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Archive for July, 2013
July 31, 2013 at 6:35 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
Every one of us consists of two contrasting qualities: darkness and light, evening and morning. These states represent our spiritual ascents and descents. The entry into spirituality is found in between them.
Understanding “Day-Night” in Its Spiritual Meaning
When the notions of “day-night” and “morning- evening” are mentioned in Genesis, know that they refer to your changing states. The goal in spiritual progress is to find ways to keep the descents short-lived, and swiftly shift to the next phase—one of ascent, of morning.
The secret of good and bad states can be defined by proximity to the Creator: when I am close to His quality of Love, I enjoy a state of ascent, and feel good. The farther I am from this Law, the more I suffer a state of descent, and feel bad.
Although I always look to attribute my despair to corporeal factors, these justifications are false. The situation appears that way to me from my uncorrected state, when the root—the force that’s really pulling the strings—is concealed from me. Thus, I find myself immersed in my “I,” in my egoism, instead of trying with all my might to come out of it.
The truth is that no matter how hard I try, I am powerless to escape. However, this fervent striving is what leads me to the true prayer, found not in the mind but in the heart. This is precisely the prayer the Creator wants from me, one that He answers instantly and without fail.
Prayer as a Demand from the Heart
A “prayer” is a plea, a demand that is born in my heart. It is “inscribed” in it, rather than read in a prayer book. A prayer is my desperate plea for help, for deliverance, an appeal to the Creator, not to abandon me to the bondage of egoism.
When does such a prayer arise? Only when I come to realize that I cannot escape the ego’s deadly grip by myself.
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July 30, 2013 at 11:10 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.”
An Adventure for those Who Ask
If you are still satisfied with the pleasures of this world, then go ahead and enjoy music, art, and any other delight this world can offer. But if you want to attain the spiritual world, you should be concerned with something altogether different—you need the Creator.
If you need answers to questions that will not leave you alone, if you want to know why you were born, the purpose of this vast universe we live in, it means only one thing: that you will not rest until you get to the bottom of the mystery that is your soul.
“What surrounds me? Bodies upon bodies. They eat, make money, propagate… What lies ahead of me? Death? But if that’s the case, then what is the purpose of my existence?”
These are the questions that prompt one to embark on the path “back to the sources,” to Beresheet, “the beginning.” You ascend toward the forces that govern the world. Every spiritual degree along the path is a mystery: “What other great surprises does the Creator have in store for me?”
The Soul Covered Under Layers of the Ego
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This passage speaks of the creation of the Upper World—a space wherein your soul will exist. Your “I” is not yet awake; you do not yet perceive your own existence.
“…the earth (desire) was unformed and void.” It follows that the desire was not yet formed (unformed and void), meaning we had no desire to reveal the spiritual world.
So what was there? Only a clean sheet of paper ready to record the history of humankind, the history of the one soul. That is what the passages allude to—the very beginning, when the spiritual world was conceived within you.
Your spiritual life is formed by tumultuous processes that you do not sense until you begin to feel an overwhelming desire to become a participant, or better yet, the protagonist in this wondrous play.
This is how your soul is formed.
But in the meantime, you must be patient, as a black, impenetrable screen separates you from everything that transpires on the inside; you cannot see or otherwise sense anything through it. It has been growing thicker over a long time rendering you increasingly egoistic and interested in external, rather than internal matters. Just think back to all the desires that sprang up inside you through your life, and how far from spirituality they were.
The Meaning of Genesis (Beresheet) and the Return to Absolute Pleasure
The word Beresheet encompasses the entire path of humankind and the full meaning of the Bible. Included is the understanding that you have exited from the Creator’s bosom and must return to Him following a long path of growing egoism that all of humankind must undergo. For that to happen, you must realize that you have truly become distant from the Creator and have immersed yourself in egoism, that you are unwell, and egoism is the cause of your illness.
This is how we gradually begin to cleanse ourselves of this dark coating called “egoism,” for it prevents us from living, breathing, seeing. More and more, we begin to uncover our souls—a complicated mechanism for attaining the spiritual world.
The pleasure we are meant to experience is absolute. It is precisely what the Creator has prepared for us. Herein lies the goal of creation—to fill us, His creations, with the feeling of eternity and perfection. Because the Creator Himself is eternal and perfect, He wants to impart His state to His creations.
“What Is the Meaning of Genesis (Beresheet) in the Bible?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
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July 30, 2013 at 10:29 am · Filed under Articles, Books
The ancient wisdom of Kabbalah is a scientific method, helping people of our times to discover the single force that created reality. This method uses a special language using the names of our well known corporeal world to connect to the Upper Reality. Using this language and the written sources with the right intention we can ascend to our root right here, right now.
Abraham’s Method for the Modern Man
More than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, a place that gave rise to many of today’s civilizations, there lived a man called Abraham. Nearly all religions and spiritual factions recognize him as their founder and patriarch. They record his name into their holy writings as the first man to reveal the Law behind the world’s existence, the first man to attain the Upper Governance.
It is none other than Abraham who is the forefather of the science that transcends nationality, a science that is universal, for it emerged before the world was split into nations and languages.
But it is precisely in our time that this science, known as “Kabbalah,” is meant to be revealed. “Our time” is when egoism in our world reaches its final phase of development and becomes so powerful that humanity will be unable to control it, needing a remedy to save itself from the ego. It is then that the wisdom of Kabbalah will appear.
Changing Perception of Reality by the Correct Usage of the Ego
The word “Kabbalah” translates as “reception.” In other words, it is a science about how to receive correctly, or how to properly utilize one’s egoism to receive all the pleasures prepared for humanity.
Kabbalah takes nothing on faith. It invites you to “taste and see that the Creator is good.” It does not mean you should agree with something that somebody tells you. You yourself must acquire the sensation of the Creator, and Kabbalah is here to help you do just that.
When a person is constantly changing in our perception as we get to know him better, in truth has always been the same; we simply needed to get to know him better. It is very important for our advancement to understand that it wasn’t the person who changed, but that we have opened up to him, as if absorbing him within us.
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July 30, 2013 at 9:37 am · Filed under Torah Portion
Deuteronomy, 11:26-16:17
This Week’s Torah Portion | July 28 – August 3, 2013 – Av 21-27, 5773
In A Nutshell
The portion, Re’eh (Behold), begins with Moses’ words to the people to come and see the blessing and the curse, which the Creator commands them. If the people adhere to the Creator’s commandments they will be blessed. Otherwise, they will be cursed.
Afterward, Moses surveys before the people the preparations to enter the land of Israel, the duties and the prohibitions that accompany the entrance, the work of the Creator specifically in the Temple, and the prohibition to listen to false prophets that deflect the people from the serving the Creator. The portion also cites the laws of Kashrut,[1] tithing, Shmita (remission), and the three festivals on which it is customary to make an Aliya la Regel (pilgrimage) to Jerusalem.
Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman
The Torah speaks only about the inner meaning of all the matters just mentioned. It is written, “Behold,” referring to the reception of light of Hochma, which is seeing. Seeing is the highest of the five senses, and marks the highest level of attainment. When a person truly sees whether what is happening is a blessing or a curse, he is standing right before the entrance to the land of Israel.
Eretz Ysrael: Eretz means Ratzon (desire), and Ysrael (Israel) means Yashar El (straight to God). In other words, Eretz Ysrael is a desire aimed entirely toward bestowal, toward mutual guarantee, connection between everyone “as one man with one heart.” At the foot of Mount Sinai we accepted the condition, “love your neighbor as yourself,’ to be “as one man with one heart.” Forty years later we complete the correction and are ready to enter the land of Israel, where all the desires are connected in true mutual bestowal. This is why it is called Yashar El (straight to God). The Creator—the quality of bestowal and love that exists in the world—governs the whole of reality.
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July 29, 2013 at 12:00 am · Filed under Definitions
Glossary of Terms Used in the Re’eh (Behold) Weekly Torah Portion
Blessing
If we want to reach the quality of bestowal, the light affects us and builds that quality in us.
Curse
The opposite of a blessing. If a person wishes to have the intention to receive, to exploit others, to receive from them, that person suffers blows that teach him that he should be the opposite. It always works that way.
A Must, as Opposed to a Prohibition
Correction as opposed to corruption. It is forbidden to be in the egotistical will to receive. Rather, it is a must to correct it into a desire with the aim to bestow.
Place
A place is a desire. There are no places. The world we are in is called an “imaginary place.” It seems to us that we are in a place, in space, in a universe, but the truth is that it is a desire of the Creator where we perceive certain phenomena.
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