ULTIMATE REALITY AND THE MEANINGFUL LIFE – JUDAISM – KABBALAH – PART II (3rd continuation)

Having finished with the summary of the content and purpose of the Zohar, I would like now to offer a sampling of the most poignant quotes I found in my reading, remembering that I have only the first volume covering Genesis 1:1 – 11:32, that is, the Creation through Noah. Each quote will be followed by relevant comments of the translator, Mr. Daniel Matt, and then some of my own thoughts. I will close this section with one possible reworking of the Kabbalah’s interpretation of the biblical presentation of God. I ask the reader to be patient as I extend further my exploration of this esoteric doctrine for its philosophical insights .

“Elijah came and asked me, ‘Rabbi, do you know the meaning of Who Created these?’ I answered, ‘These are the heavens and their array, the work of the blessed Holy One. Human beings should contemplate them and bless Him, as is written When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars that You set in place…how majestic is Your name throughout the earth! (Psalms 8:4,10)”¹⁷

Mr. Matt: “According to the Bible (2 Kings 11:12) the prophet Elijah did not die a normal death but was carried off to heaven in a chariot of fire…In Kabbalah mystical experiences are known as revelations of Elijah.”¹⁸– “Binah, the Divine Mother, is called Who. A spiritual seeker may inquire about Her, but such questions do not yield ordinary answers. The identity of the divine is discovered only in a realm beyond words. The mystical name Who becomes a focus of meditation as question turns into quest.”¹⁹

My thoughts: Contemplation or study of the cosmos also seems to be a fundamental undertaking of both science and philosophy. Cosmology seeks origins not unlike the author of Genesis. Newton, Hubble, Lemaitre, and Einstein then are analogous to ‘prophets’ of science. Nonetheless, all seek ultimate truth, albeit in different ways. Meanwhile, when the philosopher considers the concept of ‘divine’ as used by theolgians, he or she must search for something ineffable and abstract.

“When Concealed of all Concealed verged on being revealed, it produced at first a single point, which ascended to become thought. Within, it drew all drawings, graved all engravings, carving within the concealed holy lamp a graving of one hidden design… a deep structure emerging from thought …Who, origin of structure. Existent and non-existent, deep and hidden, called by no name but Who.”`²⁰

Mr. Matt: Concealed of all Concealed is “Ein sof or Keter, the most hidden recesses of divinity.” Single point refers to “the primordial point of Hokmah (‘Wisdom’), the first emanation. ‘It drew all drawings’ means “the sefirot were prefigured within divine thought before they emerged in the process of emanation.” ‘Graving of one hidden design’ refers to “Binah the origin of the structure of the seven lower sefirot.”²¹

My thoughts: Concealed of all Concealed might be altermatively understood as reference to the quantum flux (the physicists version of nothing) or the multiverse (the physicists version of infinity). The ‘single point’ or ‘primordial point’ may be the singularity that became the cosmos via the Big Bang and contained the entire substance of and, in its explosion, the ultimate ‘design’ of the cosmos. ‘Wisdom’ may be reinterpreted as cosmic laws. Hence ‘divinity’ for the non-mystic, may be understood as the source of all which we consider ‘existing’ – reasonably translated as the philosopher’s concept, ‘Being.’ In addition, ‘divinity’ also can be viewed as encompassing the ‘intelligibility’ of or ‘intelligence’ inherent in the laws governing the universe (as seen by the scientist and philosopher respectively). These, Being and Intelligence, are the first two of the attributes of reaity, perhaps reasonably considered ‘divine’, that I believe will be key in my final synthesis.