A news report that appeared in The Economist: “A battle of ideas is going on inside your mind.” That problem solving becomes easier when more minds are put to the task is no more than common sense. But the phenomenon goes further than that. Ask two people to answer a question like “how many windows are there on a London double-decker bus” and average their answers. Their combined guesses will usually be more accurate than if just one person had been asked. Ask a crowd, rather than a pair, and the average is often very close to the truth. The phenomenon was called “the wisdom of crowds” by James Surowiecki, a columnist for the New Yorker who wrote a book about it.

Now a pair of psychologists have found an intriguing corollary. They have discovered that two guesses made by the same person at different times are also better than one.That is strange. Until now, psychologists have assumed that when people make a guess, they make the most accurate guess that they can. Ask them to make a second guess and it should, by definition, be less accurate. If that were true, averaging the first and second guesses should decrease the accuracy. Yet Edward Vul at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harold Pashler at the University of California, San Diego, have revealed in a study just published in Psychological Science that the average of first and second guesses is indeed better than either guess on its own.

The two researchers asked 428 people eight questions drawn from the “CIA World Factbook”: for example, “What percentage of the world’s airports are in the USA?” Half the participants were unexpectedly asked to make a second, different guess immediately after they completed the initial questionnaire. The other half were asked to make a second guess three weeks later.

Dr Vul and Dr Pashler found that in both circumstances the average of the two guesses was better than either guess on its own. They also noticed that the interval between the first and second guesses determined how accurate that average was. Second guesses made immediately improved accuracy by an average of 6.5%; those made after three weeks improved the accuracy by 16%.

Even after three weeks, the result is still only one-third as good as the wisdom of several different people. But that this happens at all raises questions about “individuality” within an individual. If guesses can shift almost at random, where are they coming from?

My Comment: Everything comes from the common informational field – the common soul. We are all connected in one system, and it makes no difference whether we realize it or not. For the time being, we are in an unconscious state in relation to this system – a state Kabbalah calls “sleeping.”

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A question I received: It says in the book Shamati, Article #16: “The rooster said to the bat: ‘I await the light for the light is mine; but you, what need have you for light?’” My question is: How does a person go from the state of being a bat to the state of being a rooster in this lifetime?

My Answer: Those who use Kabbalah (Torah) to attain the property of love and bestowal will see the Light of life in this property. On the other hand, those who use Kabbalah (Torah) for their own sake (to get rich, satisfy their pride, attain honor and confidence, to feel like they’re better than others, to justify their existence, and so on) are in the state of darkness; yet they are convinced that they are in the Light of the Creator. They are like bats that mistake the darkness for the light, and hence they are content to remain in exile from spirituality, to perform mere physical rituals – and they don’t feel like they need anything more.

Look at what Baal Hasulam writes in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot,” about the words of the prophet Amos, “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore would ye have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light!” “There is a parable about a rooster and a bat that were awaiting the light. The rooster said to the bat: ‘I await the light for the light is mine; but you, what need have you for light?’ (The Talmud. Sanhedrin 98:2)” This means that without the Light (which descends only when one studies Kabbalah), one doesn’t even understand that he is in darkness, because he only perceives our world.

If a person doesn’t aspire higher, above our world, but is satisfied with mechanical observance of rituals, historical and philosophical investigations, theology, holy water, amulets, and meditation (as we can see, this covers the whole gamut, from the naïve to the erudite), in other words, if one doesn’t have a “point in the heart,” then nothing will help him. It’s because his desire is still on the level of our world, and people always act exclusively according to the desires that surface in them.

Hence, Kabbalah is intended only for those who are searching for a genuine answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life?” And this answer lies in attaining the Source of one’s existence. This is how one reveals the meaning of what is happening as well as its final outcome.

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Two questions I received on overcoming our fears:

Question: In one of your lessons on the book Shamati you spoke about fear, and you said that when a person is afraid, he should immediately connect to the Creator. Can you elaborate on this? What should I do when I feel chilled to the bone with worry about my loved ones?

My Answer: You should connect everything that is happening with the Creator, with yourself, and with the entire world, so that all of these will unite into one and there won’t be any difference between them. All of your doubts and fears should vanish within this union. And if they don’t – then it’s even better! Then you can ask the Creator to help you.

Actually, if you open The Book of Zohar , you’ll discover that the first correction, “Pkuda Kadma” (in Aramaic) is when one attains true fear. In fact, fear always haunts everyone and everything: On the still level of nature, there is fear to preserve its structure, on the vegetative and animate levels of nature, there is fear to become filled with what’s necessary and to push away what’s harmful. And it’s the same with man.

Question: Can studying Kabbalah help one get rid of his fears, for example, the fear of being on stage or of expressing one’s opinion?

My Answer: Yes, because studying Kabbalah develops your perception of the unity of everything, of the integral universe. It also replaces one’s earthly fears with the true fear – the need to attain the Creator.

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A question I received: I was an alcoholic and drug addict for 20 years. A year ago I went through rehabilitation and have stayed off drugs and alcohol thanks to a “12 step” program – a program of spiritual growth. Recently I started studying Kabbalah and became confused – should I continue the “12 step” program or devote myself completely to Kabbalah? Or should I combine both paths? Maybe some Kabbalah students are anonymous alcoholics and drug addicts, but I haven’t been able to find them yet. Can they share their experience with me?

My Answer: Kabbalah is spreading throughout the world. Obviously, the people who begin studying it come from all walks of life. I recommend and ask you to support each other.

A question I received: Suppose that a person is above the Machsom and he already attains and feels the connection with the Creator. As he continues working on his correction, he still decides to experiment with LSD in order to compare the different states. Will he not feel the Upper World then? I’d like you to give this question the attention it deserves, because modern science doesn’t consider LSD an ordinary drug, but an extremely powerful psycho-stimulant.

My Answer: As soon as a person takes drugs, he detaches from the perception of the real world and enters a realm of “wandering,” illusory images.

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A question I received: What do you think about disseminating Kabbalah to the masses through Christianity and Islam? Applying the method of Kabbalah to the study of the Gospel yields tremendous results. You begin to understand that you’re not reading fairytales about magic tricks, but about attempts to change something in the spiritual world, and you want to explain this to everyone who doesn’t yet know or understand it. I think that you should explain this to your Christian students, especially since the Old Testament is a major part of the Bible. Once they understand this, once they feel the bliss of true attainment without having to be detached from their culture and religion, then perhaps they will take it even further.

My Answer: Religion is not connected to Kabbalah in any way, but is actually opposite to it. Religion was given to humanity to be a framework for life in the time of darkness, before the revelation of Kabbalah. And this is why religion is dying out in our times, although this process is lengthy and it’s possible that there will still be religious wars in the future.

We do not approach religious Jews, and we disseminate Kabbalah only among the secular public. There’s nothing new about showing religious people that the Torah contains a deeper meaning. However, they’re not interested in this, because it knocks out the foundation of their faith – the egoistic principle of our world, “Do certain actions and you’ll receive a reward.”

Kabbalah, on the other hand, contradicts egoism, and tells you that you won’t receive anything for your actions (you won’t receive anything into your egoism, that is). Your entire reward lies in being corrected by the Upper Light, in loving your neighbor as yourself.

This is something you can only say to people who have already gone through all the egoistic desires and have a “point in the heart” – the desire for the Creator or the meaning of life. People who are still satisfied by faith do not have a “point in the heart” yet, and therefore we cannot talk to them for now. Kabbalah reveals the law of spiritual development to a person, but this development can only happen when it’s free and non-coercive – and that’s another aspect that’s fundamentally opposite to religion.

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A question I received: I searched the Internet for criticism of you – I just couldn’t hold myself back because I’m constantly having doubts and so I search for criticism to check whether I’m on the right path or not. I found that many people accuse you of not telling your students to observe the commandments. This is clear – you’ve answered this question a hundred times.

What’s strange is that many people also accuse you of the opposite – of forcing your students in Bnei Baruch to observe the commandments. I found stories about you kicking people out of the group because they talked on the phone on Saturday, and other such things. (I also noticed that you don’t write on the blog on Saturdays). Is it true that your students in Bnei Baruch have to observe the commandments? If yes, then why do you tell other people that they don’t have to observe them if it’s not their custom? And if it’s false, then did people just make these things up out of nowhere?

My Answer: Anyone who finds out about me will either love me or hate me. People who have a point in the heart are happy to find out about Kabbalah, and they see me as a Rav (meaning “great” in Hebrew). And if they don’t have a point in the heart, then they don’t understand me.

I teach authentic Kabbalah, and I received my knowledge of it through personal study with Rabash. No one else received this knowledge. It’s a known fact that I was Rabash’s unique student. I teach based on my personal attainment of the Upper World and the Creator. My opponents can accuse me of anything they want to, but they can’t say that I don’t understand the subject. In this regard, I haven’t found anyone equal to me so far. Let them listen to my lessons and they’ll be convinced of this.

Usually everything comes down to the question “Is Laitman for or against the commandments?” But this has nothing to do with Kabbalah! (See Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”) Laitman is “for” all the cultural traditions of his people, and he believes that it’s better to follow them. However, no one can be forced to do them. Laitman also believes that every person in the world can observe the traditions of his people if he wants to. Baal HaSulam writes that a person can keep his religion while studying Kabbalah and uniting with the Creator, because religions are no more than frameworks for corporeal, national traditions, and they bear no relation to the Creator and to spirituality, the Upper World. Religion borrowed these notions from Kabbalah.

The entire Torah and Kabbalah come down to observing the condition, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is the general, all-enveloping and main Commandment of the Torah – the law of the universe, because it’s the Creator’s property. Kabbalah evokes the Upper Light of correction on a person, which endows him with the property of “love thy neighbor.” Religion, on the other hand, does not do this, and therefore instead of correcting man (which is what the Creator demands), it tells him to study and observe corporeal rituals and limitations.

In the Bnei Baruch center, where 300 men study with me on a regular basis, we abide by the traditional statute of the Kabbalists – observance of the main commandments (such as wearing a skullcap, keeping the Sabbath, observing Kashrut, getting married under a Huppah, and so on). We don’t allow alcoholism or drugs (not even if someone wants to “smoke a joint” in private on occasion). We require daily lesson attendance, participation in the group’s unification, dissemination responsibilities, and so on. And I have never concealed any of this – for example, I always wear a skullcap.

The entire problem of my critics is that they are still underdeveloped, that is to say, their point in the heart hasn’t surfaced yet. They’ll understand when they grow up. It’s impossible to understand spirituality through reason, but only through a desire that’s mature and ready. My critics don’t criticize the actual content, the things Kabbalah actually talks about, but rather they pick on everything “around” it, all the external aspects, the things they can grab hold of in order to snatch something for their egoism – like Klipa. This is their food, because they don’t have anything of their own to nourish them – they are empty. I understand their nature, and I’m willing to tolerate them and forgive them. Time goes by, and it favors the revelation of authentic Kabbalah. Eventually everything will come together in peace and correction.

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Two questions I received on how the International Kabbalah Academy is funded and how to explain this to others:

Question: I’d like to know whose money supports the existence of the International Kabbalah Academy?

My Answer: It’s supported only by the Maaser (“one-tenth”) contributed by the students. We do not receive help from any fund.

Every person who wishes to develop spiritually, to participate in the system of the common soul’s (Adam’s) correction, must allocate 10% of his income to the correction of the world. This rule comes from the structure of the soul: We can correct the first nine Sefirot on our own, but we have to hand over the tenth Sefira, Malchut, for correction to the Temple. But as long as there is no Temple, we give it to the dissemination of the method of correction around the world.

If a person doesn’t do this, then he won’t be able to attain his private correction. It’s because his point in the heart is only the initial desire, but the rest of the desire (which enables him to unite with the other souls, to create a common vessel for receiving the Light, for revealing the Creator) can only be received from others. This is why it is written, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is the main principle of the Torah, or in other words, of receiving the Light.

This is also a way to tell whether you are simply satisfying your curiosity or seriously desiring to participate in your private correction and the general correction of the world. You can even spend your own contribution, provided that you coordinate it with our common dissemination center.

No one pays our center. It is supported by additional contributions made by the students, besides the 10% that goes to dissemination. I hope you will understand this and use it as an example!

Question: I’m married, and I’d like to know what I can say to my family when they ask me why I pay Maaser? I understand why I do it, and I feel great responsibility and the importance of dissemination and of the goal. I don’t intend to stop deducting this part of my salary.

However, if I try explaining this to them using words from the spiritual world, saying that it’s the tenth part of the soul, Malchut, then they simply won’t understand me. On the other hand, if I don’t try to explain it to them at all, they will think I’m crazy for paying Maaser. What explanation can I give them (even a temporary one), so they won’t think that Maaser is pointless?

My Answer: Tell them that you are putting it aside for “the world to come,” for them and for you, and that you’re all definitely going to get there. Calculate how much you’re spending, even without realizing “what” you are spending it on.

But in general, no one is obligating you. See Baal HaSulam’s article “The Peace.” There he explains that the Creator is like a salesman in a store, and He gives everyone whatever they take from this world, and writes it down in His notebook. And afterwards He systematically collects the payment from you, whether you realize it or not.

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About Maaser

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Two questions I received from women about the purpose of preparation in one’s inner work, and the need to pay Maaser:

Question: I always try to be in the state of “preparation” – to hold the intention, connect to my husband who also studies Kabbalah, disseminate, and study. Still, sometimes I experience descents and lose all of my connection with the Creator. Later I come out of them and try to increase my preparation even more, as much as I can. But after that there are more descents, and then I again increase my preparation and aspiration, and this is followed by more descents.

I understand that there will always be descents and ascents, and that they are necessary. However, if I lose my connection with the Creator, doesn’t this mean that I don’t spend enough time preparing? Or am I wrong about the purpose of the preparation? Isn’t it intended to help you get out of a descent faster? Or is it intended to prevent the descents, to have less of them?

My Answer: If you prepare correctly, then whenever you experience some state, and then this state finishes passing over you (it finishes manifesting fully, through all ten Sefirot or all four stages), then if you prepared well beforehand, you’ll immediately begin perceiving the end of this state as a descent. And then you’ll immediately want to ascend from it, and you’ll begin intensively attracting the external forces of the group. The group will give you:

1) The importance of the goal;
2) The sensation of your own weakness;
3) The necessary aspiration to ask for correction from above.

As a result of all this, you will produce a request (a MAN), and then the Light of correction (Ohr Makif, MAD) will descend during the general group study. And then you’ll ascend – that is, you’ll perceive and value the property of love and bestowal as if it’s the highest possible thing.

And that’s how a new cycle begins.

Question: When women participate in the group together with men, do they also have to pay the Maaser?

My Answer: Yes. Every person who advances must give a tenth of his net profit to Kabbalah’s dissemination around the world – to the world’s correction. This is not a tradition, but a necessity in order to correct a tenth of your egoistic desire, Malchut. The other parts become corrected by your efforts in the study, the group, and dissemination. You can’t just “buy them off” the way you do to correct this “still” part of your desires.

Isn’t that a shame? It would be so easy to just pay someone, and then suddenly to find yourself in the spiritual world! However, since our act of giving 10% for the correction of the world is part of correction, our egoism objects to it in every way possible, and this is why every person receives enormous disturbances when it comes to giving away the Maaser. Yet every person normally has no problem gambling away or spending 10% of his earnings in any other way, on things he doesn’t really need at all or on entertainment. However, without participating in the common correction this way, one cannot undergo any private correction either! We usually recommend using this money to buy Kabbalistic materials and disseminating them yourself – in other words, putting your own 10% to the right use.

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A Talk about Women’s Spiritual Development #2 [1:35:23m]

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Every summer we disseminate our newspapers “New Humanity,” “The New World,” and “Kabbalah Today” all along the Black Sea coast, to the eleven million vacationers and local residents who are there. With each passing year, more and more vacationers recognize us and greet us with a smile. Many of them even begin studying with us and become our friends.

This happy couple, whom we’ve never met before, took our newspaper and said: “Maybe they’ll post a picture of us on Laitman’s blog – cool!” And I’m indeed happy to post it. Enjoy your vacation!

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Questions I received on how to disseminate Kabbalah:

Question: I went through a period when I had problems with my career, business, money, and so on. Still I did not stop working on my spiritual development and focused on it even more intensely. I wanted to share Kabbalah with others and to get them excited about it. However, since people knew what was happening in my daily reality, they would just smile at me or quickly cut off the conversation. I think that I discredited Kabbalah by doing this. Is there a “constitution” that one should follow when disseminating Kabbalah?

My Answer: The correct dissemination has to be:

1. General – impersonal, inconspicuous, non-coercive. It’s when you give a newspaper, book, or information about our website or television to a stranger without making him feel obligated in any way.

2. Personal – only when a person clearly asks you for it, or if he shows clear signs that it’s necessary for him (such as depression, questions about the meaning of life and so on, but provided that these are really his own questions and not the results of your hints).

Any other kind of dissemination is harmful for others and for you. If a person asks about the meaning of life and this question is genuine (that is to say – it demands to be answered through the attainment of the Source of life, the Creator), then he will find Kabbalah with his “sixth sense,” regardless of where he lives, what language he speaks, and by what form of media or means it will reach him. By disseminating (publishing Kabbalistic material in different languages and making it free or as cheap as possible) we want to accelerate and ease the process of contact between Kabbalah and those who need it.

Question: I want to study something that I will be able to use to disseminate Kabbalah. What will be the best thing to learn, so I won’t waste time? Every person has unique qualities that he needs to capitalize on and direct to the goal. How can I find out what my unique qualities are?

My Answer: You should try your hand in all forms of dissemination: transcribing text, editing, translating, writing articles for print or Internet, making brief article summaries, working with photos, editing and creating video material, creating and editing radio programs, simultaneous translation, editing and creating computer programs, and so on – the list is endless!

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