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I am curious if the language of Roots and Branches is the same (or part) of the Hebrew letter-numbers and schemas as written by Carlo Suares in the Cipher of Genesis? He states “in the light of the cabalistic code reveal that they are abstract formulas of cosmic energy focused in the human psyche”. Re-reading the bible with this in mind, opened up another level of understanding. Much more enjoyable that my first reading.
Hi Jj,
I’m not an expert in other methods, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there.
Regarding the language of roots and branches, this is a type of code that uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. The Torah is entirely written in this code. As such, not a single word in the Torah is speaking about history or our world.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
Albert @ KabU
What if you don’t get the least desires fulfilled? My mother rejected me and I was raised by my grandmother. I have never been loved in any meaningful way by other people. I have desires for love, friendship and marriage but I never felt loved ever. How can I continue to spiritual fulfillment without first getting my basic needs met?
Hi, and thank you all at KabU.
I would like to know. Is there a list of the 613 desires we must correct, and can I find it online?
Sorry, I didn´t mean to write in this thread, and I can not delete it…
Hi Nancy,
I’m not sure if this will help but I thought I’d briefly share my experience: I had a very similar sort of (non-relationship) with my mum. When I had my own kids, I finally felt like I was in some blessed state of unconditional love, and here’s why: Loving another unconditionally, and being loved unconditionally, manifests the same internal experience. In either instance, the energy of love is flowing through you and you don’t pause too much to dwell on what direction it’s going in, you just bask in that incredible (highly,f but maybe not entirely) altruistic feeling.
I don’t know whether this can be applied in exactly the same way to your life right now (eg., having kids if you don’t already have them), but perhaps you can find a cause which gives you a direct outlet for that kind of feeling. There are many social needs out there waiting for some TLC. By bringing our Light to others (doing what looks like a spiritual good deed on the outside), the paradox is that we can bring healing to our basic needs in the process. It’s not either/or, they complement/reinforce one another. At least, that’s been my experience.
Hi Nancy,
Although we sometimes portray desires in a linear fashion, in truth they are not linear at all. Everyday I fulfill my basic desires and the next day I have to fulfill them again. Every day I go to work, everyday I eat, everyday I sleep, etc. So I don’t need to fulfill the basic desires in a linear way, rather I need to find the right balance between the basic desires and our desire for spirituality.
Kabbalists call this balance “no flour, no Torah – no Torah, no flour”. Meaning a Kabbalist continues to exist on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder. So I cannot just turn into a monk and disconnect from this life and only focus on spirituality. On the other hand, if I only focus on corporeality, then I’m no different than an animal. So the important thing is to find the right balance between the two: to take care of all of one’s normal necessities: to work, take care of the family needs, health, etc (this is called flour) and to set aside some time to focus on spirituality (this is called Torah).
Albert @ KabU
<p style=”text-align: left;”>If I understand it well. We suffer because we don’t listen to the creator and go against his will? Or is that not true?</p>
Hi Danielle,
You can say that, but this sounds very religiousy and has many different connotations. We need to redefine these things in a more scientific way to not get confused. What is the Creator? What does it mean to “listen” to Him? What is His will?
The Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. Our nature is the opposite, pure reception, or egoism. “Listening” to Him means to resemble Him, to acquire his qualities of bestowal. Or in other words, to correct our opposite egoistic nature to operate in the direction of bestowal. As long as we remain opposite from Him, in our egoistic nature, then we’re out of balance with Him and thereby suffer.
Meaning we’re talking here purely about laws, laws of bestowal, of equivalence of form. Are we in balance with these laws or not? If not, then we suffer.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/11/the-reason-for-our-suffering-and-the-alternative-path/
Albert @ KabU
When I understand that Shulchan Aruch is not the main thing and that I need work more on my deeper level, is there any need to even continue and follow Shulchan Aruch?
Hi Yehudit,
I’m sorry, I cannot answer that for you. Every person is free to decide for oneself whether to follow religious customs or not.Keep in mind that Kabbalah is not against religions. In fact we have millions of students worldwide, from many different backgrounds and religions. Many of them do choose to maintain their religion or to perform certain religious customs while studying Kabbalah and there is nothing wrong with that. Just like with any other science, a person can be religious and also be a chemist or physicist. Likewise a person can be religious and also study the science of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full spiritual correction people can still keep their religions.
Albert @ KabU
There is a behavior I have participated in, off and on, for about 50 years now. The meaning of this behavior has morphed many times, and in the last few years I have clearly seen it as a resistance to God/Love (Creator). Since beginning this course, I decided that I would not allow this behavior anymore, and that if I did, I would sacrifice watching/participating in the next Sunday Kabbalah Simply Explained and Q & A (which I value greatly). Well, I have now again performed this hateful behavior, with full awareness that I was doing so, of the consequence I had set for myself, and of the simultaneous feeling that I both could and could not stop it. Subsequently, I am experiencing deep remorse, and also great humility and faith that all is, essentially right and good, that my life is in the Creator’s Hands. I am confused now about whether or not to continue with the consequence. On the one hand, it seems important to keep my word and experience this loss. On the other hand, I understand that it is the Creator teaching me and helping my correct desire to grow, and that ultimately the choice wasn’t mine. The Sunday programs, and especially the music and ‘student spotlights’ at the end of the Q & A, connect me profoundly with KABU, the participants, and the will to receive to bestow. Either way seems to serve my growing intention. What would you advise? Thank you.
Hi Miryam,
That sounds like an interesting experiment, but we need to draw the right conclusions from it. Which is that we are powerless against our own ego. This is why the Kabbalistic method focuses on CORRECTING our egoistic nature, not diminishing or fighting it. Fighting it directly is an impossible battle. In fact, the more we fight it, the stronger it gets. It’s to show us that we’re truly powerless against it. The Creator made it like this on purpose, so that without His help, we would not be able to succeed. So our focus here is not on fighting the ego, but it’s more on drawing the force of the Creator’s light to help us to correct it. We do this primarily through the Kabbalistic studies, lessons, gatherings, etc. In which case, I would not recommend missing the Sunday gathering. Missing it would not help you to deal with your ego, quite the opposite.
See my reply to Micha below for more details.
Furthermore, it’s also important to keep in mind that as we develop spiritually, our ego will continue to grow even more. And this is not a bad thing. In fact in Kabbalah, the ego is not a bad force but rather a partner that helps us to advance. Meaning we don’t eliminate our ego, we rise above it. It turns into a type of hill or mountain that we rise above. In other words, the greater the ego, the further up we can climb, and the greater the spiritual level we can achieve. On the other hand if we eliminate the ego, then the spiritual level we can achieve is relatively tiny.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
Thank you, Albert, for your responses to all of our questions. Light bulbs turning on! Now, two more questions.
1) Rav Laitman, writing about the spiritual state ‘the longing to give’, writes, “In it, a person’s qualities can coincide with the qualities of the spiritual object, known as Bina.” What is the spiritual object he is referring to?
2) Rav Laitman writes, “…after Ari opened the way to comprehend the spiritual, it became much harder to give up the pleasures of this world… Ari slightly opened the source of the Light. This made it harder for people to battle their egoism; in fact, the egoism became stronger and more sophisticated.” I’m not sure I’m understanding this. Is it correct understanding that as the experience of the Light increased, the experience of the ego also increased in like measure? And, that without working the middle line between them, the Light actually fed the ego, causing it to grow even more? Than you.
Hi Miryam,
1. Bina. Which stands for our desire to bestow. We’ll learn more about the 10 sefirot in detail in the upcoming lessons.
2. It’s impossible to reach high spiritual degrees without a big level of egoism. It doesn’t mean that we try to foster the ego. Rather, as a side effect of aspiring towards the light, the ego grows as well. This is good because then we have a need to draw even more light and can thereby reach even higher spiritual degrees. See my previous reply to you on the topic.
Albert @ KabU
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