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In the article “Time to Act” in Kabbalah for the student there is a part that says:
“the arrowsnake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and brood under her shadow.”
but on the Kabbalah media site it says
“the owl nests and lays [its eggs], and hatch, and brooded in its shade.”
Was there a mistranslation between owl and arrowsnake? does it matter? do they share a name in hebrew?
Is he cautioning here about having certainty in attainment? Or about misinterpretations?
Also, i was curious about some terms i havent brought up before. What is the difference between the aviut and the kli? What is the difference between the Shechina, the collective soul, and Adam Harishon? are they synonyms? Does Adam refer both to the first Kabbalist as a man as well as the collective soul?
I forgot to add, that the danger in having misinterpretations or having feeling like one has attained something they hadn’t actually would be that they would spread that to others and perpetuate false teachings, is this correct?
Yes, well ive never been dedicated to anything in my life, so i cant say i really know what that means. Ive never really been serious about anything in the same way. My passions are always initially strong and burn out fast, weather its been trying to learn a language, or instrument, or learning about philosophy and religion even down to my sobriety and spirituality.
I always get discouraged. Like it says in the freedom, its like my internal calculation for pleasure always comes in a deficit, and so it seems like nothing is ever worth the effort i put in. Theres always a feeling of self-pitying hopelessness that washes over me, when i start a new venture. My hands are too small for the piano, im too stupid to really understand japanese, its never really specific, like i just have some sort of unknown quality that makes me incapable of success in anything i pursue. So i use the evidence of lack of immediate results and the frustration of slow progress as an excuse not to press forward. In lieu of things that i know from experience provide me with immediate pleasure, namely drugs and videogames, alcohol, entertainment.
Im blessed in that, the only person i every really lived for was myself, and somehow i destroyed my life. I grew up to be a 36 year old man-child with many aspirations and no real accomplishments, and still sometimes the only force motivating me forward is just not wanting to live my life the way i have been before i decided to pursue this path again, wherever it may lead.
And though ive been going through many changes i can see i am in many ways the same person and that change takes time, and progress will be slow and arduous at times, and i know i should be taking things more seriously. Its an aspiration to be a little bit more patient and a little less reckless, and to put in a little bit more effort. Though i know its not good enough, i pray i can just keep moving forward and find greater levels of willingness to do the work.
Hi Seth,
Even asking the upper force to change the way i think and feel, so i can perceive the thought of the creator and see everything as good. Is this not also asking him to change his attitude towards me? since God either would or would not answer my prayer and ultimately its the creator who judges my prayers and decides weather or not to reveal himself to me. Is that not still a self centered attitude towards prayer? That im still pleasure seeking even in the worst circumstances even if its just to feel the satisfaction in understanding the creators mind in why things are being given?
Because of course if i did pray to understand and immediately understood and saw the good in everything i would always just pray and understand right?
My connection to God feels flickery, staticy, like trying to hear a radio signal through static. I always seem to be caught off guard, and i always feel like im missing the point.
I had such a great experience today id really like to share with all of you.
I met with my sponsor today, a sponsor is someone who guides you through sobriety and the 12 steps of AA.
We were talking about my recovery and this and that, and sometimes i cant help but bring up Kabbalah just because i can relate things and im interested to see what kind of response i would get.
So i told him about what we were learning recently, that the only area of life in which free will exists is in our ability to choose our environment, and then our environment exerts pressure on us until we come into a balance or equilibrium with it.
And he told me an analogy that someone told him once that really made sense to me.
He said “If you were an orange, and someone squeezed you, what would come out?”
Orange juice i said,
“Yes, not apple juice, not grape juice, the only thing that would come out of you is orange juice.”
“Just like if you were a pineapple and someone squeezed you, the only thing that could come out is pineapple juice.”
Yes that makes sense i said
Then he said “what if you were really resentful and someone squeezed you, what would come out then?”
And that made so much sense to me because i have always been a very angry person, and i was always scared of people and being around them because my anger would always come out at work in particular, where there is an enormous amount of pressure put on me all the time.
And it made sense because ive been so happy lately, more happy than ive been in my entire life, and i really want to work hard to cultivate true joy and love within me, because i want that to be the product when my environment exerts its pressures on me.
Because my environments really nurture me, they sustain me, they are what care for me and help me to grow.
My environment is really my garden, and i feel like i am both the gardener and i am the product, so i really want to work hard and facilitate the well being of the garden because i will benefit from that as well, just as a natural byproduct of being in a healthy environment, i dont have to worry about getting this or that because i know i will be taken care of.
Im so happy i can apply this knowledge in my day to day life and this is what i love so much about Kabbalah is when i can make connections to my interactions everywhere i go.
So i am very grateful that this wisdom has opened up and has given me an opportunity to start engaging in it, thankyou so much!
