Q: Lately, there have begun to appear various study groups for Kabbalah. Is it worthwhile checking them out?
A: It is always worthwhile to explore, at least once, who studies and how they study Kabbalah. It will also help you to get to know yourself. That is why I would advise you to check things out, and afterwards make up your mind.
It is not wise to hide from yourself deductions that you might later on discover. In Kabbalah, you mustn’t hide anything from yourself, or you will become used to lying to yourself. This will divert you from your inner struggle with yourself and you could begin to camouflage the drawbacks, ignoring and perhaps even erasing them.
Q: Why are there so many trends in Kabbalah?
A: The time is approaching when the uniqueness of the Kabbalah and the system of Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag will become widely known. In the meantime, there is room for everyone, for all trends. In fact, all other systems exist only to reveal their futility, thus emphasizing the genuineness of the wisdom of Kabbalah.
The souls that descend to our world are at various stages of development. Some have not acquired a true desire for genuine Kabbalah. There are also people who come to us, and later leave for orthodox religion. I believe we should let people choose their way for themselves.
When I came to my rabbi, I said, “I have studied with quite a few Kabbalistic rabbis. How can I be certain that this is my final stop?” I was thirty-three at the time, and my life stretched ahead of me. My rabbi was already 75.
He replied, “I have no answer for you, it is something that a person feels in his heart. You should believe no one. And I advise you – what you feel in your heart is the most correct. That will bring you where you should go. But you must never agree with anything. Criticize and doubt everything. The most important objective is to be freed from prejudice, from education and from public opinion. Free yourself from anything extraneous and try to absorb the way your nature tells you. That would be the truest, because any education and any external opinion is coercion.”