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I am going to be really open here and state that since studying Kabbalah, I have experienced states of depression but whilst reading some of the recommended reading, I managed to switch my intention from myself and onto other people’s needs and like a switch, the fog of depression seemed to lift. I have been reading Attaining The Worlds Beyond from the beginning as well as doing the course and it talks quite a lot about the ego getting into such states. Is this all part of the experience would you say?
Hi Anthony,
It’s normal. We go through many states on the spiritual path. Many ups, downs, and everything in between. The main thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic lessons, and it will balance everything out.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
Just wanted to thank Tony for the “aha” moment I had after watching this week’s intro video. Finally hit me that everything that happens, everything we sense, every experience we have, is, in fact, the thought of the Creator. He bestows these experiences and sensations upon us – or shares His thoughts, as it were, that we might come to know and love Him. How amazing! How beautiful! How incredibly simple, elegant and yet profound. Thank you so much in helping me to attain this precious understanding.
Hi Milos,
Yes, you can say that everything that happens to us stems from the purpose of creation. Every moment in life is arranged in the most optimal way to help us realize that purpose.
Baal HaSulam writes about this in “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”, here’s an excerpt:
“all the conducts of creation, in its every corner, inlet, and outlet, are completely prearranged for the purpose of nurturing the human species from within it, to improve its qualities until it can sense the Creator as one feels one’s friend. These ascensions are like rungs of a ladder, arranged degree by degree until it is completed and achieves its purpose.”
Albert @ KabU
Is proper study of the Talmud the best instruction on how to reach equivalence of form with the Creator?
Hi Zachary,
Although the Talmud are indeed Kabbalistic books but we don’t really study them directly in our days. In our days we mainly study from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash. This is because egoism grows from generation to generation, so Kabbalah, the method for its correction, needs to get adapted in each generation for that level of egoism. For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation. So although there were many different Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, nowadays we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/
Albert @ KabU
Google translation of Johan’s question:
Can we feel the creator, even before we know him?
Hi Johan,
You won’t be able to feel Him or know Him before you become similar to Him. This is because feeling the Creator works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that in order to feel Him, we need to become similar to Him, to His qualities of love and bestowal. This is just like how a radio can pick up an external wave, when we tune the internal frequency of the radio to that wave.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
Albert @ KabU
Rav Laitman has said that it is good to be with others who recognize the Point in the Heart and are also started on the Path of Wisdom. But as we look to change the Will to Receive to the Will to Bestow, slowly climb the Ladder, what of the people in your close circle who are in Disparity of Form with you? Does the goal of Altruism mean giving to the Creator and we share that with others who are more Equivalent of Form, other students for instance? Or is this challenge of being with those of Egoistic Desire, refusing to leave the Path of Suffering, part of the lesson? What are the goals where these people are concerned?
Hi Sheila,
Our spiritual correction is first of all in the mutual work we do with other points in the heart. Meaning that it’s primarily within the Kabbalistic group. With the rest of the world, we should follow the rule that “there is no coercion in spirituality” and not force any spiritual work on others. There we should behave normally, just like everyone else.
Normal meaning that we don’t turn into monks and run away from the world. And we also don’t turn into saints and start sacrificing ourselves for the world. But just be normal: work in the normal way, raise our families and take care of our health, etc, all in the normal way that is customary in this world.
And in the more advanced stages of our development, we will start to see how the problems and situations we undergo in our day to day life are also a part of our spiritual correction. Our day to day life makes it more challenging to stay connected to the Kabbalistic group. And it’s thanks to these challenges that we can develop to higher spiritual levels. Similar to how a bodybuilder needs to keep adding resistance for his muscles to grow bigger.
We’ll learn how to work with all these things more practically in the advanced semesters.
Albert @ KabU
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