The 72 Names of God: Technology for the Soul [NOOK Book]

Read an Excerpt

In the pages of this book, you will find a set of supremely powerful spiritual tools, an entire technology of healing, protection, and positive change. Yet for 3400 years this technology lay hidden in the letters of three biblical verses, each containing 72 letters. These verses describe the miraculous parting of the Red Sea before the people of Israel, as they fled bondage in Pharaoh's Egypt. As you are about to discover, the mystical power of the Hebrew letters that parted those waters can likewise part whatever Red Sea now confronts you in your own life. In fact, I can say without exaggeration in these pages you will find not just another technology or an advanced technology, but all technology-whether of the 21st century, or the 30th, or the 50th-for the elimination of chaos from your life.

The revelation of these letters after many centuries is itself a miracle, one that was accomplished only in the past 80 years by the great kabbalists Rav Yehuda Ashlag and Rav Yehuda Brandwein. Through their work, the technology of the 72 Names of God has become available to everyone, together with the knowledge of how to activate that technology and manifest its benefits in our daily lives.

Let me emphasize the fact that the 72 Names are intended for all humanity. Like the words of the Bible and the Hebrew letters that comprise them, the Names are the property of no ethnic group or religious identity. They can and should be used by everyone to confront the accelerating chaos and negativity that afflicts our world. Indeed, if they are not used, only disappointment, frustration, and despair can result. With this in mind, it astonishes me to realize that in all my years of traditional religious studies, I was never made aware that this technology even existed. From earliest childhood I had read and re-read the verses containing the 72 Names, but I never knew of the combinations of letters that were hidden in those verses or of their unique powers. And I was certainly not alone in lacking this awareness. In this book, therefore, you will very quickly gain knowledge and capabilities that had been denied even to scholars who had devoted their lives to study and explanation of the sacred writings.

In Yehuda's book a great power awaits you. As you begin to explore this power and put it to use, I would like to emphasize two points. First, the 72 Names are a technology for asserting the power of human consciousness over physicality. That is, the power of mind over matter, which Kabbalah has always understood and which science is just now beginning to grasp.

However, the Names themselves depend on your individual consciousness, and on your commitment to what the kabbalists call proactive behavior. This is another term that I had never heard until I began studying Kabbalah, yet it's the foundation of the whole technology of the 72 Names. What is proactive behavior? First and foremost, it is a stepping back from reactive impulses, for there is no way we can have consciousness of God to say nothing of God's consciousness-unless we step back. Without this proactive behavior, even this most powerful of all technologies cannot possibly work for us. Whenever it seems that misfortune has suddenly been thrust upon you, step back. This does not mean acceptance of the circumstances if someone slaps you in the face, you might indeed hit them back-but it does mean a level of consciousness above mere reactivity. The technology of the 72 Names can and will work for you, but not without proactive behavior. My second point is related to the problems caused by reactive impulses, but concerns specific difficulties related to ego. In the biblical text that is the foundation of the 72 Names, ego is personified by the Pharaoh of Egypt. As the ego driven impulses in our own lives draw us away from growth and transformation, Pharaoh is always reversing himself in absurd and self-destructive directions. He gives the Israelites their freedom, but then changes his mind and sends his army after them and ultimately into the waters of the Red Sea. Ego will always play this game, especially with decisions that lead you in a proactive direction.

Once again, step back from this impulse. Be aware that your "normal" state of being in the physical world is reactive consciousness. We are always being called upon to play ego's game and using the 72 Names effectively required a focused effort to move beyond that. When you commit yourself to proactive behavior and to the renunciation of ego games, the technology of the 72 Names is truly within your grasp. Very simply put, this is the power of mind over matter. This is the ability to eliminate every kind of chaos, whether in the form of intangible fears and negative emotions, or the all-too-tangible challenges of cancer and other serious illnesses. Consciousness is the power that underlies every action and event in the material world. Whether it is the simple act of raising your arm or the spontaneous healing of life-threatening disease the process begins in consciousness. The 72 Names of God are the bridge between this power of consciousness and its manifestation in the physical realm. May you use them to gain the beautiful, wonderful miracles that await us now and in the future for yourself and for all humankind.

— Kabbalist Rav Berg