Laitman.com » Philosophy

A Failed Escape From The Crisis

admin.bb — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 06:38:47 +0000

Question: Many agree with the uniqueness of the Creator, with determinism, with an existence of a script, yet they still attempt to “read” their fate through esotericism, fortune-tellers, and so on. They don’t want to use it, but to adapt to it….

Answer: The thing is that on the basis of all these investigations they don’t feel a need to ask a question about the underlying cause. In general, we have long left behind the exalted science associated with the perception of reality, the philosophy of worldview. Today’s Nobel Prizes are awarded for discoveries that are purely technical, practical, and profitable. In this way, science too is in a state of crisis: For decades now, it hasn’t revealed any fundamental principles laid down in nature.

People have other needs; they are not drawn to exalted matters. Previously, a researcher would strive to get to the very essence of things, to discover the why, not the how. He wasn’t satisfied with a formula describing a newly-observed phenomenon, but sought its logic, its pattern: Where does it spring from? Where is it flowing? And then he would get to the exalted factor: What is the reason that it is created in this particular way? Why is nature arranged specifically thus? We should always ask this question, but unfortunately there is no demand for it today.

Question: That is the reason why they don’t hear us. How do we change that?

Answer: You can’t change that. If people merely seek to add more convenience and comfort to their lives, then they don’t care about the rest. In the grand scheme of things, who cares about science these days? Today, a good scientist is someone who can provide us with superior strength and weapons. We are not drawn at all to understanding the inner essence of things. Such is the outcome of the general crisis, and thus there isn’t yet anybody to turn to.

These days, however, people are starting to feel bad due to this very crisis. No kind of science will help them anymore. In anticipation of a collapse, a person will have to find out who is knocking him down and why. There is no other choice; it will be necessary to discover that because there is nowhere left to run. Formerly some loopholes could be found: “Let’s secure our life, build a sturdier house with heating and air conditioning, let’s ensure that food supplies don’t depend on weather conditions, let’s extract the earth’s treasures from its depths….” We fled from misfortunes with the aid of technology.

In their time, Aristotle and Plato warned against this. They didn’t want to reveal scientific knowledge to the masses because they knew that in such event people would start to use science for personal gain. Why reveal a path that in a few millennia will bring them to a dead end? Better they sense right away that they are in trouble and rush towards the purpose of creation.

The ancient Greek philosophers knew about the science of Kabbalah, so it is no coincidence that they were against the disclosure of scientific knowledge. After all, humanity uses it only to sweeten their sorrows, which are deliberately sent by the Creator so as to bring us towards the purpose of creation. We flaunt and take pride in our achievements while in truth, we’re merely engaged in a never-ending race, which brought us to this crisis all the same. And yet, it was possible to overcome this even two thousand years ago.

Only today, nearing the conclusion of their race, are people finally asking the questions: “Where do these misfortunes come from? What do they mean? When will they end? What should we do?” A person is incapable of simply tolerating suffering—he will have to embark on a search. Today the dead end is already evident, and now, because of the hopelessness, humanity must identify the cause of its misfortunes.

Those in power, however, don’t want to reveal the whole truth about what is taking place. If that were to happen, those endowed with wealth and power would have to share and to reorganize the human society according to the principle of mutual guarantee. This topic is still taboo, no one speaks about it, and therefore, there is no solution to the crisis.

But sooner or later the suffering will melt the ice, and these problems will have to be confronted. And then in seeking out the causes of its misfortunes and ways to salvation, humanity will come to the revelation of the Creator. We are doing this artificially, by gathering in a group and building the necessary conditions according to the Kabbalistic methodology. We too are pressured by misfortunes, but we add our own efforts on top of them in order that they advance us on the way towards the goal. In this manner we are using the positive force, which gives us acceleration, while the rest are accelerated with prods and kicks from behind.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/11, Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

The War Of Philosophers And Kabbalists

admin.bb — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:03:42 +0000

“The Greeks have gathered against me during the days of the Hasmoneans, they broke the walls of my fortress, and have defiled the holy oils…” (Excerpt from a song, sung during Hanukkah)

The Greeks in me are fighting against studying the Torah, against the knowledge that was left to us by Kabbalists who reached spiritual attainment so we are able to correct ourselves and also reveal the upper force. After all, the Creator’s desire is to reveal Himself to the creatures, and the wisdom of Kabbalah is the method of revealing the Creator to the creatures in this world.

The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of the quality of bestowal. And when man studies with this specific goal in mind, disseminates this wisdom, and strives to connect with his friends for the sake of attaining the quality to bestow, then he studies the Torah and comes closer to revealing the Creator in him. After all, the only purpose of the Torah is to create a common vessel through loving thy neighbor as thyself and to reveal the Creator in it, to become so attached to Him that this quality would clothe inside us.

But those who only study for the sake of knowledge or use it for to take pride in it before the others, to despise them, which is even worse, turn it into a deadly poison. This is the difference between people who wish to correct themselves and return to the Creator and those who have no aspiration to return, who only wish to acquire knowledge, which naturally is not the purpose of creation, the purpose of man and the Creator.

When man aspires towards a true goal, he strives to raise his faith above reason, to make the quality to bestow his most important objective. After all, he understands that by acquiring the quality to bestow, he enters a higher dimension than the world where he now exists.

And then he begins to perceive the entire system of creation, which descends from above, from the Giver, the governing force, instead of feeling like he is locked in a limited world without the understanding of being fully controlled from above. Or maybe he did feel that he depends on nature, but he did not reveal the system through which he is being controlled, or the actual governing force.

The quality of bestowal, which man now acquires, opens a new vision for him “in the reflected Light,” the Light of Hassadim, to acquaint him with the system that governs the entire universe, and thus become closer to the revelation of the force which governs the entire reality.

This is what the war inside man is about—it is between his desire which compels him to attain everything inside the mind as it is a custom in our world and the understanding that it is necessary to develop new senses inside. The philosopher in him is fighting the Kabbalist. The philosopher says that the only way to advance is through science and knowledge, the external mind. And this requires some money, good fortune, or a sharp mind, and special external actions.

When man deems these things important, then the Greeks in him are victorious. But when he resists all these disturbances attacking him, feels that he is unable to defeat them, and needs the help of the upper force, the Creator, he understands that it is impossible to defeat them on his own, only the power of the Upper can do it, and this is why we must merit meeting Him and attaching ourselves to Him.

This is why we must value this inner war, because it helps us experience a strong desire and the need for the Creator’s help. Revealing Him is what saves man and what is called a miracle! This is how we rise above the Greeks in us.

These two forces: the Greeks and the Maccabees are equal when one is revealed against the other, and they are unable to defeat each other. Only a third power from above can conduct a middle line between them.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/11, Writings of Rabash

Give The Power To Science!

bb_admin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:29:31 +0000

If we look at different history textbooks, we will see how different their descriptions are. It would seem that humanity went through the same history, including all of its problems, wars, troubles, and successes, yet every nation describes it from its point of view. As a result, textbooks that are supposed to reflect the truth end up contradicting one another.

Sometimes I speak with leaders of different movements in other countries. Each of them is absolutely certain that his movement has to lead the whole world. This includes religious and secular movements, organizations related to ecology, wildlife protection, and many others. While I am among them, how do I differ from them?

Without trying to answer that question, we bring the Kabbalistic message to people in a different form. We do not try to prove who is right and who is wrong, and we don’t dissect different opinions. We don’t try to examine things from the standpoint of history or a religious direction because in each of these areas every person can present his own rationale to justify his opinion.

We invite people only to disengage from everything there is – from the past and the present, and to look into the future from the present moment. In this point we see that nature obligates us to set up the right interconnection, to enter balance, mutuality, and harmony, similar to a single body, an integral, global, pan-human system that senses itself and functions truly as one whole.

Nature obligates and pushes us to this. There is a lot of research confirming this, and we can rely on it. Besides, we don’t have anything else. All we can rely on is science, as it is written, “A person is guided only by what he sees.” Today facts are all we need, and we have to advance according to them.

The facts indicate that whether we want to or not, we are becoming a global, integral society that is internally welded by interconnection and total mutual guarantee. Essentially, this is the tendency of all of nature, and from one day to the next we see how it is becoming expressed more and more clearly.

A question arises: What is our role in this process? Can we now invent anything artificial, following whatever idea some politician, sociologist, political scientist, or other party has suddenly thought up? The world has already tried out all sorts of ideas and humanity has suffered duly due to them.

Perhaps we should simply research nature and be guided by the results of our research, not considering anything else but this? If we advance based on our research, which is conducted in nature, then there is no doubt that out of all the opportunities that little people have on this tiny earth, forsaken at the edge of the galaxy, which is forsaken on the outskirts of the universe, at least we have this one, real chance.

So let’s not sink into philosophy and demonstrate irreconcilability. From experience we already know that when you stand your ground and I stand mine, this only leads to wars and self-annihilation.

Today we desperately need a common denominator, which can only come from the inviolable laws of nature. Based on these laws, we can build the integrated society that is aimed at creativity rather than destruction.
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From a conversation about a new book on 7/11/11

“Spiritual” Practices: The Final Revision

bb_admin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:14:33 +0000

Question: Egoism shrewdly and inventively depicts various pictures before me. How can I discriminate the lie in them, which appears like love for others? After all, all kinds of religions and methods also talk about love.

Answer: In our world “love for the neighbor” is a simple, primitive game of small egoists. Can you really find real, exalted love for the neighbor anywhere, which is really practiced on an ongoing basis?

True, people create separate settlements in order to live in love with one another: There is a village like that in Italy, one in India, and an entire city in Asia. But if you look a bit closer, you will see that they are still the same egoists who just decided to introduce more comfortable social customs. This is more comfortable and pleasant for them, and therefore, they have united in order to make their lives nicer.

Once upon a time kibbutzes flourished in Israel—agricultural settlements with collective property similar to a collective farm. People decided that it was worthwhile for them to live together because this brought them more benefit. “Let’s give up some of our egoism and then we will feel good.” Everything’s clear about this, but is this really altruism?

Humanity supposes that conceding to the neighbor makes a person an altruist. However, people who are slightly more informed about human nature or who study the science of Kabbalah know that any concession has to come with a profit. No matter what a person is giving up, you can find what he is gaining by that. Even if the profit is concealed, it is definitely present.

For example, I am willing to live in a kibbutz because this removes my worries about how to arrange my life. Is that not a profit? I have no worries. I simply do what I am told. But development follows its course and with time kibbutzes became outdated. As a whole, these kinds of communities have no future.

We already see that all forms of interconnection between people have to change due to the egoism that grows in them. Changes continue to take place, and this inner dynamic has to be realized in some way as there will be an explosion otherwise.

This happened over the course of history to various religions, faiths, and methods. Today they are undergoing a worldwide outburst because man has set out on a search once again. He is conducting the final revision: Can these methods offer anything real?

After this analysis these practices will fall for the last time. After all, today we are checking them in relation to the integral mechanism that nature places before us. We have never had this criterion yet. People are once again turning over the pages of all sorts of practices, confessions, and mystical teachings, trying to understand: Can they help us in the new, integral world?

This process will take a short time and will quickly come to an end with all the expectations crashing down. Everyone will see that it is pointless to wait for help from them. Any subject that is checked will persist for a few years at most after which it will reveal its inadequacy.

After all, if you don’t change man’s nature so he becomes just as integral inside of him as nature itself, then no recipes will help him. The only method that makes man global, integral, and united with others is the method of attracting the Light that reforms, the science of Kabbalah. Every person just needs to be given the opportunity to realize his evil. Then all the means and their combinations will turn out powerless, and this entire business of “spiritual” tricks will end up non-existent.

Man will not be able to calm himself down because the world has changed and the problem is no longer how to calm down, but a “conflict of interests.” No one will be able to survive in the integral system without becoming fit for it.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

A Science Beyond Limits

admin_bb — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:19:33 +0000

Philosophy refuses to rely only on scientific experiments, and sometimes it draws conclusions only based on human imagination. Even a totally abstract theory, when one considers his intellectual conclusions to be above actual fact, is also considered to be philosophy.

As long as you work as a machine, as a scientist, based on strict facts, you will not make mistakes. However, as soon as you separate from them and start “philosophizing,” your conclusions become worth nothing. This is what Kabbalah states.

On one hand, Kabbalah seems to lower a person, turning him into a “machine” which operates according to a simple system. But on the other, it is ready to present him with new possibilities, new instruments of perception. However, it warns that we must not rise above our rationality because we will make mistakes. It offers us new research tools in order to reveal the world further.

The human mind reaches “to the skies,” but one cannot rise above this limit; this is its limit. External sciences go to this limit, but do not continue beyond because one will begin to philosophize. Instead of this, one has a possibility to further continue his scientific experiment with the help of Kabbalah.

The reason for the eternal struggle between Kabbalah and philosophy is because philosophy intrudes on the area where Kabbalah operates. External sciences do not go there. They strictly work within their field: research in the egoistic instruments of knowledge.

However, today, we are reaching a special state when science is reaching its “sky,” its limit. Kabbalah wants to continue the scientific experiments with man beyond this limit, using the same strict principle, but relying on obvious facts, on “what your eyes can see.”

This is why it needs to expel philosophy from this area and show that there is no place for it there. After all, philosophy goes there with fantasies, and Kabbalah comes with actual research instruments (the property of bestowal).

Granted, to research this area of reality, one needs to have new organs of perception and a new approach based on the force of bestowal instead of reception. This is why Kabbalah is called a higher science. But it is nevertheless a science!
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/201o, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

The Creator Does Not Exist Outside Of Us

bb_admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:20:35 +0000

Question: How is it possible to ask the Creator for help and to desire only to bestow, without receiving anything for ourselves?

Answer: This is exactly what we ask for. I ask the Creator to give me the opportunity to bestow, where “to bestow to the Creator” means to bestow to the group because it is written, “I dwell among My people.” This is the same thing.

There is no other Creator. “I dwell among My people” means that He becomes revealed in the group. The common force of the group is called “the Creator.” To bestow to the group as a whole means to bestow to the Creator.

We think about this in the earthly sense and that’s why it seems to us, “What’s so special about the group? What can I give to them? How silly!” But if you really would come out of yourself to bestowal to others, you would reveal the upper reality instead of this world. It’s just that we don’t achieve this.

A question arises: But many philosophic teachings also advocated bestowal to society and considered the voice of the people to be the voice of God? Yet, that is incorrect because they did not use the correcting Light, the inner force that is present in society.

At the end of the day, what does the science of Kabbalah say? You have nothing besides desire. Inside of this desire there is a special force called “the Creator,” which was concealed there from the beginning. You can awaken this force inside of the group if you really want to advance to it, to bestow to the group. There you come face to face with the end results —with yourself, with the group, and with the Creator. Everything is inside of the group, in the bestowal that you acquire outside of yourself.

And it makes no difference whether you bestow to the group or the Creator. Bestowal in the group means bestowal to the Kelim or desires of others, whereas bestowal to the Creator means that you become more included into the common force of bestowal that reigns inside of these desires.

We have to detach from the religious notions, from our inherent faith in some kind of Creator who rules somewhere up in the sky and influences us from there. Look at how much power this stereotype still has over us! But in fact, there is no upper force outside of us! This force is inside of the group, in the connection between us. And there is nothing besides this reality, which you reveal. There is nothing outside of reality.

By delving increasingly deeper into these notions, you start to understand that this is a very materialistic approach.
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/21/11, The Zohar

Useful And Harmful Fantasies

admin_bb — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:31:29 +0000

Question: If imagination interferes with a scientific approach and leads to religion and philosophy, then how can there be imagination that helps with scientific research?

Answer: The imagination that helps us is not an abstract form separated from matter, but a form of the upper one clothing onto us. Every informational gene, Reshimo, has two parts: information about “today’s” desire (Reshimo de Aviut) and information about “tomorrow’s” Light (Reshimo de Hitlabshut).

For example, there are a couple of Reshimot, Gimel de Aviut/Dalet de Hitlabshut, “3/4.” When I realize Reshimo “3,” I will be able to receive the form of the upper one from the degree “4” within it, and this is referred to as creative fantasy. I do not receive it for realization, but only as an example.

Reshimo de Hitlabshut suggests a new future form to us because it is always a degree higher than our current state. These are “memories” that have stayed with us from the expansion of steps from Above downward, and now we can ascend because of them.

Man operates like a machine. If we have these informational genes, Reshimot, then we are able to work due to them, but if we do not have them, we can’t. If one’s entire memory were erased, he would not consciously know how to move a finger. Have you seen the helpless behavior of newborns? They are not able to make even the smallest conscious move.

Everything only comes from Reshimot, and if I am able to correctly realize my desire (Reshimo de Aviut) on my degree, then I will be able to receive the degree of the upper one which clothes onto me (Reshimo de Hitlabshut) as an example. The fantasy helps us work on this basis.

This is not an empty fantasy that has no grounds to it, but a real form which is meant to manifest.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/2011, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

The World Behind The Boundary Of The Force Of Bestowal

admin_bb — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 07:32:37 +0000

Question: Physicists keep attempting to catch the “X” particle, thinking that it gave start to all matter in the Universe, meaning mass itself. Through their discoveries do they come closer to Kabbalah? How did the material universe form, and at what point does the Upper Force dress in all of these forms visible to us?

Answer: Physics treats the forming of the universe as a new creation while Kabbalah states that the material universe is a product, an “imprint” of the whole previous process when another, new object of creation, a Partzuf, comes to life.

Our world is another Partzuf born out of the previous one: Bina de-Malchut de-Malchut of the world of Assiya. NHY (Netzah, Hod, Yesod), the lower part of this upper Partzuf, expanded downward and clothed into our egoistic matter thereby adding its opposite forms to the latter. This means that all forms manifesting in this world are spiritual albeit dressed in corporeal images (imprints, vectors), meaning “for self gratification.” This is the form in which our world exists.

You are asking at what point it got formed. But time doesn’t exist! We live in an imagined reality, and only when this deception falls away will we be able to see the true picture. Presently, we resemble a person whose head is wired to a few electrodes which send electrical impulses to his brain, creating various images in it and making him feel them as real.

This is how various pictures arise in us, just like on the computer screen as the software dictates. Therefore, there aren’t such things as past, present, and future, but rather a sequence of images.

The upper Partzuf descends from Chazeh of Malchut de-Malchut of the world of Assiya to Malchut that ascended to the lowest Bina, gathers her forms and transfers them into our matter, into Malchut herself. All forms of our world are spiritual imprints albeit egoistic ones.

Here we find the entire world, as well as stars and galaxies, because even in the spiritual world there are the exact same objects: “stars” and “heavens.” But in this world, we see only the reverse projection of a small part of the spiritual world while its major part is out of sight. The spiritual world is much richer in the quantity of components.

Our world is entirely egoistic since it is Bina which doesn’t share its power with Malchut but only its forms. When the rungs of the worlds expand from Above downward, the force of bestowal in them gets reduced, gradually diminishing until it totally runs out.

Finally, at the last degree, when there is nothing left of the force of bestowal except one spark, a “thin candle” (Ner Dakik), this spark is clothed in our world and gives it its form. Our world’s degree is characterized by the fact that here, the force of reception is more powerful than the force of bestowal while at all upper degrees, the force of bestowal is greater than the force of reception.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 01/5/11, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

There Is A Vast Difference Between Kabbalah And The Philosophy Of Spinoza

bb_admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:00:55 +0000

A question I received: I’m studying the videos and texts on the site and I’ve been learning a lot! I’m a teacher of philosophy in Brazil and my focus of study is the thinker Baruch Spinoza, a cherem Jew of the seventeenth century. Spinoza spoke about a God like Nature, a God not external, but internal and equal to Nature (where Nature is not seen only as trees, clouds, and so on, but the superior Nature that includes all of thing and energies). How does Kabbalah see God? And what does Kabbalah think about Spinoza’s philosophy?

My Answer: There is a huge difference between the definition of “God as Nature” in Kabbalah and in Spinoza’s philosophy. For example, there are differences in how they see the Upper Force as having a mind and a will, to make decisions, its goal and program, its separate, superior position over Nature, its causality and primacy, and so on. It would be best for you to sort all of this out for yourself.

To do so, it will suffice to browse through several articles by Baal HaSulam: “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Part 1 of “Talmud Eser Sefirot” – Histaklut Pnimit (Inner Reflection).” Once you read them, I will be happy to speak with you on the subject. I will be in Argentina from August 26 until September 2.

Religious Ethics Are Opposite To Kabbalah

bb_admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:57:43 +0000

A question I received: During the lessons you often remind us that religious ethics is completely different from Kabbalah. But when Baal HaSulam wrote this, didn’t he mean the secular, Greek, or corporeal ethics? Aren’t the ethics of the sages passed on through the Light, in order to direct us toward the realization of evil, so we will know what to ask the Light for, and It will then bring us back to the source?

My Answer: Baal HaSulam uses the term Musar (ethics) to describe the opposite of one’s development using Kabbalah.

Use Your Profession In Philosophy To Explain Kabbalah

bb_admin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:21:53 +0000

Three questions I received about psychology and philosophy as professions:

Question: Today many people work in the fields of psychology, including various techniques for training the mind and soul and for self-improvement. Will these professions be less in demand when the science of Kabbalah becomes revealed? Will all these people be left without work?

My Answer: The profession that will remain is materialistic psychology: the psychology that is founded on real scientific, experimental results.

Question: What is materialistic psychology? I study psychology, but we have not studied anything in this area. Where can I practice and study materialistic psychology?

My Answer: It is the same psychology as what you study, but it is based only on experimental results, without any philosophy and assumptions.

Question: At the Congress you said that you advise people to get a practical profession and you are against all kinds of philosophy. So what should I do if I’m already a student of philosophy and only have to pass the final exams? I live in Israel.

My Answer: You have to find the junction between Kabbalah and philosophy and explain Kabbalah through philosophy. I have some students, including my younger daughter, who have completed studies in philosophy departments. We will find a use for your skills, so go ahead and complete your studies.

Like Kabbalah, De Chardin’s Philosophy Speaks About Humanity’s Desire To Reunite Into One Soul

bb_admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:29:26 +0000

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955, a French theologist and philosopher, one of the developers of the Noosphere theory): His theory is founded on the ideas of Plotinus (205-270) about the emanation of the One (an incognizable Primary Essence, characterized as Goodness) into the Mind and the universal Soul, with the consequent transformation again into the One. According to Plotinus, first the One exudes the universal Mind, which consists of a world of ideas, then the Mind produces a universal Soul, which splits into separate souls and creates a sensitive world. Matter emerges as the lowest degree of the emanation. When the creatures of the sensitive world reach a certain degree of development, they recognize their own incompleteness and strive for a union. Subsequently, they attain adhesion with the One.

According to de Chardin, man strives to enter the sphere of the Mind and to dissolve in God. Evolution did not end with the human being as an individual, but rather proceeds as humanity unites into societies with a growing differentiation of individual functions and as a result, a growing degree of interconnection.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Philosophy and Kabbalah

Kabbalah Is A Science About The Upper World

bb_admin — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:48:05 +0000

Two questions I received on Kabbalah’s relation to other sciences:

Question: When you say Kabbalah is a science, do you mean in the ancient sense of the word? That is, Kabbalah is a body of knowledge (either practical or theoretical wisdom)? Or are you using it in a more modern way: Kabbalah is like chemistry, biology, and geology?

My Answer: Kabbalah reveals the nature of the Upper Light to us. A spark of this Light caused an explosion that created our entire Universe and everything that fills it: the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, including the animate part of humans.

By studying the foundations of everything that exists – matter (desire) and the Light (pleasure), we learn the basis of all the objects and phenomena in our world. For more on this, see the article, “Kabbalah as a Root of All Sciences,” and Part 1 of Talmud Eser Sefirot – Inner Observation.

Question: Kabbalah is not philosophy, but is one philosophy more compatible with it than another? Are there any truths found in philosophy even if they only speak of this world?

My Answer: There is no truth in philosophy because it engages in questions that it has invented for itself, or it tries to answer questions based on suppositions that are unrelated to practical experience (it tries to speak about the “abstract form”).

Even when philosophy speaks about our world, it doesn’t reason about it practically. That is to say, it speaks about something as a form or essence that’s separate from matter. Kabbalah, on the other hand, speaks of the form or essence inside matter and about the form of the matter (see the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar”). Therefore, all the philosophical conclusions made throughout all of human history were erroneous at worst, or imprecise at best. See Baal HaSulam’s articles on this topic.

Where to Defend a Dissertation on Kabbalah

bb_admin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:21:59 +0000

A question I received: I am one of your students from India. My parents want me to get a PhD, but I’m not sure what to do. When I am not working, I spend my free time studying Kabbalah. If I were to start working on this degree, then I would have to devote my time to something that completely doesn’t interest me.

I thought that perhaps I could compromise with my parents and get a PhD, but on a topic of my choice: “The Application of Kabbalah in Parenting and Education” or something along these lines.

The problem is that our universities in India don’t have a Kabbalah department. They only have philosophy and religion departments. So where can I defend this dissertation?

My Answer: Personally, I defended my dissertation on the topic, “Kabbalah as a Form of Irrational Knowledge,” in IPRAS – the Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. You can defend a dissertation on Kabbalah in any philosophy department at any university. Dissertations on Kabbalah are being defended in all Israeli universities at the philosophy departments. We have several Kabbalah doctoral candidates, including my youngest daughter.

In addition, you can find out about defending it in America as well. However, I think that you should be able to come to an agreement on this topic in your university as well. I’m prepared to help you select the topic, choose materials, explain the thesis, and so on. As of today we’ve already published all the principal materials in English.

Philosophy Has Finally Run Its Course

bb_admin — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:30:28 +0000

News Report (translated from www.YNet.co.il): The philosophy department is being closed down! Representatives of the Department of Humanities at Tel Aviv University have announced that they are considering not opening the registration to the Department of Philosophy for the coming school year.

My Comment: We are living in a truly remarkable time! For thousands of years our lives were ruled by human speculation about the essence and meaning of life, and now we are finally reaching the correct conclusion, which coincides with the opinion of Kabbalah – that philosophy has only harmed us all along.

I understand how cruel my words may seem to those who don’t know about the opposition between Kabbalah and philosophy, but I still hope that the closing of the philosophy department at a local university will rouse some interest in you to read Baal HaSulam’s article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy.” To me, an event such as the closing of the philosophy department is a sign from above!

Baal HaSulam. “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” (selected excerpts)

Philosophy has gone through a great deal of trouble to prove that corporeality is the offspring of spirituality and that the soul begets the body – and this is their primary mistake. The meaning of the word “spirituality” has nothing to do with philosophy. How can they discuss something that they have never seen or felt?

Philosophy loves to pride itself in understanding all about His essence. Philosophy has generally worn a mantle that is not its own, for it has pilfered definitions from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and made delicacies with its human understanding. If it had not been for that, they would never have thought of fabricating such acumen.

We will still have to regard only the tangible reality. This erring of separating the operator from the operation comes from the Figurative Philosophy, which insisted on proving that the spiritual act influences the corporeal operation.

The opinion of Kabbalah in this matter is crystal clear, excluding any mixture of philosophy. That is because it is the opinion of the sages of Kabbalah that even the separated spiritual entities, which philosophy denies having any corporeality and displays them as purely conceptual substance, although they are indeed spiritual, more sublime and abstract, consist of a body and soul just like the physical human.

Their thoughts are not our thoughts, for the way of the sages of the Kabbalah is one of finding actual proof of attainment, making its revocation through intellectual pondering impossible.

Philosophy fabricated that the different individuals are not combined materials (Kabbalah believes that everything consists of two forces, the vessel and the Light).

The old philosophy presents three opinions as obstacles before my explanation:
1. Their decision that the power of the human intellect is the eternal soul, man’s essence.
2. Their conjecture that the body is an upshot of the soul.
3. Their saying that spiritual people are simple and not complex.

Not only is it the wrong place to argue with them about their fabricated conjectures, but also their time has already passed and their authority revoked. We should also thank the experts of materialistic psychology for that, having built its plinth on the ruin of the former, winning the public’s favor. Now everyone admits to the nullity of philosophy, for it is not built on concrete foundations.

The old doctrine became a stumbling rock and a deadly thorn to the sages of Kabbalah. Where they should have subdued before the sages of Kabbalah and taken upon themselves abstinence and prudence prior to admittance to even the slightest thing in spirituality, they received what they had wanted easily from the figurative philosophy. Without payment or a price they have watered them from their fountain of wisdom to satiation, and refrained from delving in the wisdom of Kabbalah. As a consequence, the wisdom has almost been forgotten from among Israel.

For that reason we are grateful to materialistic psychology for having beaten it a deadly blow.

Therefore, there was not a salvation for Israel as at the time when the materialistic psychology appeared and struck theological philosophy on its head a lethal blow.

Now, every person who seeks the Lord must bring Kabbalah back to its throne – and restore its past glory.

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