Entries in the 'reincarnation' Category

When Ties No Longer Break

Dr. Michael LaitmanRegardless of the fact that we exist in the unified system, the connection between us is broken. A person is given a chance to feel the initial point of his connection with all others, and this sensation is life in our world.

Thereby, I receive an opportunity to renew and enhance this connection based on the principle of bestowal in order to live a spiritual life. If I fail to do so, the spiritual spark in me expires.

Further on, I am given a new desire, a new spark. In other words, I undergo a Gilgul (reincarnation or a new life cycle) and arrive at a new reality. Here, I discover a different connection with the system of Adam HaRishon, and I feel that I am living in this world anew, at one or another point on the timeline, and within a certain framework of relations between people. This is my other chance, at another level of desire and mutual connection.

If I fail to take advantage of the setting yet again, I once more will be transferred to another degree of mutual connection. In other words, I undergo a Gilgul in order to appear in another generation, another timeline, and receive one more chance to unify.

Every time, I am shown a specific level of interconnection with the others so that I can find a way to unite with them through ties of love. In the corporeal world, I am forced into a minimal degree of connection. If I obtain some degree of connection founded on love on my own, then instead of our corporeal world, I experience a much more exalted and intense form of existence: the spiritual, eternal life.

Now, instead of the chain of Reshimot (spiritual records, genes) that create in my perception a constant revolution of life and death, I myself keep restlessly renewing the connection with others and rise above the chain of “reboots.” The connection no longer breaks; life doesn’t stop with the loss of the body.

No matter how we look at it, everything lies within the unified system, where the law of correct interaction of the parts rules. This law is the Creator or love.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/29/10, “Klalut Adam”

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Why All Of Mankind?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe desire that we need to rise above is as great as the Light that created it in terms of volume, depth, breadth, energy, and might. We are not able to correct it alone. For this reason, the Creator divided it into multiple parts so that each of us would have an opportunity to correct our individual part in this immense desire. As a final result, all parts come together.

At the same time, Kabbalah relates that we were separated in order to learn to rise above our hatred (separation) and love each other so that we would learn to love the Creator in the same way. That is, the purpose of our division into individual souls is to raise in us a new, caring attitude to others, not to make our work with the will to receive easier.

Both assessments are correct. The purpose of our separation is two-fold. We must attain love for others before we attain love for the Creator, as it is written, “From love of others to love of the Creator,” and the division into multiple parts makes our work toward the correction of the ego easier.

Actually, the Creator could have created two Adams instead of one so that they would learn how get along with each other. We have heard that the “minimum quantity is two,” so two would have been enough to learn how to step outside oneself toward the other. Still, the Creator divided the collective desire into the multitude of souls of mankind according to the density or mass of the egoism so that each of us could correct his individual part of the collective ego, restrict it, rise above it, and use it in order to bestow onto others.

Therefore, our work in correcting this massive ego is divided into multiple parts relevant to the number of souls (or people) in our world. Hence, the population on earth decreases or increases to match the density of egoism in this world at any given moment.

Beside the fact that this work is divided between a great many people living today, it gradually gets completed by each of us with every return to (reincarnation in) this world. Each time, we correct our ego in small portions, day by day, during our entire lifetime and multiple incarnations.

From Mega Congress Lesson 1, 7/23/10

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What Will I Take With Me?

Dr. Michael LaitmanA question I received: Will my soul remember everything I learned in this life? Will I continue to learn Kabbalah and come to the group again in my next life?

My Answer: The only thing that a person takes with him from this life is the spiritual path that he went through; this does not vanish. After all, in regard to spirituality, we are, and continue to be in the same reality, but it is slightly hidden from us.

I am constantly situated in my soul, in spite of the fact that I don’t feel it, I continue to work with it and go through different states. All this occurs in my eternal soul. The fact that I now see physical bodies and this world around me is a “mirage” of my spiritual state.

If I work internally now, then I will begin my next reincarnation from a higher spiritual state, and I will come to a Kabbalah group faster and will be more successful in my studies. The entire previous path will remain within me in the form of spiritual genes (Reshimot); it doesn’t vanish. In the spiritual world nothing vanishes at all; things disappear only in our world because this whole world will eventually vanish. In the meantime, nothing that I have acquired through my egoistic desire remains, since the desire itself vanishes, only the external clothing remains.

Every time the soul goes through a new reincarnation, it builds an environment for itself according to its ability and the necessity to correct itself. Why do I exist in this environment and not a different one? It is because my soul requires this. No calculation is performed in regard to the bodies; they exist in connection with each other, in this world, in all of the situations that are necessary for the soul’s correction.

Meanwhile, the body is not taken into account. Actually, it doesn’t exist at all; it is a virtual illusion that presents itself to us in this form. In actuality, only the soul exists, but we are unable to feel it. And its development clearly determines what happens to the bodies.

Therefore, in the end of “Preface to The Book of ZoharBaal HaSulam writes that only the correction of the souls will help us correct our world and perceive this corporeal life as more kind. All the offenses that occur in this world are a consequence of the necessity for the soul to be corrected. At the same time, there are no actions or corrections in this world: changes are only possible through the soul.

From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/2/10, Article “Which Degree Should One Acheive?”

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When It Was Time To Depart The World

Laitman_059_02The Zohar, Chapter “VaYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 157: How much longer was I given to live in this world? I have no permission to inform you this, and a man is not informed of this. But Rabbi Shimon was in great joy on the day of his demise, and there was great joy in all the worlds because of the many secrets he had revealed then.

The death of a righteous person resembles the purification (Hizdakchut) of a Partzuf. When a person leaves his degree and transitions from one world into the other, and especially when he leaves the lowest of all degrees – this world – it is a big joy.

However, we think otherwise, and believe that we live in a wonderful world. We simply haven’t seen anything better besides this world. We have to reveal the spiritual world, as it is said, “See your world in this life.” Then we will realize where in fact we are now.

If a person completes his mission, he doesn’t have to return to this world as it happened to Rabbi Shimon who attained the final correction. From now on he stays only in the higher dimension and doesn’t reincarnate into the lowest material form. Whoever hasn’t achieved the final corrected state in a given reincarnation has to be reborn and live in this world again.

It goes without saying that Rabbi Shimon is blissful not because he finally got rid of the work and can now enjoy rest but because he brought the Torah (the Light that Reforms) to the whole world. This of course overwhelms him with joy.

Lecture on Lag BaOmer 5/1/2010

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A Glimpse Of Unknown Spiritual States

Connecting Through the Worlds A question I received: How can I tell if I have the right sensations while reading The Zohar?

My Answer: It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to hold on to the text and flow with it; eventually the stream will bring you to the right place. While reading The Zohar a person goes through very difficult states, sometimes he is completely confused, and sometimes he has no idea what is happening to him.

We have to be prepared for this ahead of time, because when we acquire the next level, we erase everything that we had on the previous level. It’s like pressing the “Delete” button on the computer – everything disappears. That is how we advance to the next level.

These sensations don’t exist in our world. We still haven’t experienced transitions that are this intense, real, and serious. We only feel a sudden confusion, where we stop understanding the words and find ourselves in a fog. This will happen to every person, both those studying live and those studying over the internet. That is how our growth takes place. We no longer have to die and be reborn again, and then again and again, because we are going through these reincarnations during this life. A new reincarnation is always a new Kli – a new earth and a new sky; a new everything.

Therefore, you cannot know anything ahead of time. You should only accept the conditions that The Zohar sets for you, and if you are flowing together with this book, the stream will lead you forward and take you out of all of these difficult states. Then new sources of confusion will come, along with new epiphanies, while the old ones will be forgotten and gone. You will change so much that you won’t even remember that you used to be different.

Therefore, for the time being we should look at ourselves critically and simply keep going. The advice Kabbalists give to a person who is confused is to delve even deeper into the studies, to keep breaking through even further. That is how you will advance and break through the foggy state. You just have to make more efforts, and this will make the state shift to a different one quicker.

If, on the other hand, a person gives up and tries to leave the studies and to take a break, then he is thrown backwards. Later on he will have to take the same steps forward all over again, but under much more difficult conditions. Therefore, as soon as you feel that you are confused and in a fog, you should realize that this is a wonderful state. It’s a sign of a new level, and now all you have to do is “step on the gas”!

The Best Way To Help The World Is To Explain The Method Of Correction To Everyone

laitman_2009-03_8183Questions I received from women:

Question: If 2009 depends on us and our correction of our egoistic nature, how can we contribute to this process most effectively?

My Answer: By explaining it to everyone else.

Question: Why does a person lose faith?

My Answer: In order to obtain knowledge.

Question: What can be done in order not to lose faith?

My Answer: Obtain knowledge.

Question: Is it true that Kabbalah does not treat energy healing seriously, or does it simply prefer not to talk about this in order to avoid confusion?

My Answer: Everything that helps is beneficial.

Question: If we don’t reach correction, we return to this world. Does the same happen to vicious and evil people?

My Answer: Yes, and we are just like them.

Question: I am from Chile and I am 11 years old. I watch the children that study with you on Fridays with admiration. I wish there could be a day devoted to us, children in my country. You teach us how to grow and have a better future. What should I do so I won’t lose this desire in my heart?

My Answer: Continue to be together with us, and the rest will come!

Question: As a woman, what should I do for men in my city and country to unite into a group?

My Answer: You should disseminate the knowledge of “how to live a better life.”

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Why Do We Die?

There Are No Family Dynasties In KabbalahQuestions I received on ghosts, death and reincarnation:

Question: Why must correction happen over numerous lifetimes instead of in one extended lifetime? Is there a spiritual necessity for corporeal death? Would people avoid correction if it meant an extended corporeal existence, thus granting egoism the victory?

My Answer: The body goes through renewal because its inner qualities are renewed. These qualities cannot go through the change while in the same body, since a particular body is always the most suitable for realizing a particular set of qualities.

Question: Will the soul of a deceased person return to this world regardless of whether this person studied Kabbalah?

My Answer: If the person didn’t study Kabbalah, he will definitely return to this world in order to correct his soul with the help of studying Kabbalah. It is only after the soul’s complete correction that a person doesn’t return to this world, which is the worst of all worlds. For more on this, see the “Introduction to the Book ‘From the Mouth of a Sage.'”

Question: When there’s a physical death, the Light departs from the will to receive, and if that person hasn’t developed a soul, then he has no soul to live in the spiritual world. Consequently, the will to receive is once again clothed into another corporeal body – this is called reincarnation. But what are ghosts: creatures that don’t have a corporeal body but they can be photographed or captured on film?

My Answer: They are no more than physical (optical) phenomena that only seem to appear to you!

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On Life, Death And Free Choice

lifeThree questions I received on souls, death and life after death:

Question: How can I tell whether I’ll end up in hell or heaven?

My Answer: Hell is the feeling of being ashamed for your thoughts and actions. Heaven is a state of being in the qualities of bestowal and love.

After one’s body dies, one doesn’t “go” anywhere. Heaven and hell are felt right here, in this life, with respect to the Creator. They are your attitude to Him, what you feel within your soul.

However, you must first develop your soul through the study of Kabbalah. It starts as a point in the heart and then develops into the five spiritual senses, the five Sefirot of your soul or your spiritual body.

Question: If a person wants to commit suicide, is there free will in this, or does the Creator give the person such thoughts?

My Answer: All aspirations (including thoughts and desires) descend to us from the Creator; He is primary. However, everything depends on our attitude or reaction to what emerges within us. In spite of everything, we should proceed toward adhesion with Him through the path of equivalence of form.

Question: Recently someone close to me passed away. Is there a difference between the reincarnation of a person who passed away naturally and someone who was killed?

My Answer: You have no influence on the souls whatsoever, so relax and forget about them. Worry only about your own correction.

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A Person Is A Copy Of The Soul

soul1Three questions I received on souls and reincarnation:

Question: At some point you talked about how a single Soul descended into this world in different bodies throughout centuries: Abraham, Moses, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the Ari, and Baal HaSulam. As I understand, you and everyone who has crossed the Machsom (or in the process of crossing it) are in contact with this Soul. Has it completed its mission?

My Answer: No, it hasn’t. We are all parts of one soul. Its “lighter” parts have already undergone correction and are now helping all of us (this is called Zhut Avot in Hebrew). Gradually, one by one, they help us to do the same thing they did – connect to the single soul of Adam. All of humanity are parts of this single soul, the only created creature.

Question: What is a “ Kabbalistic soul”?

My Answer: It’s a soul that compels a person to attain the Creator. Actually, there are no other souls, because if a person still doesn’t have the aspiration to reveal the Creator, he still doesn’t have a soul. However, this aspiration will be revealed in the future, or perhaps in the next life cycle.

Nevertheless, even if a person doesn’t have this aspiration, listening to or reading Kabbalistic materials will accelerate the revelation of the aspiration toward the Creator and the revelation of the soul.

Question: If one is born a genetic Jew, does this mean that one always reincarnates as a Jew?

My Answer: Yes, just like anyone else. It’s because our world is an imprint of the Upper World, and a person is a copy of the soul.

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The Purpose of Life In This World Is To Attain The Upper Goal

upperTwo questions I received on the role of this world in the soul’s correction:

Question: I read that when a person dies who hasn’t developed the sixth sense (a soul), which enables him to perceive the Upper World, he returns for another incarnation. Then why do we mourn someone who dies? From the moment I began thinking this way, I don’t see any point in life. Things happen all around me but I feel that they’re not important to me.

My Answer: This is wonderful, because it means that you nearing the recognition that the entire meaning of life lies only in attaining the Upper Goal – the Creator, and that there is no other meaning to life on the earthy level! The higher meaning to the earthy life is to attain the Creator while living in this world!

Question: Is it possible to correct the soul in between two reincarnations, when the soul is not in the body?

My Answer: No. Correction can only occur while you are in this world.

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