October 23, 2024
September 20, 2013 at 6:00 am · Filed under Articles, Books
Learning to Perceive Reality
During the correction process one gradually learns to sense this world and the Upper World, and their interaction at the same time. Information descends from the Upper World into ours and manifests as matter. We see physical objects, plants, animals, birds, insects, and people. But if we possess spiritual vision in addition to the corporeal one, we can also sense the forces that govern matter.
It is precisely this perception of reality that everyone must achieve: to sense the Creator behind everything that exists and transpires. We needn’t believe it blindly, but actually see and sense it. This is what the Torah teaches us.
Preparing the Independent, Free Willed Creature
The Creator created the creature from the quality of egoism, which is opposite to Him. He filled the creature with the Light, and then emptied it, thereby lowering it to the state called “our world.”
In return, the creature ascends back along the spiritual degrees, thereby meriting pleasures far greater than what it had before its descent into this world.
A question arises: to reach equivalence with its Maker, why did the creature need to experience the worst possible state?
The fact is that the creature must have the strength and freedom to act freely in between two opposite qualities: its own ego and the Creator, to freely choose its own path and independently follow it.
To provide man with these choices means the Creator must a) completely distance the creature from Himself, b) give the creature the ability to develop and attain the Universe, and c) allow the creature freedom of choice.
The Creator provides the creature with these conditions gradually. The creature that senses the Creator, and is therefore filled with the Light, is not autonomous. Rather, it is fully controlled by the Light, which dictates its own terms and imparts to it its qualities.
To create a fully autonomous and independent creature, the Creator must distance Himself from it completely. In other words, by freeing itself from the Light, the creature achieves independence in its actions.
The Torah: Instruction Manual to Repair the Soul
From the very first pages, this is exactly what the Torah speaks of: how to repair this unusable tool – our soul – and return to the Creator as a result. Like an instruction manual, it explains how one can ascend to the most supernal and perfect state, while still living in this world.
As was already mentioned, during the correction one exists between two worlds – the Upper and the lower. In the process of correction the soul acquires the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience for the correction. More importantly, one develops new sensations, new spiritual qualities. Thus, by achieving complete correction of the soul, one acquires the qualities that allow for existence in all the Upper Worlds – in eternity, serenity, and perfection.
Baal HaSulam, the Instructor of Our Generation
In order to pave the path for our generation the greatest Kabbalist of the modern age, Baal HaSulam, pleaded with the Creator to allow him to descend from the world of true perceptions to a lower degree, so he could communicate the way to the spiritual dimension using letters, words, and earthly emotions. When his request was granted, he penned the main Kabbalistic works for our generation, which we can use to enter the spiritual realm. His works are like a map without which you will surely lose your way in the labyrinth of corporeal life, lose hope, grow weary and pass away without ever learning the true purpose of your existence. Like a father responding to the suffering of his children, Baal HaSulam picks us up and carries us to the Light.
Just as one cannot exist in our world without understanding it, the soul cannot exist in the spiritual world after the body passes without acquiring knowledge about it beforehand. Therefore, all the achievements in the science of Kabbalah not only guarantee us a comfortable existence in this world, but also the opportunity to exist in the world to come.
“What Is Independence and Free Will According to the Torah?” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
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August 25, 2013 at 3:56 am · Filed under Articles, Books
Man bears tremendous responsibility over what happens in the world. Because he doesn’t yet understand it—living a life driven by animalistic desires—he is hardly to blame. When this realization comes, however, the real work for which he was created will begin.
By correcting your egoistic desires (the still, vegetative and animate), you also correct the entire universe.
Man as a “Chip off the Old Block”
For instance, let’s assume there is a rock, and let’s call it “the Creator.” This rock comprises a certain percentage of slate, a certain percentage of lime, a certain percentage of gold, and some other minerals. If the rock were shattered, what would be the percentage of the composing elements in each piece? It would be the exact same percentage as in the complete rock. Because each piece is part of the whole, its composition is identical to the entire piece. This is why geologists need only break off a piece of a rock to learn its contents.
Every one of us is a shard from this “rock,” the Creator. We are all comprised of the same qualities of love and bestowal that exist in Him, except we have broken off from Him. What was the cause of this rupture? Egoism—a quality that’s completely opposite to the Creator.
Building the Desire to Become Like the Creator
How do we return to Him? The moment we understand that we are opposite from Him, and wish to return to the Creator, we will immediately embark on the path back to Him. The main objective on the spiritual path is to build the desire for it. However, we must experience this desire thoroughly, to the very end, until it hurts, until we scream with pain!
Desire is the basis for all things in the world, and determines absolutely everything. Your objective is to adhere to the Creator. If you have the desire to do so, you’ll begin to escape the slavery of self-love and you’ll immediately feel changes in your environment. There will no longer be a need to hold conferences on ecology, or green/peace rallies, worry about endangered species, and so on. Humankind will understand that the buck stops with us. We must rise above the ego and begin the journey to the Creator.
This is the message of all the books written by Kabbalists. And the moment we rise above our egos, everything will change. We will finally understand another universal truth: The Creator created us in His image and likeness, and we have never left this state.
What does “in His image and likeness” mean? It means that the Creator (the quality of bestowal) created the world, which operates under the law of bestowal. Having been made in the Creator’s image and likeness, we live in this world and the world exists in us. But it only exists in us to the extent that we observe the law of that world, the law of bestowal.
Aspiring for the Truth by Looking into the Mirror
Man sees the world through his inner qualities. If we are corrupt, the world appears to us as such. If we are pure, so the world appears to us.
All the problems we see in Nature simply mirror what’s happening within us. The impending ecological catastrophe, contamination of rivers and seas, extinction of species, and extreme weather events are all reflections of us, the egoistic essence that has enslaved us. The whole world is within us, waiting for us to realize that we are responsible for everything that happens in it, and complete our correction.
We’ve been living a lie, but now we wish to grasp the truth.
“How to Change the World” is based on the book, The Secrets of the Eternal Book: The Meaning of the Stories of the Pentateuch by Semion Vinokur.
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July 30, 2013 at 10:29 am · Filed under Articles, Books
The ancient wisdom of Kabbalah is a scientific method, helping people of our times to discover the single force that created reality. This method uses a special language using the names of our well known corporeal world to connect to the Upper Reality. Using this language and the written sources with the right intention we can ascend to our root right here, right now.
Abraham’s Method for the Modern Man
More than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, a place that gave rise to many of today’s civilizations, there lived a man called Abraham. Nearly all religions and spiritual factions recognize him as their founder and patriarch. They record his name into their holy writings as the first man to reveal the Law behind the world’s existence, the first man to attain the Upper Governance.
It is none other than Abraham who is the forefather of the science that transcends nationality, a science that is universal, for it emerged before the world was split into nations and languages.
But it is precisely in our time that this science, known as “Kabbalah,” is meant to be revealed. “Our time” is when egoism in our world reaches its final phase of development and becomes so powerful that humanity will be unable to control it, needing a remedy to save itself from the ego. It is then that the wisdom of Kabbalah will appear.
Changing Perception of Reality by the Correct Usage of the Ego
The word “Kabbalah” translates as “reception.” In other words, it is a science about how to receive correctly, or how to properly utilize one’s egoism to receive all the pleasures prepared for humanity.
Kabbalah takes nothing on faith. It invites you to “taste and see that the Creator is good.” It does not mean you should agree with something that somebody tells you. You yourself must acquire the sensation of the Creator, and Kabbalah is here to help you do just that.
When a person is constantly changing in our perception as we get to know him better, in truth has always been the same; we simply needed to get to know him better. It is very important for our advancement to understand that it wasn’t the person who changed, but that we have opened up to him, as if absorbing him within us.
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July 28, 2013 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
If you have ever wondered about the mystery of life, if you’ve contemplated the meaning of existence for even a moment, or dreamed of finding the “elixir of immortality,” hold tight the Pentateuch; it is for you.
The Pentateuch – Encrypted In Desire
When you pick up the Pentateuch and start to read, little do you know that its content is encrypted. You read and regard the information as a collection of stories, occasionally stopping to wonder what all the fuss is about. The Pentateuch is the foundation for all of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and cited continuously by sages, philosophers, writers, and… politicians. But what is so special about it? Allow me to reassure you that if you aren’t satisfied with the Pentateuch as a historical epic, there is nothing wrong with you. It is a sign that you’re searching for the hidden meaning; and if you’re really searching, you will invariably find it.
For millennia, scholars have been trying fruitlessly to solve the mystery of this code. Yet, they have been trying to solve it with reason, and this has been their downfall. You cannot crack this code with reason, so don’t even bother trying.
To reveal the secrets of the Pentateuch, you need only one “tool”—desire. It is a magical word, one that has great significance.
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