Comment:After I started studying Kabbalah, a lot has changed in my life. I reassessed my values and desires.
My Response: Indeed, a person who starts studying Kabbalah is ready to lower his expectations from this life to a normal minimal level. Food, shelter, and family is all one needs at the corporeal level.
You should not be rushing for corporeal goals. You should yearn for the attainment of the perfect and eternal state, which you see before you as possible to achieve.
Everything else is temporary and will fade away in any case. In this regard, the wisdom of Kabbalah helps a person position himself correctly toward the values that he can get in our world. [260887] From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20
Question: There are many methods for studying historical processes. There is philology (comparing texts), and genetics, and archeology. What is the Kabbalistic method? What makes it so unique? How do Kabbalists explore historical processes?
Answer:We base everything upon Kabbalistic sources and nothing else. All these sources are known from Adam through Abraham, then Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, David and further, up to the Kabbalists of our day.
By the way, Kabbalists have never been interested in the history of the people of Israel. They only thought about how to elevate the Jewish people to their heights, the foundation of which was laid down in the spiritual world, so that this ascent can serve as an example for all humanity.
Remark: This approach is unique in a way that all primary sources, such as The Book of Zohar, the Pentateuch, the Scriptures, the Prophets, the Talmud, the Mishnah and others, and the spiritual conditions of one person or all humanity, including the people of Israel, are described.
According to Kabbalah, there is a pattern that all spiritual states must materialize at least once. However, they may not correspond to the scale of events, nor the time of their implementation.
Therefore, historians and archaeologists, while conducting their research, often see that the scale and dates of the events described in the same Torah don’t correspond to the indicated time.
My Response: Indeed. In this regard, the concept of “Armageddon,” which we associate with terrible events at the end of the world, is very indicative. In fact, this word comes from the name of the little hill “HarMegido.”
Kabbalah does not mean physical objectification of any phenomena or objects, but their spiritual state. And in a spiritual form, all this has great importance, for example, the Temple. Look at how many cubits (length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger), as indicated in the Torah, the Tabernacle should be made of along with other things.
At the material level, this is all very small and insignificant. However, when they are given spiritual greatness, then multiplying one by the other, they truly give a great higher power. [257833] From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis Development of the People of Israel,” 3/24/19
Question:I recently returned from a trip to Asia where I studied a state of being without thoughts. In this state I began to get to know people and realized that I was able to feel them, see what they want, and what I want to give them.
When I began to practice this further, I started to feel this wonderful internal state being generated between us, which was transmitted to everyone who was nearby. Is this what you are talking about when you speak about inner light?
Answer: No. It is not the same. You talk about psychological states, and I talk about spiritual ones.
First, when you study Kabbalah you will see that it is not the same.
Second, in order to feel what you are experiencing, you need not rise above egoism, above your nature. Such psychological training helps you somehow feel others on a deeper level and nothing more. It is not the way out of egoism, and is not what Kabbalah discusses.
There are many techniques in our world that attract people. I am not telling you to stop doing what interests you. At the same time, engage in Kabbalah and you will see what technique will really help you get out of your egoism, out of our nature. [260121] From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20
Proverbs, 26:17: A passerby who becomes embroiled in a quarrel that is not his is like one who grabs a dog by its ears.
Question:Does it mean that a person fiddles with his fate?
Answer:Of course! If you meddle in someone else’s quarrel, you cause anger in the other person at the level of a dog.
We know that it is best not to interfere. The best thing is to let the person sort out the situation he is in without any wisdom or advice; otherwise, you will become an enemy to both.
Question:Let’s say there is a quarrel. What should a person do?
Answer: An outside person does nothing. Leaves them alone and steps aside.
The police or someone else that is supposed to smooth things over, this is their business. An individual has no right to interfere.
Question:Is it because he does not know who is right and who is wrong?
Answer: He has no right to meddle at all. Otherwise, those states will not find their solution.
Question: King Solomon said that the quarrel is within me. What kind of quarrel exists inside a person?
Answer: A constant one, because the person is created from two desires: egoistic and altruistic ones. But a true human is one within whom there is a constant battle between good and evil, one who specifically incites his good to evil.
The evil constantly rises, wants everything for itself, and so on. A person, however, if he wants to educate himself, always develops good in himself and is constantly in this internal battle.
Therefore, all these proverbs are built on the revelation of evil in a person, but to the extent that he tries to reveal the good in himself.
Question: That is, the evil is in me, the egoism is within me, all the time; is this my nature?
Answer: Yes, and you ask the Creator to give you a good nature in addition to it so that you could balance these two natures. You can say: “I ask the Creator to remove this evil nature from me.” No. This is unwise.
You should ask to be given a good nature so that these two natures would exist within you in balance. One should not be bigger than the other, and the positive one should not be above the negative.
The middle line between them is an amazing state. And I am constantly in this balance. I stand on two legs above them. Only then can I absolutely fully feel both the minus and the plus and all nature below me.
Question: Is a person who includes his own nature and the nature of the Creator a harmonious person?
Answer: Of course. He is then called “Adam,” i.e., “similar to the Creator,” because all one’s inner properties that are opposite to the Creator also resemble the Creator. [260367] From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 12/16/19
Purim, which takes place on the 14th of Adar, is the holiday of opposites. It connects between happiness and despair, concealment and revelation, Mordechai and Haman, exile and redemption.
Purim (which stems from the word “Pur” [“lot”]) is the ideal spiritual situation, the final correction (GmarTikkun). It is a state where a person’s desires are corrected with the intention in order to bestow, and one becomes united with all desires, thus filling one’s desire with the Creator’s revelation (i.e., the revelation of the quality of bestowal and love that connects among all desires).
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF PURIM
Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther) describes forces that unfold in the person. These forces are what a person attaining spirituality discovers in connection with the Creator. They manage everything taking place in everyone’s lives, and have been given the names Mordechai, Esther, Haman, as well as many others.
The story of Purim unfolds before the construction of the Second Temple, soon before the Aliyah (ascent) to the land of Israel. It depicts the final battle before the final correction (Gmar Tikkun). At this stage, the people of Israel, the innermost desire within the person that aspires to spirituality, live calmly and peacefully in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
Mordechai, the spiritual desire that wants only to adhere to the Creator (the quality of bestowal and love), lived happily and the kingdom was at peace.
The people of Israel represent the majority of the desires that want to go straight to the world’s leader to learn the law of the universe (the word “Israel” comes from the words “Yashar Kel” [“straight to God”]).
Indeed, in the beginning of the story, the narrative suggests that there is something wrong: “There is one nation that is scattered among the nations.” This passage can also be read as “There is one desire that is scattered among the desires.” It is this nation, Israel, the desire for spirituality (a desire of bestowal and love), that is supposed to be united against all other nations, which are desires for self-gratification. The strength of the desire for spirituality (Israel) comes only from its unity, so when it is dispersed, it signifies that the person has not yet fulfilled his destiny, for only the people of Israel (the united desire for bestowal and love above all other desires) can lead the other nations (all other desires for self-gratification) to the common goal, adhesion with the Creator.
The evil Haman, who represents the egoistic desires in the person, wants to exploit the situation for personal gain. He eventually wants to overthrow the king from his throne. Haman believes that the fact that the people of Israel, the Jews, are dispersed testifies to their weakness, confusion and lack of faith. Therefore, he finds the situation to be a rare opportunity to eliminate the Jews from the face of the earth, as they are the sole force that stands between him and exploiting the Creator.
What Haman fails to understand, however, is that the Jews are dispersed for a reason: The Jews’ dispersion (i.e., the dispersion of the small amount of spiritual desires among the large amount of egoistic desires) is in order for all desires to acquire the form of bestowal and love, i.e. that spiritual unity comes in integration and perfect balance with all desires, and not in separation to them. Indeed, we will see the truth of it when at the end of the story, all people reform. The meaning is that all the desires in the person, called “people,” accept the spiritual desires that leads to confidence and happiness, called “Israel.”
The Israel in a person (the altruistic part) is limited. That limitation can only be overcome by the evil Haman. That is why we need to find the Haman (the egoistic part) within us.
Kabbalah differs from atheism and religions in general in that it facilitates a clear attainment of the Creator, so that you will feel Him like you feel a friend of yours, and even more. There is thus no room in Kabbalah for belief in something others have told to you. Instead, you have to attain yourself, the entire world, and all the souls, and inside them – the Creator in His entirety.
Atheism is a belief that the Creator does not exist, whereas religion is a belief that the Creator does exist. In contrast, Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator, through researching Nature inside yourself or inside your perceptions.
In this regard, Kabbalah is similar to other sciences. However, the other sciences reveal the world within the senses that we already have, whereas Kabbalah does it in an additional sense – the soul, which you first have to develop inside you. In any case, just like any other science Kabbalah speaks only about the things that are present in one’s senses! It is not interested in anything that’s imperceptible and that cannot be researched, repeated, and tested, and considers these things unreal. This approach makes it a science by definition. See the definition of Kabbalah in Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” – “Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to a person in our world” – to every person and to everyone together.
Like all sciences, Kabbalah uses the scientific method or instrument (even though scientists find it difficult to agree with this because they are used to researching the world only through the animate body). The scientific method assumes that:
Every scientific statement must be proven by experiment.
Every scientific statement can be proven wrong.
It is pointless to discuss an idea that cannot be verified in practice. For example, here is a scientific opinion about G-d’s existence: Immanuel Kant showed that it cannot be proven that G-d exists as well as that He does not. The very notion of an unattainable and almighty G-d is not subject to experiment, because if G-d is almighty, then he’s able to control the outcome of the experiment. People don’t accept G-d through evidence, but through faith. Hence, the idea of G-d is beyond science. Any question that asks “Why is so and so this way?” can be answered, “Because it’s G-d’s will.” (This is how religion compelled people to answer all questions, and therefore it slowed down scientific progress.) Kabbalah allows one to reveal the Creator and His actions in practice. However, it is just as indifferent to the things that cannot be verified in practice as the earthly sciences.
Every scientific statement must be logical and not contradict the laws that are already known. Usually, the old laws become particular cases of the new laws.
Every scientific statement must indicate its “weak spots”; it should mention which of it constituents are subject to doubt and objection.
God in Kabbalah means the general force of nature, where other than this force, nothing exists.
In and of itself, we consider God as an abstract concept and cannot discuss something existing outside our perception. No one has ever felt it. This state of God, also called “the Creator,” in no way can be perceived by us, and therefore, this force is called “Atzmuto,” i.e., “His essence.”
Everything that we attain and what is possible for us to attain are the actions of the upper force in relation to us. The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with revealing these actions in relation to a person.
We call this upper force “the Creator” because He created the human being and all of our qualities, within which we feel our world and can explore the Creator through our senses. We can explore why He created us with such qualities, limitations and abilities, and what He wants from us.
By making progress in such an exploration, we begin to attain the Creator. We do not attain the essence or “self” of the Creator (Atzmuto), but the Creator in relation to us. It is written about this, “We will know You by your actions.” We explore the Creator’s actions, how He created our world and all other worlds, as a system of connections between Him and us. This system of connections in degrees that cascade down to us is called “worlds,” and this system influences us at every moment of our lives.
By studying this system, these worlds, we study the Creator and ourselves, both our nature and the nature of the Creator, and we progress to the understand of what states we connect to Him with. We can change our behavior and our actions in accordance with this in order to raise ourselves to higher connections, to be connected directly with the Creator.
In other words, we can see what kind of reactions our actions produce in Him and, conversely, what reactions His actions produce in us. We can reach an absolutely complete, open and two-way connection.
When we begin to attain this opportunity, to reveal and achieve it gradually, we naturally change our behavior in accordance with what we reveal, and we enter a completely different stage of our development where we begin to undergo changes in becoming more and more similar to the Creator.
At the same time, our world and we ourselves radically transform, and our state becomes increasingly reliable, convenient and true.
People want to label Kabbalah as esoteric or mystic, and connect it with blessings, curses, charms, and many other phenomena. These labels became linked with Kabbalah because there was a prohibition on the study of Kabbalah in the masses for 1,000s of years since humanity’s spiritual desire still hadn’t ripened. In the 16th Century, when the Ari (Kabbalist Isaac Luria) lifted the prohibition on the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, claiming that the time had come for Kabbalah to be revealed to humanity, he also mentioned the prohibition on the use of charms and blessings, since they have nothing to do with Kabbalah.
Kabbalah is a science that teaches the law of reality, of which we are a part. Through this science, we discover those rules and the spiritual world, which is the reason for everything that happens here with us. They are collective rules, which encompass the laws of all the sciences in our world.
Kabbalah is not another belief or an imaginary view of life. Instead, it offers precise and clear laws that depict the structure of the upper worlds.
It is when we study Kabbalah that we first acquire knowledge of the world outside our own. We discover the higher, spiritual world, and then we gradually attain the ability to affect it. Through tests and experiments, we learn how to do it, and then we enter the comprehensive reality.
At this point, we begin to work not from within our own bodies, but from our souls, which are our true essence. The human being is not the physical body that is replaced at the beginning of each new life. The human being is the soul that we currently do not sense.
The purpose of creation is that we will act from within our souls, from the upper world, and live at the highest degree possible, rather than in the lowest (our world), which is at an animal level. By discovering our souls, we attain contact with the upper world, and thus achieve a whole, complete, eternal and blissful life.
Question: How did Abraham teach the tens of thousands of people who gathered around him if there was not yet a Pentateuch that set out the commandments?
Answer:At that time, people were at a level where they understood it from within themselves.
Comment:Abraham wrote several books of which only The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira) has reached us. I have read it many times, but it does not say anything about connection.
My Response:In The Book of Creation, Abraham wrote about the upper force that influences people. He wrote this book so that we could understand the upper force the way he described it.
To do this, we must have the appropriate tool. This tool is connection with other people in which the upper laws are revealed.
Question: However, it was not written anywhere specifically about connection. Was it obvious to them?
Answer: Yes. This is called the “Oral Torah,” which Abraham explained to his followers.
Question: Rambam wrote: “Abraham sowed this great principle in their hearts and wrote books about it.” However, these books describe what a person feels in connection with the Creator, with the upper force of nature. Does it mean that communication between people was passed by word of mouth?
Answer: This is a practical wisdom that Abraham passed on to his disciples Isaac and Jacob.
Question: Were they not his children?
Answer: You can call them “children,” it does not matter. However, Kabbalah refers to the disciples through whom the method of correcting human egoism was passed onto the entire nation, to the entire group of people who gathered around Abraham in Babylon.
All this is described in the Torah through one person. First what happened to Abraham, then to Lot, and so on. Where are the other tens of thousands of people that gathered around him?
The fact is that description does not take into account the number of people Rambam spoke about, but only their spiritual level. The spiritual level is already 70, 50, 10 people, and so on—it does not matter because in spirituality we do not count the number of heads, but the strength of their connection with each other. [259139] KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 6/24/19
Question: A ten is a mini-model of society. Instead of working with all of humanity, which, in principle, is not yet possible, did the Kabbalists take, like a hologram, the most minimal cell in which it is possible to implement the method?
Answer:That is absolutely right.
Comment:Kabbalists say that two people are also minimal for a society.
My Response: In principle, for lack of anything else, there can be two. After all, then a person begins to feel the difference between himself and the other: Who is “I” and who is “he?” But in fact, you can only achieve the altruistic quality of bestowal quickly and correctly if you are in the ten.
Question: There are many things written about the ten in the Kabbalistic sources. Kabbalists have always been studying in such a way. Was there no learning for two people?
Answer: This was at the beginning of the foundation and development of Kabbalah. However, in those days there were special souls and special conditions.
Question: Is it possible today for a Kabbalist teacher to teach just one person? Do we teach privately?
Answer: There can be private teachers. When my friend and I came to Rabash he gave us his disciple as a teacher, a man of advanced years, and the two of us studied with him for six months.
Question: There were no people who wanted to study Kabbalah back then? Is this possible today?
Answer: No. I do not think that this is even useful. The group is best of all. In Kabbalah, everything is so tied to the connection between friends that other ways of studying are not effective.
Question: What about the initial stage, at least to understand what this is about?
Answer: It is possible. There may be private lessons at that stage. However, that is not movement toward the goal but filling with knowledge. [259527] From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/20/19
Comment: After I started studying Kabbalah, a lot has changed in my life. I reassessed my values and desires.
Michael Laitman, On Quora:
