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Hi Francis, great questions!
There are two levels of studying from a Kabbalistic teacher: mouth to ear and mouth to mouth. Mouth to ear is simply to hear the words of the teacher and try to implement them.
Mouth to mouth means that there is a shared anti-egoistic screen between the two of them. This is an internal connection with one’s teacher, in which the teacher and student are so connected that the thoughts and desires of the teacher simply pass to the student on an internal level.
We of course aspire to reach such a connection with the teacher, but in our days it’s not by studying with the teacher one on one. In our days it’s more important that we study together with others in a Kabbalistic group, even through the internet. And in the connection with the Kabbalistic group, we will also build a connection with the teacher. We’ll learn about these things in the advanced semesters on KabU where each one will receive their own Kabbalah group with whom they can put these things into practice.
In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/make-yourself-a-teacher-and-a-group/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Hensy,
That’s perfectly normal. We go through many different states on the spiritual path, many ups and down. Sometimes we’re overflowing with questions and sometimes no questions at all, etc. It’s fine.
The most important thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the spiritual light and it’ll balance everything out.
Albert @ KabU
Hi John, great question!
Yes, the ego is tricky like that. Even the process of working on it is done egoistically. And that is okay. After all, we were created with this nature on purpose. And just like a PC cannot just reprogram itself to run as a Mac, we too cannot just change our nature by ourselves.
So no one is demanding of us to be saints, no one is demanding of us to have superhuman strength and to conquer our ego. Nope. All that we need to do, and all that we’re capable of doing actually, is just to try. That’s it. We just need to try to be above the ego. We don’t need to succeed, we just need to try. Such efforts are enough to extract the reforming light and it’s the light that ultimately makes all the corrections on us. Our work is only to extract the light, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/03/building-blocks-of-the-first-spiritual-degree/
Keep in mind that the Kabbalistic method is not about suppressing or killing our ego, rather it’s about rising above it. In fact the more we advance, the more our egoistic desires grow. They turn into a type of mountain that we climb over. The bigger the desires, the higher we can climb, and the higher the spiritual degree that we can attain. On the other hand, if we were to eliminate our egoistic desires, then accordingly, we would only be able to attain a tiny degree of spiritual attainment.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Tristan,
Yes, there is a recommended reading section accompanying each week’s lesson.
https://kabuconnect.com/lessons/recommended-reading/
There are three recommended books for this course:
Kabbalah Revealed and Attaining the Worlds Beyond are there to give you a solid foundation in the Wisdom of Kabbalah. It’s good to read through these books from beginning to end a few times. We’ll be learning from them mainly in the fundamental stages of Kabbalah.
Kabbalah for the Student on the other hand is a textbook of primary sources. This is an advanced level book which we’ll be studying from throughout our entire spiritual development. It can be a bit challenging for us without the proper foundation of the previous two books. So for now, it’s best to just stick with reading the recommended reading materials in that book. After you get a good foundation, you can read through that one as well. And in the more advanced phases, we’ll study articles in that book together and in depth.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jill,
Philosophically speaking, we can argue one way or another. But Kabbalah is not a philosophy, it’s a science based on the research of the Kabbalist. From their research, we see that we were purposefully created in such a way that we can only grasp reality in this form of duality. Perhaps after we complete the process of correction, new forms of perception will open up for us. But these are speculations, we’ll need to get there and see for ourselves.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2019/04/the-purpose-of-creation/
https://laitman.com/2010/10/what-happens-after-the-final-correction/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jovan,
Yes, you can say that.
Check out the Guest & Host Allegory in Chapter 3 of Attaining the Worlds Beyond for more details:
http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/4180?/eng/content/view/full/4180&main
Albert @ KabU
