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Hi Comfort, good question.
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.
In simpler words, the 125 steps represents 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/
Albert @ KabU
What is the difference between egoism and necessity? The analogy is driving in traffic. I am driving on the highway and need to get off on the exit to get to work. My work is serving others. No one is letting me get to the lane for me to make the exit. So, I aggressively take the exit so I can get to work. I take something at the cost of the other. Should I never take my exit from the other and never get to work? Or should I always be late to work? Is that egoism or necessity? In nature, a lion eats its prey at the cost of the prey and this is called natural. How do I operate in this world when everything I receive can be weighed and understood as a cost to the other? More importantly, how can I be productive in a egoistic world through this wisdom? If I always give up my exit to get to work, which the world will gladly take, how can I get anything accomplished?
Hi David, great questions!
The Kabbalists tell us that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned”. Meaning that taking care of our necessities to live a normal life is not considered egoism. It’s perfectly fine to do that.
What then is egoism and how is it connected to our nature which only wants to receive?
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
I have two questions.
1) In Kabbalah Revealed, Rav Kaitman writes, …”Certainly we cannot control something we can’t see or feel. This desire can never be filled unless we make a U-turn, look in the opposite direction, and find Him.” I would assume that eventually, with the Wisdom of Kabbalah, wanting to control the Creator is something we would actually transcend. I’m surprised and confused to read that this is, instead, something we actualize.???
2) In “Attaining The Worlds Beyond,” Rav Laitman writes, The most important aspect of our reading is the way we feel about the material while reading it, not afterwards.” I am aware that I generally have very intense and varied feelings while reading, and that these feelings tend to ‘percolate’ within me afterwards, very often resulting in shifts, both subtle and dramatic. Why are the feelings we experience during our reading most important? I would have assumed the opposite.
I look forward to your responses. With Gratitude, Miryam
Hi Miryam,
1. The text talks about how we start our journey in an egoistic way, with all the different attempts we went through at trying to control the Creator. Later on we get despaired from our inability to do so. And after that we learn about the true meaning of our existence, which is not to control Him but rather to correct our egoistic nature and thereby to connect with Him.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2019/04/the-purpose-of-creation/
2. The Kabbalists tell us that we are living in a sea of endless light. Meaning that there is no shortage of light around us. Why then don’t we feel this light? It’s because we’re lacking the vessels in order to perceive that light. Once we build the right vessels, the light will immediately fulfill those vessels. This is why the most important part of our development is the process by which we build the vessels for the light.
He writes about this in that same paragraph: “It is precisely through the slow meaningful manner of reading that you can develop feelings, or “vessels” (kelim). These are necessary for us to receive spiritual sensations. Once the vessels are in place, the Upper Light will be able to enter them. Prior to their formation, the light merely exists around you, surrounding your soul, although you cannot perceive it.”
Albert @ KabU
I understand that turning my desires in will to bestow can fulfill myself with enormous joy and happiness. But is this correction of myself have the power to influence or change another person? Do we have or need to do this? Or the path of transformation should be exclusively in ourselves?
Thank you very much and have wonderful week.
Hi Luis, great questions!
The Kabbalists tell us that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Meaning that we should not force anyone to do spiritual work. Everyone should be given room to develop at the pace that they are comfortable in. So in this regard, this transformation is exclusively within myself.
Furthermore, we’ll learn in the upcoming lesson on the perception of reality that the state of the whole world is a reflection of my own state. Meaning that if I’m not corrected, I see in front of me a terrible world full of egoists. If I correct myself, I’ll see a perfect world in front of me. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
In summary, we never engage in correcting others, but only ourselves. As a result of correcting ourselves, we’ll see the external world changing as well.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
If the creator is perfection why were souls even created? Why would perfection need an entity who is imperfect to strive for perfection? I don’t understand why perfection needs/needed anything.
Hi Pamela,
We cannot speak on the Creator’s behalf because we don’t attain such things. We don’t attain the Creator Himself, but only how we perceive Him in our corrected vessels. Let’s put this into perspective to understand it:
Kabbalah divides our research of the Creator into two parts.
The first is His essence (atzmuto in Hebrew). This is He Himself, His point of view, the Creator as an entity separate from the Created beings. We’re incapable of researching this part of the Creator again because our research tools are not built in such a way that we can grasp such things. Perhaps after we finish the process of correction, we’ll discover additional research tools through which we’ll be able to research these things, but until then we limit ourselves and don’t talk about this part of the Creator because we cannot properly research it.
The other part of the Creator is called Bo-Re (Hebrew for Come (Bo) and See (Re)). This is the part of the Creator that we can research and reveal. How do we research this? Through the desire. When we take a part of our desire to receive and correct it in the direction of bestowal, in that corrected desire, we reveal a certain phenomenon, we call this phenomenon the Creator. This is why there are many names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different part of the desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator.
So all of our understanding of this thing called the Creator (and any spiritual phenomena) is based on what we reveal within the corrected desire. But whatever exists outside of the corrected desire, whatever we don’t grasp, perceive or attain within the desire, whatever is beyond our tools of research, we don’t talk about. We need to keep these limits in mind in order to stay within the realm of science and not venture off into religion or philosophy.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/
Albert @ KabU
The need help box when I click on it comes up blank. I can’t figure out how to find your response to a question or comment I made about this week 1 lesson. Where can I find your response? I went through the numbers at the bottom of the comments through 33 and didn’t find anything. I am finding your site hard to negotiate. Please offer me some help. Thank you. Pamela Hamilton
Hi Pamela,
Sorry to hear that you’re having difficulty with the site. We’re always trying to improve it and make it more user friendly. I’ll pass along your concerns to the developers.
Regarding the need help button, I think it works best in the chrome browser. Alternatively, you can use the “contact” button on the top banner to reach the support team.
Regarding finding the response to your question, it’s always right underneath your post. The newer questions are on the first page and older questions get pushed down into the other pages.
Albert @ KabU
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