Questions I received on perceiving the common soul and the Upper World:

Question: Everyone and everything is inside of me. The Creator is all around me and inside me. Once you understand that everything is inside you, you start desiring to unite with everything that “surrounds” you. So far so good. However, this means that I will be doing everything only for myself, since even a chance passerby is actually inside me. So in reality I actually want to correct everything for myself and not for others?

My Answer: A person certainly discovers that everything around him is part of him, and is incorporated in his egoism. However, this only happens when one aspires to come out of his egoism and be inside others – inside the environment. First he acquires the property of Bina, bestowal, “not for one’s own sake”; and then, once he is above this property (Tshuva mi Iraa, Hafetz Hesed), he attaches everything to himself and makes everything a part of him. Then he perceives all the souls as his own (Tshuva mi Ahava) and receives the entire Upper Light into this united Kli.

Question: How do we know that the Upper Force is the only one, and that what we will feel after the Upper Worlds are revealed is not our imagination or an illusion?

My Answer: We will know this by revealing the Upper World in our soul and comparing the two worlds. Everything in spirituality is attained inside us – just like we attain this world. We draw our conclusions only from our attainment of the Upper World. The science of Kabbalah is based exclusively on Kabbalists’ practical experience.

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News Report (translated from www.YNet.co.il): The philosophy department is being closed down! Representatives of the Department of Humanities at Tel Aviv University have announced that they are considering not opening the registration to the Department of Philosophy for the coming school year.

My Comment: We are living in a truly remarkable time! For thousands of years our lives were ruled by human speculation about the essence and meaning of life, and now we are finally reaching the correct conclusion, which coincides with the opinion of Kabbalah – that philosophy has only harmed us all along.

I understand how cruel my words may seem to those who don’t know about the opposition between Kabbalah and philosophy, but I still hope that the closing of the philosophy department at a local university will rouse some interest in you to read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy.” To me, an event such as the closing of the philosophy department is a sign from above!

Baal HaSulam. “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” (selected excerpts)

Philosophy has gone through a great deal of trouble to prove that corporeality is the offspring of spirituality and that the soul begets the body – and this is their primary mistake. The meaning of the word “spirituality” has nothing to do with philosophy. How can they discuss something that they have never seen or felt?

Philosophy loves to pride itself in understanding all about His essence. Philosophy has generally worn a mantle that is not its own, for it has pilfered definitions from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and made delicacies with its human understanding. If it had not been for that, they would never have thought of fabricating such acumen.

We will still have to regard only the tangible reality. This erring of separating the operator from the operation comes from the Figurative Philosophy, which insisted on proving that the spiritual act influences the corporeal operation.

The opinion of Kabbalah in this matter is crystal clear, excluding any mixture of philosophy. That is because it is the opinion of the sages of Kabbalah that even the separated spiritual entities, which philosophy denies having any corporeality and displays them as purely conceptual substance, although they are indeed spiritual, more sublime and abstract, consist of a body and soul just like the physical human.

Their thoughts are not our thoughts, for the way of the sages of the Kabbalah is one of finding actual proof of attainment, making its revocation through intellectual pondering impossible.

Philosophy fabricated that the different individuals are not combined materials (Kabbalah believes that everything consists of two forces, the vessel and the Light).

The old philosophy presents three opinions as obstacles before my explanation:
1. Their decision that the power of the human intellect is the eternal soul, man’s essence.
2. Their conjecture that the body is an upshot of the soul.
3. Their saying that spiritual people are simple and not complex.

Not only is it the wrong place to argue with them about their fabricated conjectures, but also their time has already passed and their authority revoked. We should also thank the experts of materialistic psychology for that, having built its plinth on the ruin of the former, winning the public’s favor. Now everyone admits to the nullity of philosophy, for it is not built on concrete foundations.

The old doctrine became a stumbling rock and a deadly thorn to the sages of Kabbalah. Where they should have subdued before the sages of Kabbalah and taken upon themselves abstinence and prudence prior to admittance to even the slightest thing in spirituality, they received what they had wanted easily from the figurative philosophy. Without payment or a price they have watered them from their fountain of wisdom to satiation, and refrained from delving in the wisdom of Kabbalah. As a consequence, the wisdom has almost been forgotten from among Israel.

For that reason we are grateful to materialistic psychology for having beaten it a deadly blow.

Therefore, there was not a salvation for Israel as at the time when the materialistic psychology appeared and struck theological philosophy on its head a lethal blow.

Now, every person who seeks the Lord must bring Kabbalah back to its throne – and restore its past glory.

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A question I received: You said that Kabbalah is a science without axioms. Yet in Shamati Baal HaSulam says that there is only Atzmuto (the Unattainable), Ein Sof and the Souls. Aren’t these the axioms upon which Kabbalah is based? Everything else can be derived from these notions.

My Answer: No, these aren’t axioms, but revelations made by Kabbalists. You simply don’t understand how one can say that Atzmuto exists if it is unattainable. But the fact is – one clearly attains its unattainability! The rest you’ll have to reveal for yourself.

There is a rule in Kabbalah: We only talk about what we attain. So when a Kabbalist says that something is “unattainable,” this denotes a particular attainment. The same applies to all Kabbalistic notions – they all come from clear attainment and scientific research. They were perceived in feelings that one can control, and are based on a Kabbalist’s comprehension of the connections by way of analysis and mental synthesis. However, this wasn’t done with the regular mind. Kabbalists develop an “unearthly” mind or brain, because one’s mind develops alongside one’s desires, in order to ensure their actualization.

If one’s desires are at the level of this world, then one’s mind can never step out of its boundaries, because it is produced by one’s desires. Hence, you must first correct yourself, and then, as a result of the change in your properties, you will become smarter and acquire a mind that isn’t corporeal, but is different, higher – a mind that can understand opposites as one whole, can comprehend that time doesn’t exist, and that motion means changing one’s properties in similarity to the Creator.

One then reveals an entirely different worldview (see the material on the perception of spiritual reality). One reveals the souls and the governing forces, as well as the cause and purpose of this world. In addition, one sees all of this together, as a single picture that is stationary yet moving toward revealing this state of rest.

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A question I received: Dear Rav Laitman, Kabbalah says that the Creator’s plan is for creation to come close to the Creator through its intention, by gradually developing while being in its animate body. When the souls (parts of the single eternal soul) attain their utmost development, they no longer have to live in our world. What will happen once all the souls go through all 125 degrees and reunite? Will they no longer need the bodies to serve as a starting point? Will the animate bodies disappear as a species? If not – if the bodies will continue being born, then what for?

My Answer: It is written that when all the souls attain the full correction, then our world will rise to the World of Infinity. This means that the perception of the World of Infinity through the five “bodily” senses will disappear, because these five “bodily” senses will also become corrected and incorporated into the true perception of the universe – the World of Infinity.

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A question I received: How does one pray in Kabbalah? I pray every night, yet I find myself asking whether this is the correct way to pray. It seems so egoistic to pray only for my own desires and requests. Does Kabbalah have “instructions” on how to pray, or a general, single prayer that a person can say? Perhaps every person should pray individually, according to how he feels, or is it better to just stop praying altogether?

My Answer: A prayer is a desire that comes from the bottom of one’s heart – the desire to become similar to the Creator, to bestow and selflessly love. This is the only desire that the Creator perceives as a prayer – the desire to be similar to Him, or to attain adhesion with Him. Hence, He doesn’t feel all the egoistic prayers people say, and the entire history of mankind shows this.

This is how the system of Atzilut (the system of the Creator’s connection with the creation or soul) is built: AVI (Aba ve Ima) feel a MAN coming from Malchut (the soul), and react to it by giving Malchut the Light of correction or the Light of fulfillment, depending on what Malchut asks for.

One cannot reach such a request, or the true prayer, alone. This can only be done through a group, by trying to unite with it into one whole, as requested by AVI, and as it was before the breaking of the soul. In addition, it can only be done through studying authentic Kabbalistic books – the original books of Baal HaSulam, because then one is influenced by a special Upper Force called the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). (See item 155 in the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”)

Precisely this Light creates the true prayer in a person, which immediately receives an answer from the Creator in that He reveals Himself to the person. This revelation of the Creator is called the evidence (Edut) of the fact that a person will never sin again, that is, that he will never act egoistically under the influence of this revelation. This is why the Upper World becomes revealed to him.

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Questions I received on death, reincarnation, the body and the soul:

Question: How can you do spiritual work with a friend who has passed away?

My Answer: In exactly the same way as you do with the souls of your other friends. Integrate that soul’s aspiration toward the Creator together with your aspiration as well as the group’s.

Question: In one of your lessons, you said: “A person’s soul is eternal because it is part of the Creator. This is why one imagines that he will live with his soul forever. However, the Creator changes one’s soul, and this is the meaning of the reincarnation of souls – it’s when the previous state dies and ‘a new person is born.’” My question is: When the souls reincarnate, does one keep the same physical body (does it happen in one physical incarnation), or does the body also change?

My Answer: Every time we change our spiritual state, we change our soul or our degree of similarity to the Creator. When a person rises to the level of being similar to the Creator, then his reincarnations happen during the life of the same body. However, if he hasn’t completed correcting his soul yet, then his body is changed for another one.

Question: When a person’s soul is replaced and he is given a new soul, where does the previous soul go? Does it incarnate in another body?

My Answer: A soul is the state that appears in the desire due to the realization of the Reshimo. The soul is a part of the entire desire – it’s the part that is similar to the Creator.

Question: When one’s soul changes, then it would seem to me that its properties shouldn’t be very different from the properties of the previous soul. Is this correct?

My Answer: The soul is stronger and larger every time.

Question: Does a person notice when his soul changes?

My Answer: A person changes his soul for a more perfect one with his own efforts.

Question: Recently I read a newspaper that talked a lot about Kabbalah, and there was an interview with you where you talked about the person’s “I.” You said that the body is only a shell for this “I,” and that a person won’t change if any of his physical organs were to be replaced – even his brain. I would like to know: What happens to this “I” after the body dies?

My Answer: If a person has expanded his “point in the heart” during the life of the body by uniting with others (by coming out of egoism and crossing the Machsom), then he has already revealed the Upper World. But if he hasn’t attained it yet, then he remains a point and reincarnates again in order to cross the Machsom.

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Questions I received on the limits of perception and the proper way to understand Baal HaSulam’s words:

Question: It is written that we can only perceive the Matter and the Form in the Matter, but not the Abstract Form and the Essence. It is also said that when we become one with the Creator, we achieve all His qualities, which means that we’ll be able to perceive as He perceives. In the book Kabbalah Revealed it is stated that we can never perceive the Abstract Form and the Essence.

I cannot agree to this, because as I wrote, when we become united with the Creator, we will have the same qualities as He has, and He is surely able to perceive the Abstract Form and the Essence! So, I can agree that we cannot perceive these states for now, but at some point or state (Gmar Tikkun) we will be able to do so! Please comment on my question.

My Answer: At the end of our correction we will definitely be able to fulfill all our questions and desires. If a question (desire) arises in us, then someday, at the end of its correction, it will receive an answer (fulfillment).

Question: Dear Rav Laitman, I am reading the “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” and in item 6, at the end, it says: “Even the souls of other creatures passing through this world (Atzilut) merge with the Creator.”

Will you please explain who the other creatures are and what do you mean by passing? I suppose it is on the way up, but I am not sure what is meant by “the other creatures.” I hope you will answer this question.

My Answer: These are Baal HaSulam’s words. He is referring to the souls – the desires of the still, vegetative, and animate levels, or all the degrees besides the fourth degree – the “speaking” level. The speaking level passes independently, and it incorporates the other levels.

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Questions I received on descents and how to deal with them:

Question: Sometimes I lose the right intention and feel like I’m straying from the spiritual path. Sometimes I feel afraid and empty in relation to this world. There are even times when I feel inspired and I make many actions, but I still feel like this is a lie and that I lack the right intention. When I have these feelings, should I try to see the Creator and what He is trying to “tell” me through them?

My Answer: You will have to collect even more impressions in order to begin feeling the Upper State. What should you do? Just continue. (Read the texts of Baal HaSulam and Rabash that talk about this). No one knows ahead of time what volume of their soul has to become fully revealed in every Reshimo and on every degree, in order for the soul to then ascend to the next degree. Therefore, the only thing we should do is “push” in one direction, “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load.” “It’s not up to you to complete the work, yet you must do it constantly and persistently, and you aren’t free to leave it,” and then the correction will come as “redemption at the hands of the Creator, instantly and unexpectedly,” according to the principle “you made efforts – and you found it.”

Question: When I am in the state of descent, should I immediately open up a book, or should I try to overcome this state on my own first?

My Answer: It is best to open up a book, go to our website, or to my blog – to read or watch something that your feelings will respond to. For beginners I recommend my fourth book – Attaining the Worlds Beyond, as well as quotes by Kabbalists.

Question: Is it possible for a person to be advancing too fast and risk falling because of it?

My Answer: Descents are useful, and they have to happen between the degrees. They won’t go by quickly or slowly depending on whether a person puts in all his efforts or not. It’s because he isn’t the one to determine this; it is determined by the nature of the degrees – the next degree becomes revealed to him as soon as he is ready to go on to it – as soon as he has prepared his Kli to perceive it. In other words, the corrected, ready Kli becomes filled with the property of bestowal, the Light, or the Creator.

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A question I received: What are angels and other spiritual creatures mentioned in the Torah?

My Answer: All Kabbalistic books mention Ofanim, Hayot, and Kruvim. It says in The Zohar (Beresheet, item 77, page 81): “Ofanim are angels of the World of Assiya, Hayot are angels of the World of Yetzira, and Kruvim are angels of the World of Beria.” They all represent a small Light (Vak de Hochma) in each world, and they depend on the human souls. For example, when a person corrects himself, then Kruvim face each other, as it says in the Torah.

There are also spiritual forces that are referred to as lion, ox, eagle, and man; they correspond to Sefirot Netzah, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. In addition, Kabbalistic books sometimes refer to different levels in the spiritual worlds by the words South (Hochma), North (Bina), East (Zeir Anpin), and West (Malchut). And there are many other terms.

All of this speaks only about the state of the Light in the Kelim (desires) according to the law of equivalence between them – to the degree that the Light and Kli share the property of bestowal, which is attained through our efforts. Instead of getting lost in all these names, I advise you to start using Kabbalistic (scientific, physical) terms, such as Sefirot, Olamot, Masachim, Partzufim, Reshimot, Orot, and etc. After all, no matter how you look at it, not one word in Kabbalah speaks about our world. All the confusion only wears a person out and takes him away from the goal.

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Questions I received on the pleasures felt by a Kabbalist and the Creator:

Question: Does a Kabbalist ever attain the state of feeling that he gives pleasure to the Creator?

My Answer: Yes.

Question: How is this feeling expressed?

My Answer: As union with the Creator and perception of Him.

Question: What are the signs that let a Kabbalist know that the Creator is really receiving pleasure from his actions?

My Answer: Mutual joy, their feelings expressed in one Kli.

Question: A Kabbalist receives pleasure from the Creator’s gifts, and by doing this he gives joy to the Creator. But how can a Kabbalist be sure that the Creator is really enjoying this?

My Answer: He knows this because they merge into one whole.

Question: Do Kabbalists feel pleasure from the small, material things in life?

My Answer: A Kabbalist still feels all the pleasures of our world. Moreover, he feels these pleasures even more than ordinary people do.

Question: The spiritual goal is the union of souls. When a person enters the spiritual world, he begins to feel the desires and thoughts of the other souls. Does he still differentiate between what’s “his” and what’s “someone else’s”, or does he lose the sensation of his individuality?

My Answer: He doesn’t lose it. Even though he feels everyone, he feels them through himself, like a cell that works for the entire body.

Question: You said that great Kabbalists have great egoism, but they know how to control it. How do they control their egoism?

My Answer: Through Light that comes from above; through the Creator, the way a child does this through an adult.

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