Three questions I received on fitting ourselves into the the spiritual puzzle

Question: I am a bisexual man, and I always play the men’s role in my relationships with men. But in general, since I became interested in Kabbalah, I’ve lost almost all interest in both men and women. Can I study in a group?

My Answer: Please write to us describing how you view men in general when you are next to them for an extended period of time, when you study together, work together, travel together, drink together and hug each other, sing and dance together with men. What do you feel when men look at you and hug you? Once you respond, we will examine your situation further.

Question: I’ve never felt as bad as I do now. I want to change for the better, but the state I’ve been in for three days already is unbearable and horrible, ranging from the question “What’s all this for? Why do I live?” to “I don’t want to go on living.” I have Kabbalistic books, music, and lessons, and without them I wouldn’t be able to continue. But I don’t want my life to be based on the feeling that I’m being lowered into an abyss of my own dirt, and I’m trying to break out of it!

My Answer: There is nothing besides a person and the Creator – so turn to Him. Your appeal to the Creator will be more effective if you make actions of studying in a group and disseminating.

Question: Every soul is a piece of the general puzzle. Men collect their pieces together to form a Kli. When one person loses the connection and falls out of the general system, then there’s a “hole in the boat,” there’s no Light. This seems clear enough. But how does the female soul fit into this puzzle? I feel like I just don’t belong.

My Answer: This female feeling of being defective (not according to Freud, but according to Kabbalah) will accompany you (as well as all the men who are correcting their Malchut) throughout the entire path until the end of correction. You receive the Light from above through the global men’s group, the same way every man does. And just like the men, you insert your piece of the puzzle, your soul, into the common soul of Adam! You are the same as the men in every way, except for the fact that they attract the Light. The men (the male parts of the common soul) unwillingly accept your desires, and they go out to hunt and to work, in order to attract the Upper Light for everyone.

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A question I received: In the book Shaarey Kedusha, section Shaar Dalet, Rav Chaim Vital explains how to meditate, once a person is ready for it in terms of his level of Torah study, observance of the commandments, and fear of the heavens. One enters a room where he can be alone, covers himself with a Tallit and sits with eyes closed. Then he sees how he leaves his body behind and ascends to the heavens. One who attains such a state takes a sentence or excerpt from the Mishnah and repeats it over and over again. What do you think about this?

My Answer: Not a word of it is speaking about our world. Rather, it is all written in the language of branches and points to the forces of the Upper World. Kabbalists only write their books in this way.

“…One enters a room (Heichal Malchut) where he can be alone (away from all the Klipot or disturbances), covers himself with a Tallit (see the level of Tallit in Zeir Anpin of the World of Atzilut, with Ohr Makif) and sits with eyes closed (he leaves his previous level). He then sees how he leaves his body (his AHP) behind and ascends to the heavens (to the AHP of the Elyon). One who attains this state takes a sentence or excerpt from the Mishnah and repeats it over and over again (and in this way ascends from one level to the next, over and over again).”

Related Material:
Kabbalah Blog Post: Kabbalistic Meditation – There Is No Such Term
Kabbalah Blog Post: Kabbalah – the Phenomenon, Phallacies and Facts

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Two questions I received on our perception of reality

Question: If everything in our world is built from ten Sefirot, why are there such great differences and so many species and forms? And why is there a picture that emerges simultaneously at every moment, created out of so many objects?

My Answer: Every picture consists of ten Sefirot: from the force of the Creator (Keter), through our perceptions, to Malchut, which perceives and summarizes the results of the Creator’s influence. See materials on the attainment of reality.

Question: When one starts to follow the path of Kabbalah, what changes in the general framework of all the degrees of advancement toward the root: Does the chain of specific states one goes through in the material world change, or only one’s inner attitude to them?

My Answer: Everything changes, because a person and the whole universe are one whole.

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A question I received: How does the suffering, embarrassment and shame one feels before society, correlate to his hatred of society?

My Answer: We learn that shame is the basis of correction. The feeling of shame by Malchut in the World of Infinity led to Tzimtzum Aleph – the refusal to receive for one’s own sake. After that, that same shame pushed Malchut to find a way to bestow – to receive for the Creator’s sake.

As that same shame developed further, it continually showed the creature, the soul of Adam, what to do in order to become similar to the Creator. And the same shame drove Adam to sin: Adam wanted to overcome shame all at once, and as a result he revealed his entire egoistic nature (reception for one’s own sake), as well as the opportunity to correct this shame (reception for the Creator’s sake). But this must be done gradually, over the course of thousands of years, inside many individual souls (during their life cycles), by overcoming their repulsion to one another.

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, after a certain amount of time he reveals his egoism, which grows bigger and bigger. As he continues to study, he constantly learns that egoism is evil, but he doesn’t feel this in any way. He learns that spirituality is bestowal, love for one’s friend, and that he can sense the Creator only within this quality, or to be more precise, that this quality is the Creator.

As more time passes, he begins to view egoism as evil, because he gradually discovers egoism’s connection with spirituality, how opposite the two are, and that it’s impossible to attain spirituality together with egoism.

After some more time passes, he’s “set up” from above in such a way, that he feels as if he is “burning with shame,” and that he’ll adhere to the Creator only by renouncing his original qualities. This is when his correction begins. He is willing to feel the burning shame for the sake of acquiring the property of love and bestowal!

A question I received: On the one hand, during the preparation period, before coming out of Egypt (crossing the Machsom), one’s egoism grows. But on the other hand, in order to cross the Machsom, one has to be absolutely pure! He must go from unfounded hatred to love. How does this occur together? [Read more →]

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A question I received: Why did the Creator create earthly love between a man and a woman? What does it teach us? What are we supposed to do with it?

My Answer: It’s is a result of a relationship in the Upper root, ZA (Zeir Anpin) and Malchut of Atzilut, which we need to attain. In reality, we are all wives in relation to the Creator, or in other words, we all desire to receive pleasure from Him.

Related Material:
* On Love and Marriage – discussion between M. Laitman and Kabbalah Academy instructors Michael Sanilevich and Eugene Litvar.

* Relationships – by M. Laitman, Kabbalah on the purpose of creation, man and woman, a woman’s nature, family, upbringing, drugs and love.

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