Wow, do I highly recommend this book to the seasoned and stuidous spiritual seeker!
I absolutely do not recommend this to those who are not dedicated to spiritual seeking or those who are newly on the path. Nine times out of ten if you're new to all of this and never read a single book on the Kabbahal or had your own Spiritual Awakening experience...this book will sound like pure and complete gibberish. I have no doubt Rav Michael Laitman Ph.D. has had peak experiences. Abraham Maslow would look at this guy and go, "Yup, he's fully actualized peak experiencer." (If you don't know what that means check out this YouTube video I made on this topic https://youtu.be/i4L5HrirVEc). That said this book brought up a lot of concepts that I was unfamilar with when it comes to the Kabbalah. He does say a lot, kind of like the Bhagavadgita that you have to have a teacher and a group in order to study Kabbahal properly. I'm not one to really do that so I'm not 100% with that...I think books are fine. He even says, "Just read the books!" so he does have a contradiction there. That said, one of the most interesting aspects of what he talks about is creating the middle pillar of the tree of life. If yo'ure unfamilar with what the tree of life looks like...I'll post a picture below. This is the first teacher who explains that the left pillar is that of the material world and the right pillar is that of the Upper World. Only by working with the energy of both do we create the middle pillar...it is not something that previously existed when we were originally created but something we must create in the physical world. The other concept I love is that people who are not called to the Creator are people who have the easy lives where things go smoothly for them. Being called to the spiritual practices gurantees suffering because that's how we learn to correct ourselves and that's how the Creator pushes us...that's the motivation for improvement. Yet, he does say the highs and lows even out once a person advances enough! There is so many brilliant teachings in this book. I can't convey them all so if you're a seasoned peak experiecing seeker you'll love this book because it will validate so many experiences. Just go out and buy it! I have 51 markers in this book of deeply profound moving statements. For everyone else, here are some of my favorite quotes: "Judaisim fobrids idolatry and any kind of feishism. This prohibition envelops the most fundamental principal in Judaisim: that everyting we see is only a figment of our imaginations. Over the years, many of us have consciously or unconsciously adopted the principal after realizting that, by changing our perspective, we might be able to better cope iwth our day to day problems. This perspective determines our reactions, our feelings, and ultimately our reality. What, then, is the actual reality around us? Today, Kabbalists can state a principal that Jews concealed for thousands of years: that there is no reality at all, but something called "HIs Essenc," "The Upper Force." This Force operates in such a way that one sees Him as an image of a certain reality which we call "my world." "We are all able to see and feel varying images and sensations depending on our sensory organs and inner properties. All our sensations are subjective and exist only with regard to our feelings." pg 9 "Before performing Mitzvot (commandments), one should learn anything that will help to aquire the right aim. That is what Kabbalah books teach and nothing else!" pg 149 "Woe unto them who make the spirit of the Messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the Toarah dry, without the mostiment of mind and knowledge, for they confine themselves to the practical part of the Torah, and do not wish to try and understand the wisdom of the Kabbalah, to knowt and educate themselves in the secrets and the reasons behind the Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments). Alas, they cause by their deeds the poverty, the ruin and the robbery, the looting, the killings and the destruction of the world. (Tikkunet Zohar, Tikkun 30) pg 150 "The will of the Creator is to benefit (delight) his creatures. The creatures are the ones that are meant to aquire and attain the benevolence of the Creator on their own. For that purpose, the Creator created an independent being that is completely detached from Him. The creature doesn't feel the Creator because Light is higher than the vessel,and when it fills the vessel, it controls it and determines what the vessel will now want. Therefore, in order to maintain its independence, the creature must be made in concealment from the Light, without feeling the presence of the Creator and spirituality. It is born in the farthest point from the Creator, a degree called 'The World.' " pg 176 "The spiritual word is an abstract, "virtual" place. There are only forces and emotions there, no bodies. The spiritual terms must constantly be renewed because we cannot understand a word of what the Khabbalistic books speak of before we have an emotional connection with spirituality." pg 178 "The correction of the will to receive in order to bestow is a very hard one to make because it goes against the very nature of the creature. Hence, the Creator has divided the way into 613 smaller degrees. He also split the creature into 600,000 small parts called "souls." When the souls come together they are referred to as "The Collective Soul" or the "First Man." pg 211 "Man's desire isn't fundamentally different from that of animals. Only a person who shows a desire for the Creator, a part of the desire of teh first man, is called "man." A person who does not show that desire has nothing to correct, and doesn't feel the need to come closer to the Creator." pg 213 "In order for the creature to earn the name (creature), it must become independent, meaning not influenced by the Creator. Therefore, the Creator hides HImself, thus helping the creatures equalize with Him through their own labor. It turns out that a person in this world, whose soul clothes a part of the First Man, is the creature." pg 236 "Therefore, people who learn only about the practical laws of the Torah and perform them mechanically, without correcting their hearts are called Gentiles. They have the knowledge, but not the Light. The Torah is the Light of the Creator that enters one's corrected vessels, while knowledge is proficency in what is writeen where and how. One can be proficent in the entire Torah, know the entire Talmund by heart, but still not have any real spiritual attainment." pg 254 "There is another way to evolve, or better phrased, "To be educated": by developing a sense of completeness within. In that way, the educator prevents any ascents or descents from the disciple. This is the basis for traditional upbringing. When one has a sense of completeness, onoe is tempted to halt one's progress, as the ego is satisfied." pg. 260 "It is inescapable; life itself compels us to operate this way, and at the end of all sufering, we still have to complete our individual corrections. It is not as if anything will really change at the end of correction; it will be the same universe, with the same stars, the same birds, and the same trees. But our consciousness will change! Our perception of the world around us will change because we will be different inside. Nothing else needs to change, but need only continue naturally, guided by the Creator. The only difference will be that man will become a real Man, instead of the beast he is today." pg 263 "In short, we want to better our lives. We seek self-gratification in everything we do in this world; that is our nature. Even when someone commits suicide, they do it because they don't want to feel pain, meaning they seek to better their situations." pg 273 When I asked my rabbi the same question, he replied, "You see, this is why I was a construction worker, then a cobbler, and always tried to be a simple worker. I rise at 1am and begin to study the Kabbalah before work. When I was a clerk for the government, the truth is that sometimes I would fall asleep at work and spoil a report that I was working on, but what could I do? I was offered executive offices, but I knew that in a higher office they would take away my mind and my soul. FOr that reason, I kept choosing jobs that kept me to myself, though I could have earned more money. I have been poor my whole life. I kept trying to find a job that would keep my mind clen on the one hand, and would secure my future on the other, a job that would give me the minimal wages." pg 282 "The Creator sends us troubles in order to bring us back to the purpose of Creation. Normally, if we are happy, we don't even care if the Creator exists, but is precisely during the "good' situations that we must adhere to the Creator. Thatis why He sends us troubles, so that we will remember Him. If we feel bad, we are compelled to think of the Creator. Thus, our work is mainly to think of the Creator when we feel good, as well as when we feel bad." Pg. 293 "The number seven itself bears secial significance in Kabbalah. The system that manages our world consists of seven parts. That is why things in our world are diveded by seven or seventy: the seven days of the week, the seventy nation sof the world, man's soul, which also contains seventy parts, and the length of a human's life, lasting approximately seventy years. The entire path of mankind consists of six days, representing the 6000 years of correction. We have now entered the year 5776 in the Jewish caldender. The conscious correction of the world began in the year 5755 (1995), not so many years ago. In the years we have left before the end of the 6000 years, the Jews and all mankind must complete the correction, and in the seventh milennium we will receive the reward." Pg 322 (Not we are now in the year 5778). "There is no direct link between the intensity of the egoisim and the length of time it must take to correct it. Even people who study and work in the same group have different desires. In one person they might grow, while in another they might stay the same or even decrease, and no external interference will help. It all depends on the extent to which one can ask for help of the Creator. However, this is something that is very hard to do because the ego sensesit as humilation. Still, there is no other way! Without His Help, without the Light that permeates the vessel, the vessel will not become alturistic. A vessel without the properties of the Light is a completely egoistic will to receive delight and pleasure that cannot perform any spiritual movement." pg 360 "There are no movements in the spiritual world. The difference between two worlds is only in my inner feelingsand what my inner coating allows me to see. We never feel anything but the Creator, but we always feel Him behind our filters, meaning across our egoistic properties. Our feeling of the Creator and Creation will intensify to the extent that we can extinguish these filters." page 336
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Brave Soul! May Your Journey On The Path Of The Seeker Bring You Joy and Peace! I'm currently posting every Saturday. With a new addition the family I have pre-scheduled most posts through December 2022. Full Moon Posts will contain up-to-date content when I can get to them. Thank you so much for your support and understanding! This is a place where you can encounter new spiritual ideas that have helped me develop as an Individual On The Path of the Seeker. Take or Leave this information as you see fit. Archives
April 2024
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