A Castle of Seven Stories (Revisited)

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A couple of years ago I made the following parable available on my blog. Since then mystical teachings elucidated by the Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber of Lubavitch informed me with fresh ideas, which had deepened my understanding of the parable’s underlying lesson. As a result, I feel obliged to revise and republish the lesson. As part of framing the lesson in its original context, I also restated the parable itself.

I heard the following parable from a dear teacher of mine, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson, about twelve years ago. He quoted it in the name of the holy Baal Shem Tov:

       There was once a King who decided to set a date when all the subjects of His kingdom can meet Him freely, without appointments. He sent heralds around the kingdom announcing the date. The populace was very excited and prepared themselves for the momentous day. As the day approached their request lists grew longer and longer and longer and ...

       Finally the long awaited day arrived. They donned their best clothing and before dawn eagerly surrounded the castle. The moment dawn broke, the royal herald blew his trumpet and the drawbridge gradually descended. Hearts pumped with excitement. The moment the bridge touched ground, the crowd poured in.

       The castle had seven floors. Being a gracious host, the King wanted to pleasure of his guests.  To this effort, He set up each floor with its own unique entertainment.  The first floor was set up as a banquet hall. The King hired the finest chefs in the kingdom to create the most delicious mouth-watering delicacies.  Many of the people never even set their eyes to such culinary creations in their whole lives. Some were so entranced that they just kept eating without ever realizing that they were full.

       The second floor was set up as a tavern, featuring the finest wines the kingdom had to offer. Many of these wines were brought up from the royal wine cellars. Each wine came with a unique history about its vintage, its age and the barrels it fermented in.  Some of the wines were literally centuries old. If you were into wine this was your spot.   

       The third floor was set up as a concert hall, where the finest musicians of the kingdom gathered to entertain the guests. They spent months rehearsing together just for this momentous occasion. They played in a wide variety of musical styles. Never once that whole day was the same melody played in the exact same way. It was too intriguing for most to resist.

       The fourth floor was the royal library. Books, manuscripts and scrolls containing all the wisdoms available to the kingdom were set out for display. It was literally an intellectual’s paradise. Many curious minds finally got to open books that answered their deepest questions; questions that haunted them for years and years.

       The fifth floor was a royal art museum. All the finest royal artwork was tastefully displayed, as a feast for artistically sensitive eyes. The people were finally able to gasp at real life portraits of the kingdom’s celebrated heroes, founders and historical figures. The history of the kingdom was all there, encapsulated in art. Among the paintings were also landscapes of places whose features had changed centuries ago. Here time was frozen, as they were memorialized in their original state.  Also, there were special exhibits featuring contemporary paintings, emphasizing new styles of creative expression.

       The sixth floor was a display of the royal jewels. The spotlights were aimed just right to elicit from each gem a cheerful gleam and glisten. On this floor, an array of royal crowns were on display: the coronation crowns, the ceremonial crowns, the crowns worn at balls, the crowns for visiting places of worship, crowns for receiving diplomats, etc.   And of course there was much personal jewelry as well, like royal wedding rings, bracelets, etc.

       On the seventh floor was the throne room. The King sat eagerly awaiting His guests.

       Twelve hours from opening, when the royal herald made the rounds to all the floors announcing “the castle is closing”, the visitors were shocked. It felt like their day had just begun and now they were being chased out all too fast! Except for one person, nobody ever got to see the King. They were all so busy enjoying the royal entertainment that their sense of time had evaporated.

       Who was this one person who got to see the King? He was an uncultured peasant who was so uncultured that none of the entertainment gripped him. He had no basis for appreciating what he was being exposed to and what the crowds were raving about. When he tasted the food it tasted so weird to him that he was actually happy that his wife packed lunch. He tried out a few wines, each one more or less tasted like the next. The fine unique process of creating each wine seemed to him like an impractical waste for something that will end up tasting pretty much the same anyways.  He was too tone deaf to appreciate the music. Being illiterate, he could not read the books. The art gallery was a pretty view; but appeared to him much like the rest of the artfully decorated castle. In his uncultured mind, it blurred and meshed with all the other art work throughout the castle. The royal jewels were somebody else’s valuables, not his. So before he knew it he climbed up enough steps and stood right in front of the King.

       He told the King that he needed a new cow, a new roof, better quality feed for his animals. He also needed the landlord to reduce the rent. He asked for everything that his peasant sensitivities were able to fathom and imagine. The King enjoyed the visit, approved the requests and the peasant left happy.

Lesson:

       The parable describes why a human being on earth can have a special relationship with the Creator that cannot be enjoyed by the inhabitants of the celestial realms.  

       The King in the parable is the Creator. The various floors of the castle are the levels of paradise. All the entertainment on each of these floors represents the Divine pleasures offered in each heavenly realm.  

Even though the pleasures are very spiritual, they're all “about the King”. They're not the King Himself. Paradoxically, only a being too unrefined to appreciate the spiritual music of paradise and be distracted by its allure has the privilege to meet with the King Himself. This “being” is an earthbound human who lives like a "uncultured peasant” by inhabiting a realm deprived of spiritual delights. Now you know why we are the lucky ones.

       The Creator’s Essence is equally present everywhere, whether on earth or in the various spiritual realms. This reality is unchangeable. What do change are His revelations, known in the parlance of Jewish mystical thought as “lights”. Generally speaking, a place of spiritual revelation is referred to as “light filled”, while a place where spiritual revelation is withheld is called “darkness”.

There are many levels of revelation or light. From the above parable it seems like revelations come in two general categories. There are revelations which are “about the Creator” and revelations which are “of the Creator” Himself.  The real difference between the two types of revelation is how much depth of self goes into the interaction. Revelations “about the Creator” do not convey the real depth of His Self. They are mere superficial interactions, which are largely besides the point when compared to the real goals of creation. They’re like giving a child a candy to study well. The candy is just designed as an incentive, not as the actual goal. In contrast, revelations “of the Creator” are mediums to convey His Essence. They’re directly on topic with the goals of creation itself.   

The delightful revelations offered on the various castle floors were “about the Creator”. Only the throne room, on the seventh floor, was a revelation “of the Creator” Himself. The food, music, wine, books, art works and jewels were not revelations of the King. Therefore, no true intimacy with the King rubbed off on those who indulged in them.

Similar to the six floors of pleasures, the spiritual realms are filled with revelations which are “about the Creator”. This is why these realms contain paradises, oases of pleasurable lights. In contrast, the earthly realm is designed to contain revelations “of the Creator” Himself. At first glance, this would appear to be counterintuitive. Shouldn’t the higher realms contain the more important revelations? There’s a concept in the “Book of Formation” which states, "The end is wedged in the beginning and the beginning in the end”. Similarly, on every Sabbath eve we recite, “The last deed is found in the earliest thought.”

This means that there’s a very unique connection between the highest and the lowest, which the stages in between don’t share. In the mind of an organized project manager, the final outcome is actually the earliest thought. Everything in between is just a “flow through” process to bring the earliest thought into a final fruition. So in many ways the two extremes of beginning and end are actually closer to each other than to any stage in the middle. These two extremes are personified in the parable in the relationship between the King and the peasant, i.e. the Highest Sovereign and His most loyally submissive subject. The middle, is symbolized by the pleasures of the other six floors.

This is why the earthly contains the unique quality to allow for Torah and good deeds. We are the subjects of the Highest Sovereign. Here, is the seventh floor where we meet the King.

In the King there’s lies yet a deeper Essence, the Beloved. Today, we mainly relate to the Creator as either King or Parent. We merely glean glimmers of the Beloved through the lattice of these other roles. Though fleeting, these glimmers are actually “of the Beloved”, not just “about the Beloved”.

Obviously, when the Messiah arrives more “of the Creator” will be revealed in the earthly realm. This will occur in degrees commensurate with the stages of human spiritual development. As time progresses, the human perceptive capacities to receive such revelations will improve. Our interaction with the real Self the Creator will deepen and grow to more fully incorporate relating to Him as "Beloved". Then we’ll really be the lucky ones.

  

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Loosen Your Garb, Reveal Your Essence.

I am in the midst of enjoying a Chassidic discourse titled, “Rosh Hashana 5659”. One of the ideas contained in the discourse which really gets to me is the notion that since something of a parent’s essence is passed onto a child, there can be latent potentials which are not revealed in the parent, but, are revealed in the child. This explains why sometimes a child excels at something that his/her parents can’t accomplish. 

Studying this teaching, reminds me of a dear brother of mine who has an inborn knack for understanding electricity, mechanics, construction and electronics. Neither of my parents (nor anyone else in my family) seem to share his knack. Apparently, it’s a latent capacity contained in the essence of at least one of my parents, if not both.

The notion of reverted back to a more original state to allow for a fresh revelation of latent potentials is probably part of what Shabbat (the Sabbath) is about. The work a day world is a place where we express our potentials which have already been revealed and differentiated into specific skills; which we call, “specialization”.

In contrast, Shabbat is a time when, to a certain extent, we can access once again the original generative potentials latent in our essences or at least something closer to it than on the weekdays. We loosen up from the garb of our worldly roles. This explains so much of what we do and don’t do on the Shabbat.

The boundaries of what can’t be done on Shabbat prevent any movement away from contact with our essences. This way we have a day to bathe in the original forces of our beings (or at least in forces as close as possible to it). 

There are other activities which promote and even deepen the contact. Among them, on the devotional level, is an increase in prayer and Torah study time. Then on the social level, there is an increase in time spent with family, friends and community. There’s also special private time that couples are encouraged to spend baring their essences - to bring down into the earthly realm either new souls and/or new blessings .

All in all, if the day was correctly, we emerge from the Shabbat renewed and refreshed, gleaming with fresh generative powers that can inform our work a day lives or at least prevent us from losing ourselves in it's routines to the point of forgetting whom we are deep down.

Growth - Souls and Angels

I sat last night in a class given by Rabbi Yoel Kahn in Boro Park. The following is a paraphrase of one of his teachings, embellished with my own examples. 

“...I will place you as a goer among these stationary ones” 

(Zechariah 2:7)

Rabbi Yoel asked, “Why are souls considered “goers” while angels are considered mere “stationary” beings, don’t angels also grow?

He explained that there are two kinds of growth. There’s incremental growth, where stage by stage, the new level is a neat continuation of the previous level. One can easily see how the new level is merely a natural outgrowth of the previous one. For example, what’s learned in second grade is neatly built upon what was learned in first grade.  

Then there’s a different kind of growth. It’s what is often referred to as a paradigm shift. There’s nothing of the previous level that can directly prepare one for the new level. The new level is such a leap from from the previous one that it barely feels related to it. For example, we live in three dimensional space. Now imagine if we awoke one morning and discovered that space added on another three dimensions. Now instead of going in three basic directions, we can suddenly go in six. Except as an abstraction, this is very hard to even begin to imagine. There’s nothing in our previous three dimensional existence that can prepare us for living with the freedoms to move in even more dimensions. This kind of growth occurs in huge leaps!

Angels grow incrementally. Their previous stages comfortably lead them into their new states. By contrast, souls grow in paradigm shifts, leaps! These leaps are so intense that between levels of paradise, souls need to immerse in a purifying stream of fire in order to forget whatever of the previous level can’t be carried forward into the new level. Only then are they exposed to the Torah taught on the new level of paradise.       

Vast Intellectual Space

Our sages have generously provided a vast intellectual space around the mystical and holy. In this safe zone, those not yet ready to engage can at least explore and consider. However, the ease of traveling around in this intellectual space should not be confused with having actually "arrived" at the destination.

Illumination - Within & Surrounding

Translated from Hebrew:

Each body has two soul levels - inner and surrounding. The inner soul level is for conducting the body, while the surrounding soul level is for connecting higher. Paralleling this pattern, the sefirot (the ten basic forces behind creation) also have inner lights and surrounding lights. That’s why the instant the spiritual root of vessels become revealed as a notion, the notion of these two lights are also present [in this divine thought].

It’s of tremendous benefit when each portion of the inner soul level has a counterpart which is parallel to the surrounding soul level. This allows the entire soul to experience transcendent connection - resulting in the entire soul being greatly illuminated and cherished. Therefore, the ten sefirot above have ten inner lights and ten surrounding lights, for there is no portion of the inner soul level which does not have a parallel portion to connect to above in it’s source; namely, a portion which cannot be bounded within the confines of the inner soul level.

However, with the descent of levels, the aspect of surrounding lights are only found in higher portions [of the inner soul levels or lights], for they are great and cherished. Their illumination is too great to be entirely confined within. Then what remains of them outside connects above. However, the lower portions [of the inner soul levels or lights] don’t share in this. They all remain confined within vessels, without connecting above.  

~ “Divine Knowledge”, p. 28, a quote from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

Inner Light and Surrounding Light

I. Introduction:

It has occurred to me to try a new path in presenting Torah. Until now I largely concentrated on teaching new insights that flowed into my mind from my Torah studies. While these insights were founded on the texts, they weren’t necessarily spelled out. Recently, it occurred to me that it might be more productive to bring others into more direct contact with some of actual texts and allow the texts to speak for themselves.

As part of this effort, I am experimenting with translating various potent excerpts from the vast wellsprings of Jewish spiritual teachings. Below is a translated excerpt from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, but, first some essential background information.

II. Background Information:

At the dawn of creation there was an Infinite Light. At it’s very center, the Light withdrew slightly to carve out a spherical space to house all realms - both the spiritual and the earthly. An afterglow of the original Light was left in the wake of the withdrawal. This afterglow was not creative itself. It was intended as the raw material to build the various realms. For this building to occur, a drop of the original Light had to return. Then the original Light can reorganize the raw material into realms and living beings. The drop of Light took the form of a linear tube and penetrated itself into the field of the afterglow, down to its center point. In the language of Kabbalah it is referred to as the "line of light".

The tube of Light was too powerful for the afterglow to directly interact with. As a result, there needed to be another energetic field to buffer and modulate the contact between the two entities. This third field is called “mental light”. The mental light grows or shrinks modulating the quality and quantity of light that will reach the various regions of the afterglow - which in turn affects their pace of growth and development.

There are three basic elements in this working system: the line of light, mental light and the afterglow. The afterglow is what’s known as a “vessel” because it is a container for spiritual light - like a body. The light contained in the afterglow, coming from the mental light, is known as “inner light” because it is spiritual light inside of a vessel - like a soul animating a body. The line of light's radiation is known as “surrounding light” because it is the light which is too spiritual to enter the vessel. It is said to surround the vessel, rather than to be inside of it - like a soul of a soul or an aura.

Indeed, this “light and vessel” paradigm is a repeating pattern throughout the teachings of Kabbalah. This is true whether discussing the highest angel or the lowliest stone. Everything is somehow composed of lights and vessels and can be analyzed from that vantage point. This pattern was set with the withdrawal and reintroduction of the Infinite Light and has just kept on repeating throughout every nook and cranny of the creation.

As long as our realm only contains its current low level of spiritual light, humans have free choice to do good or evil. This free choice sets up a challenge so humans can earn their eventual reward. This current state is referred to by Rabbi Luzzatto as “the divine conduct of reward and punishment”.

Once more spiritual light enters into our realm free choice, as we know it, phases out and we enter a period coined by Rabbi Luzzatto as “the divine conduct of Unity”. In such a light filled era many of our deeper questions will be finally answered.

It is my hope that with the above introduction it will be easier to understand the following translated excerpt from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto:

III. The Translation:

All good and bad human behavior is rooted in the vessels, which serve to modulate the divine conduct of reward and punishment. However, from the perspective of the divine conduct of Unity any action coming from God is only intended for the good. When the glory of God will be revealed in the future, then it will be known how all was for the good. About this day it states, “I thank You, God, for You vented anger at me.” (Isaiah 12:1)

Yet, even when all this will be revealed, He won’t reveal the entire depth of what His actions are about, for they are massively vast and open-ended. Now, when the truth will be revealed, what will be known immediately is rooted in the inner light contained within the vessel - for what the vessel contains sets the lower limit of knowledge. However, the additional great wisdom underlying any given Divine deed, which is massively vast and open-ended, is rooted in the surrounding light which expands beyond the vessel.

Everything mentioned here refer to the inner and surrounding radiances of the Infinite Light, which are explained in the discourses on the inner and surrounding lights. However, this isn’t at all about the surrounding mental lights [which function to connect the inner and surrounding lights].

~ “Divine Knowledge”, p. 27, a quote from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto

The Differentiated Differentiates

This essayed discourse assumes the reader has prior familiarity with the story brought down in Lurianic Kabbalah of how the Infinite Light withdrew to make a space for the emanations and creations, along with what transpired soon after the withdrawal. This discourse is intended to be mystically abstract and not meant for light reading. However, if you are seeking lighter inspirational posts, you have indeed come to the right address. There are plenty of them on this blog to enjoy. Just scroll around a bit and you'll find them.

I enjoyed learning from the Ramchal[1] quotations in “Da’at Elokim”[2] what a couple of terms I’ve seen in my past struggles studying the “Tahiru Ila’ah” [3]actually mean. I’ve learned that “Avir Kadmon”, primordial atmosphere, means the untouched afterglow[4] . I also learned that “Olam HaMalbush”, the realm of enclothment, means the reality which serves as the membrane around the “line of light”. [5]  [6]  This membrane modulates the light from the line, so it can interact with the afterglow in order to differentiate it’s undifferentiated light. Very nifty indeed!

Now I wonder whether the membrane is the same layer as Reb Shlomo Antebi discussed[7], when he described the skin of the line of light as a deeply indented portion of the membrane around the afterglow (i.e. the membrane bordering the Infinite Light and the remaining afterglow). He explained that it is like poking one’s finger into a balloon. The finger’s indentation in the balloon is surrounded by the skin of the balloon itself. Could it be that the Ramchal’s realm of enclothment that layer or is it yet another layer? Logic seem to indicate that, if so, it should be layered on the outside of (and not lining the inside of) the indented membrane. The reason is because the indented membrane already has a history of not differentiating the light of the afterglow. So if there’s a second layer, it should be placed on the outside. Since differentiating is its main function, it should be placed where it can interact with what it is changing ~ in this case the undifferentiated afterglow.

On the other hand, it might not be a “second layer”, but, rather the same membrane whose properties have been transformed by the line of light. Just to insert itself into the zone of the afterglow, there needs to be something inherently different about the line of light that make’s it do something different from the rest of the Infinite Light. The rest of the Infinite Light is so masculine polarized that it withdrew from the feminine core of the afterglow.   Since it is the feminine is within the masculine and the masculine with the feminine which causes attraction, it must be that such deep engagement with the afterglow, to the point of entry, can only be coming from an aspect of the Infinite Light which has a higher feminine polarity than the rest of the Light. It could be that there’s a polarization and differentiation even within the post-withdrawal Infinite Light to differentiate out a higher degree of femininity into a line of light. Typically, the story after the Infinite Light’s withdrawal concentrates on the polarization and differentiation within the area of the afterglow. However, there’s a surprise here. There seems to be yet another polarization and differentiation within the Infinite Light itself to form the line of light. Otherwise, how could it be?

Once this “differentiated Infinite Light” has contact with the membrane around the afterglow, it can differentiate that membrane itself. It’s bending inward, a change in shape and location, is indication of its own differentiation in response to contact with newly differentiated Infinite Light. It’s a “domino effect”, the differentiation in one sets off the differentiation in the other. By caving in, the part of the outer membrane approaches in closer contact with the most intensely feminine core of the afterglow, becoming more similar to it or becoming more feminine. Similarly, in the female uterus the zone of most feminine essence, where ova is produced, is most deeply lodged, while the aspects that most directly engage maleness are closer to the outer surface or on the outer surface.

Once the membrane differentiates, it can serve as the realm of enclothment, continuing the differentiation, again as a “domino effect”, into the afterglow, forming surrounding layers and realms ~ as contact with the differentiated differentiates.

This latter scenario seems most logical to me. The reason is because just to form the line of light there needs to be a differentiation. Then the membrane needs to differentiate: (A) in response to contact with something differentiated, namely the Infinite Light which became the line of light and (B) in order to cave in, i.e. change its shape. (As an interesting aside, in order for a part of the membrane to further feminize, some portion of the unpenetrated membrane has to further masculinize ~ as contact with the differentiated differentiates.)

Since the membrane differentiates and the surrounding afterglow soon after differentiates into layers and layers, both the membrane and the surrounding layers modulate the light of the line radiating further out into the space of the afterglow. The membrane itself is a direct modulation, while the surrounding levels are additional modulations layered upon the initial modulation. So at this point, whether the realm of enclothment the membrane or a surrounding layer is just a question of semantics. Both exist and it’s only a question of which one carries the label. The straightforward understanding of the Ramchal is that it would be the initial indented membrane. There’s no compelling reason that I know of, at this time, to think otherwise.

This tie in with the magic of the womb to affect differentiation. The outer surface of the female reproductive apparatus is more masculinized in order to meet the outer surface of the male reproductive apparatus which is more feminized. However, deeper in the female apparatus is more feminine. That’s why what’s male cannot reach there.

Rabbi Yehuda Fataya in his commentary “Bait Lechem Yehuda” explains that what’s feminine, i.e. the womb, is the primal element of fire[8]. As fire forges what was separate into a whole, so does the womb. The womb performs “tikkun”, i.e. mending what’s separate, because what doesn’t yet relate to each other is now brought together into an interactive relationship. This is done by burning away the barriers between the separate elements and allowing each to incorporate an element of the other; thereby, creating bridges which promote cooperation instead of contention.

Though speculative, this also might be the mystery of inoculation. By incorporating a little bit of the disease, the relationship between the person and the disease is no longer contentious. Additionally, there might be a hidden positive to having this spark added to the person in manageable doses.

So mutual incorporation of differentiated elements of others, becomes the key to interaction and cooperation. Now I see why “Binah”, the womb concept, is related to the growth process called “teshuva”, which amounts to improving relationships with the Creator and other people. “Teshuva” is about breaking the barriers, proper cooperation through proper interaction. This is really a process of differentiation. The raw undifferentiated self has to grow and develop through further differentiation by incorporating new differentiated elements in harmonious proportions. This is the “tikkun” process or “teshuva”; it’s healthy growth!

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[1] A commonly used acronym for Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.

[2] See “Da’at Elokim”, pages 18 & 19.

[3] “Tahiru Ila’ah” might translate well as “Celestial Brightness”. However, this translation does not convey anything about it. That’s why I was reluctant to use the translation in the body of the discourse. Essentially, the “Tahiru Ila’ah” is a series of transitional stages between the pure Infinite Light and the “tzimtzum”, the withdrawal to make an empty space for emanations and creations.

[4] Known in the parlance of Kabbalah as the “reshimu”, literally “the trace”.

[5] Known in the parlance of Kabbalah as the “kav”, literally “the line”.

[6] This particular realm of enclothment refers to the one after the withdrawal. The Ramchal seems to speak of another realm of enclothment prior to the withdrawal in the following footnote of “Da’at Elokim”.

[7] In his lectures in Autumn of 2001.

[8] “Tree of Life”, Gate 20, Chapter 11 - see comment with the heading, “Further inward is the mystery of the backside ...”.