Part III: Talk about Reality. Chapter 5: All in One and One in All

Of all the unexpected concepts found in Kabbalah, there is none so unpredictable, unreasonable, yet so profound and fascinating as the concept of reality. Had it not been for Einstein and the subsequent quantum physicists, who revolutionized the way we think about reality, the ideas presented here would have been brushed off as absurd...

The spiritual worlds have three boundaries, or guidelines. To achieve the purpose of Creation and become like the Creator, we need only follow them...

Many terms are used to describe “understanding.” For Kabbalists, the deepest level of understanding is called “attainment.” Since they are studying the spiritual worlds, their goal is to reach “spiritual attainment.” Attainment refers to such profound and thorough understanding and perception, no questions remain unanswered. Kabbalists write that at the end of humanity’s evolution, we will all attain the Creator in a state called “Equivalence of Form”...

Now that we understand what we can study and what we can’t, let’s see what we are actually studying and perceiving through our senses. Baal HaSulam, who researched the whole of reality and then wrote about his discoveries, said that we do not and can not know what exists outside of us. For example, we have no idea what is outside our ears, what makes our eardrums respond. All we know is that our ears are reacting to a stimulus from the outside...

Let’s look at our perception problem from a more mechanical angle. Our senses are instruments that measure everything they perceive. When we hear a sound, we determine if it’s 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’s warm or cool, wet or dry...

Let’s begin this section with a little fantasy: You are in a dark space, a complete void. You cannot see a thing; you cannot hear a sound, there are no smells and no flavors, and there is nothing you can touch around you. Now imagine being in this state for such a long time that you forgot you ever had senses that could feel such things. Eventually, you even forgot that such sensations could exist...

In Chapter Three, we explained the making of the Kli through the Creator’s Light. In fact, of the two, the Kli is more important to us than the Light, even though obtaining the latter is our actual goal. Let’s clarify this with an example...

Kelim are the building blocks of the soul. The desires are the building materials, the bricks and the wood; our intentions are our tools, our screwdrivers, drills, and hammers. But as with building a house, we need to read the blueprint before we can begin the work...

Kabbalists explain that thinking we are missing something is indeed a trap, but it’s not a deadlock. If we follow the path of our Reshimot, an example of another intention will appear by itself. So let’s reexamine the concept of Reshimot, and see how they can help us out of the trap...