Audio Version Of The Blog – 5/11/22
Posted on May 11th, 2022
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Some students complain that they do not understand the material that we study from the book The Study of the Ten Sefirot and are not able to feel it. This is not surprising, no one expects such an ability from them, but where is the correct reaction?
The entire study of the wisdom of Kabbalah happens through discovering that a person is deaf to it; he is not able to understand it with his mind and feel it with his heart. He does not understand what they want from him at all. After reading all these abstruse texts, he just wants to lie down on the sofa and close his eyes or at least turn on the TV or the Internet. This lack of understanding is not an innovation at all.
The innovation is that I go to the ten with this problem and try to assemble the answer there, like a puzzle, in order to understand what they want from me. I listen to my friends and talk to them, and you should not think that we are solving this issue with our own minds.
No, we turn to the Creator with this and demand from Him that He will teach us, connect us in the correct form, and reveal this picture between us so that we would understand it. It is called, “By Your actions, we know You.”
We need all the wisdom to be revealed in practice, in our connection. Otherwise, we will not be able to understand it. Kabbalah cannot be attained by the corporeal mind and feelings. It is said that “It is not the wise who learn.”
Even if you put Einstein or Nobel Laureates to study, nothing will help. Only the connection between us and the request to the Creator will help, and then the Creator will reveal the correct state between us, that is, the solution.
Therefore, the study does not require a lot of intelligence but rather, connection with the ten where everyone annuls himself before his friends and asks the Creator to reveal the state that we are studying to us inside the ten. After all, the group is the ten Sefirot, a spiritual structure where the answer can be revealed. This is called practical Kabbalah.
Therefore, I do not worry if the student does not understand the text. No one understands anything, and this is natural. All that is required of us is for everyone to unite and solve the problem by the method of practical Kabbalah, that is, by connection and not by intellect. After all, we are not at the university. If something is not clear to us, then we are really faced with a problem that requires a solution.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/3/22, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot”
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Question: What is the effect of the Land of Israel on people? There are nine climatic zones here, and in each are there are certain spiritual forces that influence a person.
Answer: This is a very special place on the planet and there are a great number of natural zones in it. You can drive from north to south and in practically a few hours you will cross a variety of geographical zones. In order to experience this in another country, you need to travel hundreds of times more.
Question: It is written in all the sources that Israel is the center of the world, the heart of the world. What does it mean?
Answer: It means the spiritual center of the world. Of course, they can tell you that there are Mecca, Medina and other holy places.
However, the center of the world means a place on our planet which has a certain spiritual power, corresponding to the spiritual root. This is why it is special.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22
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Question: For decades, scientists have been puzzled over antimatter, which created the Big Bang and then, it seems, disappeared.
They say that the universe originated at the junction between matter and antimatter. And if matter can be investigated, then antimatter has disappeared from the universe at the moment.
Is it so? What happened before the Big Bang?
Answer: First of all, I would like us to move away from the concept of place, because everything that we feel and do not feel is in one volume. In our universe there are a huge number of all kinds of objects, forces, and phenomena that we do not notice, do not perceive, and therefore cannot investigate. We will never define them through our qualities, feelings, science, and logic, and therefore, we will not study and learn anything about them.
We just need to understand that everything exists in the same volume, only it is concealed from us and more and more is hidden. We live within the framework of a special perception of ourselves as existing in time, in some kind of sequence. In fact, this is due to the consistent concealment of some forms from us and the revelation of others, which, accordingly, gives us a sense of time, some kind of process.
Kabbalah says that we do not need to go anywhere in time. Instead of going back 15 billion years, we just need to go inside and reveal what has always existed, only removed from us in sensation.
Let’s say, talking now, we can literally move away from each other with thoughts and feelings in a few seconds, stop instantly feeling each other. Which means, all this exists in us as if within the framework of time, yet it is not time, but sensation.
Time is a change of sensations. Therefore, we can go against time: backward, forward, in any direction. If at the same time we awaken all the past states in ourselves, then we will cause a sense of time and we will be able to go back.
And it is the same about you. Today I feel like an adult, elderly. But I can go back in time and feel like a little boy. All these scenes remain like windows in a computer, only overlaid on each other, and therefore, we can go through them in the opposite direction, summon them, and define them.
Regarding what happened before the Big Bang, we will never know in our current senses. We will come, as everywhere in science, to the border beyond which we cannot attain anything. Our matter will spread out there, turn, as we can already see, into waves, and waves into something incomprehensible, imperceptible. No matter what accelerators we build, no matter how we collide particles with huge energies, we will discover a reality that escapes us.
We will feel that it exists, but it exists somewhere here. And with our sense organs and measuring instruments, which practically only expand the range of human perception, we will never feel these phenomena, because they exist in another dimension. For this, we need a completely different mind, different feelings, and a different logic, which we do not have today. It’s a different nature.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Will of the Universe” 11/28/10
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Comment: When a force that reveals a point in the heart appears in a person, he begins to look for something. This point then pulls all his other desires out of egoism.
In principle a division and interconnection takes place here between different desires such as Egyptians, Israelis, and Pharaoh.
My Response: It all exists within one person. He must examine himself, which of his desires are at the level of our world and will not lead him anywhere, he will stay with them like an animal, and will die like that. Or his desires are able to pull him to the next level, and there he will exist in the feeling of the upper world.
Question: When a person leaves Egypt, does he consciously work with his desires, or does it happen automatically, like in a child who develops and only then understands what it all is about?
Answer: Gradually, a person begins to understand more and more consciously that there are such desires in him that can raise him above the nature of our world.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/19/22
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Question: Where does thought originate from? How can a person get in touch with it?
Answer: We are in the field of thought. So, it is an induction. It evokes all sorts of individual thoughts in us.
The common field in which we exist like specks of dust in the air,—that is, the air itself, the thought itself, the field itself—inductively sets in us all kinds of thoughts that allow us to understand each other, to feel this field, its general movement, to influence it back, etc.
In principle, Kabbalah deals with the general field theory. By this field we mean the Creator. This is not some grandfather who directs us from above but a common field, a common plan.
Kabbalah talks about how this plan can be influenced, how it affects us, and how we can come into balance with it, which is the goal of our current existence, i.e., to achieve equilibrium with the common field.
When we reach complete homeostasis, then we enter the next stage of creation. This is the dialectic of our development.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Secrets of Immortality”
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why can’t I feel God?“
We do not feel God because our quality is different to His. However, we can feel God by equalizing with His quality.
What is God’s quality? It is a quality of love, bestowal and connection. Our qualities are reception, hatred and rejection. That is why we do not feel Him.
We live within bubbles of egoism, which is the desire to enjoy at the expense of others and everything outside of us. We see everything through egoistic lenses. That is, our senses are self-aimed and we perceive reality through these senses.
We cannot see reality beyond these senses, and likewise, we cannot see the reality of love, bestowal and connection. We also have a quality of love and bestowal, but it is egoistic, i.e. aimed at benefiting ourselves alone.
Does God—Who is also called “the Creator” and “the upper force” in the wisdom of Kabbalah—want to be in contact with us?
God only wants to be in contact with us, to reveal Himself to us and His quality of love and bestowal. Gradually, He brings us to a state where we first and foremost see ourselves according to our true self-receptive nature, and that existing in the force of reception is a very low, transient and futile form of existence. We then become ready to see that the way to come out into truth, eternity and perfection is through attaining the quality of love, bestowal and connection. We will then feel God.
Based on the video “Why Don’t We Feel the Creator?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Guns Stop Roaring – War Begins”
There is a wave of terror in the State of Israel these days. Even when terrorists do not succeed in their attempts to murder innocent civilians in their homes or on the street, there is not a day without several attempts. The tension and the common anxiety are creating a sense of solidarity that Israelis do not feel during quieter times. Regrettably, when the wave subsides, we can expect Israelis to return to the normalcy of internal bickering, division, and mutual contempt that are the causes of the endless waves of violence against us. Hostility toward Israel will end when Israelis rise above their hostility toward each other.
On the one hand, missiles over our heads and terrorists on our streets are an awful reality. On the other hand, in a state of immediate danger, the picture is clear: An enemy has come to kill us and we must work together to protect ourselves. The fear creates a sense of togetherness, which in turn engenders unity. People’s willingness to help each other, make concessions, and be kind to one another creates a warm feeling of closeness.
It is good, but it is not enough because it does not last one day beyond the end of the violence against us. “In that sense, we are like a pile of nuts, united into a single body from the outside by a sack that envelops and unites them.” This is how Baal HaSulam, the great 20th century kabbalist, described it. “Their measure of unity,” he continues, “does not make them a united body, and each movement applied to the sack produces in them tumult and separation. Thus, they consistently arrive at new unions and partial aggregations. The fault is that they lack the inner unity, and their whole force of unity comes through outside incidents.”
Our greatest challenge, therefore, is to build a connection, a sense of unity that will remain in times of peace, and not only as a comfort or as support in times of war. It is vital that we achieve it. Unity is our shield at all times, and the lack thereof brings upon us trouble. “When Israel’s unity is restored,” writes the book Shem MiShmuel, “evil will have no place in which to install error and external forces within them, for when they are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”
The book Maor VaShemesh echoes these words, saying, “The primary defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between one another in Israel, no calamity can befall them and by that, all the curses and suffering are banished.”
We therefore see that unity is not a shield we should erect when troubles come upon the Jewish people. Unity is our instrument for achieving success, prosperity, and safety.
Moreover, because of Israel’s unique position and calling in the world, when there are peace and unity within Israel, it brings peace to the entire world. The Book of Zohar writes that when Israel are divided, “Woe unto them, for they cause poverty and ruin, looting and killing, and destruction in the world.”
Baal HaSulam quotes the words of The Zohar and adds, “In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), ‘No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.’” In other words, antisemitism and the aspiration to destroy the State of Israel and the Jewish people are the result of the Jews’ own hatred for each other.
In his essay “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam draws a very clear conclusion as to what Jews must do following the horrors of the Holocaust. “After, through our many faults, we have witnessed all that is said, …and of all the glory that Israel had had in the countries of Poland and Lithuania, etc., there remains but the relics in our holy land, now it is upon us, relics, to correct that dreadful wrong.” And the way to correct this, he suggests, is through our unity.
His contemporary, the great Rav Kook, writes very similarly. “The world, which is now falling to the dreadful storms of the blood-streaked sword,” he begins with his eloquent style, “requires the establishment of the Israeli nation. The establishment of the nation and the revelation of its spirit are one and the same, and it is one with the construction of the world, which is crumbling and yearning for a force full of unity and sublimity, which is found only in the soul of Israel.” Therefore, he concludes, “This great hour [calls] on all the forces in the nation: ‘Awaken and arise to your duty!’”
If we are true to our calling, then the next time guns stop roaring, an internal war will not begin.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Victory Day – a Sad Reminder”
This past Saturday, May 7, was the day when Nazi Germany signed its official surrender to the Allies. The following day, May 8, was declared as Victory Day in Europe. The Soviet Union declared the following day, May 9, as Victory Day, but either way, the war continued until Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945, following the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If there has ever been a sad victory, it is the victory of the Allies in World War II. Not only was this war the worst of all the wars, we have not learned a thing from it, other than to build the worst ever weapon. Given the chance, I have no doubt that another world war will break out, and it is certain to be nuclear.
The only country that may have learned a good lesson from the war is Japan. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes. It was enacted on May 3, 1947, following World War II, and states that explicitly offensive weapons, such as ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, are prohibited. Although the constitution was imposed by the occupying United States in the post-World War II period, Japan maintains its army as a defensive force and refrains from using offensive weapons like ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons to this day.
Regrettably, I do not see the Japanese approach to war taking root anywhere outside Japan. In fact, even Japan’s lesson is only partial since avoidance is not a correction. Correction, which is the only way to prevent war in the long run, must incorporate a radical shift in our relationships, and not only a commitment to refrain from using offensive weapons and weapons of mass destruction.
It is not only World War II that makes me pessimistic. For thousands of years, humanity has lived by the sword. As soon as nations conclude one campaign, they begin to develop deadlier and more sinister weapons for their future conflicts. There is not even a thought in the direction of peace, but only in the direction of winning more decisively.
In the previous century, humanity experienced the most horrendous forms of mass killing, indeed of extermination of human beings. In World War I, chemical warfare was introduced, and in World War II, nuclear warfare became a tool in the arsenal of armies. Yet, despite the horrific consequences of using such weapons, not only were they not banned, they were proliferated and their power grew hundreds of times worse than the already monstrous potential that was displayed in Japan. It seems as though no agony, however dreadful, will make humanity turn away from mutual destruction.
When I came to learn with my teacher, RABASH, he taught me what his father, the great kabbalist and thinker Baal HaSulam, had taught him: Nature pushes humanity forward “in two ways—the ‘path of light,’ and the ‘path of suffering’—in a way that guarantees humanity’s continuous development and progress.”
In truth, however, the path of suffering does not teach us anything, as is evidently clear. All it does is convince us to look for a better, or at least less painful way forward.
Conversely, the path of light consists of developing the core values that make a society prosperous and strong: solidarity, cohesion, and mutual concern. At their highest level, they are called “love of others.” Nevertheless, even before a society achieves the final degree of caring, the positive emotions among its members solidify it and ensure peace and prosperity for all its members.
In the 1930s, long before anyone imagined the possibility of a nuclear bomb, Baal HaSulam wrote these astounding words in order to prove to humanity that we must take the path of light: “Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed we have already come to such a degree where the whole world is considered one collective and one society. That is, …each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world.”ADVERTISEMENT
If he wrote this in the 1930s, what can we say today, when our interdependence has increased many times over? And if we are indeed so dependent on each other, how can we dare contemplate using nuclear arms against each other?
Yet, we do dare, and we are careless as though our fates do not affect each other. Therefore, until we acknowledge that peace is our only way to survive, physically, we are doomed to live by the sword, or as Baal HaSulam described it, “Thus, humanity is being fried in a heinous turmoil, and strife and famine and their consequences have not ceased thus far.” Worse yet, “We can see that to the extent that humankind develops, the pains and torments obtaining our sustenance and existence also multiply.” This is the proof, says Baal HaSulam, that nature “has commanded us to observe with all our might … bestowal upon others… in such a way that no member from among us would work any less than the measure required to secure the happiness of society and its success.”
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Question: Modern trade is set up to enable us to profit as much money from others as possible. But in the past, everything was based on trust, goods were provided and the money was paid later. What is the point of the new form of trade?
Answer: Trading is not about deceiving another. This is already robbery. Any trade involves a lack of a product somewhere, which I bring and sell because people there need it. What is deceitful about this? Just as all the organs of the body serve, supply each other, and complement each other, so it is here. This is vital.
Trade forms the blood vessels that transport nutrients as needed: back and forth. And the fact that trade today is based on deception, cheating others, and imposing what they do not need on them or having them swallow all sorts of harmful products, is a whole different ball game. This should not happen.
In fact, trade has never been conducted this way. Everything between the Jews was built on complete trust. My great-grandfather worked for an orthodox owner in the village as a production manager. He had a small notebook and no accounting books. My grandfather told me about it. My great-grandfather wrote down everything in this notebook and kept track of it all. When the Soviet government came, he was imprisoned and several people took over his job in the accounting department. To no use!
It all depends on how you approach the work and how you run the operation. Either one person with a small notebook or twenty people sorting through pieces of paper. Therefore, a proper attitude holds immense potential.
Question: Will this period in which people are ready to kill each other for profit ever end?
Answer: They have to taste it all and then they will come to the realization. I have no doubt about it. I’m an optimist. A fatalist and an optimist.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. World Financial Problems” 5/4/10
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