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Hey sorry mrc, I thought I answered this…I guess it got lost.
I would say the aspect of free will actually depends on your attitude towards pleasure. Of course we can only seek pleasure, the question is, “for what sake?”.
If the pleasure is more important to us than “to whom do we give the pleasure by receiving it?” then we won’t be able to realize our free will. If however, we only want to exist in order to give pleasure to the Creator by receiving, this is the place in the system of creation that grants us to as if stand on our own two feet and exist next to the Creator.
So if you’re asking, “what is more important?”, the answer would certainly be free will, however, without the pleasure in the equation we couldn’t realize this free will. So in that case, you could say both are equally important.
Thanks!
I recently received a “cross” necklace from my mother for my birthday. She knows I study Kabbalah but I doubt she knows exactly what it is. I feel obligated to wear it when I’m around her because it was a gift. Any instructor’s or friends have input regarding what Kabbalah says about this? Thank you in advance.
Hi Troy,
I think we would say just wear it if you know it’ll make her happy. No reason to have it become a cause for conflict or increase any kind of tension.
We all experience these kinds of situations, so that’s normal, but don’t think putting a cross necklace on your neck brings you closer or further from the path. Remember, the most important is the intention…”intention” for what? “to do good.”
Thanks!
Hi!
How would you reconcile these
Zohar says, “A mitzvah without aim is like a body whitout a soul”
but
My brother says
the Tanya teaches even if one is just mere praying, saying words, but not really connecting there is still a spark of holiness within the jew that has a connection to Hashem, and so even with mitzvots…… and when we do truly put our kavanah into our actions it’s like all of these actions were fulfilled fully. You have to have the body, even if one doesn’t understand the sod. You can’t have one without the other, and the shulcan aruch really gives us the sod along with the halacha, unlike the Rambam which is more straight to the observant point.
he leans more toward physical halachah then Kabbalah.
can we have one without the other ?
like a body without a soul? The body does need the soul, so i guess both are needed. But can we say that if there is no intention, that even when the jew puts on teffilin it means nothing? 100%?
thx
#gamebreaker
Hey Brad,
If you’re referring to physical Mitzvot, then this certainly has now influence on the spiritual. The spiritual world is only affected by man’s intention. In our times, the physical actions which are important are only ones that cause greater connection between those who want to connect and reach the higher goal of revealing the Creator in this world. Matching those actions with one’s inner intention for that goal draws the greatest force of correction and advance a person the most towards attaining that goal.
Thanks!
Chris
This may be a strange question, but I’m very interested in quantum mechanics and physics in general so I have a fun thought experiment about spacetime. Would it be correct to think that all of our prayers have already been answered? And that we’re simply experiencing the playing out of the soul’s development? Time is something we experience, but surely the Creator is not bound by spacetime as we are so for the Creator, all time and space are simultaneous. For the Creator, there is no “before” and “after” our prayer, because that would mean the Creator experiences time and/or causality. It’s only us down here, in corporeal bodies, that experience an answer at a specific point in time, yes?
Also, is the concept of dimensionality (I think the theoretical physicists are up to 10) something reflected in spirituality? Or are we just seeing alternate dimensions of our corporeal reality? (I’m thinking of the story of Elisha seeing the army of angels that are always there, but perhaps “hidden” in a different dimension, though I know all stories in the Torah are about spiritual things.)
Thanks!
Hey sj,
This is always a fascinating topic because it puts us “in our place” and forces us to consider the true reality in which we exist.
Kabbalah explains that from the Creator’s perspective, everything is already corrected and exists in that state of the final correction. The creature however, like you mentioned, needs to actualize that. The only difference is how we arrive at that state of final correction. If we are able to recognize the state we are in and what state we need to reach, more or less, then we are the only part in creation that can use the reigns of evolution to speed up this development and therefore not rely on the natural forces that would push us there naturally. We would use the method the Kabbalists left us in order to hasten that development where we would find our free choice and our true place as the creature in front of its Maker.
The “prayer” that you mentioned would be this “delta” that the creature would feel in a certain state where they realize there are not in a place they should be. Kabbalists call this the “existing” state and the “desirable” state. If the creature feels these two then that becomes a prayer and the upper system lifts them to that next state. That’s the same process that would happen naturally as well, but the difference would be if that awareness was attained by means of an environment projecting the values and the importance of that future state versus the pain and sorrow one would feel as a result of the natural “pushing” force in reality that is always felt as something negative to the created being as opposed to something that draws them forward.
Hope that helps, thanks!
Chris
i don’t understand… where are those people who attained in the first temple, if when you attain you don’t perceive death (or something), so wouldn’t they still be around? or something?
Is it true that people create their own problems in life via their subconscious mind via Binah? But how can this be so If the Creator is the one who operates all events?
It is confusing because I’ve seen(like deja vu) or known(dreamt about an event) things before they happen and have felt awful about them and they seem to happen badly like I had seen/felt they would.
So sometimes it feels like I’m creating bad things in my life via my thoughts and worries but then I remember That the Creator is the one running things via providence/forces of nature/compulsory
If I could have some guidance on this it would be appreciated It would help explain at least why Everyone has decided to alienate me out of no where it seems (the creator has designed me to be alone?)
Hey Michael,
As you’ve probably heard, there’s None Else besides Him. Any thought that there are other causes, is also Him. It’s set up this way for us to first, become despaired from our own forces in trying to attain a good life and second, to have a reason to turn to Him for everything finally. Coming out of this distorted perception where He is concealed from us isn’t something that is just “handed out”, some kind of freebie, but that process is where we build ourselves and obtain a desire for Him to rule is the purpose of the whole thought of creation. This process is where we gradually reveal Him. Until then, we will always fight with thinking someone or something else has a hand in managing our reality. Stick with it, find strength in the group and continue on!
Best of luck!
Chris
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