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Hi Sarah,
1. Not quiet. The initial four phases are called the four phases of DIRECT LIGHT because they are attributed to the light. Meaning that it’s the Creator doing all the work there. We’re not active in that process but rather are like clay in the hands of the craftsman.
Now on the other hand, we need to be active in our development. And because we are actively participating now, the light that we’ll receive will be felt much stronger than before.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/everyone-is-a-point-everyone-is-infinity/
2. Spiritual fulfillment is felt outside of our egoistic nature. It’s within a completely different quality, that of love and bestowal. Meaning that within our egoistic nature, we can never find true fulfillment. Only when we correct our ego and start focusing outside of ourselves, will we discover spiritual fulfillment.
It’s like I’m a cell within a whole body. As a cell, how much fulfillment can I possibly experience? But when I focus outside of myself, on being a healthy cell that serves the whole body, I begin to feel the fulfillment of the whole body.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/07/what-is-mutual-guarantee/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Scott,
1) I can’t really comment on your personal states and feelings. In general, our feelings can never be false. Whatever we experience and feel is our truth. But the more we grow and develop, the more our feelings become calibrated and fine tuned so we begin to sense a higher truth, a higher and higher level of reality.
Just like the truth of a newborn is not the same truth of a teenager and it’s not the same truth of an adult. As they grow and develop, their values change, their attitude to life matures, and what was normal on one level is not on another. It does not mean that what we sensed in the past was false, it just means that we grew up and now feel reality through higher values.
2) In general, the healthiest attitude towards the past is to say “there is none else besides Him” and that we went through exactly what we needed to go through. Beyond that, we should be very happy that through everything we went through, we merited an awakened point in the heart. After all, less than 1% of the world has this desire and we were as if handpicked by the Creator to be among such people.
So don’t go digging into the past, don’t despair or feel guilty, but rather focus on the present, on the opportunity that is presented before us and be happy for the priceless gift that we received!
Albert @ KabU
P.S. It’s best to keep your questions concise. One or two sentences max is enough to formulate any question.
Hi Scott,
True freedom is actually a very high degree. We’re still in preparation for it. After all, we did not even choose to be here. This follows the saying that “the Creator puts man’s hand on the good fate and says “choose this for yourself””. Meaning He awakened our point in the heart and that desire started to push and pull us to a place where we can actualize it.
But if the point in the heart is forcing me to be here, what needs to happen for me to start actualizing my free will? This desire then needs to be taken away from me little by little, and then I begin to reveal more and more the place of my freedom.
This is similar to how we teach a child to ride a bike. First the parent holds the child completely. Then as the child learns to pedal and balance himself, the parent lets go a little, then a little more and a little more, until the child continue to pedal without the parent holding him at all.
So we too need to learn to continue to do this work even when that initial desire for spirituality begins to disappear or when the ego grows and begins to pull us into many different directions. Here there is already a need for mutual work in the Kabbalistic group, the spiritual environment. On one hand when I fall into my ego, they need to pull me out, and on the other hand I need to help pull others out when they fall. This is why Kabbalists have always studied in groups (physical or virtual).
We will learn more about this in the more advanced semesters on KabU, where you’ll receive your own Kabbalah group with whom you can practice these things.
Albert @ KabU
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
