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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
I am really confused. You state as no.1 that Kabbalah is not a religion. After reading the lessons for week one it appears to me that we have received the same language from religion. Him, The Creator, etc. in capital letters seems to me to just be another way of saying GOD and our objective is to return to God. Is that not so? If Kabbalah is not a religion why are there so many references to verses in the Bible and also to the Torah.
I often have a hard time expressing my thoughts. My experiences in life have led me to this place because I believe that religions are created by men, not by a diety. I can grasp a place of creation but I have trouble with the term Creator (capital letter again) to whom my life must parallel in order to “return”. If was there once and cast out, why would I want to “return”?
Hi Pam, great questions!
1. Kabbalah is not a religion. It’s a practical scientific method by which we can correct our egoistic nature. As a result of this correction, we become similar to this thing called the Creator and reveal Him in practice, in our lives.
2. Kabbalah precedes the modern religions. If so, why are there so many references to biblical verses? That’s because the Torah is indeed a Kabbalistic book.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
3. As for being cast out, the reason we were cast out is for our growth and development. It’s just like how we educate our kids. We don’t just give them a completed jigsaw puzzle, on the contrary, we break it down into many pieces, make it challenging, so that in the process of them putting it together, they will grow and develop. Likewise with us, this process of being cast out and returning to that state of wholeness and adhesion with the Creator is an essential part of our growth and development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/
Albert @ KabU
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