Question: You said that it is very important to study the upper worlds and the structure of the soul because this is most important for spiritual advancement. But if we have friends in the group who do not want to study the structure of the soul, they are not interested in it, can they still advance? If they have no desire, can they attain the spiritual world?

Answer: There are very different people in our world, and each had a place in the completed creation. Each person born corporeally has a point inside him or herself that has its place in the general soul.

Therefore, you cannot reject anyone. Not a single person. He may be humanity’s greatest savage; nevertheless, he still must be corrected and granted his place in the common system, Adam—the common soul.

Therefore, if a person does not want to or cannot study the structure of the soul, he is not drawn to it, and he does not understand it, as long as he does not interfere, since there is a condition of “no coercion” in Kabbalah, then you leave him alone.

What does no coercion mean? He does not push you to be like him, he agrees to sit quietly and dissolve in the group, then he is like a germ in you, so you should leave him alone. As long as he brings no harm.

Such people should be kept close. Gradually, they will begin to get used to it, will start to feel things. Nothing can be done here. It is very difficult. I, too, was like this: I did not agree to it, had no desire for it, until I gradually came to understand that this was precisely the way to advance.

One cannot know the ways of the Creator, and so we have to advance. I went through many different states and therefore I say one must have patience, and if a person brings no harm, let him be with to us.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/4/19

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New Life #9 – The Power of the Ego
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

It is possible to harness the tremendous power of the ego to build a society that actually supports, develops, and unifies its members. Humans want to control the environment and use it for their own benefit, to bend it to be under them. If we put the environment first and show each person that society expects him to treat others well, envy, lust, honor, and control will work for the good. That is to say, he will use the same desires that he used to use selfishly, to the detriment of the environment, for the good of society because we will understand our mutual dependence. Using the ego correctly balances our relationships and all levels of nature.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #9 – The Power of the Ego,” 1/6/12

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Lesson Preparation

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,”  Items 30 – 34

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Question: There are several theories about the perception of reality: what reality is, what its connection with people is, and whether it exists outside of a person.

Newton, for example, believed that the world exists without any connection with humanity. Whether humanity exists or not, the world has always existed and will exist without it.

The theory of relativity says that perception is relative and depends on the location of the observer and on the speed with which he is moving.

Quantum physics came to the conclusion that this world is an illusion and depends on the observer, that is, we create this world.

What does Kabbalah say about the reality we feel?

Answer: Kabbalah says that there is only a person who perceives just what he has within himself. That is, the entire world is within me. There is no world outside of me. I feel myself, and all the changes within me seem to me as changes in the world around me.

I as if project all my internal feelings, experiences, and opinions outward, and this is depicted to me in the form of pictures of the world. The world is my inner state.

Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”: “We see a wide world before us, wondrously filled. But in fact, we see all that only in our own interior. In other words, there is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain, which portrays everything that appears to us and nothing outside of us.”

That is, everything that appears to me as external, I actually see in my brain. There are various pictures of reality whirling inside it that allegedly exist around me, but they are nothing more than a projection of my changing desires, thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I feel them in the form of a picture of the world.

If I did not see this picture in a form of an immense world with many planets, people, flowers, animals, and so on, I would feel it inside of me in such a small micro dose that I could not develop at all. And this way, everything within me is enlarged by billions of times and unfolds around me. Therefore, the world is a projection of myself.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 11/26/18

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Question: What is “a moment”?

Answer: A moment is a closure, the point of Zivug de Hakaa (coupling by striking), that is, the point of contact of the Creator’s intention to the creature and of the creature’s intention to the Creator. When this mutual contact occurs between them: me with Him and He with me, then this particular contact is called “a moment.”

Question: A complete cycle of spiritual states is a year. What is a year made of?

Answer: A physical year consists of a complete cycle of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun, when they complete their physical revolution. It is possible to calculate how much time each one of these cycles takes and how they are relative to each other. This is astronomy.

Question: According to what time should we properly measure our lives?

Answer: By internal time. Do it so that you will always be directed toward the Creator. We learn this from the book of Shamati and other articles. If you do this, you will truly realize your life.

Question: How does ignorance and non-observance of the laws of time influence our physical or spiritual life, its flow and development?

Answer: This is a whole system in which the higher management drives you more or less, depending on your efforts. In addition, it also depends on the structure of your soul, how much it can and must participate in the realization and correction of the rest of the souls. This is not easy.

Question: Why is time compressed thousands of times in a convention and the three days are like “compressed” years?

Answer: It is not the time that is compressed, but the intensity of perception increases. What you perceive during a convention is equivalent to an entire year of study. This is natural.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/30/18

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New Life 1112 – Avoiding Suffering And Pain
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

All of life is an avoidance of suffering, but without it we cannot feel pleasure. We have become more sensitive to the quality of suffering as human egoism has developed, yet the source of our pain remains concealed. Kabbalah teaches us that it comes from a lack of self-realization and that, in order to prevent it, we have to change the inner determinants within human nature. When we ask the question “Why am I living?” and discover the purpose of pain, then it no longer hurts and it becomes an investment for achieving a goal. Suffering can show a person where one is wrong and help one explore and discover one’s purpose by correcting his attitude.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1112 – Avoiding Suffering And Pain,” 5/14/19

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Question: We know that the inanimate level wants to preserve itself. How can one move from this state to the vegetative level? How do we combine the two desires?

Answer: The inanimate level refers to all of nature. A spiritually inanimate level in me is a feeling of no inner spiritual movement, no possibility to bestow, to fulfill someone, to be somewhat similar to the Creator. On the contrary, there is an understanding that I exist under the control of my egoistic desires, which are given to me by the Creator and the Creator controls them.

The spiritually inanimate level is the realization that all my desires come from the Creator, are dictated by Him, and I am under His full authority. I am an egoist because He created me like this, and then I say that I am under Pharaoh’s control. This, however, is also the Creator, only in reverse.

I feel that I am ruled by the egoism given to me by the Creator. All my desires, all movements, everything I do—how I sit, walk, act, and think—the Creator generates in me.

I can then say that I am at the spiritually inanimate level. This is a spiritual level because it is connected with the Creator, and an inanimate level because not one of my movements are mine, everything is only His.

It is a very interesting state. It applies to no other people in our world because they are generally non-spiritual.

“Spiritual” means connection with the Creator. Moreover, a clear connection: I feel how the Creator moves my arms, legs, thoughts, feelings; everything I feel around me is also Him. Through all the “puppets” in my whole life, He has such an effect on me. All this is a spiritually inanimate level.

It is not an easy step in the attainment of the universe and the Creator.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/9/19

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Question: How does the quality of faith (Hassadim) become the quality of wisdom (Hochma)? Can a spiritual quality transform from one to the other?

Answer: No. The quality of faith is the quality of bestowal and if I have the quality of bestowal and it is sufficiently strong, then I can already receive the feeling of the Creator in it, which is called the light of Hochma.

Question: You say: “there is no faith.” But don’t we talk about: “faith in the teacher, faith in the friend, faith in the books, faith in the Creator”?

Answer: This is not the same faith Kabbalah speaks about. In Kabbalah, faith is the force with which I can create and act. It is an opportunity to be like the Creator.

Question: How does a brand new student become acquainted with the wisdom of Kabbalah? Is it better to read from the sources: Rabash, Baal HaSulam, and your books?

Answer: I would recommend reading my book Attaining the Worlds Beyond. Even though I do not consider it as a primary source, I think that this is the most appropriate book for getting acquainted with Kabbalah. To some extent, this book is an easier translation of the book Shamati.

Question: If a person’s development was in awareness and feelings and that person died at the age of 10, 12, 14, or 17, then in the next incarnation, would that person’s awareness and feelings remain at the same age? Would this be a soul or a spirit?

Answer: All that a person goes through in this life is not lost and one continues on their way.

Question: I do not see how to realize myself in this world in order to maintain my corporeal needs. I feel I am in the dark. Is it worthwhile for me to direct all my efforts in finding a group and studying, with the belief that this will actually give me understanding?

Answer: I believe that a person needs to acquire a profession that will make it possible for him to support himself and his family in a normal way, without any luxuries, and to dedicate the rest of his time to spiritual development. This will certainly already be an optimal life.

Question: What is “intellect” from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: From the point of view of Kabbalah, intellect is the light of Hochma that fills the light of Hassadim.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/23/18

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