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Hi Daniel,
I’m not an expert in other methods, even others that seemingly teach “Kabbalah”, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. But in general, if we want to succeed in Kabbalah (or in any spiritual practice really) we should practice it without mixing in other things into it. Otherwise it’s like following two different GPS systems. One leads you to the goal through the west highway, while the other through the east highway. If you follow both, you’ll just wind up going in circles.
As for people accepting Kabbalah, we learn that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. So we cannot force anyone to study Kabbalah. We should not be pressuring anyone or even trying to convince them to study it. Rather we should give everyone the space they need to develop by themselves until they themselves feel the need for it. So it all depends on the person himself. If a person has an awakened point in the heart, it will push and pull them to find Kabbalah. If not, even if we place it right in front of them and surround it with all sorts of witty arguments, they still wont feel the need to study it.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2008/11/only-people-with-the-point-in-the-heart-can-feel-that-kabbalah-is-the-salvation/
As for how we use Kabbalah, we use Kabbalah as a means to correct our egoistic nature. As a result of this correction, we become similar to the Creator, to His qualities of love and bestowal. As a result of that, we reveal Him in practice, in our lives. All of this follows the law of equivalence of form.
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
Hi Sarah,
It depends on the context, but yes, that term can refer to both.
1. The first Kabbalist was called Adam. He was the first, so he’s called HaRishon (which is Hebrew for: the first).
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/kabbalah-without-a-trace-of-mysticism/
2. The common soul is also called Adam HaRishon. This is a closed system to which we all belong. It’s like we’re all cells that make up this body of Adam HaRishon. The word Adam comes from the Hebrew verb “Dome”, which means: similar to. In this context, the word Adam is used to show how this system is constantly developing to become similar to the Creator. So essentially all of creation can be called Adam.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Zorica,
When we say that Kabbalah does not require any physical changes, it’s because most of our spiritual work is internal, and if there is any external expression of this work, we do it only in the Kabbalistic group.
With the rest of the world, obviously we should not be causing harm to anyone nor doing anything illegal there. But aside from that, with the rest of the world we need to act normal, just like everyone else.
As for the changes we undergo, we go through many different changes on the spiritual path. It’s not so much that our character will change, but rather we will begin to relate differently to life. Furthermore, the more we advance we become more sensitive, so our emotions become deeper. Aside from that, our priorities will shift around. At first we will value spirituality much more than corporeality, but then corporeality will once again become important and we’ll need to find a way to balance the two of them.
As for growing a third leg, no we won’t grow a third leg. We also wont become monks and disconnect from this world. Kabbalists continue to exist on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder of development. So we’ll continue to work, take care of our families, health, etc.
So from the above, we can see that not much changes externally while studying Kabbalah. Internally on the other hand, it’s quite an adventure…
Albert @ KabU
Hi Geoff, great questions!
1. From the 3 state model presented by Baal HaSulam in the Introduction to the book of Zohar, we learn that the future perfect spiritual state already exists, and we all already exist there as well. The only difference is that our uncorrected ego does not allow us to perceive this yet. So once we correct our egoistic nature, we will reveal the true spiritual reality in which we existed the whole time.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/04/revealing-our-true-state/
Introduction to the book of Zohar, from item 14: https://kabbalahmedia.info/en/sources/ALlyoveA
2. The goal of creation is to bring us to that third final corrected state. This goal is predetermined. The path to reach that goal (state #2) is also predetermined. It’s like climbing a ladder, you have no choice but to keep climbing up.
So what influence do we have on this system? We can change the speed at which we climb the ladder and we can also change our attitude to what we are going through.
But if our development requires us to go through something unpleasant, like wars or personal troubles, we have no choice but to go through it?
We have to experience everything that is necessary for our development. But if we experience these things internally, in our spiritual work to correct our ego, we don’t need to experience them externally. For example with war, I can feel internally like I’m at war with my ego in my spiritual work. Or if I don’t perform this spiritual work, this war will appear externally in front of me in this world, and I will need to experience it externally.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2023/01/what-can-we-influence/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Tammy,
It depends on the context. You could say that our world uses the branch language. And sometimes we use the terms “our world” and “this world” interchangeably. But sometimes “this world” is not referring to planet Earth, and not even to us, but rather to the beginning of our spiritual journey. “This world” is referring to the point when we discover that there is something called spirituality and that we’re disconnected from it. Meaning it’s already a type of awareness of what is lacking. So we can say that 99% of the world is not in this concept called “this world” because they still don’t feel that they are lacking spirituality.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Zorica,
The 613 desires that we are learning about are spiritual desires, meaning desires that we don’t yet have. This is similar to how a single cell in a body only has some basic desires to sustain itself. But when that cell is part of a greater body, it reveals there higher desires which are impossible for the individual cell to have: desires for money, honor, power, etc. Same with us, until we integrate with the general body of Adam HaRishon, we don’t reveal or understand these 613 spiritual desires.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2008/12/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-613-desires/
This is why we focus all of our work on building that one desire to integrate and connect back into that general body of Adam HaRishon. What does that desire look and feel like? It’s a desire to connect and be close to others. When they speak, I really listen and value their words. When they are doing something together, I want to be there with them. If they are down, I want to uplift them, etc.
Keep in mind that we do this work only with other points in the heart in the Kabbalistic group. It’s like we’re building here a certain nucleus. Once we build that nucleus, we will be able to add to it wider and wider circles of the world, until we’ll come to include the whole world in that connection. But this is gradual work. And until we build that nucleus, we have nothing with which to do any spiritual work towards the world. So until then, how do we behave towards the rest of the world? We behave there normally, just like everyone else.
We’ll learn how to do this type of work practically in the more advanced semesters. It’ll be a lot more relevant in the graduate courses when everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can put all these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
