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Hi Kári,
It depends on what kind of desires you are talking about. Kabbalah only deals with our desire for spirituality. Regarding the desires of our animalistic bodies, Kabbalah does not deal with these things. Our corporeal desires don’t have any relation to spirituality, so each person can arrange these desires however is most comfortable for them (of course within the context of the law and without harming others).
Albert @ KabU
Hi Shaun,
Torah comes from the word ohr (light). So when Kabbalists use the word Torah, they are not referring to the physical book, but rather to the light. This is a special force that we can extract, especially through the Kabbalistic studies, in order to correct our egoistic nature.
And when Kabbalists use the word 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.
So knowledge of the Torah is not necessary in order to study Kabbalah and perform these spiritual corrections.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/11/spice-up-your-desire/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Andrew, great questions!
The books we’re learning from help us to understand some of these concepts, these spiritual roots, but they do so in an everyday style of language. The language of roots and branches is what we find primarily within books like the Torah, the Zohar, the Study of the 10 Sefirot.
As for learning this language, this is not something that we can master by learning it, rather it comes with spiritual attainment. Without spiritual attainment, we cannot truly understand these things. It’s like a blind person that is trying to study colors. He can learn the wavelengths behind each one, the different feelings they all evoke, but ultimately he will never truly understand colors. But if this blind person was to undergo an operation and gain his sense of sight, how easy and simple it would be to teach him colors. We would simply point to it and say “this is red”.
It’s the same with the language of roots and branches. It’s currently impossible for us to truly grasp these things. But once we gain our “spiritual sight” we would pick these things up very easily and naturally.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/12/the-spiritual-decoder/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Lisa, good question!
Above and below is referring to the root and branch or to cause and consequence. We learn that our world is on the level of branches. In order to make any change here, we need do so on the root level.
It’s like watching TV. Let’s say I’m watching a TV show and want to change something in the show. I can start yelling at the show or even turn it off, or go to sleep or make a thousand other actions, but ultimately it will not change the show itself. In order to make any change, I would need to go to the source. In this case maybe to contact the director or something.
This is how our world works. That we’re on the level of branches, like that end result of a TV show that was already made. And in order to make any change here, we need to go to the roots.
We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming lessons, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2009/09/the-law-of-roots-and-branches-the-most-imporant-law-in-kabbalah/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Dave, good question!
Yes, to some extent we will be deciphering the Torah and the Talmud. Keep in mind that although these are indeed Kabbalistic books, in our days we usually don’t study them directly. This is because egoism grows from generation to generation, so Kabbalah, the method for its correction, needs to get adapted in each generation for that level of egoism. For example it’s like in medicine, if a person has a headache he can just drink a tylenol and that’s enough to fix him. But if it’s not just a little headache but something cancerous, then that tylenol won’t do anything for him but he needs a completely different regime to heal himself.
This is why Kabbalah gets adapted in each generation to the level of egoism that is currently found in that generation. So although there were many different Kabbalists and Kabbalistic books throughout the generations, nowadays we mainly learn from the writings of Baal HaSulam and Rabash, since their writings contains the light that is most suitable to correct the egoism that is found in our generation.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
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 Yvon,
The focus there is not on someone being rich or poor, the focus is on how our perception of reality completely changes as we develop spiritually.
Baal HaSulam describes this in the article: Concealment and Revelation of the Face of the Creator. He describes there 4 levels and on every level our perception of the world is completely different. I can look at the same person in one state and he appears to me as suffering, poor, completely egoistic and when I look at the same person in a different state I see him as wealthy, without any troubles in life, a righteous individual. How can it be that I can look at the same person in two different states (and the difference between spiritual states could be a few seconds) and see a completely opposite picture?
This is because my perception of the world is subjective. I see the world through the lens of my own egoism. So as I correct my egoism more and more, I can then look at the same person and see him completely differently. It’s like I have these dirty glasses through which I see the whole world as dirty. The moment I clean my own glasses, I then look at the same world, but now it’s clean and perfect.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/04/in-neutral-gear/
Albert @ KabU
