Talks

Heaven and Hell

Interview with Journalist Sharon Atia
October 19, 2003

Question: Let us talk about Heaven and Hell. Does the science of Kabbalah believe that Heaven is a kind of pain relief pill, an analgesic, used by all religions? Religions depict images of the Heaven Garden and Hell to manipulate believers.

Do such places, such dimensions really exist? Is it true that after death each soul either burns in the fire of Hell or enjoys eternal pleasure? If there really are such dimensions, then how do they correspond with the fact that according to the Science of Kabbalah there is no reward and no punishment, as everything in this world is predetermined, and man is not in fact responsible for his actions?

Let me five you an example from "The Commentary Sulam on the Book of Zohar,” Midrash Ruth. There are some who use such statements to find fault with Kabbalah. "At the moment a man leaves this world, there is a candle shining above him, and Heaven, the place of reward for the righteous, is shown to him, and Hell is shown to him – the place of punishment for sinners, who are tried for their sins committed in this world...”

In “The Book of Zohar” we can find many such passages that tell us about Heaven and Hell, the place the soul goes to, where it has to stay and for how long.

Do such dimensions as Heaven and Hell really exist, or are they just terms that Kabbalah uses to describe spiritual states?

The Creation is a desire to enjoy. The Light has created it in a way that the Light itself and all its attributes are perceived by this desire as pleasure. The attributes absent in the Light are perceived by the desire to enjoy as something unpleasant, unbearable, as something one wants to escape. It means that there exists only the will to receive pleasure and enjoyment, and the enjoyment itself – the Upper Light that has created this desire and thus is perceived by it as pleasure.

We call this Upper Light “the Creator” “the Thought of Creation” to give enjoyment to the creatures. Actually, no evil can come from the Upper Force which has created us. The Upper Force treats everybody equally: the righteous and the wicked, those who have freedom of will and those who are not responsible for their actions, and do not even realize them, and those who exist, submitting blindly to their natural instincts. The Upper Force has the same attitude toward all the creatures and this attitude is determined by the will to give pleasure to the creatures.

This attitude toward man becomes apparent not after 120 years of his life, not after the Final Correction; it is also not partial, in one way or another. Nothing changes from the side of the Upper Force, from the Creator’s side. Such a phenomenon in Kabbalah is determined as a Law, claiming that the Upper Light is always in absolute rest. In other words: the Creator is kind to the good and bad people, He is kind and perfect, "Good and Doeth Good." He has no other attitude toward the entire creation.

However, there is a big difference in the meaning of the name “Good and Doeth Good” depending on whether we use it in relation to us or in relation to the Creator. The Creator’s goal is to relate to us as "Good and Doeth Good," to lead us to the same state in its authentic, perfect form. The Creator acts upon us from this point, from this Thought. But as far as our attributes are opposite to absolute goodness and we are on the most rotten and lowest level, in the most miserable state, we feel as if harm emanates from this highest point.

The closer our understanding of these categories comes to the Upper Force’s vision of good and evil, the clearer we will feel the genuine goodness coming from the Creator.

It is like a father who wants his son to become a scientist, an actor, a musician, a political leader… the greatest, the most important person, say, a King’s son. Then the father teaches his son all the necessary things through various ways, using the best, the mildest method. And yet the son sees such an attitude as an oppressive and coercive method coming from his father.

While the son is still young, he lacks intellect, understanding and consciousness to realize why he is forced to do something, why all these things are necessary for his education.... The son is absolutely unable to justify his father; that is why he is called a “wicked one.” He calls his father a villain, as he doesn’t allow his son to enjoy in accordance with his level and forces him to improve himself all the time.

But the father performs all his actions towards his son with love and he suffers greatly seeing how much pain and sorrow his actions bring to his son. But the father has no other choice; he must raise his son up to the highest level and lead him to the absolute good. He cannot leave him in the undeveloped state, when he receives enjoyment only by playing with toys.

Thus, the son starts to perceive his own life as if it were Hell, while playing ball seems Heaven for him. But the father sees everything differently. What is to be done here?

The son faces a task: to achieve the Thought of Creation, that in reality means delighting the creatures, and then he will agree with his father. The son agrees with his father even though he doesn’t completely understand his actions; he forces himself to accept them, realizing that there is no other way out: he has to obey his father as he is great, all-knowing and wise. This means that the son tries to go beyond knowledge, being remote from the Creator and His Design. Otherwise the son goes to Hell.

When a person feels the Creator’s presence his inner feelings become very vivid, very intense. They form in him various images, pictures. Actually, the books on Kabbalah are full of them. Various earthly and absolutely wrong images appear before a person who has not yet attained the spiritual world and who has no spiritual vision, or spiritual sense. These images only confuse him.

Humanity imagines all sorts of things instead of understanding once and for all that spirituality is the relationship between the Creator and creation, the perception of the Creator that can emerge only in a human being. Without us perceiving the Creator, the spiritual world does not exist. So-called Upper Worlds are the different kinds and types of our inner feelings towards the Thought which fills and surrounds all of reality.

Through discovering such feelings in ourselves, we reveal the Creator in this world, among us, and in no other place.

It is forbidden to imagine different pictures, images or idols, any spirit, as such things do not exist and by worshipping them a person digresses from the proper perception of reality.

It was this fact that urged Baal HaSulam to write various commentaries. However, despite all his efforts even in these commentaries there are just a few places where he managed to get rid of descriptions that induce various images in a reader. Particularly in “The Commentary Sulam on the Book of Zohar” where Baal HaSulam, using Kabbalistic language, uses such notions as Sefirot, Partzufim, steps, worlds and screens, one does not become confused. He knows that here what is written about are the different kinds of relations with the Creator through the screen, the intention to give to the Creator, and the desire to love Him.

But in places where Baal HaSulam gave no commentary just translated them from Aramaic to Hebrew, one continues to err. One imagines different kinds of distorting forms which have nothing to do with spiritual reality. He who perceives reality with the five senses imagines the spiritual world in accordance with them.

Question: Having read our article, people may conclude that we make life easier: there is no Heaven, no Hell, one can have fun.

It’s true, one can have fun. Let him go on having fun... as long as he can.... Did Heaven and Hell oblige him to do any work before?

A man approaching spirituality aspires to be there not out of fear of going to Hell. One can kill people, fearing Hell and wishing to get to Heaven. Alternatively, one can perform ostensibly good deeds on the material level, for instance, visit hospitals, distribute food to the needy, help one's neighbor and protect animals…. All this has nothing to do with the actions that bring one closer to spirituality, to the Goal of Creation. The Goal of Creation is to become similar to the Creator, not only to be kind toward people in this world.

It is known that awful mistakes were made in the name of such kindness. And what did the Russians, who wanted to build communism, achieve at the end? And what happened to enthusiasts who organized Kibbutzim wanting to create something good for themselves?

If we really want to approach goodness, we have to understand what “goodness” means to the Creator. It is just like a child who understands in his own way what “good” is, and who has to learn what his father considers it to be. In this case he will not err and will not go in the opposite direction. Otherwise his whole life will turn into torture, as his father will be constantly telling him what to do while he will be resisting. Such a life will seem to be Hell for him.

Through our current modern interpretation of the Science of Kabbalah we present it in a distinct, concentrated form that gives a clear answer to the question: what is the meaning and the purpose of one’s life, what was one created for, what is the source of suffering, how to avoid it and come to absolute kindness, eternity and perfection here, in this life, right now. In any case human nature will urge nearly everybody to find an answer to the question about the meaning of life. Ultimately, as the pressure from nature’s side increases, this question will soon be burning in everyone.

It is our generation that Baal HaSulam calls “the Last Generation” – the generation of Mashiach. What does “the Last Generation” mean? It means that there is no use expecting any miracles. We must realize and implement all of the Kabbalists’ instructions right now. For time is also a factor. If not today, then in a day or two, conditions will become even worse, the difference of potentials between us and the Thought of Creation will increase, and as a result we will have to endure even more terrible sufferings, more pain. That’s why it is worthwhile to hurry up! All the tragedies which have happened in our days occurred only due to the fact that we have misunderstood the purpose of our existence.

Don't think that there is something worse than this world. Here we have real Hell and nothing is more horrible than it.

By describing Hell as evil forces that separate us from the Creator, that confuse us and that avert us from the work for the Creator, that force us to depart from eternity and perfection, and that make our life worse than death, the Kabbalists first reveal their uncorrected desires and then begin their correction. The states that result from these impure desires, low animal lusts, called Klipot (impure forces), are called “Hell” by Kabbalists.

Question: Does this mean that a person who has not achieved the Goal of Creation during his entire life, including subsequent reincarnations, is subject to greater suffering in this world?

A person will have to reincarnate and come back to this world until, while living in it, he realizes everything his Father demands of him and until he reaches His level, meaning, until he reaches the level of the Creator or, in other words, union with the Creator.

The states of Heaven and Hell are determined by both the Creator and man himself. It is necessary to combine two sides so as to form a mutual and united definition of these notions.