A question I received: You said that religion did us a service by showing us how to coexist with each other, and that human egoism became tolerable thanks to religion. Now let’s imagine that religion never existed. Egoism would have torn human society apart, and because of the great suffering we would have reached our logical conclusion much faster – study of Kabbalah and attainment of the goal of creation. Doesn’t this mean that religion is not just harmful, but very much so?

My Answer: The role of religion in man’s (the soul’s) development will become clear only after we attain the Governing Force. In the meantime we have to learn from reality: This is how our world develops, first going through the primitive beliefs, then faith in religions, then faith in science, and finally – the science of Kabbalah. This is when you gain the possibility of opening up your eyes with the help of a new quality and seeing the universe for what it really is.

Kabbalists compare the state before this to sleeping or being unconscious. So while you still don’t have the ability to perceive the true world – while you’re asleep, you should just accept what you feel, and keep advancing. Then the Light of Kabbalah study will “awaken” you.

I accept everything taking place in the world as things that are given to me for my development. I form an opinion about everything that happens only from this perspective. In our time religion must transform and give way to Kabbalah. It should only lay a claim to the cultural content of people’s lives, without any claim to the soul, the world to come and so on, since it doesn’t really know anything about these things. Its task is to give psychological support to weak people, like a psychologist or therapist, but no more than that. Then religion will be able to get out of the crisis it’s in, stop using threats and force to influence people, and earn people’s respect.

The relationships between man and God are explained in Kabbalah by revealing the Creator to man. I consider myself religious because this is the “religion” I follow, rather than the distorted and mechanical one that demands submissive and pointless observance (Musar).

When Baal HaSulam says religion, he means only Kabbalah, while referring to all the rest as culture, tradition, or ethics (Musar). Here’s an excerpt from the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose“:

“Many are mistaken and compare our holy Torah to ethics (Musar). But that has come to them because they have never tasted religion in their lives. I call upon them: ‘Taste and see (receive the Upper Light into your soul and reveal) that the Lord is good.’

It is true that both ethics and religion aim at one thing – to raise man above the filth of the narrow self-love and bring him to the heights of love of others. But still they are as remote one from the other as the distance between the Thought of the Creator from the thought of people. For religion extends from the Thoughts of the Creator, and ethics comes from thoughts of flesh and blood and from the experiences of their lives.”

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A question I received: I live in Japan and I have been studying Kabbalah with you for three and a half years, together with my husband. I study in the mornings and in my spare time. Actually I study for 12 hours a day, and I just breathe Kabbalah all day long. Day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, my inner reality is becoming clearer, more in focus, as if the essence of what I learn comes to me and blends with the properties of my vessels through the attainment of the states that change within me. There’s no doubt that studying with you has changed my entire existence, and obviously, just like others, I have a passionate desire to cross the Machsom. Do I have a chance of crossing the Machsom despite being so far away and having limited abilities to participate in dissemination due to the distance?

My Answer: Add dissemination to your studies. I know Japan and I think it has great opportunities for dissemination. Take part in the development of our Japanese site and its promotion on the Japanese Internet. A person receives spirituality inside the space he freed up by bestowing to others.

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Questions I received on the perception of reality:

Question: In the “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Baal HaSulam says, “All the worlds, both Upper and lower, are inside man.” Does the authentic meaning of these words mean that the entire reality takes place only in our imagination and is perceived through our senses (vessels of attainment)?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: If so, are physical bodies even real?

My Answer: “Real” is what I perceive.

Question: But we always learned that throughout all of its stages the soul is inside the insignificant physical body.

My Answer: I never taught this. Maybe I was talking about the soul’s body (not the physical body) – the Partzuf or Kli, and the soul is the Light inside it.

Question: If we accept this, then doesn’t it mean that everything around us (including our friends and family) doesn’t actually exist, but is just a figment of our imagination?

My Answer: Yes. However, instead of imagining things, we have to attain the state where we will perceive everything outside us as being inside.

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A question I received: I would really appreciate it if you would explain the following quote from Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Freedom”:

“Whereas if there is no such spark in man, but all the sparks of his essence are dressed in bestowal of contentment to their maker, then it is neither absent nor dead. For even when the body nullifies, it only nullifies from the aspect of reception for self gratification, in which the will to receive is dressed, and has no right to exist but through it.”

I don’t understand – how is it possible that when this body dies (which you said is perceived as changing one’s shirt), the desire to bestow does not die with it? When I die, then even if I will still have the desire to bestow, I won’t be able to bestow anymore – I won’t be able to realize my desire!

Or suppose that instead of dying, I survived a car accident or a serious disease, but I lost my limbs and had brain damage; then even though I am still alive, I will not be able to bestow! Without a body you can’t bestow to your friends or participate in dissemination. So how does one’s desire continue to exist and be realized if the body no longer exists?

My Answer: Here’s an explanation of Baal HaSulam’s quote that you cited: “Whereas if there is no such spark in man, but all the sparks of his essence are dressed in bestowal of contentment to their maker, then it is neither absent nor dead. For even when the body (egoism) nullifies, it only nullifies from the aspect of reception (the desire) for self gratification, in which the will to receive is dressed, and has no right to exist but through it.”

The desires remain. What changes is their intention or “clothing.” We live inside these desires, and we also perceive our body, or its presence, inside a certain desire, which becomes revealed in our “I” for a period of time (our life), and then decreases and disappears. This is what gives us the feeling of life and the gradual death of the body.

Read the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar ” and you’ll see what Kabbalah means when it says:

• The death of the body – the death of the egoistic intention
• The revival of a body – the birth of the altruistic intention

We only perceive our animate body until we correct our entire soul; that is to say, until we correct all our desires from “for myself” to “for others, for the Creator.” Then the perception of the body will disappear, because the desire in which we perceive this body will be corrected into bestowal, and it will become eternal because it helped us correct all the other desires.

Take this as a foundation: There is only the Light and the desire, and you feel everything (this world or the world to come) inside the desire. Everything depends on the desires – their size, quality, and similarity to the Light.

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A question I received: You say that everything we experience in each reincarnation comes from the root of one’s soul. Throughout my life, and especially in childhood, I wondered, “Why do I perceive the world through my body, and not through someone else’s?” The answer to this is – because I have my root of the soul. But why do I have the root of the soul that I have? If I had a different root of the soul, then I would perceive reality differently. I understand that the Creator does not do anything by accident, so I’m sure that this question is justified and has an answer.

My Answer: The common soul of Adam divided into many pieces, called Bnei Adam (the sons of Adam, the word for “people” in Hebrew). Each part or separate soul descends, while worsening its qualities, to the lowest level – our world, where it perceives itself as a physical body with a world around it. This perception is the most detached one from the Creator, and it is fixed (permanent) – it cannot be corrected.

However, there is a “point in the heart” – one desire out of all the others, which can be corrected and raised up to its root in Adam. “The body” is the lowest desire, and it goes through life cycles in order to reach the state when it will be possible for a person to start developing this “point in the heart.” Each “point” of Adam corresponds to a particular “body” with its own destiny.

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Questions I received on the Surrounding Light:

Question: Is the Surrounding Light a force that always influences us even though we don’t know about it?

My Answer: The Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) influences us only when we evoke it.

Question: By studying Kabbalah, do we develop a sense that enables us to perceive the Surrounding Light’s influence?

My Answer: Yes, provided that one desires to acquire the property of bestowal.

Question: The Surrounding Light changes us so we will create an intention “for His sake”?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: Can we practice connecting with the Surrounding Light while thinking about our sensations of Kabbalah, or when having a conversation with someone who does not study it?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: Can Ohr Makif influence us all the time, if we are advancing along the process of correction?

My Answer: It influences us only when we evoke it.

Question: Does It influence us before the Machsom too, or only afterward?

My Answer: It can influence us at any time and place.

Question: Are the changes in one’s sensations and perception of reality a result of this force’s influence even before the Machsom?

My Answer: Yes – always.

Question: Does Ohr Makif lead us toward the goal whether we want it or not?

My Answer: Ohr Makif moves one toward one’s root to the extent one desires it.

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A question I received: How do Eastern teachings and religions reflect in Kabbalah, which also came from the east?

My Answer: Anything related to corporeality has no relation to Kabbalah. Here is a list of just some of the things that don’t pertain to Kabbalah in any way:

• Places, including “holy” or special places that are said to have special qualities
• Objects, including buildings, statues, images, objects of worship, and other objects which are said to have special powers
• Time, including special dates and times, or anything that depends on time and celestial circumstances
• The human body

None of these have any connection to Kabbalah, because Kabbalah is a science that speaks only about the Creator and His revelation in a person’s soul. It has no connection to the body, and this is why Eastern religions or teachings cannot be considered part of Kabbalah. Religious actions and attributes (including specific places or worship, rituals, special objects, and so on) completely contradict Kabbalah, because Kabbalah only engages in studying and delving deep into the human soul and man’s qualities and forces, as if our world and our bodies don’t exist at all.

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Three questions I received on dissemination:

Question: When will Baal HaSulam’s difficult language (such as the Talmud Eser Sefirot, Pticha, and the Commentary on The Book of Zohar) be brought down to the level of the modern day egoism and restated in a language that regular people can understand? Isn’t this the reason why we are running late with our correction?

My Answer: You should study all of these materials in our lesson archive. We always study the Talmud Eser Sefirot, and we are studying The Book of Zohar on this blog, with links to the full commentaries.

My entire mission is to bring Kabbalah closer to our generation and to all the people in the world. However, this is only for those who are seeking knowledge. In order to realize Kabbalah in practice, one does not need any knowledge of it (unlike the way one learns a science in our world).

It’s because one must first create an inner instrument of attainment, the Kli or soul, from “the point in the heart.” One’s correction does not depend on knowledge, but on the desire. One reveals the Upper World by making efforts to understand spirituality correctly, by revealing that it’s the property of love and bestowal to one’s neighbor, and by unifying these aspirations into one whole.

Question: How important is the form (or the quality) of the material that’s used in mass dissemination? What I mean is, how important is it to have a professional approach, a good use of language, and no foreign accent when explaining Kabbalah? I think that if a person has a point in the heart, then it won’t make any difference how the information is presented – he will be attracted to it regardless.

My Answer: The form or “wrapper” is important in the first encounter, but not later on. In fact, at later stages it works in the opposite way – the concealed is more attractive.

Question: How can I help disseminate Kabbalah in the city of Baku in Azerbaijan?

My Answer: Like in many other countries around the world: without mentioning Kabbalah or myself; by presenting it as a science that offers deep attainment of reality.

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Questions I received on the loss of desire and other disturbances:

Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah for over a year, and lately I’ve been faced with a problem. My desires for different pleasures of this world are gradually disappearing, and the only desires left are the minimal desires needed for bodily survival. Is this regression? Can I somehow develop desires for fulfillment? I feel like I am turning into an amoeba. Even though I don’t limit myself in any way, I don’t see any point in making “unnecessary movements.” Where did my egoism go? If it fell asleep, then how can I wake it back up?

My Answer: You’re discovering that it’s pointless to fulfill your egoism, and because you’ve made this revelation, you have lost the energy (Homer Delek) to aspire for material things. This happens to many people in our world, resulting in a feeling of emptiness and depression – the most widespread disease in the world. However, spirituality also disappears and ceases to attract you.

Both of these feelings are evoked in you by the Creator on purpose, in order to create a place for freedom of will, a place for you to make your own efforts above your nature. It’s because all the things that you can do on your own are actually done by the Creator. But if you reveal the emptiness of this world and become indifferent to this world, and in addition you also reveal a special emptiness of the spiritual world, and the spiritual world also ceases attracting you, then you should participate in the group and the study correctly, in order to evoke the importance of the spiritual goal – “the revelation of the Creator (love for your neighbor).”

This desire draws the Upper Light (Ohr Makif), which will bring you the perception of spirituality – the Creator, the quality of bestowal and love. So you should receive the importance of spirituality from your friends!

Question: Dear Rav, after my study visit to Bnei Baruch I really felt that my soul, for the first time, felt that it was at home. It was a power that was stronger than my body. It caused many conflicts when I tried to balance my time between the desire of my soul and doing my bodily things. Now that I am back I feel like I have no desire for anything. This happens to me after each congress and each time I have a very strong contact with Bnei Baruch. Why does this happen and how can I pass these states?

My Answer: This is natural, because we at Bnei Baruch have a very intense spiritual atmosphere, and you are being imbued by it. After returning home from your visit to us, you have to heighten your spiritual life so it will take place on the same level that you felt while being with us.

Question: I encountered many problems while doing dissemination actions. For example, I fell down, my eyes and teeth became infected, and so on. Public opinion says that the obstacles are telling me that I shouldn’t be doing this, that I have to change my outlook, and so on. But I believe differently – that I have to make efforts in order to reinforce my intention for reaching the goal. Please explain, how should I interpret the disturbances?

My Answer: If your body is physically and psychologically healthy, then you have to overcome the disturbances without paying attention to your body. However, if the disturbances need medical treatment, then you should immediately go to the doctor, while continuing your studies and dissemination.

Comment: In a previous blog post I wrote that Kabbalah is more important than family – that if a man’s wife is against Kabbalah and it’s impossible to compromise or persuade her, then it’s permissible to get a divorce for the sake of your soul. I received a few perplexed responses – “How can this be?” People don’t understand that life is meaningless if it’s not used to attain the goal that has been set before every person. The sky, the earth, and every one of us were created for attaining this goal, and not for creating a marriage on the animate level and becoming a slave of your partner’s egoism.

So the conclusion to be made from this is: In all life situations, your behavior should be determined only by the spiritual goal!

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Questions I received on religion and Kabbalah:

Question: Maybe things should be made easier for people who are interested in studying the wisdom of Kabbalah (both Jews and gentiles) by telling them that at the end of the correction process, there is a connection between one’s actions and spirituality. This is the wholeness of Pardes – Judaism (the actions) and Kabbalah (spirituality), and sooner or later this will become the only way of life for the entire corrected society. With all due respect, it’s a fact that you behave as an observant Jew, just like your Rav, Rabash and his Rav before him, Baal HaSulam, and everyone else since the very beginning of the holy generations.

My Answer: I will say it again: the observance of rituals with our body in this world is no more than a tradition, whereas Kabbalah speaks about the correction of the soul’s desires. No one will have to observe the mechanical commandments on purpose. Rather, people will only have to do the spiritual observance of the commandments – in their desire. This is how we will become similar to the Creator. It won’t be done mechanically, because the Creator does not have arms or legs! We have to correct the soul. Study Baal HaSulam’s articles on the body and soul. There he explains that we cannot correct the soul using the body.

Nevertheless, it is good to follow traditions, including the religious ones, in order to keep a framework for our cultural and social existence on earth. I can’t lie to people who are interested in Kabbalah just like I can’t lie to Kabbalah’s opponents.

Question: Where does Baal HaSulam say that one must become secular on the inside? Your arguments make perfect sense, yet you seem not to trust people to be able to fulfill the commandments externally and to work with the intention (Kavanah) internally in a Kabbalistic manner. Your teachers before you and all previous Kabbalists did just this, am I correct? Why then tell people to stop being religious?

My Answer: I never told anyone to stop being religious, just like I never told anyone the reverse! In “The Future Generation,” Baal HaSulam writes that in the corrected society of the future, every person can keep his religion. This shows what the true definition of religion is – it’s a culture, and no more than that. Everyone will recognize and accept it as such when the Creator will be revealed within them. People will remove from religion anything relating to the Creator, the world to come, and reward and punishment for corporeal life.

It’s because everything becomes immediately perceived in “this world,” in the present, right now, and there is no “other world,” or some world “on the other side.” There is nothing but the real, present states. “On the other side” means on the other side of egoism. Change egoism to its opposite, and you will perceive the world on the other side.

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Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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