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Kabbalah: The Bnei Baruch Association – Kabbalah Education & Research Institute.
Kabbalah Revealed:
Who is a Kabbalist
Rav Laitman’s Interview for the Gurman Channel
May 9, 2005: (Part 1)
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by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.
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A Kabbalist and Mankind
Does a person who starts studying the science of Kabbalah withdraw from our world and distance himself or herself from daily life? Maybe he no longer cares about his family, work, children, or humanity and all of our human concerns cease to exist for him? Maybe he looks down on us from above, scornfully thinking, "What are these little people so busy with?"
He comprehends the entire existence and its entire process; sees everything from the beginning to the end: all the worlds and souls; how these souls descend into our world, move with its flow, and ascend upwards. Seeing their preoccupation with petty daily problems, seeing how meaningless, powerless, limited they are, perhaps he scorns us. Is that how a Kabbalist looks at our world?
Apparently not. A true Kabbalistic perspective on the world is somehow elevated, as if looking downwards from above, but I would compare it with a parent's glance at their beloved children.
Investigating the collective soul, the creation called Adam, we establish that it consists of only 600 thousand core parts, or souls. They subsequently break into a multitude of parts, descend into our world and, bluntly speaking, install themselves into six billion people.
There are souls that already perceive the spiritual world, and they belong to a higher layer of Adam. Later, the souls from the deeper, lower layers gradually start perceiving the spiritual world as well. Such souls are most productive, because their egoism, their desire is greater. In fact, the souls that now start perceiving the need for the attainment of the Upper worlds have already undergone tremendous preliminary preparations in previous incarnations in our world.
A Kabbalist looks at himself and the world from the side, while everyone else observes this world from his or her own spot. A Kabbalist sees that the rest of the souls are not corrected yet, that they need to grow and prepare themselves for their spiritual ascent from our world upwards, back to the spiritual level. His attitude towards these souls is kind and caring, like a parent.
He is preparing the method for them, and offers them a more comfortable, easy, and safe spiritual ascent, putting into this all of his efforts and incorporating all other souls. As a parent takes responsibility for his or her children, so does a Kabbalist takes on enormous responsibility for the care of humanity. He takes on all the torments, afflictions, deficiencies, searches, lack of fulfillment, disappointments, and emptiness and, putting this through himself, connects to humanity and helps it.
The truth is that we are not aware of the Kabbalist's help. Presently, we do not yet have a screen - the sixth sense. Later, after we to begin to elevate, ascending the spiritual degrees, we gradually develop this organ inside of ourselves. We suddenly discover it inside of ourselves and become - each of us - equal to Adam. Here we meet all of the great Kabbalists who have already performed in us preliminary corrections, thus helping us to ascend spiritually.
This is similar to a person who, being born into this world today, enjoys the fruit of thousands of years of humanity's development. He is still in the hands of his parents, but culture, science, and technology - all work to benefit him. Those who lived before him suffered, discovered, labored and prepared everything for him to take this knowledge today and develop happily and quickly.
Our spiritual ascent is also based on the foundations laid by a great number of Kabbalists over the centuries. When we start to mature spiritually, we discover and feel what each of them actually did. This is how a Kabbalist treats humanity.
Beyond the Cover of Our World
For a person who gradually masters the science of Kabbalah, the world becomes transparent, with all the forces that are standing behind it. He or she discovers a very interesting picture, which I would compare with the craft of embroidery.
There is a frame, with a picture embroidered in tiny stitches. One can see a certain image on a front side: for example, a lake, forest, trees, or a meadow; that is the picture embroidered by the stitches. But if we turned it over and looked at the reverse side, we would see the disorderly combinations of threads, tied with each other, color passages into various sides that would not give us a clue about the real picture on the other side. Why would we try to study and apprehend the reverse side?
What do we see when we attain this reverse side? We see that the entire creation, everything in our world is really interconnected. These connections are seen on the reverse side. That is, we have to go beyond the exterior cover of our world.
When we uncover these connections behind the picture and see their interaction with each other, we begin to understand the entire creation, begin to understand why, who, and how this picture was painted for us. Seeing and sensing these powers, and drawing closer to them, we can start controlling them, and be part of this picture. A Kabbalist who starts perceiving the existence of the Upper worlds becomes its full-fledged element.
A question arises: What benefit can I derive in this world from knowing the forces that are behind the picture of our world? What benefit is there in tying all the elements, my actions, and thoughts with the rest of the people and even with the forces that are unperceivable in our world?
This knowledge can help me to function in the most effective manner. Looking at what is happening in our world, and seeing the forces that govern this, I will understand the reason behind this world. That is, I will see the correct, obligatory, and specific picture of reality. I will know how to join it, how to best adapt myself to it. I will clearly know what positive actions I should connect to, and what actions have no forces and consequences on the other side of the picture, although they appear to be real.
Looking at the embroidery from my side - the side of a regular human being - I see a certain picture. If I act only based on it, I almost always err. This is what we observe in our world. We see what is happening with all of us and with humanity globally. However, by seeing how elements are related on the back side of the picture, I understand where I have to connect to so as to act in harmony with the governing forces. This way, I free myself from negative consequences - from the smallest to the biggest ones. This is what the science of Kabbalah delivers to us.
Does a Kabbalist Become Happier
Does a Kabbalist become healthier, happier in his family life, more successful in business, more clever and predisposed to scientific discoveries? It seems that the answer is obvious, since he is aware of all the powers, knows the formula that controls the universe, and thus of course, he knows where to "connect to", what to use (this is like trading, when one knows in advance who will win and who will lose). However, this is not the case. Here is why.
In reality, each of us is a part of the collective Kli (vessel), an integral or a sum of all 600 thousand souls. This is why a Kabbalist has to act with consideration to the entire organism that he is a part of.
He must take into account the overall condition of humankind. He is not simply obliged - he has to compel himself to act this way. Unwillingly, due to his structure, and because he rose to this degree, he perceives the entire organism as his own. For him, all the souls are part of his own organism; all of them exist in him. And that is why he endures together with everyone, gets sick; he can be unhappy in his family life or in educating his own children. This happens because he is humanity's representative relative to the governing forces and thus has to incorporate into himself all of humanity.
Is a Kabbalist happier in comparison to all other people? Yes, he is, and it is because he is aware of this mission and understands what awaits humanity. Is he free from all human worries? No, he is not. Thus, Kabbalists get sick, suffer, go through all sorts of personal dramas and tragedies. However, they experience this in a different light. A regular person sees no meaning in these emotional experiences, he does not see their purpose, their necessity for the final perfect and eternal state.
A Kabbalist feels the entire pain of humanity. The pain subdues thanks to the sensation of importance, necessity and purposefulness, and yet, he feels it. Thus, we should not think that a Kabbalist has egoistically elevated above our world, or has flown away to some sort of world and is resting from us there. On the contrary, while ascending, he feels towards us as a caring parent in relation to his beloved children. He helps, and, until the entire humanity is delivered, continues performing the corrections and preparing the souls for correction.
About the Work of the Soul
What is the soul doing during the time when it is not present in our world? The question itself deals with time which does not exist outside of our world.
Our entire world is built on speed below the speed of light, under the speed of light. Einstein's theory states the same; the ancient Kabbalist Rambam wrote about this back in the eleventh century. The spiritual world exists at the velocity of infinite values, and hence speed is infinite, time is equal to zero and the mass of our world is, in fact, non-existent.
The soul descends from its root in the general system and goes down to the level called "our world". It inhabits our world for a certain amount of time, say seventy years. What happens with it afterwards? It leaves. If, over his lifetime, a person reached his root, that is, traveled his entire path, the soul returns back to its root. However, the returned soul is no longer just a point, in the way it originally descended as an individual cell of the entire organism. Rather, the soul returns as the general organism that a person attained and absorbed into himself. This state is called the Final Correction: a person corrected himself, his own soul.
Yet, if a person did not accomplish that, the soul returns as a point, descends again already in a different time period, different epoch, and, possibly, ascends once more. Each of us in our earthly life goes through dozens of reincarnations, until we enter our last reincarnation. A person does not know when this will occur. A question about the meaning of life, a point in the heart awakens in him. Realizing it, a person reaches the complete correction. He incorporates his soul into the rest of the souls and connects to the system of a single organism, called Adam, never returning to this world again.
The soul has to descend into this world only to rise back to the point from which it originated, after it fully corrected itself and connected to the other souls.
This is in relation to a regular soul. There are also special souls. These souls descend from the highest root in the system of Adam. There is a soul which constantly descends from above downwards. Next to it, there are lesser souls, although they relate, supplement the highest. This soul descends into our world at the times of big historic events.
Stages of Development of Egoism
Our world goes through various periods of egoism's growth. The souls descend from Adam into our world where they begin to develop, passing through the five stages of development, i.e., developing their bodily desires. Even if a person lived in a jungle, with no contact with any society, his body would still have various desires: for food, shelter, family, sex. Later, urges for wealth, fame, glory, knowledge, as well as for the spiritual emerge in him. Egoism grows all the time. Moreover, it does not increase gradually, in a linear fashion; it increases in leaps.
We notice the first manifestation of egoism in the appearance of Adam. There were people on Earth even before him, but a point in the heart did not manifest in them. It manifested for the first time in Adam. Starting from him, in accordance with the souls' root, this process commenced in our world. Next time this point in the heart manifested in Abraham, later - in Moses. For the fourth time it arose in Rashbi, the fifth - in ARI, and the last time in Baal HaSulam.
All these Kabbalists were embodiments of the same soul, which descends into our world and creates in it certain Kabbalistic method, fit for its generation.
Adam wrote the book Raziel HaMalach (The Secret Angel). Twenty generations till Abraham learned from it.
Abraham, a representative of the next egoistical level in a human being, created his own method and rendered it in the book Sefer Yetzira (The Book of Creation). This is the same soul, although it is immersed in even greater egoism, so to speak.
Moses came next. He created a Kabbalistic method owing to the books of Adam and the method of Avraam. Moses' egoism was much greater; it was egoism of the second degree. This is related with the submersion into Egypt and many other spiritual and corporeal tidings that took place here.
At the time of Rashbi egoism increased so much that it led to the pounding, destruction of the Temple. Rashbi created the book of Zohar, which is the main (Kabbalah) book. It is written while destroying all the previous degrees. This resembles the breaking of the spiritual structure of Adam, which split into 600 thousands separate particles and fell into our world. Until the Book of Zohar no method existed for correction of egoism. There was nothing to correct, because the souls were not yet so egoistical as they became after the destruction of the Second Temple.
The next step was the greatest book written by ARI, Etz Haim (The Tree of Life). ARI marked the beginning of the correction period at the time when all of humanity entered its last stage (of development): technological revolution, periods of the Enlightenment, Renaissance and so on.
During the times when everything falls apart giving rise to the general crisis of humanity (this is our stage), rises one more great soul - Baal HaSulam. Based on previous sources, he creates the method for spreading of the science of Kabbalah in the entire world. He based his works on the book "Etz Haim" (this work of his is called The Teaching of Ten Sefirot) and the book of Zohar to which he wrote a commentary.
I do not think that the future shall see any other nominal, fundamental work on mankind's correction. We create all sorts of elaborations, explanations, commentaries on these sources so as to make the work of Baal HaSulam even more accessible to contemporary man.
Today it is impossible to imagine that this method can change. Judging by the structure of the collective soul, there should not be any more great sources, methods of corrections as these works have already elaborated everything. We just have to gradually, according to problems that inflict the earth, adapt the contemporary person's outlook towards these sources. This is what our Kabbalah Academy is doing. That is why the special soul that descends into our world is one. This is what the Book of the Zohar says in Volume One.
All of the 600 thousand souls come to this world simultaneously. We can imagine humanity and its development and as an increasing troop of soldiers. At first, there were, say, one thousand people, later - one hundred thousand, and in the next period - millions, followed by hundreds of millions, and billions at the last stage.
In each generation all 600 thousand souls descend into our world. They split into an even greater number of bodies so as to undergo even finer, more detailed work on themselves, absorb into themselves more sensations, notions, properties, experience finer and manifold mutual ties. Moreover, this occurs in the souls regardless of us.
We can live and work in an absolutely automatic fashion, without even thinking why we exist. Meanwhile, our soul passes the periods of maturity, and advances more and more, until the urge to reach its own root emerges in it. It is so strong that a person really starts to lead a conscious life, starts asking himself or herself what this life really is, why, how and for what purpose he exists.
In addition to "The Tree of Life" ARI wrote a few other very interesting books. One of them is called Sha'ar haGilgulim (The Gates of Reincarnations), where he described all possible kinds of reincarnations that the souls undergo in our world: how and from whom it reincarnates in our world, how it gets transferred from body to body and so on.
This is a very difficult and complicated system of knowledge in the science of Kabbalah which we begin to study only after three - four years of study. In order to begin comprehending the structure of the collective soul and possible ways in which the individual souls descend from the Upper world that exists above ours; in order for us to know how to trace, with ease, all the actions, metamorphosis that occur with the souls as they pass from one world to the other we ought to have at least minimal perception of the Upper world that is as vivid as the perception of our world.
Perception of Reality
Here we come across the very difficult issue of perceiving the universe. What do we mean by saying "We exist in our world"? We exist inside of ourselves. I can hear, see, smell, touch, and taste, with my five senses. Using the programs that are 'installed' in me, I somehow add, evaluate these senses inside of me and they create in me a picture of the world. I call this picture "my world".
Let's ask ourselves a simple question: is that which we feel inside of us the same as what exists outside of us? Even experiments with creatures close to us demonstrate that we do not perceive the real and only picture of the world. For example, a bee and a dog each perceive it differently.
If our senses were to change, we would perceive the world in a different fashion. For example, my ear drum got damaged and so it seems to me that there is no sound. Is it really so or this is just the way I feel? Surely, this is just the way I feel. I'm surrounded by an enormous amount of waves, yet I perceive only 15 to 30 thousand Hz. Or, take the other waves that reproduce in me the sensations of taste, smell, touch or vision in a very limited range. I do not perceive enormous wave variations.
Moreover, I cannot even say that I indeed feel something. There is an ear drum inside of me. Feeling a certain external pressure, I react to this pressure inside and then measure my own efforts in balancing the air drum membrane.
Being pressured by waves, an ear drum membrane bends, and I have to exert an inner effort to bring it back to the initial state. Hence, I measure my own effort and base my judgment about what really acts upon me based on the character of this effort. However, it may prove to be something completely different then what I imagine, for my inner efforts have a certain nature while that which acts on me from outside has a completely different nature.
My nature is human, physiological, while the external nature can be completely different. I do not even know what this nature could be because I can never go beyond the limitations of my senses. This is why I never directly perceive the surrounding world. I just perceive my reactions to something that acts upon me.
Thus, a true scientist does not speak of attainment of the world; he speaks about attainment of our reactions to something that acts upon us. We can tell nothing of what the world that I exist in is really all about. Meaning, I receive certain impressions, sensations only because of the way I was created. Should the abilities of my senses change, or should I acquire other senses, yet unfamiliar to me, so my impression about the world and those who surround me would be totally different?
In general, can we somehow determine what the world that we live in really is, or if there is something external to us? Maybe creation, the surrounding Universe, I, or the others are nothing but an illusion? We cannot answer this question if we operate with the five senses that we have. For this, we need to acquire a sixth sense, and then we will see ourselves and the illusion we observe from the outside. This is what the science of Kabbalah allows us to do. Perceptions and impressions that we receive from outside and the way we perceive the external world are called the Upper world.
Today, scientists already understand how limited our approach to investigation of nature is. This is seen particularly well in quantum physics where we encounter special, paradoxical phenomena. At the time of Newton scientists believed that the world is the way we perceive it. There is a person - an observer and that which he or she observes, that which exists in front of him. A person comes and goes, while the picture of the world remains the same. It changes naturally by itself, since the Universe evolves. However, a person does not influence this entire picture in any manner. This is the scientific perspective according to Newton.
Later, an other worldview emerged. There is a person who observes the world, however, this picture is seen from outside. It is the sum total of all properties of a human being and that which he or she observes. Humanity's self-perception gave rise to this worldview. We started investigating our physiology and discovered that based on our talent, senses, or their broadening using special instruments and so on, we see a different picture. It follows that we do not just observe something objectively. Rather, we simultaneously participate in the observation process. This is already close to the point of view of the great Hugh Everett.
According to the science of Kabbalah, the picture is completely different. There is a person who perceives something within himself. What does he perceive? He perceives a uniform field he exists in, while everything else, all other images and ideas about the external and internal world are formed inside of a person. The worlds exist inside of him, and there is nothing outside.
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Kabbalist Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.,
Kabbalist, Rabbi, & Author
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World leading Kabbalist, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD has an MS in Bio Cybernetics and a PhD in Philosophy and Ontology.
Rav Laitman is the author of 25 internationally selling books on Kabbalah; his books have been translated into nine languages.
His lessons are broadcast live throughout the Internet and cable TV to tens of thousands of students the world over. In recent years he has become a sought-after lecturer in academic and learning circles in the US and Europe
His search for the meaning of life led him to the teachings of Kabbalah in the 1970’s. At first he studied Kabbalah with various teachers in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. In 1979 he discovered his true teacher, Kabbalist Rav Baruch Shalom Halevi Ashlag (1907-1991).
From the time he met Rav Baruch Ashlag (known as the Rabash), he was never apart from him and spent most of his time in his presence, as his disciple and personal assistant. Up until his death, Rabash passed on to Rav Laitman the wisdom he had acquired from his father, Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag, known as Baal HaSulam for his Sulam commentary on The zohar (The Book of Radiance).
Rav Dr. Laitman held a successful public meeting in San-Francisco in March 2005 with leading American scientists, participants of the blockbuster hit "What the Bleep Do We Know?" Here are some of the impressions of the scientists after meeting Dr. Laitman:
Fred Alan Wolf, PhD. author of eleven books, among them The Yoga of Time Travel, Matter into Feeling: a new Alchemy of Science and Spirit, and Mind into Matter: "I admire your knowledge. I would love to sit at your feet and study for a long time."
Jeffery Satinover, MD (Psychiatry), MS (Physics) – Author of seven books including The Quantum Brain & Cracking the Bible Code: "The emergence of Kabbalah from its concealment in a genuine form is historically significant and is truly remarkable."
Rav Laitman is the founder and president of the Bnei Baruch Association – Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Bnei Baruch is an Israeli based non-profit organization that is dedicated to spreading the wisdom of Kabbalah to all of humanity.
Bnei Baruch conducts daily Kabbalah lessons, broadcasted live on the Internet and available for free.
In 1996 Bnei Baruch created, what is now the largest and most popular Internet site on the subject of Kabbalah--www.kabbalah.info. This website provides unlimited access to Kabbalistic texts and media in over twenty languages, and hosts over a million readers every month.
Website: www.kabbalah.info.
Further information is available at www.kabbalah.info.
The following study
e-books, and resources are free,
and available in the formats listed below:
• "Attaining the Worlds Beyond",
by Kabbalist, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.
Audio book
(MP3 format): www.kabbalah.info/
engkab/
worlds_beyond.htm
PDF:
www.kabbalah.info/
engkab/
book_4/Attaining-Text.pdf
•"Kabbalah for Beginners"
Palm download:
www.kabbalah.info
/engkab/ebook/kab_
for_beginners.htm
•"What the Bleep…"
Video Discussion:
www.kabbalahmedia.info/
~video/KabbalahMeets
ModernScience/Kabbalah
MeetsModernScience_
pilot_eng.mpg
Rav Laitman's Latest Book Releases:
•The Kabbalah Experience
Never has the language of Kabbalah been as clear and accessible as it is here, in this compelling, informative collection. The depth of wisdom revealed in the questions and answers of this book will inspire reflection and contemplation.
•The Path of Kabbalah
“Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness” (Exodus 20:3). This commandment from the Bible is the basis of the Kabbalistic wisdom, for Kabbalists know that the only true reality is that of His Essence, the Upper Force.
For more information on obtaining these books and others, visit:
http://www.kabbalah
books.info/default.php
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