Introduction to the Book of Zohar (PDF) - Kabbalah Media Archive

I N T RO D U C T I O N T O T H E B O O K O F Z O H A R
It is therefore said: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” It can only
be verified by tasting, by drawing Inner Light called flavors (Ta’amim).
There is no other way.
Kabbalah is a purely applied science. By using its methods on themselves,
Kabbalists achieve correction. Unlike those who study it theoretically
and therefore can never understand what these books have to say,
Kabbalists receive their attainments within themselves and understand
what it is all about.
For the sake of brevity, we shall refer to the three states of the soul as
states one, two, and three. You should remember them well.
Baal HaSulam uses these names quite frequently, referring to them
as the first, second and third states. The first one is the Thought, the second
is the 6,000-year period of correction, and the third is the final state.
15. By looking at these three states, we find that they necessitate one
another. If one of them did not exist (even a tiny detail in any of
them – action, cause and effect), the others would disappear as
well.
These above three states are interwoven, support one another, and
exist simultaneously in the present. We should perceive them as initially
created, existing relative to us. It depends only on our desire to be included
in this or that state and be in it.
This desire is called “Aliyat MAN” (raising of MAN). It is the sending
out of a prayer and depends only on how much we perceive the greatness
of the Upper One as well as the lowness of our own condition.
For example, unless the third state, in which the property of reception
turns into the property of bestowal, existed, the first state would not
have been able to exist in the world of Infinity (in the primary
thought). Perfection in the first state could only manifest, because it
already exists in the third state in the future. Because of the Creator’s
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