Our perception of ourselves and reality determines how we sense ourselves and reality. This is the basis for all our research. We need to understand what a human being is, and if we have any existence in and of ourselves. Quantum physicists may be right when they argue that man, like all of matter, is merely a “bundle of waves.” Perhaps the actual reality is very different from that which we presently see. However, if we can establish a fundamental, objective principle that will not depend upon our subjective sensation, a principle that defines “us” and defines “reality,” we will have a standard by which to assess our present perception.
Many researchers believe that the more we progress in our research, the dimmer and vaguer we find things to be. They feel that we are groping in the dark. Our misunderstanding of ourselves and the world is at the core of the present global crisis we are facing. Without doubt, the scientific approach of researching the depths of reality is a good one, but we find there is a boundary, an impasse that we cannot penetrate.
Human nature, human perception, and everything science has discovered will not facilitate a forward movement. We will feel that from a certain point on, everything becomes “intangible” and “evaporates.” This is what quantum physics is already beginning to discover--that matter is suddenly “lost,” leaving researchers in a kind of vacuum.
A sensation of that sort stems from having lost the sense of the present reality, before having perceived the “approaching” Upper reality. This happens when one does not possess the tools to perceive that “other” reality. Baal HaSulam states (in his article, The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah) that the only way to obtain that method is to learn from a Kabbalist who has already mastered it.
A Blackout
Our state in this world is far from our real state, from the standard we have mentioned above, called Ein Sof, where we are all connected as one desire filled with the Upper Light. The separation, or “exclusion,” occurred to allow us to rise from the degree of desire to a higher degree than that of the desire itself, meaning the degree of intention. This enabled us to make free choices and acquire discernments and revelations with which we could transcend the creature-receiving degree and reach the Creator-giving degree.
Descending from the state of Ein Sof to the state of this world unfolds by dividing the single Kli into many particles. In spirituality, “exclusion” means “difference in qualities.” By independently nearing the true state, we begin to understand the Thought of Creation, above the state of Ein Sof. Thus we are taught how to return to the state of Ein Sof by ourselves.
But for us to return to Ein Sof, we must first know the essence of that state. We are all in the state of Ein Sof, a state of love and mutual guarantee, forming a Kli to the Upper Light. To return from this world to Ein Sof, we must try to build a similar state in our interrelations. The Ein Sof is the truly existing state, though for the time being we are in an imaginary state with respect to our blurred senses. In other words, we are in the state of Ein Sof even now, but our senses are “veiled” with dust, which blurs our perception. We need to “clean up” our senses. Thus, the state of Ein Sof is the standard we are working to attain.
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We can never clearly understand a state while still in it. The present state becomes clearer only as we ascend to a higher state. The method of Kabbalah provides a new picture and outlook that enable us to understand our prior reality. Interestingly enough, we do not encounter many obstacles when dealing with the still, vegetative, and animate. Yet, when attending to matter at our own degree—the speaking—we invariably fail. Our helplessness in resolving the social and familial problems of our time is only one of many testimonials to that state.
The method of Kabbalah elevates us to a higher state than our present state. From this new perspective, we can see our former state and analyze it. This is the fundamental difference between the Kabbalistic mode of research and the ordinary scientific method. In scientific research, the researcher attempts to penetrate the same reality he or she is in, like a child trying to study what it means to be a child. In Kabbalah, however, the Kabbalistic researcher rises above the present level and studies the former, lower level.
Kabbalists do not engage in studying reality in the ordinary scientific manner. They do not try to broaden their narrow perception into a wider perspective because they do not think it is possible. Only correctly researching reality can facilitate our progress toward achieving the next steps. Without proper research, we will simply remain at the level of studying matter.
Proper research elevates the researcher to the level of the Forces that operate behind matter. When we perceive these Forces, we perceive what happens in matter as well, since these Forces become our own. The researcher senses these Forces as conducting his or her own life, at his or her disposal, perceived tangibly, through the senses, rather than intellectually.
One cannot research reality at a higher degree than nature scientists perceive using only rational and sensual perception. To move to a higher reality, one must change one’s senses. Sophisticated research tools will not help here.
By studying nature, we can imagine a higher reality opposite to ours, where everything is aimed at giving instead of receiving. We can also assume that above our egoistic nature, everything operates with love and interconnectedness, that everything is actually a single Thought.
Scientists have found that all parts of reality are harmoniously connected, that each part helps the others and is vital in the collective system. The parts of reality are “considerate” with one another, as if cells of a single body. This finding brought researchers to hypothesize that the general law for every part of reality is the law of love. The only problem is that the researchers cannot raise themselves to that level and be that nature.
If scientists could change their nature in accordance with what they believe is present beyond the physical level, they would find that beyond the “hidden material” lies a very real, rock-solid reality, as real as the one they know now. They could perceive the Forces, their interconnections, and their systems. But for a researcher to discover all that, there must be congruence of form between the researcher and the level of these Forces.
We can compare this to walking into a completely dark room. First, we do not see the objects in the room, but if we switch on the light, we will be able to see them. Of course the objects were there to begin with, but our ability to perceive them was inadequate to the task. Thus, what we must do is match ourselves with the Forces that already exist in reality; and the way to match them is the method of Kabbalah.
Virtual Reality
Numerous theories claim that there are endless realities existing simultaneously. Kabbalah states that there is only one. This reality is called Malchut de Ein Sof, meaning Malchut of the world Ein Sof. Nothing else exists. The term, Malchut de Ein Sof, designates the creature in its perfect and eternal state. Anything besides Malchut de Ein Sof is called “virtual reality.”
The virtual reality consists of various images that appear before Malchut de Ein Sof as it declines into various degrees of “consciousness.” In consequence, Malchut de Ein Sof feels less and less of itself and its filling.
The process of losing consciousness intensifies until Malchut de Ein Sof reaches its lowest, most turbid and detached state, called “this world.” In that state, Malchut de Ein Sof takes the form of human souls that feel disconnected from one another. It is from this picture of reality that we must crave to return to the state of Malchut de Ein Sof.
By saying that our reality is virtual, we refer to the discernment that we make when discovering that this is how things stand. Perceiving such reality as virtual does not prevent us from working with it; we need only understand that this is one of the phases we must experience.
This can be compared to a child with lots of fantasies. The fantasies do not annul the child’s world, and we know that these fantasies are appropriate for the child’s stage of growth. Similarly, when entering a higher reality, we relate to the previous reality as though it were fictitious, though it is very real to those still at that level.
There is a kind of barrier between the spiritual reality and the corporeal reality. We cannot see the Forces behind this world until we cross the barrier, but these Forces depict the picture of the world within us in much the same way electric vectors create images on the TV or computer screen. When we look at the screen, we see a colorful, three-dimensional picture, but it is really nothing but a combination of electrical forces that can be processed, transferred, and stored. The truth is that we, too, exist in a similar picture, except that the screen is within us.
Those who rise to the level of these Forces see how real they are, while the picture they create is imaginary. These Forces constantly create different pictures, although the Forces themselves remain the same.
All in all, there are 125 degrees of attainment. The higher we rise in them, the truer and more correctly will we perceive how these forces connect. At the end of the ladder, one perceives the total merging of these Forces, called Ein Sof.
The principle that arises from this is that it is only when we attain and perceive something that we can define it. For this reason, all Kabbalists adhere to an unshakeable law stated by Baal HaSulam: “What we do not attain, we do not define by name or word.”
Mass Meditation
Many people tend to believe that humanity can improve its situation when it wishes to do so. One such example is mass meditations, often practiced throughout the world in order to raise our quality of life. Undoubtedly, connecting people in a single thought influences reality. The power of thought is indeed tremendous. However, we must understand that simply thinking about it will not induce any beneficial influence upon reality, much as we may want it.
Since our nature is egoistic, our best thoughts will still be focused on receiving better results for ourselves. Our situation will begin to improve only once we realize that our fundamentally egoistic nature is bad. If we understand that only by acquiring a new, altruistic nature can we be happy, then we will flourish and thrive. Such recognition will force us to replace our nature.
Actions such as mass meditation do not promote humanity to the Creator, meaning to the altruistic nature. They are predicated on our being able to maximize the use of our egoistic forces; hence, no single plan of humanity will help to improve our world. These actions will eventually lead to quicker disclosure of the evil in our egoism. In fact, any bonding of many people to achieve a common goal, positive or negative, accelerates the disclosure of evil, but this is not a desirable way for progress.
The optimal evolution occurs only when one draws “Light from Above.” The spiritual Force exposes the flaws as well as corrects them, but to do that, there must be a method of correction. In the absence of such a method, humanity will be compelled to evolve through torment and affliction. Finally, the accumulated suffering will bring humanity to realize that it cannot do anything alone.
Drawing Light from Above is a result of the effort to be similar to the state of Ein Sof—the only state that truly exists, in which we are all connected as one standing opposite the Creator. We need not fantasize anything in an effort to resemble the final state because we are already in it. All we need is to want to receive the correction Force from that state, and that Force will bring us to actually be in it.
Kabbalistic texts depict the corrected state. If we read these texts and want to be in the corrected state, we thus “pull” in the Light in much the same way an unconscious person receives an IV. The Light operates on the reader, awakens, and helps one begin to climb.
We therefore see that the meaning of such terms as “Light” and “Above” is this: “Light” is the Upper Force that corrects and fills the creature; “Above” means “from a more corrected state, meaning a state of greater bestowal upon the Creator.
What is the Creator?
The Creator is what one finds to be the Upper Degree. The Hebrew term, Boreh (Creator), indicates an invitation to “come and see” (Bo means “come,” Re’eh means “see”). One who attains the highest degree is in a state of adhesion with the Creator. Before reaching this highest degree, a flaw will always appear in this adhesion, although this is not really a flaw, but a new, uncorrected desire that has surfaced in the person.
These desires appear so that we will correct them, and through correction enhance our adhesion with the Creator. For every new desire that surfaces, the Creator seems higher than before. As one discovers the oppositeness of the Upper Degree and its level of altruism, one must muster the strength to elevate to it.
Hence, prior to the state of Ein Sof, where all the ends come together, there is no absolute Creator. The only definition we can give to the term, “Creator,” is (until we reach Ein Sof) “higher than I am.” The Upper Degree builds, creates, begets, corrects, and fills the lower degree.
The Creator appears as a blend of higher qualities than those one presently possesses. The Reshimot that awaken cause one to picture a higher degree every time. Nevertheless, the depiction of the Creator is always the projection of one’s present qualities on the Abstract Light. The Abstract Light’s pressure is constant; the changes and movements are only within. Although only the Reshimot change within us, it seems to us as if it is the Creator Who is changing.
Realizing the Reshimot
A person who is not a Kabbalist realizes the surfacing Reshimot involuntarily. Such a person reacts according to the conditions in which he or she was placed: education, environment, internal forces, health and so on. In this manner, one is “taken” through various emotions and impressions and finally arrives at the desire for spirituality.
While progressing “despite self,” one accumulates impressions from life’s joys and sorrows, collecting discernments and using them along the way. This is a preparatory phase whereby one accumulates numerous impressions regarding one’s will to receive, and experiences the realization of the Reshimot within.
Although we are unaware of it, all of these impressions remain in the brain, and when a certain Reshimo surfaces, the Reshimot that are necessary to realize it also awaken. We cannot control this process; events we experienced many years ago suddenly resurface and we cannot understand why.
Moreover, because souls are interconnected in a single system, each “personal” impression of a person, or a group of persons, affects every other soul. Processes that unfold in a certain place on Earth affect all Earth’s inhabitants, even if they are unaware of it. We are presently unable to understand how this information is transmitted, but it becomes crystal clear upon obtaining the state of Ein Sof. We accelerate the emergence of the Reshimot because we are parts of a single system.
We all exist as one creature with respect to the Upper Light; each of us is comprised of all the others. Each is like a single Kli that the Creator created as a hologram, and each person is comprised of the “self” and its incorporation, or existence, in all the other souls. The incorporation of a person into all other souls is bidirectional, meaning one is within the other souls, and the souls are within that person. This is why the will to receive contains so many discernments and changes.
There is always contact between the Upper Light and the individual, but one’s connection to this contact varies. The Upper Light shines upon the desires within us, evoking a sensation that we call “the picture of my world,” whether it is this world or the spiritual world. This sensation changes constantly under the influence of one’s own Reshimo, as well one’s integration in Reshimot of other souls. The sum of these changes creates one’s dynamic picture of life.
Choosing the Future
We believe that we have many possible futures to choose from. But choosing means seeing the future, so what is this choice based on? How does one know which future is best? If we could see the result of choosing one option and the result of choosing another option, we would know which was better. But in truth, there are no options to choose from whatsoever.
A certain Reshimo awakens within a certain will to receive, meaning within a certain person situated in a certain environment. Subsequently, that person realizes the Reshimo, accumulating further impressions from life’s events.
If we realized that we are only marionettes, and that at the same time we can change our future, we would then be at a point of choice. In other words, we could then choose an environment that would influence us positively and assist in our spiritual development. Such an environment would help us realize that Reshimo in the same direction and the same preexisting ladder, but we would do it willingly, instead of under pressure.
In any given state, the Reshimo in the awakened will to receive, and the environment are all predetermined. Even if one had an urge to realize the Reshimo, this urge would stem from within; and even if one used the environment to accelerate the unfolding of the Reshimo, it would only shorten the predetermined unfolding period.
However, our efforts to be part of an environment that is interested in spiritual evolution, and to be prompted by it to evolve, offer us a new intellect—“the comprehensive intellect,” which pertains to the Creator’s intention with respect to the creatures. Acquiring that intellect means discovering that intention and the subsequent ascent to the Creator’s degree. This is the great bonus.
We need to understand that, by ourselves, we can want anything except to advance in the right way to the right goal. A person alone is like a blind person--unable to see the path of correct progress. We cannot see the outlet from this world to the Upper World, from the will to receive to the will to bestow. We cannot even see that such a thing exists and that here lies our salvation.
It follows that the point of free choice is very, very subtle. We can choose an environment that will bring us to a state where the Upper Light changes our quality, and through the operation of that Light, we will be able to enter the spiritual realm. But alone, without a method or a social environment, we cannot make the breakthrough to spirituality.
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Terms such as “parallel worlds” and “parallel universes” are becoming increasingly fashionable. Many find the possibility of choosing their future enchanting. There are meditations that offer abilities to choose first thing in the morning the events of the coming day. Psychologically speaking, in this manner one is “programming” oneself and predetermining a specific manner in which to accept the Reshimot that will surface that day. Yet the question remains whether or not we can actually create a different reality by doing this.
We cannot say that such a person is exceptional, as we all have our predispositions about life. We all have habits with which we start our day, whether they are physical exercise or a visit to a therapist.
Whether we plan our day consciously or unconsciously, the fact remains that our picture of reality is entirely determined by the Reshimo within us. This Reshimo situates us in this picture and creates all the decisions in it. Correspondingly, our conscious efforts to “choose” what will happen are a product of the unfolding Reshimo, and nothing more.
The Memory
All of the pictures that make up our lives are connected to one another. Thus, evoking a certain Reshimo often reminds us of past experiences. We do not manage our memories, nor can we draw anything from them or forget others. The Reshimo determines absolutely everything. We only move “atop” the experiences that awaken and work within us. If a realization of a Reshimo requires it, past memories will pop up on their own.
Everything we ever experienced remains within us; nothing ever disappears. A Reshimo that awakens in one’s desire is then realized opposite the Light and produces a discernment of what is happening at that moment. Subsequently, another Reshimo awakens, and since the Reshimot are connected, the new Reshimo uses the old Reshimo according to its need.
When several other Reshimot have come and gone, the first Reshimo is lost from memory and the pictures it created dissolve from sensation. These sensations might later reawaken if they are needed for the realization of a new Reshimo. Thus we discern a chain of experiences in which the Reshimot become active and passive, and as these Reshimot are realized, they accumulate impressions within us.
This process unfolds “Above” us; hence we cannot approach our memory and draw specific pictures from it. For example, while walking on the street we might encounter a familiar scent that briefly reminds us of a childhood scene. As the scene appears, it disappears, and we cannot understand its purpose. However, nothing is accidental in the world; all the memories surface only according to their necessity for the realization of the present Reshimo.
All souls are connected within a single, comprehensive system. We can therefore say that memory, too, is common to all of them. This becomes increasingly clear as one becomes more connected to every other soul. The more we consciously work toward this system, more memories will surface in us, and along with them, collective abilities and attainments. If we rise to a degree of bonding with others and work with their vessels as though they were our own, we will certainly utilize everything within them.
The Power of Thought
Thought is a very powerful force. In the docudrama, What the Bleep Do We Know?, Dr. John Hagelin told of an experiment in mass meditation carried out in Washington, D.C.. According to Hagelin, it turned out that mass meditation on reducing crime levels in WashingtonD.C. yielded impressive results and crime level dropped by twenty-five percent that summer.
Yet, in this act there is still no free choice, since it is the Reshimo that performs the whole process—the decision to carry out the mass meditation, as well as the subsequent decrease in crime level. Regardless, at present we wish to work with only the modus operandi of human desires, not the degree above it, which “manages” us.
Bringing a group of people together with a single goal creates a great power. This is so because everyone unconsciously uses the already existing system in which they are already connected. Even if people bond for the worst of goals, they will awaken tremendous powers.
Thoughts change reality because a thought is an expression of the desire. By wanting reality to be one way or another, we seemingly channel our future in the desirable direction.
If crime levels are due to rise and thousands of people bond in meditation to lower them, they will decrease because the participants in the experiment inserted their will into that Reshimo. The Reshimo is crude potential, and one’s attitude toward the Reshimo can affect the form the Reshimo will take.
Bonding people in common thought creates congruence with the state of Ein Sof, where all the souls are already connected. We should state that such congruence exists even when the bonding is not carried out to approach the Creator, i.e. bestowal. In other words, congruence with the system works regardless of its connection to the Creator. Bonding draws power from Above, which changes the way the Reshimo seems to unfold. Yet, we must keep in mind that our attitudes towards the Reshimo are also predetermined within the Reshimo.
Let us use the mass meditation example to clarify the subtle issue of free choice. Two points need to be emphasized:
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After the awakening of a desire to use the collective power, one applies this power and reaches an impressive result.
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Activating the desire yields a substantial result because that person utilized the Reshimo, the system, and the Light.
Truthfully, there is not a single act in all of this that stems from the individual, since the Reshimo prodded that person into action. As with any other machine, the person performed an act and yielded a certain outcome. The only involvement of the individual in the process was the documenting of the causes and the consequences. In fact, because we acquire independent existence in spirituality, our knowledge is nothing more than recording causes and consequences.
The Chain of Reshimot
Our perception of reality is our sensation of the Upper Light. The measures of sensing the Light are called “this world” or “the spiritual world.” This world pertains to a sensation of the Upper Light via an egoistic intention, while sensing the world via an altruistic intention is called “the spiritual world.” These depictions express two forms of relation toward the Upper Light.
Our attitude toward the Upper Light defines our state; it determines in which world and in what degree we are situated. This attitude is determined by the Reshimot that evolve from zero degree onward. These Reshimot evolve by a certain order, starting with the still, through the vegetative, animate, and up to the physical speaking, the human. The speaking degree continues to evolve through interior degrees of still, vegetative, animate, and (spiritual) speaking. The chain of Reshimot determines everything, and besides that nothing exists.
The Reshimot evoke increasingly stronger desires in us, starting with physical-existential desires (for sex, food, and family), through desires for wealth, honor, domination, and ending in a desire for knowledge.
Scientists work with the highest desires in the human species—desires (Reshimot) for knowledge and erudition. Once we exhaust all the Reshimot in the egoistic desire to receive, we are required to commence our correction in order to progress onward.
Kabbalah begins where our ability to research reality ends. This is so because the wisdom of Kabbalah enables one to change a Reshimo from egoistic to altruistic. Realizing a Reshimo altruistically allows the researcher to transcend the realization level of the Reshimot that awaken in the researcher, which brings us to the level of the Forces that coordinate the elicitation of the Reshimot into the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, the researcher explores the Forces that form the Roots of that person’s virtual reality, the very Forces that scientists so desperately seek.
Scientists are at the highest evolutionary level of desires in this world. This is precisely their plight: they cannot find the root of everything or learn what happens beyond matter. They do succeed in assuming that there is a Thought past matter, and that this Thought is probably one of love and giving. They will even come to state openly that there must be a different way to research reality; alas, they will not be able to find it. It is impossible to change the innate approach to the realization of the Reshimot without the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Humanity doubtless had to realize all the Reshimot up to its present state without being consulted in the matter. But today, humanity finds within itself a craving to know the reason for its desperate state; the outcry that surfaces from the heart of humanity invokes the disclosure of the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalah will help humankind realize the spiritual Reshimot to which it is now shifting, the Reshimot that prompt the intensifying spiritual quest of so many people.
If humanity waits until its researchers reach the truth on their own, without the assistance of the wisdom of Kabbalah, it might find itself in an unprecedented avalanche of crises, failures, and disasters. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is surfacing now, to ease the transition. This is also what Kabbalists have been trying to explain to humanity before it falls into these predicaments.