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Hello dear teachers and fellow students.
My question is whether our desire (or will to receive) is egoic in nature or if our desire can go in 1 out of 2 directions, one of them being egoic and another altruistic? Also do the 0-4 levels of desire only relate to it’s egoic aspect which would be in contrast to altruistic desire which draws our closer to the Creator instead of away from Him? Ooh I just had a thought occur, do the 0-4 levels relate to the 125 steps of discent and assent of Light which one must climb in order to connect with and know our Creator?
Thank you so much!
🙂
Hi Poli, great questions!
Our desire is egoistic by nature. True altruism does not exist on the level of our world. Bestowal is the Creator’s nature. While our nature is that of pure reception. So it’s impossible for us to truly bestow. At best we can perform more and more covert actions of reception. For example, I go to the store and I give them my money, but obviously I want something in return. It’s the same with all of our actions of bestowal in corporeality. Either I do it to receive pleasure directly or indirectly from fame, honor, money, or even the pride of knowing that no one knows about this action, or even avoiding pain or guilt is also part of this same calculation.
So real bestowal, above any calculations for receiving for oneself, does not exist in our world. Real bestowal is purely the Creator’s quality. If we want to acquire such a quality, we first need to correct our nature. This is done by the force of the light we evoke through the Kabbalistic studies. This light begins to work on us, even if we don’t have the true desire to bestow. Even if we’re just like little kids, pretending to be spiritual grown ups. It takes this aspiration of ours and corrects it little by little, building in us a true desire for spirituality, for the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Regarding levels 0-4, this is talking about the size of the desire and not whether it’s egoistic or altruistic. And yes there is a connection between the size of the desire and the spiritual level that we attain. The bigger the desire, the higher the spiritual degree we attain when we correct it. Which is why in Kabbalah we don’t work on eliminating the ego, but only on rising above it.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
In this chapter on the Spiritual Path it states that all of our perceptions are responses to Divine acts the Creator has produced in us and our feelings are only what He wants us to feel. So if I experience a lot of negative or bad feelings why would He want me to feel that way?
Hi Linda, great question!
We learn that the Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. Every single moment He sends us nothing but goodness. This is called “there is none else besides Him” and “He is the good that does good”. But why don’t we sense this goodness? It’s because we’re opposite to Him. Our opposite egoistic nature inverts this goodness into something bad. It’s like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative, equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to suffer more and more in life. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
We’ll learn more about this in the next semester, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Pooya, good question!
Everything that we achieve is in accordance with the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that in order to reveal something, we need to become similar to it. It’s just like a radio receiver that can catch different external frequencies by matching them on the inside.
So in order to reveal our life’s source, in order to reveal the Creator, we need to become similar to Him, to His qualities of love and bestowal. We’ll learn more about these things in depth in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
How does Kabbalah define evil?
I’ve always looked at it as a lack of good. Just like darkness is the absences of light.
An article or two would very much be appreciated.
Hi Nicole,
Evil is the force that is opposite to the Creator. The Creator is the pure force of love and bestowal. We were created opposite from Him, in the pure force of reception, or egoism. This opposite egoistic force is called evil.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
Albert @ KabU
I have read all the replies. All the Blogs. I have just one question. If we do not have a written copy of an actual timeline of real people and events in the Torah, Ketuvim, Nevi’im then why do we have history that says we do? Some of it is very off don’t get me wrong I know Rameses II cannot be linked to Moshe or an actual exodus from an archeological standpoint (although I do know a time in history that can). But what about the events and people that can be established with both time and date and names as proof this did in fact happen etc…? Is this just a coincidence. I have a hypothesis and I would like to know your answer to see if I am right. Is all of our Kabbalistic text gematria and the study of shapes i n letters so we can reveal the hidden code? or was some of this actual history that is not only established but proven in both archeology and accepted world history. Please understand I am in not way challenging any knowledge you share. I am trying to use what you are telling me to quell my own ego of how the forces of nature actually work. Thank you for your responses
Hi Richard,
The Torah is entirely written in a type of code called the language of roots and branches. This code uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. So none of it is literal. On the other hand there is a law that every spiritual root must touch the corporeal branch at least once. Meaning although these are spiritual phenomena, they must have a corresponding corporeal branch in our world.
For example, Egypt represents the uncorrected egoistic desire while Israel represents the corrected desire, those are the roots. But in our world these things exist as branches as well. There is actually a physical place that is called Egypt and Israel. Still, despite all the above, the Torah is not a history book, not a single word of the Torah speaks about our world, history, morals, etc.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
If you’re interesting in learning how to properly decipher the Torah, check out the books: Disclosing a Portion or The Secrets of the Eternal Book.
Albert @ KabU
So in short, you answered my question and my guess was right. The stories may have been borrowed from actual events and written in such a way that the kabbalists coded events that sometimes did happen. I can see how the numbers dont add up on dates (I have tracked many over the years from many stories), and that no archeological evidence is often found about most of the tnk (Tanak). That is not to take away from what people believe, its just what really fueled my thirst for knowledge. My studies revealed the torah was written by about 5 different schools of different ages over the years. So it is easily feasible in both practical and spiritual sense that was enough time to actually “conceal” real meaning behind similar folklore of that time. I can see this happening more and more in most books.
1. I do have to agree, I do not feel an actual Kabbalist wrote the new testament, however I can see a lot of Kabbalah in the early Judeo (Before it was totally Christian) church. Was Kabbalah under the rule of Rome suppressed by religion? If so I am curious if this is also how some of the myths started and became a religion?
2. I agree that religion in the slang sense is indeed the end of spirituality, but in and of itself is not a bad word. It simply means “way of life” on this corporeal plane. Does it mean something else in the spiritual worlds?
3. I feel the desire to constantly seek spirituality, but I don’t always feel the same feeling of connection or like I could connect. Does this come and go at first? Or is the desire not a feeling at all and more like a drive and a need to fulfil? I have to often ask myself if this is why some say Kabbalist could go mad, its a very perplexing feeling that is really not able to be explained, yet something I miss when I notice its gone.
4. I see those books you recommended are in an actual bundle, and I have been refraining from buying the Zohar for over 10 years now, this might be the time I finally buy it as i would love to start understanding more about Kabbalah. I haven’t bought the Zohar yet because like most texts I didn’t really feel that I would truly understand it; that it would be written in code or Gematria like the torah is. And I did not feel i knew enough to even start reading it. However it looks like if i buy these others i can read those and slowly start on the Zohar when it makes more sense to do so. Very tempting to say the least to get all of them at once
Hi Richard,
Not quiet. The stories were not borrowed. These are not stories that a person sits down, thinks up, and writes in an interesting way. Rather these words are a type of code which uses words of our world to describe their corresponding spiritual roots. Each spiritual root has only one corresponding branch. So if a Kabbalist wants to describe a specific spiritual phenomenon, he has no choice but to use that exact corresponding branch.
Check out the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” by Baal HaSulam for more details: https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/DdbFBXFd?language=en
1. After the destruction of the 2nd temple, Kabbalists themselves hid this wisdom because they saw that humanity was not yet ripe for it. This concealment gave room for different religions to spring up. But this is not something bad, but rather a necessary stepping stone in the process of development of humanity.
2. Kabbalists see religions as customs and traditions of each nation, which they are in favor of preserving.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/10/religions-place-in-our-lives/3. It’s a common misconception, but no one goes crazy from studying authentic Kabbalah. Authentic Kabbalah deals with the correction of a person’s egoistic nature and as a result, the revelation of the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal, in our lives.
As for our desire for spirituality, if we were driven only by the desire that was given to us, then we would be no different than robots. There is a saying that the Creator puts man’s hand on the good fate and says “choose this for yourself”. Meaning that He awakened our point in the heart which forces us to want spirituality. If so, how then can we reach any sort of freedom in this system? This desire then needs to be taken away from us little by little, and there we begin to reveal more and more the place of our freedom.
This is similar to how we teach a child to ride a bike. First the parent holds the child completely. Then as the child learns to pedal and balance himself, the parent lets go a little, then a little more and a little more, until the child continue to pedal without the parent holding him at all.
In other words, the more we advance, the more that our desire for spirituality will feel smaller and smaller. So we need to learn how to continue this work even when that initial desire for spirituality begins to disappear or when the ego grows and begins to pull us into many different directions. Here there is already a need for mutual work in the Kabbalistic group. On one hand when I fall into my ego, the group pulls me out. On the other hand I need to help pull others out when they fall. This is why Kabbalists have always studied in groups (physical or virtual).
We will learn more about this in the more advanced semesters on KabU, where you’ll receive your own Kabbalah group with whom you can practice these things.
4. You’re right, more important than reading the Zohar is knowing how to extract the maximum light, the maximum benefit from reading it. Otherwise the benefit of reading the Zohar is relatively small. If you’re interested in learning how to do that, you can check out the Zohar self study course or the book Unlocking the Zohar.
Zohar Self study Course: https://kabuconnect.com/courses/enter-the-zohar/
Unlocking the Zohar book: https://www.kabbalahbooks.info/products/unlocking-the-zohar?_pos=1&_sid=2b32d7354&_ss=r&variant=34618001817733
Albert @ KabU
I bought the books you suggested to better understand this, Thanks for your clarification. I will try to read the Zohar but not as a story of face value but rather just become exposed to it as a great Kabbalistic work. For now I’ll focus on the lessons in front of me, I fully intend on becoming a full Kabu member at the end of this course. I want to finish what I started. Until then I have a few items in front of me from this school and Rav M. Laitman that I can better aquatint myself with the kind of thinking that needs to be embedded in my new perception of what is and what is not. I am currently reading the book you suggested about unlocking the true meaning of the Torah. Thanks again for all your responses. I will tread lightly with the Zohar until I am in that class I am just hoping that reading it shows my ego I am indeed full of desire and will not be stopped from finding the answers my soul requires. I guess owning it is more of an ego thing as well even though I wanted it to be for spiritual reasons. I have always wanted to own my own copy of the Zohar for reasons i do not know.
Hello my question is. I understand that “There is non else besides him” is not a mantra or ward against “evil” but an attainment.(a specific degree). But sometimes it is all I can fall back on or bring forth to stave off the constant barrage of criticism and accusations etc. Posed by my inner dialog . Almost as a last refuge to my thoughts , something to clutch on to with a desperation so as not to be pulled under the ocean of overwhelming despair . Also I also remind myself “He is the Good that does Good” when faced with things that seem dark or bad. Is this considered improper
Hi David,
Holding on to “none else besides Him” internally is perfectly fine. The only issue is if this would stop us externally. Externally we continue to exist on the level of this world. So we need to take care of all of our problems in the normal way that is customary to take care of these things. So if I’m sick, I go to the doctor. If I’m jobless, I don’t just sit around waiting for a job, rather I go job hunting. If someone is harassing me, I stop them, sue them, etc. In other words, seeing everything as coming from a single benevolent force is our internal work. Externally though, we must keep living and operating our lives in the normal way.
We’ll learn more about these things in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
Albert @ KabU
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