Entries in the 'book' Category

Why Is The Financial Crisis Causing A Revival Of Anti-Semitism?


News Report (translated from news.ru.co.il): A series of anti-Semitic actions are taking place in Germany. Over 800 anti-Semitic acts have been reported this year alone. Experts link the rise of anti-Semitic acts to the global economic crisis, which has revived myths of the Zionist conspiracy.

The drastic rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents is also observed in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Greece, and Great Britain.

My Comment: Everything is happening according to the law of nature! They hate and punish us because we do not carry out our mission of “bringing the Light to the nations.”

The only way we will be able to save ourselves, and even earn the world’s respect and gratitude, is by disseminating Kabbalah. See items 70 and 71 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar.”

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Kabbalah’s Solution To The Financial Crisis Differs From The Common Sense Solution

I participated in two conversations for the TV Series “The Butterfly Effect.” One was on the social economy, and the second – on the global solution to the economic crisis.

Speaking with me was Shlomo Maoz, the chief economist at Excellence Nessuah Investment House.

Shlomo Maoz is a famous international economist, who predicted a number of trends in the global economy, and whose forecasts and advice are valued in the financial market. In this case he again expressed the most correct solution from the perspective of common (egoistic) sense! However, Kabbalah’s point of view is different.

His advice on how to overcome the financial crisis is the following:
1. We have to return to “life at home,” work less, restrict the high-tech industry and the Internet, spend more time with our families and maintain a small community. The Internet is the source of the crisis because it has connected the whole civilization on earth into a “small village” (see my comment #1 below).

2. More women should be appointed to management positions because women make business less egoistic, more sensible and flexible, and less arrogant.

This advice clearly echoes the history of Ancient Babylon:
4500 years ago, the ancient Babylonian civilization – which included all of humanity within a closed area – began to experience a global crisis of a “small village”:

  • People discovered that everyone depends on everyone.
  • Every person’s egoism was exposed to the maximum (allegorically speaking, they wanted to rise up to the heavens).
  • Everyone’s hatred for everyone was revealed; people stopped understanding each other (allegorically speaking, their languages became confused).

Then two propositions emerged:
Abraham proposed for everyone to unite “as one family,” which is what Nature compelled them to do. This union could be achieved by using the science of Kabbalah that he revealed.

Others, led by Nimrod, were against this, and since the other path was egoistically clear to everyone, the majority of the people accepted it. Hence they scattered all over the earth, destroying the connections of a “small village” among each other and annulling the globalization.

This is what Shlomo Maoz proposes we do today. The proposition is correct and addresses the problem. However, in our time it cannot be the solution. It is similar to other “solutions,” such as how to break our relationships by means of another world war, or to discontinue our communication artificially. However, there is no going back because today our egoism embraces the entire civilization on earth.

The science of Kabbalah says that we cannot go our separate ways peacefully a second time. Instead, mankind will all but destroy itself by engaging in the Third and Fourth nuclear World Wars. Then only a few people will remain on the Earth, and they will nevertheless correct themselves (our souls) and will attain the goal of  creation – similarity to Nature (the Creator).

In the past, only a few people heeded Abraham’s advice. They later became known as Israel, which means “straight to the Creator.” Today, just like Kabbalah had predicted for thousand years, we find ourselves in the same situation. However, the solution isn’t to disconnect, as this will bring about Nazism and cause us to annihilate each other. The solution lies in creating an even greater connection with each other!

Therefore:

  • Mankind must resolutely restrain all extremists and people who aim to disconnect us, even if it will have to resort to physical coercion.
  • For the sake of survival, every person has to be satisfied with the necessities (see my comment #2 below) and contribute all the excess of his labor to the well-being of the entire society.
  • All mass media and educational systems must provide a global education for mankind.

My Comment #1: Today humanity is experiencing a period that’s similar to the mid-life crisis of an individual. The inertia to move forward that started at birth is running out. Now we have to progress consciously, by our own efforts. We have to understand where we are moving and why: what is the goal? When a person doesn’t understand his goal at mid-life, he starts resorting to extremes: earning a bundle of money,  remarrying someone younger, and so on. His greatest fear is to remain alone with his own thoughts and the ultimate question: “What is this all for?”

This is why now, as strange as it may seem, society is somewhat happy to encounter the financial crisis, because it can hold it accountable for all the incomprehensible negative phenomena it has been facing over the recent years, such as the lack of a clear direction for further development, a dead end in international relations, and geopolitical changes. Now there is an understandable common problem that has to be combated. All the rest can be put aside for the time being.

My Comment #2: Let’s recall an example of the right attitude to the world as told by the Biblical story about the heavenly manna. The people were instructed to gather exactly as much as they needed to eat in one day. All the excess would spoil overnight, because it didn’t belong to them! So, the current crisis is teaching us to get rid of the excess. When the crisis deepens and spreads even more, people will start thinking that it’s useless to make such great efforts to gather something that will spoil anyway.

For more on this, see the newspaper “The Nation“, the book From Chaos to Harmony, and my lecture in Arosa.

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“Kabbalah Revealed” Is A Bestseller


The largest publishing house in Latin America, “Norma Editorial Group,” reports that the book Cabalá para Aprendices (a translation of the English book Kabbalah Revealed) is a bestseller at the international book expo in Santiago, Chile. All 2000 copies that were in stock were sold out on the first day of the expo. An additional edition is urgently being printed for Chile and for the expo’s continuation in Argentina and other Latin American countries.

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The Rhythm Of Music Makes The World Go Round


Questions I received on music, false spiritual teachings, and euthanasia:

Question: What’s more important in a musical composition, wisdom or spirituality?

My Answer: Spirituality.

Question: Is listening to music a waste of time?

My Answer: Not if it helps you keep an intention aimed at the goal.

Question: I once heard the following expression: The rhythm of music makes the Earth go round!

My Answer: That’s poetic and romantic…

Question: According to nature, what percentage of humanity will consciously feel the question about the meaning of life so strong that they will be able to study Kabbalah?

My Answer: There’s no specific percentage – it will be anyone with a point in the heart.

Question: What do you think of false teachings that unconsciously use elements of teachings that were effective in the past?

My Answer: Nothing.

Question: I’m asking because it is these kind of teachings that are leading in the “spiritual market.” What’s their purpose?

My Answer: For us to learn from our mistakes.

Question: How do you view euthanasia?

My Answer: Problematically.

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The Truth Can Only Be Discerned From Within

Dr. Michael LaitmanTwo questions I received on how to be sure that one is following the right path:

Question: I want to find out the Truth with a capital T, but everything I see looks like lies. How can I prove to myself and to others that Kabbalah is true? It’s not enough to say that everything is evil, and only “our Torah” is the truth.

My Answer: Progress and growth always come with the sensation of a mistake and its correction, just like in any tracking system that’s aimed at a particular goal. The feeling of uncertainty, the sensation that things are lies and are false, are all necessary, and you should be glad you feel them.

Only animals don’t make mistakes because they’re governed by nature, whereas man must develop of his own accord. Moreover, we mustn’t suppress these qualities in others; on the contrary, we should encourage them, even if these people end up leaving us. Let them verify and find their own path. Otherwise they won’t become human, but will remain “animals,” as it is written: “All are like animals” – all except those who draw the Light of growth and correction.

Question: There are many groups and schools that study Kabbalah. In your opinion, is every group that studies the authentic sources suitable to study Kabbalah with?

My Answer: Only you can tell which group and manner of study are best for you. Some people still need to go through various mysticisms, religions, and Kabbalah as knowledge (Baal HaSulam describes this when he writes about the “Kabbalists of Jerusalem”). After trying all of these (perhaps even in the next life cycle), they will come to the authentic study of Kabbalah, which is a reception of Light for the correction of one’s egoism. Indeed, this is the only reason for Kabbalah’s existence in this world, the only reason that the Torah (Kabbalah) was given. The Creator said: “I have created egoism and I have created the Torah for its correction,” or in other words: in order for people to attain the quality of “Love for one’s neighbor” – the principal law of the entire Torah and of the entire world.

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The Opposition Between Religion And Kabbalah: Actions Versus Intentions


A question I received: According to Rabash, the chosen people are those who can shift from the externality to the internality, and one’s heart will change with the help of one’s actions. At the same time, you always remind us that the external commandments are no more than external signs, which have no connection with the soul’s correction.

My Answer: When Rabash speaks of “external observance,” he does not mean the physical observance, but the intention “for one’s own sake.” And “inner observance” signifies the intention “for the Creator’s sake.”

As for the physical actions, the Creator said: “I don’t care how you slaughter cattle; the commandments were given for man’s correction.” In other words, the entire connection between actions and commandments lies in one’s intentions, and not in the actions themselves. If a person knew that his actions have no results, he would be extremely grateful to Kabbalah for giving him the correct guidance in life!

The entire opposition between religion and Kabbalah comes down to their assessment of the importance of actions and intentions: What is more important, the actions or the intentions? Indeed, Kabbalah does not deny the importance of the actions (traditions) in forming and managing social boundaries. But religion also has to accept what is written, that actions without intentions are dead and don’t correct a person. The intentions can only be changed through the correct study of Kabbalah.

One has to start by admitting that he is not perfect – therein lies the stumbling block! It’s because religion’s primary goal is to grant man a sense of pride and perfection for observing the prescriptions. He thinks that by doing this, he serves the Creator and the whole world, and everyone is indebted to him.

Kabbalah, on the other hand, shows a person just how phony and imperfect he really is. He sees this in the Creator’s Light, which descends upon him during the study. A person then feels unhappy with the results of his study, but if he is able to rise above this sensation and elevate the truth above the anguish, he progresses. And if he is unable to do this, he veers off the path.

Item 66 of the “Preface to the Book of Zohar” discusses the necessity to make the intention more important than the physical observance. The entire contradiction between religion and Kabbalah lies in their claim as to what is more important.

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Baal HaSulam On Human Nature


Baal HaSulam. “Peace in the World“:
The nature of each and every individual is to exploit the lives of all other people in the world for his own benefit. And all that he gives to another is only out of necessity, in order to use the other even more cunningly, so that his friend will not feel it and will give in to him.

Baal HaSulam. “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar“:
How can man achieve complete equivalence of form with the Creator, so all his actions will be to give to others, if man’s very essence is only to receive for oneself? By nature, we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others. When we give to others, we are compelled to expect that in the end, we will receive a worthwhile reward for it. And if one feels satisfied with his present state, he is unable to make even the smallest movement. Thus, how can one’s every action be only to bestow upon others and not at all for oneself?

Baal HaSulam. “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” item 20:
Our essence is as the essence of all the parts of creation, which is no more and no less than the will to receive.

“Teacher And Student” Is A Connection Between Two Spiritual Levels

The Reshimot Surfacing Today Demand Spiritual Ascent of All HumanityA question I received: Regardless of everything you’ve said about the need for a Teacher in order to attain Kabbalah, I still have a very precise feeling that it isn’t right to settle for intervention from another person, an intermediary between myself and nature. I don’t want to attain it through someone else.

My Answer: You are like a child who decided to be in charge of his own education. If the Creator reveals Himself to you like He did to several special souls such as Adam, Abraham, and Moses, then perhaps you don’t need anything else – not even Kabbalistic books. However, if you’re one of the rest of the souls, then it’s useless to search on your own, because this is how the system itself is built.

“The teacher – student relationship” isn’t something we invented. It isn’t talking about people, but about a connection between the Upper Level and the lower level. We’re only using the quality and interconnection of the system of the souls. There is no other way to have a spiritual birth.

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Individuality And Uniqueness Are Realized By Merging With The Creator


A question I received: You always taught that Kabbalah is a path of individual spiritual development, but now it seems like it requires an individual to dissolve in the mass of humanity.

My Answer: I will answer with a quote from Nikolai Berdyaev’s “Philosophy of Creativity, Culture and Art” (V.1, p.115, M., 1994):

“Freedom of individualism does not create the cosmos but opposes the cosmos. Freedom of individualism is the freedom to separate and be alienated from the world, and separation from the world makes one a slave of the world. For an individualist, the world is always oppressing.

Individualism lowers a person, suppressing the global, universal human essence. The individualist is an enemy of individuality. A person is an organic member of the global cosmic hierarchy and the wealth of his internality is directly proportionate to his connection with the cosmos.”

By working to serve the entire system of souls – the only thing that was created by the Creator, a person merges with this system. It becomes his, and in fact – it becomes him. He then merges with the Creator, realizing his individuality and uniqueness.

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Our Desires Come From The Society

Three questions I received on balancing spirituality with this world:

Question: I heard you say at the children’s lesson that we should envy people who contribute to the group and love others. Should I lie to myself, telling myself that I envy those who contribute even though in reality I envy someone who has a new car, for example? Please give me advice on what to do according to Kabbalah.

My Answer: Continue studying; the group and the lessons will give you the feeling that other values are more important. This is better than surrendering yourself to accumulating things and later finding yourself disillusioned. The Upper World that will start being revealed to you will make you feel vastly more fulfilled than a new car. The car is important to you because society values it. But if your society will value other things, your preferences will change as well.

Question: Sometimes I get angry at the Creator, but in truth I get angry at myself because I ask myself, “Why is the process of correction so lengthy!?” And then I answer myself: “Because I don’t make enough efforts!”

My Answer: You lack the pressure of the correct environment.

Question: I’m having an inner debate: on one hand, I have a new job that’s interesting to me and gives me free time to improving my professional level in order to have a good permanent occupation in the future. On the other hand, I don’t have much energy left after the morning lessons, so I’m thinking of cutting them down, yet this bothers me. What’s the right attitude to have to this situation?

My Answer: You have to finish your professional education so you’ll be able to support yourself and your family, while keeping the study of Kabbalah “on a low burner.” However, in all other respects, devote yourself to the study of Kabbalah. If you keep this balance of time and energy, you’ll succeed in both.

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