December 16, 2024
Archive for July, 2007
July 20, 2007 at 5:49 am · Filed under Definitions, Kabbalistic Terminology
Messiah (Moshiach, Heb.) n.
The messiah is a spiritual force. It is the Light that penetrates self-aimed human desires to correct them so that they become altruistic, that is to say, identical to those of the Creator. In our world all spiritual forces are manifested in material garments.
For example Rabbi Shimon, the Ari and Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) represent a spiritual force radiating the Light of correction. This force appears in our world as a man, a Kabbalist, a professor, a book author. Therefore, the Messiah is a guide who becomes progressively accepted by humanity. Humanity will follow the path pointed by the Messiah because evil and suffering will be felt by all, and there will be no other way out. People stand on a level where they cannot imagine the coming of the Messiah as a Light but only as a human leader. But for Kabbalists, the Messiah is the spiritual force of correction (in the image of the world of AB SAG).
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in “Selected Topics in Kabbalah“
July 19, 2007 at 7:40 am · Filed under Altruism, Quotes, Thought of the Week
What you do affects the whole, and vice versa. A Kabbalah story from Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai perfectly brings home the point. One of several people in a boat suddenly began to drill a hole in the bottom. His friend asked, “Why are you drilling?” the person drilling replied, “What business is it of yours? I am drilling under me, not under you.”
Because all humankind is connected into one system, the irresponsible egoists subject themselves and all the others to suffering. It is the transformation activated by Kabbalah that makes us see the irresponsible egoists in ourselves and transform them into responsible adults, altruists in Kabbalistic terms. more…
p. 260, chapter “Cure Me,” part “Kabbalah in Today’s World,” in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD with Collin Canright.
July 18, 2007 at 10:17 am · Filed under Happiness, Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-bmPoe97V4]
To Be Happy with Everything (and Not Less) 02:48
To be happy, do we need to suppress or fulfill our desires? Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, in an interview with European MTV host Eden Harel, talks about increasing our ego so that it expands to contain the entire universe, and not just our small world of desires for money, honor, power, pride and (limited) knowledge.
Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV
July 16, 2007 at 11:21 pm · Filed under Articles, Happiness, World Peace
The Pursuit of Happiness
article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD
Click here for the full article
If, according to the Declaration of Independence, we are all entitled to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’ why does it so often seem that we are pursuing the unattainable?
For nearly two and a half centuries, the idea that the “American way” could grant freedom, dignity and happiness has been the basis of the American society. “The American Dream” was defined by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book “The Epic of America” as “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”
Yet it seems as though this dream is fading. Clearly, Western society, which we also call “the free world,” and which (in many ways) shares the American Dream, doesn’t know what to do with its liberties. Many in the West, especially the young, are giving up on the pursuit of happiness, since no happiness awaits at its end. By consequence, many youth are giving up on life itself.
Following his definition, Adams explains the essence of the American Dream: “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
While this is truly an admirable aspiration, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this statement contains an inherent flaw that will never allow it to come true: It ignores human nature. In his article “Peace in the World,” Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, the greatest Kabbalist of the 20th century, writes that “the nature of each and every individual is to exploit the lives of all other people in the world for his own benefit.” And moreover: “[M]an feels … that all the people in the world should be under his own government and for his own private use.” more…
Click here to read a review about this article
July 15, 2007 at 8:18 am · Filed under Daily Lessons, Lectures, Perception of Reality, Philosophy
From Today’s Daily Lesson
What is Spirituality?
Philosophy has gone through a great deal of trouble to prove that corporeality is the offspring of spirituality and that the soul begets the body. Still, their words are not acceptable to the heart in any manner. Their primary mistake is their erroneous perception of spirituality, that spirituality fathered corporeality, which is certainly a fib.
Opening paragraph from Baal HaSulam’s “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy.”
Today’s daily lesson featured Baal HaSulam’s article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, and with an onslaught of questions by the students of Bnei Baruch.
The lessons will be continuing daily at 10pm EST on Kabbalah TV, and will be available in the Kabbalah Media Archive.
Download the full lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio
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