Conscious Development and Unconscious Development

Welcome to all the friends here and in the virtual Arvut system. We're aspiring to pass on some of our values that we have here for many years in Bnei Baruch.

For example, when someone speaks in the workshop here, sometimes the friends say Le'Chaim afterward - that word is to remind everyone that we want to connect to the eternal life. We usually use it in gathering of friends. So a workshop is not really the place to say Le'Chaim after each person speaks - it breaks the flow.

We have something new this week - normally you can ask us questions after the lesson. Now we're going to give our virtual friends the opportunity to ask in the H100 room in our Arvut system to get all your questions answered.

We're studying the article The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose

Clip: The Essence of Religion

So the essence of religion is that we will attain God, that's it. And the attainment of God, for which the world was created, for which man was created, and this is the purpose of man in the world, to attain God, can be attained in two ways, either through the path of suffering or through the path of Torah. In order for us to follow the path of Torah, which is the desired path, and less through the path of suffering, we were given religion. That is to say, first of all we need to see religion in the right way. As the truth says, "I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as its spice" ("I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as its spice"), "for the light in it returns it to what is better."

That is to say, neither Torah nor religion is anything more nor less than a means for correcting man, for attaining the Creator. There is nothing more to be done in all of reality. And this reality too, was created solely so that we would do, perform these actions in attaining the Creator and that is it, and then this reality disappears. Because this reality, it is depicted in our broken vessels. To the extent that we repair the vessels, the world, this picture of the world that is depicted in us, it changes and becomes steps, steps, steps closer and closer to the unlimited world in our senses and in our attainment, in understanding, in the heart and in the mind, in desires and in the mind, and we begin to accept the reality that is completely different, that is, to feel the Creator.

Instead of now feeling only my desire to receive which is in the sick, human, dark state, I begin to feel the Creator from the first moment that I begin to be attuned to Him in something. This is called that I am already in the "spiritual world", this is called that I am already in the attainment of my "soul", because it is a part of God from above. That is to say, "attaining the Creator" or "attaining the soul", or being "within the soul", which is actually the same thing. Michael Laitman

Rav is saying that the essence of religion is to attain divinity. When I came to study with Michael Laitman in 1995 I had never heard anything like this. The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for attaining divinity. What could this possibly have to do with me? So we're told that instead of only feeling my will to receive which is sick and dark - I start to feel the Creator from the moment I start matching myself to His essence.

Today we're learning about Conscious Development and Unconscious Development.

We need to understand Baal HaSulam's language - some is understood, some is not. Some is even written in Yiddish. So first of all we try to understand that the more developed we are - we see how the bad is our egoistic attitude to the world, and the good is our altruistic attitude to the world. We need to climb this spiritual ladder - and for that we need two forces until we get to the final point of equivalence of form with the Creator.

The gap between the two forces is that one pushes us without our choice - and it's sort of pushing us from behind, what we called in previous lessons through suffering. We receive a blow and try to understand what we're doing wrong - and that reminds us of the goal.

But then along came ethics - people who want to suffer less decided to develop a method how not suffer. It's all based on experience. If by my nature I'm a thief - I steal from my friend and he steals from me. We see it's not good so we decide not to do it. The whole essence of this doctrine overlooks our egoism that wants to take advantage of others for my own pleasure. Since others are also egoists we need a code of behavior to get along - that's called ethics.

The second force pushes us consciously - through our own choice. This pulls us from in front of us - it's revealed to us and not hidden. It is the force pulling us - called the path of Torah and commandments. Torah is the light that illuminates us from dealing with the wisdom of Kabbalah. And mitzva means being in touch with the one that created us.

We don't need to wait for tragedies, and gain experience from the blows. There is the automatic work for the will to receive - but there is no automatic work for bestowal above it. Instead of benefiting from others, I start to act like the light - to bestow good outside of me. For the sake of attaining the absolute attribute of love. We have a way to measure this - to the extent that I can absorb the upper one's light. The revelation always comes from the opposite state - to reach the end of the correction we need to first experience minus end of correction - meaning the height of our will to receive, which is totally opposite to our will to bestow. There is something even better than getting all the light - becoming like Him.

When we actively want to advance toward this - this is called developing consciously.

We need to pray that we all become sensitive to not only praying for ourselves - and that makes us more like the light, which is pure love.

For example on Unity Day it felt like we were on a positive cloud here together, which can only be compared to 100 years of human development. Because it's conscious development. We're not only preventing blows, but also saving time. The more effort I make with my heart, everything is fine.

After all what is suffering - the blows I receive or forgetting the Creator?

What is pleasure - the filling I receive or remembering the Creator?

Good and bad, suffering and pleasure is relative to every person - and especially each person in their stages of development. It's impossible for us regular humans to understand what the great Kabbalists went through. So we always say none of us want to suffer - we came here to enjoy receiving from this method. None of us want suffering. It all comes down to how we define good and bad for ourselves. We'll always have something we need to overcome - and if we don't overcome it we won't be able to hang on. Even if it doesn't go along with your logic. If you annul yourself you'll be able to see it - but when you're in it - you're suffering.

The universe keeps increasing the challenges to develop us. But what's the difference here? Am I suffering to get to the next stage? Or am I drawing it for myself and pointing my arrow there? How can we always draw this good for ourselves - this is why we have friends, the lesson and prayer. I want to see my good state - ask for it and you will receive it. This is our role here - to always see our better state. For instance, looking how great a friend is and wanting to be like him.

Conscious Development and Unconscious Development

Bear in mind that two forces serve to push us up the rungs of the aforementioned ladder, until we reach its head in the sky, which is the purposeful point of equivalence of form with our Maker. The difference between these two forces is that the first pushes us involuntarily, meaning not of our own choice. This force pushes us from behind, and it is called “from behind.” We defined it as “the path of suffering” or “the way of the earth.”

And from it stems the philosophy of morality called “ethics,” which is based on empirical knowledge, through examination of the practical reason. The essence of that teaching is but a summary of the evident damages that result from the nucleons of egoism.

These experiences come to us by chance, not as a result of our conscious choice, but they are certain to lead us to their goal, for the image of evil grows ever clearer to our senses. And to the extent that we recognize its damages, to that extent we remove ourselves from it and climb to a higher rung on the ladder.

The second force pushes us voluntarily, meaning of our own choice. That force pulls us from before and is called “from before.” This is what we defined as “the path of Torah and Mitzvot,” for engaging in Mitzvot and the work to bring contentment to our Maker rapidly develops in us that sense of recognition of evil, as we have shown in “Matan Torah,” Item 13.

Here we benefit twice:

1) We do not have to wait for life’s ordeals to push us from behind, whose measure of pushing is measured only by the amount of agony and destruction inflicted upon us by finding the evil within us. Rather, as we work for the Creator, that recognition develops in us without any prior suffering or ruin. On the contrary, through the subtle pleasantness we feel when working solely for Him, to bring Him contentment, there develops within us a relative recognition of the lowliness of these sparks of self-love—that they are obstacles on our way to receiving that subtle taste of bestowal upon the Creator. Thus, the gradual sense of recognition of evil evolves in us through times of delight and great tranquility, through reception of the good while serving the Creator out of our sensation of the pleasantness and gentleness that reach us due to the equivalence of form with our Maker.

2) We save time, for it operates according to “our own volition,” thus enabling us to increase our work and hasten time as we please.