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We learned about the four levels of existence and the pyramid structure, culminating in the speaking level, which represents a state of altruism and interconnection. Could you clarify how we can move from the lower spiritual levels (such as spiritual vegetative or animate) to the speaking level in spirituality? What are practical steps we can take to progress along these levels?
Hi Natu,
First we focus only on connecting with a small group, called a ten. Later on, after we reach a certain degree of connection there, we expand that connection to include other tens. And after we master that, we expand it further and further until we’re able to connect with the whole world.
We’ll implement these things practically in the advanced semester.
Albert @ KabU
We explored the concept of ‘love your friend as yourself’ as essential for spiritual attainment. Could you explain how cultivating this love within a group actually leads to greater connection with the Creator and supports one’s progress on the spiritual path?
Hi Natu,
Reaching the Creator works on the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that if we want to reach him, we need to become similar to Him, to His qualities of love and bestowal.
How can I practice this type of love and bestowal? Can I just try to love the Creator?
The Creator is concealed, so it’s impossible to love Him directly. Instead, we need to work with what is in front of us, which is the group. So by loving the friends in the group, we become similar to Him, and by becoming similar to Him, we reveal Him in practice.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
We learned about the importance of a supportive group for spiritual development and the concept of ‘love your friend as yourself.’ Could you explain how we can practically build and maintain this environment in a group setting, especially when faced with our own egoistic tendencies?
Hi Natu,
The Kabbalists, especially Rabash, left behind a whole method of how to connect in a Kabbalistic group. In the advanced semesters, everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group. It’s also then that we’ll learn the writings of Rabash in great detail and implement them practically in the group.
Albert @ KabU
HI, I have got a question about prayer… now ,I understood, that religious prayer is not the same as spiritual prayer. And I understood that in a way we are always in prayer. Does this refer to our corporeal yearning… like when we are yearning for something for ourselves or our friends or hope a burden is taken from us? And while this is natural, it´s not a Kabbalistic prayer. Now, how to deal with those yearnings nontheless? I read in one answer that it´s jst fine to keep it up, to keep praying, just not with the expectation of fulfillment, because that´s not how we draw the light plus the upper force means good to us anyways. However, for me just knowing it changed the process, reduced my desire to even focus on it. Yet, something is jsut missing now, and since i didn´t learn how to ray in terms of kabbalistic prayers, it feels like there is a space to fill. So… I am just wondering what to do with this old way of praying… does it have any effect.. and even if it´s just a psychological trick to calm one´s mind? Or will it just dilute the experience of real prayer? And is there any such thing like a “format” for spiritual prayer? For religious prayer it seems so easy, so trained, because there are all those setups like prayer books, places to go, rituals to do… How is the preparation for a spiritual prayer in relation to that? Is there any at all?
Hi Verena,
We learn that the Creator is the good that does good and only sends us goodness. So if every moment we’re receiving only goodness, then the only prayer we should really be working on is to correct ourselves, so we feel that true state.
Furthermore, we learn that praying for myself in the majority of cases is egoistic. Even if I’m asking for lofty things like bringing the Creator contentment, if it’s focused on myself, then it’s egoistic and actually causes me more harm than good. So we should work on focusing our prayers on others, on helping our Kabbalistic group to advance towards the Creator. As for me, since I’m part of that group, I don’t need to pray for myself, rather, my prayers for the group include me in there as well. It’s like a cell in a body being concerned with the whole body. If the body is balanced and healthy, then the cell will also be balanced and healthy.
As for the preparation to the prayer, the true prayer is the peak of our work. All that we do beforehand is the preparation for that true prayer. For example, we spend a lot of times studying and learning about higher spiritual levels. As a result of that, we typically reveal just how opposite we are from them, how much our egoism is standing in our way. As a result of that, we begin to feel despaired with our own strength and then we feel a true prayer come out for the Creator to help us overcome the ego.
All of this is just scratching the surface of the topic of prayer. We will be learning about all these things in great depth in the more advanced semesters.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2011/01/praying-in-order-to-change/
https://laitman.com/2017/03/what-is-prayer/
Albert @ KabU
When I was 40 years old I had a dream of a pyramid although the term “temple” was impressed upon me. Three quarters of it was submerged in still water, (and I felt the immensity of it though I couldn’t see it). What I could see was the top quarter of it above the water shining like diamond and beautiful in the light. There was blurred plant life in the background. I got the impression that the “temple” represented me but I never knew how to correctly interpret this dream. Here I am seven years later listening to this information about the inanimate, vegetative, animate and speaking and feel strongly that this is connected. Can anyone help with this kind of question? Thank you ☺️
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