The Spread Of Kabbalah

Question from Facebook: Why is Kabbalah openly accessible only now? What is so terrible about it that it was forbidden to do it before?

Answer: When I was a child, we had a large library at home—an entire room lined with bookshelves. As I was growing up, I could get to the higher shelves, take books, and read them. The most inaccessible books to me were my mother’s books on gynecology—they were on the highest shelves. Of course, I wanted to get them, but I could not.

Now you understand that a person must reach only the level that will properly educate him. We start with children’s books, then read junior books, then classics, and so on.

It is a similar process with the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is revealed to a person when he is ready for it. And we reached this only in the early 20th century.

The modern author of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam. We mainly study his works, and we base everything on them and the implementation of his method.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was not waiting for the person who would reveal it, but for the whole generation in which it can unfold. We are that generation.

Question: That is, the “lower bookshelves” can be called the history of humanity?

Answer: Yes. There we developed science, art, politics, war, technology, and mainly religion. And now all of this must undergo a complete overhaul.

Only real, spiritual, altruistic values can be higher than us and give us the opportunity, the strength, and the direction to aim for them.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/7/17

Change Fate

Question: You say that by studying Kabbalah it is possible to change one’s destiny. But is it necessary?

Answer: Yes, it is necessary. Now we are at the level of our compulsory existence. It is not even an animalistic existence, but much lower because an animal does not ask questions about the meaning of life.

Once we start asking such questions, we have an opportunity to rise with their help to the level of absolute freedom, freedom from death, from material life, and from the tight framework of our present existence. This is freedom from being under some special supervision, restrictions, distributions and so on. That is, you become the highest.

In this way, each of us, by reaching an ability to bestow, becomes the highest. One can say, “This is an illusion. How can everyone be the highest?” But it is, in fact, so because we will find ourselves in another, spiritual space.

Question: Do we change our destiny by this?

Answer: Of course. Our destiny is in our hands. We can change not only our corporeal life, but a destiny we know nothing about yet, those stages that we still have to go through.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/2/17

The Illusion Of Our World

Question: Does war have a spiritual root?

Answer: There is nothing in our world that does not have a spiritual root, otherwise the object or phenomenon would not exist. The forces that came down from the spiritual world, from the upper system of governance and integration of forces, gradually materialized and formed various objects in our world.

That is why it is written: “You haven’t a blade of grass below that has not a fortune and a guard above that strikes it and tells it, ‘Grow’!” This is obvious.

Upper forces that come down from the world of Infinity through the worlds of Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya reach our world and materialize here.

However, if we are talking about the upper root, in regard to its branch in our world, then it is difficult to explain anything because the system is completely confused. For example, how can you relate a cup or a human hand to an upper equivalent?

Moreover, our world has no such equivalents! It is merely the forces that depict them in our consciousness, in our perceptions. Although, we think that they are material objects, they are illusions.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/9/17

Gradual Entrance Into The New Society

Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: It is important to make such a correction that no person will demand his needs from society. Instead, there will be selected people who will examine the needs of every person and provide for every single person. Public opinion will denounce one who claims something for oneself, such as today’s thief and scoundrel.

Thus, everyone’s thoughts will be devoted to bestowal upon one’s fellow person, as is the nature of any edi cation that calculates it, even before one feels one’s own needs.

We must have faith in the leadership, in that it knows all, understands everything, is smarter than we are, and is leading us correctly to the real goal. Society needs to be consciously aware of this and accept it willingly.

When an individual is consciously aware of the evil within his own nature and the need to accept the benevolent nature of the upper instead, then he will be able to exchange all forms of physical actions for spiritual attainment.

Question: Can just one ten within society be ready for this, while the rest of the society is not?

Answer: That is the gradual entrance. Baal HaSulam writes that the society will gradually, ten by ten, enter the new state.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 7/31/17

The Language Of The Kabbalist

Question: What were the relations between Baal HaSulam and his students? What was his connection to them and the letters that he wrote to them?

Answer: The connection between a Kabbalist and his students is described very well in Baal HaSulam and Rabash’s letters.

They wrote more than they spoke. Practically, I never heard Rabash say, “It seems to me that my eyes see the friends, my arms embrace them, and my legs dance with love and joy along with them in a circle, and then my ‘I’ is annulled and dissolved in my friends.”

As for Baal HaSulam, he expressed everything academically.

Remark: Nevertheless, he had a breakthrough when he wrote: “The only thing that stands before you is the love of friends.”

Answer: He points to this as the most important thing; otherwise, what is the use of all the other actions if there is no clear intention to unite the group in which all this is revealed?

The fact is that there are four languages for explaining the actions: the language of the Tanakh, i.e., the Torah and everything that exists behind it, the language of the Talmud, the language of legends, and the language of Kabbalah. We need to connect all these in order to fully explain it. This is HaVaYaH—the full name of the Creator—that is, a complete revelation of the upper force, the property of bestowal in the property of reception.

Only in this is the love of friends is revealed. Therefore, Baal HaSulam writes that the most important commandment is the commandment of unification and now it stands before the whole world.

I hope very much that with the help of such great figures as Baal HaSulam and Rabash we can do it. At least we see how it all materializes.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/16/16

In Order For The Higher Energy To Penetrate The World

After the war, Baal HaSulam was able to accomplish a lot: publish his works, although they were not numerous. He wrote a lot, but usually ended up burning his writings. Once, he gave his little grandson, the son of Rabash, a bag of papers to burn. His grandson was a smart boy. He understood that there was something precious about it and saved the bag.

When I came to Rabash, his son showed me that bag, and we started sorting it out together. The first thing I did was to photograph those writings. It was not easy to make copies of manuscripts at that time.

So I made the copies for Rabash and one for myself. Later four books were produced from them including A Sage’s Fruit. The first two books came out when Rabash was still alive. We used to go to the park together, read the text, and he would edit it. And the last two books were produced after his death.

Previously, Kabbalists always burned their writings. Sometimes their works were even buried with their bodies, as it was with Ari, who was buried with his manuscripts. And sometime later, the works were dug up and rewritten. The same happened with The Book of Zohar that was concealed for many years until somebody found its separate pages used them as wrapping paper.

Question: What kind of action is it when a Kabbalist writes something and then burns it?

Answer: When I studied with Rabash, during the lessons it often happened that he would say a phrase, I would stare at him and understand nothing. He would continue speaking on the topic, adding another phrase and again, nothing was understood, although, it seemed there was nothing mystical about the subject.

The Kabbalist does it on purpose so that this knowledge, this power, can come out from him into the general world. By letting it into the upper world, he gives it the right to exist on the same level as his own, and lower.

Why can’t he say this when he is alone? Because, in front of him, there are “babies,” meaning students, who are currently on the level of our world. When he imparts something to them, his words, energy, and then Light transcends through them and begins affecting the entire world.

Nothing more is needed. That is why great Kabbalists burned their writings.

Question: And no one has even read them?

Answer: No. That was sufficient.

Question: Do you, also, want to burn something, or have you already?

Answer: No, my work is different. I explain everything to you, verbalizing it.

The thing is, you can’t do it any other way! There are no mysteries here! Mystery is only what you do not understand. That is the single framework for restrictions.

Revelation is a paramount task, it is the most worthwhile task. We have to reveal the quality of bestowal; there is nothing else in the world. Inside us, we have the quality of reception, opposite to it is the quality of bestowal; you reveal one inside the other; here, you have all the mysteries of nature and all the worlds.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/16/16

The Concept Of God In Kabbalah

Question from Facebook: The central place in all religions is the concept of God. What does God mean in Kabbalah?

Answer: God in Kabbalah means the general force of nature, except for it, nothing exists.

In itself, this is an abstract concept in relation to a person, and we cannot speak about something that exists outside our perception. No one has ever felt it. This state of the Creator, which is not in relative to us when this upper force exists by itself, in no way can be perceived by us, and therefore, this force is called Atzmuto, meaning He by Himself is Himself.

Everything that we attain and what is possible for us to attain are the actions of the upper force in relation to us. The wisdom of Kabbalah deals with revealing these actions in relation to a person.

We call this upper force the Creator because He created man, He created all the qualities in a person, within which we feel our world and can explore through our senses the Creator Himself, the one who created us. We can explore why He created us with these qualities, with these limitations or, conversely, with these abilities, and what the Creator wants from us.

Developing in this direction, we begin to attain Him, meaning the Creator. Not Atzmuto, not Him by Himself, but exactly the Creator in relation to us. In this way, we explore His actions, how He created our world and all other worlds, which is a certain system of connections between Him and us. Such a system of connections of gradually descending degrees is called worlds. This system affects us.

By studying these worlds, we study the Creator, we study ourselves, we understand in what states we are in connection with Him. And we can change our behavior and our actions in accordance with this in order to raise ourselves to higher connections, to be connected directly with the Creator, literally face to face.

In other words, we can see what kind of reactions our actions produce in Him and, conversely, what reactions His actions produce in us. We can reach an absolutely complete, open two-way connection.

When we begin to attain this opportunity, to reveal and achieve it gradually, we naturally change our behavior in accordance with what we reveal, and we enter a completely different stage of our development where we begin to change into similarity with the Creator. At the same time, our world and we ourselves are change radically and our state becomes more and more reliable, convenient, correct, and true.

Question: Who do I call God if I study Kabbalah?

Answer: I call God the general force of nature. It is called Elokim, which in gematria (the numeric value of the word) is equal to Teva (Nature). The entirety of nature that I reveal, everything that affects me externally, I call the Creator, and everything that is inside of me, I call the derivatives of the Creator.

This is the whole purpose of our work, study, and all sorts of actions—to make an absolute similarity between ourselves and the Creator in desires, intentions, and actions and to reach a completely harmonious connection.

Just as I discover that all the qualities of the Creator are bestowal and love, so I raise myself to these qualities. All this is perceived through feelings; after all, a person is a sensory creature. The mind is given to him in order to control these feelings and form them into similarity to the Creator.

We are created only for this. However, in order to come to this decision, conclusion, and action, we must go through a very long stage of historical development: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking.

Now we have come to the very last stage of human development. We just need to reveal the Creator and make ourselves similar to Him. Then we will be called “Man” (Adam, which means similar).
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/31/17

Newsmax: “What’s Next When US Is Divided Like Vietnam War Days?“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “What’s Next When US Is Divided Like Vietnam War Days“?

It comes as no surprise to me that a majority of Americans said in a recent Washington Post poll that divisions in the U.S. are at least as big as they were during the Vietnam War, and that American politics have reached a dangerous low point.

America’s socio-political climate is looking more and more like a prison yard where you have to choose your gang to get a sense of support: you’re either on the left or the right. The country is torn between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans, and the pluralism, equality, and independence that define the American spirit have been tossed out the window. Instead of a healthy exchange of ideas, there is intimidation and smothering of free speech, and fear that if you exhibit certain political or religious affiliations, you will face verbal or physical abuse.

Moreover, what’s dangerous about this divisive atmosphere is that when there is no unity in mainstream society, it appears on the fringes in forms of Nazism and fascism.

Letting matters develop as they have been will result in an even more divided, contentious, and violent American society. Therefore, unity of the entire American people is imperative to keeping the American society intact.

Having said that, I do hold great hope in the unity of the American people. It requires major changes in the country’s socio-economic infrastructure, most notably in education and the media, but I believe that America’s pioneering spirit can bring about a positive, creative transformation during these tough times.

In terms of education, as I proposed in one of my previous columns, the establishment of basic income for participating in connection-enriching educational programs would tackle the problem of social division directly, and bring about improvements in the economy, as well as in social health and well-being.

In terms of the media, instead of the constant barrage of divisive messaging, the media should aim to promote ideas and examples of the kind of unity America needs. It should primarily address America’s main problem head on: the country is divided, which negatively affects its citizens and weakens the country, and that the way to a greater America is to work on achieving nationwide unity.

By coupling a more unifying media discourse with a connection-enriching educational agenda, people would learn how to accept, understand, and get along with everyone, and become influenced by a new atmosphere of mutual understanding, support, awareness and sensitivity. As a result, there would be reduced violence, crime, substance abuse and increased happiness in society.

America still has a chance. By emphasizing the unity of the entire American society, the American spirit can be revived. Today’s American Dream, however, needs to revise its surge of motivation through a new vision: people of different cultures coming together to find happiness through social cohesion. If the American people don’t realize their need for unity in a positive way, then the negative versions of unity—Nazism and fascism—will increasingly close in on society from both sides.
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