We can see that the science of Kabbalah expands and enters the world from the center, from the source. In our generation the source of knowledge and the method of correction is here, in the central Bnei Baruch group.

If any group in the world or any person thinks that he is able to lead himself or the group to the goal correctly, he is deluding himself due to misunderstanding the structure of the system of souls upon which our world is clothed. Baal HaSulam writes in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that everything always expands from the internality to the externality, or from the Upper Level to the lower one. The same applies to the influence upon our world as well as one’s attainment: First a person ascends to the Upper Level, and from there he can see and influence the lower level.

Therefore, dissemination, influence, correction, and lessons must come only from here, the center. The role of the different groups is to take part in creating materials and disseminating them while submitting to the center in every way, similar to how all parts of an organism act in a coordinated fashion under the governance of one head shared by all. Nothing can start in the middle of the ladder, the pyramid, or some particular group similar to how the structure of the universe is strictly fixed and described.

Baal HaSulam writes in Item 57 of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” that if a thousand blind people are led by one person who can see, then they will all be able to follow him; but if there is no leader, they will all perish. Similarly, we observe a special mission on the part of humanity called “Isra-El” (meaning “straight to the Creator”) because the Light of Correction passes through it to all of humanity. Baal HaSulam describes this strict and unchangeable hierarchy in the above article.

Therefore, every person within this system must be connected to the Upper Level as well as the lower level. Above us are our Teachers, the sources, the forefathers, and the Kabbalists of previous generations from whom we learn and by whose teachings we live. Beneath us are our students, all those who come to us wishing to connect to us. This hierarchy must be maintained because we are all able to receive only from the Upper One (see Baal HaSulam’s article, “Faith in the Teacher”).

However, if one person or group decides to act independently, they would be preferring the externality to the internality. They will thus replace the upper with the lower, in which case it would be necessary to immediately correct them or remove them from the common system. From studying the structure of the worlds we see that there is no “democracy,” but a strict subservience to the Upper Level, to the Upper One’s (the Creator’s) example.

Through the connection among the groups and their structure, we are currently implementing the construction of a system that will expand to the whole world, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation.” Then our world will become similar to the Upper World. So where is every person’s freedom? It lies in choosing the right connection with the environment and submitting to it in order to attain similarity to the Creator. This is attained only if one is connected to the Upper One, receives from Him, and carries out the same actions along the same chain of degrees. Thus, every person’s freedom of will lies in preferring the internality over the externality in spite of one’s personal egoistic disturbances or those occurring to the group.

As Baal HaSulam writes in Item 60 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” every person’s action corrects or ruins the entire system. Obviously, this is a dictatorship; however, it comes from Above, from the Creator, and all of us must carry it out by submitting to the Upper One and becoming similar to Him. In addition, we attract the lower one according to a fixed hierarchy. Absolute equality emerges only in the final, corrected state where everyone becomes equal through mutual bestowal.

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There are many people living in our world who have no idea how it operates. They are unaware of the structure of social and governmental systems, the laws of nature, the orbiting of planets, and the various connections that exist between people. People can live a very simple life, knowing only what is needed to get along day by day and never burning with desire to know more about how the world functions. In contrast, in our world, some people are more interested and curious to know more, and they research the systems that operate on the world.

The same is true about spiritual existence. Not all people who acquire spiritual perception endeavor to delve deeply into it. They are naturally limited by the root of their soul, which does not demand any more than its level. In other words, it performs its function at its intended place and nothing more is required.

The root of the soul demands more of others who are meant to research the spiritual world. These are Kabbalists. Similar to scientists who examine our world, Kabbalists investigate the entire system of the spiritual world in detail. Kabbalists are meant to come to complete spiritual attainment and perception. This is according to the root of their soul, which compels Kabbalists to include everyone within them and to scrutinize all the details in the spiritual world through synthesis and analysis in order to correct their souls. It is to the extent that one’s soul demands correction that the general reality is perceived by that person.

And it is the degree to which one corrects himself by which he is judged. If one’s correction is 100%, then he is equivalent to the great Kabbalists and is equal to them in all ways. In spirituality, there is no division of people by important and unimportant. It matters that one has done all that was required of him.

Spirituality is a world of bestowal. The approach is a bit different than what we’re used to; a person enters spirituality, looks back, and realizes that he hasn’t done anything! There is nothing left of what a person once fought for or the actions he had performed. Hence, one becomes surrounded only by pure bestowal.

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We exist inside our egoism, where we imagine the material world. If we want to ascend from matter to forces and reveal the true picture of reality, then Kabbalists have given us a special opportunity, made possible by the language of branches which they chose for their books. As a result, we have the opportunity to make efforts trying to imagine spiritual qualities behind every word of The Book of Zohar.

By attempting to see spirituality in this way, you express your desire to change, your desire for a certain force called the Upper Light to influence and change you. When it does, you will feel your inner qualities becoming corrected and overpowering corporeality. You then begin to live inside your inner world – the world of forces and qualities of your soul, despite the fact that they are described using words of this world, making it seem like they’re talking about regular matter.

All five worlds from the World of Infinity to our world are similar in structure. They differ only by the material of each world, but not the particular details and connections between them. Essentially there is just one system – the World of Infinity; all the other worlds are the same World of Infinity, but with flawed connections between its parts.

Each world consists of the same parts, which are connected by the same connecting threads. It’s just that these threads grow weaker as they descend from a higher world to a lower one. Therefore, when we read a narration that uses words of this world, we have to aspire to transpose this story onto a higher world.

Even if I don’t receive any real knowledge, but simply desire to make out something higher behind all of these words, it is sufficient to attract Light from that higher world. In the higher world, that Light is Inner Light, whereas for me it is Surrounding Light. This Light will begin gradually correcting me and will help me to ascend (in my understanding and feelings) to the world that the Light comes from. This is how it works.

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A question I received: It’s not entirely clear how the Light that Reforms operates, or the special force (Segula) that is contained in The Book of Zohar.

My Answer: It’s impossible to understand it, which is why it is called a “wondrous quality” (Segula) or a miracle. It’s when you use something that isn’t real.

I am told, “Jump up and down ten times and a light bulb will light up on that wall.” I don’t know the connection between one and the other, but meanwhile, someone might have set up a sensor beneath the floor that causes the light bulb to light up when I jump ten times. I don’t know about it, but obviously, there is a connection between the two. This connection is concealed from me and that’s why it is called “Segula.”

Segula is a law existing in nature that I am not familiar with. Those who have already researched it tell me, “Use it in the following manner and you will cause it to operate. Although you can’t see how, you do set it in motion.”

Baal HaSulam says that if an alien were to come to our planet and compare a human baby with a day-old calf, he would think that the calf will grow up to become Napoleon and the human baby will grow up into a miserable toad. What else could come of that helpless creature?

Yet, we know that if we feed these two creatures and give them everything they need, one of them will grow up into an animal whereas the other will grow up into a human. This is a miracle (Segula). Although we are used to seeing this happen, in reality it’s a miracle. Just think of how a tiny baby suddenly starts to understand, react, and perform various actions. Day by day he starts having new skills, which come from within him. But where do they come from so suddenly? We don’t do anything about it, so why does it happen?

This phenomenon is completely habitual for us and we simply understand that this is how the developmental process works. However, essentially this is the revelation of life’s force, the spiritual force that operates in creation and becomes expressed in this manner.

The same thing takes place in our spiritual development. Spirituality is not somewhere far away, but is a system that is slightly more concealed from us and that we are not used to. However, in a short while people will start to use it the same way as everything else because these are laws of nature.

Kabbalists tell me, “There is a force in nature whose influence you can evoke upon you. How? Pick up The Book of Zohar and start reading. The more you read it, the stronger, smarter, and more sensitive you will become, and then spirituality will be revealed to you. Why? Because this book changes you.”

You might object, “But aren’t there many other Kabbalah books that change me?” Yes, there are, but the other books only work to arrange your inner inclinations, qualities, and abilities. They merely organize your inner system and develop it, whereas The Book of Zohar performs a special change in you because you can use it to evoke a higher influence upon you. The result of this book’s influence is called a miracle because you begin to perceive, feel, and reveal a different system inside you. This, in turn, helps you to open up a new, spiritual world.

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A question I received: Should the wisdom of Kabbalah be disseminated to those without a point in the heart yet?

My Answer: We have entered a new period, a stage of general correction. Today the spiritual calculation isn’t made for us as individuals. Rather, what is important is the degree to which we trigger general changes, turning ourselves into conductors of the Light to pass to other souls.

This is why Baal HaSulam and other Kabbalists write about the necessity of wide dissemination. We have to correct the entire common Kli. Therefore, the calculation isn’t based on a single individual, but should account for the whole body.

Prior to the period of the Ari, the stage of general correction wasn’t revealed yet. However, the new laws are already in effect during the last phase. We have discovered that we are one soul and this soul has to cure itself, whereas in the past everyone evolved individually.

Individual calculations have ended, paving the way to the common interests of the united whole. The individual profit is in the success of the wide dissemination. Thus, general advancement is more important than taking care of oneself.

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The science of Kabbalah tells me that reality does not exist outside of me. All of reality exists inside the person who observes and feels it. Outside of me there is nothing. The problem is that we’re not accustomed to this perception of reality.

I was born perceiving reality through my body’s five senses. This is very limiting, and it’s hard to relate to the world differently. When I begin to realize that my reality depends on the qualities inside me, then it forces me to examine them and determine what they should be. I realize that I must correct them in order to create a true, unchanging, eternal reality inside myself. This is a true reality, but I must live in different states, different levels of false reality, before I can reach it.

Kabbalists tell us how to achieve a true perception of reality. They tell me that I am the one who determines my own life. If I start to look at life according to the perception that “everything exists within me,” then I can place the whole outside world inside me. Then, I will never die because the whole world will remain within me and I will continue to exist inside it.

So the perception of reality, which at first seems to us an abstract philosophy, something virtual and unreal, becomes a matter of “our life and death.” If I am able to change my qualities, my perception, everything that I presently see and sense as existing outside of me, then I begin to perceive and sense the world as my inner phenomena, my unchanging, eternal, perfect existence, and nothing will have changed, disappeared, or perished. By changing my perception of reality from external to internal, by placing it inside me, I ascend 125 degrees of the perception of reality, and reach a state of complete connection with eternity because I perceive it all within me.

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Kabbalists tell us that man is an integral part of nature and is entirely governed by it. Hence, within the parameters of our world, we should not place emphasis on people’s outer actions or regard them as “causes” because all the actions in this world are actually effects or consequences of the forces that govern our lives.

The only true independence for a person is found in spiritual ascent, which occurs through the process of acquiring the quality of bestowal and love. This means acquiring similarity to the Creator, which is achieved through the Kabbalistic methodology of attracting the Upper Ruling Force, also called the “Surrounding Light.”  In other words, we do not have the power to achieve it on our own, but only with the Creator’s help and His Light.

Historic examples demonstrate how nature governs a human being and society as a whole by modifying the environment. For example, during the last glacial period (the minor ice age, 1650 – 1720 CE) when as a result of diminished solar activity all of Europe was seized by ice, multiple revolutions and riots resulted. This phenomenon took place in many parts of the world simultaneously. Yet, the truth of the matter is that only the human desire for self-improvement is capable of causing such a strong response from nature on the physical, earthly level, thereby creating adequate conditions to further our personal and social development.

Hence, only our inner progress and outer dissemination of Kabbalah (the method of correction) is capable of making society realize that not only does worldly self-improvement not work, but true improvement becomes possible only by means of involving the forces of the nature – the  Creator and His Surrounding Light.

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Two questions I received on Kabbalists’ attitude to the world:

Question: Our Kabbalah study group in Seattle was asked to give a presentation on Kabbalah to a club that meets to learn about different spiritual traditions. The talk went very well and after it was over, one of the participants asked: “What do Kabbalists say we should do with desires when they rise within us?” How would you have answered such a question?

My Answer: We will fulfill them with the understanding of the Creator.

Question: If the Kabbalists do and have always known all, in my opinion, they are responsible for explaining to all of humanity and even individuals, why the Creator seemingly treats them so poorly.

My Answer: It’s you, not Kabbalists, who perceive the Creator’s attitude in this way. You will understand the rest on your own once your impressions of the world start changing.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Who Will Pave The Way To The Creator?
Laitman.com Post: The Darkness Is The Beginning Of The Perception Of The Other
Laitman.com Post: The Spiritual World Is Felt Through The Desires Of Others
Laitman.com Post: The Right Approach To Every Problem In Life
The Path of Kabbalah: “The Beginning of a Kabbalist’s Way”

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It is only by virtue of The Book of Zohar that we will be able to come out of exile to redemption, and there is no doubt that we are now in a special state. We have to thank the Creator for choosing us for this mission; and on the other hand, it is a great responsibility. Let us have faith that the Creator will lead us through all the obstacles and they will only make us stronger.

I am fearful and inspired, and at the same time worried and anxious. We have to be aware of our great responsibility. All the generations of Kabbalists, the people who attained the goal of creation and the Creator’s desire, are inside the same system that we want to belong to. They have already corrected themselves in this broken system of the common soul (Adam HaRishon) and have prepared it for us, enabling us to accept it as a global system where it is no longer separate, corrected souls that are revealed, as was the case during the times preceding Rabash. He was the last in the lineage of Kabbalists who transmitted Kabbalah, the method of correction, to us. These special souls were instilled in all the generations like drops in an ocean.

Now, for the first time in history since the times of the last exile, we want to attain the last, final redemption. This is the real exodus from Egypt. Moreover, it’s happening at a special time – right before the holiday of Purim, which symbolizes the End of Correction. These conditions are completely extraordinary.

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I have to reveal a single reality, and in order to do this I need to find within myself the means that will help me accomplish it. Instilled within me are all the necessary forces to assist: the Creator, the creation, myself, the world, the friends, people, the teacher, the books, Rabbi Shimon and his group, Moshe, and the Torah, which is the program of the universe.

My “big” soul is the collection of these forces within a system of incredible vitality. I am standing before this big soul like a little child. It is mine, but I have to acquire and reveal it, to learn and activate it – all to the extent that I am able to do it correctly. It seems corrupted to me, although this actually isn’t so. It’s just that the current me is corrupted and this is why I see it this way. I need to correct myself and my attitude towards it.

Kabbalists explain to us how to burst open and uncover our own qualities, broaden the horizons of perception and feeling, and in doing so, to reveal this big soul in our desire.

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