A question I received: How is it that an external Upper Force balances Malchut (the desire to receive pleasure) with the spiritual worlds, if all the worlds are within a person?

My Answer: The spiritual Force resides within us. There is nothing outside. Everything is within a person: the Creator, the creature and all of creation. And if it seems to me that an external world exists, it is because I am lacking the true, corrected perception.

But, if I view myself as being the entire world and concern myself with becoming similar to the Upper Force, if I constantly imagine this Force as increasingly more bestowing and loving to all, then to the degree that I understand and feel this Force, I will organize all my internal desires and qualities in such a way as to unite with others. And all this is done within me.

It turns out that I must correct only myself and my perception that the world supposedly exists outside of me. I begin to sense that indeed the world is all within me, and thus I correct reality. It turns out that the correction consists not in changing my relations with others, but in correcting my current perception that others exist outside of me and are not part of me. But having discovered that everything is mine, do I still remain an egoist?

Then, all of reality, its external and internal parts, seem to be as one. And even if I’ve yet to reach the true spiritual perception of reality and everything does not seem to me to be one single whole, it does not matter. The most important take-away from the science of Kabbalah is that a person has to correct only himself.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Changing The World Starts With Changing Yourself
Laitman.com Post: The Creator’s Name Means “Come and See” (Advanced)
Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: Part III.”Perception Patterns”
Kabbalah for the Student: “The Difference between a Shade of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

In the News (from The Guardian): “No sex please, we’re British and we’re lazier than ever” – Despite a huge government push to encourage healthy living, Britons are lazier than ever, concludes the study conducted by Nuffield Health. One in six people would rather watch a TV programme they didn’t like rather than leave the sofa to change the channel if their remote control was broken. A third (36%) …would not run to catch a bus and more than half (59%) would not walk up two flights of stairs to reach their office, choosing instead to take the lift. More than half of dog owners (52%) did not walk their dogs, and two-thirds (64%) of parents admit to always being too tired to play with their children. The laziness epidemic appears to have spread to the bedroom, with almost three-quarters (73%) of couples saying they regularly do not have enough energy at the end of the day to have sex, with more than half (58%) blaming a lack of fitness … The nation has fallen into a vicious circle of laziness…

My Comment: Kabbalah says that there is no laziness, but only lack of interest, meaning a lack of desire. Now we are going through a stage where our desires are changing from material to spiritual, and this explains that apparent laziness. In other words, it is a lack of desire to fulfill those previous desires that we used to have, but are no longer tangible to us.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The New Generation Will Have A New Mind
Kabbalah Today Article: What’s Happening to Our Youth?
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Desire to Receive Pleasure”
Wondrous Wisdom: “Desire – the Fuel that Drives Us”

Filed under: Society - No Comments →

A question I received: What’s the connection between the revelation of a new Kli or desire, and the revelation of the Creator?

My Answer: These are the same, because the Light shines to us inside the concealment. What do I mean by that? The science of Kabbalah explains that this process is like a flirt. In our world, for example, a woman covers herself up and then gradually reveals herself to a man. It’s a game, where beauty is revealed out of concealment, and the concealment attracts.

While we are in the state of concealment, we acquire a desire for revelation. But that’s not all: the revelation that we later achieve must be concealed from our own egoism, as well. So, the Creator maintains the concealment in order to reveal Himself to you. He reveals Himself while in concealment. On the other hand, if you are ready to accept the screen that conceals the Creator from your egoism, and to build a screen yourself, concealing your ego, you thereby rise above your egoism and reveal the Creator.

At that point, there are no more screens of concealment between the two of you. Instead, you guard your ego yourself, so as to keep it hidden. You always preserve the concealment, but now you do it in your attitude to the Creator. This, however, is not a concealment of the Creator, but a concealment of your egoism. This is how you achieve fulfillment.

Our whole problem in this world is that we annul the screen and try to fulfill ourselves directly, but this fulfillment immediately neutralizes the desire. No matter how passionately a person wishes to achieve what he desired – whether food, drink, sex, or fame – as soon as he achieves this, the pleasure immediately fades. He wishes for it so much, and spends years chasing after something, but as soon as he receives it, the pleasure is gone.

Why is this!? A person saves money for a new apartment for several years, then finally buys it, and just one week later, or two weeks, or a month, he no longer has that feeling of novelty and pleasure. And that is because by buying this apartment, he nullified the screen.

The entire science of Kabbalah talks about how to reveal and receive pleasure while keeping the screen. That way we can guard the pleasure, ensuring that it will fulfill us without fading away. As a result, we achieve the feeling of eternal and perfect life.

The only reason we ever feel worthless, defective, and mortal is because we reject the screen – the partition that has to exist between the pleasure and the desire. People who work in technology know how to implement this principle. They don’t just connect two wires directly, because that would cause a short circuit to occur. Instead, they place resistance between them – a resistor, and then they can derive a beneficial product. However, when it comes to our lives, we disregard this principle, and this is why our devices work, while we, the main device, are uncorrected.

The greatest wisdom is in knowing how to keep the covering with which the Creator first concealed Himself, because then the concealment will always attract us. However, we will then need to conceal our desire, our egoism, and rise above it. That is how we will reveal the Creator. When we do so, we do not lose our Kli or desire, because we constantly get an additional desire, as well as a screen over it, and thus, the revelation of the Creator.

This is the science of revelation – the science of Kabbalah, where we really receive what we desire and we don’t lose it right away, the way we do when acquiring anything in our world. In the spiritual world, you can’t achieve a revelation of the Creator even for a second if you plan to reject the screen. You have to first prepare the screen that hides your egoism, and then you can reveal the Creator above it. You need the preliminary preparation.

This is why we have to go through the period of preparation – the first few years of studying Kabbalah. In the long run, a person has to learn how to force or convince himself, and to understand that he requires a covering. This is why it is written that “wisdom is for the modest” – meaning those who can hide their desire to receive pleasure. It is precisely by hiding his desire that a person can receive fulfillment inside that same desire, and this fulfillment will never fade.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Catch-22 Of Our Correction
Laitman.com Post: Turning Concealment Into Revelation
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Revelation and Concealment”
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 3.6-“The First Restriction, Screen, Partzuf”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

In the News (from PBS.org): In an interview with PBS News anchor Jim Lehrer, President Barack Obama said: “The problem that I’ve seen, at least, is you don’t get a sense that folks on Wall Street feel any remorse for having taken all these risks; you don’t get a sense that there’s been a change of culture and behavior as a consequence of what has happened. And that’s why the financial regulatory reform proposals that we put forward are so important … to institute the financial regulatory programs that prevent them from taking some of the wild risks they took previously. And I also think that when it comes to issues like compensation, that at the very least, shareholders should be able to weigh in before these companies are giving these massive bonuses to high-level executives.”

My Comment: Too bad for Mr. Obama that these measures won’t help. What is needed is education of the people in order to change them in such a way that they won’t be able to inflict such irreversible harm to humankind and in addition, be able to recognize that they’ve made a mistake. This change of people’s consciousness in the global world, from individual to collective, is what is being required of us by the general interconnection between us that is now being revealed.

Humankind however, does not have the means to change itself and correct its egoism. Kabbalah offers us the means, according to the principle, “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction, because the Light in the Torah brings one back to the Source.” It is therefore possible to attract the Light onto yourself!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Bankers’ Greed Will Wreck The World Unless We Take The Needed Measures
Laitman.com Post: Where Did Obama’s Billions Go?
Laitman.com Post: Economists’ Tricks Won’t Save Us, But A New Education System Will
Kabbalah Today Article: The Last Superman
Bail Yourself Out: Chapter 14:”Yes, We Can (and Must)”

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

A question I received: What can an average person do in order to speed up society’s advancement toward correction?

My Answer: Today it is becoming obvious that the entire world is a single, shattered vessel. Any person in this world, after hearing the right explanation, will agree with the fact that the world must be connected in a positive manner. Every person will know that this is the only way for him to have a good life.

In other words, it is imperative that we connect at the level of the soul in order to reach correction. The body is just an external shell. This is why today, no one can avoid or wouldn’t want to be included in this process. In every corner of the world, people have heard of the crisis and feel it one way or another.

There are people who feel the general crisis internally as well as externally: they feel that the connection between souls is devoid of internal (non-material) bestowal above the egoistic nature of man. But humanity is still not giving this any thought although they are closer to understanding that they must correct egoism and increasingly utilize each person’s positive forces.

No huge changes have taken place in the world. But now, there is a general understanding that before the crisis, humanity was advancing in complete opposition to spiritual development. The world was striving toward maximum realization of egoism while a few individuals with a point in the heart (Kabbalists) rose above egoism and utilized it for the sake of bestowal. Today, both processes are advancing in the same direction because the whole world is now starting to accept that egoism is evil and must be corrected.

Of course they are thinking of correction on their level. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that the direction is now the same. Before, there were some who were for egoism, others who were against; now, everyone is against. It is said that if we don’t control it, if we don’t find some sort of regulator, we will feel bad. Everyone is talking of a regulator. Some speak of a regulator at the material level and others of another, a higher kind of regulator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Ascent At The Speed of Light
Laitman.com Post: The Path Of Light Versus The Path Of Suffering
Laitman.com Post: Ascending To Bestowal Above Egoistic Calculations
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 2.3.”The Recognition of Evil”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Filed under: World - No Comments →

Articles and information on the upcoming International Kabbalah Congress in Argentina, and my lectures in Buenos Aires and Madrid, can be found on the following websites and blogs in Spain and South America:

Spain: tarbutsefarad.com, mundoanuncio.com

Argentina: coronelsuarez.olx.com.ar, blogs.clarin.com, elforolatino.com, anunico.com.ar, nexolocal.com.ar, elligue.com, eldia.com, anunciosdiarios.com, actividades-recreativas.vivavisos.com.ar,

Uruguay: elpais.com.uy.

Filed under: Conventions - No Comments →

Preparation
Your spiritual desire has to be like a flame that flares up and envelops you whole. Otherwise, if you settle for anything less than perfection, you will never achieve it.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 1, on Baal HaSulam’s Letter 20
One must strive forward with all of one’s heart and soul, without sinking into “sorting out the past” sessions.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 2, on Chapter 12 of Talmud Eser Sefirot, Item 203
The higher the range of my perception, the more correct the picture of reality that I reveal within.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Part 3, on “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” Item 137
“Evil” is the desire to cause harm to another person and the pleasure you feel when things are going better for you than for others.
Watch >>
Listen >>

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

In the News (from The Guardian): “Bomb in the beehive” “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” That’s what Einstein is reputed to have said … and the sentiment still chimes. A third of all we eat, and much of what we wear, relies on pollination by bees, yet they are dying in all corners of the world at a devastating rate. In 2007 the “colony collapse disorder” afflicting honeybees suddenly hit the headlines. Fanciful theories of “bee Aids” and what lay behind it ranged from an Al-Qaida plot and radiation from mobile phone masts to celestial intervention in the form of a “honeybee rapture.”

My Comment: The imbalance in Nature is a result of man’s ever-growing egoism and the hatred between people. We are the most powerful factor that causes a breach of balance in Nature.

The reason for this is that the more powerful a force is, the more subtle and unnoticeable it is. Thus, the most powerful and influential force in the world is our desire and thought (heart and mind). Therefore, if we are not trying to create a harmonious connection with others and with the surrounding world, then we commit evil and break Nature’s ecological and spiritual balance.

We don’t feel where forces that stir us, and drive us to balance, come from, but they act. This is not mysticism. In fact, the suffering we feel is a result of these forces’ influence, and unfortunately, these results are manifesting on the physical plane.

Each person and humanity as a whole cannot be convinced of anything unless they clearly see it. This is why it is so important for us to develop and disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah to the entire world, because it is the science of revealing the Creator, the general governing force of Nature. This revelation will convince us to correct our relationships – and we will survive.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Mystery Of The Dying Bees
Laitman.com Post: Each Of Us Can Change The World With Our Thoughts
Laitman.com Post: Staying On Our Current Path Will Only Cause More Suffering
From Chaos to Harmony: “Changing Our Attitude Toward Others Brings All of Nature into Balance”

Filed under: Science - No Comments →

Question: How can we educate children today, when they are surrounded by so many temptations? How can we help them avoid the influence of the environment on their small egos, and give them an education that will make spiritual development become the most important thing in their lives?

Answer: This is much easier than it seems. If we give children the right examples, then they will copy them onto their relatively pure matter. It’s written that educating a child is like writing on a clean sheet of paper, since he is still not damaged by all the social “garbage,” confusion and egoistical calculations, as is the case with adults.

Obviously, children are also egoists; they want to deceive one another in order to succeed. They make calculations very quickly and act for the sake of self-interest. But their behavior is natural and, therefore, it appears different than ours. With the same natural ease, they absorb our explanations about the system they exist in, about the world and the correct kind of relationships. Such explanations penetrate deep into their feelings, and thus you are able to build their inner system.

It can be compared to a computer system. By itself, the PC is nothing but a piece of metal that is incapable of doing anything. But when you install a program into it, the program determines how all of the computer’s components will connect and how they will function. If you install another program into the computer, then it will cancel the previous one and instruct the components to connect differently.

In the same way, when you install a new program into the child’s “hardware,” he will live according to the program’s instructions. This is called “raising a human being,” and the outcome depends on the spiritual level of the adults that are raising the child.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Can We Teach Our Children?
Laitman.com Post: Schools Should Teach Children How To Become Human Beings
Kabbalah on Education
Raising the Next Generation of Children
Kabbalah for Children

Filed under: Children - No Comments →

We were born into a world that came with certain conditions and was already arranged a certain way. That is how we know it. We have never felt anything else and we have gotten so used to this world (in which everything is so natural for us) that we don’t imagine that it is subjective, and could be completely different.

Our imagination and fantasies do not go beyond the boundaries of what we have gotten used to in this world. That is why it is difficult for us to understand what the Kabbalists say about another reality, which is revealed to a person if he attains a new level of perception.

Today, we are awakening to a new reality, and as the entire world reveals this new reality, this perception will cause people to change. As the new reality is born within us, the science of Kabbalah talks specifically about how we can develop the inner feeling of this new reality within ourselves and avoid the suffering that we will experience should we choose to come to this involuntarily.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How To Broaden Your Perception
Laitman.com Post: The Reality We Feel Is Like A Dream
Laitman.com Post: How To See A Wonderful World
Article: The Structure of the Soul.”The Sixth Sense”
From Chaos to Harmony: Chapter 9.A Reality of Wholeness and Infinity.”Perception of Reality”

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →