When a person reads, hears, and participates in reading The Book of Zohar correctly, then he has to check the degree of his progress. Of course, we are unable to assess our progress precisely because we don’t understand the initial conditions we are in, what our qualities are, and what we have to attain. The beginning and the end of the path are not revealed to us.

But in any case, based on our sensations we are able to correctly define the phases of advancement and the difference between different states. It should become increasingly easier and more natural to imagine everything described in The Book of Zohar; a person should be able to see that it all takes place inside him, in his qualities. When starting to read The Book of Zohar, it has to become more and more natural for him to immediately start searching within himself for the definition of every word. He has to feel that the book evokes responses inside him to every word, every symbol, and every action.

He then starts to identify the inner system of the souls in which he exists. He starts to see that the body, which he imagines himself to exist in, as well all the space around him – the entire world, the environment, and the whole universe that now appears before him, are all part of his inner sensation. And to this partial sensation he is now adding one more new sensation that The Book of Zohar explains and reveals to him.

These two forms of perception awaken in a person and somehow interact with one another. By means of reading The Book of Zohar, the new form of perception of reality becomes more dominant and powerful than his previous perception of reality.

This is one way to check and assess how much you are advancing at every step of the way. The second way to check is to understand that the point in the heart that was initially given to you only seems to be a point now due to a lack of inspiration, impression, revelation and perception. In actuality, this point includes all the souls, all the worlds, and the entire reality that was created by the Creator.

This point expanded from above downwards in the beginning of creation, when it was created as “existence from absence”; it thus expanded through the four phases of Direct Light, the World of Infinity, and through all the worlds, down to our world. In the same way, we must now expand and broaden this point with our own strength from below upwards. Of course, we don’t have the forces to do this inherently. But when we try to expand this point on our own and when we turn to all its constituent parts – our friends, desiring to receive inspiration from them, then to the degree we are inspired, instead of seeing one point, we start to see many different points that are connected together by a net called the system of souls, or the system of worlds. The system of souls is more internal, while the system of worlds is more external.

That is how we reveal all of reality within the point in the heart that we received from Above. This point expands and we begin to reveal the entire universe in it. A person begins to see that his point in the heart includes all the friends, and later, all the people who are more distant, until it expands to include all of reality. If a person is gaining this vision, perception, and approach, it is a good sign that he is advancing as a result of reading The Book of Zohar correctly.

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With the shattering of the one soul, my desire split into two parts: Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP; and I then started perceiving one of the parts as the outside world. It works much like a photographic mechanism in that I feel those desires within me, but it seems to me that they are outside of me and I see them inverted, as if in a mirror.

The whole world is inside of me. What I see right now is the manifestation of the next record of information, a Reshimo (reminiscence) that I feel in all five parts of my desire. There is nothing else besides this.

Every moment new Reshimot awaken and cause new impressions within my desires, making me see another world. Nothing else happens other than this process.

My life and my reality are actually Reshimot that are dressed as me and manifest themselves through me. The Light impacts both me and my desires; it makes Reshimot run through my desires as if sliding along a chain, or like a movie reel spinning with the projector showing a movie.

I watch it and sense it to be my life, but do I really live it? If I turn back 20, 30, or 40 years, will I believe it was I who lived at that time? Looking back, it seems like I was watching a movie. My prior life is a movie that simply “flowed” through me. Many people would agree that there is a feeling that their life was just a dream.

It wasn’t my life; it vanished like a dream. I didn’t act on my own, and I didn’t do anything. A ray of light shined, a movie played, and I only watched it like a spectator and played my role in it like an actor. All there was to it is Reshimot, the Light, and my desire to be pleased.

Every Reshimo that runs through me divides my desire into two parts – inner and outer. Therefore, within this movie, I sensed all kinds of things outside of me, such as the trees, the sun, the moon, and people. I gave birth to children and worked. But this division of my reality into two parts was done only to create the sense that there is something outside of me; it was in order to enable me to feel that there is another force – the Creator. And in so doing, I was forced to search for Him. By connecting that outer reality to myself, I attain the Creator.

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Two questions I received on unfortunate circumstances in our world:

Question: It really does seem that even as the computer/technological age affords us the ability to be with each other across many miles, to connect with all our friends no matter where we are in the world, there is a huge lack of soul connection between us! Why is that?

Why are we feeling so much fear, needing to grab whatever power or space or whatever it is that we need at such an alarming pace? Why is there so much anger, and mistrust in the world? Why are there so many despotic leaders with power gone awry? I’m sure that influence has always existed, for there has always existed those who “have” and those who “have not.”

My Answer: It’s because we follow the principle “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die.” Egoism forces us to close our eyes to tomorrow because people see no way out of the situation.

Question: Dear Dr. Laitman, I especially liked the way you described to us the way children should be educated in the future (but really now, as it is urgent). My question is: How long will it take for the kindergarten schools up to the universities and colleges around the world to catch up to the idea? Maybe 5 years? I am worried that it will be more than 5 years.

My Answer: I hope it won’t take longer. Otherwise, things will get worse.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Will The Next Decade Bring?
Laitman.com Post: What Is Hell?
Laitman.com Post: US Schools Are Creating Worker Robots, Not Human Beings
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Correcting Egoism”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace in the World”
Know the Solution to the Crisis? (0:42)

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The Book of Zohar was concealed from people for a long time. Only a few chosen souls (Kabbalists) used it and passed it from one to another, forming a lineage.

The book was revealed to outsiders when the widow of the Kabbalist Moshe De Leon sold it along with other books belonging to her husband. That is when Kabbalists began to forbid its study and created rigid restrictions to repel people from it. In the meantime, they continued studying this book in order to correct their souls, and they also taught other disciples who had a point in their hearts. If, however, a person lacked a point in the heart and didn’t strive to reveal spirituality, then he was banned from opening this book.

Today humanity as a whole has reached a stage of development where The Book of Zohar can be opened by anyone; there is no danger in doing so. First of all, this is due to Baal HaSulam’s “Sulam” Commentary on The Zohar, and secondly, because of the current level of the souls’ development. Human egoism has become so boorish, aggressive and corporeal that if a person doesn’t have a point in the heart, he won’t be interested in The Book of Zohar.

Without a doubt, this book is the only resource capable of correcting the soul. We still don’t fully understand what a wonderful tool it is. We don’t feel even a single word of it and don’t use the Light that is supposed to reach us when we read this book. We are not yet connected to this functional system; we simply read the words without understanding their meaning.

When we understand what kind of system it is, connect to it and start using it, then The Book of Zohar will turn out to become the Malchut of the World of Infinity for us. Just like an embryo, we will enter the spiritual uterus that will become our world, and we will continue to grow by ascending from one world to another until reaching Malchut of the World of Infinity. That’s what The Book of Zohar means – it is a gradual revelation that works in this manner.

We don’t understand what a sacred book it is. It is truly a device for revealing the Upper Light!

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A question I received: The Zohar evokes very powerful inner experiences, revealing the whole picture to me. But the moment I try to think about the unification of all souls, everything suddenly disappears and I am no longer able to keep my attention on the text. What should I do?

My Answer: Imagine that on your way to the Creator you’re passing through a filter or mechanism called the assembly of all souls, Malchut of the World of Atzilut. Otherwise you will not be able to unite with the Creator, with Zeir Anpin. You can only do it by passing through this system of souls, and that means absolutely all the souls that were created and then broken, and that now exist in Malchut of the World of Infinity in their uncorrected form.

If you want to reach Zeir Anpin, the Creator, you have to pass through this filter, this entire mechanism called the assembly of the souls of Israel, which is a union of all those who “aspire directly to the Creator.” In addition, you have to desire to unite them; you have to want to be that very Malchut of the World of Atzilut that unites with Zeir Anpin.

You do not exist unless you can connect all the souls within you, unless you can envision how the whole world is inside of you and how you take all of it to the Creator in order to bring all the souls into adhesion with Him. This is the picture you must see within yourself.

You do not exist in Malchut unless you want to unite with the other souls. Malchut is not your desire for fulfillment, but the desire to unite with the other souls, which you currently feel as distant from you and separated. However, the more you feel these souls in spite of everything and the more you want to unite with them, the more real becomes your existence in Malchut.

Malchut of the world of Atzilut is the result of your efforts to unite with the other souls; it is your joint desire together with everyone. When receiving the Torah, all the people had to unite as “one man with one heart” in order to unite with the Creator. That shared, central point for us all, the point wherein we unite with the Creator, is called Malchut of the World of Atzilut. Otherwise you are nowhere to be found in this picture.

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I don’t exist by myself; I only exist if I funnel myself through a mechanism called the unity of all the souls. That is why I want to open myself up through The Book of Zohar, since its force comes in order to implement this connection between all my parts, which now seem alien to me.

This is exactly what The Book of Zohar is intended for; otherwise I won’t be under its ray of Light. This ray is very thin, like the beam of a laser, and if I veer even one millimeter away from it, I will no longer see it. I have to be exactly in this ray in order for it to influence me.

Kabbalists explain this condition to us, saying that if we connect to all the souls in the right way, then we will place ourselves inside this ray. As soon as the unity is broken, everyone falls apart and scatters in every possible direction. This ray is the only thing capable of holding us together.

This happens on every level of the spiritual ladder – we can only climb it along this ray. As soon as we let go of one another, everything immediately falls apart and the ray of Light is unable to hold us together. This is the only force that preserves our unity. Therefore, it is for the sake of this unity that we desire to attract the Light. We need the Creator to connect us together, and that means we have to attract the Light that Reforms.

How can we feel this unity? We have to demand it while reading The Zohar; it has to give it to us. This was the reason why Kabbalists wrote this book, and we have the right to ask, “Where is the unity that’s due to us, why isn’t it affecting us?” If we all think about this together, it will become a great concern that we won’t be able to forget for a moment. And then it will work. But alone, none of us will be able to accomplish anything.

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A question I received: When I read The Book of Zohar I cannot connect to it. What should I do? We have looked forward for so long to this cherished moment when we would open The Book of Zohar, but now we feel disappointed.

My Answer: Baal HaSulam wrote that there is no better moment in a person’s life than when he senses complete disappointment in everything he has done up to this point. He sees that nothing has helped him, that there is no source of salvation, and no hope of spiritual ascent if everything continues as is.

Once he reaches this realization, he then reveals a new feeling of hope. However, he does not know who he should rely on. Eventually he realizes that only the Creator can help him, and that’s when he cries out: “Save me!” That is when he receives help.

Studying The Zohar is not like regular study where you receive knowledge immediately, by the principle, “You apply effort and receive.” In this case, another principle comes into force, “You apply effort and find.”

You probably hoped that as soon as you opened The Book of Zohar, miracles would start happening. But nothing can happen in the very beginning. My teacher Rabash gave an example of a man who bought a little gosling and wanted to turn it into a big, fat goose. So he started incessantly stuffing food down its throat. He would stuff the gosling and then immediately check whether it got fatter, which it didn’t. He kept stuffing more food into it, but the gosling still didn’t gain weight. Smart people told him: “You should wait a month or two to begin to see the difference.” The same applies to a child – the parents have to invest a lot of effort before the child can get up, walk, and become strong.

If we observe our soul we’ll see that it grows in the same way. When I want my point in the heart to grow into a soul, I have to treat it as a newborn baby within me that has just started to develop. It will take time for a soul to grow out of this point.

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Our perception of the world and sensation of life are found inside our desire since in truth, our desire is the only thing that was created. Therefore, we live and perceive everything within the self. However, there are two pictures (or formats) of our perception. We perceive one part of the picture as “us,” and the other part as the “world around us.” This perception within our desire is split in two – inner and outer, “us” and “our environment.”

Likewise, our picture of reality divides into circles that expand from inside out. These circles are comprised of the soul, the body, our immediate surroundings, and our distant surroundings. In reality, however, this whole perception exists within us, within our desire. Therefore, if we want to change the world, we have to change our desire. It’s because our perception of the world depends on our desire, and moreover, the whole world is perceived within it.

Our perception that the world exists outside of us is an illusion. The world exists entirely in our desire, but we currently don’t feel it. We relate to nature and to humanity, which are actually parts of ourselves, as something alien, and as a result of this attitude, we suffer. If only we realized the harm we cause ourselves with this imaginative view of the outside world.

It is a mistake, an optical illusion! It only appears that there are people around us whom we can disregard. We simply don’t realize that in so doing we bring miseries and problems to ourselves. Our entire lives are filled with problems and suffering only because we have this terrible and twisted perception of reality.

The science of Kabbalah teaches us how to unite our disconnected parts. Alone we are incapable of it, but we can make a request for the Light to correct our perception. Then we will see one reality, one desire, and inside it – one soul and one Light.

As we move toward this goal, we should try to aim ourselves toward unity. When reading The Book of Zohar we must continually bring ourselves back to the sensation of “the entire world is inside me.” Whatever the text may speak of, all of it is describing forces, qualities, and desires that are inside us.

All the spiritual worlds are within, while outside there is nothing. The world must not be divided into inner and outer, because it is one common soul.

By remembering this we draw upon ourselves the influence of the Light which unites together the separate parts of our perception.

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You cannot calculate how to advance to the next state. It is always incomprehensible to you and concealed in darkness and uncertainty, since all the desires there are new. In fact, everything there begins anew.

You have no way to grab onto it. It can only be revealed by the Upper Light; therefore, this revelation does not depend on you. You make efforts, but you don’t know what mechanism you are triggering to do the work. You are like a little child who plays and accidentally presses some button, turning on the whole system and eliciting great consequences.

And like a child, you should not be concerned with what the next state will be like, since this is exclusively the Creator’s prerogative. Everything moves according to His plan, and no one knows exactly how it works.

You are about to reveal a completely new level, where all the souls begin to be corrected together, according to the general structure of the common soul. It is like an embryo in which all the organs grow gradually, sometimes the liver, sometimes the lungs, and sometimes the legs. Every day one organ grows faster while another one grows slower. In much the same way, the common soul is growing now because it has begun the process of correction. No one knows how exactly it will grow and at what rate.

All we have to do is make every possible effort, focusing only on what we can do right now, instead of trying to guess what will happen tomorrow. And we shouldn’t forget that our objective today is to reveal The Book of Zohar to all of humanity.

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A question I received: Why do we have to understand every word in The Book of Zohar according to its spiritual meaning and not according to its simple corporeal meaning?

My Answer: We should never interpret the words of The Book of Zohar according to their corporeal meaning, since by so doing we will be lowering the Torah to the level of this world. We have to rise from the branches to the roots, from this world upward, to the spiritual world. And you are asking: Why don’t we take the spiritual world and lower it down to our world?

First of all, our world does not have the same laws as the spiritual world. The whole confusion in our reality comes from the fact that people imagine the spiritual world without existing in it, and then they clothe the spiritual into the material by force, as though they have the force of bestowal in their right hand, and the force of reception in the left, or some parts of their body are more sacred than others, and so on. All of this is false, and therefore, we are forbidden to connect the spiritual with what we understand, feel, and do in this world. There shouldn’t be any connection between the two.

There is nothing sacred in our world, including on the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels. There is also no sanctity in anything that human beings do in this world. The Book of Zohar is called a sacred book because it can help us to rise from this world, from egoism, to sanctity, bestowal, and love for the neighbor.

I am a point in the heart, which belongs to the spiritual world – the world of sanctity. This is the only point in me that is different from my whole nature, and by using a means called “the sacred book,” I can rise to the world of sanctity – to bestowal. However, it is not the paper with the typographical print in it that is called sacred, and the letters in the book are also not sacred. Sanctity is the connection between the Light and the vessel (Kli), which is symbolized by the letters. But there is nothing sacred in our world.

Our whole problem lies in the fact that we begin to attribute sanctity to a person or his actions. However, all of this is merely symbols. All the attributes for following the commandments – the Talit, Tefillin, the book of Torah, Aron Kodesh (the cabinet for storing the Torah scroll) – are just symbols of the interaction of the Lights and Kelim, the relationships between them, and the states of the soul. Thus, it is the states of the soul that are, in fact, sacred, because they hold the quality of bestowal.

A book of Torah standing in an “Aron Kodesh” is just a symbol of a spiritual essence called Zeir Anpin, and which affects the desire – Malchut (the commonality of all the souls) with the Light of sanctity, making it bestowing. Thus it corrects our souls and raises us. There is nothing in our world except symbols. We are all “like mortal animals.”

A person who subdivides the objects and actions of this world into those that are more sacred and less sacred, causes himself to leave the path of correction. These kinds of actions are called “Erev Rav,” because they halt one’s advancement to the spiritual world and the correction of one’s soul.

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