Ask anything about week 2 lesson and materials and get an answer from a senior Kabbalah instructor.

[Tony Kosinec- KabU Instructor]

Ask anything about week 2 lesson and materials and get an answer from a senior Kabbalah instructor.

[Marion]

In Dr Laitmans short video (Week 2 Related section) he says “You have freedom in only one thing – to agree to this activation, to study this operation, to want to perform the very same actions that are performed upon you from above…. ”

This suggests to me that I have no volition of my own. I can desire it to be other than it is, but that makes no difference to how things are.

But in this lesson the 4th factor suggests that we can change our environment to some extent if it is to expand the point in the heart.

If “There is none else besides Him” and if I am understanding Dr Laitman’s video correctly, then how do I have free will to act on the 4th factor? And who or what is the “I” that would act?

Apologies if this is a confusing question! Thank you for your answers.

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Marion,

All of our thoughts and actions are driven by our egoistic nature, by the desire to receive. As such, on the level of our world, which is driven by this desire, there is no freedom. We’re simply carrying out our internal programming, like animals. This is why there are people out there that can very accurately predict the future (not that I’m recommending going to them, but this is just an example).

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/what-no-fortune-teller-knows/

Freedom begins when we rise above our egoistic nature through the help of the spiritual environment. Baal HaSulam talks about this in the article, the Freedom. He writes: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death.

Throughout the article he explains how our current egoistic nature is that angel of death. Meaning although we are technically alive and surviving, relative to spirituality, our life is considered death. True life is within a completely different nature, that of bestowal. In order to reach freedom from our current nature, we need to choose and build a spiritual environment for ourselves which will influence us with the importance of acquiring the quality of bestowal.

For this reason, the Kabbalists equate our main freedom in life in choosing to be influenced by a spiritual environment. Not just any environment, but specifically a spiritual environment, since only through the spiritual environment can we get the importance of coming out of our egoistic nature and only through that environment can we draw the light that can help us to actualize this.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/

Regarding “none else besides Him”, this means that we’re in a closed system of forces that are constantly acting upon us. But we still have room to place ourselves under the optimal conditions so these forces will influence us better or worse.

Just like suntanning, the sun is always present, but if I want it to influence me more, I can go to the beach and if I want it to influence me less, I can stay in the shade.

Albert @ KabU

[Douglas]

Is our “Free will” Choice to change environments predetermined? Maybe I am just being difficult, but from my point of view, it seems anything that is predetermined only gives us the illusion of free choice.
If I am destined to climb the latter of spiritual degrees, then every step along the way has been planned. I’ve been reading that everything in my whole life, down to the meal I eat, is predetermined by the creator. So I really don’t have any choice at all. I am okay with this, but it does make it confusing when first the Kabbalists say that EVERYTHING is predetermined towards a set goal, and then go to say that we have the freedom to choose the environment. It doesn’t really follow.

I understand how working in the right environment can nourish growth when working with like minded individuals. Maybe i’m getting hung up on the terminology

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Douglas,

I answered this in my previous reply to you, see the post 54795 below.

Albert @ KabU

[Paul]

Given the inverse relationship between light(s) and vessel(s) is it right to assume that the more I aspire for spiritality (being the will to receive), the more light I will attract? And that that light, the light that reforms, changes gradually my nature, transforms it (better inner qualities) , so more corrections are possible then?

 

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Paul,

Yes, you can say that. Keep in mind that for more corrections to be possible, it means that we reveal more of what we need to correct. In other words, the more we progress, the more that our ego grows. As a result, we’ll have more of what to correct. Just keep in mind that revealing a greater ego is not something we aspire for directly. But it’s only a side effect of aspiring towards bestowal, connection, etc.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/

Albert @ KabU

[Miryam]

In the forums, there is an option to click ‘reply’. Is it okay to respond to another participant’s sharing, or is it best, for now, to converse only with our teachers? Thank you!

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Miryam,

Our main concern is to not confuse others. So it’s not recommended to start answering other people’s questions or sharing outside materials. But aside from that, it’s perfectly fine to reply to what other students are sharing. In fact, I’ve seen in the past semesters students forming very good, warm, and supportive connections even in the fundamental forums. So go for it!

Albert @ KabU

[Miryam]

I’m realizing I’m unclear about the term ‘attaining spirituality’. Does it mean crossing the barrier, each attainment on the ladder of ascent, the final correction , or???  Thank you!

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Miryam,

Yes, it’s all the same. There are 125 degrees of spiritual attainment. Each time we correct ourselves, as a result we reach a corresponding level of spiritual attainment. In each degree we “cross the barrier” and the very last degree of spiritual attainment is called “the final correction”.

Albert @ KabU

[Judit]

If we can’t achieve freedom in one lifetime but we have some development in that life, do we have to start all over again in the next life, or we will start from a slightly higher level?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Judit,

Nothing is lost. If we don’t finish our correction in this lifetime, then we continue in the next one.

Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2018/03/is-it-worthwhile-for-an-older-person-to-study-kabbalah/

Albert @ KabU

[Douglas]

If the creator is what places us in our environment, then it isn’t really any choice of mine is it?
I feel like factor 4 is just a repeat of factor three. Factor three is saying that the manner of soil the essence, the wheat, is in will have an effect on the development of the wheat.
The fourth factor is saying the same thing but implying that we have a choice as to the soil we find ourselves developing in. Is this not also predetermined by the creator?

Thanks for your time!

[Camila]

For continuing a common line of the Judit’s reasoning… If we reach our Point in The Heart and our spiritual consciousness in some higher degree, but we have not finished yet our correction in this lifetime, will we have to reincarnate again in This World or can we continue our correction and climb the ladder starting from another Spiritual World?

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Camila,

There is no up without down. Meaning that every spiritual ascent is preceded by a decent. It’s just like if you were to graph a wave: up, down, up, down, up, down, etc. This is how we advance in spirituality.  We shouldn’t despair from this, but rather understand that this is precisely how spiritual growth works. And until we fully finish our correction, this world will continue to serve as a very important starting point for this work.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Douglas,

You’re right, in the preliminary stages, these choices too are made for us. There is a saying that the Creator puts man’s hand on the good fate and says “choose this for yourself”. Meaning He awakened your point in the heart and brought it to a good spiritual environment in which you can nourish it. After that, the rest is up to you.

But if the point in the heart is forcing me to be here, what needs to happen for me to start actualizing my free will? This desire then needs to be taken away from me little by little, and there I begin to reveal more and more the place of my freedom.

This is similar to how we teach a child to ride a bike. First the parent holds the child completely. Then as the child learns to pedal and balance himself, the parent lets go a little, then a little more and a little more, until the child continue to pedal without the parent holding him at all.

So we too need to learn to continue to do this work even when that initial desire for spirituality begins to disappear or when the ego grows and begins to pull us into many different directions. Here there is already a need for mutual work in the group, the spiritual environment. On one hand when I fall into my ego, they need to pull me out, and on the other hand I need to help pull others out when they fall. This is why Kabbalists have always studied in groups (physical or virtual).

We will learn more about this in the more advanced semesters on KabU, where you’ll receive your own Kabbalah group with whom you can practice these things.

Albert @ KabU

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