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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
Hello
For a long time I have had three desires in me:
The first, is to become one of the greatest filmmakers in existence.
The second is to invent technologies which will be to the benefit of mankind and all of nature.
The third is to see a world where all people from all different backgrounds live in harmony with each other. A world where Humanity has developed mentally and spiritually to the point that wars, starvation, and evil acts are a thing of the past.
My question is….if connection with the Creator is the only Worthy goal, does that mean that I must now forget all these other desires I have had. In as much as I want to live in harmony with the Creator, in as much as I want to reach equivalence of form with him, does that mean I must let go of my dreams and focus only on this particular goal?
Hi Ludumo, great question!
No, we don’t need to forget our dreams or fight with our desires. We only need to work on making the desire for spirituality the most important thing. Then naturally the rest of our desires will fall into place. For example, it’s like with an artist that is so involved in his art, that he fulfills all the rest of his desires out of necessity so he can quickly return to his passion. Same with us, when spirituality is the most important desire, then we will be able to properly relate to all the rest of our corporeal desires in a balanced way.
Regarding the first two desires you mentioned, keep in mind that Kabbalists are not monks, they don’t eliminate their desire or disconnect themselves from the corporeal life to live on some mountain top. Rather, Kabbalists continue to live on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder. So they continue to live in the normal way: to work in their profession, to take care of their family, health, etc.
As for the 3rd desire, this is actually directly connected to a person’s spiritual work. We’ll learn in the upcoming lesson on the perception of reality that everything outside of me is nothing more than a reflection of my own uncorrected egoistic state. As long as I’m not corrected, I will see in front of me a bad world, wars, suffering, starvation, etc. And when I correct myself, the external world will appear corrected as well. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect. In other words, we don’t need to become humanitarians or make any corrections in the external world, we only need to correct ourselves, and then we’ll see this correction reflected in the world.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
In Kabbalah For The Student, Rav Laitman writes, “…attainments or degrees of prophecy and Holy Spirit.” What is the Holy Spirit he is referring to?
Hi Miryam,
I think you’re referring to the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah” which was written by Baal HaSulam.
Regarding the holy spirit (Ruach ha Kodesh, in Hebrew) that he mentions there, Kodesh (holy) is referring to the quality of bestowal. Our nature is the opposite, the desire to receive pleasure. We correct this nature to operate in the direction of bestowal thanks to the light. The light is both the force that corrects this nature and it’s also the spiritual fulfillment we feel within the corrected desire to bestow. There are 5 levels of desire that we need to correct. Corresponding to each level is a certain light that corrects it and fulfills it (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida). The light that we receive from the 2nd level of bestowal is called Ruach ha Kodesh.
In other words, it’s one of the illuminations of light that we receive in order to correct ourselves. Or if we already corrected ourselves, then it’s the fulfillment that we receive in order to bestow.
It’s good that you asked and it’s good to redefine these things from the typical connotations of these words to their proper Kabbalistic definitions so we don’t start picturing all sorts of “spirits” and other such things when hearing these words.
Albert @ KabU
Kabblah is considered as a Science.Is it possible to attain spirituality through Science? How we practice Kabblah to attain spirituality?
Hi Suresh, good questions!
Spirituality operates according to very precise laws. We attain spirituality by becoming similar to it. This follows the law of equivalence of form.
For more details, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman:Â https://laitman.com/2011/06/a-science-about-the-world/
And see my replies below to Binux as well as to John.
Albert @ KabU
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