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Click here to
download a pdf version of our distance learning kabbalah brochure (includes
application form)
Click here to download
a pdf version of our distance learning psychosynthesis brochure (includes
application form)
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah is a way of understanding all aspects of ourselves and is a rewarding
guide for personal and spiritual development.
Based on a map of consciousness called the Tree of Life, Kabbalah, or Qabalah
(an alternative spelling), is relevant to modern everyday life, offering
greater freedom and fulfillment through including the experience of both
our spirit and shadow sides.
Want to know more about Kabbalah, Qabalah and the
Tree of Life?
What is the difference between Kabbalah
and Qabalah?
Is non-Jewish Kabbalah authentic
or not?
What group courses do you offer?
What books can I read about Kabbalah?
Do you have any articles I can read
about Kabbalistic topics?
What does Kabbalah say about sex
and parenting?
Is Kabbalah a kind of therapy?
What is the link between Kabbalah
and Christianity?
What are energy bodies and how
does Kabbalah describe them?
What does Kabbalah say mediumistic
or channeled material?
What links do you have to Kabbalah,
Qabalah and related topics?
Anything we haven't covered, please let us know .
Available Now!
Kabbalah for Life
How to use
the power and wisdom
of this ancient tradition
'To those that understand themselves will I give to eat of the tree
of life, which is in the midst of paradise.'
(adapted from Revelations 2:7)
The Kabbalah is a system of self realisation and personal development based
on the map called the Tree of Life Like many ways of working on and healing
oneself, the Kabbalah could be described as a way of the heart, so let's
start with an experiment to connect with heart energy. As you read this,
make yourselves as comfortable as you can and let your attention turn inwards.
Imagine you are standing in a beautiful garden, facing the setting sun which
is gently warming your face. You can hear birds singing. In the distance
you can hear the faint voices of children, happily playing. You feel your
body relax. As the sun warms your face, it also warms your chest. As it
does so, you become aware of your heart. A bird chirps nearby, sharing in
your stillness... You take a deep breath - do it - and feel your heart open
to the warmth of the sun. There is a tingling of pleasure in your legs as
you feel yourself firmly rooting into the warm, nourishing earth. You turn
your face up to the sun and you enter a deeper silence, a stillness in which
your heart is bathed with light.
Compare how you feel about yourself now, after having read this heart focusing
exercise, with how you felt before. How did turning inwards in this way
affect your awareness of yourself?
If we are asked to describe ourselves, most of us begin in our heads and
engage our thinking function. After focusing we re-tune our attention somewhere
else - in the case of this exercise, into our hearts. It is a very different
experience. After doing this or similar exercises, people often describe
themselves as feeling 'more grounded', 'more in touch', 'soulful', 'calmer',
'energised'. Whatever words are used, many people assert that there was
definitely a difference before and after tuning in to their heart energy.
It is important to stress that there is no right or wrong way of doing this.
It is more about trusting your own perceptions.
You'll find it most powerful if you focus into your heart along with someone
you trust. After such experiences in groups, people usually describe a greater
level of contact, of 'moving from that intellectual way of speaking to something
that was more heart.' Expressed more straight forwardly, I remember someone
simply saying: 'we ended up both smiling at each other.' I notice that when
I ask people to do an exercise of this sort during a course, when they speak
after the heart focusing, there is a different kind of silence. It's an
experience where words start becoming too much, or not relevant, or not
adequate to describe the feelings, the sensations, the inspiration that
comes to us when we are focused on our hearts.
The Kabbalah aims to give us a context for such experiences, indeed, all
our experiences. Central to the Kabbalah is a diagram or map called the
tree of life. The purpose of this map is to help us sort out different
aspects of our psyches, and more clearly be able to work with heart energy
rather than just with intellectual knowledge. We have minds, feelings and
bodies so we can be incarnated here on the planet earth to do our work,
whatever that work might be. There are many ways of experiencing these aspect
of ourselves, and all the work we do with these experiences is a form of
healing.
When you first look at the Tree of Life it looks very complicated, but it
really is very simple, composed of just three triangles, one the right way
up and two upside down directly underneath. The three triangles are the
basis of the whole tree of life image and if you can imagine - and remember
- this, then you have already learned one of the most important aspects
of Kabbalah. Of course, the Tree of Life is little more complicated than
that. At each of the corners of the triangles there is a sphere, or in Hebrew
sephirah which means number. The Kabbalah teaches that numbers are
more than just a way of counting but embody divine principles. These 'numbers'
are usually drawn as circles, but are depicting something of more than two
dimensions.
The three spheres on the bottom triangle represent personality, what we
have to experience life with and to express ourselves with, in the present
moment. Here we are, here and now, with these three modes somehow or another
activated within us and activating us. There is an extra sphere in the centre
of these other three spheres that represents the past, something which we
all carry around within us, affecting how we experience the present.
The other factor that affects us in the here and now is the future, our
inner potential. Everything that is potential can happen in the future.
This is represented by the top triangles on the Tree of Life. Most of the
time, though, we are not aware of it. We might be so caught up with experiences
from the past, or so busy in the present moment, we forget about our potential.
It is still there, however, always manifesting.
The Kabbalistic system, as well as being a way of the heart, is also a way
of everyday life. The Kabbalah focuses on manifesting soul energy into everyday
life. The danger for many 'spiritual seekers' is that they like it on the
sun so much they never want to leave there. They become so involved being
the sun, being a light source, that they forget the shadows they cast. In
terms of the solar system, in terms of our heart energy, if we stay just
there, there aren't any shadows. Absolutely, and that's a wonderful place
to experience. But often it is the shadows, the dark places, that reveal
to us more things about how we are going to manifest. If everybody existed
in a place of no shadow, there'd be no need for relationship, for contact,
for service. We need places with shadows to remind us of our mortality and
our totality. Indeed, a core Kabbalistic teaching is that our task for being
alive is to truly come to earth. It is through connecting to the heart that
we are able to truly do so.
Will Parfitt is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and an experienced
and innovative group leader. Trained in Psychosynthesis, he has more than
thirty years experience of working with psychospiritual development, and
he travels internationally to run courses on a variety of subjects including
kabbalah and psychosynthesis. Will is author of several books
including 'Kabbalah for Life' and 'Psychosynthesis: the Elements and Beyond'.
© Will Parfitt 2006 (v7.1)