Secrets of the Eternal Book

A video-program with Dr. Michael Laitman

and the film director and scriptwriter

Semion Vinokur.

August 3, 2009

Program #5, the Chapter Lech Lecha

Semion Vinokur: Hello, dear friends. We continue the series of our programs "Secrets of the Eternal Book". We talk about The Five Books, the Torah, and we really want to cling to Abraham.

Those who watch our programs understand that Abraham is an attribute in a person: the quality of love and bestowal that awakens inside the person. Now Abraham is on the move. The Creator told him, "Go away from this land." So, he traveled out of his land, meaning, away from his selfish desires. He began moving towards the land of Israel, Eretz Israel.

You already understand that Eretz Israel means eretz, from the word ratzon, the desire; Israel derives from the words Isra (straight towards), and El (the Creator.) So, when we connect with Abraham, we move towards this desire, towards this sense of absolute love and kindness. Let us continue on this path.

As always, Dr. Michael Laitman is with us in the studio. Hello.

We are following Abraham. Abraham, as you said, went down to Egypt...

Dr. Michael Laitman: So, this attribute that we have...

SV: ... our quality.

M.L: ...that we have attained, the quality of bestowal, which manifests in a man...

SV: That has appeared in us?

M.L: ... yes, it has appeared, but does not manifest itself immediately, of course. This is the first corrected quality that appears in the person and it is called Abraham. Ab derives from the word a "leader," a "father." Meaning, it is the starting point of the entire further development. This attribute is called the quality of bestowal, love, and with it, the person begins his way towards the Creator. So, he enters the desire, which is called Israel—straight towards the Creator—and uses it and goes with it.

SV: Are they moving through Eretz Israel? And it is actually, not even a geographic location?

M.L: So where did we stop there?

SV: We stopped at the point when he entered Egypt with Sarah; Pharaoh looked at Sarah ...

M.L: Well, they entered Egypt after being in Eretz Israel.

S.V.: Yes.

M.L: They entered Egypt and exited it again.

S.V.: They submerged in it.

M.L: Yes.

S.V.: And exited. Now, we are at the point when he is with Lot and with what he received in Egypt: he received gifts from Pharaoh...

M.L: Yes.

S.V.: ... he left Egypt with them and continues his journey.

M.L: So, these selfish attributes that each of us has internally, they manifested in him, which means that he submerged into them, immersed into his own Egypt, into his selfish properties, and he now starts his journey with them. So, now his job is to take these selfish properties, correct them and, hence, rise closer and closer to the Creator.

S.V.: We have also said that it is good when the selfish qualities appear in a person, although in life they accuse you of being an egoist ...

M.L: Well, how else will he start to advance?

S.V.: ...he has to. Somehow, he is sent...

M.L: Exactly.

S.V.: ... they say, "Well, why are you so selfish? You should hide your selfishness." They say.

M.L: This is not the way of Kabbalah. Quite the opposite, the more selfish we are the more opportunities we have to correct these selfish desires and rise above them, and so we slowly grow to the level of the Creator.

S.V.: One small deviation. You once said, and I liked it, and I would like you to explain it a little bit more. You said, here is a glass, right? It is partially full and partially empty. Usually, all those various spiritual movements, and practices say, "Do not look at the empty part, look at the full part and live that way!" Kabbalah as you pointed out says something totally different. It says, "Look at this empty part and Kabbalah will explain how to fill it up."

M.L: That is correct.

S.V.: This empty part the other practices disregard…

M.L: Of course, they do not have the means of filling it up and, therefore, they dismiss it. So, they always urge a person—all religions and spiritual practices—they always encourage a person to calm down...

S.V.: Relax.

M.L: ... agree with what you have, relax, belittle a bit, be kind, and be good. In short, accept this world as it is with whatever there is in this world; you are under the will of God, so to say, and that is it. Accept it, and you will be rewarded for it thereafter. Kabbalah, first, says there is no "thereafter", it does not exist! A man dies as an animal...You behead a rooster, boil it and eat it; the same happens with a man. But we just don't do it.

In fact, it is just a body, there is nothing else in it; there is no soul in it. If you want to have a soul, you have to develop to the level of the Creator, to acquire such quality. So, while you feel yourself in this body, you should at the same time create within yourself, with the help of Kabbalah, with this method, additional properties that are alien to your body, with which you were not born. You should create them yourself.

S.V.: Where do you pull them out from, if you were not born with them?

M.L: Only out of this method, it all comes from above. You stay, essentially, your animal nature remains as is, and it dies. If you were able to create this higher essence in yourself, the property of the Creator, if you were able to form and identify yourself with it, you remain. As you begin to feel the Creator in this life, and when the body dies, you continue to feel Him, you have bought for yourself, you have created an additional sense, and you exist within it.

Therefore, Kabbalah says that, on the contrary, the person should lead this whole earthly life. Not in the sense that he should leave it, neglect it, not enjoy it, or reduce it to a certain worldly lowlife level, no! Just lead it and leave this life alone! Whatever you want to do with it is fine: it does not matter. What is important that you, your heart, your concerns, all your thoughts were directed towards the attainment of the soul, the creation of the soul.

SV: And then the empty part of the creation is filled...

M.L: Then you create this soul and fill it, and it is filled with what we call the Upper world. If not, then you have neither the Upper world, nor the heaven, nor the hell, nothing. When you start creating this soul, its alternate states are called the heaven and the hell. So, you always reveal their empty states and then you fill them, reveal them empty and then you fill them. This way, gradually you develop yourself.

SV: Well, we deviated from the topic a little bit. I actually do not think that it is a deviation, and let us slowly begin to read what happened when Lot and Abraham exited Egypt.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. So Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I beg of you, between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are relatives.

M.L: So, a person begins to divide in himself these two properties: one is called Lot and the other is called Abraham. He believes that he cannot yet correct this property called Lot in him and therefore, he should divide the good and bad qualities. He still does not understand how to use the bad qualities to achieve the same higher purpose; he is not yet able to do so.

It is always the case, if we have any qualities that we cannot use correctly, it is best that we cut them off, do not use them, preserve them, move ahead. When we acquire strong, good qualities, then we can return to those qualities and correct them. So, for now the person is not able to fix this property called Lot with the help of a property called Abraham, and thus, he divides them in himself. He thinks that all of these forces are the herdsmen of Abraham, the Sheppard who watch, so to speak. All of them are attributes… Related...

SV: Well, sounds interesting, very interesting! [Semion is laughing.]

M.L No, it is very difficult, these are the whole systems of control over us, these are...

S.V.: Are those the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot?

M.L: Yes, yes, of course, pointing the way, leading...

S.V.: ...the herds.

M.L: ... yes, our various desires and qualities, they are called herds. The herdsman, the Sheppard is the one who leads them ...that all...

S.V.: Beautiful!

M.L: ... yes, all that is beautiful, but there are a lot of different animals inside us, which must be led. So, only Abraham’s herdsmen can lead to the correct aim; Lot's herdsmen cannot. They have totally different aims. So, an internal strife arises between them, within a person, and he does not know what to do. Therefore, the Torah advises to divide, to leave them, to tell him: "Let us separate from each other. That is it. We meet again someday... It is better to separate than to live in enmity. For now, since we have not yet reached such friction between ourselves, let us still remain usual relatives and that is it."

Next time when it happens again... Abraham will come to rescue Lot and his wife, and all this is yet to come. For now, thanks to their separation, they remain being relatives, which means that the person understands that there are two forces inside him, and with one of them he can go straight towards the Creator, and the other he preserves for now.

S.V.: I see that Abraham is making the decision, Abraham says, "You go there, and I will go the other way."

M.L.: Abraham it is the leading force. He realizes that here with this second side called Lot nothing can be done yet. Abraham is not very strong yet, he is the very first quality emerged in a person on the way to the Creator. The quality of Abraham generally works above the ego; he cannot work with the ego itself.

So, he cannot overpower Lot, he rises over and says, "Let's separate." Then he gets the next degree, Isaac, the son; a son is the next degree of a father, which includes the father. Then he gets the stronger force and still it is insufficient. Practically, only Jacob can fight with all negative properties and overcome them.

S.V.: Is that because Abraham is weak, he was given just to plunge into Egypt, and not to stay there, just to plunge in.

M.L.: Yes, and it was with help through Sarah…

S.V.: Through Sarah.

M.L.: Specifically through Sarah, yes.

S.V.: Further it is written the following. Abraham says,

"Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right hand, then I will go to the left."

Meaning, what we talked about: Abraham is leading the conversation; he is in charge so to speak...

M.L.: Yes.

S.V.: and he says, "You choose", he says to Lot. It's not that he says, "You go this way, and I will go that way." This is also a flexibility of what you say... correct?

M.L.: This is flexibility, because he trusts his egoism: he realizes that by rising over it, he creates himself. That means, he needs not just to move away from the ego. A person forms his shape, as if we make a mask for a face. Meaning, we put the mask over the egoism. The mask, is, so to speak, the property of bestowal, the quality of love; but it is built over my selfish properties: I am staying in those properties; I cannot work with them yet.

S.V.: Are you talking about a person in general,? He lives with a mask.

M.L.: Yes, of course. Abraham is a mask for the ego; he is an addition to the ego. The egoism stays as our original property; it does not disappear. Thus, Abraham says, "You choose what to do, and I will already be over you. If you go here, I will go there; if you go there, I will go here. I will put my form over you." This way Abraham is rising over Lot, and specifically thanks to the fact that Lot exhibits his certain desires and Lot already chooses his place in Sodom, and Abraham chooses another…

S.V.: In the neighborhood of Canaan.

M.L.: Yes.

S.V.: You've just spoken, and as you go, I've immediately got questions popping up. I must ask them. You say it is the mask over the ego. Does it mean that all people all over the world wear the mask so to speak?

M.L.: No. There is no any mask! They just have a small ego and that's it.

S.V.: Oh, yeah?

M.L.: Yes. Little kittens' faces.

S.V.: Really?

M.L.: So, to build the correct mask over these little selfish faces. The correct mask is the man, the man is called who is similar to the Creator. You need to put the property of bestowal over the animal, and then, you will get the properties of the "man" or the property of the Creator, which is the same. This is our job.

S.V.: Well, this is really...

M.L.: And that's why we build that mask gradually over our ego. That means, the ego constantly grows, and it manifests in various forms, and we put over, and over, and over those forms the cardboard, the papier mache, or the plaster and thus, we are building the human being. The difference between the ego (the animal) in us, and the man (the human being) in us is in difference between doing everything inwardly or outwardly.

S.V.: Inwardly means the ego; outwardly means the mask.

M.L.: Yes. That's it and there is nothing else. Here is a man. It is just the opposite. So, there is no critical difference between a man and an animal in our world. Practically, we are all animals in accordance with our nature.

S.V.: Yes, indeed, the same pill for a headache is given to all, and everything goes this way. Let's continue reading:

Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.

Right now, Sodom has been mentioned for the first time, as well as Jordan, the vicinity of Jordan. Lot is reaching Sodom. Later we learn that Sodom is a city of the sinners. Should that be that way?

M.L.: Lot, by the way, has a great internal philosophy. That means, a person who acts according to Lot's system, to his philosophy, and program—such a man is inside of us— he says very justly from the point of view of our lives. He says, "In order to build a good life on earth, we have to make sure that what belongs to each person—how much belongs him, how much he earned—will stay with him and nobody has the right to encroach on it."

That means everyone should have his own piece of land, a house, fruit, a family, children, a wife, etc., and it is his property and that property needs to be protected. On the other hand, if a person doesn't deserve it, he did not do this, then it's either kind of punishment from God or it's just because he is lazy. He was created like that by the Creator or he gets lazy himself is not our business; we do not get involved into it. But what is meant for him, he should get.

Suppose something happens to him. If it happens, do not bother him: either it is good or bad, it does not matter. Everyone has his own right to exist, and you have no right to interfere; it is the supreme law. In principle, there is a very deep philosophy in it. In general, Lot is right.

He says, "And what kind of life will you have?" If you begin to help the weak, you will raise many idlers of all kinds. If you begin to oppress the weak, you will bring the world to deprivation of rights. What else can you do? Exactly this way: when everyone stays neutral, no one relates to anyone and anything and that's how it goes. Meaning, Lot's philosophy, Sodom's philosophy is the one when what's mine is mine, what's your is yours.

S.V.: My home is my fortress.

M.L.: No, no need for the fortress. We make an agreement and live in this society so that nobody has the right to infringe on someone else's, and at the same time nobody has the right to help others. Because what he has is from the heaven, from above.

S.V.: It's fair.

M.L.: Oh! That's why Abraham says, "I cannot fight it!" Because Abraham is the property of bestowal and love; and the quality of bestowal and love says, "You have to help everyone: the good, and the bad. You have to treat everyone kindly. You should not judge a person; if he needs something, give him." They come over to you and say, "Who are you giving to? You gave him your last hundred dollars, and he will booze it away now! He will not have any of these one hundred dollars in a couple of hours, and it will make him worse! Perhaps, he will die because of this!"

S.V.: What does Abraham say?

M.L.: And Abraham says, "If he wants it, I will give him."

S.V.: Well, this is something!

M.L.: It is such a blind love. Can you live like that? No. That is why Abraham is not the final quality of a man, with the help of which he could reach the Creator; it is only the initial one. Because it is what separates a man from his ego, from the past state, and is absolutely opposite. But an aspiration towards the Creator must be built on the combination, the symbiosis of these two forces.

S.V.: Lot and Abraham?

M.L.: No, not Lot yet. Because Lot also represents the separation: what's yours is yours, what's mine is mine. This is not a correction, not usage of the egoistic and altruistic properties. This is something that does not allow a person to progress, and on the contrary, when they, Lot and his wife, were leaving later on, when Abraham was getting him from Sodom, Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. That means, it is said that a man in such a state in which he is in Sodom, if he wants to stay in it he just preserves himself; what's yours is yours, what's mine is mine. We cannot move forward. We need to interconnect. I need to take the selfish and altruistic properties, which are within me and only with their help to progress.

S.V.: It's very interesting! Of course we have jumped ahead; we'll come to that yet...

M.L.: We need to move somehow back and forth a little bit...

S.V.: Yes, good. It's good.

M.L.: ...in order to understand the combination of the inner properties of a man. Because the whole world is within us.

S.V.: I wonder, are there people who are kind of like Abraham?

M.L.: Yes, but this property is very, very passive. It cannot do anything. It's a start, a good, kind start; it is necessary and...

S.V.: But in the future...

M.L.: It exists in the embryo state in each of us; it should be restored, but in principle, in that pure form it is absolutely not effective.

S.V.: What about all that help to the hungry people in Africa? Is that also a job...

M.L.: No, it is not Abraham. It is done out of ego: those people were born like that and their ego rules over them in such a way.

S.V.: But they do it, so to say, with the good intentions or...

M.L.: Those are pure, natural impulses. And Abraham is already the first corrected property: he was already born from his previous state when he was in the nature of his father Terah.

S.V.: Yes.

M.L.: when he worshiped idols, when he also took part, so to say, in the construction of the Tower of Babel and then realized that that was not the way to go.

S.V.: Let's continue our reading:

But the men of Sodom were wicked and exceedingly great sinners against the Lord.

Well, we have started talking about it. We will come to it yet.

M.L.: Yes.

S,.V.: There, I think...

M.L.: In principle, as we can see now, this philosophy is not so bad ...

S.V.: Yes. it's...

M.L.: God willing to have it like that today. Can you imagine everyone is happy with what he has! Those who are dissatisfied still understand that is what they have. If you have complaints, go to the Creator: you have no right to appeal to anyone. They have earned what they have with their work; what they have it is theirs; what you have is yours. You were born kind of lazy, sick, stupid, miserable, well, by fate; with all that you should go to the Creator. It is nothing to do with the others. What can you demand from them? Why do they owe you?

S.V.: According to our logic, it is the perfect society..

M.L.: If the world could have been like that today...

S.V.: We would have not had any wars at all...

M.L.: Here, there are no wars, no complaints against each other; there is only the direction towards the Creator. This is, in general, perfect!

S.V.: Well, in general, I can't see any contradictions here. It's beautiful!

M.L.: The contradiction is only in that, that you don't have a tool to act. What will you come to the Creator with? You need to possess several properties in order to appeal and operate with Him.

S.V.: Here, there is, so to say, the average state, right? You don't have night, day....

M.L.: Here we are going to move on to Isaac then and then to Jacob, and then we will understand that when the combination of these forces appears in a person, then by turning to the Creator, he can really take His example and build yourself in His likeness.

S.V.: I prefer us not to move on. Next, there will be a big, solid piece of Abraham's move. |Our program is slowly coming to the end.

M.L.: Well, this is a very serious separation that a person does in himself. He already separates his ego with all its methods of usage from Abraham, and the system of interaction of opposite forces already starts getting formed in him.

S.V.: It's very important that I have noticed here that the person thinks through Abraham, everything goes through Abraham, so to speak, Abraham talks...

M.L.: Yes.

S.V.: ....let's separate, let's...

M.L.: This is the beginning of his soul.

S.V.: Does it mean that he has clung to Abraham?

M.L.: Yes.

S.V.: Dear viewers, let's cling to Abraham and then we will be able live normal lives. Stay with us. We will talk about it in our next programs, goodbye. Goodbye.

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Кабала Медіа
Copyright © 2003-2026 Бней Барух – Асоціація Кабала Ла-Ам, Всі права захищені