When a person begins to study Kabbalah, it is as if one jumps into the sea and at first does not distinguish the deep, subtle definitions. A person is like a newborn baby who in the first days does not understand anything, does not see, and does not hear. Most importantly, one is firmly attached to one’s will to receive, to one’s egoism. The first stage of spiritual work consists of cutting oneself off from this egoism, moving away from it, and looking at it from aside.

It takes years of work for the reforming light to do its work on a person and change him or her. The first change is that we begin to hear what the Kabbalists are talking about.

In order to enter spirituality, a person must make oneself an absolute zero, that is, from one’s will to receive, from one’s aspirations and expectations for something to change for oneself. That is, I agree with everything I receive and completely cancel any criticism.

Everything that happens comes from the Creator and undoubtedly is the best for me. Therefore, I do not think about it at all: the Creator acts only for my benefit. This limits my attitude to corporeal life.

With respect to spirituality, I also get the most optimal in everything. But I have nothing?! That is great, this is the best because I receive it from the Creator, who is good and does good! A person reaches this decision, accepting one’s corporeal state as the most optimal one without needing any additions, completely annulling oneself. The only thing I ask in both corporeality and spirituality is for the Creator to organize me according to His will and to help me to agree with it completely.

The first spiritual degree is the ability to completely adhere to the Creator, day and night, in light and in darkness, in sorrow and in joy, no matter what is happening. If I reach two such zeros: in corporeality and in spirituality, then I enter the spiritual world, the degrees of the ladder.

This is the ascent between the two states: from below—reason, and from above—faith above reason.

Everything comes from the Creator who knows what I need. My work is only to accept it completely. This most certainly does not mean that I forget about corporeal requirements: I must take care of my family and health. Yet, whatever my inner state is—in darkness and despair, in chaos and misunderstanding, in confusion and dullness of feelings, I agree with it as sent by the Creator and I am ready to remain in it forever.

I should ask to change not my state, but my attitude to this state. That is, I want to agree with it completely and not to demand anything more. If it is coming from the Creator, then I need nothing else.

I have nothing, not now, not in the future; there is complete darkness, the world has turned dark. All I hold on to is the fact that this state is intentionally sent by the Creator, the “good that does good,” and therefore, I expect no change. I do not demand the darkness’ disappearance and my reception of attainment and understanding; I am prepared to remain in the current state as much as necessary.

This is how I create my degree of Keter, the Kli of bestowal. The lower degree of the upper one is Malchut that has nothing in it. If I accept with joy this kingdom of the upper one (Malchut) in the form it is revealed: darkness and hopelessness, both in the present and in the future, beyond time, then it becomes my degree of Keter, the finest, bestowing Kli that shines upon me and allows me to continue the path.

On all the degrees, until the very end of correction, we must constantly annul ourselves to zero on our level and then from above we will receive additional higher degrees. This is the entrance to the spiritual world and the first contact of the lower one with the upper one. The upper one becomes my first spiritual state.
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/1/19, The Absolute Zero

Related Material:
The Point Of Entering Spirituality
Day And Night In Spirituality
When You Feel No Taste In Spirituality…

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[245550]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/4/19

Related Material:
A Place Of His Own
Why Don’t I Understand TES?
Everyone Needs Time!

Filed under: Group Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[68415]
From KabTV’s “New Life #9 – The Power of the Ego,” 1/6/12

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: New Life | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Lesson Preparation

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

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[246850]
From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 11/26/18

Related Material:
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is A Wisdom For Perception Of The World
The Perception Of Reality: A Springboard To The Upper World
Why Do We Need This Imaginary World?

Filed under: Perception | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[245156]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/30/18

Related Material:
Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 12/23/18
Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 12/16/18
Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 12/9/18

Filed under: Q&A, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[247171]
From KabTV’s “New Life 1112 – Avoiding Suffering And Pain,” 5/14/19

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: New Life | 1 Comment →

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

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

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.
[246654]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/9/19

Related Material:
Working With The Level Of Still Nature
Inanimate Level – The Beginning Of Everything
Everything Begins From The Land

Filed under: Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →