– SURSĂ DE TEXTE FUNDAMENTALE, CĂRŢI, CURSURI, LECŢII, ÎN LIMBA ROMÂNĂ –
Autor: arhiprofesor
Rene Guenon spunea candva ca numai prostii cred ca se pot initia singuri. Intotdeuna ai nevoie de un maestru. Dar cartea ramane o sursa de imbogatire a cunostintelor noastre fara de care nici maestrii nu-si pot desavarsi lucrarea. Biblioteca de arhitectura este pentru un arhitect tot atat de importanta cat experimentarea in concret a trairii fiecarui spatiu arhitectural.
Man cannot exist in our material world without some elementary knowledge about nature’s laws, and of what is useful and harmful for him in the world and in people around him. Equally, man’s soul cannot exist in the spiritual world without the knowledge of its nature.
Three Periods of Growth of Body
We distinguish three periods of growth pertaining to the body:
The first small state begins with man’s appearance in the world, when he is devoid of any knowledge. In this condition, the knowledge necessary for existence is received from father and mother, who wisely protect their child.
The second small state is characterized by the growth and reception of the necessary knowledge, which provides man with an opportunity to stay away from harm and take care of himself with his father’s and mother’s help.
The third adult state is achieved when the acquired knowledge provide man with strength for independent existence.
Soul’s Growth
It is the same with the soul. Man goes through life incarnations until he apprehends the wisdom of Kabbalah. However, the soul develops not through accumulation of knowledge, but by acquiring new altruistic properties, which come with the acquisition of knowledge about the spiritual nature.
This way a child gradually gains strength in correspondence with the obtained knowledge. If strength precedes the acquisition of knowledge, it can cause harm. Similarly, unless the soul possessed the necessary wisdom, it would certainly harm itself. Therefore, it can act only to the extent of the acquired knowledge.
Good deeds make up a basis of the soul’s development. Both elements – the knowledge and the good deeds – depend on the study of Kabbalah and come at the same time. Hence, every soul attains all other souls from Adam to the Final correction.
Body and Soul
The body is an egoistic desire, whose life is a sequence of alternating bad and good states. In accordance with the law of nature, bad states force out good ones. To make things worse, man sometimes believes that other people feel good. Thus the body is being constantly “ground” between the millstones of bad and evil.
Attainment in the Material and the Spiritual
Everything that happens to the body is determined by itself and its nature. The material reality can be researched without the attainment of its source.
However, the relations between the material and the spiritual determine everything that occurs with the soul. The spiritual reality can be attained only to the extent of the attainment of its source, causes and effects. This way we grasp the Creator’s greatness.
Attainment of Spiritual Properties
The person should reveal two aspects of the spiritual:
It should not be imaginary; and
Its attainment should leave no doubt.
The term “spiritual” indicates that (like air) it has neither limits nor form. However, as the reality of air is obvious in the person’s perception, so is the spiritual reality.
Need to Attain the Creator
The mind desires to attain the Creator, because this aspiration is imprinted in its nature. This desire is not limited by the Creator’s attainment; it is manifested with regard to everything that is concealed. It aspires to discover the mystery of life incarnations, the secrets kept in the hearts of people, etc.
The attainment of the created beings is an action directed at the surrounding people. If only one were created in the world, it would not have aspired to such an attainment.
The attainment of the Creator is an action, which the soul makes regarding itself. Its structure, HaVaYaH, constitutes the state in which it perceives itself as the creation. Everything drives it to the desire in which it feels the Creator. The intensity of this sensation determines the soul’s capacity.
Attainment of the Creator
How can we perceive the Creator, if he has no material form? This is possible only in a new awakening desire. Thus, we can speak about the spiritual and its laws.
The mind is defined by the person’s sensation in the analysis of “truth and falsehood.” This is the Creator’s part given from above. It has nothing to do with imagination and is exclusively determined by sensations. It is called reality, and transpires in the laws and modes of action.
This law is defined as the mind itself and its image, and is a part of the Creator. Hence this image is revealed in the sensation of oneself and one’s reality.
The image in this law is a complete and constant form of its state, which cannot disappear completely or partially. It is called necessary and essential, without any additions or reductions.
In other words, if the Creator’s revelation were a compulsory law, there would be no need for the wisdom of Kabbalah. However, the Creator reveals Himself according to His own desire, and not by compulsion.
Attainment is Possible Only with the Help of Kabbalah
The Creator requires no philosophical models as the proof of His existence. Only with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah will the Creator’s rule over the creatures be revealed.
The positive character of the reality should stem from the sensation if the Creator. It is called an absolute realization, and brings the Creator’s love and goodness; whereas the dry scholastic knowledge neither elevates nor lowers the person.
The perfect knowledge is special because evidence immediately turns to desire.
Essence of Mind’s Perception
Those who are guided by the mind of the physical body do not aspire to attain the Creator and are totally indifferent to the knowledge of humanity. The mind, dressed in the external shell, perceives only the outward appearance – man’s body and his actions. He does not think that it is insufficient. He is not troubled by the lack of knowledge about the mind and the spiritual form of his fellow creatures, since he feels no obligation to know his neighbor better than himself.
Therefore, the person who knows well the laws of the material world’s nature will say that he knows the Creator “face to face,” for he is merged with Him in the equivalence of form and in the movements of his mind.
The essence of the mind consists in the unity of the spiritual creatures. Man’s advantage over an animal lies in the fact that he has an organ capable of uniting all the spiritual creatures within itsеlf. The advantage of one person over another is in the force of attraction as well as in the properties of the created beings. One attracts more important creatures; another, less important ones.
Difference between Spiritual Creature and Conduct
Creatures constitute a picture generated by the mind which remains unchanged;
Conduct depends on time, place, and the influence of the environment.
Attractions Accumulated in Man’s Mind
The aforementioned preparation called the human mind is an extract of all the organs and properties of his physical body. It is superposed on the first attractions that were imprinted in the human mind.
For example, when a child observes the forms of creation in this world, one of them compels it to gravitate towards the mind; another pushes it towards wealth; the third attracts it to courage, etc.
If the child chooses the importance of knowledge, it means that it attracts the good creation which, later on, will lead to good conduct. If it chooses wealth, the creation it attracts is of lesser value.
At a later stage, one adult forsakes all material things and aspires to the spiritual, while another chooses knowledge. If the child cultivates the value of the former, it attracts a beautiful creation to its mind.
Afterwards, the person defines two types of knowledge – of the Creator and of the creatures.
He checks if it is worth receiving a reward or not.
When all the pictures are accumulated, the material they form is called the mind.
People in this world are all ordinary people. But to one Persian named Abram (and later Abraham), the Creator revealed Himself, and it is that revelation that made him special. He became a “Yehudi” (Jewish), from the word “Yechudi” (single-unique), that is he and the Creator became one. Who then is this Abraham? He is a man who was endowed with a spiritual spark, a sensation of the Creator. But other than that he was an ordinary person.
There is no sanctity to any organ in our body. Thus it matters not if a dysfunctional heart is replaced with a human heart or a pig’s heart. Our organs are just as material as any animal’s. They are not sacred, not connected with the Creator.
There is no difference between a Jew and a Gentile, other than that spark of the Creator found in the Jew. That means that if that spark exists in a person’s heart, that person is named Jewish. If it vanishes, the Jew again becomes a Gentile. The latter, however, is an impossible situation, because sanctity always increases and never decreases. It is a spiritual law, by which everything is brought closer to the Creator.
The exodus to the spiritual world is a slow process. At first, a man is captive of the desires of this world. Gradually, man realizes the aimlessness of his physical existence, that if there isn’t that spark, man is just one of the mill.
The Haggadah writes: “At first, our fathers worshiped alien gods.” Worshiping an alien god (heathenism) is a state possible only after one has made contact with the Creator, has become aware of the opposition between his attributes and the Creator’s and has chosen to act against the Creator’s will. Thus, heathenism is already a certain degree of awareness, of ability to operate beyond one’s birth nature.
Indeed our fathers worshiped alien gods, but then the Creator revealed Himself to them, and the light that came with it was accepted as an order to migrate from Mesopotamia to the Land of Israel. Thus we see that in this world too, one moves from place to place, following one’s inner will, following one’s heart.
Kabbalists write that we can live in the Land of Israel, provided we match its spiritual level. Ohterwise we’ll be exiled from here just like before. The Creator has brought our bodies back, but it remains our duty to make the inner return to the spiritual state called the Land of Israel, to be worthy of its land, that is all we need!
Abraham the Patriarch is a testimony to that. Once he became a Jew, God told him: “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will show thee.” And Abraham moved (inwardly) to the Land of Israel: he began to develop spiritual vessels, vessels of bestowal.
But to achieve unity with the Creator, it takes more than the ability to give (to bestow in order to bestow), it takes the ability to receive in order to bestow, through vessels of reception, corrected by the aim to bestow to the Creator. But where will one take these vessels, these desires? When one is in the Land of Israel and wants to bestow to the Creator, one finds he has nothing to give Him, one becomes hungry, hungry for bestowal.
Then one exiles to Egypt. But why, what for? Because giving up our desires to receive goes against our very human nature. Indeed none can comprehend it. No other method, but the Kabbalah, uses it because this act opposes human nature. All other methods stem from our innate nature and aim at making our life comfortable, pleasant, all but the Kabbalah which was granted to Abraham along with the sublime revelation of the Creator.
Is there really that much work in Egypt?
From above, man is confused, hungered (both physically and spiritually). material goals take precedence, so that one may realize how superior spirit is to matter. One is given spiritual delight in material acts. But the true taste of material pleasure remains only for the wise (those who aspire to wisdom, who ascend to the spirit so as to live true desires), for it is them who must confront the greatest pleasures.
When one progresses in one’s studies, one sees oneself as more and more corrupt. Ever worse desires are awakened in him. Precisely that is the exile to Egypt, when one who aspires to climb up the ladder to the spirit falls under the rule of the will to receive.
That’s why it is said that Josef’s brothers visited him in Egypt in hiding. The exile to Egypt occurs when one loses one’s vessels of bestowal, when they fall under the rule of the vessels of reception. This state lasts quite a while during one’s progression in spirituality.
When one begins to study, one is in high spirits, carefree. But after a few months things change. Spirituality is not as tempting as it was, material disturbances appear and one feels that he will never see the gates of Heaven open.
Why does this happen?
Because the vessels of reception must be developed, a screen (Masach) has to be attained and spread across the desires of Egypt. True, one has one’s vessels of bestowal, but they’re concealed. When the labor in Egypt begins, one longs for spirituality, but the more one longs for it, the more one finds it’s unattainable.
The time of “slavery in Egypt” lasts as long as one senses that he is really a slave, until a new king rises, one who hasn’t known Josef. One feels his inner Pharaoh’s rule over him, leading him against the Creator.
But if the will to receive allows me to enjoy, what’s wrong with that? How is its rule harmful to me?
If I want something more than the satisfaction of desires, for instance, if I want to contact the Creator, but I realize that material pleasures drive away from Him, I begin to perceive them as an obstacle, as something evil that goes against me.
Then, a battle starts within me. I begin to wonder whether ‘I’ is the one who wants to cling to the Creator, or is the ‘I’ the one who seeks material delight? Who then is my ‘I’?
A war breaks out between both desires: on the one hand Moses and Aaron and on the other, Pharaoh. One cannot tell who overcomes whom, because Pharaoh’s magicians perform the same miracles as the Creator. Therefore, the escape from nature’s rule is only possible after the Creator strikes ten times (the 10 plagues of Egypt).
For my neutral ‘I’ to sense where the light stems from , it needs to feel the ten strikes – just how the Pharaoh inside me is opposite to the Creator – so that I may detach from it, that I may reach a state where Pharaoh himself will say: Go! You’ve brought me enough pain !
The ten strikes show man that Pharaoh’s rule is a hateful thing, intolerable.Then man himself wants to escape from it . Wants, but can’t! Therefore, for the escape from Pharaoh to succeed, certain external conditions are required. There must be haste, concealment and the darkness of the night.
Only than can man collect his desires of bestowal, separate them from his own will to receive and hide from it. The escape takes place at night, when the spiritual light is out.It takes faith above reason, going against his own judgment to escape his nature.
It says: “If you’ve labored and found, then believe.” That means that one has put in enough labor for the Creator to be revealed, but is unaware that this labor is sufficient to exit this world and enter the upper world. The exit from our nature is a sudden event.
Man has no control over this process, he simply runs! He walks on land, between the walls of the Red Sea, the barrier, and enters… into a desert. So what has he gained by it? Man enters Egypt with a spark of the Creator, with a longing for the spirit and exits it with empty vessels of reception – the sensation of a desert.
It is said that Israel left with „jewels of silver and jewels of gold and garments.” That means that man has now corrupt desires to receive and he must now begin to work with them and mend them. For as long as these vessels belong to Egypt, they will only give him the sensation of darkness, of a desert. But when he mends them and uses them correctly, he’ll receive through them the upper light.
Thus man enters the desert. He is not yet in the Land of Israel. Now he needs the light in order to distinguish how much each attribute is worthy of use for his progression in the spiritual world. The reception of this light is called “the reception of the Torah.”
A person exiting this world into the spiritual one, begins to work in three lines. A left, a right and a middle line. We must realize, that we are not the ones doing work, it’s the Creator’s, it is God’s work. We must accept His work on us! Everything has been created in its perfect state, but the creature can only assess perfection from its opposite. That’s why man must experience all the imperfect states. Man’s work is a process of self-awareness; awareness of the work the Creator is doing on him.
There is a world and within it there is a soul. The contact with the Creator is composed of three parts: Olam (a world), Shanah (a year), Neshama (a soul). Shanah is the extent of contact between Olam and Neshama. The word Olam stems from the word He’elem (concealment). That means that Olam is the extent of the concealment of the Creator.
Is it possible to attain spiritual results by performing physical acts?
Everything man does is because he wants to. The rock too, which has no movement, wants to maintain its shape. The plant wants to grow. It longs for the light and grows toward it.
Man’s will is always expressed by a certain act. That is why each movement any animal performs is exactly the movement it must perform.
Although each will is expressed in the outer, man is not always aware of his desires. From outside, one cannot understand the purpose of another’s acts. That is why the science that studies intentions is called “The Wisdom of the Hidden” – for no one knows what’s in your heart, often not even yourself. But as always, the outer form indicates the inner will.
We are not yet in spiritual worlds and can’t join other souls to our screen. So in the meantime, out work is mainly on the level of this world, in spreading the wisdom of Kabbalah. This act is a totally spiritual one. Through it, one helps others join this path – through physical acts; one aids the spreading of spirituality in this world.
And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, in that ye say: We will be as the nations
(Ezekiel, 20:32)
History demonstrates that although the people of Israel were scattered among other peoples, they cannot mix with them in accordance with the prophecy: “The Lord will bring you out from afar, and you will seek and find Him.” Failure to fulfill their destination and reveal the upper force brings calamities on the people of Israel, so as to make them see the inevitability of Divine Providence.
Besides, the people of Israel are preordained to develop faster than other peoples, because it is obliged to reveal the upper force, through the wisdom of Kabbalah.
In the past, when for the first time the people of Israel wished to fill their earthly egoism trying to imitate other peoples, this led to the destruction of the FirstTemple. Yet the downfall was continuing and, since Kabbalah forbids egoistical pleasures, the Jews repudiated it and adopted the customs of their neighbors to enjoy life as their egoism demanded.
As a result of this they were divided into two parts:
Adherents of the egoistical kings and their courtiers; and
Those who desired to achieve similarity to the Creator.
At the time of the SecondTemple, the schism aggravated dividing the people into two parts:
Sadducees: Full of egoism, hence wealthy and conceited; and
Pharisees: Adherents of Kabbalah.
The Sadducees facilitated the establishment of Roman rule over the people of Israel, which led to the subsequent exile.
Mundane and Spiritual Ideals
The earthly ideal is to fulfill egoistical desires. Therefore, it cannot rise above them. Its basis is esteem in the society. Its reward is fame among people (even if the person is despised by his contemporaries, he hopes to win recognition of the future generations).
The spiritual ideal is to achieve the Creator’s property, and to ascend above the human properties. The basis of the spiritual ideal is acquisition of glory in the eyes of the Creator. Therefore, the person who studies Kabbalah is able to ascend above the human properties.
As long as the people of Israel adhered to the principles of Kabbalah, they were protected: Exploited by the other peoples, they remained spiritually strong.
However, a large number of the Jews rushed to satisfy their egoistical desires, lost the spiritual purpose of life (similarity to the Creator), grew rich, and represented their false goals as praiseworthy and fine. They spent their riches on the amenities of life, and thus became no different from the people in whose midst they lived.
By this, they provoked the hatred of the surrounding people and a tough influence from above. Neglect of the wisdom of Kabbalah brought them far too close to destruction. Had they met the demands of Kabbalah, they would have felt the Divine Providence as good and kind.
Concordance of the Creator’s Purpose and Human Estimation
On the basis of historical experience and the Kabbalists’ advice, the people of Israel might be offered a look back at all the misfortunes, that keep befalling them, even after they had returned to their land, and with the help of Kabbalah, to resume living according to the divinely prescribed altruistic laws.
Unless the people of Israel (highly evolved and unwilling to compromise) follow this advice, they will constantly undermine their own stability. Another will immediately destroy anything one builds. Everyone’s hope, that his adversary will see the danger and take his opinion, is totally unrealistic. No threat will compel anyone to relinquish the realization of his own intentions.
Hence there is only one solution: The people should abandon its mundane goals and plans, and take upon themselves the exalted purpose of reaching the Creator. Only in this case, will the Divine Providence positively affect every individual and the nation as a whole, and through it the entire world.
An increasing addiction to drugs is becoming a strategic problem of the entire world. Politicians do not take too much interest in this problem, because all they need is to rule over someone or something. Therefore, they do everything possible to hide it and do not even prioritize it during their election campaigns. This is because they feel their helplessness and regard this issue a failed mission. Yet if we pay attention not just to what is going on at the moment, but to also discern a tendency, we would certainly conclude that humankind, as an intelligent and volitional part of the universe, is entering a period of self-destruction.
The drug problem in the modern world has been thoroughly researched, described, and presented at numerous conferences. It is on the UN agenda and is discussed during open and closed government debates. Hence, without repeating ourselves, let’s mention what directly refers to the solution we offer.
From the point of view of their production, drugs happen to be very cheap merchandise. The entire humanity can easily be provided with it. So why not do just that? So many people on the earth suffer from idleness, unemployment, degradation, homelessness and diseases. Health budgets exceed defense costs. Being able to receive their daily dose, drug addicts would not pose any serious threat to the society. Compared with any other condition of an average unemployed citizen, they will only require a minimal care. They exist in their own world, detached from the society’s problems, causing no serious harm.
The problem is that since the state of narcotized numbness of an individual stops the development of humanity, it contradicts the fundamental law of nature. Nature will never put up with man’s disconnection from the process of conscious attainment of life’s meaning. It will never agree to an uncontrolled drug abuse.
Humankind has known narcotics for thousands of years. However, in the past they have never been used so excessively. People did not feel such a pressing need to be disconnected from the sensation of life, because they somehow managed to fill their desires. The person wanted to receive pleasure and to acquire the things he saw in the world around himself. All he desired was more or less available in his world. He saw a goal and decided whether it was worth his while to make a required effort to achieve it. He always made his choice to pursue a certain objective, or not, and made up his mind this or that way. He was never left with an open question that demanded an answer.
He worked hard, went through incredible sufferings, and was sold into slavery, but he still saw the pleasure he so much craved for, he anticipated it. The person clearly saw that in exchange for something, or through making a certain effort, he could get what he wanted. If, however, his dream was unrealistic, he preferred to forget about it, because the body (will to receive) does not wish to suffer and eliminates it from its field of vision, as it is written: “Man of the common people will not seek King’s daughter’s hand.”
Seeing even a distant goal, the person is ready to work hard for years in order to achieve it. He does not need drugs as a means of escape from reality, because he anticipates the future satisfaction
When does someone turn to drugs? It happens when the person cannot fill his desires in this world. Having no other option, he then prefers to disconnect himself from the feeling of deficiency and frustration and turns to drugs. He would never do that, if he could see some source of pleasure.
Human desires are known to grow and develop from one generation to another: From bodily needs and pleasures for food, sex, home and family, which the person feels even while living alone, outside of the society, to desires for:
– Wealth, – Esteem, fame, power, and – Knowledge.
Every person includes all of these desires in various combinations, but in the course of history they grow both in quantity and in quality. Just the growth of these desires in each person determines the progress of humanity.
It transpires that when the growth of all human desires stops, a new desire and aspiration for something vague and incomprehensible emerges. The person cannot even describe it; he simply wants something without knowing what it is, or being able to find it in this world.
Such people refer to this state as depression. This leads to an enormous number of divorces. Man feels the need to change something in his life and believes that a new marriage will solve his problem. As a rule, he discovers a complete vainness of his actions and falls into a deeper disappointment and loneliness.
Many people interpret the appearance of this new desire for something unknown as an aspiration for the spiritual, for the beyond. More and more people feel this and join the ranks of drug addicts and psychologists’ patients.
In the long run, the person gradually discovers that this new longing is really a desire for the Upper world. People begin to rush about searching for a method of attaining the source of spiritual filling. They go to India and other eastern countries looking for gurus; bookstores are teeming with all kinds of literature about spiritual methods and quests.
All the person’s desires are conditionally referred to as his “heart.” The emerging desire for the unknown that no source can fill is called a “point in heart.”
Science has lately been found to confirm the existence of the Upper world. More and more of the prominent scientists, in the course of their research of matter and energy, come to the conclusion that there exists some other reality. As a rule, these are nuclear physicists, biologists, etc., i.e. the people, who each in his own field, delve into matter.
Humanity has the method of attaining the Upper world at its disposal. This method is called Kabbalah. Kabbalah is a means for filling the desire for the unknown spiritual pleasure. We should check this method, not reject it. There is no alternative to the growing problem of depression, divorces, aloofness among people and, most importantly, to drug abuse.
The situation is only deteriorating. People will continue to buy drugs. Their production will increase tremendously; tiny factories will spring up everywhere. Drug-containing plants will be grown on vast plantations; narcotics will be produced in home-based labs.
However, this should reach such proportions that politicians, economists and other people of influence would see that they have no one to control. They will stop receiving pleasure from money, recognition, etc. The problem will then be termed as “strategic!”
When the person discovers Kabbalah, he begins to realize that there exists a solution, an answer. Well, it may take another five or ten years, but the solution is there. In this case the person has no need for drugs, because he already lives in anticipation of the future. Instead of narcotics the purpose should be revealed to him and with it an opportunity to fill himself.
Essence of Kabbalah
This wisdom reveals the most general, all-embracing force of nature to people. By studying it, the person discovers that by the end of its evolution the entire humanity should inevitably come to the revelation of the universe and its purpose.
This revelation does not occur simultaneously in all people. This is an individual process of everyone’s inner advancement. Starting from the twentiethcentury, the larger part of humanity reaches a certain level of its development. As a result of this, many people feel a desire to attain something that transcends the boundaries of this world.
The science of Kabbalah is divided into two parallel paths:
The order of descent of the Upper forces, from the highest world down to this world, and
The order of attainment from down upwards. From this world the person ascends the levels of attainment that were formed during the descent. He is obliged to gradually attain every level in complete compliance with the laws established during the descent of the Upper forces. “Attainment,” means a higher level of comprehension.
Reality of spiritual attainment is similar to our everyday study of the forces that surround us. The material reality, perceived in our sensations, consists of real things, the essence of which we cannot grasp even in our imagination. For example, take such phenomena as electricity and magnetism. Can we say they are unreal, if our knowledge about them completely satisfies us, even though we have not the faintest idea about their essence?
The main thing in knowledge is not the essence, but its manifestations. Our knowledge of any material objects or people – of all that we can touch – is none other than making “acquaintance with actions,” which provides us with the impressions of their contact with our senses. This gives us absolute satisfaction, although we know nothing about the essence.
Attainment of the Upper world is similar to that. A student feels perfectly content with complete knowledge, even though he only attains actions. It appears as a result of the Upper Light’s contact with someone who attains it. It resembles the person who feels no need for the sixth finger, because he is quite happy with five.
There are three reasons for concealment of the Kabbalistic knowledge
No need to disclose;
Impossible to disclose;
The Creator’s personal secret.
All three of the aforementioned bans are simultaneously imposed on every slightest detail in Kabbalah, and no permission to disclose the knowledge is received, unless all three conditions are met.
The Ban “No Need to Disclose” allows revealing the wisdom only if it is for the obvious good of humanity. Kabbalah asserts, “He who accumulates knowledge brings sorrow”. If knowledge gets into the hands of unscrupulous and immoral people, it can be used to the detriment of society. We see the results of an uncontrolled divulgence of knowledge in our troubled life, in the threat of destruction, in terror. The reason for this lies in the fact that most people live by the principle “So what?” These happy-go-lucky individuals thoughtlessly and unnecessarily circulate the wisdom of Kabbalah. Hence, Kabbalists accepted only those students who could keep it secret and refrain from disclosing it needlessly.
The Ban “Impossible to Disclose” stems from limitations of the language that is unable to render subtle spiritual notions that we are unable to perceive. Since all verbal attempts are doomed to fail and lead to erroneous conclusions, only a Kabbalist, who achieved a high spiritual level and acquired a special property to reveal clearly the supernal wisdom, may do so.
This special property is described in the works of the great Kabbalist Ari: “Know that the souls of great Kabbalists are filled with the outer (Surrounding) light or with the Inner (filling) light.” The souls filled with the Surrounding light have the gift to expound the Kabbalistic knowledge by investing it in clear words so that only the worthy can understand it. The soul of the great Rashbi was filled with the Surrounding light, hence he had the power to explain things in such a way that, when he spoke before the Great Assembly, only those understood him who deserved to. Therefore, he alone received the divine permission to write “The Book of Zohar,” although the Kabbalists who lived before him knew more. They did not have his gift of investing spiritual notions in words.”
Thus we see that the conditions of divulging the Kabbalistic wisdom depend not on how knowledgeable a Kabbalist is, but on the properties of his soul, on his ability to express the imperceptible. Only because of this gift does he receive permission to disclose a certain part of the wisdom of Kabbalah.
That is why we do not find any fundamental works on Kabbalah composed before “The Book of Zohar.” Those that are available, contain vague and inconsequential hints. After Rashbi (the 2nd Century A.D.) only the Ari (the 16th Century A.D.) was allowed to divulge the wisdom of Kabbalah. Although the Kabbalists who had lived before him most probably knew a lot more than he did, they did not receive the permission to disclose the wisdom due to the above-mentioned reason. Hence they refrained from composing and printing anything but some vague remarks. That is why from the time of the Ari all genuine Kabbalists have stopped using other books and only study his works and “The Book of Zohar.”
The Ban “The Creator’s personal secret” consists in that the Kabbalistic knowledge is only revealed to those who selflessly dedicate themselves to the idea of similarity to the Creator. Therefore Kabbalists of the past always selected only those students who whole-heartedly aspired to learn in order to attain the equivalence of form with the Creator. Since all the others were rejected and since Kabbalah was concealed from the public eye, many frauds passed themselves off as Kabbalists and made a profit out of soothsaying, making amulets, “saving” people from the evil eye and selling many other “miracles” by luring simpletons. To this very day there are scores of such “kabbalists” and customers of their “divine” mascots, red bracelets, holy water, etc.
Originally Kabbalah was concealed for this very reason; therefore the true Kabbalists took upon themselves an obligation to subject their disciples to very stringent tests. This explains why only few people in every generation were granted permission to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, and to reveal a portion of it on condition that all three above-listed bans are lifted.
The fact is that only if “a point in man’s heart” awakens, will he aspire to attain the properties of the Upper world and the similarity to the Creator. Only such people are allowed to be taught Kabbalah. The rest are just eager to learn “magic actions for controlling destiny and manipulating others.” Of course, all they produce is a psychological effect, which, apropos, can sometimes really “work wonders”. Nonetheless, we should not confuse it with the Upper forces and properties. Therefore, until today there are two kinds of wisdom: “Kabbalah for consumers” and “the science of Kabbalah”. The first serves for the benefit of sellers of amulets; the second is for those who truly aspire to discover the spiritual.
One should not think that these three bans imposed on divulgence of the Kabbalistic knowledge divide Kabbalah into three parts. No, every part, word, notion, and definition falls under these three interdictions.
However, a question arises: if this science was so thoroughly concealed, how did all the Kabbalistic compositions appear? The fact is that the first two bans differ from the third one. The last ban is the strictest, while the first two are subject to change. With the development of society the ban “No need to disclose” turns into the command “There is a need to disclose,” as in the cases of the Ari, Rashbi and, to a lesser extent, other Kabbalists. Similarly, in our time the prohibition “No need to disclose” becomes “There is a need to disclose,” hence Kabbalah is now revealed to all humankind.
All the widespread theories of body and soul can be combined into the following three theories:
1. Theory of Faith
This theory maintains that nothing but the soul (or spirit) exists. Adherents of this theory opine that there exist spiritual entities separated from one another by quality that are called human souls. They exist independently before they descend and incarnate in human bodies.
Afterwards, when the body dies, its death does not extend over these entities, because they are spiritual and not composite. In their view, death is a mere separation between the elements of which an entity consists. It therefore refers to the material body that constitutes a conglomerate of elements separated by death. But being a spiritual entity, the soul is simple and cannot disintegrate, so that its structure would be affected. Hence, the soul is immortal and exists eternally.
According to advocates of this theory, the body is the soul’s attire. The soul dresses into the body and manifests its powers, qualities, and various faculties through it.
This way the soul provides the body with life and movement and protects it from injuries. The body turns into lifeless and motionless matter when the soul leaves it. All the signs of life we observe in a human being are nothing but the manifestations of the soul’s powers.
2. Theory of Dualism
Those who believe in duality, contrive this theory. According to their opinion, the body is a perfect creation that can live, eat, protect itself from all harm and does not need help of any spiritual entity.
However, this body is not considered the person’s essence. This role is taken by the intelligent soul, a spiritual entity (this coincides with the first theory).
The difference between the two theories only concerns the body. Rapid development of science reveals that nature has installed in the body all the vitally important needs. Therefore the soul’s function in the body is only confined to passing good spiritual qualities and skills to it. The adherents of dualism believe in the two theories at the same time, but they assert that the soul originates the body.
3. Theory of Negation
Researchers, who deny the existence of any spiritual reality and only believe in corporeality of the body, share this theory. Followers of this theory completely negate the presence of any abstract spiritual entity in the structure of the human body. With an indisputable certainty they believe that the human mind is nothing but a derivative of the body. They imagine the body as a kind of an electrical machine with cables that connect the limbs and organs with the brain. The entire mechanism is activated by external irritants and is transmitted as pain or pleasure to the brain, which commands a certain organ to act. Everything is controlled through nerves (cables) and tendons attached to the organs programmed to avoid sources of pain and aspire to sources of pleasure. This is how supporters of this theory see the process of human comprehension and reactions to every life situation.
Our perception of intelligence and logic, inside the brain is much like a photographic imprint of what is going on inside the body. In comparing man with any representative of the animal world, man’s advantage consists in the fact that everything that takes place in his body, is reflected in his brain as a picture perceived as the mind and logic. So, the adherents of this theory consider the mind a result of all the processes that occur in the body.
Similarly, some of the followers of the theory of dualism completely agree with the theory of negation. However, they add to it the eternal spiritual essence called “soul”, which in their opinion dresses in the body. They assert that the soul is the person’s essence, while the body serves as its shell. By and large this is how the humanities have described the notions of “soul and body” until now.
Body and Soul as Scientific Notions in Kabbalah
The science of Kabbalah is intended for revelation of the Upper World to the same extent of clarity and reliability as the earthly sciences reveal our world to us. All that we know about the Upper World was received by the Kabbalistic researchers as a result of their experiments on themselves. Therefore, there is not a single word in Kabbalah based on a theory; everything is described as a result of a practical attainment.
It is an obvious fact that, by his nature, the person is liable to doubts and any conclusion defined as obvious, by the human mind, is called into question. Hence, the power of theorizing grows and the previous facts receive a different explanation, which is in turn considered as obvious.
If the person is really able to think abstractly, he keeps moving in this circle all his life. The obviousness of a previous day turns into the doubts of today, and the clarity of today will turn into doubts of tomorrow. So the absolute certainty can only be possible “today”.
The Revealed and the Concealed
Modern science has already come to an understanding that absolutely nothing is obvious in reality. Theorizing and hypothesizing have always been forbidden in Kabbalah.
The Kabbalists divide the science into two parts: The revealed and the concealed one.
The revealed part of the science includes all that we understand by simple realization, when the study is based on the practical basis, without any theorizing.
The concealed part of the science includes the knowledge that we have attained by ourselves, or from reliable sources, but is insufficient for analysis from the point of common sense and simple realization. Therefore, this part of information we are temporarily obliged to accept as “simple faith” and never try to research it, because it will be based on theorizing and not on practical experience.
However, the names “revealed” and “concealed” points not at certain kinds of knowledge, but at the person’s realization. That is, the knowledge the person gained from his practical experience may be called “revealed”. The knowledge that has not yet reached such a degree of realization may be defined as “concealed”.
From the aforesaid, it follows that there has never been a person in any generation, who would not possess these two parts of knowledge, the revealed and the concealed. He is only allowed to study and research the revealed part because he has a real basis for it.
Ban Imposed on the Humanities
Kabbalah considers it impermissible to use the humanities. It only relies on empirically proven knowledge.
Therefore, we cannot receive any scientific knowledge about the notions of “soul and body” from the three aforementioned theories, because the conclusions are based on religious arguments. We can only accept the information about soul and body as scientific knowledge based on the wisdom of Kabbalah.
In accordance with this, we have the right to use only the third theory, which deals with the body, in all the empirically proven conclusions that raise no doubts. Kabbalah forbids all the general, logical explanations of any theories.
Criticism of the Third Theory
However, the third theory is alien to the educated person’s spirit, because it does away with personality and presents it as a machine that is activated by external forces. From this, it follows that the person is not free in his desires and is totally controlled by nature’s powers. All his actions are forced, and he is neither rewarded nor punished for his own actions, since the law of reward and punishment only applies to the person with a free will.
This theory is equally rejected by the religious masses, which believe in the Creator’s reward and punishment and by secular people. It turns out that each of us is like a toy in the hands of a blind nature that leads us to an unknown destination! Hence the third theory is unacceptable in this world.
It was therefore decided that the body that is called a machine, in accordance with the third theory, does not constitute a human being. The person’s essence, his “I” is an invisible and imperceptible spiritual essence concealed within the body.
Yet how can this essence activate the body, if according to philosophy, the spiritual has no contact with the material and in no way influences it? This is why there is no answer to the question of the soul in philosophy and metaphysics.
Conclusion
1. We feel everything in our five senses. The combined picture of all that we perceive in our senses is processed and analyzed in our brain, compared with the already known and is forwarded to our consciousness as an image of ourselves and of the surrounding world. Thus, the person perceives both his own body and the world as a result of sensations in his senses. Neither the body nor the world exists by itself; they are but the consequences of our sensations. Baal Sulam writes: “I feel my body as solid and of a certain size, because my sensations present it to me this way…”
2. If we had no senses at all, we would not feel ourselves. If our senses were different, we would perceive the world and ourselves differently.
3. Everything we feel in our five senses is called the “revealed.” Naturally, every individual reveals his own measure of information depending on his sensitivity and intelligence. The revealed is:
Particular, individual,
Generally revealed to the entire humankind at each stage of its development.
4. The “concealed” is the information that still waits to be revealed in the future. The concealed is of two kinds:
That which we will reveal in our senses in the future, and
That which we will never be able to reveal in our five senses.
5. The information that is impossible to reveal in our five senses can be received in the sixth one. Each person carries in himself a root of the sixth sense and can develop it. The method of developing the sixth sense is called Kabbalah. The sensation, experienced in the sixth sense, can also be divided into two elements in similarity to the sensation of the body and the surrounding reality in our five senses:
The body, referred to as the “soul”, and
The surrounding reality called the “Upper World.”
The sensation of the Upper World is perceived as eternity, perfection and omniscience.
The main subject of research for the science of Kabbalah concerns the interconnection of all parts of the universe. All the elements of a vast reality, indeed, all the five worlds ruled by the uniform law of nature interconnect and unite until they create a single whole whose parts are included in and bonded together one with the other.
Further, the researcher of the upper world finds that all these worlds and the science of Kabbalah are united into ten realities called ten Sefirot (Heb. for ten radiances). They make the order of five parts, which form a point designating the world of Infinity.
The beginner in Kabbalah must begin his studies from one point, and from there move to the ten Sefirot in the first world below the world of Infinity, called Adam Kadmon (Heb. for man’s prototype). Subsequently the student discovers how the numerous details existing in the world of Adam Kadmon continue, spread, and submit to the order of cause and effect, to the laws found in astronomy, physics, and other earthly sciences.
Therefore, the established laws are completely interdependent, and the law of gradual development of one phenomenon from another cannot be violated. The development moves from a single point to the multitude in the world of Adam Kadmon. This world begets four more worlds that emerge one from another as imprints of a seal. They continue expanding until we reach the whole variety in our world. After that, we return to our research to include all the details of reality, one into another, until we reach the world of Adam Kadmon, the ten Sefirot, the four basic levels, and finally the initial point.
Even though the material is still unknown, it can, as in any other science, be researched by means of logic. For example, when we study anatomy, we see that certain organs interact, though we may have no idea of the general subject – a living man. Nevertheless, with time, after comprehending this science from studying individual parts, we can deduce the general rule of how the whole body works.
A similar case is when a person who begins to study the upper world, a world of which he has no knowledge, can only be acquired from the combination of all its elements. He should comprehend all its details, as well as all the factors, reasons, consequences and their interactions, until he attains the wisdom. As soon as he learns everything, down to the smallest detail, he will achieve the general knowledge.
It is only nowadays that the whole world is beginning to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. The reason this science was not previously studied does not lie in its inscrutability, for an astronomer has no idea of stars and planets, yet he studies the processes they go through as a science. The knowledge of the wisdom of Kabbalah is no more hidden from humankind than astronomy. Its details and processes are well explained in Kabbalistic textbooks, even those intended for beginners.
The reason for the concealment of the wisdom of Kabbalah is that Kabbalists themselves were hiding it for thousands of years up to our time, when there is an urgent need for it in the world. However, humankind has now sufficiently developed its egoism so that it realizes the fallacies and death inherent in the state of its development.
Purpose of Creation
As nothing created by the upper governing force is purposeless, there is no doubt that the force itself has a goal. From the diverse reality created by the upper force, special significance is attached to the human rational sensation that makes it possible to feel the suffering of one’s neighbor. Therefore, if the upper governing force has a goal of creation, man is its object and everything was created exclusively for man to reach his spiritual destination. We should acquire the ability to feel the upper force that rules over us in the same way we feel everything around us.
Because of achieving similarity in the properties of bestowal and love, a sensation of immeasurable delight emerges within a person to the point of a marvelous feeling of absolute contact with the upper force.
Conception is Revealed through Reaching the Goal
It is well known that the result of an action is always present in the original conception. For example, someone who wants to build a house draws it in his thoughts and makes it his goal. Based on that picture, he develops a construction plan so that the set goal could be achieved successfully.
It is the same in the universe. After discovering the goal, one understands that the order of creation in all of its manifestations is predetermined only in accordance with this goal. In this way, man develops and ascends in his property of bestowal until he feels the upper force as his neighbor.
Man gradually acquires the property of bestowal as if climbing the rungs of a ladder, one after another, until he reaches the goal. Moreover, know that the quantity and the quality of these steps are determined by two different realities:
Material reality: The order of revelation of the upper light from above – downward, from the Primary source that determines the measure and quality of the light emanating from the Creator’s essence. This light goes through a sequence of concealments until material reality and material creations emerge from it.
Reality of the Supreme mind: After the revelation of the upper light from above – downward, the reverse movement begins. Climbing the rungs of the spiritual ladder, humankind continues ascending until it reaches the purpose of creation. Both of these realities are researched in all their particular details by the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Upper Ruling Force
Kabbalists characterize the upper ruling force, which is usually called the Creator, as absolute kindness. This is how they attain it in their own sensations. That is, it cannot possibly cause harm to anyone. This fact is perceived by Kabbalists who attain it as the principal law of the universe.
Our common sense tells us that the cause of every evil is egoism, “the desire to receive pleasure for one’s own sake”, (or simply “the desire to receive”). This passionate pursuit of one’s own well-being, called forth by “the desire to receive”, is the reason for harming one’s neighbor, because the desire to receive aspires to be fulfilled. When creation gains satisfaction in its own well-being, then no one in this world will harm his neighbor. In addition, if we occasionally encounter a creature that harms another for reasons other than “the desire to receive”, the only reason for that lies in the habit that originated in this desire.
Since we perceive the upper governing force as absolutely perfect, it is clear that no “desire to receive” is present in it. Therefore, it has no reason whatsoever to harm anyone. Furthermore, it possesses the “desire to bestow”, the desire to pour its goodness upon the created beings.
Whatever good or bad feelings creatures may have are sent by the upper force, which possesses one single quality – the desire to bestow, to be good to them. Further, this is the only law that determines its attitude towards creation. It follows from this that all creatures obviously receive only good from it, and they were created for no other reason but for the reception of its goodness.
Therefore, Kabbalists refer to this force as “the absolute goodness”.
Upper Governance is Purposeful
Let us look at the current reality governed and controlled by the upper force and see how this force does only good.
By taking even the smallest created being that belongs to one of four kinds: still, vegetative, animate or speaking, we will see how that single creature, as well as its entire species, are being purposefully ruled in their cause and effect development. This is similar to a fruit on a tree that has the good final goal of ripening.
Botanists can explain how many stages a fruit goes through from the moment it appears until it reaches its final purpose of complete ripeness. However, none of the stages preceding the last one bear even the smallest hint of its final state of beauty and sweetness, but contrary to that, they are opposite to its final form. The sweeter the fruit is in the end, the more bitter and more ugly it is in the early stages of its development.
Even more striking is the difference between a developing and a mature species on the “animate” and “human” levels. An animal whose mind remains small after the completion of its growth does not undergo any serious changes in the process of its development, whereas dramatic changes take place in the human mind towards the end of its development. For example, a one-day-old calf is called a bull because it is already strong enough to stand on its feet, walk, and can avoid dangers around it.
At the same time, a one-day-old man is similar to a creature deprived of all feelings. If someone who is unfamiliar with the realities of our world were to see these two newborn creatures and to describe them, he would surely refer to the baby as the one that would never reach its goal. He would consider the calf a future great hero. Thus, if we judge by the development of mind in the calf and the baby, then the latter is a mindless creature unable to feel anything.
Therefore, it is striking that the upper force that governs the reality created it as nothing but a form of purposeful management, which does not take into consideration the order of levels of development.
With that in mind, we say that the experienced person is the smartest, for only the one who has gained experience, i.e., the one who has the opportunity of observing creations at all stages of their development up to the final perfect stage, is unafraid of all the deformed pictures of the creation at different stages of its development. He just believes in the beauty and perfection of completed development. The science of Kabbalah explains the meaning of the step-by-step development that is obligatory for each created being.
Thus, a detailed research of the upper governance in our world shows that it can only be purposeful. Its kind treatment is not felt until the creation reaches the final stage of its development. Until then, the developing creation always appears to its observer in its outwardly unattractive form.
Two Ways of Development: the Path of Suffering and the Path of Kabbalah
We can conclude from the aforementioned example that the upper ruling force has the quality of absolute kindness and that it rules over us purposefully. It stems from its own perfection without any trace of evil. This means that the purposefulness of its governance compels us to accept the order of passing through various states that are connected by the law of cause and effect, until we can receive the desired goodness, thus reaching the goal of creation. We are as a splendid fruit at the end of its ripening. This result is guaranteed to us all.
The intent of the upper force is to bring us to a similarity to its quality of absolute good. All its actions are dictated by this goal. Two paths are prepared to bring us to the goal:
The path of suffering represents the order of creation’s self-development that, because of its nature, has to follow this path moving from one stage to the next, which is connected to the previous one by cause and effect. In this way, we develop very slowly until we realize the necessity of choosing good, denying evil and reaching the purposeful connection sought after by the ruling force. However, this path is time-consuming and full of pain and suffering.
The path of Kabbalah is easy and pleasant, capable of making us worthy of our predestination in a short period of time and without suffering.
In any event, our final purpose is pre-ordained. It must be reached, and there is no way of avoiding it, for the upper force firmly governs us in two ways: through the path of suffering and through the path of Kabbalah. By looking at the surrounding reality, we can see that we are being simultaneously managed in these two ways.
The Essense of Kabbalah is in Leading Us to the Realization of Evil
The purpose of all man’s actions in his aspiration to attain the upper world is the realization of evil within him. He discovers that his natural egoism stands in his way to the upper world. All the difference between created beings lies in the extent of their realization of evil. A more highly evolved creature comprehends a higher degree of its evil. Therefore, it recognizes evil and pushes it away more than an undeveloped creature that feels a lesser degree of it. It leaves it within, because it does not feel it as evil.
The basis of every evil is the love for oneself called egoism. This quality is opposite to the upper force that only possesses the desire to bestow.
The essence of pleasure consists in the degree of similarity of man’s properties to those of the upper force.
The essence of suffering and impatience lies in the opposition to the properties of the upper force. That is why egoism itself causes us pain through our realization of the difference between our properties and those of the upper force.
The feeling of repugnance to egoism is different in every soul. An undeveloped person does not consider egoism a bad quality and therefore openly uses it without shame. A more developed person already feels a certain degree of his egoism as evil, and therefore, hesitates to use it in public and continues using it secretly.
A highly evolved person feels egoism as something so disgusting that he cannot tolerate it. Therefore, he expels it completely in accordance with his level of realization, for he neither wishes nor is able to receive pleasure at the expense of others. Sparks of love for his neighbor begin to awaken in the person. They are called altruism, which is the basis of good. This quality gradually develops in him. First, he develops a feeling of love for his relatives and wants to take care of them. When the quality of altruism develops within him even more, a degree of bestowal upon everyone around him, his neighbors, his community, and all humankind grows in him as well.
Conscious and Unconscious Development
Two forces push us forward and compel us to climb the spiritual levels until we reach its summit – the final goal, when our properties become equal to those of the upper force:
One of the forces propels us without our choice or realization. It spurs us from behind; Kabbalists call it “the path of suffering”. Ethical and educational systems based on empirical knowledge tested by the practical mind stem from it. The essence of this system is nothing but evaluation of harm caused by the growing sprouts of egotism. These experimental data were received “by chance”, i.e., without conscious realization or choice. However, it serves its purpose rather convincingly, because the degree of evil manifesting and growing in our sensations compels us to avoid it, and thus to ascend higher.
The second force pushes us forward by means of our conscious awareness. We choose this force on our own. It draws us from the front and Kabbalists call it “the path of Kabbalah”. By taking this path and following the advice of Kabbalists with the intention of making our properties equal to the upper force, we quickly realize our evil and receive a double benefit:
We do not have to wait until our life experience starts pushing us from behind by means of pain. At the same time, our intention to reach similarity to the upper force helps us to develop the same realization of evil without suffering. As soon as we begin to aspire to become equal to the upper force, we feel its purity and sweetness. The comprehension of the meanness of self-love develops in us. This growing revelation of evil develops in combination with a feeling of pleasure and peace of mind that slowly emerges within us because of a similarity to the upper force.
We gain time because we act consciously; it is in our power to do more and thus speed up the process of our correction until we achieve absolute equality to the upper force.
The Science of Kabbalah is Intended for the Benefit of its User
The difference between the Kabbalistic method of correction and other educational methods lies in the purpose. What standards should the corrected person meet: those of society or those of the upper force? This is what makes Kabbalah as distinct from ethics as the spiritual differs from the material.
Ethics sees its goal as building a happy society in the way that the practical mind, based on life experience, comprehends it. This goal does not promise an individual any benefit beyond the limitations of nature. If the goal is not out of reach of criticism, then who can prove to a person once and for all that he has a fair share of benefits, so as to make him relinquish a certain part of what is due to him for the sake of society?
Contrary to that, the goal of development with the help of the Kabbalistic method promises to make the person happy. This is because the person who has attained the property of love for his neighbor merges with the upper force in accordance with the law of equivalence of form. He transcends the narrow borders of his cruel world and enters the immense and infinite world of bestowal to the upper force and created beings.
The system of ethics obliges the person to seek people’s liking, which is similar to renting something with payback by the end of the term. Man’s habit for such work prevents him from climbing even the steps of ethics, for he gets used to such efforts that are well awarded by those around him for his good deeds.
Whereas the person studying Kabbalah for the sake of bestowal to the upper force in similarity to its actions and receiving nothing in return, really climbs the moral levels. Little by little, he acquires a new, different nature of bestowal to his neighbor. He receives nothing for himself, but the bare necessities to sustain his existence in this world.
It is only in his way that man can truly rid himself of his natural egoism and all of nature’s interdictions. For when he abhors any reception for his own sake, when his soul is free from all unnecessary and excessive bodily pleasures, when he stops craving wealth, recognition, and power, he then freely enters the realm of the upper force. He is guaranteed protection from any harm, because all harm is caused by egoism alone.
It is therefore obvious that the wisdom of Kabbalah serves those who use it, while being of no benefit to those who ignore it. In addition, even if all of man’s actions are aimed at his correction, this is only a means to reach the goal of becoming equal with the upper force.
Kabbalah is known to be a secret wisdom. It is precisely this secrecy surrounding Kabbalah that gave rise to numerous legends, falsifications, gossip, ignorant arguments and wrong conclusions. Only at the end of the 20th century was the wisdom of Kabbalah allowed to be revealed to all and even circulated around the world. Therefore, addressing the reader at the beginning of this article, I feel obliged to tear age-old layers off this ancient wisdom that is common to all mankind.
The wisdom of Kabbalah has nothing to do with religion, meaning it is no more related to it than physics, chemistry or mathematics. Kabbalah is not a religion and this becomes obvious from the fact that religious people know nothing about it and do not understand a word in it.
The most profound knowledge about the laws of the Universe, the method of apprehending the world, the achievement of the Purpose of Creation was kept away from the religious masses in the first place. Kabbalah was waiting for the time, when mankind matures sufficiently to accept this wisdom and use it correctly.
It allows man to control his destiny; it is the knowledge that was passed to all peoples of the world. Kabbalah deals with the realm hidden from our five senses. It operates only with spiritual notions, meaning with things that happen above the material level, beyond our perception, in the upper world.
Kabbalah describes the upper world by using the language of metaphor or the scientific language.
The metaphorical description: Kabbalah borrows the names of spiritual objects, forces and actions from the language of our world. This is necessary, because we have no words at our disposal that can describe unearthly phenomena. But since a certain force descends from each object in the upper world to form a corresponding object in ours, a Kabbalist living in both worlds sees this connection and describes the spiritual reality by using the names of our world. However, Kabbalists’ descriptions seem like accounts of earthly actions to those who have not yet attained the spiritual realm. Kabbalah speaks exclusively of what happens in the upper world. The use of familiar words and definitions leads to false conceptions and erroneous conclusions. Hence, Kabbalah forbids imagining a connection between the names of our world and their spiritual roots. This is considered the grossest error in Kabbalah. That is why it was forbidden for so many years up to this time: man’s development was insufficient to stop imagining all sorts of witches, ghosts, angels and similar devilry, where something totally different is meant.
The scientific description: starting from the 90-s of the 20th century one is allowed to study Kabbalah and is recommended to disseminate this wisdom. Why is that so? It is because people stopped thinking about natural forces as manlike creatures, mermaids, centaurs etc. They are ready to imagine the upper world as a domain of forces, force fields, the world above matter. Starting from the 16th century, from the period of the Lurian Kabbalah this wisdom began to describe the upper world by using strictly scientific definitions and methods.
What am I living for? What is the subject of Kabbalah?
Kabbalah deals with the question about the purpose of life. From a very young age man starts asking this question, but then forgets about it in the course of his life. Man cannot traumatize himself indefinitely with this unanswered question. The answer can be found only in one source – the wisdom of Kabbalah, which was available only to a chosen few throughout the centuries. Generations came and went, but only representatives of the last generations can receive the irrefragable answer to the most important question.
But even today, when Kabbalah from a secret doctrine became accessible practically to all our contemporaries, it is intended directly for those who, having matured and even grown old, do not cease to ask themselves this childish question – what is the point of my life and the life of all mankind?
People, who very sharply feel this question, come to Kabbalah. They do not feel satisfied, filled in their daily life. They suffer neither manias, nor depressions – they simply cannot reach peace of mind in this life. Why? Kabbalah gives the answer to this question.
Stages of development of desires
The development of mankind during thousands of years of its existence is a development and realization of different levels of desire. Desires and a search for ways of their satisfaction determine this or that level of civilization’s evolution and everything we define as technological and scientific progress.
Owing to the fact that desires constantly improve, i.e. vary from smaller to bigger, mankind advances.
Kabbalah divides the entire complex of human desires into five stages:
Primary desires – for sex, food (it is said: „Love and famine rule the world”…);
The second stage of development of desire – striving after riches;
The third stage of development of desire – craving for power and fame;
The fourth stage of development of desire – thirst for knowledge;
The fifth stage of development of desire – aspiration to spirituality, to the Creator.
The need for sex and food are animal desires, because animals have them as well. Even being in full isolation man feels hunger and the urge to reproduce, i.e. to have sexual relations.
Desires for wealth, power, fame and knowledge are already human desires, since to satisfy them man must be surrounded by other people.
Man is born, his animal and human desires develop, and then he finds out that their realization does not satisfy him, since his secret but true aspiration which he cannot yet realize and formulate, falls outside the limits of this world.
Man receives this desire from above. It is neither given by nature as animal desire, nor does it develop under the influence of a society as human desires.
Kabbalahcalls this level of desire – the desire of spiritual light or man’s soul.
Kabbalahstudies the spiritual construction named the general soul or Adam. This construction consists of 600.000 parts, each of them in turn splitting into a multitude of fragments which is located inside earthly desires.
According to Kabbalah, the Creator is a universal force governing the entire creation, which includes all the individual forces of the universe.
Emergence of a new kind of desires
A set of earthlydesires is called man’s heart. And the fragment (desire), placed in it from above, is referred to as a point in heart.
During his biological life in this world man should completely fill his spiritual desire. He will repeatedly come back to our world, until this goal is reached. Thus, each generation in our world constitutes the same 600.000 souls, vested in bodies of our world.
Each generation are the 600.000 souls in a rank which are moving ahead in order to be filled by spiritual light: the body dies, and the soul moves and dresses in a new body, works in it again for the sake of being filled and so on until at a certain stage of development it will not be filled with the Supreme Light.
Most people feel the needs limited by the framework of our world. They include man’s creative, intellectual, cultural aspirations and the need to research and understand the world structure. It testifies that souls, dressed in the bodies of these people have not yet reached a desire for spirituality – the fifth stage of our desires’ development. Souls of such a type do not cause aspirations to develop outside our worldly bodies, in which they are installed.
But there is a small (so far!) number of souls of a different type. Being installed in an albuminous body, such a soul forces man to long for something unearthly and eternal. Like all others, he tries to be satisfied with what this world can provide, but to no avail. He sees how other people crave for riches and success, and realizes it is no more than just a game. He participates in these „games”, often not without success, but it brings him no satisfaction. Gradually, trying himself in this world, disappointedand disenchanted, man begins to feel that his soul demands a different kind of filling. Having at last received a desire for the spiritual, man feels that he can no longer fill himself with earthly pleasures and feels his life is empty. Then he begins to look for the way to fill a new, spiritual desire.
Search and disappointment are the highlights of this new kind of desire, so characteristic of our time. Starting from the middle of the 20th century and later on more and more people awaken to this spiritual desire sent from above. Being combined with all other desires, it creates a conflict in man’s heart. The fifth desire causes inner discomfort and ultimately leads a person to Kabbalah. Such people come to us and we begin to explain how they can fill this desire.
But since spiritual desire descends from above, it cannot be filled with objects of our world. Kabbalah can show man how this most exalted desire can be filled.
Kabbalists, who fill this spiritual desire (“Kabbalah” means “reception” in Hebrew) call this filling the Light or, rather, the Supreme Light.
This Supreme Light is called the Creator, because He both creates this desire and fills it. However, if this desire does not manifest in man he goes on living like all others.
Searching for satisfaction and the process of filling
Human life is a process of endless search. Man incessantly looks for something that can satisfy his new desires: he keeps seeking after food, wealth, sex, power and knowledge. All these desires constantly pop up and alternate in him. Man devotes his entire life to satisfying them.
Many people in the history of mankind managed to fill their spiritual desire. In their books they tell us about the search for satisfaction and the process of filling. Their explanations and the description of this process have developed into a science called Kabbalah. Such people call themselves Kabbalists.
Kabbalists explain that while being in our world man should fill his soul with the light so that it would rise to the same spiritual level which it was prior to descending and dressing in man’s heart, i.e. his earthly desires. Our task, regardless of all other desires called “heart” or “body”, is to fill that point in heart with the Supreme light.
Kabbalists say that filling the soul with the light gives man a sensation of the upper world. This means that he can simultaneously live (feel) both in the upper world, and in ours. He unites these two worlds in him. The state, when man in our world completely corrects and fills his soul at the highest spiritual level, is referred to as the End of correction of a soul or simply the End of correction.
Kabbalah enables the person – from the moment he has felt aspiration to spirituality and owing to this has received the first information on Kabbalah – to master a method of filling his soul, to attain a state of infinite delight, sensation of eternity, absolute knowledge and perfection. Moreover, he receives an opportunity to realize it now, in this world, in this life, instead of coming back again and again to this „not the best” of the worlds, searching and suffering from birth to death.
Since souls continuously change, develop and improve, the task of Kabbalah is to create a method of reception of the spiritual filling suitable for each generation. This science is called „Kabbalah” – reception, because it offers a method of filling the soul with the light. Kabbalah teaches man to receive the Supreme Light and fill the soul with it, i.e. both desires of the heart and spiritual desires. It is possible, since all our desires are created by this very light. Hence, only direct filling with it can satisfy us.
Spiritual desire – what is it?
The first four categories of desires being clearly understood and felt, we have no idea of a spiritual desire.
Man won’t discover what “the spiritual” means as long he keeps satisfying his desires by means of objects of this world. He sees these objects and knows exactly what he is after. But when a spiritual desire awakens in him, he sees no source that can possibly fill it. Man feels helpless and lost: life loses meaning and taste; there is nothing to fill it with. He simply feels bad. Something uncertain “pulls” him. But where? Man doesn’t know where to turn, because the source of pleasure is concealed from him. Normally he chooses to forget all about it.
As kids we ask ourselves: “What are we living for?”, but later on hormones ignited by adolescence suppress this question and the will to discover the meaning and the source of life. Our sexual and intellectual aspirations lead us away from the solution to this problem. Then it arises again to disturb us. Those, who can’t fill the emptiness and demand an urgent answer to that question, find Kabbalah or, rather, are led to it from above: the time of filling the human soul comes.
Spiritual space
When the human body dies, the soul passes to a new-born one. From one life to the next the soul gradually accumulates readiness to manifest in man. He lives many lives without feeling his soul – an aspiration to the upper world. Don’t confuse it with the earthly “aspiration to loftiness”, which normally stands for creativity, poetry, music and art.
Man feels the manifestation of the soul as a new desire, longing, as emptiness he has no idea how to fill. From this moment the search begins; ultimately it will lead man to Kabbalah. Thus all people in the world are led to Kabbalah, because it is the only method of filling the soul.
As soon as man discovers Kabbalah, i.e. finds a Teacher, books and a group, a so-called “preparatory period” (for discovering the upper world) starts. This period can last for a few years (minimum 3 years).
The spiritual space opens up before him. Man finds himself on the periphery of that space with the Creator being in the very center. The spiritual space is a realm of properties similar to a physical field with a maximum manifestation of power in the center and the gradual weakening of it towards the perimeter until this property completely disappears on the border beyond which our world begins.
By changing his properties with regard to the Creator, man can move in the spiritual space: the difference of man’s properties from those of the Creator makes them remote from each other, while the similarity of their properties leads to their closeness. A complete equivalence causes them to merge.
We, in our initial state, are opposite to the Creator’s properties; hence we are totally outside of this field and cannot feel the Creator. Having completed the preparation period, man reaches the first, minimal degree of similarity with the Creator and crosses the barrier (Machsom) between our world and the upper one.
Then he begins his spiritual advancement; distinctly feeling the Creator, he consciously corrects his properties and gets closer to Him.
This way of gradual rapprochement with the Creator through the similarity of properties consists in consecutive correction, i.e. the substitution of all 620 egoistic properties for altruistic properties. Kabbalah describes the process as an ascent through 620 steps. It speaks about the methods of correcting desires on each of these steps. As a result, man every time attains the Creator on a new, higher level. Man must step by step correct all his 620 desires, i.e. climb all 620 levels, while being in his physical body, living in this world.
Upon completing his spiritual ascent, he fully associates himself with the soul and doesn’t have to return to the material world and incarnate.
Man’s death – what dies, the body or the soul?
Man does not die, his biological body does. Originally, all of us only feel our body – the earthly desires. Then a desire for spirituality awakens in us.
This desire is not of this world, it belongs to the Creator. If man develops it, he starts feeling not only the properties of his body, but the soul – a part of the Creator’s properties in himself.
If man corrects himself so that the spiritual desires suppress the desires of the body and the body completely associates itself with the soul, he perceives the death of his body as shedding a cover from the soul. The body dies, but man feels detached from the body while still living in it.
The body dies, but man feels detached from the body while still living in it. If we live inside the desires of our world (sex, food, wealth, power and knowledge), we receive filling through our body, i.e. through its five senses. We may irritate our brain with electric impulses by sending signals through electrodes attached to it and feel pleasures ostensibly received through the five senses. In this case we directly influence pleasure centers by sending the same signal they receive from the sensory receptors.
This is an example of directly affecting the pleasure centers, which receive all signals.
Soul, screen and delight
We receive spiritual desires directly from above. To fill them we need a special sense called “a screen” (Masach). As soon as man acquires this sense, he starts feeling pleasure through it. The pleasure is called the Supreme Light. It enters our desire to enjoy it through the screen. This desire to enjoy the Supreme Light is called “soul”. The light as a source of pleasure is not felt unless man acquires an additional sense capable of picking it up.
All components: the light (pleasure), the screen (means of reception) and the soul (receiver) are in no way connected to our physical body. Hence, it doesn’t matter whether man has a body or not. As soon as man establishes contact with the Supreme Light, he begins to correct himself so as to be filled with it. Gradual likening of one’s properties to the light and consecutive filling with it is called the spiritual ascent.
The body is only a means for the spiritual advancement in this exciting process. Otherwise it is of no other interest. A small pleasure cannot be felt at all in comparison with a great delight: the bigger delight suppresses it. Therefore, although a Kabbalist lives in the same world as we do, he is actually already in the upper world.
However, since we cannot feel his world, all his sensations are beyond our perception, on the other side of Machsom.
When man associates himself with his soul and not with his physical body, he takes the death of this body as a change of clothes. The sensations he acquired in this world do not disappear, and the world he lives in stays with him after his body dies. Everyone, who lives on earth can and must complete his way in accordance with the Creator’s plan.
What data is Kabbalah based on?
Kabbalah uses only precise, experience-tested data. No theories or assumptions are taken into consideration. Everything Kabbalah is based on was received from people who personally attained the spiritual sensations through the point in heart, through the soul. They tested, measured and described their sensations. The combined results of their research form the science of Kabbalah.
As any other science, Kabbalah operates with precise mathematical, physical and graphical (diagrams and tables) data. Instead of dealing with feelings, Kabbalists use vectors, forces of gravitation and suppression of desires: their correlations are numerically measured; desires and their filling are accurately defined. Thus Kabbalists describe their sensations of the Supernal Providence.
In our world we can measure neither man’s inner efforts, nor his subjective sensations, to all the more accurately compare perceptions and impressions of two different people. One can only sympathize with psychologists and psychiatrists, who are totally unable to operate with the parameters of man’s soul.
The history and the language of Kabbalah
Everything we know about the upper world even before we discover it by ourselves was written by people who personally attained it. They described their way, their sensations, conclusions and offered recommendations so that we could follow in their path. Kabbalistic books are the accounts of their journeys in the upper world.
Everyone begins to attain the Supreme governing Force by asking the question about the point of his life, sufferings, the purpose in the universe, destiny and chance. A deep analysis of these questions leads man to the necessity of revelation of the Supreme Force. The first known Kabbalist described his impressions of the divine revelation in the book entitled “Sefer Yetzira” around 3700 years ago. He used the language of Kabbalah in his book, which is studied by Kabbalists even today.
The languages of narrative and prophecy are also used for the description of the spiritual domain. It makes no difference for a Kabbalist in what language a book about the Creator is written. In any case, like a musician, who hears music while looking at the notes, a Kabbalist feels what the author described in a Kabbalistic text.
Material and spiritual senses
We are born with five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, through which we receive some information from outside. Our brain processes this information and produces a combined picture of the surrounding world. These sensations are called “this world” or “my world”. Precisely speaking, we don’t know what exists around us. We just determine our reaction to some outside influence.
Our ear is designed so that a membrane separates between our inner part and the outer reality. This membrane may be more or less sensitive, healthy or damaged. Accordingly, we define a sound as strong, weak, high-pitched, low-pitched or even imperceptible. The quality of the sound I hear depends not on what it is like on the outside; it is determined by the parameters of my sense, i.e. by my inner qualities. What I feel is not the outer fluctuations, but my sensor’s reaction to them. In fact, I perceive something inside and call it an outside sound.
The same refers to the rest of our senses.
It turns out that we are an absolutely closed system: each of us feels his inner reactions to an outside unknown influence. We can never perceive objectively something that happens outside. Whatever we feel in our senses is processed by our brain and the information is presented in a certain way. Outside of our senses we have no idea what this information is like. We are locked inside ourselves.
What can the additional consciously acquired sense provide me with? It allows receiving information not via my natural five senses into my egoistic desires (interpreting everything in terms of personal profit, i.e. being biased), but directly and impartially. This way I can achieve a genuine attainment of the absolute and objective universe.
This is what Kabbalah can allow us to do. Like any other science, Kabbalah is characterized by repeatability of experience, registered data etc. Kabbalah is a science and has nothing to do with religion. Religions do not teach Kabbalah, because it reveals to man the true universe, where the Supreme governing Force desires only one thing – to make man equal to itself.
Gematria of the soul
If two Kabbalists read one and the same description of the upper world, they will perceive a certain picture. But how will they be able to compare their sensations? Everyone feels them according to the inner properties of his soul.
If one Kabbalist has a bigger screen than another and his spiritual level is higher, the pictures he can see will definitely be different. If you are in the 5th grade and I am in the 10th, you naturally understand more than I do.
The quality of the soul is a combination of all of its properties. Man in our world has an entire set of properties: greed, jealousy, mercy etc., but everyone has them in a different proportion. By studying Kabbalah one can find out the desires of the soul, describe and formulate its structure.
The Creator created a single desire – the soul called “Adam”. 600.000 fixed structures, separate souls can be singled out in it. Each soul (both common and individual) includes 620 inner parts, desires. Their combination determines the soul structure.
Each of these soul structures receives its name according to the principal, distinctive quality. It has a numerical value called Gematria. Gematria of combined properties is expressed by letters, i.e. the Hebrew letters are used instead of numbers. In order to define the souls numerically, they are given names, since originally there were no numbers in Hebrew (they are designated by letters).
Then absolute attainment is achieved
As a result of their correction, all souls merge into one common soul and start interrelating within a unified system. This common soul construction binds all individual souls together, so that ultimately each of them feels what all the others feel. Then absolute attainment is achieved. Such a state is called the Final Correction. Afterwards the soul, which receives the light from above ascends to the Source – the Creator, becomes equal to Him.
All the souls are obliged to achieve this state not later than 6000 thousand years from the point of “the world creation” – when the aspiration to the upper world awakened in man for the first time. The year of 2004 coincides with 5764 from “the creation of the world”. We have a little more than two hundred years left, but our efforts may considerably shorten that period.
Why is Kabbalah a science about reception of pleasure?
In Kabbalah we understand pleasure as filling in all its manifestations: material, moral, intellectual or physical. Furthermore, here we speak of delight (filling), which is absolute, eternal, perfect and infinite.
Delight is felt only when a very strong desire is present – provided there is a crystal-clear desire for something, which is unavailable. The received pleasure instantly extinguishes desire, which in turn reduces pleasure. The greatest delight is felt only during the first contact of the desire with the desired, the way the first bit of food feels in a hungry man’s mouth. Then hunger subsides, the desire disappears and satiation sets in. The food stops bringing the delight that was felt at the beginning of the meal. Gourmets leave the most delicious dishes for the end of a feast, because greater delight compensates for the lack of desire.
If we start researching various kinds of pleasure we receive from knowledge, power, riches, sex and food, we’ll notice that all of them diminish upon reception of the desired. Oftentimes man works for years to get what he wants, but having received the object, stops enjoying it.
Just disappearance of the sensation of pleasure forces us to look for new delights. Advertising, fashion etc. supply us with new desires, and we get carried away by the constant chase after anticipated pleasures. Once the desired is received, we feel compelled to seek new enjoyment. This process is endless. Hence, man can never really be delighted. He is constantly moving.
Kabbalah teaches man how to receive non-vanishing pleasures: eternal, absolute and perfect, revealed as permanent peace and delight. Hence, this method is called “ Hochmat HaKabbalah” (the science of reception). It was given to us by the Creator, so that our enormous desires would be immediately satisfied, and then new desires would emerge, be fulfilled and so on. The absence of a gap between a desire and its filling would allow us to enjoy never-ending peace and delight.
How can such desire be created? It does not exist in our world. Hence, the soul is opposite to our entire world. It differs from this world by its property of altruism called “a screen” in Kabbalah. The process of acquiring a screen is a subject of Kabbalah studies.
We speak about a strictly practical approach, about mastering a special method. It can be accomplished in the process of studying certain Kabbalistic books. For example, the principal kabbalistic six-volume composition “The Study of Ten Sefirot” is compiled as a regular academic textbook: in each of its 16 parts, on more than 2000 pages the structure of the upper world is expounded in a modern language. Then the part entitled “The Inner Reflection” gives a more detailed explanation of its functioning. The part called “The Meanings of Words” provides the questions referring to the meaning of the used words. Finally the part “Questions and Answers” deals with descriptions and explanations of the spiritual phenomena.
We are waiting for all those, who find no peace searching for the answer to the questions about the structure and functioning of the universe, about the purpose of life. These are the people, who discover the spiritual point in their hearts. For them we created our Internet site in 22 languages – http://www.kabbalah.info.
Știința și filozofia avansează odată cu evoluția umanității. Astăzi, toți oamenii de știință și filozofii sunt de acord cu faptul că cercetările omului asupra lumii sunt limitate.
Se poate spune că omul este ca o „cutie neagră” care simte, înțelege și primește doar ceea ce vine din afară. În toate cercetările suntem limitați de cele cinci simțuri ale noastre. Și toate instrumentele pe care le construim sau le vom construi în viitor, nu vor scăpa de limitările celor cinci simțuri. Ele nu fac decât să lărgească limitele simțurilor noastre.
Asta întrucât nu ne putem imagina niciodată ce le lipsește simțurilor noastre. Și anume, de care alt simț adițional avem nevoie pentru a recunoaște adevărata realitate din jurul nostru. Nu simțim nicio lipsă legat de asta, tot așa cum nu simțim lipsa unui al șaselea deget la mâinile noastre. Ceva a cărei lipsă nu o simţim, nu poate ajunge să facă obiectul dorinţei noastre. Așadar, toate cercetările lumii noastre sunt numai conform celor cinci simțuri ale noastre, iar noi nu vom putea niciodată vedea, simți și înțelege ceea ce se află dincolo de simțurile noastre. Acestea sunt limitările concepțiilor noastre.
Totodată, imaginația noastră este produsul celor cinci simțuri ale noastre și al trăirilor ce-şi au originea în acestea. Niciodată nu ne putem imagina vreun obiect sau vreo creatură care să nu semene cu ceva ce ne este familiar prin cele cinci simţuri,
Dacă vreau, de exemplu, ca cineva să-mi deseneze o creatură de pe altă planetă, cu siguranță o va desena în concordanță cu elementele care ne sunt familiare din această lume. Iar dacă te-aș fi rugat pe tine să-mi figurezi ceva imaginar, fără îndoială mi-ai fi arătat ceva ce este foarte similar cu această lume.
Asta exemplifică toate limitările noastre: cu toții trăim într-o lume mică, și nu suntem capabili să simțim, implicit să ne imaginăm, altceva în afara ei. Și întrucât limitările noastre sunt absolute, nicio știință sau filozofie nu ne vor putea ajuta vreodată să înțelegem ce se află dincolo de lumea aceasta.
S-ar putea ca, în același spațiu, în alte dimensiuni să existe alte creaturi, alte lumi. Și nu suntem capabili să le simțim deoarece ne lipsesc vasele necesare – simțurile pentru a le simți. Este posibil ca, în această altă lume mai mare decât a noastră, să se găsească raţiunile existenței noastre, ale tuturor incidentelor care ni se întâmplă și cauza faptului că murim. Iar noi, ignorând aceste cauze, trăim fără cunoașterea adevărată și fără un scop adevărat, ca fiind inconștienți în lumea noastră.
Sunt oameni, în lumea noastră, care primesc simțuri adiționale, ceea ce face posibil ca ei să simtă existența mai amplă care ne înconjoară. Acești oameni sunt numiți cabaliști, întrucât ei știu cum să primească o cunoaștere superioară cunoașterii noastre.
Acești oameni spun că în jurul nostru există lumi deasupra lumii noastre. Și toate aceste lumi sunt precum foile de ceapă, iar lumea noastră se găseşte chiar în mijlocul acestor lumi. Iar noi, cei care existăm în această lume, suntem capabili să simțim doar această lume, sfera cea mai adâncă a întregii existențe. Suntem născuți, trăim și murim in această sferă, care este numită această lume.
Cabaliștii ne spun că „această lume” este numită astfel deoarece este doar un mic fragment din adevărata realitate pe care o putem simți prin simțurile noastre. Și dacă am putea dezvolta simțuri adiționale, atunci ceea ce am putea simți cu ele s-ar numi – lumea ce va să vină.
Metoda cu ajutorul căreia putem ajunge să simțim și să trăim experienţa lumii ce va să vină se numește Înțelepciunea Cabala.
In a brightly lit house with spacious rooms, a pleasant-looking man is busy in the kitchen. He is preparing a meal for his long-awaited guest. While hovering over the pots and pans, he reminds himself of the delicacies his guest so enjoys.
The host’s joyous anticipation is very evident. Gracefully, with the moves of a dancer, he fills the table with five different courses. Next to the table are two cushioned chairs.
There is a knock on the door, and the guest enters. The host’s face brightens at the sight of the guest and he invites him to sit at the dining table. The guest sits down and the host looks at him fondly.
The guest regards the delicacies in front of him and sniffs them from a courteous distance. It is apparent that he likes what he sees, but he expresses his admiration with tactful restraint, not revealing that he knows the food is meant for him.
Host: Do sit down. I’ve made these things especially for you because I know how much you like them. We both know how familiar I am with your tastes and dining habits. I know you’re hungry and I know how much you can eat, so I’ve prepared everything exactly the way you like it, in the exact amount that you can finish without leaving a crumb.
Narrator: If there were any food left when the guest was satiated, both Host and Guest would be unhappy. The host would be unhappy because that would mean he wants to give his guest more than his guest wants to receive.
The guest would be disappointed at not being able to fulfill the host’s wish that he would consume it all. The guest would also regret if he were full while there were still more delicacies left over, and was unable to enjoy any more of them. It would mean that the guest lacked enough desire for all the pleasure being offered.
Guest (solemnly): Indeed, you have prepared exactly what I’d like to see and eat at my dinner table. Even the amount is just right. This is all I could ever want out of life: to enjoy all this. For me, it would be the ultimate divine pleasure.
Host: Please, have it all and enjoy it. It will delight me.
The guest begins to eat.
Guest (obviously enjoying and with his mouth full, yet looking somewhat troubled): Why is it that the more I eat, the less I enjoy the food? The pleasure I receive extinguishes the hunger and I enjoy it less and less. The nearer I get to feeling full, the less I enjoy my meal.
And when I’ve received all the food, I’m left with nothing but the memory of the pleasure, not the pleasure itself. The pleasure was there only while I was hungry. When the hunger faded away, so did the joy. I received what I longed for, and here I am left with neither pleasure nor joy. I don’t want anything any more, and I have nothing to bring me joy.
Host (a little resentful): I’ve done all I could to please you. It isn’t my fault that the very receiving of pleasure extinguishes the sensation of delight because the yearning is gone. In any case, you’re now full of what I have prepared for you.
Guest (defending himself): By receiving all that you’ve prepared for me, I can’t even thank you because I’ve stopped enjoying the abundance you’ve given me. The main thing I feel is that youhave given me a great deal, while Ihave given you nothing in return. As a result, you’ve caused me to feel shame by thoughtlessly showing that you are the giver and I am the taker.
Host: I didn’t show you that you’re the taker and I’m the giver. But the very fact that you’ve received something from me without returning anything made you feel guilty, despite the fact that kindness is my nature.
I want nothing more than to have you accept my food. I can’t change that. For example: I raise fish. They don’t care who feeds and nourishes them. I also tend to Bob, my cat. He, too, couldn’t care less whose hand fed him. But Rex, my dog, doescare. He will not take food from just anyone.
People are built in such a way that there are some who receive without sensing that someone is giving to them, and they just take. Some even steal with no remorse! But when people develop a sense of self, they know when they are being given to, and it awakens their awareness that they are the takers. That brings with it shame, self-reproach and agony.
Guest (somewhat appeased): But what can I do to receive pleasure on the one hand, without perceiving myself as the taker? How can I neutralize the feeling within me that you are the giver and I’m the taker? If there’s a give-and-take situation, and it brings up this shame in me, what can I do to avoid it?
Perhaps you can act in such a way that I will not feel like the receiver! But that’s possible only if I’m unaware of your existence (just like your fish) or if I sensed you, but did not understand that you were giving to me (like a cat or an underdeveloped human).
Host (narrowing his eyes in concentration and speaking thoughtfully): I think there’s a solution after all. Perhaps you’ll be able to find a way to neutralize the sensation of reception within you?
Guest (his eyes light up): Oh, I’ve got it! You’ve always wanted to have me as your guest. So tomorrow, I will come here and behave in such a way that will make you feel like the receiver. I will still be the receiver, of course, eating all that you’ve prepared, but I will regardmyself as the giver.
ACT TWO
The next day, in the same room, the host has prepared a fresh meal with exactly the same delicacies as the day before. He sits at the table and the guest enters, wearing an unfamiliar, somewhat secretive expression on his face.
Host (smiling brightly, unaware of the change): I’ve been waiting for you. I’m so happy to see you. Do sit down.
The guest sits at the table and politely smells the food.
Guest (looking at the food): All this is for me?
Host: But of course! Only for you! I would be delighted if you were willing to receive all that from me.
Guest: Thanks, butI don’t really want it all that much.
Host: Well, that’s not true! You do want it and I know that for a fact! Why won’t you have it?
Guest: I can’t take all this from you. It makes me feel uneasy.
Host: What do you mean, uneasy? I want so much for you to have all this! Who do you think I’ve prepared this for? It would give me so much pleasure if you were to eat it all.
Guest: Perhaps you’re right, but I don’t want to eat all this food.
Host: But you’re not just receiving a meal; you’re also doing me a favor by sitting at my table enjoying what I have prepared. I’ve prepared all of it not for you, but because I enjoy your receiving it from me.
That’s why your consent to eat would be doing me a favor. You’d be receiving all that forme! You wouldn’t be taking, but rather, givingme great joy. In fact, it would not be you who would receive from my meal, but rather I who would be getting great joy from you. You’d be the one giving to me, and not the other way around.
The Host imploringly slides the fragrant plate in front of his reluctant guest. The Guest pushes it away. The Host again slides it near his Guest, and again he’s turned down. The Host sighs, his whole appearance revealing how much he wants his Guest to accept the food. The Guest now takes the attitude of the giver who’s doing the Host a favor.
Host: I implore you! Please, make me happy.
The guest starts to eat, then pauses to think. Then he starts again, and again he pauses. Each time the guest pauses, the host encourages him to continue. Only after some persuasion does the guest continue. The host keeps placing new delicacies in front of his guest, each time begging him to please him by accepting them.
Guest: If I can be sure that I’m eating because it gives you pleasure, and not because Iwant it, then you’ve become the receiver and I’ve become the giver of pleasure. But for that to be so, I must be sure that I’m eating for your sake alone, and not for mine.
Host: But of course you’re eating only for me. After all, you sat at the table and wouldn’t taste a thing until I proved to you that you’re not just eating, but rather rendering me great joy. You’ve come here to give me pleasure.
Guest: But if I were to accept something I did not initially desire, I would not enjoy receiving it, and you would not enjoy watching me willingly accept your offering. So it turns out that you can receive pleasure only to the extent that I enjoy your offering.
Host: I know exactly how much you like this food and how much of each dish you can eat. Therefore, I’ve prepared these five courses. After all, I know your desire for this and that dish and not for any other thing in your life.
Knowing how much you enjoy them evokes the sensation of your pleasure in me. It also pleases me that you enjoy my dishes. I have no doubt that the pleasure I receive from you is genuine.
Guest: How can I be sure that I am enjoying these dishes only because you want me to, and because you’ve prepared all this for me? How can I be sure that I shouldn’t turn you down because by receiving from you I will actually be giving you joy?
Host: Quite simple! Because you totally refused my offers until you were sure that you were doing it for my pleasure. Then you accepted. After each bite you take, you will feel you’re eating for my pleasure, and you will sense the joy you bring to me.
Guest: I can get rid of the shame and take pride in giving you pleasure if I think, each time I receive, that I’m receiving it for you. .
Host: So eat it all! You want it all, and thus you’ll be giving me every bit of pleasure you can!
Guest (eating with pleasure and finishing every last dish, but afterwards, realizing he is still not satisfied): So now I’ve eaten it all and enjoyed it. There is no more food to enjoy. My pleasure has gone because I’m not hungry anymore. I can’t bring any of us any joy right now. So what do I do next?
Host: I don’t know. You’ve given me great pleasure by receiving from me. What else can I do for you, so that you’ll enjoy again and again? How can you want to eat again, if you’ve eaten it all? Where will you get a new appetite?
Guest: True, my desire to enjoy has turned into a desire to bestow joy upon you, and if now I can’t enjoy, how can I bring you pleasure? After all, I can’t create within me an appetite for another five-course meal!
Host: I have not prepared any more than you desired. I’ve done everything I can to please you. Your problem is: „How can I not stop wanting more, while I receive more and more.”
Guest: But if the pleasure doesn’t satisfy my hunger, I can’t feel it as pleasure. The sensation of pleasure comes when I satisfy my needs. If I weren’t hungry, I couldn’t enjoy the food and hence could not have bestowed joy upon you. What can I do to remain in constant want, and constantly render you joy by showing you my pleasure?
Host: For that, you need a different source of want and a different means of satisfaction. By using your hunger to receive both food and the joy from eating it, you extinguish them both.
Guest: I’ve got it! The problem is that I prevented myself from feeling joy if I felt you would benefit from it. I refused to such an extent that, although the whole meal was set before me, I couldn’t accept it because of my shame in receiving it. That shame was so intense that I was willing to starve, if only to avoid feeling the shame of being the recipient.
Host: But then, once you were convinced that you weren’t receiving for yourself, you began to receive for my sake. Because of that, you enjoyed both the food and the pleasure you were giving me. That’s why eating the food should be in accordance with your will. After all, without pleasure from the food, what pleasure could you render me?
Guest: But it’s not enough to receive for you, knowing that you enjoy doing this for me. If my pleasure comes from your joy, then the source of my pleasure is not the food, but you! I have to feel your joy.
Host: That should be easy, sinceI’m totally open about it.
Guest: Yes, but what does my pleasure depend on? It depends on you, the one I’m giving pleasure to. That means that my pleasure depends on how strongly I wish to bestow joy upon you; that is, to the extent that I sense your greatness.
Host: So what can I do?
Guest: If I knew more of you, if I had a more intimate knowledge of you, if you really were great, then your greatness and almightiness would have been revealed to me. Then I would have enjoyed both giving you pleasure, being aware of who was receiving it. Then, my pleasure would have been proportional to the disclosing of your greatness.
Host: Is it up to me?
Guest: Look, if I give, it’s important for me to know how much I am giving and to whom. If it is to beloved ones, such as my children, then I am willing to give to the extent of my love for them. This gives me joy. But if someone off the street comes to my house, I will give that person something because I can empathize with being in need, and hope that when I’m in dire need, someone will help me.
Host: This principle is what lies beneath the whole concept of social welfare. People realized that if there were no mutual assistance, they would all suffer. That is, they would themselves suffer when they became the needy ones. Egoism forces people to give, but it is not true giving. It is simply a way of assuring one’s survival.
Guest: I really don’t think this kind of giving is genuine. All our “generosity” is nothing more than a way for us to receive pleasure by satisfying ourselves and those we love.
Host: So how can I give you pleasure that goes beyond the pleasure found in your food?
Guest: That is not up to you, but to me. If the person coming to my house were not a common person, but a very important personality, I would receive greater pleasure in giving to that person than to an ordinary person. That means that my pleasure depends not on the food, but on who prepared it!
Host: So what can I do to make you respect me more?
Guest: Because I receive for your benefit, not mine, the more respect I have for you, the more pleasure I will get knowing to whom I’m giving it.
Host: So how can I deepen your esteem of me?
Guest: Tell me about yourself, show me who you are! Then I could get pleasure not merely from receiving the food, but also from knowing who is giving it to me, knowing with whom I have a relationship. The smallest portion of food I receive from a great figure will give me a much greater amount of pleasure. You see, the pleasure will grow in proportion to how great I consider you to be.
Host: That means that for the pleasure to become great, I must open myself up and you must develop a likeness of me in you.
Guest: Exactly! That is what creates a new hunger in me—the desire to give to you grows in proportion to your greatness. It is not because I want to escape the sensation of shame, because the shame won’t let me satisfy my hunger
Host: That way you begin to sense not the hunger, but my greatness and your desire to render me pleasure. So are you saying that you wish not to fulfill my appetite, but to bask in my greatness and your desire to please me?
Guest: And what’s wrong with that? I can receive pleasure from the food many times more than the food itself can actually give, because I add to the hunger a second desire: a will to bestow upon you.
Host: That, too, I must fulfill.
Guest: No. The will to do this–and its fulfillment–I will create in myself. For that I need only to know you. Reveal yourself to me and I will create within me a craving to bestow upon you. I will also receive pleasure from the giving, and not from the elimination of shame.
Host: What will you gain from knowing me, aside from the fact that your pleasure will increase?
Guest (clearly hinting that that’s the point of it all): There’s another major benefit. If I create in me a new will, apart from the inherent hunger, I can become the master of that will. I can always increase it, always fill it with pleasure, and always bestow it upon you by receiving pleasure.
Host: Won’t you lose that will when it is filled, just as you lost your hunger?
Guest: No, because I can always create within me a greater impression of you. I can always create new desires to bestow upon you, and by receiving from you I will carry out these desires. That process can go on indefinitely.
Host: What does it depend on?
Guest: It depends on constantly discovering new virtues in you and sensing your greatness.
Host: That means that, for constant self-indulgence–that even when receiving selfish pleasure the hunger will not cease but rather increase by that reception–a creation of a new hunger must be formed: the will to feel the giver.
Guest: Yes, in addition to receiving pleasure (the delicacies), the receiver will develop a sense of the giver’s greatness. The discovery of the host and the delicacies therefore becomes the same. In other words, the pleasure itself creates an awareness of the giver. The giver, the food and the attributes of the giver are one and the same.
Host: SoIt turns out that what you initially wanted, subconsciously, was for the giver to be revealed. For you this is, in fact, a filling up and nothing else.
Guest: In the beginning I didn’t even understand that this was what I wanted. I only saw the food and thought that that was what I wanted.
Host: I did it on purpose, so that gradually you would develop your own independent will that you would supposedly create yourself, so that you would fill it by yourself. You would be taking the place of both guest and host simultaneously.
Guest: Why is it all built like that?
Host: For the purpose of bringing you to completeness. So that you will want each thing in totality and will attain maximum fulfillment. So that you can enjoy each desire to the fullest and so that the pleasure would be unbounded.
Guest: So why didn’t I know about it to begin with? All I saw around me were objects I desired, without suspecting that what I really wanted all that time was you.
Host: It’s specifically done so that while you might be in a situation in which you weren’t feeling me. You would come to me by yourself and would create that inner will on your own.
Guest (bewildered): But if I can create that will within me, where are you in the picture?
Host: It is I who created the simple egotistical will in you to begin with, and I continue to develop it by constantly surrounding you with new objects of delight.
Guest: But what is it all for?
Host: For the purpose of convincing you that chasing pleasure will never satisfy you completely.
Guest: I can see that: The minute I get what I want, the pleasure is instantly gone, and again I long for something, either bigger or altogether different. Thus, I’m on a constant pleasure hunt, but never quite attain it; the minute I get my hands on it, it slips away.
Host: And that is precisely why you should develop your sense of self and become aware of the futility of this type of existence.
Guest: But if you were to develop in me the picture of how things really are, I would understand the meaning and purpose of all that was taking place!
Host: That picture will be revealed only after you are totally convinced of the purposelessness of your egoistical existence, and become aware that a new form of conduct is required. You need to know your roots and the meaning of your life.
Guest: But that process lasts thousands of years. When does it end?
Host: Nothing is created needlessly. All that exists is there for the sole purpose of revealing to creations a different form of existence. That process is slow because every little desire needs to appear and be recognized as unworthy of use in its preliminary form.
Guest: And are there many such desires?
Host: A great many, and in direct proportion to the pleasure you will receive in the future. But the pleasure from receiving the food doesn’t change. You can’t eat more than one lunch a day. The capacity of your stomach will not change. Therefore, the amount that comes from me and is received by you doesn’t change.
But when you dine at my table in order to please me, that very thought creates in you a new will to eat and a new pleasure, apart from the pleasure for the food. That pleasure is measured in size and power, or in quantity and quality, according to the amount of pleasure you get from dining at my table in order to please me.
Guest: So how do I increase my desire to receive pleasure for your sake?
Host: That depends on your appreciation of, and respect for, Me. It depends on how great you consider me to be.
Guest: So how can I increase my appreciation of you?
Host: For that you simply need to know more about me–to see me in every action that I make, to observe and be convinced of how great I really am, and to be convinced that I am almighty, merciful and kind.
Guest: Then show yourself!
Host: If your request stems from a desire to bestow upon me, I will reveal myself. But if it stems from a desire to please yourself by seeing me, I will not only refrain from disclosing myself to you, but I will hide myself ever deeper.
Guest: Why? Is it not the same for you whichever way I receive from you? After all, you want me to enjoy. Why hide from me?
Host: If I disclose myself entirely, you will receive so much pleasure from the eternity, almightiness and wholeness of me, that you will not be able to accept that pleasure for my sake. That thought will not even cross your mind and you will later feel ashamed again. Besides, because the pleasure will be perpetual, it will, as we’ve seen before, eliminate your want, and again you’ll be left drained of will.
Guest (finally realizing): So that’s the reason that you hide from me, in order to help me! And I thought that it was because you didn’t want me to know you.
Host: My greatest wish is that you’ll see me and be near me. But what can I do if then you’ll not be able to sense pleasure? Wouldn’t that be the same as dying?
Guest: But if I am unaware of you, then how can I make any progress? It all depends on how much you show yourself to me.
Host: Indeed, only the feeling of my presence creates in you the ability to grow and to receive. Without that sense, you just swallow everything up and immediately stop sensing any pleasure. That’s why, when I appear before you, you feel shame, the sensation of one who gives, and a will to receive the same attributes as the giver
Guest: So reveal yourself to me as soon as possible.
Host: I will, but only to the extent that you will benefit from it, although I’d always like to show myself to you. After all, I hid myself on purpose to create conditions of free choice for you. In this way, you can be free to act and choose how to think independently of my presence. There will be no pressure on the part of the host.
Guest: So how do you reveal yourself to me?
Host: I do it slowly and gradually. Each degree of disclosure is called a “World,” from the most hidden degree to the most exposed. The End
From here it follows that our main objective is to elevate the importance of the Creator in our own eyes, i.e., to acquire faith in His greatness and might. We must do this because this is our only possible means of escaping from the prison of personal egoism and entering into the higher worlds.
As mentioned earlier, we can experience extreme difficulty when we decide to follow the path of faith and to abandon all concern for the self. We then feel isolated from the whole world, suspended in nothingness, without the support of common sense, reason or prior experience to support us.
It is also as if we have abandoned our own environment, family, and friends for the sake of being united with the Creator. These sensations arise when we lack faith in the Creator, when we cannot sense Him, or His presence, or His rule over all creation. At these times, we can feel an absence of the object of faith.
However, once we begin to sense the Creator’s presence, we are ready to submit fully to His power and to follow the Creator blindly, always prepared to nullify ourselves completely to Him, disparaging our own intellect almost instinctively. For this reason, the most important problem confronting us is how to perceive the presence of the Creator.
Therefore, whenever such doubts arise, it is worthwhile to dedicate all our energy and thoughts for the sake of the Creator. We must immediately aspire to cling to the Creator with every fiber of our being. This feeling about the Creator is called “faith.”
The process can be accelerated if we make this an important objective. The more important it is to us, the faster we can achieve faith; i.e., our awareness of the Creator.
Furthermore, the more importance we assign to perceiving the Creator, the stronger the perception will be, until it becomes part of our being. Luck ( mazalin Hebrew) is a special manner of Providence that we cannot influence in any way. But it is dictated from Above that we, as individuals, are responsible for trying to change our own nature.Afterwards, the Creator will evaluate our efforts in this direction, and eventually He will alter our nature, as well as elevate us above our world.
Therefore, before we make any efforts, we should realize that we cannot expect the Upper Forces, luck, or some other special treatment from Above to intervene on our behalf. Rather, we must begin by fully recognizing that if we ourselves do not take action, we will not arrive at what we desire.
However, once we complete a task, or engage in study, or exert any other effort, we should reach the following conclusion: Everything that we have achieved as a result of our efforts would have come about anyway, even without exerting any effort, since the result has been predetermined by the Creator. Thus, if we yearn to comprehend true Providence, we must early on try in every undertaking to assimilate these contradictions in ourselves.
For instance, in the morning we should start our daily routine of study and work, leaving behind all thoughts of the Creator’s divine rule over the world and over its inhabitants. Each of us must work as if the final result depended only on us.
But at the end of the day, under no circumstances should we allow ourselves to imagine that what we have achieved is the result of our own efforts. We must realize that even if we stayed in bed all day, we would still arrive at the same result, because that result has been pre-determined by the Creator.
Therefore, one who wishes to live a life of truth must, on the one hand, obey the laws of society and of nature just like everyone else, but on the other hand, must also believe in the Creator’s absolute rule over the world. All of our deeds can be divided into good, neutral or evil. Our task is to elevate our neutral deeds to the level of good ones.
We can accomplish this by being aware that, even as we are performing the deeds, ultimately, the will of the Creator shall rule. For example, when we are ill, while we are aware that a cure is completely in the hands of the Creator, we should take the medication prescribed by an established physician and believe that the doctor’s skill will help us overcome our condition. But when, after taking the medicine in strict accordance with the doctor’s orders, we recover, we must believe that we would have recovered anyway because it was in the Creator’s plan.
Therefore, instead of thanking the doctor, we must thank the Creator. In this way, we are converting a neutral act into a spiritual one, and by repeating this procedure in regard to all our neutral acts, we can gradually “spiritualize” all of our thoughts.
The examples and explanations given above are important because they may actually become serious stumbling blocks that can impede our spiritual elevation. The problem sometimes escalates because we think we understand the principles of Divine rule. We will concentrate our energies, artificially, on strengthening our belief in the omnipresence of the Creator, instead of working hard on ourselves.
Often, in order to demonstrate our faith in the Creator, or simply out of laziness, we assume that we need not work on ourselves, since all is in the Creator’s power. Or, we may close our eyes and rely on blind faith alone, at the same time eluding vital questions about real faith.
However, by avoiding answering these questions, we rob ourselves of the possibility of spiritual progress. It is said of our world, „Thou shall earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow.” Yet, once we have earned something, it is hard for us to admit that the result did not result from our hard work or abilities, but was instead the work of the Creator.
We must strive by the sweat of our brow to strengthen our faith in the Creator’s absolute rule. But in order to grow and experience new spiritual sensations, we must make an effort to understand and accept the contradictory nature of Divine rule (which only appears contradictory due to our blindness).
Only then will we know exactly what is required of us and can grow to experience new spiritual sensations.
