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Hi Martin, good question!
In the upcoming lesson on the perception of reality, we’ll learn that we are not actually perceiving reality the way it truly is, but rather we perceive it through the lens of our egoistic nature. So in order to change the outer reality, we need to correct our egoistic nature.
It’s like we have these dirty glasses through which we see the whole world as dirty. The moment we clean our own glasses, we’ll look at the same world but it’ll appear clean and perfect. So improving our perception of reality depends on us correcting our egoistic nature.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jill,
True altruism does not exist on the level of our world. Bestowal is the Creator’s nature. While our nature is that of pure reception. So it’s impossible for us to truly bestow. At best we can perform more and more covert actions of reception. For example, I go to the store and I give them my money, but obviously I want something in return. It’s the same with all of our actions of bestowal in corporeality. Either I do it to receive pleasure directly or indirectly from fame, honor, money, or even the pride of knowing that no one knows about this action, or even avoiding pain or guilt is also part of this same calculation.
So real bestowal, above any calculations for receiving for oneself, does not exist in our world. Real bestowal is purely the Creator’s quality. If we want to acquire such a quality, we first need to correct our nature. This is done by the force of the light we evoke through the Kabbalistic studies. This light begins to work on us, even if we don’t have the true desire to bestow. Even if we’re just like little kids, pretending to be spiritual grown ups. It takes this aspiration of ours and corrects it little by little, building in us a true desire for spirituality, for the spiritual qualities of love and bestowal.
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 Gabor, good question!
The Torah is entirely written in a type of code called the language of roots and branches. This code uses words of our world to describe spiritual phenomena. So none of it is literal. On the other hand there is a law that every spiritual root must touch the corporeal branch at least once. Meaning although these are spiritual phenomena, they must have a corresponding corporeal branch in our world.
For example, Egypt represents the uncorrected egoistic desire while Israel represents the corrected desire, those are the roots. But in our world these things exist as branches as well. There is actually a physical place that is called Egypt and Israel. Likewise with Abraham, there was indeed a Kabbalist named Abraham. Still, despite all the above, the Torah is not a history book, not a single word of the Torah speaks about our world, history, morals, etc.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/05/dispelling-myths-about-kabbalah-part-4/
If you’re interesting in learning how to properly decipher the Torah, check out the books: Disclosing a Portion or The Secrets of the Eternal Book.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Scott, great questions!
1. Yes, you can say that by loving others, we bestow to the Creator. It’s like a mother who loves her children dearly. If you relate nicely to her children, by that you make her happy.
2. We learned in this lesson the importance of the spiritual environment. This is our source of fuel to continue on the spiritual path. If we’re experiencing any pain or difficulty on the path, it’s a sign that we are not properly connected to the spiritual environment. It’s like with the example of going to the gym and lifting weights. Lifting weights is naturally extremely painful and unpleasant. But when we’re under the influence of a good gym environment, have friends that value such things, read lots of articles about staying healthy etc, we begin to enjoy these things. And what was previously a painful activity turns into something pleasurable. It all depends on the influence of the environment.
Here too you need to build for yourself a strong spiritual environment that will give you the support you need. And when you place yourself under the influence of the spiritual environment, you wont feel the path as painful, but as a fun challenge.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
3. There is an end point, the final correction (gmar tikkun). We’re currently unable to properly measure what happens afterwards, but Kabbalists do hint that there are further degrees of development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/10/what-happens-after-the-final-correction/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Zeinab,
We are here because we don’t want to develop simply like robots, which were programmed to act a certain way and they act that way. Although we have a certain ingrained programming (the desire to receive), through the process of developing on the level of our world, we learn how to rise above that programming, and reach freedom from it. This is why we are here.
Furthermore, the sages tell us that “it is not for you to complete the work, and you are not free to idle away from it.” Meaning that although the Creator controls everything and does all the work, it’s still up to us to build a desire for Him to help us make this change. Without this type of work, we would be no different than robots.
We’ll learn about this principle in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman: https://laitman.com/2010/07/its-not-for-you-to-complete-the-work-look-for-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Hi William,
You can say that a person with an awakened point in the heart was chosen by the Creator. So if you’re here, it’s a sign that you have this awakened point in the heart. But this is just in potential, whether or not you actually succeed on the spiritual path depends on you.
It’s like someone handed you a very special seed that you can potentially grow into a big tree. If you plant that seed in fertile ground, then it’ll get all the right nutrients and grow. If you plant it in the desert, nothing will come out of it.
Likewise with your point in the heart. If you place it into a good spiritual environment, it will grow and flourish until you attain spirituality. If not, then no. It’s all in your hands.
We’ll learn about the importance of the spiritual environment in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
