Chapter 8. Reincarnation and Kabbalah
None of us are new souls; we all have accumulated experiences from previous lives in other incarnations. In each generation over the past six thousand years, souls have descended that were here on previous occasions. They are not new souls, but souls of a different kind that attained some form of spiritual development.
Souls descend to earth in a special order: They enter the world cyclically. The number of souls is not infinite; they return again and again, progressing toward correction. They are encased in new physical bodies that are more or less the same, but the types of souls that descend are different. This is referred to nowadays as reincarnation. Kabbalists use another term: the development of generations.
This intertwining, the connection of the soul and body, assists in the correction of the soul. Man is referred to as “soul,” not “body.” The body itself can be replaced, just as organs can now be replaced. The body is useful only in that it serves as an encasement through which the soul can work. Each generation physically resembles the previous one, but they are different from one another because each time the souls descend with the added experience of their previous lives here. They arrive with renewed strength obtained while they were in heaven.
Thus, each generation possesses different desires and goals from the previous one. This leads to the specific development of each generation. Even a generation that does not reach the desire to know true reality or God-like recognition accomplishes the task by the suffering it endures. That is its way of making progress toward true reality.
All souls are derived from one, called Adam HaRishon (the soul of the first man). This does not refer to Adam as a mere personality from the Bible. It is a concept of spiritual, inner reality. Parts of the soul of the first man descend into the world, taking the form of bodies, leading to a connection between body and soul. Reality is directed in such a manner that the souls descend and correct themselves. When they enter into body form they raise their level 620 times above the level from which they began. The order in which souls descend into this reality of wearing a body goes from light to heavy.
The soul of the first man comprises many parts and many desires, some light, others heavy, based on the amount of egoism and cruelty they possess. They come into our world, the lighter ones first, the heavier ones following. Accordingly, correction requirements differ.
In their descent into the world, souls have gathered experience from their suffering. This is called the path of suffering, as this experience develops the soul. Each time it is reincarnated, it has an increased unconscious urge to seek answers to questions on its existence, its roots, and the importance of man’s life.
Accordingly, there are souls that are less developed, and souls that are more so. The latter have such an enormous urge to recognize the truth that they cannot limit themselves to the confinements of this world. If they are given the right tools, the proper books and instruction, they will attain recognition of the spiritual world. Kabbalah also describes the descending souls as pure or as less refined. It is a measurement in direct proportion to how much the souls require for correction. Souls requiring a greater correction are called less refined.
As different souls descend, they require different guidance and correction, unique for that generation’s souls. This is why in each generation there are people who lead us in our spiritual progress. They write books and form study groups in order to convey the method of discovery of the reality that is most suited to that generation. In this, the media age, they may appear on television, radio and most recently, on the Internet.
In the beginning (before the soul of Ari appeared), there was an era of experience gathering and perseverance in this world. The souls’ existence was sufficient in order to make progress toward correction. The suffering they accumulated added urgency to their souls to relieve their suffering. The desire to leave their suffering behind was the motivating force behind the development of the generations.
That era continued until the 16th century, when the Ari appeared and wrote that from his generation onwards, men, women and children in all the nations of the world could, and were required to, engage in Kabbalah. The reason was that the time had arrived in the development of generations, in which souls descending into the world were able to recognize true reality and were ready to complete their correction by the special method the Ari had developed. They could achieve what was required of them.
Souls have but one desire – while existing within physical bodies – to return to their roots, to the level they were before their descent. Physical bodies, with their desire to receive, pull them back into this world. Man consciously wishes to rise spiritually. The great effort spent on the friction created by this dichotomy is what assists him in rising 620 times above his previous level.
If a soul does not complete its task, the next time it descends into the world, it will reincarnate more deserving of correction.
Sometimes, we believe that we should deny our desires and longing so that in the next reincarnation we will be more successful. We think we should not desire anything except a little nutrition and lying in the sun, as would a cat. However, the contrary is true since in the next round, we will be even more cruel, demanding, exacting and aggressive.
The Creator wants us to be filled with spiritual pleasure, to be complete. That is possible only through great desire. Only with a corrected desire can we truly reach the spiritual world and become strong and active. If our desire is small, while it cannot do great harm, it also cannot do much good. Desire is called corrected only when it functions out of the proper influence. It does not exist in us automatically, but is acquired while studying Kabbalah in the correct manner.
A pyramid of souls exists, based on the desire to receive. At the base of the pyramid are many souls with small desires, earthly, looking for a comfortable life in an animal-like manner: food, sex, sleep. The next layer comprises fewer souls, those with the urge to acquire wealth. These are people who are willing to invest their entire lives in making money, and who sacrifice themselves for the sake of being rich.
Next are those that will do anything to control others, to govern and reach positions of power. An even greater desire, felt by even fewer souls, is for knowledge; these are scientists and academics, who spend their lives engaged in discovering something specific. They are interested in nothing but their all-important discovery.
Located at the zenith of the pyramid is the strongest desire, developed by only a small few, for the attainment of the spiritual world. All these levels are built into the pyramid.
Man also has the same pyramid of desires within him, which he must overturn so that its sheer weight will compel him to aim for the purest desire, the infinite desire for truth. He must reject and discard all his earthly egoistic desires and put every effort and energy into increasing the desire for spirituality. He achieves this through the proper way of studying.
When a person truly wishes to increase his longing for spirituality, then the light around him, the spiritual world hidden from him, starts to reflect back on him, making him long for it even more. At this stage, group study under a Kabbalist’s guidance is crucial. [See the chapter on “How to Study Kabbalah.”]
A major change in the souls descending today lies in the fact that we are starting to see around us a definite desire to achieve a spiritual system. Even ordinary people are seeking something spiritual, something beyond our world.
Although this “spirituality” may include all sorts of shortcuts, magic tricks and esoteric teachings and groups promising answers to those who join them, nevertheless, it bespeaks of the search for a different reality. If a generation displays a stronger desire within the souls themselves, a new method, suited to these souls, will emerge.
In the last fifteen years there has been swift and active development in the descent of new souls. The desire of these souls is much stronger and more genuine. It is directed at achieving the real truth and nothing else.
When we truly comprehend how reality applies to us and how we are affected by it, we will cease doing that which is prohibited; we will insist on the right thing and we will do it. Then we will discover harmony between the real world and ourselves.
In the meantime, we unconsciously err, then realize we have erred. It may appear that there is no possibility of escape. That is why mankind finds itself more and more in a blind alley, mired in increasingly difficult dilemmas. We will discover that there is no alternative to recognizing the spiritual world of which we are a part. This recognition will lead us to a new situation in which we will consciously begin to act as one collective body, and not just as individuals.
All people are connected to one another in one soul, from one generation of souls to the next. We all possess collective responsibility. That is why the Kabbalist is regarded as “founder of the world.” He influences the entire world, and the world influences him.