[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Elizabeth,

If you’re trying to connect with others then you don’t need to focus on yourself. Essentially each one of us is perfect. We don’t need to change anything about ourselves.

Just picture that all of humanity is part of a single system. Like a 8 billion piece jigsaw puzzle. In a jigsaw puzzle, you wouldn’t start cutting off pieces or recoloring the pieces to make them fit. Likewise with us. Each piece of the puzzle (each person) is perfect by itself and does not require any correction. The only problem is knowing where each piece fits in with all the other pieces.

We’ll learn about this more practically in the more advanced semesters when everyone will get their own Kabbalah group with whom they can put all these things into practice. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/05/puzzle-adam-harishon/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Esther,

1. Shay is referring to the number 310. In the Gematria of the Hebrew letters, it’s the written form of the number 310. So for that article, you can replace the word Shay with the number 310.

Check out this article for more details: The Ties between Letters, Words, and Numbers

http://www.kabbalah.info/eng/content/view/frame/60270?/eng/content/view/full/60270&main

2. Kabbalah is the method by which we correct our egoistic nature. There are 5 levels to the ego. Corresponding to each level is a light which corrects that level and fulfills it with the pleasure of bestowal. NRNHY is an acronym for the lights. It stands for “Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, Yechida.” Yechida is the highest form of light.

3. This is referring to the law of roots and branches. Every object in our world has a corresponding spiritual root. 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/

The Law Of Roots And Branches – The Most Important Law In Kabbalah

4. You’re right, we are limited. As a science, Kabbalah is quite aware of our limitations and works precisely within these limits. This is why Kabbalah divides our research of the Creator into two parts.

The first is His essence (atzmuto in Hebrew). This is He Himself, His point of view, the Creator as an entity separate from the Created beings. We’re incapable of researching this part of the Creator simply because our research tools are not built in such a way that we can grasp such things. Perhaps after we finish the process of correction, we’ll discover additional research tools through which we’ll be able to research these things, but until then we limit ourselves and don’t talk about this part of the Creator because we cannot properly research it.

The other part of the Creator is called Bo-Re (Hebrew for Come (Bo) and See (Re)). This is the part of the Creator that we can research and reveal. How do we research this? Through the desire. When we take a part of our desire to receive and correct it in the direction of bestowal, in that corrected desire, we reveal a certain phenomenon, we call this phenomenon the Creator. This is why there are many names for the Creator (in Hebrew), since every time we correct a different part of the desire, we reveal a different aspect of this thing called the Creator.

So all of our understanding of this thing called the Creator (and any spiritual phenomena) is based on what we reveal within the corrected desire. But whatever exists outside of the corrected desire, whatever we don’t grasp, perceive or attain within the desire, whatever is beyond our tools of research, we don’t talk about. We need to keep these limits in mind in order to stay within the realm of science and not venture off into religion or philosophy.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/11/the-concept-of-god-in-kabbalah/

The Concept Of God In Kabbalah

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Elizabeth,

We learn that “a judge has only what his eyes can see”. Meaning that Kabbalah is a very practical down to earth method. We shouldn’t live in the clouds, rather we should work practically with what we are experiencing every moment of our lives. Furthermore, just like when a person is sick and goes to a doctor, he doesn’t lie to the doctor about how he feel. Likewise in Kabbalah, we shouldn’t lie to ourselves about how we feel the world.

As for being selfish, that is okay. After all, we were all created as egoists on purpose. It’s precisely thanks to the ego that we can rise to high spiritual degrees. In Kabbalah, the ego is not a bad force but rather a partner that helps us to advance. Meaning we don’t eliminate our ego, we rise above it. It turns into a type of hill or mountain that we rise above. In other words, the greater the ego, the further up we can climb, and the greater the spiritual level we can achieve. On the other hand if we eliminate the ego, then the spiritual level we can achieve is relatively tiny.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/02/the-worse-the-better/

Furthermore, since our very nature is egoistic, we can’t fight the ego directly. We need help to rise above the ego. This help comes to us from the force of the light. All of the corrections are performed on us by the light. Our work is only to extract more and more of this light, especially during the Kabbalistic studies, and it does all the rest.

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

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Elizabeth,

613 is the number of corrections that need to be placed over the spiritual desire. This number is further divided into 248 desires of bestowing in order to bestow and 365 desires that operate on receiving in order to bestow. We’ll learn how these numbers are derived in the more advanced lessons on KabU that deal with the structure of the upper worlds.

Regarding correcting other, we learn that all of humanity is part of one single system, like cells within a single body. So naturally what one experiences influences EVERYONE else. And if I reach a correction, this same correction influences everyone. But I don’t actually correct the other person, rather I correct my part that is found within everyone.

It’s like a hologram where the big image is made up of identical smaller copies of that image. So if there is a flaw in one of the smaller images, that same flaw is found in every piece. And if you correct that flaw in the small piece, it’s reflected in the whole image. But each one will still need to correct their part of the general picture.

Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/04/the-fractality-of-nature/

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Christine,

Yes, in the advanced semesters of KabU, everyone will receive their own group (ten) with whom they can put all we learn into practice.

Albert @ KabU

[Albert – KabU Instructor]

Hi Zohreh,

All of our pain and suffering comes from being stuck within our egoistic nature. We are currently enslaved to our egoistic nature. This is why freedom starts when we rise above our egoistic nature. We do this specifically thanks to the spiritual environment that we build for ourselves.

See my reply to Marion below for more details.

Albert @ KabU

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