Our modern idea of freedom is embedded in remoteness, individualism and isolation. The true idea of what freedom means has been inverted and long forgotten. Here are three sources of information on what true freedom is and how it can be attained in our world today.

1. Video: The Freedom Prison
In this excerpt from a morning lesson Rav Michael Laitman, PhD provides a definition of freedom that is completely opposite to society’s idea of freedom, but is more natural than anything else.

Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio [66:42]
Shamati Article #190 “Every Act Leaves an Imprint” (the article on which the above video’s lesson is based)

2. Freedom of Will (An article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD)

3. The Freedom (An article by Baal haSulam)

Related Material:
Newspaper Articles:
* Kabbalah Today Article: The Freedom Blues
* Kabbalah Today Article: A Kabbalist, a Geneticist and the Meaning of Life
Short Clips:
* Do We Have Free Will or Is Everything Predetermined
* “Kabbalah Revealed” Episode 10: Free Will, Part 1
* “Kabbalah Revealed” Episode 11: Free Will, Part 2 The Four Factors

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You Don’t Have to Believe

“Kabbalah is not for believing. The first rule in Kabbalah, which first of all is a science, says: ‘The judge has only what his eyes can see.’ Meaning, everything comes through experimentation, study, and observing for yourself.”
– Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in the video clip “Reincarnation.”

The following list of materials deals with the attainment of reality, a fundamental concept in the science of Kabbalah:

“Perceiving Reality” Video Clips:
* Belief – Do I Have to Believe in God to Live a Spiritual Life?
* Consciousness – What States of Consciousness Have Other People Achieved?
* Kabbalah – What Is the Essence of Kabbalah?

Articles in the Kabbalah Today publication:
* Baal HaSulam on the Perception of Reality – “That which we cannot feel, we also cannot imagine… We attain only manifestations and reflections of operations that stem from the essences.” – Baal HaSulam
* I Saw a Reversed World – Spirituality is an opposite world to our current reality, and it needs to be seen to be believed.
* Living the Spiritual Dream World – When we discover our true state of existence, we’ll see that our current state is just a dream.

Articles by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD:
* The Science of Kabbalah: A Method for Researching Man and the World – Kabbalah consists of a number of areas of study, though all of them talk about the attainment of the Single Field – the Common Law of Creation.
* Body and Soul – The science of Kabbalah is intended for revelation of the Upper World to the same extent of clarity and reliability as the earthly sciences reveal our world to us.
* Matter and Form in Kabbalah – The science of Kabbalah subdivides into two parts: the knowledge of matter and the knowledge of a form. However, unlike conventional science, even the knowledge of a form in the science of Kabbalah is based entirely on scientific research and practical experience.

Recommended Book by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD on the perception and attainment of reality:
* Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life – Free PDF Download | Purchase

Articles by Baal HaSulam:
* Preface to the Book of Zohar
* Matter and Form in the Science of Kabbalah
* The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy

Lessons by Rav Laitman on Baal HaSulam’s Article “Preface to the Book of Zohar” [approx. 90 min. each]:
1. wmv video | mp3 audio (9 November, 2007)
2. wmv video | mp3 audio (16 November, 2007)
3. wmv video | mp3 audio (23 November, 2007)
4. wmv video | mp3 audio (30 November, 2007)
5. wmv video | mp3 audio (7 December, 2007)

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“And when upon His simple will, came the desire to create the world and emanate the emanations,”
The ARI’s Tree of Life, Part 1

Click here to view a dynamic flash presentation of the
Four Phases of Direct Light

Four Phases of Direct Light (Dalet Behinot de Ohr Yashar, Heb.) n.

Quote from Baal HaSulam
First, the Ohr (Light) expands from the Maatzil (Emanator) as Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom), containing only the “will to receive.” This is Behina Aleph (Phase 1).

Then, the will to bestow intensifies in that Ohr, and it extends Ohr de Hassadim (Light of Mercy). This Hitgabrut (overcoming) is regarded as Behina Bet (Phase 2). Then this Ohr de Hassadim expands intensively … and this is Behina Gimel (Phase 3).

After the above three Behinot (phases, discernments) fully emerge, the force of the will to receive incorporated in Hitpashtut Aleph (the first expansion) reawakens and draws Ohr Hochma once more. This completes the permanent will to receive in the Partzuf (spiritual entity) that appears as yearning, when there weren’t Ohr Hochma in the Partzuf but Ohr de Hassadim, after Behina Gimel, when the Ne’etzal (creature) could yearn for Ohr Hochma.

It is this yearning that determines the will to receive in him, and completes his vessels of reception, which was absent in Behina Aleph. For that reason the vessels of reception are completed only in this Behina Dalet (Phase 4), also called Hitgabrut Bet (the second overcoming).

Once Behina Dalet was completed in Ein Sof (Infinity), the Tzimtzum (Restriction) occurred in her, meaning the departure of the will to receive from Behina Dalet, causing the departure of Ohr Ein Sof (the Light of Infinity) from there.

This completes the explanations of the four Behinot that must exist in every Ne’etzal.
Baal HaSulam, in Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), Part 1: Tzimtzum and Kav.

Susan from New York asks: Why do we have to learn about these different phases/discernments? What can they bring us?

Answer by Bnei Baruch Instructor Chaim Ratz: They’re you. That’s what they are. They are you; they are me; they are everybody. It’s like saying you don’t want to learn about yourself. Right now, it feels abstract, but in time, it will not. You will feel it as something more and more … as a part of you.

Chaim Ratz, Introduction to the Four Behinot. 7th lesson in the 2004 English Virtual Lesson Kabbalah Education Series. (wmv video – 60min)

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