In the News (from AFP): “Afghan editor arrested for alleged blasphemy” An Afghan news editor has been arrested for publishing a newspaper article rejecting that religions, including Islam, were passed to humans through divine revelations. If found guilty under Afghanistan’s law, he could face a sentence ranging from a reprimand to the death penalty.

My Comment: All religions are the same in that they are intolerant of anyone who repudiates them. After all, religion is founded upon stories and interpretations about things that ordinary people have never seen and have to believe in. And the belief is not really in God, but in the people who tell them about Him, in the way they describe Him and the conclusions they make. This is how all the religions emerged. Therefore, if we let religion be our authority, we’ll end up with laws similar to those in Afghanistan practiced everywhere.

Religions would have liked to dictate their rules to the society for all time, and the only reason this ended was that egoism developed and the public was given a new, scientific education. As a result, today religions and their rules are there to supplement the laws of the state and the society.

This is why the religions are so afraid of Kabbalah – because Kabbalah reveals the Creator to people, leaving no room for religious speculation about a divine reward and punishment for man’s actions, which is done to intimidate the masses and extort things from them.

However, religion is still in power in some places in the world, and there we can see the true essence of religion.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Religion Is Against Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Opposition Between Religion and Kabbalah: Actions Versus Intentions
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Two questions I received on art and its purpose:

Question: What’s the role of arts and culture in the modern world?

My Answer: The methods and vehicles of art and culture should be used to explain the purpose of life and the means to attain it. After all, there is nothing more to our lives in this world other than achieving life’s inner purpose, the Creator.

Question: The times are changing and the situation is forcing us to limit ourselves to just the bare necessities. What do Kabbalists say about the role of artists and art in our world?

My Answer: The only things that will remain are those necessary and essential for the “new humanity,” or in other words, whatever is needed to reveal life’s cause, purpose, and the best way to attain it. Art will be Kabbalistic – aimed at the Creator, rather than the animalistic existence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Is There Anything Spiritual About Works of Art?
Laitman.com Post: The Difference Between Art and Bestowal
Article: “The Alternative of Our Life”
Article: “Finding the Creator Within”

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In the News (from New Scientist): “Born believers: How your brain creates God” An experiment published in Science supports the idea that religion is a natural consequence of how our brains work. …Humans can anticipate future events, including their own death. “You’ve got to figure out a solution, otherwise you’re overwhelmed,” says anthropologist Scott Atran of the University of Michigan. When natural brain processes give us a get-out-of-jail card [religious faith], we take it.

My Comment: All the belief systems in the world (over 3800 of them) were invented by people. However, the three main religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – originated from Kabbalah, when the people of Israel fell from the spiritual level (the sensation of the Creator through the quality of bestowal and love) to the level of our world (where the Creator is concealed because of people’s unfounded hatred to each other). Because people lost their perception of the Creator, the Temple became destroyed and the Jews were exiled from their land, which happened 2000 years ago.

When the Creator became concealed, so did Kabbalah, and people’s perception and understanding of the Creator was replaced by faith in Him. That is when Kabbalah was replaced by religion – Judaism. And later on, two more religions or branches originated from Judaism: Christianity and Islam.

In our times, people will once again begin to feel the Creator by attaining the quality of bestowal and love. Therefore, all the belief systems and religions will disappear, as it is written, “For they will all know Me, from the smallest of them to the greatest” (Yirmiyahu 31:33). The beliefs and religions will remain only as traditions.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: In the Modern Era, the Psychological Support of Religion Is No Longer Enough
Laitman.com Post: The Spiritual Roots of the Three Religions
Laitman.com Post: Building the Third Temple
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Two questions I received on virtual connections:

Question: I am living in Malaysia (a part of South East Asia) and here there is no physical group I can connect to. The only means for connection is through the virtual group, which is what I am doing now. But it is difficult to participate virtually due to time differences. How can I change my environment to influence me towards the goal?

My Answer: It’s enough to be virtually connected with us and to attend a Congress when you have the opportunity, such as the one that will be held in Philadelphia on May 15-17, 2009.

Question: Lately I have been finding people who think like me in different social sites on the Internet. Can I consider them a group? My problem is that the nearest Kabbalah center is 70 km away from me.

My Answer: Of course. If you connect with them because you are advancing together toward a common goal – similarity to the Creator, then you would be a group even if you had no Internet connection. The technological connections in our world were developed only in order to correct the inner connections between people, which happen “from soul to soul.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Regardless of the Internet, The Real Connection Happens “Soul to Soul”
Laitman.com Post: Now You Can Share Perceptions Through the Internet

Filed under: Internet - 1 Comment →

In the News: (from Times Online): The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes. A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin’s theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. “In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God,” said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

My Comment: No one originated from anything other than from their own Reshimot – informational genes. The Reshimot unravel like a chain, from small to big, giving rise to everything that exists.

However, since we do not see the chain of Reshimot, we see a picture where the species originate “one from another,” whereas in reality they originate “one after another.” Kabbalists have already explained this thousands of years ago – see Part 3 of Talmud Eser Sefirot.

The world was created by the Creator, and every creature was created by the Creator or Nature as well. The only matter of creation is the desire, which develops and expresses itself by creating an outward appearance (a bodily shell) according to its qualities. However, we do not perceive the forces of the desire and only see the external shells. This is why we think that they come from one another.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: New Research Puts the Darwinian Theory In Question
Laitman.com Post: Creation and Evolution
Laitman.com Post: The Development of Reshimot Through History
Article: “Perfection and the World”

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In the News (an editorial from Asia Times):”Inflationism: Bane of capitalism” Wall Street finance was a destructive force imperiling our capitalistic system through the distortion of market pricing, spending patterns and resource allocation. …The effective pricing and distribution of finance throughout an economy are fundamental to the long-term success of capitalistic systems. …The focus should be on supporting the financial and economic systems toward a path of much less dependency on credit growth and the asset markets.

My Comment: People are still living with outdated theories and ways of thinking. Until they reject them, they won’t be able to shift to a new communications system and to build new economic relationships – and the crisis will not end.

The crisis is a demonstration of how far we are from being a global, integral, perfect society, where each member is guided by the quality of “love your neighbor as yourself.” We have to begin moving toward this state. Our delay in this development, our disparity with nature’s conditions, is what we feel as a “crisis.”

To the degree we will begin to adopt the correct, integral social structure, the “crisis,” or our dissimilarity to the Creator’s quality, will vanish. It seems unrealistic that humanity will develop this way, but nature will “force us to happiness,” and this will happen very soon!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The World Is On the Brink of a Monetary Collapse
Laitman.com Post: The Global Crisis Is the Birth of a New World

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A question I received: In the article, “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)” Baal HaSulam quotes the sages, “The Creator offered the Torah to all the nations and in all the languages, but they didn’t accept it.” What does this verse mean?

My Answer: Usually a person only feels and is controlled by his natural egoism. In this case he is called “the nations of the world.”

If the point in the heart surfaces in him (the embryo of his soul, the future quality of bestowal and love for the neighbor), then because of his goal, he is called, “Straight to the Creator” (IsraEl, in Hebrew).

So what the sages meant is that if a person does not feel the point in the heart (if he still belongs to the nations of the world), then he does not need the Torah, the Light of Correction, since he does not feel a need for correction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Israel Are Those Who Aspire Straight to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Only People With the Point In the Heart Can Feel that Kabbalah Is the Salvation
Interview with the Future: “Two Parts to the Soul – Israel and the Nations of the World”
Talk: “The Birth of the Soul”

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In the News (from Life in Israel BlogSpot): “A charlatan or the real thing?” Oren Zarif [an Israeli psychic] sent a letter to the Ministry of Infrastructure offering his services to help fill the Kineret with rain water. His only condition is that they stop all weather broadcasts for the period of the month in which he will be doing his work [because when millions of people watch these forecasts daily, they influence nature with the power of their thoughts].

My Comment: We influence Nature (the Creator) with the power of our thoughts. This is how we intervene in the Plan of our development, and in return we receive the same influence we caused and altered.

If all of us together direct our thoughts toward goodness, we will change our fate. Right now every person thinks in his own favor, against others; therefore, our thoughts don’t converge into one, good thought, but evoke mutually destructive consequences.

In other words, Nature’s (the Creator’s) Plan for our development is neutral in and of itself. It’s us who improve and accelerate, or, on the contrary, delay and worsen Its influence on us with our desires, thoughts, and intentions. Our entire choice lies in choosing which path to take: the short and good path, or the lengthy and evil one.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Thought is the Most Powerful Force In the World
Laitman.com Post: There’s a Spiritual Force Within All of Matter
Lesson from the Course in Perception of Reality
A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Two Ways Up”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Acting Mind”

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Three questions I received on the dissemination of Kabbalah:

Question: I get this feeling that dissemination isn’t just something you do to get more people to find out about Kabbalah, but by disseminating you are actually developing the quality of bestowal inside of you. So it’s more necessary to the person doing the dissemination (for his inner development) than to anyone else (even though everything is interconnected). And I also get the feeling that it’s not the method of Kabbalah in and of itself that’s being disseminated (though that as well), but the Light that has already appeared within you. Am I right?

My Answer: You just gave a simple and correct explanation of the purpose of Kabbalah’s dissemination!

Question: How are people supposed to feel after watching our media?

My Answer: Depending on the consumer, it can range from tears of joy to hatred (with indifference falling right in the middle).

Question: Which topics should be illuminated by our media?

My Answer: Only the method of revealing the Creator, because only fulfillment by the Light will give us the eternal and perfect existence.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Purpose of Kabbalah Dissemination During the Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: How Do You Explain Kabbalah to Others?
Laitman.com Post: The Media Must Help Turn Our World Into a Giant Classroom

Filed under: Kabbalah Dissemination - 1 Comment →

Two questions I received about studying Kabbalah:

Question: After four months of intense study and reading The Book of Zohar for eighteen hours a day, I felt a sensation of pleasure that’s beyond this world. I was overcome by the revelation of something new. This lasted for thirty seconds and then disappeared, since I was unable to stand this feeling. Then I stopped studying because it was unbearably difficult. My body became heavy and I couldn’t function. Later I got back to studying, but I started having horrible fears. So I stopped again. Please tell me, what am I doing wrong?

My Answer: Everything. You should eat well, rest, exercise, and work. And only once you have done all of these, when you have free time, you may then study Kabbalah. And you should only study in our beginners’ course.

Question: The Creator brings a person to Kabbalah, but this person is still resisting it. He doesn’t connect to the group and is still trying to find egoistic pleasure. Does this person cause more suffering in the world than a regular person, who doesn’t know anything about Kabbalah?

My Answer: No! It’s because he advances down the path leading to the goal, and the system (the Creator) perceives this person’s temporary stops and changes in direction as discoveries of his uncorrected qualities (egoism), in order to then eliminate them.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How Does a Kabbalist Organize His Day?
Laitman.com Post: Doubts Are Generated By New Degrees Being Revealed Inside You
Laitman.com Post: All Obstacles Are Surmountable
Talk: “Do Not Repeat the Mistakes!”
From Chaos to Harmony: “Obeying Nature’s Law. Life’s Purpose”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, Item 40

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