Kabbalah Blog - Part 577

June 3, 2007August 19, 2009

Baal HaSulam’s Intention for Writing “Talmud Eser Sefirot”

From Today’s Daily Lesson:

Student asks a question
Student: It’s unclear how the Partzufim of BYA receive the Light of Hochma. Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain it.

Rav Laitman: That’s right. Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain it nor does he intend to. This is the problem: We think that Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) is an explanation of the Ari (Rabbi Isaac Luria).

Baal HaSulam doesn’t explain the Ari at all. He wants to direct us in how to study the Ari to reach the goal: to correct ourselves and then to discover what the Ari discusses in our Kelim (vessels/tools/receptacles), because you will never know otherwise.

It is literally impossible to bring you a picture of what is happening in the world of Atzilut. If he does explain, sometimes, that some things happen somehow by different technical actions, he also doesn’t intend to give a technical explanation so that you will learn that the will to receive and the will to bestow need to be in mutual bestowal to one another, that the Upper Light will correct the will to receive, and so on and so forth.

Why would he explain spirituality? It’s impossible to depict. At the end of it all, Baal HaSulam strives so that you will direct yourself toward revelation by the explanation. This is his entire hope; that you will reach him by your own corrections, and then you’ll discover what is being discussed.

If your Kli (vessel/tool/receptacle) is not on a degree that is written here, in the same state as the world of Beria, Yetzira or Atzilut, then you won’t understand what is written, in each and every sentence. So you have to be brought. His entire trouble is to bring you there. Not to simply “blah blah” talk about it. It’s not a world where I can tell you about a certain state, a certain place and you depict it and imagine it to yourself…

This is how it is in our world, however, in the spiritual world you’re incapable of imagining it. It’s the opposite; it’s not worthwhile for you to imagine it, because all these imaginations give you satisfaction. Therefore, he has completely no intention of bringing you any knowledge—only Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), as he mentions in item 155 of “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot.”

Rav Michael Laitman, PhD in the lesson on Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), Volume 6, Part 16, item 107: wmv video | mp3 audio (55 min)

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June 2, 2007August 19, 2009

Social Unity – Humanity’s Basis for Happiness

Quote from Baal HaSulam:
“Every basis for physical success is the measure of the unity of society, and the basis for the success of intelligence and knowledge, is the separation and disagreement among them.

It therefore turns out, that when mankind succeeds in the matter of success of the bodies, meaning by bringing them to the degree of complete love for the fellow man, all the bodies in the world will unite into a single body and a single heart. And only then will all the happiness intended for humanity will be revealed in all its glory.”

Baal HaSulam, in “The Freedom.”

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May 31, 2007August 19, 2009

Kabbalah – the Phenomenon, Fallacies and Facts

Kabbalah - the Phenomenon, Fallacies and Facts

Part 1 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah explains the general phenomenon and its popularity, and gives an overview of what exists today in the world regarding the word Kabbalah. It also discusses what Kabbalah is and what it isn’t, and gives some background on how it got started.

We have been receiving many responses to the competition showing the many misconceptions we all have about Kabbalah prior to encountering the authentic study through Bnei Baruch. We will post some of these coupled with explanations about these misconceptions from Part 1 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah in coming newsletters and blog posts.

Next Thursday we will publish the winning entry. You still have until Monday, June 3, 2007 to enter! Send all entries to english@kabbalah.info

Click here to pre-order your copy today!

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Meditation and Kabbalah
The Meditation Misconception

COMPETITION ENTRY FROM PAULA: Prior to coming to Bnei Baruch to learn what the wisdom of Kabbalah really is, I spent 12 years intensely studying Judaism and so-called “Kabbalah.”

My biggest stumbling block was meditation and so-called “Kabbalistic meditation.” I fully expected to attain the upper worlds by sitting in stillness with my eyes closed and chanting various permutations of names of G-d. All my closest “divine” connections came from my meditation practice and that was my ultimate pleasure, that sweet “divine connection.”

Imagine my surprise and shock to learn that meditation was actually reducing me to the level of a stone! Sure I could feel the divine, but in the same way a stone does 🙂 It was like settling for the teeny-tiniest fragment of the upper light. Now I wrestle to become a fully speaking human in this world, thanks to Bnei Baruch.

FROM THE BOOK: Meditation is considered by many as part of the spiritual work or practices of a Kabbalist. But not all Kabbalists have practiced meditation, and even those who did meditate did not practice it in the sense we do today.

Today meditation is associated with Eastern teachings, something that Kabbalists in the past did not know. Generally, Eastern meditation is used for relaxation and for uniting with higher levels of existence by “removing” the ego. In Kabbalah, the ego is not removed, but elevated to a higher level of practice. It connects with the divine instead of canceling itself. This embrace of ego and Creator is called Yihud (unification).

pp. 10/11 of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah, by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD and Collin Canright.

Video Click here to view a related video: “Can a Kabbalist also be a Buddhist?”

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May 30, 2007August 19, 2009

VIDEO: Why Do I Give Of Myself So Freely But Things Don’t Work Out?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NNFretgm6w]
Why Do I Give Of Myself So Freely But Things Don’t Work Out? 04:56
Kabbalah tells us that there are 4 possible modes of interaction with the single force in the universe that works in the form of either bestowal or reception.

Click here to view the video at Kabbalah TV

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May 29, 2007December 6, 2017

Four Phases of Direct Light

“And when upon His simple will, came the desire to create the world and emanate the emanations,”
The ARI’s Tree of Life, Part 1

Click here to view a dynamic flash presentation of the
Four Phases of Direct Light

Four Phases of Direct Light (Dalet Behinot de Ohr Yashar, Heb.) n.

Quote from Baal HaSulam
First, the Ohr (Light) expands from the Maatzil (Emanator) as Ohr Hochma (Light of Wisdom), containing only the “will to receive.” This is Behina Aleph (Phase 1).

Then, the will to bestow intensifies in that Ohr, and it extends Ohr de Hassadim (Light of Mercy). This Hitgabrut (overcoming) is regarded as Behina Bet (Phase 2). Then this Ohr de Hassadim expands intensively … and this is Behina Gimel (Phase 3).

After the above three Behinot (phases, discernments) fully emerge, the force of the will to receive incorporated in Hitpashtut Aleph (the first expansion) reawakens and draws Ohr Hochma once more. This completes the permanent will to receive in the Partzuf (spiritual entity) that appears as yearning, when there weren’t Ohr Hochma in the Partzuf but Ohr de Hassadim, after Behina Gimel, when the Ne’etzal (creature) could yearn for Ohr Hochma.

It is this yearning that determines the will to receive in him, and completes his vessels of reception, which was absent in Behina Aleph. For that reason the vessels of reception are completed only in this Behina Dalet (Phase 4), also called Hitgabrut Bet (the second overcoming).

Once Behina Dalet was completed in Ein Sof (Infinity), the Tzimtzum (Restriction) occurred in her, meaning the departure of the will to receive from Behina Dalet, causing the departure of Ohr Ein Sof (the Light of Infinity) from there.

This completes the explanations of the four Behinot that must exist in every Ne’etzal.
Baal HaSulam, in Talmud Eser Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot), Part 1: Tzimtzum and Kav.

Susan from New York asks: Why do we have to learn about these different phases/discernments? What can they bring us?

Answer by Bnei Baruch Instructor Chaim Ratz: They’re you. That’s what they are. They are you; they are me; they are everybody. It’s like saying you don’t want to learn about yourself. Right now, it feels abstract, but in time, it will not. You will feel it as something more and more … as a part of you.

Chaim Ratz, Introduction to the Four Behinot. 7th lesson in the 2004 English Virtual Lesson Kabbalah Education Series. (wmv video – 60min)

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