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Hi Matthew,
Not quite. The language of roots and branches is a spiritual language. It’s a type of code that uses the words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. The words of our world are called branches because each one of them stems from a certain spiritual root. This is why it’s called the language of roots and branches.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/09/from-root-to-branch/
Albert @ KabU
Just thinking, if oneness with the Creator is the ultimate goal, why did s/he separate us from himself in the first place? Why send us down the 125 steps only to go back up whence we came??
Hi Geneva,
We were indeed created in the state of perfection (Baal HaSulam describes this in the article Introduction to the book of Zohar), but this was an unconscious state, like a baby in its mother’s womb. So we necessarily had to come to the complete opposite state, to lose that state of perfection, in order to once again reach it, but this time consciously.
And the fact that we had to lose this state is not something bad, but it’s a necessary part of our development. It’s just like with kids. We don’t just give them a completed jigsaw puzzle. On the contrary we take it and break it down into many pieces. Then in the process of them putting it together, they grow and develop. Same with us, this process of losing that state is a necessary part of our further growth and development.
This process also adds to us a certain level of freedom, without which, we would be no different than machines, or robots, that were programmed to act a certain way and they just carry out this inner script. Instead, we were programmed one way, and we rise above this inner programming, become independent of it, and then develop our own desire to advance towards this goal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/
Albert @ KabU
1. Page 32 of “Attaining the Worlds Beyond” states that our souls descend into the world and that the Creator places the soul into the body. Why then do some of the preparatory material hold that we do not have souls “except we develop one?” What powers the human body? If the body is the hardware, then what is the software called?
2. It has been mentioned that reincarnations are evolutionary processes that the desire (to receive) goes through. and that it has nothing to do with the material world. How does this explain the claim that Abraham is the reincarnated soul of Adam and Moses is a reincarnation of Abraham and so on, down to the 20th century Kabbalists? How do you explain past life regressions that some people have experienced?
3. It has also been said in some of the preparatory material that nothing happens when we die. How do you explain near death experiences?
4. Is it just the first five books of the Bible that are Kabbalistic texts? How about the rest of the Old Testament? The book of Kings, Chronicles, The prophets, the Psalms etc.?
Hi Geneva, great questions!
1. There is a force that enlivens our bodies, which is called the animate soul. But Kabbalists are not usually talking about that part. They are usually referring to the point in the heart. Every person has something called a point in the heart. The point in the heart, the desire for spirituality, is like a seed. If we nourish that seed, it can grow to the level of something called a soul. A soul is also a desire, but one that has already been corrected to operate in the direction of love and bestowal. But if we don’t fully realize that initial point in the heart, then that same point, continues to reincarnate again and again until it gets realized.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/06/what-happens-to-the-soul-after-death/
As well as this page from the book The Kabbalah Experience: http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/86133?/eng/content/view/full/86133&main
2. Also Baal HaSulam as the next incarnation of the soul of the Ari. “The next reincarnation of the soul is like the inheritance of the entire spiritual attainment of the father, which is passed on to the son.”
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2020/08/on-the-anniversary-of-the-aris-departure/
3. I see that you’re really interested in this topic. I recommend you check out this collection of articles and clips revolving around that: https://www.kabbalah.info/bb/what-happens-when-you-die/
4. Yes, the whole old testament, or Tanakh (Books of Torah, the Nevi’im, and the Ketuvim), as well as Psalms, Gemara, Talmud, Zohar, etc. These are all Kabbalistic texts.
Albert @ KabU
In the Eastern Tradition, let’s say India. It is about “Enlightenment”. there are four paths to enlightenment.
Karma Yoga – Service, Bhakti Yoga – Devotion, Raja Yoga -Mind Control, and Jnana Yoga – Knowledge.
Is Kabbalah a path of enlightenment? Are there multiple paths in Kabbalah like the Eastern way? If so, can you please elaborate on them. Seems to me Kabbalah is similar to Jnana Yoga, Yes/no?Thank you,
JamesHi James,
I’m not an expert in other methods, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. As for Kabbalah, Kabbalah is a method by which we can correct our egoistic nature. As a result of this correction, we reveal the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal, in our lives.
Albert @ KabU
I had a dream that I was in line to talk to a rabbi and when it was my turn I told him that I was very excited to study and learn he started smiling this is the second time this happened, i dont know who the rabbi is
does this happen
Hi Luis,
Kabbalah does not deal with dream interpretations. In general, Kabbalists don’t attribute much importance to dreams or the state of dreaming. They see it simply as a state where the brain summarizes/organizes the daily experiences. Similar to how some computers go through the process of defragmentation.
On the other hand, there is a spiritual state called dreaming which is the process by which we transition from one spiritual degree to another. It’s like the neutral gear on a manual transmission, which requires you to switch to the neutral gear before switching to another gear. In other words, in between every spiritual state is a state called “dream”. But it’s not related to the corporeal dreams that we experience in our physical bodies. Kabbalists don’t ascribe any importance to corporeal dreams.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2016/04/an-ordinary-dream/
https://laitman.com/2015/02/we-cannot-live-without-sleep/
Albert @ KabU
Why do we have this “egoistic nature” that separates us from Malchut of Ein Sof by the five levels of opacity of the senses? Is this egoistic nature all bad? If so, who created it?
Hi Jessica, great questions!
The Creator created our egoistic nature. Why? Because it’s a vital component in our development. Without it, we would not feel separated from the Creator and would thereby not have any free will whatsoever. Baal HaSulam describes this 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.”
Meaning that if you place the light of a candle within the light of a torch, you cannot differentiate one from the other. So in the process of giving the created being the nature of reception, by that, the created being became separated from the Creator and as a result feels itself as existing and independent. Later on, even though they return to a state of adhesion, they still remain as two separate things. We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons.
Albert @ KabU
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