Lesson 3
Topics examined in this lesson:
-
5 Senses
-
Revelation
-
Amendments in Spiritual Worlds
-
Attracting the Surrounding Light
-
Correcting the Ego
-
An Exit to the Spiritual Worlds
Even an insignificant change in our senses will significantly modify our perception of reality and our world.
Everything we sense is called the Creation. As our sensations are subjective, the picture we build is also subjective.
Scientists try to expand the limits of our senses (with microscopes, telescopes, all kinds of sensors, and so on), but all these aids do not change the essence of our perceptions.
It is as if we are imprisoned by our sensory organs. All the incoming information penetrates us through the five sensors: visual, auditory, tactual, gustatory and olfactory.
The received information undergoes some processing inside a person, is sensed and assessed following one algorithm: is it better or worse for me.
From above, we are given the opportunity to create a sixth organ of sensation. This is acquired with the help of the science of Kabbalah.
If we study it correctly, using authentic sources in a group of like-minded people and under the guidance of an authentic teacher, we can qualitatively modify our organs of sensation and discover the spiritual world and the Creator.
Kabbalah teaches that the only thing created is the desire to have pleasure and delight. Our brain is aimed only at the development of this sensation, measuring it correctly. The brain is an auxiliary appliance, nothing more.
The result of studying Kabbalah correctly is a comprehensive and thorough experience of the true universe, as clear as our present perception of our world.
The perception of both worlds gives us a full and large-scale picture, including the highest force, the Creator who rules the entire universe.
Kabbalah is talking about new sensations and feelings perceived by man; they appear not in man’s brain but in his heart. The heart reacts to man’s inner reactions even though it is simply a pump.
In fact our sensations – feelings – are a pure spiritual substance. The various organs that enable us to “live” them are also of a spiritual nature. The heart simply reacts, since it operates to provide energy to the body in accordance with our various reactions.
In our initial condition, we simply do not understand or perceive that something is hidden from us. Yet if during our studies we begin to appreciate this fact, it already becomes a step forward in the right direction.
Further on, we begin to perceive a higher force, which establishes contact with us, sends us different situations, and their causes and effects become clearer. This already is a certain degree of revelation.
A person begins to evaluate his own deeds in accordance with what the Creator sends him. One begins to criticize one’s own actions and reactions.
He thinks “This is sent to me by the Creator so that I could let it go” or “In this case I have to behave differently.” Such self-criticism transports a man to the level of “Man” because he has become more than merely the two-legged creature he was before.
The man starts sensing the Creator, and sees which actions are useful to him and which are harmful.
As man sees all the due causes and effects, he begins to know what is useful and what is not. Naturally, nobody will consciously violate something while he sees what brings him a reward and what leads to a punishment.
Therefore, the revelation of the Creator grants man the opportunity to behave correctly in each specific case with maximum benefit. Such a man is then called a tzadik, a righteous man. He perceives the Creator, the reward for all good, as well as the additional reward for not violating a commandment.
A righteous man always justifies the Creator. When a man increasingly performs spiritual commandments, more and more light enters him. This inner light is called Torah.
On further revelation of the Creator, man ascends the spiritual ladder and on each rung he performs a spiritual commandment, and receives, in turn, a new portion of light.
He becomes more righteous until he reaches such a level where it is possible for him to perform commandments regardless of himself, however good or bad this might be for him.
Man sees the Creator as absolutely kind and all His actions as perfect. All this is the result of a certain degree of revelation of the Creator.
As he moves along the 6,000 steps, man realizes that everything the Creator does to him and to his fellow men stems from the desire to endlessly delight all created beings. Man is then overcome by a feeling of endless gratitude and a desire to thank the Creator through all his actions.
These actions aim at giving to the Creator. This means doing more and more to please the Creator. Such a condition is called the condition of eternal and endless love for the Creator.
At this stage man understands that the Creator only wished him good in the past. Before, when man was in his uncorrected condition, he believed that the Creator often put him in trouble, brought him grief.
The Light of the Almighty is unchanging, but when it enters an antagonistic desire it arouses an antagonistic feeling.
The spiritual world is perceived only on the edge of positive and negative conditions. One should not fear any situation that may occur.
When one commences to study Kabbalah, suddenly problems, previously unknown, begin to crop up. Without the learning of Kabbalah this would have taken a number of years. Now, the process has just been accelerated.
For this occurrence, one may use the ratio of one day for ten years. This does not mean that the number of events planned for everybody is reduced. Rather, that the speed of their occurrence is compressed over a shorter span of time.
If a student attends the group lectures and listens correctly, while lessening his ego, his pride and superficial knowledge, he will begin to delve into what he hears and pay more attention to it.
We study the process of emanation of the worlds from above to below, in order to draw the spiritual Light in relation to the material studied.
This Light gradually cleanses our Vessels, corrects them and renders them altruistic.
We have students who have been studying for ten years together with those who have commenced just a few months ago, but everyone is able to advance accordingly without hindrance.
Actually, today students come with a greater desire to understand everything; their souls are more experienced and prepared.
For the length of time you study Kabbalah is not important in itself. What is most important is to what extent the student bonds with the group’s desire, how he merges with it and humbles himself with respect. Due to this bonding with the group, it is possible to reach, after a few hours, spiritual levels that would have taken years to attain through one’s own efforts.
One needs to avoid pseudo-Kabbalists, religious fanatics who are miles away from true Kabbalah. One must study authentic literature only, and belong to a single group headed by one teacher.
When I discovered Kabbalah, I wanted to find out how our world, the cosmos, the planets, the stars and so on are designed. Whether there is life out in space, what the correlation is between all these aspects.
I was interested in various forms of biological life and their meaning. My specialization is biological cybernetics. I wanted to uncover the system of the regulation of organisms.
While following this path I was urged from above toward Kabbalah. As I learned more and more, I became less and less interested in such matters. I began to understand that Kabbalah does not deal with the biological body, its life and death, which are unrelated to the spiritual sphere.
The spiritual world permeates our material world and shapes everything existing in it: inanimate, vegetative, animal and human.
Thanks to Kabbalah our world can be studied correctly by understanding its spiritual roots and their interaction with it.
For example, the study of Talmud Esser HaSefirot, composed by the Baal HaSulam, tells us about the birth of the soul in the spiritual worlds. If one reads it word for word, it does not differ from the conception of a human being in his mother’s womb, the periods of pregnancy, birth and feeding. It sounds like pure medicine.
One then begins to grasp why we perceive in our world such consequences of the spiritual laws of development. The development of the soul is explained in a language that describes the development of the body in our world.
The various types of horoscopes, astrology and predictions have nothing to do with Kabbalah. They are related to the body and its animal property to sense different things. Dogs and cats can also feel the approaching of some natural phenomena.
In present times many people rush to use so called “New Age” techniques, trying to change themselves, their lives and their destinies. Destiny may be changed, in fact, if you exert influence on your soul and learn how to control it.
When studying the laws of the spiritual world we begin to understand the laws of our world. Most sciences, such as physics, chemistry, biology, etc. become simpler and more intelligible when viewed from the viewpoint of Kabbalah.
Still, when man reaches the appropriate spiritual level, he does not care so much for material sciences, which are less organized. Substances that are spiritually organized now become of paramount interest and importance.
A Kabbalist dreams to rise above his present level but not to go down. Any Kabbalist may perceive the roots of development of all sciences, if he wishes.
The Baal HaSulam, Rabbi Ashlag, sometimes wrote about the correlation between spiritual and material sciences. A great Kabbalist, the Gaon of Vilna, enjoyed making comparisons between spiritual and material laws. He even wrote a book on geometry. Perceiving one of the highest spiritual worlds, he was able to draw a connection directly from there down to the science of our world.
As for us, having no idea of the spiritual worlds, we shall simply read these books by pronouncing words.
But even by just pronouncing these words, we are invisibly linking ourselves to the spiritual by attracting Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light) from a certain level where the author was. When reading the books of the genuine Kabbalists, we allow the Ohr Makif to drive us forward.
The diversity of levels and types of Kabbalist souls accounts for the variety of styles expressed in Kabbalistic works, as well as the various degrees of Light intensity we may draw while studying them.
However, the Light emanating from the various books of the Torah, and amongst them, from its special part, Kabbalah, does always exist.
The Kabbalist Moses wrote a book about the wandering of his people in the desert. If we only take these writings literally as stories, then the Torah will have no impact on us.
But if we delve deeper, and understand what is truly described there, then the Five Books become a Kabbalistic revelation, wherein all the degrees of understanding of the spiritual worlds are expounded. This is exactly what Moses wanted to pass on.
The same relates to King Solomon’s “Song of Songs.” Everything depends on how it is read and perceived. Either just as a love song or as a spiritual revelation, on which the Zohar comments as the highest connection to the Creator.
It is important to find authentic Kabbalistic sources whose content will induce thoughts about the Creator and the goal that needs to be reached. Then there is no doubt you will reach it.
The sources that divert one from the true goal will not bring any good. The Surrounding Light, Ohr Makif, is drawn according to one’s desire. The Light will not shine if one’s desire does not aim at a genuine goal.
We speak of the number 600,000 souls; where does this originate? From a Partzuf made of 6 Sefirot, each one of them is in turn composed of 10. This Partzuf has risen to the level of 10,000. Hence the number 600,000.
We constantly breed different desires, whatever they are. Our development depends on the level of these desires.
In the beginning our desires are on the lowest level, the so-called animal desires. Later these are followed by desires for wealth, honor, social position and so on.
On a higher level are the desires for knowledge, music, art, culture, etc. Finally, we find the more elevated desire for spirituality.
Such desires gradually appear in the souls after many incarnations in this world or, as we say, with the development of generations.
First the souls living exclusively in their animal nature life were incarnated in our world. Then, next generations of souls experienced the desire for money, honor and power. Finally, these gave way to the desire for sciences and for something higher that the sciences cannot provide.
It is impossible for man to experience two different desires because this would mean that they have not been properly defined.
After they are carefully analyzed and sorted, it appears to be the one and only desire. A man receives several desires simultaneously. He then selects only one of them if he is able to correctly assess his level.
The spiritual Vessel (Kli) broke into 600,000 parts and lost its Screen. Now the Screen is to be rebuilt and the broken parts themselves must perform this task, so that they can “live” the path of return, feel what they are and create the Creator out of themselves.
The spiritual Vessel consists of two parts: one kind ranges from Peh down to Tabur and is called Kelim de Ashpa’a (Vessels of bestowing); they correspond to the desires to give without restraint.
Even though they are internally selfish, they operate according to the principle of giving without restraint.
The second part ranges from Tabur down and it is composed of purely selfish desires which operate for receiving, not giving, and they are called Kelim de Kabbalah (Vessels of Receiving).
The point of the matter is not that the upper desires are good, and the lower desires bad, but that the upper desires are “small,” and the lower desires “big.”
For this reason there is a Screen on the upper desires as opposed to the lower ones. The upper part of the Partzuf is called Galgalta ve Eynaim, the lower part is called AHP.
The weaker desires undergo their correction first; they do not require much time for this process. Then the desires under Tabur are corrected, these are more selfish.
The altruistic desires called Galgalta ve Eynaim need to be corrected first and next the egoistic desires called AHP. At the end of this process everything merges back into one common Kli. That is why the difference between the altruistic Vessels and the egoistic all comes down to the timing of correction.
The time for Galgalta ve Eynaim’s correction has come and their desires are exposed. They have reached a higher degree of development.
On the other hand, the AHP cannot proceed to the correction of their desires as these are still hidden in a latent state.
But when the time comes, we will realize how much bigger are the AHPs’ desires compared to Galgalta ve Eynaim’s. As soon as these souls begin their correction, the already corrected souls of Galgalta ve Eynaim will be able to rise thanks to them.
The egoistic Kelim, the AHP, by virtue of their forthcoming correction, place high demands on Galgalta ve Eynaim, the altruistic Kelim. Many of the latter have not yet started their correction and obstruct the correction of the former.
In order to reach the spiritual world, our generation needs to read very specific literature.
Today it is the Talmud Esser HaSefirot. 500 years ago, it was books written by the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria. Before the Ari it was the Book of Zohar.
Each generation is offered a special book serving as a key to enter the spiritual world. This book corresponds to the development of the souls of the given generation.
Once a person actually reaches the spiritual world, he may read all the books because he now sees that each one of them is suitable for him.
Matching the spiritual world, achieving its attributes, means observing internally all its laws. As a consequence, the soul evolves.
When the time of complete attainment comes: all worlds – spiritual and material – will merge into a single whole. Man will then be able to live in all worlds at the same time.