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A question I received: The article “Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them” states that, according to a research that was performed, “researchers using brain scanners could predict people’s decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them.” So my question regarding this is simply, do we have freedom of choice?

My Answer: A person doesn’t realize that his inner system of desires has already made all the calculations and put out the result. Such studies prove what Kabbalah has been saying all along: everything depends on our desire, and not on our external, philosophical reasoning. Thus, only the Upper Light can correct us; we cannot correct ourselves on our own.

 

 Freedom of Choice [15:59m]: Play Now | Download

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A question I received on my post Depression – the Epidemic of the 21st Century: I usually hear you talking about materialistic psychology. What is it?

My Answer: Materialistic psychology explains everything that is based on precise experiments, statistics, without the use of philosophy or psychological theories - it’s nothing but bare practice!
The following is an excerpt from the article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy,” where Baal HaSulam writes about materialistic philosophy:

“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.

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

Related Material:
* BLOG POST: Philosophy and Kabbalah
* LESSON: The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy - Baal HaSulam’s article with commentary by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD - wmv video | mp3 audio [57:39]

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A comment I received: I’m curious about other methods because Rav has mentioned them, and I’ve heard that there are other schools in America. In fact, the first Kabbalah book I read was written by an American author. I’m wondering what Rav thinks about other Kabbalah methods, even though I’m pretty sure that he has a negative opinion of them, judging by what he said about Madonna. Still, I’d like to know why he feels this way, and would appreciate a better explanation than “Other methods have nothing to do with Kabbalah.”

My Response: Instead of talking about some other methods in particular, I’ll tell you what authentic Kabbalah is.

It’s not amulets, red strings, holy water, Tarot cards, sorcery, blessings, fortunetelling, dream interpretation, self-help, or healing. That is to say, it’s not any of the things that pertain to our world, aiming to improve one’s life or to give one control over it.

Neither is Kabbalah the study of false Kabbalistic sources, that is, texts written by people who are not recognized Kabbalists, such as philosophers, theologians, researchers, modern gurus, and others.

Moreover, Kabbalah is not when one studies authentic Kabbalistic texts in order to know what they say or to be able to “manipulate” this knowledge as if one understands it. In truth, all this is nothing more than intellectual exercises.

Furthermore, Kabbalah is not the promises that religious leaders make of a better life, a reward in this world or in the world to come, which they wrongly believe awaits man after death.

All these methods aim to receive a profit or reward from the study of Kabbalah, either in this world or in the world to come.

But authentic Kabbalah is just one thing - “the revelation of the Creator to a person.” This means that within oneself, one reveals the property of love for one’s neighbor, the property of bestowal, and rejects one’s egoism - here and now! A person stops thinking about himself, and his only motivation is to improve the situation others are in, in order to give the Creator delight.

Obviously, this is not what a person wants when he first begins to study Kabbalah. Instead, he is driven by a desire to understand the meaning and purpose of his life, to answer the question “What am I living for?” or “What is worth living for?” But as he keeps studying, he gradually starts to understand that this world, and him, exist for a reason - to attain the Creator, the property of bestowal and love.

This property, “love for others,” is absolutely opposite to one’s egoistic nature. Therefore, the goal of Creation - for one to acquire this property - becomes revealed to a person gradually, as much as he’s capable of hearing about it. To this extent, he begins to understand the Kabbalistic texts, to feel what they describe through the newly acquired property of bestowal and love.

In the article, The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, Baal HaSulam writes:
What is the wisdom of Kabbalah? To sum it all up, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator by all possible means. It’s the revelation of all His properties and manifestations, which are revealed in the worlds or which will be revealed in the future, until the end of all generations.

My Current Mood: jealous

* Myths About Kabbalah

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The image on the right is a page from a Latin translation of The Book of Zohar, ascribed to Isaac Newton.

In the book, The Religion of Isaac Newton, Frank E. Manuel wrote that “Isaac Newton was convinced that Moses possessed the knowledge of all scientific secrets.” Dr Seth Pancoast wrote that “Isaac Newton was led to the discovery of physical laws (forces of gravitation and repulsion) through the study of Kabbalah.”

A Latin translation of The Book of Zohar (Kabbalah Denudata), was found in Newton’s library, and is currently kept at the Trinity College in Cambridge. Isaac Newton based his scientific research on philosophical principles. In particular, Newton wrote: “In my books I laid down the principles of philosophy that are not purely philosophical, but also mathematical, which can serve as the basis for discussing physical matters. So that they don’t seem fruitless, I accompanied them with some physical explanations” (Newton I., Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1686, V. 3, “The System of the World,” p. 501).

* 5 Things You Should Know About The Zohar
* Download The Zohar

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Philosophy has placed a lot of effort into proving that the corporeal is produced by the spiritual, that the soul begets the body. This is, of course, nothing more than philosophy’s invention. The spiritual has nothing to do with the corporeal; there’s no connection between them whatsoever.

Philosophy’s whole uselessness and confusion lies in that it takes pride in a theoretical understanding of the Creator. Kabbalah, on the other hand, is based on and speaks only about actual attainment.

The spiritual represents a force unclothed by a body, and therefore, it is without corporeal form, without any connection to the corporeal. As far as the soul goes, philosophy considers spiritual entities to be unattainable, attributing them to the category of pure reason.

How can the spiritual beget and sustain the corporeal? Such a question is only difficult for philosophers. This question presents no difficulty to a Kabbalist, because Kabbalists attain the total opposite of what philosophers imagine. Moreover, according to Kabbalists, any property of a spiritual object is similar to its corporeal property.

The time of philosophers has passed, and their reign has ended – thanks to materialistic psychologists. Materialistic psychology was built on the ruins of philosophy. Today, everyone understands philosophy’s uselessness, because it lacks a legitimate foundation. The opportunity to disclose Kabbalah to the world arose when materialistic psychology came about, and inflicted a victorious blow to philosophic theology.

Today, Kabbalah will be able to prove its validity by clarifying the uselessness and falsehood of philosophic theology, which inherited the throne of Kabbalah such a long time ago.

Based on: Y. Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

My Current Mood: confused

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