In the News (from The Guardian): “Bomb in the beehive” “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” That’s what Einstein is reputed to have said … and the sentiment still chimes. A third of all we eat, and much of what we wear, relies on pollination by bees, yet they are dying in all corners of the world at a devastating rate. In 2007 the “colony collapse disorder” afflicting honeybees suddenly hit the headlines. Fanciful theories of “bee Aids” and what lay behind it ranged from an Al-Qaida plot and radiation from mobile phone masts to celestial intervention in the form of a “honeybee rapture.”

My Comment: The imbalance in Nature is a result of man’s ever-growing egoism and the hatred between people. We are the most powerful factor that causes a breach of balance in Nature.

The reason for this is that the more powerful a force is, the more subtle and unnoticeable it is. Thus, the most powerful and influential force in the world is our desire and thought (heart and mind). Therefore, if we are not trying to create a harmonious connection with others and with the surrounding world, then we commit evil and break Nature’s ecological and spiritual balance.

We don’t feel where forces that stir us, and drive us to balance, come from, but they act. This is not mysticism. In fact, the suffering we feel is a result of these forces’ influence, and unfortunately, these results are manifesting on the physical plane.

Each person and humanity as a whole cannot be convinced of anything unless they clearly see it. This is why it is so important for us to develop and disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah to the entire world, because it is the science of revealing the Creator, the general governing force of Nature. This revelation will convince us to correct our relationships – and we will survive.

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From Chaos to Harmony: “Changing Our Attitude Toward Others Brings All of Nature into Balance”

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A question I received from my student: Can the Upper One pass on His desire to the lower one?

My Answer: This is exactly what He does, but only in response to our plea, “Give us the correct desires!” We pray only about our desire, for it to be like His: “Make your desire similar to the Creator’s desire.”

You don’t need anything else from Him, other than a new program for your behavior, for how to act. You have to receive a new mind, power and knowledge from Him, in order to be able to work with your “matter” correctly. More precisely, you have to recognize how flawed your current behavioral program is, because it is opposite to the program He is acting upon. And then, you have to ask Him to replace your program with one similar to His. That is when you will be corrected, made equivalent to the Creator.

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Shamati #213: “Acknowledging the Desire”

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In the News (from Astronomy.com): “Venus Express searching for life — on Earth” Scientists using European Space Agency’s (ESA) Venus Express are trying to observe whether Earth is habitable. Silly, you might think, when we know that Earth is richly stocked with life. In fact, far from being a pointless exercise, Venus Express is paving the way for an exciting new era in astronomy. One thing has become obvious from the study of Earth using Venus Express: determining whether a planet is habitable is not going to be easy. Although the observations may not tell us anything new about Earth, they will allow us to unveil far-off worlds, making them seem more real than simply dots of light.

My Comment: Science is not yet capable of making conclusions about life in the universe. We cannot even detect life on our planet… It’s possible only to determine whether there are certain conditions for life’s existence.

At a certain stage of man’s development, he becomes interested in the existence of life in the cosmos. However, as his attention (desire) grows, he aspires to search for that which is eternal and perfect, something higher than the corporeal, beyond the animate level of life. In other words, he aspires to the spiritual world.

At that point, the question of whether other forms of life are possible in the universe disappears, as it becomes replaced by the aspiration to attain the next level of development – the “human” level.

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Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Phases of Revelation”

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A question I received: I have been a student for about seven months, and it has been an emotional roller coaster. I feel good and then I feel bad. I am immersing myself more into study and dissemination and I feel like I am becoming a different person, but it seems that it is affecting me more and more in a negative way. For example, I am constantly evaluating myself and seeing how my ego seems to be growing. I am also becoming judgmental of other people. I am beginning to see how their ego is ruling their actions. I am becoming angry at my ego and I am angry at other people for their ego, even though I know I have no right to judge others and should only work on myself.

I don’t know what to do at this point. I feel angry, emotionally exhausted, and unhappy, which is the opposite of what I am supposed to be. I am supposed to feel bestowal from the Creator.

My Answer: You are going through a period of growth of your egoistic desire. Inside of this desire, you will then start perceiving new pictures of the world and different connections between things. Be strong, don’t break the routine studies and unity with the group. Then you will quickly go through this period of accumulating the egoistic desire. Every step forward always consists of two parts: the growth of the egoistic desire (what you are going through now), and then the revelation of a new attainment inside it.

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A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: 4.”The Recognition of Evil and the Revelation of Good”

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A question I received: In terms of quantum physics, the universe consists of energy. Therefore everything, including thoughts, are also energy. Where do thoughts come from, and why/how does each individual think (attract) his own particular thoughts?

My Answer: There are two forces comprising everything in existence: reception and bestowal. Everything occurs between these two forces. We learn their nature by revealing them for ourselves, because we consist of both of them.

The interaction of these two forces gives rise to our desires, and the desires bring about thoughts of how to obtain what we desire. A person can influence his desires by consciously putting himself under the influence of an environment, meaning people or souls (provided one can already perceive the souls). This is how a person can intervene in his own destiny.

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Shamati #153: “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire”

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In the News (from arxiv.org): “Testing the link between terrestrial climate change and Galactic spiral structure” We confront past suggestions of a close link between terrestrial climate change and the Sun’s transit of spiral arms in its path through the Milky Way galaxy. We use new information on spiral structure based on CO data that does not make simplifying assumptions about symmetry and circular rotation. Comparing the times of these transits to changes in the climate of Earth, not only do the claimed correlations disappear, but also we find that they cannot be resurrected for any reasonable pattern speed.

My Comment: All the changes that occur in Nature are influenced mainly by human behavior, or rather, by people’s thoughts and desires. The problem is that this influence is hidden from us and thus we erroneously focus on and measure our external influences, such as gas emissions and solid waste pollution.

However, even though the pollution on the Earth’s surface seems enormous, its influence on climate change is actually negligible. The greatest influence comes from our egoistic thoughts!

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Three questions I received on the new generation’s changing traits and values:

Question: In the last few years, psychologists have shown that younger people are much less able to focus their attention and to anticipate and build models for future actions.

My Answer: This is actually a positive phase of their development, because there cannot be anything negative in nature. People have to go through this, since all the positive properties and qualities originate from the negative ones.

Question: People who enjoy books, such as myself, are now being replaced by number-oriented people, who have completely different values and a different kind of perception. Because they are so different from people like me, they often just can’t hear or understand us. How can we communicate with them so they will actually listen to us?

My Answer: If this change is happening, it means that it is precisely these types of people that must start becoming aware of and sensing the spiritual world, rather than the philosophers and other thinkers of the past. Things just might work the opposite of how we expect them to: the awareness, logic, and ability to analyze and synthesize that the great, enlightened thinkers have, could actually be an obstacle that keeps them from entering the new, spiritual world.

Question: Then what type of thinking is preferable?

My Answer: Our thoughts arise as a result of our desires, because desire is the basis of our nature. Therefore, reason appears only according to one’s desire to attain something. If I desire to fulfill myself with something, then my mind develops accordingly. Otherwise, I would not have a mind (or reason).

The more I desire something and the more this desire is aimed at something higher, something new and unknown, the more my mind develops in new ways along with this new desire.

When Kabbalah speaks of reason or the mind, it is not talking about the egoistic kind of reason, which is handed down to us by various philosophers, thinkers and scholars. It is not talking about the kind of reason people are normally proud of, which they consider the human part of man. This kind of reason is not present in man, but in an egoistic creature whose mind works only for satisfying one’s egoistic desires, desires that are aimed at science and cultural values, but not bestowal. All of these desires are based on reception and egoism, but not bestowal.

This is why all the previous cultural and academic values will gradually decline. They will come down from the high pedestal they currently reside on will be considered insufficient. People will use them as a mere base to help them achieve the next, spiritual degree.

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Shamati #153: “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire”

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Our entire life comes down to trying to fulfill our desires, or anticipating the moment when our desire will meet the pleasure, such as the first sip of water you take when your are dying of thirst. But we only feel the pleasure at that first moment of contact between the desire and the pleasure. As soon as the pleasure enters the desire, it immediately begins to nullify the desire, and consequently, the pleasure.

Even sexual pleasure, which is so powerful that it is considered the root of all pleasures, lasts for just an instant. Then the person must think of other ways to fulfill himself. Thus, we are always compelled to chase after something, because this encounter between the desire and the pleasure is what we call life.

Without this constant chase of trying to bring pleasure into one’s desire, a person cannot be considered alive, for he has nothing to live for. In fact, if a person cannot fulfill his desire, he will be willing to take his own life. Yet, humanity is bound to reach a point where people will feel this way, but they won’t even be able to take their lives and bring an end to their horrid state for lack of strength. So what are we to do?

Baal HaSulam says that there is only one solution: “Instead of egoistic reception, we must reach bestowal. Fill yourself with bestowal, because you will never be able to fulfill yourself by receiving. You have tested it and seen it for yourself. But I will tell you a secret: there is a method that can give you the ability to feel perfect, unlimited pleasure. It will give you fulfillment which includes everything, even that which lies beyond the boundaries of this life. But you must know that this fulfillment does not happen through egoistic reception, but through bestowal. It is because everything that pertains to your human qualities exists outside of you – in the desires or souls of others.”

This is what Baal HaSulam means when he says: “Taste and see that the Creator is good.” Try and see for yourself that bestowal (the Creator) is fulfillment, goodness, and perfection. And then you will feel an infinite desire and infinite fulfillment.

The sole purpose of the science of Kabbalah is to bring a person to this state.

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Shamati #30: “The Most Important Is to Want Only to Bestow”

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In the News (from News Bureau): “Those unsure of own ideas more resistant to views of others” We swim in a sea of information, but filter out most of what we see or hear… The analysis, reported this month in Psychological Bulletin, published by the American Psychological Association, was led by researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida, and included data from 91 studies involving nearly 8,000 participants… The researchers found that people are about twice as likely to select information that supports their own point of view (67 percent) as to consider an opposing idea (33 percent)… The researchers also found, not surprisingly, that people are more resistant to new points of view when their own ideas are associated with political, religious or ethical values.

My Comment: Most people will always hear what they want to hear, and you don’t need to conduct expensive studies to discover that. This is because our nature is founded on egoism, or the desire to fulfill our desires, whether we desire fame, prestige, power, wealth, or knowledge. And this determines what we are capable of hearing, seeing, feeling and understanding.

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A question I received from my student: The desire “to bestow to others” also implies an egoistic desire to receive something for oneself, because “I want” to bestow. So is this really bestowal?

My Answer: The desire to bestow is not related to one’s regular desires. However, “giving to others” as most people understood it today, is not a desire to bestow at all, because this is the same egoistic desire for pleasure, which simply appears as if it is being used for the sake of another person.

This is why a desire to bestow directly to another person does not exist in Nature. It is impossible, because it is equivalent to coming out of oneself.

So what are we to do? We have to try to “come out of ourselves.” If a person makes this attempt, he will reach the understanding that only the Creator can do this for him. And then he will reveal the Creator!

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