A question I received: What exactly will the new system of upbringing teach? Will people learn a simplified version of Kabbalah?

My Answer: Don’t call it Kabbalah, call it “bestowal.” The world’s problem is that people lack the right relationships. That’s why they can’t organize a system that will work in the new, modern conditions. And therefore, it is necessary to explain the meaning of the global system to people.

“To serve the creatures according to the Creator’s precepts” means to treat people according to the true laws of Nature. “The Creator’s precepts” are the true laws of Nature, and “serving the creatures” means creating a connection among the creatures that will follow the universal law of Nature. This should clear up any confusion.

That’s why the first thing Baal HaSulam says is that all of humanity must agree to perform this work. And why wouldn’t anyone agree to it – what can be bad about treating each other well? We will all prosper and develop, and in addition, this is not only best for us, but it is also the Creator’s (Nature’s) desire. Therefore, if we only move in this direction, He will meet us halfway. Thus, there is a likelihood of success from both sides: the people want this as they have no other choice, and Nature – the Creator – has established it as a firm law.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” 03.05.2009)

Related Material:

Filed under: Society - 1 Comment →

In the News (translated from RBC Daily.ru): The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs is considering closing a reality TV show called “House-2.” The authorities finally recognized that Russia has a problem of low moral values, perpetuated by the TV channels and the entertainment businesses. Instead of showing immoral reality shows on the TV, the experts advise showing positive heroes and ethical behavior.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has proposed a bill that will protect children from information that may be harmful to their health and development. The country’s shame and misfortune is that a police officer has better morals than the actors and producers.

The objective of human culture is to fight the instincts, so we will be human beings rather than animals. It is much more difficult to make interesting movies, to write books, and to create programs than to appeal to the animal in us and to make money by appealing to our base, instinctual desires.

Unfortunately, the television promotes primitive values and behavior. It does not simply clog up our brains and hinder our development, but it is outright dangerous.

My Comment: Kabbalah says that the solution to all of humanity’s problems lies in correctly educating a human being with the help of the right environment. People are the only thing in the world that has to be corrected. All the world’s problems come from incorrect human behavior. The “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” says that it is egoism that causes all the diseases and suffering in the world.

In the News (translated from Utro.ru): Countries are unable to enforce laws on the Internet. The laws that are currently in effect are not working. The need for laws on the Internet has become imminent. In fact, there are no Internet laws in Russia at all.

My Comment: It’s the same in other countries as well. The need to survive in the new interconnected world requires us to introduce new laws that will eliminate animosity, as well as the promotion and display of violence and evil. It requires the media, the school programs, and public organizations to start promoting relationships of kindness among people.

These laws must also become the basis for a new, worldwide court of law. The revelation of the global world is forcing us to establish a completely good bond between us and with the entire system of Nature, including Its still, vegetative and animate levels.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Goal of Education Should Be Perfection and Equivalence to Nature Laitman.com Post: The Need to Nurture the Proper Perception In Children
Laitman.com Post: We Will Evolve to Acquire Power Over All of Nature
Laitman.com Post: The Right Upbringing Creates the “Glue” Between Us
From Chaos to Harmony: “The Crisis as an Opportunity to Restore Balance”
A Conversation between the Kabbalist M. Laitman and the Russian economist, publicist, and political scientist M. Khazin

Filed under: Society - No Comments →

Some politicians wish to explain that everything depends on our relationships with each other, but they lack the means to do this. Once you explain that everyone depends on everyone else, you oblige everyone to begin to unite with each other. That means to break all the previously existing systems, including the systems of national defense, the political systems, and all the forces of people’s opposition to one another. After all, until now, everything we did was based on competition, battle, and politics: one bank competing with another, one economy against another, and so on.

We now have to destroy all this, but how could we, if the whole power base of the individuals with authority in this world depends on these things?! Besides, when we break down the old system, we also have to make the connections between people congruent to the laws of Nature, similar to Nature, and this requires great effort on our part.

The crisis is caused by our lack of congruence to the laws of Nature. And if we open up this Pandora’s Box, we will enter the arena with the greatest concentration of power, strength, money, force, and armies. In other words, we will invade the place where the greatest egoism hides. It is particularly these people that must now realize that they are completely opposite to Nature – that they are unnecessary and detrimental.

Then we will come to the kind of situation that Karl Marx wrote about. Can you just imagine how many other problems will have to emerge until all of this will come to the surface?

It may seem that these problems are distant, global, and removed from us, as we ask, “where are they, and what do they have to do with me?” However, it is a fact that they determine our fate and our day to day lives.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Will It Take to Make the Simplest Person Realize That We’re All Interdependent?
Laitman.com Post: The Time Has Come to Perform an “Upgrade” on Ourselves
Laitman.com Post: A New, Spiritual World Awaits Us
Laitman.com Post: What Would It Be Like to Live In a Perfect World?

Filed under: Crisis - 3 Comments →

In the News (translated from Newland.ru): “The Crisis Syndrome” is a new diagnosis used by physicians and psychiatrists for patients with mood swings, headaches, high blood pressure and insomnia.

My Comment: It is written, “The Creator is the doctor of all doctors.” This means that when we reach a point where no doctor will be able to help any patient, people will turn to the real Doctor! Kabbalah already knows the remedy: Egoism is the cause of the disease, and the cure is to replace egoism with the quality of bestowal. Using this remedy, a patient will attain perfect health.

It says in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”: Egoism is the only cause of all the disasters, diseases, and failures. When we all unite, we are fulfilled with the Light of Life, but when we are separated, the Light of Life leaves us.

Filed under: Health - No Comments →

Questions I received on perception, what the Creator wants from us, and how to use an ascent:

Question: Kabbalah says that everything is within us, including the Creator. But it also says that we must come out of ourselves and feel others. Isn’t there a contradiction?

My Answer: We perceive everything within our desires. However, these desires can either be “for oneself,” meaning within oneself, within one’s egoism, or “for others,” meaning outside of oneself, outside of one’s egoism. Either way, we perceive only what enters our senses.

Question: What does the Creator want from us? I don’t understand this at all. The only thing I understand is that I am the will to receive pleasure and He bestows all the pleasure. And if I want to attain His plan, I have to become like Him by attaining complete equivalence to the desire to bestow. This is necessary in order to attain His thoughts and ways. Am I on the right track?

My Comment: So far, yes. And you will reveal all the rest for yourself through your “conversations” with the Creator.

Question: How do you use an ascent most efficiently? I’m talking about the state where you are overwhelmed with emotion, with the importance of the goal, the unity of souls and so on. After a Congress there is always a very clear, tangible sensation of a new degree, and I want to make the most out of it.

My Comment: Immerse yourself in the books and try to discern new things in the text.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The World Is the Perception Inside Our Desires
Laitman.com Post: Redemption Will Come At the Hands of the Creator
Article: “All We Need is The Revelation of The Creator”
Shamati #21: “When One Feels Oneself in a State of Ascent”

Filed under: Q&A - No Comments →

In the News (translated from Russian Newsweek): Western Europe has a strong collective ideology. People are more open to each other and are accustomed to helping each other. In Russia, however, most people live by the principle, “looking out for number one.” Nevertheless, Russia is now adopting the Western style: it is actively developing its social networks, people are forging connections and learning to communicate.

My Comment: This is why the crisis was necessary. But how much more suffering will we have to experience in order to recognize its purpose?! If only we would understand that we are causing suffering to ourselves by behaving egoistically in the closed system of the human society. If we would just realize this, we’d be able to grow closer to each other painlessly. We would experience perfection, because the system of humanity would be working correctly.

In the News (from The Telegraph): “Recession has made us ‘more compassionate’ ” Survey findings show that one in three [people] thinks society will come out of the recession more caring and compassionate.

My Comment: You see, now even a “prim and proper” Englishman feels the need for community. People are sensing that the world has become globalized and that it is necessary to unite and understand others.

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

In the News (translated from ami-tass.ru): RuNet (the Russian Internet) is proud to open up a competition called, “Fighting Dirt,” for the best positive Internet-resource for youth.

My Comment: A person is a product of his society. He is constantly under the influence of society, and therefore, the only thing we have to care about is the social influence. This is what we must change, rather than the individuals.

The mass media must have freedom and diversity when it comes to how they present their information, but the information presented has to be useful. It has to tell people about the global world and it has to be amicable, to match the system of Nature. We have to develop all the things that favor altruism, and eliminate all the things that favor egoism.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Crisis and Resolution
Laitman.com Post: A Spiritual Revolution Is Inevitable
A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Understanding Nature”
Article: The Needed Shift to Altruistic Social Values

Filed under: Internet - No Comments →

A question I received: You have said that we should disseminate Kabbalah at every opportunity. Yet you’ve also mentioned that it is necessary to be careful not to use the name of Kabbalah and its terminology if there is a danger that this will repel someone (which is basically most of the time, as my experience shows). You advise us to use our corporeal capabilities and understanding of the subject using the tools of our occupations to try to explain the reason for what is happening in the world to others. You have often said that it is compulsory for everyone wanting to progress to disseminate, but is it acceptable to disseminate Kabbalah without mentioning the name Kabbalah?

My Answer: Why is it so important to mention the name of the method? What difference would it make if a person applied Newton’s law without knowing who discovered it? We are talking about the first stages of explaining Nature’s laws to people, in a way that will address their needs, without putting obstacles before them. We have to account for people’s prejudice, preconceptions about Kabbalah, Anti-Semitism, the special status of Israel and all the other factors. All of this is purposefully put forth as an obstacle for us, and we will be able to overcome it gradually, to the extent that people will recognize the need for global unification.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Constitution of Dissemination
Kabbalah Today Article: Mission Possible (and Mandatory)
Kabbalah for the Student: “The Message in Matan Torah”

Filed under: Kabbalah Dissemination - No Comments →

A question I received: If everything a person feels exists only inside his Kli, then there must be an external factor: Direct Light. After all, if this is purely an inner sensation, it is logical to assume that it already exists inside man, only it is hidden from him.

This is like a child who hasn’t learned to walk yet because he still hasn’t found the technique to make this action. In the same way, all the Light already exists in man, like the great potential of our brain that we haven’t discovered yet, but we don’t know how to use any of it, except a few percent. If this is true, then this duality will fade, and the only thing that will remain is man and his environment.

My Answer: I agree with you!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Physics of the Upper Light
Laitman.com Post: The Technique of Entering the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: We Were Created Perfect by the Creator
Wondrous Wisdom. “Perceiving the Spiritual”

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

It seems to us that the current crisis has a lot to do with corporeal problems like money, food and jobs. However, the true reason for these problems is the lack of connection between us. This is the only thing we lack. By correcting this problem, we can come out of the crisis and reveal abundance.

However, instead the American President Obama, the Russian President Putin, and other leaders are increasing the world’s supply of money. They think that by providing more money, they will stimulate a new rise in the economy and thus revive the whole system. They are trying to use outdated methods: to stimulate production and trade through monetary injections. This method is like injecting a shot into a wooden leg: It is impossible to revive something that is already dead.

Things will begin to work only when a connection between people is established. After all, there is no shortage of money in the world. Or did something happen to all the money we had before? Why should President Obama have to take cash assets from government reserves? They threw out a trillion dollars – and where is that money now? It vanished, just like water seeps through sand. Yet, this money has to be somewhere. Where did this whole mass of money go, and why didn’t it work to solve our problems? It is because the real problem is the lack of a connection within the system, so the system is therefore not able to function properly.

Therefore, no additional injections will work either. What we have to do is build the correct relationship between us. This is the only way we can overcome the crisis.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Don’t Be Fooled by the Rise of the Markets
Laitman.com Post: The ABCs of the Credit Crisis
Laitman.com Post: The Crisis Comes from Our Disparity to Nature
Kabbalah Today Article: Navigating Through the Financial Storm

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →