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I thought that I had no questions, but something has resonated with me. That is:
1. How did I get here? My journey has never matched up with the “conventional” so I can answer it for my self, yet is it simply the “calling” that some use as an answer.
2. In relation to this, are the upper levels relating to us even when we have an undeveloped relationship with Elohim? Are the teachers along the way our guides to this place today?
I am thankful to know that I can ask these questions amongst amazing people and instructors…
Humbly submitted, Loria
Hi Loria, great questions!
1. We all have a point in the heart. This is our desire for spirituality. If this desire is ripe, it begins to push and pull us to the place where we can realize it. If it’s not yet ripe, then we agree to bury ourselves in all sorts of other engagements in life.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/11/only-people-with-the-point-in-the-heart-can-feel-that-kabbalah-is-the-salvation/
2. Yes, the system of nature in which we exist is constantly influencing us, even if we’re unaware of it or not developed enough to recognize it. It’s just like the laws of nature in our world, if a person is unaware of these laws, it does not mean that they stop applying to that person. For example, if a child was to walk off a cliff or stick a knife into an electrical socket, gravity and electricity will still operate on them, even if they don’t understand how those things work.
As for the teachers being our guides, yes, you can say that. Essentially all the great Kabbalists that preceded us paved the way for us to also be able to attain what they attained.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
Hello! My question is similar to Phil’s question. I also want to know the difference between Philosophy and Kabbalah, especially between Plato’s idealism theory and Kabbala’s theory.
I major in Philosophy in university, and as far as I know, Plato believes that there is a world of ideas above the secular world. In his early theory, he thought that everything in the secular world reflects the existence of the ideal world. He developed a vision of two worlds: a world of unchanging ideas and a world of changing physical objects.
But this theory meets a lot of difficulties. For example, in Parmenides, Parmenides asks Socrates(Socrates in Plato’s works), “would you make abstract ideas of the just, the beautiful, the good?” Socrates says “Yes”, but Paremenides keeps asking: “And of human beings like ourselves, of water, fire, and the like?” Socrates says “I am not certain.” Finally, Parmenides asks, “And would you be undecided also about ideas of which the mention will, perhaps, appear laughable: of hair, mud, filth, and other things which are base and vile?” Socrates says these laughable things don’t have abstract ideas. So does these dirty and stupid things have roots in Kabbalah?
For another difficulty, What is the relationship between ideas and the secular world things? Participation or by Imitation? Plato did not give a definite answer.
So, to conclude, my questions are:
1. Does Plato’s idealism theory have anything in common with Kabbalah’s theory of root(upper world spirituality) and branches(this world corporeality)?
2. Can Kabbalah solve the above two difficulties about Plato’s theory of ideas?
3. How does Kabbalah view Philosophy?Thank you!
Hi Jiao,
I’m not an expert in philosophy, so I cannot comment on that. In general, Kabbalah is not philosophy. See my reply 314540 to Phil below for more details:
Albert @ KabU
Hello friends, another question please.
In the reading from Attaining the Worlds beyond, ‘how to read the text’ I want to ask if this suggests we do some form of meditation or contemplation? Do you think that these activities would be useful in studying Kabbalah?
Thank you
Phil Wallace
Hi Phil,
It’s closer to contemplation and reflection.
Keep in mind that in Kabbalah “it’s not the wise that learns”. Meaning we’re not learning this material simply to acquire knowledge, to store it in some box in our brains. After all, If knowledge was the path to spirituality, then a supercomputer loaded with all of the Kabbalistic texts would be the most spiritual being in the world. Obviously this is not the case.
So why do we spend so much time studying if not to gain knowledge? Because through the study, we draw the force of the light. This force is what makes all the internal changes, clarifications, corrections that need to be made. After we extract enough light and correct ourselves to a certain degree, then we won’t just intellectually philosophize about spirituality, but we will begin to feel it in practice. And only out of that feeling will we begin to truly understand it.
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
Hello, I have another question please.
Concerning Kabbalah, Then and Now (this weeks reading),
Johannes Reuchlin, a humanist, classics scholar, and expert in ancient languages and traditions, writes in his book, De Arte Cabbalistica:
“My teacher, Pythagoras, the father of philosophy, took his teaching from Kabbalists … He was the first to translate the word, Kabbalah, unknown to his contemporaries, to the Greek word philosophy… Kabbalah does not let us live our lives in the dust, but elevates our mind to the height of knowledge.”Interesting to learn that Pythagoras translated Kabbalah as “Philosophy” in the Greek, which I had learned was broken down like this; Philios or Love and Sophia or wisdom, hence the word philosophy is, Love of Wisdom. Kabbalah translates as “to Receive” so I wonder just what Pythagoras was thinking, because it seems to me to be entirely different. However, personally I like the thought of studying Kabbalah, being motivated by philosophy.
Also since I personally have an interest in words and what they are, what they mean and what power they have my question then is, “is it incorrect to think of Kabbalah as Philosophy?, or is the translation of Pythagoras correct?
Thank you
Phil Wallace
Hi Phil,
Kabbalah is not philosophy. It’s a practical scientific method by which we can correct our egoistic nature. As a result of this correction, we become similar to the Creator. As a result of becoming similar to Him, we reveal Him in practice in our lives. This follows 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 Kabbalah’s relation to philosophy, essentially Kabbalah preceded philosophy. Before the destruction of the second temple, people from all over the world traveled to Israel to learn from the sages there. So the early philosophers learned directly from the Kabbalists during that time. Later on, they tried to copy the Kabbalistic method. From their unsuccessful attempt to copy it emerged philosophy.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2011/01/kabbalah-and-other-sciences-philosophy-and-religion/
https://laitman.com/2012/12/philosophy-a-building-without-a-foundation/
Albert @ KabU
Kabbalah is the Scientific method to become like “the creator?” With no defined creator identity except a “me” That is also not a religion? This is completely opposite to the physical history of the Kabbalah where is Kabbalah not defined in Judiasm history? Never mind the label be it mystery, what about the history?
Hi Jessica,
We’re still in the fundamentals of this course, so it’s possible that you still did not encounter all of the definitions for these terms. But there are clear definitions and explanations for all of these things: What is the Creator, how do we research Him, why is Kabbalah a science and not a religion, what is the relationship between Kabbalah and Judaism, etc.
Kabbalah is a science because it uses a scientific approach to research reality. It’s not based on someone’s thoughts or philosophies but simply on the research of the Kabbalists. Furthermore, this research is not based on faith, it’s not something we verify after we die, but rather something that we can replicate and reproduce in our lives.
How did the Kabbalists research the Creator?
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 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 these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/
As for the relationship between Kabbalah and Judaism, see my reply #314866 to Sarah.
Albert @ KabU
Hello. A question about the language of the branches; what significence if any, do or will, the 22 letters of the Jewish Alphabet, have upon understanding the language of the branches?
Thank you
Phil Wallace.
Hi Phil,
There is a connection, every single Hebrew letter and shape of the letter is a code for a spiritual state.
Check out this article for more details: http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/60270?/eng/content/view/full/60270&main
Albert @ KabU
I have a question, I was going to hold on to it, but I’ll ask now (since continuation is a week away) which heaven is this referring to? An unseen sort of higher dimensional one, or the one here on earth that’s hidden away with wealthy moral people (their description)
Hi Daniel,
Kabbalah looks at everything through the lens of the desire. Our process of development starts with a raw desire to receive pleasure. This desire evolves into a purely egoistic desire, which derives pleasure from using and hating others. We then correct this desire to work in the direction of bestowal and love of others.
Heaven is that corrected state, when we tune ourselves in the direction of love and bestowal. While hell is the opposite, when there is mutual hatred between us.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/01/the-magic-of-egoism-and-bestowal/
Albert @ KabU
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