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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
I have a question please. If we want to learn about Kabbalah is this the will to receive, because we want to learn this information? As we attain equivalence of form, is the will to receive inverted to Bestowal? Would this be considered Bina? Because we are receiving this teaching in order to bestow?
Hi Tammy,
1. Our nature is the desire to receive. So everything we do, including learning Kabbalah, stems from this nature. This is also why the point in the heart, that initial desire to pushed us towards Kabbalah, is called a black dot. Black meaning it’s not yet corrected and even our study in Kabbalah is for egoistic reasons.
But that’s okay. No one is born corrected and no one is demanding of us to be saints. Our work is not in correcting ourselves, our work is only in extracting more and more of the light, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and the light is ultimately what corrects us.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
2. When the light corrects us, it gradually inverts our desire to receive into bestowal and by that we reach equivalence of form, we reach higher and higher qualities of bestowal, including Bina.
3. Although receiving to bestow sounds like it’s within our reach, in practice, it’s a very very high spiritual degree that we are nowhere near. So I wouldn’t put much focus on that now so we don’t get confused by it.
Albert @ KabU
Is it possible for one to have tastes of an emanation they have not attained, or to have a temporary equivalence of form with a higher emanation, as if it was a preview, only to have it slip away, then motivating the individual to cultivate their point to further attainment?
Maybe I did not understand correctly, but the human level has 613 desires. So each human has its own 613 desires or are they the same for each human, just with a different “dressing”? Do the inanimate, vegetative and animals also have 613 desires each? because from the graph tony did, there are 613 laws governing us, animals, plants and inanimate.
Hi Carlos,
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. Humanity as a whole is currently found on the speaking sub-degree of the animate level. Meaning we have not yet reached the true speaking degree, which is a spiritual degree.
As such, we don’t yet have the 613 desires that Kabbalah is talking about. Those desires begin on a higher level than our current animalistic level. This is similar to how a single cell in a body only has some basic desires. But when that cell is part of a greater body, it reveals there higher desires which are impossible for the individual cell to have: desires for money, honor, power, etc. Same with us, until we integrate with the general body of Adam HaRishon, we don’t reveal or understand these 613 desires of the speaking level.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/12/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-613-desires/
Albert @ KabU
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