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I do not understand this at all.
Quote:
“Anyone who delves into the heart of things will certainly be surprised at
how one can achieve complete equivalence of form, so all one’s actions are to
give to others, while man’s very essence is only to receive for oneself. By nature,
we are unable to do even the smallest thing to benefit others. Instead, when
we give to others, we are compelled to expect that in the end, we will receive a
worthwhile reward. If one as much as doubts the reward, one will refrain from
acting. Thus, how can one’s every action be only to bestow upon others and not
at all for oneself?
Indeed, I admit that this is a very difficult thing. One cannot change the
nature of one’s own creation, which is only to receive for oneself, much less
invert one’s nature from one extreme to the other, meaning to not receive
anything for oneself, but rather act only to bestow.
Yet, this is why the Creator gave us Torah and Mitzvot, which we were
commanded to do only in order to bestow contentment upon the Creator. Had
it not been for the engagement in Torah and Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name), to
bring contentment to the Creator with them, and not to benefit ourselves, there
would have been no tactic in the world that could help us invert our nature.”Bestowing contentment only to the Creator. What does that mean? Or fellow humans? What does it mean to act only to benefit others?
Why are we created only to revive, and then have to correct it? Is correction our intent? The Intent to have the equivalence of form with the Creator? To be altruistic, kind, and loving?
So the way I see it is that reaching the equivalence of form in daily life means seeing others as part of me, not separate. The simplest way I can do that is to smile at strangers and look them in the eye, not avoiding to “see” them.
To send good wishes to friends and family, even when I am not with them.
To catch myself if I am judging someone, and instead send love towards them.
Appreciate any clarifications.
Thank you! 🙏💖
Hi Tiiu,
We were created opposite to the Creator, in the qualities of reception, in order for us to have a certain sense of freedom in this process. If not for that, we would be no different than machines, or robots, that were programmed to act a certain way and they just carry out this inner script. Instead, we were programmed one way, and we rise above this inner programming, become independent of it, and then develop our own desire to advance towards the goal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/
The Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. As such, He does not lack anything. Meaning He does not need us to bestow anything to Him. The only ones benefiting from this whole process is us.
Although we sometimes use the words that we perform a certain action in order to bestow to the Creator or to bring Him contentment, but in truth it’s just a game to help us to develop. Just like with kids, when we spoon feed them, they see the example from us and want to pick up a spoon and feed us back. Do we really need them to feed us? Of course not. But we still accept this from them, smile, show them how happy they made us by feeding us etc, since we know that through this game, they grow and develop. So ultimately the Creator is not lacking anything. And all of our attempts to bestow to Him are nothing more than a type of game for our own development.
Furthermore, the Creator is concealed. So we cannot even play this type of game directly with Him. Instead we need to use what is revealed, which are other people. Meaning that if we want to “bestow” to Him in practice, we do so by bestowing to other people. This is called going “from the love of the created beings, to the love of the Creator”.
Keep in mind that we practice this type of spiritual work primarily in the Kabbalah group. The Kabbalah group is like a lab where we practice manifesting the Creator’s qualities of love and bestowal. In the group we build a strong connection with other points in the heart that are together with us on the spiritual path. This becomes like a nucleus. Once we build that nucleus, we will be able to add to it wider and wider circles of the world, until we’ll come to include the whole world in that connection. But this is gradual work. And until we build that nucleus, we have nothing with which to do any spiritual work towards the world. Meaning that until then, with the rest of the world, just act normal.
In the advanced semester everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group and learn how to do these things in practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2024/01/communicate-directly-with-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
If something sad and unwanted happens, is that too part of “how everything exists so we could learn how to bond with the Creator?” Can you offer some examples from everyday life about how to perceive the thought of creation in things like a fight with a friend, problems at work, watching someone in pain etc? I appreciate your time. Thanks!
Hi Mona,
We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering and problems in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to see and feel more suffering and bad things in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
As for practically how we do this in our day to day life, externally we need to take care of all the problems in the usual way. If I’m sick, I go to the doctor, if someone wants to cause me harm, I turn to the police, etc.
But internally, we try to see how it’s all coming from a single benevolent force, and how these situations are an invitation from Him for us to correct ourselves through the Kabbalistic studies.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/dont-ask-for-the-death-to-the-wicked/
Albert @ KabU
Last night I studied some Zohar as usual on beresheet ,.,I eventually came to conclude that thought is all we can access from The Creator. A convicted certainty that God can’t and never will be revealed as something but what is creation is exactly his revelation. His Glory fills the entire space called reality or existence.. I now find my answers in the topic/lesson on the equivalence of form today..how (is it coincidence.,? Lately my timeline is a repetition of pattern and here I find what I concluded yesterday? Am awed..almost crying to no end.,.I always felt Creator is even beyond the titles we give….no being can comprehend its Maker (my initial entry rule)…only his garments (names,sephirot,worlds etc are his outer depicting of his thought which is rooted in him..we are eternally connected by default of himself being a Creator and us a created, our Bond is unbreakable,,…. Amen.,.May kabbalah spread..May hod dominate us with confidence…. As we cross evolutionary phase.,,.the fact that Israel means a transition point between Man and human phases(internal movement phase) is the light I can’t swallow,.. Immensely I feel the calling is not to prophecy, healing, heaven and staff but man’s unique gift and role to lead evolution towards the ultimate purpose of creation.. Pleasure from God….I now fully grasp why the collective method called Israel is the fundamental surety to ascending as a specie not individual. (My ego busted big time and I fought hard to not fall from the work)I am happy to be part of you
From BotswanaHi Albert, my problem is about understanding writings on the recommended reading on ” Understanding Our True Nature” page 424, paragraph 3 (semester 1, week 5)
Hi Erick,
When fear awakens in us, it’s like an invitation from the Creator to pay attention to Him and come to see how “there is none else besides Him” in all of reality.
If the fear completely overtakes us and we’re unable to overcome and see the picture from the point of view of “there is none else besides Him”, then we can still use that fear as an example of the spiritual fear we need to reach. Meaning fear from remaining as egoists, unable to bestow like the Creator. Just like we’re trembling from our egoistic fear, we want spirituality to be so important in our eyes, that we’ll tremble from spiritual fear.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
Albert @ KabU
*I thught i already asked about this but i think i dint so no need to make 2 responses if youve seen this question already*
There was a qoute about being in equivalance of form and that part of this is to not think of yoursefl, (exept your basic survival and living needs) how does this relate to our human relations, family, friends, spouse, etc emotional attatchments with people, i am a person that fears loss of connection with people, i struggle with fear of being walked away from and seen as not good enough or not a good friend or partner etc…I hate dissapointing people and it feels scary when they seem like theyre gonna leave…but im not supposed to think about myself…at all? should i even try to preserve or maintain my relationships in life, especially when they are about to change or disconnect? I want to know what mindset is right to have in such matters
Hi Yeabsera,
We need to find a good balance between our corporeal lives and our spiritual aspirations. Without a good balance in our corporeal lives, we won’t be able to advance in spirituality either. This is called “no flour, no Torah – no Torah, no flour”.
Meaning a Kabbalist continues to exist on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder. So I cannot just turn into a monk and disconnect from this life and only focus on spirituality. On the other hand, if I only focus on corporeality, then I’m no different than an animal.
So the important thing is to find the right balance between the two: to take care of all of one’s normal necessities: to work, take care of the family, health, etc (this is called flour) and to set aside some time on a regular basis to focus on spirituality (this is called Torah).
And in the more advanced stages of our development, we will see how our day to day life helps us with our spiritual development.
Albert @ KabU
Two quotes i´d like to understand more baout, when they mention correction in the first qoute, are they talking about tikkun?
“Every time we decide that we do not want to use
this or that desire egoistically, the Reshimo of that state is
considered to have completed its task, and moves on to
make room for the next. This is the only correction we
are required to make”“There is a discernment of “mind” and a discernment of “heart” in the
above-mentioned equivalence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot
in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the
mind. This is because the Creator does not think of Himself—whether He exists
or whether He watches over His creations, and other such doubts. Similarly, one
who wishes to achieve equivalence of form must not think of these things, as
well, when it is clear that the Creator does not think of them, since there is no
greater disparity of form than that. Hence, anyone who thinks of such matters is
certainly separated from Him, and will never achieve equivalence of form”Here i dont understand how wnating to make creator content is as if the creator was thinking of himself wich he dosent becuase hes perfect? and when they say mind what is that meant as compared o equivalance in heart. Thank you!
Hi Yeabsera,
1. I’m not sure what you mean. Tikun is Hebrew for the word correction.
2. If we act with the intention to bestow to the Creator, then we’re not thinking about ourselves. By that we become similar to the Creator, who too does not think about Himself.
3. Mind refers to our thoughts and heart refers to our desires.
Albert @ KabU
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