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I’m not sure what you mean by going to other instructors for contradictions, I’m just explaining the source of my confusion. The idea that we do so much internal work and and it having no effect on our external lives make zero sense to me, especially with all the changes and shifts I’ve been experiencing since I began studying Kabbalah. So when I heard it from an instructor it I didn’t know what to make of it. Are there articles/sources on “the life of a Kabbalist” or on how one progresses on this path?
So if such an egoist wouldn’t even arrive to the Wisdom, then this path necessarily transforms our relationship with corporeality. The awakened Point in the Heart gives us a higher aim for our desire, but it also sounds like receiving in order to bestow would mean we are able to enjoy corporeal life more fully—not by restriction pleasure, but by receiving it without the ego turning it into something for ourselves.
My confusion comes from some instructors saying Kabbalah has nothing to do with corporeality, as if spirituality is this sealed-off section of our life, but then other instructors saying specifically that growing desire for the Creator expands the entire vessel, including all corporeal desires, which are now under the corrected intention of receiving in order to bestow.
OK so this gets to the core of my confusion: do we still receive these corporeal desires in an egoistic way while also making spirituality the utmost important thing? Or are we also meant to apply the intention/Masach onto every part of our lived experience?
Again, I get that trying to go straight there is the wrong approach since it still has reception in mind, and is just another form of egoism.
But can one really be doing the work, crossing the Machsom, passing through the degrees, and bestowing to the Ten, while still acting as a total egoist in real life? And to take it to an extreme: can someone attain spirituality while still being cruel, exploitative, abusive, or harmful toward others in corporeal life, and remain focused only on what they can get for themselves?
Or does crossing the Machsom necessarily begin to change how a person receives and acts in corporeal life—not all at once, and not by force, but progressively, while keeping the focus on spirituality and attaining the Creator?
Hey Gianni, I’ve gotten a bit confused on how this work eventually relates to corporeality.
In Kabbalah, when we say that the Creator wants to fill us with endless delight, does that refer only to specific spiritual pleasures — ability to bestow, connection with the Creator, and equivalence of form — or does it include all human and corporeal pleasures such as food, sex, money, etc?
Meaning, through this work are we meant to enjoy corporeality even more by receiving those worldly desires for Him? Or does everything stay the same and we receive a different type of fulfillment in spirituality only?
I know this isn’t the focus of the work and can be used as an excuse to further empower egoistic tendencies, but I’m having a hard time seeing how those two can be separated.
If corporeal pleasures are included, what exactly changes in them? Does the pleasure itself change, does the intention change, or does the way I receive and use the pleasure change?
Thanks Gianni, that article is really helpful. I think I understand what I was asking more precisely now, so I’ll try to frame it in the article’s own language.
Is it possible for someone, through self-study and great yearning, to reach the first discernment before entering a ten?
The article seems to describe two paths:
1) A person first finds a genuine Kabbalist, follows his instructions, and is then rewarded with the first discernment.
2) Through great yearning, a person first attains “all the origins” by himself, and only afterward must labor to find a Kabbalist sage, submit to him, and receive the wisdom by conveyance “face to face” in order to progress further.
So it looks like the answer is yes, but I want to clarify what the article means by “first discernment” in relation to the work. Is it the same as the process of recognition of evil, feeling one’s helplessness, and reaching a sincere request for correction? Or is it referring to crossing the Machsom and attaining the first spiritual degree of correction, or something else?
Hey, in an archived Graduate Class, some one asked a question about starting the work while still waiting to be assigned a ten, and Igal answers something to the effect of “Every thing comes from the Creator, there are no accidents, everything is under control of the Upper Light and it precisely calibrates for our correction. What if you could attain the Creator without the ten?” and then asks rhetorically if the Light was given to a person without a ten would they reject it.
Now I know that the group work in the tens is the core of the work here, and this question isn’t meant to look for a loophole or excuse not to join one. But strictly speaking, could one come to any of the realizations/prayers needed for correction by studying on their own or learning from classes/lectures/articles and the Kabbalistic texts?
I understand for the vast majority of people they will need their hands held as they walk this path, but is it possible for some one to start studying and yearn for the Light and reach the state of prayer for correction on their own, without a ten? Say a person feels a deep shame growing for years in their life where receiving only makes things worse, and they keep trying to fix it by receiving more but the pain gets worse and worse every time. Finally they come to Kabbalah and learn about what they are experiencing and quickly realize they have no power in their correction and fall into a prayer begging the Creator for correction. Is this type of individual correction possible without the ten?
