We say that the Upper World is concealed from us. Why is it called "Upper"? We are surrounded by something that is called the Creator. There is nothing else beside Him. We feel the Creator, but who are "we"? His only creation is the will to receive pleasure and fulfillment.
We perceive the Creator depending on how similar our desire is to His property of bestowal and feel concealment, depending on how our desire is opposite to His property of bestowal. That is our reality. There is a concealment, which we cannot even feel. It is called "double concealment" or concealment of the concealment.
In principle, even in our world we attain something by changing our properties. Our attainment depends on the sensations in our five sense organs (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) and on the mind (brain), which exists next to these senses and explains to us what we feel. The mind accumulates various impressions, records them and provides us with images and standards for our subsequent identification of what we previously felt. That is how we are created; hence, we research who we are and where we exist.
Everything that we attain at this moment is called this world. Whatever we will attain at the next moment is called the world to come or the next world. These are the simplest definitions of both worlds. If I arm myself with telescopes, microscopes and computers, and acquire profound knowledge and understanding, I will be able to perceive much more around me. This will be regarded as my perception of the next world because this way I broaden the scope of my attainment.
What is the difference between the expansion of material cognition and spiritual attainment? It lies in the fact that we can expand our material knowledge without changing the properties of our primordial matter - egoism. We complement it with all kinds of devices and instruments that broaden the range of our surroundings and become more intelligent. We compare and calculate what we perceive without modifying our original property.
A person (receiver) remains unchanged; he just furnishes his five senses with additional more sensitive gadgets and expands the capacity of his brain. As a result, it enables him to perceive and understand greater space around him. Yet, such penetration into the perception of this world will never help him to transcend its limits. What does it mean "to transcend the limits of this world"? It means to cross the barrier, beyond which another nature (opposite to ours) rules.
In our world, we perceive objects to the degree of our likeliness to them. Meaning, if we want to sense finer vibrations, we have to develop inside of us a finer organ of perception. Moreover, this new organ of perception has to reproduce the vibrations that we want to pick up. If our egoistical sensor is similar to something external, we are able to pick up this external influence, perturbation. (The principle of operation of any sense organ consists in the fact that an outside phenomenon is perceived only to the extent of the congruence of parameters and properties of a signal generated by the sense organ with the properties of the signal that comes from the outside phenomenon). All of this, however, remains within the limits of my egoistical sensors - my five innate senses.
A sphere with the altruistic parameters that are opposite to mine exists around me. To pick it up, I have to transform myself and become similar to it. The transition from egoistical nature to altruistic one - from natural, egoistical perception (absorption, filling oneself) to that of bestowal and restriction of egoism - is referred to as crossing the Machsom.
A person is unable to make this extremely complex phase transformation by himself. Only the Upper Light, the Upper Force can give us energy for this leap from egoism to altruism, from the perception within oneself to the perception beyond oneself. This nature is totally different. We can neither feel nor understand it until we acquire a new sense.
No stories and explanations will help us before that happens. We can imagine whatever we like, but all the same, our fantasies are limited by our egoism, which cannot reproduce any altruistic property, action or thought.
Suppose: there are people who made this phase leap, crossed the Machsom and began to feel the Upper World. If they perceive everything in a sense organ that is opposite to ours, how can we understand them and what can they tell us? This world is not based on the principle of mirror reflection as in "Through the Looking Glass;" its structure differs completely from that of our world.
I guess it is impossible to explain the laws of gravity with the help of the laws of repulsion, the laws of absorption by way of the laws of dispersion; I do not know how to express it. The very principle of thinking, working, relations, actions and properties of all matter is totally different. The causes, actions and effects of those actions are distinctly different because the goals are different.
If this is so opposite to everything that we know, how can people who have crossed the Machsom tell us what they feel? Perhaps, they can describe their impressions with the help of symbols and sounds, but those symbols and sounds would stem from their altruistic sense organ, whereas I will perceive them in my egoistical senses.
Consequently, although a Kabbalist pronounces a sound, the altruistic meaning, information that it carries in itself will be picked up and interpreted in my egoistical perception. This means that I will fail to understand it. I will not be able to reproduce within me what he wished to say or demonstrate.
The Difficulty of Describing the Upper Attainment
cannot express the notions of the Upper World by using the sounds and letters of our world because our vocabulary is a reflection of what we perceive by our senses.
We appeared a long time ago as primitive people and began to feel and research this world. While sensing, studying this world, we felt the need to register information about it and pass it on to other people, and tell them what happens to us. In other words, man creates a language of communication depending on his environment and life's needs.
If a person's life is very monotonous and passes in confined space, and is limited by primitive relations, his vocabulary will be accordingly scanty. In the course of his gradual development, while studying nature and the world, man had to convey more and more abstract notions, thus his vocabulary grew to match his increasing need to express feelings and impressions.
Similarly, a person feels something in the spiritual world and conveys it. Possibly, it can be expressed by some sounds and symbols, but it is of no avail to me. Although I can see these symbols and hear these sounds, I do not understand them.
It is particularly important to convey accurate knowledge (i.e., abstract images, complex interactions between objects, actions, and thoughts) obtained as a result of discussions (as is accepted in the research of this science). To pass information to another person, a Kabbalist should use definitions of absolute precision (otherwise it will not be regarded as a scientific fact or an adequate analysis).
How can a Kabbalist convey his sensations to us - ordinary people? It would be great if he could tell us what is going on there! While being near me, he can feel something, which I cannot feel: some images, phenomena and interacting forces.
He sees (feels) them now, perceives various events that take place around us in our world and above it. We will probably see and feel them in the future at our lower level, materialized in the bodies.
How can Kabbalists convey their impressions to us? That is one question. Besides, how can they communicate with one another? Do they have a common language?
In our world we invented a language. All the tongues in our world have been contrived. Since we had to convey our feelings to one another, we gradually developed a primitive animal-like language (consisting of inarticulate sounds) until it took its present form.
The Law of Root and Branch in the Worlds
The universe consists of four worlds called in their descending order Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. From the highest world of Atzilut down to our material world of Assiya, all of them have the same identical structure in all the details.
Here we do not speak about the world of Adam Kadmon and the world of Infinity because they are included in these four worlds as their roots (their more internal part). All the worlds are similar and are located one under another.
Reality and all of its manifestations existing in the first world (for instance, Atzilut) are present in the next one below it without any changes. The same is true with all the subsequent worlds down to the material world we perceive.
Or, vice versa: a person transcends the limits of this world's perception, enters the spiritual world and begins to feel its increasingly subtler levels. By this, he ascends the rungs of the spiritual ladder and attains the Upper Reality. All sensations become subtler, clearer at every level. Although closer connection between them becomes obvious and greater details appear more distinctly, on the whole, the sensations remain the same.
By crossing the Machsom and entering the Upper Reality in his sensations, a person ascends 125 levels (5 worlds with 5 Partzufim in each world, with 5 Sefirot in each Partzuf) and discovers at all of them are similar. What does it mean to be "similar" levels?
I perceive the world in a certain way. With time, it grows increasingly deeper and wider in my perception. That is to say, I perceive the spiritual world or the Creator in increasingly clearer and more distinct details.
This spiritual world (the Creator) changes only with regard to me depending on my senses - my screen. Actually, I exist inside this reality; it is not distant from me, although I cannot feel it because my sense organs are blocked. Kabbalah explains that I need to purify and correct them, enhance their sensitivity. That is what is called the spiritual ascent.
In fact, the Creator is the object of my perception; I feel Him alone. The extent of my perception of the Creator determines the degree of spiritual revelation, or the level of the spiritual world that I reached. The measure of the Creator's concealment constitutes the levels that lie between me and the World of Infinity. The World of Infinity is the ultimate level at which I perceive the Creator completely and unrestrictedly, as He is, because I have corrected my properties entirely and made them equal to the Creator's.
There is no difference between the worlds (my attainments of the Creator), other than in the quality of material (in me). The quality of material is determined by the degree of equivalence of my initial, primordial egoism (will to receive pleasure) to the Creator.
This quality of the world's material determines the height of each world's level, so that the material of the highest world is "the purest" in comparison with the lower ones. The second world's material is coarser than that of the first one, but purer than all the lower levels. The same order remains down to the level of our world, where the material of manifested reality is the coarsest of all the previous worlds.
What does it mean, "material"? This perceiving material, or the material on which everything is perceived, is I - myself.
We say that nothing exists but the descending direct Light, desire created by this Light, and the screen with the reflected Light produced by the combination of desire and the screen. There is the Creator (the Light), creation (the will to receive pleasure) and the screen (creation's similarity to the Creator, when creation wishes to become like the Creator in its intention). That is all.
The material is our egoism, our will to receive pleasure. The degree of its purity or coarseness determines the screen's magnitude. Depending on it, I feel/see the Creator's properties against my own.
At the same time, all the objects and forms in each world are identical in all their details - both qualitatively and quantitatively. This may be compared with a seal whose every minutest detail passes on its imprint. Similarly, the lower world happens to be an imprint of the higher one. All that exists in the higher world is imprinted in the lower one in its entirety.
This is so because the Light emanated from the Creator, from the Atzmuto (His essence) builds the Kli in 5 stages (or 4 plus the root stage). Hence, the Kli (vessel, desire, creation) consists of 5 parts, and only in them, within itself, it feels this Light as a filling. What properties can perceive the Light? This is the only thing about which the Kli (creation) can speak.
All of our sensations, definitions, languages, interpretations and knowledge - our entire life (i.e., everything we can possibly imagine) - is no more than our inner perception of the Creator (Light). Nothing else exists. "There is none else beside Him."
The Kli (creation) always consists of 5 parts, but it is measured according to the force of its will to receive pleasure. These 5 parts can be big with the big screen or small with the small screen.
In this way, we always perceive the picture of the surrounding world as consisting of 5 parts, either egoistically through our 5 senses, or altruistically.
Whether we perceive it one way or the other is of no significance; the world's picture remains unchanged. It differs only in its quality: in the spiritual world it manifests as perception, attainment and penetration; with regard to our egoism in this world - as greater or smaller enjoyment.
Consequently, all distinction between the levels in all the worlds consists in the quality of the Creator's image with regard to us. Therefore, we perceive not the Creator in our senses, but the degree of our correction, the extent of equivalence of our sense organs to the Creator.
This resembles a radio receiver that picks up an outside wave because it generates the same wave inside and creates resonance. That is to say, it practically picks up its own similarity to the outside influence.
My ear is designed in the same way. Thousands of various vibrations surround me, but my ear picks up only some of them. It can vibrate inside and generate certain natural fluctuations; hence it detects the same fluctuations on the outside.
Thus, I always pick up, perceive not what surrounds me, but the degree of my similarity to something beyond me. If this degree increases, then I perceive a greater picture, influence. If I can generate only small fluctuations, actions inside, then I pick only a small part of the surrounding world.
What happens if a person grows deaf? His eardrum cannot vibrate as it did before, and it seems to him that nothing but some indistinct, loud sounds exists outside.
We are surrounded by billions of different influences, but we perceive only those of them for which our senses were created. Puncture my eardrum and I will stop hearing. Although the same sounds will remain outside of me, I will not be able to hear them.
The same goes for the spiritual sensations. Only if I acquire a Masach, which will generate the Reflected Light in similarity to the Creator's direct influence upon me, will I be able to feel the degree of my correction. Reflected in all of my sensations and properties, it will constitute the Creator's image for me.
I do not perceive Himself, the Atzmuto, His essence; I only perceive what I can reproduce within me. Hence, this reproduction is called the Creator's image (Tmunat HaShem). Baal HaSulam writes in his poem: "No one else but you shall see it."
That is to say, the entire picture is utterly subjective; it is drawn by man's corrected properties. Since these properties are to some extent similar to the Creator, we call them the Creator's image.
Therefore, it is said: "The Creator created man in His image." We have to achieve this "image" by ourselves after correcting the consequences of Adam's sin.
There is not a single detail or phenomenon in the lower world, which would not be a projection of a higher world. This equivalence of the upper (altruistic) and the lower (egoistical) worlds is defined as the correspondence between the root and the branch.
Our attainment of the Creator consists of 125 levels, the lowest of which is the Machsom. Below it is our world, meaning the sensation of the Creator in egoistical properties that are opposite to Him.
We have no problem communicating with each other above the Machsom or between the levels of this world. However, what language should we use to communicate with those who are above the Machsom, so that they will be able to pass information down to us (below the Machsom) and we will understand it?
Suppose, my friend's spiritual sensations differ from mine, and he interprets the laws of the universe, their cause-and-effect connections and influence differently. I perceive nothing of that, but like a little child I would like to receive something of what he so wishes to explain. Can he convey this information to me somehow?
The connection across the Machsom is determined by the connection between the root and the branch. All that exists above the Machsom is called the root and all that exists below it is called the branch.
This means that a detail in the lower world is a branch of its root in the higher world, because it originates in the higher world and is imprinted in the lower one.
Possibly, it happens in some incomprehensible way according to a formula, which I do not understand. Nevertheless, somehow it is related to the root. Why is it called the root? It is because everything descends to us from there. There, it is called the root, the original; here, at our level, it is called the consequence or the copy.
In other words, the root otherwise called destiny compels this consequence to grow both quantitatively and qualitatively while acquiring qualities that are inherent in an imprint of the seal. This law of root and branch that is in force in every world, in all manifestations of reality with regard to the Upper World, is undeviatingly firm.
The Creator emanates the Light, which creates the creation consisting of 5 parts, 5 basic qualities. The creation feels this Light in the form of 5 inner manifestations, originally called Keter, Hochma, Bina, Zeir Anpin and Malchut. Or we can say it differently: the Light is perceived as consisting of 5 influences called NaRaNHaY (Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Haya, and Yechida). Ultimately, that is all we can talk about.
These sensations develop and divide into many different elements that combine with each other and form a multitude of interconnected desires, influences, causes, and effects. In this way the picture of our world expands until we imagine our world as a vast reality consisting of an infinite number of various objects and properties.
Where does it all come from? These are the same five properties that split and get included in each other. Ultimately, if we research any of our sensations, we will find in it only five parts, the Kelim of KaHaB ZON (Keter, Hochma, Bina, ZA, and Nukva or Malchut) and the Light inside it, the NaRaNHaY.
While being in this world, we try to understand how we exist under the influence of our Upper Root. Together with the entire world that surrounds me, I happen to be a consequence, copy, imprint of the Upper World, of the higher level. I (and my world) simultaneously exist at that level and at the next one, and at the level above it.
That is to say, all of 125 levels - both above and below the Machsom - exist at the same time. I can imagine it: by changing my properties, my ability to perceive with five sense organs, and the quality of this sensation, I can move along all of these levels as in an elevator.
I am interested to know how the levels are connected with one another and how I can ascend them. Basically, I want to know how I can climb these steps towards the highest, best, eternal and perfect state - the World of Infinity. That is why we study and strive to understand what information Kabbalists wish to convey to us in order to enable us to rise from one level to the next.
They can neither pull us up nor take us as little children in their arms and elevate us. They can only pass us the knowledge - information on how they did it so that we would do the same. Hence, it is so important for us to master the language of branches.
They wish to explain to us that the language of branches is the law according to which a copy rises to its original. I do not need this language for any other purpose, and the Kabbalists who have reached the higher level understand that and out of their nature they speak only about it. They do not stuff my head with some unnecessary facts. All they say is how I can follow in their steps and keep rising higher and higher.
The Kabbalistic language does not simply speak about the Upper World or what occurs in it just to satisfy my curiosity. Its sole purpose is to show a person how to rise spiritually, and those who do not intend to correct themselves cannot hear this language. In other words, this language acts to the extent of man's congruence to it.
A person who speaks or writes in this language intends to pass us the information only about correction and ascent. If I, too, have only this desire, if that is what I want to hear, then I begin to hear. Otherwise, I can read Kabbalistic books, but they will leave no impression on me, will give me no energy and no instruction on how to ascend. This is because I want something else: to foretell the future, improve my fate, and use this world to make my existence in it more comfortable.
Thus, only if I wish to bestow, to become similar to the Creator and to ascend, do I begin to hear, read and see what they pass to me, and it starts influencing me. Therefore, you can study these books for 20-30 years and fail to be influenced by this language because you are not properly tuned to the inner frequency, energy and information that are contained in it.
Hence it is said: "Some study Hochma (wisdom) and some study Kabbalah," meaning that there are people who simply accumulate knowledge and others who wish to become equal to the Light.
The Kabbalistic Language of Branches
The very name "language of branches" means that it was created according to commands and instructions received by the branches in our world from their roots in the Upper World. The roots constitute a model for their branches.
A model means a desire to imitate those that are at a higher level. This language is characterized as the language of branches only if the lower branch knows that it is a branch and wishes to rise to its root.
There is nothing in the lower world that does not originate in the higher one. A root in the Upper World compels a corresponding branch in a lower world to take its form and acquire its properties. Here we should add: if this branch desires it. Otherwise, there will be no connection between them. Naturally, it is implied here that the lower level understands that it is inferior as regards the higher level, and that everything it receives from above is given to it to be absorbed, correct itself, rise and become similar to the higher level.
Based upon the connection between the root and the branch, Kabbalists compiled a vocabulary that enabled them to speak about the spiritual roots of the Upper Worlds by mentioning the name of the lower branch that is clearly perceived and defined in the senses of this world.
Kabbalists wish to tell us something. How can they do that? How do we explain something to a child? We do that in a language, which it is able to understand. Ask a mother of a month-old baby and she will assure you that she perfectly understands her child. She speaks with it and her baby understands her. We take a look at that baby and see how foolishly it is shaking its limbs and screaming. However, the mother understands this language and can talk to her baby.
In the same way, Kabbalists communicate with us in the language of our level. They refrain from talking to us in their tongue of the Upper level, but rather explain things in such a way that we can really understand the actions that take place at a slightly higher level than ours and realize the inner meaning of our actions and our level.
What do they wish to convey to us? They want to tell us what lies in the core of our world, prompting us to advance towards it by ourselves and to understand to what we can become similar. They help us to establish contact between our level and a slightly higher one. As in a game, we challenge a child with a task that is slightly above his abilities, encourage him to make an effort and find his own solution, accomplish something new and enrich himself. Their attitude towards us is similar.
The language of branches is very diverse. Kabbalists use it to communicate with each other - both orally and in writing. They borrow the names of this world and with their help describe the Upper World, because there are no names in it. However, for our sake, they descend to the lower level in order to explain all the transformations we are obliged to make within us.
From a connection between roots and branches, Kabbalists created a vocabulary because any object of the perceptible world gives us a precise name that indicates its Upper Root, although the Root itself cannot be defined by any word or sound, since it is beyond our imagination (i.e., above the capacity of our innate senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). However, owing to the presence of branches that are perceived by this world's senses, a verbal description of the Upper Roots gained the right to exist.
If it were not for the existence of our world, how would people communicate with one another in the Upper World? Suppose, you and I exist only in the spiritual realm, and our world does not exist. We would communicate with one another at the level of thoughts.
And how would we communicate with each other if we existed only in our world? We would use our usual vocabulary, sounds, music and everything else that people produce.
So how can we connect with those who simultaneously exist in both our world and the spiritual one? It can be done only in accordance with a special law.
Those who exist in the Upper World have their own vocabulary of thoughts. Words are not necessary there because these people exist in the general universal volume, connected with each other by their altruistic influences. In other words, they, as it were, exist in one common Kli. They are connected in the same way as one of my body organs needs no words to explain to another how they should interact.
I need words and expressions to pass something that is beyond me, my sensation from one dimension, one spatial domain, to a person who is in another dimension, another spatial domain, that is from one closed object to another. That is the purpose of a language. However, if these two objects are merged in one, they need no language because information flows in their common body.
By entering the Upper Worlds, we connect with the common soul of Adam and begin to feel it. Our language is needless there. We subconsciously, begin to directly understand Kabbalists' thoughts, actions and goals. Hence, those who exist in the Upper Worlds use their own language.
In our world, where we are separated by egoism (such a state is defined as "our world") we have our own language. We try to explain something, but fail to understand each other. This is the consequence of the Chaos of Babel, when people wanted to build a tower that would reach the Creator. In their egoism and pride they said: "We shall be like the Creator." As a result, egoism disunited them.
They would not have revealed the degree of separation among them, unless they had aspired to become similar to the Creator and activated and aroused their egoism. Since they wanted to be equal to the Creator, they discovered their opposition to Him, and each began to exist apart from others. They stopped understanding one another. This is the meaning of the destruction of "the tower of Babel." It constitutes the egoistical leap that occurred at a certain stage of humanity's evolution.
Naturally, the tower of Babel is a symbolic structure, but we are interested to understand its inner aspect: what prompted people to start building it and what they wanted to achieve?
Being confined within our individual egoisms, we need a language of communication. This connection is necessary because we are defective; each of us is closed within himself. If everyone got out of himself and merged with others in one common Kli, we would not need any special means of communication.
Now we understand that our world's language is a pitiful attempt of egoists to communicate with each other. At the same time, a language in the spiritual world (it is not necessary there) means a free flow of information from one to another provided they possess a Masach. We need the language of branches in order to understand a little what is going on at the higher level and to become similar to it.
In this way, while playing with her child, a mother tries to "elevate" and educate it, make it more intelligent and understanding. She gives it tasks all the time and teaches it. Of course, this happens in us subconsciously, on the animate level, but that is how the higher level continuously develops us.
We become adults and the next, higher level educates us, explains, sets an example, and gives us strength and comprehension to implement its instructions. The language of this higher level is called the language of branches. Since we cannot manage without it, we should listen to how Kabbalists explain things to us.
The most important thing is to study the original sources! Talmud Eser HaSefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) is the most powerful book that generates the influence of the higher level upon the lower levels, and one should simply read it.
It is important to hear what Kabbalists wish to tell you, not to understand, but to pick up that energy and the encouragement to rise to the higher level. A person uses not his mind, but his desire to achieve that more elevated state. This is because if a Kabbalist speaks from the higher level, one cannot grasp it with one's mind.
If you start imagining it in your mind, then you simply misinterpret his words. It is impossible to understand the higher level in the mind; we can only aspire to ascend it and then understand what it is like. Just by pulling ourselves up towards the higher level with our desire, we grow wiser.
In our world we grow similarly - with the help of desire, because desire constitutes the inherent property of the Kli, whereas the mind is merely an auxiliary system that serves desires.
This way, every object of our world provides us with an accurate name that refers to its Upper Root, although the root itself, being beyond any imagination, cannot be named by word or sound. However, owing to the presence of the branches perceptible in this world, verbal expression of the Upper Roots has a right to exist.
Everything that is present in our world has a name and constitutes a branch of a spiritual root. A Kabbalist uses some words, phrases and sentences from his high spiritual level. We can read this text because it is written in our language, but we will interpret it in accordance with our understanding at our level, in the branch. While using these words, the Kabbalist implies something that exists at his level, in the root.
What do we gain from it, if he has in mind something entirely different from what I imagine? It gives me but one thing - the desire to reach his level and to see and understand what he sees and understands.
If you believe that the study of the Talmud Eser HaSefirot will give you the understanding of the Upper World's structure, you are wrong. No Kabbalistic book will make you understand how the Upper World works, not a single one! A person who already exists in the Upper World studies it by these books. A book gives him instructions, guides him: go there, look here, do this and see that.
When we are in this world - meaning without the screen to carry out the book's instructions - it cannot give us anything, we do not understand what it says. Therefore, the book's only help consists in enhancing our desire to rise to that level and to start implementing the instructions it provides.
In one of my books, I inserted a page from a Kabbalistic prayer-book. What is a "prayer-book"? It instructs: "Combine a screen of a certain magnitude with a specific desire, make with it a certain altruistic action, and it will bring a certain result." Is a sequence of spiritual actions, corrections called prayer? No, prayer is a desire for correction, a request for a screen.
This is the essence of the Kabbalists' spoken language with the help of which they share their attainments with one another, passing them from generation to generation - both orally and in writing. Their mutual understanding is sufficient because it possesses an adequate degree of accuracy that is necessary for research in this science. Kabbalists set such a precise and failproof framework because every detail has its unique name inherent in it alone; hence, it indicates its spiritual root so accurately.
The language of branches is absolutely accurate, because Kabbalists took the names from our world and attached them to their precise spiritual roots. Therefore, if some spiritual root is defined in accordance with a name in our world, we should make no mistake - its connection with its branch is exactly as Kabbalists meant it to be.
We are surrounded by an enormous world with its conventionalities, with all that man contrived. Imagine how ancient people lived in caves and tents, tended herds, cultivated the land and, over thousands of years, artificially created a multitude of objects and formed relationships.
Is there an analogy to that in the Upper World? In a corrected form - yes; in an uncorrected form - no, because all we created stems from our egoistical needs. There are basic, fundamental analogies - a house, a wall, a field, etc. - but there are no analogies to our artificial notions and relations, because we contrived them based upon the incorrect, unnatural use of our properties.
Therefore, the Kabbalistic language and the way it describes the world appears to be very simple and mundane: Zivug, Neshika, Mochin, Hibuk, Levush - garments, embrace, kiss, coition, distance, approach, ascent, descent, enclosure, transition, etc. This is because all the other things in our life resulted from thousands of years of our egoistical evolution.
Passing Knowledge from Teacher to Student
The words uttered by a person cannot deliver any supreme knowledge that is beyond time, space and motion. This knowledge is absolute. We perceive reality within the framework of cause-and-effect, consecutive operations, which we call time. Movement does not exist because it is perceived only within us.
Nothing changes outside of us. Movement, transformation, space and time are what the changing Kli perceives. The Light that fills it is absolutely static. Hence, the spiritual is beyond time, space and movement.
Why is that so? Indeed, spiritual perception is also the Kli; we perceive the Light through the Kli. Do we transcend our Kli when we perceive something? No, we always perceive inside. So why is the spiritual beyond time, space and movement? By spiritual, we imply a corrected egoistical property that acquires the Light's characteristics. In other words, the corrected Kli feels the same as the Light.
Do not get confused - we always exist inside our Kli. However, since this Kli changed and acquired the Light's properties, it feels what the Light feels; finds itself in the same state. Such a state of the Kli is referred to as spiritual.
Only the Kabbalistic language can express the correlation between branches and their Upper roots.
What does it mean to "hear the language of branches"? If a student hears his teacher and is able to perceive his words as the language of branches, then in this information transfer he will be able to attune himself correctly and receive his teacher's message. For example, I am explaining something to you now. There are people who perceive my words as an ordinary earthly language and there are others who hear it as the language of branches. It depends not on the teacher, but rather on the student.
Only the person who sees the interconnection between branches and their roots can understand this language. The root-branch connection cannot be attained from down up, i.e., it is impossible to discern any analogy to the Upper Roots or imagine it by merely looking at the branches below. First, one should attain the Upper Roots, for only then will one be able to understand both the quality and quantity of the connections between each branch and its root in the Upper World.
Do not think that by being at the lower level you can understand what the person at the higher level tells you in the language of branches. Only by reaching his level will you be able to understand what he tells you.
If so, then why should I hear him at all? When I ascend, I will understand what he speaks about. Isn't it pointless for me to listen to him, if I understand nothing? The fact is that although I cannot understand a Kabbalist, when I listen to him, I desire to reach his level and to become like him. That is why he speaks with me. A person at the superior level wants me to aspire to attain him.
Imagine that two people are at different levels. How can they understand each other? The person at the higher level can only encourage his inferior to reach his level and understand. That is the higher level's task.
Only after discovering and attaining the connection between the root and the branch (by rising to the higher level) will man acquire a common language with his teacher-Kabbalist. The language of branches will enable the teacher to pass to his disciple all the nuances of his wisdom and the information about the Upper Worlds that he received from his teachers and attained by himself. This is because now they have a common language and can understand each other.
However, if the student does not understand this language yet and cannot see how the branch points to the root, the teacher has no opportunity to explain even a single word of the supreme knowledge. There is no way to speak with him on the Kabbalistic research for the lack of a common language. In other words, one can only pass the knowledge of Kabbalah to someone who knows and understands what is said.
It is impossible to understand each other while being at different levels. To that end the student has to reach the teacher's level.
But how can the student attain the knowledge of this language all by himself? This can be accomplished with the help of Kabbalistic books that will gradually usher him into the perception of the Upper World.
By reading these books with a desire to attain their author's level; by listening to the teacher with an aspiration to achieve the spiritual level from which he speaks with you; by striving to merge with him without focusing much attention on the words; you can change and ascend to the higher level. The thing that matters is not understanding, but desire.
Some of us are cleverer and more talented than others (by birth). T his is of no importance. The important thing is desire, because the spiritual Kli is desire. The mind that exists next to it is the ability to process information quickly and manipulate it in some way. The mind has nothing to do with spirituality. It can act only at our egoistical level. The spiritual world is a domain of desire.
Only upon attaining at least a minimal level of the Upper World and having mastered the language of branches on that level will he be able to receive the wisdom from his teacher-Kabbalist, for now they have a common language.
If one ascends the smallest spiritual level, one can see how the language of branches works between the levels. After that, it becomes easier to understand the higher levels by analogy.
Thus, the most important goal is to cross the Machsom. The subsequent levels above the Machsom resemble one another. They differ in their manifestation, volume, magnitude and depth of attainment, but there is a similarity between them, not an inverse and completely incomprehensible connection as between our world and the Upper one.
"Rude" Names in Kabbalah
From the above we may understand why Kabbalists use such words as "kiss", "coition", "embrace", and "childbirth" to express very exalted ideas. It happens that this science cannot be explained by any other language than "the language of branches", which most accurately indicates the connections between each root with its corresponding branch.
Thus, it is impossible to reject any of the branches on the pretext of an apparent baseness of its level or to stop using it for the description of connections in Kabbalah, because no other branch in our world can substitute for it.
We know that the Upper Light creates the original Kli, consisting of 5 parts. Then this Kli begins to divide, multiply inside and reveal its inner structure. It is the same Kli, but each of its 5 parts splits into 5 more, and then 5 more, and so on. That is to say, each of the parts is similar to the original one, but at the same time, it constitutes one of its particular properties.
When we point at something while using the language of branches, we have to indicate exactly the source from which a certain property stems - its causes and effects.
In our language, we describe things approximately. When we point to some action or object in the spiritual world, we are obliged to indicate its place within the system of 5 worlds and 125 levels with utmost precision. This place constitutes the name of the object.
If we decline to use some name, it will lead not only to the loss of the corresponding spiritual notion, but will also very seriously harm the science as a whole. In that case, one of the links in the chain of the wisdom will fall out and upset the interconnection between all the links.
We can call a spiritual object according to its name. But what is a "name"? We define the numeric value of the Kli, meaning the magnitude of desire with the screen, and the characteristics of this screen. In this way, we precisely specify what we describe. In that case we use the Kabbalistic language of Sefirot, Partzufim and worlds, which has nothing to do with our world. Such fundamental Kabbalistic sources as "The Tree of Life" and "The Study of the Ten Sefirot" are written in it.
There exists another language - the language of branches. The Zohar and Pentateuch (Torah) are written in it, and although the words of our world are used in those books, they definitely describe the Upper World. Kabbalists are not interested in our world. Their narration concerns spirituality, the realm which we need to attain.
Therefore, we should realize that behind all the seemingly rude words and names in Kabbalah stand the actions and properties of the Upper World. Their meaning is totally different from what we are accustomed to hear and understand in our world.
We should not be surprised by the use of "indecent" terms because the Kabbalist has no free choice; he must accurately select the names from our world that correspond in their root to what happens in the Upper World. The Kabbalist cannot replace them with more "decent" names because he is always obliged to use the branch that points at its Upper Root. Besides, he has to provide a detailed explanation and formulate a precise definition that would be sufficient for the learner.
If the Kabbalist expresses his knowledge with the help of the language of branches, he has no freedom and is obliged to call the root in accordance with its corresponding branch in our world. If an object is called a glass in the spiritual world, according to its branch in this world, he has to call it a glass. The same applies to such words as a kiss, coition or childbirth. Hence, the Kabbalistic books allegedly have some "erotic" content.
For example, "Song of Songs" is the most powerful description of the union between the Creator and His creation at the highest level. One might say that this is the holiest book of all. It is called Shir HaShirim ("Song of Songs"). It is the Song of all songs because it glorifies the ultimate state of creation's merging with the Creator. It describes the most intense interconnection between the Light and the Kli.
King Shlomo (Solomon) could express his sensations only by using this language. Although he was a great sage, he was able to describe it only in the erotic language of our world. That is the way the law of equivalence between the branch and its root is reflected in this world.
Question: Can we reveal and grasp the Light that descends upon us from Above through the texts that we read?
We can feel it only in the form of inner energy that permeates these words. It is called Ohr Makif (the Light that returns to the Source). Only in this way can we receive something from the Kabbalistic texts: the power of correction and elevation, the power of likening our properties to the higher level from which the Light descends upon us. That is the only thing we can gain from these texts, the rest is of no importance.
I repeat once again: we should not delude ourselves that by studying the Kabbalistic texts, accumulating knowledge, sharpening our intellect and listening to interesting lectures, we will approach the spiritual world.
Some of you are very good lecturers with excellent knowledge of the material, but you do not come closer to spirituality than those who are not. By being talented, you simply can learn faster and express yourselves better than others. The proximity to the spiritual is determined strictly by man's inner desire, by the aspiration of his heart.
On the one hand, it is fair; but on the other, it is hard, because in our world we are used to manipulating our mind, which ostensibly makes us human. In fact, it makes of us shrewd and sophisticated egoists. This does not help in the spiritual world. On the contrary, only the pure and sincere aspiration that comes from the heart can elevate a person.
This pure desire, coming from the bottom of a person's heart, cannot be received unless we tune ourselves to the Kabbalistic language and wish to get from it the inner force. It will elevate us to the realm where our desires will coincide with the desires of the higher spiritual level.
I repeat - desires, but not knowledge! When we reach the higher level, we begin to attain its desires. This attainment can be called wisdom, Hochma. Ohr Hochma (the Light of wisdom) means equivalence, merging and understanding of the higher level's thoughts. Ohr Hochma is characterized as the Light that fills desire.
That is why you should not attach too much importance to your intellectual faculties. This comes last. Only desires matter! Hence, it is written that Joshua succeeded Moses - not because he learned from him, but because he helped him to circulate the knowledge and organize the studies. It is because knowledge fills the head but not the heart.
Therefore, although Kabbalah is a science, it is attained through the correction of the heart and not by accumulating knowledge in the mind. The mind can be filled only with our egoistical intention, which, as we see, does not bring good results.
Question: The most difficult part is to make the first practical action and catch the wave. After that, the work is based on the principle of similarity. Can one receive a practical recommendation in Kabbalah on how to pluck the right string?
You are asking me how you can attune your egoistical instrument to some altruistic standard. In other words, you in your egoistical world want me to give you some altruistic note, movement or desire, so that you (an egoist) will realize, absorb it in yourself and, thanks to that, continue tuning in.
It is impossible. Such an altruistic tuning fork for our world is not available. To that end, you have to cross the Machsom and acquire such a tuning fork within yourself there. Then you will start tuning in. The acquisition of the first screen will be your tuning fork. However, without that transition, you will not get it.
You want to advance with the help of knowledge, by using your strength and comprehension. You aspire to pass from this world to the next by controlling the circumstances. This requires such an energy jump, where you lose practically all your previous sensations, understanding, realization and perception, - all that you were attuned to egoistically.
You have to transform your perception. Crossing the Machsom means that you suddenly begin to look at the world differently. You realize that the world actually operates in accordance with altruistic laws and that all people unconsciously perform altruistic actions. It just seems to them that they act for their own sake. The deception that comes from above is referred to as concealment.
The transition from this perception to the next cannot be in our power because we kind of pass from one life into another. We have to die, leave the previous state and move on to the next. Our entire system of perception changes. Hence, stop looking for a tuning fork here. You will receive it on the other side.
Question: Is everyone's crossing of the Machsom an individual attainment?
Of course it is. However, crossing the Machsom requires such an exertion, which can be possible only in a group of like-minded people. This does not mean that all the group members will perform that action simultaneously. It is not unlikely that they will, although in general, this attainment is individual for everyone.