Question: On the Internet, two approaches to the evolution of the vegetative and animate world are constantly clashing with each other: Darwinism and creationism. What does the science of Kabbalah say about this?

Answer: Frankly, Darwin is right in almost everything. Perhaps, even this reservation is unnecessary since he was simply misunderstood. After all, he was a deeply religious man.

Evolution really does progress in a consistent way where one thing follows as the result of another. Successive development is instilled in nature, and we cannot deny this. However, it does not happen in a random fashion at all since the egoistic desire is constantly searching for possibilities to realize itself to the maximum.

The desire to receive lives in each passing moment and cannot peek into the future. It does not know what it will give rise to in a few more stages. The desire to receive has an exclusively egoistic approach: “How do I get what I want? How do I fulfill myself?”

If this desire is working and the mind serves it, then any kind of progress, any successive development, is absolutely impossible. After all, you are constantly threatening your egoism. Under such conditions, evolution would not have moved beyond the very first particle of the universe.

However, the science of Kabbalah talks about the Reshimot, informational data instilled into the initial spark from which the entirety of matter emerged. These Reshimot are activated one by one in a chain, and the common desire realizes them, building up the matter.

This is precisely the factor of successive development. In Darwin’s theory, we see its external manifestation, but the essence is in the inner engine, the origin of the forces of evolution. They come as a result of the Reshimot.

What was in the primary point from which the Big Bang thundered? Was there really the entirety of the Universe’s matter instilled in it? Logically, such an assertion makes absolutely no sense. There were only two things in this spark: energy and information. They included in themselves the entirety of creation, and development started from them. Energy (Light) impacted the information (Reshimot), and the process took off.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/24/2011, The Principles of Global Education

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Evolution, Perception, Q&A, Religion, Science - 1 Comment →

The “Globes” newspaper has published a comprehensive article about the “happiness industry,” which is making us more and more unhappy. The rate of depression in the West is constantly on the rise, while the average age of its victims is decreasing. According to data from the World Health Organization, by 2020 depression will be the second cause of disability and death in the world, surpassed only by cardiovascular diseases.

The modern person is sinking in loneliness, but society does not throw him a life-buoy. With the exception of Islam, the role of religion as a source of support is dwindling to nothingness. Communities are falling apart and the concept of a big, happy family in the Western countries is becoming nonsensical. As people shift to the space of virtual communications, they mistakenly suppose that from now on they can manage without a real, caring environment. As a result, a person looks for the solution to all the problems one on one with himself, inside his shell, perched by a computer screen.

The life of a society that suffers from attention deficit flies by at lightning speed. People twitter short trills hoping to have the time to express something that won’t be heard by anyone a moment later. Anything requiring inner efforts, persistence, and time is rejected at the root. When a person is empty, having no true goal, then worry and depression settle in. So where can he get that goal? Where can he find meaning?

Today all serious researchers assert that happiness lies inside contact with others, in bestowal, and that real meaning can only be revealed in the interconnection between us. Viktor Frankl, the famous Austrian psychologist, says that a person sitting at home and trying to find meaning on his own is like someone trying to break into an open door, not understanding that it opens inwards instead of out.

“You won’t find happiness in a shell,” says one of the interviewed experts to the “Globes” newspaper. By focusing on himself instead of extending a hand out to others, a person only increases his narcissism and depression.

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Question: What is the difference between revealing the Light through one of the eastern methodologies or the method of Kabbalah?

Answer: The revelation of Light can only be reached if one has a big Aviut (coarseness, thickness of desire) which he can correct only with the help of Kabbalah and thereby reveal the Light, the Creator. After all, with a smaller Aviut, a person will not be able to reveal anything but more or less pleasant sensations that give him or her the illusion that he or she is already “soaring” in the spiritual world.

Everything except for Kabbalah—all the eastern methodologies, New Age teachings, different beliefs and religions—are its modified forms born out of the desire to receive pleasure which has not reached its last degree, that of Dalet (four), and is not perfect on all of its levels of Aviut, not as egoistic.

Besides, what did they take from Kabbalah? One preaches moral norms, another advocates meditations, a third recommends food limitations, a fourth prompts to believe in drawn images or spoken tales, a fifth commends ceremonial observances that are considered to be sacred, and so forth.

All of these are the results of the desire to receive pleasure which has not yet reached its final development. It thus expresses the wisdom of Kabbalah in an equally light form instead of correcting itself.

After all, a person like this does not feel the need to correct himself. He does not understand what he needs to correct. He believes that if he were to kiss a “sacred” object or donate something, he would be all right. A small desire to receive pleasure does not push man toward anything greater. All of this flows out of the desire that has not yet been developed to the level of the last degree, that of Dalet.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Question: How is it possible to ask the Creator for help and to desire only to bestow, without receiving anything for ourselves?

Answer: This is exactly what we ask for. I ask the Creator to give me the opportunity to bestow, where “to bestow to the Creator” means to bestow to the group because it is written, “I dwell among My people.” This is the same thing.

There is no other Creator. “I dwell among My people” means that He becomes revealed in the group. The common force of the group is called “the Creator.” To bestow to the group as a whole means to bestow to the Creator.

We think about this in the earthly sense and that’s why it seems to us, “What’s so special about the group? What can I give to them? How silly!” But if you really would come out of yourself to bestowal to others, you would reveal the upper reality instead of this world. It’s just that we don’t achieve this.

A question arises: But many philosophic teachings also advocated bestowal to society and considered the voice of the people to be the voice of God? Yet, that is incorrect because they did not use the correcting Light, the inner force that is present in society.

At the end of the day, what does the science of Kabbalah say? You have nothing besides desire. Inside of this desire there is a special force called “the Creator,” which was concealed there from the beginning. You can awaken this force inside of the group if you really want to advance to it, to bestow to the group. There you come face to face with the end results —with yourself, with the group, and with the Creator. Everything is inside of the group, in the bestowal that you acquire outside of yourself.

And it makes no difference whether you bestow to the group or the Creator. Bestowal in the group means bestowal to the Kelim or desires of others, whereas bestowal to the Creator means that you become more included into the common force of bestowal that reigns inside of these desires.

We have to detach from the religious notions, from our inherent faith in some kind of Creator who rules somewhere up in the sky and influences us from there. Look at how much power this stereotype still has over us! But in fact, there is no upper force outside of us! This force is inside of the group, in the connection between us. And there is nothing besides this reality, which you reveal. There is nothing outside of reality.

By delving increasingly deeper into these notions, you start to understand that this is a very materialistic approach.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

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Question: During the lesson we work with the Light that corrects us. But what do we work with at the Convention?

Answer: At the Convention this happens even more! We don’t have any other means to influence what is happening to us besides the Light that reforms. It is the only thing we can awaken!

We awaken our future states that haven’t been revealed in us yet and which are about to be revealed. They are states of bestowal to the outside, where every person bestows outward, to his neighbor. This is precisely the quality that we want to discover—each person inside of him and all of us as a whole.

When we reveal this quality of bestowal, it means that we have revealed the Creator. As Kabbalists tell us, this quality gave birth to us, formed us, and dispersed us far away from one another so that by uniting with each other we would reveal it once again.

In the meantime, the Creator is in exile. What does that mean? We can say that He also disintegrated into tiny pieces and is inside all of these broken parts that are far away from one another. As soon as you begin connecting them, you start to recreate or restore Him, the common force of bestowal.

We have to build an image for ourselves that is close to the truth. Otherwise we live in various religious fantasies, imagining an unreal, non-materialistic picture.

We have to understand that the difference between faiths or religions and the science of Kabbalah is that faiths or religions want to imagine spirituality in the material desires, which perceive everything “within” and therefore build their notions according to the earthly reality, with creation being below and the Creator being above, as if they are separated by distance rather than qualities. They do not talk about man’s correction.

In contrast, the science of Kabbalah says that everything is inside of man. Thus, the upper reality or dimension becomes revealed in a person’s inner corrections and changes. Therefore, the most important thing for us is to correct man. By correcting our qualities, a person feels that the Creator is revealed inside of him.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

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Question: How is it possible to unite the whole world if nations, countries, and religions are so different from each other in every way?

Answer: These are egoistic differences. When we unite spiritually they disappear and we all become as one man with one heart.

The earthly differences actually don’t separate us at all. One person likes to spice up his food with pepper and another one doesn’t. One person holds ceremonies this way and another person that way. This doesn’t make us different at all. On the contrary, that is exactly when we begin respecting one another.

Being dissimilar does not obstruct us from coming together spiritually. On the contrary, by uniting above our egoistic differences, we make them even more powerful and all of that power is aimed at spiritual unity.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11

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Question: Will the world be able to accept your message as not being tied to religion while your group is in Israel and seems to be following religious traditions?

Answer: We are trying to spread Kabbalah all around the world and in a form which would be acceptable to everybody. But it is impossible and unnecessary to conceal the fact that Kabbalah roots in the nation of Israel, accompanied it over the course of history, and was passed on along the chain of Kabbalists who were part of this nation.

After all, Israel is a unique people. Its basis is not a nationality, as it is in case of the other 70 nations of the world, but rather a group of Kabbalists that was founded by Abraham. This group of Kabbalists was regarded as the people of Isra-El, which means “straight to the Creator” (Yashar Kel) because its goal is to reveal the Creator to man in this world.

We have to continue this mission and become the “the kingdom of holy priests” (Mamlechet Cohanim), meaning to bring to the entire world the method of correction and channel the Light to all its peoples. This is what the nation of Israel is designated to do so that “everyone will know the Creator, from the smallest to the greatest” since “His Temple will be called the house of prayer for all nations.”

This is why I don’t think that if we act as absolutely unattached and we cut the ties with our roots and our history altogether, we would succeed. We cannot detach ourselves from the root; we must remain connected to it.

A person, as he or she advances, starts to understand what Israel’s mission is and from where the nation derived. He changes his attitude to the nation of Israel as to the bearer of the method of correction. He no longer regards it as a nationality, but as a unique group of Kabbalists, spiritual teachers, who must serve humanity and assist it in reaching the spiritual world.

The world’s attitude will change. Today, we already have a lot of students around the world who are with us in heart and in soul and understand that from here, the Israel center, the Light goes out into the world. Thus the method of correction is realized.

A person cannot achieve correction and lack understanding of how it took place in history and why.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Why do you and your central group have a religious appearance if you keep explaining that it doesn’t assist spiritual advancement? It would be better to assume a more secular look in order to become closer to people and the world, wouldn’t it?

Answer: I don’t think it should bother people. Our students come from different backgrounds, and we don’t tell anybody what they should look like. And if the public are familiar with our society already, they should know that we do not convert people into religion or force them to observe any religious rituals. They yearn to reach the root of their soul and come to us to transform their soul, to uncover the spiritual world.

We deal solely with the correction of the soul since the purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings. And revelation occurs only in the corrected soul. As to a person, he or she usually keeps following those traditions that they are accustomed to.

Nonetheless, Kabbalah was passed to us through the people whose background was in Judaism. After the destruction of the Temple, the people fell from the spiritual dimension, and Kabbalah was replaced with religion that is below in our corporeal world. But over the course of all these centuries and parallel to it, from Rabbi Shimon and further on, Kabbalah was passed on from one Kabbalist to the next along their chain. This is how it has finally reached us as a method of correction.

Kabbalah wasn’t related to religion that remained below. It continued to live among Kabbalists in the same way as it did before the fall of the Temple. There has always been a gap, an iron wall, between Kabbalah and religion.

As to us, we receive Kabbalah as it was before the destruction of the Temple, and that is why it has nothing to do with modern religion. We deal with correction of the soul. But at the same time, before the destruction, the Torah and commandments were followed by the people in intention and action alike, as one whole. There was the Temple and ritual service in it with all the necessary attributes. The same pertained to every person, according to his or her root as Cohen, Levy, or Israel.

The branch and the root were unified and viewed by people as one whole. But later on, the branch ended up below, in this world, having lost its tie with the root, and the root remained above, cut off from the branch. This is what is regarded as the exit of the people of Israel into exile when religion was all that remained for them.

But today, we need to ascend to where we came from, and let’s hope that when we do, we will comprehend what our duty is and return to the original state of complete and wholesome fulfillment of the Torah and commandments as spiritual actions. I don’t know how it will look; it is possible that physical actions will not be necessary any longer or they will be performed only by the people of Israel.

Baal HaSulam writes that even in the fully corrected society, every person may adhere to his or her religion since religion is cultural traditions. We don’t know any of it yet, and we should focus only on one thing: the correction of our souls.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/2011, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: Can a Kabbalist abide by two ideologies simultaneously and be religious at the same time as being a Kabbalist?

Answer: No, he can’t. Kabbalah takes the upper hand over religious ideology. A Kabbalist can carry out all sorts or religious customs as a result of his upbringing, culture, and the traditions of his nation. And I think it’s good to do so. I do not look down on religion.

However, this should not replace Kabbalah because the most important thing for a person is to attain revelation of and adhesion with the Creator. Anything that interferes with this should be removed from this path. What interferes isn’t religion itself, but the false conception of it, thinking that it can replace the attainment of the Creator, that instead of spiritual revelation it’s enough to carry out some kind of material actions, to pray according to written words, and to think that this is sufficient.

This is completely not so. It is written that “Everyone must know the Creator from the smallest of them to the greatest of them.” We have to attain adhesion with Him. Everyone says they agree with this because that’s what is written and it is impossible to argue with it. It’s clear to everyone that we have to attain “the Creator’s work” and to bond to Him. It is also written that the main rule of the Torah is to love your neighbor as yourself. However, people everywhere only talk about this, but do not actually make it happen.

No one even knows what adhesion with the Creator means, how to come closer to Him, and how to become similar to Him. The problem is that religion has replaced the science of Kabbalah after the breaking of the Temple, when the nation of Israel fell from the spiritual level to the material level and all that remained for the people to do was to carry out just physical actions as a tradition in order to commemorate the previous spiritual actions.

Now we have to learn to ascend back to the spiritual level and add the attainment of the Creator to these national traditions. Religion seems to stop a person, telling him that it’s sufficient to make just the mechanical actions that are carried out by religious people.

However, many source texts say that it’s not enough to make just the material actions, that the Creator does not care how you slaughter an animal—in a kosher manner or not, and that the commandments were given in order to correct the creatures by them. This means that the action has to be supplemented with the right intention.

The intention is the most important thing, in fact, it is the person himself. What is important are his thoughts and desires, rather than the actions. A religious person usually does actions by habit, having been raised from childhood to make them without thinking. There is no correction in doing so.

That is why we want to supplement tradition, the customary way of life, or what is called religion, which we perceive as a nation’s culture or tradition, with “the Creator’s work,” meaning the inner work of a person whereby he corrects his desires in order to become similar to the Creator. Adam, man, means similar.

Every person, secular as well as religious, has to understand that Kabbalah can add something to his life. It adds the revelation of the Creator, the upper force that controls everything. And when you see it, understand it, and feel it, then you understand how to go forward without making mistakes, both in this world and in the “world to come,” the spiritual world that becomes revealed to you.

We do not attain the revelation of the Creator by religious actions, but by uniting with others. However, these actions do not become canceled. They are simply like a branch symbolizing the spiritual root, and a person can remain in that culture. This is a custom that does not interfere with one’s advancement, but neither does it help him. It simply reminds you that spiritual actions exist, and that is why it was preserved throughout the years of the exile.

The Creator does not care about your physical actions. He only cares about the intention you put into them.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/20/11, “Introduction to the book Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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