The Perception Switch

Question: What is, in your opinion, the most difficult point of ascent to the revelation of the upper world for the beginner Kabbalist?

Answer: The biggest challenge, I would say, is the revolution in the understanding of myself and the world, that happens in me when I realize that the whole difference between this world and the upper world is only in my perception, my attitude towards the world:

When I relate to it naturally, as I was born, egoistically, the world that I perceive is called “THIS WORLD.”

And since all the people perceive it in this way, we call it “OUR WORLD.”

When I treat the world as if it and I are the same thing, with love and with bestowal, then the world that I perceive and feel in this case is called “upper,” “spiritual,” and “future” with respect to my previous, past perception.

So, the understanding that there is only a “switch” of perception, and it is inside you: ”the desires and thoughts for myself” is “this world,” and “the desires and thoughts for others” is “the upper world,” I consider this realization the most difficult in a person’s life.

It is unthinkable to imagine this, and to feel this so it becomes “yours,” is so difficult, that it takes many years, and in my observations, dozens of years!

We can easily and naturally imagine “another world” as existing outside of our world, the universe, or beyond the limits of our life, after death. It is natural to imagine it like the Earth, or in the form of other creatures and images, but not like what appears in my perception as the objects and people surrounding me, as my parts, as parts of me.

We cannot accept this even if we have repeatedly heard and read that the difference between the worlds is in our attitude towards the surroundings: towards myself – I feel this world, away from myself – I feel the upper world.

We are so accustomed, rooted in the sensation of the surrounding world as a firm, unchangeable reality that we cannot imagine that everything depends on our attitude towards it.

Kabbalah says that I perceive the world inside me, and it does not exist outside of me. Hence, I “figured out” that I have to change only myself. To change myself means to not change my desires and qualities but my attitude towards the world, my intention, how to use it, that is, using myself and the environment towards myself (for myself) or away from myself (for the sake of others).

It took me a long time to form this switch within myself. But after you feel it as existing, you work with it, switching it from towards myself to away from myself becomes the only important thing in life. The real spiritual work starts from here: self-analysis and the action of correction.

Today, this revolution in consciousness happens in the whole world; everyone should feel this switch inside oneself, and since this realization occurs in masses, it will be relatively easy for each person.
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