Three questions I received on the future of the world:

Question: You mentioned that the governing of the world must change to that of love your friend as yourself, one man with one heart. Why don’t you and your group start with a working model of such a system to serve as a beacon and inspiration for the rest? It would be easier to start on a smaller scale rather than a big one.

My Answer: Due to the current time and circumstances, we cannot close ourselves off but must devote all our energy to disseminating Kabbalah in the world, as it is the means of preventing the world from falling into the Third World War.

Question: What do you mean when you say that we are now entering Biblical times?

My Answer: I meant that we have to start observing the Biblical principle, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Question: In reference to your post, Unity for the Right Purpose Can Stabilize the Banking System, I hope you are not speaking of a new world order, one government, one bank, one currency, and everyone being monitored with chips implanted in their bodies.

My Answer: All of humanity is an integral (global) organism. Hence, everyone must submit to one law of total interaction on all levels of our activity. This means, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “The Last Generation,” that eventually there will be one spiritual government, which will regulate all the activities of the world’s inhabitants.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam Describes the Conditions of Life in a Globalized World
Laitman.com Post: The Possibilities of Our Development – War or a Peaceful Transition
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Article: “Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”

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Questions I received on the upcoming Congress and inner work:

Question: What is the best way to prepare for the upcoming Congress?

My Answer: You should study the materials from the last Congress (February 2008) and participate in the preparations for the upcoming Congress. Go through the materials about the Congress, and finally, you should be systematically present at our daily lessons (held between 3am and 6am Israel time), or at least at the third part (from 5am until 6am Israel time).

Question: I am trying to find the best way of studying for me. Can a student who’s attracted to his own sex and who studies Kabbalah regularly over the Internet, participate in the Congress that will take place in Israel (to actually come and be there together with everyone)? Can he participate in the Congress preparations? Can he sometimes attend a congress in other countries?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the correct way to unite with the common system?

My Answer: Through the quality of bestowal.

Question continued: Is a person capable of this?

My Answer: Yes, if he does it through a group, by receiving Ohr Makif from above.

Question continued: What kind of force is this, and where can it be found?

My Answer: Only in the study of Kabbalah.

Question: If I understand that everything I do is for the Creator’s sake, and my intention is “for the sake of the Creator,” how can I use Kabbalah to achieve my purpose in life?

My Answer: If you’re already at a point where everything is for the Creator’s sake, then there’s nothing more for you to do…

Question: How is it possible to go from external love to inner love?

My Answer: The same way it is possible to go from egoism to altruism.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Live Your Life as Usual, and Study Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Everyone Must Know About Kabbalah
Wondrous Wisdom: “Perceiving the Spiritual”
Spiritual Search: “Intent For the Sake of the Creator”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Transforming Egoism to Altruism”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Time of Ascent”

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Questions I received on parallel universes, the Zeitgeist movie, the year 2012, and Jesus:

Question: On a show called “The Universe,” scientists explain the possibility of parallel universes and that they will soon be able to mathematically prove their existence. I know these worlds aren’t the spiritual ones we learn about in Kabbalah, but is it possible that for every spiritual world that exists, there is a corporeal universe – parallel to this one – that also exists in direct relation to each spiritual world? And if so, and also given the fact that all of creation exists for the purpose of correction, could other corrections be occurring simultaneously on these other parallel corporeal universes?

My Answer: There is nothing in existence besides what is described by Kabbalah: our world and the five spiritual worlds. See Talmud Eser Sefirot and Baal HaSulam’s drawings.

Question: I read your blog post where somebody asked you about the Zeitgeist movie. I watched that movie as well, and I’m shocked because I saw many Kabbalistic ideas in it. I really encourage you to watch it. I would like to know your opinion about it – similar to that about the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know!?”

My Answer: I tried to watch it, but couldn’t keep going after a few minutes…

Question: I have read and watched numerous things that had dealt with the year 2012. 2012 was said to be “the end of the world.” I also read that by December 21st, 2012, it will be a new age and the attainment of the highest individual human potential. Does this have anything to do with Kabbalah?

My Answer: No. Everything depends exclusively on us – and on you!

Question: Some teach that Jesus is the middle line, yet I strongly believe that he does not move like a Kabbalist. I wanted to know if I was right or not to feel this way about Jesus?

My Answer: Kabbalah speaks only about the Creator and man, about how man can attain the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There Is No Coercion in Spirituality
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Lesson on Shamati #82: “All Worlds”

Filed under: Q&A - 1 Comment →

News Report (from Psychological Science): (By Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard University) When someone steps on your toe on purpose, it seems to hurt more than when the person does the same thing unintentionally. The physical parameters of the harm may not differ – your toe is flattened in both cases – but the psychological experience of pain is changed nonetheless. Intentional harms are premeditated by another person and have the specific purpose of causing pain. In a sense, intended harms are events initiated by one mind to communicate meaning (malice) to another, and this could shape the recipient’s experience.

My Comment: This comes from the Upper Root of our relationship with the Creator: if we desire to receive without paying attention to Him, the Giver, then we perceive what we receive as this world – bitter, difficult, and temporary. However, if we desire to feel what we receive together with Him, the Giver, then we feel the Upper World, which is eternal and perfect. Then, when our world disappears (when the body dies), our perception – the sensation of the Giver we attained – stays with us forever, as do He and we.

For example, suppose I receive a present. I enjoy it. But then I begin to feel that it has a defect. This helps me to think about the Giver. My egoism cannot stop thinking about Him and asking, “Why isn’t this gift perfect”? As I think about the Giver’s action, I start to scrutinize this action (which is the thought of creation). I examine: what is happening to me from the moment when I started being aware of receiving something from Him, and what is His goal for doing this?

As I reveal His behavior, I begin to understand Him and see that He is kind, good and loving. I start to feel something new: I forget about (and lose the perception of) the gift itself – of our world and our life. What remains is only He and I (without the gift) and our relationship, the sensation of the Upper Life that emerged by virtue of the gift. But we don’t need the gift any longer.

Related Material
Laitman.com Post: Learning to Understand the Creator Is the Key to Happiness
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Baal HaSulam Article: “The Acting Mind”

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Three questions I received on the role of women in Kabbalah:

Question: I know many women who watch the second part of the lesson (Talmud Eser Sefirot). In all the years that I’ve been studying, I’ve been watching just the first and third parts of the lesson, and I do dissemination work during the second part. I’ve heard you say that Talmud Eser Sefirot does not help women correct their souls. But the fact that other women listen to Talmud Eser Sefirot confuses me. Maybe I should start listening to it as well?

My Answer: For women, dissemination work is much more important than studying. Men work on correcting their intention by attracting Ohr Makif during the study of Talmud Eser Sefirot (they “earn a living”), whereas women disseminate (give birth). This is a woman’s role in the world.

Question: During one of your lessons you said that the only free will that exists is when men choose to either unite or not to unite when they are working in a group. The rest is decided by the Creator. Since women don’t and can’t work in a group, where is their free will?

My Answer: In helping the group.

Question: What should I look for in my future husband? He obviously needs to study Kabbalah, but what other qualities are absolutely necessary for him to have?

My Answer: Besides your common interests, you shouldn’t feel repulsed by him.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Men, Women, and the Soul’s Correction
Laitman.com Post: Women On the Path of Kabbalah
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Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Women - 1 Comment →

News Report (translated from an article at chtochto.ru, based on the book Brain Rules): Experiments with human senses in neurobiology now demonstrate that not only can people “hear” with the eyes, they can also “smell” with them.

My Comment: This confirms what is written in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” that the things we perceive do not exist outside of us. Our five senses are nothing but the five levels (Aviut) of our common desire, in which Reshimot (informational data, Hitlabshut) emerge. The levels of desire differ by the desire’s strength (Aviut) and quality (Hitlabshut), similar to the difference between the development of the levels still, vegetative, animate, speaking, and the Creator.

We study all of this in Kabbalah, the science of perception (revelation) of reality (the Creator). By definition, Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to man in this world. It explains that each of these five parts consists of all the other parts. This is why each part can partially perceive all the other parts, and vice versa. Hence, when a person loses one of the five senses, it becomes partially replaced by the remaining senses. In other words, you can “see, hear, smell, taste, and touch” with any one of your senses. And this ability is more developed in some people: for example, Rosa Kuleshova, who could read printed words with her fingers. Actually, in the past we all had these abilities.

Nothing changes outside of us. We perceive the constant influence of the Simple Light (the Creator – the desire to give us pleasure that’s constantly directed at us) in our continuously changing desires (Reshimot – inner informational data). The Reshimo are what depict – inside us – the changing picture of the “external” world, like frames of a motion picture strip. The senses that create the picture are inside us, and the resulting picture of world is absolutely subjective.

Therefore, if I place myself under the influence of the right environment (group), I can create the inner conditions for the Reshimot that emerge within me to develop spiritually. I will then feel a desire to realize the Reshimot through bestowal and love for others, and then my perception of the world that emerges within me becomes spiritual. I will thereby reveal its cause and its purpose, or in other words, I will start perceiving the general force of Nature (the Creator).

Related Material:
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Shamati #82: “All Worlds”

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News Report (translated from mchs.gov.ru): Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations forecasts that in 2009 the number of natural disasters in Russia will increase by more than a third. There will be up to 250 emergency situations related to natural disasters, including flooding in Siberia and the Far East, fires resulting from a snowless winter and abnormal temperatures (particularly in forests), strong winds, storms, gales, hurricanes, very heavy precipitation, hail, thunderstorms and so forth. There is an increased likelihood of earthquakes and tsunamis in the coastal areas. Also set to increase are gas explosions and breakdowns of vital communications systems, and collapse of buildings and other structures. There is a high likelihood that epidemics and infections will break out.

My Comment: All of this can be avoided if we immediately take control of the entertainment and commercial sectors of the mass media, in order to purposefully educate the population on proper conduct in the new global world. However, this should be done without restricting the informational and communications sectors of the mass media. People should be taught what it means to be integrally connected and absolutely dependent on everyone. This should be the Ministry’s primary tactic and strategy!

In response to this act, society will immediately feel a reduction in Nature’s pressure, both the inner pressure on every individual and society as a whole, as well as the external pressure. Balance with Nature will bring about positive phenomena on all levels of our lives. We will then witness a simple, calm Moral Revolution that is so necessary!

Related Material:
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Brochure: “Lecture in Arosa”
Interview with the Future: “The ‘I’ as a Part of Reality”

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Two questions I received on finding the truth:

Question: I have a friend who started studying Kabbalah with Bnei Baruch but left because you are a liar (at least that’s what he says). Personally I think he’s accusing of this because sometimes you say contradictory things. However, later I realize that I misunderstood you or that you were just explaining something very succinctly. Yet your opinion is still unclear on many things.

Sometimes you say one thing, and then you contradict yourself, and I can understand how my friend – who is interested in Kabbalah and understands that there is much truth in it – finds it difficult to study with you. I don’t even know what to tell him. I will be glad to hear your answer.

My Answer: I won’t try to defend myself. Listen to the explanations by my teacher, Rabash (all the recordings of his lessons are available online), and check: how do you understand him? Don’t listen to me, but read the original articles by Baal HaSulam (which is what we study), and instead of my explanations, try to understand them on your own.

A person should choose a teacher that suits his personality, goal, and so on, as it is written, “Let a person study where his heart feels joy.” Why is it possible for different places of study to exist? It’s because as long as a person’s desire for the Upper Goal hasn’t formed inside him, he feels drawn to this goal in different ways: by withdrawing from the world, through religions, “spiritual” practices, diets, omens, and so on. We cannot interfere with this, because one has to go through the search for the truth on his own.

So it’s possible that your friend is still at this stage of searching. For example, some people who come to study with me are just “passing by” and they later turn to religion.

I explain things to the extent of my knowledge, attainment, and ability to express what I feel and realize (in the heart and mind). Your accusations are sincere, and they should emerge in a student as he studies Kabbalah, because everything is built through combining two things that are incompatible: egoism and the Creator. Perhaps you still have to sort things out, and possibly look for a different place of study. But one way or another, the truth will become revealed.

Question: How do we make “sure” that the Kabbalah teachings we receive are truly Kabbalah? Since it’s a very high level of knowledge, how can the clueless make sure he is receiving true Kabbalah, and not “mysticism”? How can someone who does not know Kabbalah filter the teachings to make sure he is on the right path?

My Answer: Don’t believe anyone! Regardless of what anyone might say, he could be a liar. And the more eloquent and persuasive he is, the greater liar (or actor) he could be.

It’s also possible that a good, honest person is speaking from the bottom of his heart, but he is simply mistaken. So who can you believe? No one! Everything was arranged this way in our world on purpose, to enable a person to shape himself by searching for the truth. One does it precisely through doubts, without any foundation, belief, or hope placed in someone else. It’s like he hangs over a cliff, not knowing how to take the next step.

You are the only one who can find the truth. But if you believe what someone else says, then you won’t be realizing yourself and will remain a puppet. Hence, the lack of confidence and the total disorientation will force your egoism to turn to the Creator. This is how He entices us to Him!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Doubts Are Generated By New Degrees Being Revealed Inside You
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Article “The Need for Learning Kabbalah”
Free online Kabbalah course

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

News Report (from BBC News): The report from [the UK’s] government advisor Sir Jim Rose … calls for children to learn more about well-being, happiness and healthy living. … Sir Jim proposes a greater emphasis on life skills, including making lessons about emotional well-being and social skills a compulsory part of the curriculum.

My Comment: Not one modern education system works to create a human being out of a child. Parents and teachers don’t even understand that it’s necessary to work this way with a growing person. If a child were abandoned in the woods, he would remain an animal. Likewise, if we simply stuff him with knowledge, he becomes a miserable robot.

Upbringing means teaching a child the method to become a human being. In Hebrew, a human being is Adam, originating from the word Domeh – similar to the Creator. It is written that Adam was created in the Creator’s image and likeness, and then he sinned and fell, acquiring egoism and becoming opposite to the Creator. Now man must find the path of correction on his own and attain his initial similarity to the Creator – the quality of bestowal and love, the only quality of the Creator.

A question I received: My question is about the need for a regular education. We study with our son at home because we are completely dissatisfied with the approach of the schools. But maybe it would be better for our son not to study at all and to develop spontaneously? And later, when he reaches high school age, he can decide what academic field he wants to go into?

My Answer: It’s necessary to give a child information about our world and whatever basics he needs in order to learn the profession he will later choose. The Torah states, “One who doesn’t teach his son a trade turns him into a bandit or thief.” And in addition, it’s necessary to work with him on his inner development, to shape him into a human being.

Related Material:
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A question I received: Please make a list of all the 613 desires that exist in a person, one by one.

My Answer: Just like that, you’d like me to describe all 613 desires in detail? But what for? Not a single one of them exists in you yet! They are revealed in a person after he crosses the Machsom, during his spiritual ascent. These are one’s desires to feel pleasure from the Creator, as it is written, “Taste and see how good the Creator is.”

By revealing the Creator, you begin to feel Him as 613 pleasures or delights. First you feel them in the intention to enjoy Him for your own sake (ABYA of the Klipot), and then you correct these to the intention of “for His sake.” Our language does not enable us to express or describe these desires, because we don’t have them.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How Can Singularity Transform Without Being Changed?
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Shamati #5 “Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below”

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