Assessing Progress Along the Spiritual Path

Our path is to lead us to a gradual alteration of our qualities until they are exactly like those of the Creator. The only quality of the Creator that defines His Essence is the complete absence of any trace of egoism.

This is followed by the lack of any thought about oneself, or one’s condition and power—a lack of all that comprises the essence of our thoughts and our aspirations. But since we exist in this world in a specific outer covering, we must care for the bare essentials to maintain this casing. This is not considered to be a sign of egoism.

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What Is Hidden in the Kabbalah?

Kabbalah is called “the science of the hidden” because it reveals to the one who learns it that which was previously hidden. The true picture of existence is revealed only to the one who apprehends it, as is written in the poem by Rabbi Ashlag:

The miracle truth will radiate,

And the mouth will only utter that truth,

And all that will be revealed in confidence

You will see, but no other!

Kabbalah is the teaching of that which is secret, since it is hidden from the average reader and becomes revealed only under very special conditions. Those who study it will find these secrets gradually become clearer from the teachings themselves, along with special guidance to direct the reader’s desires and thoughts.

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Four Fundamental Outlooks on the Soul

Because we lack concrete information about the structure and function of higher, elusive notions we cannot feel, we permit ourselves to philosophize and argue about how they might be constructed and how they might function. This is similar to children’s arguments over who is right about some completely unknown subject.

When religious, secular, scientific and pseudoscientific philosophies try to define “soul” and “body,” they all focus on four fundamental outlooks:

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Abandoning the Desire for Personal Enjoyment

When we are gradually filled with the Light of the Creator, the stages of this process are called “spiritual gradations” or “worlds.” Life’s trials and tribulations force us to move towards the goal of creation. However, if instead of pleasure the ego experiences great suffering, it is willing to forfeit the desire to “receive” in order to end the suffering, since receiving nothing is preferable to receiving torment.

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Undergoing a Test of Your Intentions

As human beings, our initial spiritual state is egoism. One who begins to strive for closeness with the Creator is known as “a righteous person of the peoples of the world.” How can one verify if one is, in fact, already at this level? Since Man possesses only egoistic desires, everything that is missing from the gratification of the ego is perceived to have been taken away, as if what was desired had been possessed, and then stolen from the individual.

We have this feeling because of our spiritual “past”: on previous spiritual levels, our souls were completely filled with good, but with our spiritual descent into this world, all of it was lost. Therefore, the moment we feel a desire for something, it is equivalent to being filled with complaints towards the Creator about what was taken away, or was never given—that for which one longs.

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