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How did the kabbalists originally find out that there were 125 steps? Were these viewed via theurgical practices, such as referenced in the Hekalot literature?
I have one more question 🙂 so to become like the creator has to be an embodied, experiential experience, rather than a mental exercise. Does Kabbalah have any embodied practices to support those who study it?
Hi Aliona,
First we need to keep in mind that our very nature is egoistic, meaning it’s completely opposite to the Creator. And just like a PC cannot just reprogram itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just change our own nature. We require outside help to make this change. This help comes to us from the light. The light is a special force that has the ability to change our nature. Our work essentially boils down to extracting more and more of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
So the most practical action that you can do towards reaching equivalence of form with the Creator is to set aside some time to regularly return to the source of the light, meaning to the Kabbalistic sources, videos, lessons, books, etc. Such a habit will help you throughout your entire spiritual development.
And in the more advanced semesters, we’ll learn how to do this type of spiritual work within the Kabbalistic group. The Kabbalistic 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.
We’ll learn about these things in greater detail in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime, 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
Hi Terry,
Kabbalists are scientists. Everything they discovered comes from their research of spirituality. In order to research spirituality, they first need to reveal it.
Revealing spirituality works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that to perceive spirituality, we need to become similar to it, to the qualities of love and bestowal that reside 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.
So to the extent that Kabbalists corrected themselves, made their qualities similar to the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal, to that extent they revealed spirituality in practice and were able to research it.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2011/06/kabbalah-without-a-trace-of-mysticism/
https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
What is to be achieved in the material world. I believe we living in the material world and we are disconnected from the real world with systems that have been place to keep us busy and exhausted so that we never have time to ask the most important questing. What is my purpose in this world?
Hi Themba Hlaba,
The purpose of life is to reach adhesion with the Creator. Adhering to Him, means adhering to His qualities of love and bestowal. To the extent that we can correct our egoistic nature and make it operate in the direction of pure bestowal, to that extent we become similar to the Creator and reveal Him in practice, in our lives. This follows the law of equivalence of form.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2019/04/the-purpose-of-creation/
https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
In the first chapter of Kabbalah revealed, it is written that there was a time in the past where people were so unified with nature and with each other that they were able to communicate without words, like telepathy. Then as egoism grew, division was sown, society split into east and west, and along with that came the creation of the different languages, the biblical story of Babel.
Are we to believe these things are literally historically accurate? If so, where can we find proof? There are a number of historical claims made in this first chapter that don’t offer any citations, and I’m finding myself doubting their veracity.
Hi Adam,
We learn from the Kabbalists that the spiritual world is the root to our corporeal world. Meaning that everything that happens in this world is a result of the spiritual forces acting upon it. As such, by connecting to that spiritual root, a Kabbalist can understand why things are the way they are in this world, how these forces shaped our reality in the past, and what awaits us in the future.
So when a Kabbalist is describing the past, they are not doing so based on historical research, but based on the spiritual roots that they attained. At times, it could be they are describing things that modern historians and scientists have not yet discovered. Like the Ari who spoke about evolution and the big bang in the 16th century, long before modern scientists discovered such things.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2011/06/a-science-about-the-world/
https://laitman.com/2016/11/time-travel/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you for this first video and summary. I have questions but am going to think more on them before I ask too many. One being what are your thoughts about using and praying from books like the Siddur. From what I understand they were utilized by Kabbalists including the Ari. If it is good, could you please give some pointers on how to utilize said books to their fullest potential.
I have often felt anxiety and depressing, and I’ve found that careful and meaningful prayer has helped me grow so much. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thank you so much.
Hi Yochanon,
The Siddur was put together by Kabbalists. So if you find it helpful, go ahead and use it.
Here is a quote from Rav Chaim Vital on what the Ari recommended him to do:
“My teacher cautioned me and all the friends who were with him in that society, that before the morning prayer, to take upon ourselves the commandment to-do of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and to aim to love each one from Israel as his own soul, for by this his prayer would rise comprising all of Israel and will be able to ascend and make a correction above. Especially, our love of friends, each and every one of us should include himself as though he is an organ of those friends. My teacher sternly cautioned me about this matter.” (Rav Chaim Vital, Shaar HaGilgulim, Introduction, 38)
Keep in mind that friend (חבר Haver in Hebrew) comes from the word connection (חיבור Hibur in Hebrew). So when we say “friend” in Kabbalah, we’re not talking about our corporeal acquaintances and buddies, but specifically the Kabbalistic group where people are aspiring towards a spiritual connection within which we reveal the Creator. That’s where we put everything we learn here into practice.
Likewise with Israel (ישראל), which refers to Yashar (straight – ישר) El (to God – אל), meaning it’s those with active points in the heart that want to reach the Creator.
Through our prayers we need to reach a state where we rise above our ego, connect with other points in the heart, and start to feel them as our own soul.
We’ll learn how to do this practically in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/03/what-is-prayer/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Tony,
This isn’t about this weeks lesson but I need to work through something I anticipate as block to my connecting with the lessons. I watched most of the related videos, I’m doing the reading and as a women I feel excluded by the use of “he/him” when referencing the Creator. Obviously the Creator isn’t a man and is both sexless and genderless. I get that. At the same time, hearing exclusively masculine pronouns makes it harder for me (and many women) to feel directly connected to the teachings. I know this tradition has deep roots in Hebrew language and culture, but I wonder if there’s a way to hold both the traditional phrasing and a more inclusive understanding at the same time, maybe by occasionally naming that balance out loud?
Hi JD,
In spirituality, the force of bestowal is a male force while the force of receiving is a female force. This is why we call the Creator “Him” and the created being “her”. But these are just technical terms, similar to how in electronics we call the plug the male part while the socket is the female part.
Interestingly enough, because our nature is the desire to receive, all of humanity is considered a female in relation to the Creator who is the bestower.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2018/06/man-and-woman-in-kabbalistic-terms/
Albert @ KabU
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