Kabbalah

• Kabbalah means “that which has been received” in Hebrew. It is both tradition and enlightenment.
  • Kabbalists suggest that these teachings are derived from our original nature (i.e., Adam and Eve prior to eating the fruit of knowledge). Kabbalists yearn to recover this primordial tradition and regain cosmic consciousness without renouncing the world.
  • Since the root of the Sefirot is Keter / Nothingness, the goal of Kabbalah is to expand human consciousness to the point of pure thought — undifferentiated nothingess.
• Related are the Christian Cabalah and the Hermetic Qabalah, although these are related to Jewish Kabbalah.
• The framework of the Kabbalah relies on the symbolic — on interpretation of things. At the same time, its structures such as the Tree of Life applies to both the Macro scale of God and the Universe, and the micro scale in the realm of man. This gives the Kabbalah flexibility for creativity
• Hebrew is given power as the language of God that He used to create everything. Hence even its Orthography is examined during meditation.

Aspects of Kabbalah §

• The Practical Kabbalah concerns itself with spiritual exercises and ceremonies.
• The Literal Kabbalah concerns itself with alphabet mysticism via
  • gematria - evaluating the numerological value of words
  • notariqon - based on the thought that initials create words
  • themura - a word cipher where letters are shifted
• The Unwritten Kabbalah - the holiest and most secret variant of Kabbalah derived from studying The Tree of Life
• The Written / Dogmatic Kabbalah - based on Kabbalistic texts (i.e., the Zohar)

Towards Divinity §

• Ma’aseh Merkavah - The Account of the Chariot. Ezekiel’s vision of God that rabbi have tried to emulate with the goal of attaining a vision of the divine figure on the throne.

Four entered pardes (the divine orchard) Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Aher, and Rabbi Akiva. Ben Azzai glimpsed and died. Ben Zoma glimpsed and went mad. Aher ¹ cut the plants. Rabbi Akiva emerged in peace.

• Ma’aseh Bereshit - The Account of Creation ². Pertaining to an account of how God created the world via the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the 10 sefirot.
  • The reasoning was that the World was made by the “Word of God” (God saith let there be light and there was light).

• Every human action affects the divine realm. Without human participants, God remains incomplete. We actualize the divine potential in the world.
  • As the emanation of Ein Sof happened, the vessels of creation became trapped in material existence. The human task is to liberate these sparks to restore the to divinity. This is tiqqun (mending) accomplished through a life of holiness.
    • Impeding tiqqun delays the arrival of the Messiah in a sense.

Practical Kabbalah §

Wisdom and Understanding §

• When meditation reaches Chokmah, the mystic is nourished. It cannot be known consciously only absorbed. It is that which abides in thought but cannot be grasped.

• Wisdom has two faces—one facing above and one facing below. In the pursuit of Wisdom, refine it by gazing up at God and then teach others some of this Wisdom as appropriate to their needs and capabilities.

• Wisdom lies in compassion—never detesting, hating, or harming unless necessary.

• When meditation reaches Binah, she is called Teshuvah / Return—understanding of one’s ego / individuation.

• This is reached by returning to God to correct the flaws of the individual.

Meditation §

• It suggests meditating on the letters to unlock the power of Creation. Since Wisdom is something which the mind cannot grasp, the Kabbalist makes use of meditation and symbols to make the unthinkable, thinkable so that a realization about the cosmos can be made.
  • One means of achieving this is through analogy. “As above so below”, so that when A is of the same nature as B, they operate on the same first principles. This analogy transcends religion, which is evident in how Kabbalah can be associated with Norse myth, Indian Yoga, Tarot and Astrology (see Fortune for more).
  • Meaningful meditation and ritual requires a thorough understanding, not only of the Sephira’s nature, but of its implications in real life.

Thought is like a mirror. One looking at it sees his image inside and thinks that there are two images, but the two are really one.

Thought rises to contemplate its own innerness until its power of comprehension is annihilated.

In Meditation, everything depends on thought. If your thought becomes attached to any created thing—even something unseen or spiritual, higher than any earthly creature—it is as if you were bowing down to an idol on your hands and knees.

The Fierce power of imagination is a gift from God. Joined with the grandeur of the mind, the potency of inference, ethical depth, and the natural sense of the divine, imagination becomes an instrument for the holy spirit. ³

• The goal of meditation is to practice humility, to practice Aloneness (lit. All One. Becoming One)

• The more you fulfill yourself, the closer you approach your authentic self.

• Kabbalah emphasizes studying the Torah. It is like a lover (see The Old Man and The Ravishing Maiden) that reveals itself to arouse love only to conceal itself again. In short, it is a metaphor.

Whoever delves into mysticism cannot help but stumble, as it is written: “This stumbling block is in your hand.” You cannot grasp these things unless you stumble over them. ⁴

Faith §

• The essence of faith is an awareness of the vastness of Infinity.
• All evil is a result of a misconception about the nature of the divine. All troubles are a result of a failure to see the grandeur of God clearly.
  • To have your presence nullified by the presence of God is to be uplifted.
  • However, the basis of faith is not on the power of God alone. It is in realizing the nature of God as Infinity.
  • Ayin is the state of humility. It is realizing God’s vastness. Keter is also this as it considers itself nothing in the face of its emanator.
• All aspects of the divine are a yearning towards the original nature of man towards the divine.
• Defining “God” is heresy — God is undifferentiated. Any conception of God is false because God is everything. God is the annihilation of thought.

Worldly Experiences §

• All worldly pleasures are sparks of holiness. They exist not for pleasure’s sake but to nourish the soul.

For wherever you go and whatever you do—even mundane activities—you serve God.

The higher the aspiration, the greater the action; the deeper the insight, the higher the aspiration. ⁵

• God created nothing shameful or ugly.
  • Thus there is nothing inherently wrong with (sexual) pleasure at the appropriate time. It is this pleasure that makes the act divine.

Topics §

• Creation (Kabbalah)
• Good and Evil (Kabbalah)
• The Sephirot
• The Qliphoth

Links §

• The Essential Kabbalah by Matt
• Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic by Karlsson
• The Mystical Qabalah by Fortune - a book on using the Kabalah and the Tree of Life as a tool for meditation.
• Sepher Yetzrah - a prominent Kabbalistic book. The Book of Craetion.
• What is Kabbalah?

Footnotes §

1. Pertaining to a famous heretic in rabbinic literature. Elisha ben Avuyah. This illustrates one thing. The quest for Divine Understanding is dangerous. ↩

2. See the Sefer Yetsirah: The Book of Creation for more information. ↩

3. See Matt: The Mirror of Thought; The Annihilation of Thought; Mental Attachment; and Imagination ↩

4. See Matt: Stumbling. ↩

5. See Matt The Greatest Path; Raising the Sparks ↩