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do we really have freedom in choosing environment? sometimes it feels the environment were created and chosen for us by invisible hands.
for those who didn’t get corrected in a life time, upon return will they start from scratch? I remember reading 125 steps of correction.
when we are all corrected, will we become one soul again and only live in the spiritual world with no individuality and no more physical world?
Hi Helen,
1. You’re right, 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.
2. The rule is that “one is raised in holiness and never lowered.” So even if we don’t finish our full correction, nothing is lost, it’s an accumulative process.
3. In our current state, we don’t have the tools to measure what happens after the final correction. So instead of philosophizing about it, the science of Kabbalah does not talk about that state at all. We’ll have to reach that state first and then see for ourselves what is the next step of our development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/03/a-door-to-the-unknown/
4. The four factors can be confusing. If it helps, you can say that the fourth factor is the ability to choose to be under the influence of the third factor. But once I place myself under their influence, the rest is already a result.
In any case, if you understand the main takeaway from this lesson, that the road to freedom is in choosing/building a good spiritual environment for ourselves, then I wouldn’t worry about the details of the four factors.
Albert @ KabU
in addition. from the video and also some books I read that only the 4th factor we have some room of freedom. but in the interactive material, 2nd image, it seems to state factor #3 as Rav/group/books etc. is it possible the designed of the graphic put the description at the wrong factor? please check, otherwise it’s very confusing.
thanks
Helen
I’m confused by what it means that “the root of our soul” lies in our environment…it was a question on the quiz. Can someone elaborate?
Hi Heather,
We’re all part of a single system, like cells within a single body. The root of our soul is our particular place within this body.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
As for the root of the soul being in the environment, it’s because each one of us is just a cell within the body. On its own, each cell is lifeless. It’s only by connecting the cells together into a greater body is there an opportunity for life to flow between them.
This is why all of our work is in the spiritual environment. It’s specifically in the spiritual environment where we begin the work of reconnecting these cells together. And it’s in that same place where we reveal the spiritual life between us. So all of our work, our point of freedom, the root of our soul is all found within the spiritual environment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
Albert @ KabU
do kabbalists believe the in reality?
i believe the free will discussion is better phrased in terms of determinism. as stated in the videos, our dna (out of our control) determines our brain’s internal wiring and proclivities towards a life of crime or spiritual experiences. our initial state is formed by prenatal care, cultural experience, geographic location, etc. none of it in out control. neuroscientists have mapped out brain regions, how neurons trigger and retard currents, and even how memories are formed and accessed. every one of these processes follows deterministic cause and effect. every state we perceive relies on the state prior. therefore, you can’t build a free will device, along any axis, from deterministic components. note that these things don’t just influence our decisions, but are 100% responsible for making them.
how then can one “choose” to study kabbalah or “choose” an intent? such a “choice” must be as pre-determined as everything else. to believe in reality and free will, even a single axis of free will, falls into the “ghost in the machine” argument.
of course that argument assumes reality exists and consciousness and free will are illusions. alternatively, one could argue that reality does not exist, and that the “ghost in the machine” argument is is built upon the fallacy of the “delusional gamer” who believes the “matrix” is reality. hoffman’s work on a collective consciousness projecting “reality” and nima arkani-hamed’s work on the amplituhedron which suggests that time and space are emergent, both support such a notion.
what does kabbalah have to say on the topic?
does reality exist, and if so, where is the mechanism for the free will of intent.
Hi Jason,
Based on the research of the Kabbalists, we can say that reality exists within our desires. We experience the current reality in our desire to receive pleasure. When we correct that desire, direct it towards love and bestowal, we will experience a different reality: spirituality.
But one way or another, everything that Kabbalists ever talk about is the reality that is experienced within our desires. Even when they talk about an upper force, the Creator, etc. These are all phenomena experienced within our desires. This is why there are so many different names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator, and thereby give it a different name.
As for reality itself, how it exists outside of our desires, such a thing is not scientifically attainable, so Kabbalists don’t talk about it. Kabbalists are after all scientists, not philosophers.
Check out these articles for more details:
https://laitman.com/2012/12/philosophy-a-building-without-a-foundation/
https://laitman.com/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Shamati 3. The Matter of Spiritual Attainment
As for the topic of free will or freedom, this week’s lesson videos centered around that. You should watch the two videos on the topic if you have not done so yet.
Albert @ KabU
How to get the right environment to the group, and how to know that it is the group I should work with
Hi Milos,
When the point in the heart awakens, it pulls a person to the place where it can get realized. So when a person finds such a place, there is a certain inner resonance, a click where a person feels that he found the right place for himself.
So no one can tell you if this is the place for you or not, you need to feel it for yourself. This follows the rules that “there is no coercion in spirituality” and “one studies only where one’s heart desires”.
As for finding a group, for those who choose to continue their studies in KabU, in the advanced semesters, everyone will be paired up into virtual groups and taught how to do spiritual work in a Kabbalistic group.
For those that graduate KabU, there is an option to continue in the same KabU virtual group or to join a local KabU group in your city/country.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Milos,
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
I have always felt that the freedom of choice that we seem to enjoy is an illusion. That is why the teachings of kabbalah resonates so much with me. I understand where this freedom lies and how to achieve it from the teachings of Kabbalah and I will definitely attempt to achieve (or begin that journey of climbing out of my limited perception of my reality) in this lifetime.
I don’t seemm to have any doubts about this and no questions and as a student of Kabbalah, we are supposed to have, isn’t it? Is there something wrong with me?
Thank you.
Ranga
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