The Path of Kabbalah By Rav Michael Laitman PhD The Path of Kabbalah LAITMAN KABBALAH PUBLISHERS By Rav Michael Laitman PhD Executive Editor: Benzion Giertz Editor: Claire Gerus Translation: Chaim Ratz Compilation: Shlomi Bohana Layout: Baruch Khovov Laitman Kabbalah Publishers Website: www.kabbalah.info Laitman Kabbalah Publishers E-mail: [email protected] THE PATH OF KABBALAH Copyright © 2005 by MICHAEL LAITMAN. All rights reserved. Published by Laitman Kabbalah Publishers, 1057 Steeles Avenue West, Suite 532, Toronto, ON, M2R 3X1, Canada. Printed in Canada. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. ISBN: 0-9732315-9-9 FIRST EDITION: DECEMBER 2005 The Path of Kabbalah TABLE OF CONTENTS Part One: The Beginning .........................................................................9 Part Two: Phases of Spiritual Evolution ...............................................70 Part Three: The Structure of the Upper Worlds .................................140 PPPaaarrrttt FFFooouuurrr::: PPPrrrooopppeeerrr SSStttuuudddyyy ......................................................................253 Part Five: Religion, Prejudice and Kabbalah ......................................306 Part Six: Genesis .................................................................................320 Part Seven: The Inner Meaning ..........................................................333 Detailed Table of Contents ................................................................372 Our Other Books ................................................................................377 About Bnei Baruch .............................................................................379 How To Contact Bnei Baruch ............................................................380 Part One: The Beginning CHAPTER 1.1 THE GREAT ILLUSION Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness (Exodus 20:3). Judaism forbids idolatry and any kind of fetishism. This prohibition envelops the most fundamental principle in Judaism: that everything we see is only a figment of our imaginations. Over the years, many of us have consciously or unconsciously ad- opted this principle after realizing that, by changing our perspective, we might be able to better cope with our day-to-day problems. This perspec- tive determines our reactions, our feelings, and ultimately our reality. What, then, is the actual reality around us? Today, Kabbalists can state a principle that Jews concealed for thou- sands of years: that there is no reality at all, but something called “His Essence,” the “Upper Force.” This Force operates in such a way that one sees Him as an image of a certain reality, which we call “my world.” We are all able to see and feel varying images and sensations de- pending on our sensory organs and inner properties. All our sensations are subjective and exist only with regard to our feelings. However, because the sensory organs of non-human creatures would differ from ours, they would see the world as completely differ- ent from us. In fact, it is possible that another creature’s sensory organs would be so different from ours, it might exist in a different dimension without ever encountering us. The closer one’s properties are to the properties of the Upper Force, the closer the image of “my world” comes to the actual reality, and the less distorted it is by one’s egoistic attributes. Since the property 9 THE PATH OF KABBALAH of the Upper Force is altruism, when one attains that quality and bonds with the Upper Force, one learns to feel reality as it is. All of the above is mentioned only to emphasize that all our sensations are personal and might change in time. The only way for us to approach the right perspective of reality is by studying Kabbalah, since it is the only study that deals with the part of reality that humanity has yet to attain. But it is not enough to merely study the text because we are reading about the unknown. We must also direct ourselves to the right vision and be prepared for a truer, and as yet concealed, feeling. Everything exists inside us. Outside us there is only the Upper Force, the Creator. We cannot feel Him in any other way than by how He works on our sensory organs. Only through these sensations can we guess anything about the Creator. Hence, the study of Kabbalah must be correctly directed; thoughts must be focused on studying the inner attributes that we are still unable to see in ourselves. All the worlds, Partzufim, Sefirot, names, everything the Kabbalah speaks of, exists in us and will be revealed in us, depending on the degree of our correction. We will find our inner Moses and Aaron, King David and the angels, the evil, the righteous, and the degrees of attainment called “Jerusalem,” “the Temple” and more. Every word in the Torah speaks of our own forces and our levels of ability to sense the Creator. That is the only topic of discussion of the Torah. That is also the only thing we speak of in our daily lives, because we talk about our feel- ings. In fact, all we feel is the influence of the Creator. Everything around us is no more than the influence of the Creator on each and every one of us. Hence, to discern the actual picture of the world, we must find what we read inside us, as we read the Torah, because every written word exists within us—it just hasn’t been discovered. 10