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Can you see a difference in a person’s reaction to things going wrong or in their emotional state if they have attained a state of perfection? I am trying to change and be more altruistic and bestowing pleasure but I seem to always fall back into the same old habits and bad emotions. How can I really change everything about my attitude and emotional state just through study and prayer?
Hi Nancy,
In the next semester, we’ll learn the importance of the spiritual environment. Essentially our entire work in Kabbalah boils down to strengthening our spiritual environment. In other words, we don’t focus on ourselves, on our own strength to overcome, etc. Rather, we focus only on our connection to the spiritual environment. And everything else, all of the good thoughts, actions, that we perform, this is a result of our connection with the spiritual environment.
This is similar to how a seed by itself is powerless to do anything. Everything depends on where you plant that seed. Once you plant it, the results are already dictated by the environment in which you plant it. Same with us. By ourselves, each one of us is powerless to do anything against his own egoistic nature. So our entire work is on planting ourselves in a good spiritual environment and the rest is a result of that action. We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons (KR2, Lesson 2).
Albert @ KabU
My question is that in order to obtain the bestowal of the creator n coming to the point of Equivalence,we need desires ..pure desires…what if once has started to live life with an attitude of no desire for pleasure? Would it mean in order to achieve the bestow the creator’s gifts, one needs to start desiring again?
Yes, but keep in mind that in Kabbalah we don’t need to focus on our desires, on growing them, or anything like that. Our entire focus is always on the positive side of things: on our aspiration to acquire the spiritual qualities of love, bestowal, connection, etc. As a result and only as a result of that, we will see that our desires, our ego will grow and develop to the necessary levels. But again, this is only a side effect, this is not something we need to focus on.
See my reply to Miryam in the week 3 questions forum for more details.
Albert @ KabU
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
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