Entries in the 'time' Category

The World Is the Perception Inside Our Desires

The Goal of Creation Is Perfect FulfillmentTwo questions I received on spiritual perceptions:

Question: On one hand you say that there is no connection between the soul and the corporeal body, that these are two parallel worlds. On the other hand you says that there’s no such thing as this world and that world, that everything is united, and our current reality is the lowest part of the spiritual world which is revealed in our sensations for the time being. Does this mean that the corporeal body is also the soul or spirit?

My Answer: Of course, this world is what we perceive in our smallest desire. The rest of our desires are concealed from us, and become revealed to the degree that we progress toward spirituality. What becomes revealed in them is called “the Upper World.”

At the same time, all of one’s desires remain. This is why a Kabbalist retains the sensation of our world, but this sensation is also complemented by the sensation of another world – the Upper World. And at the end of all the corrections, all the worlds “fold up” into one – the World of Infinity.

Question: While listening to your lessons I have this thought that the Upper World is concerned only with our reaction to everything that happens to us, and what it (the Upper World) sends us. Is this correct?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct, and how to correctly react to the Creator’s influence is exactly what we study. It is a process of attaining Him and achieving equivalence with Him.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is Imaginary
Laitman.com Post: Perception of the World
Laitman.com Post: How Will We Know That the Revelation of the Upper World Is Not an Illusion?

Bored? Maybe It’s Time to Change Your Environment

The Present Crisis Is A Crisis of People's Trust in the Egoistic System of RelationshipsA question I received: I recently find that there are some companies that I want to avoid, but I’m not sure whether this is the result of my Kabbalah studies or personal growth. There are some friends of mine who are mostly concerned about issues such as sex, and I feel uncomfortable in their presence when they spend so much time talking about topics I find so uninteresting. But at the same time, I can’t find many people interested in spirituality, perhaps in religion, but not in spirituality.

Is it better to be alone than surrounded by people with “wrong” values?

My Answer: A person reaches a point where he grows bored with life and does not see meaning or a purpose to life. When he looks at others, he doesn’t understand how they can possibly be fulfilled by the things they do. He tries to imitate them, to become part of their social circle, and to be like everyone else, but he can’t because it does not fulfill him.

When he reaches the complete realization that he’s alone, he then reveals the point in the heart within – an aspiration to an unknown source of fulfillment. He follows this aspiration and finds the right books, the group, and the Kabbalah website.

So look into yourself – maybe you’re ready for a new environment?

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Technique of Entering the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: The Secret of Good Communication

Israel on the Eve of an Economic Earthquake


News Report (translated from Kursor.co.il): Israel’s business newspaper “Globes” has published an interview with attorney Ilan Shavit, a specialist on economic and financial rights, called “Israel On the Eve of an Economic Earthquake.” He warns, “The current crisis is an earthquake and should not be considered transient. Clearly, it’s not over yet.”

My Comment: The problem with these specialists is that their judgment is based on previous experience, and hence they think that a bad period will be followed by a good period – that this is the dynamic of life. However, this time something new has happened: the world became collective, every person’s individuality has disappeared, and the laws of the world have changed. Hence all specialists of the past have to be reeducated and learn the law of the communications between the elements of an organism. These are precisely the laws of the Upper (altruistic) World, described in Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What’s the Right Way to Create Contracts In the Age of Globalization?
Laitman.com Post: Instead of Seeking to Change our Economic Systems, We Should Draw the Upper Light of Correction

Obama: A Chance For Hope Or Another Disappointment?

RussiaNews Report (translated from Kursor.co.il): “Obama Will Soon Disappoint His Electorate.” People are putting great hopes on Barack Obama. He isn’t just a political leader, but the hope of the entire generation, a man who will bring prosperity to all, and first of all, redemption from the financial crisis.

My Comment:
The reasons why Obama was “elected”: In recent years, the world sees the United States as an international cop and overbearing teacher. It is fighting a war in Iraq, keeping prisoners in the jails of Guantanamo without trials or charges, and its arrogance sets it against regions such as Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Moreover, it is once again starting a cold war with Russia. In other words, the United States has earned an extremely unfavorable image. They are even accused of all the disasters happening in the world.

This unattractive picture has been augmented by the current global financial crisis, for which everyone blames the United States because it is the international center of the entire global economy and finance. The worse people all over the world will feel during this developing crisis, the more hatred and blame will be put on the United States. The world opinion is that the Anglo-Saxon white Protestant America has been ruling the whole world and arrogantly setting the standards for everyone, for too many years.

In order to relieve all of these negative attitudes and to alter their unfavorable image, Americans decided to bring the African-American Obama to the post of President. This neutralizes the hatred of the United States’ black and Hispanic population, brings about greater understanding and connection between the United States and the Latin American countries, as well as Asia, Africa, and even Europe. It also removes grounds for Russia to accuse the United States, since with a black president, there are many things you can’t blame America for anymore. The operation was accomplished professionally and just in time. However, apart from diverting accusations, anger, and the international community’s negative attitude to the United States, will it bring positive results?

The Solution: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the global crisis is just starting and will keep growing. It will last until humanity brings itself to full equivalence with Nature (the Creator). Kabbalah explains how to do this.

Disappointment: Today, however, it is very unlikely that Obama’s advisers are ready to hear what Kabbalah has to say. Apparently, the world must suffer several more blows – like the Pharaoh in Egypt – in order to hear the truth. Hence all those who hope for positive changes have failed expectations ahead of them! The Creator gave this world a new leader – Obama, but he can only become that leader by starting a global reconstruction of people’s perception of the world.

The situation in the world can only be improved by studying the essence of the global world and educating all of humanity about a new attitude to the world – the world as one whole. If we create a system of global education about the global world, then the whole world will immediately feel that it is congruent to Nature (the Creator), and everyone’s hopes will come true!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Can We Avoid a Recession?
Laitman.com Post: America – Optimistic, and Why?
Laitman.com Post: Why Was America Hit First?

Questions Along the Way


Questions I received on how to work with the material and the group:

Question: When does a person who studies the science of Kabbalah go from simply “absorbing” the information (reading, listening and seeing) to actually perceiving the Upper World?

My Answer: When he becomes equivalent – in the minimal degree – to the quality of bestowal described by the text.

Question: When studying the materials by the aforementioned methods, does it make sense to try and unite with the Kabbalist’s way of thinking, rather than finding a connection with the material itself?

My Answer: That’s exactly what you should do – try to unite with the author and his intention.

Question: Can the point of the breaking be revealed only in the group? Or also with other people close to me, such as my husband for instance?

My Answer: It can only be done by trying to unite the aspirations for the Creator by drawing our joint aspirations for Him closer together.

Question: Sometimes I meet people who seem very close to me spiritually, and it’s easier for me to connect to their desires. Is this egoistic equivalence of form? Or the pattern of the reincarnation of souls?

My Answer: These are the same.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Shamati – The Most Valuable Book In the World
Laitman.com Post: We Must Only Unite Our Points In the Heart
Chapter from the Book Spiritual Search – “Equivalence of Form”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Acting Mind”

Kabbalah Compared to the Arts


Two questions I received on the arts:

Question: I know that the arts are a manifestation of the ego. But being a person who dabbles in poetry and music, I can’t help but ask: What is the spiritual root of poetry? Can I (a person who hasn’t developed a spiritual Kli nor crossed the Machsom) write poetry and songs about Kabbalah and the Creator? After all, I don’t receive the Light into my soul yet. Should I try it anyway?

My Answer: Actually, the root of the arts is power and ambition. It doesn’t matter over whom – it may even be yourself. Follow the example of the great Kabbalist King David: the Psalms he wrote are still recited today by the entire world. Do as he did!

Question: Kabbalah fights egoism. But at the same time you reject philosophy, history, and the arts. Why?

My Answer: I do not reject anything. I only want to arrange everything according to its level of importance. Since Kabbalah speaks about man’s correction, connection and union with the Creator, eternal existence, and how to replace suffering with pleasure, hence it is incomparably more important than anything else in our lives. After all, what else can compare to Kabbalah when its purpose – and its capability – is to deliver man to a happy existence in this world, and to add an eternal and perfect existence on top of that?

Related Material:

Laitman.com Post: Is There Anything Spiritual About Works of Art?
Music Inspired by Kabbalah

What’s the Right Way to Create Contracts In the Age of Globalization?

I had a conversation about the global crisis with Amir Hen, a famous Israeli attorney of economics, business and finance.

Summary: What is the right way to create contracts between people, organizations and governments if they are to take into account the global manifestations of nature: that everything is interconnected and interdependent, everyone is conditionally or specifically equal, and the planet belongs to everyone?

The transition to the conditions of the last generation cannot be forced or artificial. It is impossible for anyone to understand how to behave under these new conditions of the global interconnection of all people unless one learns this law – the law of life and sustenance of a single system of human society.

Just as a person cannot exist in our world without knowing its laws on the still, vegetative and animate levels – knowing what’s useful and what’s harmful, and how to utilize different objects and phenomena – in exactly the same way, a person cannot exist in our times without knowing the law of the “global (unified) mankind” on the “human” level, which is being revealed today.

Moreover, this law and all of its manifestations are studied only in Kabbalah. By observing this law in a greater measure (through building a greater connection between the souls), we will ascend the 125 degrees of the ladder leading to the Creator’s Palace.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Source of Happiness
Laitman.com Post: By Changing Our Intentions, We Change the Whole of Reality
Kabbalah Today Article: The Consumer Effect
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Last Generation”

Can You Be Born a Kabbalist?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestions I received on the development of spirituality in a person:

Question: How do I receive the point in the heart?

Answer: When the first spiritual Reshimo surfaces in you.

Questions: Who taught Kabbalah to the first man (Adam), since he didn’t have books?

Answer: He revealed it on his own just like Abraham. He is called “the first man” because a person who attains similarity to the Creator is called “man” – Adam, which comes from the word “similar.” He was the first man at that time; everyone else were animals.

Question: Can a newborn baby be a Kabbalist?

Answer: No. One needs to earn a Masach.

Question: Can a newborn be on any spiritual level?

Answer: Yes, if the society as a whole is.

Question: Can a baby be born above the Machsom, with full understanding of everything?

Answer: No, but he can achieve this very fast during childhood with the help of upbringing, as before the destruction of the Temple.

Question: What is it to annul oneself before others?

Answer: It’s when the desire of another person is more important to you than your own desire.

Question: Do I need to share my attention with the group rather than give all of it to my wife and kids?

Answer: Only inside of you.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: To Be Born a Kabbalist
Laitman.com Post: How Does a Kabbalist Organize His Day?
Book: Kabbalah Beginner’s Guide
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”

Can We Avoid a Recession?


News Report (translated from gazeta.ru): Americans chose Barack Obama as President hoping that he will solve all their economic problems. However, experts believe that it is too late to reverse the development of the crisis. There is nothing that governments can do about the collapse of the global financial model or to prevent the crisis from unfolding. No matter what measures they will take, consumption will continue decreasing, recession will last for a long time, and the world will witness a new wave of bankruptcies and other consequences of the crisis, but this time in the real sector of the economy. The International Monetary Fund makes pessimistic predictions, forecasting a recession of leading world economies.

My Comment: The world can only be helped by realizing the true meaning of humanity’s global state, which we have reached. We are a single organism, and as such, we should live in equality, with universal equal distribution, absolute bestowal of one’s entire profit for society’s benefit, and love for one’s neighbor. This is similar to the way an organism operates: all cells and organs operate in absolute harmony, as otherwise there would be illnesses (crises), even to the point of death (extermination).

All this must happen gradually, but it is necessary! Hence, our main objective is to provide humanity with a global education, in order to teach it the meaning of a “single organism” using examples from nature. People – especially the leaders – must realize that there is no way back to the old rules. For the first time in history, the world has become different. It must become similar to the Upper World, or in other words, people must acquire the quality of “bestowal” instead of the quality of “reception.” They must change to the exact opposite.

We have to speak about this and gradually become used to it. There is no other way to go. Otherwise another world war may break out in the world, but even after it’s over we will still have to face the same problem: to become similar to Nature or the Creator, because this is what we must attain according to the plan of creation.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Caused the Current Financial Crisis?
Laitman.com Post: Virtual Lesson On the Financial Crisis

Why Was America Hit First?

A New Year's Wish to the WorldA question I received: Please explain to me why has this crisis hit the United States? Americans are the most generous people on this planet. They give so much to charities throughout the world. They contribute to humanitarian causes. It is thanks to the United States that I was able to come from the former Soviet Union, and why the Jewish people are safe today and have their own homeland, why the old Soviet Union was destroyed and why the world prospered for a very long time.

Maybe Americans do not do this purely from altruistic tendencies as Kabbalah explains, but still their contributions and deeds should not be overlooked. Of all the countries in the world, the United States is closer to the “Love your neighbor” philosophy than any other country that I am aware of.

So why did this crisis come to them? What fault did the United States do to deserve this type of judgment?

My Answer: Because the United States is the most developed country and the most connected with all other countries and parts of the planet, they were the ones to feel the beginning of the global crisis, which will only continue to expand and will envelop everything. It will then grow into ecological, epidemic and social crises. This will go on until we begin to resolve it by cooperating globally, as one body without boundaries.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reflections on the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Virtual Lesson – “The Crisis and the Solution”
Wisdom in Action: The 3rd World Spirit Forum in Arosa
Book: From Chaos to Harmony