[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Christian,

The descent is pre-planned in the thought of creation in order to help us to further grow and develop. It’s similar to how we help our kids to grow. We don’t just give them a completed jigsaw puzzle. Rather we take it and break it down into many pieces. Then in the process of them putting it all together, they grow and develop.

If you’re interesting in learning how to properly decipher the stories in the Torah, check out the books: Disclosing a Portion or The Secrets of the Eternal Book.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Helen,

Here’s a blog post from Rav Laitman about the law of equivalence of form: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/

We can see an example of this law in radio receivers. That when we tune the internal frequency of the radio receiver to match the frequency of the external radio wave, then we can pick up that wave and hear it. Likewise in our spiritual work, when we become similar to the Creator, we can reveal Him in practice. This is essentially all of our work, to become more and more similar to Him, to His qualities of love and bestowal. All the way until we reach complete adhesion with Him.

And you’re right that this work is against our nature. Meaning that we cannot just invert our own nature. We need help to reach this change. This is why all that is demanded of us and all that we’re capable of doing really is just to aspire to be like Him. Even if that aspiration is not real, even if it’s just playing pretend, still, when we play such a game, especially in the Kabbalistic group and during the Kabbalistic studies, this attracts the force of the light. The light then gradually works on us and makes this game real.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/

If you have the time, I also recommend reading through the article A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar, where Baal HaSulam talks in detail about the law of equivalence of form.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Helen,

That’s completely normal. The important thing is to just keep going and everything will balance out.

The Kabbalists write about this “it’s not the wise that learns”. Meaning we’re not learning this material simply to acquire knowledge, to store it in some box in our brains. After all, if knowledge was the path to spirituality, then a supercomputer loaded with all of the Kabbalistic texts would be the most spiritual being in the world. But obviously this is not the case. So why do we study if not to gain knowledge? Because through the study, we draw the force of the light. And this force is what makes all the internal changes, clarifications, corrections that need to be made.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Michael,

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. 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.

So yes, humanity is currently on a higher part of the animate level. And yes that there is no egoism on the animate level. Even the ego that we currently reveal is not the true spiritual form of egoism. Spiritual egoism is everything that stands in the way of our connection with the Creator. Normal people don’t have a spiritual ego. This is only something that we discover after doing some serious spiritual work.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/true-evil/

2. Not yet feeling others means that they relate to others through themselves. For example, there is the rule of “do not do to the other what you yourself hate”. Meaning that you don’t yet feel the other, you just feel yourself. But you understand yourself, you understand what it is that you hate, and at the very least, you don’t cause that harm to others.

3. Because at least in action, that level is able to maintain itself in a spiritual framework. It’s still not true spirituality, since spirituality means acquiring the pure qualities of love and bestowal, which is an internal correction.

4. It’s like a hologram where the big image is made up of identical smaller copies of that image. So if there is a flaw in one of the smaller images, that same flaw is found in every piece. And if you correct that flaw in the small piece, it’s reflected in the whole image.

So reaching my personal correction means that I have corrected my flaw that is found in everyone. And when each one will correct their part of the general picture, then we reach the final correction of the whole world.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/04/the-fractality-of-nature/

5. The Creator gave us our nature, our master, so going against our nature is like going against the Creator. According to the saying “My sons have defeated me”.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Anthony,

1. There are three recommended books for this course. Kabbalah Revealed and Attaining the Worlds Beyond are there to give you a solid foundation in the Wisdom of Kabbalah. Besides the recommended readings, it’s good to read through these books from beginning to end a few times.

Kabbalah for the Student on the other hand is a textbook of primary sources. This is an advanced level book which we’ll be studying from throughout our entire spiritual development. It can be a bit challenging for us without the proper foundation of the previous two books. So for now, it’s best to just stick with reading the recommended reading materials in that book. After you get a good foundation, you can read through that one as well. And in the more advanced phases, we’ll study articles in that book together and in greater depth.

2. Regarding Judaism, Kabbalah and Judaism are two separate things, so knowledge of Judaism is not necessary to study Kabbalah.

3. In the article Walking the Path of Truth, Baal HaSulam writes to us about three components in our work: Israel, Torah, and the Creator.

Israel is me, my point in the heart, my desire to actualize myself, to reach spirituality. Torah comes from the Hebrew word Ohr, meaning light. So when Kabbalists us the word Torah they are not referring to the book but rather to the system through which we draw the light that corrects us. The Creator is our root to which we want to return.

He writes that these three components need to be present and equal, otherwise I deviate from the spiritual path. Meaning if I’m just thinking about the Creator, without working with the system called Torah in order to correct myself, then I’m deviating from the path. Also if I’m just working on correcting myself without aiming my work to the Creator, this too is a deviation.

Only when all three of these things are used equally, then we are truly progressing and the light works on us in the most optimal way. It’s like I have a rifle, the rifle scope, and the target. My job is to align the rifle through the scope towards the target. In this way I’m certain to hit the mark.

4. NRNHY is an acronym for Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida. These are the names of the lights that enter into the spiritual desire. There are five of them because there are five levels of the spiritual desire. Each level of desire has a corresponding light that enters it.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Kelti,

They described the desires in general. But since each person is unique, each one of us has a different arrangement of these desires.

Regarding being judged, Kabbalah is a science, not a religion. Just like when we learn about the physics of our world, no one is judging us there, likewise when we’re learning Kabbalah, which is essentially the physics of the spiritual world, no one is judging us there as well.

As for the correction of our desires, spirituality works according to laws. The main law of spirituality is the law of equivalence of form. It means that if we want to reveal spirituality, we need to become similar to it, to the qualities of pure love and bestowal that reside there. 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. So if we tune our desires in the direction of bestowal, then we will become similar to spirituality and reveal it in practice, in our lives. This is essentially what we’re learning how to do.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/

Albert @ KabU

[Author]

Replies