All beliefs that go beyond the limits of the most primitive beliefs about the forces of nature, came to us from the science of Kabbalah. The science of Kabbalah itself originated from the revelation of the Upper Force by Abraham, who recognized the relationship between the Creator and all the levels of desire.

On the lowest level of desire, this is expressed as the “gifts” that Abraham gave to the children of his concubines and whom he then sent to the East. This is the origin of the Eastern religions, which are very close to nature and man’s body.

A different method operates on the highest, most egoistic, fourth level of desire. This is the method Abraham taught to his group of students, who later turned into the nation of Israel (where Isra-el means “straight to the Creator”). When his students (the nation of Israel) fell from their spiritual level of bestowal and love for the neighbor, into egoism and mutual hatred (known as the fall of the Second Temple), then in order to replace Kabbalah – “life with the Creator,” people came up with the religion of Judaism, which is life without the sensation of the Creator.

When people’s desire was corrected and used for bestowal and love, the people felt the Creator and the Upper Life within that desire. But when that same desire fell from bestowal into reception, into the egoistic intention of “for myself,” people began to feel just this world. That is when Kabbalah (sensation, attainment, and revelation) was replaced by religion (faith, mysticism, and tradition).

Thus, the religion of Judaism is an imprint of the science of Kabbalah and the desire to bestow, within the broken desire to receive (the fourth layer of desire). The sparks of this breaking fell into other layers of desire; that is how the third layer formed Christianity and the second one – Islam. These religions were created according to how people understood Kabbalah’s imprint within their egoistic desire. This also makes it clear that according to the Creator’s plan, humanity must go through these phases of egoistic development in order to realize its opposition to the Creator, following the principle, “The value of the Light comes from the darkness.”

All the religions, beliefs, and faiths (which add up to about 3800 in the whole world) come from different ways of imagining the Creator within the egoistic desire, in all of its different forms. This is why there are so many different religious approaches in the world and none of them understand one another. It’s because they all come from Kabbalah’s division into different religions – the shift from the sensation of unity to the sensation of disunity.

In the past, the breaking of the Upper Level (the fall of the Second Temple) brought about egoistic social relations, an egoistic attitude of the common desire toward the Creator, which caused all the religions and beliefs to emerge. However, if we, those who have a point in the heart, now correct the connection among us on that higher level, then we will be able to correct all the religions and faiths. Then, everything will become part of the unity with the Creator.

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Аt first glance, it seems that not all of my properties are equally useful and I would gladly get rid of some of them. But we only feel this way because we don’t know how to use them correctly.

Even after correction is complete, a person retains all his original traits. All we can do is to use them in different ways. This is what the methodology of correction, Kabbalah, is all about. We don’t destroy creation, and in fact it’s prohibited to obliterate, ruin or diminish our properties since they are created by the Light and only the Light can alter them in the proper way.

As we advance spiritually, we develop qualities and desires that are even more negative and despicable, but this is actually a reason to rejoice, because it’s proof that we are making progress and that we have enough strength to complete correction. That is where free choice lies – in accelerating the process of correction before being hit with negative events that would force correction upon us.

At this very moment you should come to understand the meaning behind everything that happens with you, and start using all the resources at your disposal (the teacher, the group and the books) to attract the Light, the force that will transform you. If you don’t take this initiative yourself, you’ll be pressured into it by external crises and events.

One way or another you’ll reach the end of correction. The wisdom of Kabbalah simply allows you to move forward in a way that avoids shocks and allows you to anticipate and avoid negative events. If you slow down this tempo of correction, you get hit. The strength of the hit you receive directly corresponds to how much you’ve slowed your progress. This is the sole cause of suffering in the world.

Only the greatness of the goal pushes all the temporary and fleeting things in our lives down our list of priorities. You’ll come to realize that the goal is so superior that even the shocks that destiny gives us on our way towards the goal are of no importance.

The point at which you’ll stop sensing the blows or shocks altogether is reached by rising above your egoism and learning how to use every one of your desires in order to achieve maximum bestowal, rather than trying to minimize the shocks you receive.

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Our desires exist outside of our bodies. In the past, however, people used to think that one’s qualities are contained in one’s heart, which meant that if you could change a person’s heart, then the person would change as well. But the first heart transplant proved all these conjectures false, showing that the heart is simply a pump. The same is true of the brain; in fact, it can’t even be called a computer.

As for the body, it is but an image that we imagine as being our existence. However, our true I – the spiritual I – is beyond this image.

This entire world is depicted exclusively within our sensations, within us. The three-dimensional screen we are watching is not really depicting the world around us, but the picture of the forces inside us. We don’t see anything else outside of that, which is why it seems to us that we are surrounded by a live world.

What surrounds us is a panoramic screen. We only know what we perceive, and we perceive only what is being shown to us at this moment. It is only when the spiritual picture appears to us that we realize that we’ve been watching a movie all this time.

The science of Kabbalah is a method that helps us transition to a new perception. And that is exactly what we should expect from it. We shouldn’t desire empty, theoretical knowledge from Kabbalah books, but a vision of another, higher world – a clear vision of ourselves and the Creator.

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The wisdom of Kabbalah is hidden from our senses and intellect. It belongs to a different dimension, one which we are incapable of perceiving and exploring directly.

As opposed to animals that are unable to comprehend the music created by humans, we possess a powerful imagination and the basic property called a point in the heart, which allows us to transform ourselves. It is to this end that we study Kabbalah, merely by maintaining a connection to the eternal wisdom. This is our most important work in this world.

It doesn’t matter how far a person advances in Kabbalah, or how much he understands. Simply studying the eternal wisdom of Kabbalah, which is beyond this world and above our unconscious state, is an expression of a desire to come out of this world, which is a great and timeless expression on its own. Every moment spent studying Kabbalah with the intention of getting closer to a new reality and getting rid of unconsciousness is a moment well spent.

It is written that after one’s body dies, the soul is asked only two questions: “Did you study Torah? Did you await salvation?” The question, “Did you study Torah?” means: Did you try to attract the Light that returns you to the Source? And the question, “Did you await salvation?” means: Did you believe that the Light would do this work for you, and did you strive to transform yourself into a “giving” being?

If a person pays even the least bit of attention to the wisdom of Kabbalah and studies it, he advances the entire group of souls that are close to him in the general system called “Adam.”

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Questions I received about the fate of the physical body:

Question: In what body will we exist in eternity? Will it be the one from our last incarnation or a body from a previous incarnation? Or can it be a totally different body?

My Answer: “Body” in Kabbalah means the correction of desires, and our physical body is not a subject of discussion at all. It only appears to exist to us.

Question: What does Kabbalah say about cremation of the body instead of burial in the ground? I happened to see on one “Kabbalah” site that it is prohibited, and that one would only rise half a person with great penalties.

My Answer: At the level of our world, burial is the norm. At the same time, Kabbalah does not consider our bodies to be sacred, as religions do. Kabbalah just does not take them into account.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: When All Boundaries Disappear
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is In Our Imagination
Laitman.com Post: Connect To The Creator Through This World And The Spiritual World
The Path of Kabbalah: “The Body at the End of Correction”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Body and Soul”
Video: Physical and Spiritual Connections (3:52)

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I participated in a teleconference with Igor Nikolaevich Panarin, a political scientist, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PhD in Psychology, PhD in Political Science, and member of The Academy of Military Science. He is the author of the books Information War and Russia, Information War and Elections, Information War and Power, Information War and Geo-Politics, and others.

He has participated in large international conferences where he always spoke in defense of Russian national interests. He often makes appearances on news and analytical TV shows aired on leading Russian channels, commenting on important current issues of modern world politics and Russian current events.

My Considerations: There is no place for nationalistic ideas in the modern global, interconnected and interdependent world, since these ideas cause nations to be in opposition with each other. In our times, we have come to a level of global development of humanity and its unification into one whole. Any separation is opposite to the natural development of humanity and thus, doomed for failure.

The development of strong nationalistic ideas in such a multi-national country as Russia will lead to even greater centrifugal forces within the country, which will eventually tear it apart.

A national idea is a definition of a nation’s meaning of existence. A nation is already the implementation of the idea. So, if there is a purpose for a nation to exist, what is it?

Globalization and immigration show that today all people can live without a country by becoming citizens of the world. Issues that are critical to the survival and flourishing of humanity (such as economy, ecology, and energy) can only be resolved on a global scale, where the benefit of all humanity is considered. However, Russia, the nation that has always stubbornly searched for its place in history, has to find an answer about the meaning of its existence. Besides, as we have seen, the Russian people cannot live as peacefully as the people of Luxembourg, for example.

Therefore, a suggestion: You should desire to become a source of Light for the world; thus, you will lead the world forward. Kabbalah, the science and method of integrating man and nature, suits these purposes. By implementing its methods, you will find your sought-after place in history – one of respect and grandeur!

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Like any other science, Kabbalah studies what happens to matter. However, it has several special features:

• In contrast to corporeal sciences, which study the physical manifestations of the “desire to receive,” which we feel either on our own or through tools, Kabbalah studies matter that we do not feel, called “the desire to bestow.”
• Kabbalah allows us to observe the matter in which we exist “from outside,” from the spiritual point of view. This is that same point that created all of matter, both spiritual – the desire to bestow,  and corporeal – the desire to receive.
• While conducting research in the sciences of our world, we exist in this world, inside its matter (desire to receive). Thus, we merely examine this world and draw conclusions based on this. We study the animate, vegetative, and inanimate levels from our perspective as human beings. Kabbalah allows us to rise to a level that is higher, the level of the Light, the desire to bestow, and to examine our material from that level, from above. We cannot investigate the “human” level in any other way except through the method of Kabbalah.
• The science of Kabbalah allows us to develop a new sense from the “point in the heart” that exists in us. Through this sense, we will perceive the part of the universe that is now hidden from us and reveal the system that governs us and our whole world. We will also be able to control our state through this system from above downward.
• Adapting to the system of governance will allow us to switch to a perception of our existence in the system of bestowal. Thus, we will not be limited by the boundaries of space and time and will feel the flow of existence beyond time, space, life, and death.

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The 23rd issue of Kabbalah Today has just been released:

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It makes no difference what language you use to study the science of Kabbalah. This does not affect the connection between the Creator and the created being. You don’t have to know Hebrew.

All four languages used in Kabbalah (the languages of the Tanach, Halacha, Hagaddah, and Kabbalah) are not really comprised of the shapes of letters, the words, or the Hebrew expressions. Rather, a language is a connection between the created being and the Creator, or between the desire and the Light that activates it. The connection may be externally expressed as the moo of a cow or the smile of a baby, or even without any external expressions.

What matters is how your heart reacts and speaks to the Creator. You don’t have to write or saying anything. The truest language is your desires, which take on various forms depending on their similarity to the Creator.

There are no forms, sounds, smells, or movements in the spiritual world. The entire language of connecting to the Creator is your degree of similarity to Him, as well as how much you desire this similarity, how doubtful you are about it and how much you strive toward Him.

But none of this is related to the spoken language used by people in this world.

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Everything occurs inside the desire to receive pleasure that was created by the Creator. As it develops, this desire goes through changes. Initially I agree with that desire and am not in conflict with it. In fact, what conflict could be there if I don’t separate myself from the desire and act according to its orders?

I still have no clue that it is not me who wants anything, but rather it is the desire commanding me. I don’t yet realize or distinguish myself separately as:

1. A desire
2. A human being

When the point in the heart (the Creator) awakens in me and gives me the aspiration to bestow, then I realize that the desire is not my own. Now there is:

1. A desire
2. Me (the point in the heart)

By attempting to change the desires, I separate them from myself more and more and begin feeling that I am enslaved to them. Regardless of whether I enjoy my desires or suffer from them, I begin to understand that desires are being sent to me. My reality then seems to consist of three elements:

1. The Creator
2. The desires sent by Him
3. Me

Kabbalah explains that I have free choice to raise the importance of the spiritual goal above the interests of my body and my current life. This can be done under the influence of the group and the Upper Light. I can then change my desires in order to reach the goal. In this way, I will build my equivalence to the Creator, bestowal.

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