Yud
A spark of impenetrable darkness flashed within the concealed of the concealed from the mystery of Ein Sof, the Infinite, like a fog forming in formlessness, enclosed in the ring of that sphere - not white, not black, not red, not green – of no color whatever.
The well broke through and did not break through. It split and did not split its aura. It was not known at all until a hidden, supernal point shone forth under the impact of the final breaking through.
And the secret is…In the beginning ----- created God.[1]
The Named was born from the unnamed ... the describable world emanates from an indescribable source.
Yud is the first letter of the most sacred name for God; YHVH. Its diminutiveness is representative of the Infinite Point; i.e. the concentration of the infinite within the finite.
It suggests the Unknowable attempting to become manifest through Divine Creation. The secret of this point is the power of the Infinite to contain finite phenomena and express them to apparent external reality. [2]
All that is formed and all that is spoken is One Name – YHVH.
Alef ----------> Beit
In the beginning is BeReishit. BeReishit is Beit Reishit.
How is this accomplished? With the Breath of God (Alef). Thus it is written that the Wind of God hovered over the deep…
Substance out of chaos
Nonexistence into existence
Great pillars carved from air
that cannot be grasped.
This is a sign
[Alef with them all and all of them with Alef] [4]
Heaven and Earth
Alef
Shin Mem
We are taught that heaven [Shaymayim] means Esh Mayim (fire water). [7] Further, we are taught that the alef is symbolic of the Breath of God.
The alef is the
The Mem exists as a bridge between Hod and Netzach [between the forms of prophecy] to bring forth knowledge. [10]
The Shin exists to bring about a single goal: the Rulership of God. The Shin reveals a multitude of God’s deeds with a unity of purpose.[11]
Three mothers: Alef Mem Shin
A great mystical secret
And from them emanated air, water and fire [12]
That which is above influences that which is below. That which is below influences that which is above.
[1] The Zohar – adapted from translations by Daniel C. Matt, Zohar: Annotated & Explained, Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002; Gershom Scholem, Zohar: The Book of Splendor: Basic
[3] Psalm 33:6
[4] Sefer Yetzirah
[5] Genesis 1:2
[6] Genesis 1:6
[7] The Bahir
[8] The Zohar – adapted from translations by Daniel C. Matt, Zohar: Annotated & Explained, Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002; Gershom Scholem, Zohar: The Book of Splendor: Basic
[9] Rabbi ben haKana, The Bahir: Illumination, translated by Aryeh Kaplan, Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1979
[10] Aryeh Kaplan, Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation: In Theory and Practice, Samuel Weiser, Inc, 1997
[11] Ibid
[12] Sefer Yetzirah 3:2
[13] The Bahir. Please note that in the Bahir [Moses] is Shin.
2 comments:
Hi Miyam!
Your current topic of Preeminence is of particular interest to me. I once related to you that I had had what I believe was a mystical experience while studying my senior year in college (1974). The experience was a sudden and deep understanding of the paradoxical nature of existence, reality, perception and illusion. Your statement, "The Named was born from the unnamed ... the desrcibable world emanates from an indescribable source," was central to this flash of insight. I had taken on an independent research project in Communication Theory for that final year. I had no pre-conceptions about the project -- I simply browsed the campus bookstore and chose whatever books seemed to jump out at me. They were superficially disparate subjects -- abstract mathematical logic, eastern philosophy, general semantics, etc. As I read them, I sensed a common thread developing but hadn't been able to make the right connections all the way up to the last week before I was to graduate. I was particularly stressed about it all when I had the "flash" experience mentioned above. In one moment, everything had fallen into place. The next morning I went to my advisor to tell him that though I discovered the core commonality of my research, I would not have time to write the required paper before graduation. Months later I submitted the paper, "The Necessary Paradox", a feeble attempt to explain what I had seen. I haven't been able to adequately explain it since, though at the same time EVERTHING around me is explained by IT. It has given me great peace of mind throughout my life. The primary "key" to the insight was, oddly enough, the work on mathematical logic. I'm not a mathematician by a long shot, but the book, "Laws of Form" by G. Spencer-Brown is not really a math book. It is, I think unclassifiable. Without any trappings of language, philosophy, religion or science, it says LOOK HERE at the infinite and the finite and see that they are one. It is not an easy book. I have read it over and over and I understand only a portion of it.
Great topic though, Miyam -- thank you!
Thank you so very much for sharing this, Hy. I should have put a quote there for the Named was born from the Unnamed. It is a notion in Kabbalah AND is is a notion in the Tao (eastern philosophy.) How fascinating isn't it that these notions were explained centuries before science caught up and described the Big Bang.
Regards & Blessings,
Miyam
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