What Are ‘Spiritual’ Genes?
The entire plan of human development is imprinted in each person. It is the engine that pushes us forward and forces us to evolve. We have already succeeded in comprehending that the entire knowledge of the biological body can be obtained in our genes. But the plan for our spiritual development is also embedded in special genes, much deeper than our biological genes. These are our “spiritual genes.”
From the moment a person comes into this world, this plan becomes operative and begins to control his or her life. It dictates a person’s attributes, character, fate, and every movement. But it also allows a person the freedom to choose in many of the situations.
Spiritual Genes are in Everything
This plan exists not only in humans, but also in everything that exists in the universe, dictating the very process called “life.” Unlike other parts of nature, that program is not inflexible in people, but evolves during their lives. The program is a series of consecutive data commands. Each commandment is called a Reshimo, from the Hebrew word roshem (imprint). There is a chain of Reshimot in each of us, from the moment we are born to the moment of our death, containing not only the information from our current life cycle, but from all the incarnations of our soul.
If we read the data in this chain of Reshimot we will be able to go through all the stages of the development of the universe, as in a movie, from the earliest phases of the creation of the universe, the sun, and the stars, through the dinosaur era, and on to the farthest future. The collective law of the universe loses nothing but only changes from state to state.
Kabbalah Lets You Study Your Spiritual Genes
If this chain of Reshimot is our whole plan of operation, from the beginning of our life to its end, and if there is nothing that we can do but to follow the written instructions, it would be interesting to know what is in store for us there, both as a whole and as individuals. But rather than find out the details of our destiny, it would be better to research the Reshimot in the following manner: to learn what purpose nature sets for itself, what collective law the Reshimot are supposed to bring us to, how we can study those Reshimot, and then perhaps make changes, rebuild, and improve things.
The answer to that question can be found only if we dive into this plan of Reshimot itself. When a person studies Kabbalah, he or she learns about that program and about those Reshimot, but the contemporary person still has to make a certain effort to understand his or her life plan and to study the management system of the universe, so as to use it for the best.
The Journey of Your Spiritual Genes
Atzilut is the control panel and the source of light to our world. It determines the expansion of the light, which brings life, confidence, health, and peace to our world. The soul is in its most perfect state in the world of Atzilut. It is filled with eternal light and peace—equal to the Creator and filled with Him. From that state, the soul is “thrown” down to the lowest place called “this world.” On its way from the world of Atzilut to our world, the soul gradually loses its light, and by the time it enters our world, it has lost all of it and remains with nothing more than reminiscences (Reshimot) of its past. Those expansions are recorded in the Reshimot, which afterward form the degrees of the ascent back from our world to the world of Atzilut.
How Acquiring a Screen Gives You the Ability to Control Your Spiritual Destiny
The Reshimot comprise two primary components: (1) a memory that remains from the light of the Creator that the soul was filled with before its descent to our world and (2) the power of the “aim for the Creator” (the desire to give), which held the soul in the uppermost spiritual degree. Those two components help us rebuild the spiritual sense, with which we can overcome the partition that separates the corporeal world from the spiritual world. That sense is something that the Kabbalists create within themselves. It is called a screen. The acquisition of a screen allows a person to control his or her destiny and improve his or her environment.
The descent of the soul from the upper world, where it is filled with light, to this world, where there is no light, is like a ball rolling down a staircase, hitting every step on its way down. Each bump is the Reshimo that every person who studies Kabbalah learns to realize correctly, starting from the smallest Reshimo created at the lowest spiritual step, down to the final and highest degree. Even in the first degree that a person attains, he or she rises from a state of unconsciousness to a state of higher awareness that awakens the desire for something sublime that can only be found outside his or her world.
“Did You Know That You Have Spiritual Genes That You Can Change to Control Your Destiny?” is based on the book, Awakening to Kabbalah: The Guiding Light of Spiritual Fulfillment by Dr. Michael Laitman.
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