Q: What is this method called “faith above reason?”
A: There are three paths one can take: above reason, within reason and below reason. Reason is the self of man, his concepts, his mentality, and his education.
Below reason - is action without self-criticism or examination. It is a state where reason is not taken into account; fanaticism, faith at all cost, is accepted without examination. The more capable a person is of disconnecting the mind and going by faith alone, the closer the faith is to being “below reason.”
This expresses itself in fanaticism and training that people follow blindly, beyond question and doubt. This method is used to teach certain habits that people keep for life. Therefore, the more a person is prone to “faith below reason,” the more stupid such people become, to the point where they begin to believe in miracles and similar phenomena.
Within reason - means that a person examines and accepts only that which is suitable for one’s conception of reality. It is an inner faith, a state where a person relies on reason, senses and everything available from the inner nature.
Above reason - means that a person examines data, sees that it opposes one’s perception of reality, but accepts it anyway, even if it is against one’s better judgment and understanding. Why? Because this reason stems from the Upper One, Whom one trusts more than self.
All our modes of operation are narrowed down to “ faith above reason.” The higher the degree, the more one gives. We cannot understand it; we cannot see how we can attain such a high degree, put in the effort, and find the energy to nourish that toil.
However, it is possible with “faith above reason,” despite the desires and the understandings of the body, because the desires of the body belong to the current degree, whereas we wish to climb to a higher one. Therefore, we are given more and more knowledge in the form of disturbances, and the more we relate to them with “faith above reason,” the wiser we become.
In fact, we rely on that reason for our progress, using it to rise “above” it. That knowledge remains within us as a basis we trample on. Thus, we grow wiser and wiser from one degree to the next. You will gradually understand this through your own experience.
If Kabbalists simply tried to erase those disturbances as ordinary people do, they would remain in “faith below reason.” But they examine them, face conflicts and work against them, which is why they gain knowledge against the faith, and build the faith over the contradictions, over the desires of the body. That is why they can understand things that are beyond our conception.
In other words, the spiritual world opens before them, because they acquire the screen with “faith above reason.”