Exploring Kabbalah

When I attended my first Basic Pranic Healing seminar back in July 2008, I bought the book Origins of Modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga. It's a very interesting and eye-opening book, and every pranic healer should have a copy or have read it at least once. My interest to study and explore kabbalah was sparked after reading that book.

When I first started, my understanding of kabbalah was quite limited. I've read snippets here and there, but nothing that would qualify me as knowledgeable. All I knew then was that it came from the Jewish tradition and that it was some sort of magical system. I've read about the Golem of Prague, a story so famous that there was (or still is) a postage stamp in that city that features the golem. This only reinforced my idea that kabbalah was the "magic of the Jews." And for you Dungeons & Dragons fans out there, the word golem is a Hebrew word that essentially means "amorphous." Jewish folklore is even richer than the narratives that can be found in the Bible.

So what is this seemingly indecipherable body of knowledge? What is it that has drawn the fascination of occultists for the past several centuries? Kabbalah is hard to explain in such a short article. In truth, one must live it to really start to understand it. Even now with all the material I've read, I'm still just scratching the surface, but I will try to give as clear a picture as possible based on what I've managed to find out so far. Though I may not be the foremost expert on kabbalah, hopefully my experiences will help others have an easier time doing their own research. Although we are really luckier today because there is so much material on kabbalah and the floodgates of information about this field of study has opened up. In days of yore, kabbalists were tight-lipped about their knowledge, and frequently, anyone who released kabbalistic teachings without permission was killed. This contributed to the sparse information about it during Medieval times up until the early 20th century, and consequently led to a lot of misunderstanding about what it is.

The situation is further complicated in that other philosophies started integrating certain kabbalistic teachings. In the 15th century, there was a desire to interpret Christian doctrine even more mystically than the Christian mystics, and so the Christian Cabala was born. Then, during the 18th and 19th centuries, a lot of occult literature started to include concepts from the kabbalah such as the Tree of Life and the sephira. This is often called the Hermetic Kabbalah. One can see this particularly in the material of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Yet for all the material available on the subject, I could not find a clear way to make use of kabbalah, let alone make heads or tails out of it.

One book I read even mentioned that one needs to learn the Hebrew alphabet itself, (just the alphabet, although learning the language would help, since it would make gematria easier). This was an important suggestion, though I didn't realize it then, but more on this later. But for the meantime, this again left me scratching my head, because where was I going to find a teacher that could help navigate this morass of information? A lot of the kabbalah books I was reading presented material that was couched in metaphors, symbolisms and other stuff that could not be easily decoded or verified.

At this point, I luckily managed to purchase one of Master Choa's books, The Spiritual Essence of Man, which deals with the Tree of Life extensively and has very good material about kabbalistic teachings. The book helped lay the groundwork for a more focused search for information. In any case, when searching for information, Divine Guidance is really necessary. One will also realize that the right information or material will be made available when the time is right (which means one is able to understand and handle the information or one is entitled to it).

Like any tradition or body of knowledge, to gain a better understanding of it one must eventually go to the source. A lot can get lost in translation or misinterpretation, especially when the writer is not from the original tradition being written about. In the case of kabbalah, we are not talking about any one person as the source, but a whole culture. Moreover, there are many kabbalistic schools of thought. So I turned my search to actual Hebrew sources. Further research led me to realize that there are also two aspects to the study of kabbalah. Both are interwoven, because they use the same sources and knowledge, but the difference is in the application.

The first aspect is what is called Kabbalah iyunit, or "contemplative Kabbalah". Here, the aspirant seeks to know God and explain the nature of existence through intellectual study and meditation. In this way, kabbalah is the esoteric counterpart of the Judaic religion. Aside from the Torah, kabbalists also count the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), said to be written by Abraham, and the Sefer Ha-Zohar (Book of Splendor) as major references. Because of the heavy emphasis on scripture and the use of the Hebrew alphabet (the Alef Bet), most if not all kabbalists were also rabbis.

The idea of an esoteric tradition behind an established religion is not confined to Judaism. In the Islamic tradition, we have the Sufis, where we have the whirling dervishes. A lot of Sufis are also imams (clerics). With the Christian tradition, we have the Gnostics.

The second aspect to the study of kabbalah is the Kabbalah ma'asit or "practical Kabbalah." It is this aspect of kabbalah that is usually referred to among the books and stories of magic written outside the context of traditional Hebrew belief. Anything that directly affects the material plane is usually categorized under the practical kabbalah. The making of a golem or crafting of amulets and charms for varying purposes (very popular in Jewish culture) are examples of this. It is this aspect that has mostly gained the notice of occultists.

In the hermetic tradition, the kabbalah usually takes the form of ceremonial magic. It typically involves elaborate preparations in terms of incese and other occult material. The only exception would be Franz Bardon's system, in his book The Key to the True Quabbalah, which is closer to the Hebrew method. In the Hebrew tradition, practical kabbalah is effected through the use of the many different Names of God. This is why practical kabbalists were called Ba'al Shem Tov (Masters of the Good Name). Practical kabbalists also use the Hebrew alphabet and gematria in their work. Why the emphasis on the Hebrew alphabet? According to the Sefer Yetzirah, the Lord used the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order to create the universe. Therefore anyone who mastered the use of these letters had a very powerful key to influencing reality.

How come then that not everyone who knows the Hebrew language can do works of wonder? Well, there is a special way to using the letters and the Names of God that activates the energies locked within them. But the key to this is not easily found, and is a very closely guarded secret among kabbalists, and that's the dilemma that faces a lot of would-be practitioners.

Furthermore, there were heavy injunctions against using the Names of God "in vain," meaning for base reasons. Also, the divine energies being emitted by the letters and the Names was so strong that only a tzadik (righteous person) with a pure purpose could safely use them. There seems to be a basis on this because I have heard stories about people who attempted to use the kabbalah who went insane. This has not deterred people from pursuing this path, though.

In Jewish society, practical kabbalists were often called upon to perform exorcisms, do healing, or create amulets or talismans of protection for the home or person. It is strikingly similar to the duties an arbularyo (medicine man) would do in a typical Philippine community. For all that, the status of the practical kabbalist was quite controversial, because the rabbis were divided on whether it was allowable or not. It is further confusing in that some aspects of practical kabbalah were considered acceptable (such as crafting amulets) while others were considered taboo (such as uttering the Names of God in a kabbalistic manner). Some kabbalistic schools of thought even believe that until the Temple stands again, no one should use the practical kabbalah.

Usually, it depends on the particular community what is considered acceptable to them or not, although many took advantage of the the amulets and charms, with the rabbis who publicly denounce them just turning a blind eye to the practice (if not making use of it themselves). In actuality, it most likely wasn't a matter of one practicing contemplative kabbalah or practical kabbalah but rather to what extent one is incorporating either aspect into one's practice.

If you want to get a better idea of the role that practical kabbalah played in Jewish society, I would suggest you read Jewish Magic and Superstition by Joshua Trachtenberg. It's available for free online at the Sacred Texts website. You may also visit this website about practical kabbalah.

As I gained more ground in studying kabbalah, my research received a boost when I started reading the different books from the Kabbalah Centre. "Wait," you may ask. "The same organization that Ashton Kutcher and Madonna are members of?" Yes, it's the same one. But don't let the names of all those celebrities who are members throw you off. The Kabbalah Centre offers a lot of gems about kabbalah, and they de-mystified it such that even a total beginner can get a grasp of it. The Kabbalah Centre was founded in the early 1920s in order to spread the teachings of kabbalah to the world, and we are all the better for it.

So, how did the material from the Kabbalah Centre contribute to my understanding of kabbalah? One clue is in the word itself. Although "kabbalah" is one of the most often used transliterations, it is more accurately spelled as "Qabalah" or QBLH and the meaning is "to receive." Most attribute "receiving" to the fact that kabbalah was primarily an oral tradition, therefore one would receive the teachings directly from teacher to student. But once you read the different books, there is another level of meaning to it.

Let us ask the question, what does it mean to receive? According to the law of polarity, there is both a negative and a positive polarity. The Light of the Creator is the positive polarity that always flows and imparts. We, residing in vessels, are in the negative polarity and in the mode of receiving (take note that positive and negative in esoteric usage does not always refer to "good" or "bad"). It is this Light passing from the Creator and through our souls that gives life to our bodies.

Now, in kabbalistic belief, there are two ways that people are using this Light. One is the Desire to Receive for Oneself Alone, which results in darkness, pain and a heavy karmic debt, while the other is the Desire to Receive for the Sake of Imparting, which results in a lot of Light in one's life, eventually leading to a completion of one's tikkun (correction).

It works this way due to the law of flow. One cannot keep on inhaling without exhaling, and one cannot keep eating without ever defecating. This is why the Desire to Receive for Oneself Alone remains in the negative state and causes all manner of pain and suffering, not only for oneself, but also the world. When one gets into the consciousness of the Desire to Receive for the Sake of Imparting, one has just transformed the negative state back into positive and one is in tune with Creation. We have the free will to choose our actions and have to deal with either the consequences or rewards of our choices. Until one has totally transformed into the consciousness of Desire to Receive for the Sake of Imparting, one constantly has to work at one's tikkun, through several lifetimes if necessary (yes, reincarnation is part of kabbalistic belief; it's called Gilgul Neshamot or Reincarnation of Souls). The concept of tikkun, as used in kabbalah, is similar to the concept that we incarnate in this physical plane in order to work off our negative karma.

The study of kabbalah then is a study of how to achieve harmony with Creation, which is not limited to harmony with nature, but with all of Creation, which includes our fellow human beings. The knowledge of kabbalah gives one the tools to understand how everything works (in both the physical and non-physical realms), thus the enlightened individual gains the keys to positively influence Creation, as is our destiny as co-Creators. Yehuda Berg in his books describes kabbalah as Technology for the Soul, and it's a very apt description. Looked at in this light, kabbalah is simply a way of life and a spiritual path not unlike the practices of yoga, Buddhism and other esoteric disciplines.

So in its essence, kabbalah is very similar in its purpose as Arhatic Yoga, which is why I found it easy to cross-reference the two disciplines. Studying kabbalah has certainly enriched my spiritual life, and made me appreciate the value of Arhatic Yoga even more. In the end, kabbalah is more than just a magical system, but literally a path to God.

Even so, kabbalah has still managed to subtly exert its influence in ordinary things that we take for granted. For instance, I already mentioned how the word golem has found its way into the D&D system. Also, in Star Trek remember that Vulcan hand sign that Spock makes when he says, "Live long and prosper"? Make that hand sign on both your hands, then put your hands side by side. That's a kabbalistic blessing position! Gene Roddenberry must have known something about kabbalah. The atbash, a form of letter substitution, was an early form of cryptography and certainly had an influence in the development of that discipline.

However way one looks at it, kabbalah is definitely a field worth studying, and it's a good complement to whatever spiritual path one is following.