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I have a question regarding attributes of the creator. It seems that within us is a desire to reduce, minimize, alleviate, or even eradicate suffering, at least as much as possible. This desire seems to be altruistic at its core.
I cannot speak for others, but I myself have become very focused on this and it seems to be my driving force. However, it seems that from the lesson that suffering is an integral part of the process and not necessarily “evil”.
If naturally the will to relieve or reduce suffering is within us, at least once we awaken it, then would this not be in-line with the attributes of the Creator, which is unconditional altruism?
However, if it is in the Creator’s nature to create a system that includes suffering, and it is in our nature to try and rise above this by minimizing the suffering we see in the world, then how would this contradiction be harmonized?
Any thoughts on or deeper exploration of this idea would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
LuxHi Lux,
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 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
Could you please talk about the 600,000 souls? If we are millions of people, what is the equivalent?
Hi Lily,
600,000 is less of a quantitative number and more of a qualitative number. It represents the strength of the spiritual desire after it has been fully corrected. So essentially all of humanity is included in this number.
Check out this blog post to see how this number is derived: https://laitman.com/2010/09/love-and-hatred-of-600000-souls/
Albert @ KabU
I’m confused about the role of the physical/egoistic desires in Kabbalah.
First, it looks like one has to progress through fulfillment of all levels of those desires before reaching spiritual desire, doesn’t that mean that Kabbalah is only for successful elites who have achieved “everything” in the physical world?
Second, if that’s not the case, how do we continue to relate to those base desires after opening that point in the heart, or does bestowal only concern spiritual desires?
Hi Ami,
1. There are plenty of people out there that have everything and still have not awakened the point in the heart. So the point in the heart is not conditional on our other desires. It can awaken at any point of our development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/11/only-people-with-the-point-in-the-heart-can-feel-that-kabbalah-is-the-salvation/
2. Kabbalah only deals with our desire for spirituality. Regarding the rest of our desires, Kabbalah does not deal with these things. Our corporeal desires don’t have any relation to spirituality, so each person can arrange these desires however is most comfortable for them (of course within the context of the law and without harming others).
In practice, we don’t need to suppress our corporeal desires or live a life of poverty. We only need to work on making the desire for spirituality the most important thing. Then naturally the rest of our desires will fall into place. For example, it’s like with an artist that is so involved in his art, that he fulfills all the rest of his desires out of necessity so he can quickly return to his passion. Same with us, when spirituality is the most important desire, then we will be able to properly relate to all the rest of our corporeal desires in a balanced way.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Ami,
The Kabbalists tell us that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned.” Meaning that arranging your life in the normal way to receive all your normal necessities is not considered egoistic. It’s simply what you must give to your body for it to exist normally.
For more details, check out Baal HaSulam’s article: A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
Albert @ KabU
Yes, but is there a way of changing the intention of the will to receive of basic necessities into a form of bestowal upon ourselves?
If we are all one soul, then shouldn’t we treat ourselves and our desires in the same way we treat others with a will to bestow?
Hi Ami,
Yes, we can add an intention to those desires as well, that I’m taking care of these things in order to not be a burden on society, or in order to have the strength to serve the society, etc.
Keep in mind that we practice bestowal primarily within the Kabbalistic group. In the group we build a strong connection with other points in the heart that are together with us on the spiritual path. This becomes like a nucleus. Once we build that nucleus, we will be able to add to it wider and wider circles of the world, until we’ll come to include the whole world in that connection. But this is gradual work. And until we build that nucleus, we have nothing with which to do any spiritual work towards the world.
We’ll learn more about these things and practically implement them in the advanced semester.
Albert @ KabU
That makes more sense. I started having these thoughts when I heard Dr. Laitman mention Shame in a lecture, that we experience Shame when receiving from the Creator because receiving highlights our opposite nature to Him.
So if one has Shame towards receiving even the basic desires, then one could change the intent from receiving to bestowal upons one’s self of the Creator’s gifts, that way it is no longer purely selfish.
Towards the end of the speech you linked, Rabbi Ashlag talks about inverting “bestowal into reception”, which is what I think I am getting at here: receiving as a form of bestowal, receiving in a way that elevates you to the level of the bestower.
Hi Aguinaldo,
It’s difficult because we’re trying to understand it intellectually. It’s like a blind person that is trying to study colors. He can learn the wavelengths behind each one, the different feelings they all evoke, but ultimately a world full of colors would be complex and completely incomprehensible for him. But if this blind person was to undergo an operation and gain his sense of sight, how easy and simple it would be to teach him colors. We would simply point to it and say “this is red”.
Likewise with us, it’s only after we reach spiritual attainment that we will truly and easily be able to grasp all these things. Until then, we should remember that the goal of studying Kabbalah is not to fill us up with knowledge, rather the goal is to help us reach spiritual attainment. And we do that by extracting the force of the light through the Kabbalistic studies.
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
Hi Lei,
Ein Sof is commonly translated from Hebrew as infinity. But here the literal translation “without end” is more accurate. This is referring to the state in which the desire is completely fulfilled, to the max. Similar to how you can take a cup and fill it up to the max where it’s impossible to add any more liquid to the cup. Even if you add one more drop it will just spill over. So if you take a desire and fill it with pleasure to the max, that state is called Ein Sof.
So if we’re calling the Creator the Light of Ein Sof, it means that He wants to fill us up with pleasure to the max.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2020/07/ein-sof-infinity-the-attitude-of-the-creator-to-the-created-beings/
Albert @ KabU
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