Interpreting the Bible’s Story of Abraham and Sarah Correctly

It is told in the Bible that Abraham declared that Sarah was his sister, and not his wife, because he feared that he would be killed so that she could become available to others.

Since Kabbalah equates the entire world to one person, because the soul was divided into 600,000 parts only in order to simplify the attainment of the ultimate goal, Abraham is regarded as the personification of the faith within us.

A wife is permitted only to the husband, as opposed to the sister forbidden only to the brother, but not to others. Abraham saw that he himself (faith) was the only one (the only quality of human beings) capable of making Sarah the basis of life.

He also realized that other men (other qualities of a person) could harm him (faith) because they were enthralled by Sarah’s beauty and wished to possess her eternally for their own ego’s sake. For this reason, Abraham declared Sarah (the goal of creation) as his sister, thus not making her forbidden to other men (the qualities of a person). Consequently, until one’s correction is complete, one can only employ Kabbalah to one’s own advantage.

Our Physical World Serves a Temporary Purpose

The difference between all the spiritual realms and our world is that everything belonging to the spiritual realms is a part of the Creator, and has assumed the shape of a spiritual ladder to make the spiritual ascent of human beings easier.

Our egoistical world, on the other hand, was never part of the Creator, but was generated from nonexistence and will disappear after the ascent of the last soul from our world into the spiritual realm. For this reason, all types of human activity passed on from generation to generation, as well as all that is produced from the materials of this world, are doomed to vanish.

Our Importance for Spirituality Depends Upon Our Efforts

Confidence and the feeling of lack of danger both result from the effect of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and the sensing of the Creator in the present. But since an individual has not yet generated appropriate corrected qualities, the Creator is not sensed as the Inner Light (Ohr Pnimi), but as the Surrounding Light.

Confidence and faith are similar concepts. Faith is “the psychological readiness to suffer for a goal.”

There are no obstacles to one’s desire other than the lack of patience to exert the needed effort and weariness. Thus, a strong person is the one who possesses the confidence, the patience and the strength to suffer. A weak person is the one who feels a lack of tolerance to suffering and gives up at the very onset of pressure exerted by suffering.

To be able to perceive the Creator, one requires intellect and strength. It is known that to attain something highly valuable one needs to put in great effort and to undergo tremendous suffering. The amount of effort we invest determines in our eyes the worth of the object that we seek to attain.

The degree of our patience signifies our life strength. Until the age of forty, we are at the peak of our strength, whereas after that, the life force wanes along with our capacity to believe in ourselves, until our self-confidence and faith disappear completely at the moment of our exit from this life.

Kabbalah Allows Us to Buy the Spiritual Worlds

Since Kabbalah is the highest wisdom and an eternal acquisition, in contrast to all the other acquisitions of this world, it naturally demands the greatest efforts because it “buys” us the world, rather than something temporary and transitory. Having grasped Kabbalah, we can grasp the source of all sciences in their true, completely revealed state. This in itself shows what kind of effort is needed, since we know how much effort is required to grasp a single science, even in the paltry framework within which we understand it.

We receive the truly supernatural strengths needed to grasp Kabbalah from Above, and are thus able to bear the suffering on the path to grasping this wisdom. At this time, we receive the self-confidence and life strength necessary to comprehend it by ourselves.

But we cannot overcome all the obstacles without the clear help of the Creator (obscured help of the Creator is evident in the fact that the Creator upholds life in every creation). Faith is the strength that determines how ready we are to take action.

“The Hidden Spiritual Worlds Can Be Bought, but You Must Know How” is based on the book, Attaining the Worlds Beyond by Dr. Michael Laitman.