We have searched for the "Fountain of Youth" for lifetimes. We've heard stories that tell of a mystical spring that grants eternal youth and vitality to all who drink from it. It's the stuff of fairytales. Or is it?
Physical longevity is a hot topic these days. You read about various technologies which offer new and plausible methods such as regenerative medicine, bio-technological advances, and stem cell research, that hold the promise of increased life spans as we search for ways to become immortal.
Dr. Patrick Dixon explains in his presentation titled Biotech/Genetic Revolution: Impact on Education and Ageing, that in America alone there are 75,000 people over the age of 100 and there are technologies capable of increasing that number to over 140,000 within the next 5 or 6 years. These medical advances have already been used to repair a person's brain after a stroke and to repair one's spinal cord using one's own tissue.
Our idea of adolescence used to be "till 18," but now it can be upwards to 30 years old or more. Many of us who have children know this to be true. Our kids come home at 33 with the laundry in tow when things don't work out. People are waiting longer to have children, sometimes even into their 40's. In fact, biologically, we are 10 years younger than our parents were at the same age, and the idea of "staying young forever" is becoming more and more real.
But why is the concept of physical immortality so seductive? Why do people want to live forever? Probably, so they can continue to experience the world and all the pleasures it has to offer. However, the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that there are eternal pleasures waiting for us, and in fact, we do not have to extend the life of our physical bodies in order to experience them.
The Path to Eternity
Kabbalah is referred to as the "wisdom of the hidden" because it discloses the part of reality that is hidden from our five senses. Throughout history, scientific research and advancements have always come from our desire to know what is hidden from our five senses. But the scientific research has only expanded the range of our senses via instruments like x-ray machines and telescopes, yet none of these technologies have actually researched something beyond the perception of the five senses.
Allegorically speaking, man is like a "black box," which feels, understands and perceives only what enters it through its five "openings." Hence, in all our investigations, we are limited by our five senses. And all of the external instruments which we build, or which we are to build in the future, cannot escape the limitations of the five senses. Thus, in order to perceive beyond our five senses, we have to learn how to create a new "opening" within the box, or in simpler words, how to develop a new sense.
Kabbalists explain that every person has the ability to develop a sense that is able to perceive a broader, comprehensive realm of reality, beyond time and space. We may refer to it as "the soul," but in fact, it works just like any other sense, only on a higher level of consciousness, beyond that which relates to our physical body.
When we begin to feel ourselves through the soul, we will realize that we really don't need to search for ways to make our bodies live forever. Through the soul, we connect to the eternal flow of life, and experience pleasures and sensations that are infinitely greater than the world of our five senses.
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