Consciousness is often compared to a river that run from many streams The resulting flows continue into the ocean in which all of our experiences are merged together in the daily affairs of life. In Kabbalah the Sephiroth are concentrations of energy differentiated by their different attributes (called Middot in Hebrew).
Now this energy flowing from and through the Sephiroth is the way that the holiness above filters through and makes its way known below. The entire sequence works together seamlessly producing the various levels of creation which we will refer to as Consciousness in order to view them in terms of how our thoughts go through these various transformations from above to below. In this way the elegant language of the symbolism of the Zohar quoted below may be interpreted seen through the central defining meanings of Consciousness.
Zohar Balak 311: The Holy One, blessed be He, has five gardens, in which He takes pleasure. One spring above them is hidden and stored away. It waters and saturates them, and all produce fruits and growing plants. There exists a garden lower than them, That garden is preserved and surrounded from all directions around the world. Underneath this garden, there are other gardens that produce a variety of fruits.
There are five gardens which might be the five Sephiroth of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiphereth, Hod and Netzach. Now gardens are descriptive of lush life overflowing abundance and in general overall well being. In Consciousness when thoughts are complete they are ready to blossom into another thought producing in effect the garden of ideas within.
Each Sephiroth represents the connections between these ideas prior to when they begin to overflow into each other corresponding to the upward and downward flows used to describe the Tree of Life. First take the pair of Chesed and Gevurah.
Chesed is the state of Consciousness wherein it overflows with goodness. The ideas of Kindness and Mercy are associated therein. There is an open quality to Chesed which acts as a gathering potential for those thoughts that emanate from above (Binah – the one spring hidden and stored away). Chesed's overflow is then balanced by the restrictive correction of Gevurah.
Gevurah restricts and corrects the flows in effect causing the overflow to become more contained. We may use the example of a stream that turns into a waterfall only to end up as a controlled current passing through a river with fixed banks on either side.
One thing to keep in mind is that even that Gevurah offers correction and restriction there are still contained within this flow all of the overflowing tendencies of Chesed. How are these two seemingly opposite Middot harmonized? This happens through Tiphereth.
Tiphereth takes the tension of restriction and combines it with the open overflow to produce what now must become a controlled overflow offering every possibility for good.
The next Sephiroth Hod represents a refinement where the flow has now become defined within itself as Splendor or Majesty meaning the beginning of a magnificent individuation. It may perhaps be described as an idea whose time has come.
Next there is Netzach representing the eternal concept and the timelessness of union shared with Hod. For Consciousness Netzach is the ideal about to be realized while Hod is the active defining force that fills the mold to its fullest.
The plants and fruits mentioned in the Zohar above are the offshoots of ideas that in themselves contain the seeds of a continuation of this flowing forth. The garden that is below them is Malchuth taking the ideas and crystallizing them into higher form in Atziluth and then those 'other gardens' produce the fruits of the three worlds of Briah, Yetzirah and Assaiyah.
In Parasha Balak Balaam may only become the channel for Hashem ending up blessing Israel because this is what is meant to be. In likewise fashion we are at our best a channel for the best that is meant to be. That is why when we reach up we must reach for our highest aspirations for only then will we be in alignment with the above as it continuously funnels its divine flow below.
B"H
For LOCAL INFO on Kabbalah, Torah and a local events calendar click here.
Previous Balak One Previous Balak Two
Comments