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I am seeing contradicting information about providence, fate and free-will. I need help reconciling all this. In fact this is of supreme importance to me. On one hand I hear that we can change nothing in our lives, but how we experience it. Then there is the info that we can only change our environment (which is explained in seemingly contradicting ways) and now in the prep video you say we can change our fate. I have been studying Bnei Baruch sources for many years and am terribly confused about this issue. Here is a quote I truly understand from this article: laitman.com/2016/10/a-persons-only-task/ “Accordingly, the only task of a person is to attribute all thoughts, desires and actions to their source, the Creator, and to see himself as a result of all the actions of the Creator.” and to me it also contradicts the idea we can change our fate. I desperately need to clear this up. Please help me!
Hi Erik,
Regarding fate, the purpose of creation is to bring everyone into complete adhesion with the Creator. This purpose is preset, we cannot change that at all. Meaning that at some point in our development, each and every single person will reach that state. The only choice we have in the matter is the path we take to get there: whether by the path of light of the path of suffering.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
Regarding free will, choosing to be influenced by the spiritual environment is how we reach freedom in practice.
It’s like with a seed, what happens to the seed depends entirely on where you plant that seed. If you plant it in fertile soil, it’ll get the right nutrients to grow and develop. If you just keep it on your shelf, nothing will come out of it. Likewise with us. Our entire spiritual future depends on which spiritual environment we plant ourselves in. Even our good thoughts and actions are a result of placing ourselves in the spiritual environment. Meaning that the work of attributing everything to the Creator is a RESULT of placing ourselves in the spiritual environment.
We’ll learn about this in depth in the next semester, in the meantime, here’s a quote on the topic from Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom”:
“However, there is freedom for the will to initially choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart to him good concepts. If one does not do that, but is willing to enter any environment that appears to him and read any book that falls into his hands, he is bound to fall into a bad environment or waste his time on worthless books, which are abundant and easier to come by. In consequence, he will be forced into foul concepts that make him sin and condemn. He will certainly be punished, not because of his evil thoughts or deeds, in which he has no choice, but because he did not choose to be in a good environment, for in that there is definitely a choice.
Therefore, he who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds.”
Albert @ KabU
One of the concerns I heard from a Torah-educated man living in Israel, is that the study of kabbalah takes you over: i.e. once you start, it is impossible to leave. Is it a misconception or a legitimate fear? Kind of like when a person becomes a criminal, they cross-over into a different world. A person can stop committing crimes but the moral distance travelled stays with an individual (all covered in depth in Dostoyevsky’s novels and other good literature).
The blog post by Dr. Laitman referenced above offers a compelling vision of spiritual humanity >>>”The only resemblance to this system in our world is the perfectly corrected human body, in which the heart and mind and all the systems like the circulatory, nervous, lymphatic, and other systems operate in harmony, in unison.
They support each other, nothing is superfluous, and only the correct mutual functioning creates the opportunity to experience the entire system and study it.” Will taking the course bring all the participants to this state? If this is so….
Thank you, Albert.
I am very familiar with everything you say. I have enthusiastically immersed myself in the materials for 14 years. I actually live in a community with the mission of Unity. I have considered Rav Laitman as my teacher for 14 years. I live and breath Kabbalah and disseminate it daily. I have no doubt there is none else besides Him. I am constantly aware of my intentions and constantly pray for correction with all my heart. I love the Creator and all people deeply. I have complete trust in the Creator. No doubts at all. Nothing is more important to me than serving the Creator and people. I am in such sorrow when I fall short. I am broken yet I do nothing in my life but feel love for others and try to lift them up. As I write this now I was directed to this, “Rabash writes that fear before the Creator arises when a person is afraid that he will be unable to bring contentment to Him.” Perhaps this is where I am. Thank you.
Hi Nika,
1. We learn that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. If a person wants to leave, we cannot stop them.
2. The course does not promise to get us to any particular state. Rather, by taking the course, we learn about such states. And whether we actually reach it in practice or not depends on whether we ourselves put in the necessary efforts to reach that state.
Albert @ KabU
If i am to bring a lighter to a tribe unfamiliar with the technology, they may take me as a magician, capable of conjuring fire from my fist. But i don’t know how the lighter works, i only know how to operate it because i saw others, some time ago, doing the same. How does it work with the wisdom of kabbalah? Can anyone operate the fire “safely”, just by watching “adults” doing it? or do i need to learn every little element of the lighter and the tribe and its relations to the fire and how to refuel the lighter – before inviting attention of the tribe?
Hi Nika,
The example with the lighter was to illustrate how Kabbalah is not something mystical, but rather it’s ground within the laws of nature.
Just like with the lighter, a person who has never seen such things might think it’s magic, but a modern person knows that there is nothing magical about.
Likewise with Kabbalah, a person who has no understanding of Kabbalah might think it’s mysticism, but a person who is actually practicing it knows that there is nothing mystical about it.
That’s the extent to which this example is meant to illustrate.
Albert @ KabU
Hello,
I was reading the recommended text, Kabbalah for the student, the Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.
In the text this Question is posed:
“…why is there the matter of the multiplicity of
Partzufim, Sefirot, and interchangeable connections, which are so abundant in
the books of Kabbalah”I didn’t really understand the answer about anatomy of a small animal. It seems confusing to have different words which essentially mean the same thing. Can you help me understand
Hi Curtis,
Essentially he is asking the question that if there is but a singular goal of creation, why are there so many different systems in creation? And he gives the example of a small animal whose only goal is to live long enough to procreate, but if you zoom into their anatomy, you also find a huge, complex system. So just like that small animal needs all those systems in order to carry out its goal, likewise, we too need all of these huge systems of Partzufim, Sefirot, and Worlds in order to help us reach the purpose of creation.
As for different words meaning the same thing, like with the example of the body, you can just say that the body is made up of cells and that would be correct. But we see that science does not stop there, but calls one grouping of cells a heart, and another grouping of cells a brain, etc. It’s all referring to cells, but the specific names help us to zoom in and talk about specific parts of the body.
Albert @ KabU
One last question for me today please. As I began to delve into Kabbalah I purchased a library of books which were recommended for the study of Kabbalah, Torah and the Zohar. For example I have the book Deresh HaShem written by the RaM’Hal and the 2 companion books of explanations of the work. I also have the Babylonian Talmud, The syangouge edition of the Siddur ect, ect but now I wonder with the teachings of Baal HaSulam, does these books have any value in our lives today? Would they be worth the effort to explore as a compainion to the teachings of Baal HaSulam?
Hi Philip,
Those books were written by Kabbalists, so for sure each one of them is priceless. But whether they will have the same effect on a person as the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, I cannot say. The writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash were written specifically for our generation, so they would of course have the strongest effect on us, on the level of egoism that we’re working with.
See my reply 375236 to Rade below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
How doe one correctly apply his ego for the purpose of correction in ones life, to make a better place for himself and for the others around us? Kabbalah is introducing me to an entirely new concept of ego and how it works and I desprately wish to learn more about how the ego functions and what I can do to use it for ultruistic purposes?
Hi Philip,
First, we need to understand what is the ego that we’re talking about.
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.
We’ll learn how to work practically with the spiritual ego in the more advanced semesters. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/true-evil/
Albert @ KabU
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