Dear Friends, please ask questions about passages from the great Kabbalists. I promise to answer them. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy

Not only is it the wrong place to argue with them [philosophers] about their fabricated conjectures, but also the time of supporters of such [practically unfounded] views has already passed and their authority has been revoked. We should also thank the experts of materialistic psychology for that, which built its [realistic] plinth on the ruin of the former [practically unfounded philosophy], winning the public’s favor. Now everyone admits to the emptiness of philosophy [its conclusions], for it is not built on concrete [practical] foundations [but originates from assumptions of human intellect].

This old doctrine became a stumbling stone and a deadly thorn [for a regular person to understand] Kabbalah because where they should have been subdued before the sages of Kabbalah [that is, to correct themselves with its help, to alter their properties from egoistic to altruistic, and then study Kabbalah through their newly acquired qualities since it is the only way to comprehend the essence of Kabbalah], and assume abstinence and prudence, sanctity [the property of bestowal], and purity before the sages disclosed before them even the smallest thing in spirituality [the nature of bestowal and love], they easily received what they had wanted [instant external knowledge] from the formative philosophy [without correcting themselves]. Without payment or price [without exerting the needed effort in correcting themselves], they watered themselves from their fountain of wisdom [Kabbalistic books] to satiation, and [without setting a goal of self-correction]refrained from delving in the wisdom of Kabbalah [self-correction] until the wisdom has almost been forgotten from among Israel [replaced by useless arguments and observations].

Hence, we are [have to be] grateful to materialistic psychology for handing it [useless, groundless philosophy] a deadly blow. [At the present time, we see that philosophical contemplations are no longer taken into consideration. The “science” of philosophy continues to exist by inertia, and the word “philosophy” has acquired a contemptuous meaning.]
– Baal HaSulam “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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