Working With Kabbalistic Texts

Question: Do Kabbalistic books affect a person if one reads them alone? Or do you need to read them with a group?

Answer: Read as you like, only it is desirable that these are real Kabbalistic books, for your level, and that you find yourself correctly in these books.

Question: What are the criteria for the correct study of the books?

Answer: Study the literature that is recommended to you in the Kabbalah courses in your community.

Question: Also, how do you work with books?

Answer: I have studied primary Kabbalistic sources in detail many times. There are even articles and letters that I have read a few hundred times, and every time I have found something new in them. Therefore, in Kabbalah, there are no sources that I would not have known and would not have worked through repeatedly, in the original language.

I read, underline, write out, compare, and look for specific similar material to somehow reveal it. This is the usual work of any researcher.

There are several variations of the work on primary sources. I often translate them, and if not, I start to abridge them, i.e., rewrite them in the original language, making the necessary adjustments.

The text that comes out is what I want to see now in my current state. Maybe next time, I will make a completely different summary from it.

Working on the texts, I can break them into paragraphs, give each paragraph a title, ask questions, give answers, etc. If required, I work through the text so that I am in it, and it is in me.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/25/18

Newsmax: “Smartphone Era Demands We Bridge Tech-Generation Gap“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Smartphone Era Demands We Bridge Tech-Generation Gap“

Studies conducted in different countries show dependency on smartphones is growing.

France recently banned the use of smartphones in schools. The decision was made out of concern that students were becoming addicted to mobile-phone use.

Will such restrictive moves solve the problem?

Or, do we need to look deeper in order to deal with the challenges of a cyber-generation?

While the fact that youth is becoming more and more dependent on technology is practically undisputable, it is equally important to face adult addiction to cell-phones and its impact on the behavior of their children and society. A new study conducted in Great Britain reveals a dramatic increase in addiction to technology.

The average person in that country checks a mobile phone every 12 minutes, while one-in-five adults spend more than 40 hours per week online.

If that is the model children are following, how can we complain about their habits if we do not practice what we preach? One of the leading health service providers in Israel recently did an interesting research on parents’ behavior while waiting for, and during, the treatment of their children in the pediatric unit. The result was that 83 percent of the parents were glued to their mobile-phones during the medical visit.

Unsurprisingly, the conclusions recommended parents to turn off their technical appliances in order to spend time with their children.

Also, in America, nearly nine-in-ten people today are online.

Can we ultimately sail against the wind of technological progress?

Or, is it an unstoppable consequence of natural human development?

It’s an undeniable fact that the younger generation has been shaped by the smartphone and by the rise of social media. It’s an integral part of their existence from a very early age.

As part of their environment, they are bound to adapt to new technology and embrace it as a natural element of their upbringing, feeling completely comfortable and fearless about experimenting with new devices, games, and platforms.

We have not created this desire by ourselves, it’s part of nature’s development.

Parents who are themselves addicted to mobile phones cannot blame their children for an excessive use of smartphones or their consequential behavioral problems. Children take the example from us. How then can we complain about their habits?

Our egoistic nature increasingly grows, leading us to be increasingly involved and concerned with ourselves, even at the expense of others, and also even if those others are in our own family.

The amount of face-to-face interaction lessens the more we expand our time online, so how can we expect good communication with our children if we are not ready to give up our compulsive use of electronic devices?

If we were to take away both our own as well as our children’s smartphones in order to improve the communication between us, then would we be “in their shoes,” to understand and fulfill their needs and desires? If we hesitate, even for a fleeting moment, then maybe it would be better if at least we stick to our devices together, in a common place, instead of being totally separated?

We cannot reject change because it will happen anyway.

Wishing to bring back the past is tantamount to yearning to revive the stone age.

Children have grown up with computers and the Internet in schools and at home, they find everything online, music streaming, video-sharing, what to buy, what to wear, where to go, what to do and who to hang out with (virtually, of course.) Technology is to them almost as an extension of their bodies.

Outdoor ventures either in urban or natural sights aren’t as attractive as they used to be. They have been replaced by online activities. If young people go out, then more often it will be to a place where they will be surrounded by others who are immersed in their own digital world.

Our world is experiencing a profound transformation, opening up to a more spiritual and integral reality. Young people are the first ones to embrace changes since they are instinctively always looking for new paths and alternatives. Every new advance is a step forward for them, a natural process even if they are not fully aware of how it happens.

Understanding and implementing this new era requires a restart button that will allow us to use technology and take it one step further, for the sake of true connection, solidarity and care for others.

How can this be accomplished? It can be accomplished by adapting ourselves not only to technological advances but to a renewed era. We now have all the means in our hands to transform the society from chaos to harmony. By using technology in order to benefit and strengthen human relations, we can serve this purpose.

Such a fundamental change can be possible by creating meaningful content to teach both adults and children about how nature and humanity develops, explaining how nature is guiding the world to a state of balance, and how to improve our communication for more balanced and harmonious relations within society.
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No Homework Trend

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/9/18

Who liked to do homework when they were little?

We always hated doing homework, we complained about it, and we looked at it as hard labor. We perceived it as a burden that enslaved us to the school and to the teachers. A burden that did not end at school, but also continued in our free time.

There was also tension in the house. Our parents would pressure and threaten us with restrictions if we did not finish all our homework, right up to the last exercise. And if we were lucky, we could do the chores instead. And when we did all the tasks, it was only out of fear that the teachers would be checking who didn’t do their homework in the next lesson. Two days later we had already forgotten what we had learned.

Thus, the new ‘no homework’ trend sweeping the U.S. and other western countries proves that the research was correct: homework has no effect on elementary school achievement, and it doesn’t significantly improve learning habits and motivation for learning.

This is why the standard format of homework is either being eliminated or significantly reduced gradually in many parts of the world, and this includes teachers not being able to punish students who do not do their homework. What will children do in the afternoon? Instead of homework, the recommendation is to encourage students to read books, get more exercise, and rest.

My opinion on the subject? Educational offices around the world have finally educated themselves. This is just the beginning of thinking correctly and finding creative ways to approach our children. Human nature only allows a person to grow where they enjoy themselves, and want to realize themselves. And the proof of that is how we completely forget everything we did not like to learn at school.

On the other hand, if children learn about life by reading the books they love and watching fascinating videos —even if it is through their mobile device, which has become their natural environment—they can surely benefit from that. Children will be more interested in what they learn, they will gain insights, they will be happier and more relaxed. In turn, both the teachers and parents will be relieved.

Science, nature, geography, archeology, sociology, and so forth could easily become engaging and captivating content for children. And after they consume the content, they should immediately have a social discussion about it. By conversing about materials they enjoyed consuming, students will have a healthy basis for communication and connection between them.

In Unity And Connection

Concepts that are opposite in our perception exist in the world of Infinity in simple unity and connection. (Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit”)

Question: What does it mean that opposite things are unified? Can you give an example from nature?

Answer: Einstein gave examples of dimensions emerging above time and space. For example, a grandfather and his distant descendant meet hundreds of years later. They both exist simultaneously, but with respect to our attainment it is experienced as past, present, and future.

Question: Does this mean that dinosaurs might be wandering around us and we just don’t see them?

Answer: Dinosaurs are not wandering somewhere; they are wandering within you (in the same way as before, by the way). There is nothing outside of us. We project everything that we perceive so that it seems outside of us and call it “our world.” We feel it only within ourselves. We do not perceive what is outside of us. It is as if some electrodes are connected to us and we imagine that we are somewhere talking with each other and seeing others as if on a screen.

The question thus arises: does this all just seem to exist or does it really exist? We cannot say, because we do not feel anything outside ourselves. Therefore, a person cannot claim objectively that something exists—he always perceives subjectively.

Everything that we reveal and study is purely subjective, including Kabbalah. We never attain the absolute picture. It will be revealed only after the general correction, when all of us unite and our small private sensors (Reshimot) will be united into one common sensor, our small private desires into one common desire that will result in absolute perception, eternal white Light. Then we will be able to talk about what really exists. This state is called Gmar Tikkun—Final Correction.

This is all in relation to us; there are no problems regarding the Creator since His properties include everything. We will be able to achieve this same state when our desire becomes fully integrated, including all the opposites in itself. This is considered loving your neighbor as yourself.

In other words, when I accept everything that exists in another person—all his unpleasant properties, states, thoughts—as my own, as the most precious, with love, then I will include the desires of all the people in the world and will be able to be objective, as all the opposites inside me will be united.

Question: Is it possible to say that both love and hatred will exist in me at the same time?

Answer: Of course. One will not annihilate the other because they will only support each other, so that between them I can feel the acuity of attainment. This is how it works.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/8/18

What Is A Spiritual Level?

Question: What is the ladder of spiritual ascent? Is it possible to jump over its steps?

Answer: No, you cannot jump over the steps. With each degree, the desires constantly grow, forming a spiritual ladder. If we are immersed in these desires and begin to realize them more intensely, then we rise from step to step.

The steps are not really like a ladder, but more like a DNA spiral in which the spiritual genes (Reshimot) are concentrated.

They contain all the information about us, only not genetic, but spiritual—much more extensive, accurate, deep, and interrelated.

Spiritual information is the stage of a human development up to the level of the Creator.

When I connect with people in more and more serious relationships, then dependencies between us appear, explaining to me what is universal, supreme, good, absolute power, intelligence, and feelings. I feel them as one single whole. This is the spiritual level.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/11/18

Understanding Each Other At A Distance

Question: When we are on a spiritual level will we be able to understand each other without words?

Answer: In general, yes. Of course, it is possible to work with a shared screen without verbal communication. But not just yet.

Such communication can be not only between two people who are near each other, but also between those who are in different parts of the world and even in two different worlds—it doesn’t matter. What hinders our understanding of each other are the mechanical, minor limitations of our world.

Question: Why is it that when you suddenly experience some kind of sensation, it is usually impossible to express it with words even to oneself?

Answer: It means that you are not yet able to experience the spiritual impact within your reasoning mind and your heart equally.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/1/18

New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 4

New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 4
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

The core of a person is the eternal root of his soul or his point in the heart. Unique fruit can grow from the genetic acquisitions found in each point in the heart if the right environment is provided. Kabbalists connect in small groups and build the future state of humanity. They can see the future and understand what changes need to occur in order to properly develop. They understand that separation is death just as it is with cells in the human body. When all of humanity connects together with mutual love, we will form a single fruit or system and will be like one person with one heart or Adam. This connection will free us from the angel of death and bring us into the Garden of Eden.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery,” Part 4, 6/26/18

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Reincarnation In Spiritual Space

Question: Is there reincarnation from Kabbalah’s point of view? And if so, what for?

Answer: From the point of view of Kabbalah, there is reincarnation, which is called Gilgulim, that is, circuits. These circuits, however, are not our lives, not the return to our world, that is, death and rebirth. They are the circuits in the spiritual space if we achieve it.

Our world has absolutely no circuits. The person who lives in his ordinary life just dies, that is, his animal life ends here. From this point of view, there is nothing in a person. There is a potential embryo of the soul that he did not realize, but it has nothing to do with the material body.

Question: But didn’t you say that reincarnation is a cycle of souls?

Answer: For this, you must attain the soul, and then you will participate in its circuits. But this does not depend on the life of the material body.

Question: Does that mean it can happen instantly, and then again after a few moments?

Answer: Not even instantly; it happens on a different time axis.

Question: What is reincarnation then? Is it an appearance of another desire?

Answer: Yes. Desires are constantly changing. My teacher wrote a few excellent articles on this subject. You can read them. The intention of the desire changes. The higher the intention, the more it is for bestowal, the higher the person. Changing one’s intention from small to large leads to such circuits.
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From TV program “News with Michael Laitman” 6/20/18

The Influence Of Intention On The Earth’s Ecology

Question: Does a person’s intention to inflict harm on another affect the inanimate and vegetative levels of nature? Kabbalah says that destructive hurricanes and other natural disasters are a manifestation of our actions toward each other. How we should understand this?

Answer: Since all nature is integral and completely interconnected, our impact on any of its parts affects all other parts. The higher the level of nature that we influence, for example, people, the more it affects all the lower levels: animals, vegetation, and the inanimate.

In contrast, if we exhibit some attitude only toward inanimate nature, it has a lesser impact on vegetative nature, an even lesser one on animate nature, and still less on humans.

It turns out that my bad attitude toward another person permeates the entire pyramid. This is the source of ecological problems and of everything else. We ourselves cause hurricanes, natural disasters, and other problems.

Previously, we were unable to affect anything with our intentions, but everything changed at the beginning of the last century. Look at what we did during the 20th century! Kabbalists say this is because humanity entered a completely new state.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the world population was two billion people, and this is about as much as the planet can sustain. Today, it has grown to eight billion. This suggests that over the past 100 years, we have really driven our system out of balance.

Question: Does this mean that two billion people cannot endure the current level of egoism and therefore there has to be eight billion?

Answer: If we were developing correctly, we would not need eight billion people.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 03/25/18

What Is The Difference Between The Revealed And The Concealed Torah?

Question: What is the difference between the revealed and the concealed parts of the Torah?

Answer: The concealed part of the Torah is the part that is revealed to a person when he works on his spiritual development. The Torah is completely opposite from what people think.

Question: So, is it always revealed and it only depends on us if it is concealed or revealed to us?

Answer: The Torah is the control system of the entire system of creation. It is concealed with respect to a person individually. However, to the extent in which we are able to participate in this system intelligently and productively, it is gradually revealed to us.

Question: But how is the Torah, as a system of the world’s control, connected to the book that was written 3,000 years ago? Is it the written Torah and the oral Torah?

Answer: They both describe the system we need to enter, learn about, and engage with.

Question: What is the oral Torah? It seems that there are some laws that were possible to describe on a piece of paper and there are laws that could only be passed down by word of mouth?

Answer: The oral Torah is a system of laws that was passed down from teacher to student: from Adam through 20 generations to Abraham and then through all the rest of the generations to Rabbi Shimon, the author of The Book of Zohar. Then it all became hidden. The knowledge about the world, about the individual’s work in drawing closer to the Creator is called “the Torah,” from the word “Ohr” (Light). This knowledge was gradually passed down through a small group of people in each generation. Only now, beginning with the Ari (17th century) and onward, everything began to be reborn.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/18/18

Laying The Foundation For A Good Future

Kabbalah is the science of connection. We have to unite because nature is pushing us toward this, pushing us to be together. If we do not want this ourselves, then nature will obligate us by force. There is no doubt that nature will win, since a person is very weak against the blows of nature. This is why it is not worth waiting for the blows, which will constantly grow stronger, because there are heavy clouds on the horizon already.

Our worldwide Kabbalistic group is in the vanguard of this movement, advancing ahead of everyone and opening the doors to unity for the entirety of humanity. We are testing how to achieve unity on ourselves because this condition has never before existed in the world. Once, thousands of years ago, this kind of unity existed but under completely different conditions, among people who did not resemble us in any way.

Our group, called “the last generation,” living in the world of egoism, serves as a laboratory for all of humanity. How to arrive at unity in the easiest and quickest way is tested on us. From our experience, we are building the foundation for those who will follow in our footsteps after us in the very near future. This can take another ten to twenty years, but in the end, all of humanity will come to unity. Therefore, let us hope that this advancement will come by a merciful path and not by the path of suffering.

Nature is a single system. All of its parts develop from a single desire as from a tiny grain of sand. The upper force, the Light, exploded this tiny grain of desire, from which emerged the Big Bang, and from this began the development of all matter: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and people on the planet Earth. Today, we are already at the very end of this evolution.

Along the way, matter moved through multiple metamorphoses and shatterings, and we need to correct them. After all, by correcting the shattering, we achieve the quality of the Light. The Light shattered the grain of desire and we must collect those broken pieces of desire and sparks of Light. Then, the whole Light will be able to enter the desire, and instead of a tiny grain, it will become enormous. That is why it is so important for us to achieve this unity. It means rebuilding the shattered soul of the first human being, Adam HaRishon.

Europe today testifies to how much this shattering is starting to be revealed. Kabbalists during the last several centuries wrote about our time, about our “last generation.” The world has moved toward the revelation of the evil of the egoism so much that in the next several years it will be obvious to everyone that a global crisis is occurring not because of problems with technology, economics, or ecology, but only because of the poor relationships between people, which prevent us from uniting. Humanity is forcing nature out of equilibrium because there is no balance or unity among us. This balance is what we need to re-establish.

Baal HaSulam wrote in the article “The Arvut” (“Mutual Guarantee”) that the final correction of the world is only possible after the unification of the whole of humanity. Nothing other than this is needed. We are learning about huge systems, about the shattering that took place in the upper worlds, but in essence, we are learning how to unite the single desire that was shattered into a multitude of opposing pieces.

We are those broken pieces that must unite, not physically, but in our desires and thoughts. We must unite these spiritual sparks within us into one system, we must feel how we complete each other, think about the one goal, help each other become one desire. This mutual desire consists of many different parts, but it is these differences that create the possibility for fulfillment. No one part looks like any other, but by uniting together, they create perfection.

By making a laboratory  of ourselves in which we practice this connection, we gradually reveal within it the manifestation of the power of unity, the upper force of nature called the Creator.¹
From the Convention In Italy, “All As One” 7/26/18, Preparatory Lesson

New Life #1026 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 3

New Life #1026 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 3
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

Humans are different from beasts because we want to understand everything. The wisdom of Kabbalah does not give us answers directly but rather, explains how to reach a state where we reveal the upper worlds . All questions are answered in the state of true connection between people, which is in the upper worlds. The freedom of each person rests in his choice to correct his egoistic nature by changing his attitude to life and people.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1026 – Freedom And Slavery,” Part 3, 6/26/18

Medium: “The Pursuit Of Happiness And The Fading American Dream”

The portal Medium published my new article “The Pursuit Of Happiness And The Fading American Dream”

It is embedded in the deepest layers of American society. “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” is the founding creed from the Declaration of Independence that aims at fulfillment in life to all. In reality, however, this ideal does not even scratch the surface of the American society. Despite spending astronomical amounts of money and working very hard to find happiness, the US has the highest rate of antidepressant use in the world. What is the reason and what can be done to invert this phenomenon?

Per-capita income in America has more than doubled since 1972, but its citizens’ well-being is sending unsettling signals of decline. The US is ranked only 18th out of 156 countries measured by the World Happiness Report 2018, significantly below other wealthy nations. The report’s editor, economist Jeffrey Sachs, stated that “the trends are not good, and the comparative position of the US relative to other high-income countries is nothing short of alarming.” He attributes this divergence to obesity, drug abuse and depression, problems associated with dissatisfaction in life.

The pursuit of happiness is constantly motivating people to seek the source of happiness. A well-oiled American industry of self-help products and services that sell the illusion of joy and satisfaction is estimated to be worth more than 10 billion dollars a year. A significant amount is also spent on traveling abroad, around 118 billion dollars, among other astonishing expenditures in leisure and indulgence.

If such exertion is not bearing fruit, is it possible that the problem is how and where people in this pursuit of happiness are seeking it?

How We Measure Happiness

The valuing of hard work to achieve success in life is usually interpreted as the accumulation of materialistic possessions, focusing on things that bring us joy and satisfaction, everything that money appears to buy. Acquiring as much money as possible also provides a sense of self-worth, as the person gaining wealth also gains respect and recognition from others. We live under the impression that being rich is equivalent to being happy, so we are ready to do whatever it takes to get rich.

This aim motivates people to work longer and socialize less, and thus experience the opposite of the desired effect: more loneliness and dissatisfaction due to the overwhelming investment in time and efforts to achieve this goal. The more we focus on the things that bring us pleasure, the faster the feeling fades and loses its importance.

Buying a new car, an impressive house, the ultimate electronic device, getting a prestigious job, will give us short-lived satisfaction. We will eventually adapt to these new acquisitions, thus returning to our starting point and ending up in the same state or even unhappier than we were before. It’s the same old rat race, where we are constantly chasing new sources of pleasure as the old ones expire.

Happiness Depends On Other People

In contrast to the common perception that “wealth = happiness,” various long-term studies have also reached the conclusion that close relationships, not possessions, hold the key to happiness.

When asked to summarize decades of research in the field of positive psychology, renowned psychologist Chris Peterson replied, “other people matter.” One of the world’s longest studies on this subject, of nearly 80 years, has been conducted by Harvard researchers. They have tracked the personal evolution of 268 sophomores to identify factors influencing a healthy and happy life.

The study found that friendship and social connection, more than money and fame, is what makes people happy. Furthermore, those who had warm relationships and belonged to a community not only lived happier lives, but longer ones. As part of the study’s conclusions, its director Robert Waldinger stated that “loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcohol addiction.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah has discussed this principle over thousands of years: true happiness can only be found through positive human connection, in our collective unity, where each person is outwardly-focused toward friends and society. Moreover, Kabbalah states that connection-based happiness is limitless in potential.

But why? What is it about giving and positively connecting with others that can make our happiness unlimited? Also, what limits our happiness?

Self-Concern: The Happiness Limiter

What limits our happiness is our self-concern, when we try to enjoy individually and at the expense of others. According to Kabbalah, human nature is a desire to enjoy. Our every nature-given motivation is to enjoy, feel good and be happy. However, although our every desire is constantly working to make us happy, our problem is that we don’t know how to enjoy. As the above-mentioned examples showed, we interpret this desire to enjoy in terms of desires for gaining wealth and material acquisitions, honor and respect, control and knowledge.

Such corporeal, material forms of enjoyment all share a common denominator: we try to fulfill ourselves individually at the expense of others. The problem with enjoying in this mode is that the desire to enjoy is made in such a way where self-aimed pleasure extinguishes the moment it enters us. Like when we eat, we extinguish our hunger, and by the end of the meal we don’t want to eat anymore, so it is with our other corporeal desires: they all fade away upon their fulfillment. This is the reason for the paradox as to why, although we have built a Western society abundant with material pleasures, depression and loneliness abound.

The founders of the wisdom of Kabbalah realized this problem with human nature, and sought to find a solution. What they found is that when the desire to enjoy is redirected, when we stop aiming to fulfill ourselves individually, and start aiming to fulfill others, although we don’t see any direct benefit from such an inclination, it actually is the key to enjoy and be happy limitlessly. Kabbalists discovered that behind what we envision as happiness, there is a source of happiness, an opposite desire to our own nature, which is a quality of giving, love and connection. When we try to emulate this quality, by trying to give, love and positively connect with others, then it influences us and changes us, bringing us more and more into balance with it. And the more we balance ourselves with nature, the happier we become.

Happiness Science and Positive Psychology Confirming What Kabbalah Has Been Stating for 1,000s of Years

Only recently, in the last 20–30 or so years, happiness science and positive psychology emerged to study what makes us happy, and what stands in the way of people’s happiness. These fields reach the conclusions that the wisdom of Kabbalah stated 5,000 years ago: that giving actually makes us far happier than receiving. The stronger our relationships with others, the happier we are. If our desire is focused outside ourselves, on giving to others, then we will not feel empty all the time.

The expectation of happiness depends solely on us, and only we dictate the scope of our future happiness. It can inflate, expand, and be enjoyed all the time, and thus a person has the potential to enjoy boundlessly. Instead of trying to enjoy detached from others, and finding ourselves empty-handed time after time, we can build ever-increasing happiness through our efforts to positively connect, coming closer and closer to balance with nature. Then, complete fulfillment will be a tangible reality and not only a dream.

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Actions And Commandments

Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of The Kabbalah and Its Essence”: Indeed, there is a common opinion that the prime goal of religion and the Torah is only the cleansing of actions, that all that is desired concerns observing the physical Mitzvot(commandments), without any additions or anything that should result from it. Had that been so, those who say that studying the revealed and practical actions alone is sufficient would be right.

Yet, this is not the case. Our sages have already said, “Why should the Creator mind if one slaughters at the throat or at the back of the neck? After all, the Mitzvotwere only given to cleanse people.” Thus, there is a purpose beyond the observance of the actions, and the actions are merely preparations for this purpose. Hence, clearly, if the actions are not arranged for the desired goal, it is as if nothing exists. And it is also written in The Zohar: “A Mitzva (commandment) without an aim is like a body without a soul.” Hence, the aim, too, should accompany the act.

The physical actions convey nothing on their own. Clearly a person can do them, but he may not be aware of with what motives. Then what? What is achieved by these actions?—That is what’s most important. It is called an intention.

Question: It is written in The Book of Zohar: “A commandment without an intention is like a body without a soul.” What does this mean?

Answer: If any physical action is performed without the correct intention of uniting for the purpose of revealing the Creator, then this action is dead, like a body without a soul.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that there are only two laws or two commandments: reception and bestowal. It follows that there is an interaction in human society that consists of two actions: either I receive or bestow. They have to be properly balanced. How should we understand this? What does properly balanced mean?

Answer: It is quite easy to balance: bestowal for the sake of bestowal is the quality of Bina and reception for the sake of bestowal is the quality of Keter.

Question: How can we know how much to receive from society and how much to give to it?

Answer: Do it so that it would be solely for the benefit of the society, for the sake of bringing it to the similarity with the Creator.

Question: And who decides that?

Answer: You decide. You have to integrate yourself into society in order to absorb all of its desires and raise them to the Creator. You have to become an intermediary link, a channel of connection between the society and the Creator.

Question: Is it only possible when the Creator reveals Himself to a person?

Answer: How else can you interact with the society? Only in order to help it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/18/18

All As One In Europe

Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World“:  Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society. Meaning, because each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world, he is coerced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world.

We are beginning to feel this already today. But it will become very apparent when the world begins to fall apart, which will happen soon. Then we will understand that we cannot be together in the same egoistic form that used to work until now; we cannot remain in this union. It is impossible to disperse or to unite.

This is a very dangerous state, which can lead to a war. Imagine that the European Union falls apart, all the countries break the ties with each other. No country will be able to exist in isolation and to satisfy even its most basic needs. This split will affect all of humanity, society, and families, all social, economic, and government systems in each country.

People will then understand that unity is required not only in order to supply food, clothes, and all other needs. Nature is compelling us to unite internally. If we do not unite internally and do not complement each other, all other systems that we have built will be unable to function.

This is a very difficult lesson. If we learn it with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It will not require too many inner searches and efforts, wars, and bloodshed. Conversely, if we do not spread the knowledge of Kabbalah in the world, if we fail to implement the inner connection in the Kabbalistic groups throughout Europe, then there will be a complete and very painful disintegration in Europe.¹

We must build an inner spiritual connection between our groups in Europe that will act as an internal spiritual government on this continent. Everybody will feel that there is something special in these people: there are principles, an upper goal, a method, and they can answer the pressing questions.

After all, they understand why there is a crisis: not because of monetary policy or ecological problems, international trade, or increases in import duties. None of this will lead to a solution. The only solution is to start building correct and kind relationships between everyone within the common human system.

And nobody can do this but Kabbalists. Therefore, a correct outcome of the congress is to organize a European group that will become an internal, spiritual, and ideological basis for the entire European continent.

It may seem fantastic and unrealistic, but once ten or fifteen years ago, my forecasts about the coming European crisis also seemed unrealistic. Today, this crisis, which erupted due to the fact that the union was created without the correction of the human nature, is obvious to everyone. And its next stage will be revealed much quicker.²
From the Convention In Italy, “All As One” 7/26/18, Preparatory Lesson

Why Does The Creator Need Contentment?

Question from Facebook: Why does the Creator need contentment? Isn’t He self-sufficient?

Answer: The same can be said about parents and children. You are connected with your children, you gave birth to them, they are very important to you. This is natural and it comes to us from the Creator in accordance with His attitude toward us.

Question: But isn’t our task to return this, to give Him contentment?

Answer: If a child correctly understands how to treat his or her parents, then he must act so that the parents will receive pleasure from him. And then he certainly will not be mistaken, because he otherwise will not have guidelines in this life. Therefore, setting himself up to give pleasure to his parents, he will always act in the most optimal way for himself.

And so are we with the Creator: giving Him contentment is a guideline to do the right thing for ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 6/5/18

New Life #1025 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 2

New Life #1025 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

We are all addicted to pleasure. We find ourselves in the most insidious slavery, under the control of a hidden software program that obligates us to act to fulfill our own pleasures at every turn, in every way, and in each moment. The Kabbalist Baal HaSulam wrote the article “The Freedom” to explain how we can develop as human beings and ascend to the level of Bina. At this level, people with a point in the heart choose to exchange the program that dominates and manages them for a program based on bestowal. By doing so, they become more like the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1025 – Freedom And Slavery,” Part 2, 6/26/18

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