How Do Words Reach The Soul?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe language of branches can be very useful if we are in two worlds simultaneously. It explains to us how to use the objects of our world in the most effective way so as to influence other people through them, awakening them to correction.

If I had precise knowledge of man’s nature and that of all the objects at my disposal, I might be able to awaken the whole world to correction! I would know exactly what films, texts, and music are necessary for this. I would make a calculation on their souls and the forces I want to enact inside of these souls according to their inner structure, which is known to me.

However, since for now they do not understand communication on the level of souls and inner forces, I translate it to a different dimension, to the level of their material hearing and sensation, as well as the sounds of musical instruments. That way I gain an opportunity to influence them.

Through these external instruments, I can awaken inner forces within them which they don’t even know themselves. This influences them through the external hearing, through music, and gradually awakens inner forces within them. That’s because a person is an integral system in which corporeality and spirituality unite. It is therefore possible to influence a person by material means, but with an intention to influence him on the inner, spiritual level. That way it is possible to lead him into vibrations and a resonance, and to receive a reaction on layers that he does not even suspect himself through hearing music and other external influences.

That is exactly how we awaken ourselves by reading Kabbalistic books, such as The Zohar and Talmud Eser Sefirot. We thereby raise our sensitivity to the Light that Reforms. This Light is not present on the material level. But Kabbalists have arranged it so that through this external influence on my ear and eye, I receive an inner influence as long as I attune myself with the desire to receive precisely this.

Therefore, if we find out the connection of the roots with the branches on the levels of two parallel worlds, spiritual and material, one against the other, then it is possible to awaken the whole world to correction. We actually do act that way, but not with the same might as the authors of The Zohar do.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Learning To Speak Two Languages

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If Kabbalah is the basis of all the sciences, then should we first give a child knowledge of this science and only then start teaching him all the other sciences?

Answer: At first a child has to get acquainted with his world. However, from a young age, from about six years or even earlier, it is possible to start explaining the notions of the science of Kabbalah to him.

Children can perceive this wisdom parallel to the sciences of our world just as naturally as they are easily able to remember several languages. In the same way, we can explain these two languages of perception of reality to them: inner and outer. They will easily learn this and it will become part of the foundation of their perception like a habit ingrained from childhood.

The explanation has to be that there are two forces in the world. And everything we see with our material eyes are pictures emerging inside our senses as a result of the interaction between these two forces. Then the child will be able to understand the inner essence of every phenomenon he observes.

Every object, such as a table, chair, a person, a car, or a plane can ultimately be laid out as a combination of these two forces: reception and bestowal, and it is possible to discern why this special combination of these two forces creates precisely this image of the material object inside of us. Then he will understand what he can receive from it and how he can use it in order to attain certain material or spiritual acquisitions. That’s because he will know that object’s place in all of reality, and that is very important.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The Unity That Gradually Comes Through

Dr. Michael LaitmanWritings of Rabash, “What Does It Mean the World Was Created for the Torah”: Torah and Israel are the same thing. At first the Torah is instructions on correcting evil, called 613 recommendations on correcting 613 parts of egoism. After the correction, the Torah is potions of the Creator’s Light, corresponding to each of the 613 corrected organs of the soul.

Question: How is it possible to simply explain what is Israel, Torah, and the Creator, and what their unity means?

Answer: We are in an unchangeable state, as it is written, “I did not change Myself.” This single state is called “Malchut of the world of Infinity.” The Creator wished to do good upon the creation, and thus He created it in the corresponding state of goodness. But in order to feel that goodness, creation has to go through various twists and turns that will raise its desire or appetite by bringing about despair, troubles, and worries, or stated differently, various sensations that are opposite to the sensation of the Good who Does Good. That’s because otherwise creation would not feel Him.

However, in order to make sure that the sensation of the Good who Does Good together with His oppositeness do not become a double blow for creation, the Creator arranged things so we would collect the unpleasant sensations drop by drop—gradually, in small potions. “Ouch!”—and that’s enough. Then “Ouch!” again, and that’s enough. That is how we advance along the path, discerning our desire and learning what is good and what is bad.

As a whole we have to be sensitive and perceptive to good and evil. The more sensitive a person is to the realization of evil, the higher his level and the deeper he penetrates into the matter of creation.

Therefore, the unchanging state that the Creator made already contains the desire to enjoy for the sake of bestowal, corrected by the right intention, as well as the Light that fills this desire and intention. There everyone is one without any differences. This state is called “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.”

Israel (ישראל) is a vessel, a Kli with the intention of bestowal to the Creator. In other words, it is “straight to the Creator,” Yashar – El (ישר-אל). “Torah” is the entire Light that corrects and fills it. And they are one because they have attained the sate where they are absolutely equal and are in adhesion.

Equality and unity of the Creator and creation is the only form in which they exist. And every creature gradually reveals this form once the desire to reveal it awakens in him.

By bringing to light the emptiness in our current state, in the events of this world, the Creator gradually brings us to the feeling of emptiness, futility, and purposelessness of our lives. And at the same time He awakens the beginning of the spiritual Kli inside us, the embryo of the realization of evil. My state isn’t despicable because it is nauseating to the taste, but because I lack adhesion with the Creator.

I come to realize this gradually. At first I don’t understand at all what exactly I need, like a child who does not know himself why he is crying. But gradually the details come through, become clearer, and surface in me, and then I already begin hearing something.

Then I come to the group and the teacher, and spend several years subjecting myself to the influence of the Light in various states, which I undergo together with the teacher, books, and group. As the process continues, I become slightly more perceptive to the realization of evil. The evil lies in the fact that I do not want to join the books, the teacher, and the group. When I begin to feel that this is exactly my evil, then I start moving in the right direction toward correction.

At the same time I understand that I have to unite with the friends, receive awakening from them, acquire their mind and feeling, and dissolve in them. I become included in them, in their desires and intentions that are aimed at the goal. And upon this inclusion I have to evoke the Light that Reforms, or in other words, study together with them and attract the Light. If this happens, then I accumulate the necessary quantity and quality of efforts and reach the correction of my Kelim.

Of course, this process consists of an entire series of actions. After all, I cannot tolerate great corrections or great leaps in one go. That is why there are many degrees that divide into more tiny degrees. They are the means by which I attain the state that is described by the verse, “Israel, Torah, and the Creator are one.” I already exist in this state, but it surfaces in me gradually.

We would not be able to tolerate it all at once because this unity is too opposite to us.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, Writings of Rabash

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the essence of our realization of free will?

Answer: It is lowering oneself before the group in order to receive from it the importance of the spiritual goal, the Creator, bestowal. That is, my free will is exercised in my choice to lower myself before the group so that everything they have may settle in me as the most important thing in life and that their thought about the Creator may rule over everything I have within me. And then, I will think only about that.

I don’t act blindly, as if I am hypnotized; rather, I intentionally work in my egoism against it. I link into the friends, yield to them, and view them as the leaders of our generation, all in order to adopt their importance of achieving the spiritual goal.

Should I then view this world with its desires for wealth, power, and honor as something low and unworthy? No, I shouldn’t since if I do, it means that the Creator is hardly any greater than this lowness, while I must achieve a different kind of status.

Therefore, I have to highly value wealth, power, honor, and this entire world, but I have to place spirituality even higher. In other words, I must not reduce the value of this world as religions and belief systems suggest; on the contrary, I should appreciate everything it offers, but use it solely for the goal of reaching spirituality. And that’s the essence.

If instead of despising this world, we will exalt the spiritual one, then as spirituality grows, this world will become important ever more. So, don’t ruin and devaluate it, but elevate spirituality even higher over it! And in this way, you will be ascending from the level of this world to that of the next one time after time.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Chain Along Which The Light Is Passed On

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Will the world be able to accept your message as not being tied to religion while your group is in Israel and seems to be following religious traditions?

Answer: We are trying to spread Kabbalah all around the world and in a form which would be acceptable to everybody. But it is impossible and unnecessary to conceal the fact that Kabbalah roots in the nation of Israel, accompanied it over the course of history, and was passed on along the chain of Kabbalists who were part of this nation.

After all, Israel is a unique people. Its basis is not a nationality, as it is in case of the other 70 nations of the world, but rather a group of Kabbalists that was founded by Abraham. This group of Kabbalists was regarded as the people of Isra-El, which means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar Kel) because its goal is to reveal the Creator to man in this world.

We have to continue this mission and become the “the kingdom of holy priests” (Mamlechet Cohanim), meaning to bring to the entire world the method of correction and channel the Light to all its peoples. This is what the nation of Israel is designated to do so that “everyone will know the Creator, from the smallest to the greatest” since “His Temple will be called the house of prayer for all nations.”

This is why I don’t think that if we act as absolutely unattached and we cut the ties with our roots and our history altogether, we would succeed. We cannot detach ourselves from the root; we must remain connected to it.

A person, as he or she advances, starts to understand what Israel’s mission is and from where the nation derived. He changes his attitude to the nation of Israel as to the bearer of the method of correction. He no longer regards it as a nationality, but as a unique group of Kabbalists, spiritual teachers, who must serve humanity and assist it in reaching the spiritual world.

The world’s attitude will change. Today, we already have a lot of students around the world who are with us in heart and in soul and understand that from here, the Israel center, the Light goes out into the world. Thus the method of correction is realized.

A person cannot achieve correction and lack understanding of how it took place in history and why.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do you and your central group have a religious appearance if you keep explaining that it doesn’t assist spiritual advancement? It would be better to assume a more secular look in order to become closer to people and the world, wouldn’t it?

Answer: I don’t think it should bother people. Our students come from different backgrounds, and we don’t tell anybody what they should look like. And if the public are familiar with our society already, they should know that we do not convert people into religion or force them to observe any religious rituals. They yearn to reach the root of their soul and come to us to transform their soul, to uncover the spiritual world.

We deal solely with the correction of the soul since the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. And revelation occurs only in the corrected soul. As to a person, he or she usually keeps following those traditions that they are accustomed to.

Nonetheless, Kabbalah was passed to us through the people whose background was in Judaism. After the destruction of the Temple, the people fell from the spiritual dimension, and Kabbalah was replaced with religion that is below in our corporeal world. But over the course of all these centuries and parallel to it, from Rabbi Shimon and further on, Kabbalah was passed on from one Kabbalist to the next along their chain. This is how it has finally reached us as a method of correction.


Kabbalah wasn’t related to religion that remained below. It continued to live among Kabbalists in the same way as it did before the fall of the Temple. There has always been a gap, an iron wall, between Kabbalah and religion.

As to us, we receive Kabbalah as it was before the destruction of the Temple, and that is why it has nothing to do with modern religion. We deal with correction of the soul. But at the same time, before the destruction, the Torah and commandments were followed by the people in intention and action alike, as one whole. There was the Temple and ritual service in it with all the necessary attributes. The same pertained to every person, according to his or her root as Cohen, Levy, or Israel.

The branch and the root were unified and viewed by people as one whole. But later on, the branch ended up below, in this world, having lost its tie with the root, and the root remained above, cut off from the branch. This is what is regarded as the exit of the people of Israel into exile when religion was all that remained for them.

But today, we need to ascend to where we came from, and let’s hope that when we do, we will comprehend what our duty is and return to the original state of complete and wholesome fulfillment of the Torah and commandments as spiritual actions. I don’t know how it will look; it is possible that physical actions will not be necessary any longer or they will be performed only by the people of Israel.

Baal HaSulam writes that even in the fully corrected society, every person may adhere to his or her religion since religion is cultural traditions. We don’t know any of it yet, and we should focus only on one thing: the correction of our souls.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Difficulty Of Conveying Through Words

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we experience such difficulty finding words to convey our message to others?

Answer: If we were able to sense the spiritual definitions, we would find simple words capable of reaching the heart of any person.

We have to develop the method of correction in order to bring the entire world to adhesion with the Creator. To do this, we need to sense spirituality. After all, only when sensing something do you begin to understand, which gives you the ability to express it through words. A sensation comes from the depth of the desire, from its force, aspiration, and necessity to fill it.

There are no smart or stupid ones. Everything depends only on the desire! In our world there are people who can express their thoughts in a very beautiful and poetic way. This is impossible in spirituality where the depth of sensation and internal pain determine everything.

Our problem is that we are blocked by our mind and we do not care about the correct sensations. These sensations depend on our connection with the world, with the society. After all, you have to find words in order to convey the unity among all! Kabbalah is a science which expresses the unity of souls.

If we do not aspire to connect with one another, we can’t express anything through our words. We take what is written in the books and convert it into slogans and ready-to-use stereotypes that are not clear even to us.

Therefore, everything depends on the degree of our connection with the society, with the group. If this connection exists, if a new sensing Kli (desire) emerges, even if it is yet unable to perceive a lot, this already gives us the ability to speak an easy language which is close and clear to people.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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The Era Of Change

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe process of development of the egoistic desire, where the desire to bestow operated very gradually, has brought man to an absolutely broken state. The still, vegetative, and animate nature, as well human society, the entire reality is now a deplorable sight.

We are in a very dangerous state, in a contradiction to the entire reality. On one hand, reality seems to be something enormous, global, interconnected, and whole, but on the other, human society on earth seems to have turned into an invasive  cancer, a harmful mold which consumes and destroys nature by covering the entire Earth with its waste and excrement.

We are discovering that we are absolutely opposite to nature, so we will have to realize in the near future that there is no other solution but to attain balance with it. And this can be realized because the two opposite forces of reception and bestowal have already been revealed in us, and they are ready for us to begin using them in a balanced manner. Only then will we begin to rise together as humanity from the still to the vegetative level of our development.

Until now these two opposite forces were developing us without our consent. Finally, they have brought us to the first free choice, and now we begin to develop on our own by evoking the force of bestowal for it to determine our development above the force of reception enrooted in us.

Before, the force of bestowal was concealed inside, and it was gradually growing like rising dough, or on the contrary, it enticed from afar: “Come this way; there is something here; there are pleasures waiting for you here.” Now we will be choosing the bestowing desire on our own as the force that we should be following in our development. Bestowal will not be helping the receiving desire, but the receiving desire will follow the bestowing desire.

We must keep making this decision over and over above our egoistic desire which does not stop increasing. As we ascend, both forces, bestowal and reception, will keep growing and emerge equally in us to give us the opportunity to have free choice. We will feel like we exist in the middle between them. In Kabbalah, this place is called “Klipat Noga,” and this is the way we will advance.

On every point of my path, my choice consists of revealing the equality of these two forces in me and preferring the giving desire to the receiving one. Bestowal must determine my direction so that the receiving desire would develop specifically in this way. By doing this, the receiving desire takes the form of the bestowing desire, the form of the Creator. And when the receiving desire is similar (“Dome” in Hebrew) to the Creator, then it is referred to as “man” (“Adam”).

And we will use these two forces the same way. The receiving desire will be constantly growing, and the bestowing desire will grow as well in order to give it a new form. In the end, we will return to the same place where we began our descent, the world of Infinity, where both of these desires exist together perfectly incorporated. We also achieve their absolute adhesion through our choice, as we act from below upward, until the entire receiving desire acquires the full form of the bestowing desire. This will become the end of correction, the completion of our development.

We live in a special time, a new era. What is new about it is that now, through our choice, the desire to bestow must reign above the desire to receive pleasure. This is called “to develop in faith above reason.”

Every day we are joined by more people whose previous mixing of desires have been completed. Gradually, they come to their first free choice: to go from the still to the vegetative degree, to emerge as a spiritually growing being from a still being.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/18/2011, Writings of Rabash

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