This Is What Kabbalah Is

Kabbalah is a sequence of spiritual roots proceeding from one another in accordance with immutable laws, merging and pointing toward their single common purpose—”the comprehension of the Creator’s greatness and wisdom by the creations of this world.”

Reality: A Cause and Effect Chain

Kabbalistic language is closely related to spiritual objects and their acts. Thus, it can only be studied while examining the process of creation. Kabbalah touches upon certain issues, which are then revealed to those seeking spiritual perception. There is no concept of time, but only of a cause-and-effect chain, where every effect becomes, in its turn, the cause of the next effect—the creation of a new act or object.

In principle, what we take for time, even in our world, is actually our perception of inner cause-and-effect processes. Even science maintains that time, as well as space, are relative concepts. A place, or space, is a desire for pleasure. An action is either the receiving of pleasure or its rejection.

The Source of all Pleasure

“In the beginning,” that is, prior to the creation, nothing existed but the Creator. He cannot be denoted by any other name, for any name implies a certain perception of the object. But the only thing that we perceive in Him is the fact that He created us. Thus, we can only address Him as our Creator, Maker, etc.

The Creator transmits Light. The Light represents His desire to generate a creation and endow this creation with a sense of being pleased by Him. Only this single quality of the Light that issues from the Creator gives us a basis by which we can judge Him.

To be more precise, the perception of the Light does not permit us to make judgments about the Creator alone, but only about the perceptions that He wants to inspire in us. For this reason, we refer to Him as we would to Someone Who wants to please us.

This pleasure is not derived from the Light alone, but is produced in us by the effect of the Light on our “organs of spiritual sensations.” Similarly, a piece of meat does not, in itself, contain the pleasure that one feels when one tastes it.

Simple and Complex Acts

Only by coming in contact with the sensory organs can an object produce in us related sensations of pleasure.

Any act, either spiritual or physical, consists of both a thought and an action that embodies the thought.

The thought of the Creator is to bestow pleasure on His creations. Consequently, He awards us pleasure.

This act is called “giving for the sake of giving.” It is called a simple act because its purpose corresponds to its direction.

The creation was generated to be egoistic in nature, meaning that we have no other goal but to attain pleasure. We can either engage in receiving or in giving as part of the pursuit of what we desire, but our ultimate goal always remains to receive, even if we also give something physically to another.

If the act is characterized by the same direction as the goal, that is, if the result of an action is to receive, and the result of the goal is to receive, then such an action is referred to as “a simple act.” If, on the other hand, the direction is to give but the purpose is to receive, then the act is referred to as “a complex act,” because its purpose and its direction diverge in their intentions.

Conditions for Attaining the Purpose of Life

Since authentic Kabbalistic books contain hidden Light, which emanates from the authors in the course of writing their books, it is vital to have the right intention while studying such works; namely, the will to perceive the Creator. It is also very important, while studying, to pray to receive the spiritual intellect and understanding that the author possessed. In this way, we may forge a bond with, and can address, the author.

Thus, it is also essential to refrain from reading the works of other authors, especially those who also deal with the spiritual worlds. The reason for this is that these authors may influence the reader, as well. If we wish to acquire spiritual knowledge, we must establish a special daily routine and shield ourselves from extraneous influences, irrelevant news, and harmful books.

We must also avoid contact with other people, except when it becomes necessary for work or for study, without deliberately shunning them, but keeping our thoughts continuously in check. When necessary, we can think of our work. The rest of the time we should devote to contemplating the purpose of life.

Attaining the purpose of life depends more on the quality of the effort made than on the quantity: one person can pore over the books for days on end, and another can only devote an hour a day to one’s studies, due to the demands of work and family.

Any effort can be measured only in relation to one’s free time, and by determining how much one suffers because of a lack of time to devote to the spiritual. The result is directly proportional to the intensity of the person’s intentions:

discovering is the objective of devoting one’s time to study and self-correction.

“Do You Want the Purpose of Life?” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.