Our bodies evolved from apes, but our sense of self originates in the upper force. In other words, our bodies are outcomes of development on the animal level, and the human part of us is given to us from a higher level of nature, which is called the “human” or “speaking” level in the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Our sense of self is positioned between the animate level of existence and the higher level of the upper force. Kabbalistic texts such as The Book of Zohar, written 2,000 years ago, and the writings of Kabbalist Isaac Luria (the Ari), written 600 years ago—both before Darwin—explain how the human body originated from apes, as well as how other levels evolved out of one another: inanimate to vegetative, and vegetative to animate.
Apes represent an intermediary state between animals and the human body. However, the human self has no connection to apes, nor to the human body.
Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Theater of the Absurd” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 18, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Photo by Eugene Zhyvchik on Unsplash.
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