- This topic has 1,217 replies, 472 voices, and was last updated 1 week ago by
.
- Replies
Is there a difference between the ego and desire? I see that both words are used, but are they different concepts, or are they interchangeable with each other?
Hi Skye,
There is the desire to receive pleasure and there is egoism. Although we sometimes use these two things interchangeably, in truth they are two separate things.
Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. It simply means that every calculation we make is to chase pleasure or avoid pain. This is similar to how any other animal functions. By itself, there is nothing wrong with this nature, it’s simply the program by which we function and preserve ourselves.
Egoism is when this program begins to be used in a way that harms others. Not only do I want to receive pleasure, but I want to receive it at the expense of others, at their detriment. This is the corporeal ego.
There is also a spiritual ego. Spiritual egoism is everything that stands in the way of our connection with the Creator. Normal people don’t have a spiritual ego. This is only something that we discover after doing some serious spiritual work.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/true-evil/
Albert @ KabU
Dear Albert,
I watched the video “Kabbalah Revealed Episode 6: The Screen”.
In this video it is explained the spiritual ascent process of the 125 ladders or phases, “the gradual likening of one’s properties to the light and consecutive filling with it”.
In the minute 20:40, Tony Kosinec states that:
“When the creature gets the level of Yechidah,
the creature has reached complete similarity of form with the Creator, because it has instituted itself its own thought of creation (“Not for me”). It has an independent desire that does not depend on the external delights, but only on the thought of the creature to do something equal to the thought of the Creator.
(…) By having a Rosh (head), what that means is, through an independent desire, the creature can now determine what the reality inside of the vessel would be, the quality of their world, the quality of the light, and all this done for the good of the world as a whole: “Not for me”.
The light (the pleasure), the screen (the means of reception), and the soul (receiver).
I would be very grateful if you could give me further references about this topic.
Thank you in advance for your kind attention.
Have a nice day!
Hi Marta,
That video is covered in week 4 of this course. Here is the recommended reading link and related videos link for that week’s content.
And here’s a blog post from Rav Laitman about the law of equivalence of form.
Albert @ KabU
Dear KabU team,
Thank you for the basic overview video and the preparatory material. I have a few questions based on the material I have covered so far.
1. Do the 125 steps/degrees descent of the desire to receive from the state of unity with the Infinite Source refers to reincarnations. Or this is how the desire arrived to it’s initial state ( Still vs inanimate vs animate to speaking).
If so what does Kabbalah teach about reincarnation in the context of spiritual evolution of the desire to receive.
Moreover what does Kabbalah teach about Karma and influence of past life’s to ones current incarnation.
2. I am from South Africa, currently we are experiencing a wave of African Spiritual callings. Almost every person you meet in town has a spiritual calling. We have been told this is due to soul ties and soul contracts that our ancestors had with the Marine Kingdom for wealth, power and magic. Affected victims of the lineage suffer badly in aspects of life. What does Kabbalah teach about presence of other Entities and Spirits and their relationship with us and the Infinite Source.
Regards
Frank
Hi Kab U Team,
This may be jumping forward in the material but I was wondering if this system of worlds and the 125 steps overlap with the concept of the sephirot. For instance, should we consider Kether to be the same as the infinite light at the top of the ladder and the other worlds to correspond to the other sephirot? Or do the two have a separate place in the system?
Thank you!
Hi Spencer,
The number 125 comes from the structure of the upper worlds. This structure is just a division of the spiritual desire that we need to correct into sefirot, partzufim, and worlds.
The most basic division of the desire is 1 Sefira. 5 Sefirot compose 1 partzuf. 5 Partzufim compose 1 world. There are 5 worlds in total. So 5 worlds each with 5 partzufim each with 5 sefirot equals 125 (5x5x5) steps on the spiritual ladder, or in other words corrections that need to be performed on the desire.
In the book Kabbalah for the Student, there’s an article called Foreword to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah (http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/full/64187) which lists these 125 steps in the language of sefirot/partzufim/olamot(worlds). For now, these are just technical terms for us, but in the future lessons we’ll dive deeper into these things and learn how to feel and experience them.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Frank,
1. You can say that it’s the evolution of the desire and the process it needs to undergo in order to become fully corrected. Essentially the 125 steps represent the difference between us and the Creator. The Creator is a desire to bestow and we are the desire to receive. Adapting our desire to receive to work in order to bestow takes 125 steps. So to the extent that we correct our nature, make it similar to the Creator’s nature, to that extent we’re “climbing” this ladder.
In other words, ascending or descending this ladder is not a physical action, but rather depends on how much we’re similar to the Creator’s quality of bestowal (ascending) or less similar to it and more egoistic (descending).
All of this operates according to the law of equivalence of form. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
As for reincarnation, reincarnation happens on the level of desire. We all have this desire called the point in the heart. This is our spiritual potential. If we realize this potential, this grows into a desire called a soul. If not, this same desire continues to reincarnate again and again until it gets fully realized.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/06/what-happens-to-the-soul-after-death/
2. At every moment of our lives, we are surrounded by many different forces of nature that are constantly acting upon us. Some of these we identify, like the force of gravity, magnetism, the force of the sun, the moon, etc. And some of them we don’t yet identify. Spirits, angels, etc are terms referring to the forces of nature that are always acting upon us. These terms can be used interchangeably, so essentially you can call the force of gravity the angel of gravity. But these are forces. Just as you don’t attribute any intelligence/consciousness or even an image to the force of gravity, you shouldn’t attribute any to the forces called angels or spirits.
Furthermore, there is nothing harmful that stems from any of these forces. The only source of harm in the world is man’s own egoism.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2008/03/demons-spirits-angels-devils-do-they-exist/
https://laitman.com/2010/05/why-do-angels-have-wings/
https://laitman.com/2015/07/a-devil-with-horns-or-our-own-egoism/
Albert @ KabU
Is it a sort of part of the process to feel so confused as my brain wants so badly to acquire knowledge in a sequential sense yet at the same time I cannot seem to come up with any questions to ask even though I feel like I have so many ?
I hope my question makes sense ?
Hi Kristin,
It’s normal to feel confused from time to time. This follows the saying that “there is no light without a vessel”. Meaning that you cannot receive something if you don’t build a lack for that thing.
In general, we go through many states on the spiritual path. The main thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, especially in the Kabbalistic studies, and it’ll balance everything out.
Albert @ KabU
This might sound like a bit of an odd question, but, what is morality?
Maybe a better question would be, what does it mean to be moral?
What connections do anxiety, depression, and self-loathing have with morality, if any at all?Hi Jarrett,
Morality means choosing between good or bad behaviors. The problem with morality is that our nature is egoistic. So no matter what behavior we choose, it’ll stem from our egoistic nature. As long as our actions stem from our ego, they will also be considered egoistic and will ultimately not lead us to anything good.
This is why Kabbalah does not deal with morality. Rather, Kabbalah deals with the root problem, our egoistic nature and how we can correct it.
Albert @ KabU
Dear senior instructor,
I’ve just read the recommended readings, which are very suggestive, there are lots of topics and I hope we will go further in all of them.
But the one that I love the most is that on
“Attaining the worlds beyond”, p. 39:
Giving oneself to the Creator means to separate from the “I”.
The intention of an action can change the external form of a mechanical act—giving or taking—to its opposite
we actually feel that we are receiving from, rather than giving to, Him.Could you please indicate us some related article or video about this way of realizing that giving (opening oneself up to the Creator and to all creations) is the way to receive?
Thank you very much!!
A nice day for all!!
Hi Marta,
Check out the Guest and Host analogy in Chapter 3 of Attaining the Worlds Beyond.
Albert @ KabU
1 Samuel 1:8: “Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
Dear Albert,
I am grateful to KabU for the knowledge that you spread. We all are always guided by the foresight and omniscient Power that eventually will turn the information into wisdom.
First we feel the restlessness of the paradoxes and the riddles that we can’t solve on our own, and then we are guided to the answers, once we are ready to receive them.
This chapter 3 is awesome. And by reading it, I also understand the reply that another senior instructor gave to a question about revelation, in a Q&A session (on Sunday). I rewatched the question and the answer 3 times, and I wanted to ask you please where I can find more about it.
What I understood by what was said in that question and the instructor’s answer, was that there’s a plan in the progressive revelation of the Creator or the giving force, conditioned by the shaping of the same qualities of the Creator in the creature, the will to bestow.
Are these qualities the Sephirot?
Is this so?
Thank you very much in advance for your kind reply.
Best Regards,
Marta
Hi Marta,
Yes, you can say that those qualities are the sefirot.
In general, spirituality works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that in order to come into contact or reveal anything spiritual, we need to become similar to whatever we want to reveal. This is just like how a radio can pick up an external wave, when we tune the internal frequency of the radio to that wave.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
