Stairway To Heaven
Josia Nakash
February 12, 2006
According to foremost Kabbalist Michael Laitman, PhD, none of our prayers are accepted because God isn’t some old wise man sitting in His palace in the sky deciding who will be happy today and who will suffer. It’s ok for little kids to believe that story-like image of God, but the rest of us are supposed to be grown up and capable of checking for ourselves how things really work.
Kabbalists are people who have already checked all these issues and left their impressions for us as a kind of roadmap to the upper realms. These are people that despite having risen to very high levels can lower themselves back down to our level to communicate what they want us to know in a language we can understand. The following is an example of some of the guidelines they’ve left for us so we can all follow in their footsteps. Paying attention to what they have to say could change your destiny, your family’s, and all of mankind’s.
Making The Stairs Appear
The upper worlds and their stairs exist only for man and cannot be found outside of him. The worlds only exist in forces and are essentially “waiting” for man: if a person is corrected to discover the spiritual form, the stairs between him and infinity immediately appear, and the upper stair closest to him will be revealed to him. This is the same as a force in a magnetic field. The force feels the influence of the field and therefore “knows” that there is a field. But if the force was in the field and didn’t “feel” the influence of the magnet on it, it would not be at all aware that the field exists.
When we leave the atmosphere to outer space we discover that it’s dark. This may sound a bit strange considering the fact that the sunlight’s rays are scattered in space. We need to understand that there is nothing standing in the way of the sun’s rays in order to catch them, so you can’t say that there is light. Another example is the penetration of the sun’s rays through a window. We can only perceive them through the dust in the air. What comes out of this is if we don’t receive and feel, we can’t say that there is something around us.
In reality, we exist in the Light of infinity that we discover according to our relative correction or corruption. The intensity of the Light that exists in each of the stairs of the ladder depends solely on us. That is why we say that all the worlds are found in us. It is only after we grasp certain parts of the Thought of Creation (God’s program) according to our ability, that we become aware of its existence. Prior to that it is impossible to perceive Him with the five senses He gave us. There is no possibility of speaking with God, attaining him or his filling without achieving His level, through reprogramming ourselves to have His attributes.
Accelerating Development
The Light of infinity fills all of reality, meaning the entire will to receive that it created, and it operates on us to bring us to equivalence of form with Him. The pressure of the Light on the will to receive is constant; and does not change at all in quantity or quality. As a result of it there are ongoing changes in our will to receive, and we call them ‘General supervision from Above’. God relates to us in such a constant manner that He/the Light is actually in total rest and it is only our perception of Him or his relation to us that is changing all the time.
We keep changing as a result of infinity’s total rest, but the whole point of this contrast is to emphasize how there is no change from God’s side. He’s always doing his thing: bringing man to the end of correction. Advancing in this manner toward the end of correction is based on the pressure of the Light on the vessel/will to receive. In the end this pressure will give the vessel a feeling that it is in situations opposite to the Light. That is why this path can also be called “the path of suffering”. This is where everything happens in its own time. The constant pressure of the Light on the vessel causes the formation of various shapes in the vessel up to the tiniest detail. And through them the vessel will arrive at the end of correction. At the end of the natural development of the will to receive in man for many reincarnations, he begins to feel that there is something above him – “the influencer or bestower”. At this point perceptions begin to awaken in a person that have nothing to do solely with the will to receive, but rather the will to bestow that has penetrated the will to receive.
So now a person has the option of being between two forces: the force of the will to bestow which is a new feeling and the force of the will to receive, which is ingrained in him from being created. We can invest efforts and accelerate this development at a quicker pace than the one offered by the constant pressure of the Light on the vessel, but accelerating the development toward bestowal cannot come from within a man’s ego. The trait of bestowal can only come from God. And man’s job here is to find the way to receive the form of bestowal from Above
Choosing The Shortcut
A person choosing this route of receiving the form of bestowal from Above is called developing from below to Above. He marches toward the pressuring Light on his vessel and methodically brings all his situations toward him one after the other. He wants to go from below to Above, meaning moving toward acquiring the form of bestowal as quickly as possible, since doing so allows him to skip over time and situations that others would spend decades on. He doesn’t want to go through the natural states waiting for him but would rather skip over them.
How can you skip over them? If a person doesn’t feel their oppositeness to the Light in each and every desire, he will be lacking vessels/darkness which is the only way to discover the Light. But you can also see the darkness as a result of desiring the Light. Desiring the Light and pursuing it in a proactive manner allows you to go through all the necessary perceptions in a quick and highly controlled manner. This can be compared to discovering an illness before it erupts and stocking up on the suitable medication, which means that a person’s own desire can save him much suffering and pain.
If a person is drawn to the upper Light on his own, toward the form of bestowal that is above the will to receive, he won’t have to endure terrible suffering. It is for that reason that the wisdom of Kabbalah was given to humanity. Without it humanity would advance in a natural manner, phase after phase. In this way every situation lasts until its negativity is discovered in it. And only when the situation becomes unbearable and we can no longer be in it, does a man push himself to the next situation out of a lack of choice. Correct education, that explains the wisdom of Kabbalah and the way the Light is drawn, can put us on an entirely different path of development – the development toward the Light.
Building God
Even though all the changes they receive from everywhere take place internally in the souls, they see everything in the Bestower Himself, because only in that way can they receive all the intelligence and pleasantness in the Thought of Creation.” (Ba’al HaSulam, Introduction To The Book of Zohar)
All the changes take place solely in man, but in the eyes of man it appears that the changes are taking place outside of him. We must understand that if he wasn’t climbing up the spiritual ladder, but was rather under the illusion that the changes are taking place outside of him, he cannot make a connection with God or think that God exists and that he is the Bestower. It is precisely this illusion that allows a person to grasp the simple Light that appears to be outside of him.
When man relates the changes in him to God outside of him, he can build an attitude toward him; he understands what God is and how much God wants to bestow to him. If it were not like that, he wouldn’t have any option of grasping something of himself. Of course this illusion is false, because the changes take place only inside the person, but attributing the changes to God allow a person to build an intention of ‘for bestowing to the Creator’. Gradually he builds inside of him a more and more correct image of God. And at the end of the building period man reaches simple Light, the benevolent Bestower that exists in eternal love without any change whatsoever.
Man’s illusionary feeling that there is a connection between him and God and that God changes according to his changes allows a man to describe to himself the form of God according to his own traits. So in fact, that is how a person builds God inside himself. There is no other way to feel God.
The reflection of man’s traits on the abstract Light lights up the stair above him, which he describes to himself as God. The stair is slightly above the man, that same stair that he is about to attain, is called his God. Of course it is slightly bigger than him, but for now He is his God. After a person makes his traits equal to the bestowal level of that stair he in fact takes the place of God. He is now in a place where he was in the eyes of God.
And this is how a person describes to himself each time the back of the next step -- precisely from his corrupt traits. In direct opposition to this, he builds the image of God, meaning the corrected image that he strives to attain. There is no other possibility to grasp a form of God because man has no access whatsoever to the abstract upper Light.
This illusionary feeling helps man build the current step and the following step, and allows him to understand where he needs to go to get strength. Even though everything is happening inside the man, this image is what builds the gap between himself and his next step, meaning between him and God. This is the only way man can learn of the One superior to him, since there is no way to feel or see God. In other words, man builds God inside himself.
A few tips for the journey that are actually the ultimate formula for attaining the Light:
1)FRIENDS: Build an environment of like-minded friends who are going through the same process, and who can constantly brainwash you about the greatness of the goal. Because the higher you go, the more God’s guards (who are guarding the Kingdom) will try to demoralize you and make you wish you had never got started on this path in the first place.
2)BOOKS: Follow the guidelines left by the great Kabbalists of previous generations and the writings of their disciples. They have all been through this rigorous progress and reading their material helps speed up the process by connecting you to a higher place as often as possible.
3)RAV: Choose a teacher that you believe will be able to take you all the way to the end of correction, and follow every word he utters. He is your upper level in this world that you should cling to at all times, even when you don’t want to. (Especially when you don’t want to!).
Josia Nakash is a marketing consultant and copywriter in Israel. Having searched for meaning for many years and found it in Kabbalah, Josia is dedicated to promoting the hidden wisdom that is now available to all. You are welcome to visit her blog Kabbalah For Women and contact her with feedback or questions at josia@kabbalah.info. © Copyright 2006 by Josia Nakash
Kabbalists are people who have already checked all these issues and left their impressions for us as a kind of roadmap to the upper realms. These are people that despite having risen to very high levels can lower themselves back down to our level to communicate what they want us to know in a language we can understand. The following is an example of some of the guidelines they’ve left for us so we can all follow in their footsteps. Paying attention to what they have to say could change your destiny, your family’s, and all of mankind’s.
Making The Stairs Appear
The upper worlds and their stairs exist only for man and cannot be found outside of him. The worlds only exist in forces and are essentially “waiting” for man: if a person is corrected to discover the spiritual form, the stairs between him and infinity immediately appear, and the upper stair closest to him will be revealed to him. This is the same as a force in a magnetic field. The force feels the influence of the field and therefore “knows” that there is a field. But if the force was in the field and didn’t “feel” the influence of the magnet on it, it would not be at all aware that the field exists.
When we leave the atmosphere to outer space we discover that it’s dark. This may sound a bit strange considering the fact that the sunlight’s rays are scattered in space. We need to understand that there is nothing standing in the way of the sun’s rays in order to catch them, so you can’t say that there is light. Another example is the penetration of the sun’s rays through a window. We can only perceive them through the dust in the air. What comes out of this is if we don’t receive and feel, we can’t say that there is something around us.
In reality, we exist in the Light of infinity that we discover according to our relative correction or corruption. The intensity of the Light that exists in each of the stairs of the ladder depends solely on us. That is why we say that all the worlds are found in us. It is only after we grasp certain parts of the Thought of Creation (God’s program) according to our ability, that we become aware of its existence. Prior to that it is impossible to perceive Him with the five senses He gave us. There is no possibility of speaking with God, attaining him or his filling without achieving His level, through reprogramming ourselves to have His attributes.
Accelerating Development
The Light of infinity fills all of reality, meaning the entire will to receive that it created, and it operates on us to bring us to equivalence of form with Him. The pressure of the Light on the will to receive is constant; and does not change at all in quantity or quality. As a result of it there are ongoing changes in our will to receive, and we call them ‘General supervision from Above’. God relates to us in such a constant manner that He/the Light is actually in total rest and it is only our perception of Him or his relation to us that is changing all the time.
We keep changing as a result of infinity’s total rest, but the whole point of this contrast is to emphasize how there is no change from God’s side. He’s always doing his thing: bringing man to the end of correction. Advancing in this manner toward the end of correction is based on the pressure of the Light on the vessel/will to receive. In the end this pressure will give the vessel a feeling that it is in situations opposite to the Light. That is why this path can also be called “the path of suffering”. This is where everything happens in its own time. The constant pressure of the Light on the vessel causes the formation of various shapes in the vessel up to the tiniest detail. And through them the vessel will arrive at the end of correction. At the end of the natural development of the will to receive in man for many reincarnations, he begins to feel that there is something above him – “the influencer or bestower”. At this point perceptions begin to awaken in a person that have nothing to do solely with the will to receive, but rather the will to bestow that has penetrated the will to receive.
So now a person has the option of being between two forces: the force of the will to bestow which is a new feeling and the force of the will to receive, which is ingrained in him from being created. We can invest efforts and accelerate this development at a quicker pace than the one offered by the constant pressure of the Light on the vessel, but accelerating the development toward bestowal cannot come from within a man’s ego. The trait of bestowal can only come from God. And man’s job here is to find the way to receive the form of bestowal from Above
Choosing The Shortcut
A person choosing this route of receiving the form of bestowal from Above is called developing from below to Above. He marches toward the pressuring Light on his vessel and methodically brings all his situations toward him one after the other. He wants to go from below to Above, meaning moving toward acquiring the form of bestowal as quickly as possible, since doing so allows him to skip over time and situations that others would spend decades on. He doesn’t want to go through the natural states waiting for him but would rather skip over them.
How can you skip over them? If a person doesn’t feel their oppositeness to the Light in each and every desire, he will be lacking vessels/darkness which is the only way to discover the Light. But you can also see the darkness as a result of desiring the Light. Desiring the Light and pursuing it in a proactive manner allows you to go through all the necessary perceptions in a quick and highly controlled manner. This can be compared to discovering an illness before it erupts and stocking up on the suitable medication, which means that a person’s own desire can save him much suffering and pain.
If a person is drawn to the upper Light on his own, toward the form of bestowal that is above the will to receive, he won’t have to endure terrible suffering. It is for that reason that the wisdom of Kabbalah was given to humanity. Without it humanity would advance in a natural manner, phase after phase. In this way every situation lasts until its negativity is discovered in it. And only when the situation becomes unbearable and we can no longer be in it, does a man push himself to the next situation out of a lack of choice. Correct education, that explains the wisdom of Kabbalah and the way the Light is drawn, can put us on an entirely different path of development – the development toward the Light.
Building God
Even though all the changes they receive from everywhere take place internally in the souls, they see everything in the Bestower Himself, because only in that way can they receive all the intelligence and pleasantness in the Thought of Creation.” (Ba’al HaSulam, Introduction To The Book of Zohar)
All the changes take place solely in man, but in the eyes of man it appears that the changes are taking place outside of him. We must understand that if he wasn’t climbing up the spiritual ladder, but was rather under the illusion that the changes are taking place outside of him, he cannot make a connection with God or think that God exists and that he is the Bestower. It is precisely this illusion that allows a person to grasp the simple Light that appears to be outside of him.
When man relates the changes in him to God outside of him, he can build an attitude toward him; he understands what God is and how much God wants to bestow to him. If it were not like that, he wouldn’t have any option of grasping something of himself. Of course this illusion is false, because the changes take place only inside the person, but attributing the changes to God allow a person to build an intention of ‘for bestowing to the Creator’. Gradually he builds inside of him a more and more correct image of God. And at the end of the building period man reaches simple Light, the benevolent Bestower that exists in eternal love without any change whatsoever.
Man’s illusionary feeling that there is a connection between him and God and that God changes according to his changes allows a man to describe to himself the form of God according to his own traits. So in fact, that is how a person builds God inside himself. There is no other way to feel God.
The reflection of man’s traits on the abstract Light lights up the stair above him, which he describes to himself as God. The stair is slightly above the man, that same stair that he is about to attain, is called his God. Of course it is slightly bigger than him, but for now He is his God. After a person makes his traits equal to the bestowal level of that stair he in fact takes the place of God. He is now in a place where he was in the eyes of God.
And this is how a person describes to himself each time the back of the next step -- precisely from his corrupt traits. In direct opposition to this, he builds the image of God, meaning the corrected image that he strives to attain. There is no other possibility to grasp a form of God because man has no access whatsoever to the abstract upper Light.
This illusionary feeling helps man build the current step and the following step, and allows him to understand where he needs to go to get strength. Even though everything is happening inside the man, this image is what builds the gap between himself and his next step, meaning between him and God. This is the only way man can learn of the One superior to him, since there is no way to feel or see God. In other words, man builds God inside himself.
A few tips for the journey that are actually the ultimate formula for attaining the Light:
1)FRIENDS: Build an environment of like-minded friends who are going through the same process, and who can constantly brainwash you about the greatness of the goal. Because the higher you go, the more God’s guards (who are guarding the Kingdom) will try to demoralize you and make you wish you had never got started on this path in the first place.
2)BOOKS: Follow the guidelines left by the great Kabbalists of previous generations and the writings of their disciples. They have all been through this rigorous progress and reading their material helps speed up the process by connecting you to a higher place as often as possible.
3)RAV: Choose a teacher that you believe will be able to take you all the way to the end of correction, and follow every word he utters. He is your upper level in this world that you should cling to at all times, even when you don’t want to. (Especially when you don’t want to!).
Josia Nakash is a marketing consultant and copywriter in Israel. Having searched for meaning for many years and found it in Kabbalah, Josia is dedicated to promoting the hidden wisdom that is now available to all. You are welcome to visit her blog Kabbalah For Women and contact her with feedback or questions at josia@kabbalah.info. © Copyright 2006 by Josia Nakash
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