If You Build It, He Will Come
The Wisdom Behind the 'Field of Dreams'
If you build a desire for the Creator, He will reveal Himself in it. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how.
“If you build it, he will come”—this whisper from beyond the grave in the 1989 film Field of Dreams made Kevin Costner’s character rearrange his life and goals to build a baseball diamond for deceased pro-baseball players to realize a playing opportunity they were never given during their lives.
By building a place for the baseball players, Costner's character enabled them to miraculously appear and play baseball in it. Moreover, only Costner’s character could see the baseball players once they came; only he could interact with them, and only he could hear the voice telling him to build it.
Likewise, Kabbalists state that by building a place for the Creator, He will emerge in this place and fill it. Moreover, only the one who builds this place can see and interact with Him, and like in the film, only the person himself receives the initial urge to build this place.
Attraction to the Unknown
Instead of hearing some mystery voice, the call to start building this new desire for the Creator’s revelation starts with a feeling: an attraction to something unknown, beyond the boundaries of a person’s entire life experience. This attraction makes a person search to find new and different sources of satisfaction.
Kabbalah defines this attraction, this desire, as the “place” where the Creator will eventually appear, but where, for the time being, He is calling us from a distance.
The Soul - The "Place" to Build for Him to Come
There is no physical place where the Creator will come and appear. This attraction toward something totally different inside a person is the “place” where one can reveal the Creator. This is a “place” in one’s thoughts and desires prepared especially for the Creator’s revelation. Kabbalists call this place the soul.
Actually, this is not the soul yet. It is only the beginning stages of the soul, more like a point of the soul which can be developed into a fully grown, eternally existing soul. It can be compared to the little dot you see in ultrasound photographs of a developing fetus only after two months of the fetus’ development in the mother’s womb.
However, unlike the case of a fetus developing into a baby, a point of the soul developing into a soul is not an automatic process we just wait for to run its course. On the contrary, if we just wait for it to happen, nothing will. This process depends on our active participation, and the quantity and quality of our efforts toward building this point into a soul determine the speed and size of its growth. Moreover, to the extent that we grow this point ourselves, to that same extent we feel the Creator’s revelation within it.
The Wisdom of Kabbalah - Tools to Build the Soul
The wisdom of Kabbalah provides us with tools for growing this point of the soul into the place (called in Kabbalah “a Kli [vessel/tool/receptacle]”) for the Creator’s revelation. Through guided advice and instruction on how to work with this inner point of oneself, one learns from the Kabbalah method how to differentiate this point within oneself from all the other desires one has, how to make it a more prominent area of focus, how to understand what it is and where it comes from, and how to assume responsibility for it so that it remains protected from influences that halt its growth. All this allows one to nurture this point, and grow it into a fully developed soul.
At the end of its growth, the person achieves the sensation of eternal and perfect life, the perception of our life’s source. Such an attainment, called “the revelation of the Creator,” is the goal of Kabbalah study, and the entire method of Kabbalah is aimed at building this Kli for the Creator’s revelation.
Further Reading:
- Kabbalah.info - the world's largest source for authentic Kabbalah, containing free Kabbalah courses, live lessons, eBooks, video clips, music, and all the study materials and services needed for building this desire for the Creator's revelation.
- Your First Course in Kabbalah - free short online course introducing Kabbalah's basics in 5 video lessons.
