A Kabbalist’s Books

Question: A Kabbalist’s development includes three phases: knowledge, understanding, and attainment. You found your teacher in 1979 and two years later you began to write books. What stage of development were you at then?

Answer: At the initial phase of course, at the stage of knowledge.

Question: Does that mean that it is possible to write such wonderful books as the System of the Creation even before reaching the level of attainment?

Answer: I had not yet reached the internal attainment in which you discover the system and feel it internally. I had a certain revelation but not attainment. Besides I wrote what I felt, what I discovered in the books of Baal HaSulam. I simply wrote my internal impression of his writings. But the fourth book Attaining the Worlds Beyond, which is based on Shamati, already had passed through me.

Comment: Baal HaSulam wrote for 30 to 40 years of his life. Surely his attainment constantly changed?

Answer: It is hard to speak about people who even in their initial attainments were much higher than us.

Question: Does that mean that special sparks break through a person into the world even if he is not in attainment?

Answer: Yes, it depends on the person. I wouldn’t write such books today because they contain too much information, too many impressions, feelings, and attainments. I wouldn’t be able to describe everything so naively today.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/29/17