Table of Contents
This book is dedicated to the talented Living Kabbalah team who helped to make The Living Kabbalah audio System possible. To Shore Slocum, Jill Blessing, and Rachel Kowalski, the process we shared in putting the wisdom of Kabbalah into an audio format inspired me to my next level. Thank you.
Introduction
We are about to embark on a journey togethera journey that will be very personal, meaningful and, at times, a little uncomfortable. Over the next twenty-three chapters, we will embrace some amazing opportunities for growth, which will lead us to the clarity of purpose we have been seeking.
Maybe weve been wandering off-course for a while, assailed by our fears, undermined by a sense of emptiness in our lives, drained by our compulsive and addictive behaviors. How did we get so far off track? More importantly, how do we get ourselves back on course and remain there? The wisdom of Kabbalah will help us answer these important questions. Kabbalah is about action; its not some cryptic philosophy. With this in mind, we ask that you be practical. We ask that you be open. We ask that you NOT believe everything that we will share with you in this book until you explore it, test it out, and see what it means for you personally.
Each chapter in this book builds upon the previous one, so its important that you complete the exercises and meditation at the end of each section before you move on. Kabbalah toolswhich we call k-Toolswill help reveal new insights that will lead to profound changes in your perspective, awareness, and actions, and each step builds on the one that came before.
From the time I was born, my life has been intimately connected to Kabbalah. As a child our home brimmed with students seeking to better understand this ancient wisdom. The Kabbalah that I have studied throughout my life is the Kabbalah that I will be sharing with you in this book, some of which has never been revealed before in the way youll read it here.
Throughout my life I have had the greatest mentors a kabbalist could ask for. My father and teacher, Rav Berg, is one of the leading kabbalists in the world today. His teacher, Rav Ashlag, was the first person to translate Kabbalah into modern-day language, making it accessible to all who sought its wisdom. In fact, my father and my mother and teacher, Karen Berg, opened the pathway of Kabbalah to the world at large. A hundred years ago, very few people knew Kabbalah existed. Today, Kabbalah is greeted worldwide with recognition and respect.
What makes Kabbalah different?
There are four things that make Kabbalah different from anything else Ive touched or studied.
1. Kabbalists believe in constant change. In order to get to the next levelto really transformwe must constantly change, day by day, hour by hour. It doesnt happen overnight. Kabbalah is not a pill that we take that instantly transforms our lives. Real transformation requires incremental change. When we finish level one, theres level two. After that, theres level three, and on and on the levels go. Thats because there is a great deal we must transform in ourselves in order to reach our true potential. Out of necessity, it will take time and constant change to reach this ultimate fulfillment. The good news is that before long, youll see changes in your life that will support your efforts.
2. The tools that Kabbalah offerstools that may not make sense at the beginningare tools that have been tested throughout the generations and found effective by millions of people. At this moment, we dont need to know exactly how or why they work so well. If you think about it, most of us dont even know how our phones work. How can we be in a boat near Singapore and talk to someone in a tent in Africa? We dont know exactly. But there is no question that when we dialed the number, the person on the other end picked up the phone. In much the same way, people use Kabbalahs spiritual toolslike the Red String, for example. We dont need to know the mechanics of how it works in order to know that the power of the Red String goes far beyond thread and dye.
3. The lineage of Kabbalah goes all the way back to Abraham in the Garden of Eden, when he received the book of Kabbalah from the angel Raziel. Moses received Kabbalah as an oral transmission on Mt. Sinai from the Creator, along with the physical Bible used today. I can trace my lineage to my teacher (my father), to the wisdom he received from his teacher, and the wisdom his teacher received from his masterall the way back to the Ari, Rav Isaac Luria, five hundred years ago. The Ari traces his own lineage back 2,000 more years to Rav Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar.
4. Kabbalah believes in the big picture. Our goal is to remove chaos and suffering from the entire world, not only from individuals. If our life is perfect but our family, our neighbor or community is experiencing chaos, we will also experience pain. Only when chaos has been abolished on the global scale will we be truly free to live joyfully.
Truth Resonates
Kabbalah is based on universal truths, and universal truths sound familiar to our hearts and minds. When we hear a universal truth, we feel as though we have heard the idea before; the words resonate in our Soul. We find ourselves saying: Ah, that makes sense.
Our goal at the Kabbalah Centrein teaching, studying, and being involved in this ancient wisdomis to raise our own individual consciousness as well as that of other students who share our journey, and elevate the consciousness of the entire world. We do this so we can understand more about the Universe and its laws of cause and effect. We do this as a way of acknowledging that were all in this boat together. If we damage our planetary vessel, were not going to sink alone; the world is going to sink along with us. But together we can learn to stop drilling holes in the boat and hurting others. And that is just the beginning.
So lets begin the journey of a lifetime.
LastingFulfillment
Chapter 1
What You Desire
To make progress on any journey, first we have to identify where we are presently and what our destination is. Only then can we figure out the most efficient, effective route to get to where we want to go. So, lets take a moment to make these distinctions.
List 1 : Write down everything you could possibly want in your life that could bring you fulfillment and a sense of security. Imagine it, having total peace of mind. Imagine how incredible that would feel! You could stop worrying, stop feeling lost, and stop feeling lonely. Youd have total clarity, great relationships, a sense of meaning and purpose, and a solid place in your community. List those things that would put you in that space.
List 2 : Write down everything in your life that you dont want, like more panic attacks, depression, or partners who are emotionally unavailable. Maybe youd like to stop smoking, or overeating, or drinking. Be specific and personal. This is about you. This will be your before picture.
A Bigger Vessel
Now ask yourself: Is my life really all it could be right now?
We can get more in our lives if we become more. Im amazed sometimes by how smallhow limitedour thinking can be. When someone asks us what we want out of the whole Universe, we find ourselves saying that we want one little thing, just this or that.
