Questions I received on the perception of reality:

Question: In the “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam says, “All the worlds, both Upper and lower, are inside man.” Does the authentic meaning of these words mean that the entire reality takes place only in our imagination and is perceived through our senses (vessels of attainment)?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: If so, are physical bodies even real?

My Answer: “Real” is what I perceive.

Question: But we always learned that throughout all of its stages the soul is inside the insignificant physical body.

My Answer: I never taught this. Maybe I was talking about the soul’s body (not the physical body) – the Partzuf or Kli, and the soul is the Light inside it.

Question: If we accept this, then doesn’t it mean that everything around us (including our friends and family) doesn’t actually exist, but is just a figment of our imagination?

My Answer: Yes. However, instead of imagining things, we have to attain the state where we will perceive everything outside us as being inside.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Have Civilizations Within Us
Booklet: Spirit and Body
Booklet: The Structure of the Soul

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Questions I received on crossing the Machsom:

Question: You said in one of the lessons that the crossing of the Machsom happens individually. Why isn’t the force of Arvut (mutual guarantee) enough for all the friends in the group to cross the Machsom at the same time, like the people who received the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai? The reception of the Torah was collective, so why is the crossing of the Machsom individual?

My Answer: The force of Arvut (mutual guarantee) is definitely enough for all the friends to cross the Machsom at the same time! However, it’s also possible to cross the Machsom individually, if a person makes the needed amount of efforts (called Seah) relative the group and the Creator.

Question: I understood from your explanation in the morning lessons that everyone receives the best possible conditions for attaining spirituality. There was also a text where you explained that the Machsom can be crossed only under a certain kind of pressure, which exists in the group. We have a worldwide virtual group that has all the conditions for entering the spiritual world. Within these virtual connections, how can we reach the correct pressure for crossing the Machsom? And will it happen to everyone at the same time or individually?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam answers this in the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.” At the end of 6000 years, everyone will attain the full correction, but before that it can also be done by individuals as well as groups.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It Takes Time, Effort and Experience to Reveal the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: Shame Brings Us Closer to the Creator
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” – Selected Lessons
Lesson: Freedom of Will (Based on Baal HaSulam’s Article “The Freedom”)
Kabbalah Today Article: “Camp Mt. Sinai”

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A question I received: I would really appreciate it if you would explain the following quote from Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Freedom”:

“Whereas if there is no such spark in man, but all the sparks of his essence are dressed in bestowal of contentment to their maker, then it is neither absent nor dead. For even when the body nullifies, it only nullifies from the aspect of reception for self gratification, in which the will to receive is dressed, and has no right to exist but through it.”

I don’t understand – how is it possible that when this body dies (which you said is perceived as changing one’s shirt), the desire to bestow does not die with it? When I die, then even if I will still have the desire to bestow, I won’t be able to bestow anymore – I won’t be able to realize my desire!

Or suppose that instead of dying, I survived a car accident or a serious disease, but I lost my limbs and had brain damage; then even though I am still alive, I will not be able to bestow! Without a body you can’t bestow to your friends or participate in dissemination. So how does one’s desire continue to exist and be realized if the body no longer exists?

My Answer: Here’s an explanation of Baal HaSulam’s quote that you cited: “Whereas if there is no such spark in man, but all the sparks of his essence are dressed in bestowal of contentment to their maker, then it is neither absent nor dead. For even when the body (egoism) nullifies, it only nullifies from the aspect of reception (the desire) for self gratification, in which the will to receive is dressed, and has no right to exist but through it.”

The desires remain. What changes is their intention or “clothing.” We live inside these desires, and we also perceive our body, or its presence, inside a certain desire, which becomes revealed in our “I” for a period of time (our life), and then decreases and disappears. This is what gives us the feeling of life and the gradual death of the body.

Read the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar ” and you’ll see what Kabbalah means when it says:

• The death of the body – the death of the egoistic intention
• The revival of a body – the birth of the altruistic intention

We only perceive our animate body until we correct our entire soul; that is to say, until we correct all our desires from “for myself” to “for others, for the Creator.” Then the perception of the body will disappear, because the desire in which we perceive this body will be corrected into bestowal, and it will become eternal because it helped us correct all the other desires.

Take this as a foundation: There is only the Light and the desire, and you feel everything (this world or the world to come) inside the desire. Everything depends on the desires – their size, quality, and similarity to the Light.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Do We Have to Keep Coming Back Here?
Laitman.com Post: Always With Me
The Open Book – Chapter:”The Purpose of Reincarnation According to the Zohar”
Baal HaSulam – Shamati #28 “I Shall Not Die But Live” – Lesson

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A question I received: The Second Jewish Temple was built under circumstances of violent opposition — both from the external foes of the God of Israel and also from within the Jewish community in Jerusalem. Does not the building of the Third Temple (as soon as possible) surely speed the coming of the Messiah – God’s man who alone can bring about peace?

My Answer: It will not accelerate anything, but will only bring more harm. It’s because the nation must first be corrected on the spiritual level, as this is the meaning of building the Temple (the common soul, in which the Creator is revealed). We have to build the Temple inside us by attaining brotherly love, and inside this love we will attain the Creator (the presence of the Shechina), as it is written, “Prepare a place (the common desire) for Me and I will dwell among you.”

Only then can we build a symbol of the Temple in stone. The Messiah is not a person, but the force that pulls the entire humanity out of egoism. Baal HaSulam writes in the article “Messiah’s Horn” that the way to reveal the Messiah in the world is by disseminating Kabbalah among all the nations. And this is what we are trying to do.

It’s possible that the Messiah – the force and method of the souls’ correction, will be represented by a person – a Teacher who will enlighten and lead by example.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Building the Third Temple
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
The Kabbalah Experience – Chapter 10: “The Messiah and the End of Days”

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Three questions I received on dissemination:

Question: When will Baal HaSulam’s difficult language (such as the Talmud Eser Sefirot, Pticha, and the Commentary on The Book of Zohar) be brought down to the level of the modern day egoism and restated in a language that regular people can understand? Isn’t this the reason why we are running late with our correction?

My Answer: You should study all of these materials in our lesson archive. We always study the Talmud Eser Sefirot, and we are studying The Book of Zohar on this blog, with links to the full commentaries.

My entire mission is to bring Kabbalah closer to our generation and to all the people in the world. However, this is only for those who are seeking knowledge. In order to realize Kabbalah in practice, one does not need any knowledge of it (unlike the way one learns a science in our world).

It’s because one must first create an inner instrument of attainment, the Kli or soul, from “the point in the heart.” One’s correction does not depend on knowledge, but on the desire. One reveals the Upper World by making efforts to understand spirituality correctly, by revealing that it’s the property of love and bestowal to one’s neighbor, and by unifying these aspirations into one whole.

Question: How important is the form (or the quality) of the material that’s used in mass dissemination? What I mean is, how important is it to have a professional approach, a good use of language, and no foreign accent when explaining Kabbalah? I think that if a person has a point in the heart, then it won’t make any difference how the information is presented – he will be attracted to it regardless.

My Answer: The form or “wrapper” is important in the first encounter, but not later on. In fact, at later stages it works in the opposite way – the concealed is more attractive.

Question: How can I help disseminate Kabbalah in the city of Baku in Azerbaijan?

My Answer: Like in many other countries around the world: without mentioning Kabbalah or myself; by presenting it as a science that offers deep attainment of reality.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar, Chapter “Rose,” Items 1-3
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Flower Buds” (Items 4-6)
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter, “Who Has Created These?”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Who Has Created These, of Eliyahu”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter, “The Mother Lends Her Clothes To Her Daughter”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Letters by Rabbi Amnon Saba”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Supernal Wisdom”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Lock and the Key”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Avraham”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Vision of Rabbi Chiya”
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Who Is Your Partner?”
Archived Talmud Eser Sefirot Video Lessons
Help Share Kabbalah

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Questions I received on religion and Kabbalah:

Question: Maybe things should be made easier for people who are interested in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah (both Jews and gentiles) by telling them that at the end of the correction process, there is a connection between one’s actions and spirituality. This is the wholeness of Pardes – Judaism (the actions) and Kabbalah (spirituality), and sooner or later this will become the only way of life for the entire corrected society. With all due respect, it’s a fact that you behave as an observant Jew, just like your Rav, Rabash and his Rav before him, Baal HaSulam, and everyone else since the very beginning of the holy generations.

My Answer: I will say it again: the observance of rituals with our body in this world is no more than a tradition, whereas Kabbalah speaks about the correction of the soul’s desires. No one will have to observe the mechanical commandments on purpose. Rather, people will only have to do the spiritual observance of the commandments – in their desire. This is how we will become similar to the Creator. It won’t be done mechanically, because the Creator does not have arms or legs! We have to correct the soul. Study Baal HaSulam’s articles on the body and soul. There he explains that we cannot correct the soul using the body.

Nevertheless, it is good to follow traditions, including the religious ones, in order to keep a framework for our cultural and social existence on earth. I can’t lie to people who are interested in Kabbalah just like I can’t lie to Kabbalah’s opponents.

Question: Where does Baal HaSulam say that one must become secular on the inside? Your arguments make perfect sense, yet you seem not to trust people to be able to fulfill the commandments externally and to work with the intention (Kavanah) internally in a Kabbalistic manner. Your teachers before you and all previous Kabbalists did just this, am I correct? Why then tell people to stop being religious?

My Answer: I never told anyone to stop being religious, just like I never told anyone the reverse! In “The Future Generation,” Baal HaSulam writes that in the corrected society of the future, every person can keep his religion. This shows what the true definition of religion is – it’s a culture, and no more than that. Everyone will recognize and accept it as such when the Creator will be revealed within them. People will remove from religion anything relating to the Creator, the world to come, and reward and punishment for corporeal life.

It’s because everything becomes immediately perceived in “this world,” in the present, right now, and there is no “other world,” or some world “on the other side.” There is nothing but the real, present states. “On the other side” means on the other side of egoism. Change egoism to its opposite, and you will perceive the world on the other side.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Cannot Be Attained Anywhere Besides Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Teaches Love and Bestowal, and Nothing Else
Laitman.com Post: The Writings of the Last Generation
Baal HaSulam Article: “Body and Soul”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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In the past, before the destruction of the Temple, children were born into a society that perceived the Upper World and the Creator, and based its life on the spiritual laws. Children perceived the relationship of “love thy neighbor as thyself” as an obvious fact of life. They always saw the adults setting this example and aspiring to attain greater connection with the Creator, whom they clearly perceived. Children understood that they were born into this world and exist in it temporarily only in order to create a connection with Him.

In the Bnei Baruch group, our children (and grandchildren) participate in Kabbalah lessons prepared especially for them. Their relationships are built under the guidance of teachers according to the principle of the Torah – bestowal and love of friends. They completely understand that they, and all people in general, are interconnected. The lessons take place on Sundays and during the whole day on Saturday. On Saturday, boys come with their fathers to the morning lesson and then stay for the whole day. We have a special course for them. Every few months I also give a lesson (a test) to all the children.

It’s a great pleasure to see and hear them, their questions and answers, and to observe these growing people forming a completely new outlook on the world. We don’t realize what it means to receive the true picture of the world during the childhood years, to understand the world’s origin, meaning, and purpose. This picture permeates a child’s consciousness and remains in him as his nature. By watching their daily behavior when they are together or apart, when they are at our center our outside of it, in daycare centers or schools, we can see that they behave differently, and have a special, refined inner quality – spirituality. Their similarity to the Upper Force guarantees them success and safety in our world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Lessons for Children Every Sunday
Laitman.com Post: Children, Souls, and the Point In the Heart
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam
Chapter from the book, A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Who Can Study Kabbalah?”
Kabbalah for Children – Latest Articles

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A question I received: I have a question about the sages of the past. I have heard you mention that they used to sleep on the ground and restrict themselves in many ways. I was wondering why this was so, because we learn that only the Light can change us and also that Kabbalah forbids things such as starving ourselves, running away to a monastery, and so on. The way they behaved in the past seems just like Eastern teachings.

My Answer: It’s because the development of egoism (which determines all human development) is a process, and back then egoism was developed only on a small level. To attain correction, it was sufficient to limit oneself physically and study the Torah, as Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“: “Eat bread with salt, drink little water, sleep on the ground, and labor in the Torah. If so you do, happy you will be; happy in this world and happy in the world to come.” This shows that no one revoked the correction by the Upper Light, because initially it is written: “I created egoism and I created the Torah for its correction, because its Light returns one to Me.”

However, later, during the destruction of the Temple (about 2,000 years ago), there was a sudden jump in the development of egoism, and people fell into egoism (the Temple was destroyed). Kabbalists then performed a special correction in the system of the Upper Worlds that govern us, so that instead of using restrictions, we would also use the Upper Light (Ohr Makif).

Hence, when a person with great egoism fasts (limits himself), then he usually begins to take pride in his actions and moves away from the goal even more. He thinks that by increasing the limitations and the details of observance, he will become more righteous. This is why Kabbalists completely canceled the outer, physical conditions, actions and limitations, and by so doing they moved away from religion even more. This was done because a person can get confused and think that physical actions amount to correction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Drink Your Milkshake and Study Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Building the Third Temple
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 21 – “Correcting Egoism”

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Two questions I received on efforts and desires:

Question: When your desire is “turned on” from above, then you make efforts, but they don’t count as yours. On the other hand, when you don’t have a desire, you understand that you don’t have it. But if you then attempt to make efforts, then they also aren’t perceived as yours, but like they’re being “switched on” from above. How can I distinguish between my efforts and help from above? What is the difference?

My Answer: Stop trying to sort this out, as it will only confuse you. What’s important is to constantly:

1. Feel the importance of the goal,
2. Feel your own weakness,
3. Be convinced that the true desire will receive immediate help.

See Baal HaSulam’s article: “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before“(Achor Ve Kedem Tzartani).

Question: I’m sick and tired of waiting to cross the Machsom. I don’t want anything anymore, I hate everything, and nobody can help me.

My Answer: This is exactly the state from which you can ascend to the Machsom, with the help of the study, the group and the Creator! Do you understand that the Machsom is the opportunity to connect with others like yourself in order to reveal the quality of unity? Is anyone preventing you from doing this? If yes, then why aren’t you asking for help to be able to love your friends? What are you waiting for? And what is it that you hate so much?

The concealment (Tzimtzum) was done only on the Light of Hochma (reception), but not on the Light of Chassadim (bestowal, love). So if this is exactly what you want, then you will reveal it. The concealment (Tzimtzum) is inside you, and no one is concealing anything from you! What you have to do is go from reception to bestowal inside yourself, and then you’ll discover the quality of bestowal, the spiritual quality, inside you. It’s not supposed to come to you from “somewhere out there,” and you’re not supposed to ascend somewhere to cross the Machsom. Rather, the passage of the Machsom is a change of qualities inside you!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: This Path Can Only Be Surmounted By Those Who Walk It
Laitman.com Post: Strive for the Goal, and Leave the Rest Up to the Creator
Shamati 174: “Concealment”
Article: “Finding the Creator Within”

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A question I received: I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time and I really enjoy it. I am also writing a book that examines Kabbalah from different perspectives. I have a million questions for you, but will start with just one: would it be good to restore royal government in Russia?

My Answer: I have been receiving many letters from my students in the entire Caucasus region because of the recent events happening there. Even though I don’t usually get involved in politics or think in corporeal terms, as if something is actually happening here, nevertheless I will talk about this in regular language in order to show how the Upper Forces reflect in our actions.

The Russian people are smart, sensitive, and even special in heart and mind, but they aren’t able to govern themselves (as the Russian saying goes: “The master will come and decide what to do”). They weren’t able to do it over the course of their entire history. The only period when Russia prospered was when it was governed by the tsars – from Peter the Great until the last tsar.

Most of these tsars weren’t Russian, but came from the West, and they directed Russia toward the Western path of development. During that time almost all of Russia’s ministers, as well as Russian culture, were “Western.” And this didn’t impede Russia’s development, but rather facilitated the development of Russian culture, literature, and industry – the foundation of Russia, which was created in the nineteenth century. In essence, Russia was built by Europe, but instead of being suppressed by Western influence, Russian culture, Orthodoxy, and science developed beautifully!

Hence, Russia’s present separation from Europe is suicide for it! Russia should imitate the European parliament and government to the letter, with the help of experienced European specialists, the way it did during Tsarist Russia. It cannot manage on its own, since it lacks the experience of the West, whose history and development go back thousands of years. By showcasing its exclusivity, Russia goes against the Upper Force. Hence, this country will once again develop unsuccessfully.

Incidentally, the Jews in Israel have the opposite problem: they are striving to be like the West, but according to their Upper Goal they must strive to create a spiritual society and become an example for the entire world. This is why the Upper Force is against them.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Neither Side Is Right In the Georgian War
Laitman.com Post: Why Does Everyone Hate Israel?
Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam

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