What Is The Screen?

Question by a Student: What is the screen? What is it made of and how can I recognize it?

Answer by Dr. Michael Laitman: The screen is a force that enables you to think about others instead of yourself. It is when you acquire a different way of thinking, feeling, and making decisions. When this happens, it is as though you are born anew!

This is called a miracle - "The miracle of coming out of Egypt." It is when you come out of your egoistic desire and suddenly begin to care for others. All your thoughts begin to work in this manner.

Right now it seems like a frightening change. Who would want this? And even though we do talk about this, inside we are very afraid of it.

However, the Upper Light will perform this change on us. I don't know how it will do this. It will simply happen in the same manner as it created us. This change in a person is called a miracle. The Light that created our desire can also perform this "upgrade" on it.

--From the 2^nd Part of the Lesson

Study is Joy!

Sometimes during the lesson various troubles suddenly appear in a person, not just difficulties from home or work, but also as inner problems on one's spiritual path. They concern him more than the lesson itself and he simply cannot disconnect from them. We all receive such "states," and that is fine. The most important thing is to participate in the study as much as we possibly can.

We must leave the lesson with joy.  Throughout the lesson, we should be in joy, in a good attitude, with feelings of love and appreciation that we are here, in a lesson, in a treatment process.  Whether or not we understand the material, in every moment that we are connected to the study, it is treatment. One day after another, it operates on us. This is a very important point.

Whoever is beside the book, studying together with our friends all over the world, if along with that he cries, then it truly is an injustice. The Creator arranged for him all the conditions in order for him to come to life, and he rejects it and deep inside his heart he curses it. This must not happen. So it is very important for us to study with joy!

-From the 3rd Part of the Lesson

Ascending in Concealment

As we are studying, the path is divided into "preparation time," "correction of the vessels," and "implementation." The correction of the vessels is called "bestowing in order to bestow" or "repentance from fear" and the implementation is already "repentance from love." The preparation period is divided into stages, which may last for a long time, and in them we scrutinize our state. Where are we? What do we possess? What has been prepared for us? What is the state itself compared to spirituality? What is spirituality? And who are we in comparison to all of this?

We advance through a group: What is a group? Through books: What is a book? What is the study? What is the intention during the study? While scrutinizing all the details along the way, we go through most of the preparation period. They are the stages above which we rise and through which we gain very important experience. And precisely because the ascent occurs in complete darkness, we bring the Creator satisfaction. Our real work is found there, even more than in our climbing the steps of revelation.

For the time being, man goes through unpleasant states, because he does not know where he is. Therefore his entire purpose during the preparation time should be clarification of the rules and the environment by which he advances. He must understand that inside of him there are no preparations except the point in the heart. But its implementation and its realization, is possible only through external forces: a group that gives him a correct attitude toward the study, and study which brings him the Light that Reforms. This is how we advance.

Building An Environment

We speak a lot about "building an environment;" however, such an environment does not exist for a person, and in fact, never will. Even if all people in the world were already great Kabbalists except for one person, that person would still need to build an environment for himself. An environment is built by one subjugating himself before those on this path, those who hold on to it to a certain degree. Before them he must subjugate himself, he must work.

An ordinary environment in this world presents us with all sorts of pleasures, it wants to disseminate "Coca Cola" to us, to advertise and sell us things that are "worthwhile" for us. Yet even if the entire world tells you that the wisdom of Kabbalah is "worthwhile," you will nevertheless, need to work against your ego. This is because the "worthwhile" that they tell you, which is that it is worthwhile to bestow and worthwhile to love your fellow-man, is against your nature. It does not exist in you. Therefore the work will never stop. Exertion will always be what saves you from death and brings you to the quality of bestowal, which is called "life."

So man has no choice but to arrange the "right conditions" for himself. This means to make efforts to understand what the "right environment" is, to identify the points that are inside the friends, and to realize that he needs these points. He must treat the friends with love and actually love them, which is the yearning for the Creator. He needs them and with them he needs to connect. Their collection - is his job. Their collection - is his soul. Thus, inside the connection between the points, the Upper State is revealed - Bestowal.

-From the Preparation to the Lesson

What Do We Have To Correct?

Question by a Student: Do I have to correct my point in the heart?

Answer by Dr. Michael Laitman: No, you do not have to correct your point in the heart because there is nothing to correct there. It is just a point and it has no volume.

What you have to do is connect your point in the heart with other points. When you create this connection between you, it is called correction.

You will then reveal that the "group" of points or desires is completely corrected. Everyone exists in the perfect connection, like cells of a healthy organism; everyone except you!

To the extent that you "bow down" before them, they will influence you and you will begin to have the correct intention for similarity to the Creator. When you read about the Upper World with this intention, the reading will evoke an influence upon you from the Upper Level. You will be influenced by the Surrounding Light, which will give you a feeling of the Upper Level from where it descends. So go ahead - start!

-From the 2nd Part of the Lesson