History of Kabbalah: Adam

5768 years ago, one man felt what no other human being had ever felt before-a desire to discover what lies beyond this world. In those days, people's major interests were securing shelter, family and food, but this was far from being enough for that man-he had to know why he existed and what makes the world go round.

His name was Adam, and 5768 years ago he became the first man to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah, a method enabling one to feel the part of the universe that is hidden to our five senses. The name "Adam" might be associated with the Biblical Adam, described as the first human being ever created. However, we are speaking about a different person - someone who, of all people living on earth for thousands of years, became the first to feel the Upper Force.

Adam began to sense the laws and forces that govern everything in our world, and his perception penetrated through matter, into the hidden part of reality. There, he felt a net of forces governing everything in perfect harmony, and joining into a single, all inclusive Upper Force.

In Hebrew, Adam comes from the word Domeh (similar), referring to his similarity to the Upper Force. Kabbalah explains that the Upper Force is perceived through a principle called "equivalence of form." This means that one perceives the Upper Force as soon as his qualities become similar to those of the Upper Force.

Adam was the first person to apply this principle: he found the way to gain new, spiritual qualities that are similar to the Upper Force's qualities, and thus attained the Upper Force. But why him and not others who lived before him? It's because he was the first human being to feel an aspiration toward the Upper Force. Before, no one had such a desire. He was able to reveal the Upper Force because he was internally ripe for it.

Adam is considered the author of the first Kabbalistic book, called RazielHaMalach (The Angel Raziel). This short book contains descriptions of a general force called "angel," which governs the universe and consists of particular, lower-level forces called "sub-angels."

Even though the book is ancient, it shows a scientific approach that is characteristic of the wisdom of Kabbalah. When reading it, we can see that Adam was a true scientist of the Upper World: His book outlines the structure of the higher forces, their interactions, and how they influence our world. It even includes a few drawings and tables.

Yet, since Adam wrote this book 5768 years ago, it's written in an archaic language that is hard for us, modern people, to understand. It uses many allegories and metaphors, but nevertheless, it is clearly the first written Kabbalistic source. In fact, it is deemed to be humanity's first literary work. Until Adam's book, people had created some texts and images on rocks, but RazielHaMalach could be truly called a book.

Thus, 5768 years ago, the evolution of desires within humanity had come to a new level, when a new, spiritual desire first appeared in a human being. The emergence of Adam marked humanity's first awakening toward the Upper Force. Since then, Kabbalah has gone through a long evolution, as more and more people started to feel the same aspiration as Adam had felt. And in our time, millions of people are asking the same question that Adam once did, "Why do I exist and what makes the world go round?" This is exactly why the wisdom of Kabbalah is coming out publicly: to help anyone who feels ready to answer this deep question.