Love—The Source of Life

277Question: What does love give to a person?

Answer: Love gives a person an inner radiance that enlivens him. Life.

But the problem is that love is a much deeper relationship that we must reveal between us.

It is not about those feelings that arise according to a person’s inner inclinations, which are instilled in him by nature or acquired through upbringing. We must first reveal the proper values—to understand what is truly called love, to what extent we exist within the nature of mutual hatred and mutual rejection, and if that is so, then what must be done in order to attain love, since the source of life is love.

Question: Must we reveal what love is?

Answer: We must reveal the secret of life. This secret is connected with love. For without it, there is no continuation.

If there were no attraction between plus and minus on the still level, no joining and separating between molecules on the vegetative level, if there were no such calculations between living bodies, when one hates or loves another depending on the level of development, if there were no feeling of a mother’s love for her child on the animate and human level, then without this, nature would not develop, not even the simplest cell would exist.

Everything exists according to love and hatred, according to the force of attraction and repulsion. These two forces must be balanced.

Therefore, it is not by chance that it is written in the wisdom of Kabbalah: “Love will cover all crimes.” These two fundamental forces, located at the center of creation, must be balanced with one another, and then between them there will be proper, gradual development until such a degree that both love and hatred will develop to infinite proportions. And in this way we will attain the world of infinity, the world of truth, which is the goal of our development.

Therefore we still have to reveal how to come to the clarification of what love truly is—for it is the source of life.
[180108]
From the conversation “New Life 692 – What Is Love?”, 2/16/2016

Related Material:
Life Means Getting Closer To Love
Kabbalah Is The Science Of Love
True Love from the Perspective of Kabbalah

Arthouse, Dostoevsky, Diamonds…

511.01Question: There are different categories of cinema. Arthouse is experimental cinema. There are more serious films, there is Hollywood, and everyone positions themselves as something important. I used to be fascinated by arthouse. But now I cannot even watch these films because essentially they are flat experiences, like you said about Dostoevsky, that a man killed an old woman and writes about it. In fact, there is no benefit in this at all. What does it actually give a person?

Answer: The problem is that there is no clear benchmark that a person can measure themselves against.

For example, Dostoevsky has wonderful statements about love on one hand, and on the other hand, such hatred. He does not know how to position himself.

That is, people lack an absolute reference point, a standard. And that makes it very difficult.

And that art that you are talking about, various experimental films and whatever else, is all endless chatter because there is no clear basis in human nature, nothing from which to measure ourselves.

As a result, all of this is doomed to neglect by the person who begins to rise above the level of animal existence. These are intelligent, searching people, but they are confused. Everything is fine except for one thing: there is nothing against which to measure themselves, no absolute point.

Therefore they cannot create any image that will remain for eternity, despite what has been written. After all, if it is a depiction of a person’s inner world without the correct measurement in relation to the Creator, it gives nothing. So it all remains the same—he killed an old woman and nothing more.

That is why art is dying, that is why people begin to neglect all the great works that humanity has created over the millennia. Only a few naïve intellectuals remain who value this.

Everything will die out, except perhaps music, because in a musical piece each person can somehow express themselves. But literature or painting, or something else…

Painting still has some kind of future because there is a false convention about its value, since there is nowhere else to put capital. Rembrandt, let us say, is worth a million dollars, Rubens—five hundred thousand, another one—such and such, and so on. Their paintings will remain as currency. This is how painting will be valued, and nothing more.

And why are diamonds valued? The fact is that in the world there are many diamond deposits that are prohibited from being mined, otherwise their price would collapse, and then people would be left with nothing. But this way, let us say, I have a little stone in my safe, worth, say, 30 or 100 million. But if you suddenly throw a couple of kilos of diamonds onto the market, the price of my stone will automatically fall tenfold. I will not let you do that! So the value of all these things is relative.

But classical music will remain because it conveys all human feelings, and in it one can express absolutely anything. Its harmony corresponds to the structure of the soul. Painting will remain because it is like securities. And literature will not remain at all.

Question: Then what use is literature at all? The classics, Tolstoy, Pushkin?

Answer: Who will read that?! I am sure that even now it is no longer read. Does the younger generation read these books?! No.

Perhaps there are abridged versions of the classics, where all of Tolstoy is presented in fifty pages. Well, who today will sit down and read War and Peace? Who has time for that? Can it replace today’s Internet with all its possibilities for a young person? It is a completely different world! And young people cannot be blamed for that.
[347677]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Arthouse, Hollywood, Dostoevsky, Diamonds and Mushrooms”” 9/8/10

Related Material:
Dostoevsky Will Lead Us To A Brighter Life
World Masterpieces No Longer Delight Us?
Music Untangles The Strings Of The Soul

What Is the Root of the Soul?

942Question: What is the root of the soul and how do we attain it?

Answer: The root of the soul is called the source of the soul, meaning the Creator, who is revealed in the connection between you. Not within your egoism, but in the fact that between two egoists a mutual quality of bestowal can be revealed.

It is revealed between you, the egoists, despite the personal ego in each of you, and it is precisely in this place where the Creator is revealed.

Therefore, the greater the egoists are and the more they work on themselves, the more the Creator can be revealed between them. But always between them!
[254483]
From the 4th Kabbalah Lesson of the Congress in Moldova, 9/7/2019

Related Material:
Discovering The One Root
One Soul For All
The Radiance Of The Integral Soul

Force of Habit

423.02Comment: If a person understood what a vile, disgusting, limited world one lives in, the person would look at many things in a completely different way.

My Response: But we know how people get used to living in concentration camps, labor camps, in penal colonies, everywhere.

I had a friend who left the penal colony and stayed in the village next to it. I was surprised! And he said: “It is nice here. What else do I need?” This was in comparison to Leningrad, which had a good food supply, culture, everything!

A habit! A person does not need anything else. Moreover, there are simple relationships in penal colonies, everything is clear and straightforward: who you are and who I am. The whole setup is much simpler.

Comment: Yes, a person immerses himself in the familiar world he lives in anyway.

My Response: This is a terrible thing! We constantly perceive our surroundings this way, we perceive only pleases us, what we need, what suits our upbringing, and what suits our inner state. That is all we see!

But we are in a world of infinity! An incredible amount of depth, phenomena, forces, and actions revolve between us and around us! We do not notice any of this because we do not want to. We only notice what we are pre-programmed for, what we are used to. Everything else is subconsciously eliminated. This is how we are created. Habit is a terrible thing that affects our consciousness!

Question: You describe the states one experiences after moving to another facet of reality in a very colorful way. However, is aiming to develop a desire for it enough, in addition to studying and everything else? If a person really wants to, will he be able to move to a higher dimension?

Answer: No a desire is not enough because our desire is egoistic; we must transform it into another one that is altruistic.

One cannot feel the upper world in his egoistic desire. “But I want it!” No you do not want it; you want something else you imagine as the upper world. You cannot want it now because it is all about giving, loving others, and coming out of yourself. You do not have such desires! So do not lie about wanting it.
[348102]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Our Whole Life Is a Game?!” 9/29/10

Related Material:
Renewal In The Work
Artificial Respiration
Not All Habits Are Good

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 9/19/25

Preparation to the Lesson

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #86 “And They Built Arei Miskenot” (12.5.2021)

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar, “The Second Commandment”

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

Audio Version Of The Blog – 9/18/25

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

The Concept of Time

910Question: We understand how to use time in the material sense. But how is this concept used in spirituality? Why does Baal HaSulam give us the concept of time?

Answer: Baal HaSulam gives us this concept so that we can see ourselves unfolding within time, and thereby change ourselves in accordance with it.

Time is entirely an invented, artificial notion. There is nothing in it that truly exists in nature. It is given to a person only so that he may realize the possibility of changing his life.
[348167]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/14/25, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot

Related Material:
Subjective Perception of Time
Time Is What You Change
What Is Time?

Three Categories of the Creator

282.02Question: What are these three categories of the Creator: One, Unique, and Unified?

Answer: The categories One, Unique, and Unified emphasize that there is only one force in the world: the Creator’s force, the force of bestowal and love. Only He, One, Unique, and Unified governs absolutely everything. Even those forces and qualities that He deliberately creates in order to contrast Himself against them are also under His control.

Question: Why does one and the same force act on different people in different ways?

Answer: The force is one, but people are different. Depending on their similarity to this force or, conversely, their opposition to it, we either draw closer to it or move further away from it.

Question: When you say “people are different,” do you mean only the egoistic level of a person?

Answer: Yes, they differ only in their accordance with the Creator. Everything else does not matter.
[225305]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 1/21/2018

Related Material:
When The Heart And Mind Unite As One
Infinity: The Summit Of Attainment
The Creator Is One, Unique, and Unified

What Is Love after All?

228Question: There are many songs created about love, and many wonderful romance novels written throughout the history of humanity. On the other hand, love has led to a great number of tragedies and wars. So much has been said about love. Perhaps it is a person’s  most sublime feeling. What is love?

Answer: Love is a special attitude of a person to someone or something. I love the sea, music, pleasant smells, etc. This is also called that I love.

Why do I love? Because it gives me pleasure. I enjoy the sea, the music, the smells, the skies. I love what gives me pleasure. Conversely, I hate what causes me suffering or problems. This is how love or hate that arises to people and animals.

It is “egoistic love” when I love something that gives me pleasure and hate what causes me suffering. We are like animals; we love what is good for us and move away from things that are bad for us. This is called love. Meaning, it is not love toward some object, but rather love for what it awakens within me.

For example, I run into a friend and he tells me that he has divorced. “What has happened?!” “Love has gone.” It means that love exists up to the moment where we can receive pleasure from one another. Even today doctors say that love between partners disappears in 2 to 3 years.

This is not the love that the wisdom of Kabbalah is talking about. The wisdom of Kabbalah talks about love as something that is above a person’s ego, which enjoys using someone or something. Love is something we build on two levels.

There is a level of relationship between us which may involve arguments and even hate, i.e., disagreement with one another. At the same time, above these disagreements, we build a special connection called “love.”

We work a lot on this, make efforts, and invest time building it. This is called “love will cover all transgressions.” It means that we build love precisely above transgressions, above disagreements that exist between us.

Only in this way can two people connect one with the other so their mutual connection would be good, strong, healthy, and truly human. This connection is between people who understand that they are egoists and that again tomorrow they can have a dispute but they will still continue working to make their connection beautiful and kind, and it is called “love.”

This is not love that is built on sexual attraction, habit, or something that is good for me today but tomorrow may be the opposite.

On the contrary, it is love between people: a man and a woman, children, within a nation, or within a group of people. But with all this we do not treat each other based on receiving pleasure one from another, where I receive pleasure from the other one and therefore I love. After all, this would be the animal level.

At the human level we create connections of love between us above everything that we receive one from another—pleasures or the opposite—up to the point that I can hate the other for his habits that I do not like. Still I have to love him, for example, for the reason that we belong to the same nation.

Then we will work on how we can also become closer one to another in the habits at the level of this world—physical, national, and so forth.

In other words, love is the highest value in relationship between people who are going to connect with each other since they are obliged to be tied and they chose this connection. Then they constantly work on this.

Therefore it is said that “love will cover all transgressions.” There are “transgressions” between us, various disagreements, and above them we are constantly building love. Even more, the more disagreements, the stronger love should be above them.

This is the way we have to educate people. Then we will be able to come to the state where we will be able to open an umbrella of love above the entire world, above all of humanity. This is precisely what love is. Otherwise, it is just a physiological love where you love something that is good for your body; this is love of animals, whereas human love is built above all that makes me unhappy about the other one. There is some reason, a higher value, that obliges me to be in connection with the other one.

We both understand that at the regular level we have all kinds of disagreements with regard to the country, life, and everything else, but in any case we come to the decision that we have to be connected despite that we are different and our structure is different.

We build this connection, our love, slowly, step by step, based on our superior goal which we together have to reach in connection between us and above our physical bodies.
[178308]
From the Program on Radio Station 103FM, 2/14/2016

Related Material:
Love Without Conditions
Earthly Love Is Worthless From The Start
The Art Of Love

The World—Consequence of Our Intentions

632.3Question: What is an intention worthy of action?

Answer: Our world is a world of action. All our earthly deeds are based on action itself. It is only by action and not by intention that our deeds are counted. In our world, we cannot be certain whether we have recognized, reproduced, evaluated, and weighed the intention correctly, whereas actions can be seen, measured, and compared because they leave behind a clear material result.

Intentions are our inner motivations, which are incomprehensible both to others and to ourselves, and are forgotten within a minute. Nothing can be done with that.

The science of Kabbalah says that we are special beings that consist of both actions and intentions. The more developed a person is, the further removed from mere animal existence, the stronger his intention is, and it is the intention that determines the action. That is, the action itself may be insignificant, but the intention behind it is great. In such cases, the person carrying out the action pays attention precisely to the intention.

For example, if I give someone a small gift or perform some deed that was very difficult for me but into which I put my whole soul, then the person receiving the outcome of my action measures it not by the action itself but by the effort and the good intention.

How can we measure intention? That is a problem because the world is becoming increasingly global. We must build a single system of relationships between us. But we cannot evaluate this only through actions.

After all, I am not working like a machinist in a factory whose contribution is measured by a thousand units of production that determines his pay and how others treat him. In our time, more and more professions arise where intentions are measured. We try to measure the relationships between people: how I influence them, how they awaken because of me, how we exchange services, and so on. That is, intention is acquiring ever-greater significance.

And so, our world faces a great problem. The more we develop, the more we move away from an animate state, the greater becomes the need to measure intentions. Yet, we cannot measure them.

Thus, the attitude of a person defines the world. The world itself becomes a consequence of our intentions.

And here a problem arises: the world falls into crisis not because of overproduction nor because we cannot get along with one another, but because our intentions are incorrect. But how to make them correct, how to evaluate and weigh them, we do not know.

Suddenly, quite unexpectedly for us, we find ourselves in an immaterial world because countless emotional, spiritual, and soulful connections arise between us that we cannot measure or account for. Intentions turn out to be more important than actions, and the world becomes awkward and unfit for human life. It begins to “push us out of itself” because it was created only for the animate state of humans.

At present we are like animals. Animals are not embarrassed by each other: I want to eat you; if you manage to escape, you escape, if not, I will eat you. Everything is based not on intentions but on clear actions. And intentions are absolutely obvious because action and intention coincide.

But when we rise above the animate state to the human level, we are obliged to begin taking our intentions into account. And they can only be evaluated with the help of the science of Kabbalah.

Question: Can you give us an example of intention in its pure form? What is it?

Answer: Suppose I have a certain intention toward you. You neither see it nor know it. I must determine it within myself, recognize it, and test it. If I wish to harm you with my intention, then by that, I will harm myself.

On the other hand, the world of intentions is much simpler. When we enter it, we as if erase all actions, “delete” our entire world, and only points remain along with intentions of those points toward one another. This is the spiritual world.

Try to imagine 7 to 8 billion points each of which, at least in some radius around itself, relates to others with a certain intention: either evil or good, plus or minus. The intention is directed either toward making another feel good according to how he understands it, not you, or toward making another feel bad according to how you understand it, not him.

Question: Can there really be only two intentions?

Answer: Only two, nothing else. And each of them can be graded in magnitude. Our attitudes toward others determine our world and our passage into the upper world.

We sort all the possible intentions people may have and take into account only those that exist between them. If they are positive toward others, they are called spiritual; if negative, they are called earthly.

All intentions of our earthly level are only for oneself and to the detriment of others.
[228917]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/25/2018

Related Material:
Where Is The Intention?
Intention And Its Influence On Reality
All The Difference Is In Intention