Entries in the 'Perception' Category

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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715So far the world has been busy figuring out how to dodge the next blow from nature to protect itself. But one way or another, the blow comes. The question is how to resist this blow within ourselves. We have the opportunity to make it so that we do not even feel that we were hit or that there was a tsunami.

If we succeed in controlling our inner world, we will see a completely different reality, one that supposedly exists outside of us. Then we will understand that in fact nothing changes on the outside. All tsunamis and earthquakes occur only within us, in our perception.

The future is a law that exists within us, and is realized through the general force of nature within which we find ourselves. This force is constant and unchanging, and we are constantly changing within it. That is why it seems to us that the world is changing. But in reality, it is not. The only ones who change are us.

In that case we can turn to our own changes, and try to take control of them in order to determine our future, not only whether there will be a tsunami or not, but ultimately life and death.

We can make our lives beautiful and comfortable. We will not need air conditioning or heating; we will feel what we want to feel. There will be no sense of the slightest inconvenience or discomfort. One can create a truly heavenly life for oneself.

Question: What is “time” anyway?

Answer: In order to bring us to the correct perception of reality and teach us to manage the concept of time, that is, our own changes, we are placed in two systems: giving and receiving. We find ourselves sometimes in one system and sometimes in the other, one good and one bad, an altruistic system of giving and love and an egoistic system of receiving and hatred.

This alternating transition from the rule of one system to the rule of the other is what we feel as the flow of time. This is what gives rise to the concept of time in this world.

Time is our sensation, not the rotation of the sun, the moon, or the Earth, which also take place within us.

Question: Does the solar system also exist within us?

Answer: Of course, because nothing exists except the human being who imagines the universe this way.

One moment I fall under the governance of the altruistic system of giving, and at another under the governance of the egoistic system of receiving. And these oscillations between the two systems, like a pendulum—tick-tock, tick-tock—create the sensation of time.
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From KabTV’s  New Life 934 – What Is “The Future?”, 12/19/17

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Where Is the Creator?

744Question: I still don’t understand where our world is, where the spiritual, higher world is in relation to it, and where the Creator is.

Answer: It’s all very simple! Everything that was created is a desire to be fulfilled, to enjoy. It senses everything it can sense within itself, through its own sensations. As long as the desire is egoistic, what it senses is called “this world.” When it becomes altruistic, what it senses is called “the upper or spiritual world.”

The desire consists of five parts, 0-1-2-3-4 levels, the magnitude of the desire, by quantity and quality. Moreover, the greater the quality, the lesser the quantity, just as in our world there are many ordinary stones but few precious ones. Within these four types of desires, a person perceives the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The zero part is “me,” the point of reference.

At the very center of the desire is the “I,” from which a person senses the world, their own desire, but it is perceived as existing outside of that “I.” Ordinary perception of the world is called egoistic (consumeristic).

Where is the Creator? Wherever the “I” makes room for Him!
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The Future Is Built in the Present, Part 1

928Question: Since ancient times people have wanted to know what awaits them in the future. There were prophets, seers, and oracles. And even today, people are very concerned about their future. What is “the future”?

Answer: The future is what we build in the present. The concepts of past, present, and future exist only in our perception. It is very difficult to explain the concept of time to an ordinary person in our world because to do so he must rise above time, movement, and space.

Everything must be examined with respect to the person, meaning we must understand that we are not studying what happens in the world, but in our sensation of the world. A person senses changes only because he himself changes, not because something outside of him changes. If I see a hurricane, rain, drought, winter, or summer, it means that I feel such states within myself.

I perceive this entire world within myself: stones, plants, animals, and people; those that were, are, and will be, all exist only in my perception.

Therefore I need to investigate why my sensation is divided into these three categories: past, present, and future. Once I understand this, I will be able to relate correctly to reality. Reality does not exist independently outside of me, but it is determined by my perception.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that nothing outside of me changes. Everything happens only within me, in my perception, which changes day by day, moment by moment.

This completely changes the whole picture because if the world were outside of us, our ability to influence it would be very limited. Clearly predicting droughts, floods, and earthquakes helps us protect ourselves from an external threat by building dams or leaving the dangerous area. Yet this does not prevent the blow itself. If I understand that a flood does not occur externally, but in my inner sensation, then I can arrange myself internally so that the tsunami will not come at all. I can create a completely different world for myself where the sun shines and everything is wonderful.

Or perhaps I will even feel like I am in an entirely different dimension, in another world. After all, if everything depends on my perception, then I simply need to know how to manage my sensations in order to build a good external world within them. In other words, I divide the world into external and internal and say that I can change only the internal world, my sensation of the world, but not the external world.

The most important thing here is what to consider a constant and what is a variable that is subject to change. Either we consider ourselves constant and the external world changing, in which case we must protect ourselves from it.

Or we accept the external world as constant and unchanging, as the science of Kabbalah says, that the upper light is in absolute rest, and all changes and corrections occur within the person. In that case I can change myself and get the reality I want.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 934 – What Is ‘The Future?’” 12/19/17

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