Question: Do I have to become religious if I study Kabbalah?
Answer: No. Becoming religious is an ascent from our current degree to a degree called “man.” It is not that you change anything on the outside. You don’t have to change your clothes and take upon yourself to observe some external rules. Becoming religious is an inner change; it is your return to the upper force, the Creator, it is a unification with him and being alongside with him cooperating in the management of the world.
Question: Can I stay secular and still practice Kabbalah?
Answer: It is more important that you start reading books of Kabbalah and begin to think what your future depends on, than dressing or behaving a certain way.
Although I myself am religious, it will not help us to be content with merely practicing the precepts (Mitzvot) outwardly. The required change today is much deeper than that. We are required to work a lot more internally and a lot harder. If we do not concern ourselves with our connection with the upper world, we will find ourselves in very difficult situations indeed. We have to work to attain another reality, and not settle for what we’ve had until now.
The Kabbalah speaks only of man’s inner work and I recommend that we all concentrate on nothing else. There is nothing more important than one’s thoughts and desires. That is the only thing that Kabbalah relates to in man, and that is the only thing we are requested for, to examine ourselves and see that by that we can change reality, that is all.