Introductory Course to Kabbalah Lesson 3 - The System of Reshimot (Records)

Introductory Course to Kabbalah  Lesson 3 - The System of Reshimot (Records)
By Michael Laitman, Ph.D

Lesson 3

The system of Reshimot (Records)

• How is the sense of the surrounding reality built inside me?



• What is the system of Reshimot - the internal software by which I develop?



• What is the influence of the Upper Light upon us? Does it change, or is it I who is developing?



• How do I relate to this world, while I am rising toward the Spiritual World?



• What is beneficial to think about while studying?

You said that everything is inside man, and there is nothing outside

We are told that whatever man feels is felt inside of himself. All information is entering us from outside. The Upper Light is entering us, and we do not feel anything beside it. But what does that mean? All that we are feeling is how the Upper Light interacts with our five senses and nervous system. That is what makes an impression on our senses. Information travels from these sensory receptors to the pleasure center, and finally to our intellect where we connect all this information and feel "something", some impression. This impression is not dependent on what is happening outside. It depends on how we are built from the inside.

We have inside ourselves some sort of software or records - Reshimot. These Reshimot exist inside of me exactly like in a spiral, and cause me to change each and every moment. I am passing through all those Reshimot, and if I decipher every point in itself, I will see that it is also a big spiral within which are also all kinds of Reshimot. That is what gives me my inner state, and then I change every time from inside. And because I am changing from inside, I apparently feel that I have been changed from outside. But there is no change from outside. All the transformations occur solely by my internal records. Then it seems to me that the world is turning, changing and I see what is happening all around me. This is the reason why our world is called - the imaginary world, because this is all taking place in our imagination. He, who comes out of this world, grasps it, feels it from outside and sees how simple it is. However, until you come out of it, this idea is incomprehensible. I am transformed incessantly by these Reshimot, and then it seems to me that the Upper Light which puts pressure on me is changing itself, when in fact It is simple and constant.

What does it mean that Its pressure is simple and constant?

Its pressure is always directed toward one goal - to bring us to the Final Correction. The Final Correction means to raise oneself to the level of The Creator and be equal to The Creator. And when we receive this impression from the Upper Light through our five senses - then we change. This change happens generation to generation, year to year and from reincarnation to reincarnation. In our former reincarnations we had purer desires. Now we are more selfish, coarser and less refined. These records cause in ourselves this entire urge for progress - all that has been achieved in technology, in culture - in everything. That is with regard to this world's outlook.

As to what pertains to the soul - it is the same - we have this point of the heart, and it has the same records. The records in the point of the heart are different from the records of the five senses. That is because they stem from the path the soul has traveled from The Creator to the Barrier, all the way to this world. All this way, through this descent, the records are now inside me, like in a gene. All the information, the endless details (we are learning a little about it, especially in the book Beit Shaar HaKavanot.) These records are being renewed incessantly, I am changing all the time from situation to situation and inside me there is some sort of compact disk, scanning all the information. I am changing from inside all the time, and accordingly it seems to me that the Upper Light, The Creator, is changing also and works upon me in different ways. But in fact, there is no change at all in the Light, It is in absolute rest, the pressure it exerts on me is unchanging and constant - only to raise me to Its degree.

We can say that at some stage we are developing the sixth sense and are passing the barrier. There is an entire world in which I operate and there are mutual reactions. As a matter of fact, all the while I live in this world I can observe that I live in a false reality.

How do I relate to this world, while developing the sixth sense?

That is also connected to what I have said earlier, that we - who are learning the method of Baal HaSulam - have both legs on the ground. What is, in fact, the matter? It is forbidden to ever criticize, to think or to relate to the reality not from the position we ourselves are in. That is to say, if I, in my present state -am still a beast ("beast" meaning that I have the same sense as a beast. The term is not used in a derogatory fashion, I am stating the situation). Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch - these are the five senses by which I live - although I read books and I am filled with wonder from them. I have to exist and relate to the perceived world I find myself in. That is to say that my relation with this world is determined by the quantity of information I receive.

As long as I have not developed the sixth sense and I still do not live by it, I am forbidden to relate to the world through this sense. That is because I simply am not with the Upper Light and I am not in touch with It. Yet through the sixth sense, why should I begin to relate in this manner? I am only learning about it, for me it is still theoretical. That is to say - as long as I have not received a spiritual vessel, called screen (Masach) in order to cope with the Upper Light - myself, the Upper Light and the screen in the middle, which is the connecting factor between us - I am forbidden to think that I am performing a spiritual act. I have to act in this world as usual, as everybody else.

I am talking about the fact that you have a relationship with the Upper World, and as you say - you discover there an imaginary reality.

No, no, not at all! In the Upper World I do not discover an imaginary reality. When I enter the feeling of the Upper World, I see that the reality I perceive through the five senses is imaginary.

How do you relate to it?

I relate in a different manner, although I do not stop feeling this reality. I begin to relate to it also through the sixth sense, as it is coming from the same source. We'll talk some more about it in the future as this is not such a simple concept. If you live it, then everything will become simple for you - that's how it is.

But to explain it to somebody living through one sense, I mean through five instead of six senses, it is almost impossible. That is why Kabbalah is called "the hidden wisdom", because all things are concealed form us; even the state we are in now is concealed from us: we are unable to diagnose it accurately as well.

Is it possible to make a mistake using the sixth sense?

There is no such possibility, and I will explain why. We find ourselves in this world, without any preparation: I am born; I am brought forth from my mother right into my mother's hands, from my mother to kindergarten; from kindergarten to school, and so on. We live in this very big world and are so very small ourselves. We do not understand anything but there are all sorts of support systems called: mother, father, society, social security, all sorts of things that are helping us. And then we can exist, even as we do not know and do not comprehend anything. A sick person is taken care of by ten people. That is how we have built human society, and we have the mental preparation to do it. It is not as if we have invented it, since it is Nature that compels us to do it. It is possible only in the frame of this world.

In spirituality the law is the complete opposite - the vessel precedes the Light. Only in as much as I know where I am, that I know exactly how to do the most correct action, the optimal thing, will I have the power not to make a mistake, to understand, and to be of use to myself, to The Creator and to the other souls. Only in this measure, only in this segment, in this fragment I can enter and feel the Upper World, and act in it exactly as I have prepared myself. And the rest is completely sealed off from me. It is closed and I do not feel it at all. I do not comprehend that they even exist. Such is the entrance to the Upper World.

Before I climb the next step, I have to equip myself with all that exists on this level, everything: with strength, with understanding, with what is called mind and heart. Therefore there is no possibility of error. Everything that we study about the breaking of the vessels, the sin of The First Man, the Destruction of the First Temple etc, it is all done from the expansion from above downwards in order to prepare this place for us, the place of ruin. So that afterwards we can collect from it all this breakage, all of the broken vessels and to rise back.

But from us upwards, there is no possibility to err and to do any harm - that is the Law. Again, this is because the vessels precede the Light. First I have to have the power, and according to the amount of power I begin to act. There is no worry.

I am uncomfortable with the thought that I am drawing Light all the time.

If it's uncomfortable to think that you are drawing the Light, then do not think about it, do not draw. I described in words that are not close to you how you are feeling as each one of us feels in a different way.
I am a technical man and Kabbalah speaks also in technical terms. It speaks about the Will to receive. What is this Will to receive? - The desire to enjoy, filling of needs. We are talking about filling this feeling of emptiness, more, less, a quarter, half and so on. A quarter filled, half-filled. It is all about feelings. Therefore we do not speak about feeling toward this or that thing, in what manner, which nuances. We have language for this, only this language is very coarse, technical and it empties of all the emotional impression - coarseness, screen, records, purification, this goes up, this comes down, and so on. Even afterwards, when we study all sort of things like mating while kissing.

A Kabbalist sees it as simple technique. It is the technique of how we work with our objects. When we go into it we see that this is so, even that we feel it. And these are very emotional matters, much more then we are feeling and being impressed by in this world. If we could gather together all that humanity has in this world, throughout all generations, all the souls, with all the Lights they are receiving through these five senses, throughout all the incarnations, if you could receive it all together, it would be less than the smallest step in spirituality. The smallest step in spirituality that man enters is more than all that is here, below the barrier, to all of us together, throughout all times.

Therefore, maybe everyone should choose for himself some other words. For me, this language explains and speaks to me now. But I still remember how it was before. For example, body. What is body? I always thought - a body is a body, don't I know what a body is? Until the notion of body began to be connected to the notion of - will to receive. Meaning, that in as much as I desire, in what form I desire - the body takes form accordingly. Now I want to eat a piece of chicken, then my body is like a chicken. That's right! I want to enjoy drinking now and then my body receives the form of that drink, it is really like this. Until I began to comprehend this, years passed.

That is why, little by little, everyone who studies, begins to translate it for himself. Besides, the mentality is different, I am a Russian you are an American. There are different attitudes; we also belong to different generations. You simply have to learn it, and slowly, slowly it comes to order. Everybody finds himself an internal dictionary. So, do not draw Lights. Think about it in another manner: is there anything in your life that you want from Above? Then think about it.