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I thought i had watched this course in the past and recalled that there was something in the course called the “principle of equivalence” which in some fashion meant that the goal of the path for a human being is to become equivalent to god. I was not able to find it in skimming through this course now. Is there a different course in which it is discussed? or is it in this course, but i missed it when i skimmed the course?
Hi Danny,
Yes, the law of equivalence of form will be covered in lesson 5. Here are some more details about it from Rav Laitman’s blog: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
If it is wrong to use amulets to control upper forces for shallow personal gain, is there ever a good reason to try to control upper forces (roots)? What reasons? And how to do this?
Hi Sylvania,
I’m not sure what you mean by upper forces, but when we use such terms in Kabbalah, upper is referring to higher and higher levels of bestowal. While lower is referring to greater levels of egoism. The only way we can come into contact with the upper force, is in our aspiration to become like it, to imitate its qualities of love and bestowal. As such, it’s impossible to use the upper force for egoistic reasons. Any aspiration for personal gain is diametrically opposed to the upper force and will automatically disconnect us from it. All of this follows the law of equivalence of form.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2015/09/where-is-the-upper-world/
https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you Albert for answers to my questions and others.
One other area I would need clarification is “egoism”
From week one lesson, it appears to me that God made/created man to be “egoistic” in order words a nature to receive for himself.
My questions;
1 is ego or egoism the breath of life that God breathed into man, or the spirit of God in man?
2; Is egoism a character trait like any other traits which man can develop and express at will?
3: Is there a chance that God created man perfect in his “own image” that is, without egoism but man out of his own desire and volition created egoistic nature into his being?
Thank you once again.
Hi Christian,
I would break it down like this:
Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. It simply means that every calculation we make is to chase pleasure or avoid pain. This is similar to how any other animal functions. By itself, there is nothing wrong with this nature, it’s simply the program by which we function and preserve ourselves.
Egoism is when this program begins to be used in a way that harms others. Not only do I want to receive pleasure, but I want to receive it at the expense of others, at their detriment. This is the corporeal ego.
There is also a spiritual ego. Spiritual egoism is everything that stands in the way of our connection with the Creator. Normal people don’t have a spiritual ego. This is only something that we discover after doing some serious spiritual work.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/true-evil/
For the most part, when we speak of egoism in Kabbalah, we’re referring to the spiritual ego, which separates us from the Creator. This quality was purposely ingrained in us in order to help us to develop. Since without separating from Him, we would not feel ourselves as existing or having any free choice in this whole process.
Furthermore, as we develop, our relation to egoism will also change. At times we will hate it for separating us from the Creator. At times we will appreciate it for helping us to develop to higher spiritual levels. And at times we will even see it as the Creator in disguise, playing a game with us. So it depends on our level of development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
My clinical practice grant me the opportunity of seeing heartbeat of baby/babies who is/are about to be born into this world at an early stage of 6 weeks and less after conception(on ultrasound scan)
The questions in my heart are:
1: At what time does the soul or ego enters the baby’s physical body?
2: Are all souls reincarnate? If yes, why is the world’s human population continuously increasing
3 Are the creative spirit still creating new souls?
Thank you in anticipation of your answers as well as guidance.
Hi Christian, great questions!
There are different levels to this thing called a soul. In the beginning, we all have an animalistic soul, meaning a certain force that enlivens our animalistic body, similar to any other animal. But the human level of the soul is not something we have by default, but rather something that we acquire by correcting our egoistic nature. In other words, each one of us has a human soul in potential which we call the point in the heart. If we correct that point, out of it, we can build the full level of the soul. If not, that same potential continues to reincarnate again and again until it gets corrected.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/06/what-happens-to-the-soul-after-death/
As well as this article from the book The Kabbalah Experience.
As for the population, we’re all part of a single system, like cells within a single body. This body was initially shattered into 600,000 parts but it continues to fragment as necessary in order to divide the common egoistic load and thereby make it easier to correct.
Rav Laitman writes about it in one of his blog posts:
“600,000 is the number of initial fragments, but after that they are fragmented again into whatever number is necessary for the optimal correction in each generation – so that each fragment will have as much egoism as it’s able to correct. Therefore, to the degree that egoism grows, the world’s population grows as well.”
Albert @ KabU
1 – What happens with our individuality when we climb back the 125 steps of The Ladder?
2 – Climbing back the 125 steps carrying up the consciousness and similarity of form with The Creator, what do we “become”?
3 – In the Book “Kabbalah for the Student” there are tons of technical information and graphics explaning the “mechanics” of receiving/bestowing, part in which I stopped reading. During that reading I stopped feeling the purpose in my heart thinking: “What is the point of all this information? How does it help us?” – Help me!
I send my love and gratitude to you all from KabU for all the effort and light you share with us! Thank you!
Hi Erico, great questions!
1/2. Nothing is lost, rather each person will discover themselves on a higher level. It’s like feeling yourself existing as a cell vs feeling yourself as the whole body.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-formula-of-infinity/
3. Spirituality works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that in order to reveal it, we need to become similar to it, to the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal that are found there. But our nature is completely opposite, pure egoism. So how can we possibly adapt our nature in an opposite direction? We need help to make that change. This help comes to us from the force of the light. The light is the only force that has the ability to correct our nature. Our work boils down to extracting more and more of the light, especially through the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
In the first video, the word ‘moral’ was used. Are some people more ‘moral’ than others? This word seems highly judgemental to me.
Hi Kelti,
Is this the quote that you are referring to?
“That it’s magic? Well, magic implies the use of hidden upper forces in order to manipulate people to get what you want and to cause certain outcomes for your benefit or against other people and so on. But it is impossible to make any contact with the upper forces at all unless a person changes their moral inner nature. The attainment within Kabbalah is a matter of inner transformation and it is impossible to be in contact with the forces without that. This simply has nothing to do with anything except somebody’s vivid imagination.”
In this context, moral inner nature refers to correcting our egoistic nature. He used the word moral to emphasize an inner change as opposed to simply performing certain actions or rituals which don’t actually change us internally.
In general, Kabbalah does not deal with “morals”. This is because morals simply teach a person to choose between good or bad behaviors. The problem with morals is that our nature is egoistic. So no matter what behavior we choose externally, it’ll stem from our egoistic nature. As long as our actions stem from our ego, they will also be considered egoistic and will ultimately not lead us to anything good.
This is why Kabbalah does not deal with morals. Rather, Kabbalah deals with the root problem, our egoistic nature and how we can correct it.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
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