[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Yeshayahu, great questions!

1. I don’t think so, but you can ask Tony directly during the live Q/A event. The next one is schedule for Dec 19th. Check out this link for more details:  https://kabuconnect.com/live/

2. Practical Kabbalah does not involve any rituals or customs. Practical Kabbalah is the process by which we correct our egoistic nature, from reception to bestowal, and thereby become similar to the Creator. We perform this change by “studying Torah”. Torah comes from the word Ohr (light). So when Kabbalists use the term “studying Torah”, they are not referring to the physical book, but rather to the light. This is a special force that we extract from the authentic Kabbalistic writings, by which we can correct our egoistic nature.

And although the Torah is indeed a Kabbalistic book, in our days, we usually don’t study it 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: https://laitman.com/2015/11/the-great-kabbalists-and-their-works/

What Came First, The Torah Or The Wisdom Of Kabbalah?

3. We’re not yet on any spiritual degree, we’re still in the preparation period prior to the spiritual ladder. But once we start to do real spiritual work, we can measure our progress in our attitude towards other points in the hearts. That I’ll feel how my attitude towards them changes from complete indifference, all the way until I feel them as pieces of my soul. We’ll learn more about this in the more advanced lessons.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Niklas,

We learn that “necessities are neither praised nor condemned”. Meaning that taking care of our necessities to live a normal life is not considered egoistic. It’s perfectly fine to do that.

As for feeling and fulfilling the desire of others, this is something that we practice only within the Kabbalistic group. In the Kabbalistic group, the only desire that we are concerned about is the desire for spirituality. This is the desire that we want to feel and fulfill in others. Fulling that desire in others means that we build a warm and supportive environment which constantly provides everyone in it a good mood and the importance of bestowal. We’ll work on this practically in the more advanced semesters. Check out this article from Rabash in the meantime: https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/gzm3fAe8?language=en

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Esther,

We don’t choose our thoughts and desires. These things come to us from the Creator. Baal Hasulam writes about it in “Pri Chacham Sichot. The Secret of His Name”. Here’s an excerpt:

“All the thoughts that enter a person’s mind are the act of the Creator. That is to say, it is not what a person feels, that he draws them from some place or that they originated from him. This is false, the biggest lie. Rather each thought, the smallest of the smallest, the Creator sent it to the mind of man, and that is the motivating force of man and of beast and of every living thing.”

__________

So we can’t change our thoughts and desires directly, but we can do so indirectly, as we learned this week, through our choice of the environment. Baal HaSulam writes about it in the article “The Freedom” (https://kabbalahmedia.info/sources/4AtF9tGS?language=en) . Here’s an excerpt:

“However, there is freedom for the will to initially choose such an environment, such books, and such guides that impart upon him good concepts. If one does not do this but is willing to enter any environment that appears before 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 more accessible. 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 this 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 or 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 actions.”

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Eliyahu,

Our nature is the desire to receive pleasure. It has three modes in which it operates: faith below reason, faith within reason, and faith above reason.

Faith below reason is the same as blind faith, to believe in what you are told without examination.

Faith within reason is a rational scientific approach: to research, measure, and do only what makes sense to do.

Faith above reason is to operate with a completely different nature, the nature of bestowal. In order to reach this new nature of bestowal, we need to learn about it from the Kabbalistic books and teachers. When we learn about it, if we are true with ourselves and critique what we’re learning, we’ll naturally find it repulsive. This is because bestowal is against our egoistic nature. So faith above reason means that despite this repulsion, we still aspire towards those higher levels of love and bestowal that we’re learning about. Through this process we gradually evoke the reforming light from the study and it will correct our nature, bringing us closer and closer to the pure qualities of bestowal, closer and closer to the Creator.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2013/02/sunbathing-in-the-rays-of-the-reforming-light/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Dyrk,

Nature is in the form of a pyramid. The lowest part of the pyramid is the inanimate nature, then comes the vegetative, then animate, and then the speaking (human) level. Each lower level is greater in quantity while each higher level is greater in quality. Also each higher level has a stronger and stronger effect on all the lower levels. Meaning that humanity, the peak of the pyramid, has the strongest effect over the rest of nature.

Furthermore, the still, vegetative, and animate levels don’t require any correction, they are naturally in harmony with nature. Why then do they suffer? Because the uncorrected human ego is at the top of this pyramid and it causes all of the imbalances and harms on those lower levels. So when we correct that human level of egoism, the still, vegetative, and animate levels will return to their natural balance.

Once the human ego is corrected, we will also be able to properly relate to the other levels. Properly meaning that we will use the other levels only out of necessity. We learn that “necessity is neither praised nor condemned”, meaning that acquiring our normal necessities is neither good nor bad, it’s simply what we must do. Just like in nature when an animal eats another animal, it’s not doing it out of spite or to harm the other, but rather because this is simply how it was programmed and how it needs to survive. Likewise with us, when humanity corrects it’s egoistic nature, it will also use the lower levels of nature in a balanced way, without causing harm.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2016/01/chernobyl-is-flourishing/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Henry,

Every moment of our lives we’re in a dialog with the Creator. This is called that “there is none else besides Him”, that the Creator is the singular force behind ALL of reality. All of my thoughts, desires, all the events in life all originate from Him.

But the Creator operates on the frequency of bestowal, while our nature is on the frequency of reception. As such, we operate on two completely different frequencies. So it’s currently impossible for us to understand Him. We first need to correct our nature, become similar to Him, and only then will we begin to understand Him, to understand this constant dialog that’s happening between us.

We’ll learn more about this in the upcoming semester, in the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2010/09/learn-the-creators-language/

Albert @ KabU

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