Spirituality takes the form you build for it out of your own desires. The only thing we receive from Above is an informational record, a Reshimo, but then we have to build the form ourselves. In addition, if we request it, we also receive from Above the strength and the intelligence to implement this.

Some people think that a ready-made world will suddenly come tumbling down on them from Above. But it’s pointless to wait for this to happen. We have to build the spiritual world through our own efforts. We have to draw this world ourselves on the background of the Light.

To the extent I make efforts, I draw the image of the Upper Level and it gradually becomes truer. I do everything in my power, such as imagining various forms. Sometimes I am better at it and sometimes worse, and sometimes I am mistaken. I create them and erase them over and over again until I achieve success.

In the process of this work, I suddenly see that the Upper Level begins to help me! It clothes into me like a hand in a glove, and works there. It helps me like a mother playing with her child, helping him to build a house out of Lego pieces. When I try to do something, and succeed, I suddenly feel that it is the Upper Level that helped me understand the proper way to do something, and that it was not the way that I thought was right.

However, all of this happens by virtue of my efforts, because I try to build something. The Upper Level elicits the beginning of my inner effort, but I am the one who has to continue it. I have to find the “sprout” and begin to work with it. This is the meaning of the verse, “I, the Creator, am the first and the last.”

The way to build the place where the Creator will be revealed is by building a connection with our friends. We thus build the “picture of the Creator” by using our own matter. Without this, He has no image. I project Him onto myself, onto my own desires, onto the part of me that I can make similar to Him.

Then, using this desire as the basis or as a screen, I begin to see a “picture” of Him. It begins to be projected onto this screen, like a photograph dipped into a developing solvent. This picture, which is shown on my screen, is called “Reflected Light.” This is how I receive two spiritual forces: the “screen” and the “Reflected Light.”

But all of this has to come from me. That is why time and a preparation period of about three to five years are required to enter the spiritual world. The time of concealment is when I make attempts to build this picture. And then, the spiritual world becomes revealed…

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Recipe For Eternal Pleasure (Advanced)
Laitman.com Post: The Game Of Life Contains The Thought Of Creation
Laitman.com Post: The Creator’s Name Means “Come And See” (Advanced)
Talk on Baal HaSulam Article: “Finding The Creator Within”
Baal HaSulam Article: “If I Am Not for Me, Who Is for Me?”

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

A question I received: What’s the connection between the revelation of a new Kli or desire, and the revelation of the Creator?

My Answer: These are the same, because the Light shines to us inside the concealment. What do I mean by that? The science of Kabbalah explains that this process is like a flirt. In our world, for example, a woman covers herself up and then gradually reveals herself to a man. It’s a game, where beauty is revealed out of concealment, and the concealment attracts.

While we are in the state of concealment, we acquire a desire for revelation. But that’s not all: the revelation that we later achieve must be concealed from our own egoism, as well. So, the Creator maintains the concealment in order to reveal Himself to you. He reveals Himself while in concealment. On the other hand, if you are ready to accept the screen that conceals the Creator from your egoism, and to build a screen yourself, concealing your ego, you thereby rise above your egoism and reveal the Creator.

At that point, there are no more screens of concealment between the two of you. Instead, you guard your ego yourself, so as to keep it hidden. You always preserve the concealment, but now you do it in your attitude to the Creator. This, however, is not a concealment of the Creator, but a concealment of your egoism. This is how you achieve fulfillment.

Our whole problem in this world is that we annul the screen and try to fulfill ourselves directly, but this fulfillment immediately neutralizes the desire. No matter how passionately a person wishes to achieve what he desired – whether food, drink, sex, or fame – as soon as he achieves this, the pleasure immediately fades. He wishes for it so much, and spends years chasing after something, but as soon as he receives it, the pleasure is gone.

Why is this!? A person saves money for a new apartment for several years, then finally buys it, and just one week later, or two weeks, or a month, he no longer has that feeling of novelty and pleasure. And that is because by buying this apartment, he nullified the screen.

The entire science of Kabbalah talks about how to reveal and receive pleasure while keeping the screen. That way we can guard the pleasure, ensuring that it will fulfill us without fading away. As a result, we achieve the feeling of eternal and perfect life.

The only reason we ever feel worthless, defective, and mortal is because we reject the screen – the partition that has to exist between the pleasure and the desire. People who work in technology know how to implement this principle. They don’t just connect two wires directly, because that would cause a short circuit to occur. Instead, they place resistance between them – a resistor, and then they can derive a beneficial product. However, when it comes to our lives, we disregard this principle, and this is why our devices work, while we, the main device, are uncorrected.

The greatest wisdom is in knowing how to keep the covering with which the Creator first concealed Himself, because then the concealment will always attract us. However, we will then need to conceal our desire, our egoism, and rise above it. That is how we will reveal the Creator. When we do so, we do not lose our Kli or desire, because we constantly get an additional desire, as well as a screen over it, and thus, the revelation of the Creator.

This is the science of revelation – the science of Kabbalah, where we really receive what we desire and we don’t lose it right away, the way we do when acquiring anything in our world. In the spiritual world, you can’t achieve a revelation of the Creator even for a second if you plan to reject the screen. You have to first prepare the screen that hides your egoism, and then you can reveal the Creator above it. You need the preliminary preparation.

This is why we have to go through the period of preparation – the first few years of studying Kabbalah. In the long run, a person has to learn how to force or convince himself, and to understand that he requires a covering. This is why it is written that “wisdom is for the modest” – meaning those who can hide their desire to receive pleasure. It is precisely by hiding his desire that a person can receive fulfillment inside that same desire, and this fulfillment will never fade.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Catch-22 Of Our Correction
Laitman.com Post: Turning Concealment Into Revelation
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Revelation and Concealment”
The Path of Kabbalah: Chapter 3.6-“The First Restriction, Screen, Partzuf”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: I don’t know if Kabbalah views Obama as the coming Messiah, but I believe that the world looking to this man as the Messiah is a major mistake. His preacher for 20 years hates whites. He is friends with Farrakhan who openly hates the Jews. I don’t know if you believe in the Anti-Christ, but Christian belief teaches that this may be the man who leads the world to destruction.

My only question is: is it possible to avoid being part of the destruction that is heading our way? I read The Book of Zohar and have developed a screen. I have a Sabbath meal with my family, I constantly try to do Mitzvahs and, being born Catholic, I follow the Catholic religion to a point. I am very fearful as to what is in store for humanity and I want to avoid it. Any suggestions?

My Answer: The way you practice religious observance is your own business. As for your fears, if you are thinking about love for people, and about how to connect their feelings similar to how they are connected by Nature, through a global, integral connection, then you have nothing to fear or to worry about.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Coming of the Messiah
Laitman.com Post: Obama Will Have to Change Along With Life
Laitman.com Post: Live Your Life as Usual, and Study Kabbalah

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

A question I received: Do the thoughts of someone who’s advancing in spirituality influence the world more than the thoughts of someone whose point in the heart hasn’t awakened yet?

My Answer: Our egoistic desires and thoughts (the heart and mind) don’t have any influence on the world, since they are entirely controlled from Above. So why is it written that all of man’s thoughts and desires affect the world? It’s because the world is influenced by the degree of one’s lack of correction, or one’s discrepancy with the Reshimo that surfaces in him. However, the world isn’t affected by one’s personal aspiration.

In other words, when one has uncorrected desires and thoughts, he influences the world with their lack of correction. However, the only conscious and direct influence we can have is through a desire that matches the Reshimo or the direction of our development. In other words, it’s possible only by realizing the Reshimo correctly.

Indeed, everything depends on the force of the screen, the quality of bestowal – only this influences the world. Thought is the most powerful force in the world. And generally speaking, the greater a force is, the more concealed from us it is. When a person rises spiritually, the power of his thoughts increases. Physical forces operate only in our dimension of time, place, and movement, whereas spiritual forces are not limited by space, time, and place. See Baal HaSulam’s article “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Evil Eye Is Our Own Egoism
Laitman.com Post: The Only Point of Freedom Is Your Reaction to the Creator

Filed under: Spirituality - 3 Comments →

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:
Laitman.com Post: What Will Happen to the World if I Die?
Laitman.com Post: The Only Books That Can Correct Egoism In Our Generation Are Baal HaSulam’s
Laitman.com Post: The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Raising a Prayer” – 1
Free online Kabbalah course

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

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.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It’s Time to Implement Baal HaSulam’s Dream – In Virtual Space!
Laitman.com Post: Now You Can Share Perceptions Through the Internet
Kabbalah Today Article: Better Than the Virtual World!?
Kabbalah Today Article: What Is “Second Life”?
Kabbalah Today Article: Are You Connected?
Kabbalah In Second Life

Filed under: Internet - No Comments →

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.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Using the Sixth Sense, One Perceives Like the Creator
Kabbalah Today Article: The One Link Google Can’t Reach
Book: “Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: Because your life has meaning”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

Two questions I received on religious observance:

Question: Weren’t the great Kabbalists such as Rav Ashlag , Moses Cordovero, and others religious? And why do you wear a Kippah (skullcap)!?

My Answer: You must distinguish between religion and a nation’s tradition or culture. When Baal HaSulam uses the word “religion,” he means only Kabbalah, which is for everyone. On the other hand, when he wants to speak about what we usually call “religion” in our world, he says “tradition” or “ethics (Musar).” See the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose.”

Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full correction of the world, when everything will be revealed to all and there will be no place for faith (because “Everyone will know Me, from the smallest to the greatest”), the traditions will still remain as people’s culture. This is why I, who already live in this future, still respect the traditions of my nation, such as its holidays and other customs. This is also why I wear a Kippah (skullcap) and observe the rituals.

After the general correction of all souls in their earthly, bodily form, the souls will unite together into a one true soul of Adam on the level of the World of Infinity. At the same time the part of the souls that gives them a feeling of this world will also be corrected, and hence the perception of matter will also disappear. We will then continue to exist only in the form of the single soul of “Adam.”

Question: Why are there spiritual actions that we need to observe on the earthly level (such as Maaser, study, dissemination, and the group), as well as actions that we don’t have to observe physically (such as laying on the Tefillin)?

My Answer: Because actions such as Maaser, study, dissemination, and the group are real, whereas the others are still irrational for now, on your level, because you don’t yet have a screen to observe them. Regarding the actions that have a consequence in our world and the Upper World, each action is realized on its level and higher. The traditions should be observed by those to whom they belong by birth. This is one’s culture. Those from the nations of the world (non-Jews) who want to advance spiritually, don’t have to observe the corporeal traditions designated to Jews.

When you will gradually acquire a screen and start working with it, this is called observance of 613 commandments (correction of your intentions over 613 desires of the soul from “for yourself” to “for the Creator”) through 613 corrections (Tariag Eitin) and 613 fulfillments (Tariag Pkudin). You will start observing them yourself, as it is written, “A person’s soul teaches him.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion’s Place In Our Lives
Laitman.com Post: Why Does a Kabbalist Wear a Skullcap?
Kabbalah Today Article: A Mitzva
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”
Shamati #77: “One Learns from One’s Soul”

Filed under: Religion - No Comments →

Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (Pticha).
Items 13-16, summary:

13. Similar to how corporeal objects are separated by space, spiritual objects are separated by a difference in qualities. Two people whose views are similar are close, whereas two people whose views are opposite are far. And even if they’re in close physical proximity, they still feel distant from one another. So spiritual objects are close or far from one another only through their qualities: A difference of qualities separates them from one another, while similarity of qualities brings them closer, leading to adhesion.

The desire was created by the Creator, and is neither good nor bad. The creature’s state isn’t determined by the desire, but for whose sake the desire is used. The Creator bestows, and therefore when the creature uses the desire “for the sake of bestowal,” it is similar and close to the Creator. On the other hand, a creature that uses the desire “for its own sake” (for the sake of reception), is opposite to the Creator and hence distant from Him.

For the sake of brevity, in Kabbalah we use the terms: “will to receive” and “will to bestow,” but both allude to the usage of the same desire:

• “For one’s own sake” is called “to receive,” and
• “For the sake of the Creator (or for a friend)” is called “to bestow.”

However, one should never forget that the desire to bestow does not exist in nature. There is only the desire to receive (to receive fulfillment, pleasure). However, if this desire is used “for the Creator’s sake,” then it is absolutely equivalent to bestowal.

14. The fourth phase, which feels that it is opposite to the Creator, stops receiving the Light. This action is called Tzimtzum Aleph (the First Restriction). As a result, the desire remains empty. It then decides that it will only receive if this will please the Giver, the Creator.

15. Thus arises a new condition of reception – to receive only for the sake of the Creator. In so doing, the creature attains equivalence of form to the Creator. For example: a person comes to his friend’s house, who offers him to stay for dinner. Naturally, the guest will refuse the food, no matter how hungry he is, because he doesn’t like feeling like a receiver who doesn’t give anything in return (as he would in a restaurant, for instance). However, the host urges and persuades him, saying that the guest will please him greatly by receiving his food. When the guest feels that this is truly so, he agrees to receive the food, because he no longer feels that he is a receiver; on the contrary, he feels that he’s pleasing the host and doing him a favor by agreeing to receive from him.

It follows that despite the guest being hungry and unable to receive on account of the shame of receiving, the host’s persuasion and the guest’s refusal gave rise to a new condition: reception turned to bestowal. This happened due to a change in the guest’s intention. The guest receives, but his intention has changed. It is precisely the force of repulsion of the food, and not the feeling of hunger which is the actual desire, that became the basis for receiving the food.

16. We see that instead of using the desire directly, it is used in an “opposite” manner: the pleasure runs into refusal – the Screen, which stands in the Light’s way to the desire. Then the Reflected Light emerges – the desire to receive for the sake of the host. And only to the extent of this intention – the Reflected Light, the Direct Light is allowed to enter the desire. This reception of the Light is called “Zivug de Hakaa” (striking interaction) – first the strike, then the interaction.

The desires to receive for the Creator’s sake are called “pure” (from egoism). The desires to receive for their own sake are called “impure” (mired in egoism). They cannot receive the Upper Light and hence they are called “spiritually dead.”

Related Material:
Download PDF version of Pticha

Filed under: Books - No Comments →

News Report (from The Economist): Figures from Morningstar, an investment-research firm, show that an American who put $100 a month for the past ten years into the average equity fund would have accumulated just $10,932 — $1,068 less than he invested. Hiding money “under the mattress” was actually a more profitable tactic.

It is hard to get individuals to defer gratification: retirement seems a long way off for someone in their 20s or 30s. So, faced with the returns from past thrift, the temptation for many will be to opt out of the system altogether. Already, the American Association of Retired People estimates that 37% of workers lack a pension plan.

My Comment: Without us noticing it, we are being taught to “live in the moment,” to consume what is necessary and not think about tomorrow. It’s like the manna in the desert: collect only as much as you need, since the rest will disappear anyway! And when we’ll get used to thinking about the necessities, our hearts and minds will be free to focus on the Upper Goal.

News Report (translated from utro.ru): The crisis of distrust is causing people all over the world to lose trust in banks. Citizens no longer feel safe keeping their savings in the bank, and prefer to invest them in real estate, gold and jewels. Some even sew their money into pillows or hide it away in safes. In Europe for example, sales of safes have increased 25% in the last two months.

My Comment: This demonstrates just how much we don’t trust anyone and what kind of future we are getting ready for.

Question: The financial crisis that we are witnessing so clearly right now is only a part of the global crisis. This raises a question: If everything in a person and in the world has to reach equivalence with the Upper Force ( the Creator), or in other words, everything must reach the quality of “bestowal,” then how will this work with money?

Money is now the material equivalent of the quality of “reception.” Will it also have to turn into an equivalent of “bestowal” for us to attain balance?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct. Money will not disappear, but will be an equivalent of one’s work. In Hebrew, money is called Kesef, and a screen is called Masach. They both originate from the same root, the word Kisuf – to cover. Masach covers the desire, changing it from “receiving” to “bestowing.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Present Crisis Is a Crisis of People’s Trust in the Egoistic System of Relationships
Laitman.com Post: People Are Trying to Close Their Eyes to the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: In Search of the “Bottom” for the Financial Markets

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →