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Hi.
I am so glad to be “in”. I am looking forward to what may come, however I have one question that I have not heard any explanations about: How does Kabbalah explain the physical pain that I (like many others) live with in our daily lives? I know it has to do with malfunctions in my physical body, but how can the pain be understood in the wisdom of Kabbalah?
Annililia
Hi Annililia,
I cannot comment on your personal life, we can only talk about these things in general. In general, pain is an indicator that something is wrong, something is off balance. It’s a defense mechanism for the body. There are even some extreme examples of people who lost their pain receptors for some reason. And we see from these examples how dangerous this state is, that a person can be doing something harmful to himself and he wouldn’t even feel it.
Or another example, let’s say a person is very ill. If this illness causes him some pain, he can go to the doctor and get it treated. But if on the other hand there are no symptoms and no pains, then he would continue this way, and even die from the illness without ever knowing about it. So we see pain serves a very important function for us. We cannot just eliminate it.
Furthermore, within the Wisdom of Kabbalah, we learn that pain and suffering is felt because of our egoistic nature. Our nature throws us out of balance with the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to experience more pain and suffering in life. This pushes us to correct our egoistic nature. If we were to get rid of that force prematurely, then we would have no drive to continue our development. But after we correct our egoistic nature, we will no longer need pain and suffering in order to push us to develop because we ourselves will generate the force for our development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
Albert @ KabU
I heard about Kabbalah in the seventies but it was associated with Judaism. I heard the same thing about the Torah. Noone I met knew anything but my curiosity was not squelched. I have gone through different religions Anglican, baptist, Catholic with absolutely no answers other than just believe. I did meditation and ended on with some Buddhist organizations that seemed logical at some level. I was attracted by their “mantra” for world peace. However, after decades of arduous devotion to its precepts, teachings, practices, it occurred to me world peace was pretty out of reach and elusive. The definition of enlightenment was vague and I began to realize that their practice and tradition is really focused on acquiring more membership instead of enlightenment. But it was the best I had found and I was stuck with no fitting answers to my fundamental questions about life, why evil exists in spite of God etc.
Till …decades later I stumbled on Tony Kosinec’ YouTude Kabbalah Revealed. thank you very much indeed. Although I am such a newbie many of my questions have credible answers. But I feel robbed of many years searching to find meaning – only to be told that the Kabbalist hid it: ouch!
Hi Omoregie Peter,
It’s not so much that Kabbalists hid it, but more so that humanity was not yet ready for it. It’s just like what we do with our kids, we don’t talk to a 2 year old about death, sexuality, and etc. We wait for them to mature until they are able to properly hear about such things. Likewise with us. The Kabbalists wanted nothing more than to share this wisdom with the world, but the world was not yet ripe for it. So they waited until humanity developed more.
Furthermore, even if this wisdom is revealed, until a person is in a special phase of his development where his point in the heart awakens, he’s incapable of hearing these things. We can see this on ourselves. If Kabbalah was already revealed in 1995, why did it take me so many years to find it? Why am I only starting to learn about this in 2021? It’s because of the desire. If a person does not have this desire for spirituality called the point in the heart, then you can literally place this wisdom right in front of him and he won’t see anything special about it or feel any need for pursuing it. If on the other hand this desire is awakened within a person, then even if he has never heard of Kabbalah, he will somehow just gravitate towards it, like a magnet that is pulling him to the right place. He will find it even in the most isolated places on earth, even in prison. So everything depends on the ripeness of the desire.
Albert @ KabU
My apologies if these questions aren’t cogent to this first lesson, but they’re on my mind and I will ask: Could it be considered that Yeshua (“Jesus”) was a Kabbalist and this is why he spoke in parables (akin to the language of branches)?
Also, I am understanding that the Torah was written in the language of branches — something I have long felt, never believing it to be completely historical/factual, but telling a deeper story. With this in mind, were the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) written in the same codified language? And if so, has Christianity been on a somewhat “wrong track” with its interpretation of said scriptures and belief in the historical/factual basis of them? (I understand you are not an expert on religions, nor do you wish to invalidate an entire faith! But the questions remain as, having been brought up a Christian, I’ve always felt the point of scripture was being missed and misrepresented).
Lastly, I truly appreciate your time answering questions. Thank you so very much for this gift.
Hi Jerry,
It’s like you said, I’m not an expert on religions. I cannot comment on such things. In general, Kabbalah is a science dealing with the correction of our nature and the revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal. It has no connection to faith, religion, or religious leaders. But ultimately these things are not so opposed. Both talk about the importance of loving others as yourself. Kabbalah goes even further and gives us a method to actualize loving others to such an extent that we can reveal in our lives the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal.
As for religions, Kabbalah is not against religions. In fact we have millions of students worldwide, from many different backgrounds and religions. Many of them do choose to maintain their religion or to perform certain religious customs while studying Kabbalah and there is nothing wrong with that. Just like with any other science, a person can be religious and also be a chemist or physicist. Likewise a person can be religious and also study the science of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full spiritual correction people can still keep their religions.
Albert @ KabU
I wanted to start by saying I am enjoying the class materials so far. Thank you.
What is the meaning of the spiritual world names? (AK, Beriyah, etc.)
Hi Melinda,
The 5 spiritual worlds are not place like we think, but rather levels of concealment. World (Olam in Hebrew) comes from the word Concealment (ha-alama). So the 5 worlds are 5 levels of concealment between us, the desire to receive, and the Creator the general force of love and bestowal. To the extent that we correct our own opposite, egoistic nature, for it to also operate in the direction of bestowal, to that extent we reveal these worlds, these higher qualities.
Regarding the order and meaning of each world:
First is Adam Kadmon (primordial Man) this is the first form of the desire to receive that became similar to the Creator, but it operates in a different way then the rest of the system, so it’s called primordial.
Atzilut (from the words etz lo: at his place, in his possession). This is the place where the Creator exists, meaning the pure desire to bestow.
Beria (creation), comes from the word Bar, meaning outside of. Meaning that it’s already a distinct degree of remoteness from the quality of bestowal.
Yetzira (creation), also means creation but this time it stems from the word yetzer, inclination. Meaning there is already an inclination of its own to the Creator.
Assiya (action), this completes the action of creating the desire to receive.
Keep in mind that we usually don’t translate these words when we use them in the lessons. A lot of times it’s better to use the Hebrew word instead of being confused by the translation.
Albert @ KabU
It was a very revealing video. Thank you very much.
Apart from the books suggested for the course, what other books do you recommend for this course?Hi Jehoseph,
There are 3 main books for this course: Kabbalah Revealed, Attaining the Worlds Beyond, and Kabbalah for the Student. For the books Kabbalah Revealed and Attaining the Worlds Beyond, you can read through them from beginning to end. This will give you a solid foundation. Kabbalah for the Student on the other hand is a textbook of primary sources. It can be very challenging. So it’s better for now to just read the recommended reading materials in that one. After you get a good foundation, you can read through that one as well.
As for other books beyond that, if you’re interested in deciphering the Torah, you can check out Disclosing a Portion or Secrets of the Eternal Book. There are also other beginner books you can find in our bookstore. But in truth, I wouldn’t recommend anything else right now. If you start with the 3 above books, it’ll give you a strong foundation for everything else.
Albert @ KabU
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