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Hi Gianni, can you help me understand what the term „contentment“ means in terms of „Bringing contentment to oneś maker or to the creator? I understand, this is what it is about. However, I am wondering, what the term contentment really means. I understand, itś not meant to be like a moral judgement, itś not part of corporeal thinking, right? But then, what is it? Is it that through achieving more equivalence of form, a desire returns back bit by bit to the creating force? Is that bringing contentment? Therefore, bringing contentment would be like reaching step by step towards fulfillment of the plan of creation in that creator and creation will be united in the end. Is that what it is about?
That’s what it’s about, in a way that you start feeling Him, knowing what He likes, and doing what He likes.
Thank you, I am wondering… should I think of this like a child wanting to please the parents? Is it a cognitive decision to „want to please“ while being clothed in a human body? Or is it deeper… like naturally getting back to the source, one comes from, not so much in terms of oneś own will, but rather feeling this as some sort of deep longing for unity? To me this is quite opposite, because the first way would be rather directive, the creator would be outside me, and I would cognitively thrive to get to adhesion, the second would be rather through letting go… it would stem from an inner longing for this unity, I dońt know if that makes sense, but it feels different in the approach how to get there.
Hi, in the introduction to the study of the ten Sefirot, many articles refer to working with Torah and keeping Mitzvot in expectation of reward versus punishment, and while doing so , internally growing from Lo Lishma to Lishma. Furthermore, there were suggestions to give the study of Thorah no more than 3-5 years before turning to Kabbalah as a different source. For me this raised a few questions:
1. How is the importance of keeping Torah and Mitzvot considered in a non-religious context? Should that be a source from which to derive direction for people who are not engaged in Judaism? Especially, when it comes to the Mitzvot. I understand, that „love thy friend as thyself“ is kind of the core Mitzva, that is definitely needed for spiritual work, whereas the others Mitvot seem to be guiding to this goal (if that is right) but for a non-Jewish person I am wondering how to deal with the study of Mitzvot at all?
2. In comparison of keeping Thorah and Mitzvot versus engaging in developing the wisdom of Kabbalah, how are Thoras/Mitzvot related to Kabbalah? Could it be said that people can learn outwardly from experience through engaging in Thorah / Mitzvot whereas the study of Kabbalal develops them internally? And can it be said, that if one would decide to take Thorah/Mitzvot more literally, itś not so much about the action performed, but about the underlying faith?
3. And then how does Kabbalah relate to the expectation of reward and punishment? Does this actually exist, like in a conditioned environment, or is it referring to the pain and suffering that arouses from being developed along the natural process rather than the internally driven and enhanced process Kabbalah offers?
Sorry , thatś a lot of questions. But I am really trying to understand HOW to develop myself, and I feel I need to understand the implication the different sources have, especially Thorah and its Mitzvot, because I have no connection to it, so I need to understand which place it is supposed to have in the study of Kabbalah.
1. You don’t need to keep corporeal customs to succeed. You can think of Mitzvot as such: there were Kabbalists who attained the Upper World and saw that, because of the connection between Roots in the Upper World and their branches in our world, there are spiritual actions that, in the matter of our world, can be represented, as with a seal and imprint. Doing these actions could awaken the Surrounding Lights, depending on various factors.
2. It would depend on the intention, and the expectation for the Light to work. But there are other ways to draw the Surrounding Light. And many people do physical actions, but never attain spirituality, no matter how meticulously they keep them. See Item 155 in “The Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot”. https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/OqZMFGHu
3. Reward and Punishment refers to what is already happening to us. There’s already a punishment for not following all that Baal HaSulam and Rabash tell us we should do. It’s happening. But do I see this or not? Seeing clearly that there’s a reward for following their advice to the letter and punishment for not doing so, is called Reward and Punishment.
Dear Gianni,
My question comes after reading and rereading Rabash’s “What are truth and falsehood in the Work?”
Is there a difference between the aim of an action and the intention of it? From what I’m reading, it seems to me that the aim of an action is what you want to accomplish with it while the intention has only two possible options: to receive or to bestow. However I am not clear on this, so please help :>
Thank you! ❤️
Another question , we know that suffering is what we feel in our ego and in our perception , mainly in our lack of The Greatness of The Creator , however can’t this suffering even if corporeally be used as purification if our intention is aligned and not concealed?
Thank you
Suffering does purify our vessel, but this path should really be joyous in every minute. So, if I’m suffering, then I need to check why. The only way there could be suffering that is beneficial is if it’s solely in my Will to Receive, while I feel myself as joyfully above it, truly that that is not me, as if it happens to someone else. I identify with the group, the Creator.
after thinking on this , a few things . So I see that the purification comes through the ten and the connection of the friends because they are a mirror in which I can see my ego and where my intentions are not aligned . Then this creates a desire for a prayer from the bottom of the heart. He who comes to purify is aided with a Holy Soul, this means my soul is then purified one step if you will closer to adhesion in which my intentions become refined or is it just simply help from above and has not achieved any such higher state on its own ?
I have a question about shame along with what is the difference between descents and correction? for example when one is given revelation of his evil at first there is feeling of regret and shame for sinning against his friends and The Creator , then the ego comes into a corporeal shame in which it wants to isolate from the group. They seem to be two different types of shame and this is part of a correction or is this a descent or both ?
Thank you
Hi Kristin,
It just depends what I do with the descent and how long I stay in it. If I leave the work, leave the group, leave the Creator, fail to say “There is none else besides Him” – these things throw me to the lengthy path of pain by which I’ll gradually return, along similar pathways by which I originally came to the wisdom of Kabbalah. The ego likes to take credit for the evil instead of ascribing it to the Creator because then I escape the work (“It’s the fool who sits and eats his flesh”). If instead I quickly ascribe everything to Him, and run every time toward bestowal, this will be a much faster path, years and years faster.
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