Question: What is it, to be a Kabbalist that is occupied in practical work?

Answer: A Kabbalist that is occupied in practical work is a man that reveals the Creator in our world and wants to bring the whole world to Him. He works on the change of the ego to bestowal, altruism, hatred to love, the separation between us to unity. He realizes the thought of the Creator in our world, investigates and realizes it.

A real Kabbalist is a materialist and not mystical. He sees that the whole world exists as one whole under the influence of one force, and understands that in this world everything works under one law, the law of completion, unity, and mutual integrality, meaning, the law of love, and if it seems to us, that it is not like that, it is only because it is the way we are built and we need to correct our incorrect point of view. The evil that we see outside ourselves actually is within us and is reflected by our distorted vision on the exterior world. If I were completely corrected, then I would not see any evil in the world.

Question: Does it means, that the Kabbalist does not see any evil in the world?

Answer: It depends on what degree he is in. The thing is that our ego, that is called “Pharaoh,” is divided into 125 egoistic degrees, and the Kabbalist corrects them inside himself in portions, in parts, from the weakest degree to the greatest. By correcting each one of them, it is as if he rises in the degrees of the ladder of attainment, connecting with the upper force, in adhesion with the whole of humanity, and in this adhesion he feels the Creator.

To be a practicing Kabbalist, it means, to be a teacher or student, one that attains the upper world, to study according to authentic Kabbalistic sources, and to devote himself completely to it, because all the attainment of the spiritual world is also the fulfillment and the purpose of life.

Because when you begin to understand whom you are dealing with, then all the rest that is in this world is clearly seen as the fruits of the human imagination; these are insignificant efforts and experiences in comparison to the attainment of eternity, completion, the perfection of the Creator.
[146658]
From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

Related Material:
Who Is A Kabbalist?
Does A Kabbalist See The World As A More Corrected Place?
A Kabbalist Is A Scientist Who Studies The Upper Nature

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Perception, Q&A, Spiritual Work - 2 Comments →

Question: Why do Kabbalists maintain that the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science, which means that it is a study based on facts and evidence?

Answer: A Kabbalist doesn’t change external conditions like a scientist does, but rather changes his internal attributes and studies the internally changing perception of the world.

A scientist studies the still, vegetative, and animate nature while a Kabbalist studies nature on the level of a human being, Adam, stemming from the Hebrew word “Domeh” – to resemble the Creator, as it said that the Creator created man in his image and in His likeness.

Therefore, when we study man as the wisdom of Kabbalah suggests, we learn about the Creator by studying about ourselves, and as a result we change ourselves until we become like Him.

Thus we attain the thought, the plan and the ultimate goal of the creation and the world becomes clearer and manageable…
[146783]

Related Material:
A Science Of The Upper World
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah Is Scientific Research On An Experimental Basis
Does A Kabbalist See The World As A More Corrected Place?

Filed under: Q&A, Science, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why doesn’t the Torah start from Abraham or from the gathering at Mount Sinai, but rather begins with Adam, with creation?

Answer: In order to help us understand that the main thing is the shattering of the soul into many pieces, and then the Torah is given only in order to gather and put these parts together again, to glue them together, and thus to discover the Creator in the glued vessel. But if it didn’t start that way and there were no shattering, then all the other actions would certainly be meaningless.

Therefore, the Torah starts from Adam and not from Abraham since Abraham is already the outcome of the shattering and is already the beginning of the correction. It doesn’t start from the giving of the Torah either since this is already the receiving of the tool and the plan of correction. The Torah ends with the complete revelation of the Creator that is in the completely corrected and repeatedly strengthened soul of Adam.
[147458]

Related Material:
Short Stories: Adam’s Illumination
Was There Really Adam HaRishon?
Who Are You, Adam?

Filed under: Adam-The Common Soul, Q&A, Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: Always during the heyday of countries, it was also better and freer for Jews. They weren’t loved, but they weren’t hated after World War II. And then later the world slipped into a general crisis. Why is it that when it is bad in the world, then it is even worse for the Jews?

Answer: The Jews are the only group (the power) in the world that can influence the state of the world. This is so because on one hand, they are connected to the Creator and on the other hand, they are connected to the nations of the world. This means that they are between the whole of humanity and the Creator. And it depends on their behavior whether the Upper Light, the power of vitality, will arrive through them to the nations of the world.

The Jews are part of the transition, “Maavar” in Hebrew; from here comes the word “Jew.” From all of humanity, only this nation has the freedom to influence the way the world advances, through suffering or happiness, toward the final goal, the attainment of equivalence or adherence with the Creator.

How can the world relate to the Jews if they make the world so cruel? And the nations of the world rightly blame the Jews for this, that the Jews by their inactivity, invite the revelation of bad forces instead of good forces. The nations of the world say directly that all the suffering in the world is caused only by the Jews. By this they declare their dependence on the Jews, their weakness to influence their own destiny.

How would you treat these people who you understood have a hand in determining your destiny, i.e., your destiny depends on them, even unintentionally, but simply through their existence they turned your life into misery?

“There is just as great an obligation upon the Jew to show his humanity toward the whole race. … that he begin to fulfill in a sense his exclusiveness has never yet enabled him to fulfill, the ancient prophecy that through him all the nations of the earth should be blessed.” (Henry Ford, “The World’s Foremost Problem,” funded the printing of 500,000 copies of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that were distributed throughout the US in the 1920s)
[147451]

Related Material:
Who Are We Really?
Becoming The Light For The Nations
How We Win In Our War

Filed under: Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: How can we acquire a sense of importance of spiritual advancement?

Answer: Spiritual growth means the following:

1.     Acknowledgment that one doesn’t yet have a feeling of the importance of spiritual advancement.
2.     Realization that one can control this process.
3.     Understanding of the fact that the importance of the goal can only be acquired from external influences since all of us are complete egoists.
4.     “External influence” means the impact of the surroundings, the group.
5.     One attains proportionately to the degree of the importance of the goal that one strives to reach.
6.     Return to the beginning (item 1),  i.e. to our realization of the deficiency of the importance of the goal.

Is there a solution to this problem?

There is only one thing that we can do in this respect: implement the property of jealousness to things that others have already achieved and of the goal that is important to them. What if nobody has a sense of importance of spiritual advancement? In this case, all we can do is purposefully light our friends’ hearts with false, imaginary importance of our spiritual growth.

This thought is not new, nor is it original since we all receive false, illusionary importance of life values, the goals we work for and aspire to from our surroundings. It is possible because these issues look very significant in the eyes of our surroundings. They will actually become really essential for us after we stop playing the game!

The same rule applies to spiritual advancement. Only on the path of spiritual development can we recognize and conscientiously organize the source that will become extremely important to us later. We are the ones who shape our surroundings and define the objects that are important to us.

So, we have to play roles and pretend in front of others. The better we play the role pretending that we already have understood the significance of the spiritual progress, the sooner we’ll transition from a state of spiritual indifference to spiritual concern.

In front of one’s friends, one has to play the role of a person who really cares about the world’s correction and who loves one’s friends. We have to play the roles of “internally burning people”. Our actual inner feelings do not matter at all. The vital thing is that we must play the role to the best of our ability.

Use all available remedies to demonstrate to your friends how important the group is to you, how much you care about it. Pretend that you are really “on fire.” If you behave this way, you’ll be able to kindle your friends’ hearts and your own heart will also be lit.

You can play this role in turns with your friends, but it’s much better if you play together, in front of everybody. I received several suggestions to invite professional actors. Remember the Kabbalist who was inspired by drunk musicians? However, I think it’s extra. We have to understand our nature and learn how to control it.
[147733]

Related Material:
A New Game
Let’s Turn On The Light!
Playing For The New Truth

Filed under: Group Work, Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Why must Messiah ben Joseph be killed?

Answer: Rav Kook wrote: Messiah ben Joseph reveals the importance of Israel alone, but the goal of Israel is to unite the whole world into one family and call the Lord. Therefore, “Messiah ben Joseph is destined to be killed and Messiah ben David will rule.”

This means that we are still in a period of Messiah ben Joseph, and the need to raise the value of Israel, Yashar- El (straight to the Creator) over all, and because of this, the time will come when we will unite the entire world, will work to Messiah ben David.
[147739]

Related Material:
The Messiah: A Force, A Person, Or A Group?
The Coming of the Messiah
Where Is The “Group Of Abraham” Today?

Filed under: Israel, Nations of the World, Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

There is no connection between Kabbalah and religion. Religion emerged from the fact that people received a Kabbalistic text, but they do not know how to read and understand it correctly.

As a rule, a religious man, opening the Torah or some other book written by Kabbalists who have attained the upper world interprets it in material images of our world, i.e., in terms he understands.

For example, the forefathers’ journey, he perceives as a journey on the Earth and not within himself at different levels of egoism. He treats killing, defeats, victories, and other events and phenomena described in the Torah as all sorts of adventures in our world. He is like a little kid whom you tell about something higher, but who perceives everything at the level he sees around himself.

The problem is that there is one language for the description of the spiritual world and our world. Therefore, a person who is at the level of our world takes everything literally, and this is the source of religion. But a person who is at the spiritual level interprets it correctly because for him this is Kabbalah, the upper world, interaction with the Creator.

Question: How can a religious person relate to Kabbalah?

Answer: It is said that every man judges everything from his level, to the extent of his corruption. So here comes a big problem.

Kabbalists understand that ordinary religious people, within the narrow confines of their limited perception, interpret the Torah incorrectly. But they need to maintain their level of simple faith. They should study the Torah in their way, until the time of their correction arrives.

Religious people tie Kabbalah to the material level, not realizing that Kabbalists understand it differently (at a higher level), as a young child does not understand an adult. Therefore, they resent Kabbalists, believe that Kabbalah is a harmful thing that takes a man away from religion. Kabbalah really takes a man away from religion because it shows him true peace and the true purpose of creation.

The fact is that a religious person performs the commandments in an egoistic way: just for the sake of a good life in this world and for the sake of paradise in the next world. It has no relation to the laws of unity and to the rule of “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

A Kabbalist fulfills the commandment “love thy neighbor” because it is the basis for all his life in which he reveals the Creator and reaches the property of bestowal and love.

Therefore, Kabbalah and religion have completely different goals, different techniques, and different attitudes to the Torah. This profound contradiction separates them and makes them polar opposites. Let us hope that eventually religious people will understand the importance of the gradual transition from religion to Kabbalah.
[146685]
From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

Related Material:
The Goal – Love Of The Other
Religion Is A System Of Relations With The Creator
Kabbalah And Sufism

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Religion - 1 Comment →

Question: How does a Kabbalist feel our life?

Answer: A Kabbalist feels our life only as a means of entry into a higher dimension and rising on the ladder of spiritual degrees.

Everything that exists in our world and in it life itself are just a condition for further spiritual elevation. Therefore, a Kabbalist relates to our world in a practical, clear, strict way.

Of course, he can enjoy all the material things: music, literature, art, nature, etc. But inside of him, there is always a very clear directive: I do it in order to advance in the attainment of the higher world. He feels all the fragility, insignificance, and illusion of our world, and understands that it arises in his mind on purpose.

Just like the pictures that we see on the computer screen are nothing but electric signals that create images on the plasma, in the same way, various human feelings are only electric signals, nothing more. A Kabbalists understands the illusion of any material feeling: either positive or negative. He sees that all that surrounds us exists only in our perception, within us.

Therefore, he has no fear of death. He knows that his physical body must die, but the attainment of the upper world, the so-called the soul, will exist to the extent that it has been corrected while still in the body and can continue its correction further.
[146681]
From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/22/14

Related Material:
Transformation Of Senses
Does A Kabbalist See The World As A More Corrected Place?
A Kabbalist Is A Scientist Who Studies The Upper Nature

Filed under: Body and Soul, Perception, Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Tell me something, Laitman, how do you come to view the Jewish people as a group destined to save the world? From where have you read such a concept or seen a similar quote. Yes, you may cite the Bible and other religious tracts or writings of other religious people who also believe as you do but aside from that how do you come to such an idea.

I am Jewish also but do not have an arrogant view of this group of people. They are a good people and a talented people but surely not a better people with a higher degree of morality than any other group who believes as they do.

I do not say that the Jewish people are not better than Jihadists! Of course they are. I do not say that the Jewish people are not better than the neo-Nazis. Of course they are. But I also do not say that the Jewish people are better than other groups of persons who also believe that Jihadists and neo-Nazis are not human beings nor act as human beings.

All things being equal, why do you possess the arrogant and false view of the Jewish people. It is exactly this view that has caused problems too many times and which I cannot tolerate.

Answer: Unfortunately, perhaps. However, it is just so, we are a special group among all the nations. I emphasize—a group, and not a nation. A nation is a group of people that has formed in a natural (earthly) way. We, however, became a nation by having assumed the idea of unity above the egoism that separates us. Until we assembled in “Abraham’s tent” from different residents of Babylon, we were egoists, like all the other Babylonians.

Humanity must achieve unity and attain similarity (balance, homeostasis) with nature. Otherwise, we are a cancerous tumor that destroys its environment, and as a result, kills itself.

Anti-Semitism is the acknowledgement of the dependency of the nations on the Jews, surmising that some kind of secret exists within us. This is exactly what I wish to reveal, both to the Jewish people and to the nations of the world. After all, the Jews too do not know why they are being hated. By the way, the article in the New York Times has become so popular that I hope to gradually enlighten all of humanity this way!

Over two million non-Jewish students are studying at my Kabbalah university, and they perceive this fact as the program of nature. It’s advisable that you simply read a little more on this topic. Best of luck!
[144586]

Related Material:
Who Are You, The People Of Israel?
Where We Come From
The Strongest Idea

Filed under: Israel, Kabbalah Dissemination, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: How do you relate to art?

Answer: Art constitutes the natural expression of our inner world, that part of a person, which he wants to express, display, to sing, forever.

Question: Is this art egoistic or altruistic?

Answer: Of course it is egoistic.

Question: Does that mean we have to get rid of it?

Answer: No. We need to completely change it. All our nature is egoistic, but we don’t need to destroy the ego.

It is here we touch a very interesting question. Egoism is not destroyed but transforms into altruism. It becomes the opposite, and this is called, “help against you.”

Question: Is it possible to express it by creating art?

Answer: And how! You will see what masterpieces will be! This is because man can achieve and demonstrate not only his egoistic impulses but also the altruistic ones by connecting to others as one unique whole. He does this by feeling the others as himself, and in this cooperation (symbiosis) creates a new creation. In him will appear completely new sensations and feelings and also ways to express them!
[143872]
From the Interview with V. Kanevsky, 8/5/14

Related Material:
The Purpose Of Art In The Modern World
The Art And Science Of Spiritual Healing
SymbioticA Art Exhibit Portrays the Need for Responsibility Toward Life

Filed under: Q&A, Society - No Comments →