Our Essence

Our self is our essence, the only thing that characterizes an individual.  However, it is ever-changing, and what remains is merely an external, animate shell.  This is why it is said that every moment man is born anew.  Yet, if this is so, how should we regard one another, and how should we perceive ourselves?  How can we possibly “stabilize” anything within and outside of us if we are constantly changing, and all that we perceive is a function of our inner state?

 

The Zohar

Page 42

Just As In Our World

Just as in our world, the world itself and all its inhabitants, except man, are robots operated by their animal nature, rather than creatures with free will, in the spiritual worlds, all the spiritual beings, except for the soul, are operated by their spiritual nature.  Upon being born in our world, man, too, is an animal without freedom to act against his egoistic desire to receive pleasure.  He usually stays that way throughout his existence on earth, being not at all different from the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, automatically following orders of his inner master, egoism.

 

The Vision of Rabbi Chiya

The Zohar

Page 195

From the Giver

When Behina Dalet received the Light of Ein Sof she felt that the Light came from the Giver.  The sensation of the Giver awakened in her such shame and torment that she decided never to receive again.  A decision in the Upper One becomes a binding law for all the following situations.  Hence, even if some part of Malchut wants to receive for itself, it is unable to because Malchut controls all her parts.  Any new decision is a result of the weakness of the degree; therefore it operates only on the lower degrees.

Michael Laitman PhD

The Path of Kabbalah

Page 183

Utter Simplicity

From the aforesaid, their words are understood with utter simplicity: we have seen that all the words and utterances our lips pronounce cannot help us convey even a single word from the spiritual, Godly matters, above the imaginary time and space. Instead, there is a special language for these matters, being the Language of the Branches, indicating their relation to their Upper Roots.

 

Baal HaSulam

The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Not the Desire Itself

The creature, Behina Dalet of Dalet, corrects its will to receive in order to be able to bestow.  The correction is not of the desire itself, but in the way it is used–it must be done with the intention to give.  That correction, the setting up of the intention to bestow, is done with small bits of the desire of the creature, from the smallest to the greatest, but not on all of the desires at once.

 

Michael Laitman PhD

The Path of Kabbalah

Page 211

 

Neither Imagination Nor Senses

Any reasonable person will understand that when dealing with spiritual matters, much less with Godliness, we have no words or letters with which to contemplate.  This is because our whole vocabulary is but combinations of the letters of our senses and imagination.  Yet, how can they be of assistance where there are neither imagination nor senses.

 

Baal HaSulam

The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Abstract “Virtual” Place

The spiritual world is an abstract, “virtual” place.  There are only forces and emotions there, no bodies.  The spiritual terms must constantly be renewed because we cannot understand a word of what the Kabbalistic books speak of before we have an emotional connection with spirituality.

 

 

 

Michael Laitman PhD

The Path of Kabbalah

Page 178

Your Own Essence

Furthermore, you have no perception or attainment whatsoever even of your own essence.  Everything you know about your own essence is nothing more than a series of actions extending from your essence.

 

Baal HaSulam

The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah

Dual Creator

The Creator wants a Creation that can retain its independence even when it feels the Creator, seemingly producing a “dual Creator”–the first being the Creator Himself, and the second, Creation, operating precisely like the Creator.

 

 

Dr. Michael Laitman

The Path of Kabbalah

Page 13

Body of the Emanated

We should also know that the will to receive is what we perceive as the “body” of the emanated, meaning its primary essence, being the vessel to receive His goodness.  The second is the Essence of the good that is received, which is His Light, which is eternally extended to the emanation.

 

Baal HaSulam

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy