from the book “The Power of Kabbalah” by Yehuda Berg
“Once, long ago, before the concept of time even existed, there was only one simple reality…
ENERGY.
This power was primordial. It filled eternity. It extended to infinity. There was no such concept as time, space, and motion, for according to the Kabbalah this infinite Energy was the only reality. There was nothing else. Nothing. Only pure, infinite, all-pervading power of stillness…
In Kabbalah, this ever-expanding Energy of giving is also called the First Cause…
In order to realize its nature, the boundless power of Energy created a recipient – in Kabbalah, it is called the Consciousness – with whom to share its essence. Imagine a glass full of water. The water in the cup corresponds to the Energy. The cup is the vessel that receives and contains the Energy. However, Consciousness is not a physical body, but rather a force – an intelligent, immaterial essence.
The nature of Consciousness is an infinite desire to Receive. In other words, for every kind of fulfillment and joy emanating from the Energy, there is a corresponding Desire to Receive from the Being.
…The Vessel (also) inherited the nature of its Creator. This inherited nature is the power to bring about fulfillment, to share in fulfillment, and to play an active and continuing role in the ongoing process of Creation.
As the Vessel inherited the nature of the Light, a new desire arose in it. A desire to express what we might call the DNA of God. More accurately, the Vessel willed:
Be the cause of your own happiness
To be the creator of your own fulfillment
To share the implementation
To manage your affairs
But since the Vessel could not give full expression to the “genes of the Creator,” it ceased to experience infinite satisfaction. A single desire remained unsatisfied. And that was a problem. And what a problem!
… Bread of shame is … an ancient Kabbalistic phrase that expresses all the negative emotions that accompany undeserved success. The unsuccessful person forced to accept alms from others is said to eat Shame Bread. He has a deep desire to earn money to buy his own bread. He desperately wants to be in a position to feed and support himself without depending on the generosity of others.
… Since the Vessel did nothing but receive, he was miserable. So what could he do to remove this horrible feeling called Shame Bread?…
What was the solution?
THE VESSEL
STOP
TO ACCEPT THE LIGHT!
The ancient Kabbalists use the word Resistance to refer to the act of repelling the Light from the Vessel… The moment the Vessel resisted the Light filling it, the Light contracted and created a vacuum – a single point of darkness in the Infinite World. The infinite gave rise to the finite.
According to Kabbalah, it was a cataclysm that gave rise to the concept of space and time as we know them, an event that echoes to this day.
Scientists have discovered the cosmic echo of this explosion and have named it… The Big Bang!
… Like a loving parent who steps back and lets his child fall down to learn to walk, the Light stepped back the moment the Judgment said:
“Thank you, but enough is enough. I want to learn to create and share Light myself.”
By withdrawing its emanation to create a point of emptiness, the Light gave the Being time and space to develop its own divine nature, discovering the Light.
This microscopic point of emptiness, the newly formed particle of space and time given to the Being, is our vast, star-studded physical universe.”
*The quotations in this article are translated from Bulgarian.
