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“The cause of suffering is that our inborn nature (i.e. egoism) is opposite to the nature that created it.“
The above quote makes me wonder, does this mean that we are the opposite of the Creator? And if the Creator only gives, then is all he is giving a selfish nature? If so, what is a Creator who only creates egoism?
Hi Michael,
1. Yes, we are opposite the Creator. He has a desire to only give and we have a desire only to receive.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2019/04/the-purpose-of-creation/
2. Our egoistic nature is an inversion of the Creator. Like a glove that is the exact shape of the hand it needs to fit. We’re created in this way in order to be a vessel for all the goodness that the Creator wants to give.
3. Why create egoism and make us go through this whole process to correct it? He could have created us perfect and be done with it.
In the article Introduction to the book of Zohar, Baal HaSulam describes how we were created in the state of perfection, in complete adhesion with the Creator. But this was an unconscious state, like a baby in its mother’s womb. So we necessarily had to come to the complete opposite state, to lose that state of perfection, in order to once again reach it, but this time consciously.
And the fact that we had to lose this state is not something bad, but it’s a necessary part of our development. It’s just like with kids. We don’t just give them a completed jigsaw puzzle. On the contrary we take it and break it down into many pieces. Then in the process of them putting it together, they grow and develop. Same with us, this process of losing that state is a necessary part of our further growth and development.
This process also adds to us a certain level of freedom, without which, we would be no different than machines, or robots, that were programmed to act a certain way and they just carry out this inner script. Instead, we were programmed one way, and we rise above this inner programming, become independent of it, and then develop our own desire to advance towards this goal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/
Albert @ KabU
Has any Kabbalists pass the barrier (machsom)?
If so, what is their life in the world like? If not, how can we discern whether their perceptions are real?
Hi Alice,
A Kabbalist is one that has made INTERNAL corrections over his egoistic desire and as a result has become similar to the Creator and revealed Him in practice, at least to some extent. All of this is internal.
Externally there is no way to discern if a person is a Kabbalist or not. Meaning such a person can be a man or a woman, lives a very normal life, works, takes care of his/her family, health, etc. Meaning there is no dress code or rituals or anything external by which we can discern that a person is a Kabbalist.
So how do we know if someone is a Kabbalist or not? If a person reaches spiritual attainment, it’s possible to discern others who have reached that same level. We can see this from the Ari. Although he was a great Kabbalist, his work in revealing Kabbalah received quite a lot of opposition from the local people. It was not until the Ramak came along and vouched for the Ari that the Ari was accepted.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/08/before-the-ari-the-gates-of-wisdom-were-closed-for-us/
But someone who is not in spiritual attainment cannot know who is a Kabbalist. The best they can do is follow their point in the heart and it’ll bring them to the place where it can get realized.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/06/trust-your-heart/
Albert @ KabU
I need some clarity on a couple of things. Do Kabbalist believe in repentance? In Kabbalah for the Student it mentions “Open for me one aperture for repentance, such as a needlepoint and I will open for you Gates work arts and coaches enter.”
From my reading I think that Kabbalah is saying that the creator creates all good and bad events that happen. Is that correct? I have a very hard time believing that our creator would cause children to be beaten, raped and abused so badly. Yes, I understand that good can come from all bad and evil acts, yet a child who has been abused so badly has a lifetime of suffering. I’m not sure I want to believe in a creator that would cause such suffering to happen. Can you explain further, why the Creator would cause this? From the videos and reading Kabbalah is telling us that ALL things come from the Creator. I want to make sure that I am understanding this correctly.
Hi Tina,
1.
In the article Introduction to the book of Zohar, Baal HaSulam describes how we were created in the state of perfection, in complete adhesion with the Creator. But this was an unconscious state, like a baby in its mother’s womb. So we necessarily had to come to the complete opposite state, to lose that state of perfection, in order to once again reach it, but this time consciously.
In order to put us through this necessary process, the ego was introduced. The ego caused us be in disparity of form with that state of perfection and thereby distanced us from that state. So now, in order to return back to that state, we need to correct the ego with the intention to bestow. This process of correcting the ego to return to that initial state of perfection is called repentance.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2022/10/happy-repentance-teshuva/
Keep in mind that we need to always look at Kabbalistic concepts from the lens of desire. Otherwise we risk corporealizing these concepts and veering into the realm of religion.
2.
We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering and problems in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to see and feel more suffering and bad things in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Yeabsera,
The right line is our aspiration towards love and bestowal.
The left line is our egoistic nature (also called reason), the desire to receive for ourselves.
Working with the three lines means constantly aspiring to be in the right line, in the qualities of love and bestowal. As a result of that aspiration, we reveal more of the left line, how our egoistic nature does not allow us to truly bestow. As a result of that, we feel a need for the Creator to help us. After all, egoism is our very nature, we cannot just pull ourselves out of it, the Creator must do it for us. So the middle line is the revelation of the Creator.
So after going through this process of aspiring towards bestowal, revealing our nature resisting, praying for the Creator to help us, we reveal the Creator who pulls us out of our egoistic nature and gives us the ability to bestow.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2018/06/right-and-left-lines/
Albert @ KabU
What i gathered from this week is that we dont have to understand everything but have the right intetnion, how do we activly change inner intetnion and also create equivelance of form ?
How do we rreach our spiritual roots, is this the way to change our life circumstances? For example if i want a bigger home, my intention should be alturistic, like giving my family more space to live so they´re not bumping shoulders all the time, this way i recieve pleasure from giving to them instead of pleasure for my own desire right?
Well then how do we reach these emotional desires and feelings like confidence and self love, feeling whole? I often feel lacking in my apperance, way of being,(non wholeness), what would be an alturistic desire if its just about my slef image?? I struggle alot with comparission and feeling less/not good enough and often fear my partner won´t see me as enough compared to others etc adn i want to be free of this darkness.
Hi Yeabsera,
Spiritual work is something we do 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.
As for our corporeal lives, we need to arrange it in the normal way. We need to work, take care of our health, family, house, etc all in the normal way. This is not egoistic, this is simply us taking care of our normal necessities. See my reply 487109 to Steven below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Okay half understand your reply, neccesities are what they are but the thing about the groups, do you mean the ones we are in right now on the kabbalah journey and was that the reply to my question on emotional desires like wholness confidence?
If so, i understud it as “you cant work on these things yet, until a certian point in your journy”, is that correct?
Thanks for the answeres!
Hi Yeabsera,
1. The group for us right now are those people studying Kabbalah together with us. Our main interaction with them is through these forums. But in the advanced semesters of KabU, everyone will placed into smaller groups of ten and taught how how to do practical spiritual in the group of ten.
2. Regarding our desires, Kabbalah only deals with our desire for spirituality. As for our corporeal desires, if they are necessary for you, you should arrange them and take care of them in the normal way of life. If I’m sick, I go to the doctor, if I lose my job, I go through job forums and apply for another job, if my emotions are not balanced I exercise every day or seek help from a therapist, etc. Take care of all of your necessities in the normal way.
As for our spiritual desires, realizing that requires mutual work in the ten, which we’ll practice in the advanced semesters.
Albert @ KabU
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