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It seems to me in this world money is freedom, and total lack is akin to slavery, what does the kabbalistic definition of freedom teach in this regard?
Hi Anthony,
Regardless of how much money a person has, they are still enslaved to their egoistic nature. This is why Kabbalists equate freedom with coming out of our egoistic nature.
See my reply 423419 to Mitch below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Are these four states explaining reincarnation in relation to the states of the soul? Can you please help check if my understanding comes close to the topic we are trying to understand:
1. first factor explains that the soul is unchanging no matter what garbs it takes on its outer form
2. second factor explains the ‘programs’ of that creates the desire to take garbs or outer forms for the sake of creation, but already has its own unique pattern
3. the third factor explains how the unique pattern of the soul responds to the outside factors (environment) that is still part of creation, touching the desires that make up the unique pattern
4. the fourth factor explains about the environment that keeps the soul in the cycle
I am probably coming at this from the point of view of karma (the law of cause and effect), and in my mind as I was listening to the video is that these are what keeps our desires entangled in the cycle, and that the environment is created specifically for the maturing of desires thus in the corporeal world there is really no free will because we (our desires) choose to be in the specific environment that bestows realization for the desires, which also means that the true free will is to switch to an alternate (albeit altruistic) desire that is to realize the unchanging soul (as in the first factor).
This is still too confusing for my mind. Please help enlighten my understanding. Thank you.
Hi Charles,
We can look at the four states from different points of view, including the development of the soul. But for now, we need to focus on the main takeaway, which is relative to reaching freedom. That if we want to reach freedom from our egoistic nature, we can do so through the influence of the spiritual environment.
See my reply 423419 to Mitch below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
If a person, say a high level Kabbalist who has attained bestowal, looks at the world, does he/she see only goodness? Or do they have to wait for the rest of humanity to attain bestowal before all the bad things we endure no longer exist? Or does the Kabbalist see the same things we see, violence, illness, suffering, but sees it all differently, sees that, although painful, it’s necessary for our growth.
Hi Chris,
I cannot give a blanket answer here, because as we change, our perception of the world changes as well. These changes can go from one extreme to another and can happen even from second to second. For example, people that appear to us as sickly and poor will appear to us as healthy and rich, or vice-versa (we’ll learn about this in depth in lesson 4 of this semester).
There are also different levels of correction, ranging from one’s one personal final correction up to the final correction of the whole world. Likewise our perception changes depending on where we are in the process.
Ultimately, the main takeaway from studying the perception of reality is that the whole world is found inside of us. As we grow and develop, our perception of the world will change as well. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see a dirty world in front of me. But the world is not actually dirty, it’s simply a reflection of my own state. So when I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Mitch,
In Kabbalah, we look at everything from the perspective of our desires. Freedom on the level of our desires means rising above our egoistic nature. As we learned in this week’s lesson, we do this by building for ourselves a strong 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
I come from a past of colonization and slavery. Pain is written in my DNA. How can this be corrected so the next generation does not suffer from ancestral traumas? Is this even possible and why did the Creator deemed it necessary for me to inherit this genetic background?
Hi Akosua Marie,
Depending on the root of our soul, each one gets exactly what they need for their specific correction.
And it’s not just our past history, but EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of life is arranged exactly as it needs to be for our correction. This is called “there is none else besides Him”.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
Furthermore, the Kabbalists also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering and problems in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to see and feel more suffering and bad things in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Is it realistic to be surrounded with people who share the same spiritual goal? We are spread all over the world. What is the solution to this?
Hi Zdravko,
There are KabU groups all over the world. And even if there isn’t one near you, there are always virtual groups.
Keep in mind that we’re not constantly surrounded by these people. We still have to work and take care of our families like anyone else. So the trick is to use those few moments every day where we connect to our Kabbalah group to fuel us with this connection internally for the rest of the day. So that no matter where we are or what we’re doing, we will always feel connected to the spiritual environment.
We’ll learn more about these things in the advanced semesters, where everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group with whom you can put these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
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