Question: When you share information with someone, do you not have a sense of its consumers to better understand what they want?

Answer: In the article “Prophecy,” Baal HaSulam writes that he asked the Creator to lower him from the high level he was on so he could write something for people and they would understand what Kabbalah is, get closer to it, and use it. After all, Kabbalah is a purely practical science that needs to be implemented within oneself. How successful he was is a question.

When we read his works, we gradually begin to understand his style and his greatness. He managed to express vast spiritual volumes, properties, and actions very beautifully with a small number of words.

But I do not think he was satisfied with himself. It seems to me that he would have liked to write in such a way that a person, after glancing at the page, would gasp, freeze, and stick to the text as to a picture that would enter him and imprint on him, like an external image on film. This is how Kabbalistic material should be imprinted.

Light is reflected on a person’s desire. Moreover, the difference between the desire and the light is minimal so that the image can be transferred from the light directly to the egoistic desire that is opposite to it.

I do not think Baal HaSulam achieved this. Many read, but understand nothing. People who know Hebrew perfectly, with a university education, come to me and ask: “What is this about?” They cannot connect words into sentences because it is a completely different logic.

I remember myself. I did not understand the structure of the phrase itself: it seemed to be predicate-predicate-predicate, without a subject or verb. That is, it is illogical both in spelling and in vocabulary. So we still have to work as well.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Feel the Consumer” 9/9/10

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Question: In the previous reincarnations of life, all your students have received some training. That is, there is no such person who comes to Kabbalah from scratch. Is it so?

Answer: No, it is not like that. It is just that people who come to study Kabbalah today have done some work in previous reincarnations, so that this time in this world they can feel its hopelessness, uselessness, and meaninglessness, and disagree with their animal existence.

And all the others who still cannot react to it in this way, are spinning in their animal interests: honor, fame, power, even knowledge, culture, and science. During this lifetime, they are interested in all kinds of achievements at the level of our world.

A person who comes to pure Kabbalah is only interested in spiritual attainment. Whatever you offer him in our world, he does not see anything in it that would captivate him. You can tell him, “Let us become billionaires in ten or twenty years” and he is not interested. “Let’s make you prime minister in ten years” is also not interesting.

He is only interested in the spiritual revelation of the meaning of life and in achieving it in order to give his body such content at the level of our world that it would not distract him from spiritual expansion.

Therefore such people must already go through some states in the preliminary reincarnations of their lives, not spiritual ones, but simply certain disappointments in our world. It is quite possible that in this cycle, in this life, they will go through them.

That is, they will achieve some opportunities to become rich, noble, respected, and—having achieved or not achieved this—they will quickly reveal the inconsistency of such aspirations, that is, the lack of fulfillment from all this, and then they come to Kabbalah.

Of course, a person is driven by selfishness, a feeling of emptiness, and the question: “Why do I live, because there is no fulfillment in life?” It is healthy, normal egoism that leads him to Kabbalah, egoism that eventually kills itself, that becomes its own gravedigger.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Cycles of Life” 5/10/10

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In spiritual work, the group is absolutely essential for everyone because it is the instrument with which we reveal the Creator. The Creator is attained only through the connection between souls.

And the group in our world is the embodiment of such connection. In a group, we can learn how to interact with one another despite egoism.

This is the most unnatural work for a human being! It is the most dreadful activity you could ever come up with—trying mechanically to love, to participate in lessons and events, and to constantly interact. But there is no way around it.

Question: Are the people you work with also a group for you?

Answer: For me, the group consists of practically all my students from all over the world who take part in lessons, read my blog, and are with me.

Question: Do they help in your advancement?

Answer: Of course, I relate to them like a mother who feeds her children and derives pleasure from it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Importance of the Group” 5/30/10

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Comment: There are certain things that ordinary people simply do not understand. For example, if a few people stand on the street hugging each other and loudly reading an article from Shamati while pedestrians walk by, it looks at the very least strange in their eyes. I have personally participated in such events.

My Response: That is foolish. Kabbalah is completely against this. It has always remained concealed, even afraid to reveal itself as it is understood that people are not capable of accepting its ideas. And now, to demonstrate it in such a way…

I do not see any real dissemination in this. On the contrary, this just makes you appear odd to others.
People, for the most part, are conservative and cautious. If young people behave differently, it is only because they want to stand out, to assert their individuality. But even that is calculated within certain egoistic boundaries. A human being, by nature, is a small animal that first and foremost thinks about its own safety.

So if you act this way, you must be aware of what you are doing. Do you really think that by standing in the middle of the city, hugging each other and reading an article from Shamati that you will spread some miraculous force in that area? Can it not be done differently? I have never done such a thing, never instructed anyone to do it, and I do not believe it is necessary. This is not Kabbalah.

I am not against such things when they are done within the framework of festivals. But the inner, delicate, intimate spiritual impulses of a person do not align with this. All of this should remain concealed.

There is a saying: “The true importance, the true value, of a person lies in the depths of his heart” that is, always concealed from others and even from oneself.

When I am in public, whether walking, traveling, or flying, I try to behave in a way that no one can tell who I am or what I do.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Without Showing Off” 5/21/10

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 69

Why Is It Necessary to Awaken the Evil Inclination in a Person?

Baal HaSulam describes this entire process in his “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”:

• In State 1, the Creator created Ein Sof, and through the five worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya (AK and ABYA), lowered the created being down to this world.
• In State 3, the created being returns, by its own efforts, to the level of Ein Sof.
• The entire process of the created being’s return to Ein Sof is called State 2.

What is the difference between State 1 and State 3? In Ein Sof, the created being completely and perfectly exists in the thought of creation to do good to His creations. The light and the vessel are united in an unchanging state—the one and only state that the Creator created, which is eternal and perfect. However, in this state, the created being is like a fetus in its mother’s womb, at the root degree of the desire’s coarseness (Aviut de Shoresh), where it only feels the light of Nefesh, a basic, minimal light. To attain adhesion with the Creator, the created being must undergo the construction of its vessel, as if it itself creates the desire to adhere to the Creator.

The created being lacks this deficiency, the desire to adhere to the Creator. To develop it, the created being needs to descend into a state opposite to Ein Sof and, through its own will, ascend back to Ein Sof with this deficiency, which is a process called “raising MAN.” This is done through prayer and good deeds. In other words, through corrections, the soul ascends to Ein Sof.

To accomplish this work, we need to possess two opposing forces, two “angels.” These two forces, which are the qualities of the light and the vessel, already exist in Ein Sof in perfection and adhesion. For them to become opposites, a spiritual action called “the breaking of the vessels” takes place. In this process, the screen (the connection between the vessel and the light) shatters. Since nothing connects them, we start feeling two separate forces within ourselves: the struggle between the good and the evil forces, the good inclination and the evil inclination. The good force is the spark of the Creator called a “part of Shechina [Divinity] from above.” The evil force is the stony heart, Amalek, and the three impure shells (Klipot).

We are in the middle, between these two forces, good and evil, as Klipat Noga, which is neither good nor evil. It depends on which force we align ourselves with—good or evil. Therefore, Klipat Noga is called “half good and half evil.”

How can we know where there is good and evil? Our path is always filled with descents and ascents, ascents and descents. First, we enter the left line, see that it is evil, and move to the right line, then again return to the left, and once more move to the right. In such a way, we move between these two forces and ascend until the end of correction.

It is impossible to ascend a step directly. We need to first fall to the left, see that it is evil, and then move to the right. Why can we not just move to the right from the beginning? It is because, by nature, we are initially drawn to the evil inclination, as it is written that “the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Preparation to “Connecting to Lishma” Convention

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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 634, “Fear of Heaven”

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Selected Highlights

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We can see how natural cataclysms can worsen our lives in a domino effect. Nature has a lot of such surprises in store. However, this is not the ingenuity of the Creator; rather, it is our delayed development that provokes forces acting negatively upon us.

We must understand that we need to rethink our philosophy of life regarding where such suffering leads us and what it awakens in us. We must not lose ourselves in oblivion. After all, natural disasters remind us how small a human being is, how insignificant our life is, how we all exist on the fragile crust of the Earth beneath which a massive internal volcano rages, and above us, there is just a thin atmosphere, and beyond that cosmic cold.

Where are we really, and what do we exist within? Let’s take a moment to consider whether there is a way out. The problem of humanity is that it does not see a way out and therefore seeks oblivion.

This is why we must disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah as effectively as possible because everything happening to us originates from a specific source and serves a specific purpose. Every event is intentional, pre-calculated by nature, and compels us to act.

Nature as a whole is a single, enclosed system that drives us toward perfection, and we must recognize this. We have the opportunity to attain this perfection, this harmony, with all of nature.

When humanity gains the understanding that everything happening is preordained by nature solely to push us forward and that we have the ability to do so correctly and intelligently, then people will no longer seek oblivion. They will have an alternative. Right now, however, they have none.

In its current state, humanity relies on God, on some supernatural forces: “Whatever will be, will be. In the meantime, I will enjoy myself.” “Let’s party and drink, and after that, the flood.” If there is no other way out, at least we can numb ourselves for today and not think about what will happen tomorrow.

But if you tell a person that tomorrow will be bad and yet there is a way to make it good and that they do not have to sacrifice anything for it, that they do not have to suppress themselves or deceive themselves, but: “Look at how together we can make everything wonderful, good, and joyful”—then humanity will have an alternative. And in that case, it will no longer reject this opportunity.

Everything depends on the dissemination of Kabbalah; this is the only issue. We must spread it as quickly and effectively as possible. Ultimately, it turns out that it is not humanity that is to blame for what is happening but rather those who possess and understand this wisdom.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Panacea”

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Comment: There are people who do nothing but create, write music, sit thoughtfully, and look at nature, and then paint various landscapes.

My Response: Of course! They should exist just like landowners or aristocrats once did who had a guaranteed income.

Question: Does the world need them? The world says: “They are idlers.”

Answer: The world cannot do without them! They give the world precisely right attitude toward life, creation, the Creator, and everything.

They behave correctly. That is, they have time for everything. A creative person should not feel pressure from outside, only from within, if there is any.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/26/20

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Question: In Kabbalah there is listening and watching. You have repeatedly mentioned that in the past the Torah was learned by heart, meaning it was listened to. Is the difference in perception really that significant?

Answer: The point is that when you load yourself with data, you can freely operate with it and act accordingly. Imagine that, like a computer’s memory, you had all spiritual literature embedded within you.

Not just memorized words and phrases but fully integrated in accordance with your own internal program like a computer filled with connections allowing you to extract, explore, and study information as needed.

For example, I recently had a discussion about the nature of envy, and I had to elaborate on the topic for half an hour: what kind of human trait it is, how it drives a person toward a goal, whether it is good or bad, how it manifests in a group, in a family, within oneself and in relation to the Creator, and so on.

Because I have accumulated a significant amount of Kabbalistic material, I never prepare for lessons or recordings. I arrive, hear the topic from the host, and immediately engage in discussion.

This improvisation is even more enjoyable for me than preparing in advance as I experience various new associations in the moment through the setting and the act of speaking itself. This process goes live immediately, and requires a certain mental effort, a bit of nervous, stressful inner realization. And I love that.

This is possible because I have stored the necessary material within me. I can instantly recall what is said about mutual hatred, envy, egoism, vanity, and other qualities that help a person internally structure himself and achieve a goal.

It is said that envy, hatred, power, vanity, and similar traits drive a person toward their purpose. These qualities exist within us for a reason; they are meant to help us achieve something great when used correctly, not to suppress others, but to learn from them and continually rise higher and higher.

I operate with this knowledge immediately. But if, at that moment, I had to start reading and searching through books like some philosopher, that would not be what Kabbalah demands from a person in their spiritual advancement. In other words, this knowledge, these informational records must be within us.

I am speaking about a Kabbalist-scholar and not about someone who simply moves forward internally. Such a person does not need this; they only need connection with others in order to restore the structure of the collective soul. There, they will perceive their own inner spiritual world and their eternal movement.

Question: So does that mean one does not need to memorize material?

Answer: No, people do not need anything at all except to correct the division between themselves that occurred during our creation.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Listen or watch” 5/25/10

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