What is the purpose of ‘Creation?” Why are you here? “What’s it all about?” Why do the ‘responses’ to these questions seem so illusive?
There are answers.
A few of them are very comprehensive. For example, a religion is a system that provides assumptions, understandings, agreements, procedures, governing principals. Most religions are based on Scripture such as the Bible, The Quran and The Bhagavad Gita.
There are also very simple and concise answers to these big questions. The New Age Spiritual movement that began in the 1960’s expressed it as simply “LOVE.” Or, some say it is Nature.
Both the comprehensive response and the short one falls woefully short of “hitting the nail on the head.
As many of you know, I have studied Kabbalah for about 25 years now. In this blog post, I wish to first, describe my introduction, inquiry and direct personal experience {to/of/with} Kabbalah and second, briefly, share with you my perspective of The Creation Story according to the spiritual technology called Kabbalah.
“What came first”. The chicken or the egg?” That was the first question that the person who introduced me to Kabbalah asked me. He was a member of The Kabbalah Center in Boca Raton, Fl and he was one of my employees. I was the recruiter, hirer and trainer of sales people for a financial service and he was one of the highest performing representatives on the floor. He told me that a lot of the concepts that I had built into the training and development of sales reps were very similar to some of the concepts in Kabbalah.
Shortly after this encounter, I met Nedra. As it turned out Nedra worked at the Kabbalah Center and was a member for seven years. She provided me with a manual from The Kabbalah Center. It was like the master orientation manual and when I read it several light bulbs turned on. I had been studying many other spiritual/metaphysical/developmental “maps” such as Integral Theory, Spiral Dynamics, Cybernetics, Transpersonal Psychology, Logos Therapy, Christian Metaphysics and more. The training I had developed for work was influenced by all of these. Becoming aware of and inquiring into The Kabbalah map simply validated in a big way that I was on the right track and, the kicker, was that Kabbalah was the only map that provided a “WHY”.
Why Creation? For what reason? For what purpose? The Buddha approached it in a different way – by exploring suffering; its cause and the way out. The life and message of Jesus Christ approaches it in a different way – Sacrifice and Resurrection. Islam calls it “Jihad.” But Kabbalah feeds it to you on a silver plate and then says…….now go and learn the tools, apply the tools and reveal The Light.
The only axiom (assumption/belief/understanding/acceptance of) that Kabbalah requires is the existence of “The Light” as a source of goodness, sharing and fulfillment.
So, in a nutshell, Kabbalah starts the story before “the beginning.” All that existed was Light…nothing else. The Light created A Vessel to share and receive its fulfillment. The mother cow desires to share more than the calf wishes to eat. This Original Vessel was the perfect Desire to Receive. In other words, it was a direct, uninterrupted connection. There was no time, space, cause or effect. Every desire was fulfilled immediately. There was no lack, want for, disappointment, striving, These things would come later. In my opinion, one of the most profound and consequential quotes I have come across studying Kabbalah is. “Fulfillment is the seed of Desire.” This implies that fulfillment (The Light) came before and created desire (The Vessel of receiving). Yes, the egg came first. And this was the image my friend/employee began with when he introduced me to Kabbalah. This “state” before the the beginning is called, in Hebrew, the Or En Sof or The Endless World.
So, what happened “in the beginning?” The Vessel began to develop a desire to be like The Light; The Vessel desired to share. But, in the Or En Sof there is no opportunity for The Vessel to do this because it is being a perfect vessel of receiving. So, in order to fill this new desire The Light withdrew itself and created a space of darkness. The Vessel “panicked” and wanted The Light to come back and when It did The Vessel shattered into many pieces (the Big Bang?). This is when space, time, lack, wanting for, the appearance of the phenomenon of cause and effect, dis-ease, sorrow, birth, death, decay, lamentation, mental suffering and tribulation appeared.
To understand “The Why” of Creation according to Kabbalah one must explore the development of The Vessel’s desire to share. The Vessel was receiving everything it desired. Why would it want to share? According to Kabbalah, the seed level of The Vessel’s desire to share is in the feeling that grew from receiving without doing anything to earn it. This feeling is called “Bread of Shame.” The reason for this Creation, your life, my life, everyone’s life is to eliminate Bread of Shame.
The tools of the spiritual technology known as Kabbalah are ways to become aware of, apply and see results in eliminating Bread of Shame. The tools of Kabbalah and any other spiritual map are there for us to accelerate our progress towards this end.
Now, I would like to provide you with some contrast. Here is a 5 minute clip from a movie that came out this year entitled, “Nefarious.” Remember, The Work is to confront, explore and incubate on these perspectives. Not to believe or adopt them. Just like when in Shavasanah ………..Be the witness.
It is really funny how things pop up when you are working on something. This video came into my feed today. I have listened to the first 10 minutes and I must add it to this post. Arguably, Terrance McKenna is one of the most prolific prophets of the 20th century. This excerpt was from 28 years ago. WOW!
In The Kabbalah “map” there is description of three stages of consciousness for those who choose to explore the spiritual path.
I believe all of us are on a spiritual journey whether we are aware of it or not.
It was Wayne Dwyer who said, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
The first stage is called Double Concealment.
A person in this stage of the journey is not aware of the spiritual realm, God or “The Big Picture (TBP)”. Sure, one may have thought about these things and even conducted inquiry but has decided that we live in a material world in a physical body and this is what is real. The spiritual realm is not real or it is not accessible. In this stage there is no potential to ‘connect’ to the spiritual, to God, the Creator or The Light for sustenance, energy or fulfillment. Instead, energy is found in success, victimhood, material acquisitions, drugs or other ego centered and alternative sources.
The second stage is called Single Concealment.
A person in this stage is aware of the spiritual realm, has done spiritual work, knows God, Sees TBP. However, they don’t “FEEL” it. Doubt permeates the mental/emotional self. One may understand that there is a spiritual world(s) and realms beyond the physical but the connection is mostly that, an understanding and not a tangible thing. In this stage one seeks energy from The Light but the connection is weak or not established and one feels victim, ego, reactivity, etc and can easily fall back into double concealment.
The third stage is Clear Vision.
This is when one knows God and can see TBP and feels it. Doubt is vanquished and a firm knowing and deeper understanding is present. No matter what is happening in the outer/physical world a person in this stage knows that “The Light is ALWAYS in the Business.” Most of the time, this stage/state of consciousness is fleeting at first; one experiences “glimpses” of THE WAY. Over time, with practice, one establishes a stronger and stronger connection.
It is Tisha B’Av today; The Ninth of Av. The day that The Temples were destroyed. It is considered a day of mourning and represents the end of the negative three weeks. It is a transition day as we enter the 7 weeks prior to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This day is also connected to the story of Jacob wrestling Sa-Tan. We have 365 sinews in the body. Each sinew is connected to a day. Today it is the hamstring. Cut the hamstring and we “go down.”
Can you believe it? It is 2023. Where has the time gone? I am starting to suspect I might be some kind of a time traveler. You know what I mean?
I have two short videos to share with you. It is important to know that when I share a video or a paper or a book or a website or a podcast or whatever……… it is for the purpose of adding to our inquiry. Everything I share is a perspective or map.
By definition, this kind of stuff can be only entertained in level one and level two of the three stages of wisdom.
Remember them? 1. Become Aware of or know about or hear about. It is something that has come into your consciousness. 2. Intellectual inquiry, study, checking it out, watching, listening, understanding. And, 3. Your Direct Personal Experience.
Now, with that said…..Here we go.
This first 5 minute video is about the choice we have in front of us from from a Yuga perspective. In Hinduism, a Yuga indicates a period of time; an age. There are four Yuga’s.
You can inquire further into Yuga if you desire. We are at the end of Kali Yuga and moving into Arita (Satya) Yuga.
This second video is different perspective of the same choice.
Can you see how it can be valuable to see the same thing with different perspectives? We have been working on this ability in our yoga sessions.
The reason I have stuck with yoga and meditation and why I continue to inquire into several maps of the territory is because I have a desire to rise above the condition I found myself in with the diabetes I acquired at age 14.
It is such a difficult condition. Often times it becomes overwhelming.
I am on a social website of people with type 1 diabetes and most are struggling most of the time. We ride a roller coaster of blood glucose levels even though we have insulin pumps and Continuous glucose monitors. Type 1 diabetes is misunderstood condition. It requires 24/7 monitoring and the swings in blood sugar levels we experience affect how we feel, function and even behave.
However, there is always a polar opposite to anything and everything that arises in this realm of existence. This is not my opinion. It is a scientific fact.
And the blessing of the curse of my chronic condition combined with my desire to “cure” it is that I have been merited with an awareness of WHY.
Why the struggle? Why the suffering? What is the reason? What is the object of the game?
I’m not telling you I know the answer.
I just have been blessed with an opening in my consciousness to receive the answer.
And the best way to explain what I see is that the goal of the game of life is ……….. ………. …… To Ascend.
The yoga journey is a path of Ascension…….A path back hOMe.
One of my favorite yogis right now is staying current with what is happening around us.
