Two questions I received on astrology’s connection to Kabbalah, and whether there is life on other planets:

Question: I have been engaged in astrology for twenty years now, and since 1998 I have also been studying Kabbalistic psychology, which is based on the law: “Something born at a given moment receives the properties of that moment.” Why don’t you give lessons on this topic?

My Answer: Because there is no connection between astrology and Kabbalah, even though many try to pass Kabbalah off as being part of astrology. The Torah strictly states: “Don’t do magic and fortunetelling,” because they distract a person from correction, pointing him to false paths and ways to “get around” the Upper Governance.

The only way we can influence our destiny is by influencing the Upper Light, and we influence the Upper Light to the degree that we aspire to become similar to It, by aspiring toward love and bestowal. If this is our true aspiration, the Upper Light descends upon us, corrects us, and changes our state. The Supernal, with the exception of the person, is in a state of absolute rest, and only our positive changes can change our destiny. This is why fortunetelling is forbidden.

Predictions can partially come true, if a person does not do anything to become corrected, because then, such a person is under the influence of nature’s negative reactions to his behavior (i.e. his lack of independent correction) on the path of Beito (lit. in due time), and this path can be predicted. However, when we intervene with the Upper Governance by correcting ourselves, then there is no way to predict the future, since it changes depending on us, along the path of Achishena (lit. “I will hasten it”). The harm done by fortunetelling is twofold:
1. the predictions are incorrect, and
2. they distract people from correction.

As such, there is a corresponding reaction from above: correction, or twice the suffering!

Question: Is there human or animal life on other planets? If not, then how and based on what does Kabbalah explain this?

My Answer: Everything stated in Kabbalah is based on received data. Read some materials on the attainment of reality. If we don’t attain something, we don’t know it. So far, in none of our earthly or spiritual sensations senses (the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of attainment) have we attained anything rational, existing either in our world or the spiritual world, besides ourselves. (As for angels, they are particular forces of the soul and the Creator).

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today‘s Kabbalah User Manual
Kabbalah Today Article: What Is (and Is Not) Kabbalah?
10 Myths About Kabbalah
Chapter 7 from the Book The Kabbalah Experience: Beliefs, Mysticism and the Supernatural

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Two questions I received on work and career in relation to Kabbalah:

Question: Is the study of Kabbalah in any way related to choosing a job or profession in the material world?

My Answer: A person cannot pursue several goals. Therefore, if one’s purpose is to become corrected, similar to the Creator, then his every action in this world becomes supplementary. Thus, it’s best to choose a practical profession, one that will allow you to provide for your family while leaving you time to study Kabbalah.

Question: I have been studying with you through Kabbalah TV and ARI Online for almost two years now, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to come closer to the Creator that Kabbalah gives us. However, I’m disoriented by the need to succeed in this world. Can a person be wealthy, while having an intention for the sake of the Creator?

My Answer: If a person is intensively working on his spiritual development, he will eventually have to change his daily schedule as to unload himself of extra work, and give that work to other people. He will only do what’s necessary. In general, his thoughts will be focused on spirituality and how to help the entire world in this regard. But he must provide himself with everything necessary, so as not to demand it from society.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah and Your Career
Article: Relationships (Section: The Purpose of Creation)
Article: Relationships (Section: Upbringing)
Article: Relationships (Section: Family)

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Three questions I received on Klipot and Reshimot:

Question: Do Klipot have Reshimot?

My Answer: The uncorrected Reshimot are the Klipot.

Question: The Klipot follow a person from his birth and until his death. Afterwards, when the soul (already more corrected, but not yet fully corrected) is reborn in another body, do the Klipot cling to it once again?

My Answer: The remaining uncorrected Reshimot are the Klipot.

Question: Do the Klipot posses degrees?

My Answer: A Klipa, an uncorrected Reshimo, becomes a spiritual degree when it is corrected.

Question: A Reshimo is a gene of desires. It’s a gene that launches a person’s physical, mental, and other movements. Is a Reshimo a spiritual print that was left after the Tzimtzum? If so, then I didn’t know that it bears any relation to our desires. Can you explain how this relates to our will to receive and to the launching of physical and mental activity?

My Answer: The Light’s influence over the next Reshimo evokes a sense of ourselves and our surroundings, and our existence. It’s the same as how an electricity supply brings a computer to life.

Related Material on Reshimot:
Chapter 1 from the Book Interview with the Future: The Spiritual Gene and the Reshimot
Chapter 3 from the Book Interview with the Future: The Creation of the Reshimot
Chapter 4 from the Book Interview with the Future: The Acceleration of the Reshimot

Related Material on Klipot:
Kabbalah Blog Post: Kabbalistic Terminology – Klipot
Shamati Article #36: What are the Three Bodies in a Man?
Lesson on Shamati Article #36: What are the Three Bodies in a Man?

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A question I received: Could you please date the transmission of the Torah from Moses to our days?

My Answer: It is written that Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai (in 1312 BCE), and on the day of his passing he passed it on to his student Joshua (1272 BCE). Joshua passed the Torah to the elders or sages (1244 BCE), and the elders passed the Torah to the prophets (889 BCE). The prophets passed the Torah to the members of the Great Assembly (352 BCE). Whatever happened after that (from 312 BCE until our days) requires a separate, detailed review…

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A question I received: We learn that our world is a reflection of the Upper World – “As it is above, so it is below.” We also learn that all the disorder among us is a result of our evolving egoism. One only needs to take a look at the world and our current situation to understand that it is all true. Nonetheless, secret theories circulate about families and clans called “Illuminati,” who engage in magic rituals in secret societies. Their main goal is to not only to gain world domination, but to gain the power of the Creator. Is there any truth to this?

My Answer: There are no secrets or miracles in our world, no matter how much we might want them to exist. We want to believe that the world is magical in some way, and more interesting than what we see. However, everything rests upon strict laws of nature. If one knows these laws, one can expand the limits of the perceivable world. We can develop additional qualities within ourselves and as such, feel a broader world. However, all of this also happens according to the physical laws of equivalence of form.

A question I received: All of this talk I hear about Kabbalah, regarding miracles and abilities to see supernatural occurrences – do these things indicate that one is advanced in Kabbalah?

My Answer: There are no miracles, mysticism, or anything of what you wrote in Kabbalah. Read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” and others (see the right sidebar’s “Kabbalah Source Materials” section for Baal HaSulam’s materials).

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A question I received: I’ve been studying in a group for several years now. Lately I’ve noticed that I don’t want to study Kabbalah. Am I feeling this way because my egoism is growing? I don’t feel a desire to correct myself or to become similar to Him. Instead, I have a new desire, which I don’t understand. Why did it appear in me? For what purpose?

In addition, I can’t shake off the feeling that this desire isn’t mine, as though it came to me from outside. I don’t know what to do with it, and the more I try to ignore this desire, the bigger it gets.

My Answer: A person shouldn’t decide anything about his spiritual development ahead of time, because he has no idea how he needs to develop, and what states he needs to go through.

Therefore, he should make efforts to progress, and greet everything that reveals to and inside him, as necessary in his path of development. An ascent is always preceded by a state of confusion, lack of understanding – and then suddenly comes clarity, a new realization.

Perhaps you’re already in such a state as I’m writing you this answer. Or maybe you have already gone through it and are again searching, feeling weak and confused – and facing a new ascent?

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A question I received: Can you say for certain that your students in Bnei Baruch differ from other people in any way?

My Answer: They’re no different from any other person in this world, except that within themselves, they feel the force that’s controlling them.

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A question I received: The history of Kabbalah shows that those who had great spiritual attainment had tragic fates. Where are the positive examples? And how can this attract people who already have enough misery in their lives?

My Answer: It’s true that when we take an outside look at the fates of Kabbalists, we find that they were persecuted, condemned, afflicted with sickness and so on, no less than other people. So where in all this do we see the Creator’s help!?

The fact is that a Kabbalist is very much connected with the entire world and receives suffering for everyone. However, he then raises the suffering he feels up to the Creator, and also receives the reward for everyone. Thus, when he feels the suffering, he also sees its perspective, the future salvation – the same as how a person who works very hard rejoices ahead of time, knowing that he will receive a great reward for his toil. But we, who are watching from the outside, only see his suffering and his efforts, whereas in reality he feels the Creator’s presence and grace in everything.

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A question I received: I study Kabbalah through the Internet, the TV and books. My entire worldview has changed – I now view everything differently and understand creation much better. I feel that I am on the right path. Nevertheless, I find it difficult to overcome the quality of anger. I realize how harmful it is, and that it’s making me suffer. How can I overcome my anger?

My Answer: A person shouldn’t change anything about himself, and if he tries, he will only do more harm. Everything in you is given from above, by the Light and by your Upper state. You differ from this Upper state in just one way: by “your attitude to what’s outside” (to nature, society, or the Creator). Instead of bestowal and love, our attitude fell to reception and hatred.

The only thing we have to accomplish in this life, and the reason life was given to us, is to return to that original attitude toward everything outside of us. As I return to that state (of bestowal and love to my surroundings), I begin to feel that I am one whole with them, and the quality (bestowal and love) that binds us together is called “the Creator.” It initially created us and intentionally “dropped” us into the opposite quality, so we could evaluate all the perfection of the state it created us in, and aspire to it on our own. And to the degree you aspire toward it, you will reveal it within you.

Related Posts:
* Turning Anger into Progress
* How to Use Anger

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A question I received: Does the Creator respond to requests for things that are necessary, or only to requests for correction?

My Answer: The Creator responds to all the requests in one’s heart, because we are talking about the Upper Light’s influence on our desire, and this influence is taking place all the time. The two stand one opposite the other. Nothing depends on a person, on his awareness of the Light’s constant influence on the Reshimo. He can only receive the desire for bestowal and love from his environment. The Upper Light is always pushing him toward this desire, by influencing the Reshimo. That is to say, by constantly influencing the Reshimo, the Light moves him closer to making the decision that it’s necessary to acquire the property of bestowal and love. However, it moves him along naturally, through blows. If a person, however, adds his own aspiration, which he receives from the group, from friends who aspire to it, then he himself evokes the Upper Light’s influence in the same direction. And now he already perceives the results of the Light’s influence positively, since he himself desired it, instead of perceiving it negatively, the way we usually do: When we desire greater egoistic fulfillment, we instead receive an even stronger push toward bestowal, and experience even greater suffering.

A question I received: According to what you said, if two hundred million Muslims will really wish for Israel to disappear from the face of the earth, will their desires come true?

My Answer: All desires of all people are included within the common soul of Adam. However, each desire has its own weight or influence, which depends on many things: What group of souls does the desire belong to – just like in the body some organs are more important than others. It also depends on what they are asking for – whether their appeal is directed toward the goal of creation or against it; whether it’s a desire to hate or to love, and so on.

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