- This topic has 816 replies, 336 voices, and was last updated 1 week, 3 days ago by
.
- Replies
I have a question about inter-generational trauma/dysfunction or “family curses”..the language doesn’t matter just the concept of being born into an unconscious family tree and being the one who chooses to break the cycle by doing the conscious work. I can see that the family line I am from has been a continuation of the path of pain/suffering. My individual soul part has awakened and is on a mission to correct and return to creator but it has been a very long, strenuous, and painful path of recovery, correction, and healing. The path of suffering pushed me into the path of light because it was too unbearable to live the way I inherited. Do you have any further information or resources that talk about this concept of being born into unconscious lineage? Curious to know how Kabbalah addresses this.. thanks
Hi Lexi,
For the most part, none of us are born into a family of Kabbalists. So why did we receive awakened points in the hearts?
All of humanity is part of a single system. Within this singular system, there is a certain order of corrections that need to take place. It’s like building a large jigsaw puzzle. First you start with all the corner pieces, and only then do you gradually work your way to the center. It’s the same with our spiritual work. There are those that are awakened to this work earlier and those that are awakened to it later. Those that received awakened points in the hearts are like those corner pieces of the puzzle that need to start the whole process. Later on, due to their good work, they pave the way for the rest of the world to join this process.
So ultimately, whether a person receives a point in the heart now or later depends on their place in the system, which is called the root of one’s soul.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
Albert @ KabU
Just wondering how Kabbalah sees forgiveness? Shall we forgive someone and in a way, go against our self respect? Or not forgiving someone would be interpreted as an egoistical attitude with lack of compassion to another? How can we forgive someone who has hurt us and keep loving that same person?
Hi Renata,
From a simple corporeal level, we see that keeping strong negative feelings inside of us ultimately causes much harm to our health. So from that point of view, it is worthwhile to forgive others.
As for how Kabbalah relates to forgiveness, check out New Life episode 325 – Forgiveness. (the link leads to the summary of the episode and the picture on top leads to the full video.
Albert @ KabU
I have a question regarding attributes of the creator. It seems that within us is a desire to reduce, minimize, alleviate, or even eradicate suffering, at least as much as possible. This desire seems to be altruistic at its core.
I cannot speak for others, but I myself have become very focused on this and it seems to be my driving force. However, it seems that from the lesson that suffering is an integral part of the process and not necessarily “evil”.
If naturally the will to relieve or reduce suffering is within us, at least once we awaken it, then would this not be in-line with the attributes of the Creator, which is unconditional altruism?
However, if it is in the Creator’s nature to create a system that includes suffering, and it is in our nature to try and rise above this by minimizing the suffering we see in the world, then how would this contradiction be harmonized?
Any thoughts on or deeper exploration of this idea would be much appreciated.
Thank you,
LuxHi Lux,
We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering and problems in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just 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 suffering and bad things in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Could you please talk about the 600,000 souls? If we are millions of people, what is the equivalent?
Hi Lily,
600,000 is less of a quantitative number and more of a qualitative number. It represents the strength of the spiritual desire after it has been fully corrected. So essentially all of humanity is included in this number.
Check out this blog post to see how this number is derived: https://laitman.com/2010/09/love-and-hatred-of-600000-souls/
Albert @ KabU
I’m confused about the role of the physical/egoistic desires in Kabbalah.
First, it looks like one has to progress through fulfillment of all levels of those desires before reaching spiritual desire, doesn’t that mean that Kabbalah is only for successful elites who have achieved “everything” in the physical world?
Second, if that’s not the case, how do we continue to relate to those base desires after opening that point in the heart, or does bestowal only concern spiritual desires?
Hi Ami,
1. There are plenty of people out there that have everything and still have not awakened the point in the heart. So the point in the heart is not conditional on our other desires. It can awaken at any point of our development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/11/only-people-with-the-point-in-the-heart-can-feel-that-kabbalah-is-the-salvation/
2. 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 Ami,
The Kabbalists tell us that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned.” Meaning that arranging your life in the normal way to receive all your normal necessities is not considered egoistic. It’s simply what you must give to your body for it to exist normally.
For more details, check out Baal HaSulam’s article: A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar
Albert @ KabU
Yes, but is there a way of changing the intention of the will to receive of basic necessities into a form of bestowal upon ourselves?
If we are all one soul, then shouldn’t we treat ourselves and our desires in the same way we treat others with a will to bestow?
Hi Ami,
Yes, we can add an intention to those desires as well, that I’m taking care of these things in order to not be a burden on society, or in order to have the strength to serve the society, etc.
Keep in mind that we practice bestowal primarily within the Kabbalistic group. In the group we build a strong connection with other points in the heart that are together with us on the spiritual path. This becomes like a 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 more about these things and practically implement them in the advanced semester.
Albert @ KabU
That makes more sense. I started having these thoughts when I heard Dr. Laitman mention Shame in a lecture, that we experience Shame when receiving from the Creator because receiving highlights our opposite nature to Him.
So if one has Shame towards receiving even the basic desires, then one could change the intent from receiving to bestowal upons one’s self of the Creator’s gifts, that way it is no longer purely selfish.
Towards the end of the speech you linked, Rabbi Ashlag talks about inverting “bestowal into reception”, which is what I think I am getting at here: receiving as a form of bestowal, receiving in a way that elevates you to the level of the bestower.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.