Congress Break

Due to the editor participating at the Vilnius Kabbalah World Congress the updating of the blog will be paused until the 9th of November.

A Kabbalist’s Inner States

Question: How does a Kabbalist analyze his inner states with the Creator? How does the environment of our world affect this?

Answer: It does not affect it in any way. When I come to the lesson in the morning, can you tell in what condition I am with the Creator? What I had with him before, any talk or relationship? This is a different level, a different world.

Therefore, what I feel and what I give to my students are two different steps, and one does not affect the other.

It happens sometimes that it is very difficult to teach a lesson because everything has been “taken” from you. But it is taken on your own level, and when you switch to the students and use their desires while you are at their level, then you are practically being realized in accordance to them, and they do not feel it.

In this respect, I win and it’s easier for me. I hide myself, and students cannot tell what spiritual state I am in. It is impossible.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/29/17

Does Freedom Exist in Our World?

Question: What is freedom according to the Kabbalistic understanding; does freedom exist at all?

Answer: There is no freedom in our world because an upper force governs the entire universe.

We can observe this total lack of freedom within the inanimate, vegetative, and animate parts of nature. They are constantly confined to some sort of framework; otherwise, they will perish. Animals are willing to give up their freedom and serve humans to receive food. This is why people were able to domesticate wild animals. The fact is that for the animal type of egoism, the most important thing is food. Therefore, he who gives them food, can teach them to obey.

But a person’s understanding of freedom is very twisted because on top of his basic animalistic state of dependence, he also has an inner psychological dependence on something or someone. Here, he falls under such a degree of lack of freedom that he himself cannot figure it out.

We imagine that we are free. We have a total illusion of freedom! In fact, people are absolutely not free in their actions and decisions. They do not even know who their master is, who commands them. And there is nothing you can prove to them.

If on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate level it is possible to prove the degree of lack of freedom, then on the human level we cannot control it, because we ourselves are at this level. But when we rise above the human level, it becomes clear to us what the lack of freedom is and how we experience it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/2/17

Could The Book Of Zohar Have Been Written By Ten Women?

Question: Hypothetically, could The Book of Zohar have been written by ten women?

Answer: Hypothetically, yes. However, we are organized in such a way that the aspiration for spiritual unity between people resides with the men, while the force of supporting and uniting the men resides with the women.

This is why our world is initially divided into the opposite qualities: male and female, bestowal and reception. In Kabbalah, this is studied very seriously, for it is a cornerstone of our relationships with each other.

Generally, how do two men unite with each other? One in some way is a man in relation to the other, and the other in some way is a woman toward the first one. Obviously, we are not talking about physiology or psychology, nor anything related to our worldly notions, but only spiritual qualities. Any spiritual discernment that we reveal in us consists of a male and female part.

In our world, until we enter the level of the upper world, men naturally have an advantage here. They are considered crucial and of paramount importance in Kabbalistic societies.

The women form into groups around men and start receiving the spiritual qualities through them because the men make the breakthrough in this, as they do in everything else in this world; they are always the discoverers, builders, and destroyers—and the women follow behind.

However, when the men’s breakthroughs are followed by the women’s “battalions,” the result is the creation of spiritual qualities and the development of new souls. There is an activation of the feminine qualities, which are not simply complementary, but very essential, that come out to the forefront and start working on the spiritual planes.

Question: So the fundamental demand comes from the women?

Answer: Yes, it says many times in the Torah, that you have to listen to your wife, a woman.

The Torah is written in a very interesting way; despite the fact that it seemingly talks about men, there is always a woman somewhere that privately directs them, like a wife in a family.

A man is considered the head of the family, but in reality, whatever part of the world I ever visited and anyone I ever asked: the Indians in South America or anyone else, not to mention in European countries, or the Africans, the woman is always the foundation of life, the foundation of the world. And the same holds true in Kabbalah.

However, the breakthrough happens through the masculine force, which is followed, supported, pushed, influenced, and even directed by the feminine force.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/4/17

New Life #910 – Natural Disasters

New Life #910 – Natural Disasters
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

What is the most influential factor in the situation in the natural environment?Humans have an influence on all parts of the creation. Even though we don’t see the connection between all the levels of nature, this connection exists.
From KabTV’s “New Life #910 – Natural Disasters,” 10/10/17

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

“You Grew Fat, Thick And Rotund…”

Torah, Deuteronomy 32:15 – 32:17: And Jeshurun became fat and rebelled; you grew fat, thick and rotund; [Israel] forsook the God Who made them, and spurned the [Mighty] Rock of their salvation.

They provoked His zeal with alien worship; they made Him angry with abominations deeds.

They sacrificed to demons, which have no power, deities they did not know, new things that only recently came, which your forefathers did not fear.

Question: Does a person come to a certain turning point? First, he rises to a level when he “…rides upon the high places of the earth, (and) …eats the produce of the field,” then suddenly falls again to “you grew fat, thick and rotund…”

Answer: This is necessary in order to rise to the next degree. You do everything to justify and correct the level you are on. And when it is necessary to rise to the next degree, you are given additional egoism, and everything you achieved earlier disappears to who knows where.

You again feel yourself as an absolute sinner with respect to the Creator and lament that you are constantly being set up this way. A person comes to a state when he can’t justify His actions and frequently rejects everything that he had already achieved and may even leave this path.

Plunging into new, greater, egoism associated with the next degree is a very difficult experience; the entire past is completely erased. Moreover, at the very last degree, you fall lower than ever before. And it is like that each time. That’s why very serious difficulties can arise here.

Question: It is written, “you grew fat, thick and rotund and forsook the God…” What does that mean?

Answer: You start to receive everything only for your own pleasure. After you had achieved so much good, corrected yourself, you again fall into self-gratification. That’s why new egoism has to be added to you, so that you understand the place  you fell to. And then the blows come.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/30/17

Newsmax: “Trump Can Awaken Nation By Declaring Opioids Emergency“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Trump Can Awaken Nation by Declaring Opioids Emergency“

When President Donald J. Trump declares the opioid crisis a national emergency, it should give his administration the power to divert more funds, assign more manpower, and cut some red tape. Declaring national emergency to address an addiction epidemic is an unprecedented move, as it is typically reserved for short-term emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

Yet there is much debate on whether this move will actually help in solving such a complex matter. With 91 Americans dying from opioid overdoses every day, this number has now quadrupled in less than two decades, making opioids the number one killer of Americans under 50. That’s more than guns, car accidents and cancer. If we once thought that only certain communities are affected, today it’s all over the map.

In order to address a rapidly growing addiction of such magnitude, it is not enough to equip police officers with naloxone, expand controlled medications for addicts, or open more detox centers. These could alleviate the symptoms of the crisis, but won’t treat the addiction epidemic at its root.

What’s more, trying to hold the gigantic pharmaceutical companies accountable is a battle lost from the outset; Cracking down on doctors pressures them to under-prescribe, driving users to look for heroin on the streets a lot sooner, as was clearly shown in the case of Florida; the so called “war on drugs” has been recognized as a colossal failure; and that leaves some to blame the addicts themselves, which is like beating the messenger instead of reading the message.

The message we should heed is clear as a bell: we must look into the sociological factors that drive this addiction to massive proportions. In other words, we have to ask more profound questions such as “What makes people in our society turn to opiates to begin with?” And, “What is our society not doing to prevent the making of ever increasing numbers of opioid addicts?”

The Craving for Opiates Is a Craving for Connection

First, it’s important to recognize that the vast majority of opioid abusers don’t start from taking them for genuine physical pain. Rather, in most cases, those who abuse opiates turn to them due to a different kind of pain — an emotional pain.

There are opioid receptors all over our bodies, and they are designed to balance emotions such as panic and anxiety, in addition to physical pain. When we were babies, the milk we got from our mothers was rich with opioids, and when someone gives us a hug today, our brain stem generates opioids.

Many might be surprised to learn that, likewise, social support, mutual trust, a romantic relationship, a loving family or even just a safe and positive social climate, all drive the production of opioids right within our body. Thus, the need for opiates is deeply intertwined with our inherent wiring for human connection.

With this in mind, let’s look at what’s happening today: Our society actually makes people so stressed, anxious and lonely that their naturally balanced, healthy supply of opioids just doesn’t cut it. To put it into a simple social equation: We generate a lot more alienation, uncertainty and stress than we generate safety, compassion, and camaraderie.

Therefore, masses of people turning to artificial opiates can be seen as a natural counter-balance to an off-balance society.

A Wakeup Call for American Culture

Trump stated that the entire world has a drug problem, not just America. He’s right about that. What’s interesting about the opiate crisis is that it’s as if nature is telling us exactly what we need to change within our society.

This crisis exposes the deeply interconnected nature of the social species called humanity. We are connected with each other to our core, like cells in a single organism, and we are naturally drawn to each other for a sense of support and security. Both our biological and psychological resilience depend on positive and healthy relations within our social environment. And just like cells in a body, when we lose touch with the body as a whole, we grow sick and degenerate until we die.

However, this drug crisis also joins a list of other painful symptoms, all converging to show us that we cannot escape a massive transformation of Western culture. We have to acknowledge our dire need for healthy human connections and positive social climates. And sooner or later, we will have to actively heal our broken society.

In order to do that, we need to tap into the same mechanism we currently abuse – our inherent wiring for human connection. There is a method of circle-style workshops that provide safe and positive social interaction. These should be introduced into our workplaces, schools, retirement homes, and even kindergartens. They should be on our TV screens and all around the virtual world, so that anyone, long before they turn to opiate abuse, could easily find a supportive community that generates warm human connection.

Once we begin to do that, people will discover the natural high we are wired to experience just from being positively connected to each other. This kind of high won’t just solve opiate addiction, it will take us out of the narrow prism through which we view our social reality and empower us to envision how to reshape our societies.

We live in a time where the nature of human development compels us to deepen our connection to each other and enter a new level of human experience. The longer we stall, the more frustrated we will become, and more addiction will ensue. Instead, we should open our eyes to see the great opportunity for social progress that lies at hand.
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From Antidepressants To Weed

In the News (Time): “Antidepressant prescribing has risen nearly 400% since 1988, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than 1 in 10 Americans over age 12 now takes an antidepressant, the study finds, and yet two-thirds of those with severe symptoms of depression do not take antidepressants at all.

“The new research, led by CDC epidemiologist Laura Pratt, was based on responses from about 12,000 people who took part in a national annual health survey in 2005-08. The findings were released on Wednesday as a National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief.”

Question: Over the last few decades, the use of antidepressants has skyrocketed by 400%.

It is reported that scientists have found an increased content of antidepressants in the brains of fish in the Niagara River. This means that the water purification systems do not block these substances and they enter the water supply. This once again confirms how interconnected everything is.

What do you have to say about this? How long will this go on? How will we realize once and for all that this is all one system?

Answer: Indeed, we are breathing, eating and absorbing all of this.

Question: And as a result, all the people eating that fish are taking antidepressants?

Answer: That goes not only for fish. The same goes for everything, including the air and water. Everything that we synthesize and invent using artificial means is all around us and inside us.

But that doesn’t worry me. Our problem isn’t about how to live our lives better. If there is a continuation to our lives, then it makes sense to fight for everything. But if there isn’t, then let’s provide ourselves with the best possible existence for a certain number of years, and then peacefully depart from this world.

Question: Where is this all pushing us? Where will it take us?

Answer: Antidepressants won’t help us. Right now, weed or cannabis is taking its turn and is being rapidly developed. It will be permitted in every form and dose, however and wherever people please. You will be able to buy it in any store, as much as you want. And it will come in any form you like: pills, coffee with cannabis, coca-cola with cannabis, and so on. Everyone will consume it. It’s all being prepared as we speak. This is actually why the whole large-scale campaign against smoking was staged.

Question: This is the first step. And what will follow?

Answer: Nature wants to show us that we won’t be able to calm down this way.

It seems to us that this will help us calm down. That’s what everyone thinks. But we won’t calm down because we will proceed to the following blows. And they will, in turn, be much more powerful than the previous—so powerful, in fact, that we won’t even be able to use drugs.

Drugs have always been available to humanity, but we did not use them. We won’t be able to put ourselves to sleep. Nature will begin managing us in such a way that I will have a tranquilizer next to me, but I won’t be able to take it. I won’t be able to, my hands won’t reach that far. I will prefer to suffer, to run around in a frenzy, but not take it.

This will go on until we realize what the reason for our state is. Then we will proceed further, to correction. Meanwhile, drugs such as cannabis will help us reach this realization. But these will be weak drugs, ones that don’t kill us but seemingly help us tune out somewhat and realize that it does not solve the problem.

Question: So a person still won’t tune out?

Answer: No, since it’s nature managing us, it won’t allow us to tune out or be semi-conscious. On the contrary, it will shake up our minds and feelings in order for us to assess the situation better.

That is, these drugs will work against themselves: they won’t put us to sleep, but will relax us in order to relax our egoism, and then we will be able to soberly, objectively, above our egoism, assess where we exist, what for, and how. We will calm egoism down and will be able to reason correctly and sensibly.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/7/17

There Is No Holiness In Matter

Question: Each phenomenon in our world has its own corresponding spiritual root. If we look at such phenomena as air, water, fire, then what is, for example, the spiritual root of fire?

Answer: The upper force is divided into four elements: water, air, fire, and earth. In reality, these are the four stages of direct light.

All the concepts in the spiritual have nothing to do with the same phenomena in our world. All that we read about in Kabbalah does not correspond to our world. We first need to identify clear connections between the upper worlds and ours, then we will see the interaction between root and branch and in what way the branch in our world can influence the root.

Question: On earth there are countless numbers of rocks. There are common stones and precious ones. There is gold and silver. What is the origin of these phenomena?

Answer: All metals that exist in nature in their natural form have their own spiritual roots. It is written about it in The Book of Zohar.

For example, gold is the material representation of the greatest egoism. That is why it is so valuable in our world. Silver is much smaller egoism. That is why silver cleanses.

But it is not useful to manipulate these concepts because just as in metals, so in all objects and phenomena of our world, including the individual and his body, there is nothing sacred.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 7/9/2017

New Life #911 – Balance Among People And Nature

New Life #911 – Balance Among People And Nature
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

When we acquire the wisdom of how to connect to others in balance, all of nature will be balanced and reach the state of the Garden of Eden (Paradise). In the past, nature pushed people to be wise and sensitive, knowledgeable and cultured. Today, nature demands an overall balance.
From KabTV’s “New Life #911 – Balance Among People And Nature,” 10/10/17

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Open The Books Of Wisdom

Now, distinguished readers, this book lies here before you in a closet. It states explicitly all the wisdom of statesmanship and the behavior of private and public life that will exist at the end of days. It is the book of Kabbalah, where the corrected worlds are set. (Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Building the Future Society”)

Question: Why should Baal HaSulam, the great Kabbalist who wrote The Study of The Ten Sefirot and “The Preface to The Book of Zohar” deal with earthly problems? What’s the point?

Answer: This is not an earthly problem! There is a desire created by nature, the Creator. It must pass through certain stages of development. Now we are at a critical point that turns all our development from egoistic to altruistic. And this is what Baal HaSulam writes as an absolute practitioner.

Kabbalah is a practical science because it is realized in people who live in our time or lived in other generations.

Kabbalah is intended only for people who exist in our world, not for certain souls who after death revolve in some vast spaces on higher spiritual levels. All the higher spiritual levels exist in people. Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes for people. And the Kabbalist does not have a greater aspiration than to come to people and teach them to properly realize themselves in accordance with the laws of nature.

Question: Do you mean the people with a burning desire to discover the meaning of life?

Answer: Naturally. And the rest will simply not hear our plea. Their egoism is still at the animate level; they care only about their corporeal existence. This is neither bad and nor good. So there is no need to address them. They need to be given their minimal requirements, and they will be very happy to receive their universal income, computer, Internet, TV, and couch. They will have a free rations delivered to their home and even what they order themselves: pizza, cola, or a computer, everything. And they do not need anything else. Can you imagine such happiness?

Question: Isn’t that an illusion of happiness?

Answer: But everything they want is on the Internet from the sciences of our world to a striptease, a television series, and football.

So do not go to them. We need to wait until this stage of development is over because a person can be treated only in accordance to what he wants. After all, a person is a desire to enjoy.

But there are people who cannot stop at this. They have a “virus” inside them that does not let them be happy from being filled with material goods.

They need to reveal the ultimate power that governs them, the highest principle, the program of human development, and its purpose: For what do I exist? What is happening in my life? Why is it so? They are interested in connection with the governing force. It is to such people that you can appeal.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 5/15/17

Experiences On The Way To The Creator

Question: Is the meaning of the term “unification” that we make sure that this is a utopia and call out to the Creator from powerlessness?

Answer: No. The reason for discovering the Creator is specifically in our unification. And on the way, there are many different states including impotence, misunderstandings, confusion, or the opposite, excitement, elation, etc., that is, a whole spectrum of experiences.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/19/17

The Upper Light Will Fill All Desires!

Question: If a person does not have an acute inner question about the meaning of life, can he reveal the spiritual world?

Answer: He must begin to study and he will have these questions. After all, he does not even imagine what Kabbalah is opening before him.

He will slightly open the door to the upper world and will see what is prepared for him. It is like you enter a shop without any desire and suddenly see that everything in it is sparkling, spinning, and ringing, and this begins to interest you.

It is possible to receive absolutely everything from Kabbalah because it fills a person with the upper Light. This Light is not limited and is absolute!

Under the influence of the upper Light a person is filled with what he himself desires. This filling is universal. Therefore, imagine your greatest desires, whatever they are, and they will be fulfilled.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/25/17

From Shabbat Page on the 27th of October 2017

Asking for the Friend

You ask for them simply, even artificially, without having any inclination or anything for this, not even from the heart; but you arrange for an appeal like this. Just write on a page what you want, in English, what language it is doesn’t matter, “I want to pray for my friends in a group of Ten so that they will receive the power of bestowal so that You, the Creator, will help them and in a form like this we can together achieve giving You contentment”. So it is in a simple form like this. Afterwards, in a few hours, take a look at the page and you will see, “What did I write? I don’t feel this at all. I was excited before and now this is nothing at all, no. So I am erasing this, I will write it differently”. Write it differently. After a few hours, write it differently again. And that is how you will advance.

From the Morning Lesson, Part 1, October 20, 2017

The Importance of the Group of Ten

The group of Ten is a means for attaining the Creator, the greatness of the Creator. The group of Ten is the Kli; it is the Shechina and the Creator is the inhabitant (Shochen). We must ultimately be concerned about the greatness of the inhabitant, the greatness of the Creator. The group of Ten is the right design for us that will constantly be designed more correctly, more internally, more closed; and the Creator will bring us a Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida; and so from level to level, each time more and more, this is what we are going to attain. So the Kelim are attained, the correction of the Kelim, the connection between the Kelim in a system; and there is reception of fulfillment in the system. I change the range on the radio and I get the first station, after that a second station, after that a third station. I do this by changing the mechanism itself on the radio. This is called, “I am improving the group of Ten”, elevating it from level to level and perceiving higher and higher waves accordingly. This is already the discovery of the Creator.

From the Morning Lesson, Part 1, October 20, 2017

Prayer

Who prays? I do. Where do I pray? It is from my heart, from my desire. About what do I pray? It is about being included with the friends and feeling, imagining to myself how much they want to achieve adhesion with the Creator, bestowal, but that they depend on me, on my request. So I ask the Creator to help them achieve this. It means that my desire to help them includes their deficiency in reaching bestowal. That is what I am praying about. By praying to the Creator, I take their deficiencies in bestowal and multiply them by my desire to bestow because I understand that they are found to have a deficiency. It is all of this that I elevate to the Creator.

From the Morning Lesson, Part 1, October 23, 2017

Concern About Others

Instead of being concerned about yourself be concerned about others and you will see through this how much you will be released from being concerned about yourself. Everything will work out, even egoistically. This is simply what we must carry out and then see how much it will work. On the one hand, you could say, “Yes, if I think about someone, my little child for example, then I am not thinking about myself. I might feel a bit better or a bit worse, or all kinds of things and problems. They don’t concern me. The only thing that concerns me is him”. On the other hand, we must understand that it is not just done this way psychologically, rather there are spiritual forces. If I care about someone, even if that person is someone who is physically close to me, this works. And then in this way I become detached from my desire to receive. That is how it must be in regard to the friends.

From the Morning Lesson, Part 1, October 22, 2017

“Then, Moses Spoke Into The Ears Of The Entire Assembly Of Israel”

Torah, Deuteronomy 31:28 – 31:30: Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, and I will speak these words into their ears, and I will call upon the heaven and the earth as witnesses against them.

For I know that after my death, you will surely become corrupted, and deviate from the way which I had commanded you. Consequently, the evil will befall you at the end of days, because you did evil in the eyes of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.

Then, Moses spoke into the ears of the entire assembly of Israel the words of the following song, until their completion.
Moses foresaw everything because it could not be otherwise. He is not a person, but a detailed plan for the correction of the soul.

Comment: It is written: “You will surely become corrupted, and deviate from the way which I had commanded you.” All this is heard by the people, that is, our desires, but they do not want to follow Moses’ instructions. And at the same time there is a feeling that I will not be corrupted…

Answer: The mind seems to understand, but the desires do not want to obey. This is the difference between the mind and the heart. You understand and speak from the mind, but from the heart you act directly the opposite.

In other words, you are still strong in the mind, you still have the strength to say “no,” but your petty heart is already plotting something.

Question: Therefore, in the next chapter “Asinu” (Hear), there are many warnings: “Look what will happen to you, I know this …” How does it help a person?

Answer: The fact is that the spiritual record inside of us will not disappear: millions of states, thousands of years pass, and still this record remains inside us, inside all the humanity, and especially inside the people of Israel. Therefore, we will have to realize it.

We are approaching the state when people already understand that it is probably necessary to look for something because the world is completely losing its orientation.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 1/25/17