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There has been a question in my head since I started the course.
The question is this.
Long ago a kabbalist told me that our Creator knew me before I knew myself, and if I was in a certain painful situation it was because the Creator put me exactly where I wanted to be.
I disagreed, because I did not like the situation at all, and I explained that I waited for a sign from Above to start changing the situation.
Who was right?
I assumed that everything comes from Hashem, so the situation as well,and Hi would show me what to do.
Was I wrong?
Thank you
Hi Elena Ester Rivka,
I cannot comment on your personal situation, we can only talk about these things in general.
In general, everything indeed comes from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. But the Kabbalists also say that “He is the good that does good”. So everything should be good, why then don’t I feel everything as good? It’s because his goodness passes through the lens of our egoistic nature. This nature is opposite to Him, so it inverts His goodness into something bad. It’s 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 bad things in life. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists and that our previous egoistic state was nothing more than a dream.
We’ll learn more about these concepts in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime, check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
http://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
It’s interesting, this episode makes me wonder, as we are becoming more of a global society, more and more connected and unified externally, through technology and social media, and we see masses of people turning towards social justice, is this a manifestation of the corrected desires of individuals being corrected in the collective?
Hi Dustin,
There are no free rides towards correction. This is called “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Meaning that no one gets corrected without putting in their own efforts towards their correction.
So what then are we seeing in the world? On the one hand, we see how the ego is constantly developing and pushing us forward. On the other hand, we see how the very thing that drives us, our ego, is actually the source of all of the problems in life. This process is called “the recognition of evil”. It’s a necessary part of our development, since without seeing the harm caused by the ego, we don’t feel the need to come out of it.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/08/the-sinking-of-science-the-past-pride-of-humanity/
Albert @ KabU
I feel that the study of Kabbalah provide many answers at depths that other philosophies I have looked into so far, don’t provide. For this I’m truly grateful.
As I study the material, books and videos and understand the Kabbalistic perspective, new questions do arise though not specifically about the 3rd week material, but mostly existential questions. May I pose one of them here to provide an example? It would be great to hear the Kabbalistic perspective about this.
How about the hurtful words and actions we may have done, before expanding our awareness, and while “existing” at an unconscious level?
Does consciousness of it suffice? Meaning: repentance, regret, major lessons learned at the deepest level, love and forgiveness for oneself & the other, and new perspectives aquired during the spiritual ascension? I find it easier to understand and forgive the hurtful actions of another towards me but very difficult to forgive my own towards a loved one.
Hi Andreanne,
In the next semester, we’ll learn this concept of “there is none else besides Him”. It means that there is a singular benevolent force behind EVERYTHING that is happening to me. All of my thoughts, desires, life events, EVERYTHING comes from Him.
If so, am I to blame for what I did in the past? No. This force arranged everything the way it needed to happen. So it’s not good to dig into the past. The healthiest attitude towards the past is to say “there is none else besides Him” and that we went through exactly what we needed to go through. And instead we should focus our spiritual work on the present moment, on trying to reveal this force behind everything that is happening to you in the present.
More on this in the future, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
Albert @ KabU
I have struggled with this same problem, and I have wondered about applying the principle of There is None Else Beside Him. Guilt and shame can be very complex emotions. Sometimes, None Else Beside Him makes me feel so much better; so much relief; like putting salve on a burn, but other times I worry that I am not taking enough accountability for my past mistakes. I don’t want to blame the Creator, or use Him as a scapegoat, if that’s even possible. I worry about it.
I also worry if I try to explain this to others (especially those I feel like I have harmed in the past) that they won’t understand and accuse me of avoiding responsibility for my actions.
Hi Dustin,
The system we live in is built such that you wont be able to use the Creator as a scapegoat, even if you tried. Let’s take an extreme situation where a person kills another person and then tries to tell the judge “but there is none else besides Him”. The judge will still send that prison to jail.
We need to keep in mind that ascribing everything to the Creator is our INNER work. Externally we must continue to function in this world in the normal way. If I’m sick, I must still go to the doctor. If someone is hurting me, I must stop them, call the cops, etc. If I hurt someone, I should apologize, make amends. Externally, we must continue to deal with all of our problems in the normal way. Internally on the other hand, we will begin to feel ourselves connected with the Creator through everything that we experience. More on this in the future.
Albert @ KabU
I watched these videos in 2013, and did exactly what Tony said I shouldn’t do: I did a bunch of external deeds, like A BUNCH. And gradually I lost the connection and returned to the path of pain. This time I’m ready to start changing the things inside me that stand in my way of union with Creator.
Well said, Sober Crimson. I first watched the Kabbalah Revealed series in 2016. It found me. I didn’t fully appreciate how real it was, even though I knew it was definitely real in my heart, and I have been on the Path of Pain ever since. It seems like it’s been a humming in the background of my life since then, and it’s just been getting louder and louder until now, and I feel like I can’t ignore it anymore.
In the Q&A on Sunday with Tony, he gave the example of the Tsunami, where thousands of people died. I n talking about the “bigger picture”, Tony said that while it was (terminally) bad for the many people who died, it was good for the -few- people who rebuilt the resorts.
I have questions.
What happens for the souls of the people who died ? They have lost all chance of spiritual advancement, whereas the resort builders only got material gain. Can you explain this?
Also, how efficient is a natural disaster like this in waking people up? I m guessing you have to be quite advanced to look at it & say ” Gosh, I must wake up”, & in fact, if you said that, you d not need the disaster to do it for you, anyhow?
Hi Sarah,
1. The soul is a type of desire. Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. The soul is the corrected form of this desire, when it’s operating in order to bestow. By default, no one has this corrected desire, so no one has this thing called a soul, only a soul in potential that we call the point in the heart. If we develop that point, it can turn into the soul. If not, this same potential continues to reincarnate again and again until it gets fully realized.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/06/what-happens-to-the-soul-after-death/
2. You’re right, it is a bit limited. People naturally wake up during the disaster (like sheep that band together when a wolf shows up), but afterwards, it’s business as usual.
What would it take for humanity to advance through the good path? That depends on us, on those with awakened points in the hearts. This is because we’re all part of one system. In this system, we don’t choose when to be awakened, but rather there is a certain order of corrections that needs to take place, and each one receives a spiritual awakening when it’s his/her turn for correction.
It’s similar to building a house. There is a certain order in which you need to build it. I’m not an expert on house building, but for the sake of the example, let’s say first you dig the foundation, then pour the concrete, lay the beams, etc, and only at the very end do you paint the house. Meaning that there is no point in even taking out the paintbrush before you finish all of the preliminary stages.
Likewise with us. Those that were awakened to this work first are like the foundation of the house while the rest of the world belongs to the later stages. So until those with awakened points in the hearts complete their correction, there is no point in even awakening the rest of the world for their correction. So we don’t need to wait for humanity to wake up, we need to finish our correction, and this will wake them up.
Albert @ KabU
HI Albert,
you re a busy man, answering so many questions – which is always very enlightening !
I d greatly appreciate understanding about “Torah & Mitzvot”, as I expect others besides myself may not know that part of the background. Can you also speak a bit about what it means by “Above Reason”.
Thank you
Hi Sarah,
Torah comes from the Hebrew word ohr (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.
And when Kabbalists use the word Mitzvot (plural of Mitzvah) they are not referring to the corporeal Mitzvot 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/
Likewise we need to properly define the term [faith] above reason. In Kabbalah, faith does not refer to blind faith or a belief. Rather, faith = bestowal; reason = reception. Faith above reason is the process by which we make bestowal more important than reception.
Albert @ KabU
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