An important Kabbalistic term is Ein Sof, translated as “infinite” or “limitless”. Ein Sof is the nothingness of God, His perfection and unity before the emergence of the primordial point. It is the “root of all roots”, the “cause of all causes”, and the unknowable face of God; Ein Sof is absolute reality.[1] But it is not God Himself. Ein Sof is the veil concealing Him from creation. For our purposes, Ein Sof refers to the veil found above, behind, and before Kether, the first Sephirah. The veil is drawn because it is ultimately impossible to understand, explain, or signify God. Kether and the primordial point are the first instances of anything appearing in front of this veil. The transition from concealment/veiling to manifestation - from nothing to being - is paradoxical; there is no way to truly perceive, understand, or speak of Ein Sof, yet the Kabbalists do all of those things through the Sephirot. This discrepancy between the concealed unity of Ein Sof and the unconcealed multiplicity of the Sephirot, or that between the signified and the signifier, is expounded in Chapter IV.
The first question asked, then, is of the nature of the primordial point’s emergence from behind the veil, and its subsequent emanations. “[And God said]; we define this ‘saying’ as an energy that was culled, as it were, in silence from the mystic limitless through the mystic power of thought. Hence ‘and God said’ means that now the above mentioned palace [Binah] generated from the holy seed with which it was pregnant”.[2] The emanation and unfolding of the world is speech. In the characteristically succinct but eloquent words of renowned Jewish scholar Gershom Scholem: “The process of life in God can be construed as the unfolding of the elements of speech”.[3]
The unfolding of the world through speech is represented in the Tree of Life, which is a diagram, a symbolic map of the unfolding of the world. The ten Sephirot are connected and organized in multiple ways, although their basic outline remains the same. They can be arranged (to mention only a few possibilities) under three pillars, as three triangles, as four levels or worlds, and under the headings “Supernal” and “Inferior” (or “Upper” and “Lower”, respectively). First, we will look at a few of the arrangements of the Sephirot, and then move on to basic characteristics of each one.
From the Zohar: “God summoned to issue forth from this complete Light which was in the centre a certain radiance which is the foundation of the world, and on which worlds are established…The whole was then united in the Central Pillar, and it produced the foundation of the world”.[4] The center pillar is aligned with Ein Sof, the source of all, and Kether. Also falling along this pillar are Tiphareth, Yesod, and Malkuth. The center pillar represents equilibrium and the balance between opposing Sephirotic energies.
The opposing energies (which find equilibrium in the center pillar) are polarized into the left and right pillars. The Zohar continues, “From that complete Light, the Central Pillar, extended the foundation, the Life of worlds, which is day from the side of the Right.”[5][6] and masculine. The right pillar represents the sun. It is also considered to be positive
“Meanwhile the Left flamed forth with its full power, producing at all points a kind of reflection, and from this fiery flame came forth the female moonlike essence.”[7] The left pillar represents the moon, the feminine, and is a negative force. Together, we see that that the right and left pillars are, respectively, force and form, light and reflection (sun and moon), and active and passive.
There are specific titles for the three pillars: the right is known as the Pillar of Mercy; the left is either the Pillar of Severity or the Pillar of Judgment, and the center is the Pillar of Mildness or Equilibrium. The ten Sephirot descend through these three pillars in a zigzag-like, lightning bolt arrangement (see Appendix A). This pattern helps shows that the Tree starts in equilibrium, passes through the active and passive pillars, returns to equilibrium, and so on for a few cycles until it reaches its end in equilibrium - the very same state in which it began.
The Tree is also organized into three “trinities” or triangles. Dion Fortune, a nineteenth century female mystic, designates these trinities by combining original Kabbalistic text and the esoteric writings of her contemporary S.L. MacGregors Mathers. She organizes and labels them as follows: firstly, the Supernal Triangle (containing Kether, Chokmah, and Binah); secondly, the Ethical Triangle (containing Chesed, Geburah, and Tiphareth); and thirdly, the Astral Triangle (Netzach, Hod, and Yesod). The last Sephirah, Malkuth, is not included in any of the Sephirotic triangles. [8]
The Sephirot are also divided into four levels or worlds. The highest level is called Atziluth, or the Archetypal World, containing Kether. Chokmah and Binah are placed in the second level Briah, the Creative World. The third level is Yetzirah, the Formative World, containing, in descending order, Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. Finally, we have Asiah, the Material World, as the fourth level, containing only Malkuth. The translation of these four worlds varies from source to source - Dion Fortune’s terminology will be used for our discussion of the worlds, as well.
The divisions that most concerns us, however, are as follows: Kether is considered to be Arik Anpin, or the Vast Countenance. From Arik Anpin emanates the Supernal Father, Chokmah, and the Supernal Mother, Binah, which correspond to the Right and Left Pillars. The son of the Supernal Father and Mother is represented through the next six Sephirot – this son is known as Adam Kadmon, or the Lesser Countenance (as opposed to the Vast Countenance). Finally, there is the Queen and consort of the king, or the Inferior Mother (as opposed to the Supernal Mother). She is represented through Malkuth, and its function Shekhinah. [9] The terminology for all of these subjects is endless- presently, the titles most often employed (apart from Sephirotic names) will be the Supernal Mother (Binah), the Inferior Mother (Malkuth), Arik Anpin (Kether), Adam Kadmon (lower six Sephirot), the king (Tiphareth) and Shekhinah (Malkuth as consort).
With a glance at a diagram of the Tree, one will begin to notice other groupings, relationships, and patterns not mentioned here. This is the beauty of the Tree of Life. It is important to keep in mind that neither system is more accurate than the other, nor must one feel the need to force newly learned ideas into one structure or the other. There are elements of one interpretation that will not perfectly fit into, say, the idea of Malkuth as consort to the king. Thus, any paradoxes or incongruities should not be seen as errors. I will try to acknowledge these as they appear. Additionally, it should be stressed that while the ten Sephirot are in a sense “phases” or “stages” of emanation which act upon and shape God’s will, they are simultaneously one with God’s essence. The Sephirot are manifestations of God, but they are also agents acting upon and with God
[1] Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Meridian, 1978), 89-90.
[2] Zohar I: 16b; Sperling, 69.
[3] Scholem, Jewish Mysticism, 216.
[4] Zohar I: 17a; Sperling, 70.
[5] Ibid.
[6] The terms “positive” and “negative” are not meant as “good” and “bad”, respectively, but in the sense of
magnetism.
[7] Ibid., 71.
[8] Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah (York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1988), 59.
[9] Ibid., 60-61.
No comments:
Post a Comment