Kabbalists also say that of the four categories of perception\u2014Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence\u2014we can perceive only the first two with certainty. For this reason, everything The <\/em>Zohar<\/em> writes about is desires (Matter) and how we use them: whether for ourselves or for the Creator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag writes that, \u201cIf the reader does not know how to be prudent with the boundaries, and takes matters out of context, he or she will immediately be confused.\u201d This can happen if we don\u2019t limit our study to Matter and Form in Matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We must understand that there is no such thing as a \u201cprohibition\u201d in spirituality. When Kabbalists declare something as \u201cforbidden,\u201d it means that it is impossible. When they say that we shouldn\u2019t study Abstract Form and Essence, it doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019ll be struck by lightning if we do; it means that we can\u2019t study those categories even if we really want to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yehuda Ashlag uses electricity to explain why the Essence is imperceptible. He says that we can use electricity in many different ways: for heating, cooling, playing music, and watching videos. Electricity can be dressed in many Forms; but can we express the Essence of electricity itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s use another example to explain the four categories\u2014Matter, Form in Matter, Abstract Form, and Essence. When we say that a certain person is strong, we are actually referring to that person\u2019s Matter\u2014body\u2014and the Form that clothes his or her Matter\u2014strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we remove the Form of strength from the Matter (the person\u2019s body), and examine the Form of strength separately, undressed in Matter, this would be examining the Abstract Form of strength. The fourth category, the Essence of the person in itself, is completely unattainable. We simply have no senses that can \u201cstudy\u201d the Essence and portray it in a perceptible form. In consequence, the Essence is not only something we don\u2019t know right now; we will never<\/em> know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the material world, if I know what I want, I can see if I am getting it or not, or at least if I\u2019m on the right track toward getting it. This is not the case with spirituality. There, when I am wrong, I am not only denied what I wanted, but I even lose my present spiritual degree, the Light dims, and I become unable to redirect myself correctly without help from a guide. This is why it is so important to understand the three boundaries and follow them.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that we understand what we can study and what we can\u2019t, let\u2019s see what we are actually studying through our senses. The thing about Kabbalists is that they leave no stone unturned. Yehuda Ashlag, who researched the whole of reality so he could tell us about it, wrote that we do not know what exists outside ourselves. For example, we have no idea what is outside our ears, what makes our eardrums respond. All we know is our own reaction to a stimulus from the outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the names we attach to phenomena are not connected to the phenomena themselves, but to our reactions to them. Most likely, we are unaware of many things that happen in the world. They can go unnoticed by our senses because we relate only to phenomena we can perceive. For that reason, it is quite obvious why we can\u2019t perceive the Essence of anything outside of us; we can only study our own reactions to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This rule of perception applies not only to the spiritual worlds; it\u2019s the law of all Nature. Relating to reality in this way immediately makes us realize that what we see is not what actually exists. This understanding is paramount to achieving spiritual progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we observe our reality, we begin to discover things we were never aware of. We interpret things that occur within us as if they were happening on the outside. We don\u2019t know the actual sources of the events we experience, but we feel<\/em> they are happening outside us. However, we can never know this for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To relate correctly to reality, we mustn\u2019t think that what we are perceiving is the \u201creal\u201d picture. All we are perceiving is how events (Forms) affect our perception (our Matter). Moreover, what we perceive is not the outside, objective picture, but our own reaction to it. We cannot even say if and to what extent the Forms we sense are connected to the Abstract Forms we attach them to. In other words, the fact that we see a red apple as red doesn\u2019t mean that it is actually red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, if you ask physicists, they\u2019ll tell you that the only true statement you can make about a red apple is that it\u2019s not<\/em> red. If you remember how the Masach<\/em> (Screen) works, you know that it receives what it can receive in order to give to the Creator and rejects the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, an object\u2019s color is determined by light waves that the illuminated object could not<\/em> absorb. We are not seeing the color of the object itself, but the light that the object rejected<\/em>. The real color of the object is the light that it absorbed; but because it absorbed this light, it cannot reach our eye, and we therefore can\u2019t see it. This is why the red apple\u2019s real color is anything but red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ___________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how Ashlag, in the Preface to The Book of Zohar, <\/em>relates to our lack of perception of the Essence: \u201cIt is known that what we cannot feel, we also cannot imagine; and what we cannot sense, we cannot imagine, either. \u2026 It follows that the thought has no perception of the Essence whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, because we cannot sense an Essence, any Essence, we also cannot perceive it. But the concept that leaves most Kabbalah students completely baffled the first time they study Ashlag\u2019s Prefaceis how little we really know about ourselves. Here\u2019s what Ashlag writes concerning this: \u201cMoreover, we do not even know our own Essence. I feel and know that I occupy a certain space in the world, that I am solid, warm, and that I think, and other such manifestations of the operations of my Essence. Yet, if you ask me what is my own Essence \u2026 I will not know what to answer you.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s look at our perception problem from another angle, a more mechanical one. Our senses are measurement instruments. They measure everything that they perceive. When we hear a sound, we determine if it\u2019s loud or soft; when we see an object, we can (usually) tell which color it is; and when we touch something, we immediately know if it\u2019s warm or cool, wet or dry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All measurement tools operate similarly. Think of a scale with a one-pound weight on it. The traditional weighing mechanism is made of a spring that stretches according to the weight, and a ruler that measures the tightness of the spring. Once the spring stops stretching and rests at a certain point, the numbers on the ruler indicate the weight. Actually, we do not measure the weight, but the balance between the spring and the weight (Figure 6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why Kabbalist Ashlag says that we cannot perceive the Abstract Form, the object in and of itself, because we have absolutely no connection with it. If we can place a spring on it to measure the external impact, we\u2019ll get some result. But if we can\u2019t measure what is happening on the outside, it\u2019s as though nothing is happening. Moreover, if we place a defective spring to measure an external stimulus, we will get the wrong result. This is what happens when we grow old and our senses deteriorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spiritual terms, the outside world presents Abstract Forms to us, such as the weight. Using the spring and the dial\u2014the will to receive and the intention to bestow\u2014we measure how much of the Abstract Form we can receive. If we could build a gauge that would \u201cmeasure\u201d the Creator, we could feel Him just as we feel this world. Well, there is such a gauge; it is called \u201cthe sixth sense.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s begin this section with a little fantasy: We are in a dark space, a complete void. We cannot see a thing, we cannot hear a sound, there are no smells and no flavors, and there is nothing we can touch around us. Now imagine being in this state for such a long time that you forget you ever had senses that could feel such things. Eventually, you even forget that such sensations could exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of a sudden, a faint aroma appears. It strengthens and engulfs you, but you can\u2019t pinpoint its source. Then, more fragrances appear, some strong, some weak, some sweet, and some sour. Using them, you can now find your way in the world. Different aromas come from different places, and you can begin to find your way by following them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, without forewarning, sounds appear from all directions. The sounds are all different, some like music, some like words, and some just noises. But the sounds provide additional orientation in that space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you can measure distances, directions; you can guess the sources of the smells and the sounds you are receiving. This is no longer just a space you\u2019re in; it\u2019s a whole world of sounds and scents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After some time, a new revelation is made when something touches you. Shortly after, you discover more things you can touch. Some are cold, some are warm, some are dry, and some are moist. Some are hard and some are soft; some you can\u2019t decide which they are. You discover that you can put some of the objects you are touching in your mouth, and that they have distinct flavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By now you are living in a plentiful world of sounds, smells, sensations, and flavors. You can touch the objects in your world, and you can study your environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the world of the blind-from-birth. If you were in their shoes, would you feel that you needed the sense of sight? Would you even know that you don\u2019t have it? Never. Unless you\u2019d had it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same is true for the sixth sense. We don\u2019t remember ever having it, although we\u2019d all had it prior to the breaking of Adam <\/em>ha <\/em>Rishon<\/em>, of which we are all parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sixth sense operates much like the five natural senses, with the only difference being that the sixth sense is not given by nature, we have to develop it. In fact, the name \u201csixth sense\u201d is a bit misleading, because we are not actually developing another sense; we are developing an intention<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While developing this intention, we study the Creator\u2019s Forms, the Forms of bestowal, opposite from our natural egoistic makeup. This is why the sixth sense is not given to us by Nature; it is opposite from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building the intention over each desire we feel is what makes us conscious of who we are, who the Creator is, and whether or not we want to be like Him. Only if we have two options before us can we make a real choice. Therefore, the Creator does not force us to be like Him\u2014altruistic\u2014but shows us who we are, who He is, and gives us the opportunity to make our own free choice. Once we\u2019ve made our choice, we become the people we intend to be: Creator-like, or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why, then, do we call the intention to bestow \u201cthe sixth sense\u201d? Because by having the same intention as the Creator, we become Creator-like. This means that we not only have the same intention, but because we have developed equivalence of form with Him, we see and perceive things we would not and could not perceive otherwise. We actually begin to see through His eyes.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in the first chapter, we said that the concept of the Kli<\/em> (tool\/vessel) and Ohr<\/em> (Light) is unquestionably the most important concept in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Actually, of the Kli<\/em> and Ohr<\/em>, the first is more important to us, even though obtaining the second is the actual goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s clarify this with an example. In the film, What the Bleep Do We Know!?<\/em>, Dr. Candace Pert explains that if a certain Form does not exist within me in advance, I will not be able to see it on the outside. As an example, she uses a story about Indians who stood on the ocean shore and looked at Columbus\u2019s armada arriving. She says that it is commonly believed that the Indians could not see the ships, even though they were looking straight at them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dr. Pert explained that the Indians couldn\u2019t see the ships because they didn\u2019t have a similar preexisting model of ships in their minds. Only the shaman, who was curious about the odd ripples that seemed to come from nowhere, discovered the ships after trying to imagine what could be causing the ripples. When he discovered the ships, he told his tribesmen, described what he saw, and then they, too, could see the ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kabbalistically speaking, it takes an inner Kli<\/em> to detect an outer object. In fact, the Kelim<\/em> (plural for Kli<\/em>) not only detect the outer reality, they create it! Thus, Columbus\u2019 armada existed only in the minds, the inner Kelim<\/em> of the Indians who saw it and reported it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n _____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n If a tree falls in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This famous Zen koan<\/em> (a special kind of Zen riddle) can also be phrased in Kabbalistic terms: If there is no Kli<\/em> that detects the sound of the tree, how can we know that it made a sound at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, we could turn Columbus\u2019 discovery into a Zen koan<\/em> and ask, \u201cBefore Columbus discovered America, did it exist?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n ___________________________________________________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no such thing as an outside world. There are desires, Kelim<\/em> that create the outside world according to their own shapes. Outside us there is only Abstract Form, the intangible, imperceptible Creator. We shape our world through shaping our own tools of perception, our own Kelim<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, it will not help if we pray to the Creator to help us out of our miseries or to change the world around us for the better. The world is neither good nor bad; it\u2019s a reflection of the state of our own Kelim<\/em>. When we correct our Kelim<\/em> and make them beautiful, the world will be beautiful, as well. The Tikkun <\/em>is within, and so is the Creator. He is our corrected selves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, to a night owl, a night in the dark forest is the time of best visibility. To us, it is a time of chilling blindness. Our reality is but a projection of our inner Kelim<\/em>. And what we call \u201cthe real world\u201d is but a reflection of our inner correction or corruption. We\u2019re living in an imaginary world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we are to rise above this imaginary world to the real world, to the true perception, we must adapt ourselves to the true models. At the end of the day, whatever we perceive will be according to our inner makeup, according to the way we build these models within us. There is nothing to discover outside of us, nothing to reveal except the abstract Upper Light that operates on us and reveals the new images within us, according to our readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now all that remains is to find out where we can find the corrected Kelim<\/em>. Do they exist within us or do we have to build them? And if we have to build them, how do we go about it? This will be the topic of the following sections.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelim<\/em> are the building blocks of the soul. The desires are the building materials, the bricks and the wood; and our intentions are our tools, our screwdrivers, drills, and hammers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as with building a house, we need to read the blueprint before we can begin the work. Unfortunately, the Creator, the Architect of the blueprint, is reluctant to give it to us. Instead, he wants us to study and execute the Master Plan of our souls independently. Only in this way can we ever really understand His Thought and become like Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn who He is, we must attentively watch what He does and learn to understand Him through His actions. Kabbalists phrase it very concisely: \u201cBy Your actions, we know You.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our desires, the souls\u2019 raw materials, already exist. He gave them to us, and we just have to learn how to use them correctly and place the right intentions over them. Then, our souls will be corrected.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA Nonexistent Reality<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Measurement Mechanism<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Sixth Sense<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Where There\u2019s a Way, There Was a Will<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Thought of Creation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n