Three questions I received on spiritual attainment throughout different life cycles:

Question: If one’s soul has already ascended to a certain degree in the previous life cycle, how does one ascend in the current life cycle?

My Answer: In the new life cycle, the person quickly attains his previous spiritual level and then continues to ascend higher. It’s because the soul has no age, and the body’s death does not affect it at all.

Question: Is it possible to reach the next spiritual level in the current life cycle, without dying first?

My Answer: Anyone whose point in the heart has been revealed can attain his full correction within one life cycle, without leaving it and returning for another life cycle.

Question: How do the people who never knew or studied Kabbalah attain the Upper Spirit? What is the outcome of their life when they leave our world? Do they attain the Light unconsciously, and to what degree?

My Answer: To attain the Upper Spirit means to attain the Upper Light. This is possible only by means of a screen – an anti-egoistic quality that emerges in us under the influence of the Upper Correcting Light (Ohr Makif). This Light descends on us only during the study of authentic Kabbalistic sources.

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Questions I received on the meaning of Kabbalistic words and the point in the heart:

Question: What is the meaning of the expression, “There are many thoughts in a person’s heart, but the Creator will save us from all of them”?

My Answer: Only the Upper Light can fill all our desires and thoughts by giving them the correct properties and forms.

Question: Does the point in the heart depend on the number of life cycles one has gone through? I just don’t understand why it is still dormant in many people.

My Answer: The point in the heart awakens when a person grows disillusioned in trying to fulfill all his earthy desires. It is for this purpose that he goes through a history of lives for many millennia!

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for the past two years or so. There are two things that seem to confuse me and that could be because I keep on associating the meaning of “pleasure” and “desire” with our world. It would be greatly appreciated if you could expand on these two words for me or direct me to the place I can find the information.

My Answer: Pleasure is the sensation of a fulfilled desire – any desire. Desire is an aspiration to fulfill oneself with something one desires, with pleasure. However, in Kabbalah the desire is a desire for the Light, and the pleasure is pleasure from the Light.

Question: Is it possible to convey the essence of your lessons through sign language?

My Answer: Yes, if someone will understand it, for example, deaf people.

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Questions I received on finding the right spiritual path:

Question: In my search for spirituality I found many methods of spiritual development, including different forms of Kabbalah, yet I still haven’t found a remedy for my soul. Does it even exist?

My Answer: Only you can find your own path, without any influence from others, without “help” from outside, and without looking at what others are doing. And the same goes for every person.

Kabbalah is intended only for those who ask about the meaning of life. Hence, only those who ask this question, and who delve into the heart of it, find that authentic Kabbalah is for them. The rest are satisfied with false methods, psychology, religion, or mysticism, all of which may be presented under the name “Kabbalah.”

Question: Say a Hindu sage reduces his ego to zero point. Would he not then sense the spiritual world? Does he attain the screen? Or does one experience the illusion of evolution from the very beginning all over again?

My Answer: A screen can only appear over a desire that is above our world, but all the religions and other methods actually decrease the egoism of our world. So how can a screen appear over the leftovers of a suppressed egoism?

Question: Does Kabbalah talk about the non-dualistic? Meaning, that there is no person, ego, world, etc. Just consciousness. What prevents us from seeing that consciousness is the concept of “I” which takes credit for everything that happens in the world when in reality the “I” has no real choice whatsoever. Choice and events just happen.

My Answer: In Kabbalah, everything is researched and verified experimentally. The only proof for something is one’s perception of it, rather than any kind of fabrication. Kabbalah does not negate or assert anything; it is a practical expansion of our perception.

You should philosophize less and focus more on what you have personally experienced. You can only validate something through facts, without connecting them to any theories. Work according to the principle, “I will recognize You from Your actions to me.”

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News Report (from Science News Magazine): People are mistaken when they expect that the more they spend on gifts, the more those gifts will be appreciated. … recipients preferred gifts that they really needed or that had special personal meaning, regardless of price. … It’s indeed the perceived thought that counts…

My Comment: We can receive from our world only as much as an animal can: only what is necessary for our body’s existence. In this regard, we are completely the same as animals. All the excess that we “receive” is only to our detriment. There’s a wise saying, “A bit of harmful food is healthier than too much healthy food.” Excess creates emptiness in us, bringing about depression and an endless pursuit of illusory fulfillment.

So how does the Creator implement His plan “to delight the creatures with absolute and eternal pleasure”? This isn’t attained by increasing the quantity of the fulfillment, but its quality. We are unable to take in any more that what is necessary for the existence of our animal bodies. However, when we come to recognize the greatness of the Creator, who gives to us, this infinitely increases our sensation of what we receive from Him, because He is infinite. This is how we attain the sensation of eternal and perfect life. Therefore, the goal of our development lies in attaining, “Taste and see how good the Creator is.”

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Two questions I received on being angry at the Creator:

Question: When we feel so much pain, feel angry with others, the corporeal world, and ourselves, due to our egoism, are we permitted to get angry with the Creator as well?

My Answer: No matter who you are angry at, you are really angry at the Creator, and that’s how He perceives it. After all, it is He who creates your picture of the world at each and every moment.

Question: You teach that according to equivalence of form, a person sees bad qualities in others only to the degree he has those qualities. What do you do when you hate the evil in you and in others, if everything around us is the Creator, who is Kind and Benevolent? It turns out that by hating evil, I hate the Creator!? How is it possible to combine hatred for evil and justification of the Kind and Benevolent?

My Answer: Only if you correct yourself and become kind to others, will you then become kind to the Creator and justify Him. This is equivalence of form.

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Two questions I received on doubts that arise along the way:

Question: Many people describe the moment they first encountered Kabbalah as a feeling of: “This is it! I finally found what I was destined for!” During my first encounter with Kabbalah I too felt that I found the most correct solution. What bothers me is that I still have constant doubts about this path, and I constantly push these doubts away with the help of the studies. Why don’t I have a sense of confidence?

My Answer: Other people also have the same doubts about the authenticity of this path, because every person must find and verify the authenticity of this teaching for himself. As a result of the doubts, in order to come out of them, a person develops and advances.

Our path is to study for ourselves what the Creator created. Therefore, if a person begins to look at himself from the point of view of an outsider and treats himself “from afar” or “from outside,” this helps him to study the Creator. The doubts will accompany you all the way until your full correction, because they are constantly generated by the new degree that is being revealed and it still uncorrected.

Question: Am I advancing in the right direction by studying the science of Kabbalah if I don’t accept everything I read or hear? Some things go straight into the heart and I accept them with all of my soul, but there are also moments of analysis and doubt.

My Answer: The authentic study is always built on examination. However, you should examine yourself as well: maybe it’s your egoism checking how profitable something is for it? An examiner must rise above himself and his egoistic interests, and be willing to accept things objectively. This should be the result of your examination. Only an “animal” doesn’t have any doubts, since it works by primitive egoism.

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A question I received: Since egoism has to go through all the stages of its development, can we tell exactly what stage of development a person is going through by what his aspirations are in this life? If, let’s say, a person is drawn to knowledge, does that mean that he’s gone through all the other stages already? And should we force ourselves to develop, finding ways to stimulate our desires?

My Answer: We shouldn’t pay attention to our desires. They emerge in us without our control, according to the laws of the soul’s development. We should instead focus on correcting our intention: how we relate to the desires that emerge in us, whether we wish to realize them “for our sake” or “for the sake of others” (by connecting to the group and studying the authentic sources).

Which desires emerge and change in you is something that does not depend on you. It depends on a multitude of reasons – the inner ones within you, and the external ones that are determined by the general state of all the souls, the system you are in.

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Two questions I received on how to be sure that one is following the right path:

Question: I want to find out the Truth with a capital T, but everything I see looks like lies. How can I prove to myself and to others that Kabbalah is true? It’s not enough to say that everything is evil, and only “our Torah” is the truth.

My Answer: Progress and growth always come with the sensation of a mistake and its correction, just like in any tracking system that’s aimed at a particular goal. The feeling of uncertainty, the sensation that things are lies and are false, are all necessary, and you should be glad you feel them.

Only animals don’t make mistakes because they’re governed by nature, whereas man must develop of his own accord. Moreover, we mustn’t suppress these qualities in others; on the contrary, we should encourage them, even if these people end up leaving us. Let them verify and find their own path. Otherwise they won’t become human, but will remain “animals,” as it is written: “All are like animals” – all except those who draw the Light of growth and correction.

Question: There are many groups and schools that study Kabbalah. In your opinion, is every group that studies the authentic sources suitable to study Kabbalah with?

My Answer: Only you can tell which group and manner of study are best for you. Some people still need to go through various mysticisms, religions, and Kabbalah as knowledge (Baal HaSulam describes this when he writes about the “Kabbalists of Jerusalem”). After trying all of these (perhaps even in the next life cycle), they will come to the authentic study of Kabbalah, which is a reception of Light for the correction of one’s egoism. Indeed, this is the only reason for Kabbalah’s existence in this world, the only reason that the Torah (Kabbalah) was given. The Creator said: “I have created egoism and I have created the Torah for its correction,” or in other words: in order for people to attain the quality of “Love for one’s neighbor” – the principal law of the entire Torah and of the entire world.

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A question I received: Is it correct to say that the Path of Light does not take away the problems in a person’s life, and it’s just that someone following the Path of Light perceives them differently? Since that person is on a higher level, he doesn’t have the same problems as in the past because his attitude to them has changed, or rather, his attitude to the source of the problems. However, when a person following the Path of Suffering receives the same problem, he feels bad.

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct! We exist in a field of Upper Light (the quality of bestowal and love). This field consists of concentric spheres, and the closer a sphere is to the center, the more intense its quality of bestowal and love is. Everything is static; only we move through this field and change our perception by changing our qualities.

A desire, or the single soul, was created in the center of all the spheres. It then moved away from the center, losing its quality of bestowal and love, and then broke into pieces (the particular souls). Thus it acquired the opposite quality – reception (egoism). Because of this, it now exists in the most remote sphere of the field of Light.

The souls have “positions” relative the Light just like a charge has a position in an electric or magnetic field. A soul’s connection with the Light (a charge’s connection with the field) happens through balance (similarity) of their qualities. If the qualities of the Light (field) and the soul (charge) are the same, then the soul (desire) feels that it is at equilibrium. In other words, there’s a balance of the soul’s forces or qualities with the Light’s. They’re in a state of homeostasis.

When the souls move away from the center to the periphery (when they descend through their qualities), they retain a Reshimo (record) about every state they go through. When the souls reach the maximum distance from the the center (from the Creator, because their qualities are opposite to Him), a recording of the whole chain of separation (descent) remains embedded in them. The souls (egoistic desires) perceive the most remote state as a person (soul) in this world (field).

From this moment on, the souls begin their way back. At first they advance toward the goal of creation unconsciously, under pressure that emerges due to the nonconformity of their qualities to the qualities of the spheres of Light that they pass. The souls feel suffering, which is a feeling that comes from the opposition of their egoistic qualities and the qualities of the Light. The greater are the Reshimot that become expressed in a soul, the more the soul is pushed to the inner spheres in the field of Light. Or stated differently, the greater the nonconformity between the uncorrected Reshimo and the corrected Light, the worse a person feels (and the same can be said for the society as a whole).

Starting from a certain sphere in the field of Light, the Light’s influence on the Reshimo elicits a recognition of the cause of the suffering. This is expressed as the question about the meaning of the suffering, about its reason and purpose. It is a question about the meaning of life. A person is then brought to the group (the environment) where he can start correcting himself to become similar to the Light (bestowal).

“It always seems that we are loved because we are good. But what we don’t realize is that we are loved because those who love us are good.”
Leo Tolstoy

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Questions I received on interpreting Baal HaSulam’s words and visiting graves of the righteous:

Question: In Shamati, Baal HaSulam mentions several times the “Masach de Hirik.” Would you please explain this phenomenon or concept?

My Answer: It is the correction of the soul in the middle line. One uses the egoism from the left line and the force of Light that corrects it from the right line, thereby building himself with the help of these two forces.

Question: What is the meaning of the word Yuli (יולי)?

My Answer: It is the initial material, from which everything developed.

Question: Why is the expression that Rav Ashlag uses, “What’s the meaning of my life?” and not for example: “What’s the meaning of life?”

My Answer: It’s because a person has to feel this question personally, to feel that his life depends on it completely. He has to feel that he is the only created creature (see the materials on Perception of Reality), and because of this, the purpose of life in general, of everyone’s lives, depends on his life.

Question: Where is the place in which the creature realizes his “I,” and on the other hand, realizes that there is none else beside Him?

My Answer: The place of realizing his “I” is in Malchut, and of realizing the Creator – in Keter.

Question: Does it help visiting the graves of the righteous and lighting a candle to sanctify the soul?

My Answer: Only psychologically!

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