Spirituality exists not in some distance space but is concealed among our egoistic relationships. As soon as we manage to connect, at the point of contact between us, we will uncover spirituality; the entire system will start working; the Light will be revealed, and it will create a spiritual image in you.

This is exactly what we should be thinking while reading The Book of Zohar.
[22823]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Where Is The Entrance To The Spiritual World?
Laitman.com Post: The Zohar Is The Link To The Upper Force
Laitman.com Post: The Whole Universe Is Between Us

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

We have difficulty understanding the language of Kabbalists. The very subject matter of the discussion is concealed from us, and we don’t know what the Light and Kli (vessel), the Creator and the creature, the spiritual worlds, or the correct and incorrect relationships are. We are unable to compare what is written in the text with reality because spiritual reality is aimed at bestowal and doesn’t exist in our perceptions that are still egoistic.

In memorizing the words of Kabbalists, we don’t get to know their essence, but use the clichés that we had previously agreed on. Even if we bring some understanding into them, how do we know that it is correct? After all, the spiritual states that the wisdom of Kabbalah is talking about haven’t left sensations and impressions in us yet.

All that we feel in our egoistic desire is not related to spirituality. In order to understand Kabbalistic texts, we need to internally jump over our egoism, freeze in this inner flight, and start absorbing the meaning of their words. This is why we need to shift the words of Kabbalists into the realm of sensory perception. In the World of Infinity, everything is simple: The Light fills the vessel (Kli).

However, at the stages of development from below upward, while studying the text without feeling it, it is impossible to visualize what is being discussed, understand, or even mechanically memorize it since we are not undergoing any of what the Kabbalists are describing. As an effect of studying, some ideas are kept in the memory, but since there is a lack thereof in the feelings, we get tangled and lost in them.

This continues until we are able to feel the spiritual states being described to the degree of our equivalence with them in our properties of bestowal. This can be achieved solely by way of working with the friends since love of the others leads to love for the Creator.

While remaining in egoism, we must first discover our hate in the yearning to be connected with the friends; then, we have to correct it until we have come to love as to a bridge that lies over an abyss of hate. Thanks to this correction, the abyss will be filled with the Light.
[22722]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/6/10, “In Everything We Must Discern Between Light and Kli”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Words Cannot Convey
Laitman.com Post: A Language Created By Nature
Laitman.com Post: A Perfect Language

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study - 1 Comment →

Question: Is there an advantage to studying together in a physical place over virtual study via the Internet?

Answer: Without a doubt, if a person has an opportunity to be present physically at the lesson at one of our centers, to take upon himself the obligation to attend the lessons regularly, this is more effective than a virtual connection. However, if he has no opportunity to be physically present at the lesson together with his friends, this means that the Upper governance has not arranged these conditions for him, and he does not lose anything by connecting to the lesson via Kabbalah TV or the Internet.

But this is only true if the Creator has arranged it so, meaning the person lives somewhere far from all our study centers. If a person lives in Israel, for example, I cannot imagine a situation where he is unable to attend a lesson at least once a week at one of our many centers throughout the country.
[22353]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Kabbalah Learning Approach

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Desire Knows No Distance
Laitman.com Post: A World Of Equal Opportunities
Laitman.com Post: The Global System Of The Future Society

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: I live in Ecuador. How, during the lesson, can I connect with the prayer for the correction of the group?

Answer: A person has to try feeling as if he were here with us. There is no distance on the spiritual path. If one of us is sitting at the computer screen a few miles away from our center, another is somewhere in Ecuador, and still another is in our auditorium, it makes no difference.

It all depends on where a person’s heart is. All you have to do is try to remain connected with us. A person is where his desire is. That’s because there is nothing else except the desire; the outer “clothing” doesn’t count.
[22526]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Soul On The Computer Screen
Laitman.com Post: Desire Knows No Boundaries
Laitman.com Post: When All Boundaries Disappear

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Inner Work, Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: How should a student prepare himself for each lesson?

Answer: Any study begins with preparation, and we need to understand the importance of it. To prepare for the study means to clarify what I want to achieve by it. Then, the study becomes a means of achieving the goal. Preparation specifically determines the direction in which I advance as I study. For this reason, preparation is more important than the study, and this is what the student must learn.

The wisdom of Kabbalah differs from the corporeal sciences where the direction is clear from the beginning: I want knowledge and nothing else. However, in Kabbalah, I don’t want knowledge. Rather, I want to change myself so as to bind myself to others. The entire study is a means of achieving this connection with others and, through them, with the Creator.

If I have learned all kinds of information during the study, but haven’t made even the slightest step in my inner correction, this means that the study was useless. What was missing from the study was the proper preparation, intention, and goal. This is the only way to evaluate if the intention was correct. Knowledge in and of itself is irrelevant.

Some people are drawn to the structure of the upper worlds and their actions. Others are more concerned with the psychological aspects, history, and tendencies of development. However, Kabbalists pay no attention to the quantity of knowledge for “it’s not the wise one who learns” (Lo HaHacham Lomed). Everything depends on using the wisdom for the soul’s correction.
[22354]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Kabbalah Learning Approach

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Everyone Has To Cultivate His Soul
Laitman.com Post: The Goal Of The Study Is To Reveal The Creator
Laitman.com Post: Preparation Is The Most Important Time

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What should a student receive as a result of studying with you: knowledge or a certain attitude toward the study?

Answer: The primary goal is to master the method because the method of Kabbalah differs from all other educational methods. All other ways of study have specific, material criteria by which a person can assess his or her advancement. Whether it’s sports, school, or science, the grades a person receives determine his success.

But the method of studying Kabbalah is different because here a person is preparing to start sensing another world. So how can he check how close he’s come to a world that’s concealed from him? The assessment is performed through the group: to what extent a person feels connected to others, awaits the Creator’s revelation precisely through this unity, and wishes for the whole world to unify? In other words, a person’s degree of solidarity with the Creator’s expectations of him, his proximity to His thoughts and plans determine how close he is to actualizing himself.

The concealment remains in effect until his thoughts, actions, and desires become 1/125 equivalent to those of the Creator. At that moment he will feel Him at the first degree of revelation.
[22356]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/1/10, Kabbalah Learning Approach

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Time Of Giving And A Time Of Receiving
Laitman.com Post: How To Tell If You’re Connected
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Is A Science About The Soul

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

Main Kabbalistic Sources: Baal HaSulam’s Commentaries on the works of the ARI and The Book of Zohar

And who better than I knows that I am not at all worthy of being even a messenger and a scribe for disclosing such secrets, and much less to thoroughly understand them. And why has the Creator done so to me? It is only because the generation is worthy of it, as it is the last generation, which stands at the threshold of complete redemption. And for this reason, it is worthy of beginning to hear the voice of the Messiah’s Shofar, which is the revealing of the secrets, as has been explained.
– Baal HaSulam, “Messiah’s Shofar”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Building The State Of Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Voice Of The Messiah’s Horn
Laitman.com Post: The Horn Of The Messiah Is A Call For Unity

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

A question I received: How can love between people be a law if love is about a person’s feelings?

My Answer: Desire is the material of creation. Desire is a force – a force of attraction and a force of repulsion. There are laws in the world that are obvious, and we obey them involuntary. Other laws are still concealed from us, and thus we do not obey them yet. But if they do become revealed, it is best for us to learn them quickly and start obeying them.

What is “love” in our world? It’s when something awakens a feeling in me that I might get pleasure from it. I then aspire to this thing, to this spark of light. I want to get closer to this light and connect to it, so it will fulfill me. The pleasure can come from food, sex, family, money, power, or knowledge. But what do I really connect to? I connect to the spark of pleasure that enters my desire for pleasure. This is what “love” in our world is.

In Kabbalah, “love for your neighbor” does not mean that you like someone’s face, personality, or status, although this is exactly how people interpret love for one’s neighbor in our world. The latter is not love for him, but just a feeling of attraction to something that fulfills you.

True love is when you fulfill the desires of another as if they are your own. This means that you love your neighbor rather than yourself. It is when you work with and fulfill his desire. This is love for one’s neighbor.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: “Love Your Neighbor” Is the Condition Nature Has Set for Us
Laitman.com Post: The Study of Kabbalah Makes It Possible to Love Everyone
Laitman.com Post: Love’s Mystery Cannot Be Unlocked by Chemical Means

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Love - No Comments →

A question I received: There are people, groups, and organizations that see themselves as one whole and close to nature. They say they love each other, plants and animals. Is this “love your neighbor?”

My Answer: “Love your neighbor” is a law of Nature, a condition in the world around us. This condition is suddenly being revealed to us now because we have grown into it, similar to a child that grows up to be an adult and suddenly has to abide by the laws of the society.

Imagine that all the media channels suddenly announced that everyone has to follow the law of “love your neighbor” by the end of the year, and anyone that won’t be able to do this will be executed. This is not funny at all – this is the condition Nature has set for us. However, we are unable to see it.

So, what are we going to do? We have to learn how to attain “love for your neighbor.” We must find out what this law means, what Nature wants from us. We cannot avoid this law – we must learn it. But how?

Through studying. This is the only means that will enable people to understand that there is no place to run and the only solution is to be corrected by a special force of Nature. This special force influences a person who desires to be corrected, to attain the degree of “love your neighbor.”

It is like a wave or frequency among billions of frequencies, and you will perceive it only if you desire it. Nature requires you to tune in to the frequency where you will feel that the only thing you want is to love your neighbor! Then this force of Nature will come and correct you.

All other attempts will lead us to a crisis, in order for us to find this path to the goal. Other directions are gradually dwindling all around us. This is called the “Egyptian plagues,” and they will eventually make us see that there is no other choice. When we find ourselves in total darkness, we will be willing and eager to run away and attain just one thing – “love your neighbor.” Where did the people run to from Egypt? Only to love, as evidenced by the unity that later took place by Mount Sinai.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Will Evolve to Acquire Power Over All of Nature
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Equals Nature
Laitman.com Post: Man Was Created to Exist In Balance With Nature
Basic Concepts in Kabbalah: Chapter 3. “The Giving of Kabbalah”

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Love, Meaning Of Life - No Comments →

A question I received: I accept the idea that giving to everyone is very good. But how can a person attain love for everyone in order to give them love? Is it enough to just pretend to love them? We play these games all the time. We always try to display ourselves in the best possible way. So what will have to change once everyone learns that our nature is global?

My Answer: We start with egoism, with making actions for our own sake, and then the study of Kabbalah corrects our intentions to bestowal and love. There is no other force of correction in our world!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Enjoy Your Love for Others
Laitman.com Post: Love Is Providing Others With the Means to Fulfill Their Point in the Heart
Laitman.com Post: Is It Possible To Love Everyone?
A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Discovering the Unified Structure”

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Lectures, Love - No Comments →