Question: It is hard for a person to remain neutral when he gets acquainted with Kabbalah. He either becomes its adversary and hater or a faithful ally. What determines which side a person will take?

Answer: It depends on the extent of the development of his “point in the heart,” on the force with which it is burning, and on the demand to break free and find an answer about the meaning of life. He will not be able to mute it and decide that the meaning of life is in observing religious traditions; he wants to discover the upper world.

A person’s nature decides what he will be: an opponent of Kabbalah or its faithful ally. I did not have a choice, I had to become a Kabbalist because the question about the meaning of life was vital for me and demanded me to find an answer to it.

All of humanity is divided into two types of people according to this feature. This division also exists inside each person; one part opposes Kabbalah and the other is attracted to it. Such a confrontation can continue till the end of the path.

Question: Have you ever had a desire to give up Kabbalah?

Answer: No, never. There were periods of weakness, which each one has, but I could not imagine how it could be possible to leave for good. It is necessary to believe that there is an upper program that guides a person. No matter where he wants to turn, the program leads him to the designated goal.

Question: Why does the upper program, which is the Creator that wants to be revealed in the created beings, awaken in people such a resistance to Kabbalah throughout all of history and even nowadays, when Kabbalah must be revealed to everyone?

It is interesting that the negative attitude to Kabbalah is akin to anti-Semitism, when clever, intelligent, and progressive people, for example, such free thinkers as Voltaire, at the mention of the Jews, as if lose their mind and begin to swear like troopers. The same attitude exists to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the mention of which turns clever, educated people into thick ignoramuses. Where does this come from?

Answer: This resistance comes from the fact that there are two forces in nature, the force of bestowal and the force of reception. A person by his nature belongs to the force of reception, which is to the desire to enjoy for the sake of his own pleasure. We accept everything that works for our enjoyment, this is close and understandable to us, and we can appreciate this and understand each other.

We are always in the process of “buying and selling,” trying to extract maximum pleasure from each other. As it is written, “Go make a living of each other.” Our lives consists of this, like in the market. Everybody understands that we are egoists; this is the basis of politics, philosophy and everything else.

Besides, we also see egoistic connections in nature, in physics, chemistry, inside inanimate matter, plants, and animals. At the level of elementary particles, molecules, and the most developed organisms, up to the human, his mind and feelings, everything acts according to the laws of egoism, the desire to enjoy. Therefore, egoism is understandable to everyone.

However, when it comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah that speaks about the opposite nature, about the force of bestowal and love that does not exist in our world, it causes bewilderment. After all, for us even bestowal is only for our own sake and love is only for ourselves.

Therefore, we do not understand what Kabbalah is talking about. We are not capable of perceiving that there is such a formula of when you act for the benefit of others. If someone ever thought that he acted for the sake of others, it was a hidden reception and a concern for himself.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that we need to rise above our nature to such an extent that we cease feeling ourselves at all and receive a new desire that does not exist in our world. It dwells above the roof of this world where we will acquire a different, opposite desire for bestowal and a program that operates according to a principle opposite to the current one.

If today we want to be filled with all the goodness and our mind and feelings are directed only at our own pleasure, then there we will act in an opposite way aspiring to fulfill our neighbor. We will have to approach and love selflessly, not our child, friend, or homeland, but someone opposite to us and even hated by our egoism.
[210829]
From KabTV’s “The reasons for the negative attitude towards Kabbalah” 7/19/17

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Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah” (The Giving of the Torah): Now here opens before us a door to understand the source of all the pleasures and pains in our world. Since the Creator is the root of His creations, we feel all that exists in Him and extends to us directly from Him as pleasant and delightful, because our nature is close to our root. And everything that is not in Him, and does not extend to us directly from Him, but contradicts Creation itself, will be against our nature and difficult for us to tolerate.

Thus, we love to rest and hate to move so much, that we do not make a single movement if not for the attainment of rest. That is because our root is immobile but at rest, and no motion exists in Him whatsoever. Therefore, it is against our nature and loathsome to us. By the same token, we love wisdom, strength, and wealth, etc. because all those exist in Him who is our root.

Anyone whose nature is the desire to receive yearns for pleasure. Pleasure is attained only when there is a desire as well as the filling of that desire. If I want something and I don’t have it, I suffer. If I receive what I want, I enjoy.

A state of pleasure is called rest since I do not need anything anymore; I have want I wanted. This is the reason that all of nature aspires for rest, for one unified straight motion, which means as unchanging as possible. This means that I am in a comfortable state. Our desire itself creates such rules of behavior for itself.

If the desire feels a deficiency, it is forced to move according to the deficiency and attain what it lacks. We can see that on all levels of nature.

The uniqueness of our evolution is that we have to change ourselves in order to want to resemble the Creator, which is against our original nature, and to act in order to attain this goal by implementing a special method called the wisdom of Kabbalah.

We cannot receive the energy to perform our actions by ourselves because the oppositeness of our nature cannot fill us in any way. The only thing we can do is to ask the Creator to help us to change ourselves, which means to change our intention to receive to the intention to bestow.

This change takes place as a result of the impact of the upper Light, which comes and affects us and invokes changes in us, making us want to resemble the Creator. But, at the same time, we cannot say which actions the Light performs on us.

We gradually begin to perceive these actions that have attributes of the upper system or the upper Light and can perform these changes in us: instead of thinking about myself, I begin to think about others. This is what the upper Light pushes us toward. We will have to change whether we like it or not.

Today, we see how the world gradually changes and how life becomes so hard to understand, so noisy, and so egoistic. Humanity feels that something is happening to it and that it has to change somehow but it does not understand what is going on. Families are breaking up, there are serious global changes, etc.

All this is happening in order to force us to want to change our attitude to the world, to convince us that we cannot exist in the world within the attribute of receiving anymore because we can only be filled and discover a good way to live through the attribute of bestowal.

All this indicates that the time has come for the wisdom of Kabbalah to be revealed and to become more popular and more accessible because it is actually this wisdom that explains how to do that in an easy, simple, and pleasant way.

Comment: The word “rest” is usually associated with peacefulness, with slow-motion actions, or with motionlessness.

Answer: This is not true. Even according to physics and other exact sciences we know that unchanging motion in the speed of light is a state of rest. Therefore, it is not about our state but about the lack of change in the state; if you do not yearn for anything, you are satisfied.
[211097]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/2/17

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Question: I am a chemistry scientist, and don’t understand how Kabbalah can be connected to science. It seems esoteric to me. Why do you say that Kabbalah is a science?

Answer: It really is difficult to understand because Kabbalah is not a science of this world. Everyone can study the science of this world without any internal change, since our inherent material qualities are sufficient for it.

Kabbalah is a science, but it studies the upper system that governs our world. Therefore, first of all we must understand the language in which it is written. Then we need to find out what is behind each word and each definition. Only then will we begin to penetrate deeply into this science and study it.

Obviously, the knowledge of chemistry or of some other material science won’t help. It may well be that the simplest person, who is far from science, will have a propensity for Kabbalah and a desire to study it, and a great scientist will understand nothing and won’t be able to approach it.

Question: What is this system that governs us?

Answer: The upper system is a network of forces that governs our entire life, the universe, and each of us. This is a huge, multifaceted network of forces that pervades the entire reality and binds together all of its elements.

Our universe is in a particular place that exists by itself, although we don’t feel it. And the stars, nebulae, and other cosmic objects are located inside this place. They all exist in a close connection with each other. Imagine what would happen if they all weren’t bound into one network, what chaos would reign in the universe.

Exploring the universe and nature in general, we find out that everything in it operates according to strict laws, as it is written, “The law is given and cannot be transgressed.” The wisdom of Kabbalah studies this entire reality, the network of forces, and most importantly, finds out for what purpose everything is created, in what form humanity and the universe in which we exist are developing.

Question: Are we part of this reality?

Answer: Of course, we exist on Earth that develops in a certain direction and fly in space thousands of kilometres every second along with our entire universe. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about this entire reality. Modern science is a part of Kabbalah and exists within certain limits that are set by a given nature of a person.

For example, Einstein discovered that by changing our angle of view at reality, we change it. Kabbalah goes even further by saying that if we change a person, his inner qualities, then the reality will change.

However, how is it possible to take a screwdriver and adjust something in a person in order to adjust him in a new way and to let him see the new reality, the new world, in his new qualities? The wisdom of Kabbalah allows us to do this!

Question: What do we need to change in ourselves for this?

Answer: We don’t need to change anything, all the changes are done by the force that is hidden in Kabbalah, the force of Light, the inner force of the whole reality that affects a person and changes him.
[209743]
From the virtual lesson “The Time of Kabbalah,” 7/4/17

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Torah, Deuteronomy 28:45: All these curses will befall you, pursuing you and overtaking you to destroy you because you did not obey the Lord, your God, to observe His commandments and statutes which He commanded you.

The person is being slowly annihilated until he comes to the realization that all that the Creator requires of him is the similarity to Him, that is, performing all the actions for the benefit of others, not for oneself.

Torah, Deuteronomy 28:46 – 28:47: And they will be as a sign and a wonder, upon you and your offspring, forever, because you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything.

At one time, we were briefly given the state of “abundance of everything,” but we learned nothing from it. Egoism prevailed and the people of Israel fell from the level of bestowal, love, and connection among them, plunged once again into an internecine war and this ended their history in the land of Israel.

The fall was terrible. People killed each other while fighting among themselves. Some were fighting for being spiritually pure and for doing everything only for the sake of bestowal and mutual love. Others did not understand them, believing that they simply steal from them by depriving them of a comfortable egoistic life. Therefore, the war was conducted at all levels, both spiritual and material.

The sages, seeing that the people could not keep the commandments in the way they were given in order to live in similarity to the Creator, gradually permitted them to perform them mechanically in the external form.

People began to believe that this was the realization of the Creator’s commandments. This is how the Judaism appeared that exists in this framework until now.

The wars gradually ceased, and the Jews received an opportunity to live in the state of exile and the simultaneous external mechanical keeping of the commandments, although, in fact, the commandments imply step-by-step correction of egoism in 613 of its particular desires up to the level of love your neighbor as yourself.

However, when the people transformed them into ordinary physical actions, then it became possible for every egoist who fell from the spiritual level to consider that by this he is fulfilling the Creator’s Commandments and can be called “the people of Israel.”

Let’s assume that ablution of the hands symbolizes purification of desires from the egoistic intention because hands represent a person’s desires. Dipping into the water means washing away all of egoism. Bestowing to others is exiting yourself. Yet people, by performing all this and sharing something with others, believe that they are doing noble deeds. That is, all the spiritual commandments turned into various actions of our world.

People began to believe that for this they were entitled to the future world after death. However, this is not so. It is written in the Torah, “You shall see your world in your lifetime.”

It means that if you follow the orders of the Torah correctly, then you immediately attain the upper world, where you act through your soul.
You perceive the new world through the correct inner feelings, that is, through the forces of bestowal and love and the general force that is called the Creator, which is revealed to you.
[211028]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/19/16

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Question: Kabbalists concealed the wisdom of Kabbalah well. Now we must make great efforts to reveal it to the world. Why has it been arranged this way?

Answer: First, Kabbalists did not hide anything. They have always been for the revelation of this wisdom.

But 2,000 years ago, after the destruction of the Temple, people began to turn their backs to the wisdom of Kabbalah to such a degree that Kabbalists were forced to hide The Book of Zohar and other sources so that they would be reveled in our generation.

Baal HaSulam began to adapt the wisdom of Kabbalah to our times and only today is it being revealed.
[211878]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/19/17

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Question from Facebook: Kabbalah is taught in many places today. What is so special about Baal HaSulam’s method that you teach?

Answer: There are many methods such as the methods of Ramchal, Rabash, Hagrah, or Haba”d. I teach according to Baal HaSulam’s method and that of my teacher Rabash. I cannot say how it differs from other methods. The deeper you penetrate the wisdom of Kabbalah in your study, the more you will be able to see what is best for you. We are all different, and therefore, it says very simply in the Torah that: “A person learns only where his heart desires.”

You should determine what your heart desires and where you can receive the answers that are closest to your heart and which you understand most. Check in places where you can study, but don’t stop in one place. Check several places, see which is closest to you, and study there.

Many people come to study with me, and many leave. I don’t stop anyone in any way. It all depends on the person himself. People have different roots of their soul, and therefore, everyone should study wherever it suits him, where a person feels that he receives an answer, as the divine voice of his soul about what he hears in the lesson.

Question: What do you think is special about the method of Baal HaSulam and Rabash?

Answer: The uniqueness of the method of Baal HaSulam and Rabash is that it is scientific, precise, and expresses the aspiration for definitions that are absolutely exact. Do not dwell on some emotional moments, but give them purely physical definitions.

Question: Is this what appealed to you?

Answer: Yes.
[212050]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/27/17

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Question: How did the transition of the invisible spiritual world into the corporeal world take place?

Answer: There is no matter and there is no corporeality. Everything around us exists in our imagination, only inside of us, in our feelings.

Everything around us is absolutely subjective because we exist in certain coordinates and feel everything with regard to ourselves.

Question: Why is the illusory world in which we live and which exists only in our imagination so terrible and the suffering of millions is so unbearable?

Answer: All the suffering is meant to push us out of it, upward, to a better world. Until we want that ourselves, we will be here and suffer.
[211891]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/19/17

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Question: What led to the creation of matter in the spiritual world 14 billion years ago? And why have observers of this matter, able to comprehend the spiritual world, appear only relatively recently?

Answer: The gradual descent of the upper forces to the level of their materialization led to the creation of matter. Then they underwent various states in the material world, starting from the first burst of Light until our current level. Now we are already in the phase of ascent to the upper world through to the three lines.
[211875]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/12/17

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Question: Kabbalists write that eventually all the people must come to the revelation of the upper force. But, at the same time, the wisdom of Kabbalah awakens fear and rejection in many people. What causes this obstacle that has been accompanying the path of Kabbalah for thousands of years?

Answer: This obstacle is in a person’s nature; one’s egoism does not tolerate the wisdom of Kabbalah; in fact, it is death for it. A person should come to Kabbalah out of despair and the inability to answer the question “What is the meaning of my life?” He feels he must solve this question and without it there is no life.

Question: Does it mean that if a person would accept Kabbalah easily and joyfully, he would never require the upper force and could not exit his egoistic nature? Is this why one has a negative attitude to Kabbalah?

Answer: If the study of Kabbalah was beneficial to a person’s egoism, of course, he would not protest against it. All our pursuits in this world, such as science, education, culture, and religion are aimed at fulfilling our egoism.

We develop all these areas based on our egoism, and therefore, they do not cause any resistance. Some are engaged in one area, others in another one, but each one understands that there is a place for everything.

Whereas, the wisdom of Kabbalah is contrary to everything because it is opposite to human nature! It says that we need to cross out this person we see in the mirror, that is, ourselves, and to build the complete opposite in its place.

Question: But people do not know all this. A person gives all sorts of other reasons when he is criticizing Kabbalah. Where does this hatred come from?

Answer: The hatred arises subconsciously. It does not matter that a person does not understand, he feels rejection subconsciously, the way anti-Semitism exists subconsciously throughout all generations.

A person subconsciously feels that there is a confrontation between our egoism and Kabbalah within the general system. As soon as he hears about Kabbalah, the protective mechanism within him begins to work, forcing him to avoid it because it threatens egoism.

Question: Then why are there people who aspire to Kabbalah and want to study it?

Answer: It is because they are awakened by the general system. In every person, along with great egoism, there also is one percent or even a fraction of a percent of the desire that aspires to the upper system that controls our life. This system is called the Creator, the upper nature.

If this one thousandth of the desire begins to shine, if the spiritual spark is ignited in a person, then he is ready to give up everything in order to increase it and to look at the world through it. After all, he sees that the remaining 99% that belong to his egoism will bury him; in other words, he will end his life the way he started it.

Generation after generation, one reincarnation after another, go by without any benefit. Gradually this question arises in a person, and more and more people begin to search for the meaning of life.
[210766]
From KabTV’s “The reasons for the negative attitude towards Kabbalah” 7/19/17

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Question: What is the change of day into night and vice versa? What parallel phenomena are there in spirituality?

Answer: There is not day or night in spirituality. The spreading of the Light in the desire is called day and the exit of the Light from the desire is called evening or night.

Question: And what about the cycles, like the cycle of the day, for example?

Answer: There are cycles in spirituality but on different dimensions, in other concepts. A person who enters the spiritual world undergoes an upgrading to different concepts and there is a totally different definition to the concept of “day,” “night,” “time,” “I,” and “peace.” All the definitions totally change, transform, and take on a new shape, a rebirth.
[211434]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/19/17

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