What Have You Ever Done On Your Own?

Question: Why does the Creator allow some people to commit brutal crimes?

Dr. Laitman's Answer: The science of Kabbalah illuminates the questions of perception of reality, free will, and human nature, showing that a person who lives in this world does not possess freedom of choice. Therefore, he doesn't commit any conscious acts.

A person can attain freedom of choice only in a Kabbalistic group, which is a group of people connected in order to attain the spiritual goal. In this case a person receives or earns some degree of acting freely. However, those who have not reached spiritual attainment and have not reconciled two opposite forces, action and intention, do not act at all!

They arrive at the end of this life as if they have never lived. In other words, they haven't lived as "humans." It is their biological body that lived, just like any other type of animal. It is a life dictated by instinctive nature only. A person can only rise above it by way of "faith above reason," when he desires to attain a different nature.

The unity of these two natures, Upper and lower, is regarded as the human in him. Only a person who achieves this can be said to have performed independent actions that are worth punishing or rewarding. In other words, only a Kabbalist can be judged for his own actions. An ordinary person cannot be judged since he acts in accordance with Nature's orders. He follows one route and does nothing using his own free will.

Nevertheless, in our world punishing measures are necessary. However, we don't administer them at will but under orders from Above, although it happens through the government legislature, courts, and law enforcement devices. All of this exists in order to hasten our development!

This is the Upper Governance over all people, who are like puppets, with the purpose of bringing them closer to the point of freedom of choice.

 -from the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10

The Zohar Is The Remedy For Every Illness

The Zohar is just like the Torah in that there is no need to read it in an orderly fashion. You can open up the book anywhere you want to! It's similar to the Psalms in that you can open up any Psalm and read it. You can even read any psalm starting in the middle.

The most important thing when reading holy books (books written by those who attain the Creator through the quality of holiness, bestowal, Bina) is not what you are reading or the things you read about, but the intention: What do you want to attain by reading?

One way or another, you are reading about the Upper World which you don't feel or understand. The Zohar is the highest source of all the holy books. It is the most powerful source of Upper Light, the Light of Correction. It's like an infusion to a sick person, or like a medicine that you take.

What do you want to attain by taking this medicine? What does "being healthy" mean to you? Depending on this, the force of The Book of Zohar can be either the elixir of life for you or a deadly poison!

Therefore, before opening up this book, you must think and feel, attune yourself, prepare and discern: What are you hoping to receive from it now? You are hoping to receive medicine, which is symbolized by a snake. A snake's venom can be truly poisonous or it can be the remedy for every illness.

Therefore, before opening up The Book of Zohar, we must have the right intention so that instead of attracting deadly poison, we will attract the elixir of life that saves us. When people study the Torah without the right intention, it becomes dry and lifeless. This is even more dangerous when we are reading The Book of Zohar, the greatest source of power.

It wasn't accidentally concealed from regular people for so long and yet revealed to Kabbalists. A Kabbalist, meaning a person who attained the right desire, was sure to find this book in some way. It was sent to him through someone or in some other way. He was brought to the place where he could find it.

However, it was not revealed to other people because in the past we were unable to arm ourselves with the right intention. That's why The Zohar could only have brought harm upon us. Today however, we open up The Book of Zohar with the intention that it will bring us goodness, that it will become the source of life for us instead of turning into deadly poison.

The Zohar contains such enormous force that we must be careful to open it only together and with the right intention. That is why it has become revealed in our time and offers us incredible opportunities. We want to offer it to everyone. However, every person must know that only the right intention while studying The Zohar can turn it into the elixir of life.

-from the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/10