November 21, 2024
Archive for March, 2014
March 25, 2014 at 6:30 am · Filed under Articles, Books
From the Beginning of Creation to the Big Bang
The wisdom of Kabbalah explains, that after the initially created desire to receive goes through stages of development, forming the system of the spiritual worlds, a special Partzuf, called Adam, the primordial common soul, was created.
Although this common soul was created without free choice and without the ability to become similar to its Maker, the subsequent “breakage” of this Partzuf created the opportunity for free, independent development, to achieve the purpose creation—to become similar to its Maker.
Therefore, Adam’s shattered soul is our common origin. Being a Partzuf, Adam’s structure was a perfect replica of its parent (corrected) Partzuf. In breaking, Adam extended the structure of the spiritual worlds (worlds of bestowal) to its lowest point—ultimate reception.
In consequence, all that exists in the spiritual worlds exists in our world, as well. For this reason, the same four-stage pattern by which the stages of desire evolved, followed by the four-stage evolution of the spiritual worlds, exists in our physical world. As we explore how our world has evolved, we should keep in mind the desires that evoke and guide it.
Time, as we know it, began approximately 14 billion years ago. From the Kabbalistic, spiritual perspective, the “big bang” was the shattering of Adam’s soul. The reason we see it as a material event is that we see the world through corporeal (self-centered) eyes. If we could see it from the perspective of the force that induced this massive explosion we call “the big bang,” we would see it as an outcome of Adam’s attempt to receive using the last, and greatest desire.
What Is the Difference between Survival of the Fittest in Darwinism and in Kabbalah?
As the original desires evolved in stages, their mundane parallels appeared and corrected one at a time, from the easiest to the hardest. Now, as each desire manifests itself in our universe, Nature, which is synonymous with the Creator, must “teach” it to work so that it contributes to the well-being and sustainability of the universe.
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March 24, 2014 at 6:30 am · Filed under Articles, Books
The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how the Creator’s quality of bestowal creates a desire, out of nothing, a desire to receive pleasure, and how this creature has similarity with the end of its development.
After an initial four phase development the creature realizes its total opposition to its source, end enters a new phase, using a bestowing intention to progress towards the desired similarity.
We learn how the creation receives what pleasure it can in order to bestow, and builds itself to be as similar as possible to its Creator. However, even after all the worlds have been established in the Partzuf, and all the lights that could be received in order to bestow are received in the Partzuf, there still remains one desire that cannot be made to work in the Partzuf—the desire to be like the Creator. This is the desire that the host in Ashlag’s allegory was referring to when he said, “In this case, there has never been born a person who could fulfill your wishes.” This is the most intense desire, the core desire of Stage Four, and at the same time it is utterly unachievable.
So once all the desires were exploited to the maximum, the creation’s (the company) marketing department (surrounding light), reminded the company management—the Rosh (head) of creation—that there was still more light to be received. Now it was the Rosh’s duty to examine this new desire and determine if it could receive this desire with the intention to bestow.
Do You Fall for this Hidden Temptation that Is Impossible To Resist?
For this reason, the Rosh assembled a special board meeting to discuss the fate of this last desire. In this meeting, the argument for not using it was that it was too strong to handle. Indeed, how can one handle a desire to be like one’s parent? If the Partzuf actually received what it wished for in that desire, it would be similar to a child instantly becoming an adult, without the knowledge and experience acquired over the years of growing up. Clearly, this was too complicated and too dangerous a desire to handle.
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March 22, 2014 at 10:00 pm · Filed under Torah Portion
Leviticus, 12:1-13:59 – 14:1-15:33
This Week’s Torah Portion | March 23 – March 29, 2014 – Adar II 28 – Nisan 5, 5774
In A Nutshell
In the portion, Tazria (When a Woman Delivers), we learn about laws related to a woman who has delivered. If she delivers a boy, she is considered impure for seven days. On the eighth day the boy is circumcised and the woman begins a 33 day purification period. If the woman delivers a girl she is considered impure for fourteen days, and the purification period lasts 66 days.
The portion also details rules concerning afflictions. A person who is infected with something must come to the priest, who diagnoses the sore and knows the rules concerning each of them.
The portion, Metzorah (The Leper), is dedicated to the rules concerning leprosy, and what to do when one has been infected with it. A leper who has healed must be examined by the priest, then bring two birds. The priest slaughters one bird and dips the other in clean water.
The end of the portion discusses the impurity of nocturnal ejaculation and the rules concerning a woman in menstruation—anyone who touches her is impure until the evening.
Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman
Why are the rules in the portions described in such detail?
The whole Torah is an instruction by which to correct our nature. Man was deliberately created with an egoistic desire; this is why we want everything for our own good, as it is written, “For the inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis, 8:21). Creation itself is the evil inclination, the sum of our negative qualities. The inanimate nature, the vegetative, and the animate around us are completely neutral—neither good nor bad. It is managed by the laws of nature that act instinctively on all its elements.
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March 22, 2014 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Definitions
A Woman in Labor
This is the will to receive that has received the power to develop and beget new acts of bestowal in every man.
Circumcision
The circumcision is a correction of a newly born desire. If it is a man, he must go through a special correction in his prevailing, to stop him from using his Sium, Yesod, in order to touch the Malchut where the greatest, and worst desires can be found, and which can be corrected only at the end of correction. Therefore, one who wishes to be Yashar El (straight to God, Israel), must make a circumcision, meaning limit ourselves from using the desire to bestow beyond the point of one’s Yesod. We also determine these signs as customs in our world.
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March 22, 2014 at 10:03 am · Filed under Articles, Books
The wisdom of Kabbalah explains, that initially a single desire to receive was created, which as a result of the influence of the creating pure, bestowing force, evolved through four stages, until a raw desire is formed, which senses its total opposition to its source.
As a result of this unpleasant sensation of total opposition the desire restricts itself then builds a “self-control” structure, with a Rosh (head), with a single purpose, to direct its future development in a way of achieving full similarity with the source.
As soon add this “self-control” structure, called “the Partzuf,” is born, the system of “Creation,” begins to sort out the “unemployed” (non-similar, unable to bestow) desires on its waiting list, placing the weakest, easiest to handle desires at the top of the list, and the most intense, unruly ones at the bottom. Creation divides these desires into four categories, similar to the four stages in the evolution of desires. It refers to each category as an Olam (world), from the Hebrew word Haalama (concealment), since these desires must be kept separated and concealed from the lights until they can be operated correctly—with the aim to bestow. Thus, the desires with qualities most similar to Stage One are called “the world of Atzilut,” those most similar to Stage Two form “the world of Beria,” with those most similar to Stage Three forming “the world of Yetzira,” and those most similar to Stage Four becoming “the world of Assiya” (see diagram). For short, they are called “ABYA.”
When Kabbalists describe the spiritual realm—where desires work with the aim to bestow—they usually divide it into worlds and describe what happens in them (how desires actually receive). Therefore, they often refer to everything that precedes the worlds of ABYA as a world as well, and call it “the world of AK” (Adam Kadmon—the primordial man). In a way, the world of AK parallels the Root Stage, or Stage Zero, in the evolution of desires.
Note that our world is not mentioned among the spiritual worlds. Because our world is based on egoism, and the worlds in Kabbalah reflect levels of bestowal, our world is not considered part of the spiritual (with the aim to bestow) system.
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