Chapter 8. Eight Beginning Lessons in Kabbalah

Prior to experiencing the spiritual worlds for ourselves, everything we know about them comes to us from the writings of people who accomplished this same task before us. In those writings, they tell us about the entire structure of the spiritual worlds in great detail. These wonderful people that provide us with such a magnificent gift are called Kabbalists. Luckily, their writings also include how we can establish that same kind of contact, enter places that we currently do not perceive, and then experience the exact same things they did...

In his writings, Rav Yehuda Ashlag explains to us that the Light emanating from the Creator designates the desire to create beings and to please them. You might remember that Light is the sensation of the Creator, pleasure...

Congratulations! You have made it through the first lesson. But the question arises, “What does all of that have to do with me?” The answer is simple: “Literally everything.” You see, we were created for only one reason: to receive complete, unlimited and absolute pleasure, delight. But in order to accomplish this, we must know how this system known as “the spiritual worlds” operates. Every law under which our corporeal world operates stems from the spiritual worlds. This is where our souls were before we were born, and this is where they return after our lives end...

Certainly there are many new concepts in those first two chapters, and although a considerable effort has been made to simplify the material, you may be experiencing a feeling of being overwhelmed with new terms. For that reason, you may wish to review the first two chapters a couple of times. The material in the lessons is presented in a fairly technical and dry nature, but they are designed that way on purpose...

For someone just being introduced to Kabbalah, the new terminology can at first be a bit overwhelming, but there is a purpose here. The reason the Kabbalistic terms have been kept is for readers who may wish to pursue further studies. Getting used to the terms now will make future efforts much more fruitful and save you quite a bit of time. Let’s start Lesson 4 with a brief review of what we have learned...

We have a total of 125 levels between us and the Creator. First there are the five worlds between the Creator and our world. These worlds are Olam Adam Kadmon, Olam Atzilut, Olam Beria, Olam Yetzira, and finally Olam Assiya. At the bottom end of Olam Assiya is our world...

As I have mentioned earlier, the World of Atzilut is quite similar to the World of Nekudim. The first Partzuf of the World of Atzilut, Atik, comes out on the Reshimot of Aleph-Shoresh (Hitlabshut of level 1, Aviut of level 0) in the Katnut (smallness) at first, from Tabur to Parsa. Then it spreads in the Gadlut (greatness) all the way to our world on the Reshimot of Dalet-Gimel (4,3)...

Everything that occurs in this world relates to our bodies, but what takes place in the spiritual world relates to the soul. For the time being, we can witness that our soul and body are not synchronized. But in the future, our world will operate with the same principles as those of the spiritual worlds, which will happen when the Gmar Tikkun is achieved. Then, all the deeds of the two worlds, as well as all the times, will merge...

We cannot choose what needs to be corrected, but correct what is sent to us from Above, what is revealed to us. And so on to the Highest level...