A question I received: You said that everything depends on the person. What depends on me, and only me alone, at the Zohar Convention 2010 that starts tomorrow?

My Answer: The science of Kabbalah teaches that all of reality is inside a person, and there is nothing in reality besides a person. Everything I imagine as existing outside of me, such as the group, the Creator, and all of reality, is all actually inside of me. Everything is depicted inside me, and only seems external to me, distant, or even opposite.

Our goal is to return to the correct, true state, to reveal the true reality and the One who fills and sustains it. Within this reality we have to attain unity, in order to reveal the One who gives rise to this reality, the One who governs it.

If this is the case, then everything is inside me and everything depends on me. What is the Convention, different gatherings, groups, and all our actions? It’s a demonstration of my own forces where the Creator gives me an opportunity to unite them.

No matter who attends, it means that I have received a special opportunity to unite precisely with these forces or qualities inside me. They are close to correction, to the state in which I can correct my connection with them.

Nothing depends on them. I am the only one who controls this entire system or scheme. What happens depends only on me, and no one else. If I am not in this state of awareness, it means I am on a lower level, in which case I’m worried about things that depend not just on me, but also on others.

I start to worry about wanting them to think and desire the same way as I do, so we will find a connection between us, so from the connection or the lack thereof, or even from our repulsion from one another, we would ask for correction, like at the state beneath Mount Sinai. It is written, “Either you will unite as one man with one heart, or this will become your burial ground.”

This is exactly the state we are in now. We must only desire to unite, since on our own we are incapable of any action, good or bad. All the actions are performed from Above, as it is written, “There is not a blade of grass below that does not have an angel above striking it and ordering it to grow.”

All the changes come from Above. We must only demand correction. The most important thing is our worry about the common unity, since inside it we will reveal the quality of universal bestowal and will feel the Creator. The science of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the creatures in this world – and this really can happen to us.

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A question I received: Why was The Book of Zohar always treated with respect, and why did it unite people around itself?

My Answer: We exist in an infinite reality where we are all connected to each other. The Book of Zohar is not just a book that any person can pick up from a shelf and begin to read. It is an instrument which allows us to influence the spiritual system, as through we press buttons, and the system reacts. We activate it without even understanding what we are doing; we receive access to a very sensitive sphere.

This is not a book, but a whole system. When we read it and connect to it, we activate ourselves in relation to the system and the system in turn relates to us. We need to understand this and to realize what a great responsibility and special opportunity this is.

Let’s hope that we’ll succeed in activating this system to the extent that it depends on us as small souls that activate it, so it will influence us and reveal unity to us. This unity exists now as well, but we want The Zohar to reveal it – to lift the first, external layer of our egoism and reveal our unity on the smallest, first spiritual degree. This in itself will already be a revelation. So let’s study this book with the expectation for this to happen!

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A question I received: At the upcoming Zohar Convention 2010, if we succeed in canceling our egoistic desires with respect to the common desire, will we be able to reach the first degree and be born into the spiritual world?

My Answer: Yes, this is possible for all the participants of the Convention, even those who come there almost by chance and who have not studied with us for a few months or years. They too can merit the revelation of spirituality along with everyone else. People who wish to come out of their egoism and unite as one man with one heart around Mount Sinai (the mountain of hatred) realize that they are controlled by their egoistic nature – hatred toward others and love for themselves.

Reaching love for one another is a task as difficult as rising to the top of this high mountain of hatred. However, if they desire this, they will attain it. What do you think was so special about the people who came out of Egypt: men, women, the elderly, children, and the whole countless multitude of different tribes that joined them? The 600,000 men who received the Torah are just a fifth of the total number of people who stood around the mountain; they represent just one of five degrees: Shoresh, Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet. If we achieve unity in this one degree, the smallest desire of the zero level, and 600,000 people out of three million unite, this is sufficient.

When we receive the means called the Torah, we begin to move ahead with its help. We are able to work on our egoism and ascend through it. This is called “work in the desert,” where we will be able to raise MAN and carry out all the necessary actions. The most important thing is to go through the spiritual birth. also referred to as the “exodus from Egypt.” I believe that we are quite capable of achieving this if we so desire. We have all the conditions and opportunities that are necessary for this.

Everything is open for us from Above. I am completely serious when I say this. Those who join this action and who desire to be with us in heart and soul can merit spiritual revelation, correction, and an exit from exile.

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At the time of the Messiah (the correction of humanity), evil increases and impudence and vice will be led by the heads of the mixed multitude (Erev Rav). Then the Hidden Light will appear from the Heaven – The Book of Zohar, followed by the writings of the Holy Ari. And this learning will root out the evil in our souls. We will be rewarded with cleaving to the Upper Light, and we will be rewarded all the virtues in the world. It is for this reason that this Light appeared.

And the essence of your study will be to attain illumination and Godly liveliness in your soul. The Ari said that at that time the hidden will become revealed.
The Hall of Blessing, Deuteronomy 208

Let not the eunuch say, “For I am a dry tree, and who am I to approach the holiness within, in the books of Kabbalah?” This is because all the righteous have already agreed that today this is the counsel of the evil inclination and a lie. And although a person does not understand what he reads, still, the words of the Holy Zohar have healing power for the soul, and are approachable for every soul. Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Horovitz of Backshwitz, Upright Guidance, Item 5.

Study of The Book of Zohar brings a miraculous force. Even if a person does not understand what he studies, it is important to the Creator and loved by Him, similar to how an infant does not understand what he speaks, but the parents rejoice at hearing his voice. Hence, one cannot complain that he does not know or understand.
Pele Yoetz, Chapter, “Zohar”.

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Seventh Lesson: Perception of Reality (10:00am)

1. Central concepts from the article “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” and the book “Shamati (I Heard).”
   a. Everything is arranged and determined in relation to the souls.
   b. Everything takes place in one Adam (man).
   c. The Torah is within us – the internality of the Torah.
   d. The right way to study the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah.
2. Selected quotes from The Zohar on the topic of how we perceive reality.
3. Questions from the audience.

Eighth Lesson: Educating the New Generation (not just the young of age) (16:00)

1. Words of Kabbalists on our need to teach and promote the wisdom of Kabbalah, and to open schools for the learning of the wisdom.
2. The need for the construction of a school, where the new generation will learn how to be an Adam (man).

Ninth Lesson: The Day After the Convention (19:30pm)

1. Unity among all people in the world – “For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” “and the leopard shall lie down with the kid (young goat).”

a. Our salvation depends on the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah and in the unity among us – two concepts that seemingly contradict one another: one aims us internally, whereas the other aims us externally, yet it is up to us to connect them within ourselves.

b. There is a “hero” in quantity, and a “hero” in quality – we need both the quantity and the quality.

c. A short overview of the groups of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute and Kabbalah L’Am around the world. The correction has been left to us and to our ability to help the whole world shift from the path of suffering to the path of the Light.

2. Selected quotes from The Zohar on the spiritual path.

3. Explanation of the structure of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson and on the proper relationship to each of its parts (The Zohar, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah/The Study of the Ten Sefirot, articles of Baal HaSulam, The Zohar evening lessons).

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A question I received: If The Zohar says that everything that happens takes place only within a person, then why do we suffer in the physical world?

My Answer: What is the material world? It is also within me and I divide it into the inner and outer types of perception.

It appears to me that earthquakes happen somewhere outside of me, like in Haiti, or planes crash, or fires start. However, this is due to a flaw in my perception of reality. In fact, everything takes place within me; I just don’t feel that this is so.

It is as if I hurt my leg, but I don’t feel the pain because my leg has been anesthetized.

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A question I received: If a person doesn’t study Kabbalah but only reads The Book of Zohar, what will he get out of doing that?

My Answer: The Zohar is the central book in the wisdom of Kabbalah. For us The Book of Zohar with the “Sulam Commentary” is the most effective and powerful source for the correction of the soul.
The broken soul exists in each of us and it’s completely concealed inside. We don’t know what it is. It is, in fact, an enormous, endless desire (Kli) and it exists in every person. We have to find, reveal, and correct it. Precisely in this soul we will sense the eternal reality called “Creator.”
I identify myself with this soul when I reveal and sense it. In the end it turns out that the Creator and I become one.

However, all of this can be carried out only by the Upper Light. It is the force which acts upon us and develops within us the sensation that we exist in the spiritual system in addition to the sensation of this world.

If a person only reads The Book of Zohar with us, it’s not enough. Baal HaSulam preceded The Book of Zohar with four prefaces. It’s not an accident that he wrote them as prefaces to The Book of Zohar and not as separate works.

“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” introduces a person to the wisdom of Kabbalah. “Preface to the Book of Zohar” provides the correct approach to The Book of Zohar that will help a person to open this book. “Preface to the Sulam Commentary” describes the entire structure of the spiritual system by way of the three lines. And finally, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” talks about the general system of creation, including the three states of creation, about the research and the fundamental questions, and about the rungs of the spiritual ladder by which a soul ascends.

A person doesn’t need anything else after these prefaces and The Book of Zohar because these texts contain everything. However, there is one more very special preface, “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot.” However, when a person studies The Zohar he will see what is written in the “Study of the Ten Sefirot” and in the introduction to it. He will sense internally the same explanations which Baal HaSulam provides in other articles.

A person will feel all these conclusions and facts from The Book of Zohar, provided that his study is combined with its four introductions. Therefore, there should be a special course preceding the study of The Zohar. A person can study The Zohar together with us, but at the same time he should be taking this course. That should be enough for him.

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We often find ourselves asking, “Why do I feel so bad? I haven’t hurt anyone, so what am I doing wrong?” Like small children, we’re asking what we’ve done wrong and why we’re feeling so bad. Besides this, we seem to be getting worse without any apparent reason. We consider ourselves respectable citizens, innocent of any crime. So what’s going on? Why does evil come to us?

Everything comes from Above. There is nothing in our world that is not planned from Above, according to the calculation of the common system. The Zohar explains that new corruptions are revealed in us at every moment. If we pay attention to them through our inclusion in the common system, which is the group and the studies (at least one to two hours per day), then we’re given the strength and sensitivity to correct them.

It would be impossible for us to distinguish these states without first beginning to recognize them. Moreover, if we don’t recognize the same corruptions (Reshimot – informational genes), as well as opportunities to correct ourselves and advance spiritually, then they are transformed into evil within us. This is the reason for all the illnesses, problems, and crises in our life.

From one generation to another the uncorrected evil gradually builds up, and in our generation it has reached sufficient measures. All of this occurs because we don’t build a desire, which is a vessel (Kli) for the Lights (Ruchot) to clothe within us. Otherwise we would be able to reveal the meaning of our life and change our fate.

Without a Kli, the Lights that should have clothed within remain in the form of a “spirit” (Ruach) without a body, which means they act to our detriment. Thus, we are falling behind in perceiving these Lights within the corrected desires.

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Dan Brown, the author of the bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, is the most popular author of the 21st century. The Da Vinci Code was the bestselling hardcover adult novel of all time with 81 million copies in print worldwide.

He has recently published a new novel, The Lost Symbol. Here are a few excerpts from it:

…human intentions could affect the world … In fact, man’s oldest spiritual quest was to perceive his own entanglement, to sense his own interconnection with all things. He always wanted to become “one” with the universe … to achieve the state of “at-one-ment.”

As she [Katherine] continued reading, she suddenly gasped and recoiled. “My God, it even describes how six of the dimensions are entangled and act as one?!” She took a frightened step backward. “What is this book?!”

“Absolutely.” He motioned to the page’s illustration of ten intertwined circles called Sephiroth… Katherine didn’t know how to respond. “But… then why don’t more people study this?” Her brother smiled. “They will.”…”we have been born into wonderful times. A change is coming. Human beings are poised on the threshold of a new age when they will begin turning their eyes back to nature and to the old ways…to the ideas in books like the Zohar…”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Rising To Infinity
Laitman.com Post: Reality Is Imaginary
Laitman.com Post: Merging Together With Nature On A Wonderful Path
From Chaos to Harmony:  “Balance with Nature”
Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: “Picturing Reality”
The Zohar

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Fourth Lesson: Advancement in Three Lines (10:00am)

1. There is nothing bad in the world. Everything is necessary and fits its role. On the evil inclination as a “help against Him.” To the extent of one’s ability to adhere to the right, the force of the left reveals, for the purpose of its correction.
   a. Based on the articles of Baal HaSulam: “There Is None Else Besides Him,” “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before.”b. Every interpretation in “HaSulam (The Ladder)” amounts to work in three lines – about the shattering, and that everything is constructed so that we would be able to connect two forces – “right line” and “left line” – and create the middle line between them. However, the middle line is not only the sum or average between the two lines, but something new: a person equal to the Creator.
2. Selected quotes from The Zohar on the topic of the three lines.
3. Questions from the audience.

Fifth Lesson: Israel’s Role in the World – Being a Light of the Nations (16:00pm)

1. The lesson is based on the article “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” items 60 to 71.
2. A collection of quotes about the Israel’s role from the book Lirot Tov (To See Well).
3. Selected quotes from The Zohar on the topic of Israel’s role.
4. Questions from the audience.

Sixth Lesson: The Last Generation (21:00pm)

1. The dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the correction.
2. Quotes from great Kabbalists on the importance of disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah, and on how we are in the last generation.
3. Dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is first and foremost for us to attract the Light of correction.
4. Dissemination is a means for us to be awarded with correction and the revelation of the Creator.
5. Selected quotes from The Zohar on the topic of the generation of the Messiah.

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