The Congress that is currently taking place in the UK is the first Kabbalistic Congress to take place after the revelation of humanity’s crisis. Just two months ago we held a Congress in Odessa on the Black Sea, and back then we still couldn’t speak about the future as explicitly as now, since now it is a definite requirement. We are entering the period that Kabbalah was intended for, the reason it was revealed to man, because its application can bring the world to the one and only goal, but through a completely different path – a path that is pleasant and swift, through realizing the law of Nature which states that “The global humankind must unite into one whole, according to the law of ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

This is against our nature, we hate it, it seems unrealistic, and is repulsive to us, but it is necessary because it is a law of nature. Hence, this state can be achieved either through great suffering, or by attracting the Upper Light upon us. Kabbalah is the method of attracting the Upper Light for our correction. So use this means, pass it on to others – and then all of humanity will gradually and easily shift to a different state that’s harmonious with Nature – the state of rest, confidence, and happiness.

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Preface to the Science of Kabbalah (“Pticha”). Items 3-5, summary:

3. The order of distancing, of the weakening of the desire to bestow, resulting from the development and growth of the desire to receive, from above (from bestowal, similarity to the Creator) downwards (moving away from Him) – happens along five degrees or five worlds: Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. The World of Assiya includes our world (HaOlam Hazeh). “World” – Olam comes from the word Olama – concealment, because to the degree one grows distant from similarity to the Creator, the Creator becomes concealed.

All creatures originate and have their root in the World of Infinity, in the Thought of Creation to “delight the creatures,” in their initial state.

4. The distancing of the creation from the Creator is necessary for the following reasons:

• To give creation (man) an opportunity to be independent. This is accomplished through the complete concealment of the Creator in our world.
• The gradual distancing occurs through the Light’s fulfillment and its subsequent expulsion. These contrasting states create sensations, realizations, and experience in the desire, giving it the opportunity to compare, and thus make it suitable to achieve its intended purpose.

The creation’s purpose is the following: after its forced descent into our world, it is to use its free will and awareness to compare and to choose bestowal over reception. Thus, by choosing that similarity to the Creator is the most important thing, creation must gradually ascend to Him, until reaching full equivalence and adhesion with Him.

5. The degrees, the structure of creation, and all the actions are determined by the nature of the Light and the desire.

Phase 0: Light (the Creator’s attitude to the creature) emanates from the Creator’s plan to create the creature in order to delight it by making it similar to Him (the small state is not considered complete). This phase is called zero or the root. It incorporates the future creature in the form of a point of the future desire, similar to a drop of semen or a seed.

Phase 1: The Light influences the point of desire, developing it to Its own size and then filling it. The desire feels the fulfillment, called the Light of Wisdom (Ohr Hochma). Because the desire is fully dependent on the Light, it doesn’t feel anything besides mere existence, like an embryo within a womb. This phase contains everything that the Creator had allocated for the creature.

Gradually the desire becomes aware of its distinction from the Light and wishes to become like the Light – bestowing. This new desire is defined as a new phase:

Phase 2: This is the desire to bestow to the Creator, to be like the Light. As a result of this, the desire feels a different kind of pleasure than in phase 1 – the pleasure of being similar to the Creator, the Light of Bestowal (Ohr Hassadim). However, gradually the desire realizes that it merely desires to bestow, but does not actually bestow. This realization results in the emergence of a new desire – “to receive for the sake of bestowal,” and this is already defined as phase 3.

Phase 3: The desire receives like in phase 1 (the Light of Hochma) with an intention like in phase 2, and feels that it bestows, like the Creator (the Light of Hassadim). Due to the sensation of being on the Creator’s level, a new desire develops – phase 4:

Phase 4: This is the desire to enjoy the Creator’s status or position by receiving the following from Him:

a) The pleasure of being filled with pleasure, and
b) The pleasure of being similar to Him.

Since the desire receives everything that can possibly emanate from the Creator, phase 4 constitutes a fully developed desire.

Related Material:
Download PDF version of Pticha

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A question I received: I am questioning the practical applications of “love your neighbor as yourself” and whether this should be more than being tolerant of your neighbor.

Let me explain. Since everything we see around us is a reflection of what we have inside of ourselves, then our thoughts and desires are just objects that manifest themselves “out there,” but actually they appear within ourselves.

I do not know about others, but I cannot say that I love all the thoughts and desires that arise within me. I am aware of most of them and tolerate them, but I do not really approve of all of them and I pass through them as though they are crowds of people. Is this how we should treat others? I understand the need to be aware of other people, be respectful of others and forgive them. But that does not mean I should love or approve of what others are doing, such as blowing up the Twin Towers in the United States, for example. I can forgive them for this action, but they still need to pay the price for killing thousands of innocent people.

My Answer: Correction starts with man’s recognition that anything correct and good can only come from the Upper Light. Hence the only thing he expects from studying, uniting with a group, and disseminating Kabbalah is the Light’s influence.

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Questions I received on where to find strength along the spiritual path:

Question: Rabbi Meir rode in a carriage led by a horse with bad legs and eyes. Along his journey he met a rabbi from Lisa, who had a carriage led by four horses. Rabbi Meir asked: “Why four?” To which the other replied, “So they could pull the carriage out of sludge.” Rabbi Meir then muttered, “My horse can’t pull me out of sludge, he simply goes around it.”

Can you please explain?

My Answer: A person should only take the minimum from this world in order to come out of it. It only seems that the more you take, the stronger you are, but in fact this only holds you back. A person should move forward with humility and anticipation that help will come, rather than with force.

Question: What should one do when the “heaviness of the heart” comes upon him?

My Answer: Read Baal HaSulam’s articles, sing and dance, do sports, and best of all – have a meal with friends.

Question: Can I share this feeling with others?

My Answer: No.

Question: Why not?

My Answer: There’s no need to make their hearts heavy as well!

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The book Interview with the Future is based on Baal HaSulam’s original manuscripts in our archive that talk about our times and the generations of the future. Among these materials, Baal HaSulam’s newspaper “HaUma” (The Nation) was the first Kabbalistic newspaper in the world; he published it in 1940. (However, it was immediately shut down by the British authorities because of complaints from Kabbalah’s opponents.)

These materials are necessary for understanding the global crisis that’s taking place in the world today.

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A question I received: Lately I feel that many of my actions are not performed by me. It is as though I observe my actions from outside. This realization – that certain actions are not done by me – makes me wish to obtain freedom of choice. But the only free choice I have before the Machsom is the choice of the correct environment. What are these states and how do I work with them?

My Answer: Everything you say is correct! Keep doing what you’re doing, and continue strengthening your connection with the common Kli.

The technique of the process is as follows:
1. By pressuring yourself, put yourself under the influence of the environment (see the article, “Freedom of Will”).

2. The environment will exert a direct influence on your “heart,” and you will begin feeling the importance of bestowal and connecting with others.

3. During the lesson, don’t forget what is important to you, and you will then attract the influence of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) upon you.

4. Under the Light’s influence, the quality of bestowal will be created within you.

If you constantly proceed along this chain, then after a period of time (3 – 5 years at most) you will cross the Machsom, entering the perception (attainment, revelation) of the Upper World.

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A question I received: I have a question about Anti-Semitism: Last week, the world’s leader of Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI, said that he concords with the attitudes of the World War II Pope (Pius XII), who helped the Nazis. We know that the Vatican has influence on world politics. What can we hope from the society if we aren’t welcome to them? How can we show them Kabbalah if the leaders think and act against all that is related to the Jewish people?

My Answer: Everything in our world is governed from above, as it is written: “There is not a blade of grass below that doesn’t have an angel above, who strikes it and tells it: ‘Grow!’” The angel “strikes” it because growth can only happen under the influence of suffering, which forces us to replace the current state with a different and more advanced state.

Kabbalah allows us to avert the blows by recognizing that spiritual development is necessary and to grow on our own, without waiting for the angel to strike. In so doing we will advance at our own rate, drawn forward by the good force. We will then reduce the time it takes to go through the process and make the path pleasant. This is what the Kabbalists do.

Since all the governance descends onto the world from above, we shouldn’t criticize the things taking place, because people are governed by angels. Instead, we should act in such a way that will cause better forces of governance to descend onto the world. The “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” talks about this from item 66 on.

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The Zohar provides a full classification of the different kinds of fear. It says in the “Preface to the Book of Zohar,” article “Pkudin Oraita, Pkuda Kadmaa”: There are two fears of this world and two fears of the Upper World. Only the last of these fears is noble and good. The rest appear due to uncorrected egoism, evoking imaginary images of fictitious causes of fear. However, when man uses these fears correctly for his spiritual advancement, he gains the ability to control and accelerate his path to spiritual ascension.

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A question I received: You look serious and wise, but your ideas and proposals to humanity are utopian. Are you really sure they can be implemented, or that there is even a chance of implementing a spiritual revolution of all humanity?

My Answer: Because I understand human nature, I know that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are absolutely egoistic and cannot be any different. However, because I also understand the nature of the Upper World and the Light, I am absolutely sure – and know from personal experience – that the Light which created our egoism can change it to altruism in an instant. However, It will do so only if we desire it.

We can develop this desire only by recognizing that our egoism is evil for us, by seeing how much suffering it causes us. The question is: How much suffering will it take? We can do it by studying a small crisis – such as the present one – and recognizing that our attitudes to each other are opposite to the global “village” of humanity. We can recognize this so deeply that we will start advancing to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” to equivalence with Nature or the Creator.

For example, we can institute a global education system that will teach everyone about the fact that we live in a world where everyone is interdependent. In addition, this can be explained by all the mass media and the educational institutions worldwide, from kindergartens to universities. (For more on this, see my “Lecture in Arosa.”)

Any attempts we make to this end – even the smallest first attempts – will already reverse our opposition to Nature, because through these actions we will turn to face Nature (the Creator) and come closer to It. If our overall desires will be to change, then this will happen easily, because the Creator hears none other than the request of the society.

Nature will execute its plan one way or another, and this plan is already complete and existent in the spiritual world. Still, it would be best to avoid the catastrophes, whether social, ecological, military, biological or others, which will force us to detach from egoism. There is a pleasant path to Nature’s goal (see the article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose“); this is why we were given the science of Kabbalah. At the very least, we have to do everything that’s up to us, but the spiritual revolution will happen in any case!

A Parable: A man walked along the seashore and saw a boy picking something up from the sand and throwing it into the sea. The man came closer and saw that the things the boy was picking up from the sand were starfish; he was completely surrounded by them. It seemed like there were millions of starfish on the sand; the shore was literally filled with them for many miles ahead.

“Why are you throwing these starfish in the water?” asked the man, as he approached the boy.

“If they stay on the shore until the morning tide, they will die,” answered the boy, without interrupting what he was doing.

“But this is stupid!” yelled the man, “Look around you! There are millions of starfish here, the shore is filled with them. Your efforts won’t make any difference!”

The boy picked up the next starfish, thought for a moment, then threw it into the sea and said, “No, my efforts will change a lot… for this starfish.”

Then the man also picked up a starfish and threw it into the sea. And then another one. By the time the night was over, there were many people on the shore, and each of them was picking up and throwing starfish into the sea. When the sun rose, the shore was empty – no soul was left unsaved.

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Two questions I received on spiritual partnerships:

Question: Why does a man who studies Kabbalah need a woman, and how can he “use” her the right way?

My Answer: Every person in our world has:

1) Bodily desires for food, family, and sex;
2) Social desires for wealth, power, fame, and knowledge.

The desires for family and sex are realized with a partner, either with the intention to receive pleasure egoistically, or with the intention to realize them as a commandment, or in other words, in order to attain the Creator.

The desire for spirituality is formed by the female and male parts of humanity as a whole. All men are like Adam and all women are like Eve. Therefore, one needs to see one’s partner in life as a partner on the spiritual path as well. It is possible – and good – if your partner cooperates with you in this regard.

Question: What are the best articles to read to your wife if she wants you to?

My Answer: The parts of Baal HaSulam’s and Rabash’s articles that are interesting to both of you.

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Talk: Man and Woman
Articles by Baal HaSulam
Articles by Rabash

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