In Lesson 3 of this remarkable work of Rabbi Chaim Vital – the Shaarei Kedushah – we take a leap (perhaps a hint to the process of moving from the physical world to the spiritual – that sometimes we need to make a quantum jump!) and branch off from Chapter 1 to Chapter 3. We’ll be returning shortly to Chapter 1 – but the purpose of this jump is to show the viewer (the reader) what lies in store for those who wish to pursue the roads to holiness.
Rabbi Chaim Vital’s work “Shaarei Kedushah” is a work instructing the initiate into the world of the spirit. It’s a book about how to attain holiness and ultimately experience the Divine in the fullest sense of the word.
Chapter 3 explores the practical side of how to meditate and be able to enter those worlds which the physical eyes cover. Call them different states of consciousness if you like. It’s about entering into a realm that exists in a deeper part of the mind – when we’re able to do away with the physical static that interferes from allowing us to experience Divine ecstasy!
Chapter 3 is a safe path to take for those who wish to touch the Divine. It’s there for everyone, but Rabbi Chaim Vital makes it clear, it’s a place that can be reached only by those who walk along the path in accordance with the directives of the Torah i.e. a path which entails following good attributes in life and being involved in perfecting oneself (as best as one can of course) as a human.
Torah is not about leaping out of our bodies to explore the spiritual worlds. It’s about engaging in the physical world, performing the commandments practically, involving oneself in acts of kindness. It is these very things that make us holy.
When we are holy, we can close our eyes, and begin the process of entering higher realms – in purity. Those who have not yet
