Light - the Kabbalistic Meaning

"And God said, 'Let there be light, and thereemanated and the creatures were created,
was light,'" "The light at the end of theThe Upper Simple Light had filled the whole existence.
tunnel," "You are the light of myAnd there was no vacancy, such as an empty
life," "I saw the light." If youatmosphere, a hollow or a pit,
recorded the times you heard "light"But all was filled with Simple Boundless Light."
referred to each day, you would most certainly findWhat is the nature of the spiritual Light? Just like
hundreds of references to it in one form or another.physical light fulfills us in physical ways, making us feel
Phrases like: "in light of," "shedwarm and comfortable, so the spiritual Light fulfills our
some light on," "illuminated" andspiritual needs, the needs of our souls. Kabbalist
"radiance" are metaphors often used toexplain that while living in our world, a person can fill
describe thoughts about wisdom, hope and goodness.his soul with the spiritual Light and thereby
We say "an enlightened person" toexperience boundless joy and fulfillment.
describe someone who is wise and who is able toWhen one's soul becomes filled with Light, one
see the world in a virtuous or Godly way.senses an internal realm called "the Upper
We are cheered by the light of the sun and we planWorld." That is, one feels a sensation that is
vacations in places where we can relax and enjoy itscompletely beyond what we feel in the physical
radiance. We are attracted to the warmth of firelightworld. The difference can be conveyed in the
and we gather around the light of campfires. Asfollowing way: In this world, all of our perceptions
human beings, we relate to light in an emotional,evolve naturally, through our five senses. But if you
almost sensual way.look carefully at the world around you, it becomes
It’s hard to imagine that after thousands ofobvious that we encounter and are affected by
years of research, scientists are still not exactlymany forces of nature that are invisible to us. For
certain about the nature of light. There is, however,example, the oxygen we breathe is invisible, but
no argument that light is vital as the wellspring of lifewithout it we could not survive in the physical world.
on earth.In the same way, "the Upper World" is a
It is no coincidence that just the thought of lightrealm of reality that is imperceptible to our natural
produces such profound sensations. The wisdom offive senses, but we begin to feel it as our souls
Kabbalah teaches us that there is, in fact, abecome fulfilled by the spiritual Light. Dr. Jeffrey
“spiritual Light” which affects us evenSatinover, one of the scientists who made the movie
though we are not aware of its presence. This Light“What the Bleep Do We Know!?”
is a spiritual essence. It is a property of the One whoexplains this from the point of view of quantum
created us – the Creator.physics:
The great 16th century Kabbalist, the ARI, wrote in“Quantum theory shows that there is
his book The Tree of Life:something working beyond mere mechanism, outside
"Behold that before the emanations werethe physical world.