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I understand how Abraham began to teach Kabbalah, but is it plausible to think that Kabbalah actually was circulating prior to Abraham ?
is the bestowing of the creator always good, or is there evil as well or is it that we just perceive certain things as bad such as natural disasters or health issues?
Hi Mike,
1. Kabbalah actually started with Adam close to 6000 years ago. The reason why we sometimes attribute it to Abraham is because Abraham was a major milestone in the Wisdom of Kabbalah who turned it into a practical method.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/10/what-came-first-the-torah-or-the-wisdom-of-kabbalah/
2. We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering and problems in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to see and feel more suffering and horrors in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Recently, over the last few months, I had begun to learn about Kabbalah. At first while watching a few of the courses and listening to the Zohar readings I felt connected, joyful and peaceful. Now though I am having difficulty processing and retaining the materials, feeling so little joy and troubled. Even so, I still desire to study and listen to the Zohar readings.
Will this seeming disconnect and discomfort pass? Will bestowing become more natural from my heart than consciously remembering to bestow?
Hi Judy,
Spiritual advancement happens specifically from the ups AND downs. It’s just like the EKG chart that measures the heart. If there are ups and downs, the heart is beating, the body is alive. If it flatlines, the body dies.
Likewise in our spiritual work, our advancement is composed of many ups and downs. But if we’re in the same state for a long period of time, then we stop advancing and are spiritually dead.
So what you are experiencing is normal. We go through many states on the spiritual path. Many ups, downs, and everything in between. The main thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic lessons, and it will balance everything out.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
I have 2 questions please.
1. How might I nurture my desire to connect with the friends and the Creator?
2. Would you please elaborate on the process of developing intention?Thank you. Peace
Hi Jay, great questions!
1. For now, our main contact with the friends (those with active points in the heart on the path with us) is through the weekly lessons and Q/A forums. So if you want to nurture the desire to connect with them, you can spend more time on these forums, incorporating in their responses, in their questions and answers.
In the more advanced semesters, everyone will be grouped into virtual groups of ten where you can work on building the connection in a much more practical way.
2. Our nature is egoistic. As such, it does not allow us to have a clean intention for bestowal. In the best case scenario, we can ASPIRE towards the intention of bestowal. We can play pretend AS IF we want bestowal. This is as much as our nature allows and actually this is enough. Such a game, especially when played with other points in the hearts in the Kabbalistic group, is how we extract the reforming light. It’s ultimately the light that corrects our nature and gives us the intention to bestow. Our work is to extract more and more of it, until it begins to work on us and makes this aspiration a reality.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/
Albert @ KabU
I have been pursuing the teachings of Kabbalah for almost 10 years, honestly, it has been an on and off process. At first, I was frustrated with my level of understanding, it led to mental burnout. I realized I was looking for a concept to put my burning existential questions at rest for they continuously haunt me. I have taken several “breaks” from the teachings and experienced the guilt of falling or backsliding… I have come to innerstand and overstand that it is my journey. My question is, how do I avoid the extremities of chasing these teachings which I am so passionate about that eventually lead to the sensation of “falling”, maybe I do know the answer to the question already and I’m merely seeking confirmation but any insight or perspective will still be appreciated.
Hi Justin,
I’ve heard Rav Laitman describe it once that “to learn to walk, one needs to learn to fall”. In other words, falling is part of the process. But if we don’t understand this, every time we fall, we’ll disconnect from the process completely and stop progressing. So we do need to learn how to fall and get back into it.
For this reason, Kabbalists have always studied in groups. So that if one person falls, the group will give him the strength to get back up. It’s like with mountain climbers that tie themselves together. So if one falls, the others catch them.
We’ll learn how to apply these things practically in the more advanced semesters.
Albert @ KabU
On the ascension is there “backsliding” ever?Do the spiritual levels overlap?Im thinking about grief,and the stages of grief:denial,anger,(theres a few more that equally suck)and then finally acceptance and understanding.I know for me this past year,I bounce back and forth.I’ll feel like I have a breakthrough and peace about losing my Mom and then the next week I might be crying as much as when it first happened and not wanting to see it as in anyway good or right.I guess what I’m asking is are the spiritual levels attained in a structured way like the drawing or are there in-between stages or diffent orders?Is the path unique to the individual or are we all going to go through a similar process?
Hi Heather, great questions!
1. The rule that “one is raised in holiness and never lowered.” So we never go backwards. It’s possible that we receive an additional challenge that belongs to a higher degree and that challenge can feel like we’re going backwards, but it’s still a step forward.
This is similar to how a bodybuilder that masters a five pound weight moves on to ten pounds. That ten pounds is much more challenging and he cannot do as many reps as before, but this is nonetheless considered progress and advancement.
2. Yes, there are intermediary spiritual degrees. Overall, the spiritual ladder consists of 125 steps. But it’s hard for us to grasp this structure with our current egoistic mind because spirituality is built on a completely different integral quality. For example, if we are to focus on one degree, and zoom into that degree, we’ll find there 10 sub-degrees. If we zoom into those sub-degrees, there are 10 more sub-degrees for each degree, and so forth.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2009/10/how-do-you-calculate-infinity/
3. Overall we’re all advancing in the same direction, but each individual has a different path to get there because each one has a different root of the soul. This root dictates the unique process each one needs to undergo to reach their correction.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
4. As we develop spiritually and begin to reveal the reality outside of our ego, our attitude to life and death will change.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/06/life-and-death-in-the-eyes-of-a-kabbalist/
Albert @ KabU
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