Space The Tree of Life – Kabbalah Experience

7th Edition

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Dr. David Sanders and Kabbalah Experience.

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

Tree of Life – The Ten Sefirot

Ten Sefirot of Nothingness

Ten and not nine

Ten and not eleven

There measure is ten

Which have no end

A depth of beginning

A depth of end

A depth of good

A depth of evil

A depth of above

A depth of below

A depth of east

A depth of north

A depth of south

Their vision is like

the appearance of lightning

Their limit has no end

As they run and return

Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) 1:4-6

Notes:	Space

Kabbalah teaches us that at every level of created being – from the highest realm of Divine emanation to the lowest plane of our own earthly existence—there exists ten sefirot (Divine radiances or powers) around which reality is constructed. Each of these sefirot is given a name describing its unique role in the fashioning of reality. At every level the sefirot continue to assert themselves beyond their initial manifestation in the process of creation, enduring as the “genetic” structure of experience.

Each of the sefirot possesses both an external as well as an internal dimension. The external dimension of each sefirah is identified with the “functional” role that it plays in the process of Creation; its internal dimension is identified with the hidden motivational force which inspires its activity.

Yitzchak Ginsburgh, Divine Attributes

Notes:	Space

וַיַּצְמַח יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים מִן־הָאֲדָמָה כָּל־עֵץ נֶחְמָד לְמַרְאֶה וְטוֹב לְמַֽאֲכָל וְעֵץ הַֽחַיִּים בְּתוֹךְ הַגָּן וְעֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָֽע

And out of the ground God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to sight, and good for food; and the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2: 8-9

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים הֵן הָֽאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ לָדַעַת טוֹב וָרָע וְעַתָּה פֶּן־יִשְׁלַח יָדוֹ וְלָקַח גַּם מֵעֵץ הַֽחַיִּים וְאָכַל וָחַי לְעֹלָֽם וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵהוּ יְהוָֹה אֱלֹהִים מִגַּן־עֵדֶן לַֽעֲבֹד אֶת־הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר לֻקַּח מִשָּֽׁם וַיְגָרֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן מִקֶּדֶם לְגַן־עֵדֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִים וְאֵת לַהַט הַחֶרֶב

הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת לִשְׁמֹר אֶת־דֶּרֶךְ עֵץ הַֽחַיִּֽים

And God said: Behold, man is become like one of us, knowing good and evil: and now, what if he put forth his hand, and take also of the Tree of Life, and eating, live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed the Keruvim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Genesis 3:22-24

Notes:	Space

A paraphrase of Zohar Genesis:

The Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden—once they ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they could see the Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge was like a shrub, encircling the Tree of Life, obscuring their view. Now the path was cleared—the antidote revealed but for the banishment from the Garden of Eden.

Notes:

כתר Keter Crown
בינה Binah Understanding	חכמה Chochmah Wisdom
דעת Da’at Knowledge
גבורה Gevurah Strength	חסד Chesed Loving-kindness
תפארת Tiferet Harmony
הוד Hod Surrender	נצח Netzach Victory
יסוד Yesod Foundation

מלכות Malchut Manifestation

Sefirot Flow Top to bottom

Notes:	Space

The three crowns of Keter are Pleasure, Faith and Will. Pleasure is the crown over essence—the center line of the Tree of Life, Faith is the crown over the right—infinite side of Tree of Life and the crown of Will is over the left—finite side of the Tree of Life.

Notes:	Space

Male and female created them—unidentifiable, one merging in the other. Zohar 1:37b

A fundamental teaching in the Kabbalah is the distinction masculine and feminine. While these may appear more weighted ontologically in males (masculine) and females (feminine), they are, as expressed by the Zohar quotation above, always inter-included.

The archetypal masculine power is that of unlimited giving (energy of light), while structure and boundaries are feminine powers (finite vessels).The primordial source of the feminine principle is the “vacated space” created by the tzimtzum (contraction). The primordial source of the masculine principle is the kav (ray of light) of Infinity which enters the space. In respect to the mind, the feminine attracts the masculine seed and it is fertilized. Once fertile, the feminine in turn births the process of manifesting the idea into expression.

Notes:	Space

A beautiful illustration of the “aliveness” in what we ordinarily experience as the inanimate is found in the words of the female protagonist in the movie Sideways:

“I like to think about the life of wine, how it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing, how the sun was shining, if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes and if it is an old wine…how many of them must be dead by now.

I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different today then if I’d opened it on any other day because a bottle of wine is actually alive, it is constantly evolving and gaining complexity that is until it peaks.”

Notes:	Space

The Sefirot of Architecture

The great 20th century American architect, Louis Kahn, connected the finite to the infinite in this reflection on the building process:

A great building, in my opinion, must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasurable. The only way you can build, the only way you can get the building into being, is through the measurable. You must follow the laws of nature and use quantities of bricks, methods of construction, and engineering. But in the end, when the building becomes part of living, it evokes unmeasurable qualities, and the spirit of its existence takes over.

Louis Kahn, Library, Philip Exeter Academy

Notes:	Space

The Sefirot and Architecture

Keter: the innate pleasure in building—to create beauty

Chochmah: the building as an idea

Binah: fleshing out the idea: the metaphor and its elements

Da’at: thedesign of the building—how it flows into one

Chesed: expanding on design concept

Gevurah: setting limits on design concept

Tiferet: the blueprint of the building

Netzach: overcoming obstacles; financing, materials

Hod: surrendering to the process

Yesod: holding to the vision and completing the building

Malchut: building manifests, is lived in; experienced

Notes:	Space

Daniel Libeskind, the architect of the new Denver Art Museum, shares his visions of the creative process in his autobiography, Breaking Ground:

“How do I know what to design? I listen to the stones. I sense the faces around me. I am inspired by light, sound and invisible spirit. We are all shaped by a constellation of realities and invisible forces, and if a building is to have a spiritual resonance, it has to reflect these things. No one knows how body and soul are connected, but connect them is what I try to do.”

Daniel Libeskind, Denver Art Museum

Notes:	Space

Quotes from Libeskind’s Breaking Ground:

0 Premonitions filled with desire and longing: To create the jarringly new between the known and the unknown.

1 The unshakable foundations of democracy (in refusing to fall, the slurry wall attested to the…)

2 What we need is a dramatic, unexpected, spiritual insight into vulnerability, tragedy, and our loss. We need something that is hopeful.

3 I called my plan Memory Foundation.

4-5 It was central to the integrity of the plan to provide the largest possible space on the site, to guarantee that the public could descend to bedrock, and to keep the slurry wall visible. The Wedge of Light survived the initial rough and tumble of the process and I am still trying to keep it intact, but there is much resistance for using so much space for something that really does not serve a purpose.

6 My aim was to mold the site into a coherent and symbolic whole, a new harmonious community.

7 We decided to concentrate on the concerns of the Port Authority.

8 Forced marriages can be difficult at first.

9 Determined as we were to preserve the Freedom Tower, the struggle itself felt like a fight for freedom.

Notes:	Space

Sefirot Flow

The Sefirot and the Process of Loss and Grief

Keter: faith in the eternal nature of the soul

Chochmah: intuiting the essence of the person

Binah: articulating the essence of the person

Da’at: seeing how the person’s life flowed

Chesed: boundless love (wanting to join the deceased)

Gevurah: letting go (the rules of mourning)

Tiferet: internalizing the deceased (remembering and forgetting)

Netzach: trusting in the meaningfulness of life

Hod: acknowledging the finality of the loss

Yesod: integrating the deceased into your life

Malchut: experiencing the person ‘living on’

The Sefirot and the Dimensions of Chesed

The ten Sefirot taken together constitute a fundamental and all-inclusive reality. Moreover, the pattern of this reality is organic, each of the Sefirot has a unique function, complements each of the others, and is essential for the realization or fulfillment of the others and of the whole.

Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen Petalled Rose

Applying the Sefirot Map to Losing My Job January 2008

Bob’s mapping David’s comments Bob’s response

Keter

There is the innate pleasure of living (with all its situations), faith that this is part of life, and the will to go on.

You are not your job – you are manifesting in your job but you are a soul who creates.

Agree

Chochmah

There is the understanding of the situation as a metaphor for me.

The seed = I have other work to do! Other ways to express who I am and what I am up to.

Good – agree

Binah

There is the understanding of what actually are the elements of the metaphor.

The metaphor is “What if I lose my job?”

Yes, something to reflect on.

Da’at

There is knowing of how exactly this applies to me.

This is deepening the awareness – what would it mean to lose my job – how am I defined by my job. (This does not mean you need to change, rather reflect on what this means to you.)

Probably I am more defined by my career than by my job.

Chesed

There is an emotion of connection to all others who have gone through this situation .

What emotional significance is there to remain at the job or change – how does it reflect giving of yourself – and receiving.

You have given me some new thoughts. Originally, since I am getting close to retirement, I viewed the job as “playing it out” until retirement. So, any lay-off would force me to actively seeking something else.

Gevurah

There are the first steps of setting up an overall plan to deal with my feelings and how to actually get on with my life/career.

If you stay can you set better boundaries? Does this mean that you have to leave or can you focus your emotional energy more specifically?

I agree with this. I had already made this decision that my activities outside of work would better focus my emotional energy.

Tiferet

There is the actual detailed plan for dealing with the situation.

What is the blueprint of your life and how does the job fit into this.

Interestingly, I have rationalized that by nearing retirement I did not need to create a blueprint. Perhaps this is too limited.

Netzach	There is a trust that the situation is for a purpose and will result in positive outcomes.	Whatever happens you can and will succeed in finding your happiness – your fulfillment – you can make it.	The underlying assumption, therefore, is that we are ultimately looking for happiness and fulfillment, correct? If so, I can agree with that.
Hod	There is a surrender that this is “for real” and now it is time to “push on”.	You may have to surrender to some challenges – to stay or go, to cope with the situation.	My fulfillment has most often been away from my job. Perhaps a mismatch of fulfillment and job.
Yesod	There is an integration of the situation (being laid off) with who I am.	Remain authentic in your choices.	To be authentic we need to understand ourselves.