The entire healing process occurs through the realization of evil, through feeling the evil with the help of the poison. The symbol of medicine is a snake wrapped around a cup of poison. At first it may seem like this is something that causes the greatest harm to a person and makes him die. But actually, it acts on the contrary – it heals a person.

How is it possible for the same thing be a source of both life and death? The fact is, it is the person who determines how this source will influence him. He is the one to determine whether the drop of poison will be a poisonous or healing for him.

Some people desire to examine human nature and to understand how to cure it. Others use the same examination to learn how to turn poison to medicine. And others yet only use the medicine. However, they must realize that they are ill, at least to some extent! They have to understand what it means to live, what it means to die, what is good and what is evil, and to learn that there is a medicine that allows them to go from one state to another.

A person has to know that there is a “doctor” he can come to, someone he can pay to receive treatment, and that this treatment might be painful. But in a way, he does have to participate in the healing process.

The entire human development occurs under the supervision of the trustworthy, genuine Doctor. Humanity has received the medicine, and it has gone through a process of development. And now is the time for people to participate in this process independently. Why? Because one reaches the degree of “human” by participating in the general system, by building it and desiring for it to be built in order to reveal the system of Adam – the system of souls that are connected to each other through bonds of giving. This makes them similar to the Creator’s quality.

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Two questions I received about myself:

Question: Are you a mystic?

My Answer: I am a rational, down-to-earth man. Mysticism has never appealed to me. Even if I have feelings that seem “mystical,” I feel them because I attained them for myself. This is a sensation of the Creator, a sensation of crossing over, a sensation of commonality, of a single force and a field of love. All of this is mine. This is my reality because I live it and breathe it. Therefore, it is not mysticism for me, but an unfolding wider world. So, call me a “mystic” if you wish, but to me this means the attainment of a higher, wider range of vision, where attainment is not mysticism.

Question: Are you a prophet?

My Answer: People often ask me this question. To me, a spiritual sensation is not prophesy, but the reality in which I live. And if you will ask me, “What will happen tomorrow?” I will tell you unequivocally, “I don’t know.” And none of the prophets knew it. They were simply saying, “If you don’t do what you’re supposed to, then things will be very bad for you.” And they could describe the “bad things” that would happen because they knew the laws of Nature and what will happen if people don’t comply with them. This is what they described.

“But if you behave well,” they explained, “then all of this evil will transform to goodness. We, the prophets, do not know what will actually happen. We are telling you about Nature’s (or the Creator’s) plan, and the rest depends on you.” I also don’t know what will actually happen in the future. It depends on our choice: what path will we choose to get to the originally set goal – equivalence to the Creator.

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Questions I received on the commandments, the Hassidut, prayer and the Creator:

Question: Why do you teach that the 613 commandments are actually 613 desires?
My Answer: Because the only thing that was created is the desire, which was then separated into 613 parts. Our task is to correct the aim of this desire from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of others.” It is written, “I created evil (egoism) and created the Torah for its correction, because its Light returns one to the Source, to Goodness.”

Question: While you omit some commandments, you don’t reject others: you and your students wear Kippahs (skullcaps) and some of you have beards. Incidentally, wearing the Kippah is a relatively late commandment – given in approximately 1700.

My Answer: One’s appearance bears absolutely no relation to the commandments or the correction of one’s desire from egoistic to “love your neighbor as yourself” (the general commandment of the whole Torah).

Question: Why don’t you view the point in the heart in the same way as the Hassidut, which defines it as an awakening of the intelligent soul, which exists in the right part of the heart?

My Answer: The point in the heart is an aspiration to the Creator, which pertains to the quality of bestowal – “the right portion of the desires,” and the “heart” refers to the collection of all of a person’s desires. However, the physical heart lacks any desires whatsoever. What if a heart transplant was performed and a righteous man received the heart of a wicked person? Is this forbidden by the Torah?

Hassidut (the authentic one) comes from the word Hesed – goodness, which develops only in a person who studies Kabbalah. That’s because the study of Kabbalah is the only way to draw the Light of Correction to yourself.

Today the only thing remaining of Hasidut is the externality. It consists of rituals and the literal interpretation of the texts. This is why they interpret the statement, “Goodness lies in the right part of the heart,” literally. Kabbalah, on the other hand, explains the true meaning of these words.

Question: Why don’t you view a group of students as a Minian (traditional group of at least ten men) of those who pray?

My Answer: Prayer occurs during the studies, when a student asks the Creator for correction, and to help him attain the degree that he is learning about. Then, over the course of the day, he aspires for this transformation to take place, as it is written, “And he prays the entire day.”

Question: Some of the people who pray reach Lishma, even though they start out in Lo Lishma. This is exactly the same as your students! I am convinced that “all roads lead to Rome,” but apparently, you don’t think so?

My Answer: I don’t think, but I know, that no one reaches Lishma without studying Kabbalah thoroughly and correctly. And in order to understand my answers, you have to study it as well.

Question: If the Creator or the Upper Light is constant and does not change, then how could He have restricted Himself? And how is it possible that the Creator created anything?

My Answer: Constant and unchanging means that He does not change His intentions and actions – He is always “Good and does Goodness,” despite the fact that His actions seem contradictory to us.

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In the News: (from Information Age Prayer): Information Age Prayer is a subscription service utilizing a computer with text-to-speech capability to incant your prayers each day. It gives you the satisfaction of knowing that your prayers will always be said even if you wake up late, or forget.

We use state of the art text to speech synthesizers to voice each prayer at a volume and speed equivalent to typical person praying. Each prayer is voiced individually, with the name of the subscriber displayed on screen.

Choose a religion and a prayer from the menu. It’s only $5 a month, and a prayer for a child is only $2.

My Comment: The wonders of service in the 21st century. Kabbalah defines “prayer” as a person’s desire to correct his egoism to the quality of love and bestowal. This is the one true prayer! And that’s because this is the only thing a person has to do in life. This is the only desire that receives acknowledgment from the Creator. All the others simply don’t reach Him. This fact is easily confirmed simply by looking at the history of humankind.

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A question I received: If love of others is a law, then how can anyone possibly fail to abide by it?

My Answer: A while back I knew a person who didn’t consider radiation a serious health hazard and believed that vodka would cleanse the body of it. So, he exposed himself to radiation a few times, and died soon after. The point is that there are forces in Nature that man doesn’t perceive, but they still affect him.

The science of Kabbalah reveals the whole of reality to man, including all of its laws, which invariably operate and cannot be escaped. We always exist in the same world, under the influence of the same laws, but we reveal them gradually. If we weren’t revealing certain laws now, it would be easy to ignore them and say that we’re doing ok.

Today we are revealing the Upper, Spiritual layer of reality – the unity between the souls and the place where the breaking of the souls occurred. Of course, we are free to ignore this, to pretend that nothing’s happening. But once we run out of food and are afflicted with all kinds of other miseries, people will quickly see that there is no choice but to recognize these things.

The Creator is a universal, active law – the general law of reality, and humanity must discover it. All the parts of humanity are completely interconnected, similar to the human body, where every part cares for every other part. This is the true meaning of love. People’s customary understanding of love is the pleasure that comes from fulfilling oneself, whereas true love is pleasure that’s felt from caring for others’ fulfillment. This is the meaning of being global.

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A question I received: What exactly will the new system of upbringing teach? Will people learn a simplified version of Kabbalah?

My Answer: Don’t call it Kabbalah, call it “bestowal.” The world’s problem is that people lack the right relationships. That’s why they can’t organize a system that will work in the new, modern conditions. And therefore, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the global system to people.

“To serve the creatures according to the Creator’s precepts” means to treat people according to the true laws of Nature. “The Creator’s precepts” are the true laws of Nature, and “serving the creatures” means creating a connection among the creatures that will follow the universal law of Nature. This should clear up any confusion.

That’s why the first thing Baal HaSulam says is that all of humanity must agree to perform this work. And why wouldn’t anyone agree to it – what can be bad about treating each other well? We will all prosper and develop, and in addition, this is not only best for us, but it is also the Creator’s (Nature’s) desire. Therefore, if we only move in this direction, He will meet us halfway. Thus, there is a likelihood of success from both sides: the people want this as they have no other choice, and Nature – the Creator – has established it as a firm law.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” 03.05.2009)

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Questions I received on perception, what the Creator wants from us, and how to use an ascent:

Question: Kabbalah says that everything is within us, including the Creator. But it also says that we must come out of ourselves and feel others. Isn’t there a contradiction?

My Answer: We perceive everything within our desires. However, these desires can either be “for oneself,” meaning within oneself, within one’s egoism, or “for others,” meaning outside of oneself, outside of one’s egoism. Either way, we perceive only what enters our senses.

Question: What does the Creator want from us? I don’t understand this at all. The only thing I understand is that I am the will to receive pleasure and He bestows all the pleasure. And if I want to attain His plan, I have to become like Him by attaining complete equivalence to the desire to bestow. This is necessary in order to attain His thoughts and ways. Am I on the right track?

My Comment: So far, yes. And you will reveal all the rest for yourself through your “conversations” with the Creator.

Question: How do you use an ascent most efficiently? I’m talking about the state where you are overwhelmed with emotion, with the importance of the goal, the unity of souls and so on. After a Congress there is always a very clear, tangible sensation of a new degree, and I want to make the most out of it.

My Comment: Immerse yourself in the books and try to discern new things in the text.

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A question I received: Can a person who isn’t Jewish acquire a soul? According to Kabbalists like Rabbi Hiya, the soul (Neshama) can only be acquired by a person who observes the Torah.

My Answer: Of course, Rabbi Hiya is right. Every person who aspires to the Creator is called Israel. Every person who corrects his egoism according to the condition, “I created egoism and the Torah for its correction,” is considered a person who observes the Torah and the 613 commandments (he corrects the 613 desires of the soul). He then receives the Upper Light, the revelation of the Creator, inside his corrected desires, called the soul.

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A question I received: You are saying that if we don’t reach correction, there will be a famine. This is clear on the global level. However, what can a regular person do? What can he implement in practice, if he lacks any special opportunities to influence the world?

My Answer: Most of all, he affects the world with his thoughts, since “everything is clarified in the thought.” Our connection does not happen though the electric wires of the Internet, the sound waves of our voices, the picture on the computer screen or even in live contact. The entire connection between us takes place in our desires.

The Creator did not create anything besides the desire. We perceive different levels of the development of the desire as the matter of this world – the inanimate, vegetative, and animate matter, in the form of gases, liquids, solids, and plasma. But all of this is only in our imagination. We imagine that we exist in time, motion, and space.

However, these things are not real – it is only the way reality is depicted in our uncorrected qualities. However, beyond the visible picture of reality, the operating force is the desire. Therefore, every person, no matter how far he is from others, exists in this system and influences everyone in it through his desire.

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A question I received: What does the “breaking of the covenant,” which is considered a great sin in religion, mean from the point of view of Kabbalah?

My Answer: The covenant is when one attains adhesion with the Creator through equivalence of form with Him. Equivalence of form is attained by correcting one’s absolutely egoistic nature to its opposite: bestowal and love, the Creator’s nature. If a person reaches this state, he has to guard it. But let’s get there first.

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