Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

The Difference Between A Group Of Kabbalah Students And A Sect

laitman_934Question: What is the difference between a group for Kabbalah students of ten people and a sect whose purpose is to exploit its members?

Answer: A group of Kabbalah students is based on absolute pure love and in such a group you don’t obey those who manage it but only its spiritual goal. Therefore it is up to a person whether to join it or not.

In a sect, on the other hand, there are many conditions; it is very limited and closed, has its distinct ideology, and the closer one gets to the center of the sect, the more and more hidden it becomes. A sect also has typical rituals such as prayers, meditations, etc. Such things are not part of studying the wisdom of Kabbalah.

A group of Kabbalists is not closed. It is based on the principle of mutual love, honesty, warm-heartedness, mutual inclusion, and mutual help according to the principles of Kabbalists and the sources that are studied. The only ritual it encourages is sharing a meal.

There are no conditions as to religion, race, or a nationality. A person who wants to join the group is accepted and if he wants to leave, he can do so. Everything is open and free; all the study materials are available on the Internet in every language; there is no barricade or separation.

The wisdom of Kabbalah encourages the unity of all mankind in mutual love and good mutual relations without any coercion, equally for everyone and with everyone.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/29/15

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Beyond All The Religions Of The World

laitman_222_0Question: Why do the religious Torah scholars attack those who study Kabbalah?

Answer: It is absolutely natural that people don’t want us to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah because it eliminates the need for everything else. The world won’t need other sciences and culture, no poetry and literature, ballet and music, nothing.

The attainment of the Creator gives a person the sense of higher harmony that will completely fill him. All the hidden niches of the soul will be filled with the Upper Light, with the most natural and complete joy.

Specifically for this reason, those who are involved with all kinds of areas of science and art immediately oppose the wisdom of Kabbalah. It follows that we are taking their livelihood from them. What is left for them?

Similarly, nothing will remain for the religious, because the wisdom of Kabbalah is a method that is very directly involved with the greatest general rule, as is stated in our sources and in the Torah, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). The question is whether religious people are carrying out this general rule correctly and maintaining their love for others.

All the religions hate and have killed each other. For thousands of years they have been killing people in the name of God. Obviously this is not the correct attitude toward people; there is only one divine Mitzvah (commandment): “And you shall love your friend.” This is what the upper force, the Creator, requires from everyone and we must follow it.

But since religions are the offspring of the ego, they are engaged in every thing possible except good relationships between one another. On the contrary, they incite people against each other. Today it is difficult for the common man to understand this, but from the moment he begins to attain the higher reality, he understands how deeply he is immersed in hatred and how much he has gotten used to thinking of this as a matter of course.

All of the religions grew as a result of the fall of the Jews from the level of “And you shall love your friend as yourself” into mutual hatred, and from that, 2,000 years ago, after the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple), modern Judaism appeared, and then Christianity emerged and at a later stage, in the 6th to the 7th century, the religion of Islam. Since then they have existed to this day: each within its separate circle, conflicting with and opposing each other.

The time has come now for Jews, Christians, and Muslims to rise above all religions and unite as the only religion in the world, which exists under the Mitzvah of “And you shall love your friend as yourself,” as Baal HaSulam writes.

Question: Do the representatives of the religions have freedom of choice about this?

Answer: No, this is determined by the program of development. As long as the wisdom of Kabbalah has not been fully revealed, all of the religions will be against it. Only after its final revelation, choice will not remain for them except to agree with the wisdom of Kabbalah and be included within it.

Question: How do the religions relate to the goal of creation?

Answer: The religions are required for the discovery of the goal of creation, so that a person can understand the wisdom of Kabbalah from its opposite reflection. The religions open a person and bring him to a state in which he begins to feel, see, and understand that it is not by chance that he is on the plane of this world.

It is difficult to imagine from what a low point people are developing, and to develop humanity to the level of attaining the higher nature requires many tools like religions, faiths, philosophy, music, culture, and science, anything. The main thing is that humanity will be in a state in which it will be able to feel what the wisdom of Kabbalah gives it.

Question: Does this mean that you are not against art, literature, and the like?

Answer: Not in any way; all of this opens people, including the religions. They were intentionally given to develop humanity and prepare it for awareness of the spiritual system.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/15/15

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The Strength Of ISIS

laitman_626Opinion (zeit online, Tamim Ansary): “The true power of the IS is not in his bombs and guns or its hideous determination. It resides rather in the ingenious way in which how the organization formulates their worldview and forges a weapon: It is an apocalyptic confrontation between Islam and the West is in progress. … They will wipe out the satanic other and unite the world under the umbrella of Islam.”

My Comment: No matter what you call modern Islam, we already see the chaos it generates and spreads in the world. It also makes no difference what the true Islam is, which like true Judaism and Christianity, perhaps may not exist in our world.

Humanity must learn to live together without imposing any ideas by force but by appreciating only one idea—the inclusive connection and unity above all the differences and contradictions.
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God Carried Out An Act Of Terrorism?

laitman_284Comment: A year after the massacre at the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a new edition was published depicting God on its cover with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and hands soiled with blood. The Vatican immediately protested.

Answer: Why was the Vatican indignant? Didn’t God to this?! Who creates all the problems in the world?

After all, God said: “I created the evil inclination” (Kiddushin 30b). What is the origin of all the terrible crimes and everything else? Our evil inclination that the Creator created in us: so turn to Him.

He gave us the evil inclination so that we would correct and reeducate ourselves, but we are not doing this. The second half of the phrase “I created the evil inclination…” is “I created the Torah as a spice.” Therefore, it is necessary to take the Torah and use it correctly.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how to change our nature from an evil and egoistic nature to a good and altruistic nature. That is how God will be revealed before us correctly. Then we, the evil inclination, and the good inclination will be aimed correctly and will rise to the level of the Creator. That is what the Creator created the evil inclination for.

When we use only one characteristic without the other, we don’t have anyone to blame except ourselves, and anyway the Creator created even this in us.

Therefore one must turn to the Creator, but through the second half of His statement.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/7/16

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Creating A Third Civilization

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Was the Maccabean rebellion the last spark before the waning of the first Jewish civilization?

Answer: The Maccabean rebellion was indeed an outburst before the waning of the Jewish civilization, not of the days of the First Temple, but of the second, during the days of the Second Temple. Now we are nearing the third civilization,

Today there is no Jewish civilization and we need to restore and rebuild it because this is what the world strongly demands. The first two civilizations were the foundations of the third civilization, which should include the whole world.

This may sound like the slogans of the Islamic movements that want to swallow the whole world, but in Judaism it is about ideological unity. There is one Jewish civilization that undergoes three phases, and we can understand that by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. All three phases reveal the building of the Temples, including the third future Temple we have to build, not in the form of a grandiose structure in Jerusalem but by uniting the hearts of all of humanity. It isn’t about an ideological conquest and enslavement but about freedom and overcoming the enslavement of our ego.

This will bring all of humanity to the right mutual integral communication, and life will be felt as one body in which all the organs and cells are connected and function in the best possible way. This life is called eternal life and all of humanity should reach that because it actually makes up all the parts of this body.

The wisdom of Kabbalah emphasizes that we can reach this through crises that will push us to change, like the Islamic civilization that is wakening now that will demand the world’s submission by the sword in the name of Allah, or we could implement the good mutual connection between us instead of using weapons and coercion. Worshipping an upper entity, the idea of an upper force, is crucial for this cause but not in the way we know it. Bowing to the East, in the direction of Mecca will not change anything. We should rather bow to the unity of our hearts.

The Muslim Allah symbolizes the force of unity, the only force that operates in the world, and this is also how all of humanity should operate. This is the reason that Islam is awakening now, and it will provoke and enrage the whole world. The world will not discover the current Judaism by resisting Islam but the wisdom of Kabbalah, which will explain to the world the rule of “love thy friend as thyself,” which is the right global communication law for all mankind. Life by this rule will have to take over the whole world.

Neither the sword or the green and black flag, the nice symbols of the Islamic flag, nor the Star of David are the answer, but only the correct and good relations between people. If the integral connection in humanity is restored and becomes the general collective force, people will unite and attain the Creator between them.

Not only the wisdom of Kabbalah aims at the unity of mankind, but also Sufism, the internal wisdom of Islam. When humanity acts in a way that matches the upper force it will begin to feel that it merges with it and the corporeal world, that the wisdom of Kabbalah calls the virtual world, will gradually disappear from our senses and we will reach the third civilization.

Our true existence is only in the world of the upper forces. If you want to attain, sense, and find it, I invite you to become acquainted with the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 12/16/15

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Who Does The Land Of Israel Belong To?

laitman_933Comment: Not long ago a well-known Egyptian theologian came to the University of Haifa and conducted a series of lectures for Arab students. In one of them he indicated, that from a realistic point of view the Jews have no fewer rights to the Temple Mount than the Muslims.

His words aroused complaints. Students shouted that he indulges the “Zionist invaders.” And it happened in our University of Haifa!

Answer: All the state is working to ensure some way to appease those who vote against the government. We, all of us, exist here according to the will of God. So I don’t see any contradiction between what is really going on and the incident at the University of Haifa where probably more than half the teachers and students are Arabs. I would call this institution one of the largest Arab universities.

And how many Arabs do you think are studying at Jewish, religious Bar Ilan University? For a long time we have stopped being the owners in charge of the nation, the people, or the land. From this we can conclude that there is no proper education and formulation of the question.

People who receive an Israeli passport, not necessarily Jews, must feel they are citizens of this state, and not take a non-religious university into national religious wars. That should not be. Otherwise, the government should declare itself a religious organization like the Arab states.

Arab students receive serious ideological education directed against Zionists. And this isn’t so with the Jews. The Jews are not tied to the land or the nation, so they don’t show any resistance. The Jews don’t understand how valuable this land is. The land of Israel possesses an amazing characteristic; in a certain way it connects a person with higher forces.

This is the place in the world where you can find your spiritual destiny, and because I am here and not somewhere else is on the basis of the root and branch. It is very important to be in here. A man who understands this feels he has no other place on Earth. Then he reacts differently to everything and has the right to protect this land.

And those who don’t have these roots don’t feel this. In the Six Day War we conquered Jerusalem but due to a lack of a clear ideological foundation, we have now given up what we won because it was not important to us. So all flows gradually away from us drop by drop.

I am not against all of this also belonging to Islam. I am against all of this belonging only to Islam. In general, Israel doesn’t need to belong to religions, but should equally be for all people on the face of the Earth. Religions are a product of human egoism.   We must by all means pull out all that belongs to the spiritual from religious dictatorship.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/4/16

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The Struggle For The Birthright

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Balak’s proposal touched the personal interests of Balaam who didn’t want anything in the world except to hurt the Jews. Balaam was the grandson of Lavan and he believed the slander of the sons of Lavan that said that Jacob robbed their father and took everything from him.

Answer: Really, Jacob stole the birthright that Esau had to receive through deceit. To date, this is the reason for the hatred of all nations toward the Jews.

According to Islamic sources, the Muslims don’t have and did not have hatred. Although Abraham sent out Hagar with Ishmael, they received this as an act of a great prophet because Abraham was their father. In this regard they don’t have complaints toward Israel.

Here it is spoken about what Jacob did with Esau, meaning claims directed to the middle line. The Christians based their claims on Israel to expose this problem: “You took away our birthright.” And when their prophet Jesus arrived, then everything seems to be restored. This is a very big problem that is based on spiritual forces.

Imagine that an inheritance comes to you, and someone takes it from you. Your grandchildren become poor, and the descendants of the one who stole the inheritance from you are thriving and enjoying a good life in all generations. Interestingly, on one hand the Christians understand it, but on the other hand, the Creator restrained them, so they didn’t come to us with the Crusades. How can such a thing be if they feel towards us hatred because we crucified their God, or more correctly their prophet?

In all generations one sees clearly the hand of God: when from above is given an order for pogroms, they execute them in the time and place as set. When there is no order, they don’t do anything. After all, logically they should have annihilated us if not for our historical role, to reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah and transfer it to the world. That is, until today we are the basis of their troubles, the source of their sufferings, and it all comes from there.

Therefore one needs to understand Balaam, who is on the level of Moses. In comparison to the nation of Israel, look at the condition those nations are in that he honors; he is their guardian, connects them with the Creator. And what is he doing now? Instead of cursing, he is blessing!

If we stop all these oppositions, we will see there is no greater tragedy in the history of humanity that touches so many civilizations through thousands of years! It is not a simple thing.

When the wisdom of Kabbalah will begin to be revealed to the nations of the world, then everything will be revealed. On one hand, they, so to speak, will have claims against the Jews. But on the other side, precisely these claims will help them understand everything that happened. Why was history spun from above precisely this way, where is the reason concealed for that, and why did it have to happen through the lie of the selling of the birthright?

All this interweaving during the generations and the alleged false actions of the Jews against the Christians must be revealed in the course of time.

All these tricks are nothing more than the deceit of the ego that is lying to us; there is nothing else here. It is impossible to go directly against the ego; it is possible to deceive it.

It is a force against which nothing can be done. We will see how all the peoples of the world—Muslims and Christians—will rise up against Israel. They will erase us from the whole world map. In Eastern Europe some countries already don’t indicate Israel in their atlases; that is how their ego revolts. How will you go directly against the ego if the whole world is against you? What can you do? Logically, a nuclear bomb would fall here so that there would be nothing left of us.

Question: What stops the world from doing this?

Answer: Our upper designation and the upper leadership of the Creator, although the peoples of the world don’t sense it, subconsciously they feel that they cannot allow themselves to attack us. If there is such an order as in the time of the Crusades, the exile, the Middle Ages, and Hitler, then it is another matter. But if there is no order like that, meaning the nation of Israel is in motion for correction, then their hands are tied.

But today we spoil the whole picture, and therefore it has to come to a state that the whole world will be completely against us! This is the war of Gog and Magog.

For the first time in the history of mankind, our spiritual mission is clearly manifest, when as a result of this trouble between the right line and the left line, the Creator will be revealed as the middle line. And this will be the critical point, because the struggle between the left and right lines is the confrontation between the two forces Balaam and Moses.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/24/15

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The Only Way To The Creator

laitman_214Question: Do you think that Kabbalah is the only path to the Creator?

Answer: Of course. Try to find another way.

Try finding a science that is capable of investigating the whole world, the entire universe, and that would govern this world in an absolutely realistic way with no belief in any kind of superstition, a science that would provide a person with instruments for revealing the general system of governance and would show a person exactly where he should get involved in order to direct this system in a positive way for himself and for all of humanity.

Find such a methodology, and I would be happy to leave the wisdom of Kabbalah for it because today Kabbalah is precisely such a methodology.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/8/15

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The Execution Of A Shiite Cleric

laitman_538Comment: The execution of the Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia led to a great scandal in the Arab world. In response, the enraged public totally destroyed the Saudi embassy building in Iran. Consequently the two countries severed diplomatic relations and the hatred between them is now greater than their hatred toward Israel.

Answer: The infighting is the toughest and this conflict has been going on for ages! It is not the fundamental differences between the Sunni and the Shiites but the grievances that have accumulated over the centuries: who has done what to whom and who killed whom. All of this applied layer by layer results in a huge pile of hatred.

Comment: You often say that the reason is the disappearance of the Sufi movement.

Answer: In Judaism there is also a split into different religious streams because the human ego, which doesn’t yearn for one unique Creator, is involved, and it makes no difference whether you call Him Allah, God, or the Creator. The point is that the Creator is one and you should yearn for Him and not for clarifying our relations.

If we aim our thoughts at the one Creator and only seek connection with Him and His attainment, everything will be very simple. All the religions will merge into one wisdom called Kabbalah, which is the revelation of the Creator in our world.

But in order to do so, we have to work against the ego. We can only reveal the Creator in the attribute that is opposite from our nature and no one wants that. We would rather fight and quarrel for centuries than change our nature. It turns out that the most important thing for a person is to remain inside his ego, and this is the root of all the conflicts and disputes. This is the reason that we have to teach the wisdom of truth and to disseminate it, publicize it, and allow people to gradually receive this wisdom and teach them to strive for the single unified force.

There is another way of reaching the truth, but it is a path of terrible afflictions and wars. How long will it take for humanity to grow wise along the path of its internal development? After all, this has been going on for thousands of years.

We need to bring this wisdom to the world, to demonstrate, and bring all to a common denominator because we all have one Creator.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/4/16

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The Secret Of n-Dimensional Space

laitman_237Question: I am a mathematician and I read TES and The Introduction to TES in great depth. I feel the material. Mathematics cannot describe an n-dimensional space. How can we attain this space according to the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: It is impossible to describe this space in our natural properties. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the secret wisdom, the concealed knowledge. But in fact it isn’t secret or concealed, but in order to reveal it, a person needs to acquire the properties of the upper world.

A multidimensional space can be created only inside a person, according to the space that is created in him as a result of his efforts to acquire the attributes of the upper world. It is by the connection in the group that he directly perceives the spiritual world.
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