The 1 Percent and the 99 Percent

One of the best-known teachings of Rav Berg's school divides reality into two unequal parts.

The 1 Percent Realm is everything we can perceive with our five senses: the physical world of bodies, objects, money, schedules and headlines. It is where we spend almost all our attention. It is also, the teaching says, the realm of effects – of short-lived pleasures, of chaos, of things that change and pass.

The 99 Percent Realm is everything else: the vast hidden reality beyond the senses. It is the realm of causes, the source of the Light, of ideas and inspiration, of fulfillment that lasts. It is where the "aha" moment comes from, where a sudden gut feeling comes from, where the love you feel for someone comes from.

Why it matters

Most of us try to fix our lives by rearranging the 1 Percent. We change jobs, partners, diets, cities. Sometimes it helps, briefly. But if the cause of our unhappiness lives in the 99 Percent, moving the furniture in the 1 Percent won't touch it.

Kabbalah's practical advice is to connect to the 99 Percent first. When you act from that connection – with patience, generosity and certainty instead of reactive fear – Rav Berg taught that results in the 1 Percent follow on their own.

Connecting to the hidden

How do you connect to a realm you can't see? Rav Berg pointed to one master key: behaving in a way that resembles the Light. Every time you resist a selfish reaction and choose to share, you open a channel to the 99 Percent. The other tools on this site – meditation on the 72 Names, study of the Zohar, Shabbat – are described as ways to strengthen that channel.

A caution worth keeping

"Focus on the unseen" can be misread as "ignore the practical." It means neither. Pay your bills, see your doctor, do your work. The teaching is about where you place your consciousness while you do those things.