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Hi Julia,
It’s not enough not to receive, but we also need the intention to bestow.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/01/the-light-of-hassadim-is-all-we-need/
Keep in mind that bestowal, restriction, etc all of these things are practiced only within the Kabbalistic group. This is because spirituality is found only in the connections between us and not in any one of us individually. We’ll learn how to put these things into practice in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Kyle,
Yes. The top desire is not necessarily for Kabbalah itself, but rather it’s the point in the heart, the desire for spirituality, to desire to attain the meaning of life.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/08/on-the-threshold-of-discovering-the-goal-of-evolution/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lilianne,
Kabbalah defines evil as egoism. So it’s not just the world that is ruled by egoism, but every single one of us as well.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/07/a-devil-with-horns-or-our-own-egoism/
Keep in mind that in Kabbalah, we don’t work on eradicating egoism, but only on rising above it. This is because we cannot attain high levels of spirituality without the ego. In fact the more we advance, the more our egoistic desires grow. They turn into a type of mountain that we climb over. The bigger the desires, the higher we can climb, and the higher the spiritual degree that we can attain. On the other hand, if we were to eliminate our egoistic desires, then accordingly, we would only be able to attain a tiny degree of spiritual attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jarrett,
Great questions, although they are a bit advanced for where we are now in the fundamentals, but great questions nonetheless.
1. Our nature is egoistic. As long as we remain within this nature, we’ll continue to experience unpleasant things because that is the major motivating force for our ego. But once we rise above our ego, we’ll no longer need suffering to move forward.
The force that pulls us out of our ego is called Mashiach (Messiah in English), which comes from the verb “to pull” (Moshech in Hebrew). So in Kabbalah, the messiah is not a person, but a special force that has the ability to pull us out of our egoistic nature.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
2. Friend (Haver in Hebrew) comes from the word connection (Hibur in Hebrew). So when we say “friend” in Kabbalah, we’re not talking about our corporeal acquaintances and buddies, but specifically the Kabbalistic group in which people are aspiring towards a spiritual connection within which we reveal the Creator.
3. Regarding talking about what we’re going through, the only person we can openly share every single inner state we’re going through is our spouse.
Whether to do so with the friends, it depends. Before we do anything, we need to make sure that our intention is to help the friends, not ourselves. With that intention in mind, there could be a scenario where sharing with the friends that we’re going through hard times can be beneficial for the friends. It can give them a push to unite and pray. There are other times when sharing such things can bring the spirits of the friends down. So it depends. But in general, if we’re aspiring to love the friends and do what is good for them, then we won’t be mistaken in what we do or don’t present to them.
But if we are not sure, then we should only show them a good example, that we’re full of energy, excited about the path, that bestowal is important, etc. Even if it’s just a game and not how I truly feel. Nonetheless, what is just a game for me is felt as real by the friends and actually inspires them. And they will do the same for me. In this way, everyone gets help to come out of their state.
We’ll learn about these things in the more advanced semesters, when everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can practice these things. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/
4. And yes, connecting to the Kabbalistic lessons is an important part of our spiritual work. That is the main way by which we extract the light. It’s ultimately the light that clarifies all the states that we’re going through and 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/
Albert @ Kab
Hi Sara,
Yes, Kabbalah is meant to be a very practical method by which we correct our ego. Keep in mind that since our very nature is egoistic, we ourselves are powerless to do anything against the ego. We need outside help to change this nature. We get this help from the force of the light. This is a special force which has the ability to correct our ego.
We extract the light primarily during the Kabbalistic studies. So even the studies themselves, although they seem theoretical, the act of studying and yearning towards the things we learn about is actually a major part of our practical work. Since that is the primary way in which we extract the light. And every time we do so, the light works on us more and more and corrects our ego more and more.
There are other ways by which we extract the light, such as connecting in a Kabbalistic group. We’ll learn about that in the more advanced semesters.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Kristin, great questions!
1. You’re right that spirituality is built on opposites. So we cannot reach spirituality without the ego. This is why we don’t work on eradicating our ego, but only on rising above it. In fact the more we advance, the more our egoistic desires grow. They turn into a type of mountain that we climb over. The bigger the desires, the higher we can climb, and the higher the spiritual degree that we can attain. On the other hand, if we were to eliminate our egoistic desires, then accordingly, we would only be able to attain a tiny degree of spiritual attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
2. Yes, you can say that suffering is due to looking at the world through the lens of the ego.
We learn from the Kabbalists that every single moment comes to us directly from the Creator, this is called “there is none else besides Him”. Furthermore, they also say that He is the “good that does good”. Meaning that every moment He is sending us nothing but goodness. But why then don’t we see this in our world? Why do we see so much suffering in the world?
This is because our world is governed by our egoistic nature. This egoistic nature is opposite to the Creator’s nature. Because of that, it inverts the Creator’s goodness into something bad. It’s just like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to see and feel more suffering and horrors in the world. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, then we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists, and our previous egoistic state would appear as nothing more than a dream.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
3. As for the necessity of suffering, it’s true that without suffering, we would not have the motivating force to move forward. But this is only in the preliminary stages. Once we reach a certain level of correction, avoiding suffering is no longer necessary to motivate us to move forward (as you saw in the previous blog post).
It’s sort of like when kids don’t want to go to school, then we threaten to punish them. But if the kids do want to go to school and they willingly run to school, then not only do we stop punishing them, but we can also build a completely different relationship with them. We can take them on educational trips, give them all sorts of puzzles and extra curricular activities, etc.
So some suffering is necessary for our ego, but it’s not the ideal way to advance forward. We can move forward in a much more pleasant way. Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
4. We can argue that suffering increases as the generations develop, but it’s more of a qualitative difference. After all, previous generations barely had food to feed their families and didn’t have most of the modern technology and luxuries that we have. Whereas we have all these things and yet still feel empty.
Albert @ KabU
