Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Love thy neighbor” is the secret of living in accordance with Kabbalah, and it is the message of The Way as well.
Kabbalah teaches that the universe is not a “finished product,” and that its construction is in progress even at this very moment. We are all building it, in partnership with the
Creator.
The truth is, the most wonderful moments of our lives—Kabbalah calls them moments of fulfillment—
our moments of greatest joy take place for a very specific reason: they are intended to give us just the tiniest glimpse of what real joy is like.
In kabbalistic terms, Light is a code word for an all-encompassing radiance of divine love.
attributes of the Creator that are encompassed by the Light, the essential and defining one is an infinite and unbounded desire to give and share of itself.
At that instant, the Vessel shattered. It exploded into an infinite number of fragments, which became our universe.
A fascinating aspect of Kabbalah is the extent to which the shattering of the Vessel corresponds to the Big Bang theory of creation, which is now almost
universally accepted by modern science. According to this theory, the universe came into being when an infinitely dense entity, currently thought to have been about the size of a...
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Kabbalah teaches that transformation means becoming a being of giving and sharing. This refers to more than acts of sharing. It means connecting with the Light, becoming one with the Creator, and making your essence and the essence of the Creator one and the same.
According to kabbalistic teaching, the origin of all negativity is the desire to receive for ourselves alone. This self-serving desire, in any of its countless forms, cuts us off from the Light, distances us from the Creator, and makes true fulfillment impossible.
Kabbalah teaches us and empowers us to integrate the dual aspects of our being that are our legacy from the primordial Vessel by transforming desire to receive for ourselves alone into desire to receive for the purpose of sharing.
By translating the metaphor of the glass into our lives in the real world, we achieve oneness with the sharing nature of the Creator, and the Creator’s intention of infinite giving to us is also fulfilled.
Our deepest desire and need is for the fulfillment that comes from oneness with the Creator.
The answer lies not in ridding ourselves of all desire, but in transforming self-serving desire into desire to receive for the purpose of sharing.
Spiritual transformation is in our own interest, and we should undertake it for our own good.
transformation should be more about inner growth than external action. Once again, the basis of transformation is becoming a being of sharing.
There can be no coercion in spirituality.
must be infused with a yearning for transformation and fulfillment.
the highest level of striving is for transformation—for turning the desire to receive for ourselves alone into the desire to receive for the purpose of sharing.
Yes
in Kabbalah inner change is the foundation of all growth.
Everything that happens in the physical world is a reflection of our
soul’s progress on the path toward oneness wi...
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the real constant in the biblical narrative is the inevitability of change.
Rabbi Ashlag’s teaching places responsibility for exile and dispersion in our
hands—and in so doing, he shows that we also have the means to achieve transformation, redemption, and immortality.
The paradigm of the Light and the Vessel describes every person’s inner journey as well as the experience of humanity as a whole.
When we do, the desire to receive for the self alone that so dominated our early lives is now transformed into desire to receive for the purpose of sharing, very often with children of our own.
In this sense, death is analogous to other cleansing experiences such as fasting. Death is a
way of clearing the slate—of freeing the soul from the reactive encumbrances of the body so that the journey toward transformation can resume in a new incarnation.
If immortality is not available to us now, Kabbalah assures us—guarantees us—that the death of death is indeed on its way. How soon it arrives is entirely up to us.
Separation from the Creator is recognized as an illusion, and Oneness is revealed as the supreme truth.
Kabbalah teaches that the physical and spiritual dimensions are intimately interwoven.
Kabbalah, time and distance are understood in terms of proximity to the Creator.
We cannot achieve fulfillment without doing the spiritual work of earning fulfillment.
And there’s a strong argument that people who work hard throughout their lives
and provide for their families are more likely to be spiritually advanced than those to whom everything has come easily.
no spiritual growth can be achieved without
positive action in the physical world.
Kabbalah teaches that we are in this world to
transform desire to receive for the self alone into desire to receive for the purpose of sharing,
and thereby to achieve oneness with...
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But our spiritual evolution has a purpose and a goal,
which is the final and infinite union of God and man ordained by God at the time of creation, and forestalled by the sin of Adam.
Like other drugs, self-serving desire has many street names. Money, Fame, and Power are some of the most familiar.
Even Humiliation and Defeat can have a powerful allure, if only unconsciously. But the same energy underlies all of them, and there’s no denying that it can provide much pleasure and excitement. In fact, for many people this is the only version of happiness they’ve ever known.
sharing to transform your nature is by definition uncomfortable.
Because of the negative force, we have an opportunity to choose the direction of our lives at every moment. Remember: choice makes it possible for us to earn the Creator’s
beneficence. Without choice, lasting fulfillment is impossible.
