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. 

Scientists Try to Measure Mystic Experience

In this 15 minute video, you will hear about what happened with the scientists who went to study people experiencing mystical events that other people could not see or hear.

 Scientists are always looking to prove or disprove measurable events. Brains can be assessed while responding to stimuli. In this way, scientists can measure which parts of the brain are stimulated during specific types of activities.

Imagine the brain in the act of schizophrenic visual or auditory hallucination. There is a heightened degree of visual or auditory stimulus in specific areas of the brain that are related to vision and hearing. Those areas of the brain (receiving visual and/or auditory stimulus) light up with activity far beyond that of normal activity. The heightened brain activity in these areas are directly correlated with the person who is responding to their schizophrenia. The person's own brain's creation of sights and sounds do not exist beyond the brain. The belief is that an imbalance in the brain stimulates extreme auditory or visual stimuli causing people suffering from schizophrenia to become confused, and frightened, by what they are experiencing. They believe that their experiences are "really happening" when in fact they do not exist in anyone's reality except the one suffering from the stimuli.

Mystical experiences were believed to be measurable in the same way as schizophrenia. The video above explains the story of a group of scientists who went to measure the brains of people experiencing mystical events. From what they learned, it appears that scientists still have not been able to capture heightened or unusual levels of brain activity in the visual or auditory parts of the brain with people experiencing mystical events. Instead, the people who were having visions and communications with The Virgin Mary appeared to have perfectly normal brain patterns. How this affected the scientists is very interesting!

Forms of Mysticism - it comes in different flavors!

Mysticism in different religions 

Mysticism is experiences that bring non-intellectual sensory/feeling insight and closeness to God. In almost every religion, it is handled differently. Each religion has it's own rules of creation, order, and values to live by. 

Christians - 

Catholics, with many saints to pray to, have the advantage of holy connections to everyday people who became extraordinary, "the saints". Saints are people, easily thought of as human, especially to Mary, mother of God. Mary is the ideal Mother making her more approachable. Statues represent the saints in dramatic and telling manner. This gives a three dimensional connection to the saints and helps people feel closer to God through the veneration of saints and their lives.  

Orthodox Christians have used religious icons, paintings of saints, to venerate. These objects are generally smaller. They are kissed, carried in processions, and are very beautiful just to look at in a spiritual way. The faces and especially the noses on the faces are long. The placement of the saint in the painted picture, usually done well, in a Byzantine style, with a great deal of gold leaf,  shows respect for the saint's life and encourages the viewer to seek this "in between place" of the icon, like a mirror into the spiritual world, as a way to feel closer to God and all the saints. 

http://www.google.com/search?q=Christian+orthodox+icons&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=TG9ZUPzhPOPOiwKon4GQBQ&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1420&bih=725

Both Catholics and Orthodox Christians use choirs, candles, and incense to create a feeling of being between heaven and earth during worship. Churches who veer away from the mystic qualities are usually the Protestant churches. Martin Luther did not care much for mysticism, but focused on "grace". His goal was to be saved (and help others be saved) by Jesus who died sinless on a cross in place of all of humanity. Before Martin Luther came to that "saved by grace" understanding, he lead an inwardly tortured life where he eventually saw the (Catholic) church as getting in the way of connecting to God. He did like mysticism of communion as a covenant symbolic of human acceptance of the Christ sacrifice. 

These days, most, but not all, Christian churches offer communion which is some variation of"blood" or "blood and body" of Christ, symbolic of taking in and accepting, in a very personal way, the perfect sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for the sins of the world. Without understanding the mysticism and profoundly meaningful symbolic connection of that act, it can sound barbaric to an outsider who visits the church for the first time and wonders about what the communion is all about.  

Plants increase sensory awareness during ritual 

In some religions, drugs from plants are used to increase sensory awareness and a relaxed, open feeling, or as a hallucinogenic ( e.g. Rastafari use marijuana, the Huichol use peyote). This helps people become connected to group activities, it is a different kind of window into the mind and the feelings of spiritual connection to God. Using plants creates a veneration for the plant as well. There is a sense of the plant's spirit because the use of the plant is for spiritual enlightenment. 

Buddhists say it is already in you, just keep practicing meditation

Buddhists believe in seeking "Enlightenment" but their version of seeking the mysticism is about just "being". They believe you are already "there" in the center of your "self". You just have to be present and it will come forth as you learn to "be". The Dalai Lama of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhist monks spend many hours in meditation which causing unique brain activity different from the average person. The monks have healthy minds and not the degree of dementia seen elsewhere. Their brain wave patterns have been studied by scientists.  They come close to God through being "one" in meditation and letting all the thoughts and worries of the day slide away until their minds are empty and they are just taking in the moment. This is done primarily by focusing on the breath. It helps guide you into the present moment. 

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/health-and-human-body/human-body/mind-brain/

Secret rites and rituals to bond the group and create deeper mysticism

Fraternities such at the Masons have a lot of ritual to create mysteries. Many of the rituals date back to early Christian times, the Pharaohs of Egypt and before, these rituals symbolize events and ideas about God and the world. Perhaps participating in rituals such as these make bonding to the group a mystical bond between group members and God. Like a living covenant.  I have heard that some churches hold to this kind of experience too, such as LDS. This is done only in front of fellow followers and believers. That makes the rituals "secret" and more mystical to the group and adds a sense of elevated special quality to the experience.

Atheists
To an atheist, looking at the moon and stars at night or watching the ocean or viewing mountains causes mystical experiences. The sense of feeling small in the grandeur of the experience and the awe from that equals a personal readjustment in the mind. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/alain_de_botton_atheism_2_0.html

Mysticism

Asia - OK here's a question for you: What do you know about and think of the concept of mysticism?

Sonja - This is what I know - "Mysticism" is all the things about spiritualism that are not Intellectual.  (I am editing this post because the question is so broad, it requires sub-topics... I'll touch on a few in my answer in a number of posts).

An example of the Beginings of Desire to really Know God

 In Sunday School one learns to recite Bible verses and the concepts behind those Bible verses become more profound as one grows older. As we get older, the different levels of understanding and interpretations give us  the "A-ha!" moments that curious minds crave. Learning about God gives depth and meaning to our understanding of God, our lives, and how we are influenced by God and all other stimulus in our lives.  There is a satisfaction at "feeling enlightened" and also there is a hunger for more. 

Frustration can set in ~ Desires for greater involvement with God are only limited by the imagination... and the rules that are attached to one's faith-choice."God" in any faith seems very complex and elusive. There is no physical manifestation you can touch and talk with like a fellow human (or an idolatry object which modern belief systems cringe at). Even though most people will agree that if you boil the concept of God down into one meaning it would be "Love" or the Greek word for this type of love "Agape".

 Mysticism is anything having to do with the feelings people are seeking to get closer to God somehow. We learn that "God is Love" and we also know what it is to "fall in love", but God's bond with us is not exactly the same thing as us bonding with a human. Yet we yearn for "feelings" to inspire us, such as God touching us in some special way. God's love is so complete, so perfect, we want to not just know it, we want to feel it.

Many people use the text from the Bible to connect with God. We know that God is somehow "with us" so humans desire some form of intimacy with God. Holding the Holy Text is a connection to God. The words are puzzle pieces to put together, chapters and books of data with promises of greater connection and understanding.  

To increase a connected feeling, those learned bits of scripture are often accompanied with prayer asking for further insight, life guidance, and sometimes with hopeful sought support from a Pastor, Priest, or other learned figure. But sometimes that is not enough... mysticism builds a bridge to a meeting place between heaven and earth where people can "be" a 
little closer to God. 

We are in earthly bodies with our five senses where we connect to the world, and to God. We see images of God and Holy People in various churches. We hear song, prayer, and sometimes God's voice in our heads. We feel candles in our hands, sacrament in our palms, and taste the blood of Christ. We smell incense, ladies perfumes and men's shoe polish. These senses connect us to the full experience that includes mysticism. This is why there is a desire for it. The limitations of our brains and bodies are a frustration when we want to fill our life with a "God" experience. Humans invented Mysticism to bridge the void. 

Mother Clair Watts explains Mysticism (in two minutes): 

     

Asia pushes my buttons and I speak! (Details at eleven)

The birth of a Blog: The odds and ends of my brain need to be put to use for some great good... hopefully, but I was not thinking of writing a book or even an article on anything... these days I do things more than sit and ponder them. Fortunately for me, I have friends who remind me of all the things I have pondered at some time. Asia is a good friend who makes me feel like my brain must be very useful indeed, and here is the conversation which led to the birth of this blog, "Smartass Sage, Sonja Speaks!"

(I felt the need to explain the blog this way so you could better decide if it is a reading choice for you.) 

September 6th, 2012

Asia - Sonja, you have a gift for explaining and teaching so I'm curious if you'd be able to explain to me why a bunch of stars and our date of birth tie together into prophesies about our individual futures? I mean it's a cool concept, but I don't get it's origins or genesis, why it all works, and what makes people believe in these things...posted t

Sonja - Here is how I see it in a nut shell... and there are bigger shells of communication that can be dug into at a later date... 

• 
  Put quite simply, human brains are built with the capacity to expect unexplainable events to be explained. They try to solve the mystery. 
  
  When science was established, scientific method did this in a more streamlined manner. Before modern science, there were rules that were accepted in various disciplines. So astrology is a pre-modern science to explain things according to something that seemed very regular, the patterns and behaviors of the starry sky throughout the year.

  
  
• Asia -  Thank you, I really like that - I'm glad I asked you - your tiny nutshell is so different than what google generally offers on the subject. Ever thought of writing a book?

  
  
• Sonja - No, but I'll keep you around to build up me ego and make me glad I have be helpful... <hugs!>

  
  
• Sonja - Maybe you could outline with questions and I could provide some answers and it could be a "book" of sorts.

  
  
• Sonja - I was thinking you and I could share a blog... we could work it together, you are pretty brilliant too, you know, right? :)

  
  
• Asia - That'd be wicked!!! Yea, let's do it! I could def. come up with questions.

  
  
• Sonja - My answers don't look too good without your super-duper questions - LOL!

  
  
•  Asia -  Sonja the Smartass Sage, I love it hahahahaha.

  
  
•  Sonja -  Yeah, I might have to have a bibliography or something if I act too serious! :P  We could do interviews too...
• Asia - Yea! Alright this first question might sound lame, but I'm genuinely curious how accurate you generally find astrology to be?
• Sonja - Astrology? I think it is all in how you look at it. As applied to myself, it seems very accurate sometimes, but at other times very weird, like it is not me at all. 
  
  I figure it is an inaccurate "science" of how stars and the energy of that "time" and "place" of ones birth affect "personality". Ultimately, definition of "likes" and "dislikes", "strengths" and "weaknesses", etc. are such variables anyway, I start to imagine that maybe I really DO like to take risks, even though in my heart of hearts, I'm a little nervous about it.... so I throw it back and forth in my head until I find an example of a "risk" I took. "A-ha!" - perhaps I am a "risk taker" in certain situations!
  
   For example, I am not afraid of making a fool of myself up on a stage speaking to a crowd... It's not like gambling in Vegas.... that scares the living daylights out of me... but it is a little risky by other people's standards! 
  
  The tricky part of doing a full horoscope with all the houses and details fills out the picture with so many little nuances and those details add further depth. After a while, it appears pretty accurate and can be helpful if you want it to be so. 
  
  My Dad said that his horoscope matched who he was when he was young but as he aged he changed who he was. In other words, the horoscope is a snap shot of a blueprint that arrived at your birth with a story of plausible "you" in the moment delivered by an ancient inexact science that I believe originated in India if I am not mistaken. 
  
  It is not "you" by any stretch of the imagination. The information might help you get ideas about what you REALLY like, dislike, are talented at and so on. The information gives you something to bounce off of, mull over, and react to.... in the end, you have complete control over your life. You are your life's author each time you grapple with a choice before you.

  
  
• Asia - o0o0o0o I love this!!! We.Must.Blog. I feel it would be such a waste of a great mind to leave it hidden on fb, where it will increasingly ebb into the older entries for only the most stalkerish sorts of your friends list to stumble upon. lol
• Sonja - So to make this as easy as possible, what do we do next? I'm not a young savvy Internet expert...

  
  Asia - choose a blogging platform that you like - maybe blogspot or livejournal - those tend to be the most widely used, I believe. Basically you sign up for the site of your choice
• Sonja - which would you prefer...
• Asia - Yup - well since you're the real writer here and I'm just the student it makes more sense for you to choose a platform of your preference, design choice etc. You might want to sign up for more than one so that you can choose the one you like best and feel most comfortable working on. I'll be back in a bit - have to run out and do a couple things, won't be long tho
• Sonja - I am looking into Wordpress right now....
• Sonja - Blogger "Sonja, Smartypants Sage, Speaks!"
• Sonja -  Maybe Smartass is better... ? I can't decide... :P I don't swear so Smartass somehow sounds not like me... but if I am going to be irreverent, and someone sees that, it might fit better LOL!!!
• Sonja - Well, I started to add you to a blogger thing... it is going to take some time for me to figure it out... I'll keep you posted. Good night!
• Asia - Eek, sorry ended up doing stuff with my dad and he added a few more things to the list, then I had to get to bed at some hour this morning. Smartass is not a swear word! It doesn't even have four letters :P It's just has a negative connotation because it's typically reserved by authority to cut down those who challenge that authority - and that's exactly what you're doing with these fantastic insights! I will google this after I come home from work :) xo so exciting!
• Sonja - So I was a smartass to think "smartass" was a swear word, Ha-ha!!!!
• Marilyn - You two are cracking me up. Sonja the Smartass Sage has a great ring to it. ;-)
• Asia - Lyn makes a great point - cracking people up while being a smartass makes for a great learning environment - everyone loves a wisecrack :P OK OK, first blogging question: What's up with numerology? Is it tied to astrology? How is it relevant, if at all, and do you believe in it?
• Sonja - Okay, Marilyn, I'll take a walk on the wild side and be a Smartass Sage.... I am also doing things out of order because I have been stumbling around on blogger trying to start a blog and add you in, Asia, So I guess I'll have to cut and paste once I figure Blogger out.... which could take a while... 
  
  Just like with Astrology, (and Chinese Astrology which is very different from the "western": astrology), numerology is used to explain the unexplainable using it's own rules or it's own science. 
  
  The Greek teacher, Pythagoras, who is well known in math class for the Pythagorean theorem, liked to teach Math, [to both men and women, which was kind of shocking since the "magic of Mathamatics" was considered a dangerous thing to teach women... since it contained "magic"... you know, those math tricks that helped you learn the times tables and "magic boxes" which you could do for extra credit if you forgot your homework, etc.] and he taught numerology. 
  
  There are several types of numerology but Pythagoras developed a modern-time version (in 590 BC or there abouts) which is the one that is still popular in many numerology circles today. But his system is modern. I believe that almost every idea we have regarding numerology started in India. Almost everything we "do" or "play at" [Card games of all kinds, including the game with what we call tarot cards, chess, checkers, but not Monopoly... as far as I know) seems to begin in India. 
  
  Even the time Jesus was not having his life written about in the Bible... there is an idea that he traveled to India and I would not put it past him. Jesus was super amazing, and still is, I believe. 
  
  Anyway, getting back to numerology. I love numerology. My favorite use for it is when lighting birthday candles. It gets harder every time you get older to find enough candles for the ceremonial cake! And it is embarrassing too! So if I was to turn 59 years old... should I live to that ripe old age, I would need that many candles. But if we did it "numerology style", we would add 5 + 9 = 14 and then add 1 + 4 = 5..... I am 5 years old, not 59!!!! Awesome! ...I know, I know, it looks suspiciously like subtracting, but it is about going in a numerical circle. Each number is kind of like it's own personality, not an actual "value" numerically speaking. 
  
  All I know about how astrologers use numerology is that each planet is assigned a number and each zodiac sign is assigned a number and each house of the zodiac reflects that number so the numbers have their own personalities... it just adds more layers of possibilities. "Texture"... maybe. 
  
  You can study what each number is about. The number 2 is supposed to be peaceful. Even though we hear a lot about war, this is historically one of the most peaceful eras we have lived in... hard to believe but I read it on the Internet so it must be... LOL! .... or not true...but Steven Pinker, linguist, has a short interesting lecture on the topic.http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html
• 
  

  Steven Pinker: The surprising decline in violence | Video on TED.com

  www.ted.com
  

  TED Talks Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to th...See More

  
  
• Sonja - What do I believe about numerology? I am not a number lover like my oldest daughter. I want to interview her about math someday. She reads a lot about the history of math. People who look for definitive answers like math. Perhaps I was more interested in numerology when I was younger. At that time I did not have the desire to explore it. The concepts seemed too vague from my perspective. Reading about it in a book is kind of dry... especially because it is about numbers, not people or animals or something alive with a birth, coming of age, and the struggles for insight and peace... numbers just don't go there for me... not yet at least! :-/ Perhaps reading about Pythagoras, or other even MORE modern mathematicians would give math and numerology  more life for my blatantly biased mind!