Samsonov

@Lila9 It was one of the weekly posts on "Beit Chabad"'s website":) I only translated

I'd like to translate an interesting interpretation of the ten plagues of Egypt to the ten kabbalistic "sphirot" from the tree of life, here is how they correlate (and a brief explanation on the plague): Malcvut (Kingship) - Blood: the nile river turned to blood. Yesod (Foundation) - Frog: Frogs covered the Egyptian empire. Hod (Glory) - Lice: has infected Egyptians Netach (Eternity) - Arov: Wild beasts that infected Egypt. Tiferet (Harmony/Beauty) - Dever: a plague on the livestock. Gevorah (Heroism) - Boils: a skin infection upon the Egyptians. Chesed (Kindness) - Hail: Heavy hail across the empire. Bina (Understading/Intelligence) - Locust: flying insects that destroyed the fields. Chochma (wisdom) - Darkness: Complete permanent darkness. Keter (Crown) - Death of first born: the firstborn of every family died. Each of the sphirot/sefirot according to the kabbalah represent the ten components of every souls, where the first (bottom) seven represent the emotional self and the top three the unconscious self. The ten plagues doesn't try to tell us about the events that occurred in Egypt over three thousand years ago, but are a guide to self development. Here's how the plagues of Egypt are symbolic of the plagues of our lives on our spiritual path: Blood, relates to Malchut מלכות, which means, security, physical security, as the plagues came to Egypt in times of prosperity, the source of which is said to be the nile river, in Egypt, an arid environment, agricultural activities are futile due to the lack of rain, the abundance of Egypt was thanks to the nile river. The Egyptian "betrayed" the nile, as they used their wealth in an authoritarian and violent rule over the jews. that's why the river has turned to blood, to symbolize the turning of wealth to violence. Warning us about the human capacity for exploitation over others. Frog, relates to Yesod יסוד which usually signifies human connection and intimacy, but here it represents the lack of which in the Egyptians, as they are amphibians, cold blooded, and do not care for their young. Lice, Aaron has threw dust to the air and infected the Egyptian with lice, it relates to Hod הוד which means glory, but here, on the same vain as the privious plague, it actually refers to a lack of glory, or the negative aspect of humility, humility usually is looked upon as a virtue, a humble student of life, a necessary quality for spiritual development, as well as the willingness to admit when you are wrong, but there is another kind of humility, according to kabbalah, that represses one's spirit and dilutes his vitality. In this kind of humility, one's sees himself as worthless and meaningless. Like lice sucking on your vitality. Arov, relates to Neztach נצח which means eternity or perhaps victory and ambition, the Arov is said to be a flock of wild predatory creatues (undescribed explicitly ) this represents a negative manifestation of ambition, which walks over anyone who is an obstacle. Dever, a disease the infects livestock, relates to tiferet תפארת which means beauty, but can have a connotation to empathy as well, here again described is the negative aspects of empathy, or dubious empathy, which is said to lurk quietly and spread like a plague. Kabbalah speak widely about the sacred quality of empathy, but the dubious empathy that is said to have been a pestilence, refers to manipulation and the exploitation of the Egyptians. Next, is Boil or Shchin in hebrew, a skin infection, it relates to Gevorah, which means heoism, but here the kabbalah connect it to rejection, as when you neglect or refuse to speak to someone. god has told moses to throw ashes from the furnace and throw them to the air to create the shchin/boils, like fire, rejection can scar or even destroy a person, the kabbalah meantions that a healthy soul knows how to reject at times, it shouldn't be used out of hate. the seventh plague was heavy hail over the Egyptian empire, that has destroyed their crops, it relates to the sefira Chesed חסד which means kindness or good deeds, but like hail here the kindness has froze, turned cold, soild and self centered. and their were punished for nut letting their love flow, like warm water. the first seven plagues punished the Egyptians for their sins regarding their emotional self, the final three regard the unconscious or transcendental self. It is said that when one's emotional self is malfunctioning, the transcendental self get correct the course, but when the transcendental self deludes one's self, it is a great challenge.... Locust, relates to Binah בינה which means intelligence, one of the most precious gift of humanity, allowing us to investigate the universe, improve our lives and discover our destiny. but the same quality can turn upon us, and justify any misbehaviour and rationalize any evil. This is a pestilence in our society, and like the locust devours the field crop, it devours our diligently cultivated moral system. Chochma חכמה relates to darkness, the Pharoh (the Egyptian ruler) was blind to god's messages, his ego prevented him from perceiving was what hard to accept, by being aware of our limitations only then can the new space created can be enlightened. By being arrogant, the ego prevents the mind from divine wisdom, thus keeping us in the dark. the final plague was the hardest of them all, the death of every first born child in Egypt.It reflect how the corruption of the Egyptian souls went all the way down the core, affecting it's most transcendental component, which according to kabbalah is hidden and not easily damaged, but a life of abuse and addiction will eventually lead to the death of this most primal self. The final plague has allowed the jews to flee Egypt, and accept the ten commandments from god, which themselves, relate to the healthy manifestations of the ten components of the soul, and the path to spiritual healing.

@Nivsch It seems like you are very invested in trying to improve Israel's image on this forum, I appreciate that you care and want to bring forth the better sides of Israel that you know and love, and I also find it hard when the view here is so one sided. I want to remind you that trying to force someone to change their mind doesn't work. Please take that burden of your shoulder, let them spin whatever theories they will spin and wait for the truth to shines forth, whatever that truth may be.

you'll talk to people, observe, yes walk around, try the local cuisine, visit notable places and learn about the history of each place and how it connects to the world and to you. Yes you will have a lot of free time, so you learn how to fill that free time, as India doesnt offer many tourist attraction, or dosnt offer once that are worthwhile. For me, I learned to play the guitar while traveling, I used to find a quit spot and practice. Meditation and reading were key habits as well. Some people find it hard to acclimate to the slow pace of Indians, it can take up to an hour for the food to be ready! That's a thing to work upon, you know, just enjoy being there, satisfied just breathing. Last thing that helped me, which connects to what I previously wrote about the hero's journey, is that you should look for the lesson in each experience, or each day, treat it like a quest if you will.

Patience is about postponing desires, and understanding things takes time, and thats everything passes

I have identified Patience as a key virtue, a fundamental component of maturity, wisdom and concentration. So developing this quality in one self, and choosing the path that requires more patience is something that Ive benefited from. Did any one you came to a similar or dissimilar conclusion?

Ive been thinking more about spiral dynamics after reading about it several years ago. I also wanted to write this because there is lots of criticism about stage green around here, and in society generally (even if they are not refering to it as stage green....). I want to remind you that as a society, we should be moving to stage green, as we are heavily orange. This is a necessary move to mange the environmental crisis and to mitigate the unhealthy orange behaviours. Yes, it's easy to point at the eccentricities of green or judge them for having blind spots, but as those that are familiar with the spiral, and aspire to transcend to yellow, we should accept greens as they are, and if encourage and promote green as we see their place in the whole of society. I'd also like to argue, and from here comes the title of the post, that green includes the highest emotional states and spiritual experiences. Yellow doesn't really transcend green on those criteria, but educates himself about the different stages and excepts them all as valid and equal (here's his fallacy I believe), he learns from a distance and in an analytical way. Stage turquoise learns by embodying all aspects of the spiral within him, from being rather then analyzing , he also discovers an asymmetry, not all stage are equal, stages blue and green (which make the color turquoise) are more aligned with God and truth which have now became his focus.

Yes, we can also mention morality as part of your vision, your vision of your highest self, which you have to be patient to see yourself transforming into, and persevere any resistance that comes on the way.

Leo does have a video titled "Sameness vs Difference", to me the most profound lesson from that video is that to exist is to be different. so , in a way, the more unique you are the more you exits? (perhaps) I defiently feel that the more I embody my authentic self, the more unique I become, and the more I feel alive and connected Embrace the strange

@ZenSwift Hi, I went to a very similar journey a lil over two years ago, in India as well , for seven months. It was he most transforming period of my life, so I can really connect to your question and the sense of adventure. My advice would be: remember you a on a hero's journey, choose the path less chosen and form your own adventure, the most meaningful interactions will be unexpected, follow the mysterious, the white rabbit. And more explicitly in the east I would recommend to immerse yourself in the local culture, rather then stay in hostel , do pickup and only talk to other tourists... India in particular will teach you many profound lesson about humanity, tradition and karma. Have a good trip! and remember your core values, they will be tested and challenged , try "litti cholka" in Varanasi:)

As I am very critical of modernity, and society in general, I aspire to start over, with a group of people, try to find a place where we could grow our on food, build houses, educate children, party, and live communally. A tribe is a word that comes to mind, that is an ambitious desire, but at this point I do not see any other way for me. I struggle to get the balance between my lofty ideas and day to day practicality. On the one hand, growing food, building simple earth houses and survival itself is pretty simple, ( didn't say easy) on the other hand, it just feels impossible to start, it's as if there is something blocking me, whether its a lack of courage, experience or resources or is it generally not feasible, it must be, it is the collective dream of our generation, the zeitgeist, do you have a similar desire/calling? do you face similar struggles ? I m pretty much paralysed, because of my "grand vision" of a new world.

*Responding pretty late I know but why not I have volunteered in many farm all over the world for the past two years and there is no doubt in my mind that this is the lifestyle that Ill best enjoy. Ill continue in answering by the positive side, I enjoy the engagement it gives me, being cable and independently surviving, seeing for myself what it really takes to take care of your basic needs ( here I am linking a video of a guy that I met who grows 100% of his food on only 12 days of work a year!) and yes the main thing might be deep relationships I know I want to have, where I hope to develop with other who share similar a value system and devotion to truth. I don't have anything against starting a business generally, but yes many issues with the current system, with it's overemphasis on productivity, and inability to see how the search for comfort and avoidance of emotional labour leads to the wave of suffering we are witnessing. So I do not seek to better navigate the system, which I did for the first 18 years of my life, but I aspire to live out of it, off-grid, scofflaw, let see how it goes:)

I am on a sort of crossroad over here, in regards to my approach of dealing with my family members, whether I should take a more active approach and try to help to what i believe will be best for them, or let them be. It predominantly has to do with my father. My father is the epitome of stage orange, a successful businessman, a rationalist , materialist who puts on a show to hold his social status. He is in his seventy's, and is the most stubborn person I know, reluctant to make any sort of change in his life because he has got it all 'figured out'. In his prime, you couldn't blame him for holding this position, he has founded a successful business, was very rich and had a beautiful wife, which was responsible for the beginning of his downfall, when she divorced him, after meeting another younger man, his self-esteem went down, and trying to hide the effect it had on him, he tried to maintain his old life just the same, as if it didn't even bother him. to this day, almost a decade later, he is still living in the past. This is where I com in, im trying to persuade him to changing things up, exposing him to new hobbies, perspectives or people, but he never even gives anything a chance... I tried talking him into changing his diet so he might feel better and have more energy, but he swears by his own trusty habits, even though he eats unconsciously and is addicted to sugar, tried to encouraging him to trying a new hobby, but he rather sit in front of the television all day and night, and now we come to the nail in the coffin for him, his girlfriend, if you can even call her that. she is thirty years younger then him, a lawyer, married with children, and to cut to the point doesn't give a dame about him and I suspect wants him for the money she might be getting, or even worse, is planning some scheme of getting even more out of him, in short, a parasite. Now here you might blame me of being neurotic or overly suspicious, but this is the opinion I came to after years of knowing this person, and trying to be very friendly with her at first, so I am not making these acquisitions lightly. I tried to express those suspicions of mine to him, where he repeatedly explains what a good person she is, how she helping this guy who has cancer and whatnot and that he loves her and whatnot and how it is all too complicated, that why she is not leaving her husband and thats why their relationship is secret. to me his relationship with her is more of a facade, so he can showcase his young attractive girlfriend (even though he demands to keep it a secret) so his actual loneliness and inability to recover from my mother living him won't be seen. in summary, he represent everything I hate in the world, that is why I feel like I must change him, I believe that I am much smarter then him, but the way he disrespects what I have to say and his general mannerisms make me furious, like nothing else can. How shall I approach this/him? let him perish? how can you talk with a person who says " I am too old to change anything" , I try very hard to maintain a relationship with him, but his ego and unconsciousness are too much to bare. Just like the old world he represents, to be honest, I cant wait to see him wither away, I pray that he will find peace then, but I also suspect that he might have some more karmic work here and now, why is he still here then? I try to teach and help him, after all he gave me so much, I want to help him more then anything, my biggest wish is to see him just enjoying his breath and the simplicity of just being. You can hear and understanf the conflict I'm in, I thank anyone who took the time to read all of this and even more to those who took the time to formulate a thoughtful comment:)

What if the reality lies in between those two, all life purposes start as fantasies don't they? It is just that I have always had very grand aspiration, but that is who I am, when I was a boy I remember promising myself that it would be better to die than not pursue them Yes, I get that the spiritual advice coming from the things you say is that the work is in finding love and happiness in my life now. Perhaps it is a matter of the phase Im in, still young and trying to shape my life before I am ready to say that enough for me, and be happy.

@Twentyfirst I have a friend who does just that He is paid to find lies, and retaliates with some more? Aren't we all lying a little?

what is a shill?

@Gennadiy1981 Didn't god punish the jews at times? Were the jews in the bible capable of sin? or going against god? Isn't it more a story of how god is teaching us a higher and higher moral standard? Starting from very primary sins like kayin and abel and progressing to build a noble kingdom. God tries to show us his way, be more god-like. here is a cute animation that relates: Yes, some things do not change, like the overarching structure of the tail, but some things do, change is fundamental. So perhaps our sin was in our pride.Read beyond the 'pshat', be more open and expand your love, or your notion of the jewishness to all, what if the whole world were jewish, why are we so protective of the religion? truth is not so delicate, we shall expose the jewish tradition and all fallacies will dissolve in the light of awareness, the story ain't over brother. the fight might be over Jerusalem or not, it might not be as bloody as described, definitely not with swords xD, it might involve fighting with love, my love.

@Vrubel Don't get me wrong, while I won't deny neurosis of many kinds, I am very optimistic and even happy regarding the whole situation, as I said before, this is like Israel's dark night of the soul, all of the issues that were there al along are coming to the surface and to the light of public awareness, this will lead to major breakthroughs for the country. Regarding the economical situation, Im afraid we are heading towards a very bad period financially, the taxes will have to be unrealistically raised in order to cover for the cost of the war.

@Leo Gura I love that <3

Yes you are right, but the pendulum swings again, there have been many peaceful and prosperous periods in biblical times as well, followed by havoc

@Vrubel Hammas is not limited to a group of people, even if it was possible to murder all of them, the idea would live on, gaza is a "hammas producing environment" wether by a different name, something else will come again, coming back to my cancer analogy, hammas is a symptom not a disease. Even worse, the distinction between a hammas member, terrorist, palestinian and in the worse case muslim, is not that solid. Soldiers are coming back home believing they have killed terrorist s,"mehabelim", but who knows the individual history of every victim. Presumably the mosad does his share of intelligence work before, I don't believe that is so in this conflict.

http://www.amentaeliteathlete.com/index.html Check this guy out He is the David goggins who retreated to the woods https://youtu.be/dR1FCJS8DoM?si=P5oTgkyjD_NumcfQ

@Nivsch You are right Perhaps it's a time for another period of exile

@Vrubel I didn't try to paint Netanyahu anything, I do see him as having a role in starting all of this, but it is out of his hands at this point. The picture of him as a chess master breaking his head over the matter is misguided, a more accurate picture would be him hiding in his guarded house and having everything that he puts in his mouth tested for poison. He let the dogs out, the IDF, backed by anger and aggression of a population that was growing in size over the years. newly recruited soldiers are sent to fight after completing a hasted training period, as if we are facing an all out war on all fronts like in the past, this is different now, where is the fire?

@Nivsch Hey, please notice that you are talking in past tense, and I think what most people here are rightfully concerned about is what is happening right now, even trying to understand it using Netenyahu's actions or presumed strategies is not that relevant, I don't believe that he could stop the war if he wanted to at this point, the government is loosing it's power over the IDF, it is out of control...!