In the News: (translated from MediaPortal.ru): Sergei Litvintzev, a psychiatrist in Saint Petersburg,  has suggested that Russians who feel happy are mentally ill. In fact, 72% of the population in the Russian Federation consider themselves to be happy.

Dr. Litvintzev noted that feeling happy without any reason is a well known symptom of some mental disorders. For example, “People with the manic syndrome feel euphoria without any reason,” he said.

My Comment: Indeed, maybe it’s really better to feel this way. But humanity’s growing egoism will eventually eliminate the feeling of happiness in us all.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is There Such A Thing As A Formula For Happiness?
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Kabbalah Today Article: Cracking the Happiness Code
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Perceiving the Creator”
Video: Why Am I Never Satisfied? (4:37)

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On November 17, I held another of our public lectures at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center. The topic of this lecture was Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

The Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center hosts public lectures every Tuesday at 7:00 PM Israel time. The lectures are broadcast live on our TV channels “YES-66” and “HOT-66” as well as on the Kab TV website and are translated live from Hebrew into English, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian and Turkish.

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Kabbalistic books don’t contain even a single word that alludes to corporeal objects, places or even qualities that can be observed in this world. When we read phrases like “the Temple wall” or “man,” we must not imagine a wall in Jerusalem or a person in our world. Our world is an imagined reality, and Kabbalistic books do not say anything about the corporeal world.

The spiritual world has no names, and that is why it is described using the language of branches. For instance, the excerpt: “And his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives” means that the World of Infinity will spread (be revealed) and touch our world in the entirety of our desire.

The notion of “our world” also alludes to what we do not presently feel. The world we perceive is not defined in spirituality whatsoever, which is why it is called imaginary (Olam HaMedumeh). “Our world” or “this world” that’s described in Kabbalistic books is the last degree of the spiritual worlds. It is only our point in the heart that can be called a “point of this world,” because it is the last point of descent from above downward. If we tend to its development, then through this point we’ll be able to “ascend” back from below upwards.

We will then have the ability to perceive the world through the point in the heart, rather than from our corporeal senses. We will understand that this corporeal (illusory) life has been given to us as a temporary existence in an imaginary world. However, none of the Kabbalistic books (including the Bible, the Tanach, and others) ever actually mention this world.

The Bible doesn’t even speak of morality, despite what many people may think. It doesn’t speak of what I am to do with my animal body, but only of the correction of my soul. For example, the laws of the ritual bath (Mikveh) allude to the correction of the “body” (desires) by the qualities of Bina (water).

The laws of Kashrut (preparing food) tell us how to prepare one’s “animal” desire so it will be fit for being consumed by the “human” inside of us, or in other words,  how to elevate one’s vegetative and animate desires to the “human” level inside of us.

Sacrifices in the Temple (Kurbanot) describe the process of drawing closer to the Creator (Kurban means “sacrifice,” and comes from the word Karov – “one who is near”) or how to utilize the desires of all levels to resemble the Upper Degree, and how to change one’s intention towards the Creator from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of bestowal.”

In our language, all of these writings appear to describe bread and meat burning atop an altar, or water and blood flowing from it, but in the language of branches, the subject is the correction of one’s intention. So don’t bother building any stone structures, but instead focus only on correcting your soul! Through these imaginary “corporeal” images, we must learn to see the spiritual forces behind them.

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How do I know what is happening in the world around me? Something hits my ear drums, goes through my nervous system and produces electro-chemical processes in my brain. These processes cross reference each other and I then decipher this information and compare it with what’s already stored in my brain. All of this happens in order for me to be able to distinguish sounds, make words out of them and eventually understand the meaning behind them.

There are many processes taking place in our brain to allow us to acquire “outside” knowledge and receive impressions from it. We understand these systems because they exist at various levels of our desire to be fulfilled: inanimate, vegetative, animate and human. This is where electrical and chemical reactions take place as well their deciphering and cross-referencing.

All of these processes contain a desire to be fulfilled; everything takes place within that desire. Our subconscious filters information before it ever enters our thought process. Any unfavorable information is filtered out and we pick up only the desirable information, although that can also include frightening things.

We “belong” to our desires and that’s why we perceive a distorted picture of reality. However, we are not aware of these defects and only see the ready-made picture that our subconscious filters.

That is why we cannot uncover the spiritual realm in our current state. Our current perception only depicts pictures of our material reality. We have nothing to compare those pictures with and therefore no one realizes where we actually are. We don’t even sense ourselves – it’s as if we’re asleep.

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Preparation To The Lesson
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Writings of Baal Sulam, Letter 45, 1927, pg 133
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 33, Lesson 14
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“The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Lesson 14
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A question I received: What is the use of studying The Book of Zohar in our times? Do you have to study it to attain spirituality?

My Answer: Yes, the time has now arrived to study The Book of Zohar. I waited for this a long time, because we had to go through a preparation period. Now we have reached a state where a great mass of people all over the world is able to ascend up the spiritual ladder. This is why the commentary to The Book of Zohar is called Sulam – The Ladder.

That is why we are starting to study The Book of Zohar together now. Every person who joins us for this study, and who is able to nullify himself like a baby in order to study together with us, will be able to break through into the sensation of what The Zohar describes.

The Zohar cannot be studied with the mind because it speaks to a person’s heart and develops his sensations. The aim of this is to let him feel two qualities: bestowal and reception. That is why Baal HaSulam named his commentary to The Zohar “Sulam” – The Ladder.

In addition, The Zohar cannot be studied on your own, but only in a group. In fact, that is how it was written, by a group of ten Kabbalists whose souls were completely united. The ten Kabbalists who wrote The Zohar made up a spiritual vessel comprised of the ten main Sefirot. Each of them represented one Sefira, or one special force of the wholesome vessel (Kli) that was created by the Creator. Therefore, if we aspire to become such a wholesome vessel, then we will be able to receive this message from them, and it will influence us.

If we try to study The Zohar in a group now, we will quickly feel how the force concealed in this book connects us. And to the degree we unite, we will be able to accept and understand its message. Actually, we will be able to feel it, because understanding happens through the heart. There are specific desires that are organized particularly in order to understand the spiritual message.

It is impossible to attain The Zohar with dry reason. There has to be a group that has gone through a great path of preparation, whose members have already tried to attain spirituality through other means and have been freed of their delusions. They have discerned many things and are ready to cancel themselves because they understand that alone, with their individual forces, they cannot achieve anything. Then, they are ready to start studying The Zohar and to tune into it.

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A question I received: How does the lower one annul himself before the Upper?

My Answer: Initially, the next spiritual degree seems like darkness, when in fact it is a higher level of bestowal. Since I am incapable of relating to that level, it therefore causes a feeling of darkness, emptiness and depression within me.

I am able to annul my egoism (myself) only with the help of this higher degree. In order to do this, I must turn to the group and receive from it the greatness of the goal, of connecting with the Upper Level, through the quality of bestowal. Then I am ready to plead to the Upper Level, asking It to give me the greatness of the goal, for the goal’s importance to become higher than reception. In this way, I become ready to agree with the Upper Level and to annul myself before It.

In response to my plea, the Upper Level opens up to me and shows me the greatness of bestowal to such a degree that I am ready to bestow. I then become equal to It and rise to that level.I merge with the Upper Level, acquiring the new understanding from It. Then I move to the second stage and begin acting independently.

This is similar to a generally accepted method of education where a senior student gives me an example, takes my hand in his, and draws a picture. After that, I can draw the picture myself.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Method Of Climbing Up The Spiritual Ladder
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Laitman.com Post: The Teaching Of The Language Of Roots And Branches
Shamati #4: “What Is the Reason for the Heaviness One Feels when Annulling before the Creator in the Work”
Rabash Article: “The Importance of the Association”

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If a student wishes to ascend spiritually (to acquire qualities of bestowal), he has to “cancel” himself (his egoism) and “adhere” to the Teacher in an attempt to take on the qualities of the Teacher. Of course, he cannot do this on his own, but by making the effort, he will create the conditions for the Teacher to begin raising him “up” to his mind and feelings, which belong to the Upper Reality and the higher degree of the Teacher. This is how we advance in spirituality.

For each level, there is a guide between two states – the intermediate state or degree, the AHP of the Upper Level, which carries you upward (see Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 3, Inner Reflection). The Upper One, the Teacher comes down to the level of the student and reveals himself to you while appearing to be almost like you. He does this so we could connect to him, like a father, who is an intelligent adult, but plays little kids’ games with his son.

However, at times the Teacher reveals himself “incorrectly,” thereby showing us what we need to cancel out from within ourselves in order to adhere to him for an ascent.

If the AHP of the Upper One did not come down to the lower one, the lower one would have no opportunity to ascend. A student must find a Teacher, since otherwise he will continue to wander in place on his own degree and never have the ability to ascend!

The Teacher exists on two degrees: the degree of the student, to where he purposely lowers himself, and on his own higher degree, the level to which he can raise the student. The same is true in any science: The student has to annul himself before the teacher, since otherwise the student will not receive anything from the teacher.

By rising to the Teacher’s degree, you reveal the next, higher degree, which then becomes your next Teacher. In this manner you constantly annul yourself and reveal the Teacher at higher and higher levels every time.  The Teacher connects you to the Upper Degree, and this is why he is called a Teacher, while the degree that follows him is called the Creator.

Drawing closer and uniting with the Teacher occurs irrespective of physical closeness to him.  It makes no difference whether a person studies with the Teacher face-to-face or through the Internet. If the student listens to what the Teacher says and carries it out, annulling himself with all devotion and trying to understand what the Teacher is thinking, then it doesn’t matter where each is located.  The student will receive everything through that spiritual channel upward, which he will reveal for himself.

After all, the Teacher is not a physical body, but the intermediate degree between the student and the Creator.

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