Kabbalah: Mysticism, Religion or Science?
- Kabbalah isn’t mysticism, religion, magic, holy water, red strings, amulets, and a lot of things it is popularly associated with.
- Kabbalah is a solely method of connection among people in order to discover the single guiding force of reality.
- Attaining the single guiding force of reality is through the development of an additional sense called a “Masach” (screen).
Why Kabbalah Is Not Mysticism
Mysticism is one of the popular labels Kabbalah has been given, and it is a wrong one.
Kabbalah received such labels because it was forbidden to study it for a certain period, and its hiddenness intrigued many mystics, fortune tellers, and esoterics who formulated various connections among Kabbalistic terms and concepts. These connections stuck within several mystical practices over the years, and even though they might use terms and concepts that their creators found in Kabbalistic texts, they have nothing at all to do with the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Kabbalah is a science that teaches the law of reality, of which we are its parts. Through this science, we uncover that law and how to enter into a clear perception and sensation of the upper spiritual worlds, the causal forces behind everything that happens in our world.
Kabbalah does not engage in belief, imagination, illusion, or intuition in connection with an unknown upper force, but it instead describes precise and clear laws that depict the structure of the upper worlds. When we study Kabbalah, we first acquire knowledge of the world outside our own. We discover the upper spiritual world. Through research and experimentation on ourselves, we gradually learn how to influence the spiritual reality, and we then enter into that comprehensive reality. At such a point, we start operating not from within our inborn bodies, but from our souls, which are our true essence. In other words, we expand our innermost desire, which is a desire for the discovery of life’s ultimate meaning and purpose, developing it into a vessel capable of perceiving and sensing the single force guiding reality. When we do so, we become human in the fullest sense of the word: resembling the quality of love, bestowal, and connection that sources our lives.
The purpose of creation is that we will act from within our souls, from the upper world, and live at the highest degree possible, rather than in the lowest (our world), which is no more than an animalistic state. By discovering our souls, we attain contact with the upper worlds, and thus achieve an eternal, perfect, harmonious, and peaceful life.
Why Kabbalah Is Not Religion
First, Kabbalah predates religion, as its origins stem back almost 6,000 years. Religion arises from a disconnection with the upper force, which leads to speculation and misinterpretation of what Kabbalists such as Abraham and Moses attained and wrote about in their texts. Religion therefore misunderstands and overlooks the true purpose and meaning of
such texts.
There is no equivalent to Kabbalah in any religion because the wisdom of Kabbalah is not a religion, but a science. It does not relate to religions, beliefs, extrasensory methods, or even Judaism. Where religion entails believing in the upper force based on guidance of individuals who attained revelation of that upper force, Kabbalah is a method of our own revelation of the upper force through research on ourselves. Moreover, the wisdom of Kabbalah intensifies both the desire to receive and the desire for knowledge, based on self-awareness and the attainment of the single upper force. Religions, however, are built on self-restriction
and abstemiousness.
As a teaching that predates religion and from which religions extend as misinterpretations of Kabbalistic texts and authors, Kabbalah is also not intended to unite religions. In short, Kabbalah has nothing to do with religion. It is a science that studies the essential core of the person, nature, and the universe, the upper worlds, and ultimately, the single force of love, bestowal, and connection that it defines as “the Creator.” Even the term for “the Creator” in Kabbalistic language, “Boreh,” is a connection of two words that mean “come” (“Bo”) and “see” (“Reh”). In other words, we can believe in the Creator when we attain—“come and see”—the
clear perception and sensation of that upper force through our own research on ourselves, like how a scientist conducts experiments in order to discover an outcome. The difference between the science of Kabbalah and sciences of our world is that in Kabbalah, the subject of research is our own desires, intentions, and attitudes. Those who have reached such attainments also explain that the deepest wish of every person in humanity is to ultimately reach the attainment of the Creator, that it is the only state where we feel eternal and perfect fulfillment, beyond any kind of pleasure we have ever felt in our world.
Religions, on the other hand, are combinations of rituals that people designed as support mechanisms in their earthly existence. They are the “opium for the people,” ways of pursuing psychological comfort; of creating feelings of stability and comfort within our shaky existence. That is why Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) said that the only optimal religion is “Love your neighbor as yourself,” since such a perfect form of human connection leads to a perfect form of connection with the upper force.
It is important to note, however, that as a science, Kabbalah is open to anybody, and it is possible to belong to a certain religion while studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. Similar to how a person involved with a certain religion can also be a physicist, so it is with Kabbalah. The fact that Kabbalah is a science that is completely unrelated to religion means that anyone can study it regardless of their religion or anything else they do in life.
Why Kabbalah Is a Science
Our world’s sciences are applications of what we can naturally research without changing our innate qualities. Various techniques like meditation let us change ourselves and become more sensitive within the limits of our natural qualities. In our world’s sciences, there are people with more capable analytical and intellectual faculties, while others possess greater sensitivity. Similarly, our instruments and devices complement the human mind and senses. If we do not change ourselves and acquire an additional quality called a “Masach” (screen), then we remain within the research of our world using its sciences.
Kabbalists claim that the Kabbalistic methodology enables us to acquire an additional sense called the “Masach” (screen) or “soul” through which we can perceive, sense, and research a variety of phenomena like how we do so in our innate five senses. We can perceive what is in this additional sense according to the same principle of how we perceive reality in our five senses, i.e., to the extent of similarity to the perceived reality. For instance, when the eardrum responds to specific frequencies, they stimulate fluctuations that the ear perceives as sound. To expand the range of an ear’s perception, we can use a device that processes higher frequencies beyond the ear’s natural capacity. This device, through its oscillatory circuit, creates fluctuations matching the external frequencies and transforms them into frequencies that the ear can detect, reproduce, and comprehend.
The additional sense is designed according to the same principle. It is not an additional organ that extraterrestrials might have and we lack. Instead, it perceives a completely different quality, and thus reaches a higher level of perception, detecting ranges that our five senses or the devices that complement them will never pick up. It is based on the opposite modus operandi of our natural egoistic quality, i.e., our desires to enjoy for self-benefit alone. We do not have to go anywhere or ask anyone what we should do with ourselves—everything is pre-programmed within us. We simply need to transform our egoistic qualities into altruistic ones, enabling our five senses to perceive and process information differently.
While our inborn five senses run according to an egoistic program, where our every desire motivating our perception is one of self-reception and self-absorption, the additional sense operates according to an opposite altruistic program. It is a complete replacement of the operating system behind our perception and sensation of reality. Our inner sense organs then run on an altruistic program; an intention to bestow runs them and constantly calculates according to their resemblance with the altruistic bestowal quality.
The perception of external influence as the altruistic quality of bestowal defines spiritual attainment. By contrast, the egoistic perception of desiring enjoyment in a purely self-oriented direction defines corporeal life, which Kabbalah terms “this world” or “our world.”
What do we perceive egoistically? Is it an egoistic influence upon our desires and intentions? No. There is a constant altruistic force operating upon us at every single moment, i.e., a force of bestowal that aims solely to benefit us, to bestow upon us enjoyment, fulfillment, pleasure, and delight. It is the reason for us wishing to enjoy ourselves at every moment, that there is a force that created us as a desire to enjoy, and it wishes solely to give us that enjoyment. At a certain level, we can detect a minimal manifestation of altruism in our egoistic qualities, but if we wish to feel more, then we have to invert our inborn egoistic qualities similar to the altruistic source.
Nonetheless, we are surrounded by a world that operates according to altruistic laws. We perceive our world the way we were created, in our egoistic self-serving perception. If we wish to perceive the universe the way it is outside of our narrow egoistic perspective, we have to attain similarity with it. Kabbalists say that the study of Kabbalah lets us acquire a new, additional sense that enables us to research the altruistic influences and stimuli that it can perceive, as it is equal in their altruistic form.
Kabbalists call the altruistic influence that sources our lives “the Creator” as well as several other names, including “Nature,” “Upper Force,” “Upper Light,” and others. The additional sense that we acquire through the method of Kabbalah lets us reveal and correctly examine this altruistic influence, and this is why Kabbalists state that the goal of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to the created beings while they are alive in this world. Without attaining the additional sense of perception that Kabbalah grants us access to, then we perceive the world solely in our egoistic desire, and we then have no perception of the Creator. Thousands of Kabbalist researchers have accumulated and confirmed such observations over several centuries. As a result, they developed this science about the upper world and the Creator’s manifestation with regard to us. Kabbalists differ from conventional scientists in that they research the universe with the help of the additional sense, which can be obtained by anyone who so wishes. There is but one authentic method of Kabbalah and its realization depends on the desires of those who approach and use it. All people were created equal in this respect, and thus everyone can acquire this additional sense, i.e., to start perceiving and interacting with the Creator. Moreover, Kabbalists describe that humanity was created for this sole purpose, and that everything that has happened throughout history and in our lives today is an evolutionary process that ultimately leads humanity to the Creator’s revelation. If we fail to achieve this goal in an amicable way, then it will happen through suffering.
Our world’s science has also discovered that our picture of the world is completely subjective, fully determined by the observer. The Danish physicist Niels Bohr once stated that the researcher studies not the surrounding world, but their own reaction to it. If that is so, then the natural sciences can be defined as knowledge that we attain by our innate senses, while the wisdom of Kabbalah is a meta-natural science, because it can be attained only after we acquire an additional cognitive faculty. That is what elevates the science of Kabbalah above nature. Where our attainments in our egoistic quality are called “natural,” our attainments in our altruistic quality are considered supernatural.
10 Common Misconceptions about Kabbalah
Kabbalah is a religion.
Fact: Kabbalah is a science – the physics of the overall reality. It is a wisdom that reveals the comprehensive reality that is normally hidden from our senses.
Kabbalah is connected to red strings and holy water.
Fact: There is no connection. Red strings, holy water and other products are a lucrative commercial invention created in the past two decades.
Kabbalah is reserved for a minority of persons and only men over 40 years of age are allowed to learn it.
Fact: During the exile Kabbalah was only studied by a few select individuals. However, since the time of the Ari (the 16th century), it is available to all.
Kabbalah deals with magic.
Fact: Kabbalah does not deal with magic or any other sorcery; rather, it deals with a pragmatic investigation of reality.
Kabbalah is a sect.
Fact: Kabbalah is a wisdom and a science open to every person without any restrictions.
Kabbalah is related to “New Age” and is a trend - a passing phenomenon.
Fact: Kabbalah is humanity’s oldest wisdom. Its beginnings were approximately 5,000 years ago.
Kabbalah is related to tarot cards, astrology and numerology.
Fact: Tarot cards, astrology and numerology, in their mystical practice, have been mistakenly associated with Kabbalah.
There are amulets in Kabbalah.
Fact: In our world, there are no physical objects that bear any spiritual contents. Amulets can only help a person as a psychological support.
Kabbalah involves meditation.
Fact: Kabbalah does not involve meditation. Meditation is another element that was connected to the word “Kabbalah” amid its confusion in the last few centuries by non-Kabbalists.
One needs to have studied the Torah and Talmud prior to approaching Kabbalah books.
Fact: Without Kabbalah, one cannot understand the spiritual meaning of these texts, and is stuck with thinking that they refer to physical events and actions.
