Is God a "personality"

[mystic]

Reading Rabbi laitman's teachings is very exciting, I must say his teachings are among the most profound I have come across thus far. I wish I could speak with him to further explain the following:

The definition of the wisdom of Kabbalah is: a system to reveal the Creator to the created beings in this world. Religion doesn’t aspire to achieve the same goal (revelation of the Creator through love of others) as Kabbalah. Thus it is not the same thing.

Thus your proposal that God is a personality simply makes me wonder if maybe you are an idol worshipper.

If this thread doesn;t break any rules here, care to comment on this please? That last sentence is very intriguing to myself in particular as I now have to wonder if that in the same way I had pics on my wall of Christ and of Moses kneeling in front of the burning bush which I had taken down after my thread on the subject, do I still have idolatry issues?

Since it's said that man was made in God's image, whenever I pray or talk to God in my mind I am picturing a physical form of man I can see and there are times when I just pray and not focus on that physical form but only on my words so I wonder if picturing that physical form is idolatry?

Also can Rabbi Laitman be correct about what he said concerning Religion?

[alon]

Dec 30, 2020 4:36:39 GMT -8 mystic said:

Reading Rabbi laitman's teachings is very exciting, I must say his teachings are among the most profound I have come across thus far. I wish I could speak with him to further explain the following:

The definition of the wisdom of Kabbalah is: a system to reveal the Creator to the created beings in this world. Religion doesn’t aspire to achieve the same goal (revelation of the Creator through love of others) as Kabbalah. Thus it is not the same thing.

Thus your proposal that God is a personality simply makes me wonder if maybe you are an idol worshipper.

If this thread doesn;t break any rules here, care to comment on this please? That last sentence is very intriguing to myself in particular as I now have to wonder if that in the same way I had pics on my wall of Christ and of Moses kneeling in front of the burning bush which I had taken down after my thread on the subject, do I still have idolatry issues?

Since it's said that man was made in God's image, whenever I pray or talk to God in my mind I am picturing a physical form of man I can see and there are times when I just pray and not focus on that physical form but only on my words so I wonder if picturing that physical form is idolatry?

Also can Rabbi Laitman be correct about what he said concerning Religion?

I used to subscribe to Rabbi Laitman's weekly parashot. He is Orthodox, and a Kabalist, which comes out in his reply as you quote it.

Basically as I understand it, Kabbalah seeks to explain the Creator to us, where religion seeks to show us how to have a relation with our Creator. That is oversimplified, but I think accurate from the Kabbalist view. From our view religion is a system wherein we work to both understand the Creator and develop a relation with Him.

Idolatry can take many forms. Kabbalists take this to extremes, but when we pray we should be thinking of the essence of HaShem and not really a physical form. We should now the person of God well enough not to need to give Him form when we think about Him. That to me means he both is a personality and He has a personality. Looking at the first dictionary definition you can see why Dr. Laitman thinks refering to God as a "person" (the root word of personality) is idolatrous:

per·son  n.
1. A living human. Often used in combination: chairperson; salesperson. See Usage Note at chairman.
2. An individual of specified character: a person of importance.
3. The composite of characteristics that make up an individual personality; the self.
4. The living body of a human: searched the prisoner's person.
5. Physique and general appearance.
6. Law A human, corporation, organization, partnership, association, or other entity deemed or construed to be governed by a particular law.
7. Christianity Any of the three separate individualities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as distinguished from the essence of the Godhead that unites them.
8. Grammar
a. Any of three groups of pronoun forms with corresponding verb inflections that distinguish the speaker (first person), the individual addressed (second person), and the individual or thing spoken of (third person).
b. Any of the different forms or inflections expressing these distinctions.
9. A character or role, as in a play; a guise: "Well, in her person, I say I will not have you" (Shakespeare).

However being a person does not mean being as a man. Another dictionary adds this, which comes much closer to our understanding:

5. (Philosophy) philosophy a being characterized by consciousness, rationality, and a moral sense, and traditionally thought of as consisting of both a body and a mind or soul

In our belief, the "body" of God would be that of a Spirit:

John 4:24 God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

It's a fine point, but this is one basic difference in faith and understanding based in Kabbalah and one based in scripture. But that is how the Orthodow, and particularly the Ultra Orthodox are trained. So when you use a term that to them means a man, my guess is he pegged you for either a Christian or a Messianic, which to him are one and the same; and what is meant when he says you are an idolator.


 

[mystic]

How I see God is not as a human being but rather as a spirit in the shape of a human, sort of like a hologram so the question is, if while I am praying I am visualizing that I am talking to the spirit in the form/shape of a human, is that idolatry you think?

[alon]

Dec 31, 2020 5:04:26 GMT -8 mystic said:

How I see God is not as a human being but rather as a spirit in the shape of a human, sort of like a hologram so the question is, if while I am praying I am visualizing that I am talking to the spirit in the form/shape of a human, is that idolatry you think?

Well, I cannot know exactly how you see that image of God in your mind. But it does sound as though you are still struggling with the idea of God. If you are truly searching, trying to get ahold of this concept of a God who is Spirit, then I’d say no, it is not idolatry. But you do need to keep trying to internalize the concept of God without form as we know it. Grasp more the character of God; who He is. Keep searching- which I do see you doing in the posts and questions you ask.