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Hi Toni,
Kabbalists typically don’t attribute much importance to dreams or the state of dreaming. They see it simply as a state where the brain summarizes/organizes the daily experiences. Similar to how some computers go through the process of defragmentation.
On the other hand, there is a spiritual state called dreaming which is the process by which we transition from one spiritual degree to another. It’s like the neutral gear on a manual transmission, which requires you to switch to the neutral gear before switching to another gear. In other words, in between every spiritual state is a state called “dream”. But it’s not related to the corporeal dreams that we experience in our physical bodies. Kabbalists don’t ascribe any importance to corporeal dreams.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2016/04/an-ordinary-dream/
https://laitman.com/2015/02/we-cannot-live-without-sleep/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Massimo,
Freedom means rising above our egoistic nature. We can do this only through the force of the light that we extract from the spiritual environment. See my reply to Natalie below for more details.
Regarding your corporeal work, I cannot comment on your personal situation. But in general, we shouldn’t mix our corporeal lives with our spiritual work. In corporeality, as long as we’re not harming others or doing anything illegal, then everyone is encouraged to build a normal life for themselves: to work, start a family, take care of one’s health, etc. And in the more advanced phases of our development, we’ll understand how this corporeal system in which we build for ourselves a normal life is also a part of our spiritual correction.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Natalie,
Yes, you can say that. Just keep in mind that when we talk about these 4 factors, we’re primarily talking about our spiritual development, about freedom from our egoistic nature.
Baal HaSulam talks about this in the article, the Freedom. He writes: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death.
Throughout the article he explains how our current egoistic nature is that angel of death. Meaning although we are technically alive and surviving, relative to spirituality, our life is considered death. True life is within a completely different nature, that of bestowal. In order to reach freedom from our current nature, we need to choose and build a spiritual environment for ourselves which will influence us with the importance of acquiring the quality of bestowal.
For this reason, the Kabbalists equate our main freedom in life in choosing to be influenced by a spiritual environment. Not just any environment, but specifically a spiritual environment, since only through the spiritual environment can we get the importance of coming out of our egoistic nature and only through that environment can we draw the light that can help us to actualize this.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Ruth,
As we learned in this lesson, we do have a certain amount of freedom in choosing which environment will influence us. So if we are punished, we are not punished for our actions, but for choosing to be influenced by a bad environment.
Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article “The Freedom”. Here’s an excerpt:
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“However, there is freedom for the will to initially choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart to him good concepts. If one does not do that, but is willing to enter any environment that appears to him and read any book that falls into his hands, he is bound to fall into a bad environment or waste his time on worthless books, which are abundant and easier to come by. In consequence, he will be forced into foul concepts that make him sin and condemn. He will certainly be punished, not because of his evil thoughts or deeds, in which he has no choice, but because he did not choose to be in a good environment, for in that there is definitely a choice.
Therefore, he who strives to continually choose a better environment is worthy of praise and reward. But here, too, it is not because of his good thoughts and deeds, which come to him without his choice, but because of his effort to acquire a good environment, which brings him these good thoughts and deeds.”
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Keep in mind that, in Kabbalah, reward and punishment is not referring to someone judging our actions and handing us a fine, rather reward and punishment are referring to a cause and effect relationship that is found in the laws of nature. For example, if I disregard the law of gravity and jump from a 100 story building, then I’ll be “punished” by falling to my death. Meaning it’s not a punishment, but cause and effect, jump off 100 story building -> death.
Likewise with our spiritual work:
If I build a good spiritual environment for myself -> I’ll correct my egoistic nature and become similar to the Creator.
If I don’t build a good spiritual environment for myself -> I’ll waste my time and not reach the spiritual correction in this life.
So there are no punishments in Kabbalah, but there are laws of nature. And we need to come into balance with these laws.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2008/10/nature%E2%80%99s-commandments-the-creator%E2%80%99s-laws/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Orah,
There is no official course at the moment. All of the Hebrew that we need for studying Kabbalah we will gradually learn together throughout this course. For more details about the importance of the Hebrew language, check out this article: The Ties between Letters, Words, and Numbers:
http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/60270?/eng/content/view/full/60270&main
Albert @ KabU
Hi Abe,
Freedom means rising above our egoistic nature. As we learned in this week’s lesson, we do this by building for ourselves a strong spiritual environment.
Baal HaSulam talks about this in the article, the Freedom. He writes: “Harut (carved) on the tables”; do not pronounce it Harut (carved), but rather Herut (freedom), to show that they are liberated from the angel of death.
Throughout the article he explains how our current egoistic nature is that angel of death. Meaning although we are technically alive and surviving, relative to spirituality, our life is considered death. True life is within a completely different nature, that of bestowal. In order to reach freedom from our current nature, we need to choose and build a spiritual environment for ourselves which will influence us with the importance of acquiring the quality of bestowal.
For this reason, the Kabbalists equate our main freedom in life in choosing to be influenced by a spiritual environment. Not just any environment, but specifically a spiritual environment, since only through the spiritual environment can we get the importance of coming out of our egoistic nature and only through that environment can we draw the light that can help us to actualize this.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2012/10/bestowal-should-become-fashionable/
Albert @ KabU
