Daily Kabbalah Reality Check
Examples in the daily Kabbalah lesson elucidate spiritual concepts through explanations of situations in this world
Getting To Know The Upper System
What's the difference between an operating manual and The Book of Zohar, why is it said that the Zohar is locked with thousands of keys, and how can we unlock it?
In the article, "Preface to The Book of Zohar", Baal Hasulam writes that: "the depth of wisdom in The Holy Book of Zohar is locked and interlocked by a thousand keys". How is it possible that one book reveals an enormous wisdom, and on the other hand conceals it?
It could be analogous to an intricate system with thousands of wires connected between themselves in a perfect manner, and operating it. If we can figure out how the wires are connected, we will be able to operate the system, but if not, we will be in confusion, and never succeed.
Similar to that, The Book of Zohar tells us of the perfect harmonious system that operates nature at the highest levels, which Kabbalists have discovered. This system is described in perfect detail, just like in a technical operating manual. However, when we read the Book of Zohar, the reading is concealed from us, because we are unable to understand and "connect the wires" with which the system is operated. Therefore, the concealment of The Book of Zohar is not in the book, rather it is in the person observing it, in his relation to the book.
With that, it is important to remember that studying The Book of Zohar is very different from reading an electronic system technical manual that tells us where each wire attaches to what component, etc.. Baal Hasulam writes that the study of The Book of Zohar is, "no more than a ladder to help the reader to rise to the heights of the matter, and to see and observe what is really in the book."
In other words, the study of The Book of Zohar enables the reader to discover the wisdom of the Kabbalists, each time anew, the location of concealment or faulty perception. With the assistance of the study, the person discovers the place inside of him which obscures what is written in The Zohar. In a gradual process called "correction," he changes slowly, slowly, his attitude from egoism to love and bestowal, and this new attitude enables him to penetrate into what is written about in The Book of Zohar. In this manner, he slowly uncovers what this wire and that component are in the system, and finally when his attitude towards the system changes in its essence, he discovers how each part in it operates in perfect harmony, and can even operate it himself.
Kabbalah International
