Q: How does the Kabbalah relate to other cultures, including ancient ones?
A: The Kabbalah teaches about the Upper World, the origin of everything in our world. The substance of our world is born from the lowest degree of the Upper World. That substance is organized according to the four degrees of the Upper World and is divided to the four levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking.
The still substance was also divided to four levels: solid, liquid, gas and plasma, and so were the other levels. I am speaking of these things only to show that in our world, just as in the spiritual world, everything is built by the four degrees of the expansion of the Light.
Mankind is gradually evolving by the positive/constructive force and by the negative/destructive force. Each phase, or degree, comes as a result of the negation of the previous one. Every form of administration lasts only as long as it takes for the disadvantages to show, and for a strong enough degree to overturn it.
The more the negativity of the present situation is recognized, the nearer the new situation – which does not have the disadvantages of the present situation – becomes. Those disadvantages that appear in each degree and ultimately eliminate it are the reasons for the evolution of mankind.
The law of gradual evolution is a law that works on the whole of nature and is applied in every particle of it. Take the earth, for example. First, it was just a ball of gas. Under the influence of gravity, it then grew denser and the atoms heated until they began to burn. Then, by the effects of constructive and destructive forces the heat decreased and caused the creation of a thin and hard encrustation.
But that was not the end of the battle between the forces. The liquid gas ignited, once more erupted, and broke the crust. Everything went back to the preliminary state until, after the battle of the forces, the positive force overpowered the negative force.
This caused the heat to decrease and the crust to be reformed, but a little thicker this time, so that it would endure a greater pressure from within and for a longer period of time. This process repeated itself several times.
Thus, the eras changed every thirty million years, and each time the crust grew stronger and harder as a result of the strengthening of the positive force, which finally brought the system to complete harmony. Liquids filled the inside of the earth and the crust became dense enough to create conditions for the beginning of organic life.
However, contrary to other levels – still, vegetative and animate–which end their development automatically, under the power of the inner material forces man must undergo further development regarding his relationship with society.
Hence, cultures came and went all over the globe. Kabbalah accepts the fact of their existence and many corresponding assumptions, including the assumption that there is life elsewhere in the universe. We might even discuss the forms of such life...
The wisdom of Kabbalah contains more knowledge than all of science. But since that knowledge is not connected to man’s role on earth, Kabbalah simply refrains from dealing with it, and sees no need to elaborate on it.
When man’s soul descends from the Upper World, it dresses in a body of this world for a specific purpose. The soul must go through certain stages of development during its corporeal life. That is why there is no time to waste on idle quests that stray beyond the range of human power, on which Kabbalists do not want to waste their time.
I can only say that by studying the wisdom of Kabbalah you will understand everything. Not only what happens on earth, but in the entire universe. It is because that study teaches you about the spiritual roots, which descend and create everything that happens in our world. But this knowledge will be revealed to you only if you use it for spiritual elevation, and not to satisfy your curiosity.