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Hi Simon,
There is a difference, but I wouldn’t go into it because Kabbalists are not interested in delving into philosophical debates between this or that, rather, Kabbalists are interesting in helping us reach true freedom, that is freedom from our egoistic nature.
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
Can you explain for what purpose we were given the illusion of free will and freedom of choice, by the creator?
Hi Joan,
We see from how we educate our kids that education is gradual. We don’t just throw our toddlers into the adult life of a 9-5 job and marry them off. Instead we bring them to a playground and give them special conditions for their level of development. And through those special conditions, which are essentially games or simulations, they grow and develop until they are ready for adult life.
Likewise with us, this world is like a playground for our development. And the feeling of freedom, although it’s an illusion, is still a necessary part for our level of development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/07/imaginary-and-true-freedom-part-3-absolute-freedom/
Albert @ KabU
Just going to say what I think: We as humans think we have free will but until we reach the spiritual level we do not have free will or we have what we perceive to be free will but we do not?
Hi Tracey,
It’s like a child in his room who thinks he’s the king of the world and has full control over everything there. He does not realize that his parents arranged every single detail in his entire room, giving him exactly what is beneficial for his current level of development, and not more than that.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/are-we-free-people-or-just-cogs-in-the-mashine/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lucy,
With our kids, generally not with words but through our own personal example. That’s the main way we have of teaching them. We need to also remember the rule that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. So we shouldn’t force our children to learn about spirituality if they don’t want it.
If you want a more detailed approach, there were a few dozen episodes with Rav Laitman where he goes into great depth of the proper approach to educating children. “New Life” episodes 203 – 219 were the main ones. Here’s a link.
Albert @ KabU
I’m alone, my immediate family is not interested in spirituality. My friends are in other states or countries and not interested in Kabbalah. How can I choose my environment and friends if I feel in exile?
Hi Lily,
The chances of getting an active point in the heart are like the chances of getting struck by lightning, meaning that it’s very rare. Even more rare that there is someone in your immediate circle of friends and family that will also have an active point in the heart. In other words, your situation is not unique to you, we’re all in the same boat.
The solution is that our spiritual environment is not made up of our immediate circle of friends and family, but rather it’s made up of other points in the heart that are on the path with us in KabU. At times these people can be close to you physically, but these days it’s more common that we connect to a virtual environment.
In the advanced semesters of KabU, everyone will be grouped up into small virtual Kabbalistic groups with whom you can start connecting and building your spiritual environment.
Albert @ KabU
I didn’t really understand here, can you clarify please. Does this mean a human can only achieve free will that fosters spiritual growth? is free will only applicable in the spiritual area? what about in the physical area? for example someone select to live very far away from the environment where he grew up, pick a different career he never thought about before? or for example in the example of Elon Musk he grew up in South Africa, and he strive and work on achieving his goal in an environment which was different from where he grew up and different ambitions from his parents, wouldn’t we consider it as free will? can you clarify, I am a little lost here. Isn’t there free will in the physical realm?
Hi Jul,
No matter what choices we make in our corporeal lives, we will continue to remain within our egoistic nature. The only way of reaching freedom from our egoistic nature is by choosing to be influenced by the spiritual environment.
See my reply #423419 to Mitch below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
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