Science and Kabbalah

Posted by Mark Zimmerman Jul 8, 2007

The meeting "An Encounter Between Science and Kabbalah" had Jeffrey Satinover MS, MD opening with a lecture about the boundaries in science, how science has discovered that “something else” is operating beyond the level of our physical world, but that it also cannot be researched with the scientific tools we’ve devised to research such phenomena. Satinover stated (in the video Physical and Spiritual Connections) that “when it’s understood properly, it’s an extraordinarily powerful impetus to the development of one’s spiritual life.”

Rav Laitman went on to discuss how if we look more fundamentally at the world around us, before we have theories and assumptions about all sorts of phenomena, we have a person and this person’s perception of reality. Starting from this foundation, Rav Laitman discussed our current perception of reality through the five senses, which forms our perception of “the physical world,” and stated how Kabbalah is a method of building a new tool of perception within the person, a “sixth sense” in which one can perceive the spiritual world.

These 3 new videos contain questions from the audience which both Rav Laitman and Dr. Satinover answered:

• Physical and Spiritual Connections (03:52) - Jeffrey Satinover MS, MD discusses the limits and contradictions of studying the physical world through science; that the physical world reveals “something else” that is happening and which science cannot explain. Rav Michael Laitman, PhD explains how it is possible to study the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds only if you both live in the five senses, in the body, and in addition have developed the sixth sense, the soul.
• Miracles (04:37) - Are there miracles in the world? Miracles are approached from a scientific standpoint; that “the judge has only what his eyes can see.” Rav Michael Laitman, PhD states that the only reason we perceive miracles is because we have an incomplete perception of nature, and that by attaining a complete perception of nature, we would not perceive miracles as “miracles,” but as preordained events in nature’s plan. Jeffrey Satinover MS, MD continues by giving a scientific example of a miracle stemming from an incomplete perception of nature.
• Reincarnation (01:02) - Reincarnation, according to Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, is a real phenomenon that can be perceived through experimentation in the science of Kabbalah.
• Also, an article summarizing this meeting - Exploring the Boundary Between Science and Spirituality.