A person’s spiritual impression is called “Light.” It is similar to how in our world light signifies vision and understanding, which we see from such common expressions as “the light of wisdom,” “clear as day,” or, to the contrary, “dark confusion.” All the names are taken from our world since there are no words in the spiritual world. The spiritual expression determines the extent of common bestowal, my similarity to the Upper Light in which I exist. It ranges from 0 to 100% and is represented by 125 spiritual degrees, each of which is split into 10 Sefirot and many sub-levels.

It is in this manner that our entire language with all its words came about. This is true even in our world where it seems to me that I receive impressions from material objects or actions. These are all imaginary. There is nothing except my perception of the Upper Light which is revealed in my desire.

In other words, we always exist in either direct or reverse contact with the Creator, and we react only to His Light or its absence. This is how all our words are born. The only difference between spiritual terms and material names is whether or not I can measure how similar I am to the Upper Light. If I can, then this will be a spiritual term. However, if I still don’t recognize myself and my measure of similarity to the quality of bestowal, then I give my sensations “material names.”

We shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that we are free to come up with these names on our own; they come from our nature. If I created something first and called it a “table,” this means that I received this name in my desires and qualities from the Light that spreads out within them. After all, I am a spiritual vessel in which some phenomenon occurs.

Therefore, there cannot be any coincidences here. The whole of creation, however it may seem, is merely a desire to enjoy that receives impressions from the Creator.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/6/10, Article, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Words Cannot Convey
Laitman.com Post: The Gematria Within Me
Laitman.com Post: Language Is A Program Of Human Connection

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception - No Comments →

Question: Does the death of the ARI mean the death of Messiah ben Joseph (Messiah Son of Joseph)?

Answer: We are speaking about souls! What does the death of a physical body have to do with this? The soul can operate in the common system without revealing itself in this world. There are many souls like this. The body in our world is one of the external consequences of the soul that helps other souls.

Connection among souls is the only reality. We see and understand certain connections among souls whereby we work together and convey knowledge and feelings to one another. However, there is another type of connection whereby the souls are unable to feel their true state, and hence perceive their connection as a picture of this world.

What is the difference between this world and the spiritual one? In the spiritual world, the deep inner connection among our souls is revealed to me. Conversely, when I am unable to reveal this inner connection, I see it in its external form as this world, which manifeststs to me in a very unclear, uncertain, and blurry manner.

World (Olam) is a degree of concealment (Alama). I exist in the common system of souls, but the concealment affects me and presents this system to me in the misleading form of this world. Yet, it is the same system! Nothing else exists besides the single structure of Adam HaRishon, the system of connected souls. We are all parts of it. However, instead of perceiving all the souls and the network that connects them, we perceive this world.

This is why this world is called the last degree, meaning that it is completely cut off from our actual perception. It is similar to what happens during the loss of consciousness when a person lies with his eyes closed and sees hallucinations. However, I exist in the same system. I am just unable to perceive it and hence, imagine it in a distorted form, as is written, “Every person judges according to their own flaws.”

But once the true picture becomes revealed to me, I will be shocked at how everything is different from the way it initially appeared to me. There are no worlds separated from one another; there is one single structure which we reveal as we correct our desires. There are five levels of their correction, and according to this we reveal the five states of reality: the five worlds and 125 degrees.

This is what we live for because the Creator never created another world. Some parts of the common soul are already corrected and function actively, while the rest are still broken up and do not perceive the proper connection among all the souls. This is why we should understand our obligation to perform the correction, our duty to others, ourselves, and the common system which supports them and which we call the Creator.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/5/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: One Life For All
Laitman.com Post: Glasses That show Us The Spiritual Reality
Laitman.com Post: Step Out Into The Universe

Filed under: Body and Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - 1 Comment →

A person’s actions are based on his habits; he perceives and accepts solely that to which he is accustomed. Anything beyond the ordinary passes by him unrecognized. In our state of unawareness, we ignore everything new before we can even sense or perceive it. This is why it is so difficult to come face to face with spirituality.

We live in the world that we choose by picking only that which we are familiar with and accustomed to from the World of Infinity that surrounds us. In order to expand our world into and through the world of bestowal, we need to use “faith above reason” and accept the states of bestowal, the attributes, desires, thoughts, and actions of the “opposite world.”

To achieve this, we have to reconcile two opposing spiritual states within; we have to recognize our current egoistic existence (the lower degree) is opposite from the property of bestowal (the higher degree). Moreover, we need to live between these states and rejoice in the sensation of emptiness of the lower state because it gives us an opportunity to rise above it, to the higher degree.

Such forces descend on me through the group from the Upper Light and hold me “above the ground” like a magnet. The magnetism of truth and faith (bestowal) that lifts me upward should be stronger than the sensation of beastly egoism that pulls me downward, to the “ground.”

The truth, however, lies in existing in both states simultaneously. Living in each of them separately is a lie. Even if I am entirely in spirituality, it is a lie. True existence is always between two states at the same time: the sensation of perfection and lack, gratitude and prayer.

I should rejoice in the fact that I can experience both of these states at once and am in constant transition. Yet, I am aware of the obstacles and hold myself above them by will, like a mountain climber who knows that as soon as he gives into weakness, he will immediately fall to his demise. This is the only true state of existence, and we must train ourselves to make it our “lifestyle” and rejoice in it.

Accordingly, there is a test: Are we able to live in a state of joy despite all the struggle and dissatisfaction, always persevering between inspiration and desperation?

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/10, Article, “The Matter of Truth and Faith”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post:On The Other Side Of The Screen
Laitman.com Post: Waking Up To The True Reality
Laitman.com Post: Heaven And Hell Are “Frames” We Experience Within

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

Question: If a few people create a group and connect with one another, how can they spread this sensation of connection to the entire world?

Answer: It is enough for me to reach the property of connection, bestowal, and love through my small group. When I turn to the big world after having obtained this property, I see it as unified. After all, if I can step out of myself toward one person, likewise I can step out toward all and to the Creator. A sensory organ for the external world (the screen and Ohr Hozer) appears in me. As a result, the world falls into the range of my vision.

Without it, I only detect things that correspond to my ego. I simply do not see whatever my egoism does not like or has no interest in. There are plenty of things in the world that I am not able to perceive. There is a formidable and extraordinary universe, the spiritual world, but I am blind to it. I simply do not have the necessary organ of perception. I do not feel the spiritual world. It just flows by me. It is here and now, but I am missing it all!

I have to acquire a new sensory organ: a feeling of love and bestowal. Then, I will feel the bestowal and love that permeate the world. This is what is called the Creator. When I receive such sensations, even the smallest one, to this degree, I will feel part of the spiritual reality. This will mean that I have risen to the first spiritual level. Then, I’ll expand my perception, obtain the ability to love and bestow more, and will feel more.

The greater my spiritual vessel, my instrument of perception, the more I feel the spiritual world. In this manner, I climb 125 spiritual degrees and gradually achieve the full sensation of the attribute of bestowal. Thereby I reach the complete correction of my spiritual vessel and now I perceive the entire reality, all of the Creator, and all the force of bestowal and love there is. I feel this force, and it fills me. The Creator and I are now together. I now act with the newly obtained property, the new sensory organ.

Therefore, not having this property of love and bestowal, I cannot complain that I do not sense the spiritual reality which exists here and now. It is not concealed somewhere far away in a different place. I simply do not sense, discover, or see it. It is like I took my glasses off and lost the ability to discern objects: The whole world disappeared and doesn’t exist for me.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/25/10, Shamati #99

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Waiting For The Dawn
Laitman.com Post: I Will Reach Something Good
Shamati #12: “The Essence of One’s Work”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception, Q&A - 1 Comment →

Question: What does “crossing the Machsom” mean?

Answer: To cross the Machsom (the barrier separating us from spirituality) means to feel the reality within. The “point in the heart” emerges and gains the minimum “volume” (10 Sefirot). In these Sefirot, I begin to perceive and feel a new reality. I feel how the Light enters and exits me and causes various sensations. It starts with minimal changes in perception and understanding, but I’m able to see what’s occurring “within.” With regard to our world, I begin to see it on the background of the new (spiritual) world.

Such duality of existence is not an obstacle. On the contrary, it allows me to feel and understand the relationship between the two worlds, the branch and the root. Within my point in the heart, I sense various actions no matter how small. I still don’t understand what it means when the Light enters and exits, but I feel that something comes and goes repeatedly. I don’t yet comprehend exactly what is happening just like a newborn who feels but doesn’t know what is going on.

Suppose a light turns on and off. A newborn doesn’t know that it is called light and dark, but he observes some phenomenon. To me, as the Light enters and exits, it gives a sensation of the Upper reality (as the Light enters) and our world as its mere imprint (as the Light exits). Further on, I begin to orient myself in it better and better to the degree of my ability to develop similar properties.

From Mega Congress Lesson 5, 7/25/10

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Infinite Pleasure Is Right In Front Of You (Advanced)
Laitman.com Post: Learning To Feel The Spiritual World Through The Zohar
Kabbalah Moments: “Towards The Machsom”

Filed under: Conventions, Inner Work, Perception - No Comments →

We experience the world within our desire to receive pleasure. Everything we are able to perceive through our five sensory organs, such as sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, results in the picture we observe from within. This is the reality we perceive.

Is there a way out of this limited perception into a broader one, which is not restricted by the physical body and its five sensory organs? After all, our vision of the world and our self is dictated by our animate body. It all depends on perception. Perhaps, there are countless forms beyond the body, but our body filters them allowing us to feel only what it is able to process. It means that we will never be able to experience the ultimate reality. If this is the case, then maybe we will see it is the true reality after the body dies? Yet, how is this possible if our five sensory organs die with it?

Kabbalists tell us that we are unable to perceive the entire reality because it is experienced “within myself” and thereby limited to only partial perception called “this world.” However, we can shift into the “outer” perception, the one outside the body. There is a force that changes our range of perception, where it is possible to experience reality outside of myself. In other words, instead of focusing on myself, I focus on the others and put them above myself.

When we are reading about the outer reality, it influences us in such way that we gradually begin perceiving it. It is called, “labored and found.” We must exert effort in order to obtain this new perception. After a few months of such laboring we start noticing changes occurring within us, and how different our perception of others becomes.

The most effective way to advance in this process is through a group reading The Zohar, regardless of how well we understand it. What counts is our desire to be affected by it, which will gradually help us start experiencing the outer reality.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/23/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Everything, Even The Spiritual World And The Creator, Is Inside You
Shamati #117: “You Labored and Did Not Find, Do Not Believe”
Unlocking The Zohar: “How To Change Reality”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Zohar - 1 Comment →

Question: Is it true that every time we read The Book of Zohar it precisely describes my spiritual state?

Answer: The spiritual states include everything just like a holographic image. Indeed, every spiritual state comprises the ten Sefirot. And whichever way you look at it, in every state you see yourself.

How is this possible? It is because all this is a single, universal state; it is only that we discern in it a gradation of qualities. There are not multiple states, but only one state: the first and the last state of adhesion. However, for us it is revealed in different perspectives, as though we are looking at the same picture from different visual angles. Therefore, I can see and recognize myself in every state that there is.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/10, The Zohar

Related Materials:
Laitman.com Post: A Wonderful Infusion
Laitman.com Post: The Holographic Picture Of The Soul
Unlocking the Zohar: “Sensing the Zohar”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Zohar - No Comments →

Question: What are the signs that we have made the first step onto the spiritual ladder?

Answer: When we arrive at the first spiritual degree, we feel a pressing need to unite because a common integrated system of souls becomes revealed to us there. This system is a tight network of forces of mutual love and bestowal, filled with the upper, unifying force, the Creator.

The more willing we are to become equivalent to the Light, the tighter our souls draw together under its effect, and we feel how it passes through us. The souls align with the Light more and more, removing obstacles (resistance) out of its way, and the Light travels through them without restriction, shifting from one soul to the other. The Light becomes whole and complete like in the World of Infinity. It doesn’t need to perform any actions or movements in order to shift from place to place; it simply and absolutely fills the entirety of the network evenly.

This network exists at every level of the spiritual ladder, from the first to the last. However, as we advance to a higher spiritual degree, we perceive a more integrated network filled with more Light. We perceive this because there is less and less difference between the souls and the Light in which they reside. This means that the Creator, who fills space between the souls, is revealed to them more and more.

We see the Light at the very first degree of the spiritual ladder, similar to how a newborn baby begins to perceive our world with his five corporeal senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. A newborn doesn’t know how to use his sensory organs yet, but is able to acclimate himself somewhat.

The same occurs when we attain the first spiritual degree. After having made it to the first spiritual degree, we exist in this world in our physical body and also within our soul in the spiritual world. The spiritual world is eternal, and while in it, we don’t feel the need for the physical body. We can exist without it, solely in the sensation of the Upper World.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, Article, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

Related Materials:
Laitman.com Post: The Matrix Of Our Reality
Laitman.com Post: Infinity Is Boundless Unification
5 Minutes of Light: “How to Measure Spiritual Advancement”

Filed under: Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Perception - No Comments →

A question I received: I study The Zohar every day, but I don’t feel anything besides my growing desire. Am I advancing in the right direction?

My Answer: This is very good! If your desire is growing from one day to the next, then you don’t need anything else! Even though a growing desire brings you disappointment, you have to see it as a reward. This is because desire or lack of fulfillment is the force that moves you forward. When you have an empty desire, you feel that you lack unity with the Creator, the feeling of connection with Him, the quality of bestowal.

Therefore, the right desire is a reward. In our world you have to earn fulfillment, but in the spiritual world you have to earn a spiritual vessel, a desire. The fulfillment is always there, you are welcome to come and take it! But what will you take it into? That is the question.

Right now there are spiritual treasures all around you: “diamonds,” “gold,” “money,” and anything else you can possibly wish for. You just do not have a desire for them, which is why you don’t recognize them. The space around you seems empty! All the best things you can possibly wish for are already present, but it is as if you have been gagged and your arms and legs have been tied, and then you are placed in front of this treasure and told, “It’s yours!” But, how is it yours if you can’t take it?

It is necessary to develop or prepare the desire, the spiritual vessel. That is all we have to do. Therefore, our reward is desire or aspiration, and it has to be created by the Light. We have to change our perception, our attitude to reward and punishment. In our world punishment is desire or the sensation of lack, whereas reward is the fulfillment that calms you down because you live inside the will to enjoy.

However, if you are inside the will to bestow and you have the desire to bestow, this is a reward. Why is the difference so great? It is a result of the restriction. The restriction was performed on reception, but there are no restrictions on bestowal.

If you already have the desire to bestow, then everything lies open before you and everything becomes revealed to you to the same degree. Inside your desire to bestow, you begin to see in the Reflected Light everything that is around you, and you are welcome to take it!

That is how gradually, from one day to the next, The Zohar changes our vision and the direction of our thinking, by building a new, different attitude to life and to the phases of spiritual advancement.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/18/10, The Zohar

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How To Receive The Upper Abundance
The Path of Kabbalah: “Spiritual Reward”
Kabbalah Moments: “An Entrance Ticket To Abundance”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception - 1 Comment →

A question I received: What is the Light that Reforms? What does it feel like? Is it something pleasant that illuminates our path?

My answer: This Light is a force that begins reforming me. I suddenly realize that I see the world in a “different light.” What changes is my outlook on things and my attitude to people. I become more tolerant, understanding, and agreeable with them. I become more compassionate and accepting of people the way they are. I feel that we are all tied together.

I feel closer to them and more forgiving, as if they are my children. I see them as parts of myself. I am not quite aware why and how it is happening, but I begin to forgive everybody. What I previously hated and was appalled by doesn’t seem that bad any more. I easily compromise, as if I am in a close relationship with people.

This is how the Light works on us. We don’t “see” it because it doesn’t illuminate what is in front of us as a flashlight would. This Light impacts us from within. We draw it to work in us and to reform our properties.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/10, Article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Imperceptible Influence Of The Surrounding Light
Laitman.com Post: Spirituality Is Right Here
5 Minutes Of Light: “Trying To Love Others”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception - No Comments →