A question I received: I find it difficult to concentrate at The Zohar lessons which is why I try to think about the connection between everyone studying. Is this the right thing to do, or should I make more mental efforts to understand what is being said?

My Answer: The efforts have to be made in your feelings, not the mind. You have to feel everything that The Zohar describes, rather than understand it. The Book of Zohar speaks to our feelings, not to our mind. When I read some word such as “Grapes, a tree, heaven, hell,” I should try to find it inside me. After all, I am entirely composed of desire, and desire is sensation, not reason.

If I use my mind to transpose all of this into concepts, such as notions of the Light, the vessel (Kli) and the combinations between them, then I will never go beyond the mechanical picture, like a chart, and I won’t be able to come closer to feeling it. The picture must gradually be pieced together inside me in the form of feelings. It is comprised of sensations. I have to accumulate inner sensations and impressions that will gradually come together of their own accord, forming the sensation of the Upper World.

It’s the same as how we develop in our world: the mind comes after the sensation. At first a child feels whether something is good or bad, and later he gains the understanding of what he should come close to or move away from. Later on he acquires a broader mind.

Therefore, when reading The Book of Zohar, we must always try to identify our sensations and discern what our will to enjoy feels. Later on a mind will emerge within us and begin connecting them into a unified picture.

It’s easier for beginners to perceive these processes schematically, but nevertheless, we should try to transfer the text of The Zohar into sensations of bestowal and reception.

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Zohar | 1 Comment →