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Writings of Baal Sulam, Letter 41, 1927, pg 125
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“Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 25, Lesson 10
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“The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Its Essence,” Lesson 10
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A question I received:

My Answer: No one initially has the desire to the Upper World because the Upper World is opposite to us and therefore we cannot feel it.

A desire develops only after we “taste” something, it disappears, and we then feel the need to run after it. Intensity of this aspiration to the desirable is called a desire (passion).

In Kabbalah this law of development of the desire is formulated as “Spreading of the Light and its disappearance creates a desire for it.”
How do we draw the influence of the Light upon us? Through the environment: The teacher, the books, and the group.

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Questions I received about the fate of the physical body:

Question: In what body will we exist in eternity? Will it be the one from our last incarnation or a body from a previous incarnation? Or can it be a totally different body?

My Answer: “Body” in Kabbalah is the correction of desires, and our body is not a subject of discussion at all; it only appears to us as existing.

Question: Does Kabbalah speak in regards to cremation of the body instead of burial in the ground? I happened to see on one “Kabbalah” site that it is prohibited, and that one would only rise half a person with great penalties.

My Answer: At the level of our world burial is the norm. At the same time, Kabbalah does not consider our bodies to be something sacred, as religions do. Kabbalah just does not take them into account.

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All of our actions in this world are carried out because they are dictated from Above, except those in which we are free.

If our will doesn’t exist in anything corporeal and everything is controlled from Above, then there is no punishment and no reward for any actions in life! After all, none of it was done by us; it was done through us from Above.

Therefore, it is said that we are all like animals until we become similar to the Creator. To the extent that we are similar to Him, we are called Adam, “similar” (Dome, in Hebrew). Similarity to the Creator begins from a point of desire, an aspiration to Him, which is called “the point in the heart.” If it is there and has been revealed, a person will undoubtedly come to Kabbalah since this point will lead him to it.

The point in the heart is like a drop of semen, from which we have developed. However, we can only develop the spiritual body, the soul, through our own effort. This is only action we can perform using our freedom of will (see Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom”).

Push the whole world onto the back burner and begin to develop the point in the heart, thus elevating yourself into the Upper System. Be willing to reject everything just to stay there. This is the only choice, the only action, which can be made. The reward is the life of the soul!

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A question I received:

My Answer: Certainly we don’t correct our arms and legs. We are talking about “the body of an object,” which is the soul, the desire, or parts of the soul, meaning the  individual desires. The difference between the desires of the soul and the corporeal desires is that desires of the soul are formed with qualities similar to the Creator – using yourself in order to bestow instead of receive for yourself.

The physical body has nothing to do with this. We can perform transplants, remove body parts or organs, and do blood transfusions. Hospitals don’t check donors for “righteousness” and it’s possible that those receiving body parts or blood receive them from some unrighteous person. It is due to all the confusion in regards to the spiritual body and our meat-body that all the mysticism, gruesome tales, and religious horror stories have developed.

Commandments describe a correction of the desires, not any correction of the animate body. The bodies in which we exist in are only necessary for us to maintain a physical existence, but when among the desires of our world, an embryo of the soul emerges, we need to be able to develop that tiny desire to the level of the Creator.

Therefore, traditions and religions have nothing to do with correcting the soul. Let people all over the world hold on to their traditions and at the same time, correct their desires in order to love their neighbors as themselves. Meanwhile, the flesh will not change.

There is nothing spiritual in mechanical actions. It is very good if they calm you down and create a comfortable living format. Just don’t lie to yourself, believing that you correct your soul through these actions and earn your way into the “world to come.” The world to come is the revelation of the Creator. If you do not prepare your soul for this, then you have nowhere in which to reveal Him, before or after the animate body perishes.

It’s time to remove the blindfold from the eyes of humanity and for everyone to realize that in our whole worldly life, there is only one spiritual point called “the point in the heart,” the entrance into the spiritual world.

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If a person focuses all of his efforts and really wants to transcend, and if for just an instant he truly wants to devote himself to spirituality forever, he will sense it. He will begin to feel the spiritual world through this world and equalize with it, even if only in one of its qualities, one of its parameters.

He wishes to detach himself from the state in which he exists and to use the corporeal only as necessary, so that all his heart and mind will be in the upper dimension. If a person makes such a spiritual effort, he will sense spirituality for a short while, be it a few days, hours, or moments. After that he will descend and return to this world.

These tastes of spirituality don’t contribute much; a person forgets about them and soon his doubts return.  He questions whether spirituality is a worthwhile goal or not. The instant it reveals itself to him however, he is certainly ready to forsake everything for its sake. Then a greater egoistic desire comes to him and wipes out his impressions of spirituality. Thus, he forgets everything and submerges again into the flow of this life as if nothing ever happened.

But if he were ready to irrevocably and eternally devote himself to spirituality, the Light would come to him, since he has shown the desire to attach himself to It forever and thus achieved equality with Its eternal quality. For this reason, the Light reveals Itself to him.

(From the lesson on Shamati #58 ““Joy is a “Reflection”of Good Deeds”)

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I participated in a teleconference with Igor Nikolaevich Panarin, a political scientist, professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, PhD in Psychology, PhD in Political Science, and member of The Academy of Military Science. He is the author of the books Information War and Russia, Information War and Elections, Information War and Power, Information War and Geo-Politics, and others.

He has participated in large international conferences where he always spoke in defense of Russian national interests. He often makes appearances on news and analytical TV shows aired on leading Russian channels, commenting on important current issues of modern world politics and Russian current events.

My Considerations: There is no place for nationalistic ideas in the modern global, interconnected and interdependent world, since these ideas cause nations to be in opposition with each other. In our times, we have come to a level of global development of humanity and its unification into one whole. Any separation is opposite to the natural development of humanity and thus, doomed for failure.

The development of strong nationalistic ideas in such a multi-national country as Russia will lead to even greater centrifugal forces within the country, which will eventually tear it apart.

A national idea is a definition of a nation’s meaning of existence. A nation is already the implementation of the idea. So, if there is a purpose for a nation to exist, then how should it?

Globalization and immigration show that today all people can live without a country by becoming citizens of the world. Issues that are critical to the survival and flourishing of humanity (such as economy, ecology, and energy) can only be resolved on a global scale, where the benefit of all humanity is considered. However, Russia, the nation that has always stubbornly searched for its place in history, has to find an answer about the meaning of its existence. Besides, as we have seen, the Russian people cannot live as peacefully as the people of Luxembourg, for example.

Therefore, a suggestion: You should desire to become a source of Light for the world; thus, you will lead the world forward. Kabbalah, the science and method of integrating man and nature, suits these purposes. By implementing its methods, you will find your sought-after place in history – one of respect and grandeur!

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Two questions I received about the growth of egoism:

Question: I’ve been studying Kabbalah for almost two years now, and there is something bothering me. It seems that the more I learn about my own nature, the more I’m disgusted by it. I feel as if I’m getting even more bothered than I already was. I simply can’t focus on the goal and the beauty of it, while I’m feeling so disgusted by my own nature, and that of everyone around me. What should I do?

My Answer: You have to be glad that egoism is being revealed within you. It’s the Upper Light that reveals it, and you must appeal to the Creator without getting deeper into the egoism. You must rise above it and be thankful for it as it will continue to grow as the soul uses it to develop.

Question: Please give us your advice on how can we find the strength to make the efforts toward connection when our egos are so strong that we feel like we can only surrender to Him and not make those efforts that we must make?

Sometimes we feel like “We know we must do this, but we don’t want to at all and we have no strength to do it.” These are frustrating moments, as our egos seem like the strongest power that exists!

My Answer: This is because you don’t invoke the power of the Creator! The Creator is the one that has to stand against Pharaoh while we have to be like Moshe, standing in the middle letting them fight!

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