Despite all the rumors, anyone can study Kabbalah.
Anyone can study Kabbalah. There are myths that Kabbalah is only for Jews, that it is a religion, that there are certain age and gender restrictions, and that it’s connected to mysticism, magic, meditation or numerology in some way. This is all untrue.
If one feels, besides all of one’s desires for everyday things like food, sex, family, money, honor and knowledge… if besides all this one feels a desire for something unknown and incomprehensible, this is the only “permission” one needs to study Kabbalah.
Such a person already feels a different sensitivity to life, people, oneself and one’s surroundings. This desire makes one more sensitive to problems and corruptions in the world, developing a readiness and willingness in the person for (major) change. It can be described as an urge to do something about problems and suffering, without knowing exactly how.
Kabbalah explains how to improve oneself and one’s world by explaining why one exists—the purpose of life—and how to use this knowledge to direct one’s life toward this purpose. Kabbalists are people who have achieved the perception of where our lives are headed, and why we were made the way we are, and they left us a method for attaining the same perception as them through our own efforts. Moreover, Kabbalists state that only by attaining such a perception can one see exactly what one should do if one wants to create a better life for oneself and for others.
Therefore, this desire is all one needs to study Kabbalah. The first rule in Kabbalah states that “there is no coercion in spirituality.” Only if one feels an inner call toward such an improvement and change in life will one come to Kabbalah. Moreover, all the work in Kabbalah is in developing and evolving this inner call until one discovers the perception of life’s purpose through it. If there is no such desire in the person, then it is forbidden to force it upon them. “One’s soul shall teach one,” which is a Kabbalistic saying, means that the person’s desire will guide him- or her to the place where they envision the most satisfaction for themselves.
Related Material:
- 10 Myths About Kabbalah - the top 10 myths on what Kabbalah is commonly thought as being, but is not, including a short video.
- Kabbalah.info - concepts in this article are based on the fundamental principles of Kabbalah as taught at the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute: www.kabbalah.info
- Study Kabbalah at the ARI Online Kabbalah Education Center – Free live, interactive video courses containing two classes per week over a 12-week period for beginners, and an optional second semester for intermediate study after that.
