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:
Laitman.com Post: A Reshimo is One’s Complete Future State
Laitman.com Post: Freedom of Will Lies Only In the Environment
Kabbalah for the Student: “Explanation of the Article, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”
A Guide To The Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Lesson 2”
Shamati #82: “All Worlds”

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →

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
Laitman.com Post: All Obstacles Are Surmountable
Laitman.com Post: The Truth Can Only Be Discerned from Within
Article “The Need for Learning Kabbalah”
Free online Kabbalah course

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

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?
Laitman.com Post: Faith Above Reason Is Bestowal Above Reception
Laitman.com Post: Preface to the Science of Kabbalah. Items 13-16
Shamati #5 “Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below”

Filed under: Spirituality - 6 Comments →

Two questions I received on work with spiritual descents:

Question: Sometimes I get this horrible feeling that everything I have in this life (my job, family, health, the world I live in) is about to collapse, and this feeling changes my outlook on life. How do we use such states?

My Answer: You should begin to understand that the birth of a new state occurs only through this path of “descents and ascents.”

Question: What is the meaning of “falling in order to rise”? If a person suddenly starts doing things he would never have done before, is this a descent?

My Answer: If this person studied Kabbalah in his free time, then this is a case of an increased egoism. It is written, “If one is higher than others, his egoism is greater than theirs.” This is talking about “falling in order to rise.” This is the correct process of revealing our nature! The benefit of this is that one needs an enormous desire in order to attain the Creator, and this is how such a desire gets created. This period will pass and be followed by a spiritual ascent. It will then be replaced by another descent, and so on – all the way until the full correction, the highest degree.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Preface to the Science of Kabbalah. Items 10-12
Laitman.com Post: Redemption Will Come at the Hands of the Creator
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 14 – “Revelation and Concealment/Transforming Egoism to Altruism”
Shamati #6.” What Is Support in the Torah, in the Work”
Free online Kabbalah course

Filed under: Spirituality - Comments Off on The Spiritual Path Is Paved With Descents Followed By Ascents

A question I received: What is “the evil eye”?

My Answer: When I look at others, my egoism evokes feelings of envy, hatred, and a desire for power. I don’t wish others well, or at least I don’t want them to do better than me. If I wish them well and want them to succeed, then it’s only in order for everyone to see that I’m even more successful.

Since we’re all interconnected, this “evil eye,” or this desire, influences others. Our life is a proof of that. This is what my teacher Rabash explained. Our desires work for us or against us, since we’re connected in a single system. Our desires “wander” inside this system, and we can’t escape our influence on everyone and their influence on us. Our thoughts about one another and about the world as a whole have produced our mutilated world and our sick society. We are the cause of all our suffering.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Mind Is a Servant of the Desires
Laitman.com Post: By Changing Our Intentions, We Change the Whole of Reality
Laitman.com Post: A Game Is a Serious Affair
Article by Rabash “Love of Friends”

Filed under: Egoism - No Comments →

A question I received: You used to say that Kabbalah is only for those who want to listen and study, for those who aspire to reveal the Creator. But now you say that everyone has to hear about it, even if they don’t aspire to the same thing. Why this change of opinion? Do you think that because of the global financial crisis, we now have to involve even those who couldn’t care less about Kabbalah, or about anything at all but their earthly, egoistic desires?

My Answer: I don’t think anything myself. This is what Baal HaSulam wrote, and I am just following his instructions as much as possible. I am certain that only this knowledge can benefit the world. And if someone disagrees, I don’t take their opinion into consideration! How can I consider the opinions of people who can’t see beyond their egoism, don’t understand the world’s governance, and don’t feel the Creator and His actions? If you have the remedy for a dying patient, how can you just stand by and not hand it to him?

In your opinion, who should people listen to if not the Kabbalists? The global nature of the crisis indicates that everyone must know about the reason for their suffering. This is exactly why Kabbalah is now being revealed. See the articles “Time to Act,” “Messiah’s Horn,” and others.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Crisis or Not, We Have to Disseminate Kabbalah

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

News Report (from asahi.com): A 15-year study in Akita Prefecture has found … that men who said they had something to live for ran a 38 percent lower risk of dying than men who did not. Moreover, the risk of dying of a stroke was as much as 72 percent lower for those with something to live for. … The results suggest that finding a purpose and joy in life may override the purported risk of suffering a stroke due to stress, the team said. It added that it did not know yet why there is such a difference.

My Comment: When there is a goal shining for you from afar, it fulfills, energizes and revives you. However, all our goals gradually become worthless – with the exception of the spiritual, Upper Goal. Therefore, studying Kabbalah is beneficial, even for your health!

News Report (translated from expert.ru): “Sorry, this product is temporarily out of stock” Goods are disappearing from the distribution facilities. This is happening because banks are not giving loans to the suppliers and manufacturers. Because banks are limiting the credit lines, everyone is left without resources. Meantime, the suppliers are demanding payment prior to shipment.

My Comment: The only thing that will enable us to understand how to arrange our lives in the new, united world is the knowledge about the global interaction, knowledge of the laws of this closed system. Kabbalah provides this explanation. Only this wisdom can give people the energy to unite (Ohr Makif) in spite of every person’s individual egoism.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Health and Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Secret to Happiness
Laitman.com Post: Why Are Men Going Off Sex?

Filed under: Health - No Comments →

A question I received: In the article, “Building the Future Society,” in item 18 of section 3, “Principles of the Future Society,” Baal HaSulam lists three fundamental principles of disseminating Kabbalah in the world:

1. Satisfaction of Desires; 2. Proof; 3. Circulation.

From your lessons I’ve understood that in our time of an escalating crisis, the method of “Proof” is the most suitable. But what is your opinion about the method of “circulation” (agitation and propaganda)? Is it necessary in order to accelerate the dissemination of Kabbalah?

My Answer: When we’re dealing with a patient who has a deadly illness, we use any means possible to save him. Similarly, if we are in a situation that threatens the world’s existence, we must use any means possible to prevent the suffering, ruin and death. However, in our case, circulation (agitation and propaganda, as you put it) must be a non-coercive explanation of the fact that we won’t survive without using the method of Kabbalah. The dissemination of Kabbalah must be general, directed at everyone rather than at specific individuals. We cannot try to scare people into it, because in order for a person to correct himself, he must gain an awareness of the reality.

The correction of one’s egoism (one’s nature) is the only truly conscious act a person can make in this world, because he does it through understanding and comparing this world with the spiritual world! All other actions are made only from one’s understanding of the egoistic world and false gain, where one is entirely controlled by one’s egoism, like a puppet.

Hence, it is written about people who haven’t yet begun analyzing their nature and comparing it with the Upper Nature: “They are all like beasts.” It’s because “Man” (Adam) means “To be similar to the Creator.” It is also written, “Let us make man in our image and likeness” – from the beginning. After this man’s ruin (the downfall of sin) occurred, and this is what we must correct.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: What Happened?

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

News Report (translated from inauka.ru): Dr. Y. Danilov from the Tactile Communication & Neurorehabilitation Lab at the University of Wisconsin, reports that a device called TVS (Tactile-Vision Substitution System) has been developed. It works like this:

A video camera relays an image into a computer, which converts it to a black and white image. This image is then transferred to a flat matrix that is placed on a blind person’s tongue, which then receives the image in the form of electric impulses. The tongue relays the signal into the brain, enabling the blind person to see the objects around him and to find his way around space. As a result, a person who is absolutely blind can see his surroundings. He can walk around, read, play Tic-Tac-Toe, and recognize faces. This scientifically proves the words of the famous researcher, Paul Bach-y-Rita, who used to say, “We see with the brain, not with the eyes.”

My Comment: If you read what the science of Kabbalah has been saying about the perception of reality ever since Adam revealed the Upper Reality, nearly 6000 years ago, you will discover that Kabbalists knew about this for a very long time. They use the “external vision” to perceive and research the Upper World, which is perceived in “our brain” just like this world is.

The next scientific discovery in the field of perception will be that our brain is but a detector, whereas perception (sensation) isn’t happening in the brain, but outside of it, in the “desire.” The desire bears no relation to our body and is found beyond the earthly matter. We perceive everything in our soul.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: “I Saw a Reversed World”
Kabbalah Today Article: In Search of New Frontiers

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →

Two questions I received on Kabbalah’s relation to other sciences:

Question: When you say Kabbalah is a science, do you mean in the ancient sense of the word? That is, Kabbalah is a body of knowledge (either practical or theoretical wisdom)? Or are you using it in a more modern way: Kabbalah is like chemistry, biology, and geology?

My Answer: Kabbalah reveals the nature of the Upper Light to us. A spark of this Light caused an explosion that created our entire Universe and everything that fills it: the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, including the animate part of humans.

By studying the foundations of everything that exists – matter (desire) and the Light (pleasure), we learn the basis of all the objects and phenomena in our world. For more on this, see the article, “Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences,” and Part 1 of Talmud Eser Sefirot – Inner Observation.

Question: Kabbalah is not philosophy, but is one philosophy more compatible with it than another? Are there any truths found in philosophy even if they only speak of this world?

My Answer: There is no truth in philosophy because it engages in questions that it has invented for itself, or it tries to answer questions based on suppositions that are unrelated to practical experience (it tries to speak about the “abstract form”).

Even when philosophy speaks about our world, it doesn’t reason about it practically. That is to say, it speaks about something as a form or essence that’s separate from matter. Kabbalah, on the other hand, speaks of the form or essence inside matter and about the form of the matter (see the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”). Therefore, all the philosophical conclusions made throughout all of human history were erroneous at worst, or imprecise at best. See Baal HaSulam’s articles on this topic.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah: The Root of All Sciences
Laitman.com Post: Philosophy and Kabbalah
Article: “Kabbalah as a Modern Science”
Chapter from Book Kabbalah Revealed: “The Cradle of Science”
Tal Asher’s Interview with Rav Michael Laitman, PhD
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Filed under: Philosophy - No Comments →