WHAT KABBALAH IS and IS NOT
By Samuel Ben-Or
Avital
"You can learn and inform yourself
about the finger (detail);
But that does not mean you know the whole
body (the whole)".
Samuel Ben-Or Avital
Since the Kabbalah is becoming very popular these days, an
event that is very significant for the future
of humanity and the Universe, it is very important
to make few things clear about this sacred ancient,
new, knowledge, wisdom and an exact science of
the Cosmos, Cosmic laws, and the personal ability,
the individual practical wisdom of natural balance,
that can be harmoniously integrated in tune and
resonating with all creation.
Many great minds in history have orbited around the Kabbalah to
learn about life and the "mystery of our
being here". Many have missed the target
and gone with the wrong notion of what this enigmatic
ancient knowledge has to offer and teach us about
our being, who we are, and what we are doing in "this
world", and what is our role in the life
as a whole. Until
now, sadly to say, most of us humans, using only
one hemisphere of the brain to function and know.
Kabbalah is both a great "mystery" and also very
simple to understand as a science and wisdom of
the Cosmos, both simple and complicated, which
seems to the ordinary person’s mind a "paradox",
but, when one begins really to know, this is not
a paradox. It is simply an integration of both
aspects of our being, and since we humans are
always at war with ourselves, since the dawn of
time, it is a difficult thing to interact our
lives with the oneness of the Creation.
Kabbalah is the science of actually learning, not just with words,
and not just with the intellect, but also with
using full intelligence and actual practices,
kinesthetically speaking, that are very effective
and generally not acceptable to the average human
being today, who is all immersed in “playing
the violin with one hand”. Kabbalah, among
other aspects of knowing, teaches one to DARE
TO BE fully oneself without fear.
Kabbalah teaches how the laws of the Cosmos and the creation
and "this world" we live in now,
works for us to manifest on all levels and dimensions
of life, both visible and invisible.
These laws that can be mastered, work with and become tuned with,
by specific practices of Tikkunim = restorations,
in order to be and become the being we were meant
to be, and to reach the stage of having the merit
to be called "human".
Some basics are needed to know before embarking on learning and
informing yourself on Kabbalah.
First, you must differentiate very clearly between information and knowledge. In this
day and age of focus on information, and thinking
that information is knowledge, you must be able
to make a very clear distinction between these
two terms.
Sure, it is good to be informed, and knowledge is an experience
that comes from working on yourself with a genuine
Teacher. And since there are many so called "teachers",
you must use your common sense of sanity and lucidity,
to recognize and really find an authentic teacher
to guide you properly, be ready to engage deeply
without fear or mind-heart limitations. Know how
to ask, and being in the true state of knowing
how to be a “student”. The “Teacher”* will
recognize you, and then you will make the true
contact, connection and begin your great adventure
to know who you are, what is the genuine meaning
of your life why you are living, and how you can
learn and apply the laws of the Universe as the
Kabbalah teaches.
FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT KABBALA
H IS N O T
1. A
philosophy and not an only an intellectual pursuit.
2. Can
never be learned academically in an intellectual
way.
3. Not
a religion.
4. Not
black magic. It has nothing to do with to the
occult and is not superstitious
5. Does
not have any Greek, Egyptian or any other non-Jewish
cultural elements.
6. It
is not Christian, Rosicrucian, Masonic or any
hermetic philosophies.
7. Has
nothing to do with old or modern "new age" beliefs
or has no connection with any Eastern religions.
8. Will
never be understood until one begin to know what
is the profound meaning of the terms: “human“, “Jewish“, Light“, “Love” “Life”, “vessel”, “Tree
of Life”, “spiritual”, “Soul”, “Self”, ”time”, “Space” and
many other words, concepts and terms, that contain within themselves a wholeness, full and complete notion, and specific
relation to the whole Creation.
There
are more others, for now these are essential and
basic enough for you to begin to understand these
important realizations.
Now, The word "Jewish" in English may mean a
historical, cultural understanding of
the Jewish people, their experience and contributions
over the history of humanity and over many generations.
But in Hebrew the word simply means totally something
else. YEHUDI comes from the
tribe of YEHUDA, one of the 12 tribes
of Israel. And in Hebrew it simply means:
1. Yod, He, Vav, Daleth, and Yod,
means B E I N G... the root word
of Yehudi comes from the Hebrew verb,
Hay, Yod, and Hay meaning: T
O B E. This is a stage of a
spiritual development, that, when one realizes
it, is called Yehudi.
2. According to the Zohar, the verb also means YIHUD = UNION, or TO
BE ONE, and indicating the work of the being, to UNITE with
the CREATOR of
the Universe, with every thought and action,
to always “UNITE all that is separated”,
and in every situation in life, in all dimensions.
Another hint for this beautiful verb is also
comes from HODAYAH – Hay, Vav,
Daleth, Yod, and Hay. HODAYAH means deep
gratefulness for BEING. So from
the same verb of Being in Hebrew the gratefulness
for BEING is built in within
the verb and the letters.
3. What to be? To
DARE to BE and BECOME close to the Creator,
and navigate life
for the benefit
of all, and your being "this life" of “matter” on
earth, as it was meant to be in the “First
Place”, by restoring oneself to that
state of complete perfection, Homeostasis, right here on earth, and not
after "death", right here and
now, no postponing.
4. Through these Tikkunim = Restorations,
one can purify the vessel to receive
Kabbalistic insight about oneself and the
Universe, and the learning process become so different from what passes these days
as "education", “information” and “knowledge”.
FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT WHAT KABBALA
H I S
1. Kabbalah is rooted within the Jewish tradition,
but it is not a religion, it is a sacred science,
wise and practical of the universe. It was called “The mother of all sciences”.
Kabbalah in Hebrew, means to
receive, to receive what? That is the
ancient/old exploration and the "mystery" of
the human will, the purpose of Creation and being
and becoming.
2. Kabbalah dwells with the
essence of being, a code of becoming, an integration
of thinking both with the right and left brain
ways of orientation, both “inner and
“outer space-time" of our human limitations, of navigating in “this life”. I consider the perfect art and Science of
the Kabbalah as a Cosmic Computer that
reveals all the “mysteries” of life on
all dimensions, in a practical and logical manner
also.
3. Are you willing to study
the original language Hebrew or Aramaic to a certain
degree, to go deep in the study of the Kabbalah? That
means to drink from the source, and not the stream?
You must know by now, that most translations are
treacherous in transmitting the authentic message
or information.
4.
So, when you want
to study Shakespeare, I think you MUST learn
it in English,
and Moliere with French. But the translations
also are good, but it is like drinking from the
vessel of the vessel of the vessel, the soup of
the soup of the soup, and dilution makes a very
superficial learning.
5.
That is why I say, you can read any book
on Kabbalah and be informed to a
certain degree. If you
do not have access or build yourself the proper
background to the original language with which
it was written, you would never understand the
totality of its “secrets“ or “mysteries” of
their computations among other things. But as
I said you could INFORM yourself, book
learning is good information until a certain
degree. Kabbalah is full with codes, both simple
and complex, and it is recommended to drink from
the source, rather than from diluted vessels or
streams
6. So, as I am used to say when I teach certain BodySpeak™ exercises: “you can learn about the finger,
but that does not mean you know the whole body.” You do not
know the whole body by knowing only the finger.
Unfortunately, in a shallow "culture" we
live in these days, one learns about the finger
and pretends to know the whole body.
7. Kabbalah is also the metaphysical understandings
underlying the physical commandments (Mitzvot),
and stories in the Torah given by the Creator
to to the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai. The
stories are there to keep the tradition alive
and stored well all these thousands of years.
The Kabbalist however, understands and dares to
go beyond the “the stories”, with a specific
system of study and Tikkunim to make oneself close
to the creator, and work with the laws of the
universe to restore the personal world and the
whole world. This way the student of Kabbalah
learns to use most or all one’s faculties of thinking,
intelligence and the application of what one learns,
to be and become with genuine knowledge.
8. Actually, Kabbalah is more than a subject
of learning, it is a very exact science that embraces
a whole practices that revives the life of the
spirit that is concealed within the body of the
stories in the Torah, and other sacred writings
from various times, within every letter and word,
between the lines and spaces the laws of Creation,
and how to live in both worlds with total harmony,
while developing one's spiritual evolution, and
restoring oneself and the universe, at the same
time, right here and now.
9. Kabbalah also offers a very profound and
proved system of meditations that enables the
student to achieve the state of beyond, being
close to the Creator, and achieve the perfect
union with the one that uttered the word and the
world become. Perfection is possible for the genuine
student of Kabbalah.
10. The 613 Mitzvot of the
Torah are the deeds and the Tikkunim that
one practices with focused intention,
= Kavvanah, in order to orbit more around
the Presence of The Creator, and merge with
that oneness with the whole beingness of all
life. One learns to integrate the personal universe
within us all, with the outer universe
that seems to us as a separate reality.
11. The more you develop this healthy, logical, intuitive and sane attitude
of learning, the more you get closer to the authenticity,
and the proper way to study this sacred science
of the Kabbalah. And it is widely known that,
without this proper preparation and the “Conscious
Innocence**” attitude, Kabbalah can be really “dangerous”,
and harmful for your health and for your life.
12. There is as I said, a vast literature about
Kabbalah in many languages, the authentic books
on Kabbalah and its practices are somehow translated,
to a degree for you to be informed, it does not
offer you any experience and practical wisdom
to use in life and know who are you, what
is your meaning of life and Creation, and what
is your purpose of being in “this world”.
13. When these profound questions of self examination begins really
to dwell within your thoughts in an urgent way,
and really ask deeply what is the purpose of your
being here, and the purpose of creation, and your
soul yearns and cries out for you to search profoundly,
and yearn for that perfect state of being, you
will find your living teacher, and begin
on this meaningful journey toward discovering
yourself, and begin to make a difference in your
life and the lives of the “others.”
14. The Book of the Zohar, the Sefer Yetzira, and others
are a glimpse of the various deeper interpretations
of the Torah. Few Kabbalists have explored deeper and recorded
their teachings in a certain way, in order to
learn and practice. However a ”guide” is
necessary for you to learn how to explore yourself,
a knowledge that has been kept very closely concealed
for thousands of years, and is released today
to the ones who are ready for it, and for a specific
purpose to help us change this world into a harmonious
and balanced state of being and living. A “Guide” might
be your spiritual environment itself, until you
learn how to walk by your self in
the “ocean of wisdom and great wonder”.
One
of the most important aspects of Kabbalah study
is to learn to use one’s thoughts consciously,
with a benevolence direction, and to transform
one’s negative inclinations into positive creative
source of the Good. The Kabbalah student must
understand and practice the focused and intentional
thought fully for the benefit of the “other” and
oneself.
When one learns to love the “other” MORE than oneself, one connects
with the Power Source of the Creator,
and acts with the same benevolence, humility and
mercy of the Creator.
So, my friend, with our focused, directed and intentional thoughts, we CAN
learn to align ourselves with that sacred energy,
and attract ourselves to what we simply call, “LIGHT” = OR.
We actively mold or shape our personal, mental,
spiritual and physical reality to manifest
the good in “this world”.
This aspect of Kabbalah study and practice is a very powerful and creative
process, to silently and discreetly observe and
use it for the benefit of all beings, in all worlds
of the soul’s existence.
So,
Kabbalah is both, a concealed and revealed vast
body of knowledge, a practical science of wisdom
that one can learn easily, intuitively and logically, and
available today to those who are honestly ready
and seeking the authentic knowledge in “this
world and beyond”.
This
article was transcribed from a Public Talk, Boulder,
Colorado. March 1989
* See the article "Finding Your True
Living Master Teacher "by Samuel Ben Or Avital, Creator and teacher of BodySpeak™ – Moving
Body and Mind, with the addendum called " The "Presence" of the Teacher, and the Emanation of
Energy ",
or email Samuel Avital for more information
about this article.
** See more about Conscious innocence in “Defintuitions” The
BodySpeak Manual, page 127
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