The Sinking Of Science: The Past Pride Of Humanity

Question: Why doesn’t nature protect us from the abuse of external sciences the way the wisdom of Kabbalah is protected, so that it cannot be abused?

Answer: It is because the wisdom of Kabbalah is beyond theMachsom (Barrier), beyond the border to the spiritual world. If you transcend the Machsom, you can come near this wisdom and use it, but only to the extent that you acquire a Masach (Screen). But you don’t need a Masach in order to use all the external sciences. So why isn’t it forbidden to use all the external sciences the way it is forbidden to use the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Our sages restricted themselves and prohibited the dissemination of the wisdom among the people. Why wasn’t there such a natural restriction to begin with? Why can’t a person use the forces of nature according to his spiritual and mental development? If there were such a prohibition, we could never reach the recognition of evil, which is the purpose of the existence of our world. We have to allow the ego certain freedom so that people who are immersed in it will discover the evil in their existence and wish to ascend above it.

If the ego were limited, a person would have no choice and could not reach the recognition of evil. There would be nothing we could do in such a world. Imagine that we couldn’t do anything bad; in that case, it would be impossible to reach the recognition of evil. We would live like animals; like all the other levels of nature.

A person in our world is different from all the rest of nature because he uses his evil force in order to reach scientific achievements. The force of evil is in his heart, which means in his egoism, and by developing science he uses it for the sake of his ego because the desire to receive comes before the mind and controls the mind. This is the reason that if a person has an evil will; his mind becomes evil as well and he thinks about how he can use science for his own personal benefit, as if for his own sake, but in fact it is in order to harm others.

The purpose of the development of external sciences is to reach the recognition of evil. This is precisely what we exist for: in order to realize that we will never reach a good life through science or by excelling in anything. This is the meaning of the recognition of evil, when we discover that every phenomenon actually harms us because we use it egoistically and cannot do so any other way.

Science has always been the pride of mankind because we have developed it by ourselves and it is the fruit of our intelligence, of our internal development, both spiritual and mental. This distinguishes man from animals. But suddenly it turns out that science actually turns us into poor miserable creatures, below the animal level. This is called the recognition of evil, an outcome we cannot believe. After all the great efforts we have made for ages in the hope of being able to control ourselves and nature, we find ourselves humiliated by the evil in us.

I feel that a donkey sits on my neck and that I carry it on top of me. This is the reason that we don’t want to develop anymore and feel disappointed. We don’t regard scientists and philosophers with the same respect we had for them in the past. There is nothing sacred and no authorities for modern man any more, and we intentionally ignore anything that belongs to the human level, even if it is musicians and writers. We don’t care about anything because we are disappointed by everything and so we don’t expect anything of our development but harm.

This is the feeling that is now spreading in humanity. No one is impressed by different academic degrees such as doctorates in science, professors, or titles like president anymore. There is no respect for any position anymore and this is actually a good thing because it is a sign that we have finally reached the right discernment and have realized that we have used all the good tools at our disposal in order to bring ourselves to the lowest possible level.

Young people today don’t want to study, to work, or to take any responsibility. Ninety-nine percent of them prefer not to get up from the sofa as long as someone turns on the TV for them and feeds them. This is a good and natural thing because this is how we reach the recognition of evil.

There are two periods in the development of science: the first period in which our sages concealed the wisdom; a period which lasted until the 16-17^th centuries, until the era of enlightenment. Then the wisdom of Kabbalah came out of its hiding and after the Ari the whole world began to wake up. Time began to advance increasingly faster until we have reached the current crisis.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/09/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

A Pyramid Of Love

Question: What is the mechanism of making the switch from the love of friends to the love of the Creator?

Answer: You have to undergo a series of states in advancing along this path. The previous state doesn’t disappear in the transition from one state to another. Each time the new state is built on the basis of intensifying the previous state. This is how it is in spirituality; it is as if we build a pyramid: the higher we ascend, the more we have to enlarge its basis below.

If the pyramid is low, a narrow base is enough, but if we want to reach great heights, we have to build a very large base for the pyramid.

This is the reason that first we adhere to the Kabbalistic books and their authors, which is called being in adhesion with the study and the teacher. This gives a person the right direction.

Once there is a direction, its fulfillment begins: through the connection and adhesion with the teacher we reach a connection and adhesion with the friends and we build a society, an environment. When we fulfill the building of the society, we begin to discover the need for the Creator’s bestowal in this circle. All this is described in great detail in Rabash’s articles, but a person doesn’t always see that. A person can see what the books say only according to his need for it.
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From the Preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/10/14

Love Without Conditions

Real love has nothing to do with sex or gender, but in order to come to it, we need serious preparation.

After all, we need to learn to open our hearts, feel the heart of another person, and rise above our own interests in order to enter the desire of our friend, whatever that desire may be.

Here it does not matter who that other person is, whether a man or a woman. I need to rise above my egoism, which yearns to enjoy the entire world, and instead of this, I prefer to provide the entire world with enjoyment.

If this is what love is, then a question arises: Does love even exist at all in our world? It does not! Love exists only in the upper world, to which we ascend above our egoistic calculations and begin to fulfill another and enjoy each others’ joy.

Am I capable of enjoying the fact that I am fulfilling eight billion people? It is written, “love another as thyself.” That is, I need to love others more than myself, and in the same way that I currently love myself more than others. This is why we require a force that is higher than our nature that is capable of correcting our nature and can help us attain true love. 

Nature created me and instilled in me an egoistic desire to love myself. Now I am demanding my own correction from this nature, the Creator. I want to correct myself in such a way so as to love another without any personal interest, independently from whether I feel good or bad from it, and to be above it.

Since I am currently a complete egoist, I want others to treat me with this kind of love and to love me the way that I am, with all my flaws and egoism. Therefore, I should love others with such love without any conditions.

Reply: But I do not want to!

My Comment: This is why you need correction. You will discover in your friend the most unpleasant properties and actions with respect to you and your loved ones, and you will love him nevertheless. True love requires complete correction and covers all crimes.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/30/15

The Power Of The Cave Of Machpelah

Midrash Raba,”BeShalach“: The spies reached the region of Hebron where the cave of Machpelah is found, but they were afraid to go there and pray, since it was common knowledge that giants lived there. Only Caleb ignored the danger and decided to visit the holy place where our forefathers are buried because he thought to himself: How can I not be involved in conspiring with the spies? Moses’ prayers protect Joshua, while I need to ask the Creator for help. This is the reason that he went into the cave to pray. The Shechina also entered the cave with him in order to let the forefathers know that the time has come for their descendants to conquer the land. Caleb fell on the ground next to the graves of the forefathers and prayed for their mercy and for being saved from conspiring with the spies.

A person is always overcome by weakness and fear of the growing ego inside him, and so he asks for powers in order to resist it. Then the Pharaoh in him begins to awaken more strongly and therefore the spies are right when they are afraid and say that they don’t have to power to stand against it. Their only sin is that they don’t understand, don’t feel, don’t perceive, and don’t believe that they can gain power to overcome their internalinterruptions from above.

Question: What kind of power does the “cave of Machpelah” give Caleb who enters it?

Answer: The word “Machpelah” stems from the Hebrew word “Kaful” (double). There is a connection between Malchut and Bina in this cave. This is the reason that all our forefathers are buried there, since they have fully corrected their souls. They buried themselves egoistically by ascending to the altruistic level. A cave is a very special, closed place in the earth. The word “earth” in Hebrew (eretz) stems from the word “Ratzon” (desire), which means all of person’s desires are in a state where the attributes to receive and to bestow totally complement one another. Such souls reach the end of correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/8/15

The People Of Israel In The Land Of Israel

Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “Inheritance of the Land,” that we inherit the land of Israel when we are accommodated to it and become the people of Israel. This is not just coming to Israel, receiving citizenship, and that’s it, you are an inhabitant of Israel already. An inhabitant is  a person who has a place in this land.

“Eretz Yisrael” (the land of Israel – “Eretz,” from the word “Ratzon” – desire) is a desire to be together with everyone, because Israel is a gathering of people who are connected and united together, as it is written: “All Israel are friends,” otherwise, this is not called “Israel.” So we are found in exile, outside of the land of Israel, and we are not called the people of Israel. “The people of Israel in the land of Israel” is a concept of unity, union, and connection because only this makes it possible for us to be in a state called, “The people of Israel in the land of Israel.”

The question is: how can we attain a desire like this, transforming into becoming one whole? And how is it possible to have one desire? After all, each one of us is very different from the others. This is particularly prominent in Israel: there are so many perspectives, extreme points of view. It is like a pie divided into thousands and thousands of pieces. And what can be done with them?

Moreover, to the extent of our development, when we are passing through so many different states, especially in recent years, each one of us feels how much his ego has grown, how far he is from the others. Basically, instead of coming closer, we are moving further away from each other. So when and how can we transform to become, “like one person with one heart,” “all Israel are friends”?

We see that other peoples get along with each other, more or less. But arguments and problems appeared with us even at the moment that we gathered together in this land. And these problems didn’t disappear, on the contrary, they became increasingly bigger and bigger, and we don’t know what to do with them. So our problem is: how can we overcome our ego that bubbles and erupts in everyone? And we see how mutual hatred is out of control.

Here the wisdom of Kabbalah provides a solution. First of all, it explains why nature developed us in the direction of the growth of the evil inclination, the ego, the strengthening of outbursts of anger in every person in his attitude towards others who are not like him. From year to year, all of these revelations only increase.  There was a time when the relationships between the religious and the secular, the relationships between the secular themselves and the relationships among all the religious were more peaceful. Today the relationships are becoming worse and worse.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that this is a correction from nature. To advance a person forward in his evolution, nature develops the ego in a person, a desire for pleasure, aggression, as these tendencies are necessary for a person to grow, but only on condition that he knows how to use all the extreme things that are awakened in him. So the suffering that we feel when we cannot attain the desired is necessary. And if that is how it is, so how is it possible that each one, having a big ego, can ultimately put up with others and connect with them into a single whole?

After all, it is written that the people of Israel can achieve peace and be a strong people accepted by everyone, and the whole world will calm down in relation to us and will stop attacking, pressuring, and hating us, only on condition that we become like a single whole. So how can we transform to become a single whole, both internally and externally, if our ego is growing all the time? At first glance this seems contradictory.

Question: What does it mean that “the ego grew”?

Answer: From year to year I feel that I want more and more, that I am not prepared to accept others more gently, with understanding, with agreement. In every one of us the same perpetrator is concealed, but in some individuals these inclinations are found to a lesser extent and aren’t even felt; they think of themselves as good people; whereas in others they break out, demand action, and so they kill and burn houses. But in principle, this is everyone’s problem. There is no such thing where something happens to one person that is not found in others. All the tendencies, all the characteristics are found in everyone.

So here the question is: how can we ultimately reach correction? The correction is that we become so close to each other that everyone accepts the others, each one is included in the others, even more than today, to such a degree that I understand the sufferings of others, their nature, their necessary behavior, and I accept them as they are.

Question: But isn’t this contrary to our growing ego?

Answer: If we leave everything as it is now, then it will only be worse. There is something to think about here, and we see this from many studies by psychologists and sociologists. So as the wisdom of Kabbalah says, to reach mutual acceptance we need education, a comprehensive education for all of the people. Only with the help of consistent and constant education that encompasses all of the people, that puts all of the problems of the people and the nation at the top, we will discover and know not only how to complement each other, but also to become a single whole.

In this single whole are both the Left and the Right, there are secular and religious, there are gays and straights, there are all kinds of parties and factions; it doesn’t matter who or what. But specifically thanks to this unique and integral education that the wisdom of Kabbalah recommends, we learn not just to complement each other, to concede to each other; rather, we see that all of these differences must exist. For the ego that grew in each and every person became even more opposed to others and wouldn’t accept them to such a degree that each one is ready to kill the other due to unfounded hatred, as it was before in the time of the destruction of the Temple.

But with the help of education the wisdom of Kabbalah recommends to us as a correction, we see how important each one is, like ingredients in a salad.  Each one has his place, and specifically with the acceptance and not the correction of someone’s characteristics. Only education will help us; it knows how to connect us. And nobody needs to change; everyone needs to receive this education, so it is called integral. Then we will see how important each one is, and we will not think that if we were to correct someone things would be better for us, as sometimes happens in a family. Suddenly we would see that all of us are one family, everyone has his role and all complement each other. But education is what must give this to us.

Integral Education, which the wisdom of Kabbalah offers, can give us a vision like this, and then everyone gradually, with understanding, will begin to accept each other, will know why our ego grew so strong, for this is the higher program of nature that is realized in us in this form, and in any case, it obligates us to complement each other; otherwise, we will simply kill each other.

That is how we understand why our ego is growing all the time, so that our connection will be much more powerful, strong, conflicting, so that within this conflict we will create the united people of Israel, a single whole. Then we will feel that we exist as the people of Israel in the land of Israel, that we have truly returned to our land as one united people.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/2/15

From The Desert To The Land Of Israel

Midrash Raba, “BeShalach”: The spies went in the direction of Eshkol Stream, because the juice flowed like streams from the vine downwards in those areas. When they arrived there Caleb reminded them the instructions Moses gave them: to bring the juicy sweet fruits of Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). The spies disregarded his words, because they didn’t wish to show how fruitful the land was. Then Caleb threatened them: if you don’t take the fruits I will pull out my sword and we will see who will remain alive! Knowing what a hero Caleb was and his great power, the spies obeyed him, but they chose fruits that were monstrous in size, in order to tell the people later that a land that bears such unusual fruits is suspicious and strange and ordinary people cannot survive in it.

The fruits that you receive when you begin to work with the ego with the intention of in order to bestow are the Light of Hochma. While the Light of Hassadim is Nefesh andRuach, here Neshama and Chaya and Yechida are also added. This means that these are great Lights in attaining all the elements of the creation, of the whole world, from the beginning to its end, attaining the Creator, and all His attributes as the upper force, adhesion with Him above the level of life and death, ascending to the level of the “head of the world of Atzilut.”

Not only is it impossible to resist the temptation of such pleasures, the generation of the desert, who lived on manna cannot understand what they need this for. If the Creator hadn’t instructed them to fulfill these actions, they would have remained in the desert because the attribute of Bina is so calming and feels like water because you don’t want anything else. You are happy with what you have. You only need manna in order to hold on and you don’t even need to take any special attributes or flavors from it. You are simply happy with little, not delving into anything, because you have a slight connection with the Creator, His slight illumination.

This state takes over and dominates you and doesn’t let go. It is very hard to overcome it and to begin to work with the ego again, with Pharaoh, with the problems, in order to transform them and thus attain the level of the land of Israel. It is terribly difficult!

This is the reason that the weekly section of the Torah about the spies is very dramatic. Imagine a man in his prime, who has a family, kids, and a normal life, when everything is fine and he is well off and happy with life and has no other needs and everything is simply wonderful. The need to leave the desert and go to the land of Israel is faith above reason that is in contrast to his state. The Light of Bina fills him to such an extent that it totally satisfies him and he doesn’t want anything else.

He must make extraordinary efforts and raise the importance of the Creator in his eyes as He instructs him to reawaken the ego inside him in order to rise above this level. What is more, He instructs him to do so despite his desire and his understanding, because it seems like a contradiction to the Creator.

A person finds himself in this unclear oppositeness, which he cannot stand. The only thing he can do is to advance with his eyes closed and this is what happened to the spies. They are in a state of Hafetz Hesed. They don’t want anything for themselves. Only Caleb constantly awakens them because he is more closely connected to the Creator and understands that this is the Creator’s mission, while their whole essence rebels against it.

You have to crush yourself internally in order to fulfill the Creator’s instructions.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/2/15

Hearing The Voice Of Nature

To hear the voice of nature, a person must come to our lessons.There is nothing to be done! The wisdom of Kabbalah has been waiting to be discovered for so many hundreds of years, precisely for this.

As of today, the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed in its practical and precise form, everyone can use it under the right guidance. Only its realization remains, which in itself is very simple. It is possible to describe it on one page: The discovery of the simple Upper Light that fills the simple egoism.

But to reach this simplicity, we must read, study, become confused and clarify this truth for many years. This is because simple things are the most complicated because our ego works against them. We must correct and mold the ego all the time so that it will be possible to see the truth through it. In the past this took years of difficult work, but in our time this has been simplified.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 8/5/15

Uniting Above All The Differences

Question: How can we unite above all our differences? After all, we are so different and it is hard for us to accept others the way they are.

Answer: It is hard for a person to accept others because he doesn’t have the general integral perspective. If he had it, he would see to what extent everyone complements each other and that everyone has his own special role: one is an engineer, another is a teacher, another a worker, and another a doctor, etc. And in addition, a person could see that the greater the difference between us, the stronger our special connection between us is, and that the wisdom of Kabbalah guides us to it.

When we are finally able to connect and unite, a special jigsaw puzzle will suddenly be created by our connection and it will begin to illuminate. This is what we call, to bring Light unto the nations of the world: When we show the world an example of unity. After all, the world is in a terrible low state!

Question: Based on what do we unite?

Answer: Based on what we see in our inner eye, how much everyone is needed in this puzzle that we have to put together correctly, as each one is an essential part in it and must be in his right place. What is more, we don’t correct anyone!

Baal HaSulam tells us in his article “The Arvut” that no one should be changed, it is necessary to find the right relationship with others. After all, the characteristics each has were developed by nature, and even under the influence of others, a corrupt environment, and will eventually develop according to the general upper leadership, and all these attributes are essential and vital.

When people connect, it is actually their different qualities that will create the general picture, one whole jigsaw puzzle, and by uniting correctly, they will be able to see what the nation of Israel is, how versatile it is to such an extent that all its members are opposite from another, but together they all make one whole, one united nation. That’s the way it actually is when they ascend and connect above all the differences.

Question: But what do all these different people have in common?

Answer:  The point is that together and only together they reach wholeness and a state in which they ascend above nature and feel that they are on the next level of human evolution. This is actually what humanity demands of the Israeli nation and it is the reason that they hate us, because they believe that we steal their good future from them. We have to attain this future and set an example for humanity, because the world doesn’t need anything but unity.

When we are not united, we even cause harm to nature and invoke natural disasters and afflictions, disturbing the balance on our planet. We are the ones who cause all that! It is because we are on a higher level of development than all the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human nature, and therefore affect the whole world and its ecology.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 8/2/15