This first webinar we will be exploring how our minds are Kabbalisticaly wired and some deep insights on states of consciousness

Shalom Aleichem everyone, thank you all for coming!

Appreciate you how here without shame that this time we won’t have any problems of the program.

This is the first sparks of the light session. I’m very happy to have you all here and I know people are excited about the practical things to start experiencing, but we need to get down to the basics. The fundamentals are very very important there’s a lot to talk about. I’m sorry if I speak a little bit faster, I’ll try to slow down as much as I can.

At the end of the session we’ll have more or less 10 min of questions and answers whether it’s something to share or ask them you’re welcome to to speak up. Now Kaballah is a very, very deep knowledge and there’s a lot of stigma because people don’t know exactly what it is about so much and I think it’s fundamentally a matter of understanding its structure of learning.

The root of the word Kabbalah

As many of you know already Kabbala, the root of the word Kabbalah is kuf beit lamed which in Hebrew means to receive. That means you’re just receiving, you receive how much you prepare to receive. That’s a very important principle here because, in Kabbalah, as we know there is something called the vessel and there is the light so in our minds as well we want to arrest a very deep wisdom.

We need to have the appropriate vessels to contain it. Sometimes the wisdom stays above us that’s was called a Makif, it’s a surrounding light that surrounds us and it sometimes takes time in order to be received.

Now I’m going to share here a little diagram which I made which is the Tree of Life. I’m sure many of you know it already.

God created the world in a very specific way which is very systematic. I think many of you already saw this diagram.

Don’t don’t be scared because it’s we’re going to go step-by-step here to understand not only how God created the world but how he created our psyche. This diagram basically explains how God created the order of the Spiritual Worlds and also according to the Baal Shem Tov, a person’s psyche, which we will learn about it in the upcoming sessions.

Two different states of consciousness: Chokhmah and Binah (Wisdom and Understanding)

The human psyche we all have this structure inside ourselves and I put here as you can see three divisions the mind, the emotions and the actions and I divided them they are dividing to ten what’s called the Sephirot.

Sephirot are the essentially the emanations that God created in order to use them as the building blocks of Creation. We have here for example the first and highest one is Keter which means crown.

Then we have a Chokhma on the right which means (in Hebrew) wisdom. Here I want to bring your attention that we all have this structure inside ourselves. Don’t worry, we will take it slowly in order to understand how our intellect is organized.

Binah explained

Let’s look at it on the left side here is Bina. Bina means essentially what you read, the verbal concepts meaning if you read a book, if you’re listening to me right now (hopefully) then you’re are using the mode of consciousness called Bina.

It is associated with hearing, and it’s also the normal state of consciousness for most people. Bina is a slow process as well. It’s also associated with the work of the Levi’im who were in a temple singing. In music you’re essentially taking all the notes right and you are putting them together in order to form an idea.

That’s what we’re doing right now when you hear something, when you’re reading something or any form of knowledge that is slow. It takes time in in order to make the associations that is called Binah.

Chokhmah explained

Now, sometimes the transition does not equate the full process or to the full meaning of the word but that’s okay and here on the right slide we have Chokhmah.

This is actually the state that we want to get in. This is non verbal it’s seen it’s the state of trance and its instant. When you see for example a car on the street, if you are a connoisseur, you understand cars you see which brand if it’s new if it’s old if it, if it had an accident and maybe if the owner is rich or poor. You know you see things right away. That’s an instant form of of grasping reality. And this is by definition non verbal and this is associated with the work of the Kohanim (the priests of the Temple), which performed their service in silence.

Alright now obviously there are many associations that you can do with these two modes of thinking okay these are two ways that we can learn to to grasp the world around us and obviously Binah is the easiest one, but we won’t reach Chokhmah which is the right side here.

In order to have Okma we also have to have been under a capitistic principle that is in its time the main work of the Ari HaKadosh, the Holy Arizal, who was the father of Modern Kabbalah he says that Chokhmah vests itself in Binah. That’s a very deep thing we’re not going to get into details here right now

Essentially, in order to grasp this state of of seeing we need to first acquired the necessary knowledge to bina that’s a very very important thing to keep in mind and believe me these will open the doors to a lot a lot of things that we’re going to be seeing in in the coming sessions and you hear me I found his everying every everything’s fine.

Now we’re going to go to the third and final part here which is that alright this is your our essentially our awareness. This is the the middle here which is cross by the red line because it forms as a grip as a bridge between the mind and emotions, especially in the its time to the tree of life work is called it’s called that is called the soul of the emotions that’s a very important thing to keep in mind because this is the essentially the all the knowledge that we get you know either through Binah and Chokhmah.

all that that we gave we want to essentially transform ourselves our emotions in order to to become a vehicle for the for defined revelation you want to be to see how to see God. Everything we want to be to have these spiritual experiences and we want to have you know this joint life which comes as a as a as knowing that you know we are if we’ve got all the time and that you are you know we we are taking care of.

That is basically the mind your mind as as it is right now in this present moment with the awareness and it’s also called the knowledge of the literature knowledge because to that that is what essentially you know what to explain but you’re known right now you know what they’re exting right now that’s your dad and this is what essentially rules also over the emotions and enables us to be stoic this is a very important thing for a lack of better word I’m using the word as stoicism.

In Hebrew it’s called Hishtavut, it’s essentially the ruling of the mind over the emotions.

It seems like we have AF sometime right now now I want you guys to to feel a little bit what it means to have hokma and we do it by essentially signnce in the mind.

Okay, we all have a lot of things in our minds I’m going to just close here we all have allowed things in thoughts that are in our minds sometimes they take a space and if you want to really have this state of Chokhmah. It’s important that we silence what is called in psychology the monkey mind. The way to do it is by briefing and meditating and we’re going to do a little exercise here.

If you know how to meditate that’s great if you don’t know what that’s also great if you have any special techniques to to meditate that you can use it but essentially I want you to do this we’re going to do this together write and exercise in briefly, it’s very, it’s very important because breathing is the basis for silencing the mind.

Proper breathing has so many health effects and it’s so important it’s it’s amazing how we don’t we don’t learn it in school, but most of the people don’t breathe properly and their way to breath properly according to you know the Eastern traditions and also the western traditions is using the lower part of the belly most of the people shall be attention if you have your awareness they breathed to the chest and what ends up doing or what damage the end up doing is that they don’t get so much air inside and air is energy.

By the way air gives energy to your body and the issue can slow down and focus on on breathing to the diaphragm which is the lower part all right at belly you obviously actually use the diaphragm but but you use the lower part of the belly brief through your nose.

So let’s try just for a second I know it’s sounds weird, but hopefully you’re alone at Home and you can do this exercise and I want you to do it if you can if you don’t have yet a meditation practice to add this to your practice because of the e fact they are only positive and great effects that can help you okay to help you think better to help give you more energy it will give you a lot of great things we can discuss it later.

So let’s do the following: sit comfortably I’m going to also follow you put your hands on your lap relax forget about everything right if you haven’t nothing to worry about and we’re going to essentially count from ten to zero okay and ten breaths let’s put like that from ten to zero and then we’re going to just try as much as we can to silence your mind. Try to focus, first by paying attention to the surrounding.

Here we do the meditation exercise of counting from 10 to 1

So let’s close our eyes hands on the lap just let all done all the aggo you can even lower the volume here of this rodcast thank you that’s it it go feel your body relaxed note or you about in hey you’re all the attention leaving everything’s living seven six blacks anythings relax five okay take it easier you need to go back so so lon.

Enjoy the moment, just be present.

I’m sure many of you feel better as I do. Hopefully.

The point of this exercise is that whenever you want to do something important you take this moment so you can perceive things.

I can’t overestimate now I didn’t tell you before there is because there is this in the three of life line we have here

Keter explained

I’m I going to show you the also finally the Sephira of Keter. You can see the Sephira of Keter which is basically the crown. Keter is actually the initial impulse. you know when I have an idea we have a desire, it starts with an impulse it’s something so small something so elusive in me is a spark of impulse that then transforms into Chommah, and afterwards to Binah.

This will then go down and be affected by your emotions, and finally you will bring it to action. We’re not going to get into details right now but there is finally a possible state that is possible to reach which is that of Keter.

Keter is pure unity with the thing that you are looking to unite with alright where is God what it’s your craft for example and I can think I’ve saw an example right now most artists they have that but musicians in particular they can easily get into this state where they just are completely submerged in their art.

There is no difference between this experience and themselves. That’s a very powerful state can get of course with you know with God while you’re praying is actually happened moved by the great Kabbalist Rabbi Shmuel Darzi. He praying in the synagogue and a mad man came and started beating him up. Everybody was trying to stop him and then he left. Rav Darzi was on the floor and he suddenly woke up and saying “what happened here?”. He didn’t even see this happening

I hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you next time, take care!