A question I received: Is there some optimistic side to the current crisis?

My Answer: I am the greatest optimist with regard to the crisis. Kabbalists see it as the starting point for our humanity’s correction and the end of all of our misfortunes.

The present crisis shows us how separated we are. The lack of unity is being revealed in almost everything: in the economy, trade, and in all social and political relationships.

We still lack a common understanding of the fact that egoism is the cause of all evil, but more and more people are already beginning to realize that the root of the problem is in the relationships among people, meaning that we should not just build the proper economic or other mutually beneficial connections. We are required in this global world to make heart to heart connections, and this is precisely what Nature is demanding from and dictating to us.

We should understand that we depend on each other and that the realization of this interdependence will enable us to achieve love. Of course, this is a gradual process, but the current crisis is just its beginning. This is the stage when the symptoms of the illness are being revealed and the diagnosis is being given. We need to reveal just how incorrect the system of our relationships really is. This will be the last stage, the end of humanity’s troubles.

Humanity’s previous stages of development had to pass practically without the person’s personal participation. Only now has the time come for Kabbalah to be revealed as the means of correction, and only now will the person be able to affect his fate by himself. Until recently, we had no opportunity to change anything.

This continued until the middle of the 20th century, when for the first time the interconnectedness of the system of souls began to be revealed. This revelation is occurring gradually and in the most unpleasant of forms – so that we would understand the need for correction.

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In the News (from BBC): Military spending sets new record – Global military spending rose 4% in 2008 to a record $1,464bn (£914bn) – up 45% since 1999, according to the Stockholm-based peace institute Sipri. “The global financial crisis has yet to have an impact on major arms companies’ revenues, profits and order backlogs,” Sipri said.

My Comment: The progress is evident. However, no one threatens anyone. Military race is needed only to have an opportunity to steal. Wars are needed to get rich on military orders. The entire game boils down to pumping out the state’s funds into someone’s personal pockets. The race will stop only with the beginning of egoism correction. However, until then the race will only grow, in fact, race will stop only with the beginning of egoism correction…

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A question I received: I completed the ARI Online beginner and advanced classes, and for the past two years have been attending your online classes daily. I’ve studied Pticha, Shamati, and The Book of Zohar. Your wisdom is profound. But, lately, the only portion of the lesson that that I feel I can relate to is Talmud Eser Sefirot. The abstract seems more real to me than the discussions concerning present world conditions. Is this normal, or am I losing my way?

My Answer: It’s temporary. You will discover that Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator in our world and is realized by studying correction of oneself and of the whole world. To the extent one is corrected, one perceives the world as unified and transparent, for all of universal creation is perceived by us in a single desire that was created. It begins to appear as unified, and all of the worlds will appear as sensations in different layers of that single desire.

Subsequently, the study material, too, will begin to reveal one and the same thing, only in different languages. Finally, everything will come to be seen as one picture, static, whole and perfect.

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A question I received: Since I cannot contact you directly, let me throw out some burning questions…

My Answer: I’m here for you on this blog, in direct contact with you!

Question cont’d: Do you consider Kabbalah to be a complete and absolute wisdom that cannot be supplemented by anything?

My Answer: Every person who attains Kabbalah today adds his part to it, along with the Kabbalists of the past. It works the same way in any science. However, in Kabbalah, this is done through one’s attainment by the method of correction, rather than through egoistic knowledge or theories. So, you are welcome to reveal and supplement the general picture with your own observations.

Question cont’d: Say a person has attained the full correction, but was forced to return to this world in order to complete certain tasks. Does he have to undertake the correction of the entire corrupted world once again? In other words, one’s individual correction is not final until one leaves this world?

My Answer: That’s correct.

Question cont’d: Were there any Kabbalists in the Sanhedrin aside from Kayafa? If yes, what was the percentage?

My Answer: All 120 members of the Sanhedrin were great Kabbalists who attained the Creator.

Question cont’d: Was Avesta knowledgeable in Kabbalah? If so, why did Alexander burn her, considering that all his actions were controlled by the Creator?

My Answer: The Creator governs everything. Avesta and Alexander were like robots that He controlled.

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A question I received: How does the role of the mass media in the process of common correction have to change?

My Answer: Correction of man can happen only under the influence of society. We all have to bond properly as the result of the correction, and in order for this to happen, everyone has to receive examples of correct connections from his environment.

Therefore, we have to use the mass media, the most powerful communication tool, to create the proper environment for everyone in the world. The media has to turn into an instrument of correction for the world in response to society’s demands and by the pressure placed upon it by the government. Only powerful and broad based media will be able to influence a person in such a way that he will feel the need to change his relationship with his environment.

Children have to demand proper conduct from their parents, otherwise they will be ashamed of their parents’ behavior, and each person has to feel ashamed of treating others badly.

This is possible only because of changes brought about by society’s demands. It is in this way that we will make the mass media truly become an instrument of connection, rather having it remain as an instrument of selling to gain profit.

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A question I received: One who does not feel emptiness will not be able to reveal anything. The approaching blows will give people this emptiness. Is there another way?

My Answer: Of course, there is. We know that the appetite is stimulated during a meal or by watching others eat.

Why is this? First of all, you are influenced by society’s opinion. Second of all, Kabbalah explains that desire appears from within (from the Reshimot and Aviut from the Kli) or that desire (appetite) is roused in a person from outside (from the environment, the Aviut from the Light).

If we receive the desire from the Light (“the Light that reforms”), we will come to the goal by the most correct path.

Therefore, if we reveal the cause of even the smallest of blows to the world, it is by understanding their cause that we reveal the Light that comes to us from the corrected state. We then see this corrected state and how wonderful and immense it is compared to our current state. This entices us to move ahead toward the goal, and we will no longer need to be pushed ahead through suffering!

There are two paths: the path of Light and the path of suffering. This is why it is necessary to give the world the explanation of the suffering!

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In the News (from Energy Bulletin): “IEA report to the G8” The International Energy Agency reports that energy investment worldwide is plunging in the face of a tougher financing environment, weakening final demand for energy and falling cash flows – which is primarily the result of the global financial crisis and the worst recession since the Second World War.

…There is clear evidence that energy investment in most regions and sectors will drop sharply in 2009. Preliminary data points to sharp falls in the demand for energy, especially in the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) member countries, contributing to the recent sharp decline in the international prices of oil, natural gas and coal…

Falling energy investment will have far-reaching and, depending on how governments respond, potentially grave effects on energy security, climate change and energy poverty.

My Comment: At the same time, we are being told that we have hit  bottom and are on the rise! The lack of solution forces leaders to hide the actual picture. However, the solution can be found only with the revelation of Kabbalah as a method of correction.

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In the News (from IMD): “Denmark finishes first in stress test on competitiveness, Unites States comes in 28th” The stress test is an analysis of which countries are better equipped to fare through the crisis and improve their competitiveness in the near future … Despite finishing first in the overall World Competitiveness Yearbook rankings, the United States finishes 28th, underlining the concern of the market with the depth of the crisis and the time that it will take to solve it.

Between the 18th and 30th positions comes the group of larger exporting nations led by China (18th), and which includes Taiwan (21st), Brazil (22nd), Germany (24th), Japan (26th) and Korea (29th). Ireland (25th) could have been higher in terms of resilience but the suddenness and the magnitude of the real estate and the financial crisis have probably taken the country aback.

The UK (34th) is in a disquieting position; just as is France (44th), Italy (47th) and Spain (50th), stressing how much the recovery in these countries may be hampered by structural rigidities.

Russia, in 51st position may not have had enough years of economic growth to consolidate the structure of its economy and to create the necessary buffer to cope with a crisis of this magnitude.

My Comment: Nature is swiftly pushing us to look for a solution, and the regular means won’t do the job. This is obvious to all the leaders, political and economic alike.

The solution lies on the social plane: we have to change the social relations. For the first time in history, this is possible, because, as the proverb says, “hunger drives the wolf out of the woods.” Any country that will accept the method of egoism’s correction from egoism to altruism (which must be done through education, not coercion) will set an example for the whole world.

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Baal HaSulam writes in the articles, “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)” and “The Arvut,” that the overarching purpose of creation is for the whole of humanity to reach its correction, known as equivalence of form with the Creator. All the souls have a part in reaching this purpose, because there is just one creation, but it is divided into many parts in order to make the common correction happen more easily.

But besides creation’s division into many parts or souls, all of creation is also divided into the following two parts:

• The part that received the method of correction and implemented it, but later fell back into egoism. This part of creation is called “the people of Israel.”
• The part of creation that did not receive the method of correction. However, when the first part fell, it came closer to the second part of creation, and now both can reach the general, complete correction of egoism in all of creation.

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All people originated from the integral, unified, universal system called “Adam.” Later the connections between the parts of this system were severed, and this is the meaning of “Adam’s fall from grace.” When people will restore these ties, they will begin to appreciate and value the act of correction, the quality of bestowal and love.

Public opinion will make every individual respect and desire the reinstatement of the ties between people. Society will extol the correction of the connections between people, because this correction will guarantee the society’s survival. People will see that actions aimed at correction give them and their children life, energy, oxygen, food and security.

Correction means that people restore the attitude of love and bestowal between them, between parts of the integral system of souls. IF people will truly value and respect this idea, method and practice, then every individual will want to take part in it, even if it does not benefit him personally. People will the aspire to shift from their egoistic state (Lo Lishma) to  the state of Lishma – absolute bestowal and love.

We can see examples of how this works in our world: if a person is considered great, then no matter how evil he is and how much people hate him (just think of Stalin or Hitler), he inspires and demands respect.

The same is true with the quality of bestowal. Even though you might hate it at first, if society will respect it and consider it important and necessary, then you will also begin to respect it and to desire it.

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