Kabbalah
never speaks about God, only about His revelations. The study of theoretical
Kabbalah is essentially the study of the revelations God employs to create
finite entities and to relate to them. Examples of such revelations include
spiritual lights, divine names, sefirahs, God’s speech, the throne of glory, souls,
angels, nature forces, prophecy … everything in this physical world too. The
Infinite Being Himself can never be defined, understood or grasped by any
finite entity, no matter how holy, spiritual or sublime. Therefore, Kabbalah
never speaks directly about Him.
In
their explanations, books of Jewish mystical thought often rely on the usage of
spatial imagery. Though possibly convincing, such descriptions are not intended
to be understood literally as referring to physical space. For more accurate
understanding, such imagery needs to be divested from physicality.
Our
experience of space centers on notions such as closeness, distance and shapes.
When Kabbalah employs the terms of closeness and distance in discussions of
spiritual entities or realms, one way to divest such descriptions from their
physicality is to understanding them as referring to how similar or dissimilar
the entities or realms are to each other. Of course there are many gradations
along the spectrum from dissimilar to similar, which allow for a very
wide range of variation when distance and closeness.
Though space exists in
the spiritual realms, it does in way that is qualitatively different than
physical space. It's closer to what we relate to as “psychological space”.
Psychologically speaking, people who share similarities have the capacity to be
close. Those who are dissimilar are considered distant. In that sense two
people who live right next door might be considered distant, while two people
who are on other ends of the globe might be considered close. The basis for
this paradox is that spiritual space and physical space operate differently.
Since psychology involves the human soul, it’s not surprising that it echoes
the spiritual version of space into our shared physical realm.
This understanding of space bears an interesting implication. Imagine, two
spiritual entities becoming progressively more and more similar to each other. This means that they also draw progressively closer
and closer to each other. Then at the moment of complete similarity, they
suddenly converge into a single point. So in spiritual space, the notion of “being
identically similar” ends up simply meaning, “Being identical”. There’s no such
a thing as exact duplication, like we strive for in mass production.
A circle or a sphere is traditionally credited as a shape whose uniform
roundness indicates absolute equality and sameness. While this makes sense in terms of physical
space, in spiritual space shouldn’t the correct shape for such equality and
sameness be a single point?
To further elaborate, the expanded size of a sphere seems to indicate
differences, as there are some spots which are closer or further away from each
other. Along a circumference, spots 90 degrees away from each other cannot
possibly be as similar as spots a mere 45 degrees from each other. So what can
Jewish mystical thought possibly mean when it employs the metaphor of spheres,
such as spherical sefirahs (which will be discussed later)?
The only way I can think of explaining it is that somehow all the points
on a sphere are the same and yet, they’re different. But how is this paradox to
be understood?
Possibly, they exhibit active sameness and passive differences. Passive
differences are differences which only become expressed when acted upon by an
outside force.
However, at first glance this does not seem to entirely make sense. A
sphere has an expanded shape, a possible footprint of these passive
differences. So, passive differences seem to influence shape. Otherwise, it would
be a single collapsed point. If so, isn’t
the expanded shape some sort of expression of an active nature latent within
the passivity? In a slight sense, it is
some kind of expression of what’s latent inside. However, a sphere is a very
general shape, lacking in defined specifics. So, the only thing it broadcasts
is the general expression that indeed passive differences latently lurk within.
But very tellingly, it does not express what they are. This should not be
viewed as unusual, considering that everything created (or emanated) bears some
touch of its opposite and usually manifests it slight measure.
Kabbalah makes very heavy usage of the sphere metaphor in Rabbi Isaac
Luria’s description of the opening stages of (emanation followed by) creation. For
the sake of brevity, the upcoming cosmic narrative is merely a very brief
outline these early stages. It focuses on the bare essentials necessary to
grasp the role of the sphere metaphor and what else it might imply.
Rabbi
Luria’s narrative opens with an Infinite Light. This Infinite Light filled all
reality. Then in the midst of this Infinite Light there was a tiny and even
withdrawal of Light, leaving behind a tiny spherically shaped vacuum.
The
only entity present in the vacuum was a lingering tenuous afterglow
remaining from the vacated Light. Though this afterglow would serve as
the raw material for all which would later be (emanated and) created in this
vacated area, it still required something more to participate in the
structuring of the spiritual and physical realms.
The
Infinite Light penetrated into the vacuum by extending a line of light,
a pipeline of sorts; alive and flowing with spiritual lights. Hence, the something
more arrived on the scene. (It’s likely that the choice of where to
penetrate was influenced by which spot along the sphere’s membrane had a
passive difference most amenable to receive the penetration.)
To
claim that the line of light entered immediately as a straight line extending to the center
of the vacuum is an oversimplification, very useful for other summaries of what
had occurred. However, this summary requires different details in order to
properly depict the role of spheres.
What
really happened is that the line of light entered twice, each time in a
very different style; first a feminine style and then a masculine style. Also,
each entering is referred to as an entry of the sefirahs. Sefirahs
are ten basic modes of divine expressions used by God to create finite entities
and to relate to them.
The
human soul also has its own parallel to these ten modes of expression which it
shares with the body. The soul expresses itself in the human body by sharing
its will, wisdom, understanding, kindness, discipline, compassion, taking
control, ceding control, seeking relationships and accomplishments. Similarly,
as soul to body, by extending the line of light the Infinite Light
shares with the afterglow a much higher version of these ten modes of
expression.
As
mentioned there are two basic forms of sefirahs, feminine and masculine.
When the line of light enters in a feminine style, the sefirahs
manifest in a spherical shape. When the line of light enters in a
masculine style, the sefirahs take on a linear shape.
First
the spherical sefirahs entered. The line of light entered
the vacated space just a little bit. Then it immediately ballooned out in the
shape of a sphere along the contours of the inner wall the vacated space’s
membrane. Why? It yearned to be as close as possible to its source, the
Infinite Light just beyond the wall.
Had
the line of light stopped here, it would never reach deeply enough into
the vacated space to achieve its ultimate goal. So, it traveled a bit further
down into the interior of the vacated and then ballooned out again in the shape
of a sphere. In this instance, it ballooned out as close as possible to inner
wall of the first spherical sefirah. Why? It too yearned to be
close to the Infinite Light and this was the closest it could get. Then the
process repeated a third time, then a fourth time, a fifth time,...until there
were a total of ten concentric spheres of spherical sefirahs; each one
layered within the other - like the layers of an onion.
I
was taught that whatever is round, spherical, circular and cyclical in nature
at large, results from the influence of these spherical sefirahs. Since,
spheres and circles have no real top, sides or bottom, the spherical sefirahs
and what flows from their influence exhibit a, feminine,
non-hierarchical quality.
Then
the line of light entered the vacated space a second time. This time it
was an entry of masculine sefirahs. Being male they matched up with the
already present feminine sefirahs. These masculine sefirahs are
known as linear sefirahs. Unlike the spherical sefirahs, they bear
a hierarchical quality.
As
the ten linear sefirahs entered, stage by stage, each one immersed itself
in the zone of its matching spherical sefirah; thus, becoming a
spiritual version of a couple. Through penetration, not only have the linear
sefirahs themselves become immersed in the zones of their matching spherical
sefirahs, but also their surrounding auras have also become immersed in
these zones as well. It’s like a person diving into a swimming pool. Not only
does the person enter the water, but also his or her bathing gear as well. So too, the auras surrounding the linear
sefirahs entered into the zones of their matching spherical sefirahs.
Everything
laid out till this point, though oversimplified for brevity, is from standard
texts conveying Rabbi Isaac Luria’s teachings and traditional commentaries.
When studying Rabbi Luria’s narrative, it is very easy to forget that it’s a
presentation of carefully crafted snapshots of key representative stages rather
than a full movie version. Thus, if one seeks a more complete picture of what
happened, there's a lot of dynamic action to fill in between the snapshots.
It’s likely that such gaps are intentional, as they help keep the teachings an
oral tradition – requiring a disciple to accept a master. To the best of my
current knowledge, the narrative does not elaborate much on the dynamics of the
interaction between the spherical and linear sefirahs. It's
likely something lost in the stages between the snapshots.
However,
is it possible to match up a highly compatible couple and not expect dynamic
interaction? As such, it makes sense to me that besides being attracted to the
surrounding Infinite Light, the spherical sefirahs are also attracted to
the flow of lights alive within linear sefirahs. As they are attracted
to both Lights, their love is twofold. Caught between their two loves, the spherical
sefirahs pulsate back and forth between their two sources of attraction.
When primarily drawn to the surrounding Infinite Light they assume their
spherical shape, their default shape.
However,
when the lights flowing through the linear sefirahs are particularly
strong and clearly radiant, the spherical sefirahs contract closer
towards them. As they contract closer, they reshape into ovals; like a chicken
eggs, somewhat narrower on top and rounder on the bottom - for the linear
sefirahs are more present on the top than they are at the bottom. Then when
the presence of lights within the linear sefirahs wanes, the spherical
sefirahs are again overcome by their attraction for the surrounding
Infinite Light and revert back to their default spherical shapes. Like a
beating heart, this process of contraction and expansion keeps repeating. It's
reminiscent of the angels in the first chapter of Ezekiel running and
returning, of lungs expanding and contracting, of scholars teaching and
retreating.
Part
of what sets off this series of pulsations for the spherical sefirahs is
that the linear sefirahs have pulsations of their own. Sometimes lights
flow through them very intensely and sometimes less so; an ebb and flow. For
example, by aligning our behavior with Torah guidance we can arouse a greater
flow of lights to course through the linear sefirahs. Since
creation has to go on, besides what our behavior arouses, there’s always a baseline
level of fresh flows of lights streaming through; as, “He constantly renews the
act of creation on a daily basis”. (Morning liturgy) However, our
efforts intensify these flows and bring more blessing into the entirety of
creation.
When
the spherical sefirahs contract closer to the linear sefirahs,
they likely push the auras around the linear sefirahs closer their
bodies, bringing them into closer interaction and union; greatly enhancing
their spirituality.
Not
being a master of Kabbalah at present, I do not claim to know for sure whether
or not I am correct and the spherical sefirahs reshape into ovals
when attracted the linear sefirahs in their midst. All I can do is to
explain why it makes sense to me that they should. I base it simply on what I
presently know and can put together. I
leave it to those more learned and saintly to determine whether or not I was
correct; whether partially or fully. To my understanding such reshapings result
from an activation of the latent passive differences within what’s actively
undifferentiated and hence, spherical. When heavily acted upon, the passive
differences awake and partially take on the shape of the forces acting upon
them. So, a linear force could conceivably cause a sphere to move out of its
default shape and to temporarily reshape into an oval.
If
I am correct, the idea of oval shapes indicating union between what’s spherical
and linear, may shed some light on one of the factors used to determine the
likelihood that an egg derives from a kosher bird. In Judaism, a perfectly
spherical egg is assumed to have likely been derived from a non-kosher bird.
However, if the egg is oval there's a high likelihood that it derived from a
kosher bird.
Regardless
of the biological processes which determine the shape of an egg, the spiritual
reason may be because a perfectly spherical egg indicates a lack of spiritual
influences from the linear sefirahs. In contrast, the shape of an oval
egg may bear the spiritual mark of both the linear and spherical sefirahs,
while they were in a state of union. If so, then an oval egg is more wholesomely
shaped by spiritual influences and should be able to pass that spirituality
onto someone who eats it.
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