All Concealed Will Become Revealed According To A Person’s Development

What Do Villains and Prophets Have to Do With Bnei Baruch's Virtual GroupA question I received: Does Kabbalah contain any secret wisdom that is forbidden from being revealed?

My Answer: In the wisdom of Kabbalah the word “forbidden” essentially means “impossible.”

A Kabbalist cannot present himself to the public and begin to reveal the secrets of this wisdom, pulling them out of his hat like a magician does a rabbit or a dove.

He cannot reveal anything to the people, other than the method of developing their perception. Subsequently, as a person develops his perception of the spiritual, in it he will reveal what is presently a secret to him.

A “secret” is what you do not know, see or otherwise sense at the present moment. While in the next phase it will become clear, simple and revealed.

In the science of Kabbalah every concept is studied according to the four phases of revelation, which are the four phases of development of spiritual perception (Aviut, the coarseness of the desire).

This is called entering into Pardes (the garden of knowledge): Pshat – knowledge, Remez – hint, Derush – discernment, Sod – secret. However, the process of entering occurs in the reverse order.

By correcting one’s perception of reality, one gradually ascends from secret (Sod) to discernment (Derush) to hint (Remez) to knowledge (Pshat). And there is nothing forbidden in any of it.

“Forbidden” means that the Kabbalists don’t want to confuse the person with excessive knowledge that he is not yet ready to comprehend. It is just as we raise a child by gradually expanding his diet, the games he plays, etc.

A teacher is supposed to prepare the “spiritual nourishment” in accordance with the student’s level. Therefore, the Kabbalists don’t fear revealing the forbidden; instead they fear “overdosing” the rest of us, just as an unripe fruit is harmful to one’s health.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it harms by “expelling” the person out of this wisdom altogether. There’s even the possibility of the person being unable to discard whatever misconceptions he has acquired for the rest of his life, essentially wasting his current incarnation.

That is why we progress from the simple to the complex. Such is the path of correction.

This is why the Kabbalists’ only fear is giving the student an “unripe fruit,” for the only way for him to grow correctly and fully attain the science of Kabbalah is by proceeding along the phases suitable to his development.

Life Is Nothing But Pleasure Sent To Us By The Creator

Laitman_2009-07_0176A question I received: If we want to restrict our egoism, does that mean we need to abstain from pleasures?

My Answer: That is not the way of Kabbalah. The Creator wants us to receive pleasure and as we advance He teaches us how to take pleasure from increasingly refined and exalted sources.

That is why He wants us to grow, and to that end he gives us what we deem suffering, but in reality is not suffering, but pleasure!

He is giving us the opportunity to experience a more exalted pleasure, which for the moment doesn’t attract us, but rather torments us.

Think of a little girl who likes playing with her doll. Her mother asks her to play with her little brother, but she doesn’t want to play with him! She doesn’t think of a real baby as pleasure. For her the real pleasure is her doll!

Therefore, the suffering that I feel as coming to me from the Creator actually shows me my next state, to which I will ascend if I assume the suffering correctly.

It is only when we are ready to progress toward more exalted pleasures that they are shown to us in their corrected form.

All we need to do is change our attitude toward them from reception to bestowal, whereupon we will feel the next spiritual degree.

That is why we must always increase the quality of the pleasure we seek. For the moment we perceive that as suffering, but when we finally open our eyes we will see that there was never any suffering to begin with.

5 Minutes Of Light From The Daily Lesson: Through Darkness Into Light

Moments From The Daily Lesson: Newborn

The Next Chapter In The World Crisis Book

Laitman_2009-05-28_8354_wMore stories in the news which give evidence to the continuing and worsening world crisis:

Drought Is Spreading in the World
In the News (from Jo Abbess): “Big Dry: Global Drought Update”

August 13, 2009: This spring, northern China experienced its worst drought in 50 years, The drought also left 3.5 million people and 1.66 million livestock with no access to drinking water.

August 6, 2009: Mexican authorities facing a drought-weakened sugar crop.

August 11, 2009: Serious Drought in Africa Drives Cattle into Wildlife Parks.”

August 06, 2009: Drought expected to cut Ugandan tea output.

August 13, 2009 [India]: Drought fears rise, soybean crop on brink.

August 11, 2009: Russia may have to face a food crisis next winter. Whole fields of fodder and cereal crops have been withered by scorching sun.

Japan’s unemployment rate hits record high
In the News: (from The Telegraph):Japan’s unemployment rate hits record high” – The jobless rate rose to a worse than expected 5.7pc in July, up from 5.4pc in June, the government said. Deflation also deepened last month with core consumer prices dropping 2.2pc a year earlier – the fastest pace on record.

Alan Greenspan: ‘This will happen again’
In the News (from BBC):Market crisis ‘will happen again’” – The world will suffer another financial crisis, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan has told the BBC. “It’s human nature, unless somebody can find a way to change human nature, we will have more crises and none of them will look like this because no two crises have anything in common, except human nature.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Painless Birth In The Spiritual World
Laitman.com Post: The Same Law Rules The Whole Of Nature
Laitman.com Post: The Entire World Continues To Feel The Effects Of The Crisis
Kabbalah Today Article: The Key to Change (of Heart)
Bail Yourself Out: “Achieving Equilibrium”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace in the World”