Albert Einstein: Do you believe in the Divine as isolated from the world?

Rabindranath Tagore (The Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913): Not isolated. The infinite personality of Man comprehends the Universe. There cannot be anything that cannot be subsumed by the human personality, and this proves that the truth of the Universe is human truth. I have taken a scientific fact to explain this. Matter is composed of protons and electrons, with gaps between them, but matter may seem to be solid without the links in spaces which unify the individual electrons and protons. Similarly, humanity is composed of individuals, yet they have their interconnection of human relationship, which gives living unity to man’s world. The entire universe is linked up with us, as individuals, in a similar manner – it is a human universe.

… Science has proved that the table as a solid object is an appearance and therefore that which the human mind perceives as a table would not exist if that mind were naught. At the same time it must be admitted that the fact that the ultimate physical reality is nothing but a multitude of separate revolving centres of electric force, also belongs to the human mind. In the apprehension of truth there is an eternal conflict between the universal human mind and the same mind confined in the individual. The perpetual process of reconciliation is being carried on in our science, philosophy, and in our ethics. In any case, if there be any truth absolutely unrelated to humanity, then for us it is absolutely non-existing.

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In the News (translated from Shkloazhizni.ru): We are all waiting for something. It’s natural for people to expect things. But is it useful?

Brian Tracy, a renowned consultant in personal development, writes about the law of expectation on the website, wisdomquotes.com: “Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.” Our expectations tend to materialize! This is why thinking about the things you expect is so important, as it creates our future.

My Comment: This is exactly right. Our thoughts are the strongest force in the world. The problem is, they are so strong that we cannot perceive them, similar to how we cannot perceive other subtle forces, such as radiation.

However, if we  train ourselves to perceive thoughts using the method of Kabbalah, we will feel and see them, as well as their influence!

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In the News (from Daily Express): “Remember, you’re not old” Believing that your memory will fade as you grow older can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, a study has found. The positive flip side of this is that those who do not feel stigmatized, or those in situations where more positive views of aging are activated, exhibit significantly higher levels of memory performance.

My Comment: Everything depends on a person’s desire – one can govern the whole world with his desires (heart) and thoughts (mind). You just have to learn how to do it. This could be done with the science of Kabbalah, because it explains how human desires and thoughts could be used as tools to govern our world and the Upper Worlds!

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In the News (from Washington University): “Imagine this: study suggests power of imagination is more than just a metaphor” A new study from psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis suggests imagination may be more effective than we think in helping us reach our goals. “The imagination has the extraordinary capacity to shape reality,” suggests the study’s co-authors, psychology professor Richard Abrams and doctoral student Christopher Davoli.

My Comment: Baal HaSulam praises materialistic psychology for being based on practice and experiments, unlike philosophy which studies abstract notions. Like the natural sciences, psychology leads us to the recognition that there may be another reality.

Kabbalah gives us the opportunity to enter this spiritual reality, and to then see that our world is unreal, merely rendered to us by our limited, earthly imagination.

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A question I received: I am an orthodox priest and I have been interested in Kabbalah as taught by your Ashlag Research Institute for about six years. My question is: do the inexplicable phenomena of nature have spiritual roots? I have been a witness of a miraculous weeping icon. This happened to me three weeks ago in church while I was performing service at the altar. The streaks and drops of myrrh still haven’t dried, and still exude a very strong fragrance. I’m ok – there’s no need to call an ambulance. Besides, I wasn’t the only one to witness this phenomenon.

My Answer: All the “inexplicable” phenomena of nature can be explained quite simply: a person’s desires can make miracles a reality. If you really wish for something, anything can happen. The same is true for our inner expectation of miracles – especially in religious practices, even though we may not be fully aware of this expectation.

When we study perception in Kabbalah, we learn that the picture of the world is depicted inside us and by us. It is entirely determined by our desires. So, nothing is impossible. If a person thinks about something or desires something, it means there is a place for this thing in the world and it is possible in some form. Otherwise this desire or thought would never have emerged in him. However, the most important thing is to desire that which is good!

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A question I received: You are saying that if we don’t reach correction, there will be a famine. This is clear on the global level. However, what can a regular person do? What can he implement in practice, if he lacks any special opportunities to influence the world?

My Answer: Most of all, he affects the world with his thoughts, since “everything is clarified in the thought.” Our connection does not happen though the electric wires of the Internet, the sound waves of our voices, the picture on the computer screen or even in live contact. The entire connection between us takes place in our desires.

The Creator did not create anything besides the desire. We perceive different levels of the development of the desire as the matter of this world – the inanimate, vegetative, and animate matter, in the form of gases, liquids, solids, and plasma. But all of this is only in our imagination. We imagine that we exist in time, motion, and space.

However, these things are not real – it is only the way reality is depicted in our uncorrected qualities. However, beyond the visible picture of reality, the operating force is the desire. Therefore, every person, no matter how far he is from others, exists in this system and influences everyone in it through his desire.

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A question I received: What do you mean when you say that animals, plants, and matter (as a substance) don’t exist? Only the human being exists? The attainment of the Creator occurs only through the human souls? I understand that everything we feel here is an “imprint” of reality – the trees, the starlit sky, the tall mountains, and landscapes. So is all of this only present in our imagination?

My Answer: The only thing that was created is the desire. It contains a feeling that’s separated by egoism into “me” and “what surrounds me.” By correcting the egoism, the feeling merges into one whole “me” and the feeling of my source, the additional sensation of the Creator.

Everything you perceive on the outside is perceived inside your consciousness. This is, in fact, the “reality.” Everything is present only in one’s consciousness, like in a dream. Our inability to objectively compare feelings, due to having only a perception of “our world,” constrains us. But very soon, humanity will begin to “awaken” from its slumber and people will find other possible existences.

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In the News (from DailyMail): “The headset that will mimic all five senses and make the virtual world as convincing as real life” A virtual reality helmet called Virtual Cocoon that recreates the sights, smells, sounds and even tastes of far-flung destinations has been devised by British scientists. It stimulates the senses so convincingly they have called the experience “Real Virtuality.”

The virtual reality helmet titillates all five body senses while viewers sit at home on their sofas. The device will allow users a life-like experience of places such as Kenya’s Masai Mara while sitting on their sofa. They can also enjoy the smell of flowers in an Alpine meadow or feel the heat of the Caribbean sun on their face.

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, the only thing that exists outside of us is just the simple, direct Upper Light. This Light is what influences our five senses: it passes through our qualities and thus creates a picture that depicts the difference between us and the Light. We perceive this picture as “myself” and “the world.”

However, we are capable of developing the quality of bestowal and love which will be similar to the Surrounding Light. Then, instead of being opposite to the Light, we will start feeling our equivalence to it. That picture is called “the Upper World.” Kabbalah is the method that enables us to attain a quality similar to the Light. And to the degree one attains this quality, one becomes like the Light.

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Two questions I received about the Full Correction:

Question: In one of the morning lessons you said that at the end of correction (Gmar Tikkun), the religions will remain only as traditions. Will man exist in the material form at the end of correction in order to continue to observe the traditions? Or will man become a spirit, whereupon all the physical traditions matter will disappear?

My Answer: There are several states of complete correction: particular individual, collective individual, unified collective in Tzimtzum Bet, unified collective in Tzimtzum Aleph, and absolute adhesion to the Creator. As long as there’s even one uncorrected soul, our world will continue to exist in our perception. And only when the general correction is complete, our world and all the worlds will integrate in our perception into the World of Infinity.

In reality there’s only one state – the World of Infinity, and all the worlds are just filters for the Upper Light in our flawed perception of It. In other words, the worlds are degrees of concealment of the only existing state, the World of Infinity.

Question: What does it mean that we are approaching the state of the Full Correction?

My Answer: It is the state when all the souls merge into one and the Upper Force fulfills and manifests within them. Every person will then perceive everyone else as himself, and will therefore perceive himself as eternal and perfect, like the Creator.

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Everything in the world is just one material – the will to receive, to be filled with the Light of the Creator. This holds true for the Upper Worlds and our world. The difference between any object or phenomenon is only the degree of this desire. A small desire forms an object on the still level of matter, a greater desire – the vegetative level, a greater yet – the animate level, and the greatest desire forms a human being. All the desires are interconnected in one system. Through our senses, we don’t perceive the actual desires, but only their material shell. Kabbalah enables us to shift from the external level to the inner one, and thereby attain the forces that govern the entire universe.

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