The world recently celebrated International Earth Day. Maybe people should organize an international day when they will attempt to hate, lie and use their children the same way they hate, deceive, and exploit others. This will help people realize how much they have to change, and at the same time, that it is impossible for them to change on their own.

Then, the strategies currently used by the G-20 leaders for coming out of the crisis will not be necessary anymore. People will stop attempting to carry out these plans because they will realize that they only worsen the situation. People will then understand that they are at a point of no return and they cannot come out of the situation using the old tactics. However, they also don’t have a new method to replace the old one.

If people will understand the reason for the current crisis, they will stop causing more suffering to themselves. That is to say, they will stop eliciting a negative reaction from Nature. But if people won’t realize that the cause of the world’s present condition is man’s egoistic nature, they will remain in this predicament.

Furthermore, people will have to realize  that they are unable to correct their nature, because the correction can only happen by using the Upper Force. Otherwise, as Baal HaSulam explains in Item 70 of “The Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” our suffering will get even worse.

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Two questions I received on our relationships with others:

Question: Am I correct to understand that those who study Kabbalah will end up happy because they will understand reality and will feel well. But those who don’t study it will be unhappy and will remain in the state of suffering and need. Is this true?

My Answer: It is true, but on the other hand, everyone is connected to everyone within the general system of the souls. Therefore, it is impossible for anyone to feel goodness as long as someone else feels evil.

A person encounters many obstacles in the process of correcting his egoistic nature. These obstacles include those caused by his connection to all people. On the other hand, the world must still experience more suffering in order to desire correction. There is no other way for humanity to advance.

Question: The change we have to make is to create new relationships with people, that will be based on love for one’s neighbor. Will this also solve the problems in the world that are caused by improper relationships between people?

My Answer: This is precisely what will revoke all the misfortunes in the world! There is no problem in the world other than the improper connection between people. When there is a lack of the right connection, the Creator is concealed, and when we reveal the right connection between us, we reveal Him.

The return of the right connection between people is called “the return of the Creator into the creation.” The connection between people is called the Creator, from the word Bore: Bo – come, and Re – see. We see Him inside the connection between us.

This is why the commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the most important commandment, encompassing all of man’s corrected actions.

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A question I received: I’ve been reading your books for a while now. I grew up in a Christian family, but all my questions went unanswered. You mentioned many times that the Bible is not to supposed be interpreted literally because it is written allegorically. I was convinced of the same thing a long time ago. But why does the Bible use the notion of sacrifice for sin? Why is there a need for the commandments of the sin offering, considering that the most important belief in Christianity is that Christ offered himself in sacrifice for the sins of the world?

My Answer: The entire Bible (Torah) speaks about how to correct man’s egoism in order to reach the level of complete equivalence with the Creator. When the Bible enumerates all the possible sins, it is speaking of the revelation of the human ego.

This means that when a person reveals his own egoism, he feels that he is a sinner because he uses others for his own benefit. However, the Bible (Torah) also offers a solution, telling us how to correct our egoism. It explains the different levels of the ego (still, vegetative, animate and human) as well as the method of correcting the ego. More exactly, it tells us how to correct our intention from “for my sake” to “for the sake of others.”

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A question I received: How can someone who feels bad and is suffering from the crisis pass on the message and the method of becoming good? After all, you don’t ask a poor person advice on how to make money!

My Answer: A person who feels bad doesn’t have the method of correction. Otherwise, he would feel good. In fact, the correction of the world depends entirely on how we feel inside.

However, if a person knows that this suffering is related to his lack of correction, the shift from egoism to bestowal, then he has to share this knowledge and feeling with others.

Therefore, it is everyone’s duty and obligation to disseminate this wisdom to everyone.

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A question I received: What is the idea behind correction? What corrects me?

My Answer: Correction is when you attain the quality of “faith above reason,” where faith is the force of bestowal that’s above our egoistic nature, and “faith above reason” is when you want to use this force to bond with others. You then forget about yourself and rise above this world.

People can and will have to accept this condition in order to rise above their nature, because this is the law of existence in an integral, interconnected system. This system is similar to the human body or the whole universe, where everything is connected to and depends on everything.

In a closed system, everyone depends on everyone else. If someone does something bad, it means that others made him do it. The offender has no freedom of choice because he follows the example set for him by others. Therefore, if someone behaves badly, then it’s my fault, not his.

Knowing this, a person can step out of his egoistic rationality and enter irrationality. Why? It’s because the human level is higher than the animate one, and therefore the only way to ascend to the human level is to reject your present rationality and accept the higher irrationality. One must accept bestowal above reason (meaning, above one’s egoism) and connect to others according to the rule, “love your neighbor as yourself.”

This is the rational form of life for a human being, because a human being is someone who is connected to everyone in the society. Today, however, we don’t have a society, because humanity is not a society. We call it a “civilization,” which means that everyone lives together, but everyone tries to infringe on others. Human society, on the other hand, is when all people are connected together.

This is the stumbling block of the politicians and financiers today. They are looking for a regulator on the animate level, and this approach will lead them to greater failures until people will separate from each other altogether.

Today people already recognize that the lack of connection between them is evil. But they still don’t understand that the only way to create a connection is for each person to rise above his egoism. We will eat only if everyone will desire to spoon-feed each other.

So, the only solution is to organize our environment better. The mass media and upbringing have to transmit the Light that will gradually change people. The society will then reach a pragmatic understanding that we all have to play the game of bestowal and love, displaying these qualities to one another. This is the only way to change ourselves, and without it, we simply won’t survive. Our salvation lies in the environment’s ability to influence every one of us.

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The law of nature is a force that pushes us to attain complete interaction and become an integral part of Nature. It influences us gradually, to the extent we develop, using reward and punishment to guide us like an intelligent judge or teacher. This law is strict and merciless toward us, like a strict judge, and we shouldn’t forget this.

However, we still don’t feel that we have to follow this law – the law of interaction between us, or the law of mutual guarantee. We have not yet been placed at the guillotine, where anyone who doesn’t carry out the law is put to death.

However, history already has a simple example that is understood by all: the Holocaust that befell the Jewish people. This process began to evolve slowly, and people could have changed themselves and the situation. That is, they could have corrected themselves by studying the science of correction – Kabbalah. In fact, this is what Kabbalists summoned people to do even before Ward War II began.

All the conditions for correction were given to the people from above, but the people didn’t meet these conditions consciously and correctly. And that is why the law suddenly began to act rigorously, like a volcano that erupts. And it affects everyone until people will follow it to the letter.

We should stop and think about the fact that history may repeat itself.

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A question I received: If someone came to you from an international news agency such as CNN and asked you to describe the wonderful method that you have, what would you tell them?

My Answer: This method shows us how to overcome the crisis that is now being revealed and spreading into all areas of our lives. Our survival is at stake, so if we want to save ourselves from destruction by natural disasters, famine, epidemics, and other misfortunes, we have to realize that the correction of our global situation depends on one thing: the establishment of interpersonal relationships as though we are members of one family. I think this example speaks for itself and requires no further explanation.

Anyone can envision a family whose members understand that they are connected and interdependent, who take care of one another and live together. This is the kind of relationship that we must develop among all the people on earth!

To this end, we have to explain to everyone that we are all interdependent and can do nothing to escape this connection. This understanding will oblige people to unite. Everyone should understand that by uniting, they will eliminate all the problems in the world.

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A question I received: Why did the Earth’s population have to reach seven billion people? Is it to prepare humanity for making the leap to a new state?

My Answer: The entire path humanity has gone through was necessary for just one thing: to bring people to the recognition of evil. This is the point from which correction begins.

The population growth is related to the constant growth of our “will to receive,” or the desire to feel pleasure. This desire has to be divided among billions of people since otherwise it would be too big for each person and impossible to correct. When it is divided over a large number of people, it becomes possible for each person to correct his personal, small egoism. So, it is the level of egoism that determines the world’s population size.

Everything is planned. When there is a possibility that a smaller number of people will carry out an intenser correction, this causes a war. In times of great suffering, people become more sensitive to others and are more willing to make concessions. Correction can then be achieved by a smaller number of people, and therefore a large part of the population dies.

Everything is determined by the level of the will to receive and the need to correct it. This is not decided at the level of our world, but is determined by the Upper Governance.

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A question I received: Suppose that all of humanity gets together as one family and decides that they will divide all the resources fairly between all seven billion people. But what will happen if people remain inside their egos, which only continue to grow?

My Answer: It is impossible to do what you describe without correction. Therefore, the way to all of this should be paved by education. When I say “education,” I mean the teaching and explanation about one’s freedom of choice, the goal of creation, the essence of a human being, how we perceive reality, and the development of humanity by way of egoistic development. It’s because we have to learn how to live in the new, unified, interconnected system. We cannot run away from this system, and thus we have no choice.

You are like a fish caught in a net, and in order to survive, you have to learn the laws of this net. We must now learn the laws of the new global world and pass them on to the whole of humanity. People have to understand these laws and the fact that they have no choice. Otherwise, they will be pushed to the same thing by suffering, until they will finally start to obey the common law of nature against their will.

This is how the laws of Nature are becoming revealed. Kabbalah and Bnei Baruch are not trying to give people orders as to what they should be doing. Rather, they have to understand these things and agree with them, at least in part. However, in order to get there, there has to be a permanent media campaign that would show people examples of the correct behavior. All of this should be encouraged by society, and it can only happen when people will realize that this is the only possible choice.

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Questions I received on observing religious practices:

Question: I practice Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments) in my daily life and my practice often becomes mechanical – not spiritual. You state that Kabbalah has nothing to do with religion, yet it seems inextricably linked to Torah.

Please advise me on how I can re-engage with the Mitzvot in a way that will correct my “desire to receive” to a “desire to give.” Surely that is what they are for. Please shed some light on the connection of the Mitzvot to Kabbalah, and the significance of the Mitzvot for a Jew.

My Answer: Kabbalah is the method of the soul’s correction by means of revealing the Creator. The soul bears no relation to the body.

If you want to follow the tenets of Judaism, it’s your business. Personally, I abide by this framework because it is the tradition of the nation I belong to. However, I have hundreds of thousands of students who are not Jews and who do not follow these commandments. This does not impair their spiritual development in any way. It is written: “They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” and “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” This means that everyone will unite by revealing the Creator.

Kabbalah was revealed in Ancient Babylon to everyone, and today it is being revealed to everyone again. Regardless, every person can practice his own external cultural traditions.

Question: How can we observe 613 commandments if we are not Jews? Where can we find the list of these commandments? How do I observe Shabbat and holidays: should I go to a synagogue or a Kabbalah center that observe such events?

My Answer: The 613 commandments are the correction of 613 desires. These desire will only be revealed inside you after you cross Machsom. They are not related to any actions in our world – they are desires.

Religious actions, however, are traditions and do not correct a person or his soul. It’s not necessary to observe them in order to attain the goal of creation. They are there for you in case you want to be connected to the culture of your people.

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