Draw Me A Circle

Question: I would like to separate what is happening today from the historical stories about events thousands of years ago that some people believe and some do not. I am a practical, realistic person and ancient history doesn’t interest me.

I look at the result and don’t agree at all that the situation in thenation of Israel is bad and that this nation requires extreme changes.

When I hear these kinds of statements from Jews—such as: “Death to the Arabs! We need to enter Gaza and kill them all!”—I am shocked that I belong to a society like this. I consider behavior like this to be inconsistent with the moral state of the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.

Can you take a clean page and draw how, in your opinion, the nation of Israel should look so that it will become a place in which it is possible to raise children happily, without being ashamed that you are Jewish and Israeli?

Answer: This is a very simple picture that everyone can draw for himself: one circle and that’s all. A circle means that all are connected with each other with good and open relations. This means that, within the society these principles operate: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”; “that which you hate, do not do to your friend”; “be as one man in one heart,” and “all of Israel are friends.”

All of these principles must be realized in us to some degree, from an initial degree to a full and complete degree; and together with this, we must offer this as an example to all the nations of the world; in other words, we must “be a light to the nations.” If we begin to engage in this, then we will see how the entire world will understand and accept us totally differently. The nations of the world very much want the people of Israel to become a guide for them.

Question: Is there room in such a society built in the form of a circle for such statements as, “Death to the Arabs?”

Answer: Certainly, in a place like this, there is no room for statements like this about anyone. The society must be built in the form of a circle, and, within this circle, ultimately, the entire world will enter. However, first, the people of Israel must show an example to everyone. This means that, instead of a source of problems, we become a source of good for the entire world.

Question: In school, they teach children that it is necessary to realize the principle, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” but that this applies only to Jews.

Answer: However, we only give lip service to this general rule. This is not called teaching love for others. A child perceives this love formally, like a dry mathematical formula.

Question: I would wish that when my son hears about those killed in Gaza, he would cry and not be happy. Is this a justifiable demand?

Answer: Do you understand what this love is that we must attain when your heart hurts for someone you love? For you, love is a dry formula that isn’t alive if you are asking a question like this.

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” means that all of humanity is linked in one man. We must attain something like this, and all the troubles are sent to bring us closer to this until we understand, with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, and model it, that the Jewish people must show the entire world how to reach it through a short, pleasant, and rapid way.
[141996]
From Kab TV’s “A New Life” 8/14/14

The Flight Path Into The Spiritual

I have a problem: I do not know how to advance toward the spiritual goal. I do not see it, and I cannot aim at it. This is why I constantly need to analyze to make sure that I do not deviate from the path. This is because even the slightest deviation in the beginning can lead to my inability to reach the goal, even if I continue going in the correct direction.

However, I will think that I am going in the true direction, and I will not even notice “having strayed from the path.” This is why it is best if I stop, check where I am, and maybe even go back. Then, it may be possible for me to continue correctly on my path.

However, which signs will help me determine and make sure that I am advancing in the needed direction, even though the goal is concealed from me?

After all, for instance, for a rocket to hit its target when it is launched, the course of its flight is calculated according to very complicated formulas taking different factors into consideration: wind, speed, earth rotation, and so on. However, at least, we know all these laws.

However, when speaking about the spiritual goal and rising to every new degree, we need to do the entire analysis in the beginning of the path while we do not understand anything yet, do not see the Creator, do not imagine the path, and who will tell me whether I am wrong?

This is why Kabbalists say that the correct formula for the attainment of the goal is “Israel, the Torah, and the Creator are one.” Besides that, it is necessary for all three of its components always to be equal; none can prevail over another. All of them need to be together, constantly tuned into the same point.

Israel is a person in the world who strives to come to the goal: straight to the Creator (in Hebrew, Isra (straight) and El (Creator). The Creator is a level of Bina, and Bina is the property of bestowal, Hafetz Hesed.

What is the Torah? It is the Light that Reforms. In other words, I always need to strive toward a certain correcting force that can influence me and correct me until I reach a state where Israel, Torah, and the Creator will become one.

The Creator is the root toward which we strive. He is our goal, the absolute, complete property of bestowal. In other words, when I correct myself completely in all of my desires, my correction will be called the Creator (HaKadosh Baruch Hu).

This is why, before I undertake anything—whether it is my thoughts, desires, or intention—I need to hold on to all three components within me every moment in order for them to be equal and give me the sensation of unity between them.

Then, I will walk correctly toward the goal.
[29109]
From a Lesson on “Kabbalah for Beginners” 11/17/10

Darkness Will Shine Like The Light

Question: The Creator is called Bore (“come and see”). What does “come and see” mean? What does He want us to see?

Answer: When I was a student, I also asked Rabash, “What does a person see who attains the spiritual world?” He responded that if one were to gather all the pleasure that mankind has experienced over the course of its existence into one enormous pleasure, this will only be a tiny glow—that is, a tiny spark—in comparison to the pleasure that exists on the first spiritual degree.

Imagine that you are enjoying yourself like all of mankind in all the generations! This would be a kind of pleasure that we would not be able to even hold onto! This is why, when we attain the spiritual world, our desire acquires an intention for the sake of bestowal and we become able to hold onto the pleasure that is a billion times greater than the pleasure of this world.

Where does this pleasure come from? In order to convey my sensations, I was not able to find a better word than “harmony” or “balance,” or “a union of opposite properties and processes.” This gives us the sensation of perfection, the greatest pleasure.

It is written that “There is no greater joy than the resolution of doubts.” This is exactly what we feel. All the things that are considered to be opposite in our world begin to connect and complete each other in the spiritual world because one cannot exist without the other, like darkness and light.

In this way, the desire to receive pleasure and the Light begin to complete one another and work together through the screen.

As it is written, “Even darkness will not obscure [anything] from You, and the night will light up like day; as darkness so is the light.” Before the entrance into the spiritual world, we feel a great darkness that suddenly begins to shine like light, and this is the first, small sensation that comes from meeting it.

However, gradually, we will see how all the problems and suffering, failures and wrongdoings, suddenly begin to bring us satisfaction and understanding of their need and purpose.
[29112]
Excerpt from the “Kabbalah for the Nation” Lecture 11.21.2010

Launch Your “Inner Collider”

What is the purpose of creation? What are we living for? What is the purpose of life on earth? Mankind was interested in these questions at all times, but it especially concerns our generation, and even though we often hear about different forms of the existence of life in the universe, in reality, we see that we are alone.

We really are alone in this entire, enormous system of the universe, and we do not understand at all that we exist on earth in special conditions that made life possible, and this is a very complicated thing.

Just to originate the material form of life requires a collection of forces and a formation of conditions that enable its creation, not to mention the state that will be the origin of the development of life in the spiritual world.

All these things always have astonished the great human minds in all generations. How and why did it happen? What is the need in nature or the upper force that has created everything in this exact form?

Additionally, if not for the Kabbalists who actually have revealed the spiritual world and attained that exact point where life originated, we would not have known anything.

We know that the physicists who tested the collider in Switzerland wanted to attain the point of origin of the so-called “Big Bang.” In other words, they were trying to simulate thespark of light that burst into this world and brought with it all of the matter that has formed in this world following this burst.

However, Kabbalists already have gone beyond the limits of our world in their attainments, and they have completed the entire journey from the beginning of creation in the spiritual world to its final correction, and they have told us everything that happened there. We can find out about it from the Tree of Life by the Ari.

Kabbalists who have attained the spiritual world tell us that the upper force that made and created all of reality operated on the basis of a program and decision, and that all of that is called the “thought of creation.”

They explain to us that there is an Atzmuto (the essence of the Creator) of which we do not speak because we cannot attain Him. We only attain the actions that come from Him. They are called the “thought of creation,” a thought or program. This program goes through us and constantly manifests in us since we are its derived action.

On one hand, Kabbalists tell us that this program is directly carried out by us. However, on the other hand, we are not just parts regulated by it, but also can come to understand it, feel it, join it, and even participate in it, since that force unattainable by us wants us to become its partners.

This is why you launch your “inner collider,” which brings you directly to the beginning of the universe, and you return to the spiritual world through the beginning of the universe, and rise from the lowest spiritual world of Assiya to the worlds of Yetzira, Beria, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the world of Infinity. In addition, when you tune into the world of Infinity, you acquire infinite attainment, perception, and understanding outside of time and space.

We will be able to attain this only by uniting together as one man with one desire.
[29118]
From the Lecture, “Kabbalah for the Nation” 11/16/10

The Daily Direction 8.27.14 (from Sviva Tova)

Search and you'll see that this way you'll discover new friends instead of the old friends

When I am longing for the connection with the friends, I begin to feel… first of all, I look at you and other people that the Creator sent my way as a present from above. I don't want to look at their faces. Later, I see that the person is concealed, there is something within him, there is kind of tendency to the truth, attitude; by different actions and inner change, I discover those friends who truly repulse me; I begin to discover their inner and beautiful form. Thus we are shifting from one state to another.

Later on, as I connect to them, that inner state seems ordinary. And then, once more, I continue and discover even further the inner and higher form. This is how we are shifting with the friends to an inner connection. Search and you'll see that this way you'll discover new friends instead of the old friends that are in each and every one. [Part 1 Min 81]  

Point Of No Return

We have to apply maximum effort to reach the goal we aspire to and in doing so get prove that we are unable to reach it. Then, we have to check if we are going in the right direction and whether we can possibly ever get the chance to attain it; then by employing our intellect and sensations we will realize that we will never be able to achieve this goal on our own and need the Creator’s assistance.

We should accept the fact that only the Creator is able to give our entry into the spiritual world, to realize our spiritual birth, to transition us from our mother’s womb where we are separated to the state of connectedness. During birth, we pass through the narrowest place that connects one world with another; that’s the place of the initial connection among us that happens at the minimal spiritual level. Are we able to achieve this or not?

If the answer is “yes,” then let’s do it, if the answer is “no,” let’s demand the Creator to do it, one of the two. Let’s make an immediate decision and execute it quickly rather than waste time!

As a rule, the evil inclination whispers into our ears with “promises” of tremendous success waiting for us “next time”; it tells us that we haven’t yet achieved all that we were capable of, we haven’t read enough or learned everything that we could have, and thus there are plenty of things that we still have to take care of.

This is how we acted for many years; we acknowledge that as a result of the influence of the group we began to realize that we are incapable of breaking into the spiritual world and we call for the Creator’s help.

This is the time when we start to scream and ask Him for His help, and this is the right direction because we do not possess the power of bestowal but only retain the force of receiving.

The group’s influence will provide everybody with the understanding that only the Creator is able to build a system of connection among us and unite us. We demand that it happens and strongly disagree with our egoism that invites us to continue working independently. There is no reason to continue acting the old way; our environment can influence us in a way that we will arrive at such a decision.
[29649]
From the lesson 11/12/10, “Letter 57,” Baal HaSulam

Discover The Creator Through All The Screens

Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “There is None Else Besides Him”: It is written, “there is none else besides Him.” This means that there is no other force in the world that has the ability to do anything against Him. This is the one and only force that decides and implements everything, and there is nothing outside of Him.

And what man sees, that there are things in the world that deny the higher household, the reason is that this is His will, in order to confuse the person, giving him a feeling that there are several causes, several forces.

And it is done this way intentionally so that through this confusion, through the dissipation, a person can direct himself precisely towards this force, as it is with a viewfinder. At first, the focus is diffuse so that afterwards it gradually becomes directed precisely. It is the same thing here.

Specifically, if we begin to feel a few forces, a few causes, a few sources for our lives, ultimately we reach a decision that all of this is being done by one force which intends to confuse us from all sides so that we will correct our vision, our perception, and in all kinds of situations happening to us, we will be focused more on it.

The method of the Creator is to confuse us, and precisely through this confusion we must discover Him, in order to understand Him more, to connect with Him more, to break through this blurred vision called, the left rejects and the right adducts.

The Creator acts in two directions: On the one hand, He rejects us, confuses us, gives us all kinds of exercises, as if we are going the wrong way, not towards Him, that this is not Him, and our friends are not our friends, and our teacher is not a teacher, and this is unnecessary. Instead it is the opposite.

All of this is so that we will scrutinize the truth and acquire it. Then it will already be ours and we won’t be confused any more.

Meaning that which the left rejects, confusing us, is considered correction. This means that there are things in the world, all kinds of situations, which to begin with, aim to confuse us, to divert a person from the right way, and by which he is rejected from Sanctity. And from this, to understand Him and get closer to the friends, the study, the understanding, and feeling.

It is precisely from this that we start the right way. We begin to feel and identify the direction of the right way. But our goal is not in this. If, with the help of these rejections, we become wiser, more understanding, and advanced, then in total, we would become wiser and more sophisticated beasts and no more than this. But we don’t need to attain the state in which we are wise and understand what is happening and how the Creator is giving us exercises. No, we must attain His level.

And so the Creator brings us to these confused, very difficult and unpleasant states, to exhaustion, from which there is apparently no possible way out, so that we will truly feel that without Him we have no chance of attaining the goal of creation, the goal of all life, and so that we require Him.

If we make a demand to Him, shout at Him so that He will come and help, so that He will connect us, so that He will correct our perception, so that He will rescue us, then this is a most happy state in His eyes. This is because then He can approach us, carry out these corrections, and we will be together.

This is the goal of all the rejections.
[141888]
From the Convention In New Jersey “Day Two” 8/09/14, Lesson 4

Come Close To Me

The song “For You Have Saved My Soul” (Ki Hilatsta Nafshi) is a song of gratitude of a person as he has ascended to the level on which he was created, above our world, and who has finally found the answer to the meaning of life.

Our soul is formed on the upper levels of knowledge, just like the body of an embryo inside its mother’s womb. The soul is gradually formed and begins to descend and to become coarser, dressed in attires that are increasingly closer to matter until it enters the corporeal body.

Spiritual attainment is ascending to the same levels where the formation of your soul began. You begin to attain its root there, the basis, and discover why you have a certain fate, what has been prepared for you not only in this life but in a whole series of lives, until you fulfill your spiritual potential to the fullest and bring your soul to the state that was predetermined.

Attaining the root of the soul provides a person with an answer to the question of how he should live. This is very important, especially today, when we are totally lost, and don’t know what to do with our lives.

This is a song of gratitude to the Creator for having raised you to the root of your soul and for allowing you to attain your soul.

This song is about getting closer to the upper force, to the root of the soul, to the upper attainment, when a person begins a dialog with the Creator and hears the Creator calling him: “Come close to me.”
[142024]
From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 2/09/14

The Way To Adhesion With The Creator

Shamati 1, “There is None Else Besides Him”: A man must always try and cleave to the Creator. Adhesion with the Creator is an indication that everything that happens is coming only from Him, and that He acts and influences me only with the help of the Light; “there is none else beside Him” and He is the “good and beneficent.” I try to discover these two facts and keep adhering to them. I try with all my might and I make sure not to leave either of them.

In everything that happens, I first look inside my mind and see that this comes as an influence on me from the good and benevolent and that “there is none else besides Him.”

In the representation that develops within me of this whole world and of what is within me, this entire system directs me towards that source that presents this representation of our world, this life, and me. It is here He wants me to discover only Him through all this theater, until the theater disappears and only He and I remain in adhesion.

So, we have no other work except to orient ourselves like this at every moment of our lives. And everything else is designed to help in this: studying the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to attract the Light that Reforms and awaken it further so that it will illuminate more strongly. I must be in a group with the friends so that they will frequently remind me about this.

I must be involved with dissemination to show how this one force acts in the world, because I go out to the world, wanting to lead it towards an arrangement where it will be connected into a single whole that is integrally linked with “there is none else beside Him.” All of these activities are designed only so that behind this whole world, behind the friends, behind the study, I will discover the Creator with whom I am in adhesion.

And that is how it always has been. Even now, we are in this state, only it is hidden. This brings me much confusion. This concealment is called Olam (world), from the word, “Olama” (concealment).

We must remove this world, remove this concealment, and then everything that we are feeling now with our senses will disappear, the entire still, vegetative, and animate nature. Everything will become connection between us, between our connected desires. To that degree, we discover the one power, the good and benevolent. Everything ends in a state of “one receives one,” one creature is filled by one Creator. This is the completion of correction.
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From the Convention In New Jersey “Day Two” 08/09/14, lesson 4

A Very Simple Scheme

Question: If only a person who has the point in the heart has thefreedom of choice, does this mean that one must not demand for others to change? This means that everything depends on us?

Answer: We do not demand anything! I always keep repeating thatKabbalah needs to be disseminated in a very discreet manner. It’s only for those who want it.

We should not solicit those who are not interested, “There is no coercion in the spiritual!” We only need to show to those people who already have acquired the desire for spirituality, “the point in the heart,” that they have a place to go with this desire and develop it.

After all, this person feels bad. He does not understand why he does not know where to realize a desire that he is feeling. So, let him find out where he can realize it, and we do not address the rest. Let them stay as they were.

However, in our world, there is a nation called Israel. These are souls that once were on the spiritual level, but have fallen from it into corporeal desire.

They all must study Kabbalah and correct themselves. This is because they have been through the breaking; at one time they already had risen to the spiritual and fallen.

Even if the point in the heart is not awakened in them right now, they still have it, and we must bring this knowledge to them, and especially those who study the “external Torah,” instead of the “inner Torah.” They must absolutely study Kabbalah, and this is the only way the world can be corrected.

There is no other possibility to improve it and free it from all the misfortunes. All the problems in the world happen because of the lack of Light!

The only way to attract the Light to the world is by studying Kabbalah, which attracts the Surrounding Light. There are no other ways to do this.

Kabbalah is the means of connection with the Upper Light, the revelation of the Creator to the creatures, the revelation of Light to the desire to receive. It connects us to the Light. It teaches you to build an anti-egoistic screen.

These are the only three components: desire, Light, and the screen in the middle. All of mankind is on the bottom, the Creator is on top, and Kabbalah is between them as the means of attaining the screen.

This is why anyone who wishes to get rid of all misfortunes needs to try to come as close to it as possible because he attracts the Light by doing this. And the way we will feel in our desires depends only on the Light.
[28793]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/5/10, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”

The Daily Direction 8.26.14 (from Sviva Tova)

What characterize the transition to "Lo Lishma"?

It's when a person begins to feel that he is in exile.

What is "Lo Lishma"? It's when I crave; I have inclination to bring contentment to the friends and through them to the Creator. And I don't want to get anything out of it, but the outcome is that I can't get rid of the thought, a tiny thought,  that I'll get something good out of it.

This is called "Lo Lishma".

That measurement that I measure, that there is still a small Measuring on my part of “what I will get”, this is called "Lo Lishma". The smaller it is in quantity the higher it is in quality, there my "Lo Lishma" is bigger. "Lo Lishma" is very subtle to the point that it basically invisible. It’s like a snake, and then eventually you discover that you thought about yourself ,in a certain way, you didn't feel that you were thinking of yourself, of your own gain, but subconsciously you still had this tiny snake.

You might say "yes, but I honestly didn't mean it. I meant to to do a true and honest calculation". At the time you did made an honest calculation , it because you had the spirit, As a result of the friends that held you, because the Creator gave it to you; You were like a little child attached to an action,to a deed, but look what's in it. And it's in order to discover more and more room for work, and each time you discover , it's actually a correction. [Part 1 min 25]

To reach "Lishma", a person needs to have control over his heart. How can I control my heart?

You will get control. This is called a "Masach" (screen). You alone can not control anything, forget about it. You need to understand that you are the result of the environment. So make an agreement with the people around you, in order that they will control you nicely, that's all you can do.

To have Control over the heart is to be with the surroundings in a unified shape, as one, then you will rule your heart. There is nothing apart from the environment and the person which is run by it. If you talk about the changes, only in such a way the surroundings is acting on you, a unit, a person within the environment.

If a person wants to change himself, he needs to change his environment, and the environment will change him. This is how it works, It is a living cell.

The all reality is consists from cells like those.

The light changes you in accordance with your attitude to the environment.

[Last part, Minute 31]

***An effort above "Benefit for myself" is called spirituality. [Part A]

***The extent to which we will advance toward quality, we will earn in reducing the quantity. [Part A, 53 min]

How to implement

"he who strike the soul of a beast will pay me (also : complete the action) ",

I have to look at the person as a doctor looks at him- in what way can I benefit him?

Only for his own good, I have to get rid of the "me" altogether. I naturally want him to respect me; that he will do what I tell him to do, I want to control him with my knowledge. That I will tell him something, and he will do so immediately ..., I feel that I am great.

Next , I want to give him the things that would tie him to me, maybe tie him to the group, and all sorts of things. How should I treat a person? Where is the limit of how much I have to tie him up? Where is the limit in which that I need him to think that I'm great? And for what purpose? Here lying the inquiries.

I want him to think that I'm great. Why? That he will be tied to me? After that I can move forward with him, treat him, surely for his best interests and so on. In order that through me ,my Torah (teaching) would be the torah (teaching) of living the right way .

And I am giving him precisely the right medicine, the Optalgin (headache pill) to cure his headache, rather than something else , that I was wrong.

And also he have to accept it in the right way, because here we are talking about the Torah. The Torah is the connection between people. I mean, in the connection on my part towards him and from his part toward me.

There is a system here; it is a complete system that we need to install it between us and the people. [Part A]

The Repeatability Of An Experience Is The Criterion Of Truth

Question: Do we have freedom in selecting our faith?

Answer: We only have one freedom of choice, and it does not apply to faith.

It is clear that we do not choose anything that our nature finds repugnant, we choose things that suit it; from this follows that there is no freedom of will in this.

Instead of choosing faith, we need to attain revelation, to reveal the truth instead of choosing what we like most from abstract theories!

If other people in this world have other facts, then my knowledge is no longer a fact. How do Kabbalists who attain the spiritual revelation know that they have revealed things that are authentic and correct? They know this because all of them reveal the same phenomena in their experience.

Every person, who attains a certain degree or correction of a certain force, reveals the same phenomena. He receives the same inner fulfillment, called the soul, like all the others who have attained the same state.

The path, the attainment, and the understanding are the same for all; every person comes to the same result. This is why Kabbalists refer to this as facts, like facts of our world.

In our world I do an experiment, get results, publish the explanation of the results in scientific paper, and invite all to verify the truth. And when my results are checked, confirming they are true, it becomes an accepted fact.

There is no absolute knowledge that does not require proof; everything is according to my actual sensations through which I attain the facts.

Certainly, this knowledge is relative; it is attained according to my physical properties. But everyone attains the same facts and this is why they are called a scientific law. This is how we derived all the physical laws.

All of them have been determined in the conditions that surround us on this planet. But if we were thrown on some other planet, there might be completely different laws; who knows?

I verify the laws in relation to another human like me living on this planet.

According to Einstein’s theory, if you travel at the speed of light, other laws will take effect: distance will compress, time will accelerate, geometry will distort with the straight becoming curved and curves straightening out.

Therefore, we establish that we are studying a physical science that can be applied to any person. And we have the same approach in spirituality. This refers to the authenticity of Kabbalah as a science: when we reach certain conclusions, and we know that they are applicable to us.

Rabash writes that if an angel and I were to look at a table at the same time, we would see different things. This is why all conclusions are in relation to the person attaining them.
[27971]
From the lesson “Body and Soul” 11/28/2010

Spiritual Anatomy

The Torah “Leviticus” (Tazria-Metzora), 14:10, 14:14-14:17: And on the eighth day, he shall take two unblemished [male] lambs…

And the priest shall take of the blood of the guilt-offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleanses, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.

And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand.

And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger before HaShem.

And the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the guilt-offering.

This passage is about various types of correction. Priest (Cohen) is the highest quality ofBina. Blood (dam) from the word “domem” (inanimate) is the lowest property of a man.

Hands, feet, fingers, and ears signify the qualities with which one is supposed to work. For example, an ear stands for the property of Bina in a man. Fingers and toes symbolizeten Sefirot of Keter. The right arm and leg are the level of Hesed.

In other words, we come to a state when the Upper Light called Cohen starts correcting apparent, obvious properties in a person. The big finger of the right hand symbolizesKeter de Hesed. The big toe of the right foot denotes Keter de Malchut.

Anointing the tip of the left and right ears indicates the correction that is done with the help of blood and oil since the blood stands for “domem” (inanimate), whereas “oil” stands for Bina. Generally speaking, oil symbolizes the Light that comes from the SefiraHochma. This is how correction happens.

In this world, there are two concepts: listening and hearing. Sometimes we say: “You don’t hear me.” What does hear mean? It means that there is a property in a man, but there is no implementation of this property. To listen and to hear are two different things. One can listen to sounds, but in order to hear them, one has to turn on one’s internal apparatus.

This is why when the inner apparatus that has the property of oil is turned on at the level of Hochma (the right ear), this property begins to perceive, feel, and attain the level at which it is positioned. In this case, one begins realizing and accepting the level that one is at. This is the point where one’s correction takes place.

Hands stand for the receiving vessels, whereas feet are the tools through which we give from what is repelled. The head is the entry point of everything that goes into our system and feet are the place through which everything goes out. This process is called circulation.

Usually, a lower system is originated from the feet since ten Sefirot of Malchut of the lower level have to grow up to Keter of the inferior Partzuf. This situation must be corrected, although there is actually nothing to correct since the remaining Sefirot will be altered by this action automatically.

Many religions have a ritual of feet ablution. It means that when one corrects, underneath him there will immediately emerge the next, inferior Partzuf, the lower system that is built of the ten Sefirot called ten toes.

Feet stand on the ground, i.e., they are positioned on the general desire. At this time, a viable object that can be further corrected and that is made of the general desire has to be shaped, meaning there is a need to form something concrete that requires correction. So, in order to self-correct, feet have to be clean.

Question: Why is there always something between the ground and the feet, for example., shoes?

Answer: There is a rule that one should never sit on the ground. One has to place something on the ground before sitting on it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sheet of paper or any other object.

The ground symbolizes a completely uncorrected, non-scrutinized desire that is a mixture of the good and the evil. In order to start analyzing it, one has to stay outside of this desire, to float above it. That’s why it is not permitted to sit on the ground without an interlayer placed between the person and the ground, there always has to be either a layer of clothes or something else there.

Question: Does this rule explain why in order to receive the crops from the land we should first plow it?

Answer: No, it is a totally different scheme. The ground has to be overturned in order to sow it. If the ground is not plowed, the forces that make grain grow, won’t be released.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/25/14

Knowing The World We Live In

Baal HaSulam, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”: This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and consequence, by fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.

We live in a certain reality and sense ourselves and things that surround us. We instinctively want to know what these things are. In essence, people are just egoistic desires to fulfill themselves. Naturally, awareness of our place in the universe helps us find out which things are useful for us and lets us avoid harmful influences, and allow us to achieve the most beneficial results.

We spend a certain amount of time in this reality and wonder about what was and what will be. We strive to be impervious and live in the best possible conditions to enjoy perfection and eternity. We are pushed to this need by our desires.

Thus, each one of us has a natural craving for reaching the authentic reality in which we all dwell.

At this time, we are not masters of our fate. We have no idea what will happen to us in a second and generally speaking we are unable to decide anything on our own.

This upsets us and as a result we build “lines of defense” to protect ourselves from heat and cold, robbers and wild animals, from everything that is bad for us: We construct houses and yards creating a distance between us and others. We always care about being in the safest situation. It stems from our desire to receive.

Therefore, a person wants to know exactly what is going on with him, where one is at each given moment, what reality one lives in. People develop sciences to be able to experience pleasant sensations every single moment of their lives.

At the same time, we toss aside everything away that doesn’t bring us pleasure, for example, space exploration. Previously, it was of great interest; however, nowadays we see that it is not worth investing heavily in this. Calculations have demonstrated that this program will not generate any gain. Where there is no profit, there is no reason. Likewise, we don’t pay as much attention to exploring the depths of the sea or the Earth anymore. People care about things that are close to their hearts.

However, if we view the whole picture, we’ll see that we lack knowledge of the system we are in. We see that everything in the system is in constant movement; everything is planned; everything is interconnected, including us; but we don’t know the essence of what is happening to and around us. Thus, the knowledge overall system is the most important thing. From it we learn everything.

Our attempts to develop a systematic approach have never reached any tangible success. We become disappointed with earthly sciences since they don’t provide us with clear knowledge that would allow us to control our destiny, our lives, nor do they allow us to correctly fulfill our existence or go beyond it.

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah, the most ancient science, steps in. Before Adam, very few people possessed knowledge about nature. Their knowledge was based on their direct contacts with nature. Adam discovered the wisdom of Kabbalah; as a result, he caused the entire wisdom to be revealed.

We don’t require more knowledge. If we understand how to correctly influence the system that governs us and all other worlds, the entire universe, we won’t feel a need for the minor additions of physics, chemistry, etc. They don’t make any sense since the wisdom of Kabbalah encompasses everything. It teaches us what is worth doing in various spheres of life and what’s useless. We don’t need to go into details of molecular and atomic structures or comprehend the laws of the inanimate, vegetative, or animate world. When we feel the entire system as a whole, we sense each of its details and realize what our relationship with them should be so that it works to the best of our interests.

It means that all scientific disciplines can be explored through the wisdom of Kabbalah to their full depth, up to their final stage.

Baal HaSulam states that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the general knowledge that covers everything. It is revealed as a complete knowledge to all of us at the end of human development. And, the wisdom was opened to a chain of individuals beginning with Adam and further to his successors.

The ARI wrote that after the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, there appeared a man (Adam.) He had some similarity with a higher, new stage. However, later there showed up a genuine Man (Adam) who revealed and started to explore the system in which he appeared. That’s why his name is Adam HaRishon (the first Man).

Adam HaRishon’s perception and attainment is beyond others. He is the one from whom we trace from those called “Adam”—the chain of Kabbalists from ancient times till nowadays. The words “You are (named) a Man” is about them, whereas all the rest of us are still at the “animate” level.

And yet, at the end, all of humanity will have to reveal the level of Man and fully realize the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the 5^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/18/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Play A Movie On Demand

Question: I do not understand what desire is, is it a vessel for the Light?

Answer: Only forces surround us in the world. If I want to lift a ton of metal, over the force of gravity of this ton mass, I need to add a little over a ton of effort.

It turns out that there are two forces: the force of gravity, the force of the material, through which it exists, and the force with which I influence it.

Even ordinary physics acknowledges that the particles of matter do not exist; there are only forces, some waves. The desire to receive pleasure, the material of creation, is also a force.

This is the way we discover and perceive it because we only feel forces. Why do I perceive an object: its color, volume, weight, and temperature? This is how I perceive forces that influence my sensors, and I visualize an image according to my sensations.

And Kabbalah says that all the billions of forces that fill the universe in their essence are just two forces: the force of reception and the force of bestowal, one against the other.

And I am the third, I am in the middle between them, and I need to build myself from these two forces, like the Creator. These two forces come from the Creator: material and intention, and I need to use them to create a likeness to Him.

We are surrounded only by forces that influence us and create the picture of the world for us. Right now I live in a film, which is projected within me on my material.

And this picture appears from the combination of forces the same way electromagnetic forces form images on a computer screen.

Only I have a better picture: three-dimensional, live, tangible. People say that soon laser films will exist; there is no problem creating this when everything is just forces.

But we are so used to our film that we take it for reality. As soon as we begin to separate ourselves from it even just a little, everything takes a different turn.

And the main thing is that you begin to see that you can change this film! If you want to watch a different movie—go ahead! These forces are in your hands.

This is what we learn in Kabbalah.
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From the lesson “Beit Shaar HaKavanot” 11/28/2010