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It seems impossible to me, not to have desires. I often ask the question, Am I really giving?
How can one know how to really give?
Hi Leticia, good question!
1. The Kabbalistic method is not about suppressing our desires, rather it’s about rising above them. In fact the more we advance, the more our desires grow. They turn into a type of mountain that we climb over. The bigger the desires, the higher we can climb, and the higher the spiritual degree that we can attain. On the other hand, if we were to eliminate our desires, then accordingly, we would only be able to attain a tiny degree of spiritual attainment. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
2. How can we really give? We can’t, it’s completely against our nature. The best that we can do is just to play pretend, as if we want to give. See my reply below #287239 to Arthur for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Hi All,
I wanted to know what part your Kabbalistic astrology plays in your destiny and how important is understanding psychological techniques in personal transformation.
best regards
Kay
Hi Kay, great questions!
The goal of authentic Kabbalah is to correct our egoistic nature and as a result to become similar to and reveal the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. Things like astrology and psychological techniques might help to calm us down and somewhat deal with our nature, but ultimately these things don’t correct our egoistic nature, so they are not a part of the authentic Kabbalistic method.How then do we correct our ego and become similar to the Creator? Only through the light. The light is a special force that can correct our nature. Our entire work (and the entire Kabbalistic method) boils down to extracting more and more of this light, especially from the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
As for destiny, fate, freedom of choice, etc, we’ll learn about this topic in depth in the next semester.
Albert @ KabU
I don’t have any questions right now but I did enjoy reading other people’s questions. I am sure I will ask something later. Thank you.
So my question has to do with the intention, free will and the space less qualitiesof the higher worlds. So from what I have been learning, there is no space in these higher worlds and instead it is the qualities the determine the proximity of different states/forces. So then, if my in intention is to invert my will to receive in such a way to where it is similar to the will to bestow, the initial intention of inverterting or changing the will to receive into the will to bestowal seems rather deceptive. In other words, it seems like it’s only a lie. It’s like a snake pretending to be a bird but no matter what the snake does, it’ll always be a snake. Therefore, according to the spaceless quality of these higher worlds, doesn’t this deceptive act of pretending to be the will to bestow only bring me closer to others that are also engaging in these deceptive acts? In other words, the snake won’t get closer to the birds but rather won’t it get closer to the other pretenders since they share the same quality of pretending/inverting the will to receive into the will to bestow?
Hi Arthur, great question!
Essentially you are right. The problem is that the will to receive is our nature. Just like a PC cannot just reprogram itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just change our own nature. So no matter what we do, all of our actions will stem from this egoistic nature. So what can we do? The most that we can do in our situation and actually the only thing that is demanded of us is just to play pretend as if we want to bestow, as if we want to be like the Creator. When we play this type of game within the Kabbalistic group and while reading the Kabbalistic texts, we extract from them the light which gradually corrects us and makes this game a reality.
We’ll learn about this in the more advanced lessons. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree
Albert @ KabU
The question and the answer are amazing. What I would like to add is that if you have ever truly been silent and still, there emerges a recognition of Oneness and an identification with that Oneness. The question suggests it feels like a lie. Â It appears the Kabbalist explains our nature is to receive. Yes, this is our Nature as we identify with this level. However, the truth is we are not this level. I loved Albert’s answer. I have found that playing pretend awakened in me awareness of my Being and it is unbounded. So it can’t be a lie. It’s true. It only seems like a lie. We want to move beyond seems. There is a truth to our Being. Pretend it. Human nature dissolves. Divine nature reveals.
I’d like to make sure I’m getting off on the right foot in understanding the text, so I have one overarching question that will either cause or answer numerous others, to be sure.
Many of the videos linked describe the language of Roots and Branches quite well, but does this apply even to those we’re reading right away, like Attaining the Worlds Beyond? I can see several instances in just the first two chapters where I can perceive a concept on a potentially higher level, even though it’s described in ‘this world’s’ terms, however there are many references to both the body (told to us referring to egoism) and to the ego directly – when the Kabbalists on the YouTube channel say that the Kabbalah texts “never refer to anything here in this lowest world”, does that mean even Attaining the Worlds Beyond, and even when it directly refers to concepts that we’re told only exist “here”?
In other words, how soon is too soon to begin to learn the language of Roots and Branches – are these texts we’re starting with written in that manner in their entirety, to some extent, or not at all..?
Hi Andrew, great questions!
The books we’re learning from help us to understand some of these concepts, these spiritual roots, but they do so in an everyday style of language. The language of roots and branches is what we find primarily within books like the Torah, the Zohar, the Study of the 10 Sefirot.
As for learning this language, this is not something that we can master by learning it, rather it comes with spiritual attainment. Without spiritual attainment, we cannot truly understand these things. It’s like a blind person that is trying to study colors. He can learn the wavelengths behind each one, the different feelings they all evoke, but ultimately he will never truly understand colors. But if this blind person was to undergo an operation and gain his sense of sight, how easy and simple it would be to teach him colors. We would simply point to it and say “this is red”.
It’s the same with the language of roots and branches. It’s currently impossible for us to truly grasp these things. But once we gain our “spiritual sight” we would pick these things up very easily and naturally.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/12/the-spiritual-decoder/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lisa, good question!
Above and below is referring to the root and branch or to cause and consequence. We learn that our world is on the level of branches. In order to make any change here, we need do so on the root level.
It’s like watching TV. Let’s say I’m watching a TV show and want to change something in the show. I can start yelling at the show or even turn it off, or go to sleep or make a thousand other actions, but ultimately it will not change the show itself. In order to make any change, I would need to go to the source. In this case maybe to contact the director or something.
This is how our world works. That we’re on the level of branches, like that end result of a TV show that was already made. And in order to make any change here, we need to go to the roots.
We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2009/09/the-law-of-roots-and-branches-the-most-imporant-law-in-kabbalah/
Albert @ KabU
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