The 13th issue of the Kabbalah Today publication is now available.

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Editor’s Note
More Real than Reality TV, More Connected than the Internet
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Anything but Survival
The game show, Survivor, is an excellent example of how not to behave in order to survive in our world. But are we – people of the world, stranded on planet Earth – really that different from the contestants on Survivor?
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To Be or Not to Be?
Death is one of the most unsettling, yet fascinating, phenomena we all face. At one point or another, it touches the lives of each of us, forcing us to ask profound, seemingly unanswerable questions.
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Facebook – What’s All the Fuss?
The obsession with Facebook expresses a deep rooted desire within each of us—to feel connected with everyone. But does the largest virtual community really deliver the new and improved social world we seek?
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Tom, Jerry and Our Children
Today, even Tom can’t help us teach good values to our children. Not to mention Jerry…
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Extras – Why Does Love Always Hurt?
Love always hurts us, because in our world, love is based on the needs of the ego. Whether we are aware of it or not, our love always comes with the calculation: “Is it worthwhile for me or not?”
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“Light” – the Kabbalistic Meaning
The word “Light” brings all kinds of positive associations to mind. But in Kabbalah, Light is higher than anything we can imagine – it is, in fact, a quality of the Creator Himself.
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Living the Spiritual Dream World
We all begin our lives perceiving and living in this corporeal world, until one day we discover a unique desire for something new and different, mostly called “spirituality.”
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Kabbalah: User Manual
What’s it All About?
Although we often feel like isolated individuals and see a world of schisms, Kabbalists say that we are all interconnected and interdependent.
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Filed under: Notices - No Comments →

A question I received: Although Baal HaSulam writes that a spiritual person leaves for himself only what he needs to survive and gives the rest to society, for some reason you don’t advise anyone to act this way. Don’t you agree with Baal HaSulam? Or are you afraid that this will scare people off? For instance, even though I myself am in need of money, I’m still scared of this!

My Answer: All our actions must correspond to Nature’s law. Should that be the case, we would feel ourselves as Nature’s integral parts – in the World of Infinity, that is, in the state of eternity and perfection, just like Nature (the Creator) itself.

Kabbalah – the science of the whole of Nature – helps us reach this state not through blows and suffering, but through conscious development. [Read more →]

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Question for ML: Do you really think that eventually people will regard Kabbalah as a science and seriously consider the possibility of moving from an egoistic society to social equality?

My Answer: Do you remember The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry, when the astronomer announced his wonderful discovery at the International Convention of Astronomers? No one believed him, and only because he was dressed in Turkish clothes. (If Kabbalah wasn’t being mistakenly associated with mysticism, religion, and especially Judaism, then perhaps people would hear what it has to say.) A year later, the astronomer announced the same discovery once again, only that this time he was dressed in the latest fashion, and everyone agreed with him!

Oh, these grownups are so weird!

Myths About Kabbalah

Filed under: Perception - 2 Comments →

News Story: Fungus devastates wheat

A NEW strain of a major fungal disease in wheat is wiping out crops across Africa and Asia, sparking fears that manufacturers will be forced to pay even more for the vital commodity.

Scientists are currently battling against the Ug99 strain of stem rust, which first originated in East Africa.

Bakery firms across the globe are already suffering because of the rocketing cost of wheat, blamed on a variety of reasons including increased demand from emerging markets and biofuels.

In the past, stem rust was generally controlled in the region by using wheat specifically cultivated to be resistant to the disease; however, the new strain is “particularly vigilant,” scientist Lesley Boyd told British reporters.

My Response: The Book of Zohar states that if we, in our era, do not correct ourselves, if we don’t try to become all-giving and all-loving like Nature, then Nature will make us become like it against our will. Nature will affect us through our negative connection with it, bringing upon us hunger, natural disasters, wars, epidemics, and so on.
But Nature (or, the Creator) doesn’t want us to suffer; it doesn’t affect us with the aim of makng us suffer. On the contrary, we get such treatment as a result of our failure to take our evolution into our own hands. For instance, what we would forgive in a child is not necessarily the same as what we would forgive in a grownup. Today, we are mature enough to feel our opposition to Nature (the Creator), and this is so that we can achieve balance with it (called “similarity with the Creator”). However, our aim determines everything. The moment we make a turn toward correction (similarity with the Creator), everything will change. We would be to Nature as a child who wants to show her parents how much she wants to be good. Now you should be able to see the importance of spreading Kabbalah throughout the world.

Filed under: World - 1 Comment →

Question for ML: What’s the connection between Kabbalah and Gematria? For instance, the Creator and Nature have the same numerical value in Gematria. What is Gematria and how does it prove anything? My Answer: It’s not a number game, as some people think. Kabbalists use Gematria to designate properties, forces and degrees that the soul goes through. There’s nothing hidden in it, and Kabbalists use it for no other purposes. Gematria is simply terms, or designations, indicating relationships between forces and phenomena in the Upper World, and its writer is a person who discovers and observes such relationships. “The Creator” and “Nature” are terms designating the all-encompassing general force.

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

News Story: Dutch to legalize gay sex in public park

New rules of conduct passed by Dutch council officials will permit gay sex in public areas but fine dog owners who let their pets off the leash in Amsterdam’s Vondelpark.

As for the rules: “Condoms must always be cleared away, it must never take place in the neighborhood of children’s playgrounds and the sex must be restricted to the evening and night-time,” said Alderman Paul van Grieken.

The new park rules have the blessing of the Dutch police, who have urged all Dutch parks to follow Amsterdam’s lead.

But Amsterdam’s dog owners are less impressed. The new park code of conduct will set out stiff fines for dogs that are allowed to run around the Vondelpark off the leash.

One dog owner protested: “As long as the park has existed, we’ve been allowed to let our dogs run freely. It’s outrageous that we will be punished from now on but public sex won’t. If they can drop their trousers, why can’t I let my dog loose?”

My Response: In its final stage of evolution, egoism is offering all kinds of possibilities to fulfill any desire, and it’s digging its own grave in the process. Egoism is showing us that our will to receive is impossible to satisfy. Instead of giving us a feeling of satisfaction, egoism is causing us increasing pain and feelings of emptiness. Thus, against our will, we are realizing that the same ego which constantly drives our pursuit for new pleasures is actually our enemy. As such, we start hating our egoism, and look for ways to limit it and free ourselves from it. Feeling empty (depression, drugs, divorce and suicide) brings about the question “What is the meaning of life?” and in our search for its answer, we discover Kabbalah.

Filed under: World - 3 Comments →

Report: One of our newest discoveries is the ability to directly affect the heart function of millions of people! In a newly published academic paper, computer scientists in the U.S. have shown that pacemakers can be hacked. Moreover, the results of such hacking can be potentially lethal.

My Response: If only people would recognize that they have a direct impact on each other’s souls and destiny! Then how would they behave? Would they live in total fear of inflicting harm on one another, or on the contrary, would they try to inflict as much harm as possible to anyone they could? Or, would they try to reach an agreement for everyone’s safety? We still haven’t been able to recognize that we are completely dependent on one another, and as such, our only solution is to achieve absolute love! So why aren’t we discovering our mutual dependence, when it’s precisely how we are all connected? We aren’t discovering it because it would force us to love each other. Love, however, needs to be free, unconditional – independent of its outcome, return or response … Love needs to be free!

Lecture: Unconditional Love

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Lectures, Love - No Comments →

“Things will be bad. Very bad!” These are the opening words of a front page article in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper for intellectuals, businessmen and politicians, read by the upper, educated class of the Israeli society. The basis for this statement is the widely recognized situation in the financial world.

My Response: According to the science of Kabbalah, finances are the basis of humanity’s entire egoistic activity; they are the value, the measurement and the means to compare all connections and powers in a human society. Nature operates us in our physical desires (i.e. those that our bodies demand): food, sex, and family. As egoism evolved, social desires emerged: wealth, power, fame, and knowledge. In other words, all of our social relations are based on and measured by wealth (money, finances). We can’t imagine what our lives would be like if this common value were to be disrupted. However, one day we will have no choice but to replace it with a different value: everyone working for the benefit of others, and in return, receiving a normal life in the body, and unity with the Creator in spirit. Such a transformation cannot be accomplished with our own strength, but only through a comprehensible revelation of the Creator.

Nature shows us the harmony that prevails in it and the complete bond that exists between all of its parts. Human society must become just like that.
The idea of collective awareness must be willingly accepted by everyone. And for this reason, there is yet much suffering that will hit the world, and there is no easier path to maturity than the path of Kabbalah.
Baal HaSulam, “The Future Generation”

Filed under: World - 2 Comments →

Question for ML: I have been passionately studying your materials for two months now, and I am thankful to you from the bottom of my heart. I am turning to you because of an arising crisis in my family – my wife is against me studying Kabbalah. She is not interested in changing toward the spiritual. I have tried to do nothing but give, without receiving, for about two weeks, but I don’t see any improvement. What can I do with regard to her, to receive help for mine and our mutual spiritual growth? I think that I’ll only be able to change myself. Will this affect my wife as well?

My Answer:
1. She’ll probably get used to it, so continue trying, and gently explain to her that you’re simply curious. [Read more →]

Filed under: Women - 3 Comments →

Philosophy has placed a lot of effort into proving that the corporeal is produced by the spiritual, that the soul begets the body. This is, of course, nothing more than philosophy’s invention. The spiritual has nothing to do with the corporeal; there’s no connection between them whatsoever.

Philosophy’s whole uselessness and confusion lies in that it takes pride in a theoretical understanding of the Creator. Kabbalah, on the other hand, is based on and speaks only about actual attainment.

The spiritual represents a force unclothed by a body, and therefore, it is without corporeal form, without any connection to the corporeal. As far as the soul goes, philosophy considers spiritual entities to be unattainable, attributing them to the category of pure reason.

How can the spiritual beget and sustain the corporeal? Such a question is only difficult for philosophers. This question presents no difficulty to a Kabbalist, because Kabbalists attain the total opposite of what philosophers imagine. Moreover, according to Kabbalists, any property of a spiritual object is similar to its corporeal property.

The time of philosophers has passed, and their reign has ended – thanks to materialistic psychologists. Materialistic psychology was built on the ruins of philosophy. Today, everyone understands philosophy’s uselessness, because it lacks a legitimate foundation. The opportunity to disclose Kabbalah to the world arose when materialistic psychology came about, and inflicted a victorious blow to philosophic theology.

Today, Kabbalah will be able to prove its validity by clarifying the uselessness and falsehood of philosophic theology, which inherited the throne of Kabbalah such a long time ago.

Based on: Y. Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

My Current Mood: confused

Filed under: Perception - 1 Comment →