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I keep going through these videos without advancing to the graduate environment because I have certain objections to some principles in Kabalah.
I hope that this time, I will be able to get them clarified so I can follow through.
What are the differences between God, ourselves, and the other. Are we the same thing or different things?
Why do we have to spiritually ascend?
Who gets the most benefit out of this. And why?
As an organization, what are you getting out of this?
Hi Iheb, great questions!
1. These things start out as the same, like a candle within a torch, where you cannot differentiate one from the other. Then in the process of correction, these things all become separate. Later on, they once again reunite, but still remain separate.
Baal HaSulam writes about it in the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah, here’s an excerpt:
“4) The reason why the will to receive must cascade by the four above-mentioned discernments in ABYA (Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, Assiya) is that there is a great rule concerning the Kelim (plural for Kli): the expansion of the Light and its departure make the Kli fit for its task. This means that as long as the Kli has not been separated from its Light, it is included in the Light and is annulled within it like a candle in a torch.
This annulment is because they are completely opposite from one another, on opposite ends. This is so because the Light extends from His Essence existence from existence. From the perspective of the Thought of Creation in Ein Sof, it is all towards bestowal and there is no trace of will to receive in it. Its opposite is the Kli, the great will to receive that abundance, which is the root of the initiated creature, in which there is no bestowal whatsoever.
Hence, when they are bound together, the will to receive is annulled in the Light within it, and can determine its form only once the Light has departed thence once. This is so because following the departure of the Light from it, it begins to crave it, and this craving properly determines and sets the shape of the will to receive. Subsequently, when the Light dresses in it once more, it is regarded as two separate matters: Kli and Light, or Guf and Life. Observe closely, for this is most profound.”
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Also check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/
2. We have to ascend spiritually in order to reach the purpose of creation, which was to create a creature and fill it with all of the goodness. But the purpose of creation is not simply to stuff us full of pleasure like we stuff a turkey, or to take some drug that’ll make us happy for the rest of our lives. The purpose is to elevate us to the highest best possible state, meaning to become similar to the Creator, to His qualities of love and bestowal. In other words, it’s not enough simply to receive, but we need to develop and become similar to Him. That is what it means to “ascend” spiritually, to become similar to Him.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/09/where-is-the-upper-world/
3. The Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. As such, He does not lack anything. So the only ones benefiting from this whole process is us.
Although we sometimes use the words that we perform a certain action in order to bestow to the Creator or to bring Him contentment, but in truth it’s just a game to help us to develop. Just like with kids, when we spoon feed them, they see the example from us and want to pick up a spoon and feed us back. Do we really need them to feed us? Of course not. But we still accept this from them, smile, show them how happy they made us by feeding us etc, since we know that through this game, they grow and develop. So ultimately the Creator is not lacking anything. And all of our attempts to bestow to Him are nothing more than a type of game for our own development.
4. A part of our correction is performed by disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah to anyone interested in learning it. We’ll learn how to do this practically in the advanced semesters. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/08/dissemination-is-spiritual-work/
Albert @ KabU
I have some questions:
1) What happened with the destruction of the temple, two thousand years ago, that broke that connection of humanity and started all the religions? Was it the fact that the arc was hidden?
2) In the description of the worlds, Assiyah above the barrier, the Maschom. But I thought this world was, the physical world, was Assiyah or Malchut? I’m I wrong? Or our world is a level, a lower level, of Assiyah?
3) The new methods developed after 1995, when Kabbalah was disclosed, are not written in the language of roots and branches, are they? What language is that?
4) With this material, we could reach the first step of the sulam, right? After that, we will start to use roots and branches?
Hi Flavio, great questions!
1. The temple symbolized the level of love and connection that this group was able to achieve at that time. When a bigger level of egoism was revealed, they were unable to maintain that level of love and connection. As a result of that, the corporeal temple, the symbol of their love and connection, wound up getting destroyed.
Baal HaSulam writes about this in “Letter 60”, here’s an excerpt:
“this is what our sages meant when they asked about the ruin of the Second Temple, that there was no idolatry there and they were proficient in Torah, so why was it ruined? They said it was for unfounded hatred.”
Keep in mind that the growth of egoism is not a bad thing, but rather a sign of progress. It’s like with exercise, when you master a 5 pound weight, in order to keep progressing, you need to add resistance by going up to a 10 pound weight, etc. Likewise the process of correction works according to the rule of “from light to heavy”. Meaning first the lighter, less egoistic souls reach their correction. They become as the pioneers that start this whole process. And only later on we focus on the heavier, coarser, more egoistic desires.
The people in the days of Abraham were less egoistic and therefore started this whole process. After they corrected the egoism on their level, it opened the door for the rest of the world, the carriers of the heavier, more egoistic desires, to reach their correction.
But the rest of the world was not yet ready for this correction. For this reason Kabbalah had to be temporarily concealed and the people who previously succeeded in this method needed to be scattered throughout the whole world. Then in the process of them integrating with the rest of the world, they sped up the development of the rest of the world to this final state of correction.
So we can see from this whole process that it’s not that something bad happened, on the contrary, those pioneers that started this process finished the correction on their level and then received their next challenge.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/08/building-the-third-temple/
2. The concept of “this world” is not talking about planet Earth. “This world” is a spiritual concept relating to the feeling of being disconnected from spirituality. In other words, in order to be in the state of “this world” you first need to discover that there is such a thing as spirituality and then discover that you’re disconnected from it. So it’s not a given that we’re all in that state. In fact, most of the inhabitants of planet Earth don’t have such a feeling, so it does not apply to them.
As for planet Earth or the corporeal world, Kabbalists typically don’t talk about it. Our world is below the ladder of spiritual degrees. Kabbalists call it “the imaginary world”. Since once we correct ourselves, relative to that corrected state this life would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2010/11/this-life-is-a-dream/
3. It depends on which writings you’re referring to. The writings of Baal HaSulam such as the Study of the Ten Sefirot and the Sulam Commentary to the Book of Zohar are written in the language of Kabbalah (roots and branches). Whereas the writings of Rabash are written more in the style of our inner work.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
4. We need both the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash to reach the first step of the ladder. But the main thing is not the writings themselves but the light that we extract from those texts. It’s ultimately the light that makes all of the changes and corrections on us. Our work is only to extract more and more of it, especially during the Kabbalistic studies.
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 don’t understand who is the being that descended the 125 steps and is supposed to ascend the same 125 steps back to its origin. I also don’t understand why this apparent nonsense is necessary.
Hi Ismar,
We learn that all of humanity is part of a single system, like cells within a single body. So the being that descended those 125 steps is the collective body to which we all belong. In the process of descending, this body gradually loses the feeling that it’s all connected until the point of our world, where we feel completely alien to every other person in the world.
We learn about all these things because reconnecting this shattered system is the main spiritual correction that we need to perform.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Leighton, good question!
The language of roots and branches is a type of code that uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. It’s similar to how binary code works in computers. To us it seems just like a bunch of zeros and ones, but a computer can properly decipher those things and display what those zeros and ones represent.
Likewise with the language of roots and branches, if we’re not in spirituality, Kabbalistic writings seem to us like stories talking about our world. But for Kabbalists, those that are able to decipher these words, they can reveal the spiritual phenomena behind them.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2013/09/from-root-to-branch/
https://laitman.com/2010/12/the-spiritual-decoder/
Albert @ KabU
hi!
if the Kabbalah is written in branches of root how does one prevent wrong interpretations of the books?Thanks!
Hi Juan, good question!
We cannot prevent such things. We can only teach people how to properly relate to these books. But even then, relating to the books correctly does not mean that this person will be able to interpret them correctly. This is because the language of root and branches is not something you learn but rather something that comes with spiritual attainment. Without spiritual attainment, we cannot truly understand these things.
It’s like a blind person that is trying to study colors. He can learn the wavelengths behind each one, the different feelings they all evoke, but ultimately he will never truly understand colors. But if this blind person was to undergo an operation and gain his sense of sight, how easy and simple it would be to teach him colors. We would simply point to it and say “this is red”.
It’s the same with the language of roots and branches. It’s currently impossible for us to truly grasp these things. But once we gain our “spiritual sight” we would pick these things up very easily and naturally. And only then can we properly interpret what is written in the Kabbalistic books.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/why-do-we-need-the-language-of-branches/
Albert @ KabU
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