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HERMETIC - ESOTERIC - MYSTICAL PHILOSOPHIES
The
Kabbalah-Emanations from the Source
By Robert Green
The following passage is from an old copy of Kabbalah. It is explaining
the emanations flowing from God to the world of form. Kabbalah "conceals"
with the terms it uses, so here are some definitions to help you
understand this passage:
En-Sof is a complicated term that means "potential in the center, or
heart"...It also is thought of as concentrated"...for the mystics, it's
symbol is a circle with a dot in the center. Also, some commentators of
the Kabbalah call it the "Dark Waters". Put simply, it is potential.
Shekhinah
is the female essence of God. God in
the Kabbalah sense is both male and female. The emanations that flow
downward from God and give the illusion of form come from the "female part
of God". We as mystics call this female part of God the COSMIC, the HOLY
GHOST, or the MOTHER.
Sefirah are emanations, or we might call them waves, or vibrations. It is
these waves, or emanations that we sense with our 5 senses and give us the
illusion of a unversed that is separate from self.
With these definitions, this passage will make sense to you...
Sefirah is also symbolically representative of God's feminine counterpart,
the Shekinah to whom we shall devote several pages shortly. It is through
her that the divine grace of the En-Sof passes through into the lower
world.
THE LAST few pages have concentrated on presenting the manner in which the
En-Sof made Himself known through the agency of his emanations the
Sefiroth. The Sefiroth should always be thought of as different aspects of
the En-Sof, different colors along a spectrum, and as intimate portions of
His process. The greatest mistake would be to view them as aspects of His
creation instead of the result of His divine efflux. Creation implies the
establishing of something other than oneself, outside of oneself, wholly
capable of existing as an independent unit or entity. Emanation on the
other hand is an act of flowing (from the Latin, emanare, to flow), which
implies not only the existence of a source, but that the activity of
flowing is dependent on the source if it is to remain an activity. What
flows through the Sefiroth is the light of the En-Sof which they need for
their existence. They are composed of that light in much the same way as a
bowl is composed of clay. The intimacy of the connection between the
Sefiroth and the En-Sof extends to the relationships between the different
Sefiroth themselves. Participating in a common reception of the En-Sof s
emanations, they share also each other's qualities. The nature of their
differences is marked only by the degree of predominance of the quality
after which they are named. Apart from that they are equal in both power
and
value.
Kabbalah -The
Shekhinah
This is a continuation of unveiling the Kabbalah.
Again the Kabbalah uses mysterious words to conceal, with some words
meaning the same as another, so here are some definitions to help
understand the following pages:
Binah means understanding and represents the "self" on the "middle
pillar".
Malkuth means the kingdom of the feminine emanation. It is called by
mystics the Cosmic. It is another name for the
Shekhinah.
Tetragammation are the four consonants of God's name. God's name was
always written without vowels.
Neshamah is the soul. The soul in Kabbalah is divided into 3
qualities...Neshamah is the highest, finest vibration.
Anything in ( ) are my comments.
THE SHEKHINAH
The saddest note in the whole fabric of the Kabbalistic theory of the soul
is struck by the idea that a man who is not aware of the precepts of
righteousness may never see the Neshamah until he has left this world.
Only then may he understand that the Shekhinah, God's bride, is the
Neshamah and that he had for a brief time shared her presence in him.
In terms of the Sefiroth, the Shekhinah, represents the middle pillar of
the three pillars. She is also known as the Superior Mother and the Inferior
or Infernal Mother, the mother and the daughter, the upper Shekhinah and the
lower Shekhinah—all appellations referring to the Sefiroth Binah and Malkuth
respectively. She therefore also figures in the figure of the
Tetragrammaton, the upper (first) and lower (last) He. In short, she is the
anima mundi, the world soul who gives a portion of herself to each man in
the form of the Neshamah.
We mentioned in Part I of this book that the Shekhinah was originally
thought of as God's indwelling or presence. We also mentioned that the
Kabbalists later took up this idea of a presence and made of it A part of
God, a feminine part.
What the Kabbalists are stating is that God in Man in His whole state
(oneness) is androgynous and that in His present condition He is incomplete.
The Kabbalists assign the statement 'Let us make man,' to the lips of the
Shekhinah and go on to further stipulate that because man was made in God's
image he too is androgynous. It is for this reason that one constantly
finds statements to the effect that a man must always be male and female.
That is, in order for a man's faith to be firm( have confidence) he must
always remain in contact with the feminine portion of himself.
In an exceedingly beautiful passage in the commentaries on the “Zohar” the
“Shekhinah is likened to a lovely woman courting her lover:
“Truly, the Shekhinah releases a word and emerges a bit from her sheath,
and
then quickly hides herself again. This she does only for those who know
her...The Shekhinah is like a beautiful and stately woman, hidden in a
secreted chamber in her palace with a secret lover...This lover constantly
passes the gate of her house, searching for her...She opens her chamber
door and reveals her face to him but for an instant...He alone sees it.
The passage continues to relate how the mystic is the one who haunts her
house and that he had been drawn to her when she once beckoned to him,
revealing a portion of her face to him, and he came at the first sign
without hesitation. Then she begins to speak to him, simply, within the
range of his understanding, from behind a curtain until “insight”
(intuition) comes to him.
Then she takes up a veil through which she speaks allegorical words
(symbols and archetypes). Only by the latter may he become familiar with
her, and only then does she reveal her face. She tells him of all the hidden
secrets contained in her, and only then for the first time does he
understand the true meaning of the soul.”
According to this passage, therefore, it is not impossible for a man to
meet his Neshamah face to face before his death, if he is a Kabbalist. The
union of the mystic with his soul, and therefore the restitution of the
original divine order, may be Ultimately, the whole of Kabbalistic
speculation. Yet it is only a key to the chamber of the sub conscious mind
in which each of us may find the Shekhinah.
Kabbalah and the meaning of Resonance - Balance -
Harmony.
In the Kabbalah the "Tree of the Garden of Paradise" is arranged into
different configurations to explain certain Cosmic Laws. To explain
"harmony and balance" the tree is arranged as 3 pilliars and the
emanations, or "Sefiroth", are connected between the three pilliars with a
zig zag line in the form of stairs. These zig zag lines are mathematical
conclusions.
The pillar on the left is called the pillar of Judgement. The pillar on
the right is called the pillar of Mercy. The pillar in the middle
represents SELF and is called Understanding.
Everything in Kabbalah is mathematical. So, in Kabbalahian mathematics the
left pillar of Judgement has an emanation of Darkness; the right pillar,
an emanation of Light, and the Middle pillar, an emanation of Beauty. So
in solving the equation of Kabbalah mathematics of these 3 pillars, we
have: By understanding the Darkness we understand the Light and this
equals Beauty to the Self. Beauty then is the balancing point; Beauty is
the harmony of dark and light, or of evil and good. We also see from this
arrangement of the pillars that SELF must Judge, it is the way that we
UNDERSTAND, but to balance or harmonize our Judging there must be
Mercy/"Tolerance" to have resonance or harmony within Self.
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