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Hi Ludumo,
The intention is concealed. So we cannot judge anyone’s intention. This is why Kabbalah is called the concealed wisdom, because it deals with what is inside of a person. But we don’t know what is happening inside someone else. So each person can only judge himself. He has no way to properly gauge what is going on inside someone else.
Furthermore, we learn in the lesson on the perception of reality, that the entire external reality is nothing more than a reflection of our own uncorrected egoistic state. Meaning that to the extent that I’m not corrected, I see in front of me a bad, egoistic world, full of suffering. And to the extent that I correct this ego, to that extent the external reality will change as well. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as being dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses (correct myself) then I’ll look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
As for our actions in the physical world, the most important one of our actions is in choosing to place ourselves under the influence of a spiritual environment. There is a certain level of freedom specifically in that. We’ll learn about this in depth in the next semester when we’ll study the topic of freedom.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Omoregie Peter,
It’s not so much that Kabbalists hid it, but more so that humanity was not yet ready for it. It’s just like what we do with our kids, we don’t talk to a 2 year old about death, sexuality, and etc. We wait for them to mature until they are able to properly hear about such things. Likewise with us. The Kabbalists wanted nothing more than to share this wisdom with the world, but the world was not yet ripe for it. So they waited until humanity developed more.
Furthermore, even if this wisdom is revealed, until a person is in a special phase of his development where his point in the heart awakens, he’s incapable of hearing these things. We can see this on ourselves. If Kabbalah was already revealed in 1995, why did it take me so many years to find it? Why am I only starting to learn about this in 2021? It’s because of the desire. If a person does not have this desire for spirituality called the point in the heart, then you can literally place this wisdom right in front of him and he won’t see anything special about it or feel any need for pursuing it. If on the other hand this desire is awakened within a person, then even if he has never heard of Kabbalah, he will somehow just gravitate towards it, like a magnet that is pulling him to the right place. He will find it even in the most isolated places on earth, even in prison. So everything depends on the ripeness of the desire.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Ludumo,
He means that the action is not so important, rather it’s the intention behind that action that counts. For example, I can donate a million dollars, but what is my intention for doing such an action? Maybe it’s to feel pride or to show off. Or maybe it’s because I would feel bad or guilty if I didn’t do so. If so, then even if the action is one of bestowal, the intention is still one of reception. So that whole action turns into an action of reception.
The importance of the intention is most clearly illustrated in the guest & host analogy. Check out chapter 3 of Attaining the Worlds Beyond for more details.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Melinda,
The 5 spiritual worlds are not place like we think, but rather levels of concealment. World (Olam in Hebrew) comes from the word Concealment (ha-alama). So the 5 worlds are 5 levels of concealment between us, the desire to receive, and the Creator the general force of love and bestowal. To the extent that we correct our own opposite, egoistic nature, for it to also operate in the direction of bestowal, to that extent we reveal these worlds, these higher qualities.
Regarding the order and meaning of each world:
First is Adam Kadmon (primordial Man) this is the first form of the desire to receive that became similar to the Creator, but it operates in a different way then the rest of the system, so it’s called primordial.
Atzilut (from the words etz lo: at his place, in his possession). This is the place where the Creator exists, meaning the pure desire to bestow.
Beria (creation), comes from the word Bar, meaning outside of. Meaning that it’s already a distinct degree of remoteness from the quality of bestowal.
Yetzira (creation), also means creation but this time it stems from the word yetzer, inclination. Meaning there is already an inclination of its own to the Creator.
Assiya (action), this completes the action of creating the desire to receive.
Keep in mind that we usually don’t translate these words when we use them in the lessons. A lot of times it’s better to use the Hebrew word instead of being confused by the translation.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jehoseph,
There are 3 main books for this course: Kabbalah Revealed, Attaining the Worlds Beyond, and Kabbalah for the Student. For the books Kabbalah Revealed and Attaining the Worlds Beyond, you can read through them from beginning to end. This will give you a solid foundation. Kabbalah for the Student on the other hand is a textbook of primary sources. It can be very challenging. So it’s better for now to just read the recommended reading materials in that one. After you get a good foundation, you can read through that one as well.
As for other books beyond that, if you’re interested in deciphering the Torah, you can check out Disclosing a Portion or Secrets of the Eternal Book. There are also other beginner books you can find in our bookstore. But in truth, I wouldn’t recommend anything else right now. If you start with the 3 above books, it’ll give you a strong foundation for everything else.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Megan,
We need to relate to everything as coming from the Creator. This is called “there is none else besides Him”. Meaning that the Creator is the singular source behind EVERYTHING. All of our thoughts, desires, all of the life events, everything comes from Him.
But we learn that the Creator is the “good that does good”, meaning a pure quality of love and bestowal. So every single moment He should be sending us nothing but goodness. Why then don’t we sense this goodness? Why do we see so many atrocities in the world? It’s because we’re opposite to Him. Our opposite egoistic nature inverts this goodness into something bad. It’s like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative, equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to suffer and we will continue to see others suffering more and more in life. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists. And our previous egoistic state will appear as nothing more than a dream.
We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
