Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

A Few Steps Before the Abyss

278.01Question: What benefits does the science of Kabbalah bring to us in everyday life? Does it make life more fulfilling and happy?

Answer: Fifty years ago, people thought that the world was developing toward a better life, and that all countries would achieve the same prosperity as the United States and Europe. And in fact, with modern development, a person is able to arrange a heavenly life for himself on this earth.

But there is something in us that breaks all our plans and prevents us from achieving this dream. We see that today there are all the conditions for creating a wonderful life for everyone, but instead we are senselessly wasting money, energy and our lives on anything except harmonious development, achieving perfection, health, and raising the next generation.

Humanity seems to have lost its mind and does not understand at all what it is doing. And those people who make all this mess in the world are also trying to show everyone how smart, strong, and understanding they are. But for some reason, the world under their control has such an unsightly appearance.

Apparently, we are at the mercy of forces of nature that we do not understand. How can we explain that countries are in conflict with each other and are spending huge amounts of money on weapons, on completely unnecessary things, and in the meantime people are dying of hunger and suffering from diseases?

Ordinary people get pitiful crumbs allocated to healthcare, security, and social services compared to all the capital, resources, and power that humanity possesses. That is, we see that the world is governed by forces beyond our control. We do not control our lives, but these selfish forces control us.

How can we overcome the evil human nature, egoism, which pushes us to senseless, unreasonable actions that defy any sound logic? Why do we not agree among ourselves that we do not need wars or endless competition? After all, we could arrange a wonderful life for ourselves on this globe; it is in our power! Why is it not working?

After the end of World War II, people hoped that a good, peaceful life had finally arrived. But half a century has passed, and we are once again on the verge of a much more terrible and dangerous war, a war that is capable of blowing up our entire planet.

Therefore we need to understand the power that controls us and makes us such stupid, narrow-minded people who have no control over their fate. Selfishness pushes us together, forcing us to fight like little children who do not want to give in to each other. Everyone wants to prove to others that they are bigger, stronger, like a naive, stubborn baby. Where is our serious attitude to life, reasonableness, logic, and balance?

There are many women in leadership positions these days. It would seem that women are more reasonable in this, and will be able to better manage the world by putting it in order. But we see that in our generation, women, once in government, begin to act as irresponsibly as the men around them. Apparently they fall under the influence of the environment, so there is no softening in international relations that they could bring.

We are completely at the mercy of an evil force, our selfishness, and are unable to fight it. We have no way to stand up to him, because selfishness is above us; it is a higher power.

This selfishness is ready to lead us to the abyss until we destroy ourselves, blow up the globe, and split it into pieces. A man is ready to die for his selfishness. Selfishness is stronger than the fear of death, it is above our lives.

If so, then our situation seems completely hopeless, and we are doomed. But here the science of Kabbalah is revealed and explains that this evil force deliberately controls us so that we understand that we need another force that is able to resist it.

This second force is also the highest, but it is the opposite of the force of selfishness, and will be able to balance it. All over the world now—inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human—there is only one evil force at work.

And if we want to escape from it, so that everyone does not perish and destroy the Earth, then we need to find the second force available in nature, the force of goodness. The science of Kabbalah helps to reveal this good power.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 477 – Creating Balance With The Positive Force,” 12/18/14

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The Source of Beliefs and Teachings

249.01Only after servants of the Creator expanded did the posterity of the agnostics become idealists (Baal HaSulam, “The Writings of the Last Generation“).

The science of Kabbalah teaches that as people unite, they must achieve such unity where a single force of nature would be revealed according to the principle of similarity of form. In nature, this force descends into our world from the top down, and we must become like it, rising from the bottom up.

If we make ourselves into one unified system of desires, aspirations, and mutual help, we will begin to feel the upper force.

But if we simply use the very idea of properly uniting people without associating it with the upper force, brotherly mutual aid, “man is man’s friend, comrade and brother,” and so on, then we immediately slip into communism, socialism, and other “isms.”

All philosophies ultimately originated in Kabbalah. Medieval philosophers wrote about this, as well as Mirandola, German philosophers, and others.

In addition, all the so-called “religions” and all kinds of movements have emerged from Kabbalah. From the idea of consolidating people and building the right community, social psychology emerged, along with methods of unification and related approaches.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 7/3/17

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And This World Will Melt Away Like a Fog

707Today, we have come to a state in which millions of people around the world have begun to ask questions: “Why are we suffering? Why do we live? What is the purpose of our life? Does nature have some kind of program in regard to us?”

That is why the science of Kabbalah is now being revealed; it is precisely this science that can provide answers to these questions. Overall, all these answers come down to one thing: Kabbalah reveals a different reality to us.

The science of Kabbalah is a method of revealing the upper reality, i.e., a reality beyond ourselves, beyond what we currently sense. From this, each of us needs to pass through a certain inner barrier that obscures that second half of reality from us in which we already exist even now.

It is as if a light suddenly turns on, and we see that there is something else here. And this is indeed so. Only it is not the light we are used to that turns on, but the upper light, and in it we begin to see another reality that was previously dark, invisible, and imperceptible, namely, the reality of the upper world.

Only then will we understand what is happening in it and all the reasons for what is happening, that is, what our essence is. And already here, in the upper world, we will see that we are souls, not physical bodies, not the animate part that exists in us. We are the part of the human in us that is eternal, perfect and is a divine particle from above.

We are eternal, perfect creations, living in a different reality and in a different form of existence. Our purpose is to ascend and live in the upper, spiritual, eternal world, beyond the limitations of time, movement, and space, as well as of our perception of reality.

And what will happen to this world? For some time, this world will also continue to exist, until we attain the upper reality. And according to the measure of the attainment of the higher degree of the spiritual world, the reality of the lower degree will fade and become less and less discernible until it disappears completely.

Kabbalists say that we must come to this here and now, in this life, in our world. At the same time, nothing should change except the revelation of the upper world for us.
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From a lecture “Kabbalah for the People”  1/4/11

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The Confrontation Between Rome and Jerusalem

419Question: Why was Europe previously a kind of benchmark for other countries?

Answer: Because the Roman Empire passed on to it its ideas, its laws, its attitude to reality, nature, and society to all of Europe after conquering it. In essence, it founded all of Europe, including England.

Comment: But Romans also got their ideas from somewhere.

My Response: The Roman’s nature was based on the opposite to Jerusalem. They followed an egoistic path of development, a complete rejection of religion, a harsh, as if it were, realistic attitude toward the world and the building of society according to certain canons that lie at the foundation of Roman law.

Roman law has not been abolished. No matter what we hang on it externally, internally we are still based on ancient Roman law. And it is absolutely opposite to Jewish law.

This stems from the ancient confrontation of worlds: Rome and Jerusalem. Rome rose and truly flourished in its conquests precisely upon the destruction of Jerusalem. This is an egoistic, natural, and correct from the point of view of our world, development of humanity up to its recognition of itself as absolutely flawed.

In our time, it has reached its full egoistic bloom, and we see that by doing this we are bringing ourselves to a dead end; there is no way to move any further. Egoism has outlived itself. It began to develop in Ancient Rome, and now this period is coming to an end.

The next stage will be the realization that development must be altruistic. People will have no other choice. Regardless of whether they want it or not, despite their hatred of Judaism, they will accept Kabbalah, the very idea of connection, the merging of everyone into one single system. Life and nature will force everyone. But today we are at this point of history.

Therefore, on the one hand, Kabbalah is revealed as a method of uniting humanity. Without it, you will not be able to unite people because egoism will not allow us to do so. Only Kabbalah can give us the strength to rise above the ego.

On the other hand, we see a declining Europe, whose Roman legacy is already coming to an end.

Question: So the experiment of creation began with the Roman Empire, when egoism began to develop in opposition to the spiritual?

Answer: Yes, of course. From here came the three main religions and everything else.

And now a very clear reassessment and revaluation of values is beginning. There is no way around it, we will be obliged to take the universal unification and revelation of the Creator as our foundation rather than all religions and beliefs, and instead of everything that we are told and that we imagine for ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Rise Above Death” 10/1/10

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How Can We Understand the Teacher?

250In the wisdom of Kabbalah, a student has a problem; in order to understand what the teacher is speaking about, the student must be on a spiritual level. The teacher may be speaking from very high degrees, but since by their nature all degrees are similar to each other and each contains the same details, a student can at least understand what is said according to the spiritual degree he is currently on. But if the student has not yet ascended to any spiritual degree and exists only in this world, he is unable to understand the language of branches.

The language of branches means that I perceive what exists in this world, the “branches,” and I perceive them on the spiritual level, the “roots.” Then the connection between them is clear to me, and I am able to grasp what the teacher is saying. But if I do not attain the roots, I cannot grasp what he is telling me, because the teacher speaks words that I can recognize nothing behind.

By perceiving our world, I do not actually perceive the branches, because I do not know their roots.
Branches are that which descend from the roots. There is no branch without a root, and no root without a branch. There is not even the beginning of the language of branches if we do not attain their spiritual essence, their roots.

Therefore, a student is unable to understand the teacher until he attains the spiritual roots. Only then can he grasp from the teacher all the connections between roots and branches. Unfortunately, this is how it is.

And therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah and its study is only for those who possess spiritual attainment. As long as we have not acquired spiritual attainment, it should be clear to us that we are not studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, but only using its “miraculous property” (Segula) in order to reveal the “roots.” This is the sole reason we study.

Hence, one should not become confused by accumulating knowledge about “something we do not know what,” but should focus only on the fact that we need the light that returns us to the source (reforming light) and as quickly as possible. If I attain the roots through this light, I will begin to comprehend the wisdom; if I do not attain them, I will remain in darkness.

And do not entertain the illusion that you understand what is being discussed, that by studying the definitions written in a book you are studying this wisdom. You are not studying it because you do not know the connection between the branch and the root; you have not yet attained the roots.

Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah begins with spiritual attainment, and not before. Prior to that, it is only an aspiration to draw upon oneself the influence of the light (Segula).
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/09, Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Translation from the Language of Branches Is Needed

209The spiritual world and the soul are simply desires in their direct, pure form. But the science of Kabbalah speaks about states where the soul is clothed in a body. Kabbalists do not describe the states of a soul that is not clothed in a body, although of course they know about them and are connected with them.

The soul of a person who rises above the Machsom, above the boundary of the spiritual world, to the extent of the anti-egoistic screen already feels itself free from the body.

During one’s life in this world while a person’s soul is clothed in a body, one must correct all one’s desires so that the body does not present any barrier at all between oneself and other souls that are without bodies. Such a state is called the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun).

A special language is required to describe the states of souls because our entire language is based only on the concepts of this world. So where can words be taken from to describe the states of souls?

Kabbalists saw that although the body is made of completely different material, its structure is analogous to the structure of the soul. And therefore, it is possible to call the parts of the soul and spiritual actions by the same names as the parts of the body and its actions, even though there is no connection between them. Thus the “language of branches” was invented.

It turns out that Kabbalists use ordinary earthly language to describe spiritual phenomena, but if we want to read about what happens with the soul and not with the body, we must seek a spiritual meaning in the words, not a material one. That is, even if we do not yet know the spiritual meaning of the words, we need to remain with this question and must not imagine material images. Otherwise, we will never come out of this world.

Kabbalists gave us the language of branches and obligated us to study Kabbalistic books so that during the study we would strive to understand what is hidden behind these words, which spiritual qualities or phenomena. That is, we try to translate what is written from the earthly, human language into the spiritual one, as if we translate each word from one language into another.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/26, Rabash, “On My Bed at Night”

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How Does a Kabbalist Educate Himself?

232.01Question: How does a Kabbalist educate himself? How did you do this when you began the spiritual path with your teacher RABASH? What was the biggest problem in self-education?

Answer: The biggest problem is to determine that it is the Creator who is educating you and that you must be in constant contact with Him.

It is very difficult to remain in this thought all the time, to not detach from it. If you grasp it, do not let go of it, and constantly subconsciously feel the connection with the Creator, then this is where the proper education begins from.

Question: Why does the Creator not educate us by example, as is customary in our world?

Answer: Your entire life consists of examples of the Creator’s education. If you are in any state, at every moment in time, begin to tell yourself: “This I receive from the Creator. What does He want from me? How should I react, how should I act?” That will be a great achievement.

Question: But a person cannot understand what the Creator wants from him. I can say that everything is from the Creator, but it is impossible to say for what purpose He did this.

Answer: This is not important. First, say that everything comes from the Creator, constantly ask what He wants from this, until the Creator reveals Himself and shows you what He truly wants. This is precisely the raising of MAN.

You do not have to detach from the Creator; He constantly holds you by the “scruff of the neck.” And you develop your sensitivity. If suddenly He stops holding you, you immediately turn around: “Where did He go, where is He?” This is a pleasant state. Why run away from it?
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From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/3/18

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“A Remedy Against Death”

245.03We are discussing the topic of perception of reality in order to gradually orient ourselves in the right direction. After all, everything depends on intention. There are many people who study Kabbalah, and in particular, there are currents that have nothing in common with it.

The science of Kabbalah is intended for the correction of our nature, and the more we correct ourselves, the more we feel the upper force, reveal the upper world, become included in it, enter it, and rise above our material life. This is called “liberation from the angel of death” because we stop feeling completely dependent on our body! We rise above our animal, biological body to the degree of general nature.

I do not feel pain from cutting my nails or hair, because my body belongs to the animate level, while nails and hair belong to the vegetative level, one degree lower. And from the height of the animate level, I do not feel any loss from the loss at the vegetative level. In the same way it will happen when I rise from the animate degree to a higher degree, to the degree of Man.

“Man” is not us today. “Man” (Adam) comes from the word “similar” (Edomeh) to nature, the Creator, light. And when I become such a “man,” I will stop feeling loss from what is happening in this material life. Therefore, the science of Kabbalah is called “a remedy against death.”

Let us hope that we will attain such a degree and begin to experience spiritual life today. It all depends only on our inner efforts. Let us try to connect our inner points and appreciate this special state.
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From the International Kabbalah Congress 4/1/11, “We!” Lesson 2

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A Thousand Begin to Study, and Only One Remains

251Question: Why does Kabbalah become the meaning of life and something valuable for some people, while for others it is something unacceptable?

Answer: Those for whom Kabbalah is unacceptable have not yet felt the desire that responds to spiritual light, and therefore they reject this wisdom.

A person, being egoistic by nature, does not want to think about it. Kabbalah irritates him; on a subconscious level it obligates him to something and directs him to a completely different area from the one he is drawn to. He does not want this realm to exist; he does not want there to be a soul or a future world; he prefers to remain within the framework he has invented for himself. This is the first reason.

Secondly, people who come to Kabbalah and begin to study it suddenly discover that it says they must change themselves!

“I came here in order to receive and reveal knowledge, qualities, and feelings; in other words, to be filled. But here it says that I must fill the Creator by filling others, and that only through such movement from myself outward can I begin to sense the spiritual world. I don’t feel any attraction or inclination toward this. So, excuse me! Stay with your Kabbalah, and I’d rather leave.”

There are many people like that. When they leave, they feel deceived: It seemed that at first, they were captivated and drawn in, but then suddenly they discovered that it was not what they thought at all and that they only wasted time and energy. And they leave very disappointed.

They imagined that they would immediately grab the Creator “by the beard,” obtain this world and the future world, begin to control everything, uncover some secrets in order to fill their own precious, beloved self.

But it turns out that it is all different, in an entirely different key. The spiritual world is located on the next level, the level of bestowal, in simultaneous connection with our world, like in an electric motor.

Therefore, they leave very disappointed and become our opponents.

Yet we still support this. It is said that a thousand enter the study, and only one remains. It does not matter that they become haters of Kabbalah. How else can an egoist react?

But the person still retains a connection with Kabbalah, and gradually something seeps into him. Even as our opponent far away from us, he is still connected with us. Within him the spark he received has already begun to stir.
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From Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/29/17

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The Path of Light Instead of the Path of Suffering

254.01Question: If everything in the world depends on people engaged in spiritual development, does it mean we are responsible for all the suffering in the world?

Answer: We do not cause suffering in the world; on the contrary, by attracting the light, we move suffering from the material level to the level of spiritual suffering. Meaning, instead of suffering from wars, diseases, and all other problems, we suffer from a lack of spirituality. This is what the science of Kabbalah gives a person.

It brings him “suffering,” but it cannot even be called that; it is the suffering of love, as if I were invited to a meal in a couple of hours, so I do not eat right now to keep my appetite strong. This is called the suffering of love; it is when I realize that I should prepare spiritual Kelim.

And even now, in the empty Kelim, I feel the glow of the upcoming meeting with the people I love, and from the meal. This is what humanity needs to be brought to, to show them that there is a solution and to develop not as a result of the blows of nature.

Now we are entering a period of ecological problems that can cause the suffering and death of thousands of people. We see natural disasters occurring all over the world, in China, Europe, Russia, and America.

The only way to escape it is to transition to preparing spiritual Kelim, not in an earthly form, not waiting decades for suffering to pass until we finally realize that there is a reason and a goal and two paths to the goal: the path of light and the path of suffering.

Why should we suffer in vain? Let us draw the light now that will show us the difference between its state and ours, so we would suffer from the fact that we want a better state, rather than from feeling bad now.
This is what the science of Kabbalah offers man—the path of light instead of the path of suffering.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/10, Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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