N The Zohar speaks of this process somewhat differently. It speaks of the husk that surrounds the spark. It is the second husk that produces the demonic realm. Embraced in darkness, they seek the light. When someone sins, opening a way for them to enter, they either receive the light, or extinguish it. Now, if we are talking about Ohr Ayn Sof being “contained in a vessel”, this vessel would be referring to the husk, the separate identity, that every spirit being has.
Luria claims that our task is to elevate the sparks returning them to their source, which would leave the world of creation in darkness. Also that would return creation to its original order. But that is inconsistent with his own view of Tsimtsum, which describes the original order as one consisting of that of vessels in which reside the Ohr Ayn Sof.
The restoration is referred to as a communal action, something that the community of Israel has to achieve. And by attaining this state, elevates the whole world, bringing about the age of the Messiah. But perhaps it is an individual task. This is the Jewish hero’s journey. One in which I have to find the sparks that make up my primordial soul and reassemble them to complete my vessel, so that I may become a receptacle for the Divine Light. I am then able to manifest the Divine by shining and expressing that Light, Ayn Sof Ohr, just as He has done in His infinite mercy by the act of Creation.
To paraphrase Scholem:
N The very “act of Creation” causes your soul to become “degraded” as you experience the fall of Adam from the high spiritual place of Gan Eden. He, Adam, through the eating of the fruit of the Tree, had to “hide” and G!d provided him the husk that he needed to hide within.
N We speak of the act of Creation as ex nihilo, however, we seldom focus on the miracle of creating imperfection from perfection. We find a key in the verse יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה עֹשֶׂ֥ה כׇל־אֵֽלֶּה (Isaiah 45:7).
I form, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, light and create darkness, I make, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se peace and create evil. I, HaShem, do, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, all those things.
- Could also translate “עֹשֶׂ֥ה”, o’se “bring about”, producing “I bring about all these.” It also implies a completion. That peace comes to those who feel fulfilled, i.e. grateful.
- The verb, עֹשֶׂ֥ה o’se, is used 3 times: “I form (light), I make (peace), I do (those things)." That is the unfolding. First formation, then making, then action.
- Take a live play as an example. Formation is the act of bringing all the pieces together, choosing the actors, finding the location, the financial backing, etc, etc, etc. This produces the light, that is the coming together of all these pieces in one place. For that is what the light actually is—the glue (N which is what the Higgs-Boson is supposed to be as well). Then it is bringing all these pieces together and welding them into a harmonious whole (peace). Finally they are ready for the performance, and then they “do” the play as authentically as they are able to. (N I do… – or rather the G!d in me, does.)
- The light has been activated. That is good. Q Only upon activating the light (of perception, of consciousness), will anyone know it is there!
- “The spirit of the Lord hovered over the still waters” just as the wind hovering over the face of still waters causes waves.
- There is also the possibility that enough “lines of force, or energy” (it might be Will in this case) meet at the same point, causing enough of a concentration (or density) of energy at that moment, and in that place, something is manifest dense enough for our senses/consciousness to apprehend.
– END - Day 1
Day 2:
- This day, we deal with water!
- What is water? Could it be “slow” light? After all, it does nourish our bodies, just as the energy of the light provides us with the energy that sustains life, and the light itself nourishes our spirits.
- This water is also primordial. It existed prior to the light being formed. Now here it too is separated though here it is an expanse, an emptiness, that separates the upper water from the lower.
- And the upper is named “Shamyim”, sky.
– END - Day 2
Notes:
- Twice create is used: “I create darkness; I create evil!” Both times they mean the same thing, emphasising the “created” aspect.
- On the first day, G-d says, “Let there be light.” However, prior to that what was there, if anything?
- Is that not the first emanation? No. It is the וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם, the Ruach that is hovering (or perhaps brooding and fertilising over the face of the waters.
- Here the description of the process is complete. First, the beginning the intention, not yet formed, as in “when”? This is the infinitesimally small point that emerged, so small, that it would be impossible to detect, nor was there any eye able to detect it. That is called “the beginning”.
- In this beginning is also contained the direction upon which it is running,1 the beginning of which is the “creation of the heavens and the earth.” This emergence occurs in emptiness and darkness, the Ruach Elokim hovering over these primordial waters, perhaps fertilising them. In this darkness and emptiness, the light enters. That was “good”, in G!d’s eyes. Once the light had emerged, the separation between light and darkness occurred. Though Isaiah Chapter 45 says: “He formed the light, and created the darkness.”
- What actually occurred here? If the light was only “formed”, it existed prior to the beginning. It becomes apparent that it was the darkness that was new, for it was created in the process of the ”forming of the light”. As soon as you in-form light, you will have deformed light. But G!d is perfect and omnipotent, you say? That these terms are not able to fully describe the Infinite nature of such characteristics in the formation of light, an unformed (form) of said light—which existed prior to creation—is implied—that which we call darkness.2
- G!d names them, “day” and “night” — even though our luminaries were not yet formed and placed in the heavens. This is where you awaken to the fact that the day that G!d is referring to here is not the day we “define” as a literal day, but rather the completion of a process.
According to Luria, man’s soul has 613 spiritual parts corresponding to the body’s 613 physical parts and to the 613 commandments. By fulfilling all the commandments man achieves the takin, “restoration”, of his “body”, representing the material world and as well as all the supernal worlds that rend to man’s actions. He has this power because, having been created in G!d’s “image”, he encompasses the entire cosmos in his being, and was created to complete and perfect the creative process that G!d initiated.
If above so below
Suddenly, the flash comes upon me. “What a neat package that is. A story nicely held up by its own tale. A circular narrative. The essence of the story is very compelling, but the literal details are just there for the mundane mind, the mind of quantity and measurement. (In order to have a spiritual view, you have to forego the realm of judgement. Of comparison to who is bigger, or better, or richer or stronger. For the essential difference is the spiritual realm is timeless and spaceless. So all these forms of comparison we use on the mundane realm is meaningless. It is also useless to the understanding of this realm — one of the reasons that science, though it can come infinitesimally close to this ephemeric realm, cannot pierce the veil with the tools at its disposal.) So, when the (circular) claim of 613 spiritual parts … etc., this appeals to the quantitative mind, but confuses the spiritually inclined.
613 commandments, a vague list, many of which are not or cannot be practised anymore. Does that mean that they are also “inactive” in the upper realm? Or do we keep them active by “remembering” them? Or is it out belief and hope that they will become active again in the Messianic age? Yet that is the time when we will no longer need the Torah…
Then, if we have accepted the idiom, and it becomes one of the bricks upon which our edifice stands, and anatomically we realise that we have more (or less) than 613 physical parts, what would happen then? Would that shake our faith, or how could we remove or change that brick without affecting the whole structure? But, if it is a living Torah, it will find a way to evolve.