Light Is Everything That’s Received In the Kli

Light is Everything Perceived in the KliA question I received: What does Light mean in the spiritual sense? What is the difference between the Light in the lower spiritual worlds compared to the higher ones that are closer to the Creator?

My Answer: Everything that is received in the Kli (the soul) is called Light. See this definition in Talmud Eser Sefirot. The difference between the Lights is not the Lights in and of themselves, but the vessels, Kli, the desires they fill – the measure of bestowal, the force of correction.

Likewise, the light in our world is simple and white, but it consists of the seven lights or colors because potentially it can be revealed by the seven kinds of Kli. However it doesn’t exist on its own. There is no Light outside the Kli; there is no Creator outside creation.

We only study matter and its form. We are unable to study the abstract form and the essence since we can’t attain them in a reliable way. In outer space, there is no light, but only darkness, because there is no object that could stop it or reflect it – there is no Kli.

Thus, when light goes through glass, which absorbs one of the light’s components, it is perceived as the absorbed light. If the glass absorbs red waves, then the light is perceived as red. So we don’t sense the Light in and of itself, but only its expression in the soul. More accurately, the soul’s or desire’s reaction to something external in the spiritual world is called Light. In other words, the Light is the property of bestowal which the soul has attained and which it now senses. So we don’t see the Light, but the properties of the Kli or soul, which are expressed through something called Light.

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The Worst Thing That Can Happen Is Having to Return to This World

The Wost Thing That Can Happen is Having to Return to This WorldTwo questions I received about using Kabbalah incorrectly and the possible outcomes of doing so

Question: Is there a chance that someone will start studying Kabbalah “too early,” and then not have the time to develop his ego, in order to then defeat it and transform it to the will to bestow? After all “The Light is only born out of darkness.” While one’s will to receive develops, one can use this time to build his career, create a family and provide for it, so that later he would really be able to concentrate on studying Kabbalah and growing spiritually (for example, after he’s forty years old).

My Answer: A person should test Kabbalah as soon as he hears about it, because one must develop everything harmoniously from the early years: family, children, work, etc., as well as spiritual development. Otherwise he will grow up to be an animal and his entire life will have gone to waste. Kabbalists do not put any age restrictions on revealing Kabbalah. Moreover, they write that if it were up to them, they would teach Kabbalah to children from an early age. My students and I teach our children Kabbalah while they are still babies – after all, this is the most necessary knowledge a person can have, and without it he’s just a miserable animal. With this education we protect our kids from drugs and other problems; they stay with us and do the same thing their parents do – it’s been tested!

Question: I’m scared, I think that I won’t be able to resurrect, I’m afraid that I’m not doing enough, that I lack strength and desire.

My Answer: The worst thing that can happen is that you won’t attain your full correction in this life, and then you’ll return into this world again to “finish correcting yourself.” You will definitely return if you don’t finish the correction, because in the final and perfect state, we already exist in “state 3,” and it must be really attained by everyone!

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If I Don’t Do It for Myself, Who Will Help Me?

Baal HaSulamBaal HaSulam – Letter from page 61

Before making an action, a person mustn’t think of private governance, but on the contrary, he must say: “If I don’t do it for myself, then no one will help me.” But once the action is completed, he must inquire and believe that he did not perform the action with his own force, but with the force of the Creator, who planned everything for him ahead of time and performed the action, and hence he was obligated to perform this action.

Hence, before he starts the day to earn his daily living, he must get rid of the thought of his private governance, and say: “If I don’t do it for myself, then no one will help me,” and then do everything necessary to make a living just like all the people.

But at night, when he comes home with the earnings, he mustn’t think that he earned them with his own efforts, but he should think that even if he had been idle all day long, he would still have them. It’s because the Creator planned this for him ahead of time, and hence it had to happen.

And even though our mind perceives this as a contradiction, and we can’t accept it in the heart and mind at the same time, man must believe that this is how the Creator has made the universe, and this is what the Kabbalists tell us about the Upper Governance, which exists above time, space, and development.

The source of this seeming contradiction lies in the singularity of the governance through two ways [Read more →]

Does G-d Play Dice with the Universe?

Does G-d Play Dice With the Universe?A question I received: There is a long standing dispute in physics between Einstein and the quantum physicists: Is everything in nature predetermined (determinism) or not (indeterminism)? On one hand, the person performing the experiment affects its outcome; on the other hand, everything in nature is predetermined, as Einstein saw it in the macrocosm. Einstein used to say that “God doesn’t play dice with the universe,” but his friend, a follower of quantum mechanics, would object: “Don’t tell God what to do.” While Einstein perceived nature as God – a very Kabbalistic approach, quantum mechanics insists that the observed depends on the observer – also a very Kabbalistic approach. Einstein would have never agreed with an assumption that God plays dice with the universe, and he managed to construct the gravitation theory, based on determinism. However, he never did anything similar for the realm of the smallest electrons and protons, for electrical fields. He was looking for a universal, single theory of four forces, but didn’t find it, just like to this day the quantum physicists still haven’t attained this either. My question is: Which side does Kabbalah favor in this debate, or does it say that the path doesn’t matter under the condition that you are guided by the Upper Forces?

My Answer: There are two systems that govern us from above – the general and the particular, HaVaYaH and Elokim, and man must combine them inside him by raising his perception above time, space, and movement. Then the contradictions come together and supplement one another. But until then, it’s impossible to answer the question of whether the Creator can create a rock that He can’t lift. For more detail, see the next post (If I Don’t Do It for Myself, Who will Help Me?).

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Advice for Beginners – Disseminate!

Advice for Beginners - Disseminate!Two questions I received on how to integrate Kabbalah into one’s life

Question: For a long time now I’ve been searching for something even without knowing what I was looking for. I felt that I needed something, but didn’t know what it was. And then one day I met a person and told him about myself; he smiled and without saying a word gave me the link to your website. He said, “Watch and listen, and there you will find all the answers.”

And that’s what really happened: I started watching your lesson on January 27, 2008, and suddenly I saw what I saw 20 years ago – the Light descending from above. Does this mean that my point in the heart awakened? A revolution was happening inside me. Since then I’ve listened to 10 lessons, and I understand that it’s not a lot, but there are huge changes happening inside me. My world is losing its value for me yet I still haven’t found another one. Is it normal to feel this way?

My Answer: All your notions are correct. You should only continue to study systematically, and don’t be afraid of the ups and downs – they are necessary. Try to find some kind of dissemination work to do, this will make you obligated and attached, and give you motivation to develop. The participation in the common work will increase your attainment, give you support, and enable you to correctly assess the value of this world.

Question: The Creator is always accompanying us. But He confuses us as we advance, in order for us to cling to Him more and continue strengthening our faith above reason. It looks like this “degree of self-annulment” helps pull one’s perception out from corporeality and into spirituality. Also it seems that at the same time there could be absolutely paradoxical situations and events happening, which require us to behave in a way that’s incompatible with the accepted social norms.

My Answer: When you interact with the people around you in this world, you should act the same as everyone else. No one should see anything unusual about you. You have to be in contact with the external world in order to stay balanced inside – and the best contact is through dissemination. However, you shouldn’t disseminate among the people you know, since by doing so you’ll greatly limit yourself in regular life. But dissemination is necessary, and you should do it among strangers. When you do something for others, you balance your knowledge and your states with the common system of souls – and this moves and accelerates your spiritual growth.

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