Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: To avoid having to use both tongues from now on—nature and a supervisor—between which, as I have shown, there is no difference regarding the following of the laws, it is best for us to meet halfway and accept the words of the Kabbalists that HaTeva (Nature) has the same numerical value (in Hebrew) as Elokim (God)—eighty-six. Then, I will be able to call the laws of God “nature’s Mitzvot (commandments)” or vice-versa, for they are one and the same.”

This is very important and leads to numerous consequences. In the past Baal HaSulam was accused of being close to Spinoza in his views and that he didn’t consider the upper force as “God” in the conventional religious sense, but rather compared the Creator to nature, which is mindless and lacks any feeling and develops according to “mechanical” laws.

Actually it is very interesting to see how Baal HaSulam describes his attitude to the Creator and to nature. This should also be our attitude. If we combine these two concepts, we will achieve the greatest thing in life, revealing the Creator as “nature” and in all things. Indeed, we are part of nature, which is the Creator.

“In general examination, we find that there are only two Mitzvot to follow in society. These can be called

1. reception
2. and bestowal.

This means that each member must, by nature, receive his needs from society and must benefit society.”

Science confirms the fact that on every level in nature there are two opposing active forces: In the inanimate it is in mutual physical chemicals and mechanical actions, in the vegetative world it is photosynthesis, and in the animate level it is in the cells and the organs… these forces are revealed especially on the level of man, that belongs to the spiritual world. The higher we rise, the more they diverge from each other as a result of the differences in creating the wealth of attributes that separate the human race from the inanimate, vegetative, and animate.

The data of the wisdom of Kabbalah aren’t different in any way from scientific data. Thus the “Creator” and “nature” is actually the same thing.

But there is another question here: Is there a preliminary goal in nature which determines the process of evolution and the final state? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, “the end of the act is in the initial thought.” Let’s call it not a plan, but by the scientific term: “law.” So is there a general universal law? In this case Einstein also spoke the same language as Baal HaSulam and Spinoza. He also spoke about the unity of nature. Thus the views of people separated by three centuries come together.

Let’s come back to our times. Today we speak about mutual guarantee, adhesion, love, unity, common fate, mutual incorporation of desires, and the influence of the environment on the individual and the influence of the individual on the environment…. If we could explain all these concepts on the level of nature’s laws, it would be easier for us to disseminate. We will also feel more strongly to what extent it obliges us. After all, we are talking about a law and there is nothing one can do against a law. Everyone understands that there is no point resisting nature.

We have to adapt our language. Terms that seem religious, spiritual, and mystical should be changed to scientific terms and definitions. Thanks to this, our message will flow in the right channel and we will be regarded as researchers of nature. Humanity’s general situation today requires us to do that.

We must shift from the terms Kabbalists used to parallel scientific terms. We won’t be able to tell people about Reshimot (informational genes), the direct Light, the returning Light, or HaVaYaH…. We have to try and express all that in modern scientific terms, and then we will be able to approach humanity.

The second system for this approach is to translate the language of Kabbalah to psychological terms.

Thus, through the mind and feeling, we will convey our message to people. The technical terms, the “mechanism” of the forces, and the laws will pass through the brain and the emotional part will be expressed in psychological terms. Thus we will free the wisdom of Kabbalah from this complexity that stems from being “lost in translation.”
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/6/12, “The Peace”

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When we properly define Kabbalistic terms, we see that Kabbalah isn’t some out-of-this-world science, but that it deals with realistic things: our interrelation and the correction of human nature. It allows us to transform hatred into interconnection and to search for ways to rise above our nature. It also allows us to understand that “God’ is a quality of complete bestowal, and this quality has to reign between us. Instead of sensing only our bodies, which are essentially just bags full of electrolytes, we’ll sense things that exist outside of us.

How will this happen? Simply put, if I direct all of my attention, care, thoughts, and desires outward into the general system, then gradually I gain the ability to sense others. I provide my “animal” with all the necessities, and the rest of me is fully immersed in our interconnection. It’s similar to the way a mother cares for her new born baby: All of her thoughts and feelings are directed at him.

After we reach this state, we are ready to sense the spiritual world. And we really do begin to feel it. That is, we begin to feel things outside of us. Before we only perceived things within our five senses, sensing the world from within. After all, “this world” is drawn on the back of my brain as a reflection of my five senses. In essence, I see myself because I see the projection of my inner qualities. But when the relations between us become more important than my inner sensations, I cross over to an out-of-body perception.

This constitutes the revelation of the Creator or the revelation of the quality of bestowal to a person. One reveals what he has created and built. By exiting himself, a person becomes similar to the Creator or the force of bestowal. A person attains the quality of bestowal to the degree that he builds it, meaning that the Creator reveals Himself according to the level the person has attained. After all, the “Creator” (Boreh) means “come and see.” Come and you will see, feel and measure what you’ve attained.

By perceiving reality and the Creator in this way, we cancel out many stereotypes and preconceptions. We begin to really engage in our inner science in which we are both the researchers and the subjects under examination. We feel the results and become them. We attain the quality of the Creator, which becomes our quality—our adhesion to the quality of bestowal.

Thanks to this perception of reality and to the changes that we must undergo, we completely change our attitude toward pain, suffering, and to the complaints we present to others, to the Creator and to ourselves. We understand that we exist within Nature and that there isn’t anyone to blame. There is no one to search for or hope for someone’s mercy and protection.

There’s only room for a scientific approach: We exist in a system of forces that is subject to precise laws. Kabbalah defines this as follows: “I did not change my Name,” “the upper Light is at absolute rest,” “a judge has only what his eyes can see,” and “the law was given and cannot be transgressed.”

We use the language of emotion and prayer, but if we don’t want to become confused by all this, we must “test the harmony with algebra” and achieve precise measurement of forces, directions and vectors, equations, graphs, and formulas. Only then will we be able to measure our sensations and efforts, our hatred and love both quantitatively and qualitatively through various contrasts. This is the only way we can avoid confusion.

We are sensual creatures, our matter is the desire to receive pleasure. However, we conduct work on ourselves like true researchers. We rise to work above our desires by means of restriction and the screen, and this is called working in faith above reason.

So let’s become comfortable with languages of lyricism and physics. In essence, they both speak of the same things, we only have to avoid becoming confused by them. Then we’ll clearly understand the entire creation.

The science of Kabbalah teaches how to conduct research and create a precise objective language that describes sensations. By doing so, we’ll understand the whole reality and the Creator—the force of bestowal that reigns over the entire reality. We’ll get to know Him completely and then reach the goal.
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From Preparation Lesson, Kabbalah Convention in Toronto, 9/16/2011

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Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 1,“Table of Answers for Topics,” Question 56: What is the ordinary language in the wisdom of Kabbalah?

This language is a “language of branches” that points to their upper roots. That is because “You haven’t even a single blade of grass below that has not a root above.” Therefore, the sages of the Kabbalah have put together a language that is equipped to imply through the branches and teach of the upper roots.

There are no words that we hear or read in Kabbalistic books that don’t lead us upwards! In this world, we are able to express any concept in various ways: hearing a word, seeing it written, or saying it out-loud, but the essence of the word will still point to its root.

In other words, the language of branches doesn’t represent the root or constitute its material branch, but rather it shows us the attitude of the branch towards the root. Each word points from the bottom to the top, meaning from the property of reception to the property of bestowal.

Obviously, the words “down” and “up” do not imply position in space, but signify qualitative notions. When perceived in the correct way, each word always tends to move us from the state of reception to the state of bestowal. The more we penetrate each word, the more it elevates us towards the state of bestowal.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/11/2011, Talmud Eser Sefirot

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“Introduction of The Book of Zohar,” Article “The Seventh Commandment,” Item 225: In the Merkava [chariot/structure] of the throne, the face of a lion is on the right and the face of the ox is on the left. The ox is called “a whole [Tam] ox” since in the Merkava of the throne there is an inscription of the covenant.

Question: Is it possible to create a dictionary of spiritual terms appropriate for our level, which would explain the different words from The Zohar, like “ox,” “structure” “(Merkava),” “lion,” “serpent,” and so on? This would help to replace the words that remind us of physical images with spiritual forces according to their definition while reading. Is this a correct approach to studying The Zohar?

Answer: Everything depends upon the way we agree to speak between us. When we have a common perception, we speak according to this sensation. When we do not perceive the events in the same way but understand them (a lower level than perception), we, let us say, speak using scientific terms and formulas.

This excerpt of The Zohar uses words like “ox,” “donkey,” “throne,” and so on. If we were to replace them with forces, we would need to specify the kind of force it is, from which Sefira or property it comes. While here, one word is used to refer to the same force, for example, “ox” or “whole ox.” This language is more concise because it relies on your understanding to what it refers.

This only refers to the Lights and Kelim (desires) because we have nothing else about which to speak. How can I convey to you the connection of the Lights and Kelim in a specific form? Should I draw it for you in a graph? Play a tune? Give you a formula? Describe the image of this world that results from their connection? How can I explain to you the exact spiritual state, the combination of the Light and the Kli, about which I am speaking?

This is why Kabbalists have found four languages to describe the upper system of governance of our world: the language of Tanach, Hagaddot (Legends), Kabbalah, and Halachot (Talmud), and they use them to convey their attainments to us. These languages are mixed in The Zohar.

The Zohar itself is mainly written with the language of the Talmud (Midrash), even though it also uses a little of the language of the Tanach or the Legends, and Baal HaSulam adds the language of Kabbalah to it. And when they are parallel, you can more or less keep the correct direction of thought.

But how can languages help you if you do not have spiritual attainment and you do not perceive to what the text is referring? Nothing can help you! You only need to think about receiving more influence in order to begin to perceive.

It works the same way in our world: You can tell me anything you want, but if I have never experienced it, whatever you are telling me is dead to me, or in the best case scenario, I might be able to imagine it through an analogy to something with which I am already familiar.

But if I do not know anything about the spiritual world, there are no tales that can help me. For this reason, our entire study comes down to striving to perceive these spiritual notions, to want our eyes to open.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/17/2011, “Introduction of The Book of Zohar”

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The Kabbalistic “language of branches” is the language of those who attain spirituality. It is incomprehensible for a person who hasn’t attained the connection of the branches with the spiritual roots.

First, I have to start sensing the upper world. And then, hearing the words that belong to the lower world, I will clearly understand what phenomena of the spiritual world, in which I exist together with the authors of Kabbalistic books, they point to. I will acquire a common language with Rabbi Shimon and Baal HaSulam since I, too, will be at the same level or place, that they are telling about.

Since I exist in this world in my physical body, I know what the words of this world mean: “sun,” “earth,” “vegetation,” “donkey.” First, I become familiar with the terms themselves, and then I hear their names: words, language. I ascribe this real, perceptible object, the “sun,” a name in any language. This is how we name all phenomena of this world, thereby creating a language, and it allows us to comprehend what is being described.

If I exist in the spiritual world as well, I attain an additional reality called “sun,” “earth,” “vegetation,” “donkey.” I sense these properties and find out their names. Now the author of the Kabbalistic book starts explaining to me the connection between all these phenomena of the spiritual world by using the words of this world.

Since I exist in attainment of the connection between the material branches and the spiritual roots, it’s clear to me what he points to in the spiritual world. This “language of branches” turns into my language; it explains everything to me.

When we teach a child to talk, we show him objects and name them. This is how we can explain everything to a “child” in the spiritual world as well. For this, he needs to sense the spiritual reality and discover how it is called. That is, he needs help in understanding the connection between branch and root as well as the connection between parts of the spiritual reality.

Kabbalists teach us to find our bearings in the spiritual world with the help of the “language of branches.” But first we need to sense what the spiritual flowers, grass, or sun are….

There are spiritual terms which a person does not yet sense, while a Kabbalist helps him perceive them. This language advances, builds us. The connections inside the language explain to us the meaning of words or why the words are composed out of particular letters. This is because in Hebrew, the form of the letters and their order in a word indicate the properties of a spiritual object that has this particular name. This is how the spiritual information is passed down to us.

This language is already prepared for us because all the worlds, from Above downward, are interconnected. We are born into this world, feel it, and get to know the connection between the words. Now we must rise from the lower world to the upper one, and we take everything that there is in this world, the knowledge of all branches and all their names, and start ascending equipped with this.

The connection directed at the root has extended upward till Infinity. Each level contains everything that exists in our world, but each time it becomes revealed to us in more qualitative terms, meaning that they are more strongly connected with one and unified root.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/10/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Every science is a language. However, in regular science you explain your attainments on the same level as you attain them (in the same world), whereas using the language of Kabbalah you explain what you attain in relation to the root. This is the difference between regular science and the science of Kabbalah. You record any phenomenon that you study and attain in this world on the same level that you attain and research it. However, in Kabbalah you do not attain matter itself, but its connection with the root. This is the most important thing!

Baal HaSulam writes the following in the article, “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”: …physics is mere knowledge of the arrangements of a particular kind existing in a particular world. It is unique to its subject, and no other wisdom is included in it.

This is not so with the wisdom of truth, since it is knowledge of the whole of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking in all the worlds with all their instances and conducts, as they were included in the Creator’s Thought, that is, in the purpose. For this reason, all the teachings in the world, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, are wondrously included in it….

The connection with the root is unique to the science of Kabbalah. That is what enables it to include all the other sciences in itself. You can explain the qualities of a certain matter at this moment or the connection between phenomena, but this does not explain the essence of things and phenomena.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 2/10/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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The Zohar, Chapter “VeYechi (And Jacob Lived),” Item 451: On the third watch, the Cherubim strike their wings and sing, as it is written, “Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord … from the rising of the sun to its setting.” Then all the angels that stand on the third watch sing.

In The Study of the Ten Sefirot, we can study the spiritual actions by way of the three lines, the Lights, the Kelim (vessels), the screens, and the Reshimot (spiritual genes, reminiscences). However, The Zohar describes the same actions through the holy still, vegetative, and animate objects which are the forces in one’s work. In other words, the various parts of the soul are named after the various types of the still, vegetative, and animate objects of nature and man.

It is difficult for us to conceive of them as terms in spiritual physics, like those in TES. In the ARI’s The Tree of Life, we see how hard it is to depict the variability of spiritual actions in the language of Sefirot and Partzufim.

For this reason, there is another language in the spiritual world: the language of branches. Here, we take a particular branch of the spiritual world in this world, where each branch has its own particular name. Thus, in every case, even the smallest spiritual detail has a particular name intended specifically for this spiritual quality or action. We use these names and end up with a language that is more simple and precise.

If we were to rewrite in the language of Kabbalah all that Moses had written in the Torah, we would end up with a voluminous book. However, using the language of branches, everything is expressed very concisely. A person who senses spiritual reality has a much easier time perceiving the text which describes the Upper World with corporeal names. After all, the two worlds are parallel, and he who senses the Upper World sees their correspondence.

The other advantage of the language of branches is that the same names are applicable in all the worlds and degrees for every branch corresponds precisely to its root. Therefore, as we read The Zohar with the Sulam Commentary which combines the language of Kabbalah that clarifies the picture from this world described in the language of branches, we begin to see that Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the ARI, and Baal HaSulam all write about exactly the same thing.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/28/10, The Zohar

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A question I received: If Kabbalists wished to tell us about the Upper World, then why do they describe it using the words of our world and thereby confuse us?

My Answer: Kabbalists communicate with us in the “language of branches.” The science of Kabbalah is written for those who have a point in the heart, meaning for the people who yearn to reveal spirituality, the Upper World. They don’t know what it is, but nevertheless aspire toward it.

You can take a Kabbalistic book and read it as though you are reading about something existing in this world. Yet by doing so, try to constantly imagine that whatever you are reading about exists in the Upper World in the form forces and properties, reception and bestowal, and nothing else. This is why Baal HaSulam defines each word of our world by providing its meaning in the Upper World.

If I aspire to see this picture, then where is it? It’s not somewhere in the heavens; it’s within me. That is, a Kabbalistic book talks about my inner forces, about the world within me. In general, the book talks only about me; everything exists within me: people and animals, the sun, the moon, and the spiritual Partzufim.

However, when I imagine all of this within myself, I also have to wish for the Light to come and correct this picture within me, to let me see and feel these forces of love and bestowal. I desire to reveal not only this bestowal, but also the force that governs it all: the Creator.

To achieve it, I have to imagine that the people surrounding me in this world also exist within me. There is nothing else; everything is merely my inner forces. Start imagining that you now connect with all of these people, that is, with all of these forces within you. When you begin to constantly work with the book in this way, it will direct you toward bestowal. This way you will awaken the real picture and draw it closer to yourself. This is called “attracting the Light that Reforms.”

A Kabbalistic book not only helps us reveal what exists within each of us, it also teaches how to sharpen our vision so as to reveal all the worlds, the entire universe, and all of reality within ourselves. There is nothing outside. That’s why Kabbalah is called an inner science.

From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/7/10, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot

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We are in the seven special days of the holiday of Passover.Throughout these days we must maintain a correct, uninterrupted intention, because this is a special time. We don’t celebrate religious rituals or customs. We are very distant from actions people carry out simply because they were taught to do so as children, or because they are driven by egoistic goals to receive a reward, either in this world or the next.

First and foremost, those who study Kabbalah want to reveal the Upper World and the spiritual actions, and only after they see their consequences (branches), they are prepared to also respect and observe them with the same intention as the spiritual actions above.

Abraham and his students were the first to attain the connection between the roots and the branches. Before then, Abraham was an idol-maker and a priest in ancient Babylon. But having revealed the spiritual world and its consequence in the corporeal, having discovered the forces that descend from the spiritual world into our corporeal world and having set it in motion, he created the language of branches. This language is a description of the Upper World, the roots, using words of this world, the branches.

That was when he revealed the whole reality, both the corporeal and the spiritual, as one whole. That is why both the spiritual and the corporeal actions merged within him into a whole, and that is how he taught his students.

Of this it is written that the forefathers (the first Kabbalists) observed the entire Torah even before receiving it at Mount Sinai. Indeed, they have revealed the Torah by attaining the spiritual world with its spiritual actions. Based on that, they carried out the same actions in our world, perceiving all of reality as one whole.

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A question I received: Why does Beit Shaar HaKavanot describe the spiritual organs as a textbook of anatomy? Didn’t Rabash say that it was forbidden to write down the names of Sefirot on the picture of a human body?

My answer: These are completely different things. It’s permissible to take the names of objects and their interconnections from our life and transfer them upward, to the spiritual world assuming that the same connections exist there as well. However, it’s forbidden to take the spiritual properties from the Upper World and “ground” them here, as if to grant the material objects with spiritual properties.

One can take the language of branches and point to the spiritual objects and actions with these words. This way, one uses the language, symbols, and names. But if one takes the spiritual essence and starts saying that a greater spirit of bestowal is instilled in the right hand while a greater spirit of reception is found in the left one, it is idolatry.

It is because by doing so one is saying that a physical body of flesh and bones contains some spiritual properties. This is called “making idols” – taking still objects and ascribing the Upper, divine spirit to them.

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