The Allegory of the Lost Friends in the Desert

Through this captivating allegory, Baal HaSulam expresses his profound desire to show what Kabbalah can give to humanity, and why it is hard for humanity to see this gift

“There is an allegory about friends who were lost in the desert, hungry and thirsty. One of them had found a settlement filled with every delight. Then, he remembered his poor brothers, but he had already drawn far away from them and did not know where they were. What did he do? He began shouting out loud and blowing a horn, hoping that his poor, hungry friends would hear his voice and draw closer to him, and also come to that abundant settlement, filled with every delight.

So is the matter before us: We, too, have been lost in the terrible desert along with all of humanity, and now we have found a great treasure, filled with every delight—the books of Kabbalah that satiate our craving souls and fill us with lushness and contentment.

Yet, the memory of our friends, left hopelessly in the terrible desert, remains carved within our hearts. Indeed, the distance between us is great, and the words are not heard. Hence, we have set up this horn, to blow loudly, hoping our brothers will hear it and draw near to us and be as happy as we are.

Know, our brothers, flesh and blood, that the whole essence of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the knowledge of how the world went from its elevated, heavenly place, down to our lowly state. It is therefore very easy to find in the wisdom of Kabbalah all the future corrections destined to come, from the perfect worlds that preceded us. And thus we know how to correct our ways henceforth...
... We evolve and improve by being pushed from behind by suffering and bloodshed. This is so because we have no artifice by which to obtain a mirror to see within man, and all the more so, the interior of the souls and the worlds; how they descended to such a dreadful ruin as exists today.
Imagine, for example, that a historic book were to be found today that described the last generations...

Then, our leaders would seek out every remedy to arrange life here accordingly... the terrible slaughters and suffering would cease, and everything would peacefully fall into place.
Now, this book lies here before you, clearly stating all the wisdom of statesmanship and all the arrangements of both public and individual that will take place at the end of days. It is the book of Kabbalah, laying out the corrected worlds, which emerged in perfection...

Open these books and you will find all the good conducts that will appear at the end of days. From those you will learn the good lesson by which to settle today’s mundane affairs as well, as we can learn from history how to correct the future.

I have felt for all that until I can no longer restrain myself. And I have resolved to disclose the ways of correction of our definite future that I have found by observation and by what is written in these books. And I shall call upon the people of the world with this horn, which I think should suffice to gather all the unique ones who will begin to study and delve in the books, and they will determine themselves and the entire world to a scale of merit.”

Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam),