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Hi Melinda,
The 5 spiritual worlds are not place like we think, but rather levels of concealment. World (Olam in Hebrew) comes from the word Concealment (ha-alama). So the 5 worlds are 5 levels of concealment between us, the desire to receive, and the Creator the general force of love and bestowal. To the extent that we correct our own opposite, egoistic nature, for it to also operate in the direction of bestowal, to that extent we reveal these worlds, these higher qualities.
Regarding the order and meaning of each world:
First is Adam Kadmon (primordial Man) this is the first form of the desire to receive that became similar to the Creator, but it operates in a different way then the rest of the system, so it’s called primordial.
Atzilut (from the words etz lo: at his place, in his possession). This is the place where the Creator exists, meaning the pure desire to bestow.
Beria (creation), comes from the word Bar, meaning outside of. Meaning that it’s already a distinct degree of remoteness from the quality of bestowal.
Yetzira (creation), also means creation but this time it stems from the word yetzer, inclination. Meaning there is already an inclination of its own to the Creator.
Assiya (action), this completes the action of creating the desire to receive.
Keep in mind that we usually don’t translate these words when we use them in the lessons. A lot of times it’s better to use the Hebrew word instead of being confused by the translation.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Jehoseph,
There are 3 main books for this course: Kabbalah Revealed, Attaining the Worlds Beyond, and Kabbalah for the Student. For the books Kabbalah Revealed and Attaining the Worlds Beyond, you can read through them from beginning to end. This will give you a solid foundation. Kabbalah for the Student on the other hand is a textbook of primary sources. It can be very challenging. So it’s better for now to just read the recommended reading materials in that one. After you get a good foundation, you can read through that one as well.
As for other books beyond that, if you’re interested in deciphering the Torah, you can check out Disclosing a Portion or Secrets of the Eternal Book. There are also other beginner books you can find in our bookstore. But in truth, I wouldn’t recommend anything else right now. If you start with the 3 above books, it’ll give you a strong foundation for everything else.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Megan,
We need to relate to everything as coming from the Creator. This is called “there is none else besides Him”. Meaning that the Creator is the singular source behind EVERYTHING. All of our thoughts, desires, all of the life events, everything comes from Him.
But we learn that the Creator is the “good that does good”, meaning a pure quality of love and bestowal. So every single moment He should be sending us nothing but goodness. Why then don’t we sense this goodness? Why do we see so many atrocities in the world? It’s because we’re opposite to Him. Our opposite egoistic nature inverts this goodness into something bad. It’s like multiplying numbers: a positive times a negative, equals negative.
So as long as we remain within this egoistic nature, we will continue to suffer and we will continue to see others suffering more and more in life. But if we correct our nature to be similar to the Creator’s nature, we will reveal the true reality in which only goodness exists. And our previous egoistic state will appear as nothing more than a dream.
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/2011/06/how-can-we-justify-the-creator/
Albert @ KabU
Hi Ricardo,
1. Yes, this follows the rule that “there is no coercion in spirituality”. Meaning we cannot force someone into practicing spirituality, it needs to be according to one’s need for this, which is called the point in the heart. Only after this point awakens does a person feel the need to aspire for spirituality.
2. Not really. The biggest egoists are actually those that are engaged in the wisdom of Kabbalah. The rest of the world are simply carrying out their inner impulses like any other animal. As for those studying Kabbalah, they don’t just have a corporeal ego that wants to get satisfied by the nonsense and trifles of this world, but they have a spiritual ego, which wants to get satisfied by eternal spiritual pleasures, from revealing the Creator.
But keep in mind that the ego in Kabbalah is not a bad force but rather a partner that helps us to advance. In Kabbalah we don’t eliminate our ego, we rise above it. The ego turns into a type of hill or mountain that we rise above. In other words, the more we advance, the more it grows, 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/
3. Since the rest of the world is simply carrying out their inner impulses, they are already in a sense in a type of unconscious adhesion with the Creator. After all, where are these impulses coming from? From the Creator. This is called “there is none else besides Him”. Meaning that EVERYTHING comes from Him. He is the singular benevolent force behind ALL of reality. All of our thoughts, desires, all of the life events, etc, it all comes from Him. So those that have not yet received an awakened point in the heart are all already unconsciously under his influence 100% of the time. Whereas those with awakened points in the hearts are trying to do so consciously.
We’ll learn more about these things in the more advanced lessons. In the meantime, check out this blog post from Rav Laitman for more details: https://laitman.com/2017/12/there-is-none-else-besides-him/
4. Everyone has a point in the heart and everyone will reach this goal someday. The only difference is the order in which this happens. There is certain order of corrections that need to take place. It’s like building a large jigsaw puzzle. First you start with all the corner pieces, and only then do you gradually work your way to the center. So those that received awakened points in the hearts are like those corner pieces of the puzzle that need to start the whole process. Later on, due to their good work, they pave the way for the rest of the world to join this process.
Albert @ KabU
Hi Seraphim,
Yes, you are correct in what you stated in the first paragraph. The Creator does not have any vessels of reception. We bestow to Him by bestowing to other people. It’s like a mother whose only concern in life is her children. If we want to do something nice for the mother, we can do something nice for her children, and through that, we will make the mother happy. This is called going “from the love of the created beings, to the love of the Creator”.
Keep in mind that we practice this primarily within this safe environment, this spiritual lab that we call the Kabbalistic group. We’ll learn how to do this practically in the more advanced lessons.
Albert @ KabU
Hi,
1. Kabbalah is a science, not a religion.
Check out these blog posts from Rav Laitman for more details:
https://laitman.com/2011/06/a-science-about-the-world/
https://laitman.com/2011/01/kabbalah-and-other-sciences-philosophy-and-religion/
2. I’m not experts on religions or other spiritual methods, so I cannot comment on what they do or teach there. But in general, most spiritual methods, religions, philosophies, and even sciences in one way or another stem from the wisdom of Kabbalah. Either as a stepping stone for a person to develop through until his point in the heart awakens (such as many eastern traditions), or from an attempt to copy and implement this wisdom (like what early philosophers tried to do, which later on turned into modern sciences), or as a side effect of the concealment of this wisdom (which is how the modern religions and spiritual paths emerged).
Albert @ KabU
