Sneak-a-Peek @ the book Path of Kabbalah

Exodus—the Worldwide, 21st Century Version

The dramatic story of the exodus from Egypt is much more than a milestone on the Hebrew calendar. According to Kabbalah, it describes the liberation from egoism, and the whole of humanity is about to experience it

All the worlds (this world included) are states that reside within us. We will find them nowhere outside us. In other words, it is not we who are inside the worlds, but the worlds that are inside us. Outside us there is only the Creator, the Upper Light.

People in our world are convinced that they are inside some kind of existence, a reality that was created before we came inside it. But this is an illusion. There is nothing outside us but the Light of the Creator. That Light affects our senses in such a way that we feel it as solid, liquid, or gas, as vegetative or as animate. Everything we can imagine and can see around us is built inside our own senses, making us feel as though everything exists outside us. But the truth is that there is nothing outside, only the Creator.

This world is the lowest point that a Kabbalist attains. It is the total opposite of the Creator and is termed, “the exile in Egypt.” The natural power that works on us in this state, the power of our egoistic nature, doesn’t allow us to advance anywhere except to care for ourselves. This is called “the state of Pharaoh.”

Our egoism doesn’t let us feel the sublime and perfect state. It is egoism, man’s inner and vicious force called “Pharaoh,” that the Torah speaks of at length, whereas the force that frees one of that state is called “Moses.” Pharaoh, Moses and everything that is written about the exodus describe spiritual states and emotions.

Our current state is the lowest possible. It is a state of absolute slumber and even unconsciousness. We have no sensation whatsoever of who or where we are. It is even a lower state than “this world,” since defining our state as “this world” implies that we are already aware that there is another world. It is so low that in it, we cannot feel any spirituality.

The Torah is not a historic epic, though there is a correlation between the text and human history. But this is only because the construction of the worlds is based on the same principle: everything that happens in one spiritual world is reflected in its adjacent lower world, down to our own.

Everything that humankind will have to go through during its ascent through the worlds must be felt by each and every individual in each of the worlds, especially our own.

The exodus from Egypt—the exodus from egoism—still awaits us all. And in the 21st century, we are closer than ever before to making this transition—from egoism to a humanity of bestowal and love. Once we begin this transition, we’ll start experiencing our connection to the spiritual, eternal level of reality, which is only felt when we detach from our egos, or "come out of Egypt." The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that just by starting to think in this direction, we hasten our course of development and save ourselves a lot of suffering, since our thoughts become similar to the inclusive plan of Creation.