A comment I received: I’ve been reading your work for a long time now, and I see many parallels with Gnosticism. I’m surprised at how you combine this with such a materialistic teaching as Judaism, and how theodicy appears in Kabbalah, since obviously the material world is extremely evil, and its Creator cannot be evil. The only possible hope can be the enemy of whoever created this material world.

My Response: In our world, the Creator manifests as opposite Himself, because instead of perceiving Him, we perceive through our egoism and thus see the negative. In order to begin perceiving spirituality the way it really is, we have to create qualities within us that are similar to it, and which won’t distort its perception.

This is precisely what Kabbalah does to everyone studying it. Kabbalah creates new, spiritual qualities in a person, after which a person, using those qualities, feels the Upper hidden realm that others don’t feel.

I simply disregard everything except Kabbalah, and don’t compare it with anything else. This allows me to avoid getting confused and to attain. I have discarded all the philosophies which I once knew or studied. I prefer to attain rather than to be smart and get lost in thought, and I advise you to do the same. It helps.

Go through Baal HaSulam’s articles – practically all of them, right down the list (ed. all the links under the heading “Kabbalah Source Materials” are Baal HaSulam’s articles, except for Talmud Eser Sefirot, which is a book).

You should first study these articles, and then, if you still feel an inclination toward doing a comparative analysis of Kabbalah and something else, you can go for it. Good luck!

Related Material:
Myths About Kabbalah
Chapter 7 from the Book The Kabbalah Experience: Beliefs, Mysticism and the Supernatural

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Two questions and answers on the issue of questions and answers

Question: What’s the point of listening to someone else ask you a question? And in general, what’s the point of questions?

My Answer: It is written that “a shy person cannot study.” One has to ask questions, but at the same time one should heed the answers and delve deeper into them, until they become absolutely clear, that is, until they enter you. When you listen to your friend, you unite with him in his desire for the goal, and this is important for uniting within the group. I mean, your desire on its own is never enough to attain the goal, for the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) to evoke a new intention “for the sake of another” in your desire. It was only for the sake of such unity with others that the worlds appeared, that the soul of Adam was created and then broken, and that this world was created so low. This was all done in order to create for the person a place for free will. Therefore, the only thing we do is realize our free will in our attempt to absorb the desires and goal of our friends in the entire world group.

In such a way, humanity will have to solve its common crisis, i.e. the revelation of mutual hatred and separation. People will discover that this mutual hatred and separation is causing a life threatening situation, to the point of the destruction of their lives. Even though their life is empty and worthless, they treat it as being very valuable since it is the only life they have, and as such, people will start listening to questions – to the desires of others – until everyone will unite in one question (as stated in item 2 of the “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot“): “What is the meaning of our lives?” They will then come to Kabbalah.

Question: You often say that spirituality is beyond time, motion and space. What do you mean?

My Answer: You need to find the answer in Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection).” You can’t get around it – you have to study. Those who are looking for an easy way out by asking questions don’t understand that only by studying Baal HaSulam’s materials (in any language) can they evoke the Upper Light of correction. Questions and answers are only intended to introduce beginners to the path. At the very least, you should go through all the posts on this blog. Perhaps, for now, this form of studying is most appropriate for you.

Related Material:
Interactive FAQ – Question Your Reality
Purchase the Book: The Kabbalah Experience – The Definitive Q&A Guide to Authentic Kabbalah

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A question I received: In one of the lessons you said that in the full correction, only souls, not bodies, are taken into account, and it could be that out of the seven billion people living in the world, only seven of them will attain the full correction! How is this supposed to mean that the Creator is good and does good, if He lets people reach total correction at the price of total annihilation! And I’m supposed to feel good and justify the death of those close to me!? Is this what you call “good and does good”!? And at the same time, you also express sadness that your teacher, Rabash, has passed away; I see how you talk about Rabash with your eyes closed, and I am in awe from how much you love him.

My Answer: There is a law by which the program of creation’s correction becomes realized (the Reshimot from the fall of the separated spiritual souls, from the descent of the worlds). When we willingly incorporate ourselves into this law, it feels absolutely comfortable, but to the degree we don’t conform to the realization of the plan of creation’s correction, we feel suffering, to the point of the destruction of bodies. It is impossible to destroy the souls, but by decreasing the number of bodies, the souls unite together (many small souls unite into a few large souls), not through our efforts, but through suffering (the destruction of bodies). The Creator desires goodness – to bring us to similarity to Him. Read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose,” which explains that our development is purposeful, and the Creator does not consider intermediate states, but only the final state! And I don’t grieve for Rabash, I’m always with him! It’s not something that happened in the past, but now, and I am grateful to the Creator for such a teacher and intermediary between me and the Creator.

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Questions I received on descents in the spiritual path

Question: “There isn’t a righteous man who hasn’t sinned.” What happens between the levels, when one is in a descent and everything one had attained – the Light and the Creator – falls into the Klipot? How can one live with this difficult feeling?

My Answer: As Baal HaSulam writes in the book Pri Hacham (Letters), one needs to be happy about a descent, because it is the revelation of your uncorrected properties.
And if the evil is being revealed in you, this means that you already have the strength, the understanding, and the ability to correct such properties and rise above them to the next degree. Therefore, there’s no reason to feel down even during the greatest descent! The greatest punishment is for you to become disconnected from the Creator in your thoughts and sensations.

Question: On the spiritual path, how can I overcome the state when I feel lack of energy? You know what your purpose in the world is, and you try to connect what’s happening to the Creator, but you still don’t have energy to do anything, you can’t cope with the corporeal world and you simply can’t do anything at all, like you’re trying to disappear and not feel anything…

My Answer: There are many states like this and they are very diverse. It’s in our power to accelerate the speed at which we go through them, but it is impossible to cancel them, and you shouldn’t ever think that they are unnecessary. They are all inside you and have to manifest, and you must justify their manifestation and rise above them. How? You should realize that everything you perceive comes from the Creator, because “there is none else besides Him.” And everything is done for your own good, because “The Creator is good and does good.” The best way to practically, correctly and quickly incorporate this within you is to participate in the group and disseminate.

Question: I have different problems, and I don’t know whether they are psychological or a consequence of studying Kabbalah. What would you advise me to do?

My Answer: If people have psychological problems (mental illnesses), then usually they aren’t allowed to study Kabbalah, or they may study under a doctor’s supervision and a special attitude from us. But if you are mentally healthy, then the only thing that can help you is to increase your studies. It’s because every ascent is preceded by a descent, and you shouldn’t miss the descent, but ascend through it, with an effort, elevating the greatness of the goal and the certainty that the Light of studying will elevate you.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Problems in the Beginning
Laitman.com Post: It’s Impossible for a Kabbalist to be Dull and Somber
Laitman.com Post: Why Does a Person Get Beaten?
Shamati Article #1: There Is None Else Beside Him
Shamati Article #50: Two States
Shamati Article #196: A Grip for the Externals
eBook: Shamati (I Heard)
Purchase the Book: Shamati (I Heard)

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The 15th issue of the Kabbalah Today publication is now available.

* View eVersion
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Editor’s Note
Shedding Spiritual Light on Modern Crises

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Mankind’s Growing Hunger
The current food crisis has been declared a ‘silent tsunami’ in recent headlines. Kabbalah explains the root of the problem, and shows us how to avert this growing threat.
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The Gatekeeper
Who is the guard standing at the entrance to the spiritual world who decides who shall enter and who shall not? A journey following Kafka, Baal Hasulam, two parables, and one gate.
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Education, Relationships, Angels and the 72 Names of God
Kabbalist Michael Laitman answers questions on his weekly live TV show, “Ask the Kabbalist” and on his personal blog – www.laitman.com
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Global Warming: So What?
With the abundant information available to the mass public today, everyone knows about global warming and climate change. But as it turns out, knowing and caring do not always go hand in hand.
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From Racial Rifts to Spiritual Harmony
Why were we all created different? So far, this seems to have brought us nothing but schisms. Kabbalah explains how to put the pieces together.
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The Story of Cogwheels
This is a story about all of us – about children and parents, about where we came from, how we got here, and how we will return Home – to a place called “The Single Soul.”
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Opening Our Eyes
All of reality is a single, unchanging thought of bestowal and giving. Kabbalists refer to this thought by the name, “The Thought of Creation.”
Read Article >>>

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A question I received: Lately there’s been a dramatic rise in domestic violence in my country. Every day women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends, and it seems that men hate women. My colleague’s daughter was murdered by a man whom she dated for just two months. This happened after she decided to break up with him. In comparison, it’s very rare for women to murder men. Why is this violence toward women happening?

My Answer: From the beginning, a man feels that a woman is inferior to him. This feeling is enrooted in him by nature. Allegorically speaking, we can understand this from the story about the downfall of sin: from the spiritual root, the woman’s correction depends on the male part of the Kli, and this is reflected in our world as our sensations and the woman’s dependence and need for help to give birth and raise her children – even though this is accredited to the husband. The only thing that can correct this relationship in our world is the realization that in order to advance toward the Creator, they have to be partners, and moreover, the woman’s help and desire have an enormous role, which makes the women necessary, valuable, and indispensable for men who desire to reveal the Light.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: More Severe Punishments Won’t Make Things Better
Laitman.com Post: Violence in Schools – On the Rise
Laitman.com Post: Comments about Depression, Seeming Egoistic to Others and Parenting
Laitman.com Post: The Spiritual Jerusalem

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A notice I received: The Disclosure Project is a nonprofit research project working to fully disclose the facts about UFOs, extraterrestrial intelligence, and classified advanced energy and propulsion systems. We have over 450 government, military, and intelligence community witnesses testifying to their direct, personal, first hand experience with UFOs, ETs, ET technology, and the cover-up that keeps this information secret.

My Comment: This is all very appealing and alluring because of its secrecy, but in our times we have more practical problems to think about. Leave these UFOs and things for the romantic youth, who don’t even exist anymore. Hmmm… so the only ones you have left are the aged romantics.

Kabbalah is the method of entering the higher dimension, where we all need to relocate. The ship that can get us there is our intention to go “away from ourselves.” The time allotted for us to relocate to the higher dimension is quickly decreasing. So instead of your project, let’s start putting my project into action!

Your project is only talking about disclosing a conspiracy that is concealing something unearthly, but which is similar to us in some way. Moreover, who knows what problems such a disclosure would bring us, and more generally speaking, whether such a revelation actually holds to it anything more than satisfying our curiosity. However, I’m offering something that will fly us all, together, away from this world! Moreover, we have all the technology we need, it’s just waiting for us to use it. So buckle up and get ready to take off!

Related Material:
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Myths About Kabbalah
Chapter 7 from the Book The Kabbalah Experience: Beliefs, Mysticism and the Supernatural

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Two questions I received about men’s and women’s desires

Question: As I understand, a man has to feel all the women’s desires as his own, and then ask for their correction. But what about a woman – does she feel only her own desire? And does she then need to transfer it to the men?

My Answer: A man should feel all the desires of the whole world as his own, and ask for their correction. A woman can feel only her own desire and aspire to transfer it to the men’s group, to those who aspire to the Mutual Guarantee (Arvut).

Question: If a woman is Malchut, the will to receive, then how can she attain the quality of bestowal?

My Answer: She does it by transferring her will to receive to the men’s part, the will to bestow, and this results in the desire “to receive for the sake of bestowal,” which is equivalent to bestowal.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Women’s Spiritual Progress
Laitman.com Post: We Are the Pioneers!
Laitman.com Post: Woman = Desire
Lesson for Women at the 2005 North American Kabbalah Congress

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A question I received: Dear Rav Laitman, could you please explain how does Kabbalah treat marriage and differences in perception between husband and wife? Kabbalah has already explained a great deal to me. Does Kabbalah treat a relationship between husband and wife as a sacred one or is it up to one`s desire to decide whether to follow the path? Thank you for helping us to understand what was considered “a secret.”

My Answer: “Sacred” is the quality of bestowal, which we acquire under the influence of the Light of Correction (Ohr Makif), when we correctly study Kabbalah (the books of Baal HaSulam). There is no other sacredness! It’s written: “There is no coercion in spirituality.” In corporeality, coercion originates from egoism. But it cannot exist in the spiritual world and in spiritual actions.

Every person has his own path and his own time to come to the Creator, and therefore you don’t have the right to force anyone to do this, including your husband and children. You can only tell them about it without pressuring them, “by the way,” gently, without threatening them, and evoking love for this topic in them. And no matter what the result, you should continue with your family life just like before.

Uniting with everyone who aspires toward the Creator will give you the strength and the desire to attain Him. You should view your relatives as bodies that are related to you, and as souls that are foreign to you.

Related Material:
Part 6, Ch. 4 from the eBook Interview with the Future: What Should One Go Through in Order to Attain Spirituality?
Shamati Article #145: What Is Will Give Wisdom Specifically to the Wise
Chapter 4.4 from the Book The Path of Kabbalah: Questions and Answers
eBook: The Path of Kabbalah – Revealing the Hidden Wisdom
Purchase the Book: The Path of Kabbalah – Revealing the Hidden Wisdom

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A question I received: I have been reading and watching different Kabbalistic materials over the course of this past year. Sometimes I’m very interested in Kabbalah, and other times I get too busy doing daily things and searching for pleasure. Over this period of time I gradually started feeling that something is happening inside of me. I became sadder and less satisfied. But some time ago, my life and my previous sensations have completed the changes they were going through. I have experienced a loss, and suddenly my heart started hurting so bad that I didn’t know where to hide from this pain. I realized that there is nothing else in this world that could satisfy me. For the first time in my life I started to desire studying Kabbalah with passion. I started watching the beginners’ course over the internet. The first lesson was like heaven to me. I don’t know why I was feeling so incredibly well while watching it. My heart still hurts every time I don’t watch lessons.

My Answer: There is one path for everybody, and nobody can choose another path. There’s an opportunity to take the path toward the goal of creation consciously, while others go against their will, and with a much slower speed. A person following the conscious path also experiences plenty of sadness and stress, but everything depends on the environment. One needs to close one’s eyes and give himself fully to the environment. Everyday there are more unhappy and devastated people in the world. Just imagine that you’re going to the same place that they are, and that the only difference is that they are walking, while you’re flying past them in parallel on an escalator. The fast changes in your mood, thoughts, and inner life happen because of the increase in your speed relative to others.

Related Material:
Chapter 6 from the Book Basic Concepts in Kabbalah: The Essence and Purpose of Kabbalah
Article: Attainment of Unity of the Universe
Article: Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences
Article: Matter and Form in the Science of Kabbalah

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