Question: How do you see The Study of the Ten Sefirot? To me, it seems like something totally abstract. How could someone write it?

Answer: You are right. When I first came to Kabbalah and saw that it uses incomprehensible terms to describe some unclear interrelationships between who knows what, I didn’t understand what kind of wisdom, belief system, or religion it is. It was simply very strange, just like reading about something that is totally unfamiliar, just like finding a diary of total strangers.

Then, for a long while, I read and studied it by heart and tried to make sense of it. Thanks to the close relationship with my teacher and my dissemination activities, I began to understand that by studying the totally unfamiliar ties between unfamiliar objects, I evoke their influence upon me. By the way, this is quite ordinary in our world: We begin to deal with something that is totally unfamiliar to us, we learn about it, and it becomes clear to us.

After several years of studying, the same thing happened to me: I began to feel much more clearly that I exist in some network of connections between people. They were certainly not among the bodies, but rather among their essences, among their desires and their thoughts. Everyone is part of this network: those who lived in this world, are living in it now, and haven’t been born into it yet, and they exist there as equals, regardless of their physical bodies.

Everything I learned in the wisdom of Kabbalah turned into the explanation of these ties, from the strongest to the most broken ones. It explained the conditions under which these ties improve, what the quality of the ties depends on, the limitations on our deeds, and more. This perception was very theoretical, in the form of the network of connections between the “self” of every individual. By the way, I wrote about this network created by the upper force, upon which all the worlds including ours rest, in my first Kabbalah book in 1983.

The more you exert yourself so that the network between your “self” and everyone else’s “self” is revealed, the stronger is the influence of this network that you evoke upon yourself (the Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms, the Light of the Torah), and this network, the mutual connections of all of creation, becomes clearer and clearer to you. Thus, our world grows pale in contrast to the upper network of forces that determines everything.

Afterwards, it becomes quite clear which of your efforts (desires) evoke certain reactions in the network. Thus a conscious movement begins (conscious actions) through the correct inclusion (bestowal) in the network.

By attaining this network (the spiritual world, these ties), we begin to attain the entire development of our world: to draw closer towards this network and reveal the self (the Creator) in it. We begin to understand the reasons for the global crisis and its solution in order to hasten our inclusion in the network—in the upper world, in the attributes of love and bestowal that reign there.
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Question: What helps a person nullify himself?

Answer: Most importantly, a person shouldn’t be too self-confident and self-reliant because all of his desires, strength, and thoughts, all that there is within him is always opposite to bestowal and to the upper one. A person’s main weakness is his mind because it prevents him from overcoming his ego and nullifying himself. There is noting else but this.

Our desires to receive are not suitable for the spiritual world. You can only nullify them before the upper one. Thanks to this annulment, you will obtain His desires.

Within the desires of the upper one you begin to nullify yourself in relation to others and thereby obtain all of their desires. On the account of bestowing to them, you connect the whole Malchut of the world of Infinity to yourself.

One might ask: “When do I finally start receiving?” However, there is no such thing as receiving in the spiritual world. Reception does not exist there, only bestowal! Even when you receive, it essentially happens in the form of bestowal. In spiritual reality, the form of reception simply does not exist.

It’s just as in our world we only know how to receive and don’t understand what bestowal is. Each moment of my life I think of, live in, and subsist only on reception. Whereas in the spiritual reality, there is only bestowal and no reception. Even when you receive, you don’t make any calculations, but think only about how much you can turn this into bestowal.

In the spiritual world the word “receiving” has a completely different meaning than in our world. In our world I know I will receive pleasure and it will remain in me. I am the final stop of this pleasure. However, in spirituality I simply pass the pleasure on.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/2011, “Pticha”

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An Israeli site ashdod10.co.il published a news item about my lecture for a Russian speaking audience in Ashdod.

“Last Thursday a fascinating lecture in Russian on the subject of “mutual guarantee and security” was given by Michael Laitman, PhD in Philosophy.

“The large audience that filled the big hall at Diuna Community Center was fascinated by the lecture, which was relevant to the life of each of us and our state. Before the lecture, one of Dr. Laitman’s students, film director and producer Semion Vinokur, told the audience how his meeting with Dr. Laitman changed his life. The deputy mayor Boris Giterman, who knows Dr. Laitman since they both served in the Soviet army together, greeted the audience.

“At the end of the lecture, Dr. Laitman answered many questions from the audience. The lecture is part of Dr. Laitman’s important educational work.”
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Question: What does “merging with the group” feel like? How and where do we sense this?

Answer: Imagine that you are not looking at people, but rather at the internal configuration of connection that exists between them, at the force that works between them. You are trying to penetrate through them into this force and connect with it. When you reveal this force between them, you indeed reveal the Creator there.

This common force that connects them all is the Light or the Creator. You have to reach it. Your egoistic attitude towards yourself, your rejection of the environment, distances you from this force, from the Creator. As soon as you break this outer layer, you connect with the Creator. He always exists within the group.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 9/25/2011

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Question: Man got used to exploiting the environment for his own benefit. Even when we speak about social justice, many see it as an opportunity to grab something for themselves.…

Answer: Therefore, education must come before anything else, as the first necessary condition. Man needs to be brought up differently and should be taught about the system we live in.

For instance, we are familiar with the realities of our world. I know what a bank is, what work is, what a medical clinic is; I know about pension funds, social security, roads, traffic lights, police, and the government. But a baby doesn’t know all that yet, and so we teach him how to live in this world.

In exact same manner we now have to teach humanity how to live in the new, integral world. The egoistic mechanisms will gradually stop working. We will soon see that the power of receiving doesn’t lead to anything. We see that even people who have a lot of money don’t know what will happen with the economy in the near future. Soon they will find out that they have a lot of power, but they can’t do anything. Everything disappears, everything is lost, everything breaks down, falls apart, and stops working. No system will work except for the system of bestowal, which we will have to establish.

Question: This may happen in a year or two, but I have problems now….

Answer: So start acting now. Do you want to have a good life? Pay for it with bestowal upon others. This is your work, which is called “the Creator’s work.” We are about to see a world in which we will not be able to provide for ourselves by using the power of egoism, but only by the power of bestowal. If you bestow upon others, upon society, you will be able to receive food, clothing, and other necessities from society. But it won’t happen if you don’t bestow. This is because the new world is dominated by the altruistic power.

Question: How will people shift to the new paradigm?

Answer: By the blows. It was Pharaoh who brought the children of Israel to the Creator. Haman caused the Jews to finally escape the Babylonian exile and return to the Land of Israel, and the King supported him. It is impossible to advance if the ego isn’t revealed to us as the evil force, as our enemy.

Eventually, nature’s blows and the positive influence from our part, circulation, will bring about the change. People cannot change instantly and agree with us. Their desire is opposite to bestowal. The principle of “love thy neighbor” seems childish to them. They don’t understand yet that it the basis for everything, that it is the correction of the soul. The evil of their egoism hasn’t been revealed to them yet.

They will be able to feel it after many blows, until Pharaoh will finally admit: “I’m sinful, and the Creator is righteous.” He didn’t think so before. But then you will realize that everything is because of you, because you are corrupted, not the surrounding nature, or a neighbor, or anybody else. Then you will feel the need for correction, and it will come. In your search for a method, you will find us and ask us to teach you.

But we don’t want you to suffer and so we disseminate the method in advance, although it spurs hatred in you. This is how we help the world.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/2011, “The Nation”

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I don’t understand people who go out to the streets and demand to be given something. Why do they deserve it? If it were my child, it would be different. But I didn’t give birth to you, so why should I take care of you?

Even if I were a tycoon, so what? I made my money, so why do you come to me? What is unjust here? What is illegal here? Why do you demand something from me? Why do I have to feel ashamed of what I have earned, of my social status?

Let’s take an athlete for example, who worked out in the gym for twenty years and has lifted tons of weights. Now he has muscles like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he is proud of it. Suddenly some demonstrators come to him and demand to “take off” some of his muscles. How would he see that?

So if a tycoon has worked hard and has earned his wealth, he also has his own “muscles,” but they are expressed in his bank account. What right do you have to put your hand on it?

Another example: A musician has practiced for years, fifteen hours a day. Does he have to give up what he has achieved for you?

So why do we look at a rich man differently? Hasn’t he worked as hard as the athlete or the musician? And even if he has it as a result of his father’s efforts, so what? If you think that there is social injustice here—go and change society, do something. But it is wrong to just come and demand. And besides, if you destroy the tycoons, you will destroy society. Who will provide people with jobs? Who will enable them to make a living?

As long as the world is egotistic, we cannot change it for the better. We have seen it in Russia. Instead of correcting things, we will only create a bigger lie and new ways of stealing. In an egotistic society, every organization and every individual operate according to their own interests, and there is nothing we can do. We cannot build a more just society than the present one on the basis of the same desires, the same egoistic “fuel.”

There is no other choice but to change the engine.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/2011, “The Nation”

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Question: How can I check myself in order to be sure that I am moving in accordance with the instructions of the original sources, and not submitting to my own egoism?

Answer: For this purpose, there is the month of Elul, the last month of the year. The world was created five days before the creation of man, and the day on which man was created is called the first day of the new year. Those previous five days represent the five levels before the level of human, the five phases. And you need to check your world, meaning your environment.

After all, you live and perceive yourself relative to your environment, you check yourself in relation to it. You live together, you and your environment. So, before you are are “born” as human, check the environment that will be surrounding you. Accordingly, you will be able to see what kind of person you will be.

What environment do you choose? In other words, what do you want from your life, the entire world, the group, and the books, and what do you hear from your teacher? Check how you relate to all of this and what you want to achieve.

This is not easy. A person is faced with a very difficult calculation here. The opinion of the outer society exerts a great influence on us, forcing us to keep asking: “Where am I, and where is everyone else? There are millions, billions of them, while I am only one person.” It is not easy to remain on the path if this is a personal path, and not a commonly accepted path among the masses.

You need to keep clear of confusion here. According to which criteria do you check this path? It is not evaluated according to the standards of regular people. And you don’t need to believe anyone, everything can be checked and analyzed. So perform this analysis and build your own relationship toward the environment, the teacher, the books, and the Creator. This is what is called the “repentance” of the month of Elul.

These are very delicate clarifications, and they become ever more delicate over time. It is as if they are hung up in emptiness, not supported by solid ground, but by faith above reason. This is because having checked everything in your ego, you need to separate completely from it and build your spiritual relationship above it.

Without egoism, without checking inside of it, you cannot check yourself. That is why you have to be grateful for all of the egoistic thoughts and desires such as jealousy, hate, lust, ambition, and arrogance relative to the world, enemies and friends, criticism of friends, the teacher, and the Creator. Everything can be checked, and based on this foundation, your new level can be built, which is called a new beginning.

After you check your entire world and your current condition, you will begin to see, above all of this, the image of the goal toward which you are aiming. After you have admitted to all of the possible transgressions of your egoism (the words of repentance from the prayer of Rosh Hashanah) and checked and understood your true essence, then you can imagine what its opposite means. Otherwise, there is no way.

That is why the Creator created the evil inclination and in addition, the Torah, the means for its correction because the Light that Reforms is contained in it. However, if you do not have the evil inclination, if you have not discovered and seen your egoism, you do not need any correction. If you do not intend to be corrected, the Torah is not for you.

First of all, you need to feel that there is nothing worse than you, that you want to swallow everyone else, prevail above them, you are jealous of everyone, and hate everyone. Do you see yourself as the worst person in the world? Can you justify your bad relationship to someone after you have thoroughly checked it?

If you see that every sinner is truly revealed inside of you, and you have no choice remaining, then you arrive at the repentance prayer of Rosh Hashanah. You exalt the quality of bestowal, love of the other, meaning the Creator, and you want it to start ruling inside of you.

“I created the evil inclination” means the repentance of the month of Elul, the five days before the beginning of the new year, the time period that it took to create man. During these days, the world of man is being created, his terrible world. He is the one who sees it as terrible, instead of seeing the world full of Light and goodness where only the Creator rules, only love and bestowal.

However, thanks to this, one arrives at the beginning of the new year, the new level. He has the Torah, the means for correction, the Light that Reforms. Now, he knows how to use the force contained in nature, how to extract it for the sake of his correction, and with the help of this upper force, to return to the good. For me, the upper force is the higher quality of bestowal, as compared to my egoistic forces.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/26/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Shamati #42 “What Is the Acronym Elul [1] in the Work,” To: “This is the meaning of ‘righteous at once to life'”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Pekudei (Accounts)” “These Are the Accounts of the Tabernacle,” Item 48, Lesson 3
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Talmud Eser Sefirot Part 6, Chapter 15, Question 137, Lesson 6
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Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Item 139, Lesson 60
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World,” “The Four Attributes: Mercy, Truth, Justice and Peace in the Individual and the Collective”
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