Two questions I received on Kabbalah and religion:

Question: I converted to Judaism five years ago, after an entire lifetime of studying and searching. Over the past several years I have been very devoted to Torah and its pardes. Now I have a dangerous question as a consequence of your lessons. When Bore Olam says: “my thoughts are not your thoughts,” and a sage says that the Torah is Bore Olam’s wisdom (that is His thoughts), does it mean that those Jews who observed Judaism over the last several thousand years understood everything incorrectly, and in reality, my search brought me to the wrong place?

My Answer: Without a doubt, you’re not in a perfect situation, and your place, just like everyone else’s place, is in the union with the Creator. If you search for this place, you’ll find Him.

Question: Were such great Kabbalists as Rav Baruch Ashlag, Moshe Cordovero, and others religious? And why do you wear a skullcap?

My Answer: It is not a question of faith. When Kabbalah refers to faith, it speaks of the perception of the Creator, the property of Bina, bestowal, which becomes revealed in us through the study of Kabbalah. I respect religious observances because they are my people’s cultural traditions. I understand that by observing them, I am not correcting my soul in any way, and that I observe only the framework within which my people lived over the entire course of history. Religious observances are not required in the study of Kabbalah.

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Article: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion [01:51:45]
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion [01:51:45]
Lesson: The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion (Transcript)

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Question: What are the 613 desires?

My Answer: They are desires not for pleasures in our world, but are egoistically directed toward the Creator, and for this reason they are called “impure,” “Pharaoh,” and so on. In order to discover these desires within oneself, one needs to study Kabbalah and do a great deal of work upon oneself. While these desires are being discovered, the shame that Adam had discovered also begins to be felt, and begins to become corrected. As such, only through the study of Kabbalah can a person come to spiritual work, and the attain the goal of creation.

A dialog with a user called Caligula (from my Russian blog):

Caligula’s Comment: “Spirituality is above time, motion, and space; that is to say, when these parameters change in our world, they never influence a person’s spiritual state!” – that’s a quote. In other words, no matter what we do, study, and aspire to – it is all in vain and unnecessary.

My Response: That’s wrong! We cannot influence the Upper Light directly, but we can evoke it indirectly, by making efforts in the group and proper study. Read the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” item 155.

Caligula: Yes, but there’s more to it… If we follow Rav Laitman’s assertion in this case, we can reach an absurd conclusion – I don’t know what this is about, but you are demonstrating such great confidence in understanding what I said that it’s worthy of envy.

I am not speaking about regular people, but about those who aspire toward the Creator and study Kabbalah. Actually, I’m not the one saying this, but the Ari in Shaar HaKedusha. There he lists certain age-specific levels in a person’s life. A child is when the vessels of the will to receive haven’t yet developed; age 13 is when a person is already governed by his Yetzer Ra; and age 21 is when a person gains the ability to spiritually ascend

My Response: This is all wrong! Specifically, see the Ari in Etz Chaim or part 12 of Talmud Eser Sefirot. Birth means spiritual birth, regardless of one’s age. All people, except Kabbalists, die physically without even having been born spiritually.

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A question I received: Did you ever have an experience when young students would express a nice attitude to you in order to please you, but later they would begin perceiving everything that happens to them as your manipulation?

My Answer: You’re right. We are under the constant influence of external factors, but we have no awareness of it. Gradually, during the process of study (which I guide), a student begins to realize how he is being controlled from above (by the Creator), and how he can become freed from such control, have his own say, freely choosing and deciding how to act. Those who don’t study Kabbalah, however, remain controlled in every way.

We are like children in our spiritual development. The difference is that with a child, Nature (the Creator) evokes the aspiration to imitate adults. However, in one’s spiritual development, the person himself needs to develop the desire to become an adult, i.e. become similar to the Creator.

He can receive this aspiration only through upbringing and direction (call it “manipulation” if you will) from the teacher and the group. The student and the group are practically always directed by the teacher. Otherwise, how could they understand how and what they should develop to on their own?

The spiritual world, after all, is hidden from them until they acquire, under the teacher’s direction, the qualities similar to that world. Then, to the degree they are similar to the Upper World, they will feel it and be able to continue progressing on their own. As a result of being guided, the students become independent! This is the difference between spiritual (Kabbalistic) development and any other kind of development.

You have to read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom” and then everything will become clear. [Read more →]

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A question I received: I have a very important question! Fifteen years ago, I became religious and joined a religious school because the point of my soul awakened in my heart! I wanted Eternity, but did not know how. I found the studies at the religious seminary to be shallow, and anything that reached deeper required me to “break” my personality, making me sad and remorseful (for having a boyfriend). I cried, had conversations with “G-d,” felt hopeless, fearful, envious, and nullified my desires!

I tried to wipe out my personality, and suffered in order to become righteous! But it was all foolish! Little by little I understood that I was doing idolatry, yet I told myself that this was impossible – after all, it was the Torah! And all the rabbis said, “The Torah, the commandments!” For years I knew that this wasn’t it, and I was struggling, yet wasn’t able to explain it! I was studying at a very prestigious religious school in Jerusalem, with the best rabbis, yet I intuitively understood that they were lacking something! I felt depressed, alone, and couldn’t find myself. I argued with them, saying that they were engaging in questions of minor importance! A week ago, I was lucky to turn on the Kabbalah channel, and I said, “This is what I need! This is what I’ve been looking for!” That was after I saw just one TV show.

I got lucky! And this is just the beginning! I pity many rabbis! I got burned, not warmed, by their Torah! Maybe it’s because my father was a righteous man that I merited not to believe their nonsense, their empty words! I’m sorry for saying so, but in my opinion they are all the same – just lecturers!

Finally, here is my question. After being so suppressed, that I can’t even describe it, do I have a chance to be spiritually revived to the state I was born into? By my nature, I was connected to society, and I understood what “Israel” is, but religion spoiled this eternity for me! I apologize for such a long question and the efforts you’re making for me! In the past I thought, “It’s fine to break your character.” That’s what I was taught, and I simply wiped myself out, I fasted and was even happy to suffer spiritually. Later, I began crying because everything was passing me by!

Do I have a chance? If yes, what is it? It’s very important to me! Will I ever regain the strength I once had? I used to feel love for the people, love for deliverance, love for modesty, love for eternity, love for society! And suddenly all of this turned into anger, fear, failure, religious egoism, collecting commandments, and religious idolatry.

My Answer: Everything you studied, and everything that happened to you, was supposed to happen exactly the way it did, and will be of use to you. You shouldn’t accuse anybody, because until this moment in your life, everything took place according to the Creator’s will. From this moment onward, you should continue behaving as usual, but supplement your life with Kabbalah study. Start with the book Shamati (ed. see below), and then continue with the articles of Baal HaSulam. Or it could be better for you to listen and watch our lessons (ed. see below) instead of reading by yourself. Try it. You should only look forward – never backward!

The Book Shamati (I Heard):
Free PDF Download
Read at Kabbalah Library
Purchase Print Version

Lessons by Michael Laitman:
Daily Kabbalah Lessons given by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD are broadcast live on Kabbalah TV: 3:20am until 6:00am Israel (GMT+2) time, Sunday to Friday, [Time Zone Converter], and are archived on the Kabbalah Media Archive.

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Two questions I received on the connection between the corporeal and spiritual worlds:

Question: When a person starts developing spiritually, he loses interest in matters of this world, including university studies. I understand that it’s important to combine both worlds, but I don’t feel the connection between spiritual development and academic development. It’s written that the source of suffering is the lack of connection between the different parts of creation. How can I create this connection within myself, between the spiritual calling I am discovering and my responsibility as a student? How can I relate my academic studies to the goal of creation? Am I supposed to find the answer on my own, and see my confusion as just a part of my development?

My Answer: That’s right. Your confusion is part of your development. My practical advice for you is, in your thoughts, create an empty section in your mind that you will use to think about your academic studies, and with the rest of your mind, think about spirituality. Don’t mix one world with the other, and progress simultaneously in both. Good luck!

Question: How do I separate everyday life from the spiritual life?

My Answer: Other than studying Kabbalah in your free time, you shouldn’t change anything in your life. To avoid confusing Kabbalah, the study about “that” world, with life in “this” world, try thinking about Kabbalah with “one part of your mind,” and about our world with another part. Don’t appear different from other people in any way, or from the way you were in the past, and don’t talk about Kabbalah with anyone other than the people you study with. Study Rabash’s articles on the group (ed. see below) and bring them to realization. The most important thing is to be present (virtually) at least in a part of our daily lessons (see below).

Lessons by Michael Laitman:
Daily Kabbalah Lessons given by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD are broadcast live on Kabbalah TV: 3:20am until 6:00am Israel (GMT+2) time, Sunday to Friday, [Time Zone Converter], and are archived on the Kabbalah Media Archive.

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Two questions I received on dreams:

Question: Do our dreams have a spiritual root?

My Answer: Dreams are all of our daily impressions, which uncontrollably sweep through and fluctuate in our minds while we sleep. This is why they create different connections and scenes.

Question: What happens to a person’s soul in the following states: loss of consciousness, coma, being a “vegetable,” and hallucinations? Does one realize where one is? Is there another reality where a person perceives a reality just like ours while really being unconscious?

My Answer: These states are purely physical, and bear no relation to spiritual states, because one does not perceive them through the Masach (screen), through properties that are similar to the Creator.

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Article: Perception of Reality

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A question I received: I take my hat off to you Professor! You’re the most out-of-the-ordinary individual. A while ago, I already understood that it’s impossible to predict your answers, but never did I expect to hear Kabbalistic rap… Professor, I admit that you are an unsurpassable genius. Can you reveal your secret to your eternal youth and lively spirits? How do you manage to do it?

My Answer: It’s very simple Watson! The fact is that Kabbalah deals with, or one who studies Kabbalah deals with, the soul. And this is the only organ we have that doesn’t age or die. The more you engage in it, the younger you become. And this happens to such an extent that you even start feeling a little uneasy: you look and act like a kid while everyone around you is so important, full of Torah, solid individuals who are carrying the weight of the commandments… You, however, remain as a child, as it is written, “It’s better to be a smart and weak boy than an old and powerful king” (Tov Yeled Mizken ve Hacham mi Melech Zaken uKsil). It means that the love and bestowal born in a person from his entrance to spirituality are still weak, but they’re better than the old, powerful egoism that kills itself.

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A question I received: When a person becomes religious, doesn’t he do this because his point in the heart (desire for spirituality) has awakened? Or, does he do it because something happened in his life that made him seriously think about life? If we assess the situation, we see that these thoughts cause a great change in people’s lives. Let’s say that these changes aren’t spiritual, as described in Kabbalah, but nevertheless, what – if not inner awakening – can make a person who was born into a certain world, completely change his life around, and adopt a lifestyle that isn’t easy at all?

My Answer: Surely a person constantly questions his goals, and the surfacing of all kinds of desires in him prompts changes in his life. However, all these desires and occurrences surface at the level of our world, and as such, are unrelated to spirituality. It could also be that this person starts worrying about the world to come, about what will happen to him after he dies, and thus starts noticing everything in the world as being illusive and transient, and that he’ll be left with nothing at the end of it… In either case, he is pursuing security, and religion offers him a reward for his efforts.

However, when a person couldn’t care less about his security or finding a place to relax, or about being rewarded in this world or the world to come; when he wants only one thing – to discover the truth – he then discovers the wisdom of Kabbalah. Such a person has sought after all desires and revealed their emptiness. He neglects them because they are based on compromising with his consciousness, “sweeping things under the table” so to speak, and they make him ignore the painful inner questions. The desire to discover the truth makes him incapable of lying to himself, and ready for anything as long as it leads to the truth. The point in the heart is speaking within such a person, and not his earthly desires, his heart.

Related Material:
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Lesson: Shamati Article #28 – I Shall Not Die But Live (Transcript)

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Two questions I received on astrology’s connection to Kabbalah, and whether there is life on other planets:

Question: I have been engaged in astrology for twenty years now, and since 1998 I have also been studying Kabbalistic psychology, which is based on the law: “Something born at a given moment receives the properties of that moment.” Why don’t you give lessons on this topic?

My Answer: Because there is no connection between astrology and Kabbalah, even though many try to pass Kabbalah off as being part of astrology. The Torah strictly states: “Don’t do magic and fortunetelling,” because they distract a person from correction, pointing him to false paths and ways to “get around” the Upper Governance.

The only way we can influence our destiny is by influencing the Upper Light, and we influence the Upper Light to the degree that we aspire to become similar to It, by aspiring toward love and bestowal. If this is our true aspiration, the Upper Light descends upon us, corrects us, and changes our state. The Supernal, with the exception of the person, is in a state of absolute rest, and only our positive changes can change our destiny. This is why fortunetelling is forbidden.

Predictions can partially come true, if a person does not do anything to become corrected, because then, such a person is under the influence of nature’s negative reactions to his behavior (i.e. his lack of independent correction) on the path of Beito (lit. in due time), and this path can be predicted. However, when we intervene with the Upper Governance by correcting ourselves, then there is no way to predict the future, since it changes depending on us, along the path of Achishena (lit. “I will hasten it”). The harm done by fortunetelling is twofold:
1. the predictions are incorrect, and
2. they distract people from correction.

As such, there is a corresponding reaction from above: correction, or twice the suffering!

Question: Is there human or animal life on other planets? If not, then how and based on what does Kabbalah explain this?

My Answer: Everything stated in Kabbalah is based on received data. Read some materials on the attainment of reality. If we don’t attain something, we don’t know it. So far, in none of our earthly or spiritual sensations senses (the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of attainment) have we attained anything rational, existing either in our world or the spiritual world, besides ourselves. (As for angels, they are particular forces of the soul and the Creator).

Related Material:
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Kabbalah Today Article: What Is (and Is Not) Kabbalah?
10 Myths About Kabbalah
Chapter 7 from the Book The Kabbalah Experience: Beliefs, Mysticism and the Supernatural

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Two questions I received on our perception of the world:

Question: How can I understand this paradox: On the one hand, we are being treated as one integral system of Adam, but at the same time we feel like individuals? And what about the individual who is incorporated into all the general suffering and woes, which happen to the entire system? How can he go through this path pleasantly and safely? And who is to blame for the fact that this system is so opposite to the laws of bestowal?

My Answer: Everything is built perfectly and logically. What you perceive is not a lousy world, but your own imperfections, your own picture of the world. If you correct yourself, then everything will radiate harmony.

It is because the screen on which you see yourself and your surroundings is your qualities, and in order to change yourself to see the world as eternal and perfect, or in other words, to live in this kind of world you depict, is by acquiring eternal and perfect qualities. This is why Kabbalah has been given to us.

Question: Why was the world created precisely the way it is? Why is there nature, attitude, change in attitude, suffering, pleasure, the will to receive, the will to bestow, etc.? Who needs all this? Why can’t we just enjoy and so be it? What is there to do for someone who has no patience and who doesn’t even have a desire to exist (not in a body or without a body, but to simply not exist)?

My Answer: The soul was created in perfection, in the World of Infinity. It lacks only one thing: the perception of this perfection. The only way to achieve this perception is by comparing the opposites of darkness and light – the absence of perfection and its presence. Its presence is there, but its absence is missing. This is why our world was created; it is the place where we have to fully perceive the absence of perfection, and together with it, return to the world of infinite perfection. There we will feel true fulfillment through these opposites.

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: I Saw a Reversed World
Article: Perfection and the World
Shamati Article #34: The Profit of a Land
Lesson: Shamati Article #34 – The Profit of a Land [53:59]
Lesson: Shamati Article #34 – The Profit of a Land [53:59]

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