Welcome to the official Kabbalah Blog of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Here you will find all the latest Kabbalah articles, videos, audio, news, features, Kabbalah books and Bnei Baruch website updates and content additions.
Due to popular demand after the first Q&A session with Dr. Laitman (which gave rise to the ONE Convention Preparation eBook), we’ll be holding another special Q&A session with Dr. Laitman in preparation for the ONE Convention in New Jersey:
Our perception of ourselves and reality determines how we sense ourselves and reality. This is the basis for all our research. We need to understand what a human being is, and if we have any existence in and of ourselves. Quantum physicists may be right when they argue that man, like all of matter, is merely a “bundle of waves.” Perhaps the actual reality is very different from that which we presently see. However, if we can establish a fundamental, objective principle that will not depend upon our subjective sensation, a principle that defines “us” and defines “reality,” we will have a standard by which to assess our present perception.
Many researchers believe that the more we progress in our research, the dimmer and vaguer we find things to be. They feel that we are groping in the dark. Our misunderstanding of ourselves and the world is at the core of the present global crisis we are facing. Without doubt, the scientific approach of researching the depths of reality is a good one, but we find there is a boundary, an impasse that we cannot penetrate.
Human nature, human perception, and everything science has discovered will not facilitate a forward movement. We will feel that from a certain point on, everything becomes “intangible” and “evaporates.” This is what quantum physics is already beginning to discover–that matter is suddenly “lost,” leaving researchers in a kind of vacuum.
A sensation of that sort stems from having lost the sense of the present reality, before having perceived the “approaching” Upper reality. This happens when one does not possess the tools to perceive that “other” reality. Baal HaSulam states (in his article, The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah) that the only way to obtain that method is to learn from a Kabbalist who has already mastered it.
Our state in this world is far from our real state, from the standard called Ein Sof, where we are all connected as one desire filled with the Upper Light. The separation, or “exclusion,” occurred to allow us to rise from the degree of desire to a higher degree than that of the desire itself, meaning the degree of intention. This enabled us to make free choices and acquire discernments and revelations with which we could transcend the creature-receiving degree and reach the Creator-giving degree.
Continue reading “Now You Can Exit Virtual Reality and Discover a Limitless Reality”
Dr. Michael Laitman discusses the roots of anti-Semitism and why anti-Semitism is on the rise with Like a Bundle of Reeds executive editor, Chaim Ratz.
Like a Bundle of Reeds is a TV series originally broadcast on JLTV based on the book of the same title. It deals with the topics of the difference between Jews and other nations, Jewish roots, why is there anti-Semitism, whether the Holocaust could happen again, and what is role of a Jewish person.
Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour is a book Dr. Michael Laitman available for free download as an eBook at the following link: www.BundleofReeds.com.
We might compare a human being to a closed box with sensors: eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and hands, representing the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
As we have previously said, the fundamental principle in perceiving reality is that of “equivalence of Form,” which means equilibrium of pressures. The senses function as sensors, each with a different reaction to the pressure, depending on the make up of the sensor. The sight sensor evokes a reaction of light, darkness, and colors; the sound sensor evokes sounds; the smell sensor evokes scents; the taste, flavors; and the touch, sensations such as hard, soft, warm, and cold.
The reaction of the senses is transferred to the brain’s control center, where the information is compared with the data that already exists in the memory, the reservoir of prior impressions. In this manner, we process what our senses gather, determine the most advantageous reaction, and study where we are and how best to function in our environment. When the process is completed, the information is “projected” unto a “screen” within the brain, portraying what is ostensibly in front of us (see diagram).
In this process, the surrounding unknown becomes “known,” and a picture of the external reality is created. However, the picture is not one of external reality, but merely an internal picture, a result of the structure of human senses and preexisting data. If we had different senses, we would produce an entirely different picture. Quite possibly, if we perceived through different senses, what appears as light would appear as dark, or even as something so fundamentally different that we cannot imagine how it would appear to us.
Continue reading “Do You Make These Common Mistakes When Perceiving Reality?”
The only difference between the vessels that perceive the corporeal reality and those that perceive the spiritual reality is in the intention. The corporeal vessels are egoistic and the spiritual vessels are altruistic. Intention is related to one’s attitude towards the use one makes of one’s desires.
The only state that really exists is the state of Ein Sof (Infinity). In that state, the Light is present within the Kli. However, that state is concealed, and the concealment prevents us from experiencing the state of Ein Sof. The altruistic intention gradually removes this concealment and exposes the Light that permanently fills the Kli.
If we keep this depiction in mind, we will remember that we never reveal any Lights outside the vessels. When Kabbalists say that Lights enter or exit the vessels, they wish to emphasize how one draws nearer to the attainment of the constant state. In Kabbalistic terms, Ein Sof is a state of “complete rest,” meaning it is unchanging. Our work is to gradually prepare our tools of perception to perceive that state. Thus, the only change is in our abilities to perceive.
When Light “clothes” a person and one feels how it gradually enters, the constant state becomes gradually clearer as one awakens to feeling it. The Light never actually enters and never actually exits. It only becomes clearer and more evident, meaning more revealed and less concealed.
Continue reading “The Everyman’s Guide to Revealing the Spiritual Reality”