The knowledge that the first Kabbalists acquired did more than help them understand how things worked behind the scenes. With it, they were able to explain the natural phenomena we all encounter. It was only natural, therefore, that they became teachers, and that the knowledge they passed on to us became the basis for both ancient and modern sciences.

Perhaps we think of Kabbalists as secluded people hiding in dim, candle-lit chambers, writing magical scriptures. Well, until the end of the 20th century, Kabbalah was indeed kept secret. The clandestine approach toward Kabbalah evoked numerous tales and legends surrounding its nature. Although most of these tales are false, they still baffle and confuse even the most rigorous thinkers.

But Kabbalah was not always secret. In fact, the first Kabbalists were very open about their knowledge, and at the same time, very much involved with their societies. Often, Kabbalists were their nation’s leaders. Of all these leaders, King David is probably the best known example of a great Kabbalist who was also a great leader.

The involvement of Kabbalists in their societies helped their contemporary scholars develop the basis of what we now know as “Western philosophy,” which later became the basis of modern science. In that regard, here’s what Johannes Reuchlin, a humanist, classics scholar, and expert in ancient languages and traditions, writes in his book, De Arte Cabbalistica: “My teacher, Pythagoras, the father of philosophy, took his teaching from Kabbalists … He was the first to translate the word, Kabbalah, unknown to his contemporaries, to the Greek word philosophy… Kabbalah does not let us live our lives in the dust, but elevates our mind to the height of knowledge.”

Other Routes

But philosophers were not Kabbalists. Because they did not study Kabbalah, they couldn’t fully understand the depth of Kabbalistic knowledge. As a result, knowledge that should have been developed and treated in a very specific way was developed and treated incorrectly. When Kabbalistic knowledge migrated to other parts of the world, where there were no Kabbalists at the time, it also took a different course.

Thus, humanity made a detour. Although Western philosophy incorporated parts of the Kabbalistic knowledge, it ended up taking an entirely different direction. Western philosophy generated sciences that researched our material world, that which we perceive with our five senses. But Kabbalah is a science that studies what happens beyond what our senses perceive. The changed emphasis drove humanity in the opposite direction from the original knowledge that Kabbalists obtained. This change in direction took humanity on a detour whose consequences we will explore in the following chapter.

The Big Questions

Kabbalah became hidden about 2,000 years ago. The reason was simple—there was no demand for it. Since that time, humanity has occupied itself with developing monotheistic religions, and later on, science. Both were created to answer man’s most fundamental questions: “What is our place in the world, in the universe?” “What is the purpose of our existence?” In other words, “Why were we born?”

But today, more than ever before, many people feel that what has worked for 2,000 years no longer meets their needs. The answers provided by religion and science no longer satisfy them. These people are looking elsewhere for answers to the most basic questions about the purpose of life. They turn to Eastern teachings, fortune-telling, magic and mysticism. And some turn to Kabbalah.

Because Kabbalah was formulated to answer these fundamental questions, the answers it provides are directly related to them. By rediscovering ancient answers about the meaning of life, we are literally mending the rupture between humanity and Nature that occurred when we turned away from Kabbalah and toward philosophy.

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.

It is no secret that Kabbalah did not begin with today’s Hollywood trendy hype. It has actually been around for thousands of years. When it first appeared, people were much closer to Nature than they are today. They felt an intimacy with Nature and nurtured their relationship with it.

In those days, they had little reason to be detached from Nature. They weren’t as self-centered and alienated from their natural environment as we are today. Indeed, at that time, humanity was an inseparable part of Nature and nurtured its intimacy with it.

In addition, humankind did not know enough about Nature to feel secure; instead, we were afraid of natural forces, which impelled us to relate to Nature as a force superior to our own.

Being intimate with Nature, on the one hand, and afraid of it, on the other hand, people aspired not only to learn about their surrounding world, but even more important, to determine what or who governed it.

In those early days, people couldn’t hide from Nature’s elements as they do today; they couldn’t avoid its hardships as we do in our “manmade” world. And most important, the fear of Nature, and at the same time, the closeness to it, urged many to search for and discover Nature’s plan for them, and coincidentally, for all of us.

Those pioneers in Nature’s research wanted to know if Nature actually had a goal, and if so, what humanity’s role might be in this Master Plan. Those individuals who received the highest level of knowledge, that of the Master Plan, are known as “Kabbalists.”

A unique individual among those pioneers was Abraham. When he discovered the Master Plan, he not only researched it in depth, but first and foremost taught it to others. He realized that the only guarantee against misery and fear was for people to fully understand Nature’s plan for them. And once he realized this, he spared no effort teaching whoever wished to learn. For this reason, Abraham became the first Kabbalist to start a dynasty of Kabbalah teachers: The most worthy students became the next generation of teachers, who then passed on the knowledge to the next generation of students.

Kabbalists refer to the designer of the Master Plan as “the Creator,” and to the Plan itself as “The Thought of Creation.” In other words, and this is important, when Kabbalists talk about Nature or Nature’s laws, they are talking about the Creator. And vise versa, when they are talking about the Creator, they are talking about Nature or Nature’s laws. These terms are synonymous.

To a Kabbalist, the term, “Creator,” does not signify a supernatural, distinct entity, but the next degree that a human being should reach when pursuing higher knowledge. The Hebrew word for Creator is Boreh, and contains two words: Bo (come) and Re’eh (see). Thus, the word, “Creator,” is a personal invitation to experience the spiritual world.

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.

I am delighted and honored to have been asked to write the introduction to Dr. Laitman’s Kabbalah Revealed: A Guide to a More Peaceful Life. Not only is the author a dear personal friend, he is, in my view, the foremost Kabbalist alive today, a genuine representative of a wisdom that has been kept secret for two millennia. Now that the wisdom of Kabbalah, among other indigenous wisdoms, is emerging full scale, I believe no other person is better suited to expound on its essence.

In today’s world, the emergence of Kabbalah as an authentic means of instruction is of unique significance. It can help us regain awareness of the wisdom that our forefathers possessed, and which we have forgotten.

Indigenous wisdoms are appearing today precisely because our customary, mechanical school of thought has failed to provide the well-being and sustainability it had promised. A Chinese proverb warns, “If we do not change direction, we are likely to end up exactly where we are headed.” When applied to contemporary humanity, this could prove disastrous:

Climate change is threatening to turn vast areas of our planet into unlivable, lifeless soil, unsuitable for human habitation and inadequate for food production.

Additionally, most of the world’s economies have become less self-sufficient. This is ominously coupled with the worldwide diminution of food reserves. There is less available freshwater for well over half of the world’s population. On average, more than 6,000 children perish each day from diarrhea caused by polluted water.

In many parts of the world, violence and terrorism have become the favored means to resolve conflicts. Hence, there is deepening insecurity in both rich and poor countries. Islamic fundamentalism is spreading throughout the Muslim world, neo-Nazi and other extremist movements are sprouting in Europe, and religious fanaticism is appearing the world over.

Thus, our very tenure on this planet is in question.

However, global breakdown is not mandatory. We can turn the tide, and the following scenario, too, is entirely possible:

As the latter part of this book will show, we can pull together and pursue shared objectives of peace and sustainability. Business leaders can recognize the groundswell of change and respond with goods and services that meet the shift in demand.

Global news and entertainment media might explore fresh perspectives and emerging social and cultural innovations, and a new vision of self and nature will emerge on the internet, on television, and in communication networks of enterprises and communities.

In civil society, a culture of alternative living and responsible values will lend support to policies of social and ecological sustainability. Measures will be taken to protect the environment, create effective food and resource distribution systems, develop and use sustainable energy, transport, and agricultural technologies.

In this positive outlook, funds will be redirected from the military and defense establishments to serve the needs of the people. Supported by these developments, national, international, and intercultural mistrust, ethnic and racial conflicts, oppression, economic inequity, and gender inequality will all give way to mutual trust and respect. People and communities will readily cooperate and form productive partnerships.

Thus, rather than breaking down in conflict and war, humanity will break through—not merely to a sustainable world of self-reliant and cooperating communities, but to a joyous future of peace, tranquility and complete self-fulfillment.

A peaceful and sustainable world can await us all, but alas, we are not presently headed in this direction. Einstein told us, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking at which we created them.” Yet, we are trying to do just that. We are trying to fight terrorism, poverty, crime, environmental degradation, disease, and other “sicknesses of civilization” with the same methods that produced them in the first place. We are attempting technological fixes and temporary remedial measures. Yet we have not mustered the will, nor the vision to create a lasting and fundamental change.

Planetary Consciousness

In light of today’s global crises, humankind has begun to seek new avenues and modes of thinking. Such modes are the ancient, albeit very pertinent, indigenous wisdoms. To them, planetary consciousness is not merely an ancillary notion, but their very essence. When we study these modes, we realize that the new planetary consciousness is actually an old, perennial consciousness; only now it is being rediscovered.

Indeed, it is high time that planetary consciousness was rediscovered. We used to think that the typical, “normal” human consciousness is what we capture with our five senses. We considered everything else imaginary. The common perception was that we ended where our skin ended. Other views were considered “new age,” “mystical,” or “esoteric.” Ideas that we somehow belong together, that there is a context in which we are parts of a greater whole, have been considered the exception in the history of civilization.

But if we look at the history of ideas, we will find that the truth is quite the opposite. The reductionist, mechanistic, and fragmented thinking that evolved in the Western world over the last 300 years is not the norm, but the exception. Other cultures do not share this view. Even the West did not adhere to it prior to the emergence of the mechanistic worldview that it inherited as an application (or rather, misapplication) of Newton’s philosophy of nature.

In other cultures, as well as in the Western world preceding modern times, the prevailing consciousness was one of belonging, of oneness. Most traditional cultures do not agree that people have nothing in common but passing interests that happen to coincide.

The classical roots of all the wisdom traditions are concepts of a “planetary consciousness.” This term defines the awareness of our shared fate as human beings, as citizens of this planet. If we are to sustain our existence, if we are to ensure that our children and grandchildren have a secure and sustainable future, we must foster a planetary consciousness.

To move forward, we must cultivate a mindset that enables us to form a united human family, a planetary civilization. However, this civilization should not be a monolithic culture where everyone follows the same ideas, and one person or nation dictates those ideas to everybody else. Rather, it should be a diverse civilization whose elements join together to maintain and develop the whole system, the planetary civilization of humankind.

This diversity is the element of harmony, the element of peace. Every society that has survived has possessed it. Only Western and westernized societies have forgotten it. In the process of creating technical and economic progress, they have fragmented the integrity, the oneness of the system. It is high time we restore it.

As I learned through my acquaintance with Dr. Laitman’s writings, Kabbalah in its authentic form not only promotes the concept of oneness and the integrity of humanity and the universe, it also offers practical measures to restore it when lost.

It is my heartfelt recommendation to read carefully through this book, as it provides much more than general knowledge about an ancient wisdom. It also provides a key to ensure the well-being of humanity in these critical times, when we face the unprecedented challenge of choosing between the devolutionary path leading to worldwide breakdown, and the evolutionary path that can bring us to a world of peace, harmony, well-being, and sustainability.

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.

So you encounter someone who asks you “What is Kabbalah?” and you know that any one- or two-liner you answer just won’t reach the infinite depth that the wisdom contains. One of the best things you can do is this situation is provide them one of the following links, and let them find out for themselves…

Also, if you’ve encountered other material you’ve shared to introduce someone to Kabbalah, or which you first encountered that grabbed you when you discovered Kabbalah – feel free to share it in the comment section below!

1. Perceiving Reality
www.perceivingreality.com

Perceiving Reality is an 8 min. video that introduces Kabbalah in an entertaining way, by examining the questions that Kabbalah provides a method for answering, i.e. questions like “Where do you come from?” “Where are you now?” “Where are you headed?” “Why is it all happening?”

2. Your First Course In Kabbalah

Your First Course In Kabbalah is set of 5 introductory Kabbalah video lessons (25 min. each), for someone who is ready to spend some time getting into in depth explanations on Kabbalah.

3. Kabbalah Revealed: A Guide To A More Peaceful Life

Kabbalah Revealed: A Guide To A More Peaceful Life is for the person who prefers reading books or eBooks than spending time online: a short 160-page book (available in print at cost price [$5] or as a free eBook [PDF]) that introduces Kabbalah’s basic concepts in an easy-to-read, course-like manner, covering the major topics and questions that Kabbalah provides a method for answering.
Purchase Softcover Book
Download Free eBook

4. The Kabbalah Channel
tv.kabbalah.info

For the person who enjoys browsing videos, the Kabbalah Channel contains videos suitable for people interested in seeing how Kabbalah’s concepts integrate with different aspects of life.

5. Enter The Zohar
www.enterthezohar.com

Enter The Zohar is a set of 7 video clips that introduce basic concepts of Kabbalah through The Zohar – the most important book in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

As we said above, if you’d like to share any other Kabbalah links that first touched you and made you want to delve deeper into this endless wisdom, feel free to share them in the comment section below!…

Also, for more information about the introductions mentioned in this post, and for more recommended Kabbalah content for sharing, visit the following page:

Recommended Kabbalah Content For Sharing

Below you will find a collection of frequently asked questions & answers as well as additional free resources to satisfy your hunger of knowing about Kabbalah:

What Does The Word ‘Kabbalah’ Mean?
The word Kabbalah comes from the Hebrew word “lekabbel,” which means “to receive.” Kabbalah teaches us how to receive pleasure from the Creator & by doing so correctly, receive infinite joy and fulfillment

Is Kabbalah A Religion?
No. Kabbalah is a science – the physics of the overall reality. Kabbalah has no relation to religion or to Judaism. It is the method of the soul’s correction and does not entail any obligations, restrictions, observance of religious rituals, and so on.

Who Can Study Kabbalah?
Anyone who wants to. Kabbalah reaches out to all those who seek awareness. In the past Kabbalists established a limitation on the study of Kabbalah to prevent people from studying before they were ready. Today, there are no limitations on the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Who Is Bnei Baruch?
Bnei Baruch was established in 1991 by Dr. Michael Laitman. It is a diverse movement of thousands of students worldwide. Each student chooses his or her own path and intensity, according to one’s personal conditions and abilities.

Why Are the Education Center Courses and Materials Free?
It’s written that one may not receive any money or material reward in return for teaching Kabbalah. Since Bnei Baruch teaches & spreads Kabbalah solely as a means for humanity’s spiritual advancement, then we make all our lessons, books and courses available for free online.

Still have unanswered questions? Check out the free resources below for more information:

Download the Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah by Dr. Michael Laitman

Download as PDF
Download as Word
Purchase Your Own Copy

If you think someone else would be interested in taking this free course with you, it’s not too late to send them a link to our sign up page