Question: Does forming an intention affect habits in the material world?

Answer: In the material world, there should be as few different habits as possible. Habit should apply only to the study schedule.

Or one can say the opposite. A habit is beneficial where you act like an animal and establish proper frameworks for yourself in order to advance: getting up at night, studying, going to work, returning from work, continuing your studies, or engaging in dissemination, going home to sleep, and repeating all this again.

By structuring your lives this way, you form a habit. It truly becomes a second nature; a person gradually becomes accustomed to it. But even having this habit, if you do not work with intention, you devolve to the inanimate level.

Only through intention can something be added. Regarding actions in this world, the rule “neither add nor subtract” applies here, and all additions occur with the help of the screen (Masach).

Question: So everything that does not concern intention should become a habit?

Answer: There is no need to worry about matters that have no intention or about any actions performed without it. Intention itself will compel a person to act. In spirituality, intention is the action.

That is why, in books and stories, Kabbalists are often portrayed as simply sitting in a corner, doing nothing, and working with intention. This is how people imagine Kabbalists.

In reality, all the work of a Kabbalist is internal. But even in inner work, we distinguish between action and intention.
[361511]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/26, Rabash, “What Is, ‘Every Day They Will Be as New in Your Eyes,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
When Intention Matches Action
The Intention Determines The Act
The Role of Intention in the Work for the Creator

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What is the difference between our method and the method of yoga? They do something similar, don’t they?

Answer: We develop egoism. We develop it! When we speak about restrictions and acquiring the force of bestowal, we are speaking about developing the desire to receive.

Development touches on a question that was already asked: “If instead of receiving pleasure, I want to calm myself, does that mean I am using an even greater desire to receive?” That is correct. Here is the example of a  fool who suffers and weeps about his suffering, while a more developed person seeks a remedy.

We see this in our lives. One person works hard from morning to evening; another comes to the same workplace, watches the first person working, and asks himself: “Will I work like this from morning to evening too?” and searches for a solution. Then he sits down, drinks coffee, smokes, and the machine does the work for him. The desire to receive develops this, and from its development we arrive at the desire to bestow.

In contrast, various other methods are based on suppressing the desire to receive, on using it less and less. Kabbalah, on the contrary, teaches us to use it more and more. You may do anything you wish with your animal qualities, but only the light that returns to the source will help you emerge from this state. No restriction will help here. The fact is that the more you develop, the greater desires you are given.
[361441]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
Suppression or Restriction?
Can Kabbalah Work with Other Methods?
Meditation Lulls Egoism

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: If the peak of the development of egoism, the desire to receive, consists of a person ultimately wanting to escape from himself, what difference does it make whether he escapes in the middle of the process or only at the peak of development?

Answer: You have a certain Kli (vessel), and as it develops to its full capacity, you must experience all the pleasures of this world, sensing both the suffering they cause you and simultaneously how much you would want to enjoy them if you could.

But instead of this, you prefer to calm these sufferings, stifle them, and stop feeling them. Every person, within his Kli, must arrive at a definition of this final state. If this sensation does not exist, he will not be able to develop further. This is merely the complete realization of the smallest Reshimo.

Comment: Suppose a person understands the process, agrees with it, and says: The ultimate goal is to eventually escape the suffering.

My Response: But now you cannot decide that you want to escape the suffering because you do not yet want this.

You have no way to trigger a “leap in the path” or accelerate your development through any external, technical means. You can rely only on inner self-discovery, and you can accelerate it only through the environment. Apart from the group you are in, everything else belongs to an inanimate level that is incapable of accelerating your development.
[361444]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/27/26, Rabash, “What Is the Work of Man, in the Work that Is Attributed to the Creator?”

Related Material:
How to Calm Oneself?
The Greatest Pleasure
We Won’t Follow The Path Of Suffering Forever

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Spiritual Work | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 238

How Should We Relate to the Various States?

First, we accept the state that comes, observe it, and want to examine it within ourselves, without judging whether it has done us good or bad. We examine it from within the recognition that everything the Creator does, He does for good. We give it a place from the knowledge that it has come to correct us, even if it is so difficult that “a sharp sword rests upon my neck.” We must not despair or drown in self-pity. Everything is a correction.

Naturally, it is not always easy to accept states in such a way. But after we have related to them in this manner once, there will be moments when we feel incapable, filled with resistance and a desire for destruction, and then, upon second thought, we will begin to relate to the state correctly. The resistance will disappear the moment we remember that the state is intended to correct us, and from there we must move on to the third state, “There is none else besides Him.” From within that state, through the sorrow and pain, we will begin to discover “There is none else besides Him,” and will immediately arrive at sweetness, i.e., at the sweetening of the judgments.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 237
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 236
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 235

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Preparation to the Lesson

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

1st part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “Baal HaSulam Memorial” (9.20.2018)

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 2, Item 6

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: How can we achieve such harmony in human society? In other words, can we simply live as though there were no other people? Can we begin living this way?

Answer: This is precisely what Kabbalah proposes. It is when the others do not interfere with you but, on the contrary, help you, and when you feel that being among them gives you a great deal of space!

You are in an enormous crowd, with a million people around you, yet you feel as though you are completely free. No one is pressing against you; there are no disturbing shouts, no intrusive influences, nothing. Everything is calm and good, as though you were in an open field.

Question: Is this what you call “a world without man, yet with man”?

Answer: Yes. We can create such a world, despite the fact that there are so many of us.

The main thing is not to interfere with nature. That is what all of this is about. Do not interfere; do not intrude upon nature. Study it and try to achieve integrality with it. When you achieve such unity with nature, you will see how, in reality, everything is simple and benevolent.
[361229]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/2/26

Related Material:
Don’t Let Your Inner World Be Hacked
The World Where “There Is None Else Besides Him”
There Is None Else Beside Him

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News, Q&A | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Can aggression be directed toward peaceful ends? Everyone understands how it works for non-peaceful ends,  but toward peaceful purposes?

Answer: Peaceful purposes mean against oneself.

Question: So right now, all aggression is directed from within oneself outward? And you say, “This vector needs to be turned toward oneself”?

Answer: Little by little, gradually, turn it somehow toward oneself.

Question: So, it turns out that aggression exists for this very purpose, so that I can gradually turn it toward myself?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, it turns out that I am attacking this “I” of mine that asserts itself?

Answer: Your “I” is hatred toward others, the desire to rule over others. And if you transform it into the opposite, understanding that it is impossible to remain in such a quality, then you instead acquire the quality of bestowal and love, the spiritual quality.

Question: So aggression toward oneself is good? The bad thing—aggression toward others—turns into aggression toward oneself, and this is good? And this is what it exists for?

Answer: Yes. And then you truly begin to relate to yourself as an enemy.

Question: And this is good?

Answer: And this is good, of course.

Comment: Humanity needs to make such an effort.

My Response: It will make the effort; it has nowhere to go. There will be such suffering that it will wish for this.

Question: There are enemies of humanity all around. Everyone feels that there are only enemies around. And you say, “The enemies are inside you.” This formula is clear to me. But can it actually enter a person’s mind and heart?

Answer: And why couldn’t others?

Question: No, can it enter? Can a person suddenly turn the weapon around that has been aimed and built?

Answer: But you understand, don’t you?

Comment: Yes, I understand.

My Response: Then others will understand too.
[360047]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 8/3/26

Related Material:
The Essence Of Anger
How To Release Accumulated Anger?
The Law Of Balance Of Good And Evil

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News, Q&A | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What does “the Torah is barren” mean?

Answer: If the Creator created the Torah as a spice for the desire to receive, but it is not corrected with the help of the Torah, then it produces no results.

Such a state is called “the barrenness of the Torah.” All the results produced by the Torah are first of all correction and afterward fulfillment.

This is precisely what The Book of Zohar states: those who do not wish to engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah make the Torah barren. They simply do not use the Torah as a force that corrects the desire to receive.

The Torah is both fulfillments and holy names that are revealed in the intention for the sake of bestowal. But we are not speaking about that yet, since these are already more advanced degrees. Initially, when you first encounter the true Torah, it acts precisely as a force of correction.

If you do not accept it in this form, then all your engagement around it is not called Torah.
[361490]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/26, Rabash, “What Is ‘He Who Is Without Sons,’ in the Work?”

Related Material:
How Does the Torah of the Masses Differ from the Torah of the Individual?
What Is Torah?
Why Is the Torah Given to Sinners?

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Kabbalah Study, Religion, Spiritual Work, Torah | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 237

Why Do New Discernments Give Us a Familiar Feeling?

New discernments are seemingly new, but when we examine the way they are expressed, we see that the words are the same familiar words. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we learn that all of reality consists of only the original ten Sefirot. There is nothing beyond that. The worlds and the souls are within them. Everything exists in the ten Sefirot. The difference lies in the way these new discernments cause us to feel those ten Sefirot, which is different and deeper. The depth of their perception consists of 125 degrees.

We are still before degree zero of attainment. Also, even before we begin to attain the ten Sefirot, before the barrier, there are steps and discernments. However, in principle, the picture is the same, as we learn in Kabbalah, that all the worlds are built according to the same pattern: five Partzufim and ten Sefirot. That is, everything is the same, and we repeat the same thing. A three- or four-year-old child learning to read the Torah and a Kabbalist such as Rabbi Shimon read the same Torah, but each understands different layers of it.

What does a child reading the Torah say to his or her mother? “Mom, look, Abraham wanted to kill Isaac.” That is how he understood the Torah. A Kabbalist, however, knows the correction that the Torah describes in the case of Abraham and Isaac, a correction entirely above this world, and attains it, sees it through spiritual forces, through an eternal vision. Yet the expression is in the same letters and words.

When we begin to study, we discover that we see new things in the study material each time. Suppose students are sitting in a lesson and reading an article with their Kabbalist teacher. Afterward, one of the students asks the teacher about the meaning of the text. How does the Kabbalist know something beyond what they know? It is because the Kabbalist sees additional depths in the article that are hidden from the students’ eyes. The Kabbalist cannot convey to the student what the Kabbalist feels, but explains what he sees in different words.

For the students, the article is revealed only to a certain depth. For the Kabbalist, it reveals deeper layers, and there are those to whom nothing will be revealed. They will read the article and there will be no response in their hearts because they still have no spiritual vessel. Among the students, such a vessel is already beginning to form. So what is the difference between the student and the Kabbalist? The difference is that when the Kabbalist explains something to the student, he gives him a little illumination from the depth in which he himself resides, bringing it up to the level where the student is. In other words, the Kabbalist adds additional light of his own to the surrounding light that the student awakens during the study.

A group can also add light. In a group, each person understands according to a certain depth, greater than that of a person who does not study the wisdom of Kabbalah. Therefore, when they study together with the intention of sharing everything with each other, all of their surrounding lights unite and act upon everyone. From this, we can understand what a powerful amplifier of spiritual force the group is.

It does not matter that there are differences in knowledge among the people in the group, nor does it matter if there is a Kabbalist among them and everyone else knows less than the Kabbalist. The differences stem from the fact that each person has a unique character and a unique root of the soul. Yet even the Kabbalist benefits from this integration and receives an addition from it. There are things that the Kabbalist will be unable to understand without certain friends in the group, each of whom brings something uniquely their own.

Related Material:
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 236
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 235
Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 234

Filed under: Talks about the Steps of the Ladder | Add Comment / Ask Question →