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
is finished. After that, he lays out the plan of construction in all of
its details to explain it to the builders, one detail at a time: wood,
bricks, metal frames, etc. Only after that does he begin building the
house for real and continues building it until it is done, just as he
planned it initially.
You should know that in the World of Infinity, which is the mystery
of initial design, all of the Creation is prepared in its complete perfection.
However, this allegory does not entirely convey the meaning,
because the future and the past are one for the Creator, and the
initial design is being implemented in Him. He does not need any instruments
for action, as we do. Therefore, the real reality is in Him.
We perceive our remoteness from the Creator as Infinity. If we try
to combine within us opposite notions, so that all of them will merge
into a single whole, we will enter the World of Infinity, which thus ceases
to be infinite, and becomes real, where the present, past, and future
merge into one.
We should do our best to pass from our usual notions of “eternity”,
“infinity” to more concrete, correct, spiritual definitions. All the
spiritual notions exist within us, but we only understand them when
they are opposed to each other: good and evil, black and white, limited
and unlimited, reception and bestowal, etc. If we make a point of superposing
these notions in our inner properties, Infinity will gradually
become our reality.
This is exactly what happens in the Creator; hence in Him a thought
and an action are the same. In the course of our advancement, we will be
trying to unite all the notions with one source. We will enter a constant
and absolute state when time becomes irrelevant. Little by little, we need
to get used to this state. In the article “Habit Becomes a Second Nature”
from his book entitled “Shamati” (“I Heard”) Baal HaSulam writes that
all the concealed, implicit qualities and states are within us because we
exist in our present state only in our perception. From the Creator’s
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