Question from Facebook: Forgive me, but I have a feeling that you are engaged in schizophrenia and call it “faith above reason.” How is it possible to be in this world and see what I see, and at the same time to be in the other world and see what I do not see?

Answer: Schizophrenia is when I see something else besides this world.

We are talking about dividing the perception of everything within me into two parts: things that are happening within me and the force that projects, creates, and arranges all this within me, that is, plays with me. I see the world divided into two parts: the internal and the external, or the lower and the upper.

I am also divided into those two parts and therefore from within myself I see this world as such. One of these parts is my egoistic part, the desire to receive. The second, altruistic part, created by me as a result of studying Kabbalah, is the desire to bring contentment, to give to someone outside of me, through all the creatures, to the Creator. I consist of these two parts.

Comment: Everyone is confused by your statement that while we are on the first level, we are also on the second level.

My Comment: Certainly. This is written in all Kabbalistic books, starting from Adam, meaning almost six thousand years ago. So, this “disease” is neglected and must be investigated.

I invite everybody to explore it and to discover that we are not spiritual schizophrenics, that we are so ill because we are only in one world—ours, the worst one. Not knowing the upper world, its purpose, the forces that control us, where they lead us, and what they want from us, we, like blind kittens, suffer without any subsequent desirable states.

Question: Is it also because we deny the second level?

Answer: Yes. Do not reject it immediately at its root. We should study and see how realistic this is.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/14/18

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Question: Must I recognize the system of supervision and the reason for reward and punishment?

Answer: Certainly. This is what we discover in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Without knowing this system and its implementation, we cannot attain the
end of correction.

Question: What is the material the soul is built from?

Answer: The material of the soul is built from the desire to receive. It is all that the Creator created. The Creator’s quality is bestowal and the created being’s quality is reception.

Question: If the entire world, the others, and the Creator are inside me, does this mean that I am always working for my own sake?

Answer: That’s right.

Question: How can a soul be both simultaneously like a creature and like a part of the Creator?

Answer: The soul can be a part of the Creator within the creature.

Question: What is the best food for the soul? How often do you need to “feed” it so that it will grow to be healthy and strong?

Answer: We constantly need to “feed” the soul, and this is implemented only through greater and greater closeness to the Creator and unity with others.

Question: Are there mountains in spirituality?

Answer: Yes, doubts and obstacles are all called “mountains” in spirituality.

Question: Is there no good or evil, men or women, but a combination of characteristics in a soul that is equal to the Creator?

Answer: In our world we say that life is a manner of existence of protein matter. Everything is just protein and various forms of its existence. In contrast to this, in the wisdom of Kabbalah we come to a more universal and common denominator.

Question: What is the difference between a person who feels the Creator within himself and a person who feels the Creator from the outside? Is the difference that one receives without an intention and the other receives in order to give contentment to the Creator?

Answer: No. There is Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) and Ohr Pnimi (Inner Light). Therefore, everything is perceived in a this form like this. But, in principle, everything should be felt as the inner Light that fills you. This will happen gradually.

Question: Today each one of us can travel the world. Can a Kabbalist also travel within his inner desires?

Answer: A Kabbalist, by traveling in his desires, travels not only in this world, but also in all the worlds.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/15/18

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New Life #72 – Money And The Jewish Mind, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

The peoples of the world claim that the Jews are responsible for the lack of vitality in all the relations in the world. What is lacking in today’s business relations and what is the role of the Jewish power in building a balanced mutual business system?

The new, balanced, mutual business system is not about destroying the competition or about finding a win-win solution, but it is about treating the other like your own brother. The profit in this new system is life and love. Through mutual consideration and the right kind of communication, trade will profit everyone by building a feeling of belonging to one united family. The State of Israel will act as a prototype for the world and will need to acquire the trust of the world so that the nations of the world will want to imitate the example provided.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #72 – Money And The Jewish Mind, Part 2,” 9/10/12

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Prayer”, Part 1

Lesson on the Topic “Prayer”, Part 2

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Baal HaSulam’s Yahrzeit [ed. the anniversary of Baal HaSulam’s passing] is a special day of remembrance and gratitude to a very special and exalted soul who descended to this world as a messenger of the Creator to open a path for us, an entrance to the upper world, so that we can reach it here, during our lifetime.

Baal HaSulam did so much in order to bridge our corporeal Kli (vessel) and the spiritual one, which lets us connect with it, and through it reach connection with the Creator. He paved a very long and special path, just like the Baal Shem Tov and the Ari did in their times. We are incapable of fully appreciating what this soul did.

Ultimately, we should be thankful to the Creator for sending us such a soul, such tremendous help. When we learn from the books of Baal HaSulam and approach the goal with his help, we must appreciate, thank, honor, and love this extraordinary person, this special tool that creates a connection between us, those who are below and those who are above.

We should be so proud of this honor and take on even more commitments to be worthy of connection with such a soul. We are unable to realize his contribution to us and its power, but still, we must love him, as children love their parents. So we must draw near and cling to this soul, which opened the passage to the Creator in our time. We would stand no chance without him.

There were many Kabbalists before, but in our time, there is no other method that allows, in practice, for the revelation of the Creator and becoming His partners, supporters in His work with creation. Thanks to Baal HaSulam, we are able with our small souls to facilitate his ascent, and along with him, our own. We were honored to receive an invitation, a pass to the upper world, and the choice is in our hands.

A mere two hundred years ago it was impossible to conceive that completely secular people like us, without any preparation or connection with the Torah, could have any chance of approaching spirituality. Then came the soul of Baal HaSulam and opened a passage for us, and now we can pass through this tunnel just because of our pure desire.

The most important thing is the desire. It doesn’t matter that a person has sunken low in the corporeal sense, it has no relevance in spirituality. If you look over the Machsom into the spiritual world, you will see the person as though through an x-ray: no meat or fat, just the bones, which is the essence. And according to that essence, according to our desire, we are accepted into spirituality.

I am so happy that there are so many people with us around the world that yearn according to their inner essence toward the truth, and in line with their desire are ready, through the method of Baal HaSulam, to cross that path and reach perfection.

The key to this is very simple: our unity. We advance to the extent that we unite; with each move toward unity we take another step in our advancement. This tunnel puts constant pressure on us, it squeezes us and forces us to connect even more tightly to the point of passing through the eye of a needle. The secret of our success lies exclusively in our unity.
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From the Daily Kabbalah lesson, “Yahrzeit Baal Sulam”, 9/19/18

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Fasting on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) symbolizes that we restrict our broken desires and are ready to use them only for the sake of bestowal. If the desires are corrupted, then their correction begins with a Tzimtzum (restriction), with the condition that we do not accept any Light if there is no intention to bestow to my neighbor.

I will be able to use my desire for the benefit of others if I stop receiving for a “full day,” and then I can again return to receiving the Light. This means that I have passed a full stage detached from receiving, in restriction, and now I can receive the Light again, for the sake of bestowal. In the spiritual world, this action takes place on every new stage.¹

We exist in the full HaVaYaH, the five Sefirot: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut. If you cut off all the particular Sefirot of Malchut from them, then the remaining Kelim can be used. Therefore, on Yom Kippur there are five restrictions against Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut: a ban on food, drinking, intimacy, bathing, and wearing leather shoes. Everything else is our internal thoughts and desires and a calculation should be made there not to receive for one’s own sake.

This means that you make a restriction and so move yourself through the “judgment.” Yom Kippur is the day of judgment.²
From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/18/18, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 69 “First Will Be the Correction of the World”
1 Minute 28:45
2 Minute 37:20

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Question: What prevents a woman from conceding to a man and vice versa?

Answer: Kabbalah does not deal with these problems. It suggests first rising above our egoism and only then arranging all kind of relationships: between parents and children, between men and women, between nations, and between everyone else. However, first we need to learn how to rise above our egoism.

That is, first men need to correct the connections between men, women between women, and only then in the family, in the society, and in all of humanity.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/29/18

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New Life 1043 – Emptiness And Fulfillment In Interpersonal Relationships
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Our world exists according to a narcissistic principle and the world above it is based on an altruistic principle. Humanity is evolving and subsequently discovering that there is an empty, angry place in relationships between people that is awaiting a new fulfillment. We have everything, but no longer feel pleasure in money, sex, food, culture, or family. We are standing before a breakthrough into the upper world that is accompanied by labor pains. In the upper world we discover that there are no strangers around us. Rather, there are billions of children who are actually parts of our soul. The feeling of love is developing and we will discover that all of us are a single soul. Through the study of Kabbalah, we will learn that the right relationship is based on the principle “You shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1043 – Emptiness And Fulfillment In Interpersonal Relationships,” 7/31/18

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Sukkot“

Lesson on the Topic “Prayer”

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