Entries in the 'Science' Category

Is a Gigantic Underground Particle Accelerator a Cause for Worry?

Is a Gigantic Underground Particle Accelerator a Cause for Worry?News Story (translated from 1tv.ru): “Lately there have been many publications in the mass media claiming that our planet is facing a catastrophe. The panic is caused by the announcement that a gigantic particle accelerator is about to be launched. Scientists refer to this construction, which is positioned one hundred meters into the ground, as the greatest achievement of human thought. They say that the accelerator will help us reveal many secrets of the universe. But this unique experiment also has many opponents, who believe that excessive inquiring into the secrets of matter and anti-matter will entail a global threat to humanity.”

My Answer: All our actions, as well as what comes before and after, are contained in the Creator’s plan from the beginning. They emerge there, appear in us as thoughts, and became transformed into actions, which we also carry out according to the Creator’s program. All of us are always in Him! Desires and thoughts descend to us from above, but we think they’re ours because their Source is concealed from us. “Our” desires and thoughts descend from above, from the Creator, even before we desire or think them, and this is what makes us desire and think the things we do.

Man has a limited perception of what’s happening, and that’s why he thinks that he produces his desires and thoughts on his own, and that he can change things in this world with his physical actions. But in truth, this can only be done from above, through the Creator, the Light, Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light). So I recommend calming down, since the scientists are like puppets and all their actions are dictated by the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Playing Hide ‘n’ Seek with the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Talmud Eser Sefirot - A Study Only for Attaining Revelation

 
icon for podpress  Where Do Our Thoughts Come From? [ 02:10m]: Play Now | Download

 
icon for podpress  Film: Kabbalah, Science and the Perception of Reality [09:56m]: Play Now | Download

What Is the Upper Light?

What Is the Upper Light?A question I received: You say that Kabbalah is a science. That’s fair. The two forces of nature, bestowal and receiving. All of nature is nothing but bestowal, and man is the only element in nature that disrupts the balance, he creates disbalance, and this is why we suffer.

Everything is fine until we get to this point. But finally, when we get to the point where we need to fix the balance, you say: Ohr Makif. Hmm… Some light comes out of nowhere and corrects me. And what confuses me the most is that this light comes from a book. Could you please explain or define what “light” is in a practical and clear manner? I thought that Kabbalah was a science about forces, nature, desires, etc. In my perception Upper Light is not a scientific term and directly refers to something esoteric. Maybe you could make this notion more reasonable and comprehensible? What is this force that corrects us? Is this the force of bestowal? Then why is it called Ohr Makif? How can this “light” able to help prevent suffering on our path of development? Is it in any way related to the corporeal light?

My Answer: If I were you with your love for sciences, I would study “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” (Pticha) or maybe I would even start studying Talmud Eser Sefirot! These texts explain several spiritual notions in a scientific language: 1. desire, 2. correction of intention from “for one’s own sake” to “for the sake of the Creator,” 3. fulfillment by the Light, pleasure, the Creator, to the extent of the corrected intention. There is nothing else in Kabbalah.

Ohr Makif is a force that influences us from a more corrected state, which we aspire toward. It responds to your aspiration in the following way: it pulls you to a higher, more altruistic state to the same extent you aspire for it. This is an interaction of two vectors of desires. The same mutual influence of forces also exists in our world, when a person aspires for any new thing. The difference is that when it comes to spiritual aspiration, this force that pulls you to a new state is referred to as Light, because it doesn’t just pull you through its influence upon you, but it also changes you, making you become like the new state, one that is spiritual and altruistic. The difference between this force of Light, and the force that pulls you toward a new state in our world is that, the force in our world doesn’t need to change you to pull you to something. Check it out for yourself to eliminate any doubts.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Physics of the Upper Light
Laitman.com Post: Will God Want to Repeat the Act of Creation?
Laitman.com Post: The Irrationality of Kabbalah

 
icon for podpress  What Is "Light" in Kabbalah? [04:42m]: Play Now | Download

The Physics of the Upper Light

The Physics of the Upper LightAn Attack: How does the Upper Light become a fabric of our world? Do you know it for a fact? — No, you don’t! So here’s my proposal to correct this flaw in Kabbalah. If the singularity of substance and the Upper Light, Partzufim and Sefirot, was to be shown scientifically, then the Kabbalah teaching would conquer the world! But unless physics becomes part of Kabbalah, then it’s never going to happen.

An Attempt to Justify Myself: Who’s being categorical today? The singularity of substance and the Upper Light — No! It’s not that you don’t perceive the Upper Light because it’s hidden - the Upper Light simply doesn’t exist at all until you create it within yourself. Moreover, you lack the corresponding senses needed to create the Upper Light within yourself, and thus, you need to develop these senses. Kabbalah is the method of developing these senses. It reveals the Upper World to you, helping you develop the properties within which you create the Upper World for yourself.

Our world is something that our natural senses, given to us from birth, create within us. That what we perceive (picture) within these senses is referred to as “matter” - our world.

The Upper World is something that is created (pictured, depicted) within us by the spiritual senses that we acquire through Kabbalah. What we perceive through the spiritual senses is referred to as “the Light.”

The science of Kabbalah will never defeat the science of our world, because we perceive science and Kabbalah through two totally different systems: the corporeal and the spiritual.

So how is it going to happen? People will simply come to realize that their sensations, received through their natural senses (the corporeal life, our world), are unfulfilled, and that corporeal science, which is supposed to improve these sensations, is futile. People will reject both science and their sensations, and will hold onto them only to the extent needed for survival until they create the necessary properties, and accordingly, the sensations of the Upper World within themselves. They will then turn to the science of Kabbalah, which is the creation of an eternal and perfect world (sensation) within themselves.

You can try it out for yourself. Many people have already achieved this sensation.

Related Material:
Article: The Science of Kabbalah
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Irrelevant New Findings about the Arc of the Covenant

The Arc of the CovenantA question I received: It’s been around the news lately, that in Ethiopia, in the city of Aksum, archeologists have found the palace of Queen Sheba. Inside, the researchers found an altar and Judaism’s most valuable treasure - the Arc of the Covenant. According to legend, the Arc contained Moses’s stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, and it was brought to Ethiopia by Menelik - the son of Queen Sheba and King Solomon. The scientists believe that Menelik changed his faith and began worshiping Sirius, but he kept the Arc - a chest made of acacia and covered with gold plates. ITAR-TASS notes that there were evident traces of calf sacrifices around the Arc.” In your opinion, could this be true, or is it just another piece of gossip?

My Answer: I don’t know whether it’s true and I don’t care. With the fall of the Second Temple, when people fell from “love thy neighbor” to “unfounded hatred,” holiness left Israel, as well as all of the Temple’s paraphernalia, because it’s the people who make these objects holy, and not the objects themselves. Rather than striving for material objects, which don’t contain any spirituality, we should strive to obtain the property of bestowal and love for all people, since this is holiness and the property of the Creator. However, as it seems, we are willing to do everything but this!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Corporeality Has No Effect on Spirituality
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Laitman.com Post: Egyptian Pyramids and Spiritual Geography
Kabbalah Today Article: Inherit the Land
Baal HaSulam Article: The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

 
icon for podpress  Jerusalem of the Heart: Play Now | Download

Scientists Have Turned Everything Upside Down (Again)

Scientists Have Turned Everything Upside Down (Again)News Story: DNA Explodes Greek Myth About Women

“Women in Ancient Greece were major power brokers in their own right, researchers have discovered, and often played key roles in running affairs of state. Until now it was thought they were treated little better than servants.

The discovery is part of an investigation by Manchester researchers into the founders of Mycenae, Europe’s first great city-state and capital of King Agamemnon’s domains.

‘It was thought that in those days women were rated as little more than chattels in Ancient Greece,’ said Professor Terry Brown, of the faculty of life sciences at Manchester University. ‘Our work now suggests that notion is wrong.’”

My Comment: Science never insists on anything, but only states whatever it considers to be fact at a given moment. The opinion of tomorrow will be opposite to the opinion of today. I hope that the same will soon happen to our perception of the cause of evil in the world and how to eliminate it. People are gradually starting to understand that it is not our actions that harm nature and evoke its negative reaction upon us, it is our egoistic thoughts.

Take, for example, Carbon Belch Day: Grassfire.org’s protest against taxation for financing the fight against carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, their protest against Al Gore’s “absurdity,” and against the feelings of guilt for ruining the climate.

In our world, we see only the consequences of the Upper Force’s influence; we do not see the connections between the forces, what takes place between them. Even when we observe the cause and consequences in our world, it only seems like they take place within the plane of our world. In reality, however, they come from their own cause, pass through the Upper World, and then return to our world, bringing about the consequences we see. Every event in our world is a consequence of the governing force that descends from above. If, instead of seeing part of the world’s picture, we were to see all of the forces - the causes and consequences - we would discover that it is not carbon dioxide emissions affecting the atmosphere (contrary to the “obvious” facts we see today), but that it is the Upper Forces that determine the atmosphere, and the main component of these forces is our desires and thoughts (heart and reason).

Related Material:
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Lecture: A United New Civilization (Transcript)

 
icon for podpress  Can the Global Suffering Be Avoided? [03:35m]: Play Now | Download

Will God Want to Repeat the Act of Creation?

Will God Want to Repeat the Act of Creation?Questions I received on a scientific experiment that aims to reproduce the formation of creation: This week I saw an interview with a scientist specializing in quantum physics who talked about a project that he and seventy other scientists from around the world are planning. Next month, they want to reproduce the entire formation of creation with the aim of finding some missing photon. For this purpose they have constructed a 27km long tunnel between Switzerland and France, as well as various tools. The interesting thing was that at the end of the interview, this scientist said that they will succeed only if God so wishes, and if He doesn’t, then they won’t! My questions in relation to this are as follows:

Question: Will this affect the world, climate, pollution, and so on?

My Answer: No. Only our thoughts and desires have an effect on these.

Question: How can a scientist rely on God?

My Answer: Who else should a scientist rely on at a time when science is already showing itself to be the science of its own end?

Question: What do you think they’ll discover?

My Answer: Even if they were to discover the “missing photon,” they would discover thousands more questions behind it, and this would continue forever, because the second part to the world is the upper part, and it’s hidden from them. Moreover, the barrier separating them from it is a spiritual barrier, and this is why it cannot be penetrated with a physical accelerator. One needs spiritual preparation in order to do this, to ascend over one’s egoism with the property of bestowal and love for one’s neighbor. The scientists want to attain the forces controlling our world, and they’ll continue the way they are until they come to understand and feel, as a result of their experiments, that they need to change themselves - the observer.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: When Will Scientists Trying to Control Nature Realize that Nature Is Controlling Them?
Laitman.com Post: How to Make Nature Change
Laitman.com Post: Can Identifying the Chemical Pathways and Brain Structures that Generate Religious Experiences Lead Us to Spirituality?
Article: The Sixth Sense
Article: Exploring the Boundary Between Science and Spirituality

 
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Creation and Evolution

Creation and EvolutionThe descent of the Upper Forces evokes the birth, or emergence, of an expanding universe, both the universe as a whole and each of its parts: the formation of microscopic particles and atoms, the complication of the structure of matter, chemical interactions that are set in motion by heating-uncharging and condensing-cooling, the formation of structures, the congestion of substances, and the formation of stars, galaxies and planets. On one of these planets, bio-polymers form - the basis of life. Their evolution constitutes the evolution of life, leading to the emergence of reason, consciousness, and eventually, the human, an intelligent bio-mass that is aware of its own existence – Behina 4 (Phase 4).

The human, however, is only the first and lowest degree of the ladder upon which he ascends (and the universe and this world ascend together with him). This ladder leads to the state where the human is fully conscious of the entire universe, a state called the World of Infinity, complete adhesion with the General Upper Force of the entire super-system.

As matter develops, its speed of development constantly increases. When the human emerges, the developing system’s acceleration is at its utmost. A social community of people emerges, and egoism’s growth develops it into an informational community. Mass media and communication channels unify everyone in one place, opinion, consciousness and experience. A person becomes a cell in the organism of the general system, similar to a cell in our body. Everyone’s unification within one organism is determined from the beginning. Every person’s dependence and influence on others is determined by the informational unification, rather than the physical one. The more the information is qualitatively developed, the greater influence it has on the entire system – an influence that is physical, informational, cognitive and spiritual. The spiritual influence bears the greatest result on the whole system, raising it in the general, collective consciousness to the level of the super-system - called “the Creator.”

Related Material:
Kabbalah Today Article: Creation and Evolution
Article: Soul as a System in the Model of the Universe
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eBook: The Science of Kabbalah (Pticha)

 
icon for podpress  A Talk about the Attainment of the Universe with Michael Laitman [01:36:38m]: Play Now | Download

 
icon for podpress  A Talk about the Attainment of the Universe with Michael Laitman [01:36:38m]: Play Now | Download

Breathe in that Antidepressive Incense

Breathe in that Antidepressive IncenseNews Story: Burning Incense Is Psychoactive: New Class Of Antidepressants Might Be Right Under Our Noses

“Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs might be right under our noses.

‘In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of Bosweilla had not been investigated for psychoactivity,’ said Raphael Mechoulam, one of the research study’s co-authors. ‘We found that incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior. Apparently, most present day worshipers assume that incense burning has only a symbolic meaning.’”

My Comment: So this is how religion has been tricking us all along!

 
icon for podpress  Revelation vs. Belief - The Difference Between Kabbalah and Religion [03:27m]: Play Now | Download

Take a Sniff and Become Like the Creator!

Take a Sniff and Become Like the Creator!(A Joyous) News Story: Trust Drug May Cure Social Phobia

“A nasal spray which increases our trust for strangers is showing promise as a treatment for social phobia, say scientists from Zurich University.

They found that people who inhaled the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin continued to trust strangers with their money - even after they were betrayed.

Brain scans showed the hormone lowered activity in the amygdala - a region which is overactive in social phobics.

Drug trials are under way and early signs are promising say the scientists.

Nicknamed the ‘cuddle chemical,’ oxytocin is a naturally produced hormone, which has been shown to play a role in social relations, maternal bonding, and also in sex.

Lead researcher Dr Thomas Baumgartner said: ‘We now know for the first time what exactly is going on in the brain when oxytocin increases trust.

We found that oxytocin has a very specific effect in social situations. It seems to diminish our fears.

Based on our results, we can now conclude that a lack of oxytocin is at least one of the causes for the fear experienced by social phobics.

‘We hope and indeed we expect that we can improve their sociability by administering oxytocin.’”

My Comment: Here we’ve been wondering how to change human nature so people would start trusting each other, being friends, and loving and caring for one another, but now all you have to do is take a sniff, and then you’re already like the Creator!

Related Posts:
* Can Identifying the Chemical Pathways and Brain Structures that Generate Religious Experiences Lead Us to Spirituality?
* When Will Scientists Trying to Control Nature Realize that Nature Is Controlling Them?
* Do Our Choices Originate in Our Brain or in Our Desire?

History from Kabbalah’s Point of View

History from Kabbalah\'s Point of ViewA question I received: Please explain why questions about history are inappropriate? Studying something without knowing its basic principles, such as its history, is rather difficult, if not outright impossible.

My Answer: Rabash taught me to be concerned not with history, but with actual practical attainment. Why scatter about with external phenomena and images of people when you can be attaining? Beginners, however, and those without a point in the heart (i.e. a desire for spirituality) are attracted to history. The same applies to the study of Kabbalah: someone with a point in the heart doesn’t study it, but attracts the Upper Light, whereas someone without a point in the heart studies it like a science and knows the printed material much better than someone who has actually attained this material. See Baal HaSulam’s commentary on the Jerusalem Kabbalists. [Read more →]