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HI Albert. In your response below to Nick you say that being virtual 100% is not enough. Where I live there are no Bnei Baruch groups, just one of those Kabbalah Centers, which after studying their material I knew wasn’t correct for me. Nor am I able to travel. I did join the online zoom session for the first time last week and it was a good feeling to be among others on this path even virtually. I walked away elated. But that will likely be the extent of my participation with others.
I am a senior, likely one of the oldest people newly registered here, and I feel strongly that I am able to ascend and attain, that I can already feel progress in that direction. And I have long known that I am attuned to the spiritual environment and past incarnations. But your comment about this not being enough goes along with Rav Laitman’s comment on a vid I watched saying it will take 20-30 years of study concerns me just a bit. I do not have 20-30 years left in this incarnation and I’m not traveling anywhere other than spiritually.
I believe that everyone is at a different stage, different level in their ascent back up the ladder, even if they are unaware that there even is a ladder. And I believe that everyone must travel the road given by the Creator, as that is the correct path for each individual. My desire is strong, my intention equal. I do not want to feel that I will miss my mark as they say, because I am here so late in this lifetime and because my path is truly deep within myself.
Hi Sheila,
I’m sorry, my previous answer on this topic of a virtual connection was incomplete. If the Creator leaves a person with no choice but a purely virtual connection, then it is enough. For example, if a person was imprisoned and his only connection to the spiritual environment was through books, then that is enough for him to correct his soul.
But for the rest of us, who were not imprisoned, it’s highly encouraged to supplement the virtual connection with occasional physical gatherings. It could be once a week, once a month, once a year, etc.
These things will be more relevant for us in the advanced semesters of KabU, when everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group with whom they can put these things into practice. And for those interested in local KabU groups, after graduating from KabU there is an option to be put in contact with other KabU students in your area.
Regarding the age at which a person finds Kabbalah, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2018/03/is-it-worthwhile-for-an-older-person-to-study-kabbalah/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you Albert. I have read this page before but when you posted I started to feel bad, that maybe I was deluding myself. I had felt that the Creator actually had given me quite the gift in this incarnation, all the obstacles presented now seeming more like steps to get here. This life was filled with nothing but obstacles except for a spiritual essence that ran through it, just not clear how to use it or what to gain. Finding myself here seemed to give that clarity, and I have been joyful and determined. And feeling the touch of the Creator sometimes too. Feeling a little ascension across the barrier sometimes. Until I read how it wasn’t enough. I expect the Creator gave me this lesson too, as there is None Besides Him. And I will continue now, with Joy. Thank you. I needed that.
How can we start working on that collective consciousness? I mean, now, in our daily life. Since I started this amazing journey into Kabbalah wisdom, a sort of urgency is arising inside of me. The urgency to put myself at the service of this goal, starting from where I am today. Maybe it is my Ego talking but at the end this is what I am today, and it is from here that I can start. Thank you so much!
Hi Manuela,
Reaching that collective consciousness is against our nature. So we cannot just make that switch with our own strength. As such, all we can do and all that is required of us is to aspire to it. Such an aspiration, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, helps to extract the force of the light. It’s ultimately the light that makes all the changes on us. Our work boils down to extracting more and more of the light, and it does all the rest.
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
how come the creator doesn’t place the wheat in the right environment when it’s ready or something? you know like he does when we develop the point in the heart?
i keep thinking that this idea that we have a point of freedom precisely in this aspect is also just an illusion, since tony says that the creator places us in the environment. i also remember in the beginning of the lesson where there’s like some distinction between when it’s all automatic and then at the end the creature has a choice… isn’t it still (all of it) automatic? are we though making a distinction of some kind between when we perceive it as free will, and therefore balance the “two lines” or something?
Hi Michael,
You’re right that true freedom is not something automatic but takes much development to reach, even after we come to Kabbalah.
See my answer 359398 to Al below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Hi there
I know this may be somewhat of a loaded question, as Bnei Baruch hosts and encourages the virtual environment for the study of Kabbalah, but do you feel that the virtual environments are as effective as something in person?
Almost 12 years ago when I first discovered Kabbalah, I found an in-person group that was associated to Bnei Baruch right here in the city that I live in. I attended one meeting, but unfortunately during that period of my life I wasn’t quite ready to engage with the group as the Creator had other plans for developing my soul.
Today I looked up on Google Maps whether the place still existed, and it appeared that it did. But when I went over to the building I discovered that the group no longer met in person after COVID-19, and the host of the group had since moved to Israel.
We have the Kabbalah Centre here in Los Angeles, but I have been there before and find that there is something less authentic / more mainstream about it, but maybe I am mistaken in this assumption. Should I continue to seek out a local group that studies this wisdom, maybe by even stopping by the Kabbalah Centre again? Or is virtual studies and group sessions truly sufficient to build the connections needed to break the spiritual barrier?
Thanks again for all of your hard work
Hi Nick,
That is correct that since the pandemic, the majority of the physical Bnei Baruch groups around the world closed and became virtual. But since the pandemic ended, groups have started meeting up physically again. They usually gather once a week and also for the Kabbalah conventions that take place every few months. There is still a Bnei Baruch group in LA. If you’re interested in joining them, you’ll have the chance after you learn about work in the group in the advanced semesters of KabU.
Is the virtual environment enough? Being 100% virtual is not enough, which is why we supplement the virtual connection with a few physical Kabbalah conventions every year. There is also a yearly KabU retreat around September. All of these things give us the necessary impressions to continue our work, even when we return to our daily virtual connections.
As for looking for non Bnei Baruch groups, I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. There are many groups that teach “Kabbalah”, but whether they actually teach Kabbalah is a question. Ultimately, there is no coercion in spirituality, if you choose to follow another path or stay on this one is up to you.
Albert @ KabU
Last week’s topic was “none else beside Him”. This week we learn that there is some little point of free choice we have. If every one of our perceptions and thoughts comes from above, from the creator, how is free will possible at all. It’s a paradox to me.
Hi Al,
There is none else besides Him does not mean that we have no free choice. It means that we are in a closed system with absolute forces and laws. We cannot change these laws, but we can consciously work on putting ourselves under their influence in order to speed up our development.
That is our place of freedom. How do we do this? How do we put ourselves under the influence of these forces and laws even stronger? By choosing/building for ourselves a strong spiritual environment.
See my reply 357064 to Leyah below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
It makes perfect sense to me, that it is the choice of environment that gives me the biggest leverage for the smallest amount of willpower. It’s where my free choice can make the biggest difference. How I understand what Tony says in the video, though, is that there is no free will at all, except in the choice of environment. If that’s how it is, I can’t make sense of where that free will comes from. I mean, why do I choose one environment over the other? Because of the conditions in my previous environment. Looking at it that way, it’s an endless chain of cause and effect.
So it’s not about free will vs. no free will, but about effective vs ineffective use of will? That way, it would make sense to me.
Thank you for your quick response!
Hi Al,
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. 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
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