Kabbalah: The Thought of Creation

It's morning. You wake up to the ring of the alarm clock, and the day begins: Scrambled eggs and coffee, the ride to the office, work, the ride home, dinner, brushing your teeth, and then-off to bed. On the weekend, things are a bit more interesting-you meet up with your friends at a bar, see a movie, and perhaps visit the park... But once in a while, you stop and wonder, "Is there some greater purpose to all this? Is life really about morning coffee, work, and visits to the park? Could it be that there's some bigger plan to my life and the lives of all people collectively?"

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that-yes, there is a bigger plan to our lives, and that wondering whether this plan exists or not is the beginning of discovering it. In Kabbalah, this Plan is called the Thought of Creation-which means that from the very moment we were created, there was already a Plan for us as individuals and for all people collectively.

Moreover, Kabbalists explain that we can discover this Plan by studying ourselves. In his article "The Acting Intelligence," the renowned 20^th century Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (a.k.a. Baal HaSulam) explains that we cannot directly grasp the Creator's mind or His thought. It is beyond us. However, we are able to study His actions, and as it happens, we are His actions. Therefore, by studying ourselves and Him from within ourselves, we will attain His mind and thoughts.

In other words, we can find out who the Creator is and what is His Plan for us, precisely by studying His actions-ourselves. This happens according to a principle called "equivalence of form," which means that when we gain properties similar to the Creator's properties, then we begin to feel Him and to understand His Plan for us.

Why does having similar properties to the Creator enable us to feel Him and understand His plan? It's because every action stems from and points to the plan or the mind of the one who makes that action. For instance, the carpenter's mind and craftsmanship are present in the table he made, because he first used his mind when making the table. So by looking at the carpenter's action-the table, one can attain the carpenter's mind.

In the same way, by studying the Creator's actions-ourselves, we attain the Creator's thought for creating us. And in doing so, we grow more and more similar to Him, until merging with Him completely. Kabbalists write that precisely this is the bigger plan for us-to merge with the Creator through studying His actions.

What does it mean to merge with the Creator? Kabbalists explain that this is when a person attains the very same level of existence as Him. On that level, one feels eternity, perfection, and a sense of boundless, unending joy.

Hence, our main task as human beings, our bigger purpose, is to study ourselves and learn how to become similar to the force that created us-the Creator. Through this kind of observation, through attaining the Creator's plan, we begin living on a higher level, beyond the daily routine. And then, we realize that life is much more than morning coffee, work, and a stroll in the park-it is about attaining the Creator's level of existence.