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Michael Laitman, PhD

Chapter 7.3 – The Reception of Light on Holidays

Any increase in the Light is a holiday. Every soul that attains spirituality receives the Light from the world of Atzilut. Its power depends on the degree of the soul. The ordinary level of Light is called a “weekday”. The next degree of intensity is called “Rosh Hodesh” (the first day of the month). Each weekday designates a different kind of Light.

On Rosh Hodesh, Partzuf ZON (Zeir Anpin and Nukva) of Atzilut rises to Partzuf YESHSUT (Israel Sabave Tvuna), meaning it climbs one degree, and illuminates a completely different quality of Light. The next level up is called Shabbat (the Sabbath).

Every minute and every hour bears its own unique shade in spirituality. The influence of the Light on the souls in our world is a perpetual state. As a result, there is an ongoing process of correction and movement. Without the constant change and influence of Light, the vessel would remain immobile. A vessel moves under the influence of affliction, the consequence of the absence of Light in the vessel, or the permeating of Light into it.

ZON of Atzilut determines the movement of all the souls. There is constant abundance coming out of ZON, which the souls perceive incorrectly due to their egoism. The purpose of the correction of the souls is to change the bad feeling into a good one, meaning to correct the vessels from egoism to altruism. The more correct the soul is, the more it perceives the Creator as Absolute Goodness.

We cannot perform independent corrections. but must realize what kind of enemy our egoism really is, and then ask for help from the Creator. The revelation of the Creator brings one to a higher level of quality experience. The change in our perception of reward and punishment will make the punishment feel like pleasure.

If we were no longer able to feel pain in our bodies, we would not know if a disease were spreading in our bodies. We would not do anything to cure it, because we would not feel the symptoms that indicate it. Sometimes it is worthwhile to endure pain for the purpose of future benefit. If we realize that bitter medicine is a necessary means to health, the medicine will not taste bitter but sweet.

Any "low" spiritual or mental feeling indicates a malfunction in one’s soul, and must be cured. Neutralizing the sensation of pain will produce harmful results because the body will be denied of an alarm system to warn of a deteriorating mental state.

The month of Adar is a special month. It is the month of the holiday of Purim, the greatest of all festivals. It is customary to drink alcohol on Purim to complete intoxication and absolute detachment from reality, until one stops feeling any concern or worry. It comes to remind us of our future state of absolute pleasure and wholeness, when the mind is disconnected and only emotion remains active.

But why do we need to disconnect the mind in order to feel whole? What happens to a person when he or she is filled with delight? Is there any room left for thoughts, or cold reasoning?

Most of the people who turn to Kabbalah come from the society's middle class, whether socioeconomic or educational. A college professor, for example, devoted entirely to scientific research, does not need any religious coatings. Logic is king, and science is religion. Often scientists are even more fanatic in their beliefs than religious fanatics.

We must teach people to look within and discover the ten Sefirot inside them. The first, Keter, is the attribute of the Creator. The others are measurements of exposure of the Creator to the creature, meaning Malchut. We must be taught to differentiate between these properties and ourselves.

As Malchut corrects itself, it increases its ability to resemble itself to the upper nine Sefirot and contain itself in them. Consequently, it (Malchut) will eventually cleave entirely to the Creator.

When a cell in the body stops "thinking" of the body and begins to function independently, "chewing" everything up without giving the body what it must, this is considered a cancerous cell. Every cell in the body knows what it is destined to become when it matures. If something goes wrong inside, cells know how to restore their functioning to normal; they are connected with the collective system of the body.

If we behave that way toward the Creator, the universe and mankind (which are one and the same thing), we will function correctly and our health will be in order. Otherwise, we become like a cell that thinks only of itself, thus turning from a healthy cell to a cancer cell.

When we begin to study Kabbalah, we are told to start in a state of Lo Lishma. We approach such a person with kind and gentle words, because in that state one is categorized as “women, children and slaves,” meaning with egoistic properties. The “women” state signifies the will to receive, the “children” state signifies wanting to perceive everything unconsciously and the “slaves” state represents the pursuit of pleasures (slaves to pleasures). These are internal states that every person experiences, regardless of sex, age, or religion, because every person possesses all the spiritual state within and must therefore experience and correct every single one of them.

When we begin to acquire independent wisdom and understanding, even if we are still immersed in egoistic properties, we can already observe ourselves from the side. At that point we are being gradually introduced to the real meaning of bestowal (altruism, giving) and what really lies behind the term "for the Creator," also called "in order to bestow."

The only way to liberate ourselves from our egoism is to bring ourselves to a state where we cry out to the Creator. Otherwise, our Pharaohs will not let us out of Egypt. Every situation must be meticulously analyzed, until we understand precisely how to operate our reason in order to analyze our feelings. If we do not do that, these situations will repeat themselves until we understand that and cry to the Creator and take anything He wants, if only to set us free from the one and only enemy that prevents us from approaching the Creator, namely our own egoism.

Both situations–deep depression and extreme pleasure–are extreme situations that do not allow us to analyze our situations correctly. We must try to do it independently, while asking: “Why was I given this situation?” “What can I do about it?” If we delve deeply into the thought that these situations were given to us by the Creator, our anguish will cease to be a torment and will turn to pleasure. It depends on our perception of the greatness of the Creator. There is nothing more that we should consider!

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