A question I received: The great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam calls upon people to not violate the laws of nature, as if laws of nature are like traffic rules where a person can cross the street in the wrong place or drive onto an oncoming lane. For example, humanity has been violating the law of gravity since the times of the Wright brothers. Nonetheless, this law is still in effect; we simply go around it. And so what?

Is it possible to make a list of nature’s laws, or are they known only to Kabbalists?

My Answer: Every time man violates the laws of nature, his actions evoke a negative influence upon him, to the point of death. The law of behavior in the global community did not manifest as a law of nature until our times, but it is now starting to manifest because we are now entering the final phase of our development, the level of “human,” whereas before we were going through lower levels called still, vegetative, and animate.

The laws of nature are stricter than traffic laws because nature has no pity and demands the “exact payment.” We cannot go around the laws of nature, but we can study them and learn to use them correctly. Globalization obliges us to unite in order to match the governing forces of nature. If we will do this, then we will be using the laws of nature to our advantage. But if we won’t act as a global community, then we’ll crash like the poorly constructed original airplanes, until we learn how to use the laws of nature correctly!

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A question I received (from a student in Russia): Aren’t you happy about “the end of America?”

My Answer: Unlike you, I cannot revel in hearing news about the crisis in the USA nor rejoice at this being God’s punishment for their pride, because I respect the people who have built such a powerful country with their own hands, without outsourcing it. I don’t believe in a polar world; I know that the world is round and that’s the only way it can be.

In order to be a great country, it is necessary to have influence in the world: capital, technology, developed sciences, and a perfect system of government, instead of manipulating people through fear. I look at the world objectively, from above, and I feel sad about the suffering that’s to come. I don’t feel any animalistic pleasure from this.

However, you will soon be disappointed, because America will live through the crisis. It’s more flexible than other countries and will be able to re-adapt more easily. The collapse of the Western civilization and the end of the world as we know it will force all of us to change. Those who are smart won’t be too squeamish to study Kabbalah, and they will suffer less and recover faster. This is what I wish for everyone – including the Russian people.

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A question I received: Why do you say that the word Mashiach (Messiah) originates from the word Lishmoch – to pull? I think it originates from the word Limshoach – to anoint, and it refers to one who is anointed for service.

My Answer: To be anointed means to draw the Upper Light of Hochma upon a person. In our world, this Light is represented by oil. This is how a person ascends to a level required to serve the Creator.

This procedure was done by a prophet who was on such a high level that he could pull a person up to the spiritual level of service to the Creator. Kabbalah doesn’t talk about “whom, how and with what to anoint,” but tells us about the essence of this phenomenon: about the reception of the Upper Light that actually gives a person the force and right to be God’s anointed, to be close to the Creator. I “translate” these words to get directly to the essence of what is happening.

By the way, these letters are interchangeable in Hebrew. However, if you feel more drawn to corporeal anointment, then you should read the non-Kabbalistic explanations. Everything written in the Torah can be understood directly, as physical actions, and/or according to its true, inner meaning. Still, by understanding the text literally, one does not reveal its true meaning. It is because the Mashiach is the force of liberation from egoism, and not a person.

It says in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar, Item 70: “Alas, these people, who make the spirit of the Messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the Torah dry, without the moist of mind and knowledge, for they confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try and understand the wisdom of Kabbalah, to know and educate themselves in the secrets and the reason behind the Torah and Mitzvot…”

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News Report (translated from Washigton ProFile): American children do not want to become President. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America published results of a survey that asked American children whether they would want to be the President. 67% responded that they would not want to be the President of the USA. The young Americans said that the most important qualities for the President to have are a good personality, high moral standards, an ability to inspire people, education, and a history of being a successful leader in the national arena. Results of surveys published by Newsweek and Gallup show that the children’s views are very different from the adults’.

My Comment: The young generation’s egoism has outgrown all conventions. People do not want to put on a show all the time. To be President means to be under constant pressure and to always try to have everyone like you. This is a feeling of being absolutely controlled and dependent; it’s a non-stop theater where you have the most difficult part!

Today’s egoism makes people want to take care of themselves and their personal fulfillment, to throw aside all the conventions and strive for individual fulfillment. Otherwise one’s egoism will feel unfulfilled (depressed) and will be ready to suppress itself (through drugs), or even to annul itself (through suicide).

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Three questions I received on Kabbalistic texts:

Question: If Kabbalah lifts man above his animate and psychological levels, how are the Kabbalistic texts emotional?

My Answer: Because of the force of the Upper Light that they evoke, since they speak about the Upper World.

Question: Can a person cross the Machsom without knowing the structure of the spiritual worlds and without understanding the Talmud Eser Sefirot, but by just evoking the Surrounding Light?

My Answer: A person does not have to understand the Talmud Eser Sefirot in his mind in order to cross the Machsom, but he does have to strive to find out how he is governed and where is his root. For more on this, see item 155 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”

Question: What books should a husband and wife read together and separately?

My Answer: They should read the parts of the Kabbalistic materials that they like reading. It’s best to read together for up to half an hour a day, and even better to do it every day.

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News Report (from The UK in the USA): The Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, believes that the global financial crisis can become a catalyst for the creation of a new global society, one that is united through shared aspirations. He is calling upon all the world leaders to start laying the foundations for the new global order.

In his annual foreign policy speech to the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Historians will look back and say this was no ordinary time but a defining moment: an unprecedented period of global change, a time when one chapter ended and another began – for nations; for continents; for the whole world.”

My Comment: This shows us how suffering helps people to understand the things taking place. However, it’s also possible for everything to happen without the suffering, through conscious understanding of the world’s development. Then we would strive toward a good future ourselves, with a sensation of comfort, by anticipating a bright future instead of being “pushed to happiness” by the blows of nature.

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Two questions I received on spiritual perceptions:

Question: On one hand you say that there is no connection between the soul and the corporeal body, that these are two parallel worlds. On the other hand you says that there’s no such thing as this world and that world, that everything is united, and our current reality is the lowest part of the spiritual world which is revealed in our sensations for the time being. Does this mean that the corporeal body is also the soul or spirit?

My Answer: Of course, this world is what we perceive in our smallest desire. The rest of our desires are concealed from us, and become revealed to the degree that we progress toward spirituality. What becomes revealed in them is called “the Upper World.”

At the same time, all of one’s desires remain. This is why a Kabbalist retains the sensation of our world, but this sensation is also complemented by the sensation of another world – the Upper World. And at the end of all the corrections, all the worlds “fold up” into one – the World of Infinity.

Question: While listening to your lessons I have this thought that the Upper World is concerned only with our reaction to everything that happens to us, and what it (the Upper World) sends us. Is this correct?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct, and how to correctly react to the Creator’s influence is exactly what we study. It is a process of attaining Him and achieving equivalence with Him.

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A question I received: Lately I need to listen to the lessons and read materials on Kabbalah just like I need to eat and drink. Every day I feel as though I just cannot go on if I don’t do it. When I study, I feel great for the rest of the day. But then when evening comes, I have to study some more, or otherwise I will feel like I’ve lost something. What is going on? Is this to my advantage or do I have to overcome these feelings?

My Answer: We were created in this world in order to reveal the Upper World while living in this world, and then we will exist in both worlds as one. Hence, according to Nature’s plan, we must devote all of our free time (free from acquiring the necessary things for existence) to the revelation of the second part of our existence – the Upper World. We must enter the Upper World before our physical bodies die, and then continue to exist there even after our bodies die. If we don’t do this in time, then we will continue the revelation of the second, concealed part of our life in the next life cycle.

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We have published a new book in Spanish called Cabalá para Aprendices, a translation of the English book Kabbalah Revealed. It is already on sale at the international book fair in Santiago, Chile. The book will also be distributed in Argentina, Columbia, Peru, and Mexico through branches of the “Norma Editorial Group.”

The photos below show our friends from the Chile group selling our books in Spanish at the book fair in Santiago.

[Show slideshow]

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A question I received: I recently find that there are some companies that I want to avoid, but I’m not sure whether this is the result of my Kabbalah studies or personal growth. There are some friends of mine who are mostly concerned about issues such as sex, and I feel uncomfortable in their presence when they spend so much time talking about topics I find so uninteresting. But at the same time, I can’t find many people interested in spirituality, perhaps in religion, but not in spirituality.

Is it better to be alone than surrounded by people with “wrong” values?

My Answer: A person reaches a point where he grows bored with life and does not see meaning or a purpose to life. When he looks at others, he doesn’t understand how they can possibly be fulfilled by the things they do. He tries to imitate them, to become part of their social circle, and to be like everyone else, but he can’t because it does not fulfill him.

When he reaches the complete realization that he’s alone, he then reveals the point in the heart within – an aspiration to an unknown source of fulfillment. He follows this aspiration and finds the right books, the group, and the Kabbalah website.

So look into yourself – maybe you’re ready for a new environment?

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