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Michael Laitman, PhD

Circulation of Kabbalah and the Development of the Soul

Q: I would very much like you to clarify the meaning of “Kabbalah circulation.”

A: Man acquires any science about himself and his world by researching himself and his surroundings.

Anything he can’t understand, but wishes to, he compensates for with fantasy, based on analogy, speculation, and rational continuation of whatever is already known. But however hard one tries, it is impossible to speculate and imagine that part of the universe that one never felt within. Analogy will not help either, since one’s senses never experienced anything similar.

Kabbalah creates, or more accurately develops, a new sense. And only in the process of its development does a person begin to feel “that” world. Only then is it clear that no fantasy could possibly help one imagine it.

One cannot convey one’s feelings to others who do not have this sense. To those who do have it, one can pass it along only to the extent that this sense has been developed in them.

Hence, on the one hand, Kabbalah is a science because we develop a sense of the surrounding space, and research it using a strictly scientific method. On the other hand, Kabbalah differs from all other natural methods, as it is impossible to research that world without first acquiring the special sense for it. Only to the extent that one feels that world, does one begin to feel and perceive everything differently.

One who doesn’t feel it is unable to imagine it. The meaning and the goal of “circulating Kabbalah” is to cause man to feel the need to develop his soul.

“Circulating Kabbalah” gives us a method for such development and teaches us how to use the newfound sense. That is why Kabbalah is a special science and not a religion.

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