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I have a few questions:
1. On page 114 of the Attaining the Worlds Beyond, it ways that we must avoid contact with other people, except when it becomes necessary for work or for study, without deliberately shunning them. But what about family and friends, and all the other people in the world to whom we are supposed to feel connected?
2. What are the Mitzvot that Kabbalah refers to? Are they the same 613 Mitzvot that we are supposed to learn through Torah and observe?
3. The books tell us to refrain from other sources of wisdom because the are harmful. Who determines what sources are harmful and how do we know it?
Hi Lana, great questions!
1. Taking care of our family is a necessity, we must continue to do so. As for our connection to the world, that is also very important. After all, we learn from the shattering of the common soul of Adam HaRishon that our entire work is in fixing the broken connections between people. So eventually we will reach a state where we feel ourselves connected to the whole world. But this is a gradual process. Just like a body builder cannot just go straight to lifting a thousand pounds, we too cannot go straight to trying to connect to the world, we need to build up to it.
We do this by focusing all of our spiritual work on connecting with other points in the heart in the Kabbalistic group. 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. So until then, how do we behave towards the rest of the world? We behave there normally, just like everyone else.
2. Kabbalah is a method by which we can correct our egoistic nature. As a result of this correction, we become similar to the Creator and reveal Him in practice. The process of correcting our nature to make it resemble Him is called Torah & Mitzvot.
Torah comes from the Hebrew word Ohr (Hebrew for “light”). So when Kabbalists use the word Torah, they are not referring to the physical book, but rather to the light. This is a special force that we can extract, especially through the Kabbalistic studies, in order to correct our egoistic nature.
As for the Mitzvot, when Kabbalists use the word Mitzvot (plural of Mitzvah) they are not referring to the corporeal commandments that a religious person performs with his hands and feet. But rather the Mitzvot are the internal processes by which we draw the light and correct the egoistic desires.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/spice-up-your-desire/
3. Harmful meaning that it can deviate us from the spiritual goal. If we want to succeed in Kabbalah (or in any spiritual practice really) we should practice it without mixing other things into it. Otherwise it’s like following two different GPS systems. One leads you to the goal through the west highway, while the other through the east highway. If you follow both, you’ll just wind up going in circles.
As for choosing which sources to read, in our days, we mainly study from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is because egoism grows from generation to generation, so Kabbalah, the method for its correction, needs to get adapted in each generation for that level of egoism. For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation. So although there were many different Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, nowadays we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
Hi, so everything Kabbalah is speaking to is at the level of internal feelings and thoughts? As things open up, that’s where attainment is perceived unmistakably? In terms of a root, this is a sort of feeling?
Hi Ilya,
Yes, you can say that. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/01/the-four-stages-of-attainment/
Albert @ KabU
In the “related” section, in the “Ask the Kabbalist” clip, the first question was from someone asking about crossing the barrier and whether it happens individually, as a group, and how long. Rav Laitman’s answer was that nowadays it takes a group, in fact the worldwide group, and at the same time. Also, that it can’t be said how long, but he thinks a year or two. I presume this clip is from some years ago. How have things worked out? What has experience shown since then? Is it expected that there would be another worldwide wave? Or is it expected that groups studying together progress according to some other quality? Thanks and just trying to understand what to expect.
Hi Ilya,
Things are definitely speeding up. We can see it in the world. It used to take months for news to spread and for humanity to react and change. Nowadays these things happen exponentially faster. It’s the same with our spiritual work. What used to take years and years of studies now happens much faster.
As for waves, corona was a big one. Many new points in the heart awakened during that time. It also turned all of our physical groups into virtual groups. The spiritual work in the group is still there, it’s just mostly virtual these days.
As for what to expect, expect a gradual, step by step introduction into the wisdom of Kabbalah. Upon completion of the graduate semester in KabU, you’ll be more than ready to connect directly to Rav Laitman’s lessons. At which point we’ll no longer be your instructors, but rather friends, equals on the path, working together towards our common spiritual goal.
Albert @ KabU
At which point we’ll no longer be your instructors, but rather friends, equals on the path, working together towards our common spiritual goal.
I look forward to the day.
To clarify, at least at the time of the video, Rav Laitman responds that the crossing of the barrier happens in a worldwide group, all together. I guess some time has passed since then, there are more people studying now, are they awaiting another “critical mass” or does it happen by some other measure that varies person to person or group to group. I may be misunderstanding as I’m thinking in terms of time/space, feel free to direct me to future lessons if this is covered more there.
Hi Ilya,
We learn that “there is no time in spirituality”. Meaning that there is no point in waiting for something to happen since attaining spirituality does not depend on time. Rather it follows the law that “there is no light without a kli (vessel)”. Meaning that if we don’t have the vessel (desire) we have nothing with which to get the light (the fulfillment for that desire).
In other words, everything depends on us, if we build the right desire for spirituality, we will right away reveal it. If not, then even if a few more thousands of years pass by, we will still not reveal it. This follows the rule that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Meaning if we don’t want it, we will not receive it.
And although we spend a lot of time studying, the goal is not simply to pass time or to acquire knowledge, but through the study to draw the light, a special force that helps us to build the right desire. Meaning that we don’t need to be super strong, wise, or talented in order to succeed in Kabbalah, all we need is to extract more and more of this light and it does all the rest.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
As for crossing the barrier in a group. That is correct. First of all we do spiritual work in a group of ten. This is the foundation of all of our work. It’s like we’re building a certain nucleus. Once we build that nucleus, we will be able to gradually add to it more and more groups of tens until we’ll come to include the whole world in that connection.
This will be more relevant for us in the advanced semesters of KabU when everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom to put this into practice.
Albert @ KabU
Is there any commentary or clarification you can provide on the “Walking the Path of Truth” article. In the article, it’s written:
Let me clarify it to you a little: you shall see its tip, but not its entirety, except when He delivers you.
I’m not sure I see even the tip. He seems to be saying that there’s a middle line, it’s easy to stray from, and the effects are exponentially detrimental. Specifically:
This is because there is one who walks who is worse than he who sits idly. It is he who deflects from the road, for the path of truth is a very thin line that one walks until one comes to the King’s palace.
Are these the three lines?
1)
one wishes to complete one’s soul and return it to its root
2)
one wishes to understand the ways of the Creator and the secrets of the Torah
3)
one wishes to attain the Creator
And we need to want them all equally?
Does he crave the three above discernments equally?
Should I take away that the three main lines are 1) correction 2) the ways, how the Creator works 3) the Creator, and I should check that I desire all equally?
Hi Ilya,
Yes, you can say that. If we examine these three things individually, we’ll understand that we need all three in the equation, otherwise it won’t work.
Nearing and attaining the Creator works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that we need to become similar to Him, to His qualities of love and bestowal. We perform this correction through the light that we extract, especially during the Kabbalistic studies.
So if we’re just yearning directly for the Creator, without correcting ourselves beforehand, then we’re deluding ourselves into thinking that we’re nearing Him.
If we just want the studies, without the goal of correcting ourselves to reveal Him, that too is not good. We’ll just become scholars and not those that attain Him in practice.
And if we just focus on ourselves, on our own point in the heart, that too is not enough. Since the process of correction involves us connecting our points in the hearts together. So just focusing on our own correction is not enough.
You can see from the above that we’ll deviate from the goal if we focus on just one of those three components. Essentially we need all three.
We’ll learn about these things in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Are there people who have worked to live without ego? Is that even a goal? Or is just acknowledging our own when it rises and circumventing it the way? I’m getting better at recognizing my egotistical ways and I stop myself and reflect and sometimes I act better !
Hi Sherry,
In Kabbalah, we don’t work on eradicating egoism, but only on rising above it. This is because we cannot attain high levels of spirituality without the ego. In fact the more we advance, the more our egoistic desires grow. They turn into a type of mountain that we climb over. The bigger the desires, the higher we can climb, and the higher the spiritual degree that we can attain. On the other hand, if we were to eliminate our egoistic desires, then accordingly, we would only be able to attain a tiny degree of spiritual attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
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