The transcript has been transcribed and edited from English simultaneous interpretation, thus there may be potential semantic inaccuracies within it.
Daily Lesson (Morning), December 13, 2024.
Part 1: Baal HaSulam, the article, The Meaning of Conception and Birth
Reader: Hello, we shall be reading from the writings of Baal HaSulam, the article, “The Meaning of Conception and Birth”, which you can find on kabbalahmedia.info., as well as through the Arvut platform where you can also send us questions. If anyone wants to ask a question, here in the hall, please stand up, hold the microphone close to your mouth, and speak loudly and clearly. We also remind the people here in the hall to ask questions, succinctly. It's preferable that you write your question down ahead of time, formulate it, properly, and leave some time to the rest of the friends as well. The Meaning of Conception and Birth. We are at the heading 3, “What is a Soul”?
Reading: (00:59) 3. What is a Soul? Twice
The Law of Development According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
It is impossible to examine anything before you see it from its beginning to its end. And since one feels only what comes from within (just as ophthalmologists have found that the colors are not the same in both eyes, but there is rather an agreement here), therefore, first one must know oneself through and through, at least since the time of conception [impregnation] to the time of adulthood. And because this is not so, for one begins to know oneself only when becoming a complete human being, one is therefore devoid of the ability to self-scrutinize.
M. Laitman: That means that we cannot know ourselves. But, rather, to the extent in which we develop, up to that border we can get to know ourselves. Our essence and, thus far, is our scholarship, our education. Okay? Read it again.
Re-reading: (03:20) Again, heading 3: What is a Soul?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (04:37) In spirituality, what does it mean to be a complete person?
M. Laitman: A complete person is that which the Creator made in him; he makes himself resemble the Creator.
Student: When we are in equivalence of form with Him, then we're considered a complete person?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: When we emulate the Creator's qualities with respect to our friends, environment.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:20) Even if he saw himself from beginning to end, it's still not wholeness, not perfection because he needs to be included of others and then it'll be wholeness.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what is that, actually?
M. Laitman: Of course, it includes that.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (05:42) According to what Baal HaSulam writes here, is there such a thing as an objective reality?
M. Laitman: It depends how you define it but, objective reality, of course, for the time being, is nonexistent.
Student: Towards what does a person develop, where does he reach? Where does his development reach?
M. Laitman: To the extent that nature, which in Gematria is the Creator, develops him.
Student: He develops towards nature?
M. Laitman: Yes, towards the force that compels him.
Student: So long as a person is developing, getting to know a certain part of himself. Can he then also say what he doesn't know? Or does it end with himself, his boundary?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (07:01) What is this agreement he talks about? That we need to always be in agreement because this is the condition for our development? What is that agreement? A decision that I always agree and want to give the Creator, to allow the Creator, to give me all that's required.
M. Laitman: He doesn't write about this for the time being here. Meanwhile, he's not writing about one's relation towards the Creator.
Student: What is the decision he talks about, here? He says that there needs to be a decision every time, a decision made. There's only agreement here, therefore one must know himself from beginning to end. What is that agreement?
M. Laitman: That he wants to know himself in all that he is.
Student: How is that expressed in our day-to-day, on our path, here? What is the agreement, here, is it our efforts to rise above all our difficulties? How is agreement expressed?
M. Laitman: That there's the upper force and I must, each time, come closer to it. And this is how I grow myself.
Student: Growing closer to Him means to grow closer to my Ten, to my friends?
M. Laitman: It could be that that's the way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (09:04) He writes that he is devoid of the ability to self-scrutinize. What does it mean to self-scrutinize?
M. Laitman: On ourselves, we will see what he means.
Student: When a person – our work is to correct, to make corrections.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: How can a person make a correction if he doesn't know what to correct?
M. Laitman: Probably in ways that he gets to know what he's missing in order to be whole.
Student: How does he know that, from where?
M. Laitman: Out of development.
Student: Development depends on what?
M. Laitman: The force that develops him.
Student: The force that develops him makes him understand what he needs to correct?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reading: (10:27) No Person Knows Himself. Twice
The second reason is that to know something, you must primarily observe its negative qualities. And one cannot see one’s own faults (and to the same extent that one can borrow from what one sees in others, one looks in a mirror that does not illuminate), since anything bad that one must receive comes to one as pleasure, for otherwise he would not receive it. Also, it is a law that wherever there is pleasure, a person does not regard it as bad, except after many experiences that develop in them. However, this requires days and years, as well as memory, conclusions, and observations, of which not everyone is capable. For this reason, no person knows himself.
M. Laitman: Questions?
Reader: Perhaps, we'll read, again?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Reader: Oh wait, there's another paragraph I missed.
Reading: (12:11) But Kabbalists have attainment and attain a matter in full. That is, they are rewarded with attaining all those degrees in reality that one can attain. This is considered that they have attained a matter in full, and that complete matter is called a “soul.”
Reader: Perhaps, we'll read this whole part, again.
Re-Reading: (12:47) No Person Knows Himself
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (14:47) He writes that the second reason is that to know something you must primarily observe its negative qualities. What are the good qualities? Can you not come to know a thing from its good qualities?
M. Laitman: No, because by discovering the bad qualities, a person knows how to grow himself, augment himself. And how to stand before the Creator. That's why this is important.
Student:. How can I learn from something bad that comes that is revealed to me in myself? For example, in respect to my connection to the Creator and my attitude towards the Creator?
M. Laitman: Specifically, from this you can see. Where you see to what extent you admit that you're opposite from the Creator.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (16:01) I understand that a Kabbalist, not only a Kabbalist, that traverses all the degrees and reaches attainment. Only he can, as we say, look within himself, self-reflect. And I understand that this comes from the complete attainment of the evil within him. My question is as a normal person, regular person, following the path, not capable of attaining the fullness of this evil. But in our efforts, through our efforts, we get to know the evil little by little. We may not be able to attain the high degree called a soul. But perhaps we can see the soul from afar, maybe receive some illumination from it? I'll summarize, right, can we?
M. Laitman: We can do everything that's written in the book and attain everything that's written in the book.
Student: Can we make use of this path of the recognition of evil? Or do we need the recognition of evil to be complete, like the great degree the Kabbalists reached?
M. Laitman: I don't understand what you're talking about, altogether?
Student: We are talking about the revelation of evil, here.
M. Laitman: That's what comes, when some bad comes, let me recognize how bad it is. And why do we feel the bad and why this bad comes in place of us feeling ourselves in good. And what's the difference between good and bad in our senses, in our perception?
Student: The recognition of evil is a mechanism for advancement?
M. Laitman: Yes, of course.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (18:14) I think what the friend wanted to ask, what Baal HaSulam writes here is, well, we are talking about the recognition of evil and we read that our nature is bad. The problem is, as he writes here, that we feel pleasure with that evil. I mean, I understand, yes, I'm bad but because I feel pleasure, I cannot dissociate from that bad, from that evil.
M. Laitman: That could be also, yes.
Student: So what can give us a very harsh feeling that this evil is harmful, so not to have pleasure?
M. Laitman: Here, the question is whether we can come to a state in which it's not to here or to there? That is, in nature there is nothing good in us, right now and we're in kind of like in this middle point between good and evil.
Student: You say that there's a degree like that or?
M. Laitman: No, if so, it doesn't seem to us that way. But such a thing can happen, possibly exist.
Student: The inversion isn't immediate, where suddenly I suffer from this nature. But we need to reach a station in between where it's not this or that?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Then, after that, comes a state where I begin to suffer from the evil?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (19:48) It writes here that you must primarily observe the negative qualities of a thing and one cannot see one's own faults, one cannot see one's own faults. So, if I don't see my own faults, how can I correct them, if I'm entirely in self-love?
M. Laitman: You need to examine and change your attitude towards nature in order to look at nature and what surrounds you in the right way.
Student: Nature, as far as I'm concerned, is the Ten, the place where I work. How does it manifest there, that evil which is within me? How can I discover it in the Ten?
M. Laitman: A person looks at this and sees his state towards the Ten from which he can replace his whole world. To the extent in which he's an egoist, how bad he is, how considerate, how much he takes into consideration only himself.
Student: Within the Ten, we always say that the Ten isn't the faces, right? It's a system.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And every emotion I feel, let's say negative, something bad with respect to a friend, some criticism. That's a reflection of something within me that I need to work on?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: That's how it should be seen. Okay, so now, after I see some quality of my own reflected through a friend. How do I begin the process of correcting that evil?
M. Laitman: You need to continue onwards. What do you need to do with your character that's in you, towards the image of the friend inside of you? In order to come to unity with him?
Student: I want to go down to, I want to focus, go to a higher resolution: Let's say, I recognize in a friend a desire to rule, to govern, to control, that's my desire, right? But maybe, it's a good quality, right, maybe it's just being used, incorrectly? Now, I saw this quality in a friend, a reflection of myself. What kind of work should I do with that? How do I do that work?
M. Laitman: You need to relate to her like you would relate to a friend.
Student: Yes, a friend, and if that friend, in whom I see this quality? The question is do I need to work towards the friend with that quality and then it corrects me as well? To see him in a different light, to come closer to him, to see it as a positive? If I manage to change my attitude towards him, it's a sign that I made a correction in myself?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: With the Ten, I can come to the Ten and every quality that's revealed which I see in the friends. I come closer to the friend in whom I see that quality, or the whole Ten. If there's a positive emotion, I manage to generate, if I don't see the evil in the friends anymore. It means that I've succeeded in making a correction, so to speak?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Okay, now another question, regarding the opposite state: Let's say I see something good in a friend. I feel something good about a friend. What does it mean? How to relate to that?
M. Laitman: That good quality that you see in him, that it's good for you that you see. It’s clear to you that with him you are in identification.
Student: Alright, I have appreciation, right? I have a great appreciation for that quality in a friend. Does it mean I need to work on myself with that same quality or is there nowhere to run here?
M. Laitman: Usually, yes.
Student: Yes, but it's a good thing.
M. Laitman: You appreciate that quality in a friend and you also want to reach it. So, you need to appreciate him. You need to appreciate his quality and thus come closer.
Student: So if I appreciate a certain quality in a friend, I see that he has something I do not, and I feel positively about that. It means that it's still not developed within me? It's an emotion, a feeling I need to develop?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (25:22) It follows that good and evil, I measure only with respect to the environment in which I am. Because of myself, I cannot see either good or bad.
M. Laitman: No.
Student: Let's say, the Creator sends me to a group of Ten great Kabbalists. I'm not a Kabbalist, they're great Kabbalists, I sit with them. Is that, will that in itself, help me in reaching the recognition of evil, quicker?
M. Laitman: It's not for sure, it depends on how they behave – what you understand about the behavior between them.
Student: I see, so if a person is in an environment. If humanity develops to a state where most people are in attainment. And then people reach groups where there are many people of attainment. The person there will still be required to do all the work that we do, despite him seeing examples from the friends. They're all in attainment, they're all working correctly. But he will not see that yet, because he doesn't understand what he's seeing.
M. Laitman: Correct.
Student: Alright, so what is the key? What can I do to look at my friends and receive recognition of evil from them more rapidly? What can accelerate this process for me?
M. Laitman: Meaning, how do you need to appear in the eyes of others or in the eyes of yourself so that you will receive from your friends the correct bestowal? That's a problem. That's under the condition that you constantly work on yourself in order to rise above your ego.
Student: What does it mean to rise above my ego?
M. Laitman: That as much as you see that your friends are more connected, more concerned with one another, close to one another. Accordingly, you appreciate them, value them, come closer to them and want to be like them. Then, from your inner effort that you make with your desire, you advance.
Student: I'll leave you to return to my first question. It really doesn't matter if I'm with Rabbi Shimon’s Ten, right now, or just any Ten students who just started learning. What matters is my attitude towards this whole reality that's revealed to me.
M. Laitman: Okay, but you cannot now change your attitude unless you enter into the correct group of Kabbalists.
Student: I'm talking about our friends, people in our groups, not an external group.
M. Laitman: Okay, so if you're in the correct group of friends, you gradually try to be like them. You become like them.
Student: I'll tell you why I'm asking. Because it turns out that when you speak to friends in the society, sometimes you hear stuff like: “I have a weak Ten”, “I have a Ten with these kinds of people, those kind of people”. Ultimately, if I understand, correctly, what you just explained, then there's no such thing as a weak Ten. There's only the individual which isn't developing the correct attitude towards his Ten, towards the group of people he's with. Because even if they were all in the end of Correction, he would still not understand what he's seeing when he would look at them. Is that the right way to look at it?
M. Laitman: Let's say yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (30:00) When a person sees evil in a friend, what is he actually seeing?
M. Laitman: When a person sees something bad in a friend, he sees a quality that contradicts him.
Student: Now, if there is evil in a person that a person is willing to acknowledge, then it's shown to him. And what he's not willing to accept as an evil within him, then that evil is shown to him as if outside of him, through a friend?
M. Laitman: Not necessarily.
Student: Because I noticed, that there is great difficulty in? What does it mean that a person is willing to see his own flaws? What does it mean that he's willing?
M. Laitman: Willing to see, meaning, he has a certain recognition of evil, that he does recognize. The evil that's shown to him from the outside and he does know his evil in his inner personal feeling.
Student: Now, when we try to connect above the evil that we see in a friend or friends. The light shines and when I see the friend is corrected, there's this switch. You saw the friend aa bad and suddenly, you see him corrected, it inverts. So, what am I actually seeing? The correction doesn't exist in me, the correction should happen in my friends, right? If I see them as corrected, that means that I corrected the evil. I won't see good qualities in myself, rather, my environment is replaced. I, suddenly, understand that until I connect with the friends and see them as corrected, I did not correct the evil, is that correct?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (32:25) A person can't know himself because either he has pleasure or he feels bad due to not feeling pleasure in his vessel's reception, in his intention to receive for himself. And that's why he cannot know himself, so there's something else within the person. How can a person come from a point where he discovers that he's just a vessel of reception to a point where he aspires to bestow? What is the process he needs to undergo?
M. Laitman: He learns like we learn, that we see the extent to which we are not okay, according to how much we learn. And are between the friends who somehow perform more correct actions. And then, it turns out that this is how we get to know ourselves more and more correctly, and that's it.
Student: And friends are an opportunity for the person to do something for them above the evil he feels.
M. Laitman: Also.
Student: And that's his way of developing this correction.
M. Laitman: Yes, that’s correction.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (34:32) He says that one receives assistance from memory, conclusions and observations. What is so important about the power of memory?
M. Laitman: It collects for us all kinds of impressions from our life. Altogether, when I feel or can feel what joins the force of memory, there, then my impressions from life.
Student: After memory, he uses the word “conclusion” – the work of understanding something from something else. What kind of outcome should that achieve?
M. Laitman: The work from discovering a thing within a thing? When I take upon myself a certain scale for which I want to get to know and reach a higher degree. It helps me because I must pressure myself to discover higher discernments.
Student: Working with discernments is a source for what we call, “fuel”?
M. Laitman: Could be.
Student: Could be and observation, scrutiny, how should it be concluded?
M. Laitman: That I know, precisely, what I need to do now in order to diminish or expel that phenomenon that is disclosed in me, that is revealed in me.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (37:16) I wanted to say, there is an article by Baal HaSulam in Shamati about the purity of the vessels of reception. And he gives an example of a person who has psoriasis or something. And he itches because itching gives him pleasure but he learns that it can make his disease worse. Maybe it's a good parallel – there he gives this example about how a person learns about the evil. That you shouldn't utilize, you shouldn’t make use of pleasure that comes from evil.
M. Laitman: Yes, if he were to know that he's using it for the recognition of evil, then he would, for sure, know what's there in advance.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (38:20) You mentioned the middle point, not good or bad, a state which is neither here nor there. What is that?
M. Laitman: Well, that's how a person feels before the article talks about him.
Student: Is there a neutral state in nature? Or is it only plus and minus?
M. Laitman: Well, if there's a plus and minus, there's certainly a neutral, as well.
Student: Where in creation was that state created and what is the need for it, in terms of our development?
M. Laitman: The need for development in the neutral state reaches us. And what does it depend upon? It could be that it's already in a state which, although this quality is very expensive for me, but she is actually in people that I am far from.
Student: In terms of the order of development, a person, first of all, discovers the evil, first he discovers evil in his own qualities?
M. Laitman: No, he actually discovers good things. We can see this on children, on babies. If you want them to develop very quickly and well, then you need to think how you are going to supply them with pleasures.
Student: Then, opposite that, he has to discover his own flaws.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: When does a person choose the good, not because of his own flaws but from a middle point, a neutral state?
M. Laitman: That in him, that middle receives a negative impression.
Student: So again, it's due to a negative impression.
M. Laitman: Then, how do you want him to do it? He must define for himself with what he feels.
Student: Yes, but if he chooses the good due to his own flaws, it doesn't mean that good is good?
M. Laitman: Let's say.
Student: For the good to actually be good and not because of his own flaws – good versus evil Then he needs to be in a state where he's not suffering from the evil and trying to run away from it towards something. But rather, he chooses the good simply because it's good. Is there such a state?
M. Laitman: No. That's if he receives that discernment from the Creator.
Student: So, this discernment exists?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: What is it?
M. Laitman: Connection, love.
Student: I'm asking about the middle states. Connection and love, that's a plus, positive. So, what is that state which is neither here nor there, not good or evil? Is there such a thing?
M. Laitman: There is but I don't think we can advance from it. That's why people, constantly, develop cause for feeling the good, especially for babies. Otherwise, they're not going to develop.
Student: So, if he's constantly advancing towards the good in opposition to the evil. Then again, the question returns, the question remains.
M. Laitman: What question?
Student: Why is it good? Why is it truly good, why is it actually called “good”? It's only good because opposite it, there exists evil, so the evil is bad.
M. Laitman: It's always like that, it is always like that. You won't find good without the evil against it and vice versa.
Student: So, what is that state you mentioned, previously? Last question, forgive me. The middle point, the middle state, which is neither good nor bad. The state, which is neither here nor there, what is that?
M. Laitman: That a person can't distinguish between the states in no possible way.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (44:40) So, it goes that only at the end of correction a person comes to know his true nature.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: If so, how can he measure his state in the preliminary stages?
M. Laitman: Since he yearns for the good, he is repulsed from it. And yearns for the good once more and once more is rejected from it. So, by such privies of these, he sees that what draws him is only the filling.
Student: Yes, but which objective tools does he have?
M. Laitman: If he’s objective, there isn't any. He actually needs to locate them along the way of the states that he goes through.
Student: What does he discover? Does he truly know what good and what bad are?
M. Laitman: He needs to discover that the connection with the Creator is good upon all the other states.
Student: He knows what connection with the Creator is? He doesn't know himself, and yet he knows what connection with the Creator is? He feels it, it's open to him? Because he wants the Creator for himself as well.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, what is that, it's all wrong. It's all according to the will to receive.
M. Laitman: That's correct but he needs to find for himself a certain point of scrutiny. From where does he start to count: Up to here it's evil, and from here it includes the good. And that he can find in the Creator.
Student: What is that good? It's good because it makes me feel good, it does good to me?
M. Laitman: Yes and no, here it's not; for us, it's not good. It has to be good for everyone. The qualities that we need to reach to begin with demand of us to be above ourselves.
Student: And what would a person discover when he truly comes to know himself and attains the thing in whole?
M. Laitman: That special force, the center of creation.
Student: What is that soul that he's trying to define, here? How is that related?
M. Laitman: How we take it from those discernments that were given to us.
Student: I hear that you say, that the more you see your friends as connected, as caring. You start to identify with that and you're attracted to that, you're drawn. It awakens a kind of envy in you, seeing that something is going on between them. Now, if I see the friends in a state of connection or suddenly from above I'm allowed to feel that. But, what you do in states where you don't feel them to be connected, you just sit there, and you don't see any sort of connection between them, just regular communication.
M. Laitman: If you don't see any emotion from them, you cannot draw anything from it. If you don't see any emotion from them towards each other, then there's nothing to draw.
Student: That's the question, I don't want to wait for anything to happen, some emotion, to create envy and drive me forward. But really, I want to search?
M. Laitman: But you can't do it by yourself. You also have to have something.
Student: When Rav Kitzma observes his students?
M. Laitman: Let go, we can’t solve one thing by something else that's unclear.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (49:55) You told a friend, you said: “good for everyone”. What does it mean, good for everyone? How can a person know what is good for everyone, measure it?
M. Laitman: That he's already in a stage in which he can see the Kli unlimited, endless. Where everyone is incorporated, adhered to the one Creator.
Student: But how can he measure it? How can he see it, if he's not in it?
M. Laitman: If he's not there, he's not there. But if he is, then he can check.
Student: But how does he make the connection? Let's say, a person is in a Ten. He wants to see that everyone is good, feels good. How does he make that connection, how does he measure that?
M. Laitman: Then, he has ten people in the Ten, he'll attain something. So, measure out of what we need – hat it's good for everyone.
Student: What do they attain?
M. Laitman: Something from the Creator.
Student: And he can be a partner there? He can bring them close to that? Or does he just stand and then see? He looks to see if everyone feels good, and then he just joins in.
M. Laitman: He has all kinds of states but usually we say that he's one with the Ten. And then he has with them one goal, efforts.
Student: It's unclear if there truly is such a point where there's a Ten and then each time I need to actively join them?
M. Laitman: Yes, that's something a person must have; otherwise, without that, he's not existing altogether in any process.
Student: But, as part of that process, this act of joining, does it also help the Ten advance? Or is there a Ten, and the Ten is in a certain state, and this act of joining adds?
M. Laitman: I don't understand you, we're talking about Tens that want to advance towards the end of Correction.
Student: The question is if a friend joins the activities of a Ten, does it add to the Ten? Does it help them advance?
M. Laitman: Of course, it does, of course, yes.
Student: So, how to settle the contradiction here? Because he needs to see them as always being perfect, corrected, and aspire to that.
M. Laitman: He can't see them corrected all the time, on the contrary. He sees them and himself constantly more and more not corrected. And from that, he has upheaval about himself and them. And then he awakens them to the right connection. To nearing the purpose of creation, the connection together, to one point.
Student: And this is the right work, that way?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (53:50) Continuing this question about objective measurements, we have these questions. How can a person truly determine if a certain quality has a certain inclination, is good or bad? Let's say a friend who boasts, who is proud, how can he notice such a quality, that he's condescending?
M. Laitman: That, you need to check why he wants to control others?
Student: Can he himself notice it without the friend telling him, talking about it?
M. Laitman: It could be that, yes, it could be that, no.
Question (Women Kyiv 7): (54:52) It's written that anything bad that must come to a person comes as pleasure because otherwise he would not accept it. So, again, what does it mean that we're capable of accepting the evil only if it brings us joy?
M. Laitman: Otherwise, they can't. How will we receive, if we don't feel that it brings us pleasure?
Student: On the face of it, the evil, the bad, begets suffering. So, it's opposite here.
M. Laitman: Yes, opposite.
Question (Africa) (55:27) Pleasure in the will to receive, is it like some liar who prevents attainment from me?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Women, Petah Tikva 25): (55:40) The, can we help each other get to know ourselves better, and how exactly to do that?
M. Laitman: By talking about us, about the goal, about our state at the moment, and where we need to go to.
Question (Hadera 1): (56:06) Can you say that the soul is a shared organ in the Ten?
M. Laitman: It's possible to say.
Student: And it's the outcome of the integration of individual consciousness?
M. Laitman: You can say that, too.
Question (Almata): (56:35) He says that no phenomenon can be understood fully, if you don't see it from beginning to end. It is understood that the final state is - one soul. Sometimes, there's this feeling that you cannot attain this one soul. And then you get angry, you get frustrated, and such like. How to be helped by these states when you understand that you don't have the ability to attain that thing you're thinking about?
M. Laitman: From what states can you get help? What are you asking?
Student: I understand that attainment of the state of one soul, currently, where I am in my process of development, attaining the soul is a great goal, which I study towards, I aspire towards, I prepare myself but, sometimes, I get this feeling that it's just unattainable, it's too great a goal too far. When that evil is revealed, then come feelings of frustration, anger, negative emotions. So, from these states, how to be assisted by these states, so as to advance?
M. Laitman: Look at them from the side and arrange your relations like they need to be between you. And you'll see how many forces you're getting from it. Balance, forces that you can work with that are balanced between them.
Question (Kiev 1): (58:42) In the article it says that Kabbalists who have attained, they attained the whole, and that is called the soul. What does it mean to attain the matter, completely?
M. Laitman: It means that they don't attain some parts, some fragment of it. That it's a specific force or a certain individual movement. But rather they attain all the movements together, all of them.
Student: In our work what does it to attain a matter in whole, all the motions together. What motions?
M. Laitman: In the end of the day, we all advance towards the goal. And therefore, we need to relate to every state as a whole state.
Student: How to see a state of disconnection from the Creator as a whole state?
M. Laitman: That we scrutinize what we're missing and what the Creator needs to complete for us.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:00:25) He's talking about a normal person who doesn't know himself because of his ego, his evil development of his ego. He talks to us also about Kabbalists who attain a thing in whole. They know all the degrees that are about to arrive, and they know the soul. I'm asking what should a regular person approach a Kabbalist with? So that something that the Kabbalist attained will pass on to that person? The article is called “The Secret of Conception and Birth”, there are certain ways a certain person, the lower one, can get things from the upper one in order to grow. So, I'm asking what are the conditions for the lower one to receive something from the upper one?
M. Laitman: It's really something that can really draw everyone. The Kabbalist who feels the extent in which he is drawn in a certain direction. Tries to find, first of all, the forces against it in order to be in balance. And then, when he learns them, then he sees how much he is missing the fundamentals, the foundations. And then, he comes to nullifying himself towards the Creator and is willing to receive every state no matter what. That's the best next step, next state and that's how the correction begins.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:03:25) For the lower one, the student, one who is not in attainment, he comes to a state in his development where he understands that he needs to connect to the upper one. So clearly, a moment is necessary in order to make room for some new emotion, new reason to enter. But what else does the lower one need to bring so that the emotion and the intellect of the upper one will pass on to him?
M. Laitman: The lower one needs to bring with him additional forces, that are not his own, not of his own. Usually, these are the forces of the friends that they need to show to a person, to the lower one, what else he is lacking.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:04:50) In the text we read, there are facts, hopes and faith. Baal HaSulam starts with the fact that there is no person who knows himself, and I believe what Baal HaSulam says here. And then, there is hope here.
M. Laitman: To the same way, where the left is, what he sees in the others, he also sees in the mirror that is not illuminated.
Student: Yes, meaning it's borrowed, this incorrect sight, that is the hope, right? It's loaned, you were given it, and at some point, you need to give it up, right? That's a loan. And then, what a person has left is faith, he must grow strong in faith. And my question is how can you grow stronger in faith in those sages, in the wise? Because our spiritual future depends on our faith in the wise. How to generate such faith in the sages, so that we can all rise together?
M. Laitman: Well, what do we think?
Question (Ashkelon): (01:06:40) What came up for me, it was also discussed before. On our degree, keeping the Sabbath, not the same way as externally. It's in memory of the act of Beresheet, creation, and the soul rises and praises that state in the Ten. Which takes upon itself the renewal of the attitude required from it – namely, each one helps his friend – and then that joy will be aimed at bringing contentment to the Creator. It's as though the Creator sits on a sofa, he worked very hard for six days, and then we present to Him, how to call it, keeping the Shabbat on our degree.
M. Laitman: In other words, what did you say here? I didn't hear.
Student: That we are keeping something, which is now completely unique, that we attained in the Ten. But it needs to be such, that it always awakens a feeling of renewal in us. Meaning, we say, that the Shabbat is to remind us of the Exodus from Egypt. But maybe it's for us, if there's something in that, maybe you know, probably you know.
M. Laitman: Well, quickly.
Student: Faith in the sages, when we talk about it, when everyone discusses it, then even one who may not think that way, adheres to it.
M. Laitman: Okay, alright.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:09:05) Regarding faith in the sages, as per the friends question, ultimately we say, that we need to connect, everything happens through connection. Now, connection is a big word. Now, the question is, working against the distance, is that connection?
M. Laitman: Could be.
Student: Now, you gave an example: a friend sent a clip of you saying in the past that the Ten has to work to be like a commando unit. It was a very nice analogy. It's the same way if you want to break into a bank, into the safe, each one has his role. One prepares the plans, some part of the plans, another prepares something else, and there's total dependency, interdependency, and great anxiety for each one that he has to do his role the best possible way because otherwise it won't succeed, the action won't succeed. So, is that how we should feel in the Ten, like in that analogy, to feel completely dependent on each one of the friends?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Today, I feel this dependency on one friend or two. But also, not very powerfully, to advance, to reach our goal. How to bridge such a huge gap and reach a level where each one feels that dependency inside. How do you develop towards that? Because it seems far, reaching such a feeling.
M. Laitman: Let's say 200 are sitting here, how many? Let's say 200 people and each of these 200 puts a note in one box and they all vote for you – for you to be the head of the society. So, that is choice. Well?
Student: It's not clear for me, how we can reach, how we can come from a state where it's not that my life depends on the friends, right? I feel some dependency on the friends but it's not like my success in life depends on that. How to reach a state where I have 11 more friends in the Ten. How to reach a state where all day long I'm concerned about this friend? I see that he's feeling a bit bad, G-d forbid, and this friend is a bit distant. And you need to reach that intensity of emotion to reach spirituality, it's the condition.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: So, there's a great emotional distance between us and that point, right? How does that happen? How do you reach such a state?
M. Laitman: How do we come to a state in which, what?
Student: How do you reach a state where it's like a commando unit? Where I depend on each member of the Ten, where I'm anxious, when I think about if he can do his role or not, perform his role, or otherwise I'm? How do you reach such a state?
M. Laitman: Well, and what's the answer?
Student: How do you value the goal?
M. Laitman: Value the goal? That's okay.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:13:45) A very simple answer: I invest in the friends. In the beginning, I invest egotistically, I start demanding things of them. Later, I discover how I'm just exploiting them, using them. And from that feeling, I come to the recognition that I do everything only for my own good and that's how I develop. The main thing is to continue; ultimately, the investment is in the friends. Nothing other than that will help.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: I wanted to add that the more we grow closer to the friends and are concerned about them, invest our efforts into them. There's an article where Rabash writes, that the more you invest in the friends, it becomes harder for you to let go. Even if you want to, you already invested, and that keeps us on the path.
M. Laitman: Yes.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:14:58) What can be done in the Ten is to add to and speak of the greatness of the Creator. He chose to be under concealment, He made it so that we fear Him, wanted us to be in fear of Him. And the greatness of the Creator is a force we can attain between us because the Creator chose to be concealed. And we're being sent all sorts of doubts and a million questions. The greatness and exaltedness of the Creator in the Ten – that's what we need to add to our work.
M. Laitman: You want to add to that?
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:15:45) What I understand is that from the revelation of evil, within the revelation of evil, we have everything. And there the faith in the sages is developed, when we sit with the Ten, we have the path of Rabash of what not to do and what, yes to do. There it's all opened up, that's how you understand it – not what not to do, but what to do. And the same thing with yourself.
M. Laitman: Okay.
Question (Petah Tikva Center): (01:16:30) Can we go back to the text we read or do we continue with the, can we go back to the text?
M. Laitman: Go back.
Student: We didn't relate to this part: he says, that Kabbalists who are of attainment, they attain a thing in whole, meaning that they are awarded with attaining all the degrees, that a person can attain. And then it means, they have attained a matter in full, and this complete matter is called “the soul”. Now, I want for a moment to, we don't talk about it at all. Here, it's like a hothouse, right? We work in the Ten. Now, for many years I've been studying here. I go outside of here, the first person who talks to me, I can erupt, and where is all the stuff I learned? It's all gone. So, how does it influence me, my inner work? I'm here, I'm in the meals, I annul myself, right? Yesterday I talked, I said: “A person cut me off. A cop arrested me, held me over, held me up, gave me a thousand shekel ticket”. How can it help, everything that we do here in the Ten? How can it help me outside of here? How to attain that matter in full because he doesn't relate to, he doesn't talk about Tens, by the way. He says, this is the thing, all the time I look in the text to find where he talks about Tens, right? He doesn't, he talks about life, life itself. Again, he says that the Kabbalists, who are of attainment, they attain a matter in full. Meaning, that they are awarded with attaining all the degrees that exist in reality, which can be attained. He's talking about reality, not about Tens. How to do it, what should we do?
M. Laitman: We need to divide everyone into Tens.
Student: When I come out of here, how should I behave, what should I do? In terms of the nullifying towards people? You once said only nullify in your Tens. So, I go out, I get home - the first thing that I see annoys me. I forgot everything I learned, I forgot where I came from. What do I do? Maybe hinders our spiritual work?
M. Laitman: Of course, it does.
Student: Okay, so what do I do? What do we do with other people, foreign people, not people who study here?
M. Laitman: Don't tell your wife she's foreign.
Student: That's a story in itself. She actually, we talk about recognition of evil, she gets all the evil out of me, I forget, where I came from and where I am. And I think I'm thankful for her, because she shows me all the evil in me. I got married three times so, it ends up that I'm the moron, not someone else. A few years ago, I went to you Rav, and you told me, you have a correction of the women. I said, what? I only had three. You said, no, you have to improve, you have to change, your wife is an angel. I said, yes, the angel of death. But anyway, when I get home, my wife pushes my buttons, you're like this and you're like that, you should have taken a daughter to this and that. How do I relate to all that?
M. Laitman: Nothing.
Student: Nothing? What do I tell her? She really, she annoys me, she manages to … I wanted to run away from home several times. What do I do? How do I treat her?
M. Laitman: Don't treat.
Student: So, what do I do? I need to kill her?
M. Laitman: I'm telling you seriously.
Student: What do I need to do?
M. Laitman: Don't respond.
Student: Run away from home?
M. Laitman: No.
Student: I don't know, you tell me, don't, don't behave, don't, don't. She just takes me out of it, throws me out of it completely. Not just her but, also, people at work. I forget about Kabbalah, I forget about what I learned here – the Creator, the Tens, the meals, the workshops. I forget where I came from altogether. What do I need to do to hold this thread, like it's written in the Zohar, the thread that holds you so that you're not lost. I feel I'm lost. I forget that I study Kabbalah. It really comes out like that. I just forget. What do I do? How do I restrain myself?
M. Laitman: So, until today you don't have a solution.
Student: I don't know, I always fail there. I'm telling you, a car comes and, you know, bypasses me. Someone tells me something I don't like, I get annoyed. It's not that I became a better person. I know I have the negative will to receive in me. How do I correct it, though, what helps me correct it?
M. Laitman: That you won't forget that you're between good people, you're amongst good people and that's it. That should affect you. To also be a good person.
Student: On the other hand, you tell us more than once, for years I ask you and you tell me that there's also a fear in the Tens of behaving too nice to each other, petting each other, how great you are, how nice you are, you kiss him. And I ask myself, we talked about recognizing the evil, how do we find the evil between us? How can I, what material can I work with on my ego? In the Ten, if I always tell him, you're great, you're awesome or you brought whiskey to the friends, we love each other. There's no, like you used to say, you put a knife between your teeth and see how you behave, meaning recognizing the evil. I don't want to break the Ten apart, so, how do I behave, it's a mystery. In the Ten, I'm afraid that someone will tell me a word and to see the evil in him. So, how do I advance in that? And you keep telling us, don't be afraid of finding the evil but how will I find the evil? He'll run away.
M. Laitman: What's your purpose?
Student: My purpose is how do I advance in the work and don't just caress my friend.
M. Laitman: That inside you have some disruptor that won't let you come closer to your friends?
Student: Come closer?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: Where is the evil that should appear between us?
M. Laitman: That comes, later; if you go to your friend and want to hug him, so you start feeling, that there is someone in there.
Student: To overcome, above just wanting to choke because of him. That's what you mean?
M. Laitman: Yes.
Student: And then you advance, then we finally advance?
M. Laitman: No, from understanding that no one can come closer to the friend and be with him as one man. You turn to the Creator and you ask Him, you cry to Him, like you just said.
Student: This is the problem, you see anyone crying, here?
M. Laitman: Oh, crying like men, inside.
Student: The men cry at night.
Song: (01:24:48)