Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.06.15

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How Can We Discover The Map Of Life?

laitman_760_2Question: You say that we are all one soul, but how is that related to my life? Even if this is true, I don’t understand what I actually can do?

Answer: We perform many actions in our lives. I begin this life and end it, but do I know what I am living for? No. Do I know today what to do with my life tomorrow? Not really.

It is like entering a small door in a giant house and getting lost there, not knowing when I can get out of all of the rooms and whether I entered them by mistake or not. We don’t know how to determine our good fate by ourselves.

The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us the map of life, and you can use it like an atlas.

Suppose you go on a vacation to some foreign land. You look at the map of that country, the map of the city you are in, and it is clear to you where you are and how to maximize the pleasure of spending this vacation to miss nothing: to see the sites, taste their local dishes, etc. Even for this week, you don’t want to waste a thing.

We have entered a place called this world, and how we are going to spend the time here doesn’t seem to worry us.

The wisdom of Kabbalah gives you a map according to which you can see where you are and discover where everything that is good and wonderful is. Why should you roam the streets aimlessly exposed to dangerous and dirty places?!

You can choose the good way and attain the best conditions. There is always a choice to some extent. Everyone can choose what is suitable for him according to the root of his soul. This is exactly what the wisdom of Kabbalah enables us to do.

Up to now, we have developed in a very simple manner. Everyone acquired a certain profession in order to make money, to have a family, and to succeed. Today, we have outgrown this development. We don’t want simply to have a family or a profession. We want to discover something that is more internal. And that is why we need the wisdom of Kabbalah that will guide us correctly in the search for meaning in life.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM 11/18/15

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Why Do I Get All of This?

laitman_555Question: Why do numerous troubles pour onto those who live virtuously, never hurt anybody, and make every effort to help the others? Is it a punishment for their prior lives?

Answer: People came up with many theories about punishments for their prior lives and future rewards. In fact, nobody knows why we get blows from destiny.

We all depend on each other. We all are in one network. All of us represent one common soul of Adam; we are one whole! The overall system we exist in is called “Adam.”

Each of the system’s parts is responsible for the others. Our body works similarly: if there is a wound on the foot, it hurts the whole body aches and can’t think of anything besides the wound. In this case, head and nerves depend on the sore foot. Our interdependence extends to this degree.

Our world is an integral system. That’s why it is necessary to improve the entire world, mend our inclusion into each other and the rest of souls. If you do, you begin sensing yourself in a perfect and absolutely comfortable state.

Question: What does the correction of our inclusion in other souls mean?

Answer: It signifies the state of “loving thy neighbor as thyself.” Before we completely correct ourselves, entirely and mutually, we will continue asking questions about the reasons for earthly afflictions without being able to find suitable answers.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/27/15

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Crossing Edom

laitman_747_03The Torah, “Numbers,” 20:14, 20:17 – 20:18, 20:21: Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “So says your brother, Israel, You know of all the hardship that has befallen us.

Please let us pass through your land; we will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink well water. We will walk along the king’s road, and we will turn neither to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.

Edom replied to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I go out towards you with the sword!”

Edom refused to allow Israel to cross through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.

Edom is a property of rigid egoism. “Israel passing through” stands for connecting with it.

The Edomite Hills are located in the territory of modern Jordan and can be easily seen from Israel. They represent a passage to the land of Israel that cannot be reached any other way.

For forty years the people of Israel were acquiring the properties of Bina in the desert. Their endless wandering in the desert are about spiritual combinations of Malchut and Bina that show how to prepare for entering the land of Israel (Malchut) and mastering it with the newly-acquired property of bestowal.

Only after this happens, can the Jews enter the promised land. But it is not yet the land of Israel because it under the authority of the seven nations. This is when the actual conquering begins, processing the land with the help of properties of Bina.

This explains why crossing Edom is actually a transition from Malchut to Bina. But it doesn’t allow them to do it because it is the last egoistic property before entering the land of Israel that must be forcefully overcome. Seven egoistic nations wait for the Jews in the land of Israel, seven huge impure forces: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. They also have to be conquered and corrected.

This is why the king of Edom rejects them so that they become prepared for the last journey, unite, and acknowledge that without the Creator they won’t survive. The passage is about the conquest of themselves, their victory over egoism.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/24/15

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Internal and External, Part 3

laitman_750_03Important Definitions: “Israel” and “The Nations of the World”

Question: What does “Israel” and “the nations of the world” mean?

Answer: Israel are those who are directed strictly to the Creator (Yashar-El). People that belong to Israel have a point in the heart that shines in them, that is, a point inside the ego that seeks an answer to: what the purpose of life is, why we live, what the goal of creation is? All these questions lead to Kabbalah.

The nations of the world are those in whom the point in the heart has not yet been revealed; this is why their actions are triggered by pure egoism.

Points in the heart opened in some people in ancient Babylon, at the time of Abraham, and the same is happening in our time. This aspiration of one’s heart defines Israel.

Further, the historical people of Israel emerged from the same group and departed ancient Babylon with Abraham. They came together based on a feeling that made them stand out from all the Babylonians: they had the same desire, the point in the heart. So they joined the Abraham, who led them out of Babylon.

The souls of those that once rallied around Abraham underwent numerous reincarnations and currently constitute contemporary Jewish people. Due to the endless afflictions and pain they went through, a corrupt egoistic desire concealed their points in the heart; however, the points are still there inside them, only hidden.

In Shamati #199, Baal HaSulam wrote: Every man of Israel has an internal point in the heart, which is considered simple faith. This is an inheritance from our fathers, who stood at Mount Sinai. However, it is covered by many Klipot (shells), which are all kinds of dresses of Lo Lishma (not for Her Name), and the shells should be removed. Then his basis will be called “faith alone,” without any support and outside help.

So, this is why the first ones who we appeal to are the Jews. Actually, we address the same pool of people. Contemporary Jews represent only two tribes of Israel; the other ten tribes are spread among humanity and are concealed from us.

However, it is not important: Anybody who feels aspiration towards the goal of creation is called “Israel” in accordance with the most accurate definition of this word based on unity of the group that originated in ancient Babylon.

These people do much more for the cause of correction than a regular Jew who has an Israeli passport and lives in Israel, but doesn’t feel any aspiration towards the goal of creation. The more one corresponds to the spiritual definition of “Israel,” the more good one can bring.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/9/15, Lesson on the Topic: “Selections from the Source on the Topic of Connection Between Internality and Externality in the Torah to Israel’s Redemption”

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Where Will I Go After Death?

Laitman_712_03Question: Is there heaven or hell after death according to Kabbalah? If so, do you have any intention of getting there after your physical, corporeal death?

Answer: Hell is a state when a spiritually elevated person falls into egoism. This is called hell. A person burns with shame because of his egoism. This is the fire of hell and punishment.

And when, on the contrary, one rises to the property of love and bestowal, one feels that one is higher than this world. One experiences the state of eternity, perfection, and infinity. This state is called paradise, heaven.

We sense these two states—heaven or hell—during our spiritual ascents or descents back into this world. Only Kabbalists are able to feel both states. They are not at all connected with the corporeal life or death.

Our bodies are just animals that are given to us only to serve as the basis of our physical existence. Based on this framework, our spiritual advancement is possible.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks solely of our spiritual development. If we do not advance spiritually during our lifetime, we die as any other animal and that’s it for us.

There is no target of getting somewhere after our bodily death. After death nothing changes. But it is possible to attain the upper world during our lifetimes.

The purpose of Kabbalah is to achieve the sensation of heaven during our current lifetime. And then,our animal existence isn’t an obstacle. In other words, the body can die, but we are already in the upper world. This is exactly what needs to be done: develop our soul.

Each of us is given an animate body in this material realm. At the same time, we have a point, the embryo of the soul. If we develop this embryo, we begin sensing spiritual life through it. Then, the death of our body doesn’t matter! We start sensing the next level of universe in the subsequent dimension.

At the same time, if we don’t develop the point in the heart, nothing will happen after our physical death. The point in the heart, the embryo of the soul, will be born again in a new animal body, thus giving us another chance to advance with the help of Kabbalah.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/27/15

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Identifying With The People

laitman_740_02The Torah, Numbers 20:9 – 20:11: Moses took the staff from before the Lord as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Now listen, you rebels, can we draw water for you from this rock?”

Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, when an abundance of water gushed forth, and the congregation and their livestock drank.

Moses cannot be connected to the Creator in the way that he is connected to the people. Therefore, instead of speaking to the rock as the Creator had commanded him, he struck the rock, performing an action to evoke pity for the people, empathy with Malchut, that wants to attain the attribute of Bina (bestowal).

For example, if anyone, even the wisest sage who wants to work only with the intention of in order to bestow, had a son or a grandson that suffers terribly for no reason, would he be able to remain loyal to the attribute of bestowal, convincing himself that this is Hesed (Mercy), and not the attribute of Din (Judgment)? Blood is thicker than water.

Therefore, a person is tested constantly in spirituality as to how much he is really part of the system of providence. At first, he cannot enter it and doesn’t see everything, but later everything becomes clear to him. It isn’t revealed in an egoistic manner, but only in the attribute of bestowal, the attribute of the ascent above his ego in which he feels the sufferings of more than his small child.

However, Moses cannot do it differently because if he had not sympathized with the people, he would not have been able to raise the desires of the children of Israel to the Creator. He is between them.

The question is, how could he have done otherwise? If he absorbed the sufferings of the people so much, it is likely that this justifies his action, and that this is the right approach toward the Creator.

The people cannot ascend to the Creator, and Moses actually raises their prayer: Here are our demands to You. Thus, he devotes himself to the people. Hitting the rock conveys the attitude of the people as to what is going on.

He absorbed the cry of the people, and thanks to that, they can enter the land of Israel and he cannot. This means that here he totally connects himself with both the people and the Creator.

We know of such cases throughout history. For example, Abraham asked the Creator not to destroy Sodom when its people were mired in sin, and Baal HaSulam asked to be lowered from his level so that the people would hear and feel him.

All of this suggests that the spiritual leaders always empathized with their people, with their anxieties and aspirations, because they are at the junction of the righteous people, humanity, and the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/24/15

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 12.06.15

Preparation for the Lesson

[media 1] [media 2]

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 12

[media 3] [media 4]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Exile and Redemption”

[media 5] [media 6]

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Sulam Commentary,” Item 73

[media 7] [media 8]