The root principles of creation lay within the plenum of all possibilities
for cosmic manifestation. The En Soph includes all varied kinds of
beings and their qualities and beauties, and all the laws and forces and
particles of the universe. It contains all of these things in all
their possibilities for involution and evolution, growth, change and perfection.
The whole structure of the world orders on different dimensions and
on different scales of existence, over all times, are all pre-existent
in non-existence, latent within the Endlessness of the Ayin Soph.
Ayin Soph Aur, O, the third aspect of the Absolute,
means LIMITLESS LIGHT. Before the beginning, the
limitless light fills the Limitless En Soph. This Limitless light
is described as NEGATIVE LIGHT, in distinction to positive
light manifest within creation.
To illustrate these three realms of 'NEGATIVE
EXISTENCE', we could depict Ayin as having no illustration,
En Soph as completely black, and En Soph Aur as white. These three realms
of Negative Existence or Non-Being are eternal in respect to the ebb and
flow of created energetic and material worlds within space and time, and
they sustain all things.
If these two illustrations (and one non-illustration)
are then superimposed on one another (as NEGATIVE EXISTENCE), they
can be depicted in the next illustration. Here Negative Existence
is represented by an infinite number of dots distributed throughout
infinity, but latent in Non-Being. Negative Existence exists prior
to cosmic creation as the source and root principles of all possible finite
and manifest things, and yet it remains within the Infinite and Unmanifest.
Next, we can take two enlargements of NEGATIVE EXISTENCE.
On the left, the dots begin to emerge as
discrete elements or I’s, stepping out of the background of Negative
Existence into Positive Existence. These dots represent infinitely
small points beyond material measurement, zero points of no dimension.
On the right, one dot is taken as an “I” of the Creator.
The point represents the Creator in the state called
EHEIEH (ee-eye-ah) which means “I shall be.” Creation emerges
out of NEGATIVE EXISTENCE as a zero point of unfoldment. The Universe
emerges from a point of no dimension, out of Negative Existence into positive
existence; out of the void/plenum or realms of non-being and into being.
This point can be enlarged and illustrated
as a dotted Circle with an even smaller point at its center–indicating
the existence of an infinitely small unmanifest point. Such
dimension-less dots or points of infinite potential are latent in NEGATIVE
EXISTENCE before creation. Manifestation of the “I AM” of a cosmos originates
from such a zero point.
Kabbalists have long portrayed the creation of the
universe as emerging from a supernal point of no-dimension out of a background
in NEGATIVE EXISTENCE. It is quite astonishing that this is the same
creation scenario elaborated by modern scientific accounts. In science,
the universe emerged at the beginning of time as an infinitesimal singularity
out of the nothingness and plenum of the quantum vacuum. Kabbalah
would also suggest the ultimate dissolution of the Cosmos at the end of
time into such an infinitesimal point, and back into the void/plenum.
These are ancient and esoteric teaching, the wisdom of Israel,
illustrated by the most modern physical theories.
In the act of creation, a dot, an infinitely small
point of no dimension, steps out of Negative Existence into Positive
Existence. The point is then finite in reference to infinite Negative
Existence, but infinite when regarded from the perspective of Positive
Existence. A Supernal Zero Point is the First Manifestation–as
viewed from the advantage of positive existence.
The Will of God began then to penetrate as a beam
of light into the void of Unmanifest Existence. This brought
into focus three factors that make the void–the three Zahzahot, or Hidden
Splendours, the Pillars of the Tree of Life. The Zahzahot are
the hidden roots of the laws that come to govern Existence.
They generate the processes of expansion and contraction which are overlooked
by the Will of God. The universe results from the interaction of
these triune forces.
The uppermost Sephira, Kether, the Crown, is emanated
first as a dimension-less point, the exact middle point surrounded by void,
which emerges out of Negative Existence. Kether is the most transcendental
form of God which we can conceive. It is associated with the
statements “I AM,” and “I AM THAT I AM”–a point of pure existence.
This is the Self-Existing ONE, PURE BEING. It is the UNITY, the center
point within the circle. Kether is also labelled as the Crown,
the Concealed of the Concealed, the Inscrutable Height, pure becoming,
the Head which is naught, the First Swirling, the Primum Mobile.
Kether contains the other nine sephiroth within itself–in a latent seed
state.
The Lightening Flash, or the Light of Will, then
overflows and emanates from Kether to Chokmah (or Hokhmah), which then
overflows and emanates the third Sephirot of the Supernal Triad.
Chokmah is at the top of one pillar, the Splendour of Action, governing
expansion, force and the male principle. It is called Abba, the Supernal
Father. Binah is at the top of the opposite pillar, or the Splendour
of Restriction, governing contraction, form, as the material, maternal
and feminine side of the Tree. Binah is Ama, the Supernal Mother,
the Great Sea or Ocean. Dion Fortune in The Mystical Qaballa, writes:
“in this supernal triangle, The Head which is Not, the Father and the
Mother, we have the root concept of our cosmogony.” (1935, p. 43)
All cosmic manifestation is dependent upon dualistic differentiations of
THAT which is in equilibrium. The Father-Mother, active-passive,
force-form, energy-matter, spirit-water dualities all exist in relationship
to threefold cosmic principles in equilibrium. The Supernal Triad
is separated from the lower sections of the Tree and the seven lower Sephirot
by the Abyss.
Creation proceeds downwards from a divine realm of emanations
into a realm of spirit, soul and matter through a hierarchy of broken symmetries.
The broken symmetries precipitate dimensions of being out of Non-Being.
These broken symmetries occur between the three pillars, each of which
passes through three different manifest levels. After the emergence
of the supernal triad, the Lightening Flash continues to penetrate into
the
void to bring into manifestation two lower triads. Whereas the supernal
triad points up, the lower triangles point down, reflecting the qualities
of the supernal triad within lower planes of cosmic being: as above, so
below. The supernal light is being divided by the three forces–like
prisms, on three successive planes of being. The first triangle is
turned upwards, while the lower two, are turned down–consistent with the
idea of the created worlds being a reflection of the divine world above.
The central pillar is associated with equilibrium,
with the light of Divine Will, and with Consciousness. If the opposing
matters and energies of the Pillars of Force and Form are neutralized and
balanced, this releases energies and matters into light. This is
analogous to how matter and anti-matter annihilate and dissolve one another,
releasing photons and neutrinos. The opposing forces and forms of
the side pillars can be dissolved into the central pillar.
The tenth sephira is the fully manifested
synthesis of all that has gone on before. Malkuth is the Kingdom
established through the descent of the Line of Light through all of the
sephiroh. Malkuth is associated with the earth, the center of gravity
of physical nature.
In order to understand the complexity of the Kabbalist
teaching, it is necessary to take four successive Trees of Life which descend
from one another. The first Tree of Life depicts the Divine
World of Emanations from within the void
of Unmanifest Existence. This world order is perfect, eternal, unchanging
and the world of unity. The ten sephirot of this world of AZIHUT
(or Atziluth) represent the Primeval Kings and Divine Lights. This
world order is not created as such, as it is pre-existent in non-Existence,
but is manifest as a realm of emanations. The primeval Kings are
“called forth”–as they are pre-existent within Negative Existence.
However, God is said to emanate, create,
form and make the collective worlds. As the Line of Light,
or the Light of Divine Will, penetrates into the vacated space it generates
four successive trees–the Worlds of emanation, creation,
formation, and action. These are labeled
Azihut, Beriah, Yezirah, and Asiyyah (or ATZILUTH, BRIAH,
YETZIRAH, ASSIAH in the illustration).
The world of creation, Beriah, is the realm of spiritual
intelligences in a world of different gradients of spiritual substances.
This is the realm of the arch-angels and of seven heavens which form a
hierarchy of spiritual conditions. The world of spirit is distinct
from the divine world, although reflecting its qualities on a lower level
of cosmic existence. This is the realm of spiritual archtypes which
form the basis for manifest life forms. The world of Beriah emerges
out of the perfection of Azilut and serves the Will of God in creating
an unfolding cosmic framework. All things are said to be “ordained”
in the realm of Beriah, as the “essences” of all creatures originate there.
Whereas Beriah is the world of “spirit,” Yezirah
is the world of “soul.” The term yetzer means “formed,” and within
this realm the spiritual essence is embodied in a subtle living soul body.
Yezirah is said to entail seven paradises or soul worlds, as well as seven
purgatories. Angels in the world of Yezirah serve the purposes of
the higher archangels and give form to the subtle bodies of living creatures.
Yerirah is the Garden of Eden; the soul world in which Adam takes his original
form before being cast out into the material world.
In the last world order of Asiyyah, the Yeziratic
forms or models are finally made manifest–although still within subtle
matter. In the lowest sephira, Malkuth, the Kingdom of the fourth world,
the results of the whole hierarchy of interpenetrating dimensions are made
manifest in physical form.
A complete model of Jacob’s Ladder, reaching
from heaven to the earth is represented by four
successive Trees of Life for the four interpenetrating realms of
existence. Each world order involves the successive restriction and
limitation of the line of light, or Will, through hierarchies of broken
symmetries existing between the three pillars of the Tree of Life.
The four completed Sephiroth Trees contains all the laws that govern the
manifest universe. At the end of time, the world order dissolve and
return again to the ultimate source of the En Soph.
The next illustration provides a
basic model of Kabbalistic creation, drawn as Jacob’s ladder descending
from heaven to earth. What is being depicted here is quite
profound: In contemporary language, it is the nature of the quantum vacuum,
the zero point field and the hyperspace dimensions. According to
Kabbalah, all of the sephiroth and the hierarchical trees of life are latent
in the realms of Non-Being, or the vacuum, and are revealed by the descent
of the Line of Light.
If physicists and cosmologists are interested in
the structure of nature of the quantum vacuum, Kabbalistic metaphysics
provides a complex model addressing this issue. The similarities
are profound. In both cases, Being (or positive existence)
is manifested out of Non-Being (negative existence), from a singularity,
through a hierarchy of broken symmetries. Kabbalistic philosophy
would agree in principle with the modern physicists and scientists who
state that all of the laws of physics and cosmology are latent in the Vacuum–in
the plenum of the EN SOPH.
However, there are profoundly different interpretations
given to such events from a mystical viewpoint and from the perspective
of rational science. The First Cause of creation for the scientist
is a “random quantum fluctuation,” whereas in Kabbalah, the
scenario involves the Will and desire of the Absolute, and a line of supernal
light which descends through higher dimensional spaces. A mystical
account of creation regards all cosmic manifestation as due to divine,
spiritual and ensouling forces and beings which act within the many subtle
dimensions of the world orders. Normally, the scientists of new formation
deny the spiritual and metaphysical basis of life and regard everything
as due to the unfolding of purely natural physical laws.
In reference to the topic of the point of creation
out of nothingness at the heart of being, we find that both scientists
and mystics describe the origins of the universe, as emerging from a singularity
or zero point, rooted into the void/plenum and descending through a hierarchy
of broken symmetries. This embodies the latencies within the One
into more and more law determined planes of existence and manifestation.
Kabbalistic philosophy provides a complex metaphysics of the subtle, causative
realms of being. Instead of simply being mystical looniness, it is
a most profound perspective, which is highly pertinent to the issues of
modern science–dealing with creation physics, singularities and vacuums.
The application of Tree of Life diagrams provide an invaluable heuristic
for considering the subtle dimensionality of higher order spaces and the
patterns of creation. #2 footnote
Author, L. Leat (1999), in her study of Kabbalah and modern science,
provides one illustration of sacred geometry that is most relevant to our
study. In this diagram, a ‘zero point’ source of ‘creation’ is established
within the centre. In the ladder of Jacob, with four Trees
of Life, which actually overlap in a particular way, this is the Da’at
Sephirot in the Tree of Creation–the realm of Beriah. This
sephirot is the middle point in the diagram, and it is established within
the “matrix of creation,” represented by the complex geometric form
surrounding it. This diagram can be taken as Leat’s depiction of
the zero point established at the centre of this seven dimensional space.
The seven dimensional space is suggested by the two highlighted triangles,
with a zero point centre. As such, this diagram illustrates the dynamics
governing the Kabbalist’s ‘god-particle’ or ‘superstring.’
As it happens, this Kabbalist diagram, representing
the first point of creation, and the geometry of its embodiment in the
matrix of creation, is certain not unlike that provided by Greene and Atkins
depicting the superstring element of a Calabi-Yau space–also seven dimensional,
with varied inner holes through these inner spaces! Consider these
elements side by side:
The teachings of the Kabbalah bear profound and complex relationships
to ideas in modern science, and can be taken as providing a ‘model’ of
the metaphysical and physical processes which underlie and sustain all
things. The Kabbalist descriptions of negative existence, the void
and plenum, the zero point source origins, the broken symmetries in higher
dimensional space, and the descent from subtle into material planes of
existence, are all compatible with modern physics and cosmology.
From a Kabbalist perspective, we would need to consider the triune and
sevenfold nature of the causes and effects of all things within the matrix
of creation; just as the scientists ponder their three generations of three
particle families, all established in the seven higher dimensions of space.
A mystical account of creation regards all cosmic
manifestation as due to divine, spiritual and ensouling forces and intelligence
which act within the many subtle dimensions of the world orders.
Normally, the scientists of new formation deny the spiritual and metaphysical
basis of life and regard everything as due to the unfolding of purely natural
physical laws. In the naive materialist philosophy so dominant
in modern times, a scientists simply takes the last sephirot of the ladder
of Jacob, and considers it to be ‘material reality.’ In contrast,
the Kabbalist takes this sephirot as the final product of all that has
gone on before, embodied within the inner dimensions of that which is finally
manifest in the outward physical world.
In reference to the topic of the point of creation
out of nothingness at the heart of being, we find that both scientists
and the Kabbalists describe the universe as originating from a singularity
or zero point, rooted into the void/plenum and descending through a hierarchy
of broken symmetries. This embodies the latencies within the One
into more and more law determined planes of existence and manifestation.
Kabbalistic philosophy provides a complex metaphysics of the subtle, causative
realms of being. Instead of simply being mystical looniness, this
represents a most profound perspective, highly pertinent to the issues
of modern science–dealing with creation physics, singularities and vacuums,
and a complex "matrix of creation." The application of Tree
of Life diagrams provide an invaluable heuristic for considering the subtle
dimensionality of higher order spaces and the patterns of creation.
_______________________________________
2. The comparison of Kabbalah with modern physics and cosmology is a
highly complex matter. Kabbalistic diagrams can be applied to various modern
scientific findings, ideas, and equations in order to portray physical
laws. One example has to do with the modern classifications of quantum
particles. Scientists describe three main generations of three categories
of particles, each of which contain +, - and neutrally charged particles.
Kabbalistic diagrams can also be applied to describe the physical periodic
table of chemical elements, of which there are seven rows, with multiple
inner octave and ten-fold distinctions, all composed of protons, electrons
and neutrons. Alternatively, equations can be plotted on the Tree.
For example, E=mc2, where energy, mass and the speed of light represent
the three forces in triune relationship. Mass, energy and light
embody the Pillars of Contraction, Expansion and Will. The fact that
the c is squared, suggests the movement from a lower into a higher dimensional
space.
2.
THE KABBALIST UNIVERSE
