HESED: TIKKUN CHATZOT תקון חצות – LESSON WITH RAV MICHAEL LAITMAN
Baal HaSulam. The Peace
Morning Lesson March 10, 2022 Transcription
Transcription is made from simultaneous translation which leaves a possibility for differences in the audio
Baal HaSulam. The Peace
Rader (00:23) “An empirical, scientific research…”
1. R. (01:30) These are definitions the Baal HaSulam wanted to give to us and now he’s going to say some things from himself.
Reader Continues (01:46) “After having demonstrated from previous articles…”
2. R. (04:30) What does he want to say? He wants to say this: This is The Peace Article. He says I want to prove to you that there is nothing better than peace. That peace should be the goal of our development, of human development in human society and individual huma It does not matter. All of life should advance towards this concept called peacen and, peace means the completion between all the elements of creation: still, vegetative, animate and speaking, between all of them, so all complete all. In other words he wants to say that we need to go back to the same sphere, let’s say that existed in the beginning of creation, that all of creation was a single desire without any difference between the desires and then separation was done. Why? So that towards all those desires that have the separation they have the ability through gradual connection, and searching for connection between them they can understand it and acknowledge it and attain the concept of peace. That is the greatest level the created being can achieve because by that he attains The Singularity of the Creator and that is what he is trying to prove to us in this article. That’s it, understood?
3. S. (06:20) It is not so clear because all of our work and spirituality is above reason so how can Baal HaSulam come to prove to us something that is in the will to receive?
R. We will see, I don’t know, you’re asking correctly that you heard from some sources that there is the matter of going above reason, rising above nature, above the ego, and achieving some states of bestowal, I don’t know. But, according to what he says, he wants to prove to us that there is nothing better, nothing more whole than peace and this could be understood very simply. What is it? The mutual completion of all of the parts of creation into a single system where each part gives and receives and in a complete identification with all of the rest of the parts and that is the best possible state. You cannot cut anything away from creation and you cannot add anything new to it, you just take everything that you have in the still, vegetative, animat and speaking and turn all of that into a single holistic system. At least with regards to that system you couldn’t say that this is the best possible state. That is it. That is how we have to look at our state; above reason, below reason I don’t care, I want to achieve that wholeness. Clear?
S. So that wholeness is something that people can grasp in this world also?
R. I do not know that. Let him explain to us. Wait, the whole article is in front of you. But his goal we understand and we agree that this is a very important thing.
Reading (08:40) “Contradictions in Providence”
4. S. (12:40) Beautiful words, we understand these things, we basically agree with them because these are things that every person can see in their eyes and that is how it is arranged in front of us in this world. So, I have nothing else to say except there is a contradiction here like he says; the contradiction is in providence where on the one hand nature cares a lot about crafting the perfect gradual development for everything that is born and grows on one hand. And, on the other hand nature also awakens so many things that could be harmful to the developing object, and it is very difficult for the element to obtain its protective force, nurishment and so forth in order to develop more health and properly. So, there are two things that are in contradiction here. What to do about it? We will see. For now we have a question.
5. S. (14:17) I did not understand this idea that he is talking about. Why does he say that there is great confusion and it seems as if there is no one guiding this process?
R. There are two forces in the world that are at war between them: One force as he says that aims to develop creation in all its parts in whatever possible; the still, vegetative, animate, the four levels of nature, each and every part has a force that develops it. Along with it there is also some negative force in nature that seems to prevent, hinder this gradual beautiful development, where something that is developing needs to be fighting for its development, we can see that everywhere. There are on the one hand parents who develop their child and they want everything for their child. We can see that on the animate level including on the human level because the human level also is included on the intimate level, on the one hand.
On the other hand we see that there is a lot of harmful things that stand in the way all of those all of those evolving things, so there is a kind of balance more or less let’s say one time to the positive direction and another time to the negative direction; and it works throughout all of creation and the more evolved creation is then the developing thing feels more pressure, more stress sharper and distinct states. That is what he is saying, he is not giving any answers yet. He is just explaining to us that this is the picture of the world. He just says, I want to tell you now how humanity treats what we see in nature, that there is a good force and a bad force basically and how can we accept them, understand them and explain their dynamic and activity upon us; these opposite forces that we are in between or under their governance.
6. S. (17:31) What does it mean that he gives and receives in identification with everyone?
R. We will clarify it later on. We should not linger on this.
Reading (17:50) “First Method is Nature…”
7. R. (18:26) According to this method, nature is nature; It is a force that exists the way it exists and it governs everything. It has no mind, no emotion; it just operates these still vegetative and animate parts.
Reader Continues (18:46) “Hence although he watches over…”
8. S. (19:30) Meaning it is a very comfortable method, this is what we have in nature. You look at the universe, you look up at planet Earth, you see what is inside of it and what is on it and that is it. That is what you have. There is no one to turn to and there’s nothing to do; you have nature and you can try to work with whatever you have which nature evolved in you, you mind and whatever means you can gather and to go ahead try to make your life better. So, this is a very good method; nature. No question? Everyone agrees that this is so? That is what appears to our eyes and I have nothing to add, there is no one here that is above the natural system, beyond it that awakens us to go through some states; in justice, in mind and emotions or any different calculations, there is no such thing. One does what is right in his own eyes like we see in the world of the still, vegetative and animate and everything follows laws and these laws are about power; the one who is powerful gains more.
9. S. (21:11) Why is a state of peace put forth as a goal if it is unattainable?
R. I don’t know. I don’t know if peace is the goal. I mean it depends on how you define peace. If it is this complementation then even from our world we can somewhat advance towards that because all forces of nature, the air, the soil wherever they are, they always balance each other and nature is always aspiring to balance through pressure, heat and cold, and everything else. So, it is one of nature’s laws, there is no governance here. Governance means that there is some supervisor above nature that runs all parts of nature. But, if nature itself is the supervisor then we are talking about a set of laws, just like what you learn in University or the laws that you are used to in life. We do not treat the supervisor here that is above these levels of nature still, vegetative, animate and human beings and that it demands something from them; that there is some sort of goal, a purpose, a reason, that it feels and senses and suffers or enjoys, no, it is just nature’s laws and it is very simple.
10. S. (23:01) Baal HaSulam quotes Rabbi Shimon ben Halfata that the Creator did not find a vessel suitable to give to Israel but peace, so that is the main goal.
R. People who study with us, how do you even read the text, if the author gave us three sentences there in the beginning he means that they will be accompanying us throughout the whole article, and then throughout the article we will understand why he’s set up those three quotes in the beginning as some guiding light for us. But, we cannot understand it already from this one part here that talks about the first method he calls nature, which says why are things happening, that is it; It is nature and there is a question.
11. S. (24:09) You said that the ideal state is the combination between truth, justice, mercy and peace and in this article it says that peace is the ideal state, so how to combine, between these two things?
R. I will tell you at the end of the article. I also recommend that when you sort out the questions, thinking what to ask, think about the questions themselves if they are in the right place to ask them now or if they should surface later in the lesson.
12. S. (24:54) what does it mean that a lion and a lamb and a little kid will be together and spirituality?
R. This is again from the introduction to the article, we still do not know. It looks like he is talking about the way in which all the forms of nature complete each other. I hope that you will learn how to help the people who are asking the questions with how they should ask in the right way, not confuse us. The fact that Baal HaSulam gave us these three quotes in the beginning is in order to later justify them with the whole article and we could not ask about them now without having read anything yet.
13. S. (25:55) Until when will the illusion of this reality exist, that we perceive since birth in this world?
R. Until we instead of that, bring the light that reforms and it will allow us to see the world correctly and to see us correctly and then we will discover ourselves and the world in what we call the final correction. This final correction only happens towards us, and the world that will appear to us in the final correction will also appear only within us, and with respect to us there is nothing outside of our perception that is broken. Everything is happening inside the egoistical will to receive that is distorting the complete picture of reality which had no shattering, nothing happened to it; it all remained one at all times.
14. S. (27:09) We talked about justifying the Creator. How can you justify the Creator before regular people in the world with all the suffering that you talked about after all they are not working with their ego like we are?
R. I’m not going to try to justify the Creator to these people. I’m saying that even more than them I am saying that the Creator is guilty of everything and that everything that is happening in the world comes from above, comes from the Creator, and what descends on us all comes from Him. so, who is to blame for all that is happening? It is the Creator. Who has to make all the corrections? The Creator. When will it happen? When the human asks the Creator to make the corrections. Let’s hope we will have patience to read the article in full and then we’ll understand better. Let’s continue.
Reading (28:28) “The Second Method: Two Authorities…”
Reader continues: (30:20) “The Third Method…”
15. R. (31:06) So basically we are seeing a development of the methods by which people, throughout all of history for thousands of years, are trying to explain to themselves what is happening in the world and what is happening in our life, what is influencing us and how should we treat it on the still, vegetative, animated and human level or maybe something above that? Maybe that there is something above that, above us. So, people wanted to somehow put things in the right order, and what happened? Continue.
Reader continues: (31:52) “The Fifth Method: Left His Operation…”
16. R. (34:55) The last sentence is not clear, that we agree. What is he saying? He is wondering if we should not seek the mending of this great rift from the supervisor’s point of view and what he supervises at all, but rather accept that this great correction is in our own hands. Meaning, that the contradictions in the providence of whether you call it nature or supervisor or Creator, it comes to me. Now what comes to me that puts me between a rock and a hard place, between these two forces, these two opposite forces of nature? Is it only me that can balance them, that can rearrange them and achieve a beautiful connection between them so that both work on me the way they do, one by one or all together or however they do but for the better, always for the better? Can I do that? That is basically the question. In no other way I can relate to the forces of nature in a pragmatic way to bring them to some state that is good for me, but only on the condition that I treat them as coming from a single supervisor, to a signal creation, created being; and then that created being relates to the forces of nature as coming from a single supervisor. If we relate in that way to the forces of nature then nature becomes God; and we, the created beings and the connection between us will be according to how we look at the Providence of Godliness. Well, we will continue that in the next lesson.