Forum Replies Created
- Replies
Hi Euler, great questions!
1. Kabbalah is not a belief system, rather it’s a science based on the research of the Kabbalists. As a science, there are clear limits to what we can and cannot research about this thing called the Creator. 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/
2. The language of root and branches is not something you learn but rather something that 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.
And although we spend a lot of time “studying” in Kabbalah. But the goal of the study is not to acquire knowledge, rather the goal is to extract the reforming light. It’s ultimately the force of the light that gradually corrects us until we become similar to spirituality and begin to attain it in practice.
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
Hi Joseph, great questions!
1. If a person fully correct himself, then there is no need to reincarnate on the level of this world. Keep in mind that reincarnation happens on the level of desire. We all have this desire called the point in the heart. This is our spiritual potential. If we realize this potential, this grows into a desire called a soul. If not, this same desire continues to reincarnate again and again until it gets fully realized.
And this is not something we discover after we die, but rather we build the soul, experience it, and exist within it while we’re still alive in our corporeal bodies.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2015/06/what-happens-to-the-soul-after-death/
Also check out this link for an extensive overlook on reincarnation from the lens of the Wisdom of Kabbalah: https://www.kabbalah.info/bb/what-happens-when-you-die/
2. Our nature is egoistic. As such, avoiding pain is one of the major motivating forces for us. If we were to get rid of that force, then we would have no drive to continue our development. So what good is studying Kabbalah then? It’s in order to correct our egoism. Once we correct it, we will no longer need problems and suffering in order to push us to develop because we ourselves will generate the force for our development.
Check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2011/01/lets-go-with-the-light/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Esmeralda, good question!
We all go through many ups and downs on the spiritual path. This is normal. The important thing is to just keep going, to keep placing yourself under the influence of the light, and it’ll balance everything out. So it’s good to set aside some time to regularly return to the Kabbalistic study. But it does not mean that we can disconnect from the corporeal world, there needs to be a balance in our corporeal life as well.
The Kabbalists tell us “no flour, no Torah – no Torah, no flour”. Meaning a Kabbalist continues to exist on the level of this world throughout the entire spiritual ladder. So I cannot just turn into a monk and disconnect from this life and only focus on spirituality. On the other hand, if I only focus on corporeality, then I’m no different than an animal. So the important thing is to find the right balance between the two: to take care of all of one’s normal necessities: to work, take care of the family, health, etc (this is called flour) and to set aside some time to focus on spirituality (this is called Torah).
As for “there is none else besides Him”, we cannot just live by this maxim, we need to attain it. The correct way to work with this concept is to split our work to internal and external. Externally I continue to exist on the level of this world so I must function in a normal way in society, follow the normal rules and laws of society, to work, take care of my family, health, etc. Meaning to live my life and take care of all of my problems in the normal way.
And internally, I try to attribute everything that is happening to the Creator, to “none else besides Him”. But this is our internal work and it does not cancel out any of the normal external actions that we need to take.
We’ll learn about this concept in the more advanced lessons, in the meantime check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2014/10/if-i-am-not-for-myself-then-no-one-will-help-me/
Albert @ KabU
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/
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
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
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
