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# Re: Soul mirrors/desires

#### Message 02054 of 3835

- To: "BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com" <BardonPraxis@yahoogroups.com>
- Subject: Re: Soul mirrors/desires
- From: "Martin Cosgrove" <martin@...>
- Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2004 21:42:56 +0000 (GMT Standard Time)

    Dear Rawn,

    Thank you for your reply.

    Here are two passages from some material I have been reading lately
    concerning the Kabbalah and which prompted me to consider the selfishness of
    man and the nature of desires. Have I misinterpreted these thoughts or are
    they simply not compatible with the Western Hermetic tradition and
    Bardonism? Forgive me posting these fairly lengthy quotations, but I do not
    want to distort the intended meaning behind them any further by paraphrasing

    Martin

    Selected Topics in Kabbalah - Kabbalist Rabbi Michael Laitman from
    http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/selected.htm

    "Selfishness, which separates our perception from true knowledge, can only
    be found in man. This is not the case with the Creator because perfection
    and openness define his relation to man. The absence of the Creator is only
    felt by a man who dissimulates the worlds from himself, as if he were hiding
    behind the veils of his own selfishness.
    The removal of selfishness does not occur all at once. In the beginning, the
    Creator grants man periods of time corresponding to lives in this world as
    an opportunity to elevate himself spiritually. Man is master of the whole
    process. During each of his consecutive lives, man must remove a certain
    part of his selfish nature and draw himself closer to the Creator. Man will
    repeat a new life as long as he does not correct himself. Correction means
    that his desires termed "body" in Kabbalah will no longer form a barrier
    between him and the Creator. When this occurs man's attributes will bond him
    with the Creator regardless of the world in which man finds himself."

    "The 613 desires of the soul are divided into 248 positive desires, through
    which man can acquire a "li chema" intention, and 365 negative desires man
    cannot use in order to gain a "li chema" intent. The difference between the
    two desires has nothing to do with intention. In both cases the intention is
    naturally and exclusively "turned toward the Creator". The difference lies
    in the power of the desire itself: if the desire is weak it will not awaken
    intense pleasure. However, this desire enables one to feel the bond with the
    Creator. The pleasure sensed is called the pleasure to give without
    restraint. That is to say the desire to please the Creator as it is only
    possible to please Him by receiving from him. But since this desire cannot
    be felt with sufficient intensity, it cannot truly give to the Creator. This
    desire exists only at the level of equivalence of form with the Creator.
    All desires born in man are selfish desires. This is the desire to receive
    for one?s own pleasure. Only the intention "turned toward the Creator" will
    transform it into an altruistic desire. Hence the difference solely lies in
    the intent.
    That?s what makes Kabbalah so important. It helps us transform our intent. The
    intention "turned toward the Creator" is called "screen" because it prevents
    one from "receiving for oneself" and generates the intention "turned towards
    the Creator"."

    [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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