Entries in the 'man' Category

The Soul’s Correction Is Invisible on the Corporeal Level

soulQuestions I received on the soul’s correction:

Question: Which actions bring about the soul’s correction?

My Answer: When the quality of bestowal is born in a person, helping him rise above his egoism.

Question: How is this expressed on the corporeal level, among people who study and don’t study Kabbalah?

My Answer: It doesn’t. No one around you will notice anything. How could they?

Question: How is love for others implemented if the corporeal aspect is not used?

My Answer: Through thoughts and intentions. If possible, also through actions – the dissemination of Kabbalah.

Question: What is the purpose of this blog?

My Answer: To explain the purpose of the world’s creation and how to attain it through the good path.

Question: What is the purpose of man’s existence?

My Answer: To attain the purpose of his creation.

Question: Why don’t these two things coincide?

My Answer: Because people do not want to actualize the method of attaining the goal and instead prefer to be on the path of suffering.

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Article: “Who am I?”

It’s Time to Make a New Movie About the Global Crisis

New MovieA question I received: Are you still collaborating with the scientists who were in the film, “Ups and Downs in San Francisco”? The film’s ending was very promising for future collaboration. I’ve also found another community of scientists on the Internet. Perhaps you’d be interested in working with them as well?

My Answer: Although scientists are revealing the crisis (and you don’t have to be a scientist to see it), mankind as a whole – scientists included – do not yet understand the nature of the crisis nor its consequences. They don’t understand that our global connection has made us completely different from what we were before. We are now a unified community. And Nature (or the Creator) regards us completely differently as well: today He demands that we be equivalent to Him; He demands unity!

Since people don’t realize this yet, conventional science continues to receive funding, which means that the old science continues. If something will happen to make people pause and reflect, then it’ll spell the end of the funding. This is why I continue to conduct TV interviews with scientists in my studio, but I no longer look for opportunities to give lectures in their midst.

I think that it’s time to make a new movie about the crisis and its solution, similar to “What the Bleep Do We Know!?” – but this time, about the global, human crisis of our civilization, which includes small crises such as the financial and social ones.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Sciences Are Subordinate to the Wisdom of Kabbalah
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Chapter from the book Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life – “Kabbalah Meets Quantum Physics”

The Reason for the Failure

The Special Power of KabbalahI see that the main reason for the failure to correct man’s nature is people’s neglect of the Creator’s Light, both in their hearts and minds. All the people turn only to the observance of simpleminded actions, as though it were possible to carry out the commandments only with the body, without the soul.
Rav Kook, Letters, Vol. 1, pages 160-161

What Will Happen If Countries Draw National Boundaries on the Internet?


News report (translated from Utro.ru): V. Makarov, president of “Russoft,” announced that the Russian segment of the Internet must be protected from the rest of the World Wide Web with a special gateway filter. Similar gateways are already operating in China and Singapore. The gateway consists of hundreds of thousands of servers that receive information from international sites and then filter it. The project is estimated to cost 1 billion dollars.

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, everything that goes against drawing closer together, communication, integration, and globalization, also goes against Nature. Nature’s objective it is to develop man and society, to bring mankind to unity, reciprocal love and bestowal. Projects like this will bring the people who implement them nothing but crises and miseries!

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Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace In the World” – Selected Lessons – Talk 6

Bringing the Alienated Souls Closer to the Creator is Not a Vice

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: I think that the main problem that people have with you is that you teach Kabbalah to everyone, even secular people and non-Jews.

My Answer: Here’s a quote about this by the Rabbi from Breslav in Likutei Yedut Meshulash, chapter “Emet Ve Tzedek”:

“In every generation there is judgment over the righteous. This argument is mostly about the righteous who draw closer the souls that are most alienated from the Creator, because the quality of opposition is revealed on the scale of the souls and jealousy arises in the heart of the world. Sometimes jealousy arises in the hearts of the sages, forcing them to contradict those who are righteous who bring the souls so close that it seems to them that their actions are wrong. This happens again and again, and continues, and it started back when the tribes of Israel argued with Joseph.”

So I’m not worried, and I suggest you relax as well!

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Article: “Who am I?”
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What Would It Be Like To Live In A Perfect World?

perfectNo one has the slightest idea of what will happen to the economy a second from now. Experts create the most complicated models to try and predict the future based on past experience, but even the most precise statistic is just a slight distraction from the uncertainty that weighs down on us. More and more, the leading economic analysts conclude their articles with a hint: as long as the global markets are uncertain, we shouldn’t bet on the future.

What’s really the problem? Why don’t we know what will happen to the systems that we have created? Experts say: “The problem is a combination of too many factors.” However, there is a clearer explanation: the system can no longer continue working by the principle of the circular firing squad. Today, in the age of turbo-globalization, you can’t sneeze without the entire system vibrating back at you. Alan Greenspan, the head of the US Federal Reserve System said: “The main reason for what is happening is human nature, which does not fit the boundaries of the economic models.” He said this back in September 2007. He also admitted that using regulation to fight crises has never been effective.

The problem is not that the unpredictable human nature makes us act for the sake of our narrow personal interests. This is what happened in the past, but today the situation has changed dramatically: we have all become an integral system, one whole. This is why all the old methods aren’t helping us.

Life demands that we bring our nature to equivalence with the new reality. Instead of repeating old mistakes, let’s use successful, time-tested models as an example. There are many wonderful examples of integrality and true reciprocity.

For example, take the human body. It completely depends on the altruistic behavior of its cells. Each cell works for the benefit of the organism, keeping only what it needs to continue performing its function. In fact, we are speaking about a precise regularity: every natural system depends on the proper interaction of its parts. As soon as one cell starts harming the organism instead of benefiting it, the rest of the cells unite to help the organism and return the system to balance.

And we are no exception. Baal HaSulam – the great Kabbalist of the previous century – writes that we need to treat the laws of nature with caution: “Every person who breaks the laws of nature deviates from the goal that nature has set for him, and hence nature will punish him.” This brief description of the mechanism of the modern crisis was written over half a century ago.

There are no appeals in nature’s court. And we are far from following nature’s laws. We live by the motto: “Get rich, be bold – no matter at whose expense.” This is what our inner voice whispers to us, and we gladly obey it.

This is where the problem lies. Imagine what will happen if one cell suddenly “changes its mind” and starts caring only for itself. Doctors have a simple name for this: cancer. Hence, the present crisis is a symptom of an illness that needs treatment.

As soon as humanity became a single system, it immediately started being governed by the corresponding laws. We are no longer “forgiven” for the things that we could get away with before. Continuing to live the old way is like jumping off the roof of a skyscraper and hoping for the best. The rules of the game have changed: now, instead of using one another, we have to take care of everyone. And until we dare to do this, the crises will continue afflicting the planet.

There is an effective method that can help us to ease the process of changing – social opinion. Everything will become much easier when communication channels, the press, mass media, and the internet will explain to people that we are all part of one system where one individual’s loss is everyone’s loss, and everyone’s gain is the gain of every individual.

The way million of dollars are being poured into the economy today is like pumping a critically ill person with pain relievers. Instead, we must fundamentally change our very approach and replace the “I” that currently stands at the center of our worldview, with “the society.” However, this society won’t be a bubbling mass of separate elements, but a family.

Just imagine: everyone around you are your closest relatives. You sincerely wish for all of them to be happy and you help them all, and they feel the same way about you and help you. In addition, we receive all the assistance necessary to maintain such a lifestyle from the financial institutions. This way we attain balance between us and with nature. It’s because the laws operating in a loving family are the exact same laws that we are now breaking – the laws of a single, integral, and perfect system.
(Written by the Bnei Baruch publishing dept. manager).

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Kabbalah: The Root of All Sciences

The Reshimot Surfacing Today Demand Spiritual Ascent of All HumanityTwo questions I received on Kabbalah as a science:

Question: On one hand it says that Kabbalah only talks about the Upper Worlds, but on the other hand it says that Kabbalah is a science about all of reality. If Kabbalah speaks only about spirituality and not about electrons and other such things, then it would be pointless to hold discussions with scientists, such as Dr. Jeffrey Satinover! After all, Kabbalah talks about the reality that is above matter, before it’s perceived within our senses.

My Answer: Kabbalah talks about the Upper World and the descent of the forces into our world. This is why it is the foundation of the sciences of our world. Recently scientists have begun to understand issues that border the two worlds. When these people – such as Dr. Jeffrey Satinover – receive a positive impression of Kabbalah, they then help us to popularize it.

Question: You are certain that Kabbalah is a science and that a Kabbalist attains it by conducting an inner research of the world. Is it possible that this research is actually the subjective science of a specific individual, who revealed it as a result of a specific path? Would it be correct to say that Kabbalah isn’t a science in and of itself, but only when a person realizes it in practice? What do you think of those who constantly study but don’t advance toward the truth in action? How does Kabbalah regard this?

My Answer: You lack the basic knowledge from the articles: “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences,” and “Preface to The Book of Zohar”. It’s impossible to explain all of this here. If you really want to know rather than to just negate, you’ll find the answers there.

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Advice to Students: Study, Connect, and Disseminate


Questions I received on the spiritual path:

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for a pretty long time (4+ years) and have been doing dissemination from the very beginning. From my first lesson and to this day, whenever I am especially impressed by something in the lesson (or by news of some great dissemination going on), I feel a clear physical sensation that is unique and that I never feel in any other situation. It feels like a wave of energy (like electricity) is going through my body, and is sort of a nice feeling. However, it always leaves me puzzled – I don’t know if this is normal, what it means, and how to relate to it. I know that spirituality is not supposed to be reflected in corporeality and shouldn’t be confused with it, but I’ve wanted to ask you this for a long time. What does it mean, and how should I relate to it?

My Answer: Gradually, everything will reach balance. You just need to alternate studying with dissemination.

Question: Would you please elaborate on how to measure one’s efforts? I may think that I am exerting a lot of effort where others might look at me and say that I’m not. And in which area should the efforts be made: dissemination or study?

My Answer: If you are always thinking about spiritual advancement, this means that you are making the necessary efforts.

Question: How do you explain it when a person who wasn’t sleepy at all before the lesson starts falling asleep during the lesson?

My Answer: This happens because the material you study does not coincide with your spiritual or physical interests and desires.

Question: I am on the path of suffering, but I never part with the book Shamati in English. What else should I do to make sure that everything I’m going through won’t be a waste?

My Answer: Study, connect to others, and disseminate. In particular, during the period of suffering, or in other words, while you still haven’t evoked the Upper Light upon you, you should focus most of all on dissemination together with the friends.

Question: I have been studying Kabbalah for two years and I have already had several descents. Right now I am in a state of a descent, which started a week and a half ago. It brought me to an environment of people who are not interested in spirituality. Now my depression is telling me that I need to go back to studying. How can I live with this?

My Answer: This is the Creator’s way of pushing you towards Him, because the descents also come from Him. You need a group, a thorough reading of the Shamati materials, and constant studies with us. Otherwise you won’t make it!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Rate of One’s Spiritual Development Depends On One’s Efforts
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April 2005 Congress Intention Book – section, “Intention of the Group”

“Wussup!?” – Eight Years Later

About eight years ago a beer advertisement in the United States became a cultural phenomenon when it popularized the expression “Wassup!?” (a play on the greeting: “What’s up?”). It was an advertisement about “living the America dream” (watching a football game, having a beer, and all the rest):

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L38wthA4Ld0]

Now there’s an updated version of this ad, showing where the “Wussup!?” guys have ended up:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq8Uc5BFogE]

I hope that Americans – who are sobering up – will soon realize that there is no way around the law of nature – “Humanity is one family,” and will start following it.

Related Material:
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The Coming of the Messiah

Dr. Michael LaitmanTwo questions I received on the Messiah:

Question: The Book of Zohar says that before the arrival of the Mashiach Ben David (Messiah Son of David), the Mashiach Ben Yoseph (Messiah Son of Joseph) will come. There will be a preparation before arrival of the Mashiach. Is the world’s current condition (the crisis) this preparation? And what kind of force is the Mashiach Ben Yoseph?

My Answer: The Mashiach Ben Yoseph is the revelation of the modern method of correction by the Ari in the 16th century. The world’s present condition is the beginning of the revelation of the Creator, or the preparation for His revelation. The speed of this process depends on us.

Question: Is the Messiah the name of the Light that’s powerful enough to raise both the righteous and the wicked to the Creator – everyone together, in response to mankind’s prayer after recognizing that it’s impossible to keep living in this world? Or is it a person sent to this world with the power to attract the Light called the Messiah?

My Answer: The Messiah is the revelation of the Creator. This action (revelation) of the Upper Light takes place together with the revelation of knowledge about the nature of creation, its plan, process and purpose. This is achieved through disseminating this knowledge (“the call of Messiah”) by those who aspire toward the goal of creation. To the degree people resist this process, their intentions and actions – the forces of resistance – will elicit suffering.

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