A Collection of Essays By Baal HaSulam

Another great newsletter this week - Shamati is a book of notes that was handed down to Rav Laitman from the last Kabbalist to grace the earth in our generation:

"Among the books and manuscripts that my teacher would study from, there was one particular notebook titled Shamati (What I Heard). That notebook would go with him wherever he went and time after time he would delve into it. On his deathbed, in the wee hours of the night, he suddenly handed me that notebook and said: "Take this notebook and study it." Early next morning, with me by his side, his pure soul climbed into the heavens. The notebook holds a collection of essays written word for word from the mouth of Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), my teacher's father, immediately after they were spoken."
Rav Michael Laitman PhD.
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The Reason for the Difficulty of Annulling Oneself for the Creator
Everyone works, studies, lives, leads a normal life, and has a realistic attitude towards life, that is, they are just normal people. They have egoistic reasons for behaving, earning, and feeling pleasure. In other words, contrasting himself with other people, one sees that he is somewhat unreal, weightless, floating, and somehow not solid in his actions. One thinks of the spiritual, the need to annul oneself, to do something with oneself...

In other words, there is this clear psychological difficulty in crossing from this state into another. There's nothing you can do about it. Sometimes it's even embarrassing to be this way, be so absent from this life, share these out-of-this-world ideas. It is not manly, not serious to treat life differently than the laws of human existence seem to dictate to us. This is how one feels.

"...as if the entire world stands still and he alone is now seemingly absent from this world; and leaves his family and friends..." In other words, it seems that he abandons everybody around him. He does not participate with them in regular life, consumption, securing, or communication. "...for the sake of annulling before the Creator."

Shamati no4 - Lesson by Rav M.Laitman PhD

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There should not be Emptiness in the World
"There should not be emptiness in the world." A world is a creation; the will to receive that was created by Creator. Each of us possesses the desire that perceives the Creator's Light, His manifestation within us which is called "world."

"Desire is the basis of creation and man's magnitude is measured by it (Katnut or Gadlut; small or big desire). Since desire is the basis of creation and is what prevails in man, it follows that man always has to have some desire for this world or for the spiritual. The person who has no desires is considered dead."
Desires can be good or bad, with a screen or without one, but all the same, the person can be big regardless of whether he is good or bad; his desire per se should be big.

Each of us has many desires. The desires which we do not feel at any given moment are referred to as dead, and the desires that demand fulfillment are called living. This refers to our world.

Shamati no154 - Lesson by Rav M. Laitman PhD

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There is no Coercion in Spirituality
What is the life of a Kabbalist? First of all, for him it is an ordinary life. Why is it ordinary? Because there is a law in Kabbalah that states "There is no coercion in spirituality." Everything happens only according to what action one feels is correct. From outside, it is impossible to impose anything upon a person. So you may find a thousand and one books filled with advice, various laws and customs, all of which has absolutely nothing to do with the truth. Kabbalah says nothing about how a Kabbalist should behave.

There is no Coercion in Spirituality

Thought of the Week
In order to justify the things that happen to us, we must always look at ourselves from a higher degree than the one we're in. Only then can we see that the process of decision-making doesn't take our body into consideration, but works only to elevate the soul, and the calculation seeks the shortest possible route to the goal.
Rav M.Laitman PhD: Interview with the Future

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