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Science and philosophy advance along with the
advancement of mankind. And today, all of the scientists and
philosophers agree that man's investigation of the world around him
is limited.
It is possible to say that man is like a "black box" which feels and
understands and receives only that which comes from outside . In all
of our investigations, we are limited by our five senses. And all of
the instruments which we build, and which are to be built in the
future, do not escape the limitations of our five senses. They
merely widen the boundaries of our senses.
This is because we are never able to imagine what our senses lack.
Namely, what other additional sense we need in order to recognize
the true reality around us. We feel no lack for this, as we feel no
lack of a sixth finger on our hands. That for which we feel no lack,
can never be something to which we would come to request. Therefore,
all of the investigations of our world are only according to our
five senses, and we can never begin to see and feel and understand
what is beyond our senses. These are the limitations of our
conceptions.
Also, our imagination is the product our five senses, and the
experiences which stem form them . We can never imagine any object
or creature which does not resemble that which is familiar to us
from our five senses.
If I want, for example, someone to draw for me some creature from
another planet, certainly he would draw it according to the elements
which are familiar to us from our world. And if I asked you to
describe something imaginary you would give me without a doubt
something which is very similar to this world.
And this exemplifies all of our limitations: we all live within a
small world, and we are not able to feel, and therefore imagine,
anything outside of it. And since our limitations are absolute, no
science or philosophy can ever help us to understand what is beyond
this world.
It could be that in the same space, in other dimensions exist other
creatures , other worlds. And we are not able to feel them because
we lack the requisite vessels - senses to feel them. It could be
that in this other world more vast than ours are to be found the
reasons for our existence, for all of the incidences which occur to
us, and the reason for our death. And we, oblivious of these causes,
live without true knowledge and without a true goal, as being
unconscious in our world.
There are people in our world who do receive additional senses which
make possible for them to feel the wider existence which surrounds
us. These people are called Kabbalists, since they know how to
receive, a higher knowledge than our knowledge.
These people say that around us there exist worlds above ours . And
all of these worlds are like the layers of an onion, in which our
world is found in the midst of all of these worlds. And we, who
exist in this world, are able to feel only this world, the innermost
sphere in all of existence. And we are born, live, and die in this
sphere, which is called this world
The Kabbalists tell us that "this world" is called so, because this
is just a small fragment of the true reality which we are able to
feel with our senses. And if we could develop additional senses,
then what we would feel with them would be called - the world to
come .
The method whose help can bring us to feel and experience the world
to come is called the Wisdom of Kabbalah.
Author: Rav Michael Laitman, PhD |
