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What is the quality that I feel that keeps me disconnected from others although I truly want to feel connected? How do we over come this? I believe that it is my past experiences that have caused this quality in me but I’m not sure how to trust enough to allow for deeper connections with those around me. I have Walked the Path of Suffering as a child and as an adult have tried for many years to overcome those experiences and even though I have a wonderful adult life there still is this quality that holds me back from true deep connection.
Hi Tina,
It’s our egoistic nature that does not allow us to connect with others. The ego is not something bad that we received from our past experiences, rather it’s a necessary element in the development of every single person. It’s thanks to the growing ego that we can develop to the highest spiritual degrees.
So we don’t need to eradicate the ego, but only to correct it. 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
Hello. Yesterday we were due for a live Q&A, and this was my message to the WhatsApp group, when attempting to learn about Bestowal:
“As I am still learning, I am not sure if I am on the right track with bestowel, but my mam hurt her back, so I offered to come and help her, which means i will most likely miss the live Q&A (screaming inside) hopefully at some point I’ll get on, but I feel this is the right thing to do.
On the upside, it made her happy for me to come to her”
Is this “screaming inside” the desire within me which needs correction, as it seems that this is the will to receive that is still active within my heart? This, though I committed the action, the desire to receive was still present and the action made no real difference within?
Thank you 🙏
Is this “screaming inside” the desire within me which needs correction, as it seems that this is the will to receive that is still active within my heart?* My main question 😊
Hi Steven,
The Kabbalists tell us that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned.” Meaning that taking care of our normal necessities that we need in order to maintain a normal life is not considered egoistic. So each one should aspire to arrange his life in the normal way and take care of all of his normal necessities, health, family, etc.
As for the ego that needs correction, that is not found within us at all. As we learn from the shattering of the common soul of Adam HaRishon, our entire work is in fixing the broken connections between people. So the true ego that we need to correct is between us. It’s the quality that is not letting me connect with others. This is the ego that Kabbalah talks about.
We focus on correcting that type of ego first of all within the Kabbalistic group, with other points in the heart. And later on, we’ll learn how to expand this work to include the whole world. This will be more relevant in the advanced semesters, where everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group to put these things into practice.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
https://laitman.com/2011/01/get-down-to-pure-egoism/
Albert @ KabU
When I walk the path of Light and gradually reflect more on my intention of daily actions – how can I know that this is not my EGO working, trying to perform and be a “good student”?
Hi Olav,
Our very nature is egoistic. So naturally it’s impossible for us to do anything against this nature. Meaning that even us studying Kabbalah is done for egoistic reasons. And that’s okay. No one is demanding of us to be saints. No one is demanding of us to have superhuman strength and to conquer our ego.
All that we need to do, and all that we’re capable of doing actually, is just to try. That’s it. We just need to try to be above the ego. We don’t need to succeed, we just need to try. Such efforts are enough to extract the reforming light and it’s the light that ultimately corrects our egoistic nature. Our work is only to extract 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/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/
Albert @ KabU
You say that there are 613 desires that we must fulfill. When these numbers are added together, the result is ten. Does this have anything to do with the ten Sefirot?
Hi Domagoj,
The numbers all have their own significance. When a person attains spirituality, he begins to research it, and discovers all these numbers from his research. But what exactly is he researching, what is spirituality?
Essentially we’re always talking about a desire. Our current reality is based on our current nature, the desire to receive. Spirituality on the other hand operates according to a different desire, that of pure bestowal. The different numbers are just a different way to divide up that spiritual desire. This desire can be divided into 613 parts, or 620 parts, or 600,000 pieces, or 125 degrees, or even 10 sefirot.
It’s just like how we can study a person based on his behavior, or based on his anatomy, or based on his external appearance, or his internal chemistry. Ultimately we’re studying the same person, but from different angles. Same with these different divisions, they are all talking about the same spiritual desire but from different angles or a different scale.
So if we are describing the desire as 620 parts, then we’re talking about the number of corrections that need to be placed over the desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow, 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow, and 7 additional desires that are corrected only in the final correction. We’ll learn about this in detail in the more advanced lessons on KabU that deal with the structure of the upper worlds.
Albert @ KabU
What specific activities can one undertake in this life in order to stay in the path of light? What does it entails? And if one doesn’t do these activities would it mean that he or she automatically falls back into the path of suffering/pain which was his or her earlier state? Please explain.
Please explain in terms of the qualities also that one has to develop in order to stay in the path of light.
Hi Manas,
In theory we want to be on the path of light 100% of the time, but in practice, that’s not how it works. In practice we weave back and forth between these two paths. And that’s ok. We fall and rise many times on the spiritual path. The main thing is to keep going. Keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, and it’ll balance everything out.
The best way to do this is to just set aside some time to regularly return to the Kabbalistic writings, weekly lessons, videos, books, etc. Such a habit of regularly returning to the source of the light will help you throughout your entire spiritual development.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
Albert @ KabU
How did we determine the 125 steps, and 600,000 pieces and 613 desires. Where do these numbers come from, and what are they?
Hi Lori,
The numbers all have their own significance. When a person attains spirituality, he begins to research it, and discovers all these numbers from his research. But what exactly is he researching, what is spirituality?
Essentially we’re always talking about a desire. Our current reality is based on our current nature, the desire to receive. Spirituality on the other hand operates according to a different desire, that of pure bestowal. The different numbers are just a different way to divide up that spiritual desire. This desire can be divided into 613 parts, or 620 parts, or 600,000 pieces, or 125 degrees, or even 10 sefirot.
It’s just like how we can study a person based on his behavior, or based on his anatomy, or based on his external appearance, or his internal chemistry. Ultimately we’re studying the same person, but from different angles. Same with these different divisions, they are all talking about the same spiritual desire but from different angles or a different scale.
So if we are describing the desire as 620 parts, then we’re talking about the number of corrections that need to be placed over the desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow, 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow, and 7 additional desires that are corrected only in the final correction. We’ll learn about this in detail in the more advanced lessons on KabU that deal with the structure of the upper worlds.
Regarding the 125 steps, the number 125 comes from the structure of the upper worlds. This structure is just a division of the spiritual desire that we need to correct into sefirot, partzufim, and worlds.
The most basic division of the desire is 1 Sefira. 5 Sefirot compose 1 partzuf. 5 Partzufim compose 1 world. There are 5 worlds in total. So 5 worlds each with 5 partzufim each with 5 sefirot equals 125 (5x5x5) steps on the spiritual ladder. This number symbolizes the gap, the delta, between our nature and the Creator’s nature.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/numbers-indicate-quality-not-quantity/
Regarding 600,000, this is less of a quantitative number and more of a qualitative number. It represents the strength of the spiritual desire after it’s been fully corrected.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman to see how this number is derived: https://laitman.com/2010/09/love-and-hatred-of-600000-souls/
Albert @ KabU
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