Question: Is it possible to explain the Kabbalistic method using terms of modern science?

Answer: Can you explain the mathematical Fourier transform to a cow? These are different degrees. A person who does not have a “sixth sense,” a point in the heart, cannot understand what you are talking about. He does not have a need for this, and therefore, it’s pointless to talk to him. Therefore, in our wide dissemination, we have to conform to the desires of the masses rather than of those who study Kabbalah.

Throughout all the generations, the world did not understand Kabbalists. And the world is right: From their degree people are not capable of this yet. It says in the Psalms, “You save humans and animals…”—but when? Today you cannot explain to people about the altruistic intention Lishma. It’s even difficult to talk to them about the topic of the perception of reality. This is intriguing and provocative, but they don’t understand or grasp the essence because they simply can’t.

In order for a person to really be able to hear words about the correction of his desires, he needs one more level of desire. But until then, we can only accelerate his development using external means. One way or another, as long as he doesn’t feel the sting in his heart, he won’t understand your explanations.

That is how the world is built. People are on different levels of development, and even at the end of correction the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels will remain. Yet it is written, “Everyone will know Me from the smallest of them to the greatest of them,” meaning each person according to his level.

The time will come when we will see how people will start grasping our words: some through scientific terms, others in the language of feeling, and others yet by virtue of simple actions, which are enough for a person to join the unity. Some need to attain and feel the adhesion, to actively participate in it, whereas for others this is unnecessary. Everything is determined by one’s desire.

We shouldn’t suppose that everyone will receive the same degree of desire for bestowal and the Creator’s revelation. However, every person will receive the full measure in accordance with his own vessels, and will be filled thanks to the common inter-inclusion.

That is why to this day Kabbalists concealed their knowledge. But now this knowledge can be revealed, although every person will hear just an insignificant part of it. Nevertheless, as a whole the Light is already starting to operate in a big mass of the common desire. This is the revolution that is happening in the world today. The modern crisis is essentially the inter-inclusion of desires.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/5/11, Shamati

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Opinion (Chris Hedges, “The Collapse of Globalization“): The crisis signifies the collapse of globalization. “We must embrace, and embrace rapidly, a radical new ethic of simplicity and rigorous protection of our ecosystem—especially the climate—or we will all be holding on to life by our fingertips. We must rebuild radical socialist movements that demand that the resources of the state and the nation provide for the welfare of all citizens and the heavy hand of state power be employed to prohibit the plunder by the corporate power elite. We must view the corporate capitalists who have seized control of our money, our food, our energy, our education, our press, our health care system and our governance as mortal enemies to be vanquished.”

Hedges criticizes the media and celebrities for advertizing an ego-centric way of life, calling it “self-promotion” (‘the cult of the self).” He claims that ” until we awake from our collective self-delusion, until we carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience against the corporate state…we will continue to be rocketed toward a global catastrophe.”

My comment: The author,lacking the insight to see that Nature has its own laws and there is no movement backwards, urges moving backwards—this is death. Instead, we must understand the principles of our evolution and clarify what we can change in this movement. And this is where we should direct all our efforts towards.
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Opinion: Sean O’Grady (Economics Editor, the Independent): “In an updated and expanded version of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has identified five “global shocks” that will destabilize the world economy with increasing frequency in coming years.

Rather than the traditional perils of conquest, war, famine and death, the OECD identifies viral pandemics, cyber attacks, financial crises, socio-economic unrest and geomagnetic storms as the five “global shocks” that will have to be endured….

The financial crisis of 2008 was the first such episode.” The OECD explains the increase in frequency of crises by “increasing inter-connectivity” of the world economy.

My comment: When individual, uncorrected (egoistic, narrow-mindedly focused only on their own profit) people, nations, and countries turn into a single, whole body, an inter-dependent system where every one is doing only what is beneficial for them, the chances of such system experiencing a shock increase greatly and unpredictably.

Inter-dependency creates unpredictable combinations of causes of any future state. Whereas we lack knowledge of this system to comprehend and estimate it. To do it, we need to start sensing it as our own. And this is feasible only if we ourselves become integrally connected with each other.

This is possible only if we ourselves assume its qualities and properties by correcting ourselves with the help of the method of Kabbalah, which is called revelation of the Creator to the created beings. After all, relative to us, the Creator is the revelation of our corrected properties within us. This is why He is called Boreh or “Bo,” come, and “Reh,” see, reveal it within. …Or you can take the book of Prophets and find out what awaits us if we do not appease Nature with our balance with it.
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In the News (From bog.com): The Boston Consulting Group reports that despite the global crisis, “millionaire households grow in number and wealth. They represented just 0.9 percent of all households but owned 39 percent of global wealth, up from 37 percent in 2009. The number of millionaire households increased by 12.2 percent in 2010 to about 12.5 million.” In other words, there is one millionaire for every 500 people on Earth.

My Comment: The tendency toward the growing number of millionaires indicates a rapid movement toward the realization of evil, inequality, that goes against total balance, the main law of nature. But how will we realize it: through catastrophes or reason? How will we become so aware of it that we will introduce one law of unification and equality in reasonable consumption?
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Question: How should the nation of Israel living on the material level of this world participate in the general correction?

Answer: Together with correcting the spiritual Israel, we have to correct its material “hypostasis.” It is the result of the reincarnation of the souls of Israel, whereas the spiritual Israel is all those who have a point in the heart, a spiritual aspiration by which they join the process.

The difference between them lies in what they are drawn to: a person with a point in the heart is drawn to spirituality, whereas a person who does not have this point is not. Still, if a person without a point in the heart belongs to the nation of Israel (Yashar Kel, meaning those aimed straight to the Creator), then he is obligated to work on correction.

True, there is a principle stating that there is no coercion on the spiritual path. But nevertheless, this obligation is incumbent on Israel. The Torah says, “You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for Me.” And the time has come.

Of course, the responsibility of those members of Israel who have a point in the heart is different from the responsibility of those who do not have this point, who have not been awakened yet. However, this obligation is incumbent on everyone, and the external pressure of AHP, the nations of the world, is aimed precisely at making Galgalta ve Eynaim correct themselves. This pressure will only keep growing. The more we fall behind, the more AHP wants because egoism constantly grows and becomes more and more empty. That is why the pressure on Galgalta ve Eynaim will become stronger. That is how the nations indirectly incite Israel to accelerate its correction.

Therefore, people with a point in the heart, meaning the spiritual Israel, and just the Jews, the material Israel, have to actualize the correction upon themselves and attract the Light for AHP. You can’t do anything to change this fact because we are talking about a single vessel whose parts are interconnected in this way.

Question: Does this mean that two processes have to occur simultaneously?

Answer: I don’t see two processes occurring here. At the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam writes about two parts of Israel: the internal and the external. The inner part are “the workers of the Creator,” those who desire to serve Him. They also divide into two parts: the inner part, those who wish to attain the intention for the sake of bestowal, and the external part, which makes material actions. Besides them, Israel also includes people who don’t know anything and aren’t interested in anything.

Similarly, the nations of the world also include two parts. The inner part wants to join us and belongs to Israel, even though it is called “Israel in the nations of the world.” And the external part is indifferent to this and feels only the troubles of this world. But we also have to awaken these people, so they will at least avoid making great mistakes in the future and will save themselves from annihilation and grave problems. That is how they join us.

In the end, correction is intended precisely for this external part—AHP. They are the goal of creation. The top priority is the will to enjoy, while Israel is not the goal of creation, but just its correction.

This is what our entire work has to be aimed at: correcting ourselves in order to bring correction to the world. This is the meaning of “a kingdom of priests.” We are servants, we serve the world.
From the lesson on 5/13/11, “A Discourse On Wisdom” by Ramchal

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Question: How can people who don’t feel any aspiration for spirituality be able to reach it if this requires a latent memory about it, a forgotten taste? Why do they suffer uselessly?

Answer: People do suffer uselessly, and that is why we have to bring to them the method of development without the blows. Then even if a person does not have spiritual genes (information about previous states), he will receive them from others thanks to the mutual inclusion.

It’s like in our world when you are resting in an armchair in front of the TV with a cup of coffee, watching a soccer game, and you think that you don’t need anything more. But suddenly they show you some commercial that convinces you that you absolutely need some object. You immediately forget all about soccer and start thinking about how to buy that thing. The advertisement takes away your sense of tranquility and awakens your desires.

We do not understand just how dependent we are on the influence of the environment. If we did not have that influence, we would be like animals in a forest. After all, according to the desires of our bodies, we don’t need anything besides the vital necessities.

Everything that is beyond the boundaries of necessity are things we wish for only due to the influence of society, which pressures me and convinces me that I need one thing, and another, and a third, and then I feel like I have to obtain those things.

If from every direction, via all the means of mass information, society now starts telling me that I need spirituality, then besides the simple necessities of this animate body, all I will need is spirituality. This is all we have to do—place ourselves under the influence of the right environment. And I don’t need anything else! It’s not necessary for the spiritual gene to awaken in me because the external environment will perform all of that work.

Spiritual genes awaken in special people who suddenly receive that kind of infusion from above and dash forward. This is special care from above. But others have to develop only by virtue of the environment.

Therefore, if we don’t build the right environment around all of humanity, if we don’t disseminate this knowledge across the whole world, then the world will have to advance only by the price of enormous suffering.
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/24/11, “General Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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Question: If I buy two pieces of bread but eat only one, does it mean that I am stealing the other roll from somebody else?

Answer: Yes, it does. We don’t know yet how precisely pre-calculated everything is. However, we are set to go through 125 degrees of development, and right now, you are not expected to make any calculations, which you are unable to do anyway. And yet, you are able to comprehend the situation: We reside in an integral system, a global interdependent world. Whether we like it or not, Nature, or the Creator, is educating us about it by sending us blows if we are unwilling to acknowledge the obvious in advance.

We can’t gain any surplus for ourselves other than by depriving somebody else. For instance, Earth has a certain amount of fresh water left in its store, and if you consume more than the others, obviously it will be at their expense. This is how Nature teaches us how interconnected we are. But if we study this interconnection with our inner, spiritual consciousness, working cooperatively, we won’t need to be taught by famines and catastrophes on the path of suffering. What for?

Employing global education, we can explain to the whole humanity that we are all brothers since we are all tightly connected with and dependent on each other. In the words of Baal HaSulam, the entire world is one family. Hence, we cannot act at each other’s expense because you are not only stealing from them (which we can’t afford to do any longer), but in so doing, you also are depriving yourself of the spiritual world.

Look what you will achieve by learning to apply the law of society balanced by basic consumption. “What do billionaires have but the zeros in the bank?” Baal HaSulam asks. After all, when the economy collapses, you will have nothing left.

“Wait, but I own a 30 million dollar masterpiece!” That’s great, but the problem is that nobody needs it. You can eat it for dinner if you’d like. “But I have a few pounds of gold in my safe!” Good, but there is no one to purchase it, so what are you going to do? Previously, it had some value and you could buy a truck full of food with it, but today nobody needs your gold.

We will have to study very hard if we don’t educate humanity in advance. Educate them about what? We have to teach them about the simple things: to introduce them to the new reality governed by global interdependence, integration, and reciprocity, where everybody depends on one another.

Take a look at Europeans who are about to disband and split. They don’t understand that the general trend is pushing them back and tearing the ties is impossible. Even the “common wealth market,” which in reality is nothing more than an ego driven bazaar of thieves where everyone hates the other, was still facilitating at least external connections. Europe cancelled the borders and hammered its own coin embossed with their collective egoism on it. That was a certain degree of progress.

This is what we have to explain. The time has come; we are literally invited, “called out to the board.” We must put forth our best effort in educating the world, stop waiting for something else, and begin working in our full capacity.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/22/2011, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Question: How can we explain to people the difference between the right kind of unity and the wrong kind?

Answer: We are simply saying, “Let’s get to know nature.” I do not want to divide humanity into those who unite correctly and those who do it incorrectly, and I don’t want to analyze anyone personally. That is why we are setting up contacts with scientists—in order to show everyone what nature is. And you can decide for yourselves what to do next. Just know that the degree of your similarity to nature determines how many disasters you will receive from it. The greater is the equivalence, the less troubles and the more pleasures are waiting for you.

Everyone has to have a clear understanding of what the source of their suffering is. Humanity is asking this question, and we will give it the answer. In our times it is already possible to explain things. Previously it was impossible to explain anything because we first had to reach the maximal, global, integral egoism. But today we have reached this level and therefore we can explain the general picture of what is happening to people.

From here on we will explain it in increasingly easier words, reformulating it again and again, and using this as a basis to explain the source of people’s problems in their family, with their children, with their health, at the bank, at work, on the roads, with one’s self, and so on.

After all, the general nature is essentially your entire life. Inside of this picture you will be able to find your attitude to everything, including football, work, and death….

However, you are still not expressing yourself in this picture. Newton revealed the law of gravity thanks to an apple that fell. However, the law operated before that as well. Similarly, it would be good if someone would “get it” and recognize the universal law of nature in order to tell the world about it. But if we wait for this to happen without giving a preliminary “presentation,” then we will pay too high a price.

By now I can already talk about this with anyone. The knowledge is in my hands, but let’s check it together. It belongs to everyone and if everyone learns it, we will all win. So let’s see whether or not I am right.

This is a very sound, scientific approach, pure of any personal biases. And I am willing to check myself as well. Most importantly, look at what is being revealed by a science that has reached us through many millennia. And it is especially relevant to the present moment, to whether or not we will have the means to live tomorrow, whether we will survive or fall in war.

In short, from the entire picture of nature, you cite the facts that confirm how everything aspires to unity. All of the still, vegetative, and animate nature is in balance, in homeostasis, in a fine interaction between different species. It seems to us that they simply eat each other, but in reality this is mutual existence. That is how the cells in our bodies exist as well.

Obviously, it is not simple to raise people slightly above their current level, but there is no other choice. You cannot leave them on the “animate” level and keep them on the infusion of the upper Light to change them from the inside. They have to come a bit closer to it themselves as well.

You come closer to them by trying to give them explanations that are as simple as possible, while the Creator will awaken their interest or even nudge them forward with blows so they would gain a greater awareness of the modern troubles and will be more willing to listen to the rationale. Then you will meet in some place: You with your maximally simplified explanations, and they with the attention span they are capable of having.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/26/11, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Today, the entire world is in crisis, and we are slowly approaching even greater problems everywhere and in every area of life. All we have done in this world was done poorly because we grew under the rule of our egoism. We cannot expect good from anywhere because we have always worked just for the sake of our ego.

Now, evil is gradually revealed, drop by drop, at different locations and at any opportunity so as to prevent us from being withdrawn into our own pain. If the pain becomes too strong, we will not be able to think about anything else except how to get rid of it. We will no longer be interested in its cause and effect; we will want only to stop this pain.

However, if the pain comes in waves and all the time either subsides or becomes more severe, leaving me enough time to reflect on it, then I start seeking from where and why it comes and how to get rid of it. The Creator plays such a game with us, and as a result, we find a solution.

First of all, we need to study the cause, and it is in the oppositeness of our nature. Our properties are opposite to the Creator, and therefore, as He gets closer, we feel bad! And the closer He approaches, the worse we feel! It is like in the case of the thief whom it is better to keep away from the treasury and not to give him an opportunity to commit a crime. The same is with us.

Therefore, especially now, in our time, the Creator is revealed very slowly and gradually, in order to give us time to think. He is revealed slightly, and we feel bad. For example, a couple of years ago, a crisis erupted, and now people say that it is allegedly over. But it did not pass; we are simply given time to think and explore! Soon, another blow will strike, at several levels and of several types. And then a period of calm will take place.

Thus, the Creator teaches us and gives us opportunities to look for reasons so that ultimately, we would reveal Him as the source of all that happens. And in relation to our egoism, He appears as the source of all evil. Then, we will understand why we feel bad: It’s because of our oppositeness to the Creator.

What can we do to feel good? The Creator is perfect, and we have to change only ourselves. Thus, gradually, we will realize that we must correct ourselves. Humankind will certainly arrive to this under the methodical, periodic blows that will come in all forms to any nation, to any person, teaching us thereby.

However, we have to reveal the method to people so that they learn sooner from where and why these blows come. By this, we will facilitate the development of entire humanity. This is called “bringing the Light to the nations,” that is, to people who still do not understand why they get hit.

To develop consciously, people need to discover the cause, necessity, and purpose of the blows. As a result, the whole course of development changes very much. Those who possess the method of correction must do this for the entire world.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah World 6/24/2011, Shamati #241

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Opinion: Nick Bostrom (Professor, Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University), Existential Risks: Because of accelerating technological progress, humankind may be rapidly approaching a critical phase in its career.

Today, we are doing something we have never done on the Earth before. If natural factors haven’t been able to destroy the human race over hundreds of thousands of years, they will extinguish us in the approaching century.

The paradox lies in the fact that without technology our chances to avoid the global risks will equal zero, while having technologies gives us a bit greater chance to escape extinction, although it’s the technologies themselves that generally cause those risks. The major leading factor of why risks increase is the discrepancy between man’s maturity in terms of ethics and morals, and the growth of the power of the technologies created by him.

To minimize the risks of technological disaster, we need to do the following:

• Raise the issues of existential risks,
• Create a structure of cooperative international acts,
• Regulate the pace of technological progress,
• Design programs aimed at minimizing specific existential risks.

My Comment: Technologies that we produce are the direct outcome of our selfish attitude to the surrounding society and nature. Only our balance with nature could bring us to the wise use of technologies. But to achieve it, it is necessary to transform man’s nature first. And that can be done solely by the force that created us: “I created the evil inclination and the method for its correction.”
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