Living Within The Desires Of Others


A person never knows what desires will awaken inside him a moment later. He is also unable to determine the direction of his desires. A person is ignorant of his future state.

Humanity has always been interested in knowing its future state, but has never been able to satisfy its interest. All of our speculation is rooted in the fact that the future is unknown to us.

Why is it so? The reason is our ignorance of the system in which we exist. Actually, it’s quite a simple system of mutual connections between all of us. We are the ones who determine these mutual relationships. I shape your condition with my thoughts, and you do the same to me with yours.

My subsequent desire is a result of the desires of other people who are within the system, since we are absolutely mutually interdependent. If I  think good thoughts that will make you think similarly. If what I have is bad thoughts, you will have bad thoughts too. It’s similar to the situation, where a victim causes the appearance of a murderer, as if both of them determine and seek one another.

You are placed inside a network. The sum total of everyone’s state  determines your state, the way you feel, think, want and react.

You act unconsciously; you don’t have your own free will! Besides that universal mutual interdependence, there’s a plan at work, a program that leads all the souls to a pre-determined goal which is total harmony and absolute connection between them.

The process of our development is a process of purification, awareness and understanding of how each individual can consciously take part in it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Making Calculations For The Benefit Of The Whole
Laitman.com Post: Thought Is The Most Powerful Force In The World
Laitman.com Post: The Butterfly Effect Is Strongest On The Level Of Thought
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Freedom”
Shamati #153: A Thought Is An Upshot Of The Desire-lesson

Kabbalistic Content In Georgian Newspaper


A series of articles dedicated to the Jewish holidays Hanukah, Purim and Pesach were recently published in the Georgian Jewish newspaper Menora.

The articles contain the following information:

1. A Kabbalistic explanation of the meaning of these holidays
2. Questions & Answers (from the program “Ask the Kabbalist”)
3. A link to the Kabbalah.info website

The material was prepared by Nino Chirikashvili, Miriam Beren, Meir Hanan, Tamara Kricheli, and the newspaper’s editor is Guram Batiashvili.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah In A Georgian Publication
Laitman.com Post: The Jewish Holidays Are Steps of Spiritual Ascent and Greater Unity Between the Souls
Kabbalah site in Georgian

Realizing The True Essence of Religion


News Report (translated from Cursorinfo): In a survey of Russian immigrants in Israel, 75% feel that Orthodox Jews are meddling with their lives. The majority of respondents are of the opinion that religion and government in Israel should be separated. The pressure and limitations imposed by the religious interests only intensify the hatred for the Orthodox and deepen the schism between the secular and religious groups.
My Comment: The following steps are necessary to completely separate religion from government:  Do away with all compulsory religion-driven conditions and laws, and form a joint institute of secular-religious consensus. By practicing love of others (love thy neighbor is the main rule of the Torah!), the Orthodox will ensure that religion is understood and accepted, and not hated as it is today. Their current behavior reveals the avarice of religious institutions and their opposition to the commandment of love of others. As with all the other commandments, they stole it from Kabbalah, though they don’t have the means to actualize it – the Upper Force.

Musings on true religion: To be religious is to act for the benefit of others. Because that is the nature of the Creator, everybody must achieve such an attitude toward others. The mission of a religious person is to help others become like that.

A person is considered religious when he develops that kind of attitude toward others, and not because of any rituals. Ritualistic behavior alone denigrates the Creator and religion in the eyes of the non-religious by giving the non-religious the wrong perception of the purpose of religion. See Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”

There is only one religion – Kabbalah. All earthly religions are formations of egoism, with their purposes being absolutely egoistic. All religions separate and control people, whereas the essence of religion must be to eradicate the egoism within man!

Religion must create the conditions wherein man could turn himself over, just as soil is turned over when it’s being plowed. Religion must create an environment that would force everybody to change their mentality and values. “Force” because otherwise man cannot change himself, no matter how hard he tries.

One of the primary intents of religion is to put everyone on the same level, regardless of religious title, social or economic status – be it king or slave, rich or poor – everyone is equal. Man is judged solely on his love of others, and not by his adherence to rituals.

A religious person cannot possibly despise others (non-religious, people of other faiths or ethnic backgrounds). The ruin of religion is that people begin to exalt it, and in so doing exalt themselves through association. Thus religion turns into another form of power!

Religion is one’s personal link to the Creator which stems from the feeling of merging with all of humanity. That is why religion is a personal and private matter, and ought not be subjected to outside evaluation.

The mission of a religious person is to inject the sensation of the Creator, the Upper life into our world.

Related Material
:
Laitman.com Post: The Opposition Between Religion And Kabbalah: Actions Versus Intentions
Laitman.com Post: The True Origin Of Religions
Laitman.com Post: Why Religion Is Against Kabbalah
Baal HaSulam Article:”The Essence Of Religion And Its Purpose”

A Life Free Of Excess Is To Everyone’s Benefit

A question I received: If a person tries to realize the principle of love for the neighbor right now, he will feel like a sheep in a pack of wolves. Where can he find adherents to support him?

My Answer: Why would he feel like a sheep in a pack of wolves? If a person opens a business without the intention of making additional profit, he will cover all his overhead expenses, expenses for the salaries of his workers, – everything except additional income, which is of no benefit to anyone for the vital necessities of life.

Therefore, he lowers the previously established price of his goods and offers people the goods at a price that is 10 or even up to 30 percent cheaper than what others sell them for.

Businesses, which don’t place receiving a profit as the primary goal will flourish, and this is not considered to be a “sheep in a pack of wolves” in any way. You are the owner of a business you live a normal life and receive a salary, like all of your employees.

We all need to cover expenses, including establishing a retirement fund, paying for medical insurance, and so on. We should live normal lives, go on vacation, and have everything that is necessary; we just don’t have anything in excess because we don’t need it. Let everyone else equalize to us at the expense of our surplus.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Perfect Business
Laitman.com Post: The Condition For A Business To Survive: Consume No More Than Necessary
Laitman.com Post: The Wave Of The Crisis Will Wash Away All The Nonsense
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”
From Chaos to Harmony: Chapter 5. “Obeying Nature’s Law. Life’s Purpose”

What’s Mine Is Mine And What’s Yours Is Mine


Imagine that you’re an egoist in your own family and that you treat your family members the same way you treat the rest of the world: “maximum reception and minimum bestowal.” You lie to your son in order to get something from him, all the while feeling great as you do it! You steal your children’s food from the refrigerator and you try to con and swindle them. This is just as your attitude toward the whole world is: “work less, earn more.”

If the whole world today is interdependent and we’re all one family, whether or not we want it to be this way, our behavior towards the world is like using our children for personal benefit. 

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How To Correct An Egoist
Laitman.com Post: In A Family Everyone Is Dependent On Everyone Else
Kabbalah Today Article: What Lies Ahead: Conflict or a Peaceful Transition?

The Truth Belongs To Everyone


A question I received: When you speak of the Creator, one might think that you are talking about religion. Can you explain this in everyday, down-to-earth terminology?

My Answer: I understand that these words set off unpleasant associations and that for everyone, they are related to a myriad of stereotypes. But at the root of the biblical story is the revelation of the Upper Force to man, and no one religion is privy to that narrative. No one was ever granted the personal right of owning Him. Quite the opposite: every person has to reveal the Creator for himself. The first to do this are the ones who feel that there is something within them to correct, as it is said: “I created the evil inclination and the Torah as the means of its reform.”

The science of Kabbalah is the true Torah. Indeed, it is called “Torah-emet” (“emet” is translated as “truth”). That is why you have to understand that the entire Torah speaks only of the spiritual – and belongs to all! As one studies Kabbalah and corrects himself, he will understand the meaning of these words.

This is why we must change our attitude towards references to the Torah, Psalms and Mishneh made by Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists. The goal is not to memorize all the words, but to feel them inside oneself.

Suppose someone memorized the entire Talmud. Do you think this means that he corrected some part of his soul? He will have to come back to this earth in another incarnation as if though he did nothing in this life. It is better to know just one sentence and, by correcting himself, to attain that part – to feel it within. This will be more valuable than a thousand memorized pages of the Talmud.

That is why you must not shy away from references to the Tanach and its interpretations by wise men; you must simply understand what they are talking about. It is difficult to convey Kabbalistic explanations using secular language. But it is not necessary. For example, the book of Psalms is read by people all around the world, and so are the Five Books of the Torah. These texts are, more or less, familiar to everyone. You just have to explain their real meaning, and a person will see that this comes to him from the original source. This source belongs to all of humanity and contains the method for correcting the soul. If a person does not use the reforming light contained in the Torah, he does not have the Torah. All he has is a book with words printed in it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Is The Corrected You
Laitman.com Post: The Revelation Of Godliness (Baal HaSulam)
Laitman.com Post: How To Read The Torah
Kabbalah for the Student: Stages of Attainment.”Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Our Integral World Is A Circle With No Beginning Or End


A question I received: How can one come to hate his egoism without hating others at the same time?

My Answer: The problem with today’s world is that everyone blames everyone else. But if we are speaking of a closed, integral system, then everyone in it is to blame; no one is right or wrong. If evil exists, it’s a result of each and every one of us.

If all the cogwheels are connected with each other, there isn’t a wheel that can escape reward and punishment; they are all connected. You can’t say that someone must turn or force others to turn because of others; all move simultaneously. Therefore, our correction must be mutual. This means that we must all simultaneously decide: “Let’s stop turning in opposite directions and begin to turn the same direction, as one for the sake of the other.”

Everyone is to blame for what is happening in the world. There are no criminals or victims. We are all absolutely equally responsible for all that is bad and good. This is because we live in an integral world and the representation of an integral world is a “circle” which does not have a beginning or an end. So, there is no one to blame. Everyone contributes to everything that happens in human society.

We have to attain the nature of a whole integral system and to start treating everyone differently. If I reach the recognition of evil, I come to realize that I am the only criminal in the world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Don’t Mess With Nature’s Balance!
Talk: “Reward and Punishment”
Lesson on Article: “The Essence of Religion and its Purpose”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

Playing Games With The World


In the News: (from End Game):They want you dead” For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world’s population, while enabling the “elites” to live forever with the aid of advanced technology… For the first time, crusading filmmaker Alex Jones reveals their secret plan for humanity’s extermination. Jones chronicles the history of the global elite’s bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest wars—creating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

My Comment: There are plenty of conspiracy theories to go around. But the answer is the same for all of them: no one in our world is able to do anything independently. Everything is determined according to the formula of our similarity to Nature (the Creator). That’s the origin of all the changes that take place within and around us. And there is only one purpose for it all: for us to be like the Creator, i.e. the quality of love and bestowal. There is not a single person or group in the world that is the decider in any respect. All we can do is either facilitate this similarity or disrupt it, thereby accelerating or delaying the process. As far as the Free Masons and other such groups are concerned, let them keep on with their games all they like.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Purpose Of Creation Is Adhesion With The Creator
Laitman.com Post: The Masons Are Scared of Kabbalah
Article: “Attainment of Unity of the Universe”
Spiritual Search: “Thirteenth Talk: Equivalence of Form”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to the Zohar”, Item 4

Making Calculations For The Benefit Of The Whole

laitman_2009-03_7958A new general system of Nature is being revealed to us today. This general system is driven by the law of universal interrelations. If we are all connected to each other, then every good or bad action influences me!

The formula for success depends on this general system and the condition of all who act within it. There isn’t a single computer or form of intelligence in the world capable of making a calculation specifically for the future. What happens if a person wants to advance according to his own desires, rather than just escaping the blows that currently assail us?

I depend on what others do and cannot change this. If I want to advance on my own accord, I must know all the conditions in advance. However, no one knows anything in advance. We all have freedom of will but how can anyone be free if he depends entirely on the conditions created by others? It’s a vicious cycle. We are incapable of commanding the situation using our common concepts of time, space and motion within our conventional egoistic and habitual ways of thinking.

There is however, a simple and logical solution. If we wish to direct such a system, we have but one possibility: we have to rise above our personal calculations and start making calculations only for the benefit of the whole, ignoring our own situation or the others’ conduct. It does not matter what kind of state that big system is in, we only have to rise above ourselves and “give” to all. This is the only correct decision in a closed system. There is no other formula for success!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Puzzle With 7 Billion Pieces
Laitman.com Post: Restoring Ancient Babylon
Laitman.com Post: The Revelation Of Godliness (Baal HaSulam)
Laitman.com Post: A Story About Joe Smith And Global Interdependence
Kabbalah Today Article: Anything But Survival

The Breaking Of The Iron Wall


Our times are different in that the question “What is the meaning of life?” is becoming relevant to all of humanity. We begin to realize that life demands our mutual accordance, compromises, understanding, and coexistence. And we can create the kind of connection among us that is necessary for our survival only through the method of Kabbalah.

Therefore, today we see the disintegration of the iron wall between the science of Kabbalah and humanity, which Baal HaSulam discussed.  The wall has existed for 2000 years, and is now breaking. This is because questions have arisen along with the development of relationships among people, and therein lies the precise location of the breaking. It is here that the science of Kabbalah (and only the science of Kabbalah) can help.

Therefore, salvation will not come on its own. Humanity will not find any regulators to correct our fall, but will find that everything depends only on the development of positive relationships among people. Many people are talking about the need for proper relationships, but no one has the means for correction, the ability to draw the Light, the Upper energy, the force of Nature. If people need to connect to each other by rising above their egoism, they will be unable to do this without the science of Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There Is More To This Question Than We Think
Laitman.com Post: A True Diagnosis Is Half The Cure
Laitman.com Post: We Are Standing At The Threshold Of An Extraordinary Discovery
Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”
Odessa Congress- October 2005: Lesson on The Last Stage of Evolution