Question: Connection is the essence of the ONE Convention, and the aim is to attain that force of connection coming up to and in the convention. So how does one prepare for that socially and emotionally?

Dr. Michael Laitman: Those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah have to know that it talks only about connection, unity. If you are detached from everyone, you cannot feel more than you feel now, i.e. our situation, this world. I live where I now feel, and I feel nothing else if I am detached from others.

The minute I begin to unite with others—uniting means that someone else’s desires become as my own, which is impossible with our strength, but only with the light that reforms—then I begin to feel new phenomena through the connection between us, in our common desires, called “the upper world.”

We learn it from the breaking of the vessels. There was one desire; it was filled with one light. It was the world of Ein Sof [infinity]. That state shattered. As it shattered, each part fell into a sensation called “this world,” which is how we feel. To the extent that we connect or unite we begin to rise on the ladder of the worlds. We begin to feel in the connection between us.

Let us say I become 20 percent connected with others as one desire. I thus feel the world of Assiya, another 20 percent, the world of Yetzira, another 20 percent, the world of Beria, another 20 percent, the world of Atzilut, another 20 percent, and the world of Adam Kadmon. All of them together, when they are merged, are “the world of Ein Sof [no end, infinity]”. It’s all about connection of the broken Kli (vessel) which is done by connection.

Connecting all these things together is our work, as well as showing this explanation well, in the right way. Although it is inconvenient and because our nature is the complete opposite, but introducing it in such a way that… we have to. We’ve got no choice. Let’s try. Look at what we get for it. If we introduce these things to people in the right way, it is measured in the right psychological steps as we approach them, they’ll have no choice. They’ll have the blows on one hand, our explanation on the other hand, with a few sweets—we have to tell them how much we gain by the connection between us—and with the help of the light that reforms, we discover the spiritual life. Moreover, by that we indeed gain the world of Ein Sof, an eternal life, unbounded existence. Let’s hope that we reach it.

This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »

Question: What would I, and others like me just starting our journey in Kabbalah, bring to the workshops and gatherings at the ONE Convention?

Dr. Michael Laitman: There is no problem coming to the convention without knowing anything. A person heard about it for the first time. ‘There’s a convention tomorrow in New Jersey!’ He doesn’t know anything. He doesn’t have time to call or what-not. Will there be room? I don’t think he’ll be thrown out. They’ll register him, but still [ed. it’s always preferable to register ahead of time], if you are here with us, it is clear you have registered. I promise everyone that everything will be clear. We are talking about simple, rational and very practical things.

Basically, what do we want? We want to know the kind of world we live in, what is happening besides this short life, how to get out of the trouble in this life, and besides that, attain the vast world that exists but we cannot feel. It is there. But where? I don’t have the senses.

The sense to perceive the spiritual world is that sixth sense, the sense of the right connection between us. If I connect with everyone, as we said, in 20 percent of my desire, then I begin to perceive the Upper World which is the world of Assiya, etc. In order to attain the spiritual world and feel it, I have to open up my Kelim (vessels) to expand, go beyond myself. That’s why it is called, “Love your friend as yourself,” connection with others, because when I open myself up I begin to feel the others and I begin to feel spirituality.

We will do some exercises. Perhaps you will feel it. Even newcomers, people who just turn up there could feel it. I would recommend it to anyone. Don’t be afraid. The fact that we say that there is material there that you need to read and to advance. That’s in order to go deeper, to have a better understanding, better connection with the power, the desire, the sensation of the heart to go into the convention. But if you’re unprepared, you’ll feel what is happening. The impression that a person will receive from the ONE Convention will open up your souls.

This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »

Question: A student from the Education Center is saying: You talk about unity and the need to disseminate the wisdom, and that we also have to study it. But how can I connect with someone? I never did it, ever before. I always felt separate. I couldn’t connect with anyone.

Dr. Michael Laitman: I’m not saying you need to do it now. I’m just saying we have to start explaining that our world is going through a crisis in our attitude toward the world, meaning toward humanity. Our attitude toward humanity has to change.

Through recent studies and everything that is happening to us, we are beginning to see that we are all interconnected, whether we want to be or not. Look at what is happening in countries, between countries, in commerce and industry, in the economy, all over the world, with the climate, etc. Everything is becoming more and more connected, except for the connections between us, and that is the crisis. The crisis is in our perception of where we are.

We are all connected, but everyone is only out for themselves, which is protectionism. What is going to happen if you are connected, but each is pulling his own way? That is today’s world. If they want to have a good life, and that is what the world is thinking about, then they have no choice, but to change their attitudes. The only question is: How much suffering and problems will it take? Because Nature will run its course no matter what attitude we have towards it.

Imagine that you are tightly connected with others and you are acting against this connection, and the whole world is doing the same: What kind of situation can you bring yourself to? You will reach a state where you will not be able to feed yourselves, and provide yourselves with the most basic necessities. That is written in the Kabbalistic books.

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Question: Dr. Laitman, in a talk about the ONE Convention that you had with convention organizers—which is already on the convention preparation page—that we have to learn how to scrutinize the results of our dissemination. What does that mean? How do we do that?

In other words, many friends, the more veteran friends, are working in education and dissemination with the broad public. They’re asking: What’s the best way to bring all these impressions as a result of the integration with the broad public to the ONE Convention? Should we write them down? You had said that it’s very important to bring these impressions.

Dr. Michael Laitman: We need to understand that we are on borrowed time. We are working on Nature’s command, or call it “God’s command” or a “command of the Upper Force.” Judging by the situation in the world, we have to make the world know what is the right kind of life. What is the correction method? What is the remedy that will cure all of our troubles, which are increasing?

Therefore, if we have the wisdom of connection as a means of dissemination to the rest of the world, and we will also talk about during the ONE Convention, and we will want to exchange experiences and impressions of what we do; every big group that is doing it should go up on stage and tell us briefly what they are doing. Then we’ll get impressions. We’ll know what they are doing. It will inspire us. It will give us direction. We’ll hear about what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, etc. for everyone. It will give us a kind of awakening, what to do in our group, for example, how to work, what kind of materials we can take from them. Maybe they did something that we need, so why build something that already is built?

The convention is also proper study of the wisdom of Kabbalah and the wisdom of connection, and also general participation of how we learn it and how we teach it, but most of all we have this integral wisdom—the wisdom of Kabbalah and of connection—which is actually one and the same, i.e. how to turn a broken vessel into a complete vessel. That’s all. That’s what we’re talking about. The more the Kli [vessel] is completed, we will feel in it Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida—the feeling of this general, collective Kli.

That is what we’re talking about—either on behalf of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of connection, whatever is more convenient for a person depending on where the person is at. What is important for us is not to have a contradiction between those two parts, because they are the same. When you teach a child calculus in first or second grade, does it contradict mathematics that you study at university? One is the initial part of the same science, and one is the advanced part. It’s the same here.

Where do we discover the wisdom of Kabbalah? Within the wisdom of connection, to the extent that we connect. How did Kabbalists attain the wisdom of Kabbalah? They started coming out of themselves through the light that reforms, connecting to others, and all of a sudden they discovered that in their connection with others they found a new space, a new place, a new desire. In that desire, called the desire to bestow, which exists between them and others, they began to discover the new, spiritual world. That is what they wrote about, and that is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

This Q&A is based on the Special Q&A Session with Dr. Michael Laitman in Preparation for the ONE Convention, which took place on Sunday, June 16. Watch the whole video & stay up-to-date with ONE Convention preparation materials here »

Dear Friends,

Thank you for taking the time to ask your questions toward the special Q&A session with Dr. Michael Laitman we held last Sunday, June 15 in preparation for the upcoming ONE Convention this August 8-10 in New Jersey.

We are happy to announce that much of your Q&A with Dr. Laitman from that session has been compiled into the ONE Convention Preparation eBook – Version 1.0, and we’re happy to provide you with a link to the eBook, so that you can download it onto your computers, smartphones and tablets and go through the material in an organized way, at your own pace:

 Download the ONE Convention Preparation eBook Here »

Due to having more of your questions than we had time to answer, and also due to Dr. Laitman’s request, we will be having another Q&A session with Dr. Laitman very soon, and we’ll update you in advance of yet another special occasion of preparation for this year’s biggest spiritual event in North America!

We look forward to seeing you at more such preparation events and at the ONE Convention itself this August 8-10!
Thanks!
The ONE Convention Team
kabbalah.info/convention