A question I received: Whenever I tell religious people that we are opposite to the Creator, they always quote the Biblical verse that we were created in the image of G-d. How can I respond to this? What is “image” in Kabbalah? Is the “image” really a “shadow,” which would mean that we’re exactly the opposite of the Creator?

My Answer: By telling a religious person that we are opposite to the Creator, that we are egoistic and He is Good, you deny their closeness to the Creator. So how could they agree with this, if they consider themselves corrected!? This is where they get their conviction that they are righteous and everyone else is obliged to them; that just by observing the religious prescriptions (which are allegedly G-d’s desires), they are freed from their corporeal responsibilities.

The conclusion to be made from this is: Don’t talk to them until they discover their egoism, their opposition to the Creator, on their own. You shouldn’t make people upset if they are not ready for correction yet. After all, this is exactly why religion was invented – to last until the time when humanity will be ready to attain the Creator.

Then the exile from spirituality, from the concealment of the Creator, will end. Baal HaSulam explains “What is Kabbalah” in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” He writes:

“Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to man in this world” – and by saying this, he immediately erases all of religion! It’s because this doesn’t leave any room for faith in something you were told. Instead of the unfounded tales, one suddenly receives the opportunity and responsibility of clear revelation and attainment of the Creator.

When one reveals this, then he does not just reveal something slightly bigger than our world, the way regular science widens the world for us. Rather, one reveals the Upper World, the Creator Himself! Moreover, Baal HaSulam adds that every person and all of humanity will have to reach this revelation, until all people will clearly feel the Creator just like a person feels his friend, and even closer!

So where is there any room left for belief, if you attain everything yourself and make your own conclusions!? In addition, this allows you to attain immortality, omniscience, and perfection, because revelation is only possible to the degree that you are equal to the Creator. In other words, revelation means that a person acquires the same state as the Creator Himself!

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Questions I received on various discernments one makes along the spiritual path:

Question: Baal HaSulsam says, “Make yourself a Rav and buy yourself a friend.” What is the difference between “making” and “buying?” And how do you make and buy someone?

My Answer: “To make” means to exalt someone (to see them as great), and “to buy” means to invest in someone. For more on this, see Baal HaSulam’s article “A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar.”

Question: What should I do with all the different feelings of sadness and depression that I experience? Most of these feelings are related to thoughts that it will still take me a very long time to correct myself, and to correct the world in general.

My Answer: Become more incorporated into the world Kli, and read quotes of Kabbalists about the importance of what we are doing. Let other readers give you advice about what to read from their experience.

You’re worried that it will take a long time? But you have your entire life, which was given to you just for this!

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time, but I still don’t quite understand – what is a Reshimo?

My Answer: It is information about the future spiritual degree, which demands to be realized.

Question: Why does every person receive a unique situation in life in order to advance?

My Answer: It’s because every person has unique initial properties and a unique final state. Nevertheless, the method of correction is the same for everyone.

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Quotes of Kabbalists

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A question I received: I know that in one of your videos Tony Kosinec states that meditation has nothing to do with authentic Kabbalah. However, Abraham Abulafia has left us with books on how to engage in Kabbalah meditative techniques. While these techniques are different from far-eastern meditative techniques in that Abulafia’s methods require the use of the intellect rather than the negation of it, still meditation has played an important role in the Kabbalah method. Perhaps Baal HaSulam did not find these practices relevant in his system, but does that negate the validity of these meditative practices in other Kabbalistic systems?

My Answer: Sometimes the word meditation is used in Kabbalah to refer to a deep analysis of one’s intentions and qualities. But actually there is no such word in Kabbalah – this is only how people translate the concept of “inner observation” into other languages. Besides, of course there is a difference between the exposition styles of Eastern and European schools.

Instead of trying to sort through all of this, isn’t it better to simply turn to the source that’s closest and most effective for us – the works of Baal HaSulam; and instead of discussing history and geography, to start correcting yourself? What other reason do we have for being in this world?

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A question I received: A recent news report stated that “Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has announced that he will be resigning, following the numerous scandals, investigations and failures of his term in office.” I would like to know what you have to say about this as a Kabbalist.

My Answer: The society’s leaders match the society. The leaders cannot be better than the society because they are produced by it. Moreover, their egoism is even bigger than a regular citizen’s – otherwise they wouldn’t be able to achieve their high positions.

The correction of society must happen from the inside out – it has to start with the masses rather than the leaders. The leaders will never understand anything except their own egoism – the desire to rule, and they will always use the people and the nation to satisfy this desire. History shows us that this law works in 100% of the cases.

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I had a meeting that was recorded with Dan Kaner, the anchorman of radio Kol Israel and a popular Television host in Israel.

Dan Kaner is a true master of the Hebrew language, with extraordinary knowledge of its intricacies, origin, history and evolution. Therefore, it was a real pleasure speaking to him about the Hebrew language as used in Kabbalah.

By origin, Hebrew is a symbol for the forces operating in the universe. It harmoniously expresses the essence of man and nature through letters and symbols (TANTA). Combining and ordering the letters to form words and sentences is a means to describe the order of the creature’s creation and correction, all the way until the full correction – similarity to the Creator or Light. The Torah exemplifies this order. Knowing what forces and actions are indicated by the letters enables one to move all along the process of creation, to become incorporated in it at different stages, and to thereby gain a better understanding of the Creator’s plan.

Dan was very impressed with the wealth that the language of Kabbalah offers in describing the Hebrew language, the sensations that every letter evokes when interpreted Kabbalistically, and the music of feelings that plays in the combination of letters. He understood that Kabbalah enables one to enter the world of letters, symbols, forces and desires – to feel them and their filling with the Light.

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A question I received: I have a question about the moral norms of people who study Kabbalah. You have explained that there is no time or space in spirituality, and our actions in the physical realm are insignificant. What matters is only our mental connection with one another and our thoughts about the Creator. Are you saying that a person who studies Kabbalah in a group can do anything he wants to in the corporeal world, without observing any moral norms, but turn into a wonderful friend as soon as he shows up to the lesson?

My Answer: We are dealing with people who are in the process of development and correction. Their egoism is developing quickly, and only later this is followed by slow and gradual correction. I have been observing this for thirty years already. How many years does a child have to spend getting his diapers dirty and getting help from others until he grows up? In other words, we have to remain patient for many years while the Upper Light does its work, and then the person becomes different! What else can you do, if “man is evil from birth?” It is forbidden to force him to conceal his evil. This will stop his correction, since he won’t be aware of his own evil.

In addition, when one studies Kabbalah one’s evil grows until reaching a state when one cannot tolerate it anymore. This is a wonderful moment because then one is ready to ask the Creator to help him get rid of the evil.

Observing moral norms looks good on the outside, but it is harmful if it prevents one from seeing his flaws. The only solution is to give people the method of correction and the environment for actualizing this method.

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Questions I received on how the physical commandments of Judaism relate to spiritual correction:

Question: You explained that the 613 commandments of Judaism are actually 613 desires. However, isn’t there a danger that people will then prefer spiritual development to observance of physical actions, and then they will fall into the other extreme? Previously people neglected the inner part of the Torah and performed only the physical actions, but now they will do the opposite – drop the outer observance and focus only on the inner meaning. What will happen then?

I used to observe the commandments and could not find the harmony in it. One day I came across www.kab.tv and it made me realize that my hunch was correct – that I was doing only the outer actions just like I was taught as a child. It is very difficult to observe the commandments without feeling the truth in them. Nevertheless, the holy Ari passionately observed all of the commandments relating to the Sabbath. Can you comment on the harmony between inner and outer observance of the commandments?

My Answer: Your personal search will bring you to the right answer. You have to find it on your own. Every person creates his own environment, comprised of physical actions and spiritual aspirations. It may range anywhere from observing the physical actions to the fullest, to not observing them at all. In any case, the most important thing is – “The entire correction is carried out only in thought” (HaKol be Mahshava Itbareru).

Question: In one of your books it says that before the fall of second Temple, our contact with the spiritual forces was more significant and closer because of the Temple and the services held there. To me, this indicates that the rituals in our world play a major role in attaining the spiritual world.

My Answer: This means that back then people performed the action of love and bestowal in all of its manifestations, in every way possible, both on the outside and the inside.

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A question I received: Dear Rav Laitman, Kabbalah says that the Creator’s plan is for creation to come close to the Creator through its intention, by gradually developing while being in its animate body. When the souls (parts of the single eternal soul) attain their utmost development, they no longer have to live in our world. What will happen once all the souls go through all 125 degrees and reunite? Will they no longer need the bodies to serve as a starting point? Will the animate bodies disappear as a species? If not – if the bodies will continue being born, then what for?

My Answer: It is written that when all the souls attain the full correction, then our world will rise to the World of Infinity. This means that the perception of the World of Infinity through the five “bodily” senses will disappear, because these five “bodily” senses will also become corrected and incorporated into the true perception of the universe – the World of Infinity.

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A question I received: In reference to your blog post: Video Conference with Canadian Television: How much longer will people have to get hurt by others in order to finally understand that we are responsible for our actions before the Creator? And as long as each person doesn’t strive to unite with the properties of the Creator, it is impossible to create a group of single-minded people who will support and reinforce each other?

My Answer: The spiritual world operates according to the impulse mode – a digital mode rather than an analog mode. That is to say, there is always a process of accumulation taking place where efforts, knowledge, and perceptions accumulate until they reach a moment when they add up to attain the following spiritual level and turn into a qualitatively new degree.

Today we are at a level where our spiritual state is concealed and we do not see how close we are to reaching the following degree – the first spiritual degree of revelation. Starting with that degree, we will have a better understanding of where we are and how we are advancing.

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A question I received: How does one pray in Kabbalah? I pray every night, yet I find myself asking whether this is the correct way to pray. It seems so egoistic to pray only for my own desires and requests. Does Kabbalah have “instructions” on how to pray, or a general, single prayer that a person can say? Perhaps every person should pray individually, according to how he feels, or is it better to just stop praying altogether?

My Answer: A prayer is a desire that comes from the bottom of one’s heart – the desire to become similar to the Creator, to bestow and selflessly love. This is the only desire that the Creator perceives as a prayer – the desire to be similar to Him, or to attain adhesion with Him. Hence, He doesn’t feel all the egoistic prayers people say, and the entire history of mankind shows this.

This is how the system of Atzilut (the system of the Creator’s connection with the creation or soul) is built: AVI (Aba ve Ima) feel a MAN coming from Malchut (the soul), and react to it by giving Malchut the Light of correction or the Light of fulfillment, depending on what Malchut asks for.

One cannot reach such a request, or the true prayer, alone. This can only be done through a group, by trying to unite with it into one whole, as requested by AVI, and as it was before the breaking of the soul. In addition, it can only be done through studying authentic Kabbalistic books – the original books of Baal HaSulam, because then one is influenced by a special Upper Force called the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). (See item 155 in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”)

Precisely this Light creates the true prayer in a person, which immediately receives an answer from the Creator in that He reveals Himself to the person. This revelation of the Creator is called the evidence (Edut) of the fact that a person will never sin again, that is, that he will never act egoistically under the influence of this revelation. This is why the Upper World becomes revealed to him.

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