Kabbalah and Science

Lesson 4

The Scope of Research

• The transition from knowledge to spirituality
• The time required to process the new approach
• Studying the inner instead of the outer
• Connecting with the force which is outside of us

Question: Why would scientists want to study the wisdom of Kabbalah if the desire for spirituality hasn't yet developed in them?

They are arriving to the Kabbalah out of their own studies, when they see that in order to continue with the research of reality and know the truth about the world we exist in, they must get out of themselves, so that their body and their properties wouldn't prevent the objective study. This is something that they have already realized. From this point forward, they are willing to accept our method. They say: "Does your method help to exit the body, to get out of the five senses, to be above them? Please give me the method.

This, of course, is still an intellectual approach, a desire for knowledge; they are still at the third level of coarseness, Gimel de Aviut, not yet at the fourth level, Dalet, but it is already an entry point. But from Gimel de Aviut and on they begin to sense it. What do I explain to them? I simply tell them that the study itself brings them the awareness of the matter which is outside the person. And it is truly so. Out of the study we gradually begin to bring this picture that exists outside of us closer, to sense it and enter it; that is how it happens. And they understand this approach, because that is how it happens to them as well.

I remember when we were studying the theory of relativity at the university for six or seven months. It was a very unique and powerful course. We were all perplexed by it until we became accustomed to this concept. Eventually we entered a different way of looking at reality. The same happens in the study of sub-atomic physics. The concepts of time and space do not apply any more since there is a contradiction between time and space. The perceptions we are used to at our velocity and in our lives do not apply any more. And so in this case as well, when a person studies, he or she becomes a little "confused", the person stops perceiving one reality and begins to perceive another one, and until the two perceptions balance in the person, he or she experiences some confusion. We know such phenomenon with people who study the wisdom of Kabbalah as well, in the first few months or even year or two of study; until they enter and grasp the material and get used to it, they may be a bit confused. The scientists are familiar with this as well because this happens when studying any science that discusses principals that are above the normal every day life.

I wasn't expecting to meet people who are so close to our perceptions, who understand and are willing to accept our approach as completely natural and understandable. All they ask is: Where have you been for thousands of years? Then they begin researching the past which is exactly what Baal HaSulam wrote about in the article "The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy." and in a few other places. The scientists find out that there really was such a crossroad, where humanity had the possibility to evolve in the direction of the external research which is called wisdom, (the wisdom of Kabbalah), instead of toward the internal studies that eventually led to philosophy and from it to all other sciences, physics, chemistry, etc.

At the present time there is much development in these areas. Many articles still have to be written and we will surely perform many shared studies. We will develop a language and an approach so that it will be possible to discuss and explain this modern scientific approach even to wide audiences. I am hoping that this is what will happen. It takes time until the understandings settle in us in order for us to be able to express this entire methodology easily and correctly.

Question: How will we advance? Who will construct the new foundations? How will we know if we are on the correct path? What will we disagree about?

You are right, the question is correct. You are talking like a scientist who says: Ok, so I found out that we have not developed correctly, that I have only studied myself and the way I perceive. So instead of some vibrations from the outside, I only studied the way my eardrum reacts or how its reactions cause some other responses in the brain, or how I identify whether it is someone's voice or just some noise. Meaning that through science, I could only study myself from the inside."

In other words, you are really asking this: Now that I discovered this problem, how should I go about revealing anything outside of me? How would I know if what I reveal is true or not? How would I know if I develop correctly, whether my research is moving in the right direction? For that there is science. You are asking as a scientist who does not know what to do. And indeed, many articles have been written about this dead end that we are at in all branches of science, even mathematics, which is interesting because mathematics is not a science, it's a language. It is no wonder that this is occurring. It is exactly what was written in the Zohar which stated that this would happen around 1995. One can see that this is what they wrote and this is what is happening. But what's next? Now I come to them and tell them ".look, it is all ready and available, everything is prepared." There is a book called The Study of the Ten Sefirot which is written in a completely academic format, using scientific models, consisting of questions and answers. It includes a section called inner reflection which explains the relationship between all parts of reality, between you and Him. Meaning that there is nothing that one has to "believe". No one has to limit ones self, nor perform any precepts or specific actions; this is a ready-to-use science. So what should be done next? When you start to investigate by using the science that is now in front of you, you will then see the results, you will see that it works, like with any other thing you do. We see it on ourselves the more we penetrate it, the more it works on us. We feel these studies in ourselves, how much we equalize with it or not, the relationship we have with the force that is outside of us, what it needs to do with us, and what we need to bestow on it and so on. We are already starting to learn the balance between us and this force, and how to ascend to higher levels through the hundred and twenty five steps we use to exit from within ourselves to an external existence. In this manner a person learns and starts sensing that he is acquiring the feeling of the eternal existence; outside of the body, everything is ready.

The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn't include anything which is beyond any other science; it is only the approach that is different. It is not from within the person but it is the connection of a person with what is outside. With science we constantly studied how to receive more inside ourselves. Here, on the other hand, we learn how to communicate with a force which is located outside of us.

In my conversations with scientists I did not hear any criticism from them about the wisdom of Kabbalah; they did not say that it is lacking anything. They were actually thrilled, to the extent that I am now traveling regularly to Russia to present seminars, and so once a month I give lectures there for two or three days. I hope to implement this in the United States as well. After each seminar they are given time to write articles and go over the material on their own, and by doing so are looking for a common method of study which they are ready for..

Question: Will the wisdom of Kabbalah cause science to come up with new inventions?

No. The advancement of science together with the wisdom of Kabbalah is not about spaceships or anything like that. It is not about bodies or chunks of mass, not about any solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma matter nor anything that we feel with our five senses. It is about a completely different dimension which can not be grasped with the five senses. We are not discussing forces that are clothed in matter; we are discussing forces that are not clothed in matter, called "spirituality". Force is also matter, as Baal HaSulam writes in "The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah", but it is matter that is not perceived in our five senses and so we need to develop an additional sense which is called "soul". In addition to the five senses we need to develop another sense with which we will be able to communicate with what is outside of us. Out of the "point in the heart" we should develop ten original Sefirot with which we will connect with the general upper force that activates and directs the entire reality. As we become equal to this force we begin to direct reality.

Question: How is "The study of the ten Sefirot" related to the general law?

All that "The Study of the Ten Sefirot" actually discusses is this general law that acts on us.

Question: How is it possible to research the general law in order to grasp it?

We have nothing to research. We are inside, and around us is this law which contracts toward us in an action called "Olamot" (worlds), derived from the word Heelem (concealment). So we study the order of these concealments of the general law, we learn how we can gradually adopt ourselves to it more and more, meaning how we can create these worlds, elevate above them and in such a way grasp the entire reality (this law) so that it will reside inside of us. The more we exit our five senses and grasp the external reality, the more we feel eternity, wholeness, and control. But this only occurs according to our equality with this law. This law is good and benevolent, it is beneficial for mankind, and therefore we are obliged to improve ourselves according to this law.

Question: Will science promote the entire humanity towards this law?

Academic science will become a method for inner change; otherwise it is simply impossible to study the external reality. I usually give an example, that it is just like a radio receiver that receives a certain wave, a certain frequency, according to its ability to reproduce that same frequency inside itself. The radio has a circuit that generates an internal frequency, and if that internal frequency is equal to the outer frequency then it receives it. We are the same. If we want to receive something from the outside we need to generate inside ourselves the same attribute which is outside. The extent to which a person perceives this attribute inside is called "the levels of the worlds". Accordingly, he perceives the external reality and expands his vision, his perception and control.