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In Attaining The Worlds Beyond, Rav Laitman writes, “The gratification that we receive not for the sake of our own egoism does not generate feelings of shame, because by receiving, by grasping, and by perceiving the Creator, we are happy for the pleasure He receives. Thus, the more we receive from the Creator and are pleased by Him, the happier we are that the Creator experiences pleasure as a result”. This is confusing to me, as I think of the Creator as constant, unchangeable (though I do understand that the attributes of the Creator have different ‘flavors or qualities’). Is it through equivalence of form that Kabbalists know that the Creator experiences pleasure as a result of our receiving to bestow? Is there really a change in the Creator’s experience of pleasure, or is this a change in the creature’s perception? (Or, are they somehow the same thing??) Thank you.
Hi Miryam, great question!
Although we sometimes say that we are trying to bestow to the Creator or to bring Him contentment, but in truth it’s just a game to help us to develop. It’s just like with kids. When we spoon feed them, they see the example from us and want to pick up a spoon and feed us back. Do we really need them to feed us? Of course not. But we still accept this from them, smile, show them how happy they made us by feeding us, etc. Since we know that through this game, they grow and develop. So ultimately the Creator is not lacking anything and does not change. And all of our attempts to bestow to Him are nothing more than a type of game for our own development.
As for the changes we feel, these changes are not in Him, but in us. This follows the rule that “I have not changed my HaVaYaH”. Meaning that the Creator’s light is the same light, it never changes. We change and accordingly we feel the light differently. It’s similar to how electricity is the same electricity but based on what appliance you plug in, you have different uses and results from it. Plug in a heater and you will produce warmth, plug in an AC and you will get cool air, etc. So the Creator does not change, we do, and every time we change, we experience this thing called the Creator in a different way.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Albert @ KabU
I am just curious. If the creating force can only give. And we can only receive and it’s a set thing in us. Do we always keep having it, but we can put the effort in it to go above it. So it looks like we are altuisitc but we are actually not. Or can we become truly altruisic?
Can I now work already on becoming more altuisistic? In the lessons i heard a few times that we start exercising things in the 10 and not now yet because that can be confusing?
Hi Danielle,
Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. By default this desire is egoistic. Meaning that we use it to receive everything for ourselves. Through the process of correction, we convert the desire for it to operate in the direction of bestowal. But the desire always remains a desire, it still operates to receive pleasure. We just correct it with the intention in order to bestow. So it receives but in order to bestow.
Check out the Guest and Host analogy in Chapter 3 of Attaining the Worlds Beyond for more details.
As for working on becoming altruistic, this is work that we do primarily within this safe environment that we call the Kabbalistic group. In the more advanced semesters, everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group (which are called tens) with whom they can put all these things into practice. Until then, we are still in the fundamentals, where we need to learn the foundation of this wisdom, so we’ll know how to properly apply it later on.
Also keep in mind that we don’t perform any corrections over ourselves. It’s ultimately the light that makes all the changes on us. See my reply to Micha in the week 3 questions forum for more details.
Albert @ KabU
From the recommemded reading, I quote: “There is a discernment of “mind” and a discernment of “heart” in the
above-mentioned equivalence of form. The engagement in Torah and Mitzvot
in order to bestow contentment upon one’s Maker is equivalence of form in the
mind. “”.My question: What would be an example of equivalence of form of “heart”” ?
Ad also: could you explain Mitzvot Lishma (for Her Name)? Who or what is She?
Hi Paul,
“Heart” means desire. So equivalence of form in the desire, means having a true desire to bestow.
Regarding Lishma (for Her Name), her refers to the Torah (which is a female word in Hebrew). And the Torah refers to the entire system in which we exist.
In other words, Lo Lishma (not for her name) and Lishma (for her name) is talking about our intention, the reason for why we’re studying Kabbalah. Lo Lishma means that we aspire to spirituality egoistically, for our own sake. While Lishma is when the light corrects this egoistic aspiration to operate purely in the direction of bestowal, for the sake of the entire system.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/07/lo-lishma-having-something-to-correct/
Albert @ KabU
I have a kind of silly question, can someone who understand hebrew write down for me the correct hebrew word for “attainment”?
In the related video “Kabbalah Lesson – The Power of Books” at 12:07 he says that “attainment” comes from the hebrew word “lassik”, meaning “to reach out, to grab”, but I searched around and found no matching correspondences.
Hi Helcio,
Attainment = hasaga = השגה
which is the noun form of this verb:
to attain, achieve, acquire, get, etc = lehasig = להשיג
Albert @ KabU
Dear KabU,
I never got the idea of becoming one with nature again. I thought in the end we need to get back to nature and live close to nature, use fire, build or own veggiegarden etc. in that way we will be more like nature, understand nature, create a relation with nature and too with the creator
But what I understood of this lesson is that we use ideas of nature for technology and if we find the right sources we can make this world equivalence of nature just by using our technology. So we can keep living in the cities and evolve and feel connected to nature on the same time.
Is that right?Hi Danielle,
When we talk about nature, we’re not talking about simply going outdoors, rather we’re talking about the all encompassing system in which we exist.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/09/elokim-is-nature-in-gematria/
Regarding reaching equivalence of form with the Creator, this is an internal change which takes place in our qualities. Or in other words, in our attitude to others. So we don’t need to leave our cities or give up on our modern lifestyles to reach this correction.
For more details on equivalence of form, check out the first few paragraphs of the article “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“.
Regarding how we reach this correction, this is done primarily through the force of the light we extract from the Kabbalistic studies. See my reply to Micha in the week 3 questions forum for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Our Week 5 reading in Kabbalah Revealed is pages 100-118. However, last week we read pages 93-118. I deeply respect the power of review, but just wanted to check that 100-118 is indeed correct. Thank you.
Hi Miryam,
Thanks for bringing this up, I’ll check with the team and have it corrected. Regarding the book Kabbalah Revealed, I would recommend to just read it from beginning to end. This will give you a solid foundation.
Albert @ KabU
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