- This topic has 1,479 replies, 117 voices, and was last updated 14 hours, 25 minutes ago by
.
- Replies
Hi Gianni, I need help understanding something please. I don’t have problem to annul during a lesson, or workshop or anything similar, but during leisure time, singing dancing drinking, my whole being protests, I cannot even think of annulment! I want to run away! In my defence, I never liked such big gatherings, and tend to avoid them. Do I have to have physical contact with people to achieve spiritual one? If yes, I am doomed! Thank you in advance.
I feel the same way, Zorica. When you frame properly the height of the spiritual goal and understand the purpose of the gathering, you’ll be able to see it as a unique opportunity to advance, especially when the gathering is done properly. The goal should be clear all the time, and be in front of our eyes. It should be serious, and of course if there is alcohol it should be fairly limited so that it doesn’t cloud the goal.
If only the Creator can connect the friends together. And the Creator means to love and to bestow.
What comes first? The Creator’s intention or the desire to bestow? If the intention comes first, that means that before taking any action, I must prepare my intention. My intention should be so strong that it will produce results.I don’t know to express it well…
Is all our work leading us to that state of Oneness? Is it, for example, I work for the connection of the friends, I hold the one single thought of bestowing to Him with an intention to give back to the Creator? For the sake of the revelation of His Godliness to His created beings? It is just like we are taking back everything to Him. That means there’s no TWO but ONE
I have a question about our relationship with the Creator, particularly in light of Shamati 16, which describes how the Creator does not receive or need anything from us. It mentions that our relationship is like a game to the Creator, as expressed in the phrase, “He sits and plays with a whale,” referencing the verse, “There go the ships, and Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it” (Avoda Zarah, p. 3). A teacher once explained that the whale alludes to the final correction, symbolizing the full rectification of the will to receive. However, I’m still pondering the meaning of the word ‘play’ in this context. What does it mean that the Creator ‘plays’ with the whale? Is this play something ongoing with creation—meaning, is He playing with us now—or does it only occur at the end of correction?
Additionally, is play a strong mechanism for connection with the friends? For example, I ‘play’ with the friends, giving and pretending to receive, but deep down, I don’t actually care to receive anything. Is it like playing a board game with my son—winning and losing is just for sport, but I’m really doing it because I enjoy spending time with him? Is this a good understanding of how the Creator relates to us?
A couple of questions: I don’t want to get the corporeal meaning of gid ha-nasheh confused with the spiritual one. What does it mean Kabalistically? I can’t run from what I don’t know… Next on my list is: I love my friends and pray for them often. In the back of my mind, I know I am also praying for myself, and that is egoistic, isn’t it? I want to pray for their spiritual welfare properly. Is this an exception to the rule? If not, how do we resolve this conflict of interest for his sake?
Continue this way, the Surrounding Light nevertheless works and corrects the prayers.
About this detail of the halacha I don’t want to expand. It’s such details in the Sefirot…it’s not the work in front of us and I recommend, if you do keep that, to continue in a purely external way.
Thank you, Gianni; this is a great comfort to me. Prayer is something I can do! As for the halacha, I had no idea what that was, so I had to look it up, but I won’t worry about it. The gid ha-nesheh came up because I had a memory of Jacob wrestling with the angel, and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
I’ve been revisiting Pticha and have a question about the screen. The screen is described as having two qualities: aviut(coarseness) and kashiut (hardness). I understand aviut, but I’m a bit confused about kashiut. Specifically, does having a harder screen make it better or worse in terms of being an effective screen? One source I read suggested that the harder the screen, the more stubborn we are, making it harder to correct. But I also got the impression that a harder screen might actually be more effective in resisting the light for self-gratification. Could you clarify this for me?
I also have another question about the screen in relation to the light. The text states that the screen ‘strikes the light,’ rather than the light striking the screen. In corporeal terms, we usually understand the light as always striking something, not the other way around. Why is it written this way? Is there any significance to this phrasing? Thanks!
A harder Screen is better, more resistant, able to reject the Light. This rejection, we can say is the Screen striking the Light. You’ll find throughout the wisdom of Kabbalah that it talks from the side of the Kli sometimes, and sometimes from the side of the Light. Usually we say the Light strikes the Screen.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.