Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 3, Part 8, Question 36: "Place." Time, motion, and place are practically the same notion, which determines the relative change and renewal of form (desires). However, when we are speaking of the order of the descent of the levels, this is called the change of "place," whereas when we are speaking of cause and effect, it is called "the order of time."

Why are time, motion, and place practically the same notion? It’s because they are changes taking place in our desires, Kelim. The will to enjoy undergoes changes. But why do I think and feel one change as the flow of time, and another as a change of place, motion? Why do I perceive everything that happens as changes in time, motion, and place?

Isn’t motion a place? After all, if I change my place, it means I am in motion. Yet I am told, "No, this is a completely different category." However, all the categories are changes taking place in the will to enjoy. In relation to what? Only in relation to the quality of bestowal that it has, meaning the degree of its inclusion into Bina.

Malchut can become included in Bina in three forms, which are called time, motion, and place." They give Malchut different sensations. What kind? When we are speaking of the order of the descent of the levels, meaning the successive changes of states, this is called the change of "place," which is when one’s level or inner state changes. Whereas when we are speaking of the cause and effect, of what happens first and what happens next, meaning that it is not the places that change, but their order, it is called "the order of time." And if we speak about what kind of state was present in every place, this is called "place."
[29944]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/10, Talmud Eser Sefirot

Related Material:
Spiritual Development: From Embryo To Person
A Person Who Draws The Worlds
The Universal Law Of Nature

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Perception, Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: How can I attach the desires of others to myself in order to attain a common prayer?

Answer: You have to understand that all the corrections happen inside our common sphere, which is called a “place.”

If my thoughts are anywhere outside of this common place, it means I am outside of Malchut of the World of Atzilut, outside of Malchut of the World of Infinity, outside of the group, the “place” where the Creator is revealed (the Creator is called a “place”). This means I am outside of reality.

The place where He is revealed is called reality. This world, where the Creator is concealed, is not considered to be actually existent. All of the spiritual reality is revealed inside of our common Kli, vessel, or desire.
[29159]
From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/8/10, Beit Shaar HaKavanot

Related Material:
Give Yourself To The Friends Without Leaving Out Anything
Place Of Residence: The Group

Filed under: Collective Soul, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Prayer and Intention, Q&A - No Comments →

A question I received: There is no time in the spiritual, but shouldn’t we act within the framework of corporeal time?

My Answer: When we enter the perception of the spiritual world, we act only in a field of forces – like in an ocean, where water surrounds us from all sides. In reality, this field is called just that – “water,” since it is primarily the Light of Hassadim (the Light of Mercy, “water”), where life, the Light of Hochma, is also present.

The Light of Hassadim fills everything with itself. It does not have right or left sides, a top or a bottom. Across the whole ocean of Light of Hassadim, from its center, circles disperse, which are levels of the Light of Hochma.  This is like a magnetic or electrical field, the strength of which changes as the distance from the center increases.

When a person enters spiritual sensation, he perceives everything with senses that have no perception of time, motion, space, or existence of reality, like in our world.

Although spiritual space has its own time, motion, space, and existence of reality, they are merely called an analogy to the corporeal ones. Time is what we call actions, which a person performs by changing himself.

The result of these actions, a person’s inner change and his relocation to the spiritual field, is called movement. He moves in this field according to his changes, becoming more and more similar to this field and drawing closer to its center.

Place is his disposition in the same field. He always exists in a point of his balance with the field, like a charge in a magnetic or electrical field.

The cycles, which he goes through sequentially, drawing closer to his center and performing inner changes in himself, are called worlds.

(From the first lesson of the North American Congress  10.16.09)

Filed under: Conventions - No Comments →

A question I received: Please show me practically, using examples from history, how do Reshimot change?

My Answer: The periodical change of our attitude to life is dictated by the changing “genes” in us (Reshimot, which comes from the word Roshem - “recording” in Hebrew). The stages of egoism’s changes are recorded inside each of us from the beginning, when the common soul divided into many souls.

Reshimot are revealed in us in an increasing, consecutive order: 0-1-2-3-4. Therefore, at the beginning stages of their realization in us, the Reshimot brought forth a small egoism in us; and in those lives we were “naïve” – slaves and masters. Then, as more advanced Reshimot surfaced in us, when we were born in the next epochs, we desired to be freer, to be workers, such as vassals or serfs. Women were married off without their permission, and this was considered “correct.” They loved their husbands because their small egoism did not get in the way. This was the accepted norm.

And after that, as more advanced Reshimot were expressed in us, we desired to be “free” workers for hire, employers but not masters. We desired freedom and equality (including for women), and so on.

Reshimot elicit desires in us, and the desires provoke the mind to achieve what we desire. Today we can see nations in whom different Reshimot were expressed in the same epoch, and therefore we don’t live in one cultural zone, but in different cultures and formations. However, globalization is bringing about a quick realization of Reshimot in every person and in everyone together.

In regard to choice:

• marriage (voluntary – through love, or forced – stealing the bride, paying a ransom, marrying by the father’s order, and so on),

• power (coercive – although later accepted and loved, like in Russia until today; by election; or inherited),

• place of residence (being attached to the place, having a residence permit, a passport system, free movement),

• and according to other signs, one can tell which Reshimot were realized in a nation or a civilization.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Path of Light Versus the Path of Suffering
Laitman.com Post: We Raise the Entire Universe Up to the Creator

 "Kabbalah Revealed" Episode 3: The Path of Pain & the Path of Torah and Mitzvot [24:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 

Filed under: History - 1 Comment →

In the News (from Science): American microbiologists have created a synthetic microbial system, wherein altruistic microbes that produced a resource beneficial to the public, at a cost to themselves, nonetheless benefited the most in the end, despite losing the competition to egoistic bacteria in each separate population. The affluence of the altruists is attributed to the statistical effect known as “Simpson’s Paradox.”

My Answer: This is taking place on an animate, egoistic level. This is not the altruism that’s above egoism, but rather one that helps egoism to continue existing in conflicting situations.

The altruism that Kabbalah speaks of, and the one we must attain, is above egoism and it utilizes egoism as a basis. This is only possible under the influence of the Upper Light, and only when one consciously uses one’s egoism, instead of the natural egoism of the animate body.

A Kabbalist’s body works by the same egoistic principle as the body of any animal! The confusion stems from the fact that all the books of the Torah, including Kabbalah, use the word “body” to allude to the body of the soul – or in other words, one’s desires. After all, the desire is the only thing that was created; it is the entire matter of creation.

Filed under: Science - No Comments →

In the News (from The New Scientist): According to physicist Craig Hogan, GEO600 [a detector of gravitational waves] has stumbled upon the fundamental limit of space-time – the point where space-time stops behaving like the smooth continuum Einstein described and instead dissolves into “grains.”

If this doesn’t blow your socks off, then Hogan has an even bigger shock in store: “If the GEO600 result is what I suspect it is, then we are all living in a giant cosmic hologram.” … Our everyday experience might itself be a holographic projection of physical processes that take place on a distant, 2D surface.

My Comment: According to Kabbalah, “The particular and the general are equal as two drops of water.” Everything consists of ten Sefirot, which in turn divide into an infinite number of parts, each of which repeats the same structure of ten Sefirot. This was even described by Abraham in his book, The Book of Creation (Sefer Yetzira), where he writes: “Ten Sefirot: Ten and not nine, ten and not eleven.” It’s the same in all parts and in the entire creation.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Speaks Only About How Man Can Attain the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Quantum Physics: A Journey to Flatland
Laitman.com Post: We Are In the Center of All the Worlds
“Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”

Filed under: Science - 1 Comment →

In the News: (from TNS): “Online news is ‘highly trusted’ by two fifths (40%) of those polled” Online news seems to be globally widespread with an average of two fifths (40%) across all 16 countries in the report trusting online news, while traditional press is decreasing (39%). 10% of respondents trust blogs, Wikipedia (24%) is as highly trusted as newspapers.

My Comment: In the future, as we will try to minimize our actions and expenses, the printing industry, including books, will become replaced by the electronic industry. The informational sectors of the Internet, such as Wikipedia, will become more objective and will gain people’s trust. But for the time being they are ruled by egoism, envy, competition and prejudice.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: From Our World, to the Virtual World, to the Upper World
Laitman.com Post: the Internet In a Time of Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Interview with the Future

Filed under: Internet - No Comments →

A question I received: The Vice–President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said the following about the outcome of the financial crisis, “You can’t run away from the crisis. The world today is globalized, so it’s stupid to suppose that in the great ocean of instability, there are islands of prosperity that remain. First of all, people have to reduce ‘show-off spending.’ Over the last one hundred years, Americans have developed the notion of ‘noble behavior during a crisis,’ which includes charity.”

My Comment: This is not enough. What we need is a complete overhaul of human consciousness and attitude toward self, the world, and the Creator. Nobility and charity cannot correct anything.

Gradually the world is gaining a recognition of the “non-earthly” tasks it must now resolve, and people will then discover the method of solving them, Kabbalah. But for the time being the world is still comforted by thinking that it’s possible to go back to the past by making superficial changes.

Here is what Martin Wolf wrote in The Financial Times: “Choices made in 2009 will shape the globe’s destiny” Welcome to 2009. This is a year in which the fate of the world economy will be determined, maybe for generations. Some entertain hopes that we can restore the globally unbalanced economic growth of the middle years of this decade. They are wrong. Our choice is only over what will replace it.

It is between a better balanced world economy and disintegration. That choice cannot be postponed. It must be made this year. We are in the grip of the most significant global financial crisis for seven decades. As a result, the world has run out of creditworthy, large-scale, willing private borrowers. The alternative of relying on vast US fiscal deficits and expansion of central bank credit is a temporary – albeit necessary – expedient. But it will not deliver a durable return to growth.

Fundamental changes are needed.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Global Crisis Brings the End of Glamour
Laitman.com Post: Wishes for the New Year – 2009
Kabbalah Today Article: What Happened?
Babel – a Tale of Two Trails
Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace in the World”

 The New Planetary Consciousness [13:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

In the News (from Science Daily): “Making The Most Of It: Study Reveals Motivating Factor For Enjoying The Present” According to a new study, thinking that we have a limited amount of time remaining to participate in an activity makes us appreciate the activity that much more and motivates us to make the most of it. These findings support the idea that “thinking about an experience’s future ending can enhance one’s present experience of it” and that “focusing on the fact that an experience is fleeting enhances enjoyment by creating a ‘now or never’ type of motivation.”

My Comment: At every moment in time, one has the opportunity to change oneself and the world for the better. If one has this attitude to life, then he is always enthusiastic about life. After all, “the world” is what you build and perceive within!

Question: I don’t understand: if everything is driven by thought, which begets the mind, then what’s the end result of it all? Is it to achieve the goal of absolute harmony and attainment of the Creator? But what for? And what’s going to happen once this is achieved? And what’s the point of creating the primitive creature that is man in the first place – to revel in our ego?

My Answer: The goal of developing our desire is to attain the sensation of the state of perfection inside this desire. The most rational, quick and easy method to bring oneself to perfection (to correct oneself) is demonstrated to us by the Creator through His work (Avodat HaShem).

Just as adults teach children how to live in our world by showing them examples of the proper behavior, so the Creator shows us examples of the behavior that’s necessary in order to start perceiving the concealed part of the world. However, if we act of our own accord, then we are like children who don’t have parents or the right environment, and are trying to grow from a primitive stage to a level of being able to understand life in the modern world. How can they possibly do it without being educated at home, in kindergarten, school, and so on!?

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Children Learn from the Examples We Set, Not the Hours We Spend With Them
Laitman.com Post: Guidelines for Achieving Unity – Selected Quotes of Baal HaSulam
The Introduction to the Article “The Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

 "Kabbalah Revealed" Episode 13: Defining the Goal [25:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

In the News (from Environment News Science): “Global Warming Forecast to Leave Half the World Hungry by 2100” Climate change will desiccate crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century, leaving half the world’s population facing a food crisis. The area at risk stretches from the southern United States to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, from northern India and southern China to southern Australia and all of Africa.

My Comment: These people will be forced to leave their lands and move north. But will the developed countries withstand such an influx? And if yes, how? Perhaps by using nuclear weapons, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation”?

The source of all our problems is that we disconnect ourselves from nature, thinking that all existence is split into “man” and “the environment.” This view of nature makes us think of everything around us as a supplement to man.

Even when we do care for the environment, it is only for our own narrow gain, with no regard for the holistic system of nature. Violating this closed system of nature evokes its negative reaction to us. And since we are a product of nature, we end up suffering on all levels of our existence.

Therefore, we must replace all of our educational programs, such as “Saving the environment,” with educational programs such as, “Man is an integral part of nature.” After all, the solution lies not in cleaning water from pollution or restoring the ecosystem, but in creating a single system, where everything is “One Nature,” instead of “man and nature.” Hence, there must be only one educational program, just as Nature is one. We must imitate living organisms and use them as models for how to organize our lives as a single whole.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Need to Nurture the Proper Perception In Children
Laitman.com Post: The Media Must Help Turn Our World Into a Giant Classroom
Kabbalah Today Article: The Tip of the Iceberg
Kabbalah Today Article: The Divine Conspiracy
From Chaos to Harmony: “Nature’s Plan”
Kabbalah on Education

Filed under: Education - No Comments →