Rav Berg Quotes

humanity is a bridge between the spiritual and the physical realms.

With our very first breath, we receive the seed of our whole life. But doesn’t that mean our whole existence is predetermined? If the seed of our life is all there in our first breath, why not just lie there like a fish and let “whatever” happen to us? Kabbalah would answer, “Because a seed is just a seed. It’s a possible tree. It is up to us to choose from all the different possible paths presented to us by that first breath.” Given the right care, the right food, the right Light, the seed grows into the best tree it can be. But if we don’t do the necessary work on ourselves—if we don’t consciously seek to transform our Desire to Receive into a Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing, if we don’t use our tikkun to keep ourselves on course—we will remain at the mercy of the planets. The positions of the planets at the moment of our birth do not determine our whole life; they merely influence it. They are the seeds, not the whole tree.

The gift of Rav Ashlag, the founder of The Kabbalah Centre, was that he synthesized this knowledge and brought it down to a level of understanding where we could use it to achieve the purpose of life and the birthright of humanity—happiness. The six dimensions that lie just beyond our perception are known collectively as the Upper World. The Upper World is the 99 Percent Realm that we spoke about earlier (see the illustration on page 95). •​It is this 99 Percent Realm that we touch during those rare moments of clarity, rapture, insight, expanded consciousness, epiphany, or even the revelation that allows us to pick the winning numbers in the lottery. •​When Michael Jordan sank the winning shot to win the NCAA National Championship and launch his career, the joy he experienced emanated from this realm. •​When your heart beats like a drum and something overwhelms you as you catch a glimpse of your soul mate, you’re touching the 99 Percent. •​When you’re on the beach with the sun caressing you and

¡Levántate y confronta la situación difícil que tienes ante ti! ¿Por qué piensas que está ahí? ¿Para esconderla debajo de la alfombra? Afróntalo: es tu contrincante, es tu oposición, es tu adversario. Así que entra en el ring y lucha. Si te sigues escondiendo, yo gano.

Cuando pongan las necesidades de otra persona antes que sus propios intereses egoístas, una cura milagrosa aparecerá en el planeta como reflejo del cambio que tuvo lugar dentro de ustedes.

El dinero que obtienes en este mundo no es tuyo; es energía que se te entregó para que la administraras, como un guardián. Es una herramienta que puede ayudarte a hacer lo que viniste a hacer aquí o puede lastimarte. Si tienes demasiado dinero, puedes volverte un esclavo de éste, en lugar de dejar que se convierta en una fuente para dar. Tu lección, en ese caso, consiste en ignorar tu codicia y dar.

Cuando una persona desea algo, hará una de estas cuatro cosas: 1. Intentará hacer que suceda. 2. Hará todo lo que pueda para que suceda. 3. Hará que suceda, pase lo que pase. 4. Hará que suceda, pero para otra persona. Estos son los cuatro niveles del deseo, y dependiendo de cuál sea el nivel de tu deseo, experimentarás resultados diferentes.

Tal como explica Rav Áshlag, el ego es esa voz dentro de nosotros que dispara el juicio, el control, la ira, el orgullo e incluso el odio.

La física, con toda su deliberación teorética, parece haber alcanzado finalmente a comprender la no-dimensión, lo cual significa que la física—junto con toda la ciencia física—ha plantado las semillas de su propia desaparición. ¿Pues qué es la física, sino el estudio del mundo físico? ¿Y qué es la ciencia, si sus leyes sólo son aplicables dentro de los marcos de referencia más estrechos? La Kabbalah, por el contrario, no está en peligro de autodestruirse. Los kabbalistas logran entender el universo con el debido respeto hacia el mundo material y con un reconocimiento pleno de sus muchas limitaciones.

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle instead affirms the ancient kabbalistic tenet that the observer and the observed are inseparably, irretrievably bound up with one another. Everything is part of a unified whole, as the Bible declares in the Shema: “Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

We hope you will use this book to expand your own Vessel and generate spiritual Light both personally and for all people on this planet.

Suelta al ego, y yo te soltaré a ti.

Por cada acción, hay una reacción directamente proporcional. Cuando lanzas una pelota contra una pared, ésta vuelve a ti con la misma fuerza. De igual manera, el universo te lanza, gramo por gramo, exactamente lo que tú le has arrojado a él.

Although kabbalists speak of the Upper Worlds, Kabbalah does not envision heaven as somewhere up in the sky. Paradise is defined by heightened spiritual power and awareness, not by altitude. The Light of the Creator is everywhere —in ourselves and in other human beings, in trees and in animals, even in inanimate objects. Our purpose in life, therefore, is not to call down the Light from heaven above, but to kindle the sparks of Light that are already here. Kabbalah requires no religious training or indoctrination to make that happen. Connecting with the Light is something we can do right now.

Kabbalah allows us to use our understanding of the spiritual influence of the planets and stars for our own spiritual purpose. By making the necessary corrections to our life path, we can give ourselves the best chance of spiritual success.

Remember, humanity was created as the Vessel to receive the Light. But the Light is powerful. If we were to receive it all at once, it would be like getting hit by a bolt of lightning—too much power, too fast.

Kabbalah tells us that the stars and the planets are like filters that enable us to receive the Light safely. Each astrological configuration, each month and its corresponding sign, blocks out most of the Light but allows a manageable portion to reach us in the physical world. The characteristics of the portion of the Light that we receive are different for every month/sign. That’s why each month/sign has its own unique strengths and weaknesses.

We are made up of two essential elements: our body or our ego, the Vessel whose true nature begins and ends with the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone—and our soul, which embodies the Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing.

Unlike conventional astrology, which insists that everything we do is determined by the heavens, the kabbalistic study of planets and star formation tells us that we are each born at the precise instant that is best suited to our special needs so that we can exercise our free will. Kabbalah teaches that we have many possible futures, and that through kabbalistic wisdom we can become captains of our own ship and masters of our own destiny.

Just as cellular DNA determines the development of our physical bodies throughout our lifetime, the DNA of our souls determines our spiritual and emotional development. Even more remarkable, our spiritual DNA is also expressed through letters, as we will discover shortly.

According to Abraham, the spiritual DNA in our souls is transferred to each of us through a very precise and complex mechanism: the planets of our solar system. These planets are the devices whereby an individual’s spiritual DNA is imprinted into the soul. The nature of the imprint is determined by the exact time of birth and the corresponding arrangement of planets and stars. These ancient teachings are the root and precursor of the science of astrology.

Kabbalists have a phrase to describe this process: As above, so below. Our world is the seeable, touchable, hearable, smellable, and tastable form of all the hidden spiritual worlds. There is nothing in our physical world that does not come from the worlds above. Kabbalah tells us that everything we see in this world is only a reflection, an approximation, a clue, to something beyond outward appearances.

The Light wanted to share, yet it had nothing to share with. Obviously, something had to be done. So the Light created a Vessel to receive everything it had to offer. Receiving was the Vessel’s whole job, its only job—the Desire to Receive. Kabbalah teaches that the Light is the first cause, and the Vessel the first effect.

According to Kabbalah, the creation of the Vessel, with its Desire to Receive, is the only creation that ever took place. Everything else was a result of that creation. So we had the Light, whose whole nature was to give of itself. We had the Vessel, whose whole nature was to receive all the positive things that the Light had to share. The Vessel was filling up with the Light, and because time and space hadn’t even begun yet, the Vessel was filling endlessly. The Vessel kept receiving, and the Light kept giving. It was perfect; it was paradise.

The ancient kabbalists called the Vessel’s act of pushing back the Light “Restriction.” Science calls it . . . THE BIG BANG.

According to Kabbalah, once the Restriction took place, the Vessel exploded into zillions and zillions of pieces. The pieces of the shattered Vessel became all the fragments of matter and energy that make up our entire universe—atoms, animals, people, planets, everything. In this way, the Vessel could share with itself and with the Light, thereby becoming the cause of its own fulfillment. Everything in the universe is a portion of the original Vessel. Kabbalistically, the Desire to Receive is the secret engine that drives everything in the universe and is, in fact, indispensable to the world’s functioning.

Even rocks and stones have a little bit of the Desire to Receive. As we move up the scale of Creation, we see an increasing physical dependence on the external world—a carrot needs more from the world than a rock, and a cow needs more than a carrot. But human beings have by far the greatest Desire to Receive, because we not only need material things such as water, air, and food, we also require intangibles such as peace, hope, love, and fulfillment.

It is when the Desire to Receive is transformed into the Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing that we are most like the Light and become the cause of our own fulfillment. According to Kabbalah, we actually reunite with the Light at the moment we emulate its sharing nature. In this way, we serve as the link between the physical world and the spiritual world above. By exercising our potential for sharing, we form a connection to the Light that created us. And, as with any good exercise that makes us stronger, the more we share, the greater our potential becomes.

The result of our sharing might be a positive effect on our health or in our relationships, or we might receive something too subtle and mysterious to notice right away. But whether we notice it or not, we can be certain that for every act of sharing, a deposit is made into our spiritual bank accounts.

The only purpose of the Desire to Receive is to attract the infinite blessings of the Light. This is the whole reason for our existence in the physical world.

But what about those people who receive money, power, and happiness without even thinking about sharing? Kabbalah recognizes that we can, at any time we wish, selfishly receive the blessings of the Light. Very often, our Desire to Receive degenerates into a self-centered Desire to Receive for the Self Alone. It forgets its true purpose and it is led astray by the pleasures of this earthly existence. But physical or spiritual satisfaction will not endure unless there is balance between receiving and sharing.

Giving and receiving—becoming a cause rather than an effect—is the goal of our existence. We cannot continue to receive the Light unless we share the Light. If we are only receivers, we become merely reactive to the events and circumstances around us. Put another way, the more we give from the Vessel, the more room we have for what we will receive in turn.

This idea of a voluntary Desire to Receive for the Sake of Sharing is one of the most insightful truths that Kabbalah has to offer. We stress the word “voluntary” because choice is at the root of Kabbalah’s insight. Kabbalah recognizes that the Vessel itself, and not the Light, made its own choice. It exercised free will. It was no longer just a receiver. By choosing to restrict the Light until it could share, the Vessel went from being simply the first effect to being the first effect and a cause in its own right. It became proactive—like the Light itself. So the Vessel was the master of its own destiny. The idea of free will is what makes kabbalistic astrology fundamentally different from conventional pop astrology.

Then, suddenly, business is booming again. Instead of reacting with happiness and joy at the prospect of higher profits, you acknowledge that your happiness should be present regardless of outside forces. This simple acknowledgement puts you in control of your inner life. You are the cause of your feelings. When we receive the Light directly, as we did when we were first created, we are merely an effect. However, when the Light is concealed, and we have to earn it by resisting our reactive instincts, the Light is then revealed. We are the cause of its revelation.

People often discredit astrology when two individuals, born at the exact same time in the same place, lead completely different lives. The positions of their planets are identical, right? Why don’t their lives follow exactly the same paths? Kabbalah would answer this way: It’s because your life is not determined by the positions of the planets! “What?!?” you may say. “Run that by me again.” Your life is not determined by the positions of the planets. In fact, it would be more correct to say that the positions of the planets are determined by your life, or lives. Your birth occurred at a particular moment because it was at that precise moment that your soul needed to be born.

Through the process of reincarnation, we return to an astrological location that gives us the best opportunity possible to revisit those not-so-good choices. This time, we can make different choices and overcome the limitations that held back the growth of our souls. We must play the game until we get it right. It’s just like kids playing a video game—they keep playing and losing and learning and remembering, until they figure out all the tricks of the game, work their way through all the levels, and . . . they win!

The south node describes all the baggage that we’ve brought along from previous lives. The north node describes the path or the correction to take in our present life.

The kabbalistic concept of tikkun reveals the kinds of choices we’ve made in past lives and, more important, which choices we should make this time around. By understanding our personal tikkun we can: • Identify our past weaknesses. • Recognize the baggage we’ve brought along from previous lives. • Avoid the roadblocks and detours that slow our progress toward the Light. • Overcome our deepest fears. • Become “all that we can be” in the deepest sense.

On an astrological chart, the tikkun is called the lunar node. Lunar, of course, refers to the moon, which is very important in Kabbalah because it represents the Desire to Receive. The lunar node is made up of two diametrically opposed poles: the south node and the north node.

If we were capable of completely and selflessly loving our neighbors as ourselves with all our heart and soul, atoms would bond and dance forever, and our bodies would never age or die. Now we begin to realize why the great masters of Kabbalah tell us that Love Thy Neighbor is a technology.

The Origins of Disease Our consciousness, expressed through our behavior and actions, determines the quality and strength of the bonds in every atom in our being. Selfish egocentric consciousness undermines the bonds, disrupts the healthy recycling of atoms in our body, and makes us vulnerable to the environmental influences of illness and aging. In the simplest of terms, when we’re reactive, living a life governed by self-interest, our atoms resonate with this same intelligence. They will tend to want to dump (instead of share) their negative load (electrons) on neighboring atoms to make themselves happy and stable. When the negative consciousness of one group of atoms is the opposite of the sharing consciousness of neighboring atoms, their atomic bonds are weak. Their opposing natures repel each other, inevitably leading to separation and space between atoms on the physical level.