Kabbalah Course Discussion Group

Please register here: edu.kabbalah.info/lp/free/

If you haven't seen it, this is an offshoot of a thread linking to this course from two years ago. http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Abrahamic-studies/84499-free-kabbalah-course

You can register up to the end of April. If you are not planning on taking the course, please do NOT participate in this discussion. Thank you.

Basically, I will provide my "notes" as prompts. Then, we can just take off.

Lesson 1 Discussion:
The book Kabbalah for the Student is available for free on line.

The Wisdom of the Kabbalah is that we can achieve oneness with the Creator in this lifetime. About 18 minutes into the vid.
Kabbalah is the "method" by which this attainment is made.

They believe it is practical and empirical, different than "religion" or "philosophy".

They have a scientific approach to "enlightenment". Thoughts? Versus Taoism/Buddhism?

Who is the "Creator"? How do we "attain" (feel) the Creator without belief?
- A certain quality, a certain FORCE, that we begin to resemble and come into contact with.
- We're going to unravel this throughout the course.

Kabbalah means "reception".

Because Kabbalah is a process, it is useful to help direct your life. It gives you the tools to use and actualize that goal.

Is there a limit for Pleasure? What is spiritual pleasure?

Here's my takeaway: Kabbalah is different from many spiritual paths because it is NOT a spiritual path. It is a science. And, the process to enlightenment as a science is unique. This merits an exploration of the process by which this could happen.

It's funny, some of the things they were talking about were also in an audio book I started listening to today about the hermetic teachings. The authors of the book mentioned that it was believed Abraham had got some of his teachings from Hermes Trismegistus. (Assuming HT was actually a person). If I believed in such a thing I might call it synchronistic

The question about the purpose of studying the Kabbalah was interesting, about whether attaining greater pleasure was the sole purpose. I don't think I've ever come across the idea of 'spiritual pleasure'... the end purpose is becoming as the creator, but this spiritual pleasure is entirely new to me. It strikes me though that this path, as most are, is very much about the change within oneself rather than the actual satisfaction of the goal.

I did like their emphasis that it is not a religion... remember when Kabbalah was suddenly really popular among celebrities? Looked particularly cultish from the outisde.. I guess media view is one of the misconceptions they talked about, but I'm not sure the celebrities helped!

I don't know enough about Taoism to comment on whether I think the process is similar. I did a lot of reading surrounding Buddhism before I came to TOTJO and I always felt like I was being disconnected.. I probably missed the point in there somewhere.. but it strikes me that the path is not about removing oneself from the desires and temptations of the physical world, but instead placing the emphasis for pleasure into the spiritual one, and the connection with the creator, force, whatever one calls it.

I'm interested to do this course while I'm listening to audio book about the hermetic teachings further because I think they will have some useful comparisons.

What did you think about the question about praying and the names of the gods? I wondered myself why the woman asked it given they had already said it wasn't a religion... although granted they were talking about the creator.

April 15, 2015
Lesson 1

Most of the notes are word for word

History
The wisdom dates back 5776 years ago.
The first time a person discovered upper reality.
The first time there was a person to connect by a system was Abraham.

One instructor said that when he came to study the kabbalah, he had everything (the girl, the job . .etc), but something was missing.
The kabbalah meets the question, what is the meaning of life?

Ego
human ego is naturally opposed to wisdom of kabbalah
it is against that realization
it wants to close off/guard

wisdom of kabbalah wants to transform the way we receive
the ego does not want that

people are naturally against the wisdom of kabbalah until they get that unique desire

brand new desire we call the point in the heart
this desire is call point of the heart
a tiny spark for the desire for the sake of the creator
first true spiritual desire that we get

what is this thing point of desire in the heart?
how do we define it?

kabbalists say the heart is the sum of all of our desires
within the collection of desires that we have within us
there is one single desire that is different from all the others
how is it different
this is the spiritual desire
what makes it spiritual
it is something we cannot satisfy
try as we might on our current level of existence


What is it?
defining the wisdom according to the sages
this wisdom is no more and no less than a sequence of roots that hangs down by
intertwined by cause and effect
by fixed determined rules
interwoven to a single exalted goal
described as the revelation of the creator to his creations in this world

Method
this wisdom is a method by which one could obtain the creator in this life

a method (not religion or philosophy)
a scientific method
empirical, practical, has a cause and effect relationship to it
has a degree of precision to it

Who are kabbalists?
scientists they went through this method

when kabbalists say obtain, they mean feel
if not sensed, experienced, then not obtained
complete sensation and understanding of that thing that is trying to be obtained

what are we trying to obtain or feel?
what is this thing the creator?
a certain quality,
a certain force,
a certain resemble
a certain experience that we begin to come in contact with
when we speak of the creator we are speaking of coming in contact with certain quality or force

how do we discern this quality from present quality?
how do we resemble this quality?

Instructor closed lesson 1 with these questions

Taoism and Buddhism are almost the direct opposite of this. Granted, Buddhism has it's 8-fold path to enlightenment. In Buddhist thought, doing those 8 things will get you to enlightenment. It's a wonder why people don't spend much time on them in cursory study. Generally, that is only an advanced topic, even though it is in the basic teachings.

Taoism is almost completely non-formulaic. There is no "path" because everything is the path.

In terms of spiritual pleasure, I don't think it has much to do with feeling the pleasure in a psychosomatic way. I think it means more pleasure of the spirit. Openness, connection, that kind of thing. So, you're definitely right about that.

The end of the video with the questions of gods' names... Yeah, it's interesting. I think you have to understand that most people taking the course will have not studied religion before. Most people coming to Kabbalah come from the desire to make that connection for the first time. So, it was probably just confusing for them, whereas I felt like it was a pretty basic thing to ask.

Some people do not yet know how to separate spirituality from deity from religion from ___.

Great notes, Mareeka.

Connor: "there is no path, everything is the path."

While Kabbalah has a "method" which I take to mean a path, I get a sense that it is a path of everything on the path."

the biggest parallel i always draw with everything to taoism is the idea that basically there are two "things"

that which exists
and that from which it comes

in most every system you find this basic dichotomy because it is unavoidable lol its the only way we can relate to existence

taoism has a high emphasis on the idea that the source is unknowable
but you find most systems actually have a parallel to that idea

nagualism for instance insists that as soon as you name the nagual it becomes a part of the intellectual inventory ie the tonal and that the nagual is the only part of us (or existence) with the power to genuinely create something new

the tonal makes classifications out of what the nagual has created

even christianity has passages such as "the lords ways are higher than your ways just like the stars are high above your heads" (thats a paraphrase)

i wont be surprised if the 21 steps of reunification turn out to have parallels to a lot of other systems

from what i have seen the work is the same for everybody, its only the way and structure the ideas are presented which really changes

but im wrong all the time lol so dont take me too serious

anyway this is very cool!

Connor L. wrote: The end of the video with the questions of gods' names... Yeah, it's interesting. I think you have to understand that most people taking the course will have not studied religion before. Most people coming to Kabbalah come from the desire to make that connection for the first time. So, it was probably just confusing for them, whereas I felt like it was a pretty basic thing to ask.

Some people do not yet know how to separate spirituality from deity from religion from ___.

I guess I take my knowledge beyond religion for granted.. I've questioned religion since I was a teenager. I forget sometimes some people have never done so..

Mareeka wrote: Connor: "there is no path, everything is the path."

While Kabbalah has a "method" which I take to mean a path, I get a sense that it is a path of everything on the path."

That is quite possible. To be honest, I do not know enough about it yet to fully understand what they mean by it. Thank you for the thought.

Why do you take method to mean path? Do you feel method is a collection of totality? So, it defines how we view everything?

Exactly, Edan. It's astonishing, the vast number of people who have never even considered a higher power beyond a familial forced introduction through Sunday School. haha.