Over the centuries, Kabbalah has moved into many of the various Western mystical teachings, including non–Jewish ones. Among the Jews, Kabbalists were and some continue to be the most open to their teachings being inclusive to all souls, not just their own. Even so, as you read this book, keep in mind that there are numerous Kabbalah groups, past and present and both classical and modern, each with its own variations of these concepts, stories, names, and terms. The writings that comprise Kabbalah are voluminous and complex, even confusing at times. What is presented here is a distillation of the various books, writers, and schools. There is no single book that is the Kabbalah. Rather, Kabbalah is a collection of books supplemented by numerous treatises.
Even though Kabbalah has expanded beyond its original core, there are those who still feel that only select initiates should receive knowledge of Kabbalah. The Scriptures and the words of the Lord provide a counterpoint to this thinking: “No longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 31:34; italics mine)
Some believe that Kabbalah distracts people from fully investing in becoming better persons, which is the most important goal of each soul’s incarnation. This is especially the case for young people, causing some teachers to believe that no one under forty years of age should begin to study Kabbalah, and even then, only after they have mastered the Talmud (a collection of discussions and commentaries by various rabbis) and the Tanakh (the Jewish Bible). Tanakh, or TNK (vowels were added to help us pronounce it) stands for Torah (T), Nevi’im (N), and Ketuvim (K). The Tanakh contains the Five Books of Moses (Chumashe Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim). The Tanakh composes much of what Christians and Muslems consider to be the Old Testament.
Some teachers also regard Kabbalah as too ethereal, too otherworldly, not practical enough to be useful in normal people’s lives. This is certainly true of the complex cosmology of Kabbalah, but there are so many good, spiritual concepts that are valuable to life that a study of Kabbalah would benefit young and old. And since young people today are not finding meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in pursuing the typical, materially focused view of life, they want the vision of a greater life, no matter how otherworldly it may be. Many, young and old, seek to know more about the mysteries of life, more about higher levels of consciousness, more about how and why we were created and what our ultimate destiny may be, even if it is beyond this world and this incarnation. Mind, soul, and spirit are as important to many as two cars in the garage, a chicken in the pot, money in the bank, and a fantastic spouse. In fact, when people reach midlife, these material achievements are not as fulfilling as they anticipated. They want to know the ultimate destiny of their mind and soul. They want more from life than physical satisfaction and material gain. There is a spiritual hunger that needs nourishing. Kabbalah fills that hunger. It gives a vision of the greater life. Mundane physical pursuits and material successes are enlivened by the perspective found in Kabbalah. Once the soulful life becomes clear, it makes material life much more livable and meaningful. When others with whom we have relationships are viewed as souls rather than human personalities, relationships take on a whole new level of fulfullment and joy.
As one might expect, there are also those who are upset to see Kabbalah taught by non–Jews and by those who blend New Age enlightenment and Eastern teachings with Kabbalah. Their concern is that such teachings appear to transcend the law–structured Torah. But this has been the case with all religions. The establishment’s dogma and traditions cannot stand against direct, personal spiritual guidance through revelation, dreams, visions, and communion with God and God’s emanations in an individual’s own life. Since these “knowings” occur between the individual soul and its Creator, instead of from the dictates of authorized codexes, it is difficult to maintain control over one’s congregation. In Isaiah 1:11–13 the Lord overturns many of the earlier requirements in the Torah:
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the Lord; “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he–goats. When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.”
God seeks our hearts and minds, not our material offerings. Kabbalah provides the concepts and practices necessary to experience God in the temple of one’s heart and mind. This is why it survives today, despite all of its esoterica and otherworldliness—it has touched too many people too deeply to be lost or ignored.
Kabbalah and Cayce’s Universal Mysticism
This book contains the Christ–centered teachings of Edgar Cayce, and even though Cayce’s Christ is universal, one may rightly ask how such a source can contribute to a traditionally Jewish wisdom. Let’s read two Cayce statements that may help. These passages were a result of an ongoing study of the macrocosm and the microcosm, of how outer life is reflected in our inner life. Such perspectives go back to Hermes and his teaching: “As above, so below. As within, so without.” Cayce gave these discourses from a meditative, trancelike state of consciousness. They were stenographically recorded and published. His records are archived at the Edgar Cayce Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.), and have been computerized for easy access on a CD–ROM and an Internet database at edgarcayce.org. Here are the two statements:
Q: Would the history of the Jewish race from Abraham to Jesus parallel the development of the embryo from conception to birth?
A: Rather would the history of man from Noah to Abraham; while that from Abraham to Christ would be the mental unfoldment of the body. For, that which leads to the Christ is the mind. And the mind’s unfoldment may be that indicated from Abraham to the Christ.
EC 281–63; italics mine
Clearly, Cayce acknowledges and honors the historical role of the Jewish tradition in the spiritual journey to reunion with God, our Creator, including the role of the Jew Jesus. He is affirming that the mental “unfoldment” (a term reminiscent of the Eastern unfolding of the lotus blossom, one petal at a time) was the journey of the Israelites.
In this next Q and A, Cayce expresses a Christian belief but takes it to a more universal level that includes all religions and all souls seeking reunion with God.
Q: How may we regard the truth regarding Jesus in relation to the Jewish and Christian religions, and to all the other religions of the world?
A: In that the man, Jesus, became the ensample of the flesh, manifest in the world, and the will one with the Father, he became the first to manifest same in the material world. Thus, from man’s viewpoint, becoming the only, the first, the begotten of the Father, and the ensample to the world, whether Jew, Gentile, or of any other religious forces. In this we find the true advocate with the Father, in that He, as man, manifests in the flesh the ability of the flesh to make fleshly desires one with the will of the spirit. For God is spirit, and they who worship Him [God] must worship in spirit and in truth, just as Jesus manifested in the flesh, and able to partake of the divine, for making all laws susceptible to the mandates. For the will was one with the Father, and in this we find He takes on all law, and a law unto Himself. For with the compliance, of even an earthly or material law, such a person is the law. And in that Jesus lived as man, and died as man, and in that became the ensample to all who would approach the Throne of God.
As we see in all the religions of the world, we find all approaching those conditions where man may become as the law in his connection with the divine, the supreme, the oneness, of the world’s manifestation. In Jesus we find the answer.
EC 900–17
For a Christian mystic, Cayce’s answer is so Jewish, expressing the law structure of the Torah as the foundation that aids all seekers to align their will with God’s, making them one with the Divine Spirit while still in the flesh, while still in the world.
Historically, Christian Kabbalists have been known