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July 23, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles, Books, Perception of Reality
Why Your Continued Development Depends Upon Attaining Reality Itself
Unlike any other science, Kabbalah reveals to us the Upper World. This is why it is most often referred to as a “wisdom” instead of a “science.” The empiric, scientific approach of the wisdom of Kabbalah is based on the same research principles that apply to other fields of research. Kabbalah, too, regards the observer as the researcher and studies reality as it is sensed by a human being, from a subjective perspective. The uniqueness of the wisdom of Kabbalah compared to any other fields of human study is that the subject of its research is the higher part of reality.
The wisdom of Kabbalah enables one to attain the roots of reality, not just another segment of the whole, but reality at its highest levels, before we ever reached it. Attaining the roots of reality grants researchers control over events before they clothe in our world, and the ability to interfere and change them, to lead and guide them using their unique approach.
The Secret of the Elusive Sixth Sense
If we determine our desire in such a way that the entire reality will appear to us in the direction of bestowal upon the Creator, if we want to live in a reality where the five senses are devoted to a single aim, to delight the Creator, then in that state we will determine our attitude to reality in the realm and at the level of the “sixth sense.” This means holding an altruistic attitude to reality, which yields an entirely different characteristic to the reality perceived through the five senses. We will no longer attain a mere speck of reality, but its very root, ascending to the control room, the headquarters of reality.
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July 9, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles, Books, Perception of Reality
What Kabbalah Can Do to Your Perception
There is a story about the American Indians who did not see Columbus’s armada approaching, since they simply had no previous memories, conception of such structures as ships.
If we think some more about the Indians and Columbus’ ships we might ask this: If a caveman were to be born in today’s world, would he see the cars and the buildings? The answer is that he would not. Would he then bump into buildings or be hit by a car as soon as he left the sidewalk?
Before we answer these questions, we must understand that we perceive only such Forms that our senses are equipped to detect. For example, the air around us, which seems empty, might actually be as condensed and solid as cement. We are accustomed to seeing this world as a space where we can move about freely. But if we build appropriate tools of perception, we will feel that the world is actually filled with the Creator’s enormous powers, which do not allow us any free movement. If this were to happen, we would feel totally controlled by the Creator, as if we were “planted” in cement, unable to make even a single free gesture.
Because our caveman would not have the sense that perceives the wall as Matter or as Form in Matter, he would be able to go through walls as if they were air. Kabbalists wish to direct our observations so we can perceive the world correctly. If we were to draw ourselves just a bit off our ordinary perception of the world and into the real perception that Kabbalists describe, this world may seem very strange to us.
Why What You Perceive on the Outside Is Really Inside of You
Today, many quantum physicists are discovering that the world has a “strange” regularity of time, space, and motion. For example, they say that objects can be in more than one place at a time. This oddity leads them to think that everything is measured with respect to the observer. This means that the existence or absence of the caveman’s wall, as well as the ability to move through it, are measured solely by the state of the perceiver’s vessels.
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May 1, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Altruism, Articles, Books
The fundamental characteristic of any creature is self-concern, which brings about competitiveness. Simultaneously, evolution locks self-serving creatures into a completely interdependent system, creating a potentially devastating paradox…
The Thing that Separates Man from the Rest of Nature
On the lower levels of desire—in Stages One through Three, or on the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels of Nature—Nature mends the ties by itself. In the process of evolution, the elements in Nature that follow the rule of yielding self-interest before the interest of their host system survive and form the basis for the next level in evolution. The ones that do not yield their self-interests perish.
Thus, gradually, Nature built the universe, galaxies, our solar system, and planet Earth. Then, layer by layer, life on Earth was formed.
As biologist Elisabet Sahtouris so eloquently explained, initially each new creature conducts itself selfishly, oblivious to the existence and needs of other creatures. But the struggle among the creatures forces them, as she put it, to “negotiate,” eventually leading to the creation of homeostasis—the stability necessary for the persistence of life.
The Strange Reason Why the Desire to Be Superior to Others Forces You to Connect
In this manner, life on Earth evolved stage by stage until at Stage four in the evolution of desires, Homo sapiens appeared. Initially, humans were just like all other creatures. Just as desires evolve in the whole of Nature, our desires, too, evolved stage by stage, from Zero through Four. In Stages Zero through Two, the desires for greed, control, and cognizance were not potent enough to separate us from nature to a point that threatens our existence. Like all other elements of Nature, we were forced to negotiate and accept the power of the elements as one of life’s necessities. However, history shows we were not quite as pliable and tolerant toward other humans.
But roughly since the 15th century, Stage Three took hold. Since then, cravings for self-expression and personal excellence have been growing in us and expanding exponentially.
There is a peculiar quality to the desires for recognition and personal distinction. Although these desires reflect a self- centered nature, since they aim to present the individual who possesses them as superior to others, they also compel those who have them to connect to others. This is so because to be superior to others, one must measure one’s qualities, achievements, efforts, and possessions compared to those of others. If I do not compare myself to others, over whom can I be superior?
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August 3, 2013 at 6:49 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
“And God said: ‘Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth.’ And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree-bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.”
The Middle Line as the Combination of Altruistic and Egoistic Forces
Man’s correction is built precisely on the ideal combination of altruistic and egoistic qualities within his soul, the “heavens” and the “earth,” the Creator and the creature.
This correction is called moving along the “middle line.”
Our innate egoistic nature is called “earth,” or the left line.
The quality of the Creator, “water,” absolute bestowal is the right line.
The middle line is what we must create on our own, by combining the right and the left lines.
That is, we must combine the “water” with the “earth” in a complementary way, which would allow the two qualities to “bear fruit.”
First we ought to ask for rain and not a storm, since we are not yet capable of bestowing like the Creator. However, we are ready to gradually advance, starting with correcting our smaller egoistic desires, as it is written: “And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind.” Subsequently, rougher desires emerge, as in “and tree bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after its kind,” followed by even rougher desires … until our eyes fully open to the wonderful world that the Creator has prepared for us.
Growing the Tree of Life through the Study of Kabbalah
First we ought to “ask for rain” so that these two qualities (“water” and “earth”) combine to ultimately grow the “Tree of Life”—a spiritual person who perceives the whole universe, existing eternally and blissfully in all the worlds.
Eternally, because by identifying ourselves with an eternal soul instead of a transient body, we begin to equate your being with our soul, relegating the body to its true role—an ephemeral shell that simply accompanies it. This transition to identifying ourselves with the soul, rather than the body, is strictly internal, taking place as we gradually acquire the quality of bestowal through working correctly with the Kabbalistic books.
“Eternal Life through the Middle Line by the Study of Kabbalah” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
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October 13, 2008 at 6:50 am · Filed under Altruism, Globalization, Google Project, News
Make a Difference! Use Words, Media and New Values
We’d like to thank everyone for all the comments, e-mails and contributions we’ve received! They are informative and inspiring. We feel that we have an active discussion on our hands and our hopes of a meaningful dialogue are gradually being realized.
We are continuing our efforts to develop a few pitches for Google’s “Project 10 to the 100th,” and the one we are now brainstorming on is – a media campaign. As we saw in our last post, many of you responded with examples of commercials and media that highlight the action of giving in society. We really enjoyed those examples, and we’d love to see more of them. This will not only inspire our creative process, but will also help all of us stay on the same page and think along the same lines.
So please send us links to videos that demonstrate the values of altruism and giving in an effective way, and keep sending us your general comments about the contest.
Related Material:
*Check out the first blog entry in this series
*Check out the second blog entry in this series
*Check out the third blog entry in this series
*The One Link Google Can’t Reach: An Article in Kabbalah Today
*Check out the official Project 10^100 website
Click Here to Sign Up for a Free Kabbalah Introductory Course – Starts Soon!
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