Question: Over the years of working on spirituality, we have accumulated stacks of notebooks in which we write down lessons and leave notes in the margins. When making notes, you feel a special taste in it and at the same time an effort. What is the value of taking notes during the lessons?

Answer: Once we were not allowed to take notes; we had to remember everything. And this was welcomed. Today everything is recorded; there is no end to it.

Initially, I also took notes. I wrote a lot, but eventually I stopped.

First of all, it is best to pay attention to the heart. That is why it says to write it down on your heart; this is is very important.

Even if later your heart changes and what you wanted to remember leaves, still the fact that you brought your heart closer to what you read, heard, and wanted it to remain in you remains, although not that you can always use it. But when you need it, you will remember everything.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/29/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Looking in the Book Again”

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Question: What does a person reveal in oneself on the third day of creation when greenery begins to bloom and trees grow? What kind of desires are these in relation to the Creator?

Answer: The third day is a good day of creation when a certain similarity to the Creator begins to manifest in nature, which was created by the Creator.

On the third day, the middle line appears between the left, egoistic line and the right, altruistic one.

It can be said that the third day is already an opportunity for a person to work with two lines, to be somewhat similar to the Creator in the quality of Tifferet.

In a person who progresses from bottom to top, all this is inherent in potential. He can come to spiritual attainment in ten years or maybe in ten reincarnations. But when he achieves this and can correctly combine both lines within himself, it is called “the third day of creation.”
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 3/21/24

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Question: Your teacher Rabash wrote in the article “Concerning Bestowal,” that when a person serves someone important in the eyes of the whole world, he does not demand compensation for this action.

This is a unique formula or, let’s say, ability of a person. Only a human being is capable of such an action where he can do something for the sake of some great thing and not demand compensation for it because the action itself is already compensation. The same of course applies to the Creator.

But how can this be? After all, we are egoists. Where does this ability come from?

Answer: The fact is that when you are dealing with someone higher than you, the very fact that you are associated with such a person gives you a reason to feel fulfilled. We see this in many cases in life.

Question: But still, a person is an egoist. Why shouldn’t he also receive an additional reward beside the fact that he receives pleasure?

Answer: No, if a person demands, requests, or simply receives some money or other reward for his special attitude toward another that will elevate him above others, then in this case it will all come at his own expense.

There must be one payment: either he receives money or compensation in the form that the very action for the sake of a great person gives him pleasure.
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From KabTV’s “Practical Kabbalah” 3/28/24

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In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And God divided between the light and the darkness.

This means that when the light appeared in our world, it became clear that the entire universe consists of two opposite states: light and darkness, day and night.

Light and darkness within a person are revealed in relation to one’s connection with the Creator.

A person who rises a little above himself, above his animate nature, begins to feel that there is light—the light of bestowal, connection, love, and unity. First, he feels light and darkness on himself, inside himself, where light is all good, the good states of connection between anyone, and darkness is the opposite.

The same applies to heaven and earth, where heaven symbolizes the desire to bestow and earth symbolizes the desire to receive.

All this suggests that there are two forces in the universe: the first is the force of the Creator, and the second is the force of creation. They, in essence, develop and separate a person’s thoughts. Darkness refers to his egoistic thoughts, and light refers to thoughts directed toward the Creator.

And before that, the Earth was empty and chaotic, meaning, there was no order, no separation of one from the other.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/21/24

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Question: What initially guided you in life?

Answer: Like everyone else, I was driven by the desire to understand the meaning of life, its mysteries, because I saw that everything must have some form of control. Not a single cell, organism, or the entire universe, if it is an interconnected system, can exist without being controlled, according to what our sciences say.

But they only reveal a small part of the nature surrounding us. We scrape off some specks of dust and call it “chewing on the granite of science.” Indeed, before us stands an enormous granite wall, and where we can chip off a piece, that is our science, and everything else is the unknown.

That is how I clearly felt standing before this “granite wall,” which I could scrape slightly to collect a bit just like everyone else.

Newton had a different analogy. He is quoted as likening himself to a “schoolboy collecting pebbles on the shore of the sea called knowledge.” And he is only collecting pebbles, not even in the sea yet, but on the shore.

When I felt this, science stopped attracting me. It seemed so petty and insignificant to me that it was not worth dedicating my entire life, being devoted to it, for the sake of some small, isolated pieces of knowledge. However, that does not mean I disregarded it. Not at all! I still love it, read about it, and stay interested, all these years.

Nevertheless, I was strongly repelled by it. What is the point of scratching the “granite” like everyone else to pick up a couple of crumbs, understand a bit more, and know a bit more? If I were to engage only in my biocybernetics, I would not even understand or recognize it.

And what about biology, zoology, botany, geology, mineralogy, earth science, and cosmology? A vast array of other sciences in principle speak about all of nature, about all this “granite.” But each one scrapes and collects different “specks” from different places, and from this arises geology, zoology, mineralogy, and so on. What would I gain from engaging in them?

When I looked at this, I felt immense emptiness within me: There is nothing worth living for. I was left with only one question: How can I find the meaning of life? What interested me was not the trivial knowledge of partial, scattered, disconnected sciences, each of which scraped together something for itself, but the overall understanding—the design of the Universe.

This is what is called the “meaning of life” because human life, as we observe, is the highest form of existence. What is the purpose for nature, the upper force, (call it the Creator, emanator, or maker, it does not matter) to create all this?

This greatly puzzled me. My whole life until I found Kabbalah turned into some sort of emptiness. I worked, served, opened my own fairly successful business, but all of that was somehow in the background. Inside I felt absolute emptiness and the insignificance of existence. That’s how it was.

I think today millions, maybe even billions, of people in the world feel the same way. This feeling precedes a person’s search and helps them feel the system in which we exist. Basically I used to ask myself: “What is this? Why is all this around me, including myself?”

When you look at the starry sky and see this infinity, you think and wonder how to understand and comprehend all this?

For what? Why? What? There is such a question that comes from the Universe itself when you look at it on a dark night. If this question truly torments a person, they come to study Kabbalah.

For those people who simply feel a crisis, somehow, they need to understand the system they are in. After all, if they do not balance themselves with this system of nature, do not bring themselves to homeostasis, to harmony, then nature will crush them with its catastrophes: tsunamis, earthquakes, shifts in tectonic plates, and even nuclear war.

Then there are only two options: either they start seeking the meaning of life out of animal fear, or they die out like dinosaurs who disappeared because they did not fit the changing system of nature.

But dinosaurs did not have another solution. We have a very simple solution: either we change, or we perish. A small part will remain that will still come to balance with nature. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it may happen like this.

Moreover, only those who can participate in integration will remain. They will create balance. All the others will be in this system but not in the earthly form because their current animalistic egoism will not allow them to participate in integration.

However, there is an easy way when people, through education and explanatory work, each one and all together helping each other, come to integration between themselves, become similar to nature, enter into balance and harmony with it, and feel all its perfection.

I really hope for such an outcome.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Meaning of Laitman’s Life “1/4/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, “What Is Heaviness of the Head in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Question: Can we say that as soon as even a little criticism and disapproval of our friends arises in us, it is already called that we are in a descent?

Answer: Maybe not. Maybe you are seeing things correctly, but it needs to be discussed together.

Question: Can we ask the Creator to remove all the flaws that we see in our friends?

Answer: No, don’t ask them to be removed, but for them to be corrected.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/3/24, Writings of Rabash “The Meaning of Exile”

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We overlay our faces with tons of make-up. We get Botox and even starve ourselves to become that perfect size. We try to fix something but you can’t fix what you can’t see. It’s the soul that needs the surgery (Julie Roberts).

Question: Why does the question about the soul not arise in people immediately? We gradually age, we are not as beautiful, we do not play as much, and so on, and the question about the soul suddenly begins to awaken. Why then and not earlier?

Answer: A woman has many such strings and connections to our external world. She must look good, she must attract, she must entice. She must be relatively successful in her career. And so on. That is, she has many more worries. This is until about 50, even maybe until 60 years old.

Then, the regret begins: “Where is my soul? Where did I lose it along the way and what should I do with it? I cannot be the same as I was at 20, of course.”

Question: But through the soul, maybe I can?

Answer: Through the soul, yes.

Question: So this moment is very important for her, the transition from external to internal, as she says, to the soul?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: This of course is hugely popular on the internet. There are millions of views when Hollywood stars and famous people suddenly start talking about the soul.

My Response: Because such a person who has achieved relative success in life, shows to all others that despite all his achievements, fame, money, and so on, his connection with the meaning of life, with the Creator, still needs correction. This means a lot. Dozens, hundreds, millions of women follow her. But, of course, it is all relative.

Question: What does “working on the soul” mean to you?

Answer: Working on the soul for me means that a person begins to constantly, every minute, ask himself throughout the day, every day: “What about my soul? What about me? Where am I?” Here one’s need for the Creator, begins to unfold, the need to unravel the mysteries of the universe, its purpose, and its puzzles. And so on.

Question: So, is this called “working on the soul”?

Answer: Yes, who am I? What am I here for?

Question: Julia Roberts continues: “How can you expect someone else to love you if you don’t love yourself? You have to be happy with yourself. It doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.”

What does it mean to love myself?

Answer: To love myself means to love what I am filled with, what I think, what constitutes the meaning of my life, its fulfillment, and so on.

Question: To love my thoughts, etc.?

Answer: Everything except one’s appearance.

Question: When a person feels emptiness inside, as she says, what should they do? What does “I am empty” mean?

Answer: They need to urgently clarify the meaning of life for themselves.

Question: Does emptiness awaken for this purpose?

Answer: Yes, this is a serious question!

Question: Is this a good state?

Answer: I would gladly find myself together with her in a television studio or somewhere else to talk with her.

Comment: There is indeed a lot to talk about the soul and emptiness.

My Response: There is a lot to talk about, but it is unlikely that it will turn out as it should.

Question: Does emptiness arise in a person who is already fulfilled, when such a demand arises?

Answer: When there is a demand without an answer. But I would have had to rescue her. There would be no conversation. It would have turned out that it is not nice to leave her in such a state, that I cannot ask sharp questions, and so on.

Question: So would you still corner her first?

Answer: I would a little, on the edge. But then I would yield all the time.

Question: Is this the right way to conduct a conversation with people? Do you first ask questions, corner them a bit, and then help?

Answer: Yes. But very cautiously.

Question: She continues: “Today, I declare: I will no longer wear makeup, I do not want to wear someone else’s face. I am well aware I have wrinkles but I want to see beyond that. I want to embrace the real me and I want you to embrace who you are, the way you are, and love yourself just the way you are.”

When a woman decides to age naturally, is this the right decision?

Answer: No, a woman should always maintain herself as she has always desired. But there is no need to spend more time in front of the mirror now than before. This still elicits a different response from others.

Question: What if a woman still does a little grooming?

Answer: If a woman is beautiful, if she is attractive and knows how to present herself and is not someone neglected or downtrodden…

Comment: So, a little make-up is okay?

My Response: This is the right thing to do. She is not doing it for herself but for others. Before, she did it for others but for herself. So, it all depends on her worldview.

Question: Accepting a person as they are. If you were to say, “Accept me as I am,” what does that mean?

Answer: I am accustomed to being in this form. So if I needed to appear before a million people, I would go out like that too.

Question: This is external. What about internally?

Answer: Internally, a person should always be himself provided that he is understood correctly.

Question: So, does this external aspect exist, do I still think about people around me after all?

Answer: Of course. After all, I speak differently with children than with adults, and so on.

Question: Saying “Hello,” “Goodbye,” being polite, and so on, is it necessary?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Julia Roberts continues: “You have no idea how much money cosmetic companies make on you. They have managed to convince you that you urgently need to invest finances to delay what is inevitable.”

Should I even care about how they profit from me, or shouldn’t I?

Answer: What matters to me is what I want. If I want to achieve this goal, if this goal is achieved through makeup, through performing in front of an audience, and so on, then I do it. The goal and its achievement are what matter.

Comment: Julia Roberts concludes: “I choose to say to myself: stop! The external shell is the last thing we should care about. Only our soul matters. Remember this forever.”

My Response: Of course. Having lived the life she has, any woman can say this. And then she can finally calm down.

But in general, of course, you still need to try to maintain the style, the level that people ask of you, demand of you, in order to convey to them some of your new messages and wishes.

Question: Even in order to convey this message about the soul to them?

Answer: Yes, you still need to do it while remaining yourself, in good shape.

Question: Is that why we need our external shell?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When ancient texts, for example the “Song of Songs” talk about how a woman dresses up before her master, what is it saying there?

Answer: Of course about inner beauty.

Question: What did King Solomon write about when talking about the woman who waits for her beloved?

Answer: He wrote about the female part of humanity, so to say “female,” which should approach the male part of humanity and in the right connection between them reveal the Creator.

Question: So basically, it is a song of songs to the Creator?

Answer: Yes. Of course! “Song of Songs” is the highest song! That is why it is called the “Song of Songs.”

Question: If we draw such a conclusion: external, internal, a woman who should always remain beautiful—what does that mean? How to achieve that?

Answer: I do not know. I do not equate appearance with inner achievements.

A person spends 50, 60, or 70 years of their life absorbing and creating within him the right vessel for sanctifying the Creator through him. It is his job. So what does external makeup have to do with it?

Comment: But still, you said that if we are talking about a woman, then a woman should maintain herself.

My Response: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/26/24

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Question: What should be the conditions for the quality of the people of Israel in us to hear the call of Mordechai: either connection or death?

Answer: We must feel that as a result of the entire historical path, we have reached a state where the Creator (nature) sets a task: either you unite with each other and become higher, more developed than everyone else, and then everything will work out, or your end will be here.

Question: The fact is that although our lives are in danger every day, we cannot say that any sensitivity has awakened in us. How can we develop it?

Answer: Special sensitivity can be developed only by all possible actions to unite. Then we will see how much they help us and benefit every person and the whole nation.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/24, Writings of Baal HaSulam “There Is a Certain People”

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