- This topic has 360 replies, 140 voices, and was last updated 5 days, 14 hours ago by
.
- Replies
What does bestow to the Creator exactly mean ? If we say that the Creator is a giving force, so how does it that the Creator accepts us to bestow to him ? and practically speaking how does one bestow to the Creator ?
Hi Milo,
The Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. As such, He does not lack anything. Meaning He does not need us to bestow anything to Him. The only ones benefiting from this whole process is us.
Although we sometimes use the words that we perform a certain action in order to bestow to the Creator or to bring Him contentment, but in truth it’s just a game to help us to develop. Just like with kids, when we spoon feed them, they see the example from us and want to pick up a spoon and feed us back. Do we really need them to feed us? Of course not. But we still accept this from them, smile, show them how happy they made us by feeding us etc, since we know that through this game, they grow and develop. So ultimately the Creator is not lacking anything. And all of our attempts to bestow to Him are nothing more than a type of game for our own development.
Furthermore, the Creator is concealed. So we cannot even play this type of game directly with Him. Instead we need to use what is revealed, which are other people. Meaning that if we want to “bestow” to Him in practice, we do so by bestowing to other people. This is called going “from the love of the created beings, to the love of the Creator”.
Keep in mind that the foundation of this type of work is done in a small Kabbalistic group. And once we build a certain foundation there, we can add more and more layers on top of that, until we can include the whole world in that connection.
In the advanced semester everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group and learn how to do these things in practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2024/01/communicate-directly-with-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Question?
instinct /animal force is predetermined
is Intuition / spiritual force also predetermined?
thank you
Hi Giuseppina,
All of our thoughts and actions are driven by our egoistic nature, by the desire to receive. As such, on the level of our world, which is driven by this desire, there is no freedom. We’re simply carrying out our internal programming, like animals. This is why there are people out there that can very accurately predict the future (not that I’m recommending going to them, but this is just an example).
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/what-no-fortune-teller-knows/
Freedom begins when we rise above our egoistic nature through the help of the spiritual environment. Baal HaSulam talks about this in the article, the Freedom. He writes: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death.
Throughout the article he explains how our current egoistic nature is that angel of death. Meaning although we are technically alive and surviving, relative to spirituality, our life is considered death. True life is within a completely different nature, that of bestowal. In order to reach freedom from our current nature, we need to choose and build a spiritual environment for ourselves which will influence us with the importance of acquiring the quality of bestowal.
For this reason, the Kabbalists equate our main freedom in life in choosing to be influenced by a spiritual environment. Not just any environment, but specifically a spiritual environment, since only through the spiritual environment can we get the importance of coming out of our egoistic nature and only through that environment can we draw the light that can help us to actualize this.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Albert,
I wanted to know what exactly an “intention” is. Is it a desire? It would have to be wouldnt it? Or is it the desire behind the desire? the end goal of the desire? I know that all of my desires are selfish in nature, even if I’m not cognizant of them, because I can see that I’m bound by the chains of pain and pleasure, and the best I’ve been able to do is try to ignore this selfish aspect, but I always know its there, weather I ignore it or not, because I can see it if I start to think about it.
Alan watts had this saying that: “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”
I was cleaning coffee cups today…
And so at times I just try to ignore my thoughts and try lose myself in whatever I’m doing, not focusing on anything but the task at hand, and there is a certain peace of mind behind that because I’m so focused on my task that everything else melts away. For a moment; but I always worry that underneath it all there is always a selfish intention, weather I can see it or not, and sure enough every time I look, there it is, and so always I’m always a prisoner to myself in this way.
If the goal would be to enter a state of complete bestowal, where I’m not concerned anymore with what I get but only on how I can be useful to the world around me (I think, I only assume this because I want to achieve equivalence of form), but I wouldn’t be able to move towards that state unless I perceived some sense of pleasure out of it, even in a future sense or a sense of personal satisfaction, in being morally right, or more knowledgeable, or more spiritual, or even the pleasure in being able to clearly perceive the mind of the creator, which I would consider the pleasure above all others, because I know God only gives and I want to receive exactly what he wants to give me in trusting that he knows what I want better than I ever could. I’ve thought about this very much and have determined for my self (through guidance from what I’ve learned through Kabbalah and a certain amount of self analysis) that its actually not possible.
The problem I have basically, is that I feel like even if I ignore something doesn’t change the fact of the why behind what I’m doing something for, and that god is putting questions in my mind and feelings in my heart for a reason, and that I was meant to understand or else why would I have such a strong desire to?
and the frustration arises through that I feel like the sole means I have (my desire) of moving towards the goal (to do something without personal gain) is simultaneously pushing me away from it, since its impossible for me to be anything else.
I suppose I only have the hope that something good will come out of my selfish aspirations, since that’s the only thing I have to work with, like I’m a selfish little seedling, consuming the soil and water and sunlight, but that one day I will produce a type of fruit that will nurture the world around me.
Hi Oliver,
The intention is the direction of the desire. For whose sake am I activating a certain desire? For myself or to bestow to the Creator?
The more we analyze our intentions, the more we’ll see that we don’t have a true intention to bestow. That our nature is completely opposed to it. 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/
Albert @ KabU
Do I understand correctly that if the point in the heart within my soul appears, I will be automatically taken to the correct environment, i.e. without any arduous search on my behalf to find, for example, like‑minded friends?
Hi György,
The point in the heart is like a magnet that will pull you to where you can realize it. But even after it brings you to a good spiritual environment, you still need to strengthen your connection to that environment and constantly place yourself under its influence.
We’ll learn how to do this in the advanced semesters, where everyone will be grouped into virtual Kabbalah groups with whom you can put these things into practice.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/aspiring-to-a-point-of-equilibrium/
Albert @ KabU
If our will to receive governs all our choices, what is the first practical step to recognize the ‘point of freedom’ in real time, in an ordinary day?
Hi Isa,
Baal HaSulam talks about this in the article, the Freedom. He writes: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death.
Throughout the article he explains how our current egoistic nature is that angel of death. Meaning although we are technically alive and surviving, relative to spirituality, our life is considered death. True life is within a completely different nature, that of bestowal. In order to reach freedom from our current nature, we need to choose and build a spiritual environment for ourselves which will influence us with the importance of acquiring the quality of bestowal.
For this reason, the Kabbalists equate our main freedom in life in choosing to be influenced by a spiritual environment. Not just any environment, but specifically a spiritual environment, since only through the spiritual environment can we get the importance of coming out of our egoistic nature and only through that environment can we draw the light that can help us to actualize this.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
One of the ways we can do this in practice is to set aside some time to regularly return to the spiritual environment, meaning the Kabbalistic books, lessons, group, etc. Such a habit will help you throughout the entire spiritual ladder of development.
Albert @ KabU
If our initial thoughts & deeds are not under our control then how can we “choose” our environment? The statement sounds contradictory.
Hi Stephen,
You’re right that our initial choice of the spiritual environment is not up to us. This follows the saying that: the Creator puts man’s hand on the good fate and says “choose this for yourself”. Meaning He awakened your point in the heart and brought it to a good spiritual environment in which you can nourish it. Only after that, the rest is up to you.
So what needs to happen for me to start actualizing my free will here? After all, the point in the heart is seemingly forcing me to be here. If so, then this desire needs to be taken away from me little by little, and there I begin to reveal more and more the place of my 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.
So we too need to learn to continue to do 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. When that happens, we’ll feel a need for mutual work in the group, the spiritual environment. On one hand when I fall into my ego, they need to pull me out, and 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.
Albert @ KabU
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.