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Two questions I received about using Kabbalah incorrectly and the possible outcomes of doing so

Question: Is there a chance that someone will start studying Kabbalah “too early,” and then not have the time to develop his ego, in order to then defeat it and transform it to the will to bestow? After all “The Light is only born out of darkness.” While one’s will to receive develops, one can use this time to build his career, create a family and provide for it, so that later he would really be able to concentrate on studying Kabbalah and growing spiritually (for example, after he’s forty years old).

My Answer: A person should test Kabbalah as soon as he hears about it, because one must develop everything harmoniously from the early years: family, children, work, etc., as well as spiritual development. Otherwise he will grow up to be an animal and his entire life will have gone to waste. Kabbalists do not put any age restrictions on revealing Kabbalah. Moreover, they write that if it were up to them, they would teach Kabbalah to children from an early age. My students and I teach our children Kabbalah while they are still babies - after all, this is the most necessary knowledge a person can have, and without it he’s just a miserable animal. With this education we protect our kids from drugs and other problems; they stay with us and do the same thing their parents do – it’s been tested!

Question: I’m scared, I think that I won’t be able to resurrect, I’m afraid that I’m not doing enough, that I lack strength and desire.

My Answer: The worst thing that can happen is that you won’t attain your full correction in this life, and then you’ll return into this world again to “finish correcting yourself.” You will definitely return if you don’t finish the correction, because in the final and perfect state, we already exist in “state 3,” and it must be really attained by everyone!

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 Do We Reincarnate? [02:56m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received: The more Kabbalah is revealed to the world, the more the forces controlling this world are revealed. Does this mean that we’re going to see more and more of the world’s problems resolved if we realize that we’ve created an illusion for ourselves in this world? I am particularly referring to cancer. With our egoism we have created a terrorist in our body that we can’t control. We have built a massive industry around this illusion, including our educational system, medicine, fund raising, government, the pharmaceutical system, and health care industries. The pain and suffering that have been created by this illusion are just as enormous as the stress and anxiety it has created in the world. The realization that cancer is a force in the body that’s controlled by the brain makes it something that can be fully controlled by the mind.

My Answer: Certainly everything we perceive is a picture created by us, by our egoism (the picture of our world) or by the quality of bestowal (the picture of the Upper World). How we “depict” it depends on us, on our desire + intention. However, it is impossible for an individual to “depict” the picture of the world - it can only be done with everybody together, or in the very least, in a group. This is because spirituality is “depicted” in the connection between us, between the souls.

Incidentally, it’s the same with our egoistic world – we depict (imagine) it in our attitude to others, i.e. in selfish desires. Souls do not see the picture of the world within themselves; they see it in what’s between them, in the quality of the connection between them. Therefore, because of your dependence on others, the other cogs in the system, you cannot use Kabbalah to cure yourself or put yourself into a comfortable state. Moreover, as long as there remain to be people needing correction, disasters and diseases will also remain. We will “depict” one beautiful picture only when we (i.e. humanity as a whole) correct ourselves together.

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 TV Program: Natural Disasters [27:17m]: Play Now | Download

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The 15th issue of the Kabbalah Today publication is now available.

* View eVersion
* Download PDF Version
* Download Word Version

Editor’s Note
Shedding Spiritual Light on Modern Crises

Read Article >>>

Mankind’s Growing Hunger
The current food crisis has been declared a ‘silent tsunami’ in recent headlines. Kabbalah explains the root of the problem, and shows us how to avert this growing threat.
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The Gatekeeper
Who is the guard standing at the entrance to the spiritual world who decides who shall enter and who shall not? A journey following Kafka, Baal Hasulam, two parables, and one gate.
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Education, Relationships, Angels and the 72 Names of God
Kabbalist Michael Laitman answers questions on his weekly live TV show, “Ask the Kabbalist” and on his personal blog - www.laitman.com
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Global Warming: So What?
With the abundant information available to the mass public today, everyone knows about global warming and climate change. But as it turns out, knowing and caring do not always go hand in hand.
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From Racial Rifts to Spiritual Harmony
Why were we all created different? So far, this seems to have brought us nothing but schisms. Kabbalah explains how to put the pieces together.
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The Story of Cogwheels
This is a story about all of us - about children and parents, about where we came from, how we got here, and how we will return Home - to a place called “The Single Soul.”
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Opening Our Eyes
All of reality is a single, unchanging thought of bestowal and giving. Kabbalists refer to this thought by the name, “The Thought of Creation.”
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Two questions I received on expressing love and egoism

Question: Imagine a situation where a person who has no connection to Kabbalah sacrifices his life in battle to save his friend, even though he knows that he will die doing this. Isn’t this the revelation of the greatest love possible?

My Answer: In our world, this may very well be the greatest possible expression of love, but this is not the case in the Upper World. It’s because people are taught to die this way through education, examples, and brainwashing, which teach them concepts that they must adhere to, even at the expense of their lives. For example, submarine crews are trained in such a way. However, these people still remain as egoists, it’s just that they receive a different program of fulfilling their egoism. There are many instances when people risk their lives and even go to their death willingly. It is much more difficult to reject egoism than to die.

Question: Do egoists perceive the Upper World?

My Answer: They think they do.

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A question I received: I understand that the issue of education is one of the most important things to you, and it must be the first thing on your agenda. Today, society disregards teachers, and they suffer from ridiculous budgets and low salaries (compared to the social sector). Additionally, classes are overcrowded with twice the permitted number of students, and there are always several children in a class who require special attention.

Moreover, teachers often need to explain the basic values and norms of behavior, since parents have no choice but to spend very little time with their children. I would like to know your opinion: Is it possible to change the situation, and how? Where will the teachers draw the strength to come out of this current state?

My Answer: Only our dissemination of Kabbalah among parents, the realization of their hopelessness, and their fear for their children will force parents to change the current education system or create a different one, which will work on creating “people” out of children.

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 Lecture about Children's Education [51:41m]: Play Now | Download

 

 Lecture about Children's Education [51:41m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received: Kabbalah says that we are governed by the Upper Force. In this case, how should I relate to raising my children? How can I raise them when they and I are controlled from above? Children aren’t something inanimate, like a traffic light or a computer, so how should I raise them?

My Answer: In one way or another, children live in a society or environment from which they receive all “the good and the bad.” Nature has given you the responsibility to raise them, to determine what will fill them during their initial ten to fifteen years of their life. In other words, you are “molding” them, and you also determine what educational institutions they attend and who their teachers and friends are.

A question I received: How soon will a Kabbalistic elementary school be established? I am afraid of sending my children to a regular school or day care.

My Answer: We already have such schools, to some extent. And you can try creating them in other places as well.

A question I received: Is it possible to visit your center in Israel with children?

My Answer: Yes. You need to coordinate your visit with our reception by calling 1-700-509-209.

 

 A Talk about Children's Education [10:18m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received in response to an Israeli news post “8% of Teenagers in Israel Have Tried to Commit Suicide“: A recent study shows that approximately 8% of teenagers in Israel have at some point tried to commit suicide. This is a plea for help. We need to listen to our teenagers and be mindful of their concerns.

My Answer: It’s not the teenagers who have a plea for help. It’s their inner emptiness, the Reshimo that is crying out for fulfillment. Thus, we should give them the method capable of fulfilling this Reshimo: Kabbalah. My children never went through any such states. We raised them within Bnei Baruch’s framework, by teaching them Kabbalah’s basic concepts, and none of them (in all possible age groups, from 2 to 20 and up) have ever shown such problems.

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1. Globalization has become a key factor in the world’s economic, political and cultural development. It incorporates the international market, all the social processes, and the lives of each and every one of us. However, it doesn’t solve any political, economical, social, cultural or religious problems.

2. A new kind of education is needed to reconcile us with this new reality. In the past, education was structured within the boundaries of an egoistic and disconnected world. New education should take place naturally, rather than through Nature’s painful influence. One way or another, Nature will force us to change - to change our way of thinking and to make our relationships truly global. But unlike previous transformations, we don’t have to undergo the current transformation by force. For the very first time, we can do it ourselves, consciously.

3. The common culture should not be replaced with a global culture forcefully, like how we usually do things. For instance, today we are forcing our children to study by old methods, even though they are ready for “the new humanity.” We instinctively strive to suppress everything new, while they naturally strive toward it.

4. For the first time in history, mass media must assume an educational role. Instead of being a dubious source of information, mass media needs to earn our trust by contributing to the education of the new generation. Mass media should initiate the change, and later, educational institutions will follow. This is because all social changes need to begin from “below,” in other words, they should touch people’s lives, morals and cultural-religious traditions. The new should not replace the old by force, but naturally, by revealing the globality of nature and society. Then the new will replace the old painlessly.

5. Kabbalistic education is not coercive, because it does not strive to bring everyone to the same educational and cultural level. On the contrary, people can keep all possible levels and cultures, because Kabbalistic education raises people above their various cultures. Instead of making them collide, it unites them even more strongly due to such differences.

Therefore, Kabbalistic education prevents the clash of cultures, ideologies, and nations. As Baal HaSulam writes, everyone can remain in their religions.

6. Even though Kabbalah brings everyone to a single consciousness, bringing people together as cogwheels in a single mechanism, it doesn’t lessen anyone’s individual role. This is because it helps a person find his or her place in the mechanism, in the mutual connection of all people. Each one of us discovers the best possible state that Nature has prepared for us.

Kabbalistic education enables people to accept the same principles of existence in the world, so that one’s individual consciousness turns into collective consciousness, and later into the consciousness of one civilization. After that, as Baal HaSulam writes, the boundaries start disappearing and a single civilization emerges, in which the citizens are single-minded in their aspiration to unite with the Creator.

Parting with independence, the disappearance of boundaries and cultures, and the creation of a single spiritual authority should not happen coercively, but by realizing the need to unite with the Creator.

Mass education can happen through TV shows and internet games, and by prohibiting the glorification of egoistic fulfillment and forceful influence over the world.

7. Globalization evokes the sensation that the world is small. Yet the growing awareness of the single system of souls makes it a warm world, where we can all rely on one another.

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A question I received: Lately people in Israel are talking about combining traditions with children’s education. They want to bring the traditions and elements of Judaism into the general curriculum, but as the national culture, rather than religion.

Even secular parents, who weren’t taught to honor traditions as children, want their children to adopt these traditions, hoping that this will give them a different perspective on life and the world and prevent problems like drugs, alcoholism, depression and other diseases of our time. They hope that this will keep their children away from harm and make their lives safer.

My Answer: Kabbalah says that traditions can have a positive influence on people, as long as they are perceived as the nation’s cultural heritage and as long as they are kept for strengthening the family unit. However, in every other respect, people should live according to what Nature demands of them, according to its program of evolution.

According to Nature (or the plan of creation), man must understand Nature, discover how it is connected into a single, integral and perfect system, and consciously integrate himself into it as an integral, intelligent element.

In order to make us want to understand Nature and consciously integrate with it, Nature shows us our lack of harmony with it. We perceive such imbalance as all kinds of suffering, like wars, problems and distress. Gradually, we start realizing that all these problems are global and interconnected, and that they are all symptoms of one problem.

We then start understanding that maybe we’re the ones with the problem. This is what Nature is pushing us to understand, and not to uphold traditions. However, if traditions and other boundaries help us become corrected and fulfill Nature’s global plan, then of course, we should have them as well.

Concerning the plan you describe, of what the teachers and parents are hoping to do, I’m certain that it won’t work, because children have no such desire. Subconsciously, their desire is already directed at discovering the purpose of creation - the existence of the Creator. Our children are a completely different generation: They aren’t simply enormous egoists. Their desire for spirituality, called “the point in the heart,” is already being revealed. This desire is the embryo of the soul, and it is demanding its development. Previous generations did not have such giant egoism within their points in the heart.

Egoism has been evolving over thousands of years, demanding fulfillment from this world the whole time. However, today it isn’t the egoism that demands fulfillment, but the point in the heart, and this is why children no longer desire our world, but something else… something that’s still unclear. By acting the way we do, we imprison them; but to us, it seems like this is what’s best for them. Our generation does not have the time nor the place for these experiments. We need to immediately figure out what is going on, and then we will understand how we should raise our children!

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I would like to invite you all to share your ideas on creating new games for children!

The games should be aimed at showing children how we triumph when we connect with others, and as such, they should act as live examples of the greatness that lies in achieving the goal that Nature is urging us toward.

As well as showing children how we triumph when we connect with others, the games should also show how without such a connection, we fail. In short, the main principle that should be put across is that

• if you connect with others, you succeed, and
• if you don’t connect with others, you fail.

Moreover, in order to create such a connection, you need to slightly let go of yourself.

The critical point in the games should be when the child realizes that “I really don’t want to let go of myself, but if I can do it, then I win with everyone else.” Winning can only be together with everyone, and not alone. This is where the main artistry in creating these games lies.

I recommend that you watch the video clip below (from yesterday’s lesson) before sending your ideas, where I provide a broader explanation of this proposal.

(Note: Send your ideas in the comment form below.)

 

 VIDEO: New Children's Games - Rav Laitman in the Lesson on 7 April, 2008 [02:59m]: Play Now | Download

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