Introduction to the Book "From the Mouth of A Sage", Talk 1
Lesson by Rav Michael Laitman, Bnei Baruch, Israel
September 13, 2005
- Bold and in quotes: Original text of Baal HaSulam
- Regular: Commentaries of Rav Laitman
- lowercase italics: emphasized words
- Capitalized italics: transliteration from Hebrew
Good evening. Today we're going to read the Introduction to the book"From the Mouth of a Sage",from our book, Kabbalah LeMatchil(Kabbalah for Beginners),page 266. That's in Hebrew.
From the Mouth of a Sage is a special book. Well all of Baal HaSulam's books are special. But From the Mouth of a Sageis special in that it was a preparatory book for what was later Talmud Eser Sefirot, the study of the ten Sefirot and other writings of Baal HaSulam. He didn't finish the book. It's like a draft for Talmud Eser Sefirot. He was trying, experimenting, with several ways, methods or manners, of expressing the Wisdom of Kabbalah in a more rational, realistic, pertinent way, suitable for contemporary souls until he had found the right style and designed it and devised it. Then he started writing his books according to the decision that he had made with respect to this book, From the Mouth of a Sage. He wrote an introduction to this book as he did with all of his books, so we'll study this introduction to this book, From the Mouth of a Sage.
"It is known from books and from authors that the study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah is an absolute must for any person of Israel. If one studies the entire Torah and knows the Mishnah and the Gmarah by heart; if one is also filled with virtues and good deeds more than all his contemporaries, but has not learned the Wisdom of Kabbalah, he must incarnate once more into this world to study the secrets of the Torah and wisdom of truth. This is brought in several places in the writing of our sages."
This poor person did so much and attained the whole Torah, studied all the chapters, knew them all by heart;with his own strength, with his own body he kept all the Mitzvot(precepts) from A-Z. Take the ideal example of this person. From the moment he was born he performed all the Mitzvot until his dying day. He was just perfect according to every known and unknown demand -everything. But in fact, it's as if he didn't do anything. Why? Because we say that if a person has not corrected himself spiritually and hasn’t reachedGmar Tikkun(The End of Correction), then he must reincarnate. He might be proficient in everything and righteous in all his actions, but he's still called “holy still” or still, inanimate.
Drawing No. 1
This means that if in all reincarnations he haddoneeverything he could here in Torah and Mitzvot, that's still called “still”, because he didn't take a step forward toward reaching equivalence with the Creator.
That's the level where the Creator is, the world Ein Sof, bestowal. That is reachable only through the Wisdom of Kabbalah. This is called Gmar Tikkun. If a person does not reach that level, he must reincarnate.If he didn't reach any spiritual level at all, above this world, above this level, he's called still. If he keeps Torah and Mitzvot on that still level, he is still called “still” because he didn't move with respect of conformity with the Creator.
Drawing No. 2
This conformity, as Kabbalists tell us, can be obtained only through the light that reforms, through what we call Ohr Makif or the light called Torah, which descends to a person only when one studies the Wisdom of Kabbalah; only through the study of Kabbalah,meaning, Gmarah and Mishnah.He carries out all the actions, but he's still called “holy still” -it's holy. He's engaging in what he was told, or what he was taught. It is not wrong in any way. These things are holy, but they are still. In that, one does not build oneself.
It's also considered “still” because in this manner, that's how he's built from above - still. He's (he is or he has??) not turned around. He doesn't turn himself. He doesn't make any motion of his own. The still doesn't have its own exertion,it's sustained like that by the Creator.Just like the Creator sustains a secular person, so the Creator sustains an orthodox person. One is considered “just still” and the other is “holy still”. It's done by force from above, not by one participating in it. Even though it seems that he’s done everything, and with great exertion;he kept the whole Torah and studied the [inaudible] and knows everything by heart. He did that through the force that came to him from above and sustained him in this way, becauseone can activate his own strength, we say, only when it is received from above with respect to the Creator, through one's own free choice.
A person takes these powers from the environment in order to connect with the environment, relinquish himself and reach adhesion with the Creator, and this is something in which the Creator does not participate. This is the only place where there is exertion on the part of man. Everything is not considered exertion and motion on the part of man. Everything is considered only as a part of the Creator -his actions, his powers, makingMitzvot, the studying of Torah, and becoming righteous or criminal. If all these things are not toward Gmar Tikkun(The End of Correction), toward building oneself independently, this is not considered being independent, or making independent motion. That's why Baal HaSulam says that it's as if you still didn't do anything. It's written in many books of Kabbalists. We have to understand the difference here, and that's when one adds one's own strength; and here it is strength that comes from the Upper One.
So we don't take into consideration what people do in our life, at the level of our life, if he's righteous or smart or criminal or whatever. We don't take that into account. We only considerwhether that person has made his own effort, where he has free choice in order to reach equivalence of form with the Creator;period.There are no other calculations if we're talking about the Wisdom of Kabbalah. If we're talking about our level, about our world, then we have the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking degrees within man etc with respect to spiritually, to Gmar Tikkun, to what we should reach; that's the calculation.
"This is what the Zohar writes in the interpretation of the 'Song of Songs', explaining the verse, 'If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,' which our sages interpreted as the soul that comes before the Throne after one’s demise.
The Creator says: 'If thou know not, O thou fairest among women.' Although you are the fairest among women and virtuous in good deeds more than all the souls, if you do not have knowledge in the secrets of Torah, 'go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock…' "
According to what is accepted in this world:
"...if you do not have knowledge in the secrets of Torah, 'go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock'.Leave here and never return to this world."
You reincarnate again because you didn't do anything. You had beautiful clothes in this world but they were all exterior, superficial, and didn't correct your soul at all.
" 'And feed thy kids, beside the shepherds' tents,' go there to the seminaries and learn the secrets of Torah from the mouths of the disciples of our sages.”
Why? Because without knowing the Wisdom of Kabbalah and without exerting during the study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah, without work after the Wisdom of Kabbalah, in what this study teaches us, it is impossible to make one single step forward toward correcting the soul. The soul comes down to this world only in order to be corrected. All the exterior clothing that one puts on himself according to the human mind, the human heart, according to human calculations, is all completely irrelevant to one's task in this world that one must perform from the thought of creation.
Question:What does it mean that after one's demise, the soul goes upward and the Creator gives it some judgment or whatever?
Well, does it sound good or bad? Not that good huh? [laughter] Pressuring. So that's how it is actually.Once we get rid of the Klipa of the body - the body's desires;it’s not the substance of this world, its desires.
I have desires for physical pleasures, money, honor, and knowledge - four types of desires corresponding to the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in me. All of these desires are an addition to the soul and now these desires are what control me.
The soul is inside- I don't feel it. The soul has its own desire. Through the Wisdom of Kabbalah, the lights that shine for the soul -which is inside the human desires -and the soul begins to awaken.Meaning, my desire for spirituality begins to awaken, and in the right direction - not just towards some type of meditation or all kinds of nonsense that people invented in this world, but to the exact source of light. Then I gradually begin to appreciate the soul with it's origin, it's source of the light (which is the Creator) more and more compared with this entireKlipa (shell) which guards the Kli as it says; all the desires through our world. So from here, the light that reforms comes, and comes only through the study of the Wisdom of Kabbalah. That's what Kabbalists determined,and who better know what it's about because they are in the spiritual world and in the corporeal world as one.
So now your question is: “what does it mean that after the demise of a person, the soul comes to the high throne and makes a query, and then the Creator responds so and so”. The death of the body means that you get ridof - not of the corporeal body; that’s the exterior signs – but rather you suddenly lose desires for physical pleasures, money, honor and knowledge; for anything that pictures this world to me.
What I see now, I see with respect to my pleasures - money, honor and knowledge. I see correspondingly an environment that answers to my desires. If I didn't have these desires, I wouldn't see this environment; I wouldn't feel you and this world.Meaning, this world is what is pictured in these desires - physical,along with desires for money, honor and knowledge. We're just saying - money, honor and knowledge -inside there is the force of many desires. If I lose these desires, it's considered that the picture of the world disappears. What's left? What's left is the point of the soul that I did not develop through my life,opposite some sensation, some abstract sensation called Ohr (light). Then in this point, opposite the light, I feel myself opposite the spiritual world. I feel I didn't do anything -I didn't operate anything, I didn't attain anything in this point, and that I had to obtain evolution and fulfillment on top of this world, on top of the desires that I had previously. This is called the Klipa(shell)which guards the fruit, the Kli(vessel).
Drawing No. 3
So inside we have the soul, but it's a soul like a point. On the outside we have this world.We feel this world, which is the Klipa that doesn't let us feel the Creator. Through studying the Wisdom of Kabbalah we awaken the connection between the Creator and ourselves. It's only by studying the Wisdom of Kabbalah because that's the only thing that deals with the Creator and the soul, and the connection between them. Then that same Klipa(shell), this world, which guards the Kli begins as if to disappear, or becomes reduced in strength. I don't continue to be addicted or dedicated to this world - attached to it. There's something beyond it, beyond this world. There are other things, a goal. Yes it's true I don't have so much energy for it, but I already start thinking and comparing one with the other. These values begin to change, which is already dependant on the group, the environment, on how much they influence me, and so on. Here there is freedom of choice and everything that we discussed. But the bottom line is: that's why we learn the Wisdom of Kabbalah. And even though a person is seemingly a saint according to every meaning in this world - filled with Mishnah and Gmarah, filled with all the actions in Torah and Mitzvoton the corporeal human level, it doesn't help him at all and he must reincarnate again. This is because with respect to Gmar Tikkun(The End of Correction), with respect to the goal for which he was created, he didn't take one step forward.
Drawing No. 4
Here we're talking about 125 degrees. Only by studying the Wisdom of Kabbalah we can go through them.First only in order to draw lights so as to just start feeling that something exists from above. And that's still not faith as nothing illuminates for us yet.
Faith is when something is illuminating and sustaining you above this Klipa(shell). If I ascend in my appreciation beyond this world, it's considered acquiring the light of faith - the light that sustains me above my five senses, what I feel and perceive in them, and the desires from the physical up to knowledge. If I sustain myself above it, it's considered having faith. That's why when Kabbalists speak of faith, they mean the strength that sustains you above this entire Klipa- to exit it and be connected with the spiritual world.
Now there's a question. We already discussed the question of why if a person didn't take a step forward, must one die and reincarnate once more? Why go through this trial? Is there any benefit in it? Actually, there's a very important matter here, andwe can't see or appreciate the fact that throughrenewing the soul by getting rid of the bodily shell, the soul returns to be in contact with the light, and then acquires the bodily shell once again. The Klipa(shell) it receivesnow, is different. It is tougher, smarter, and more cunning from both sides, bothin concealment and in revelation. It plays with a person much more then before. Then one begins from incarnation to incarnation to become smarter and more sensitive, and more sophisticated.
Thus, although one has many dealings in this world, more and more with each incarnation, it's as if he's getting farther from his nature than before in relation tothe ability to believe,to be simple, and accept the Upper Force upon himself. But that's incorrect because to actually accept the Upper Force upon oneself and start beginning to feel it and work with it, one cannot be an ignorant person. It has to be one who's been through every desire, through many reincarnations, from bodily, money, and honor to knowledge, and has been through everything,so that he really reaches a state where he is ruthless, cunning, and very sophisticated in everything he does. And then he comes to a state where he ascends above this. So again, this is not the same attitude as is normally accepted in society. The rule of Torah is opposite from the rule of landlords. It's not that a simple man can reach it.
When a person has innocent faith it means complete faith,meaning on top of all the crude desires and the worst desires, according to the rule -“anyone who is greater than his friend, his desire is greater than him.” So that's how we advance.
"We must understand their words, conditioning the perfection of a person with the study of the wisdom of truth. Seemingly, how is it different from the other words of the revealed Torah? We found nowhere that one is obliged to understand all the subjects of the Torah, and that he will not be complete if one subject in the Torah is missing."
We see that a person learning Mishnah and Gmarah, is studying books that were written by Kabbalists. Who were they? They were people with attainment; the ones who wrote the Talmud, Mishnah, and the interpretations for them. As Rabash told me, all the books that were written up until the Holy Hashlah,about three hundred years ago, were written in Holy Spirit, meaning with clear conscious attainment of Godliness in the spiritual world.
Truly, if we read and consider all the holy books, despite being written by Kabbalists, because they are not Kabbalah books but were written in a different way, theywon't influence you. It's not that we disrespect those writers but we say that there are books that were written in such a way called books of Kabbalah,and there are other books which talk about the spiritual world, the upper world. They didn't consider anything else, and that's why they're considered holy books.