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Beginnings

The true origins of this book lie in the distant past, in the ancient wisdom known as Kabbalah. I was raised in the teachings of Kabbalah, and I learned to see them as the heritage and birthright of humanity. The book's more immediate beginnings, however, trace back to a series of conversations between two men in the city of Jerusalem more than eighty years ago. One of the men was a spiritual master, the other his student.

The younger man who had recently arrived in Jerusalem from Eastern Europe was named Yehuda Ashlag. In the years that followed he would be known as Rav Ashlag, recognized as one of Kabbalah's greatest scholars. Just as importantly, he would be loved and appreciated for his joy and goodness, which touched everyone whom he met.

The name of the older man has never been revealed, and mystery still surrounds that first meeting. In a letter many years later, Rav Ashlag wrote on that a stranger had come to his home one day and asked to speak with him. Nothing in the stranger's appearance suggested that he was a spiritual person. His dress and his manner were typical of the merchant class. But from their first conversations, Rav Ashlag knew that his guest possessed the wisdom of the Creator.

Master and student began studying together. Almost every night, over a period of several months, they met at the master's home. As Rav Ashlag recalled, most of these sessions focused on the struggle between creative and destructive forces in the world and on the role of the creator in this seemingly endless conflict. Rav Ashlag raised questions that people have been asking for centuries.

• Why are we in the world?

• What is the purpose of our lives

• How can we fund fulfillment in a world afflicted with pain and suffering?

Whenever the student posed these questions, his inquiries were gently deflected by the master. Finally, Rav Ashlag began to plead openly for answers, and at last his teacher did reveal the ancient wisdom that lies at the heart of this book. In later writings, Rav Ashlag would express his overwhelming joy at receiving the profound insights his master had shared with him.

But not long after this revelation, Rav Ashlag noticed a change in his teacher. His voice became weak and his manner tentative. One night, when the older man seemed especially frail, Rav Ashlag remained at his bedside -- and at dawn his master passed from this world. As Rav Ashlag wrote:

I cannot express the immensity of my sadness. Even what I had learned from him was almost forgotten, due to the greatness of my grief. It was only the compassion of the Creator that allowed me to recall the great teachings that I had received from this great master -- who, to those around him, was known only as a successful and trustworthy businessman. Not a single person to this day has been made aware of the wisdom that he disclosed to me. Nor did he give me permission to reveal his name.

From the day I first read of these meetings between Rav Ashlag and his spiritual master, there was one question I absolutely had to answer: What was the lesson -- the wisdom -- that Rav Ashlag received. In the pages that follow I will share with you the answer that I found in Rav Ashlag's own writings, as well as in the ancient legends and teachings of Kabbalah. I call this wisdom The Secret, and when you truly understand The Secret and take it to heart, your life will forever be transformed.

The Secret, however, did not appear in one stunning moment of revelation. It did not exist as a sentence or a paragraph in Rav Ashlag's wrtings, nor to the best of my knowledge was it something he ever said. Somehow The Secret was present both everywhere and nowhere. It became clear to me only after years of study. And in the course of solving this puzzle, I discovered many more great teachings of Kabbalah -- lessons that not only brought me closer to The Secret, but allowed me to understand and use it once I found it.

One of these lessons needs to be introduced now, for it is the foundation of everything that follows. This lesson can be expressed in few words: Our true destiny is not the pain and suffering that can seem so pervasive in the world but a joy and fulfillment beyond imagining.

As with many Kabbalistic teachings over the centuries, this lesson, which many people live their lives without ever understanding, has been best expressed in stories and tales such as the one that follows.

The Unexpected Guest

Hundreds of years ago, somewhere in Eastern Europe, there lived a very poor man and his wife. Their names were Josef and Rebecca, and their home was little more than a shack. Their only possession was a single, scrawny cow, from whose milk and cheese they fed themselves and earned a meager living.

One afternoon, not long before sundown, Josef heard a knock at the door and when he opened it, his jaw dropped in astonishment. Standing before him was the man known far and wide as the greatest Kabbalist in the world, the man known as the Baal Shem Tov -- "the master of the holy name." He was accompanied by a few of his students, who stood respectfully behind him.

"We've been traveling all day, and now it is almost sundown," said the Baal Shem Tov. "May we join you for the evening meal?"

"Of course, of course," said Josef, standing aside as the master and his students entered the shack. At that moment, Rebecca, who was standing at the stove, looked over her shoulder. She too was astonished, and even a bit frightened by the sudden appearance of the great master.

"Very well then," said the Baal Shem Tov, glancing around. "but I have to tell you that my students and I are very hungry after our travels. We'd like some fine cuts of meat, some fresh vegetables, and of course some good wine. You can accommodate us, can't you?"

Josef hesitated, but then nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yes, oh yes," he said. "This is a great honor for us, and we want to give you exactly what you desire. Let me just speak with my wife for a moment".

He and Rebecca retired to a corner of the room. "What are we going to do?" Rebecca asked anxiously. "How are we going to give these men what they want? We have no meat or fresh vegetables, and the wine we drink isn't at all worthy of the Baal Shem Tov!"

Josef thought for a moment. Then he said, "There's only one thing to do. I'll have to sell the cow in order to buy food. There's no time to waste!" And before his wife could protest, he hurried out the door.

Within the hour, Josef returned with supplies for exactly the sort of meal the Baal Shem Tov had described, and Rebecca hurried to prepare it. But as the great Kabbalist began to eat, Josef and Rebecca were amazed at how he ate and ate, and drank and drank. As soon as he finished one plate, he immediately called for more. He was like an eating machine!.. Even the students were amazed. It was as if the Baal Shem Tov intended to eat the poor man out of house and home -- and that was exactly what was happening!

After downing the last morsel, the Baal Shem Tov pushed his chair back from the table and got to his feet. "That was delicious? Thank you very much," he said. "Now we have renewed energy for the road, so we will be on our way" And in a flash, he and his students were gone just as suddenly as they had arrived.

"Well, this is a fine mess," said Rebecca, when the door had closed behind the departing visitors. "Now we really have nothing, not even hat scrawny cow! What are we going to do, Josef? We're going to starve!"

Unable to bear the sight of his weeping wife, and having no idea what to do, Josef opened the door and stepped out into the cold night air. Soon he found himself walking through the forest, with no real idea of where he was going. How was he going to solve the terrible dilemma he and Rebecca were now facing? Then, without thinking he closed his eyes, fell to his knees and began to pray. From the bottom of his heart he prayed for all the things he had never had -- not just for himself, but for his long-suffering wife as well.

Just then, Josef heard a rustling in the branches behind him, and as he opened his eyes he saw someone stagger into the clearing. It was an old man, well dressed but disheveled, who had obviously been drinking. But as he caught sight of Josef, his eyes shone with happiness.

I'm so glad there's someone here," said the old man, slurring his words. ... I don't wan to die alone."

"Die?" said Josef, getting to his feet. "You're not going to die. You've just had a bit too much to drink."

But as Josef reached out to steady the newcomer the old many sighed and sank to the ground. As Josef knelt beside him, the man told a painfully sad story. He was very wealthy, but his money was the only thing his family cared about. In fact, they were like vultures, just waiting for him to die so they cold get their hands on his fortune.

"But they're in for a surprise, said the old many, with a rueful smile. ...They don't know that I've buried the treasure right here in this forest. They'll get nothing because they deserve nothing!"

"I'm sorry this has happened to you," Josef replied. "It's cold out here, and you need a warm place to rest."

The old man just shook his head. "It's too late for that," he said. " But you've been so kind to me. That's something that hasn't happened in many years, so I will repay your kindness. Here'Look'"

But as he reached into the pocket of his coat, he began coughing. Then, just as suddenly, he fell silent and his eyes closed. Josef quickly bent to help him, but sure enough, the man was dead. Now Josef felt more frightened and confused than ever. Yet as he stared at the body beside him, he saw that in the instant before he died the old many had withdrawn a slip of paper from his pocket. Josef gently took hold of the paper and unfolded it. To his amazement, it was a map -- and when he followed it, he discovered a buried treasure beyond anything he could have imagined.

Five years passed. One day the Baal Shem Tov and his students were again on the road when a fine carriage passed headed in the other direction. As the students looked into the carriage they were amazed to see the poor man who had struggled to provide them with dinner years before. Sitting beside him was his wife, and they both looked not only as if they were wealthy, but as if they didn't have a care in the world!

When the students turned to their master for some explanation, the Baal Shem Tov only smiled calmly, as if this is what he had expected all along. "You see," he said to the students, "it was Josef's destiny to be joyful and fulfilled, but he never thought to ask for everything that was really meant for him. He would have been content to spend the rest of his life with his one scrawny cow. That's why I had to help him get rid of it."

In this tale, the scrawny cow is a metaphor for the life we are willing to accept, while the abundance is the gift that becomes ours when we live The Secret. Although the tale describes this abundance in material terms. The scrawny cow and the fine carriage are really symbols of spiritual levels of being.

Kabbalah teaches that nothing of a material nature can bring us lasting joy -- not because there's anything inherently wrong with material objects and desires, but because our true needs are so much greater. The pleasures of sex ,food, and luxury offer only a tantalizing hint of what awaits us at the source of true joy, which explains why we are always searching for more. We imagine a quantitative solution to the search -- that we need only to get more of what we already have -- but the fulfillment that the Creator intends for us is qualitatively different than anything the physical realm can offer.

In my own life, becoming a parent has given me some insight into what this qualitative difference really means. As I write, my son David is almost three years old. My wife, Monica, gave birth to David in a Los Angeles hospital at around four o'clock in the morning. As overwhelmed and exhausted as I was that day, something came over me that I'm sure every new parent can identify with: a feeling of inexpressible joy. I knew I would love my son, and I also sensed that it might be a different kind of love than I had known in the past. But as I tried to envision what this parental love would be like, I had no choice but to see it in terms of what I had already experienced. I thought it would be the same, but more so. Later I realized that the change was qualitative rather than just quantitative. It was a new kid of love -- not just bigger but different. I realized this joy is what the Creator intends for all of us all the time. I had been given just a tiny glimpse of it, enough so that I wanted to make that joy a constant in my life, and in my wife's, and in my child's -- and I wanted also to bring it to the whole world as well. The truth is, the potential for this joy exists within each of us. Discovering it lies within our grasp, but somehow we have lost our way. I am convinced that there is one reason why we have not yet fulfilled the Creator's desire for us: because we don't know The Secret. As a result, we literally see the world backward, as if we were trying to start a car by letting the air out of the tires or trying to boil an egg by putting it in the refrigerator. No wonder so many of us become discouraged about finding joy in life -- or even give up entirely.

You may be surprised at how easily The Secret can be expressed, how few words this great teaching requires. But as you continue, you'll come to see how The Secret requires a fundamental transformation in how we think, feel, and live. At the same time, you'll begin to understand the absolute joy and fulfillment that The Secret will bring into your life. Conveying what "absolute joy and fulfillment" means is one of this book's biggest challenges -- and I want to be very clear that the joy Kabbalah describes does not mean euphoria or anything like it. It's something much richer, something that comes from deep within rather than outside. It's the realization of your true inner nature. It's what you've always been looking for. Fulfillment, then, lies not so much in finding the gift as it does in realizing that you've had it all along. Please keep this in mind as you turn the page to read The Secret.

THE SECRET

The only way to achieve
true joy and fulfillment
is by becoming
a being of sharing

Now that you've read The Secret you may wonder, Can the essence of life really be this simple? In fact, you may be thinking that you already perform many acts of sharing and other "good deeds." In that light, you may wonder why a joyous and fulfilled life continues to elude you. If so, take a moment to really think about this. Please consider the possibility that, like Josef, you may have underestimated the joy that the Creator intends for you. In the same way, you may find that The Secret's definition of sharing differs from your everyday understanding of the word. Notice, also, that The Secret does not mention specific acts of sharing or instances of kindness. The Secret speaks of a process of change, an experience of becoming, a fundamental transformation from one kind of being to another.

In everyday life we are taught countless ways that getting is the path to fulfillment, but The Secret tells us something different. Regarding this point, I discovered an amazing tale in the writings of Rav Ashlag,...

Excerpted from THE SECRETt: Unlocking The Source of Joy &Fulfillment, by Michael Berg

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