Kabbalah Blog - Part 192

November 17, 2014November 27, 2014

Why Kabbalah Is Gaining Popularity Today

Abraham Develops “Kabbalah”

In ancient Babylon, it was Abraham the Patriarch, a resident of Ur of the chaldeans, who discovered that humankind’s program of development was prodding it toward discovering a new reality. Abraham realized that in the end, the material evolution of man on earth would exhaust itself, and humanity would discover that something beyond satisfying corporeal desires was required, and that without it, life on earth would be futile and meaningless.

Abraham discovered that at the end of the material evolution begins the spiritual evolution. once he himself exhausted the desires we all possess, a new desire appeared in him—to understand the purpose of his life.

In Kabbalah, all of one’s earthly desires are regarded as “the heart,” while the desire to discover the meaning of life is described as “the point in the heart.” The point in the heart is a desire that awakens in our hearts and pulls us “upward.” That new desire led Abraham to discover the complete reality, the spiritual reality.

Abraham’s wisdom is called “the wisdom of Kabbalah,” and it describes the network of Nature’s forces and how we can study the program by which they affect us. The wisdom of Kabbalah describes rules, forces, and work formulae of the upper worlds.

Kabbalah Lets a Person Experience a Higher World

Kabbalah explains how reality began to expand from the world of Ein Sof [infinity], through the worlds of Adam Kadmon [ancient man], Atzilut [Emanation], Beria [creation], Yetzira [Formation], and Assiya [Action], down to our world. It speaks of how souls come down and “dress” in bodies in this world, and how we can cause our souls to rise from here back to the world of Ein Sof.

Abraham was the first Kabbalist to teach people how to discover the soul and gradually experience a higher world through it. There are five higher worlds, each with five degrees, each of which are then divided into five additional degrees. If we multiply 5x5x5, we will arrive at the 125 degrees by which we ascend in our feeling, understanding, and attainment until we discover the whole of reality.

That process takes place while we are here in our material bodies. When we achieve these higher worlds, reality becomes much broader and we feel the forces that operate on the world we are in. It is like a picture of embroidery. In the front is a picture, while the back displays all the connections among the threads that create the picture on the front.

Developing a Deeper Perception of Reality

When we observe our world and what is happening in it, we are merely observing the superficial picture. The wisdom of Kabbalah helps us see the depth of the picture. This is how we begin to understand the connections between things—why things happen and how we can affect one element through another element.

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November 16, 2014June 11, 2014

Toldot (These Are the Generations) Parsha – Weekly Torah Portion

Genesis, 25:19-28:9
This Week’s Torah Portion | November 16 – November 22, 2014 – Cheshvan 23 – Cheshvan 29, 5775

In A Nutshell

The portion, Toldot (These Are the Generations), begins with the wedding of Isaac and Rebecca. After twenty years of infertility, Rebecca conceives and the Creator tells her she will have two sons. The first was Esau, and the second, which was holding unto his brother’s heel, was Jacob. Esau became a hunter, and Jacob studied Torah.

The first confrontation between the twins was over the selling of the birthright. Esau returned empty handed from a hunt, and Jacob offered him lentil stew in return for the birthright. Esau agreed. After some time Esau discovered that Jacob deceived him.

Later in the portion, Isaac digs two wells, both of which are taken by the Philistines. A third well remains in Jacob’s hands, and he calls it Rehovot. Finally, Avimelech and Isaac make a covenant between them.

The second confrontation between the twins happens when their father wished to bless them. Isaac wanted to bless Esau, his firstborn, and Rebecca asked Jacob to dress as Esau in order to receive the blessing of the firstborn. When Esau discovered that Jacob received his blessing, he wanted to kill him, so Rebecca sent Jacob to Haran, to her brother, Lavan.

Commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman

The drama before us is in fact the process of man’s spiritual development. The story deals with man’s most fundamental forces, although it can be, and has been, turned into a novel.

The Creator created the will to receive. That desire is the entirety of the substance of creation. It is possible to use the will to receive for one’s own favor, or in favor of others. In fact, the whole of creation is prone to using the desire in favor of others, as it is written, “love your neighbor as yourself; it is a great rule in the Torah.” ^[1] This is the law of the whole of reality, the whole of Nature.

On the one hand we must use the will to receive and satisfy it however we can. On the other hand, the act of satisfying, in which we draw everything to ourselves, must be for the benefit of others. This seems contradictory. Using the ego, the will to receive, must be solely in a direction that is good for everyone. We cannot understand that contradiction, which is why we cannot understand the Torah, making its meaning hidden from us.

The portion seemingly explains it by saying that although Abraham loved Ishmael, he sent him away. Isaac, who loved Esau—the will to receive, all the substance of creation—acted similarly, though Esau is our entire nature, which we need and use in everything we do in life.

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November 15, 2014October 26, 2018

Want to Know the Meaning of Life? Read This

A Hidden Wisdom Revealed

The Zohar is the book of the wisdom of Kabbalah, the wisdom of truth. It is surfacing today to lead us forward to a higher dimension. Yet, what is so special about The Zohar and about Kabbalah? Why is this wisdom taking center stage specifically for those living today?

What Are Our Lives For?

Humanity is ever developing. In ancient times, people’s needs were very basic: food, shelter, and procreation. These are natural desires, as well as existential needs. In time, greater needs and greater desires have arisen in us: for wealth, domination, respect, and knowledge.

Throughout history, we have been trying to satisfy the needs that emerged in us. We have been trying to find within these changes happiness, love, and a good life. Today, we see that this chase was futile. While each generation is more advanced materialistically, each also suffers more. The ubiquitous use of drugs and antidepressants as an escape are symptoms of our generation’s internal emptiness.

At each given moment, the media is presenting us with more and more temptations, which we then rush to satisfy. It may be a new piece of clothing, a car, a house, a better job, an academic title, a trip overseas, or even a good restaurant. But each time we obtain something, the pleasure dissipates shortly afterwards and we are left wondering, “What’s next?” Then the chase begins anew.

For how long? Today, more and more people are asking this question. And not only, “For how long?” but also, “Why? What is the point of life?”

Why are our lives unfolding as they are? Why are we in a constant race, never actually finding any rest? Why does everything become dull and tasteless once we have obtained it? And in general, if this is what life is about and there is nothing we can do about it, why do we need it anyway?

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November 14, 2014November 8, 2014

How to Ripen to Perfection in Kabbalah’s Light and Turn Bitter to Sweet

The Secret to Seeing the Sublime Sweetness of Creation beyond the Illusion of Evil

Kabbalists who attain the Creator feel that He is absolutely kind. They explain that He cannot cause even the slightest pain to anyone in the world because egoism, the will to enjoy for oneself, the cause of every unpleasant sensation, is absent in Him. On the other hand, we do harm to others for the sole purpose of satisfying our own want for something. If this feeling did not have a constant grip on man, there would be no foundation for evil in the world. Since we perceive the Creator as absolutely perfect and whole, the absence of the will to “acquire” in Him leads to the absence of any evil in Him.If this is the case, then He should appear to us as absolutely kind, a sensation that seizes every one of us in moments of joy, delight, and fulfillment. However, since everything we feel comes from the Creator, all of His creatures should feel only good and kindness… And what do we feel instead?!

A Must-Not-Miss Lesson on the Unripe Fruit that Boosts Confidence and Turns Bitter to Sweet

The whole of nature consists of four levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human. Each level undergoes purposeful development: slow, gradual, cause-and-effect growth. This resembles a fruit growing on a tree that becomes appealing and edible only at the end of its ripening.

Yet, how many intermediate states has the fruit gone through from the beginning to the end of its growth? The intermediate states reveal nothing about the fruit’s final condition, when it becomes mellow and sweet. Rather, the opposite occurs: as good as the ripe fruit is at its end, so is it bitter and hard during its ripening.

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November 13, 2014November 17, 2014

What is Love?

If you think that finding the love of fairytales will make you happy, think again. The love of fairytales isn’t really love, but the use of others for self satisfaction.

What we normally call love is the egoistic satisfaction of one person by another, whether it’s sexual satisfaction or any other kind of fulfillment we receive from another person. And clearly, this isn’t love.

Then what is love? Love is when you don’t pay any attention to yourself, but you take the desires of another person and try to fulfill them in exactly the way they would like. In other words, you turn yourself into a vessel of fulfillment for the other person. This is real love, and it exists only in the spiritual world. And there is no difference if it is a man or a woman – what’s important are the desires, the soul.

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