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How To Change The World

Man bears tremendous responsibility over what happens in the world. Because he doesn’t yet understand it—living a life driven by animalistic desires—he is hardly to blame. When this realization comes, however, the real work for which he was created will begin.

By correcting your egoistic desires (the still, vegetative and animate), you also correct the entire universe.

 

Man as a “Chip off the Old Block”

For instance, let’s assume there is a rock, and let’s call it “the Creator.” This rock comprises a certain percentage of slate, a certain percentage of lime, a certain percentage of gold, and some other minerals. If the rock were shattered, what would be the percentage of the composing elements in each piece? It would be the exact same percentage as in the complete rock. Because each piece is part of the whole, its composition is identical to the entire piece. This is why geologists need only break off a piece of a rock to learn its contents.

Every one of us is a shard from this “rock,” the Creator. We are all comprised of the same qualities of love and bestowal that exist in Him, except we have broken off from Him. What was the cause of this rupture? Egoism—a quality that’s completely opposite to the Creator.

 

Building the Desire to Become Like the Creator

How do we return to Him? The moment we understand that we are opposite from Him, and wish to return to the Creator, we will immediately embark on the path back to Him. The main objective on the spiritual path is to build the desire for it. However, we must experience this desire thoroughly, to the very end, until it hurts, until we scream with pain!

Desire is the basis for all things in the world, and determines absolutely everything. Your objective is to adhere to the Creator. If you have the desire to do so, you’ll begin to escape the slavery of self-love and you’ll immediately feel changes in your environment. There will no longer be a need to hold conferences on ecology, or green/peace rallies, worry about endangered species, and so on. Humankind will understand that the buck stops with us. We must rise above the ego and begin the journey to the Creator.

This is the message of all the books written by Kabbalists. And the moment we rise above our egos, everything will change. We will finally understand another universal truth: The Creator created us in His image and likeness, and we have never left this state.

What does “in His image and likeness” mean? It means that the Creator (the quality of bestowal) created the world, which operates under the law of bestowal. Having been made in the Creator’s image and likeness, we live in this world and the world exists in us. But it only exists in us to the extent that we observe the law of that world, the law of bestowal.

 

Aspiring for the Truth by Looking into the Mirror

Man sees the world through his inner qualities. If we are corrupt, the world appears to us as such. If we are pure, so the world appears to us.

All the problems we see in Nature simply mirror what’s happening within us. The impending ecological catastrophe, contamination of rivers and seas, extinction of species, and extreme weather events are all reflections of us, the egoistic essence that has enslaved us. The whole world is within us, waiting for us to realize that we are responsible for everything that happens in it, and complete our correction.

We’ve been living a lie, but now we wish to grasp the truth.

“How to Change the World” 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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Nitzavim-VaYelech (Standing-Moses Went) – Weekly Torah Portion

Deuteronomy, 29:9-30:20; 31:1-31:30
This Week’s Torah Portion | August 25 – August 31, 2013 – Elul 19 – Elul 25, 5773

In A Nutshell

The portion, Nitzavim (Standing), deals with Moses’ speech regarding the covenant between Israel and the Creator. Moses makes it clear that the Torah applies to the whole of the people of Israel, to every single one, and was given to posterity. Moses stresses the principle of choice: should a person worship other gods, he will be exiled from the land. But if he wishes to be reformed, the path is through repentance. The Creator allows the people to choose between life and death, but commands them, “Therefore choose life” (Deuteronomy, 30:19).

In the portion, VaYelech (Moses Went), Moses gives his final speech before the people’s entrance to the land of Israel. He reinforces the people so they will not fear fighting for the land because the Creator is with them, and he officially hands over the leadership to Joshua, son of Nun. Moses writes the Torah and instructs the people of Israel to assemble once every seven years to read the Torah. The Creator reveals to Moses that in the future, the people of Israel will sin, and commands him to write a song through which the people will remember the Creator.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

It may seem as though portions repeat themselves, but any repetition is at a new degree. The whole Torah deals only with the correction of the soul. It is as if the soul is cut into slices according to the degrees of the great will to receive, which is why it appears to be the same.

Similarly, each day in our lives seems to resemble the next, yet each day feels different, and life consists of many days joined together. The special thing about this process is that it is not about the people of Israel or the desert, but about an individual going through the stages of one’s spiritual development.

The spiritual development is done in two stages. The first is the preparation in Babylon, in the Bilbul (confusion). The second stage is in Egypt. In this world, a person tries to do as one sees fit, but gives up because this world is leading us into a state where we are not achieving good results in life. The result is a crisis, similar to the one the world is in today.

And yet, we do not seek the meaning of life, but money, power, respect, pleasures, freedom, vacations, and we are beginning to understand that it is impossible to have them. Whether due to personal crises or because of the global crisis, we finally come to the fundamental question, “What is the meaning of my life?” We seek satisfaction in life but we cannot find it anywhere, and without satisfaction we feel like Prophet Jonah, who said, “It is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah, 4:3).

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Glossary – Nitzavim-VaYelech (Standing-Moses Went) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Glossary of Terms Used in the Nitzavim-VaYelech (Standing-Moses Went) Weekly Torah Portion

The Giving of the Torah

The force around us, which we can draw, is called the “light” that reforms our evil inclination. If we want it, it is ready and we can use it.

Other Gods

God is the governor of man. A person serves other gods when one serves one’s own ego. Such a person keeps what he or she says without even thinking about it. We are such loyal servants that we do not even think that we have a master, who is another god, telling us from within what we should do.

When does one become free?

When one decides, “I do not want to do what is coming from within, following all kinds of traits, reactions, and impulses.” First one needs to test the verse, “Therefore choose life.” Is it truly for eternal, spiritual life? If it is, a person follows it. If not, then he does not. This is one’s point of independence.

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Ki Tavo (When You Come) – Weekly Torah Portion

Deuteronomy, 26:1-29:8
This Week’s Torah Portion | August 18 – August 24, 2013 – Elul 12 – Elul 18, 5773

In A Nutshell

The portion, Ki Tavo (When You Come), begins with the last part of Moses’ speech before the people prior to his death. Upon the entrance to the land of Israel, Moses orders the people to write the words on big, whitewashed stones, and to build from them an altar for the Creator.

Moses describes the blessing that will come to Israel if they keep the Mitzvot (commandments), and the cursing that will come to them if they do not. He describes the state of the blessing and the curse on Mount Eival, and on Mount Gerizim—who will stand on each side, what are curses and what are blessings, and how they should be said.

The portion also deals with the Mitzvot of the first fruit, and the tithing laws. At the end of the portion Moses summarizes the events through which the people went, the Creator’s help on every step, and the people’s commitment to keep the Mitzvot.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

Our soul consists of 613 Mitzvot (commandments). Initially, they are all as the evil inclination, meaning aiming to benefit ourselves. In each of our desires appears—in the best case scenario—concern for ourselves. In the worst case scenario appears how we lie, steal, and use others for our own benefit.

Even if we do not use others, we still feel that the worse off they are, the better off we are. By nature, we are built to compare ourselves to others.

And yet, there is no one to complain to about it because the Creator admits, “I have created the evil inclination.” It is a process that began in Egypt, where we received the big evil inclination, the will to receive.

We discovered it at Mount Sinai, where we agreed to be “as one man with one heart,” to bond. Although we were by a mountain of hate, we united around the mountain and expressed willingness to unite. Although we were unable to actualize it, we were prepared to go for it. That was enough to receive the force of correction called “Torah,” whose light reforms.

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Glossary – Ki Tavo (When You Come) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Glossary of Terms Used in the Ki Tavo (When You Come) Weekly Torah Portion

First Fruit

When the will to receive grows, we bring it to correction, to scrutiny. That desire is called “first fruit.”

Tithing

The tenth part, ten percent, which cannot be corrected. Malchut is the tenth Sefira in the structure of our soul. She cannot be corrected because it is the will to receive itself. She must instead be mingled with the first nine, the first nine qualities of bestowal, and this is how she becomes corrected.

Because it is impossible to correct the will to receive itself, we give a tithing instead. We simply do not work with the part that cannot be corrected. Rather, we hand it over to bestowal so it will be corrected by itself. Afterward, at the end of correction, it will be corrected.

Altar

An altar is the place where correction is made, the contact with the upper light.

Blessing

A blessing is the force that a person receives from above in order to perform acts of bestowal toward others. This force comes after one prepares for it, when one truly wants to perform acts of bestowal above, from whatever one will have. When that happens an upper force comes to that person, and this is called “receiving a blessing.” A blessing is the Ohr Hozer (Reflected Light) that the individual activates, a force from above.

Blessing vs. a curse: a curse, in its simple form, indicates that a person is not asking, and is also not receiving the upper force. On the other hand, a blessing is reception of power from above in order to perform an act with the aim to bestow upon others, in which a person discovers that he or she is similar to the Creator and feels as such.

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