In reference to his method of scripture study, the prophet Nephi said, “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23).
The Language of Branches is a language that uses familiar terms of objects, places, and people to explain the unseen makeup of our existence from raw intelligence to the fullness of the blessings that God has promised us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Kabbalist Rav Michael Laitman said:
“Q: Who is the subject of the Torah?
A: The entire Torah, without exception, speaks of the individual. Each person is regarded as an entire world. There are rivers in this world, lakes, mountains and forests. There are people, nations men and women, children, slaves, stars, moon and sun. Everything we can think of exists inside this creature. It is the only thing that the Creator created; outside him there is only the Creator. Everything that happens to this creature happens within him. Everything we perceive with our five senses–sight, sound, scent, taste and touch–comes from the Creator Who surrounds us.
“Thus, the Torah speaks of each and every one of us; it is a personal guide to the perception of the Creator. That is why whatever we read in the Torah must be immediately ascribed to ourselves, our inner state. We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others! There are only different clothes that appear as different people through which the Creator works on each and every one of us” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
The Language of Branches is complementary to the Jewish exegesis method called PaRDeS.
“Each type of Pardes interpretation examines the extended meaning of a text. As a general rule, the extended meaning never contradicts the base meaning. The Peshat means the plain or contextual meaning of the text. Remez is the allegorical meaning. Derash includes the metaphorical meaning, and Sod represents the hidden meaning. There is often considerable overlap, for example when legal understandings of a verse are influenced by mystical interpretations or when a "hint" is determined by comparing a word with other instances of the same word” (wikipedia.org, Pardes (Jewish Exegesis)).
Although the Language of Branches asks us to look at a volume of scripture strictly from an allegorical and mystical perspective, it does this only to allow the student to be able to experience those truths that lie beneath the surface. As a student can learn to let go of the literal meaning of the text, they become absorbed into the world of eternal self-discovery through personal revelation and communion with God. The study method helps the individual to dissolve the limits of the conditional literal meaning. They learn to view God, oneself, and the eternities, unconditionally. This helps their understanding increase dramatically more vastly than through the previous methods of restricting the gospel experience to literal terms.
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught:
“I want to talk more of the relation of man to God. I will open your eyes…All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit and proper to reveal to us, while we are dwelling in mortality, in regard to our mortal bodies, are revealed to us in the abstract, and independent of affinity of this mortal tabernacle, but are revealed to our spirits precisely as though we had no bodies at all; and those revelations which will save our spirits will save our bodies. God reveals them to us in view of no eternal dissolution of the body, or tabernacle” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 355).
The Language of Branches and the PaRDeS exegesis are invaluable tools to help us approach God in the abstract, obtain His character, attributes, perfections, and mysteries in the abstract, and to more effectively apply that eternal knowledge to our lives in a practical way. Although it is the case to let go of all the literal meaning of the text in order to apply the Language of Branches adequately, remember that the extended meaning never contradicts the base or literal meaning. Amazingly, as the student learns to let go of literal meaning during the study, they find that everything obtained in the study will support the literal text as well. Not only will the experience of the study do this, but it will also pull in, illuminate, and tie together all the literal teachings of the ancient and Restored gospel.
Some LDS may not feel comfortable with the fore quoted statement:
“We must relate the characters to our properties, the events in our world are actually relationships between the hereditary, intellectual and emotional attributes. They were originally created by the Creator and we acquired them from Him and from no other, because there are no others!” (Rav Michael Laitman, The Path of Kabbalah, pp. 369-370).
We have been taught through modern revelation that:
“I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man—the immortal part, because it has no beginning. Suppose you cut it in two; then it has a beginning and an end; but join it again, and it continues one eternal round. So with the spirit of man. As the Lord liveth, if it had a beginning, it will have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation, who say that the spirit of man had a beginning, prove that it must have an end; and if that doctrine is true, then the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house-tops that God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself. Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 354).
So then how could God and no other have originally created our underlying intellectual and emotional attributes? (This does provoke interesting contemplation of the underlying intellectual and emotional attributes that have always existed within our intelligence. How well do you know your original self?) As far as our intelligence is concerned, He couldn’t have created those things. However, because He is omniscient (all knowing), and has all things before Him past, present, and future, He has provided us with spirit bodies and physical bodies that perfectly complement and enhance our original intellectual and emotional attributes. That way the greatest probability of obtaining eternal life (John 17:3) is made available according to our individual inner workings, and God’s ability to know us better than we know ourselves. Without adding His creations to our intelligence, we never could grow and progress in such a way to allow the whole being of our intelligence to reach the state of oneness and likeness to God. We were never perfect as raw intelligence, spirit children, or as mortals, and God does not have the ability to destroy any parts of our intelligence. It therefore becomes needful, that God’s additional creations (spirit and physical bodies) are such that they are able to help our intelligence, as a whole entity, learn to become like God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost.
However, I only used the aforementioned quote to help define scripture study in the Language of Branches. Although Kabbalists are famous for the use of such a study practice, it is our intent to apply it to the Book of Mormon and experience it bringing out all the hidden flavors of the Restored gospel and all eternal truth. I believe that there are many beneficial Kabbalistic practices that relate to and enhance the LDS experience, however, I will not be looking to Kabbalists as the final authority on anything—only God is. Not only is this study method beneficial to the LDS community, by providing a substantially enhanced method of mutually reinforcing gospel study/personal revelation, but it also helps to provide further evidence that authenticates the Book of Mormon as an ancient text of Jewish origin.
