The Body Is The Correction Of Desires

lifeQuestions I received about the fate of the physical body:

Question: In what body will we exist in eternity? Will it be the one from our last incarnation or a body from a previous incarnation? Or can it be a totally different body?

My Answer: “Body” in Kabbalah means the correction of desires, and our physical body is not a subject of discussion at all. It only appears to exist to us.

Question: What does Kabbalah say about cremation of the body instead of burial in the ground? I happened to see on one “Kabbalah” site that it is prohibited, and that one would only rise half a person with great penalties.

My Answer: At the level of our world, burial is the norm. At the same time, Kabbalah does not consider our bodies to be sacred, as religions do. Kabbalah just does not take them into account.

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The Soul Is Developed Only Through Our Own Efforts

Spiritual Food Is the Light That Fills One's Soul All of our actions in this world are carried out because they are dictated from Above, except those in which we are free. Our freedom of will consists only of growing higher and correcting the soul in similarity to the Creator. Everything else in and around us is dictated from Above by the laws of the Upper World.

If our will doesn’t exist in anything corporeal and everything is controlled from Above, then there is no punishment and no reward for any actions in life! After all, none of it was done by us; it was done through us from Above.

Therefore, it is written that we are all like animals until we become similar to the Creator. To the extent that we are similar to Him, we are called Adam, “similar” (Dommeh in Hebrew). Similarity to the Creator begins from a point of desire, an aspiration to Him, which is called “the point in the heart.” If this point has been revealed, a person will undoubtedly come to Kabbalah since this point will lead him to it.

The point in the heart is like a drop of semen from which we have developed. However, the only way we can develop the spiritual body, the soul, is through our own effort. This is the only action we can perform using our freedom of will (see Baal HaSulam’s article, “The Freedom”).

Push the whole world onto the back burner and begin to develop the point in the heart, thus elevating yourself into the Upper System. Be willing to reject everything just to stay there. This is the only choice and action that can be made. The reward is the life of the soul!

It’s Time To Remove The Blindfold From The Eyes Of Humanity

man A question I received: Why do people associate the commandments with correcting the body?

My Answer: Certainly, correction is now about correcting our arms and legs. We are talking about “the body of the soul,” the desire, or parts of the soul, meaning individual desires. The difference between the desires of the soul and the corporeal desires is that desires of the soul are formed of qualities similar to the Creator – using yourself in order to bestow instead of receiving for yourself.

The physical body has nothing to do with this. We can perform transplants, remove body parts or organs, and perform blood transfusions. Hospitals don’t check donors for “righteousness” and it’s possible that those receiving body parts or blood receive them from an unrighteous person. It is due to all the confusion in regards to the spiritual body and our physical body that all the mysticism, gruesome tales, and religious horror stories have developed.

Commandments describe a correction of the desires, not any correction of the animate body. The bodies in which we exist are only necessary for us to maintain a physical existence, but when among the desires of our world, an embryo of the soul emerges, we need to be able to develop that tiny desire to the level of the Creator.

Therefore, traditions and religions have nothing to do with correcting the soul. Let people all over the world hold on to their traditions; at the same time, they can correct their desires in order to love their neighbors as themselves. Meanwhile, the flesh will not change.

There is nothing spiritual in mechanical actions. It is very good if they calm you down and create a comfortable living format. Just don’t lie to yourself, believing that you correct your soul through these actions and earn your way into the “world to come.” The world to come is the revelation of the Creator. If you do not prepare your soul for this, then you have nowhere in which to reveal Him, before or after the animate body perishes.

It’s time to remove the blindfold from the eyes of humanity and for everyone to realize that in our whole worldly life, there is only one spiritual point called “the point in the heart.” This is the entrance into the spiritual world.

Catching A Glimpse Of The Spiritual World

upper world Even a beginner who still doesn’t know or understand anything has the possibility to receive a small sensation of the spiritual world. It all depends on a person’s efforts and desire to rise above the ego and above this world in order to relate to the upper degree, the upper dimension. One can achieve that even without any preparation. Such things do happen.

If a person focuses all of his efforts and really wants to transcend, and if for just an instant he truly wants to devote himself to spirituality forever, he will sense it. He will begin to feel the spiritual world through this world and equalize with it, even if only in one of its qualities, one of its parameters.

He wishes to detach himself from the state in which he exists and to use the corporeal only as necessary, so that all his heart and mind will be in the upper dimension. If a person makes such a spiritual effort, he will sense spirituality for a short while, be it a few days, hours, or moments. After that he will descend and return to this world.

These tastes of spirituality don’t contribute much; a person forgets about them and soon his doubts return. He questions whether spirituality is a worthwhile goal or not. The instant it reveals itself to him however, he is certainly ready to forsake everything for its sake. Then a greater egoistic desire comes to him and wipes out his impressions of spirituality. Thus, he forgets everything and submerges again into the flow of this life as if nothing ever happened.

But if he were ready to irrevocably and eternally devote himself to spirituality, the Light would come to him, since he has shown the desire to attach himself to It forever and thus achieved equality with Its eternal quality. For this reason, the Light reveals Itself to him.

(From the lesson on Shamati #58 ““Joy is a “Reflection”of Good Deeds”)