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Isaac Luria: Father of Modern Kabbalah Thought.
Isaac Luria, known as The Ari, is the only sage in Jewish history that has the title, “The Godly.” The Ari in Hebrew translates as Godly Rabbi Isaac. His teachings are prominent in today’s knowledge of Kabbalah, including the concept that everything is One.
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Anger: The origins of anger. The Hebrew word for anger has the same numeric value of one of G-d’s names. This name means “I am what I am.” It is the idea of “becoming.” If angry, meditate on this name. Anger comes from rigid attachment to perceptions and the meditation reveals the fluidity and flexibility […]
Inner Rhythms: The Kabbalah of Music A VIDEO EXPERIENCE WITH RAV PINSON: Exploring the foundational sounds of the universe and their relationship to the hebrew alpha-bet.
The Art of Effective Listening
Embracing Uncertainty
Conversation: All conversation is with G-d. We should imagine our conversations with people as a conversation with G-d. We need to deeply listen to people; give weight to their words. This will help us experience ourselves in them and them in us.
The Zohar: The Book of Jewish Mysticism. Kabbalah means “tradition received,” passed from teacher to student. The lessons of prophecy, which the book of the Zohar describes, was first received at Mount Sinai.
Garden of Eden: Are we not supposed to be aware?
Genesis in the Beginning.
The Soul: Different levels of spiritual consciousness. We each have an individual spiritual consciousness; our souls make us unique. We also share a collective soul that makes everyone the same. The essence of our self includes both our individual and collective souls; we’re both individuals and a part of something greater.
Sefer Yetzirah
Entering the Miraculous Month of Nisan.
Hebrew: Hebrew is the key to freedom. We can only truly experience the freedom of our ancestors by reliving their Hebrew. Reading a translation of Hebrew is like kissing a bride though a veil; it’s not the full experience.
Hardship: Suffering is optional. We can interpret hardship negatively or we can find the good in it. We should ask, “What is this experience teaching me?” If we feel connected to a loss, we should ask, “should I feel this way?” The difficult experience becomes a tool for self reflection and evaluation.
Exploring Purpose: Pursue the positive. Keep a journal. Observe your daily actions. Think about the positive and the negative aspects, and why you’re being pulled towards negative things. Focus on the positive aspects.
Unity With G-d: Three types of relationships: I it, I thou, and I I. In an “I it” relationship we use another person as an object that does something for us. “I thou” is a genuine encounter between two people. “I” is when we see the other person as an extension of ourselves. The highest […]
Free Will: The different levels of being. There are multiple levels of free choice. The lowest level says create our own existence. The second level says we are a manifestation of a higher being and our lives are played through us. The highest level is that we are divine and the creators of our existences […]
Relationship With G-d: The first part of a relationship is open communication. We have to overcome our childish images of G-d. Don’t be afraid to express genuine feelings to G-d. Once we openly converse with G-d, we can deepen our relationship with Him.
Dreams: Align our conscious and our sub-conscious. One level of dreams is subconscious foolishness which bares minimal significance. There are also relational dreams that can give us insight. If constantly seeking an answer, focus properly on the question before falling sleep and the answer may come in a dream.
Divine Reality: Perceptions of The Divine. Once transcendence is experienced, then the higher experiences become everyday experiences.
No Coincidences: G-d manifests in everything. Everything is interconnected and has a purpose. We won’t always understand an event’s purpose but we must ask “What does this experience mean to me?” Some experiences are meant to be pursued, others to be overcome.
Lurianic Legacy: Thousands of years of tradition. The Kabbalist tradition gives the deep understanding of who we are, what is our purpose, and where are we going.
Reality: A prophet has strength of intellect imagination. Power of intellect is the ability to assess self and the world. Power of imagination is to imagine something better. Balance these two capacities when looking at yourself. Imagination is the image we create for ourselves, not the image created by others.
Numbers: Meaning behind six, seven, and eight. Each one of the seven days of the week represents an emotion. During the first six days, we manifest individual and finite expressions. On the seventh day, we rest and constrict ourselves, revealing unified infinite expressions.
Magic: Magic in spiritual texts. The height of Jewish experience is learning Torah. One of the most mystical experiences is to make a text come alive. The highest level of learning is revelation.
Mystical Life: Our egos shut out things we shouldn’t. Try to open up more to others. When we pray, we should try to feel the needs of others. When we experience others, we transcend our egos.
The Magic of Letters: Shedding light on experience. Judgment is when we see the vessel but not the light. The vessel is letters and we must infuse the letters with meaning. A Kabbalistic practice is to chant letters with different vowel pronunciations.
