Ask Anything

[Gil]

Ask, connect, inspire.

[zeinab]

Hi Gianni,

 

Referring to the Matan Torah,

Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]
“Love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18)

Rabbi Akiva says, “This is a great Klal [collective/rule] in the Torah” (Beresheet Rabbah, Chapter 24).

Now, the greatest rule  is to  ” love your friend as yourself” on the other hand, we are instructed that all we learn is only to be applied only within the environment, does this great rule also apply only within our Tens and BB and does not apply to the rest of the world?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

It applies to the whole world. But where can it be realized? First, in the ten, then between tens, and so on.

[Al]

Is there any way to understand what an intention is?
I always hear that it’s all in the intention, but apparently I’ve never had any intention besides “for my self” and without any contrast to that, I can’t even begin to understand what a different intention would look like.
As I understand it, for an altruistic intention, I’d have to insert someone else’s (the ten’s/ the creators) feelings into the calculation. However, as we learn, everything is just inside us, so also the feelings I ascribe to them are just imaginations inside of me. I can only act as far as there is some discomfort inside of me. If there is some lack in the friend, and it causes no discomfort within me, it’s as if there is no lack at all. On the one hand, I need a strong desire to raise a prayer, on the other hand, as soon as there is a strong desire within me, the intention is not altruistic anymore.

An additional meta question, if I may:
Is there any benefit in mulling over such things for a long time? On the one hand, it seems like it’s at least intense engagement with the matter, and it creates a lack. On the other hand, I always hear that we shouldn’t even try to understand with the mind.

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

There is a benefit to thinking about these things. Most don’t want to think and that’s where the benefit is.

The intention – let’s set aside that there is something not from this world that is born in relation to this – is simply what do I want from this action. And there is a deficiency from within me and a deficiency that is from without.

[AspiringAltruist]

I am trying to discern what might be the recognition of the evil inclination and how to navigate the next steps, I find myself increasingly noticing egoistic qualities in the people around me. This heightened awareness is unsettling, and I realize I am seeing these negative traits more than I have before. I have read that other people can act as mirrors, reflecting the qualities I need to address within myself.

In my journey, I am part of two groups: the public and my spiritual society. Within my ten, I see my brothers actively trying to put aside their egoism for the goal. However, in my public life, I struggle with how to interact with and love my friends and family, who are not on the pathway of Kabbalah and are not consciously addressing their egos.

I understand that focusing on the work within my 10 is essential, but what should I do about my public life? I have heard from our sources that we should not mix our desires with outsiders specifically for this reason. However, I deeply love my friends and family, and it is hard not to be affected by them.

Is this increased recognition of egoism in others a normal part of the initial pathway to spiritual attainment? How should I manage these observations and maintain my spiritual focus without being knocked off my path by those close to me who are not engaged in this wisdom?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Hi,

Yes, it’s a stage along the way. We understand. However, you’ll see later that you can balance both without either intruding upon the other. A person who doesn’t have a Point in the Heart lacks any counter-vantage point from which to see that they are within their ego always. Thus, I should only be concerned with correcting myself, whatever else needs correction – if anything – will be corrected according to my correction.

[zeinab]

Hi Gianni,

Thank you for a great YG class on 12/5. From that class you mentioned that those with a point in the heart are blocking the pipeline of light? What practical actions do i take to take my thumb of the pipeline to allow the light to flow?

Thank you

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

It’s all in the same direction, outward from thoughts of myself, into the friends. The plug is thoughts of myself.

[Naomi]

2nd question

I feel like since I grew up in the church and been studying and searching for the Creator since I can remember. Even feel like I went through a state of giving up a few years back before I found kabbalah, that the thought of “falling into dispare” seems so far off. Like almost unattainable because I am basically learning to yearn for something that I’ve never had. How do I build this desire to want something I’ve never seen, felt or tasted?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Through the friends, the books, the teacher you have all kinds of desires for it. From there you have to get the desire you lack.

[Naomi]

For some reason I am finding it real difficult to pray for the friends. Not because of anything they did. But because I feel corporeal. So I feel like a poor man praying for the wealthy. If that makes sense…

 

So my question is, how do I pray for the friends? How can I build the desire to pray for them correctly? How should I start, like, build a habit, and then eventually it will be real?

[Gianni – KabU Instructor]

Habit becomes second nature. I don’t feel like praying, but I wish I felt like praying, so it turns out that I do have a prayer. It’s better the more it can be directed at the friends, from the center of your connection with them.

[Author]

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