KABBALAH - Selected Writings. Bernhard Pick
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there is nothing which can grasp him and depict him to us,1 and as such he is in a certain sense not existent (ayin) ; since, as far as our mind is concerned, that which is incomprehensible does not exist.
The En Soph, not being an object of cognition, made his existence known in the creation of the world by means of attributes or mediums, the ten Sephiroth, or intelligences, radiations, emanations, emanating from the En Soph, and which in their totality represent and are called the Adam Kadmon, the "Primordial or Archetypal Man."
The first Sephirah is called Kether, "Crown"; the second Chochma, "Wisdom"; the third Bina, "Intelligence"; the fourth Chesed, "Mercy"; the fifth Din, "Judgment"; the sixth Tiphereth, "Beauty"; the seventh Nczach, "Splendor"; the eighth Hod, "Majesty"; the ninth Jesod, "Foundation" ; the tenth Malchuth, "Kingdom."
Now the first Sephirah, which is called the Crown, the Aged,2 the Primordial or the Smooth Point,3 the White Head, the Long Face, Macroprosopon, the Inscrutable Height,4 contained the other nine Sephiroth and gave rise to them in the following order: from the first Sephirah proceeded a masculine or active potency designated (2) Chochma, "Wisdom," and an opposite, i. e., a feminine or passive potency, called (3) Bina, "Intelligence." These two opposite potencies are joined together by the first potency, and thus yield the first triad of the Sephiroth. From the junction of the foregoing opposites, which are also called "Father" (abba) and "Mother" (imma) emanated again the masculine or active potency called (4) Chesed, "Mercy or Love," also Gedulah, "Greatness," and from this again emanated the feminine or passive potency called (5) Din, "Judgment," also Geburah, "Judical Power." From this again emanated the uniting potency (6) Tiphereth, "Beauty." We have thus the second trinity of the Sephiroth. Now Beauty beamed forth the masculine or active potency (7) Nezach, "Splendor," and this again gave rise to (8) the feminine or passive potency Hod, "Majesty"; from it again emanated (9) Jesod, "Foundation," which yields the third trinity. From Jesod, finally emanated (10) Malchiith, "Kingdom," also called Schechinah.
The Cabalists delight in representing the ten Sephiroth under different forms; now as Adam Kadmon, "Primordial or Archetypal Man," now as the cabalistic tree or the Ilan, in which the crown is represented by the first Sephirah and the root by the last.
The Divine Man.-—As to the Adam Kadmon which is shown in the following figure, the Crown represents the head; Wisdom, the brains; Intelligence which unites the two and produces the first triad, the heart or the understanding. The fourth and fifth Sephiroth, i. e., Love and Justice are the two arms, the former the right arm and the latter the left; one distributing life and the other death. The sixth Sephirah, Beauty, uniting these two opposites and producing the second triad, is the chest. Firmness and Splendor of the third triad represent the two legs, whereas Foundation, the ninth Sephirah, represents the genital organs, since it denotes the basis and source of all things. Finally Kingdom, the tenth Sephirah, represents the harmony of the whole Archetypal Man.
Now in looking at the Sephiroth which constitute the first triad, it will be seen that they represent the intellect; hence this triad is called by Azariel the ''intellectual world" (olam muskal or olam ha-sechel). The second triad which represents moral qualities, is called the "moral" or "sensuous world" (olam murgash, also olam hanephesh) ; and the third, representing power and Stability, is called the "material world" (olam mutba or olam ha-teba).
Fig. 1. ADAM KADMON, THE ARCHETYPAL MAN.
Fig. 2. THE CABALISTIC TREE.
Fig. 3. THE PILLAR ARRANGEMENT.
As concerns the cabalistic tree (the ildn ha-cabala), the Sephiroth are so arranged that the first triad is placed above, the second and third are placed below, in such a manner that the three masculine Sephiroth are on the right, the three feminine on the left, whilst the four uniting Sephiroth occupy the center, as shown in Fig 2.
According to another arrangement the Sephiroth are so ordered that they form three pillars, a right one (sitra dimina, also amuda de-chesed, i. e., the pillar of mercy) ; a left one (sitra dismola, also amuda de-dina, i. e., the pillar of judgment), and a middle one (amuda de-emza'ita). In the right pillar to which belong the Sephiroth Wisdom, Love and Firmness, is life; in the left with the Sephiroth Intelligence, Judgment, Splendor, is Death. The middle pillar comprises Crown, Beauty, Foundation. The basis of all three pillars is the Kingdom. Fig. 3 illustrates this.
So far as the Sephiroth represent the first manifestation of God they form a world for themselves, an ideal world which has nothing to do with the real, material world. As such it is now called the primordial, the Archetypal Man (Adam Kadmon), now the Heavenly Man {Adam Hat). As for the Adam Kadmon, different views exist in the cabalistic writings. He is sometimes taken as the totality of the Sephiroth, and he appears as a pre-Sephirotic first emanation and superior to them, by which God manifested himself as creator and ruler of the world, as it were a prototype (macrocosm) of the entire creation. In this case it would seem as if the Adam Kadmon were a first manifestation, inserted between God and the world, so to say a second God or the divine Word.
According to a later theorem four worlds proceed by an emanation in different gradations. This is expressed by Ibn Latif thus: As the point extends and thickens into a line, the line into the plane, the plane into the expanded body, thus God's self-manifestation unfolds itself in the different worlds.
In each of these four worlds the ten Sephiroth recur. The first Sephirah gave birth to the Olam azila or "world of emanation," containing the powers of the divine plan of the world. Its beings have the same nature as that belonging to the world of the Sephiroth or to the Adam Kadmon. This world which is also called the olam ha-sephiroth, i. e., "the world of the Sephiroth," is the seat of the Shechinah. From the olam azila proceeded the olam beria or "world of creation," in which according to Rabbi Isaac Nasir5 are the souls of the saints, all the blessings, the throne of the Deity, and the palaces of all spiritual and moral perfection. The olam beria gave birth to the olam jezirah or "world of formation," in which dwell the holy angels, whose prince is Metatron.6 But there are also the demons, which on account of their grossly sensual nature are called Keliphoth, "shells," and inhabit the planets and other heavenly bodies or the realm of the ether.
The fourth world is called olam assiya, the "world of action." Its substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.
Like the Talmud and the Midrash, the Zohar represents the optimistic view, that the present world is the best. Thus we read (Zohar, III, 292b: "There were old worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence; they were formless, and were called sparks. Thus the smith when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue, because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form (of opposite sexes—the King and Queen), and the Master was not yet at his work." And again we read (III, 61&) : "The Holy One, blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh completed, all the things of this world, all the creatures of the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before they entered into this world, were present before God in their true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be understood. 'The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done.' "
Since the Cabalists viewed all things from the anthropological point of view, they also transformed to the world of the