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In the process of development . . .Kabbalah speaks about the development of wealth . . .attaining Light in this area . . .is this the accumulation of wealth as in finances . . .the material? All Spiritual paths previously have taught me that wealth is a detractor to living Spiritually and I have personally tried to become devoted to lessening my dependence on consumerism. I understand that Light/wealth can mean wealth in kindness, care for others, etc; however, Kabbalah often speaks about attainment of wealth. . . just as it seems to say that we should be partnered . . .although many other devoted paths speak about being able to develop the capacity for for being alone with the Divine as a path to Light and becoming less dependent on the accumulation of wealth (a worldly desire) . This actually seems a mundane or simplistic question to me as I ask it . . .yet I sincerely ask for clarification. Thank you.
Hi Sue,
I’m not sure in which context you heard it, but in general, Kabbalah talks about how our desires evolve. First come our basic desires for food, sex, family, etc. After that level develop the desires for money, honor, and knowledge. And at the peak of this pyramid is the desire for spirituality, which we call the point in the heart.
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 there,
As always, I have deep appreciation and respect for the instructors that spend their time answering our questions. Thank you.
My question for this week, while not entirely related to the material – has to do with the ‘Screen’ and what practically does it mean to build one.
I have begun to develop the sensation that there is a ‘giver’ behind both the desires and fulfillments of my mundane existence in ‘This World’. And while I understand intellectually that building the Screen involves inverting the intention on how that fulfillment of the desire is accepted, I cannot help but feel that I am deluding myself into feeling like it is even possible to receive some fulfillment for a mundane desire for the sake of the Creator – despite whether I feel or cannot feel that this fulfillment comes from a source (The Creator).
It seems like only _direct_, unmistakable perception of the Creator is sufficient for one to ever begin building the screen, otherwise it seems as if one could easily trick oneself into believing that I am, for example, eating a delicious meal ‘for the sake of the Creator’, if one is only armed with an intellectual understanding that the fulfillment of the desire is being bestowed by the Creator.
But then we run into a chicken/egg scenario, because as far as I have studied – one cannot actually perceive the Creator until one has built the screen.
I understand that a heartfelt prayer for his revelation is involved in this, but the deeper I begin to think about this situation – the more confusing it gets. I tend to fallback maintaining Faith Above Reason, but certainly this does not make the inner questions disappear.
I hope this makes sense. Thanks again.
Hi Nick,
The screen is the intention. More specifically it’s the intention to bestow. It would be nice if we could just choose a screen, choose an intention and go with it. The problem is that our egoistic nature does not allow us to have a clean intention for bestowal.
In the best case scenario, we can ASPIRE towards the intention of bestowal. We can play pretend AS IF we want bestowal. This is as much as our nature allows and actually this is enough. Such a game, especially when played with other points in the hearts in the Kabbalistic group, is how we extract the reforming light. It’s ultimately the light that corrects our nature. Our work is to extract more and more of it, until it begins to work on us and makes this aspiration a reality.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details:Â https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/
Albert @ KabU
What I understood from the explanation is that, instead of trying to change what we think of an event that happens to us, we must try to change the way we feel inside? For instance, you can do charity work but if you do it while you’re feeling bored or angry, it doesn’t mean anything at all, the real reward will come when you understand the importance of the work you’re doing and how it can help other people, when you feel altruistic, generous, respectful, and enjoy the act of service. Is that a good interpretation? Is it okay to say that, once we achieve this state then the Light will start changing our reality for a more positive version of it?
Hi Christian,
We learn from the lesson on the perception of reality that we see the world through the lens of our egoistic nature. If we want to change anything on the outside, we first of all need to do something about that egoistic nature. But just like a PC cannot just reprogram itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just change our own nature, we need outside help to make this change.
This help comes to us from the light. The light performs all the changes and corrections on us. Our entire work is only in extracting more and more of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
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 read a persons display picture on watts app recently, it said: Â I want Drama and Disrespect. Â (Blocked!).
The DP disturbed me, but also helped me to recognise that humans want different things and that there will always be a push and pull of energies as we experience these polarities.  It seems so unjust that my freedom to choose Peace and Harmony is compromised by another’s freedom to choose Chaos.  A huge mistake I’ve made throughout my life is thinking that people are the same, know right from wrong, understand the difference between good and bad … light and dark.  But it appears I knew very little.  My heart burns with a passionate contempt for those who superimpose their chaos and control upon me and those who choose different.  I cannot seem to find love in my heart for haters.  I cannot seem to find love in my heart for greedy capitalists (monopolies) or power hungry leaders who yearn to be worshipped.  How can I defend my Peace?  How can I love what I hate? If, Unconditional Love … is the ultimate goal and path towards Peace and Harmony.
Hi Leyah,
When a body builder takes a goal for himself that he wants to lift 1000 pounds, he does not go straight into lifting the thousands pounds. He starts with 5 pounds, masters it, and then goes to 10, etc, until he reaches his goal of lifting 1000 pounds.
Same with us. Aspiring to reach unconditional love with the whole world is like trying to lift that 1000 pounds right away, without any preparation. In other words, it’s impossible and might even cause us a lot of harm. Instead we need to start small and build up to it.
How do we do that? First we start with a small group of people who share this goal with us. We call this Kabbalistic group a ten. The ten is the foundation of all of our work. It’s like we’re building here a certain 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 about these things in the advanced semesters, where everyone will receive their own Kabbalistic group with whom they can put these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
Will we experience Peace and Harmony on the earth only when everyone has reached equivalence of form?
Hi Leyah,
We learn from the lesson on the perception of reality that the world is a reflection of my uncorrected state. If I’m not corrected, I see in front of me an uncorrected world, full of wars and sufferings.
It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. But the moment I clean my own glasses, I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect. In other words, we don’t need to wait for the world to reach equivalence of form, we only need to correct ourselves, and in that corrected perception, we will see a corrected world.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
How does one practically go about drawing in the light? Are there ways of meditating or contemplation that will help? I find that doing good for others becomes more and more natural and compelling. I cant walk away without helping in some small way, even if I cant give something, I give a little prayer or feeling of compassion. What more can I do? How to I prevent my sadness for the suffering of others from causing harm to myself, due to my own distress? I feel like I am discovering that “ignorance is bliss”, in the sense that awareness of my fellow man and his suffering is very painful and distressing, if I can only do the meagre bit that I can for them. The way back is difficult. Does this mean I am on the path of suffering? Since I cant yet see the light…
Hi James,
We don’t work with the whole world right away, instead, we focus our spiritual work in a small Kabbalistic group called a ten. The ten is the foundation of all of our work. It’s like we’re building here a certain 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.
As for drawing the light, the more we try to emulate the light, the more of it we can draw. The light is in a state of complete unity. So when we aspire to connect with others, we evoke the need for the light to help us to attain that state. And this too we practice primarily within the Kabbalistic group.
We’ll learn more about these things in the advanced semesters where everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can put these things into practice.
In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/05/a-whole-group-of-ten/
Albert @ KabU
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