Where did all these books come from that talk about the influence of the signs of the Zodiac on people’s fate, fortunetelling using a person’s hand, dream interpretation, and all other kinds of spiritual practices and meditations? All of this came to us from Abraham. The book Midrash Raba talks about how he gave these gifts to the sons of his concubines, with each gift matching the personality of the son, and then he sent them off to the East. This is why we see so many different spiritual teachings and beliefs in the world today.

We have to be very careful with these teachings, lest we get confused. After all, it might seem that they speak about working with one’s egoism in a similar way to Kabbalah. The Book of Zohar (Vaera, Items 80 – 90) gives an example of how a sage came to a city where he met many people who seemed to be doing spiritual work and who studied many wise books. But upon a deeper inquiry, he found that these books did not have the Light of Correction.

There are many beautiful methods that originated from Abraham’s method and that speak about love and bestowal. But it is impossible to develop the quality of bestowal within you using them. To do this, one has to work in three lines: one has to work with the left line (one’s egoism), and correctly combine the quality of reception with the quality of bestowal. This produces a third line called Isra-El (straight to the Creator). This approach does not exist anywhere besides Kabbalah.

However, all the Eastern methods came from the “raw” form of Abraham’s method and they all use just the right line, the quality of mercy. Despite all their beautiful words about love, we cannot implement them today, since we now have enormous egoism.

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A question I received: Didn’t Abraham know that the Eastern methods and teachings are false? Why, then, did he give them to his sons?

My Answer: The difference between all the teachings and methods is their suggested way of working with and correcting man’s egoistic desire. The Eastern methods are incorrect for our time. However, as long as man’s egoism was small, it was possible to tame it using the Eastern methods. As soon as people’s egoism grew, however, these methods stopped working.

While humanity was egoistically developing throughout thousands of years, we needed these methods as well as the three major religions of the world. The religions are methods of developing the souls during the period of exile, which is an exile from spirituality, when the Upper World is concealed. This period began with the destruction of the Temple and lasted until the era of the Messiah.

When this period comes to an end, religion turns into a cultural heritage or a tradition. We are living in a time when all the methods have to become clear for what they are, once and for all. Then, Kabbalah will be revealed above them.

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A question I received: You said that the science of Kabbalah was conveyed “from mouth to mouth” for millennia. What does this mean?

My Answer: “From mouth to mouth” means that spiritual attainment is conveyed by way of a common Masach (screen) from teacher to student, when both are on the same degree. They are connected to one another as an adult and a child in our world: the adult can descend to the level of the child and teach him, while the child is capable of receiving from the adult. Learning is possible because both are in the same world and on the same level.

The same is true in the spiritual world: we can attain a connection with the Teacher because he descends to a lower spiritual degree, a degree the student has to rise to. They then reach a connection that is called “from mouth to mouth,” meaning: through a common screen between a Partzuf of the Upper Level and a Partzuf of the lower level. The screen stands in the Peh (mouth), and that is why the mutual connection is called “Peh El Peh” – mouth to mouth.
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A question I received: Does Kabbalah contain any secret wisdom that is forbidden from being revealed?

My Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah the word “forbidden” essentially means “impossible.”

A Kabbalist cannot present himself to the public and begin to reveal the secrets of this wisdom, pulling them out of his hat like a magician does a rabbit or a dove.

He cannot reveal anything to the people, other than the method of developing their perception. Subsequently, as a person develops his perception of the spiritual, in it he will reveal what is presently a secret to him.

A “secret” is what you do not know, see or otherwise sense at the present moment. While in the next phase it will become clear, simple and revealed.

In the science of Kabbalah every concept is studied according to the four phases of revelation, which are the four phases of development of spiritual perception (Aviut, the coarseness of the desire).

This is called entering into Pardes (the garden of knowledge): Pshat – knowledge, Remez – hint, Derush – discernment, Sod – secret. However, the process of entering occurs in the reverse order.

By correcting one’s perception of reality, one gradually ascends from secret (Sod) to discernment (Derush) to hint (Remez) to knowledge (Pshat). And there is nothing forbidden in any of it.

“Forbidden” means that the Kabbalists don’t want to confuse the person with excessive knowledge that he is not yet ready to comprehend. It is just as we raise a child by gradually expanding his diet, the games he plays, etc.

A teacher is supposed to prepare the “spiritual nourishment” in accordance with the student’s level. Therefore, the Kabbalists don’t fear revealing the forbidden; instead they fear “overdosing” the rest of us, just as an unripe fruit is harmful to one’s health.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it harms by “expelling” the person out of this wisdom altogether. There’s even the possibility of the person being unable to discard whatever misconceptions he has acquired for the rest of his life, essentially wasting his current incarnation.

That is why we progress from the simple to the complex. Such is the path of correction.

This is why the Kabbalists’ only fear is giving the student an “unripe fruit,” for the only way for him to grow correctly and fully attain the science of Kabbalah is by proceeding along the phases suitable to his development.

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A question I received: Why did so many Kabbalists write music?

My Answer: Music, theater and dance are all means to express spiritual attainment. It’s not perchance that music and dance were two of the seven sciences that a person needed to master in the past before he could approach the study of the science of Kabbalah. They were considered sciences, since a person needed to express the Upper Attainment with the sounds of music, in the motions of dance and through singing.

Words are also music. I can express my sensations through words as well as notes. Any musical composition also “narrates” according to the laws of cause and effect. Music is a language.

The TaNTA (the full Kli – Taamim, Nekudot, Tagin and Otiyot), used in the written language, is also applied in music and dancing. It doesn’t matter what form you use to express the link between the Kli and the Light; it will always consist of TaNTA.

The same phrase can be expressed through words, music and dance. However, Kabbalah expresses it through recording the relationships between the vessels and the Lights filling them, which is a basic, universal language.

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We can see how the system of creation is built in a step by step manner. A person is always connected to a specific level, and then he advances to the next level, and so on. The influence he receives from Above passes through all the levels in order to reach him. One’s path toward the goal is an ascent up the levels from below upwards, and in the process, one gradually becomes similar to the World of Infinity.

Each of us is a result of thousands of years of development by our ancestors. However, a person’s direct connection is to his parents. They give him the qualities and upbringing that the shape him inside and out.

The same thing happens in the science of Kabbalah. It has developed for thousands of years, and each Kabbalist out of thousands of Kabbalists did something unique in order to bring this wisdom to us today, the time when the whole world must awaken.

But nevertheless, our closest connection is to the most recent Kabbalists: Baal HaSulam and Rabash. They are our parents. They are the ones who give us life and the upbringing that shapes us. They connect us to the system leading to Infinity, and we perform this ascent with their direct help and by virtue of their teaching.

This is why it is so important for us to realize the method they have passed on to us – their upbringing. If we have the strength to hold on to these great parents which the Creator has sent us, then we will definitely reach success.

We are yet to see just how much they care for us. We will see that their souls are always connected with us and take care of us. We receive everything “Upper” only through them and only to the degree we carry out their advice.

Let us hope that we will merit and be worthy of what they have attained, and what they pass on to us. All the Light on their level is ready for us to accept It. Through them, we will be able to establish a connection with the Light, the Creator.

Baal HaSulam spoke about how the science of Kabbalah will begin to be revealed starting with the year 1995, and how thousands of people will come to it. He was talking about us. There is no other group that accepts anyone wanting to reveal the Upper World and that disseminates his teaching. Therefore, we have to be proud, and at the same time continue to make efforts in order to be deserving of such a benevolent treatment from Above.

Baal HaSulam writes in “The Future Generation” that a person has to try to:

1. Attain spirituality by himself, and / or
2. Disseminate it and help others attain it.

A person corrects his soul in either case. When we try to pass his teaching on to others, then regardless of how much we ourselves attain it, our actions bring about a correction and that is a great accomplishment that we have to be proud and happy about.

So let us raise a toast to this great soul, which connects us to the Creator. Each of us truly was chosen from Above. Each of us has received the great right and privilege to establish a connection with this soul, to be connected with this teaching and to disseminate it.

So, let us be worthy of being called Bnei Baruch. After all, Baruch – Blessed – is the name of the Creator.
(From my talk at Baal HaSulam’s grave this morning, 09.29.09)

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A question I received: It is becoming increasingly clear that population surplus is a problem not only in the Third World, but also in the developed countries of Europe and North America. There are not enough jobs to go around. What do you think the job market will be like in the future?

My Answer: The crisis is bringing to light the type of production that is excessive. We must come to a state when we produce the essentials for a normal existence, but nothing more. When this happens most of the Earth’s population will be left with nothing to do.

We are already witnessing forced reductions in working hours in all the developed countries, with many companies switching to a four day work week.

The rationale is that this will reduce maintenance costs, as workers would be taking less vacations and sick days, while being motivated to work harder.

Let’s remember that it was the Great Depression of 1929 that led to the emergence of the five-day work week. Before that people worked six days a week, 12-14 hours a day.

By reducing work days and hours we’ll be able to provide work to twice as many people.

Question (cont’d): Either way one question still remains – what will one do in his free time? By increasing peoples’ leisure time, will we not disturb the balance with Nature that we must come to? After all, this imbalance is the reason we’re in this crisis.

My Answer: Nature is freeing us not so that we can have a good time, but so that we’ll achieve equilibrium with it by attaining the quality of love and bestowal.

Therefore, we must organize the free time we are given to study the Nature of man and our world, so as to equalize their qualities.

Therein lies the essence of the science of Kabbalah. We must establish national universities and other such education centers, which will serve to educate the people in their increased free time about their likeness to Nature.

We must explain that humanity’s increased free time is part of Nature’s plan, and is specifically intended to help humanity come to the realization of this plan.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Is Balance In Nature?
Laitman.com Post: We Won’t Need Surplus In The Future Society
Kabbalah Today Article: I Thought I Was Retired, But I Am Now Unemployed
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”
Video: Modern Laws of Global Life – Law of Necessity & Surplus

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It is written: “No bread, no Torah.” This means that our life here, in this world, precedes everything. Before I do anything else, I have to secure my existence on the corporeal level.

Therefore, a person has to work and do everything that is necessary in this life, without turning away from it. The science of Kabbalah considers this condition mandatory for one’s correction on a higher level.

I have to take care of everything that is necessary for my normal existence. This is a very important condition in the science of Kabbalah, and it differentiates it from all other spiritual methods, which try to disconnect a person from this life.

The science of Kabbalah says the opposite: it is precisely while you are living this life, where you work, study, and give birth to children, that you must reach the general balance with Nature. And under no circumstances should you run away from this world.
(From Part 3 of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson)

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We feel that we are in a world, which we separate into “me” and the people around me, and we try to use everything for our own benefit. This is how we act in accordance with our inner nature, and other people around us act the same way.

However, once a new desire awakens in a person, it cannot be filled by anything available in this world. This causes confusion, as a person wants something, but doesn’t know what it is that they want.

This small new desire haunts a person. It grows and brings him to a place that contains an answer. This is how a person discovers the wisdom of Kabbalah.

One doesn’t understand right away what it is, but an instinctive feeling keeps him holding on to these books and to a new society. He studies, like a child that is just imitating grown-ups.

This is how a person advances until, after some time, he begins to understand that the goal is to reveal another world in addition to the world he currently perceives.

In this second reality, everything is different. Both the person himself and the world are new.  The new desire that awakens in him is the beginning of his new “I.” When this desire develops, he discovers himself in a new world.

This is like changing the channel on a TV. A person is watching one channel and sees an image of the world. He changes the channel and suddenly finds himself viewing a completely different world. A person changes along with the new world that is revealed to him, and he begins to understand what is being revealed through the science of Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: By Changing Yourself, You Change The World
Laitman.com Post: The Most Crucial Point In All Of Reality
Laitman.com Post: Our Desire Is The Button That Can Change The Channel Of Our Reality
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 1.4. “The Awakening of the Point in the Heart”
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 1.9. “What Exists Between This World and the Next?”

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In the News (from Science Daily): “Genetic Link Between Physical Pain And Social Rejection Found” – UCLA psychologists have determined for the first time that a gene linked with physical pain sensitivity is associated with social pain sensitivity as well.

My Comment: The conclusion is simple. As Kabbalah says, all our problems originate from the fact that a very long time ago we were one organism that  broke into many separate pieces. All our problems started from that point, and they will end only when we reunite as one body. Is this possible?

Nothing is impossible in Nature! It will bring us to that state of unity either through the path of suffering or we ourselves will begin the process of reuniting according to the method of Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Loneliness Is Unhealthy
Laitman.com Post: Opening Your Eyes To The Interconnection Of Humanity
Laitman.com Post: Bruce Lipton, “We Are One Whole”
Video: Cogwheels

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