, he doesn't control them. The same with arms, let's say, the use of the body's resources is only permitted to the extent that the screen develops, to the extent that the mind develops. Otherwise, a child in our world would simply harm himself if he started running right away. First, he gets the mind, and then only after that he can use his abilities – it's the same in spirituality. Only to the extent that you acquire a screen, you begin to gain the ability to work with your certain qualities, and the screen is acquired gradually. Its development in the body, in the body, in the Partzuf, it depends not only on Aviut, but on the very quality of the Sefira. Let's say it's the Sefira Bina, which develops from the ten Sefirot, it's the easiest one to develop. Its quality, it's closest to the light, therefore, it grows faster than the others; but let's say a Sefira like Hod, which represents Malchut in miniature in Zeir Anpin, develops harder than all the others. Therefore, it's not just the size of its Aviut that determines the development but also its qualities.
M. Laitman: (01:42:02) How do we see this? We see that even in the breaking of the Kelim. When we study, even in this course, the virtual one, we will study the breaking of the Kelim, we will definitely show how each of the Kelim grows. There were ten Sefirot, they all received tremendous light, and shattered into pieces, then they, as they shatter and break, they explode, and they shatter. That is, all the screens that somehow glued together a few altruistic qualities directed towards altruism, they all shatter and become, all become introverted, inward-looking, egotistic. This happens gradually in the form of a chain reaction, of course, but gradually. And not equally in everyone, it depends on the initial quality, the level of Aviut and the quality, itself, let's say, Bina. Although she fell, she fell not lower, but higher than everyone else. And Malchut, which was above, because it was working for bestowal, it's stronger than all with the enormous Aviut, and fell and ended up below. Because Aviut without a screen, ended up on the lowest level, and the same occurs in Gilgulim. The person cycles in their lives in this world, we shouldn't delve into this, there's nothing interesting, and we don't, we need to look forward, not back, we're not historians, not archaeologists. We need to only look forward, but all these Gilgulim, they, too, are dictated by their quality, character, as a person's personal genes, his own ones. But also by those parameters that were as if in a chain to develop, had to develop in this or that form, in this place, with these qualities, with these parents, with these, in a certain period, and in a certain way. That's dictated only from within, from spiritual information, our spiritual gene.
Question (Citron): (01:44:28) How can we qualitatively change the, Love your neighbor as yourself, attitude in ourselves?
M. Laitman: How can we qualitatively change the principle of, Love thy neighbor as yourself, within ourselves? We learn that only the necessity that led us to Kabbalah was the factor thanks to which we changed our lives and that enables us to change within ourselves. Everything happens only from the Kli, out of necessity, nothing can happen by itself. Therefore, if we want to do something, to change something, we must seek not how it will change, but how I will develop an urgent need for it. As soon as this need arises in me, I will change it, or it will change, itself. But it will change only if I truly, strongly desire it, everything depends on the preparation of the Kli. Therefore, the qualitative changes of Love your neighbor as yourself, this aspiration, this realization must be based on the recognition of the necessity of it. Without this, our lives will remain beastly; and even today, we can tune ourselves into that, it will end this way. But this depends on our environment. If our environment doesn't let us accept this life, if it awakens us that we feel that the slightest delay is vile and intolerable, then we can really change something. Everything depends on the group, the group must guide us, and challenge us, awaken us to reflect this attitude towards the group. It's a mutual effort between the individual and the group, nothing else can be done.
Question (Citron): (01:47:26) How can a person, being in a certain state, specifically increase the quality of his attitude toward the group?
M. Laitman: How can a person, in a given state, specifically improve the quality of their relationship with the group? How does one do this? We already discussed how the Creator relates to humanity, this is only possible, only artificially. Understand what you are asking? You are saying: how can I change my attitude? So, I have a certain attitude now. How can I change it within myself to something more focused, stronger, more purposeful, more demanding, how can I do this? If it changes within me, then it will, if not, how can I raise it myself? Or will the group tune me to this, and then naturally, if I receive additional desire from them, then I will rise? It won't be my work, but it doesn't matter, I'll still ascend; or through the group, I'll artificially awaken the group towards that, and it will influence me and lift me up. Regardless, any change can't come purely from the person. A person won't be able to change themselves, ultimately, I can create something artificial within myself, but if the group under my artificial pressure forces me to change, then that change will be change. What’s inside me won’t be artificial but genuine, it’s like when we perceive any values from outside, they become ours, the opinions. There is no other way to change ourselves except through the society, therefore, this is our only free will.
Reader: Let's share impressions from the lesson and what we're taking from it to implement in the Ten.
Song: (01:55:58)
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