This article is provided by kind permission of the group of kabbalists Bnei Baruch. This article MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED without the permission of the author.

Introductory Course to Kabbalah

Lesson 1 of 5

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.

Lesson 2