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Hi Dana,
Connecting to the mind of the Creator works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that to the extent that we become similar to Him, to His qualities of bestowal, to that extent we reveal Him, reveal His thought behind all of reality.
But the more we analyze the intentions behind our actions, the more we’ll see that we don’t have a true intention to bestow. That our nature is completely opposed to it. Bestowal is the Creator’s nature. While our nature is that of pure reception. So it’s impossible for us to truly bestow. At best we can perform more and more covert actions of reception.
For example, I go to the store and I give them my money, but obviously I want something in return. It’s the same with all of our actions of bestowal in corporeality. Either I do it to receive pleasure directly or indirectly from fame, honor, money, or even the pride of knowing that no one knows about this action, or even avoiding pain or guilt is also part of this same calculation.
So real bestowal, above any calculations for receiving for oneself, does not exist in our world. Real bestowal is purely the Creator’s quality. If we want to acquire such a quality, we first need to correct our nature. This is done by the force of the light we evoke through the Kabbalistic studies. This light begins to work on us, even if we don’t have the true desire to bestow. Even if we’re just like little kids, pretending to be spiritual grown ups. It takes this aspiration of ours and corrects it little by little, building in us a true desire for spirituality, for the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
As for the Kabbalistic group, it’s a means by which we amplify the force of the light on us, exponentially speeding up the process of correcting our nature. We’ll learn about these things in detail in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Adam,
Spirituality works according to the law of equivalence of form. Meaning that to reveal spirituality, we need to become similar to it, to the qualities of pure bestowal that are there.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/
So we reveal spirituality by aspiring towards bestowal. If we reveal spirituality, and stop aspiring towards bestowal, instead wanting to receive for ourselves, then we will lose our equivalence of form and thereby lose our attainment of spirituality.
As long as our ego is not fully corrected, there needs to be a certain level of concealment. Otherwise we would steal everything we reveal into our ego. If we’re fully uncorrected, the concealment is placed upon us from above. The more that we are corrected, we begin to place the concealment upon ourselves. In allegorical terms this is sometimes referred to as a cloud, shade, or wings. All of those things are talking about the importance of the concealment for our spiritual development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2015/07/revelation-in-concealment/
As for doubts, doubts accompany us throughout our entire spiritual development. They are the challenges thanks to which we grow and develop.
It’s just like in school, if we master all the challenges and exercise in first grade, we’re promoted to the second grade. And in second grade we’re given even harder challenges and exercises than the first grade. Or like in weightlifting, if we master an exercise with 10 pounds, we increase it to 15 to keep challenging our bodies to grow stronger.
Likewise in spirituality, every new spiritual degree comes with its own set of doubts and problems, thanks to which we can grow and develop further.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/the-benefit-of-the-doubt/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Oliver,
1. It’s קִפּוֹז in Hebrew, which can be translated to owl or tree snake.
Kabbalah for the student was published many years ago, so the translation there is a little older. Whereas the translations in Kabbalah Media are constantly being updated.
2. He explains there why there is so much confusion in our days about Kabbalah, and why he ultimately felt the need to start openly disseminating the authentic wisdom of Kabbalah.
3.
Kli is the general word for the desire to receive.
Aviut is the level of the desire, the craving.
The system of Adam HaRishon is the same as the collective soul. When we reconnect back into that system, that state is called Shechina.
Depending on context, Adam can also refer to the first Kabbalah.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2020/05/kabbalistic-terminology-aviut/
https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
https://laitman.com/2014/05/the-human-is-the-innermost-part-in-the-system-of-worlds/
https://laitman.com/2012/06/what-would-a-cardiogram-of-the-hearts-desires-reveal/
4. Yes, you can say that about spreading false teachings.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Milo,
1. The main topic is how we connect so that we reveal the Creator in our connection. Everything else is a derivative of that.
2. Throughout the day, it’s mostly in our thoughts and prayers that the ten will succeed in connecting.
Aside from that, each friend in the ten is unique. One likes pickles, another likes sweets, so we cannot give something sweet to someone that doesn’t like it. Meaning we need to find what touches each one’s heart. So for one person it could be the way you speak with them, to another it could be that they need a phone call reminder before the meetings, to a third it could be that your active participation is what they need the most, etc.
3. Every ten is unique and goes through their meetings in their own way. In my ten, there is a rotating duty to prepare the weekly meeting. So each person in the ten gets to prepare it and add his own flavor to the meeting.
In general we start with something uplifting like the importance of the goal, the importance of the friends, gratitude, etc. After that we bring up more serious topics like things we want to implement in the ten that we heard recently from Rav Laitman’s lessons, or things we want to resolve that stand in the way of our connection, or organizational topics, or deciding on the logistics of our monthly physical meeting. And we end with something uplifting, usually a silent few seconds of gratitude, and a song.
In the advanced semesters of KabU, everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group and taught how to put all these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
Hi György,
Yes, you can say that.
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.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Milo,
The Creator is the pure quality of love and bestowal. As such, He does not lack anything. Meaning He does not need us to bestow anything to Him. The only ones benefiting from this whole process is us.
Although we sometimes use the words that we perform a certain action in order to bestow to the Creator or to bring Him contentment, but in truth it’s just a game to help us to develop. 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 all of our attempts to bestow to Him are nothing more than a type of game for our own development.
Furthermore, the Creator is concealed. So we cannot even play this type of game directly with Him. Instead we need to use what is revealed, which are other people. Meaning that if we want to “bestow” to Him in practice, we do so by bestowing to other people. This is called going “from the love of the created beings, to the love of the Creator”.
Keep in mind that the foundation of this type of work is done in a small Kabbalistic group. And once we build a certain foundation there, we can add more and more layers on top of that, until we can include the whole world in that connection.
In the advanced semester everyone will receive their own virtual Kabbalah group and learn how to do these things in practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2024/01/communicate-directly-with-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
