Character Refinement, Kabbalah-Style

In classic Kabbala texts, there are countless remarks regarding the negativity of bad character traits, such as anger, laziness, depression, and others. However, while the harshest condemnation of depression, anger, and other negative counter-productive emotions are found within the works of Kabbala, the Kabbalistic method of character refinement is quite a different approach than the approaches that we are accustomed to encountering. It is not a head-on battle of countering negativity on its own turf, nor is it to overwhelm the negative with the positive. Its approach is to come from another vantage point and see things from another perspective.

The primary objective of mystical thought is to make the person understand that there is nothing else besides the Infinite. Reading the various configurations, maps, and diagrams the Kabbala presents, the person is supposed to be awakened to consciousness that all that really exists is the Ein Sof - the Infinite. There is a feeling that is meant to be aroused when we penetrate the truths of Kabbala, and that is the feeling that the world as we tend to perceive it, as separate and independent of a creator, is but an illusion. But in reality there is nothing other then the infinite light. Having this notion in mind, consciously or even subconsciously, we are then able to conquer all our personal negative emotions and traits.

Rabbi Eliyahu ben Moshe Di Vidas, a 16th century Kabbalist, posits that there are three primary negative traits which may be considered the “principal traits” from which all further dissention occurs. They are: haughtiness, stubbornness, and anger; all of these claim origin in the same source - the ego. Ego is the fountainhead from which all negativity stems. The core of all corruption is that false sense of self/ego, which lives in an incessant state of what it thinks will cause its survival.

When a person becomes angry, it is the ego's way of showing its objection that it is not happy. The ego, when it feels it is threatened, is the one who protests, “How can you do this to me,” which arouses the anger. The fear of annihilation is the constant condition with regards to the ego. Anger is but a manifestation of a persons preoccupation with his imaginary presumptions of survival. The total involvement with the illusory “self” is the root of all negative emotions.

By overcoming this false sense of self, which stems from one's false estimation of survival, one's negative emotions are conquered. Through the study of the Kabbala, we come to the realization that the false sense of self/ego is but a masquerade of our true and inner dynamics, our transcendent soul. The feeling we get when contemplating Kabbala is that all that exists is the Infinite. We ought to feel this on a cosmic level, and then understand it on our own level. Consequently, the illusion of separateness/ego, and as a result, the preservation of this mirage will slowly begin to fade, and with it will fade the negative emotions which is the ego's manifestation.

Instead of seeing the ego as a real enemy who needs to be engaged in battle in order to be overcome, we begin to realize that there is nothing besides the Light, and everything else is simply a concealment of that truth. Such is the Kabbalistic approach for self-perfection. It does not deal with the negative head-on, nor does it deal with it at all. Rather it goes to the source of all problems, the I/ego, and by extension, the entire physical reality. It demonstrates how, in fact, these seemingly independent realities are but a camouflage.

Excerpted from a longer article, “What is Kabbalah?”, on www.iyyun.com, and reprinted with permission. Copyright The Iyyun Institute.