Questions I received on studying, defining the spiritual goal, one’s desires, and one’s mind:

Question: What should I study every day?

My Answer: Study the same things we do, together with us.

Question: Should I study only Kabbalah, or are there other books worth studying as well?

My Answer: You should study only what we study. If you are a beginner, then you should study the first and third parts of our daily lesson together with us, but instead of the second part of the lesson (Talmud Eser Sefirot), you can study the materials for beginners on our website.

Question: Do we have to fight our lustful desires in the corporeal world, or should we just study Kabbalah without fighting these desires?

My Answer: Only the study of Kabbalah evokes the Light of correction – Ohr Makif. You will not become more corrected by fighting your desires or restricting yourself in some way. Don’t focus on your properties, but instead strive toward the Creator.

Question: I am somewhat confused about the spiritual goal. Is the goal for me to be happy, or for me to bestow, or to be like the Upper One, or is it to love my neighbor? Or, according to what you said in the latest lessons, is the goal for me to become master of my freedom of choice, or combine the paradox between the place of the Creator and the place of the creation? What is the goal?

My Answer: There is one goal, and it combines everything – all the opposites: The entire Light enters the entire Kli, filling it completely. This state already exists; we must only reveal it for ourselves. It’s similar to a child’s puzzle: There is an image printed on a piece of cardboard, then it’s cut up into small pieces and the child has to put it together. This is how the child learns to connect all the different parts into one whole – and we will have to do the same thing with all the elements of creation.

Question: Is the ego (my will to receive), my mind that observes the reality?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct. Inside your desire, you perceive yourself, the world, and your existence. The mind is produced by the egoistic desires, or derived from them. The mind comes into being and grows to degree that one aspires to fulfill one’s desires. The more desires one has, and the larger these desires are, the greater is the mind that accompanies them. Hence, since Kabbalah develops one’s desires, it also prompts the development of the mind (the brain).

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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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Questions I received on being able to read original Kabbalistic sources alone and achieving something great in life:

Question: You often emphasize that people should only study according to your lessons. I agree that at first there’s no other way, but later on a person reaches a point when he wants to read the sources on his own and to understand them in his own way. I have a different Kli than you, and I can see the Light only in my own Kli. Can a student independently decide when he is ready to advance on his own?

My Answer: You are absolutely right – you should study Baal HaSulam’s texts on your own, independently, and try to understand what’s written there on your own! However, you should only do this after properly attuning yourself using our lessons. Otherwise you will get confused and it will take a long time to “disconfuse” you, and it would be a shame to waste so much time! Besides, usually it’s impossible to do this. So it’s best to first read the text with the help of my lesson, and then to read the original text without my explanations.

Question: Dear Rav Laitman, I’m 37 and by now I’ve done many things that got me in trouble. This year everything is going wrong. I feel like I’m under huge pressure, and I can’t do anything to stop it. Ever since I was a child I felt that I was meant to do something great in my life, and that my life is being wasted. But instead, I have completely isolated myself. How can I come out of this vicious cycle? Should I repent? I wouldn’t even know how.

My Answer: The greatest thing you can do is attain the greatest thing that there is. And the greatest thing that there is – is the Creator. There is no goal higher or greater than Him! So you should read only Baal HaSulam’s materials 24 hours a day!

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Questions I received from women on how to be sure that one is advancing in spirituality:

Question: Can a woman cross the Machsom without participating in the group, by studying your books for at least two hours a day?

My Answer: To ascend spiritually, a woman has to study and disseminate.

Question: Is it possible to follow the path of Kabbalah incorrectly? What I mean is: If I study with you in Bnei Baruch and I physically do what is needed – disseminate, pay Maaser, study Kabbalah, and have contact with the group, then can I still be doing something wrong in my inner work?

My Answer: Check yourself against the articles and recommendations of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. With every lesson, we delve deeper into this decisive question.

Question: What is the difference between regular feelings and spiritual feelings? When I have regular feelings, should I keep in mind that they aren’t real? And if yes, then how can I trust my feelings?

My Answer: Right now you should only study, and the Light will bring you new, correct notions, which will enable you to measure and judge everything correctly.

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A question I received: What do you expect from the development of the Internet and other means of communication? I see how much you depend on them and their development.

My Answer: The Internet connection lets humanity progress inconceivably faster. However, I think that in the future the means of communication will rise to yet a different level, because our interconnectedness has to be even more evident. Very soon there will be new possibilities of unification, which will erase the sensation of distance between us altogether. Time and space will cease being obstacles between us.

This is necessary for egoism to develop and for us to recognize that it is evil. This is how Nature has arranged things, and this will soon become revealed to us. Interdependence and communications enable us to go through many experiences by connecting with others who feel them, without actually going through them ourselves. By becoming included in one another, we accelerate every person’s development and maturation. We are seeing with our very eyes how civilizations that were isolated from the whole world for millennia – Japan and China, are merging with the whole world within a mere decade. (From the lesson on the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose” on 21/07/2008.)

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Question: You say that the Creator is the quality and act of giving or bestowing. However, if we are able to attain this quality, to attain the Creator, doesn’t this make us greater than Him? We are able to incorporate both egoism and its opposite, but the Creator is only a part of this antinomy. So how can He be superior to us? Maybe we just can’t categorize Him as superior but only as Different?

My Answer: One reveals the Creator’s status only after he attains the Creator’s quality. Then he is able to see where his qualities really stand in relation to the Creator, and what the purpose of creation is. Until this happens, all our words are empty because we don’t know what stands behind them.

This is why Kabbalah hates philosophy and considers it empty talk about things that philosophers don’t attain. Philosophy is opposite to Kabbalah – see the article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy.” Kabbalah prefers to deal with actual attainment and it talks only from the level of attainment. This is the meaning of the verse, “The judge knows no more than what his eyes see,” and, “If we don’t see something, we don’t talk about it.”

Question: Is the main intention behind the Mitzva of Yirat Hashem (fearing God) the perception of God? Thank you, Rabbi Jose.

My Answer: Absolutely, since the perception of the Creator is what enables man to rise above his egoistic nature and to use it (the Aviut) in the opposite way – as bestowal and love, according to how the Creator reveals this to him.

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I had a conversation that was recorded titled “Between the Lines,” about words and letters. I spoke with:

Dr. Maxim Sokolov – an otolaryngologist specializing in voice and speech,

Shlomi Buhana – a doctorate student at Bar Ilan University,

Ben-Tzion Gertz – a writer and the host of the program.

Language or speech is what separates humans from animals. Our throat is a special organ where all the forces of the body and soul come together. The five parts of the lungs supply air through the vocal chords into the five parts of the mouth, and the latter divides all sounds into five groups. A letter’s sound corresponds to its outline, numerical value (Gematria), and the section of the brain that sends out commands to the vocal apparatus. And all this happens according to the five parts of creation and the four-letter name of the Creator. In short, there is still a lot more to talk about!

Related Material:
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The Secret of the Letters, Lesson 2: The Shape of the Letters
The Secret of the Letters, Lesson 3: Whoever Changes His Name Changes His Luck
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A question I received: I have a question about our group development. It looks like everyone inside the group as well as outside has lost his mind. Many have dropped studying, left the group, are afraid of getting attached to the group, and are scared of Kabbalah. There are many doubts if it is an authentic path to the Creator and it becomes more difficult to remain concentrated. I would like to know what it means and how a person can overcome these doubts.

My Answer: Groups without a strong spiritual leader cannot exist because group members are people who are not corrected and have a big ego. Their hearts are filled with egoistic desires though they have “the points in the heart,” which are just the points yet. And so hidden (for them) competition kicks in – a game who’s the first, who’s the chief, etc. It’s said in this case, “Separation of sinners from each other is good for them and for the world.” I spoke a lot about it on the last American congress. I think that people should gather together only for mutual dissemination actions; meaning, the actions geared towards outside (of the gathered). All other connections lead to disagreements. You are too “young” to ascend spiritually together. But if you contact each other only relative to work in dissemination then you can be of help to yourself and to others. Kabbalah is for the ones who are ready give themselves up, give up their egoism for the sake of mastering the quality of bestowal. But this is a gradual process and you have to take into account your nature. Otherwise you’d be as in the saying that thousands come but only singles (a few) left. If there is a group of people aspiring to one goal there must be a guide, a shepherd, a leader, a king. That’s how the world is created. Therefore, if there is no undisputable authority in the group there could be no group and our practice proves it.

Related Material:

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Questions I received on intentions and actions

Question: I have a question about the Light that returns one to the source. Do I have to desire for it to influence me while I am studying Kabbalah? If yes, who will influence me, and what will it influence?

My Answer: The Upper Light will influence your aspiration to correct your egoistic intention “to do everything for your own sake” to the altruistic intention to unite with all the souls, and with the original vessel of your soul, and in it – in the quality of bestowal and love – you will unite with the Creator.

Question: Should I intend to bestow before every material action I make?

My Answer: You should always try to remember, in your thoughts and feelings, that “there is none else beside the Creator,” that He acts inside and outside of you, and that all His actions are “good.”

Question: During one of your lessons someone asked a question about one’s intention while performing material actions (such as eating, drinking, and etc.), and you responded that people shouldn’t think about this. But shouldn’t I intend to bestow before every action I make? Right now the only intention we can have is to receive, because we don’t have a screen, yet at the same time, isn’t the correct intention for me to demand a screen from the Creator, in order to be able to give to Him?

My Answer: The best thing to do is to keep holding on to the thought that “There is none else besides Him” and that He is Good and so are all of His actions. I’m afraid that by trying to keep the intention to unite with the Creator while making material actions, you will only make mistakes. You will think that you already have the correct intention, the same as how religious people think. Besides this, you’ll begin thinking that with your actions, you are raising something up to the Creator, and correcting your soul. This is Chassidut. You will start believing that your food is asking you to eat it in order to correct it, and that by eating the food you are correcting yourself just by saying a blessing beforehand, instead of correcting yourself to the level of the blessing – love and bestowal.

After all, the realization that one’s intentions are evil also come to a person under the influence of the Light, the Light of the Torah, which only surrounds us when we study authentic Kabbalistic texts. You should pursue this intention during the lesson and when you disseminate, but not when you eat. You can’t even imagine where the hidden stumbling blocks lie, and how you will veer off from the true path to psychology, Chassidut, or mysticism without even realizing you are doing so. Follow the Kabbalists’ advice! Read Rabash’s articles about the group for beginners – his first twenty articles.

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Three questions I received about virtual groups and the World Kli

Question: Soon we – the virtual group – will be hosting a Yeshivat Haverim (friends’ gathering) with the purpose of joining the common Kli. What should we aim for as the next stage of unity between our group and the world Kli?

My Answer: As the next stage of unity between your group and the world Kli, you should become maximally included into the common Kli. This way you will receive from the common Kli the realization that you are unable to attain the goal, the Creator, and in addition, the realization of the greatness of the goal that you will receive from them will give you such enormous forces to progress that even when you will be in a descent, you will feel as if you’re on a pillow of forces (Arvut, mutual guarantee). However, all this will happen only if you will really become a part of the group!

Question: How can we realize the principle of Arvut among us in the virtual group?

My Answer: The surest way to do so is to include yourselves into the common Kli and learn from them while working together on disseminating Kabbalah. Through this action, you will definitely be performing an act of bestowal, love for your neighbor, and hence you will evoke Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the Light of the Upper Level toward which you aspire – and it will start pulling you up to that level.

Question: How can I think about all the friends at the same time? After all, I’m only capable of concentrating on one thing at a time, but there are millions of friends around the world, and I’ve never even met most of them.

My Answer: You should be thinking about the whole group in general, about all the millions of people, about unity and the common goal, about how many people are striving towards it, and about how the Creator – who is one for everyone – is directing us to Him. Instead of envisioning people and bodies, you should envision the desires to unite together and to unite with the Creator. Imagine that these desires are together regardless of distance and quantity. You will gradually begin feeling this common desire or force more and more vividly! And this will be your Kli. It’s because inside one’s own soul, a person can only receive the initial aspiration toward the Creator, but he receives all the rest of the fulfillment within the souls or desires of his “neighbors,” whom he adds to himself through love, according to the condition “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” It turns out that this is the condition for creating the inner vessel in order to receive the Light of Infinity.

The Virtual Group will be hosting the Yeshivat Haverim this coming Sunday on Kabbalah TV, 7:00pm Israel time [Time Zone Converter].

Related Material:
Lesson: The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) [17-11-07]
Lesson: The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) [17-11-07]
Lesson: The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) [17-11-07] – Transcript

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