God: Hidden, But Revealed

We have been taught that God is unknowable and beyond comprehension. So how do we reach out and receive a personal contact with the Divine? It's apparently possible, as the Bible is full of prophets and mystics who claim to have done so. Again, we look to the process of creation and the Ten Sefirot. We've already discussed these creative forces emanating from the Almighty, but let's explore them further.

Altogether, the sefirot form what Kabbalist's call the Tree of Life. Each one of them represent an aspect of God involved in the act of creation. I've heard them compared to an individual's talents, such as singing, or athletics. They are a part of that person, but not their entire being. The same is true with the Tree of Life. It's composed of particular Godly attributes, but does not represent the entirety of the Creator.

Here are the Ten Sefirot as described in Kabbalah:

1) Keter is called the "Crown" and represents the will of God before their is thought, or idea. It is the Tzimtzum, or contraction of God to create the space for creation. At the point of Keter, their is still divine unity, before creation's diversity. In a human being, it is the trait of selflessness.

2) Hochmah is the emanation of the pure light, still undifferentiated, into the space created by Keter. It is the concept of creation and is neither good, nor bad. In humans, it is awareness without judgement.

3) Binah is referred to as "Understanding" and is the point at the tip of Hochmah's emanation where creation's duality and diversity begins. It is the place where all other sefirot are born. It is the ability to understand the differences between things...good/evil, male/female, light/dark, etc.

The next 6 sefirot define our world through the balancing of opposites. They represent the formation stage of creation.

4) Chesed, or loving-kindness is God's aspect of mercy and compassion. If you recall, the first six world's God created were destroyed because they didn't contain enough of this attribute. It is balanced by the next sefirah, Gevurah.

5) Gevurah is the aspect of divine judgement. It represents boundaries, discipline and limitations. It is the rules that guide us and that allows for an orderly society.

6) Tiferet is the sense of balance and harmony between Chesed and Gevurah. Kabbalist's refer to it as "Beauty." It represents the Scales of Justice and balance in nature.

7) Netzach is called "Victory," or triumph. It represents confidence and leadership. When unbalanced, it is domination. It is sometimes thought of as a parent when compared to its opposite, Hod.

8) Hod is called "Splendor" and represents vulnerability, complacency and acceptance It is the follower and is dependent on Netzach's attributes of leadership and guidance.

9) Yesod is the "Foundation" and is the balancing of Hod and Netzach. It is the finding of harmony between giving/receiving, dependence/independence and is the admiration and respect shown by individuals in a healthy relationship.

10) Malkuth is the Shekinah, or God's presence and closeness and is called the "Kingdom." It is the physical universe and is thought of as God in exile. Kabbalists depict Malkuth as a divine bride, or queen. Her king is Tiferet, the symbol of harmony and balance. Tiferet dwells in the spirit world, while his queen, Malkuth resides in the physical. They were divided by the Fall of Adam and Eve. Jewish mysticism teaches that the union of Tiferet and Malkuth, as effected by humans, is the desire to reunite the physical and spiritual worlds.

When first trying to comprehend the Tree of Life, I understood the concept of the balance of opposing forces necessary to define and sustain our world. But I questioned why, if the sefirot represented the building blocks of the universe they were they described as emotional and intellectual traits? Why not physical concepts like light and dark? I later discovered that Kabbalists believe that each individual sefirah represents a variety of opposing forces like the Yin Yang. But again, why are they most commonly described as mental traits?

It was then that I realized that the Tree of Life is not just a map of the creative process, but also a path to achieving mystical union with the Divine. Like in Buddhism, the middle path of Malkuth, Yesod, Tiferet and Keter is the course to balance and enlightenment without extremism either way. It is a chart of an individual's growth in consciousness and eventual spiritual reunion, or return to Gan Eden.

I find this inspiring that our goal is to achieve universal balance and to elevate the material world to it's proper spiritual role as "Heaven on Earth." We are again shown the concept of Tikkun, or repair of the universe. We'll find that this is the underlying theme of most Jewish mystical thought. Later on, we'll explore how to practice the Tree of Life in our daily lives.

There are many and varied descriptions of the Tree of Life. For this post, I drew from the book Simple Kabbalah by Kim Zetter.

Talk to you soon.

Shmuel