Comment: During a good performance in the theater, the script itself and the scenes become secondary, while something internal begins to be transmitted that is difficult to explain in words—the soul of the performance. It evokes some kind of inspiration, excitement of something greater beyond what you see. Art, in my opinion, exists only for the purpose of having a breakthrough moment, of drinking from some fountain.

My Response: Art shows us that it is possible to rise above the purely psychological, every-day considerations and enter a field that is connected not with what is happening on stage, but with a certain force that controls the movement of some phenomena that exist above us, beyond time and space.

We must begin to feel it within us. This is the theater that is inside of us. And instead of the big green crocodile that is mentioned in The Book of Zohar, I feel a quality called “crocodile.”

This is not a theatrical image that certain people evoke in me. Through allegorical images I begin to feel the spiritual forces that define them and are called a particular word.

For me, this crocodile no longer has an image of a green monster. It can be positive, pleasant, kind, intelligent, controlling, albeit necessary and targeted, etc…

It turns out that when you read The Book of Zohar, you absolutely do not connect words with their images in this world! Once you snap out of it, you start wondering about how others perceive this text or listen to it. And it seriously brings you to some other reality, I would say, to unreality.
[275986]
From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #1

Related Material:
The Book Of Zohar – A System Of Communication With The Upper World
The Secret Effect Of The Book Of Zohar
Why Was The Book of Zohar Written In A Cave?

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work, Zohar - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “Back to the Days of One and Only Truth”

I grew up in Soviet Russia under the communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) regime. In those days, everything was simple: There was only one truth, which came out of the one party, and you could read about it in the only newspaper to be found, which was aptly named Pravda [Truth]. There were no other views to be heard or seen, and the whole nation was brought up and educated according to the one pravda in existence.

On the other side of the world was the great adversary of the truth: America! America had all kinds of ideas, such as more than one party, and the belief that everyone has the right to his or her own opinion, even if it contradicts the pravda. They were the enemy!

The problem with the USSR was that people insisted on having different ideas. Some were devout communists, and some were not. Some even advocated capitalism, the kind that was implemented on the other side of the world. Of course, we couldn’t talk about it, but people still believed it. In the end, it all blew, and blew, and blew, until it blew up.

I can understand the leaders of Soviet Russia; they were only acting naturally. Everyone wants to rule, and when one gets a chance to rule, and eliminate the competition along the way, it stands to reason that he or she will attempt it.

Yet, the world doesn’t consist of only one side but of two (with many in between). We, the people in the middle, must reconcile between the two extremes and use them to our benefit, to everyone’s benefit!

We think of ourselves as separate beings, that only our view matters and an opposite opinion is wrong by default. We forget that were it not for that other opinion, ours would not exist, as well. Instead of realizing that only the joint operation of all views in society creates a complete society, and instead of joining more and more contradictions under the umbrella of our union, we squander our lives trying to destroy those sinful souls whose sin is that they see things differently from us. As a result, there is no union, and there is no society at all, and even our view no longer counts. If you don’t believe me, go look in Russia, see if you can find there communism or capitalism. In the absence of one, you lose the other, too.

Today’s America is rushing toward Russia’s past. Big tech media have decided whose voice should be heard and they will see that only this voice is heard, this voice is the only one that is pravda. The rest is, well, fake news. In order to protect the pravda, everything that contradicts it must be taken off and cancelled: posts, channels, people.

Imagine your heart deciding that your brain is spreading false information to the rest of the body and should therefore be silenced, so your heart stops the blood flow to your brain. Do you realize what that would mean? This is what media giants are doing to society, and it will end exactly the same as if your heart has stopped the blood flow to your brain.

The only solution to the unfolding havoc in America is to realize that union is more important than any particular view. And how do you know with whom to unite? Unite precisely with the one who disagrees with you. And how do you unite? Verify that the person you are facing agrees with you on nothing, verify that he or she understands that no one view has merit on its own, and then go out for a beer together to celebrate your disagreement, as simple as that.

Again, you needn’t agree; you need to appreciate yourselves for being able to transcend your disagreements. This is what makes you human, humane, and not that fact that you advocate some fabricated notion about human society that someone planted in your mind.

In the end, if there is only one truth, it is the truth of our inexorable diversity. Let’s celebrate it, as this is what gives us life.

[A delegate at the Bolshevik 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party holding a Pravda newspaper in 1934.]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Question: The views of Kabbalah are close to Buddhism and in many respects to yoga, Catholicism, and European alchemy, apparently, according to the methods of achieving a brighter future. But, as far as I understand, the brightest future can be achieved only through unity in Kabbalah. Why is that? If other schools offer this, why don’t they count?

Answer: Kabbalists do not reject anyone. But, apparently, there are several ways to unite mankind. Today we understand that without unity we will simply perish, we will destroy each other. From everything that happens to us, we see that this is the only way to salvation. Neither the development of technology nor anything else will help us. We need to develop a person for communication, for a greater good connection with others.

Kabbalah explains how to do this. It relies on a good force hidden in nature that can unite us. Man does not have this power. No matter how many meditations we do or how we  employ various methods with all kinds of exercises, this will not help us, because egoism permeates us literally from top to bottom.

The Kabbalistic methodology is built on uniting humanity with the help of a good force that exists in nature but is hidden from us. Therefore, Kabbalah is called a secret science because it reveals this power, and then by using it, we can unite. This is what makes Kabbalah different from other teachings.

But this is not meditation, not a physical exercise. This is truly delving into nature. But it is different. You just need to understand what it is.

In principle, Kabbalah does not deny anything, in fact, neither do all the other methods. Nor do they deny each other, but each has a different approach.

In humanity there are different groups of people with different inclinations and psychological preparations from nature. And so a different approach is needed. By the way, in Kabbalah it is said that there are many ways to achieve unity.

But the fact that unification between all is the goal and the truly correct way of existence cannot be denied today. A person should check for himself whether the method of Kabbalah suits him. And if not, then he can choose something else.

But all the same, you need to strive to unite people. I believe that this is everyone’s task and responsibility.
[276407]
From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 3/20/19

Related Material:
Unity Is The Purpose Of Evolution In Nature
The Basic Law Of Nature—Unity
I Wouldn’t Like To Repeat A Year At School

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Religion, Science - No Comments →

The Book of Zohar is a system. The ten Kabbalists who wrote it, through their merging with each other, closed the world of infinity with our world in such a way that when we start reading The Book of Zohar, we kind of push the buttons and actually start this system.

That is, we do not just read what is printed. The Book is arranged in such a way that what is printed on paper directly affects our souls, our inner part that is hidden from us.

When a person starts to read, one does not feel anything, but launches this system on oneself, integrates with it, and causes the influence of a higher force, which manifests in the person in their inner part, the soul, which begins to come out.

And then there is contact between the human soul and the upper light and a person begins to feel in this the upper world, the highest state. This is one’s exit into the eternal, perfect dimension. This is what we must achieve while being in this world, in this life, to rise to the next level of existence.
[276494]
From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #2

Related Material:
See The World From End To End
+125 Degrees According To The Zohar
The Power Of The Book Of Zohar

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Zohar - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “The Futility of Leading the World in Vaccinations”

As far as vaccinating its population, Israel is leading the world by such a huge margin that the country in second place, the UAE, is just over half as successful as Israel, and the United States, where the vaccinations are manufactured, is at a distant no. 5, with a vaccination rate that is eight times slower than that of Israel, per capita. Astounded world leaders send delegations to Israel to learn what it is that we are doing right. But while leaders are in awe, the rest of the world is far less impressed, and, stranger still, the infection rate is not declining despite the vaccinations and despite the closure. Why are the vaccines not working?

Instead of admiration, we’re getting admonition from all sides. People are blaming Israel for denying vaccines to the Palestinians. It’s not true, of course, but the truth doesn’t matter. If the Palestinians were to get them first, before any Israeli person, people would say that Israel is trying to eliminate them. Since they’re not getting them fast enough (in some people’s opinion), people are saying that we want them to die of Covid. Either way, their woe is our fault. That’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it’ll always be until we start doing what we must.

Our success in vaccinating the population is remarkable, but it’s not something we should brag about. If we were smarter, we would have done it more quietly and not showed off the numbers. Generally, I don’t see any cause for pride; we’ve created a huge national debt, a huge deficit, and I don’t think that the hope that in a few months the economy will recover thanks to the vaccines and we’ll be able to pay off the debt has any legs to stand on.

It’s great that we’re vaccinating the population but we didn’t do the most important thing, so the vaccines will not help. As long as we don’t follow nature’s laws, nature will keep steering the nations against us. Nature’s laws dictate that Israel will set an example of unity, but we are busy declaring new political parties every other day. We are not an example in the eyes of the world; we are a mockery. A typical comment by a non-Jew to a tweet that one Jew wrote against another stated: “I was told that it’s usually Jews who hate Jews the most.” They look at us with pity.

It’s not as if they don’t know what they want from us. Deep down, the most rabid antisemites feel what they are looking for in Jews. When they blame us for causing all the wars, as did Mel Gibson, for example, they are actually saying that we could prevent these wars. And indeed we could, if we only set an example of unity. But when we set an example of mutual disgust and hatred, this is what the world absorbs from us. Will it be a wonder then that at some point the nations will decide to get rid of us?

It’s not as if we never did anything right. Judaism is based on the most laudable values. We are the only people who became a nation only after they committed to love one another “as one man with one heart”; we are the only nation whose motto was “Love your neighbor as yourself”; and we are the only nation that was tasked with being “a light unto nations,” to set an example of love of others and mutual responsibility.

This is the example that antisemites want us to give. Henry Ford, clearly one of the most notorious antisemites in American history, wrote in his book The International Jew—the World’s Foremost Problem, “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, … would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Likewise, Vasily Shulgin, a senior member of the Russian Parliament before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, was known for his rabid antisemitism. In his book What We Don’t Like About Them..., he wrote about Jews: “Let them … rise to the height to which they apparently climbed [in antiquity] … and immediately, all nations will rush to their feet. They will rush not by virtue of compulsion … but by free will, joyful in spirit, grateful and loving, including the Russians!”

There are more examples but the message is clear. Our job, the job of the Israelis, and the job of every Jew, is to set an example of unity. Whenever we do anything else, it is interpreted as an act against the nations, and we interpret their counter reaction as antisemitism. Therefore, if we want to eliminate antisemitism, we must eliminate division among us. This is what nature’s law demands of us. If we do this, we will inoculate ourselves against any misfortune, including viruses, wars, economic crises and every other misfortune, since we will be in congruence with nature.
[276970]

Filed under: Coronavirus, Israel, New Publications - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic of “Love Covers All Trangressions”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, ‘Histaklut Pnimit,’ Vol. 1, Part 3, Chapter 10, Item 8

Selected Highlights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Comment: Paris hotels are empty. There is a pandemic and no tourists. The Hotel Avenir Montmartre, which is in a good location with a view of the Eiffel Tower, let the homeless in.

The hotel management gave rooms to a homeless charity and provided shelter to people during the year so that they would not freeze on the streets in the cold; they were placed in these rooms. There, they have three meals a day, a warm shower, and a warm toilet.

This charity believes that, in this way, they will be able to make the homeless change their lives.

My Response: No. This is a lifestyle.

Question: To live on the streets?

Answer: Yes! I feel free. I do not owe anything to anyone and no one owes me anything. I do not need anything. I do not want any mutual obligations. I want to feel free.

Question: Is this not a misfortune as we all think?

Answer: This is not a misfortune. It is a feeling of such freedom, such an existence that no one else has.

Comment: I will carefully assume that the homeless are looking at us and saying, “Here are the unfortunate ones! With all their businesses and affairs.”

My Response: Yes. The main thing is that we live in the pursuit of time and they have no time; time has no control over them.

Comment: This is nice. We have a clock ticking all the time, all the time, everything is time, yes. I didn’t have time.

My Response: This is how we subconsciously think that I did not have time to do and what I managed to do.

And here, nothing! Do you understand what happiness is?! For the sake of this feeling of freedom, they are ready to live on the street. A person always chooses egoistically, there is nothing you can do about this. This is our nature. They choose this state. Therefore, they will come, of course, to the hotels, but I do not think there will be very many of them.

I do not think they will use hotels 100%. These are people who, in principle, do not care so much about whether or not they washed themselves and even whether they ate normally or not, as long as this would not affect the sense of their timelessness. We do not even feel how it is possible to exist outside of time, outside of movement. This is actually a spiritual feeling since time is the most important thing we have.

Comment: Yes. These are our fetters. If you go on a little longer, I will drop everything and go out on the street, just like that. There is even some romance in this.

My Response: This is the choice a person has, not because he couldn’t do anything else. This is his choice. I would even say that France has enough funds to look after these clochards [vagrants], not necessarily now, because of the pandemic, but in general, there were all sorts of opportunities.

Yet, they do not leave the streets. They believe that such an existence gives them a sense of freedom. You can say, “But they do not exist as homeless people, they exist as animals.” They live on the street, no matter where, how, or what. That’s right. But, this is their choice.

The most important thing is whether a person controls time or time controls a person, right up to the point of death.

Question: How can we, without going out onto the streets, begin to control time?

Answer: To do this, we must get out of all the restraints that our egoism imposes on us, rise above them, above egoism, and begin to act in a completely different way, not for ourselves, but for others. We have no other choice. Then, you will feel that you are coming out of one captivity and falling into another captivity, into caring for others, but there you will feel free from earthly fetters.

Comment: But, still, looking at the homeless.

My Response: Envy them! On the other hand, we can say that we are now getting closer to them in some ways. The virus makes us stay at home and not rush.

You cannot do anything anyway. Stay at home for a couple of months longer and then you will check to see if you can stick your nose out onto the street or not. If you are not yet above your destiny, then you will stay at home for a couple of months more and so on, until you start to feel that there is no time.

Now, you are still writing in your calendar, another couple of months, another three months, and more. When you stop doing that, you will lose your sense of time. Then, instead of a sense of time, you will have another sense.

You will begin to define this feeling as other space-time relationships and connection between everyone. The past, present, and future will become a movement toward universal connection. Then, you will measure in this way: if there is a connection and it becomes more and more explicit and desirable, then I go forward and I live. If this connection does not manifest in a larger and larger connection between us, then time begins to fly. This is exactly when it flies.

Question: Does this mean that time stops when I find a connection with others, as if I have passed into an almost eternal state?

Answer: Yes. If everything moves, not within me, but between me and others, then time slows down to a standstill.

Comment: Thoughts about others, living for others, I will live like this.

My Response: Yes. Circulation within a closed system will bring this system into a state of absolute rest.

This feeling is the attainment of the Creator.
[276647]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/21/20

Related Material:
Time Depends On Us
Time Is The Intensity Of Actions
Going Beyond The Limits Of Time

Filed under: Crisis, Free Will, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Question: How can one get rid of strong negative emotions when experiencing suffering; how can one overcome them and sincerely thank the Creator?

Answer: It is only through connecting with the group. The moment you feel a negative emotion and along with it you want to be alone, withdraw and shrink, you should immediately go to the group, devote yourself to it, and melt into it. This is the best method for getting rid of suffering.

Question: If so, is a person without a group condemned to suffering?

Answer: Without a group a person cannot develop. A person must find a group for oneself, either physical or virtual, because a person must be in connection with other people.
[242301]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/18/18

Related Material:
The Desirable Way To The Goal
Advancing Together Or Suffering On My Own
A School For Unique People

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

New Life 1292 – How To Reduce Stress And Anxiety?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

We experience stress and anxiety due to our egoistic attitudes toward others and not because of any external factors at home or work. We think we are stressed due to issues related to money, health, work, and home, all of which have all been exacerbated by Covid in recent months. We resist what is happening and worry and want to control the future so that it will be less uncertain. The truth is that we are not in charge.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that all of these issues come to us from Mother Nature so that we will learn to let go of our belief that we can control the future and instead will attribute the issues we are facing to the benevolent leadership of the upper force.

We need to actively change our approach to the people in our lives so that we will be more friendly with them, in the same way that all of nature’s actions toward us are friendly and good. We need to consciously choose to accept and flow with the providence of the upper force in the same way that the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature do. Like a baby being taken care of by its mother, we need to trust, learn, and grow in her loving arms. In this way we calm down and become partners in a mutual relationship based on love within an integral system.
[276071]
From KabTV’s “New Life 1292 – How To Reduce Stress And Anxiety?” 27/12/20

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Health, New Life - No Comments →