Kabbalah: Like Abraham, if you were to ask God some questions...?

If you were to ask God about existence, what would you like to ask about? Maybe "Why are we here?", "What is with all this 'suffering'?", "How does life "work" - I mean, where is the owner's manual?", "Am I in charge, or am I a puppet of my genetic programing, or something else?", "How many alternative universes are there anyway?", "Can I change my life or the world by how I think and feel?", "How do I know if I am on the right track?", "Where do I meet my soul mate?", and the age old question: "Is that all there is?" (or, "Why do I still feel so empty?")

The Kabbalah is a mysterious document with authors going all the way back to before Judaism. The Kabbalah has recently been talked about, not as a religious book, but as a mystical view of how God works and how life works. The modern study of the Kabbalah might even be considered a "how to" book for living ones life by correcting oneself. In the beginning, the Kabbalah asks us to consider some questions and then to observe nature for the answers. This is what Abraham did and he was considered the first Kabbalist who met with his Creator by choosing the path of light. He then taught everyone who would stop and visit him. Here are his questions: 1.) What is our essence? 2.) What is our role? 3.) When we look at ourselves we fall short, when we look at the Creator, we see perfection. Why create the imperfect? 4.) Why, when there is no beginning and no end, things are finite? 5.) What is the purpose?

Here is what Kabbalah teaches: 

Human behavior appears imperfect. The actions of humans show people enjoying the suffering of other people. There is a desire that says, "I feel good only if I control others." The human attitude toward others is a problem. Beyond the basic desires of food, shelter and sex, the acquisition of money, honor, and power are the goals for which humans hunger. None of these goals satisfies the human soul in the end. This appears to be what we are when we look at human behavior. This Youtube illustrates the Kabbalah view of humans and their goals as taught by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD.  

The world we live in is fragile and temporary.
Was creation born in a "big bang"? Did we exist, born out of nothing? We are an innovation from our creator, but why did he/she create us? Is the answer in what existed before our creation was made? The Creator made creation for a personal reason. All of creation is a fragile and temporary place where mankind resides, as "bad fruit" that can become "good" through internal, natural forces.
We are really one with the creator who made us, but there's a problem: 
We are all made by the creator, so we are all from the same source, a soul, split into small pieces and separated from everything else. Each soul piece encased in the bubble feeling very alone or empty, we are wanting to receive. We feel opposite to the benevolent/light that wants to give to us. When we feel opposite, it interferes with receiving.
God/Creator wants to give to us, but our wanting to receive shines a light on our short-comings: 
The desire for connecting with God makes us aware of our flaws, hating others and therefore hating God. It makes us search for a way to correct the flaws. Seeing the flaws makes us feel that we must correct them because they are abhorrent to us.
We are at the center of creation.
We eventually will be forced to do the right thing. In the meantime, those who ascend toward the creator by studying the Kabbalah will ascend and the more they ascend, they will become increasingly distant because the spiritual world will be "real" when compared to creation.
The Kabbalah and the spirit of the Old Testament/Torah appear to complement each other.
So in light of this information, I would say this is a set-up for connecting with the forces of God/Light/Creator. So far it appears that Kabbalah is not a religion but it does not conflict with religion and may even complement it. My next post will continue to address basic ideas of the Kabbalah. It qualifies as mysticism because it is about finding ways to get closer to God.

An Occult Science of Verbiage

Praying to God is a way to forge a relationship with Him. In prayer one can praise God for all that is good and ask for assistance. Prayer is a way to ask God for intervention. Each person prayed for often experiences miracles large and small (e.g. healing, rescue, guidance, safety). 

But not always. Where prayer does not appeared to be answered, it is believed that God knows the "bigger plan" and what you prayed for was not a part of that plan. Then one is reminded, "God does not give you more than you can handle." Prayer is the occult science of verbiage that leads to miracles large and small. Yet even though many of these outcomes cannot be explained, they are not considered "magic", because it was God's choice to do or change these things. 

The other "magic" or "miracle" part of prayer, even without the prayer being answered, is a relief that you can take the burden and put it with God.  "Let go, and let God" comes to mind. But this raises a question about response to prayer: If no one prayed, what would the outcome have been? Is God involved even when no one prays? Does what we pray, our spoken word, guide events? The Bible states that in the beginning, God is "word" and we use "words" to pray. God is in all things, being as He is the creator, but is God then also the words we speak? Especially when it comes to prayer? 

God does not necessarily answer prayers as one would have them answered. But prayers are answered. Even when it seems like they are not. One time I was in a lot of pain and asked God for relief but the pain persisted all day. (It was the flu.) God did not respond to my prayers, at least not in a timely manner. It shook me up.  (There is a lesson in my experience with God around that issue. ) Perhaps because my prayer was only in my mind and not spoken out loud... or God was teaching me to be patient...?

The Kabbalah teaches that God must be invited and that humans have a great deal more power over whether or not God intervenes in our lives and on the planet. According to the Kabbalah, God did not "drive Adam and Eve out of The Garden of Eden", no, Adam drove God out (God left because He was not wanted)... So, news to me, and maybe you - according to Kabbalah, we are in Eden right now... and the only time God intervenes is when he is invited. He is invited by the sound of your "words". 

Mysticism of Kabbalah has been a guarded secret until recently. Just in the last three years much information has been put on the Internet about Kabbalah and the Zohar, Kabbalah's primarily read book of teachings. Much in the Kabbalah teachings focuses on how we invite God to be in our lives.  Those of God's works recorded in the Bible as Miracles appear to have been done for His own mysterious purposes, a reaching out, to communicate with Humans. As a people, it is believed that we might hold some sway with God: Words as in prayer, chanting, or songs sung in repetition are some ways the "word" is used in prayer and supplication. Once again, the word is God and we speak the "words". 

Like many people, I believe in God because I have had that one mystical experience. Personally, I don't need further proof. How it all works remains an intriguing mystery though. Understanding it "all" is personally unimportant and probably an impossible task. It seems that being present in life, family and community acts as the humans' destiny on earth. 

That being said, a rock solid faith in God can mean anything. The point is to remain honest with yourself. If something does not feel "right", step away from it and, for example, examine cause and effect out come possibilities. Not knowing the whole truth, means your mind is alive with questions, ideas and life, full of growth, forming authentic truth based on reading, learning from others and reflecting on everything, everything. Studying the history of religions, human history, cultural development, the human brain studies, and mysticism in human culture helps create a picture of humans intersecting with God through the occult science of verbiage. You are welcome to respond with ideas of your own. I respect, with an open mind, your own experiences.