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Hello,
I have a question that any answers I find seem to contradict each other.
It is in regards to a screen and obtaining Lishma. I am reading now in the book The Science of Kabbalah volume one
“The “desire to receive” for ones own sake turns first into the desire to receive nothing at all. Then the “desire to give” everything to the Creator appears”
But in Shamati article 5 it states that
“Then, after all the deeds and the remedies, can the prayer be earnest, because he has seen that all his deeds brought him no benefit. Only then can he pray an honest prayer from the bottom of his heart, and the creator hears his prayer and gives him the gift of Lishma.”
My question is – if a person receives nothing for himself, to reach the stage of “emptiness” before TA, does he restrict or not restrict his desire for obtaining Lishma, should that be the only desire left? Because the desire itself would be egotistical before crossing the barrier. If it remains as the only desire, does that hinder you from obtaining it since it is a reward that you’re working for? If it doesn’t remain as a desire, then where is the prayer and the awakening from below?
I can’t seem to get past this contradiction. When a man realises that everything he does is for his own sake, that he is unable to perform any actions for the Creator, when a man truly realises this, how does he move forward? Even asking the Creator for the gift of Lishma would be an egotistical request..
Hi Erez,
Great question! Really, there are a lot of details here you’ve managed to squeeze out. The first principle to remember is there’s really nothing we can “do” but only ever ask the upper force for strength to do reach a higher level of bestowal.
When talking about the screen or Masach, this is always already including the action of not receiving in order to receive and TA is the first time one has reached this threshold of desire to not want to receive for themselves. It’s confusing here because it could sound like we’re talking about eliminating the desire and then when you have no desire, this is the correct desire. However, the emptiness achieved is actually a growing desire for bestowal that hasn’t been fulfilled. A desire for Lishma is simply the willingness to be nothing and have nothing for yourself along with the “expanding” but more correctly the more revealed will to receive.
So to answer your question, when one sees he’s unable to make any actions for the Creator and from this has a great pain of not being able to bring contentment to Him, if this is a greater desire than the desire for him to receive for himself, this is the true prayer and it is answered. Nothing about Lishma can be egoistic since that state is only the ability to act for the Creator’s sake. Asking the Creator for the ability to work for His sake while still feeling and seeing that his reality is still egoistic, this is called Lo Lishma.
Hope that answers your question.
Thanks!
Chris
Hello instructor,
(1) How KabU views the term “New Jerusalem”?
(2) I saw online advocacy such as “America as the New JerUSAlem”. What is KabU’s view on that? My guess is that “New Jerusalem” is not a place but a state of humanity. But if that state of humanity reflects in our material world, will it be a specific place, such as “America as the New JerUSAlem” or wherever?
I am grateful for your service! Best wishes to you instructor!
Hi Hing,
When Kabbalists speak of Jerusalem they refer to an inner state of spiritual development and not of anything in this world. In general the many words we learn through our study never refer to external phenomena, but only to internal ones.
Jerusalem refers to the state of “absolute awe” before a higher power. “Awe” is a great desire to be like the one force of creation and to develop a single desire to comprehend the power of the Creator in our connection.
Michael Laitman describes the state of New Jerusalem as such:
“Our unity must create such a condition where the united power can manifest itself in us. Precisely because we are all so different, so distant from each other, so opposite, we must unite in such a way as to ultimately create a single field between us, which consists of all of us, all the opposite desires, aspirations, intentions, and thoughts. Then the higher power will manifest in us as one. This is what we should strive for.”
Joseph
Hello dear instructor,
Tony in Youtube said that mysticism is all about me, me, me.
(1) I know you are not Tony, but could you help me understand what he might mean?
(2) Is Kabbalah occult knowledge, occultism?
(3) How is Kabbalah different from mysticism?
Thank you!
Hi Hing,
First of all, anyone who finds Kabbalah usually finds it as a result of previous attempts to find something that suited their own individual path and weren’t able to find something that spoke to them. A lot of the time, these people have tasted other religions and practices, all kinds of New Age methods and see Kabbalah as something…different. Maybe they aren’t able to put their finger on what it is exactly that makes it different, but they usually feel that it stands out in a unique way.
Kabbalah can be described as humanity’s “first science” which when Adam, the first person to discover the upper force 6,000 years ago began speaking and even wrote about the upper force guiding all of reality, there were many who went with him and continued until Abraham who also felt the upper force as the single force in reality that has the intention to do only good.
The “method” of Kabbalah was something that developed over the next few thousand years, as the ego developed, so too the method for revealing the upper force. Since the ego is the force within us that separates us from the Creator or nature or the general upper force, however you want to call it, the method for how to use the ego correctly and rise above it needed to adapt to what was essentially a “heavier” ego in each era of humanity.
Kabbalah is different from any religion or any other method or mysticism main in the fact that a person himself tests only what he sees and feels himself and judges his advancement which can be towards only one thing – “do I want the quality of bestowal?” – the desire of a person is what is researched and that is what’s unique. In Kabbalah, a person learns how to react correctly to the growing ego instead of blaming it on some other foreign force besides the Creator or trying to ignore or lessen it or restrain it.
There’s no “judgement” of actions or thoughts since according to Kabbalah, each thought and desire a person receives is precisely what they need in that moment to advance further towards the purpose of creation. I don’t need to “believe” in anything or really make any kind of physical action since there’s nothing in this world that we can do that affects anything in the spiritual, only work on our desire which we learn we get from our environment. The desire of a person is personal to them and this is what they use to tune themselves at each moment, “what is important to me right now? Am I thinking about the purpose of creation?” etc.
We have gone years without knowing what to do with these questions and Kabbalah helps us aim those questions towards a certain goal and at each step, you can check and see if you are indeed closer, even if only by a millimeter, to what the Kabbalists write about in the stages a person goes through towards reaching the goal. They write to us about what we’ll go through on the path and if we do what they recommend then we’ll feel those changes, we can examine ourselves and see if it truly is how they say it is.
Ultimately however, it depends on the person. If they feel they’re drawn to Kabbalah and they continue down the path they really don’t know why they decided to stay, it’s as if the Creator gave them this desire even though they can’t really understand it or justify it. So if someone wanders here for a while and decides to go, they either weren’t ready and still had some more searching to do or it just wasn’t time. No one is forced to stay since advancement is based on desire and how could someone with no desire to advance advance?
Thanks!
Chris
Hi Chris,
I found your response to Hing’s question quite meaningful. One comment, in particular, stands out and prompts me to submit further questioning of my own.
You (Chris) stated: “In Kabbalah, a person learns how to react correctly to the growing ego instead of blaming it on some other foreign force besides the Creator or trying to ignore or lessen it or restrain it.”
My (Dyrk) question: What does it mean to “react correctly to the growing ego?” Can you provide an example of what this means or how it might be experienced?
For example, we live in a time where there’s a lot of “activism” against a lot of unkind treatment (egoism) between humans and other humans (racism, misogyny, transphobia, terrorism, etc.) and all of nature (factory farming, strip mining, fossil fuel emissions, gene augmentation, etc.).
Is it my internal ego or my soul that is reacting in pain to these events? Am I to become immune to this suffering? Are “activists” (I’m not one, by the way) acting out of their own egoic consciousness when they react to what many of us perceive as injustices? If it is my/our ego, then does a state of correction mean that I/we should not experience pain because of these events? Does it mean that I/we should do nothing to try and stop other humans from engaging in committing these atrocities?
I’m drawn at this juncture to your (Chris’) comment: “I don’t need to “believe” in anything or really make any kind of physical action since there’s nothing in this world that we can do that affects anything in the spiritual, only work on our desire which we learn we get from our environment.”
This confuses me because it seems to say that any tangible efforts we make in this (corporeal) world are of no benefit. Is this true? Can you elaborate and/or clarify?
I apologize for the amount of verbiage in my questioning. It’s just that I truly struggle with the concept offered by so many spiritual teachings that seem to describe some kind of “bliss” or “inner peace” that people should strive for in this life and that if you don’t experience it, then you simply have not been “chosen” by God or you are not disciplined enough within yourself and, therefore, are a failure at spiritual practice.
In Kabbalah, it is explained that there are two paths toward attaining true spirituality: (1) path of suffering, (2) path of Kabbalah.
Am I on the “path of suffering” because I experience immense psychological pain due to my knowledge of the aforementioned atrocities (and more) listed above (paragraph 4). Am I on the “path of suffering” because I have been betrayed and targeted with violence? Am I on the “path of suffering” because, despite my personal efforts to live differently and my desire for others (including all of nature) to not suffer, I cannot change reality or the way I perceive it? Am I on “the path of suffering” because immediate family members are going through terrible events and my heart aches for them? If I embark on “the path of Kabbalah,” will my suffering and the suffering of others cease or at lease ease? Lastly, how will I know if I am actually on “the path of Kabbalah?”
Please understand, my tone is friendly in my asking. I am genuinely at a point of near exhaustion with my life and I REALLY want help with these difficult challenges. I have been studying Kabbalah off and on for 10 years, although I have not succeeded at working in a Kabbalistic group. I’m willing to become more connected through KabU, but I would be lying if I said I was not skeptical or untrusting due to bad experiences in other settings where I was involved in groups. Is skepticism and distrust a common part of the Kabbalists journey?
Thank you, Chris (and all at KabU), for inviting questions and, especially, for having the patience and understanding to provide meaningful feedback. This journey seems not for the faint of heart.
Many good days….
Hey Dyrk,
I just saw you had replied by chance! I apologize I somehow missed this.
“Reacting correctly” relates to first of all, knowing where it came from along with some kind of emotional or rational understanding for “why?”. The ego doesn’t just reveal itself as bigger or greater or stronger for no reason. Every moment in time is brought forward with one goal in mind which is to advance the created being towards correction. Whether a person is aware of this or not, this is the direction nature pushes us at all times. If a person finds Kabbalah and begins tuning in to what they’re made of (will to receive and intention to receive for itself), that the Creator created him this way – opposite to Him – gradually building in a person the sensation that they’re opposite which brings them some kind of negative feeling, they can react to feeling “bad” since this is the Creator awakening us. This reaction should consists of: a) acknowledgment that this comes from the Creator, b) He’s making me feel whatever way I’m feeling right now, even if it’s slanderous or hatred towards Him for doing whatever He did or arranging whatever seemingly terrible situation – it’s still Him, c) The goal is to bring us closer to Him, d) He’s “Good that does good”.
If I can somehow arrange those conditions in my mind and heart correctly, I should already be seeing and feeling something completely different regarding whatever situation I was given – some kind of glimmer of “purpose”. We don’t have the strength to hold onto that, and the next moment the ego grows again and we have to move to position ourselves above it once again. “Above”, meaning finding greater importance for the goal rather than how I feel – what my will to receive feels. The WTR is only interested in feeling good, in being fulfilled. Any kind of deficiency is like a hunger that needs to be satiated. He did not create us to fill our bellies, but to raise us to His level – above our “bellies”. He’s not interested in making our WTR feel good, He’s interested in developing us to care for creation as He does, and this is what ultimately will fulfill us.
He shows us what a world ruled by the force of reception looks like. What happens when the ego rules and when we are disconnected from the Source of life. He awakens the “lightest souls” first, those who were part of the initial group assembled by Abraham, those who had an inclination for existence above the ego. We can’t grasp with our egoistic mind that there’s “good” in the atrocities that occur in our world, no matter what, we’ll always be looking for some kind of “advantage” let’s say for example the Holocaust brought – “Good? What good? What could possibly be good about millions of people dying?”. There’s no answer within the ego. The Creator makes calculations only towards the one created being, the collective and since we don’t have that perspective of, “what’s best for the family?” since we dont’ feel ourselves as such so any judgement we have is from within our ego which is only what I see as whatever is “good for me”.
On the path towards correction, our focus cannot be judging whatever we see without eyes and how we feel since it’s all corrupted and all egoistic. The focus should be on correcting our perception as quickly as possible. Humanity is waiting for us to make this correction, they depend on us so we can show them how to correctly connect between them so they can rise out of their Earthly suffering and into contact with the their Maker where they’d then justify everything they’d gone through individually and as a whole.
Thanks!
Dear Instructor,
(FYI, my level is at course Kabbalah Experience.) When Kabbalah talks about Connection. Do they mean
(1) sending love to other people through the body (somatically)?
(2) creating a field of confluence with whoever in front of you?
(3) feeling the other person? (you may feel anger if the other person is angry);
(4) or something else?
Thank you!
Hi Hing,
A good example is what you imagine the connection the cells in your body have to the entire body. They certainly need to be in some kind of mutual “flow” that allows all the parts of the body to work together towards a common goal of sustaining the life of the body. They depend on one another that each one will do their job and by carrying out each individual role for the good of the common body, life can continue in homeostasis.
When the Creator created the soul of Adam HaRishon and broke it, all that was broken was our awareness of this connection we have to one another, like cells in a body. The perception that we are individuals living on our own little islands on planet Earth is just our broken perception. When we attain the connection that exists above our bodies, outside our bodies, meaning we don’t relate to our lives as our own individual “I’s”, we’re attaining the connection that already exists, we just didn’t perceive it.
What we’re really tapping into is the thought of creation that performed this action of separation on us and feeling His good will in it, how He did it for us to feel this separation and make these efforts to as if bring ourselves back together, to feel we were doing it of our own accord and own exertion. We rise above this imaginary reality where these connections seemingly do not exist and begin existing in the true reality where each degree upwards, we get closer and closer to the actual true reality, that only the Creator exists.
Thanks!
Chris
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