Questions I received on the recognition of evil and the study of Kabbalah:

Question: What are we supposed to do after we go through the recognition of evil?

My Answer: If you have recognized the evil within you, then you will hate it so much that you’ll direct all your energy to eradicating it out of you. This is what you have to do. However, if you still haven’t reached the recognition that egoism is evil, if you’re still able to keep on living with it, then you’ll come to me asking me what to do…

Question: What should I do if along with my great desire for spirituality, I’m afraid to lose the few good things that I still have in this life?

My Answer: If you still think that there’s something good about the present state, then you still haven’t reached the recognition of evil.

Question: I understand that we all must unite in a common aspiration for the Creator. But how does one avoid becoming a zombie?

My Answer: You should study the materials and instructions written by Kabbalists. Follow them, evoke the influence of the Upper Light upon you – and It will change you in whatever way is necessary.

The Light acts by revealing and concealing Itself. This is how It develops a person, making him free. As a result, It makes him Human – comprised of the entire created desire and all its filling. The Light is called the Light of Hochma – the Light of Wisdom.

Zombies are all the people without free will – those who are in this world, before entering the Upper World. That’s because they have only one, egoistic nature of reception. For more on this, see Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom.”

Question: Is it possible for a person to be restricted from above so he is prevented from studying the Science of Kabbalah because it still isn’t his time to reach the full correction, regardless of his efforts and desire to study?

My Answer: There are no restrictions from above for anyone! You mistakenly see the obstacles intended to develop your desire, as being restrictions. Concealment, partial concealment, and the Creator’s “flirtation” with a person all serve to develop his aspiration to the goal.

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Three questions I received on spiritual attainment throughout different life cycles:

Question: If one’s soul has already ascended to a certain degree in the previous life cycle, how does one ascend in the current life cycle?

My Answer: In the new life cycle, the person quickly attains his previous spiritual level and then continues to ascend higher. It’s because the soul has no age, and the body’s death does not affect it at all.

Question: Is it possible to reach the next spiritual level in the current life cycle, without dying first?

My Answer: Anyone whose point in the heart has been revealed can attain his full correction within one life cycle, without leaving it and returning for another life cycle.

Question: How do the people who never knew or studied Kabbalah attain the Upper Spirit? What is the outcome of their life when they leave our world? Do they attain the Light unconsciously, and to what degree?

My Answer: To attain the Upper Spirit means to attain the Upper Light. This is possible only by means of a screen – an anti-egoistic quality that emerges in us under the influence of the Upper Correcting Light (Ohr Makif). This Light descends on us only during the study of authentic Kabbalistic sources.

Related Material:
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News Report (translated from MIGnews.com): Millions of people all over the world are immersing into Second Life – the new virtual madness that encompasses all areas of human life. In the past week alone, 1.4 million new members have become immersed in this obsession. There they construct themselves and seek adventures in the new, exotic reality.

My Comment: Actually, we’ve been doing this throughout all of human history. It just wasn’t as obvious as it is now, through a screen. Our culture is but a distraction from the purpose of creation, as is all the “exciting” entertainment we fill our lives with. They all have the same root – to run away from the question about the meaning of life.

The problem is that the old methods of “killing time” don’t attract us anymore. They’re too weak. In the virtual word, however, we can let our imagination soar, plus we get this illusion that anything we desire is within a moment’s reach. However, soon enough our egoism will outgrow this as well, and we will have to seek the true fulfillment – the Light, the Creator.

That’s because He created us, and our egoistic development will bring us to Him. This is why the Torah refers to our egoism (when speaking about the created woman): “Ezer Ke Negdo” – your helper, who is against you.

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News Report (from the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center): Public opinion experts report that Russians have lost their optimism about the future. The turning point in their mood occurred in August-September. Before then, the optimistic contingent was on a steady increase, while the pessimists decreased in number. However, with the arrival of autumn, the trend took a 180 degree turn.

My Comment: And this is happening before the real crisis has even begun. The layoffs are only starting, and people still have savings and the inertia of the past. The real crisis will begin in January-February of 2009.

On the whole, people do not understand that they are already living in a different world – one that’s global, and whose laws they don’t know. These are the laws of the spiritual world that we aren’t following, which is why we are experiencing our discrepancy with them as a crisis. None of the previous methods to outlive or out wait (while stocking up on salt, matches and soap) will help us.

But perhaps we will suddenly wise up, and just by desiring to learn about the law of globalization (“Love thy neighbor as thyself”), we will cast all the evil away from us and draw closer to goodness.

News Report (from supportproject.eu): A recent study in six EU-countries found that problems such as depression, anxiety, phobias or alcohol dependence affected 11.5 % of their population. More people in the EU (almost 60,000 per year) die from suicide than traffic accidents.

My Comment: This is happening because a desire that’s above our world is surfacing in people. This desire is for something beyond the the corporeal things (food, sex, and family) as well as the social things (money, power, and knowledge). When a person has generally gone through these desires, a new desire emerges in him – a desire to receive the Light into the common desire of Adam. However, the only way to receive the Light into this desire is by restoring one’s unification with others, according to the rule, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Before we appeared in this world, we were united together and filled with the Upper Light. Then, our unification was disrupted (broken), and each us was left inside his individual desire and perception, wherein we perceive only a small luminescence called “our world.” When we reconnect with each another, we once again begin to perceive the common Light – the Upper World.

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Questions I received on the meaning of Kabbalistic words and the point in the heart:

Question: What is the meaning of the expression, “There are many thoughts in a person’s heart, but the Creator will save us from all of them”?

My Answer: Only the Upper Light can fill all our desires and thoughts by giving them the correct properties and forms.

Question: Does the point in the heart depend on the number of life cycles one has gone through? I just don’t understand why it is still dormant in many people.

My Answer: The point in the heart awakens when a person grows disillusioned in trying to fulfill all his earthy desires. It is for this purpose that he goes through a history of lives for many millennia!

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for the past two years or so. There are two things that seem to confuse me and that could be because I keep on associating the meaning of “pleasure” and “desire” with our world. It would be greatly appreciated if you could expand on these two words for me or direct me to the place I can find the information.

My Answer: Pleasure is the sensation of a fulfilled desire – any desire. Desire is an aspiration to fulfill oneself with something one desires, with pleasure. However, in Kabbalah the desire is a desire for the Light, and the pleasure is pleasure from the Light.

Question: Is it possible to convey the essence of your lessons through sign language?

My Answer: Yes, if someone will understand it, for example, deaf people.

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Questions I received on finding the right spiritual path:

Question: In my search for spirituality I found many methods of spiritual development, including different forms of Kabbalah, yet I still haven’t found a remedy for my soul. Does it even exist?

My Answer: Only you can find your own path, without any influence from others, without “help” from outside, and without looking at what others are doing. And the same goes for every person.

Kabbalah is intended only for those who ask about the meaning of life. Hence, only those who ask this question, and who delve into the heart of it, find that authentic Kabbalah is for them. The rest are satisfied with false methods, psychology, religion, or mysticism, all of which may be presented under the name “Kabbalah.”

Question: Say a Hindu sage reduces his ego to zero point. Would he not then sense the spiritual world? Does he attain the screen? Or does one experience the illusion of evolution from the very beginning all over again?

My Answer: A screen can only appear over a desire that is above our world, but all the religions and other methods actually decrease the egoism of our world. So how can a screen appear over the leftovers of a suppressed egoism?

Question: Does Kabbalah talk about the non-dualistic? Meaning, that there is no person, ego, world, etc. Just consciousness. What prevents us from seeing that consciousness is the concept of “I” which takes credit for everything that happens in the world when in reality the “I” has no real choice whatsoever. Choice and events just happen.

My Answer: In Kabbalah, everything is researched and verified experimentally. The only proof for something is one’s perception of it, rather than any kind of fabrication. Kabbalah does not negate or assert anything; it is a practical expansion of our perception.

You should philosophize less and focus more on what you have personally experienced. You can only validate something through facts, without connecting them to any theories. Work according to the principle, “I will recognize You from Your actions to me.”

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Everything that was created, and everything taking place, is necessary for us to understand the Creator. If a person does not forget this, then he focuses on understanding how the Creator communicates with him through everything that’s happening inside him and outside him.

This is similar to how an infant learns to communicate with his mother. Have you ever noticed how intensely he looks at her, trying to understand what she is saying to him, trying to learn her language? It is precisely through the current crisis that we are given an opportunity to detect what the Creator is clearly trying to tell all of us.

In the past, He only communicated this way with select individuals. But today, all of humanity must start paying attention to the Creator’s actions. This is what we lack.

If the world would understand this, we would avoid all the unpleasant events taking place today, as well as those still in store for us. That’s because instead of fighting wind mills, we would communicate with the cause of it all – the Creator.

The faster we begin to discern the Creator’s communication with us through the things taking place, the sooner we will understand Him. We will then discover what it is we need to correct and change – and the world will be filled with Light.

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News Report (from Science News Magazine): People are mistaken when they expect that the more they spend on gifts, the more those gifts will be appreciated. … recipients preferred gifts that they really needed or that had special personal meaning, regardless of price. … It’s indeed the perceived thought that counts…

My Comment: We can receive from our world only as much as an animal can: only what is necessary for our body’s existence. In this regard, we are completely the same as animals. All the excess that we “receive” is only to our detriment. There’s a wise saying, “A bit of harmful food is healthier than too much healthy food.” Excess creates emptiness in us, bringing about depression and an endless pursuit of illusory fulfillment.

So how does the Creator implement His plan “to delight the creatures with absolute and eternal pleasure”? This isn’t attained by increasing the quantity of the fulfillment, but its quality. We are unable to take in any more that what is necessary for the existence of our animal bodies. However, when we come to recognize the greatness of the Creator, who gives to us, this infinitely increases our sensation of what we receive from Him, because He is infinite. This is how we attain the sensation of eternal and perfect life. Therefore, the goal of our development lies in attaining, “Taste and see how good the Creator is.”

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A question I received: As one who struggles with being an egoistic altruist, I’d like to know what advice you can give us when we wear ourselves down to the point where we are no good to anyone? My mother used to say, “If you don’t look after yourself; you can’t look after anyone else.” I haven’t yet been able to discern some kind of “magical line” that tells me to stop looking after others and look after myself.

My Answer: You won’t be able to change without the Upper Light, but will always apply your egoism in different ways that appear altruistic, but are really egoistic underneath. Only the Upper Light which created egoism can correct it. We draw the Upper Light upon us through our studies. We have to approve of the way it will change us ahead of time, because right now we are unable to imagine our new, altruistic form.

Therefore, you should only study and “take less care” of others, until you understand how to do it correctly. Some people are unable to study; they can only “act.” They should follow the advice of Kabbalists on how to help others. Otherwise, the help turns into harm for the giver and the receiver.

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Two questions I received on being angry at the Creator:

Question: When we feel so much pain, feel angry with others, the corporeal world, and ourselves, due to our egoism, are we permitted to get angry with the Creator as well?

My Answer: No matter who you are angry at, you are really angry at the Creator, and that’s how He perceives it. After all, it is He who creates your picture of the world at each and every moment.

Question: You teach that according to equivalence of form, a person sees bad qualities in others only to the degree he has those qualities. What do you do when you hate the evil in you and in others, if everything around us is the Creator, who is Kind and Benevolent? It turns out that by hating evil, I hate the Creator!? How is it possible to combine hatred for evil and justification of the Kind and Benevolent?

My Answer: Only if you correct yourself and become kind to others, will you then become kind to the Creator and justify Him. This is equivalence of form.

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