The newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” (Latest News) published an article about Arcadi Duchin’s new song:

The Buoth Appendix, 12.08.08, by reporter Raz Shechnik: “The Buot Appendix proudly presents: none other than Arcadi Duchin became the first artist to take the wise step of bringing the financial crisis to the recording studio. Recently Duchin wrote a song about the financial crisis. The lyrics were written by Amit Shalev, and the music – by Duchin himself.

It turns out that Duhin was not surprised by the financial crisis. He followed a forecast made by Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, which came true.

“This song expressed the current state of affairs,” stated Duchin, “But it was written a year ago based on talks with Michael Laitman, with whom I study Kabbalah. He is not a mystic. He does not engage in card readings or Voodoo, but he saw the crisis from the place where this ancient science views humanity. It turns out that he was right, back then he told us about today’s financial situation.”

So what is the song about?

“As I see it, the song explains that the whole problem of money comes from man’s egoistic nature. In other words, most people in the world suffer and only a few enjoy life. This concept is not so much communistic as spiritual. Kabbalah states that no one will be truly happy until everyone is happy.”

Lyrics of the song “One Day”

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CONNECTING TO GOODNESS
The International Academy of Kabbalah invites you
to the International Kabbalah Congress,
which will take place in Israel
on February 2 – 4, 2009

This year the Congress will be devoted to revealing a new, global world and unity that will raise the small “global village” above the flood of crises. We will then enter the spiritual world, rise toward unity with Nature, with the Upper Force.

All the information and registration for the Congress can be found on the Congress blog.

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My Comment: “Don’t take more than you need.” Our absolute egoism begets an extreme phenomenon in nature: egoism’s development leads to its own demise.

In the beginning of creation, a spark of the Upper Light gave birth to an infinitely tiny point of infinitely dense matter. However, this point contained the Upper, spiritual energy, and therefore it began to expand. The energy of this spark animates our entire world.

Today we have developed to reach the global egoism at its highest level, called “speaking” or “human.” We must now bring it to equivalence with the Upper Nature, with the spark of Light and the Upper World.

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Does money have a spiritual meaning? Why does love end up hurting us? Should we be “buddies” with our kids? How do you cope with anger? Do we have to love bad people? What will the world be like in 10,000 years? Does the soul have memory? Why did my business go bankrupt? What does the soul feel when it’s not in the body? How can we teach a child to be “a human being”?

Every Thursday at 7:30PM Israel time, our television channel airs a live broadcast of the show “Ask the Kabbalist.”

[Show slideshow]

It’s more than just questions and answers, because people aren’t asking questions out of mere curiosity, but to know more about the things they hold most dear, to understand the things that are most important to them. Every question holds within a small part of the world, and when I answer it, I must show that part its place in the context of our entire life. This way, gradually, using your own examples, you begin to see the general picture – the one great whole.

I invite everyone to ask questions at 1-700-509-209 or at www.kab.tv/eng.

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Two questions I received on Zionism and “the Mixed Multitude”:

Question: What is Zionism? What does this have to do with Kabbalah and Bnei Baruch?

My Answer: “Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to man in this world” (Baal HaSulam, article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”). Zionism is a social movement in favor of returning to Zion (Israel). The Kabbalistic definition is as follows: the Land of Israel is also called “Zion,” from the word Yetzia – “exit” in Hebrew. Any person who exits the limits of our egoistic world and enters the Upper, Altruistic World, enters “Zion.” Mi Tzion Tize Tora (the Torah will come from Zion), means that when a person exits his egoistic state, he comes to the Light.

Question: During the last two lessons, you mentioned “the Mixed Multitude.” Who is this?

My Answer: “The Mixed Multitude” (Erev Rav) are the opponents of Kabbalah who prevent people from coming out of spiritual exile and revealing the Creator. And even after a person aspires toward bestowal and love, Erev Rav prevents him from advancing by any means possible. They came in Moses’s way when he was trying to lead the people out of Egypt (the spiritual exile) toward the revelation of the Creator. They also placed all kinds of obstacles in his way during the 40-year passage through the desert.

Today they also spread all kinds of rumors. They can no longer speak against Kabbalah, because this is no longer possible, but against the people who disseminate it, including our organization. It is written that they are Irei Hashem Ovdei Paroh – those who fear the Creator, but desire to remain inside their egoism.

The Gaon of Vilna (Agra) wrote in The Light of the Zohar, 3: 28 “Adam Ve Ishto”: “In the future Moses will reveal everything to us, unlike the way it is now hidden in the Torah in the form of stories intended for Erev Rav, who do not study the inner meaning.”

Related Material:
Kabbalists Write about the Wisdom of Kabbalah
Chapter from Book The Kabbalah Experience: “Spiritual Work”
Shamati #33: “The Lots on Yom Kippurim and with Haman”
Shamati #54: “The Purpose of the Work”
Baal HaSulam Article:” A Speech in Celebration of the Conclusion of The Zohar”

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Questions I received from women on connecting spirituality with this world:

Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah with Bnei Baruch for two years, and at the same time I earned a degree in Economics. However, I don’t feel any desire to advance in the material life. My family is worried about my apathy. Is it possible to balance work in finance with spiritual growth? Also, how can I influence my family, who think that a woman has to act the way society expects her to?

My Answer: Your actions mustn’t harm your family, and everyone should feel that you are part of the family. You can study Kabbalah only if everything is normal in your regular life, and to the extent your free time allows for it.

Question: My daughter is so engrossed in Kabbalah that the rest of the world means nothing to her anymore. She puts Kabbalah before everything and doesn’t want to do anything else. She’s not interested in going to a university or working, and claims that she has the right to live however she wants to and doesn’t have to follow the social norms. I feel like we’re losing our daughter and the society is losing a citizen. She used to be a very successful student and this is the result. What should I do?

My Answer: Anyone you ask will confirm that I encourage people to get a profession, to create a family and so on, because the only way a person can correct his or her self and reach the Upper World is from a “normal” position in this world. Either your daughter doesn’t understand this or her profession isn’t practical; one that won’t allow her to make a living.

Question: Please help me understand the connection between spirituality and corporeality. On one hand, the material world is the world of effects, and on the other hand, it has nothing in common with the spiritual world. Where is the boundary that marks the end of spirituality and the beginning of corporeality, which isn’t connected to spirituality at all?

My Answer: The boundary lies in the gap between the two worlds, because they’re both felt within a person. One is felt in the intention “for the sake of oneself,” and the second – in the intention “for the sake of the Creator.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Get A Job
Laitman.com Post: Family, Children, Work and Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: Corporeality Has No Effect On Spirituality

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Questions I received on music, false spiritual teachings, and euthanasia:

Question: What’s more important in a musical composition, wisdom or spirituality?

My Answer: Spirituality.

Question: Is listening to music a waste of time?

My Answer: Not if it helps you keep an intention aimed at the goal.

Question: I once heard the following expression: The rhythm of music makes the Earth go round!

My Answer: That’s poetic and romantic…

Question: According to nature, what percentage of humanity will consciously feel the question about the meaning of life so strong that they will be able to study Kabbalah?

My Answer: There’s no specific percentage – it will be anyone with a point in the heart.

Question: What do you think of false teachings that unconsciously use elements of teachings that were effective in the past?

My Answer: Nothing.

Question: I’m asking because it is these kind of teachings that are leading in the “spiritual market.” What’s their purpose?

My Answer: For us to learn from our mistakes.

Question: How do you view euthanasia?

My Answer: Problematically.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Music to Perceive with the Soul
Laitman.com Post: What Is Death? How Can We Not Fear Death?
Kabbalah Today Article: Singing the Worlds Beyond
Talk: About Kabbalistic Music
Talk: The Birth of the Soul
Chapter from Book A Guide To The Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Kabbalistic Music”
Free online Kabbalah course
Kabbalah Music

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A question I received: Regardless of everything you’ve said about the need for a Teacher in order to attain Kabbalah, I still have a very precise feeling that it isn’t right to settle for intervention from another person, an intermediary between myself and nature. I don’t want to attain it through someone else.

My Answer: You are like a child who decided to be in charge of his own education. If the Creator reveals Himself to you like He did to several special souls such as Adam, Abraham, and Moses, then perhaps you don’t need anything else – not even Kabbalistic books. However, if you’re one of the rest of the souls, then it’s useless to search on your own, because this is how the system itself is built.

“The teacher – student relationship” isn’t something we invented. It isn’t talking about people, but about a connection between the Upper Level and the lower level. We’re only using the quality and interconnection of the system of the souls. There is no other way to have a spiritual birth.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Spiritual Teacher
Laitman.com Post: Every Person Has to Find His Own Teacher
Talks About Spirituality: In memorial of Kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Ashlag, 1995
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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A question I received: How do followers of Kabbalah explain the origin and usage of Kabbalsitic amulets and cameos with names of angels or demons, such as Lilith for protecting babies, Ashmodai for protecting a warrior, Velzevul and many others? (References: Hebrew Amulets p. 20, 51, 125; Jewish Tradition In Art p. 20). I always thought that it was harmful to have “relationships” with these creatures through their names, such as by placing their names (Lilith, for example) next to unprotected children. A name is an essence, and when a demon sees its name written he or she allegedly can’t harm the person who’s “protected.” But how correct is this assumption, and what is it based on? I think that it’s the opposite, that when a person uses these “methods,” he falls under their power.

My Answer: You have to air out your head completely. In the spiritual world there are only forces. They can be good – altruistic (the force of bestowal and love) or evil – egoistic. However, there are no images there! And there are none in our world either.

In general, there is no difference between our world and the spiritual world. Everything depends on a person and what kind of forces he discerns. Cameos, talismans, lucky charms, and other uses of names don’t have any power besides a person’s psychological belief in them. All of this was invented by ignorant people who took the names of the forces from Kabbalah. This is also how the religions originated.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Practical Kabbalah Has No Use for Red Strings
Laitman.com Post: Nature’s Commandments = the Creator’s Laws
Kabbalah Today Article: Kabbalah Explains the Bible

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A question I received: You always taught that Kabbalah is a path of individual spiritual development, but now it seems like it requires an individual to dissolve in the mass of humanity.

My Answer: I will answer with a quote from Nikolai Berdyaev’s “Philosophy of Creativity, Culture and Art” (V.1, p.115, M., 1994):

“Freedom of individualism does not create the cosmos but opposes the cosmos. Freedom of individualism is the freedom to separate and be alienated from the world, and separation from the world makes one a slave of the world. For an individualist, the world is always oppressing.

Individualism lowers a person, suppressing the global, universal human essence. The individualist is an enemy of individuality. A person is an organic member of the global cosmic hierarchy and the wealth of his internality is directly proportionate to his connection with the cosmos.”

By working to serve the entire system of souls – the only thing that was created by the Creator, a person merges with this system. It becomes his, and in fact – it becomes him. He then merges with the Creator, realizing his individuality and uniqueness.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Kabbalist Feels the Same Pleasure As the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Our “I” Is Outside of Us!
Kabbalah Today Article: Are You Connected?
Chapter from Book Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “Spiritual Development”
“Introduction to the Book of Zohar”: Item 36
Shamati #1: “There is None Else Beside Him”

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