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Hi Sapir,
Suffering is not the optimal path. The path of light is actually the optimal way. Suffering is indeed a last resort.
Furthermore, although we say that there are two paths towards the goal (path of light vs path of suffering), in truth we don’t really advance on the path of suffering. It’s like a child that needs to go to school. Pressuring and punishing him is not the same as educating him. So after all of the pressures and punishments we put on him, he will still have to go to school and get his education. In other words, the path of suffering is only there to pressure us to return to the path of light.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/05/we-wont-follow-the-path-of-suffering-forever/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Rae,
Yes, “love your friend as yourself” is a great all encompassing rule of our spiritual work. It is essentially the path through which we come into contact with the Creator.
Keep in mind that when Kabbalists use the word “friend” they are not referring to our corporeal buddies. A friend, in the spiritual sense of the word, is someone that is close to me spiritually, someone that shares the same spiritual goal as me. In other words, a friend is someone with an active point in the heart that is together with me on the spiritual path. This is why the spiritual work of “love your friend as yourself” is primarily carried out in a Kabbalistic group.
As for the rest of the world, we should remember that “there is no coercion in spirituality” and do our best not to force anyone into doing this type of spiritual work. So when we are outside of the Kabbalistic group, the best thing to do is to act normal, just like everyone else.
We’ll learn more about this in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Kai,
The trick is to focus outside of ourselves, on helping others to do that. If we can help uplift others, we ourselves will also be uplifted. This is why Kabbalists have always studied in Kabbalistic groups. We’ll learn more about these things in the advanced semesters on KabU where everyone will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom you can put these things into practice.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Tom,
There is a saying that “if someone comes to kill you, you need to kill them first”. Meaning that on the level of this world, we need to live our lives in the normal way, according to what is customary in our society. So if someone is trying to harm me, I need to stop them, defend myself, call the cops, sue them, etc. We deal with all these things in the normal way that our society deals with them. Likewise if I’m sick, I need to go to the doctor. If I lose my job, I need to send out my resume and go job hunting, etc. Externally all of these things remain.
So what changes as a result of us studying Kabbalah? Our internality. Internally we need to ascribe everything that is happening to us as coming to us from the Creator. So internally we begin to relate to all of these things differently. But this is our internal work and it does not cancel out any of the normal actions that we need to take externally.
We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: http://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Francis,
620 is the number of corrections that need to be placed over the spiritual desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow, 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow, and 7 additional desires that are corrected only in the final correction.
So yes the numbers 613 and 620 are connected. Depending on the context, sometimes Kabbalists include those additional 7 desires and sometimes they omit them.
As for correcting these desires, in order to correct them, we first need to discover them. The 613/620 desires are spiritual desires that we don’t yet have. Similar to how a single cell in a body only has some basic desires. 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 613/620 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/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Sapir, great questions!
1. We were indeed created in the state of perfection (Baal HaSulam describes this in the article Introduction to the book of Zohar https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/ALlyoveA), but this was an unconscious state, like a baby in its mother’s womb. So we necessarily had to come to the complete opposite state, to lose that state of perfection, in order to once again reach it, but this time consciously.
And the fact that we had to lose this state is not something bad, but it’s a necessary part of our development. It’s just like with kids. We don’t just give them a completed jigsaw puzzle. On the contrary we take it and break it down into many pieces. Then in the process of them putting it together, they grow and develop. Same with us, this process of losing that state is a necessary part of our further growth and development.
This process also adds to us a certain level of freedom, without which, we would be no different than machines, or robots, that were programmed to act a certain way and they just carry out this inner script. Instead, we were programmed one way, and we rise above this inner programming, become independent of it, and then develop our own desire to advance towards this goal.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/01/from-perfection-to-perfection/
2. The method of Kabbalah is one by which we correct our egoistic nature. But if we don’t feel our egoistic nature as something bad, then we have no need to correct it, we have no need for this method. Just like we don’t take any medicine if we don’t feel sick, likewise humanity could not discover the method to correct egoism until it truly felt itself sick with egoism.
In the prior years of development, egoism was seen as something positive, as something that pushed humanity forward. Only in the past 20 or 30 years, did we begin to feel how much our egoism is actually causing us harm, like something cancerous within us. This is why Kabbalah was only revealed in recent years, when humanity began to feel a real need for it. This follows the rule that “there is no light without a kli (vessel)”. Meaning that you cannot reveal something spiritual without feeling a true need for it. Which is essentially what those thousands of years of development gave us.
3. From the three states model (referenced in the article & blog post in answer #1) we see that the end goal is set. There is no escaping it. Every single moment in our lives is designed to help bring us all towards that goal. Our only choice in the matter is to go consciously towards that goal or wait for the sufferings to build up and push us.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
4. When Kabbalists are talking about the 613 Mitzvot, they are not referring to corporeal Mitzvot that a religious person performs with his hands and feet. But rather the Mitzvot are the internal processes by which we draw the light and correct the egoistic desires.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2010/11/spice-up-your-desire/
https://laitman.com/2015/09/compliance-with-the-613-mitzvot-commandments/
Albert @ KabU
