Two questions I received on development through Kabbalah:

Question: It says in a book by Rav Kook that there are two kinds of redemption: redemption that comes in due time (בעיתה – Beito), and redemption that comes in response to a person’s plea (אחישנה – Ahishena). Either way, redemption will come eventually. According to Kabbalah, we have to change from within, and then we’ll attain happiness. And by spreading the wisdom of Kabbalah, we will make everyone happy because they will receive the same Light. But then it would seem that Kabbalah contradicts the notion of the existence of time for correction.

Answer: You’ve mixed it all up! Kabbalah was given to us so that instead of progressing “in due time,” we will speed up time (progress through אחישנה – Ahishena). This means that we can develop without waiting for the suffering to come (without בעיתה- Beito).

Question: What do you mean by the point in the heart? Also, do you mean that fate – or circumstances in our life that might be difficult – push us to this point so we will discover our purpose?

Answer: Suffering and emptiness lead a person to the question about their meaning, cause and purpose. Gradually a person starts feeling that he needs to understand the cause of all that’s happening, and this feeling is a subconscious desire to reveal the Creator. A person then discovers the source of this knowledge (the books, group, and teacher), and reaches the goal.

The point in the heart is the desire to reveal the Creator, and Kabbalah is the method or means to reveal Him. The point in the heart is your soul’s initial desire, and your soul then begins to develop from this point. The point in the heart is similar to a seed: when it’s placed in the environment that’s right for its development (the group, books, and teacher), it begins to develop into a vessel of the soul – a desire in which a person begins to sense the Upper Force, the Creator.

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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
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A Guide To The Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Lesson 2”
Shamati #82: “All Worlds”

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News Report (translated from chaskor.ru): The concept of ecovillages has gained popularity because people are hoping to escape the trap of civilization that has cornered them. Only yesterday such communities seemed extremist and sectarian, but today they’re regarded as a way to survive the global crisis, which is turning into global chaos. In addition, it’s easier to survive a crisis in a commune.

My Comment: Separating from the global civilization to save one’s own neck will bring any commune to a terrible crisis – one that’s greater than in the rest of the world. It’s because a commune will isolate itself from everyone in order to survive on its own, and this goes against unification, globalization, and Nature’s plan to unite everyone. These aren’t eco-villages, they’re EGO-villages!

News Report (from World Net Daily): …the U.S. is moving closer to a Nazi-style totalitarianism, warns a former German member of the Hitler Youth in a new book. “Every day brings this nation closer to a Nazi-style totalitarian abyss,” writes Hilmar von Campe…

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, if we’re not moving toward global integration, then we’re moving toward mutual isolation and the emergence of Nazi regimes in the developed countries.

News Report (from National Post): More singles are turning to the Internet as a cheap, convenient way to find love during trying economic times. A poll by Opinion Research Corp. found that 57% of Americans said the credit crunch made them worry about their love lives… similar surveys in Australia and Britain came up with the same results.

My Comment: Suffering and fear are showing us just how fragile we are and how much we need the support of the environment. We were created as social creatures and we have to create a friendly and supportive society around us. And if we don’t want to, nature will force us to. Then we’ll want it and therefore build such a society!

Related Material:
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A question I received: What is the connection between the mind and the heart? Should a person keep them in balance with each other? And how is it possible to increase or decrease one of them? In one of the lessons you said that a person whose mind isn’t developed can go crazy. Can you explain this in more detail?

My Answer: The basis for everything, the only creation – is desire. Hence, the desire is primary in us. But in order to attain what we desire, the mind develops alongside the desire, corresponding to it. Hence, no matter how much we may resist this fact, the mind is a servant of the desire; it develops only in order to service the desire.

Therefore we will never be able to make our minds objective, independent of our desires. However, we can change our desires under the influence of the environment (see the article “The Freedom”), and according to the new desires we will also force our minds to change. If we understand this, then under the influence of the right environment (an environment that leads us to the goal of creation), we can always develop both our desires and our mind harmoniously.

If a person has great desires but his mind isn’t developed enough to actualize them, he may lose the ability to control himself sensibly.

Related Material:
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Article: “The Influence of the Environment on a Person”

Filed under: Spirituality - 2 Comments →

News Report (from LiveScience): “Wind Farms Could Change Weather” The scientists, Daniel Barrie and Daniel Kirk-Davidoff of the University of Maryland, calculated what might happen if all the land from Texas to central Canada, and from the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains, were covered in one massive wind farm. Such massive wind farming would slow wind speeds by 5 or 6 mph as the turbines literally stole wind from the air. A ripple effect would occur in the form of waves radiating across the Northern Hemisphere that could, days later, run into storms and alter their courses by hundreds of miles.

My Comment: We will soon discover that all of our “good” actions harm us twofold:

• We spend more resources and energy on them than we do on the ecologically “harmful” ones,

• We think that their use will allow us to correct the environment, but in the meantime we’re falling behind with our own correction.

We have to stop lying to ourselves: The only thing that can correct the world is the correction of our egoism to altruism.

Related Material:
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News Report (from CNN): The CEO of Merrill Lynch was putting in for a $10 million bonus for 2008 – mostly because, in 2008, he adeptly held Merrill Lynch down to a loss of only $11.67 billion … at a time when Wall Street rivals like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearn’s collapsed entirely. …is this guy nuts?

This was all front page news in The Wall Street Journal today, and because of that, by late this afternoon Mr. Thain came to his senses and withdrew his bonus request. Being publicly hung out to dry can be quite a motivator.

My Comment: I don’t think it had anything to do with him being ashamed. Shame is something he couldn’t feel, just as he wouldn’t be able to understand why his request was tactless. I think he was simply told that this is what he should do: withdraw his request. Besides, he may still get his bonus “under the table.” These people are insatiable and shameless because they vainly try to fulfill themselves with empty numbers and digits. But they only end up feeling emptier than before!

The Book of Zohar states that all that is received in excess of our necessities transforms inside us into a bigger desire, which will never be possible to fulfill. Hence, a person becomes even more zealous in his pursuit of fulfillment he doesn’t actually need, fulfillment that’s excessive and not necessary for his existence. Thus he is never satisfied, until he dies.

“Ein Adam Met Ve Hatzi Taavo Be Yado” – “A person dies without being even halfway fulfilled.” That’s because one’s attempts to be fulfilled only make his emptiness increase twofold. So, instead of being jealous of these billionaires, you’d be better off using the method of authentic, eternal, and perfect fulfillment!

Related Material:
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News Report (from Los Angeles Times): “Write letters, be happy” Steven Toepfer, an assistant professor of family and consumer studies at Kent State University, conducted a study to determine what would make people feel happier. He had students write one letter every two weeks for a six-week period… After each letter was written, the students took a survey that gauged their mood, their satisfaction with life and their feelings of gratitude and happiness. According to Toepfer, the students’ levels of happiness increased after each letter…

My Comment: Coming out of oneself and connecting to others is an old, time tested method of changing one’s life under the influence of the environment. By sending a kind letter, one not only receives the corresponding response on the level of this world, but also subconsciously receives an illumination of the Surrounding Light from above, because his action makes him similar to the Creator. So write letters!

News Report (translated from lady.mail.ru): “Want to feel better? Wash your hands!” Psychologists noticed that there is a connection between a person’s hygiene and his “clean conscience.” Many people wash their hands to get rid of bad thoughts. So it’s not a coincidence that physical cleanliness has been an important part of religious rituals throughout millennia.

My Comment: This works only on the level of our egoistic world. It doesn’t correct egoism, but only makes it more agreeable for interacting with oneself and others. The only thing that can correct egoism (from the intention “for one’s own sake” to “for others’ sake”) is the Upper Light, which created it in the first place.

Related Material:
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Two questions I received on how to be sure that one is following the right path:

Question: I want to find out the Truth with a capital T, but everything I see looks like lies. How can I prove to myself and to others that Kabbalah is true? It’s not enough to say that everything is evil, and only “our Torah” is the truth.

My Answer: Progress and growth always come with the sensation of a mistake and its correction, just like in any tracking system that’s aimed at a particular goal. The feeling of uncertainty, the sensation that things are lies and are false, are all necessary, and you should be glad you feel them.

Only animals don’t make mistakes because they’re governed by nature, whereas man must develop of his own accord. Moreover, we mustn’t suppress these qualities in others; on the contrary, we should encourage them, even if these people end up leaving us. Let them verify and find their own path. Otherwise they won’t become human, but will remain “animals,” as it is written: “All are like animals” – all except those who draw the Light of growth and correction.

Question: There are many groups and schools that study Kabbalah. In your opinion, is every group that studies the authentic sources suitable to study Kabbalah with?

My Answer: Only you can tell which group and manner of study are best for you. Some people still need to go through various mysticisms, religions, and Kabbalah as knowledge (Baal HaSulam describes this when he writes about the “Kabbalists of Jerusalem”). After trying all of these (perhaps even in the next life cycle), they will come to the authentic study of Kabbalah, which is a reception of Light for the correction of one’s egoism. Indeed, this is the only reason for Kabbalah’s existence in this world, the only reason that the Torah (Kabbalah) was given. The Creator said: “I have created egoism and I have created the Torah for its correction,” or in other words: in order for people to attain the quality of “Love for one’s neighbor” – the principal law of the entire Torah and of the entire world.

Related Material:
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A question I received: Is it correct to say that the Path of Light does not take away the problems in a person’s life, and it’s just that someone following the Path of Light perceives them differently? Since that person is on a higher level, he doesn’t have the same problems as in the past because his attitude to them has changed, or rather, his attitude to the source of the problems. However, when a person following the Path of Suffering receives the same problem, he feels bad.

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct! We exist in a field of Upper Light (the quality of bestowal and love). This field consists of concentric spheres, and the closer a sphere is to the center, the more intense its quality of bestowal and love is. Everything is static; only we move through this field and change our perception by changing our qualities.

A desire, or the single soul, was created in the center of all the spheres. It then moved away from the center, losing its quality of bestowal and love, and then broke into pieces (the particular souls). Thus it acquired the opposite quality – reception (egoism). Because of this, it now exists in the most remote sphere of the field of Light.

The souls have “positions” relative the Light just like a charge has a position in an electric or magnetic field. A soul’s connection with the Light (a charge’s connection with the field) happens through balance (similarity) of their qualities. If the qualities of the Light (field) and the soul (charge) are the same, then the soul (desire) feels that it is at equilibrium. In other words, there’s a balance of the soul’s forces or qualities with the Light’s. They’re in a state of homeostasis.

When the souls move away from the center to the periphery (when they descend through their qualities), they retain a Reshimo (record) about every state they go through. When the souls reach the maximum distance from the the center (from the Creator, because their qualities are opposite to Him), a recording of the whole chain of separation (descent) remains embedded in them. The souls (egoistic desires) perceive the most remote state as a person (soul) in this world (field).

From this moment on, the souls begin their way back. At first they advance toward the goal of creation unconsciously, under pressure that emerges due to the nonconformity of their qualities to the qualities of the spheres of Light that they pass. The souls feel suffering, which is a feeling that comes from the opposition of their egoistic qualities and the qualities of the Light. The greater are the Reshimot that become expressed in a soul, the more the soul is pushed to the inner spheres in the field of Light. Or stated differently, the greater the nonconformity between the uncorrected Reshimo and the corrected Light, the worse a person feels (and the same can be said for the society as a whole).

Starting from a certain sphere in the field of Light, the Light’s influence on the Reshimo elicits a recognition of the cause of the suffering. This is expressed as the question about the meaning of the suffering, about its reason and purpose. It is a question about the meaning of life. A person is then brought to the group (the environment) where he can start correcting himself to become similar to the Light (bestowal).

“It always seems that we are loved because we are good. But what we don’t realize is that we are loved because those who love us are good.”
Leo Tolstoy

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Everything Is Done By the Light
Laitman.com Post: A Reshimo is One’s Complete Future State
Laitman.com Post: Why Do We Feel Suffering?
Interview With the Future – Part 6: “The Creation of the Reshimot”
Introductory Course to Kabbalah – Lesson 3: The System of Reshimot (Records) – the Development Software

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Two questions I received on choosing the correct environment:

Question: After reading the article “The Freedom” and other articles about the environment, I came to the conclusion that the environment is pivotal to one’s development and attainment. What should I do if I’m not sure that I’ve chosen the right environment and the right group?

My Answer: Keep studying and discerning this! Don’t rely on your own opinion nor the opinion of those around you. The answers should come on their own, from within you (from the Creator), without any external influence and without you eating yourself. Read Baal HaSulam and wait for the answer!

Question (from a woman): I would really like to understand what it means to “build your environment.” Should I look for the correct environment within the Kabbalistic group, meaning an environment within an environment, based on the principle that those who don’t give me joy and inspiration are not advancing along the right path and it’s best to avoid them?

My Answer: For a woman, there’s no such thing as a group; there’s only the environment. In it she interacts with the women she feels closest to. And she isn’t obliged to do anything more than that.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Advice for Beginners – Find the Answers Inside Yourself
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Shamati #77: “One Learns from One’s Soul”

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