A question I received: Kabbalah says that there are 230 years left until the end of the world. Will babies still be born in 231 years – in the world to come?

My Answer: We think of time in terms of our perception of reality and therefore we can’t grasp the way a person alters reality by changing his or her attributes. Reality is what I feel within. By changing my inner attributes, I discover a different picture of the world.

Take a computer screen, for example. When you press a button, you change the pictures that appear on the screen. That is how you are now living in different pictures, jumping from one movie into the next.

The 230 years that you are talking about, and babies that are or aren’t born, are not real issues. That is because when you rise to the spiritual dimension, you will suddenly sense that everything you used to perceive, all these bodies, people, men, women and children, this entire world, including you who eats and drinks, simply don’t exist.

You will suddenly realize that what you saw before was just an image on the screen, while in reality this picture was drawn by the two real forces standing behind it all – the will to receive and the will to bestow. The “reality” you sense now, simply does not exist. It exists only on your screen.

What does it mean to give birth, to build a house, and to live in this world? It is a certain combination of these two forces, which create such a picture for you. And that’s all! So, you don’t have to wait 230 years to experience the sequence of images that will come one after another.

What does it mean to live in the world? Is it my body that lives? I exist in a specific form of the will to receive, until I complete all of my corrections, whereby I will attain the will to bestow.

I have to rise from the lowest point, called this world, until I reach the highest point, adhesion with the Creator. Then, at the last stage of the correction process, the Lev HaEven (heart of stone) will also be corrected.

What happens after that? The picture changes, altering everything along with it: all the attributes, awareness and comprehension. If you ascend spiritually even a little bit, you will already begin to sense that this world is what you feel within. The sensation will shift, and something different, more internal, will emerge to take its place.

Everything takes place inside your desires. This is why it is written: “I saw a reverse world.” And that is why there won’t be anyone left in 230 years that will still perceive the world the way you do today.

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In truth, all development happens by means of the Light, which is concealed from us. And even though everything is done by the Light alone, when this takes place in our egoistic development, we don’t know anything about the Light and are not connected with It in any way. Therefore, when a person develops, he becomes more distant from the Creator, because he understands that he can do without Him. After all, where is the Creator in our world and how is He present in all that I do?

This is why the era of Enlightenment took place, when people left religion. But now, after all our development, we are revealing that we have reached emptiness. After studying and understanding this world, we now see that it is dirty and horrible. But the most important thing that we have come to understand is that the more we develop and the more efforts we make and despite becoming smarter and more skilled in some ways, things just keep deteriorating and the world becomes worse. So by developing the world, we have only made it worse, not better.

This is why people are reaching a point of despair. But this is not enough, and the Upper Force will not allow humanity to run away from it all through drugs. Together with all that is happening, the point in the heart is surfacing in people, and it is pulling them to further development. This is where we come up against a problem: on one hand, this point is egoistic, because it’s the reverse side of holiness. But even though this egoistic point is a result of the breaking, it can be turned into an altruistic point. We can turn it into a “drop of semen,” which will become a spiritual embryo.

As for the rest of the ego – this entire world – I cannot make it spiritual since all of it is inanimate matter. So, in order to develop spiritually, I then come to the group and the Kabbalah books, but still remain in the same place like a donkey, until I finally “get it”: I need an Upper Force, the Light that returns one to the Source and then I begin to demand It and plead with the Creator to become revealed to me and to correct me.

Therefore, our earthly development is over. All the cultural and scientific development has reached an end. People will now feel that it’s impossible to do anything new in these areas – it has exhausted itself.

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Why can’t I attain the sensation of spirituality directly? Well, say I am not very knowledgeable in some profession, for example, I don’t know anything about economics. If I start working at a bank, then I will understand the importance of economics. Then, when someone tells me that some stock rose 0.1 percent, this will be a really big deal to me. But right now, I don’t feel anything since I just don’t understand it, even though it may be something really important!

How do we grow? We teach our “will to enjoy” to be more sensitive and to discern the finest of details. We teach ourselves, just like people train dogs or raise a small child. In our world, in the material, egoistic system, this happens directly. The Light acts inside this system as well, but in a concealed manner, and we don’t have to ask the Light to create any special sensations inside us. If, however, besides the material system we want to reveal one more system – the spiritual one, then we cannot develop our sensitivity to it directly, because we don’t feel it at all. We simply cannot increase our own sensitivities in order to start feeling it. We need the Light to build the new sensations inside.

No matter how much I desire spirituality, I cannot attain it directly; I cannot make it “come out of the fog.” In the material system, I already have a desire, even if it is very coarse and undeveloped. All I have to do is develop it by influencing it with a “painful rod” or a “sweet candy.” That is how I develop and refine my sensation. But when it comes to spirituality, I don’t feel it in any way at all. Even my point in the heart is opposite to this system, since this point is the reverse side of holiness. This is why I need the Light so much, because it will carry out my correction from Above and reveal this system to me! This action requires an additional force.

In the material world, however, we don’t need the Creator. In fact, the more people develop and the more they perfect their culture (their feelings) and science (their mind), the less they believe in God and religion. It’s because people reveal that they don’t need an Upper Force. They can accomplish things, understand and feel everything on their own. This is why people delve deeper into the arts and sciences, leaving religion behind. This is natural, because people don’t need the Upper Force for egoistic development.

If, however, we want to develop spiritually, with the help of the science of Kabbalah, then everything happens in the opposite way: we need the Upper Force to create a new desire in us. Initially we don’t have this desire, so we can’t develop it and feel the spiritual system inside it. The point in the heart gives us the only the opportunity of a place to start. But it will have to go through an inverse transformation in order to turn into “a drop of semen.” In the meantime, it is not a drop of semen, but just a black point.

This is why you need the Upper Force through every step of your development, and the way to connect with It is by building yourself. This Force is what sustains your existence in the spiritual world, so if It doesn’t give you the quality you need to reveal this system, you won’t feel it. The Creator is all the spiritual qualities that you have within. He is the spiritual system, the Force that fulfills you. All of this is Him alone.

The more you develop, the more you develop the Creator within you. In Hebrew, the Creator is called “Bo-reh,” which means, “Come and see!” This is what distinguishes one’s development using the science of Kabbalah. You reveal the Upper Force clearly, inside you. You then see that it is a system that governs everything and that you are inside this system and thereby establish a mutual connection with the Master of this system.

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A question I received from my student: Is it good or bad to use one’s fantasy in the inner work?

My Answer: If you are studying only Baal HaSulam’s books and are trying to leave behind all your previous prejudices and stereotypes, then you will gradually be “cured” of all your fantasies. Our task in Kabbalah is to start feeling a new reality, which is not a fantasy! You should come to feel an additional  world that is similar to how you now feel this world, but you shouldn’t make it up!

Right now, you don’t feel the spiritual world. Even though people tell you about it, you don’t discern it. Nevertheless, you wait to feel it and you aspire toward it by performing different actions and exercises in order to feel it. In virtue of the efforts you make and your practice, you will eventually begin to sense spirituality, even though initially you didn’t have any abilities to do so.

The same thing always happens with everything we do in this world, as well. If we seriously engage in something, then we begin to feel and understand it. Where does this sensation and understanding come from? It comes from the general system that we are all part of, where each of us is connected with everyone. We simply forget that we are inside this system. For example, if I don’t feel or understand anything about plants, but begin to study gardening and start taking care of flowers, then I will gradually begin to feel them, receive impressions from them, and will establish a connection with them.

Where does this connection come from? From our connection with all parts of reality, which already exists. Now, when we perform various exercises, we merely awaken the connection that is already there, but we are not creating anything new. We only discern this system in virtue of our efforts and desires.

The same thing also happens with the spiritual world! We are already in the World of Infinity, but we reveal this system in virtue of the efforts we make, by studying the Upper World and trying to reveal it together with others. We reveal something that is already there! So there is nothing in the world to which we can point and ask, “Where did this come from? Is it a fantasy?” Nothing is a fantasy! All we have to do is practice in order to awaken our sensitivity to something that already exists.

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The spiritual world is a real sensation, not just a theory or fantasy. It is a reality that one feels even more strongly than the regular life we are all used to. However, this spiritual reality is currently concealed from us. We have to start revealing it by making personal efforts, and we will then begin to feel all sorts of spiritual forces, events, and occurrences. Moreover, we will feel and understand them even more than the material world. But the only way to do this is through studying Kabbalah in a group of like-minded people.

Then you will see that the group, the studies, this entire world, and the spiritual system all unite into one whole inside your perception. To the degree you make efforts, you will reveal that the spiritual system you are starting to feel is far more powerful and determines more things than the material world that you perceive. This is how one advances, until one comes to see that the spiritual system is completely in charge of the material one. Then, the material world becomes secondary, like an imprint of the spiritual world.

In order to accomplish all of this, you have to study and work in the group. Today you have a regular, mundane perception of reality, and you must now reveal the picture of the general system. It has to be “projected” inside you like a photograph becomes projected from a negative. And then, this picture has to be depicted more and more clearly within you.

The way to do this is by working with the original, authentic Kabbalah sources and by studying in the group. The spiritual sensation is then added to your current perception and sensation of the world. Of course, your sensation of this world will change and expand as well, but it won’t disappear. Spirituality then joins corporeality, so it never takes place “somewhere up there, beyond the clouds.” A person remains inside his current life, inside the same perception of reality, but he supplements it. This new supplement gradually becomes the most important thing to him in life, because it becomes revealed as something that determines and governs everything.

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A question I received from my student: How does the Surrounding Light affect us? Can it be felt or is it an exclusively spiritual phenomenon that is not expressed in the corporeal senses in any way?

My Answer: We don’t sense the Surrounding Light itself, just as we don’t sense radio waves, for instance. That is why it is called “Surrounding,” because it shines on us in a concealed way, and its action is invisible to us. We only feel the outcome of its activity.

If I feel that some force is openly helping me and I can clearly sense where it comes from, it is called the “Direct Light.” If, however, I cannot envision the source from which it stems, it is called the “Surrounding Light.”

But we shouldn’t think that because the Light is called “Surrounding,” it means that it exists somewhere outside of us. It is inside of us! It’s just that when a phenomenon is felt together with its root, it is called the Inner Light, and we are able to construct an image of its source. But if, inside one’s qualities, one cannot yet construct an image and its likeness to its source, then this Light is called “Surrounding.” One already senses it in nine out of one’s ten qualities, but cannot yet identify it for what it is and where it originates in the Creator.

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In the News (from India Today): “Unhappily harried” The Save Indian Family Foundation (SIFF) comprises young, angry, “harassed” husbands… Their grouse: they were being “betrayed” by those who framed laws and enforced them; that the law erroneously assumed all wives were “innocent angels” who could only be sinned against, and are not sinners.

My Comment: So now the crisis has hit Indian families too! Apparently we will see the crisis being expressed differently in different countries and civilizations, but it will all lead to the same result – the necessity to rise above our world.

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It is very important for beginner students to participate in our Congresses. By coming to a Congress, a person is revived and inspired, and this enables him to rise a little higher spiritually. You receive the energy that is the only thing able to help you move forward. This is actually the reason why we hold our Congresses. It is impossible to advance, to build a greater connection between us, without first establishing live contact. There is a reason why there’s a saying that “seeing is believing.”

If a person still lacks a clear aspiration to the goal and the point in his heart isn’t on fire yet, then the Congresses light him up and allow him to begin his spiritual development, even if he’s starting out from the material level. The external unification leads to inner unification, according to the principle, “the hearts aspire after the actions.” The external actions help us desire to unite on the inside, with our souls or our points in the heart.

During a Congress, while we communicate with each other directly, we try to unite all of our points, the rudiments of the souls, as strongly as possible. Afterwards, everyone goes back home, but each person strives to maintain this connection, and this is how we create the spiritual space! It’s worthwhile for us to meet at Congresses until we connect our points in the heart so much that we will be able to work with them in spite of the distance between us. We will then be able to use the distance to strengthen the connection between our souls.

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In the News (from StrategyAnalytics): “Global Handset Shipments Fall at Fastest Rate in History during Q1 2009” Handset vendors shipped 245 million cellphones worldwide in Q1 2009, down a huge 13% from 282 million units a year earlier. This was the fastest rate of annual decline in handset shipments since our records began.

My Comment: The cellphone frenzy is winding down as the market becomes saturated, our egoism continues growing, and the annoying connections only disturb us. It is getting too difficult to run away from everyone. The connection we have gotten so used to now feels like slavery and dependency. All of this will lead people to recognize that there is nowhere to run from others, that we are surrounded on all fronts by virtual connections!

And then, people will recognize that it is necessary to establish an inner connection, a connection among the souls instead of the bodies, without all of the external communication. That is where we will find the highest harmony and the absolute fulfillment.

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The 22nd issue of Kabbalah Today has been released:

PDF Version

Word Version

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