Reality Check: What Is Reality Made Of?

You feel like something is missing from the picture, and you don't know what

Episode 37 · December 14, 2023

Truth, lies and authenticityFaith and trust in the Creator

The Truth Hurts · Episode 37 · audio in Hebrew

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The conversation

You live inside laws that look self-evident to you. An object falls, a hand gets burned in fire, a seed turns into wheat. And that's exactly what makes you forget that there's something much deeper here, hiding underneath everything you see and touch every day. The way Gili sees it, our reality is only the result of a long chain whose roots are completely hidden from us, and other realities we know nothing about could exist alongside it. What is reality? That's no small question. Asking it is a tool that can teach you to doubt what looks obvious.

The truth

  • "What is this reality?" is no small question. Asking it is a healing tool: learning to doubt what looks obvious.

  • According to the Kabbalists there is one power that decides, the Creator, and not nature, even though nature looks self-evident to us.

  • As the sages and the Kabbalists see it, there is one power that decides the world, and that is the Creator, not nature.

  • According to the Kabbalists, the reality we experience is the result of a long unfolding, and the roots, whatever came before it, are completely hidden from us.

  • As the episode presents it, that doesn't mean there are no other worlds beyond what we see. Several realities can exist side by side.

  • Baal HaSulam describes levels of revelation that each person goes through differently: from "double concealment," where a person doesn't even know that anything is hidden, through "single concealment," where you already know there is a good Creator but don't actually experience it

Questions and answers

What is this reality we're experiencing?

The reality we experience is the result of an unfolding out of another reality that is completely hidden from us. We only know our own world, but that doesn't mean there are no other worlds and other realities beyond it. The roots, whatever came before what we see here and now, are the hidden part, and that is our connection with the system of Creation.

If the Creator is so good and does so much good, why does he bring evil and hardship into our lives?

Concealment and evil have an important part in revealing the good. Without darkness there's no way to see what light is worth, and without concealment there's no way to see what revelation is worth. If everything had been revealed from the start we'd have no work to do to get to the good. It's exactly like a candle, which is no help in daylight and only helps in the dark. In other words, the evil is a necessary, temporary stage, and it's through it that the light gets revealed.

Why is death such a terrible thing?

Not every death is bad. When it's the natural death of a person who lived a full life and wants to let go, that isn't the same thing as a tragedy. There's a cultural element here: in our culture it's customary to mourn a natural death too, but for a soul that has already finished its work in the body it usually isn't as terrible as we take it to be, and many times the soul itself wants it.

Gili's original episode description

This episode takes on a deep question: what is reality, actually, and what is it made of?

In the natural world there are clear, tangible laws, but in the spiritual world the truth is hidden and not always available to our understanding. In the Kabbalists' view there is one power that decides, and that is the Creator.

Gili and Tal talk about how the real reality is hidden from our eyes, and how we only know a small part of reality as a whole. They explain that this doesn't mean there are no worlds beyond what we see, and that the world is a world of cause and effect, where the effect is our reality.

You're invited to look again at your understanding of reality, to widen the way you see the world and to explore the big questions of life.

And of course, in Gili's tips corner you'll find tools for dealing with a complicated reality and for finding new ways to understand and experience life.

About the podcast

Listening to The Truth Hurts feels like sitting in on a healing session.

The truth can hurt. It’s right there in the name. But we’re not here to cause pain. Quite the opposite.

In each episode, two women sit down for an honest conversation: an Emotional Healer and her client.

We talk about healing and consciousness, faith and science, the body and soul, personal growth, energy, and different approaches to healing. Above all, we face the truth no one says out loud: everything around us is upside down.

Is this podcast for you?

  • You want to hear the truth, and you’re ready to face it. (Yes, those are two different things.)
  • You want to gain insight and improve your quality of life.
  • You want to make a change.
  • You want a deeper understanding of the laws of the universe.
  • You want to live a healthy life in body and soul.
  • You want to take away something you can carry with you for life.

You don’t need any prior knowledge. You only need the desire to explore a wide range of ideas and discover practical guidance for living.

Listen and get in touch

Gili Man Wolner, Emotional Healer. Helping you heal and grow through Jewish wisdom.

Have a question about an episode? Send a WhatsApp message to +972 50-681-0611 (messages only).

Listen to The Truth Hurts (in Hebrew).

Tal Eckerling, co-host: Website · Facebook · Instagram