Michael Sternbach
So that you know, I watched the video. And most of Paul Hughes-Barlow's other videos. I also have both of his books. You must have figured out by now: I quite like the guy with his dry style. But that doesn't mean that I always agree with him, neither on Tarot nor on the Kabbalah.
Ravenest has provided some excellent insights into how the spiritual world is in fact one with earthly everyday existence. It is (on the more advanced levels) not something you only connect to while visiting an esoteric market, much like many a Christian imagines that simply going to church will bring them closer to God.
Anyway, Paul does have a point in reminding us that the Kabbalah (as well Astrology, the Tarot, what have you...) is a model of an underlying metaphysical reality and must not be mistaken for the latter per se (which in the final analysis defies description, as the ancient texts continuously emphasize). They are filters that alloy us to highlight certain details while they tend to blur others. They all have their value as long as their being applied properly, i.e. in ways that support and don't hinder the comprehension of truth. Yet they all have their limits, thus they can become limitations themselves to the spiritual seeker at certain stages.
We may compare this to the quantum physicist's different, seemingly exclusive models of the atom with its electron shells that are being freely employed according to the particular task at hand, as each of them holds true only in a certain kind of context, whereas the "real" structure of the atom remains hidden.
Likewise, in metaphysical terms, to understand the living reality behind the abstract symbolism is what is meant by initiation and enlightenment.
Ravenest has provided some excellent insights into how the spiritual world is in fact one with earthly everyday existence. It is (on the more advanced levels) not something you only connect to while visiting an esoteric market, much like many a Christian imagines that simply going to church will bring them closer to God.
Anyway, Paul does have a point in reminding us that the Kabbalah (as well Astrology, the Tarot, what have you...) is a model of an underlying metaphysical reality and must not be mistaken for the latter per se (which in the final analysis defies description, as the ancient texts continuously emphasize). They are filters that alloy us to highlight certain details while they tend to blur others. They all have their value as long as their being applied properly, i.e. in ways that support and don't hinder the comprehension of truth. Yet they all have their limits, thus they can become limitations themselves to the spiritual seeker at certain stages.
We may compare this to the quantum physicist's different, seemingly exclusive models of the atom with its electron shells that are being freely employed according to the particular task at hand, as each of them holds true only in a certain kind of context, whereas the "real" structure of the atom remains hidden.
Likewise, in metaphysical terms, to understand the living reality behind the abstract symbolism is what is meant by initiation and enlightenment.