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Hi Natalia,
You can say that Kabbalah is hard because it talks about correcting our nature. If we try to perform this correction by ourselves, not only is it hard, but it’s actually impossible. Just like a PC cannot change itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just reprogram our very nature. We need outside help to perform this change. This help comes to us from the light. This is a special force that we can tap into in order to help us perform this change. We extract this force primarily from the Kabbalistic studies. Our entire work boils down to extracting more and more of the force of the light and it does all the rest. If we learn how to do that properly, then this path will not seem hard, but actually quiet simple and relatively easy to carry out.
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
Shalom,
1) As I learn the program I found that when referring to the Creator it says that it is equal to nature is that correct?
2) I would like to understand if someone says that they do not believe in God but in nature – does it suggest that God is nature? So do we share the same belief but using a different terminology?
3) Just to clarify, when we refer to God are we referring to nature and it’s unchangeable laws? Which would give us the physical realty we see and the upper reality we are not aware of?
4) In other words: That idea of God sitting on a throne is it a metaphor used to share a story such as with Job that the sons of God present themselves on a throne and God sitting on the Throne?
Thank you so much in advance.
Kind regards
Sharlene Raston
Hi Sharlene, great questions!
1. Yes.
2. Kabbalah is not a system of beliefs. Kabbalists don’t “believe” in the Creator, they reveal Him in practice. And this revelation is not something mystical, but rather it works according to the law of equivalence of form.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/kabbalah-without-a-trace-of-mysticism/
3. Yes, you can say that.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/
4. Yes, you can say that. The stories in the Torah are written in the language of roots and branches. It’s a type of code that uses words of our world to describe spiritual situations and phenomena. As such, these stories are not literal stories.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
Albert @ KabU
What is it about many celebrities, like Madonna, etc. representing Kabbalah (even if it may not be authentic Kabbalah)? I get that Kabbalah essentially is really something different than what is publicly being pushed. But I still wonder where this comes from and why it really always comes with a dark message, like some occult ritual style music video, some apocalyptic event, or satan worshipping? I personally thought for a long time that I could and should not look into Kabbalah because it’s linked to satanism and therefore dark occultism. Now I am glad and grateful that I learn otherwise bit by bit, but I know there’s a lot of people that still have this belief because of this public representation.
Hi Marc, great questions!
But I’m not an expert in other methods, even others that seemingly teach “Kabbalah”, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. In general, authentic Kabbalah has been around for about 5800 years, but it’s been concealed for the past 2,000 years, so people don’t really know what it’s all about. Just picture a 2,000 year old game of telephone. So naturally, many different methods sprang up that are seemingly “Kabbalah”.
Some try to associate themselves with Kabbalah as a way to validate themselves, while others borrowed some principles from Kabbalah and created something else, which is how philosophy emerged and later on turned into science. Or it’s also possible that these methods sprang up as a result of the concealment of Kabbalah, this is how the modern religions emerged. But ultimately, authentic Kabbalah has nothing to do with any other method and for the most part precedes all of the modern religions, sciences, and philosophies.
Authentic Kabbalah is the method by which we correct our egoistic nature and as a result we become similar to and reveal in practice the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal.
Albert @ KabU
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
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