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Hi, I was thinking on the love your neighbour or friend as yourself goal mentioned in quite a few religious texts it seems. I assume this entails a certain closeness in thoughts and lifestyle with the neighbour or friend. So here is a practical problem I have come up against. A work colleague has an interest in football say and so do I so there is a closeness between us due to similarity of desires. However he loves shooting animals, birds and most things that move. Not for food at all, just the pleasure of killing. I am an animal lover so immediately there is a distance between us, preventing true friendship. Is there a way past this barrier between us without either having to compromise our beliefs?
Hi Martin,
First we need to clarify this statement. When Kabbalists tell us that we need to “Love your friend as yourself”, they are not talking about our neighbors, our colleagues, or our corporeal acquaintances. Rather, a friend, in Kabbalah is someone close to me spiritually, someone that shares the same spiritual goal as me. In other words, a friend is someone with an active point in the heart that is together with me on the spiritual path. This is why the spiritual work of “love your friend as yourself” is primarily carried out in a Kabbalistic group.
What about our work towards the rest of the world? There we need to remember the rule that “there is no coercion in spirituality” and not try to force anyone to do spiritual work with us. Rather, there we need to act normal, just like everyone else.
We’ll learn about these things in greater detail in the more advanced semesters, especially after each one will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can put these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
Dear instructor,
I have a question that I found reading the related materials, if I may ask.
What is the Poem of Unification and where can I find it?
I only found 2 quotes of this poem, but I couldn’t find the poem itself:
“By Your actions, we know You”
and ““Of all Your work, not a thing You have forgotten; You did not add, and You did not subtract.”
Thanks in advance
Hi Marta,
There is no official English version of this poem. You can check out this Google translated version to get a taste of it.
But in general, keep in mind that we usually don’t study such things directly, but only when Baal HaSulam or Rabash quote a line or two from there in order to explain to us what it means.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Zoran,
The Creator created us with the nature of reception. Resisting the landlord means that we can rise above this nature and operate according to a different nature, that of bestowal. Keep in mind that we cannot rise above our nature with our own strength, but only through the strength of the light.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Zoran,
The screen is our intention to bestow. We acquire the screen as well thanks to the light. We can say that everything we achieve in spirituality is thanks to the light. Why is that so? Because attaining spirituality or rising above reason means that we rise above our egoistic nature. But just like a PC cannot just change itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just do anything against our own nature with our own strength, it’s impossible. We need outside help to make this change. So ultimately all of our spiritual work boils down to extracting more and more light, especially through the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
Albert @ KabU
Ill be honest, even though I want more than anything to attain higher spirituality, The further I go in these lessons, the more I feel one major part of me that is so selfish and has been with me since my youth, that I either don’t want to let go of it or sometimes I feel too weak to let go of it. I start feeling anxiety because I feel as if I may have to give up that selfish part of me. I feel such a heavy pressing on me to succumb to this desire for corporeal pleasure even though I know it’s only temporary. At the same time it also brings me close to feelings of despair and unworthiness that I wont be able to change this one major part of me or that I wont come to a point that I want to let it go.
Hi Alejandro,
Just like a PC cannot just reprogram itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot change our own egoistic nature with our own strength. It’s impossible. It’s ultimately the light that makes all the changes on us. Our work is only to extract more and more of it, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
So after being a fairly religious person for the last 11 years or so. I am struggling and maybe so in my reason and my brain based on what I know and what I was taught , with the concept of prayer . After last weeks lesson we learned that praying is not done with words ? and religion teaches us that praying is to pray to The Creator to change some sort of outcome or feeling or suffering. So I guess now I am confused on how to pray to The Creator. Can I say words with my emotions ? do I just think about it with my emotions ? I am sure I can still say words ? maybe to help me to organize my thoughts and feelings? maybe the words are for me and not Him?
Hi Kristin,
The Kabbalists tell us that there is no one closer to a person than the Creator. We exist in Him like an embryo within the mother. So with or without words, the Creator feels everything that we’re going through.
The main thing on our end is to constantly turn to Him, to constantly be in connection with Him. Whether through words or not, it does not matter, what is important is to constantly turn to Him.
Check out this clip from Rav Laitman for more details:
Albert @ KabU
I know that a senior instructor is better apt to answer this question, but if I may…
I grew up Catholic, studied shamanism, converted to Islam, and now live as a Noahide. In short, more invocations and hymns are baked into my memory than I can shake a stick at.
If structured paragraphs and the memories they hold give you a feeling of comfort, I want to say that this is perfectly acceptable, but the real prayer is what is in your heart.
It’s important that we all live normal lives and remain intimately connected with our families in whatever way we’re used to; after all, it takes generations to adapt to what feels like a new custom. If you are able to visibly/audibly pray in the way you and your family are accustomed to while knowing in your heart that God is One, there is none else besides him, and remain focused on the intention of love thy neighbor as thyself, then I think that’s a beautiful thing that can add a much-needed depth to these rituals and potentially might even be healing.
All that having been said, I might be totally off the beaten path and so I welcome correction by our instructors.
I know this is a bit of an odd question, but lets say you have an abundance of meat, but there is this other food, potatoes, and you’ve never had this food before, but you’ve seen these meat and potatoes together once before and now all you can think about when you’re eating the meat you’re given is how you might want potatoes too, even though there are no potatoes anywhere close by.
Usually I’d be fine with meat – I’m a carnivore, after all – but lets say that I begin to sense that I have molars – and I do – and I’ve been an herbivore before, but the plants turned on me and I was so burnt that I’ve been eating meat since – now I’m feeling that I want to be an omnivore and fulfill my desire for food in it’s entirely.
I don’t want to do anything that would disturb these basic food groups – I only feel like they would go well together. That having been said, there is an intense hunger that just isn’t being satisfied like it once was anymore. I keep my feelings to myself, smile, and eat what’s on my plate, giving everything I can to just being in the moment and enjoying what I’m given… but the thought of having a full course comes creeping back in all over again.
How should I surrender to my circumstances? How does my fasting please the creator?Hi Jarrett,
In the lesson about the shattering of the common soul of Adam HaRishon, we learned that the only thing broken in the entire system of creation are the proper connections between people. So our entire spiritual work is in fixing those connections.
Just picture all of humanity is part of a single system. Like a 8 billion piece jigsaw puzzle. Each piece of the puzzle (each person) is perfect by itself and does not require any correction. Meaning that we don’t need to recolor any of the pieces or cut off any seemingly excess parts. The only thing we need to do is find where each piece fits relative to all the other pieces.
So there is no need for fasting or doing any work on ourselves. None of that corrects the spiritual source of the problem. All of our spiritual work is in correcting the connections between us.
We’ll learn more about this in the advanced lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
Albert @ KabU
Albert, I get that fasting by yourself trying to be like a monk or religious will not gain spiritual attainment, but what if fasting is done as a group?
it seems that the Rav supports this idea of doing it as a “Ten”
in the artacle “ benefits and detriments of fasting”
Rav Laitman
First of all, a fast is not an individual but a group action. In this case, it turns into a spiritual ascent—refraining from using your egoistic desires, which all together are elevated.
Question: But for the body, is it healthy or harmful?
Answer: If you do it together with others, then it is healthy.
Hi Brad,
If the ten decides to do a certain action together, like fasting, then indeed it turns into a spiritual action. It’s no longer a person by himself, with his own ego. Rather it becomes a common action around which the ten can unite and in that unity, to reveal the Creator.
We’ll learn more about the work in the ten in the advanced semesters of KabU
Albert @ KabU
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