Entries in the 'kabbalist' Category

Attaining The Names Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam’s article “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence,” section “Spiritual Expressions”: The spiritual has no image, hence it has no letters to contemplate with. Even if we declare in general that it is Simple Light, which descends and extends to the seeker until one clothes and attains it in the amount sufficient for His revelation, this, too, is a borrowed expression. This is so because everything that is called “Light” in the spiritual world is not like the light of the sun or candlelight.

For a person who does not yet perceive spirituality, spiritual concepts are a total jumble of abstract words. He is like child who doesn’t understand the meaning of the words and simply repeats after adults. And when you reproach him with “What have you done?” he cheerfully echoes, “What have you done!”

In other words, we do not understand the spiritual phenomena the words reflect, and like children repeat the words after the Kabbalists. Yet, gradually we have to approach their true meaning and feel what is hidden behind these words.

All spiritual concepts express a desire and the sensations within a desire since nothing else exists in the whole of reality. There is a desire (spiritual vessel) and something that enters it. The impression within a desire is called “the Light.”

Desire is divided into five levels: Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin, and Malchut. Accordingly, we reveal within desire five types of the Light: Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida. The sum of these five Lights and five desires defines the “name of the Creator,” meaning someone who influences me. The Creator is the one who created desires in me and gave me screens for them. He is the one who arranged everything in a manner that I feel His impact the way I do. He did everything. All I do is feel the consequences of His actions.

Therefore, all I perceive is called “the work of the Creator.” I call Him by the name that is instigated by the sum of my desires and Lights that I feel in them, that is, by the impression I receive. This is how words are formed in spirituality.

We only need to understand ourselves, and then we will reveal the Creator within us. This is why we call Him “Bo-reh” (come and see). The name of the Creator is me sensing His property of bestowal appearing in me. At first, we, like children, repeat vague words after Kabbalists: Keter, Hochma, Bina, AB, SAG, and so forth. Eventually, however, we will have to attain their meaning and begin sensing them.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/6/10, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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The ARI, Rav Isaac Luria: The Godly Man

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam’s article “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 8: Our sages have already said, “You have not a generation without such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Indeed, that Godly man, our Rav Isaac Luria, troubled and provided us the fullest measure. He did wondrously more than his predecessors, and if I had a tongue that praises, I would praise that day when his wisdom appeared almost as the day when the Torah was given to Israel. There are not enough words to measure his holy work in our favor.

The entire method of correction came to us from the ARI. He actualized everything that was prepared by all the preceding Kabbalists. The soul of the ARI has such a special place in the common system of souls that from his time onwards the Light begins to act upon all souls, bringing them to the final correction (Gmar Tikkun).

Before the ARI, all development occurred through the steps 0, 1, 2, 3, and only the ARI, through his corrections in the system of souls, entered the 4th stage and started building the true Malchut in its final form. He is Sefira Yesod (the last one before Malchut) and thus he is called Mashiach ben Yosef (Messiah Son of Joseph, where Joseph signifies Sefira Yesod), after which Malchut itself begins its correction.

All the previous souls pertained to the preparation stage of correction. And only with the ARI does the awakening of all souls begin. Obviously, this process takes hundreds of years, but the ARI opened the channel for the Light from the previous three stages to the last, the fourth stage whence the correction begins.

Messiah is the revelation of the Light in the common system of souls. This Light enters Malchut through Yesod. The ARI opens the gate for the Light, and therefore he is called Messiah Son of Joseph. Messiah is a force of correction. The ARI manifests this force that passes down through his soul. While he resides in the collective system, he performs corrections in his soul, and now the Light flows through it into Malchut and acts upon the souls.

Now, however, it is our job to prepare our souls for the ascent from Malchut to Bina. This process pertains to the correction of Malchut, Mashiach ben David (Messiah Son of David).

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/5/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Zohar: The Illumination Of The Upper Worlds

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Zohar is the main book in the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is written that there is no book more magical, secret, concealed, magnetic, or incomprehensible than The Zohar. This is truly so.

The Book of Zohar is revealed in two stages. First of all, I need to form the right outlook on the book, meaning to correct myself, the reader. In order to read The Zohar, instead of regular “glasses,” I need completely different ones which allow me to recognize the spiritual phenomena within this book. Therefore I must first acquire spiritual organs of perception (Kelim). Then the book will be revealed to me and it will truly be the “Zohar” (Illumination) which the authors of this book revealed and described 18 centuries ago.

Kabbalists attain the Upper Light that created a desire to enjoy and that gave it the force “to receive” (pleasure). Then the Light gave it the intention to act “for the sake of bestowal,” and afterward “broke” this desire, turning it into an egoistic intention. In this manner the desire to enjoy became a desire to receive for its own sake. And now from our world, we gradually correct this desire to enjoy so that it becomes a desire to bestow, and thereby reach correction.

All these phenomena (the descent from Above downward, meaning the corruption of the desire and the intention, and their subsequent correction) are carried out by the Light since there is none else besides Him. All the changes, everything that happens within the desire to enjoy, are done by the Light. There is no one else who performs any action. And all the actions of the Light are above matter, which is the desire to enjoy. Prior to the Light’s influence on it, the desire to enjoy is merely formless matter. The Light decides what to turn it into and what form to give it, as it is written, “The Light moves the desires.”

Therefore, if we wish to change, we need to draw the Upper Light onto ourselves. This is why we read The Book of Zohar with one intention: for the Light to come since it is the force that will change me. By reading The Book of Zohar I demand my correction. This is the right attitude toward the Book.

From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/30/10, The Zohar

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A Righteous Man Is The Foundation Of The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanIntroduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 22: The righteous and the wicked should have been of equal weight in each generation. Yet, this is not so, and for each righteous, we find many thousands of vain ones. Yet, you must know that there are two kinds of governance in creation: a) a qualitative force; b) a quantitative force.

The force of those that hang about the feet of the Sitra Achra is meager, contemptible, and low, undesirable, and purposeless, and they are blown like chaff in the wind. Thus, how can such as those do anything to wise-hearted people whose way is clear with desire and aim, and a pillar of Upper Light shines before them day and night sufficiently to bring the tiny inclinations in their hearts?

Hence, He provided the quantitative force in Creation, as this force does not need any quality [and the qualitative force that does not need any quantity].

Without being aware of it, all people are connected in one system through their souls, and this is why a Kabbalist is able to correct the whole world all alone. A righteous man needs billions of regular people in each generation since their ordinary earthly desires add up into one big egoistic desire (Kli). A Kabbalist works with it and builds the intention “for the sake of bestowal” above it.

Then, without their participation he uses their desires and corrects them. He necessitates billions of people throughout the world to connect their joint desires with his intention for the sake of bestowal. Thus, he moves them ahead, towards correction. Any progress that happens in this world (technology, society, or culture) is caused by one person who attracts the Light that Reforms into this world. Otherwise, this world would remain inanimate and invariable since “the Light governs and brings into movement a desire that it created.”

It’s impossible to imagine our world without Kabbalists who attract Light into this world in accordance with the program of its development. It is written that “a righteous man is the foundation of the world.” This is absolutely right. Righteous men attract Light into the desires of masses by using aspirations of common souls. That gives our world a chance to stay alive and develop from generation to generation until it becomes suitable for spiritual advancement. And this is exactly what is happening in our generation.

The development of humankind in this world originates from the Light that is attracted by the righteous. It looks like our life depends on our physical work in this world: starting with creating new things, environmental research, or construction of new electric stations. But nothing would be revealed to us if there were no Light that emerges in this world and that is attracted by a Kabbalist.

This Light dresses itself in everybody else’s desires and uncovers them, giving raise to any movement, progress, discoveries, and evolution in the world. There is no change that happens from below; everything descends to us from Above.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Whole World Will Be Filled With The Knowledge Of The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe world is developing and entering a new era called “The Time of The Messiah,” a time when the science of Kabbalah is being revealed to the masses. Many are beginning to understand the plan for their and the world’s development. No longer is there one Kabbalist developing the desires without the consent of the masses. Now people are demanding conscious development on their own, like grown children. The Light of Hochma (the revelation of the Creator to the creatures) is beginning to be revealed in the world.

Before there was just one Kabbalist and many other individuals, but now they are beginning to come closer together. In the past, a Kabbalist would correct the desires of the masses on his level, but now in order to work together with them, he needs to descend to their level. Due to the Kabbalist’s preliminary correction of their desires, people ascend, and the Kabbalist descends toward them so that they can understand him.

For example, in his prophecy, Baal HaSulam asked the Creator to descend so that he could talk in a language that the people would understand. And although the masses and the Kabbalist are now connected by common work, the Upper Light still comes only through him due to a conscious desire from the masses. As a result, positive changes occur in the world. Without the Upper Light the world could not exist at all. Therefore, from generation to generation, Kabbalists (Yechidei Segula) worked discreetly.

However, now everything is different. Due to the preparations that were made over the course of all the generations until today, we need to begin the common conscious actions so that “All will know Me, the small and the great alike.” Humanity needs to learn that the nation of Israel has the science of Kabbalah. We need to help reveal this all together so that “the nations of the world will bring the sons of Israel on their shoulders to build the Third Temple,” the common broken soul.

We need to attain the method of correction (unification) of our souls together so that the Creator will fill us with His revelation. Mutual work is required for this, and therefore, we need to turn to all the nations of the world to explain our common task. We need to reveal the science of Kabbalah from concealment according to their demand, and all together – they due to us, and we due to them – we realize this method.

Therefore, today there is a worldwide community of people who study Kabbalah. In fact, they will bring us to this correct relationship in the whole system of the world. Everyone studying with us today is referred to as “Israel” (“Yashar El” – directly to the Creator) since everyone has a point in the heart. However, through them, we will come out to the true nations of the world, to those who are unable to awaken to spirituality on their own. As Baal HaSulam says, “The wisdom of Kabbalah will spill out of the boundaries of Israel and fill the whole world.”

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/22/10, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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The Breaking Is Part Of Correction!

Dr. Michael LaitmanI received a letter from someone who is complaining that he doesn’t understand anything in the lesson on the Talmud Eser Sefirot. He is outraged at the fact that we suddenly “skipped over” to the middle of the text, to Part 7 in order to study about the breaking of the Kelim (which is a custom Kabbalists observe before the 9th of Av, the day the Temple was destroyed), instead of talking about correction. And generally speaking, he heard that the Talmud Eser Sefirot is intended for people who already have spiritual attainment and that Kabbalists wrote these texts only for each other.

And indeed, Baal HaSulam does say in Item 154 of Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot that Kabbalists write these texts for those who already have spiritual attainment and who understand what the text talks about. Otherwise you will not understand a word of it. If you do not feel the text inside you and experience it as actions taking place within, you won’t understand a word.

It is only possible to understand it with the heart, the desire in which all of this takes place. But if a person still doesn’t have the desire that is able to perform actions of bestowal, then obviously he does not understand a word of what is written.

Nevertheless, Baal HaSulam created Talmud Eser Sefirot in order for it to work as a remedy, on the condition that we desire to attain the state where we will feel it within us, when “man’s soul will teach him.” It is impossible to study the spiritual world theoretically, with your mind. Kabbalists can only advise us on how to ascend to it. When the student does, he reveals the Upper World for himself, and his soul teaches him. Only when a person attains this level does he begin to feel and understand what is being discussed!

It is impossible to study without feeling because man lives by feeling inside desire. We have to study what happens inside our desire in order to feel it inside. Then we will read the book and it will explain to us what we are feeling. It will also teach us how to discern a multitude of shades of feeling inside us.

The science of Kabbalah is the science of knowing yourself. Therefore, it is natural that at first a person does not understand anything. You have to try to attain the sensation! We do not study in order to memorize the text by heart or to understand it theoretically. Our only goal is to attract the Light that Reforms.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/13/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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When Spirituality Becomes Our Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanIntroduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot, Item 3: This sensing force in the Animate is very limited in time and space, since the sensation does not operate at even the shortest distance outside its body. Also, it does not feel anything outside its own time, meaning in the past or in the future, but only at the present moment.

Atop them is the Speaking, consisting of an emotional force and an intellectual force together. For this reason, its power is unlimited by time and space… .

This is so because of its science, which is a spiritual matter, unlimited by time and place. One can teach others wherever they are in the whole of reality, and in the past and the future throughout the generations.

In reading these books, we are amazed by the immense wisdom of the Kabbalists who wrote them. They can write thousands of stories for us about the spiritual world since this world is open for them. They simply tell us what they see.

A Kabbalist sees the world from stem to stern; he sees all of its inner forces and connections. He takes some section of it and begins to explain it to us. Every one of his descriptions reflects unimaginable wisdom and is an amazing discovery for us. We are amazed at how he could know about these things. However, he doesn’t require special intelligence for this; he simply sees this picture in front of him because he has changed his nature.

Therefore, if we think that we will be able to attain what is written by using our brains, by systematically arranging everything in our minds, this is a big mistake. This will not help us. We need to rise to a spiritual level, and then what Kabbalists talk about will become a part of our lives. We will understand naturally that things are just as the Kabbalists described and they cannot be otherwise.

We read the articles and books in order to draw the Light that Reforms. And when we return to the Source, all these concepts will “enter” into us and become obvious for us. They will occur within our spiritual body.

Thus, we shouldn’t despair that we can’t grasp all this material with our minds. We need to desire inner change so that all this becomes our own nature and then no words will be required! Just like it is natural to me to see rocks, plants, animals, and people around me, I will see all of spiritual reality just as clearly. When the spiritual world will be revealed to me, it will cease to be a “science” for me; it will just become my life.

Don’t worry, no one will test us on this knowledge and demand us to memorize it. This will not help anyway. Let nothing remain in our heads from what we read; holding one intention is all that matters. The rest is not important, even if I forget what I had learned one second before. It is essential to never forget about the goal and the right attitude to the studies.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/27/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Which Books Contain The Most Light?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: If we did not have the works of Baal HaSulam, would we be able to draw the Light of correction from other sources?

My Answer: No, we would have no contact with the Light. We need a system that allows us to establish a connection with the Light. We have to thank the Kabbalists for this. Every generation should prepare themselves as a foundation for the next generation. It is similar to layers of culture that are discovered during archeological excavations. In the same way, we constantly add layer upon layer of preparation for future generations. Without it, we are unable to grow.

Before Baal HaSulam, Kabbalah was dispersed throughout various sources. However, he collected and organized everything into one system. A system that is not just a book that is comfortable to read, but an inner system in which we can now receive Light. It is a correction much like the one performed by the Kabbalists at the time of the Talmud about which it is written: “Eat bread with salt and drink regular water.” They united all the souls in such a way that through the general system we can receive Light sufficient for our correction and no longer need to subject our bodies to suffering.

Baal HaSulam performed the same kind of correction. He did not just write books with detailed explanations for us. After all, we read them and don’t understand anything. However, through his compositions, he made it possible for us to unite with the spiritual system and to draw the Light that Reforms. This constituted his special mission. Without it we are unable to do anything.

The Light needs to pass through the system that he built; only then is it appropriate for our souls. We receive surrounding Light through Talmud Eser Sefirot and “The Preface to the Sulam Commentary.” It would not be possible to do this through other works since they lack the order and the system that Baal HaSulam organized for us.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Every Day Brings A New Revelation

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: Why do Kabbalists often write that they don’t want to add to what was already stated by their teachers?

My Answer: It is written that there was no greater prophet than Moses. So what can the Kabbalists after him possibly write about? What can be added to what is said in the Torah? They try to give a greater explanation of Moses’ revelation of the Creator. They receive nourishment from this primary source and try to present it to their students in a way that will allow them to understand the inner meaning more correctly.

Let’s suppose that we both went to a store, bought the same foods, and later prepared this food, but each according to our own taste. It is written that “everything that any Kabbalist is destined to reveal has already been revealed by Moses on Mount Sinai.” He revealed the Light of Infinity, which contained everything. Meanwhile, by correcting ourselves, we reveal parts of what already exists.

The Kabbalists of the past knew much more than their followers, but they did not know how to reveal their attainments. With our work, this generation is completing the general development and revealing the greatest desires (NHYNetzah, Hod, Yesod) and therefore the most immense Light (the level of Neshama). The great Light of Hochma comes into the desires (Kelim) of the patriarchs (KHBKeter, Hochma, Bina) and with every lesson a greater understanding of the system of creation is revealed to us.

So what is the essence of Baal HaSulam’s revelation? He arranged everything in order, in a system where everything is connected. The science of Kabbalah is a revelation of inner connections, an analysis and synthesis acting in parallel with each other, the analysis of parts and their connection. And all this occurs within the created being while he is supplied with vital energy, starting from the level of food on the animate level and continuing all the way up to the spiritual degrees. Our whole life consists of processes of fission and fusion.

For the time being, we are unable to reveal this order. We act according to the principle: “Do everything in your power.” Certainly this order already exists, but you just haven’t clarified it for yourself yet. For the time being you are not replicating all of the Creator’s actions; you are fussing like a foolish child. However, gradually your actions will become more and more sensible, and you will be careful not to do anything that is senseless. This is how a person grows in spirituality.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/1/10, Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot

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Our Work Is In Preparing The Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanAccording to the Kabbalists, The Zohar is the most effective part of the entire Torah and of all Kabbalah books. Why? These books are called holy (the property of Bina) because they are written from the heights of spiritual attainment. Therefore, by reading them, we can attract upon ourselves the Light that brings us back to the Creator (to similarity to Him).

However, we can correct the desire to receive only by the desire to correct ourselves for there is no Light, no fulfillment without a desire. Hence, we have to demand for the Light to act upon and transform us. This Light is called the “Surrounding Light” because it shines on us from afar. Under the influence of the Light, our “evil intention” turns into a good one. Then, to the measure to which the desire resembles the Light, the Light fills it.

Hence to prepare for the study of the Torah means to acquire the desire for correction. This desire is preceded by realizing that our nature is evil (for us). The evil in our nature is our inability to unite with each other! Our unification is precisely the vessel where our Upper, spiritual life can be revealed.

For this reason, we have to try to establish a connection with each other and to unite together. This is described in the writings when Israel stood at the foot of  Mount Sinai: “as one man with one heart,” “all of Israel are friends,” and  “love thy neighbor as you love thyself.” After we discover our inability to unite and start feeling what prevents us from achieving our good state, then MAN, a true prayer, the wish to become corrected, will emerge within us.

That is, preparation for studying the Torah amounts to our efforts to unite, feeling how incapable we are of doing it, and realizing this state as evil, as an obstacle on the path toward good. That is, the Torah study comes after the correct preparation; MAN emerges itself.

We can think and clarify all of it already while we read The Book of the Zohar. Meanwhile, the Light will help us in our work.

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/10, The Zohar

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