A question I received: Why did the Earth’s population have to reach seven billion people? Is it to prepare humanity for making the leap to a new state?

My Answer: The entire path humanity has gone through was necessary for just one thing: to bring people to the recognition of evil. This is the point from which correction begins.

The population growth is related to the constant growth of our “will to receive,” or the desire to feel pleasure. This desire has to be divided among billions of people since otherwise it would be too big for each person and impossible to correct. When it is divided over a large number of people, it becomes possible for each person to correct his personal, small egoism. So, it is the level of egoism that determines the world’s population size.

Everything is planned. When there is a possibility that a smaller number of people will carry out an intenser correction, this causes a war. In times of great suffering, people become more sensitive to others and are more willing to make concessions. Correction can then be achieved by a smaller number of people, and therefore a large part of the population dies.

Everything is determined by the level of the will to receive and the need to correct it. This is not decided at the level of our world, but is determined by the Upper Governance.

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Two questions I received about crossing the Machsom:

Question: How does one know the very moment he crosses the Machsom? Is this something he just instinctively knows?

My Answer: It is when he reveals a connection with the whole universe, the Upper Force and all the worlds.

Question: How does a person know if he has crossed the Machsom?

My Answer: He knows it because he attains the quality of bestowal, the perception that the world is his and that it is one whole. And through the quality of of bestowal, he perceives the Governing Force.

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A question I received: If a person is trying to change from an egoistic state to a divine state, could he become mentally ill by doing it wrong? And if he succeeds, will this person be able to influence the laws of nature using the power of thought?

My Answer: There is no danger in studying Kabbalah because it’s the most natural thing a person could do. It heals you spiritually and physically.

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A question I received: You don’t have to make any effort to love sushi or your child. So why is it that in order to love one’s neighbor, one has to go through such a difficult, intricate and lengthy process?

My Answer: When we are satisfying our egoistic desires, we act instinctively: we love ourselves and everything that is ours, and we dislike everything that is foreign, sensing that it is distant from us and does not belong to us. This feeling of the difference between “mine” and “the rest” was created in us in order for us to realize that we are opposite to the whole world and to the Creator. The revelation of this fact is called the revelation of the “shattered common soul.”

If the Creator was clearly revealed to a person, the person would be deprived of his freedom of choice, of any free desire, thought, and action. He would be completely annulled before the Creator. Therefore, in order for man to attain similarity to the Creator, who is the quality of bestowal, one must start out in a state where the Creator is concealed from the person. However, one then needs another example or model of the quality of bestowal and love, instead of the Creator.

In order to create this opportunity for us to attain similarity to the Creator while He is hidden, the single soul of Adam HaRishon broke into individual souls. As a result of this breaking, each soul now imagines itself to be outside of the others, and feels repelled from them by its egoism. And when a soul corrects its egoism – its separation from other souls, it attains the quality of bestowal and similarity to the Creator. This is the goal of creation.

Therefore, we should not seek to correct any of our actions, but only our attitudes toward others. It is written, “One goes from love for the neighbor to love for the Creator.” This is how we correct our soul, become similar to the Creator, and attain the goal of creation. Therefore, “love your neighbor as yourself” is the general law of the world (the Torah), and the other laws are particular expressions of this law.

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A question I received: On one hand, we say that the whole world depends on my correction and I carry the burden of all the responsibility. On the other hand, my future depends on the others – I will not have a good life until everyone else is corrected. Thus, the responsibility lies upon others. Which of these two views is correct?

My Answer: Both are correct. This is the essence of a closed, interconnected system. It is much like a situation where your child can do anything he wants to you, influencing you through his feelings, health, and mood.

By acquiring love for others, you become their slave. Love makes you a slave. You may object, “This doesn’t sound like freedom at all.” But it is: being dependent on everyone else frees you from yourself. You then think only about their desires. This is spirituality, the world to come, and true freedom.

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Two questions I received on work in the group:

Question: You said we should feel inspired by the group even when we know this inspiration is artificial. Could you clarify?

My Answer: Because a person is a created being, his essence is the general will to receive pleasure. One’s environment tells him what he should be feeling pleasure from, and the environment transmits this influence onto a person through education and advertisement. These create a value system inside the person.

This is why our only freedom of will lies in choosing what environment will tell us what we must enjoy in this life. The enjoyment can be of two types:

1. Of this world, where one desires to attain things in this world
2. Of the Upper World, where one desires to reveal the Light and become fulfilled by It

You decide which is right for you. (For more on this, see Item 4 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”)

Question: Do I have the right to demand from the group a display of the importance of the goal, or is the group there for me to display the importance of the goal to them?

My Answer: You can demand it, but this relationship has to be mutual!

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A question I received: Who or what created the Creator? Where did the Absolute come from? What caused the Creator to appear?

My Answer: Concepts or categories of limitation, such as “time,” “place,” and “movement,” exist only in our state – in the egoistic perception of reality. As soon as we will begin to perceive reality the way it really is, not distorted by our egoism, or in other words, when we start perceiving reality through the quality of bestowal – the same quality as reality itself, we will then discover that these limitations are absent. We will sense eternity and perfection in everything.

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We have to understand the roots of the things taking place. These roots are described in the books of Kabbalah. Those who wrote these books, the Kabbalists, were not bounded by the limitations of the terrestrial globe. Rather, Kabbalists see the souls and the connections between them. The changes in these connections determine our lives, individually and together.

The Kabbalists wish to tell us about what is happening to our souls, at the roots of everything. They have nothing to say about our world, since our world is the world of actions, while all the decisions descend to it from the world of souls. Kabbalists use the “language of branches” to explain the happenings in the world of souls, but we usually do not understand them. In order to understand, one must exist in both worlds at once, just as they do.

Therefore, if we wish to understand their words and to learn about the forces that influence us, the forces that control all the events in our world, we have to rise to the level of these forces – the level where the decisions are made. We have to shift our focus from the game that is occurring in our world, and instead try to see the inner force, the Hand that acts within every person, animal, or plant. It doesn’t matter what object or event you are looking at, as the most important thing is the inner force.

This is the only thing of importance. Whatever happens to the bodies in this world is of no importance. The main question is: what happens to the souls, which determine everything that happens to the bodies – their obedient puppets?

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Questions I received about dealing with difficulties, egoistic desires and descents:

Question: You once told a story about a person who bought a lottery ticket and thought that he had the whole world in the palm of his hand. Then he went and sat behind the wheel of a car while drunk and got into a car accident. He did this because he felt that only a disaster could “sober” him up.

How can the study of Kabbalah prevent us from making such decisions? And how do you reconcile this with the fact that everything is predetermined and “there is no escaping one’s fate”? Won’t this approach make one fearless, even to the point of death?

My Answer: The group sobers us up from all our confusions. Stay connected to your friends more often.

Question: How should one handle egoistic desires, which cause one suffering? These desires are sometimes caused by the fear of not being able to overcome them and not being able to rise to a spiritual degree. And in spite of this, sometimes these feelings are replaced with the desire to be one with Creator and to find comfort in Him.

Question: Even though I have been studying with you for two years now, I feel this immense feeling of emptiness every day. Sometimes I don’t want to get out of bed at all since I feel that there is nothing good in the world and life is nothing but a game that I don’t want to play anymore! What should I do?!

My Answer: Read the book, Shamati, and feel how it is talking about you. Also, tune into the group – this is the only possible salvation.

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Questions I received on difficult times on the spiritual path:

Question: Should a person try to figure out his bad states while they are occurring, or should he rise above them and only later analyze what happened?

My Answer: One should figure it out later, when he reaches an ascent. During the state of descent, the only thing you should do is work.

Question: I study in the Learning Center and listen to your lessons. Right now I am reading “The Creator’s Concealment and Revelation” because I want to understand the reason for my current state of despair. I don’t feel happiness in the material life, the Creator sends me nothing but suffering, and sometimes I don’t want to live. I feel completely lost. Maybe there is some specific book which can help me overcome this state?

My Answer: The book, Shamati.

Question: If a person studies Kabbalah, and at the same time has an excessive desire for some “special” type of fulfillment, such as alcohol, drugs, or pornography, what should he do, especially when this desire only grows stronger with time? How can he stay on track?

My Answer: You should think only about the most important thing. Then, even if a descent will come along, you will quickly come out of it and continue on your way without thinking about the past.

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