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The closest this one might come to an introduction is to quote Hafiz, “…the tiresome project of maintaining the self through its stories.” In other words, a movie trying to remember that it is really nothing but the screen, a wave attempting to recall its true nature as the ocean, a will-to-receive struggling to remind itself that its nature originates in the will to a universal and loving Bestowal.
This is the best reason to attend a class like this:
[Rav Yehduda] Ashlag stated that the purpose of studying Kabbalah is equal to the purpose of why human beings were created, and that through its study, a person is capable of revealing the entirety of processes and structures that have taken place in the creation of the universe.
Through intensive study of Kabbalah, a person’s desire to give to others is developed in relation to this goal. Ashlag believed that the coming of the Messiah meant that humans would attain this quality which would allow them to give up their selfishness and devote themselves to loving each other for the sake of life’s purpose, as stated in the commandment “love thy neighbor as thyself.”
An egoist might mix error with truth by practicing these teachings solo, outside of the context of a circle of friends and fellow awakeners who keep in each other in check, and prevent the others from drifting off into the heresy of egoism.
This is where we must be exceedingly careful to discern exactly what constitutes perceptual errors. Any potential “errors” that will enter into one’s account of the search for truth and wisdom will not appear in what is being said in the books or by the teacher, but in how the aspirant will carry out the teaching in the specific context of his own life through the way he or she implements the teaching in the procedural, perspectival, and participatory ways of knowing, each of which parallel the three degrees of purification, illumination, and devakut.
If one is not accountable to a group of caring and attentive friends who monitor each others progress every step of the way, it’s very easy for an aspirant to tragically slide into spiritual inflation and ego-worship (mistaking ego for true “I”).
This is a very subtle and important point, since fundamentalists will often zero in on the content of a teaching as its source of error, when, in fact, the truth or falsity of propositions are nearly impossible to detect at the initial stage of the proposal, for the simple reason that they are merely verbal proposals, and they have not been taken out into an actual lived experienced to be tested pragmatically for performative errors and verifications, as well as the verifications of one’s circle of friends. This is why Kabbalistic circles, and all other authentic forms of enlightenment, were always part of a brotherhood – a collaborative effort of raising consciousness, not just the solo journey of a lone mystic who can easily lose his way traveling the path alone.
Thus, my only cautionary note in what you are teaching here would be for the aspirant to subject himself to a sincere self-scrutiny before he embarks on this process of awakening by asking this question:
**Am I seeking wisdom and self-knowledge in order to “love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as if my neighbor were my self” or I am just doing it to get an ego-boost and to serve my own selfish desires and appetites for pleasure and self-glory?**
I’m kind of conflicted about KabU because, on the one hand, the ideas being presented here are very promising and attractive. I love the notion of working altruistically with a group towards spirituality.
On the other hand, I get the feeling that most of these instructors are just talking from a script, and that they’ve never experienced any of the lofty ideas they’re talking about. Rav Laitman is just about the only person at Bnei Baruch who seems like the real deal. Joseph Ohayon and Gil Shir also seem like they may have had a glimpse of “spirituality” (to use this school’s lingo), but most of the other instructors just come off as just going through the motions.
In my 50 year search for truth I’ve encountered many spiritual teachers and students, some of whom were authentic and clearly connected to the Source, but most of whom were either frauds (in the worst case) or just lost folks trying to look as convincing as possible (in the best case). It seems like that same breakdown is reflected here, with Michael Laitman being the biggest draw – for me at least – along with the books, the teaching, and the method. So, I guess I will just have to “annul my ego” when I’m dealing with cats like Julian, Gianni and a few others whose names I don’t remember but who are clearly babes in the woods when it comes to spiritual attainment.
