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The video that I just watched on Inanimate, Vegetative, Animate was so enlightening. It helped me understand more regarding the deeper understanding of Kabbalah. Everything makes so more sense to me. It feels as if I (my Intention and Point in my Heart) am traveling, moving towards the achievement that I have intuitively been searching for. There is Light at the end of the steps. Thank you
When I first found books on Kabbalah, I bought as many as I could. Without understanding the specifics of all that I have learned now, I understood the Ten Siferot in a very basic manner. The Ten Serifot was illustrated as a Tree with a left and a right side to it, Mercy and Punishment Hence, without including religion, I understood solely on the basis, that Tikkun Olam was about repairing the world. I imagined this as a “net,” that needed to be repaired because it was torn. I understood that each of us as human beings needed to learn how to repair the net and that it took all of humanity as a whole to be responsible of each thread needed to be joined to others of like minds until the net was whole. That is as far as I got. However, I read several times the 613 Mitzvot and even more times the Perkei Avot. I learned that I needed to be kind to even those who sought to destroy me mentally and physically. I had acquired a rich Jewish library of books that I bought and was so thirsty to read each one, which I did. Everything that I have learned in these courses have led me to understand that the only thing that I reached from reading all of my books was limited to what Kabbalah is really about. In my lifetime, I have only truly and viciously hated two people who did such immense damage to my family and then to me. I had never hated. I had a friend who was a doctor. He became a sort of mentor. He was Catholic and I am Jewish. However, in our conversations, religions was never involved. I could not sleep with that much hatred in my heart. I would wake up in the middle of the night fully perspired as if I had taken a shower. I told my friend this. He smiled and told me to pray for them. I laughed sarcastically.  I left and when I got home and ready for bed, I thought about what he had said. My first prayer for these two people was insincere. However, I continued to pray each night. Before the end of the first week, the hatred began to dissolve in my heart. By the end of the two weeks, I was free of hate. My heart was full again and I slept soundly. I mention this because Tony talked about loving thy neighbor as thyself. I believe that 100%. I experienced it and felt the results. As I mentioned, I had never hated nor envied anyone even if anyone person insulted me. I have also mentioned before that when I pray, I pray for others, family included, my children. As for myself, I thank G-d for my life, the tragedies and the many blessings. I have lived adventurously with my children at my side. I have much to thank G-d. Experiencing all this and my limited knowledge of aligning myself with the Creator, am I close to achieving to begin the path back to the Creator?
Hi Michael,
Our world is ruled by our egoistic nature.
The spiritual world is a world ruled by love, bestowal, unity.
When we begin to aspire to those qualities, we’ll begin to reveal the spiritual world.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/09/where-is-the-upper-world/
Albert @ KabU
Une question generale: je vois l, image d, un arbre mais pourquoi on parle seulement des racines et des branches et pas du tronc de l,arbre dans la kabbale ? svp. merci.
google translation of the question:
A general question: I see the image of a tree, but why do we only talk about the roots and branches and not the trunk of the tree in Kabbalah? Please explain. Thank you.
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Hi Marguerite Marie,
The trunk consists of a line which represents the barrier between the upper world and our world. And the trunk itself symbolizes the communication channels between the upper world and our world.
We talk a lot about this in technical terms like in the Study of the Ten Sefirot when we learn about the process of raising a deficiency and receiving an answer in return.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2019/12/the-tree-trunk-as-a-symbol-of-communication/
Albert @ KabU
This lesson was interesting and answered many of the questions I had about Kabbalah,
There’s a couple that could still be clarified, though.
First, in the 5 levels of life from still-vegetative-animate-speaking and the final one, how is it that there are 5 discrete levels when biology goes against this, for example fungi might be placed in the vegetative level for certain features but have communication methods that surpass animals (or even humans), the same could go for some insects like bees.
Second, One of the readings talked about restriction which happens when the person starts their process of correction. This is not a new concept to me, but the way it was described in the text reminded me of how i’ve observed some people pass through the spiritual experience, first with what appears to be a rejection of worldly things and desire, as the screen or masach develops the first restriction is more intense. I think this is really universal knowledge that is not limited to a specific sect or religion, so is it simply so that Kabbalists use these terms that other traditions may also use?
Thank you !
Hi Dana,
1. There are 4 levels in nature: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking (human). Within each level, there are 4 sub levels: the still of the still, the vegetative of the still, the animate of the still, the speaking of the still, etc. And there are also intermediary degrees which contain aspects of both, like the coral and monkeys.
2. It’s possible that other methods borrowed these terms from Kabbalah. But it’s not recommended to associate what you learned from other methods in Kabbalah, this will lead you in the wrong direction. Even when things sound similar, like restriction.
The restriction that Kabbalists talk about is not performed by a person in isolation, like a monk, and not from worldly pleasures. The restriction is relative to the spiritual work that is done in a Kabbalistic group. It’s when the group, or connecting to the group is more important than myself.
Until we begin to do spiritual work in a group, we don’t even begin to reveal the true egoism that needs to be restricted. Until then we remain on the speaking sub-level of the animate degree, meaning we’re just human animals. The true speaking degree is a spiritual degree that is still ahead of us.
We’ll learn how to implement these things in the more advanced semesters where everyone will get their own Kabbalah group to put this into practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2011/01/get-down-to-pure-egoism/
Albert @ KabU
If a person does not find Kabbalah to be a teaching as you offer it in this setting, will they still enter the correct states naturally, or do they all have to join a group like this? I am so grateful to be here for all this wisdom.
Hi Linda,
It’s impossible to enter a corrected state “naturally” as this would violate the law that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Naturally we’re egoists, so by nature we cannot want spirituality, meaning we cannot naturally want to acquire the Creator’s pure qualities of love and bestowal. And thereby we cannot be given it naturally.
It requires a special type of work within a Kabbalistic group to evoke a true desire for spirituality within us. We’ll learn how to do this type of work in the more advanced semesters.
As for the rest of the world, how would they reach this correction if they’re not studying Kabbalah?
That already depends on us. That is because 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
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