There is only one time honored way to see the Tree-of-Life; it’s the one followed by the Kabbalists for generations. To understand this, you must first realize that we live in the world matter, which is controlled by the natural laws of physics and thus limited by nature. The world of the Tree-of-life is pure energy, and whether you are a physicist and believe the the 10 dimensions of string theory culminate in a 3-dimensional energy bundle called matter, or are a Kabbalist and believe that the 10 dimensions (sefirot) of the Tree-of-Life culminate in an energy bundle called Malchut which forms the world of matter, the outcome is the same: a world of limitation influenced and controlled by the invisible energy that surrounds it.
While you ponder which world you’d rather be able to traverse and explore, think of it this way: one super-microscopically small bit of sub-atomic matter is, relatively speaking, surrounded by a near infinite amount of space filled by energy before you reach another minute sub-atomic spec of matter and so on. And once you look inside those specs you see another endless sea of space and energy before finding an even smaller spec of sub-atomic matter, and at every level all those sub-atomic, then atomic, then molecular specs are all surrounded by energy, life giving energy.
One more thing to ponder is that all those minute specs of matter are isolated and super distant from one another, relying on the benevolence of the energy fields to communicate and interact with one another.
Another way to look at it is that our beautiful world (and indeed it is) is even less than pond-scum on a ocean of life-giving energy so vast that it’s far beyond our limited comprehension.
The Kabbalists of yesteryear were not born Kabbalists: they pondered the universe and came away with the choice to join the ocean rather drift upon it aimlessly. The first step is making a choice, a definitive choice, even if it was nothing more than a leap of faith.
What the Kabbalists realized long ago was that the way to leave the world of matter (without passing away) was through restriction, a process anathema to the world of Malchut (matter). By completely restricting their selfish desires in every area of their lives and channeling all that resultant energy into sharing (helping others) they became as energy itself; they transformed their nature (and essence) to one of energy from one of matter. At that point, they could see the energy itself, the energy beyond the matter, the energy instead of the matter; they could see and thus navigate the Tree-of-Life.
Everything else you can do is just a different aspect of selfish desire, a difference journey through the world of matter. All the knowledge we and other share and have shared is just to show you that the Tree-of-life exists and that it’s worth the difficult journey (process) to get there. All the gateways we expose along the way, can only be accessed if you’re on the right path.
Is there a short cut? Moses provided one for the Israelites nearly 66.6 jubilee years ago. B”H Moshiach will provide one for us shortly. In the meantime, at least there is one proven path that we know we can follow if we so choose: the path of the true Kabbalist, the path of the tzaddikim (the righteous).
