Five Worlds, and None Real

As we’ve mentioned in Chapter 7, there are five spiritual worlds: Adam Kadmon, Atzilut, Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya. The only thing that is real is the world of Ein Sof (No End). We also explained that the word Olam (World) comes from word Ha’alama (concealment). Therefore, the worlds are incomplete appearances of the Creator. The only place where He is completely revealed is therefore the world of Ein Sof, where there are no limitations, hence the name Ein Sof, no end to our perception of the Creator.

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Spiritual Sparks

All the worlds, Upper and lower, are contained within.

—Rav Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to the Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Upper Worlds affect objects in the worlds below, as all the worlds are essentially the same reality—that of Ein Sof. For example, if you thought about doing something, and knew for certain that that thought would come true, then your plan would be experienced as existing in you, even before the thought has actually been carried out. Our body knows this process very well; this is why the stomach produces digestive juices before the food actually gets there. In that sense, the thought of eating is a higher world, which creates the lower world where the eating occurs. But in both worlds the event (substance) is the same—eating. Because our thought is not limited, you could say that it is in the world of Ein Sof, and our body is in one of the lower worlds.

Keep in mind that although Kabbalah speaks only about the spiritual worlds, it uses physical examples, such as eating, to explain them. Although the examples are used to understand how things work in spirituality, don’t be misled into thinking that there is physical eating (as in the last example) in spirituality.