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I know that this question is a bit off topic. What is the role of the Sefer Yetzirah in the study of Kabbalah?
Hi Felix, good question!
There have been many Kabbalistic books written throughout the generation, including Sefer Yetzirah, but in our days, we focus mainly on the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their books contain the light that is most suitable to correct the level of egoism of our generation.
Let’s put a few things into perspective to understand this: Kabbalah is the method by which we correct our egoistic nature and as a result, we become similar to and reveal the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. Egoism grows from generation to generation. As such, the method for its correction needs to be adapted to the level of egoism that is found within each generation.
For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself. This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation.
So although there have been many Kabbalists from the past generations and they have left behind many books, we usually don’t focus on them. In our days we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details on Baal HaSulam and Rabash: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
We are told that Kabbalah started and practiced from the time of Abraham. What were the guiding principles of life before the time of Abraham.
Hi Ann, good question!
Kabbalah actually started around 6000 years ago with Adam. He was not the first one alive, but rather the first one to reveal the Creator by becoming similar to this quality of bestowal. So Adam was indeed the first Kabbalist. The reason why we sometimes attribute this wisdom to Abraham is because Abraham was a major milestone within this wisdom who adapted it to the people of his generation and turned it into a practical method.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/10/what-came-first-the-torah-or-the-wisdom-of-kabbalah/
Albert @ KabU
Amongst the books of enlightenment I have come across to land on the wisdom of kabbalah is a book written by Albert pike “morals and dogma” which through all its teachings point to kabbalah and you would understand that a spiritual enlightenment comes with a lot of questions according to the screen at which the message to the spirit is allowed in through our senses. How is the morals and dogma book connected to kabbalah? because it’s with so much enlightenment in hes writings aligned with the wisdom of kabbalah. Please help me understand.
Hello Timothy,
I’m not an expert in other spiritual methods, even those that seemingly teach “Kabbalah”, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. Regarding feeling spirituality, this works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that if we want to feel spirituality, we need to become similar to it, similar to the qualities of love and bestowal that reside there.
It’s similar to how a radio works. That we just need to tune the inner frequency of the radio to match the external wave. Once we tune in to the wave that we want, we right away hear the music that is on that wave. Likewise with us, once we tune ourselves in the direction of bestowal, we will reveal the spiritual world.
We’ll learn how to do this more practically in the more advanced lessons. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: http://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
In The Spiritual Path, it says the soul is put in the body, but I’ve also heard instructors say we don’t have a soul, just a point in the heart that we can choose to develop.
Also, isn’t the belief that the Creator has a purpose an a priori assumption that can’t be proved.  If we’re made to receive, why isn’t being egoistic fulfilling the will of the Creator?
And how does anyone know there are 620 parts of the soul. Â How is that arrived at?
Thank you for the fascinating lessons and your response.
Hi Esther, great questions!
1. The point in the heart is the beginning of this thing called a soul. The soul is the fully developed form of the point in the heart. See my response below 63205 to Michael for more details.
2. You’re right, we cannot speak about the Creator’s point of view because we never attain such a thing. Everything the Wisdom of Kabbalah talks about is based on what we can research and experience within our desires. We never speak about what exists outside of our desires. See my response below 126154 to Nicole for more details.
3. The purpose of creation is not simply to stuff us full of pleasure like we stuff a turkey, or to take some drug that’ll make us happy for the rest of our lives. The purpose is to elevate us to the highest best possible state, meaning to become similar to the Creator, to his qualities of love and bestowal. In other words, it’s not enough simply to receive, but we need to develop and become similar to Him.
4. 620 is the number of corrections that need to be placed over the spiritual desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow, 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow, and 7 additional desires that are corrected only in the final correction. All of these numbers come to us from the structure of the upper worlds and the Kabbalists that attained these things. We’ll learn how this number is derived in the more advanced lessons on KabU that deal with the structure of the upper worlds.
Albert @ KabU
I recently realized that many things I was taught from my family, school, and society eventually became a reality and my truth because I learned these things.
Now that I started learning Kabbalah, so I have different sensations and thoughts. How do I differentiate these new feelings if they come from spiritual experience or just imagination?
Hi Helen, good question!
We don’t yet have any true spiritual sensations, we’re still in the preparation period prior to the spiritual ladder. But once we start to do real spiritual work, we can measure our progress in our attitude towards other points in the hearts. That I’ll feel how my attitude towards them changes from complete indifference, all the way until I feel them as pieces of my soul. We’ll learn more about this in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hello, wonderful KabU team,
May I ask how Kabbalah help one to keep their thoughts elevated above judgement, and focused upon higher ways of living, being and thinking?
Much gratitude and many thanks,
Frankie (Shlomo)
Hi Francis, great question!
We’ll learn in the more advanced lessons that our thoughts are not our own, rather they are the result of the environment that we’re in. It’s like you have a seed in your hands. What will happen with that seed depends on the nourishment it will receive from the environment in which you plant it. Same with us, if we want our thoughts to be focused on higher things in life, then we need to plant ourselves in a good spiritual environment.
Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article the Freedom, here’s an excerpt: “He who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds.”
We’ll learn about this in depth in the next semester.
Albert @ KabU
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions, dear Albert. I appreciate your response. I know that my question didn’t necessary reflect anything from the ‘Week 1’ materials, but it had been a burning question of mine. I’m grateful for Baal HaSulam, too – I’ve been longing for a connection to a better environment where negative thinking and way of life is not the norm, and where my connection to nature can be nourished and fully explored; I yearn for this, especially.
Frankie
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