A BrieF, But importANt preFAce

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

A BrieF, But importANt preFAce

More than 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, a place that
gave rise to many of today’s civilizations, there lived
a man called Abraham. Nearly all religions and spiritual
factions recognize him as their founder and patriarch. They
record his name into their holy writings as the first man to
reveal the Law behind the world’s existence, the first man to
attain the Upper Governance.
It is none other than Abraham who is the forefather
of the science that transcends nationality, a science that
is universal, for it emerged before the world was split into
nations and languages. It is a science that has disappeared
many a time over the centuries, but always reappeared, ever
more wrapped in myths and legends.
This process was deliberate. People were not yet ready
to accept it, as it is precisely in our time that this science,
known as “Kabbalah,” is meant to be revealed. Why is that?
It is written about a time when egoism in our world reaches
its final phase of development and becomes so powerful
that humanity will be unable to control it, needing a remedy
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to save itself from the ego. It is then that the wisdom of
Kabbalah will appear.
The word “Kabbalah” translates as “reception.” In other
words, it is a science about how to receive correctly, or how
to properly utilize one’s egoism to receive all the pleasures
prepared for humanity.
Kabbalah takes nothing on faith. It invites you to “taste
and see that the Creator is good.” Dear reader, I call your
attention to this once more: “taste and see” does not mean
you should agree with something that somebody tells you.
You yourself must acquire the sensation of the Creator, and
Kabbalah is here to help you do just that.
Therefore, brace yourself, for as you ascend level by level,
you will experience all kinds of situations. On every level,
you will give the Creator different names, depending on
how near or far you are from Him. On one level, you will
call him Ruthless; on another, Just; on yet another, Merciful,
or Unified, and so forth, and all because you will feel Him
as such. Every level brings a new Name for the Creator.
Indeed, the same thing is true for our lives here. For
example, when we first meet a person we may call him
“reserved.” As we get to know him and warm up to him,
we may say, “No, it’s just that he knows a great deal.”
Befriend him even more and we deem him wise, then kind,
and finally—friendly… even though we began the process
with “reserved!” Our assessments change as we reveal his
qualities. That person has always been this way; we simply
needed to get to know him better. It is very important for
our advancement to understand that it wasn’t the person
who changed, but that we have opened up to him, as if
absorbing him within us.
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The same is true for the Creator. The better we get to
know Him, the more of His qualities we attain, i.e., His
names. This happens when we literally live through the
contents of the Five Books of Moses, as we let the text flow
through us. In this manner we attain the Creator’s names
as we proceed through the books. With every level—a new
name. How long will this process take? Until we discover all
the names of the Creator, join Him and attain Him as the
absolute Law of Love.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE BRANCHES
Kabbalah has developed its own language. It is called “the
language of the branches.”
The reason for this is that nothing in our world is
accidental. On the contrary, everything was created and is
governed with purpose and intention.
The universe, rocks, plants, animals, and humans, all
that has happened, is happening, and will happen comes
from the Creator, passes through all the spiritual worlds and
manifests in our world.
Let us also jump ahead a bit and mention that the Creator
has a system of governance over our world. It is called “the
world of Atzilut,” which translates as “At His place.” “His”
means the Creator’s.
The world of Atzilut is like a brain, as without its
command, nothing ever happens in our world, nothing,
not a single thought or action, war or scientific discovery,
absolutely nothing… as it is written, “not an insect crawls”
or “a blade of grass moves” without His bidding.
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Our universe, which can be likened to a giant computer,
is governed by the world of Atzilut.
That is to say, everything that exists in our world necessarily
originates in the Upper World, then descends along the
spiritual degrees. There is a rigid connection between the
objects in our world and their roots in the Upper World,
which may be dubbed their “spiritual doubles.” Thus, our
world is a consequence of the spiritual world.
Kabbalists feel this very clearly because they exist in
both worlds. That is, they see the Upper Object—the root
from which everything arises, and its offshoot in our
world—the branch.
Because we call the root by the name of its corresponding
branch, and not the other way around, the language of
Kabbalah is called “the language of the branches,” and not
“the language of the roots.”
With the language of the branches, the Kabbalists have
found a way to convey precise information about the spiritual
world using the language of our world.
They take the name of an object in our world, say a “tree,”
and use it to describe its Upper Counterpart, i.e., the force
that is now called “tree.”
But what if a person doesn’t know that the Old
Testament was written in this special language? What does
he see in it then?
He sees a narrative about our world, about a tree that grows
in paradise or a serpent that whispers sweet temptations in
Eve’s ear.
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But this is absolutely incorrect. Such interpretations
reduce this book, which is meant to unite our world with
the spiritual world, to the level of earthly literature.
(I remember my grandmother sewing cloths with beautiful
vivid patterns. Being a child, I would feast my eyes on them
and think, “This is how the world is.” That was until I
happened to look on the back of the embroidery and see
a chaotic tangle of threads and knots. At least it appeared
chaotic at first glance. Later I understood that that was the
root of the beauty. That if you cut even a single knot off the
reverse, the entire beautiful pattern would come apart…)
So here we are, wanting to learn to address the root. We
see the pattern on the front, comprised of simple, worldly
words, but we want to know what is behind them.
As we read the Bible, we will learn to look behind the
words and see the forces that are their roots. Moreover, the
very intention to read this Book precisely in this manner
will already connect us to the Upper World. That is because
everything begins with the goal and intention of the reader.
From the very first lines, the Bible sets one simple goal: to tell
humankind how to become citizens of the spiritual world.
It wants to lead us to the Creator, to eternity, to happiness.
And whoever reads it must fashion the same intention: “I
am doing this in order to reveal the Creator.”
And now let us begin our journey toward the secrets of
the greatest Book of all nations and generations. Are you
ready? Off we go! The first chapter of Genesis is called
Beresheet in Hebrew, and translates as: “In the Beginning.”