Saturday, November 13, 2010

The human soul is a minute part of the universal Soul

" The human soul is a minute part of the universal Soul, and it
feels so limited, so confined, in the physical body that its
greatest wish is to spread out in space and merge with it. And so
it is wrong to think, as people usually do, that the soul is
wholly contained within a human being. No, in reality, only a
very small part of the soul is found within; almost all of it
remains outside and leads an independent life in the cosmic
ocean.
It is important to be clear about the nature and activity of the
soul. So, you should know that the spiritual principle we call
the soul is not enclosed in the physical body. The soul extends
well beyond the physical body, and while it continues to give
life to the body it also travels to visit the furthest reaches of
space and the entities that live there. Our soul is much more
than we imagine it to be: this part of the universal Soul in us
never ceases to reach out into space, immensity, infinity."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

A Social Network on the Spiritual Level

Question: It seems to me that people prefer to communicate by e-mails and
SMS instead of speaking to each other. Why is it so?

Today the ego has evolved to such a degree that we prefer a more virtual
relationship with others.
It is not that we do or do not want others. But we feel better, more
comfortable, more complete when we connect with others through text
messages or a computer screen, or something else.
Why? Because in this way we don’t touch others’ bodies, their external forms.
To understand why it happens, we must know the root of this phenomenon.
The desire to receive in us has evolved and wishes to transcend the animal
level of our bodies. The animal level has nothing further to give us; it does not
provide us contact with others. However, we do seek deeper contact with
others, so for the time being we turn to virtual relationships.

In the next phase, virtual relationships will not satisfy us and we will want an
even deeper connection. Amidst the virtual connection, we will sense a need
to be internally, spiritually connected with others.
The more removed we become on the physical level, the more we sense the
need for connection. This explains the revolution of the internet and why
everyone is so drawn to it.
Where does this attraction come from, which sometimes turns into an actual
obsession? It comes from our wish to satisfy our need for connection with
others. Although social networks and forums today are usually filled with
drivel, and surely there is no true fulfillment in this connection, there is
nevertheless a kind of connection here and it addicts us.

M. Laitman

Contrasts

Question: Why were we created with ego in the first place, if we will
eventually have to correct it?
We come to know the world by comparing opposites—hot vs. cold, black vs.
white. We recognize one in relation to the other. If everything were white, we
wouldn’t detect anything. Likewise, if everything were black, we wouldn’t
detect anything, either.
Contrast is always necessary, the disparity between colors, sensations, and
places. We sense the differences between things, but not each thing separately.
The Creator is love and bestowal. However, we will not be able to sense what
bestowal is if we are not opposite to it. This is why we need the ego—“help
made against him.” Being opposite from the Creator helps us know and sense
the Creator.

The Creator—the desire to love and give
The creature—the desire to receive
Because we are currently opposite from the Creator
we are hiding Him from ourselves
Correction—as we acquire the quality of love and bestowal
we equalize with the Creator and begin to sense Him

The Button

Currently, we are seeing the picture of this world as if we are all watching the
same TV channel.
We have become so accustomed to it that we can’t even imagine that there is
another channel.
One day, it gets a little boring. The point in the heart has awakened in us, and
a desire to change the channel rises from within. Previously, we didn’t even
imagine this was possible.
Gradually, we begin to realize that we can change the channel, but only if we
truly want to. Our desire is the button that can change the channel.
As soon as we are ready, the other channel will turn on automatically. It isn’t
that the first channel will disappear, but that the second one will be added; we
will view the first channel, and be aware of the second in the background.
Thus, the two worlds will merge within us into a single, all-inclusive
harmony.
M.Laitman

Here and Now

You cannot take a train ride to the spiritual world;
you cannot fly there, either, because it is within us.
We need only evoke the spiritual sensation within us,
sharpen our senses,
and open wide our perception
to what is happening right here.
Then we will find ourselves in a never-ending, wonderful adventure
that will leave us agape with awe.
And from then on, it will never stop growing.
M. Laitman

Entrance

What is the purpose?

The One Above desires to dwell in things below. The transcendent within the mundane.

Meaning that a breath of Godly life descends below and dresses itself in a body and human personality. And this body and personality come to negate and conceal the light of this Godly soul…

And nevertheless, the soul purifies and elevates the body, the person and even her share of the world.

And what is the reason behind this purpose?

There is none.

It is from before reason.
And so it is unbounded and all-consuming.

For it is a desire of the Essence.

T. Freeman

Plan B

At the outset of Creation, He removed all light. And that is the source of all that ever goes wrong.

Why did He remove the light? Why did He choose that things could go wrong?

Sometimes we say He wanted darkness as a background, a place to shine a new light and make a world of light. The darkness, we say, is there for the sake of light. Pain exists for the sake of healing.

But this could not be the entire answer.

Why? Because darkness for the purpose of light is not complete darkness. This darkness was absolute, a void, an emptiness, the diametric opposite of the Infinite Light that preceded it. And so, too, we find evil in the world that has no explanation, no answer, no light to shine.

The entire answer must be that in Light alone, God cannot be found. For He is beyond dark and light, presence and absence, being and not being.

And so, just as darkness is there for the sake of light, so is light there for the sake of darkness—to reveal its true purpose, to allow knowledge of a wholly transcendent God to enter His world.

T. Freeman

"We are told that under the reign of the ottoman sultan Mehmet II ..."

"We are told that under the reign of the ottoman sultan Mehmet II,
known as 'the Conqueror', there was a famous warrior who had won
twenty-two victories against enemy armies. It was at a time when
fighting was done with swords, and so, one day, the sultan asked
for this all-victorious sword to be brought to him, as he thought
it must possess exceptional qualities. So the sword was brought
to him. He took it, turned it one way, turned it the other way...
But it was a completely ordinary sword, and the sultan,
disappointed, returned it, saying he had no use for such an
ordinary weapon. When the hero who had emerged victorious from so
many battles learned of the sultan's reaction, he exclaimed, 'But
he saw only the sword, he didn't see my arm. It is my arm that
won the victories'. 
I, too, give you a sword, which is to say, effective spiritual
methods, that is, effective provided you apply them. Even a tiny
knife can work wonders if we practise handling it every day, and
a single match can set a whole city ablaze. With some seemingly
unimpressive method, one can also do an immense work: it is all
in the arm, that is, in the will."

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

There Is World

here are three things to always remember:

The One Above, yourself below, and the world in between.

Abandon any one of those and you will stumble and fall.

Even those who grasp for God alone, they do not build, but desolate.

To reach God, you must deal with the reality of your world and redeem it.

T. Freeman

The Parable

The world is a parable, two stories at once,
layered one beneath the other.

On the outside, it is the story of a monster called reality,
with its intimidating army of fiends and beasts, lunacy and futility.

From the inside, it is a story of Him alone with you,
and all these challenges nothing less than _expressions of His love, drawing you yet closer.

The world is a parable,
and you choose the channel in which you wish to live.

T. Freeman

Reframing

There are no things. There are only words. The Divine Words of Creation.

The words become fragmented, their letters scattered.
Only then are they called things; for scattered, they have no meaning.
Words in exile.

If so, their redemption lies in the story we tell with them. How we reorganize fragments into meaning, things into words, redefining what is real and what is not, and living life accordingly.

Life is in the interpretation of the words God gives us.

T. Freeman

When that which is God

When that which is God -- or that which is that which man wants to call "God" -- is being understood by man, man has to translate it into the format he understands. But this Energy -- this Source that man is giving the label of "God", cannot be quantified in anything that man understands. And as man attempts to do it, the distortions are enormous.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, August 4th, 2001 #378

Being Truth

What is your job in this world? It is to become truth.

How do you become truth? By not lying to yourself.

It is not that you must do whatever you do with sincerity.
Sincerity itself is the work you must do.
It is what you must become.

T. Freeman

Cause & Effect

Everything in the universe works in a chain of cause and effect. At the beginning of every such chain lies a decision, a free choice for which there is no cause, nothing that forced it to be that way. Whatever comes out of that chain will come back to the one who initiated it.

At the beginning of each chain and at its end, there lies purpose.

T.Freeman

If you don't meet resistance with resistance, it dissipates dramatically.

If you don't meet resistance with resistance, it dissipates dramatically. It just softens. Try it! Next time somebody says to you, "I'm right, and you're wrong," say, "Pfftt, you're right. You are right. You're right." And mean it. In other words, don't mock them. Don't be sarcastic. "You're right." And then watch how, all of a sudden, their legs almost go right out from under them. They don't have the energy to blast you, because you just took the fuel away from the fire.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Boston, MA on Saturday, May 17th, 2003 #380