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Hi José-Carlos,
1. The Kippah is a Kabbalistic symbol. It shows us that there is something above us, that we’re under the dominion of a higher force. And that our thoughts are not our thoughts, but everything comes from this one force. This is called “there is none else besides Him”.
Keep in mind that these are just symbols. There is no obligation to carry them out in a religious manner. Why then do some people that study Kabbalah with us choose to wear a Kippah? It’s either out of respect for the culture and traditions they grew up with or because such an action helps them remember about the inner meaning of the Kippah and ultimately reminds them of the Creator.
2. As for Kabbalah and Judaism, Judaism essentially sprang out due to the concealment of Kabbalah. Let’s put this into perspective:
Kabbalah is the method of correcting our egoistic nature and thereby revealing the Creator, the general force of love and bestowal. The first one to actualize this was Adam. His name gives us a hint at this since Adam comes from the Hebrew word “Dome”, meaning “similar to”. He was not the first one alive, but rather the first one to reveal the Creator by becoming similar to this quality of bestowal.
This wisdom gets passed onward from Adam until Abraham who adapted it to the people of his generation and made the wisdom more practical. Abraham put together a large group of Babylonians who were interested in actualizing this method. These people later on became the Israeli nation. The word Israel comes from the Hebrew words “Yashar” “El” meaning straight to God. These are the people who had an active point in the heart in those days and were interested in revealing the Creator.
These people greatly succeeded in this method. The peak of their success was symbolized in the building of the first and second temple, which reflected the level of unity and bestowal they were able to reach. At a certain point, they lost the spiritual connection between them (the destruction of the 2nd temple) and what remained was just these external symbols of their connection.
At this point the wisdom of Kabbalah became concealed. People still had the holy books, Torah and etc, but they did not know how to use them. Since the Torah is written in the language of roots and branches. Meaning it uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. But if a person does not have this spiritual connection through which he can see this, then he thinks this book is talking about this world, history, morals, commandments, etc. From this emerges the Jewish religion.
From all the above we see that Kabbalah itself is not connected to any religion and that the modern religions came out due to the concealment of Kabbalah. At the same time, Kabbalah is not against religions. In fact we have millions of students worldwide, from many different backgrounds and religions. Many of them do choose to maintain their religion or to perform certain religious customs while studying Kabbalah and there is nothing wrong with that. Just like with any other science, a person can be religious and also be a chemist or physicist. Likewise a person can be religious and also study the science of Kabbalah. Baal HaSulam writes that even after the full spiritual correction people can still keep their religions.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/12/the-wisdom-of-kabbalah-and-the-other-religions/
Albert @ KabU
Hi José-Carlos,
Kabbalah is a science because it uses the basic scientific method to research reality. The Kabbalists are the scientists of Kabbalah. Everything we know is based on their research. This is similar to how other sciences work. The Kabbalists are those researchers that have performed a certain experiment and reached a certain result: the correction of our nature, the revelation of the Creator, the force of bestowal, etc. So if we are to replicate their experiment, to follow their procedures we should reach the same results.
But if a person is not yet on the degree of a Kabbalist, how does he relate to everything he’s learning? Like to any other science. For example, when I read a physics textbook, I see different formulas and experiments that research our reality. If I’m reading this textbook in 8th grade, then I have no choice but to accept the things written there since they come from a credible source. If I’m reading this textbook in college, I’m already given some tools with which I can measure and verify some of these things for myself. And yet there are some concepts that are so advanced, that I have no way to verify them until I become a physicist myself and get access to all the tools that will help me research these things.
Same with us here. There are some things I can verify for myself even when I’m just starting in the fundamentals of this wisdom, and then there are things that I can verify only when I myself have reached attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/kabbalah-and-other-sciences-philosophy-and-religion/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Dana,
1. 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. And there are also intermediary degrees which contain aspects of both, like the coral and monkeys.
2. It’s possible that other methods borrowed these terms from Kabbalah. But it’s not recommended to associate what you learned from other methods in Kabbalah, this will lead you in the wrong direction. Even when things sound similar, like restriction.
The restriction that Kabbalists talk about is not performed by a person in isolation, like a monk, and not from worldly pleasures. The restriction is relative to the spiritual work that is done in a Kabbalistic group. It’s when the group, or connecting to the group is more important than myself.
Until we begin to do spiritual work in a group, we don’t even begin to reveal the true egoism that needs to be restricted. Until then we remain on the speaking sub-level of the animate degree, meaning we’re just human animals. The true speaking degree is a spiritual degree that is still ahead of us.
We’ll learn how to implement these things in the more advanced semesters where everyone will get their own Kabbalah group to put this into practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2011/01/get-down-to-pure-egoism/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Linda,
It’s impossible to enter a corrected state “naturally” as this would violate the law that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Naturally we’re egoists, so by nature we cannot want spirituality, meaning we cannot naturally want to acquire the Creator’s pure qualities of love and bestowal. And thereby we cannot be given it naturally.
It requires a special type of work within a Kabbalistic group to evoke a true desire for spirituality within us. We’ll learn how to do this type of work in the more advanced semesters.
As for the rest of the world, how would they reach this correction if they’re not studying Kabbalah?
That already depends on us. That is because all of humanity is part of a single system, within this singular system, there is a certain order of corrections that need to take place.
It’s like building a large jigsaw puzzle. First you start with all the corner pieces, and only then do you gradually work your way to the center. It’s the same with our spiritual work. There are those that are awakened to this work earlier and those that are awakened to it later. Those that received awakened points in the hearts are like those corner pieces of the puzzle that need to start the whole process. Later on, due to their good work, they pave the way for the rest of the world to join this process.
So ultimately, whether a person receives a point in the heart now or later depends on their place in the system, which is called the root of one’s soul.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/the-root-of-the-soul/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lori,
The boundary is the desire. As we’ll learn in the upcoming lessons, all of reality exists within the desire to receive pleasure. Everything we attain is within the desire. Even this thing called the Creator is experienced within a desire, a corrected desire, but nonetheless a desire. This is why there are many names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different part of the desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator.
So all of our understanding of this thing called the Creator (and any spiritual phenomena) is based on what we reveal within the corrected desire. But whatever exists outside of the corrected desire, whatever we don’t grasp, perceive or attain within the desire, whatever is beyond our tools of research, we don’t talk about. We need to keep these limits in mind in order to stay within the realm of science and not venture off into religion or philosophy.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2012/12/philosophy-a-building-without-a-foundation/
https://laitman.com/2011/12/the-holy-names-of-bestowal/
Albert @ KabU
Google translation of the question:
Does everyone in life follow these four stages in a straight line? Is it impossible to reach revelation and then relapse into double concealment?
Does the experience of a believer, practicing according to the teachings of religions, follow the same path?
I was born, raised, and grew up in a family that believed in God in the Catholic religion and was very devout. I entered the convent as a nun at the age of 15. At the age of 36, I left the convent. I no longer believed in God, nor in the Vatican. I remember having the certainty that there was no God in Rome, but I believed in God within myself. For the past 5 years, I have been living what I have just understood as double concealment, completely broken in my overall health and in my material life. I wondered, and I cried many times, “Where is God?” I discovered Kabbalah two months ago, and I was drawn to register for all the possible courses. I am perhaps in my simple concealment stage, and I look forward to the rest of the journey with great gratitude. Finally, I have found the true path to finding God, whom I have been searching for since I was young. I missed my childhood, my youth, and my adult life searching for Him in a world of wicked, lying, loveless people. It sounds so comforting when I hear in Kabbalah the emphasis on loving one’s neighbor as oneself… Thank you.___________________________
Hi Marguerite Marie,
1. It’s not a straight line, it’s possible to go back and forth between these stages.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/01/understanding-his-providence/
2. I’m not an expert in religions, so I cannot comment on what they do there.
Also, this course is entirely in English, if you want to study in another language, we have courses in other languages as well: Check out Kab.info for details.
Albert @ KabU
