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Many traditions pray for the dead. How is this viewed from a Kabbalistic point of view? Put another way, do prayers for the dead help the deceased soul?
Hi Beth,
Kabbalists view life and death in a completely different way. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for an example: https://laitman.com/2013/06/life-and-death-in-the-eyes-of-a-kabbalist/
But regardless of how Kabbalah views these things, don’t think that Kabbalists are against us following our traditions. Quite the opposite. Kabbalists write that even after the full spiritual correction, a person can keep their religious customs and traditions.
In other words, it’s encouraged to maintain your traditions even while studying Kabbalah. So if there are certain customs and traditions that your family is used to doing, if these things are not harmful to others, then by all means, keep doing them.
As for the spiritual corrections that we talk about in Kabbalah, these things have nothing to do with the actions we perform with our hands and feet, but rather these are internal corrections, corrections of our intention. We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Patty, good question!
The bible is written entirely in a type of code called the language of roots and branches. This code uses words of our world but speaks entirely about spiritual phenomena. To truly understand this code, we need to reveal spirituality. We do that by becoming similar to spirituality, to the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal. In other words, we need to correct our opposite egoistic nature to operate in the direction of bestowal. Only then, once we’re similar to spirituality, will we understand this code.
But not everyone is ready for such a correction. Only those with an awakened point in the heart feel the need for this. While the rest of the world prefers to just keep existing and operating within their egoistic nature. And that’s fine. After all, “there is no coercion in spirituality”. So we shouldn’t pressure anyone into this. If someone has the point in the heart, they will naturally aspire to fulfill it, if not, they will not.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details:Â https://laitman.com/2008/11/only-people-with-the-point-in-the-heart-can-feel-that-kabbalah-is-the-salvation/
Albert @ KabU
Hi. What is the meaning of Assiyah? because the end of this word is also the beginning of the expression of the divine name, which I find very interesting. Many famous prophets also had Jah/yah in their names, I love this it is so interesting
Hi Chris,
Assiyah (עשיה) means action.
See my post below for more details about the names of the spiritual worlds.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Chris,
The word Assiyah by itself means action. What you’re referring to is the ×™×” which is a part of this word, but more specifically it’s a part of the tetragrammaton, which is one of the names of the Creator.
But what is a name of the Creator? What does that even mean? How can we assign a name to Him?
Keep in mind that Kabbalah is a science with clear limits of what we can and cannot study. Kabbalah differentiate two parts to the Creator.
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 simply 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/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you. Bo-Re. I have never heard this before. Is that the וה part of the tetragrammaton? It makes sense because come and see is like what He said to Moses when he questioned Him and the writing says He gave him 2 examples, the staff and the leprous white hand, He proves Himself. This is so interesting, it is exactly what I need at the correct time
Hi Chris,
These are just 4 letters (yod hey vav hey), there is nothing to translate there. Keep in mind that in general these things are not translated because we don’t get anything from the translation. These things need to be felt. How do we feel them? Each time we correct our egoistic desires, within the corrected desire we reveal a certain spiritual phenomena. Only after we reveal that phenomena will we understand it. And since there are 4 levels of coarseness to our egoistic desires, corresponding to each level, there are 4 letters in the tetragrammaton. We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lesson dealing with the structure of the upper world.
Albert @ KabU
Hello.
On the topic of forbidden amulets and trinkets…
Is it considered idolatry to think, that a crystal from deep inside the earth, would have any healing properties?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Rune, good question!
In general, people define idolatry as worshiping anything other than the Creator. But in Kabbalah, it has a different and more internal meaning. Idolatry in Kabbalah means that a person serves himself, his ego, instead of serving the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. So everything we do to serve our ego is considered idolatry.
Here’s an excerpt from Rav Laitman’s words on this topic:
“At first Abraham himself made idols, meaning he taught people to worship egoistic desires for money, honor, knowledge. All our activities in this world are called making idols, idol worship, since we work for our egoism”.
As for amulets and such things, these things are not forbidden but rather they have nothing to do with spirituality, there no spiritual forces within such things. They only benefit us in a purely psychological way, similar to how the placebo effect works.
Albert @ KabU
Hi there,
Is there anyone presently, that has completed all the 125 steps and returned/achieved spiritual attainment?
Hi Lucy, good question!
A Kabbalist by definition is a person that has already attained spirituality, at least to a certain degree. Even the first out 125 degrees is also a certain level of spiritual attainment. There were many such Kabbalists throughout the generations. As for those that reached the state of the final correction, meaning completed all 125 degrees, the only example that we have is the group of Rabbi Shimon which wrote the book of Zohar. They were the pioneers that had to reach this state in order to pave the way for the rest of us.
For more details about the Kabbalists, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman:Â https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
Hello again,
Chapter2 of Attaining the Worlds Beyond talks about different paths, the Right which is the Providence of of the Creator regardless of our actions. The second is the Left path which is the Providence of the Creator as regards to our actions and the third is the middle path. Can you clarify further about each path and how we can know that which path we are on
Hi Ludumo,
On the one hand there is “none else besides Him”. Meaning that there is a single force behind ALL of reality. EVERYTHING comes from Him and I have no say in this whatsoever. On the other hand there is “if i’m not for me, then who is?” Meaning that EVERYTHING is in my hands and EVERYTHING depends on me, on which actions I will perform throughout the day.
We are working between these two extremes. But we shouldn’t fall into one extreme or the other, we need to learn how to combine these two things together. We’ll learn how to do this practically in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/10/if-i-am-not-for-myself-then-no-one-will-help-me/
Albert @ KabU
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