Why Do We Need An Additional Sense?

Question: How do we develop additional senses? Can we use ordinary science to invent instruments that enable people to see what a Kabbalist sees?

Answer: It is impossible to invent such instruments, but anyone can develop his senses and acquire the attributes of love and bestowalin order to transcend the boundaries of this world and feel the upper world, provided he correctly uses the Light that reforms.

If we get closer and establish good relationships between us, developing the sense of mutual bestowal, we draw the influence of the upper Light which provides us with new senses. Then we will see the upper reality, the upper forces, and will be able to use them in order to fully manage our life in all its details. We need the additional sense organ in order to manage our lives and improve them.

It is all in our hands. It is the nation of Israel that are given the opportunity to make our lives happy and to show an example for the whole world.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/16/15

Temporary Pause

Due to the blog editor travelling overseas for most of October the update of this blog will be irregular, mostly absent.
Normal updates will resume in November.
Thank you for the understanding!

The direct access to Dr. Laitman's blog is here.

The Wonderful World Of Tomorrow

The wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed specifically in our time because we are in year 5,776, which is at the end of a 6,000 year period of human development that began with the first revelation of the upper force to a human being.

So it is worthwhile for us to use the knowledge of this wisdom as rapidly as possible to leave all of our troubles behind and attain a completely different life. We see how the higher management influences us and constantly puts us into very difficult situations in order to obligate us to reflect on the question,  “What can help us improve our lives?”

Baal HaSulam wrote in the article, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”, section 39: Now we have shown that the Creator’s desired goal for the Creation He created is to bestow upon His creatures, so they would know His truthfulness and greatness, and receive all the delight and pleasure He had prepared for them… 

So where is all this?! Every person asks: “Where is this good or at least something that isn’t so bad?” And all of this is because we exist within our five senses and these limitations, and without evolving, we cannot attain what the Creator prepared for us. After all, they are not designed for this. We associate this life in which we now exist with our body. But this wonderful life and all the good that is prepared for us by the Creator belongs to our soul.

Question: Is this what is called the “world to come?”

Answer: Yes. But it is written: You will see your world in your lifetime (Berachot 17a).

We need to attain it here in this life and in this world. A person doesn’t acquire the next world after his death; he attains it here in our world.

Even now, we are in this infinite world, but we don’t feel it because our five senses of sight, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch lock us into this minute envelope called “this world.”

If we expand our senses with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of perception, and immediately depart from feeling this world, outside of its limitations, we feel the world to come, meaning the world that comes as a revelation. And there we discover all the pleasures that the Creator has prepared for us.

Baal HaSulam wrote in Shamati #75, “There Is a Discernment of the Next World, and There Is a Discernment of This World”: There is a discernment of “the next world,” and there is a discernment of “this world.” The next world is considered “faith,” and this world is considered “attainment.”

It is written about the next world, “they shall eat and they shall delight,” meaning that there is no end to the satiation. This is so because everything that is received by faith has no limits. However, what is received through attainment already has limits, since everything that comes in the Kelim of the lower one, the lower one limits it. Hence, there is a limit to the discernment of this world.

Faith is the new force that we acquire with the help of studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. We receive the power of faith, a unique sense that helps us open the borders of this world and begin to feel what is beyond it.

We expand the world just like a child who goes out of his room and sees a vast world:However, what is received through attainment already has limits, since everything that comes in the Kelim of the lower one, the lower one limits it. Hence, there is a limit to the discernment of this world.

Question: What limits is Baal HaSulam talking about here?

Answer: If we go out of our five senses and acquire an additional sense called the sense of bestowal, love, unity, and connection, then through that, we move to a wider world, a more expanded sphere than the one in which we feel our lives and existence.

It is called redemption when you go out of the framework of this world, like from a dungeon or prison where you feel that everything is pressuring you, is limited in time and space, and you cannot be free of all the troubles that crushes you within it, and so you go out into a spacious and wonderful world.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103 FM, 8/9/15

70 Different Nations Together On The Same Earth

Question: Not too long ago, the world stood on the confrontation between Russia and America, on an ongoing cold war between these two countries.

Relationships among these superpowers, one of which always personified a communist dictatorship and the other a stronghold for democracy and freedom, were fundamental in world politics and influencing the state of affairs in the entire world.

Today, the situation is aggravated by new forces that keep showing up on the world arena such as international terrorist organizations, as well as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. How do you evaluate the relations between Russia and the US and the prospect for their development?

Answer: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there are 70 different nations in the world, each with their specific character, speed, and direction of development. The 70 nations spread around the world and established mutual liaisons based on their individual characteristics.

Along with the development of nations and the relations between them, economics, international trade and international relations also advanced. The  military, industry, culture, education, Internet connection also developed in conjunction with each nation’s character.

The 70 nations of the world do not develop in isolation, each on its own. There is a common development program undertaken by international trade and relations between the countries, who exchange goods and information.

Due to cultural development and mass education, the impact of various countries upon each other is extremely strong. It is impossible to present things in just two colors. There is more than just black and white, good and bad.

Each country remains very special: France is France, Italy remains Italy, and Spain is Spain. Each country has their specific features that are based on the character of the people that live in their territory. Besides, there are additions acquired through communication with other countries.

It’s impossible to live in isolation in this world. That’s why each country receives a certain “input” that adds to their national style. Usually, this kind of interference doesn’t benefit the country. Nobody wants it. Italians want to continue living as Italians, Spanish as Spanish, French as French. There is no choice but to accept external additions that impact local national cultures, systems of education, routine behavior, and legal systems.

There is international law. As a rule, it is a number of limitations stemming from UNESCO, the UN, and other international organizations. Willingly or unwillingly, every country has to accept their rules although sometimes they can be a burden for a country.

If we speak about Russia and the US, we have to realize that these countries are cardinally different because of their peoples’ nature. The US was founded by Anglo-Saxons and Germans. During the time America was founded, almost 40% of the people living there were Germans. There was even an issue about which language would become the national language in the country: English or German.

Therefore, the old spirit of America was both English and German, with a little French influence. But it was relatively homogeneous European culture that laid the foundation of the nation.

Russia is quite the opposite in spirit. Russians really differ from all other nations. Russians originally came from Asia and later dwelled in the European part of the Eurasian continent. In fact, Europe is not an appropriate place for Russians at all. This explains why this nation possesses a unique character, not very pragmatic.

For Russians, the most important thing in the world is their national pride. They expect other nations to respect and fear them; nothing else matters. If they feel that they are respected and that others fear them, Russians will always be happy with their lives.

In other words, Russians can go hungry and barefoot, but they will still only care about being a strong superpower that everybody fears. It doesn’t matter if other nations consider them stupid; the main thing is that they have to feel that they are heroes. This is the Russian mentality.

Anglo-Saxons exercise a totally different approach, purely pragmatic. They don’t care what other nations think about them and whether they ever take them into consideration or not. The main thing for them is to advance: develop education, culture, industry, etc. to progress.

For Russia the main thing is the unity of the people, national pride and in the US, on the contrary, it is granting each individual maximum freedom, because free enterprise leads to economic flourishment.

It all depends on the national character; that’s why we should never compare one nation to another, nor can we state that one people is any better than the other. They are just different!
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/6/15

An Honored Right That Costs Dearly

Israel must bring the entire world to correction and the story of the prophet Jonah, which we read on Yom Kippur, suggests this very clearly.

The right to read this story during the ceremony is generally bought at a great sum of money. The richest people compete for the right to read it in front of everyone else; this is the climactic point of Yom Kippur.

People believe that this assures great success to a person for the whole year. They treat this like a simple tradition, without thinking about what is being said in this story.

The prophet Jonah receives a mission from the Creator to go to the sinful city of Nineveh and correct its inhabitants. Jonah the Jew doesn’t want to carry out this mission and bring about peace between the peoples of the world. He tries to flee and embarks on a ship that is about to set sail.

Jonah sleeps in the belly of the ship, showing that nothing concerns him. See how this story is symbolic; it teaches about the present situation of the people of Israel. And so the storm comes, the waves rise and threaten to sink the ship. The sailors draw lots to find out who is to blame for this storm, and the lot falls on Jonah. This is very much the way the nations of the world blame Israel today for all their problems.

Jonah acknowledges that he is to blame for everything, and agrees to be thrown overboard. In the sea he is swallowed by a great fish and remains in its belly for three days. During this time he expresses regret and understands that he is obligated to go to the sinful city of Nineveh and bring its inhabitants back to repentance.

So the fish released him on the beach directly on the way to the city of Nineveh. Jonah goes to the city and convinces its inhabitants to become good people. Then the Creator is revealed to Jonah and tells him that He could not abandon His plan to correct the whole world, for all the nations of the world are very precious to Him. And that is how this story ends happily.

See what kind of a story they give to us for the holiest day of the year, a day in which we must clarify and evaluate our condition, our work and actions throughout the past year, throughout all of our lives.

This speaks about relationships between people. All of the people of Israel must take upon themselves the role and the mission of the prophet Jonah and carry it out, not only to unite among themselves, but to bring the entire world to correction. And according to tradition, we pay a lot of money for this honorable right!

People assume that this action brings great success, and this is truly so, but to be truthful, it is not in the same sense that is commonly believed. If the people of Israel were to unite and bring the whole world to unity, we would expect great success.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15

There Is a Chance For Acquittal

Yom Kippur symbolizes the beginning of the correction of the relations between people. It is common to ask for everyone’s forgiveness before Yom Kippur. This is how we show our desire to connect and unite with everyone, and this means we are ready to be judged.

A person is actually judged according to his willingness and his readiness to connect and unite with others. After all, the goal of creation is to unite and connect all the people back as one man in one heart.

Question: I don’t think we have many chances of being acquitted in this trial. Judging by the news, the state of the Israeli society is getting worse every day.

Answer: All the problems the world is undergoing, and especially the nation of Israel, are a direct outcome of our separation.

Question: Are all our sins forgiven on Yom Kippur, as if the counter is reset?

Answer: We can indeed reset the counter of our sins if we stretch out a friendly hand to one another. If the nation of Israel is ready to unite like brothers and open its heart, we will heal all the problems, become the most respectable nation in the world, and attain absolute security and wellbeing. Everything that happens depends only on our connection and unity.

In the connection between us we discover the upper force of nature, which exists in a concealed form among us. The moment we wish to bring our hearts closer together, we discover the Creator among us.

Yet we mustn’t think only about ourselves, but also must help the whole world unite because the Creator wants everyone to know Him, from the smallest to the greatest. This connection depends on the unity of the Israeli nation, but it has to spread throughout the world.

Therefore, we see the problems the world is undergoing and the rope tightening around Israel more and more. European leaders are already beginning to blame Israel that Europe is flooded with immigrants from Syria.

It would seem that Israel has nothing to do with these immigrants, but we are still being mentioned in this context. Therefore, we should understand that if we do not unite, the problems will increase on all sides, both internally and externally.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/20/15

With Whom Did Adam Speak?

Question: For what purpose was the system of the expression of our thoughts in spirituality created?

Answer: Everything developed from the mutual cooperation of two forces, reception and bestowal, with the purpose of creating the system of a soul that could be composed of these two opposing characteristics (forces), without being dependent upon the Creator. Other than the beginning and the goal of creation, nothing was predetermined; rather, everything derives from the initial data out of necessity.
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Refugees: What Will Happen To Europe? Part 4

The Tsunami Will Continue

We shouldn’t sit and wait for a “bright future.” We have to help Europe right now. It is already overwhelmed with refugees. This is not just an accidental tsunami, but a series of consequential blows from nature that are meant to trigger changes in humanity as a whole.

It is time to change our nature from egoism to loving our neighbors as ourselves. It involves everyone, but the people of Israel have to be the first in this process.  

If we procrastinate in this stage and don’t work to help the Europeans by explaining to them what is happening, if we don’t explain the essence of the problem and the method for the solution to this disaster, the European tsunami will spread to us as well. The was stated by the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah.  

One way or the other, the Europeans are at an impasse and until they understand what the true solution is, their troubles will continue. They face a long process full of threats and despair until they realize that only changing their individualistic nature can help them survive and resolve the situation. 
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/27/15

Refugees: What Will Happen To Europe? Part 3

Consenting To Changes

At this time, we are witnesses of the very beginning of the process: Europeans have recognized that they cannot leave refugees to fend for themselves, but at the same time, they don’t know how to take them in.

Those same Europeans, who for thousands of years, if not more, murdered each other and in which executions were an everyday “theater” for the common people, no longer live as in the past; they are unable to resist the invasion of refugees.

The question is, “Why?” The failure to act is fraught with serious danger.

We see that nature obligates us to change our internal structure. We will eventually understand and acknowledge that we really need this change. We will consent to this state of affairs and will wish for these modifications to our nature. Only then, will we gradually start changing.  

The situation will reach a degree at which we will suddenly sense that we are unwilling to go back to our egoism. On the contrary, we will continue our path towards correction and eventually we will break the boundaries that separate us. This is a global process and it will last until we all merge into one family and become as one indivisible whole.

It will happen under financial and economic blows, numerous threats, and a series of natural disasters. Nature is unbalanced because of us, so, it will push us around.   

So far, we haven’t started building the equilibrium and unity, which we should have already realized according to evolutionary development. That’s why nature will force us to understand the situation we are in and to want change.

As a result of numerous disasters, the people of the world will eventually realize and feel that it is the people of Israel who know the solution to this problem. Then, they will appeal to the people of Israel and put this requirement forth. This is the time when Israelis will disclose the methodology of correction, called the wisdom of Kabbalah, to all nations. In essence, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the art and science of connecting people.

When this happens, Israel will turn into the “Light for the nations.”
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/27/15

Refugees: What Will Happen To Europe? Part 2

Remolding Individualists

It is not enough to feel a connection with others, not enough to join hands like good children. In addition, I need to feel that we are one, , one heart, one feeling, and one mind, a single thought. We are all one.

From this there is nowhere to run, and in this oneness I disappear, I dissolve. We become a united “mass,” and I have no more concern for anything personal. Clothes, shoes, housing, bed, food—none of this is mine. There is nothing of my own. And only then, after a radical internal upheaval, will I feel good and become free.

In other words, I need to rework and reformat my egoism.

This does not mean that we will actually have to live in some semblance of an ultra-communist commune. But nature is pressing on us through our unrealized corrections, through our unopened heart, and the “round world” that has not entered our sensations.

And in particular it is pressing on Europeans, who are individualists to the bone. For them, it is “my house – my fortress.” And yet, there is nowhere to hide, everything is coming to this, not only in Europe, but on a global scale. Every person and every nation will get their due measure and form in order to want to get rid of their egoism.

It will become clear that otherwise we simply will not survive. And then we will set out on a search: How do we get out of this trouble? How can we change ourselves, break ourselves down? How can we grind down our nature to a pulp?

Otherwise, the situation is unbearable. Better death than such life, since all those around you are “breaking the backbone” of my egoism; they put pressure on my individualistic sense of awareness, and it is impossible to endure. I do not know what to do anymore: to do away with them or do away with myself.

But nature will not allow this. After all, its goal, its program, is in order for us to take care of ourselves and correct ourselves. Nothing is going to help here: not marijuana, not sedatives, nor antidepressants…

Every person will undergo major changes and we will nevertheless have to “remold” ourselves from egoists to altruists. In such a way, we will feel everyone like one family.

And in a family I could sleep in a bed with my baby or give the entire bed to my children and lay down somewhere nearby.

This should be the basic approach. And we will be looking for a solution: How can we change our nature so we can see a beloved child in every person?

There is no other way. And people will realize this.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/27/15

Refugees: What Will Happen To Europe? Part 1

The Verdict On Personal Space

Question: Why did the stream of refugees to Europe become specifically so massive now?

Answer: A very special situation has developed today with the whole world taking on a new global form. Borders are becoming blurred, statehood is undermined, and all forms of sectoral divisions are dying out. Everything is intermixing, everyone is becoming merged with everyone else and being interspersed among everyone in terms of living space.

We will need to make sense of this new format and understand how to live with it from now on. Before, the accepted canon was one single nation, living in one place with its own religion, its own laws and culture, with the succession of generations, and so on. But now we are standing on the threshold of a world that looks nothing like the previous one. All boundaries and limitations are disappearing.

It is very uncomfortable and frightening. “I do not want to live in such a world. I hope that my children are better prepared for it.” This is how a person who grew up in totally different conditions thinks.

And indeed, how does one accept the loss of their own cozy nook, the loss of no free space left on this earth just for me alone?

It would be nice to shut myself off in my own room, equipped with everything I need so that there would be no need to go outside. There, I feel safe with nobody around me and nobody invading my personal space.

But even such escape seems unattainable. People will not be left with even 10 square meters of their own. Why? Because we have to change our nature. I need to truly exit from my egoism, my internal boundaries, and from that cube in the depths of consciousness that seems to me as my own little room that is inaccessible to anyone else. This is what is going to be taken away from me.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/27/15

Leading A Human Life

Question: What does it mean to connect to other people? What stands in my way of doing so and which force can correct this evil in me?

Answer: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, our biological bodies will remain corporeal and will continue to exist like all the other animals. But there is another essence in a human being, a human entity, the beginning of a soul. There is a tiny part of that soul in each of us.

This human part in us is our inner world, our psychology, our desires and thoughts, that have nothing to do with our corporeal existence but are above the body. It is our desire to discover what life is, what is the goal of life, and why we came into this world, that is, to respond to all these “childish” questions.

If we begin to distinguish the human parts in us and to connect them with one another, we will put together the system called “first man,” Adam. This interconnected system existed in the past, but then it was shattered into many pieces, which we call the sin of the Tree of Knowledge, and now we have to put it together again.

If we reconstruct this system together and begin to study it, we will understand how it works. When we see the complex web of connections between us, we will understand the plan of creation and its purpose. When we begin to care more about our souls and not about our physical existence, we ascend above our bodies in our feeling, our understanding, and our consciousness. Thus, we build our general soul and feel the new reality, the upper world, the Garden of Eden, in it. This is the goal, and instead of living in a body that belongs to the animate level and lives like an animal, we rise to the level of “first man,” Adam.

If we connect all our human parts, we will feel a human life that is totally different from our previous life. When we lead a human life, we cease to depend on our bodies. The body can die, but the human being will continue to live on a new level.

The goal of our existence is to raise us from the corporeal level to the human level, and this is the difference between this world and the next world.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/30/15

Becoming A Master Of Your Craft

Comment: You have been urging and encouraging your students lately and telling us that we are not doing our best, that we are not working as hard as we could, and that we are not advancing. There is a feeling that we are not compatible with your velocity.

Answer: I would like my students to engage in self-fulfillment more. Self-fulfillment is when you work for the group, which thus ignites and begins to operate thanks to you. There is no other way.

My role is to bring the Kabbalistic group to a state in which people will clearly understand what their problems are, what their role is, how they fulfill themselves, and how they should use the data we receive in the best and most efficient way. All this must be discovered inside them.

They will even become experts before they enter the upper world. They will at least be masters in the levels we are on today, which means that they will become independent.
[165879]From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/6/15

Forty Years Of Clarifications

Question: Do you have sensations that you did something that was not needed on the spiritual path?

Answer: Certainly! That is found in everyone. Moreover, you suddenly wake up in a terrible sweat and begin to agonize over why it happened this way, why did I do it? You see the “unintentional mistakes,” your failures, and blame them only on yourself. But it is necessary to immediately recognize the fact that all of this was arranged from Above, and now you are being shown that deep inside you, you still have not corrected these states, you still aren’t devoted to the program of creation, you need to move towards this, and that all of this belongs to the Creator, not to you. So all of your mistakes and transgressions are only unintentional; rather, they are only the discovery of one’s ownegoism.

Question: What period must pass between these sufferings and the understanding that all of this comes to us from the system of creation?

Answer: There are forty years until the complete correction. What does “forty years” mean? This is a cycle during which you completely transfer all of the mistakes and transgressions to the characteristic of Bina, the characteristic of complete bestowal, and then you understand that all of this is not you and not from you. And all of the correction is in this.

Question: Along with this are there some memories and pain that remain?

Answer: These memories will haunt you hundreds of times and in all kinds of different combinations. That is how it happens according to the entire system of management. You must feel deeply how all of this rises up in you. You rebuke yourself about what you went through, about the harm that you caused someone, about the bad view of others and so forth. And this is repeated over and over again because it is necessary to be uprooted from the source, to rot completely.

Forty years is an ascent to Bina. Only then does the characteristic of bestowal and love, the connection with the Creator, fully dominate you; you are included within the origin of all that is happening and no longer attribute this to yourself. You begin to understand that the Creator teaches you in such a manner.

And here it is not those same people whom you wronged, whom you thought badly about; this is all one system and it is entirely in you. So the feeling of “I” and “them,” “Creator,” and so forth is lost to you. When all of this is connected together in the characteristic of Bina it is then that you are corrected, but not before. So you constantly stumble and encounter these things, and all the time this will be a serious awakening. This is our work, the natural stages of development.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/6/15

The Carriers Of The Ark

Midrash Raba, Korach: Korach was a cousin of Moses and Aaron. He was chosen to be one of the carriers of the Holy Ark. What is more, Korach was a very educated and learned man.

Being a carrier of the ark meant to sustain the yearning for theCreator in the air without letting it touch the ground, i.e., your ego. The ark symbolizes the corrected soul in which the Creator is revealed.

Until that moment, only the area between the cherubs is revealed, angel-like birds that are on the cover of the ark. The Creator’s voice is heard from there, which means that the attribute of Bina is attained. Therefore, whoever carried the ark must have this attribute.

Question: But whoever carries the ark leans on the ground and lifts the ark, thus carrying it above the ground.

Answer: It only seems that the carriers of the ark lift it. In fact, the ark lifts them above the ground because it is the attribute of Bina. The ark detaches them from the ego, and it is as if they float above the ground. This means that when a person works with the intention of in order to bestow unto the Creator, he actually ascends.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 5/20/15

A Hologram Of The Spiritual Worlds

Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”: …and what exists in the Higher World necessarily exists in all the worlds below it, since the lower one is imprinted by it. Know that these realities and their conducts, which the seeker of the Creator attains, are called “degrees,” since their attainment is arranged one atop the other, like rungs of a ladder.

What is special about the attainment is that we always attain ten Sefirot, the whole of reality. The question is only the resolution, scale, accuracy, depth, and richness of the connections between all parts of reality, but reality is always the same reality.

Therefore, every state in spirituality is called a whole state. We don’t fully understand how there can be a whole state if we are on the first level, the tenth level, or even on the 100^th level. After all, it is isn’t the 125^th level, and all the more so, not the end of correction and not the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) because only in that world is there wholeness.

No, wholeness is actually in all the states in which we are find ourselves because we always attain the world of Ein Sof. However, with regard to our vessels, it is always revealed as one divided by a certain number and not in its separate parts, but as a whole only to the extent that we understand, perceive, and feel its whole structure with all the discernments within it. It is like a hologram.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/15, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Seeing The Future And Changing It

Question: Does a Kabbalist see the future, and if so, why doesn’t he warn us of the dangers?

Answer: The Kabbalist doesn’t see the future. He only knows how to make the future better. However, this change doesn’t depend on him only, but on everyone.

So, he cannot predict the future because he doesn’t know whether people will change it for the better or for the worse. This depends on the freedom of choice of each and every one.

So, we are turning to the people of Israel and saying that we are ready to change the entire world. It is precisely the people of Israel found in the land of Israel who are prepared to completely change life in their nation for the better and likewise change the entire world situation. We even can change the climate so that there won’t be extremes of heat or cold.

Question: Is it possible even to influence the climate?

Answer: Changing the climate is the easiest of all because it belongs to the inanimate level, which is the first of the four levels of nature: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

We can change all of them if we just want to. So, let’s try! Otherwise, we are heading toward an unbearable life that would be intolerable.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/16/15

The Question About Life And The Answer

Our sages said: “The study of the sacred Zohar nullifies all kinds of disasters.” In the book, Sha’arei Yisrael it states: “The words and speech of the sacred Zohar themselves connect the person to the Ein Sof, be He blessed.”

And Rav Yitzhak Safrin of Komarno wrote this: “If my people would hear me during the footsteps of the Messiah when evil and heresy increase, they would strive all their days to study The Book of Zohar and the amendments from the letters of Rabbi Nachman and would nullify all the evil decrees and would attract abundance and Light.”

How could it be that one book could rid humanity of all its problems and every individual of his personal problems related to health, family, children, money, culture, and behavior, and relationships between people, countries, and nations?

This arouses lots of questions. How can The Book of Zohar solve all of our environmental problems with inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, i.e., environmental disasters and climate change that we are beginning to feel more and more now?

The Kabbalists from all generations specifically point to The Book of Zohar as having the power to organize the whole world, to restore harmony and peace, to transform us into absolutely different people who relate to each other benevolently, to deliver us from all evil, all wars. It is able to make peace between people and also within a person himself, within his family, within the nation, between rival parties, and to resolve all internal and international conflicts, and also to fix the climate.

It can give an answer about a person’s questions like: “What is the reason for my life?” “What am I alive for?” Apparently this is a subtle problem and we don’t want to acknowledge that these questions nag us. But in fact, specifically all of the problems of modern society are derived from that, both personal and societal problems. It is not clear to us what we are alive for and what we need to achieve in life. We are searching and pursuing something all the time, using one another as an example, but basically nobody knows what to do.

This happens to everyone. There are those who still don’t understand this, but they also encounter the same problem. Subconsciously this question “nibbles at our brain and drops us to the ground.” So we oppose it and do stupid things. We simply try to run away from this question somehow until we “succeed in flowing in the streams of life like yesterday.”

This means that we want to continue with everything without changes, today like yesterday and tomorrow like today, the main thing being not to think that our entire life goes by for nothing and in vain and nothing happens besides ordinary life. Life itself is filled with occupations that don’t bring any benefit and only cause harm to one another.

After thousands of years of the development of humanity, of society, and civilization, we finally reach a unique process, a unique milestone. Humanity is beginning to discover the question, “Why am I here?” This question begins to be awakened in every person and in every society. It is impossible to hide it any more. We must discover it and answer it because we still are not able to escape from it.

So we are destined to contend with great challenges. After all, according to our nature, we still want to run away from this question, pretend it doesn’t exist, and continue living as before. Nevertheless, this question is aroused in every person, “embittering his life,” and subconsciously he tries to do everything not to feel it. The crisis that we are beginning to feel in our time is designed specifically to prevent us from running away from this question and to seek an answer to it.

But humanity will not be able to find the answer to the question by itself. It will discover that the answer is found within us, within those who study the wisdom of Kabbalah and it will come to us with demands. Humanity will come to us with all their bitter and empty feelings and they will demand a solution from us. In other words, they will submit an account to us, will claim that they are suffering because of us, and that we are to blame that things are bad for them!

Together with the awakening of the question about the purpose of life, people will feel that specifically we have an answer and we seem to hide it from them, that is, we are preventing them from reaching a good, happy, and complete life. And in truth, it is our obligation to reveal the answer to them and to be the leaders of this process. We have received the desire to discover the question of life and the answer to it from above.
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From the World Zohar Convention, Day One – 2.5.14, Lesson 2

Secrets Of The Sacred Books

Question: How is it possible to understand what the secrets are in the Torah?

Answer: If we want to understand what the Torah says, you need to start with studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches the method for reading the sacred books. They are called “sacred” because they were written on the level of the upper spiritual world.

So to understand them, we must learn a special language and concepts to know what the words “Adam” (Man) and “soul” mean.

Every word and every sentence in the Torah then will look completely different. It is said that “The Torah speaks in the language of men” (Sifre Bamidbar 112), which means in the “language of the branches.” It uses the words of our world, but is directed toward the roots of everything that is happening, that is, forces that are active in the upper world.

The Torah is called sacred, but in our world there is nothing sacred. Sacred means separated from our world. So, during a wedding, the groom says to the bride, “Behold, you are sacred to me,” meaning distinguished from the entire world and relevant to me only. In that sense, the Torah is also called sacred because it is relevant only to the upper world.

This means that, first of all, we must learn the language in which the Torah is written. Then we will understand all of its stories and see that these are not legends or history. It is a special guidebook that directs us toward a correct perception of reality. The Torah is not talking about events from the distant past but about forces that act on us now.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/16/15

In What Way Is A Kabbalist Different From A Psychic?

Question: In what way is the “sixth sense” that a Kabbalist acquires different from the abilities of a psychic?

Answer: There are some people in our world that are more sensitive than others. And they are called psychics because they can disclose various material phenomena that are invisible to others.

But Kabbalists are not involved with this. A Kabbalist won’t predict the future, manufacture amulets, or give blessings.

He is only concerned with the correction of the entire creation so that the forces that come into our world will act more favorably for everyone. If he were to be concerned about someone according to his choice: yes for some and no for others, this would no longer be bestowal and love for others.

A Kabbalist is concerned about everything being better for the entire world. He won’t allow himself to do something special for his relatives and for himself and forget about the others.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/16/15

Sukkot: On The Fifteenth Day Of The Seventh Month

The Torah, “Leviticus,” 23:39: But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the festival of the Lord for a seven day period; the first day shall be a rest day, and the eighth day shall be a rest day.

On the tenth of the seventh month we celebrate Yom Kippur and Sukkot begins five days later.

“Leviticus,” 23:40 – 23:42: And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period. And you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord for seven days in the year. [It is] an eternal statute throughout your generations [that] you celebrate it in the seventh month. For a seven day period you shall live in booths. Every resident among the Israelites shall live in booths…

All of the plants that are specified in the verse symbolize special characteristics that a person must attain to fully assemble his spiritual Kli to discover the Creator on the last day of the Sukkot holiday. The spiritual Kli is composed of seven parts: Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. Each one of them matches a particular type of plant: Hesed, Gevura and Tifferet are three branches of myrtle; Netzach andHod are two willow branches, Yesod is a Lulav (palm frond) and Malchut is an Etrog(citron). When we unite all of these plants together, they embody the corrected states of the seven parts of our soul. So we keep them throughout the festival in a Sukkah, symbolizing the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) which corrects us.

In other words, if a person gathers all of these characteristics within himself and can already ask for their complete correction and raise the blessings, then the Ohr Makifbestows to him. Certainly this is the result of his inner work and not the physical work. In this manner, throughout the seven days, seven purified Lights enter into him in order, correcting and preparing him for the eighth last day when he leaves the Sukkah. Then the Torah holiday begins, happiness and joy for the soul with the help of the Light called “Torah” finally receives its corrected state.

Generally during the holidays people perform specific mechanical actions. But they all have profound inner meanings and we must at least try to somehow get closer to this understanding.

All of the external symptoms in our world are a result of the actions of powerful spiritual. Anyone can invite them into himself and with their help rise from our world to the upper world, as an automatically rising platform. It commands all the properties we see, hear, and feel in this world.

We live within the beastly physical body; through it we feel ourselves and see only the physical world. But the Torah tells us how to move out of this state that limits us into an image called Adam (Man) and live within it.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 6/18/15

New Values

In any conflict of interests, conflict in different values, offered by one society or another, it is necessary to search for something reasonable that advances humanity. But, if previously there were some scientific, cultural, and religious values for nations, now all of this is gradually disappearing.

The institution of the family has disappeared. What in Europe had been a foundation: parents, children, the older and younger generations, rolling along as a heritage according to the principle “My home – my castle” doesn’t exist any more.

Question: But couldn’t all of this be revived, renewed somehow?

Answer: No, there is no longer anything to do about it; this is a dialectical development. All the previous values have disappeared and it is impossible to renew them or to create them artificially. Certainly both politicians and sociologists understand this.

The one thing that an be done is to awaken in people a question about the meaning of life. But unfortunately, today they are in a transitional level of development so that doesn’t concern them either. They are simply thinking about how to survive.

This is what we see in Russia. In general what to do doesn’t interest people, the main thing is to live safely. But the struggle for a good life is gradually fading. People don’t have the strength to fight for their place under the sun; they are becoming passive. So drugs are gradually dominating humanity.

All of this will continue until a new desire appears in them that will gradually awaken them from their slumber to question the meaning of life.

History knows many such periods, like the Middle Ages when it was necessary for a new form to emerge and lasted too long. This period will not last long now because the preconditions are already appearing for something new. But we must go through this transitional phase from old values to new ones.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 8/19/15