Question: Sages said that Kabbalah cannot be taught to anyone who hasn’t abandoned “idolatry and superstitions.” What do they mean?

Answer: "Superstition" is to think that our life depends on chance rather than the singular upper force of “Good who does good,” beside which there is nothing else. Everything else is regarded as superstition: faith in government, one’s own power, forces of nature, luck, demons and spirits, or whatever that may be, except the one Creator who brings us only good.

Thus, superstition is any condition of man when he doesn’t see himself living in a mutually connected, closed world, one integral system, where the only governing power is the force of love and bestowal. If he doesn’t possess such clear perception, it means that he doesn’t have faith. Any other kind of perception and lack of desire to achieve faith is called superstition or believing in various, alien forces.

Yet, clearly, we set expectations of each person according to his development, just like we expect more and more from the child with each year according to its age. Therefore, don’t blame a layman for not being in the world of Infinity and sensing one Creator. However, everyone has to find a way to somehow envision it at his own level if he is a human being.
[29665]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

Related Material:
Spiritual Development: From Embryo To Person
The World Through Distorted Lenses
How To Gain Confidence And Freedom

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Religion - No Comments →

Question: Ever since I started studying Kabbalah I feel so small, as if I’m a tiny embryo, and I feel less and less confident as time goes by. Where will I suddenly get real confidence in this single force that controls the entire universe, sets up all the problems for me, and is my only source of support?

Answer: Usually a person finds confidence in religion when he believes that there is a Creator who is good, who will take care of him, and whom he can trust. This worldview sets in deep inside a person and supports him, which is why Kabbalists do not speak out against religion.

However, there comes a time when a new desire awakens in a person and he can no longer be calmed by the blind faith of the past. He develops and outgrows it. Traditional actions are no longer enough for him; he wants to know the Creator!

Ideally, we should have ascended from religion (Dat) to knowledge (Daat) and realized what is written, “Know the Creator.” However, in actuality this is not happening.

In actuality it is only possible to achieve this by connecting with a Kabbalistic group. There is no other means. The group must be the place where you can attain the Creator, the quality of bestowal.

The sensation of insecurity comes only from a lack of the quality of bestowal. As soon as you are ready to bestow, you will feel total confidence and will acquire freedom from yourself! That’s because bestowal is Bina.

Then you will live without any fear and your only worry will be, “When will I attain the deeds of the forefathers through my deeds? When will I be able to bestow to the Creator?” Or in other words, when will I ascend even higher than Bina?
[29641]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/10, “A Handmaid that is Heir to Her Mistress”

Related Material:
The World Through Distorted Lenses
Bring Yourself Back To Life
A Tenured Professor In The World Of Atzilut

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Free Will, Q&A, Religion, Spirituality - No Comments →

Someone once calculated that there are 3,800 different religions and beliefs in the world, but all of them circulate around two notions: body and soul. Indeed, if we did not perceive anything besides the beastly body, we would exist like animals. It seems to us that we have a soul, some kind of life “beyond the body.” A person wants to know what is the purpose of my life? Why do I live?

Even though we are given these aspirations and questions in order to search for answers within the system of laws of nature, we turn them into mysticism, groundless assumptions, and take them as the foundation for our view of the purpose of life, its end “here” and continuation “there.”

The question of whether our life will end bothers us. This is because we perceive time, and we are not attached to one given moment, as are animals. We think about the future, and we want to know what will happen a moment from now. However, the questions of “What do I live for, and what will happen after I die?” are already above nature.

This is why humanity has invented beliefs and religions: It has to compensate the lack of knowledge or facts with faith, meaning assumptions without proof. We are not even aware of it, but this works on all the levels, in the smallest things, every moment, every step of the way, in every direction and level of life.

I complete every lack of facts with faith, and I think that this is exactly how it is going to be. Sometimes, it happens, and sometimes, it does not. This is how our life passes.

In every particle of our existence, in every part of time, movement, space, and existence of reality, there is an enormous unknown share, namely:
1) The cause, which descends from Above,
2) the consequence, determined from Above, and
3) we, determined by cause and consequence in a narrow gap of the perception of life.

This is why we are obligated to compensate all the unknown with faith. People believe that there is an Upper Force, “a spirit,” which turns into everything that exists, gives it life, and determines destiny. That is, the essence of matter is determined by the “soul” which gives it life.

This is because our egoism wants to think that it belongs to eternity. There is no proof of this, but it benefits us to think this way. The organism’s defense mechanism does not allow us to agree that things can be different.

Otherwise, this life would be impossible. If a person did not feel eternal, if he absolutely felt that his life is finite, he would not be able to live. Imagine that you are told the exact date of your death. This puts a cross on your entire life beginning with today. This is because, from then on, you will continue living with the precise comprehension of your imminent death. A person is not capable of living like this.

The most natural sensation given to us by nature is that a soul, which somehow lived before our birth and will continue to live after our death, robes in our body, and the main reward and punishment is in the future world, and not here. We await our reward for all our current work.

A person does not even need to be taught this. He will think this, regardless. We are not able to part with these illusions, the same way as we are unable to part with our egoism until we rise to the world of truth, not after the death of the body, but after the death of egoism.
[27696]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/25/10, “Body and Soul”

Related Material:
Taste The Spiritual World Today
Life With Many Unknowns
When The Alarm Rings

Filed under: Body and Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Religion - 3 Comments →

A person living in this world does not know what will happen to him at the next moment. He does not understand why the things that happened to him yesterday happened and from where his thoughts and desires are now originating. He feels that he is controlled by unpredictable forces, as if he is hung in the air in relation to his past, present, and future. And he tries to find some kind of support, searching for an explanation to the universe with the help of logical reasoning and hypotheses.

His ego grows and asks more and more questions about life, and about what awaits him after death. The more strength we acquire through the development of technology, which opposes nature, the more powerfully nature comes out against us, forcing us to find the answer about how we are governed and what is the meaning of life. As a result, we feel as if we are in empty space.

When man lived in caves and chased mammoths, he thought that he knew everything about his life. He felt and understood the world much more than we do. We, on the other hand, are unsatisfied by any of the existing theories. We need a clear answer because we are unable to properly arrange even our day to day lives. So many questions arise that we are unable to cope with them.

It’s like mathematics: In order to find one unknown, it is sufficient to have one equation. To find out two unknowns, you need two equations. However, in our lives we end up with many unknowns while having less and less data or facts with which to build a formula.

The philosophical and religious explanations of the past no longer work on us; we cannot rely on them. We demand facts and proofs, meaning attainment. If we knew that we do not have any freedom of will, then we would build a completely different society and relationships in it, a different system of punishment and justice. The problem that Kabbalah proposes to solve is not theoretic, but very practical: to determine where and how we can influence and realize this opportunity.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/10, “Body and Soul”

Related Material:
Kabbalists On The Essence Of The Wisdom Of Kabbalah, Part 25
The Question That Demands An Answer

Filed under: Body and Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Religion, Science - No Comments →

Question: I am a Muslim who has been studying Kabbalah for several months. Is it possible to observe the laws of my religion and correct my soul at the same time?

Answer: Kabbalah was born before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Torah speaks of Abraham “bestowing gifts” to the sons of his concubines and sending them East, thus laying the foundation for Eastern teachings. Everything stems from one source.

The collective desire is divided into many parts, and each part has its own individual path of correction. Certain parts can commence with correction immediately. They constitute the group that Abraham had taken out of Babylon. The other parts have scattered around the world, with each part developing individually in accordance with its unique set of qualities.

Their means of advancement are the various religions, faiths, and cultures. A person can easily remain in his faith and follow the spiritual path at the same time. Baal HaSulam writes about this in his Writings of The Last Generation:

“The religious formation of all the nations should first and foremost obligate its members to bestow upon their fellow man the concept of another person’s life coming before one’s own, a formation of ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’… But otherwise, each nation may pursue its own religion and traditions, and one must not interfere with the other.”

That is, we must not meddle in the affairs of other nations and cultures. Let them have these things; people need them. This whole “territory” has nothing to do with the spiritual world. As a person advances, it turns into a cultural platform for him, a set of traditions, and does not get in the way.

If I want to rise above my nature so as to unite with everybody, even the relationships between religions appear to me in a new light. As a Muslim, I suddenly understand that I can advance toward the goal alongside a Christian, and, truly, what can stop us?

Everyone is used to their own home cooking, and nobody is taking that away from you. As Baal HaSulam writes, everyone can remain in their religion, and nobody has the right to meddle in your affairs precisely because this has nothing to do with the spiritual path. Ultimately, in our world, religions constitute culture, tradition that corresponds from the beginning to the nature of the various parts of Malchut and conforms to the root of the soul.

Recently, we read the weekly Bible chapter about the Creator bidding Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, but at the very last moment commanding that a baby goat, not Isaac, be sacrificed. In Hebrew, the word “sacrifice” is Kurban, from the word Karov (to draw closer). Here, the right line (Abraham) sacrifices its ego, Kurban, the left line (Isaac), thus drawing closer to the Creator (Karov).

We hear that Muslims celebrate the holiday of Kurban to honor Ibrahim who had sacrificed a goat instead of Ishmael on Allah’s bidding. Allah is derived from the word Alla (Elyon or the Upper One).
[27159]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/21/10, “Hakdama, BeLaila De Kala (The Night of the Bride)”

Related Material:
The Inner Religion Of The Soul

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Religion - 1 Comment →

Question: People often ask me what is Kabbalah and I try to explain its essence and purpose. In response many people admit, “Yeah, I also feel that way. Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.” So does this mean they have a point in the heart? How do the people who have this point differ from other people who are also looking for something?

Answer: The point in the heart is a part of the Creator. When it becomes revealed in you, you hear a “call sign” calling you to Him.

We recognize the point in the heart when it brings a person to the science of Kabbalah, to the place or the net where all our points come from. Kabbalah is not the books, but the wisdom and the program of the common system. Kabbalah books bring you the force of this program and you use it to enact the first spiritual impulse.

In reality you have never left this “system of governance.” You are always inside it, connected to others, and your common body is alive. It is Malchut of the World of Infinity, which really exists, although you do not feel how you belong to it.

Instead of feeling its main window, you feel yourself as being in a completely different “window.” You are in the same place, but you perceive a different world, devoid of the common interconnection. There are two windows: one is the natural, correct, true, and deep one, and the other is virtual. Right now my screen is occupied by our illusory world, but alongside it there is also an inner screen where we are all in the state of Infinity. This is what the Kabbalists talk about.

I aspire to it with my point in the heart, wanting to go from the virtual screen to the real one, to the place where I am connected to everyone. If my point really has awakened, I find myself in the group. I open up books that talk about this inner screen, and while reading them I evoke Light from there that begins to advance me.

However, if a person does not care about Kabbalistic books and unity in the group, if he does not feel the inner need for this, then he does not have a point in the heart. He imagines all sorts of things and looks for spirituality in India, or in different religions and faiths, in meditation, in New Age, and so on. In contrast to this, a person with a point in the heart is unable to leave the path any longer. He can “take a break” due to various problems, but he will never exchange his point for anything else.
[27430]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/22/10, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Related Material:
Two Windows Of Our Reality
Overtaking The Management

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Kabbalistic Sources, Q&A, Religion, Spirituality - No Comments →

Mankind as a whole and each person individually can be divided into the following three types of desires:

1. Those who are indifferent to spirituality and remain at the animate level of existence. They relate to others only in order the find the most comfortable and pleasant way of interaction. These people don’t step beyond the “I versus environment” calculation.

2. The second type are the religious and those who believe in being rewarded for “good” deeds according to their standards. Faith and philosophy don’t matter to them: Some fear the police and others fear the Creator. They both seek reward from their environment, but the religious expect to be rewarded in the future world as well. They are receivers of payment one way or the other, and each one defines for himself the optimal reward expected at a given moment.

These people do not have the slightest intention to correct themselves, and therefore they have no relationship with the Creator. They simply practice psychological self-help, expecting to receive in the future world in exchange for certain actions they perform in this world.

They are willing to pay and suffer many hardships in this world in order to collect a handsome reward which they were told awaits the righteous when they die. They believe the elation and paradise that they will feel in the future is even worth dying for.

3. The Kabbalists are the ones who understand that everything mentioned above is a lie and it doesn’t work, that the principle of “do something and be rewarded” doesn’t work in a relationship with the Creator. It doesn’t hold up when it is tested in the reality of life or human history.

At this stage, a person arrives at a more exalted goal: to know the purpose of life. He doesn’t care that much about reward or punishment (“sweet” or “bitter”); he wishes to dig deeper and reach the truth (“truth” or “false”). He may suffer and receive nothing for it, but the truth is the reward he seeks. Then a person does not measure himself according to how satisfied he feels or how bitter or sweet something seems, but by what is true or false.
[25776]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/10, “The Creator and Israel Went Into Exile”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Religion - 1 Comment →

In his articles Baal HaSulam usually uses the words “religious” and “secular” in a different sense than what is commonplace in our world. In the terminology of Kabbalah, “religious” is not the traditional word signifying one of the world religions such as Judaism, Christianity, or all other beliefs.

Rather, a religious person is someone who lives in this world and desires to correct himself, to ascend into the spiritual world until the World of Infinity, until equivalence with the Creator. This is the purpose of every person in this world, and Baal HaSulam explains it in the article, “The Essence of Religion and It’s Purpose.” However, sometimes he really does refer to traditional religion, wishing to explain some aspects of it. Therefore, we should always look at the context to find the right way to interpret his words.

“Secular” people are those who do not work on their correction, but do everything only for the sake of a reward in this world or the world to come. A religious person is someone who corrects himself until reaching the level of the Creator. To do this he uses the “true Torah,” meaning the science of Kabbalah. It is written, “I created the evil inclination and the Torah as a means for its correction.”

First one must reveal the egoistic inclination inside him, and only then he will need the “Torah” for correcting it because this is his only purpose. Then the Light you reveal during the right study will return you to its Source, meaning that your evil inclination will turn into a good one.

Meanwhile, the desire itself does not change. Only the intention changes from “for my own sake” to “for the benefit of the neighbor.”
[25807]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/3/10, “Exile and Redemption”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalistic Sources, Religion - No Comments →

Question: What does it mean to “speak with the Creator?”

Answer: To “speak with the Creator” primarily means to do everything you can to try to reveal His image within you. Try to imagine: He is the reason for everything I feel. My thoughts, desires, and sensations are all Him, the One who has laid my foundation and forms me.

When I decide that my current reality is established by Him, then how do I treat everything that happens to me? There are two possibilities:

1. Directly structure my attitude towards my inner reality as my attitude towards Him. But this approach is inaccurate, incorrect, and unstable. There is no ability to test or verify it because I will surely be guided by my ego and err.

2. At first, I strengthen myself through my connection with others like me, and then I structure my attitude towards the inner reality by passing its image through this connection. In this case, I am definitely already in some quality of bestowal, and my qualities are adapted to the Creator’s image. Thus, instead of changing the image, I change my attitude towards it. This is what it means to “speak with the Creator.”
[21602]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/20/10, “The Greatness of a Person Depends on His Faith in the Future”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Law Of Communicating Vessels
Laitman.com Post: A Station With Infinite Energy
Laitman.com Post: The Common Language Between Us And The Creator
Laitman.com Post: Just Listen And You Will Hear The Creator Talking To You

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Religion - 1 Comment →

Question: Why do people consider Yom Kippur a sad and mournful day?

Answer: It’s because people do not understand that what is perceived as “bad” could be a springboard to good because it is regarded as good or evil depending on one’s attitude. For example, if during a routine visit to a doctor one discovers that he has a disease, then the evil was revealed so that it could be treated. So revealing the evil was good.

However, it is written, “The opinion of common people is opposite to the opinion of the Torah,” and a person pushes himself away from the correction. He does not understand why he needs this. He cries about feeling bad and asks the Creator to make him feel good. That is, he cries about his egoism and whines that the Creator does not fill him. It is as if he asks the Creator “Why are You so bad and cruel? Would it hurt You to let me enjoy?” He does not understand that the revelation of evil is for his benefit, so that he can grow.

Based on a thousand years of our history, we should finally understand that the Creator responds only to a desire that is directed to correction and the goal of creation. Any other appeal is not answered. It is now time to explain to everyone what it actually means to come to the Day of Atonement: to reveal “I created the evil inclination,” then “I created the Torah for its correction,” and finally “because the Light in the Torah reforms.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/16/10, Selected excerpts on Yom Kippur

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Day Of Atonement Is A Day Of Joy
Laitman.com Post: The Light That Brings You Back To The Creator
Laitman.com Post: Thank The Creator For Good As Well As The Bad

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Q&A, Religion - No Comments →