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My question is what is Zion to kabbalah? Before discovering kabbalah ive only ever heard negative explanations of Zionists. Thank you
Dear all,
Question: by reading shamati 1, that is to say that there is sorrow in the shechina when the organs are detached from her, and she cannot nurture her organs. Can I say that because we are not connected, the nature is generally in pain, so all the nature disasters are happening because of that, not that we are 100% responsibible for it. It would defininetely happen as a result of detaching of the creator which is nature.Hey Danielle,
Good question. The “sorrow” here is what the creature attains that its “body” was severed into pieces and cannot be in connection with the upper force. It’s something that is felt in our vessels when we are able to contrast the state of disconnection to the state of returning to that connection.
If you’re referring the whole of nature or from the side of the Creator, everything is working in complete harmony and it’s only the level of the speaking degree that would feel this disconnection from that harmony, but to say that we feel that disconnection is also not accurate since we would have to know what that connection is first to say that we are disconnected from it. We’re in more of a “preparation” state – neither here nor there, yet nature has been working on us, growing us and developing us towards feeling that we’re disconnected and thus the disasters and “pain” like you said.
We’re not “responsible” for anything, this is the main principle in Shamati 1 – there’s none else besides Him, that’s what’s written. It’s like blaming a baby for messing in its diaper. All that happens needs to happen in order for us to develop correctly and naturally and of our own accord. The problem is only in those who have been awakened towards the work of reconnecting “her organs” and they become negligent in that work. If we were already able to practically begin the true work of mending those connections, nature would seemingly have no reason to continue its blows since we would already know what it wants from us and would act accordingly. There’s also the matter of bringing the rest of humanity to a certain state of despair from its “old ways”, for it to be ripe to receive a new method of existence and that also can’t happen until the previous method has been completely exhausted.
Hope that helps, thanks!
Chris
How do Kabbalists deal with nostalgic memories?
From my experience it happens that sometimes memories occur, especially while studying Kabbalah. And these are memories who were deeply buried and didn’t occur for many years. But especially while studying Kabbalah, they come back.
Is this part of a cleaning process to let go? What does it depend on that these nostalgic memories will finally be erased?
Hi Andreas 🙂 Fellow student here.
I have only recently started learning about Kabbalah. Before that, I worked quite a lot with this “inner purification process” that you are talking about. There are many concepts around this in other spiritual paths. They talk about inner blockages etc. and that life will always try to solve those blockages. In the process, old memories and painful emotions come up.
However, what I have found is that the best way to deal with this process is to “simply let it happen”. There is nothing really for us to do to help this process along. In order to be able to “simply let this happen” my mind created all sorts of systems, stages that the inner blockages go through, so I would have some kind of gauge. To know where this purification process is at the moment and where it is headed.
Since Joseph (the instructor) talks about distractions, meditation helped me a lot to deal with distractions and to keep my mind focussed on a single intention. However, at its core, everything you do while meditating is setting a specific intention (for example watching the breath), and as soon as you notice that you have become distracted, you appreciate your mind for telling you about your distraction (positive re-inforcement) and then you set the intention to bring your attention back to the breath “firmly, but gently”. You can apply this principle to every “object of meditation”.
So, if Joseph suggests that you keep your attention on the texts and lectures instead of your nostalgic memories and emotions, then that’s that. I just want you to know that it can be hard to keep our attention stable (on anything). In the end, there is nothing else to do then to just bring your attention back 100 times, a million times to the object of your meditation, and by that you train the mind’s ability to stay focussed.
As far as I have understood, in Kabbalah this will draw the “reforming Light” upon you and therefore actually speed up your progress tremendously. So, previously I thought that there is “nothing to do about the purification process”, but Kabbalah seems to offer a different, faster, much less painful path to us, which does not speak or think about any “purification process” at all.
I, for one, am excited to try out the Kabbalistic approach. I had gotten pretty deep into this “inner process of purification” and it helped me a lot, but it was also tremendously painful. In the end, all it did, was prepare me for the Kabbalistic approach. Perhaps, you don’t have to go through the same painful experiences as me by focussing on the “inner purification process”. Perhaps you do.
Hi Andreas,
Kabbalists don’t speak about memories because the general approach to this path is to not look to the past. One should say what happened up until this moment was performed by, There Is None Else Besides Him. Only now do I have the freedom of choice to do something that can elevate me. But about the past, I say it happened the only way it could of happened, and the way it happened was for my best, even if I don’t yet have the developed mind to understand it.
This will continue to happen. It’s one of the ways the Creator awakens a person. The purpose, however, is for a person to simply rise above them. Try not to focus on them and eventually you won’t notice them so much. Especially if it is during the study. During the lesson, a persons mind should be focused solely on the words of the teacher, the text, and the subject of the lesson. Any thoughts that come that don’t fit that are simply distractions, and dwelling on them will not help a person advance spiritually. Good luck!
Joseph
Every day I am confronted more and more with envy. I think that this is one of my next big Reshimot. So, I would like to know, if Kabbalah has anything to say about envy specifically.
Right now, I am always leaning back and forth between self-protection and the protection of others. I try to avoid envious people, and if I have to interact with them, I try to avoid any topics that spark envy within them.
From experience I know that if you are envious of someone and you feel that this person has pure intentions (i.e. is still warm and friendly towards you), the envy hurts even more. So, I don’t even want to be friendly to envious people because I do not want them to feel the pain of envy.
As I said, this seems to be a Reshimot for me, and every day it gets a little harder to deal with it. What makes it even more confusing for me is that there are people who I dearly love and that dearly love me, but they are hit with this envy and they do not know what to do. I felt how a specific topic sparks intense envy for a friend of mine, but around this specific topic there is still strong love. So she doesn’t seem to know what to do either.
I would love to get ahead of this Reshimot, so it does not have to manifest as a “physical ordeal”, but rather it is experienced as a “voyage of discovery”, a “spiritual treasure hunt”.
Hi Niklas,
When Kabbalists speak of envy they refer only to envy in the group, and not envy with people who do not study. About that not a single word is written.
Here, in this controlled environment envy can be a very strong moving force. Our egos cannot tolerate being seen as lower than others, so when we are envious of our friends on the path, this gives us additional strength to perform correct actions. And those actions, in turn, give a positive example that others can also be envious of, allowing them to acquire even greater forces. In this way, we help each other rise.
Outside the group the advice is to live like everyone else. Ultimately, you choose how you want to live your life and who you wish to spend time with. All that is separate from what we are referring to here in our studies. And you shouldn’t confuse the two as somehow being connected. For now, there are no spiritual calculations outside the group other than the amount of time a person chooses this environment, which promotes spirituality, over any other environment, which does not.
Joseph
Thank you very much for your answer.
I am not so sure about the inside/outside the group thing. I have sometimes stumbled across the phrase “working ten”, so I imagine that we will form a smaller, tight group with which to study in later courses.
I can imagine that this provides possibilities that are impossible outside a “controlled environment” as you put it.
However, for now, I trust my intuition. I do feel that it takes a certain time and preparation to re-adjust the heart’s frequency to Kabbalah again, after having spent time with friends (even when those experiences are one of the most loving experiences I have ever had).
I will take from this reply that envy can be a motivating force, so even if it creates more suffering for others (initially) it still accelerates their process.
I once heard Gil Shir saying “you will feel what’s what and go from there”. Even though this is only starting and difficult sometimes, I want to trust my intuition nevertheless.
If a student was ripped away from his group by external forces many years ago, and now wants to reconnect because the situation stabilizes, does he have to go through all the semesters from beginning to end again in order to be positioned in a working ten?
Hi Andreas,
Typically a student will never have to repeat a particular course unless they want to. But I would contact support using the “need help” button. There are many factors to take into account here and certain information I am missing. If you contact them they will be able to help you out.
Joseph
Hi Humehr,
I’m not sure what you mean when you say “with what name”.
The desire to receive is the matter of creation. It is the very nature of the created beings and in this there was no choice on our behalf. Our freedom of choice is in how we use this desire to receive; either for reception or in order to bestow. The desire doesn’t change, but only the intention.
Bestowal is the quality of the upper worlds, the Creator. This is completely opposite to our inherent nature of reception. The purpose of creation is attained when we make our desire to receive, which was given to us from above, similar to the Creator’s desire to bestow. This means we use our desire to receive with an intention to bestow.
The process by which we learn to use our desire to receive for the sake of bestowal is through the books, the teacher, and the environment that we build which reinforces the importance of this work.
I hope this answers your question. If not maybe ask again.
Joseph
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