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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
It says we have a choice in choosing the environment, and that’s our only freedom (at least initially). But isn’t my choice of environment also determined by my nature|nurture etc? That is, I was born with a certain inclination towards spirituality, and then was blessed with a good environment in my childhood — doesn’t this predispose me to choose the right environment later, just as someone else would have been predisposed to choose (say) a criminal environment?
Hi Elena, good question!
When we say choosing the environment is our freedom, we mean that freedom from our egoistic nature is possible only when we choose for ourselves a strong spiritual environment.
Meaning it’s not a philosophical debate of nature vs nurture or whether we have free will or not, but rather it’s a very practical application of what we’re learning: if we want to rise above our ego, we need to choose a strong spiritual environment that will support us with that goal.
It’s just like if I have a goal of wanting to lose weight, I sign up to the gym and start reading health articles. Why? Because I want to be influenced by people with similar goals, so I can have the strength to do the actions that the goal requires.
Likewise here, if I have the goal of rising above the ego and reaching spirituality, I need to constantly place myself under the influence of the spiritual environment, meaning the Kabbalistic lessons, books, teachers, group, etc.
What about all the other environments that we find ourselves in? We continue to exist on the level of this world, so we must continue to be part of all the other environments to some extent as well. I continue to work, take care of my family, health, etc, all in the normal way. But beyond that, I set aside some time to regularly return to the spiritual environment and be influenced by it.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
Referring to this week’s reading from Kabbalah for the Student p.385.
I am puzzling over the meaning of this quote:
“Make for yourself a Rav, and buy for yourself a friend.”
Could you please explain the meaning of this and how it relates to “freedom”?
Thank you,
David
Hi David,
Freedom means rising above our egoistic nature. If we want to do that, we need to be influenced by a strong spiritual environment that has that goal.
Just like if I want to lose weight, I sign up to the gym, maybe get a personal trainer, read health articles, pair up with a friend to motivate each other, etc. Likewise here, if I want to reach freedom from the ego, I need a spiritual environment that will influence me and support me in that direction.
The spiritual environment consists of the Kabbalistic teacher (Rav), group (friends), and books or lessons. So the quote “make for yourself a Rav and buy for yourself a friend” is talking about the need to place yourself under the influence of the spiritual environment so you can have the strength to come out of the ego and reach spirituality.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
How do I recognize the Point in the Heart within myself?
What does it mean to “accelerate development” spiritually?
How do I find the right environment for my soul’s growth?
Can you explain how the Four Factors apply to daily life decisions?
What’s the difference between spiritual freedom and psychological freedom
Hi Kebede,
1. The point in the heart keeps pushing and pulling us until we come to the place where we feel that we can satisfy that desire. So those with a ripe point in the heart would feel what we’re learning here resonates with them. If not, they may need to search elsewhere until they find what resonates with them. This follows the rule that “one studies only where one’s heart desires”.
2. The end goal is already set: complete adhesion with the Creator, with His qualities of love and bestowal. If we want to accelerate our development towards that goal, we need to place ourselves into a good spiritual environment that will constantly influence us in that direction.
This is similar to how if we take the goal for ourselves to get into shape, then we go to the gym and get inspired by the people in the gym to keep working out. Likewise with our spiritual work, we need to find or build for ourselves such an environment that will push us towards developing spiritually.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
3. If you want to continue with KabU, in the graduate semester, everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can start to build for themselves a good spiritual environment.
4. The main takeaway from the four factors is that if we want to reach freedom from our egoistic nature, then we need to place ourselves in a good spiritual environment. If you understand that, that’s enough to implement the four factors in practice.
5. Spiritual freedom means freedom from our egoistic nature. That is what we hope to achieve through Kabbalah.
Albert @ KabU
In this life, everything is all planned out by the Creator already, which makes sense when we are in a state of receiving for receiving and even receiving to bestow. Our thoughts, decisions, every moment of our existence is receiving of some sort. Once we become like the Creator, the state of true bestowal, does free will change, or will the Creator always be writing our story?
Hi Sean,
Becoming like the Creator takes 125 steps. This is the whole focus of our current work. Our current research tools are incapable of researching anything beyond that point, so the science of Kabbalah does not talk about it. Once we get there, we’ll see what is next.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/what-happens-after-the-final-correction/
Albert @ KabU
Hi, if I buy the online sessions for the upcoming retreat, how interactive is it, is there some zoom participation, or is it just watching videos for 3 days?
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