[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Sylvania,

I’m not sure what you mean by upper forces, but when we use such terms in Kabbalah, upper is referring to higher and higher levels of bestowal. While lower is referring to greater levels of egoism. The only way we can come into contact with the upper force, is in our aspiration to become like it, to imitate its qualities of love and bestowal. As such, it’s impossible to use the upper force for egoistic reasons. Any aspiration for personal gain is diametrically opposed to the upper force and will automatically disconnect us from it. All of this follows the law of equivalence of form.

Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:

https://laitman.com/2015/09/where-is-the-upper-world/

https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Danny,

Yes, the law of equivalence of form will be covered in lesson 5. Here are some more details about it from Rav Laitman’s blog: https://laitman.com/2013/04/everything-is-attained-by-the-equivalence-of-form/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Christian,

I would break it down like this:

Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. It simply means that every calculation we make is to chase pleasure or avoid pain. This is similar to how any other animal functions. By itself, there is nothing wrong with this nature, it’s simply the program by which we function and preserve ourselves.

Egoism is when this program begins to be used in a way that harms others. Not only do I want to receive pleasure, but I want to receive it at the expense of others, at their detriment. This is the corporeal ego.

There is also a spiritual ego. 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/

For the most part, when we speak of egoism in Kabbalah, we’re referring to the spiritual ego, which separates us from the Creator. This quality was purposely ingrained in us in order to help us to develop. Since without separating from Him, we would not feel ourselves as existing or having any free choice in this whole process.

Furthermore, as we develop, our relation to egoism will also change. At times we will hate it for separating us from the Creator. At times we will appreciate it for helping us to develop to higher spiritual levels. And at times we will even see it as the Creator in disguise, playing a game with us. So it depends on our level of development.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Yes, those are exactly the questions Rav Laitman addresses in that blog post: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Helen,

The Creator created creation in a state of perfection. If it was possible to cancel any of the three states, it would cancel the perfection of creation.

If for example you cancel the first or third state and we’re just in the second state, it means the perfect Creator created something imperfect.

If you cancel the second state and we remain in the first state, then we remain in an unconscious state, which by itself is also not perfect.

But since creation is perfect, there is no chance to cancel any of these states, meaning each and every one of us must necessarily reach that third state of complete perfection. If so, where then is our freedom in this system? Baal HaSulam continues that article by explaining that since the end goal is set, our freedom is only in the path we take to get there, whether by the path of light or the path of suffering. That’s the main takeaway from the three state model, if you understand that, you’re good.

Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:

https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/

http://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

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

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