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I’m not sure I can verbalize this question but here goes. I mean, when religious people pray, they ask for things, for help, for favors, etc. and expect the Lord to answer them. A Kabbalist’s prayer is an inner heartfelt cry for correction of oneself, to understand and attain the qualities of the Creator, am I right? So my question is, should we have no expectations when it comes to having an answer to our cry for help with the corrections of the ego?
Marita,
We are learning about very exalted things but we are at the beggining of the path. It is like sitting down to play piano on day one vs. being Beethoven. Both people are playing piano but there is a huge difference. So while you talk about the final form of the prayer that it is all for the sake of the Creator and we are pure pipeline of His light, that is the goal. In the meantime we can’t help but pray and act and think with some benefit for ourselves. That is normal. We try to refine that over and over again and understand ourselves, Him and the process we are in, getting closer and closer each time.
Seth@KabU
I have a question on prayer.  I get that true prayer is self-examination and self-judgment…that the goal should be to change me…not make bargains with the creator. I shared this with my wife; she asked a good question. What about when we pray for others? For instance, if I have a best friend whose daughter is in the hospital.  My religious background says I should pray for her. Pray for her doctors that they will correctly diagnose and treat her and that she will be returned to good health.  Is that okay for me to do because it’s for someone else and not for me?  Or is it still egoistic, in that it’s my friend’s daughter, and I would like my friend to be provided relief so he can return to being my friend without the worry about his daughter?  Is my asking for a good outcome in this situation just another example of bargaining with the Creator?  Should I not be praying for others?
David,
Pray for everything. Speak to the Creator about everything and also tell Him that you want to pray more and more for Him, for the others and not just for the sake of my own ego. But anyway, ask for everything.
You see how it is with our own kids, when they are young they ask for toys, when they get older they ask for a car, the desires develop naturally. Same with us. The main thing is that we are connected to the Creator as much as we can. And then we try more and more to ask not for the sake of our egos, but this takes time and is nuanced and in fact is impossible since He Himself created us as egoistic.
So when we pray, we examine why am I praying and then we see that at the end we can’t escape from self interest and this leads to the true prayer that He will give us a second nature.
Keep going David. Pray for her, pray for your family, pray for everyone and ask Him to make our prayers true.
Seth@KabU
Are there clear indicators or milestones that I can use to measure that I am progressing towards the goal of attaining Lishma?
Edward,
Sure.
When we drive in a car, we can see the trees going by and if we pass them quickly we feel we are going faster and if we pass them slower, we can feel we are going slowly.
When we are in an airplane, there are no trees, it is more difficult to determine our speed.
When we move towards Lishma, it means that our ego receives no reward.
We can’t move unless the ego receives reward, so it requires an upper force to make the move.
But in the preparation phases we can feel more and more that we are working with our ego, we feel the ego growing, which comes from the Creator and we add love on top of it each time.
If you are working like this in the group, you can be sure you are advancing.
Seth@KabU
Do all of the lessons in this course and the previous course have essential take away points that can revise, correct or clarify my previous ideas about each subject? Do I need to really make sure the ideas I have are correct and completely match what each subject is teaching me?
Thanks
Robert,
This is in your hands.
We are are studying from the books of the kabbalists who attained the spiritual degrees that we are striving to attain. Â This is how it is with any craft or trade that one becomes a master in. Â First he must study it, learn what it is, what it is made of, how it works, to eventually feel it in his bones.
So it’s up to you how much you want to invest to go with the author on his degree.
There is no coercion in this.
Seth@KabU
when you have a strong negative emotional reaction to something that happens in your life does this represent an aspect of egoism that needs correction? If so how should you approach this?
Robert,
After you complete these courses and go to the graduate environment, you’ll have the opportunity to work with other kabbalists and work directly with your ego like that.
Now, there are two things. First, arrange your corporeal life. If you have something that gives a negative emotional reaction, is it a beehive in your kitchen? So get rid of it already! Is it a difficult situation with a family member, so learn how to communicate better and how to connect with different kinds of people.
Secondly, study well. You are now in a very important phase of your study where you are learning the fundamentals that everything else will be built on. You don’t yet understand how these fundamental building blocks will appear over and over again throughout the whole study.
Good luck,
Seth@KabU
I’m very confused about something and am hoping to gain clarity around it.  If I am not wrong about hearing the instruction for us to maintain faith above reason why then in the week 3 lesson reading from the Shamati it says this:
“This is considered that the judgment is just, that only in this manner can we come to the ultimate goal, to understand within reason, with complete and absolute understanding of which there is no higher, that only by way of faith and bestowal can we achieve the purpose.”
It says this again in the first part of the reading. This seems like a contradiction to me. Please help me to understand. Thank you.
Juule,
Many things in the wisdom of kabbalah will seem like contradictions.
In spirituality two things can exist at once. In corporeality two things can only exist at two different times.
This concept of faith above reason will clarify over time.In order for there to be faith above reason, there has to be reason. Â These things will go hand in hand as a spiritual process.
Seth@KabU
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