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Referring to this week’s reading from Kabbalah for the Student p.385.
I am puzzling over the meaning of this quote:
“Make for yourself a Rav, and buy for yourself a friend.”
Could you please explain the meaning of this and how it relates to “freedom”?
Thank you,
David
Feeedom in Kabbalah must mean being unchained or liberated from the small, self-serving interests of the ego.
Regular, intentional study of Kabbalah, with the attitude of receiving the light of the Creator not for the self alone, will attract the light that gradually “reforms” me. I will know this is occurring as I become less attracted to old habits borne of egoistic desires, those which obviously don’t bring lasting pleasure, happiness and delight. Through this process, I gradually correct egoistic desires and eventually achieve greater “equivalence of form” with Creator and his singular “desire to bestow”.
The idea that blew my mind is that “all the rejections I’ve experienced in life have been sent by the creator.” Previously I’d believed that these were the result of my OWN ego, my own shortcomings and my own selfish actions.
I’m learning from Kabbalah that the Creator sends me thoughts and views that show me just how far out of alignment I am with Him. Therefore I should have the attitude or “welcoming with pleasure” the seeming blocks and obstacles I encounter in this life.
The concept that Creator has a hand in the vicissitudes of my life, that they are sent to me as a teaching and a learning tool by a benevolent Teacher who only desires that I experience ultimate pleasure and joy, is both revolutionary and comforting to me.
………..
Naturally, as a new student of Kabbalah, I’m wondering if my understandings and conclusions above are valid?
I can feel that reality is the action of the Creator by adopting the attitude that only the light matters. In other words, focusing on the light 99 percent of the time and realizing the one percent darkness is only there to contrast or emphasize the light. In this way, the experience of The Giver becomes predominant in my mind — like a being inside a great force that fulfills all of reality, or conversely, the great force being inside of me, like a guiding star!
This course has opened the door to a new perception of myself and reality! First, even though I’ve not taken a university level course in decades, I’ve rediscovered that my love for study and am eager for I continue on! Secondly, I feel my perception of myself and the world has shifted, to a new understanding and experience of reality as a construction of the mind. The readings have clarified the difference between a life devoted to egoism vs. a life in service to altruism. I now approach each day with the underlying intention to receive from the Creator for the purpose of sharing with others. I wish for my classmates that together we discover how to achieve equivalence of form with the Creator and thus make a difference in the world and in the lives of the people close to us.
