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“Love thy neighbor as yourself” makes me wonder whether I should give all my belongings away, house, furniture, savings, and feel guilty when I don’t?
Or is it OK to have the attitude of using my belongings but not feeling that any of it belongs to me, or confuse it with my identify, that they don’t matter to me (compared with my inner life, compared with loving the other as myself) and that I’d give it all away to my family at any moment?
Is this mostly about the intention and attitude of wondering what would please the other, increasing the frequency of such intentions, and showing them appreciation through words and a variety of actions? (Attention, listening, patience, affectionate gestures, gifts….)
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Andreanne,
Don’t give your house away. That won’t help. Slowly, slowly and at first only with the others who are playing this game with you, those who are studying the same material and desire to reach this next degree, with them you slowly start to work on your attitude, to discover when you feel separate from them, hate or disregard towards them and there is a place to turn to the Upper Force and say, “I see You made my nature to receive at the expense of others…I want what is good for me…I discovered another place where I want and I don’t care about them. Help me to be loving.” This is a prayer, when you discover in your heart the distance and separation and you ask, pray that the the Light will correct our intention.</p>
Much later we will see how this will all be implemented in our world regarding money, etc, but that will be after we stabilize these things in our hearts and minds and form a large group of people who are all aimed to bestow upon one another.Seth@KabU
I understand that our natural desire to receive translates to individual self-interest in our world. This self-interest has now led us all to global problems such as poverty, widespread addictions, wars, pollution, etc. It is also clear that social activism and reforms have not actually fixed our global problems. Why does social activism and reforms actually make these problems worse?
Ann,
After all, it’s just another form of egoism. Think it through and see that each one thinks he or she knows what will fix the problem. Usually there is money behind all of these organizations, if not money than honor or power…or maybe simply because it makes a person feel good about himself to do such activism, but it cannot account for the integral system we live in.
One tries to “fix” nature but only solves a symptom, unable to heal the root.
Seth@KabU
My problem is that I am not convinced that we, the people, know at all what “love yourself” means at all! What does it mean to love yourself? If we are a will to receive only, how in the hell do we know what loving oneself means!?
My conclusion is that for most people love means indulgence; if you don’t indulge me you don’t love me; I love myself, so I indulge myself; I love you, please let me indulge you… so, I have no idea what loving oneself means, let alone loving others… I do feel empathy for others, never for myself, but I don’t think that constitutes as love.
Aren’t we suppose to learn first what love means, than what loving oneself means, and only then loving the neighbor?
Thanks!
- Zorica,
I agree that we don’t know what true love is.
Regarding loving yourself, let’s understand it like this. When you wake up in the morning, it is your comfort that you look after, your belly you look to fill, your favorite clothes you look to put on, your favorite song you want to play when you get in the car, your favorite coffee that you have in the morning.
Everything we do is to maximize our pleasure…so imagine if we got up in the morning and thought about fulfilling another in everything.
Seth&KabU
Thanks Seth, and I did that, first because it was urge from within, then to test the first outcome. It turns out when I do all to fulfill the needs of the people around me, they are all happy, but my whole life collapses! One always shows up to destroy everything in my life, take everything, leave me in the mud, and I’ve started from minus too many times in this life. And in the latest episode, that role fell on my parents and sister… So, until I learn what I do wrong, and how to do it right, sorry, I will have to skip this exercise…
Zorica,
So you are going through an experience that many new students go through as you come to this wisdom. This is an issue of misinterpretation.
I spent and wasted a lot of time also getting hurt going down that road.
So let’s clarify. Right now, we are not talking about doing anything for anyone with our hands and legs, no physical actions. We are not lifting, carrying, bringing, taking, giving, buying, nothing. We are simply learning about laws of nature. Don’t try to apply them. You don’t know what this love really is yet and soon when we start to practice it we do it only with those who are playing this game with us, doing these exercises with us, with the other students, the other Kabbalists who are reading the same books and trying to do the same with me.
Only after that will we widen the circle to include more and more of the world, until finally we include all of reality in our heart, but that is not for now.You can’t be hurt if you love, love is the reward and the gift. So let’s continue now without trying to implement this. Just now learn the laws of the spiritual world.
And regarding your normal family life, work life, social life, be a regular person, be good, be kind, but if you are trying to love another with all your might and they are trying to drain you of all of your resources with all your might, that is not going to work out.
Good luck and continue to ask if you have more scrutinies regarding this.Seth@KabU
during Tony’s reading of the article by the Baal HaSulam, when focusing on “Love they neighbor as thyself,” Tony eliminated one word, Israeili from the sentence that he read, although it was printed as part of the article.
Was this done intentionally?
many Jewish people seem to think that we are only supposed to love fellow Jews and not to love everyone, however, the article made reference to Jews or Israeli’s or Hebrews. NOT to everyone.
In earlier classes or, perhaps, in one or more of the books I’m reading, it clearly states not to avoid continuing to take care of our own survival and that of our families. However, if I were to treat everyone as I would treat myself or those for whom I responsible, then I wouldn’t differentiate between caring for myself and my family or caring for anyone else. Would you speak more about this?
Devorah,
I don’t know if it was intentional. But it may have been a stumbling block.
It is known in the work that Jew, Israel or Hebrew all refer to qualities in a person.
A person also contains in him the 70 nations from Zeir Anpin.
Zeir Anpin is composed of seven Sefirot, and each Sefira of ten, which totals 70.
We will study the structure of reality in later classes, but when kabbalists speak of Israel they are describing a desire in a person Yashar El, straight to the Creator.
A person also has all of the other desires on the inanimate, vegatative and animate degrees. This is not considered spiritual but a person must live according to the laws of nature of those degrees, he must eat, and work, and provide a comfortable life for the family, etc. That is on the level of animate like every animate creature, some sleep a lot, some not as much, some eat meat, some eat vegatation, some are aggressive, some are passive ,etc.
But on the degree of human, the spiritual degree, we are given the books and the kabbalistic group and the teacher to direct us towards the Creator.
So it doesn’t matter if my body, if my 70 nations are eating, sleeping, making and raising children, working, exercising, resting, above all of that on the degree of my soul, on the degree of the desire of Israel, I am in adhesion with the Creator.
Seth@KabU
I occasionally feel an irrational love for all the strangers I pass on the street. I don’t set out to feel it, it just happens sometimes. Is this a taste of where the Wisdom of Kabbalah hopes to take us?
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