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For my whole life i have know that there is more, and I finally feel that it is ready to be revealed to me. I feel very vulnerable and lonely on this journey, but with it, a sense of purpose for my soul. Thankyou for your teaching, I am already inspired to know more. You speak very well, as if speaking to one that knows nothing about this whole process. Refreshing. Thankyou.
Greetings,
Can you tell me more about this concept called Yehud and how to change our moral inner nature in order to achieve connection to the Upper World?
Hi Vladimir,
Reaching the upper world works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that in order to discover and reveal spirituality, we need to become similar to it, to the pure qualities of unity, love, and bestowal that are found there. This is just like how a radio can pick up an external wave, when we tune the internal frequency of the radio to that wave.
In practice, we do this by aspiring to the quality of Yehud, unity. By uniting our point in the heart with other points in the heart, we reach a certain equivalence of form with those spiritual qualities and begin to experience spirituality in practice.
We’ll learn how to actualize this in the more advanced semesters. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
I find concerts of Kabbala in other modes of thought, is it Ok to connect these modes to what I am learning here?
Hi Lori,
Regardless of which path a person chooses for himself, whether here or in another place, it’s highly discouraged to mix methods. If we want to succeed in Kabbalah (or in any spiritual practice really) we should practice it without mixing other things into it. Otherwise it’s like following two different GPS systems. One leads you to the goal through the west highway, while the other through the east highway. If we follow both, we’ll just wind up going in circles.
Albert @ KabU
The only true requirement for studying Kabbalah is a sincere desire to understand the deeper meaning of life. However, many people remain unaware of this profound question, and others mistakenly seek meaning outwardly, which often leads them to be confined by man-made religions.
My question is: Are those who possess a genuine desire to discover the meaning of life and to truly understand who they are divinely chosen souls, or is this yearning simply a result of their own spiritual journey?
Hi Mubarek,
All of humanity is part of a single system. Within this singular system, there is a certain order of corrections that need to take place. It’s like building a large jigsaw puzzle. First you start with all the corner pieces, and only then do you gradually work your way to the center. It’s the same with our spiritual work. There are those that are awakened to this work earlier and those that are awakened to it later. Those that received awakened points in the hearts are like those corner pieces of the puzzle that need to start the whole process. Later on, due to their good work, they pave the way for the rest of the world to join this process.
So ultimately, whether a person receives a point in the heart now or later depends on their place in the system, which is called the root of one’s soul.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
Albert @ KabU
Hello Albert
I come from a Christian background and I delayed joining the study by almost two years, so that I can purge my mind of my Christian upbringing. I have a open mind to learn how I can cross the barrier and get a glimmer of the spiritual life we are expected to live,
As Tony pointed out in his remarks, I look forward to transforming myself to be like the creator. Buy since we are physical beings, we cannot be permanently in a spiritual state, but only feel and experience it momentarily.
Greetings
My Question – Torah = 248 positive commandments and 365 negative commandments = 613. In addition there are 7 additional Rabbinical commandments (sages of the Talmud) that we learn of later (Megilat Ester, Saying Hallel: Psalms 113-118 on special occasions, blessings such as when eating food, washing hands before eating bread, eruv on Shabbat, Chanukah, Shabbat candles). Keter = 620. How is this related to Kabbalah?
I read the comments and answers by senior Kabbalists and the below (italicized)was an answer given to another student. I guess what I am asking is to better understand the connection between Torah, Mishna, Gmara, Talmud and Kabbalah or are they all part of Kabbalah just from different perspectives?
“Essentially, we’re always talking about a desire. Our current reality is based on our current nature, the desire to receive. Spirituality on the other hand operates according to a different desire, that of pure bestowal. The different numbers are just a different way to divide up that spiritual desire. This desire can be divided into 613 parts, or 620 parts, or 600,000 pieces, or 125 degrees, or even 10 sefirot.
It’s just like how we can study a person based on his behavior, or based on his anatomy, or based on his external appearance, or his internal chemistry. Ultimately, we’re studying the same person, but from different angles. Same with these different divisions, they are all talking about the same spiritual desire but from different angles or a different scale.
So if we are describing the desire as 620 parts, then we’re talking about the number of corrections that need to be placed over the desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow, 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow, and 7 additional desires that are corrected only in the final correction. We’ll learn about this in detail in the more advanced lessons on KabU that deal with the structure of the upper worlds.”
Hi Janae,
Those are indeed Kabbalistic books, but we usually don’t study them directly in our days. Let’s put this into perspective:
The goal of Kabbalah is to help us correct our egoistic nature. As a result of that correction, we become similar to the Creator and reveal Him in practice, in our lives.
Making this correction requires the force of the light. This is the force that we extract primarily through the Kabbalistic texts and studies. But since egoism grows from generation to generation, accordingly, the Kabbalistic books we study also change from generation to generation.
It’s just like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
So although there were many Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, including the Torah, Mishna, Gmara, Talmud, etc, in our days we mainly study from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
As for the commandments, there are 613 desires that we need to correct. Corresponding to each desire, there is a commandment. These are the INTERNAL processes by which we correct that specific desire. In other words, Kabbalists don’t look at the 613 commandments as physical actions to be performed by our hands and feet, but rather as allegories to the internal process of correcting our desires.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/02/mitzvot-commandments-the-correction-of-desires/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you Albert
I was born and raised Jewish and learned from traditional books. I still attend services from time to time at Chabad and learned Tanya for a few years. I am not religious. I have looked for answers in many places such as Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age teachers such as Eckhart Tolle, etc. etc. but always come back to the same place of feeling like there is no point to life and what is my purpose. I do not mean this in the depressed way as I love life but sometimes it does feel pointless. I recently considered learning Chumash again from the lens of trying to discover the hidden meanings behind what seems to be a historical account with a pretty harsh G-d. I approached Kabbalah on multiple occasions but never committed. This time I am committed but am wondering if it would increase my understanding if I learned both Chumash and Kabbalah at the same time? I am tiered of not knowing and being lost. I want direction and purpose.
Hi Janae,
It sounds like you have a textbook case of the “point in the heart” 🙂
I would recommend to continue the Kabbalistic studies and see if it resonates. As for the Torah, it’s not a crime to study the Torah, if you have an inclination to do so, by all means, go ahead.
Regardless of what you’re studying, you need to keep in mind the goal of the study. The Kabbalists write about this “it’s not the wise that learns”. Meaning that we’re not learning this material simply to acquire knowledge, to store it in some box in our brains. After all, if knowledge was the path to spirituality, then a supercomputer loaded with all of the Kabbalistic texts would be the most spiritual being in the world. But obviously this is not the case.
So why do we study if not to gain knowledge? Because through the study, we draw the force of the light. This force has the ability to correct our egoistic nature. As a result of that correction, we reach spiritual attainment in practice.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
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