Why It Is Impossible to Know Something’s True Essence
Kabbalah teaches us that reality could be divided into four layers: essence, abstract form, form clothed in matter and matter.
Our tools of perception can never perceive the Essence, regardless of our degree. Although what we perceive is indeed the Essence, we can only perceive it through Matter, and we cannot even imagine what the Essence itself is like. Moreover, we cannot even want to perceive the Essence.
For example, none of us feels that an additional sixth finger would be welcome. However, if we could imagine that we once had a sixth finger, and that we could do something with it that we cannot do today, then we could talk about a need for a sixth finger. But if we never had an additional finger, we could not even imagine how it would benefit us. This is why we will never want a sixth finger.
Similarly, since we never felt an Essence, we cannot want to perceive the Essence. Attainment of Matter, the manifestation of the actions of the Essence that is present within the Matter, is quite satisfactory.
The above discussion raises an important question: If we cannot perceive the Essence, how did Kabbalists know that it exists? For the time being, we will leave this question unanswered, but we promise to return to it later.
How Practical Experimentation Is Used In Kabbalah
The will to receive is the Matter. It is divided into five degrees. When the will to receive is integrated with the intention to bestow, it adopts different Forms, from the most opposite from the Creator to the Form of the Creator Himself. While spiritually evolving, we gradually study all the qualities that Matter might assume. This is called “Formative Learning.”
We have a genuine desire to acquire the Forms of bestowal that are dressed in Matter. A genuine desire means that it is a desire that stems from having had this Form before and not having it now.
Our Matter, the will to receive, was first created in a corrected Form, meaning the Form of bestowal, which was then inverted to reception. Reacquiring the Form of bestowal through our own efforts is the essence of our correction. This process should be carried out using the same pattern that was created while we had the Form of bestowal, and is based entirely on practical experimentation. Hence, this process is entirely reliable.
Why Kabbalah and Philosophy are Polar Opposites
Philosophy, however, engages in ideals abstracted from Matter. It is completely opposite to the method of Kabbalah because it is founded on the study of Abstract Forms. Philosophy discusses qualities such as truth, falsehood, anger, and valor while not clothed in Matter, ascribing Abstract Forms titles such as “truth is good, lying is bad.” This creates a concern that people will relate to such declarations as ideals and will adhere to them fanatically.
Baal HaSulam demonstrates this with a parable about a person with such high regard for the quality of truth that, when faced with an opportunity to save people from death, he chose not to because it involved telling a lie.
This parable demonstrates the mistake of engaging in Abstract Forms because we have no means to judge a certain quality as good or bad when it is not clothed in Matter. Only when the Form is clothed in Matter can we determine if it is beneficial to the evolving of Matter or detrimental to it. The only criterion is the evolution of Matter toward realization of the purpose of Creation.
Do You Know the Real Reason Why Humanity Has Freedom of Choice?
While we could erroneously imagine Abstract Forms, the Essence is something completely unimaginable for us. We logically assume that behind the Form that dresses Matter and the Abstract Form, there is a foundation that sustains all other Forms, which we call “Essence.”
Thus, we see that our ability is limited, that we can only attain Matter and the Form clothed in it. Yet, we cannot avoid asking why the Creator did not create us with the ability to perceive the Abstract Form and Essence.
The answer to that is simple: If we could attain the Abstract Form and the Essence, we would see the Essence clothed in everything, operating everything, from the very first to the very last state. Such a clear picture would rob us of the sensation of freedom of choice; it would prevent us from studying the image of the Creator and building It within us.
Having shown that nothing exists outside one’s Kli, we can now define the terms “this world” and “Upper World,” as depictions of the modes of perception of reality. “This world” is the perception of reality within the Kli while we are working in order to receive. The “Upper World” is the perception of reality within the Kli while we are working in order to bestow, altruistically.
Why Kabbalists Only Describe What They Have Attained
Kabbalists describe only what they attain with certainty within their vessels, meaning the Form in Matter and Matter. Matter is the will to receive and the Form in Matter is the Form of bestowal dressed within the will to receive. In fact, the creature always attains the full picture, but the question is, how certain can we be of what is disclosed?
For example, when we perceive a certain picture, how do we know what we are perceiving? Which part of our perception of the picture is certain and which is not? Since our tools are limited we cannot be sure. Perhaps the spectacles through which we are observing reality are showing a plain ahead of us when, in fact, there is a chasm right before our feet. Could our next step throw us into the abyss?
If the above example seems unlikely, the next will clarify matters: without radiation gauges, how would we able to detect radiation? We could easily walk into contaminated areas unknowingly.
We are unable to build tools to assist us in determining the trustworthy from the untrustworthy in spirituality. The difference between what we can or cannot rely on lies in the difference between the various tools at our disposal.
Attainment of Abstract Form and the Essence are not considered certain attainment. This is because they are perceived through “external vessels,” not through “internal vessels,” although we do sense in them something called “a remote luminescence.” Such luminescence induces a sensation that something exists, but it is not clearly perceived by the senses. This is the answer to the question of how Kabbalists know about the existence of Abstract Form and Essence.
How the Opposite Forms of Nature Prepare You to Reach Balance with Nature
Let us briefly talk about Columbus’ ships that the Indians could not perceive, since they didn’t have memories, previous models of such structures. The shaman could not detect the ships because he didn’t have the model of such a big “floating house” in his mind. In Kabbalistic terms, we would say that he didn’t have the Kli to detect this Form. For the shaman to detect the ship, its form would have to preexist in his mind, which he would compare to the observed form. He would then recognize it as a ship on the basis of equivalence of form between the preexisting model and the ship he saw on the outside.
However, to be able to feel the spiritual reality, we must come across someone who would tell us about it. Hence, Kabbalists write their books. We can use these books to depict what is outside of us and gradually build the spiritual Forms or patterns within us.
The patterns we would build within would unquestionably be false, but the very effort and the craving would make the Light affect us. The Light builds increasingly similar shapes to its own shape until one begins to see the actual Light. This is the only way to advance, since only the Light can build the vessels within us. In truth, we cannot imagine what is actually happening around us even now. We are surrounded by worlds and powers that we cannot sense for lack of equivalence of Form.
We should stress that locating the gateway from this world to the spiritual world is not a direct action. It is more like a search for an exit from a closed circle. Although the opening is in a certain place, it can only be seen after having searched all 360 degrees.
To build the Form of the Creator within, we must first know all the Forms opposite from Him. If the Creator had an image outside of us, we would be able to adopt it immediately and thus end the process. However, such an image does not exist outside of us; it is for us to build the image of the Creator within our own Matter. First we must learn about the opposite Forms to the Creator, and only then can we build similar Forms to Him. The sum of the images creates our image of the Creator.
“How Kabbalah Enables You to Build the Form of Nature within You” is based on the book, Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life by Dr. Michael Laitman.
