Examining The Correctness Of The Path

Examining The Correctness Of The Path
Rav Micheal Laitman's blog

Posted: 30 Aug 2010 04:41 AM PDT

It’s very easy to determine whether the path is a spiritual one: Everything that we agree with does not relate to spirituality! It is specifically the contradictions that our mind and senses do not accept, that are undesirable and repulsive to us, that relate to spirituality. We should work on these in particular.

If I sense that a certain state won’t bring me any benefit either in my senses or mind, then by rising above this particular state, I can start building spirituality. Most likely, in this state it will be impossible to “buy” me, and I won’t look for a selfish profit; rather, I will need the Creator’s help in order to rise above it. In other words, I constantly check myself: How much does my body resist my work? And for me this is the sign of my correct spiritual advancement.

Further on, I need to examine what I’m doing it for. Perhaps I want to overcome myself and pursue some personal goals. Or maybe I want to find love of the Creator which is repulsive to my “body,” my egoistic sensation and mind. And I’m searching for love that is built on hatred toward egoistic thoughts and desires about oneself.

Often, however, we are not trying to transcend our bodies and regret that we are unable to work according to our mind and feelings contained in the body. Instead of looking for a state that is beyond our sensations and mind, we wish to be in it.

First and foremost we need to push the body “down,” along with its feelings and mind, and be above them, not to take them into account. That is, I take them into consideration, but only in order to rise above them. Then it’s called faith above reason. But instead, I regret: Why is everything not revealed within my reason so that I can act as a sensible person and know that I have intellect and personal strength to advance correctly…

From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/30/10, “When A Person Knows What the Fear of God Is”

Revelation and Concealment

Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag

There is nothing else in the world except the Light (the Creator) and that which was created by the Light (the person, who remains inside this Light). A person can perceive this Light when there is a correspondence between the qualities of the human being and those of the Creator. If the qualities do not correspond, then the person will be unable to perceive the Light – the Creator.

At first, we are placed in the conditions of an explicit and complete domain of egoism, known as "our world." Only by means of our own efforts can we gradually bring up and cultivate within ourselves such a desire and necessity to perceive the Creator (create a vessel for the Light of the Creator) that we will begin to perceive Him.

The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah), Talk 1

Rav Michael Laitman, Bnei Baruch, Israel

October 26, 2005

Lecturer: Rav Michael Laitman, PhD

• Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
• Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
• lowercase italics: emphasized words
• Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew

Reader: Today, we are beginning to study the article Matan Torah (The Revelation of Godliness)by Baal HaSulam, from the book Kabbalah LeMatchil ( Kabbalah for Beginners), page 111. [You can also find it on the site; it is called "The Revelation of Godliness."]

The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah), Talk 2

Lesson by Rav Michael Laitman, Bnei Baruch, Israel

October 27, 2005

Lecturer: Rav Michael Laitman, PhD

• 
  
  Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
• 
  
  Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
• 
  
  lowercase italics: emphasized words
• 
  
  Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew

We are continuing to study the article, Matan Torah (The Revelation of Godliness), from the bookKabbalah LeMatchil ( Kabbalah for Beginners), page 112.

It is a very special article, the first article written by Baal HaSulam for the purpose of the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah “among the people,” as he writes, meaning “for everyone.” And there is a reason why it is called Matan Torah (the giving of the Torah), [referring to the question] “under which conditions does one receive the Torah?”

Transforming Egoism to Altruism

Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag, 1985

One who wants to experience the true taste of life must pay special attention to the spiritual point found in one’s heart. Everyone has a point in the heart. However, it does not generally show signs of life and does not illuminate, and because of this, we are not aware of it.

In such a situation it is called a “black point.” This point is a seed of a soul. The characteristic of this point is altruistic, because it is a seed of the future vessel of the soul and its Light, a portion of the Creator.

However, in its initial state it is hidden from us, since we do not appreciate it, and for this reason this state is called “Galut (exile) of the Shechina” (the Divine Presence). Such a state of the soul is called a "point."

If we elevate the importance of that point above our own "I," above our heads, like the crowns above the letters, in this way we make it comparable to a crown on our heads, rather than dust at our feet. Then Light is emitted from the center into the body, and from this potential center it becomes the source of strength for our spiritual elevation.

Losing my religion | Christian Mystics

The note below is from a man named Brian Roberts and a website called ChristianMystics.com. It was Brian's same sentiment below that led me to tell a friend yesterday, I wouldn't call myself a Christian because in this day and age I can't associate myself with what has become of that title. I am actually a Kabbalist who believes-in and follows the teachings of the blessed Rabbi Yeshua HaMashiac. So what of people who feel like the name of their "religon" has been so demeaned and desecrated that they would rather walk away with a pure heart than be associated with evil? What is actually more important? The religous title or the Lord himself?


Baruch Hashem HaMashiac Yeshua! Baruch Hashem Adonai! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!!! May the love and peace he originally intended as the fruit of his life continue to thrive in those who truly long for the ways of Heaven. . .

As if you asked for a suggestion, I bring one anyway - my suggestion to anyone who feels this way is this, study the words of Yeshua. Go to your bible and study the recorded words and actions of Yeshua and study them in more than one language. Study HIM. . . not your pastor, not your friends at church, not the guy on TV or the guy on the corner. . . study the one you call Lord.

Adios
Posted: 24 Aug 2010 08:29 PM PDT

Having studied Christianity, been an active Christian both in my earliest years and over the past few years, maintaining one of the leading sites on Christianity on the Net in the form of ChristianMystics.com and probably too much other stuff, for me, the time’s come.


Above all, I thank the many who found as much value in this site as witnessed in the strong, rich traditional of the remarkable mystics found within Catholic thought, Quakerism and certainly elsewhere. Yet, I forgot who said it, but it was along the lines of — “Dear God, protect me from your followers….” Whoever did say it was right.


My friends. I’ve lived long enough to have seen the world change, and change it has.


Christianity, which was predicated on both the path of divine inclusion and of the value of one’s love of neighbor has, instead, become glutted with people whose political goals prey on fears, bigotry, hatred and self-serving tendencies. Many are in the movement, some are simply wise enough to know, unfortunately, that whipping up religious fervor and racial intolerance and pandering to piety is the best way motivate their sad, pathetic mob.


In short, Christianity has become the convenient tool of choice. How, really, can some idiotic and venting Tea Party member stand up for “my Christian beliefs” so that the absurd claim drives them to be rabidly against helping to achieve health care for others and the common ground of humanity we share? Hope they at least get flowers from the stock holders in big insurance companies.


It has been said:


On the last day, Jesus will say to those on His right hand, “Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me.” Then Jesus will turn to those on His left hand and say, “Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me.” These will ask Him, “When did we see You hungry, or thirsty or sick and did not come to Your help?” And Jesus will answer them, “Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me!”


At their heart, the teachings of Jesus were found to be so radical and so threatening that their spokesperson was put to death. Punching the buttons on the thing called “Christianity” these days no longer yields an astonishing personal revelation of the spiritual heart but, instead, has been retooled and hijacked to be more about the need for protecting power and money right here and right now.


Sinclair Lewis once said, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”


I carted down a big collection of books about Christianity’s history and teachings, the direct experience of God in one’s life, translations and the books of Quakers and St. John of the Cross and many more. Did it make me sad to realize those books, many of which I’ve owned for several decades, were now gone? No. Not even a bit. The spirit in those books does not live in Christianity today, although, of course, it does live in certain individuals or groups out there right now. It is not, however, found in those people that Jesus would dismiss with “Whatever you neglected to do unto one of these least of these, you neglected to do unto Me.”


I’ve been fortunate enough to have found, for myself, anyway, a path that doesn’t have the ridiculous and self-destructive character of what it means to try and be a Christian in a day where the reigning voices of Christianity are so wildly divorced from the reality and action of their namesake. All I can do, at this point, is to wish that each of you is able to find the same for yourself and, again, to thank you.


As always, I hope you find some of the traditional Christian thoughts and ideas contained in this surprisingly large site as you explore to be of help in pointing in this or that direction, marking as a signpost your holy journey.


Brian Robertson


http://www.christianmystics.com/

Photo by Jasna Boudard and Jerod Alexander

What is Kabbalah and what is NOT Kabbalah???

What is Kabbalah?

"Although its origins are rooted in deep antiquity, from the time of ancient Babylon, the wisdom of Kabbalah has remained virtually hidden from humanity since it appeared more than four thousand years ago. To this very day, only a few know what Kabbalah really is.

For millennia, humanity was offered a wide variety of things under the name “Kabbalah”: spells, curses, and even miracles - all except for the method of Kabbalah itself. For over four thousand years, common understanding of Kabbalah has been cluttered with misconceptions and misinterpretations.

Therefore, first and foremost, the wisdom of Kabbalah needs to be made clear. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) provides the following definition in his article "The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah":

This wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots, which hang down by way of cause and effect, in fixed, determined rules, interweaving to a single, exalted goal described as, “the revelation of His Godliness to His creatures in this world.”

In simpler words, there is an upper, all-inclusive force, or “the Creator,” controlling everything in reality. All the world’s forces descend from this comprehensive force. Some of these forces are familiar to us, such as gravity or electricity, while there are forces of a higher order that act while remaining hidden to us.

Kabbalah holds the map or the knowledge of how these hidden forces are structured, and the laws by which they influence us. It teaches us (through books such as The Zohar and other means) how to develop a sense of these forces, and finally, discover their only purpose – to bring us to the revelation of the Creator, the all-inclusive law of nature, while living in this world."

What is NOT Kabbalah?

10 Myths About Kabbalah

Myth #1: Kabbalah is a religion.

Fact: Kabbalah is a science - the physics of the overall reality. It is a wisdom that reveals the comprehensive reality that is normally hidden from our senses.

Myth #2: Kabbalah is connected to red strings and holy water.

Fact: There is no connection. Red strings, holy water and other products are a lucrative commercial invention created in the past two decades.

Myth #3: Kabbalah is reserved for a minority of persons and only men over 40 years of age are allowed to learn it.

Fact: During the exile Kabbalah was only studied by a few select individuals. However, since the time of the Ari (the 16th century), it is available to all.

Myth #4: Kabbalah deals with magic.

Fact: Kabbalah does not deal with magic or any other sorcery; rather, it deals with a pragmatic investigation of reality.

Myth #5: Kabbalah is a sect.

Fact: Kabbalah is a wisdom and a science open to every person without any restrictions.

Myth #6: Kabbalah is related to “New Age” and is a trend - a passing phenomenon.

Fact: Kabbalah is humanity’s oldest wisdom. Its beginnings were approximately 5,000 years ago.

Myth #7: Kabbalah is related to tarot cards, astrology and numerology.

Fact: Tarot cards, astrology and numerology, in their mystical practice, have been mistakenly associated with Kabbalah.

Myth #8: There are amulets in Kabbalah.

Fact: In our world, there are no physical objects that bear any spiritual contents. Amulets can only help a person as a psychological support.

Myth #9: Kabbalah involves meditation.

Fact: Kabbalah does not involve meditation. Meditation is another element that was connected to the word “Kabbalah” amid its confusion in the last few centuries by non-Kabbalists.

Myth #10: One needs to have studied the Torah and Talmud prior to approaching Kabbalah books.

Fact: Without Kabbalah, one cannot understand the spiritual meaning of these texts, and is stuck with thinking that they refer to physical events and actions.




Resource: www.kabbalah.info

I study Kabbalah at the
Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute

What is meant in Kabbalah by "Feel that you are smaller than your friends"?

Concerning the Importance of Friends
Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag

Concerning the importance of the friends in the society and how to appreciate them, meaning with which kind of importance everyone should regard his friend. Common sense dictates that if one regards one’s friend as being at a lower degree than one’s own, then he will want to teach him how to behave more virtuously than the qualities he has. Hence, he cannot be his friend; he can take the friend as a student, but not as a friend.


And if one sees one’s friend as being at a higher degree than his own, and sees that he can acquire good qualities from him, then he can be his Rav, but not his friend.

This means that precisely when one sees one’s friend as being at an equal degree to one’s own, one can accept the other as a friend and bond with him. This is so because a friend means that they are both in the same state. This is what common sense dictates. In other words, they have the same views and thus decide to bond. Then, both of them act towards the goal that they both wish to achieve.

It is like two like-minded friends who are doing some business together, so this business will bring them profits. In that state, they feel that they have equal powers. But should one of them feel that he is more competent than the other, he will not want to accept him as an equal partner. Instead, they would create a proportional partnership according to the strength and qualities that one has over the other. In that state, the partnership is a thirty-three or twenty-five percent partnership, and it cannot be said that they are equal in the business.

But with love of friends, when friends bond to create unity among themselves, it explicitly means that they are equals. This is called "unity." For example, if they do business together and say that the profits will not be distributed equally, is this called "unity"? Clearly, a business of love of friends should be when all the profits and possessions that the love of friends yields will be equally controlled by them. They should not hide or conceal from one another, but everything will be with love, friendship, truthfulness, and peace.

But in the essay, "A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar," it is written, "The measure of the greatness comes under two conditions: 1) to always listen and receive the appreciation of society, to the extent of their greatness; 2) the environment should be great, as it is written, ‘In the multitude of people is the king’s glory.’"


To accept the first condition, each student must feel that he is the smallest among all the friends, and then he will be able to receive the appreciation of the greatness from everyone. This is so because the greater one cannot receive from the smaller one, much less be impressed by his words. Only the lower one is impressed by the appreciation of the greater one.

And for the second condition, each student must extol each friend’s merit as though he were the greatest in the generation. Then the environment will affect him as a great environment should, since quality is more important than quantity.

It follows that in the matter of love of friends, they help each other, meaning it is enough for everyone to regard his friend as being of the same degree as his own. But because everyone should learn from his friends, there is the issue of Rav and disciple. For this reason, he should consider the friend as greater than himself.

But how can one consider one’s friend as greater than himself, when he can see that his own merits are greater than his friend’s, that he is more talented and has better natural qualities? There are two ways to understand this:


1.He is going with faith above reason: once he has chosen him as a friend, he appreciates him above reason.
2.This is more natural—within reason. If he has decided to accept the other as a friend, and works on himself to love him, than it is natural with love to see only good things. And even though there are bad things in one’s friend, he cannot see them, as it is written, "love covers all transgressions."

We can see that a person may see faults in his neighbor’s children, but not in his own children. And when someone mentions some faults in his children, he immediately resists his friend and begins to declare his children’s merits.

And the question is, which is the truth? After all, there are merits to his children, and hence he is upset when others speak of his children. The thing is this, as I had heard it from my father: Indeed, each person has advantages and disadvantages. And both the neighbor and the father are saying the truth. But the neighbor does not treat the other’s children like a father to his children, since he does not have the same love for the children as the father does.

Hence, when he considers the other’s children, he sees only the children’s faults, since this gives him more pleasure. This is because he can show that he is more virtuous than the other because his own children are better. For this reason, he sees only the other’s faults. What he is seeing is true, but he sees only things he enjoys.

But the father, too, sees only the truth, except he regards only the good things that his children have. He does not see his children’s faults, since it gives him no pleasure. Hence, he is saying the truth about what he sees in his children. And because he regards only the things that can please him, he sees only the virtues.

It turns out that if one has love of friends, the law in love is that you want to see the friends’ merits and not their faults. Hence, if one sees some fault in one’s friend, it is not a sign that his friend is at fault, but that the fault is in him, meaning that because he flawed the love of friends, he sees faults in his friend.

Therefore, now he should not see to his friend’s correction. Rather, he himself needs correction. It follows from all the above that he should not care for the correction of his friend’s faults, which he sees in his friend, but he himself needs to correct the flaw he has created in the love of friends. And when he corrects himself, he will see only his friend’s merits and not his faults."

Read the entire article here

Laitman blog | Be Your Own "Donkey Driver"

Be Your Own "Donkey Driver"
By Rav Michael Laitman
Posted: 22 Aug 2010 12:01 PM PDT

I use the word “Stimulator” to call the system that we must now build because it comes from the Greek word “Stimulus,” meaning a sharp, pointed stick used to poke donkeys in order to keep them moving. Our “donkey” (“Hamor” in Hebrew) is our egoistic desire (“Homer”) which only understands the language of a “stick.” Yet, instead of driving this “donkey” by painful poking, we want to awaken the human being in us who looks ahead and yearns for the future on his own. We need a stimulus, but a positive one. We need to be driven by “lovesickness,” the desire to attain this state. This should be the only force driving us ahead, instead of corporeal pain pushing us from behind.

We have to invoke just one kind of suffering inside us, the question, “Why haven’t I attained unity with the Creator yet? Why am I not in awe of Him?” The first stage in returning to the Creator is “repentance from fear,” which occurs when I put forth efforts to cultivate an inner sensation of awe regarding the spiritual goal, the Creator, and bestowal, instead of running ahead because I fear painful blows that come after me. That is how I change my motivation or Stimulus.

If I run ahead motivated by the strikes (fears about things in this world or punishment in the world to come) then I am not returning to the Creator. In fact, this is how humanity has advanced naturally for thousands of years, but it isn’t spiritual evolution. It is the evolution of desire where we replace an unpleasant state of existence with a new, hopefully better one.

Yet, returning to the Creator is described as “Tshuva (return of) Hey to Vav,” which means that I invoke my own inner fear of not having the quality of bestowal and love. But what can I do if in actuality I am not concerned about this and feel no fear? Where can I get it? The answer is only from the environment!

If the environment paints a picture for me that makes me realize how horrible my condition is and, at the same time, that there is something incredibly wonderful awaiting me, then I will strive toward it. This is the correct, spiritual stimulus that enables us to advance. This way of advancing is correct because it is voluntary, and we therefore make this entire process an “awakening from below.”

However, if I don’t arrange an environment that instills this yearning for advancement in me making me run because I fear that I haven’t attained this goal yet and terrible misfortunes are following me because of it, I will never move into the next moment! In fact, I won’t move one bit.

That is why we need a “stimulator” and a positive one!

Visit Michael Laitman's blog here

Lessons in Kabbalistic work | The proper fear

Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag

Love of Friends
Article No 6, 1984

". . . Yet, to acquire faith, fear must come first, as it is related in the introduction to the Zohar: “Fear is a commandment that contains all the commandments in the Torah, since it is the gate to faith in Him. According to the awakening of one’s fear (in His guidance), so one believes in His guidance.” It ends there: “The fear is lest he will lessen the giving of contentment to his Maker.” This means that the fear that one should have with regard to the Creator is that perhaps he will not be able to give contentment to the Creator, and not that fear will concern one’s own benefit. It follows that the gate to faith is fear; it is impossible to reach faith by any other way.

In order to acquire fear, meaning the fear that he might not be able to give contentment to his Maker, one must first desire and yearn to bestow. Afterwards, one can say that there is room for the fear that he might not be able to sustain the fear. However, one is usually afraid perhaps his self-love will not be complete, and he does not concern himself with not being able to bestow upon the Creator. . . "

". . . Hence, the primary basis upon which the building of sanctity can be erected is the rule of “Love thy friend.” By that, one can acquire the need to bestow contentment upon the Creator. After that, there can be fear, meaning fear of perhaps not being able to give contentment to the Creator. When actually past that gate of fear, he can come to faith, because faith is the vessel for instillment of Divinity, as it is explained in several places.

We thus find that there are three rules before us: The first rule is that of Rabbi Akiva, being “Love thy friend as thyself.” Prior to that, there is nothing that provides a person with the fuel enabling him to modify his situation even a bit, as this is the only way to exit from self-love toward love of man, and feeling that self-love is a bad thing.

Now we come to the second rule, which is the fear. Without fear, there is no room for faith, as Baal HaSulam says.

Finally, we come to the third rule, which is faith. After all the above-mentioned three rules have been acquired, one comes to sense the purpose of creation, which is to do good to His creations. . . "


Entire article is found here

Destiny of the Children of Wonder Revealed | a poem by Timothy Simmons

Destiny of the Children of Wonder Revealed

Open wide the other side
And bear your naked soul to it
Step through the cascading wall of fire
And fret not for the burning of the flesh

Invisible footprints will guide you
To the door way made of light
And there you will enter
And be filled with the mother’s undying love

You will know wholeness
And your armor shall not crack in battle
The arrows and spears of your earthly enemies
Shall become like rose petals that shower you with Nature’s grace

You shall sit with those who love
And you shall be loved
And you shall speak love
And you shall know love
And there shall be no end to the love

Waking to the rays of the fathering Sun
You shall shine like a jewel in the crown
For all the world to see but not to be seen
Your worries will be few your burdens ever so light.

The fears of this world shall not find you
Fearful of heart
But bold in spirit and
Hearty in your happiness

Ye are children of the wind
Carried by the gentle breeze
From the lowest of the lows to the highest of highs
No matter the shape of things to come
Your Spirit shall always swoop only to shift and rise.

A Poem By Timothy Simmons