Entries in the 'Perception' Category

The Most Inconvenient Truth

36We cannot rise above what we feel. If we feel a world full of suffering, it means that we ourselves are actually like that. And inside, we do not really want to see the world differently. We actually want it to stay that way.

Question: So do we want this suffering?

Answer: Yes, we are used to it, we are in it. And this is the problem.

Comment: But this is actually an anti-life.

My Response: That is where we are.

Question: We are not living, are we?

Answer: We are not.

Comment: This is a total revolution—us wanting suffering.

My Response: Our whole history, of all people in general, is just a continuous
stream of suffering.

Comment: But we think we have been led into this. It is even written in the Torah: “Go and suffer.” By and large, it says that you will suffer. That is, we do not attribute it to ourselves; it is not us who want it, we have been launched into this cycle of suffering. It is not our fault. But you say that it lives in us.

My Response: I think it is our fault. We do not wish to rise from this level. We do not want to!

Question: So the whole task is to want to?

Answer: To want to turn it all around, to get out of this knot of suffering.

Question: What should one do to achieve this?

Answer: To achieve this, a person must stop hating others and bring himself closer to them. Then everything will change. I think we just need to forbid people from suffering, because doing so causes suffering in the world. Wake up and sing!

Question: “Wake up and sing.” That is, if it hurts you, wake up and sing. That very song: “Wake up and sing, try it for once in your life…”?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What should we figure out? What is in front of us? What is it?

Answer: The Creator! Nothing else! He makes such scenes and visions for us all the time so that we are constantly afraid and so that we would gradually come to understand these mirages.

Question: So, my desire for suffering should transition into the fact that before me is a…?

Answer: A mirage.

Question: And I have no right to suffer, you say?

Answer: No! As soon as you start suffering, it turns into some kind of corporeal actions or scenes.

Comment: Wars, and so on.

My Response: Yes. But if you do not allow suffering, everything gets better.

Question: And then I slowly begin to see the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When you say “the Creator,” what do you mean? What is before me, before us?

Answer: The force that controls the world, us, that wants to bring us to the realization of the right state of nature and ourselves.

Question: What is it?

Answer: Joy!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/13/26

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Where is Evolution Leading Us? Part 1

720Question: In the process of evolution, many species have simply disappeared. The Earth has gone through different periods: sometimes development proceeded very slowly with almost no changes for long stretches of time, then suddenly rapid changes occurred, and many species vanished from the face of the Earth.

If evolution is embedded in nature as a gradual movement toward a goal, why do entire species suddenly disappear while processes of development and destruction occur simultaneously?

Answer: One cannot exist without the other; there is no life without death. We are in a process of evolution that includes both development and destruction. In nature, everything operates according to a precise, deterministic law that advances it toward its final goal of development, as it is said: “The final goal is already embedded in the initial design.”

Without this, development would be impossible because it is necessary from the outset to determine where this development is heading and what defines each subsequent form. Each new form must already be potentially embedded in the previous one and only realized from it in practice. Everything is far more complex than it appears in our world where it seems that a man and a woman simply meet and produce offspring.

But where did they come from? What caused them to meet and give birth to exactly such children? All of this was originally embedded in potential, but this information is hidden from us. Although there are “psychics” who claim to reveal it and predict future events.

Future forms already exist and, in principle, can be revealed. But they are hidden from people so as not to deprive us of free choice. Knowledge of the future would turn us into robots. To prevent us from acting automatically, the future is concealed from us.

Evolution cannot advance correctly if the next form is unknown to it. Evolution is not guided by temporary conditions of what is better or worse in a given situation, as scientists assume. Science can reveal only mechanical and biological changes, that is, those already materialized, but not the potential causes that brought about these changes.

Kabbalah, however, reveals these potential causes and explains where development is heading and what its future form will be. Therefore, to understand the inner mechanisms of evolution, it is necessary to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Then we will learn why the matter of this world was created and what forms it must go through as it materializes from its initially embedded potential. Kabbalah allows us to understand everything that happens with our world and with us: everything that was and everything that will be.

The disappearance of species is not destruction but a change of forms. Some forms are born and exist for a certain time in order to give rise to more advanced forms. Then the previous form continues to live within the more advanced form that emerged from it.

And within us, too, there are small “dinosaurs.” It does not matter that they became extinct 66 million years ago, because our memory carries information from the very beginning of the universe, billions of years before our time.
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From KabTV’s conversation “New Life 931 – Evolution: The Next Stage,” 12/12/17

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You Don’t Need Your Body

707Question: Suppose I am blind, how can I not feel that I am blind?

Answer: Look within yourself!

Question: What will I see there?

Answer: You will see everything: the sky, the stars, everything! Within yourself.

Question: And if, for example, I am deaf, can I be a musician? Will I hear music?

Answer: Anything you want. You do not need your five senses. You do not
need your body! If we did not have a body, we would be so happy and perfect!

Question: So, in that case, would I not feel any deficiency if I sort of live within myself?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can you teach me how to live like that? How can I get to this? It sounds so good.

Answer: I cannot explain it.

Question: Why do we become still when we look at the stars?

Answer: Because it is a part of the universe that is opposite to the one in which we exist. And it immediately tells us about its infinity and our finiteness.

Question: So I see infinity in this? Can I find it within myself as well?

Answer: You can find it within yourself. You can connect with these stars. You can feel how they exist.

Question: And by this, do I sort of pass into a state of infinity?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/14/26

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It Is Not the Enemy Before Us, It Is the Creator

252Question: What do we have to clarify? What is lies before us? What is it?

Answer: It is the Creator! Nothing else! He constantly presents us with such scenes and visions so that we will remain in a state of fear all the time and gradually, little by little come to understand these mirages.

Question: So my inclination to suffering should transform into the understanding that what actually stands before me is…?

Answer: A mirage. The moment you begin to suffer, it takes on the guise of various corporeal actions and scenes.

Comment: Wars and so on.

My Response: Yes, but if you do not allow yourself to suffer, then everything is corrected.

Question: And then I slowly begin to perceive the Creator?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When you say “the Creator,” what do you mean? What stands before me, before us?

Answer: It is the force that governs the world and governs us; the force that wants to bring us to the awareness of the correct state of nature and of ourselves.

Question: What is that state?

Answer: Joy!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/26/26

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Be Similar to the Higher One

232.031Question: Suppose that right now I am about to draw the surrounding light. What is this thought that I must have:? It is “to become similar to Him”? Do I rely soley on thought?

Answer: How can one know what they must correspond to? On the lower degree you will never know what the upper one is; this is impossible. If you knew, then that knowledge would hold you on the higher degree. Such is the nature of the spiritual realm, wherever you are capable of existing, is where you are.

The spiritual world does not operate like our world where I might conceptually “be” in some place even though I have not physically arrived there yet, where I simply buy a ticket and go. In the upper world there is no such thing! Even as you ascend spiritual degrees, you will never be able to know with certainty what the next higher degree is, because you must rise to it “in faith above reason.”

To be similar to the upper one means becoming more spiritual, more bestowing, more perfect, thinking less about yourself and striving to correspond more fully to the upper one. In accordance with this, picture any images and forms.

If this is not enough, ask that you be given an understanding of the upper one for the sake of becoming similar to Him. This is called “the light that returns to the source” when you ask for the revelation of the Creator, not in order to enjoy it, but in order to correct yourself by means of it.

It is permitted to ask this, that is, to demand correction instead of pleasures, so that the corrections themselves will be our fulfillment, will lead to connection, to adhesion. “The reward for a commandment is to know the one who commanded.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/26, Rabash, “We Should Always Discern between Torah and Work”

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The Truth About Reality

423.02Question: How many forces exist and can interact with each other?

Answer: An infinite number. What we divide into 125 degrees can be subdivided further and further, endlessly.

We see that all of humanity, having gone through its cycles for, say, one hundred thousand years of existence, has not even yet reached the corridor leading to the spiritual world. And how many different states such a huge mass of people has gone through during these hundred thousand years—every minute, every second?

We cannot even imagine what we are actually dealing with. But in spirituality, it is simpler, because the lower degree, with all its diversity, enters the higher degree as a single element.

That is, all of inanimate nature is considered one unit relative to the vegetative, all vegetative nature is considered as one unit relative to the animate, and all animate nature is considered as one unit relative to the human.

And all of humanity is considered as one unit relative to the divine. Therefore, there is no complexity. On the contrary, everything becomes more and more simplified.

Question: Why is there specifically such a gradation of inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels?

Answer: This comes from the four stages of the expansion of the direct light. The beginning of the light’s influence on the desire, when the desire still does not feel itself as existing, is called the letter “Yod” or the first stage of the development of desire. Then comes the second stage, when the desire already begins to feel itself. After that come the third and fourth stages. In the fourth stage, the desire begins to feel the Creator. This fourth stage is called man (in Hebrew, Adam, from the word “Domeh,” meaning similar to the Creator). That is, the desire in the fourth stage feels the Creator and thereby gains the possibility to become similar to Him.

From the first perception of the Creator until today, 5,786 years have passed, that is, from the moment when Adam first sensed the Creator. This moment is called the Jewish New Year (Rosh HaShanah) and is considered the date of the first contact of a human being in this world with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Truth About Reality” 10/8/10

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To Understand the Creator

547.03Question: In the science of Kabbalah, you talk about the human ego, about connection with everyone, and that we must reach balance with nature. But what does this have to do with the connection with God (Elokim)?

Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we talk about nature. According to Gematria (the numerical value of a word), “nature” and “Elokim” are one and the same. This means that if we talk about the upper force, nature, or God, or the Creator, call Him whatever you want, everything around us is only a manifestation of this force.

If we are talking about the upper force, what difference does it make how we call it—Elokim or nature? There is the upper force (truly upper!) that gives birth to everything and governs everything, and we want to know how to connect with it, how to reveal It, to understand It.

Therefore, if I come out of myself, out of my ego, and I begin to reveal the reality outside of me, above my ego, this is called understanding, awareness, and revelation of the Creator. Obviously, this happens only in me and only relative to me.

By gradually organizing my desire, my spiritual structure, that is, the quality of bestowal and love for others—Keter, Hochma, Bina, Chesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut—and by aligning myself with this structure, I come to discern the connections between them and thereby attain the Creator.

Elokim is also called the Creator (Bore), from the words “come” (Bo) and “see” (Re), because we must “see” Him; we must reach a state in which we understand Him as if we see Him with our own eyes. For this purpose, we were created by Him.
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From a Lecture in Rome, 5/20/11

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Add Up the Opposites

254.01Question: You perceive all the processes taking place differently than how they appear in the picture of this world. You said that you have perceived a crisis for a long time, but it still has not manifested itself physically, that is, in the external world. How is this possible? What is this process and why is there such a delay?

Answer: Baal HaSulam explains this in many of his articles. He says that there is an action called “descending from above” and an action called “receiving from below.”

All sorts of commands, actions, and phenomena descend upon us from above. But while they are realized in our perception and while we are conscious of them, a certain amount of time passes. Therefore, there is a delay between descending from above and receiving from below.

Since a Kabbalist is on a level above our world, he sees forces descending into our world, and therefore believes that something needs to be done quickly. And the rest of the people are still in a drunken stupor; they say: “Everything is fine. Why are you panicking there?”

That is how it turns out that a Kabbalist show up, hurries, an shouts like Baal HaSulam 20 years before the Second World War. He said that Jews should escape from Poland, soon Hitler would conquer it.

Messing and other people even warned about this. But no one listened to them, they were silenced, considered enemies of the people, and so on.

I once talked to a major Israeli figure, a man of great culture, a strong industrialist who is very concerned about the future. At one time, he met with the President of the United States and talked with him about the need to quickly change the world, educate people, and encourage them to be kind and loving to each other. But the President didn’t understand anything.

Such an advanced, well-respected politician completely misunderstood him. It is not that I didn’t understand it, but I thought it would be good to do so. This is not the way to go. That is, people still don’t understand.

And they are right, because they act based on what is in our world. Why would they listen to some kind of “mystics,” even though the environment has been faltering for a long time, and everything else is falling apart.

Will they really pay attention to some Kabbalists who wag their fingers at them and say that it is necessary to change relationships in society, to change the social environment in the world? They won’t do it. They don’t have the necessary tools, influence, or upbringing for this.

We see what happens to our children. These are the most precious creatures to our hearts, but we leave them to their fate; as the street or school educates them, so it will be. As a result, we get drugs, promiscuity, emptiness, and complete lack of purpose in life. That is why humanity sees its future so bleakly.

But we don’t even need to correct ourselves, the main thing is that if we could correct the children, guide them correctly, then at least the future generation would live well. We, as adults who love them so much, cannot properly and soberly look at what is happening. This is so stupid! The Creator gives us some kind of clouding from above. If you unfold this whole picture, how can parents treat their children’s future like this?!

The whole education system, the whole world community, has launched this. Everyone raises their hands: “Well, my children will be like that too. What can I do?” They have the same answer as the politicians and say we don’t have the means to correct people.

Therefore, we are heading toward states where suffering will accumulate to such an extent that humanity will howl because it will not be able to hide from problems with its “ostrich policies,” and then it will agree to listen to what the science of Kabbalah has to say.

Question: You speak from the point of view of an ordinary person who sees that he is not understood, the whole world does not hear him. But if creation is arranged completely differently, if it is inside you, then what?

Answer: What difference does it make whether it is inside me or outside? I have to fix this. That is why I’ve been given the opportunity to see it from the outside, to make it easier to fix.

Question: So there must be an appeal to the perception that exists as if from the outside?

Answer: Sure. I have to reach out to people, correct them, and promote Kabbalah so that they will come to me and strive for the same goal—unification.

Question: So it is impossible to do this internally with a small group?

Answer: No, it is not possible. I cannot do the work for others, although these others, as you want to say now, are in me.

Otherwise, you take away freewill from every part of you that you think exists outside of you. This part can correct its selfishness only if it feels free from you and does it on its own. This way you will help each other.

And it is not schizophrenia. The fact that we cannot put several opposite things together in our minds is our problem. This is the problem of the narrowness of our world, because we have only the desire to enjoy and nothing else.

But we have other possibilities to experience the existing universe. In order to develop them, we are given so–called “schizophrenia”: although these are my parts that exist outside of me, and everything around me is me; it is mine, but on the other hand, I have to correct it exactly as if it is not mine, helping them to be independent, and then each part will fix itself.

Having corrected ourselves, we will all come together into one single whole, and all our independent corrections will come together. That is, all our desires will add up to one desire, and all our small screens will add up to one screen.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Schizophrenia” 10/7/10

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The Future Is Built in the Present, Part 4

439Question: Is it really true that all my future states already exist up to the very end of development?

Answer: Of course, because time does not exist. Right now, you can only decide whether you want to be in that state or not, and you move along the axis of states. And then your time can go backward or forward, however you wish.

Question: Then how does my present state differ from all the future ones?

Answer: If you advance along the axis of time (more precisely, the axis of states) you increasingly discover that you are dealing with the upper light, with the Creator. You begin to feel Him, meaning the force that governs you and your entire reality. This is the force of bestowal and love that wants to develop you so that you can perceive it and rise to its level.

Question: And how is this connected to my future?

Answer: This is your future! Whether you want it or not, you must come to this.

There is the force of bestowal and love, the “Creator,” who created us from “nothing” and gives us all these states to feel until we sense Him and begin to act the same way as this force. The Creator helps us develop to His degree. This is our future: “To become like the Creator, knowing good and evil.” We must become similar to Him in our qualities, equally giving and loving.

Question: And how do we move between times?

Answer: We move through time by wanting to become like the higher force. We advance; we “sanctify” the times, meaning, we ourselves want to progress along the axis of states, the axis of time.

Question: So it turns out that the future does not come to me; I myself walk into the future? How do I do that?

Answer: You imagine the next states on the axis of time and change yourself so that you exactly match them. In this way, you advance.

Question: Are the future states known in advance, or are there alternatives?

Answer: No alternatives! The entire axis of development is already set, and one must go through all the states on it.

However, one can pass from state to state by one’s own desire, or one can be driven by force, through suffering. We have only two options: either advance to the next state in the right and good way, knowing the future state and working on yourself to reach it faster, or refuse to do this because it goes against your egoism and you are lazy. Then the system still pushes you forward, but only through blows.

Question: Is it possible to live without the sensation of time?

Answer: It is possible. If we take our development into our own hands, we rise above time, and pay attention only to the states we go through. And when does this happen? Beyond time. Right now, I can go through many states at whatever speed I wish, and move myself toward the perfect state.

Question: And what awaits me in this final perfect state?

Answer: Absolute goodness, such that it cannot even be imagined. Just as a child cannot imagine what awaits him in adult life.
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From KabTV’s New Life 934 – “What Is the Future,” 12/19/17

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276.03Question: In his perception, a person divides time into three notions: past, present, and future. What are these?

Answer: The present is the sensation that comes from the influence of the inner light. This is more complex than Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Einstein described a special perception of the external world, while Kabbalah describes a special perception of a person’s inner world, which is much harder to grasp. After all, one must overturn one’s entire self to understand it, whereas to understand the theory of relativity one needs to overturn only the mind.

The sensation of the past is determined by the light—that is, by the fulfillment that was in the desire and has left it. The fulfillment that is inside the soul is the present. And the fulfillment that stands before the soul, ready to enter it in the next moment, is called the future.

Question: And what is the “soul”?

Answer: The soul is the system through which we sense that we exist and which becomes filled with the upper light. If we develop ourselves through the method of Kabbalah, we begin to feel these fulfillments, and the past, present, and future that are associated with them.

Past, present, and future are the influence of the light that was, is, and will be upon me. My desire to enjoy becomes filled with the upper light, called the Creator.

The sensation of past, present, and future depends on a person’s level of development. Some people are not concerned with the future at all, and others immediately forget the past. Many perceive only a narrow slice of the present. The sense of time is individual for every person.

Question: And where do I exist, in the past, present, or future?

Answer: You exist in the past, the present, and the future because time does not exist by itself; it exists only within your sensation. All your future states already exist, right up to the very last one where you and the Creator merge in equivalence of form and you reveal how the upper force fills you, the light that previously remained outside.

Upon reaching this final state, which is called the end of correction, we become filled with all the light that is now still outside of us.
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From KabTV’s New Life 934 – What Is “The Future?”, 12/19/17

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