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Archive for March, 2014
March 31, 2014 at 9:59 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
What Is the Difference between Humans and Animals?
The corporeal parallel to Stage Four in the Four Developmental Stages of the Primordial Desire in Creation (i.e. the natural evolution of the desire to receive) are human beings. Humans appeared through a natural process of evolution. The genus Homo (humanoid ape) first appeared approximately 2.5 million years ago, and evolved as all other species do, by natural selection. As with animals, hominids that were healthier and stronger survived, and those that were less so perished.
Yet, hominids, and primarily the latest evolution of the species, Homo sapiens, invested far more energy and time on social relations than any other species. Albeit many species, such as dolphins, chimpanzees, and wolves, cultivate intricate social relations, social structures in human societies are dynamic and evolutionary by nature.
In that regard, Baal HaSulam wrote in the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar” that unlike animals, humans have the ability to sympathize with another’s pains and joys, and animals do not. In declaring this, Baal HaSulam was not referring to empathy as is often exhibited by animals between mother and offspring, and even among unrelated specimens of a species. Instead, here he speaks of an entirely new mechanism of the desire to receive: evolution through envy.
In item 38 of the “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Ashlag explains the difference between desires in humans and in animals, and how envy increases our desires: “The will to receive in the animate, which lacks the sensation of others, can only generate needs and desires to the extent that they are imprinted in that creature alone.”
In other words, if an animal knows that eating is good, it may want to help another animal obtain food, as well. “But man,” continues Ashlag, “who can feel others, becomes needy of everything that others have, as well, and is thus filled with envy to acquire everything that others have.”
Indeed, the appearance of Homo sapiens marked what appears to be a shift in the direction of evolution. Homo sapiens, it seems, were focusing not on developing a stronger, more adapt and agile physique, but on developing their intellect, and even more surprising, self-expression. Thus, we see how Homo sapiens are the earthly representation of Stage Four in the desire to receive—the desire to become omnipotent and omniscient.
Do You Adhere to the Rule of Survival – Yielding Self-Interest to the Interest of the System?
Ashlag’s words quoted above mark a turning point not just in the history of human evolution, but in the evolution of the universe, as well. The (uniquely human) evolution-by-envy has shifted the very direction of evolution. Until the emergence of human ego, creatures evolved successfully if their internal organs cooperated, following the principle of relinquishing self-interest in favor of the system’s interest, and leaving the system to care for their well-being.
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March 29, 2014 at 6:00 am · Filed under Articles, Books
The first living organisms were primitive cells, known as “prokaryotes.” As with minerals in the inanimate phase, prokaryotes grew more complex.
The vegetative phase in the evolution of life corresponds to Stage Two of the four developmental stages of the primordial desire in creation. The difference between Stage One and Stage Two is that Stage One is passive—receiving what Nature gives it—while Stage Two reacts to it, wishing to give back. Similarly, plants respond to their environment and interact with it. Their product, oxygen, is the gift of the flora to our world and is such a vital element of life that without it, evolution as we know it would not be possible.
In his “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Ashlag explains that the vegetative level of the desire to receive, as manifested in plants, exhibits a more intense desire to receive. This is why the structures it creates are more complex and have a more noticeable impact on their environment.
Also, unlike minerals, plants are individual specimens with their own reproduction, feeding, and even migration mechanisms. Yet, like minerals, all plants behave similarly—accurately adhering to the program installed within them by the Creator. They open their petals (if they have them) at the same time in the morning, close them at the same time in the evening, and follow almost exactly the same procedure as do the other specimens in their species.
Thus, compliant with the law of yielding self-interest described in the previous section, cells continued to evolve, producing increasingly intricate and complex structures. At first, they congregated in large colonies of single cells. Then, gradually, they began to realize that they could benefit from ascribing different roles to different groups of cells. Some cells became “hunters,” providing food for the entire colony, other cells became guards, others still became cleaners, and each group contributed its best to the community.
In The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Baal HaSulam provides a detailed examination of the internal structure of the Partzuf we discussed earlier, and explains about such systems as the digestive system, the reproduction system, hands, legs, etc.
However, Baal HaSulam describes all these elements as interactions between desires to bestow and desires to receive. These are not physical objects of any kind, although how they behave serves as a “prototype” for the behavior of similar systems in our world. In Kabbalah, a prototype is called “root” and all its offshoots are called “branches.”
Beyond the obvious advantage of size that colonies have over single cells, returning to the topic of evolution, cells in colonies have another edge over single cells: they can focus on a single task and thus perfect their performance, increasing their contribution to the colony and relying on their fellow cells in the colony to provide for their other needs.
Single cells, on the other hand, had to perform all the necessities of sustenance by themselves. This heightened efficiency meant that colonies spent less energy to produce the same amount of food, warmth, protection and any other necessity. Thus, yielding their self-interests, cells began to differentiate.
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March 28, 2014 at 6:10 am · Filed under Articles, Books
Following Adam’s shattering, each piece in the desire to receive begins to feel like an independent self, separated from its environment and wishing to absorb from it. This desire to absorb, the pulling force, or gravity—the physical parallel to the desire to receive—caused the first clusters to form in the universe, which later became the substance of the first galaxies in the universe.
As space and gravity fields created more structured forms of the desire to absorb (meaning the desire to receive), particles appeared. The absorption process continued and stars were born with planets surrounding some of them. Thus, gravity, the weakest force in Nature, created the infrastructure of the entire universe, just as Stage One of the four developmental stages of the primordial desire in creation, the weakest desire to receive, created the infrastructure for the four Stages and all the spiritual worlds that followed.
As in Stage One, the desire to receive in the corporeal inanimate consists primarily of a wish to secure its own persistence, to sustain itself. Its only relation to others is that it resists any attempt to break, dissolve, or otherwise change it. Yet, as a result of the inanimate level’s aspiration to maintain its own persistence, some particles “discovered” that they could best secure their future by collaborating with other elements.
Unlike Darwin, Kabbalah Asserts ‘No Coincidence’
Unlike Darwin’s theory of evolution, Kabbalah asserts that there is no coincidence. Particles do not really “discover” or happen to collaborate and subsequently benefit from doing so. This would imply that Nature is purposeless, random, that there is no predetermined goal at the end of the process. Instead, Baal HaSulam explains (in “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and in other places) that since our world is the last in a series of cause- and-effect events, the desires that appear in our world already contain (albeit not consciously) recollections of previous states within them, since they are their offshoots. Hence, the desire to receive in this world already has a recollection of the Four Stages, the Partzuf, and all the spiritual worlds. As a result, the preparation, the set-up for discovering the benefits in collaboration, pre-exist in all the levels of desires in this world. This is what allows them to “miraculously” discover the benefits of “negotiating into harmony,” as Sahtouris put it.
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March 27, 2014 at 6:00 am · Filed under Articles
It is possible to teach a person the spiritual mechanics, to explain how the transition from one state to another occurs and how to perform different actions, but it is impossible to convey what he will feel then. In order to do so, he must be ready for a spiritual sensation. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Several Details about the Picture of the Spiritual World.”]
What’s Missing in the Way We Evaluate Suffering?
On one hand, we see that nature is wise and assiduous toward every creature. It develops every element successively and carefully. Look at the structure of organisms, their ability to grow, to give birth to offspring, and to interact. Everything is built in an integral form, every person has his own place and is in balance with others. If we could see the balanced world, undisturbed by human despotism, we would reveal a wonderful system, one that is not static, but perfectly balanced for development.
However, we do not see the causes of this development and do not understand why everything has to be precisely this way. Therefore, we do not understand the phases of the path. Besides, we look at it through the prism of our egoism and evaluate it according to our criteria. Therefore, we see the world upside down, as if flipping it over in our perception. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Balance that Causes Development.”]
Destroying the Planet’s Population
Is it Possible to Eliminate Suffering?
It is very hard to explain what the “human in me”. It is above my animal level, above my corporeal life. If I feel that I am human, when I don’t think about the body but rather am filled by some idea, I actually don’t feel my body—it is as if I am floating above myself.
If I descend to the animal level, like an ordinary person in this world, I feel the body. But in any case, while being in my animal body, I don’t feel pain when I cut my hair or my nails because it is at the vegetative level.If I descend to the vegetative level, I don’t feel the inanimate level, where there are no nerves and so on.
Thus, we can speak about the development from the bottom up and about a person’s descent from the top down by explaining how he gradually leaves this life.
We can explain and show a person that if he is in this social, integral body that constantly supports him, he will not feel even a minute of suffering, not in this life and not when this life is over.
A person who is connected with others constantly becomes healthier by being connected to the system that is full of mutual connection with others, and so even if something happens to him, there is an energetic compensation on the account of others. Thus, society operates as a healthy body. If a thorn enters a person’s body, for example, the whole body begins to work against it, by pushing it out, by treating the infected area, etc. The same thing happens with a person in society—the society immediately feels all the person’s internal problems and provides him with the necessary energy, and he is healed. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Not a Minute of Suffering.”]
March 26, 2014 at 6:00 am · Filed under Q&A
We scoured the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education Center‘s Fundamentals semester student forum for the 10 most asked questions about Kabbalah by beginners, and here they are … with answers!
As for finding answers to these questions, how did we do it? We simply ran the following searches in Google’s search engine:
- site:kabbalah.info write your question here
- site:laitman.com write your question here
…and then sent the Q&A doc to a Bnei Baruch senior instructor for some basic editing and review, and here you have it.
Why are we mentioning how we ran the searches for the answers to the questions? The reason is that the websites kabbalah.info and laitman.com have so much content, including many full books, 1,000s of articles, videos and more, and many people do not know what a wonderful resource is at their fingertips waiting to answer any question they might have.
Give it a try! Don’t see a question you have here below? Write your question in Google’s search engine preceded by the “site:kabbalah.info” and “site:laitman.com” prefixes, and see what you can find!
10 of the Most Asked Questions about Kabbalah by Beginners
Click on a question here in order to go directly to its answer:
1. Is Kabbalah a religion? Do I have to be Jewish in order to study Kabbalah?
2. Does Kabbalah recognize the existence of Karma and how it manifests in this world?
3. What is spirituality and where does Kabbalah originate?
4. Is the revelation of the Creator achieved just through the study of various concepts of Kabbalah, or are there other techniques such as prayer, meditation, yoga, etc.?
5. How does Kabbalah practically assist and support us in everyday life?
6. How does Kabbalah define prayer?
7. Kabbalah is a science to enable us to know God, then what is the difference between Kabbalah and theology?
8. What is the cause of coincidences/synchronicities?
9. What does Kabbalah say about physical suffering? If God is all loving, why do people suffer?
10. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, please explain near death experiences?
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