The Power of Kabbalah - Yehuda Berg

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THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING
PREFACE
When I was growing up, my parents taught Kabbalah from the basement of
our house. I didn't understand much about what they were doing back then.
All I knew was that there were always lots of people in our home—from
drug addicts to the homeless—who my parents were teaching and helping.
By the time I was 12, I had started asking questions, so my father, the Rav,
introduced me to his wisdom, the wisdom that his teacher's teacher had
made accessible by translating into a modern language, and that his own
teacher made available to the working class, and that the Rav and Karen
(my mother) gave freely to whoever wanted to learn. My father gave this
wisdom to me.
Yet at no time did he tell me what to do with it, or tell me that his wisdom
was my path. I was always given the free will to be a doctor, or an architect,
or what ever I wanted to-become. But at 17 I knew, somehow, that was my
path too. I needed to be part of giving this wisdom to others.
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My father gave me my first project to work on for The Kabbalah Centre,

and since then there have been many more. With every project and every
step along the way I believed I needed the Rav or his wisdom as my crutch.
It did not matter how many years passed, how many students I was
teaching, or how many bestsellers I had written; I was still this 17 year old
boy hiding behind the Rav, needing his direction and approval.
I believed I was unworthy to be a teacher in this historic lineage of giants. I
needed the Rav. I needed the Rav's teacher, and his teacher's teacher.
On September 2, 2004, my father had a stroke, and we essentially stopped

studying together. As I could no longer look to the Rav, I tried to put things
off on the kabbalists: "according to the kabbalists" this, or "according to the
kabblalists" that. All the while I was avoiding taking responsibility for
being a teacher myself. Until now.
Interestingly, in the first page of my first book I quoted Kabbalist Solomon

Gabirol regarding acquiring wisdom. He said "In seeking wisdom the first
stage is silence, the second stage is listening, the third stage is
remembrance, the fourth stage is practicing, the fifth stage is teaching."
If you are truly seeking wisdom you must teach.
This insight was the first step of my own journey. Kabbalah: The Power to
Change Everything is the next step. In writing it I have learned that to truly
teach you need to accept responsibility for the whole package, no matter
what. To change the world each of us needs to be a teacher,
PREFACE
to stand on our own two feet on a soapbox in Trafalgar Square, with no
mind for who listens or what he or she will think. To just risk it.
This book is my soapbox, and here I stand fearful and hopeful that you will
chose to learn, and one day, to teach.
With love and trepidation, Yehuda Berg
www.yehudaberg. ;aberg
INTRODUCTION
APOCALYPSE
INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW
Whether we realize it or not, we are at war right now. We are in a fight to

the finish to stop the relentless destruction of every aspect of life. A war of
consciousness. The Bible tells us that there will come a time at the end of
days when, "You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your
daughters shall you eat." Leviticus 26:29
This world is meant to be blissful, beautiful, happy, healthy, clean, eternal,

sustainable—in short, perfect. And so are we. So what happened? Although
it may have been intended to be perfect, the world was not created this way.
It was created so that through our own efforts we can achieve perfection for
ourselves and the planet. So what is the story with this painful history of
humanity?
It's the story of Consciousness.

Our consciousness.
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Consciousness is the essence of everything. It is what makes us da what we

do and think the way we think. It is a hard-wired driver that essentially
makes us who we are.
In 2009, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza wrote a book called Biocentrism: How
Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of
the Universe. Dr. Lanza states in his book: "There is no separate physical
universe outside of life and consciousness. Nothing is real that is not
perceived. There was never a time when an external, dumb, physical
universe existed, or that life sprang randomly from it at a later date. Space
and time exist only as constructs of the mind."
Quantum physics basically says human consciousness plays a vital role in

reality. In other words, your kitchen table does not exist until your
consciousness observes it. According to the latest experiments in physics,
there is no independent universe out there. The entire cosmos is an illusion,
conjured by the mind. Nothing really exists outside your mind. The
universe you think you see only exists within the realm of human
consciousness. It's a construct of mind.
According to Dr. Lanza, consciousness creates the universe we perceive

instead of the other way around! Namely, the universe did not come into
existence and then create galaxies, Earth, life, and then consciousness.
Rather, consciousness birthed the universe itself, including all of its laws.
Put another way, there is no such thing as mind over matter. Mind is matter.
Not only did consciousness create everything, but consciousness is
everything.
Is science saying (and am I suggesting) that we ourselves created the

suffering that exists in this world?

The answer is yes.
Written more than 2000 years ago, the Zohar explains that the Holy Temple
in Jerusalem was not built with axes and hammers. Yes, these tools erected
the physical structure, but its real creation came from the consciousness of
the people who envisioned it. In fact, all the wonders of the world—the
Pyramids, Angel Falls, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, etc.—were
created by consciousness. This past August, I visited Victoria Falls on the
Zambezi River, and there is no question in my mind after viewing this
wonder of the world that it was created by anything other than
consciousness.
But by the same token, it is also consciousness that destroys. I know The
Power to Change Everything sounds like a lofty goal when:
• The World Health Organization estimates that 2.4 million people die each
year from health issues directly attributable to air pollution. It has been
determined by satellite that almost 10 billion pounds of air pollution is
spreading out. over the Pacific Ocean and reaching North America from
East Asia and other regions.
• There are 5 million deaths every year; violence and injuries account for 9
percent of global mortality, which is as many deaths as from HIV, malaria
and tuberculosis combined. Six of the 15 leading causes of death for people
ages 15 to 29 years are violence-related: suicides, homicides, drowning,
burns, war injuries, and poisonings.
• A man in Bakersfield, California, got high on Phencyclidine (PCP) and bit

the eyeball out of his 4-year-old son's face
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and ate it. When the boy's missing eye could not be located, reports said,
and the young child told a detective, "My daddy ate my eye." After the
gruesome torture of his child, the wheelchair-bound father then attempted to
hack his own legs off with an axe.
Still, the truth remains. Everything is built and destroyed by consciousness.
So as much as things seem fixed and unchangeable, we can change

everything.
WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?
There is an infinite force of Consciousness. It is the Cause of all causes.

And it includes within it infinite happiness. Religion calls this force God.
Some call it Light, or Energy. Whatever you choose to call it, know that it is
the Cause and source of everything good.
There is a second force of consciousness that was created by the first force
to be the recipient of all that good. This second force of consciousness
includes all the souls of humanity.
If this first force of consciousness is the Cause, then logic tells us that this
second force of consciousness is the Effect.
Let us follow this logic in order to understand what we really need to do to

change.
Plant a seed in the earth and a tree emerges. The seed is the cause and the
tree bearing fruit is the effect. Here is the challenge we face. Once the seed
sprouts, the seed itself vanishes: it becomes impossible to detect. Yet this
seed is always present, continually giving of its essence to the full-blown
tree, even if there is no proof of its existence.
When the Cause of all creation sprouted our universe—which includes the
stars, galaxies, planets, oceans, and the fruit we call humanity— it appears
God vanished. This is why we so often feel devoid of God in our lives and
in our efforts to heal this chaotic world.
Mother Teresa suffered a crisis of faith through many decades of her life,
which is evidenced in letters she wrote that were preserved against her
wishes. Many of the letters were made public in the book Mother Teresa:
Come Be My Light. Her emptiness seems to have started when she began
tending the poor and the dying in Calcutta. In one letter to a spiritual
confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet, she wrote. 'Jesus has a very
special love for you, as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great,
that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear—the tongue moves but
does not speak ... I want you to pray for me—that I let Him have free hand."
Such emptiness and darkness is the painful result of not knowing where the
Essence of God resides.
Just as every cause contains the effect, every effect contains the cause.
This means that if you look inside the actual fruit on the tree—the final
effect—you will find the cause. Remember that once a seed buds, it
becomes impossible to detect or find the original seed. Yet who can deny
that the seed is always present, continually giving of its essence to the full-
blown tree, even if there is no proof or evidence of its existence? If
humanity is the effect of Creation, then if we look inside humankind we
will find the cause of Creation. When we look inside man we will find God.
Our true essence is God, our source of consciousness is God, and God has
the power to change everything. The problem is that we have forgotten this,
and we continue to forget!
So how do we activate the Essence of God within us?
USING THE RULE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

There is a fixed rule that governs the realm of consciousness. If we don't
grasp this immutable, irrevocable rule of consciousness, we will continue to
suffer and die. Rav Ashlag says this one law is the key to all wisdom. Here
it is:
Like attracts like, and opposites repel.
When I say this I am not referring to the popular law of attraction (our
thoughts create our reality). This is only the first half of the law. We all
want bliss, but what are we willing to do about generating it, what work are
we prepared to put in? This is where humanity has failed until now. We
have forgotten that the work resides in the second half of the law: opposites
repel.
If God is the Cause and we are the Effect, and cause and effect are polar
opposites, then we find ourselves in a reality that is the opposite
of God. A reality of death instead of immortality. Darkness instead of Light.

Pain instead of pleasure. Suffering instead of serenity. Panic attacks instead
of peace of mind. Lies instead of truth: Mindless matter instead of
consciousness. Chaos instead of order. Emptiness instead of fulfillment.
Our job, should we accept it or not, is to shift our consciousness from that
of effect, from what is opposite to God to what is God. It is our job to
transform this world that seems imperfect and dark into what it was
intended to be, a world that is Light-filled and perfect.
THE WAY HOME
There is only one way to return to paradise. If God is the Source of all
good, if God is unity, if God is powerful, if God sees the big picture, if God
is responsible, if God is caring, if God is giving and imparting, then we
must become identical to God. Remember, we do have this essence at our
core. It has been inside us all along.
When we forget we are God, we become no different than animals. In fact,

we become worse.
On my recent trip to Botswana in southern Africa, my guide shared with me

an interesting fact about elephants. He said elephants eat between 16 to 18
hours a day. Yet only 12.5 percent of what they eat nourishes their body.
The other 87.5 percent gets eliminated. This elephant dung sustains the
other animals and wildlife in the African ecosystem. When the rains come
the elephant dung fertilizes the land and helps in the creation of food for the
next season.
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When we are in the consciousness of effect, not only does our energy not
perpetuate continuity, our energy manifests destruction. We simply create
waste that fertilizes nothing. When God consciousness is removed from this
world, the world is bound to self-destruct.
Only humankind has free will. No other aspect of Creation can chose
between God Consciousness or effect consciousness. We can.
We were given the gift of free will so when a challenge arises we can
recognize it as an opportunity to grow; we see it as a wake-up call instead
of as an opportunity to fall to victimization. When we want to have a good
day, we are given tools to have a great day. Will we be a survivor or a
statistic, Creator or destroyer? The choice is ours.
There is a story about a man who leaves the world and arrives at the pearly
gates, where an angel gives him a preview of Heaven and Hell. Both
scenarios have exactly the same setting: people sitting around a huge pot of
stew, each holding a wooden spoon with a very long handle. Confused, the
man says to the angel, "This cannot be Heaven and Hell. They look the
same." Whereby the angel answers him, "No, you see in Hell, the people
are frustrated and starving, trying desperately to feed themselves, but try as
they might, they are not able to get food into their own mouths using their
cumbersome long-handled spoons. In Heaven, on the other hand, the people
are healthy and happy feeding one another."
We are at junction in the history of humanity where we can choose Heaven

or Hell. We have almost reached the lowest possible point. It is our choice
now where we will abide. As the Bible tells us, people will either change
for the better, or we will begin the end of times.
Many believe that on December 21, 2012—which marks the end of a 5126
year era, according to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar—this planet
and all its inhabitants will experience a positive physical or spiritual
transformation, while others believe it is the beginning of an apocalypse.
We cannot wait any longer.
As a Gemini, I am fascinated by factoids. In this book I'm going to refer to

many of the problems in the world today and perhaps cast them in a new
light. I'll offer some thoughts on everyday spiritual solutions offered by
some of the greatest sages in history. This is not however, my primary
reason for writing this book.
My purpose is to wake us up to the simple knowledge that things can be

different if we shift our consciousness. From effect to God. From asleep to
awake. From victim to leader. We cannot solve a problem we cannot see.
Once we can see it, the only other ingredient required is desire. This part
has to come from you and me individually. We have to want to change the
way our world is right now, we have to want to make a personal change. In
order to change everything, you have to really, really want it.
It is my fervent hope that after you read these pages, you will.
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CHAPTER ONE
THE ROOT OF
CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
Many people are shocked when I tell them that I didn't vote in the 2008
presidential election and that I am not necessarily a Barack Obama
supporter. But I am not a Republican either. I just believe that there is no
single person who can make the sort of difference that we are looking for.
The 2008 presidential election was really about change at all costs. People
felt that anything would be better than the existing situation. But we need
more than the offer of hope or a change in a political party. No one person
or party or system will ever do it all, or even do enough. Change has to
come from each of us individually.
From a spiritual point of view, a leader is only a reflection of the

consciousness of the people. Therefore, that leader will only be as strong
and powerful as the people he serves. Bad leaders are meant to rouse us to
take action. When we see something we don't like in our leadership, it is to
show us this is what we need to recognize and transform within ourselves.
We shouldn't expect our leaders to be perfect: they're not. We should expect
leaders to work on themselves and to reflect back to us what we need to
personally change.
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Even if every country in the world had the very best leader possible, the
world would still not be perfect. If the laws of physics had been waived to
allow Abraham Lincoln to serve as U.S. president for 200 consecutive
years, our country would still face the same problems we face today; we
will face them as long as our consciousness stays the same.
My political beliefs are certainly influenced by those of my father and
mother. When I was growing up we never followed presidential elections or
joined in the rollercoaster ride of how a president or political leader was
performing. Politics was something that had become about ego, like a cloud
that looks solid, but is actually nothing but vapor. In fact, I struggled with
whether or not to include a chapter on politics in this book. However,
knowing that for many people politics is seen as the way to achieve change,
I felt that it was necessary to address it.
In our family we believed that the real power to make a difference comes
from learning to work with spiritual principles and universal laws. When
my father was a young man, his first attempt at making a difference was
teaching children. Then he tried to make a difference through his business
activities, and although he was successful he was unable to effect great
change in this manner. Then he tried politics. He began donating money to
support the initiatives of politicians with whom his ideals were aligned, and
eventually developed relationships with powerful people in Washington,
D.C. However, as soon as my father met his spiritual teacher, Rav
Brandwein, and began his studies, he realized that his own vehicle for
creating the greatest positive change in the world would be the teachings of
Kabbalah.
SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS
Before the Chinese took over Tibet, Tibet may have been one of the ideal
models of a socio-spiritual political system. A self-proclaimed "religious
and independent nation," Tibet's government was headed by His Holiness
the Dalai Lama, the latest in a long line of both political and spiritual
leaders. When China overran Tibet, the Chinese government believed it
could simply demand that Tibetans replace pictures of the Dalai Lama with
pictures of Mao, and in this way impose a transition from Buddhism to
Communism. However ridiculous this sounds, it is representative of the
way politics has strayed from its spiritual basis throughout the world.
Whether our nation is a monarchy, an oligarchy, a republic, or a democracy,
we have displaced the spiritual intent of our founders with an ego-based
system.
Many of our forefathers including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington,

Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock were Freemasons. The principles
behind the Freemasons can be traced back to the same foundation that
underlies the spiritual system of Kabbalah: putting the needs of others
before your own. Washington took his second oath of office as President of
the United States dressed in full Masonic regalia, and a painting of him in
this garb still hangs today in the Library of Congress. Albert Pike, a
Confederate military officer, attorney, writer, and one of the greatest
Freemasons of all time, once said, "What we have done for ourselves alone
dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is
immortal."
PULLING PEOPLE APART
It's hard to reconcile the divisions that our current political system creates.
Politics is something that should bring people together, yet it tends to have
the opposite effect. In the United States, the presence of only two major
political parties heightens this polarizing effect. Many people feel they have
to choose a side and that once they do so their commitment must remain
steadfast—regardless of the people or policies their party puts forward.
Every existing political group today defines its position in terms of left and
right, whereas spiritual solutions are most often found in what Buddhists
call the Middle Way, or what kabbalists call the Central Column.
From a spiritual perspective, the ideal is to encompass both conservative

and liberal. The value of a conservative mindset is that it emphasizes
responsibility for our own actions and their effects. The benefit of a liberal
way of thinking is that it keeps us mindful of treating others the way we
would like to be treated, and of the profound sense of satisfaction we derive
from taking care of each other. Most politics doesn't work because it
emphasizes the differences between these ideals, whereas spirituality
incorporates them both.
What's more, even politicians with strong beliefs constantly switch
positions; not because their ideals change, but because they become
addicted to the power of public opinion. A past U.S. president once said,
"During the election, it's all about change and about taking care of people.
But once you're in the chair, it's just about staying in the chair."
My lack of interest and participation in politics has not stopped people from
trying to label me. I recently sent out an email blast encouraging
people to become more aware of the environment. Many people wrote to

me assuming that because of my stance on the environment, I must be a
Democrat. Why does concern for our air and water only belong to
Democrats? Why must we try to define ourselves with one-size-fits-all
labels?
Identity and ownership is the domain of ego. Through ego we become

attached to an ideology, to a political party, to a person, and to our
fragmented and passionate opinions. In short, politics has become
inextricably linked to ego. Spirituality, on the other hand, is intent on
removing it.
As Rav Ashlag explains, ego is that voice inside us that triggers judgment,
control, anger, pride, and even hatred. It is unfortunate that most political
systems bring out these qualities in people, instead of extolling the virtues
of tolerance, human dignity, and concern for others that ideally our leaders
would aspire to uphold.
There are no absolutes. Anytime something moves in that direction, watch

out: ego is at play. Only the ego wants things to be black or white, right or
wrong—it wants us to claim that we are everything or we are nothing, that
we are Donald Trump or nobody at all.
As George Orwell said, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely." As evidenced

by the characters in Orwell's novel Animal Farm, give a person absolute
power and he will inevitably become controlling, forcing others to do
whatever he wants. Seen in this light the Animal Farm social revolution was
doomed from the start, even though it began with the establishment of an
optimistic code of tolerance: "No animal must ever tyrannize over his own
kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers."
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20 THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING
President Nixon tried to invoke the authority of the executive branch to

withhold incriminating tapes from people who were seeking them,
including the special prosecutor. Certainly all presidents and persons in
power are susceptible to this kind of over-reaching, but the truth is that none
of us are exempt from me-centered thinking. It is the ego that tricks us into
thinking that we are justified in doing whatever it takes to prevail against
those we perceive as our enemies.
Much blood is shed in the wars of the world, and many precious resources
are squandered in the process. The American Civil War was the deadliest
war in American history, producing about 1,030,000 casualties (about 3%
of the U.S. population at the time), including some 620,000 soldier deaths.
The Civil War is estimated to account for as many American deaths as all
U.S. wars combined. This was a war fought over social, political, economic,
and racial issues. People defined themselves by the side they chose to
support, and instead of addressing the underlying real roots of the problem,
both sides became close-minded to the point where a peaceful resolution
was not possible. The ego finds ways to make us go to war—even with
ourselves.
Absolutist thinking gives us permission to attack each other as evidenced by

the slander, judgment and anger in the 2008 presidential election. As
Rudyard Kipling, the British author and poet once noted, "Words are of
course the most powerful drug used by mankind." Words can create real
damage to individuals and their families. However, we have become
oblivious to this fact. The pain and divisiveness created by tossing around
insults is considered par for the course in the political arena. It is ego that
allows us to be so casual about collateral damage. Whether the words we
use boost ourselves or put the other person down they inflict harm, and in
both cases their source is ego.
What's worse is that in spite of all the rhetoric to the contrary, we suffer
from a lack of any real accountability. And in the absence of checks and
balances, corruption led by the ego is bound to take over. The result is that
people in power start to believe that they can do whatever they want. Thus
their focus, which may once have been on service, shifts to accumulating—
and keeping—power.
CREATING IDOLS
We give so much power to the individual who promises change. We want

him or her to fix what is wrong in our lives so that we don't have to. This is
the same reason we turn celebrities into idols and obsessions. If we are
focused on the latest Hollywood break-up or Mrs. Obama's latest outfit, we
don't have to think about real issues. It's much easier to build up our ideal
image of someone else or create a story around him or her than it is to take
responsibility for what is happening in our own lives.
Journalism originally was intended to give a voice to the people in a

democracy. Pioneers of the press took great risks in order to dig out
information that allowed the public to play an active part in a system of
checks and balances. However, instead of cherishing this gift, we've lost the
ability to distinguish between entertainment and real news—so much so
that real news is going the way of the dodo bird.
I'm not saying that there should be no fanfare around particular events, but
that the amount of coverage given to people's lives—and their deaths—
shows where our priorities lie. On a day-to-day basis, we hear more about
the latest Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan predicament than we do about
genocide in Africa or natural disaster
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in China. And who is Paris Hilton exactly? What has she ever done to merit
fame? As far as I can tell, she has successfully played the media game to
create a lucrative, high-profile identity.
When Michael Jackson, the "King of Pop," passed away, obsessive fans
spent endless hours twittering, blogging, and watching entertainment and
mainstream news channels cover the life and death of the young entertainer.
Television networks around the world broadcast his funeral service.
Facebook recorded a staggering response to their live Michael Jackson
memorial stream (which was created in partnership with CNN). Thirty
minutes into the memorial itself there were 500,000 updates posted;
300,000 users logged in using Facebook Connect and CNN; and there were
approximately 6,000 status updates per minute. These statistics don't even
reflect Facebook's additional support for the online memorial coverage from
E! Online, MTV, and ABC News today. The numbers reported far exceeded
those from President Barack Obama's historic inauguration.
We put people we admire on a pedestal, and then, when their behavior no

longer suits us, we knock them back down. Our idols are really no different
than anyone else. For every person's prominent strengths, he or she has
equally outsized flaws. We are all imperfect beings. True leaders are those
who know their limitations and work with them. They walk their talk, lead
by example, and inspire people to take action for themselves.
JONAH AND THE WHALE
If you have read the Bible, you are familiar with the story of Jonah. God
told Jonah that it was his responsibility to help the 600,000
people who lived in the ego-driven town of Nineveh. However Jonah didn't
think he was up to the task. He didn't feel worthy, so instead of helping,
Jonah ran away and hid on a boat going out to sea.
Several days into the voyage, a huge storm threatened to destroy the ship.
The crew became convinced that the sea was angry with someone on board.
To divine the name of the person who had provoked the sea, they cast a
lottery, and Jonah's name was drawn. Hoping to appease the sea's deadly
wrath, the crew threw Jonah overboard.
Jonah found himself alone on the open ocean, fighting for his life. In the
midst of his despair he was swallowed by a whale, but in the warm belly of
the whale, Jonah began to process everything that he had been running
away from. He prayed and worked tirelessly to overcome his ego, which
was making him feel too inadequate to take on the responsibility God
intended for him. Finally, after three days, the whale spit Jonah back out.
Relieved and renewed, Jonah made his way safely back to shore. He then
rushed to the town of Nineveh to save the people there. Because he believed
that he could, Jonah was able to help the people of the town transform,
which is what being a leader is all about. True leadership requires bashing
the ego.
We are all here to make mistakes; that is an inescapable aspect of our

destiny. An authentic leader will show us that there are two roads we can
take: admit our mistakes and change, or hide the truth from ourselves and
blame others. A real leader not only helps us uncover our imperfections, but
also gives us permission to be vulnerable and thereby truly change. When
we choose to hide our mistakes, we are
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operating in the domain of the ego. But when we expose our dark, shameful
places, the universe will actually shield us from judgment and negativity.
Paradoxically, the degree to which we expose ourselves is the degree to
which we are protected. Recently I received an email from a campus
minister who shared his challenges with me. His courage and vulnerability
touched me, and I would like to share his words with you.
Good afternoon,
Each week I look forward to your message. It provides me with much to
think about and reflect upon. Thank you especially for your wisdom this
week. There is a war going on within the school where I serve as Campus
Minister. The battles have become intense and very personal. For three
years I have been the object of unkind words, rumors, attacks, and rejection.
It has been an exhausting experience. This year, I have renewed my
commitment to let the negative feelings go and just do my job to the best of
my ability. And the attacks still keep coming...some expected and some
unexpected. I feel the angst of all those who are involved in war.
Your words gave me encouragement: to discover my insecurities, "issues,"

and trigger points so that I do not allow my buttons to be pushed.
In researching social and political systems I came across another

remarkable letter, this one allegedly written by Aristotle to Alexander the
Great. I have subsequently learned that there is some controversy regarding
the letter's authenticity, but I found this letter so relevant to this
conversation that I felt compelled to include it anyway.
Blessed be He who opens the eyes of the blind and shows sinners the true
path. Let Him be praised in an appropriate manner, since I do not know how
to praise Him for the great kindness and mercy that He showed to me. I am
eternally grateful to Him for getting me away from the foolishness to which
I had devoted my life.
All my life I delved into philosophy and to explain all natural phenomena in
a logical manner. I wrote many books on these subjects. Finally, in the
twilight of my life, I had the opportunity to engage in the conversation with
a Jewish sage. It did not take me long to recognize his great wisdom, and he
led me to understand how great is the Torah that was given on Mount Sinai.
He taught me the inner depth of the Torah, providing me with many brilliant
insights based on its teachings. I realized how foolish I had been for not
realizing how God can manipulate the laws of nature, and that much of
what happens in the world is directed by God.
Realizing all this, I decided to devote myself to exploring the wisdom of the
Torah. It did not take me long to realize that the Torah is based on true
foundations, while the axioms of philosophy are truly arbitrary.
Therefore, my dear student Alexander, if I had the power to collect all the
books I have written, I would burn them. I would be embarrassed for any of
them to survive. However, I realize that I do not have this power; my books
have already been published and have spread all over the world. I also
realize that
/ will receive Divine punishment for having written such misleading books.
Therefore, my son, Alexander, I am writing this letter to tell you that the
great majority of my theories regarding natural law are false. While nature
does exist, God is the Lord of the universe, and He directs all things as He
sees fit. I am telling everyone openly that they should not waste time with
my books. They should not look at them or even touch them with their
hands. It is sinful to waste time of false theories that I have espoused.
I feel that I have saved my soul by admitting my error. I hope that I will be
held guilty for the past, since I acted out of ignorance. But now I have
revealed to the public that I was mistaken and that my heart aches for the
time I have wasted on my foolish theories. Those who waste time on my
books therefore will deserve to be punished.
The Jewish scholar with whom I spoke showed me the book of proverbs
(Mishley) written by King Solomon one of the great geniuses of all times.
The scholar showed me that in many places, King Solomon warned against
wasting time on philosophical speculation. One such place is where he said,
"Say to Wisdom, 'you are my sister, and consider Understanding your
relative, that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the loose
woman who speaks so smoothly.' (Proverbs 7:4-5)
I feel sorry for my eyes for what they have seen and my ears for what they
have heard. I feel sorry for my body for wasting its strength on such
detrimental studies.
/ know that you praise me and tell me that I am famous all over the world
because of the books I have written. People speak very highly of me. But I
wish I were dead because of the misleading books that I have spread all
over the world. People who devote themselves to Torah will earn eternal
life, while those who devote themselves to my books will earn the grave.
But I am prepared to accept upon myself the punishment of them all.
I did not write to you earlier because I was afraid that you would be angry
with me and perhaps even harm me. But now I have made up my mind to
tell you the truth. I know that by the time you receive this letter, I will
already be dead and buried, because I realize that my end is near.
I salute you with greetings of peace, Alexander of Macedon, great emperor

and ruler. Your Teacher Aristotle."
Yalkut Me Am Loez: The Torah Anthology, Exodus III 6, The Ten
Commandments.
Yitro 3 Page 154
In researching Aristotle I was expecting to find the spiritual truths behind

the origins of politics. Although Aristotle's revelations about the Torah
(spirituality) and his own writings (politics) was interesting and on point,
strangely enough what hit home for me is the great courage and humility it
must have taken to write such words—to understand, accept, and admit to
the world that he was wrong. For Aristotle to have overcome the natural
attachment of the ego to his own ideas, and then to disavow his life's work,
blew my mind.
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CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF AL
NEED AN IDENTITY?
Our sense of ownership and attachment are the work of ego. Only our ego
gets attached to ideas, to expectations, to a sense of entitlement, and to what
we think of as our identity. We have to realize that everything we have in
this life is on loan: our body, our material possessions, the people in our
life, our accomplishments, our talents—everything. What you are reading is
not my content, or my book. None of what we think of as ours truly belongs
to us. We are simply custodians, given these gifts and challenges in order to
come to know our own perfection. Ego tells us to take ownership of a
particular identity that could possess great power or no power at all, but
both are illusions. And this illusion is the ultimate source of all the pain in
our life.
Many people are familiar with the aviation tycoon Howard Hughes.
Hughes' net worth was estimated to be an astounding $43.4 billion.
However, he developed an obsessive fear of people and germs, which
started to severely affect his life by the mid-1950s. By 1966 he had moved
to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he holed himself up in a hotel. When the hotel
threatened to evict him, he purchased it, and for the next several years very
few people ever saw Hughes, who had become so reclusive that he rarely
set foot outside his suite. In 1976 Hughes died aboard an airplane traveling
from Acapulco to Houston. He had become such a hermit at the end of his
life that the Treasury Department had to use fingerprints to confirm his
death.
We are all more than the one-dimensional self our ego projects, but we can
get so attached to one identity that we forget how to live without the
persona. Who is Michael Jordan if not a basketball player? When his
basketball career is over, does he no longer exist? Of course not. He is

a father, a husband, and a human being engaged in life. By attaching
ourselves to only one aspect of ourselves we limit our potential for true
fulfillment as a whole person. If we choose to get attached to one identity
and make it the center of our being, we are left with only pain and
emptiness when that one aspect of ourselves is taken away. The nature of
the ego is to latch on to that which is temporary. If we choose to let that go,
then not only do we free ourselves from a major source of pain, but we will
also be open to the gift of the next stage of life that is being presented to us
by the universe.
By the way, the identity to which we attach ourselves is not always positive;
some of us cling to negative identities as well. It's the ego that thinks we
own our successes and our failures, when actually they are both just
opportunities. It's what we do with them that matters.
We like to put others (and ourselves) into limiting categories for purposes of
identification, but people's lives don't fit neatly into compartments. There
are no limits to what we are capable of doing and becoming, as long as we
are focused on something outside of ourselves. The United States
presidential election of 2000 was a contest between George W. Bush, the
Republican candidate, and Al Gore, the Democratic candidate. As we all
know, George W. Bush became president. Al Gore won that election, but
George Bush took office because he gamed the system. That election was
taken away from Gore, some say stolen, in front of the whole world. Yet
since the election, Al Gore has actually gained popularity and stature, not to
mention a Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore may have lost the presidency, but in
return he received the gift of finding his real voice, his true purpose, rather
than having to maintain the equivocal persona that is required to for playing
politics. After all is said and done who is more influential today George
Bush or Al Gore?
If Al Gore had been locked into his identity as "defeated presidential

candidate," what an opportunity he would have missed! My own feeling is
that the ego-bashing he took in front of the American people dislodged his
grip on that identity, and made room for his selfless commitment to the
environment—which led to the creation of An Inconvenient Truth, to a
Nobel Peace Prize, and to growing international awareness of the perils our
planet faces.
We need to get to a place where even if every gift on loan to us was

suddenly taken away, we would still feel complete. We have to accept and
appreciate who we are when our identities are completely stripped away.
When we look we will find that there is always some good we can do in the
world if we devote ourselves to it.
Ownership also tends to show up in relationship to other people. We think

that because we love people—our children, for instance—it means we own
them, and that their lives belong to us. But there is a marked difference
between caring for someone and owning them. Taking care of our children
is our responsibility, but owning them is an illusion created by ego that will
only cause pain and suffering for them—and for us.
Ownership shows up when we help others and then suddenly find ourselves
feeling entitled to a piece of their success. A friend of mine is a personal
trainer. Recently he told me that his business has been suffering. Upset by
this state of affairs, he explained that once he had trained a businessman
with a net worth in excess of $100 million. This particular client often
praised the personal trainer's services and said that the client's success was
partly due to-the stress relief and fitness that my friend helped him achieve.
Although this client was no longer working with him, my friend somehow
felt that their
relationship meant he was entitled to participate in his client's ongoing

success.
I asked my friend, "When was the last time the two of you worked
together?"
"10 years ago," he replied.
"And is he still a millionaire?" I asked
"Yes. Now he's worth $200 million!" he said.

Laughing, I said, "It sounds like he did even better without you! Why do
you still think his success has anything to do with you? Let that feeling go,
and your business will prosper again."
Seeing how crestfallen my friend looked, I tried to explain what was going
on. Ownership can lead us to a sense of entitlement that, if unchecked, can
push us towards self-destruction. The fact is that truly great things happen
only when we have no attachment to outcomes. Unfortunately, the ego feels
entitled to gratification. This is how the ego locks us into a mistaken sense
of our self worth—either overblown or undervalued.
Imagine that the importance of your life's work will only be recognized
1,000 years after your death. If this were the case, would you still continue
to work at it? Would you still be fulfilled by it? Jesus only had about 12
close followers during his lifetime. Although more than a billion people
practice Christianity today, Jesus never saw this success. Sir Isaac Newton
actually wrote more about mysticism than he did about science, but his
family kept these writings concealed
www.yehudaberg ,c om iidaberg
after his death in 1727. It wasn't until several centuries later that these
profound spiritual and metaphysical writings were discovered by his
descendants. Scholars who have studied the works agree that Newton was a
deeply spiritual person, and that his scientific studies may have been less
important to him than making sense of the nonphysical world around him.
THE POINT IS CHANGE
The whole point of all of this—why we are here, why the world is here, and
why we have the political system and leaders that we do—is to achieve
change. This is the purpose of life. So why then, does change seem so
difficult? Because ego gets in the way. Ninety-five percent of the fuel and
energy required to launch a rocket is expended in lift-off. The remaining
five percent is used for the rest of the mission. The process of change works
much the same way. Ninety-five percent of your energy is required just to
overcome the ego. This is the hardest part. The ego will try to stop you
before you even start. It doesn't want you to change, but once you get past
this first obstacle, change begins to create its own momentum. You may not
see any results of your decision to change today, but as you go from first
gear to second gear and finally to overdrive, change gathers speed.
There is a story about a man who needed $1000 to pay for his daughter's
wedding. Overwhelmed by the prospect of raising such a large amount of
money in a short amount of time, he went to a sage for help. The sage
advised him to visit the town's wealthiest man and ask him for the money.
Now this wealthy man was renowned for being exceptionally tight-fisted
with his money. Although many people had asked him for loans throughout
the years, he had never given money to anyone.
Following the sage's advice, the man went to visit the miser. He asked him
for the $1000, but the miser shook his head. However, just as the man was
leaving, the miser offered him a penny. Insulted by the size of the offered
gift, the supplicant simply turned and walked away. Distraught, he went
back to the sage and explained what had happened.
The sage told him to go back and accept the penny. "But that will not bring
me anywhere close to what I need to raise for the wedding, which is this
week!" the man exclaimed.
'Uust trust me, and do as I say," the sage replied.
So back the man went, and again the miser offered him the penny. This time
the man accepted it. Then, just as the man was turning to leave, the miser
offered him a quarter. The man accepted this as well, and started to leave
again. The miser then offered him a dollar. Then $20. Then, $100. It was
not long before the man had obtained the full $1000 he needed.
Elated, he rushed back to tell the sage the good news, and to ask him a
question. "How did you know that the miser would help me? He has never
given money to anyone!"
The sage explained that all his life the miser had wanted to be generous.
However, he didn't know how to give. He was only able to part with a
penny, and whenever he offered it, no one would accept. When this man
accepted the penny from the miser, the act of giving felt so good that the
miser wanted to give more. And the more he gave, the more he wanted to
give.
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The same is true for the rest of us. Once we open ourselves to change, this
first act creates an appetite for even more change. We begin to want more
and more growth in our lives, and this desire is supported by a growing
certainty that we can change.
Rav Brandwein explained that the difference between those who make the
transformation and those that do not is that those who change know at the
outset that they will change; those who do not, lack this conviction. We
need to know there is a process, and to trust in it. Just because a fruit is not
ripe now does not mean it will never be sweet. We have to embrace the
journey and not let the ego trap us in its desire for immediate results, or
lock us into an inflexible sense of our identity. When an opportunity comes
to have your ego bashed, as hard as it is—and trust me it is the hardest thing
you will ever have to do—just take it. Put your head down and take it: like a
man, like a woman, like Al Gore, or like Aristotle.
Zusha was one of the great sages of all time. He lived around 250 years ago
and often went from town to town teaching and helping people with their
issues. This, as he saw it, was his mission in life. In one of the towns Zusha
traveled to, he stumbled on a big party. Driven by curiosity, he went closer
to see what was happening. He observed that the people inside were not
dancing or celebrating. They were mostly sitting with their heads bowed,
talking softly to each other. Confused, he asked a passerby, "Why is
everyone so sad?"
He was told, "Well, there was supposed to be a big wedding tonight.

Unfortunately, the family lost all the money they had saved for the wedding
and will no longer be able to pay for it."
THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING 35
So Zusha asked, "Do you know how much money was lost?" He was told
the precise amount.
Early the next day, Zusha came back to the village, exclaiming, "I have
found the missing money!" He then approached the family with a bundle
and passed it over to them. Shocked, they began to count it and discovered
that miraculously it was the exact amount they had accumulated for the
wedding. Just as they began thanking Zusha for this generosity, he stopped
them and said, "Wait a moment. Hold your thanks. I'm the one who found
the money, and I could have kept it myself, but I did not. Don't you think I
deserve a reward?" He insisted that he would not leave the village until he
was paid a fee for recovering the money.
The villagers were stunned. They had been prepared to make Zusha a hero,
only to find out that he was just as greedy as the next person, if not more so.
The townspeople became furious, and some began to suggest that Zusha
himself had stolen the money in order to claim the reward. A few hours
later Zusha was run out of town for his disgraceful behavior.
Upon returning home he went to his teacher, who had already heard the
news. Zusha's teacher asked, "I'm assuming that you didn't find the money.
Knowing the kind of person you are, I'm guessing that you actually gave the
family your own money. But what was this business of demanding a
reward?"
Zusha replied, "You know, just as I was about to give the bride and groom
my own money, I said to myself: Zusha, how many people in the world
would do what you're about to do? Nobody. I started feeling
so good about myself that I realized my ego was showing up. So I had to
quickly devise a plan to give the wedding couple the money without
feeding my ego at the same time. I decided that being run out of town for
my greediness would be humiliating enough so that my ego could no longer
get in the way."
OUR MISSION
The mission to find and destroy our own ego will push us to greatness. It is
one of the boldest risks we can take. This is what gets us out of our comfort
zone so we can really make a difference in this world. When we get past our
ego we are able to see real solutions because suddenly we are open to see
what we don't know. This gives us the power to ask questions, and to not
accept things as they seem. We have to dig deeper in order to find "out of
the box" answers that can drive us forward to a brighter future.
How many politicians think that because they put a policy or plan in place
that they deserve more power and greater accolades? As Al Gore has made
evident, it is not our successes that really matter; it is what we do with our
failures that makes us, and our work, great in this world. Humiliation is
actually one of the fastest ways to target the ego. The desire to feel praised
and recognized is a telltale sign that the ego is thriving. But if enough
people can start to fully see their ego at work and destroy it we will achieve
a critical mass, and the world will change.
As the Baal Shem Tov explained, everything that we see in others is truly a
reflection of our own ego. When we see something in someone else that
especially bothers us, what we are really seeing is our own
ego. What's more, the reason we see it when we do is because this is the
ideal time to bring the ego down.
During the process of writing this book, I have been working on my own
changes and challenges. It was no coincidence that throughout this chapter,
I had three major arguments with some of the most important people in my
life. I'm grateful to those loved ones, especially my mom, to whom I owe
the greatest thank you, for they showed me where my ego lies.
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CHAPTER TWO
MY NANNY WAS A
'SOMBER
When'I was 6 years old, I had a nanny. Two, actually. And they were both
teenage boys.
My father was teaching at the University in Jerusalem. On occasion he and

my mother would travel to Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel to teach. While
my parents were away, Yasir and Sufian Jabarin looked after my brother
and me. They were the teenage sons of an Arab family that was friendly
with mine.
It was somewhat unusual for a Jewish family to be so close to an Arab

family. However, not long after we moved to Jerusalem, my parents had
befriended a number of Arabs. They felt they had an affinity with spiritual
Muslims and quickly became part of the Muslim community. Their Muslim
friends invited them to spend time in the mountains of Jericho and in the
city of Jenine, some of the most volatile areas in the region. My parents
would shop in the markets of Bethlehem and Ramala and travel to holy
sites.
CHAPTER TWO: MY NANNY WAS A SUICIDE BOMBER
Of the two sons that watched us, Yasir Jabarin was the older one. He was
mischievous by nature—always getting into trouble, or up to something. In
fact, on one occasion, Yasir was bold enough to steal a camera from my
aunt! My father simply spoke to his father, who had him promptly return
the camera. Sufian, the younger brother, was the polar opposite. He was a
quiet, sensitive person, someone who could always be counted on. Sufian
was fun and generous, and we would spend our time together laughing and
watching Arab cartoons that Sufian translated for us. After getting to know
him and his brother for more than two years, we felt undeniably close to
Yasir and Sufian. They were family.
After we moved back to the United States, my father wanted to travel back
to Israel to visit the Shiloach spring, a cold-water spring used since Biblical
times as a spiritual bath. But the Intifada, an Islamist-led uprising that had
started in the occupied territories, was raging, making a trip to the spring
dangerous, to say the least. Once again the Jabarin family showed their
generous spirit by using their influence to help get us there safely.
Twelve years later, I was sitting next to my father on a plane. My father was
engrossed in a copy of Time magazine, when he looked up at me. "What is
Rashad doing in this magazine?" He said. Rashad was the father of Yasir
and Sufian, and I had no idea why he would appear in Time. I looked down
at the picture he was referring to. It was a head shot, one of several
photographs of suicide bombers displayed across the page. As my father
read on, it turned out that the photo wasn't actually Rashad but rather it was
the spitting image of him—his adult son, Sufian, the kind, generous,
trustworthy young boy who laughed and played with us so many years
before.
Not only had Sufian blown himself up, he had done so right in our old
neighborhood. Reports indicated that the force of the explosion was so great
that it set nearby traffic on fire and blew out the windows on buildings a
block away. At least one passenger of the bus in which Sufian had
detonated his explosive belt was decapitated, another was found suspended
on a shard of metal that was once the roof of the bus, while most others
remained in their seats, incinerated by flames. Twenty-four people died.
Disbelief doesn't begin to describe my reaction to the news. How could

someone so kind do something so tragic? And more poignantly, how could
he have done it in the name of Islam, a religion that at its core is about
peace? How does someone so caring and thoughtful become someone
capable of taking the lives of others? How could something so right go so
wrong?
RELIGION GONE WRONG
Sufian's act against humanity was a fatal consequence of religion— more

specifically, of religion when it morphs from being a divine gift to an
insidious poison. Religion gone wrong busies itself with doctrines that
proclaim it has the right way to worship and connect to God. Dogma
undermines tolerance for others. Guilt takes the place of transformation.
The result of this is exemplified in every brutal act played out in God's
name. God has many different names, but dogma, intolerance, hatred, and
murder are not among them. God's Names actually refer to the different
attributes of the Creator, and those attributes are exclusively loving,
embracing, and tolerant of all people, of all faiths, from all walks of life.
Period.
In 1994, on the day of the festive Jewish holiday of Purim, a man named
Baruch Goldstein walked into the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a site
holy to both Jews and Muslims. He then opened fire on a room full of
people in prayer. He murdered 39 people and wounded another 150.
Goldstein was beaten to death at the scene and never brought to trial, and it
is believed that the massacre was his attempt to act out an interpretation of a
portion of the Purim story by proactively killing those he believed might
eventually kill Jews. However, Goldstein's poison didn't stop there. In the
weeks following the shooting, a string of riots led to the senseless deaths of
an additional 25 Palestinians and five Israelis.
All in the name of God.
But how can killing others and inflicting terror be God's will or his work?
Religion in its pure form was meant to bring us happiness beyond
comprehension—not unimaginable death and destruction.
A SYSTEM OF TRUTH
Religion was originally intended to be a system with one goal only: To

connect us to the Light of God, the source of everything good. However,
when we misconstrue its purpose and abuse our fellow human beings, when
we twist religion into something that it was never designed to be, we create
far more darkness than Light. We create separation instead of unity, death
instead of continuity, and hatred instead of love. Religion exercised in the
name of the ego instead of the Creator hardens a person's heart. Compassion
for others falls by the wayside, paving the way for terrible suffering. The
way in which we practice our religion can mean the difference between life
and death.
More people have died in the name of God than have died from all diseases,
crimes, and natural disasters. Men, women, and even children have taken
the lives of others as well as their own to show their commitment to "God,"
to "their" religion, and to their belief in a divine afterlife.
HONOR KILLING
In May 2007, a young Kurdish girl living in Iraq was brutally stoned to
death by the men in her own family for falling in love with a teenage boy of
the "wrong religion." A large crowd gathered to watch as she was dragged
out of her home and into the street where a group of eight or nine men
hurled stones at her for half an hour, until she died. The members of the
Yezidi group, of which her family was a member, called this act an "honor
killing."
Killing a young girl for falling in love. Think about the absurdity of this.
Romans, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and almost all other organized forms of
worship have senselessly killed in an attempt to punish, to keep their
followers in line, and to make examples of their fellow human beings. They
have taken religion and turned it into a cruel and heartless judge. God has
been left out of the equation entirely.
Perhaps one of the maddest bouts of religious fanaticism dates back to the
Crusades. The Crusaders of Christian Europe fought mainly against
Muslims, but no one was immune to the devastation that of those religious
wars. The death toll soared into the millions. What could possibly drive the
Crusaders to this level of brutality? They would tell you that it was the will
of God that drove them into battle, led them to commit genocide, and
justified raping an entire continent.
CHAPTER TW( IE BOMBER
But it wasn't God. How could it be God? A source of goodness, of love

beyond our comprehension cannot possibly be the force behind such
destruction. Negativity cannot come from positive energy. Darkness cannot
come from light.
God doesn't goad us to madness. Ego does. In fact, some historians now
believe that the mass carnage of the Crusades had little to do with God and
much to do with obtaining control over key trade routes. Others theorize
that the Crusades were really about obtaining the Holy Land of Jerusalem
and the spiritual technology rumored to be buried there. Regardless, the
bloodshed and brutality of the Crusades make it powerfully clear that the
ego-driven motivation of gaining control was far greater than any spiritually
motivated connection to the Creator.
I would like to note that a movement existed during this time to bring
Christians and Israelites together. Nine knights, otherwise known as the
Knights Templar, had originally been charged to protect pilgrims as they
made their way to visit the Holy City. But their mission grew larger, and
along with it their wealth and power. They uncovered a treasure that they
described as a "technology" that could unite people, but their mission was
thwarted. They had become a financial, political, and religious threat—a
threat that needed to be crushed.
In what many historians have described as a great injustice, Pope Clement
and King Philip IV of France worked together to create a list of false
charges against the Templars. On Friday, October 13, 1307, the Order of the
Knights Templar was officially forced to disband. But the purge didn't stop
there. Over 15,000 Templars were arrested, tortured, and murdered. Again,
religion—in its mutated form—had reared its ugly head.
THE GIFT
Religion's real message and gift was becoming increasingly lost in the fog
of politics, ego, and greed. Religion was intended to be a system of
empowerment, a system that would allow each person to connect to God
through whatever path they chose. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad—these
individuals were all pathways to the same destination. You can call it
Happiness. You can call it Enlightenment. It occurs when we recognize the
love within us, and therefore can reach out to bring peace and love to
others. It's a state of consciousness where we see others as an extension of
ourselves, where we give the care, love, and concern that we desire to
receive. That is what it means to have a spiritual awakening. It can happen
to anyone, anywhere. One of my favorite contemporary stories of
awakening comes from an Internet blog.
"The Day The Curtain Came Down"
On Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at 5:30a.m. while working for a

sanitation company in New York City, my co-worker (Sampson) and I were
at the 59th Street dump dropping our load of garbage we had picked up that
night. The whole night I remember praying and meditating, asking God
certain questions in my mind as I usually would do while working. While
my co-worker was dumping the garbage from our truck into the barge
below, I was on the other side of the truck with my eyes closed, half sleep
and half still meditating. When I heard that the garbage had stopped
dumping I opened my eyes and on the ground still wrapped in plastic was a
book. Huh, I thought. I've been needing a new Bible and this looked

to be one. Nice one, God! But when I picked it up there was no writing on
the front cover. Very odd, I thought. So I put it in the truck and took it with
me anyway.
When I arrived home I pulled out the book and saw on the back the word
"Zohar," with an 11 on the side of the book. After figuring out how to read
it because the writing is from right to left, I familiarized myself with some
of the words and meanings in the book's glossary and began to read. Once I
read the first page a light (metaphorically speaking) went off in my head,
and I was truly enlightened by what I discovered. I paused for a moment to
think about the wisdom I had just been blessed with. While at that moment I
started hearing something that sounded as if it was coming from my roof.
All of a sudden, "BOOM!" The curtains in my room fell down. (Literally.)
"Butterfly Dreams"
The next day I went on the Internet to find out where this book came from,
and found a location here in Manhattan. So I went to the location and told
the people there my story. They were amazed at what happened to me and
pointed me towards some books that would help me begin my journey. The
first book I read was The Power of Kabbalah. After reading that book,
everything started to make sense. This book answered the very questions I
was asking God all along. Most' of the answers He had already given me,
but I assumed it was just my mind producing its own theories. After that I
read the book True Prosperity and every book in The Wisdom Box. After
that I decided to put Kabbalah to work in my life. The first week
was very difficult but I made it through without a single reactive moment.
By that weekend I went to church and sang and praised and even asked one
of our members if I could pray with him for the healing of some illnesses he
has been going through. These are things I never would have done a week
before.
The second week was even harder than the first. There was a point when I
wanted to give up and give in to my thoughts of, This Kabbalah isn't
working, let's just go back to the old way of doing things. And I just could
not shake those feelings. Then I remembered one of the Kabbalah tools,
which is to take your mind off your problems and help someone else out
with theirs. So that night at work I tried very hard to be as helpful to my co-
worker as possible. He and I don't get along at all, but that night I treated
him like royalty. Helping him with his portion of the load, driving for him
when he got tired. I know he thought I must have bumped my head. But
since that day, we've had no problems between us. That morning after work
I was home sleeping. When I rolled over and saw a butterfly right in front
of me, so close it looked as if it would land on my nose. So I rolled over
and went back to sleep thinking, I'll just deal with it later. When I woke up
again, my first reaction was to look for the butterfly. But then I thought,
Wait a minute, it is winter time in the Bronx and all my windows are shut,
what am I, crazy? I had to be dreaming. But after pondering that dream all
day, I realized what it meant. That something in me had changed, just like a
caterpillar, in time, changes into a butterfly.
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"The Journey"
I am truly excited about the life that is ahead of me. Where there was
darkness within me, now there is light. Where there was anxiety, now there
is joy. And where there was doubt, now there is certainty. And all the praise
belongs to God, "blessed be His name." For he is the giver of all that we
possess. But above all things that can be acquired, I will seek wisdom.
Wisdom is an ally no man can do without. It was here before us and will be
here when life as we know it is gone.
You see, when we acquire wisdom, we are blessed with the main ingredient
that played a major role in the creation of our entire existence. And to me,
that is worth searching for. But I will not just search in high, lofty places.
Or just in churches or synagogues. But I will seek wisdom everywhere and
in everything. Even if it means searching through a little garbage.
God Bless the writers of the books, The Power of Kabbalah, True
Prosperity, and so many more. And thank you for your endless efforts to
bring light into the World.
Religion at its root is designed to engender this profound change of heart.

But once you touch true love—once you touch truth—you no longer need a
system like religion to get you there. The path is clear.
The atom is a good metaphor to help us understand the ultimate goal of

religion. An atom includes the conflicting forces of the proton and
the electron, which peacefully coexist within the atomic field. In fact, a
nuclear explosion occurs when the atom is split. When it is whole, it is
immortal. The world has undergone a nuclear detonation for millennia
because the spiritual forces have been split into different religions. The key
to human immortality is the harmony of all faiths. It is only the ego that
causes us to war over our differences instead of celebrating them,
preventing us from achieving unending happiness and life.
THE TRUE PATH
Religion is merely a tool for gaining this clarity. It is not the end but rather
the means. The Dalai Lama, the head of state and spiritual leader of the
Tibetan people, knows this well. He also understands that religion begins
with the heart of the people. When asked about the creation of a world
religion, he responds, "We have enough religions but not enough human
beings. We need more human beings. Religions should learn from each
other, respect each other, but keep their identity. Don't let us talk too much
of religion. Let us talk of what is human. Love is human. Kindness is
human. Everyone needs love and kindness."
As the Dalai Lama tells us, we just need to get back to basics. And that's
exactly what I would like to do now—get back to basics. Religion 101, if
you will. By seeing the common threads woven through each of the core
religions, we can begin to unravel the layers and reveal the Light beneath.
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity stems entirely from the concept of love. Jesus taught that love
leads to forgiveness and ultimately to a rich, purposeful, and everlasting
life. Christianity's core values can be summarized in this way.
Jesus emphasized that we should love God and love our neighbor. A story
in the Book of Matthew in the Bible makes this clear. The Pharisees asked
Jesus to explain which of the commandments was the most important. In
response, Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your mind." In the next breath, Jesus told the
Pharisees that the second most important commandment was to, "Love your
neighbor as yourself." These commandments are the cornerstones of
Christian tradition.
To forgive another is literally love in action. Jesus said, "But I tell you who
hear me, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those
who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on
one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not
stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if
anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as
you would have them do to you." These words from the Book of Luke serve
as a reminder to Jesus' followers that it is not their responsibility to nurse
grudges, but rather to show love and compassion, especially to those who
have hurt them.
Salvation is the understanding that when an individual practices love, that

person is led to a life full of purpose and connection to others. By walking
this path, a person can be saved or redeemed from the consequences of sins
committed in the past. No one is excluded from this promise. Happiness
and abundance are available to anyone who desires them.
Jesus did not take credit for the miracles he performed. Instead, he showed
that it was each individual's responsibility to activate healing through their
own faith.
God unconditionally loves and accepts every person just as they are, yet he
also encourages people to grow and learn from their mistakes. Jesus advised
his listeners to live fully and to "taste and see." It is this hands-on approach
that will lead a person to spiritual transformation.
ISLAM
Islam at its core is about forgiveness, caring for those less fortunate than
yourself, and equality among all people. Mohammad was a prophet; he
never claimed to have invented a new religion. He simply described his
mission as an attempt to bring Jews, Christians, and Arab people together.
Some of the key principles of Islam are as follows.
The word, "Muslim" means "one who submits." In the framework of Islam,
an individual can only submit to one God.
In the Quran 42:40, it states, "The retribution for an injury is an equal

injury, but those who forgive the injury and make reconciliation will be
rewarded by God." In the Islamic tradition, to forgive another is to open a
door for God to enter.
Mohammed viewed every member of his community as equal. A person's

status or possessions did not make one person more or less valuable than
another. Equality remains a valued Islamic principle.
Mohammad took a clear stand on how those less fortunate should be

treated. He preaches in the Quran that piety is not found, "in turning your
face East or West in prayer." He believed instead that it could only be found
through giving. He urged followers to give of their wealth to the poor and
needy and to make no one a slave.
The word "jihad" does not mean "war." It actually means "a struggle," "a
striving," or "a great effort," meaning the struggle of the soul to overcome
the obstacles that block the path to God. And war, according to the Quran,
is never holy.
BUDDHISM
Gautama Buddha is considered the primary figure in Buddhism. Although a

prince by birth, he later went out on his own to experience a life without
luxury or indulgence. What he discovered was Enlightenment, and his
teachings became an exploration into
suffering, the reason for it, and how to remove it. His teachings
encompassed the following fundamental principles.
Buddhists believe that people are reincarnated over many lifetimes until
they become conscious enough to reach a state of Nirvana.
Plant, insect, or animal: a person never knows what form his body will take
in the next life, so it is important to see all life forms as equals.
Reciprocity is a fundamental law of the universe. Every action a person

takes will result in a reaction.
our mind. The art of concentration and meditation is central; Buddha taught
it was the pathway to freedom.
calm Buddha taught that by practicing discernment and detachment, a

person will experience Enlightenment.
JUDAISM
Like Islam and Christianity, Judaism is based on the teachings of Abraham,

and it emphasizes a belief in only one God and the importance of treating
others well. In fact, Rabbi Hillel, in the 1st Century BCE, summarized the
Bible this way to one of his students: "What is hateful to you, don't do unto
your neighbor. The rest is commentary. Now, go and study." The core
principles instruct one to:
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God is unique, incorporeal, and eternal. He created humankind in his image

and enlisted the help of prophets to share his wisdom and instructions for
living with others. To this end, God delivered the Written Torah and Oral
Torah to Moses, the greatest of all prophets.
People are inherently good but can lose their way. God knows both the
thoughts and deeds of men; nothing goes unseen. Judaism also teaches that
God rewards good and frowns upon evil, making it our responsibility to
uproot evil that exists among us. This idea is reiterated throughout the Book
of Deuteronomy.
What a person does is more important than what a person believes. By

actively following the commandments of God, you become closer to Him.
3 Judaism teaches that a savior will come to unite humankind and create
global peace, and we should never lose faith in this promise.
In the Book of Daniel it is proclaimed, "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of

the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and
everlasting contempt." The belief that there is more to come after our
physical death on Earth is a central theme in Jewish tradition.
HINDUISM
Hinduism is different than other modern religions in that it does not have a
single founder or central religious system. Instead, it is comprised of
thousands of religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BCE.
Some scholars believe that the stories of Jesus were actually inspired by the
life of Krishna, a quintessential deity in many Hindu traditions. Here are the
key principles of Hinduism.
The universe is one, and this oneness is known as Brahman. There are three
parts to this force: (1) Brahman, the Creator; (2) Vishnu, the Preserver of
New Creations; (3) Shiva, the Destroyer.
Your actions in this life will affect you in future lifetimes. Hinduism
supports the idea that there is a continuing cycle of birth, life, death, and
rebirth, as well as an accumulated "karma" of good deeds and bad deeds.
These include: (1) kama: sensory gratification in the form of mental, sexual,
and other physical pleasures; (2) artha: material and social success; (3)
dharma: spiritual righteousness; (4) moksha: liberation from suffering,
which is the supreme goal of humankind.
A common Hindu saying is, "Ekam Sataha Vipraha Bahudha Vadanti,"

which means: "The truth is One, but different sages call it by different
names." Hindu teachings recognize the multiple pathways to God and
encourage respect among religions.
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CHAPTER TWO: MY NANNY WAS A SUICIDE BO!
WE ARE ALL ONE
How could the loving, enlightened principles articulated by each of these

major religions have the power to tear humanity into so many opposing
sides? We've gotten too far from the source, that's how. The problem is that
the further we get from the Creator and love and tolerance—that is, the
source of everything—the more challenging it becomes to see the big
picture. The more we interpret this and dictate that, the muddier the original
message becomes. Religion becomes convoluted and the original purpose is
lost entirely. What began as a system for bringing people together and
closer to the Creator has turned into multiple systems that more often than
not drive people apart.
When you go to your temple in Jakarta, Indonesia, or your church in Little

Rock, Arkansas, it's not easy to see how they are connected, is it? Churches,
temples, mosques, cathedrals—they all seem such separate structures, both
physically and spiritually. But they are not. At the source, we are one. We
are all intimately connected, and because of this fundamental connection,
we carry with us a responsibility to our larger global community. The
human body exists only through the grace of a network of diverse organs,
each one profoundly different than the rest in terms of look, design and
function. The body of humanity operates in identical fashion. The terms
Israelite, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim merely refer to different
vital organs. Our greatness and our success lie in our unity and our
diversity.
When we forget about this critical diversity, we open the door to large-scale
suffering. For example, the ongoing civil war in Sudan has displaced
millions of people and killed hundreds of thousands more.
BOMBER
Starvation, brutality between brothers, sexual violence against women and

children, destruction of homes and entire villages—the suffering that exists
in this one country alone is unimaginable. What is even more shocking is
that religion plays an important role in Sudanese culture. Sudan is
comprised of Muslims and Christians, as well as devout followers of other
religious systems.
How can religion and extreme violence coexist? If a Christian were truly
connected to Jesus, he or she would simultaneously feel an unbreakable
bond with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and all of those who come from the
same source. The same goes for a Muslim who feels unity with Mohammed
and a Buddhist who strives for oneness with the universe. If we are truly
connected with God, our love for one another is overwhelming. We cannot
help but be of service to one another. The idea of committing murder or
inflicting pain is impossible!
Even in the finer details, there are resounding similarities amongst religious
texts. Scholars stand in agreement on this point. Professor and Christian
youth minister Dr. Hugo Schwyzer explains, "All religion is rooted in the
tension of wanting to encourage people to transform, while at the same time
telling them they are loved as they are. Every religion tells a story between
people and the divine." Gordon Darnell Newby, author of A History of the
Jews of Arabia, said of Islam and Judaism in the 7th century, "[They]
operated within the same sphere of religious discourse." Religious scholar
Reza Asian explains, "Both sides shared the same religious characters,
stories, and anecdotes, and both discussed the same fundamental questions
from similar perspectives, and both had nearly identical moral and ethical
values." Take the story of The Binding of Isaac, which appears in the Book
of Genesis. In the Hebrew Bible, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son
Isaac on Mount Moriah. But in the Islamic version of this story,
Muslims believe that God's command to Abraham was to sacrifice his older
son, Ishmael, not Isaac. But when we argue names, aren't we missing the
point? What does it matter which son was bound? The point is that both
stories reveal a similar lesson.
The stories are in fact only slightly different. According to both variations
of the story, it is Abraham's steadfast resolve to obey God's command that
leads to the positive outcome. After Abraham finishes binding his son to an
altar, an angel of God stops him at the last minute, at which point Abraham
discovers a ram caught by its horns in the nearby bushes. Abraham then
sacrifices the ram in the place of his son. Similar stories of Mary and Amina
provide another example. In the Book of Luke in the Christian Bible, Mary
hears the voice of an angel that says, "You will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus." This is notably
close to the story of Amina that is told in the Quran. When Amina becomes
pregnant, she too hears a voice. The voice says, "You are pregnant with the
Lord of this people, and when he is born, say, 'I put him in the care of the
One from the evil of every envier; then call him Mohammed.'"
In fact, the stories of the three faiths of Abraham (Judaism, Christianity, and
Islam) are so close that in Chapter 3:84 of the Quran, it states: "We believe
in God and in that which has been revealed to us, which is that which was
revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac and Jacob and the Patriarchs [of Israel],
as well as that which the Lord revealed to Moses and to Jesus and to all the
other prophets. We make no distinction between any of them; we submit
ourselves to God."
We submit ourselves to God; that is the way to happiness. The details of

names, dates, and places fall away when we get that it is the lessons that
truly matter. I consistently find value in the books of other
religions that I read. Why couldn't a lesson from Jesus be valuable to an

Arab? Why can't a Jew follow the teachings of Mohammed? Why isn't a
Christian able to follow Buddha's pathway to peace and Enlightenment?
Why must religions "own" their lessons? The lessons of our greatest leaders
were meant for everyone. They weren't meant to be coveted and used
against one another.
If Christians who criticize and fear Muslims actually read the Quran, they
would know that it includes the fundamental characters in almost every
biblical story. Moses, for example, one of the most dominant figures for
both Christians and Jews is mentioned over 140 times! But most people
don't even read their own literature, let alone the texts of another religion.
Without ever having investigated the source material, all too often people
beat the drum of war or denounce another religion—actions based on sheer
ignorance. But there is a way to obliterate ignorance: by shining a bright
light on humanity. That Light is the wisdom of Kabbalah.
KABBALAH IS JUST A WISDOM

A short time ago, I traveled to a peace conference in Madrid that King
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had called together with Juan Carlos, King of
Spain. Upon my arrival, the conference administration had trouble deciding
which religion to "classify" me under. The Jews didn't want me to sit with
them. The Christians didn't think I belonged. The Muslims were not sure.
Eventually, I ended up in my own category, but in truth, I am a Kabbalist.
"What is a Kabbalist?" you might ask. It is someone who desires to develop
a relationship with the Creator, and does so in two ways: by restricting ego
and by developing a greater capacity to share with others.
Kabbalah doesn't fit into any existing religion because it's not a religion. It
is wisdom. You can go to a mosque, church, or temple and practice any
religion and still be a Kabbalist. Kabbalah is a technology that helps to
awaken the soul. It is not a doctrine or set of rules. It is a way of thinking
about and understanding the universe, as well as our role in it. Hundreds of
years ago, people understood this, but due to the extremism that has
infiltrated many religions, Kabbalah has been labeled "mystical Judaism."
But when we look at the origins of Kabbalah, we see that this label is
misleading.
In fact, the Zohar, the source of kabbalistic wisdom", was first translated
from Aramaic into Latin, not Hebrew and Pope Pious was the one who
suggested and supported the printing of the Zohar. The power of the Zohar
crosses many boundaries. In early 1991, one of my father's students
happened to be close to Moroccan King Hassan II and arranged for my
father to visit the holy sites in Morocco. Because King Hussan II was a
descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, he was also the guardian of the
country's holy sites of Islam. As timing would have it, my father happened
to be with the king on the eve of the first Gulf War. Knowing that the king-
had a connection to Sadam Hussein and seeing an opportunity, my father
asked King Hussan II to call Sadam Hussein and ask him to give up Kuwait
in order to avoid war.
Although the King did call Sadam Hussein, he wasn't able to reach him. He
began to explain why he wasn't fearful of the impending conflict. He
showed my father a piece of parchment paper that he said had been passed
down through each direct descendent of the Prophet Mohammed. When the
King showed the sacred paper to my father was surprised to see that it
actually depicted the 72 Names of God, one of the key tools described in
the Zohar. Although it is a mystery exactly how the 72 Names of God
become a sacred
document that was handed down through centuries of royalty in a Muslim

country, it comes as no surprise that people in different religions and
diverse cultures recognize its power of protection and transformation.
GIVING OVER OUR POWER
We all have an inherent ability to connect directly to God. However, over

time people have abdicated this ability in favor of connecting to a priest,
rabbi, or some other intermediary. In doing so we have given away our
personal responsibility to question, grow with, and connect to the Light.
Sure, it may be easier to have someone decide things for us and tell us what
to do. But when we give away our power we create separation between
ourselves and our source. We cut ourselves off from our own growth and
transformation, from our own efforts towards happiness. Now our failures
become someone else's fault, and a reason to become victims. We become
hardened in our thinking, extreme in our opinions, and intolerant of others
and their beliefs. The further we drift away from doing the spiritual work
ourselves, the more corrupted the path becomes. Over time, the translators
of the source—the rabbis, the priests, and the leaders of countries to whom
we give our free will and power, alter religion to suit their own needs.
History is awash in people who have used religion to get what they want. In
325 C.E. the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, called together the
Council of Nicaea to attain consensus on the writings of Christianity. His
motive was not love for the core values of Christianity. Rather, after
conquering several diverse neighboring lands, he needed to create a unified
ideology in order to maintain control and power. In doing so, he took the
liberty of eliminating the gospels and passages
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that could threaten his domain. Another example is when the Pope, the head
of the Roman Catholic Church, wouldn't give King Henry VIII a divorce
from Katharine of Aragon, the King broke from the Roman Catholic
Church and formed the Church of England.
Power-hungry people have and will continue to exploit religion and

humanity. So why would we ever choose to put another in charge of leading
us down the path to God? Furthermore, what would make us believe that
another human being could fix us or absolve us from our wrong turns, our
mistakes, and our character defects? The movie Godfather 3 does a great
job of demonstrating the insanity of this way of thinking. After all of the
murders and crimes for which he is responsible, the character Michael
Corleone simply goes to the Pope for absolution. With one visit, his slate
has been wiped clean. Right? Wrong!
If we do not fix ourselves, no other human being can give us absolution. We

must do our own dirty work; no one else can do it for us. The only way to
correct our negative actions is to transform the inherent selfishness that lies
within us—that part of us that the sages refer to as the Desire to Receive
only for our own interests: We must pull it up by its roots and transform it
into something positive. When we start thinking of others, we return to the
underlying truths of all religions—love, unity, care, and responsibility for
one another. We have to feel the pain that our selfish actions have caused,
so that not only will they never happen again, but the selfish motivation for
that action will also be transformed. That is how we take control, not over
others but over our own negative qualities. This is the true meaning of
taking back our power. We change ourselves, and then the entire state of the
world begins to change.
DISCOVERING GOD FOR YOURSELF
As Rav Ashlag explains in The Book of Introductions, religion is the work

that we do; it's a tool that we can use in order to know God. The Creator has
been concealed in order to give us the opportunity to find Him.
In the Middle Ages, the world was ruled by kings, czars, and monarchs.
People didn't have access to technology and the abundance of information
we have today. They had to accept much of what they were told—not only
because it was the only information available, but also because questioning
the beliefs and religion of their leaders was punishable by death. There was
little room for a person to seek out his or her own path to happiness. Either
you were a member of a certain religion or you were not. There was no
middle road.
The road that did exist was not an easy path. In fact, suffering was seen as a
way to God. The more pain a person could sustain while on this earthly
plane, the more he or she would be "rewarded in the blissful afterlife." But
suffering is not necessary to reach God. In fact, connecting to God is the
path to complete fulfillment, which is the purpose of life and Creation—we
are supposed to be fulfilled and perfected. Connecting to God helps us do
this—not the other way around. Suffering isn't necessary to finding God;
God is necessary to discovering a life free of suffering; God is necessary for
happiness!
Religion as it stands today usually suggests something along these lines:

Read a particular text, pray several times each day, confess your sins, and
attend services of your church, mosque, or temple regularly. And then—if
you're lucky—you can connect to God. The end goal,
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CHAPTB
most religions preach today, is to find God. But God isn't the end goal;
fulfillment is.
As we said earlier, when we look closely, the five major world religions
have more in common than not. In fact, if we put Buddha, Moses, Jesus,
and Mohammad all in the same room, they would likely become fast
friends. So why the wars? Why the suffering? Because we have bowed out
of our own spiritual work. We have stood by and watched as greedy people
took the power that we gave them and used it to exploit and destroy. This is
the consequence of our benign neglect.
The Israelites acted in the same way. They depended on Moses to free them
from slavery. He led them on a journey through the desert and all the way to
Mt. Sinai. While they set up camp Moses climbed to the top of the Mount,
where he received two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.
According to the sages, these tablets were not meant to become the basis of
a religion for the Jews, but were simply tools to achieve a direct connection
to the Creator. That connection would result in total fulfillment, perfection,
and immortality for all of humanity. However, while Moses was away the
Israelites began to panic. Worried that he might not come back, they melted
down their gold jewelry and cast it into the form of a Golden Calf to create
a new intermediary to God—and to replace Moses.
The Golden Calf and the orgy that took place are usually the scene-stealers
of this story. What is often overlooked is the fact that the Israelites were
acting out of fear. They did not want to carry the burden of connecting to
God on their own shoulders. The calf and the orgy were simply a way for
them to give over their power so that they would not have to be responsible
for themselves. Or choose for themselves. Or restrict their selfish ways by
themselves. Or share of themselves.
They were unwilling to do what needed to be done. That was the true "sin"
of the golden Calf. And we commit this sin every time we seek someone to
show us the path or make decisions for us, instead of making our own direct
and pure connection to the Light of the Creator.
Connecting to God is the responsibility of each person. However, we would

much rather blame someone else for our misery than to take responsibility
for our happiness. The problem is that when we give away that
responsibility to someone else, we lose sight of our larger global
community. We close off our minds, and this is what makes it possible for
us to justify wars, murders, and suicide bombings. Because if we really
thought about it and understood it, could killing really be justified in the
Name of God? Could destruction really be the path to our own fulfillment?
Can hatred really help me love myself and reach my own potential?
The energy we are connecting to when we practice religion is not the Light
of the Creator. The god of organized religion is only a frail, jealous, and
fearful image mankind creates in an attempt to wrap up the secrets of the
universe in a nice, clean package. But the package is not neat and tidy. In
fact, the god of religion has become more Golden Calf than God. The
Creator has gotten lost in the shuffle of greed and ego.
THE REAL GOAL IS HAPPINESS
When God gets lost so does happiness—the one true goal of humanity.
That's because God is the direct pathway to happiness. We need God in
order to experience true fulfillment. I am not talking about short-term
gratification here. I am talking about fulfilling the promise of immortality
by doing the spiritual work required. When we do not
CHAPTE
make fulfillment our top priority, we create darkness, and we are not the
only ones hurt by our decision. The entire world experiences darkness when
we stop making happiness our individual goal. To live a happy, fulfilled,
and purposeful life every day is not just a dream; it is our daily
responsibility.
We do have support in this process. We're not in this alone. There are
spiritual laws to guide and teach us: The Law of Cause and Effect, Sharing
with Others, and Restricting the Ego are principles that can lead us to
fulfillment, if we apply them.
In truth, our soul is always guiding us to the people we should date, the
friends we should have, and to those situations that will lead us to
perfection and fulfillment in our lives. But we have to make the individual
choices ourselves. Ultimately, the journey leads us to understand that the
only way to true happiness is feeling the pain— and the pleasure—of
others, and to truly share their experience. Most of us run from other
people's pain—believing that we cannot handle it. We also take little joy in
other people's happiness. But we are equipped to handle both.
1 + 1 MILLION = 1
One of the greatest misunderstandings of this world is that if we add

someone else to our lives, the burden will become more than we can handle.
But believe it or not, the more pain you take on from others, the lighter your
load actually becomes! Carrying other people's problems, feeling their pain,
and caring for them will generate more of a connection to the Creator than
praying, fasting, confessing, and meditating combined.
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If we feel wiped out when we help someone else, that's a sign that real
sharing has not taken place. There is a hidden agenda at work somewhere.
Real sharing is like sharing the flame of a candle. By lighting another
candle, we do not diminish the original flame; we only make the light
brighter and stronger. If we are truly sharing, whether we help one or one
million, we never lose or diminish ourselves in the process. It is judging
others, jealousy, and the negative thoughts that we experience when we
bring people closer that weaken us. Not the sharing. That can never weaken
us. The math may not add up in the way you are used to, but it works
nonetheless. No matter how many people we choose to share our Light
with, we are still as bright as ever before. We are still whole. In fact, we are
greater than before, because now we are not just one candle but the cause of
many lights.
So sharing Light actually gives birth to more Light. Imagine one candle in a
dark room. How much power does that one candle have in the face of all
that darkness? But if that candle proceeds to light hundreds of candles not
only does that one candle stay intact but now there are hundreds of candles
to banish the darkness. The following story of two friends demonstrates this
principle in action.
The Apple Thief and the Shopkeeper
There once was a king who ruled his kingdom with an iron fist. And he had
good reason. A vast number of his subjects were utterly corrupt. They were
ruthless scoundrels who were only in it for themselves.
One day, a man by the name of Nathaniel was caught stealing an apple.
Nathaniel was not really a bad person, and it wasn't his nature to steal from
anyone. But after living among so many villains for so
yehudaberc daberg

many years, he simply gave in to his selfish instinct on this one occasion.
Unfortunately, he picked a bad time to make a mistake.
The king decided to make an example of Nathaniel in order to send a

message to the rest of his people, so he sentenced Nathaniel to death.
Nathaniel accepted his fate without any fuss. After all, he had no one to
blame but himself.
When the king asked Nathaniel if he had a last request, it turned out that he
did. He asked if he could have three days to settle his affairs. Nathaniel
wanted to pay off some debts, return a few personal favors, and say good-
bye to his friends and loved ones. He figured he could tidy it all up in three
days.
The king, impressed by Nathaniel's quiet acceptance of his fate and by his
sense of responsibility, wanted to accommodate this last request. But there
was an obvious problem. "If I grant you this temporary reprieve," the king
said, "I have no assurances that you will ever return to fulfill your
sentence."
Nathaniel understood the king's dilemma. "I have an idea," Nathaniel

responded. "Suppose I arrange for my best friend to stand in for me until I
return. If I am late, you can execute my friend in my place." The king
laughed. "If you can find someone who will volunteer to take your place, I
will grant you your three days. But if you are even one minute late, your
friend will be hung from the gallows."
Nathaniel asked his best friend, a shopkeeper by the name of Simon, to

stand in his place. Simon and Nathaniel were like brothers, and Simon said
he would be honored to offer his life in return for Nathaniel's temporary
freedom. Simon was imprisoned while Nathaniel prepared
to hurry off and wind up his affairs. "Remember," the king commanded.
"One minute late and I will hang your best friend."
One day passed, and then two more, and as the appointed hour approached,
still Nathaniel did not return. The king ordered Simon to the gallows and
had the hangman's noose slipped around Simon's neck. The hangman
tightened it, and a hood was put over Simon's head.
Just then, a rider and his exhausted horse galloped up. "Stop! Stop! I have
returned!" It was Nathaniel. "Please, I beg you," Nathaniel cried to the king.
"Remove the noose. This is my fate, not his."
But the king replied, "You are five minutes late."
Nathaniel was so out of breath he could hardly speak. "Let me explain,

Your Majesty. I was set upon by a band of robbers and barely managed to
escape. That is why I am late. It is I who should die. Not my dear friend."
As the hangman removed the hood from Simon's head, he began to shout,
too. "That is not true. I am the one who should die today. The king gave his
word that if you were even one minute late I would die in your place.
Besides, I could not stand living without you, my best friend. But that is not
the point. You were late. So according to the arrangement, it is I who will
die today."
Nathaniel's eyes welled up with tears. "I beg you, Your Majesty. Do not
listen to him. Do not let my best friend die. I could no more live without
him than he could live without me. It is I who was originally sentenced to
death, not Simon. I beg you to get on with my execution."
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R TWO: MY NANf
The king, not surprisingly, was taken aback. In a land rampant with thieves
and villains, the king was not accustomed to seeing such selfless acts of
unconditional love. Nevertheless, a decision had to be made. Justice had to
be meted out according to the law of the land as dictated by the king.
"I have reached a final verdict," the king said. "Neither one of you shall die.
I see that no matter which one of you dies today, I will still be killing two
men. The original sentence called for only one man to die. Thus, I am
forced to set you both free." Recognizing the greatness of these two men
and the power of the bond between them, the wise king asked if they would
consider taking him on as their friend.
The love between these two men was so selfless that each was willing to
give up his life for the other. Furthermore, their love for one another
transformed the heart of a king. How many of our relationships are that
selfless? More typically we enter into relationships seeking something for
ourselves. We seek approval, acceptance, and happiness from others, and in
doing so we create relationships that are unbalanced. But when we truly
give to others with no strings attached, we are not diminished, but rather we
are made whole. And the more we give selflessly to others, the larger the
whole becomes, the more fulfilled we feel, and the more Light we carry
with us.
There is another story about a great sage who lived a life full of good deeds
and sharing. He was renowned for his generosity and his ability to live
without ego. When he died suddenly, he was surrounded by angels who
immediately brought him to the Garden of Eden in recognition of all of the
good he had done in his life. Upon arriving, however, instead of relishing in
his new paradise, he could only feel
the pain of those of his friends who were not in the Garden but were
suffering in Hell.
Unable to think of anything else, he asked that the angels take him to Hell.
Once there he pleaded with the angels that his dear friends be granted their
freedom. The angels denied his request and insisted that he return to the
Garden of Eden. The sage refused and said he would not leave until every
soul in Hell had been released.
The angels could not stand to watch such a righteous man suffer so they
asked God if they could make a deal: Each person whose pain and regrets
the sage could fully feel would be set free. Over and over again, the sage
went through the depths of Hell and experienced horrible suffering as he got
in touch with each person's painful burden, while the angels tried to
convince him to return to Heaven. However, he refused to leave Hell until
the last of the souls were released. When he finally went to Heaven, he
rejoiced, knowing that all his friends were there with him.
This is what I mean when I speak of sharing—it's a giving of oneself that

may be painful in the short-term but ultimately leads to unimaginable
happiness and satisfaction. Yes, when the Light is ready to come, it will feel
like a pressure cooker—uncomfortable at a minimum, agonizing at its
worst. But it's a temporary discomfort and one that is essential to our
spiritual development. Rav Ashlag says that in order to move to the next
level spiritually, we need pain. But religion gone wrong undermines the
importance of feeling the pain of other people, it numbs us to their suffering
as well as our own. Its rules and doctrines encourage us to believe that we
are different and separate from one another. It makes it possible for people
to engage in war and mass destruction with little or no remorse.
Think about it. Can your body feel good if your foot is green from
gangrene? Can your mind be clear when your stomach is in pain? Can your
body run a marathon when your heart is broken? We are all a part of one
humanity, one body. Just as a hand looks different from an eye, a Hindu
may look different than a Catholic. But we are all one and the same. We are
all equal parts of a larger whole.
The Zohar explains this in detail how each language of the world creates a
unique channel for the Light. Furthermore, every nation reveals a different
and necessary aspect of the Light of the Creator. Every part of this world
exists for a reason—and each nation brings a unique gift and purpose to the
greater whole. When we attempt to destroy each other, we seek to destroy
aspects of the Light that the Creator has deliberately put into place. As Rav
Ashlag explains, every nation, every country, and every culture must exist
because each reveals a vital aspect of the Light.
I used to collect baseball cards when I was younger. With baseball cards the
term "mint condition" means everything. If a card has even the slightest
damage, 90 percent of its collectible value is gone. The same is true of this
world. If we damage its citizens in any way, we dramatically reduce the
value of the Light that the Creator gave us. The Creator's master plan
includes a world that exists in mint condition—unblemished, harmonious,
and intact.
Everything that is in the universe, good or bad, has a right to exist, and we
have no right to destroy it. But we do have a responsibility to heal it.
Healing means to return something to its God-given state of perfection. It is
our job to heal whatever needs healing by infusing it with our own Light,
our own goodness.
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CHAPTER TWO: MY Nfi BOMBER
Prayer is one way we can begin the healing process, a notion that now even
science has begun to support. David R. Hodges, an assistant professor at
Arizona State University, analyzed 17 major prayer studies. The results of
his analysis support the power of prayer and its ability to positively affect
patients. My belief is that when we take the time to selflessly care for
others, in this instance by offering kind and healing words, we exercise the
power to change things. The Light of the Creator rides along on our selfless
words and actions.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Prayer is one way in which we can take back our power to heal. Another is
by questioning the structure of religion as it is practiced today. By
questioning the status quo, we move closer to the Creator. And we must
walk the path ourselves. No one else can take the steps for us—not Jesus,
Moses, Buddha, or Mohammed. They are but channels of the Light. We
need to use them as guides, but we cannot ask them to do the work for us.
Nor can we depend on a priest, a preacher, a rabbi, or a best friend. They
have their own journey to walk.
It is our responsibility to plug into the source, to plug into God, and to make
the connection. We allow ourselves that divine connection every time we
overcome daily tests and challenges, every time we share selflessly and
with no strings attached. It is our job to use the source— to use God—to
transform selfishness into happiness and fulfillment. This is our sweet
harvest after all of our hard work in the fields.
www.yehudaberg.com (q)yehudaberg
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CHAPTER THREE
IT TAKES A
Our environment is in bad shape. Of course, this is not a new or mind-

boggling revelation. It's pretty clear that we have created a lot of damage
over time. What's even worse is that we continue to destroy the world in
which we live. With so much evidence of depleting natural resources, toxic
waste, global warming, and irreparable harm to our food chain, why do we
keep perpetuating the problem? Why do we continue marching to the same
alarming beat?
This isn't the first time I've spoken out on the topic of the environment. I've
even written a book on it. But for the purposes of this book, I want to go at
it from a different perspective—not just from a kabbalistic point of view,
although I will draw on that as well. My goal here is to better understand
how we, the human race, got to this point. Why are we sticking our heads in
the sand when there is so much work to be done? This isn't about a
particular region or country, or about a political party dropping the ball. The
environment doesn't belong to any one country or a state, nor does it belong
to a CEO or the President. It belongs to all of us. Choosing to build the
environment up
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CHAPTER THREE: IT TAKES A VILLAGE
or tear it down takes a global human effort—and it happens as the result of
numerous events that take place within the confines of the human brain.
The adult human brain—the neural hub of pleasure and pain, decision and
indecision, self-seeking behavior and altruistic action—weighs about three
pounds, but its potential is limitless. No end of research has been conducted
in hopes of figuring out how this incredible mechanism does its work. One
thing we do know for certain is that different parts of the brain have very
specific functions. When we look at two areas of the brain in particular, we
can learn a great deal about why we humans do the things we do—more
specifically, why we often choose to harm ourselves and our environment
when we could be healing our bodies and our world instead.
Studies with Rhesus monkeys show that the brain region known as the
prefrontal cortex is stimulated quickly when something positive happens or
is expected to happen, which leads to the release of a pleasure-generating
substance called dopamine. But the brain reacts quite differently when it
comes to conscious decision-making. An altogether different part of the
brain is stimulated when we're consciously choosing one item or task over
another. When researchers tracked brain activity in people grocery
shopping, for instance, it was the parietal cortex, not the prefrontal cortex,
which showed the most activity.
The problem is that dopamine works so fast that its effects can be felt
almost immediately, but the decision-making processes that take place in
the parietal cortex doesn't lead to an immediate jolt of pleasure. This makes
the prefrontal cortex, with its dopamine connection, the more influential of
these two areas of the brain, for better or for worse.
Oftentimes, it's for the worse because the prefrontal cortex can make us
prone to quick fixes and addictive behavior. Consider how frequently we
engage in destructive behaviors (smoking, drinking, overeating, or over-
anything) even though we know that they're harmful in the long run. The
pleasure-seeking part of the brain is sucker-punching the part of the brain
that has the ability to weigh consequences and make appropriate choices.
The worst part is that all of the time, effort, and money we spend satisfying
the pleasure-seeking part of the brain is for naught. There will never be
enough money, enough Starbucks coffee, enough food, enough sex, or
enough drugs to make us feel truly fulfilled. Your only chance to change for
the better is to get far enough away from the dopamine-trigger so that you
can see the bigger picture. Only when you step back—way, way back—to
see what else is possible, can you move away from quick fixes and instant
gratification.
The time is now. Not only is our relentless search for pleasure at all costs
destroying our bodies, our relationships, and our wallets, it is wreaking
havoc on the world in which we live. We are so strung out on temporary
highs that we are failing to weigh the consequences of our actions on
ourselves and on our environment.
When we look at all of the publicity and the marketing campaigns for
making the world "greener" and compare them to what people are actually
doing (or not), the discrepancy is huge. But now that we know how
influential the prefrontal cortex is, the story becomes a little clearer. We
don't act in the environment's best interest because feeling good now is far
more important.
Let's get real here. Even if hybrids were the cheapest cars on the market,
everyone would still not run to buy one. Hybrids don't fulfill that short-term
spark of dopamine that we get from sexier, flashier, or more prestigious
cars. In order to change our way of thinking about the environment, a
deeper change has to happen within us. Until we step back to see the larger
picture of global health and our role in it, we will not step up to the plate to
change the direction in which the world is heading.
Consider the following.

Yat Sun, based out of Hong Kong, is one of several companies that sell
shark fins in the South Pacific region where shark fin soup is considered a
delicacy. The demand for shark fin soup is so great, in fact, that
conservationists claim that more than half of the world's sharks are under
threat of extinction. Unfortunately, however, the fin is the only part of the
fish used. Fins are cut from live sharks that are then left to die in the water.
When Hong Kong Disneyland first opened, it added shark fin soup to its
menu, against protests from activists. However, Disneyland refused to
withdraw the item. Its justification was it felt that it needed to show respect
for Chinese culture. Ultimately, after a global email and letter-writing
campaign, Disney finally removed the soup from its menu. Since then,
concerned environmentalists have since been using the momentum gained
from their Disney success to persuade hotels, grocery stores, and restaurants
to stop selling any product that contains shark fins.
This victory aside, the demand for shark fin soup remains strong. Eric
Bohm. Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong World-Widelife Fund
(WWF) said of the Disney success, "Regretfully, it's a drop in the
bucket. The trade in shark's fin is absolutely huge—it's mind-boggling.

Thirty to forty million sharks a year are being harvested."
Until consumer demand diminishes, a supplier will always be willing to

step in. The motivation to change this cycle has to begin with a change in
the way the public thinks. Ultimately, there has to be more perceived
benefit associated with the conservation of sharks than with the taste of a
savory bowl of finely prepared shark fin soup. This change seems hard to
imagine in light of the power of a dopamine buzz. But we have seen
situations where masses of people did make a decision to serve the greater
good of their community rather than succumb to the allure of short-term
pleasure or monetary gain.
In their book Sway, authors Ori and Rom Brafman share a story about a
town in Switzerland. When the townspeople were originally polled about
becoming one of two regions that would house toxic waste from a new
nuclear energy program, 50.8 percent of the respondents agreed. They were
willing to put themselves at risk for the greater good of the country's
people. However, when the local government attempted to' increase that
number by paying people off, the number of supporters for the toxic site
dropped by half. A majority of the townspeople in Switzerland had enough
conviction about their obligation to the community that even money
(usually a key dopamine trigger) could not influence their decision. In fact,
introducing money into the picture actually cheapened the project and made
it seem less socially motivated and motivating.
As a society we must get to a point where temporary pleasure doesn't offset

the irreversible damage we are causing. Unfortunately, people usually
require a major wake-up call before they will give up behaviors that drive a
dopamine addiction. Most smokers quit right
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away when they get a reality check—in the form of a malignant tumor.
Overeaters keep eating until they suffer from a heart attack, stroke, or
diagnosis of diabetes. Sometimes we have to hit rock bottom in order to
wake up.
What makes this even harder is that we humans are remarkably adaptable.
For those readers who live in Los Angeles, let me ask you how many times
you step back and really notice the smog? People who visit the city are
appalled by the murkiness of our skyline. But those of us who live here
have become so conditioned that we don't even notice it!
In order to change anything, we have to fully associate with the long-term

effects of the actions that we take rather than the highs of the moment. We
have to be able to feel that the consequences of our actions are more painful
than a brief pleasure. Or as my mother, Karen Berg, always taught, we have
to get to a place "where the pain of not changing finally becomes greater
than the pain of changing."
Global transformation must come from a profound shift in how we think

and, therefore, how we act. All of the government-based incentive programs
in the world can't create lasting change. Think about it. Giving energy
companies and chemical manufacturers government funding in the hopes
that those same companies will, in turn, treat the environment with more
respect can't make a difference where it counts. It will not affect the core
values of the person whose livelihood depends on that company—
especially if it's a business that has been there for generations.
Manufacturing pesticides, burning coal for energy, mining mountaintops—
these are more than just things we do; they are jobs, lives, and identities.
That is why moving closer towards sustainable ways of living requires real
transformation—
transformation that must take place in our very roots. Anything less is a top-
down approach that will offer nothing but temporary gains.
Change Is possible. The key lies in looking at the bigger picture. Before a
company is asked to change its product or services, it needs to be prepared
to determine how its business can fit into a new global vision. The same is
true not just for companies but also for individuals, communities, cities,
states, and even entire countries.
Turkey is a great example. This is a country that was encouraged to change

by a power greater than dopamine. What has more power than pleasure? A
common vision and the clout to support that vision. The world's leading
countries threatened to cut Turkey off economically if it didn't take care of
the country's addiction to opium during the 1970s. The decision that Turkey
eventually made to eliminate the entire opium industry would be like
Columbia eliminating the cocaine trade today. It was an enormous
undertaking that changed the dynamics of an entire culture—and its future.
President Richard Nixon assisted in the transition. During a public

statement, he explained how difficult it was for Turkey's leader, Prime
Minister Nihat Eram, to make this decision:
For hundreds of years, tens of thousands of Turkish families have raised the
opium poppy as a legitimate cash crop and for its edible oil and seed. Under
a United Nations convention, Turkey is one of those few nations permitted
legally to grow poppy for export. Yet Turkey is one of the few opium-
cultivating countries in which the use of opium or heroin as an addictive
drug is virtually unknown. Since the opium farmer has little if any
knowledge of his part in the spread of a frightening
international epidemic, a ban on opium production is a particularly difficult
decision. These circumstances accentuate the vision and wisdom of this
very important step. We know well the importance of the agricultural sector
of Turkey's economy and we are prepared to put at the disposal of the
Turkish government our best technical brains to assist Turkey's program to
bring about a better life for the Turkish farmer. We are proud to assist in a
program from which we all will benefit.
Imagine how this approach could affect some of the issues our world faces
today. Many of these challenges currently exist in Afghanistan. This is
where terrorists are being trained and educated, where women are being
oppressed, where the Taliban has taken their power to an extreme, and
where opium is the currency driving decisions and creating conflicts. Today,
Afghanistan is the opium leader of the world. In 2007, 90 percent of the
world's opium came from this region. More land is currently being used in
Afghanistan to grow opium than is devoted to coca in South America. But it
could change, like Turkey, if the catalysts of a common vision and the
leverage to support that vision are brought to bear.
GUARANTEED DESTRUCTION
Imagine if there was no oil in the Middle East. What would the world look
like? Many of the challenges we are facing would simply disappear. Greed
is the driving force behind so much destruction, war, and death.
We can't continue like this. If we keep walking this well-worn, mindless

path, we are guaranteed destruction. But we can't change by taking
our usual approach. Quick fixes and band-aid approaches will get us
nowhere. We have to go about things differently this time. As Albert
Einstein famously said, "You can't solve a problem with the same
consciousness that created it."
It's impossible to avert our eyes to the mounting evidence against us and
what we have done. As global citizens we are witnessing an increase in air
pollution, soil erosion, and dust storms that cause lung diseases and leave
families without basic sustenance. We are experiencing an increased
number of natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, fires,
and mud slides. While some parts of the world are suffering long-standing
droughts, other communities along coastal areas and rivers can no longer
escape deadly floods during their rainy seasons.
We can't escape the consequences of our actions—or inaction. Not dealing

with problems can lead to the same costly consequences as direct, harmful
action will. When the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986, the
news that the Soviet government broadcast to the world was unclear at best.
It admitted that a catastrophe had occurred, but the rest of the facts came
slowly. As a result of the government's lack of transparency, people in the
immediate vicinity were exposed to unnecessary health risks. Some sources
estimate that the total deaths related to the Chernobyl disaster may grow to
more than 4,000. Others say that even that number is low.
In the case of Pacific Gas & Electric (made famous by Erin Brokovich),
when the company found out that their facility was responsible for
contaminating waterways in Hinkley, California, with cancer-causing
hexavalent chromium (otherwise known as "Chrome 6"), PG&E officials
chose a quick fix instead of immediately ceasing
production of the toxic by-product and finding a safe alternative. They

attempted to remedy the problem by secretly buying and destroying all of
the property near waterways affected by the pollutant. Clearly, when large
amounts of money and a system that seems too daunting to change are at
stake, many business and government leaders choose to become secretive or
just look the other way instead of finding workable solutions.
With so little real change taking place, the outlook can seem hopeless.
Sometimes it feels as though we will have to destroy the entire
infrastructure on which we have built our lives in order to start over. One
thing is for certain: We must look at the seed—the source of every one of
our thoughts and actions. When the seed is "caring for thy neighbor as
thyself," everything that springs from it will be good. But even if the
original idea seems harmless, if selfishness is at its core, it will eventually
lead to destruction.
From 1900 to about 1935, big cities in the United States mostly relied on
trolleys for public transportation. Because they generated no carbon dioxide
emissions, these trolleys were environmentally friendly long before the
phrase was ever a buzzword. Over time, however, transit owners were
lobbied by groups such as General Motors to introduce buses as the main
means of transportation. The sell was pretty easy, as buses were less
expensive to buy, required less maintenance in terms of rails and
infrastructure, and the sheer novelty of the bus substantially increased
ridership rates. With returns as obvious as this, no one stopped to think
about the long-term consequences of elevated C0 2 emissions. In fact, the
federal government actually created a big advertising campaign to introduce
buses into the community.
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Once again, the insatiable corporate appetite for a quick buck (or millions
of bucks) precluded a thorough assessment of the situation. And of course
any time we talk about fast money, quick fixes, and short-lived pleasure, we
are talking about dopamine. This is what drives consumer demand, which in
turn drives new inventions, corporate supply, and the greed machine.
Of course greed is not just limited to big business. It exists anywhere people
are acting out of self-interest. During a long-running government attempt to
persuade several Native American tribes to allow the nuclear power
industry to use their reservations as a dumping ground for waste, the U.S.
Congress ultimately created the Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator in
1987. This office targeted an additional two dozen tribal councils for waste
sites. Although the government dissolved the office in 1994, the nuclear
power industry jumped on the trend and continued to offer compensation to
tribes for their land. One such tribe, the Goshute Indians in Tooele, Utah,
took the bait. As a result, companies such as Envirocare and Magnesium
Corporation have been dumping voluminous amounts of chlorine gas and
radioactive waste into the region, which many believe has adversely
impacted the health of tribal members.
As one tribal elder put it, "The real issue is not the money. The real issue is
who we are as Native Americans and what we believe in. If we accept these
wastes, we're going to lose our tradition." If we want to experience
profound change, it must start at the core: our beliefs, our thoughts, and our
actions must be parsed and analyzed closely. We must put what we believe
ahead of the gratification of a quick buzz. When we uproot the self-seeking
component we uproot destruction. We uproot greed. And we start the ball of
transformation rolling.
THE POWER OF COMMUNITY
To change as a global community, we need to understand what

"community" really means. Before industrialization, when we all lived in an
agrarian society, people had to work together to survive. Communities were
built around supplying the basic needs of the people who lived there.
Everyone depended on one another for food, water, fellowship, and
transportation. This is what it meant to be a part of a community.
We also need to take a closer look at the word "environment." It's a word
that has taken on a very specific connotation in recent years. It has become
an object worthy of our protection, something essential to creating a
"greener" world. However, environment also describes the area around each
of us, as well as our immediate experience. In his simple yet profound
manner, the great kabbalist Rav Ashlag explained that environment means
"surroundings." Surroundings. Community. Environment. They are all
really one and the same. So how we choose to treat our
surroundings/community/environment will have a seismic impact across the
globe. Yes, this ripple effect starts with us as individuals, but it will also
impact all of humanity. And humanity is our ultimate community.
The idea of community has become complicated in the modern world. Sure,
when we go online to a social networking site it might feel like we are a
part of something; we might even call it our "community." Facebook.
MySpace. Twitter. By the time this book is printed, there will probably be a
new online community that is hip to join. The problem lies in the fact that
we have no responsibility in these groups. We can simply plug in when we
want, and hit "sleep" when we are done. In some cases, instead of truly
connecting, we have actually
created disconnections. The world has become smaller and bigger all at the
same time! The best part of today's online community is that we can be
connected practically anywhere. We have an amazing opportunity to unite
the world, and yet we are all still locked into our own limited realities
where we don't have to deal and change. Imagine the potential we have at
our fingertips if we learn to use technology to create true connections
among people—connections in which we feel responsible for one another.
Connections that make us feel full instead of leaving us wanting more the
minute we log off.
One hundred years ago, it would have been hard to believe the degree of
interconnectedness we now experience on the planet. The modern telephone
was still a relatively new concept. Television didn't exist. The Internet was
decades away from even being an idea. You couldn't just hop on a plane and
fly to another country; that was years away from being a reality. A century
ago it was hard to imagine that everyone on the planet was really sailing in
the same vessel. Few people would have understood—much less believed
—the concept of the Butterfly Effect: that a butterfly flapping its wings in
Los Angeles could set in motion a domino chain of events that could
ultimately lead to an earthquake in Japan. We are increasingly open to
understanding how we are all connected, and that if we sink the ship that we
are all sailing aboard, we all drown. However, we have simultaneously
become so focused on our own life experiences that we think we are alone.
In the not so distant past, we were close enough to our community to
physically see how our actions impacted the group overall. Now it's just too
easy to look the other way, or turn off the TV or computer and detach
ourselves from others.
But remember that true community is not just about being geographically
close to someone. It's about feeling connected and
responsible for what happens. If we isolate ourselves in our homes,

cubicles, and cars and don't take on a sense of communal responsibility,
how can we ever feel connected with others? Every so often it occurs to me
that if I didn't live next to my brother, I would not even know who my next
door neighbor was! Animals know not to poop or pee where they sleep, but
we get into trouble that way because we have created a world where what
we don't see does not exist. And it's all too easy to remove those things that
are not convenient from our line of sight. We lose sight of the
interconnectedness of all things in life, of the relationship between cause
and effect in the environment.
Every function in a working community has value because it serves the

group's combined interests. Like the African proverb says, "It takes a
village to raise a child." Everyone plays a crucial role. This means we can't
create change in a vacuum. You might choose to drive a Prius, but what
good does this really do if you are cutting people off while you are driving?
What we are starting to understand is that what you do—even if no one sees
it—can still harm the community's energy and physical being. The good
news is that what you do can also help, especially when it comes from a
place of empathy.
It's important to remember that the combined influence and wisdom of a

group is more powerful than that of an individual. In his book The Wisdom
of Crowds, author James Surowiecki explores several cases where group
efforts outweigh that of the individual. He cites a story about a group of
people asked to guess the weight of an ox. Although many of the individual
guesses were far from accurate, the average guess of the group was only
one pound off! As Surowiecki explains, "Under the right circumstances,
groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest
person in them."
For many decades, the United States has been a world leader, but as the
country has become more and more divided, its strength and influence in
the world is diminishing. What causes a machine that was once the best to
start falling apart? It's simple. Power starts to diminish the minute one part
becomes more important than the whole. When one person starts to place
his or her own needs above the well-being of the larger group, tiny cracks
start to form in a once well-oiled machine. Self-interest undermines unity. It
can sabotage even the strongest of unions, the most powerful of
communities.
Actions taken in the interest of the self destroy the sanctity of the whole
much in the way that a cancer cell affects the body. When one bad cell starts
to greedily feed on those cells around it without any regard for its host
entity, it destroys the very thing that gives it life. The key is to keep the
body healthy so renegade cells can't get a foothold. Being a part of a
working, unified community is a stepping stone towards a more holistic and
greener future. When you become part of group that is collectively working
to make a difference, change will follow organically.
WHAT'S YOUR AGENDA?
Because self-interest can be a silent killer, it's imperative to assess your

motivation along the way. If our motives are not in line with the good of our
community, what we perceive as good efforts can sometimes go very
wrong. This is often the case with radical activists who hurt others or
destroy property in an attempt to facilitate change. Using the environment
as an excuse to further your own agenda does nothing for the greater good
of the community. Instead, such actions infuse fear and hate into an already
wounded environment.
Sometimes it's challenging to figure out the right thing to do, especially
with all the hype around "going green." Take the recently touted use of
ethanol to replace traditional gasoline. Ethanol is a renewable, homegrown
fuel made from corn that has been proposed as a way to help lower the
United States' dependence on foreign oil. However, as more and more
ethanol is made from corn, less and less corn is available for food
production. A study conducted by Iowa State University researchers
reported that U.S. ethanol production could consume more than half of the
country's corn, wheat, and coarse grains by 2012. Costs will be driven up
for acreage, food, and livestock production, leading to increased global food
shortages. Rapid growth in ethanol production has already substantially
raised U.S. food prices and impacted the price of corn tortillas in Mexico,
inciting protests.
The California Air Resources Board indicates that ethanol is worse than oil
in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. According to the California
regulatory agency, corn-based ethanol is far worse in the long run.
Washington D.C. says: "If increased production of corn-based ethanol in the
U.S. raises corn prices and accelerates the conversion of rainforests... to
farmland worldwide... loss of the carbon sink associated with such
deforestation and disruption must be counted towards the biofuel's total
emissions."
Sometimes even when we think we are working towards viable solutions,

we are really adding fuel to the fire. That is why it's so important to look at
the bigger picture and to keep examining our motives as we make decisions
about our environment. Are we really making choices that lead to a net
benefit for our global community?
BEING A TRUE ACTIVIST/ ENVIRONMENTALIST

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In his teachings, Rav Ashlag explains that we lose a sense of community
"when the needs and desires of the individual become more important than
the needs and desires of the group." The fact that we are all interconnected
is not something we readily see. We lose sight of the fact that when we hurt
one another we are actually hurting ourselves. When we neglect our
responsibilities to the rest of the world, it's like cutting off a part of our own
body. We are diminished, and can no longer function properly as we were
intended. We have a responsibility to our surroundings—our environment
and our community—to become aware and to stop taking more than we
give back. When we take without understanding that everything is
intimately related, we are making decisions without seeing the entire
picture. It's easy to assume that if something is happening in a far away
country it's not really a part of us because we can't directly see and feel its
effects. We may feel bad for the people experiencing the problem, but we
don't really internalize their pain as our own.
There is a story about a miracle-worker. Miracles were a way of life for

him. His days were spent praying for the sick and meditating on their
recovery. One day, he got a knock on his door and the man who stood there
asked, "Could you help me? My son is sick in bed. There has got to be a
way you could help. Please come with me."
The sage agreed to see what he could do. He followed the man to his home
and entered the room of a very sick child. After several hours, he was
drenched in sweat from the intensity of his prayers and meditations for the
boy. Finally, he told the father, "I'm sorry—I have tried everything. There is
nothing that I can do to save your son."
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The father was utterly heartbroken. In his pain he took off on his horse and
began riding blindly at full speed. Suddenly, he heard a horse galloping
behind him. It was the kabbalist. Excitedly, the man asked, "Did you
receive a response to your prayers? Will there be a miracle for my son?"
His head bowed, the sage replied, "No, I'm sorry. Nothing has changed."
The man shouted at him angrily, "Then why did you chase me all the way
out here?"
And the sage replied, "If I cannot help you, the least I can do is to cry with
you."
The two men dismounted their horses and sat on the side of the road
together, shedding tears of sorrow and pain over the loss of a son.
Sometimes, when you just don't know what to do or what to say, something
as simple as sitting and truly being present with someone can make all of
the difference. Maybe it's by making a phone call to someone who needs a
listening ear; maybe it's by grieving with another over the loss of a home or
loved one. Our job is not always to take away the pain. Sometimes it's just
to make sure that another person knows they are not alone—that we are
here, too, and can be with them while they feel what they need to feel. This
is community.
As the story turned out, when the two men finally returned to the father's
house, they found that his child had made an astonishing recovery. There
was absolutely no trace of illness left in his body! It's wonderful that the
child was spared, but the real message of this
story lies in the fact that the sage didn't stop trying to help, even when it
seemed there was no hope. There is always something we can do, even if
it's just to weep with those who suffer and help them bear their pain.
If we truly understood how the world worked we would know that if

something is brought to our attention—if we can see it in our viewfinder—
then it's our responsibility to do something about it. We must always do
everything we can to influence the situation for the better. We must reverse
the trend in the world community of becoming increasingly disassociated
from our responsibilities to one another.
A 13-year-old girl in Auckland, New Zealand, sought help moments before

she was attacked by a man who had been threatening her. The young girl
approached a woman filling her car at a gas station and begged for help, but
the woman's response was to tell the girl to "keep away from the man"
before the woman drove off, leaving the girl to be assaulted and raped. Can
you imagine this?
In another shocking display of avoiding responsibility, a surveillance video

caught a car plowing into a 78-year old man trying to cross the street,
leaving him crumpled and bleeding in the middle of the street. Incredibly,
the driver of the car kept going. Even more disturbingly, the other cars on
the street and nearby pedestrians didn't do a thing to help the injured man!
The camera footage goes on to reveal nine cars driving by without stopping,
as the elderly man lay in the street. More than 40 sickening seconds went by
before anyone even stepped off the sidewalk to take a closer look at what
had just taken place. Even then no one went over to assist the man or to
divert traffic.
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Finally, after about a minute and a half, a police car responding to a
different call came across the scene of the hit and run and called an
ambulance. How have we, as a society, reached this point of dissociation?
Rav Ashlag tells us the world was created to give us the illusion of
disconnection. This gives us -the ability—the free will—to choose
selfishness, or its opposite. It provides the opportunity for us to ignore the
pain and the good in others without seeing that the real negativity is within
ourselves. If we knew that by hurting others—or by not helping them—we
were hurting ourselves, we'd realize that the effort it takes to help others is
actually self-serving, in a good way. This world was created to give us the
illusion of separation so we could chose unity of our own free will.
Consider this true story that took place in California. When "good
Samaritan" Lisa Torti stopped to pull Alexandra van Horn out of a wrecked
vehicle that she believed was about to explode, her efforts may have
contributed to van Horn's paralysis. So van Horn sued Torti, the rescuer.
Keep in mind that California has a Good Samaritan Law, a law that was
originally created to protect people like Torti who make an extraordinary
effort to help a fellow human in a life-threatening situation. But that law
was reversed when the California Supreme Court ruled 4 to 3 that Torti was
at fault. The case was hotly debated, but the court had the final say.
As a result of this new law, people in California will have to add another
layer of worry to the already difficult question of whether or not to step out
of their individual life bubbles to help someone in need. The fact that our
court system can fault people for trying to help others says a great deal
about the state of our society. We have collectively allowed ourselves to get
to this point. Instead of naturally letting community happen through our
own growing compassion, awareness, and concern, we are continually
trying to legislate it. In

doing so, we help numb our human responses, avoid our responsibilities to
each other, and deny ourselves our true potential to grow as human beings
in a global community.
Let's face it, people; we just don't want to deal. We self-medicate to

desensitize ourselves or chase short-term distractions, including technology,
pornography, drugs, or self-righteous personal agendas. Alternatively, we
want to avoid the problem entirely by assigning blame elsewhere, or by
denying the problem exists altogether.
There is another way: we can accept the problems we have created, learn
from them, and then work together to discover viable solutions. This is the
only way we grow as individuals and as a society. Without accepting
responsibility or by blaming a particular group, we just keep digging an
even bigger hole, and environmental problems become environmental
disasters that we can't reverse. We have to deal with both the problems we
have created ourselves—even if our own hands didn't dump the chemicals
into the waterways or if our own power saws didn't chop down the
rainforest. We can't keep suing one another to make the problem go away;
we can't continue to bury it underground and wait for the toxins to leach
into our communities. It doesn't matter if it's our physical garbage or our
emotional garbage that we're dumping. We can no longer hide it from the
world. We must deal with it as our extended human body, which it is, or
everyone will suffer.
Becoming a true activist—being a true catalyst for change—can only

happen when we change ourselves. This understanding opens awareness
within us, and once we have this awareness, the universe makes it clear
what we need to transform inside. The world is, in fact, a mirror. If we look
at the world this way—as a mirror of self—we can
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direct our efforts and activism inward and clean house spiritually. Change
will then manifest in the physical world automatically. These elements are
the only way to transform selfish behavior. When you think that you are
being an "activist," when you're really just stuck in a personal agenda, you
are actually creating a problem that is even harder to solve than the issue
you are fighting!
Because we're all connected, nothing outside of us will change until we

change ourselves. We tend to want to "change the world" in order to make
our lives better. Instead, we need to change ourselves in order to make the
world better. It's a paradox. The more you want to change the world, the
more you have to change yourself.
Consider this story about Mahatma Gandhi. A woman brings her son to
Gandhi, complaining that the boy eats too much sugar. She wants Gandhi to
tell him to stop. Gandhi asks the woman to bring the child back the next
month. The woman has traveled too great a distance to be able to return
home, so she stays nearby for a month, at some hardship and expense. The
following month she brings the child back, and this time Gandhi says to the
boy, "Stop eating sugar, child." And the boy does. The woman is pleased
but puzzled. Several days later, as the woman prepares for the long journey
home, she visits Gandhi with a question. "My child has done what you
asked, but why could you not have said those words the first time I came?"
"Ma'am," Gandhi replies, "a month ago I was still eating sugar."
Mahatma Gandhi knew that we can't very well advocate something that we
ourselves are not doing! Or, as Gandhi famously put it, "You must be the
change you wish to see in the world."
THE BLAME GAME

When we activate change from the inside out, we are implicitly saying no to
playing the blame game. We are saying no to playing the victim by taking
responsibility for ourselves and for the world around us. At times we've all
pretended that the bad things in the world don't directly affect us, but such
denial is as harmful as the problems themselves. Others of us are clearly
involved in the problem, but instead of standing up for ourselves and our
community, we sometimes take on the role of the helpless victim. But
neither denial nor ignorance is a valid excuse—not ever. We are all
involved. All of our choices matter. Every one of us plays an important part
in every outcome.
Ultimately, as Rav Ashlag explains, problems in our world exist for two
reasons—because of the person who creates the problem and because of the
person who allows it to happen. We always blame the perpetrator, but rarely
if ever do we take a look at the victim. The people who are closest to a
problem (and who eventually become directly affected by it) usually have
an opportunity to change course, or direction, at a seed level. However, if
the opportunity is not taken before the damage begins, those who had the
power and position to change things end up becoming perpetrators of their
own suffering.
In February of 1946, Commodore Ben H. Wyatt, the military governor of

the Marshall Islands at the time, traveled to Bikini Island. One Sunday after
church, he assembled the native Bikinians to ask them if they would be
willing to temporarily leave their island so that the United States could
begin testing atomic bombs for "the good of humanity and to end all world
wars." You can watch the U.S propaganda video at:
http://wwwyoutube.com/watch?v= Yc_T3nSlg7M. After a very stormy
deliberation among his people, King Juda, the then
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leader of the Bikinian people, stood up and announced, "We will go,
believing that everything is in the hands of God."
While the Bikinians were preparing to leave their island, the U.S. Navy
gathered a huge flotilla and a massive amount of equipment, including
approximately 242 naval ships, 156 aircraft, 25,000 radiation recording
devices and 5,400 experimental rats and livestock. More than 42,000 U.S.
military and civilian personnel were involved in the testing program at
Bikini Island, which detonated two nuclear bombs on the island. A former
enlisted Navy serviceman who had contracted cancer had this to say about
the fateful events: "There's no question in my mind, that of all the things
that went on in Operation Crossroads, it was a slow death from that time to
this date. Not only for me but for thousands of men out there that may be
worse off than I am. There are so many thousands of those men that are
dead now, and they don't really know what caused their death."
Despite the test's extraordinary risk to people, animals, land, and water,
thousands of people knowingly stood by and let it happen. Like the
perpetrators, those who stand by and allow themselves to be the victims of
injustices are equally responsible for the outcome. This is a difficult thing to
hear—that men and women who suffer play a role in their experience. It's
so easy to find fault in those who cause pain, but it's almost criminal to
suggest that those who accepted it are part of the problem. However, as
adults, we have choices. If we are the perpetrator we always have the choice
of whether or not we will take the action that causes pain; if we are the
victim we have the choice of accepting it. Often that choice comes with a
perceived sacrifice that we may not want to make, so it's not easy to take
responsibility for who you are in the face of what is happening to you.
THE TEACHER
The only way to effectively do the real work of improving the environment
is with a teacher. We cannot do it alone, without someone who challenges
and encourages us to make the corrections we need to make in this life. The
real value of a teacher is to help us remove our own personal selfish desires
so that we can see we are all fingers and toes on the same human and
environmental body. We are all connected.
We came here to do some very specific work: to look past our own selfish
desires and to share of ourselves. Our goal is to get to a place where we are
acting in true service to one another, no matter our circumstance.
A true teacher is not someone who advises and lectures. Finding a teacher is
not about seeking wisdom—we can find wisdom anywhere. A teacher is
someone who keeps us motivated to change, someone who keeps our desire
burning in order to help the world. Rav Ashlag explains, "The purpose of
the study, the purpose of our spiritual work is to come to a point where we
actually have a physical sense, a physical taste of the Light of the Creator."
When Rav Ashlag first met his teacher, he went through many stages before
he connected to the Light and truly understood their relationship. His first
obstacle was that his teacher seemed to have a huge ego. Rav Ashlag could
have simply walked away when he first made this observation. However, he
chose not to judge his teacher, but to listen to what he had to say, and to
believe that something deeper would be revealed. Craving the wisdom, Rav
Ashlag continued to meet with his teacher. But instead of sharing
information and
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revealing the secrets of the universe, his teacher continually told Rav
Ashlag what was wrong with him. Despite this, Rav Ashlag continued to
seek out and work with his teacher.
He began to realize that the goal of all of the work that we do in this life is
to purify ourselves, which can only come with a greater awareness of our
inherent desire to receive for the self alone. In fact, Rav Ashlag's teacher
told him, "If you are growing in your uncovering of this great ego that you
have, you are growing. If you are not, forget about anything else."
Although his teacher sometimes seemed close to revealing a great secret,

Rav Ashlag always left his lessons with a sense of yearning. His teacher
constantly left him hungry for more. But through this process Rav Ashlag
learned that self-satisfaction and self-contentment breed ego. When his
teacher passed away, Rav Ashlag still felt unsatisfied. He said, "I cannot
express in words the tremendous pain that I felt. My hope was that my
teacher was going to reveal to me, and elevate me to the level of one of the
great souls that ever lived—and I was left with nothing. Not only did I lose
all hope of ever gaining more wisdom, but everything that he had ever
taught me from the pain and the loss—I lost it all."
However, Rav Ashlag didn't give up. Even when he was at his lowest, he
realized that he had to continue his own studies. "From that moment on, I
looked up to heaven and I awakened a tremendous amount of yearning."
Eventually Rav Ashlag realized that his teacher had helped him to become a
channel for the Light. When he realized this, he also understood that this
gift was directly linked to the Creator. He said, "How can I even thank the
Creator? The Creator knew all along how little I have, that I don't have
understanding, I don't have
enough Light and wisdom to give thanks for the great gifts, certainly not to
earn them, to deserve them. But, of course, the Creator chooses whoever He
chooses to be His revealer of Light."
Because of Rav Ashlag's decision to keep returning to his teacher and to
listen to what he had to teach him, he was given a divine gift from the
Creator. That's how our teachers help us to grow. They awaken within us a
desire to be more, to know more, to push further than we ever would on our
own. One of the reasons that high school athletes can now break Olympic
records set in the 1920s is the power of their teachers. Coaches now analyze
physical movements down to the smallest detail. Golf coaches can suggest
the minutest alteration to a swing, swimmers can review extensive video
footage and a detailed overview of every stroke: coaching has become
unbelievably systematic. A good player says, "I missed." A great player
says, "If I would have done this one little thing differently, I would have got
it." And what makes it possible for us to find and understand that one little
thing that makes all the difference? A teacher. No one is above needing a
teacher, even though we forget this sometimes. Unfortunately, instead of
finding someone worthy to guide us, we sometimes fill that role with
celebrities, would-be gurus, and people with their own agendas.
A worthwhile teacher can determine why you make certain choices and take
certain actions. He or she can pinpoint subtleties in your nature that you
cannot see yourself, and a good teacher will go to great lengths to
accomplish this. Rav Brandwein, who was my father's teacher, had a
difficult time teaching my father because Rav Brandwein's family was
opposed to it. Even when Rav Brandwein was on his death bed, his family
wouldn't let my father near him. After Rav Brandwein's passing, my father
felt great despair, but then Rav
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Brandwein started to come to him in visions and dreams. My father would
ask him questions and he would answer.
One night my father went to sleep asking his teacher if it was right for him
to teach Kabbalah to the woman who would become my mother, Karen.
Today the idea of teaching someone Kabbalah seems like nothing, but at the
time, this was an historic and monumental departure from the tradition of
Kabbalah, in which these teachings are the exclusive province of men. My
father received no reply and interpreted this to mean that the answer was
no.
However, when my mother met with my father later that day she told him
about a strange dream she'd had the night before. "A man who I've never
met before came to me in my dream, and when I looked at him, he put his
hands over my head. He said something to me in what sounded like
Hebrew, but I didn't understand him. When my father asked my mother to
describe the man, she described Rav Brandwein in great detail, including
his clothing. "He was dressed in a long coat and carried a cane. And, he had
a big fur hat on his head," she said, all of which was unerringly accurate.
Although Rav Brandwein could not spend as much time with my father in
physical form as he wanted to, that didn't stop him from being my father's
teacher. Not at all. He literally died in order to make a real difference for
my father, and that is what makes him a true teacher. He was willing to
sacrifice everything for his student. It should be noted that it's an unusual
occurrence to have a teacher in spirit. It's safe to say that it's a special
kabbalist and a special teacher who experience such a nontraditional
classroom!
Ultimately, in order to grow to achieve our purpose and take responsibility

for our lives, our community, and our world, we need a teacher in the
physical world who can constantly push and challenge us until finally... we
become teachers ourselves. This is the last step in the path of becoming one
with the Creator. As the 11th century Kabbalist Solomon Gabirol explained,
"In seeking Wisdom, the First Stage is Silence, the Second Stage is
Listening, the Third Stage is Remembrance, the Fourth is Practicing, the
Fifth is Teaching." However, you cannot just decide that you're ready. Only
your teacher can tell you when it's time.
After Rav Brandwein had been studying Kabbalah for a number of years, he
asked his teacher if he was ready to teach. His teacher informed him that he
was not yet ready. After the 1929 stock market collapse, Rav Brandwein
lost his job as a bricklayer, but he finally found work as a-garbage collector.
He went to his teacher and told him about finding the job and asked him if
he should take it. His teacher, Rav Ashlag, responded, "Now, you are ready
to teach."
Rav Shlomo once sent one of his students to see a great master who was
very old. He felt that the wise old master might have something to share,
but he didn't know what it was. So Rav Shlomo instructed his student to go
without providing an explanation for the visit.
Upon his arrival, the great master immediately asked the student, "Who sent
you?" Feeling that he could not be untruthful, he answered honestly: "Rav
Shlomo."
"Go back and tell him that I remember when we were together with the Seer
of Lublin," (a great sage held in high esteem by the sages). Shocked, the
student said, "That's impossible. My master was four years old when the
Seer of Lublin passed away."
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The next day, the student came back. Again the great master asked him,
"Who sent you?" Again, the student replied, "Rav Shlomo." Again the
master replied, "Tell him I remember when we were together with the Seer
of Lublin." Again the student left frustrated.
This happened for the next three days. Finally the student gave up, and
headed home. Upon returning, he reported to Rav Shlomo, "I'm sorry, but
the great old master must be losing his mental acuity. He wasn't making any
sense."
Rav Shlomo said, "Tell me exactly what he said." When the student told
him the story about the Seer of Lublin, Rav Shlomo began to weep. When
he had recovered his composure, he told the student about a time when he
was three years old, and had gone to attend a wedding with his father.
Sitting high on his father's shoulders, he had watched the newly married
bride and groom exit down the aisle. Following them was the Seer of
Lublin, accompanied by his student, who would become the old master.
When they came abreast of Rav Shlomo's father, they stopped. The Seer of
Lublin grabbed the tiny hand of the three-year-old Rav Shlomo and said,
"This child will grow to become a great teacher and great leader."
Rav Shlomo cried, "I can still feel him holding my hand. It's clear to me
that this message reveals a great blessing. It's time for me to become a
master myself."
When we pay attention, we receive cues from the world around us, telling
us what next steps we need to take and clarifying our responsibilities in this
world. However, these cues must also be accompanied by constant
reminders to keep moving forward. These
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come from a teacher and from a community that respects us and our work
in order to provide the fuel needed to continuously progress.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
We know that the greatest revelation of Light in human history took place
on Mt. Sinai. My father, Rav Berg, says that what was revealed was the
Light itself and with that revelation it became clear that the destiny of
humankind was immortality—life without death. While the sages say that
indeed this great wisdom was revealed to Moses that day, in truth, the
revelation was actually even greater than was reported. Even more
significant than the Light and wisdom that was brought forth is the fact that
what happened on Mt. Sinai was the result of the divine power of
community.
Before Moses went up the mountain he made the Israelites commit to each
other that they would all love their neighbors as themselves. Each would be
the cause of his or her security and happiness. (It's important to note here
that the Israelites represented all souls that come to this world: black, white,
Christian, Muslim, Asian, European, you name it; the Israelites were all of
us.) Moses emphasized that the revelation could not happen unless the
Israelites made this promise. So every person agreed to take care and work
for every other person, and to fulfill each other's needs and desires as if they
were their own. At that moment, they all become responsible to each other
forever. There was no agenda, no selfishness, and no one was left feeling
needy or hungry. This was the first true community.
Rav Ashlag once examined social systems in relation to human nature and
the creation of critical mass within a society. What he discovered
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is that the consciousness of the masses is what creates change. In other
words, we have within us enormous transformative power when we are
working together as a whole. This can work for us or against us. We do
things together as a group that we would never do as an individual; peaceful
moms and well-dressed dads can turn into raving lunatics at their kids'
soccer games, for example. This has been described as "group
consciousness." Look at the groups you belong to. Your sports team, your
friends, your drinking buddies, your work friends, your Facebook friends—
these are your communities and as such they have collective power. Each
community has a momentum all its own.
Rav Ashlag explains that we are each part of a community, even if we don't
always understand that we are, or act like we are. Think about your life.
Whether it's in your workplace, your gym, your book club, or your night
club, you have a part to play. And whatever direction those groups are
moving in is the direction you're moving in too. The choice we have in the
matter is what group we choose to be involved with. Once we have chosen
the community, the set of friends, or the partners, the wheels are set in
motion and it's incredibly difficult for one individual to change the group's
course. Therefore, we should look at our lives carefully and realize that
there are people in our communities that might be bringing us down. We
have to step back and realize that whether we like it or not, whether we
agree with it or not, we will be affected by them.
Our community is essential. If we work hard at correcting our nature but are
not a part of an environment that supports and nurtures us, there will be
little energy to sustain progress. What we need is to find the same love that
the Israelites had for each other on Mt. Sinai—a love so great that it
allowed the revelation to take place. If we can
accomplish this, we can completely transform the world. If 18 people can

bring terror to the United States and the world as they did on 9/11, imagine
what a great community of Light could do?
What happens around us is caused by our own actions—and by who we are.
If we see selfish people, it's because we are selfish ourselves. When we
experience catastrophes, when we see our world's resources becoming
depleted, we have to look at ourselves. Our plight is a direct result of not
loving our neighbor as we love our selves. We've been taking far more than
we have been giving.
We don't have to look beyond ourselves to fix the world around us. The
answers will unfold the moment we start fixing ourselves on the inside.
Once we align our lives with solutions rather than problems, we can
contribute that power to a like-minded, supportive community. Then the
pace of the miraculous starts to quicken. What's more, the answer will never
seem as weighty as the problem; the solution will seem simplistic! That is
how the universe works. Darkness is complicated; Light is simple.
Think about this: There is a scale that is evenly balanced in the world.
Every catastrophe has a 50/50 chance of occurring. It's our own actions that
tip the scale one way or another. In every single moment we have a choice:
to work on ourselves and create Light, or to let the world tip towards
darkness. It's up to us. It's up to you.
Find a community that serves you. Find a teacher who will challenge and
help you to see more than you can see about yourself. Stop your addiction
to those things that won't serve you or your community in the long-term.
Make this your mantra: "When I change myself, I change the world!"
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CHAPTER FOUR
It seems harder and harder these days to get a handle on what money
actually is. Sometimes it seems like nothing more than numbers in a
computer. Most people don't carry cash anymore—I don't even own a
wallet! The entire financial system acts like a complex illusion— smoke
and mirrors—and yet every digital dollar spent creates changes and
quantum effects that we are not aware of. Our present economic crisis
shows just how much we have lost touch with the energy of money and how
it is meant to be used.
In our world all energy is in a state of .equilibrium, and money is a source

of energy that affects that equilibrium. Every nanosecond our monetary
actions trigger countless little energy shifts. It's like the earth's tectonic
plates—they are constantly in motion and any number of small factors
could combine to trigger a large-scale event, such as an earthquake or
tsunami.
If you look closely at the way most of us conduct our lives, 80 to 90 percent
of our days are focused on making money—not making
CHAPTER FOUR: SMOKE & MIRRORS
things or providing services, but making money. We spend so much time

and energy chasing after money, yet we spend very little time looking into
how we and others are affected by our actions—we're often not even aware
of what we are truly selling, or how we are producing it. Consider some
professional services that seemingly contribute to society but upon closer
inspection turn out to have profound hidden costs for our lives, our bank
accounts, and our world.
Enron is a prime example. This Texas-based energy company was

considered a huge success story for many years. It turned out, however, that
although Enron was run by some of the smartest people in business, their
company was only a success on paper. According to the documentary film
The Smartest Guys in the Room, the only reason for Enron's extraordinary
success was its skill in developing new accounting tricks so that the
company appeared to be a top performer.
Overall, the company's leaders were not focused on providing a service that
would benefit society, but on creating the illusion that they were "New
Economy geniuses" who could successfully enter any line of business and
become profitable. By taking the standard accounting practice of creating
"special purpose entities" to new heights of complexity, Enron was able to
increase its leverage and return on assets without having to report debt and
losses. Investors bought into Enron's sleight of hand for years until the
corporate shell game was finally revealed, and the resulting tumble in the
value of Enron stock dealt the company a mortal blow.
Smart corporate and private investors alike also fell for Bernie Madoff's
Ponzi scheme—a hedge fund that consistently reported 12 to 15 percent
returns. In reality, Madoff didn't invest anything, he simply kept
all the money that was given to him for investments and used it to purchase
boats, houses, and other personal luxuries. Whenever investors requested
money Madoff would pull the amount requested, plus the so-called interest,
from his pool of other people's investments. Think about it: smart, highly-
educated, financially savvy people gave him $65 billion, ov^r almost two
decades! When a major European bank investigated Madoff's firm in 2003
they found so many red flags that they put Madoff on an international black
list and advised their clients against giving him their money. However, they
then proceeded to invest $10 million Euros of their own money with him!
The aspect of this story that leaves experts around the world still scratching
their heads is why didn't anyone ask more questions? If it is our natural
tendency not to trust people, how did so many trust Bernie Madoff with so
much? It seems that when faced with the prospect of fast money, we let our
guards down and make decisions that we would never otherwise make. The
appeal of easy money is too tempting to pass up, especially when a crowd
of other investors are doing the same thing.
We have become so obsessed with making money that we have forgotten its
real value and the fulfillment that comes from the effort it takes to earn it.
Few parts of the so-called developed world really make and sell anything
any more. We trade digital money for intellectual property in a long-running
numbers game.
ALL FOR $10 JEANS
Another aspect of disconnecting from our money is that we don't realize the
power our choices have when we decide how to spend it.
As consumers, everything we buy affects the global economic system. For

example, with consumerism as our guide we seek to "have it all," whether
we can afford it or not. The lending crisis, brought on by lending
institutions who gave out loans to people who could never pay them back,
is the macro story, but on a micro level how many of us go to a discount
store to find discounts that allow us to have the goods we want at a "price
we can afford," like a pair of $10 jeans? We don't ask how the jeans could
be sold for the price of two Starbucks coffee drinks, or think to question
who is being shortchanged in order to make this bargain possible. Usually
we don't even care—we're simply happy to save some money and to have a
decent pair of jeans to wear.
Unfortunately, the reality behind what it takes to offer those jeans at such a
low price might not make us so happy. Although many discount stores have
similar policies, let's look at the most dominant in the market—Wal-Mart.
The company's founder, Sam Walton, put in place a business model that
Wal-Mart still follows. Their objective is to dominate the retail market by
cutting prices, thereby increasing sales volume and driving other local retail
stores out of business.
The result of their hard-nosed competitive practices means a loss of local
businesses and individualized customer service, fewer product choices for
consumers, and an increase in sweatshops that produce more goods for less.
A June 2007 report by Students and Scholars Against Corporate

Misbehavior investigated Wal-Mart's auditing procedures of five Chinese
toy factories and found that the factories were going to great lengths to
conceal labor abuses. The report noted that "managers conducted 'training
sessions' with workers on how to answer
questions from Wal-Mart's auditor inspections. At these trainings, managers

warned workers, 'If you answer auditors' questions incorrectly, we lose
orders and you lose your job.'"
In another such investigation, the United Kingdom newspaper The

Guardian newspaper interviewed eight workers from seven factories in
Bangladesh. All but one of them claimed to work 12-hour days and
sometimes through the night to finish an order for Wal-Mart. The workers
were paid eight cents an hour—a wage that was not enough to support their
families.
Although these examples may sound appalling, you and I have to take some
responsibility for these oppressive working conditions. First and foremost
we purchase the $10 jeans to feed our consumerism without looking
beneath the surface to find out how these jeans could be sold so cheaply.
What corners were being cut? Who was forced to forego fair pay? We keep
our eye on a short-term prize and disregard the consequences. We need to
ask more questions. As my father, the Rav says, we need to ask, "Why?"
The Japanese have integrated this concept into their business and
manufacturing culture by adopting the premise that you need to ask "why"
five times before you can allow yourself to think that you have arrived at
the answer. The "five whys" method currently used by Toyota helps the
company focus on the cause of a problem rather than just the symptom.
In Japan this technique is part of a manufacturing model, but in truth we

should all be asking why on a regular basis. The real reason for asking is to
become aware of the bigger picture. Once we do so we will also start to
understand that our choices have a quantum effect,
that energy is generated by what we do, by what we chose. It is ultimately

our decision to demand a pair of $10 jeans, which is why Wal-Mart makes
them for us.
Spiritually speaking, we have lost touch with the energy in money. It doesn't
matter what an economy is built on; if the population loses touch with the
value and energy of money, the economy cannot survive in the long-term. If
we associated bargain-priced jeans with the fact that a child worked 12
hours to make the jeans we are wearing, made eight cents per hour, and
went home hungry, we wouldn't want those jeans. We wouldn't want that
energy anywhere near us, much less on our bodies.
There is a story about a king who wanted a new suit. The king bought the
most expensive Egyptian cotton available, spending thousands of dollars on
all the necessary materials. He gave them to the best tailor in town, who
quickly made the suit to the king's personal specifications. However, when
the tailor brought it to the king, he disliked the suit so much that he wanted
the tailor to repay him all of the money he had spent.
Devastated and confused, the tailor went to see the wise man who lived
across town. In tears, the tailor explained his predicament. The sage
reflected for a moment and asked to see the suit, which the tailor brought to
him immediately. He looked at it for a moment before responding, "I see
your problem. While making this suit, you were thinking only of the money
you were going to make and the cost of the materials. If you unstitch the
suit and make it again while only wishing good things for the king, you will
be fine."
The tailor took the sage's advice and re-stitched the suit, putting all of his
energy into good thoughts about the king. When he brought the suit back to
the palace, the king proclaimed it the most beautiful suit he had ever seen.
The fabric, materials, pattern, and craftsmanship were all identical to the
first suit. The only difference was the energy that the tailor put into it.
We should all care about the energy in the clothes we wear, and the food
that we eat. Whether we are aware of it or not, the energy in everything we
consume or wear affects our lives and the larger economy. Just think about
how much the value of money has inflated over the years. A dollar used to
mean something. Several hundred years ago $300 could buy you a nice
piece of land; now it buys you a pair of designer jeans at full retail.
Money has power, and we are meant to use it to generate true fulfillment
and to create lasting, real wealth for everyone. As the following story
illustrates, the energy in money can be light or dark, depending on where it
came from and how we use it.
There once was a very simple man who worked hard, saved his money, and
eventually became proprietor of a small pub. The unusual thing about this
pub owner was that he had a reputation for wisdom, so people often sought
him out for advice in solving their problems. It was said that his blessings
were so powerful that he could even resurrect the dead.
Curious about his uncanny abilities, one of the townspeople asked him his
secret. He said, "One day I decided that I needed to connect only to positive
energy. I take care of all the people who work at the pub, I make sure their
families are cared for, and I make sure only to
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hire people who I appreciate and who appreciate working with me. This is
what gives me the energy to provide blessings and channel positive
messages for others."
Think about this story for a minute. The man who was always connected to
positivity could have decided to use that energy only for himself, but
instead he did everything he could for himself and for others. This gave him
the power to be more than just an ordinary man.
A partnership with positivity is what is missing in the world's economy. As

Rav Ashlag explained, in order to be (and to remain) successful, we must
have both a connection to energy and to a higher purpose. What that means
in practical terms is that it's not all about me; it means that there is
something more at play, a grander scheme, a universal system of cause and
effect. We are empowered when we realize that our choices have
consequences for better and for worse and that they affect everyone, not just
ourselves.
DIG DEEPER—SMALL ACTIONS HAVE BIG CONSEQUENCES
We cannot just take things at face value without doing our homework. For
every "simple," "fast," "easy" small action, there is always a larger context.
Everything we do carries a hidden price tag: there is the labor required to
create it, as well as its effect on our energy, our health, and our planet. All
man-made items are part of a web of planetary effects that we don't see
without digging a little deeper.
For example, there are people who routinely make a habit of buying
clothes, wearing them for a particular event, and then returning them.
In the clothing industry this behavior is known as "wardrobing," and it costs

retailers about $11 billion annually. This is money that stores could use to
invest in ways that would benefit consumers. Perhaps it could pay for more
workers, increase quality in manufacturing, or lower prices for everyone,
stimulating the economy. If I buy a suit to wear to one event and then plan
to return it, I may think to myself, / am just one person borrowing one suit.
But this is the way that a lot of our small problems become big problems;
we may think we are only one person performing this action, when in truth
we are part of a human family of six billion people. It doesn't take long
before our actions can, in effect, create a plague. We don't know how
powerful we really are; we don't realize that even our smallest actions have
consequences too.
As consumers, we have to be mindful about our purchasing behavior; as

individuals we have to understand that we are powerful and we have
responsibility for the world we live in—and that includes our economy.
Every small action we take with our money, whether it's shopping
consciously or thoughtlessly buying foods that harm our ecosystem,
becomes something much larger and more global than ourselves—for better
and for worse. Each of our actions stimulates exponential change. Once
those actions reach critical mass, they trigger actions from other people in
other places. This is how the quantum world works.
The word "quantum" comes from Latin, meaning "how much," and refers to
the units of matter and energy that were predicted by and observed in
quantum physics. In the realm of quantum physics, experiments have
established that the mere act of observing something actually influences the
physical processes taking place, and that the information involved moves
instantly across vast distances.
Quantum energy and information is at work while you read these words.
Whether you are a scientist and you call it quantum physics, whether you
are a Buddhist and you call it the Dharma, or whether you're a Christian and
you call it God Consciousness, there is an energetic dimension that
influences and is influenced by our every action. Everything we do is added
to the global balance sheet. If a tornado of negativity arises, we can choose
to be part of it or we can choose to counter it. Although we believe we are
alone and powerless, we are mistaken. The Universe is always watching
and taking our actions into account.
Part of the kabbalistic legacy is a story of the great sage, the Baal Shem
Tov, which brings home this point.
One day there was a knock on the door at the Baal Shem Tov's house. One
of his students opened the door to find a shabbily dressed beggar man
standing outside. The student offered him a few pennies and started to close
the door, but the man insisted on talking to the Baal Shem Tov. The student
tried to dissuade the man, telling him that his master was very busy, but the
beggar was adamant. Then from within the house, the student heard the
voice of the Baal Shem Tov, who said, "Let him in."
Upon meeting the Bal Shem Tov, the beggar told him this story. "Twenty
years ago, I was the wealthiest man in town. I had everything. I had
mansions, servants—every luxury imaginable. And then one day I lost
everything. Everything. Not just money or power. Everything that was
important to me was suddenly gone. Why? What happened?"
The Baal Shem Tov asked the beggar, "Do you remember the day that
everything changed? You were walking from your house to your
factory, and you ran into a man in the street whose belly ached from hunger.
He asked you for help. You had plenty of money in your purse, and an apple
in your pocket, but you didn't give even give that to him. You just kept on
walking. That man, who never ever did any harm to anyone, was dying, and
you passed him by. Even the angels in Heaven—who have seen a lot in
their immortal lives—were horrified: How dare this person to whom God
has been so generous be so completely insensitive to the pain of a man on
the verge of death? And so they decreed that the tables be turned, and that
everything that you had should go to this starving man."
The homeless man was in shock. He asked, "Is there any way for me to get
it back?" The Baal Shem Tov replied, "Yes, there is one way. If you ask the
formerly starving man for something and he says 'no,' then everything will
return to the way it was before. He'll go back to being a beggar, and you'll
go back to your former life of luxury."
Armed with this insight, the beggar set off for the wealthy man's home. He
knocked on the door and asked, "Can I have some money?" The wealthy
man answered, "Of course." He took out a few rubles and gave it to him.
The next day the beggar went back and asked, "Can I have an apple?" And
the wealthy man answered, "Of course, here is an apple." He went back
again and again and each time the wealthy man gave him whatever he asked
for. Now the beggar was becoming terribly frustrated, so he decided to take
a more aggressive approach.
The beggar returned to the wealthy man's house at 3 a.m. and knocked on
the door. The wealthy man answered, "Yes, can I help you?" When the
beggar asked, "Can I have some water?" he said, "Sure." He gave the poor
man water. The beggar returned again at 5
a.m. and again at 11 p.m. Every time, the wealthy man gave him whatever
he asked for.
Not long after this, the beggar discovered that the wealthy man's daughter
was getting married. The beggar figured that at the wedding of his own
daughter surely the rich man would be so busy that he would refuse the
request of a beggar. The wedding day came and the ceremony was
performed. At the reception, the father started dancing with his daughter. In
the middle of the dance, the beggar ran up to the father and asked, "Can you
give me 50 rubles right now?" And the father looked at his daughter and
said, "One moment." He stopped dancing, took out his wallet, and gave the
beggar 50 rubles. At which point, the beggar realized that he would never
get his life back from this man. There was no limit to his goodness and his
generosity.
The point of this story is that the universe is always watching. With one
seemingly small action, you could lose or gain everything.
PICK YOUR POISON
Some of the largest and most powerful industries are in the addiction
business. Alcohol. Drugs. Tobacco. Sex. These industries are supported by
those who purchase their products or services, as well as by governments
that depend on their tax revenue. There is no question that individuals,
companies, and governments know these addictions are not good for
people. We are all aware of the destruction they cause to our health,
relationships, and overall wellbeing. However, we continue to contribute to
the problem.
We blame the tobacco industry for producing cigarettes. We blame drug

cartels for producing cocaine and heroin. We blame pimps for the sex trade.
But the truth is that if there was no consumer, the seller would go out of
business. We cannot rely on the government to stop the problem; in fact the
government often makes it worse. What we are talking about here is not the
cigarette business, the war on drugs, the issue of pornography, or the traffic
in sex slaves—what we are talking about is the exploitation of addictive
behaviors to make money. As with most wars, we are fighting the wrong
fight.
In 1971 President Richard Nixon declared that fighting drugs needed to be a

major priority for United States and the world. More than 30 years later, the
former presidents of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico announced that it was
time to replace the War on Drugs with a more realistic, humane, and
effective drug policy. The three men concluded that, "to be effective, the
new paradigm must focus on health and education—not repression."
Since the War on Drugs began, over $500 billon has been spent on the fight.
Sadly, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has little
to show for its efforts. Cocaine is as prevalent now as it was 30 years ago,
not to mention cheaper and more pure. And as a result of the war on
cocaine, methamphetamine, hardly used 15 years ago, is now used by an
estimated 1.5 million Americans. The problem is that ever since the war
was started, the focus has been on locking up drug users and to attacking
the trade at its sources overseas rather than on educating people about the
dangers of drugs, decriminalizing drugs, and treating addicts as patients
rather than criminals. In the end, only the individual user can stop addiction.
Even if we stop using a particular drug, if we don't change our addictive
behavior, we will only move on to another form of addiction.
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In addition to exercising our power as consumers to make conscious

decisions when we are purchasing products, we need to look at our own
role in selling goods. We need to look closely at our own profession and ask
ourselves some hard questions: "Is this serving the greater good? Or am I
only serving myself?" It's not an easy pill to swallow, but as long as we seek
only to benefit ourselves, we are no different than a pimp or a drug dealer.
In truth it does not matter if we are the dealer or the user, what we need is
an opportunity to see the bigger picture of our actions and to take
responsibility for making a change.
Batsheva Zimmerman is a powerful and committed woman who travels

through the cities and jungles of Colombia sharing Light in some of the
darkest places on earth. In her work Batsheva has met many drug lords as
well as addicts. The following is her story of Gilberto Rodriguez, head of
the Cali drug cartel.
When I went to visit them, Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez were in prison.
Miguel did not really want to study Kabbalah, but Gilberto did. When I got
to his room, his wife was there, as well as a few other prisoners. The energy
was heavy and harsh—it seemed that there was no opening for my help. For
a second I asked myself, "Why am I here? Why did I come?" I started to
speak and they listened to me for about a minute before Gilberto and
several other inmates began speaking amongst themselves. I thought to
myself this is hopeless — there is too much negativity and darkness here.
But then I caught myself and I realized that I was focusing on the darkness
and the ego and not on the soul; that's when I

made a switch inside. I decided that I want to speak to the soul of Gilberto
— to his Light! I didn't come here to judge, I came here to give Light and
connection to Gilberto. From that moment on, they became silent. I spoke
for a while and I realized that the energy in the room was different, and
everyone was quiet and attentive. The color of their faces had looked gray
before, but now I saw them as a healthy pink, full of energy, and the look in
their eyes was alive.
I took the Zohar in my hand, opened it, and gave it to Gilberto. I said,
"O.K., now scan the letters and be open to whatever happens." He did it,
and then after about two or three minutes he said to me, "Listen, I don't
know what this is, but I feel it, I feel it here," and he pointed to his chest. "I
feel it here, I feel it, and I want it." He was speaking very brutally, not
gently at all, but when I looked closely I saw he had tears in his eyes. Of
course at that moment I also got very emotional — there was such a huge
switch from being in such heavy darkness to such Light.
When I said goodbye, Gilberto said, "Every time that you come to
Colombia, please come and visit me; I want to learn more." And that's what
I did. I visited him maybe five times in total, sitting all day with him,
teaching him Kabbalah and reading to him from the Zohar. I remember that
every time I saw more and more changes in him; he was more open, calmer,
and more soft-spoken. I felt that he was going inside himself and was taking
more responsibility for his life.
The last time I saw him, he told me: "I know that I did a lot of bad things,
and I know it's not the way, and that I need to pay
for this. I am just asking for an opportunity to fix it and to do good to the
world." It was a very emotional moment.
After Alvaro Uribe became president, Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez were
transferred to another prison and went through a very tough time. The
government wanted him to give them information, tell them things, so they
made him stay alone for months, without speaking to anyone; they wouldn't
let him sleep; it was very hard for him and he was very sick. Then he was
taken to a prison in the United States.
Two years ago I went to Colombia to give the Zohar to the head of the
prison system. Usually I don't tell anyone who I teach, but this time I found
myself telling this man about Gilberto, and about the fact that I'd spent time
with him and that I'd given him a Zohar too. He said, "What? You gave
Gilberto Rodriguez a Zohar?"
"Not only did I give him a Zohar," I replied, "but I taught him and his
family Kabbalah."
He became very excited, and said to me, "Now I understand! Now I

understand!! Yes, it makes perfect sense!"
He told me that as he was being taken to prison in the U.S., Gilberto

seemed like a completely different person — humble and soft-spoken and
sensitive. He told those around him that he knew that he had contributed
lots of negativity to his country and to the world. He said, "I am asking for
forgiveness and I only wish I could correct things; and I really wish I could
help; thank you for everything," and he went on the plane. Everyone just
stood there with their mouths open and didn't know how
to make sense of the extraordinary transformation that had taken place in

this previously violent and brutal drug lord.
I think this is an amazing story of rehabilitation and transformation, and I

hope it awakens you to how much power we really have and to what an
impact small gestures make. Please refer to this Wikepedia site to learn
more about Gilberto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilberto_Rodr%C3%ADguez Orejuela.
If we are given the opportunity to see someone else's pain it is because we

have the ability do something about it. If we see someone in pain and we
don't do anything, this is the lowest form of behavior, as demonstrated by
the wealthy man who angered the angels. We only get to witness that which
we can affect. To see is just ego. To help and to be part of the solution is
Light.
There is a beautiful story of the Seer of Lublin. He was a great sage who
had the gift of seeing things that took place thousands of miles away. He
could see not only what was happening in the physical realm, but he could
also see inside the hearts of every single person. He could see the good, the
bad—everything.
The Seer once had a student who continually pleaded with him, "Please
show me just a glimpse of what you see." And the Seer would refuse him
saying, "You are going to be sorry if you ever see what I do—it's going to
cause you great pain." But the student persisted, until finally the Seer
agreed. He brought the student to his study and together they looked out the
window.
The student noticed a window opening within the window, and through that
window he saw a very wealthy man riding in a carriage. Suddenly
a poor man dashed out from the curb and tried to get the rich man's
attention. The wealthy man stopped the carriage and asked the poor man,
"What do you want, how can I help you?"
The poor man replied, "I have not eaten for weeks, and I am on my way to
town. Can you please give me a ride?
Seeing this great opportunity for generosity, the student said, "Wow, this
rich person is going to help out this poor person. That's wonderful!"
The wealthy person pulled the poor man up into the carriage and continued
toward town. A few minutes, later, when the carriage reached a quiet stretch
of road, the poor man took out a knife and began to rob the wealthy man of
all his possessions.
The student stepped back from the window, deeply disturbed. "This wealthy
man just took this poor person on the carriage and was trying to help him,"
he said to his teacher. "I don't understand. Why would the poor man rob
him?"
The Seer looked at him and said, "I told you this would cause you pain and
suffering. Just seeing things accomplishes nothing, which is why ordinarily
you cannot see." They continued to look through the window until the Seer
said, "The only thing that the wealthy man could do now is to take that
piece of wood on the floor there and hit the poor man with it before he is
stabbed. I will help him." Sure enough, just as the poor man was about to
stab him, the wealthy man grabbed the piece of wood and struck his
attacker.
His heart racing, the student exclaimed, "Wow!" To which the Seer replied,
'Just to see is worthless, but to see and then do something about it—that is
power. Seeing what's inside one's heart while not doing anything about it is
pointless. To see pain, hurt, and emptiness, and then fill it with Light—that
is worthwhile. The real test of this gift of sight is whether or not you are
able to make a difference in someone else's life."
We all have the power to change the world we live in. Every action really
does make a difference. From a spiritual perspective, we simply have to
stop sleepwalking through life and begin to question what we see, asking
the question why until we can look deeper to reveal the truths around us.
The truth is that small actions matter, that energy counts and affects us all,
and that addictions and greed are our problem, not just the fault of the
industries that profit from them.
Instead of relying on the government, on corporations, or on activists, we

need to understand that one little change compounded over the course of
time has huge results...or ramifications. One action may seem like nothing,
but it's not. The difference it makes may not be immediately apparent, but
we have to realize that we can and we do have the power to impact the
world around us, and that we exercise that power every time we act,
whether we realize it or not.
Start asking questions. Start noticing where you are part of the problem.
Start opening up to a higher awareness. When you do, you become part of
the solution.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DECISION
Many spiritual teachings extol the benefits of just being. But we did not
come here to be, we came here to become: to overcome the destructive
beliefs that limit us and to become our perfected selves. The challenge is
that we get in our own way. More specifically, our fears get in our way. Our
fears are the underlying drivers of those limiting and destructive beliefs.
For example, it is fear of being hurt that prevents us from ever experiencing
a real relationship. It is fear of being poor that prevents us from finding our
dream job. It is fear of being insignificant that keeps us from offering our
gift so that we can share with the world. Ironically, it turns out that by
giving into our fears, we create the very reality we're so desperate to avoid.
Did you ever wonder why people who get attacked by dogs are often the
ones who are afraid of dogs?
Although this dynamic sounds straightforward, in everyday life these fears

are not always easy to see in ourselves. They are a reactive
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malfunction built into our DNA, and part of our journey through this
lifetime is to become aware of this aspect of ourselves. In fact, discovering
our underlying fears is the key to determining what we came here to
change; to uncovering our purpose. As if that weren't enough incentive, the
longer we remain unaware of this truth about ourselves, the more chaos we
will bring into our lives and the further we will get from what we truly
desire.
My DNA as a Gemini means that I lose focus and am easily distracted. The
underlying fear that drives me is a nagging sense that I will miss an
opportunity. Those of you who have read my books or daily tune-ups or
have heard me speak know that I discuss this theme often. This is why I
answer every email, every text, and every Twitter message. I get thousands
of messages every week, and I make a point to check them all; there was no
way this book was getting published without a discussion of missed
opportunities.
You see, our soul has a built-in navigation system that is designed to put us
at the right place at the right time to meet the right people on our journey. It
will strategically direct us to the street corner where we will meet our soul
mate. Or it will make us miss our flight so that we can catch the next one
and sit next to our future business partner. The challenge is that we are not
always paying attention to this soul navigation system, so we miss its
directions.
This possibility keeps me up at night.
We are often just one person, one phone call, or one step away from the
solution to all of our problems. If our soul is always putting us in the right
place for redemption and we just don't see it, how painful is that! This
completely nullifies the idea that if it didn't happen, it was
not meant to be, which is simply a way we make ourselves feel better if we
missed the opportunity.
There are many ways that we miss opportunities. The least obvious is that
we don't even notice them. Maybe we are too preoccupied with a career, too
focused on ourselves, or too busy with an addictive behavior. The point is,
for whatever reason, we fail to see what is right before our eyes. Another
possibility is that we recognize an opportunity but we choose to run away
from it, we choose to take the "easy" way out instead of taking the road that
seems more challenging. Sometimes we simply quit instead of rising to the
occasion, facing our fears, and tapping into something greater within
ourselves.
There is a famous story that is told in many traditions. I heard it in the

Yeshiva where I studied, and I think it makes the point crystal clear.
Long ago in a small town in Europe, there lived a young butcher. One night,
his deceased father came to him in a dream. The father said, "A woman will
come to you on a Friday before the Sabbath. She'll ask that you slaughter a
chicken for her. Don't refuse her. You must do as she says."
Many Fridays came and went, but still there was no woman.
Seventy years passed. Then one Friday before the Sabbath, the now old
butcher was on his way to temple when a woman approached him and said,
"Please, I know it's late, but if you don't slaughter this chicken, I won't have
anything to eat!" The butcher looked at his watch, and then shook his head.
"I'm very sorry. I'd like to help you, but I just don't have time." And he
departed.
CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECISION...
But later that night, in the middle of Kiddush, he suddenly remembered the
dream he had had so many years earlier and realized he had to slaughter the
chicken for the woman he had met. How would he find her? He sprang into
action. He told his wife about the woman, instructing her to give the woman
food if she ever saw her because he knew that he himself had missed his
chance. Indeed, that very night, the butcher left this world. But at least he
gained the merit of completing his task through the actions of his family.
We must face it, it is going to happen; we are going to miss opportunities.

However, we can minimize these missed chances by fully understanding the
spiritual principle of the journey of the soul. We need to train ourselves to
become awake and alert to see opportunities for fulfilling our life's purpose.
We need to scan our lives for those moments in the same way we have
trained ourselves to check our emails and our tweets every day. The next
time something happens to you that's a little out of the ordinary, take a
closer look for the opportunity it presents.
I am blessed to have people share their stories with me through email. I find
this correspondence inspiring, and it keeps me going to know that I have
touched someone and made a difference in their lives or given them an
opportunity to make a difference for others. Each story is unique, but each
one also has a message that can benefit the rest of us. Jemma's is just such a
story.
From J em ma.
Unfortunately, I think it takes a tragedy to hit home in order for people to

truly take advantage of life. Most of us take it for granted. I was diagnosed
with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease)
when I turned 30. Now, looking back, I feel like my whole life was a
missed opportunity. I just drifted through it. I wish people would understand
how precious everything is now, in the moment — if I only knew then what
I know now.
Jemma's message sends out an alert. As the 15 th century Sufi poet, Kabir
put it, "Hiding in this cage of visible matter is the invisible life-bird. Pay
attention to her, she is singing your song."
We miss opportunities at a global level as well. All around the world there
are too many examples to count, but one that hits close to home for me is
the situation in the Middle East. Palestine and Israel continue to miss
opportunities for lasting peace. As Abba Eban put it, "the Palestinians never
miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
The fall of the moderate Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas—

destroyed by Yasser Arafat—represents such a missed opportunity on
behalf of the Palestinians. Abbas was considered one of the leading
Palestinian figures devoted to the search for a peaceful solution to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It was widely known that Abbas wanted to end
the terror and collaborate with the United States to establish Palestine as an
independent state. However, Arafat wanted to build a Palestinian state on
the ruins of Israel. Continually undermined by Arafat from the beginning,
Abbas, after a mere four months in office, was replaced by Ahmed Korei,
whom many viewed as a "puppet" prime minister, whose strings were being
pulled by Arafat.
For 56 years, every time the Palestinians were offered the possibility of a
peaceful state alongside Israel, they chose to reject the offer and
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECI C
embark down a path of violence instead. In 1993 the Oslo accord was
signed, bringing Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
back to Palestine for what was supposed to be a historic reconciliation with
Israel. However, even though Arafat had been offered 90% of what he
wanted, rather than making peace and establishing new Palestinian
institutions, he used the next decade to turn the Palestinian territories into
armed camps in a renewed war against Israel.
Then the universe provided another chance to make peace. In 2004, Yasser
Arafat was the president of the Palestine authority. At that time, the Rav
knew the man that happened to be the chiropractor of the then Israeli Prime
Minister, Ariel Sharon. Coincidentally we knew another man who was
connected to Yasser Arafat. Both people independently approached my
father, the Rav and asked if he would like to connect with these leaders to
give them spiritual guidance and advice. After having a conversation with
each man and building a rapport with them, my father saw the opportunity
to try to bridge their differences, to perhaps really end this conflict.
In the end, even with my father's help, the discussions broke down and
nothing was resolved. Six months later Arafat passed away, and Sharon had
a massive stroke not too long afterwards. Who knows if this meeting was
the reason they both came to this world, and who knows how many times
their souls had brought them to a moment in which they could bring an end
to a centuries-long conflict. But this opportunity for peace was lost, once
more.
Missed opportunities are a huge source of pain for me. But jumping onto
every opportunity that comes my way has taught me the importance of
focus and planning. I have finally begun to understand why Ernest
Hemingway said, "Don't confuse movement with action." Given all that I
have received and the lineage that I was born into, I find myself fretting that
despite what I have been able to create and share with the world, I haven't
done nearly as much as I could have. My challenge is to let some things go
in order to follow through on my bigger goals. Now I am taking on the
responsibility for choosing in every moment what is really a missed
opportunity and what is just a distraction. I don't want to wake up at the age
of 60 and feel that I had missed an opportunity to fulfill my potential
because I was distracted. It's a bit like this story of the King and the Riddle
Solver.
The Symphony of Distraction
There once was a king who had a problem. He had a riddle that he needed
to solve. So he made a declaration that he would grant anyone who solved
the riddle access to the king's treasury for one hour, during which time they
could take whatever they wanted.,The next day, thousands of people lined
up to solve the problem. And after many attempts, one man finally came up
with the answer.
The king was pleased that now he knew the answer to the riddle. However,
he began to regret that he had offered such a generous prize. So the king
devised a plan. All night long, he and his advisors tirelessly researched the
winner's life to see if they could figure out a way to distract him from
paying attention to the king's treasure. By dawn, the king had his answer.
The man who had solved the riddle passionately loved classical music. So
just before the allotted hour was set to begin, the king gathered together a
spectacular symphony orchestra just outside the treasury room entrance.
The riddle solver entered the treasury room
and looked around. As soon as he was about to choose one of the crown
jewels, the orchestra began to play. He stopped to take in the music, but
after a while he caught himself. "Focus," he told himself, "I need to pay
attention to the treasure."
Meanwhile, 15 minutes had passed. The man discovered a gold statue

covered with jewels, and the symphony started again. This time a violin
soloist played a melody that was simply exquisite. The man could not help
himself, so he sat down to listen to the music in wonderment. Another 20
minutes went by. And then, before he could gather his resolve, a new piece
began that continued for yet another 20 minutes.
Realizing that he only had five minutes of his allotted time remaining, the
riddle solver decided to take a new approach. "What's the single most
precious item here in the king's treasure house?" he asked himself. And then
he saw an enormous diamond, its exquisitely cut facets gleaming. He
rushed towards the glass case and was reaching for the diamond when he
heard the most haunting melody, so beautiful that it made him weep. He
was unable to move. The king had arranged to play this piece of music as
the grand finale of distractions. Just as the music stopped and the man was
about to grab the diamond, the king stopped him and said, "I'm sorry. Your
time is up."
The riddle-solver went home with absolutely nothingHe had an opportunity

to take home vast riches from the king's personal treasury and he missed it.
For a moment of pleasure, he passed up wealth for himself and his family.
By contrast, a man named Marc sent me an email about his missed

opportunity. When I read it, it reminded me that for some, the opportunity is
just to stay the course. See if his story has the same effect on you.
Marc's Story
A few years ago, not long after being released from two years in prison, I
was studying for a college degree in music. At the time all I wanted to do
with my life was build a career in music. One day some people involved in
making a movie in England came to the college to see if any of the students
were interested in auditioning for a part. They were looking specifically for
unknown actors. A couple of friends from my class really wanted to go to
the audition, but I was a musician, not an actor!
However, just to appease my friends I ended up going along with them, and
to my surprise, after being interviewed on camera and photographed, I was
selected for the next stage . of the audition process. I went along, and again
I was selected for the next stage of the process. I ended up in a select group
of 20 people out of the 1500 who originally auditioned! There were 10 or
15 parts to fill, and I was convinced that I was going to be picked. I was so
sure I was going to be chosen for a part in the movie that I dropped out of
college. I even convinced my bank manager I was about to become a movie
star and talked him into an extension on my overdraft!
It turned out that I didn't get the part. I had left college, had a big overdraft
to pay off, and felt as though somebody up there
CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DEC!
was playing tricks on me, like I had been cheated or made fun of in some
way.
My missed opportunity was not completing my college course. By

believing blindly that I would get the part, I let my ego get the better of me
—big time. I ended up slipping back into the life I had lived before I had
gone to prison — the life of a drug addict, selling drugs to pay for my own
addiction. Three years later I ended up back in prison. I served two and a
half more years for dealing drugs.
I hope this story may be of some use to you. I found my path in the end —
more accurately, it found me, but I always think that if I had stayed on at
college, and not given up everything by listening to my ego, I could have
avoided a whole lot of pain for myself and others.
For Marc the pain that he felt the second time he went to prison might have
been what he needed to find his path. Often we are afraid to truly look
inside ourselves. We feel guilt or shame over unresolved issues, and
because we cannot handle looking further, we need to go through
tremendous pain to open our eyes. If we don't fully wake up we will never
figure out how we created the chaos in our lives, and we will never be able
to change. One way or another we have to decide that we need to change.
We have to decide to face all parts of our life head on. We must take full
responsibility for ourselves.
As I was writing this chapter, I received a message on Twitter from a young

woman whose grandmother had been murdered. My heart went out to this
woman for her loss, and as it did I realized that the key for her to move
through her pain was taking responsibility, not for what
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECISIS
happened, but for what it was doing inside her. She could shut down and
stop living her life Or she could choose to honor her grandmother's memory
by devoting herself to helping other murder victims. By recognizing that
she is responsible for her own experience of her grandmother's death, she
has an opportunity to make a change in herself for the better.
At the end of the day, the key is for each of us to take ultimate
responsibility for all of our reactions to all of our experiences—the good
and the chaotic. The Baal Shem Tov explains that everything that shows up
in our life is our responsibility. Whatever enters into our lives is something
we have to fully own. This may be difficult to accept in certain situations.
How is it our responsibility that terrorists destroyed the World Trade
Center? How can we be responsible if we were born with a deformity, or
suffered from a childhood trauma?
Even if an event in our lives doesn't make sense in the context of this life
experience, we have to accept that it's a lesson we need to learn from. It
may even be a lesson held over from a previous incarnation. Fully
understanding and accepting responsibility is the only way to begin to find
happiness, fulfillment, and our purpose on this journey.
WHAT IS RESPONSIBILITY, REALLY?
Eyes wide open. That's responsibility. When we take something upon

ourselves, we have to make sure we accept the complete package, good and
bad. For example, you might get into a relationship with someone who you
think is absolutely amazing. Months later, you start to notice some flaws.
You woke up from your infatuation and saw the
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entire picture. In truth, all of those things were there when you started the
relationship—you just chose not to see them.
If you choose not to see, then whatever pain or disappointment you

experience as a result is your responsibility. We cannot just look through the
lens of our desires. We have to step back early on so that we fully
understand what we are getting involved in. We have to keep our eyes wide
open to see the full picture. We have to communicate and ask questions to
get all of the facts. We have to accept what is really there, not just see what
we want to see. Furthermore, once we understand, we must commit to
seeing it through completely. We need to ask ourselves, 'Now that I see the
whole picture, am I really prepared to take it on?" And, if we cannot say
that we are fully prepared to go in, then we should decide to not go in at all.
This is a lot of work, but this is what it means to take responsibility.
For many people this work implies a feeling of burden, or duty.

"Responsibility" is usually the word that is tossed around in a negative
context—when one has "screwed up." But responsibility isn't about
pointing fingers or feeling burdened. It is about the freedom that comes
when you and I are fully engaged. It's about making a decision based on the
whole picture, knowing that you are willing to face a situation and that it is
taking you in the right direction, even if you will not be able to control all
of the factors.
There was a time in the early years of The Kabbalah Centre when my
parents, the Rav and Karen, were tested by their decision to offer Kabbalah
to anyone who sought out this wisdom. For thousands of years it had been
limited to a select few. But they held on to their commitment to continue the
work of The Kabbalah Centre. They knew
going in that it would not be easy, but when you go in with eyes wide open,
you can handle anything.
In 1984, I was 12 years old. At that age you don't always know exactly
what's happening, but I had a sense that there was something big going on
at The Kabbalah Centre. My father was ill and my mother was clearly under
a lot of stress. Years later I learned what had actually happened: 21 of the
22 teachers at The Kabbalah Centre all decided to leave at the same time.
My father had to make a decision. "Do I keep on going? Do I continue to
spread this knowledge?
Then my father realized that his uncertainty was an illusion challenging his
commitment and responsibility. He resolved that teaching Kabbalah was his
responsibility. He didn't know what would happen as a result of his efforts.
He just knew he had to continue.
In our lives we usually do the opposite of what my father and mother did.
We go into situations with our eyes closed. We follow an idea mindlessly,
blinded by our ego or our good intentions. Then, once we are fully in the
situation, we finally open our eyes—only to see that we are in it way over
our heads. The regrettable truth is that good intentions will never get us
very far.
This fact is exemplified in the story about a young kabbalist who was
walking to his teacher's house to study. That day a powerful wind came up
that made it difficult for him to walk. So he prayed for the wind to stop.
When he had arrived at his teacher's home he heard that a plague had come
upon the city. He asked his teacher the cause of the plague. And the teacher
replied, "It was you. You prayed for the wind to stop, but the job of that
wind was to blow away the vermin
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECl
that carry the plague." As good as your intentions are, you cannot be of
service if you don't see the big picture.
WORLD PATTERNS
We are currently facing the effects of good intentions planted many years
ago. The United States has a pattern of playing the superhero that helps out
the rest of the world. As noble as this may sound, it has consistently created
problems. The very nations that we intend to help suffer even greater
problems than those we came to fix, and also find themselves in conflict
with us. Think Vietnam. Cambodia. Iran. Iraq. Afghanistan.
U.S. policies in the 1970s contributed to the rise of the brutal Khmer Rouge
who held power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Washington agreed to
support the coup d'etat staged by the Khmer Rouge because we felt that the
policies of the existing head of state, Norodom Sihanouk, benefited the
communists in Vietnam, who were using Cambodian territory as a rear base
and a supply line. However, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from
forced labor, starvation, medical neglect, and executions perpetrated by the
Khmer Rouge regime.
At the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war in the early 1980s, the United States
along with the Soviet Union, England, France, and Germany provided
financing, intelligence, and military aid that allowed Saddam Hussein to
turn Iraq into an aggressive military power. In 2003, the U.S. military,
British forces, and smaller forces from Australia, Spain, Poland, and
Denmark invaded Iraq "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD), to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the
Iraqi people." The result was
tens of thousands of civilian deaths, widespread instability, and sectarian

violence.
In an effort to diminish the Soviet Union's influence in the Middle East in
the late 70s and early '80s, the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan were
significantly financed and armed by the U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency(CIA). U.S. support for the Mujahedeen evolved into an official
U.S. foreign policy and, at one time, the Mujahedeen were praised by the
U.S. as "freedom fighters." Ultimately, the Mujahedeen won a great victory
when the Soviet Union pulled troops out of Afghanistan in 1989. And the
U.S just walked away from the situation. Presently, one of the largest
groups creating problems for the United States stems from the Mujahedeen
"freedom fighters." They are known today as the Taliban.
Clearly we are not the only country that suffers from the good-intention
syndrome; this is a world-wide issue. Venezuela has a cycle of forceful
exchanges of power in the name of "the people." In fact, I was there during
one such coup. My family was in town for an event at a Caracas hotel, and
the day before the event I woke up to the sound of artillery shells and
missiles. Looking out the window, we saw rebel soldiers shooting at our
hotel, a place many foreigners frequented. Following instructions, my
brother and I hid underneath our beds until we were called down to the
basement. The hotel owner spoke to the authorities and promised that
everything would be back to normal by the morning, which it was.
This incident was poignant for me, however, because I remember that
during Hugo Chavez's brief moment of power, he took over the media and
TV channels broadcast his speech to the nation. Standing with his
machinegun next him, the plan he outlined for the country sounded
CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECISION..
believable. He seemed to have genuinely good intentions to make

Venezuela a "people's" country.
However, once the coup was put down, Carlos Perez, the president, made
no changes to accommodate the forces behind the uprising. What's more,
once Hugo Chavez himself was finally successful in taking over the
country, he also failed to make the changes he had once promised. Having
seen the fervor of Chavez's convictions firsthand, I don't doubt that he had
good intentions.
When we walk into a situation without full awareness of what dynamics are
really at play and we are not prepared to go the distance, this is not
responsibility; this is the superhero syndrome at work. But superheroes only
exist in comic books and movies. People or countries that have red capes in
the closet usually create much more damage and drama than the problems
they came to solve.
THE MOMENT WILL NOT LAST FOREVER
When we look at things with eyes wide open, we no longer desire the lives
of others. Instead we appreciate the unique opportunities our challenges
give us to achieve our destiny and overcome our limiting beliefs. So rather
than look at someone else's relationship, look at the reason you may not be
in one. You may be afraid of getting hurt; if so, the emptiness you feel from
being alone can lead you to realize that real relationships are not perfect,
they are a sticky mess. Sure, if you love you will get hurt, but the gift you
will receive in return is an experience of unconditional sharing love, instead
of insecure needy love. And the next thing you know, your soul mate will
be at your door. Everything that comes to us is an opportunity for us to rise
to our greatness.
Switching Lives
There is a story about a king who ruled over a land where all of the people
were dissatisfied with their lives. After listening to the grumblings of the
people for a long time, he devised a brilliant plan. The people were
instructed to each write down a list of everything that they "had" in life—
money, health, a family, a big farm, a beautiful wife, etc. Then, on the other
side of the paper, they were asked to write down everything that they
lacked.
Everyone was then told to bring his or her pieces of paper to the center of
town, where the king told his people that they could exchange cards with
anyone they chose. However, they couldn't just take one side of the card;
they had to take the entire package.
Excited, everyone ran to the center of town, eager to swap cards with the
wealthiest man in the kingdom, but when they saw the back of his paper
they realize that his marriage was loveless, his son was in jail, he hadn't
spoken to his daughter in years, and he had five mistresses nagging him for
his money: in short, he had no real love in his life; all people wanted was
his wealth. Suddenly, no one wanted to trade with him.
Several other people approached the most powerful person in town. His
authority was obvious—he influenced the town's policies, which shaped the
lives of many people. However, when they discovered that he was sick and
that despite all his influence he had not been able to find a cure, no one
decided to take his sheet of paper either.
This process continued all day long. By the end of the day, everyone went
home exhausted. After fully examining all of the
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECIS
other options in the town, each person had decided to keep the life they
already had!
Until we open our eyes and see ourselves fully—good and bad—we might
think that someone else is somehow better off. The first step to taking
responsibility is to accept ourselves and our lives fully as they are; this is
where our soul has placed us. Then we can see that everything is part of a
perfect plan, and that the life we have is exactly the life we need.
SATURN
Saturn's placement on our astrological chart indicates the area where we are
most challenged. Looking at the location of Saturn during the time of our
birth can help us recognize our blind spot— that place inside us where our
fear keeps us from seizing the big opportunities, taking true responsibility,
and accepting our purpose in this world. Known as the teacher, Saturn
conveys the lessons of life that we are here to learn—however slowly. It has
been suggested that the name Saturn comes from the Latin word sator,
meaning to sow. Thus, the voice of Saturn often tells us what we have
sowed and, therefore, what we deserve to reap. If we can own and
recognize this part of ourselves, we can become better equipped to live
according to our full potential. Those who fail to express the proactive
nature of Saturn may find themselves in a reactive state— seeking security,
hoping that an authority, partner, parent, or government will take care of
things for them.
Use the following charts to determine where Saturn was at on the day you
were born. Then review the information provided in the next several
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155
pages. This offers you an awareness of yourself that enables you to

proactively work towards the changes you came into this world to make so
you can take full responsibility for the life you came to lead.
Where is your Saturn?
(1900-2050)
January 1, 1900 - January 21, 1900 January 22, 1900 - July 18, 1900 July
19, 1900 - October 17, 1900 October 18, 1900 - January 20, 1903 January
21, 1903 - April 14, 1905 April 15, 1905-August 17, 1905 August 18, 1905
- January 9, 1906 January 10, 1906 - March 20, 1908 March 21, 1908-May
18, 1910
Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn
in Sagittarius in Capricorn in Sagittarius in Capricorn in Aquarius in Pisces

in Aquarius in Pisces in Aries
May 19, 1910 - December 15, 1910 December 16,1910-January 20, 1911
January 21, 1911 -July 8, 1912 July 9, 1912 - November 30, 1912
December 1, 1912-March 27, 1913 March 28, 1913-August 24, 1914
August 25, 1914 - December 7,1914 December 8, 1914 - May 13, 1915
May 14, 1915 - October 19, 1916 October 20, 1916 - December 7, 1916
December 8, 1916-June 25, 1917 June 26, 1917-August 13, 1919 August
14, 1919 - October 8, 1921
Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn Saturn
Saturn Saturn Saturn
in Taurus in Aries in Taurus in Gemini in Taurus in Gemini in Cancer in

Gemini in Cancer in Leo in Cancer in Leo in Virgo
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECI
October 9, 1921 - December 21, 1923 Saturn in Libra
December 22, 1923 - April 6, 1924 Saturn in Scorpio
April 7, 1924 - September 14, 1924 Saturn in Libra
September 15, 1924 - December 2, 1926 Saturn in Scorpio
December 3, 1926 - March 16, 1929 Saturn in Sagittarius
March 17, 1929 - May 5, 1929 Saturn in Capricorn
May 6, 1929 - November 30, 1929 Saturn in Sagittarius
December 1, 1929 - February 24, 1932 Saturn in Capricorn
February 25, 1932 - August 13, 1932 Saturn in Aquarius
August 14, 1932 - November 20, 1932 Saturn in Capricorn
November 21,1932 - February 15,1 935 Saturn in Aquarius
February 16, 1935 - April 25, 1937 Saturn in Pisces
April 26, 1937 - October 18, 1937 Saturn in Aries
October 19, 1937 - January 14, 1938 Saturn in Pisces
January 15, 1938 - July 7, 1939 Saturn in Aries
July 8, 1939 - September 22, 1939 Saturn in Taurus
September 23, 1939 - March 20, 1940 Saturn in Aries
March 21, 1940-May 8, 1942 May 9, 1942-June 21, 1944 June 22, 1944 -
August 2, 1946 August 3, 1946 - September 18, 1948 September 19, 1948 -
April 3, 1949 April 4, 1949-May 29, 1949 May 30, 1949 - November 20,
1950 November 21, 1950 - March 7, 1951 March 8, 1951 -August 13, 1951
CHAPTER F JR DECISION...
157
August 14, 1951 - October 23, 1953 October 24, 1953 - January 13, 1956
January 14, 1956 - May 15, 1956 May 16, 1956 - October 11, 1956 October
12, 1956 - January 5. 1959 January 6. 1959 - January 3. 1962
Saturn in Libra Saturn in Scorpio Saturn in Sagittarius Saturn in Scorpio
Saturn in Sagittarius Saturn in Capricorn
January 4, 1962 - March 24. 1962 March 25, 1962 - September 17, 1964
September 18. 1964-December 17. 1964 December 18. 1964 - March 3,
1967 March 4, 1967-April 30, 1969 May 1, 1969-June 18. 1971
Saturn in Aquarius Saturn in Pisces
Saturn in Aquarius Saturn in Pisces Saturn in Aries Saturn in Taurus
June 19. 1971 -January 11. 1972 January 12, 1972 - February 22, 1972
February 23, 1972 - August 1, 1973 August 2, 1973 - January 7. 1974
January 8, 1974 - April 18. 1974 April 19, 1974-September 17, 1975
September 18, 1975 - January 13. 1976 January 14, 1976-June 5. 1976 June
6. 1976-November 17. 1977 November 18, 1977 - January 5, 1978 January
6. 1978 - July 25. 1978 July 26, 1978 - September 21, 1980

September 22, 1980 - November 29, 1982 Saturn in Libra
November 30, 1982 - May 6, 1983 Saturn in Scorpio
May 7, 1983 - August 24, 1983 Saturn in Libra
August 25, 1983 - November 17, 1985 Saturn in Scorpio
November 18, 1985 - February 13, 1988 Saturn in Sagittarius
February 14, 1988 - June 12, 1988 Saturn in Capricorn
June 13, 1988 - November 13, 1988 Saturn in Sagittarius
November 14, 1988 - February 6, 1991 Saturn in Capricorn
February 7, 1991 - May 21, 1993 May 22, 1993-June 30, 1993 July 1, 1993
- January 28, 1994 January 29, 1994-April 8, 1996 April 9, 1996-June 9,
1998 June 10, 1998 - August 11, 2000 August 12, 2000 - October 17, 2000
October 18, 2000 - April 21, 2001
Saturn in Saturn in Saturn in Saturn in Saturn in Saturn in Saturn in Saturn

in
Aquarius
Pisces
Aquarius
Pisces
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Taurus
April 22, 2001 -June 4, 2003
June 5, 2003-July 16, 2005
July 17, 2005 - September 2, 2007
September 3, 2007 - October 29, 2009
October 30, 2009 - April 7, 2010
April 8, 2010-July 21, 2010
July 22, 2010 - October 6, 2012
Saturn in Gemini Saturn in Cancer Saturn in Leo Saturn in Virgo Saturn in

Libra Saturn in Virgo Saturn in Libra
October 7, 2012 - December 23, 2014 December 24, 2014 -June 15, 2015
Saturn in Scorpio Saturn in Sagittarius
CHAPTER FIVE: ITS YOUR DECISION...
159
June 16, 2015 - September 18, 2015 September 19, 2015 - December 19,
2017 December 20, 2017 - March 22, 2020 March 23, 2020 - July 1, 2020
July 2, 2020 - December 18, 2020
Saturn in Scorpio Saturn in Sagittarius Saturn in Capricorn Saturn in

Aquarius Saturn in Capricorn
December 19, 2020 - March 8, 2023 March 9, 2023 - May 25, 2025 May
26, 2025 - September 2, 2025 September 3, 2025 - February 14, 2026
February 15, 2026-April 13, 2028 April 14, 2028-June 1, 2030
Saturn in Aquarius Saturn in Pisces Saturn in Aries Saturn in Pisces Saturn
in Aries Saturn in Taurus
June 2, 2030 - July 14, 2032 Saturn in Gemini
July 15, 2032 - August 28, 2034 Saturn in Cancer
August 29, 2034 - February 15, 2035 Saturn in Leo
February 16, 2035 - May 11, 2035 Saturn in Cancer
May 12, 2035 - October 16, 2036 Saturn in Leo
October 17, 2036 - February 11, 2037 Saturn in Virgo
February 12, 2037 - July 7, 2037 Saturn in Leo
July 8, 2037 - September 6, 2039 Saturn in Virgo
September 7, 2039 - November 11, 2041 Saturn in Libra
November 12, 2041 - June 21, 2042 June 22, 2042 - July 15, 2042 July 16,
2042 - February 22, 2044 February 23, 2044 - March 24, 2044 March 25,
2044 - October 30, 2044
Saturn in Scorpio Saturn in Libra Saturn in Scorpio Saturn in Sagittarius

Saturn in Scorpio
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CHAPTER FIVE: ITS YOUR DECIS
October 31, 2044 - January 23, 2047 Saturn in Sagittarius
January 24, 2047 - July 10, 2047 Saturn in Capricorn
July 11, 2047 - October 21, 2047 Saturn in Sagittarius
October 22, 2047 - January 20, 2050 Saturn in Capricorn
161
yehudaberg
163
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CHAPTER FIVE: IT'S YOUR DECI-
EPILOGUE
A WORK IN
EPILOGUE: A WORK IN PROGRESS ,
I hope you've taken away some useful ideas from these pages. In them I've
shared with you the issues that keep me awake at night and the issues that
give me soaring hope. Together we've explored my belief that enacting real
change is not the job of politics or religion; it's down to us, to each one of
us individually, to change ourselves—and thereby our world.
How do we do it? The answer lies in recognizing the single biggest obstacle
that trips us: ego. And once we see this, we need to recognize the
transformative power of living the insight each and every day, of making
this particular choice because it diminishes ego, and that particular choice
because it supports selfless sharing, for these are two sides of the same
precious coin.
These choices we make are usually not earthshaking, they're the hundreds
of little decisions we make every day: to act or not to act; to give or to hold
back. However minor they may seem, each one of these crossroads gives us
an opportunity that extends way beyond
EPILOGUE: A WORK IN PROGRESS
the given moment, and perhaps even beyond this lifetime. Thankfully, the
Creator gave us free will so we could make these choices, and in this gift
lies both our challenge and our salvation.
In a way it all boils down to this: There are two ways of being in this world.
The primitive approach is to live by short-term solutions, suffer from
emptiness, and feel only moments of real happiness, fearful of what
tomorrow will bring for you and the world. Hopefully after reading this
book, this is not the option you'll choose.
The other choice is to accept and appreciate everything and everyone in our
path, knowing that they have been placed in this world to help us achieve
perfection. When we adopt this approach, obstacles no longer bother us in
the same way. Now we understand that the longing we experience is not for
material possessions and external status. Instead, that longing is the soul's
desire to reach the perfection for which we and the world were created.
Most life-map or personal goal coaching systems work to take us away

from where we are now to where we want to be. Yet there's a fundamental
flaw in this approach. An example of a more successful method is in any
creative field where ideas manifest into reality—such as in the music
industry, the book publishing industry, and the movie industry. These
industries begin by setting the date for release and then work backwards to
establish benchmarks and short-term goals. We need to work in this same
way to achieve our life plan. We need to work backward from our perfected
self.
By envisioning the destination, we can locate the best steps to take us there.
I am not talking merely about living in the present because one
interpretation of living in the present is simply to react to what life
throws our way. I am talking about a focus on the future so you can be
proactive in the present—realizing that every day contains opportunities for
us to take actions that will bring our selves—and the world—closer to
perfection.
When God first had a vision of this world it was perfect, and this vision
formed the basis of God's plan for Creation. The following exercise will
help you discover your perfected self and life path (it is a given that
everyone will have a different vision and plan). There is no one way to do
this; you need to do it in a way that works for you. But don't skip over it.
You are not finished with this book until you take the time to complete this
exercise. This is the moment. Seize your opportunity!
Take some time to really think about your perfected self. This is not easy, so
don't rush it. Pull out a journal or notebook, and write down your vision in
as much detail as possible. What would your perfect "me" look like in all
the areas of your life: your relationships—loves, friendships, business
connections; your finances and livelihood—how would you live, what
would you do, how much would you earn? What about your physical
wellbeing? What would your body look like, feel like? What would your
mind, your emotions, and your spiritual life be like? Connect to the whole
picture of your perfection without limitations or fears. Perfection is
unlimited. Your vision of your perfected self should be as unlimited as the
possibilities, so really stretch your mind.
Once you have completed this part of the exercise, write down where you
are in your life right now, in just as much detail as possible. What is
working in your life and why? What is not working? The key here is to be
honest. When you are truthful, the universe will be most able to help you.
)m @yehudaberg
There is no limit to what we can accomplish, however you also have to be

realistic: if you want to be an opera singer and simply do not have the
voice, chances are that you are not meant to be an opera singer. Our souls
have given us everything we need to reach our individual perfection. Our
gifts are perfectly matched to this purpose. Not telling yourself the truth
will only delay the process. Remember, whatever you say stays between
you and God.
Now that you have a destination and a sense of your present whereabouts,
you can begin to map out your plan. A vision is just an idea until you make
a commitment to integrate its pursuit into your everyday life. Create real
and manageable goals. How will you proactively move towards these
goals? What changes will you make in your daily life? On what timetable?
Is yours a one-, three-, or five-year plan? What behaviors and belief
systems will you choose to eliminate? What new practices will you
incorporate? What will your life look like at the end of year one, year three,
or year five?
People tend to underestimate the importance of the vision and overestimate
the importance of the goals. Take care that your short-term goals are not too
lofty. A year goes by quickly. And if you don't meet your goals, don't
abandon ship. Remember that 95 percent of the work takes place at the
beginning. Revisit your goals and remember, too, that your arrival at your
perfect self is guaranteed. That is the promise of Creation. If you are not
meeting your short-term goals, don't let yourself become depressed or
angry. It simply means there is more work to do. Just know without a
shadow of doubt that you cannot help but make decisions that will bring
about global perfection, as well as your own perfection. This is your
destiny.
In closing, I would like to leave you with Rav Ashlag's three simple
concepts to live by in working towards our perfection.
1. Don't lie to yourself.
2. Perfection comes with some sort of sacrifice.
3. Embrace the constant battle to overcome the ego.
You are on your way to your perfected self. You are on your way to
changing everything.
MOR
175
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YEHUDA BERG is a renowned authority on Kabbalah. Touted as "the

people's kabbalist," he shares these teachings as a technology to improve I
everyday life. In 2007 Newsweek named Yehuda one of the top five rabbis
in the United States. Although he serves as an advisor to many thought
leaders around the world, his true passion lies in working with people not
accepted by society. Yehuda believes that only by transforming our
negativity can we unlock our greatest blessings. A bestselling author whose
books include The Power of Kabbalah and The 72 Names of God, Yehuda
is a true spiritual activist. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and five
children.
Yehuda is co-director of Kabbalah Centre International, the leading spiritual

organization dedicated to bringing the wisdom of Kabbalah to all the people
of the world. The Kabbalah Centre itself has existed for more than 80 years,
but its spiritual lineage extends back to the 16th century, and even further to
the revelation of the Zohar, more than 2000 years ago.
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THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

My father gave me my first project to work on for The Kabbalah Centre,

On September 2, 2004, my father had a stroke, and we essentially stopped

Interestingly, in the first page of my first book I quoted Kabbalist Solomon

If you are truly seeking wisdom you must teach.

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

With love and trepidation, Yehuda Berg

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW

Whether we realize it or not, we are at war right now. We are in a fight to

This world is meant to be blissful, beautiful, happy, healthy, clean, eternal,

It's the story of Consciousness.

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

Consciousness is the essence of everything. It is what makes us da what we

Quantum physics basically says human consciousness plays a vital role in

According to Dr. Lanza, consciousness creates the universe we perceive

Is science saying (and am I suggesting) that we ourselves created the

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

The answer is yes.

• A man in Bakersfield, California, got high on Phencyclidine (PCP) and bit

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

Still, the truth remains. Everything is built and destroyed by consciousness.

So as much as things seem fixed and unchangeable, we can change

There is an infinite force of Consciousness. It is the Cause of all causes.

Let us follow this logic in order to understand what we really need to do to

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW

So how do we activate the Essence of God within us?

USING THE RULE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Like attracts like, and opposites repel.

THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING

INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW

of God. A reality of death instead of immortality. Darkness instead of Light.

THE WAY HOME

When we forget we are God, we become no different than animals. In fact,

On my recent trip to Botswana in southern Africa, my guide shared with me

We are at junction in the history of humanity where we can choose Heaven

INTRODUCTION: APOCALYPSE NOW

We cannot wait any longer.

As a Gemini, I am fascinated by factoids. In this book I'm going to refer to

My purpose is to wake us up to the simple knowledge that things can be

CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

From a spiritual point of view, a leader is only a reflection of the

CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

SPIRITUALITY AND POLITICS

Many of our forefathers including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington,

PULLING PEOPLE APART

From a spiritual perspective, the ideal is to encompass both conservative

CHAPTER ONE: THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL

people to become more aware of the environment. Many people wrote to

Identity and ownership is the domain of ego. Through ego we become

There are no absolutes. Anytime something moves in that direction, watch

As George Orwell said, 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely." As evidenced

20 THE POWER TO CHANGE EVERYTHING