The Difference Between The Wisdom Of Kabbalah And Psychology

Question: In what way is the wisdom of Kabbalah different from psychology?

Answer: Psychology is not a science because it cannot measure the internal parameters of a person.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, a person can arrange internal changes and see how the world that he perceives changes. It follows that it is not the world that is changed; rather we are the ones who change.

We think that we run the world and are investigating it, but actually, when we begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, we see that we are not investigating the world but ourselves, seeing the inner changes and how according to them the world that we perceives changes.

From this is derived that the world is not changed, but only we are the ones who are changed. We think that we manage the world and investigate it, but in fact, when we begin to learn the wisdom of Kabbalah, we see that we don’t investigate the world but ourselves, our disturbances, changes, reactions, and so forth. Externally, only one permanent parameter exists and this is the Upper Light.

Comment: Psychology also investigates the reactions of a person to the external world.

Answer: Psychology cannot measure anything, even though it is somewhat “correct.” Therefore Baal HaSulam welcomed materialistic psychology. He believed that it would inflict a final “blow” to religions, mysticism, various spiritual pursuits, as well as philosophies that invent anything from unverified data.

In contrast, the wisdom of Kabbalah says that there is one and only one force, one and only one parameter, that is immutable and absolute in relation to which we are changing. This is the Upper Light. And since we are made in a particular set of properties, through our changes in relation to the constant Light, we depict the world.

Thus, by changing the parameters within us in relation to the absolute characteristic of the Upper Light, we can make measurements according to the results we receive from these parameters. This is the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/28/16