Religious Obesrvances Are Not Necessary In Kabbalah
Questions I received on observing religious practices:
Question: I practice Torah and the Mitzvot (commandments) in my daily life and my practice often becomes mechanical – not spiritual. You state that Kabbalah has nothing to do with religion, yet it seems inextricably linked to Torah.
Please advise me on how I can re-engage with the Mitzvot in a way that will correct my “desire to receive” to a “desire to give.” Surely that is what they are for. Please shed some light on the connection of the Mitzvot to Kabbalah, and the significance of the Mitzvot for a Jew.
My Answer: Kabbalah is the method of the soul’s correction by means of revealing the Creator. The soul bears no relation to the body.
If you want to follow the tenets of Judaism, it’s your business. Personally, I abide by this framework because it is the tradition of the nation I belong to. However, I have hundreds of thousands of students who are not Jews and who do not follow these commandments. This does not impair their spiritual development in any way. It is written: “They will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” and “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” This means that everyone will unite by revealing the Creator.
Kabbalah was revealed in Ancient Babylon to everyone, and today it is being revealed to everyone again. Regardless, every person can practice his own external cultural traditions.
Question: How can we observe 613 commandments if we are not Jews? Where can we find the list of these commandments? How do I observe Shabbat and holidays: should I go to a synagogue or a Kabbalah center that observe such events?
My Answer: The 613 commandments are the correction of 613 desires. These desire will only be revealed inside you after you cross Machsom. They are not related to any actions in our world – they are desires.
Religious actions, however, are traditions and do not correct a person or his soul. It’s not necessary to observe them in order to attain the goal of creation. They are there for you in case you want to be connected to the culture of your people.
Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Opposition Between Religion and Kabbalah: Actions Versus Intentions
Laitman.com Post: The Only Commandment Is Equivalence With the Creator
Laitman.com Post: What Is the Machsom?
Kabbalah Today Article: Kabbalah Explains the Bible
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”
Laitman.com Comments RSS Feed
Is the human state of being gay (male soul with female desires) a spiritual correction for not procreating in a past life? If not, why do some men incarnate with predominately left column female energy? Please explain.
P. S.
I have already ruled out “gay” as being a perversion of heterosexuality or deriving solely from ego, therefore, there must be a spiritual reason as our lives are all predetermined, incarnated states of being.
But all of the Kabbalists throughout the ages spent a great deal of energy and time performing the mitzvot to the letter. They preached the importance of doing them, physically and spiritually, the Baal HaSulam and Rabash included. How, then, can we not also place a spiritual importance in them as well? Although I would agree that in the first phase of spiritual correction they are not important — do not contribute — is there not a junction whereby the two realms blend together and therefore we are compelled to perform both physical and spiritual? And if it is correct that they are not important then why fool the Jewish people all these centuries? Why not emphasize clearly instead of wasting people’s time and hope??