Now Do I Understand Kabbalah?

“Now do I understand Kabbalah? You know that I ‘m totally over my head, and I can’t swim.”

“Then relax and let your mind float until you develop more skill.”

A simple seeker was reading “The Practical Kabbalah” by CJM Hopking, and was puzzled by the author’s explanation that the Trees representing each of the five worlds interpenetrated each other, or at least the four lower worlds did.

Fortunately, the author referred to the psychologist, Carl Jung, as saying that some problems that we encounter on our path of spiritual development are not solved but transcended. She felt a little smug in connecting Jung’s thoughts to the way each of the worlds on The Ladder of Light emerged from the world beneath it, except for the bottom one, and the top, which seemed to her to stand alone.

“Yes, from the one Tree, which represents a path to spiritual wisdom, higher and ever-higher levels of awareness develop. As in mountain climbing, first a base camp is established part-way up the mountain, and then further camps are built as the climber ascends. Each new level achieved is an accomplishment in itself. It also allows for time to rest and evaluate, and share with new arrivals, and to learn from those who have reached higher levels and are now returning to share what they have learned.

The four lower worlds represent stages of transcendence. We each live in each and all of these inner worlds, at one and the same time. Developing spiritual knowledge, understanding, and wisdom is a never-ending process.

Do not place rigid boundaries between the worlds emerging from each other. They are concepts, designed to express the interconnectedness, or web of life, wherein our conscousness gradually develops higher and higher levels of awareness. Any concept of boundaries represents no more than horizons, as seen from any one stage of spiritual development.

Each level becomes no more than a necessary foundation upon which we build, and we do, each in our own way and in our own time, deeper faith in ourselves. Faith in anyone or anything beyond our self expresses a lack of faith in self, and self is Self. We are as one with all that is.”

…..

A simple seeker’s note to herself

“Wow! Spirit covered so much material.”

“Material?”

“Yes.”

“What about understanding?”

“What about it?”

“Did I cover any?”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes and no.”

“Please explain.”

“I can share my understand, but I can’t …”

“We each develop our own understanding, if we do?”

“Yes, and each at a speed and depth that our mind is capable of, at any given time.”

“Can our consciousness expand?”

“Yes, and it does, as we use our mind to think, just as physical muscles develop with use.”

“Do we each have the same potential to develop our mind?”

“No. Some seem born to develop into a particular form, even if provided with the same care and nutrition.”

“So we each have unique potentialities?”

“Yes.”

……….