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

P R E FAC E T O T H E B O O K O F Z O H A R
limitation. This is because our five senses and our imagination do
not offer us anything more than the revelation of the actions of the
essence, but not of the essence itself.
That is, we do not perceive the essence, which is purely divine. We
can more or less abstractly attain whatever derives from it, but not the
essence itself.
… because our five senses and our imagination do not offer us anything
more than the revelation of the actions of the essence, but not
of the essence itself.
For example:
• Our vision perceives only the waves from the essence of what we
see, according to the light it reflects.
When I am looking at an object, I do not know what it really is. I
only perceive it as waves that it reflects. They return to me and create a
certain form in my perception.
• Our hearing is simply the power of influence of sound waves, transmitted
through the air from some essence. This air, reflected under the
influence of a sound wave, exerts pressure on the membrane of the
eardrum. This is how we are able to hear that something is near us.
The sound comes from something beyond me. That is, I know
nothing about the source of the sound; I have no clue as to what it is by
itself. I can only judge it by the way I perceive it.
• Our sense of smell is the irritation of our nerve receptors reacting
to smells, by the air emanating from the essence, and this is how we
sense a smell.
Everything depends on our nerve receptors and on how they transmit
to us this or that smell.
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