Human beings must unwillingly carry out all actions that are necessary to sustain physical life in the body. For example, even when we are ill and lack the desire to eat, we still force ourselves to take food, knowing that we will not become healthy otherwise. This is because, in our world, reward and punishment is clearly discernable for everyone; thus, all must obey the laws of nature.
The prohibition against revealing the secrets of Kabbalah stems from the concern that disdain for Kabbalah may arise. Everything unknown elicits respect and is perceived as something valuable. Such is the nature of human beings: A poor person prizes a penny, but once he comes to possess a million, he prizes the million no longer, but seeks two million, and so forth.
The same pattern may be observed in science: the unknown elicits respect and is considered valuable, but once it becomes known and understood, is no longer valued. Then, new unknown objects take the place of the previous objects and become objectives to be pursued.
For this reason, the secrets of Kabbalah cannot be revealed to the masses, because once they grasp them, they will grow to disdain Kabbalah.
Much paper has been wasted by philosophers discussing the impossibility of comprehending the Creator. Judaism, as a doctrine founded on the personal experimentation of the Kabbalists, answers the question: How can we discourse on the possibility or impossibility of perceiving the Creator prior to perceiving Him?
Our bodies function automatically in accordance with the laws of their own egoistic nature and habit. If we constantly repeat to ourselves that we desire only spiritual ascent, then in the end we will desire it. The body, by virtue of these incessant exercises, will accept this desire as a natural one. It is often said that a habit becomes second nature.
The Creator completely controls the process of bringing this egoistical part – He separated from Himself in order to give it free choice – to unite with Him. But this control from the outside is imperceptible. The desire of the Creator manifests itself (with His own concealed help) in the desire to merge with Him that emanates from the depths of the egoistic part.
For the sake of simplifying this problem, the Creator has divided egoism into 600,000 parts. Each of these parts resolves the problem of rejecting egoism gradually, by slowly arriving at the realization that egoism is evil through the repetitive process of gaining egoistic qualities and suffering from them.
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