Entries in the 'Religion' Category

Behind The Supernatural

laitman_207Witchcraft Forgery

Question: Our understanding of magic and witchcraft seriously expanded at the beginning of this era. Many people believe in or actively refute these issues. It confirms their interest in the topic.

How does the wisdom of Kabbalah relate to these issues? Can we implement benevolent, positive forces by using witchcraft or magic? Can we make our lives better with their help?

Answer: First of all, if not for the wisdom of Kabbalah, we would never have a modern-day understanding of what witchcraft or supernatural phenomena are. They are “borrowed” and then re-structured from the wisdom of Kabbalah and its exploration of how desires that represent the power of a human soul can be used.

The Network’s Enchantment

Let’s get to the point. We are interconnected with each other in a corrupt way. In general, our connection is pure egoism. As a result, evil forces generate the overall system of human relationships: Each one of us pursues personal benefit and doesn’t care about the society. We always try to take advantage of everything that surrounds us.

Humans are not to blame for being selfish since to begin with we are completely submerged in an egoistic nature. However, we are guilty of not using the wisdom of Kabbalah. The Jews should be remorseful more than others since we neglect the science of Kabbalah, whereas with the help of this wisdom we would be able to transform our connection from an evil network to a benevolent one.

According to Kabbalah, this is a positive way of using “supernatural powers,” i.e., transforming relationships between us from negative to positive. We cannot turn them “upside down” since it is an external system for us. Nowadays, the way we are connected make us treat each other quite poorly.

In order to change the current state of affairs and establish good relationships between all of us, we have to use a special force called “the Upper Force,” “the Creator,” “God,” or “Nature.” The impact of the force that we are trying to trigger in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Light.”

It is said: “I created the evil inclination and I created the Torah as a spice.” In other words, egoism governs us; still there is a way to take advantage of the system that can correct our relationships. The power of the Light descends to our egoistic structure and improves it. As a result, a benevolent network appears among us.

This is exactly how we should use the wisdom of Kabbalah and the Torah, the essence of which lies in the principle “love thy neighbor as thyself,” i.e., creating benevolent relationships between all people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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Access To The Fate Control Console

laitman_277Question: How do I get access to a console that controls the film of life?

Answer: It is necessary to rise above your egoism to where your thoughts, desires, forces, and actions all aimed at bestowal are and not towards their own benefit. A life at such a height requires that you make a restriction of your egoism and acquire an anti-egoistic screen, to enclose yourself with a shield, ensuring that you will never think about any action for your own sake. If you are protected against egoistic intentions, then you will be allowed to enter there.

Question: Whose benefit will I be thinking of if not about my own?

Answer: You will be thinking about the benefit of the whole overall program, its correct, good, and fast implementation for the good of all creatures. If you are going to dream about it, you will be able to come to it. After all, this is when you will be able to join the forces that are called “angels” actively participating in their work.

Question: Is it scary to reveal angels?

Answer: There is nothing to worry about. Angels are just a force, as if all of the powers of this world. You will learn to use them, and they will begin to listen to you. The forces of nature are called angels. The force of gravity is also an angel.

You come into the control room of all creation to participate in its management, along with all the other forces of nature for the benefit of humanity, promoting it to the desired goal. After entering there, you will be obliged to arm yourself with the power of love. Then you will use all available forces there for the benefit of all mankind.

Question: Do I get the power not only over my own destiny, but also the power over the fate of all the others?

Answer: You will not be interested in your personal destiny; you will take care of all of humanity, all souls. You will gain control of the entire program of creation in order to promote it by the Light that is directed towards the good development.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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The Magic Theater

laitman_284_03Question: Can I say that the wisdom of Kabbalah contains special, supernatural powers?

Answer: There is nothing supernatural. Kabbalah is the science that explains to a person how to behave in the current reality, and how to reach heaven during this lifetime.

Kabbalistic books are not related to magic. Yes, they are called “holy” because I can learn how to become “holy” with their help. In other words, I can learn to bestow, how to love the neighbors, how to become giving, and how to do good.

Question: Can I use the Kabbalistic books for something bad? For example, some people hold special ceremonies directed against a particular person.

Answer: It is a theater. Psychologically, it may have some affect, but not more than that.

A Kabbalist who owns his strength can never cause anyone any harm. After all, he is close to the Creator, evil does not come from him “by definition.”

On the other hand, there are situations where a Kabbalist can bring benefit to protect them by neutralizing a big villain who carries enormous harm to the people.

Overall, I have to learn to bear the good, to be a giver. Only then I will definitely act for the common good, and thus for the benefit of myself.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15

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Power Over Destiny

laitman_277Question: Astrology tends to predict our destiny. However, the important thing is to change our fate rather than to know what’s waiting for us in the future. Is it possible?

Answer: Do you mean influencing your luck and turning the stars to better work for your interests? Yes, it is possible because we are a part of an integral system in which everything is intertwined. So, by all means we can impact the stars.

A human being is the most powerful force in nature, capable of penetrating into any of its integral parts, “spreading” in all directions, learning, attaining, connecting things, and clarifying all rules. We are able to understand the basics of universal connections, become included in the liaisons, and eventually change them.

Only humans are capable of attaining this level, nobody else! At all times, people tried to change their destinies. They did it with the help of religion and mysticisms, astrology, and divination, and with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. We are free to choose what remedy to use to change our destiny. In fact, all three directions can impact our future.

Question: How can we influence our destiny with the help of astrology? Is it really possible “to rearrange” the stars so that they bring us luck?

Answer: Stars only signify the governance of the Upper Force over us. Stars by themselves cannot influence anything. Stars are the signs of the upper impact. Yes, we can change them, i.e., make the upper governance more beneficial for us. It is possible with the help of religion, mysticism, or the wisdom of Kabbalah – through these three sources.

Religious people pray, they join and pray together, they try to influence events and ask for help from above. By these actions, they change nature since they also are a part of nature. Humans are inseparable from the rest of the world.

We can influence the world around us since our bodies are part of nature. Humans are the most influential force in nature. This explains why when thousands of people get together and pray for something, their desire alters reality. It’s because they are an internal part of nature.

This is why all remedies are good when it comes to influencing upcoming events: religion, mysticism, and Kabbalah. The difference among them is the way they influence nature. Religion makes a strong impact since it is an organized force that has existed for many years, for many generations.

The problem is that it is extremely egoistic. Religious thinking is only about personal benefits or, in the very best case, the benefits of one’s nation without considering possible damages that can be made to other nations: One country prays about conquering another one.

Mysticism is less egoistic because while trying to connect with the stars that “provide” luck, each one of us must give up some portion of egoism. This mystical form requires one to become a little less materialistic and diminish one’s egoistic desires.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the most altruistic methodology that requires loving one’s neighbor as oneself. In this form, it is possible to clearly, directly, and powerfully impact all of nature. If we “are armed” with a correct technology that allows us to beneficially influence the world and thus change its state to the better, we’ll attain similarity with the upper force. Then, our abilities become virtually unlimited.

With the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we develop the properties that are similar to the upper force, the general power of nature that governs the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels. It is the only real power. It is called “the Creator.” We can connect with this force, understand its thought, and together with it, rule the entire system of nature, become its partner.

Question: What are the most effective remedies for changing our destiny?

Answer: The most effective remedy to modify our fate is to join the group that aspires to attain similarity with the upper force, i.e., achieve a state of loving our neighbors, to build the type of connection among friends that impacts our lives in the infinite future, both for each individual and the entire world.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/1/15

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“God-Fearing” Egyptians

Laitman_509The Midrash, “BeShalach”: The Pharaoh chose the best six hundred chariots they had in the land of Egypt. In addition, he took other chariots and appointed charioteers. The Almighty’s plan was that the Egyptian army would pursue the children of Israel until they all drowned.

Where did they get horses for chariots? Hadn’t the animals died in Egypt during the plagues of “starvation and hail”?

The animals were provided by “God-fearing” Egyptians who obeyed Moses’ warnings before the “plague of hail,” and placed their animals in barns. Now, they volunteered to lend their animals to persecute the Jews.

“G-d-fearing” Egyptians are those who revere the Torah commandments and at the same time think only about themselves. They are spiritual criminals! Among them, there are those who exited from Egypt together with the Jews as well as those who stayed in Egypt. In the Torah, they are called “big rabble” (Erev Rav).

On one hand, they obeyed Moses, but on the other hand, they gladly gave everything they had to the Pharaoh.

Question: At some point, they listened to Moses and used an anti-egoistic screen to hide their animal desires. Why all of sudden did they change so dramatically?

Answer: Their duty is to accompany us in our spiritual work and “provide us” with multiple troubles. They had to participate in the destruction of the First and the Second Temples. They partake in all harms that continue happening up to these days. Kabbalah-haters won’t disappear until we reach the final correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/23/14

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Dispelling Misconceptions About Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are great misconceptions about the wisdom of Kabbalah. People ask, “Why is it necessary to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Is it interesting for us to know how many angels there are in heaven and what they are called? Is it important what we call the worlds, the Partzufim, or the Sefirot? Why should we sit and learn impractical things like these that are irrelevant to real life?”

We open the book and read: Behold that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, the upper simple light had filled the whole existence. Where is all of this found? This is so far from us, outside of this world and universe, outside of this space in which all of us exist together with our planet, the sun, and all the stars. All of this is absolutely abstract and detached from our world.

No practical benefit is seen nor any concrete means that would make it possible to improve our lives and perform any actions. It is suggested to us simply to study. So what is the meaning of this?

Besides that, there are those who say that because this study is too abstract, it is possible to go crazy. Since studying the Talmud and Mitzvot (commandments), the Shulchan Aruch makes it possible to apply the study to practical activities and is preferable for the organization of our lives. We are able to provide a good education and information to children so that they will be able to proceed in the way of their ancestors.

It is customary to think that religion brings benefit to people while the wisdom of Kabbalah is like some kind of philosophy. So why does an ordinary person need this? Such an opinion is widespread and common in the world.

Or people think that with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is possible to do miracles by activating forces from the next world. And so the wisdom of Kabbalah seems even more dangerous for you are apparently working with mysticism and are liable to harm yourself and others. People are against anyone being involved with it at all, for who knows what you are liable to do? Maybe you will get access to some red button through which it will be possible to blow up the whole world.

But all of these erroneous opinions are the result of absolute ignorance. People don’t understand that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the most practical of sciences and by being involved in it, it is possible to attract the Light that reforms.

In truth, it is difficult to explain this. Even those who come to study in the beginning don’t understand what they really want and what they came for. After years of study and learning, it is gradually revealed to a person that Kabbalah is a practical method only. This is because with its help, we awaken a unique power that changes everything in our world, a power that is called the Upper Light.

If we don’t attract this Light, it still acts according to its plan. And so it controls us in any case, but only in a form that is quite unpleasant and not desirable for the upper force or for a person.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/08/15, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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From Superstition To True Knowledge Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe human being has always been very dependent on his environment from the still, vegetative, and animate natures, as well as on other people, be they good or bad neighbors and nearby nations. Thus, everyone wants to know what awaits him in the future.

Throughout history, people have studied different signs that exist in nature and noticed how they are related to our destiny.

Rich and extensive literature exists on this topic and stretches from the most ancient times to the present day. Indeed, even today we have not solved a single puzzle and the future still remains shrouded in mystery for us.

There are people who can predict the future, and you can see it and feel it as if they live within it. They achieve some special internal state and rise above themselves by contacting the flow of information, which is located above our perception. This state is not available to an ordinary person, but these people can grasp it and tell us what they perceive.

There are different means of achieving the ability to feel nature outside of one’s body and somehow to disconnect from it by using drugs and bringing oneself to ecstasy. These methods are known in cultures of different nations around which many fairy tales, stories, and legends were created.

Nations are either more or less inclined to believe in omens. Thirty years ago, I visited England and was struck by the tradition adopted there. Before moving into an apartment, a special service was invited to clean an apartment, not of dust, but of evil spirits. Newspapers are full of announcements of such services to ensure the absence of evil energy and the presence of good energy in your home. They say that there is almost no one who moves to another apartment without this purification.

Once a year in Mexico, the Day of the Dead is observed. It is customary to take food to the graves of relatives. It is a common tradition to broadcast this on the main TV channel in Mexico People even wash the bones of the buried and put them back into the grave, as it is considered giving special honor to deceased parents.

Every religion has rituals that are close to divination and beliefs. All this belongs to the area unknown to us. But in history there was a man who declared a war on this uncertainty, fought bravely, and started a great revolution. His name was Abraham.

At first, he was a prophet and a priest who studied astronomy and astrology, predicted the future, and sold idols and amulets. In those days, science was closely mixed with religion and all kinds of beliefs. Science was studied in monasteries and belonged to religion.

This confusion remains to this day and we have rid ourselves of medieval superstition. Technological development is purely mechanical and did not raise the human spirit higher. On the contrary, it lowered it.

Abraham was a great astrologer and famous sorcerer who sold idols. His father Terah was a high priest. They were considered very important people in Babylon and represented the supreme spiritual authority.

But Abraham gave up his honorary position in order to realize his inner desire. He explored nature and tried to understand why the whole world existed and where the the higher force was that controlled everything. Eventually he revealed this upper force, the Creator.

He worked selflessly, despite fear. After all, he went against all of his former beliefs not fearing that he could be killed for it. Indeed, he then had to flee from Babylon. Abraham was the first person on this earth who made the transition from mysticism, magic, amulets and idolatry to the true knowledge of nature.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/1/15

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The Upper Mind That Is Concealed In Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You say that the Israeli nation was chosen by the Creator in order to help all of humanity get closer to Him. But we don’t live in ancient times or in the Middle Ages anymore and don’t see that the modern world needs the Creator. Only religious people speak about the Creator, not people in the ordinary world, and no one feels the need for Him.

Answer: The Creator is equivalent to nature. The whole huge system of nature, the immense power that includes and sustains all of creation is called the Creator. This definition is totally different from the common religious definition.

The problem is that because our mind and our feelings are so limited, we cannot recognize the fact that the upper force also has feelings, understanding, a plan, and organizes the process that leads to a certain goal.

We picture this force as a still force, like the force of gravity that simply pulls and that’s all. We think that only us humans have minds and thoughts and nature doesn’t.

But today there are many scientific publications that speak about the upper force that develops all of matter. This force has a plan and a goal that are predetermined, and it advances us according to this plan. Our situation is no coincidence and nothing in the world happens by chance.

Even ordinary evolution, which seems to us as arbitrary, is in fact predetermined. Each time different desires connect and there is a struggle between them, they are carrying out the precise plan that is predetermined. The only thing is that we don’t know it, but today scientists are already beginning to speak about it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/28/14

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The Maccabees And The Greek Ideology, Part 2

laitman_276_02We should understand that the Jews didn’t enjoy the Greek culture, as contemporary authors try to portray. They simply don’t understand the inner essence of the Jewish people and what it meant to be a Jew in the land of Israel, the people of Israel in the country of Israel in those days.

The Greek and the Jewish ideologies are two basically opposite perspectives. All the other ideologies, such as the Greek ideology or other ideologies stemmed from man, who is a corporeal creature, an animal, an egoist. A person can only come up with an ideology that is aimed at his own corporeal, physical benefit.

The ancient Greeks, by the way, loved athletics and sports. They built stadiums, held Olympic games, and on the whole were inclined to hedonism. Basically anything that helps a person advance towards the goal of creation is good, but if I simply enjoy strength, agility, and stamina as long as the body is alive, I live for it.

This is also true with regard to other philosophical, esthetic concepts. They are all corporeal and they all stem from the five senses of our body and do not exceed their narrow perception.

The problem is that this limitation is evasive and cannot be noticed unless a person ascends above his five senses and says goodbye to his body and rises to a higher level, not after his death but rather here in this life.

The idea is to perceive reality above the five corporeal senses that are a desire to understand, to know, and to feel what is around us. All of a person’s senses perceive everything in an egoistic manner, internally, according to the principle of absorbing into one’s self. In such a state they cannot perceive more that what is dictated to them by the limitation of time, motion, and place as well as by the tolerance of each sense organ.

It is on the basis of this perception that the Greeks established their science and the realm of myths, which includes earthly fairytales regarding the relationships between their gods. This is how they imagined the laws of nature, in the form of an Olympic pantheon where the gods flirt with one another, get married, get divorced, live in peace or quarrel…

This is a very primitive picture, which of course is totally wrong. Therefore only children’s books remain of it for the next generations and I don’t recommend them because they establish a wrong conception of nature in a person.

Consequently only the basics of nature and scientific terminology are left of all of the ancient Greek culture.

As for the traditional Jewish perspective, it is actually inclined outward. In its framework we don’t need to absorb data from nature and to process it by our feelings and our mind, no. We need to exit ourselves and be incorporated in others outside ourselves. Thus we improve our tools of perception and make them unlimited and infinite.

After all, I exit myself, leaving my body, not wanting to remain in it. It only limits me and doesn’t allow me to understand things the way they really are. I cannot even really feel anything since I am imprisoned in the narrow limits of my senses.

What is more, when I perceive information through my five senses I process it by calculating my personal gain. It is inevitable because this is how my body operates due to its egoistic force. Therefore, out of the whole world that surrounds me, no matter what it may be, I only perceive what can enter my five egoistic senses, which is surely in my benefit or may bring me harm in the limits of a certain sense.

We don’t distinguish all the other phenomena around us. At the same time we can use instruments that do expand our boundaries a little, but we also perceive this information through the prism of our personal gain.

It turns out that if I want to be a real researcher I have to be independent of everything. Is that possible? After all, I was born an egoist, and by definition I only see what is good or bad for me, what is pleasant or unpleasant, beneficial or harmful.

I filter the flow of external data automatically and subconsciously, isolating only what my ego regards as worthwhile and ignore everything else. This is the reason that we all see the world and assess it differently.

At the same time, there is a different perception that is opposite from the natural Greek perception. According to that perception, I have to transcend what happens to me here on this planet, exit my ego, and ascend above myself with my self, if I want to be a true, independent, objective scientist, which cannot be found in the ordinary format of this world.

There is a method, which by a series of exercises and with the help of the environment and the friends, allows an ordinary person to perform such changes in him: to expand his natural perception and add a super natural perception to it, which means a perception that operates beyond a person’s natural ego.

Thus I can develop additional senses inside me that are not based on absorption internally but on bestowal, when I am ready to give, to love, to bestow, and am ready to be above myself. Love and bestowal are opposite from the perception of receiving, self-enjoyment, and hatred.

It is by such an approach that I begin to notice the reality that is beyond my egoistic vessels of perception. These vessels perceive merely two miserable percent of the whole spectrum and also distort the picture by presenting it to me in the form of this world to me.

Even physicists today say that they have reached a certain limit and that they cannot transcend it. Although there is undoubtedly something beyond that, they don’t know how to touch what is hidden on the other side…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/14/14

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Does God Exist?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science and not a religion, does that mean that you negate the existence of God?

Answer: I negate the existence of God in the sense that a religious person perceives Him as someone who exists as a corporeal figure.

God is the general attribute of love and bestowal that sustains the whole universe and all the worlds. It is the positive force (which the wisdom of Kabbalah calls Light) that created matter and develops this matter to resemble Him. This force is called God, or the Creator or the Upper, simply because He is higher than all the other forces.

Our mutual relations with that force are not based on the human principle that implies that God can feel sorry for, forgive, or punish us. We are dealing with a system of providence that perceives our actions and responds accordingly without any regret, mercy, etc.

It isn’t the God that religious people refer to when they cry and beg Him to be merciful and forgiving. We see that throughout history, our cries and our begging are useless because this isn’t what the system called the Creator demands of us.

The meaning of the word “God”- “Elokim” in Gematria (numerology) is equal in value to the word “nature – Teva,” since nature and God are the same thing.
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From KabTV’s “A Special Opinion” 8/17/14

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