Category:Kabbalah

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The Kabbalah (a.k.a as Qabalah, Kabalah) is the traditional Jewish mystical system that delineates two porcesses; the first - called the "Maaseh B'reshit" or "Work of Creation" - offers reasoned arguments as to how the Absolute Unity of the Divine made possible the existence of separate intelligences with the capacity to choose either "Evil" or "Good" (the problem this addresses is that, if the Divine Will encompasses all of Creation, how is it unclear to those who live in it, and how do they have the ability to defy it). The second - called the "Maaseh Merkavah" or "Work of the Chariot" - is a process of united the separate consciousness of the individual with its Divine Source. The Tree of Life model overlaps with the fourfold mysteries of the Divine Name known as the Tetragrammaton. Both the Tree of Life and the Tetragrammaton delineate interdependent processes whereby multiplicity of consciousness and form evolve from the absolute Unity of Deity [1], and ultimately provide the means of Return ("Tshuvah") to individual consciousness of that Source.

The Kabbalah teaches that all things emanate from the infinite universe into ten different categorical aspects, called the sephiroth. The most common model of the connections of these categories are called the Tree of Life and can be used as a formula to describe reality. The Tree of Life is organized into three columns of the ten sephiroth, the Pillar of Severity, Pillar of Mercy and Pillar of Mildness (Middle Pillar). This model is inherent to both the Maaseh B'reshit and the Maaseh Merkavah, the former being the process of existence - with it multiplicity of parts, divisions, and consciousnesses - unfolding from the Absolute Unity of the Divine State, the latter is the process of transcending the limits of material existence to unite the individual soul with its Source -- but with the duty to then communicate this experience within ones actions in the material realm.

This system is at the root of many western mystical disciplines and is used to describe almost every aspect of the universe from the elements to God. The various stages of the unfolding of Creation (which are, in reverse, the stages of reunification) delineate the different levels of substance (from the purity of Divine Light down to the material elements) and of the soul (all parts of which are inherently Divine, but one part still purely "In God", down to that part immersed in the material body, with the illusory limitations of its appetites, instincts, and mortality).

The basic division of these stages are the "sephiroth" (singular, "sephirah"), a word with the overlapping meanings of "Number" or "Counting", "Utterance", and "Writing".

[edit] The Sephiroth

1. Keter (The Crown)
2. Chokhmah (Wisdom)
3. Binah (Understanding)
4. Chesed (Mercy) or Gedulah (Magnanimity)
5. Din (Judgement) or Gevurah (Power)
6. Tiferet (Beauty)
7. Netzach (Victory)
8. Hod (Splendor)
9. Yesod (Foundation)
10. Malkuth (The Kingdom)

[edit] "Tikkun"

One of the key tenets of the Kabbalah (at least within it's original contexts) is that full Perfection exists only in the Material Realm, and it is the duty of humanity to make that Completion manifest ("Perfection" in the sense of "Fullness" and "Completion" - is the actual primary meanings of the Hebrew word Shalom, with "Peace" being a secondary connotation resulting from a state of Perfection and Completion in the material realm of the sephirah of Kingdom). This is in notable contrast with many other transcendental systems which view the material realm as a purely negative aspect of the spiritual process. In Kabbalah, the sephirah of Kingdom is ultimately the only realm of Perfection, as all of the other sephiroth exist merely to support its existence and enlightenment.

This process, which is (in Hebrew) a literal "Reformation" of the Worlds, is called the "Tikkun Olam"; "Reparation of the Universe".

[edit] The Tetragrammaton and the Four Worlds

Flegetanis 18:14, 21 June 2008 (UTC)