#sefirot

Keter—from One Nothingness - אין סוף, Ein Soph - emerged Light, the Word, the Vibration, the “Disturbance”. At that same moment was the darkness, the silence, the stillness, born? No! That is the true nature of the miracle of Creation. The Light is true light, the light that casts no shadow, in that it contains, or embodies, so much of the One, the Divine, אין סוף, that it has no darkness in it, nor casts any. It is not the same as the light of מלכות. It radiates חוכמה, Wisdom, as we would know it.

From It arose Adam Kadmon, the “Image of G-d”, or the “supernal human” containing both male and female.

The Light constrains Itself in a fashion, forming Itself to express the Word, which then creates then creates “heaven and earth”, the yin and yang, light and dark, the duality that “bears” all the hosts of whom the universe, our material world, is fashioned. This is Binah, בינה.

What one notices it that the upper three are very clear, although difficult to achieve — yet our strongest desire is to be there.

Da’at, דעת, is the machsom, the abyss we can all relate to. It is like a curtain that separates the Holy of Holies. Only the truth may enter.

Chesed, חסד and Gevurah, גבורה are the two pillars upon which our “body of existence” (as opposed to בינה & חוכמה which are pillars upon which the upper realms are attained.)

Tiferet, תפארת is where one attains balance and harmony, the splendour of תפארת — the superior man, indicative of the higher ‘I’. But even such a person can only attain moments of that — although always aware of the still point of the beating – systolic and diastolic – heart, waxing and waning, ever in the battle of חסד, mercy, and דין, judgement – the eternal battle between יצר התוב and יצר הרע.

הוד & נצח, Hod & Netzach—their energy is so embedded in material existence that it is difficult for us to understand them—like comprehending the energies intrinsic to the very nature of the atom, the basic building block of the cosmos—for to grasp them requires separation. They are about feelings and sensations, the building blocks of our self.

We say energy expresses a relationship between two or more objects. But now it has become obvious that energy is actually the building block of the object, and not the other way around.

Yesod, יסוד. Take all the components we have encountered up till now and use them. The living molecules of nature then appear, the physical, chemical and atomic forces with which our world is fashioned. Yet so much of it has already been created for us. It is like a textbook with examples – real-life examples – to aid in understanding the foundational principles of the system.