Guest Author - Linda J. Paul
The Quabalah, (also spelled Cabala or Kaballah), dates back to before time and reality as we know it. It is an ancient foundation of faith that predates any other belief system. Although it was adopted as Jewish Mysticism, it was in existence pre- Judaism.
The basic premise of Quabalah is that there was an undefined Creator of pure light who existed in the void. This Creator was only capable of giving and not receiving. So, in an effort to define itself, it created a vessel. The vessel could only receive and not give. The Creator joined with the vessel and fed it light. The vessel absorbed the light, but wanted to become more like the Creator. The vessel wished to also be able to give the light as well as to receive the light.
After it became saturated with light, the vessel eventually pushed the light back against the Creator. And, the Creator withdrew the light from the vessel. The vessel felt empty and incomplete without the light, and wished for it to come back. The Creator heard and sent back the light full force into the vessel. Although the vessel wanted the light back, it still had a dual nature of wanting to give as well as receive, so it was not ready for the onslaught of intense light, and it shattered in millions of pieces. These pieces became the universe and everything in the universe.
So, humans are actually tiny fragments of the vessel. We have the same dual nature. We receive the light into us with no problem, but we have an issue when it comes to giving or sharing that light. It is in our nature to want to keep the light for ourselves. Our main lesson here is to learn to share the light in terms of our knowledge. In this way, we bring “enlightenment” into the world.
Think of this principle as a bottomless pitcher pouring water into a cup (you). The cup can only hold so much water before it overflows, and the rest of the water falls onto the floor, rather than being used to quench someone else’s thirst also. But, if you were to put a cup under that cup, and another cup under that cup, etc., you would be able to quench the thirst of a great many people. That is the principle of Qabalah. When we overflow with light from the Creator, our purpose is to share that light by offering it to others.
This does not mean, however, that one must adopt a life of poverty or self-denial in order to share what one has with others. A martyr shares because he or she feels compelled to do so through blame or guilt, whereas a master shares because he or she realizes that there is enough light for all of us, and sharing that light benefits everyone else as well as the self.
Adversity and pain allow us to experience valuable lessons that allow us to learn to share the light within us. When we start to look beyond our emotions and thoughts into the core of our spirit, we start to realize that these lessons teach us how to share more than any other experience ever could.
There is an old Jewish story that pertains to this. A farmer envies an old Rabbi who has the ability to communicate with animals. So he asks the Rabbi to teach him how to do this. The Rabbi hesitantly agrees, but warns the farmer that this may not be such a good idea. He teaches the farmer how to communicate with animals.
The farmer goes home and immediately runs into a bird who warns him that thieves will break into his house that night. The farmer gets out his gun and waits, and sure enough along come the thieves. He fires a shot at them and they run. Satisfied that he has saved his fortune, he sleeps like a baby.
The next day he meets up with a frog who warns him that his house will catch on fire and burn to the ground that night. He goes home and sees that the paper he uses to start his fire is very close to the fireplace, and most likely will catch the sparks and set the house afire. He moves the papers, and falls asleep by the fireplace, content and happy that again he has averted disaster.
The next day a squirrel crosses his path and tells him that he will die that night. Now, the farmer is terribly upset, especially because the animals have been right thus far. So, he goes to the Rabbi and asks him what to do.
The Rabbi sadly shakes his head and tells the farmer he can do nothing to help, because the lessons the farmer would have learned through being robbed and losing his belongings would have been life-changing lessons for himself, as well as others. The farmer had averted these lessons and thus did not learn information vital to his soul’s purpose. So, he had to die and come back once again in order to learn these lessons. The Rabbi was right. Teaching the farmer this skill was not a good idea in the first place.
On the other hand, humans have the capacity to experience bliss, or the full presence of the light within. Usually this only happens for a short period of time, during a celebration, a heart felt moment, or the all-encompassing joy of first love. But, the teachings of Quabalah say that this is a feeling that can be experienced all the time, when we learn to both receive and give the light every moment of our lives.
This is just a brief explanation of the Quabalah. I will be writing more in depth articles on the subject shortly.
In the meantime.. Namaste… May the light in you see the light in me.
