A Question of Proportion

Question: Life in our world appears as one endless heartache, with small breaks to give a person time to get back up on his feet after a blow, just to receive the next one. This is human history and the life of a separate person. What kind of progress is that and where are the gifts that the Creator gives to creation?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: Imagine that I am in a faraway galaxy where I gaze at infinite reaches of space and look for something in that infinity. I accelerate to the speed of light and slowly move through billions of light years, coming closer to our galaxy, our solar system, and our earth. I land on the earth's surface, and here I discover people.

It's difficult to imagine the scale upon which I could compare such different proportions. Analogously, we do not understand what kind of system we are in. We know how to make measurements and to do research on our own scale, according to our proportions. We compare weight to how much we can lift, distance to how far we can see, good and evil-with what is good or bad for us. Our entire spectrum is a tiny fragment of the enormous total scale, and our distinctions are miniscule.

However, now we are talking about the spiritual system in which our entire universe is imperceptibly small. We are talking about mechanisms that are enormous due to their qualitative characteristics. Compared to them, our entire world is in one quality-a small egoistic desire that is enlivened by a small spark of light. The matter of this desire is created as "something from nothing" by the Light that broke through to here, outlining an exact projection of the spiritual creation.

And now, from this state, you are discoursing upon the suffering of all of humanity. True, that is how we feel. Every person negates things according to this own imperfection and judges according to what his eyes see. But what can you do? That is how we have to advance, and right now we are unable to perceive anything more. There is a gigantic canvas unraveled before you, but you cannot make it out.

We are only able to slightly catch on to the simple fact that there is a lack of desires, a lack of vessels. The questions abound, "Can the unchanging Creator change? Can He create a stone that He can't lift? Why did He initially make us imperfect?" But all of these riddles are useless.

We have to understand one principle from our lives: We have to go through opposite states. Only from these opposites, by recognizing the advantage of the Light from the darkness, do we form the vessels for a higher, more elevated sensation. When I acquire the vessels that are ready for it, the world will open up to me. Nothing is hiding from me behind a stone wall. I must simply build the vessels inside of me in order to see reality.

This development is necessary and the Creator cannot make it happen ahead of time. Why? For now, I do not know why. I can make certain conjectures, but that won't give me anything. I will brush everything aside, saying, "I don't believe it! He could do it!" And there are no other facts in front of you.

Yet there is a rule: The advantage of the Light is attained from the darkness. Any thing is evaluated only from its opposite. That is why we must go through these states step by step, forming the vessels for revealing the reality we are in.

We are in the world of Infinity, but you do not feel that. So develop your vessels. You have been given the opportunity to develop them, or stated otherwise, to correct them. You were deliberately given broken desires that are opposite to the corrected ones. What for? So you would grow and collect them, understanding and revealing the world.

There is no other way to go. And later you will justify the creation. The lengthy process, lasting several thousand years throughout which we suffer, is the truth on our scale. However, in reality we do not realize what kind of proportions we are in. Besides this tiny "room," there is an entire world our there that you have never seen. You are like a worm living in a radish-this is the example Baal HaSulam gives.

Question: But why is this worm told about the Giver and His love?

Answer: In order to aspire to this, in order to let him understand that there is a goal for which it's worthwhile to climb out of the radish. Moreover, not only do you receive the understanding of this, but also the means to do it. We are all like worms in a radish, but if each one of us starts to push the others toward the outside, we really will come out.

Therefore, there is a solution. As long as you were satisfied by life in this world, no one offered it to you. But now you are being placed in a new, global system and given the solution.

From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 06/23/11, "Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)"

A New Tale About Little Red Riding Hood

Question: What happens "behind the scenes" of my actions when during the reading of The Book of Zohar I make repeated efforts to return to the intention, but they seem futile to me?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: Your efforts determine your qualities of perception, your sensitivity, and then you make the revelation. Everything is in front of you, but your lack of sensitivity does not allow you to reveal the system of connection between the souls that The Zohar tells you about. Your efforts and prayer build the instruments of perception inside of you in order to feel that picture.

Question: I repeatedly keep trying to build my intention anew, but it seems like I make the same efforts and feel the same thing I did a week ago, as if nothing changed....

Answer: Suppose I am among musicians. Looking at them, I see how they listen to every sound and discern the combination of different sounds, and I see how important this is to them. As I look at them, I learn about how to treat sounds. Then, as a result of my efforts, I become more sensitive and begin feeling them.

Then I ask the musicians questions and they explain things to me, but I don't understand their explanations. "A fourth," "a fifth," "glissando, "forte"-these words don't say anything to me, just like the unintelligible terminology in The Book of Zohar.

But I want to learn them! That is why I try to become a bit more sensitive to them and to feel them. Then, because we are in a special system, according to my efforts, desire, and aspiration, I begin to feel. That is how a child develops as well: He wants to become big and is always running around, never tiring and researching everything around.

We wonder: How can children watch the same cartoon or listen to the same story a thousand times over? However, it's a thousand times to us because we don't develop any longer. But a child lives in that story. When he listens to the tale about Little Red Riding Hood today, to him this is a completely new story, not like yesterday. You look at him and think, "Fine, I'll tell him the story. Let him sit quietly, calm down, and enjoy it...." But he hears this story anew every time! And even though he also knows it by heart, when he repeats it together with you, he relives it all over again. It's similar to how you have to eat today even though you ate yesterday. That's what happens to him too!

Therefore, our entire work is to develop the sensitivity to acquire new qualities of perception.

From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 06/23/11, The Zohar