A question I received in response to my post “It’s All for the Best (But We Can Get to It Faster)“: How can we progress without someone of Moses’ level guiding us forward? We don’t see the Creator’s participation in our daily routine. So who can we turn for answers? The group? Rav? Perhaps if we recognize our egoism and begin to move in the right direction as a group, then the Upper Light will become our guide? Who will guide us through the desert and the disasters that are coming at us so rapidly that we can’t even catch our breath?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that his method can pull everybody out of egoism, and I’m certain of that. Also, I see from your progress, that you see it too. However, everything depends on our combined efforts. We can no longer reach the goal individually, as Kabbalists have done over centuries of exile. Instead, we are now beginning to build a group of “refugees” from egoism, from Egypt. We are facing the same task they faced: to reach the “Mutual Guarantee” (Arvut) – a mutual responsibility in reaching the goal. Our Moses is Baal HaSulam and Rabash, who are walking along with us. Soon you will discover them inside our group.

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A question I received: I’m worried about the environmental problems facing our world, such as the degradation of the environment and people’s declining health. From Kabbalah’s perspective, how should we change the laws regulating the use and preservation of the environment? What should the national and international environmental laws be? What approach should be used to develop the appropriate framework and regulations?

My Answer: We could command nature to change, or we could command man to change. But in any case, man is a part of nature, and our commands will only cause us greater separation from nature, which will result in further harm to nature and to its integral parts – us. None of our attempts to reduce humanity’s harmful influence on nature will yield positive results. The fact is that nature’s actions are purposeful. Its influence on us has nothing to do with how we treat the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature. Nature reacts only to our attitude to one another. Man incorporates the whole of nature within himself, and it “falls” or “rises” together with him. Everything is measured according to the highest level, called “man.”

Nature affects us in order to force us to change, and what we have to change is our attitude to other people, not our attitude to nature. We need to change our egoistic attitude to others to an altruistic one, like a father feels for his children. We will then become an integral part of nature, and our attitude to all its other parts will change as well.

This cannot be done by coercive methods – since we have to change ourselves! If we realize this, we will reduce nature’s blows coming to us and to its other parts.

The other problem is that even if we realize that we need to change, we have no idea how to do it. And that is why we have been given the science of Kabbalah, which originated in the very beginning of our egoistic path, when we separated in Ancient Babylon. It’s a science that shows us how to unite into one whole. Sharing it and inculcating it into the consciousness of every person is precisely what constitutes the laws of the new civilization. We only need to understand that “preserving the environment” means protecting it from our egoism. Let’s work together.

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A question I received: You say that Kabbalah uses its own terminology. But when reading Kabbalistic texts, I get confused whether it is speaking about the physical world or the Upper World. So how can you claim that the language of Kabbalah is precise?

My Answer: Kabbalah uses names borrowed from our world. However, just as other methods of rendering of the Upper World (The Pentateuch, Mishna, and Talmud), such names allude exclusively to the Upper World, to its forces and properties. So why is it better to study Kabbalah than the Talmud? It’s simply because, when you study Kabbalah, you don’t forget that you’re studying the Upper World – the system that influences you and that you depend on. Hence, you want to draw closer to it, and this desire pulls you toward it.

In addition, it’s best to study with a teacher who explains all this to you and reminds you of it during your studies. And you should study in a group that supports you in this endeavor. As a person studies these texts, precisely his intention to become corrected attracts onto him the Light that Reforms – the Torah. If you read them in any other manner, you will surely get confused and start thinking that it’s speaking about our world.

For instance, take a look at the text of the ARI (The Tree of Life):
The primary HaVaYaH (the 4-letter name of the Creator) from the World of Infinity begets all consequences, which further divide into four parts, down to our world.

1. Every creature contains four bases: fire, water, air, and the dust of the earth. They correspond to the four letters HaVaYaH, and KhuB Tum, and TaNTA (Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin and Otiyot), and ABYA.

2. And these are the four categories in the lower (of our world) Adam: a) the spiritual that’s within him; b) the body; c) the garments; d) the dwelling place. Each of them in turn consists of four: in his spiritual part there’s Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, and Chaya; in his body there’s Atzamot, Gidin, Basar and Awr (bones, tendons, flesh and skin); in the garments there’s Kutonet, Mikhnasaim, Matznefet, Avnet (shirt, pants, cloak, belt); in the dwelling place there’s Bait, Hatzer, Sade, Midbar (house, yard, field, desert).

3. In the four categories of Adam, there’s one that includes all. And there’s also the middle one between each of these categories, which includes all the adjacent ones.

4. The category which includes all is called the Light of Yechida. It has two parts: the spark of the Creator and the spark of the creature.

5. The middle category between the spiritual in Adam, which is NaRaNCHaY, and his body – is “Reviit Dam” (the fourth part of blood), and Nefesh de-Nefesh (the animate force) clothes in it. It also includes the spiritual part and the body.

6. The middle category between the body and the garments is “Searot” and “Tzipornayim” of Adam (hair and nails).

7. The middle category between the garments and the dwelling place is Oalim (tabernacles) which are made of wool and flax.

Conclusion: Only in the process of studying authentic Kabbalistic texts do you connect with the Upper World and evoke upon yourself the influence of the Upper Light (the Light of the Torah), which can transport you from the perception of this world to the perception of the Upper World. There is no other method that can allow you to achieve such a transformation! Therefore, when the world and you are ready for it, Kabbalah becomes revealed and is offered to you as the method of correction.

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