A question I received: There are pictures on your blog showing that you, too, enjoy life’s material pleasures. I really enjoy movies.

Does this mean that the spiritual goal isn’t important enough for me yet? I work to disseminate Kabbalah on the Internet and am learning to become an editor of Bnei Baruch’s materials. I always watch your morning lessons, and I devote a lot of time to the inner work. However, are my efforts enough, since I still find time to go to the movies once every week or so?

My Answer: Don’t restrict yourself in any way. Just study Kabbalah, and you will gradually change under the influence of the studies. For the time being, keep whatever previous pleasures you still enjoy, and just consider them your “little weakness.”

Asceticism, coercion and restriction run contrary to spiritual development! All the right inner changes occur in a person only under the influence of the Upper Light (Ohr Makif), according to the saying: “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah to correct it, because the Torah’s Light returns one to the Source.”

Through the study of Kabbalah, you initiate internal transformations, until you finally attain equivalence of form with the Creator. There is no other means to truly correct yourself. This is why Kabbalah is opposed to any sort of restrictions or any other means besides the studies.

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A question I received: What must a person do if he wants to save himself in this world? Until now he only had to think of himself, but now he finds that he has to unite with others in action. Is it enough that his sole intention is his own salvation?

My Answer: Yes, it’s enough. A person’s starting point is the question: “What is the meaning of my life?” But when one asks this question, it is important to understand precisely what it means. Either he is doing bad from a material point of view: he was fired from work and he has all sorts of problems, illnesses and troubles. Or, he is feeling bad because despite having everything, he feels empty and nothing in life fulfills him; everything is meaningless and empty.

There are people who are just doing bad materially speaking, and this is the part of humanity that’s located at the lower part of the pyramid. They are only able to hear about how they can fill themselves in the material world. And then, there are people who feel bad not just because they are missing material pleasures. Even if they have everything, they feel as though they have nothing. The reason for this is that a new, non-material desire has awakened in them – the point in the heart.

When the point in the heart awakens in a person, it means that a new desire or quality arises inside him. This desire is what Kabbalah speaks of, explaining why you can no longer find happiness in this world. So, go ahead and reveal the Upper World. Come and see for yourself just how wondrous the Creator is. After all, you no longer have any other choice.

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Two questions I received on obstacles along the spiritual path:

Question: What should a person who studies Kabbalah do at moments when he does not know what to do, but understands that he has to act, one way or another?

My Answer: It is written that a person should choose the manner of studying Kabbalah that is closest to him and that accords with his state and conditions. You can read, listen, watch, take notes on the material or edit it, write, disseminate, and so on.

Question: How can I ensure that the people not studying Kabbalah don’t influence and control me? Or should we consider their influence as given and as something that we cannot change?

My Answer: We cannot escape the influence of our environment; we are always in it. You can neutralize its influence internally if your thoughts are stronger and more complete. Then you will feel that your environment “helps” you through the obstacles it provides.

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A question I received: Why is it that people who have millions of dollars and have seemingly achieved tranquility and complete well-being, immediately seek the next million? Why is it that even subconsciously the question about the meaning of life doesn’t arise in these people?

My Answer: First of all, the question about the meaning of life isn’t at all related to how many millions you have. There are billions of people in this world who are not even remotely interested in knowing the reason behind their existence, although many of them are in very difficult circumstances. A person’s lifestyle has no bearing on whether or not the point in the heart has awakened in him or her.

Each one of us has his own purpose in this life. One person is born smart, and another stupid. Someone will become president and someone will sweep the streets. A person does not choose his profession, or his purpose in life, or whether he will be rich or poor.

The point in the heart awakens in a person the moment he begins to reveal the evil of his normal existence. This happens depending on one’s development. A person begins to understand that at some point he will die anyway, and all the millions he spent his whole life chasing were just there in order to service the society, which imposed its values on him.

If the society he is part of does not consider him a human being unless he has ten million dollars in his bank account, then this will definitely influence him. He will strive to do whatever his environment dictates to him.

And likewise, if someone travels to India and climbs a mountain to meditate, then he won’t need much more than his daily bowl of rice. This is how a person is influenced by his surrounding society. Regardless, in both cases, the point in the heart may be awakened.

This depends on a person’s function in the general system of souls. If his time to wake up has come, then it is due to the fact that he belongs to a subsystem that is now due to perform a correction in the system of souls. Thus, he will begin to ascend spiritually. His material or social status bears no relation to this.

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A question I received: What’s the meaning of the words “the evil inclination”?

My Answer: The evil inclination is your desire that you define as evil. In Hebrew, the word inclination – Yetzer, originates from the word Ratzon – desire. And it’s not just one desire, but many desires inside you that impede you from attaining the goal of creation, that appear as obstacles on your path.

The stumbling block on the path to the ultimate success is found within you; it’s not anything on the outside. However, you can’t destroy it or get rid of it on your own, despite the fact that you see how much trouble it causes you, how it ruins your life and stands in the way of your success! That is why this quality inside you is called your evil inclination.

The “evil inclination” is evil only when you have made every possible effort to get rid of it… and failed. You then reveal that it has the ultimate power over you and everything you do. It always cheats you, but you forget this and endlessly follow its advice. Thus, the evil is a desire that coerces you.

The recognition of evil is not an easy process. You have to become a true judge of yourself and not give in to being “bribed.” You have to clarify what is your goal, who you are, what your qualities are, and to understand what you have to eliminate within yourself. And then you have to make the utmost effort to do this. And finally, whatever qualities remain that you just can’t change is what you call your evil inclination.

If you do this, you will be prepared for the correction to come from Above, and then the Light will come and correct you. Only once you have done everything in your power can you truly realize what evil is. This, in turn, prepares you to turn to the Creator with a plea and to entreat Him: “I want to get rid of this evil once and for all – but I can’t!”

And that is when you reach the realization that it was Him beneath it all. Inside the evil inclination, you reveal the connection with the Creator, His will in all that has happened. All of the problems that you can’t cope with are sent to you intentionally by the Creator, in order for you to build a connection with Him, to turn to Him.

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A question I received: I feel a greater evil being revealed within me in accordance with the work I put in. I know that I should give to the greater group according to the principle, “love your neighbor as yourself,” but I am stunned by how much unjustifiable evil there is… What should I do?

I was not able to bestow and fulfill my functions in the group. I have even distanced myself from the group. I am sensing that I am now following the principle, “each person judges according to his own lack.” In addition, I no longer have any desire for bestowal because I feel insecure. I cannot heal my mind or heart of this problem. How should I continue?

My Answer: You must completely stop criticizing them or considering them as your problems. In actuality it is just you perceiving them that way. Each one of us has an uncorrected desire, and by rising above this desire, we attain the World of Infinity.

The desire, in all five worlds, is uncorrected. And the greater your desire is, the greater you will be once you correct it. For now, you must do what is required of you each time. This is how you will proceed step by step towards the goal, by correcting your desire. And that’s how we climb the mountain.

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A question I received: Kabbalists say that by making inner corrections, we also correct our externality. But can we advance this entire process by making external (physical) efforts?

My Answer: External efforts can trigger the internal corrections, but the actual correction happens from the inside out. Much can be learned from this rule. The key is not to try to correct the world, but to correct yourself.

You have to understand that Kabbalah does not oblige you to do anything. It only reveals the internality of things to you, and if you desire to use this knowledge, you will be able to correct yourself. By acting externally, you can only acquire other people’s desires, but not their corrections.

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A question I received: I have been a student for about seven months, and it has been an emotional roller coaster. I feel good and then I feel bad. I am immersing myself more into study and dissemination and I feel like I am becoming a different person, but it seems that it is affecting me more and more in a negative way. For example, I am constantly evaluating myself and seeing how my ego seems to be growing. I am also becoming judgmental of other people. I am beginning to see how their ego is ruling their actions. I am becoming angry at my ego and I am angry at other people for their ego, even though I know I have no right to judge others and should only work on myself.

I don’t know what to do at this point. I feel angry, emotionally exhausted, and unhappy, which is the opposite of what I am supposed to be. I am supposed to feel bestowal from the Creator.

My Answer: You are going through a period of growth of your egoistic desire. Inside of this desire, you will then start perceiving new pictures of the world and different connections between things. Be strong, don’t break the routine studies and unity with the group. Then you will quickly go through this period of accumulating the egoistic desire. Every step forward always consists of two parts: the growth of the egoistic desire (what you are going through now), and then the revelation of a new attainment inside it.

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Three questions I received on the breaking of the common soul from my student in Brazil:

Question: In the book Kabbalah Revealed , it says that only 600,000 souls were created, and they were subdivided because of the issue of selfishness. Is the result of the subdivision also regarded as a soul, i.e., a single spiritual entity?

My Answer: The souls do not subdivide or converge, but rather, each soul undergoes its own individual correction.

Question: What happens to the souls that have resolved the issue of selfishness: do they become extinct and cease to exist entirely?

My Answer: The souls simply descend to the level of our world, and then ascend back by virtue of our efforts. Their essence is eternal.

Question: Can a soul be extinguished?

My Answer: Nothing in the spiritual worlds can be destroyed – everything there is eternal. Things merely change their form.

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A question I received: I would like to receive and share the Light for the sake of the Creator, not me. So, I have been reading your essays, clues, and teachings very happily and thanking you all the time. If you don’t mind, I would like to get your advice on the must-do and must-not-do, or the key works that one must do in order to receive the Light and be a servant of the Creator. I don’t know how many of my 613 (+ 7) egoistic desires have been corrected by now. However, will it be a selfish request if I ask you to help me correct myself and receive the Light and reach the Thought of creation?

My Answer: All of one’s 613 desires become corrected simultaneously. It’s because the soul is always whole and never in parts, just like a drop of semen, an embryo, or an adult always have all the elements of a body.

Your task is to go through the 125 steps of correction. If you ascend to the first step, you will reveal the Creator to the degree designated by this step. I cannot help you do this in the way you are asking me to. I cannot do it for you. I can only nourish you and teach you to grow.

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