Question: As a child I had the feeling that the whole world was a pot. The sky was the cover and I was in the bottom of the pot like a small insect.

All the stories about the Earth being round and large paled in comparison to this internal feeling of being isolated, imprisoned, trapped without an exit. What is this feeling?

Answer: This is a very real feeling about our closed world. Moreover, it is closed such that, on one hand, we see ourselves in some kind of immense space, but on the other hand, this space is dead, it has nothing in it.

And even if we were found not on this tiny ball but in another galaxy, it would be the same thing, I would not be able to escape from myself. Only there would be other conditions of the inanimate nature, and what else?

We truly are found in a “pot with a lid,” and if we don’t come out of this situation, then all of us can expect a bitter end; there is nothing to do here. But this feeling helps people consider why nature created us as intelligent beings and developed us from some inanimate particle to the most complex organisms; after all, it couldn’t be that this was purposeless.

As far as it seems, behind the physical, internal, and psychological organism (which is even more internal), there are still further abilities and possibilities, secret forces and characteristics that must be discovered in us.

As the human once emerged from being an ape, so the human should have something else in its internal development. We are going towards it and the wisdom of Kabbalah explains to us how to develop it within ourselves.

Today humanity has already reached a feeling of a final confrontation in its mutual relationships, and this must be solved because the constant deepening of confrontations between nations and peoples is very primitive, limited, closed and doesn’t permit us to break out of the gigantic “pot” of our world.

So the same drive that today dominates over larger and larger masses will bring us to a solution of this problem. We see according to the pervading depression in the world, according to the need for drugs, according to the wars and endless disorder, that humanity is seeking an escape, but doesn’t know what to do.

People are again turning to religions and don’t find anything in them, which means that an opposition is appearing among the masses themselves.

This is a search for a solution to the problem. It is deeper than freedom or lack of freedom. In other words, if I see some kind of purpose ahead of me that provides no freedom, I will agree to it; and if I don’t see it, then this is already the end.

But how much this goal is connected to freedom, we don’t know. In fact it is always connected to freedom, but today we cannot understand what this is.

According to Kabbalah, if you want to be free, you must stop being concerned about going deeper into yourself and musts begin to work outside of yourself, for the sake of others.

And when instead of being concerned about yourself, you begin to be concerned about others, instead of loving yourself, you love and feel them, and they become your only source of concern and love, your thoughts and drives, then you will be free. Free from what? Free from yourself. It is only in this case that we have a possibility of exiting ourselves.

Otherwise we are always deceiving ourselves, claiming that we are not egoists, we are free and things like that. Since the ego encloses us within the general “pot,” it is natural that it is the slave master here.

To be continued….
[162066]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/11/15

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Question: Is an ascent above egoism logical for the ordinary person?

Answer: What is meant by an ordinary person or an unusual person? Today, an ordinary person is a thousand times more developed than a sage of two thousand years ago. So, the term “ordinary” is relative. In any case, all of us must reach a state where we need to be elevated above the egoism that holds us in its tiny world, requiring us to think only about ourselves thereby limiting our possibilities.

Through its constant development, egoism is leading us into a crisis. Today, millions of people—especially in developed nations—feel it, and it is felt at the societal level and the level of production.

If this still is not felt in the less developed nations, then it is only a matter of time as the interpenetration in humanity happens very rapidly. Ultimately, everyone will feel it, including the most ordinary people.

They will understand that to exist in the framework of the present egoistic nature means being a slave to settings that are imposed upon you, all kinds of trends, fashions, etc. They will begin to feel that sense of lack of freedom depends upon the growth of their egoism. After all, with development it reveals how it is limited and is only human slavery.

Baal HaSulam compared the exit from egoism to a worm living within a radish. It feels how bitter and dark its world is, and, when it crawls outside it suddenly sees a completely different, sparkling world. But what motivates it to crawl out of the radish? It is the developing ego that functions as its own undertaker. The bitter radish represents the suffering that pushes us out of our closed world.

We can remain here no longer and somehow must get out of it because there is a program of nature; our final state exists initially, only we need to discover ourselves within it. This depends on the inner drives toward the development of our desire, the connections between us.
To be continued.
[162025]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/11/15

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Question: Where is evolution leading us?

Answer: Evolution is leading us toward the realization that we are not free at all.

If we didn’t have an imaginary sensation of freedom, we could not develop and we wouldn’t want to live. However, this illusion always arouses excitement and grants us some kind of hope for the future.

A need to be free exists in us, but this is an egoistic need for egoistic freedom. To the same degree that the ego develops, a person always feels himself lacking, flawed, not free. This is the dynamics of the development of our ego, which establishes wider and wider frameworks for itself.

On the other hand, we deliberately insert ourselves into new frameworks because we don’t feel comfortable without them. Every person wants to have particular connections with the environment that surrounds him, with society, and this already indicates that he is not free. And nothing is done here; we are constantly playing at things like this.

Absolute freedom is summed up in ascent above our present nature. If we rise above the ego, then it can no longer require us to put ourselves in the frameworks of its fulfillment. When we rise above the ego, we go into another space where we are not found under the control of our nature; rather, we are included in another, higher nature. And this state is determined by us as full freedom.

We feel it when we acquire the characteristic of bestowal and love for others, not for ourselves, and we begin to implement this property and then we feel free from our personal ego, personal demands and limitations. When we go out to this level and do everything with an intention for the sake of bestowal, we become truly free.

Certainly it is possible to be doubtful: “What kind of freedom is this, doesn’t love for others enslave us like a mother who perpetually revolves around her infant?” On one hand, this is correct. But on the other hand, from this relationship towards others, we get unlimited amounts of energy, positive sensations, the discovery of completely new spaces and worlds.

And this is a freedom that is connected to love, with participation and going out of myself, going out of my small and closed egoistic world, and I am included in the general, eternal, and unlimited world. All of my feelings and thoughts go outside of me now.

Instead of “internally” absorbing everything into myself, I work in an “outer” direction and truly feel myself as absolutely free.
To be continued….
[161910]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/11/15

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Comment: A person always wants to be free: people want to be liberated from slavery to acquire it; the word “freedom” is heard in all the national anthems, it is inscribed on all the flags. And suddenly you are saying that a person is not free, he lives in the prison of this world.

Answer: Once in the Middle Ages, people willingly agreed to be slaves because they knew they would be cared for; they would be given him a roof over his head, food, and if he married, he could feed his family. The landlord would take care of this, and in exchange for this he would give his labor. But as our egoism developed, we suddenly began to feel ourselves shackled in chains; suddenly we felt a vital need to remove them. And when we tore off these chains, we seemingly became free people.

But this freedom is imaginary, because in any case you must plow, gather the harvest, sell it, think about the house, the family and a thousand different things. And if you get sick, there is no landlord to take care of you any more, he will not call a doctor because you are not his property (and after all, there was a time when you were valuable property for him), now you must think about everything by yourself. However, this was progressive development because under capitalism there was the growth of labor, its productivity increased, this was beneficial for society and it went for it.

So we have come to our present day; we feel at each and every step a need for a new level of freedom. But in fact, this is not freedom.

To be continued….
[161865]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/11/15

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Question: If our brain decides nothing, what is its function in a vast system of nature?

Answer: Our brain receives commands and then actuates our body. But this doesn’t mean that the brain has independence.

It is totally dependent and connected to the whole system, like a micro-computer that is occupied only with leading us into action but it is connected to a much bigger computer with an enormous brain and memory.

Question: If we are totally managed from above like machines, what does it mean to be independent? What does it mean to be free? What is freewill?

Answer: To the extent that we begin to understand the upper system, attain and feel it, we begin to acquire freewill and the freedom to act. But in order to do so, we have to ascend to a level that is higher than our current one because now we are totally controlled.
[158682]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 4/12/15

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Question: Do we have freedom of choice?

Answer: Every person who feels a need for freedom of choice can attain it. And with the Jews, as the carriers of two lines, this need is always always there because they initially received it in ancient Babylon.

Even today every person who feels the imperative of freedom of choice can join the method of Abraham as followers joined him in his time, left ancient Babylon, and received guidance from him about the correct spiritual development. In our time anyone can join in studying Kabbalah because it speaks about souls and about how to develop them.

Entry into Judaism is very simple: someone who wants to, please; nationality doesn’t matter. Jews don’t judge other people according to their nationality because they themselves don’t have one. The only criterion is self-development with the help of the method of ascending and connecting all for the sake of mutual love. And all humanity can join in this without any limitation.

Comment: According to your words, the process of conversion is very simple.

Answer: Was there some process of conversion for ancient peoples? When a foreigner came to Hillel the Elder and asked him, “What is your Torah, Judaism?” Hillel the Elder answered him: “What is hateful to you, don’t do to your friend.” That’s it; it’s not necessary to say anything more!

Question: What is the freedom of choice of the Jews?

Answer: The choice is only to be linked and connected between them in spite of their ego, and to create the characteristic of bestowal and love within them. All of those who are involved with this are called Jews, they rise above the ego and unite to bring a positive force into the world. If a person has this imperative, this is a sign that hidden within him is a spiritual gene. And so he is absolutely equal to the Jewish people regarding the question of freedom of choice.

Question: Does this mean he can pass this gene on to his children?

Answer: This doesn’t pass as an inheritance, but is the result of education. Someone is called a Jew not because he is born to a Jewish mother as everyone is accustomed to think, rather someone who prepares himself for a transition (Ever) from the egoistic paradigm to the altruistic.

Comment: But most of the current Jewish people have no idea about this..

Answer: They have an inner inclination which is called a Reshimo (Remembrance), an informational record about this, that they can develop the spiritual gene that has been in them from the start since the days of Abraham. Every person who joins the Jewish people searching for love of others and ready to engage in this method, conveys to his progeny the same spiritual inclination.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 6/04/15

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom,”: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death. These words need to be clarified, because how is the matter of reception of the Torah related to one’s liberation from death?

Question: Generation after generation, freedom has attracted people. What does this mean?

Answer: Freedom is an amorphous concept, it is completely unrealistic, unnatural, something that eludes us, something that we picture in our imaginations. What people think and accept as freedom is derived from a lack of understanding of where they exist.

We live in a limited volume, on a small and enclosed Earth, and within this volume we try to find a state in which we feel the least pressure. In this state we apparently feel ourselves free, independent, choosing and realizing our actions, thoughts, and opinions.

But we are all particles of an immense network interconnected through billions of threads of control, and thus we don’t feel that we are in a rigid system that completely determines everything. Its concealment from us is what grants us the illusion of freedom. But in fact we have no freedom, neither in thoughts, nor in desires or actions.

Question: Does the need for this amorphous feeling, constitute a response to the subconscious feeling that we are not free?

Answer: I think that humanity doesn’t understand that it isn’t free. A person always finds ways to evade unpleasant feelings and thoughts.  After all, our main characteristic is the desire to receive and to enjoy, so I am constantly searching for the condition of maximum enjoyment or minimal suffering. This is the totality of my aspirations in every situation.

We can’t say that a person has a great need for freedom. He wants to find work, spend time with his family, to have everything defined and okay for him. On the one hand, he believes it is best to be in charge. So what kind of freedom is this?

A person puts himself into particular frameworks. He gets married, establishes a family, and therefore is obliged to work, to feed the family, to be concerned about it, to protect it—obligation, obligation, and obligation. So where is the freedom here?!

All our lives are arranged such that we need to obey some rules. Whether I want it or not, in any case I am under the authority of some dogmas, tastes, restrictions, fashions, etc. Whether I want it or not, all of this influences me.

It follows that I am not free in anything, in absolutely nothing! So no freedom is accounted for. Even if a person lives alone in a jungle, he would still be surrounded by some kind of environment that forces its limitations and principles on him.

How can I understand what freedom is? For this we need to rise above our lack of freedom and feel sharply and clearly where we are, which forces determine our condition, how nature, through individuals and through my entire environment, defines and shapes me.

To be continued….
[161823]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 6/11/15

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Question: I am deeply disturbed by the attempt to boycott the Israeli soccer team, to prevent it from participating in the world championship. It seems so unimportant, just football, just a game, but this has triggered a deep concern about the very existence of the State of Israel.

What is the role of the game in our lives? After all, we get up in the morning without understanding what games life plays with us, who moves “the pieces on a chessboard.”

Answer: As Shakespeare said: “The whole world is a theater and people in it are actors.” The problem is that we do not understand what games we are playing, what role we are performing and who the director is. We do not know who moves the pieces on the chessboard of life.

Every second new desires, thoughts, fears, anxieties, and calculations appear pulling us in different directions. We supposedly choose where to go and we think those choices determine our next instant. But do we really make decisions on our own, or does someone do it for us?

In essence, we are inside a large force field that drives us by bringing us together and separating us from each other. This is how our whole life goes.

Everything that happens to us is determined by a special force field called the “Creator,” nature. This field fills the entire universe, and we swim in it, as if in an ocean of water.

This field plays with us, as it is said in The Book of Zohar, “What does the Creator do? He sits and plays with the Leviathan,” with all the huge desire of the creation: inanimate nature, plants, animals, and people.

The difference between these four stages of creation lies in the level of their desires, the degree of their egoism, with which the Creator plays. This is a real game in which we are not just spectators, but we have a direct part.

The game of life is a very serious matter. It’s a play in which we constantly play different roles: that someone plays with me, and then I play with someone back. We have to know the rules of the game, see who actually moves “the pieces” around, what the purpose of the game is, and what kind of “performance” we live in…

Question: Who are we in this show: helpless pawns or actors?

Answer: We are actors, but we are following the preset program. We have no freedom in anything at all. How can we be free if we don’t know what will happen with us in a moment or in a thousand years?

We do not know a thing! This is why we cannot direct the play. If we want to have some control over the show, we should get acquainted with the Director —the overall force field—and understand where it leads us.

Then, we will be able to participate in the game of life consciously, rationally, and responsibly. This is the only way to gain freedom of choice; otherwise, we will forever remain unimportant pawns.
[160387]
From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 5/31/15

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In the News (from thetheoryandpractice.ru): “Genes determine everything for us! They find the best partner in life for us so that we can reproduce ourselves with healthy offspring. Unconscious DNA testing for compatibility takes place with the exchange saliva in the first kiss. Genes also choose friends for us: friends have 1% of the same genes, the same as it is with fifth generation relatives.

“People prefer to associate with those with whom they have the same perception of smell, yet different immunity (so that everyone will not get sick at the same time). The genes choose the appropriate environment for their own distribution—they push us into a particular society. Characteristics of human nature are results of the genes.

“Bacteria may release psychoactive substances that enhance religious feelings. There are trillions of bacteria living within us that use the human body exclusively for their own interests. 3,000 species of bacteria live within the human body. Most of them populate the digestive system, and are nourished by the same food, and they have their own taste preferences.

“If food composition—the ratio of the proteins, carbohydrates and other nutrients—is appropriate for the development of the bacteria, they encourage their host by releasing substances that improve the health of the person. If the food composition is not to the taste of the bacteria, they release toxins. In this way the bacteria shape our sense of taste and determine our diet.

“The activity of the brain depends upon forty genes and is activated by the bacteria.

“In a spoonful of water there are five million bacteria and five million viruses. The bacteria are 80% of the total biomass of the Earth. The entire biosphere is a system for exchanging genes between various micro-organisms.

“Parasites damage trees, flowers, animals, every life form. If the behavior of the subject becomes different, if he puts himself in danger, it is because of the parasite that actively controls the subject through various chemicals.

“A flatworm is so eager to get out of the body of the mouse into the body of the fox that it transforms the mouse into prey for any predator, slowly but surely. Nematodes color ants like the red berries that the birds into which they want to pass indulge themselves with.

“Toxoplasma first inhabits rodents, from them it passes to cats, and from there to a human. People who are infected with toxoplasmosis stand out in their behavior: They often lose self-control and are unable to be freed from worry. In addition, the toxoplasma slows down a person’s reaction time. So some people prefer adventure, epinephrine and eternal searching, while others are satisfied with the television remote.

“Neurons. A person makes a decision much later than it is made by the neurons. The brain alone decides how to act. The conscious choice of a form of behavior is only an illusion that conceals the true processes that are happening within the human brain without any connection with himself. The acceptance of a decision is the attainment of the active threshold of particular neurons that signal the motor cortex of the brain to launch rational or emotional behavior.

“Neurotransmitters. Neurons determine our desires. The source of the various senses are neurotransmitters—chemical substances that provide for the passage of electrical current to synapses that connect between nerve cells.

“The feeling of happiness depends on the amount of serotonin in the tissue of the brain, and depression is the result of a lack of this substance. Another neurotransmitter, dopamine, causes us to yearn for food and sex, and not for higher goals. The more the level of dopamine rises, the more the system of ‘reward and punishment’ develops.

“The arousal neurotransmitter norepinephrine influences our behavior. Our ability to concentrate, our level of energy, our motivation to act, relaxation, memory, good mood and our behavior in times of danger depend on norepinephrine. The discovery of the neurotransmitters leads us to conclude that we are not the masters of our emotions.”

My Comment: The wisdom of Kabbalah explains everything in a simple form: We have freedom of choice; nothing that happens depends on our desire. We are compelled to do everything, even if it seems to us that it is our desire.

Cooperation between higher forces that are hidden from us manages the biological substances in our bodies and arouses desires, thoughts, decisions and actions in us.

Freedom of choice is given only to make the acceleration personal spiritual development possible. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we can realize it. With everything else, we are always left with the illusion of freedom of choice in our decisions and actions. And this is despite the fact that science will continue to prove to us how much we don’t have freedom of action.

In general, the wisdom of Kabbalah defines our lives as existence on the animate level and the level of Adam; this is our only spiritual development, in the direction towards equivalence with the Creator.
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Question: Why does human society develop the way it does throughout history? Couldn’t we have evaded all the great tragedies in our history? And now we are also in a state that no one can understand!

Answer: Everything was very clear… up until our time. From now onward everything is also clear except for the events that we will actually determine in the future, we humans, all of us, by our freewill, which is the reason that it is not predetermined. Up until now we had no choice and everything throughout history occurred according to strict and rigid laws of development on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human.

From Kabbalah we learn that our world was created as a result of the creation of the desire to receive pleasure. This unique created being was shattered into many parts as a result of its evolution, and after the shattering, the parts fell into the level of our world and created its four levels: the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

These four forms of the desire have to unite from our lower (egoistic) world and ascend to their source, their root, where the one unique desire was created (born).

This is the reason that our entire history is a movement towards unity that is attained by wars, by mutual actions, art, commerce—by all our actions in which we connect and begin to understand one another better by adopting each other’s attributes and thus becoming incorporated in one another.

This unity (which is egoistic at the moment) took place in the last stage of development of our civilization, capitalism, i.e., under the mediation of capital, the development of industry and commerce, which was the basis for the establishment of global economic, political, and social relationships that led us to a global egoistic society. The development of egoism in people led to the development of industrialism, which has led all of mankind to unite egoistically.

Next we have to discover all the evil of egoism and decide whether to flow with the current it leads us along or to correct it by our proper unity.

This is the solution and our free decision. Until now our history was predetermined, but the moment we have to make a decision onward, we don’t know what will happen. To be more accurate, we know what will happen in each of the cases, but it is up to society to determine in which of them we will be!
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