Someone once calculated that there are 3,800 different religions and beliefs in the world, but all of them circulate around two notions: body and soul. Indeed, if we did not perceive anything besides the beastly body, we would exist like animals. It seems to us that we have a soul, some kind of life “beyond the body.” A person wants to know what is the purpose of my life? Why do I live?

Even though we are given these aspirations and questions in order to search for answers within the system of laws of nature, we turn them into mysticism, groundless assumptions, and take them as the foundation for our view of the purpose of life, its end “here” and continuation “there.”

The question of whether our life will end bothers us. This is because we perceive time, and we are not attached to one given moment, as are animals. We think about the future, and we want to know what will happen a moment from now. However, the questions of “What do I live for, and what will happen after I die?” are already above nature.

This is why humanity has invented beliefs and religions: It has to compensate the lack of knowledge or facts with faith, meaning assumptions without proof. We are not even aware of it, but this works on all the levels, in the smallest things, every moment, every step of the way, in every direction and level of life.

I complete every lack of facts with faith, and I think that this is exactly how it is going to be. Sometimes, it happens, and sometimes, it does not. This is how our life passes.

In every particle of our existence, in every part of time, movement, space, and existence of reality, there is an enormous unknown share, namely:
1) The cause, which descends from Above,
2) the consequence, determined from Above, and
3) we, determined by cause and consequence in a narrow gap of the perception of life.

This is why we are obligated to compensate all the unknown with faith. People believe that there is an Upper Force, “a spirit,” which turns into everything that exists, gives it life, and determines destiny. That is, the essence of matter is determined by the “soul” which gives it life.

This is because our egoism wants to think that it belongs to eternity. There is no proof of this, but it benefits us to think this way. The organism’s defense mechanism does not allow us to agree that things can be different.

Otherwise, this life would be impossible. If a person did not feel eternal, if he absolutely felt that his life is finite, he would not be able to live. Imagine that you are told the exact date of your death. This puts a cross on your entire life beginning with today. This is because, from then on, you will continue living with the precise comprehension of your imminent death. A person is not capable of living like this.

The most natural sensation given to us by nature is that a soul, which somehow lived before our birth and will continue to live after our death, robes in our body, and the main reward and punishment is in the future world, and not here. We await our reward for all our current work.

A person does not even need to be taught this. He will think this, regardless. We are not able to part with these illusions, the same way as we are unable to part with our egoism until we rise to the world of truth, not after the death of the body, but after the death of egoism.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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It is impossible to imagine how we would live if we saw ourselves as mere animals. However, humanity has religion (faith) which helps it to curb its egoism somewhat. All these belief systems are based on one idea: the existence of life after death.

But the wisdom of Kabbalah thinks otherwise. It states that there is a state called “death,” in which we exist presently, and there is a different state called “life.”

If so, then it follows that I exist in this world only once, and nothing remains after I die? But what can come back? What do you have that can be brought back? The body dies and loses the force that forced it to move, like an engine that worked before and suddenly stopped. Where did this force go? Do you think that it returned somewhere Above, to “its original place?” No, the molecules just stopped working. Was there anything spiritual in them?

How is it that we suddenly have such fantasies? Yet, the whole world lives with this belief. At least, there is some consolation that there will be something after death as well.

Then, why do Kabbalistic books state that if we don’t correct ourselves during this lifetime, we will return to this world again and continue to reincarnate this way? This is really so; we just need to figure out what this means.

In Kabbalah, faith is attainment. It means seeing and feeling the spiritual world, as it is written: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” I “sample” Him with all my senses in such a way that I feel Him in “all fibers of by body.” This isn’t faith; it is the most real sensation that can possibly be.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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Question: If there is no life after death, then why is it written in The Zohar that the soul rises to heaven after death, and angels take it to its judgment, and so on?

Answer: Not a single word of The Zohar talks about the physical body. The Zohar refers to the death of egoism, after which the Upper Forces called “angels” begin to influence it.

They take my desire to receive pleasure from two sides, the right and the left, and lift it “on their wings” (screens) to the first, second, and third “heavens.” This is the name for the different levels of Bina where I increasingly begin to receive more properties of bestowal.

Thus, these “angels” lift me to the “sky,” the common property of Bina. There, I reveal an entire Creator’s palace behind this property. Bina includes the properties of Malchut within it, the receiving desires within the bestowing desires, and thanks to this I reveal the Creator.

However, is it really connected with my material world and the physical senses, the life and death of this animal body? Actually, I only think that it exists; it does not exist in reality.

Does anything really exist behind the image on the computer screen? These are nothing more than electrical signals, forces, and vectors that paint this image for you. In the same way, you are being drawn this three-dimensional image which you perceive as this world.

We already have laser devices which can create three-dimensional images in the air of people around us that speak among themselves. These sensations are a complete illusion. You just cannot touch them with your hand because everything is “in the air.” However, soon, it will become absolutely “real,” just like the illusion of our world.

This is exactly how we see this world although it does not exist. So what life after death can there be? The television got turned off, and that is it: You did not have the desire to reveal the Upper World “in this life.” However, there is no need for the body to die in order to reveal spirituality. There is no connection between one and the other.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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In their books, Kabbalists only write about the soul. They do not touch our world which is below the life line. It is an illusion given to us temporarily so we would begin to awaken from this dream and build a true life.

Now, think how to value your friends who can help you awaken toward a new life. Understand that you are together in a dream, and only a tiny spark that you have been given can help you come out of it. This is similar to the times when you sleep, and you understand that you can wake up if you try. This “clue” that can help you wake up is the “point in the heart.”

When you connect all the points that wish to awaken and demand for the “alarm to ring,” the Upper Force will awaken you. It will pull you out of this dream. Otherwise, we will all just continue sleeping.

The only possibility to reveal the spiritual world is being in this dream. There is nothing lesser than it, lesser than the beastly existence, lower than this illusionary life.

The only thing that will remain after death is what you have attained in the spiritual world while in this life. Where would something else come from? Why does it not exist now? How does your animate body get in the way? Why do you need to suffer now to enjoy later?

We only have what we perceive within the desire to receive pleasure. If, in addition to the perception of my corporeal life, I will also acquire a spiritual one, then I will definitely have it. It does not depend on the corporeal life. There are two types of desires: one is “for your own sake,” and the other “for the sake of bestowal.”

This means that, for now, I will continue living simultaneously in two worlds, and once the body dies, I will continue living just in the spiritual world. The animate body dies and ceases to perceive this reality in its five senses, similar to as if I had lost my hearing now. This way, all the corporeal sensations disappear.

Egoistic desire cannot exist forever; it has a limit. However, once you acquire the desire to bestow, it is eternal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

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Question: While reading The Zohar, who can I identify with in the text instead of imagining some abstract forces?

Answer: We can imagine only one thing: the connection between us. In the end, we exist inside Malchut. Parts of Malchut unite with each other in all possible connections. It is a net of connections that constantly change, like in an electric device or computer. The matter, the desire to receive pleasure, remains an unchanged, rigid desire.

The forces inside the desire begin to work, serving as the material with which they can connect to each other. We exist within this desire along with the force that works in it. And everything that this force does inside the desire is done because we created it this way, as though we printed it using a model, and that’s it.

Inside this desire are “impulses,” the forces of good and evil, Light and darkness, two influences from the Creator which pass through this desire. We perceive and feel our reality as “me” and “the world” I live and feel within this material. We are talking only about the forces that act inside this matter, the desire to receive pleasure.

Thus as we read The Zohar, we wish to completely leave the picture of this world since it is false. I am situated in the desire to enjoy, and the force that acts in it is presented to me. And there is nothing else, no pictures or images.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, The Zohar

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Question: What is “a rose that has thirteen petals”?

Answer: Numbers in Kabbalah characterize a state. In general, we study the states of our desire relative to the Creator. There are only two players in this game: the desire to enjoy and the Light, the Creator. Kabbalists describe their interrelationships to us.

There are different ways to do it. One of the options is numeric characteristics. Numbers do not designate a numeric value; rather, they point to characteristics of the states. Each number carries a specific inner essence and symbolizes something.

Th number 13 indicates addition, meaning the additional Sefirot HaGaT. All other numbers and their numeric value (Gematria) are calculated according to the same principle.

In general, there are no colors, distances, noises, or forms in spirituality. Whatever the Kabbalists describe to us, they always point to the character of the interaction between desire and the Light. Everything comes down to a single parameter: to what measure desire becomes similar to the Light in all of its properties.

Each desire consists of 10 Sefirot or 613 parts. Hence, each desire can be considered to be a certain totality or volume; it is not a singular stroke, but a set of multitude details of perception. As a result, we attribute it a name, characterize it with a certain light, sound, and form. But ultimately, we always compare desire with the Light.

Similarly, all objects of our world, from solid ones to gases, can be pictured in the form of waves of a certain length, which draw images in our consciousness.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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The Book of Zohar, Introduction, Article “The Rose,” Item 1: These five lights are the light that the Creator created on the first day. Adam was watching it from the end of the world to its end.

Question: Why does it say, “from the end of the world to its end,” and not “from the beginning of the world to its end”?

Answer: In our perception, we exist between the attributes of judgment and mercy, between the two lines. Our entire world “fits” between the forms of these borders.

Hence, in a given context, we cannot see the world from the beginning to the end. In each state the world is limited by the bounds of our Kli (vessel), which we are able to detect.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, The Zohar, Introduction, “The Rose”

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Every person in this world has to reveal the Creator in his or her sensations and have no doubts that he feels and understands Him. Attainment is the deepest and ultimate level of our perception.

All my organs of perception – the feelings, mind or intellect, and heart – have to be filled with absolute spiritual revelation. All doubts, contradictions, past questions, and clarifications get dissolved, and I arrive at the complete, final fulfillment and ultimate understanding. The entire desire to enjoy created by the Creator has evolved and has been filled completely.

If a person has no need for such revelation, he can continue living an ordinary life. I wish him luck from the depth of my heart. However, if he is not satisfied with such a life, if he wants to know what he is living for, what the meaning of his life is, then he must reveal the root, the source of life, and for this, he needs the wisdom of Kabbalah. If he cannot find answers to these questions in religion, “spiritual” methods, various hobbies, or drugs, he remains empty and needs to reveal the meaning of life.

There are many phenomena in nature, the revelation of which requires additional devices: telescopes or microscopes. However, there is something that I’m unable to discover because nature is much more complex than I.

It’s not because it acts within a wider range, where certain locators could be of use. Nature is full of phenomena that I cannot even envision since I’m built according to three axes; this is how my brain is structured.

However, a point awakens in me and insists that all of my current knowledge is not enough. I see that conventional science does not satisfy me. This point is from another dimension.

In it, there are no three coordinate axes, time, motion, or place; it’s something completely different. It’s not just a space with a few additional axes, compressed or expanded. Rather, it is a totally different reality completely unconnected to the one that exists here.

And if I can investigate this upper reality, am I not a scientist? Of course, I am, and a true one!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Body and Soul”

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We exist inside a system of forces, in the only place that the Creator created – Malchut of Infinity, which is in a completely corrected state (Gmar Tikkun). We are opposite to it and are in concealment behind 125 levels that conceal this true state from us. I do not feel the true state I am in, and because of my sensation I am behind 125 degrees of concealment, filters that lower everything, placing me inside fog and confusion.

I have to remove these concealments and do it in such a way that I will absorb them inside, turning them into revelations. I have to do this with every state, every veil, and every degree.

After going through all of these concealments I became completely opposite to the true state due to the opposition of my inner qualities. Yet, if I take this concealment upon myself and desire to ascend above it with the help of the Light, then all of the concealment transforms to knowledge, sensation, revelation, and attainment.

That is how we advance from total detachment (with the exception of the spiritual spark that awakens in us) until the highest level. However, the concealments do not become revealed to me from within this world. I have to leave this world completely. These concealments become revealed between myself and the Light, or between me and the Creator.

That is why Kabbalists say, “Leave this world alone, don’t correct it! It is not subject to correction!” You have to correct only your attitude to the Upper One, the Creator. You have to turn the disturbance you see between you into revelation. This disturbance is a layer of matter, your ego, separating the two of you. That is why we do not correct this world and, in fact, we do not have to do anything to it. The more you work on your connection with the Creator, the more the Light will shine for you and you will see a different, reverse world.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/10, The Zohar

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The point in the heart, which has no form or direction, is similar to my spiritual “stem” cell, from which I can freely build myself up. It is the end of the rope thrown to me from the final state that I must reach. Grounded in it, I can now build everything else around it by exercising my free will.

All reality is divided into me and the external world. And if I know how to use the external reality correctly, I can change myself, thereby realizing my free will. Freedom lies solely in the ability to change oneself and not the world! The world is just the imprint of my properties.

I only need to know how to correct my properties, how to change the combination of these initial, natural qualities in me. To do this, I am given a “Kli” (an instrument), a lever, a “crane” that I can use to turn myself upside down and lift myself up! Then, the entire reality will change. I see that everything is different now, as if I were born into a new world.

So, do I replace my view of reality or the reality itself? I change the reality! After all, reality is what resides within my perceptions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/26/10, “The Freedom”

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