The true wisdom of the Kabbalah

"The true wisdom of the Kabbalah begins where philosophy and science end. Philosophers and scientists can speculate only within the limits of the physical world. Their knowledge may reach as far as the stars and galaxies, but beyond that they know absolutely nothing. Even their theories about the physical world end in great confusion, as they themselves admit.

The wisdom of Kabbalah begins where their wisdom ends - beyond the physical world. Kabbalah includes the entire physical world as part of the World of Action ( Asiyah ), the lowest world. But Kabbalah then goes beyond the World of Action to the Worlds of Formation ( Yetzirah ), Creation ( Beriyah ) and Emanation ( Atzilut ).

Even the World of Action has its own interior spiritual level, of which the scientists and philosophers have no knowledge at all. Kabbalah is concerned with the spiritual root of the World of Action and beyond. Thus Kabbalah begins where scientific knowledge ends.

The philosophers and scientists think that all knowledge ends with the stars, but the entire system of Kabbalah deals with worlds and levels that are beyond the stars.

Yet even one who gains some understanding of Kabbalah, the true wisdom, must recognize that in the transcendental worlds there are likewise levels beyond levels, high above high, without end or limit, for "His greatness is unfathomable"

------ Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
Artwork by Baruch Nachshon