The Purpose of Kabbalah

Throughout history, during those times when Kabbalah was concealed from most people, rivulets of the wisdom still seeped through, which gave rise to various erroneous conjectures about its purpose. Even today, most prevalent concepts about Kabbalah are fundamentally wrong. Kabbalah engages neither in improving the human existence in this world, nor in mystical or ecstatic experiences.

The sole purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is realizing the desire for spirituality, which in turn leads a person to realize his or her purpose in life. Once that desire surfaces, a person begins to need the Kabbalah; before that, it is redundant.

Why Kabbalah Is No Longer Hidden

In previous generations, when the desire for spirituality had not yet ripened, Kabbalists set up boundaries on the study of Kabbalah, aiming to filter out those with unripe desires. The few whose desire had ripened in them were imparted the method, despite all the limitations. Now that humanity is experiencing the surfacing of the last degree of the will to receive— the desire for spirituality—concealing the Kabbalah is no longer pertinent. The ban on studying it has been lifted and the filtering at the gate of the study is performed in an entirely different way: Being a method to acquire genuine spirituality, the Kabbalah naturally filters out those with other desires, such as for sex, money, or power. It simply cannot assist in fulfilling those desires.

Read the rest of this entry »

Why Kabbalah Was Hidden Until Now

For 2,000 years, the study of Kabbalah was forbidden to women and men under age forty, and there was a reason for this restriction. In fact, all the books of Kabbalah, including the Torah (the Pentateuch), were written only for our time, when everyone needs to practice the science of Kabbalah. What we should all do now is open the Kabbalah books and begin to learn how to attain the upper world.

What Kabbalah Is and Isn’t

Kabbalists have expressed their frustration at the fact that we are still not using the study of Kabbalah as a springboard for the attainment of the upper worlds, since that is the one key to the gate of spirituality, the knowledge and the understanding of the wisdom of the upper world, which means eternal life, happiness, wholeness, and bounty for all humankind

Kabbalah is a science with clear and concise laws that must be studied. It has no connection with charms and blessings and other things that are done in its name, originating in the time Kabbalah was concealed from people and ascribed magical forces. The books of Kabbalah clearly explain what steps we need to take to acquire that knowledge.

The special thing about genuine books of Kabbalah is that they are suitable for all and contain the connection between the soul of the person who is studying them and the upper worlds, from which that person’s soul originates. The books direct us to develop in our own unique way, according to our inner structure and the root of our souls. This is much like the way a person chooses a profession in our world— according to personal character and the inclination of his or her heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

If we want to obtain a different, opposite perception of reality, we should acquire the additional properties suitable for this: the quality of giving instead of receiving, and bestowal instead of consumption. Our constant desire is to absorb everything into “ourselves,” but this is only half of nature. The other half is bestowal, the tendency toward the outside.

People who have already received this second force of nature and, together with it, have acquired the perception of the whole of reality, are called Kabbalists. The science itself is called the science of Kabbalah, the science of reception, because a person acquires all of reality, rather than just the tiny part he is able to absorb in his current qualities. Then, as Kabbalists say, a person reaches a state where he rises above the current perception to an eternal, perfect reality. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Path to a Perfect Reality.”]

What Is Unique about the Wisdom of Kabbalah?

Philosophy and any other of our attempts to understand reality are based not on research but solely on reason, which is really based on what is not known, as a rule, they are based on our egoism, but we do not realize it.

As a result, philosophy died a long time ago. All so-called spiritual teachings are gradually vanishing, since people rise above them and see that they are invalid. There are no substantiations or verifications concerning the seriousness of multiple spiritual teachings. They’re exclusively based upon our sensations, but as we all know, feelings can be very diverse; that’s why presently there are about 2,800 religions and belief systems, and we see them gradually disappearing.

Kabbalah is not for or against them. It stands aside them; it explores nature as physics or any other regular science does. The major principle of Kabbalah is investigating nature, becoming similar to it, and by doing so, succeeding. Kabbalah is a very concrete science; it does not discuss the soul in the way other religions do.

A soul in Kabbalah signifies an extremely serious and profound attainment and understanding of the world in which we currently live. The purpose of this kind of realization is staying afloat and protecting ourselves from a huge storm that approaches us in response to our ignorance and unwillingness to follow the laws of nature. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Kabbalah and Occult Teachings.”]

The Free Kabbalah Course provides a guided step-by-step introduction to the fundamental principles of Kabbalah, and clarifies what Kabbalah is and isn’t, the difference between Kabbalah and other teachings, how to attain the perception of the hidden reality using Kabbalah, as well as many other principles. We recommend, if you’re interested in these topics, taking the free course and starting to learn about the world around you and inside you anew. Click the banner below to sign up for the free course …

What Is the Essence of Kabbalah?

The science of Kabbalah is the order of descent of the Upper Forces directed to the revelation of the Upper Governing Force (the Creator) to a person.

Kabbalah studies the world we can’t feel. A Kabbalist first senses this world, and then takes on the cognition of it. Those who don’t feel the Upper World think that Kabbalah studies something abstract and detached from reality. But it’s the opposite: Kabbalah describes only a real, attainable reality.

Attainment of the Governing Force is gradual and sensed in our feelings, depending on correction of egoism. The Upper Force has to be gradually attained according to the laws established by its descent from above downward.

At the end of its development, the whole of humanity needs to discover and wholly attain the Upper Governing Force. Studying a path of attaining the Creator, Kabbalah explores “the order of descent of the worlds” from above downwards, that is, from the World of Infinity to this world, as well as ”attainment of the Upper Force” from below upwards, by climbing the steps that were formed by the descent of the worlds. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Essence of the Science of Kabbalah – A Synopsis“]

Why Is Kabbalah Important?

Question: Why is Kabbalah important?

Answer by Dr. Laitman: Everybody asks this question. There are many things in our lives, some more important, others less important. At every second, importance shifts to different things, like sleeping, playing, eating or running around. How do we find what is most important in life?

What’s most important in life is to feel something unconditional, infinite and almighty, seeing through all the worlds without boundaries between life and death, and fulfilling all of our desires, even those with which we are not yet familiar, such as becoming like the Creator.

There is nothing more exalted. It is the very peak where everything is headed. How, then, do we reach it? How do we achieve a success that is absolute in our present place and time? We can do it through a method called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.”

That is why Kabbalah is important. It is because we place value according to how we benefit. If Kabbalah can help us attain everything, this makes it more important than anything else. [Source: Dr. Michael Laitman, “Everyone Wants to Know Why Kabbalah Is Important”]

There are five levels to our desires, divided into three groups.

1. The 1st group is animal desires (food, reproduction, and home);
2. The 2nd is human desires (money, honor, knowledge), and
3. The 3rd group is the spiritual desire (the “point in the heart”).

As long as only the first two groups were active, we settled for “taming” our desires through routine, and for suppressing them. When the “point in the heart” appeared, the first two ways no longer did the job, and we had to look for another way. This is when the wisdom of Kabbalah resurfaced, after having been hidden for thousands of years, waiting for the time it would be needed.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the means for our Tikkun (correction). Using it, we can change our Kavana (intention) from wanting self-gratification, defined as egoism, to wanting to gratify the whole of Nature, the Creator, defined as altruism.

The global crisis we are experiencing today is really a crisis of desires. When we use the wisdom of Kabbalah to satisfy the last, greatest wish of all—the desire for spirituality—all problems will be resolved automatically, because their root is in the spiritual dissatisfaction many are experiencing.

The above text was taken from the book Kabbalah Revealed: A Guide To A More Peaceful Life by Dr. Michael Laitman with foreword by Prof. Ervin Laszlo. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats), and for free PDF download.