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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
Hi. My name is George. I’m from Melbourne, Australia.
My first question is this: If I do not have free will, if all my thoughts, desires and actions are orchestrated by the Creator, notwithstanding the altruistic intention behind these events, can we attribute the current war in the middle east, or of the many murders and rapes that take place each day around the world to the Creator? Quite honestly, at what point do we take responsibility for our own actions?
My second question is this: If the Creator is this universal force of benevolence and love is, therefore, the governing principal of the universe, then how is it possible for love to be true without free will, particularly given there cannot be any coercion in spirituality (given the Creator is incapable of asking for anything from His act of giving)?
Thanks.
Hi George,
1. We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they 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 wars 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 horrors 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/
2. I’m not sure I fully understand the question, but we do have a certain measure of freedom, which is in choosing the environment that will influence us. See my reply 357064 to Leyah below for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Shalom Seth
Would I be correct in framing the message in this vid as follows:
Level one – The four elements that make up man (fire / earth / air / water) with a sprinkling of stardust of course. 🙂
Level two – The parts of me I’m born with, gender, personality, weaknesses and strengths.
Level three – The environment I’m born in, country, city/ town, parents, school, peers etc.
Level four – Whom I choose to associate with and how I choose to perceive my experiences and how/ where I choose to nourish my Soul.
Hi Leyah,
It depends on the context, but yes you can say that.
The main takeaway from this lesson is that every moment we’re under fixed deterministic laws which we have no direct control over. Like placing a seed in a ground and the seed is completely powerless to do anything about what happens to it.
But, we do have the choice of WHERE to place that seed. If we place it in the desert, nothing will come out of it. If we place in a good nourishing environment, then that seed can grow and develop properly.
Likewise with our spiritual work, if we place ourselves under the influence of a good spiritual environment, then we can get the proper nourishment to develop spiritually. Essentially our entire spiritual life depends not on our own strength and willpower, but on our choice of the spiritual environment. Everything else is a result of that choice.
Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article “The Freedom”. Here’s an excerpt:
“However, there is freedom for the will to initially choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart to him good concepts. If one does not do that, but is willing to enter any environment that appears to him and read any book that falls into his hands, he is bound to fall into a bad environment or waste his time on worthless books, which are abundant and easier to come by. In consequence, he will be forced into foul concepts that make him sin and condemn. He will certainly be punished, not because of his evil thoughts or deeds, in which he has no choice, but because he did not choose to be in a good environment, for in that there is definitely a choice.
Therefore, he who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds.”
We’ll learn how to do this practically in the advanced semesters, in the meantime check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
I like the part about our ignorance. I truly, really, seriously don’t know anything and understand nothing. The more aware I become, the more I see the business of this world as fake. I am becoming cynical about everything. I feel everybody is trying to sell me stuff or trying to convince of something. Is this normal or is it me going crazy given the current state of the world?
Hi Loyda,
It’s normal. We go through many states on the spiritual path. Many ups and downs, cloudy states and states of great insight, and everything in between. The main thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic lessons, and it will balance everything out.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
I don’t not have a question but I wanted to share the gratitude I have for the message In the video: Free Will The four factors. By the end of the video I was in tears(Joyful tears) at realizing the creator brought me here to the proper environment to learn from all you wonderful Souls❤️
Thank you all so very much for offering these teachings to each of us to aid in each of our development to correct the collective Soul!
May Hashim always bless each of you!
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