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Introductory Course to Kabbalah
Lesson 1 -
What is the Wisdom of Kabbalah?
By Michael Laitman, Ph.D
Kabbalah Lessons courtesy of www.Kabbalah.info
The revelation of the Upper Power, feeling Him and uniting with Him
The Wisdom of Kabbalah is called "the wisdom to receive", because it
speaks about the revelation of the Creator, about the way to receive
the revelation of the Upper Force, to feel Him, to see Him, and to unite
with Him.
We receive the knowledge contained in this wisdom through people just
like us, who lived in this world and suddenly, something higher than
this world was revealed to them. That which they saw and felt they
began to record. They began to measure the feeling, to examine it and
go back to it. Very slowly, their notes accumulated into books, which
now comprise the foundation of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.
While we are busy studying Kabbalah, we are attracting a special kind
of power called "the Surrounding Light". By it we could also reach a
state from where we'll see like them, the wider, supreme reality. This
reality will help us to know who we are, where we have come from, where
we are heading towards, and will provide us with the answer to the
question "what is the purpose of our life?"
Lesson 1
What is the Wisdom of Kabbalah?
- Why do the Kabbalists appeal to each and every one of us to study
the wisdom of Kabbalah?
- What is the soul? How does it develop?
- Does something exist outside of us, or is it simply an
illusion?
- Who are the Kabbalists?
- How is it possible to know who we are, where we come from and where
we are headed to?
In item 155, towards the end of the Introduction to the Talmud Eser
Sefirot (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehuda
Ashlag) writes: "Therefore we must ask: why did the Kabbalists obligate
each person to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Indeed there is an
important thing here, worthy of being publicized: there is a
magnificent, invaluable remedy."
What invaluable remedy? And he explains that we all have a soul. And
this soul exists within every one of us in a dormant state.
In order to awaken the soul and open it, we have to develop the soul so
that it can absorb the Upper Light coming from above. The progression
of the soul is effected by the Upper Light. The reason why we haven't
developed enough until today is that we haven't attracted the Upper
Light toward ourselves.
What method should we now use to do this? While studying, especially
during the next two hours we should strive to attract the Upper Light.
This is done in a simple manner: we do not forget why we are studying
and what the purpose of our learning is. It is not only to know what's
written and understand what I'm explaining, but to live it, to reach it,
to feel it working inside you, because we're talking only about what's
inside us.
Outside of ourselves exists only the Upper Light from above, The
Creator; and anything that we're able to imagine,all of it, it's in
oneself.
Spiritual worlds, this world, everything we can think of, all of it, is
to be found in ourselves, inside us. And if it seems to us that there's
anything located outside ourselves, it's simply an illusion. Whoever will
later be rewarded and see these things from the worlds above, will see
that this is indeed so, that everything is found inside a man.
First of all: while studying, think that we're all a large group that
is uniform and special. We have one big desire, a big vessel, through
which we attract a great spiritual Light. I'm here in order to enable
this process to materialize, I support it, I'm doing it for you, and
you should strive to create a pleasant, comfortable atmosphere for all
of us together.
It's important to know that we are about to receive a very great power
from Above, a power that will help us to progress and climb the
spiritual ladder. Then you will feel and see it. This is most
important.
Additionally, I won't use any specific book and I'll tell you, what my
sources are. But as a matter of fact, it is not important where it is
coming from. My purpose is to give you foundations, and every time I'll
use something from different places in the books.
At the end of the lesson there will certainly be questions and I hope
everyone will receive an answer. If not, I will answer later, through
the Internet or during the next lesson.
How did we acquire the knowledge that you are learning with these
lessons?
We learned it from people like us that lived like us in this world, and
suddenly something higher then this world has been revealed to them.
They began to see through walls, through people, through where they were
living, inside caves, in tents, maybe palaces. They began to see
something outside of this world and they began to write down whatever
they saw and felt.
They began to measure this feeling, to examine it and constantly analyze
it. In short, they began to discover an entire new world outside this
one. Slowly they gathered their impressions into books, which have
become the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah.
The wisdom of Kabbalah is called "The Wisdom of Kabbalah" because it
speaks of the revelation of Godliness. How to receive revelation of the
Upper Power and to feel It, to see It, and be united with It. That's
what they wrote about, and what they have left to us.
Why did they write? First they achieved, afterwards they wrote. They
measured, they repeated all their experiences, and really talked with
each other through their books. However, their writings were understood
only by those that had personally achieved the feeling of the Upper
World.
And by studying what they wrote, we receive the Surrounding Light. While
we are thinking and looking forward to attracting the Surrounding Light
towards us, to enjoy it, then with its help we also can reach a state
where we'll see like them, a larger, superior reality. And this reality
will help us to know who we are, where we come from, where we're headed
to in the future.
That is to say that by studying the Wisdom of Kabbalah and the books
written by the Kabbalists, we can observe two influences: the first one
is that one Kabbalist is passing on his knowledge to another Kabbalist,
who can read and walk through the same places where the author has been -
to go up, and go down, exactly like him; in short, really to live, to
experience the same situations described in those books.
The second influence is upon us: for now we enjoy it as Surrounding
Light. Without understanding what it is, we strive to attract towards us
the power which will improve us and will raise us to the same situations
as the Kabbalists.
Therefore, it is worthwhile reading from these kinds of books that
indeed have special powers, great powers. Although there are many
books written about Kabbalah, we do not read all of them (there were a
great number of Kabbalists that wrote in all kind of languages and in
many forms). However, we take special books, written by people from
the level of the end of Correction, from a very high step. Besides,
those books were written especially for us, for those below the
Barrier who are willing to pass over it. In all, we don't have many of
those books: the books of the Holy Ari, the books by Ramchal (whose
writings we don't study yet, because he wrote in a very special
language, at least the external language is written like this), and
the books by Baal HaSulam.
 
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