A question I received: According to Rabash, the chosen people are those who can shift from the externality to the internality, and one’s heart will change with the help of one’s actions. At the same time, you always remind us that the external commandments are no more than external signs, which have no connection with the soul’s correction.

My Answer: When Rabash speaks of “external observance,” he does not mean the physical observance, but the intention “for one’s own sake.” And “inner observance” signifies the intention “for the Creator’s sake.”

As for the physical actions, the Creator said: “I don’t care how you slaughter cattle; the commandments were given for man’s correction.” In other words, the entire connection between actions and commandments lies in one’s intentions, and not in the actions themselves. If a person knew that his actions have no results, he would be extremely grateful to Kabbalah for giving him the correct guidance in life!

The entire opposition between religion and Kabbalah comes down to their assessment of the importance of actions and intentions: What is more important, the actions or the intentions? Indeed, Kabbalah does not deny the importance of the actions (traditions) in forming and managing social boundaries. But religion also has to accept what is written, that actions without intentions are dead and don’t correct a person. The intentions can only be changed through the correct study of Kabbalah.

One has to start by admitting that he is not perfect – therein lies the stumbling block! It’s because religion’s primary goal is to grant man a sense of pride and perfection for observing the prescriptions. He thinks that by doing this, he serves the Creator and the whole world, and everyone is indebted to him.

Kabbalah, on the other hand, shows a person just how phony and imperfect he really is. He sees this in the Creator’s Light, which descends upon him during the study. A person then feels unhappy with the results of his study, but if he is able to rise above this sensation and elevate the truth above the anguish, he progresses. And if he is unable to do this, he veers off the path.

Item 66 of the “Preface to the Book of Zohar” discusses the necessity to make the intention more important than the physical observance. The entire contradiction between religion and Kabbalah lies in their claim as to what is more important.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Does Not Have Arms or Legs
Laitman.com Post: You Have to Know How to Ask
Shamati #116: “Why Did He Say that Mitzvot Do Not Require Intention”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

Filed under: Religion - No Comments →

Without a doubt, every kind of suffering comes from the concealment of the Creator. Therefore His revelation will be the answer to the crisis.

Kabbalah states that the revelation of the Creator fills a person with pleasure and the sensation of eternity. How does the Creator become revealed to a person? Gradually, through the influence of the Upper Light that is drawn during the study of Kabbalah.

And don’t be surprised that one person can cause an ascent or a descent of the whole world, for there is a law that states: “The particular and the general are equal.”

In our times there is a need for Mutual Guarantee between all the people in the world. Hence, a global education is the biggest priority compared to all other issues.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Humanity Is One Integral, Interconnected Organism
Laitman.com Post: Instead of Seeking to Change our Economic Systems, We Should Draw the Upper Light of Correction
Laitman.com Post: Specific, Practical Measures to Combat the Crisis
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Arvut”
Free Online Kabbalah Course

Filed under: Crisis - 1 Comment →

Baal HaSulam, article “Peace in the World”:

Man feels that all the creatures in the world should be under his own government and were created for his own private use. And this is a law of Nature that cannot be breached. The only difference between people is their choices of how to use the creatures: One chooses to exploit people by attaining the lowest desires, one chooses to attain power, while the third – to attain respect. Furthermore, if it could be done without much effort, every person would agree to exploit the whole world for attaining all three together: wealth, power and respect. This law is called the “Law of Singularity,” and is felt in the heart of every person. And there is not a person who can escape it, although each and every one takes his own share in that law: the great person according to his greatness, and the small person according to his smallness.

And although the attribute of singularity contains a sublime, beautiful and gracious meaning, since this attribute extends to us directly from the Creator, who is single in the world and the root of all creations, still when the sensation of singularity sits within our narrow egoism, its action becomes ruin and destruction and the source of all the suffering that was and will be in the world. And indeed there is not a single person in the world who is free from this attribute, and all the differences between people are only in the way it is used: whether for satisfying the passions of the heart, or for power, or for honor. This is what makes people different from one another.

Filed under: Egoism - No Comments →

Three 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.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Heaven and Hell in Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Shame Brings Us Closer to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Can We Control Our Thoughts?
Laitman.com Post: Why Is Studying Kabbalah Good for You?
Chapter from Book Wondrous Wisdom: “A Point in the Heart – the Soul”
Interview: Only the Heart Needs Correction

Filed under: Spirituality - 1 Comment →

On November 25, at the Foreign Press Association Media Award in London, Prince Charles stated:

Humanity has a natural tendency to consume and if there are no limits on that tendency we can become obsessed simply with satisfying our desires. The desire grows ever more potent as we consume ever more, even though we achieve very little of the actual satisfaction we desire…

We hear so many people admitting to feeling deeply dissatisfied. This reminds me of that wise observation about Gross National Product made by Robert Kennedy forty years ago, that it “measures everything except that which makes life worthwhile.”

…many do not even realize that we have lost something very precious – what I might best describe as that intuitive sense of our interconnectedness with Nature… I consider our problems today not to be an environmental crisis per se… nor a financial crisis. They all stem from this fundamental crisis in our perception.

…the denial of our real relationship with the universal truths through a deep connection with Nature and her laws has engendered a dangerous alienation. In denying or forgetting the invisible “grammar of harmony” we create cacophony and dissonance.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Specific, Practical Measures to Combat the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam Describes the Society of the Future

Filed under: Crisis - 1 Comment →

Two questions I received on the Messiah and the revival of the dead:

Question: Would you care to comment on this statement? “The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary; he will come only on the day after his arrival; he will come, not on the last day, but on the very last day.” It is a quote from the writings of Franz Kafka.

My Answer: Kafka was a philosopher. His words once again prove it is impossible for the human mind and heart to understand nature, life and man. To do this, one needs to reveal the Creator.

Question: What is the revival of the dead and the coming of the Messiah according to Kabbalah?

You’ve said that the revival of the dead means that people will stop being egoists. Revival of the dead is described in the book of Yechezkel, and it is not the same as what you’ve said. Did you imply that during the revival of the dead the material world will unite with the spiritual world, and then people and souls will exist in one world? And if not, if everything is spiritual, then is the Messiah also spiritual rather than material?

My Answer: The Messiah isn’t a person, but a force that corrects us. After all, what can a person possibly do!? This force will correct the egoistic intentions accompanying all our desires, making them altruistic. Then we will all become equal to the Creator and attain the goal of creation – adhesion with Him.

To break it down even more: people will discover within them the force to correct their egoism. This force, which pulls them out of the egoistic perception of this world, is called the Messiah (which means “to extract, to pull out” in Hebrew). Instead of their egoism, they will acquire a perception of others, a connection with them through desires and sensations, and be one whole with them. As a result, they will acquire their souls.

The soul is a part of the Creator, the quality of love and bestowal. When all the people will do this, being that all people are interconnected, they will lose the perception of their differences – the perception of their physical bodies. Then, within their common perception, they will reveal the World of Infinity and adhesion with the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Philosophy and Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Coming of the Messiah
Kabbalah Today Article: To Be or Not to Be?
Chapter from Book The Kabbalah Experience: “The Messiah and the End of Days”
BaalHaSulam Article: “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Last Generation”

Filed under: Egoism - No Comments →

Two questions I received on “easy fixes” to the financial crisis:

Question: What you write in The Financial Crisis – an Analysis, is a new way to look at the unfolding crisis, and I appreciate the common sense attitude of the article. However, I take issue with the answer to the fourth question:

“Hence, countries will try to move away from globalization. However, this won’t help them, because then they will stop developing. Without full communication and exchange, they will cease developing and regress to feudalism!”

This country had development, communication and exchange before globalization. Globalization was a bad idea: America stopped developing. We stopped exchanging and took what the foreign recipients of our commerce gave us, and on their terms. We didn’t complain too loudly about industrial chemicals in baby food out of fear that they would stop selling us baby food and refuse our dollars. That’s not communication, it’s supplication.

My Answer: Everything taking place is governed by the law of development, so it isn’t a product of blind fate or a coincidence. We see that whenever something happens in the developed countries, the less developed countries are forced to follow suit.

We can’t change the laws of nature. We exist inside them and it’s our obligation to study and observe them. This is also to our own benefit. Nature has a goal for everything it does, which is to bring man to a special state: the highest level, called “the Creator.”

The development either takes place by means of pressure, which we perceive as suffering, or through man’s conscious understanding and cooperation with Nature. Kabbalah explains what to do to be on the second path.

Question: If the crisis is actually a crisis of people’s trust, then why can’t we stop it by advertising positive forecasts? The mass media should be forbidden from talking about bad news and instead made to tell everyone that everything is good.

My Answer: This won’t improve anything, because the illness will still keep developing until it will reach the point of being irreversible. We must first reveal the evil, and then correct it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Financial Crisis Is for Our Own Good
Laitman.com Post: Lessons from the St. Louis Congress
Laitman.com Post: We Cannot Go Around the Laws of Nature

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

Two questions I received on our connections with other souls:

Question: You say that before the destruction of the Temple, the entire nation of Israel, millions of people, all had spiritual attainment for centuries. What was their contribution to our civilization? What role did those millions of people have? After all, we only use texts produced by a handful of individuals from that nation. Did those millions leave nothing behind except for their gene pool?

My Answer: They left us their spiritual gene pool – their corrections in the common soul. Moreover, they continue taking part in the world’s correction together with us, now. It’s because the spiritual world is an entity that exists constantly, where nothing ever fades or disappears.

Question: The souls are corrected via the correction of egoistic desires and return to their source – the one Soul. Through our correction we build our Kelim, and after our physical death we retain the sensation of the spiritual world in these Kelim. How are our Kelim connected to the souls that have undergone their corrections through us?

My Answer: The soul is the quality of bestowal that a person can acquire only while being in a corporeal body in this world. All that he feels through the soul before the body’s death is what he’ll feel after. Through this quality of bestowal, a person feels connected with the other souls – with those who have undergone corrections through him, as well as those through whom he, too, had undergone corrections.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Formula of the Soul
Laitman.com Post: A Kabbalist Feels the Same Pleasure As the Creator
Laitman.com Post: The Technique of Entering the Upper World
Chapter from Book Interview with the Future: “The Spiritual Gene and the Reshimot (Reminiscence)”
Lesson on The Introduction to the Book From the Mouth of a Wise Man
Lesson on Baal HaSulam Article: “Finding the Creator Within”

Filed under: History - No Comments →

Two questions I received on women’s problems in this world:

Question: Why is it that I can’t be as cunning, shrewd, and sharp witted as some of my friends who don’t study Kabbalah? Shouldn’t I be more egoistic than they are? But instead I’m not street-smart or calculating, and I don’t adapt quickly to different situations like my friends who still don’t study Kabbalah and are incredibly witty and street-smart.

My Answer: They are cunning in the animalistic sense, whereas you are above this and hence you appear naive on their level! Don’t worry: by making spiritual calculations you are gaining more in the long run, but they are harming themselves with their cunning ways.

Question: Can women take anti-anxiety medication and sedatives if they suffer from anxiety and other symptoms brought on by stress and fatigue? Does this interfere with Kabbalah studies?

My Answer: You can take it, it won’t interfere with your studies. But eventually you will feel that you don’t need these medications anymore.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Psychiatry and Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah – The Cure for Any Affliction
Attaining the Worlds Beyond, Chapter 23: “Spiritual Work”

Filed under: Women - No Comments →

Two 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.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Soul Is the Part of One’s Desire That’s Similar to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Freedom from the Angel of Death
Kabbalah Today Article: Reincarnation
Chapter from The Open Book : “The Purpose of Reincarnation According to the Zohar”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →