Reality Is Imaginary

Reality Is ImaginaryI recommend for everyone to watch my last lecture at the Odessa congress, on the perception of reality. This topic is becoming more and more attractive to people, especially the younger generation. People are beginning to feel and realize that we are not living in the complete reality, but in a partial and deformed part of it.

I received very impressive questions about this from a former classmate. He experienced a severe electric shock, after which he started seeing through objects and even feeling the future to some degree. He had always been a skeptic, but after the electric shock (by a powerful magnetic field), he began to perceive additional forces that exert an influence on the world.

The topic of perception of reality helps us not only to realize how limited our perception is, but also to understand that all the spiritual worlds are inside us, and exist together with us in the same dimension that we are now in. We can reveal them by revealing new “altruistic” properties inside us; through these properties we will feel the additional worlds. The method of revealing these new, altruistic properties within is Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is In Our Imagination
Laitman.com Post: Using the Sixth Sense, One Perceives Like the Creator
Chapter from the Book Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: “Perception of Reality, Part III”
Chapter from the book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Transforming Egoism to Altruism”

The Difference Between Spiritual and Physical Growth Is the Qualities One Develops

Dr. Michael LaitmanTwo questions I received on educating children and understanding their growth process:

Question: I’m a teacher. What is the best way to teach and educate young children (from the age of 5 to 12) within the framework of a profane school today?

My Answer: Through personal example – your goal and meaning in life.

Question: We learn that one reveals a completely new world on each level of advancement because one’s qualities undergo a fundamental change. So why is it that on our earthly level, the things that happen to a child in the first years of life lay a mark on him for the rest of his life, and it’s practically impossible to change his character traits later on? Why aren’t his qualities renewed when he grows up?

My Answer: It’s because everything in our world is pre-programmed. When a creature grows on the animate level, it develops the same qualities. However, when one grows spiritually, one increases his equivalence to the Creator and gains completely new qualities.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Children, Souls, and the Point In the Heart
Laitman.com Post: How to Help Teachers and Parents
Kabbalah on Education

You Are Welcome to Help Yourself

You Are Welcome to Help YourselfQuestions I received on different projects people would like to see completed by our Kabbalah Academy:

Question: Why doesn’t your website have all the chapters of the Talmud Eser Sefirot, and where can I find the entire Talmud Eser Sefirot in English?

My Answer: All of the translations are done by our friends. This is an enormous job, and in order to accomplish it we would need a whole group of people to work on it full time. We just don’t have the funds to make this happen. Whoever considers this project a priority is welcome to finance it, and we can provide the workers who can complete this project.

Question: Is it possible for your site to display a map of the world showing all the participants of the virtual friends’ gatherings in real time, represented by blinking dots on the map?

My Answer: If someone can create this map, then we will be happy to display it on our site. There are many good projects, but there aren’t enough funds from the Maaser nor people who can work to complete all the projects. You’re welcome to help us in both ways, or try to do it on your own.

Question: The books that help correct us are the books of Ari, Baal HaSulam, and Rabash. When will these books be available in English?

My Answer: When we have the people and the funds for it. You’re welcome to help (yourself)!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Whose Money Supports the Existence of the Kabbalah Academy?
Laitman.com Post: The Cycle of Descents and Ascents, and the Correction of the Maaser (Advanced)
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Help Share Kabbalah
Spreading The Wisdom of Kabbalah

Kabbalah Congress in the UK


Dear friends! The first ever Kabbalah Congress in the UK will be held in Blackpool from November 7th – 9th, 2008.

All our friends are invited to join and celebrate the next step of a united World Kli!

“Shana Tova!” or “Happy New Year!”

The Bnei Baruch organization, in conjunction with TAPUZ – flix.co.il, a leading Israeli website, has launched a competition of video clips that congratulate people with the upcoming Rosh HaShanah – the Israeli New Year.

We ask all our friends to participate in the competition and post their videos on this website, congratulating people with the New Year. The videos can be in English, Hebrew, or without any words. Good luck!

The above video shows my student – the famous singer and song writer Arkady Duchin. He stars in a weekly TV show at our studio called “Let’s Make a Song.” On this show he writes lyrics and music to a new song together with a group of children, and then they perform it together. The children are my students’ children, and you can also see them at my Kabbalah lessons for children.

Worldwide Map of Bnei Baruch


Here’s an interactive map of the world Kli that was made by our friends in Germany. By clicking on “All Contacts” at the bottom right, you can view all the contact addresses. When you move the mouse over any point on the map, the local group’s contact information appears at the bottom of the page.

Please notify us of any additions that should be made, and we’ll be sure to update the map!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The World Kli News, 09-07-08

Kabbalah and the Earthly Sciences

Kabbalah and the Earthly SciencesA question I received: In a previous blog entry you wrote, “Kabbalah welcomes things that were derived from experience or strictly scientific research.” Can you please elaborate on what exactly Kabbalah welcomes in regular science?

My Answer: 1. Everything that’s necessary for the body’s animate existence (that is, for its minimal, normal existence), according to the law “Necessity is neither praised nor condemned” (Echrahi – Lo Igune Ve Lo Ishubah). Just like it’s the case with animals, when man consumes to the extent of his body’s animate desires, he is in balance with the nature, with the Creator, and hence this is welcomed by Kabbalah.

2. Everything relating to the body’s desires (such as food, sex, and family) that exceeds the normal needs, is superfluous. Hence it is harmful for the body and the soul, as well as for all of the surrounding nature, and it makes man imbalanced with nature. These excesses usually appear under the influence of society.

3. Besides the bodily desires, there are additional desires that emerge in man because he lives in society. If he lived alone in the woods, then these desires would never emerge in him. There are the desires for wealth, fame, power, and knowledge.

Desires 2 and 3 disrupt nature’s balance on the level of our world and prevent man from coming out of his egoism. The earthly science is developed precisely to fulfill desires 2 and 3 – it is developed by man’s egoistic incentives, and hence it is harmful to man.

Imagine that man did not intend to wage war, make money, or win scientific awards and prizes. Then science would never make any progress. Hence science will soon enter a crisis, its present form will due out, and the science of Kabbalah will reemerge to the forefront. I am explaining this very briefly and hence unconvincingly, but I advise you to learn about this in more detail by listening to my lessons on Baal HaSulam’s article “Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences”.

Related Material:
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Kabbalah Today Article: Contradictory Phenomena
Kabbalah Today Article: Desires – the Engine of Change

Overcome Yourself by Raising the Importance of the Goal

Overcome Yourself by Raising the Importance of the GoalThree questions I received on sharing one’s personal attainments, staying connected with the Creator on every new level, and overcoming disgust of Kabbalah:

Question: Why is it harmful to share your personal attainments with others? And if so, what is meant by “attainment” in this case? Is the prohibition only on sharing one’s “communication” with the Creator, or are there other forbidden topics? Is it harmful for people to share their experience of going through different states, such as how they came out of descents, and their relationships with the environment? I feel that other people’s experience really helps me, and enables me to discover new perspectives on how to do inner work in Kabbalah.

My Answer: You cannot bring your personal relationship with the Creator outside of you. The Creator is envious! This can be compared to a situation where you love someone, or your intimate relationships, or how much money you have in the bank, and so on. There are things that you don’t want to share with everyone.

In Kabbalah, there are several reasons for the prohibition:

  • One does not speak with anyone about the things he holds most dear;
  • Any person can harm your spiritual path with his thoughts and desires, even unintentionally;
  • Corrections are done through the intention, not through words.

Question: On every new level, what can help me stay connected with the Creator, and perform a correct analysis of my thoughts and desires, considering that everything starts from zero on every new level?

My Answer: The only thing that can help is a framework that you set ahead of time:

  • systematic studies for 1-3 hours a day;
  • dissemination for 1+ hours a day; and
  • attending a gathering of friends once a week together with other people who are physically near you.

Question: Over the last week or two, I feel disgusted during the morning lessons. But I also feel an inner urge to persist in studying and coming to the morning lessons. This also happens in relation to the friends in the group. How should I deal with this situation?

My Answer: You should overcome yourself, but without breaking or forcing yourself – only by raising the importance of the goal, “The Attainment of the Creator.” You should see all the disturbances as a mountain that you have to climb in order to reach the goal, the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Will Help Us Along the Way?
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Chapter from Book The Kabbalah Experience: “Reflections and Thoughts”
Shamati #79: “Atzilut in BYA”

You Can’t Teach Anyone Through Force

You Can't Teach Anyone Through ForceQuestions I received on how to communicate with children and spouses:

Question: I think that people shouldn’t satisfy all of their children’s needs and desires. For example, I sent my children to expensive schools far away from home, but recently found out that they are using the opportunity to take drugs. Should I set an ultimatum for them – that I won’t support them financially unless they stop taking drugs? In the past I threatened one of my children this way, and I even stopped supporting him. But it didn’t help and only had the opposite effect, making us alienated from each other for a long time.

My Answer: You’ve reached you own understanding of the fact that you can’t teach anyone through force. This will only push them away. What should you do? Put them in the correct environment! There is no other solution.

Question: I’m in a situation where I can do something for my child, but I think that this action will harm him or prevent him from learning on his own, and in the long run it will only create greater difficulties for my child because one way or another he will have to learn on his own. However, my wife still insists on doing it. Is there anything I can do other than propose my point of view?

My Answer: Express your point of view calmly and objectively. Explain that there are laws of nature, and we all carry them out whether we like it or not. Don’t be frantic or angry when you explain this. Perhaps this will help, and if it doesn’t, then they will learn from the blows of fate, but already on a conscious level.

Actually, nothing enters a person’s consciousness without blows of fate. However, the blows can come in the form of our realization, without having to reach practical manifestation.

Everything depends on your wife – both the outer one and the inner one (your desires). I think that dealing with the inner wife is even more difficult than with the outer one.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: On the Men and Women Inside Us
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Kabbalah on Education
Lesson on Shamati #68: Man’s Connection to the Sefirot

Souls Are Always Outside of Bodies


Questions I received on souls and the connections between them:

Question: Can one soul connect to another soul if it has never seen its corporeal body? What I mean is: is it possible for a soul to unite with another soul, without the latter making that connection as well?

My Answer: Yes. It can be done by means of a common screen, or by the second soul’s submission, like the Upper One with regard to the lower one.

Question: Can a person who still hasn’t crossed the Machsom talk to souls residing in bodies, and with souls residing outside of bodies?

My Answer: Souls are always “outside of bodies,” and the presence of a body is insignificant for a soul. A connection with the soul is made through a common screen.

Question: In one of the kab.tv broadcasts you said that animals don’t have a soul. Can you please explain: what specifically is your basis for saying this?

My Answer: Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. Of course every creature (including humans) contains a force that enlivens it. However, the soul is defined as “A part of the Creator from Above,” and hence it is only present in a person who has developed it by studying Kabbalah. That is to say, he rose above the Machsom and attained the quality of bestowal and love, at least at the first level.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Soul Is the Part of One’s Desire That’s Similar to the Creator
Booklet: The Structure of the Soul
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 2.12 – “The Body at the End of Correction”