The Book of Zohar. Chapter “The Intention in the Prayer” (abridged).

“Each day a voice calls upon all people in the world, ‘This depends on you. Separate a part of yourself and devote it to the Creator.’” At some point in life, thoughts and desires to draw closer to spirituality come to every person, and it depends on us whether or not we heed that inner call.

To correct himself, man needs to receive the strength that exists outside of him, beyond the bounds of his egoism. Hence, all of man’s efforts aim to create the only true desire within him – to feel the Creator!

In spirituality (and, consequently, in corporeality) a person can be in one of three states: lying, sitting, or standing. A newborn infant in our world and a spiritually newborn person develop in the same order. Lying means that the position of the head, the legs, and the body are at the same level. In spirituality, this corresponds to the embryonic state, when all that exists in the ten Sefirot is the same. This is the lowest spiritual state.

Sitting means that the head is above the body, and the body is above the legs, but one cannot use his legs. Such a state is called Katnut (smallness) or VAK. Standing implies absolute distinction between the levels of the head, body, and legs. It is called Gadlut (big state) or GAR. Thus, according to one’s ability to ask for correction, he gradually receives strength from the Creator and grows.

The “time of desire” is an appropriate state for making requests and receiving the answer – the strength for self-correction. The King and Queen are ZA and Malchut. Each blessing constitutes a sequence of individual corrections of man’s soul.

Consequently, man ascends to a Higher spiritual level. Thus, he gradually attains Supernal Unity with the Creator.

Although Kabbalah is considered a secret teaching, it holds no secrets. It is perceived as secret only by those who are still unable to create the spiritual organs within themselves with which to perceive their surroundings. We are the only ones who conceal our surroundings from ourselves in default of the corresponding sensory organs.

As soon as the soul tears itself from egoism altogether, it completely merges with the Creator and is no longer obliged to descend into this world, clothe in a physical body, and receive an additional portion of egoistic desires. A sacrifice to the Creator signifies rejection of the body’s egoistic desires; it is called a “sacrifice,” for our body is no different from that of an animal. Therefore, the aspiration to rid oneself of the animate body and its desires is called a “sacrifice.”

All of the characters described in The Zohar are spiritual objects, Partzufim. Therefore, it is said that the wise (Hacham) sees only for himself, from himself upwards, and cannot pass the Light to others below.

It is hence said that wisdom is found within the heart, as the heart receives from below upwards; whereas he who understands (the Sefira Yesod, Tzadik, the righteous one) shines with the Light of Mercy, Ohr Hassadim, from Above downwards. He sees that he receives for himself, and shines upon the others, i.e., shines upon Malchut, as it is written: “The righteous knows his animate soul.”

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A question I received: I recently started studying Kabbalah, and I am still curious about “practical Kabbalah” and the attributes it uses, such as red strings, holy water, and so on. If these things have been in use for such a long time, then they must also have meaning. For example, a red string symbolizes Rachel who protects a person from the evil eye, or from people’s harmful energy.

My Answer: Practical Kabbalah is when you correct your egoistic qualities, transforming them to the qualities of bestowal and love in practice. This is what is written in all Kabbalistic books, and it is done by studying in a group that unites in order to attain the goal – “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Can you show me any authentic Kabbalistic source texts, from the Ari to Baal HaSulam, that talk about using red strings, fortune telling, holy water, and so on?These things have only a psychological meaning, just like religion. On the other hand, Kabbalah is a practical correction of yourself and as a result of it – attainment of the Creator, in this world, and in this life. This is practical!

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A question I received: You say that Kabbalah has nothing in common with religion. Then why don’t Christians, Muslims, and followers of other belief systems have books on Kabbalah? Didn’t they all come from the Jewish religion?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that all people may keep their respective religions even after reaching the final spiritual correction – adhesion with the Creator. This is a sign that the external actions bear absolutely no relation to spirituality, even though many people want to attribute this to them.

Kabbalah was developed by Abraham in Babylon 4000 years ago. The Jewish religion as we know it today appeared after the downfall of the Jewish people from the spiritual level 2000 years ago. Kabbalah then became concealed (when The Book of Zohar was written), and all that remained is a corporeal, egoistic “imprint” of the previous, spiritual way of life. This is how Judaism was formed in the way it exists today. Later Christianity and Islam also originated from it.

The Jewish religion divides into the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform branches. However, they differ only by having greater or smaller limits of observing the physical commandments. Hence they understand each other, are on the same side of egoism, and work to preserve it. In other words, the aim of one’s actions is inside a person, in the intention “for oneself.”

Kabbalah, on the other hand, summons people to observe the intention “for bestowal” (for one’s neighbor or for the Creator – that is, “outside oneself”), rather than to observe physical actions. It deals with the internality rather than the externality (see item 61 of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”). Hence Kabbalah is opposite to all religions.

This is why all the religions understand each other, but they consider Kabbalah absolutely unacceptable. Humanity will receive many more blows of fate before it will uncover the Creator’s Plan – to come close to Him through one’s intention.

Today Kabbalah is coming back into use, in order to correct man. We have to add it to our lives by beginning to correct ourselves. There is also a place for religion: to remain as a form of culture. This is because Kabbalah reveals the Creator and the Upper World to a person, leaving no room for suppositions about them. In this case, all that remains of religion are customs or traditions.

The reason why the religions are hostile toward Kabbalah is that Kabbalah gives every person an explanation of how to reveal the Creator, and in doing so it negates the need for religion. By giving people a personal connection with the Creator, Kabbalah strips the religious leaders of their power over the people.

Nevertheless, Kabbalists are in favor of preserving religion as a tradition or culture, as a nation’s framework and way of life. At the same time Kabbalah says that we should complement this way of life with the attainment of the Creator – which is the purpose of man’s creation and his perfect state.

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News Report (translated from RB.ru): The global financial crisis, which has brought bankruptcies and countless job losses, has revived the European people’s interest in the ideas of Karl Marx, the founder of scientific communism. Book publishers in Berlin say that The Capital – Marx’s main work – is becoming a best-seller.

Recently the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, was seen reading this book. The German minister of finance, Peer Steinbrueck, said positive things about the book, and even the Pope in Rome praised it for its “deep analysis.” The longer the financial crisis continues, the more confused people become. They are asking, “Why did this happen to me?”

My Answer: I hope that they will come to the idea of Kabbalah just as fast. Universal equality, the idea that everyone deserves to receive what they need and are expected to give according to their natural skills, the idea of mutual guarantee and brotherhood – these are all good things, but only as the means and not the end. They should be a means to make us similar to the Creator, come closer to Him, and attain adhesion with Him. Otherwise these ideas – they way they are usually used – will once again lead to terror regimes and a world war.

Bringing the communist idea to life was a failure because in theory everything is nice and true, but it is impossible to transform man’s egoistic nature into altruism. (See Baal HaSulam’s newspaper “HaUma (The Nation)”). This is where the entire humanity will “stumble.” The crises and globalization will reveal to us that we are tightly interconnected, and hence we must observe the rule of “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” However, our nature won’t allow us to do this. We are ready to destroy one another and the entire world, because we can’t live in a mutual guarantee (See the article “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee).”

Hence, only the method of correcting human nature from egoism to altruism – Kabbalah – will help us survive. That’s because Kabbalah draws the Upper Light on a person, which created us and is the only thing capable of changing us.

Kabbalah will change man, as seen in practice, and will enable us to observe the law of brotherly community within the closed global system of mankind. This is why it is natural for people to be interested in Marx, but his theory cannot be realized in practice. To do this we need the Upper Force that corrects man, and only Kabbalah can provide it for us. I hope that people will soon realize this and will desire to actualize it the good way, instead of inflicting much more suffering on themselves.

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Raising a Prayer” – 2 (abridged)

The first Commandment finds its place in the blessings that King David sang during his offerings in the Torah, where man must fear his Master, for these songs stand in a place called “fear” or Malchut. And all of these written blessings constitute the essence of fear of the Creator, Malchut. And man must sing these songs with his desires in fear.

Man must achieve a level of spiritual development where his desires will coincide with what is said in the texts of these blessings. It is impossible to force someone to wish something; all our feelings are the product, the result of our spiritual level. The Light of that degree influences one’s egoism and corrects it with the power of that degree.  Therefore, man can only ask for correction, but it will come from Above, from the Light, from the Creator.

Here we have a list of degrees that man must gradually go through in his correction. These degrees are usually called Commandments, and in all there are 620 of them between us and the Creator: 613 Commandments of the Torah for Israel (altruism) and seven Commandments of the Torah for all the nations (egoism). Here they are expounded in a different way: since the most important thing is to ask for correction (and if the request is genuine, it immediately receives an answer in the form of Light that descends to it), all of man’s work on himself, all of his efforts in the study, all his work and actions are intended only for creating a true request, MAN.

Hence, the stages of man’s spiritual development are described as his path in prayer; as if he stands and prays, although this process continues within him throughout his life on earth.

The second Commandment is to love the Creator. (As it was repeatedly stated, this feeling is the result of correction; see the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 45, which describes the four stages of one’s sensation of the governance, from darkness to love). It is when through one’s prayer, one reaches Ahavat Olam (great love) and Le El (for the Creator). These two blessings precede the appeal, Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel) and Ve Ahavta Et (and love the Creator), the blessing of the Creator for one’s love for Him that follows the appeal Shema Israel. And this is the secret of love for the Creator.

The third Commandment takes place when one reaches a place in the prayer that is called Lehishtabe’ach (blessed is the Creator). He must then attain praises and blessings of the Creator in his desire, as in parts of the prayer Yotzer Ohr (He who creates Light) and Yotzer HaMeohrot (maker of the stars).

The fourth Commandment is to proclaim the Creator’s unity, i.e., Shema Israel (Hear, O Israel, our Creator is one!). From this point (degree) on, one must express the secret of the Creator’s unity (in all His manifestations to man) in his heart’s desire (one’s heart must be filled only with the sensation of the One, Upper Force). Afterward, the Commandment to remember and remind others of the exodus from Egypt (egoism) is observed, as it is written: “Remember how you were a slave in Egypt.”

The fifth Commandment is for a Cohen to bless the people (the Light’s descent to the Partzuf), so that Israel will be included when the prayer (the Cohanim’s blessing) ascends, for at this time (state), Knesset Israel (all those who correct themselves by aspiring to the Creator and constitute a part of Malchut de Atzilut), i.e., Malchut, receives a blessing (Light).

The sixth Commandment and the desired time (spiritual state or level when man wishes only to give all of his desires, i.e., his soul, to the Creator, meaning that he can act for the Creator’s sake in all of his desires) is to entrust one’s soul with the Creator with complete desire in one’s heart. When one falls (willingly accepts the small state) on his face (Hochma) and proclaims (raises MAN): “I entrust my soul with You, O Creator.” The intentions and desires of his heart are to give his soul completely to the Creator (this desire is the consequence of this spiritual degree and comes naturally to those who attain it).

These six Commandments of the prayer correspond to the 600 Commandments of the Torah. And the remaining thirteen Commandments are required in order to attract the thirteen properties of mercy (thirteen Midot HaRachamim), which include all the rest. The prayer is adorned with 600 Commandments, which corresponds to HGT NHY, to what the prayer, Malchut, receives from ZA.

Happy is he who heeded and focused his desire on this (who was able to raise a proper request for his correction), who completed all that was required each day (in the Creator’s daylight), and directed his heart’s intentions and desires to fulfill this Commandment, which depends on the word.

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We were visited by the President of the University of Haifa – Professor Aaron Ben-Ze’ev (left in the photograph below). Prof. Ben Ze’ev is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the study of emotions and perception. He has written many books and articles on these topics.

There were no contradictions between us. The only difference is that Kabbalah clearly defines every desire and the sensation inside it, and it graduates the sensations according to their levels and qualities. However, the earthy sciences cannot do this, because we can only research something while being on a level above the object being researched. Hence we can research the still and vegetative levels of nature, and a part of the animate level, but we cannot accurately research man since we are at the same level as the object being researched.

This is why psychology isn’t an accurate science. Kabbalah, on the other hand, lifts man above his animate and psychological levels, allowing him to measure and reproduce any sensation, and to examine its cause, process, and consequences.

One of Professor Ben-Ze’ev’s specialties is the research of the feeling of love. He has an enormous amount of empirical data on this, yet this earthly science does not enable him to systematize them. In the future scientists will discover that it’s vitally necessary to systematize knowledge and to have a clear understanding of the nature of feelings and sensations. Then this “crisis” will lead psychologists to Kabbalah.

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Watch this video!
The souls reincarnating today are ones we have suppressed in the past, trying to turn everyone into robots. Whether one is secular or religious, everyone has his own canon. However, today the souls can no longer be overpowered. They will overcome us and put us on a completely different path, in spite of our bourgeois way of thinking.

I am glad to see this kind of thinking surface in humanity, which is presently on the still (inanimate) level.

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A question I received (my responses appear in bold): You say that that the massive crises – economic, ecological, and others, will eventually bring humanity to correction, though the path will be bitter. But don’t you think that if there won’t be any food left in the supermarkets, this will give rise to many informal power structures on the streets, who will try to survive at any cost – by stealing and killing for a loaf of bread? And all these crises will beget only more evil and hatred between people? I agree!

“Where there’s no bread – there’s no Torah,” – this is something you said. If a person is desperate, if his friends and family are dying from hunger and disease, and it’s too dangerous to show your face outside, will he really go and start studying Kabbalah? Keep in mind that there won’t be any Internet when there are no computers and electricity. I can tell you for sure that in this situation people will not study Kabbalah – neither now nor in 232 years (at the end of 6000 years). I agree!

Even if I understand that the science of Kabbalah is necessary, even if I have a point in the heart and I know about this science and the method of studying it, still, if someone in my family will be starving to death, then I won’t be sitting and reading books. And this is truer for the people who don’t even know about Kabbalah’s existence. I agree!

The point in the heart appears when you already have everything and realize that it hasn’t fulfilled you, and that there’s nowhere else to go. But when you’re thinking about how to get your hands on a glass of drinking water in order to survive, then no one will care about any points in the heart. I agree!

My Answer: I agree with you completely and I myself have underlined the rule: “When there is no bread – there is no Torah.” This means that there are situations when people are only concerned with survival, and then all the laws are abolished and everything is determined only by the necessity to survive (with the exception of murdering others in order to save your own life).

However, your arguments overlook the four phases of the development of desire. It is not the size of the desire that grows, but its ability to recognize the source of its emptiness and fulfillment. It’s because everything takes place under the influence of the Light. You will discover that your acquaintances don’t merely suffer, but they will suddenly begin to understand the reason for their suffering – that it is purposeful and has a final goal.

You should help them reach this realization quicker – then the suffering will recede. After all, it’s being revealed in us only to provoke this realization! This is why the dissemination of Kabbalah is so essential: when the masses understand the Creator’s plan even slightly, this will defer great suffering – and suddenly affluence and peace will appear in the world.

I suggest that you review the book From Chaos to Harmony, my lecture in Arosa, and the materials on the article “The Future Generation.” One spark of the Upper Light was enough to give rise to our entire world and the entire universe. And this one spark is sufficient to correct this world, which it had created in the first place! All that’s needed is our collective desire!

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The Upper Light shines upon one who is engaged in the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah, even though he doesn’t feel it, because he is not yet corrected in order to receive this Light. Nevertheless this illumination from afar gradually corrects him, making him fit to receive the Light within.
Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 155

All the obstacles that come to a person are from the Creator, in order to push him toward spiritual development, so he will not stay satisfied with his current condition. Only for those whom the Creator wishes to bring closer does He send help by showing them that they don’t advance in spirituality, sending them hindering thoughts against the Creator.
Baal HaSulam, Shamati article, There is None Else Besides Him

The goal of creation is to please the creatures, and as long as a person doesn’t receive all the abundance that the Creator prepared for him, this means that he still hasn’t reached the goal of creation.
Rabash, article, “The Essence and Correction of the Creation”

It is man’s duty to reach the goal of creation by correcting himself. The correction lies in acquiring the intention of bestowal. To the extent one has this intention, one receives that which the Creator has prepared for him.
Rabash, article, “The Essence and Correction of the Creation”

A person should not correct anything about his externality but only his internality – his “I,” his egoism. It cannot be corrected through any actions, such as fasting and other restrictions. On the contrary, egoism loves such actions because it can be proud of them. Correction lies in feeling one’s insignificance relative one’s friends – those with whom one studies Kabbalah, but under no circumstances relative others.
Baal HaSulam, “Pri Chacham – Letters,” p.75

A small hole in the heart is enough for a person to return to the Creator, but under the condition that it will be as a needle stuck into living flesh, and not dead.
The Kotzker Rebbe (Rabbi Menachem Mendel), “There is No More Whole Broken Heart,” p.30

The holy war is not a war between people but against yourself. It’s when you strike blows against the evil inside you and tell the good in you, “Grow.”
Rav Kook, “Maamarei Reiya,” 508

Numerous false doctrines will arise before the coming of the Mashiach. You can save yourself from them only by studying The Book of Zohar every day. Even if you don’t understand anything in this book, this is already enough for cleansing the heart.
“Ohr Yasharim.” Mira Dah’ya

Studying of The Book of Zohar for one hour brings more than studying the simple commentary for a year.
“Kisseh Melech,” Tikkun 43, ch. 60

The Creator can’t have more pleasure than when people study Kabbalah. Moreover, a person was created only for the study of Kabbalah.”
Rabbi Chaim Vital, “Introduction to Shaar HaHakdamot”

While the Creator conceals Himself, He allows evil, but not to the point of the complete destruction of the world. Through this, one later reveals the oneness of the Creator and the correction of all evil by His Mighty Power.
Ramchal (Moshe Chaim Luzzato), “Da`at Tevunoth” p.185

There is no action in the world that does not come from the Upper Light.
Ramchal, Adir BaMarom, p.227

All the commandments, though they seem to talk about physical actions or verses to be pronounced, are intended only for correcting the heart, because the Creator only demands the correction of the intentions that are in the heart.
Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, “Yesod Mora” p.8

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The last issue of “The Economist” features the headline: “World on the Edge”:

The purpose of our world is “To bring the creature to equivalence with the Creator,” and it is attained by observing the rule – “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Nature (or the Creator – whatever you prefer) will force us to do this one way or another.

People who do not know about this see the world’s present condition as catastrophic. However, it’s in our power to quickly change the direction of the process. For more on this, see Part 2 of the book From Chaos to Harmony.

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